Homicide in the Church Murder of the Awakened Sinner — E.A. Johnston

False Conversion Through Decision-Based Evangelism

I was in an evangelistic meeting in a big church, and the pastor was explaining to his audience the way of salvation as he knew it. He handed out little booklets with a step-by-step fill-in-the-blank process on how to become a Christian.

And I watched these people as they did what they were told, and they took their pens and filled in the blanks on their brochure with an intellectual agreement with what he said the gospel was. And then he asked them to close their eyes while he led them in a prayer to accept Jesus.

He then said, raise your hand if you've just accepted Jesus, and half the room raised their hand. He then told them they were now Christians and that they never, ever had to do that again. What this pastor did to them was spiritual murder.

And then he double-damned them by saying they'd never have to make that decision again. So somebody came along with a gospel track in the future. They could refuse it and say very confidently, I already did that.

The Homicide of the Awakened Sinner

Unfortunately, friends, you can multiply that scenario across the churches of the land and use it as a textbook on how to make false converts. What's happened in America in the last 60 years is a homicide within the church because we killed off the awakened sinner.

And that's the title of my message today, friends. Homicide in the church, murder of the awakened sinner. In evangelism today, there's no need anymore to get anybody awakened to their lost condition. All that's necessary is to lead them into making a decision.

This is the graveyard of evangelism in our day. We get somebody dead in sin to join our church, baptize them. We just whitewash them on the outside, tell them they are saved as they remain dead in sin.

We offer folks a remedy for sin without ever showing them why they need that remedy. And this is the reason why our evangelism today is faulty and our churches are full of the unconverted. But old-time preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield knew how to get sinners lost before they could be saved.

Preaching the Law Before Grace

They preached searching sermons that were like a surgeon's scalpel as it cut deep into the wound, revealing the badness of the human heart, the justice of an offended sovereign, and the sentencing of the broken law upon the head of all guilty rebels.

They preached the law before grace and their sermons were like heavy hammers pounding away on the conscience of man until all false foundations were broken up by the doctrines of the gospel. The law of God, in all its strictness and severity, was thundered in the ears of their hearers until they saw Sinai altogether on a smoke and trembled in terror as they were awakened to their lost natural condition.

They saw their sin malady and sought a remedy and refuge for sin in the person of Christ Jesus. Old-time preachers knew how to deal with sinners by the great doctrines using the full counsel of God as they preached uproon, redemption, repentance, and regeneration until awakened sinners cried out, what must I do to be saved?

The Philippian Jailer and the Need for Awakening

In the book of Acts we find the apostle Paul and Silas in a Philippian prison. In Acts chapter 16, and in their chains, they prayed and sang praises to God as the prisoners heard them. Verse 25 states, then the preparatory work in the heart of the Philippian jailer begins as he listens to their prayers, hears their songs, and wonders at such strange persons as these Christians who can be joyful while in chains.

Then an earthquake shakes the foundation of the prison and all hell breaks loose as the Philippian jailer sees his need of a savior from sin. He comes trembling before them as we begin reading in verse 29 and following.

Then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Then Paul and Silas had their fish hooked.

There kneeling before them was an awakened sinner who saw his need. Then and only then did Paul reach into his gospel knapsack and pull out the precious pearl of great price because the gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty.

And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. But our modern evangelism doesn't do it that way. We offer folks a little Jesus who's easy to swallow before they see their need of him.

Modern Evangelism and Unregenerate Church Members

Like that pastor of that church who merely led some folks through a step-by-step process with their minds as he led them into making a decision like they were joining the local country club. But the biggest crime in our churches today is a homicide because we murdered the awakened sinner.

There is no need to get somebody lost today before they can be saved like Edwards and Whitfield did. We just get them to make a decision. Then we tell them they are now saved and they never ever have to do that again as they live within the church as unregenerate individuals on their way to hell.

The Prodigal Son and Genuine Salvation

But the prodigal son had to see his need and recognize his condition before he could go to the Father. I recommend, friends, that you Google a copy of Jonathan Edwards' sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

Then take the time to read it because it's 35 pages long. It may do two things for you. It will show you how to present the gospel in all its bloody colors so folks can get saved. And it may even get you awakened to your own lost condition to where you can become like the hearers of that church in Enfield, Connecticut in 1741 where Edwards gave that sermon to where an eyewitness said Ye minister had to desist from preaching because of all the cries and shouts throughout the whole house.

Get to Christ, friend. Salvation is Christ. Let us pray.