Hell's Best Kept Secret

Hell's Best Kept Secret

In the late seventies, God very graciously opened an itinerant ministry
to me. As I began to travel, I found that I had access to church growth
records, and found to my horror that something like 80 to 90% of those
making a decision for Christ were falling away from the faith. That is,
modern evangelism with its methods is creating something like 80 to 90 of
what we commonly call backsliders for every hundred decisions for Christ.
Let me make it more real for you. In 1991, in the first year of the
decade of harvest, a major denomination in the U.S. was able to obtain
294,000 decisions for Christ. That is, in one year, this major
denomination of 11,500 churches was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for
Christ. Unfortunately, they could only find 14,000 in fellowship, which
means they couldn't account for 280,000 of their decisions, and this is
normal, modern evangelical results, and something I discovered way back
in the late seventies; it greatly concerned me. I began to study the book
of Romans intently and, specifically, the gospel proclamation of men like
Spurgeon, Wesley, Moody, Finney, Whitfield, Luther, and others that God
used down through the ages, and I found they used a principle which is
almost entirely neglected by modern evangelical methods. I began teaching
that principle; I was eventually invited to base our ministry in southern
California, the city of Bellflower, specifically to bring this teaching
to the church of the U.S. Things were quiet for the first three years,
until I received a call from Bill Gothard, who had seen the teaching on
video. He flew me to San Jose in northern California; I shared it with a
thousand pastors. Then in 1992 he screened that video to 30,000 pastors.
The same year David Wilkerson called from New York. He called from his
car. (He had been listening to the teaching in his car and called me on
his car phone.) Immediately, he flew me 3,000 miles from L.A. to New York
to share the one-hour teaching with his church; he considered it to be
that important. And recently I heard of a pastor who had listened to the
audio tape 250 times. I'd be happy if you'd listen just once to this
teaching which is called "Hell's Best Kept Secret." The Bible says in
Psalm 19, verse 7, "The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul."
What is it that the Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul?
Why scripture makes it very clear: "The law of the Lord is perfect
converting the soul." Now to illustrate the function of God's law, let's
just look for a moment at civil law. Imagine if I said to you, "I've got
some good news for you: someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on
your behalf." You'd probably react by saying, "What are you talking
about? That's not good news: it doesn't make sense. I don't have a
$25,000 speeding fine." My good news wouldn't be good news to you: it
would seem foolishness. But more than that, it would be offensive to you,
because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you
have. However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: "On the way
to this meeting, the law clocked you at going 55 miles an hour through an
area set aside for a blind children's convention. There were ten clear
warning signs stating that fifteen miles an hour was the maximum speed,
but you went straight through at 55 miles an hour. What you did was
extremely dangerous; there's a $25,000 fine. The law was about to take
its course, when someone you don't even know stepped in and paid the fine
for you. You are very fortunate." Can you see that telling you precisely
what you've done wrong first actually makes the good news make sense. If
I don't clearly bring instruction and understanding that you've violated
the law, then the good news will seem foolishness; it will seem
offensive. But once you understand that you've broken the law, then that
good news will become good news indeed. Now in the same way, if I
approach an impenitent sinner and say, "Jesus Christ died on the cross
for your sins," it will be foolishness and offensive to him. Foolishness
because it won't make sense. The Bible says that: "The preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness" (1Cor. 1:18). And offensive
because I'm insinuating he's a sinner when he doesn't think he is. As far
as he's concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than him. But if I
take the time to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it may make more
sense. If I take the time to open up the divine law, the ten
commandments, and show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong, that he
has offended God by violating His law, then when he becomes, as James
says, "convinced of the law as a transgressor" (Jam. 2:9), the good news
of the fine being paid for will not be foolishness, it will not be
offensive, it will be "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16). Now,
with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction, let's now look at
Romans 3, verse 19. We'll look at some of the functions of God's law for
humanity. Romans 3, verse 19: "Now we know that whatsoever things the law
says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be
stopped and all the world may become guilty before God." So one function
of God's law is to stop the mouth. To stop sinners justifying themselves
and saying, "There's plenty of people worse than me. I'm not a bad
person. Really." No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves
the whole world, not just the Jews, but the whole world guilty before
God. Romans 3, verse 20: "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of
sin." So God's law tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, "Sin is
transgression of the law." Romans 7, verse 7: "What shall we say then?"
says Paul. "Is the law sin? God forbid! No, I had not known sin but by
the law." Paul says, "I didn't know what sin was until the law told me."
In Galatians 3:24, "Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ that we might be justified by faith." God's law acts as a
schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified
through faith in His blood. The law doesn't help us; it just leaves us
helpless. It doesn't justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the
judgment bar of a holy God. And the tragedy of modern evangelism is
because around the turn of the century when it forsook the law in its
capacity to convert the soul, to drive sinners to Christ, modern
evangelism had to, therefore, find another reason for sinners to respond
to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract
sinners was the issue of "life enhancement". The gospel degenerated into
"Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting
happiness." Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very
popular teaching, I'd like you to listen very carefully to this following
anecdote, because the essence of what I'm saying pivots on this
particular illustration; so please listen carefully. Two men are seated
in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put is on as it
would improve his flight. He's a little skeptical at first because he
can't see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the
flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is
true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and
he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles
himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve the
flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he
notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because
he's wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat
humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it
no longer, he slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it
to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as
far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie. The second man is
given a parachute, but listen to what he's told. He's told to put it on
because at any moment he'd be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He
gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn't notice the weight of it upon
his shoulders, nor that he can't sit upright. His mind is consumed with
the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that
parachute. Let's analyze the motive and the result of each passenger's
experience. The first man's motive for putting the parachute on was
solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he
was humiliated by the passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat
embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he's
concerned it'll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on
his back again. The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the
jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him
without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that
he's saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to
withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude towards those
who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude. Now listen to
what the modern gospel says. It says, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness." In
other words, "Jesus will improve your flight." So the sinner responds,
and in an experimental fashion, puts on the Savior to see if the claims
are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and
persecution. The other passengers mock him. So what does he do? He takes
off the Lord Jesus Christ, he's offended for the word's sake (Mark 4:17),
he's disillusioned and somewhat embittered, and quite rightly so. He was
promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he
got were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed toward those
who gave him the so-called "good news". His latter end becomes worse than
the first: another inoculated and bitter backslider. Saints, instead of
preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the
passengers they're going have to jump out of the plane. That it's
"appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb.
9:27). And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of
breaking God's law, then he will flee to the Savior solely to escape the
wrath that's to come. And if we're true and faithful witnesses, that's
what we'll be preaching. That there is wrath to come; that God "commands
all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). Why? "Because He has
appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness" (vs.
31). You see, the issue isn't one of happiness, but one of righteousness.
It doesn't matter how happy a sinner is, how much he's enjoying "the
pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:25). Without the righteousness of
Christ, he'll perish on the day of wrath. "Riches profit not on the day
of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death" (Prov. 11:4). Peace and
joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it's not legitimate to use
these fruits as a draw card for salvation. If we continue to do so,
sinners will respond with an impure motive lacking repentance. Now, can
you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It
was because he knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death.
And as a believer, I have, as Paul says, "joy and peace in believing"
(Rom. 15:13), because I know that the righteousness of Christ is going to
deliver me from the wrath that's to come. Now with that thought in mind,
let's take a close look at an incident on board the plane. We have a
brand new stewardess. She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. It's
her first day; she wants to leave an impression on the passengers, and
she certainly does. Because as she's walking down the aisle, she trips
over someone's foot and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of
our second passenger. Now what's his reaction as that boiling liquid hits
his tender flesh? Does he go, "Ssssfffff! Man that hurt"? Mmm-hhh. He
feels the pain. But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders,
throw it to the floor and say, "The stupid parachute!"? No. Why should
he? He didn't put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on to
save him from the jump to come. If anything, the hot coffee incident
causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the
jump. Now if you and I have put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right
motive, to flee from the wrath that's to come, when tribulation strikes,
when the flight gets bumpy, we won't get angry at God; we won't lose our
joy and peace. Why should we? We didn't come to Jesus for a happy
lifestyle: we came to flee from the wrath that's to come. And if
anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior. And
sadly we have literally multitudes of professing Christians who lose
their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They're the product
of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance, without which you
can't be saved. I was in Australia recently ministering; Australia is a
small island off the coast of New Zealand. And I preached sin, law,
righteousness, holiness, judgment, repentance, and hell, and I wasn't
exactly crushed by the amount of people wanting to "give their hearts to
Jesus." In fact, the air went very tense. After the meeting, they said,
"There's a young guy down in the back who wants to give his life to
Christ." I went down the back and found a teenage lad who could not pray
the sinner's prayer because he was weeping so profusely. Now, for me it
was so refreshing, because for many years I suffered from the disease of
"evangelical frustration". I so wanted sinners to respond to the gospel I
unwittingly preached a man-centered message. The essence of which was
this: "You'll never find true peace without Jesus Christ; you've a
God-shaped vacuum in your heart that only God can fill." I'd preach
Christ crucified; I'd preach repentance. A sinner would respond to the
alter; I'd open an eye and say, "Oh no. This guy wants to give his heart
to Jesus and there's an 80% chance he's going to backslide. And I am
tired of creating backsliders. So I'd better make sure this guy really
means it. He'd better be sincere!" So I'd approach the poor guy in a
Gestapo spirit. I'd walk up and say, "Vhat do you vant?" He'd say, "I'm
here to become a Christian." I'd say, "Do you mean it?" He'd say, "Yeah."
I'd say, "Do you REALLY MEAN IT!?" He'd say, "Yeah, I reckon." "Okay,
I'll pray with you, but you'd better mean it from your heart." He said,
"Okay, okay." "Now you repeat this prayer sincerely after me and mean it
from your heart sincerely and really mean it from your heart sincerely
and make sure you mean it. 'Oh, God, I'm a sinner.' " He'd say, "Uh.oh,
God, I'm a sinner." And I'd think, "Man, why isn't there a visible sign
of contrition. There's no outward evidence the guy is inwardly sorry for
his sins." Now, if I could have seen his motive, I would have seen he was
100% sincere. He really did mean his decision with all his heart. He
sincerely wanted to give this Jesus thing a go to see if he could get a
buzz out of it. He had tried sex, drugs, materialism, alcohol. "Why not
give this Christian bit a go and see if it's as good as all these
Christians say it is: peace, joy, love, fulfillment, lasting happiness."
He wasn't fleeing from the wrath that was to come, because I hadn't told
him there was wrath to come. There was this glaring omission from my
message. He wasn't broken in contrition, because the poor guy didn't know
what sin was. Remember Romans 7, verse 7? Paul said, "I had not known sin
but by the law." How can a man repent if he doesn't know what sin is? Any
so-called "repentance" would be merely what I call "horizontal
repentance". He's coming because he's lied to men, he's stolen from men.
But when David sinned with Bathsheba and broke all ten of the ten
commandments (when he coveted his neighbor's wife, lived a lie, stole his
neighbor's wife, committed adultery, committed murder, dishonored his
parents, and thus dishonored God), he didn't say "I've sinned against
man." He said, "Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done this
evil in your sight" (Ps. 51:4). When Joseph was tempted sexually, he
said, "How can I do this thing and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9). The
prodigal son said, "I've sinned against heaven" (Luke 15:21). Paul
preached "repentance toward God" (Acts 20:21). And the Bible says, "Godly
sorrow works repentance" (2Cor. 7:10). And when a man doesn't understand
that his sin is primarily vertical, he'll merely come and exercise
superficial, experimental, and horizontal repentance, and fall away when
tribulation, temptation, and persecution come. A.B. Earl said, "I have
found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the law of God
have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves
lost before they will cry for mercy; they'll not escape danger until they
see it." Now I'd like you to do something a little unusual. I'll not
embarrass you; I give you my word. But I would like to ask, how many of
you were thinking of something else when I was reading that quote from
A.B. Earl? Now, I want to admit something to you. I was thinking of
something else when I was reading that quote from A.B. Earl: I was
thinking, "Nobody's listening to me; they're thinking of something else."
So, to make a very important point, I'd like you to be really honest. If
you were thinking of something else and you haven't got a clue what A.B.
Earl said, could you raise your hand up nice and high.up nice and high.
It's usually half to twothirds and we've got that here tonight. Let's try
again..God bless you, Pastor, for your honesty. A.B. Earl was a famous
evangelist of the last century who had 150,000 converts to substantiate
his claims. Satan doesn't want you to get a grip of this, so listen very
closely. A.B. Earl said, "I have found by long experience [that's the
true test] that the severest threatenings of the law of God have a
prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost
before they will cry for mercy; they'll not escape danger until they see
it." You see, you try and save a man from drowning when the man doesn't
believe he's drowning, he'll not be too happy with you. You see him
swimming out in the lake; you think, "I think he's drowning. Yes, I
believe he is." You dive in, pull him to the shore, without telling him
anything. He's not going to be very happy with you. He won't want to get
saved until he sees that he's in danger. They'll not escape danger until
they see it. You see, if you came to me and said, "Hey, Ray," and I said,
"Yeah." You said, "This is a cure to Groaninzin's disease; I sold my
house to raise the money to get this cure. I'm giving it to you as a free
gift." I'd probably react something like this: "What? Cure to what?
Groaninzin's disease? You sold your house to raise the money to get this
cure? You're giving it to me as a free gift? Why, thanks a lot. Bye..That
guy's a nut." I mean, that's probably how I'd react if you sold your
house to raise the money to get a cure for a disease I'd never heard of
and your giving it to me as free gift, I'd think you're rather strange.
But instead, if you came to me and said, "Ray, you've got Groaninzin's
disease. I can see ten clear symptoms on your flesh. You're going to be
dead in two weeks." And I became convinced I had the disease (the
symptoms were so evident), and said, "Oh! What shall I do?" And then you
said, "Don't worry. This is a cure to Groaninzin's disease. I sold my
house to raise the money to get this cure. I'm giving it to you as a free
gift." I'm not going to despise your sacrifice; I'm going to appreciate
it and I'm going to appropriate it. Why? Because I've seen the disease
that I might appreciate the cure. And sadly, what's happened in the U.S.
and the Western world as follow is that we have preached the cure without
first convincing of the disease. We have preached a gospel of grace
without first convincing men of the law, that they're transgressors; and,
consequently, almost everyone I try and witness to in southern California
or around the Bible belt has been born-again six or seven times. You say,
"You need to give your life to Jesus Christ." "Uh, I did that when I was
seven, eleven, seventeen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-eight,
thirty-two." You know the guy's not a Christian. He's a fornicator. He's
a blasphemer, but he thinks he's saved because he's been "bornagain".
What's happening? He's using the grace of our God for an occasion of the
flesh. He doesn't esteem the sacrifice. For him it's not a bad thing to
trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb. 10:29). Why? Because he's
never been convinced of the disease that he might appreciate the cure.
Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and
grace to the humble. Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel, the good
news, the cross, the grace of our God, to a proud, arrogant,
self-righteous person. No, no. With the law he breaks the hard heart and
with the gospel he heals the broken heart. Why? Because He always did
those things that please the Father. God resists the proud and gives
grace to the humble (Jam. 4:6; 1Pet. 5:5). "Everyone who is proud of
heart," scripture says, "is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 16:5).
Jesus told us whom the gospel is for. He said, "The spirit of the Lord is
upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, the
broken-hearted, the captives and the blind" (Luke 4:18). Now, they are
spiritual statements. The poor in spirit (Mat. 5:3). The broken hearted
are the contrite ones (Is. 57:15). The captives are those of whom Satan
has taken captive to do his will (2Tim. 2:26); and the blind are those of
whom the god of this world has blinded lest the light of the gospel
should shine on them (2Cor. 4:4). Only the sick need a physician (Mark
2:17), and only those who are convinced of the disease will appreciate
and appropriate a cure. So we're going to now very briefly look at
examples of law to the proud and grace to the humble. Luke 10:24.Luke
10:24. And when I give you a reference from the pulpit I'll give it
twice, because I know that men are present, and men need to be told
things twice..Men need to be told things twice. This can be backed up
biblically. When God speaks to men in the Bible he uses their name twice.
"Abraham, Abraham.Saul, Saul.Moses, Moses.Samuel, Samuel." Because men
need to be told things twice. Women once. I don't know how many times
I've sat in a pew, preacher said, "Ah, Luke 10:25." I turn to my wife and
say, "What'd he say?" She says, "Luke 10:25." I say, "Thank you, dear."
HELP-MATE. That's why God created women, because men could not handle it
on their own. The whole thing is: men lose things, women find things.
"Where's the keys love?" "Hangin' on your nose, Dear." I mean, I don't
know how many times I've opened the cupboard, "[Burp] There's no honey
here, Honey!" She says, "Here is here, Dear." Where would man be without
women? Mm? Still in the Garden of Eden. Eve found the tree. Adam didn't
really know what was going on. In fact, if you look at the creation of
woman, to create woman the Bible says God put man into a deep sleep. And
Scripture doesn't say he ever came out of it. In Luke 10:25 we see a
certain lawyer stood up and tempted Jesus. This is not an attorney, but a
professing expert on God's law. He stood up and he said to Jesus, "How
can I get everlasting life?" Now, what did Jesus do? He gave him law.
Why? Because he was proud, arrogant, self-righteous. Here we have a
professing expert on God's law tempting the Son of God. And the spirit of
his question was, "And what do you think we've got to do to get
everlasting life?" So Jesus gave him law. He said, "What is written in
the law? What is your reading of it?" He says, "Ah, you should love the
Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; love your
neighbor as yourself." And Jesus said, "This do and you shall live." And
then the Scripture says, "But He, willing to justify Himself, said to
Jesus, 'Who's my neighbor?' " The Living Bible brings out more clearly
the effect of the law on the man. It said, "The man wanted to justify his
lack of love for some kinds of people; so he asked, 'Which neighbors?' "
See, he didn't mind Jews, but he didn't like Samaritans. So Jesus then
told him the story of what we call the "good Samaritan" who was not
"good" at all. In loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself, he
merely obeyed the basic requirements of God's law. And the effect of the
essence of the law, the spirituality of the law (of what the law demands
in truth), was that that man's mouth was stopped. See, he didn't love his
neighbor to that degree. The law was given to stop every mouth and leave
the whole world guilty before God. Similarly, in Luke 18, verse 18, the
rich, young ruler came to Jesus. He said, "How can I get everlasting
life?" I mean, how would most of us react if someone came up and said,
"How can I get everlasting life?" We'd say, "Oh.quickly say this prayer
before you change your mind." But what did Jesus do with His potential
convert? He pointed Him to the law. He gave him five horizontal
commandments, commandments to do with his fellow men. And when he said,
"Ah, I've kept those from my youth," Jesus said, "One thing you lack."
And he used the essence of the first of the ten commandments: "I am the
Lord your God.You shall have no other Gods before me" (Ex. 20:2-
3). He showed this man that His god was His money, and "you cannot serve
God and mammon" (Mt. 6:24). Law to the proud. Then we see grace being
given to the humble in the case of Nicodemus (John 3). Nicodemus was a
leader of the Jews. He was a teacher in Israel. Therefore, he was
thoroughly versed in God's law. He was humble of heart, because he came to
Jesus and acknowledged the Deity of the Son of God. A leader in Israel?
"We know that you've come from God for no man can do these miracles that
you do unless God is with Him." So Jesus gave the sincere seeker of truth,
who had a humble heart and a knowledge of sin by the law, the good news of
the fine being paid for and "For God so loved the world that He gave his
only begotten Son." And it was not foolishness to Nicodemus but the "power
of God to salvation." Similarly, in the case of Nathaniel (John 1:43-51).
Nathaniel was an Israelite brought up under the law in deed, not just in
word, in whom there was no guile; there was no deceit in his heart.
Obviously the law was a schoolmaster to bring this godly Jew to Christ.
Similarly with the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). They were devout
Jews, godly Jews, who, therefore, ate, drank, and slept God's law. Matthew
Henry, the Bible commentator, said the reason they were gathered together
on the day of Pentecost was to celebrate the giving of God's law on Mt.
Sinai. So when Peter stood up to preach to these godly Jews, he didn't
preach wrath. No, the law works wrath; they knew that. He didn't preach
righteousness or judgment. No, no. He just told them the good news of the
fine being paid for, and they were pricked in their hearts and cried, "Men
and brethren, what shall we do?" (vs. 37). The law was a schoolmaster to
bring them to Christ that they might be justified through faith in His
blood. And the hymn-writer said, "By God's word at last my sin I learned;
then I trembled at the law I'd spurned, till my guilty soul imploring
turned to Calvary." 1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 8, says, "But we know that
the law is good if it used lawfully for the purpose for which it was
designed." God's law is good if it's used lawfully for the purpose for
which it was designed. Well, what was the law "designed" for? The
following verse tells us: "The law was not made for a righteous man but
for sinners." It even lists the sinners: homosexuals, fornicators. If you
want to bring a homosexual to Christ, don't get into an argument with him
over his perversion; he's ready for you with his boxing gloves on. No, no.
Give him the ten commandments. The law was made for homosexuals. Show him
that he is damned despite his perversion. If you want to bring a Jew to
Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him; let it prepare his heart for
grace as happened on the day of Pentecost. If you want to bring a Moslem
to Christ, give him the law of Moses; they accept Moses as a prophet.
Well, give them the law of Moses and strip them of their
self-righteousness and bring them to the foot of a blood-stained cross. I
heard of a Moslem reading our book Hell's Best Kept Secret, and God
soundly saved him purely through reading the book. Why? Because the law of
the Lord is perfect converting the soul. Think of the woman caught in the
act of adultery (John 8:1-11). Violation of the seventh commandment. The
law called for her blood (Lev. 20:10). She found herself in between a rock
and a hard place. She had no avenue but to fling herself at the feet of
the Son of God for mercy; and that is the function of God's law. Paul
spoke of being shut up under the law (Gal. 3:23). It condemns. You say,
"You can't condemn sinners." Saints, they're already condemned. John 3,
verse 18: "He that believes not is condemned already." All the law does is
show him himself in his true state. Ladies, you might recognize this. Your
table needs dusting in your living room. So you dust it clean; all the
dust is gone. Then you draw back the curtains and let in the early morning
sunlight. What do you see on the table? Dust. What do you see in the air?
Dust. Did the light create the dust? No, the light merely exposed the
dust. And when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the
holy of holies and let the light of God's law shine upon the sinner's
heart, all that happens, is that he sees himself in truth. "The
commandment is a lamp and the law is light" (Prov. 6:23). That's why Paul
said, "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). That's why he
said, "By the commandment sin became exceedingly sinful" (Rom. 7:13). In
other words, the law showed him sin in its true light. Now, normally at
this stage of this teaching I go through the ten commandments one by one,
but what I'll do is share with you how I witness personally because I
think it would be more beneficial. Now, I'm a strong believer in following
in the footsteps of Jesus. Never, ever, would I approach someone and say,
"Jesus loves you." Totally unbiblical; there's no precedent for that in
Scripture. Neither would I go up to someone and say, "I'd like to talk to
you about Jesus Christ." Why? Because if I wanted to awaken you from a
deep sleep, I wouldn't use a flashlight in your eyes. That will offend
you. I'd turn on the light dimmer very gently. First, the natural, then
the spiritual. Why? Because "the natural man receives not the things of
the spirit of God; neither can he know them. They are foolishness to him
because they are spiritually understood" (1Cor. 2:14). The precedent in
Scripture is given in John 4 for personal witness. You can see Jesus'
example with the woman at the well. He started in the natural realm, swung
to the spiritual, brought conviction using the seventh commandment, and
then revealed Himself as the Messiah. So, when I meet someone, I'll talk
about the weather, I'll talk about sport: let them feel a little bit of
sanity. Get to know them; maybe joke here and there and then deliberately
swing from the natural to the spiritual. Now, the way I do this is that I
use gospel tracts. We have something like 24, 25 different tracts; we're a
ministry to the body of Christ. We've printed millions and millions of
tracts and our tracts are unusual. If you get a hold of them, what you'll
have to do is have a stack on you because people chase you and ask for
more. Let me give you an example. This is our optical illusion tract.
Which looks bigger, if you can see? Does the pink look bigger? Can you see
that? For those listening by tape.They're the same size; it's an optical
illusion. I say, "It's actually a gospel tract; instructions are on the
back.how to get saved, actually." I say, "You can keep that." He says,
"Hey.thanks a lot! This is neat.Whoa!" "Got another gift for you." And out
of my pocket I get a pressed penny with the ten commandments on it. We
have a machine that does this. We buy the pennies new from the bank; nice
golden-looking pennies and we feed them into this machine and it presses
them, or it will do your thumbnail if you want to hold still. But it
presses them with the ten commandments. It's legal to do this: this is
considered art. It's not defacing a penny. So I say, "Here's a gift." He
says, "Oh.what is it?" I say, "It's a penny with the ten commandments on
it; I did it with my teeth..I do the i's with my eye teeth but the e's are
really difficult." Now, what I'm doing is putting out a feeler to see if
he's open to spiritual things. If he negatively says, "Ten commandments?
Thanks a lot," he's not open. But the usual reaction is, "Ten
commandments.Hey, thanks! I appreciate this." I say, "Ah, do you think
you've kept the ten commandments?" He says, "Ah, yeah.pretty much." I say,
"Let's go through them. Ever told a lie?" He says, "Ah, yeah.yeah, one or
two." I say, "What does that make you?" He says, "A sinner." I say, "No,
no. Specifically, what does it make you?" He says, "Well, man, I'm not a
liar." I say, "How many lies, then, do you have to tell to be a liar? Ten
and a bell rings and 'ppppbbbbtttt' across your forehead? Isn't it true if
you tell one lie, it makes you a liar?" He says, "Yeah.I guess you're
right." I say, "Have you ever stolen something?" He says, "No." I say,
"Come on; you've just admitted to me you're a liar." I say, "Ever stolen
something, even if its small?" and he says, "Yeah." I say, "What does that
make you?" He says, "A thief." I say, "Jesus said, 'If you look at a woman
and lust after her, you commit adultery with her in your heart' (Mat.
5:28). Ever done that?" He says, "Yeah, plenty of times." "Then from your
own admission, you're a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart, and you have
to face God on judgment day; and we've only looked at three of the ten
commandments. There's another seven with their cannons pointed at you.
Have you used God's name in vain?" "Yeah.I've been trying to stop." "You
know what you're doing? Instead of using a four-letter filth word
beginning with 's' to express disgust, you're using God's name in its
place. That's called blasphemy; and the Bible says, 'Every idle word a man
speaks he'll give account thereof on the day of judgment' (Mat. 12:36).
'The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain' (Ex.
20:7). The Bible says if you hate someone, you are a murderer (1 John
3:15)." Now the wonderful thing about God's law is that God has taken the
time to write it upon our heart. Romans 2, verse 15: ".which show the work
of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness."
conscience means "with knowledge." Con is "with," science is "knowledge."
Conscience. So when he lies, lusts, fornicates, blasphemes, commits
adultery, he does it with knowledge that it's wrong. God has given light
to every man. The Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, righteousness, and
judgment (John 16:8). Sin which is transgression of the law (1 John 3:4);
righteousness which is of the law (Rom. 10:5; Philip. 3:9); judgment which
is by the law. His conscience accuses him-the work of the law written on
his heart (Rom. 2:15)-and the law condemns him. So I say, "So if God
judges you by this standard on the day of judgment, are you going to be
innocent or guilty?" He says, "Guilty." I say, "Well, do you think you'll
go to heaven or hell?" And the usual answer is, "Heaven." A product of the
modern gospel. I say, "Why do you feel like that? Is it because you think
God is good and he'll overlook your sins?" He says, "Yeah, that's it.
He'll overlook my sins." "Yeah, well, try that in a court of law. You've
committed rape, murder, drug pushing-very serious crimes. The judge says,
'You're guilty. All the evidence is here. Have you anything to say before
I pass sentence?' And you say, 'Yes, Judge. I'd like to say I believe
you're a good man and you'll overlook my crimes.' The judge would probably
say, 'You're right about one thing. I am a good man, and because of my
goodness, I'm going to see that justice is done. Because of my goodness,
I'm going to see that you're punished.' " And the very thing sinners are
hoping will save them on the day of judgment, the goodness of God, will be
the very thing that will condemn them. Because if God is good, He must by
nature punish murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, fornicators, and
blasphemers. God is going to punish sin wherever it's found. So with this
knowledge, he's now able to understand. He now has light that his sin is
primarily vertical: that he has "sinned against heaven" (Luke 15:21). That
he has violated God's law and that He has angered God and the wrath of God
abides upon Him (John 3:36). He can now see that He is "weighed in the
balance" of eternal justice and "found wanting" (Dan. 5:27). He now
understands the need for a sacrifice. "Christ redeemed from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). "God commended His love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom.
5:8). We broke the law; he paid the fine. It's as simple as that. And if a
man will repent, if a woman will repent and put their faith in Jesus, God
will remit their sins so that on the day of judgment, when their court
case comes up, God can say, "Your case is dismissed through lack of
evidence." "Christ redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us." And, therefore, exercise repentance towards God, faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21), put his hand to the plough and not look
back because he's fit for the kingdom (Luke 9:62). That word fit means
"ready for use". The soil of his heart has been turned that he might
receive the engrafted word which is able to save his soul (Jam. 1:21).
Now, I haven't got time to share these quotes with you, but their in our
literature. I'm sure you'll recognize these names. John Wycliffe, the
Bible translator. He said, "The highest service to which a man may obtain
on earth is to preach the law of God." Why? Because it will drive sinners
to faith in the Savior, to everlasting life. Martin Luther said, "The
first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God's law and to show the
nature of sin." In fact, as we read these quotes, these men have so much
conviction you can feel their teeth grit. They say things like, "If you do
not use the law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the church with
false converts." Stony ground hearers who will receive the word with joy
and gladness. Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, "Satan, the god
of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all
others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a
sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently
exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ." So what's Luther
saying? He saying, "Listen, guys. There's a demonic, Satanic sect that's
just risen up. Man, I never, ever would have believed this could happen.
He's raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by
the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ,"
which perfectly sums up most of our evangelism. John Wesley said to a
friend, in writing to a young evangelist, "Preach 90 percent law and 10
percent grace." And you say, "90 percent law and 10 percent grace? Pretty
heavy. Couldn't it be 50-50." Think of it like this. I'm a doctor; you're
a patient. You have a terminal disease. I have a cure, but it's absolutely
essential that you are totally committed to this cure; if you're not 100
percent committed, it will not work. How am I going to handle it? Probably
like this. "Come in here. Sit down. I've some very serious news for you:
you have a terminal disease." I see you begin to shake. I think to myself,
"Good. He's beginning to see the seriousness of this situation." I bring
out charts; I bring out x-rays. I show you the poison seeping through your
system. I speak to you for ten whole minutes about this terrible disease.
How long, then, do you think I'm going to have to talk about the cure? Not
long at all. When you're sitting there trembling after ten minutes, I say,
"By the way, here's the cure." You grab it and gulp it down. Your
knowledge of the disease and its horrific consequence has made you desire
the cure. You see, before I was a Christian, I had as much desire for
righteousness as a four-year-old boy has for the word "bath." What's the
point? See, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness." How many non-Christians do you know who are hungering and
thirsting after righteousness? The Bible says, "There is none who seek
after God" (Rom. 3:11). It says they love the darkness, they hate the
light; neither will they come to the light least there deeds be exposed
(John 3:19-20). The only thing they drink in is iniquity like water (Job
15:16). But the night I was confronted with the spiritual nature of God's
law and understood that God requires truth in the inward parts (Ps. 51:6),
that He saw my thought-life and considered lust to be the same as
adultery, hatred the same as murder, I began to say, "I can see I'm
condemned. What must I do to be made right?" I began to thirst for
righteousness. The law put salt on my tongue. It was a schoolmaster to
bring me to Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, "They will never accept grace
until they tremble before a just and holy law." D.L. Moody, John Bunyan,
John Newton, who wrote "Amazing Grace" (and if anyone had a grip on grace
it was Newton), he said that "the correct understanding of the harmony
between law and grace is to preserve oneself from being entangled by
errors on the right hand and on the left." And Charles Finney said,
"Evermore the law must prepare the way for the gospel." He said, "To
overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false
hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to
fill the church with false converts." Saints, the first thing David
Wilkerson said to me when he called me on his car phone was, "I thought I
was the only one who didn't believe in follow-up." Now, I believe in
feeding a new convert; I believe in nurturing him. I believe in discipling
him-biblical and most necessary. But I don't believe in following him. I
can't find it in Scripture. The Ethiopian eunuch was left without
follow-up. How could he survive? All he had was God and the Scriptures.
You see, follow-up.now let me explain follow-up for those of you who don't
know. Follow-up is when we get decisions, either through crusades or local
church, and we take laborers from the harvest field, who are few as it is,
and give them this disheartening task of running after these decisions to
make sure they're going on with God. What it is is a sad admission of the
amount of confidence we have in the power of our message and in the
keeping power of God. If God has saved them, God will keep them. If
they're born of God, they'll never die. If He's begun a good work in them,
He'll complete it to that day (Philip. 1:6); if He's the author of their
faith, He'll be the finisher of their faith (Heb. 12:2). He's able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25). He's able to
keep them from falling and present them faultless before the presence and
glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). Jesus said, "No one will pluck you
from my father's hand" (John 10:29). You see, saints, the problem is that
Lazarus is four days dead (John 11). We can run in the tomb, we can pull
him out, we can prop him up, we can open his eyes, but "he stinketh" (vs.
39). He needs to hear the voice of the Son of God. And the sinner is four
days dead in his sins. We can run up and say, "Say this prayer." Still, he
needs to hear the voice of the Son of God, or there is no life in him; and
the thing that primes the sinner's ear to hear the voice of the Son of God
is the law. It's a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ that he might be
justified through faith (Gal. 3:24). Saints, the law works; it converts
the soul (Ps. 19:7). It makes the person a new creature in Christ. That
old things pass away; behold, all things are become new (2Cor. 5:17). So
find yourself a sinner, and experiment on him. But as you do so, remember
this one anecdote. You're sitting on a plane, sipping you're coffee,
biting a cookie, and watching a movie. It's a good flight, very
pleasurable, when suddenly you hear, "This is your captain speaking. I
have an announcement to make. As the tail section has just fallen off of
this plane, we're about to crash. There's a 25,000 foot drop. There's a
parachute under your seat; we'd appreciate it if you'd put it on. Thank
you for your attention, and thank you for flying with this airline." You
say, "What!? 25,000 feet!? Man, am I glad to be wearing this parachute!"
You look next to you; the guy next to you is biting his cookie, sipping
his coffee, and watching the movie. You say, "Excuse me, did you hear the
captain? Put the parachute on." He turns to you and says, "Oh, I really
don't think the captain means it. Besides, I'm quite happy as I am,
thanks." Don't turn to him in sincere zeal and say, "Oh, please, put the
parachute on. It will be better than the movie." Now, that doesn't make
sense. If you tell him that somehow the parachute will improve his flight,
he's going to put it on for a wrong motive. If you want him to put it on
and keep it on, tell him about the jump. You say, "Excuse me, ignore the
captain if you wish. Jump without a parachute.SPLAT!" He says, "I'm sorry;
I beg your pardon." "I said, if you jump without a parachute, law of
gravity. 'Ppppbbbbtttt' on the ground." "Ah! Goodness me! I see what
you're saying! Thank you very much!" And as long as that man has knowledge
he has to pass through the door and face the consequences of breaking the
law of gravity, there's no way you're going to get that parachute off his
back, because his very life depends on it. Now, if you look around you,
you'll find there are plenty of passengers enjoying the flight. They're
enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Go up and say, "Excuse me. Did
you hear the command from our Captain about salvation, 'Put on the Lord
Jesus Christ.' " He turns to you and says, "Oh, I really don't think God
means it. God is love. Besides, I'm quite happy as I am, thanks." Don't
turn to him in sincere zeal without knowledge and say, "Please, put on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and
lasting happiness. You've got a God-shaped vacuum in your heart only God
can fill. If you have a marriage problem, drug problem, alcohol problem,
just give your heart to Jesus." No. You'll give him the wrong motive for
his commitment. Instead say, "Oh, God, give me courage!" and tell him
about the jump. Just say, "Hey, it's appointed to man once to die. If you
die in your sins, God will be forced to give you justice, and His judgment
is going to be so thorough. Every idle word a man speaks he'll give
account thereof on the day of judgment; if you've lusted, you've committed
adultery. If you've hated someone, you've committed murder. And Jesus
warned that justice will be so thorough, the fist of eternal wrath will
come upon you and [SMACK] grind you to powder. God bless." Now saints, I'm
not talking about hell-fire preaching. Hell-fire preaching will produce
fear-filled converts. Using God's law will produce tear-filled converts.
This one comes because why? He wants to escape the fires of hell. But in
his heart, he thinks God is harsh and unjust, because the law hasn't been
used to show him the exceeding sinful nature of sin. He doesn't see hell
as being his just desert, that he deserves hell. Therefore, he doesn't
understand mercy or grace; and, therefore, he lacks gratitude to God for
His mercy. And gratitude is the prime motivation for evangelism. There'll
be no zeal in the heart of a false convert to evangelize. But this one
comes knowing he has sinned against heaven. That God's eye is in every
place beholding the evil and the good and God has seen darkness, as though
it were pure light. He's seen his thought life. If God in His holiness on
the day of wrath made manifest all the secret sins of his heart, all the
deeds done in darkness, if he made manifest all the evidence of his guilt,
God could pick him up as an unclean thing and cast him into hell and do
that which is just. But instead of giving him justice, he's given him
mercy. He's commended his love toward him in that while he's yet a sinner
Christ died for him. He falls on his knees before that blood-stained
cross, and he says, "Oh, God, if You do that for me, I'll do anything for
You. I delight to do Your will, oh, my God. Your law is written upon my
heart." And like the man who knew he had to pass through the door and face
the consequences of breaking the law of gravity and would never take his
parachute off because his very life depended on it, so he who comes to the
Savior, knowing he has to face a holy God on the day of wrath, would never
forsake the righteousness of God in Christ because His very life depends
on it. Let me see if I can coagulate this teaching as we draw it to a
close. I was in a store some time ago, and the owner of the store was
serving a customer and using God's name in blasphemy. Now, if somebody
used my wife's name in blasphemy, I would be extremely offended if they
used her name as a curse word in that sense. But this guy was using God's
name as a curse word, when God had given him life, his eyes, the ability
to think, his children, his food; every pleasure he's ever had was given
to him by the goodness of God, and he's using God's name as a curse word.
Indignantly, between him and his customer, I leaned and said, "Excuse me.
Is this a religious meeting?" The guy says, "What? H-E-L-L no!" "Yes it
is, because now you're talking about hell. Let me get you one of my
books." So I went out to my car and got a book that I've written called
God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof the Atheist Doesn't Exist. And it's
a book which uses logic, humor, reason, and rationalism to prove the
existence of God, which you can do in two minutes without the use of
faith. It's a very simple thing to conclusively, absolutely prove God's
existence; and it proves also that the atheist doesn't exist. In fact, let
me show you our bumper sticker. "National Atheist's Day: April 1." So I
gave him this book, and two months later I went in and gave him another
book I've written called My Friends Are Dying! A book which is a true and
gripping story about the ministering of the gospel in the most murderous
portion of Los Angeles; a book which also uses humor in its presentation.
I gave him those books and he called me and told me what had happened. He
told me his wife kept giving him filthy looks, because there he was
reading a book called My Friends Are Dying! and laughing every two
minutes. But he was cleaning out his room and he picked up God Doesn't
Believe in Atheists. He said, "Ah," and he opened it up and read the first
page and then he read the whole book, 260 pages. He said, "It was weird
because I hate reading." Then he read My Friends Are Dying!, gave his life
to Christ, bought himself a Bible, came around to say, "Hi," and told me
after two days of being a Christian, in his Bible he was already up to
what he called the book of "Lev-ih-tiekus." And I guess he was going to
read "Palms" and then John. But up until his commitment, the man was a
practicing witch. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul."
And it's as though God looked down upon me, as for many years I open-air
preached, and as I fought off the enemy with the feather duster of modern
evangelism, it's as though God said, "What are you doing? My weapons are
not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds
(2Cor. 10:4). Here are ten great cannons." And as I lined up the ten
cannons of God's law, no longer did sinners scoff and mock. No, their
faces went pale; they lifted their hands and said, "I surrender all! All
to Jesus I freely give!" They came across to the winning side never to
become deserters. Such converts become soul winners, not pew warmers,
laborers, not layabouts, assets, not liabilities for the local church. And
now saints, with every head raised and every eye open, and no music
playing, let me challenge you as to the validity of your salvation. Modern
evangelism says, "Never question your salvation." The Bible says the exact
opposite. It says, "Examine yourself and see if you're in the faith"
(2Cor. 13:5). Better now than on the day of judgment. The Bible says "make
your calling and election sure" (2Pet. 1:10), and some of you know that
something is radically wrong in your Christian walk. You lose your peace
and joy when the flight gets bumpy. There is a lack of zeal to evangelize.
You never fell on your face before Almighty God and said, "I've sinned
against You, oh God! Have mercy upon me!" You've never fled to Jesus
Christ and His blood for cleansing, in desperation crying out, "God be
merciful to me a sinner!" And there's a lack of gratitude; there's not a
burning zeal for the lost. You can't say you're on fire for God; in fact,
you're in danger of being one of the ones that are called "lukewarm" and
will be spewed out of the mouth of Christ on the day of judgment (Rev.
3:16) when multitudes will cry out to Jesus, "Lord, Lord." And he'll say,
"Depart form me you worker of iniquity-lawlessness: I never knew you"
(Mat. 7:22-23). No regard to the divine law. The Bible says, "Let everyone
who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity"-lawlessness (2Tim.
2:19). So today you need to readjust the motive for your commitment.
Friend, don't let your pride stop you. I would like to pray for you: I'll
remain up here, you remain in your seat. And if you'd like to be included
in this prayer, I'd like for you to slip up your hand, but remember this.
If you say, "Well, I should put my hand up but what will people think?"
that's pride. You prefer the praises of men to the praises of God (John
12:43). Everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord
(Prov. 16:5). God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So
humble yourself before the mighty hand of God; He'll exalt you in due time
(1Pet. 5:5-6). Call it a recommittal; call it a committal. But whatever
you call it, make your calling and election sure.

Hell's Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 10 of 10 This message was
first preached in August 1982. Hell's Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted,
duplication is encouraged. www.LivingWaters.com - Living Waters
Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 - Order line:
1-800-437-1893