At this point it might be of interest to point out the difference this makes in evangelism. The Puritans practiced evangelism a lot differently than people today, even Reformed people. Why is that the case? One reason is because of the doctrine of the will. One may hold to the teaching of the total depravity of man in some way and yet not see how far that reaches in evangelism. In the last BLOG, the point I was trying to set out was that the doctrine of free-will of necessity changes the doctrine of justification by faith alone because it is not consistent in any way with a Gospel that is all of grace or of grace alone. We can use a couple of illustrations to make this point. No matter how great a mathematical number is, if it is not infinite then it is not an infinite number. Anything less than infinite is still finite and the difference is huge. Christ was a sinless sacrifice and only as a sinless sacrifice could He have been the Lamb of God that paid for the sins of sinners. If He would have sinned one time, no matter the degree of the sin, He would not have been completely sinless. Salvation is to be by the infinite grace of God in Christ. Any act of the human will, regardless of however small the contribution may be, means that salvation is not solely of the infinite grace of God and so not of grace alone. It is that serious because it is an infinite difference.
The evangelism based on a total work of grace will differ from the evangelism that is based on a work of the human will, even if that work of the human will is just slightly different. Jesus told people that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). John told people that “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even 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” (John 1:12-13). Jesus went on to say “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” and “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3, 5-6). When these texts are taken together, we do not see acts of the human will taught as needed for regeneration, but rather an act of the will of God.
If, as we have seen in the last few BLOGS where some teach that an act of the so-called “free-will” of man is needed to cooperate with the grace of God to be saved, which denies the Gospel of grace alone, then something must change. A way of evangelism that focuses on man’s need to cooperate with God by an act of the will is teaching man to do something apart from the Gospel of grace alone and justification by faith alone. Evangelism that is consistent with the Reformation teaching (and more importantly, the Scriptural teaching) of grace alone received by faith alone is one that will stress the need of the human to be delivered from any hope in his own act of the will. It is in this light that Luther’s writings make sense:
God has surely promised His grace to the humbled: that is, to those who mourn over and despair of themselves. But a man cannot be thoroughly humbled till he realizes that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsels, efforts, will and works, and depends absolutely on the will, counsel, pleasure and work of Another-God alone. As long as he is persuaded that he can make even the smallest contribution to his salvation, he remains self-confident and does not utterly despair of himself, and so is not humbled before God; but plans out for himself (or at least hopes and longs for) a position, an occasion, a work, which shall bring him final salvation. But he who is out of doubt that his destiny depends entirely on the will of God despairs entirely of himself, chooses nothing for himself, but waits for God to work in him; and such a man is very near to grace for his salvation.
So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves. Secretly they continue proud, and enemies of the grace of God. (The Bondage of the Will, p. 100)
This tiny act of the will should be seen as something that is not tiny at all. It is at the center of the Gospel and of evangelism. It has a lot to say about the character of God. In evangelism, therefore, if we strive to get men to make a decision based on an act of the will, we are trying to get them to do something that is not in accordance with the Gospel of grace alone. Instead we are to teach men to seek God to be broken from their own efforts and actions. We are to teach them to seek to be humbled and broken from all efforts, works, power and will and that salvation depends absolutely on God and His grace alone. It is only when a person reaches that brokenness that they can have true faith in grace alone and so be saved in accordance with faith alone. John 1:12-13 shows us that faith receives, not that faith grasps something and holds on of its own power and strength. In order for the sinner to receive grace alone, that sinner must be broken from all hope in self and in the strength of what self can do. This should remind us of Matthew 18:3 which tells us that we must be turned and become like little children in order to be converted. This should also bring to mind the teachings of Christ in Matthew 11:27-30: “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
I Peter 5:5 and James 4:6 teach us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Instead of trying to convince people to the point that they will make a choice based on their own free-will, we need to be making efforts to convince people that they cannot do anything of themselves and that they need to be broken from what they think is their free-will. Christ only calls those who are weary and heavy-laden. God gives grace only to the humble. People must be humbled and broken from anything they can do in order to receive the Gospel of grace alone. If they still trust in an act of their free-will, they are not trusting in grace alone and so they don’t believe in justification by faith alone in reality. The issue between Calvinism and Arminianism is not just a minor difference; it gets at the heart of the Gospel. This is why men of old used such strong language. The Gospel is at stake and it is no time to be more concerned with diplomacy than with the Gospel of God’s glory.
God Loves... Himself 
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