World

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Can We Reason With a World that Hates Christ?

bible-open-to-psalm-118 Can we actually reason with a world that hates Jesus Christ? It’s a strange question, but one that I feel is very important. As Christians, we understand that, under the moral law of God, we stood as convicted criminals before Him. Every thought, word and deed in our lives was contaminated by our sin nature. That means that nothing about us was good in the eyes of God. In fact, on our very best day, where we did everything “right,” God saw us as rebel sinners who were only motivated by our most selfish desires. We were destined for the fires of Hell and rightfully so.

Yet, in His mercy, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live the life of perfection we could never achieve. Everything He ever did was in complete obedience to God, with no motivation other than glorifying the Father. Then Jesus willing allowed Himself to be placed on the cross so that the righteous wrath of God could be poured on Him in our place. He readily took the punishment we deserved and became the substitutionary sacrifice in our place. Then Christ rose Himself from the grave three days later, proving His power over death. Through the preaching of the gospel, God miraculously and mercifully granted us repentance and faith in Christ. He redeemed us through the shed blood of His Son and adopted us as His children.

Before God redeemed us and made us into new creations, such concepts were completely foreign to us. Sin, judgment, hell, sacrifice and redemption were concepts we may have heard of at some point; however, our minds were hardwired, due to our sinful nature, to see ourselves as good. If we even believed we were capable of being bad, then we believed we could do enough good to make up for it. The idea that Someone had to be punished in our place was ludicrous to us. Yet, God broke through that sin hardened heart with the gospel message which caused us to be broken over our sin and saved us from His wrath.

The reason I write this is that I need to establish a foundation for the rest of the article. It was only through the precious message of the gospel that Christians now understand the evil that resides in their hearts. Prior to that, sin was a foreign concept that could either be rationalized away or personally atoned for. The world is made up of billions of sinners whose hearts are hardened against God and His commandments. While they have knowledge of His existence according to Romans 1, they suppress that truth in unrighteousness. The law of God is written on men’s hearts, but they reject the authority God has over them, making themselves gods over their own lives. Consequently, the rampant sin we see in our world – sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, abortion, hatred, lust, covetousness – is the byproduct of a world governed by sin.

I now come back to my original question. Can the church reason with a world that hates Jesus Christ? Today, we see a lot of churches and Christian groups lobbying and protesting against the widespread debauchery of our day. Many are willing to link arms with co-belligerents (be they political, secular or religious) in an effort to bring “morality” back into the world. Often times, such groups will state that arguments of a philosophical or sociological nature are the means by which to achieve moral victory because the world rejects the Bible. The claim is that, because the world doesn’t understand the scriptures, it rejects them. Therefore, we cannot use the Bible as our source material. We must, they say, speak to them on their level and prove to them, without God’s word, that God’s morality is superior. In the end, if we can legislate a Christian worldview into existence, the world will be in a much better place.

Such an argument, on its surface can seem to have merit. After all, as stated above, mankind is utterly sinful and rebellious against God. Since that is the case, by bringing the Bible into the discussion seems to guarantee that they will reject what we have to say. However, that argument assumes that the purpose of the church is to somehow redeem culture. In other words, the job of Christians is to make the world a more moral and pleasant place to live. That by changing the standards of the laws and morality to a Christian worldview, life will be better. But is that really the mission of the church? I would argue that it is not.

When a person is redeemed in Christ, he is to live his life in such a way as to glorify the One who purchased him. A Christian does not exist to make the world a better place to live, but to serve as a beacon, a sign post pointing to Jesus Christ, the Savior. By living a life of obedience to God, and acknowledging Him in all that one does, the Christian testifies to the world that his allegiance is not to the fallen, sinful system of mankind, but to the One who will one day judge all men. Thus, his job is not to necessarily fix a broken system. Short of all mankind being saved in Christ, no system established in this world will ever be fixed. It will always be tainted by the sinfulness of the human heart.

The Christian’s calling then is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, the One who came to save sinners. Any attempt to cure societal ills (which is not the specific calling of the Christian) by arguing with worldly philosophies, allows people to believe that they, not God, are the chief authority in this world. We are allowing them to deny the power and lordship of Christ. They will continue to operate in the delusion that they are the ones who decide right and wrong, good and evil. Thus, without the Bible and the power of the gospel, the unregenerate world will continue to operate in its sin tainted worldview. Any changes that occur, moral or immoral, will still result in billions of souls condemned to hell, despising the God whom they have denied and rejected.

Therefore, the duty of the Christian is to always – not sometimes, but always – preach the gospel in any discussion we have with those in the world. If we are discussing homosexual marriage, the gospel teaches that sex was created by God for a man and a woman in the confines of a lifelong, monogamous marriage (which reflects Christ and the church). Any other act of sexual intimacy is a sin and rebellion against God and will result in the judgment of God. Thus, we stand against it and we proclaim that good news that Christ came to save homosexuals. If the issue at hand is abortion, the gospel says that all life is created in the image of God and that abortion is the murder of life created by God. Thus we stand against it and we proclaim that Jesus Christ came to save women who want to murder children and the abortionists who commit the detestable act. If the matter is a tyrannical government, the gospel teaches that God appoints leaders over people for the good of the people, that those under the government are to obey the leaders, and that God will hold those in account who abuse its citizens for their personal gain. Then we preach the good news that Jesus Christ can save even tyrannical leaders if they will but repent and trust in Christ alone.

Christians, we cannot reason with the unregenerate, Christ hating world on their terms. They have no reasoning outside of God and we only will feed their insatiable appetite for sin. We must always preach the gospel, regardless of whether the world agrees with it or not. The gospel is the power of God to salvation. Only the gospel can change sin hardened heart. Only the gospel can bring a dead man to new life. Let us be less about the winning of culture and be more about the winning of souls condemned to Hell. If we commit to be obedient in this calling, then the Lord will save whom He will save. And if scores of untold souls are saved, then the consequence may just be a society that desires to live morally because it loves the Lord who established true morality to begin with.

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I Want to Start Sharing the Gospel, Part 3

In my previous two articles, I laid the foundation that Christians need be built up in study of the word, in prayer and in worship in preparation for sharing the gospel. These are essential to Christian wisdom and growth; it also equips us through God’s power, rather than our own feeble efforts. I also discussed unbiblical methods of evangelism and why Christians should not use them. Today, I want to share the biblical method of evangelism and why a Christian should be sharing the gospel in this manner.

The Gospel

First, let us understand what the gospel actually is. In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul writes, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” In Romans 5:8, he writes, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And in John 3:16, Christ Himself states, “For God so loved the word, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That is the gospel, that Jesus Christ, the eternally begotten Son of God, who took on human flesh, came to die for sinners, so that, through repentance and faith, they could be granted eternal life! That is the message that we as Christians want to share with a lost and unregenerate world, that their sins can be forgiven if they would but repent and trust in Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice for their sins. But before a sinner can repent, they must understand that they ARE a sinner!

Law to the Proud

Most gospel presentations today are devoid of any actual effort to tell the sinner they are in fact a sinner. Those who propose such unbiblical methods argue that doing so is judgmental or legalistic. However, the apostle Paul did not agree with that. He stated, “…Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin…” (Romans 7: 7). It is by the very law of God that mankind is made aware of his sin. In fact, Romans 3:19 states, “Now we know that whatever the laws says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” So the first thing that a Christian needs to address with the unregenerate sinner is the fact that he or she is guilty of breaking God’s law.

Before we start running out into the world and making wild accusations of everyone we meet, please understand, I am not advocating Westboro Baptist style, “God hates you,” hellfire preaching. In no way should any Christian slam down the ten commandments and start telling people just how wicked they are. Any presentation of the law and gospel message must be tempered with mercy, compassion and grace. It must be with the remembrance that we once were in the same position as the person we are speaking to. Never should it be filled with hate and vitriol, never should it be with the appearance that we see ourselves as better than someone else. Always in love and compassion should the law be given.

The law is essential to break up the stony ground of the unregenerate heart. The best way to illustrate this is by asking the average person if they thought they were a good person. The vast majority will tell you that they believe they are good. They pay their taxes, occasionally help the neighbor, they take care of their kids, they don’t sell drugs and certainly never murdered anyone. So, in their eyes, they are really good people. The problem is that they are comparing themselves to others in the world. They comparison they must make is against the holy righteousness of God. Against His perfect standard none are “good” (see Romans 3:10-20)

Often times, a good way to expose this is to simply illustrate their sins through the use of the Ten Commandments. While there a great many more laws written in the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments are most familiar to people and speak directly to the conscience, the law God has already written on their heart. By leading a person through the commandments, by asking simple questions such as “How many lies have you told? How many things have you taken that did not belong to you? How often did you disobey your parents? Have you ever used God’s name in a low or filthy way? Has God always been the most important thing in your life?’ we can lead a person into the understanding that, in the eyes of God, they are not a good person, but a sinner.

Often times, the sinner will still attempt to justify themselves by stating their good deeds outweigh their bad, but we need to remind them that God is a good judge who will by no means ignore their guilt. As God is perfect, holy and righteous, to be able to earn His favor and enter Heaven, we must be likewise. In fact Christ said, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” (Matthew 5:20). And, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” (Matthew 5:48).

Other times, the person may appeal to God’s mercy and say that if they just ask for forgiveness and He will let them in because He is good. We must help them to see that if God is indeed good, He cannot let the guilty go free. Imagine a judge in a courtroom allowing a murderer to walk away, even though he confessed to his terrible crime, simply because he said, “I’m sorry.” That would be an unjust and capricious application of the law. And if we can see that in this sin filled world, how much more can we expect a perfectly holy God to uphold His laws? The law of God must be upheld, judgment of the guilty must happen or God is not good at all.

When the sinner understands that they are guilty in the courtroom of God, that their “good deeds” cannot wipeout their guilt (and are actually filthy rags in the sight of God, see Isaiah 64:6) and that they will be justly sentenced to condemnation for eternity, it is then that we can truly proclaim the goods news to them!

Grace to the Humble

When the lost sinner sees him or herself as justly condemned before a holy, righteous and perfect Judge, it is truly a humbling experience. Yet, there are many who will still proclaim their self righteousness, or will deny the right of God to judge them. For those who arrogantly stand in opposition to the law, I do not encourage the proclamation of God’s grace. I say this because “…the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith,” (Galatians 3:24). If one does not see they are justly condemned through their violations of the law, then they cannot receive the grace of Christ by faith. For those, I would say it is better to allow them to consider the law alone until such a time as they are humbled and understand their need for a savior.

But for those who are known humbled and broken, we can proclaim the good news! We can explain to them that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who took on human flesh, lived a life of perfection in every thought word and deed. This is extremely important. If Christ is not God eternally, then He is only a man or a created being. If He is a created being, then His life and death are only applicable to Himself and has no bearing in our lives. Yet as God, as the Creator of the entire universe, every aspect of who He is has bearing on every aspect of our lives. And Christ as God eternally, took on human flesh! He now has two natures, divine and human. Not only is He our Creator and Lord, but He is the perfect Man, our perfect representative before God. Remember that our first representative, Adam, fell in the garden and all mankind fell under the power of sin. Yet, our second representative, the last Adam, lived a life of perfection in every aspect of the law! Never once did He sin!

Christ’s perfect obedience to the law is essential to understanding the gospel. You and I are justly deserving of judgment because of our sin, yet Christ, in His perfection was undeserving of any judgment whatsoever. But Christ willingly presented Himself as a sacrifice. He willingly allowed Himself to be arrested, put under an illegal trial, was falsely charged despite no two witnesses being present who could agree, and was brought before Pilate for execution. Despite all this, Christ made no defense of Himself, much to the Roman governor’s surprise. And He allowed Himself to be beaten, mocked and crucified (the most horrible form of execution ever devised). He was guiltless yet He willingly died. Why? Because “…the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23) and “…without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins,” (Hebrews 9:22). In other words, every sinner is condemned to an eternal death and torment. Yet, through the shedding of the blood of the perfect sacrifice, through the blood of the Son of God, mankind can receive forgiveness. Because Christ took on the debt that we all deserve, because He paid the fine we cannot pay. He is guiltless, we are guilty. We deserve judgment, He did not. Yet, He willingly took our place on the cross and shed His blood so that the judgment of God could be satisfied. The law could be fulfilled and the debt paid, the guilty made guiltless before God.

But that is not the only thing we need to share! See, three days later, Christ rose Himself from the grave! He defeated death and provided a way of eternal life. Now, not only can the guilty have the slate wiped clean, they can be granted eternal life, not based on their merits, but on the perfect and righteous merits of Jesus Christ. Sins can be forgiven and life eternal can be granted!

However, before the sinner can have access to this, they must acknowledge their sinfulness before God and must turn from it. In other words, they must repent! See, it is not enough for the sinner to just merely assent he or she has sinned and Christ died for that. Imagine a man who has committed adultery but wants his wife to forgive him. Would she simply receive him back if he merely said, “yep, it was wrong,” with no indication that he had changed his ways? Of course not. And anyone who makes a mere assent without a life indicating they have turned from sin has not truly repented. This is not to say that salvation will only come after a lifetime of repentance, but that one who truly repents will evidence that by an ongoing life of repentance.

The sinner must also fully trust in the completed work of Jesus Christ at the cross alone for their salvation. Imagine being in Court and sentenced to a billion dollar fine. Someone pays that fine for you, yet you attempt to come in each week and pay back a measly nickel to add your works to it. You would not esteem the sacrifice of the one who paid your fine, you would be trusting in your own pitiful works to justify yourself. Thus the sinner cannot justify themselves by their works, but must trust in Christ alone. They must surrender the entirety of their lives into the hands of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through repentance and faith alone can a sinner be saved.

Conclusion

A truly biblical presentation of the gospel is one that uses the law to break up the stony heart and exposes the wretched sinfulness of the hearer. It brings them to the courtroom of God where they will see themselves rightly condemned. It then transitions to the glorious grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who died to pay the debt that they owe. It presents the sinner with the fact that if they would but repent and trust in the Savior, they can be saved.

I encourage every person who has read these articles to understand the great command they have been given by our Lord. We have been given the duty to share the greatest possible news in the world, the Christ came to save sinners! No other task is greater than this. No other duty has greater honor than to serve our Lord and Savior on the front lines of a spiritual battle. But remember this, we are only the tools in His hands. Victory is Christ’s alone. While we must fully prepare ourselves, while we must rightly present the truth, salvation is by Him alone. Thus present the gospel and do so fervently and urgently. Yet trust in His power alone to save the lost.

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What Do You Do When You Ask Jesus Into Your Heart But He Doesn’t Stick Around?

I have heard this story before. A young boy or girl attends VBS and at the end of the week, they raised their hand and said the prayer. Or maybe, when they were older they came forward at the altar call at church or at the local evangelist crusade. No matter the venue, they were told to “ask Jesus into their heart,” and assured that once He came in, life would get better. They were assured they were a Christian now, and were told to never question it, no matter what. The initial spiritual high carried them for a time. They read their Bibles, went to church, talked about how great it was to be a Christian. But in time, the buzz wore off. The feeling just wasn’t there anymore. Other things, people or events just seemed more interesting. Or they began to be ostracized by their peers, so the compromises began. Before long, life was like it was before, or maybe worse because they began to look for other things to fill the void. But no matter how bad it might be, they were still a Christian…weren’t they?

When it comes to the modern day evangelism of “asking Jesus into your heart” there is a very big problem in that it rarely, if ever, addresses the issue that a person is a wretched, vile sinner. A spiritual criminal deserving of God’s righteous judgment. It avoids examining the life of the person under God’s law. It fails to show that when we lie, steal, lust, hate, blaspheme God, or any other sin, we are committing crimes against our Lord. It fails to reveal that on the day that we stand before God, every sin, every thought, word and deed is called into account. And because God is a good and just Judge, He will condemn us to Hell for eternity. It does not explain that the punishment is infinite because we have sinned against an infinite God.

When the church tells a person to, “just ask Jesus into your heart” there is very little weighing of the issue. Very little understanding of the severity of their sins. Consequently, many people will experimentally ask Jesus to become part of their lives without ever turning away from the sinful life they have lead. In other words, because they didn’t understand how wicked they were, they never obeyed the command to repent. They simply saw Jesus as a way to make their life better, or as some sort of “fire insurance.” There was no genuine commitment or surrender of their lives. If that happens, that person is not genuinely born again. And if they are not born again, they are still slaves to their sinful nature.

Often times, churches today will ask people to repeat a prayer, sign a card and get them baptized. Once that is done, they absolutely assure them they are saved and tell them to never doubt it. And if they see that person returning back to worldly pursuits, they claim they are backslidden, a person who is a Christian, but is actively sinning.

Such an evangelistic program, while certainly adding numbers to church roles, actually does more damage than good. The problem is twofold. First, the Bible tells us to examine ourselves to see if we are truly in the faith. Both the books of James and 1 John help us examine our walk to see if we are actually producing fruit that is consistent with a born again Christian. That doesn’t mean that once a Christian gets saved he is suddenly perfect, but what is the course of his life. If a person can look at their life and see that it is, bit by bit, growing in a God honoring direction, then they can see true spiritual fruit that is consistent with being born again. But if they look like the rest of the world day to day, if there is no brokenness, no desire for true repentance, then it would become prudent to ask if they were ever actually born again.

The second problem with the modern day gospel presentation is that it ignores the truth of false converts. In the parable of the soils, Jesus taught of two groups of people who spring up as apparent converts upon hearing the gospel. However, in due time, they fall away either because of the cares of the world or from persecution. The falling away demonstrates that they never were in the faith to begin with. So when the church baptizes someone and assures them they are saved without ever looking at the fruit of their walk, it can actually add numbers of false converts to the list.

So what does all this mean for you the reader? Well, the first question would be to ask yourself if you are truly saved. Examine your walk in the light of the Bible. Do you truly love the Lord? Do you desire to obey His commandments above all else? Do you hate your sin because you love Lord and don’t wish to sin against Him? Or do you care more about the things of this world? Is the only time you feel bad about sin is when you have to suffer the consequences?

If it is the former, I would encourage you to dig into the gospels again. Learn what it is that Christ did for you because He loves you. Gain assurance by preaching the gospel to yourself daily. But if it is the latter, then you need to repent of your sins and trust in Christ now. You need to get saved for the first time. What happened before may have only been an experimental attempt, but one where, like so many others, you never truly repented and trusted in the Savior. If that is so, then examine your life, understand that your sins are an offense to God deserving of judgment. Yet know that His Son died to pay the price that you deserved. Turn away from those sins and trust in the Savior today.

(Note: this article is also published on my personal blog at fernleycrossguy.wordpress.com)