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Free Grace
Digest
A Ministry of Free Grace Seminary
Dr. Michael D.
Halsey, Editor
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Vol. 1, No. 1
January-March
2009
One Ounce Evangelism
By Dr. Mike Halsey
President, Free Grace
Seminary
Our son and his family were
enjoying a family trip, out
for a long drive, one that
only young adults with young
children can keep their
sanity and survive during a
vacation week. They’re
home-schooling their
children and they’d recently
invested in a set of audio
CDs bearing the prestigious
title of “The History of the
World.” Sounds heavy. My
son decided that it would be
good to listen to the
history CDs during the
drive. After getting to a
certain point on one of the
CDs, my son turned it off
saying, “It’s getting too
advanced for them,” (the
oldest is 6).
My son then initiated a
theological conversation in
which he asked, “What
happens after you die?”
Their six-year old boy knew,
and answered immediately:
“You go to heaven. You meet
Jesus. He talks to you for a
few minutes. Then He throws
you into hell.”
My son said that they have a
lot of work to do.
The thing is that he’s in
Sunday school every Sunday;
he’s in Awanas every
Wednesday. He attends VBS
every summer. He may
certainly be forgiven at his
age. But we might use him
as a metaphor for many, many
adults in American churches
who are present and
accounted for every Sunday
and every Wednesday and
faithfully attend every
carry-in dinner the church
can conceive. And yet
they’re confused.
The title of “Joan’s”
newspaper article grabbed my
eyes immediately. “Amazing
Grace” she’d called it.
Joan began by writing that
people often talked about
the grace of God, but did so
without understanding just
how amazing it is. With
that, the article was off
and running, as Joan took
the reader on an accurate
sweep though the Bible,
hitting the high points of
sin and the Savior’s coming
into the world. Joan
relayed the story of man’s
historic ruin and God’s
provision of redemption as
she ranged from Genesis to
Isaiah and then on into I
Peter.
She wrote of the deity of
Christ, His death and
resurrection, saying about
His work on the cross, “It
was finished. Man’s debt to
God’s law was paid.”
And then, there it was. One
sentence right there in
mid-article, the one
sentence by which Joan
changed everything: “Man is
reconciled to God the minute
he hates his own sins, turns
from the practice of it,
believes in Jesus, and gives
ownership of his life to
Him.” Immediately before
that sentence, Joan defined
“grace,” hitting the nail on
the head by writing,
“undeserved favor.”
Joan giveth and Joan taketh
away, and she did so with
that one sentence by which
grace, “undeserved favor,”
crashed and burned.
I finished the article a
disappointed reader. But in
the finishing, something was
different this time.
Instead of thinking, “Just
one more inaccurate (and
therefore false) gospel
presentation,” this time,
this one time, continued
silence didn’t seem so
golden a path.
Instead of ruminating over a
good article gone bad,
instead of using Joan as one
more “in house” illustration
of the inundation of
Lordship salvation in a
sermon to the choir, why not
put some gospel rubber-skid
marks on the road to
hell?Indeed, why not write
Joan, whom I didn’t know and
had never met? Why not
indeed?
Getting on task, I knew the
letter needed to do and to
be three things: the letter
had to present the faith
alone in Christ alone gospel
(the only good news there
is) and it had to do so in
line with John 1:14, that
is, it had to be “full of
grace and full of truth.”
The tone of the letter was
crucial, as were the words.
I finished the letter to
Joan; I read and reread it
for content and tone, folded
it, placed it in a stamped
envelope, and turned the
evangelistic effort over to
the postal system of the
federal government to place
in Joan’s hands. A
one-ounce letter, a first
class stamp, and the
government takes it from
there.
The following is the “Dear
Joan Letter:”
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“Dear Joan
“I read your
article, ‘Amazing
Grace,’ with intense
interest because you
took on a subject
which should be of
consuming importance
to everyone. You
hit the nail on the
head when you said,
“There is a world of
people who do not
understand the
magnificent love of
Jesus Christ for
mankind and the
story of the
cross.”
“As I read the
article, I
appreciated how you
referenced Scripture
nine times, as you
ranged from Genesis
to Isaiah, I Peter
(one of those pesky
typographical errors
appeared in the I
Peter reference),
and Matthew. As you
pointed us to those
Scriptures, you used
them to note many
important doctrines
of the Bible—the
creation and fall of
man, the penalty of
man’s sin, and Jesus
Christ the Son of
God whose “suffering
is our atonement –
our lawful
substitute.” You
informed us of God’s
foreknowledge of the
crucifixion of
Christ and how
Christ suffered for
us. Not only that,
but you also wrote
of the resurrection
of Christ and His
ascension which you
implied when you
said that He is
seated in heaven
with God the
Father.
“You called to our
attention the deity
and humanity of
Christ, and you did
not neglect to
mention His virgin
birth. I especially
liked the way you
put it when you
wrote about His
death: “It was
finished. Man’s
debt to God’s law
was paid.” The
finished work of
Christ is a key
doctrine of the
Bible, one the
author of the book
of Hebrews
emphasizes. Well
done!
“There’s one
sentence in your
article I’d like you
to reconsider.
Before that
sentence, you wrote
about God’s grace,
defining it as
“undeserved favor,”
and again, you hit
the nail on the head
with that
definition. Before
that sentence, you
wrote “It was
finished. Man’s
debt to God’s law
was paid.” Then, in
the one sentence I’d
like you to rethink,
you wrote, “Man is
reconciled to God
the minute he hates
his own sins, turns
from the practice of
it, believes in
Jesus, and gives
ownership of his
life to Him.”
“My concerns revolve
around those
instructions. If
we, as you said,
correctly define
grace to be
“unmerited favor”
and if we correctly
understand Christ’s
work on the cross to
be finished, as you
said, how is it that
we’re to add to His
long-ago finished
work with our own
works? How is it
that in order to
receive His free
gift of salvation
we’re to give
something (our
lives, our
abandonment of sin)
in return? How can
an “unmerited” gift
be merited and yet
remain a gift? I
would think that if
we have to earn a
gift, it ceases to
be one.
“My concern is that
if His work is
finished, why do we
have to further
finish it by adding
hating sin, stopping
the practice of sin,
and giving my life
to Him? What the
article refers to as
both unmerited and
finished, appears to
have to be earned,
deserved, merited,
and therefore
remains unfinished
until we make our
additions to earn
it.
“If we have to “turn
from the practice
[of sin],”to what
degree do we have to
turn? I hope you
would agree with I
Jn. 1:8 that we
can’t turn from the
practice of sin, for
even if the
percentage of our
cutting down of sin
is 99%, we haven’t
turned from sinning
completely, and
we’re left on a
relativistic sea,
sort of a “gospel of
the maybe.” We
can’t know if we’ve
done enough giving
of the ownership of
our lives to Him, or
turned from sin
enough to earn it.
There are examples
of those believers
who didn’t turn from
sinning—Solomon,
wrote three books in
the Bible, yet,
later in his life
descended into a
horrendous idolatry
from which he never
returned. Lot is
another example of a
believer into was
into unspeakable
immorality, yet
Peter says he was
saved.
“In giving my life
to Him, how far do I
have to go? To the
point of martyrdom?
If so, is being
willing to suffer to
that degree a
qualification to
enter the kingdom of
God ? Again, this
would be a gospel of
the maybe, because
it leaves a person
not knowing if he’s
done enough for long
enough; yet John,
referring to the
previous paragraph,
says we can know: “I
write these things
to you who believe
in the name of the
Son of God so that
you may know that
you have eternal
life.” (I John
5:13)
“My concern is that
I hear about amazing
grace and the
finished work of
Christ, yet I hear
both negated and
denied by the
addition of works
into the salvific
mix, works such as
giving one’s life to
the Lord and
stopping the
practice of sin. If
it’s a requirement
that a person stop
sinning, who’s
able? Certainly not
the unregenerate;
therefore, he’s told
to do the
impossible. To tell
a person to stop
sinning before he
believes in Christ
is akin to telling a
child to get cleaned
up before he takes a
bath.
“If it’s by grace,
then it has to be
free and unearned or
it isn’t grace. If
it’s a gift, we’re
not the givers, God
is; to be a real
gift, I don’t have
to earn it by doing
good things or
giving God anything
in return. As
Romans 4:4-5 says,
“Now when a man
works, his wages are
not credited to him
as a gift, but as an
obligation. However,
to the man who does
not work but trusts
God who justifies
the wicked, his
faith is credited as
righteousness.” If
salvation is apart
from works as both
Romans and Galatians
say, how can works
be a part of faith?
(“And if by grace,
then it is no longer
by works; if it
were, grace would no
longer be grace.”
Rom. 11:6)
“The solution to my
concern is that
salvation is by
faith alone in
Christ alone (the
Son of God who paid
the penalty for my
sin and rose from
the dead) for
everlasting life
apart from works.
The answer is in
John 6:29 and John
3:16 (et al.). If
ever there were a
time to specify what
works a person needs
to do to do the
works God requires,
Jesus had that
opportunity in John.
6:28 -29: “Then they
asked him, ‘What
must we do to do the
works God requires?’
Jesus answered, ‘The
work of God is this:
to believe in the
one he has sent.”
He specified no
works, only the
“work” of believing
His promise of
everlasting for
anyone who believes
in Him alone for
it.
“From the tenor of
the article, I
assume that you’re
not only a writer
(and a good one),
but you’re also an
in-depth reader. I
would encourage you
to examine the
gospel of John, a
book whose purpose
is to persuade the
reader to believe
Jesus’ promise of
everlasting life
given by grace
alone, through faith
alone in Christ
alone, not by works
lest any should
boast.
10,000 blessings,
Dr. Mike Halsey”
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One morning, I go to the
office and notice the
blinking light telling me my
machine has heard and stored
a message that I need to
hear. Expecting the usual
sales calls telling me of
the latest gospel quartet to
invade the area, an excited
salesman reading something
telling me about a health
insurance policy which “all
your employees must have,”
or a fellow from who knows
where telling me of a vision
he’d had and warning me
about a verse left out of
the book of Matthew and how
he was an angel sent to tell
me about it, I was surprised
to hear the caller identify
herself as Joan and
acknowledge the receipt of
my “nice, nice letter,” a
phrase she repeated several
times.
She left her number, saying
that she’d call back soon.
A day or two later, she
did. She began by repeating
her “nice, nice letter”
words, and I thought that at
least, the tone had come
across to her as gracious.
Then she began to talk about
her reaction to the letter.
She told me that she had
done as I’d asked, she read
and read again and again
that one sentence. And then
she said, “I had no idea
what you were talking
about.” (So much for
clarity.) She said that she
thought and thought about
it, but still didn’t
understand my concern.
She said that she put the
letter aside and prayed,
“Lord, help me to see what
Dr. Halsey is talking
about,” and then went on her
way to run the errands of
the day.
“Then,” she said, “it
happened! I wasn’t even
thinking about the letter
when it hit me. I
understand: I see what
you’re talking about.” She
repeated, “I understand.
Thank you.”
We talked more about
salvation and discipleship
and I pointed out how
they’re two separate
subjects to be kept
distinct. She had seen the
error in her article;
agreed.
When we hung up, I knew the
writer’s name was now
written permanently in the
Book of Life with God’s
eternal ink.
A conversation like that can
make one’s decade, and it
did.
I learned from the Joan
experience. We all come
across tracts, articles,
preachments, and things left
on the doorknobs of our
homes which present the no-
good- news gospel, one
filled with oars for people
to paddle their own canoes
to heaven. Such inaccurate
presentations tell us that
Jesus gave our canoe the
initial push into the river,
but we have to paddle at
least some of the way or we
paddle as far as we can and
then He rows the rest of the
way.
Those false gospel
presentations don’t come our
way by chance in a world
guided by blind
happenstance. They come by
divine appointment. (I
rarely pick up a copy of the
newspaper paper in which
Joan’s article appeared, but
that one time, I did, and
there was Joan.)
All those sermons, all those
books, all those tracts, and
all those articles out
there, each one telling
people, “Believe in Jesus
and start paddling.” [One
of the worst of the tracts I
picked up was one which
asked the question, “How do
you get to heaven?” and then
answered by saying, “Read
the Bible and do everything
it tells you to do.” I
suppose that such a person
is now trying to follow the
mandate of the Pentateuch
and not boiling “a calf in
its mother’s milk.”]
How can we know what the
gospel is? Who are we to
say? We have some
major-leaguers out there
speaking and writing and
paying big bucks to let the
air waves carry their
message, so who are we to
say?
Listen to this presentation
of the “gospel:” “How
about you? Are you ready to
make this commitment? All it
takes are three simple
steps. But first, you should
stop and think about the
cost of serving Christ and
consider these steps very
carefully.” Imbedded in
those first sentences are
flare words—“commitment;”
“three steps;” and “cost.”
If I’m about to receive a
free gift what’s going on
with “commitment,” “steps,”
and “cost?”
He goes on
to say, “If you clearly
understand what Christ
accomplished on the cross
and have considered
carefully the demands He
makes, there is nothing to
stop you from becoming a
Christian.” Before I can be
saved, before coming to
Christ to receive a free
gift, I have to consider
carefully the “demands He
makes?”
It all comes
together in the last
statement on exactly what he
says a person needs to do:
“Now you should go where you
can be alone or in the
presence of another
Christian, get on your knees
before God and pray a simple
prayer such as this:
Lord Jesus Christ, I need
You. I agree that I am a
sinner and have sinned in my
thinking and speaking and
acting. Thank you for dying
on the cross for my sins. I
have counted the cost of
following You. I repent
and turn away from my past
sins. I open the door of
my life and receive You as
my Savior and Lord. Thank
you for forgiving my sins
and giving me eternal life.
Make me the kind of person
You want me to be. Amen.”
There are so many things a
person has to do—he has to
get by himself or he has to
get with another Christian
and then he has to make a
“simple” promise that he’s
going to do the impossible
by turning from his sins.
He has so many oars in the
boat, the canoe is sinking!
Before he began to tell the
reader how to become a
Christian, he said it was
“so simple, a child could do
it.”
Then, on the same website,
we have another set of
instructions on how to
become a Christian; all you
have to do is click another
button and you learn that
you should “try
talking to God in simple
words like these: ‘Father, I
know that I've sinned
against You and that I need
Your forgiveness. I believe
that Jesus Christ died and
rose again for me. I want
you to come into my life,
wash me clean, and make me
completely Your own. Thank
you for hearing my prayer.’”
He goes on
to conclude: “If you've
prayed that prayer — or one
like it — you're a member of
God's family: "If you
confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus and believe in
your heart that God has
raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved" (Romans
10:9). Now there's just one
more thing to do: get
involved with your brothers
and sisters! Find a local
church, Bible study, or
Christian support group
where you can study God's
Word and grow in fellowship
with other believers. And
remember — the adventure is
just beginning!”
This page
didn’t tell a person to
count the cost, consider
carefully the demands Christ
makes, nor did it tell him
to turn from him sins. So
the careful reader who wants
to get it right should be
asking, “Which is it? Who’s
right?”
But we
notice the second writer has
added one more “to do:” “Now
there's just one more thing
to do: get involved with
your brothers and sisters!
Find a local church, Bible
study, or Christian support
group where you can study
God's Word and grow in
fellowship with other
believers.” Although he’s
said earlier that if a
person prays that prayer,
he’s in the family of God,
it’s confusing to go on and
say, “There’s just one more
thing to do.”
Where did those two sets of
instructions come from? Go
to the Focus on the Family
website (focusonthefamily.org)
and there they are under
“How to Become a Christian”
and “Becoming a Christian.”
Can a person ever sort this
all out? Is there a way to
do so? How about a person’s
going to Galatians 1:6-9: “I
am astonished that you are
so quickly deserting the one
who called you by the grace
of Christ and are turning to
a different gospel— 7
which is really no
gospel at all. Evidently
some people are throwing you
into confusion and are
trying to pervert the gospel
of Christ. 8 But
even if we or an angel from
heaven should preach a
gospel other than the one we
preached to you, let him be
eternally condemned! 9
As we have already
said, so now I say again: If
anybody is preaching to you
a gospel other than what you
accepted, let him be
eternally condemned!”
There’s a way to get it
cleared up! Paul says that
the good news, the gospel,
is the one he preached to
them when he came into their
area. Now, if we just had a
record somewhere of what he
preached when he came into
Galatia, that would tell us.
And the good news is that we
do! Acts 13:28-30, 38-39 is
the place: “Though they
found no proper ground for a
death sentence, they asked
Pilate to have him executed.
29 When they had
carried out all that was
written about him, they took
him down from the tree and
laid him in a tomb. 30
But God raised him
from the dead, 31
and for many days he was
seen by those who had
traveled with him from
Galilee to Jerusalem. They
are now his witnesses to our
people. . . . Therefore, my
brothers, I want you to know
that through Jesus the
forgiveness of sins is
proclaimed to you. 39
Through him everyone
who believes is justified
from everything you could
not be justified from by the
law of Moses.”
Paul the evangelist didn’t
tell the Galatians to
“consider the cost,” “take
the three steps,” “turn away
from their sins,” “get alone
or with another Christian,”
“pray a prayer,” “confess
with their mouth,” or even
“get with your brothers and
sisters in a local church,
Bible study group, or
Christian support group.”
Is there something to do
other than clucking our
tongues with a,
“Isn’t-it-awful-how-people-
pound-works-into-grace-and-never-realize-it”
pronouncement? How about
engaging in one-ounce
evangelism? How about
writing a “Dear Joan
letter?” The cost of
one-ounce evangelism is much
in time and a few cents.
Uncle Sam does the rest.
Think big. How about
setting up a “Dear Joan
Group” in your church to
initiate one-ounce
evangelism, full of grace
and full of truth? (At
last!—an exciting church
committee, one not dedicated
to discussing casseroles and
cabbage, pouring tea and
reading the minutes of the
last meeting.)
This has both a biblical and
an American tradition to
it. In Acts 15, after they
made the Spirit-led decision
for free grace, we read:
“Then the apostles and
elders, with the whole
church, decided to choose
some of their own men and
send them to Antioch with
Paul and Barnabas. They
chose Judas (called
Barsabbas) and Silas, two
men who were leaders among
the brothers. 23
With them they sent the
following letter . .
. And isn’t that what
Galatians is, a letter to
correct an inaccurate
gospel?
This is also as American as
baseball, apple pie, and
Chevrolet. In 1772, there
were in the colonies
“Committees of
Correspondence.” These
committees coordinated the
efforts to oppose the
British and to disseminate
information far and wide.
Many American heroes were in
these groups as well as many
of the Sons of Liberty.
(Every church committee
needs a name, so how about
“The Sons and Daughters of
Grace?”)
Bill Bennett is an author
who was once Sec. of
Education under Reagan. I
heard him say something
which sticks in the mind:
“All great changes in
America start at the dinner
table.” Maybe one of our
problems is that we are
compartmentalizing grace,
segregating it to our
pulpits, our SS classes, and
our conferences, but it
never reaches our dinner
table discussions.
Consider the dinner table in
God’s plan. It was at the
table of the Passover Meal
that the family heard and
rehearsed what God did at
the Exodus. It was at the
table that the disciples
heard the awesome truths of
the Upper Room Discourse.
It’s at the Lord’s Table,
that His church reminds
herself of the body and
blood of Christ. Far from
compartmentalizing the
truth, Israel was to
“impress them on your
children. Talk about them
when you sit at home.” That
would be dinner, for a
change.
In the family in which I
grew up we talked theology
in the car and at the
table. We discussed the
Christ and the Bible, it was
in the air of the home in
which I lived. If Bennett
is right and all great
changes in America start at
the dinner table, then how
about your dinner table
becoming a forum for grace,
how about your family, as a
family, engaging in one
ounce evangelism as you
discuss the free grace
gospel and what you, your
spouse, and your kids have
heard or found or read that
violates it, and then your
family becomes a committee
of correspondence to write
to the “Joans”
The Joans of this world are
ubiquitous—they’re
pontificating from pulpits,
roughing it with kids at
Christian camps, instructing
students in Christian
schools, writing books and
articles, distributing
tracts, and speaking on
every broadcast format known
to man. (Is the tract rack
at your church is a muddled
mess, presenting all
different combinations of
false, works-oriented, bad
news gospels? Take a look
next Sunday. Such tracts are
fodder for one-ounce
evangelism.)
Be done with hand-wringing,
the clucking of the tongue.
The Joans are out there; be
a group of one or set up the
committees of correspondence
at church or at home and
let’s use one-ounce
evangelism to spread the
good news.
How important is this? Look
at Matthew 7:21-22: “Not
everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven,
but only he who does the
will of my Father who is in
heaven. [Jesus tells us
what God’s will is in John
6:40]. Many
will say to me on that day,
‘Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name, and
in your name drive out
demons and perform many
miracles?’ Then
I will tell them plainly, ‘I
never knew you. Away from
me, you evildoers!’"
You know, maybe our six-year
old was more of a
theologian, albeit with
rough edges, than I
thought. There it is in
Matthew 7:21-23: for those
who've depended on their
works—Jesus talks to them
for a few minutes and throws
them into hell!
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