Can I admit something? I have typically feared the evangelistic sermon. I have preached at camps, in revivals, in churches, and in other settings for about 20 years now. And (please don’t vote me off the island) until this past year, I have always been uncomfortable with the evangelistic sermon.
What changed? I’m glad you asked. I am a DMin student at TEDS, a school chosen out of needing an experience outside of my Baylor and Baptist years of education. Last fall, I took an independent study course on evangelistic preaching because I knew that I feared it and I was terrible at it. Here are the two lessons I learned.
Lesson #1: The transition is key
There are multiple ways to get from the body of the sermon to the invitation. It’s a skill, though, and requires some practice. And if you’re not comfortable with it, the best bet is to script it out.
Here are two particular ways that are helpful. The first can be found in Zack Eswine’s Preaching to a Post-Everything World. He takes the teaching of his mentor Bryan Chappell (Mr. Christ-Centered Preaching himself) on the Fallen Condition Focus and expands it to include the finite nature, the fragile nature, and the faltering ways of humanity. All are avenues that demonstrate our desperate need for God’s grace. The strength of this approach is that it allows you to get to the invitation from basically any text without having to whiplash the hearers who were hearing about Ahab and Elijah in one sentence and the crucifixion in the next. An example: “You ever feel like Elijah? On top of Mt. Carmel in one moment and having no hope the next? Anyone ever waver like that? If so, remember that God has provision for you…”
The second way to make the transition to invitation is by Billy Graham’s question. At the close of every sermon, no matter the topic, Graham would always pose the question he wanted his hearers asking. In NT preaching, we often see the hearers stopping the preacher to ask a question. Graham assumed his preaching would prompt the same. But because of his environments, they would not and could not stop him to ask. So he asked for them. “Some of you may be here tonight and ask, ‘Billy, what do I need to do to have this kind of love in a loveless world?’” He was a master of it.
And that leads to…
Lesson #2: Be Clear
When you begin the invitation, be clear on two things. Be clear on the proper response to the Gospel. I break it up into three things: turn from your sin, trust Christ to forgive you and give you new life, and commit your life to Him. Turn, Trust, Commit.
The second thing to be clear on is how you want them to physically respond. The spiritual response is Turn, Trust, Commit. But what about the physical response? Do you want them to sign a card? Walk an aisle? Meet you in the back? Raise their hands? However you ask them to respond, be abundantly clear.
I’m about 70% more comfortable with my evangelistic preaching than I was last year. I still work hard to move from sermon body to invitation. Being the child of two teachers, I’m more inclined to let the “lesson” speak for itself, although I have been prompted by the Spirit to more often engage the lost who attend. I hope this little effort of mine helps you to do the same.
Trent,
I’m not a preacher, but I have studied it a little and heard a lot of them.
To me, every sermon should be about Jesus, in some way, and that way should point your listeners to the Gospel.
For the Gospel is not just for unbelievers. We need to always be reminded of the reason we stand in grace before God. So every sermon should be tied into, and point to the Gospel. And if you do that, it is just another step to extend the Gospel invite to the lost.
You get no disagreement from me, Mike. Someone somewhere once said that if a Jewish Rabbi can preach the OT like you do, then it’s not him that’s wrong.
The point of my little post was to simply help some brothers out. I found Eswine particularly practical.
Dr. Bob Mowery, who led Bobby Welch to the Lord, once said, “Aren’t you glad that on the day of Pentecost Peter didn’t say to the 3,000 who would soon be saved, ‘if you want to follow Jesus there is a nice table with some attractive brochures in the foyer of the next building?’”
Of course Peter did not do that – they were not in the building at all – and if they were there wouldn’t be brochures to distribute.
Scripture does not say that he stood before the group of people and begged them to come to “repeat after him” either.
Peter gave an invitation, he did not give an altar call. They are not the same thing. I’m not anti-altar call, but let’s not pretend they are some kind of biblical command. They are a pragmatic invention. Nothing wrong with that, so is the baptistry.
An invitation to respond is required for gospel preaching – but an altar call – or a leading in an “evangelical incantation” is not.
An invitation to respond can take many forms.
I’m not against altar calls or non manipulative use of the sinners prayer – but I am against pretending either is a biblical mandate or the only way to extend an invitation to respond to the gospel.
Just to be clear(er): it’s the Turn, Trust, Commit part that’s crucial. Not whether you sign a card, walk an aisle, raise your hand, or dance a hula.
In my church, we always make people dance a hula. perhaps that explains our struggles?
Like this?
Every biblical teaching is not directly about the gospel, but every sermon applying it to our lives practically is necessarily a gospel issue. It helps to set that up in the way the material to be taught is presented in a sermon. So you can answer questions in your sermon like:
“What does this teach us out God’s nature?”
“How have we failed to bear the image of God in this?”
“How has Christ enabled us to be conformed to him?”
“What do we need to do to appropriate Christ’s work in our life on this matter?”
So it goes beyond simply presenting a Bible story and letting the application be the “moral of the story”: “The story shows that we need to be nice to people, so go and be nice to people.” Rather it’s, “We aren’t as nice as we should be, but that’s why Jesus died on the cross. Trust him and we can be forgiven of this sin, then he will live righteously in and through us.”
Amen, Jim!
And Amen. Like I said, I found Zack Eswine’s work on this (though he’s a Presbyterian guy!) particularly practical and helpful. He presents a lot of paths to get there. That part of the book is worth the price IMHO.
We should clearly ask people to respond to the message. We should draw the net. We should actually lead people to salvation. When we preach an evangelistic message, or witness to someone one on one, we should ask the person to turn to Christ and put their faith in Jesus. We shouldn’t make a statement like: “Well, go home and read the book of Romans, and perhaps God will save you.” Or, “If anyone is interested in getting saved, then come to our seeker’s class, next Sunday, which meets at 10 am.” Give that person/people the opportunity to get saved, right then. Invite them to be saved, right there and then. Draw the net. Lead them to Jesus.
David
“Well, go home and read the book of Romans, and perhaps God will save you.”
Has anyone in the history of the planet said this?
🙂 Excellent question BillMac!
Bill Mac,
Yes, they have said that. I heard it with my own ears. And, the man was a Southern Baptist Seminary Professor.
David
The man, who was being witnessed to, wanted to be saved. He told the man he was willing to be saved. Then, he was told to go and read the book of Romans.
When we share the Gospel with someone, we should ask them if they want to get saved, right then and there. Behold, now is the day…now is the time. And, when we preach a Gospel message, we should invite people to respond…in fact, we should encourage them to respond, right then and there….as a matter of fact, we should beg and plead with them to get saved, right then!
Jesus told people to follow Him. To leave it all, right then, and follow Him. After Peter preached, those people in the book of Acts were baptized, right away. So, there must have been some kind of altar call.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” 41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
I’m not advocating manipulative, “if you love your mama, come forward,” or “just sign a card,” altar calls. But instead, I’m talking about pleading with people to be saved, right then, today. And, if anyone comes forward at my Church, then we send them back to a more private room with 2 of my members, who can talk to them in private….to get them out of the pressure of a crowd watching them. But still, draw the net. Invite people to be saved, right then and there.
Also, Les, I have left many people with tracts, so they could read further, and think on it.
David
Volfan,
Wait! was it the SB Seminary professor who was being witnessed to or doing the witnessing? har, har.
Seriously, without knowing more of the context of the situation, I am not going to weigh in on the conversation you witnessed – but I will ask you a few questions;
If that man was wanting to get saved…that is the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in this sinners heart, right? It’s the Holy Spirit that draws one to salvation, right?
Does that man have to say a prayer with the man witnessing to him to seal the deal?
Explaining the gospel accurately and then giving the hearer something to chew further on (in your example Romans) is in fact offering the sinner an opportunity to respond, is it not?
The person witnessing is not some sort of an intercessor between the sinner and God that must, again, “seal the deal”?
I would’ve told the man to get saved…right then and there. I would’ve gladly helped him to call on the Lord in a sinner’s prayer, if he needed me to help him. I would’ve told him what Romans 10:9-10 says….
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
OK….would you or me doing “telling him to get saved” ensure his salvation any more than what the professor did in your example?
Perhaps he told to man to read the very passage you quoted.
Could not the sinner repented and believed based on his hearing of the gospel without the “help” of the professor?
Is not the gospel and the scripture powerful enough to bring salvation to fruition in the sinners life – or is an immediate leading in a sinners prayer essential for that to happen?
Tarheel,
I believe people make real choices about getting saved, or not. And, we should lead people to Jesus while the Holy Spirit is working on their hearts, and drawing them. I believe we should lead them to Christ, before they leave us…maybe to never think about getting saved, again. I think we should lead people to salvation, while their hearts are tender, and thinking seriously about it. I believe we should tell them what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:2…”For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
David
I believe people make real choices too.
I am just asking a few questions for discussion.
Vol,
The man wanted to be saved and the SBC prof sent him away? That is strange indeed. Did you say something to the prof when you saw him send the man away?
BTW, it’s not terribly long, but here is just one example of Geo. Whitefield closing out a sermon and not using an altar call. As you see, he did implore and cleary give an invitation for sinners to come to Christ. What do you think of it?
“I come, SECONDLY, to show you what is meant by coming to Christ.
It is not, my brethren, coming with your own works: no, you must come in full dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ, looking on him as the Lord who died to save sinners: Go to him, tell him you are lost, undone, miserable sinners, and that you deserve nothing but hell; and when you thus go to the Lord Jesus Christ out of yourself, in full dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will find him an able and a willing savior; he is pleased to see sinners coming to him in a sense of their own unworthiness; and when their case seems to be most dangerous, most distressed, then the Lord in his mercy steps in and gives you his grace; he puts his Spirit within you, takes away your heart of stone, and gives you a heart of flesh. Stand not out then against this Lord, but go unto him, not in your own strength, but in the strength of Jesus Christ.
And this brings me, THIRDLY, to consider the exhortation Christ gives unto all of you, high and low, rich and poor, one with another, to come unto him that you may have rest. And if Jesus Christ gives you rest, you may be sure it will be a rest indeed; it will be such a rest as your soul wants; it will be a rest which the world can neither give nor take away. O come all of ye this night, and you shall find rest: Jesus Christ hath promised it. Here is a gracious invitation, and do not let a little rain hurry you away from the hearing of it; do but consider what the devil and damned spirits would give to have the offer of mercy, and to accept of Christ, that they may be delivered from the torments they labor under, and must do so forever; or, how pleasing would this rain be to them to cool their parched tongues; but they are denied both, while you have mercy offered to you; free and rich mercy to come to Christ; here is food for your souls, and the rain is to bring forth the fruits of the earth, as food for you bodies. Here is mercy upon mercy.
Let me beseech you to come unto Christ, and he will give you rest; you shall find rest unto your souls. O you, my weary, burdened brethren, do but go to Christ in this manner, and though you go to him weary, you shall find rest before you come from him: let not anything short of the Lord Jesus Christ be your rest; for wherever you seek you will be disappointed; but if you do but seek unto the Lord Jesus Christ, there you will find a fullness of every thing which your weary soul wants. Go to him this night; here is an invitation to all you who are weary souls. He does not call you, O Pharisees; not, it is only you weary sinners; and sure you will not stay from him, but accept of his invitation; do not delay; one moment may be dangerous: death may take you off suddenly. You know not but that a fit of the apoplexy may hurry you from time into eternity; therefore, be not for staying till you have something to bring; come in all your rags, in all your filthiness, in all your distresses, and you will soon find Jesus Christ ready to help, and to relieve you; he loves you as well in your rags, as in your best garments; he regards not your dress; no, do but come unto him, and you shall soon find rest for your souls.
What say you? Shall I tell my Master you will come unto him, and that you will accept him on his own terms. Let me, my brethren, beseech you to take Jesus without anything of your own righteousness: for if you expect to mix anything of yourself with Christ, you build upon a sandy foundation; but if you take Christ for your rest, he will be that unto you. Let me beseech you to build upon this rock of ages. O my brethren, think of the gracious invitation, “Come unto me,” to Jesus Christ; it is he that calls you; And will you not go?
Come, come unto him. If your souls were not immortal, and you in danger of losing them, I would not thus speak unto you; but the love of your souls constrains me to speak: methinks this would constrain me to speak unto you forever. Come then by faith, and lay hold of the Lord Jesus; though he be in heaven, he now calleth thee. Come, all ye drunkards, swearers, Sabbath-breakers, adulterers, fornicators; come, all ye scoffers, harlots, thieves, and murderers, and Jesus Christ will save you; he will give you rest, if you are weary of your sins. O come lay hold upon him. Had I less love for your souls, I might speak less; but that love of God, which is shed abroad in my heart, will not permit me to leave you, till I see whether you will come to Christ or no. O for your life receive him, for fear he may never call you any more. Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; it may be this night the cry may be made. Now would you hear this, if you were sure to die before the morning light? God grant you may begin to live, that when the king of terrors shall come, you may have nothing to do but to commit your souls into the hands of a faithful Redeemer.
Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be all honor, praises, dominion, and power, henceforth and for evermore. Amen, Amen.”
Les,
I did not SEE the Prof. send the man away. I HEARD the Prof. share this. He was sharing this.
David
Oh sorry Vol. I misunderstood.
What do you think of Whitfield’s closing invitation?
Blessings.
Les,
That’s good stuff from Whitefield.
David
Thanks Vol. I thought you’d like that. He was channeling you re your comments above about the urgency that should be in our preaching and gospel encounters. I agree.
Vol,
I’ve done something similar. I recommended John though. Many people have done that. My situations were in the context where going into a gospel conversation was not possible. I recommended reading through John.
Besides Vol, God can and has saved people using Romans. Think Luther.
Vol,
I think everyone here (well I know I do) agrees with you that part of any presentation of the gospel should be a call to respond…in fact without one we would be not presenting the gospel at all…
But please, do not assume that those who may not offer an actual altar call or ask people to repeat after them every-time the gospel is presented are not “drawing the net” or “giving an opportunity to respond”. Simply because your preferred approach is to offer altar calls, etc… does not mean that others who do it differently are doing it wrong.
The giving of an opportunity to respond is not married to any particular approach. I think we a do a disservice to it when we hogtie the “only” or “proper” way to do something to our traditions.
(I realize that you did not say the words only or proper in your comments here – but I think based on your sentiments and your comments in other discussions that I am representing your view correctly – If I am not I will stand to be corrected.)
Iain Murray wrote a booklet about the invitation system. I think he gets to the heart of the matter as to why Reformed folks are generally averse to the altar call (invitation system) and the non Reformed folks generally are more favorable to it. he says,
“The issue thus resolves itself into a question which is not simply about evangelistic methods but rather about theological beliefs. What is conversion and how does it take place? What is the work of the Spirit in regeneration, and how does the general work of the Spirit, by which He speaks to the consciences of the unregenerate by the Word, differ from His special and saving work? Did God do no more for Matthew than for other publicans who heard Christ preach and were not converted? Did He do no more for Saul of Tarsus than for other Pharisees who knew the truth and did not respond? Why is it that some believe under the preaching of the gospel and others believe not?
A consideration of these questions will show that the difference between the users and the nonusers of ‘the invitation’ goes much deeper than a question of methodology. Harold J. Ockenga who, as noted earlier, professes to see the difference as only one of methods, himself supplies the evidence to the contrary by the following statement of the belief which underlies the system: ‘Some reformed theologians,’ he says, ‘teach that regeneration by the Holy Spirit precedes conversion. The evangelical position is that regeneration is conditioned upon repentance, confession and faith. This alone stimulates evangelism.’19 We bypass the form in which this assertion is made though it is a strange use of the word ‘evangelical’ to attach it to a view which cannot be found in any of the great evangelical confessions and catechisms of the Reformation and Puritan eras. Ockenga’s claim is that man’s act must precede the saving work of the Spirit of regeneration. This is not to say there is no prior activity of the Spirit: ‘The Bible makes it plain that the Holy Spirit attends the preaching of the Word and enables a sinner to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour.’ The key word is enables. The Holy Spirit, according to this view, gives a general help to all who hear the gospel but the final choice rests with the individual; his is the ‘decision which results in salvation or reprobation’. Therefore let men be brought to decision and their regeneration will follow. Such is the order of salvation according to the invitation system and it is claimed that to teach any other order is to nullify the stimulus for evangelism. Certainly we are prepared to grant that the whole case for the public appeal can be reduced to the question whether this order of salvation is right or wrong. If it is wrong, ‘the invitation’ should be given up, which is, of course, an entirely different thing to saying that evangelism should be given up.”
http://rediscoveringthebible.com/InvitationSystem.pdf
Iain Murray certainly has the difference between the order of salvation correct. There is a lack of distinction here between the altar call and the invitation. Other comments on this article already investigate this distinction. Most Reformed folks criticize the altar call in part for the reason given here, and recognize the biblical validity of the invitation. However, if the distinction isn’t made, criticism of the altar call is easily interpreted to be criticism of the invitation. The difference between the two, I believe, is explained by the Reformed understanding that God ordains the means. The invitation is the means by which an individual being regenerated by the Holy Spirit is called to demonstrate this regeneration through repentance and belief. While there may be altar calls in conjunction with invitations, you can have invitations without altar calls. The problem comes when you have an altar call without an invitation. This is generally an appeal to some temporary emotional activity designed to artificially instigate a sense that people are coming to Christ.
You are right, Jim…
That is why I am making great effort to differentiate between an “altar call” and “an opportunity to respond”.
I am not against altar calls, we use them here – I am against that idea being conveyed as the only way to do it….and I am more against conveying to our people that the altar call is the only (or most important) time in the service that one can “do business with God”.
I love the “invitation” (if you can even call it that) in the Bible: “Repent and believe.” Seemed to work for the Apostles.
I enjoyed reading this Trent….
There is an important responsibility in understanding if we have communicated the gospel clearly. That responsibility allows us to always inquire whether God is at work in the heart of the listener. An invitation to discuss, questions or inquiries into what has been taught is always a good thing.
As God moved the 3000 into His Kingdom in one of the Acts accounts, there is amazing joy in the fellowship, the follow-up, the living. So, I believe it is incumbent upon all ministers of the Gospel to be interested in who God has brought into His Kingdom. And likewise, those that intend to disrupt it…..That requires that we invite, ask, love, and watch as faithful shepherds.
A lot of this is terminology – and the problem of simply talking past each other. this has been a pretty good discussion.