Book Review: Tell the Truth, by Will Metzger

Metzger’s Tell the Truth is refreshing, yet sobering. Refreshing, in that he is relentless in arguing for the urgent need for a God-centered, Christ-exalting presentation of the Gospel that seeks to magnify God and transform the very heart of the sinner; sobering, in that he demonstrates effectively that far too often the Gospel is presented in such a manner that God is robbed of his glory, while the sinner is left feeling deceptively secure, having professed faith in a half-truth, which is in fact no truth at all.

A lack of understanding of the doctrines of the gospel can mislead the sinner and the saint in their duties. The sinner is misled regarding who God is and the danger that awaits. The saint presents a half-gospel– like the one-sided ads beckoning people to “join the Navy and see the world” (40).

Well-meaning Christians dilute the gospel into a bandage for surface wounds and medicine for selfish wishes. The deeper need of reconciliation with their Maker on his terms of unconditional surrender is omitted (24).

There is, no doubt, a tremendous fear that many evangelistic strategies have lead to ‘professed believers’ who have failed to obtain the Gospel that truly justifies. In terms of evangelism, there is no greater tragedy than a well-intended effort that fails to accomplish in its implementation, the very thing it seeks to do: beckon the sinner to repent and believe. True faith is only obtained when the sinner is awakened to the glory of the Creator, the gravity of their rebellion, and the redemption readily available to them through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, the Son.

Further, Metzger provides three practical criteria for determining authentic belief (from page 202):

1. “If people’s response to the gospel is authentic, it will issue in sincere (not perfect) obedience... ‘When God prompts faith, He prompts it in such a way that the believer becomes hungry for Scripture. He wants to live by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. He desires the pure spiritual milk.’”

2. “An authentic conversion will lead to a love for the brethren (1 Jn 3:14-15). A Christian who desires to be a loner is inconceivable in terms of the New Testament. We have been placed in a body and must identify ourselves with the new humanity. We become part of a community of believers and can work out our new adherence to truth and love in our relationships with others. Being part of a local church is not optional.”

3. “An authentic conversion results in a life of service. Obedience and holiness are not optional. Paul exhorts people to “prove their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:18-23). He is not teaching works as qualifications for salvation but as evidence of genuine repentance. Faith alone saves; but faith that is alone is not saving faith.”

Metzger closes his book with the three above fruits of authentic belief, having laid out the whole of the Gospel in the preceding pages. The one who has truly been reconciled to his Creator through a recognition of the magnitude of his sin and the redemption made available through Christ’s substitutionary death, is the same one who now loathes his own disobedience, longs for holiness, rejoices together with the rest of the saints, and glories in God.

tdg