I’m not sure how far you go down 326. Its approximately 3 miles. You will pass the court house and on down you will pass the little leage fields (on the right)…when you get to the Y that goes to Sour Lake, there is a tiny road on the left. We will try to have a sign there for everyone to see. Turn immediately onto that tiny road to the left and go down that long road and you’re there.

Here is the map to the road going into the fish fry.

(parte 2)

Colossians 3:8-17

Notes:

Intro: Colossian Heresy – As you have received –
By Grace Alone – Total depravity – No Merit
Through Faith alone – Not of works –

1. V6 – In Christ Alone – Today, we live in a time where people like to pick and choose their favorite road to salvation. How many times have you heard someone say, “We are all trying to get to the same place, there are just a lot of different roads to get there.”

Hale-bopp comet – sincere – suicide
Santa Muerte – sincere -
I think something worse is happening today though. People are basing something as important as their salvation, on their feelings. WWJD? I feel like He would want me to….
Ill. Sunday school classes – What do you feel that means?????

Vs 6. 7- As you have received…Christ Jesus the Lord – This flies into the face of society today that says, “Believe what you want. We are tolerant. Your truth is as valid as my truth. Truth is what you believe in your heart.”

Matthew 11:27, 28
You see what Jesus is pointing out there? Jesus is saying, “if you want to know God savingly, you have to come through Me.” He makes it plain. You don’t have to guess at this: “Come to Me and I will give you rest.” Here is Jesus saying that He alone is the object of faith and we must put our trust in Christ alone for salvation, if we want to know the Father savingly. That goes so much against our generation. Our generation says “Believe in yourself. Look within.” “Go with your heart.” “Trust in your feelings.” And Jesus says, “Don’t believe in yourself, and look within; believe in Me alone. Put your trust in Me.”

Acts 4:8 – Now, our generation says, all paths lead up the mountain. All roads lead to heaven. There are many ways of knowing God. There are many religions that teach the truth. Jesus says, “I am the gate, I am the door…” And so, over against all sorts of pluralistic teaching, which says Jesus is one of the ways, among many, the Bible asserts that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

Some of you are saying, “That’s intolerant.” You are right. Jesus, said it. He says, there is only one way, and He is it. Doesn’t matter how sincere, heartfelt, generations, knowledge….

If anyone or anything tries to put themselves in between you and the Lord, it is a lie. Priest, Pastor, patron saint, pope, Baptist tradition…..

V6- Christ – “anointed,” in the Sept., the word “Messiah,” a term applied to the priests who were anointed with the holy oil, particularly the High Priest,
Hebrews – Speaks of Christ as being our High Priest – High Priest – mediator between God and man – Jesus said in John 14, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father except by me.”

1Ti 2:5 NKJV – For [there is] one God and one Mediator between God and men, [the] Man Christ Jesus,
Hbr 8:6 NKJV – But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Hbr 9:15 NKJV – And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

That is the Christ – Hallelujah to the Messiah
V6- Christ JESUS – Jehovah is salvation,” i.e., “is the Savior,” = Jesus is the Name that the Angel commanded Mary to name her son. It is His earthly name – HE came as a man, one of us, to die in our place. It was Jesus who came to save us. Not grandmother, not preacher, priest, not a president. It was Jesus who lived a sinless life, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, buried, rose again, ascended to Heaven, took up His throne, sent His Spirit, and is now ruling in our hearts and lives.
Phil 2:5-11
Here is where the problem starts for most religious people. Most Christians will agree with what I have said so far. Yes, He is Savior. Yes, He is the only way to heaven……but most, especially Baptists will not accept Him as Lord.

V6- The Lord – 1) he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord
a) the possessor and disposer of a thing
1) the owner; one who has control of the person, the master

Jesus asked some would be followers, Luke 6:46 – It is a question that Jesus poses to us today. How many times has someone declared Jesus as Savior, but has not been obedient to Him as Lord?

When Paul was teaching these Colossians, they had a knowledge of who Jesus is, but they didn’t have a true relationship with Him. The right relationship is, He is Lord, we are His grateful servants. That means that we gladly submit to Him and His Word.

How many youth like to sing great praises and have great worship experiences declaring Jesus as the Christ, exalting Him as God, and yet live no different than those who have rejected Him?

How many dads, like to pray at church, ascribe glory to the Lord, and yet, reject the clear commands of the Lord to love his wife like Christ loves the church, and to raise his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and to provide for his family?
How many moms teach their children to respect others, only to go about gossiping?
How many young couples come to church praising the Lord and singing about how worthy He is, yet live their lives Monday through Friday pursuing all the pleasures of this world?

How many young people praise the Lord for His faithfulness and claim they are followers of Christ, and yet reject the clear teaching of the word when it comes to their being faithful to Him in their relationship?
Luke 13:22-28

You can’t have it both ways! This isn’t right. This isn’t a buffet. Jesus is the way, He is the Truth…..but He is the Life! You received salvation by Grace, through faith, in Christ Jesus the LORD, so walk in HIM!

I have been crucified in Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ in me. And the life that I now live, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave His life for me.

You see, the problem is, many today have received the IDEA of Christ Jesus the LORD, but have not experienced Christ Jesus as LORD.

They are worse than the Santa Muerte worshipper. He worships something He has experienced. But many professing Christians have not received Christ Jesus The Lord. HE is not real to them.

Ask them for a testimony, and it isn’t convincing. And if it is, great, but look at how they live their lives and you will see that what they live is a lie!

Come to CHRIST JESUS THE LORD!

The word “vicar” means deputy – one who has been sent to take another’s place. The Lord Jesus Christ, knowing the need for an infallible Vicar for His church, speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit and His office as Vicar of Christ.

St. John 14:26 – “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

St. John 15:26 – “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”

St. John 16:7 – “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”

St. John 16:13,14 – “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

THE IDENTITY OF THE VICAR OF CHRIST

If someone were to approach you on the street and say, ‘ I am the President of the United States” you might believe him. Of course, if you personally knew the President, or if you had documented evidence that he were someone else, you would deny the claim of the imposter.

The pope claims to be the Vicar of Christ; those who know the Holy Spirit immediately reject his claim, and others can see the documented evidence that proves this man to be an imposter.

THE PERFECTION OF THE VICAR OF CHRIST

The Lord Jesus Christ, Himself the Infinite Son of God, knew that the Church would need an infallible Vicar to keep it from errors that would assail her. Rather than designate a man, He appointed the Holy Spirit, Himself not only infallible, but infinitely perfect.

There is a sharp contrast between the person and work of the Holy Spirit and that of the pope of Rome, who claims to be the Vicar of Christ. Papal “infallibility” is an empty doctrine when compared to the infinity of the Holy Spirit.

DOES THE CHURCH NEED A VISIBLE HEAD?

“We walk by faith, and not by sight” (II Cor. 5:7). Do you trust the judgment of a human imposter or the ability of God Himself to guide you into all truth?

THE WORK OF THE VICAR OF CHRIST

1. He convicts of sin (John. 16:8). Only He can show you that, outside of Christ, you are infinitely lost.

2. He testifies of Christ (John. 15:26). He reveals to your heart the Bible truths of a crucified and resurrected Saviour.

3. When you respond to this heart-revelation, the Holy Spirit baptizes you into the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13). By this regenerative act you are born again. (John 3:5)

If you are incorrectly assuming that the pope is the Vicar of Christ, your salvation is being worked out by his system – the Mass, Confessional and Sacraments. You are invited to put your trust for eternity in the Christ of the Bible who completed a work on Calvary for your eternal salvation (Heb. 10:11-18).

“For this is what the high and lofty One says—He who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit.” Isaiah 57:15

Here we have a distinct, though brief, description of those whom the high and lofty One inhabits. Contrition and humility are the identifying marks of the particular characters in whom the Holy One dwells.

That description applies to and is common to all the regenerate. “Him who is of a contrite and humble spirit” is not a delineation of a few exceptionally eminent saints who constitute a special class all to themselves—but depicts all who are truly saved. So far from those marks belonging only to certain highly favored souls that have far out-stripped their fellows in spiritual attainments, they are found in every one who has been born again. That is clear from Romans 8:9-11: God indwells all the regenerate, for “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ—he does not belong to Him”; and compare Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:22.

Now if the reader will carefully and honestly examine himself in the mirror of the Word, he should have no difficulty in discovering whether or not those two features are stamped upon him. The Hebrew word for “contrite” means “bruised” or “beaten,” as an object that comes under the pestle or hammer. That at once reminds us of Jeremiah 23:29: “Is not my word like as a fire? says the Lord; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Fire in the conscience (Deu 32:22), and a hammer on the heart. When God’s Word is applied in power, it convicts the sinner of his awful sinfulness; and when a crucified Christ is revealed to him, he mourns for his sins as one mourns for his only son (Zec 12:10). Contrition then is a feeling sense of the heinousness and loathsomeness of sin. It causes us to grieve over it with godly sorrow.

If sin is hateful to you, if the plague of your heart is your sorest grief, if you mourn over your corruptions—then you have a “contrite” spirit.

But it is rather upon the second of those marks we wish to dwell, for many of God’s little ones deprive themselves of legitimate assurance because of ignorance on this subject. A humble spirit or heart is an infallible sign of regeneration, for the unregenerate are proud, self-satisfied, self-righteous. Yet the very mention of the word “humility” seems to cut off many Christians. As they examine themselves, they discover so much pride at work within, that they are quite unable to persuade themselves that they have a humble heart. It seems to them that humility is one thing they most evidently lack. Now it will no doubt be a startling statement—but we unhesitatingly affirm that the great majority of God’s people are not less—but far more humble than they suppose. That is a fact, and we propose to now furnish clear and full proof of the same, and in language which we trust the simplest will be able to grasp. Attend closely then to what follows.

FIRST, that the Christian reader possesses a humble heart is plain from the fact that he confesses himself to be a Hell-deserving sinner. We do not have in mind what you think or say of yourself when in the company of your fellows—but rather what you feel and say of yourself when alone with God. Whatever pretenses you are guilty of before men—and none of us can plead guiltless there, for we naturally want people to think well of us and are hurt if they do not—when in the presence of the Omniscient One, you are real, sincere, and genuine. Now, dear reader, be honest with yourself: When on your knees before the Throne of Grace, do you freely and frankly acknowledge that if you received your lawful due, you would even now—be suffering the dreadful fires of Hell? If so, a miracle of grace must have been wrought within you. No unregenerate person will or can honestly make such a confession to God, for he does not feel he has done anything deserving of eternal punishment!

SECOND, if you own that “all your righteous acts are like filthy rags,” that is proof you possess a humble heart. Of course, we mean much more than your merely uttering those words as a parrot might, or even singing then during some religious service. We mean that when you are in the presence of the Lord—which is always the surest test—you personally realize that you have nothing whatever of your own to commend you to His favorable regard, that there is not a single meritorious deed standing to your credit before Him.

We mean that, when bowed in His presence, in the calmness and quietness of your prayer-closet, you own without any qualification that your best performances are defiled by sin—and that in yourself, you are a filthy pauper!

If that is indeed your language before God—it most certainly issues from a humble heart. The heart of the natural man thinks and feels the very opposite, and can no more loathe himself—than transform himself into a holy angel.

THIRD, if you receive everything in the Scriptures as a little child—that is another proof that a miracle of grace has been wrought within you and that you now possess a humble heart. By nature, we are “wise and prudent” in our own esteem.

The enmity of the proud carnal mind rises up against the sovereignty of God, making one vessel to honor and another to dishonor; against the spirituality and strictness of the Divine Law, which curses all who deviate the slightest from its holy demands; against the endless punishment of all dying out of Christ. But the regenerate, though there is much they do not understand, accept without murmur or question—all that is revealed in the Word. If you do, that is proof that your pride has been abased before God.

FOURTH, if you mourn over the wretched returns you make unto God, that is further evidence of a humble heart. Nor is this a point difficult to determine. There is no need for you to make a mystery out of it. You know whether you do or do not sorrow over the response you make unto God, for all His goodness unto you. You know whether or not you feel you have ill requited Him, for the multitude of His favors and mercies. You know whether you do or do not grieve over the coldness of your heart, in answer to His loving-kindness; the weakness of your faith, in view of His promises; the feebleness and perhaps the absence of your praise and thanksgiving, for His long-sufferance and faithfulness. If you do make conscience of these things, mourn over them and confess them—though not as feelingly as you ought—that is another proof of a humble heart. As it is faith, and not the strength of it, which saves; so it is such mourning, and not the depth of it, which evidences its spirituality.

FIFTH, if you frankly ascribe to God all the good that is in you—then you have a humble heart. If you freely own that all your springs are in Him, that He has wrought all your works in you (Isaiah 26:12), if you honestly disclaim any credit to yourself for any good thing—then your pride has been slain before God—and that is what most matters! If the language of your heart really is, “by the grace of God, I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10), my “sufficiency is of God” (2 Corinthians 3:5), that He has worked in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13)—then most assuredly, your pride has been subdued. In such case, you will gladly unite in declaring, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us—but unto your name give glory!” (Psalm 115:1). You will take no credit for—nor should you deny the existence of—a humble heart—but will unhesitatingly give God all the honor and praise for it.

How thankful we should be that Scripture does not say, God dwells only in those who have complete victory over sin, or those who enjoy unbroken and unclouded communion with Him. Had those been the distinguishing features named—then everyone of us might well despair—most certainly, they had excluded or “cut off” this writer. But we say again, a contrite and humble spirit takes in every regenerate soul. And if you, my reader, measuring yourself by what has been pointed out above, can discern such fruits and evidences of contrition and humility—then so far from its being presumptuous for you to look upon yourself as one saved and indwelt by God, it would be most wicked presumption for you to do otherwise.

“When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him: They have no more wine.” John 2:3

This incident is a very fitting illustration of the failure of all this world’s joys. The wine gave out at a wedding-feast. There was not enough of it to last through to the end of the feast. It is just so with all earth’s pleasures. It comes in cups—not infountains; and the supply is limited and soon exhausted. It is especially so with sin’s pleasures. The prodigal soon ran out of money, and began to be in need. A poet compared the pleasures of sin to a snowflake on the river, “a moment white—then gone forever!”

But it is true in a sense also—of pure pleasures. Even the sweetness of human love is but a cupful which will not last forever. The joy which so fills us today, tomorrow is changed to sorrow. Amid the gladness of the marriage altar there is the knell of the end, in the words “until death do us part.” One of every two friends must hold the other’s hand in farewell at the edge of the valley of the shadow of death—and must stand by the other’s grave, and walk alone for part of the way.

The best wine of earthly life and of love—will fail. If there were nothing better in this world—how sad it would be! But it is here that we see the glory of Christ’s gospel. Jesus comes when earth’s wine fails—and gives heaven’s wine to supply the lack. How beautiful and how true is the picture here: the failing wine, and then Jesus coming with power and supplying the need! That is what He is doing continually. He takes lives which have drained their last drop of earthly gladness—and He satisfies them with spiritual good and blessing, so that they need nothing more.

When human joy fails—Jesus gives new joy, better than the world’s, and in unfailing abundance. How sad it is for those who have not taken Christ into their lives, and who have nothing but the empty cup—when earth’s wine gives out!

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way!” Psalm 139:23-24

It will be worth our while—to think seriously of the things in us—that only God can see. There are sins which are hidden from ourselves, of which our conscience is not aware—our unknown errors. The evil in us which lies too deep to be discovered. There is a SELF in us, which even we ourselves do not see! There are depths of our being—into which our own eyes cannot pierce. You may say that you know of no sins, errors, or faults in yourself, and you may be sincere; still this is not evidence that you are sinless.

Our conscience is not the final court. It is not enough to have the approval of our own heart. There are errors and evils in the holiest life on earth—which only God’s eye can detect. We must ask God to search us, if we would be made clean.

We cannot see our own faults—even as our neighbors can see them. There is wisdom in the wish that we might see ourselves, as others see us—for it would free us from many a blunder and foolish notion.

We are prejudiced in our own favor. We are disposed to be charitable toward our own shortcomings. We make all sorts of allowances for our own faults. We are wonderfully patient with our own weaknesses. We are blind to our own blemishes. We look at our good qualities through magnifying glasses; and at our faults and errors with the lenses reversed—making them appear very small. We see only the best of ourselves.

If you were to meet yourself on the street some morning—that is, the person God sees you to be—you would probably not recognize yourself!

We remember the little story that the prophet Nathan told King David, about a rich man’s injustice toward a poor man, and how David’s anger flamed up. “This man must die!” cried the king. He did not recognize himself—in the man he so despised, until Nathan quietly said, “You are the man!”

We are all too much like David.

If the true chronicle of your life were written in a book, in the form of a story, and you were to read the chapters over—you probably would not identify the story as your own!

We do not know our real self. We do not imagine there is so much about us that is morally ugly and foul, that is positively wicked. But God searches and knows the innermost and hidden things of our heart!

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way!”

What is Regeneration?

“Except a man be born again1, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that the new birth is so important that no one can see heaven without it. Mistakes concerning this doctrine have been very destructive to the Church of Christ. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God. It is not a work of man. It is not something that man does but something that God does. The new birth is a change wrought in us, not an act performed by us. This is stated so beautifully by the Apostle John when in the first chapter of his Gospel he speaks of the children of God as those “which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (v. 13).

What is “Decisional Regeneration”?

The history of the Christian Church has seen many errors concerning the new birth. These teachings depart from Scripture by attributing to man the ability to regenerate himself. When these false concepts of man and the new birth are adopted, churches soon become corrupted with false practices. The Roman Catholic church, the Anglican church, the Lutheran church and many other churches have all been corrupted at different times and to different degrees with the teaching of Baptismal Regeneration. Because of this erroneous teaching on regeneration, these churches have embraced false practices.

In the nineteenth century few controversies were so heated as the one over Baptismal Regeneration. It is interesting to note that C. H. Spurgeon (1836-1892), the most prolific preacher of that century, had printed in 1864 more copies of his sermon denouncing Baptismal Regeneration than of any other sermon. Baptismal Regeneration teaches that the new birth is conveyed by the waters of baptism. The sacrament is performed by man and is in his control.

But the twentieth century Church has, in “Decisional Regeneration,” a more subtle falsehood to combat. “Decisional Regeneration” differs from Baptismal Regeneration only in the fact that it attaches the certainty of the new birth to a different act. This doctrine, just as Baptismal Regeneration, sees the new birth as the result of a mechanical process that can be performed by man. What is here called “Decisional Regeneration” has in its deceptive way permeated much of the Christian Church.

Our Purpose

The methods and theology of those that practice “Decisional Regeneration” need to be examined — not with a malicious spirit, but with a fervent desire that all of God’s people may be one in doctrine and practice for the glory of God. We love all that are in Christ. But we agree wholeheartedly with Charles Spurgeon that:

The best way to promote union is to promote truth. It will not do for us to be all united together by yielding to one another’s mistakes. We are to love each other in Christ; but we are not to be so united that we are not able to see each other’s faults, and especially not able to see our own. No purge the house of God, and then shall grand and blessed times dawn on us,”2.

So then our purpose is not to question the sincerity of some Christians or to malign them, but to unite Christians in the truth as it is in our Lord. This alone is true Christian unity.

As we earnestly seek to bring unity to the Church of Christ let us turn from falsehood unto God’s truth. The practice of “Decisional Regeneration” in the Church must be exposed in order to save men from the damning delusion that because they have “decided” or “signed a card,” they are going to heaven and are no longer under the wrath of God. The purity of the gospel is of extreme importance because it alone is the power of God unto salvation and the true basis of Christian unity.

Decisional Regeneration and Counseling

Some may still not understand exactly what is here meant by this term “Decisional Regeneration.” Perhaps some are unfamiliar with the counseling courses that are being taught by many organizations in this country and abroad, and with the numerous “Soul Winning Conferences” that are taking place. In these meetings counselors are instructed that successful counseling must conclude with an individual’s absolute assurance of salvation. Counselors are often instructed to assure an individual that his salvation is certain because he has prayed the prescribed prayer, and he has said “yes” to all the right questions.

We have an illustration of “Decisional Regeneration” when a popular present-day preacher prescribes a counseling procedure. He directs “Mr. Soul Winner” to ask an unconverted “Mr. Blank” a series of questions. If “Mr. Blank” says “yes” to all the questions, he is asked to pray a prescribed prayer and is then pronounced saved3. For the most part this counseling results in an individual being “regenerated” through a decision. This is essentially the same counseling method used in large evangelistic crusades across the world. These campaigns are like huge factories turning out as many as ten thousand “decisions” in a week.

Mr. Iain Murray, in his timely book The Forgotten Spurgeon, points out that this same type of counseling is used in youth work:

For example, a booklet, which is much circulated in student evangelism at the present time, lays down ‘Three simple steps’ to becoming a Christian: first, personal acknowledgment of sin, and second, personal belief in Christ’s substitutionary work. These two are described as preliminary, but ‘the third so final that to take it will make me a Christian. . .I must come to Christ and claim my personal share in what He did for everybody.’ This all-decisive third step rests with me; Christ ‘waits patiently until I open the door. Then He will come in….’ Once I have done this I may immediately regard myself as a Christian. The advice follows: ‘Tell somebody today what you have done.’4

There are many variations of this type of counseling, but they all have in common a mechanical element such as the repeating of a prayer or signing of a card upon the performance of which the individual is assured of his salvation. Regeneration has thereby been reduced to a procedure which man performs. How differently did Jesus Christ deal with sinners. He did not have any instant salvation process. He did not speak to people with a stereotyped presentation. He dealt with every individual on a personal basis. Never in the New Testament do we find Christ dealing with any two persons in the same manner. It is enlightening to compare how differently He dealt with Nicodemus in John 3, and then with the woman at the well in John 4. Counseling needs to be personal.

There are a number of other problems with a mechanical counseling. Mr. Murray has pointed out the fact that on the basis of this counseling ?

A man may make a profession without ever having his confidence in his own ability shattered; he has been told absolutely nothing of his need of a change of nature which is not within his own power, and consequently, if he does not experience such a radical change, he is not dismayed. He was never told it was essential so he sees no reason to doubt whether he is a Christian. Indeed, the teaching he has come under consistently militates against such doubts arising. It is frequently said that a man who has made a decision with little evidence of a change of life may be a ‘carnal’ Christian who needs instruction in holiness, or if the same individual should gradually lose his new-found interests, the fault is frequently attributed to lack of ‘follow-up,’ or prayer, or some other deficiency on the part of the Church. The possibility that these marks of worldliness and falling away are due to the absence of a saving experience at the outset is rarely considered; if this point were faced, then the whole system of appeals, decisions and counseling would collapse, because it would bring to the fore the fact that change of nature is not in man’s power, and that it takes much longer than a few hours or days to establish whether a professed response to the gospel is genuine. But instead of facing this, it is protested that to doubt whether a man who has ‘accepted Christ’ is a Christian is tantamount to doubting the Word of God, and that to abandon ‘appeals’ and their adjuncts is to give up evangelism altogether.”5

The counseling of “Decisional Regeneration” produces statistics that would encourage any Christian-until he follows up the so-called converts. In one heartbreaking experience forty “converts” of such counseling were contacted and only one person of these forty was found who appeared to be a Christian. One lady may have been reached, but what were the effects of the encounter on the other thirty-nine? Some of them may believe their eternal destinies were determined by their decisions, which is a fatal confidence if no change was wrought in their hearts and lives. The others may have concluded that they had experienced all that Christianity has to offer. Failing to feel or see any promised change in themselves, they have become convinced that Christianity is a fake and that those who hold it are either self-deluded fanatics or miserable hypocrites.

Robert Dabney, one of the great theologians of the nineteenth century, made some very penetrating observations concerning the disillusionment of people that have been counseled for a decision., he said:

Some of these individuals feel that a cruel trick has been played upon their inexperience by the ministers and friends of Christianity in thus thrusting them, in the hour of their confusion, into false positions, whose duties they do not and cannot perform, and into sacred professions which they have been compelled shamefully to repudiate. Their self respect is therefore galled to the quick, and pride is indignant at the humiliating exposure. No wonder that they look on religion and its advocates henceforward with suspicion and anger. Often their feelings do not stop here. They are conscious that they were thoroughly in earnest in their religious anxieties and resolves at the time, and that they felt strange and profound exercises. Yet bitter and mortifying experience has taught them that their new birth and experimental religion at least was a delusion. How natural to conclude that those of all others are delusions also? They say: ‘the only difference between myself and these earnest Christians is, that they have not yet detected the cheat as I have. They are now not a whit more convinced of their sincerity and of the reality of their exercises than I once was of mine. Yet I know there was no change in my soul; I do not believe that there is in theirs.’ Such is the fatal process of thought through which thousands have passed; until the country is sprinkled all over with infidels, who have been made such by their own experience of spurious religious excitements. They may keep their hostility to themselves in the main; because Christianity now ‘walks in her silver slippers’; but they are not the less steeled against all saving impressions of the truth.”6

Dabney penned these words a hundred years ago, long before the days of the “mass evangelism” and highly organized campaigns. If a hundred years ago the country was “sprinkled all over with infidels, who had been made such by their own experience of spurious religious excitements,” what must be the situation today? This is a serious question for every Christian. To have led men, even sincerely, into false hope will be an awful condemnation for a Christian when he stands before Almighty God.

Decisional Regeneration and Altar Calls

One may read thousands of pages of the history of the Christian Church without finding a single reference to the “old-fashioned altar call” before the last century. Most Christians are surprised to learn that history before the time of Charles G. Finney (1792-1875) knows nothing of this type of “invitation.” The practice of urging men and women to make a physical movement at the conclusion of a meeting was introduced by Mr. Finney in the second decade of the nineteenth century. Dr. Albert B. Dod, a professor of theology at Princeton Seminary at the time of Mr. Finney’s ministry, pointed out the newness of the practice and showed that this method was without historical precedent. In his review of Finney’s Lectures on Revival, Professor Dod stated that one will search the volumes of church history in vain for a single example of this practice before the 1820′s.7 Instead, history tells us that whenever the gospel was preached men were invited to Christ-not to decide at the end of a sermon whether or not to perform some physical action.

The Apostle Paul, the great evangelist, never heard of an altar call, yet today some consider the altar call to be a necessary mark of an evangelical church. In fact, churches which do not practice it are often accused of having no concern for the lost. Neither Paul nor Peter ever climaxed his preaching with forcing upon his hearers the decision to walk or not to walk. It is not only with church history, then, but with Scriptural history as well that the altar call is in conflict.

One may ask, “How did preachers of the gospel for the previous eighteen hundred years invite men to Christ without the use of the altar call?” They did so in much the same way as did the apostles and the other witnesses of the early Church. Their messages were filled with invitations for all men everywhere to come to Christ.

Surely it will be admitted that the first sermon of the Christian Church was not climaxed by an altar call. Peter on the Day of Pentecost concluded his sermon with these words: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Peter stopped. Then the divinely inspired record tells us: “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ ” (Acts 2:36-37). This response was the result of the work of the Spirit of God, not of clever appeals or psychological pressure. That day the apostles witnessed the conversion of three thousand people.

C. H. Spurgeon invited men to come to Christ, not to an altar. Listen to him invite men to Jesus Christ:

Before you leave this place breathe an earnest prayer to God, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner. Lord, I need to be saved. Save me. I call upon Thy name….Lord, I am guilty, I deserve Thy wrath. Lord, I cannot save myself. Lord, I would have a new heart and a right spirit, but what can I do? Lord, I can do nothing, come and work in me to do of Thy good pleasure.

Thou alone hast power, I know

To save a wretch like me;

To whom, or whither should I go

If I should run from Thee?

But I now do from my very soul call upon Thy name. Trembling, yet believing, I cast myself wholly upon Thee, O Lord. I trust the blood and righteousness of Thy dear Son…. Lord, save me tonight, for Jesus’ sake.’ ” “Go home alone trusting in Jesus. ‘I should like to go into the enquiry-room.’ I dare say you would, but we are not willing to pander to popular superstition. We fear that in those rooms men are warmed into a fictitious confidence. Very few of the supposed converts of enquiry-rooms turn out well. Go to your God at once, even where you now are. Cast yourself on Christ, at once, ere you stir an inch!8

Invitations such as Spurgeon gave directing men to Christ and not to aisles are needed today. George Whitefield’s sermons were long invitations to men to come to Christ, not to an altar. The same may be said of the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, of the Reformers and of others in the past who were blessed with a harvest of many souls using Scriptural means of inviting men to Christ.

Today the altar call has become the climax and culmination of the entire meeting. Many stanzas of a hymn are usually sung, during which time all kinds of appeals are made to the sinner to walk the aisle, and the clear impression is given to the sinner that his eternal destiny hangs on this movement of his feet.

“Just As I Am,” the precious hymn perhaps most frequently sung for the altar call, was written in 1836 by Charlotte Elliott:

Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

The phrase, “O Lamb of God, I come, I come,” has been widely used to encourage people to “come” down the aisle. But it is significant that Miss Elliott wrote the hymn for the infirm and that it first appeared in a hymnal prepared especially for invalids.9 To Miss Elliott, coming to Christ was not walking an aisle.

Although most who use the altar call realize that coming to Christ is not synonymous with coming to the altar, they do give the impression to sinners that the first step in coming to Christ is walking the aisle. I am purposefully being very careful not to misstate the case. I understand the sincerity of those who practice the altar call, it having been a part of every service from my earliest memory until college. In fact, I grew up in Christian circles unaware that evangelical Christianity existed without the altar call. In many services during this time my mind was centered on the glorious person of Christ and His suffering on the cross only to find the whole focus of the worship service suddenly changed at the conclusion from seeing the glories and sufferings of Christ to walking an aisle. Many others have spoken of the same experience — that the altar call and the clever appeals at the conclusion of meetings, the decision to walk or not to walk and the wondering how many will respond, have distracted them from seeking Christ and from worshipping God in spirit and truth.

Do you remember how the crowds physically followed our Lord Christ until He began to preach some unpopular truths? Then the crowds turned back (John 6:66). Why? Had they not come to Jesus with their feet? Yes, but this is not the coming to Him that is necessary for salvation. Christ said, “All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). And again He said, “No man can come to me except the Father draw him” (John 6:44). In neither of these instances was Jesus speaking of the physical movement of the feet.

Men today need to be reminded that coming to Christ is not walking an aisle, but is casting oneself on Christ for life or death. May God cause the Church to return to the Scriptures for its methods of winning men to Christ. May sinners be charged not to come forward in a meeting but to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Decisional Regeneration and Preaching

The false teaching of “Decisional Regeneration” has polluted even the structure of the sermon. Jack Hyles, considered by many to be an authority on preaching, gives the following advice to his fellow-ministers:

Many of us in our preaching will make such statements as, ‘Now, in conclusion’; ‘Finally, may I say’; ‘My last point is . . .’. These statements are sometimes dangerous. The sinner knows five minutes before you finish; hence he digs in and prepares himself for the invitation so that he does not respond. However, if your closing is abrupt and a lost person does not suspect that you are about finished, you have crept up on him and he will not have time to prepare himself for the invitation. Many people may be reached, using this method.10

At the first reading of such a teaching one might believe, or at least hope, that he misread Mr. Hyles. The second, third and fourth readings, however, confirm that Mr. Hyles actually teaches that men may be converted to Christ as a result of some clever method a minister uses in his sermon, and that one’s eternal destiny may be determined by the impulse of an unguarded moment. This idea that a man’s salvation may depend upon his being “crept up on” and giving his unwilling consent is in direct conflict with what the Scriptures teach concerning the receiving of Jesus Christ. In reality the kind of Preaching that tries to creep up on sinners results for the most part in bringing people to religion, not to Christ. Can there be any more terrible result of a sermon than the bringing of people to something other than our Lord Jesus Christ?

True preaching is not a clever device of man, but a demonstration of the Spirit of God as the truth of God is proclaimed. I can never forget hearing Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones illustrate what true preaching is with an account of George Whitefield preaching in the church of Jonathan Edwards:

There was this genius Jonathan Edwards listening to Whitefield, who wasn’t in the same field, of course, from the standpoint of genius and ability and so on. But as he was listening to Whitefield, his face, says Whitefield, was shining. Edwards’ face was shining and tears were streaming down his face. Edwards was recognizing this authentic, authoritative note — this preaching. Whitefield was in the Spirit. Edwards was in the Spirit, and the two were blended together. The whole congregation and the preacher were one in the hand of God. That is preaching. May God enable us to practice it and experience it.11

The preaching of which Dr. Lloyd-Jones is speaking of and which the New Testament speaks is far removed from the trickery used in much modern preaching. Biblical preaching declares that men are not born again by the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13).

“Decisional Regeneration” does not bring men to Christ any more than does Baptismal Regeneration. It is true that some are converted under such preaching, but this is in spite of the false methods used, not because of them. The Bible is clear in its declaration that only by the Spirit of God can men be born again. True repentance and saving faith come as the result of the new birth and are never the cause of the great change. Repentance and faith are the acts of regenerated men, not of men dead in sins (Eph. 2:1, 5). However, God does not act for us; He does not believe for us; and He surely cannot repent for us — He has no sin for which to repent. We must personally, knowingly and willingly trust in Christ for salvation. Nor are we saying that preachers should not urge, yea, plead with men to repent and believe. Any preaching which merely rehearses the facts of the gospel without calling men to repentance and faith in Christ as a merciful and mighty Saviour of sinners is not biblical preaching.

The apostles taught that God saves His elect through the foolishness of preaching. All new methods devised by man can only fall far short of this ordained means of converting the sinner. The Church must forsake its carnal inventions and once again be guided by the teaching of Scripture if it is to expect God to bless its efforts and multiply its harvest. The Scriptural means of evangelizing is to “preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (I Cor. 1:23-24).

Decisional Regeneration and Theology

Whether it is openly recognized or not, there are always certain doctrinal presuppositions which underlie the methods used in evangelism. What kind of teaching, then, has allowed the Church to depart from historic Christianity and to take up these new devices?

The new birth according to our Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign work of the Spirit of God in the heart of man (John 3:8). Yet in conflict with Christ’s teaching, one of the forefathers of this new evangelism states that “Religion is the work of man.” This is a shocking statement, especially since it is found on the very first page of Lectures on Revivals of Religion, the most influential of all of Charles G. Finney’s writings.12 The great theological difference between modern evangelism and biblical evangelism hinges on this basic question whether true religion is the work of God or of man. At best, the doctrine of “Decisional Regeneration” attributes the new birth partly to man and partly to God.

J. H. Merle d’Aubigne (1794-1872) in his The History of the Reformation in England states that

To believe in the power of man in the work of regeneration is the great heresy of Rome, and from that error has come the ruin of the Church. Conversion proceeds from the grace of God alone, and the system which ascribes it partly to man and partly to God is worse than Pelagianism.13

One of the greatest American theologians, Charles Hodge (1797-1878), also points out the danger of this teaching:

No more soul-destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine that sinners can regenerate themselves, and repent and believe just when they please . . . As it is a truth both of Scripture and of experience that the unrenewed man can do nothing of himself to secure his salvation, it is essential that he should be brought to a practical conviction of that truth. When thus convicted, and not before, he seeks help from the only source whence it can be obtained.14

In both the above statements stress is put upon man’s helplessness to be born anew, and the necessity for God to create life. It is especially in these two areas that the doctrine of “Decisional Regeneration” deviates from the biblical doctrine of regeneration. This brings us to the foundational issue of “Decisional Regeneration”: What is the spiritual condition of man?

Can a man be born again by answering “yes” to a certain group of questions? Can a man be born from “above” by walking to the front of a building? Can a man become a true Christian by responding to an invitation as a result of being “crept up on” unawares? Your answers to these questions will be determined by your view of man’s spiritual condition. What is man’s spiritual state?

The grand old Scottish theologian Thomas Boston (1676-1732) very vividly illustrated man’s spiritual condition by comparing the unconverted person to a man in a pit. He can only get out of the pit in one of two ways: he may through much toil and difficulty scale the sides of the pit to the top, which is the way of works; or, he may grab hold of the rope of grace let down by Christ and be pulled out of his misery. Yes, he may decide to pull himself up by the rope of the gospel, “but, alas! the unconverted man is dead in the pit, and cannot help himself either of these ways.15

Man is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and cannot please God (Eph. 2:1; Rom. 8:8). Our Saviour Himself portrayed man’s condition as one of utter helplessness: “No man can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him”; “No man can come to me except it were given to him of my Father” (John 6:44, 65).

This state of death and bondage to sin cannot be changed by making a decision or by walking an aisle. A man cannot make himself a Christian. Only the Spirit of God can create a new man in Christ. God in His grace gives men new hearts. Only then can they willingly repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. God Himself has stated this truth by saying: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes…” (Ezek. 36:26, 27). Jesus Christ also clearly said, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes” (John 5:21).

The greatness of God’s power in saving sinners can only be seen against the background of man’s desperate condition. What a glorious doctrine is the new birth to the helpless sinner! May the Church return to biblical doctrine so that it may evangelize again to the glory of God.

How helpless guilty nature lies,

Unconscious of its load!

The heart, unchanged can never rise

To happiness and God.

The will perverse, the passions blind,

In paths of ruin stray;

Reason, debased, can never find

The safe, the narrow way.

Can aught, beneath a power divine,

The stubborn will subdue?

Tis Thine, almighty Saviour, Thine,

To form the heart anew.

O change these wretched hearts of ours,

And give them life divine!

Then shall our passions and our powers,

Almighty Lord, be Thine!

– Isaac Watts

What Must We Do?

It is not a time to be silent; it is time to speak out. We have kept quiet too long, somehow feeling that if we opposed these unbiblical practices we might be hindering the good work of evangelism, believing that among the multitudes of “decisions” there are some genuine conversions. But with every passing week thousands are being counseled into a false hope! Men are directed to walk aisles when they should be pointed to Christ alone. The high calling of preaching has degenerated into a series of gimmicks and tricks. These false practices have resulted from the perversion of biblical doctrine. In the midst of this darkness let us pray that God may be pleased to revive His Church again. This revival can come only through Christ. Men must turn afresh to His directions for counseling, to His free invitations to sinners and to the preaching of His gospel. Only then will our labors bring glory to God; and if God grants, many sinners will be converted for His glory.

Notes

The word “again” is better rendered “from above.” It points to the ultimate source of the new birth, the Triune God.

C. H. Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit (London, 1964), Vol. 6, p. 171.

Jack Hyles, How To Boost Your Church Attendance (Grand Rapids, 1958), pp. 32-35.

Iain H. Murray, The Forgotten Spurgeon (London, 1966), p. 110.

Ibid, p. 111.

Robert L. Dabney, Discussions: Evangelical and Theological (London, 1967), Vol. 2, p. 13.

Albert B. Dod, “The Origin of the Call for Decisions,” The Banner of Truth Magazine (London, Dec., 1963), Vol. 32, p. 9.

Murray, op. cit., pp. 107-109.

John Julian, A Dictionary of Hymnology (London, 1907) p. 609.

Hyles, op. cit., pp. 43-44.

Recorded in shorthand from a sermon, “The Responsibility of Evangelism,” preached at Grace Baptist Church, Carlisle, Pa., in June, 1969.

For the clearest statement of Finney’s theory of regeneration read his sermon, “Sinners Bound To Change their Own Hearts,” Sermons on Various Subjects (New York, 1835). For a detailed examination of Finney’s theology see “Review of Lectures on Systematic Theology,” The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review (Philadelphia, 1847), Vol. 19, pp. 237-Z77; also Benjamin B. Warfield, “The Theology of Charles C. Finney,” Perfectionism (Philadelphia, 1967), pp. 166-215.

J. H. Merle d’Aubigne, The Reformation in England (London, 1962), Vol. 1, p. 98.

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, 1970), Vol. 2, p. 277.

Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State (London, 1964), p. 183.

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