Why the gospel needs the law

About The Way of the Master, a ministry which encourages evangelism

My friend Andrew sounded excited on the phone. But using the Ten Commandments in evangelism?! Sounded like legalism to me. He gave me the website address of The Way of the Master — I said I would take a look. But as soon as I saw the material, I was gripped.

In a reality TV show style, the interviewer used the Ten Commandments to bring knowledge of sin and conviction of sin, and then offered the gospel. Over the course of about a month, enjoying soup lunches in my study that spring, I searched out episodes of The Way of the Master TV programme that some bright spark had posted on YouTube and watched them on my laptop. I slowly became convinced about the theological basis of using the Law in evangelism, based on such texts as Mark 10.17ff, Romans 3.20; Romans 7.7, Galatians 3.24, James 2.10, 1 Timothy 1.8-11, etc. It truly was a revelation — something so simple yet powerful which I had never come across or heard about before.

Still cautious

But still I was cautious about releasing the material on the church — something so completely unknown, and which did not pull its punches.

One day, a thought came to me. Ten years before, while on the Cornhill Training Course, Dick Lucas was giving away a lot of his old books. I had picked up a few of them, including The Christian Ministry by Charles Bridges, regarded by many as a spiritual Reformed classic on the ministry. I searched my shelves, pulled it down, and began to flick through it, wondering if there was anything in this old volume. I was speechless to discover that there was a whole section on use of the Law in evangelism, listing quotation after quotation after quotation from people as widespread as Augustine, Calvin, Whitefield, Matthew Henry, Spurgeon, J.C. Ryle, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Stott, saying the same thing. For example:

John Wesley: ‘The very first end of the Law [is], namely, convicting men of sin; awakening those who are still asleep on the brink of hell … The ordinary method of God is to convict sinners by the Law and that only. The gospel is not the means which God hath ordained, or which our Lord himself used, for this end.’

Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones: ‘A gospel which merely says, “Come to Jesus”, and offers him as a friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convincing of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. (The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the Law; and it is because the Law has not been preached that we have had so much superficial evangelism.) True evangelism... must always start by preaching the law.’

‘The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Saviour, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the Law to bring such an understanding to a man’s mind and conscience. That is why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago in the time of the Puritans, and 200 years ago in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary law work.’

Nothing new

Aside from the biblical texts, here also was historical proof. This was not a new fangled method dreamt up by Americans, but, in fact, one the ancients swore by, to bring deep conviction of sin and repentance — Spurgeon even called the Law ‘our greatest auxiliary’ (our greatest weapon).

I ordered the material from The Way of the Master and began to advertise the training course. In our small country village church, 20 signed up for the eight-week course, including the churchwardens. Many were fearful, some did drop out, but, with those who did continue, we had some extraordinary bold adventures in evangelism, culminating in witnessing on Eastbourne seafront as a group one Saturday afternoon, giving out tracts and engaging with people. To this day I remember the district nurse, who, when, after a very good dialogue supper conversation, a friend turned to her and said, ‘I wish there was a warning of Judgment Day’, replied, cool as a cucumber, ‘This is your warning. You may not get another’. And that wasn’t even part of the script of the course! That is the kind of boldness we are talking about.

Baptism visits

A few weeks into the course, I was still concerned that it would be dismissed as ‘dreadfully American’. I was determined that we had to get some British footage. Andrew Baughen kindly agreed to film us. ‘What about Covent Garden?’ he asked. I nearly died; I had not reckoned on being a street evangelist in quite such a public place! But with much prayer and the Lord’s help, I managed myself to get two contrasting interviews on camera, which have been a great asset in demonstrating that British people can use this material.

One of the most interesting venues for using the material has been on baptism visits. In my baptism visits for parents wanting their children ‘done’, I have traditionally used a spiritual questionnaire to find out where they stood, and then used the Two Ways to Live material. It has been faithful, solid stuff, but often not had much effect. People have still very much had the attitude ‘take it or leave it’ really.

I began to show one of the video clips also as part of the preparation, and the effect has always been profound. People are intrigued and amused to begin with. Then, as the interviews progress, the implications of what they are viewing begins to hit — that they also have broken God’s laws, and they also are in the same spiritual predicament of standing under his judgment. They are awakened to their sin, and to various degrees also alarmed at the consequences of it. During the last baptism visit I did, we spent a good half hour discussing sin, righteousness and judgment. The fathers particularly were very thoughtful.

Our standing with God

The perfect example of this in Sussex was a father who was a successful newspaper man. Before the clip his questions were about science and suffering, fairly academic and casual questions. As soon as he saw the clip, his questions were completely different. He commented that he always believed that Christianity was how you measured up with other people. Now he saw that it was where you stood with God. I said. ‘You got it in one’. I lent him a book, met up with him, answered lots of his questions. He started coming regularly to church, to the Men’s Breakfast, reading Christian books, praying in the car, reading his Bible, and wanting (his words) to ‘become a committed Christian’. Which he did. All through the trigger of coming under conviction of sin through use of the Law.

Rabbit in the headlights

I saw the same effect on children in family services. You can teach children the Ten Commandments in a fun way, using pictures associated with that particular commandment. You then test them. You then go on to talk about the commandments and the gospel. And every time, whether in assemblies or in family services, I saw what you might call ‘the rabbit in the headlights’ look. You can see the cogs in the head turning just the same as with adults: ‘I have broken God’s laws — I’m a sinner — God is not going to let me off because he is a good God — he’s going to call me to account — I’m in trouble — help!’

Most modern methods of evangelism in the UK swing on getting people to examine the claims of Jesus. You get someone to come on an Alpha course, or a Christianity Explored course. But what if someone is just not interested in looking at the claims of Jesus? (which many people you encounter just aren’t). What if they won’t commit to a six, eight, ten week course? What then? That often means they don’t get even to hear the gospel: we are pretty much stuck.

‘Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink’, perhaps we say, with a shrug. That’s right. But you can salt his oats. What I mean by that is, if you put salt into a horse’s oats, that salt will give him a great thirst. It will cause him to want to drink; to run to the water, and drink in deeply. Well, what can we do similarly for sinners, that will make them thirst for righteousness? What will make someone cry out, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ as they cried out in the times of Wesley and Whitefield. The answer is the Law of God.

Pressing need

Which is, of course, what Wesley and Whitefield preached much of, before they ever got on to the gospel of grace. Perhaps it is time we returned to that. Listen to Gresham Machen: ‘A new and more powerful proclamation of law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour; men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law.’

If you are serious about wanting to see sinners saved, to turn them in the Way, in my experience these last 12 months, there ain’t nothing quite like the Law for doing it. But it is hardly my discovery - our Reformed forebears knew that all along. It is just that we have forgotten it. No wonder the appropriately named Ray Comfort of The Way of the Master has called it ‘Hell’s Best Kept Secret’.

James Paice,
St. Luke's Church, Wimbledon Park, London