J.A. Matteson
Reason has nothing to do with conversion. No man has ever come to Jesus Christ by a sober evaluation of the facts. "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" (1 Cor. 1:20). The wisdom of the world denies the person and work of Jesus Christ because by the worlds economy He is not reasonable. Additionally, the wisdom of the world delights in reasoned debate, the weighing of evidence, the methodical consideration of counter points of view; that approach determines the merits of any proposition under consideration (Acts 17:18). By reasoned debate saints can subtly betray the power of the Gospel when they rely on the process itself rather than on God. The apostles engaged in reasoned debate, but understood it was not their eloquence or logic, but the power of the Spirit in the Gospel presented that convicted and converted souls (Acts 17:2, 18:19). When you conclude a presentation of Jesus Christ and your hearer does not confess Jesus as LORD, and if you walk away thinking, "I should have said such and such," you were relying on your methods, your debating skills and not the power of God. If God had been working in your hearers heart you could have made the feeblest presentation and your hearer would have joyfully accepted your testimony. The astonishing thing about Gods wisdom is that it obliterates any claim of merit, be it by the evangelist who leads the debate or the convert who participates. The unadulterated Gospel is presented and a hearer believes it, that is the wisdom of God: that faith justifies sinners. You can debate for days the facts of the incarnation, persuade for hours the evidence for the resurrection, plead with all your might that your hearer just stop being stubborn and accept your claims. But unless the wisdom of God is operative in the heart of the hearer, you are preaching to a walking corpse that cannot hear, see, or respond to spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). But to the called your message is the wisdom of God unto eternal life, for they hear and believe to the saving of the soul (1 Jn. 5:1). And when their lips confess Christ and the fruit of repentance is manifest in their lives, discerning saints understand it was not their reasoned debating skills in presenting Jesus Christ, nor the openness of the hearer that were responsible for new birth, but it was the wisdom of God revealed through the power of the Gospel, bring forth life, calling forth those whom the Father has given to His Son (Jn 5:21).
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