motives for evangelism

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the
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Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
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In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.
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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her
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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. No Compromise Radio ministry, my name is
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Mike Abendroth, and I have a little slogan around here at church that I'm nicer in person, and so if you think
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I'm tough, cutting, edgy, provocative, controversial, I'm some kind of ogre, troglodyte,
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Neanderthal, then you have a personal invitation from me to come to Bethlehem Bible Church this
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Sunday. You come this Sunday and introduce yourself and say, Hi, my name's Jim Smith, my name's
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Sandy Liu, and I listen on No Compromise, and I just want to see if you're really nice in person.
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And I think you probably will think that the radio ministry is not an act, it's not
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I turned something on. It is exactly what it comes forth to be, and that is first biblical, and then provocative, and always in that order.
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The Bible itself is very provocative. The Bible pushes buttons and issues. The Bible is certainly not written by some man.
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He would speak higher of himself than the Scripture actually does. The Scriptures are written by God, using human instruments, yes, but the mind of the living
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God. And these Scriptures are controversial, they're mind -blowing, they're incomprehensible sometimes to actually think about it.
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When you have a finite human being who's also fallen, trying to receive an infinite mind, that is a big issue, and that is why people can't understand the
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Bible without the Spirit of God. God is sending out His message on FM, as it were, and then man has an
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AM receiver that actually is broken. So it's broken off. You know, you see some people in their cars, and they have no longer an antenna.
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In the front of their car, they have an old coat hanger, wire coat hanger. Men and women have wire coat hangers for receivers that happen to be broken off at the stem.
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And God is sending out His frequency, His revelation on FM. And so we need the
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Spirit of God so that we can understand the Scriptures. We need God's Holy Spirit as He ministers to us in illumination, so we can grasp the deep things of God.
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And so that's what we're trying to do here at the radio. I realize you have a lot of other choices on the radio, and you can flip around from I don't know who you listen to, from Rush Limbaugh to Howie Carr to I don't know who you like.
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Sports radio, 98 .5 in WEI, you flip all around. And I think if you're going to listen to Christian radio, it ought to be interesting, it ought to be controversial, and it ought to be provocative.
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And if you teach the Bible, it'll be all of those. Where are the people that will just simply let the Bible speak for itself, to let
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God speak for Himself in the Word? We don't have to cut corners. We don't have to contour sharp edges.
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We don't have to smooth things off with sandpaper. Just get the Word of God out like a sharp sword and let it do its work.
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That's what we want to do here at No Compromise Radio Ministry. If you've got a question, you can always email us, info at nocompromiseradio .com.
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Originally I was going to take a lot of phone calls, but with only 24 minutes, I don't really want to take phone calls.
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Actually I've been taping the show instead of going live, and that serves lots of purposes. One is
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I can tape the show whenever I'd like. If I think it's a bomb, I just hit replay, restart, and go over it.
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I just erase it and start over. You say, how often does that happen? Oh, like today's show, I started off and I had to, after three minutes, hit replay because I didn't really like the way it was going.
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And if you're on live radio on the airwaves, there's no way you can do that. I also interview a lot of people, and when
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I call them and call Mike Horton at home, and the message is, hi, this is
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Mike and Lisa, sorry we can't make it to the phone right now. And I'm on live radio, I am at a standstill on what to do, and so I'd rather just have those things off air, and when
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I finally get them, then I'll tape them. So you can get our podcast, too, at No Compromise Radio, or you can go to bbcchurch .org,
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why don't you go to one of those sites and sign up with us, sign up to go to Israel in 2011.
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Well, I talk long enough, and today what I want to talk about is evangelism. Why should you evangelize?
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That's a good question. You ought to evangelize, and you ought to yearn for other people to know about Christ.
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It should be a passion. It should be a passion. One great preacher 100 years ago said,
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Charles Spurgeon said, have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself.
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Be sure of that. And Charles Spurgeon, that same man, said, every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.
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So my question to you today is, as I'm drinking my good earth tea, are you a missionary or are you an imposter?
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Let me give you some reasons you should evangelize. One, because Jesus commands it.
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Some say, well, I wasn't led to evangelize. I wanted to share with my friend at lunch, a coworker, and I really wasn't led.
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Friends, you don't have to be led to obey. God has already told you to obey, and you should do it. Now, when your children are told by you to dump the trash, and then when they did not dump the trash, and you ask them why you did not, and they say,
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I didn't feel led, I don't think you accept that as a valid excuse. The Bible teaches us clearly in many passages, specifically in what we call the
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Great Commission. The Bible says in Matthew 28, Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the
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Son and the Holy Spirit. You baptize them in one singular name. There's one God, but there's three persons in this
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Godhead. Not in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, but of the Father and the
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Son and the Holy Spirit. There's three in one right there. Verse 20, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo,
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I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Just how badly do you want to obey
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God? Certainly, your obedience cannot be shown if you have things like, I didn't feel led,
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I don't feel like witnessing today, I've got my own problems. You need to see everyone in your life, from the grocery store clerk, to the auto mechanic, to the mailwoman, as a mission field.
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Like they have the target on their back for you to evangelize, because frankly, they have the target on their back for God as their enemy, and you want to make them friends of God.
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And you make them friends of God by nothing you could do, but God uses the instrument of preaching to save sinners and make them into his friends.
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W .E. Sangster said of evangelism, it is the sheer work of the herald who goes in the name of the king to the people who either openly or by their indifference deny their allegiance to their rightful
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Lord. He, the evangelist, blows the trumpet and demands to be heard. He tells the people in plain words of the melting clemency of their offended king and of things that belong to their peace.
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And so, if you run around and you say to yourself, well, I don't believe a loving
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God would send all Hindus to hell, I don't believe a loving God would send Buddhists to hell,
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I don't believe a loving God would send Jews to hell, then you're not going to evangelize. You have a command to evangelize.
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Every person born has been born affected by the fall, and they sin as well.
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And they, because of one sin, and that one sin is not rejecting Christ. That is a sin that will damn you.
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But any sin damns, including the rejection of Christ Jesus. But a lie, a loving
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God with less than all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, not loving your neighbors yourself, any sin will keep you out of heaven.
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So you need to tell them about the great forgiver. You are commanded to preach the gospel, even if you're not on staff, even if you're not a missionary, even if you're a brand new
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Christian. These commands are for you. Why should you evangelize? Well, number two, because you want to give glory to the
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Father. Jesus said in Matthew 5, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your
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Father who is in heaven. This is really at the top of the list. I'm not giving you any particular order of theological significance, but if I was, this would be moved up to number one.
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You should evangelize to give glory to your Father. You should not necessarily evangelize to get people saved.
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That will be a nice byproduct according to the sovereign, discretionary, discriminating will of God.
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But you should evangelize because it pleases God, and you want to glorify your Father who is in heaven.
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You let your light shine and reveal your good works and bring to bear the gospel of Christ Jesus saving sinners.
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It brings glory to God. That's what we're after. We don't want to parade around ourselves, and we don't want to show how great we are as evangelists and how well we know the gospel, what we've been trained, but we want to tell people the truth.
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It reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4, verse 15, for all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.
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God has intrinsic glory, and you cannot somehow make him more full of glory, but you can give glory, ascribe glory to God as you obey him through the ministry of the
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Spirit of God. And if you realize this, then you will give all your energy. If you have to evangelize for numbers and the numbers are low, you might be discouraged.
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But if you evangelize for the glory of God each and every time you evangelize with frailty, with trepidation, with fear, you can say, my strength is gone,
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I'll give all my energy because I am glorifying the Lord. John Wesley said, though I am always in haste,
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I am never in a hurry. I never undertake any more work than I can go through with palm -perfect spirit.
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Now, Wesleyan perfectionism aside, he knows that he is born to evangelize, and when something pops up and there's a bump in the road, he's looking for that way to evangelize.
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That's exactly what Whitefield did. He realized evangelism for the glory of God, therefore, he could preach 18 ,000 formal sermons 40 to 60 hours a week.
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Some people said he would preach, and he said, I would sooner wear out than rust out when told to slow down.
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Wesley preached 40 ,000 sermons, rode 250 ,000 miles on horseback. Howell Harris preached every day, nearly every day for decades.
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One -legged schoolteacher from Scotland came to J. Hudson Taylor and said,
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I'd like to be a missionary to China. With only one leg? Why do you think you should go as a missionary?
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Well, the person said, his name was George Scott, I do not see those with two legs going. He was accepted.
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So, when you realize that you can preach to the glory of God, you don't have to say, I'm preaching for evangelistic scorecards.
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I have to close the deal so I can tell people I led someone to the Lord, with quotes. No, you, with the zeal from God, needed to preach for his glory.
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And I think that is a wonderful reminder for us today. When you go preach the gospel door -to -door, don't go back and meet with your church and say, you know, how successful are we?
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How many people did we lead to the Lord? No, you say, this is how many times we talked about the greatness of Christ Jesus and told them about salvation found in Christ alone, forgiveness, reconciliation, redemption,
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Christ's perfect life, work, death, burial, resurrection, soon return. That glorifies the
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Father. Well, why should you evangelize? This is Mike Gabendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. We don't want to compromise regarding evangelism.
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You're commanded to evangelism. God gets glory when you evangelize. Let me give you a third reason you should evangelize.
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You get to. You get to. Yeah, that's exactly right. You get to. It's a privilege.
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God had only one son and he made him an evangelist, and now you get to go evangelize. You get to be an ambassador.
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Those that say evangelism is a dour, sour duty, it's some kind of downer and I don't really want to do it, you don't understand things at all, and you mainly don't understand how many sins
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God has forgiven you—has forgiven. You have skeletons in your closet.
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You have sins in your mind and heart and word and deed, and God in Christ Jesus, if you're a
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Christian, has forgiven every one of those. Every one of those, past, present, and future. Colossians 2 describes you as a person who has been forgiven of all your sins.
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And if you have been forgiven of all your sins, you'd go do anything for the one who forgave you. If you were in a slave market and you were redeemed by a great master and he cut you free, you probably wouldn't go free, you'd probably want to serve him the rest of your life.
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You get to evangelize. Angels don't get to preach the gospel and evangelize, but Paul got to,
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John the Baptist did, and so do you. Jesus could save people, the
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Father, Son, and Spirit. God alone could save people without us, couldn't he? I think of Luke chapter 19, and as he was going, they were spreading their garments in the road.
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And as he was now approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise
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God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen. Blessed is the
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King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some of the
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Pharisees in the multitude said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples. And Jesus answered and said,
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I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out. You have a great high calling, higher than the
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President of the United States, higher than the Prime Minister of Parliament. You get to be an ambassador for Christ.
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Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God, 2 Corinthians 5 .20, were entreating through us.
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We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
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Why should you evangelize? Should you evangelize? You get to. You get to be an aroma from life to life.
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Who is adequate for these things? We know. Only we are from the Spirit of God's, with the
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Spirit of God's help. Why should you evangelize? Number four, because there's no alternative for salvation.
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Did you know Acts chapter 4 says that there's salvation in no one else? That there's no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.
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People cannot be saved by Muhammad, Joseph Smith, Buddha, Farrakhan, Moses, no one else.
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And so, if you need to go evangelize someone, wanting them to be saved from their sins, you have to tell them about Jesus.
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If they could be saved another way by looking up in the stars, Bollinger's star theory that D. James Kennedy also bought into, the gospel in the stars, confusing general revelation with special revelation, then don't tell people, because they can find out another way.
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But there's only one who can assuage the just, holy wrath of God, and his name is Jesus. And you must believe in him, and you must be born again.
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There's no other Redeemer. And so you must evangelize, because there's no other way for salvation.
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God has ordained the message, Christ Jesus and him crucified, and he's ordained the means, and that is through frail, fallible, sinful preachers proclaiming, sinful laypeople proclaiming this good news.
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Which gives me to number five, leads me to number five, why is evangelism important? What are the motives for evangelism?
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Well here's a motive, it's still a necessity. God has ordained the end, salvation, as he has elected people in eternity past, had
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Jesus die for them, but he's also ordained the means, and the means for salvation is evangelism.
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Romans chapter 10 describes God's way for evangelism. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?
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And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
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And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things.
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However, they did not all heed the glad tidings, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed, report. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word, our message of Christ.
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You still need to tell people about who Jesus is, that's how God saves people. Let me give you another motivation for evangelism, hell is eternal and it is real.
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It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God, and every one of your friends, relatives, neighbors, associates, workmates, and favorite sports stars will fall into the hands of a living
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God. They will die, and without the protective covering, the spiritual asbestos covering that Jesus provides, it is going to be nuclear winter, according to Michael Horton.
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That'll be basically what will happen. Righteous God, sinful humanity, and there's going to be absolutely trouble.
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There's absolute trouble will be there. There's all kinds of definitions of hell in the
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Bible. Calvin said, for there can be no doubt, but that by such modes of expression, the
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Holy Spirit intended to confound all our faculties with horror. In other words, when you read about fire, and the quenchable fire, lake of fire, destruction, second death, outer darkness, the pit, the worm, weeping, gnashing of teeth, torment, punishment, you ought to say to yourself, that is horrible.
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And you, if you understood hell, wouldn't want Hitler to go, Stalin, or anybody else. You would say,
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I need to give them the gospel. You don't want your family, neighbors, work associates to go through what
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Jesus taught more than any other person taught, and that is the bed of fire, hell.
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You don't want them to go. You want to be with the evangelist who said, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.
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And it'd be one thing if hell wasn't for very long, or just a certain amount of time, but it is forever,
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Matthew 25, it is eternal. Second Thessalonians 1, it is eternal. Mark chapter 9, it is unquenchable.
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Mark chapter 9, it doesn't die, the worm doesn't die. And Revelation chapter 20, day and night, forever and ever.
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And so you want to make sure you preach the gospel, not just for the glory of God, not because you just get to, because you don't want people to go to hell.
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That is a good motivator. Spurgeon said, it is labor in the fire of hell, no ease, no peace, no sleep, no calm, no quiet, everlasting storm, eternal hurricane, unceasing tempest.
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In the worst diseases, there are some respites. There is no peace in hell's torment. You cannot compare the pains of this life with the agonies to be endured hereafter.
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Could all the misery that ever startled the keepers of our hospitals be conceived? It could not convey the least idea of the pains of the spirits that are doomed to dwell in eternal fire and everlasting burning.
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The memory aghast, hope and fear, thoughts and imaginations, conscience and judgment, all will be wracked.
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Every one be stretched on a bed of fire, every nerve strained to its utmost. Every vein made a road for the hot feet of pain to travel on.
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That is frightening. That is scary. If it wasn't in the Bible, I couldn't believe it. But it's true.
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Let me give you another reason you should evangelize. There is a huge and full harvest just waiting to be reaped.
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There's an abundant harvest out there. Think about what Jesus said in Mark chapter 4 verse 20, and those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil, and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30, 60 and a hundredfold.
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There are some people who hear the word and God is so preordained and worked in time so when they hear this word of God, this energetic, lively, living, active word, they respond.
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There are still elect people out there. There are unregenerate elect people, and it's just a matter of time before you meet one.
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So start sowing and you may hit good soil. Do not be discouraged. Your only job is just to sow, sow, sow.
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The result is the Lord's. When the church is full, out we go. And so keep preaching until you're either dead or the church is gone, and then you won't have to.
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Matter of fact, you don't get to evangelize in heaven. You might talk about and extol the wonderful grace of Jesus, which you will do, worthy is the
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Lamb who was slain, but you won't need to evangelize there. There's just good news. There'll be good news incarnate before your very face.
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Why should you evangelize? Well, number eight, you have a helper. You have someone to be with you to encourage you.
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Jesus himself, through his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, will be with you, Matthew 28, and I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
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And so you need encouragement. You say, apart from Christ, I can't do anything. Yes, that's me.
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I can't do anything. Well, with Christ, what can you do? You can do, to take the verses out of context, exceedingly abundantly beyond what you could ask or think, because it is
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God working through you. History, Christian history, church history, has shown what the powerful
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Spirit of God has done in the lives of sinful people when it comes to evangelism, missionary work, overseas work.
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I emphatically am with you always. And so I think of Jeremiah, the
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Lord said to me, Do not say, I am a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the
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Lord. Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
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And so similarly, not exactly, we realize that God's grace is sufficient for us, and we have the resident truth teacher, the
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Spirit of God dwelling within us, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus called in Matthew 1, verse 23,
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Emmanuel. That is the hope we have. That is the motivation we have for evangelism.
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And so we ought not to say, well, I can't do it by myself, and then end there. We should say, I can't evangelize on my own,
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I always mess up, but God, the Spirit, can help us, and he will help me. And I ought to just go do what
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I've been told to do, and I can come up with a thousand different excuses, but I'm glad God has given me the scriptures, he has saved me, and if you're saved, you know enough.
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You know enough about sin, the Savior, and salvation. You know enough if you're a brand -new
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Christian about guilt, grace, and gratitude. You know plenty. You know that God saves sinners.
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You know that God is a creator, he's a judge, he's a Savior, that mankind are sinful, fallen, and foolish, that Jesus has redeemed, reconciled, and been resurrected, and that God calls men everywhere to repent and believe and follow him.
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And so we have a great opportunity to evangelize. Who should you evangelize? Who do you want to evangelize?
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I think if you begin to think about those in your life, you won't have to go overseas, you can evangelize right where you are, whether it's in Worcester, or Singapore, we have listeners there, or California, Germany, or South Africa.
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You have the mission field before you, it is a privilege to evangelize. No Compromise Radio, with Pastor Mike Abendroth, is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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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.
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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.
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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff, or management.