Using the Law in evangelism.
This series was taught at North Christian Church. nccdighton.org
PART 1:
*This 2 part series was taught at North Christian Church on 11/27/19 and 12/1/19. Please visit www.nccdighton.org to watch or listen.
In this study, we’re going to see the biblical role of the Law in evangelism, and a real life example of leading someone to repentance and faith in Christ.
First, we will introduce why and how even Jesus used the Law to lead people to salvation.
Then, we will see more from the apostles on this and how they lived out the Great Commission in the same way.
But first, here’s a little introduction explaining some of my concerns today…
A problem in contemporary Christianity, and therefore with today’s evangelism, is that it’s lopsidedly focused on God’s love without going into the inevitable results of His Justice upon those who refuse to believe in the Lord. Joh 3:16-18,36
Jn 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Jn 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
God so loved the world that He sent His Son, but unless someone humbly RECEIVES His gracious offer ala Jn 1:12 he “takes hold of” Christ by faith, then that person remains under God’s judgment.
It’s almost like Christians say to unbelievers “God loves you, so don’t worry about anything”… but that’s actually incomplete and misleading!
There is something each and every person needs to reconcile between themselves and God if they want to be saved.
Does the Bible say that all men will be saved in the end? NO, on the contrary, Jesus said even though many are called, “few” are chosen. Mat 22:14
And when He was on earth, our Lord talked about hell A LOT MORE than He talked about heaven.
So for us to bring up God’s love WITHOUT bringing up the reality of one’s guilt before the Righteous Judge of the Universe… that’s doing someone a great disservice.
And if a person doesn’t really believe he’s a sinner, and thinks he’s good enough to save himself, then how will he see the need to turn to Christ in his heart to be saved?
These people will remain in self-deception, blind to the Truth about eternal life and eternal judgment.
And they will be robbed of the opportunity to receive the love of God!
My dear Pastor Collins once said to me, and I’m summarizing: People are being robbed of the chance to love God as they should… He who is forgiven much, loves much, as in Lk 7:47. If people don’t come to see their own depravity and how much they’re forgiven of, they won’t be set free by the love of God.
Let’s remember what the apostle Paul, whom many call “the apostle of grace”, stated about his preaching of the Gospel on his missionary trips…
… and let me remind you that in the book of Acts we see evangelism in action, not the letters to the churches which were largely encouragement and instructions to believers.
Ac 17:30-31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Notice, GOD commands all people everywhere to repent… and why is that???
Because of the coming day He will judge the world!
Put those two things together; there is a very real danger unbelievers need to be told about, and with a sense of urgency.
If someone’s about to get hit by a bus, you don’t take your time in warning them.
We need to let people know we care about them and what will happen to them one day.
Paul goes on to describe his personal method of evangelism…
Ac 20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here we see a vital part of Paul’s preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; he stressed the importance of both repentance and faith.
In other words, he graciously told people the whole story without holding back so they wouldn’t be left in the dark, thinking they might somehow be OK on their own.
For a person to be saved, there must be a transfer of trust to Christ alone.
Unless someone sees that they shouldn’t trust in themselves, or in their church or religion to be saved… then they won’t transfer their trust to the Person of Christ alone for their salvation.
They will sadly remain stuck in a false concept of salvation; which is usually an attempt to satisfy God by their own goodness or religiosity.
Again, look at what Paul, the apostle of grace, actively preached while evangelizing people:
Ac 26:19-20 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
If we heard a modern-day preacher say that, then some hyper-grace Christians would cry out “Blasphemy!”… but that’s only until they realized that was said by the apostle of grace!
This is part of what the apostle Paul actively preached when sharing the Gospel.
Some Christians today would wrongly be appalled at that, but that right there is where the rubber meets the road.
Paul was basically telling people to not deceive themselves in any way. (i.e. – many people SAY they repent, but go on living life for themselves, deceiving themselves! … living life totally for one self is a sign of spurious faith. But it’s between each person and the Lord.)
For some reason, Christians don’t want to bring up sin when preaching the Gospel, wrongly believing “it’s not the way of grace”.
However, my friends, it’s NOT gracious to hold back the very reason someone needs to receive the grace of God!
Let’s remember, our Lord was full of grace AND truth!
Jn 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jn 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
And this is also how Jesus Himself preached the Gospel!
Think about it: If Jesus preached all grace, they probably wouldn’t have strung Him up on a cross.
But He preached uncompromising truth, as well, often direct and even insulting, out of His tremendous love for His creation. (this is why some Bible teachers even call Jesus a “Judgment Preacher”)
Think about it, my friends: if people aren’t aware of the serious problem they have before their Creator, then why would they repent at all? And why would they look for a Savior, honestly?!
As William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, stated before his death in 1912:
William Booth – “The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”
Apparently, Mr. Booth had the gift of discernment or prophecy.
Today, political correctness (PC) in our world has led people to compromise the whole Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is unfortunately where a lot of Christian churches find themselves; they’re unwilling to tell people the whole truth so they might turn to Christ from the heart, and not in religious pretense.
For example, why are many churches today teaching forgiveness without repentance?
Some go so far as to say that because God is love, He forgives everyone,… but is that found in Holy Scripture??
It’s like they want to skip a step so they don’t offend anyone, and that is a bad preacher/church. (there’s the curse of today’s P.C.)
And here’s what’s really painful: they end up denying people the opportunity of true freedom by repenting towards God and turning to Christ in humility.
The Bible consistently teaches there is no forgiveness without repentance.
For example, in one passage about the Great Commission, Jesus Himself makes it clear how forgiveness comes:
Lk 24:45-48 – Then He (Jesus) opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. “You are witnesses of these things.
Part of the Great Commission that we are to obey is preaching repentance for forgiveness of sins, per our Lord’s own command to us!
And the apostles understood this truth and followed the Lord’s direction in their own evangelism. We’ve already seen this in how Paul habitually preached the Gospel.
We also see this in Peter’s evangelizing in the book of Acts, immediately after the Lord’s ascension into heaven (and please notice the order given in these verses) :
Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.
Acts 5:31 God exalted him (Jesus) at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
The implication is that if a person refuses to repent, then they will not receive forgiveness of sins.
This is why repentance must be preached as “the other side of the coin” of faith.
And let’s also remember that even repentance COMES FROM GOD. He gives it as a gift to the humble, as He does with faith (Eph 2:8-9). It really is a supernatural thing.
Acts 11:18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
2 Tim 2:24-25 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
The implication is that if God doesn’t grant repentance to someone, then they will not receive forgiveness of sins!
This is why the unbeliever must cry out to God for mercy, as our Lord revealed to us in Luk 18:9-14.
Now, let’s simplify this by looking at real life forgiveness; how can someone experientially forgive someone else if they refuse to apologize?
Think about that. (and hopefully we believers carry forgiveness in our hearts either way, but what about both parties EXPERIENCING forgiveness?)
Look what Jesus said:
Lk 17:3-4 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
So said Jesus! – And to our main point, do you see the proper order of things?
This is how life works, and how RELATIONSHIPS work, according to our Lord.
Now, let’s take this truth back to the Gospel: Unbelievers won’t be forgiven by God unless they’re willing to repent and turn to Christ, as we saw in Ac 20:21.
That’s the biblical fact of the matter. This is how God designed life to work.
The evangelism example we are about to see is connected with this:
Effective Evangelism – God’s Law should be used to help people come to repentance and see their need for the Savior.
We might say God’s moral law is seen in the 10 Commandments…
… and remember it’s called the “Law” for a reason; it’s not just a list of guidelines.
The God-given “Law” should make us think of God’s courtroom in heaven, and the inevitable Justice that must be served for wrongdoing.
And the 10 commandments should be rightly used to humble people to the point of genuine repentance.
Again, some of you might be saying to yourselves “is that biblical?… aren’t we now under grace?”
Amen, we are under grace!… at least WE BELIEVERS are under grace (think about that).
But what are unbelievers still under? – Condemnation and wrath, according to our Lord Jesus and John the Baptist! (Jn 3:18,36)
Therefore, it’s very gracious to tell people the whole Truth and to not “beat around the bush” to protect your own reputation…
… that type of selfishness prevents people from seeing the whole picture in the process.
Again, God’s Law should be used to help people see their need for the Savior.
We’ll see the biblical nature of this evangelistic approach in a moment.
Charles Spurgeon preached the value of using the Law in evangelism.
He was a Pastor who was very eager not only to teach the people in his church, but also to lead people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Charles Spurgeon – “I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law. The Law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man’s heart unless you first send the needle of the Law to make way for it.”
Now obviously, even though this is a good analogy, God is the One who does this type of work within the human heart. We are merely planters and waterers, as in 1Cor 3:7.
1 Cor 3:5-7 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
But taking this analogy, shouldn’t we plant and water the best way we know how?
Shouldn’t we give the Gospel in the most biblical way we can?
Even the Lord Himself used the 10 Commandments to lead people to repentance. He preached the truth, in love, to bring people to a realization of their need for Him as their Savior.
And we also must recall; the Bible says it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.
Ro 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Remember when the Lord had dinner with the prostitutes and tax collectors… He was not sitting there condoning their sin, saying “it’s no big deal because God loves you”.
He was kind and loving, but He was also telling them the Truth to lead them to repentance! (think of Lk 13:1-5)
The Bible says He was leading sinners TO REPENTANCE. Lk 5:32
Luke 5:29-32 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
And why did Jesus call sinners to repentance? – Because, as we have seen, without repentance there is no forgiveness of sins!
And without repentance, there is no coming to GENUINE faith in Christ as one’s Lord and Savior.
Without a willingness to repent, no one will humble themselves to trust in Christ from the heart. (i.e.- Rom 10:9-11)
Mt 21:28-32 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.
There’s repentance and faith, my friends! (and notice that genuine repentance/faith ends up “doing” the will of the Father, vs. 31a)
Even though the prostitutes and tax collectors sinned against God, many of them acknowledged it and changed their minds and trusted in Christ to be saved!
Look how the NIV puts it:
Mt 21:32 NIV- For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
Maybe, just maybe, we should follow our Lord’s example in reaching people with the Gospel.
Here’s one of our main points in this lesson:
Effective Evangelism – In His evangelism, Jesus often used the Law to lead people to a knowledge of their sin against God. (i.e. Mt 5:17-30, Lk 18:18-20, Jn 4:16-18)
In Jn 4, with the woman at the well, Jesus alluded to her living in adultery, which certainly tweaked her conscience (besides the fact that He mentioned her many husbands before that).
Jn 4:13-19 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
In kindness, Jesus reaches her conscience through the Law she had broken, humbling her and helping her seek Him as Savior.
A healthy fear of God is a very good thing, and that’s why it’s very valuable for a person to realize they have broken God’s Law…
… and to come to the knowledge of the truth that we are all sinners and we need to cry out to God for mercy.
In Mt 5, Jesus brings up breaking the commandments against murder and adultery,…
… and He makes it even more convicting by letting us know that when we’ve even just INTENDED those things in our hearts, we are still guilty in God’s eyes, because God looks at the heart.
Mt 5:17-22 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Look at vs. 27-28… “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Hopefully, you see that we’ve all broken God’s Law, and NONE of us has any hope of satisfying God’s Justice on our own!
We are all GUILTY by His standards!!! – And this is what we must communicate as we spread the Gospel.
Again; Effective Evangelism – In His evangelism, Jesus often used the Law to lead people to a knowledge of their sin against God. (i.e. Mt 5:17-30, Lk 18:18-20, Jn 4:16-18)
It’s knowledge of one’s sin that leads a man to be humble before his God and Creator, our Judge in Heaven.
Honest people will admit they cannot keep these righteous commands perfectly, and therefore this will cause them to reach out to our God and Savior for mercy.
However, in Lk 18, we see a man who wasn’t willing to be honest about his sin.
Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler and mentioned the 10 Commandments to hopefully lead him to humility and bowing the knee before Him.
Unfortunately, instead of responding to Jesus’ call, he walked away.
Luke 18:18-27 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, looking at him with sadness, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
Certainly, none of us can keep all the commands of God perfectly. This is why Jesus pointed out to him that only God is truly good (Jesus, Himself, also being God).
Apparently, this young man thought he was good, when only God is good, truly.
This rich young ruler was unwilling to admit he had broken God’s Law… so Jesus went to the next step to reveal his weakness and his bondage to earthly things.
But again, the point of these passages is to see that Jesus led sinners to repentance by using the Law.
So, if our Lord used the Law to show people their sinfulness and helplessness, then why don’t we do the same, as His followers?
Why don’t we use the Law to help others along to see the whole Truth? – The apostles did, too!
Even the apostle Paul, the so-called “apostle of grace”, also wrote about the value of using the Law in evangelism.
And he did this immediately after his writing: “there is none righteous, not even one.”
Ro 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Think about it… “through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
If someone doesn’t even know they’ve broken a law, even in the secular realm, then why would they be convicted to turn from it or to show remorse?
That’s why this is part of our job as evangelists.
Satan and his world’s system has done an excellent job convincing people they aren’t all that bad, even helping them turn a blind eye to what’s wrong in their lives.
As Isaiah put it:
Isa 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Does this not describe our world today?
Why does this reality exist right now in our societies?
It’s because lies have been beaten into our souls by Satan’s world system (by the media, for example), to prevent us from recognizing sin and evil,…
… and therefore… to prevent us from seeking God’s mercy to save us from our sins!!
Do you see the connection??
So, we see one function of God’s Law in Ro 3 is to “stop the mouth”, to stop it from justifying oneself as in vs. 19-20.
We might say to someone whose going on and on with their mouth; “stop it… just stop justifying yourself, and stop making excuses!”, right?!
The wonderful thing about God’s Law is that it stops the mouth; really it stops our arrogance. It stops self-justification in its tracks.
And, most importantly, through the Law comes a very vital knowledge of one’s sin against God.
Ask yourself this question; if a person doesn’t come to realize they have personally sinned against and offended God, then why would they look to God for mercy?? And why would they seek a Savior?!
Effective Evangelism – The Law, and a man’s conscience, are two of our best friends in witnessing to others about Christ.
Again:
Ro 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Understanding God’s Law, and that we couldn’t keep it all, is what acted as our tutor/teacher, to lead us to Christ.
We, as evangelists, can call on the Law as a tutor in leading others to Christ, who are unaware of their desperate situation!
Gal 3:21-24 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Hopefully that makes sense to you all.
Hopefully you now see the biblical way to use the Law as a tool to lead people to Christ.
…..
At this point, I want to share a real life example with you that will illustrate using the Law to close people’s mouths so they will actually humbly listen to their need for the Savior.
And all of this is all done in the gentleness and love of Christ – that is very important.
The only time Jesus became righteously indignant was with those who were arrogant and wouldn’t listen. (namely the Pharisees and lawyers)
Otherwise, He operated in the gentleness He was well-known for.
Again, it’s the kindness of God that leads man to repentance. Ro 2:4
Now back to our real life example…
As you might know, some of us do surveys for the church at the local park or mall.
Let’s call this segment: “Just Another Walk in the Park”, for two reasons.
One is obvious, that this encounter takes place in a public park.
Two is not so obvious, and that is that we shouldn’t make a big deal out of such encounters.
This should be our norm as believers living in the world.
To witness for Christ is WHO WE ARE and WHAT WE DO. It BECOMES us as we grow in the Word.
We all should have a desire to see people saved and we should have a desire to help them see their need for Christ.
And that will make these experiences more “normal” to us; just another walk in the park!
After asking a person’s background and basic beliefs, such as where they are from and what religion they grew up with, then the key question we hope to get to is this;
“If you were to die tonight, WHERE are you going, and WHY?”
or “Do you believe there’s an afterlife?”
By the way, you can arrive at a question like this in all sorts of ways, even though casual conversation at first, just talking about how difficult life can be.
You might end up simply asking someone “do you believe there’s an afterlife?”, to see where they stand before going on, you can see what they believe in their hearts.
Let the Spirit guide you as you approach people in His love and gentleness.
*This 2 part series was taught at North Christian Church on 11/27/19 and 12/1/19.
Please visit www.nccdighton.org to watch or listen.
Today we will see the biblical role of the Law in evangelism, and a real life example of leading someone to repentance and faith in Christ.
In Part 1, we introduced how even Jesus used the Law to lead people to salvation through faith in Him alone.
The apostles followed suit, as they went forward by faith obeying the Great Commission.
One thing I want to share with you again:
Genuine Salvation – To be saved, there must be a transfer of trust from self to Christ alone in the individual’s soul. (This is what it means to “believe” in Christ; it’s not just an acknowledgment of His existence, but it’s a personal reliance on Him as one’s Lord and Savior. Even the Greek word for “believe” means “to entrust”.)
And unless someone turns from trusting in themselves (or their church or religion), then they won’t transfer their trust to Christ alone to be saved.
Thus the call to repentance in Holy Scripture, as part of the Gospel presentation.
Again, let’s look at what the apostle Paul actively preached while evangelizing people:
Ac 26:19-20 – “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
Some Christians today would be appalled at Paul’s statement, saying it’s legalistic or even adding to faith alone, but this is where the rubber meets the road. So says the apostle Paul!
And the Bible consistently teaches where there’s genuine faith, there will be evidence of such faith.
And Paul not only preached the Gospel, but in effect he also said “don’t fool yourselves”.
If we’re honest towards Holy Scripture, that’s part of what the apostle Paul actively preached when sharing the Gospel!
And some Christians don’t want to bring up sin when preaching the Gospel, believing it’s not the way of grace… and I was one of them, until God showed me otherwise.
But it’s NOT gracious to hold back the very reason someone needs to receive the grace of God!
And let’s remember; Jesus told the Pharisees that unless they believed in Him, they would die in their sins! He said that to them three times in a row!
“Die In Your Sins” – If someone refuses to turn to Christ in humility, they remain in their sins, as Christ’s forgiveness and righteousness will not be credited to their account. This is the very reason why we preach the Gospel to others. Jn 8:21-24, 2Co 5:20-21.
John 8:21-24 Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
So, my friends, if someone can die in their sins, per Jesus’ own words, it might be a good idea to bring that up in evangelism, don’t you think?
Another stark reminder is that the Bible uses personal sins to describe the judgment of the unsaved. Why?? Because unbelievers end up dying in their sins! They’re not forgiven without turning to Christ in humility! 1Co 6:9-10, Rev 21:8
1 Cor 6:9-10 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Rev 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
As an evangelist, why NOT bring up sin if that’s what ends up putting them in the lake of fire?
People must know they have a problem with sin , so they can seek the solution for sin, namely Christ.
Let’s remember, our Lord Jesus was full of grace AND truth,… not only grace! Jn 1:14,17
And this is also how Jesus Himself preached the Gospel!
If Jesus preached all grace and limited truth, they probably wouldn’t have strung Him up on a cross.
But in His goodness, He preached uncompromising truth as well, out of His tremendous love for His children.
If people aren’t fully aware of the serious problem they have before their Creator, then why would they repent at all? And why would they look for a Savior, honestly?!
For example, why are many churches today teaching forgiveness without repentance?
Maybe it’s because our flesh is scared of rejection? – But that’s a horrible excuse for a pastor not teaching the whole truth!
And they sadly end up denying people the opportunity for true freedom by repentance towards God and believing in Christ for eternal life.
For example, in one passage about the Great Commission, Jesus makes it clear how forgiveness comes:
Lk 24:45-48 Then He (Jesus) opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. “You are witnesses of these things.
Part of the Great Commission that we are to obey is preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The apostles understood this truth and followed the Lord’s statement here, as did Peter in his evangelizing in the book of Acts immediately after the Lord’s ascension into heaven (and notice the order given in these verses) :
Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 3:19 Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.
Acts 5:31 God exalted him (Jesus) at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
The implication is that if God doesn’t first give repentance to someone, then they will not receive forgiveness of sins!
Let’s simplify this by looking at real life forgiveness; how does one experientially forgive someone else if they refuse to apologize?
Think about that. (and hopefully we carry forgiveness in our hearts either way, but what about both parties EXPERIENCING FORGIVENESS?)
What did our Lord say??
Lk 17:3-4 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
So said Jesus; and again, do you see the proper order of things?
This is how life works, and how salvation works.
Genuine Salvation – Unbelievers won’t experience forgiveness in their own lives until they have an attitude of repentance towards God and turn to the Lord Jesus alone to save them, as the “apostle of grace” stated in Ac 17:30-31, 20:21.
That’s the biblical fact of the matter.
We’ve also seen this:
Genuine Salvation – To be saved, there must be a transfer of trust in the individual’s soul from self to Christ alone. (This is what it means to “believe” in Christ; it’s not just an acknowledgment of His existence, but it’s a personal reliance on Him as one’s Lord and Savior. Even the Greek word for “believe” means “to entrust”.)
The evangelism example we are about to see is connected with the fact that:
Effective Evangelism – God’s Law should be used to help people see their need for the Savior.
We might say God’s moral law is seen in the 10 Commandments, and it’s called the “Law”, after all, not just a list of guidelines!
The “Law” should make us think of God’s courtroom and the inevitable Justice to be served one day!
And the 10 commandments can be rightly used to humble people to the point of true repentance.
Again, some of you might be saying to yourself “is that biblical?… aren’t we under grace?”
Amen, we are under grace… at least WE BELIEVERS are. (think about that)
But what are unbelievers under? – Condemnation and wrath according to the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist in Jn 3:18,36, and according to Paul’s description of us before we came to Christ, Eph 2:1-3.
Eph 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Shouldn’t unbelievers be told of the situation they’re in?!
It’s very gracious to tell people the truth and to not beat around the bush to protect your own reputation or comfort, preventing people from seeing the whole truth in the process.
We get caught up in self-preservation, but we can’t do that if we want to be a good evangelist for our Lord.
We’ll see the biblical nature of this approach in a moment.
Charles Spurgeon agreed with this principle of using the Law in evangelism.
He was a Pastor who was very eager not only to teach the people, but to lead people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Charles Spurgeon – “I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law. The Law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man’s heart unless you first send the needle of the Law to make way for it.”
Now, obviously, God is the One who does this type of work within the human heart.
But taking his analogy, shouldn’t we “plant” and “water” the best way we know how?
1 Cor 3:5-7 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Even though God gives the growth, shouldn’t we give the Gospel in the most biblical way we can?
Even the Lord Himself used the 10 Commandments to lead people to repentance; to bring people to a realization of their need for Him as their Savior.
Why is presenting the Law to someone so effective in evangelism?
Because it leads people to have a repentant attitude, without which there is no forgiveness granted… and there’s no coming to genuine faith in Christ as one’s Lord and Savior.
Again, you’ll have to visit Part 1 for some powerful scriptures on this, as today we are moving forward to get to the crux of “Effective Evangelism”.
Here’s one of our main points in this lesson:
Effective Evangelism – In His evangelism, Jesus often used the Law to lead people to a knowledge of their sin against God. (i.e. Mt 5:17-30, Lk 18:18-20, Jn 4:16-18)
This was how the Lord set the stage in their soul, to lead them to saving faith.
In Jn 4, with the woman at the well, Jesus alluded to her living in adultery, which bothered her conscience (besides the fact that He told her all about her many husbands before that).
Do you think maybe Jesus used the Law to grab her attention???
Jn 4:13-19 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
Jesus always told the truth, in love! He spoke with grace and truth. (John 1:14c, Eph 4:15)
With great gentleness and tact, Jesus reaches her conscience through the Law she had broken, humbling her and helping her seek Him as her Lord and Savior.
A healthy fear of God is a very good thing, and that’s why people must see they’ve broken God’s Law.
It serves them well, giving them the humble opportunity to turn to Christ to be delivered from sin and death.
This is very important for a person to realize… to come to the knowledge of the truth!
In Mt 5, Jesus brings up breaking the commandments against murder and adultery,…
… AND, He makes it even more convicting by letting us know that when we’ve even intended those things in our hearts, we are still guilty in God’s eyes, because God looks at the heart!
Mt 5:17-22 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
And look at vs. 27-28… “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If this type of truth doesn’t humble people, I don’t know what will.
We’re basically told here that one must be PERFECT to enter the kingdom of heaven.
In fact, Jesus later tells us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect!
Mt 5:47 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
What do we do with that?! How can anyone possibly get to Heaven?!
God looks at the heart, and no man can escape that… and this is what we must let people know!
Any honest person will admit he cannot keep God’s righteous commands perfectly, and this will cause him to reach out to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for mercy and forgiveness.
But in Lk 18, we see the rich young ruler, who wasn’t willing to be honest about his sinfulness.
Jesus spoke to him about keeping the Commandments to hopefully lead him to realize his sins, but he didn’t respond in humility.
But in the previous examples, Jesus was leading sinners to repentance by using the Law.
So, if the Lord used the Law to show people their sinfulness and helplessness, then why don’t we as believers do the same, to help others see the Truth?
The apostles followed Jesus’ example.
The Law Is Our Tutor – The apostle Paul, the “apostle of grace”, also wrote about the value of the Law in evangelism. Ro 3:19-20, Gal 3:21-24
And our verse in Romans is right after his saying there is none righteous, not even one.
Rom 3:10-12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
No matter how hard we try, NO ONE can reach God’s standard of “good”, which is perfection!
Ro 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Think about it…
If someone doesn’t know they’ve broken a law, even in the secular/worldly realm, then why would they be convicted to turn from it or show remorse?
Satan and the world’s system has done an excellent job convincing people they aren’t all that bad, even helping them turn a blind eye to what’s wrong in their lives.
But, here we see one function of God’s Law in Romans 3 is to “stop the mouth”, to stop the “yeah buts”, to stop man from justifying himself as in vs. 19-20.
And through the Law comes a very vital knowledge of one’s sin against God.
Again;
The Law Is Our Tutor – The apostle Paul, the “apostle of grace”, also wrote about the value of the Law in evangelism. Ro 3:19-20, Gal 3:21-24
Gal 3:21-24 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Understanding God’s Law, and that we COULDN’T keep it all, is what acted as OUR tutor to lead us to faith in Christ.
We should call on the Law as a tutor in leading OTHERS to Christ, who are unaware of their dire situation before God.
Effective Evangelism – The Law and the conscience are two of our best friends in witnessing to others about their need for Christ.
Hopefully that makes sense to you all.
Hopefully you see the biblical way to use the Law as a tool to lead people to Christ.
We have NO HOPE without Him and His perfect sacrifice on our behalf.
…..
At this point I want to share a real life example with you that will illustrate using the Law to help people willingly close their mouths, so they will actually humbly listen to their need for the Savior.
And this should all be done in the Spirit of Christ, telling the truth in love.
That is very important. Remember, it’s the KINDNESS of God that leads a man to repentance. Ro 2:4
Now back to our real life example…
As you might know, some of us do surveys for the church at the local park or mall.
Let’s call this segment: “Just Another Walk in the Park”, for two reasons.
One is obvious, this encounter takes place in a public park.
Two is not so obvious, and that is that we shouldn’t make evangelizing others into a big project, as though it depends upon us.
It depends upon the Lord, we are simply messengers. Right? Only God can change a person’s heart!
1 Cor 3:5-7 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
So, evangelism should be our norm as believers living in the world.
Just Another Walk in the Park – To witness for Christ is WHO WE ARE and WHAT WE DO. It BECOMES us as we grow in the Word. Very simply, we are His witnesses!
As those saved by His grace, we should have a desire to see people saved and to help them see their need for Christ.
And that will make these experiences more “normal” to us; just another walk in the park!
After asking a person’s background and basic beliefs, such as where they are from and what religion they grew up with, the key question we hope to get to is this;
“If you were to die tonight, WHERE are you going, and WHY?”
As you can imagine, many people comment this is a very good question!
By the way, you can arrive at a question like this in all sorts of ways, even though casual conversation at first, just talking about how difficult life can be sometimes.
You might end up simply asking someone “do you believe there’s an afterlife?”; because it’s helpful to see where they stand before going on.
And let the Spirit guide you as you approach people in His grace and truth.
Now please listen in to our real life example; and we’ll call this young man we met in the park “Ima Goode”, to protect his identity. 🙂
And please bear with me as I try to walk through this whole conversation, which is a basic pattern I use most of the time… and by the grace of God, it opens people’s hearts.
Christian: If you were to die tonight, WHERE are you going, and WHY?
Ima Goode : “I hope I’m going to heaven, because overall I’m a good person. I try to help people and live a good life.”
Christian: “oh really? I used to think I was a good person too. Let’s test this if you don’t mind. I’ll play the prosecutor and you play the defendant, OK?” 🙂
On that note, you can say almost anything if you say it in love and humility.
If we let people know that we care about them, and that we ourselves are in the same boat as sinners, there will be very little resistance or defensiveness.
Christian: “oh really? let’s test this… I used to think I was a good person too.”
And I smiled at him with an “I know where you’re coming from” smile.
On another note, there’s nothing quite like being real with people.
As the Apostle Paul said, don’t be afraid to become all things to all men. (1Co 9)
Whenever you can step back and relate to people, to whatever degree, DO SO. Embrace it and show them your honesty and transparency.
Why would you try to put on some type of a show, anyway? (the answer is the sin of PRIDE, so we need to drop that asap!)
Christian: ” Have you ever lied??” (You can imagine people’s answers 🙂
Ima Goode: “oh yeah, who hasn’t?!”
Christian: “How many times do you think you’ve lied in your entire life?”
Ima Goode : “Oh wow, if I’m honest, hundreds of times, I don’t even know.”
Christian: “So… ummm… what do you call someone that lies??” 🙂
Ima Goode: “A liar?!”
Christian: You’ve just broken one part of God’s Law, the 10 Commandments, did you know that?”
Ima Goode: “No, not really.”
Christian: “Have you ever stolen something, even as a child?”
Ima Goode: “Ummmm…. yeahhhh.” he said with a sheepish grin on his face.
Christian: “Hmmm… what do you call someone that steals?”
Ima Goode: “A thief!”
Christian: “Ok, I really appreciate your honesty. Have you ever used God’s name in vain, kind of like a swear word??”
Ima Goode: “Uh, yeah, I’m guilty of that one too. I don’t mean to, but I have.”
Christian: “Yeah, I’ve been guilty of that too, unfortunately. That’s another of the 10 Commandments, and it was punishable by death in the Old Testament!”
Christian: “Also, Jesus said if we look at a woman with lust, we’ve committed adultery with her in our hearts. Have you ever looked at someone with lust?”
Ima Goode: “Yeahhhh”
Christian: “So, my friend, I’m not judging you, I’ve got plenty of my own failures. But you’ve just told me by your own admission that you’ve broken 4 of God’s 10 commandments, and that’s just as an example.”
“The Bible calls it God’s Law that you’ve broken, which means these are actually crimes against your God and Creator.”
Christian: “Let me ask you… if you were face to face with God tonight, do you think you would be innocent or guilty?”
Ima Goode: “Guilty”
Christian: “Heaven or hell?”
Ima Goode: “Gee, I guess Hell.”
Christian: “You see, my friend, God is perfect, and He requires perfection to get into heaven, so said the Lord Jesus. And if that’s true, then how are ANY of us getting into heaven if we’ve all broken His commands???”
Ima Goode: “We’re not!”
(Do you see where these questions have brought this young man? – To HIS OWN REALIZATION of guilt and his inability to save himself.)
Hopefully you see how valuable this is! He is now humble and willing to listen!
Christian: “So what hope do we have?!!… and I’m in the same boat as you, or at least I was. But there’s GOOD NEWS, my friend. If you’ve heard of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the word “gospel” means the good news. So what’s the good news?!
Even though we are all guilty before God, the Bible says God so loved the world that He gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us from the judgment we actually deserve.”
Christian: “Have you heard that Jesus died on the cross from the sins of the world, and then He rose from the grave 3 days later?”
Ima Goode : “Yes I have. But I never personally believed it.”
Christian: “ok, let me ask you, do you understand the legal implications of the cross?”
Ima Goode : “No”
Christian: Please allow me to explain the good news to you with an analogy: You are brought before the Court tomorrow in your nearby city, and the Judge finds you guilty of a crime. He says your fine is one million dollars.
You say ” Judge, I don’t have a million dollars!”
You might even say “But Judge, I’m overall a good person. Here’s a list of good things I’ve done.”
But, if he’s a GOOD judge, he’s going to have to punish you for your crime, right? Do you want a judge letting murderers out on the street?
But now, let’s say your best friend walks into the courtroom and says “Your Honor, I want to pay the million dollar fine for my friend here.”
And, by the grace of God, the Judge AGREES! He accepts the payment on your behalf!
So… even though you’re guilty, you are now free to go. Why is this? – because someone else paid your fine. JESUS PAID THE FINE, for whoever would believe in Him.
(pause here to see if they “get it”)
Ima Goode : “Ohhhhhh”, he said with a smile.
Christian: Those are the legal implications of the Cross! That’s the good news of the Gospel! – The perfect Judge in heaven, God the Father, accepted the payment Jesus made on our behalf, for whomever is willing to believe in Him. And by the way, He paid our price NOT with money, but with His own innocent blood.
That’s the good reaction I sometimes get from people… it seems to click for them and they actually “get it”, even though they’ve often heard about Jesus before.
Then we might go on like this:
And before Jesus gave up His Spirit on the Cross, He said three peculiar words: – “It is finished”! – Jn 19:30
Jesus, who was actually God in the flesh, paid the full price for sin, so those who turn to Him don’t have to be judged.
What we’re commanded to do, if we want to be saved, is to repent and place our trust in Christ alone! (don’t trust in your own goodness, that’s a deception; trust in Christ alone to save you)
Jesus said unless you turn and become like a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! – Mt 18:3 – What did He mean?
Jesus also said unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God! – Jn 3:3 – What did He mean?
(For starters; change your mind, turn around in your heart! Look to God for mercy! You’ve sinned against God and you cannot save your “self”; only the Savior can save you.)
And when you honestly turn to Jesus from the heart as your Lord and Savior, GOD SAVES YOU. By His grace, He gives you a new heart. He gives you the Spirit of Jesus Christ! (Eze 36:26-27, Rom 10:9-11, Eph 4:24)
Notice we’re clearly stating the Truth, planting a seed in their soul that the Spirit can use later on when they’re alone with God.
Christian: Does that make sense?? Will you at least think about this? (give them a salvation tract or a Bible to take home)
Do you own a Bible? If so, go home and check out the gospel of John.
Would you like to talk about this again sometime? Can I email you a video?
(At least give them the opportunity to be followed up with, whether on the phone or in person. You should offer to guide them; disciple them if they’re willing. We are told to make disciples! Mat 28:18-20)
This is what we went through with that young man at the park, and others like him.
We simply need to relate to people and gently and lovingly tell them the whole truth.
We might go on like this:
Christian : “You and I are guilty before God, so we must stop trusting in our own goodness to get to heaven (as religion often teaches us to do), and instead place our trust in Christ alone as our Lord and Savior.
Jesus is the only truly good One, and He’s the only One that made a satisfactory payment for our sins, according to the Bible.
As the Lord Jesus said; “repent and believe in the gospel” Mark 1:15c
And the word “gospel” means GOOD NEWS!
ALL OF THIS by God’s grace and mercy alone.
That’s why people say His love is beyond what we can even imagine.
Does that make sense?If you have more time with someone, you might follow up with something like this, but honestly it can be any scripture the Spirit leads you to share with them…
The only way we could possibly relate at all is to ask ourselves the following:
Would you be willing to sacrifice the life of your own child to save the lives of others?
How about this? – Would you be willing to sacrifice the life of your own child to save the lives of … your enemies?
The Bible says God the Father gave up His only Son FOR US, and Christ died for us while we were His ENEMIES! Rom 5:8,10
THAT’S the tremendous, overwhelming love of God… and the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Embrace the Truth in your heart, by grace through faith, and the Truth will set you free, my friend! Rom 10:9-11, Joh 3:16-18You might also go on like this; if they don’t want to leave you 🙂
Christian : Salvation is between you and the Lord. And God looks at the heart.
The time is short, as is life. Go to Him and surrender in repentance and faith. He is a good, good God who is “rich in mercy”, and He loves to give “grace to the humble”. Eph 2:1-10, Jam 4:6
And you might tell them the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, as a prime example of what genuine salvation looks like! – Luk 18:9-14
The man beating his breast and unable to lift his head to heaven is a good picture of a repentant attitude towards God, leading to faith in Christ alone for salvation.
Christian : Find a Bible and start by reading the gospel of John.
Jesus now calls you to follow Him, and that begins by following His Word. Jn 1:14, 10:27-28 “Would you like to chat again sometime??”
Again, be willing to obey the Lord’s command and make disciples! (Mt 28:18-20)
Evangelism should be intimate and personal.
We should appeal to them as to a brother and lay down our lives for them… doing whatever to help them follow Christ.
A few things to review regarding the intimacy that Jesus sought with people…
Effective Evangelism –
- One on one witnessing can avoid social discomfort.
- Think about the boastful pride of life vs. the humility of salvation.
- Think about doing evangelism in two’s, as Jesus taught. (Team up with someone!)
- Present the information, including the reality of breaking God’s Law, and let God convict the heart.