Election In Evangelism (Part 1)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio, with pastor and author, Dr.

Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise.

I have a little scheme in my life, and here's the scheme.

When I get convicted, I like to have you get convicted as well.

When the Lord's working on my heart, I want to share the proverbial love with you.

I've been convicted about evangelism. There's lots written about evangelism and less done about evangelism.

How can we calculate going overseas where there's the least amount of risk for life and limb versus, as David Sinton would talk about, an abandonment, a reckless abandonment to preach the gospel?

People are sinful and they need to know about the Savior, and we are supposed to tell them.

I read these convicting words this week. Thomas Chalmers, every man is a missionary now and forever, whether he intends or designs it or not.

Spurgeon, every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. Yes, but what about the heathen who have not heard the gospel, will they be saved?

Spurgeon, it is more a question with me whether we who have the gospel and fail to give it to those who have not can be saved.

Leonard Ravenhill, could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry?

Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his parents die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand?

Can you at ease in Zion sit with the world around you be damned?

Walter Chantry, there are no easy steps to witnessing, no painless, unembarrassing methods.

You must bring men to see that they are filthy sinners under the wrath of God who must flee to Christ for mercy.

That is offensive and there is no way to coat it with sugar. My question to myself and now to you is, well, who is then adequate for these things?

Who can do these things? Let's turn our Bibles to Matthew chapter 28 and look at one of the great passages in scripture that talks about evangelism.

Some ask the question, yes, but who am I to say? What shall

I tell them? I'm afraid I can't do it on my own. And this passage answers those three issues, that we have authority from Christ to preach, we have the message from Christ to preach, and that He's with us while we preach.

What's known as the Great Commission, even though I'm going to today call it the Good Commission. Why? Well, it is a

Great Commission, but the greatest commission, I believe, is when the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in eternity passed.

Before Genesis 1 -1, as a triune God got together and said, we will send the

Son on a mission to rescue sinners. That's really the Great Commission. And so, this could be a

Great Commission on earth or it could be the Good Commission, but it is a passage that helps us in our evangelism.

God uses His Word to make us better evangelists. You say, well, this doesn't sound like Romans 14.

Well, it's not Romans 14. Here's the thing. I leave this week and Romans 14 and 15 basically go together, so I don't want to preach 14 today and come back and preach 15 then.

So I want to talk a little bit about the privilege that you are not exempt from, preaching the gospel.

And before I get into the passage, let me say ahead of time, it's only going to get harder and harder and harder.

Why? Because in our society, we're not even going to be able to say homosexuality is a sin without getting taxed, fined, ostracized, and eventually jailed.

The courageous ones now aren't those who used to sit in the back of the bus and say equality for all.

The courageous ones are soon going to be the ones that will stand up and say, there's a great Savior, the only

Savior, and He saves from all kinds of sins, from envy to sexual sins. When was the last time you looked at an unbeliever and said, this is what the

Bible says about your sin, this is where you're going to go when you die without Christ, and this is why you need the gospel.

This is why you need to believe in this Jesus. When was the last time you did that? Say yes, but if I talk that way, then

I'm going to lose friends. That's exactly right. If I am a

Christian, there's going to be trouble, and I'm not so sure I like the trouble that comes along with it.

Well, let's take a look at Matthew chapter 25, excuse me, 28. I think it's going to bolster you in your evangelistic endeavors.

You're going to see that Jesus has authority to give to you. You speak on behalf of another. You have the King's message, and you have the

King with you. Can you imagine Jesus gets together with this group of disciples?

They have no money, no resources, no homes, no armies, and He basically says this, take over the

Roman world. Take over the world. How do you get a band of 11 men, plus maybe some others, and say, you know what,

I want you to dominate the world with this message? The King's final instructions.

Everything about Matthew shows Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, the King. He's lived this life that's a perfect life.

He's died on the cross. He's been raised from the dead, and you'd think Matthew would almost end with Jesus is ascending up into heaven, but he doesn't end with that.

He ends with the final instructions to preach the gospel.

Now what does the text say in Matthew 28, 16? I'm sure you're familiar with it, but as I studied this week, even though I know the passage, memorized most of it, it still prodded me.

It still encouraged me. Matthew 28, 16. I'm reading from the ESV now.

He's given us a different time frame. There's a little bit of reporting about the guard, and let's just tell him that the disciples stole him, so we're changing the scene here.

Now the 11 disciples, of course Judas is gone, went to Galilee, a quiet place, to the mountain to which

Jesus had directed them. Some people call Matthew the gospel of the mountain. Why?

Sermon on the mount, revelation given from God. Mount of transfiguration,

God reveals himself. Olivet discourse, from the

Olivet mountain, he gives a discourse, and now we have the Galilean mountain. Jesus is going to show them through his words who he is and what he wants them to do.

Probably a quiet, serene place away from the business of the cities. It says in verse 17, and when they saw him, what do you do when you see the resurrected

Jesus? Well, the text tells us they worshiped him. Literally, they prostrated themselves in homage.

Down on their faces they go, but some doubted.

This is just the same reaction that the women had. Look back at verse 9 of chapter 28. When you see the resurrected

Jesus, this regularly happens, and behold, Jesus met them and said greetings, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

How do you grab someone's feet if you're not on your face? To bow reverentially and worship.

It's a natural response to see Jesus, the glorified, resurrected king.

Now the text says what? But some doubted. Maybe they thought it was a vision. Thomas had doubted before.

It shouldn't surprise us that much that there might be some doubt. Those on the Emmaus road, they didn't really know what was going on.

Could Jesus really have been raised from the dead? And some think that now we have the 500 of whom

Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians here with them. So, if I read verse 17 again, and when they saw him, they, the 11, worshipped him, but some of the 500 doubted.

There was some hesitation by some. Now, before I read verses 18 through 20,

I want to highlight the word, all, in your text. All or always. The all -inclusive, all -authority, all nations, all things, always.

Let me read the text for you so you can hear it. Matthew 28, 18, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, or lo,

I am with you always, all the time, to the end of the age.

Let's take a look at three exhortations from this text, three exhortations to help you keep evangelism in the forefront of your mind and accomplish the goal that God gives you, to tell others the good news.

Three truths that ambassadors need to remember about serving the sovereign Christ.

Number one, the sovereign king's authority should motivate you. Number one, the sovereign king's authority should motivate you.

Remember, Jesus is portrayed in Matthew as the sovereign king of Israel, the king of the universe.

And here's what's going to happen in this passage. Listen, the more you know about the sovereignty of God, the better you should be in evangelism.

The more you know about the sovereignty of God, the more you should evangelize. Now, the world of evangelicalism says it's the opposite.

Oh, all you people that talk about the sovereignty of God all the time, God's sovereign over what color your skin is, fine, over when you were born, fine, who your mother is, fine, does it rain today, fine.

But you people that talk about God is sovereign over who goes to heaven and who doesn't, if God's sovereign over who goes to heaven, then why do anything?

Why pray? Why evangelize? If He's just going to make it happen and He's sovereign, then you people that believe all that are probably just lazily going into the kingdom.

But here, it's so different. The more you know about the sovereignty of God and Jesus is going to say,

I'm sovereign over everything, it's going to motivate and stimulate evangelism.

Now, if someone is here and they say, I believe God gets to heaven, everybody He wants to get to heaven, regardless of how

I don't evangelize, I don't pray, this is a good passage for you to look at.

Those that believe in the sovereignty of God believe they've been sent out on a mission to do what

God says, tell people the good news. Look at the authority He gives to these people and we have a derived authority as well.

Matthew 28, 18, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

He must have been a little far away and He comes up to them and then He says something that no one in their right mind says.

Crazy people talk this way. Stalin would have wanted to talk this way.

Napoleon would have wanted to talk this way. Hitler maybe said this, but none of it was true for them because all authority, the only person who can say this is a person who's fully

God. And in fact, Christ Jesus is very sane, yet He says in His right mind,

I have all this authority. This is reminiscent of Daniel 7, behold, the clouds of heaven, there came one like the

Son of Man. To Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve

Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away. Son of Man has this kind of dominion.

And look at the breadth of this authority. Verse 28, all authority has been given to me.

All authority has been given to me, a little bit different than Jesus in His incarnation, no money, penniless, denariless, no home.

Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. The limitations that Jesus had in authority on earth no longer exist.

All authority has been given to me. No more incarnational restrictions, absolute jurisdiction, lordship over all.

Jesus was obedient unto death, and God exalted Him highly and gave

Him the name above every name, Philippians 2. Ephesians 1 says,

He's far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. And every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come.

The Son gladly went on that great commission, fulfilled it perfectly, and then God honored Him. And now

He has all authority. R .B. Kuyper said, it is a glorious declaration of His sovereignty.

It is an unqualified demand for universal recognition of His sovereignty. The great commission is a command of the sovereign

God. Obviously, the more seriously one takes divine sovereignty, so much the more will one feel oneself in holy duty, bound to carry out that command.

And He gets the authority from the Father. See, the text, has been given to me, conferred upon Him by the

Father. Revelation 2, I will give Him authority over the nations. This is our only hope of success, the sovereign work of Christ, the

God -man. Thankfully, He rejects Satan's offer when He was on the earth, remained loyal to the

Father. And now there's no borders for His sovereignty. The end of verse 18, it says, has been given me in heaven and on earth.

It's like the Father said, here's heaven, here's earth. Whatever you want to do with it, just do with it.

No longer sovereign on earth, but heaven as well. He was sovereign on earth, healing diseases.

He was sovereign on earth, healing people. He was sovereign on earth, casting out demons. He was sovereign on earth, charging the 12.

He was sovereign on earth, charging the 70. He was sovereign on earth, teaching. He was sovereign on earth, forgiving sins.

But now sovereign on earth and in heaven, all authority. No army, no money, no state, but all authority.

And so I want you to know, as a Christian, friends, when you go evangelize and you say to yourself, yes, but who am

I to tell this person? I'll freely admit, I am no one to tell this other person.

I'm a beggar telling other beggars where they can find bread. I have no authority, no rights, no power, no degrees, no doctrine, no anything.

I'm a nobody sent out by the sovereign king to tell people. The sovereign king's authority should motivate you.

When the king of the universe says, I've got authority and I'm giving it to you, it's our only hope.

Number two, what else should we remember? The sovereign king's authority should motivate you, number one.

Number two, the sovereign king's command should dominate you. The sovereign king's command or marching orders should dominate you.

These two things are tied together. Since God has authority, then there's an implication to that truth.

Ideas have consequences. Theology flows into methodology. God has authority, and now we go out and do something with that authority, and this is what we do.

It says in verse 19 and 20, go, therefore, and make disciples. Key verb in the sentence is make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. When Jesus is raised from the dead, do you know in Scripture, 80 % of the time at least, he tells people to go say good news, go say some good news about him.

It's just what happens when there's a resurrection appearance, Jesus tells those who are in his presence, go tell people the good news.

To Mary Magdalene, he said, go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to my father. When the women who returned from the tomb, they were told by the angel, go quickly and tell his disciples he's risen from the dead.

Jesus appears to the women shortly after that, do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers. There they will see me.

In light of the gospel's authority given to us, therefore, the text says, go make disciples.

Now, I have to tell you, this is fascinating to me because what's the passage say, go make disciples of all nations?

This is strange. I thought Matthew was the Jewish gospel. Well, it is a

Jewish gospel. I thought Jesus said in Matthew 10, go nowhere among the

Gentiles, Jesus said, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Well, he did say that, but now it's expanding because as his authority expands, so too does the message, go make disciples.

That's the command. What's a disciple? A learner, a follower. I want you with the authority

I have given to you to go out and make followers of Christ. Not people that just go, I believe it in my mind, intellectually

I understand, I might even assent to it on a good day, maybe Christmas and on Easter, but wholehearted commitment, a follower.

It's one thing to be a believer intellectually, it's another thing to believe enough that you actually follow, knowledge, assent, and trust.

Jesus said in Matthew 12, whoever does the will of my Father in heaven. So go preach the gospel to people so that they go follow

Christ Jesus. That is the privilege and that is the command that we all are under. Well, how do you do it?

There's some modifiers here and the first one is in verse 19, go. Literally, it's going because it's helping or explaining how we make disciples.

You make disciples by going. It has an imperatival sense, so that's why it's translated go, but it's really how do you make disciples?

By going. All right. Is it ever appropriate to bring someone to church?

Well, I guess that's a good question. If I was going to be blunt, here's what I would say.

In light of this passage, don't go out and say to people who are unbelievers, please come to church with me.

Well, what you should do instead is you should go out to people who are unbelievers and tell them the good news of the gospel.

And then if you want to say, and by the way, come with me to church on Sunday where the saints gather and we hear more about who this

Jesus is, we sing to the Father, that'd be fine. It's not bring people to church.

If you bring people to church, that'll be fine. I'm not going to correct you or anything, but that's not the passage.

It's to go. That's why the sign right there above the door when you walk out is, welcome to your mission field. Go out and tell people.

Fascinatingly, Old Testament Jews, when they wanted to bring some

Gentile polytheist to worship the God of Israel, they would bring him to Jerusalem.

Come with us to Jerusalem so you can worship this God at Jerusalem at the temple. That's one of the reasons, not the only reason, but one of the reasons why

Jonah was so befuddled that he had to go to Nineveh. Why?

Because you don't go to Nineveh to evangelize. You bring the Ninevites to Jerusalem to hear the truth.

The focus isn't for us to bring people to church. That's why it's such a big old lie to try to say to yourself as an elder board, how do we get more unbelievers into church?

What do they want? Let's take a survey of the community. You're an unbeliever, what do you want in church? No, I need to go tell them this is who

Jesus is. Unbelievers don't worship, they blaspheme. And so, I want them to be worshipers of the

Lord. This is an attitude of just going. Well, what else do you do after you go?

Well, when they believe, what's the next step? What's the passage say? Baptizing them. The word there means to dip.

It means to immerse. It means to take something and plunge it in a bowl. If you look at a sunken ship, remember once I was scuba diving, they said, swim over here and go down 40 feet.

And let's take a look at this submerged ship. They could have said to use 2nd century

Greek, let's go see the baptized ship, the immersed ship.

Go make disciples, tell them about who Jesus is. They respond positively, and then they say,

I want to get baptized. I want to show symbolically in water what's already been done in my heart.

Death, burial, and resurrection. By the way, this implies that if you are a

Christian, before you go tell other people to believe and then be baptized, it implies that you should be baptized first.

And then here, you've heard me preach on this lots of times, so I don't want to take too much time. How do you baptize someone?

In the name singular, not the names, we don't believe in three gods. In the singular name, singularity and plurality together.

Singularity, the name, there's one God, his name is Yahweh. Three persons, the

Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It doesn't say baptize in the names of.

The Trinity here, one God, the name, subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit.

And then after that, it doesn't end. What do you then do? You go, you baptize.

How else do you make a disciple? You teach. You educate. You indoctrinate. Teaching them to observe all.

Teach them about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, parables, predictions, everything that Jesus taught, everything that his apostles taught.

Teach them everything, all that I've commanded you. Not just select some of the stuff.

For instance, I love Jesus when he preaches in John 6. Read it today. Jesus never got the memo, don't talk about sovereign election to unbelievers.

Jesus says to these unbelievers, you know, you can't come to me unless the

Father draws you. God's sovereign in salvation and you're not. Talking about election, sovereign, distinguishing grace to unbelievers.

No wonder at the end of John 6, many of his disciples followed him no more. They just couldn't take it.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m.

We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org

or by phone at 508 -835 -3400. The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.