Evangelism Awakening — E.A. Johnston

The Limits of Formulaic Evangelism

Years ago, I was a senior trainer in an evangelism program that was popular in many churches at that time. The program centered around two questions, and if you did not know how to correctly answer the two questions, that meant you were lost and going to hell.

But if you found out how to answer those questions, if you took the program and learned the material, it got to where you could answer the two questions correctly, that meant you were saved and on your way to heaven.

I know that's an oversimplification of that program, but in essence, it boiled down to how a person answered those two questions and the determining factor if they were saved or not. I used to go door to door and present that program of evangelism, and I had many people pray to receive Christ using that methodology.

But when I did follow-up work the next week and came back to their home, I could see the light was on inside, but they wouldn't answer the door when I was knocking, and I could hear the TV blaring, but no one ever came to the door.

I believe they prayed a prayer that did not get them into heaven, but they just prayed it to get me out of their house. I finally came to the conclusion that when the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented, it should do more than just tell a person how to come to Christ.

Awakening Sinners to Their Need for Christ

A true gospel presentation should show a person why they need Christ, and then after that, show them how to get to him savingly. A true presentation of the gospel should show a lost sinner why they need a savior, that they are dead in sin and under a curse and in need of a remedy for sin, and that remedy is in the person of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, too many people have walked an aisle and accepted a Christ they know nothing about. They have repeated a sinner's prayer, but they have never seen themselves as a lost sinner because they have never been awakened to their lost condition, convicted of their sins by the Holy Spirit, never truly exercised repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ in a saving way, and they remain unconverted.

It is my fear that the diluted gospel of our generation has given many a false hope of security in salvation. Many have joined the church and remain unconverted and rest upon a false profession. Even well-respected ministers of their day, such as R .G. Lee and A .W. Tozer, both believe that only one out of ten church members was truly saved in the new birth.

If that is the case, then a thousand member church has 900 of its members who are lost and on their way to hell. With these thoughts in mind, I have created a gospel outreach format called Evangelism Awakening.

The Full Counsel of God in Evangelism Awakening

This gospel outreach is based on the great doctrines of the Bible, which were mightily used in past times of spiritual awakening and revival. The presentation of the gospel in Evangelism Awakening is the gospel of George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and Asahel Nettleton.

It's a presentation of the full counsel of God, which proclaims ruin, redemption, repentance and regeneration. Listen, friends. Too many church members today claim they know Christ, but they live like the devil.

They're no more than baptized heathen living upon a false foundation. They rest upon their good works and self-righteousness. They've never seen themselves as hell-deserving sinners. When they speak of their salvation, it's all about them and what they did to get it.

They'll say things like, I accepted Christ when I was eight years old, or I decided to become a Christian because I wanted to go to heaven, or I decided to become a Christian because I didn't want to go to hell.

But the Apostle Paul never talked like that. He said of his salvation, but I obtained mercy. In other words, it was nothing that Paul did to earn salvation. God saved him. You see, friends, today we've taken salvation out of the hands of God and placed it in the hands of men, but the old apostles knew better.

They knew God was the author of their salvation. The Apostle Peter declares in 1 Peter 2 .10, but now have obtained mercy. How about you, friend? Is your salvation something you did, or have you obtained mercy?

Are you a recipient of grace? You see, friends, I believe the gospel must be presented in its purity and proper order. That the law of God must be thundered in the ears of a person to awaken them to their lost condition.

That they must be shown their duty of repentance and the necessity of a work of regeneration upon the heart. Therefore, evangelism awakening trains its workers to be wise handlers of the gospel of the Son of God.

Confronting Sin, Judgment, and the Lordship of Christ

I believe that before a sinner can be safely brought to Christ, that person must get lost. One must be awakened to their lost condition and perilous position outside of Christ. And evangelism awakening confronts the sinner with sin, God's holy law, and the duty of repentance.

I believe that at salvation, a person acknowledges Jesus as Lord and surrenders to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The word of God must be used as a hammer to break the rock in pieces. As believers who are trying to reach this generation of lost sinners with the true gospel, we must tread the old paths and preach the great doctrines of the Bible that God has seen pleased to bless in former times through spiritual awakening and revival.

Therefore, I am pleased to announce that this gospel outreach program called evangelism awakening has been developed into an app and is now available on iTunes. My generation doesn't understand technology too well.

In fact, when you say the word app to my generation, they think you said nap and they go and take one. But this app called evangelism awakening is designed to be user friendly to facilitate a clear gospel presentation that shows sinful man his lost condition before God and his duty of immediate repentance toward an offended sovereign.

That all sin is not a disease but treason against a king. Evangelism awakening believes that this generation of evangelism has committed two crimes. It has reduced God down to man size and has taken salvation out of the hands of God and placed it in the hands of man.

This app will train you to be an effective soul winner who needs not to be ashamed when witnessing for Christ to this lost generation. I've made it church friendly in that I've spread out the teaching sessions over seven weeks so that a church can take its members through the program over a time period that allows them to learn the presentation and get comfortable with sharing the gospel on a regular basis.

The Holy Spirit's Work in Conversion

For some reason, we've forgotten how to effectively share the gospel to our generation. We just tell people that Jesus loves them and they need to accept him into their heart and they can go to heaven.

And when they agree to be led in a prayer, we lead them in that prayer and then shake their hand and tell them they are now a Christian. But listen friends, only the Holy Spirit can tell a person they are saved.

That's his job, not ours. We should be more like Jesus when we witness to people because when Jesus spoke with the woman at the well, he questioned her to awaken her to her sins. He said, go call thy husband.

Jesus confronted her with her sin. But today's evangelism hides from calling sin black and hell hot. It omits the need of repentance and the necessity of a work of regeneration upon the heart that only God can perform.

Evangelism Awakening declares that good people don't go to heaven, only forgiving people get to go there. This outreach program will train you to be a more effectual witness for Jesus Christ to where you'll be able to present the full counsel of God.

The Law, Conscience, and Conviction of Sin

Charles Fanny used to make an analogy which I like. He spoke of the old gristmill that operated by the force of water upon two millstones. There was the topstone and the bottomstone. And these two millstones are laid one atop the other and as they turn they grind the wheat into flour.

Fanny said the topstone was the law of God written on the heart of man which is his conscience. The bottomstone is the preached law of God thundered about the ears of the hearer. And when this occurs, then the Holy Spirit can go to work and grind upon that lost sinner with conviction of sin.

But today, with our brand of evangelism, we don't give the Holy Spirit opportunity to work on a person because we don't preach the gospel in its purity and proper order. We must acknowledge the divine operations of the Holy Spirit in bringing a person to saving faith through awakening, conviction, compunction, repentance and regeneration.

Salvation Belongs to God

Our fathers knew better how to share the gospel in their day and it's high time that we in our generation learned how to effectively share the gospel and point a sinner to Christ and let God operate on the sinful heart of man.

It's not our job to crank out Christians that have never seen the reality of revealed Christ nor come safely united to Him in a living faith. Salvation is in the hands of God. Jesus said, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. You see friends, the object of evangelism awakening is to recognize that God is the author of salvation. Our job as soul winners is to faithfully proclaim the true gospel of the Son of God and be honest with men and tell them that if they die apart from Christ, they will drop into an endless eternity in a terrible place of punishment for sin and that place is called hell.

And if they fail to exercise repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, they will go to hell even if they are the chairman of the deacons. I developed this program from studying the sermons of Jonathan Edwards and Azahel Mendelton.

Repentance, Regeneration, and the Great Commission

When I was conducting my research on my biography of Mendelton, I spent a great deal of time at Hartford Seminary going through the handwritten papers of Azahel Mendelton and studying his sermons that were so mightily used in the Second Great Awakening.

His two main themes were repentance and regeneration and the two main themes of evangelism awakening are repentance and regeneration. When you download the app from iTunes, you will see what I mean. We must be faithful witnesses and obedient to Christ's mandate of the Great Commission.

May God grant us the grace to reach this generation for Christ Jesus.