Grace Preachers List: Harry Ironside

Any time we have a discussion of great grace preachers then Harry Ironside must be included in that list! Harry Ironside was born in Canada in 1876 and experienced a difficult but amazing childhood. At birth he was declared dead and laid aside while medical attention was focused on his mother. It was nearly 40 minutes later that an attendant discovered a faint pulse and efforts to fully revive him were started. His early years were difficult too. His father died when he was only two. The family moved to Los Angeles where young Harry began to develop spiritually. His mother attempted to find a church with a children's Sunday School but they were not successful so young Harry at age 11 started his own! He organzied his neighborhood buddies to help him sew together hundreds of burlap bags and make a tent to house their Sunday School. Soon 60 children and several adults were attending. Because Harry was unable to find a teacher for the class he did that too! He began street preaching in his early teens and was deeply inspired by attending a large evangelistic crusade in L.A. that featured the preaching of D.L. Moody. Although Ironside would acquire no formal education beyond the 8th grade he was mightily used of God throughout his career.
Amazingly, Harry Ironside preached 7000 sermons to 1.25 million people from 1916 to 1929. He would preach the gospel on the streets if he had no church to preach in and he preached the true free grace gospel! His many accomplishments include the preaching of Billy Sunday's funeral and the pastoring the famous Moody Church in Chicago. Here is a fabulous quote by Ironside on the true nature of faith and repentance...

“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past … Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”

The gospel is good news to be believed! Friend, if you died today are you sure you would go to heaven? If you did die today and you were to stand before God and He were to ask you "Why should I let you into my Heaven?" what would you tell Him? Watch the little video in the right side bar or read this short message. Trust Christ today! Harry Ironside would want you to do that and I want you to know God's forgiveness and the wonders of Heaven!