Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ (Matthew 16:20).
If people who are not filled with the Holy Spirit preach the gospel, it will produce one of the following:
A witness with sin in his life cannot impart Christ to the lost. He can touch the body and soul, but cannot touch the spirit.
Soul-winning implies that a final termination with all sin must have taken place.
Because the gospel witness is to proclaim the gospel to the sinner, sin must be clearly exposed in:
- its nature,
- its manifestation,
- its power,
- its consequences,
- its cure.
It is absolutely indispensable for the gospel witness to have forsaken all sins in their life. He must have confessed every sin in his life in every domain, regardless of how long it may take. He must have confessed every sin in his relationship with
- Fortune,
- Females,
- Fame,
- Food,
- Faithfulness,
- Falsehood,
- Freedom,
and carried out the needed restitution at any cost. Then he must abandon all sin, so that he will be able to lead the would-be convert through the same type of confession of sin.
The gospel witness must be all that the convert will be so as to satisfy the heart of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the gospel witness must be sanctified,
- consecrated,
- filled with the Holy Spirit.
- He will then produce converts who are
- saved,
- sanctified,
- consecrated,
- filled with the Holy Spirit.
The liar’s soul-winning will produce liars; the thief’s witnessing will bring thieves who will continue to steal; the fornicator’s witnessing will bring in active fornicators.
Because like will beget like, those who practise sin in any form cannot participate in God’s soul-willing programme.
Only those who know total liberation from:
- all sin,
- all self,
- all love of the world,
- all love of all the things of the world,
- have the right to witness for Christ.
Anyone who has one sin left in his life and witnesses for Christ, does the Lord and the gospel great harm.
If there are 100 sins in a life and 99 of them are confessed and forsaken but one is knowingly left in the life, forgiveness is not received for any sin. The person who has confessed and forsaken the 99 sins is under God’s judgment for the 100 sins.