May I just express my appreciation to your
leaders for this invitation here.
It's always good to come to Westminster again,
even if it's for a visit, not necessarily
to speak, but to see some of those
who labor in the gospel here to instruct
you.
I am grateful for Dr. Miller and his
interest in evangelism since he's been at this
seminary.
I may be wrong, but it seems to
me I've heard more notes on evangelism since
he's here, and I thank God for him
and for all your faculty and for this
great institution.
So I'm glad to be here today with
you.
I want to try to talk about some
subjects of biblical evangelism this morning that I
hope are pertinent to our day, to our
need.
You know, there's a great question in the
old catechism, and I hope you young preachers
don't miss this question.
It might be as good as most of
the, or much of the instruction you get
on preaching, but there's a great question.
I think it has some of the most
valuable things in it for preaching in the
old catechism that I've ever found.
It's so comprehensive, and the question is this.
You may not know it's there if you
haven't looked lately.
How is the word of God to be
preached by them that are called thereunto?
How many of you ever seen that question
in the larger catechism?
Well, a few of you.
Thank God for that.
Well, listen to the answer.
They that are called to labor in the
ministry of the word are to preach sound
doctrine diligently in season and out of season.
That's number one.
Plainly, this is number two, not in enticing
words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of
the spirit and power.
Number three, faithfully making known the whole counsel
of God for, and this is what I
want to particularly refer to, wisely applying themselves
to the necessity and the capacity of the
hearers.
Now, that would be a great thing for
young preachers to get a hold of that
point.
Wisely, it's to be preached wisely and wisely,
it says, applying themselves to the necessity and
the capacity of their hearers.
I remember once going into a church.
It was quite dead, and there was about
12 people there on a Sunday night, and
the subject was the historicity of 2 Peter,
and I thought if there's any crowd that
needs that, they sure needed to hear something
about, follow me and I'll make you fishers
of But it's applying themselves to the necessity
of the hearers, and it goes on a
few more things velocily.
I want to try to speak to the
necessities of our day, to what we see
in our day concerning evangelism.
I would love to have time to cover
evangelism and the biblical doctrine of assurance.
It's a very important thing.
It would put an end to all these
canned methods of evangelism.
It would put an end to them totally.
Now, it wouldn't put an end to the
whole system, but it would put an end
to that aspect of the system where they
decision people on the spot and give them
assurance that they belong to Christ, all in
about 3 minutes or 5 minutes or some
of them real long.
It might take them 20 minutes, but all
that in one 20 minutes.
Well, if they knew the bible doctrine of
assurance, it would end all of that altogether.
I'd like to have time to do that.
However, I won't.
I won't have time.
I feel somewhat like that.
Last night, I had a terrible time with
my trying to get my lips wet.
My saliva glands must have stopped last night.
I had a terrible time, and today I'm
kind of frustrated because I just don't know
how much to touch.
I feel like the bishop who lost his
ticket on the train, and when the conductor
came by, he was feverishly trying to find
his ticket, and finally they went by and
said, that's all right, bishop, we'll be back
in a minute.
And they came back when he collected the
tickets for the rest of the train.
He came back again, and he was feverishly
still trying to, and by this time, he's
really getting worked up.
That's all right, bishop, we'll be back.
So when he'd come back the third time,
the bishop was really broken out in sweat,
and I mean the bubbles of perspiration were
his head, and he said, that's all right,
bishop, we know you.
He said, we ride this train all the
time.
We know all about you.
That's quite all right.
You just, you could pass again, or we
know you have the ticket.
And he still kept feverishly going for the
ticket.
He said, but the problem is, I don't
know where I'm going.
So I feel somewhat like that today.
I hope I know where I'm going.
Well, let me announce at least what I'm
going to try to do this morning.
I've, as a layman, did some itinerant work,
if there is such a thing in the
Bible.
I suppose there is, in some degree, anyhow.
I don't know about these itinerant preachers, however,
but, and much less lay preachers.
There's only one thing more dangerous than being
a preacher, and that's being a lay preacher.
That's what Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, and
I agree.
Uh, but in going from church to church,
and meeting some of the wonderful men of
God that I've met over the years, and
had some wonderful times of fellowship and devotion
and prayer with them, it's been a, it's
been a high privilege that I've had to
do that.
Some preachers never get out to meet many
other preachers, even in the whole course of
their ministry, and that is to live with
them a week or something like that.
And I have met some godly men in
that course of 10 years about, uh, and
had some very intimate conversations about Christianity and
about their church, things that wouldn't be proper
for them to discuss about their church publicly.
But not infrequently men will say to me,
who, people who have a real concept of
biblical conversion, biblical salvation, say that they wonder
how many people in their congregation really give
Bible evidence of being converted.
I had one man that preaches to 700
people every Sunday, he did then, I don't,
I hope it's more now, maybe less, maybe
he preached some of them out, I don't
know.
But I remember very vividly, we started a
week of meetings there, eight days, and he
said, he said, Ernie, he said, I really
don't believe 25% of my people give
Bible evidence of being converted.
Bible evidence.
He didn't say they weren't converted, they were,
he said, they do not give Bible evidence
of, of, of conversion.
Two weeks or three weeks ago, I was
in Alabama in a Presbyterian church for a
week and lived with the pastor, a wonderful
young preacher, a man of prayer.
And during that week, he expressed to me
that he wondered if any of his elders
were converted.
Now that's a fact.
I'm not God, I'm just telling you what
he said.
I didn't say they weren't converted.
Now, it's in this area that I want
to touch today, because the Bible does have
something to say about spurious faith.
It uses different terms to express it.
I'm not suggesting, and I want to say
this at the outset, it's not for the
preacher or for me or for other Christians
to decide who is phony and who's not.
I mean, unless it's a, a blatant open
confession that they deny things.
I'm not suggesting that we can go around
and decide who's spurious believer and who's a
genuine believer.
That's not the answer.
The answer is the Bible does have something
to say about spurious faith, spurious believers, and
some of the characteristics.
And it also has a great deal to
say about those who are in possession of
real Bible faith.
Because of that, that I want to try
this morning to, and it's important in evangelism,
to at least have some idea of this
distinction.
And I believe as this man I told
you about a moment ago, who preaches to
700 people, by the end of the week,
because I was preaching on self-examination, he
was kind of a little disturbed.
And I remember one day he said to
me, what do you want me to do?
Stand up every Sunday morning and tell them
they're not converted or they're not Christians?
I said, no, doctor.
I said, I wouldn't suggest that.
He said, well, what should I do?
I said, well, I have a Bible.
And I said, I read it now and
again.
And I said, in there, it tells me
what a Christian is meant to be and
to do.
And I said, I believe it's the duty
of godly preachers to hold up before men
and women what is a Christian and what
he's meant to be and to do.
Are you a Christian?
That's not trying to play god, but that
is trying to expose and expound what a
Christian is.
Now, why do I say this?
Well, because of a passage of scripture like
1 Corinthians 15, 1 and 2, where it
says they believed in vain.
That's not true faith.
They believed in vain.
Or James 2, 19, where it says the
devils believe and trembled.
Some of you haven't even trembled.
You haven't believed to that extent.
Did you have any trembling?
Phoenix believed something, because when Paul pressed upon
him the great message of the gospel, the
Bible says he trembled.
He was affected.
So he had to believe something.
In Matthew chapter 8, verse 28 and 29,
we find the confession of the demons.
They have a very good confession.
Did you ever know that?
That the demons have a good confession of
faith.
If you look at verse 29, they believed
in the person of Christ.
We know that thou art the Son of
God.
They knew that they had a good confession.
They believed in the person of Christ.
Not only that, they believed in the power
of Christ.
They said, art thou come to torment us
before the time.
They believed he had power.
So they had a good confession.
In fact, it sounds like they were even
straight on prophecy.
I'm not, but it sounds like they were,
because they said, art thou come to torment
us before the time.
So maybe they were even straight on prophecy.
I don't know.
Luke 8, chapter 8, verse 13, it talks
about those who believe for a while, but
in the time of temptation they fall away.
James chapter 2, verse 17 and verse 26,
it talks about dead faith.
Well now, if there's such a thing as
dead faith, devil's faith, vain faith, then we
ought to have some idea, at least the
Bible can't be so vague that there wouldn't
be some idea about some of the characteristics
of these two kinds of faith, real genuine
faith and the others.
I think it gets down to experimental religion.
Now, the reason this is important in evangelism,
in my opinion, is that we would be
very careful in the area of us giving
other people assurance.
Not that we don't tell them assurance is
there.
Not that we don't take the Bible position
and tell them to give diligence to make
their calling election sure, because joy comes from
knowing.
The joy of a Christian life is in
the aspect of assurance.
How much joy can I have about the
Christian life if I'm not sure I'm a
Christian?
So the joy of it comes from knowing
I'm a Christian.
And I'm not going to run out witnessing
to anybody and say, oh, come and be
a Christian, it's wonderful, it's great.
And they say, are you a Christian?
I say, well, I don't know.
You see, there's a very close relationship between
joy and assurance.
That's why we see it so vividly set
out in John's epistle.
There's a very close relationship.
There's a close relationship between assurance and service.
When David is in that great psalm where
he's confessing his sin with Bathsheba and his
murder of Uriah, when he's in the midst
of that great confession, you know the part
where he said, Lord, bestow unto me the
joy of thy salvation.
Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and
sinners shall be converted to thee.
So there was some relationship between that joy
of God's salvation that he was pleading for
and him instructing sinners, because he said, then,
then will he do it.
So this morning I want to try to
set before you a few of the differences.
I didn't say who they were, but some
of the differences between biblical faith, shaving faith.
This is not all, it's not a comprehensive
or an inclusive type of a message, not
even any attempt at that.
But there are some differences.
This morning I'd like to try to set
before you a couple of those differences.
And the first is, the first I suggest
is this.
First, the Bible does teach it, that there's
a believing that's less than believing unto salvation.
I did give you some references.
Let me just give you a couple more
cases.
John chapter 2, verse 23 and 24.
We find that when there is a case
where it says, many believed on him, but
Jesus did not commit himself to them.
Well, if Christ has not committed himself to
us, it's certainly not saving faith.
Jesus did not commit himself to them.
It's not only me committing myself to Christ,
but it's Christ committing himself to us in
all of his work.
Then there's the passage in John 12.
Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, also many believed
on him.
But because of the Pharisees, they did not
confess him, lest they should be put out
of the synagogue, for they loved the praise
of men more than the praise of God.
So we have it all through the Bible.
And of course, the most vivid example is
Acts chapter 8.
This is very embarrassing for a Baptist, because
he not only was a believer, but he
received believers baptism, believe it or not.
And he still was lost.
I'm not going into that fellow this morning,
but he certainly had no reason to believe
that he was a Christian, or been savingly
joined to Christ.
Well, the question is, not so much does
the Bible teach this.
I think that's rather simple to establish.
But the question is, well, what's the difference?
And that's what I want to try to
share with you a little while this morning,
because it's vital to evangelism, especially in the
area of us giving people assurance.
The first difference I'd suggest is this.
The false believer, the spurious believer, that's the
fellow who's not genuine, the phony, believe it
or not, they want Christ.
So they wouldn't be a believer at all.
They'd be an unbeliever.
So the spurious believer wants Christ, but not
without exceptions.
This is the difference.
The true believer, there is that time in
his life when he comes to Christ, and
he wants Christ without any buts, without any
ands, and without any ifs.
Not this idea, I want Christ, but I'm
not going to steal.
No, you're not going to be saved.
Don't you tell people they are either.
I want Christ if, and I want Christ
if, if, if, if.
No, you're not a candidate for salvation in
that sense.
You see, the spurious believer wants Christ, all
right, but he wants his other lovers likewise.
Now, I don't question that we as true
believers have some buts and ands and ifs
as we go along the pilgrim way, but
there must come that time when my heart
is so subdued that Christ and Christ is
so beautifully set before my soul that I
want Christ without exception.
You see, there's this idea that people want
the grace of Christ, but they'll have nothing
to do with his government, and that's not
saving faith, just to want his grace and
not want his government.
It's like the prodigal son.
He wanted his father's goods, but he didn't
want his father's government.
That's the difference.
The spurious believer wants the benefits of the
cross.
He loves to have you tell him, because
he's a believer, he loves to have you
tell him about the benefits of the cross,
but don't talk to him about bowing to
the implications of the crown.
That's something else, and that's a distinction between
if he just wants the benefits of the
cross.
He says he's in the kingdom.
Oh yes, he's in the kingdom.
He's a believer, but he's not subject to
the king.
He wants the crown at the end of
the way, but not the narrow robe that
leads to it.
They want this big free gift that people
are huckstering off.
The big free gift, salvation.
But what we must also tell men in
evangelism, yes, it's a free gift, but it
must be received with empty hands.
That's the difference.
And when you tell the spurious believer, oh,
it's free, but empty your hands, that's letting
him in without repentance.
There's no such salvation.
They don't mind trusting, but don't talk to
them about turning.
They want heaven, but not the narrow road
that leads there.
They want the straight, not the straight gate,
they want heaven, but they don't want to
go through the straight gate that leads to
it.
That's the spurious believer.
But you see, the true believer, he wants
Christ without any exception.
It's also a gospel of behavior as well
as a gospel of belief.
True believers see Christ as the treasure hid
in a field, as we have it in
that great text in those little short parables
in Matthew chapter 13.
The true believer sees Christ as the treasure
hid in a field, Matthew chapter 13, verse
44.
Here's the picture.
Here it is.
And I just call your attention in those
passages.
And again, the kingdom of heaven is like
a treasure hid in a field.
When a man hath found, he rejoiced, and
for joy thereof he goes and sells all
that he has, and he buys that field,
that salvation.
I want that field at any cost.
You see it in the next parable as
well.
Again, Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is
like an unto a merchant man seeking goodly
pearls, who when he hath found one pearl
of great price.
I need not waste any time telling you
what that is.
When he found one pearl of great price,
he went and sold all that he had
and bought that.
That's the principle that I'm talking about.
And the true believer says he wants Christ
without exception.
And you'll not be saved on any other
grounds.
Anything less than that is less than Bible
faith.
Anything less than that is not saving faith.
And then the second thing, the difference that
I'd call to your attention, is this.
The false believer never closes with Christ.
If I could use it in that expression,
he never comes to Christ in all of
his offices as he's offered in the gospel.
What do I mean by that?
Well, I'd like to catechize you again this
morning.
You see in the old catechism and in
the Bible itself, you don't see anything about
people trusting Jesus as their savior.
Do you ever know that?
There's not a line in the Bible that
has any idea that it even implies that.
It implies that principle.
Now don't misunderstand.
It's a very important point that I wouldn't
want to be misunderstood on.
It's certainly proper for us to sing about
him as our savior, to present to the
world as a savior, to talk about him
as our savior, and to know him as
our savior.
The danger is, as when we take this
away from who the savior is, when the
angels announced his coming into the world, they
said, unto you this day is born in
the city of David a savior who is
Christ the Lord.
When the apostles preached, they preached Christ Jesus
the Lord.
Second Corinthians, we're your servants for Jesus' sake.
They preached Christ Jesus the Lord.
Colossians 2, 6, when sinners receive Christ, they
receive Christ Jesus the Lord.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk ye in him.
That's the language of the Bible.
And that's the language of the old catechism.
And what's Mr. Confessions?
Why is it in the whole confession?
In the whole catechism, you wouldn't find any
reference to anybody trusting Jesus as their savior.
Not a single line in the whole catechism.
And I said to somebody this morning, when
I held it up, I said, this is
not the Bible.
This is just the best expression of it.
Not a line in the Bible like that.
This is the language you get there, and
I'm going to catechize you now.
Because I want to make the point, this
is one of the salient differences between true
believer and a false believer.
The true believer never closes with Christ in
all of his offices.
That is as he's offered in the Bible.
Catechism question number 23.
What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
Answer.
Christ as our Redeemer executes the office of
prophet, preached, and king, both in the estate
of his humiliation and exaltation.
He executes the office of king.
Question 24.
How does Christ execute the office of a
prophet?
Christ executes the office of a prophet in
revealing to us by his word and spirit
the will of God for our salvation.
Question 25.
How does Christ execute the office of a
priest?
Christ executes the office of a priest in
his offering up of himself a sacrifice to
satisfy divine justice, to reconcile us to God,
and make continual intercession for us.
That's the work of the priest, sacrifice and
intercession.
The next question, 26.
How does Christ execute the office of a
king?
Christ executes the office of a king in
subduing us to himself.
The sinner must not only want the sacrifice,
but he must be subdued to Christ by
subduing us to himself in ruling and defending
us, in restraining and conquering all his enemies
and ours.
First, you see, he's anointed king to rule
over all things.
He's the priest who procured pardon and peace
by the blood of his cross, and maintains
that peace by his intercession.
He's a prophet to be a wise teacher
and counselor in all cases.
Now, what office does the false believer want?
It's obvious.
He doesn't mind having a priest, but don't
talk to me about that business.
He doesn't mind having a priest, but he
doesn't want to be instructed in the way
of righteousness.
He's not even keenly pursuing it.
Now, don't misunderstand me.
I know there's a lot of people that
are Christians who are not familiar with this
catechism language, but they are familiar with it
and experience in their heart the principles involved
here.
I remember once I was speaking at a
Presbyterian young people's conference, and a young girl
about 18 came to me who hadn't been
catechized.
She had not come up through that particular
communion, and I was speaking about the prophet,
the priest, and the king.
And she said to me, Mr. Risinger, she
said, I believe I'm a Christian, but she
said, I never heard of that.
And she said, I never trusted Christ as
my prophet, priest, and king.
And I said to her, let me ask
you a couple of questions.
I said, when you came to Christ, did
you have a desire to be taught of
him, to know his will, to be instructed
by him?
She said, yes.
I said, did you desire for him to
rule your life and reign over you?
He said, yes.
I said, well, I believe your experience is
better than your understanding, and maybe tonight your
understanding caught up with your experience.
And so bear in mind that I'm not
saying that everybody that doesn't have this particular
language doesn't have it in principle or in
experience, because they may.
But I say to you tonight, don't miss
this point, either.
This morning, excuse me.
Don't miss this point.
What office does a spurious believer want?
Obviously, he doesn't mind having this personal savior
business.
And you know, we're guilty, the best of
preachers are guilty sometimes, even who know his
principle, in their implications in proclamation, and their
implications in witnessing, and their implications as they
teach.
We must be careful of the implications.
Now, if you read, this is, this shouldn't
be strange to you.
If you read Charles Hodge, in volume three,
you'll find that he talks about speculative or
dead faith.
You'll find that he talks about temporary faith,
and this is what he calls it, quote,
nothing is more common than for the gospel
to produce a temporary impression, more or less
deep and lasting.
Those thus impressed believe, but having no root
in themselves, sooner or later they fall away.
He's describing temporary faith.
Now, if that's a possibility, if that's a
possibility, how can I unequivocally say to any
particular individual, young or old, in evangelism, that
they are positively unequivocally saved?
I'm talking about me saying it for them.
Robert Dabney and Charles Hodge thought he was
the greatest theologian of his day, and of
course, Dabney thought Charles Hodge was, so I
don't know, it might have been just a
little, I can't tell that, but at least,
at least Charles Hodge had a great opinion
of Robert Dabney, and I personally believe he's
one of the two greatest Presbyterian theologians in
the Southern Church ever produced.
The other, and he was professor of theology
at Union Seminary, and the other one, of
course, is Thornwell, and there's quite a debate
even among the Southern Presbyterians who they consider,
and it's not, it's not, they don't have
any unanimity on that subject.
Well, Dabney was also the chaplain for Stonewall
Jackson, but in his theology, which is hard
to come by, he mentions four kinds of
faith, historical, temporary, saving, and miraculous.
Now, I want to just read a little
bit on this point.
He said true faith, now get this, this
is years ago, and if it was true
then, it's a thousand times more true now,
because we're so saturated with cynicism that it's
worse now than it was in his day.
True faith embraces Christ substantially in all of
his offices.
This must be of prime importance, and then
referring to the danger of teaching and preaching
only the priestly or perpetuatory work, Dabney says,
this is a warning and a danger about
just preaching the priestly work of Christ, he
said this, this teaching, referring to just preaching
the priestly work, this teaching is far too
common, at least by implication, in our pulpits.
It results is temporary faith which embraces Christ
for importunity only instead of deliverance from sin.
Dabney, referring to the shorter catechism says, our
catechism defines faith as embracing Christ as he's
offered in the gospel, and he's never offered
as a priest alone.
He's never offered as a priest apart from
his prophetic office.
These are his offices, these are his offices,
and he's never, you don't divide his offices.
He that hath the son hath life, and
when you have the son you have all
his offices.
He can't be picky and choosy, and that's
what he's talking about.
He says our catechism defines faith as embracing
Christ as he's offered in the gospel, and
just further the quote, the tendency of human
selfishness is ever to degrade Christ's sacrifice into
a mere expedient for bestowing impunity.
The pastor can never be too explicit in
teaching this, in teaching, in teaching this is
the travesty of the gospel, and that no
one rises above the faith of the stony
ground here until he embraces Christ as he
is, until he embraces Christ as a deliverer
from depravity and sin as well as hell.
I was going to read that question from
the shorter catechism, but I won't.
Let me read a quote from Spurgeon.
You'll condescend to listen to a Baptist quote,
won't you?
Spurgeon in warning his students said this, this
is a quote, if the professed convert distinctly
and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's
will but does not mean to attend to
it, you are not to pamper his presumptions.
It is your duty to assure him that
he's not saved.
Do not suppose that the gospel is magnified
or God is glorified by going to the
worldling and telling them that they are saved
at this moment by simply accepting Christ as
their Savior while they are wedded to their
idols and their hearts still in love with
sin.
If I do so, I tell them a
lie.
I pervert the gospel.
I insult Christ and I turn the grace
of God into lasciviousness.
Spurgeon went on to say it is interesting
to notice that the apostles preach the Lordship
of Christ.
The word Savior only occurs twice in the
Acts of the Apostles.
On the other hand, it is amazing to
notice that the title Lord is mentioned 92
times, the Lord Jesus 13 times, the Lord
Jesus Christ 6 times in the same book.
The gospel is, says Spurgeon, believed in the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Matthew Henry, in his introduction to the New
Testament, now I know it's not so good
to say Matthew Henry around seminaries because he's
not very critical.
It's kind of old English and all that
sort of thing.
I don't usually mention him in seminaries, but
I find these fellows, make me some of
these preachers after they've been out about 10
years, they've learned a great lesson that God
didn't call them to feed giraffes, but sheep.
And then they turned back to old Matthew
Henry again.
In his introduction to the New Testament, Matthew
Henry says this, all the grace contained in
this book, referring to the New Testament, is
owing to Jesus Christ as our Lord and
Savior.
And unless we consent to him as our
Lord, we can expect no benefit by him
as our Savior.
Now, you see, all these heretical doctrines of
the second blessing and the divided Christ, you
trust Christ as your Savior at one time
and the Lord at another time, and all
these second blessing things, I don't care what
shade they take or what form they take,
they're all as a result of faulty evangelism.
Because these people make a profession of faith,
the church calls them Christians, the preacher calls
them Christians, their friends call them Christians, but
they don't act like Christians.
And so we have to get them to
come down front for something else.
Well, the problem with him is, he trusts
Christ as his Savior, but he doesn't know
Christ as his Lord.
That's a travesty.
That's a contradiction of terms.
That's wicked.
It deceives sinners.
And all these things, bar none, every one,
is a result of faulty, bad evangelism.
Catechism tells us that we must receive Christ
as he's offered in the gospel.
The only way he's offered is as a
mediator.
And as a mediator, he's the Lord with
three principal offices as prophet, priest, and king.
And the true believer says, I want a
Savior.
I want somebody to instruct me.
I want a king to rule over me.
And the spurious believer says, I'd like to
have a Savior.
I don't want to go to hell.
Who wants to go to hell anyhow?
And so you get him to nod to
Jesus and get him on your roll.
And he's in a Baptist church, you have
him given, you baptize him in the evening
service and give his testimony next week.
That's evangelism.
And it has a very pertinent part of
it, to be sure that the Christ we
preach is the one of the New Testament,
the one who's prophet, priest, and king of
his church.
And you don't get in by just tipping
your hat to him and all that.
Well, that's the second difference between a true
believer and a false believer, is the true
believer wants Christ as he's offered in the
Bible.
The spurious believer says, I don't mind having
a Savior, but don't talk to me about
those other things.
That's a distinct difference.
Now, I'm not saying who they are.
That's something else.
That comes under God's business.
That doesn't come under the head of our
business to decide who they are in every
case, or any case, maybe.
That's God's business.
But it is our business to set before
them what that is and what's involved.
And that leads right into the next point.
And that's another difference.
The false and the temporary believer never comes
to Christ and receives Christ, or closes with
Christ, and all the inconveniences that follow.
And there are some.
This idea that Christ solves all your problems
when you become a Christian is a lie.
He creates them problems.
He creates as many as he solves.
They're blessed.
But that business of coming to Christ and
to solve all your problems, like he's a
psychological grandmother or something.
No, sir, he creates some problems.
I know some homes are divided over Christ
today, right now.
Not something I read in the history of
the Bible.
I know homes that are divided over Christ.
I met a boy who was thrown out
of his home over Christ.
He's a Jewish lad.
Years ago I met him.
Helped him through school over Christ.
I tell you, when he came to Christ,
it didn't solve all his problems.
It created a problem he never had before.
There isn't a man or a boy or
young man or young woman in this building
this morning.
If you're living for Christ, it cost you
something.
It's not easy to be a Christian in
school, not even in seminary, I suppose.
Much more so out where you don't have
any fellowship.
Christ causes some problems.
Well, the temporary believer never closes with Christ
with those inconveniences that follow.
They want Christ, but not the cost.
They don't mind this little gospel hairline, but
they're not like those disciples who said we
left all to follow thee.
And I must say here at this point,
and may the Lord forgive me, and I
hope he forgives you.
I haven't always seen this point, and I've
not always been as honest as people, and
I believe right here's another place in the
evangelist.
We must be as honest as Christ was
with people at the outset.
We must be honest with them at the
beginning.
Instead of just trying to think of getting
more statistics on our role.
Mr. Crowley last night talked about the church.
I say amen from my heart to all
he said.
That's it.
A holy life.
A church.
Pastoring people.
That's it.
It lives different.
But if that's true, and I believe it
with all my heart, then we got to
be a little honest with them at the
beginning, and we wouldn't have our churches loaded,
loaded with people who give no Bible evidence
of salvation.
That's what these young people, that Mr. Crowley,
that's what they don't like.
He mentioned it last night.
I've talked to some, they say don't talk
to me about those God words.
They call them the God words.
I'm not interested in God words.
Not God's word, but God words.
They're God words.
It's all at the bottom of it.
Because our people, our churches are full of
people who do not give Bible evidence of
being converted.
And I think we do them great harm
to keep on telling them they are.
When down in our heart, if we read
our Bible, we'll know they don't give Bible
evidence of it.
Now, I don't suggest that we get up
every Sunday morning and tell them they're not
saved and all this kind of thing.
No, no, no.
I think it's terrible to drive people to
despair.
But we can err the other way.
We can err if we count them all
out.
It would be terrible.
But we err just as much when we
count them all in.
Neither is necessary.
We're not God.
Well, let me come to this difference.
I say it comes back to us by
not being honest, because if we're a little
more honest at the beginning about this business.
You see, I believe true evangelism involves integrity.
And integrity in two particular areas.
And one is at the outset, and the
other is in the area of assurance.
Giving people assurance.
It takes Bible integrity.
And it's harder to be honest with people
spiritually.
I was in business 20 years before I
retired.
And I say this thoughtfully, not off the
top of my head.
It's harder to be honest with people spiritually.
And it is to be honest in business.
It's harder.
It's hard to be honest with people spiritually.
But I'll tell you, Jesus was.
Paul was.
And may God help us that our integrity
may increase in this area.
Now let me just show you how honest
Christ was at the outset.
Just look at a couple of his invitations.
You see, in what these second work of
grace people do, they take these invitations to
discipleship.
And they say, well, they were Christians.
Now he's invited them to be disciples.
Well, the disciples were called Christians because they
were following Christ.
And the disciples were called Christians first at
Antioch.
Why were they called Christians?
Because they were following Christ.
So we're disciples as long as we live.
As long as we follow Christ.
Jesus defined a disciple, best definition given.
I don't have to turn to any theological
books.
What is a disciple?
John 8.
You shall know the truth.
If you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed.
And you shall know the truth.
The truth shall make you free.
If you continue in my word.
That's a disciple.
Luke 8.
Chapter 3, verse 32 or somewhere around there.
But I want to show you, not only
did our Lord preach it, but he practiced
it.
Take the invitations of discipleship.
You know the chapters.
I needn't turn to you.
Luke 8, Luke 14, where he said, let
a man count the cross.
This is at the beginning.
He said, a man doesn't start to build
a building or build a tower unless he
anticipates that he has enough money to finish
it.
He said, he doesn't go to war with
a little army against a great big army.
He anticipates the strength of the enemy.
What's he saying?
Well, if you read the parable, it comes
right there.
So is everyone that comes after me.
He's talking about coming after him.
I say Christ was honest and we must
be honest in evangelism.
So let me just show you how keenly
honest he was, not in a general way,
but in a specific way.
I think that's specific enough, but here's something
a little more vivid.
Luke chapter 9, verse 57, it says this.
And it came to pass as they went
away, a certain man said unto him, Lord,
I'll follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
Boy, oh boy, I'm looking for you, buddy.
I'm looking for you.
I'll follow.
Boy, oh boy, we'll have him in by,
we'll sure, looking for you.
We've been all over this town looking for
you.
I'll follow you.
That's the kind of fellow I'm looking for.
And if he'd have been one of these
half converted Hollywood stars that still have most
of Hollywood in them, they'd have had him
parading all over the country, giving his testimony.
Or if he'd have been one of these
big Christian athletes who live in open rebellion
against God's holy day, they'd have paraded him
all over the country, giving his testimony.
Or if he'd have been a big successful
businessman, made a lot of money, he'd go
on bragging about how he trusted Jesus and
got rich.
That's evangelism of our day.
That's the result of phineism.
That's the result of having at least a
semi-Pelagian view of man.
Christ was more honest.
I want to tell you, he didn't say,
come on over, we'll get you baptized tonight.
I'll follow you wherever you go.
Jesus said unto him, foxes have holes, and
the birds of the air have their nests,
but the son of man has nowhere to
lay his head.
Not a very good way to get customers.
But it's honest.
It's honest.
I know when you deal with young people,
my heart bleeds.
I stand up there and look at those
young people in our church in high school
and college.
I look at them every Sunday.
Some of them don't make a profession of
Christ.
And I look at them and try to
invite them the best way I know how
to invite them to Christ.
But down in my heart I know that
if they come to Christ in a saving
way, it may mean for some of those
girls, no husband.
It's meant that to some others.
It may mean to that young man who
looks like a real candidate for the law,
it may mean something else.
To live on a poor preacher's wages, it
might mean that.
These men that teach you in this seminary,
with their education, the amount of years they
put in, and what they have upstairs, and
they wouldn't be here in the business world
with the same amount of education unless they'd
be making 50 times more money.
It costs them something to teach in this
seminary.
A lady said to me once, she was
trying to get her out to church.
She got her out a few times, and
she says, I like your preacher.
He said, if he just didn't get paid
for preaching.
I said, get paid?
I said, he pays us about $20,000
a year to preach.
Didn't you know that?
She said, does he really?
I said, yeah.
I said, he was on the dean's list
in his school.
He's got four years of college, three years
of seminary.
I said, that's seven years.
I said, the people that were in his
class that were half as bright as he
is, they're making about $30,000 a year
now.
He's not making $10,000.
So I figure he's paying us about $20
,000 a year to preach.
Well, what am I saying?
I'm saying this, that to come after Christ
in a saving way, it costs something.
There isn't a young man in this seminary,
if he's real, that's costing him something, and
it hadn't even begun yet.
And further, I'm saying that Jesus Christ was
honest at the outset.
That's evangelism.
You know, we have it.
We're like this.
I like to illustrate like a great big
funnel.
Our churches, we have a great big funnel.
And boy, if we can just get them
in the end of that thing, we got
them.
And then we start bearing down on them
on discipleship and consecration and a thousand other
things.
We start trying to squeeze them down through
the little end of that funnel.
And boy, they kick and squeal like stuck
pigs.
Let me tell you something.
Jesus turned the funnel around.
That's right.
He made it narrow at the outset, and
then they had liberty when they got in.
Liberty of Christ that set them free.
Real liberty, real Holy Ghost liberty, real Bible
liberty, all the liberty they want.
You know, I tried to find some principles
on follow-up work in the New Testament,
and I've been pressed on that thing, and
I haven't found much.
You know why?
They did all the follow-up work at
the beginning, and when somebody got saved, he
did the following.
You didn't have to run around, won't you
please come to church, would you please come
to prayer meeting, wouldn't you like, oh, wouldn't
it be nice if you'd give a little
bit of something and try to get into
their pocketbook and all that foolishness.
Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.
There's no such thing in the New Testament.
Oh yes, we instruct and we teach to
the day we die.
There is growing in grace, but I tell
you, it's a million miles from teaching and
instructing and people growing in grace and following
up, trying to twist their arm to get
them out to church.
I might get fired in my little church
someday.
You know, I visited people going to church
about three times.
They said, well, did you visit so-and
-so?
I said, no, I was over there, and
I'm not going back again.
I said, until they come out to church.
Come to church every three months.
I said, there's people I gotta see that
might be interested.
They might get saved.
They might be converted.
No, no.
What's the point?
The point is this, that the true believer
follows Christ with all the inconveniences that follow.
My dear, one of my dear friends who's
going home to heaven now, businessman, had a
son.
He loved him much.
The boy had all the marks of a
lawyer.
The father wanted him to be a lawyer,
not first, but that was the goal.
He was in a big law school.
The boy was a Christian.
Come to Christ.
The father wanted him to come to Christ.
But that father did not know that involved
in that coming to Christ was a call
to that shrewd, sharp, young, potential lawyer out
of law school, South America.
And there he died with a lance in
his side trying to serve Jesus.
And I look at that young man in
my congregation, and I know, because I read
the Bible, that it may mean South America.
May not.
May mean law.
We need some good Christian lawyers.
May mean law.
May mean a doctor.
But it may mean South America.
That man was Theo McCulley that I just
referred to.
One of the men that I love dearly.
You know, it reminds me, when I think
about this cost business, I don't, I don't
usually tell this around little children, because I
don't want to encourage them to run away
from home.
But I, I left home when I was
16 to join the Navy.
And I, I, I got to there, and
the recruiting office examined me very carefully.
I guess he went through the motions.
But I think he knew I was lying
my age as I look back on it
now.
But anyhow, they turned me down.
I couldn't get in.
He said I didn't have the proper bite.
Now, something wrong.
That's right.
Well, years later, and several years later, the
war came on.
And I remember I was really enamored by
this Navy.
I used to love the Navy.
I'd see a billboard with a picture of
a sailor on a ship.
I'd stop.
A little boy, you know, Navy, Navy, Navy.
That's all I wanted was the Navy.
And I remember asking this old recruiting officer,
sir, is it true all this stuff is
free?
You get these clothes, this nice hat, and
these nice shiny black shoes?
He said, yeah, that's right.
I said, did he, is it quite likely
that you might see the world, like they
say, join the Navy?
Oh, yeah, yes.
He said, in fact, as we pay you,
go around.
I'm sitting there in my heart.
Can't go in.
Improper bite.
Six or eight years later, the war come
along.
I thought I'll try again.
He felt me back to the head.
He said, you're warm.
You're in.
You know what I found out?
Everything he told me was true.
My shoes were free.
Nice hat, white hat, free.
Nice shoes, free meals when you could eat
them.
And, uh, didn't get quite around the world,
South Pacific, twice to Japan.
Everything he told me was true.
It was just some things he didn't tell
me.
That's all.
He didn't tell me what time you had
to get up.
He didn't tell me who had to peel
the potatoes.
He didn't tell me who washed the dishes
and scrubbed the deck.
He didn't tell me that.
He didn't tell me all the hell and
the horror of war.
Everything he told me was true.
He just didn't tell me everything.
Now, I believe to some degree that we
got to be honest with the beginning at
the outset in evangelism as Jesus was, because
there's battle, there's enemies, there's a war against
sin, there's sacrifice, and there's self-denial.
But I believe we must make this distinction.
Well, my time's up.
I have one more thing I wanted, one
more difference that I wanted to point out.
What are these differences that I have pointed
out?
We must recognize, if the Bible teaches something
about vain faith, dead faith, devil's faith, and
true faith, the Bible also teaches some of
the distinctions of each of these classes.
It's not our, it doesn't come under the
head of our business to decide who's in
each class.
That comes under the head of God's business
and God's alone.
When our Lord Jesus Christ was here on
earth, he could look into that harlot woman's
heart and say, thy sins be forgiven thee.
We have to say thy sins be forgiven
thee on the basis of faith and trust
in Jesus Christ.
And when he went back to heaven, he
only left one person here to do that
holy task, and that's the Holy Ghost.
Thy sins be forgiven thee.
You see, the grounds of assurance is not
only the promises of God made real by
the Spirit as part of it, but it's
also the witness of the Spirit within.
And assurance has something to do with Christian
character and conduct.
Read the birthmarks in 1 John.
He that is born of God, so-and
-so.
He that is born of God, so-and
-so.
There's about eight tests there.
He that hath my commandments and keepeth it,
he that is at love with me.
Hereby we do know that we know him
if we keep his commandments.
That's assurance.
He's not telling people how to be saved,
or he'd have said what he did in
the Gospels.
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world.
We must make some distinctions in our preaching
and in our outworkings of our methods.
And if we understand this, we may not
say these things to every individual just like
this.
Of course not.
But these principles will so undermine our counseling
and our preaching and our personal evangelism, it'll
so permeate us that whatever comes out up
here will come out because these principles have
us gripped.
We don't run around and say, give these
four tests that I've gone over this morning,
or three.
That's not what I'm suggesting.
I'm them suggesting, though, that these are Bible
principles, and they must undergird our evangelism.
What's the difference between a true believer and
a spurious believer?
Well, there's a lot, but one of the
differences the true believer says, I want Christ
without exception.
The spurious believer says, I want Christ if
I can do this and da-da-da
-da-da-da-da-da.
I want Christ and I want Christ da
-da-da-da-da-da-da.
Second difference, the true believer says, I want
Christ as he's offered in the Gospel.
I need a priest because I'm a sinner.
And I'm a Christian sinner, so I need
somebody to intercede for me.
That's the work of the priest.
But I'm ignorant and I need to be
taught.
Originally, yes, but continually.
I need a king because I'm weak, and
I need somebody to protect me and subdue
me and look over me.
Yes, when I come to Christ, but today
too.
It's not something once and for all.
There may be that initial time, but there's
also the continuing.
The true believer says, I need all this.
The spurious believer says, I don't want to
go to hell.
Just give me a savior.
Tell me about the cross.
Tell me about the free gift.
That'll do me fine.
Thank you.
It's fine.
That's all I need.
Thank you, sir.
That's wonderful.
Yeah, just go on and live like you
were before.
God never forgives sin without changing the sin.
God never justifies anybody in heaven by the
blood of Christ.
He doesn't do something on earth by the
spirit of Christ.
There's a difference between justification and sanctification, but
they're so vitally joined together that you can't
separate them.
And when he does something in heaven by
the blood of Christ, he does something on
earth by the spirit of Christ.
And if there's nothing been done by the
spirit of Christ on earth, a man has
no reason to believe that there's anything done
in heaven by the blood of Christ.
And last point was, the true believer wants
Christ and all the inconveniences that follow and
there are some spurious believers ready to go
back to the hog pan at the first
little time the wind goes.
Luke 8 13 says they believed for a
while, but in the time of temptation, they
fell away.
How long is a while?
I don't know.
Might be two weeks.
Might be 20 years.
They believed for a while, but in the
time of temptation, they fell away.
Let's pray.
Oh, blessed Father, Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, how we thank you today that you
have taught our lips to frame that word,
our Father, and today give us an experience
and in our feelings all that's implied.
And as we seek to do your will
on earth, our Father, grant to us thy
power, thy wisdom.
Oh, how we plead for thy church and
thy servants.
How we plead for this institution and its
great work.
Lord, we plead for those men who are
being trained here now.
Oh, we pray that their name would be
Legion.
Lord, make them mighty preachers of the gospel.
Change our generation.
Oh, Lord, send the heavenly wind into their
sails that they may sail this stormy sea
in victory.
We pray, oh Lord, tomorrow as thy people
meet that you would anoint thy servants afresh.
And as they proclaim those eternal verities, we
pray that the breath of heaven, that holy
pneuma would be upon them in an unusual
way.
Hear our prayer, oh Lord, today for ourselves
and for thy church and for all of
thy servants.
For Jesus Christ's sake, amen.