Clarity on "the Law" in evangelism

There are people who have studied biblical evangelism and are having a hard time getting their pastor onboard with biblical evangelism. 

Remember, not every church is a biblical church and not every pastor is saved. Shocking but true. 

Many pastors have bought into a false gospel. It has been around a long time.

 

Either 

*they dont see the need for a outreach from in the church to reach locals to add new believers to the church,

Or 

*They focus on easy believism. 

>they dont have any focus on sin when they preach the Gospel

>they remove repentance as a necessary part of getting right with God,

>they misunderstand the purpose of the Law,

>they dont want to reveal peoples sins and only want to focus on love. But by doing so miss that love is not actually lived out without truth. 

And 

*They reject teaching on the biblical Gospel or misunderstand such teachings.

>they misunderstand gospel training courses such as the one taught by John MacArthur or by Ray Comfort at Living Waters. 

So these attempt to bring clarity on this issue.  

*Note on wotm worth reading 

*Reputable Preacher talks about the Law and the Gospel

*This gives clarity on the use of the Law in evangelism. 

Remember evangelism includes apologetics as well as the Law and the Gospel. Some call the Law and the Gospel as the Gospel... and understandibly so as explained. 

Pastors and the Law 

The Law most pastors today (who fall into the above categories) dislike 10 Commandments being connected to the Gospel. But the 10C are find to bring about the knowledge of sin in a "gospel" conversation. Because Scripture says we would not know sin but by the Law. So whichever Law is being talked about here will still lead back to a law of righteousness. 

So we have 3 Laws to point us to perfect righteousness. If we view these as The Law then there is no problem. 

Looking at these laws:

1. The Law of Righteousness

*The Law God wrote on our hearts. 

*This is the Law given to every human. 

>This is the righteous law Scripture regularly points to. God has written this on our hearts (in our design as humans). 

Romans 2:14-15 says:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the Law, by nature do the things of the Law, these, although not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.

*This is the Law that was violated in Eden. 

Romans 6:23 

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

Romans 8:2: 

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death

2. The 10 Commandments

*This is the Law God gave to Israel. 

Romans 7:7 says: 

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet"

3. The Law of Christ 

This is called the Law of the spirit of Life. Born again believers have recieved spiritual life. 

This law, like the 10C, points to moral righteousness which means we can rightly "love God and love Mankind". It is lived out "naturally" by all who are born again. The born again have Christ's righteousness. 

Matthew 22:37-39 

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Luke 10:27

And he answered, “‘1. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and 2. ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”

Romans 8:2 says: 

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death

(Verse here)

Believers have spiritual life. Scripture speaks in ways to say we wear or have the Righteousness of Christ - which enables us to "live out" righteousness. 

Having Christ's Righteousness:

Romans 3:21-22

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.

Wearing Christ's Righteousness:

Romans 13:14 

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its cravings.

The "putting on" is also seen when God clothes Adam and Eve with the blood stained animal skins, which was sacrificed for their sins. It was a temporary covering until Christ. 

We also see "putting on" the righteousness of Christ in putting on the armor of God. 

Being Led by Christ's Righteousness:

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For our sake He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Philippians 3:9 

and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith

Romans 6:16 

Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Galatians 5:16 

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Romans 8:4

in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit

Galatians 5:18 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.

More on "the Law of the Spirit of Life"

In Evangelism...

So... when we evangelize we are pointing people to the inner law that God has written on the hearts, how we sin and fail to live perfectly and righteously. We can use some examples which God will use to convict them, even if they seared their conscience(1) in most areas. 

Note, the OT & NT do point to many many examples of moral righteousness. It is not just what is in the 10C. But is in truth the moral perfection of God's character. 

Those examples can be: 

*Lying

*Stealing

*Disobedient to parents

*adultery

*Lust - God sees our thoughts, knows our hearts, (as well as what we say and do). 

*Using God's name in vain, (there's a myriad ways to do that).

We can also point to righteousness in general by showing sins of:

*abortion (murder) 

*sexual sins such as fornication or any of the lgbt sex cult lifestyles sins, or bestiality or porn

*not living as God created us as a male or female (trans or furry or otherkin sins) 

*or even of discontentment, ingrattitude, or any number of problems people need counseling helps on. 

*divorce is even a valid sin too since marriage is a illustration of the Gospel; Christ and his Bride shall never be divorced/seperated/unsaved etc. 

*marriage; anything outside 1 man and 1 woman [human to human] (born that gender, living rightly as that gender). Not marrying multiple people, not marrying a dog, a tree, a building, a robot, an ai etc. Those are not "marriage" as God designed it. Anything in rebellion to it. 

*anything not lived in righteousness. 

So the point is it isnt only the 10C Christians are saying is The Law when witnessing, but the sins they commit do include those. 

We do have to be careful not to say the 10C but that we can see ourselves in truth even by looking at the mirror of the moral standards by looking at some of the 10C. 

What we dont want to do is have an emphasis placed only on the 10C because thats how cults like SDA start trying to push people legalistically under that Law to obey the Sabbath command (given to Israel). So we need caution there. 

And having a firmer fuller grasp on the Law or basically on knowing the perfect righteous holiness of God (His character and nature) helps us show how far we (as sinners) are from His otherly (unchanging) perfection. 

So the WOTM method is biblical. And once one has a better understanding of what (basically) the Standard [God] or Law of Righteousness is you are able to evangelize effectively. 

To understand God's attributes, is to help you have a greater grasp on what righteousness is. God's character points us to true moral perfection. 

We believers are not perfected at salvation. We grow in holiness and righteousness, and become more like Christ day by day over our lifetime and upon shedding this sin stained body, are then free from sin, obtain a sin free eternal body and enter into eternal life in eternity where sin will never enter again [the new Heaven & new Earth]. 

Hope this helped. 

Footnotes

(1) on sinners searing their conscience

1 Timothy 4:2 says

by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron

Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Ephesians 4:18-19: "(They are) hardened in their hearts, having become callous and committed to indecent behavior for the purpose of gratifying the lusts of impurity..."

These reject truth because they are trapped in their sin nature and are blind to the truth

Titus 1:15-16: 
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but by deeds they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good deed

Paul speaks of the “good conscience” as opposed to the seared conscience. “Advancing God’s work,” he says, comes by faith, and love “comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:4–5). A good conscience has the capability to tell right from wrong and is free from guilt. A person with a good conscience maintains his integrity. He enjoys fellowship with those who “walk in the light, as [Jesus] is in the light

So the born again walk in righteousness naturally by nature (and by that new nature) live out loving God and living others. And because of it, we are useful to God who can do good works through us.

 

If your Pastor is objecting to wotm perhaps this can be a help to get him thinking about evangelism biblically. He might come around after he seeks Scripture and a time in prayer. 

If not you can 1. Keep sharing the truth in evangelism in your witnessing encounters and guide those folk who get saved to a biblical church, or 2. Move to a church with a biblical pastor who has matured in his understanding if Scripture and grasps the basics of the Gospel. 

The message we preach as we reach the lost is in the NT. If he rejects it, he might very well likely be preaching a false gospel and if so, you should begin looking for a biblical church where evangelism is taught and preached in truth. Sometimes that might mean going to a church an hour away or moving your whole life to another region to find one. 

God bless.

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Related Resources

The 10 C in light of righteousness