When I was a junior in high school, Benny Parks (now a pastor at Briarwood) took time one evening to walk through with me me a little yellow booklet called The Four Spiritual Laws. I took it home, read it, and that night dropped to my knees and asked God to save me.
As I began reading the Bible, going to studies, talking to others- it didn't take long for some of my more "truly reformed" friends to attack the booklet- some even went as far to warn me I was brought to Jesus by a 'false gospel message'- and they told me to stop using it. It's funny because as I stopped using it, I also stopped evangelizing...hmmmm.
These memories came alive again this morning as I read Hebrews 4:2: “For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”
When you link that with what I read and posted about from Hebrews 3 (which linked to Psalm 95)..
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.” (Psalm 95:10 ESV)
So that is the juxtaposed title- Law #1 in the 4 Spiritual Laws booklet is "God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life"- and then you have this unhelpful skirmish of whether God loves some or all- and we go to theological war. What a waste.
But here is what the critics sometimes miss. The true power of that tract wasn’t the marketing hook. It was the confrontation it forced: a self-directed life that leads to chaos or a Christ-directed life that enters rest. The Spirit used that simple picture to pierce my heart. And the tract itself did not end with a shallow promise. It contained a follow-up plan: urging the reader to join a community of believers, to begin discipleship, and to grow under the whole counsel of Scripture.
Look at the image below—it was the picture of two circles. One represented a self-directed life, with self on the throne and chaos in every corner. The other showed a Christ-directed life, with Him on the throne and the pieces of life in order. I didn’t need to be convinced; I knew which circle was mine. My life was already unraveling under the weight of my sin and selfishness. For the first time, I saw clearly that what I longed for—rest, peace, wholeness—was only found in Christ.
Let's go back to Hebrews now- the writer trying to warn us from the failings in the past to NOT MISS THE REST!
The writer is thinking of Israel at Kadesh-Barnea. Twelve spies entered the land. Ten came back with fear and negativity; two—Joshua and Caleb—believed God’s promise. The people listened to the majority report and grumbled, and they never entered God’s rest. The good news was proclaimed, but it wasn’t mixed with faith, nor united with the faithful.
Hebrews 4 reminds me that the call of the gospel is not merely to hear good news, but to be “united by faith with those who listened.” Faith is not private possession; it is joining my voice to the minority report of Joshua and Caleb, standing with the faithful, and walking into God’s promises together. That is discipleship. That is the circle of rest.
So yes, the yellow booklet was limited. No single pamphlet could ever carry the full depth of the gospel or the sovereignty of God. But the very criticism that it presents a “false gospel” underestimates the sovereignty of God Himself. If God can use Balaam’s donkey to speak truth, He can use a small booklet to awaken faith.
So today, I am thankful for that little yellow booklet. Not because it was perfect, but because God was sovereign to use it. And I am thankful for the community of believers who have since surrounded me, teaching me, correcting me, and keeping me among “those who listened.” The real “wonderful plan” is not a painless life, but a Christ-directed life—united with His people, resting in His finished work.
The call ultimately isn't just a call of salvation but a call to "Follow" Jesus in discipleship- where we learn over time the truth in God's Word.
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Chat GPT provided some information to help we write this blog- See the added info below:
Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ, later Cru) wrote The Four Spiritual Laws in 1952, and it became one of the most widely distributed gospel tracts of the 20th century.
It starts with the line: “Just as there are physical laws that govern the physical universe, so there are spiritual laws which govern your relationship with God.” Then it lays out:
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God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
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Man is sinful and separated from God. Therefore, he cannot know and experience God’s love and plan for his life.
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Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.
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We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.
It was massively influential—millions came to faith or were at least introduced to the gospel through it. But as you said, it sparked debates:
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Some saw it as too formulaic or reductionistic.
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Others worried the opening line—“wonderful plan for your life”—could mislead people into a prosperity or comfort-driven faith.
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Reformed voices often critiqued it as man-centered, too light on God’s sovereignty and the cost of discipleship.
And yet, it was also a clear, earnest attempt to help ordinary believers share the gospel confidently.
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