Normally I enjoy Mark Dever and his books. His website is one of the best Christian sites on the web (www.9marks.com). Dever is a man after God's own heart and a man who deeply wants to communicate the truths of Scripture.
However, I didn't really enjoy this book. While the meditations on the gospel were great and it is clear that Dever has a passion for the truth, I felt that something was missing from this book on evangelism. My answer is that I felt that Dever should have spent more time developing the reality of using the Law to bring about the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19-20; 7:7,14; 1 Timothy 1:8-11) and more time on the true nature of repentance (Matthew 3:8; 2 Corinthians 7:10). While Dever touched briefly on repentance here and there, the Law was never used. Charles Spurgeon correctly noted, "The Law prepares the heart for the gospel."
The exaltation of God, His Son, and His Word are excellent in this book. Dever does a great job of exalting Jesus above men. His message throughout this book is that too often evangelism becomes man-focused and not God-honoring. I agree. But I would love to have seen Dever use the Law and teaching believers how to use the Law to preach the gospel (Acts 28:23).
So while I enjoy Dever, enjoy his ministry, and enjoy his heart - I simply didn't enjoy this book. For more on the Law and using it in evangelism see Ray Comfort's THE WAY OF THE MASTER.
Mark Dever writes to help a Christian who is convinced that he or she needs be evangelizing know how to and how not to. The Gospel and Personal Evangelism is a good implementation of that goal. In fact, it is page-for-page the best book on evangelism that I have read written in the last 100 years. Dever's personal friend, C.J. Mahaney, writes in the foreword, "Mark, thank you for writing The Gospel and Personal Evangelism. Thank you even more for your compelling example of compassion for the lost and for your faithfulness to proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified. May there be many gospel conversations and abundant evangelistic fruit as a result of this book." I echo those sentiments. Thank you, Mark.
Among evangelicals, there are generally two common incorrect responses to Jesus' call to evangelize the nations. One, ignore it. Two, preach something that isn't the gospel, say that we are evangelizing, and then count people as conversions before there is any evidence of faith besides a confession that they want to go to heaven. This book tackles both common errors, rather trying to cultivate a biblically informed, gospel-motivated, Spirit-empowered heart that proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ with a balance of honesty, urgency, and joy.
The chapter titles give a good summary of what the book is about. Each chapter is usually between 10 and 15 pages and would make a good daily reading for personal edification or reading for a group study (I am seriously thinking about going through this book with my church smallgroup):
1. Why Don't We Evangelize?
2. What Is the Gospel?
3. Who Should Evangelize?
4. How Should We Evangelize?
5. What Isn't Evangelism?
6. What Should We Do After We Evangelize?
7. Why Should We Evangelize?
8. Conclusion: Closing the Sale (We are not salesmen)
9. Appendix: Recommended Reading
10. Appendix: Word to Pastors
Mark Dever writes to affect the heart. Evangelism devoid of the correct motivation does not give God the glory, will tend to be legalistic, and doesn't aim for disciples but numbers. I would love to go chapter-by-chapter through the book giving highlights of each, as there is not a weak chapter in the entire book. I have posted and will continue to post some quotes from the book on my blog. Just search for "Dever Evangelism". I will say that two of the most helpful points of the book are (1) Differentiate evangelism from the fruits of evangelism, and (2) We are not salesmen who need to "close the deal" but witnesses.
Dever has effectively engaged my heart and affected the way that I think about evangelism and has begun to affect the way that I have patterned my life in order that I can build a lifestyle of evangelism. I hope and pray that time will tell by my life that this book deserves the 5-star rating that I have given it.
