Genuine Conversion
Dear Christian friends,
One of the temptations for those involved in evangelism ministry is to water down the gospel message. In doing so, they can generate excitement about their ministry by reporting about the hundreds or thousands that were saved. If we avoid talking about sin and repentance, if we tell people that Jesus is a quick fix for all their problems, we can get lots of people to raise their hands or sign decision cards.
However, when we try to follow-up on such “converts,” we find out that very few were really saved. Hundreds of people may have “prayed to receive Christ” during an outreach, yet often less than 10% will begin to attend church. Of these churchgoers, many want Jesus as their savior but are unwilling to obey Him as Lord. “The evangelist told me I only needed to invite Jesus to be my savior and I would be saved, why are you now telling me I must make Him lord?” Eventually, the church becomes full of such people who won’t witness or deny themselves for Jesus. Repeated exposure to a watered-down “gospel” has immunized millions against being infected with the true gospel.
The Function of God’s Law
Last year, I received a book that attempts to deal with this issue: Poured Out for a Thirsty World by Ray Comfort. In this book, Ray argues that the primary reason for the lack of genuine conversion in our evangelism is that we fail to lay the proper foundation in our gospel presentation. Before a person can fully appreciate the good news, he must first learn the bad news. He must see himself as a lost sinner deserving God’s judgment, like the publican who smote upon his breast, saying “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
According to Ray, the way an unsaved person will come to see his sinfulness is through proper use of the law. Here are some scriptures he uses: “I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known coveting except the law had said, Thou shall not covet” Romans 7:7. “Sin worked death in me by that which is good (the law) that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful” Romans 7:13. “Whatever things the law says, it says…so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God…By the law is the knowledge of sin” Romans 3:19-20. “Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” Galatians 3:24.
While this approach to evangelism is rarely used today, it was commonly used by great evangelists in the past. John Wesley said, “Before I can preach love, mercy and grace, I must preach sin, Law, and judgment.” He wrote to a young friend, “Preach 90 percent Law and 10 percent grace.” Charles Spurgeon said, “They must be slain by the Law, before they can be made alive by the Gospel!” He wrote in one of his sermons: “All the Ten Commandments, like ten great cannons, are pointed at thee today, for you have broken all God’s statutes, and lived in daily neglect of all His commands….What will ye do when…the great books shall be opened, and all your sin and shame shall be punished?” Charles Finney, who had an 80% success rate for lasting conversions, wrote, “It is of great importance that the sinner should be made to feel his guilt, and not left to the impression that he is unfortunate. Do not be afraid, but show him the breadth of the Divine Law, and the exceeding strictness of its precepts. Make him see how it condemns his thoughts and life. By a convicted sinner, I mean one who feels himself condemned by the Law of God, as a guilty sinner.”
“Owing to the fact that the Law is rarely used in modern-day evangelism,” Ray writes, “many are frustrated to a point of making the Gospel `man-centered’ in an effort to attract converts….Instead of driving the fish to the nets using the Law, they are trying to attract them by holding us only the `good things’ of the Gospel. Let me give an example of an average altar call:
“`Come to Jesus; won’t you give your heart to Him? He loves you and died on the cross for you. He wants to give you love, joy and peace…He will make your life happy and give you what you’ve been looking for.’
“Instead of desperate sinners knocking on the door of Heaven, we paint a picture of Jesus pleading at the heart of the sinner, almost giving the impression that the sinner will be doing God a favor if he responds.” Those who respond to such a gospel presentation, Ray argues, will often be like the seed that falls on rocky ground in the Parable of the Sower. They are expecting Jesus to do all these good things for them, and when they face tribulation and persecution, they will often fall away disappointed, and be much harder to reach in the future. “I came to Jesus expecting him to improve my life, but things only got worse.”
In contrast, those who through use of the law (and conviction of the Holy Spirit) are made to see the full extent of their sinfulness and need for a savior will really appreciate what Jesus did for them. Jesus said, “to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little (Luke 7:47).” Those who come to Christ in true sorrow over their sinfulness will want to turn from those ways and obey the Lord. They are likely to continue to follow the Lord even in times of adversity.
Ray Comfort has recently moved to Southern California from New Zealand. He preaches weekly at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, a hangout for drug addicts and the homeless, giving out food and medical supplies to the people as well as proclaiming the gospel. When we proclaim a strong message about sin and judgment, it is important that we do so in a manner that is loving, gentle, and shows our brokenness over our own sins.
Ray has written 18 books on evangelism. He spoke at last year’s SOS-San Francisco outreach and I had the opportunity to spend some time with him and listen to him preach on the streets in Berkeley. Special tracts that use the law in evangelism are available from him. He also has several video and cassette teaching tapes, and he is available to teach evangelism seminars. For more information, write or call Ray Comfort, Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706, (213) 920-8431.
Street Ministries Unite
Christians who are involved in evangelism ministry, particularly street ministers, tend to be very independent. Many have faced rejection from other Christians and from local churches. Often, they will react by separating themselves from fellowship. The local church needs the input of evangelists to equip them in evangelism (Ephesians 4) and to encourage them to witness. At the same time, the evangelist needs fellowship with other believers. Otherwise, he can easily become unloving, critical, rebellious, and caught up in false doctrine.
In 1984, leaders of street and evangelism ministries from street and evangelism ministries from around the U.S. joined together to form the International Street and Evangelism Ministries Association (ISEMA). At the same time, the same leaders organized the first National Street Ministries Conference (NSMC) in Dallas, attended by about 500 Christians.
I attended the first NSMC in 1984 and was excited to meet many leaders of other evangelism ministries and many Christians who wanted to get involved in street evangelism. After this conference, God impressed upon me to write a book, based on my experiences in SOS Ministries, to help others reach their cities for Jesus. This book, You Shall Be My Witnesses, was printed in 1986 and 4000 copies have been sold or given away since then, helping many Christians get involved in street ministry.
In 1985, I was invited to join the Board of Directors of ISEMA and began editing the ISEMA Newsletter. This monthly newsletter contains reports on what God is doing in ministries around the world, teachings on evangelism, and the most complete listing available of upcoming outreaches around the world. The newsletter is also a forum for discussing issues related to evangelism. If you are not presently receiving this newsletter and would like to, please indicate this on the SOS Response Card.
This month, I will be attending my fourth National Street Ministries Conference in Dallas, September 27-29. Please pray that God would instill a clear vision in all those who attend forhow to reach our cities for Jesus and that He will bring us into a true unity of His Spirit. We are truly living in “perilous times.” The world needs to see a people who will both live as Christ commanded and proclaim the Gospel to the world.
On the Streets
During this past month, we have held two worship rallies at the Powell St. BART station and have witnessed on Broadway Street, the Tenderloin, Fisherman’s Wharf, Polk St. and on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. One Friday night, we were worshipping near Polk and Bush Streets. A young man approached us who was a backslidden Christian addicted to drugs. We spoke with him, prayed with him and referred him to a Christian program. After I preached a brief message, a gypsy woman began talking with me. She was a backslidden Christian who was involved in fortune telling. She told me most of her relatives were also backslidden Christians. They had begun to follow Christ, but had been drawn back into gypsy ways. While I was speaking with her, a sixty year old man who lived in a hotel across the street joined our conversation. He was involved in new age thinking but said he really wanted to know the truth about Jesus Christ. The gypsy woman began witnessing to him. Please pray for these three people, that they would commit their lives to Jesus Christ.
As I was writing this letter, I received a call from a young man I first witnessed to nine years ago on Polk St., when he was a 14 year old male prostitute. We took him into our house many times and sent him to several Christian programs, but he always left. The last time I saw him was four years ago, when he told me he had tested positive for the AIDS virus. Since then, he was adopted by a family in Washington and has led them to Christ. However, his own life has not been consistent and he is about to go to prison for a year. Please pray for Shannon, that he will develop a stable walk with Jesus.
Ministry Needs
Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” Matt. 9:37-38. Here in the U.S., millions of people are turning away from Christianity–into drugs, Eastern religion, New Age thinking, and atheism. Many children grow up in this country without any real exposure to the gospel. This is particularly true in the San Francisco Bay Area. We speak to many people–children of atheists, immigrants from other countries, and others–who have never really heard the gospel–right here in San Francisco and Berkeley. Yet here, as around the world, our work is hampered by a lack of workers.
Usually, we get a few hundred Christians for our SOS-San Francisco outreach, but just a handful of laborers for our ongoing weekly outreaches. Most of the regular workers live in our house. To my knowledge, this is the only ministry in the country that offers live-in training in street evangelism, but we can’t seem to fill our house. It would be easy to fill it with Christians if we didn’t require them to witness once a week. We live in a good neighborhood and the rent is very cheap. But it is very hard to find Christians who have a desire to witness on the streets.
People sometimes tell me, “I don’t want to witness out of guilt or legalism.” No, you should witness out of love–because you love God and love the people He died for. Love is not a feeling, it is a decision we make to serve God and humanity.
The biggest excuse I hear for not witnessing is “I don’t have time.” Christians have time for movies, television, concerts, cruises, potlucks, and ski trips, but they don’t have time to witness. We have time for all the things that please our flesh, but no time for that which pleases the one we call our Lord. Jesus died so that the people of our world could be saved. He left us with only one Great Commission, to reach these people with the gospel. Pray that God would have mercy on us and give us a spirit of repentance from our continuing refusal to obey Him in this area.
Our Tape of the Month is “The Law is Our Schoolmaster” by Ray Comfort, from last year’s SOS-San Francisco outreach. It is a powerful message, and I strongly encourage you to get it. (By the way, if any of the tapes we send you is defective, let us know and we will replace it.) I expect to have a report on the SOS-San Francisco outreach in the next newsletter.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
