Evangelism Should Emphasize Repentance Again

September 7, 2023
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A well-known evangelist, Ray Comfort, estimates that 80-90%, conservatively, of decisions for Christ in modern evangelism will thereafter lose their witness and not even attend church consistently. He cites a detailed study of the 294,000 who “got saved” in a one-year crusade effort by a major denomination, Harvest, in 1991. They had 11,500 churches keeping close records. (PS: Evangelism sweeps don’t usually do this). Only 14,000 of the 294,000 still attended church, only a couple years later. That’s a 95% loss rate.

He also studied the works of famous evangelists of the past—such as Wesley, Whitfield, Moody, Spurgeon, and Finney. Along with New Testament evangelists, Paul, Peter, Steven, and Timothy. Their writings and sermon notes suggested a much higher number of people hanging on to their conversion. Why has this loss rate gone stratospheric, he wondered? One of the things he noticed was that in those days, the preaching by these great men would begin with how people have broken God’s Laws. Then, after that was covered in the sermon, the Good News was taught. This principle of sermon order has faded away, particularly starting in the early 1900s. Nowadays, preachers consider that the “You Have Broken the Law” sermon starter is just too negative, and have shied away from it. Modern evangelistic theory (taught in Christian colleges) assumes that most people feel they are not worthy to be with God, so we have to emphasize God’s grace and love right from the start, to make them feel wanted, then explaining what Christ did on our behalf. The Prodigal Son (Luke 15) was the classic example of a good sermon, as they teach how the father accepted his son, though he wasted the inheritance, and still smelled of pigs.

Mr.Comfort came to the conclusion that the surveys mentioned above suggested the old ways were better. What’s more important, Scriptures seem to provide proof of his idea. Psalm 19:7 says, in part:

The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul

Well, converting the soul is what we want in evangelism, right? The Word lays it out plainly. You present the Law.

Mr. Comfort gives us a parable. Suppose you’re walking around, and someone pops up and says, “I’ve got good news for you! Someone paid a $2500 fine on your behalf!” Your reaction might be “What are you talking about? That doesn’t make sense; I can’t think of what I did wrong, nor has anybody told me thus.” They are not exactly in a receptive mood, or grateful, right? The person would be offended, actually–before they got around to accepting the money. BUT what if the following metaphor happened: This person was clocked doing 55 mph in an area set aside for a blind children’s school nearby. There were 10 clear warning signs stating that the speed limit was 15 mph. What he did was extremely dangerous, negligent, and reckless, whether he knew about it or not, and a $2500 fine was appropriate and it was the law. So this person was caught, and in court his ignorance of the law was brushed aside (that would never bring back the life of a child killed). He was told all the details of his illegality, and then told to pay the fine, and with agony he wondered whether he would have the money, how stupid he was to do that, how much his family would sacrifice their lifestyle—or even how he would tell them—when suddenly someone he didn’t even know stepped forward and paid it for him. Now his reaction would be a definition of gratitude, right? He might even want to make friends with this stranger, to see what motivated him to give so much so graciously.

As you can clearly see by the two parables, the second example–explaining what he did wrong, the Law he broke, with proper acceptance of that news, THEN giving him the Good News of One who has paid his debt, generates a much more positive response. Well, that’s the principle they formerly used in preaching. On the other hand, the other approach is what we have a great deal more of now. Most people, hearing this more-recent approach, are offended—they don’t think they are bad sinners. (Which means they haven’t been taught about God, how He is perfect, and hates sin.) If I talk “grace-only” with a prospect, I pretty much can’t get away from insinuating that they have seriously broken the law, when they have usually deceived themselves into thinking they don’t think they have—and they resent our suggestion—and our indirectness. Or, they consider the idea that they need salvation foolish. As Scripture says in I Corinthians 1:18:

…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing

Anyone “saved” by this method is more by emotionalism, since there is confusion about why they need to be saved and what the Good News really is—but in the cold light of the days following, this emotionalism cools off to rejection more often than not. Which is where the 80-90% falling away comes in.

Thus I need, in my preaching evangelism, to take the time to speak insightfully of the Ten Commandments and its violation in thought as well as deed, and then to also cover Jesus’ commandments in the Gospels—i.e., to show the prospect that he has truly offended a just God—then he hopefully becomes, as James says in 2:9: Convicted of the law, as a transgressor; then the Good News of Christ’s paying our debt will not be offensive or foolish…it will be the power of God unto salvation.

Let’s look at each function of presenting God’s Law. We’ll start with Romans 3:19:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

Thus, one function of it is (1) to stop the mouth. We don’t need to hear much of the prospect’s wisdom, justifying himself and saying, “there are plenty of people worse than me.” (He’s either deceived or just putting you off, really). We are the ones bearing the wonderful gift of good news, and need an opportunity to speak.

Secondly, Romans 3:20 says this:

by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The prospect needs to know the knowledge of sin, since self-defense and self-deception are rampant today. We cannot assume that his sin is in the forefront (or even in the back) of his memory. I John 3:4 says: sin is the transgression of the law. It would seem obvious that a person needs to know the law intimately in order to know if he has transgressed it, or has sinned. Romans 7:7 declares this more forcefully: I would not have known sin except through the law.

Thirdly, in Galatians 3:24, the Law is not only to build our knowledge of sin, but, very importantly….

the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.

What this means, is, the Law doesn’t really help us in reconciliation with God…it shows us that we are helpless. It doesn’t justify us, it just leaves us guilty at the judgment seat. But with the Law, when we see our sin, as God sees it, we see how we have offended God, and if hell is even brought up (which it almost never is nowadays), we are, deservedly, destined for hell. Then we seek Him for some method of righteousness and deliverance. Christ is that key, as a good evangelist will point the way.

When modern evangelism abandoned the “old” principle of discussing the Law and how Christ saves us from wrath, it needed to seek another reason to attract us to Christ. So they invented the term “life enhancement.” Following Christ will benefit us. We will have peace, love, joy, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. At this point, Mr. Comfort provides another useful allegory:

Two men are sitting in a plane. The first is given a parachute, (the only one receiving the offer), and told that it will “improve his flight.” He is skeptical and even thinking the flight attendant is wacko, as he knows that airlines only talk about “good times are ahead,” but he puts it on—just as a trial. But it weighs his shoulders, and gives him difficulty in sitting upright. But he perseveres. After a while, though, he notices that other passengers are laughing at him due to his unusual clothing accessory. Feeling humiliated, he can’t stand it anymore, and he throws the parachute to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.

The second man was given a parachute, BUT he was told a different reason, in alarming detail: at any moment, without warning, a faulty flight could mean he would be jumping 25,000 feet off the plane. He takes it to heart: He doesn’t notice the discomfort of the parachute, because his mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he had to jump without it. He develops a deep-rooted peace in his heart knowing that he shall escape a sure death no matter what happens. He can deal with other passengers’ mockery—he knows that they need to do what he did. He might even engage them in intense conversation about their need for this safety device.

You can see what we’re saying. Under modern evangelism, this man-centered “improvement” approach is a guaranteed failure. People will take on Christ as an experiment to see whether their life does improve. But they get what the Scripture promises to the saved, at some points in their lives–temptation, tribulation, and persecution. They are humiliated by others, disillusioned about not seeing a rosy path develop for them. They take off the Lord Jesus, and are rightly embittered. They are now inoculated against evangelism in the future, and their latter end is worse than the first. Modern evangelism has promised them what God has not promised. The opposite of their expectation occurs. After all, God has every right to test us to see if we can really endure. Modern evangelism does not ask a crucial question: Are we able to drink of the cup that Jesus drank of?

We should take the second parachute approach, boldly telling every man, as Hebrews 9:27 says:

it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment

He must understand the horrific consequences of breaking the Law. He must be told to escape the wrath which is to come, when God judges the earth in righteousness. The issue is not one of happiness, but of righteousness. Then he will flee to Christ, and experience true peace and joy—the fruits of salvation. But don’t speak of peace and joy as a “draw card” for salvation, or sinners will respond with impure motives, lacking repentance. The man correctly taught will have much more motivation to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. When bad times come, he doesn’t throw off Christ—because his reason for taking on Christ is not for rosy paths, but to save him from future wrath. He has been re-taught to ignore man’s reasoning. If anything, trials will drive the true believer closer to the Savior—life will be that much better in hea
ven, and he will be looking more for heaven when life on earth gets miserable.

Mr. Comfort then told of an evangelistic crusade he preached in Australia. He preached of the Law, Hell, and wrath. He told of how few people came forward, and how the atmosphere felt tense. He felt the usual disappointment in people’s deafness. Perhaps he thought of Noah, “a just man, perfect in his generations..walked with God” (Gen. 6:9), who despite being “a preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5), never was able to save a single soul outside his family. The Spirit lifted Mr. Comfort up, told him to simply carry on. Mr. Comfort confessed that this lack of results wore him down, and had pulled him, at one time period, unwittingly to preaching a man-centered Gospel—to get happier results. For that time he got lots of results—that was nice. The original numbers of people “saved” are higher that way, and there is less tension. People are happy to have Jesus take a turn at getting them out of the mess they’ve made of their lives. But–they are not clean from the wrath to come because we don’t tell them of the wrath to come. That was a glaring omission in his message. In the end, people should be asking what David, what the Prodigal Son, and Joseph asked: How could they sin against God? After all, He is also a God of wrath, and we can’t just ignore that—it’s one of His personality traits. Real repentance is understanding that the great offense here is against God, not just “horizontal” repentance against your fellow man. Mr. Comfort calls this “horizontal only” approach “superficial and experimental.” The prospect should be seeking something called “godly sorrow” to obtain true repentance, an important element in salvation. As II Corinthians 7:10 says: …godly sorrow produces repentance. In evangelism nowadays, we are missing discussing sin against God.

We have preached the cure without telling them of the disease.

AB Earle, who had 150,000 converts to his ministry in the mid-1800s, made the following quote:

I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the Law of God has a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they will not escape danger until they see it.

Mr. Comfort has noticed that there are many people who have been “saved” several times, yet their lives don’t show change. They’re still fornicating, still blaspheming, and so on. What they’re likely doing is: Using the grace of God for an occasion of the flesh. They sin, they might ask God to forgive them, they move on same as before. They don’t esteem the sacrifice and don’t understand how great the sin. It means nothing to them to trample the blood of Christ underfoot. The problem is: They’ve never been convinced of the disease that they might appropriate the cure.

When you study the Word, you find that Biblical evangelism is always Law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never do you see Jesus giving the gospel to proud, arrogant, self-righteous people. With the Law, He breaks the hard heart and with the Gospel, He heals the broken heart. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The proud and highly esteemed are an abomination to God (Luke 16:15). Note who gets the good tidings in Isaiah 61:1. The poor, the brokenhearted and the captives are those who are there spiritually:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound

Only the sick can appropriate a cure. In Luke 10:25-37, after being plainly asked “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”, Jesus gave the lawyer Law. Why? Because he was proud. Note v. 29 for that in part of the story below:

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” ²⁷So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” ²⁸And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” ²⁹But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves…(the rest of the story is of the Good Samaritan).

Jesus knew this Jewish lawyer didn’t like Samaritans. Then the Master Debater came to the climaxing point:

³⁶So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” ³⁷And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The lawyer had no response—he could see his own lack of love, compared to this generous Samaritan. He could see that he was a Commandment-breaker. The Law has done its job again—stopped his mouth, maybe convinced him of sin.

Note that a similar event happens when the rich young ruler visits Jesus. We read of it in Luke 18:18-23, where Jesus shies away from an easy response:

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ²⁰You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” ²¹And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” ²²So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”²³But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

Again, Jesus did not begin with the Gospel to this person. (Today, as soon as he asks, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” we would engage him in a salvation prayer). But Jesus sees a proud person underneath (v. 21), who was not ready for the Gospel. So in verse 20 the young ruler gets the Law—the “horizontal” part– and is still convinced that he has never sinned (an advantage that only Jesus can claim, really). Then Jesus slyly points out his lack of the first commandment (Thou shall have no other gods before me) by showing him that his real god is his money. Once again, no argument. His mouth was stopped.

In contrast, we see Nicodemus, in John 3. While a leader of the Jews, he was humble of heart, acknowledging the deity of Jesus (verse 2). He receives the Gospel, and perhaps the greatest verse in His Word, John 3:16.

Consider also Nathanael, in John 1:47-51. In him was no deceit. Since that trait is a tool of the proud, he does not have that negative quality. Plus, he acknowledged the deity of Christ (v. 49). Jesus gives him the honor of prophesying about Himself and His future coming. Part of His glorious good news. This kinder approach goes for the Jews who gathered on the day of Pentecost, in Acts 2. These were devout (a word which denotes humility) men, v. 5. What did Peter preach to them? Not the Law, but the Gospel. (But he doesn’t hesitate to lay blame on them for His crucifixion, v. 36).

Think of two verses to the great hymn, “At Calvary:” Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned; then I trembled at the law I’d spurned Till my guilty soul imploring turned To Calvary. May God bless you as you search for His ways of presenting His precious Words to the lost in your environment. In the light of our first few paragraphs, remember the saying: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.” There is a lot of insanity in evangelism these days. Acknowledgement: Ray Comfort, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret,” audio and book from Livingwaters.com.