Witnessing Summary Sheet
Jay Wegter
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?
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. (EX: “Does it disturb you that family values are under attack? Has anyone ever shared with you where morals originate?”)
- 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.
- 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 as Creator, 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).