DECISIONS FOR CHRIST

A sinner does not “decide” for Christ; the sinner “flies” to Christ in utter helplessness and despair saying – Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Saviour, or I die. No man truly comes to Christ unless he flies to Him as his only refuge and hope, his only way of escape from the accusations of conscience and the condemnation of God's holy law. Nothing else is satisfactory. If a man says that having thought about the matter and having considered all sides he has on the whole decided for Christ, and if he has done so without any emotion or feeling, I cannot regard him as a man who has been regenerated. The convicted sinner no more “decides” for Christ than the poor drowning man “decides” to take hold of that rope that is thrown to him and suddenly provides him with the only means of escape. The term is entirely inappropriate.

D. Martyn Lloyd- Jones

Preachers and Preaching, Zondervan, 1971, p. 279-280.

We often hear the "Savior" characteristics of God stressed – His love, mercy, goodness and so on – but the matter of his lordship is absent. The distortion is particularly clear in evangelism. In modern practice the call to repentance is usually called an "invitation," which one can obviously accept or refuse. It is offered politely. Seldom do we hear presented God's sovereign demand to repent or his demand for total submission to the authority of his appointed king, Christ Jesus.

James Montgomery Boice

Taken from "Foundations of the Christian Faith-Book I" by James Montgomery Boice, page 120. (c)1986 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA, Revised edition. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com http://www.gospelcom.net/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=991.

We must be patient to allow the Holy Spirit to work conviction in the heart. That may happen in a few moments, a few hours, days, or even years. To be biblically evangelistic, we must be certain that what we do leads men to faith, not just to decisions.

Jim Ehrhard
The Dangers of the Invitation System, Christian Communicators Worldwide, 1999, p. 22-23. www.CCWtoday.org.

The invitation system…encourages people to make a response that “settles things” and, through subsequent counseling, to never doubt that decision. Anyone who is involved in personal evangelism can share countless examples of persons who, though presently living in gross sin, will nonetheless tell the evangelist that they are fine because they “made a decision for Christ” a certain number of years ago. They have never had any change in their life; they have no interest in the church, the Bible, or even God. But they have made their “decision.” Can we not see how dangerous such a system is to the souls of men?

Jim Ehrhard

The Dangers of the Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 2008, p. 15.

To be biblically evangelistic, we must be certain that what we do leads men to faith, not just to decisions.

Jim Ehrhard

The Dangers of the Invitation System, Christian Communications Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org, 1999, p. 25.

Salvation is from our side a choice; from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our “accepting” and “willing” are reactions rather than actions. The right of determination must always remain with God.

A.W. Tozer

Indeed, in conversion, a man must make a decision. We shy away from that term because in modern jargon a 'decision' has come to be identified with an outward expression, such as raising the hand or going forward to the front. While such external acts have nothing to do with forgiveness of sins, the heart must make a decision to be saved.

Walter J. Chantry

Man's Will - Free Yet Bound, The Banner of Truth magazine, Issue 140, by permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. May 1975.

Saving faith is not a decision that is made, and it is not a mouthing of a certain formula. Even if the formula is recited in prayer, this is not saving faith. Manipulating a person to say go through certain motions and say certain words does him no good whatever. This is not saving faith. This is dangerous indeed. Can a man really be saved by saying "yes" to a series of questions? Have we done them any favor by allowing them to think so? This is a misunderstanding of saving faith. It is a confusion of professed faith with true saving faith. This mistake has resulted in the unprecedented number of false converts which this century of evangelism has produced. Decisions and numbers there are, but the "converts" are notoriously unconverted. This is a direct result of confusing decisions with true faith, and it is a blight on the church. It is also inevitable. And it is shameful. And it is harmful, for we have convinced unconverted people that they are safe.

Fred G. Zaspel

The preacher's duty is not to "get decisions." His duty is to proclaim the good news and exhort men and women to go to Christ. This is the means which God uses to save. We preach, and God Himself uses the word preached to "get the decision." (What a woefully inadequate term that is! Saving faith is so much more than a "decision." It is running for rescue!) These roles must never be confused… The role of the preacher is to exhort men and women to faith in Christ. That is all. And that is enough. God is well able to do everything else.

Fred G. Zaspel

Too often, modern evangelism has substituted a “decision” in the place of repentance and saving faith. Forgiveness is preached without the equally important truth that the Spirit of God must change the heart. As a result decisions are treated as conversions even though there is no evidence of a supernatural work of God in the life.

Ernest C. Reisinger

What Should We Think of the Carnal Christian? 1978, p. 22. By permission Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA.

The Christian call to evangelism is not simply a call to persuade people to make decisions, but rather to proclaim to them the good news of salvation in Christ, to call them to repentance, and to give God the glory for regeneration and conversion.

Mark Dever

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Crossway, 2007, p. 112.

No preacher in the New Testament ever preached this to sinners! Search the Word for yourself to see! This giving mere “mental assent” to the facts of the gospel is not what the Bible calls “believing to the saving of the soul” (Heb. 10:39). The Christ of Scripture is LORD, and He must be received and bowed to as LORD: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus THE LORD, so walk ye in Him” (Col. 2:6). When Paul wrote to true believers in his day he knew nothing of those who had made “first-time decisions” for Christ, but still needed to make “second and third decisions” to follow Christ.

W.F. Bell
Modern Evangelism Unmasked.