About 100 years ago, the evangelical church walked away from the biblical approach to reaching the lost as modeled by Jesus.

At one time, evangelists focused on making the lost aware of their sinful condition and then leading them to repentance before introducing them to the grace made available through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

For example, here's what John Gill, a British writer and theologian (1697 -1771), said we are to warn every man ...

"of his lost state and condition by nature; of the wrath to come, and the danger he is in of it; of the terrors of the Lord, and of an awful judgment; showing sinners that they are unrighteous and unholy, that their nature is corrupt and impure, their best righteousness imperfect, and cannot justify them before God; that they stand guilty before him, and that destruction and misery are in all their ways; and therefore advise them to flee from the wrath to come, to the hope set before them in the Gospel."

John R. Stott, a British priest and theologian (1921-2011) put it this way:

"We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses, to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ."

Famous British preacher Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) had this to say:

"They must be slain by the Law before they can be made alive by the Gospel."

Okay, enough Brits! Here's a quote from world-famous evangelist Billy Graham:

"The Holy Spirit convicts us ... He show us the Ten Commandments; the law is the schoolmaster that leads us to Christ."

Billy Graham was making reference to Galatians 3:24. In the King James Version, the verse reads:

"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."

In Psalm 19a, David wrote:

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." (King James Version)

And, in Romans 7:7b,  Paul wrote:

"I had not known sin, but by the law." (King James Version)

Instead of facing people with their sin and the reality of Judgment Day and hell, modern evangelism has promoted a"gospel" that will solve our problems, give us a better life and make us happy. An example of this approach is the "4 Spiritual Laws" by Dr. Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. The first spiritual law states:

"God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life."

There was two problems with this approach: it is not biblical and has led to many false converts. Before he died in 2003, Dr. Bright stated in his book Heaven or Hell:

"I confess I have failed in my ministry to declare the reality of hell as often as I have the love of God and the benefits of a personal relationship with Christ."

Look at some of the disastrous results of the "modern message" (from God Has a Wonderful Plan For Your Life. The Myth of the Modern Message by Ray Comfort):

"In November 1970, a number of churches combined for a convention in Fort Worth, Texas, and secured 30,000 decisions for Christ. Six months later, the follow-up committee could find only 30 still continuing in their faith."

"In 1985, a four-day crusade obtained 217 decisions. However, according to a member of the organizing committee, 92 per cent fell away."

At a 1990 crusade in the United States, 600 “decisions for Christ” were obtained. However, 90 days later, follow-up workers could not find even one who was continuing in the faith. The crusade created 600 “backsliders” – or to be more scriptural, false converts."

"A leading U.S denomination reported that during 1995 they secured 384,057 decisions but retained only 22,983 in fellowship. They could not account for 361,074 supposed conversions. That is a 94 percent fall-away rate."

What did Jesus do? He didn't tell sinners that God loved them and had a wonderful life for them. He gave the Law to the proud and grace to the humble. For example, He gave the Law to the lawyer that tested him (Luke 10:25-37). He gave the Law to the rich, young ruler (Mark 10:17-22). But He gave grace to Cornelius (John 3:1-21).

What did His disciples do? The same thing Jesus did. For example, Peter used the principle of Law to the proud and grace to the humble in Acts 2:22-40. The result? About three thousand sous were added that day (Acts 3:41). Paul followed the same principal in his letter to the Romans (Romans 2 and 3).

This approach is biblical:

"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (James 4:6, King James Version)

"God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace unto the humble." (1 Peter 5:5, King James Version)

Ray Comfort gives the following advice:

“To avoid the tragedy of false conversions, we must follow the principle of using the Law to break the hard heart and the gospel to heal the broken heart.”

“The gospel of grace is not for the proud but for the humble. Only the sick need a physician, and only those convinced of the disease will appreciate and appropriate the cure.”

For more information, read The Way of the Master by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort.