Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.
I believe that the biggest problems with modern western christianity and evangelism is that we preach only half of the Gospel of Christ; and we only preach it, but we don't exemplify it. These two ills are inextricably linked - let me explain. The following quote, by Mohandas Ghandi, has to be one of the most convicting I have ever heard: “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” We are testifying of Christ's power wherever we go, whatever we do, whether we open our mouth or not. How I live speaks volumes to the world about what Christ is to me.
When witnessing, we ask, "Do you want to go to heaven?" and they say "Of course, who wouldn't." We say, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life," and they think, "Wonderful! I love me too, and you're telling me God will help me have a great life?" We then ask them to pray a prayer, and forthwith welcome them into the family of God. What a travesty! What a self-centered gospel! We are preaching God's power over guilt, but not over sin's grip on their life.
Hab 2:4 "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright, in him: but the just shall live by his faith." There is no word for faith, as we know it, in the Hebrew; this word is truly "faithfulness". The two concepts are inextricably linked: they had no concept of faith without faithfulness. It is to believe what God has said, and obey Him. So what is the gospel of Jesus? "Repent!" Until one understands the holiness of God, the horrible repulsiveness of his own sin, and like Job, confesses "I abhore myself, and repent in dust and ashes," he is not ready. Instead of asking one to pray a prayer, we should ask, "Is the Holy Spirit working in you to make you hate the sin you once loved?" If so, they certainly don't need our prompting.
So does the gospel indeed "make me pure," and not only "save from wrath?" The world is watching! They understand, and if the gospel is not drastically changing our lives, they just see a bunch of hypocrites who sometimes have a form of godliness, but certainly deny the power thereof. So I must ask myself, "How well do I wear the badge of my Lord?" The world has heard long enough of the gospel's power over the guilt
of sin! But they are watching us to see if the gospel can give us
victory over the power of sin. Do they see that it does for you?