Altar Calls New (Part 1)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. Pastor Steve.

What's up, baby? Buenos dias, senor. Do you like it when people call you broseph? Is that a bad thing or a good thing? It doesn't offend me. It doesn't offend me. So now you've been in Massachusetts for 10 years.

Tell me why it's been the longest four decades of your life.

Well, you know, I think anyone who lives here would say this last winter was interminable. I mean, it just went on and on and on. So I think we're all glad to see that go. But you know, actually, it hasn't been the longest four decades of my life.

When I think about everything that's happened here, it seems pretty incredible.

It's amazing. And how many more decades do you think you'll be here now with the grandkids? What 16 grandkids?

You're a lifer. I think we're leaving in June, actually.

My official notice. I've always encouraged open honesty, sovereignty of God. People come and go as they please. Hold them with an open hand. Could you do me a favor and just stick around through like mid-August?

Okay. Yeah, that would be helpful to me. Sure. Yeah.

I have plans for you. Jeremiah. Yeah. Not for evil, but for good. I know.

Altar Calls, Invitations, and the Problem of Walking Forward

Steve, altar calls are regular fare for the seeker-sensitive church diner. Do you like altar calls? Do you think it's something that we should continue to do? I frankly had no people. They've never even been to an altar call.

So let's talk about altar calls and then why we don't do them here at BBC.

Tell us what they are. Well, you know, I actually saw one just about two years ago. I was in Bakersfield and I went to an Easter service at a park. Now I figured this was going to be a little problematic because who has one at a park?

Yeah. That would be one reason not to do an altar call. It's hard to get the altar into the park.

Well, so they had a nice little, you know, bandstand, shell thing there and everything. A lot of people there. And I was impressed because I thought there's enough gospel here for people to get saved.

Really. And I thought, well, that's good. And then he started inviting people for, you know, the typical thing. And then it went a whole step further because they actually took people right away and baptized them.

Like, right away. And I thought, wow, because, I mean, how do you possibly have people articulate their profession of faith or whatever? And they really didn't.

Now, see, that's interesting to me. So we have to take a little detour here, Steve. Did they have, like, spare Mormon underwear or something to change into? How does that work?

Bring extra clothes? I don't know. I mean, it was just like they just took them right into the water and baptized them.

Well, you just go home wet. I guess in Bakersfield it's 120 degrees in April. It was pretty warm.

So, yeah, I guess, I don't know. I didn't stick around long enough. I just thought, really? They're going to baptize people right now? And I wasn't really that interested, you know, to stick around and watch the whole thing.

Well, maybe, Steve, it was sprinkling. Then that way, they don't have to go all the way. No, no, no. I did see a few. They were full-on dunks, dunkers. Oh, okay. Dunk-a-rama. Yeah.

Dunk-a-rama, bitch. So, of course, there's not an altar in a New Testament church. Not that I know of, right? There are altars in Catholic churches because the sacrifice must be done again and again.

And so, I won't hold it against altar callers. Is that a bad term? You know, it's like if you're a trekker versus a trekkie. An altar caller. An altar caller.

I don't know. It sounds like something, you know, you should call somebody on your cell phone or something.

It sounds like it's a reverend caller where you have to buy those things, and that's how I get into this. Red Sox game's cheaper when I have the ecclesiastical caller. You got your altar caller on? So, if you said, Steve, it's an invitation, would that be better for you if somebody said, we do invitations at our church?

Yeah, that would be better. I mean, because, you know, it wouldn't necessarily mean that people have to come forward. You know, that's the thing that bugs me is the whole, you know, it's salvation by walking forward almost, you know, which is obviously not correct.

Steve, often the gospel response, the response to the gospel is one of urgency and repent and military-like language, following Jesus and believe, and it's an intense thing with the 2 Corinthians 5, and we're begging people as ambassadors.

But there are some times that I'll see in Scripture where there is more of an invitation to come to Christ. It's more of an appeal. Instead of a command, it's an appeal. Now, of course, it's both, but if somebody said, you know, I want to invite you to believe, nine times out of ten I wouldn't say it, but I wouldn't say to somebody, ah, they're some kind of rank heretic because they're inviting people.

No, I mean, even things like, you know, come follow me. We don't, we, you know, you can't really, you can't really know exactly what kind of voice Jesus used when he said that. You know, was it like, come follow me, or was it like, come follow me, you know, and I mean, or something in between, yeah, you know, or so, you know, and I mean, there's no way of knowing, you know, and so was it, was it a soft appeal?

Was it a military command? Was it some kind of, you know, like exhortation, you know, kind of a middle of the road sort of thing? And, you know, we, you can't read that just from, even if you study the Greek, you can't exactly figure out what the voice of that is.

And so, you know what, do I think it's wrong to do one or the other? No. And I think, you know, even in the second Corinthians passage that you're talking about, I think there is kind of a begging and urging, a pleading with people that's fine.

I think that's fine, because I think, humanly speaking, we need to desire, we need to have that sense of urgency to see people repent and flee from their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's what we want.

This isn't an intellectual exercise where we, you know, just throw out the facts and just wait to see if the Holy Spirit will act or not. We genuinely want people to believe. There's no greater joy. In fact, Luke 15 says that.

Steve, let's talk about the setup, because ultimately you and I believe that altar call systems and the evangelistic call at the end of a service, not just from the pulpit, but, you know, physically going up to the front, we think it's man-centered.

And so let's talk a little bit about some of the man-centered recipes that people use. How about the music? Is there music going on behind the scenes when the pastor's talking?

Sure. I mean, it's usually, you know, traditionally, ever since it was written, you know, just as I am, you know, I had a seminary prof who used to just, he used to joke about it and go at every head bowed, every eye closed, as the organist plays, just as I am for the 322nd time.

You know, and it's like, just by virtue of repetition to kind of prime the pump, you know, get you going, you know, and maybe the choir can just sing in a lower voice and just kind of...

Well, maybe that 322nd time is, I surrender all self-control and I just have to keep going and going and going. I surrender all of my views of sovereignty of God and salvation. I surrender all those.

Well, and because there's a real lack of sovereignty of God and salvation when you are so, I think it's good to plead. I think it's wrong to tell people that if they really want to receive Jesus right now, what they need to do is walk up front.

I mean, that's just wrong because the, first of all, the issue is never receive the Lord Jesus Christ. It's more, does he receive you? But secondly, where would we see in scripture anywhere where somebody needed to walk somewhere, walk up front, just take those couple of steps towards God, because he's come a long way towards you.

Where would we see that anywhere in scripture? We'd see repent and believe. We would see believe and be baptized. We would see all kinds of things, you know, commands to believe, but we wouldn't see walk this aisle.

Steve, it just dawned on me that many times the altar call proponents use verses like, if you confess me before the Father, I'll confess you and those kinds of things. So why would the altar caller say things like, every head bowed, every eye closed, no one looking around, because don't you want to confess him in front of these other people so that they see it?

I see that hand only. That's the preacher.

You confess before men. Right. No, just before the pastor. But I also love, you know, you've probably been to these things too. And it's like, every head bowed, every eye closed, you know, and if you want to receive the Lord, you know, just slip your hand up and, oh, yes, you in the chartreuse suit, I see you, you know, and I mean, you in the redskins uniform, yes, I see you and you.

And so like everybody is going, oh, yeah, I'm sitting next to that guy or I saw that guy or whatever. They're plainly identified. So what's the point of every head bowed, every eye closed?

Steve, I remember listening to KKLA, the radio station in Los Angeles. I think it's probably still around, Salem Broadcasting Network. I'd hear an altar call from maybe a Calvary Chapel guy. I mean, you know, they taught the Bible and I know it was more Arminian, but they taught the Bible.

And at the end, it was an altar call. And I was already saved. I was a brand new Christian. I could literally feel my body getting kind of sweaty and palms getting wet. And thinking this guy is so good, he's making me want to go like up to the dashboard of my car or something.

I mean, what do I do?

I want to go up there. If you're in your car and you're listening right now, I want you to just reach up and touch the dashboard. Just do it in faith.

Touch the defroster area. Nothing wavering. Steve, there was a time and this is why this is not why I'm against altar calls. But there was a time where I didn't go up to the altar call and I thought I really had believed.

But I was wondering if I really did have saving faith because I didn't do what they were telling everybody else to do.

Yeah. If you really believed, you would have gone up. So I don't know, man. Are you saved?

Well, sometimes people will use man-centered methods to such a degree, they'll say, you better come up here before it's too late. Now, I'm not afraid of saying today is the day that you might die and meet your maker and you need to meet your maker with an advocate.

Right. You're going to go before the judge of the universe. I suggest getting a really good lawyer. The best. And I mean that in the Job 9 sense in the first Timothy chapter 3 sense. So I don't I think it's true.

Steve, you and I have talked to people in the morning. They've been dead in the afternoon. Yeah. Right. So it's not that. But you've got to come up here before it's too late. No, I was used and you know this, I use S. Lewis Johnson's words, you know, Lord, may you give them no peace or rest until they rest.

In you. I mean, can you imagine there's an old an old saying that if you represent yourself, you have a fool for a client, you know, so just imagine. I mean, I have you ever talked to somebody who said, well, you know what?

I'm just going to tell God, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you're like, really? Because I would really I would rather be able to turn to my advocate, Christ Jesus, and say, Lord, I don't know what to say.

Would you intercede on my behalf? I think I'm a lot better off, you know, having the best advocate in the universe, the one who's never lost a case. That's the man, Christ Jesus, that I want to represent me.

Right. Steve, just imagine I go back to the days of listening to the Jay Severins of the world talking about what it would be like to go before the Supreme Court and how this is the ultimate, you know, he had a lot of weird ideas, but I thought he was pretty good when he discussed the Supreme Court of the United States and what you would have to do to prepare before you would stand before these these men and women in these robes and the power that they had and the minds that they had.

Can you imagine standing before them? I literally talk about sweating during the altar call in the car. I would be broadcast news kind of sweating. Now, just how much more you stand before God and you are exposed every single thing that you ever done sinfully was ultimately against the judge.

Right. It's not like the judge pulls you in. You've committed a crime against the state and, you know, you didn't pay your taxes and you didn't register your guns.

Like he's disinterested, you know, a third party.

I take this very personally. That's why we tell people on No Compromise Radio, unbelievers have a personal relationship with God. It's just one of enemy. So standing before God and, you know, you watch these crime shows in 48 hours and just like you were talking about with your police background, don't represent yourself.

How foolish. You need someone else to represent you. That's it. That's it. I think that's a good chapter in your book.

So, I mean, seriously, I and I'm just like, I could just imagine I could just picture that courtroom, you know, person after person representing themselves. And then you get up there and you just go, I've seen what happened to those guys.

And I'm really thankful I don't have to represent myself. Here's Job 9.

Now, the ESV translates it. There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hands on us both. That's Job 9, 33. But it has a little notation underneath it, and it could be translated this way. Would that there were an arbiter between us.

Oh, may there be. God, I need someone who's an advocate. And that's 1 John 2, verse 1 and 2 language, that Jesus Christ, the righteous, is our advocate. Isn't that good? Well, let's lead in here to this No Compromise discussion with altar calls.

Doesn't really, Steve, the pastor become a faux mediator? You do these things. I'm telling you what God is thinking. I'll tell you how to do such and such. And I think he can become a mediator.

Yeah, the accent is on the faux, though, F-A-U-X, as in false, because he's not mediating anything. What he's doing is putting you at ease, rightly or wrongly. You know, I mean, here's the real problem.

When you come up and you walk that aisle, one of two things is true. Either you were already saved before you ever got up out of that chair or you're being lured into a false sense of salvation. But by virtue of walking there, the action has nothing, nothing, nothing to do with whether you are saved or not.

Zero. Steve, I appreciate this man in many regards, but Billy Graham did say, I'm going to ask you to come forward up there, down there. I want you to come. You come right now, quickly. If you're here with friends or relatives, I'll wait for you.

Don't let distance keep you from Christ. It's a long way, but Christ went all the way to the cross because he loved you. Certainly you can come these few steps and give your life to him.

It's just a few steps, just a little effort on your part. You know, this is like God is throwing out the life preserver for you. Won't you reach out and take it? Only it's even worse because it's not, it's not just reach out.

It's get up, walk, you know? And, and again, what does that have to do with salvation? Where would we see that. Anywhere in the Bible. Where, you know, does Peter do that? Does John the Baptist preach that way?

Does Jesus preach that way? Does Paul preach that way? Does anybody who preaches ever preach that way?

Steve, I know you feel, feel my pain in regards to this. Regularly and often we preach the Bible and we don't know if anybody pays attention and we don't know if anybody is even impacted and we don't know if they grow or they become calloused.

Or, you know, we just don't see the immediate fruit, but you do get to see the immediate so-called fruit, the faux fruit, the plastic fruit when you do altar calls. To what degree do you think altar calls just make pastors feel better because they realize their sermon paid off, that there was something there?

Well, sure. And, and, you know, if you want to fill the bulletin or, you know, the church newsletter with stuff, it's like, Hey, you know, how many people came forward last month or last week or whatever, you know, this year so far, we've had 1 ,273 souls receive Christ.

And, you know, that's amazing because our weekly attendance is 212.

Counting Nickels, Noses, and False Measures of Success

Steve, please tell me, please tell me there aren't denominations out there that, that count nickels and noses.

Uh, I'd like to tell you that, but if I did, I'd be lying. And, and, and, you know, their whole, listen, I was recently in Orlando and there's a church and I won't shame them by, by mentioning their name, but there's a church that says on their website, they go, we have 18 ,000 members.

What, what does that mean? You know, and why would you even put that? Who cares? I don't care how many members you have. What, what does that mean to me?

Well, it means every member of ministry.

Well, and I mean, you know, we went to a different church while we were down there and there were probably 140, 150 people there and the pastor preached the word, now it's only five minutes away from that other church and I'm like, okay, I know that if I went to the mega, mega, mega church, cause I'd already seen what they do there, I wasn't going to hear the Bible taught.

And where we were here was just a man just being faithful to teach the Bible.

Steve, are there any commands in the scripture to do altar calls? And if there were, would you do them?

If there were, I absolutely would. Are there any commands anywhere in the Bible? I think it's in fourth John.

Oh, yes. I think that's correct. I think that's found in the latest forgery that Jesus had a wife, that one.

Yeah, but it came from the eighth century, so you know it's reliable.

You can see the, the desire, the hankering, the drooling, the society is drooling for any way. Hopefully Christianity is wrong. They so want it to be because they realize if this is true and Jesus is the exclusive savior, then we are in a eternal world of hurt.

Yeah. And, and there are people like Karen King who just spend their entire lives trying to undermine Bart Ehrman, trying to undermine, you know, deconstruct Christianity because they do not want to stand before a holy God on judgment day.

Could we deconstruct Bart Ehrman? Well, that would probably be good.

I, it might be illegal. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you and behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

And call them forward every Sunday.

Finney, Charles. Granison Finney.

Charles Finney, Charles Granison Finney.

Said, preach to him and at the moment he thinks he is willing to do anything, bring him to the test, calling him to do one thing, to make one step that shall identify him with the people of God. If you say to him, there's the anxious seat, come out and avow your determination to be on the Lord's side.

And if he's not willing to do a small thing as that, then he's not willing to do anything for Christ.

Stop waffling, you know, get off the fence. I beg and plead with you to make a decision once and for all. You know, don't, if you're even thinking about it, don't hesitate.

Steve, I think the first altar call was actually in first Kings with Elijah on Mount Carmel. See, calling the fire down to the altar. I just thought of that. That's, that's an original, no compromise.

It was an altar call and there was a sacrifice.

Acts, Timothy, and Titus as Tests for Altar Calls

Steve, what about the book of the Bible or the books of the Bible that you would imagine if altar calls were biblical, that you would imagine altar call stuff would be in those books?

Well, I'd have to, I'd have to say Acts, right? I mean, where else would you, I mean, you would have to believe it would be an Acts and like, uh, par, Paul up par, uh, Paul up. Jack Parr, he was a Calvinist.

Paul up on Mars Hill. Perfect, perfect opportunity. Preach the gospel. And then you just say, now, if you've heard that and you felt any kind of inkling whatsoever to believe, I want you to come forward.

Don't hesitate because they're, Satan maybe doesn't want you to go and maybe you're embarrassed by your friends or maybe you've tried other things and they've let you down. I'm here to guarantee you this morning that Jesus will not let you down.

Well, I know I'm standing on the Areopagus, but I see you up there in the Acropolis. I see you up there by Athena and I think we'll wait for you. It takes a little while to walk from the Acropolis down to Mars Hill,.

But not that long. And you know what, if you come down right now, you might miss some of the parking issues that'll go on afterwards. So you come right now and don't worry about having to wait. We'll, we'll, we'll be here.

We'll talk to you individually.

Now, Steve, I don't want to correct you because I don't like to do that. And I think your answer of act in Acts, that's an excellent answer. You can see a description. Well, here's where I was going with that.

I know you can't read my mind. I was thinking about, I would imagine Acts would be a good place. I'm going to add that to my repertoire. And now I'm going to add 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy and Titus because it would probably tell me how to do it.

Oh, I thought you meant exemplify. No, no,.

That's fine too because see now we'll put the two together and it'll just be a.

Love fest. Well, because, because you would think, you know, again, getting back to Acts, Peter, Paul, when they're preaching, you just think, well naturally if they thought that this is what was supposed to happen, they'd do it.

So yeah, I mean, if you're, if you're Paul and you're going to instruct Timothy and Titus on how to run a church, well, Hey, if there's nothing more important than the altar call at the end, then there should be some kind of instruction on how to do that.

Now, obviously they wouldn't know about just as I am. Although if it was really inspired, they would have.

No Biblical Command to Close the Deal

Okay. Let's wrap this up. We've only got a minute and a half to go. And we'll talk more about altar calls next time. Steve, if a church does not do altar calls, is there any ground to criticize them?

Well, obviously they don't care about the lost. I mean, that would be, that would be my number one criticism. No, if they don't do it, is there any grounds to criticize them? No. The only grounds to criticize them would be if they're not preaching the word, they're not preaching the gospel, and they're not willing to sit down with people who have questions and concerns and, you know, walk through all the Bible issues with them and talk to them about that.

Steve, when the Bible says in Romans chapter 10, verse 17, faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Isn't it good for people to realize those even listening today on the radio in evangelism, you don't have to close the deal.

Your responsibility, your privilege is to preach the gospel and you can call for people to repent and believe. You must call them to do that in light of the gospel, but you don't have to make them, but you don't want to, you don't want to be the converter.

No. And, and you know,.

When I think back on some of the things that I've done and, and said, you know, to get people to believe, I'm amazed that God uses those things anyway. And it's not, it's not the best gospel that saves.

It is the gospel. It's not your presentation. No co-radio.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six we're right on route one 10 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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