Doctrines of Evangelism update

As it turns out the document was not yet "content complete" when I last updated you on it. We forgot to include some small things, but also something very important! We forgot to include a statement on the Inspiration of Scripture.

We are currently at version 0.95 and I expect to sign the document at version 1.0. Because some of the leadership of City Evangelism Ministries are travelling this will not happen for about two weeks. This document now has my full confidence, as I believe it accurately, clearly, and completely describes the essential doctrines related to Evangelism.

Here is the index of the 17 page document as it is today.

1.   The Purpose of this Document 

2.   The General Principle of Our Work 

3.   Restrictions on the Content of Our Message and Preaching 

4.   The Godhead 

5.   The Person of Christ
     A.    The Identity of Christ
     B.    The Impeccability of Christ
     C.    The Work of Christ 

6.   The Gospel
     A.    The Gospel Identified
     B.    The Gospel Detailed
     C.    The Gospel Prophesied 

7.   The State and Position of Natural Man 

8.   Salvation
     A.    An Overview
     B.    Repentance

     C.   The Believer’s Faith

     D.   Faith and Repentance Manifested

     E.   The New Birth 

9.   Creation in Six 24-Hour Days 

10. Judgment and Eternal Wrath for the Unbeliever after Death 

11. Immediate and Permanent Reconciliation at Belief 

12. Lawful Usage of Mosaic Law
     A.   Using the 10 Commandments
     B.   The Believer’s Rule of Life 

13.  Through the Foolishness of Preaching 

14.  Inspiration, Authority, Dependability, and Inerrancy of Holy Scripture 

15.  Exhortation to Believers to Preach the Gospel 

16. Approval and Changes to this Document 

Pre-Faith or Post-Faith Regeneration

When does the light get turned on?

I've had a bit of a break over the last week because the ministry Doctrinal Statement is being reviewed by other leaders and I am not leading the ministry Bible study this week. It's almost like a vacation! So with some free CPU cycles and a few moments of time what is the first thing I want to post about? Calvinism. Can you believe it? I'm surprised, but my tone ought to be much more relaxed as I'm dealing with a much less contentious issue than I was dealing with last year.

Recently I was at a men's Bible study with a man who preaches the Gospel with great fidelity but whom believes that Regeneration precedes faith and that faith is a gift. This doctrine often leads to serious error which changes the Gospel, but I can honestly say that I don't believe it does with this Brother. He wouldn't claim the name Calvinist but he does admit that he is Calvinistic in his thinking.

I've been enjoying speaking with this man because though he titles his views with terms that Calvinists use, his actual positions are not at all like Reformed Theology. We spoke about this for a while and practically we agree - no one comes to God unless the Holy Spirit convicts and convinces them. I think he terms this work as the New Birth, which I think is in error BUT he doesn't appear to hold to the inability to believe view. We spoke about Eph 2:8-9 and shared with him my findings based on extensive study and what William Wallace says in his Greek Grammar. He had absolutely no issue with this view, which I found absolutely fascinating.

As we were running out of time he explained that his view that faith is a gift and that regeneration precedes faith based on a passage that I would use to show that regeneration is conditioned on faith and so cannot precede it.

John 1:10-13

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

We did not have time to discuss it fully but he said that Vs 13 is the primary reason he believes these things.

It seems to me that when we speak to Calvinists about when Regeneration happens and we talk about this verse that the Calvinist (or one who sounds like one) often changes the discussion from a timeline to a discussion of who's will is involved. Then we get wound up and end up in a debate about something that wasn't even the point of the conversation.

Clearly Vs 12 gives us the timeline. To those who received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. They received Him BEFORE they were born again as Children of God. There can be no further debate, the Holy Inspired Word of God tells us that unregenerate people receive Christ.

But what about the issue of the will? The Calvinist will argue that if an Un-Regenerate Person can "choose" God then they are exercising their will and God is subject to their will. Well, here is a portion of the CEM document which is still a work in progress entitled "The Doctrines of Evangelism" on the subject of the New Birth.

The New Birth: Being “born again” is the gracious act of God in conferring upon those who believe, the nature and disposition of “children of God” imparting to them spiritual life. (Adapted from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words) In order for fallen, depraved, man to have fellowship with Holy God we must be “born again” or “regenerated.” This new birth happens upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is accomplished by God the Holy Spirit and coincides with His in-dwelling of the Believer. The New Birth is not a gradual process nor is it reversible. It is instantaneous and permanent. 

 The New Birth is not accomplished by or in accordance with the will of man but is according to the will of the God, brought about by God by conviction of the Holy Spirit. Man does not choose to be born again, but God gives the right to be born again to those who believe in Christ.  It is at this point that the person becomes a New Creation, where as he or she now possesses not only their own fallen (Old/Adamic) Nature but also the perfect (New/) Nature of Christ. This New Nature desires the things of God and wars with the Old Nature as described in Para 8. D.  It is this new birth, and new nature of Christ (based solely on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ) that allows us to fellowship with God, not the performance of works.

Jn 1:10-13; Jn 3:1-21; Jn 3:36; Jn 5:24 Jn 6:40; Rom 3:20-26; 2Cor 5:17-21; 2Cor 6:14,19; Gal 6:12-15; Eph 1:13-14; Col 1:13-14; 1Pet 1:3,13-25; 1Jn 5:1

This wording hasn't been officially approved by the ministry yet, but the overall Soteriology has been. This description demonstrates that there is no conflict between the timeline given by Scripture and the statement that the New Birth is according to the will of God.

Both statements in this short passage can be read in a plain fashion and believed literally without conflict, and without Calvinism.

The Doctrines of Evangelism - Content Complete!

Between my business and work with the new City Evangelism Ministries(CEM) I have been authoring a massive document entitled "The Doctrines of Evangelism." That's why it has been SOOOOOOO slow around here.

Just now I reached a massive milestone! The document is now "Content Complete", which is to say that all the doctrines required for biblically consistent evangelism are explained and demonstrated from the Scriptures. Now the work on making it somewhat readable begins.

This document will explain primary doctrinal foundation of CEM and will be used to keep the the ministry on track for a long as the Lord may tarry. Here's the table of contents of this document which is currently 13 pages long. Once it is completed I am reasonably sure I will be able to share it here in it's entirety.

*Sorry for the wonky formatting. I don't know how to fix it.

The Doctrines of Evangelism

1.    The Purpose of this Document

2.    The General Principle of Our Work

3.    Restrictions on the Content of our Message and Preaching

4.    The Godhead

5.    The Person of Christ

A.    The Identity of Christ

B.    The Impeccability of Christ

C.    The Work of Christ

6.    The Gospel

7.    The State and Position of Natural Man

8.    SALVATION
A.  An overview
B.  Repentance

C. The Believer’s Faith

D. Faith and Repentance Manifested

E. The New Birth

9.    Creation in Six 24-Hour Days

10. Immediate Judgment and Eternal Wrath

11. Immediate and Permanent Reconciliation at Belief

12. Lawful Usage of Mosaic Law

13.  Through the Foolishness of Preaching

14.  Exhortation to Believers to Preach the Gospel

15 Approval and Changes to this Document 

Quick Thought - How did the Apostles know if someone was saved or not?

Over the years I have been deeply frustrated by the practice of Lordship Salvation proponents in that they create various "tests" for their followers to see if they are "really" saved or not. If they are a "true convert" or a "false convert."

In the past I have examined the "test" that Dr. John MacArthur offers in my series Testing the Test. At another time I did a deeply personal series that examined the teaching of a man pastoring my dear best friend who helped to lead my beloved friend astray into dangerous false doctrine in my series 'BUT' Theology.

Of course these "tests" fail any biblical examination. Yet, they hold millions in bondage. In my book Fail-Safe for Fallacy I briefly examined the text often used to justify the practice of developing and administering "tests of salvation" which is 2Cor 13:5. I found that the practice is not justified by the Text at all.

This practice has bothered me for as long as I've been saved. BUT, you know what? When Saul was saved the 12 Apostles didn't just believe it. Barnabas had to convince them that he was. How did he do it? Did he talk about how he had forsaken sin? That he was submitted to the Lordship of Christ? That Christ was Master of his life? That he obeyed the commands of Christ? That he regretted all of his sin? That he didn't continue in sin?

Nope.

Acts 9:26-30

²⁶ And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷ But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. ²⁸ So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out. ²⁹ And he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. ³⁰ When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.

On Van Til, Charlie Clough, and Presuppositional Apologetics

Brother Glenn has just posted an article about Cornelius Van Til, who I would consider the father of Presuppositional Apologetics, and Charlie Clough's "Bible Framerwork" course over at his Wisdom and Knowledge blog.

Some of you may be familiar with Sye Ten Bruggencate and his ProofThatGodExists.org website (which I do not endorse). Sye is a friend of a number of my friends but I have never met the man. He is sincere in his work but his approach is radically different than what I see in the Scriptures so I am uncomfortable with it overall. He does have some good points that he makes, and he and I would engage in similar discussion with Sinners from time to time. I'm not saying he is all bad, but I am saying that a lot of what Brother Glenn points out in his article seems to be true of how Sye works in his ministry as well. This of course makes sense as Sye come's from the Van Til line of thinking and even recommends Van Til's books.

Here is how Glenn opens his article:

It is my conviction that there are issues with Cornelius Van Til’s presuppositional approach to apologetics which Dispensationalists in particular are not generally aware of. Through Charlie Clough’s popular Bible Framework series Van Til’s apologetics are taking hold in dispensational circles. My goal is not to tell anyone what they can or cannot believe. Rather I want to encourage our next generation of Dispensational pastors, seminary professors, and Sunday school teachers to be Bereans and look good and hard at the implications of this system!

Please visit and read this article at The Wisdom and Knowledge Blog.

A New Work in Evangelism and Explaining Repentance and Faith

The CEM Booth at Jesus to the Nations 2013

Back in 2010 I resigned from an Evangelism ministry because the other leaders had adopted the doctrine of Lordship Salvation. One of the major issues was the definition of Repentance Unto Eternal Life we had decided on was clear, but not explicitly nailed down enough. The definition we used was clearly inconsistent with Lordship Salvation, but it wasn't explicit enough to guard against the slow growth of that false doctrine inside the ministry.  By the time I left the ministry I still believed it meant to change your mind, but some other people believed it meant "to forsake sin."

It took about a year to get back into the work of Evangelism. I had been upset, and truthfully I went through a period of whining that included the idea that I was the only one (at least in my area) who had repentance and the Gospel right. Of course that was delusional and more about my being upset than anything else.

Anyway, imagine the mix of emotions I had as I re-joined a local group of people I had worked with off and on over the years in the work of Street Evangelism. Most of the faces had changed since the last time I had been out with them, but there were a few old friends still showing up. There was a mix of doctrine, but thankfully there were some people preaching the true Gospel as revealed in the Scriptures.

Fast forward a year and a half, and three of us have decided to form a new ministry. Here is part of our statement of the Doctrines of Evangelism. It is a work in progress, but I'm interested in your comments. Notes about Regeneration are yet to be added.

On that note, I sure hope there are still people checking here! We have been very busy building this new ministry and have already attended one Missions conference with a display table.

7. Salvation 

A.    OVERVIEW: Salvation, including: Justification, Reconciliation, and Glorification is accomplished by Grace alone and accessed through Faith alone in Christ alone, completely apart from works. That is to say that Salvation is the Gift of God brought to man by unmerited favor alone, and received by personal faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, whose substitutionary atonement fully reconciles all those who believe in Him to God completely apart from works. Eph 1:7;  Eph 2:8-9;  Jn 1:13;  1Pet 1:18-19;  Rom 3:19-28;  Rom 4:1-8;  Rom 4:16;  Ps 32:1-2,  Rom 5:1-2;  Isa 53;  Isa 55:1-3;  Lev 16; Acts 13:38-39; Gal 2:16

B.    Repentance: “Repent” and “repentance” are words, derived from the Old French word “repentir,” which are used in modern English translations of the Scriptures to represent 5 words in the original languages (2 Hebrew and 3 Greek). Some of these words have similar meanings but others have diverse meanings. The only word translated repent or repentance in all of the Scriptures, which is also related to reconciliation with God (being saved, receiving Eternal Life, being justified, etc…), is the Greek word Metanoia (Metanoeo). This word carries the meaning of critically rethinking something and coming to a different conclusion. That is having a change of mind, through investigation, being convinced or being persuaded. It is the present ministry of God the Holy Spirit to convict and convince the World of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment. In the carrying out of this ministry God the Holy Spirit will “open the heart” of the one being witnessed to, that is to cause the person to pay attention to the message with serious consideration, and He will do the actual convincing. The unbeliever being witnessed to must repent, that is to change their mind about Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment in order for them to be in a position to have faith in the Gospel which is a message of deliverance from the danger they are in.  In short, one cannot be assured unless they are first disturbed. It is clear from the Scriptures that Metanoia (or Metanoeo) does not mean the actual, attempted, promised or intended, reformation of one’s life. In reference to being reconciled with God it is one recognizing and agreeing with God that their own sin is evil, that God is righteous and that He will rightly judge their sin justly. “Repentance Unto Life” isn’t about changing one’s life, it is about agreeing with God.  God uses all things to lead people to this repentance; ie revelation and conviction from the Scriptures, testimony of believers, creation, His goodness, mercy, good works of Believers, fearful circumstances, close calls, misery, pain, and sickness to name but a few possible things. Passages to consider: Mat 9:13;  Luk 16:19-31;  Luk 17:3-4;  Luk 24:46-48;  Jn 16:5-11;  Acts 2:38;   Acts 3:19;  Acts 17:30;  Acts 19:4;  Acts 20:17-24;  Acts 26:19-23;  Rom 2:4;  Rom 4:1-8;  Rom 4:16;  2Cor 7:10;  Heb 6:1;  2Pet 3:9 

C.    The Believer’s Faith: It is the Object of faith (the Lord Jesus Christ) Who saves, not the quality of the faith, or the faith itself.  The Believers faith, (sometimes called “saving faith” though faith does not save in itself) is like Abram’s faith when he “Believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.” The Believer’s faith is assurance in the Person of Jesus Christ based on having received the Gospel. True saving faith is when a guilty, ungodly sinner knows that Jesus Christ has completely paid that sinner’s own due penalty so that they are fully reconciled to God having received the Gospel of Christ. Rom 4;  Gen 15:6;  Acts 15:7;  Acts 18:8;  Rom 1:16;  1Cor 4:15;  1Cor 15:1;  Eph 1:13-14 

D.    Repentance and Faith Manifested: One has truly repented when one is fully convinced that they need to be saved from the righteous judgment of their own personal sin knowing that Judgment is sure to come. Having repented, one truly has faith when they are assured that the Lord Jesus Christ the Righteous has paid the full and just penalty for their sin and that this has been accepted by God the Father as the only, and complete, payment to secure their personal reconciliation to Him. It is perfectly reasonable to expect a Believer to “do the works befitting repentance” and to be submitted to the mastery of Christ in their life. However, these are not conditions for Salvation and often require exhortation and discipleship unto maturity to foster and maintain.  The Believer possesses two natures, which war with each other; that of Adam and that of Christ. It is fully reasonable to expect actual believers to suffer struggles with sin, and also to have desires for righteousness. Salvation is instant, perfect, and cannot be revoked or reduced. Sanctification is a process worked in the Believer by God the Holy Spirit as the Believer submits which may vary with time or circumstance. Acts 26:20;  Rom 6:13;  Rom ch7; Rom 8:12-13;  Gal 5:16-25;  Eph 4:22-24;  Col 3:10;  1Pet 1:13-16;  1Jn 3:5-9