Ways we add to the gospel of grace alone

• Second Baptism of the Spirit: Adding a spiritual experience to the gospel
• Spiritual gifts: Adding a spiritual action to the gospel
• Sinner’s Prayer: Assuming we are saved by a formulaic prayer
• Altar Calls: Assuming we are saved by a public action
• Spiritual disciplines: Assuming we are saved by spiritual determination
• Action: Teaching that we are saved through our “surrender” to Christ
• Works: Teaching that we are saved by being a loving and good person
• Tradition: Being intolerant of small differences in dress or custom
• Intellect: Stressing truth over grace
• Feelings: Stressing grace over truth

What comes first—prayer or regeneration (i.e., being born again)?

Decisional Regeneration (promoting the sinners prayer)

• Contradicts Scripture
• Exalts man by underestimating his depravity
• Robs God of His rightful glory
• Prompts Christians to measure the success of their evangelistic efforts by the number of “converts” they make
• Encourages Christians to downplay or neglect difficult doctrines (e.g., sin; hell; election; God’s sovereignty, holiness, justice, and wrath; etc.) rather than preaching the whole counsel of God
• Leads “evangelists” to employ subtle techniques to manipulate their audiences (e.g., hyperemotional appeals, sentimental music, and peer pressure)
• Produces a false sense of security in unbelievers
• Robs Christians of the assurance of their salvation by tempting them to have faith in their faith rather than faith in God

Decisional Regeneration (promoting the altar call)

• Starting with Charles Finney around 1830 and was called the “anxious bench”
• The altar call confuses the physical act (walking the aisle) with the spiritual act of coming to Christ (repentance and belief)
• The altar call confuses people about their spiritual state
• The altar call often diminishes or obscures the need for repentance and belief
• This confusion encourages people to base their assurance on this act
• History has proven this creates a false assurance leading to false professions
• The altar call pictures salvation as a work of man, not of God alone
• The altar call creates an assumption that the front of the church is sacred space
• The altar call confuses “coming forward” with baptism (the only public ceremony)
• The altar call confuses the main point of our gathering (man’s decision not God’s glory)

Altar Call Crusade’s have an average of 90% failure rate:

• One campaign reported a 92%“backsliding” rate
• An evangelistic crusade which involved 178 church had 4,106 “decisions” but could only find 3% actively walking in faith
• Another crusade reported 600 “decisions,” though 90 days later, even after intense follow up, not one could be found continuing in faith. This produced 600 false converts
• An inner city outreach had obtained 400 decisions, only to be disappointed three months later, that not one was continuing in faith
• A mass crusade reported 18,000 decisions, yet in Church Growth magazine it was reported that 94% failed to even become part of a church
• In Texas, 30,000 “decisions” were made, only to find 30 after six months who were actively living as a follower of Christ
• A leading U.S. denomination published they had secured 384,057 “decisions”, but could not account for 361,074 supposed conversion after follow up

This message was preached on 04.03.06: Ordo Salutis