Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

11 June, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Evangelism   "I Really Want To Believe, But I'm Afraid I Can't" If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember the pastor and feisty commenter known as 'PDL'. He was incensed at evangelists who believe in election and predestination, perceiving that they were not telling unbelievers the whole story. His suggested evangelism outline for such evangelists goes something like this: "Believe in Jesus. But do you know what? That's not going to do any good, because first you have to be elected by God, and if you aren't, then too bad for you". But some of the greatest evangelists in history were believers and defenders of the doctrine of election, and you might be surprised at how that impacted their evangelism. First, let's get a sense of who we are talking about here. The list includes the preachers of The Great Awakening including George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, the Puritans, and Reformers. In modern times, you have John MacArthur, and John Piper who, say what you want about him, is nothing short of obsessed with overseas missions. All of these men, and many more, saw no conflict between evangelism and election, and as this excerpt from Charles Spurgeon's book The Soul Winner shows us, the charges of doctrine hiding" are usually misplaced: "The withholding of the doctrine of the total depravity of man has wrought serious mischief to many who have listened to a certain kind of preaching. These people do not get a true healing because they do not know the disease under which they are suffering; they are never truly clothed because nothing is done towards stripping them. In many ministries, there is not enough of probing the heart and arousing the conscience by the revelation of man's alienation from God, and by the declaration of the selfishness and the wickedness of such a state. Men need to be told that, except divine grace shall bring them out of their enmity to God, they must eternally perish; and they must be reminded of the sovereignty of God, that He is not obliged to bring them out of this state, that He would be right and just if He left them in such a condition, that they have no merit to plead before Him, and no claims upon Him, but that if they are to be saved, it must be by grace, and by grace alone. The preacher's work is to throw sinners down in utter helplessness, that they may be compelled to look up to Him who alone can help them". [Read More] Where is that kind of preaching in our modern mega-temples? It seems to be a completely lost commodity in today's evangelism. Getting back to the question that you could imagine someone getting really hung-up on, and that is "but what if I'm not elect?"; Joel Beeke addresses this preoccupation in his book Puritan Evangelism: "Puritan evangelists labored to show sinners the unreasonableness of persisting in sin. They tore away every excuse for remaining unregenerate, whether it be an unbeliever's own inability and unwillingness, or divine sovereignty and election. As John Owen told his listeners, even election is no excuse for remaining in unbelief. "Election is first from God's side, but it is known last from the believer's side", he said. Joseph Alleine added": "You begin at the wrong end if you dispute about your election. Prove your conversion and then never doubt your election. ... Whatever God's purposes be, which are secret, His promises are plain. How desperately do rebels argue, "If I am elected I shall be saved, do what I will. If not, I shall be damned, do what I can." Perverse sinner, will you begin where you should end? Is not the word before you? What saith it? "Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out." "If you mortify the deeds of the body you shall live." "Believe and be saved" (Acts 3:19; Rom 8:13; Acts 16:31). What can be plainer? Do not stand still disputing about your election, but set to repenting and believing. Cry to God for converting grace. Revealed things belong to you; in these busy yourself". And so you might imagine the gates of heaven as having a sign fastened to them that says "believe and repent". And for those who genuinely do it, and eventually pass through those gates, the back-side of that very same sign proclaims the source of their faith with words like these "chosen in him before the foundation of the world". For those who arrive at that eternal destination, their reason for being there will be entirely based upon the saving grace of God, with none of the credit (not even a little) owed to themselves. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.303   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism