Bible Studies
The Apostle Peter preached to sinners on the Day of Pentecost, immediately after he and the other disciples received the infilling of the Holy Ghost. At that time, the disciples concentrated solely on winning other Jews to Christ. They had just received the fullness of the Holy Spirit and were exuberant with joy, to the extent they appeared drunk to outsiders. Peter preached to the very men who had conspired to put Christ to death.
Acts 2:14: But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
Verse 15: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
Verse 16: But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Verse 17: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Verse 18: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Verse 19: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Verse 20: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Verse 21: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Verse 22: Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Verse 23: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Verse 24: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
Verse 25: For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Verse 26: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Verse 27: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Verse 28: Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Verse 29: Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Verse 30: Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
Verse 31: He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Verse 32: This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Verse 33: Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Verse 34: For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
Verse 35: Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Verse 36: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Verse 37: Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Verse 38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Verse 39: For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Verse 40: And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Verse 41: Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
What a gem of a sermon. The Big Fisherman reminded his Jewish listeners of promises already made by God through His Old Testament prophets, and pointed out that they were fulfilled in Christ. Peter proclaimed that Christ had been crucified through the preordained purpose of God, but that his listeners were guilty of His murder. Peter bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter promised that those who repented and placed their faith in Christ with outward testimony of baptism would receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. That day Peter caught three THOUSAND souls for Christ (some preachers can’t win even one after preaching 3,000 sermons!), Peter did not have to resort to tear-jerking organ music or an extended altar call. Where IS Peter’s altar call, for Pete’s sake! For that matter, where was Peter’s free movie, puppet show, “Christian Rock Concert”, or other juicy bait typically used to lure sinners into a modern church building (these didn’t even exist in Peter’s day!)
In Acts 17:22-33 Paul preached to a crowd of pagan philosophers who worshipped many strange gods instead of the true God of Israel. These men wanted to make sure that all the gods of the universe were honored, so they erected an extra altar “to the unknown God”. Paul proceeded to declare that the Unknown God is the Lord of heaven and earth, and is does not dwell in manmade temples. Surprisingly, even a lot of Christians forget that it is the believer’s body which is the true temple of God (I Cor.3:16-17; 6:19; II Cor.6:16). Instead they call some manmade brick building the house of God.
Paul declared the greatness of the ONE TRUE GOD to worldly-wise intellectuals who had so many gods they were spoiled for choice and couldn’t remember all their names. Paul preached the resurrected Christ to these men. Paul gently warned them that God had been patient with wicked mankind for a long time but He would lose patience with sinners. Paul’s heathen listeners must repent or eventually face the resurrected Christ as their Judge.
Paul’s recorded sermon on Mars Hill was so brief that if you got to church five minutes late you would have missed it. Here’s how it ended:
Verse 32: And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
Verse 33: So Paul departed from among them.
Instead of gaining 3,000 converts like Peter, Paul’s highbrow listeners either shrugged their shoulders or responded with mockery. Yet instead of begging those brainy snobs to change their minds and “accept Christ”, or churning out ten more verses of the invitational hymn, Paul figured that twisting these men’s arms would be a waste of time and went elsewhere. No extended invitation to come to Christ, no final prayer, just a dignified exit! A kid can get so full of junk food he has no appetite for the real thing. At that particular time, the men on Mars Hill were so full of false religion they didn’t realize how malnourished they were spiritually!
Peter’s altar call on the Day of Pentecost (if you could call his closing remarks one) was low key, but why did Paul’s altar call peter out?
The altar call actually began with Charles Finney in the early 1800’s. The altar call HAS often been the scene of true conversions, but many false ones as well. Preachers want to feel that they’ve “closed the deal” after presenting the Gospel. The altar call is a means whereby people “take that big step” in front of everyone. Many preachers fear that if they don’t SEE people accept Christ in full view of the congregation, that they won’t do this in the privacy of their pews or back at home when reflecting on the evangelistic sermon. Some cannot trust the Holy Spirit is able to bring sinners to Christ in His own way and time. If anything, the preacher should tell people to pray right where they are. There’s a remote statistical possibility that out of so many millions who respond to an altar call, some man might drop dead of a heart attack if he waits till he gets to the front to call on the Name of the Lord for salvation (Acts 2:21). Or, he might stop halfway down the aisle and turn back.
No wise gardener plucks fruit when it’s still green. Suppose there’s a well-meaning little boy who can’t wait to present a rose to his mother, even though the roses on the bush are still encased in their green buds. But the kid yanks it off the bush, gets a screwdriver and rips the flower bud open. Then he wonders why the flower falls apart instead of unfurls.
Well-meaning friends and family pressure their loved one to “get up out of their seat” and make a public stand for Christ. But the Holy Spirit may not have completed His work of awakening the potential convert to his sinful state and need of a Redeemer. Believing friends and relatives should constantly, in their walk and in their talk, remind their loved ones that time is short and salvation through faith in Christ must be received in order to escape God’s wrath. But to say it MUST be done here in this church building at this very moment runs the risk of having that person either refuse to go down out of proud defiance or to go along just to please his loved ones. Could it be possible that some Christians want everyone to see that THEIR efforts to convert a hard-hearted sinner have finally borne fruit? A high percentage of “converts” gained in big gospel crusades are no longer walking with Christ five years down the road.
The altar call, unscriptural as it is, flourishes in zealous evangelistic churches and also in churches deceived by Prosperity theology. In such churches the invitational system has evolved into a catharsis for emotional gratification. All eyes are focused expectantly not on Christ but on some exciting character who waves his arms and shouts “FIRE!” People are invited to come forward and “get some” (what?). Poor people are asked to come to the front to “stand up and be counted” in making ridiculous “vows of faith” in order to twist God’s arm to get Him to bless them. I’ve witnessed some services which degenerate into a big frenzy of dancing, shouting, shaking, wailing and piano playing “down at the altar”. When God imparts joy, it’s wonderful. But if church people shout and dance because they feel expected to do it or go to ridiculous extremes (barking, guided head trips to heaven, etc.) then a counterfeit of the Holy Spirit must be at work.
Today’s altar call is a “point of contact” between “the ministry” of the church and passive pew warmers. People seek help from “anointed ministries” for all sorts of troubles and needs. Sick Christians are encouraged to have church elders anoint them and pray for them in the Name of the Lord (James 5:14). But nothing about needing to “walk the aisle” toward some vague altar space in front of the pulpit (another unscriptural preacher prop). Actually, a literal physical altar is only to be found in the Old Testament. When Jesus walked the earth before His crucifixion ushered in the New Covenant, it was still the Old Testament era.
Matt.5:23: Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Verse 24: Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Jesus was addressing Jews and here he spoke of sacrificial gifts (Gk.doron) brought to the literal altar of that Temple. Jesus’ final sacrifice of Himself on Calvary permanently ended the need for further sacrifices to be made at earthly altars. The Jews’ Temple along with its altar was destroyed in 70 A.D., but it was still standing in the earliest days of the Church. No scripture points to early Christians building their own literal physical altar for THEIR meetings, or even naming a designated area in their gathering places as a substitute for the old Temple altar they’d left behind. Early Christians accepted only a heavenly altar (Heb.13:10). This verse states that believers in Christ have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle cannot eat. If the writer had been speaking of a literal altar with literal food on it, then anyone could have forced their way into the Christians’ building and eaten from that visible altar. Those who reject Christ and look for any other means of salvation (e.g. animal sacrifice) cannot “eat of His flesh and drink of His blood” (John 6:53). Obviously, we don’t have a visible altar here on earth holding the visible body and blood of Jesus. Only the symbolic elements of the bread and wine are to be found in Christian communion services. But even if a non-believer seized hold of these things and consumed them, he still would not be eating and drinking from the Christians’ heavenly altar of faith in Christ.
The entire book of Hebrews was a plea for Jewish Christians still clinging to the old ways of Judaism to part with the Temple system and believe in salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. Some of them were still clinging to the old altar sacrifice system as a supplement to what Christ had done to save their souls.
“Walking the aisle” strengthens the false clergy-laity doctrine and conveys the impression that help is to be found only “at the front” with “pew Christians” playing a passive spectator role. The early apostles discouraged the exaltation of a few prominent men above the rest of the Body of Christ (I Cor.1:12, 13).
I Cor.14:26: How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.* * * EVERYONE was supposed to contribute toward the edifying (building up in love) of the saints, not just one or two “at the front”.
I remember wondering years ago whether the prayers of a “pew saint” were just as effective as a “minister’s” prayers. The same Holy Spirit Who indwells the preacher abides in “ordinary” believers. Far from “pulpit ministers” being more “anointed” than us, all true Christians have the Anointing abiding in their hearts (I John 2:27). The layout of the typical church sanctuary underscores the idea that pulpit preachers must be closer to God because they’re at the front where the “altar” (area in front of the speaker’s podium) is.
What does the typical Protestant service have in common with the Catholic system? In both religious institutions “men of the cloth” (clergymen) stand at the front as God’s ambassadors to the congregation. Protestant churches may lack rosaries, tinkling bells, altar boys, etc., and may use folding chairs instead of kneeling pews. But a glaring error exists in both Catholic and Protestant churches. Instead of ALL believers functioning as priests as God intended (see I Pet.2:5,9) the spiritual elite stand apart from the rest of Christ’s church as intermediary priests, contrary to I Tim.2:5, which states that there is only ONE mediator (go-between) between man and God, Christ Jesus Himself, the ONLY High Priest of the New Covenant.
Heb.9:11: But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
If Christ’s greater and more perfect tabernacle is not made with hands, then surely His altar isn’t made with hands either!
The altar call may be unscriptural, but it has served as a crutch for the weakness of the institutional church. Take away the altar call, and what would you replace it with? It takes divine wisdom and faith to step aside once you know when you’ve done your part and let GOD do the rest (and get the glory) for a sinner’s salvation. But people’s faith is often self-ward, not God-ward. They look for visible, outward signs of their own success in persuading sinners to come to the Cross of Christ. God will not share His glory with anyone, not even with popular, eloquent speakers standing behind a tall oaken pulpit.
Typical altar calls I’ve heard go something like this:
“At this time, I’m going to ask those of you who have a need in your life for God’s touch to slip up your hand, with every head bowed and every eye closed. No one will see you. We’re not here to embarrass you in any way. If you’d like us to pray with you, I’d like you to slip out of your seats while every head is bowed and come to the front, where our team of counselors will meet with you. This is YOUR special time, it’s just between you and God. No one is peeking. As the choir very softly sings “Just As I AM”, I’d like you to search your heart. If you feel God calling you, get up out of your seats right now and come to this altar, and our specially trained counselors will be happy to pray with you and give you some helpful literature to guide you in your new Christian walk.”
What’s wrong with this method? It’s so modernized, quick, inoffensive and convenient. Almost like instant oatmeal. I’m utterly appalled about the way people are taught that it’s a shame to admit you’re lost and in need of a Savior. So the crowd acts religious and hides its eyes in pretend prayer, with no peeking! Praying with closed eyes and bowed heads is NOT mentioned in the NT, although kneeling is often mentioned. “Every eye closed” makes the sinner’s “public profession of faith” just a little more private. Jesus wasn’t ashamed to die on the Cross for us, so why should timidity be encouraged in the new convert from the very outset? If people are too scared to confess Christ before Christians, they’ll surely be too scared to tell their boss or their family about Him.
The “personal workers” “close the deal” with the ones coming forward, and the free literature does the rest by helping the alleged converts stay on the right track. Did Peter Paul or John follow this pattern of being the ones to close the deal, or did their listeners cry out from sheer conviction of the Spirit: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 2:37;16:30). People were told to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved (Acts 2:38; 16:31; Rom.10:9). Converts were told to “confess with their mouth” the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing about repeating a mass prayer or “going forward”.
All who utter a canned prayer after the preacher are assumed to be automatically saved. Even if some of the respondents have only “prayed” to make Mom happy, or because a relative poked at them in their seat. Even if some teenagers only go down to the front on a dare.
Shallow conversions don’t last because they aren’t real. Jesus warned about the planted seed which “had no depth of earth.”
Mark 4:2: And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
Verse 3: Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Verse 4: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
Verse 5: And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
Verse 6: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
How many “converts” get carried away by the excitement of the crusade, only to wither away under stress or duress because their shallow experience wasn’t rooted in a genuine inner transformation done by the Spirit of God (Titus 3:5)?
The ALTER-native to the traditional altar call is to trust God to deal one-on-one with the sinner after the Gospel has been thoroughly presented to him. It must be preached in power with nothing held back (Acts 20:20-21). This is the Gospel in a nutshell: repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus. The preacher must not mince words or “tone it down” out of politeness or political correctness. The sinner must be warned that he is a sinner (now, that’s humbling). God must be presented as a Righteous Judge Who longs to justify the sinner, but whose perfect justice demands punishment for sin. God said in His Word: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Heb.9:22) It is the BLOOD which makes atonement for the guilty soul (Lev.17:11). Jesus’ blood was shed for the sins of many (Matt.26:28). God’s love in sending Christ to the cross must be exalted in true Gospel preaching. The sinner must be warned that Jesus Christ is the ONLY Way to salvation, and to reconciliation with a Holy God (John 14:6). There is salvation in no other (Acts 4:12). The Holy Spirit MUST be given time to quietly work in the sinner’s heart to bring good fruit from such preaching.
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