God Loves… Himself

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

What our pastors and churches can do
The real issues of evangelism lie with our pastors and churches. It is on us, not our Southern Baptist structure, regardless of how they could be or should be assisting and helping our churches. Therefore, pastors and churches, please consider these things to see more people reached for Christ and baptized by your church:

4. Highlight baptisms in your worship services weekly.
5. Creatively offer ways for people to begin to follow Christ; we did this recently and 74 people came to Christ and are being baptized as a result of a unique Sunday morning emphasis.
6. Add outreach events or experiences to your church calendar that are solely committed to reaching people with the Gospel.

Why should baptisms be highlighted in the weekly services? Do we see anything like that in Scripture? Where do we see baptism highlighted at all? It is Christ who is to be exalted and highlighted, not baptism. While Paul thanked God that he had baptized none but a few, the counsel here is to highlight baptisms. What is the stated purpose again? It is to reach people for Christ and increase the number of baptisms. When a person is baptized simply because that person confesses faith in Christ, it is often nothing more than a means to deceive the person. Jesus commanded that disciples be baptized, not those who have prayed a prayer. The focus on baptism takes the focus off of the glory and grace of God in Christ. We must also remember that sinners are always selfish and will do what appears best for them at that moment. Sinners are not Christians because they have decided at one moment to pray a prayer, but instead by self-centered evangelistic messages and a focus on baptism the selfish sinner does not need a changed heart to make a profession and start on a religious road to hell.

Once again, we are to creatively offer ways for people to begin to follow Christ. Does the Bible tell us how sinners begin to follow Christ or does it tell us to find creative ways to do so? Could it be that people who “come to Christ” because of creative ways are not coming to the true Christ but one created by those who are looking for creative ways? Oh how selfish sinners who are driven by self and the love of self may make religious professions and be dunked in water simply because things are presented to them in a way that is pleasing to their selfish hearts. How does Floyd know that 74 people came to Christ? John wrote the book of I John so that people could know, yet Floyd seems to know that all of the people who came as a result of a creative event truly came to Christ. Jesus Himself tells us that a person must deny self and take up his cross before he can follow Christ. The very self must be denied before one can follow Christ. Was this mentioned during the creative events?

We are also told that outreach events or experiences should be added with the sole intent of reaching people with the Gospel. What should be clear at this point, however, is that people need to know their own hearts and their poison of their selfish hearts before they will understand what repentance is and their true need for the true Gospel. As long as selfish sinners do not understand the true nature of their sin, they will not hear the true Gospel even if it is proclaimed to them. Instead, sinners are in bondage to selfish hearts and the so-called gospel of the day does not conflict with those selfish hearts at all. A so-called gospel that does not bring out the enmity that is in the selfish hearts of men is not the Gospel of the Bible.

Beware of easy gospels, easy baptisms, and easy repentances. While selfish hearts love those things, that is part of the deception of them. The professing churches (regardless of theological commitment) seem to have been taken over with a so-called gospel that is fit for sinners who are in the bondage of their selfish hearts and do not require them to have a new heart. They can just continue on in their selfishness and simply exchange one set of ideas for another and one morality for another. But they continue on in their unregenerate hearts and in the ways of natural men. What good does it do to pray a prayer and be dunked under water when the heart is unchanged and at enmity with the living God? Oh beware, beware!

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

What our pastors and churches can do
The real issues of evangelism lie with our pastors and churches. It is on us, not our Southern Baptist structure, regardless of how they could be or should be assisting and helping our churches. Therefore, pastors and churches, please consider these things to see more people reached for Christ and baptized by your church:
1. Through each event or experience you offer as a church, regardless of the audience, strategically use it for evangelism.
2. Preach each message and plan each service with the eventual goal of calling people to follow Jesus Christ.
3. Offer a public invitation weekly. If not a “walk down front” invitation, use other ways to call people to follow Jesus weekly.

In the last post (Selfishness as Sin 8) I tried to deal with what is really going on with point 1 just above. There was no effort to be thorough, due to the nature of the BLOG. One point that I did not touch on how one is to use all events for evangelism. This sure seems to leave the people of God hungry for solid food and ignoring the Great Commission which commands us to make disciples. Even if one says that evangelism is implied in the Great Commission, if all one does is to focus on evangelism above all else that does not leave us with time to feed the flock. It also leaves the churches quite vulnerable to false teaching. Quite simply, evangelism happens within the normal works of a biblical church. It happens when there is biblical preaching and teaching. True enough there is little of that in our day, but that is the perfect standard. If one cannot find biblical preaching and teaching, then it will do not good to practice false evangelism. What must happen is that people start Bible studies and begin to teach people in that way, teaching them the sinfulness of their hearts and the great truths of God and the Gospel.

While the previous paragraph is a critique in some ways of statement #1, it is also a severe critique of point #2 above as well. In order to be clear, if a person practices numbers 1 and 2 above, they will not preach a true Gospel and they will not preach a true Christ. In some ways the evangelism that Floyd wants to set out is seen in #3 above as well. If his idea of evangelism is to give an invitation that people have the ability and desire to respond to, then he is not preaching the true Gospel. The true Gospel does not teach people that they have the love of God in them and the ability to respond, but in fact it teaches them that they are at enmity with God and that He must show grace to them. Their walk up the aisle can come from nothing more than self-love. Their walk up the aisle does not demand a changed heart or a new nature; it can be nothing more than a selfish heart. Evangelism which focuses on the selfish heart of men and gets them to make some action based on that selfish heart is a false evangelism based on a false idea of God.

If the true Christ is not preached, then people will not be following the true Christ. If the true nature of sin is not preached, then people will follow their own wicked and selfish hearts as they are deceived into following a false christ. We must not be deceived and we must never back down on issues like this. Those who preach false gospels and false christs are lost themselves. It does not matter how many souls the preacher says have prayed the prayer and it does not matter how many the preacher has dunked, a false gospel and a false christ leads others to false professions and false faith in a false christ. We must stand for the true Gospel and the true Christ even when the most popular preachers of the day are preaching false gospels and false christs. We have no option but to stand firm for the truth of the Gospel. It may not be politically correct and it may not be thought of as winsome, but it is what we must do if we have an ounce of the love of God in our souls.

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

What our pastors and churches can do
The real issues of evangelism lie with our pastors and churches. It is on us, not our Southern Baptist structure, regardless of how they could be or should be assisting and helping our churches. Therefore, pastors and churches, please consider these things to see more people reached for Christ and baptized by your church:
1. Through each event or experience you offer as a church, regardless of the audience, strategically use it for evangelism.
2. Preach each message and plan each service with the eventual goal of calling people to follow Jesus Christ.
3. Offer a public invitation weekly. If not a “walk down front” invitation, use other ways to call people to follow Jesus weekly.

The real issues of evangelism are not with pastors and churches, but with the triune God. It is true that Floyd’s statement is in the context of how the issues of evangelism are with the local churches rather than the SBC structure, and that is correct. However, the real issue is whether evangelism is done in the context of God-centeredness of man-centeredness. The push for people to become evangelistic to the extreme as Floyd’s article sets out is without question one that is focused on the ability of men to evangelize and the ability of men to respond to that form of evangelism.

We must always remember that there is only one Gospel and if people (ministers and so on) are not preaching that Gospel Paul says that they are to be anathematized (eternally cursed). There is no true evangelism apart from the one and true Gospel, so all evangelism in name apart from the true Gospel is false evangelism. It is not only absurd to send people and churches out to evangelize without knowing if they have the true Gospel or not, it is unthinkable and perhaps even blasphemous. If people are not going out with the true Gospel, they are going out with a false gospel and they are deceiving themselves and others. If a person is not preaching and teaching the true Gospel, then that person is also preaching and teaching a false Christ. We must not back away from those points and we must not back away from the implications of those points. If we are to be faithful to the true Christ and the true Gospel of Christ, then we must point to false gospels and false christs.

Floyd says the pastors and churches can do this: “Through each event or experience you offer as a church, regardless of the audience, strategically use it for evangelism.” Okay, apart from the true Gospel each event and experience that the church offers will be nothing more than an event and experience that deceives professing believers and unbelievers alike. In putting out event and experience evangelism the focus is on the sinner in the sinner’s self-love and selfishness rather than on the sinful nature of the sinner and the absolute necessity for God by grace alone to rescue that sinner quite apart from what the selfish prayers of that sinner. This is why event and experience evangelism is a denial of the truth of the selfish heart of the sinner and of the sovereignty of God and His grace who alone can bring life to dead sinners. No appeal to the selfish nature of the sinner will cause the sinner to reflect upon his need to have his nature changed, but instead the evangelistic appeals are for the sinner to accept Jesus, walk an aisle, pray a prayer, or at least do something in that sinful nature which hates the true God. The only thing a sinner who is at enmity with God can do is act within that nature. When the true God is preached the sinner will respond with that nature of enmity. True Gospel preaching will get people mad and angry at God. True Gospel preaching focuses on the sinful nature of men and the sovereignty of the grace of God which people hate and will respond with enmity toward. True Gospel preaching is dependent upon God for grace and not the prayers of men. True Gospel preaching will show men that they are helpless and unable to do one thing and that they must seek the Lord for Him to perhaps show mercy to their souls. Floyd’s methods fall short of the glory of God in evangelism and as such fall short of a true Gospel.

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

What our Southern Baptist Convention can do
The 42 state conventions and 12 national entities of our Southern Baptist Convention can hold up high the banner for evangelizing lost people and baptizing new believers. Within their assigned roles, they have the influence to help our churches by elevating evangelism to unprecedented levels. We need them to elevate evangelism before our churches through conferences, conversations and strategies they implement. We need to begin to celebrate, again, pastors and churches who are reaching and baptizing great numbers of people in proportion to their opportunity afforded to them. We need to celebrate them in relationship to the size of their community and what has been entrusted to them by the Lord.

What can the Southern Baptist Convention do? Floyd wants evangelism lifted to unprecedented levels by having conferences and strategies on it. Floyd wants to celebrate pastors and churches who are reaching and baptizing great numbers of people. Where do we see that in the New Testament? We are to boast in Christ and His cross alone, not in pastors and churches. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who saves sinners and no man has anything to do with saving sinners. What is seen again, is the elevation of evangelism to the virtually the throne of God. It is to be elevated to unprecedented levels and those who have success at it are to be celebrated. But again, nothing even remotely close to that is found in the New Testament. It takes crucified men to preach a crucified Christ, not celebrated men who are more like salesman getting people down an aisle and under the water. Thinking of James White’s book on preaching, the men that Floyd wants to raise up would have become pulpit criminals to fulfill what he wants.

We must always keep in mind the very nature of sinful men. The heart of sin is selfishness and man will always do what he thinks is good for him. If a man thinks that what is presented as God is best for him, then he will follow the God that is presented. The method that Floyd is trying to get people to practice is based on getting men to act within their self-love and selfish hearts. One can get false conversions galore as long as the “evangelist” does not start getting to the heart of the selfish sinner. Once that happens, the sinner will see that the true God is opposed to him and his pride and demands that the sinner die to self and give up all things for His sake. The sinner will not and cannot do that. The sinner has no higher motive than self-love and as such hates the true God who commands him to love Him with all of the sinner’s being. Oh how the sinner hates this and hates the God who demands these things from him.

When God is merciful and opens the eyes of sinners to see themselves as being at enmity to God and in bondage to sin, they will then begin to cry out for mercy as they will see that they can do nothing to save themselves. They will see that their very prayers are nothing but acts of wickedness and idolatry to God. They will see that their very desires to be saved are not out of love for God, but in fact they still hate Him. It is only when the sinner has arrived at this point can the sinner understand the nature of free-grace. God in His sovereignty shows grace to whom He is pleased and there is nothing that a man can do to move God in any way to show the slightest mercy. Grace comes to sinners quite apart from their prayers, their crying, and their good efforts. It is completely and totally the sovereign hand of God. Grace does not come to sinners who make a prayer or a commitment, but it comes by grace alone. Floyd does not seem to understand that in the slightest and as such his methods do not take into account the necessity of teaching sinners about their sinful hearts and of the sovereignty of God. His methods will deceive many if followed. The SBC has followed that method in one way or another for a long time in various forms and it done nothing but deceive and harm. If the devil himself wanted to devise a false evangelism, he would get men to ignore who God really is and also to ignore who men really are. The application should be plain enough.

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

Could it be….
Could it be that we have scrutinized the evangelism of others so much that we have cut the heart of evangelism out of our pastors and churches? Could it be that we so fear what others think about the ways we reach others because we fear being misunderstood, we have ceased talking about evangelism with our pastors and churches? Could it be everything else in our convention is more important than evangelism? Could it be that we recognize and reward many other things before we ever recognize evangelism through our churches? I pray not, but could it be?

These are fascinating and insightful questions. Sometimes asking a question can be at least as revealing if not more than making a statement. While it is a fact that the heart of evangelism has been cut out of pastors and churches, it may not be because evangelism has been overly scrutinized. The reason that the heart of evangelism has been cut out is because true theology has been cut out of the pastors and churches. Pastors that focus on evangelism are neglecting to preach the whole counsel of God because we don’t see a focus on what Floyd is calling evangelism in the Bible. When pastors and churches focus on evangelism, they are no longer focused on what the Bible focuses on and evangelism becomes man-centered and humanistic. The heart of evangelism is cut out when people focus on evangelism rather than the glory of God which is central to the Gospel. In other words, when the glory of God is not the focus and the focus is on the glory of evangelism, the heart of true evangelism is gone and people are going around with much zeal for what they term evangelism and yet that is a zeal without knowledge. It is also a form of evangelizing without the true Gospel.

It may be that many things in the convention are viewed with a greater importance than evangelism, but where do we see Jesus and His apostles making evangelism the ultimate priority? A business which does nothing but focus on sales (like Arminian evangelism) will go out of business fairly quickly. The reason is that a business also must focus on the quality of what it is selling and taking care of the customers. The business must take care of its employees or disgruntled employees will cause major problems. This is just to point out that unless God has commanded that all else be put to the side and people go out and evangelize as Floyd wants to that it is very unwise to do so. No, what the epistles focus on are things within the churches. The Church is God’s method of reaching the world and the Church is how things should remain balanced and theology, truth, and love are to control the Church.

There are reasons that in the history of the Church preaching has been the understood method that bring men to Christ. When men come and are under the teaching and preaching ministry of the local church (assuming that it is biblical), they should hear solid teaching about the sinfulness of men and of the truths of Christ as a whole. It is when they hear this preaching of Christ that they are given faith in Christ. It is not in saying a prayer at some canned little message, but it is when men are under the preaching of the whole Christ and the whole Scriptures that they hear the truth. When preaching begins to focus on getting people to say prayers and walk the aisles, it has moved away from what true preaching should be and as such people will not hear the true Gospel. When preaching (so-called) focuses on evangelism (modern types) it is not feeing the people of God with Christ and the truth of God. True evangelism, then, is what happens in the church as the church is being the church. It is when there are Bible studies held to teach people about sin and about the attributes of God. If people did follow Ronnie Floyd’s suggestions, the local church would be like a business which had nothing but a team of salesman. When evangelism becomes that much of a priority, the evangelism will be from a false gospel and it will do nothing but produce a burned over district as Finney did in the 1800’s. What churches need to do first and foremost is to get back to preaching and teaching the Bible with the glory of God in the face of Christ as the message and as the intent and love. God will have nothing to do with anything that He is not the center of. When God is not the very center of evangelism, then evangelism is nothing more than an idol. It is that serious.

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

I can remember when there was a proven record of evangelism regarding pastors and evangelists who were invited to bring the keynote message in the local association, or speak at an evangelism conference of a state convention, or preach the national Pastors’ Conference of the Southern Baptist Convention, or preach at the Southern Baptist Convention. The only pastors considered led a strong evangelistic church and had a reputation for baptizing great numbers of people for Christ in proportion to their community and their opportunity. I can remember when nominations for offices of any kind in Southern Baptist life were not even considered if you were not a part of a strongly evangelistic church. Is it still like this today? I really cannot answer all of these questions, but I can surely answer some of them. Quite honestly, I am not impressed by how many books a pastor sells, how many Twitter followers he may have, at how many conferences he speaks, how great of a preacher he is, or how much his church does around the world if he pastors or is associated with a church that has a lame commitment to evangelizing and baptizing lost people and reaching his own community with the Gospel of Christ.

What Floyd describes as how things used to be is precisely why the SBC is in a terrible state now. By a terrible state I mean that the buildings are full of unbelievers who were not taught the biblical nature of sin and of the biblical nature of the new birth. He wants speakers and pastors who are going to speak at anything to be successful evangelists. Interesting, to say the least, but by a successful evangelist he evidently means one that has a proven record for evangelism which includes baptizing great numbers of people. Nothing seems to matter if a man has a “lame commitment to evangelizing and baptizing lost people.” While it is clear what Floyd intended to say, the irony is that most likely that is what is going on in many places. Lost people are being evangelized, but with a non-biblical message and as such they remain lost. Lost people are being baptized and as such they are wet unbelievers.

The New Testament does not know anything of what Floyd is describing. Pastors are told to preach the Word. The Great Commission is to make disciples instead of doing all in evangelism. There may be a reason that Jesus commanded His people to make disciples instead of being given to evangelistic zeal all of the time. When a person is focused on evangelism as Floyd seems to, the focus is on getting people to make decisions and getting them under the water. That way these people can be counted. However, when the focus is on discipleship, and that in a biblical way, true evangelism happens and while the numbers one can turn in are not as great there are far fewer people deceived. It is also most likely the case that more people are actually converted.

Pastors should be men of God and are to teach and preach Christ crucified. Pastors are to preach and teach in a way where people behold the glory of God in Christ. There are reasons for preaching Christ and the Gospel of Christ that are for reasons other than evangelism. If pastors focus on evangelism (and that a false evangelism) then they will not fulfill their calling and if they have true believers in the congregation those people will starve. Jesus told Peter that if he (Peter) loved Him (Jesus) then he should feed the sheep. If pastors are not feeding the sheep, then perhaps they don’t love Christ. This is not a small matter, but instead it strikes at the heart of the churches and of the biblical Gospel. Where are pastors who preach to the glory of God? Where are pastors who dive deeply into the great truths of Christ and Him crucified? Where are the pastors who long for their people to drink deeply at the wells of truth? Where are the pastors who preach with the goal that their people will love God? These are biblical things that cannot be done if evangelism is the goal, especially a shallow form of Arminian evangelism which is no true evangelism at all. Where are the pastors who will dive deeply into the biblical teaching of sin so that sinners may see who they really are and how helpless they are in the sovereign hand of God? Where are the pastors who teach sinners that God must give them a new heart and that they must look to Him to do so? Those are the pastors who are practicing true evangelism regardless of whether they are turned in to a denominational leader or not.

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

I can remember when….
I can remember when some of my seminary classes were filled with exciting challenges about reaching people for Christ.
I can remember when my seminary evangelism classes equipped me in how to lead an evangelistic church that had a strategy to reach your town or city for Christ.
I can remember some of my seminary classes built within me a deep belief of how God wanted to work in our day, just as He did in and through the revivals and awakenings of past generations.

Evangelism has simply become an idol in our day and many worship at the altar of it. In our day the practice of evangelism has become a legalistic form of how a church, a pastor, or individuals are doing in their spiritual life. In our day evangelism has been virtually separated from theology or sound doctrine and as such it is a false practice because it is not rooted in Scripture or the character of God. It would have been much better for the writer of the article on evangelism (Ronnie Floyd) would have studied solid theology at seminary rather than being filled with all of these exciting challenges. It would have benefited Mr. Floyd if he would have given himself to prayer and study of theology so that his ideas of reaching people for Christ might actually be driven by sound theology rather than exciting challenges. Evangelism is to be rooted in the doctrines of truth and in a love for God and His glory rather than all the exciting things we can do to attract sinners who love themselves and deceive them with false theology so that they will pray a prayer.

Floyd can remember when he had classes on evangelism that equipped him to lead an evangelistic church that had a strategy for outreach. But again, where do we see those things in Scripture? When we see how Paul addressed the churches who were having problems, was it ever for their poor number of baptisms? When the churches were spoken to with strong words by Jesus in Revelation, did He address their failure in evangelism or baptisms? A biblical church has been given many things to do in Scripture, but do we see an evangelistic church (as such) having strategies and plans in Scripture? Without going too far into the issue, what we see once again is a complete failure to address men as to the real nature of their sin. A biblical church would teach men and women about their sin and try to get to the very heart of their sin. A biblical church would preach the glories and wonders of God and the need for people to be turned from being selfish and proud to a humble and Christ-centered heart. The evangelism that Floyd espouses in his article leaves people in their sin. In other words, it is a type of evangelism that will add numbers to the rolls and dollars in the plates, but it is not a biblical evangelism in the slightest. Biblical evangelism takes time to deal honestly with people and to set out the truth of God.

How does Floyd know that God wants to work in our day with revivals and awakenings? God is at work in our day without doubt, but it appears that His work in our day is a work of judgment. He is hardening hearts and turning people over to sin. He is blinding eyes and turning men over to error. Is it true, then, that despite God wanting to work these things that human beings are more powerful than God and are keeping Him from doing what He wants to do? It may be the case that the evangelism that Floyd wants people to practice is just another means that God is using to harden hearts and blind people to their eternal destruction. Yes, God does work but not all of His work is in saving sinners. Part of His work is sending spiritual judgments upon a people. What Floyd sets out in this article is a sign of God’s desire to harden, but not a sign that He wants to send revival and awakening.

While I am not dealing directly with the quote by Emmons as I have been, for the next few posts under this heading I will be dealing with an article published in Baptist Press and other SBC magazines. It is a very clear example of what happens when you push evangelism without dealing with the sinfulness of souls and without taking the character of God into account. It was written by Ronnie Floyd who is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor in northwest Arkansas. http://www.bpnews.net/45850/firstperson—what-happened-to-evangelism-in-the-sbc

What happened to evangelism in the Southern Baptist Convention? It was our commitment to evangelism in the past that set us apart from all other denominations. The events and experiences churches offered to their community were done with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ. What happened? Where did this go?

Waking up to reality
I do realize that all of our 51,094 churches and congregations do not complete and report the Annual Church Profile. However, of the churches that did report, in the church year from Oct. 1, 2013, to Sept. 30, 2014, the number of baptisms was lower than it was in 1948. This is deplorable! The U.S. population in 1948 was 146 million compared to 317 million in 2014. Therefore, with thousands more Southern Baptist churches with millions more members, along with having 171 million more Americans to reach today, we are reaching and baptizing less people than we did in 1948. We need to wake up to reality. We need spiritual revival in the church and spiritual awakening in America.

I would argue that it was when the SBC left sound theology behind and began to focus on evangelism rather than biblical preaching regarding sin and the true doctrines of the Gospel that the problem was really manifested. There is a huge problem when churches offer things to the community and do them “with the specific intent of winning others to faith in Christ.” While Floyd sees that specific intent as a goal, there is nothing like what he describes in the Bible. Jesus never held an event with the specific intent of wining others to faith in Christ. The great event of the cross was when Jesus Christ purchased His people and their faith. He did not need to do anything to win them in Floyd’s language, and that is because He alone can raise people from the dead and give them life.

A huge and extremely noticeable lack in Floyd’s statement is that people should be convinced of sin. This is what happens when people offer events and experiences rather than solid biblical teaching. The selfish person is entertained with events and experiences and is never taught that he is dead in sin and God must give him a new heart. Instead, this person is encouraged that God loves him or her and that all s/he needs to do is to pray a prayer and s/he will be saved. This is the type of thing that has led the professing Church to where it seems that evangelism is a way of deceiving people rather than a way to point people to Christ. Arminian (at best) theology leads to a man-centered evangelism which is not a true evangelism at all. It tries to talk people into something as if what needs to happen is for man to say a prayer or make a choice. The focus is on man and not God. For example, if one examines Floyd’s article encouraging people to evangelism one will find hardly (if at all) anything on sin or the true character of God. This is not only telling; it is both deceiving and damning.

Floyd thinks that when baptisms are down things are deplorable. In fact, it could be a good sign. It could be that with less people being baptized less people are being deceived that they are truly converted. It is Floyd and those like him who need to wake up to reality. The reality of the matter is that the Bible knows nothing of the evangelism that Floyd is pushing. The Bible condemns the theology behind what Floyd is teaching, however. Men and women do not need to be talked into praying a prayer, they need to be taught about their sinful hearts and their inability to pray and be saved apart from God saving them completely and totally by grace alone. They need to be taught how their selfish hearts love themselves and that they can pray a prayer but that the prayer is wicked and sinful because it is selfish rather than out of love for God. They need to be taught that God alone can overcome their sinful and selfish hearts and give them new hearts that love Him, but they also need to be taught that God is not obligated to save them and that He saves by a free-grace alone. Underneath what Floyd is teaching is something other than the Gospel of grace alone. It is a so-called gospel of being saved by a free-will prayer. It is encouragement to false evangelism rather than biblical evangelism. We need spiritual revival and awakening in America, but we need it to escape the theology and practices of those like Ronnie Floyd.

They love or hate God, just as He appears friendly or unfriendly to them. When He smiles upon them in His providence, and grants them the desires of their hearts, they are well pleased with Him. They rejoice that God is, that He governs the world, and that He fills the earth with His goodness. They have no consciousness of the least enmity against Him, but are disposed to speak well of Him, and give thanks at the remembrance of His mercies. This was the disposition of the Israelites at the side of the Red Sea . They could joyfully join in celebrating the praises of God, for their great and signal deliverance. They sang His praise with gladness of heart. And all other sinners would have done the same under the same circumstances. Their selfish hearts are always pleased with the favors God bestows upon them, and they love Him so long as they think He loves them. And they are no less pleased with spiritual, than temporal favors. When they imagine God is disposed to forgive their sins and admit them to heaven, they will sensibly rejoice in the hope of eternal life. In a word, they will always love God while they believe He loves them, and intends to do them good. But on the other hand, whenever He appears opposed to them, their hearts are opposed to Him. Their selfish hearts dispose them to hate God Himself, when He appears to stand in the way of their happiness. This was exemplified in the Israelites, who sang His praises, but soon forgot His works. As soon as they perceived that He was a holy, sin-hating and sin-revenging God, disposed to destroy them for their unholy, selfish affections, they turned against Him, murmured, complained, and expressed their bitter opposition to Him, by saying, He has brought us into the wilderness to destroy us. The selfish hearts of sinners always will dispose them to love or hate God, just as they view Him friendly or unfriendly to them. (Nathaniel Emmons, 1745-1840, Selfishness, International Outreach, 2009)

The results of the fall are so deadly that men and women don’t realize that they are born dead in sins and trespasses and as such they are full of enmity toward the real God out of their self-love and selfish heart. A selfish heart, as Emmons sets it out, is not just one that does things for self with some disregard of others, but it is a heart that is driven by and guided by the self. It is a heart that has a flow of self and does all for self. It is a heart that is full of pride because a heart given over to self is a heart that is full of pride. This pride may not even be seen by the unregenerate because pride blinds the heart to what it really is and judges itself in the best possible light. For example, in the quote above Emmons argues that selfish hearts are pleased with what God does as long as it is what self approves, but when providence brings something that self is displeased with the self is angry and the enmity toward God is seen. It is self and selfishness that guides and controls the disposition toward God rather than a new heart that loves God being in control, which is to say the life of Christ in the soul.

For the sake of emphasis of a vital point, the unregenerate (selfish heart) heart will love God as long as it things God loves it. To put it another way as Emmons does, as long as the selfish heart thinks that God loves it and intends good (as defined by the selfish heart) for him or her, then that person will love God out of an undiluted selfishness. However, the same heart that thinks it loves God when God does good things for it will oppose God when He appears to oppose them and their selfish desires. This should be self-evident that a new heart (regenerate heart) is not needed to get people to say a prayer or attend church as long as God is presented in a way that is according to selfish hearts. This is what the professing Church has become. It is tickling the ears of sinners and is teaching and preaching a false god to unregenerate hearts, and it is doing so to such a degree that multitudes are being deceived. False prophets are growing large “ministries” and doing so built upon a false god that is pleasing to unregenerate hearts that love Him only because they are deceived into thinking that He loves them.

If what I am saying is true (and using Emmons quote as evidence or to make the point), then the professing Church is full of unregenerate people in need of new hearts. A selfish heart will be very religious for the exact same reason some people are irreligious. The selfish heart will be deceived into thinking it loves God and yet will show enmity toward God for the same reason. It all comes from how the selfish heart thinks God is treating him or her. For something to change, however, will require God to raise up men who will love God enough to endure the wrath of men. If indeed the professing churches are full of deceived men and women who are still full of self-love and pride, when someone comes along and tells them the truth about God and of their own wicked and selfish hearts, those hearts will respond in anger and even hatred. Ministers in name who are also guided by selfish hearts will never see much less confront the real issue as that would cause others not to like them. Nevertheless, until the selfishness of the heart is set forth by faithful ministers sinners will be left in the deceitfulness of their own hearts and be on the broad road to damnation. God is judging our selfish nation by turning us over to hardened hearts of selfishness and giving us ministers who are clueless as to what that means because they have selfish hearts themselves. How we must seek the Lord to give us eyes to see and broken hearts in order to seek Him for grace in sending forth men who will preach the truth.

They love or hate God, just as He appears friendly or unfriendly to them. When He smiles upon them in His providence, and grants them the desires of their hearts, they are well pleased with Him. They rejoice that God is, that He governs the world, and that He fills the earth with His goodness. They have no consciousness of the least enmity against Him, but are disposed to speak well of Him, and give thanks at the remembrance of His mercies. This was the disposition of the Israelites at the side of the Red Sea . They could joyfully join in celebrating the praises of God, for their great and signal deliverance. They sang His praise with gladness of heart. And all other sinners would have done the same under the same circumstances. Their selfish hearts are always pleased with the favors God bestows upon them, and they love Him so long as they think He loves them. And they are no less pleased with spiritual, than temporal favors. When they imagine God is disposed to forgive their sins and admit them to heaven, they will sensibly rejoice in the hope of eternal life. In a word, they will always love God while they believe He loves them, and intends to do them good. But on the other hand, whenever He appears opposed to them, their hearts are opposed to Him. Their selfish hearts dispose them to hate God Himself, when He appears to stand in the way of their happiness. This was exemplified in the Israelites, who sang His praises, but soon forgot His works. As soon as they perceived that He was a holy, sin-hating and sin-revenging God, disposed to destroy them for their unholy, selfish affections, they turned against Him, murmured, complained, and expressed their bitter opposition to Him, by saying, He has brought us into the wilderness to destroy us. The selfish hearts of sinners always will dispose them to love or hate God, just as they view Him friendly or unfriendly to them. (Nathaniel Emmons, 1745-1840, Selfishness, International Outreach, 2009)

The concept of selfishness as being vital to the biblical understanding of sin and therefore true conversion is an absolute necessity if the statement above is biblical. It (statement above) is in line with the statement of Jonathan Edwards (not a direct quote) in which he said that the unbeliever can fake all that a believer can do except love. This is, then, a vastly important teaching. If we teach that, as the Arminians and Pelagians do, that sin is a matter of choice, then the doctrine of sin is completely opposite of the statement above as well as the biblical teaching that all must be done out of true love.

Sinners can walk around their whole lives with some recognition that they are sinners, attend church on a regular basis, and perhaps be devoted in some way to Bible study and good works and yet never come to the knowledge that s/he is at enmity with God. As long as people are taught that conversion changes us to where we make different choices, they will assume that as long as they are making religious choices to do religious things that they have been changed. But the reality is far, far different. The change is to turn a person from a self-centered focus or a focus of self-love that is the basis for all that they do to a God-centered focus where all that a person does flows out of a love for Him. This is not to say that one is perfect or even close to perfect, but one drop of true love is infinitely beyond the power of the unregenerate person and one drop of true love shows and demonstrates that a person is born of God and knows God (I John 4:7-8).

We can also observe how people how self-evident the truth of the statement by Emmons is when we simply take notice of our own hearts as they were or as they are. How terrible it is for us when a frown from God or a dark providence happens to us, though indeed they may actually be so small that they are nothing. Our hearts show enmity toward God when the slightest thing happens that crosses what we desire. Our hearts rise in opposition to His sovereignty when our will is crossed or when some small trouble comes across our path. Yet the same person will joyfully give thanks and sing praises to God when things are going well, which is defined as when things are going in a way that is in accordance with my desires and will further my hopes in this world.

We can see this clearly in children toward parents and other relationships as well that people speak highly of others when those others give them what they want. Children are happy with their parents as long as parents are not crossing the wills of the children. It has been said that as long as children get all that they want they have no reason to be unhappy, which is accurately applied to younger children. The point should be searing to our own hearts as we think of how we respond to things. When things are going well, we are happy and we are thankful to God when we remember Him. When things cross our wills, we are like children who have enmity in their hearts toward parents and become sullen and angry with them when they are denied their desires. This shows our true nature.