The majority of churches today offer a watered down approach to evangelism. Rather than focusing on the law word of God and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men, most churches would prefer a false gospel that tells men that they can get something from God, and as a result of their getting, they will be rewarded by God. The modern evangelicalism movement, as a result of embracing Pelagianism and ultimately Arminianism, has said that we as Christians must be winning souls for Christ and set aside the more important task of teaching men about Christ and His Lordship on the earth. We must realize that we do not save men, the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ accomplishes this work in the hearts of men. We as Christians have a responsibility to teach the whole gospel of Christ, not simply trying to sway men to walk to the front of the church and pray a prayer. It is our responsibility to teach men to observe all things in obedience to Christ, (Matthew 28:20), and leave the ‘soul winning’ to our creator God, who is the only one that can save the souls of His creatures, and did so before the foundation of the world, (Ephesians 1:4).

If we can come to a point where we agree that we do not save the souls of men but the grace of God through Christ Jesus accomplishes this work, then we as Christians must ask ourselves; how do we as the people of God properly evangelize to a lost world? Dr. D. Martin Lyoyd-Jones offers the following helpful quote in regard to the starting point of our evangelism as Christians:

“Evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the demands of the law, and the eternal consequences of evil.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p.235)

We as Christians must show the perfect holiness of our creator God, the wretchedness of mans heart, the demands that God’s Law has placed on us, and the consequences of not acting in obedience to the Law Word of God. It is our responsibility to teach this kind of gospel message, but before we can teach this kind of gospel, we must understand that we cannot limit this gospel message to simply telling men what will happen to them if they do not act in obedience to the Law Word of God. If we teach only one aspect of salvation in Christ Jesus, such as the blessings or consequences of either going to heaven or hell, we limit the gospel and neglect the teaching of life-long sanctification in Christ for those that have been redeemed in Him. We cannot limit the gospel message in the slightest when preaching to the lost or to those that are redeemed in Christ. The complete gospel message points to a life time of progressive sanctification in Christ, as opposed to a prayer of decision by man with no future instruction past praying the pray of salvation. The following quote by A.W. Pink is very helpful in explaining how the modern church has fallen into the trap of teaching a limited gospel:

“The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.” (A.W. Pink, Saving Faith: Part 1 Signs of the Times, circa 1930)

Our creator God is not reliant on us to save the souls of His creatures, but He has allowed us as His children the privilege of presenting the Gospel of Christ to His creatures. We must recognize that we are not helping God out by preaching the Gospel, but He has given us the ability to proclaim the gospel for His purposes, it is both a blessing and a responsibility to do so. Let us make sure that we as the children of God are not limiting our evangelism to one aspect of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are limiting the gospel we are ultimately hurting those that are redeemed in Christ by not teaching them how they should act in obedience to Christ.