Evangelism

Lord, we're coming together this afternoon and considering the Ewangelion, the Gospel which was given, and the Great Commission which is proclaimed, and our privilege to be salt, light, and to the earth, and to spreading your truth into a dark world.

It can be scary because if we don't do it, or we're concerned about being ridiculed or pushed aside, we may be too busy, but Lord, this is a privilege. I pray, Father, as Pastor Jeff teaches us on this topic of evangelism, speak through him, and that his words would touch our hearts and motivate us, Lord, to step out for your kingdom.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen.

The Gospel as Good News and the Need for Careful Evangelism

I have a relative who, very close to us, part of our family, who has a worldview based on the secular world in which we live, right? Doesn't believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, doesn't understand the Gospel, and for more than a decade, I have been looking for a chance to sit down with her and share the fullness of what the Gospel is, and why we ought to believe it, and the ground upon which it stands, and all of those things.

And for ten years, or more, longer than that, I haven't found the opportunity. And I won't push the issue because that relationship is so important. I know a guy who I met for the first time last fall.

He is the father of a kid that my kid plays soccer with, Timmy, plays soccer. And for the first time I met him, and I asked him, so you go to church? And he's like, no, I'm Jewish. So I launched in and explained to him that Christ is the Jewish Messiah, and how all the Scriptures point to Him, and how He died on the cross and rose from the dead, and got the full Gospel in, in the course of one soccer practice, the first time I met him.

Now my kids later said they overheard some of that, like, man, you came on strong. You sure that was not too strong? Here's a principle of evangelism. The closer the relationship, the more careful you need to be in coming on too strong.

There is an inverse relationship between the closeness of a relationship and how aggressive you ought to be. If you're on a subway in Philadelphia, this was often the case with mission teams, I would give this teaching, and you have tracks in your pocket, you might only have three minutes with a human being that you'll never see again.

Be as aggressive as you possibly can be in three minutes. Approach a stranger, hey, I've got a tract for you. When you're in the inner city, to come out aggressively with the Gospel is the smartest and safest thing that you can do.

If I walk up to a group of young men standing on a corner, and begin to beat around the bush, asking weird questions, trying to, you know, build rapport with them, and build a relationship, because you've got to have a relationship first, I will be a threat to them far more than if I came in as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And I come, hey, you know anything about Jesus, I want to tell you about my Lord. It's actually better for the relationship if I come stating my intentions when I walk up to this random group. So it is in a park, when you're walking around to share the Gospel.

Or at the mall. When you're aggressively there for the purpose of the Gospel, don't hide why you are there. If you have a family gathering, and somebody that you love dearly, that you don't want to push away, is there, be careful to not come on too strong.

Understand the principle? All of us desire to share the Gospel. Now listen, evangelism is not the specialized work of a pastor. We're going to get into the gift of evangelism today, and what that's for, but it's not a specialized work.

It is a labor of love for all of us. So evangelism is the key today. John, thank you for opening a prayer. I'm going to need some readers. And the first one I would like to call on would read Galatians 1, 6 to 9.

Barbara, could you do that? Rick, could you read Jude 3, which is Jude chapter 1, 3. It's only one chapter. Exactly. And then Bob, would you mind reading 1 Corinthians 15, 3 to 4. First principle of evangelism, and the most important thing you're going to hear me say, is the content of the euangelion.

Euangelion, gospel. The word evangelize derives from the word gospel. If you come preaching a gospel that's not a gospel at all, you're not the bearer of good news. You are a worker of Satan masquerading as an angel of light.

The gospel is good news insofar as you rightly divide the word of truth and deliver the true, pure gospel of Jesus Christ. If you come with the Mormon gospel of a created Jesus, who's the spirit brother of Lucifer, you have no gospel.

You have a lie. You have deceit. So it is with any other cult or so-called teaching. So we need to have the gospel, but not only so that we don't say something heretical. We need to have a firm grip on the gospel so we know what to say and what are the most important elements of the gospel.

I have broken it down into five points, and I don't, when I go to share the gospel, I don't have words planned to say. But I have an outline in my mind that I know I need to say these five things. I need to tell them these five things.

We're going to get it. First of all, it's here. Galatians 1, 6 to 9.

I'm astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned. As we have already said, so now I say again, if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned.

How high are the stakes for getting this right? Eternally condemned. Anathema. Cursed. Sent to hell. This is strong language from the apostle. Jude 3, Rick, if you would.

Although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write a feeling to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

There is a message which is once for all delivered. Here, Jude had hoped to write some things about common salvation, but he instead needed to refute false prophets. It was necessary because there were some that were perverting the gospel that was once for all delivered to the saints.

So, it raises the question, what is the core content of the gospel? I would say, this is very important, the clearest expression of the gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. The reason I say that it's the clearest, most precise, is because Paul intentionally reminds the Corinthians of what is of most importance.

Namely, the gospel. So, here we have a passage of scripture which is devoted to the express purpose of summarizing and reminding what matters most, catching the full core content of the gospel, and it contains five elements.

So, 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4, Bob.

For what I received, I passed on to you, as of first importance, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the twelve.

Amen.

Christ, His Death and Resurrection, and the Scriptures

So, what are the elements of the gospel? What are the five-fold elements? We begin, I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ. The gospel is the revelation of Christ. The good news of him, the person of Christ.

Who he is. He is the Christ, the son of the living God. Peter's confession in Matthew 16. It is the message that God came, took on flesh, born to a virgin, dwelt among men, lived a sinless, perfect life.

It is about who he is, the Lord of all. He is Yahweh. Yahweh is salvation. So, let me have somebody turn to Acts 2, 22 to 41. I have an unusual call that keeps repeating, so I'm going to take that for just a second.

John, would you mind reading to the group Acts 2, 22 to…. You'll have a lot of reading here. We'll stop at 41, but that'll give me three minutes to find out what the emergency is.

Go for it.

Alright, thanks.

Men of Israel, men and women of Cornerstone, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.

This man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. And God raised him up, putting an end to the agony of death, since it is impossible for him to be held in his power.

John, I've got an emergency. Can you go ahead and take over? Just follow the notes as best you can.

You got it.

Thank you.

For David says of him, I was always beholding the Lord in my presence, for he is at my right hand that it may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will abide in hope, because thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow the Holy One to undergo decay.

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou wilt make me full of gladness with thy presence. Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seek one of his descendants upon his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay.

This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

For it was not David who descended into heaven, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. Until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made both him Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified.

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them, repent. Let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying, be saved from this perverse generation.

So then, those who had received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3 ,000 souls.

An instant megachurch.

An instant megachurch, you're absolutely right.

John, can I say a brief prayer for...

I think we ought to do that, so please do that.

Heavenly Father, we hate to hear that word, emergency. And we hate to see any of our pastors or brothers and sisters in that situation. So Lord, I just pray now that you'll just be with Jeff and protect him as he's going to where he's going and help him just get there safely.

And we pray, Lord, that this emergency may be more of a broken bone than a car accident or anything else. Because we know Jeff has children and we know that he has a sick mother-in-law. So Lord, I just pray that you'll just be all over this situation.

And we ask that now Jesus is in.

Amen.

Thank you, John.

Well done, sir. Thank you. Jeff has identified five, what he believes are, essential elements for witnessing and proclaiming truth. Coming out of 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4,. For I have delivered unto you for first importance that which I also received.

Christ died, he was buried, he was raised again on the third day. And as he starts out with his emphasis, it begins with the reality that this is Christ. This is the Son of God. There is a powerful verse in John 17, verse 18.

As Jesus is praying to the Father,. So as you sent me into the world, so send I them. The focus starts out with the reality that it's about Christ. This transitive property, so as you sent me, so I send I them, has to start out with a foundation of Jesus.

It says at the end of Ephesians 2,. Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself has the chief cornerstone. What he has here is, in verse 22, Men of Israel, listen to these words.

Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God, with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed in your midst, just as you yourself know. This man delivered up by a predestined plan and foreknowledge of God.

I'm surprised he didn't say we, rather than you crucified him, since he was complicit.

That's an interesting phrase.

Well, I mean, that would be Paul, not...

That would be Paul.

Not really integrating it.

No, you know you're right. But this is a quote from Paul speaking.

Why do you think he would have done that?

He's speaking at this point in time to the Jews, okay? And he's speaking this time to the Jews who should have had full knowledge of things like Isaiah 53. Should have had full knowledge of this. Who is it?

Was it you that mentioned, somebody mentioned a few weeks ago that in the cycle of readings in the synagogues, Isaiah 53 is...

They just skip it.

They just ignore it. To get somebody's attention that the message that I'm giving you is actually Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, the strength in passage, in verse 23, is that this Jesus who's going to become, and if you can get the focus on this is Jesus, he is the Son of God.

And the fact that he came was something that was planned before the foundations of the earth, that Jesus would send his Son.

And in reality, because he died on the cross for our sins, we're responsible for his death as well.

Yes.

And that's the key point.

That becomes now the second point, is the work of Christ. But that is really interesting. I was talking to a friend about this concept. Imagine that you were hiring a new pastor. I have a friend who was the chairman of a selection process committee for a church.

Their pastor's retired, they're going to be hiring a new pastor. Imagine that you found a man, and you told the selection committee that what we're going to do is we're going to give a call to this man because he's going to screw up really, really bad, but then he's going to confess, and then everything will be right.

Well, this is what God the Father did before the foundation of the world. I'm going to make man, and they're going to screw up really, really, really bad, but I'll send my Son so that he can die on the cross in their stead.

This is the Christ that needs to be emphasized when you're talking and when you're expressing in a testimony. Get the concept of Christ out there. And then, Rick, your second point is important. Why did he send his Son?

So that he could go on a fishing trip and do things like walk on... No, that's not why he sent his Son. He sent his Son to be rejected by man, and then he sent his Son to go to the cross so that he could proclaim to Telestai.

This man was delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. You nailed him to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. And then God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death because it's impossible for him.

I deliver to you first and foremost that which I also receive, that Christ died for my sins, and that he was buried, true death, and that he was raised again on the third day. Having an ability, a knowledge, of the basic gospel message to be able to describe it in words.

I recently heard a description of missionaries that were, I believe in Africa, in the midst of warring tribes, and that these warring tribes were never going to come to terms, except that one tribe sent their son.

Do you know that story, Ivan?

It's the Peace Child, it's called. I have it in my Bible somewhere, but I can't find it right now.

That's all right. This is the reality. I have another friend who is very, very skeptical. It's interesting, they named their son Christian. And I said, so George, here's the deal. Our entire town is going to be put to death.

It's been proclaimed because we've been found to be guilty, and so we're all going to be judged, we're all going to be put to death. But there is an opportunity for you to save everybody in town, and to allow your son Christian to be put to death in our place, so that the entire town would be relieved and be found a way out.

And so you say, okay, I'll do it. And then you allow your son to be put to death, and then I come up and you say, you know, George, I didn't tell you the whole story. If everybody would just behave, they won't be put to death.

You really didn't have to kill your son. How ludicrous would that be? And so if there was another way, if there was another way for man to establish a relationship with God the Father, to have the guilt of their sins paid for, other than his son dying on the cross, if there was another way, why on earth would Jesus go to the cross and be put to death?

His standard is perfection, and we can't realize that.

That is so true. His standard is perfection, because there's nothing we're going to do that's adequate. Getting to the reality of this Jesus, who from before the foundation of the world, who is God, who was brought to earth in the form of God and the man, and then he obediently went to the cross, what did he say in the garden as he anguished?

What were his words?

If there could be another way, take this from me.

If not, then your will be done, not mine.

You're absolutely right. Jesus, knowing the agony that he was going to go through, and I believe that there were two phases to that agony. One was physical. That was the man, Jesus. This was going to be the most horrific death ever devised by man at that point in time, that the Romans used for the worst of worst of all to be hung on a cross.

His was going to be even more horrific than that. The scourging and the nails and everything else.

Yes, and I think his greater fear was a separation from the Father, which he had never been separated from before,.

And all eternity passed.

And that's the second agony. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? If there was another way for it to be done, but yet Jesus said, yet not my will, but thine be done. So this work had to be done. It had to be done.

To be able to take somebody to this event, which is documented in history, the fact that he went into the tomb and had a stone rolled in front of that tomb with a Roman seal placed on that stone and a guard in front of that stone attests to the veracity of that phrase that Jesus was dead.

The concept that he was just a spoon is not true. Even the Roman Empire proved that his death was real. And so he is dead. All of this, as true as it is and as provable as it is, you go into the prophecies that were written.

Isaiah was written, I don't know the date, at least 600 years before Christ. 700 years before Christ.

More than 700.

Yeah, about 740.

And the details of what was going to transpire, Jeff has an approach that he uses where he has Isaiah 53 printed out on a piece of paper without an address identification that it's Isaiah 53 and no verse numbers.

It's just printed out. And gives it predominantly to somebody of Jewish faith and says, would you read this and tell me what this is all about? And they don't get halfway through the page and they turn it back and say, that's your Jesus.

Because it is so obvious. And then the message is, do you understand that your prophet Isaiah wrote this 700 years before Jesus even came to earth? And you recognize this as Jesus. And the more you're equipped with these kinds of understandings and the ability to go into, especially the book of Isaiah, but other places and say, this was all foretold.

He's born in Bethlehem. He's going to come in on a donkey. It's over and over and over again, the acts of Christ are foretold and 100 fulfilled in the person of Christ. And the validity of that message.

For I delivered unto you first reports that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. So the message, which is easily validated by history, was foretold centuries before Christ and fulfilled.

And there's really only one answer to that. And that's the truth of the message. And he goes on in this passage and in this section here and he talks about things that David had to say. And when Jesus walks on the earth, he has the audacity to use the words, I am.

And there's no other way to take that than to go all the way back into the burning bush. Who shall I say is sending me? I am that I am. Jesus self-proclaims himself to be God. And it's all according to the Scriptures.

37 to 39. Ivan, would you read 37 all the way to 41 for us? Again, please.

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren,.

What shall we do?

And Peter said to them, repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sin and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God.

Will call to himself.

And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, be saved from this reverse generation. So then those who had received his word were baptized. And that day there was added about 3 ,000 souls.

As you approach somebody and you are able to express the truth of Christ, the Son of God, that he's not just a good man, he's not just a teacher, he wasn't just a rabbi. He is actually God, he is actually man.

And to be able to express that truth and then to express the fact of what Jesus did when he came to earth with the express purpose of saying, to tell us, die, at the end because the payment for sin is completely done.

Be able to express the reality that this is all verified in history. Jesus truly died, it was prophesied according to scripture. And it all culminates in this person of Jesus who for 33 years was here.

Why is that important is then the question. Why is that important? In fact, they ask that in 37. It says when they heard that, they were pierced to the heart. To any extent that you're able to present the gospel message.

And as Jeff said, there are approaches depending on the closeness of your relationship. As Jeff spoke of his relation, I have a brother. I've known him all of his life. He's my younger brother. We were both raised in the Catholic church which does not bring salvation.

But it did at least bring an understanding of there is a God and there is a Jesus. For me, that led to somebody sharing the true message of the gospel and my surrendering for repenting and confessing and finding salvation.

For my brother, it went to the lawyer side of him and seeing individuals, even the priests in the church not practicing what they preach. And he became overwhelmed by hypocrisy and he went completely to the other side.

He's an atheist. And so over the years, it's not my approach to go up to him and pound on him these truths. Actually, I have a sister who tried that and my brother pushed her away. She backed off. I never went that way.

And I just sought for God, give me the opportunity. And over the years, I've had a handful of opportunities to share Christ with him. It hasn't worked yet.

Why not?

It's in God's timing.

Thank you. It's in his timing. And then what happens in God's timing?

I think one of the important passages here is everyone whom the Lord, our God, calls to himself.

Thank you.

And that's the timing.

That's the timing. And the mechanism for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourself. It's the gift of God. Not of worse than sin. At his appointed timing and for his purpose, it says here, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart.

I believe that that is an expression of God's grace opening the eyes of their heart to this true message. And if God's grace doesn't open their hearts, this piercing of the heart is really an annoying wound which only drives away.

But when God's grace, this piercing of the heart leads them to say, what shall we do? And so then be ready to say that, what shall you do? You shall turn to him because through him, this problem that you got is solved.

And through him, forgiveness of sins, one on the cross, and then eternal life promised forever. And you give them the reality of Tetelestai, Tetelestai with all the hope and everything else. And so what are they to do?

And it says in verse 38, Peter said to them, and when you give somebody the gospel message, it has to be at this point, repent. It isn't just accept the free gift, that is true. But the message is, you're a sinner, because you're a sinner, repent.

Acknowledge those sins. To have somebody realize that God, before the foundation of the world, knew how bad I would be, forever, for my entire life. But specifically until I was 19 years old, and these words were given, and for me, the punchline was Revelations 3 .20, the old, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone opens the door, I'll come in and dine with him,.

And he with me.

Now I understand there is context around that passage, but there is definitely true application, that once that grace is hitting, and that door is knocking, and I'm pierced to the heart, I've got to open the door, and what do I got to do?

I've got to allow Jesus in. What's he going to do when he gets in there? He's going to cleanse me from my sins. Repentance and faith are the messages. So you get somebody through these five elements to the point where you actually put it out there, and this is the moment of decision.

Is this message true for you personally? This is the moment of decision. Jesus is knocking at that door. It's up to you now. By grace, are you saved? Through faith, are you ready to take that step?

Faith.

I believe what Jeff intended in this first section is for us to be equipped not with the words that have to be spoken, but with the message that has to be delivered. I like talking to my care group. I like talking to different individuals.

I don't care how new you are in your faith, how recent it is that you have accepted the Lord and been saved. You have something to give to a world that's lost that they don't have, and it can be your testimony.

But being equipped with the...

I've gotten all the way through paragraph one.

Nice.

Equipping.

So you have a challenge now to either finish it or to continue next week on it.

I'll go about five minutes extra. I think we can finish.

Go for it.

So what point are you at?

I just finished 1 .5.

Beautiful. All right.

Well, that's the elements of the gospel.

Go for it.

Can I just make one comment? So what's interesting about what happened in verse 37 through 41, Jesus says, I'm going to build a church through you, Peter. And this is the construct of the church.

Yeah.

And you cannot get away from that. And when you're talking to people about the church, this is the actual church. This is the church right there. What you're reading there from 37 to 41 is what Jesus promised the church was going to be.

Read verse 39 for me, because it's the crux of what you're also saying.

For the promises for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.

Throughout the ages.

Throughout the ages.

Right.

That's the church.

Absolutely.

Amen.

Yeah, so everything's fine with that emergency situation. It worked out. God resolved it. So we're okay. Praise God. So anybody who's praying in their spirit, thank you for that.

Yeah. Yes.

Okay, so moving on to part two. So part one is the content. You have to preach who Christ is, what he's done, the death, burial, resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life to those who repent and believe.

That repentance element is often missing in many gospel presentations. We need to preach repentance and faith. And the basis of this is according to the scriptures. You notice how in Acts, Peter will appeal to what God foretold that David was a prophet and said such and such.

The Gift of Evangelism and the Work of the Whole Church

So part two, we don't need to spend much time on two and three. I think the big idea here is that God will give to the body evangelists. In Ephesians four, it says he gives some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and then some pastor teachers.

An evangelist is someone that God often uses to bring other people to faith that will share the gospel. But the salient point here is that the evangelist isn't given for his own glory or any such thing, but for the building up of the church to equip others to do the work of evangelism.

So I think of somebody like Tim Robinson where everywhere he goes, he evangelizes. You know, he's at the gas station, he's at the gym, just sharing the gospel all the time. But as we see Tim operating in that gift, the whole church is stirred up to evangelize.

We all think, oh, I should be looking for these opportunities. And we begin to pray, and it stirs us up to the work of evangelism.

Just look at Joey and Jack and the rest of them.

Yeah, absolutely. Tim came to faith, and then he led Kyle, and then Jack, and then Joey, and then Billy, and it just keeps going. And that's the building up of the body. Now, the work of evangelism, separate from the gift of evangelism, is something we're all commissioned to do.

So in Acts chapter 8, persecution hits. The church is scattered, but this is the best thing that could happen because in Acts chapter 8 verse 4,.

It says,.

Wherever they went, they began to proclaim Christ. So it wasn't just the apostles anymore. It was all of the church out sharing the gospel, and the gospel has all of these mouths speaking it. In 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 5, Timothy is told to do the work of the evangelist.