BOOK 5 Confusion Busters: Seven Things You Should Know About The Gospel Message

A SAMPLE OF ENDORESMENTS The following are some of the endorsements for Julian’s 900+ page book called Evangelism: Strategies from Heaven In the War for Souls. Some people are daunted by such a big book so Julian made a small book out of each chapter of the 900+ page book. What you are about to read is just one of the chapters of the larger work.

David Cole, YWAM Campaigns Asia/Pacific Board of Regents Chairman University of the Nations.

“This book is one of the most in depth looks at what Evangelism really is (and what it isn’t) that I believe has been written in the last century. I have been so inspired in my own calling through its content and often use it as a text book for teaching and imparting to young leaders in YWAM training courses as well as throughout other parts of the Body of Christ. Thank you Julian not only for such a valuable resource as well as for modeling the outworking of its content in your own life over the past few decades.”

Pastor Mike Smith, Melbourne, Australia

“An incredible book that all pastors should read. I have been a Christian for 28 years and a pastor for many years, and when I picked up this book, I thought, I doubt this will teach me anything new about evangelism. I was so wrong. It has revolutionised my thinking.

This is an incredible book that all pastors should read.”

Grant Buchanan LLB, B.Com, Auckland

“The best book I have ever read.

I am a solicitor (54) and a partner in a law practice.

I unhesitatingly give my endorsement for Julian s book.

Indeed, I would rate it as the best book that I have ever read!”

Grant Buchanan LLB, B.Com, Auckland

Michael Angulo, Pastor and Church Leader

“Truly a work of Ministerial art. I really like this book and every true evangelist will love it also. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO PUT IT DOWN, BUT WILL BE THINKING WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO READ IT AGAIN! A truly very well written book with good retrospective learning ideas. No true evangelist should be without this book. It is worth what it is worth and it will catapult you into great, deliberate PROVEN, ministry approach. Great book and I highly recommend it. Get this one, you won’t be disappointed!”

Julian Batchelor, M.ed (Hons), B.Th, Dip.T’Ching

CONFUSION BUSTERS: SEVEN THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

Copyright Julian Batchelor, 2017 Evangelism Strategies International Press Auckland New Zealand

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Acknowledgements I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people for the production of this Mini Series: Sheryl Kampenhout, who transferred a mountain of material from Power Point shows into Word documents and who served and encouraged me in such a loving and kind way; to Matthew Old, a faithful friend and fellow evangelist, who has been a Barnabas. He reached out his hands when the hills seemed steepest, loved me in spite of my failures, stimulated me with his sharp mind, and made me laugh when I wanted to cry; to Janice Teo, and her intercessory prayer team who are as vital to the ministry I direct as the heart is to the body; to the team of editors, including Ken Francis and Julie Belding; to all the financial supporters who have given so generously to me over the years. I especially want to thank Paul and Tina Richards, of Club Physical, owners of a gymnasium chain in Auckland, New Zealand, and Derek van Beynen, who have faithfully sponsored my ministry for over a decade. Few people have the privilege of being able to leave secular work to write and produce resources to further the cause of the evangelisation of the world, and to motivate and equip the Church to do the same. You, and all my other financial supporters, have made this possible; to those I live with who have not seen me for years because I have been locked away in my office writing, I give my sincere thanks. Special thanks to Neil Pollock. To Jenny Windeyer, the graphic artist, who designed the cover of the original 800 page book (which we’ve turned into this Mini Series), and to Jenny’s husband Drew for going beyond the call of duty so that Jenny could focus on this project; to faithful Bernie Anderson who has sacrificed and given way beyond what a leader would expect of a dedicated co-worker; to Eleanor Goodall and Sue and George Jeffrey who epitomise love and true friendship; to the team at ESI for keeping all the various aspects of the evangelism ministry moving forwards whilst I directed most of my time to write this Mini Book Series; for Dr Martyn Bowis who did all the programming for the electronic version of the gospel called “Proclaim it!”; for Henoch Kloosterboeror for producing all the brilliant

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drawings; Dr David Stewart, retired Principal of the Bible College of New Zealand for nearly two decades of encouragement and mentoring; Denise James and Anne Bartley, staff at the Bible College of New Zealand for helping with research; all those who have helped proof read the manuscript and given comment, particularly Dr Marie Sewell, Gill Donald, Gill Lukey, Donna Hansen, Ainslie Vines, Ann Hunter, and Miriam and Ted Martin; to the academic staff of the Bible College of New Zealand for giving me a grounding in theology; for all those who have given financially and sacrificially to pay for specific aspects of the publishing of this Mini Book Series; for my friend Ray Comfort, for his inspiration and encouragement.

There are few evangelists today who have journeyed on the road of trial and tribulation to achieve breakthrough as Ray Comfort. For John Stott, the academic evangelist for his coaching and input via his many books.

For all the people who we have trained in evangelism around the world who are out there doing it – you are the heroes in the battle for souls; for the many hundreds of pastors, leaders, and lay Christians around the globe who have contributed to my life as a Christian, and to this Mini Book Series; and finally, I thank Jesus Christ, whose amazing grace and love has inspired and kept me. All the revelations in this Mini Book Library about evangelism and the gospel were given by Him – to Him be all the glory.

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How To Read The Mini Books In This Library This Mini Book is one of a Library of 27 Mini Books. The Library is a detailed critique of the battle between light and darkness which is relentlessly raging all over the earth for the souls of men and women.

The insights and revelations in each Mini Book are hierarchical i.e.

Mini Book Two builds upon Mini Book One, Mini Book Three upon Mini Books One and Two, and so on. Hence, the ideal is to try and read all the Mini Books in the library in sequence. If you skip Mini Books, or even parts of Mini Books, you might miss something vital, and open yourself to misunderstanding or even defeat.

Having said this, after you have read Mini Books One to Seven, which are the foundational books in the Library, each Mini Book is designed to stand alone. So, read Books One to Seven first. This is essential.

With respect to evangelism, if you follow the advice I am giving here in the pages of each Mini Book, you’ll position yourself perfectly to be used by the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus in ways you’d not imagined possible. How so? Read the 27 Mini Books in the library and find out.

Along with Mini Books 1-7, I suggest you also purchase Mini Book 27, which is the “Evangelism Fitness Test.” This is a diagnostic survey which will tell you the extent to which you have been unwittingly influenced by the devil with respect to evangelism. Sit this test before you read anything. Then do the same test again after you have read all the Mini Books to check to see if all his devices have been thoroughly purged from your mind!

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Confusion Busters: Seven Things You Should Know About The Gospel Message

For good reason, Christian people love the phrase ‘the gospel.’

Tragically, however, multitudes of Christians fail to grasp the meaning of this phrase”1 Tullian Tchividjian, pastor and author.

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agree. There is currently tremendous confusion in the Church about what the phrase ‘the gospel’ means.

This confusion is having devastating effects on our efforts to evangelise the world. How so? First, there are many Christians who are confused about what the gospel is, so they say nothing, fearing that if they do say something, they might botch it up. Then there are those who think they know what the gospel is but really they don’t know. This group is unwittingly peddling false gospels.

It is therefore in our best interests to define the gospel so we can clean up these two problems.

THE FIRST THING YOU SHOULD KNOW. There is a wide and general gospel, and a sharply defined New Testament Gospel.

So exactly what is ‘the gospel’? The word ‘Gospel’ means ‘good news.’ In one sense, the whole Bible is ‘the gospel.’ In fact, one version of it is called ‘The Good News Bible.’ When I use the phrase ‘the gospel’ to refer to the whole Bible, I am referring to it in 1

Tullian Tchividjian. Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels. Crossway Books. 2010, p.16

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the wide and general sense.

However, when Jesus said “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel” (Mark 16:15) He was referring to a very specific message extracted from within the whole Bible - yes, from within the wide and general gospel. He was referring to a very specific selection of the Words from within the whole Bible2.

Many authors today are very confused about the difference between the wide and general gospel and the sharply defined New Testament gospel. For example, Mack Stiles writes: “When I have led people to Christ over the year it has usually been because a non-Christian was willing to study the Scriptures with me. Perhaps it was a group of students looking into the gospel of Mark at a camp or conference. It could have been a couple of peole in a coffee shop or just one person during a lunch break.

No matter where or with whom, the process is simple: we read the passage and talk about what it means. Over time, in ones and twos, people come to Jesus because they are taught the gospel. Such teachings may not be as exciting as a massive revival, but if every Christian did this with non-Christian friends, it would have far greater reach and authenticity.

We don’t teach math or biology. We teach the gospel. It’s important to teach the gospel well because there is so much confusion about it around the world. There are two mistakes we can make about the gospel. We can make it too small or too big.

Both mistakes turn on a very small hinge: misunderstands about 2 How do we know this? The Greek word for ‘gospel’ is this verse is εὐαγγέλιον (phonetically ‘yoo-angghel’-ee-on) which means: “the preaching concerning Jesus Christ as having suffered death on the cross to procure eternal salvation for men in the kingdom of God.” It may be more briefly defined as “the glad tidings of salvation through Christ; the proclamation of the grace of God manifested and pledged in Christ; the gospel.” The meaning of Jesus’ birth, death on a cross, resurrection, ascention need to be explained, as do terms like salvation and grace. To explain something clearly requires words. Notice also,the verbs ‘preaching’ and ‘proclamation.’ When one preaches or proclaims, one uses Words. Hence, Mark 16:15 is clearly about the Words of the gospel. There is no mention of signs and wonders, food parcels, prayer, social action, or random acts of kindness in the meaning of εὐαγγέλιον. Other verses in the Bible exhort us to these things, but not Mark 16:15. Mark 16:15 is only and exclusively about words.

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implications of the gopsel. These implications flow out of our belief in the gospel message. We make the gospel too small by thinking it only “Get us saved” that it is a sort of fire insurance, without understanding that is has implications for all of life….we make the gospel too big when we say the gospel is everything.”3 Mack is example of an author who is confused about ‘the gospel’ as Jesus used the term in Mark 16:15. Let me explain. When Stiles says he teaches people ‘the gospel’ by studying one or two passages, he’s talking about ‘the gospel’ in the wide and general sense. In other parts of his book, Mack explains what he means by ‘one or two passages’. These are passages which address topics like love, reconcilliation, forgiveness, faith, humility, repentance, meekness, and so on. All these topics, and many more topics, are covered as one reads the whole Bible. As such, he’s talking about ‘the gospel’ in the wide and general sense.

When he’s talking about the gospel being ‘everything’ he is also talking about it in the wide and general sense.

Now here is the point I want to make - when Jesus said ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation’ He was talking about a very specific message which has been extracted from within the pages of the wide and general gospel. I call this very specific message ‘the sharply defined New Testament gospel’.

Another term for this very specific message is “the Kerygma”. I will talk more about this term later in this chapter. For now, I will explain the content of the sharply defined New Testament gospel, or Kerygma. The point I want to make is that this message deliberately and necessarily cuts out a lot of the teaching of the wide and gernal gospel. We could say that it’s the irreducible minimum of the wide 3 J. Mack Stiles. Evangelism. How the Whole Church Speaks Of Jesus. 9 Marks Of Building Healthy Churches. Crossway Books. Wheaton. Illinois. 2014. pp.31-32

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and general gospel.

THESECOND THING YOU SHOULD KNOW. The sharply defined New Testament gospel has specific and definable content These words, this message, this Kerygma, explains to an unsaved person or group of unsaved people four essential truths about salvation4: 1. Why they must be saved.

2. How Jesus can save them.

3. What they must do to be saved.

4. The cost of being a disciple.

This is the content I communicate when I share the gospel. I like to keep it simple, short and sharp, and jargon free. I always try and be as gentle and gracious as I can in the delivery. Let’s say I am talking to someone called Bill.

1. WHY WE MUST BE SAVED. Me: Bill, would you like me to explain what a Christian is, and how you can be sure of going to heaven when you die?5 Bill: Sure, that would be good. Go ahead.

Me: There are some things you need to know. First, God and heaven are holy6. Holy just means perfect.

Second, you have a body and a soul. At death your body is either buried or cremated, but your soul, the real you, lives on forever either in heaven or hell. There is no third place. Now unfortunately, we’ve got a bit of a problem. The Bible says that if we have broken God’s laws, like lied once, cheated once, hated once, just once, then our souls become imperfect and we can’t enter heaven.

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Later in this Mini Book, I show how I came to these four points of content.

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E.g. John 3:16

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E.g. Isaiah 6:3

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Can I ask you two questions which will show you what I mean7.

Have you ever told a lie in your life?

Bill: Yes, of course Me: Me too. I have also told a lie. So what does that make us?

Liars, right? If we have told one lie, we are a liar.

Have you ever taken anything that is not yours, even something small like a pencil or pen? Or done some personal photocopying in your boss’s time when you didn’t have his permission? Or arrived late to work, or left early, which is stealing time?

Bill: Yes. Me: Me too. So what does that make us? Thieves, right?

Bill: Yes, that’s right.

Me: So by our own confession, you and I are a couple of thieving liars.

Me: Now do you think God is going to let thieving liars like us into heaven. If He did, it would no longer be heaven, would it?

Bill: True. That’s right.

Me: Given that absolutely everyone on the earth is exactly like you and me, and guilty before God for breaking His laws8, it looks like absolutely no one will make it to heaven, true?

Bill: True.

Me: So it looks like we are all headed for hell. If there was a way to get to heaven, in spite of the seeming impossibility, would you like to know what that way is?

Bill: Yes. 2. HOW JESUS CAN SAVE US. Me: Let me explain. When you were born, God opened a book about your life. He does this with everyone. Everytime we break one of God’s laws, he writes it down9. Well you can imagine that 7

E.g. Galatians 3:24

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E.g John 3:18

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E.g. Ecclesiastes 12:14

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as we get older, we have a whole library10 written against us. My library would be much bigger than yours!

Bill: Mine would be pretty big too!

Me: Ok, that’s the bad news, but here is the good news. Because Jesus was God, He is the only one who ever lived who had a perfect record. If you looked inside the book of His life, you’d find that the pages of his law breaking would be blank. When He died a cruel death on the Cross 2000 years ago, He was taking the punishment which you and I justly deserve for breaking His laws11. Through His death on the Cross Jesus made it possible for us to be forgiven and to have our record with God wiped clean. As best I can, I’ll explain what happens in heaven when you ask Jesus to forgive you.

He takes your book, the record of everything you’ve ever done wrong in this life, and He rips out the pages and throws them into the deepest sea so they can never be seen again12. He deliberately forgets what was written on those old pages. He then takes a copy of his perfect record, and puts it inside the cover of your book13.

This book, with your name on the spine, Jesus’s perfect record inside, is stored in heaven like a precious library book. The miracle is that this book is not touched again between the point at which you were forgiven and death, even though you are going to break more of God’s laws in that time14. Then when you die, you’ll come up before God at judgement15, and He’ll command the angels to get your book. They will get it and open it and say “This man Bill was perfect!” Jesus, smiling and with arms out-streched, will say “Bill, my beautiful son, welcome into heaven!”16 10 E.g. Revelation 20:11-15 11 E.g. Romans 5:6; Romans 5:8 12 .E.g Isaiah 43:25 13 E.g 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9 14 E.g. Colossians 2:14 15 E.g. Hebrews 9:27 16 E.g. John 8:36

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Bill: Wow! Is that true?

Me: Yes it is. All the miracles Jesus did in His life, all the prophecies which came true about Him, and especially His rising from the dead, prove that everything He said was true.

Bill, can I ask you, how old are you?

Bill: 20.

Me: Say you asked Jesus to forgive you today, and you lived until you were 100. This means that for 80 years, there would be a book in heaven with your name on the spine, Jesus’ perfect record inside, waiting for you in heaven when you die. It’s amazing.

Bill: Wow! That is amazing.

Me: Yes it is.

3.WHAT WE MUST DO TO BE SAVED Me: The next bit is most important of all.

4.THE COST OF BEING A DISCPLE. Me: To be forgiven, and to have Jesus give you His perfect record, you must do two things: turn and surrender. Let me explain what these words mean. ‘Turning’ means being genuinely sorry for breaking God’s Laws and sincerely desiring to turn away from the sinful ways of our past, including the worst of all sins which is not putting Jesus at the centre of your life17. Are you ready to do this?

The second thing we must do to be forgiven is surrender. This means making Jesus and His goals the main focus of our lives and committing ourselves to living fully for Him.18 Are you ready to do this?

END.

17 At this point I often say to people “Who

is greater - the Creator or the created one? If God created you and the entire universe don’t you think He deserves to be at the centre of your life? Colossians 1:15-19 18 E.g. Romans 10:9

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-------------------------------------Well, that is pretty much what I say when I communicate the sharly defined New Testament gospel.

THE THIRD THING YOU SHOULD KNOW. There are two distinct parts to the gospel message - the kerygma and the didache I have touched on this earlier, but I’ll mention it again here. It’s important to note that when the Early Church Christians proclaimed the gospel, the message had two distinct parts. Part one, the Kerygma, was the bones, the irreducible minimum, the sharply defined New Testament gospel. After the Kerygma was proclaimed, then came the Didache, or teaching. This fleshed out the Kerygma.

The Didache is the wide and general gospel. Accordingly, we have produced a little booklet which fleshes out the Kerygma which we spread or proclaim. The booklet is call “How To Be Sure Of Going To Heaven When We Die”. This is the Didache. You can view this booklet by visiting www. https://issuu.com/esisite.

As I have already pointed out (but I will say it again) The Kerygma is a carefully crafted salvation message which has been extracted from within the pages of the wide and general gospel.19 We could say that the wide and general gospel is about the entire Kingdom of God, whereas the sharply defined New Testament gospel (i.e. the Kerygma) explains what an unsaved person must know and do to enter it. The Kerygma covers the four essential areas of content. The Didache fleshes out the Kerygma.

It’s extremely important to understand the difference between the wide and general gospel and its sharply defined New Testament counterpart. Why? Well, there are many reasons. For example, most churches think they are preaching “the gospel” faithfully each 19 You can view an example of the narrow New Testament gospel at www.Biblein11.com

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week via the Sunday sermon. But are they really? The answer is yes and no. Let me explain. I have heard many pastors say “we preach the gospel every Sunday”. By this they mean they exegete (i.e. bring to life or unpack) a verse or a group of verses taken from somewhere in the Bible each Sunday. Yes, these pastors are proclaiming ‘the gospel’ in the wide and general sense. There is no doubt about this. But are they preaching the sharply defined New Testament gospel? The statistics show that the vast majority are not. The devil adores this kind of confusion for three reasons.

Firstly, if the pastor is not preaching the sharply defined New Testament gospel from time to time on Sundays, the people in his church won’t know what it is. And not knowing what it is, they are less likely to be able to proclaim or spread it as they go about their lives outside of church. Sure, in the wide and general sense these pastors are preaching the gospel. But in the sharply defined New Testament sense they are not. As such, these pastors and their congregations have been duped into thinking they are fulfilling the Great Commission, but in fact they are not. Behind this confusion is the enemy.

Second, if the people in a ‘we preach the gospel every Sunday’ church get the idea that ‘the gospel’ is being preached every Sunday (when in fact in the narrow New Testment sense it is not), and that any message from the Bible is ‘the gospel’, they will carry this wrong understanding into their lives outside of the Sunday services. That is to say, they will think (in error) that any mention of anything from the Bible in a conversation with a non-Christian equates to ‘preaching the gospel’ and a fulfillment of Mark 16:15 i.e. evangelism. The truth is that it is only when the sharply defined New Testament gospel has been communicated that evangelism has taken place. Once again, the devil loves to confuse us like this.

Third, if the people in a “we preach the gospel every Sunday” church get the idea that ‘the gospel’ is being preached every Sunday, 15

they may be tempted to say to themselves “our pastor preaches the gospel every Sunday. We are a Great Commission obeying church!”

That is to say, they will be duped into thinking that because the pastor is doing it every Sunday, and they belong to his church, they don’t have to i.e. they start thinking that because the pastor is doing it, and they belong to his / her church, by proxy they are preaching the gospel too.

Remember, the devil’s agenda is to shut down personal evangelism and he’ll do anything to sow these kinds of seeds of thought into the minds of Christians to achieve this end. All of his devices have a ring of truth about them and all are incredibly subtle and clever which is why they have flown under the radar of most Christians, and why only 2% of us now in the West participate in evangelism.

THE FOURTH THING YOU SHOULD KNOW. The wide and general gospel has three aspects: Works, Effects, and Words.

Another crucially important feature of the wide and general gospel which we must also understand is that it has three aspects: • The Works of the gospel (e.g. social action, prayer, random acts of kindness, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, etc) • The Effects of the gospel (e.g. miracles, signs and wonders, turning the other cheek, loving our enemies, going the extra mile etc) • The Words of the gospel (a carefully crafted salvation message otherwise known as the sharply defined New Testament gospel).

For example, when I dig a water well for the poor in a third world country, my installation of the well is a Work of the gospel. When the poor start to receive fresh water from the well and their thirst is 16

satisfied, this is an Effect of the gospel. But here is my question have the people in the village where I dug the well heard the Words of the gospel? No, they have not.

We could say the Works are the actions of Christians, the Effects are what results from the actions of Christians as God works through them, and the Words are a carefully-crafted salvation message. That is to say, to communicate the Words of the gospel is to communicate the sharply defined New Testament gospel message.

As I have already said, when Jesus commanded “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel” (Mark 16:15) He was referring to the Words of the gospel, not its Works or Effects. To evangelise is to communicate the Words, or the sharply defined New Testament gospel.20 As I have also said at the beginning of this Mini Book, there is tremendous confusion about this phrase ‘the gospel’. Much of the confusion stems from people not understanding the difference between the Works, Effects, and Words of the gospel.

For example, I have those who are ‘into’ signs and wonders coming to me protesting “the gospel is more than just Words Julian!

It’s about signs and wonders and miracles! It’s about displays of power! People in the world are sick of just Words! They want to see, and deserve to see, power!”21 I agree with them that the gospel 20 In the next Mini Book I elaborate on the truth that the gospel has these three aspects.

21. Sure, Jesus did say in Mark 16:17 that signs and wonders would accompany those who believe but He did not guarantee that signs and wonders would always accompany those who believe. As believers, we’d like signs and wonders to accompany the sharing of the gospel everytime we give it to a lost person, and everytime we pray for someone for healing, but unfortunately, to demand this of God, as some do, is not Biblical. It’s an expectation of God which He does not promise. At the same time, we need to avoid being sceptical that God can’t grace us with a sign or a wonder before or after the gospel is preached or when we pray. We need to evangelise with expectancy. So what shall we conclude? It’s heresy to teach that if the Words of the gospel are being preached and a sign or a wonder does not follow, it’s not the Christian gospel which is being preached.

Those who teach such things have unwittingly done immeasurable damage to the cause of evangelism. Why? It sets Christians up for failure. How so? When the average person in the pew plucks up the courage to go out and give the gospel to someone in the world, and a sign and a wonder does not follow, they either give up going again, thinking God is not with them, or they conclude they can’t be a believer (since they have been told that signs and wonders will always follow those who believe), and so give up Christianity completely. Either way, the enemy loves this result, and more damage is done to the cause of evangelism. It’s for these kinds of reasons that only 2% of Christians now do evangelism. If Mark 16:17 teaches that signs and wonders will always

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is more than just Words. I explain to them that ‘the gospel’ is about Works and Effects as well and that only one of the three aspects is to be equated with ‘evangelism’. After discussion, they usually eventually ‘get it’ and shuffle off wiser, more informed, their thinking more Biblically balanced and accurate.

Then I have those who are ‘into’ social action coming to me protesting “the gospel is more that just Words Julian! It’s about loving people by doing practical things for them! Giving them food, and clothing, and building homes for them!” Again, I agree with them, but then explain the three different aspects of the gospel.

They too ‘get it’ and shuffle off.

Then I have Christians whose ministries focus on Christians being loving to people coming to me protesting “the gospel is more that just Words Julian, or about signs and wonders and miracles, or about social action! It’s about the quality of our interactions with others - loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile and all the other great truths Jesus taught in his sermon on the Mount!” Again, I agree with them, but then explain the three different aspects of the gospel. They ‘get it’ and shuffle off.

Then I have evangelists coming to me protesting “the gospel is not about miracles, signs, and wonders Julian or doing practical things for people, or about the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount - it’s about a message which explains to the lost how to be saved!” I agree with them, but then explain the three different aspects of the gospel. They usually see that ‘the gospel’ is more than just Words, and they shuffle off.

Each group only sees the gospel through the lens of their gifting, or personality type, or theological stream, or personal opinion, accompany those who believe, why aren’t all believers regularly cruising their local hospital wards, clearing them of patients? You know the answer.

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or area of interest, oblivious to the Biblical big picture, or the whole Biblical truth of the matter. The truth is that ‘the gospel’ encompasses all three aspects, but when Jesus commanded His disciples to ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel’ (Mark 16:15) He was referring to the Words, not the Works or Effects.

This is not to say the Works and Effects are not important. We all know they are crucially important in the mix. No one would deny this. But they are not to be equated with evangelism. Jesus talks often about Works and Effects in other verses in the gospels, but Mark 16:15 is not one of those verses. This is a crucial point to grasp.

What I find over and over is that very few people have seriously studied what trusted and proven scholars have to say about this topic ‘the gospel’.

The mix up between Words, Works, and Effects is just one of the challenges which surround this phrase. But there are many others. For example, a Christian and a non-Christian were having a conversation along the following lines: Christian:

“ We need a bridge between us and God. That bridge is Jesus.”

Non-Christian: “But why do I need a bridge? If God is love and all powerful, why doesn’t He just extend His allpowerful arm down from heaven and whisk us up there to be with Him?” Christian: “Because our sins have separated us from Him.” Non-Christian: “What do you mean by ‘sins’?”

Christian: “All the wrong things we do in our lives.”

Non-Christian: “Hang on a minute. Sometimes my neighbours have parties. They know I’m not perfect, but they invite me to their party in spite of my ‘sins’. They don’t cut me off, because they’re loving people.

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So why would God reject me because of my ‘sins?’ By accepting me unconditionally, surely my neighbours must be more loving than God?” Christian: “Jesus died on the cross to show us His love and to make a way for us to be forgiven and to get to heaven.”

Non-Christian: “But I don’t see why anyone had to die on a cross. Why isn’t God just like my loving neighbour who just invites me in? Like I said, if God is all powerful and loving, He could just haul us all into heaven when we die!

Your explanation doesn’t make sense.

Christian: “Mmmmm……”

What can we learn from this about evangelism? First, it’s easy to be misunderstood. Christian terms and concepts, not properly explained can easily confuse non-Christians. Secondly, we ought to be sure about the content of our message. Dr Billy Graham found there was much confusion in the Church today about the message of evangelism – a fact which “should send us back to our Bibles, carefully and prayerfully studying to uncover the heart of God’s message to an unbelieving world.”22 Like an animal driven to extinction, some commentators believe the essential gospel message [i.e. the Words] preached by the Early Christians is on the brink of being lost. s the following man right…?

One such writer is Dr James White, Director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetics organisation based in Phoenix, Arizona. He thinks much of what we preach today has lost its bite and substance. I hesitated to include this quote, because it appears so aggressive, but is he right?

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22 Dr Billy Graham. Christianity Today Magazine. December 8, 1997.

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“The question I have to ask of many who stand behind pulpits today is this: is your preaching so wimpy it would never trouble a religious hypocrite? Do you pull back on those elements of God’s truth that are the most offensive to the natural man because you do not wish to see that disdainful look, that annoyed shaking of the head? Do you so trust the ministry of the Spirit to make the Word of Christ come alive in the hearts and minds of Christ’s sheep, that you do not need to worry about those who will find offence at His truth?

Or have you embraced the spirit of the age which places man’s fragile emotions upon the seat of prominence, and has bought into the idea that to be loving means to never give offence to anyone… well, except God. Do you offend Him by thinking yourself so wise you can edit out what should no longer be in the gospel in our day? …think about it.”23 Is this too harsh? Or is Dr White issuing a valid exhortation to jealously guard the content of the Biblical gospel (of the Words of the gospel)?

International evangelist Greg Laurie says it is important to know the content of the Words of the gospel for two important reasons: “(1) We want to make sure that we have heard the true gospel and have responded to it, lest we have a false hope concerning a salvation we think we have; and (2) Jesus told us to ‘go into all the world and preach the gospel’ (Mark 16:15). Those words are not addressed merely to pastors, teachers, evangelists, and missionaries; they are addressed to every follower of Jesus Christ. We cannot be disengaged or disinterested in this subject, for people’s eternal destinies hang in the balance. What would you think of a surgeon who just started cutting away at a patient without really knowing what he was doing?

One mistake, and that person would be disabled for life or could even die on the operating table. Yet this message we bring has even more far-reaching consequences – for there are eternal ramifications.

23 http://www.aomin.org/index.php?itemid=1270

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Still, so many are sloppy in this area.”24 Greg Laurie is right. We need to know the content of the Words of the gospel we are to proclaim. Other gospels do not have saving power. The enemy knows this. He has done his best to either confuse us about the content of the Words of the gospel, or hide its content from us. His motive? He knows we will be less likely to proclaim a message we are unsure about. In not proclaiming it, nonChristians will not hear it and, not hearing it, “the power of God for their salvation” (Romans 1:16) will be kept from them. Hence when we fail to carefully define the Words of the gospel, we lose vital ground in the war for souls. ight other good reasons to take care in defining the gospel.

Between 1999 and 2014 I spent many hours in university and Bible College libraries seeking to answer the question, “What is the content of the gospel we are to proclaim to non-Christians?”

I did this for eight reasons: 1. In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul warned the early Christians sternly that if they preached “another” gospel they would be eternally condemned. I reasoned that if my life’s passion was to mobilise the Church around the world to proclaim “the gospel,” then I had better get it right. If I did not do my homework I would risk bringing my students and myself under the same condemnation.

2. Many “other” gospels are already being preached today. I did not want to add another to the list.

3. I was aware of the danger of personal bias. All of us read and interpret the Bible through the lens of our own background and experiences, and I would be unwise to pass on to other Christians a gospel based solely on my own thinking. I needed to check my understanding against the findings of trusted scholars.

4. I wanted those whom I trained to succeed, so I could ill afford to

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24 Greg Laurie. How To Share Your Faith. Tyndale Books, 1999, p.48

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5.

6.

7.

8.

pass on any other gospel than the one God would work through to win souls.25 I yearned to see not just God glorified and souls saved, but also Christians released into abundant fruitfulness so God could use them to save people through the gospel.

I did not want to fail Jesus. As we saw earlier, when Jesus said “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15) He wanted us to deliver to non-Christians a carefully-crafted and well-defined salvation message. If I did not commit myself to finding out what this was, I would be in danger of disappointing my Saviour.

In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul exhorted his young disciple Timothy to “do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” God calls us to accuracy.

I wanted to empower evangelists Biblically. In Ephesians 4:11-12 we are told evangelists are not to do all the evangelism themselves. Their main task is to show everyone in the Church who does not have “the gift of evangelism” how to proclaim or spread the gospel. If the evangelists themselves cannot define it, they will be unable to show other Christians what to say.

When this happens, evangelism at the local level atrophies.

Dr Leighton Ford, past Vice President of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has said, “the Church cannot evangelise unless she is certain of her evangel [i.e. the gospel message].”26 We all have a propensity to critically analyse “the gospel messages” uttered by speakers, or which we read in booklets or tracts, or see on videos. But what I have noticed is that the most vociferous critics are usually people who have (a) never

25 This is not saying that evangelism is to be equated with winning souls. When the gospel is truly proclaimed, souls will be won, but very often it will not be the one who did the proclaiming who sees the conversion. (e.g. see John 4:37-38).

26 Leighton Ford. The Christian Persuader: A New Look At Evangelism Today. Harper and Row, 1976, p.24

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seriously studied what reputable/proven academics have to say about ‘the gospel’ and (b) they are not out there each day reaching the lost with the gospel. In short, they don’t know what they don’t know. To put it bluntly, they are speaking from a place of ignorance. I didn’t want to fall into the same trap of being one of these kinds of people so for three decades I have focussed on doing (a) and (b). hat I found from my study....

Evangelist Greg Laurie said: “The gospel in a nutshell is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day. There are other elements I could mention, but that is the cornerstone – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”27 Charles Spurgeon (1834-92), England’s best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century, was asked to summarise the Christian faith in a few words. He said, “Jesus died for me.”28 Theologian and author, J.I. Packer writes: “In short, the Good News was just this, that God has executed His eternal intention of glorifying His Son by exalting Him as a great saviour for great sinners. Such was the gospel Paul was sent to preach.”29 The Dean and Professor of Theology of Missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Tite Tienou, proposed two distinctive features of the gospel message: “1. The author of the gospel is God. 2. The core of the message is saving grace. The gospel is neither a plan devised by people nor a programme crafted by clever thinkers,” he said. “It is as dependable as God Himself. It is the good news that God, the ruler of the universe, is in the business of extending His saving grace to humans.”30

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27 Greg Laurie. How To Share Your Faith. Tyndale Books, 1999, p.43 28 Cited in: Greg Laurie. How To Share Your Faith. Tyndale Books, 1999, p.43 29 J.I. Packer. Evangelism And The Sovereignty Of God. IVP, 1999, p.47 30 Tite Tienou. This We Believe: The Good News Of Jesus Christ For The World. Zondervan, 2000, pp.176-77

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But what, specifically, is the content of this “saving grace to humans” message from God? iscovering the content of the gospel.

Many Bible scholars have answered this question. What follows is a summary of my findings.

The theologian and New Testament scholar C. H. Dodd said the gospel was a fixed message with five points.31 1. The age of fulfilment has dawned.

2. This has taken place through the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.

3. By virtue of the resurrection, Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of God as Messianic head of the new Israel.

4. The Holy Spirit in the Church is the sign of Jesus’ present power and glory.

5. The Messianic age will shortly reach its consummation in the return of Jesus Christ.

The Kerygma 32always closes with an appeal for repentance, the offer of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, and the promise of salvation. Commenting on Dodd’s understanding, Dr Michael Green said this view had found widespread acceptance in the English-speaking world, and scholars such as A.M. Hunter, J.O. Sanders, F.V. Wilson, C.S.C. Williams and F.F. Bruce had accepted it in broad outline.33

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Another renowned author and scholar, Dr Bo Reicke, argued that the early apostolic preaching of the gospel followed a three point pattern: 1. Thesis: Jesus was the Servant of the Lord.

2. Proofs: a. His life showed Him to fulfil these titles.

31 Cited in Michael Green. Evangelism In The Early Church. Highland Books, 1984, p.63 32 Kerygma is a term scholars use to describe the essentials of the gospel message.

33 Michael Green. Evangelism In The Early Church. Highland Books, 1984, p.293

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b. Scripture bore witness to Him. c. He was raised from the dead. d. The miracles demonstrated the power of His resurrection.

Conclusion: Everyone must turn to the Lord, making Him Lord, including the Gentiles.34 Floyd Filson35 and T.F. Glasson36 broke the gospel into five points, other writers three37 and one seven.38 o where is “the gospel” defined in the Bible?

Theologians, evangelists, and leaders at the Lausanne Conference in 1974 defined the gospel on the basis of two texts: Acts 2:22-39 and 1 Corinthians 15. They concluded it had the following content: At its very simplest, the gospel is Jesus.

• His death and resurrection.

• His birth, life, words and works.

• His reign and return.

• The apostles focused on the death of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and on His resurrection from death.

• Jesus Christ died for our sins, to bear our condemnation and secure our justification.39 • He was raised to prove that His sacrifice for sin was accepted and that He had not died in vain.

• He is the historical Biblical Jesus, the Christ of the Scriptures of both Old and New Testaments.

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34 Cited in Harry L. Poe. The Gospel And Its Meaning. Zondervan, 1996, p.24 35 F.V. Filson. Jesus Christ The Risen Lord. Abingdon Press, 1956, p.41ff 36 T.F. Glasson. Hibbert Journal. Allen & Unwin, London ,1953, p.129ff 37 A.M. Hunter. The Message Of The New Testament. The Westminster Press, 1945, p.29 38 B. Gartner. The Areopagus Speech And Natural Revelation. Uppsala: CWK Gleerup, 1955, p.26ff 39 What is justification? Many metaphors could describe it. Here is one. It was the custom of kings and chiefs to keep a book or roll of their subjects. The book had two lists. One was the list of those who were true, good and loyal subjects. The other was the list of those who were disobedient, rebellious, and disloyal and who deserved nothing but punishment. Paul’s picture (in 2 Corinthians 5:19) was that our names were on the roll of those who deserve punishment, but, because of what Jesus did, our names were taken from that roll and put on the roll of those the king loved.

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• Jesus is now the reigning Lord.

• As such, He offers forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

• To receive these gifts we must repent and believe.

• Baptism.

The Lausanne Covenant Documents called this outline “the irreducible minimum of the apostolic gospel.”40 Dr Millard Erickson, Research Professor of Theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary writes: “The essential points of the gospel are Jesus Christ’s status as the Son of God, His genuine humanity, His death for our sins, His burial, resurrection, subsequent appearances, and His future coming in judgment.”41 What’s interesting is that embedded in all these analyses of the gospel is the theology and reality of heaven and hell. I need to talk about this briefly.

THE FIFTH THING YOU SHOULD KNOW. The theology of hell in our gospel messages is just as important as the theology of heaven and eternal life. Don’t delete hell.

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ltimate eternal realities (i.e. heaven and hell) must be included on our gospel messages, since Jesus spoke often about both in the four gospels. Christians today have no problem with talk about ‘life in the here and now’ and ‘come to Jesus and you’ll find yourself’ but many want to take the topic of hell right out, claiming fear is not a good motivation to draw people to God.42 By 40 John Stott (Ed). Making Christ Known: Historic Mission Documents From The Lausanne Movement 1974 – 1989. Foreword by Billy Graham. Paternoster Press, 1996, pp.20-21 41 Millard Erickson. Christian Theology. Baker Books, 1988, p.1063 42 Imagine two people. One was warned about hell by a Christian, and the Holy Spirit worked through that Truth to fill him with fear and bring him to genuine faith. At death he found himself in heaven. The other person wasn’t warned about hell in their lifetime and as a consequence, never experienced any fear of this place. At death he found himself in hell. After death, which of the two men would be happiest? Would the first man regret that fear of going to hell motivated him to decide for Christ? Would the second man regret that “fear of going to hell” didn’t motivate him? Would he curse Christians for not warning him? You know the answer.

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doing this, their great error is that they are approaching theology emotionally, not Spiritually. John Stott explains this error better than anyone. “Emotionally, I find the concept of eternal conscious torment intolerable and do not understand how people can live with it without either cauterising their feelings or cracking under the strain. But our emotions are a fluctuating, unreliable guide to truth and must not be exalted to the place of supreme authority in determining it . . . my question must be — and is — not what does my heart tell me, but what does God’s word say?”43 So, what does God’s Word say about Jesus and hell? Jesus is the Gospel and He spoke more about hell in the four gospels than all the other books of the Bible combined.

To put it bluntly, Jesus Himself is the hell fire preacher of the Bible. Not only does He approve of the use of fear as a motive to bring people to faith, but He promoted the idea. Why else would He have warned people so graphically about hell so often? Did he not know that His talk about hell would make people feel fearful?

Did He not know what He was doing? Did He not realise that He was using fear to motivate people? You know the answers to these questions. Friends, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing. God doesn’t make mistakes. Academic Peter Toon sums it up nicely when he says “to warn people to avoid hell means that hell is a reality.” 44 Please think this through. God has put a capacity in all human beings to feel fear. For example, when we get too close to the edge of a great cliff, we feel fear. We know that if we fell off the cliff, we’d die. God doesn’t want us to fall off a cliff and die, so He designs us to feel fear. In this sense, fear is an in-built safety mechanism. When flying in a plane for the first time, many feel a 43 Stott, Essentials, 315-16.

44 Peter Toon, Heaven and Hell (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1986)

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tinge of fear. Why? They imagine what would happen if the plane crashed. That is to say, feeling fear helps us avoid great danger, and helps us preserve our lives. In the same way, if fear of going to hell stops us losing forever our most valuable asset, our soul (Mark 8:36), then surely fear is the most wonderful of all friends? Jesus thinks it is! He said so in Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In this verse, He is exhorting people to be afraid of Him because He is the very one who casts people into hell. In the modern Church, we seem to have completely forgotten that God is someone to be feared. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31 So what’s my advice? Don’t be afraid of making non-Christians feel afraid. In fact, if it were possible for you the Christian to make the lost person you are talking to absolutely terrified of hell,45 then do it. But do it lovingly, gently, and prayerfully with tears in your eyes. When you do this, you’ll be following in the footsteps of Jesus. How is it that hell is more real and terrifying to Jesus than it is to most Christians today? Who has moved?

If Jesus warned people about hell to motivate His audience to be reconciled to Him, who are we to argue? Who are we to take it out? If we take ‘hell’ out, we become like the clay who says to the potter, “Move over buddy. We know better.” If we take hell out, we are saying to Jesus, “Jesus, we are wiser than You. We are more compassionate than You. We know better about how non-Christians are drawn to You than You do. We know more about how the lost are wired than You do. We know more about what non-Christians need to hear than You do.”

No sincere thinking Christian would dare take such a high and 45 Really, only the Holy Spirit can create a revelation of the terrors and horrors of hell. This is his work alone.

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lofty stance before almighty God. On the contrary, the Bible exhorts us to walk humbly with Him. “And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). To include hell in our gospel messages is to walk humbly with our God. To walk humbly is to bow the knee to His greater authority, knowledge, and wisdom. It’s to accept what Jesus said, take it all of it on board (not just the bits we like), and communicate what He said lovingly and gently to the lost world.

In fact, He commmanded us not to hold back on anything He said: “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops” (Matthew 10:27).

Tragically, many Christians do not approach Scripture like this.

They are not proclaiming from the rooftops what Jesus taught about hell. They have done the very opposite. They have cut hell out. As I have already said, to eliminate hell from our gospel messages is to approach the Bible emotionally saying things like “to preach hell is to go back to the days of fire and brimstone. We are now more mature than the preachers of old who used to preach that stuff.

They just scared people and therefore we ought to drop it and talk more about the unconditional love of God. We ought to woo the lost with good works. Society today is way too sophisticated for all that antiquated wrath and judgement theology. The old style preachers used that to scare people, but today we know better!”

What do you think the people listening to Jesus in his time of ministry on earth would have felt when they heard him talk about hell? Fear. Did Jesus not realise what he was doing? Does he now live with regrets about warning people about hell? Would he say to Christians alive today “Hey, sorry about that. I got carried away two thousand years ago, and spoke way too much about hell. I was young back then, and very immature as a preacher. I didn’t realise 30

I was making people fearful. It’s know now it’s inappropriate to use fear as a motivator to draw people to Myself. I should have known better. We all make mistakes. Forgive me guys. I should have been just focussing on the life the lost could find in me in the here and now and talking up all the nice fluffy stuff. Sorry about that.”

This is exactly how the devil wants us to think.

Many Christians foolishly cherry pick scriptures to build a case for not talking about hell with the lost. Instead, they’d rather talk to the lost about topics like ‘finding yourself’ and finding ‘life and life in all its fullness.’ The following is an actual letter from a pastor of a Baptist church. He was writing to someone in his church who was training people in evangelism. Needless to say, the trainer was teaching people to include hell in their gospel messages.

---------------------------------Dear Andrew I just wanted to (humbly) express some concern about what you’ve detailed here... I’m wondering where in scripture we might find a mandate for our eternal destination being the primary motivating factor for following after Jesus - or for evangelism? In reading the Gospels, it seems that God’s justice and judgement is never far from Jesus’ mind - but at the same time his calling of people to follow him is almost always an invitation to life (now - and for eternity) rather than to induce fear about their standing before God. Jesus’ expression of the Gospel isn’t just about where we go when we die - but about finding ourselves - finding life - in right relationship with the God in whose image we are made here and now. Admittedly that’s a far more complex conversation to navigate, but it strikes me that what you’re detailing isn’t really the way that Jesus seems to begin the conversation... should it be ours?

With due respect for your passion and your heart for people to know Jesus“ -------------------------------------31

What are we to make of this? As always with the devil and his devices, what the pastor has written contains both truth and error.

It’s true that Jesus did say that in Him people would find ‘life and life in all its fullness’ (e.g. John 10:10). However, he spoke more about eternal life, and the importance of securing life after death, than life here and now. e.g “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world (life here and now) and loses his soul (eternal life)” (Mark 8:36). It’s also true that Jesus warned more about hell than he preached about heaven .

It is clear Jesus wanted His audience to experience both life here and now and eternal life. It’s not either / or. It’s both. Hell was in the mix to motivate people to secure both.

What this pastor doesn’t understand is that John 10:10 will only be experienced as a result of obeying Jesus’ commands (John 14:21), chief of which is the evangelisation of the world (Mark 16:15). Life and life in all it’s fullness is a reward for post conversion obedience, and it’s fruitless to use it as a carrot at the start of a conversation with a lost person. Why? You see, if we try and compete with the world for ‘life and life in all it’s fullness’ we’ll lose every time. The world has found loads of ‘life and life in all its fullness’ in drugs, alcohol, sex, holidays, travel, money, cars, movies, entertainment, hobbies, TV, materialism, shopping, etc. The list is endless.

If you don’t think this is true, just compare the numbers in the shopping malls on Sundays with the numbers in Churches. Then just go out into those malls and invite people to turn away from the list of entertainment/things which I have just listed and invite them instead to come to church. They won’t do it. They absolutely won’t. Why? They hands down prefer the entertainment/things that the world is offering and they simply don’t want to come to church.

Period. They have chosen other forms of ‘life’ over the ‘life’ Christ offers. They have voted with their feet. They have said ‘yes’ to the world, and ‘no’ to Jesus and His Church. Why is this? One reason 32

is that the things of God are foolishness to those to are perishing (1 Corinthians 2:14). It’s a mystery that the Baptist pastor doesn’t know this. So how do we break into the world of the lost? How do we penetrate their thick armour? Why are the things of God foolishness to them? The problem, which our Baptist pastor also seems strangely unaware, is that the lost are dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). If you invite a non-Christian to become a Christian and you start the conversation with a discussion about how the lost person will ‘find himself’ and find ‘life and life in all its fullness’ your words will be water off a duck’s back, until you’ve penetrated his armour. I have reached literally tens of thousands of strangers on the street, so I am speaking from experience here.

Why, as a conversation opener, is inviting a lost person to ‘find himself’ and find ‘life and life in all its fullness’ such a waste of time? His need for God first and foremost has to be awakened and his armour penetrated and this only happens through hearing and understanding the authentic Christian gospel (Romans 1:16).

You see, the gospel is like a spiritual defibrillator46 (right).

God has designed the gospel to do this /be like this. Currently, the vast majority of churches are ignoring this way, God’s way, of awakening the lost. Instead, they have turned to using feather dusters to awaken the dead. What do I mean? They have turned 46 Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac dysrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (VF) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (VT). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a countershock) to the heart.

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to man’s way, the ways of the flesh, chief of which is Trying Desperately To Be Liked (TDTBL) by the lost world. For example: • Showering the lost with free gifts, presents, and services e.g .food parcels and all kinds of social action.

• Bending over backwards to be kind and nice.

• Providing entertainment inside churches e.g. lovely looking people on stage, smoke machines, high tech lighting, cafes, laying on all kinds of programs and services etc.

• Building nice buildings.

• Preaching fluffy new age messages which don’t challenge anyone or which talk about sin or the hard sayings of Jesus.

The lost world perceives that we are pleading with them like the disfunctional child in the school play ground who wants a friend, saying “PLEASE LIKE ME!”47 Did Jesus ever seem DTBL? You know the answer. This is the reason the Church in the West is catastrophically struggling.48 It has largely abandoned God’s top shelf tool for ‘awakening’ the lost (i.e. the gospel) and turned instead to ‘DTBL’ strategies. It thinks that these strategies will make the Church more relevant and attractive but in actual fact it’s becoming more and more irrelevant and less and less attractive. It thinks that becoming like the world is the best way to attract the world, which is a fatal mistake. The contrast between the Church and the world is becoming less and less apparent. We are rapidly losing our saltiness (Matthew 5:13).

Sure, it’s incredibly right and Biblical to be kind and nice, to be generous and to abound in good works and provide services, to have nice facilities and buildings, but none of these are God’s A plan to awaken the lost. Biblically, none of these DTBL strategies were 47 This analogy actually came from a non-Christian I was talking to who told me this was how she and her friends perceived the Church.

48 Even if you are a church who is on the surface booming, if you are not mobilising all your people to evangelise the world, and making it a priority, you are failing dismally in the eyes of Jesus.

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ever supposed to be implemented at the expense of completing the Great Commission. Yet, this is what has happened / is happening.

By this I mean at the expense of making a priority of mobilising everyone in every church to go into the world and proclaim or spread the gospel (Mark 16:15) - and keep going. Any church which is not attempting this, and making a priority of doing this, is a disgrace to Jesus, everything He stands for, and everything He accomplished on the Cross. Harsh words, I know, but they are truthful words.

You see, any person who puts their plan over God’s plan is operating in the flesh, not the Spirit. It’s man saying to God “I know better”.

It’s essentially the Garden of Eden being played out all over again.

His A plan for awakening is to have everyone in the world hear and understand the authentic gospel. And if and when the lost are saved as a result of our evangelistic efforts, as I have said, they will only find life and life in all its fullness by obeying the commands of Jesus (John 14:21). You can’t invite a dead man to ‘Life and life in all its fullness’ before he’s been awakened. He’s dead! When Jesus told the crowd He was speaking to that they would find life and life in all it’s fullness, He was in the next breath proclaiming the gospel. The former was for the converted, exhorting them to a deeper commitment, the later for the lost to penetrate their armour.

The Church today, and every member of it, ought to be preaching both messages to both groups all the time. No academic anywhere would say that ‘finding oneself’ and finding ‘life and life in all its fullness’ was ever part of the kerygma.

The main reason I became a Christian, as a total non-believer, was that Jesus was The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He was God. 35

I didn’t come to him to ‘get’ anything. I signed up to follow the one who made the universe. GOD. I was completely consumed by what I could give to Jesus, rather than what I could get, or even what He could do for me. Truly, the thought of what I could get didn’t even enter my mind. For me, I was joining an army, and Jesus was my commander. I was ready and willing to do anything, anywhere, anytime. I’d made Jesus Lord (Romans 10:9-10).

The Baptist pastor is foolishly dangling post conversion carrots (come to Jesus and ‘find yourself’ and find ‘life and life in all its fullness’) in front of pre-converted dead men, before they’ve been awakened by the gospel. It doesn’ work. It will never work. It’s obvious this pastor has never done any evangelism, otherwise he would know that the things I am talking about here are true.

As we argue about whether ‘eternal life’ or ‘life here and now’ should dominate our gospel messages, or even be part of the gospel message, and the place of hell in the gospel message, we could easily miss another hugely important point. Which is? Eternal life’ has an entry point. Sinners enter through a narrow gate (Matthew 7:13-14). That narrow gate is repentance and faith, taking up one’s cross, death to self, and surrender. At the entry point, the deeper and more profound the sinners revelation of what they are being saved from, the deeper and more profound will be their revelation of who it is who is offering to save them. For example, take a moment to analyse the words of the famous hymn Amazing Grace, penned by ex slave trader John Newton in 1779.

Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now am found T’was blind but now I see T’was Grace that taught my heart to fear And Grace, my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear 36

The hour I first believed Through many dangers, toils and snares We have already come.

T’was grace that brought us safe thus far And grace will lead us home, And… Notice what he said about hell. It was God’s grace that taught him about this place and to fear this place. Did you notice that? God’s grace. In other words, to receive a revelation of the terror of hell is the greatest of blessings. Why? Because through this revelation, as a result of this revelation, he discovered the most glorious and wonderful revelation of who Jesus was and what he’d done for him to save him from that place. A man on death row will be impacted far more profoundly by a parden than the man who writes in to the local council and is aquitted for his $20 parking infringement. The degree of terror in the punishment determines the depth of the joy in the pardon. In this way, revelation of hell and revelation of Jesus are inseparable. The former leads to the latter. Luke 7:47 says as much “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

How utterly foolish we are to even contemplate taking hell out of our gospel messages. The idea is heresy. To deny the lost a revelation of hell, is to deny the lost of a revelation of Jesus. The apostel Paul would say to the Baptist pastor who wrote the letter “Oh you foolish Baptist pastor, who has bewitchd you!” (Galatians 3:1) And how does one receive these twin revelations of hell and Jesus?

The beginning point is being warned about hell. And who are they who have been commanded to deliver the warning? Christians.

(Ezekiel 33:1-11). As the Bible says “How will they hear unless we go? Who will tell them unless we speak? As it is written, how lovely 37

are the feet of him who brings good news!” Romans 10:14-15.

If Christians are the vehicles through which God works to bring a revelation of hell and Jesus to the lost, it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that these truths are nailed home. He alone convicts sinners. Ultimately, he alone awakens. The Holy Spirit turns information (i.e. knowledge of hell and heaven and Jesus delivered through the gospel by a faithful Christian) into profound, life changeing, deep, heartfelt, flood-the-emotions revelation for sinners. The Holy Spirit is therefore the miracle worker when it comes to the salvation of sinners. John 16:8 makes this clear. We are simply the conduits through whom the Holy Spirit works.

So what are we to make of the Baptist pastor’s letter? He may have been genuine about his concern for the lost, he may not. To sort out which is which, I would ask this pastor some questions such as “How are you reaching the lost with the gospel? How do you do it? How often with total stranger, not just the people who wander into church.” Better still “Take me out on the street and show me your approach. I am keen to see how I can improve on what I am doing?”

In 95% of cases, in my experience after 40 years of working with pastors and leaders, is that they will not be reaching the lost on a daily basis by going out onto the streets to talk to total strangers.

They will not have a better method. They will not be able to show you how to evangelise. They will not be leading by example in evangelism in their churches. Their very spiritual sounding arguments in their ‘letters’ and ‘emails’ and ‘discussions’ will be smoke screens for their awful cowardice and their deep and terrible fear of rejection. In short, deep down and very privately, they are ashamed of the genuine gospel (Romans 1:16). That is to say, they don’t ‘do’ evangelism. By this I mean they don’t go out onto the streets to reach lost people - strangers - with the gospel. In all my years as an evangelist, one of my most striking impressions of the 38

Church is the lengths pastors will go to to hide this particular shame.

My great prayer for pastors has always been that they would come out of hiding, out of the closet, take off their fig leaves, humble themselves, admit their fears publically, and commit themselves to learning how to evangelise the world. Sure, when you ask them if the do evangelism, they will always say “Yes, of course!”. Yet further questioning often reveals they don’t do evangelism at all.

Oh that they would stop being pussies! When you see your pastor in the pulpit on Sunday all brave and loud and confident like a lion, preaching to the converted, know that in 99% of cases, this same guy / lady will morph into an evangelism pussie as soon as he / she steps out of the Church buildings and onto the streets on Monday morning. Pray that this shameful hyprocricy, this secret sin, this game playing, this hiding, would come to an end. It must end.

Oh God, bring it to an end! Lord, bring back Christian leadership courage and bravery all over the world. And why is it so important for this bravery to return? When pastors lead the way in evangelism in their churches, their people will follow. When they don’t, the people won’t either. It’s that simple (Judges 5:2).

Pastors quite rightly value highly the concept of “personal character” when choosing leaders in their churches. But what 99% of pastors fail to see - their log in their own eye (Matthew 7:1-5) - is their own terrible character flaw - cowardice. When I think of all the great Biblical figures, one of their chief character traits was bravery. When it comes to reaching the lost with the gospel, this character trait is sorely lacking in the vast majority of today’s leaders. This great character flaw is never talked about, but it’s there. The fact that it’s there and deliberately hidden is a tragedy beyond words.

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Summary? Yes sure, talk to the lost about ‘finding yourself’ and finding ‘life and life in all its fullness’ but do it after you’ve shared the authentic gospel with them. Hell shouldn’t dominate our gospel messages, just as it didn’t dominate the gospel Jesus preached, but it must definitely be in the mix, just as Jesus included it in the mix.

So what ought to dominate?

THE SIXTH THING YOU SHOULD KNOW. Justification by faith ought to be the epicentre of the genuine gospel message. ustification by faith.

Dr Don Carson, Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, edited a book called Telling the Truth: Evangelising Post-Moderns.49 One of the contributing authors, John Nyquist, asserts the epicentre of the gospel we are to proclaim is found in Romans 3:21-26: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance, He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Nyquist comments on this passage: “Martin Luther called Romans ‘the chief part of the New Testament and the very purest gospel.’ He believed every Christian should know it ‘word for word,

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49 Don Carson et al. Telling The Truth. Zondervan, 2000

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by heart, and occupy himself with it every day as the daily bread of his soul.’ In the margin of Luther’s Bible, he referred to this passage (i.e. Romans 3:21-26), where Paul speaks of justification by faith, as the ‘chief point and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible.’”

Leon Morris, in his commentary, suggests this passage may be “possibly the most important single paragraph ever written.”

Murray Harris, retired Professor of New Testament Exegesis at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and former Warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, offered this simple logic about the passage from Romans on the occasion of his last faculty devotional before retirement in 1997: “Where is the centre of historic Christianity in terms of theology and significance? When you add up all the doctrines, statements, creedal pronouncements and attempts at systemisation, what do you have? Take the Bible, go to the New Testament, turn to Romans, find chapter 3, locate verses 21-26, and focus in on verse 24. There you have the central teaching of the Bible on the Christian faith.’”50 The gist of Romans 3:24 is that through grace Jesus justifies us.

What, then, is justification? Theologian Louis Berkhof defines it as the “legal act of God by which He declares the sinner righteous on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.”51 What was the heart of the Christian gospel for John Wesley? It was sola fide, justification by faith alone.52 Historian and scholar Laurence Bates comments on what Martin Luther considered the heart of the gospel: “Martin Luther dealt the symbolic blow that began the Reformation when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church, 50 Don Carson et al. Telling The Truth. Zondervan, 2000, pp.167-68 51 Louis Berkhof. A Summary Of Christian Doctrine. Banner of Truth, 1938 rp1962, p.128 52 Cited in: Robert E.Coleman. Nothing To Do But Save Souls. John Wesley’s charge to his preachers. Wesley Heritage Press, 1994, p.61

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on 31st October, 1517.53 That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.

But Luther himself saw the Reformation as something far more important than a revolt against ecclesiastical abuses. He believed it was a fight for the gospel. Luther even stated that he would have happily yielded every point of dispute to the Pope, if only the Pope had affirmed the gospel. And at the heart of the gospel, in Luther’s estimation, was the doctrine of justification by faith – the teaching that Christ’s own righteousness is imputed to those who believe, and on that ground alone, they are accepted by God.”54 Defining justification, the late Dr William Barclay, a leading Greek scholar, writes: “It means that God, even when we have done wrong, still treats us and still loves us as if we had done nothing but right.”55 This means that through Jesus, God the Father sees you and me as perfect, having only ever done what is right – the same way as He sees Jesus. So, as we seek to define the Words of the gospel we are to proclaim to non-Christians, justification by faith should be at its very core. Sadly, many other topics other than justification dominate the many false gospels being preached today. For example: “Come to Jesus. He will…

1. Fix whatever problems you have.

2. Give you purpose and destiny.

3. Heal you, your marriage, your business, and your relationship failures.

4. Help you have a better quality of life.

5. Fill the God-shaped vacuum in your heart.

6. Give you success and help you lose weight.

7. Make you financially rich.

53 To read all the 95 theses, go to http:/www.historyguide.org/earlymod/95 theses.html 54 http://www.educ.msu.edu/homepages/laurence/reformation/Luther/Luther.htm 55 William Barclay. Ambassador For Christ. The Saint Andrew Press, 1973, p.166

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8. Help you find your lost budgie.

As always, there are often slivers of truth, to one degree or another, in these false gospels. The great problem with the false gospels above is that the core of the genuine gospel, justification by faith, is missing. The extent of our deviation from this core will determine the extent of the loss of Holy Spirit power in our messages. The epicentre of the Words of the gospel is justification by faith and the crown and glory of it is Jesus Christ. Dr John Stott warns against the dangers of formulating the content of the gospel merely on the basis of our own experience and opinion: “We are not to preach a vague Christ but a precise and particular Christ, namely the Christ of the New Testament. There is no other Christ to preach. The gospel is about Christ who came to save us.

It is tragic beyond words that the Church has frequently diluted this high and holy purpose of God to save men through Christ. Instead of the faithful proclamation of the gospel, evangelism becomes a pathetic exhortation to bad men to be good and (more often) good men to do better, or an attempt to induce people to come to church and worship, or to apply Christian principles to industry, or even to find the highest common factor between Christian faith and nonChristian faiths so that we minimise the differences and join in corporate devotion.”56 So evangelism has much more in mind than attempting to make bad people good, and good people better. It is about Jesus Christ who came to reconcile people to Himself.

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ummary so far…

1. The author of the gospel is God. 2. The core of the message is saving grace or justification by faith.

3. The Lausanne Covenant’s definition of the Words of the gospel 56 Cited in Dr Harry L. Poe. The Gospel And Its Meaning. Zondervan, 1996, p.37

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represents the broadest sweep of recent scholarship.

4. There is scope for creativity and versatility in preaching this essential gospel content.

5. Jesus used fear in the mix to bring people to faith. He set a precedent that we dare not ignore.

6. Scholars would agree with the conclusions of the Lausanne Covenant, that the gospel we are to proclaim to non-Christians can be defined. Yes, we have a precise body of truth about salvation through Jesus Christ to communicate. The gospel, as Jesus used this phrase in Mark 16:15, can rightly be described as a carefully-crafted salvation message from within the Bible. he essential gospel in outline…

As I sought to distil the research, I came to the conclusion that the Words of the gospel we present to non-Christians must cover FOUR ESSENTIAL AREAS OF CONTENT. I have mentioned these earlier, but they are so important, I note them here again: 1. Why we must be saved.

2. How Jesus can save us.

3. What we must do to be saved.

4. The cost of becoming a disciple.

This four point outline details the content we ought to cover when we communicate the Words of the gospel. The words are different from the gospel’s Works and Effects. We cannot say “we have preached the gospel,” as Jesus used the phrase in Mark 16:15, unless this content is covered. These words explain to a non-Christian how they can enter the Kingdom of God. They explain what they must do to enter it. The Works and Effects of the gospel do not communicate these four great truths to a lost person.

Likewise with signs, wonders, and miracles, social action, digging water wells in India, praying etc. This is why the Words of the gospel are so important. This is why the Words of the gospel are the epicentre of the Great Commission.

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This FOUR ESSENTIAL AREAS OF CONTENT outline defines the Words of the gospel, or the content of our gospel message.

It is sufficiently general so as not to constrain evangelism, yet sufficiently well-defined as to ensure critical content is covered.

I would strongly advise you to memorise this four point outline.

Then when anyone asks you ‘What ought to be the content of our gospel message? you’ll know the answer. You’ll also know what content to cover when you get an opportunity to explain the gospel to a lost person.

Now we know the content of the Words of the gospel, is that it?

No. Before we move onto the next Mini Book, I want to discuss five issues about how we communicate the content of the gospel to the lost world. We need to understand: 1. We Christians are a sub-culture with our own language and customs. When we become aware of this, we’ll try and ‘declutter’ our gospel messages, taking out ‘religious’ jargon.

2. The truths of the gospel must delivered in the right order.

3. That non-Christians must know they are completely lost and doomed before they will fully appreciate the love of Jesus.

4. That most non-Christians are hungry to hear the gospel.

5. Evangelising is a discipline which requires faith and an act of the will.

For the remainder of this Mini Book, I am going to discuss each of these issues in turn.

THE SEVENTH THING YOU SHOULD KNOW. To successfully commmunicate the gospel to the lost, there are also communication issues to consider

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OSPEL COMMUNICATION ISSUE ONE: We Christians are a sub-culture with our own language and customs.

When we go into the non-Christian world and proclaim the 45

Words of the gospel we must presume that our audience has never read a Bible or entered a church. Many of the terms and concepts in the gospel message will be completely new to them, and the Words foreign.

For example, to satisfy the first essential area of content we could simply say, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But is that really helpful to non-Christians? What is “sin” to a non-Christian? What is the “glory of God”? And, for that matter, what does “fallen short” mean? “And what does falling short have to do with me?” a non-Christian might ask. “And what God have I fallen short of? Buddha? Krishna? Allah?”

Here is another example of how we could miscommunicate these critical truths. To explain why we must be saved we might say, “because we are sinners.” To explain how Jesus can save us we might say, “He died on the Cross.” Similarly, regarding “what we must do to be saved,” we might answer … “Repent.”

To explain the cost of becoming a disciple, our answer might be, “Take up your cross and follow Jesus.”

Taking care to define our terms…

These answers may satisfy the criteria, and be theologically correct, but they don’t explain and clarify the gospel for a nonChristian in today’s culture, making it easy for them to understand.

If we want to truly succeed with proclaiming the gospel to nonChristians today, we must define all our terms carefully, steer clear of religious jargon, and as I have said, assume non-Christians know absolutely nothing about our subject. We do all this because we want them to truly understand the message. In the Parable of the Seed and the Sower (e.g. Matthew 13:1-32) the person who bore fruit was the one who heard the gospel and understood it (Matthew 13:23).

Being loving and gracious and helping them understand the message is our job. Bringing belief in the message is the Holy 46

Spirit’s job. Let’s not get these two job descriptions mixed up.

The discussion at the start of this Mini Book between the Christian and the non-Christian illustrates the care we must take if we want to be effective in evangelism. The non-Christian in that conversation wanted to know why God could not just haul us into heaven if He truly loves us – and why sin is such a big deal if it is simply part of human nature.

Some gospel presentations and tracts circulating today potentially satisfy THE FOUR ESSENTIAL AREAS OF CONTENT outlined above, and Christians could understand them, but for many nonChristians they don’t make much sense at all. In other words, the person who wrote them is out of touch with the culture of the audience for whom they were written.

Evangelism is about truly understanding how non-Christians think (i.e. the culture) and how God thinks (i.e theologically accurate), bringing the two together, and delivering it with love, tenderness, and grace.

Understanding the way God thinks determines the content of our message. Understanding what non-Christians think determines how we present it. With this thought in mind Paul writes: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel…”

(1 Corinthians 9:22-23).

Knowing the Bible solves the problem of what to say. Knowing the non-Christian culture around us solves the problem of how to say it.

We must anticipate how non-Christians could misunderstand what we are trying to communicate. So many presentations of the gospel, either spoken or written, are constructed by Christians who have little knowledge of how non-Christians think because they are not regularly evangelising. They think they know how non-Christians think but really they do not know.

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For example, a tract I recently reviewed said – in answer to the first question “why we must be saved” – “We have all done wrong things like lying, cheating, stealing, hating etc.” But does this really explain why we must be saved? Many non-Christians would retort, “Everyone does these things. They’re just natural! Why would God cast me into hell for doing these things. A loving parent wouldn’t do that. So, are my parents more loving than God?” To hit home, lying, thieving, cheating, stealing etc must be communicated as behaviours which break divine laws. And what must precede this truth is that we live in a moral universe which was created by a God who is perfectly just. And because He is perfectly just, He must punish lawbreakers.

These are serious questions to consider as we seek to communicate the gospel meaningfully.

So far we have discussed only the first of the FOUR ESSENTIAL AREAS OF CONTENT (i.e. “why we must be saved”). The other three areas require as much care and consideration – if we want to communicate the gospel effectively. sk non-Christians to critique your tracts…

Before you print your next run of gospel tracts, why not test a few samples on some non-Christian strangers? Ask them to critique them honestly and tell you if they make sense. Then ask them four questions: “From the booklet you have just read, can you tell me: • Why you must be saved?

• How Jesus can save you?

• What you must do to be saved?

• The cost of becoming a disciple?”

But proclaiming the gospel is not just about fully appreciating that Christians are a sub-culture with unique language and customs. It’s also about ‘de-cluttering’ our messages, taking out religious jargon.

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It’s more than just making our messages understandable. It’s also about unpacking the FOUR ESSENTIAL AREAS OF CONTENT in the right order. This is the second crucial communication issue we need to discuss.

OSPEL COMMUNICATION ISSUE TWO: The truths of the gospel must be delivered in the right order.

It’s crucial to unpack the FOUR ESSENTIAL AREAS OF CONTENT of the Words of the gospel in the right order.

For example, the reason God cannot haul us into heaven “just as we are” is that He is holy and just. In this respect He is utterly different from my neighbour. This is why, with the tools we have developed in ESI (Evangelism Strategies International), we start our gospel presentation with an explanation of the holiness of God. It was Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones who said ‘‘So evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the demands of the law, the punishment meted out by the law and the eternal consequences of evil and wrong-doing.”57 We must presume non-Christians will not know what “holy” means, and so we define it. After this, we explain what is being saved, hence a discussion of the difference between body and soul.

We don’t presume non-Christians know they have a soul, and so, we define the soul. Then follows a discussion about where the soul58 goes at death, either to heaven or to hell.

What creates the need to be saved in the first place comes next, which is where original sin and Law breaking is detailed. We use “The Law” at this point, because God works through it to awaken people to their need to be saved (e.g Galatians 3:24; Romans 7:7).

From here until the end of the presentation of the gospel, the same

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57 Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones. Studies In The Sermon On The Mount. (vol. one) Inter Varsity Press, 1959. p.235.

58 We do not go into a discussion of the difference between the soul and the spirit at this stage, as this would unnecessarily complicate the message. Non-Christians can learn about these differences after they are saved and assimilated into a church.

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care and thought is needed at each point.

What’s important to grasp here is that an effective presentation of the gospel will build truth upon truth in a carefully thought through, logical, Biblical, jargon free, easy-to-follow sequence.

To view just our example of this gospel message, please visit www.Biblein11.com. To learn an incredibly easy way to evangelise using this video, just email me: julian@esisite.com.

No discussion about the importance of delivering the truths of the gospel in the right order is complete without mention of the crucial function of “The Law” in evangelism. This is our third gospel communication issue.

OSPEL COMMUNICATION ISSUE THREE: NonChristians must know they are completely lost and doomed before they will fully appreciate / understand / comprehend / receive a revelation of the love of Jesus.

Non-Christians do not know that they are spiritually lost. They are “dead in their trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:5; 2:1 etc).

Hence, left to themselves, they will see no need for a Saviour. They must be awakened to this need. This being so, any effective gospel presentation will cover “The Law” very early on (Galatians 3:24).

Dr Francis Schaeffer in his book Death in the City asks: “What would you do if you met a really modern man on a train and you had just an hour to talk with him about the gospel?”

Schaeffer says, “I would spend forty-five or fifty minutes to really show him his dilemma; to show him that he is even more dead than he thinks he is; that he is morally dead because he is separated from the God who exists. Often it takes a long time to bring a person to the place where he understands the negative.

And unless he understands what’s wrong, he will not be ready to listen to and understand the positive.”59

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59 http://www.brfwitness.org/Articles/1978v13n4.htm

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C.S. Lewis said much the same thing.

“Christianity has nothing to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness. It is after you have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the Law, and that you have broken that Law and put yourself wrong with that Power - it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk. When you have realised that our position is nearly desperate, you will begin to understand what the Christians are talking about.”60 John Newton, the slave trader turned Christian, is a brilliant example of what Schaeffer and Lewis are talking about. Let me explain. As I have mentioned before, Newton penned the famous hymn “Amazing Grace”. In this hymn, he says “It was grace that taught my heart to fear”. Here he is referring to the Law, or the commandments of God. Newton heard the commandments, the Spirit of God touched him, and he was filled with fear. That is to say, he realised he was a law breaker and therefore a sinner deserving of, and headed for, hell. This scared him. Newton considered it was an act of God’s grace that he had been brought to this realisation, and this fear-filled emotion. But that is not how the hymn ends. It also says “..and grace my fears relieved.” The Holy Spirit also gave Newton a revelation of the cross and the loving, saving work of Jesus. Newton was saved!

What’s the point? Newton needed a revelation of his exceeding sinfulness, and, through the Law, to feel fear, before he was given a revelation of the unconditional love of God, through Jesus and the Cross. Both revelations were acts of God’s mercy, love, and grace. Newton then went on in the hymn to sing about how great God was / is and the intimacy he had with Him. Are you starting to “get” what I am saying here about the content of 60 C.S Lewis. Mere Christianity. Harper Collins. 1997. p26

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the gospel? About “fear” as a legitimate motivation for bringing people to Christ? About the theology of hell? I pray so.

So far I have discussed three issues concerned with effectively communicating the gospel. But there is a fourth, and this one you’ll find really encouraging. When I said that most non-Christians have never read a Bible or entered a church, I don’t want to give the impression that they are not interested in spiritual things. The truth is, they are really interested. Let me explain.

OSPEL COMMUNICATION ISSUE FOUR: Most nonChristians are hungry to hear the Words of the gospel.

After fourty years as an evangelist specialising in personal evangelism, I have concluded we tend to overestimate how much non-Christians know and we underestimate how much they want to know.

By this I mean that the vast majority are genuinely interested in God, heaven, hell, and spiritual issues. This is not the impression of the lost which circulates in most churches today. Like the 10 spies who returned from the promised land with a negative report, we “talk up” how bad the world “out there” is, and how non-Christians are not interested in us, our message, or our God. In my experience, nothing could be further from the truth.

After reaching tens of thousands of non-Christians with the Words of the gospel, my impression is that non-Christians are designed by God to hear these words. It is in their very DNA. They are wired to hear it, and be interested in it. Like moths drawn to a flame, the vast majority “connect” with this message when they hear it. For them, the Words of the gospel register as relevant, interesting and important.

The late David Watson, one of Great Britain’s most successful and effective evangelists, reflected on what he had learned from many years of frontline evangelism about the state of the soil in the hearts of most non-Christians: “I have learned that most people, if

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not all, are basically hungry for God, even though they show little sign of this on the surface.”61 From my own experience I would agree.62 With the right training in evangelism, and a good attitude, you too can have the same testimony as David Watson.

On the subject of non-Christians being designed by God to hear the gospel, the Rev J.D. Jones writes: “Let us never forget that the heart of man is made for the reception of the Divine Word. We say that the heart of man is ‘desperately wicked’ (Jeremiah 17:9) and that is true. We have to remember the truth expressed by Augustine in that well known saying, ‘O God, Thou has made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.’”63 The small numbers who reject the Words of the gospel have usually been damaged by a bad church experience or by the poor behaviour of a Christian.64 They are not born with a disdain for God and Christianity – it is developed.

The final gospel communication issue I want to touch on as I bring this Mini Book to a close is the issue of the relationship between evangelism and faith.

61 David Watson. I Believe In Evangelism. Hodder and Stroughton, 1976, p.101 62 For this reason, I cannot agree with the idea proposed by some that we ought to “look for what God is already doing and then join in.” If this means what I think it means, there are three assumptions here with which I contend. First, this idea presumes that God is not working in the lives of some people, which I cannot accept. Through conscience and creation He is always working in all people. Furthermore, many people around the world are praying general prayers for the lost, and God is answering those prayers. The hearts of all lost people are being softened through these prayers. Secondly, it assumes that we will easily be able to recognise where He is working. In evangelism, when I am observing a crowd, and considering to whom I will give the gospel, I am not enough of a spiritual giant to be able to x-ray the hearts of each person to “see where God is working and then join in.” Yes, the Spirit does sometimes lead, but often I simply choose the person who looks like they have time for a chat. It is not until I actually open discussion that I will have any idea of what He has been doing and where they are at with Him. Finally, the idea assumes that if I don’t see God working, I don’t need to do anything. This is not at all what Jesus taught.

He specifically commanded us to be proactive with our evangelism. We are to “go to all” (Mark 16:15) rather than “look for what God is doing, then join in.” Conclusion: the idea to “look for what God is doing, then join in” is being used by the enemy to hinder evangelism.

63 J.D Jones. The Gospel According To Mark. 1-6. London Religious Tract Society, 1913, pp.149-152 64 This does not mean we have to be perfect before God can work through us. I talk extensively about this in Mini Book Thirteen. Do not be discouraged when you feel like a weak, puny, pathetic Christian. Do the work of God anyway with all your heart, and He will make you stronger and better - as you go!

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OSPEL COMMUNICATION ISSUE FIVE: Evangelism is a discipline of faith.

When we go into the world and proclaim or spread the Words of the gospel, we do so by faith. What does this mean? It means that we evangelise believing that God will honour His Word by growing the seed of the gospel that we plant. It means we put our trust and hope in the God who formulated the message and in the Holy Spirit to convict the person listening. It means believing that God will use us, and that the person listening will receive our message by faith and believe. Thinking in this way pleases God for the Bible clearly says, “It is impossible to please God without faith” (Hebrews 11:6).

And if we don’t see the fruit personally, we can believe, by faith, that someone else, somewhere, sometime, will. We can be sure that if we plant the seed of the Words of the gospel, over time, the Holy Spirit will at the very least bring conviction and then in many instances conversion.65 Let’s never forget the indispensable need to move in faith as we set out to evangelise the world. “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you” (Luke 17:6). “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

Ask God to fill you with faith as you move out into the world with the precious Words of the gospel in hand.

If you want to hear a truly amazing testimony of the faith one man had in God to grow the seed of the gospel he planted, and how he saw God deliver in the most remarkable way, please visit the home page our web site www.esisite.com and listen to the Mr Genor audio testimony. As you listen to this testimony, you’ll literally feel faith rising within you!

Now, let’s bring this Mini Book to a conclusion.

65 In Mini Book Thirteen, I discuss in detail how ‘evangelism’ works and how God grows the seed of the gospel once it has been planted.

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onclusion Let me ask you a good question - if you were with a nonChristian on their death bed, and they had three minutes left to live, and they asked you how they could make peace with God and be forgiven and saved, what would you say? What you would say would reveal your understanding of the gospel, as Jesus used the phrase in Mark 16:15.

Make no mistake. The enemy does not want you to know all that I have communicated in this Mini Book. For once you know the content of the Words of the gospel, you’ll have the recipe in your hands to make a divine message which God will work through to divinely save people. You’d have exactly the right answer for the person on their death bed, especially so if you have acted upon the five crucial communication issues I have raised concerning the delivery of this message.

For once you have a clear understanding of the THREE DIFFERENT ASPECTS of the gospel (i.e. Words, Works, and Effects), and you memorise the FOUR ESSENTIAL AREAS OF CONTENT of the words of the gospel (i.e. why we must be saved, how Jesus can save us, what we must do to be saved, and the cost of becoming a disciple) you’ll be able to proclaim these Words, announce these Words, share these Words, teach these Words and spread these Words effectively for the glory of God. Wow! Evangelists with the Ephesians 4:11-12 gift - you’ll be able to transfer precious truth to other Christians, and in doing so, release them to help evangelise the world. In turn, millions of nonChristians will, for the first time, begin to hear or read the Words of the gospel clearly and understand them. Through your training and equipping efforts, and through the work and power of the Holy Spirit, the Words of the gospel will become for them “the power of

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God for salvation” (Romans 1:16).66 If we in the Church are sure the Words of the gospel can be defined, and we define these Words Biblically, we will be in a perfect position to out-manoeuvre the enemy in the battle for souls.

We’ll transition from being part of the problem to being part of the solution. We’ll help reverse the appalling truth that only 2% of believers in the West engage in evangelism. That’s right, only 2% of Christians in the Western Church now spread or proclaim the Words of the Gospel.

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ummary

• ‘The gospel’ can be defined.

• ‘The gospel’ has three aspects: the Works of the gospel, the Effects of the gospel, and the Words of the gospel.

• The author of the Words of the gospel is God. • The One who empowers, and brings life to, the Words of the gospel, is the Holy Spirit.

• The One who causes the Effects of the gospel is the Holy Spirit.

• The One who inspires the Works of the gospel is the Holy Spirit.

• The core of the message of the Words of the gospel is saving grace or justification by faith. If you hear ‘the gospel’ being proclaimed, as the word ‘gospel’ is used in Mark 16:15, and justification by faith is not the core of the message, it’s not ‘the gospel’ which is being proclaimed.

• Mention of ultimate realities after death (i.e. heaven and hell) must be in our gospel messages since Jesus included both in His interactions with the lost.

66 ESI can train you and your church to proclaim the gospel. There are many other excellent evangelism ministries which can also assist with training. e.g. Evangelism Explosion; Living Waters; OAC Ministries; Matthias Media. A search can be done on the internet to find your local contact.

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• To say ‘we have proclaimed the gospel’ we must have covered certain content: • Why we must be saved • How Jesus can save us • What we must do to be saved • The cost of being a disciple • There are five crucial issues which concern the communication of the gospel.

1. Christians are a sub-culture with our own language and customs.

2. The truths of the gospel must be delivered in the right order.

3. That non-Christians must know they are completely lost and doomed before they will fully appreciate the love of Jesus.

4. That most non-Christians are hungry to hear the gospel.

5. Evangelising is a discipline of faith. That is to say, none of us naturally feels like reaching a lost person each day with the gospel, but the love of God compels us. Ultimately, it’s an act of the will which flows from a heart which loves God and loves people.

• All human beings are designed by God to be receptive to the Words of the gospel. In fact, in the vast majority of cases, they are hungry to hear them.

• It is not enough to proclaim the Words of the gospel. We must do all we can to help non-Christians understand them conceptually. Only the Holy Spirit can bring revelation (i.e belief), as was the case of John Newton, the slave trader.

Only the Holy Spirit can bring belief about the Truth of the Words of the gospel message.

• CTION POINT: You might be asking “How can I help get the information in this Mini Book out to others?”

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Please teach the people in your church the four essential areas of content of the gospel message. Teach them the three different aspects of the gospel. These are fundamental truths every Christian must know.

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CTION POINT: Help others come to an awareness of the serious issues raised in this Mini Book. Email it to everyone on your address book and encourage them to do the same. Send them a PDF file. If you are reading a hard copy, you can obtain a PDF copy by sending an email to julian@ esisite.com.

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iven we now know the essential content of ‘the Words of the gospel,’ next I want to show how the enemy has assaulted the truth of what you have just read in this Mini Book. His attack on this phrase ‘the gospel’ is nothing less than ferocious. Come with me to the next Mini Book and I’ll show you what I mean...

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Real Life Story A Man In Big Trouble...

It’s Sunday, 11:30 am. It’s a crisp, still, fine, autumn day. I am leaving a church in the centre of Auckland City, New Zealand. As I am about to get onto the motorway heading for West Auckland, I notice a hitchhiker standing at the lights. He is mid-thirties and dressed in black.

He looks European, has short, curly dark hair, and is fashionably dressed. I pull over and invite the hitch-hiker to get in. With great enthusiasm he runs around the car to the passenger’s side.

We shake hands and introduce. He tells me he wants to go to Blockhouse Bay which is a suburb in West Auckland. I ask him what he has been up to. He tells me.

Bill: “Last night I picked up a girl at the bar, got a hotel room for the night and when I woke in the morning, she was gone. My wallet with $300 in it, plus my rings, credit cards, and car keys – everything I owned was gone. I had been fleeced.”

Bill went on to explain how his car had also been towed away because in the morning he did not have his keys to start it. He explained how he had phoned the police to report what had happened.

The police told him this kind of incident was becoming a regular thing in Auckland, and that there was a racket operating in the city.

“There is not much we can do, sorry,” they said.

Bill explained to the police that he had the phone number of the girl.

They replied, “Well, if she denies her crime there is really nothing we can do sir.” Bill doesn’t know I am an evangelist. I am just listening 59

to his story. He goes on to explain that he’s divorced and in his midtwenties. He has three children “No, make that four,” he says. He tells me the first one died while his wife was giving birth. He and his wife called this lost child Christopher.

“The baby never took its first breath. Oh yes, and there was another child that I fathered. I only just heard about this one recently. It was a girl. She is now five. So really I have five children.”

Bill gives lots of detail.

Completely captivated by his story, I say I will take him to where he wants to go. As we drive along, he continues. He explains how he has split up with his first wife and how his brother is about to marry her.

The wedding will be in two weeks.

Bill owns a house in Palmerston North1 and lives there alone but pays the mortgage on that and the mortgage on the home of the mother of his three children.

He doesn’t say anything about the fifth child he has discovered recently. I assume he will soon have to pay maintenance for this child too. I don’t ask, because it might make things worse.

Nearly crying, he pours out his heart about how hard life is. He works seven days a week as a car salesman.

He explains how he can’t stop working and how he feels completely trapped – like an animal on the run, with nowhere to hide. “I am living on the edge,” he says nervously. “I have mortgages, power bills, rates, food, child support payments, etc. I have had these feelings of being on the run for years. I am exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally.”

His weekend in Auckland was supposed to be a two day holiday after endless days working.

“I have scrimped and saved for this weekend. Nearly all of my meals have been from fast food outlets. When I am working, this is the kind of 1

Palmerston North is another city in the North Island of New Zealand.

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food I eat all the time. I am living like a scared rat. My elder brother committed suicide. So did my uncle. There is a pattern in the family.”

We stop outside the house he is staying in. He continues to pour out his heart. An hour later I explain what I do and ask him if I could explain something to him, how Jesus could help. He couldn’t work out why things were SO bad for him and always had been. After I had shared the gospel with him, he asked some great questions: Are our lives pre-determined? Is this all there is to life or can there be something different?

1. Is this stuff happening to me as payback from a past life?

2. W hy did Christopher die? He was only a baby. He was completely innocent. Where is Christopher now?

How do I know?

3. Why is there all this suffering in the world? If God is all-knowing and sovereign, how come He didn’t know that Adam and Eve would sin and so bring the curse of evil into the world? Why didn’t God stop ‘the experiment’ with human beings before evil was unleashed?

4. I s there a purpose in suffering? When is it going to end for me?

5. Are Christians really happy? Or are they just acting happy?

6. Why can’t I make a decision to become a Christian at the last minute in my life?

He explains that if he became a Christian, he would be a serious one. He would go to church, learn how to pray, read his Bible.

Then he asks another good question. “Julian, living a life of a Christian is going to take time! If I spend my time ‘praising God’ when am I going to get time to earn money?”

We spent nearly another hour together sitting in my car going over all these questions he was asking.

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Thankfully, the follow up booklet we have produced as a ministry tool answered many of them. At the end of this extraordinary encounter, Bill and I prayed together.

I asked him if he wanted to make today the day where he made a fresh start. I asked him if he wanted to become a follower of Jesus.

He said he wanted to think it through some more and read over the follow up booklet.

I agreed and affirmed his sincerity and thanked him for being honest. He looked me in the eyes, and with tears in his own said “thank you...I have really enjoyed this time.”

It was a great time connecting with this prodigal called Bill.

I felt a sincere, God-given love for him. His life and questions were haunting.

How many more like Bill are out there in the world, silently suffering? This is why we must go to them. They will never come to us. His life is so complex, only God could sort it out.

The only way for him to connect with God is through evangelism.

That is, to intentionally go to them with the gospel.

What do you think? Will you be part of the solution in your church? Will you lead the way? Why not set a start date now and be accountable to follow through.

Now there’s a thought....

Julian’s comments.

I am haunted about what else I could have done for this man in a practical sense. But here is the thing. Nearly every day I am meeting people with needs, some with great needs, like this man. I could have taken him to my home, and told him he would live with me to save him his rent, paid for his food, organised his transport.

I’ve just done that with another poor fellow, a psych patient. Soon after he left my home, he committed suicide. Not because he had stayed 62

at my place but because he was desperately ill. I simply don’t have the time or resources or money or emotional energy to be taking into my home every person I meet who is in trouble. I’d be overwhelmed with a tsunami of needs.

I have decided to keep it simple. I try and give people a meal, or some money, or a ride in my car to where they want to go, or to meet whatever their immediate need might be. But the most valuable thing I can give them is the gospel. Why? Because it hits the ball into God’s court. This is why he said “My yoke is easy” (Matthew 11:30). He alone has the power and the wisdom and the timing to sort their desperate situations out. Only God can unscramble an egg. I can’t. With the seed of the gospel planted in them, we are, in effect, releasing them into the loving hands of Jesus. Why else would the gospel be called “The Power of God for Salvation” (Romans 1:16)?

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The Full List Of Books In ‘The Truth About Evangelism’ Mini Series Book One

Evangelism Lost! Exposing The True State Of Evangelism In Today’s Church

Book Two Seven Deadly Motives Exposing How The Enemy Is Shutting Down Evangelism.

Book Three

The Sorrowful Collapse Of The Great Commission- A Dangerous Redefining Of Evangelism

Book Four Evangelism Redefined? Six Subtle Yet Devastating Redefinitions Of Evangelism

Book Five Confusion Busters 7 Things You Should Know About The Gospel Message

Book Six

Six Ways To Move From Gospel Confusion To Gospel Clarity

Book Seven

The Evangelisation Of The World Is The Ulimate Purpose Of The Church. 7 Irrefutable Reasons It Is Time To Prioritise

Book Eight

A Gift, A Call, Or A Commission. Are All Christians Commanded To Evangelise

Book Nine

12 Keys To Fearless Evangelism In The 21St Century

Book Ten Take Them Down. 12 Road Blocks And How To Get Through Them

Book Eleven

The Key To Victory. Start Viewing Evangelism As An Event, Not A Process

Book Twelve

Confidence In The Gospel, Come Back! Four Essential Steps To Reclaiming Lost Ground!

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Book Thirteen Prepare To Be Amazed! What Jesus Really Taught About Evangelism!

Book Fourteen

What Leaders Must Do To Cause A Resurgence In World Evangelism

Book Fifteen

A Plan Of Action To Cause A Resurgence In World Evangelism

Book Sixteen

Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 1)

Book Seventeen

Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 2)

Book Eighteen

Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 3)

Book Nineteen

Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 4)

Book Twenty Church Leaders! This Is Your Time To Step Up! (Part 5)

Book Twenty One

Climb On Board! 4 Reasons Why Doing Evangelism Will Help Create A Better World!

Book Twenty Two

Devastation! How Pseudo-Conversions Hinder Evangelism And What You Can Do To Stop The Rot!

Book Twenty Three

“Friendship evangelism.” What’s good about it, and what’s heretical?

Book Twenty Four

Unholy Grief! Five Ways Evangelists With The Gift Can Grieve The Holy Spirit

Book Twenty Five

The Highest Motive For Doing Evangelism? You’ll Be Amazed What The Bible Teaches!

Conclusion

Book Twenty Six Appendix One : If We Fail To Evangelise, We Fail. Period. By Dr K.P. Yohannan

Appendix Two : The Pastor Evangelist. By Dr. Roger S. Greenway

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Appendix Three : True Gospel Must Be Heard, By Kevyn Harris

Appendix Four : This We Believe Signatories

Appendix Five : Device 84. “I don’t like being told to do evangelism!”

Book Twenty Seven The Evangelism Fitness Test

To order, please visit Www.evangelismtruthbooks.com

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