OK, this is a long post, but I would encourage all of you to read it. I believe the Ten Commandments is one of the long lost subjects of preaching, and it is what people these days need the most. You can’t understand the gospel without the law. Sorry, but my blog is NOT a guilt-free zone. We should all feel guilty of our sin before a Holy God so that we will all repent daily and live holy lives. If Jesus loves me, and I don’t need to feel guilty before the law and a Holy God, then why should I change or repent? Read on, brothers and sisters!
In 2007 and part of 2008, I took an informal survey of the sermons I heard to determine how they basically presented the gospel. In virtually all of the dispensational and seeker sensitive churches I attended, the gospel call was essentially the same, with a few minor variations in wording:
- Jesus loves you, and He died for you so that you could be free from your guilt, your hurts, and all your mistakes.
- Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. All you have to do is ask him to come into your life.
- God loves you just the way you are.
- Come to Jesus and you will find peace, joy, and happiness in your life.
This sampling of just a few comments shows that most gospel calls in many evangelical churches today all start with God’s love or Jesus’ love for the particular person sitting in the pew (or auditorium). Most of the pastors I had heard started, with good intentions I am sure, with an appeal to the heart. They appealed to everyone’s sense of longing to be loved. Most appealed to each individual in their current situation, stating that God or Christ loved them just as they were, “warts and all,” “with all of your bad mistakes and bad relationships.” In most, if not all, of the sermons there was very little mention of repentance. When there was mentioned repentance, it was said to mean a “change of mind,” and the terms sin or sins were not mentioned regularly. Repentance was for wrongdoings, mistakes, bad relationships or bad decisions.
