Evangelism (part 3)

Review of the Gospel in Acts 3 and Romans

So today is the last of the three week series we've had on evangelism so we will quickly review some of the material from the last two weeks and then get into the new material. So all of you should be having some handouts.

If not there are more i think being made and they'll be brought to you before we start. Why don't we just go to the lord in prayer. Dear god our loving and gracious father lord even as we come here lord to gather with the saints and to open your word and to hear from you lord we just thank you for your hand that has been with us this past week in all that we did or did not do.

And lord even as we hear from you oh father we pray that you would shape our hearts you would move us in those parts that you have prepared for us in the week ahead in christ's name. We pray amen. Okay so if anyone doesn't have handouts with you please raise your hand.

Brother dave is coming over. There's a maybe mark. Could you give brother dave a hand with the handouts. Thank you. So these handouts are the same as what you've had the last two weeks. It's nothing new here and as they're coming out i will quickly review what we've covered in the last two weeks.

We began by looking at acts chapter three. We looked at the event where peter and john are going to the temple and doing what they normally do they're interrupted by a man begging for arms in acts 3 we see this man he is lame he can't walk so he's asking for arms.

And here is a man in need asking peter for something that peter does not have. Peter has no money to give this man but he has something that christ has given him and that is the gospel and in this particular case also physical healing.

And we see peter look down at the man he there is a miraculous healing as this man's legs are strengthened and he is now walking and leaping and praising god for this supernatural healing that he has received.

And as a consequence of that you have the crowds gather and peter gives the gospel. And we saw in acts 3 how the four elements of the gospel peter weaves in to these jewish audience. And as they hear there is great rejoicing.

And there is also great opposition. And the point of this passage was you know no matter where we are we always ought to be prepared with the gospel. And we looked at romans the romans road to see some of the key elements of the gospel in the book of romans.

So one of your handouts will have that um the romans references for you. So if if someone were to just come by and ask you what is the gospel please tell me i need to be saved. And if you're thinking gosh i actually don't know what those references are.

I can just say believe and be saved. And that probably would be right. But i want to be able to explain it a little more clearly then those references that are being given to you will be helpful for you to say here are some elements that i need to emphasize in the gospel.

So can someone tell me what were the four main pieces of the gospel that we looked at in the last few weeks. What are the four key elements that we try to bruce. Yes very good. Yeah. So those are four general elements.

And if you look at any gospel presentation in the scriptures you will see pieces of it. And the answer to these four questions can be varied. We looked at specific elements of that answer. Who is god.

You can talk about him as a creator. You can talk about him as a holy god. You can talk about him as judge. There's many things that you can talk about. But those are some of the things that the people who are lost are not consciously aware of either they're suppressing the truth and need to be reminded of what the bible says.

And then we saw presuppositional evangelism. We saw how the bible assumes that god exists. Our job is not to prove to someone to say uh a you see this. B you see this c. Therefore there is a god and you must worship him.

That's never the way that the bible talks about god. The bible says everybody knows that there is god. We saw that in romans one. And then we looked at the main differences between the believer and the unbeliever.

We talked about world views. There is at the core of every christian a firm belief in god and his purposes and our relationship with him. And because of that core belief and we have that belief because god has changed our heart he has regenerated us.

And we now see things the way god sees. And so everything else we do our families our work our relationships all else is seen through this reality of who god is. It is god who has made all these things for us.

And we do these things in those specific activities in order to honor god. So that's the way the christian views life. But for the unbeliever we said his worldview is very different. There is no god in the heart of the fool in.

We read in proverbs the unbeliever has in romans one suppressed this knowledge of god that everybody has and is not willing to place god in the center of all that he sees. So therefore all that the unbeliever sees is colored.

We call them glasses. They have a different pair of glasses with which they see life. And therefore when a believer and an unbeliever talks it's very difficult for them to communicate because you talk about something and it goes right over the head.

And the believers unbelievers say something. And for many many a time it's hard for us to understand although it's not as hard for us because we were once unbelievers too we knew how we used to think.

And so we talked about how sometimes when you're evangelizing lou last time said he came out of a catholic background. So when you're witnessing to a catholic you know how that thinking that they are steeped in and you can help that person talk of talk to that person about the scriptures that will help them see the truth.

And then we also said don't get into their shoes. It's one thing to be able to see the way they are seeing so that you can take those scriptures and apply it in their circumstances. But you'd never really want to be in their shoes.

Sometimes you empathize so much with the unbeliever i just wish they would get saved. And i start to think more and more and more like him. Then there is really no way for you to help that person out because it's only god who has to change that person's heart.

And your responsibility is to bring the bible as an external source to bear upon that person's life. And it is only god who can change that person's heart. And then finally we looked at should we declare and preach the gospel or should we convince and persuade with unbelievers.

And that was a trick question i got most of you there. The answer obviously is both both. And brother bruce has always got that right. There is a sense in which we need to declare and proclaim the gospel.

And we have the caruso the preaching and the proclamation of the word. And like we said in this worldview they are not really willing to be convinced or persuaded. But at the same time we also see the pathos.

We see paul pleading begging and entreating with the people that he ministers the gospel to. So our attitude should be one of not just you know raining down god's word but also genuinely caring for the people that we minister to.

So all this we covered last time and we said you know the goal is to glorify god. And we said glorify is a difficult word so we use. We want to love god with all our being. And the way we want to do that is we want to remember what god has done for us.

We want to be thankful for what god has done. And that gratefulness for god's saving us translates into faithfulness to god because this god who saved us has also told us to go out and tell the world about this good news.

The gospel is ewangalion the good news that he has given us. And we want to not just hold it but give it to others who need it. So we because of grateful hearts we want to be faithful and all the while remembering that it's not my evangelizing that saves another person it is god who saves.

My responsibility is just to be faithful to god and proclaim with persuasion the good news. So all this was last week. So we are going into new material with personal evangelism. Before we get into this i want to just do a little exercise to get our minds up and running early in the morning when you think of gospel we looked at the four points right now.

How many of you think that the bible is completely filled with the gospel. Or is there only pieces of it that has the gospel. What do you think. What is that all of it. Anybody want to dispute that. Uh the you you might have heard this before the golden thread of redemption is right from genesis all the way to revelation.

I mean god's purpose he's a saving god and the bible is full of it. Now um we looked at specific references for four points and those were pretty clear. You know you look at god as a creator holy holy holy.

So those things all fit into our four categories. Nicely. But let's say um the statement that we just made the bible is full of the gospel. Why don't we just put that into practice. So those of you who had your devotions this morning you know the super spiritual.

Let's let's take our uh the passages that you studied today and let's see if there is a gospel there. And if so how do you bring that out for yourself and also for those you will speak to. So anybody want to volunteer the passage you meditated on this morning or not necessarily this morning anytime this week that's fresh on your mind.

Yes bruce psalm 2 and can you just quote a couple of verses. I know brother bruce i can ask that openly because he normally memorizes whatever he reads. Amen. That's enough brother. Um and psalm 2 for those of you who know the psalm it talks about you know the nations that just you know don't care for god.

And the psalmist is now saying watch out there is a god in heaven and you know he's laughing at you and he is sending his son the redeemer and he is the one whom you need to be reconciled with. Basically you have the first question.

You have the fourth question. And kiss the sun is a reference to the fourth quest. Third and the fourth question. So yeah. So you have psalm 2 any other psalm or any other passage. Yes brother that's excellent.

And what. Specifically in the gospel is that highlighting. Excellent. And you said loving kindness. There's so many attributes right there in 138. And like we said when in acts 3 peter was talking about the god of abraham isaac and jacob jewish people their audience that needed to know this is the covenant god that we're talking about.

And here when you talk about the holiness of god we talk to our society which doesn't understand that particular attribute. We talk about the loving kindness of our of god balancing the holiness with uh with this with his love.

And so these are like i said you can you can. If anybody else wants to try we can take another passage. Um anything you take in the scripture. Yes ma 'am excellent. That'll talk about the second you know here is joel the the judgment of god because of man's sinfulness and and his rebellion against god.

Excellent point. And then also the promise to come. So the point is this when i when we go downtown i normally tell people you know read a passage study it just meditate on it before you go. Because when the word of god is like burning in your heart when it is taken over your mind the lord would just use whatever passage you're studying.

Normally i try to read the gospels because those are just very easy and they just i get excited. When i read about the lord jesus we get excited about everything. But um any passage that you are just meditating on when you have it in your heart you'd be so surprised you talk to someone and then all of a sudden you remember this thing this attribute of god or the judgment that god is going to bring or you know the call that the bible has and all these things just come into your mind.

And as you're talking the spirit of god will help you use those scriptures as you evangelize. So so when we say gospel in a minimal sense we're talking about those four at four elements of it and for you to remember those references are helpful so you can clearly present the gospel.

But that doesn't mean you just have to stick to some outline when you know the scriptures the more you know the scriptures the more you'd be able to explain the gospel to different people that you meet now on the one hand we've done presuppositional on the other side i want to talk about personal evangelism.

The question we looked last time about declaring and preaching versus convincing and persuading. Sometimes they are pitted as against you know reformed teaching versus arminian and in some cases rightly.

So you know sometimes when a person is arminian in his theology the idea is that that person you and that person have to somehow do your best in order to grasp this truth. That is just out there and god will honor the efforts that we put in.

So there is an element of greater persuasion and convincing that goes on in the arminian. Um i don't believe it is theologically correct but i think they put the reformed people to shame because we ought to be just as persuasive because if you understand the greatness of this gospel that we have but for this purpose you know there is a distinction that is made between this proclaiming and persuading.

And same with presuppositional and personal. You know when we think of presuppositional the the mindset that most people have is okay. We have the bible the unbeliever doesn't understand. I'm just going to throw it as hard as i can and hope that god breaks his heart and and gives him a new one.

You know that's the mindset we have that's not biblical. But and on the other hand when it comes to personal normally people think of like um like the arminian theology and here's someone who's just very loving and kind.

And the reason they're doing it isn't obviously because you know they have to do everything they can on their own and god would somehow honor that. And i don't think we need that dichotomy we need to have both.

We need to recognize that the bible is the supreme means the gospel is the means by which salvation occurs. And yet we ought to be agents of the gospel in embodied form. And what i mean by that is on this side when we talk about honoring god we say we love god with all our heart soul mind and strength.

If god says this to be true we say amen and we proclaim that faithfully to god. And on this side we come and say i also love my neighbor as myself i i genuinely care for the person who is perishing and i want to pour out my life among those who need to hear the gospel.

And i think you know we want to bring those things together when we go out evangelizing. And no one does this perfectly. I don't and i'm sure even the veterans here we all know our flaws. There are areas where we need to still keep growing.

And when we recognize where we are weak we want to look for the lord's strength to grow in those areas. So some of you may be empathetic you know just um love socialize with people and do that a lot more.

And you ought to watch out that you don't compromise what god says and others you know don't want to go out. But you go out because you have to be faithful and you need to realize that you you need to actually love these people that you're talking about.

Like i said last week barry said as we started out this year's downtown evangelism that's one of the things that we want to focus on. Maybe sometimes we just talk and walk rather than engage the persons that we are witnessing to.

So in personal evangelism i started out with loving god and loving your neighbor. And part of this being personal is to care for the people that we talk to. Ultimately we go out there because we care right.

We want to go out there and tell them that they are perishing and need to know the greatest news that there ever is for them to be reconciled with god. And at this and part of this caring involves listening.

You know one of the things that when you i'm using downtown because that's like one of those things out there that's kind of terrifying. But it's true for other circumstances too. Sometimes when you go downtown we want to talk first because if you let the other person start talking we'll be there for an hour and we would never have gotten anywhere near the gospel.

So we want to get the gospel quickly so that you know they know what we are about and part of it most of the times is true because you're the one who's going to stop them and you're going to be telling them.

I want to tell you something about jesus christ. Would you like to listen. But sometimes i'm so i'm so nervous i'm so terrified that i'm just there's a holy god man is in the state of sin jesus christ came to save and you better believe.

Uh bye. Because you know if you ask any questions i don't know what to say. And um and it's okay if that's all we can i've done that a few times. Um it's better than staying home and just you know hoping that i'll get out.

But uh we have to realize that these are just people just like us they were. They are lost just as we were once. And we want to we want to care for them we want to love them. And uh and listen to them.

There is a reason you want to listen to people as you give them the gospel. It's because just as how we look the bible is filled with the gospel. As you understand the people that you're talking to you'll be able to find those scriptures that are pertinent to that particular person's life.

Um i mean all of you know unbelievers in your in your life. So maybe we'll talk about a few circumstances. Um maybe we'll do this the same way we did the bible just as you did your devotionals. The last unbelieving person that you tried to witness the gospel to whether this morning or this week or anywhere else.

Um what were some of the things that you felt were necessary for them to hear from the bible. A couple of examples. Yes peggy. Yeah. Yeah. So what peggy just said was uh as you just go to a person and say you see they don't look well and you ask what's going on and people are hurting.

We live in a broken world. I mean each of you know that personally and you also know that the world that does not have christ has no foundation no hope on which to rest. We we talked about this world view where you've taken god out and you had to fill it up with different things.

Materialism your own superhuman strength whatever it is that they've done will be cracking. And as you talk to people in their specific need you can say you know here is the truth here is the god who made this world.

Here is the god who made you. And here is how these scriptures can help you. Very true. I think in a general sense most people are in a state of need except that they do not know the supreme need. And as you talk to them about their specific circumstances you can help them understand what the bible says where they are.

What is the reason for the suffering. This world is not just a getting better and better. There is a serious problem called sin that is endemic and it is only going to get worse and the only hope for them and the world is christ.

Any any other examples we'll move on if not. Yes. Excellent. And some of those you can have many cases we could just spend all our time here. But we'll just maybe use this as an example. So you come to some people that i'm sure all of you know very content in their state of sin.

You know you talk to them and they've just told you how they partied and you tell them don't you think that's wrong. No. Um well the bible says it's wrong. You know this is an offense not just to your spouse or your friends or your family.

It's actually an offense against a holy god. Did you know that. No i don't care. I mean that's seriously. You know that's the worldview that they live in and they need to hear the truth. And sometimes you never get past that.

And that's what they need to hear at that moment. Or someone else has just come back from partying and he's just in a miserable state. And he says you know my wife won't accept me. And why would a god accept me.

And then we talk about the love of god that extends to the point of sending his son to die on the cross on our behalf. You know that's how much he loves sinners and how much he loved me. And i want to tell you about him.

So you want to bring those scriptures to bear on the lives of the people. So depending on who you're talking to if you listen you know where to what scriptures to bring and apply. Very true. And i think that's part of evangelism.

But before i say something i want to point a little more to what harry said. Because you remember when we talked earlier in presuppositional when you want to be when you want to evangelize the goal is not necessarily the salvation of that person.

I mean we want that person to be saved. But whether that person will get saved or not is god's choice. You know he decides who gets saved. We want to be faithful to god and if the truth is going to be hard we don't back away from it.

And i think that's where personal evangelism sometimes gets muddled. Because we love the person so much that we just keep the hard doctrines for later we say oh we know we'll just present the love of god and we'll worry about justice later.

And doing that would be unfaithful to god. So we want to be our evangelism is faithful. We even when we give the hard truth and the person kicks you in the face and walks away. You've done. You've been faithful to god and you've actually been loving person assuming you didn't throw the bible at him back.

And on the on the other hand i think one of the things that we want to remember is when you're in an evangelistic encounter it's we are presenting god's message on his behalf pretty much like moses reading the law and they are on the receiving end.

And even though they don't see god they're seeing you. It's sometimes helpful to actually talk about what god did in your life because that helps them say oh you know this is not some righteous fantasy who's come to you know whip me up.

But he was like me and he still is like me. In fact that's a very good advice even for counseling among one another. I mean none of us is perfect. We still struggle with sin. We struggle with different areas in our lives.

And as we minister to one another we can always talk about those areas where god has helped us. When we're helping another struggling brother or sister and that helps the other person understand. Oh it's not just some abstract truth.

This is how god's power works in god's people. Excellent point. So let's keep moving. So i have point three be yourself. The reason i have that is fam you missed the first week we were talking about the superstars of evangelism.

We talked about uh give me some names ray comfort and you know i mean he's an inspiration to a lot of people and to me. Because you know here is a man who's bold unashamed of the gospel and goes into areas where most of us wouldn't go um unless the lord drags us um but at the same time what i encourage you in the first week was don't just keep that ideal up there and somehow want to be like him because um some of you be like him in your natural propensities and you should and some of you would be using the same gospel in different manners.

So it's not just the same method same. We talked about methods. It's not about gospel is not about methods but understanding what the core principles are and using them in the gifts with the talents with those circumstances as god has placed you we all want to excel even more.

So we want to look at those people who do evangelism with excellence and and and excel even further. But i do not need to be ray comfort in order to be faithful to god. And so that's why i have that be yourself thing there.

But it doesn't mean you know be yourself and just you know stay in your own state because as you are faithful to god god will change you as you make the gospel your priority and as god's will as your will you will see yourself change.

I i'm sure bruce can give many examples of people who come to evangelism. I was one of them. I was scared i didn't know what to do the first time i went. And as you are faithful as you love god and as you love the people that you're witnessing to you change because the gospel permeates you and you um you are now more bold you're more courageous and you find ways to give the gospel that you could before.

Um and part of being yourself is you know the world recognizes fakes pretty quickly. So if you're going to try to put on a mask and say like you know act like somebody you're not they will just walk away right away.

You know they don't even want to hear. And this is not the gospel causing offense. It's just your plastic mask. And so you want to really genuinely care for people. You speak. And people and like i said there are people who just want to talk to you because they know that you're there not just to hit them but to to love on them.

Um direct to the gospel. And this is one of the biggest challenges all of us have whether you're going intentionally or unintentionally um you start talking to people. People want to talk about everything else except the core issues.

They'll talk about the problems but they will not talk about the root of the problems because that's too hard that's too private. And you need to be able to direct those conversations to the gospel. You're there as an ambassador of christ you're there as christ's agent.

And you want to make sure that the gospel comes center stage. There was a i think it was spurgeon. He uh i think he finished the sermon and he was walking out and he met this um i think a drunkard or someone and he asked him for some money i think.

And spurgeon said something else about you know his state and this guy just starts talking to him and then very quickly turns the conversation around to back to get the money that he wanted. And spurgeon was like you know look at that guy you know he just turned the conversation.

I mean that was his focus. He needed the money to do something and he didn't. He was very nice and polite. But the conversation somehow went back to money. Give me some money so i can go and buy some drink.

I mean if a drunkard can be so intentional about changing the conversation to something that's foremost on his mind inebriated mind. How much more should christians have the gospel. So much in our in the front and center of our lives that whatever we talk about i mean we just said the gospel is in all the scriptures gospel affects all of life.

We should be able to talk about the gospel not just in some you know sneaky tricky type of way but because that's what we love what we enjoy. And although there is this worldview clash we want to be able to bring the gospel in a way that these people can see it be confronted with it or be exalted by it.

Praying and inviting. Sometimes we feel a little shy of praying with unbelievers. Nothing to be afraid of. The bible says you know god has no obligation to hear the prayers of the wicked. But you can pray for them and there's nothing wrong with it.

Praying for their need praying for their salvation. Excellent point. You know what you thought was a disadvantage is actually a gain. Practical help. Once again you know sometimes we are afraid of the social gospel because we don't want to help make people think that somehow we are helping them and therefore they need to come to christ at the same time we want to realize that there are genuine needs.

And when you can help help i mean there's nothing wrong with it. Don't give the drunken money but given something else. Wisdom. And i think you know this is one of those areas that we're all afraid of.

None of us is wise enough to know how to respond to all circumstances perfectly. And therefore we never get out. But as you get out you can rely on god's wisdom in dealing with specific people specific circumstances the more you talk you understand how to respond to those things.

Just because you're going to respond not perfectly doesn't mean that god is not honored. Um many times when i have not said the best thing. But as long as you are faithful to god god will use that in your own weaknesses.

And remember those people that you speak with because as you remember and pray for them you know you may not be the one who is going to see the fruit. But if you've planted the seed you want someone else to come alongside and and do the harvest.

Uh i have a question here for difficult questions. Um so is there some questions that's on your mind. So if you think okay if i had to go and talk to this person that's been on my prayer list for a they will ask me.

Are there some questions that you are concerned about that you will be asked. And you won't have an answer for anything that we can talk about in a couple of minutes. Well the the catch-all for that is very simple.

If you know the answer to it tell them. If you don't know the answer to it tell them you don't know. You're not expected to be the perfect person who knows all the answers. Um sometimes you may know the answer but it doesn't come to your mind.

That's fine. Normally we go two by two downtown. So that's one of the reasons why another person can be thinking where the other person is one person is talking. But there's nobody knows all the answers.

And it's okay to say i don't know. And uh and if it's possible tell them i'll come back to you. Can i meet you or get a number. Yes too many hypocrites in the church. Uh excellent point. I'm sorry. Yes.

Yes. All right. I was going to answer. But i should stop. Who wants to answer that question. Okay. Excellent. Does god know the difference. Okay. Yes. So you need to be really solved to give an answer like that.

But that's great. Yeah. Because i think at the bottom of that question is you know the the the group that wants me to become better is itself not that great. So why should i listen to them. Right. I mean that's at the root of that question.

And i think you know one of the things i always like to keep clear in my mind is justification and sanctification. Um you know first of all i'm free to admit listen. I'm not perfect. Nobody in the church is perfect sanctification world.

And then we talk about justification and there are some churches which are not justified. You know. Uh so we want to be open about our issues. But the we come back to say you know there is a issue that you are struggling with and if you are not right you're going to be in trouble.

So let's take hypocrisy as one of the sins that is endemic. Yeah. And i and i love that the most because i think jesus and the pharisees that's a great passage to talk about religious hypocrisy and then talk get translate a sin and then talk about how all of us need to be saved.

Yes. That's great. And i think you know you can. There's there's many paths just with that one question to talk about sin and i need to move on. But maybe last one. Yeah. Could everybody hear. What did anybody not hear.

No. Okay. So um pam was just saying how hypocrites one of the problems is you know you cover it up. I mean that was the problem with the pharisees. Right. They covered it up. And one of the things that god expects of us is to be to confess to be open with god about it.

And for you as the evangelist you can probably just confess. You know i've been a hypocrite at times and i don't want to be. And i've there is a difference. And again you talk about justification. Here's who i was and here's what god has done to me.

I'm not perfect. Um and then use that as a means of talking about our relationship to god. It's not just about our relationship with one another but we are as a people covering our things from god. We are not honest to god about our sin.

And when we are he will save us. Yes uh. And that's a good thing for the evangelist to know all. Right. Let's move on. Because there's one more section that i want to cover before we are done today. Because this is the last of the series.

Um so the goal i've just listed here. You know if you've never done evangelism go downtown. Because that's probably the most easy avenue for you to start sharing proclaiming the gospel. Because you can actually go with people who've done that you don't even need to talk.

But you get to see it. And with time you can actually witness. Um but you need to be ready to give that to anyone you meet. And like i said in the first week you know the handouts that you have just read those verses mark your bibles and the romans wherever.

So you know what to say when you're asked. Now i want to move to evangelism a family. We just have five minutes. I want to go quickly through this. Can somebody tell me what the difference is in evangelism of strangers to evangelism of family.