Evangelism (part 2)

Okay, so since we have a few of you who are new, you weren't here last week, we'll do a very very quick review, a couple of minutes to review what we did last time and those of you who were here last time, feel free to chip in.

We covered two things last time, one was Acts chapter 3 and then we looked at Romans, the Romans Road and we will quickly review that and then we'll get into this week's material. So Acts chapter 3, if you don't mind, please turn with me there and we'll quickly walk through what we learned from Acts 3.

In Acts 3, we see beginning in verse 1, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. We said here was something that Peter and John are used to doing, they regularly go to the temple and while they were about their business of going around, in verse 2, they observe someone that they decide to stop their travel to the temple and pay attention to.

We saw a man who was in need, this particular man was lame and then in verse 3, he began asking to receive alms, so he looked for something from Peter and John and in verse 4, Peter pays his attention to him and in verse 6, he says something that's very unique, he says, I do not possess silver and gold but what I do have, I give to you in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk.

So this man was expecting, asking for money but Peter and John had something else to give them and that was physical healing and that follows with the gospel as we will see in a few minutes. And we saw the distinction between physical aid that the apostles in the New Testament times gave and then in today's period, how the gospel is what we rely on in the power and the power of the gospel to save people who are in need and sometimes when we go downtown, you're surprised by people who actually are asking for help.

It's sometimes we think people are just so close to the gospel but there are people who do want to hear the good news. And then we see in verses 13 through 19, there is a remarkable healing that happens and there is this unmistakable testimony of the power of God when this man is healed and all the crowds start to come around and then Peter gives the gospel.

So we looked at the four elements, who is God, who is man, who is Jesus Christ and what must you do in this section verses 13 through 19. Can someone tell me just by way of review, what are the things or attributes of God that are here in verses 13 to 19?

Remember Peter's talk? Yes, Barbara. Holy and righteous one. Yes and that's in verse 14. A father of life, author of life in verse 15. Okay, mine has prince of life. I have the NAS. Yes, excellent. So in verse 13, you have God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And once again, we said, you know, here is Peter talking to the Jewish audience and they know this God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac. And then he talks about this God that you as a people have been worshipping and some of the attributes are holy and righteous and the author of life.

And then the second one is about man. What do we read about the nature of man that Peter talks about here in this verses? Yes, and that's in verse 13. Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate after he had decided to release him.

And we talked a little bit about this. So when we talk about sin, man's need for a savior, we talk about the fall. We talk about how man needs to be reminded of his creatureliness and his sinfulness. But I think in this point in time in history, when the new Jewish nation as a whole had just rejected the Messiah, the author of life as Peter puts it, I think there can be no other stronger demonstration of the sinfulness of man that you had disowned the holy and righteous one and you put to death the prince of life.

And it just talks about the need and the state of mankind. And then what does it talk about Jesus Christ? What does Peter say? We covered some of it already, but you can repeat that. Yes, Brian. He is the prince of life.

Yes. Author of life. He is the holy and righteous one. He is God himself. And there's a few more in verse 18. His Christ would suffer. These were foretold. And, and then finally, what must you do? What must the hearers of Peter do?

What, what was the call that Peter has for them? Repent. And you see that in verse 19, therefore repent and return so that your sins may be wiped away. And, um, and so the gospel is, is preaching throughout the new Testament.

And in the old Testament, you will see elements of this in all the scriptures. When we give you a handout that shows the four W's, obviously we don't have the four W's printed out in the Bible, but, uh, it just runs through the scriptures and you know, who is God?

What is the state in which man is? Who is Jesus Christ? And how do we lift him up to people who do not know about him? And what should we press upon them? What the Bible also presses upon. And we just have that handout just to give you some, some, uh, verses that you can memorize.

When you talk to somebody, you have them on the foremost, on the top of your head. So if you want to tell, you know, God is creator, God is holy. Here are some verses that'll help you tell what the Bible says, uh, when you speak to others in evangelism.

So that's acts three. And then the next one is, uh, uh, the Romans road. So here we have, um, just references from Romans about how Paul lays out the gospel in the book of Romans. So if you, some of you were marking this in your Bible.

So if you are going and talking to someone and you don't know where to begin, you have those references right there. And you can just walk through Romans and talk about who God is, who man is and so forth.

So we have those verses. Who is God? Romans one 20 to 21. It talks about God being the creator. Uh, it talks about his invisible attributes, specifically his power and Godhead. And, um, and what other attributes of God would you find helpful to talk about when you meet an unbeliever, right?

His mercy. He is a God who is merciful. Very good. Because when you talk about holiness, sometimes we can forget about the kindness and mercy of God. Yes, Peggy. So he's a God who is our judge. Very good.

Yes. He is our King. And I think part of when we talk about a creator, uh, we imply that God is our King. He created us and he owns everything that is in creation, including us. And he rules over all of these things.

And, uh, in evangelism, we need to remember to, uh, uh, remind people because here is a people who are living separated from God, who have no conscious thought of God, uh, in the foremost of their minds.

They have very little knowledge of the Bible. And these are attributes of God that we want to make sure we bring out. And when you think of these attributes, especially sovereignty, uh, you want to think of biblical references that you will use to tell them.

It's one thing to say, you know, the Bible says, uh, God is sovereign. It's another thing to say, you know, here is what the Bible says about this God. Uh, he is Lord. He is, he is the ruler of all creation and, uh, use those references because that tells the people it's not something you're making up.

You're just telling them what the Bible says and they need to know that. Uh, what about men? Uh, here we have Romans 3 23 for all of sinned and fall short, fallen short of the glory of God. What are the attributes of man do you think are helpful to remind people of in evangelism?

There's nobody who is righteous. Every single one of us very good is sinful. Excellent. Um, so we talk about how, although we are sinful in our own eyes, we may not seem to be that way. And the Bible says that's deception and we are deceived.

Yes. Right. And that's actually a very interesting subject. Uh, I mean, if you look at the news yesterday in Norway, um, then we had someone who I think died and the world is just full of problems. It's, it's one thing to look at technology and everything else that comes up.

And, and, uh, what you're saying is very important. We'll come back to this later because most people may not, you say, you know, man is depraved, he is sinful. The world would just say, you know, I don't think so.

I'm good. I'm doing stuff, you know, enough good to balance my bad. But when you start talking about what is actually going on in the world, in their lives, uh, it's very hard to escape the fact of sin and its consequences in people's lives.

And that's one of the things we will try to do as we give the gospel is to say, this is not just some idealistic stuff that we just, someone made up. This talks about your life where it is. And you can see this all around the world and you can see this in your own life.

Uh, you know, in your heart, I don't know who said this. One of you men might know. Um, they said, um, sin is the most empirically verifiable truth that ever is. Nobody can run away from it. You can say I'm not sinful, but every man knows that he is a sinner.

And then what about Jesus? Uh, here we have Romans five, eight, uh, Christ died for us while we were sinners. What other attributes of Christ do you think are helpful to remind people off in evangelism?

His deity. Yeah. Most people know him as a human being historically, but not as God, his purity, holiness. And we have that right there in acts three, the Holy and righteous one. He never sinned though.

He was a man. He is the judge. Um, we think of his kindness and compassion, but we forget that he is coming back a second time and he will be the judge. He is the only way. Yeah. Especially in our pluralistic culture.

Most people would say that's fine for you. I have my Buddha or someone else. And that's not true. There is only one way. Very, very important. He is sufficient. Um, you don't need to add anything else to Jesus Christ.

Once you have Christ, when he said it is finished, he finished all the requirements of God, the father. And I think that's one of the things we want to emphasize on is the atonement. Because I think people, it's a, it's a concept that is very alien to people today.

And when you say it, they say, Oh yeah, I've heard about it. But most people don't really know what that genuinely means that Christ died on our behalf. Uh, the perfect one for the sinful, uh, me and, uh, the one who gives me his righteousness because I have none of my own.

And I think that's an important attribute to speak to also. So finally, what must you do here in Romans six 23, we say the gift of God is eternal life. Romans 10, nine to 10, uh, confess with your mouth, believe in your heart, uh, you will be saved.

Um, Romans 10, 13, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And here are just a few references about the, uh, the importance of people to act in response to the call of God. Um, and those of us, I mean, all, pretty much all of us here, um, are reformed.

In fact, when I had to take this material, Romans wrote, I had to take out some of the stuff because it was written by, I think an Armenian, uh, person. And, um, you know, they kind of emphasize the human responsibility a little bit over severely and, uh, forget that God is the one who saves.

Because when you talk to someone, you, you want to always remember, unless God changes that person's heart, they are not going to respond. Uh, it is God's work to cause that regeneration insight. And yet we don't want to human responsibility.

The Bible does call for the person to repent, to believe. And when God does this work in their hearts and the, and the work is done through the power of the gospel, as you've presented and God's spirit does that work inside, they do need to respond to the call.

And that's what we urge them to. You do need to believe, uh, and repent from your sins. Any other, uh, thoughts of what you would say when you, uh, call upon people to believe in Jesus? Maybe to specific circumstances that you've spoken to some things that you may need to emphasize a little bit more.

Uh, one of the things, as I was thinking of was, uh, like the Romans 10, 9 to 10, confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. Um, sometimes I think we live in a post Christian culture, which has kind of taken up these terminology as very loosely.

Yeah. I, I call Jesus as Lord and I believe in Jesus, but there's really no genuine faith in the speaker. So sometimes you have to emphasize, what does it mean to be Lord? You know, does he, has he really taken over your life?

And many a time when you talk to people who say I'm Christian, I would never dispute it, but we would talk about what Christ has done in their lives. And you would find that there is no change. And if there is no power of God in the person that the person is not transformed by the spirit of God, then there is something that is wrong.

And so we talk about that and, uh, bring that back to the gospel and say, uh, when God saves you, you are no longer, uh, the same person as before you are a new creature in Christ. Okay. So that's a longish review.

So let's go on to the new material today. Uh, what I want to do is talk a little bit about presuppositional evangelism and then personal evangelism and see how they both tie with one another. So last week I said, the Bible assumes that God exists.

We do not necessarily have to prove that, uh, there is a God and that they ought to believe in it, uh, believe in him. Do you know why I, uh, does anyone remember why we don't have to prove that God exists?

Yes, Janet. Excellent. Uh, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It's not in the beginning, uh, there was a God and you need to know this God by looking at the skies or something like that.

Uh, the Bible assumes, and we, um, continue that assumption. Now, why would it not be necessary? If somebody didn't know, we would, it wouldn't right. It would be helpful for us to prove it, right? Why does the Bible not tell us to prove God's existence?

Excellent. So that's from Romans one, uh, as people who are created by God and as people who are created in God's image, we know God, everyone, even though deadest of dead sinners has the image of God in us, marred by sin.

Yes, but not totally destroyed. We all know there is a God and we know this God as our creator, but the Bible in Romans one says that we suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We do not want to face the truth.

We would come up with alternate explanations of who we are, our identity, and, and this God who made us. And, um, as Pam was saying, our responsibility is to just bring this back up, you know, that there is a God, we don't have to prove them.

And we will talk about why we should not, or maybe why we cannot even prove to an unbeliever that God exists. And, uh, actually let's, let's actually go to that next. I, the next point I have in your handout is worldviews.

Uh, in Ephesians two, actually, let's turn there. Um, uh, let's read verses one to five and you, Paul is talking to the Christians. Now you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

Among them, we do all formerly lived in the loss of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And why, by, and where by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved.

Now, when we read this Ephesians two, we normally think of our state. What was the state in which we were? We were in a state of spiritual deadness and the spirit of God takes us and makes us spiritually alive.

So now we are alive in Christ. We have a relationship with God. Our eyes are open. We can see things. Um, now let's look at how the world looks like from the viewpoint of someone who is spiritually dead and the viewpoint of someone who is spiritually alive.

So every one of you here who is a believer has your eyes opened. Um, you have no problem talking about God, his goodness, his love, uh, his power. Um, everything in the scriptures, as you read them, uh, it, your heart just kind of quickens.

You get excited about this because as you read it, you know, there is something true. That is something powerful that you're communing with the God of creation. Um, but the same book in the hands of an unbeliever, um, you know, they can have a PhD in Hebrew and Greek and you know, it's just a dead old book makes no, no spiritual connection with them at all.

Uh, for you, you look at the world and you see the trees, the heavens and everything else. And you say, wow, what a beautiful creator God we have yesterday. The sunset just spectacular. I mean, God made this and it's so beautiful.

And here you have someone who says, oh, you know, the reflection of light and the, you know, physical properties of the sun. Oh, that was nice. And when, when the heart gets excited, when they look about it, it doesn't go to the next step to look at the creator who made all this.

It is, oh, that was nice. And that's pretty much all they can go. And this is what I want to talk about as worldviews. Um, when I say presuppositional evangelism, um, I I'm going to be talking about it next week on presuppositional apologetics.

There are two other broad camps of Christians who think how we should do evangelism. One of them is like the classical approach, which is, you know, they would try to prove that there is a God use reason as the basis of communicating with the unbeliever.

So you unbelieve, and many of them would be Armenian or generally not reformed. And what they would try to say is, you know, here is a person, he has a mind that is active. Uh, he and I have the same mind and we should be able to, you know, communicate at the level of reason and convince them of the God that they ought to believe in.

Well intentioned, but I think theologically flawed. That's the classical approach. And then the other approach is the evidential approach, which just says, oh, this person, uh, just doesn't have enough data, doesn't have enough facts about the truth.

And if I give them the truth that they don't know about, then they can actually believe in Jesus because they just don't know that Jesus is God or the Bible is true or, um, take whatever you will. And if I give them enough facts, their mind should be able to grasp it.

And then they can say, yes, I believe in Jesus. So that those are the other two camps, uh, the classical and the evidential. But the presuppositional view is a little different. When we talk about worldviews, it's not about just information or specific facts that we want to give to the unbeliever because at the core of this person's belief system, there is no God.

They do not have a worldview that is centered on Christ. Let, let me give the Christians worldview and then it'll be easier to see what we were before we got saved. So in our life, in our worldview, when we look at the world, whether it is our family, our work, coming to church, whatever you do eat or drink inside, in the, in the core of your belief system is God.

You know that this world was made by God. You know that you are accountable to him. You know that everything you do is in relation to Jesus Christ who died in your place. You are now no longer yours, but his, and everything you see is now translated through the filter of the Bible.

You're looking at things with God as the center and everything else in relationship to God. Granted, we're not always thinking like this. We wish we were always thinking like this. Sometimes we sin and sin badly because we sometimes place ourselves in the center of our little universe.

And then if you are a Christian, we won't stay that too long because the spirit of God will bring conviction and quickly dethrone us off that place and put God back there. And, but the way we look at life is through the scriptures by having God at the center.

Romans one, these, everyone knew God, but they couldn't live with God. They had to, they enjoyed their sin and their pleasures of sin that come in various forms and shapes. And when you take God off, you had to put someone else there.

Typically it's themselves, whoever it is that they are, whoever they are, but they would find some convenient idol to take the place of God. You have false religions, so you can have other little G gods that people would put there.

In our culture, naturalism, why is evolution so popular in schools today? You cannot have a creator God. You take the God out of the picture. You see this amazing beauty of creation of all the ways in which life is structured and organized.

And you need to come up with something like we said last time, um, comes out of nothing by no process, but you have all of.

Beauty that you see here. They took out the chance. Yes. Um, it's for us from this worldview.

Of seeing God as the center and as the creator, that makes no sense at all. Um, but when you have rejected God, you need something and anything will do. And chance happens to be the scapegoat almighty chance.

So it's important for us to recognize this. When we think of Ephesians two, we remember the state in which people are, but that's the way in which they think. They think dead thoughts, which is what we thought before we got saved.

And we are thinking the thoughts after God's own thoughts after the scriptures. So when we talk to an unbeliever, so when we talk about evangelism in a room like this, you don't have to, you don't get nervous.

You don't break out in a sweat. You talk to your friends here. Everybody's talking the same language, but when you're talking to someone here, we are, you know, talking two different languages altogether.

And that's why evangelism can be tough because these people just don't understand what you're talking about. You're right in the center of their core beliefs. There is no God or a worship for God that, um, makes this connection possible.

And so when you recognize this, you will no longer be trying to just prove to this person that there is a God, because there is really no, um, common ground for that person to actually even start talking to you.

They will debate with you. They will talk to you, but they cannot think like you, no matter how hard you try. You give them more and more data. They will find ways to turn that data around, um, and interpret it through this worldview rather than the way it should be.

And that's why we believe that we do presuppositional, uh, evangelism. And what that means is we all have, uh, assumptions. We all have presuppositions that govern the way we think for the Christian, the presupposition that governs our thinking is the Bible.

So we say the Bible says this to be true. And on the basis of that, I'm talking to you. And this person will say my own beliefs, whatever it is that their worldview is, if it's naturalism, that's the presupposition that the assumption on which I'm thinking, and that's the only way in which I can communicate to you.

So for us to somehow try to, uh, talk to the person, yes, we have a common reason, but when we have a fallen reason and a redeemed reason, it is impossible for us to somehow come to a common ground by just human means.

What we need is a divine means. We need God to change that person's thinking inside out to now have to see God as the center and as the, uh, hand that touches everything that they, they are observing.

And the only means by which we can facilitate by means by which God has called us to do is the gospel. The Bible says gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It is only by the gospel that God actually redeems people.

And that's why we keep the gospel as the center. It is not proofs. It is not data. It is not anything else, but the gospel and the Bible. So we say the Bible says this, and we declare this to you. And as we're doing it, we are praying for God to do that work of changing that person's life inside out.

Now that's in an essence, that's all there is to it. We just give the gospel so God can change that person, take him from deadness and give him life. But what do you do after you give them the gospel?

How do you talk to them? How do you communicate with them? So there is more to it than just many a time you give them the gospel and they walk away and then they read it later or think about it and God saves them.

But maybe this is someone that you're going to meet every week and you're going to be talking to him. How do you continue the conversation with the gospel as your center? So we're going to talk a little bit about that.

Uh, the next section I have is actually any questions so far on what we looked at worldviews. Actually, let me ask some questions here. So when you talk to people, whether it is in your work or in your even unbelieving family, do you see that disconnect that happens when you talk to them about the gospel?

What are some of.

The common disconnects that you see? Extended family is all start talking about the gospel. You'll get, well, I have my religion and that's what they consider. A deal breaker. They are basically, they have a belief, you have a belief in both of those people and they consider.

Themselves Christian. And I think, you know, that's one of the more dangerous situations for someone to be in because they think they are fine. Um, and, um, there is, they would, they will not let anything else in because it's a very threatening situation for something to come to them that they cannot handle.

Um, that's, that's one. Yes. Yes. And that is so hard to break because that is a, that is the prevalent worldview that is so common. Yes, we, we do see acts of goodness, but before God that counts for nothing.

And since we don't.

Have a. God, there is no reference point to check our goodness. Right. Um, I think, um,.

Before world war one, um, in the 19th century, everybody was, you know, we are going to that, like Brad, you were saying, you know, to a beautiful utopian world and the world wars happen and it shatters the illusion that people had that they were all good and we were all getting better.

Um, Norway, I mean, God allows natural disasters and manmade disasters and suffering both in a global scale and in individuals lives to break that worldview that they have. In fact, the problem is this.

We have a, uh, unbelievers worldview. We have a Christian worldview. What we believe is this Christian worldview corresponds to the world as it really is. It explains the world. It's like a manual. Like you have your child, you have a, how do you raise a child manual that God gives you in the Bible?

But you know, how do you, you look at the world that is suffering, that is goodness. How do you interpret this world? So the Christian worldview, uh, they say it, it corresponds, it, it connects with the world that we live in.

Um, all these other worldviews are made to somehow try to connect as much as you can, but there are severe disconnects. And, uh, when we actually talk to people, we can just say, you know, don't you see in your own life and in the world that we live in, this is what the Bible talks about.

And, and so when we, when we try to connect what we say in the gospel, uh, it, there is something inside of them, like you said, that is, uh, subconsciously suppressed. And when we give the gospel, the Lord in his divine pleasure will quicken those whom he sees fit.

I, you know, don't worry about me. You know, it's one thing if they were going to say, I don't agree with it, but so oftentimes people walk away, you know, so I just,.

That is really mind blowing to me. Right. Yeah. And that's, that's very true. So no matter how much we speak, uh, I mean, and there should be no, we shouldn't step back because, you know, there is nothing we can do on our own, but as we keep speaking the gospel and as we pray for these people, we just look for God because he is the sovereign one who can change hearts.

Uh, the next thing I have here is glasses and shoes. So if you want to think of worldviews, the unbelievers have like, uh, a pair of glasses on a filter through which they interpret the world that God has made and try to reinterpret and see things differently than we do.

So sometimes when you're talking to someone, uh, you don't necessarily need to know their worldview in order to communicate with them because the only sure bridge of communication is the gospel. And as long as you are clear about what the gospel is and how you need to present it, you are still communicating to them in a God intended way.

This is what God uses. This is what God approves of. And that's what will eventually be used by God in saving this person. Now, sometimes if you come from a certain background, let's say you got saved out of Roman Catholicism.

You know how these people are thinking, and it is helpful for you to know what glasses you are dealing with when you are actually speaking with this person. So you can actually, and you will be careful about certain words you say, because you may mean those words in a certain way, but they will interpret it completely differently.

And so you need to watch out for how you speak with them because you understand how you were dead in those same trespasses and sins before God saved you. So you, you can in some way empathize with them and speak to them in a language that they can understand.

So you, when you know what glasses you're dealing with, you can speak in a way that is more understandable, if you will. But the shoes that I have there, this is the danger that many of us run into when you start evangelizing.

Yes, Barry. Barry said a lot of things. We'll hopefully cut to the circle of thinking next week, but there is some things that he said that I think are very, very helpful for us to examine right now. One of the things is drips and drabs.

You have bits and pieces that don't even fit within the worldview that the unbelievers have. If you try to say, okay, you believe all people are good, or there is goodness in everything and there should be no hell, but Hitler, what about him?

Oh yeah, he should be punished. How does that all fit together? There is a worldview that is incoherent, doesn't fit within itself. And for us, and I think this is a point of humility because you're right, we do have glasses too, and those are the scriptures.

And the last time I checked, none of us was a perfect scripture scholar, that we know everything the Bible says completely well. All of us have our theological flaws. When we find them, we hopefully correct them.

So to the extent that we are biblically faithful, our glasses are clear. And that's one of the speaking in evangelism, particularly or preaching or anything else we do, we want to make sure we are saying what the Bible says.

And to the extent that we are biblically faithful, we are communicating what God gives us. Very good points. And the shoes, and I think this is where we get into trouble, is sometimes we love the person so much that I want to think like him.

I want to talk like him. I want to get to him however I can. And it's one thing to look at their glasses and say, okay, this is how you're thinking, or this is what I used to wear. It's another thing to step into their shoes.

Because once you step into their shoes and start thinking the way they start to think, you will either be useful to them, because you're no longer going to be able to hold on to your biblical faithfulness, and you are going to get sucked down by all the drips and drabs.

The stuff that is going to be coming at you from all these different angles that no matter how scholarly or educated you are, you're just going to be going around in a circle that's not going to end at all.