“Sometimes we are inclined to think that a very great portion of modern revivalism has been more a curse than a blessing, because it has led thousands to a kind of peace before they have known their misery; restoring the prodigal to the Father’s house, and never making him say, ‘Father, I have sinned.’ How can he be healed who is not sick? or he be satisfied with the bread of life who is not hungry? The old-fashioned sense of sin is despised, and consequently a religion is run up before the foundations are dug out. Everything in this age is shallow. Deep-sea fishing is almost an extinct business so far as men’s souls are concerned. The consequence is that men leap into religion, and then leap out again. Unhumbled they come to the church, unhumbled they remained in it, and unhumbled they go from it.'”

– Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1882)

Paul’s Question:

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ” – Rom 6:1

Paul’s Answer:

“By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” – Rom 6:2

There are three factors which prevent a true believer from continuing in sin, and they all begin with the letter “C.”

(1) CONFESSION—The believer who sins does not need to continue in a state of sin because he may CONFESS his sins (1 John 1:9) and God is faithful and just to forgive his sin and cleanse him from all unrighteousness.

(2) CONVICTION—God’s Holy Spirit, who dwells in every believer, will bring conviction of sin that should lead to humble confession. If it doesn’t, the conviction continues. The Holy Spirit makes His grieved presence felt (Eph. 4:30). The true believer can never be comfortable in his sin, even as righteous Lot’s soul was vexed in Sodom (2 Pet. 2:7-8). We can thank God that He makes us miserable when we are not right with Him. When we are disobedient we are unsettled, unpeaceful, unhappy. Thank God it is so!

(3) CHASTENING—If the sinning believer does not respond in the right way to God’s conviction in the heart, then the Father will chasten His child whom He loves (1 Cor. 11:31-32). Maximum chastisement can even result in the physical death of the believer (1 Cor. 11:30). As a good human father will not permit his child to continue doing wrong, so the Heavenly Father will not permit His child to continue in wickedness. 

R. Gene Reynolds in his helpful book Assurance—You Can Know You’re A Christian said the following on page 73:

A person who is living sinfully, who knows he is living sinfully, who enjoys living in such a manner, who intends to continue that sinful way of living—that person does not have the Holy Spirit living within him. The very fact that he is ‘comfortable’ about his sin is proof of the Spirit’s absence. His spiritual vital sign registers ‘no life.’

The First Epistle of John reinforces Paul’s question and answer:

“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:9-10

“We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.” – 1 John 5:18

______________________________

Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down,

Don’t you care, don’t you care, are you gonna let them drown,

How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,

You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done.

Oh Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know it’s all I ever hear,

No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear,

But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds, and He cares for your needs,

And you just lay back and keep soaking it in, oh, can’t you see it’s such sin?

Cause He brings people to your door,

And you turn them away, as you smile and say,

God bless you, be at peace, and all Heaven just weeps,

Cause Jesus came to your door, you’ve left Him out on the streets.

Open up, open up, and give yourself away,

You’ve seen the need, you hear the cry, so how can you delay,

God’s calling and you’re the one, but like Jonah you run,

He’s told you to speak, but you keep holding it in,

Oh, can’t you see it’s such sin?

The world is sleeping in the dark,

That the church can’t fight, cause it’s asleep in the light,

How can you be so dead, when you’ve been so well fed,

Jesus rose from the grave, and you, you can’t even get out of bed,

Oh, Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed.

How can you be so numb, not to care if they come,

You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done,

You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done,

Don’t close your eyes, don’t pretend the job’s done.

Come away, come away, come away with Me, My love,

Come away, from this mess, come away with Me, My love.

________________

Listen to Keith Green perform this song at Estes Park.

The first blog post here at The Battle Cry was called The Great Privilege. Guess what? We’ll say it again – sharing the gospel, the Good News is THE greatest privilege ever given by God in Heaven to His children on Earth!

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” – Rom 10:14-15

Face it. God doesn’t need us, He has chosen to use us as  ‘means’ by which He saves His people. Yes, the Bible says that “He who wins souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30, but do we do the “winning”, or does God win souls for His Kingdom through us? Sure, Agrippa told Paul that he was almost persuaded to be a Christian (Acts 26), but who does the actual persuading, the messenger or the one who opens hearts and minds to receive the message, the Holy Spirit of God (Acts 16)?

As often as we bumble and stumble with Hi gospel message, God has never changed His plan! You don’t have to have a special ‘gift’ of evangelism, although there are some who are so gifted; all you need to be able to do is explain a few basic truths you should already know to whomever you are ‘sent’.

1. Man is alienated from God because of sin, and we all stand guilty before a Holy and Just God (Rom 3:23). There are serious consequences as a result of sin (Rom 6:23a)

2. God has provided an answer to the ‘sin’ problem through the sacrifice of His own Son in the sinner’s place (Rom 6:23b, Rom 5:8).

3. It is the responsibility of everyone who would be saved from their sin to acknowledge that sin, repent (turn from sin and toward God), and believe the good news (Mark 1:15).

4. There is a cost associated with becoming a genuine follower of Christ. A person who doesn’t want to count the cost might not be ready for the gift of salvation (Luke 18:18-23).

Evangelism is not a ‘canned’ method, it is knowing and experiencing in one’s own life the above truths and sharing them with others. The scripture references provided are not the only passages that can be used to present the message, nor are the particular ‘words’ presented above the words you must use. The truths presented are what you need to communicate so that the hearer understands them.

I encourage you to just think about these truths and ‘how’ you share the gospel today. Do you present the ‘gospel of addition’ that people just need to add Jesus to their lives to solve all their ‘life’ problems? Or do you take the conversation to the the only truths that can actually save a person from an eternity in Hell?

And remember, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ is STILL the great privilege!

From Romans, Chapter 1:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

If we define ‘atheism’ is the belief that there is no God, or god, the above passage from Romans 1 seems to indicate that no one is ‘born’ an atheist. We all have some knowledge of God in our hearts. For the one who claims to be an atheist, there seems do be a downhill slide, or descent, from a conscious knowledge of God with significant recognizable ‘marks’.

I will leave all that to you who are reading this…something to think about today and something to remember when encountering someone who claims to be an atheist. Knowing from whence he/she has fallen should help in our approach to bringing truth to darkened hearts.

“It is totally beyond our control to “be saved”.  . . . . Yes, our race is a fallen race, and praise be to God, He provided that perfect restitution, that perfect reconciliation, that perfect restoration of relationship, IF we will only decide to accept it.“

The above statements were part of the same comment in another group of forums I sometimes visit, where interesting spiritual questions are posed for discussion. The forum thread where these appeared was about the ‘nature’ of fallen man.

That combination of statements poses an unavoidable question. The first says that is totally beyond our control to be saved. the second says that we ultimately are saved IF, and only IF, we make the right decision.

There is truth in both statements. We have no ability to control our salvation, and we must choose Christ. But doesn’t the IF, mean that we are ultimately in control?

In another forum thread at the same discussion venue, someone commented that God doesn’t actually save anyone, but that we save ourselves by our decision for Christ.

Please understand that this is just a question, regardless of what I might or might not personally believe. I have had to ask the question myself, believe me.