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Book Review: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
J.I. Packer has written a great book addressing the topic of evangelizing in the name of our sovereign God.
It is a great privilege to evangelize. It is exciting to be able to tell others of the love of Christ, understanding that there is nothing they need more then to know the saving grace of God. The world is full of people who are not aware that they deservedly sit under the wrath of God. It is urgent that we should try to arouse them, and show them the way to be free of our well earned punishment.
We can not convince our fellow man of the truth of Scripture. We can not hope to move men to obey the gospel by our words. Our approach to evangelism is worthless unless we have faced the fact that it is God that saves. You and I cannot make sinners repent and believe in Christ by our words alone. God works faith and repentance in men’s hearts by His Holy Spirit.
There is no magic formula in evangelistic methods, not even in theologically accurate methods. When we evangelize, our trust must be in God who raises us from the dead. Knowing that God is sovereign should impact our evangelism in three distinct ways: it should make us bold, it should make us patient, and it should make us pray.
Packer helps the reader to look at an evangelistic opportunity as a three-party conversation between the unsaved, the Holy Spirit, and us, and we are the least important character in that conversation.
Posted on March 1, 2007