Some thoughts on witnessing to the truth ...
Witnesses to the Truth...and nothing but.
The story is told of a family who sat in the emergency clinic at the hospital as a result of the oldest son, Johnny, breaking a rib. After receiving chest x-rays, Johnny and his family met again with the doctor to view and discuss the results. When the x-ray pictures were placed in front of them, Johnny’s sister Sally gasped with horror! “Are you OK, Sally?”, asked the doctor. “No, I don’t think so.” Sally responded, her voice quivering. “Doctor, isn’t that a picture of Johnny’s heart?” “Why, yes it is, Sally. Is there something wrong?” “Well...where is Jesus?”
After experiencing the new birth of eternal salvation in Jesus Christ, it’s perfectly normal to go to the greatest lengths possible to share this Good News with others - especially those we love most. In fact, Paul the Apostle was even willing to give up his own salvation if it would bring the Jews to Christ! However, he also rebuked the Galatians for their willingness to so quickly depart from the true Gospel they had received to embrace another false “Gospel” devoid of any hope, even proclaiming preachers of this alternate Gospel accursed. Likewise, in our zeal to see others saved, many Christians today often run the risk of communicating a similar sort of “mixed message”, devoid of true hope and saving power through the use of misleading and/or unbiblical words and phrases.
In addition to “ask Jesus into your heart”, here are several other common invitations made by Christians with good intentions:
- “Make Jesus your Lord and Savior.”
- “Just believe in Jesus.”
- “You have a God-shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it.”
- “Accept Jesus.”
- “Make a decision for Jesus.”
- “It is easy to believe.”
- “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”
- “Come to Jesus just as you are.”
- “Come to Jesus and you will receive forgiveness of sins and ____.”
- “Come to Jesus and experience love, joy, peace....”
- “Jesus is the missing piece.”
- “Jesus is better than fame and fortune.”
Just as Jesus came to bear witness of the truth (Jn. 18:37) He has commanded us as His followers to do the same. While many of these friendly phrases may seem more palatable to the unsaved ear, we must always remember that it’s the foolish preaching of the Cross that God uses to bring the spiritually dead to life in Christ. While we know that salvation is always a sovereign work of God, the following are a few biblical truth tips to take to heart to ensure that we don’t slip into pragmatic preaching that empties the Cross of it’s power.
The truth is...we must be sure the Lord God Almighty is a merciful and gracious God who saves all who call on Him. He will save those who respond to these invitations, but He always does so through the true Gospel. We want people to come into the fold, but when we use these invitations we’re actually substituting our own wisdom for that of God. Paul wrote that he was not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the very power of God to salvation (Rom. 1:16; 2 Tm. 1:8).
The truth is...we demonstrate our shame when we try to “polish” the Gospel to make it more attractive. We do this by either adding works to make it seem more “holy”, or by trying to soften the personal blow the exposure of sin makes to a person’s ego. Preaching these modifications to the Gospel is accursed. The only solution we have is to tell people the plain, ugly, and beautiful truth of the Gospel.
The truth is...we are all horrible sinners who have gone astray (Is. 53:6), all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God (Rom 3:23), and all will be individually held accountable for our behavior (Ez. 18). Further, the the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23) and so individually those who sin shall die because of it (Ez. 18:4). But the Good News is that God has laid all of our iniquity on His own Son, Jesus Christ (Is. 53:6; Rom 6:10; Heb. 7:27; 9:12) to satisfy His own wrath for the sins of the world (1 Jn. 2:2).
The truth is...blessed are the guilty, ungodly sinners who repent of their sin and put their faith in the Christ of the Gospel, Who fully satisfied the wrath of God, because like Abraham their assurance in the promise of God will be accounted as true righteousness (Rom. 4). God will baptize any who do so into the only acceptable sacrifice for sin; the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:3-10; 1 Cor. 15:1-11). This is the only way God reconciles sinners to Himself, and bestows Eternal Life.
While it’s understandable that Christians would say just about anything to help others get saved, we must remember that the Gospel of God is the only solution He provided and invitation He gives. Those who believe will be saved, those who do not will be condemned (Mk. 16:15-16). The message might not sound “catchy”, and it’s far from politically correct, but it is true...and it will be forever “relevant” unto salvation.
For more comprehensive teaching on the dangers of trying to modify the Gospel to make it more palatable, listen to this message entitled “
True & False Conversion” by Ray Comfort.
Cory McKenna,
Pastor of Local Missions
Harvest Bible Chapel London