"How beautiful on the moun-

tains are the feet of those who

bring good news, who proclaim
peace, who bring good tidings, who
proclaim salvation, who say to
Zion, 'Your God reigns!" Isaiah
52:7.
Are Arminian evangelicals really
evangelistic? Does Calvinism
squelch evangelistic zeal, as is often
charged? For years Calvinists have
falsely been criticized for being
disinterested or uninvolved in
evangelism. There is an old saying
concerning the evange-
lism of the American
West in the 19th cen-
tury, that the Baptist
preachers went on foot,
the Methodists followed
on horseback, the
Presbyterians waited for
stagecoaches, and the
Episcopalians atrived by
train and steamboat,
whichever offered
greater luggage space!
Presbyterian (and
Reformed) preachers
aren't considered to be
all that evangelistically motivated or
active. Is this true?
On the one hand we do not
want to be like the person who
chided D.L Moody for his "method"
of evangelism, to which he replied,
"Madam, I prefer my method of
doing evangelism to your method
of not doing evangelism!" On the
other hand, the end not only does
not justify the means, but frankly
may tragically affect the product. A
man once testified to having come
Certainly in tenos of the extent
and the intensity of proclamation of
the "gospel," we are living in the
mOst "evangelistic" era in the
history of the church. Most Chris-
tians, however, defme evangelism
in tenos of altar calls, "numbers,
nickels, and noise," or making
decisions rather than disciples.
When I was in Seminary an "evan-
gelistic" questionnaire was sent to
students by a well known evange-
list in the South to determine if we
were evangelistic. The tests in-
cluded questions like "Do you give
alter calls?" "Do you have annual
evangelistic crusades" "How many
people have you led to the Lord in
the last year?" At the heart of
evangelism and missions, however,
is the message: "Your God reigns!"
When evangelism is measured
against the message, we may be
living in the least evangelistic
generation in the history of the
Gospel.
I want to touch on two key
issues involved in Biblical evange-
lism, the method and the message
of evangelism. Evangelical
Arminian evangelism is too narrow
in both message and method. They
have too narrow a definition of
evangelism. A definition of evange-
lism that has been widely accepted
is, "To evangelize is so to present
Jesus Christ in the power-ef the
Holy Spirit, that men shall come to
14 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon December, 1994
put their trust in God through him,
to accept him as their Saviour, and
serve him as their king in the
fellowship of his church." We are to
present Christ in the power of the
Holy Spirit. But how is Christ to be
presented in the power of the Holy
Spirit? Most Christians limit "pre-
senting" Christ to tracts, evangelis-
tic books, confrontations, and
evangelistic sermons and crusades.
The wimess of the church is indeed
a verbal one, but this in the Bible is
never disassociated from presenting
Jesus Christ in the
power of the Spirit in
the worship and life of
the people of God as
the context, the plat-
form, and the proof
thatjesus is Savior and
Lord. '"i our God
Reigns" must not only
characterize our wit-
ness, but our worship,
and our work!
Evangelism is not
an activity that may be
cut off from the total
context of the worship and work of
the people of God. Biblical wor-
ship is evangelistic, not as an
evangelistic service with an invita-
tion at the conclusion, but as a
celebration of God's salvation in the
presence of God and His people,
giving evidence that our God is
alive and reigning. Would an
unbeliever in your worship service
conclude "Your God is dead" or
"Your God Reigns"? Would an
unbeliever be convinced by the
Spirit that this God who is wor-
shipped is real, powerful, awesome,
and alive (I Cor. 14:25)?
Christian living and practice,
"letting your light shine," (Mt.
5: 13-16) is evangelistic, causing
men to glorify God. Ungodly and
immoral behavior counteracts.
undermines. destroys the words
that are proclaimed. The old story
of the Sunday School teacher who
asked his students "Why do people
call me a Christian?" is often nue.
One of his children answered.
"Maybe it's because they don't
know you!" Today. unbelievers
don't seriously consider the mes-
sage we preach because they don't
know too many of us.
From the beginning the church
and Christians had a ministry to the
poor. the needy. the strangers.
Christians must care for one
another. for the sick. the elderly.
the needy. the troubled. It is in
doing these things that the church
wimesses to the power and extent
of God's redeeming grace. that our
God reigns.
While. therefore. evangelism is
a bask task of the church. it is a
serious error to limit the work of
the church to this or to fail to see
the evangelistic implications of the
total life and worship of the people
of God.
This definition of evangelism
proposed abcve leads us into our
second major area of problem with
contemporalY evangelism. The
definition speaks of serving Christ
as king "in the fellowship of
church." This is the major failure
of evangelical Christianity. influ-
enced primarily by dispensational
premi!lenialism and antinomian-
ism. limiting the kingship of Jesus
Christ to the church. What this
manifests is not only that there is a
problem with too narrow a defini-
tion of the method of evangelism.
but that the very message is too
narrow.
"The apostolic preaching fol-
lowed this pattem. First. men are
declared to be sinners. under God's
wrath and sentence of
death .... Second. God as man's only
Savior through His incamate Son.
Jesus Christ. has in grace and
mercy provided the way of escape.
The atonement and the resurrection
are proclaimed as man's only
hope .... Third. to be saved means
more than the release of the con-
demned. although it is clearly that.
It means baptism into Christ and
His Kingdom; it means obedience
to His law. fellowship with His
saints in the Church. and a com-
mon service to the acknowledged
king. and much more .... We are
baptized. and we become citizens
of a community. the Kingdom of
God. members of His Church.
workers in every area of our lives in
terrns of God's law. and. in all
things. servants of Christ. in whose
will is our freedom." R].
Rushdoony. Salvation and Re-
demption. pg. 447 &: 448.
The message is central to evan-
gelism. Modem evangelism is like
the amusing cartoon in a magazine
at the time of the 1960 Olympics
shOwing the celebrated runner from
Marathon arriving in Athens and
falling exhausted on the ground
while he mumbles. with a blank
look on his face. "1 have forgotten
the message."
Evangelism is proclaiming a
message. the message! And. this
frankly receives little attention in
contemporary Christianity because
it is assumed that every Christian
knows the message. We are high
on methods. high on motivation.
high on missions. but minimal on
message. The primary concem
today is motivating and funding
missions without much regard for
accuracy or faithfulness to the
"message. "
Is Arminian evangelism. there-
fore. really evangelistic? Who is
really guilty of failing to evangelize?
Isn't it really the Arminians that
don' t proclaim the message of
evangelism-" Your God Reigns!"?
Hasn't "easy believism." "Once
saved. always saved!" and "You can
accept Jesus as Savior and not as
Lord!" not only deceived many.
hardened many. but also attracted
many so that anyone who pro-
claims Lordship. discipleship. and
holiness is viewed as a religious
fanatic bordering on cultism?
The difference between
Arminians and Calvinists is more
than "TUUP." (The letters of the
Arminian DAISY. "He loves me. He
loves me not." may stand for its
doctrinal tenants: D-Depravity isn't
total; A-Atonement isn't definite;
I-Irresistible isn't grace. S-Selection
isn't unconditional; and Y-Your
salva tion isn't secure.) In one sense
both proclaim salvation by grace
through faith alone. On the other
hand there is a broad gap; we
proclaim the good news of the
Kingdom of God! ; like the Mo-
nopoly card. "Get out of jail," they
proclaim salvation. "Get out of
Hell"
It is surprising that the contem-
porary church has ignored the
message announced and pro-
claimed by the great evangelist
Himself. Jesus Christ. He is both
the message and the messenger.
While it is true that the message in
one sense may be stated as con-
cisely and succinctly as "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. and thy house.' Acts 16:31.
in another sense the message has
been grossly understated. Jesus
came preaching saying. "The
kingdom oj God is at hand. Repent
and believe the good news." Mark
1:15.
December, 1994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 15
In Matthew 4: 17, 23 the Gospel
is described and proclaimed as the
Gospel of the Kingdom. The
Sermon on the Mount, Mat. 5-7,
mentions the kingdom several
times, in particular we are to pray
"Thy kingdom come," and to "seek
first the kingdom of God: 6:33.
Mat. 9:35 says thatjesus "went
through all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the good news of the
kingdom .... And when he saw the
crowds, he had compassion on
them .... Then He said to his dis-
ciples, "The harvest is
plenteous but the
workcrs are few. Ask
the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out
workcrs into his harvest
field . Jesus pro-
claimed the parables
of the Kingdom, Mat.
13. Paul bid farewell
to the Ephesians
reminding them that
he had preached
among them "the
kingdom of God" and identified
that message with "the gospel of
the grace of God," Acts 20:24, 25.
Most Christians must think that
the "Great Commission" is a new
plan or program from the one
Jesus announced at the beginning
of his ministry, Mat. 4:17,
28: 18-20. He started out an-
nouncing the kingdom of God is at
hand, but ended settling for
sending His disciples just to make
a few decisions for 'jesus," since
His Original plan had been re-
jected. Most Christians must think
that the Great Commission is some
new enterprise completely unre-
lated to the O. T. prophecies and
purpose of God as expressed in
our t ~ r o m Isaiah, rather than
seeing that Jesus is announcing
that in Himself those prophecies
are realized through the preaching
of repentance and faith in Him.
The message of "salvation" is
stated in terms of the kingdom of
God. Faith and repentance are in
view of the presence of the king-
dom of God and repentance and
faith are reqUired for entrance into
that Kingdom. We would expect
Dispensationalists to redefine the
message of evangelism since they
believe that the kingdom was
postponed. But Presbyterian and
Reformed "evangelism" ought to
take seriously the message of the
Gospel of the Kingdom declared
by Jesus Himself! The importance
of this became all the more appar-
ent to me in the context of foreign
missions in my trip to the Ukraine.
One of the first things that caught
my attention was a booklet that I
recognized even though I couldn't
read the words because they were
in Russian. It was "The Four
Spiritual Laws." And what struck
me most in talking with Ukrainian
Christians was that there was no
evidence of understanding any
social, political, cultural implica-
tions or applications of the Gospel
in their thinking, or of living in
terms of being a member of the
16 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ December, 199+
kingdom of Christ and God. The
Gospel for them was truly as Marx
had said, "the Opiate of the
Masses: essentially only an escape
from the horror of their political
and religious oppression and
persecution.
There have been several evange-
listic booklets, tracts, treatments,
and outlines written by Reformed
men such as John Blanchard, Nigel
Lee, Greg Bahnsen, Roland Barnes,
Ross Lindley,Jack Miller, Will
Metzger, etc. While, thankfully,
much has also been
written about the
relationship of the
gospel to the king-
dom, I am not aware,
however, oEm evan-
gelistic booklet that is
addressed directly to
the unbeliever and
that centers on the
kingdom of God as
the message of the
Gospel. We've had
"E.E.; Evangelism
Explosion; now what about "K.E.,"
Kingdom Evangelism?
R.]. Rushdoony has defined the
message of the gospel in terms of
the kingdom. He stated that the
gospel is the "good news that the
triune God proclaims the Kingdom
of God as open to men through the
salvation made possible by Jesus
Christ and His atoning death,
resurrection, and ascension (Acts
15:7,20:24,25; I Peter 4:17,1
Cor. 13:1-3} ... .The gospel or
evangel is good news to a world
under sentence of death. God calls
out an elect people to establish His
Kingdom, on earth and eternally
(Mat. 6:10}." The Journal of
Christian Reconstruction, Vol. VII ,
No.2, Winter, 1981, pg. 10.
Ed Clowney, an a-millenialist,
has written a chapter in The
Pastor-Evangelist, Ed. Roger
Greenway, P&:R, entitled "Kingdom
Evangelism: He states "It is the
gospel of the kingdom that must be
proclaimed in all the world: pg.
15, and he sets forth aspects of the
gospel from a kingdom perspective.
Ken Gentry's book, The Greatness
of the Great Commission, is also a
most helpful work in defining the
Great Commission in terms of the
covenant.
R. B. Kuiper in his book,
God-Centered Evangelism, includes
the Kingdom as one aspect of the
aim and message of evangelism.
"Significantly: he said, "the gospel
which Jesus preached is described
as 'the gospel of the kingdom' Mat.
4:23 .... What the selfstyled Chris-
tian nations must learn and what
the Christian church must teach the
nations of the world is that Christ is
King as well as Savior, and that his
kingship extends, not only over the
church, but over society in all of its
ramifications; for a few examples,
over politics, both national and
international, over industry and
labor, over science and education,
over literature and an," pg. 98-99.
"It is of the greatest moment that
Christ be preached, not only as
Saviour, but also as King. ... By way
of illustration, the evangel may be
pictured as a cone, the lower half of
which represents the substitution-
ary atonement, the upper half the
universal kingship of Christ....In
evangelism the cross of Christ and
his crown belong together. What
God has put together let not the
evangelist put asunder: pp.
144-146. (Baker Book House,
1963).
J. H. Bavink in An Introduction
to the Science of Missions states,
"Mission work is concerned with
'the Gospel of the kingdom.' Of
course the kingdom includes peace
and salvation for all who partake of
it, but the stress is not laid here; the
emphasis is given to the fact that it
is the kingdom of God. God, the
much slandered, the hated, the One
fled from, against whom man has
rebelled, whose grip he frequently
sought to escape, against whom he
sometimes rose up in unrestrained
hostility, this God will then appear
to be the only safe refuge, the only
resting place, '[or thine is the
kingdom, and the power and the
glory: pg. 157.
Perhaps, the most helpful book
that I have seen as a popular
presentation of a comprehensive
view of what it means to be a
Christian and the Gospel in terms
of the Kingdom is Unconditional
Surrender, by Gary North (GalY
North-evangelistic?!). While we do
not want to give in to the pressure
to presenting "the Gospel in a
nutshell" mentality, it would be
helpful to have a non-technical,
brief and direct presentation the
good news of the kingdom to the
unbelieving world of men. Let us
also remember that not all o[ God's
elect are scholars or are
presuppositionally self-conscious.
Some of them aren't even con-
scious!
The church has [ailed to join
that which God has combined,
evangelism and eschatology.
Indeed, this message, "The King-
dom of God is at hand," proclaimed
is the primary method of evange-
lism. We have separated what God
joined together, thus creating and
perpetuating the distinction be-
tween the spiritual and the physi-
cal, the now and the future, and
thus failing to disciple the nations
and extend the kingdom of God in
Christ which is a light to the
nations. It is the Biblical message of
the good news of the kingdom that
is the evangelistic message that we
are to preach and teach.
By separating the Gospel (evan-
gelism) from the Kingdom (escha-
tology) we have separated what
God has joined together. Popular
evangelists have made religion a
matter of "pie-in-the-sky-by-
and-by," while people live "where
the rubber meets the road." The
"religious" philosophies of human-
ism have offered real solutions to
cun-ent problems of life, and the
false religions and cults are offering
a competing faith and message of
hope for the after-life (reincarna-
tion, for example). It is only as we
preach the good news of the
kingdom of God that we have a
message that is relevant to the real
world and men, not dualistiC,
dividing the sacred and the secular,
but truly creational, spiritual and
physical, now and eternal.
What is the message of "Good
News concerning the Kingdom of
God that we proclaim? It is first,
the Gospel, "the good news: of the
Kingdom. Secondly, it is the
announcement that the Kingdom is
at hand. Thirdly, Repent and
Believe the Good news!:
1. GOD RULES AS KING AND
HIS KINGDOM IS OVER ALL.
A. GOD IS A KING. God is the
creator-King of the universe.
B. GOD HAS A KINGDOM. As
king and sovereign, He has revealed
His will, His righteous, holy, just,
and good laws for SOciety, for
civilization. Men have turned away
from God and His commandments
to establish and build their own
societies. However, these societies
December, 1994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 17
are filled with crime, greed, hatred,
injustice, war, insecurity, and
despair. That is because they have
failed to recognize that the world
was created by God and can only
be lived in happily in terms of
God's blueprint. Also, societies of
men cannot change the human .
heart which is sinful. God must
change the heart before society can
be changed. Our only hope for life
now and eternally is living in and
in terms of the Kingdom of God.
God is the sovereign over every
affair, Dan. 4: 17. Man is under
His wrath and condemnation for
disobedience to His command-
ments because of unbelief.
c. GOD'S SON,jESUS
CHRIST, WHO IS LORD AND
SAVIOR, IS ALSO THE KING OF
KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!
God purposed to secure redemp-
tion a people for Himself, to be a
kingdom of priests, to the praise of
His glory, to bling covenant bless-
ings, and to break the power of sin
and evil, Dan. 7:13. His eternal
Son, jesus Christ, very God of very
God, inaugurated the 5th Kingdom
of Dan. 2. He became a man, and
following his humiliating and
substitutionary death, has been
exalted as King and Savior. Follow-
ing His ascension He is seated at
His father's right hand until he
makes his enemies his footstool.
II. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS
A PRESENT REALITY, HAVING
BEEN PROMISED IN THE O.T.,
INAUGURATED IN THE NT,
AND WILL BE CONSUMMATED
IN ETERNITY.
A. THE KINGDOM OF GOD
WAS PROMISED IN THE O.T.
The O.T. foreshadowed the king-
dom of God, Mat. 21:43. God
established His kingdom with His
people, the nation of Israel. He
promised David that he would have
a son who would also be God's Son
and His kingdom would be forever,
II Sam. 7. The King of the jews ac-
cording to the word of God would
be the king over all nations, Isa. 2.
B. THE KINGDOM OF GOD
WAS INAUGURATED IN THE
N.T. WITH THE ADVENT, THE
ATONEMENT, AND THE ASCEN-
SION OF JESUS CHRIST. In jesus
Christ the kingdom of God has
arrived, Mat. 12:28. He was born
the "Son of David" to whom was
promised an everlasting kingdom.
He was crucified as the King of the
jews. This jesus, upon His resur-
rection, ascended to the throne of
God from which He now rules until
He makes His enemies His foot-
stool, Acts. 2:38f.
The Kingdom of God in Christ
is manifest in the forgiveness of
sins, regeneration, reconciliation,
and sanctification. This kingdom
begins like a mustard seek and
leaven and will grow and fill the
earth, Ma t. 13. The gates of "Ha-
des" (death) will not be able to
prevail against it, Mat. 16. He is
the present King whose kingdom is
being advanced through the
preaching of the Gospel in spite of
men who still rebel and oppose
Him. Christ does reign in the
hearts and lives of men now. This
reign is externalized through us.
The kingdom is not yet perfected
although it is real and relevant
C. THE KINGDOM OF GOD
WILL BE CONSUMMATED IN
ETERNITY. There is coming a day
in which the sheep and the goats,
the wheat and the tares, will be
finally separated. There will be a
new heavens and a new earth in
which righteousness dwells and
18 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon December, 1994
every wicked and evil aspect of the
fallen world will be destroyed in
hell for eternity, 2 Pet. 3 1 Of.
III. THE KINGDOM OF GOD
MAY ONLY BE ENTERED
THROUGH REPENTANCE AND
FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST, WHICH IS MANIFEST IN
OBEDIENCE AND HOLINESS OF
LIFE.
A. THE CALL TO CHRIST -
THE FREE OFFER OF THE GOS-
PEL: "The kingdom of God is at hand,
repent and believe the good news ...
The kingdom of God is proclaimed
to all men, commanding them to
repent and believe the good news,
with the promise that if anyone will
receive Him he will be saved, is a
new creation, enters the kingdom
of God, is born again to a living
hope, justified, adopted, sanctified,
and will be glorified. It is more
than an invitation, it is a ptoclama-
tion and an indictment.
B. THE CALL TO SAVING
FAITH AND REPENTANCE: There
is a difference between faith and
"saving faith," sorrow and "repen-
tance."
SAVING FAITH is not only
assenting to the truth of the prom-
ise of the gospel, but receiving and
resting upon Christ and His righ-
teousness for the forgiveness of sins
and for our being accepted as
righteous in the sight of God.
REPENTANCE is a turning from
sin, not only out of a sense of the
danger of sin, but also out of a sight
and sense of the filthiness and
odiousness of sin, and upon an
apprehension of God's mercy in
Christ, turning to God purposing
and endeavoring to walk with Him
in all the ways of new obedience.
cont. on page 24
W. Roge/"5. cant. from page 18
Those who do not repent of their
sins and receive jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior are condemned and will be
destroyed with eternal destruction in
the hell-fire of God's judgment.
C. THE CAll. TO DISCIPLESHIP:
Having been born again we are raised
to newness of life in the kingdom of
Christ, Col. 1:13, we are His disciples
and to disciple the naclorts in His
name, teaching them to observe all that
he has commanded.
"The kingdom of God is at hand,
repent and believe the good news." It is
"good" news for it is the announce-
ment of salvation, healing. blessing.
security, prosperity, redemption,
hope, and deliverance from enemies.
We must through many tribulations,
persecutions. and sacrifices enter
and advance the Kingdom of our
Lord jesus Christ. However. "The
Lord is our judge, the Lord is our
lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is He
who will save us. lsa. 33: 22. jesus
said. "Come unto me all ye who labor
and are heavy laden, and r will give
you rest; take my yoke upon you and
learn of me,for I am meek and lowly of
heart, and you shall find rest unto your
sou/s," Mat. 11:28-30.
24 mE COUNSEL of Chalcedon December, 1994
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