{"id":4549,"date":"2021-03-24T13:42:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T12:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/?page_id=4549"},"modified":"2022-06-14T22:56:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T20:56:34","slug":"eight-reasons-reason-4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/faq\/eight-reasons-reason-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Reasons Why People Won&#8217;t Accept The Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Reason 4 &#8211; &#8216;They are strangers to their utter inability to help themselves&#8217;<h2>\r\n<div class=\"iframe-container\">\r\n<iframe id=\"lbry-iframe\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/odysee.com\/$\/embed\/eight-reasons-why-people-won%27t-accept-3\/68efd830c9551893f9c6f41e80242228201cadde?\" allowfullscreen frameBorder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>Intro<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>The fourth reason of why people won\u2019t accept the Gospel:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><b>They are strangers to their utter inability to help themselves<\/b><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Boston said:<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"margin-left: 1.25cm;\" class=\"textq\"><span class=\"leftq\"><\/span>\r\nThey\r\nare like Samson, in another case, who knew not that his strength was\r\ndeparted from him. \r\n<br><br>\r\nWe may see how corrupt nature changes itself into various shapes on this\r\npoint. If you urge men to ply the work of their salvation. Alas! say\r\nthey, we can do nothing; they thus make it a covert for their sloth. \r\n<br><br>\r\nUrge them with the necessity of reformation and repentance, they say, It\r\nis time enough, they will attend to this afterwards; as if it were in\r\nthe power of their hand to do this business at any time: They\r\nthus make it a covert for their delays, and still have no relish for\r\nthe gospel. \r\n<span class=\"rightq\"><\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Offensive<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>Wow! Boston was not really political correct, was he? He\r\ntakes \u2018utter inability\u2019 and a \u2018corrupt nature\u2019 as almost\r\ninterchangeable facts. These truths are not only offensive, but\r\ninexplicable to the unbeliever.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Still, I think Boston\u2019s analysis is very accurate, how offensive that may\r\nbe. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. But\r\nthat is absolutely not in our nature. We want to do it ourselves.\r\nJust go on the internet and do a quick search with the letter DIY (Do\r\nIt Yourself). We love those tutorials right? And honestly, I have\r\nused them very often. However, there is no DIY salvation. People may\r\ntry to make you believe there is but that just proves Boston\u2019s\r\npoint: They are like Samson who did not knew that his power left him.\r\nIn other words: Powerless!<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Evangelist Handbook<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>I already mentioned the unwritten handbook of an evangelist in part 2\r\nof this series. I like use it again. This time I want to look at the way we wrap up our\r\nevangelistic events. After we\u2019ve made sure that people understand\r\nthe basics we try to move the plot along. We like to tell the people\r\nhow they should pray, and we teach them the sinners prayer. It is\r\nokay in itself to give people an example but the danger is that many\r\nwill say to themselves that they now understand all the steps they\r\nneed to take to be saved. They\r\nmight go home and think that they can pray the prayer when it suits\r\nthem best. Next time an evangelist asks them about their faith they\r\nwill smile and tell that they know exactly what to do. They think\r\nit is just that last little step, into the kingdom. Just\r\none prayer, but that \u2018final step\u2019 is a giant leap.\r\nIt is not possible for an unbeliever to take this step flippantly. It\r\ndemands total repentance, a\r\nhumble heart, and submission to the Lord. In other words, this last\r\nstep demands that the unbeliever turns away from his or her own works\r\nand starts to obey God in everything. Yes,\r\nthe unbeliever needs to repent, but no, the unbeliever cannot be\r\nsaved when it suits him or her best. Would this be the case the\r\nunbeliever could say that he or she told God what to do.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Ephesians 2:8-9 explains this wonderfully well:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"margin-left: 0.49in; font-weight: normal\"><i>For\r\nby grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of\r\nyourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that\r\nno one may boast.<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Villages<\/h3>\r\n\r\n<p>When I visit the villages in our area, I see this attitude pretty often.\r\nAfter hearing the Bible stories, most listeners understand the basics\r\nof the Gospel. I then give them an example of how to pray. However, I\r\ndo not end the visits there. At that point I am only halfway. The\r\nnext 15 stories are about how a Christian should live. It is about\r\ngiving your life to Jesus in everything. Sure, there are beautiful\r\nthing to share but I also tell the people that one cannot follow\r\nJesus in their own strength. They need to give up their ideas of\r\nbeing capable themselves. \r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Mostly people love the first 24 stories as they all narrate about what\r\nhappened to humanity and how God came to earth in His Son. They love\r\nto hear these stories because now they understand, somewhat, how they\r\ncan be saved. But when I start with the other stories I see less\r\nlisteners every week. It is rare to see listeners who have been attending the\r\nmeetings from the beginning till the end.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>When I see one of them who attended the first series they almost always\r\nexplain that by now they understand the Gospel and that they know\r\nwhat to do. One even said that he fully understood the Gospel, but\r\nthat he wanted to wait till the time was right for him to be saved.\r\nHe is like a man trapped in a burning house. He senses no dire need,\r\nbecause he is just one doorway from his garden and from safety. But\r\nhe does not realise that the door is locked and he has no key.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>So,\r\nhow about you? Are you still thinking you are able to be saved? Like\r\nbuying something on the internet you think it demands only one click?\r\nThan realise that it was the Holy Spirit calling you to repent, not\r\nyou own brainwaves. Not answering to call of the Holy Spirit is like\r\nstaying in that burning house and not realising that you do not have\r\nthe key of that outer door. The key of true and sincere repentance.\r\nTrue repentance can only be given by God Himself <i>so\r\nthat no one may boast.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reason 4 &#8211; &#8216;They are strangers to their utter inability to help themselves&#8217; Intro The fourth reason of why people won\u2019t accept the Gospel: They are strangers to their utter inability to help themselves Boston said: They are like Samson, in another case, who knew not that his strength was departed from him. We may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4577,"parent":1086,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[225,308],"tags":[260,257,258,259,242,239],"folder":[98],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4549\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4549"},{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apologeet.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}