Bad News, Good News

Curmudgeon alert (me, not Shaw)...

George Bernard Shaw, neither a theologian nor even a Christian, nevertheless made a perceptive point when he once wrote the following:

"Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization."

You've noticed, haven't you, that the audiences of media loves bad news? Well, they hate it. But they love it. Like the old Listerine commercial, where you hate it twice a day. Can't get enough bad news, it seems.

And if there isn't enough REALLY bad news today, they will inflate the PRETTY bad news to REALLY bad. And if there isn't even much PRETTY bad news today, they will imagine how bad it COULD be, and wouldn't THAT be dreadful if it came to pass!

And rather quietly (for now), in comes Jesus Christ, with the Good News that God has come to Earth as Man, and died for our sins, and was buried and rose again from the dead, and is alive now, saying, "Come to Me and I will give you rest."

And if anyone will come to Him, if anyone will believe in Him, they can not only have a new life now, forgiven of their sins, but eternity in the loving presence of the loving Lord of the Universe. They can have HIM!

Purpose...and Passion...and Promise.

That really is Good News. Worth meditating on for a lifetime and after. Worth seeking until it's found.

But, "No," say billions. "I'd rather watch the bad news, thank you. Did you see what happened TODAY?!"

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. -- Philippians 4:8

Do We Need To Preach the Law To Preach The Gospel?

There is a common teaching that the Law of God must be preached in order for the Gospel to be preached. In other words, that before you evangelize someone, that is, give them the Good News of Jesus Christ, and His death on the Cross for sins, and His resurrection, you must first preach the specific Laws of God to show them that they have sinned. Usually these specific Laws of God are given as the Ten Commandments.

But is this true? Do we need to preach specific Laws of God in order to preach the Gospel?

I believe the biblical answer is a definite “No”.

But first, I believe this "Law before Gospel" teaching idea has become an unbiblical tradition among many Christian teachers. Often, instead of going to the Scriptures and seeing if this Law Preaching is really commanded or required, they merely read of another teacher who has said it, and they believe it.

“Why, good old Charles Spurgeon taught that the preaching of the Law must come before the Gospel.” Or in more modern times, “Ray Comfort, the Way of the Master guy, teaches that you must give the Ten Commandments (or at least a couple of them) to somebody before you tell them the Good News.”

It’s often taught like this, “You have to give them the bad news, before you give them the good news.” Or, “If you don’t get them groveling in misery over their breaking of God’s Laws, they won’t be receptive to the Gospel. They will be flippant, thinking they don’t need salvation from anything.”

There are even several Scriptures that are sometimes used to prove the point of Law Preaching, and we’ll examine some of those. But I believe those Scriptures have been pulled out of the Bible to support this “tradition of men”, rather than the tradition coming from a good study of the New Testament.

Three biblical reasons why we are NOT called to preach the Law before we preach the Gospel.

1. All men already know in their hearts the moral law of God, and they know that they are sinners against God, and they suppress that truth in unrighteousness.

We already know from Romans 1:18 that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. In other words, every man already knows that he is ungodly and unrighteous, and that he deserves God’s wrath.

How does he know this? Well, Romans 1:19,20 goes on to say two things. That the knowledge is within them, and that the creation makes obvious the attributes, eternal power, and divine nature of God.

But Romans 1:18 says another interesting thing. It says that men “suppress the truth in unrighteousness”.

They not only know they are wrath-deserving sinners, but they add to their sin by suppressing it, denying it. That’s why in verse 20 it says they are “without excuse”.

But that’s not all. The Jews, of course, in Bible times, would be very aware of the Laws of God, and the Ten Commandments. But we read in Romans 2:14-16:

“For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ.”

What does it mean? Simply this: God has placed in everyone his moral law, and given men a conscience to identify when they are doing wrong, which of course they do constantly. So again, they are without excuse.

They don’t need to hear, “Thou shalt not steal.” They know in their consciences. They know the beauty and just and wonderful truth of God’s character and what He requires. But, as Romans 3 tells us, “There is none righteous, not even one...there is none who seeks for God...there is none who does good, there is not even one.”

So again, all men already know in their hearts the moral law of God, and they know that they are sinners against God, and they suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

So if you’re witnessing or preaching the Good News of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins through the Cross, and somebody acts innocent and says they don’t need forgiveness because they live a pretty good life, you don’t need to prove anything to them. You can look them in the eye and say, “You know better than that. You know, just like I do, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” And proceed to give them the Good News.

2. The Law has NO power for salvation. But the Gospel does.

In Romans 1:16, Paul says something that I believe we often forget. He says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for IT is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” In other words, to those who know the Ten Commandments (the Jews), and to those who don’t know the Ten Commandments from a hole in the wall (but they know very well that they are in constant violation of the moral compass that God has placed in their consciences).

Why? Why is this Gospel the “power of God for salvation”?

Verse 17 tells us. Because in the Gospel is revealed the righteousness of God, the only righteousness that will save us. The righteousness that we must receive as a free gift because our own "righteousnesses are as filthy rags".

That’s why so many people have been led to Christ by the so-called Romans Road, without the preaching of the Law. Because men are reminded that all have sinned (Rom. 3:23), and that the wages of sin is death or the wrath of God, but that the free gift of God is eternal life through faith in Jesus who died on the cross (Rom. 5:6 and 6:23), and that he did it out of love, demonstrating His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8), and that whoever believes in Him (Jews who know the Ten Commandments, or Gentiles who don’t) will not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16), whoever confesses Jesus as Lord, and believes in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, shall be saved (Rom. 10:9).

That’s the Gospel, and that’s the power of God for salvation.

3. There are no New Testament commands, nor New Testament examples for preaching the Law before the Gospel.

Now let me take a little side road first and say this: I love the laws of God. Every law that God ever spoke or inspired is a reflection of His Holy, Just and loving heart. And I want to know His heart, because I love Him. He put that in my heart, to love Him. He is my Savior, and He is my Lord. I want to know what He wants. And when I’m walking in the Spirit, I want to follow and obey Him with every fiber of my being. I can say, "Not my will, but Thine be done."

And so I agree with the Apostle Paul that the Law is good.

But you will search in vain through the Book of Acts or the New Testament Epistles for any COMMAND to preach the Law before preaching the Gospel. And you will search in vain through the Book of Acts or the New Testament Epistles for any EXAMPLE of preaching the Law before preaching the Gospel.

What you will see is an assumption by the Apostles that everyone is a sinner, and that they know it. Without exegeting the whole Book of Acts, one example will serve, especially since it specifically deals with some Gentiles. When Peter is called to preach to Cornelius, the Bible records pretty much his whole message in Acts 10 beginning at verse 34. Not a word is mentioned of the Law. But Christ is preached and Him crucified, for the forgiveness of sins.

This pattern is followed throughout the Book of Acts.

Objections

Well, let me continue with some objections. I’m not interested in human reasoning objections, but biblical ones. Let me deal with a few verses that are often used to make the claim that the Law must first be preached, and then the Gospel.

Psalm 19:7

It's usually quoted, “The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” The word “converting” sounds like salvation, but you will see in the margin, or in most translations, that the best translation is “restoring the soul” or “reviving the soul”. It’s likely not even a reference to salvation at all, but in any case, the Old Testament Psalms is not the most reliable source for a New Covenant doctrine.

Also, when the Psalmist refers to the Law of the Lord, he is not referring to the Ten Commandments or any specific laws, but to the Word of God in general, as it was then known. You will see this over and over in the Psalms. That’s why the reading of the Psalms can be so rich for us New Covenant believers who are no longer under the Old Covenant Law.

Romans 3:20

“...for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” Although it’s true that through a specific law can come the knowledge of a specific sin, that is not Paul’s point. He is contrasting the inability of the law to “justify” anyone in God’s sight. In other words, no one can be saved through the law, he points out.

The best the law could do is show how someone has specifically sinned. But as we have already pointed out, man already knows he is a sinner, a breaker of God’s law, and suppresses that truth in unrighteousness.

1 John 3:4

“...sin is lawlessness”. The argument is made that lawlessness is the breaking of laws, and that this must be preached to show that someone has sinned. This is not only a little silly in view of what we’ve already seen about the heart and conscience of man, but it's not what John was trying to get across at all.

John was contrasting the true born-again believer with the false believer and saying that the one who practices sin has an attitude of lawlessness. Not just that they break God’s laws, but that the source of that law-breaking is a heart of lawlessness, and thus an unregenerate or unsaved heart. This has nothing to do with preaching specific laws to “prepare” for the Gospel.

Romans 7:7

Paul says, “I would not have come to know sin, except through the Law, for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” But the context shows that Paul is talking about the power of the Law to pour gasoline on the fire of sin.

Certainly Paul knew sin, even before he heard the law. All men do. But he’s making the point that the command or the law itself caused the sin to rise up in him. When he heard “Do not covet”, it made him covet all the more. Such is the heart of a sinner. Nothing in this section has anything to do with evangelism, or the Gospel.

John 16:8

“And He [speaking of the Holy Spirit to come], when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment.”

This is supposed to show that the Law must be preached, because the Holy Spirit will convict of sin and judgment. But look at the next verse John 16:9:

“...concerning sin, because they do no believe in Me.” Do you see that? It’s not the Law itself that brings conviction. It’s the very Gospel itself. It’s the Good News about Jesus Christ.

And look at John 16:11, “...and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.” See that? The work of Christ on the Cross has crushed the head of the serpent, to hearken back to Genesis. Sin has been paid for on the Cross and God’s righteousness is given as a free gift to those who will believe the Gospel.

John isn’t talking about Law in this section, but about the Gospel.

And finally, let’s deal with the verse that is used most often to support preaching the Law before the Gospel:

Galatians 3:24

“Therefore the Law has become our tutor [or schoolmaster] to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.”

Here again, context is so important. Paul is not speaking here at all about individual laws which are broken and thus leading us to faith in Christ. He is speaking of a historical progression from the time of Abraham who is promised a Seed which will become the Messiah, through the time of the Old Covenant, which showed how man could not be justified by obedience to any laws, and led finally to the promised Christ, in Whom alone is salvation, through His death, to all who believe.

Speaking of Jews only, Paul says that the Old Covenant was a tutor, but not to show men they were sinful, but that they could not gain righteousness through the keeping of the Law! They already knew they were sinful, but they thought that their so-called good deeds could justify them. And since their good deeds could not justify them, they were led to the Messiah, whose righteousness was offered as a free gift, the only way any of us are saved.

Preach the Gospel, friends. Plant the Gospel, water with Gospel, and God will give the increase for His elect. That is our confidence, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What Does It Profit A Man...?

Professor Randy Pausch
Click here for "Final Lecture".

This speech is the "Final Lecture" of Professor Randy Pausch, Professor of Computer Science, HCI, and Design; Co-Founder, Entertainment Technology Center Carnegie Mellon University.

Professor Pausch is dying, and this lecture is supposed to be inspiring.

Instead, I find it one of the saddest I've ever seen or heard.

Please pray that God will open the Professor's heart to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He has weeks to live as of this writing.

Click here for "Final Lecture".

I wrote Professor Pausch the following email:
=======================================
To: professorrandypausch AT gmail.com
Subject: With Love, A Word About Your Soul

Dear Mr. Pausch,

My heart goes out to you in love.

But I'm not inspired by your speech. It saddens me.

Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he gains the
whole world, but loses his soul?"

Before you reject that thought, please read the Gospel
of John, the 4th book of the New Testament. What do
you have to lose? If it appeals to you at all, read
it again.

Then read the Book of Romans.

You will find what so many of us have found. These simple
truths:

1. That the power and attributes of God are clearly shown in
the creation around us, but men "suppress the truth in
unrighteousness" (Romans Chapter 1).

2. That "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God" (Romans 3:23).

3. That "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

4. But that "the FREE GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

5. That if anyone believes in Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior, that He died on the cross to pay for thier sins,
that He rose again from the dead...that they will be
forgiven of all their sins.

6. And when they die, they will not be punished for their
rebellion against the Holy Lord, but will live with Him
forever in heaven.

And it's a free gift. That's what "Grace" means. We don't
deserve it, but Jesus paid for it on the cross, because of
His love.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but
have eternal life." (John 3:16)

May you take this to heart, Professor.

While many are inspired by your speech, believe me, many
others are praying for your salvation.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."
(Acts 16:31)

Sincerely,
Terry Rayburn
========================================
Update: July 25, 2008, Randy Pausch died.

Pray For Our Troops

I live in an army town.

Clarksville, Tennessee is connected to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st Airborne Division, including the 160th Nightstalker Special Forces and the 5th Special Forces Group.

They are now, for the next couple of months, engaged in another major deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I was never in the military, and when I came to Clarksville in 1986, I didn't really know the difference between a Sergeant and a Colonel. But for many years now, I've been in the homes of hundreds, maybe thousands of soldiers and their families.

I've come to love them, respect them, pray for them, and sometimes counsel them. I have watched them come and go on reassignments to other stations, and in deployment to battle. I've watched the tears of "Goodbye" and "My Daddy Is A Hero", and "Welcome Back, Honey", and "I Lost My Legs In Battle, But I Wish I Could Go Back Again", and "I Lost My Husband And My Kids' Dad To A Bullet".

I know the war in Iraq is controversial.

But I also have the privilege of knowing the men and women who have gone there, sometimes for their third tour of duty.

I see the hardship, but I see the courage of soldiers that I'm old enough to call kids.

I see the pain of separation, but I see the sense of justice in the eyes of soldiers who mean to fight evil.

I see the occasional scarred face or prosthetic leg, but I see something I don't see enough of outside the military...a comaraderie...a brotherhood of respect and duty and a cause they're willing to die for.

I serve in what has been called the army of the Lord. A peaceful army of good news called the Gospel. The good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, and rose again from the dead, because He loves us, and that whoever will believe in Him will be saved from the wrath of God, and will have eternal life.

It's a different mission, a different brotherhood, a different cause.

But I'm willing to die for it, too.

And I'm inspired by our soldiers. And I ask you to pray for them.

Here is a tribute to them:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

Storming The Kingdom of Darkness

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds;" 2 Corinthians 10:4

The picture God is painting here is one of storming and conquering a fortress, or castle. There are a lot of aspects to this, like our spiritual armor, prayer, the Word of God itself, faith, and so forth. But the most important thing in this raiding of the Castle of Evil is the Gospel itself.

We are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation to those who believe. (Romans 1:16)

See that? Don’t take this lightly. Do you know that you will never really change a person in the core of their being? You may clean them up and make them look better and make them a better businessman or public speaker, or more successful, or more powerful personally or politically, but may I ask the question the Scripture asks?

“What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but foreits his soul?”

You see the fortress or castle that we want to pull down is the Kingdom of Darkness, a kindgom of "works religion" that has enslaved every man and woman since Adam and Eve. It’s the Kingdom of lies, and the lies are against the One who is the Truth, and the Way and the Life.

And the primary thing that pulls down that fortress, that Kingdom of Darkness, is the Gospel of Grace, because it not only shines truth in the darkness, it actually has the POWER to change the heart. To grant the free gift of a new spirit, to make a new creation.

D. James Kennedy Remembered

Dr. D. James Kennedy went to be with the Lord on September 5, 2007.

When we speak of contemporary "giants" of the Church, he certainly has to be included. Since I love Theology, the study of God and His Word, my heart resonated with Kennedy's, because he loved Theology, too.

I didn't always agree with Kennedy. I didn't agree with him that America was once a "Christian Nation", and needed to be restored as a Christian Nation, though by God's grace we have certainly been heavily influenced by our Christianity, and blessed by the Lord. I believe the Bible teaches the view that the Kingdom of God is a spiritual one, with Christ reigning in the hearts of anyone who is His, whether in America or the deepest darkest Communist or Muslim environment.

Ironically, it is Kennedy's evangelistic endeavors that I believe have had more influence on America and around the world than any political preaching or lobbying he has ever done. Only eternity will tell if I'm correct.

But having said that, my greatest debt to D. James Kennedy was his simple Two Question "formula" for quickly getting at another person's understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was formulated as Evangelism Explosion, and again only eternity will reveal what an enormous influence Kennedy has had in souls led to Jesus Christ. It has simplified and clarified my own thinking since the late 1970's, when I first was "trained" in Evangelism Explosion.

Frankly, I've forgotten most of the details of the Evangelism Explosion book -- my copy was a thick padded Olive-Green-covered manual we so cherished back then.

But I've never forgotten the Two Questions, and I pose them here for anyone who may be reading this and has an interest in Jesus Christ:

1. Have you reached the point in your spiritual life that if you died today, you know you would go to heaven?

Whether the answer is "Yes" or "No", the 2nd Question may help you in understanding the Good News about Jesus Christ:

2. If you stood at the gates of Heaven and God asked you why He should allow you in, how would you answer?

If your answer has anything to do with "earning" Heaven, or, "I did my best," or any other kind of works or merit or religion or baptism or "doing this" or "not doing that" -- in other words if your answer has anything in it of "deserving" Heaven, then you don't understand the Gospel. But we (me and D. James Kennedy) have Good News for you.

Though you, like us, don't deserve salvation from our sins, and don't deserve Heaven, God offers it as a Free Gift to anyone who will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what "Grace" means. Salvation is by Grace, a free gift, not by works or "earning" or "merit".

Jesus is God, but He came to earth as a man. He is God and Man, and He came to earth to die on a Cross, shedding His blood, to pay for sins, so that He might give eternal Life to all who would change their minds and believe in Him. Change their minds about their sins (recognize and oppose them), and change their minds about Jesus (recognizing Him as Lord God and Savior, Who paid for their sins on the Cross, and was raised again to life).

That's the Good News, that if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Jesus Himself said, "Whoever comes to Me I will never cast out." (John 6:37)

"...let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price." (Revelation 22:17)

Come to Him now. Believe in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Call on Him. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13)