Why do 80–90% of those making a decision for Christ fall away from the faith? What is the biblical principle that Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitefield, etc., used to reach the lost? Why has the Church neglected it? Don’t let anything stop you from listening to this incredible teaching.
In the late seventies, God very graciously opened an itinerant ministry to me. As I began to travel, I had access to church growth records, and found to my horror that something like 80 to 90 percent of those making a decision for Christ were falling away from the faith. That is, modern evangelism with its methods is creating something like 80 to 90 of what we commonly call backsliders for every 100 decisions for Christ.
The Bible says in Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why, Scripture makes it very clear: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” To illustrate the function of God’s Law, let’s look for a moment at civil law.
The Bible says in Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why, Scripture makes it very clear: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” To illustrate the function of God’s Law, let’s look for a moment at civil law.
But more than that, it would be offensive to you, because I’m insinuating you’ve broken the law when you don’t think you have. However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: “On the way to a meeting, the law clocked you going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children’s convention.
The Bible says in Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why, Scripture makes it very clear: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” To illustrate the function of God’s Law, let’s look for a moment at civil law.
The Bible says in Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why, Scripture makes it very clear: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” To illustrate the function of God’s Law, let’s look for a moment at civil law.
But more than that, it would be offensive to you, because I’m insinuating you’ve broken the law when you don’t think you have. However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: “On the way to a meeting, the law clocked you going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children’s convention.
Now, with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction, let’s look at some of the functions of God’s Law for humanity. Romans 3:19: “Now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.” So one function of God’s Law is to stop the mouth, to stop sinners justifying themselves and saying, “There’s plenty of people worse than me. I’m not a bad person, really.” No, the Law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world, not just the Jews, but the whole world guilty before God.
Romans 3:20: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” So God’s Law tells us what sin is. First John 3:4 says, “Sin is transgression of the law.” Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid! No, I had not known sin but by the law.” Paul says, “I didn’t know what sin was until the Law told me.”
Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on as it would improve his flight. He’s a little skeptical at first because he can’t see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve a flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve the flight, so he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him because he’s wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him, he can stand it no longer. He slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.
