Guilt Over Failure To Witness To The Lost

Recently I listened to another video by Pelagius admiring, Calvinist hating, Leighton Flowers titled - "ROMANS 9 The Urgency Of Evangelism" (here). In that video Dr. Flowers responded to a Calvinist who expressed feeling guilt over his failure to evangelize as much as he could or should have and his confession about how he deals with that guilt was the focus of Dr. Flowers' remarks. 

The discussion made me think of the Hardshell Baptists and their belief that God does not use the means of gospel preaching to save sinners from sin and death. They say that they have been delivered from such feelings of guilt by believing that God does the saving apart from their evangelistic efforts. Especially those preachers who came to the Hardshells from Missionary Baptist churches confess to this sense of freedom from being burdened and worried about people going to hell because of their failure to witness to them. It reminds me of that commercial for Alka-Seltzer where the jingle says - "Oh what a relief it is!" However, after I saw the truth of scripture on the means question, I began to feel a burden to evangelize and witness to the lost and yes, there are times, when I feel guilty for not having witnessed to a person when I had the opportunity. But, I confess such to the Lord and he forgives. That brings relief. I also, similar to the Calvinist being critiqued by Dr. Flowers, take comfort in the Calvinist truth that God will save all he intends to save whether I preach to them or not (not without someone preaching to them, however, as the Hardshells affirm, but without me being the one to do the preaching). I take comfort in such words as these:

"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." (Isa. 55: 11)

My problem with Dr. Flowers' response was that he thought it wrong to take any consolation in the idea that God will, without fail, save all that he chose and predestined to save. I believe there is comfort to be had in that truth; Not, however, in such a way as to rid us of our sense of guilt over our failures to be used of God in the salvation of sinners.

The problem with the Hardshells is that they feel no guilt over their lack of preaching and witnessing to the lost! Years ago I quoted from Hardshell apologist Bernard Gowens (see here).

Gowens wrote:

"I have to admit that this preoccupation with the question of whether a person is born again or not is completely foreign to my frame of reference. It never even enters my mind when I go to a ball game or a school concert to question whether the person beside me is a child of God or not."

Does not this confession prove that he has no gospel for the lost? No word to speak to them? Does it not show how he has no concern for the lost? He has no gospel for the sick! He is the one who only has a gospel for the righteous, for that one whom he thinks has been born again.

I also wrote to a PB friend of mine relative to what one PB elder said about not worrying about the failure to persevere and being finally saved. I wrote:

He also spoke about being saved from worry about not persevering by believing hardshellism (preservation only). This is the same thing others say about being glad they don't believe in means or the necessity of evangelical faith for salvation. They say it keeps them from worrying about the state of their neighbors. Such vain reasoning! I have a draft posting on this very thing in the future. 

In another entry titled "Preaching Repentance & Faith" (here) I wrote and cited from PB founder Watson.

Elder John M. Watson, who wrote "The Old Baptist Test" (1866), was a founding father of the "Primitive Baptist" denomination but he would not fellowship today's Hardshells who have gone to extremes in deny that hearing the gospel and faith in Christ are means of being eternally saved. These he called "Antinomians," "ulraists," and "modern innovators." He also chided these Hardshell brethren with having "violated" the great commission. He wrote:

"Their connection with each other involves, in the plainest manner, the duty of preaching to every creature "repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." The Lord has ordained this way; our violation of it in the 19th century will not cause it to fail; others will do the work; it needs must be done; and this may be the cause why so few are coming into our churches! We have violated our commission. "Let us search and try our ways, and turn to the Lord."" (Pgs. 520)

Notice how Watson says that if the Hardshells won't be a means to save the lost, "others will do the work." 

Of course, as a believer that all that God chose and predestined will be finally saved, I don't worry that God will save them by getting someone to preach the gospel to them. But, I worry about my own failure to preach to the lost and urge them to believe and repent.

Hear the word of God on this matter:

1Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, 3when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, 4then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. 5He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. 6But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’ 7“So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. 8When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 9Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. (Eze. 33: 1-9)