Dear reader, have you ever considered the following words of King Solomon, “Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law” (Psalm 119:29)? His assertion is that every way in life given to us other than the way given to us by God’s Word, is a false way! Thus, God’s Word is the “Truth” (Psalm 119:160,163). So, I ask you once again, have you ever truthfully considered the “truth” claims of Biblical Christianity? Just ruminating over this penetrating question has now become a necessity in our postmodern age – an age where moral absolutes and “objective truth” have fallen on hard times. This fact is no more evident than in how our generation has sought to gut any semblance of religion and morality that remains from our Judeo-Christian heritage – but, to no avail! Despite all of their vile efforts toward this dark end, nothing has changed God’s sovereign will over “The Truth” (Psalm 115:3; Isaiah 14:27; Daniel 4:35; 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11)! For Jesus Christ is still “The Truth” (John 14:6), His Word is still “The Truth” (John 17:17), His people, the elect, still continue to be set free by “The Truth” (Revelation 5:9; Luke 18:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 2:8-10; John 8:32); His Church still continues to be built, because it’s the pillar and buttress of “The Truth” (Matthew 16:18; 1 Timothy 3:15), and His people still bear-witness to “The Truth” (Acts 8:1,4; 2 Timothy 4:2).
But sadly, not all who are in the “visible” church, know and love “The Truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:12). Thus, this fact goes a long way toward helping us understand why error clothed in pragmatic garb, rules much of what is called local church “ministry” today. Such ministries are most easily recognized by the “methods” that drive them. In my last two articles, we have dealt with possibly the most erroneous of all of these methodologies, the altar-call. In those brief studies, we observed that its motives could be summarized as being: (1) to convert “the will”, not the man; and (2) to measure the pastor or evangelist’s “success” through getting and recording decisions. The result is seen in the average American church, which: shamelessly tolerates an inactive-membership roll, preaches the carnal-Christian heresy, ignores the Biblical standards for selecting its church officers, and lastly, sees the doctrine of Church Discipline as unloving and evil (See Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14,15).
The question before us this week is, does the opposite method (of inviting the lost to Christ, throughout the sermon, without an altar-call – Isaiah 55:6-7; Romans 10:13, et al) really work? In other words, can the “elect” still be saved without the employment of an altar-call? The answer is an absolute yes (See Acts 2:37; 16:30-34)!
Take the example of the great evangelist, Asahel Nettleton of 19th century Connecticut (a contemporary of the famous New York evangelist Charles Finney – the author of the altar-call). During his ministry his preaching resulted in over 30,000 recorded conversions. Remember, Nettleton did not use an altar-call, but simply preached the gospel with urgency by calling the lost to repent and trust Christ alone for the forgiveness of all of their sins (Colossians 2:13 [Note: Most of the pastors testified years later that Nettleton’s converts were still faithful, up to and beyond 90% of the total, after ten, twenty, and even thirty years!]). The great “non altar-call” evangelist George Whitefield, once commented, “There are so many stony-ground hearers which receive the Word with joy, that I have determined to suspend my judgment until I know the tree by its fruits.” O God send your Holy Spirit upon our pulpits tomorrow and raise the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9)!
Jerry Marcellino is pastor of Audubon Drive Bible Church in Laurel. He can be reached by e-mail at pastorjerry@audubonchurch.org. For more information on Audubon Drive Bible Church, or to view Pastor Marcellino’s sermons online, visit: www.youtube.com/adbcvideoministry.
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