Category Archives: Evangelism

How were Old Testament Saints Saved?

Posted by Dan C. on

Jesus expressed his exclusivity as the only way to God in John 14:6:

Jesus said to him (Thomas), “I am athe way, and bthe truth, and cthe life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.1 (Emphasis mine.)

a John 10:9; Rom 5:2; Eph 2:18; Heb 10:20

b John 1:14

c John 1:4; 11:25; 1 John 5:20

1New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995, S. Jn 14:6

Here is the entry that addresses the question at the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (www.carm.org).

The OT saints were saved the same way the New Testament saints were/are saved, by faith.

For what does the Scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 4Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. 5But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness, 6just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: 7“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. 8“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account” (Rom. 4:3-8).

     As you can see, the Bible tells us that Abraham was justified by faith (see Rom. 5:1 and Eph. 2:8-9).  That is, his faith is reckoned as righteousness, v. 4 above.  They were saved by faith in the Messiah in whom they were trusting.  Only, for them it was a trust in the future Messiah.  They knew He was coming as had been prophesied .
     Also, the Holy Spirit was there in the OT times the same as the NT times.  Consider Psalm 51:11, “Do not cast me away from Thy presence, And do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me.”
     God did not change how He saved people in the New Testament.  It has always been by faith.  In the case of the OT people, they looked ahead in time to the Messiah.  We look back to Him and see the cross.

Born on ‘Death Row’

Posted by Dan C. on

You are probably already asking, “What does he mean by that one?”

Well, for this old soldier, that’s what this thing called ‘sin’ is all about, and by the way, the focus of the first point of the two part gospel message (See this earlier post). If I consider it my duty and Great Privilege (See this earlier post), I had better have a good explanation when I tell folks that ‘Christ died for our sins’. A correct ‘view’ of sin is as essential to delivering the gospel message as is the ‘fact’ of sin. Sadly, and to our shame (us evangelicals), we sometimes forget to mention sin when we share the gospel, and often when we do dare approach the subject, we treat it poorly.

Listening to today’s popular gospel, one might think that ‘sin’ is just about the annoying little things we ‘do’ and Jesus died so we could make it to heaven anyway because after all, we are born ‘good’ and of such great worth/value to God that he can’t even imagine heaven without us. Or, sin only means being ‘separated from God’, or ‘missing the mark’ – both true statements. If ‘sin’ is not just those things, what is it?

Listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say on the subject to believers in the city of Ephesus:

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” Ephesians 2:1-2

Now hear what Jesus said to a religious leader named Nicodemus:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18

Apart from Christ we are spiritually dead and already condemned. Would it be fair to say that those two concepts aren’t brought up much (if at all) in today’s ‘seeker friendly’), discover YOUR special purpose, have YOUR best life NOW ‘evangelical’ environment?

How did we end up this way – spiritually dead and already condemned?  We know the story – the first couple (the only two people who ever walked the earth with complete ‘free will’), in an act of willful disobedience, broke the only rule God gave them and sin entered to pollute God’s perfect creation. The effect on the human race was devastating. Everyone born since then (Christ excluded) has inherited what we call a ‘sin nature’ (also known as ‘original sin’) and under a death sentence. If that’s not bad news (REALLY BAD NEWS), nothing is!. And if that’s the bad news, what’s the GOOD news?

The good news (REALLY GOOD NEWS) is that we can get out from under the ‘death sentence’ – receive a FULL PARDON! When we deserved to die (the wages of sin is death – Rom 3:23) and spend an eternity in Hell, someone died IN OUR PLACE. That someone was Jesus, sent to the Cross by his own Father to die in our stead!

“God made him (Jesus Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (Emphasis mine.)

When we realize our lost and dead condition, admit that we cannot help ourselves, and believe in our heart that Jesus paid for OUR sin with His death, we can receive a ‘full pardon’.

That means a whole lot more than Jesus just dying for the ‘bad stuff I do’, or there being this gulf between me and God called ‘sin’. Jesus suffered the death I deserved! There’s a huge difference between the two concepts. Do you see it? Can you see how our definition of ‘sin’ impacts the gospel message itself?

Does God save people if they only hear the ‘love’ message? I’m sure He does, but it might be ‘in spite of’ a poorly delivered message! By all means talk about love, abundant living, God’s blessings for the one who believes, but as secondary to dealing with the ‘sin’ issue. That’s the difference between a ‘man-centered’ and a ‘God-centered’ gospel – and a message this important deserves to be delivered in its entirety.

We’ll talk about why there’s absolutely no need to dilute the message in a later post.

Rules of Engagement – The Truth of the Gospel

Posted by Dan C. on

Most professing Christians would agree that we are to share the good news of Christ (the gospel), using words, deeds or both. Most are also in agreement that the sharing of the gospel applies to individuals as well as the corporate church. Furthermore, ‘good deeds’ in the Name of Christ speak for themselves. When it comes to ‘words’ however, there is a lot of opinion out there regarding the correct approach and even the words we should/should not use approaching the subject with non-believers. We would all probably agree with the need to share the CORE of the gospel. Is it possible to define it?

We have heard it all. It’s about ‘having your best life now’, discovering God’s custom-made plan/purpose for your life, experiencing health/wealth & prosperity (abundant living), etc., and all because God loves us so much he can’t wait to make it all happen for us. These are things for which Christ died. One Sunday morning I heard that Christ died for my ‘dreams’. I have heard that God loves us so much He can’t even imagine His heaven without us. We package the presentation into neat little set of a few laws or canned verses designed to elicit certain responses followed by a self-evident decision. One set of study materials, with which I am very familiar, stated that the very core of Christianity, the reason Christ died on the cross was God’s passionate desire for a relationship with us. ‘Relationship’ with God through Christ is certainly inherent in God’s reconciling work – the very work that is passed to all believers, but is it the very center, the CORE of the gospel message?

This post isn’t about ‘pinging’ on all the promoters/proponents of all the ‘stuff’ we have heard, whether I mentioned it above or even if you have ‘filled in a blank’. I think it would do us well to define what the gospel IS, for two specific purposes: 1) to make sure we have the necessary ‘basic ingredients’ in our message and 2) so that we maintain the proper balance in our presentation of the gospel message. The higher goal is to be able to faithfully deliver His message to the praise of His glorious grace!

For a concise definition of the gospel we need look no further than the Apostle Paul and what he had to say on the matter. Although we could start with John 3:16, the odds on favorite, but I thought it wise to consult someone whose life work after meeting his Savior was exactly that – spreading the gospel and ‘growing’ the church. I chose Paul because although he possessed the equivalent of was several post-graduate degrees, he kept it simple. So let’s turn to Paul for a concise definition of the gospel:

“Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel that I preached to you, that you received and on which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time…” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

This is not the first time Paul presented this message to the church at Corinth and before he re-delivers it he tells them that is ‘of first importance’, not second, third, or something to bring up a few months after a more ‘relevant’, ‘comfortable’, or non-threatening’ message to get folks through the church doors. What is of first importance are two last events that happened to Christ before His ascension to sit at the right hand of the Father.

  • Christ died for our sins (according to the Scriptures), and was buried (validation – they didn’t bury dead folks).
  • He was raised on the third day (according to the Scriptures) and was seen by 500+ people (validation – too many for a conspiracy).

Each event was according to previously declared scripture and validated after the event’s occurrence.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am NOT saying we shouldn’t include God’s awesome love, the promise of abundant life,or His plan for our lives. We just need to keep central what IS central and discuss all the rest using God’s definition and according to His terms, not ours.

If we want examples of evangelistic encounters we can start with the book of Acts. There are about nineteen of them and guess what? ‘God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life’ isn’t one of them. Should that tell us something?

The Great Privilege

Posted by Dan C. on

I don’t know about you, but I get tired of always hearing about process where I work as a government contractor. “Process” seems to have taken over everything! It’s not like when I was running a communications shop in the Army, or even when I was the Operations Sergeant Major in the Battalion Headquarters. At least then ‘process’ was about more effectively getting the job done. Sometimes that meant figuring out to do more with the same or fewer people. Sometimes it was learning to accomplish the mission with the resources that were available. If the ‘process’ worked, it ended up as part of somebody’s SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). These days it seems the ‘process’ is the mission! I sit next to a ‘process engineer’ and sometimes, when I overhear his side of phone conversations, I feel his pain!

Well, guess what? God is into ‘process’! Check this out:

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.”[1]  But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”[2] Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ. Romans 10:14-17 (NET)

That looks like a ‘process’ to me! Just in case you missed it, let’s identify the process ‘steps’.

· Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved. (The end state.)

· Before you can call on the name of the Lord you have to believe.

· Before you can believe you have to hear.

· Before you can hear there needs to be a ‘preacher’

· Before there’s a ‘preacher’, there is a ‘sending’

If it didn’t before, does it look like a process now?

Where I work, my Process Engineer (PE) buddy keeps track of all the written processes we use and helps develop new processes when they are needed. He also ensures people are actually following the established processes.

The Apostle Paul, who wrote the letter to the Romans, is reminding Christians in Rome of the process, like my buddy at work does. You might also see Paul as one of the ‘sent preachers’, since after his conversion he dedicated his life to preaching the gospel, at times while working a regular job (tent making). Now the process ‘developer’ – that’s another story. In fact, you’ve probably already figured out that God is the originator of the process – the grand architect.

The only part of the process not specifically mentioned in the above passage from Romans is the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the person who has NOT yet called on the name of the Lord for salvation. In order for any person to call on the Lord, that person needs to have come to the point of realizing his/her condition of being lost and helpless, without a hope in the world of being saved through human effort. Some would say that this is the ‘drawing’ by the Father to the Son that Jesus spoke of in John 6:44 and the ‘enabling’ spoken of in John 6:65.

When that ‘drawing’ happens in the heart of the one who is needy and the gospel is ‘preached’ there is a supernatural combining of the realization of one’s ‘lost’ condition and the hearing of the word that results in calling out to the Lord and the saving of a soul for eternity!

This amazing process that brings such sweet relief on the day of our salvation even “honors” the human will by turning the human heart, which is totally dead and unable to choose anything but sin (Romans 3: 10-18), toward God, so that our decision for Christ is out of our own ‘freed’ will. We choose Christ because we desire him. We desire him because God has given us mercy and placed the necessary desire within us.

You could say God ‘owns’ the process, using the terms of the workplace. All three persons of the Trinity act in unity to miraculously create the new birth in Christ! The Father is the master architect, the Son suffered, died and was resurrected to make it possible, and the Holy Spirit operates at both ends; preparing the heart of that one lost in sin and prompting someone to share the gospel (read ‘sends the preacher’).

So what does all this process ‘stuff’ have to do with the ‘The Great Privilege’? Let me answer that with a couple of other questions:

Did God have to develop a ‘process’ to save anyone? No! Isn’t He God? Yes! After all, didn’t he confront Paul on the road to Damascus without human intervention? Yes! God can save ANY ONE, ANY TIME, ANY WAY He wants! At stake are the eternal souls of men and women and God decides to use a method to save them that involves using regular, ordinary people as ‘process agents’.

Consider the original twelve disciples. Among those Jesus chose were some fisherman, an IRS agent and at least one political activist. None of them had any sort of higher education. There wasn’t a learned religious leader, popular speaker, or finely dressed rich guy among the lot. Peter denied him, they argued about who was the greatest, and when he went to the Cross, all but one (John) disappeared from the scene. Why these guys?

About all I can say to that is that He is GOD and it’s HIS choice. The Apostle Paul, speaking to Christians at Corinth provides a better answer:

“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” [3]

There are probably other reasons why He chooses to use bumbling believers as ‘process agents’, but for the moment, it’s enough that He chose the method – ‘designed the process’.

That’s where ‘Privilege’ enters the picture. God doesn’t need people to save anyone – you, me or anyone else. It’s our Great Privilege to take the good news to the world around us. If He prompts me to share that news and I refuse, He’ll send another. If that one refuses, He’ll send another. The mission WILL be accomplished, with or without me. God WILL send a man or woman obedient to the call and souls WILL be saved according to HIS plan! As one pair of evangelical writers said so well:

“The Spirit of God uses the Word of God through men and women of God to make the message about the Son of God available to all who want to know the truth. There is no limit to the creative ways God can use to bring about this process.” – from “I’m Glad You Asked” – Ken Boa and Larry Moody

Reader, listen closely. Do you remember when you first embraced your Savior? Did not something happen inside you to cause you to desire God? Did you not somehow ‘hear’ the good news of salvation in Christ and then call out to Him for that precious gift? Are you saved, to your eternal benefit and His everlasting glory?

If so, the one who saved you now ‘sends’ you into the world to share the greatest news mankind can will ever know! That’s not my opinion. Hear some of the last words of Jesus as He prayed earnestly to the Father on behalf of his closest disciples, those 12 ordinary men, shortly before He went to the cross of Calvary.

“But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.” John 17:13-18 (NET)

Do you desire to be called? Are you prepared to go when called? Will you share the Great Privilege?

I leave you with the question and pray that the answer is a resounding YES – that like the prophet of old, you will hear the voice of the Lord saying , “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And you will say, “Here am I. Send me!”[4]

[1] Isaiah 52:7

[2] Isaiah 53:1

[3] 1 Corinthians 1:26-29

[4] Isaiah 6:8

Posted 8 March 2008