The purpose of this post is to give readers an example of what kinds of topics might come up when they attempt to witness the gospel.
There are 3 short videos in this post, the first is a 4 minute video wherein Paul Washer talks about what has happened to the gospel in the current church; the second video is about 6 minutes long and it reveals what many might say if they were asked to define the gospel; also, it gives some pointers about witnessing; the third video is around 6 minutes long and is an example of defending the gospel while providing a good example of witnessing it.
In the following video, please note how the man in the red shirt defined the gospel; he had no idea what it was. And also note that Todd Friel had already spoken of the law before interviewing the man in red; Friel says numerous things about the value of using the law in a presentation of the gospel, I will speak to that below.
The young woman in the following video was acquainted with the gospel and raised in the church, but lacked an understanding of the need of urgency in witnessing it (the interview did not reveal whether or not she could define the gospel, however, such that she would have been able to witness it appropriately; furthermore, the gospel is a message, not a lifestyle; it certainly does impact lifestyle though).
The metaphor about the burning house describes the state of all unregenerate people. If you, e.g., have unsaved family members, then it is good to imagine them in that burning house of God’s wrath against sin so that you might be moved to risk rejection, your reputation…to speak to them with a sense of urgency about eternal things.
If you are unfamiliar with the presentation of the law to enable people to understand that they need the grace of God found in the gospel, then read Romans 1-3, that is exactly how the apostle Paul presented the gospel to the Roman church, and to the church as a whole. His point was to demonstrate that both Jews and Gentiles were slaves to sin and would perish without the free grace of God in Christ via His gospel message; that no one can be saved by following the law as it is a standard, revealing sin; that their only hope was to trust in Christ’s work by faith.
The New Testament opens with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’s accounts of Christ’s life and ministry. Each of these present Jesus as speaking more about God’s judgment and hell than anyone else in the Bible. Also, the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, reveals Jesus as the coming King addressing those citizens who will be part of His kingdom, the beatitudes describe them. His first descriptive phrase in the beatitudes is poverty of spirit. Those who are poor in spirit know that they are spiritually bankrupt and mourn their helplessly sinful condition; repenting of it and casting themselves upon Christ by faith (see categories, Beatitude Life in this blog).
I have one last comment about Friel’s debate with the girl in the above video; her incessant claims that Friel was not presenting the gospel message in a way that would attract people to the gospel is a result of her likely having been raised up in the seeker friendly, and / or market driven church.
Those churches are “pragmatic” in that they witness the gospel via man-made ways because they believe these work to bring people into the church. Friel described her thinking as pragmatism. The definition of pragmatism is “whatever works to accomplish the desired end in a situation is right to do; or is true.” The modern church is notorious for being pragmatic. God is not that way because God is the author of truth. What He says is true; what He commands is true. We are to preach the gospel as He has stated in scripture. It is a specific message given by God:
Rom 1:15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (ESV Bible)
Below is even a more explicit statement from scripture clarifying what I said above:
1Co 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
1Co 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
1Co 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
1Co 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The seeker-friendly, market-driven and emergent churches, e.g., are suppressing God’s truth by preaching another gospel message; a message that derives from their own wisdom. Those who do not read and study scripture, who run the church according to their politically correct ways, are in gross error! They are also leading many professed believers onto the broad way: Mat 7:13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. Mat 7:14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
Moreover, those churches minimize sin and don’t often believe they need to preach on it; they focus on preaching grace alone. However, they err greatly because when people do not understand that God’s word defines them as wretched, fallen sinners, helplessly enslaved to sin, they lack the impetus to cry out for God’s mercy in Christ. Those Christians often believe themselves to be good people; that is, they remain blind to their own sinfulness; they are self-deceived because their teachers do not preach the doctrine of depravity…the whole counsel of God: they remain oblivious to that fact that they are in a burning house; that their souls are in great peril!
Todd Friel is making God’s true way known, that is why people are hissing at him.
Note what the apostle Paul says about preachers and Biblical preaching:
Act 20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all,
Act 20:27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Act 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Act 20:29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
Act 20:30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Act 20:31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.
Act 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Act 20:33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel.
The above verses of Acts speak a loud warning directly to the prosperity preachers and their followers. They and their followers despise the word of God; or they don’t even know what the Bible says. How can either call themselves Christians?
In closing I want to cite a few scriptures that call people haters of God to show that Friel was not exaggerating, but was witnessing the gospel correctly: Joh 7:7 The world can’t hate you, but it does hate Me because I accuse it of doing evil. Joh 15:18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first. Rom 8:7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. Rom 8:8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. Isa 53:3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on Him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care (Isaiah 52:13 — 53 is about Christ, the suffering Servant; the world inflicted suffering upon Him and inflicts suffering on His servants today; revealing their hatred of Him). Mat 10:22 And all nations will hate you because you are My followers.
I copied the following references from Isaiah 53:3 from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (free E-sword commentary) to give the reader many more verses about Jesus being hated for any that want more examples: despised: Isa_49:7, Isa_50:6; Psa_22:6-8, Psa_69:10-12, Psa_69:19-20; Mic_5:1; Zec_11:8, Zec_11:12-13; Mat_26:67, Mat_27:39-44, Mat_27:63; Mar_9:12, Mar_15:19; Luk_8:53, Luk_9:22, Luk_16:14; Luk_23:18-25; Joh_8:48; Heb_12:2-3
a man: Isa_53:4, Isa_53:10; Psa_69:29; Mat_26:37-38; Mar_14:34; Luk_19:41; Joh_11:35; Heb_2:15-18, Heb_4:15, Heb_5:7
we hid as it were our faces from him: or, he hid as it were, his face from us. Heb. as a hiding of faces from him or from us. we esteemed. Deu_32:15; Zec_11:13; Mat_27:9-10; Joh_1:10-11; Act_3:13-15
Romans 3 and 1 Corinthians 15 say much to define the gospel. The New Testament epistles and the book of Acts look at the gospel from many perspectives; it is spoken of in part therein. I think that if one were well versed in the epistle of Romans that he would have no problem defining the gospel and knowing how to witness it by following Paul’s example.
The following is one example of Paul speaking of God’s coming judgment:
Act 17:30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. Act 17:31 For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the Man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him from the dead.”