Lately in the G.L.T.D., there has been an awakening in some to the truth expressed in reformed doctrine and for others, there is a period of indecision accompanied with the searching of the scriptures and the conviction of the Holy Ghost if these things are true. Still others are, within their Heart, convinced that such doctrine is not correct especially in the areas of Limited Atonement and Reprobation.

Seeing such disunity in our midst is surely grievious in the sight of one who loves the Lord, the Head of the Church. Did not the Lord in love pray in John 17: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through the Word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they all may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou has sent me, and the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given to them, that they may also be one even as We are One: I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Him and has loved them as Thou has loved Me. “Let us therefore desire, pray and work towards her unity. However, at present, it is a fact that there is disunity in beliefs and this fact we must accept for the time being, as the Lord leads us along to the perfection He has so promised. We certainly cannot expect each other to compromise our convictions for the sake of a false untruthful unity.

It is not my desire in this article to try to convince others of my convictions but it is in fact written especially for those who are already inclined to the Reformed doctrine or are unsure and are studying and seeking the truth. I will not deal with the questions whether Christ died for all men and whether God in His good pleasure desires all men, head for head, to be saved, but rather, how we shall present the Gospel after embracing these truths.

Certainly, our witnessing and preaching cannot contradict our convictions. “To go to a person and say “Christ died for you and he loves you” is going to incur the opposition of our own conscience if we believe that Christ did not die for all men and that He does not desire the salvation of all men. Even those who are unsure, when they utter these words, their spirits may prick them, questioning their right to so boldly proclaim in their witnessing of the Truth, something which they consider may be untrue.

The question for us is “How then shall we witness?” We are so orientated to saying, “God loves you and wants to save you.” “Christ died for you, wouldn’t you believe him.” In witnessing that to confront a lost soul without these words is unthinkable. If we have no universal atonement to offer for the decision of the sinner to accept or reject at the end of the conversation, it seems impossible for any evangelism – personal or from the pulpit. Yet we cannot just say that we will not witness and avoid the issue….the Lord’s command forbids us to partake in such folly.

In this study of how to present the Gospel, we shall analyze the evangelical sermon given by Paul at Mars Hill in Acts 17. This particular sermon is chosen as a guide because it is one of the few complete sermons recorded in the Bible which is primarily to those who are non-Jews and do not already know the God of the Old Testament. It is therefore most suitable as an example for an audience who has to receive the Christian message without any prior instruction of the gospel. This article neither seeks to be a “How to do it?” manual nor the stereotype for all our evangelism, for it is foolish to attempt to find a rigid method for such. It seeks however to be a guide in principle to our evangelism and deals more with the contents of the evangelistic message rather than the need for it, attitude towards it or even the preparation in prayer and heart for such endeavors. In short it is on what rather than why, how, when, etc.., which if God willing, I may attempt to tackle in future articles.

Please have your Bibles opened to Acts 17: 16-34 for references as you read on. The importance of our gospel contents cannot be over-emphasized.

The setting of the episode in the life of the apostle is the idolatrous city of Athens. Paul as he was there was stirred in his heart seeing the people, creatures of the One Creator, wholly given to idolatry. His prime concern was for them to know their Creator. He was not so much concerned that their sins were causing them misery, broken homes, drunkenness or a host of other social evils not was he primarily concerned that the Athenians were guilty that they have failed to live up to their own ideal standards or the expectations of their loved ones. For this reason, he did not like in most of our gospel approaches try to stir up a person’s emotion to feel sorry for his failures against himself and his loved ones. Conviction of sins is not so much a miserable guilt against ourselves but a knowledge and misery that we have sinned against God. To this end David prayed “Against Thee, Thee only have I done this evil in Thy sight…”, and the same tide overwhelmed the prodigal son when he declared “I have sinned against heaven, and before thee.” Paul was not interested to have a following of Judases who ‘repented himself’ and finally hanged himself. He knew that conviction of sin has to be Godward. His duty was only to be God’s mouthpiece, the ambassador of the only True God! His burden was to declare God to His creatures. This is evident when he said “Him declare I unto you.”

Indeed the question “Who God Is?” is sorely missing in evangelism today and I stress that without knowing God there is no salvation for “this is life eternal, that they may know Thee the only True God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.” We have already seen hat conviction of sin is Godward and likewise is repentance, faith, yielding and following. The question is what God? Is it just the name Jesus Christ? Not everyone who calls Lord, Lord is saved. If we believe in the Jesus Christ of the rock opera ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ are we then saved? Can one call on the name Jesus having in mind an idol like the many one has at home and expect salvation? Can one add the crucifix to one’s trophy case of idols in one’s heart and escape damnation? Putting the doctrine of Limited Atonement aside, can we tell a person “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” if the person has not the faintest idea that this is the God that made heaven and earth? Surely an idolater will think of his own idols with eyes, hands, feet, noses which have no living function. An ordinary man-on-the street may at best have an impression of a benevolent fairy-God-Father who is so perturbed by man’s disobedience that he died for him. Dare we as ambassadors risk such a gross misrepresentation of our Sovereign?

Now comes the question of which aspects of God must we present before the sinner we confront. Surely we cannot even in a whole lifetime express to others all the attributes of our unsearchable God even if we knew all of them. Paul in Acts 17 first declares to his hearers the Creator of heaven and earth and all things therein. A God that cannot possibly be contained in a temple made with hands. A God that has no needs and One Who gives life to all living. One Who created man, the creature, and who controls the bounds of the land oceans (or is in control of all nature), vs. 24-26. We need not always follow this set pattern of expressing God’s attributes but I believe Paul makes it clear that we must impress upon the sinner the Great and Almighty God. It is pointless to proclaim to the lost that God is Love before first bringing to them the Great and terrible God. If we do, how will we show them that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.” Heb. 10:31. How can we impress upon the sinner that the wrath and anger of the God of Righteousness and Judgment is upon him for his sin if he does not repent, if we start off with the God of Love. The truth is that without the wrath fearfulness of the God of Judgment, the grace and Love of God loses their significance and we can scarcely appreciate them. Judgment for sin is that which inflicts the mortal wound while grace in the balm, if we apply the balm, even the death of our Lord for sin, before exposing the wound, the balm loses its value and the receiver may even deem it cheap. If God did not demand that “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezek. 18:4), then why did Christ have to die for sin? Why then do we need grace and mercy, both of which have their source in God Who is Love? Let us come to realization that Christ did not die to save us from the devil, who has no power over our soul, but from the wrath of the Living God, which wrath would consume us if not for Christ our Advocate. There are other attributes which we may stress to our hearers; like the holiness, eternal nature, omnipresence (everywhere presence), omniscience (all knowing), wisdom, etc., of the Living God. The importance is by the working of the Holy Ghost. to bring the sinner to realization that he stands before an Almighty God worthy to be feared; to exalt God so that the hearer may know that he is hearing of One Whom he cannot take lightly; One before Whom he must fall in reverence and awe. We must present to him a God before Whom he must need tremble and quake in fear should this God pronounce Judgement upon him.

In verse 27, Paul presents the Athenians with their obligation as creatures of the Creator to seek Him: to feel after Him. This obligation, continues Paul, is a natural consequence of God’s preservation upon them. “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” He attested that God is the sustainer of their lives and without whom they would not even ‘have their being’ or exist. He presents what man essentially needed to be, what his purpose was before the fall in Adam.

After establishing the position of man in relation to God, one of Creature to Creator, as one to small before One Whose greatness is infinite, as clay in the hand of the Potter. Paul suddenly pulls the rug from under them. If we are His offspring (or creation). He declared, “we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, silver or stone, graven by art and man’s device.” Very often we are afraid to point out the sin of idolatry to an unbeliever in fear that he will say we are arrogant and condemning other religions, which in their minds are equal to Christianity. But brethren, have we forgotten that our God is the only true God? The very point we need to bring out is that our religion is not equal to others, our God is above all gods. We must never leave our hearers with the idea that our God is like unto an idol. Evangelism in this present world has deteriorated to the stage that one need not forsake his idols to become a Christian. We hear of Christians speaking of certain ‘converts’ ‘saved’ at certain rallies who have not yet been ‘convicted’ to stop praying to idols. Counselors need to tell counselees sometime after their conversion to stop their idol worship. Is our evangelism bringing forth grotesque hybrids holding joss-sticks in one hand and a Bible in the other? Is salvation possible for one who still clings to idols just because he has “accepted Christ”? Nay, it is not ours to accept or reject Christ for what He is but His to accept us in spite and despite of what we are or to reject us because of what we are. Ours is only to receive Him just as the clay receivers the shape he Potter so desires. Clay has no power to accept nor to reject the Potter’s will. We need to come as needy sinners without hope nor power to redeem ourselves and as the Word is declared to receive it with gladness rather than be as one on bargaining ground with God to accept Him should we find Him appealing. This incidentally is irresistible grace in operation. It is He Who ‘worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Phil 2:13. Brethren, let us remember the Thessalonians who “turned to God from idols to serve the Living God.” I Thess. 1:9.

I am not saying here that we must always only point out the sin of idolatry each time we witness. We need to, however, if there is a danger to ‘winning idolatrous converts’. The idea is to point out certain sins which are idols to the person we confront. We must never be afraid that our hearer will be offended by the sin we point out. By all means be tactful but never let the fear of man hinder you. For this cause, men of God were stoned, beaten, crucified, imprisoned and hated because they loved their fellowmen enough to condemn their sins. Can we as followers of Christ expect man to love us and hail us as teachers of ‘a good religion’ (as good as any other) if he hated our Master?

Now comes the command of the Gospel in verse 30. We need not and I believe must not present a Christ Who died for all and offer Him to anyone who wanted salvation. After establishing Christ’s preeminence and supremacy, we need only to issue His command. We may even echo Jn. 3:16 saying “whosoever belie\eth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” While atonement is limited the command of the gospel is to “all men everywhere”. As Paul puts it, “Now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He hath ordained.” It was as if he was echoing John the Baptist who cried “Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Matt. 3:2; Jesus in Galilee “I tell you, Nay but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3; Peter saying “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19, Peter in Samaria “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.” Acts 8:22; Jesus in Capernaum: “This is the work of God that ye believe of Him Whom He hath sent.” John 6:29; and a host of others.

We need not say that they have to believe that Jesus died for them. We can simply tell our hearers to repent and believe on Jesus, as God; that if we repent and believe on Him, His blood washes us white as snow. This is the balm1 Just as Peter declared in Acts 3:19, “Repent … that your sins may be blotted out.”

Paul did not have a chance to complete his sermon on Mars Hill. After declaring to them the resurrection of Christ the Judge, they mocked him but we read in verse 34 that certain men clave to him. I believe Paul continued to establish these in the faith.

In conclusion, I wish to add a few words about securing decisions of our hearers. In our space age world where everything is judged by speed, let us not get our evangelism drawn into such. We cannot try to drum four to five points into a person and then press him for a decision. If we believe that man can never save himself even by our will, “but as many that believe on His Name, Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God,” then we must come to the conclusion that the response of our will is by the grace of God working through the Holy Ghost in our hearts. Can we then press decisions from others? Do not underestimate God and think that unless we secure a decision, that soul would be lost. If our hearer is prepared to receive Christ on the spot, well and good but if not, do not force him. A verbal answer is far from repentance and faith towards God which is the fruit of the workings of God. We need not even ask for a decision. If the person to whom we are witnessing shows interest, invite Him to church or arrange to have bible studies with him. Just as some of the Athenians clave to Paul, the elect will show interest in the things of God. We need not spring a trap on our hearers to get a verbal ‘yes’ from them and hope this decision will bind them but rather let them say as Peter said “to Whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” Jn. 668, as the Spirit of God binds them. Our duty is just as ambassadors of our Sovereign to portray our Sovereign just as He is. Only then will our converts bow to Him as the LORD of their lives. Do not think that witnessing is that activity in which we present the work of the cross to a sinner and end up with asking for a decision. In our everyday lives, we can be witnessing too by sharing to others over God in His Greatness for then we witness and testify to others of our God. For example, we need not press our parents for a decision but we can always tell them of God and let the Holy Spirit work in their hearts. In this way, they may repent and believe. In the same way, we may witness to our friends and colleagues each day instead of once only in a lifetime when we start work and forcing them into a decision.

You may be aware that I did not deal so much with Limited Atonement as with our attitude in witnessing. This is because our emphasis is all wrong and we attempt to make people believe in a Name when they do not know nor believe in the Person Whom the Name ascribes.

Finally, I want to encourage members of G.L.T.D. to read two books on this topic of witnessing, “Today’s Gospel” – Walter Chantry and “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God” – J.I. Packer. This does not mean that I am in full agreement with these books but in general, I find them very edifying.

I have presented in this article an attitude in witnessing which exalts God, starts in God and is a Gospel after God. May we consider in the light of Scriptures whether these things are so.

Let these words in closing be a warning to us in G.L.T.D. “This is a question which troubles many evangelical Christians today. These are some who have come to believe in the sovereignty of God in the unqualified (infinite, beyond qualification) and uncompromising way in which (as we judge) the Bible presents it. These are now wondering whether there is not some way in which they could and should witness to this faith. … Others, who do not construe the doctrine of divine sovereignty in quite this way nor take it quite so seriously, fear that this new concern to believe it thoroughly will mean the death of evangelism; for they think it is bound to undercut all sense of urgency in evangelistic action. Satan, of course, will do anything to hold up evangelism and divide Christians; so he tempts the first group to become inhibited and cynical, about all current evangelistic endeavors, and the second group to lose its head and become panicky and alarmist, and both grow self-righteous and bitter and conceited as they criticize each other. Both groups, it seems, have urgent need to watch against the wiles of the devil” – J.I. Packer “Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God” – p. 95.