3rd. Augustinian.-Which was adopted by all the original Protestant Churches, Lutheran and Reformed. (a.) Man is by nature so entirely depraved in his moral nature as to be totally unable to do any thing spiritually good, or in any degree to begin or dispose himself thereto. (b.) That even under the exciting and suasory influences of divine grace the will of man is totally unable to act aright in co-operation with grace, until after the will itself is by the energy of grace radically and permanently renewed. (c.) Even after the renewal of the will it ever continues dependent upon divine grace, to prompt, direct, and enable it in the performance of every good work.
In the last post we looked at evangelism in light of position (a.) above. We will look at this again with some of the different styles of evangelism in our day in mind. For example, there is the basic method of The Four Spiritual Laws. It begins by telling people that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives. It then tells them that there is a chasm between them and God and that is because of their sin. However, they are told, Jesus has bridged this gap and can take us to God. All we have to do is pray a prayer and we will be saved.
There is FAITH evangelism as well. In it we are told to get people to admit that they are sinners and also that they need to pray a prayer or make a commitment of some kind. Regardless of the content involved, the issue comes down to the sinner’s choice, prayer or commitment. In many ways the Four Spiritual Laws and FAITH evangelism have a lot in common. The issues involved have people admitting to the fact that they are sinners, admit to the facts of the Gospel, and then to pray a prayer or make a commitment.
Regardless of the name and of the professed theological adherence, modern evangelism practice is based on passing information to a person, getting that person to admit to something and pray a prayer or make a choice. All of it is at a bare minimum an implicit denial of position (a.) above. If we truly believe that human beings are entirely depraved in their moral nature and so much so that they are totally unable to do anything spiritually good, and even to the point that they cannot in any degree begin or dispose themselves to spiritual things, then it is utterly self-evident that the above practices of evangelism are entirely insufficient and are in error. Any thing that is based on simply giving information to a person and then expecting that person to make a choice is error.
We can also look at ways of evangelism that focus on the Law. Now it is certainly biblical to focus on the Law in evangelism, but the way it is focused on is important as well. If we use the Law to show men that they are sinners, then that is well and good. But if we only show them that they are sinners, we have not gone far enough. What we must do is to use the Law to show them their utter inability to do anything morally good. It is not that we convince them that they are sinners and then they will see their need of Christ for a Savior, but they need to see their inability so that Christ will save them from their inability as well by becoming their ability or their power. If we use the Law just enough for people to see their need for a Savior, then we have done no more than convince them that they need a little help. What they need to see is their utter inability in the spiritual realm so that they will look entirely to God for grace and a salvation that is entirely by grace.
We see an entirely different focus between the views above and what position (a.) requires. The evangelistic views above focus on getting sinners to see things about themselves and then to pray a prayer. Position (a.) would require us to teach the sinner that nothing that comes from him or herself will help him or her at all and that the sinner needs a new nature in order to receive something from God and then do something. Jesus taught very clearly that a person must be born from above before he could see or enter the kingdom. It has been stated that the new birth logically precedes faith though they happen at the same time. However, we must state unequivocally that the new birth must be stated as necessary for faith in evangelism or sinners will think that believing is something they have the power to do. They will mistake it with an intellectual act.
The paragraph immediately preceding this one is looking to position (b.) above. Even under the work of divine grace no one can act in cooperation with grace until the soul is renewed. The ways of modern evangelism lead people to despair and deceive them about conversion because they do not tell them that they cannot do what they are commanded to do apart from the grace of God which renews the soul. The vast majority of professing Reformed people today do not practice evangelism in accordance with the doctrine of depravity. They practice evangelism in a way that is more in line with Pelagianism or Semi-Pelagianism.
God Loves... Himself 
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