Jesus says there is a great gulf between believers and unbelievers (Matt. 25:1-13; Luke 16:26). Consequently, a minister must discriminate in preaching, aiming to have a word in due season to both groups. As Charles Bridges writes, there is no “greater delusion for the conscience of the unconverted, or greater perplexity to the sincere but unintelligent Christian, than an indiscriminate application of the Gospel to them both in one general mass.”¹

In other words, a minister must not give the unconverted the impression that when he speaks to believers, they are included; nor, when he addresses the unconverted, should he suggest to a sincere Christian that he may not be converted after all. In either case, the minister does his hearers a great disservice.

Thomas Scott says: “This undistinguishing way of preaching is ‘casting that which is holy unto the dogs’; and, I am deeply convinced, is one of the worst mistakes that a preacher can fall into; tending most directly to stupefy the conscience and harden the hearts of the ungodly, and to ‘strengthen their hands, that they should not return from their evil way’; and, in proportion, discouraging the heart of the humble, broken, contrite believer.”²

Church members can be visibly adopted into God’s church family but still lack its experiential power. Thomas Shepard describes their adoption as “external, whereby the Lord takes a people by outward covenant and dispensation to be his sons.” Thus all the Jews were God’s first born (Ex. 4:22), and unto them belonged the adoption (Rom. 9: 4-5), Shepard explains. Their children were accounted as sons as well as saints, and holy (1 Cor. 7:14; Ezek. 16: 20-21). But many fell from this adoption, as the Jews did.³

Today, this visible adoption applies to the New Testament church. Many church members have professed the gospel, but they do not know its power. Because they are not born again, they do not pos­sess the spirit of adoption. That is not the gospel’s fault but their own; as Manton writes, “They are strangers to the grace of the covenant under which they live, by their own negligence and folly.” Manna is spread around their tents, but they would rather starve than gather it. “The Spirit is ready, but these (people) are lazy,” Manton concludes.⁴

Such people are “under a visible administration of the covenant of grace,” Manton says. They can experience impressions of the truth, as Agrippa did in Acts 26, and conviction of sin, as did Felix (Acts 24). Christ often gives them “common gifts which he giveth not to the heathen world: knowledge of the mysteries of godliness; abilities of utterance and speech about spiritual and heavenly things; some affection also to them, called ‘tasting of the good word, the heavenly gift, and the powers of the world to come’” (Heb. 6). But despite having these common gifts of superficial Christianity, they lack true Christianity with its special graces.⁵

The faithful minister must target such people in the fol­lowing ways:

First, he must encourage the impressed but unconverted to flee to Christ immediately, just as they are with all their sins, and ask for full and free salvation. He must encourage them to give up on themselves and their own righteousness, but not to give up on God and His righteousness in Christ. He must encourage them to stop looking for salvation anywhere but in Christ and to continue using the means of grace, always looking for Christ in them.

The minister must show such people that God does not take pleasure in their death but in their repentance and eternal life in Christ (Ezek. 33:11). He must declare that God is far more willing to save them in Christ than they are willing to be saved by a gloriously rich Savior who is our complete salvation. He must point them to Jesus, who can do for them what they cannot do for themselves, declaring that He is “exalted with the right hand of God to be a Prince and Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). He must set Christ forth in all His sufficiency and grandeur, declaring that He has promised — and is both able and willing — to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him (Heb. 7:25). He must tell them to ask God the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit to quicken them from spiritual death to life (Luke 11:13).

Second, he must make clear that the Holy Spirit saves sinners by convicting them of their sinful unrighteousness and leading them to salvation in the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must clearly set forth God’s ordinary way of converting sinners, teaching his listeners that true conversion consists of a heart-felt knowledge of sin and misery outside of Christ, heartfelt deliverance in taking refuge in Jesus Christ to find all our salvation in Him, and heartfelt gratitude to God for salvation provided in Christ (Ps. 50:15; cf. Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 2).

In the process, the minister must make clear the difference between legal repentance and evangelical repentance, historical faith and saving faith, and common impressions and saving impressions. Otherwise unbelievers will yield to presumptive faith. He must avoid leading such people into easy belief and self-made conversions or, on the other hand, into the belief that a special supra-scriptural revelation is necessary for faith (see Canons of Dort, Head V, Error 5).

Third, he must warn against self-deceit. Often those who live under impressions but have never fled for refuge in Christ for salvation secretly hope that God’s providential leadings or their experiences will save them. Such people need to understand that there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ. He alone is sufficient for salvation.

John Calvin warns against self-deception by the reprobate, saying self-examination is crucial.⁶He writes: “Let us learn to examine ourselves, and to search whether those interior marks by which God distinguishes his children from strangers belong to us, viz., the living root of piety and faith.”⁷Hap­pily, the truly saved are delivered from self-deception through proper examination. Calvin says: “The faithful are taught to examine themselves with solicitude and humility, lest carnal security insinuate itself, instead of the assurance of faith.”⁸

In preaching the need for self-examination, we, like Calvin, must emphasize Christ. We must examine ourselves to see if we are placing our trust in Christ alone, for this is the fruit of genuine, biblical experience. For Calvin, self-examination is not so much “Am I trusting in Christ?” as it is “Am I trusting in Christ?”⁹Self-examination must always direct us to Christ and His promise. It must never be done apart from the help of the Holy Spirit, who alone can shed light on Christ’s saving work in the believer’s soul. Calvin says, “If you contemplate yourself, that is sure damnation.”¹⁰

Finally, the minister must warn such people of the danger of remaining members of Satan’s family inwardly while they appear to be members of God’s family outwardly. He must call them to repent and believe in Christ and trust God’s mercy for salvation and adoption. As Roger Drake says, “Art thou an alien? O never rest till thou (dost) get into a (saving) state of sonship.”¹¹