How to share the Gospel in a
Postmodern World
Recovering the neglected elements of the biblical gospel
There are only two philosophies of absolute truth: God or self
Because there are only two philosophies of absolute truth, the Word of God demands antithesis.
There are but two philosophies about absolute truth: the Word of God or self. These two philosophies are irreconcilable and mutually exclusive. That is why antithesis is needed. Without a clash between these worldviews the sinner’s imagined autonomous reason is not put on trial. In order for effective conviction of sin to take place, God’s claims as Creator must be brought to bear on the sinner’s conscience (Jn 16:8-11; Gal 3:22).
When I teach evangelism, I frequently draw a map of the United States on the board. It is obvious that in order for a map to benefit navigation, our present position must be located on it. I’m reminded of the humorous story of the Maine farmer who is asked by a wayward motorist, “Do you know how to get to Bangor?” The farmer answers, “Sure do, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to get there from here.” The point is we have no other option in reaching our destination than beginning at our present location. We have to pinpoint our location if we are to navigate by the map. Yet this seems to be lost on some well meaning believers who practice personal evangelism. The unbeliever must be clearly shown his exact “location” in reference to Christ and the gospel.
The book of Romans is the most comprehensive treatise on salvation in the Bible. When teaching evangelism, I call the book of Romans God’s “map” to eternal life. When I share the gospel from Romans with a person who is unsaved, I take as much time as necessary to show the unbeliever his present “position” on the “map.” I take him to the passages that deal with sin and unbelief. Before he can be moved to the part of the “map” on redemption, the unbeliever must whole-heartedly agree that the divine “GPS” has located him in the portion of the “map” that deals with transgression and falling short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).
This seems obvious, but it is often bypassed. When God saves the sinner, He finds the lost person in a state of rebellion and pollution. That’s where God locates him—that is the sinner’s “position” on the “map.” God’s Word is the locator that uncovers the sinner’s position and condition.
Only the biblical model of antithesis exemplified by the Apostle Paul does justice to the mutually exclusive worldviews of God and self. The truth of the gospel cannot be successfully accommodated to the relativism characteristic of postmodernism. By the world’s wisdom it is impossible to come to know God (1 Cor 1:21). There can be no saving knowledge of God until the sinner fears God as He is revealed in Scripture (Prov 1:7).
Greg Bahnsen, who is now with the Lord in glory, was a renowned public debater who specialized in the field of epistemology. Dr. Bahsen offered compelling reasons for the use of biblical antithesis. “Without the ingredient of antithesis, Christianity is not simply anemic; it has altogether forfeited its challenge to all other worldviews.¹ [I]f we are true to the antithetical nature of Christianity, we must engage in a presuppositional challenge to unbelievers to show them that in terms of their worldview they cannot make sense of logic, facts, meaning, value, ethics, or human significance.² [W]e must openly challenge the apostate philosophic constructions of men by which they seek to suppress the truth about God, themselves, and the world.”³
Pressing the antithesis between God’s truth and the lie plays a critical part in the conviction of sin.
As previously stated, by incorporating antithesis in evangelism we bring divine truth to bear on the conscience of the unbeliever. This is vital because the debate is not merely one opinion against another—it is God’s indictment of the unbeliever’s willful ignorance of God. The nonbeliever is guilty in God’s sight for what he does to the truth.⁴ Antithesis brings that guilt to light.
If we avoid the antithesis step in our evangelism it suggests that the unbeliever is neutral toward the truth of God. If we treat the unbeliever as if he is neutral, it assumes that he needs only “religious information” rather than conviction of sin. But, by utilizing antithesis, we are following the example of the Apostles and our Lord. Antithesis underscores the fact that truth is an ethical issue (Jn 3:19-21). Because antithesis shows the nonbeliever what he does with God’s truth, antithesis has the power to bring the appropriate weight of guilt upon the conscience.⁵
In the course of effective evangelism, we steer the conversation to a point at which there is an irreconcilable clash between sources of authority (God or self). The unbeliever’s stubborn adherence to self as the final point of reference must be challenged or he will continue to spew objections to the gospel. Remember, our witness is aimed at repentance. The Christian apologist must be ever aware that sinners will not be satisfied with the answers we give until they give up their rebellion against God.⁶
The unbeliever’s rebellion against God is manifested by the fact that self is his non-negotiable starting point and controlling presupposition. Once we understand that the natural man has no fixed point of reference outside of self, we can employ antithesis by contrasting the sinner’s point of reference to the authority of God’s Word. Without antithesis, the sinner’s controlling presupposition remains uncontested. What the unbeliever thinks about himself and what God says about the unbeliever must be put into bold contrast. The reason why is because the sinner still imagines that the answer to his spiritual dilemma remains in his own hands. We must challenge the sinner’s ultimate reference point so that his opposition to God is brought to light.
Without this humbling convicting stage, our evangelistic efforts are like painting over the barnacles on the rotten hull of a ship. The polluted condition of the heart must be revealed before the remedy of the gospel will ever be embraced. By utilizing antithesis in our witness, we are able to show that the assumptions of the unbeliever are on trial in God’s court. To put it bluntly, the Creator never leaves the sinner’s assumed autonomy intact. Throughout Scripture God declares that His Word is a fixed immovable point of reference that stands in antithesis to self. Self reliance, the world’s approach to knowledge, is condemned by God as folly (Prov 1:7; 3:5; Jer 17:5).
The unbeliever’s problem is not that he has no idea who God is. His problem is that he does not like who God is, therefore he rejects divine wisdom. This is the cause of the nonbeliever’s rash speculations about reality. The sinner’s intellectual problem is produced by his moral condition (as a spiritually dead individual in need of regeneration).⁷ The faithful Christian apologist is mindful that, to a large extent, we take to the unbeliever what he already knows but seeks to suppress—the knowledge of God (Rom 1:19-20).
Several years ago my ministry partner in university missions invited Anthony, an unsaved college friend, to my home. The moment Anthony walked through the door I could tell that his conscience was troubling him. His Roman Catholic training was unable to provide any liberty for his conscience. He had recently begun reading the Bible and had noticed the dichotomy between the Word of God and the empty word of man found in so much religious ceremony.
Anthony ventured to ask me a question from his readings in the Gospel of John. “What does it mean, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’?” (Jn 1:29). I sensed that he was already under the Spirit’s conviction. As I opened up the Scriptures, giving a reasoned explanation as to why God had commanded animal sacrifice in the Old Testament. The young man began to perspire profusely. I was sharing with him why the character of God requires justice. But what surprised me most was his reply when I explained the all-sufficient satisfaction wrought by Christ’s sacrifice as “God’s Lamb.”
In a troubled voice, Anthony said, “I am so afraid right now, my heart is racing.” My answer to his tremulous state was, “Friend, God is sinking your little ‘ship’ of religious hope—the Lord is sending cannon fire above the water line and torpedoes below the water line.” “It is sinking—it cannot save you from sin and judgment—it is filled with holes above and below the water line. I urge you to abandon ship and put all your trust in Christ alone—He will receive you, forgive you, and save you.”
Though cast as a metaphor, my counsel to Anthony was pure antithesis. It was a contrast between his present false hope of religious ritual and the true hope found in Christ alone. To my joy, Anthony gave his life to Christ later that week. Today he is a growing, useful, Christian who is scheduled to take his first short-term mission trip this summer.
Commonly neglected elements in today’s evangelism
The church today is afflicted by a gospel which requires no repentance.
The words of Welsh pastor Howell Harris are even more true today than they were 200 years ago. “Churches are filled with folks who have a détente with sin; they are at ease under its dominion. They won’t study the fruits of faith or make their election and calling sure, but turn the grace of God into licentiousness.”⁸
The author’s point is well taken—we have forgotten the necessity of deep conviction of sin. God’s grace is free, but its bestowal has conditions which are set by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit prepares the sinner for grace by means of conviction (Jn 16:13). The burden of sin and wrath on the conscience is a function of divine grace because Christ’s merit is known only to the poor soul in deep distress. Small conviction of sin will yield only slight views of Christ’s blood and merits.
There is a necessary desperation which must accompany true conviction of sin. It is only the destitute sinner who falls at the feet of Christ. Only those who have been smitten with the death wound of impending damnation flee to the Savior. Only those stripped of all self righteousness cry to Christ for mercy. The unsaved “religious” man has yet to receive a death blow from the law of God. The law has never been manifested to him in its spirituality (Rom 7:14); in other words, he has never been thoroughly slain by the law. If he had been, he would be dead to the law as a source of life. He would understand that he must find spiritual life in Another and not in law-keeping (Gal 2:19).
As a consequence of being yet alive to the law, the idol of self is set up in the heart against Christ in His offices of Priest and King. The false professor feels that he is a good Christian before he is thoroughly condemned by the law. Only when the law slays him will he be made to feel his utter need of faith in order to lay hold of Christ’s imputed righteousness.⁹
Only the Spirit’s convicting power can slay self-help. Says Howell Harris, nature can’t stand being stripped of all righteousness. Nature would rather despair, would rather choose Judas’ noose, than go to Christ on His terms. “Be merciful to me the sinner” is the hardest prayer in the world. To confess Christ from the heart is above the power of flesh and blood. So much profession of salvation today is merely an accommodation, a lowering of the market to what the flesh is capable of, namely a form of religion in which men have never parted with self-righteousness. As a result, carnal professors are strangers to the blood of Christ.¹⁰
The unregenerate person lies in a deep spiritual slumber of apathy. All his false hopes must be dashed or he will never flee to Christ. False professors are more naked, wretched and poor than they can possibly imagine. They have not seen their own moral bankruptcy and spiritual ruin. They seem ignorant of the fact that God only pities, forgives and receives those who are poor in spirit, self-condemned, broken-hearted and sincere. No man apart from the Spirit’s work can prepare himself in this way. It is the Spirit’s convicting work to harrow the heart until it is ‘mortally wounded’ by the law. Says Harris, no one ever came to liberty without feeling himself in bondage. No man ever believed without discovering through an evil heart of unbelief that believing is the hardest thing in the world. No one ever took up the cross in self-denial without perceiving hell, darkness and wrath pursuing him until fleeing to Christ as his only refuge.¹¹
God’s way is radically different from the self-salvation inherent in modern evangelistic methods. God comes down and scatters every stick, stone and pile of mortar that the sinner has built in the interest of personal merit. When the Spirit does His convicting work, He does not leave one stone upon another. He is a jealous God and will have no partner in the way of salvation.
When the quickening power of God’s Spirit has passed upon a man’s conscience, he is brought to see himself to be morally and spiritually bankrupt. This inward sight of self cuts him off sooner or later from legal hopes (hopes of being saved by law-keeping). In many cases the work may begin in a way scarcely perceptible—but be sure of this, that the Lord will bring down the hearts of all His people with labor; He will convince them of their lost state before Him and cast them as ruined wretches into the dust of death—without hope, strength, wisdom, help, or righteousness, except that which is given to them, as a free gift of distinguishing grace (Rom 5:6-11). Our problem today is we want conversions without conviction. We urge sinners to take Christ as Savior before they have undergone any trauma of soul over their sins.
This work of grace in the conscience, pulling down all of man’s false refuges, stripping him of every lying hope, and thrusting him down into self-abasement and self-abhorrence, is indispensable to a true reception of Christ. No matter how informed his judgment is, he will never receive Christ spiritually into his heart and affections until he has been broken by the hand of God in his soul to be a ruined wretch.¹²
We need to recover the gospel essentials that are increasingly missing today.
The biblical gospel must include the character of God and the character of the sinner. The true gospel contains the following essentials:
- Who has the sinner offended?
- How has the sinner offended God?
- What are the consequences of offending God?
- From What are sinners to be saved?
- What has God done about the sinner’s dilemma?
- How are sinners to be saved from ruin?
WHO has the sinner offended?
Our gospel message must have at its core the glory, majesty and exaltation of God—He is the offended power. Without the knowledge of God whom he has offended, the sinner will not see himself in opposition to God.¹³ The gospel is about God whom the sinner has offended, about the Creator’s moral majesty and righteous justice. God cannot be made to fit the sinner’s instincts, radical miscalculations, and carnal ideas of deity. All conviction of sin and remorse for sin begins with the character of God as He is revealed in Scripture.
In your witness, start with God as Creator—begin with who God is in relation to all else (His absolute claims upon His creatures). “Don’t assume the culture knows anything about God,” says Ken Ham. Don’t try to lead someone to Christ who doesn’t understand God’s character. False evangelism tries to attract by focusing on divine love to the exclusion of God’s holiness, sovereignty and righteous justice.
HOW has the sinner offended God?
Man must experience a degree of devastation about personal sin. The modern gospel circumvents this step. There must be an awakening in the individual as to the fact that all sin is against God, against His holy character. There is no repentance until the sinner says the same thing about his sin that God does. Sin makes him an enemy of God (Rom 3:23; 5:10).
Jesus took the rich young ruler back to the law of God (Lu 18:18-23). The sinner must be shown how he has specifically offended God. The cross cannot be made personal without making the sinner’s depravity personal (that is, the transgressor must be shown that who he is and what he has done in his person has offended God). The preaching of the law is the tool for identifying sin (Ro 3:20; 5:20).
In our culture, people hear the gospel through a grid of self improvement. They assume that the gospel is about them, about their self-therapy, not about God who is glorified in judging sin at the cross, and thereby redeeming and reconciling the sinner.
WHAT are the consequences of offending God?
The law stops every mouth that all may become guilty before God (Rom 3:19). Man’s “uneducated conscience” cannot be trusted to assess the seriousness of sin and its verdict of death and separation from God. Only by proclaiming the character of God and the immutability of His law will sinners conclude that they are lawbreakers in God’s sight who deserve eternal condemnation (1 Jn 3:4).
The law is the identifier of sin—without the law, how does a person know of what to repent? Modern evangelism ignores God’s law. As a consequence, the modern gospel is emptied of the gospel essentials of sin, hell, conviction and repentance. God has born witness to man’s moral and spiritual condition. God is just and fair to shut impenitent sinners out of the enjoyment of His glory forever (Mt 10:28). Sinners who reject God’s authority, who do not fear God or believe God, are liable to death and judgment (Mt 12:36). They will experience God’s verdict—the separation of their souls from God forever in eternal punishment (Rom 6:23). Sinners make a wager or “bet” that God will not judge them eternally for their sins (Ps 10:13).
WHAT are sinners to be saved from?
Sinners must be told that they need to be saved not only from the consequences of sin (death and separation from God in hell) but also from sin itself. Salvation is not merely deliverance from the penalty of sin, but also deliverance from the dominion of sin. This is absolutely vital—it is a truth inherent in true repentance (Lu 13:5; 24:47). The individual who truly repents wants to be freed from the tyranny of sin. Jesus felt a love for the rich young ruler; then told him what he must be saved from—covetousness (Lu 18:22ff.). Sinners must be told that they must be saved from the wrath of God which will justly come upon all who do not believe the Gospel and repent of sin (Rom 2:1-10). The fact that God will someday lay bare every heart is stated in a gospel context (Rom 2:16).
WHAT has God done about the sinner’s dilemma?
Without knowledge of God whom the sinner has offended, and without knowledge of God’s law which the sinner has trampled, there will be no grasp of what God has done to save. Grace makes sense only to those who see themselves as condemned lawbreakers. The good news of the gospel is that there is an almighty living God who is Creator. He has taken on flesh and dwelled with mankind. Christ the God-man died for our sins according to the Scriptures. By His substitutionary death, He fulfilled the long-awaited promise of a perfect redemption. He established the new covenant in His blood (Matt 26:28; 1 Cor 11:25).
The atonement Christ has made exalts divine justice. Because of the cross, God is glorified in extending forgiveness full and free to believing sinners. By His resurrection from the dead, Jesus conquered sin, Satan and death. His resurrection is proof that the Father has accepted the Son’s sacrifice on behalf of all who will believe. God is ready to receive even the worst sinner who believes and repents—because Christ has provided the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin.
HOW are sinners to be saved from ruin?
The promise of eternal life is offered to all who believe and repent. “Turn from your sins and follow Christ—take hold of eternal life!” God is focusing His mighty power in the gospel—in saving sinners (Rom 1:16, 17). The good news of the gospel is that man may have certainty about forgiveness of personal sin and man may have eternal life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Jn 3:36; 5:24-25; 10:27-29).
God desires you to be saved—He even commands you to come to Him and be forgiven, to be reconciled to Him on the basis of what He has done in Christ Jesus (Is 55:3-7). You need not remain an enemy estranged from Him—He has promised to receive all those who come to Him by faith in His Son (Jn 1:12, 13; 6:37; Acts 17:30-31). Christ is calling sinners to repentance and faith. These are twin graces that will be present in the regenerate person. Repentance and faith enable the sinner to flee to Christ and take hold of Him as Savior (Phil 1:29; Eph 2:8-10).
The problem with modern evangelism is its false diagnosis of the sinner’s dilemma.
Without a correct diagnosis of the sinner’s condition in God’s sight, men will resent and resist the gospel. Apart from the Holy Spirit using the law, men tend to hide themselves from the exposure and judgment of their sin. No man welcomes the cure provided by the cross until he sees that his “sin disease” is eternally fatal. A man does not understand the gospel if he has no understanding of divine law. The law is the means of showing the sinner that God is “Moral Governor” of the universe. The law now has both a precept role (commandments) and an evangelical role (conviction of sin). Its evangelical role is to make sin exceedingly sinful (Rom 7:13). We are to therefore preach the law “killingly” to the end that the sinner loses all hope of contributing to his own salvation. The law in the hands of the Spirit removes the sinner’s false hope in good works to save him.
Early Puritans such as Robert Bolton (1606-1654) recognized the danger of “short-cutting” the gospel by offering free grace, before the conscience was afflicted by the law.¹⁴ The Puritans regarded the moral law as a codified copy of the divine nature (God’s holiness in transcript), an unchanging expression of the holy majesty of God’s Person. Since God’s moral government is founded upon His law, the ineffable principle of moral cause and effect reveals God’s righteous character. C. H. Dodd regarded God’s moral law to be built into the very fabric of the universe and creation.¹⁵
Under the new covenant, the evangelical role of the law is summarized in Galatians 2 and 3. In these chapters the law places the entire human race in custody awaiting judgment, thus the moral law of God operates like a “bulldozer” that scrapes human merit off the face of the earth.
In fulfilling its “evangelical” role, the law is pictured in the book of Galatians as a prosecutor, an executioner, a jailor, a tutor, and a curse-er (thus the law prepares the sinner for the gospel by slaying all his false hopes and by exposing his condemned condition before God—Rom 10:4).
Learn to use the law in apologetics and evangelism.
A suggested procedure for using the law in apologetics and evangelism:
Establish the very concept of moral law. Ask key questions to make sure the person with whom you are sharing understands that God governs by means of His law. Note how our culture separates the person of God from the moral law of God. In your evangelism, strive to join the person of God to His unchanging law. God’s law is an expression of His loving care of us. To break His laws is to sin against God’s character and it is to sin against love which God’s laws are meant to safeguard.
Establish that moral law is a direct reflection of God’s unchanging moral character. It is impossible to love God without submitting to and valuing His commands as the expression of His righteousness (Deut 30:19-20). The Leviticus formula is, “I am the Lord, therefore . . .” God’s standard never evolves because the Lawgiver never changes. His moral law for man reflects the immutable character of His righteousness and holiness. It is a standard that is eternally binding upon all civilizations.¹⁶
Establish the existence of God’s moral government. Moral cause and effect are administered by God (note: Deut 10, 11, 13, 27, 28). By obedience to God’s commands, we manifest that we are God’s possession and that we are willingly subject to His moral government. Paul preached the gospel against the backdrop of the coming judgment of God’s moral government (see Acts 17:30, 31; 24:15, 16; Rom 2:16). To reverence God and His moral authority is to understand that sin issues the ‘paycheck’ of death and separation (Rom 6:23).
Remember, every false worldview has its own erroneous counterpart to the biblical doctrines of sin, moral guilt, atonement, and salvation! In a rudimentary fashion, God’s law is written on the conscience of every man (Rom 2:15). We can ‘tap into’ this innate knowledge of God’s moral government by reaching the conscience. The Apostle Paul states that the human condition is made known by God’s law (Rom 7:9-11). Man is responsible to God for his conduct, held to a standard of conduct and indicted and judged for not upholding that standard, even if he has never read or heard of the Bible (Rom 2:12-15). According to Paul, man has an innate knowledge of God’s attributes (Rom 1:20), an innate knowledge of God’s person (Rom 1:21), an innate knowledge of God’s law (Rom 1:32; 2:14-15), and an innate knowledge of God’s judgment (Rom 1:32).¹⁷
In our apologetic “reasoning” we must remember the conscience of man must be reached before cherished intellectual fallacies are abandoned.
Arguments against the God of the Bible come from the unbeliever’s intellect. The ungodly mind is like a brick wall built to keep God out. It has enmity against Him. It refuses to bow to the law of God –‘because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; (Rom 8:7) (NASB).
The carnal mind weaves arguments and attacks against God. The unregenerate mind is the place of battles against God—it is a place of great hostility against the knowledge of God (Col 1:21). The mental wall of antagonism against the knowledge of God is hard and immovable and, as a witness of Christ, one should make a habit of skirting it. Learn to speak directly to the conscience. Ray Comfort notes, “The conscience is the only part of human nature that isn’t an enemy of God. The conscience is God’s ally. It speaks for the law of God. It bears witness (Rom 2:15). It testifies for God. It is the witness who points out the guilty party in the courtroom. If we want to win our case we must bring out our star witness (God’s law) and put it on the stand to give it a voice. We want to stop the mouth of the criminal and that’s what the lawful use of the law does (Rom 3:19; 1 Tim 1:7-11). It condemns the guilty and drives him to give up his defense, so that he will be forced to look solely to the Judge for mercy.”¹⁸
Learn to preach the law of God in association with the need for repentance.
Preaching the law of God and preaching repentance toward God are necessarily joined to the Holy Spirit’s preparation of the sinner. Only the man prepared by God’s Spirit goes to war against his own sin and his own sin nature. The sinner prepared by the Holy Spirit takes God’s side against himself. Luther once said, “Penance remains while self hate remains.” In other words, no one comes to Christ without being overwhelmed with self-contempt over personal sin. In order to be brought to true repentance, a man must be taken beyond the fear of punishment—to hatred of sin and love of Christ. Repentance begins with sobering thoughts of eternity, then proceeds to conscience-crushing contemplation of personal sin.
The sinner will come willingly if the Spirit of God has prepared him by crushing his conscience over sin and by bringing him to the end of self. Unbelievers stop short of saving faith and repentance when they place their trust in their efforts of personal reformation (legal repentance). Therefore it is the Spirit’s convicting role to bring the sinner to utter bankruptcy of soul and despairing of all self-help. True turning from sin has a palpable desperation about it. The prepared sinner longs for forgiveness and deliverance from sin. The cost of discipleship lived out under the absolute lordship of Christ appeals only to the person who is desperate to be delivered from sin. The prepared person is willing to pay any cost and part with anything in order to have Christ and deliverance.
The man who is genuinely converted never outgrows his amazement at divine forgiveness. His mind and affections are now servants and instruments of God’s Word and grace. He continues to glorify God by viewing God’s grace from the vantage point of what his sin deserves (Eph 2:1-16). This is why we preach the law, for it is the beginning of understanding what we justly deserve and it is the beginning of preparing the sinner to appeal to the throne of grace for mercy.
The modern “gospel” fails to bring the human condition to light; it comes short of producing true conviction of sin.
Without exposing the human condition in a convincing way that afflicts the conscience, people have little idea from what they are to be saved. Modern presentations of the Gospel tend to emphasize the benefits of salvation rather than the character of God and the sinner’s condition.¹⁹ When Christ preached the gospel, He removed all middle ground—He eliminated all gray areas. He emphatically stated that there is no neutral territory between truth and lies, between heaven and hell. Christ’s words concerning the gospel made a clear division between men. If a person is not following Christ with all his heart and seeking to build His Kingdom and involved in gathering souls then, according to Christ, that person is scattering and is “against Me” (Luke 11:23).
Christ and the Apostles preached the law of God, original sin, the need of repentance, and the need of a new nature. When the gospel is preached biblically, the soil of the heart will be “plowed up” in order to receive the good seed (Matt 13:1-23). Our self-trust, self-boasting, self-analysis, and self-seeking flow from the deception that we can live independently of God. Self-centered man is separated from a holy God by three immense barriers:
- A bad record—“All have sinned. . .” (Rom 3:23)
- A bad heart—“From the heart of man come evil thoughts. . .” (Matt 15:19)
- A bad master—“Whoever commits sin is a slave. . .” (Jn 8:34)
God won’t let us live as rebels forever. God’s punishment for rebellion is death and judgment. God will call us into account for our actions. The sentence God passes on us is entirely just—it gives us what we have asked for by our rebellion. By our attempts to live independently of God we have said, “I prefer to live with my back to You, I don’t want you telling me what to do. Leave me alone.”²⁰ “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Heb 9:27). It is a terrible thing to fall under the sentence of God’s judgment. God’s judgment on rebels is to withdraw from them, to cut them off from Him self permanently. And, since God is the source of all life, light, love, good and blessedness, being cut off from Him means death and hell.²¹ “The wages of sin is death. . .” (Rom 3:23a).
In our alienation from God in this life, we will experience an accusing conscience which generates fear, guilt, and depression. But in the existence to come there will be loss of all friendship and earthly joys forever (Matt 8:12; Luke 16:19-31). There will be frightful pains of body and conscience forever (Mark 9:48).²²
Because of His love, God sent His Son into the world, the man Jesus Christ.
Because of His great love and generosity, God did not leave us to suffer the consequences of our foolish rebellion. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to take our punishment and to bring forgiveness.²³ “Christ died for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Pet 3:18). God raised Jesus to life again and appointed Him Ruler of the world. Jesus has conquered death. He now gives new life and He will return as Judge. God accepted Jesus’ death as payment in full for our sins and raised Him from the dead. As God’s appointed Ruler over all, Jesus has also been appointed by God to judge the world.²⁴ “He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (Acts 17:31a; Jn 5:22-23).
Jesus offers a new life—both now and eternally. Our sins can be forgiven through Christ’s death and we can be delivered from rebellion and brought into friendship with God. The pardon that Christ brings to those who trust Him assures believers that when He returns He will accept us into His eternal home. “In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead” (1 Pet 1:3). God’s gift of new life in Christ removes the barriers which separate us from God (a bad record, a bad heart, a bad master.)
In Christ the believer has:
- A perfect record—“Christ . . . is made our righteousness” (1 Cor 1:30).
- A new heart—“A new heart I will give you” (Ez 36:25-26).
- A new master—“My yoke is easy” (Matt 11:28-30).
Jesus said of the new life He offers: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He that believes in Me. . . from within him shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38-39). In this new life, God Himself comes to live within us by His Spirit. We experience the joy of a new relationship with God. God’s Holy Spirit gives you the ‘fruit’ of “love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22). God’s Holy Spirit gives you power to overcome feelings of loneliness, stress and fear of people and the future (1 Jn 4:18). He gives the power to break habits like selfishness, depression, uncontrolled anger, sexual lust, overeating and substance abuse.²⁵
We come to Christ by way of repentance and faith. To repent is to turn in sorrow from your sins. Repentance is not our suffering or our good works to earn salvation but a turning from our sins to the living God through Christ Jesus. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him turn to the Lord, that He may have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Is 55:7). Trust in Christ Jesus alone. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. . .” (Acts 16:31). Trusting is accepting, receiving, and resting on Christ alone as the Savior from our sins.
Endnotes:
1 Greg Bahnsen, “At War with the Word: The Necessity of Biblical Antithesis” www.reformed.org (2001) 1.
2 Ibid. p. 16.
3 Ibid. p. 18.
4 Greg Bahnsen, Always Ready (Atlanta, GA: American Vision, 1996) 157-159.
5 Michael Kruger, “The Sufficiency of Scripture in Apologetics” The Master’s Seminary Journal, 12:1 (Spring 2001): 72.
6 Thom Notaro, Van Til and Evidences (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1980) 40.
7 John Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1994) 232.
8 Edward Morgan, The Life and Times of Howell Harris (Denton, TX: The Need of the Times, 1998) 71.
9 Ibid. p. 74.
10 Ibid. pp. 24-25.
11 Ibid. pp. 257-258.
12 J. C. Philpot, The Heavenly Birth and its Earthly Counterfeit (Chapel Library reprint) 4..
13 Joseph Lo Sardo, “Errors in Modern Evangelism” www.sermonaudio.com, (5/7/06).
14 Robert Bolton, Afflicted Consciences, p.175.
15 C. H. Dodd, Gospel and Law, pp. 70, 71, 79.
16 Douglas W. Phillips, Esq., “Do Laws and Standards Evolve?” Impact #303, Institute for Creation Research,1998.
17 Richard C. Barcellos, The Ten Commandments, p. 19.
18 Ray Comfort, Conversions True and False, audio message, www.livingwaters.com.
19 Jim Elliff, The New Gospel: Appealing but not Revealing, p. 3.
20 Two Ways to Live, www.mathiasmedia.com .au/2wtl/.
21 Ibid.
22 C. John Miller, Powerful Evangelism for the Powerless (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980) 149.
23 Two Ways to Live, www.mathiasmedia.com .au/2wtl/.
24 Ibid.
25 C. John Miller, pp. 147-148.