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Psalms 14 and 19 in Preaching the Gospel
How could someone read Psalm 14 and think that salvation is by works? Read verses 1-4:
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
I ask you to consider how conclusive these verses are. They are speaking about everyone, anyone who has ever lived. The LORD is looking down from heaven, and He doesn’t miss anything. He says that every person is corrupt, has done abominable works, does not good, does not seek God, has gone aside, and is filthy. He does all these things and then he does not call upon the name of the Lord. He is helpless to live a righteous life and yet he still does not call upon the name of the Lord, whom he needs so that he can be righteous. He’s not depending on God, because he’s proud.
Men can’t save themselves. It’s not just that they’re sinners, but they could never sustain a righteous life by doing good works. They do not do good works. This is reality for mankind. God knows this better than anyone. Whatever a man may say about himself, these verses are the truth. A person is lying to himself if he thinks he can be saved by works. He’ll never succeed, because this psalm is who he is.
The Apostle Paul refers to this psalm in Romans 3 with his treatise on sinfulness of man. Many of you reading know that it says this in verses 10-12:
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Then you also know that he writes the following in verse 23:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
And from that a man should conclude according to verse 28:
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
The point of that argument by Paul is so that men will submit to justification by faith alone and not by works. If you can’t do good works and you aren’t righteous, then you can’t be saved by works. You should conclude that salvation is by grace through faith and not by works. You should believe in Jesus Christ to receive His righteousness by faith, which is to have His righteousness imputed to you and the forgiveness of your sins.
Psalm 14 is quite a psalm to be singing. This is a song to be sung to God expressing the truth of man’s sinfulness. God wants to hear that men agree. He’s praised by this truth. It assumes that men need God.
The Old Testament doesn’t teach salvation by works. It teaches that men are sinners and they need God for forgiveness of sins and righteousness.
What about Psalm 19? It says that from God’s creation alone men know God. These are statements of reality. God knows. He says:
Verse 1a: The heavens declare the glory of God.
Verse 1b: The firmament showeth his handiwork.
Verse 2a: Day unto day uttereth speech.
Verse 2b: Night unto night sheweth knowledge.
Verse 3: There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Verse 4: Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
All of these are sheer statements of fact. They also state the truth of what man knows. From the standpoint of knowledge, he is without excuse. Everyone living in this world knows God through the declaration of the heavens — the handiwork of the firmament, the speech uttered by the day, and the knowledge shown through the night. The day speaks through the sun, as seen in verses 4-6:
4 In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
“Them” in verse 4 refers to “heavens” in verse 1. The word “their” all the way through (vv. 3, 4) refers to “heavens.” Poetic language describes how the heavens talk, specifically through the sun. The heavens during the day are a tabernacle for the sun, which shows itself in all the helpful, beautiful, and awesome ways explained.
A beauty of the revelation of the heavens is that it transcends a particular speech. It can be heard in every speech, every language. An Italian, Russian, Hispanic, or English person hears the voice of the heavens from God without exception of place. This speech goes out to the whole earth and to the end of the world.
When we evangelize, we should learn to use and then use creation as a basis of introducing the God of the Bible to an unbeliever. He already knows. This revelation has reached him. We should assume that. People that haven’t even read the Bible, which are more than ever, still know God and through His creation, the heavens.
Furthermore, scripture, also the revelation of God, called “the law of the LORD,” “converts the soul” (verse 7). For salvation, the soul needs to be converted. It is stained and corrupted by sin.
James 1:25 calls the law, “the perfect law.” The idea of “perfect” isn’t contrasting with “imperfect,” but with “incompletion.” The law of the LORD is complete or sufficient. It lacks nothing, it has everything in it that anyone would need. Conversion of the soul is the total transformation of it.
The first designation of the Word of God in Psalm 19 is the law of the LORD. The usage of that term refers to all of the Word of God, not just the first five books of the Bible or just the parts that are laws. The Hebrew word for “law, torah, means instruction, direction, or doctrine. It reminds me of 2 Timothy 3:15, which says that the “holy scriptures,” referring to the Old Testament, are able to make a child wise unto salvation.
The LORD’s law instructs man sufficiently for his soul to be converted, which is to be restored. It has been ruined by sin and it can be restored to moral rightness before God. It makes sense that the “law of the LORD” isn’t just the Mosaic law, which in itself wouldn’t convert the soul, even though it has an important part according to the Apostle Paul, who in Galatians (3:24-25) says it is a schoolmaster to bring someone to faith in Christ. The instruction of the LORD, which is His Word, is powerful to save, specifically the Gospel (Romans 1:16).
Psalm 19 says that salvation is the conversion of the soul. In the Old Testament, the soul is nephesh and in the New Testament, psuche. Jesus said (Luke 9:24) that to save one’s life (psuche, soul), someone must lose his life (psuche, soul). He’s got to give up his soul. He gives it to God and God restores it using scripture. This is the sanctification of the truth, the Word of God, that God uses in salvation. The conversion of the soul is the transformation of a life, where the person becomes a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Peter calls this the knowledge of Jesus Christ through which someone becomes a partaker of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:2-4). After the conversion of the soul, the sinner has a new nature, a divine nature, and is returned morally to the image in which God created him. He now has the ability not to sin.
Someone might consider the teachings of Psalms 14 and 19 to be New Testament concepts. No, they are biblical concepts of salvation, which is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New. They can be used in preaching the gospel.
How Does Natural Law Work in and for Evangelism of the Lost?
Romans 1:18-21 read:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
I’m assuming a lot of you readers know these verses. According to them though, based on what people know, they will be judged rightly by God, because what they know means that they are without excuse. At the same time, people are not going to experience the wrath of God’s judgment because of ignoring information, but because of ignoring law. When they knew God, they didn’t glorify Him as God and were not thankful unto Him. Glorifying God as God is represented by various prescriptions, which are laws. This knowledge isn’t a mere bunch of facts. Bare acknowledgement of God’s existence isn’t sufficient to avoid the wrath of God. The judgment and wrath of God is justice for disobeying natural law.
Natural law relates to the theological terminology, general revelation. “General” is general in audience, that is, everyone knows it, so everyone is responsible for these laws. Knowing God and glorifying Him as God in Romans 1 means knowing these laws to the extent that someone is responsible for obeying them. They relate to the revelation of God, so according to His nature. No one has an excuse for not knowing these. They’re natural to know. All men are responsible for them.
In my assessment, the natural laws are those most denied, and against which men are most rebellious. On the other hand, men like what they consider to be their natural rights, like what Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence mentions at the beginning:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
He uses the language, “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” “truths to be self-evident,” and “endowed by their Creator.” Natural laws are self-evident truths.
Men know natural laws. They’re natural to them, so to deny them, they are at their most rebellious. The Apostle Paul talks about some of them later in chapter 1. They rebel against God’s natural order, because it clashes with what they want. It’s natural that the woman is the weaker vessel, and women very often don’t want to hear that. The natural order of two parents and children obeying their parents is repulsive to children.
When people think of the Declaration, they especially think, “all men are created equal.” They focus on the word, “equal.” Most often, however, I’ve noticed that they ignore the first four words, “all men are created.” It is self-evident that “all men are created.” Equal, yes, but it is self-evident that man is created by God. To Jefferson, creation of man carried with it more than sheer existence. With God as Creator, He s also Lawgiver and then Judge.
I’ve found when evangelizing lost people that they will still act like they don’t know certain things. Since Romans 1 says they really do know, I assume they do. This is presuppositionalism. I presuppose people know what is natural to know. Many of those things people say they don’t know, they rely on for enjoying their lives, which is why Jefferson uses “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.” People like those things and yet they act as though they’ve somehow received them by accident. This is the part in Romans 1:19, “who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” As many of you know, it means they suppress the truth. The way I put it is that the problem is not intellectual, but volitional.
Romans 1:18-22 assure what is already known by everyone. I’m saying, you know that everyone knows what Romans 1:18-22 say because those verses say they do. People can act like they don’t know, but you know that they do, so that you don’t believe that they don’t know. God says they do know, so they do know.
If someone is suppressing the truth, that means he knows and he is rebelling against what he knows. In evangelism, you expose the lost on his rebellion. How do you do that?
When I encounter someone who says he is a scientist, a professing atheist, too uncertain, or just not sure because he says he’s not gotten enough proof, I rely on natural law. I refer to a number of different examples. “When you look out there at the vast and intricate world, does that look like it all came about by accident?”
I haven’t found anyone who likes to be characterized as thinking or believing that everything came about by accident, but if this world isn’t an accident, then it is design. People know this is design. Scripture says, according to the way I like to put it, that they don’t want to have a boss. The Designer would be their Boss. They like having their own way, which you can read in the rest of Romans 1 and in 2 Peter. 2 Peter 3 says these scoffers are walking after their own lust.
I continue. “Everything out there is so complex. So many occurrences have to be going right at one time, that it is mathematically impossible to be an accident. It looks like design. Four or five hundred different circumstances need to be going right for us to even survive. If just one of those hundreds does not go exactly right, we couldn’t survive. This can’t be an accident. The human body itself is so complicated, the human eye, speech, the operation of the brain, the circulatory system, our heart beat, so many that have to be functioning in just a certain way at one time. And that’s just to survive.”
Romans 1:21 says, “Neither were thankful.” “So we breathe God’s air, eat the food that comes from a seed growing from the ground, enjoy all of the good things all around on this earth, use all of that, and then just ignore Him.” This is when you can turn to scripture to point rebellion out. “Romans 1 says that everyone already knows all this and rather than worship and serve the Creator, they serve the creature. It describes this as not being thankful, being unwilling to give the credit to God, because that acknowledgement would carry with it responsibility. Next chapter, Romans 2, says the goodness of God leads us to repentance.”
The statement of what people know, natural law, aligns with what is written by God in men’s hearts as a default position (Romans 2:15). Pointing out natural law strikes a cord in men’s hearts, their conscience then also bearing witness (v. 15). They feel guilty because of their ungratefulness.
Then I may say, “What we see occurring out in the world also aligns with the Bible. The history of the world reflects what we see there. There is a God, we are here because of Him, He has put us here for a particular purpose, we are responsible to Him, and we are going to meet Him someday. This is what the gospel is about. God is just, but He also loves us, and the good news is that He wants us to save us. However, we really do need to be saved.”
Since the problem is not an intellectual one, the solution is supernatural. The volition, the will of a person, must be dealt with scripture. The Bible is powerful (Hebrews 4:12) and a spiritual weapon to pull down the strongholds in people’s minds (2 Corinthians 10:4).
The approach I’m giving you is biblical. It’s what the Apostle Paul did in Acts 17. It doesn’t mean that it will result in your audience either listening or being converted, but it gives people an opportunity, which is what you want. It might be too late for most. You don’t know. More than ever, we’re living in an age in which natural law is a necessity in an evangelism approach.
Sanctification Summary: Christian Holiness or Sanctification—A Summary from Eternity Past to the Eternal State
During the recent Word of Truth Conference at Bethel Baptist Church, I had the privilege of preaching a summary of what Scripture teaches on sanctification. It was suggested that this summary be made into a pamphlet. You can now download the pamphlet on the FaithSaves website by clicking here; it is entitled “Christian Sanctification: A Summary from Eternity Past to the Eternal State.” The video is also live at FaithSaves; it can also be watched on YouTube by clicking here; if it is a blessing, I would encourage you to “like” it on YouTube and leave a comment. I have also embedded the video below for your viewing edification.
May it be a blessing to you, and with those with whom you can share it who want to understand what Scripture teaches about sanctification.
–TDR
The Gospel (The Good News of Salvation, Because We Need to Be Saved and God Can and Wants to Save Us)
Raise a Godly Family in an Ungodly Area–Is it Possible?
If one is in Oklahoma, there are pages and pages of Baptist churches in the phone book. (Phone book? What’s that? But I digress.) In the San Francisco Bay Area, there are many, many fewer churches that even preach a true gospel, much less take a stand for all the truth in the Bible. Sometimes, in relation to a post like “Evangelize the Bay Area of California!,” some people say, and more people think, something to the effect: “I’m glad you are wanting to do that, but I could never do it. I want to raise my family for God, so we will live in a conservative area, try to move some place rural or stay rural if we are, and never, ever go to a place that is liberal and godless like San Francisco.” Is this a Biblical way of thinking? Do we see this sort of thinking in Scripture?
It is true that if one wants to live a comfortable and easy life, coasting along living the American Dream, doing so in a conservative and more God-and-Bible friendly area is easier. Taxes are likely to be lower; people are more likely to be friendly; everything is nice and pleasant. But where does Scripture say life is about having things nice and easy? Where do “nice and easy” and “take up the cross and follow Me” meet?
Revelation 2-3 records Christ’s commands to seven first century (Baptist) churches. One of these churches was “where Satan’s seat is,” and where “Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth” (Revelation 2:13). Sounds like a really, really rough place. A lot worse than San Francisco, in fact. No martyrs in San Francisco recently. So because the church was in a wicked part of the world, Christ told the congregation that they shouldn’t be in a big, bad city, where Satan’s seat was. He told them to go to some rural place and live the American Dream.
Oh wait, sorry, that isn’t in the text anywhere. Didn’t Christ want the families at that church to be able to raise their children for God? Didn’t He know that you can’t do that in a city “where Satan’s seat is”?
In the book of Acts, the Apostles and their helpers really, really wanted those who received the gospel to raise their children for God, of course. Therefore, we see the pattern that they sought out the areas that were the most likely to have Biblical values and went there first, leaving those in the big, bad cities to perish in their sin.
Oh wait, sorry, that isn’t what they did–they went to the cities first, and even when the Apostles had to flee because of riots, they didn’t tell the church members there to leave their city and go somewhere things were easier.
So this idea that you can’t raise your children for God in areas that are hostile to the Bible is not in Revelation 2-3 and not in the book of Acts. Is it in the epistles? Nope. In the Gospels? Nope. So does it have any basis in the Bible? None at all. It is just made up. The closest you can get to it is that if someone is actively trying to kill you or cause you bodily harm Christ teaches that you can run away. Also, if you go to a wicked place for worldly purposes unconnected to the glory of God and leave godly influences behind to go there (Genesis 18-19), you should expect bad things to happen. Those are both totally different than refusing to go to a liberal part of the United States to help a strong church or plant a church because there is more open evil in the world than in some nice, rural, conservative, Bible-friendly area, maybe in the Bible belt or in the heavily Republican South.
What does matter to raising a godly family is having a strong church that is seeking to obey all of Scripture for the glory of God, and where both parents are actively serving. If you want to raise your family for God, make sure that you have a church like that. Make sure that you have your kids in a strong Christian school or homeschool that is actively seeking to disciple them with close parental involvement, and that you and the school are consistent in the use of the rod and of reproof. If you think you can put your kids in public school because you live in a conservative area, so everything will be fine, you are bonkers. Do the above to raise a godly family. If God is giving you the desire to help evangelize for the purpose of seeing new churches established in a part of the USA that actually needs them really, really badly–in other words, those liberal parts where nobody or almost nobody is preaching the gospel–do not refuse to go because of this made-up idea that you can’t raise a godly family there. It isn’t true. It is a lie, a Satanic lie to confuse people on what is necessary for godly child-rearing and to prevent the Great Commission from being fulfilled. Certainly someone in a weaker church in a more conservative part of the country is more likely to lose his children to the devil than someone in a stronger church in a more liberal part of America.
At least in my experience, people who have adopted this non-Biblical idea usually limit their restriction on moving to liberal areas to the United States. Going to a mission field is OK, even if the place is very wicked. If they were consistent, they would apply this idea to foreign countries as well, which would be the end of world missions. The large majority of the world is more corrupt and with less Biblical influence than remains even in San Francisco, Massachusetts, and other parts of the USA where we still have First Amendment protections and other constitutional privileges as citizens that are not present in the overwhelming majority of the world.
It would be great if some of the people in the Baptist churches on every corner in the Bible belt and in other nice, Bible-friendly areas would get out of their holy huddle and move to parts of the USA and to the rest of the world where the vast majority of the population has never heard the gospel even one time. They should be earnestly desiring to move to places like that and start preaching the gospel to those that have never heard it (Romans 15:20). Maybe the default position should be to help there, and only stay in their nice and comfortable place if it is clearly God’s will that they stay instead of going.
So if you have it in your mind that you would never go somewhere like the San Francisco Bay Area because it is liberal with little Biblical influence, you are not thinking Scripturally. Instead of wanting to avoid going there because of a made up idea that raising a family for God is impossible in such a place, ask the Lord of the harvest what He would have you to do and where He would have you go, knowing that as you actively take up your cross and follow Christ you will have the best chance possible to raise the next generation to do the same.
Oh, and by the way, while the idea that you can’t raise children for God in a liberal area is not in the Bible, at least you have the Catholic philosophy of monasticism and Ellen White, the cult leader and prophetess of Seventh-Day Adventism, on your side. In her allegedly “inspired” book Country Living, Mrs. White made statements such as:
“[God] wants us to live where we have elbow room. His people are not to crowd into the cities. He wants them to take their families out of the cities, that they may better prepare for eternal life” (17.1).
“Get out of the cities as soon as possible, and purchase a little piece of land, where you can have a garden, where your children can watch the flowers growing” (17.3).
Aww, isn’t that sweet. Too bad it isn’t in the Bible anywhere. If you follow the Bible instead of Ellen White, take up the cross, follow Him, and help to preach the gospel to everyone in the areas where nobody is doing it. God will help you raise your family for Him there. –TDR
Updated Evangelistic Bible Study #1
The evangelistic Bible study series online at faithsaves.net are being updated. Study #1, which covers the inspiration, preservation, and canonicity of Scripture, has been updated with pictures and other things that make it much nicer looking. I would encourage you to start using the updated ones if your church uses these evangelistic Bible studies.
In addition to improvements in the appearance of the Bible study, some facts have been updated. For example, the chart below:
You can download an MS Word file of Bible study #1 here to personalize with your church’s information, while seekers can be directed here to get PDFs of it and to have access to other helpful gospel resources.
–TDR
Evangelistic Bible Study #4, “How Do I Receive the Gospel?” is now live!
In previous weeks I had mentioned that videos teaching the evangelistic Bible studies that I have written were being made available. We had made #1, “What is the Bible?” live. That study covers the inspiration, preservation, and canonicity of the Bible. We had made #2, “Who is God?” live, covering who the true God is, including His crucial Tri-unity. We had made #3, “What Does God Want From Me?” live. Study #3 covers the law of God and His objective standard of perfect holiness which He will use to judge mankind in the last day. #5, “How Do I Receive the Gospel?” was also made live–that study covered repentance and faith, the human response to the gospel. However, we were having issues with study #4, so that one was not yet available. However, I am pleased to report that Bible study #4, “How Can God Save Sinners?” is now live. You can watch it at FaithSaves, watch it on YouTube, or watch it through the embedded video below:
Please “like” the video on YouTube and feel free to post a comment if you believe it is valuable, as doing those things help the video gain circulation.
The physical copies of the Bible studies are available online if you can do them with someone in person or over Skype, Zoom, etc. in this era of COVID. I would encourage you to share the videos as well with people who are not willing to do a one-on-one study with you but like to watch things over the Internet.
May the Lord use these studies for His glory and the advancement of His gospel!
Studies #6 and #7, on eternal security and assurance (#6) and the church (#7) are not yet available, but we are working on them. Please feel free to pray for us as it takes a lot of work to have these done well. The actually evangelistic studies, however, are all complete–#6 and #7 are follow-up Bible studies.
–TDR
The “harvest is plenteous”: A Promise People Will Always be Saved in Matthew 9:35-38?
“The harvest truly is plenteous,” Matthew 9:37. Is this a promise that there will always be people who will be converted when the gospel is preached? Such a view is common among advocates of Keswick theology. For example, John VanGelderen on the Revival Focus blog wrote:
Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plenteous.” The harvest is plentiful. Not will be, but is—right
now. Since this is so, Jesus continued, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.” The
sending is not just into His fields, but into His harvest! If
words have meaning and if language has integrity, then within the sphere
of your life and mine, there are people ready to be harvested right
now. The Lord of the harvest—the Holy Spirit—has already done His
preparatory work to help people become aware of their need. Now they
just need the answer—Jesus. They just need to hear the message of the
Gospel in power. … The harvest truly is plentiful. This is
more than a promised environment that someday “will be.” This is a
present fact. It “is.” Amazing! When you embrace the fact of a ready
harvest, it changes everything. … One of my favorite stories of living
according to the ready harvest comes from the life of a good friend of
mine … [a] missionary[.] … When he began deputation he
attended a Netcasters seminar, a course on the Spirit-filled
life applied to evangelizing. God brought two truths home to [this person’s] heart: the power of the Holy Spirit though faith and the fact of a ready
harvest—a particularly explosive combination. Quickly, he went from
ineffective duty-witnessing to effective delight-witnessing.
This particular person who caught the Keswick doctrine now sees huge numbers of people pray the “sinner’s prayer” all over the mission field. While only a small percentage of them manifest a changed life comparable to the people in Acts 2:41-47–as is overwhelmingly the case when the Netcasters techniques are used instead of more careful methods of evangelism that plainly explain repentance–the fact that such large numbers of people can be led to repeat the sinner’s prayer is proof that Matthew 9:35-38 is a guarantee that people will always be saved. Other testimonials from various places similarly validate the Keswick explanation of the “harvest” being “plenteous.” Don’t worry about the fact that this view of Matthew 10 would mean that the Lord Jesus Himself and His Apostles lacked the Keswick power since Christ was crucified with the consent of the large majority, while only a small number were truly converted.
Clearly, then, as is regularly preached in Keswick circles taking this view of the passage, if you are not “regularly” seeing people pray the sinner’s prayer there is something wrong with you. You can’t be right with God if there are not enough people making professions. Even if you search your conscience, ask God to show you your secret faults, and as far as you can tell, you have an upright heart before Him, you must really not be pleasing God because there are not enough people making professions. You clearly don’t have enough faith, or you have not received the special Keswick power that you have read about others receiving in easy-to-read and interesting but too often historically inaccurate books on those who got the secret and obtained the special power. There must be something wrong with you, because the phrase “the harvest truly is plenteous” guarantees lots of professions.
Or does it?
The “white harvest” in context
Matthew 10 is what Christ does and teaches based on Matthew 9:35-38. Christ teaches His disciples Matthew 10, and then He sends them forth to preach in Matthew 11:1. Matthew 10:1-11:1 records the following (please read the chapter carefully):
10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. 5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, 10 Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat. 11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. 12 And when ye come into an house, salute it. 13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. 16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. 21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. 32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. 40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. 41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
11:1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
So what does the Lord Jesus Himself indicate in Matthew 10 about Matthew 9:35-38’s teaching concerning a white harvest? He sends people out to preach–so we should go out and preach (10:1ff.). He teaches that God takes care of His people (10:8-10), so we should trust in His care. He tells the Apostles to find a single place to stay for as long as one is in a location instead of floating from house to house (10:11), a good pattern. He commands the Apostles to greet people when they approach a house, and share the peaceful truth with them if they are open, but to shake off the dust from their feet as a sign of horrible coming judgment if they do not listen (10:12-14). Not only individual houses, but whole cities will be full of people who do not listen (10:14), and their judgment will be worse than that of Sodom (10:15). He teaches His people to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves because they will receive severe persecution (10:16ff.). In fact, all men will hate them and even family members will deliver them up to death; however, if they persevere in faithfulness to Christ they will be saved (10:21-22). When persecution arises in one city, flee and go to another one because the work will not be done before the return of Christ (10:22-23). Since Christ Himself is slandered and persecuted, they should expect slander and persecution (10:24-25), but they should not be afraid because in the coming day of judgment all will be made right (10:26), so boldly preach the truth, and do not be afraid, for the Father cares for them (10:27-31). Fearlessly confess Christ before men and He will confess them instead of denying them (10:32-33). The gospel will divide families, but do not forget that at conversion they took up the cross and must continue to follow Christ despite opposition (10:34-39). If people receive them or help them, God will reward those people (10:40-41). Now go out and preach (11:1)!
Notice Christ never states, hints, or implies in Matthew 10 that the fact that He had spoken of a “white harvest” in chapter 9:35-38 means that there will always be people who will be converted. On the contrary, Christ’s explanation includes the warning that in entire cities everyone will reject them and they will need to flee. He does not tell them, or breathe the slightest hint, that if every single person in a city does not listen it was their fault for not entering into the Higher Life or for not having the special power that makes people listen, or that it was their fault for not believing His (alleged) promise of a “white harvest” that means many people will always believe. Rather than explaining the Higher Life secret, Christ just tells the Apostles to run away and go to the next city; it was the fault of the people who did not listen, not their fault, that they did receive the gospel. The Lord Jesus tells them over and over again, not “lots of people will always listen,” but “persecution, persecution, persecution, persecution.” He tells them to keep going because the Father cares for them and because He will reward them in the last day, but never tells them to keep going because there are always people who are going to listen.
In the parallel passage in Luke 10 Christ also speaks of a “great … harvest,” and then immediately afterwards speaks of entire cities where nobody will listen. Nobody who read the entire passage honestly would conclude that lots of people will always be saved based on the “white/great harvest” language of Matthew 10 and Luke 10.
So should we tell people what Christ told them is involved in going into a “white harvest,” or should we tell them what Keswick theology teaches about the “white harvest,” even if that means ignoring the immediate context of the passage?
What about the Old Testament harvest imagery that Christ was alluding to when He spoke of a great or white harvest? The strong emphasis of the Old Testament harvest imagery in passages such as Micah 4:11-13 is coming judgment. “The harvest is white/great” means “the harvest is ready to be reaped–judgment is coming!” according to the Old Testament, and according to Matthew’s gospel just a few chapters later: “the harvest is the end of the world” (Matthew 13:39). The judgment of the last days involves both the destruction of the wicked and the deliverance of the righteous, but the nearness of judgment justifying urgency in preaching is the point in Matthew 9:35-38, not that a large number will always respond to the gospel positively. To ignore the Old Testament imagery of the harvest, and the use of the image elsewhere in Matthew, is to rip the harvest metaphor from its broader context, just as to ignore the verses immediately surrounding the passage rip the metaphor from its immediate context.
The book context of Matthew is also ignored in order to make the “white harvest” language into a promise that people will always listen to the gospel in large numbers:
9:35 and 4:23 mark an inclusion which underlines the importance of reading chaps. 5–7 and 8–9 together and, when linked with the emphasis on the mission of the disciples in what precedes 4:23 (vv. 18–22) and what follows 9:35 (9:36–11:1), provide a chiasmic structure which enhances the significance of the mission perspective for the whole body of the encompassed materials. 9:35–37 function as an introductory piece for the section that runs to 10:42 (11:1), which consists mainly of the second major discourse by Jesus in Matthew, in a set of five marked by a shared concluding formula (here in 11:1[)] … Mt. 9:35 closely echoes 4:23 … this time Jesus is explicitly named; ‘all the towns and the villages’ replaces ‘in the whole of Galilee’ (probably with the intention of being more general) … Jesus’ ministry is freshly summarised/characterised after the expansiveness that has marked chaps. 5–9.
John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 2005), 406–407.
In chapter 4:23ff. Christ never says that many people will always repent and believe. He did have large crowds that wanted to be healed, but He never said that the number who were spiritually saved would always be large–on the contrary, He said: “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14).
So what?
So why does this all matter? First, it matters because taking out of context Christ’s language about a “white harvest” and telling others that many people will always believe the gospel is telling them a lie. It is telling them what God did not say and claiming His authority for it. Even if done in sincerity, whenever God’s Word is distorted a great evil is perpetrated. Don’t lie to people. Tell them God’s truth.
Second, it is important because whether someone expects what Keswick theology tells him to expect, or what Christ told him to expect, has a huge impact on how he does ministry. If an evangelist or church-planter believes the Keswick wresting of Scripture instead of Christ’s actual promises he will become very discouraged if he finds out that what Christ said is actually true instead of what he wrongly thought Christ promised in Keswick theology. He will conclude that something must be wrong with him and he is not pleasing God if there are not lots of people who are born again. Instead of confiding in the Father’s care in the face of virulent opposition, like Christ commanded in Matthew 10, he will pour over his Higher Life literature and try to find out how he is missing the secret power that will finally make many people listen all the time. He may quit the ministry altogether, concluding that he is a failure when he sees the persecution Christ promised instead of the big crowds Christ never promised. He will probably water down the gospel message and start practicing man-made promotion and marketing techniques in order to get the crowds and numbers of professions he wrongly thinks are promised in Matthew 9:35-38. He will not evaluate other churches based on whether they are trusting in the Father and boldly preaching the way Christ commanded in Matthew 10, but on whether they are seeing the numbers of professions promised by the Higher Life. A church that is obeying Matthew 10 but seeing fewer professions will be rejected as a model for ministry or for fellowship in favor of one that is using marketing techniques and seeing more professions, or has “secrets to success” which cannot be discovered by careful exegesis of Scripture. In short, he will displease God. Whenever Scripture is twisted lots of problems come about.
So you need to believe what Christ taught about the white harvest–it means judgment is coming. It means you need to boldly preach what He said from the housetops even when persecution comes–and it will come. When it comes, trust in the Father’s care, and remember that if you confess Christ before men He will confess you before your heavenly Father. If you are not trusting in the Lord and are not consequently boldly preaching, and as a result you experience no persecution, there is something wrong with you. If lots of people are not listening, that does not prove that something is wrong with you.
Now certainly it is possible that if you are evangelizing to see a church established but people are not listening to you it may be that you are a bad example–if you are soon angry, or are not ruling your family well, or are a drunkard, or are not apt to teach, etc. (1 Timothy 3) then it is true that you are the problem. But if you have an upright heart before God and are qualified, if you can say “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24), then don’t worry about missing out on a secret Higher Life power that supposedly guarantees lots of visible results. Keep boldly preaching, expect opposition, and trust in the Father’s care. Do not change your practices one iota from what you can prove from Scripture based on anything invented by mere men. Do not model your ministry after people who claim to have special powers but who distort Scripture to teach Keswick and are really just good at man-made marketing. Fellowship with churches that derive their beliefs and practices from the Bible alone, and get the sweet encouragement that is truly offered in the Word instead of the false expectations and hopes offered by distorted theological errors.
It could please God in His grace to allow much of the seed of the Word to land on good soil, and you could have a big church like the one in Jerusalem shortly after Christ’s ascension (Acts 2, 5). Alternatively, you could have a small church like the one in Philadelphia that highly pleased Christ (Revelation 3:7ff.) with not the slightest hint that they were doing something wrong because they were small. Reject the Keswick distortion of the “white harvest” and instead keep boldly preaching and obeying all Scripture in faith and love, in light of the fact that the harvest–judgment–is coming: “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Revelation 3:11).
–TDR
Saving Faith: What it is not and what it is: Bible Study 5C-D in “How Do I Receive the Gospel?”
In previous weeks I have posted Bible studies #1-3 and 5A-B in the series of evangelistic Bible studies. This week I have posted the final part of study #5, namely, what saving faith is not and what it is. I believe that a lost person who goes through these studies honesty should be illuminated by the Holy Ghost as to his spiritual condition. In our day when anyone who can walk down an isle and shake the hand of someone at the front is assumed to be genuinely converted, a careful presentation of what falls short of saving faith and what it involves is, I trust, something the Lord can use for His glory and which can help the lost, and which can also assist the saints in carefully helping the unconverted with the spiritual needs of their souls.
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