The Damage of the Half Gospel
As mentioned before, there are several Christian groups down here sharing different versions of the good news.
While I was preaching from John 3 and Psalm 51 today demonstrating Biblical repentance and the action of being born again, we had many young people from Campus Crusade and Jesus loves Pancakes around us speaking to the crowd. While some were honestly interested in our ministry, and had questions, others were (in my opinion) distracting from the true work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people.
Allow me to back up; when we are preaching here, it is different than other open air sessions in several ways. First; we do not need to draw a crowd. It is already there surrounding us. Second, our messages are not quick hitting, they are more drawn out and purposefully hard hitting in terms of the unrighteousness clearly happening around us. We want to do what Jesus did; He did not back down or refuse to call Sin what it was. Third, I can actually exposit a passage of scripture like I did yesterday, because of the static crowd while also going back to salient points to the passing crowd. Last, we can give a repeated and clear presentation of the good news of the Gospel and what Jesus did for us. This format also allows for multiple conversations going on all around. Where normal open air struggles to keep a crowd, so your teammates are in the audience quietly helping you by paying attention, in this situation there are many one to one conversations going on all around where we are able to share with individuals who are interested in clarification of the message of the Gospel right in the crowd while the message is not stopped. These conversations can be very damaging or very effective, depending upon the skill of the one counseling.
Our team is trained to allow the person who is showing outward pain and sorrow at the message the time and the ability to come to terms with what God is doing. We are not called to comfort them and stop the work of the Holy Spirit, rather, we are to point them to repentance from sin and faith towards God in their pain and distress. We may give them literature, some Bible verses, we may even pray for them that they would be given the grace of repentance and the gift of faith. We will even give them our phone number if we must go! But we do not stop the work of God in their life by rushing them to a decision. We are not salesmen closing a deal, for salvation is a work of God. If God is working, this person will be born again.
Unfortunately, many people with great intentions will rush in to comfort someone in pain who is agonizing with the message. They will even grab someone who is really just a mocker and take the time with them to lead them in a prayer, distracting them from what God may want to do. Here is an example: Yesterday, during this clear message that we must be born again, a campus crusader took a young man who said he wanted to be born again, and, without further examination, led them in a prayer at the back of their pamphlet. This intoxicated young man, assured of his salvation, went immediately to go get another beer in our sight; yet another hard hearted false convert. This same fellow, along with thousands like Him, have called out to us in drunken stupor that they are proud of their fornication and have no worries because they are ’saved’. Why do we suppose christianity looks weak and hypocritical in our country?
Later in the day, we had other ‘christians’ approach the podium. These drunkards were objecting to the call for repentance and faith alone in Christ. One of the young ladies, while proclaiming her christianity, punched Jake the preacher in the groin. Another young couple, proclaiming their christianity, told shawn that he was a fu*&%#er at least seven times because he exorted the young lady to put some clothes on over her bikini and to stop drinking. When I asked if she was a Christian, she said yes, and I told her that Shawn was an elder and a minister of the Gospel and she should not speak to Him that way according to the Bible. She then cursed me out. I encouraged her to repent and to check the scripture. She cursed me all the way as she left.
Luke 6:46 says ‘why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things I say?’ The Bible is clear that when we are in Christ, we are new creatures, the old has passed away. This is not to suggest sinless perfection; rather it is to say that it is a continual quest in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to continue repenting of sin and turning to Christ. We are in the process of being saved, becoming more like Christ every day. Repentance is not a grace by which we can plan for sin, make an occasion for the flesh, commit the sin, then repent of it. That is not true repentance by any sense of the word. I have been guilty of this, but I am in process of learning and experiencing true repentance more and more. The danger of the half Gospel is that it does not tell people that they must change their mind and their actions. It does not explain that repentance is a forsaking of sin as well as a confession of sin. It does not explain that belief in Jesus is more than mental and emotional, it is volitional. I was a victim of this belief, God is saving me from it.
The very worst part of this half gospel is the very idea that somehow a prayer or a decision reflects a true change of heart and salvation. That salvation is somehow something that can be manipulated or proclaimed, that you can assure someone they are saved because they pray a prayer. Regeneration is a work of God, it is instant, and a process. It is a life that finds no comfort in sin and is unable to rest and sleep in that sin. It is the life of the narrow road; it enters in through the narrow door and it knows the pain and discomfort of being out of the will of God, as well as the joy that comes with repentance and the peace of God. The false convert never knows this, only the knawing fear that they may be judged because they didn’t follow the right formula or they can not do the ‘right’ thing. There is no fear in love, perfect love casts out all fear. Instead, it is some nebulous faith, and a feeling of guilt if you don’t have it quite right.
Friends, we need to proclaim the law so that people can know that they have a disease that only God can cure. We need to explain the wages or payment for dying in sin, we need to make it very real and very sober. And we need to scream from the rooftops that God loves and that Jesus saves- if we will get off the road we are on (repent) and get on the narrow by faith in Jesus alone. If we truly love people that are dying we will tell them the whole truth and not allow them to enter eternity without a chance.
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