Although this ministry is totally committed to carrying out good works in the name of Jesus Christ, in order that people may “see the good works and give glory to our Heavenly Father Mat 5:16″ , we are totally aware that in themselves they hold no power at all, other than to divert the gaze of the outsider towards God. To think otherwise would be to allow glory to be given to man, and acredit ourselves as somehow being able to bring others to saving faith.

The verse above, along with many others too, shows that the power of God to save souls from destruction, is found in the power of the Gospel message. Though our good works may be as sign posts pointing towards the One in Whom we place our trust, His Spirit alone is able to place the gift of faith in the heart of an individual, that they may hear His voice and believe upon the One that was sent.

No man, no matter how clever, can convince someone to believe in Christ. He may have skilled language and powers of persuasion, intelligent strategies that can cause people to come to him, and even listen to what he has to say. But only the Holy Spirit alone can convict the heart of man of their wretchedness without the sacrifice of Christ to cleanse them, and only the Holy Spirit is able to grant the power for a man to truly believe upon Jesus Christ as Saviour, even to the dying to themself. Which every true believer in Christ must daily do.

It is the Righteousness of God, revealed through the undiluted Word that needs to be conveyed, Spirit to spirit. Convicting the sinner of their sinfulness, their need to repent, their need to pick up their own cross daily, and their need for the power of God’s Spirit to empower them to do so. And the only way this will happen, is when the undiluted, full gospel of Christ crucified for our sins and risen again, is preached to the lost.

I have heard many times in church that we are fortunate to live in a nation where the Gospel can be freely preached, and whilst I too am thankful to the Lord for this, I also truly believe that we may be missing the point a little. If we were faithful in preaching the true Gospel to the lost, according to the bible it would bring conviction of sin amongst those who listen. To some it will be treated as foolishness and rejected, and to others it will be the wisdom of God, and embraced unto their salvation. But if we are faithful in delivering our message, their will be a reaction, and we will face persecution as a result. Could it be in all our efforts to preach a message of our best life now, a life on earth filled with prosperity and health, and a name it and claim it lifestyle; that we have been preaching a different gospel to that which Christ commissioned us to preach?

Let us no longer deceive ourselves into thinking that our good works can draw souls to Christ, or even miraculous signs and wonders as many today place so much hope in. The only way that we can become the fishers of men that we long to be is first of all die to our own flesh daily, for the life and power of Christ to dwell within us fully. We must choose to stand alone in the place where Stephen stood, preaching the undiluted Word for all to hear, that no-one is unaware that their own sin is the very thing that nailed Christ to the tree. That each of us are by nature born an enemy of God, standing in a place that awaits the hammer of His wrath to fall without mercy, unless we accept the offer of Jesus Christ alone to stand in our place. We must be willing to see people cut to the core, that when they cry out as they did to Peter, “What must we do?!” . We must be ready to give a confident answer; that they too must repent and be baptized into His death, not just a one of dunk in water, but that their water baptism would be a daily testimony to the way they are willing to share in His death and sufferings, that they may enter into His life and glory.

I urge you, don’t cast this message aside because it makes you feel uncomfortable. If it does, it is by the conviction of the Spirit of God, that in His mercy He is calling us to repent and live our lives out on this earth in the way He has called us to, not the way we feel is best.

God bless,

John.

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William MacDonald

There is a curious problem today in the evangelical [and fundamental] world — one that poses sobering questions for the church and for the individual believer. The problem in brief is this: a great army of personal soul-winners has been mobilized to reach the populace for Christ. They are earnest, zealous, enthusiastic, and persuasive. To their credit it must be said that they are on the job. And it is one of the phenomena of our times that they rack up an astounding number of conversions. Everything so far seems to be on the plus side.

But the problem is this: The conversions do not stick. The fruit does not remain. Six months later there is nothing to be seen for all the aggressive evangelism. The capsule technique of soul winning has produced stillbirths.

What lies at the back of all this malpractice in bringing souls to the birth? Strangely enough it begins with the valid determination to preach the pure gospel of the grace of God. We want to keep the message simple — uncluttered by any suggestion that man can ever earn or deserve eternal life. Justification is by faith alone, apart from the deeds of the law. Therefore, the message is “only believe.”

From there the message is reduced to a concise formula. For instance, the evangelistic process is cut down to a few basic questions and answers, as follows:

“Do you believe you are a sinner?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe Christ died for sinners?”

“Yes.”

“Will you receive Him as your Savior?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are saved!”

“I am?”

“Yes, the Bible says you are saved.”

At first blush the method and the message might seem above criticism. But on closer study we are forced to have second thoughts and to conclude that the gospel has been over-simplified.

The first fatal flaw is the missing emphasis on repentance. There can be no true conversion without conviction of sin. It is one thing to agree that I am a sinner: it is quite another thing to experience the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life. Unless I have a Spirit-wrought consciousness of my utterly lost condition, I can never exercise saving faith. It is useless to tell unconvicted sinners to believe on Jesus — that message is only for those who know they are lost. We sugar-coat the gospel when we de-emphasize man’s fallen condition. With that kind of watered-down message, people receive the Word with joy instead of with deep contrition. They do not have deep roots, and though they might endure for a while, they soon give up all profession when persecution or trouble comes (Matt. 13:21). Many have forgotten that the message is repentance toward God as well as faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

A second serious omission is a missing emphasis on the Lordship of Christ. A light, jovial mental assent that Jesus is Savior misses the point. Jesus is first Lord, then Savior. The New Testament always places His Lordship before His Saviorhood. Do we present the full implication of His Lordship to people? He always did.

A third defect in the message is the tendency to keep the terms of discipleship hidden until a decision has been made for Jesus. Our Lord never did this. The message He preached included the cross as well as the crown. “He never hid His scars to win disciples.” He revealed the worst along with the best, then told His listeners to count the cost. We popularize the message and promise fun.

The result of all this is that we have people believing without knowing what they believe. In many cases they have no doctrinal basis for their decision. They do not know the implication of commitment to Christ. They have never experienced the mysterious, miraculous work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration.

And of course there are others who are talked into a profession because of the slick salesmanship techniques of the soul winner. Or some who want to please the affable, personable young man with the winning smile. And some who only want to get rid of this religious interloper who has intruded into their privacy. Satan laughs when these conversions are triumphantly announced on earth.

I would like to raise several questions that might lead to some changes in the strategy of evangelism.

First of all, can we generally expect people to make an intelligent commitment to Christ the first time they hear the Gospel? Certainly, there is the exceptional case where a person has already been prepared by the Holy Spirit.

But generally speaking, the process involves sowing the seed, watering it, then sometime later reaping the harvest. In our mania for instant conversion, we have forgotten that conception, gestation, and birth do not occur on the same day.

A second question — can a capsule presentation of the gospel really do justice to so great a message? As one who has written several gospel tracts, I confess to a certain sense of misgivings in even attempting to condense the good news into four small pages. Would we not be wise to give people the full presentation as it is found in the Gospels, or in the New Testament?

Thirdly, is all this pressure for decisions really Scriptural? Where in the New Testament were people ever pressured into making a profession? The practice is justified by saying that if only one out of ten is genuine, it is worth it. But what about the other nine disillusioned, bitter, perhaps deceived; enroute to hell by a false profession?

And I must add this: Is all this boasting about conversions really accurate? You’ve met the man who solemnly tells you of ten people he contacted that day and all of them were saved. A young doctor testified that every time he goes to a new city, he looks in the phone book for people with his last name. Then he calls them one by one and leads them through the four steps of salvation. Amazing enough, every one of them opens the door of his heart to Jesus. I don’t want to doubt the honesty of people like this, but am I wrong in thinking that they are extremely naive? Where are all those people who are saved? They cannot be found.

What it all means is that we should seriously re-examine our streamlined capsule evangelism. We should be willing to spend time teaching the gospel, laying a solid doctrinal foundation for faith to rest on. We should stress the necessity for repentance — a complete about face with regard to sin. We should stress the full implication of the Lordship of Christ and the conditions of discipleship. We should explain what belief really involves. We should be willing to wait for the Holy Spirit to produce genuine conviction of sin.

If we do this, we’ll have less astronomical figures of so-called conversions, but more genuine cases of spiritual rebirth.

William MacDonald (1917 – 2007) authored over 80 books dealing with subjects such as evangelism and discipleship, church life, marital relations, as well as a best-selling Bible commentary.

HT:Refocusing Our Eyes

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God bless,

John

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After reading through much of the brew ha-ha over the last few days, concerning things such as Piper inviting Warren to speak at Desiring God 2010, or a $1,000,000 dollar give-away taking place at a church over the Easter period, I would like to attempt to promote a right perspective on all of this.

I don’t criticise or doubt for a moment, the need to expose these things, which is more than well done by many internet ministries. However I do have to point out that, whilst many seem devoted to exposing error throughout Christendom publicly, I don’t find many who are offering a viable alternative to apply Biblical doctrine to our lives, in as public a way. I speak specifically with regard to the Great Commission of Christ, that all may live up to the responsiblity of preaching the Gospel of Christ to all men.

It is my deepest hope that church leaders, finding apostasy exposed through various sources, will begin to teach their congregations how to apply the truth taught in Scripture to their lives, for the glory of Christ alone. But it is just as deep a desire within me, to give a platform of the highest standing, to those ministries, both large and small, that spark into existence because of that faithful teaching given from the undiluted Word of God.

If you are aware of ministries that are becoming established who are faithfully proclaiming the Gospel of Christ crucified and risen again, and effectively reaching the lost for the glory of Jesus Christ, then I sincerely would like to hear from you. It does not matter as to the size of the ministry, simply that it is a ministry devoted to the faithful preaching of the Gospel, in a Godly fashion, according to the pattern laid down throughout Scripture.

Please feel free to let us know, either by commenting on this post, or emailing john@faith-defenders.com with details of the ministry. If at all possible, we will seek to draw attention to these Godly ministries as they arise, in the hope of providing solid resources and inspiration for Christians seeking to effectively proclaim the Gospel themselves, rather than simply highlighting those ministries that remain in error. Also we have set up a platform to discuss such matters on Facebook, so please feel free to discuss the Gospel, and highlight links etc. through the page at: repentandbelieve.info

Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say. Simply that it’s not enough to recognise that which is in error, but to recognise and establish that which is true, and openly and boldly draw attention to it.

Love in Christ,

John Dunning.

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“‘Not called!’ did you say? ‘Not heard the call,’ I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.”

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

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