One of the joys of the reformed faith is its evangelistic pedigree. From Calvin’s Geneva to Judson’s love for Burma, those who embrace the doctrines of grace have a long history of commitment to sharing Christ with the nations.  

When it comes to rural America, evangelism has its challenges. Today’s post focuses on 4 commitments we must have for biblical evangelism in small towns. 

Presupposition 

We begin with a non-negotiable presupposition: Christ is worthy to be preached in every place. From popular urban centers to remote villages, our Lord Jesus is worthy to be heralded to all creation. 

It is statistically less likely for your church to see large numbers of persons converted in rural settings. For example, in a city with 100,000 people, if 1% responded positively to the gospel, you’d see 1,000 converts. If the math held true for a town with 1,000 people, you’d see 10 converts. 

God is sovereign. He will save whom He will for His own glory. But this presupposition, the worthiness of Christ to be proclaimed in all places, will help you from any discouragement associated with lack of “success” in evangelism in small towns. When we preach Christ rightly, there is no lack of success! Christ is being proclaimed, and He is worthy. 

Prayer

Secondly, evangelism should not be separated from prayer. Paul asks the Colossian church to “pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ…” (Col. 4:3). 

Churches in small towns must be committed to praying for opportunities for evangelism. They must also be committed to pray specifically for lost souls in their community. Periodically, the church ought to gather to intentionally pray for the banner of Christ to be lifted high within the town that you are located. 

God has placed your church in your rural community for a reason. And one of those reasons is that you would be concerned for the lost there and seek the Lord’s mercy on their behalf confident that God has “many in this city who are[His] people” (Acts 18:10).

Proclamation 

We must remember that evangelism is not ultimately an event or program, but proclamation of the gospel, which includes telling sinners what they must do to be saved, namely, repent and believe the gospel (cf. Mark 1:15). 

I’ve seen churches go wrong here in hosting well intentioned events that ultimately left out the gospel. Passing out water bottles with bible verses on them is certainly not a bad thing, but don’t confuse that with evangelism. In order to evangelize, we must communicate the gospel and a call to sinners to repent and trust it. 

There are three primary ways our church has sought to do this. First, we have committed to going door to door once a month for the purpose of sharing the gospel. This can be uncomfortable and there is certainly prudence that must be exercised here in terms of time of day, number of people going to the home, safety, etc. However, it is our belief that the church must seek to get the gospel out rather than merely expecting lost persons to walk in our doors. 

Is it not a shame that the heretical Jehovah Witnesses are the ones known for going door to door while too many of us with the true gospel of Christ stay at home? However this may look in your community, consider regularly and intentionally taking the gospel to the homes of your area. 

Secondly, we try to preach at our local grocery store once a month. This too can seem uncomfortable, but I encourage churches to consider their own local community and see whether or not something like this would be feasible. For years I had convinced myself that street preaching was just for the big cities. But this goes back to our presupposition: Christ is worthy to be proclaimed even if the crowd is not the size of George Whitefield’s! Find a store, or gas station, or street corner, and proclaim the gospel. You may be surprised by what God does. One thing we’ve noticed is that other churches have reached out to us encouraged by our evangelism. What if your faithfulness inspires other churches to be more serious about evangelism too? 

Finally, we like to flood our community with tracts. Tracts are not the be all end all of evangelism. They are really a low bar. You simply hand a tract to a cashier, or friend at the ball game, or man in line at the local donut shop. We make our own tracts and put our church website on them in hopes that some will check out more about the gospel and our local church. 

Persistence 

The final encouragement I have for evangelism in small towns is don’t give up. Ecclesiastes 11:1 says, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” I once heard a pastor friend preach from that text exhorting us to sow many seeds when it comes to evangelism and to remember this important truth: “sow nothing, reap nothing.” 

You can convince yourself that your evangelistic efforts are weak and pathetic and will never return any fruit. But can I encourage you that weak evangelistic efforts are always better than no evangelistic efforts? So, don’t give up!

You may hand out a tract, or preach on the corner, or knock on a door and no one come to Christ. Yet, I can assure you that it is 100% guaranteed that no one will come to Christ if we do not proclaim the gospel (cf. Rom. 10:14-17). So, do not be discouraged. Continue to sow seeds and trust God with the return. 

Continue to look for opportunities that are unique to your area. For us, we’ve preached in our local Christmas and Fair Parades. We’ve preached at local festivals our town has hosted. We’ve gone to local events to pass out gospel tracts and talk with people. We’ve done some Christmas Caroling, which is not the same as evangelism, but we did use the opportunity to pass out gospel tracts. Last Christmas we also did “evangelistic letter writing” where we gathered one Sunday evening at our church, I shared the gospel, and then we wrote letters to lost persons in our community (and beyond) imploring them to understand what Christmas is about and to repent and believe the gospel. 

Each rural area is going to look a little different. But this truth remains: Your community is in desperate need of the gospel. Will your church commit to having the presupposition, prayer, proclamation, and persistence necessary to make Christ known in your specific area? 

Vaccine mandates are real. As a Pastor, I’ve had too many conversations with faithful church members facing perhaps the biggest decisions of their lifetime.  God promises to give wisdom to those who ask (James 1:5).  I’ve been asking.  I’ve been encouraging those faithful church members to ask as well.  I’ve also been going to the Scriptures, a faithful storeroom of God’s wisdom for answers to help the brethren God has called me to serve.
Of course, I have also been speaking to faithful Pastors I trust and reading up on the latest offerings from faithful Pastors I trust, but do not know personally.  That pursuit has opened my eyes to a troubling reality.  In short, politicians pushing the mandates have been appealing to the Christian virtue of love to convince hesitant Christians to get vaccinated and shockingly, many of the so-called leading evangelicals of our day have been carrying their eisegetical water.
It recalls perhaps the most famous question of the mid—80’s: What’s love got to do with it?  The average Baptist church could wallpaper the fellowship hall with the sheer volume of articles written in defense of the mandates reminding Christians they must love others as Jesus taught, and therefore take the jab.  It seems a curious use of the term.  You see, while the Bible does command us to “love thy neighbor”, that command cuts both ways.  Simply stated, I can’t say I love my neighbor while forcing him to sin and truly love him at the same time.  What most people invoking love mean in this discussion is really the opposite of biblical love.
Let me explain.  Consider 1 Corinthians chapter eight.  Paul introduces a solution to a similar problem in Corinth.  The church in Corinth was divided and unloving, with members filled with pride and in conflict with each other. There were two groups of people in this church.  Those who knew food sacrificed to idols could be eaten freely because there is only one true God, and those who knew there was only one true God, but still believed it to be sinful to eat those foods given their prominent place in pagan worship.  One group was pro-food, and one group was anti-food.  One group had a weak conscience, and one group had a strong conscience.  The chapter is about the way Paul responded to the weaker conscience of those who believed it to be sinful to eat food sacrificed to idols.  This is where we should be going to learn how to love one another in the face of sharp, personal, and meaningful disagreements like we face today.
True love never asks someone to sin against their conscience.
I’ve read most of the available meat in Corinth had been cleansed of supposed evil spirits through some form of ritual dedication to a false god of some kind.  This meat was consumed in pagan temples and at times sold on the streets.  Dedicated meats were as immediate of an obstacle as any mandate and the church was divided on how to deal with it.
The situation is complicated by the sinful pride and the lack of compassion demonstrated by those who had no beef with eating dedicated meats.  They looked down on those who were abstaining, mockingly, as if they were inferior, weaker, and even foolish.  Sound familiar?  Interestingly, Paul rebukes them for their lack of love.  They were pressuring those Paul describes as having a weaker conscience to go against that inner God given guide and eat the dedicated meats.  He writes, “However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled” (1 Corinthians 8:7). To the weaker brethren, eating these meats was tantamount to full blown idolatry, which having been delivered from through the gospel, wasn’t something they were interested in revisiting.
It’s a simple formula really. Though those Paul describes by default as having a stronger conscience could not understand it, and even disagreed with it, the brethren with the weaker conscience would literally be sinning against God if they ate the dedicated meats.  This is where I believe we have the most to learn.  A believer’s conscience represents his or her understanding of God’s will and Word, and what he or she believes to be right or wrong based upon their understanding of God’s Word.  To go against the conscience then, is to willingly do what you believe to be sinful.  Therefore, to go against one’s conscience is to sin against God (Romans 14:14, 23).
This principle led Paul to warn the meat eaters against embracing their liberty or pressuring the weaker brethren in a way that would lead them to sin against their conscience and eat the meats.  He writes, “But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.  For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ” (1 Corinthians 8:9-12). It turns out those with the stronger conscience are not free to sin against those with the weaker conscience.  This is because we are all connected, one body, with Christ as the head.  We are all accountable to one another.  We have a responsibility to one another.  Love comes before our knowledge and our freedom in this way.
Paul ends the chapter with an incredible display of love.  In fact, I would say this is the definitive verse in understanding how to truly apply the love of Christ to the current situation which divides so many God loving Christians.  He writes, “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble” (v. 13). Paul doesn’t instruct those with stronger consciences to lecture those with weaker consciences on the theological truths behind this issue.  Paul doesn’t question their conscience or what has informed it either.  He accepts it, believing the best about their motives and intentions, and responds accordingly. The principle is clear. True love never asks someone to sin against their conscience. That’s it. That’s the principle. Who needs a conscience, when a conscience can’t be broken? We do, it turns out. Be like Paul, signal your love by refusing to ask (or supporting someone to ask) a fellow brother or sister to sin against their conscience, no matter your position on the issue.

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The sun shall soon dissolve like snow,the moon forbear to shine;but God, who called me here below,will be forever mine.

Newton’s Collage. 

Long before twentieth artists like Pablo Picasso began to use the technique of collage, employing a collection of objects in their work, and long before Charles Ives wrote his Second Symphony, incorporating quotations from America’s history like Columbia the Gem of the Ocean or the folk hymn Bringing in the Sheaves, John Newton gave us a theological collage in the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

While most hymns keep the thematic boundaries close that is not the case with Amazing Grace. It is true that the grace of God is the overarching theme.  But Newton makes clear that this grace of God had confronted him with his wretchedness and that implies the preaching of the law and the conviction that comes from it.  His heart would know fear because grace had caused him to see the perfection of the righteousness of the Lord.  He takes us from this convicting work of God to the awakening of his soul, and leads us to see where that the journey of sanctification leads.  His collage honors the word of God in the fourth verse and the sureness of the promises of the Lord to protect us in this life.  In verse five he reminds us of our mortality but like Paul sees that day as a doorway into the very presence of Christ.  It is a little strange that, with this doctrinal variety, Newton would not have celebrated the death and resurrection of Christ in an explicit way.  

But like the book of Esther which never mentions the name of the Lord directly, apparently for literary effect, Newton gives us a hymn that does not mention the cross but honors it as many others fail to do.  He has set us on the pilgrim journey and assured us that the Lord is trustworthy.  Many Christians having sung the words hundreds of times, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years bright shining as the Sun, we’ve no less day to sing God’s praise than when we first begun,” would be surprised to discover that Newton did not write them. What Newton wrote about the future is usually not sung and that is a shame because Newton’s verse is glorious. Here is how it reads, The sun shall soon dissolve like snow, the moon forbear to shine, but God who called me here below will be forever mine.

The sun shall soon dissolve like snow, the moon forbear to shine.

The End of the Present Order and the Beginning of the New

John Newton, writing over a millennium and a half after the crucifixion of our Lord, speaks about the “soon” destruction of the present order.  How can Newton speak in this way? The apostle Peter tells us that scoffers will come who question the second appearance of the Lord.  But Peter reminds us that the example of the flood should cause us to understand that the end of time will be like Noah’s day.  The flood came and took them all away.  Only Noah and his family were saved.  It is the same with our blessed hope for the resurrection of the body and the removal of the sin touched order.  With the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  That day will come, but as a thief in the night.  The Lord Jesus Christ will appear without warning.  When the apostles asked about the destruction of the temple (Christ had said that not one stone would be left standing) the Lord gave them several signs to look for before the destruction of the temple and the horrible conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.  But of the final day of judgement the Lord prophesied no signs.  He told his disciples “That day” would catch many by surprise.  Like the flood in Noah’s day many would be taken away to judgement. 

Nothing that happens at the coming of the Lord will overshadow the accomplishment of his first advent.  When the Lord first appeared on the earth almost two thousand years ago, he came to establish God’s kingdom in perfection.  He came to bring righteousness to the earth in a way that had never been known before.  He came to bring God’s eternal life to the people of God.  All these things were accomplished by his death and resurrection.  He is reigning above and interceding for his own.  The battle for the souls of God’s elect people is proceeding and Christ is going forth to conquer the foe.  Satan’s doom is sure.  The return of our Lord will bring to fulfillment all the things that were won by his death and resurrection.  But the time of the Lord’s return is unknown.  

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matthew 24:36)

When you hear of someone who claims to be able to predict the time of the Lord’s appearance, you may write them off as a charlatan, or at best a very confused person.  No one knows the time of Christ’s return.  You may say, “but didn’t the Lord speak about earthquakes, and famines, and wars and rumors of wars that would take place just prior to his return?”  “Aren’t there signs that we can look for?”  The Lord did speak of such things but specifically warned us not to be alarmed.  These were signs of the beginning and of the sure proclamation of the gospel to all the nations. (Matthew 24:1-14)

The Lord will come at an hour which will be characterized by its normalcy.  He taught that the time of his return would find the people of this world doing the things that they were doing when the flood of Noah came upon them and took them all away. (Matthew 24:37-40) They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage (normal human behavior).  They did these things right up until the time that Noah and his family boarded the ark.  They did not expect the judgement of God to fall on them.  They would go on doing the things that human beings do and there would be no accountability for sin.  Or so they thought.  

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.  (Matthew 24:41) 

 Just as the wicked people of Noah’s time were “taken away” to judgment by the flood so the coming of our Lord will divide humanity into two parts, those who are taken away to judgment and those who are not.   

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Matthew 24:42)

The Bible teaches the imminent return of Christ.   He may not come today, but we do not know that.  We must not think that there are so many things to be fulfilled, before his return, that we may rest a while.  We must be ready.  The Lord taught several parables which emphasize this truth.  He spoke about the master of a house that went away to a wedding banquet.  His servants were expected to be alert and ready to open the door immediately on his return. (Luke 12:35-40)   On another occasion he spoke about the owner of a house who would in time close the door of the house.  Those outside would knock and plead with him, but he would tell them “I don’t know you or where you come from.” (Luke 13:22-30)

The Lord will return in bodily form.  Luke gave us an account of the ascension of the Lord after his resurrection from the dead.  The Lord was taken up into heaven before the eyes of his apostles and hidden from their sight by a cloud.  Two “men” dressed in white appeared and spoke to the apostles in this way, 

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11)

The clear teaching is this.  Our Lord ascended bodily and was concealed from sight, one day he will be revealed again in bodily form and will descend from above.  

And the second coming of Christ will also bring about a union of the church militant and the church triumphant. One of the oldest confessions of faith speaks of the communion of saints.This is not merely a reference to the fellowship of living Christians, but includes the common experience of salvation through Christ, which is shared by the living and the dead.  Thousands who came to faith in Christ while living here on the earth are now with the Lord.  They live in heaven with him and are far better off for it.  They have traditionally been called the church triumphant while those who are still here in this world are thought of as the church militant, the church on the march against the forces of evil here below.  The Bible teaches us that the church triumphant will return with our Lord.

We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.  According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17)

This very important passage teaches us that the return of Christ will not be a hidden event.  There will be a loud command, the voice of the archangel will be heard, and the trumpet call of God will sound.  The second coming will be a noisy event.  One cannot miss it.  All people will know that Christ our Lord has returned.  Christians will rejoice, but the lost will be terrified because of their sins and the judgement to come.  As we have seen, the dead will be raised.  This is true of both the righteous and the unrighteous.   

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. (John 5:28-29)

The Lord did not call the experience of the resurrected unbelievers “life.”  Only the righteous really “live.”  The wicked exist in a state of eternal torment.  Hell becomes their dwelling place forever.  But all the dead shall be raised.  The Bible does not give us much information concerning the bodily existence of those who are eternally lost.  But there is quite a bit of information concerning the future state of the redeemed.  Since we will be “like Christ,” it is instructive to remember that he even ate with his disciples after he had been resurrected from the dead.  Our existence will not be a shadowy matter but the reality of our life, in that new day, will be, if anything, far more real than life in this world.  And our new body will be one that is designed for perfect fellowship with our God.  All sin and mortality (which is the result of sin) will now be past.  The immortal life of God will be ours in truth.  As Paul said, 

 . . . we shall bear the likeness of the man from heaven.  (1 Corinthians 15:49)

The return of our Lord will also bring in the final judgment of God, which will be a judgment based on principles of righteousness. The Scriptures teach us that all must face this judgment. 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)  

Those who try to stand before the righteous judge in that day, without the grace of God to shield them, will only know the wrath of the Lamb of God.  Their sins will be judged, and their “righteous acts” will be shown to be nothing more than filthy rags in the sight of God.  Those who know Christ will also be judged on principles of righteousness but will have the continuing intercession of the Son of God.  They will be shown mercy for their sins, and their works which were done as the result of the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, will be recognized as pure and acceptable in the sight of God.

The return of our Lord will mean the end of the present creation and the revelation of a new heaven anda new earth.  The old creation has been spoiled by Adam’s fall and the sins of subsequent generations.  It must and will be replaced.  A new creation has already come in Christ.  The death and resurrection of our Lord brought in a new and perfect order.  That new order has been advancing against the forces of evil for many years.  One day the Lord himself will return and we will see the unveiling of Christ’s perfection and the glorious character of his kingdom.  That kingdom will displace all others.  We may love the country in which we were born.  We may be strongly patriotic.  But the mature Christian comes to understand that we are first and foremost citizens of God’s kingdom, and it is the only kingdom that will endure for all eternity.  

And there will no longer be a great divide between heaven and earth. (Revelation 21:1)   In other words, the dwelling place of God and the dwelling place of man will have been brought together by the graciousness of our God.  In a sense, we will dwell on the earth forever.  Earth, our dwelling place will have been created new, and there will be no essential difference between heaven and earth.  But the significant thing is that we will be able to live in the very presence of our God because we will have been brought to perfection ourselves.  We were once justified before God despite our sins because of God’s grace given us in Christ.  We were sanctified by the continuing work of God in us over the years of our lives.  But on that day, we will be glorified. We will know the perfection of absolute holiness.  We will truly be righteous as our Lord is righteous.  There will be no more tears. (Revelation 21:4) There will be no more sin.  (Revelation 21:8) The same passage teaches that Christ will have made his church splendid in holiness.  The figures of this passage do not describe the literal streets of heaven; they set before us the splendors of the church in all her redeemed glory.  We are told that we will have entered an eternal day.  Light is a symbol of truth and righteousness in scripture.  There will be no need for the sun.  We will have the light of God’s presence forever.  And there will be perfect joy and satisfaction.  We will drink the water of life. 

And then, at the end of this most famous hymn, Newton reminds us of God’s call to undeserving sinners.

But God who called me here below will be forever mine.

The General Call

The children of God have heard the call of God.  The apostle Paul tells us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.  The proclamation of the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection for our sins is the heart of Christian experience.  We must hear that we are sinners who have broken the laws of God and deserve hell. And we must hear that we should look away from ourselves to Christ and his perfect righteousness.  He alone has the perfect obedience that we need.  

And so, the church preaches Christ.  We preach Christ with the truth of holy scripture.  We preach the gospel events and with Paul say that these truths are the things of first importance.  As individuals we preach Christ when we are baptized.  Without a spoken word we say to those who are present, “Christ died for me to take my sins away and he was raised for me to give me eternal life.”  And when the church gathers around the Lord’s table, we preach Christ.  There we see the Lord’s body and blood, and together with all our brothers and sisters in the Lord we remember his death as our atonement.  And we eat the bread and drink the cup.  Thus, we preach his sustaining life.  As we are nourished by his body and blood, we preach again the resurrection life of the Lord.

But there is another work of the Lord, another calling of God that Newton had experienced. That work of God is the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit.

Effectual Calling

Which comes first —the new birth or repentance and faith?

The order is this, first comes regeneration or the new birth by the Spirit.  Then repentance and faith in Christ come as the result of the work of God.  The Baptist Faith and Message puts it this way, 

Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus.  It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Notice the order.  First there is the new birth.  Then repentance and faith appear.  They are “inseparable experiences of grace.” If you have been born again, you will repent.  If you have been born again, you will believe in Christ.  These things have come to us because of the grace of God.  He has given us new life.  He has given us the ability to repent when others do not.  He has given us faith in Christ when others do not believe in him.  On one occasion the Lord even told some of his enemies that the reason they did not believe in him was because the Father had not enabled them to do so.  (John 6:60-65) One might say, “But I thought that God gives us new life because we repent.  Isn’t repentance the condition for being born again?”  Not according to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He told Nicodemus,

The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. (John3:8)

Can you and I control the wind?  Do we arise each day and decide how fast the wind will blow or from what direction the wind will come?  Can we stop a tornado from creating havoc as it passes through a defenseless town?  Of course not.  The wind blows where it pleases. Do you see the point that the Lord is making?  We cannot control or direct the Spirit of God in his work of imparting new life to sinners.  He regenerates.  He resurrects to new life.  He causes us to be “born again.”  The wind of the Spirit must blow.  That is why we pray for the Holy Spirit to come to our friends and relatives who do not know the Lord.  We ask God to save them.   We know that if they are to come to Christ, they must be drawn to him by the work of God.  The Lord Jesus said,

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.  I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. (John 5:24-25)

The Lord was not speaking about the last day when the dead will be raised from their graves.  That is clear because, just after he spoke these words, he began to talk about that day.

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out . . .  (John5:28-29a)

We are dead in our sins.  We cannot help ourselves.  God must come to our rescue.  He has done that by sending his Son to die in the place of sinners on the cross.  But that atoning work must be applied to us individually, and that is the work of God’s Spirit.  The Father chose us in eternity.  The Son died for his people in time and history.  And the Holy Spirit brings the benefits of Christ’s death to us.  He brings with him the resurrection life of Christ.  With the same power that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead he touches us as we lie spiritually helpless, dead before God.  Suddenly we rise from our spiritual grave.  We believe the gospel.  We believe in Christ.  We depend on him to save us. In our dead state we did not love God.  Now we love him because he first loved us.  We did not love our fellow man.  Now we love even those that we once hated.  All this is the miraculous result of the new birth.  The Lord has touched us with resurrection power.  We are truly alive for the first time.  We have been born again!  We must make clear that the Holy Spirit, in accomplishing this work of God, uses the word of God.  The preaching of the gospel is an essential part of the Holy Spirit’s regenerating work. 

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

There must be a presentation of the truths of the gospel if a sinner is to come to Christ for salvation.  But the external call to receive Christ as Lord and Savior cannot save if it stands alone.  There must also be an internal work of God.  The Holy Spirit must hover over us as surely as he hovered over the formless void.  Just as the voice of God said “let there be light” so the Holy Spirit brings light to our dark world.  He says to each of our dead souls, arise!   It is like the Lord Jesus Christ appearing before the tomb of Lazarus and shouting for the dead man to come forth.  And, just as Lazarus was called from death to life by the power of God, so we are raised by God’s powerful work for us.   But Lazarus died again.  Not so with those who are born again.  The life that began with the new birth will never end.  

John Newton had heard both the external call and he had “heard” the precious call that comes from the Spirit of God.  He could look forward to the blessings of heaven, when the earth dissolves like snow because he had been called by the Lord to an amazing salvation by grace!