The Gospel's Power & Message

by Paul David Washer

Finally, gospel preaching requires that we plead with men to come to Christ. However, our plea must be as biblical as our message. We must not reduce the great commands of repentance and faith to nothing more than the repetition of a sinner’s prayer. Our hearers must understand repentance as a change of mind that encompasses not only the intellect but also the will and emotions. They must understand the nature of saving faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” being fully assured that what God has promised in Jesus Christ, He is also able to perform.34 Furthermore, we must instruct our hearers regarding the evidence of conversion. We must warn them that genuine repentance brings forth the fruit of repentance, and that faith without works is dead.35 We must admonish them to examine themselves and test themselves to see if they are in the faith, and they must be diligent to make their calling and election sure.36 We must not only preach to men a biblical gospel, for biblical invitation and proper instruction must also follow. We must not cast them out into eternity clutching to nothing more than a sinner’s prayer, with only our feeble words of assurance ringing in their ears!