Dr Greg Bahnsen - Evangelism Seminar: Motivation for Evangelism (Part 1)

But more in the informal style of our Bible studies. And so I encourage you to interrupt me and ask questions. I'll be asking you to look up verses and hoping that you'll engage in discussion freely as I throw out questions and that sort of thing. Let's get underway for our first session with the Word of Prayer. Lord, we thank you that you have given us opportunity this evening to study your Word and have fellowship together as your people around that word. We ask that the Scriptures would strengthen us to live the Christian life. And we especially ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would embolden us so that we might conduct ourselves in a way which presents a witness to the world that is persuasive and winsome, a witness that glorifies Jesus Christ, our Savior, and draws men to him. We pray first of all, Father, that even before we ask about ability in that regard, that you might give us the motivation, a sufficient motivation to be involved in this crucial task of evangelism of our community. We pray that these things would be done for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. I'm going to begin tonight by talking about the motives and sanctions for evangelism. And just recently I received through the mail a brochure put out by Jews for Jesus, which you will probably all recognize as a one of the leading evangelistic organizations of our day, focusing their efforts on evangelizing Jews so they'll understand that Jesus is the Messiah and that sort of thing. And so although what I'm going to read to you is a cover letter from their brochure is again focused on that particular question. It ends with the thought, builds to and ends with the thought that I think is very appropriate for us to be begin with tonight. Because the reason that we need an evangelism seminar, the reason we need to be discussing these things, I think is tied up very well in what we read in these words. So let me just begin with that. This is a personal testimony. The person Sundays, I was 26 years old before I heard the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ for the first time. I believed it as soon as I understood it and submitted my life to Jesus when I was 27. When I think back on all the preceding years, I can only think, what a waste. Why didn't anyone tell me sooner? Please never think that we have all heard the billboards and radio sermons frequently do not communicate the gospel. They merely tell my people that there are a lot of Gentiles around, that we are still a minority. We have heard of the Gentile God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary. But the true meaning of the Gospel has rarely been communicated. We are a closed community in that the Jewish teachers, having no understanding of Christianity, misinform us of its meaning. And too many good Christians fear to speak of Jesus to us, lest we be offended. Believe me, being offended is better than being condemned for eternity. Those are fairly pungent words, and I think in a real sense this gets at the heart of what's wrong with all of us when it comes to evangelization. We're afraid that we might offend somebody or might even worse, embarrass ourselves. And therefore we rarely, if ever will say a word that directly intrudes Jesus into our conversations and challenges people who don't have some kind of running religious interest to take a concern for their eternal well being. But as this letter writer says at the end, believe me, being offended is better than being condemned for eternity. In a real sense, the motivation that we need for evangelism will be found if we but once realize what is really at stake, if we'll see all things in perspective, engage the priorities for the things that we consider important in our lives. I want to get your response to something here. This is another little piece on evangelism entitled Confessing Christ, and it begins with this illustration. On the banks of the historic Delaware river, obscure and unknown to many, lies a unique cornerstone. This cornerstone is of special interest because it marks the location where three states meet, namely New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Visitors to this site often stand on the connecting point of these three states, which is clearly indicated on the cornerstone. This enables the visitor to be in the three states at one and the same time. Here we have a vivid illustration of what so many today are attempting to do. Now, I'm going to throw this out to you as a question. What does that mean? Kind of a strange way to begin, a little tract on evangelism telling us how to confess Christ. In what sense do you think the author intends us to understand that? Many Christians today, if you want a vivid illustration of what they're doing, they're trying to stand in three states at once, like right on that cornerstone. That's right, they want to. Whether those are the three categories or not, they're trying to fit into the world and fit into the church. They just want to get along with everything. But as much as that is the suave and popular modern picture of the Christian in the world and the picture of the evangelist, a person who can, if you will, just take the way the world is running and show that if you just follow that on out, you'll finally reach Jesus. For instance, if you deal with the person who is tied up in what is called hedonism, pursuit of pleasure, the only reason for life, all we have to show this person is that if he'll take another step, you'll find that Jesus gives the most pleasure in life. Or if you have somebody who's a key focus in life is family and concern of the family, we can show that Jesus is the one who ties the family together. So the family that prays together stays together. We want to give the idea to the world that there's really not all that much different in terms of being a Christian, that what the world does and what we do about the same what the world's interested in. We're interested in what the world says. We say for the most part. But then, of course, we add a little veneer to that, we add a little bit more to it. And what we add to what the world wants is so often, I think, somewhat like whipped cream. Under ideal circumstances, whipped cream is pretty good stuff. It's sweet and it's nice and it's fluffy, and everybody likes it. Most everybody likes it. Whipped cream's great, but it has to be under ideal circumstances. Try setting whipped cream out in the sun for just a few minutes, or in the rain or in the wind. But try giving a few climactic circumstances to whipped cream, you'll find out that it's all fluff, there's nothing to it. And so often that's what our Christian witness is. You know, we're like everybody else, but there's this whipped cream veneer that we add to it. And of course, it doesn't mean very much when the going gets rough or hot or windy, or however you want to use the metaphor. When things change. I'm not sure that we all are all that much different. So this author is trying to suggest that maybe the problem with evangelism is that we're all trying to fit in too much rather than to stand out and we ought to be motivated to be a distinct people. 2nd Corinthians 6:17 says, Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. In the Old Testament, God indicated the need for being separate by telling his people certain laws laying down for his people, certain laws that had a symbolic effect. I'll give you an example of one of these laws. God said that the Israelites could eat certain clean meats, but they couldn't eat other meats which were deemed unclean. For instance, they couldn't eat pork and shrimp meats like that. And in telling his people this, he said, since I have drawn a separation between you and the nations round about you, you are to draw a separation between clean and unclean, for you are a holy people. The word holy in Hebrew means separate, set apart. And since God's people are to be separate and set apart, they were to set apart clean and unclean meats as a way of symbolizing their separation. They were to be different. Now, Paul in the New Testament refers to laws of that nature. Other laws like that, by the way, would the Israelites were not to sow in their field with two kinds of seed. They were not to mix their seed. They were not to wear two types of clothing, two types of material in their garments. And there wasn't any intrinsic moral value to these laws. Of course, these laws were ways of illustrating symbolically the kind of separation God wants. God also indicated that separation by telling the Jews that they were not to sow with an ox and an ass together, and they were not to plow with an ox and an ass together. And so in New Testament, in 2 Corinthians 6, Paul uses those words which we so often use in talking to our teenagers about not marrying outside of the faith. V. That you are not to be unequally yoked together, which is a reference to the law in the Old Testament, to not have an oxen and asked together. We don't unequally yoke with unbelievers. And in that same passage, Paul says, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing. Now, in this day and age, it's perfectly legitimate for us to eat pork and eat shrimp. God tells us that in Acts 10, where Peter is shown pork and shrimp and other allegedly unclean meats, and God says, stand up and eat these things, Peter. And Peter says, I've never eaten anything unclean. And God says, what I have cleansed. Let no man call unclean. And so go and preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Peter, don't keep this cultural separation between Jew and Gentile, because now the separation is between the church and the world, not Jew and Gentile. So it's clearly all right for us to eat what were formerly unclean meats. And yet Paul says, touch no unclean thing. How can we apply that today? Touch no unclean thing. Come out and be ye separate, says the Lord. Anybody have any suggestions? What does that separation mean today? Means what? Okay, so we need to be Standing out from the world. Is that right? So if we all wear sandwich boards that say Jesus is coming, repent, and other people are wearing usual clothes instead of sandwich boards, then we finally will be able to. No. What does it mean then? Trying to do God's will? Well, okay, I was going to suggest that what that would mean might simply be the world, for instance, is engaged in adultery and that sort of thing. We shouldn't be engaged in adultery. But I think it probably goes beyond that. And what you suggested at the end is exactly right. I think our interests, our avocations, our hobbies, the things that occupy us, things that entertain us, the things that we find humorous, I mean, in all areas, down to the most minute aspects of our lives, we are to be separate from the world. If we're going to be separate from the world, then we can present a distinctive message, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But unless we are willing to be separate, we aren't going to be willing to present a distinctive message, are we? Have a Stop and think about that. There aren't many people who are really concerned to be part of the group who as long as they can just in an outward way merge with everybody, are going to stand up and say things which verbally are going to offend people. You'll notice that it kind of goes hand in hand what you're willing to say in the way you're willing to live, if you're willing to stand out from the group and take a distinctive stand when it comes to, say, cheating and unemployment or the kind of humor that we find funny, that sort of thing and, you know, many other illustrations. If we're willing to stand out in terms of our lifestyle style, then we're more likely to be willing to stand out in terms of what we say to people. What I want to suggest is that the reason we feel awkward about saying something to somebody else about being a Christian is because we feel awkward about being a Christian in the presence of other people, too. I didn't ask you all here tonight to have some kind of guilt trip laid upon you and just to beat you over the heads and say, see, you really don't love Jesus. I'm not suggesting that you really don't love Jesus, but I am suggesting that we have perhaps watered down our love for Jesus by making the attempt to stand in three places at once or two places at once. Paul did say that we are to be in the world even though we are not to be of the world. True. Jesus indicated that we are not to be removed from the evil covenant confines of the world. But we should be removed from the influence of the evil one, Satan himself. Now, if we are willing to stand apart from the world, it seems to me that we'll also be willing to be offended and to present an offense for Jesus Christ. But not many of us like to go around creating problems right now. Many of us like to say things that make others uncomfortable or make us uncomfortable, or lay us open for ridicule or lay us open for being considered kind of strange. The ridicule that comes to a person who evangelizes is not always the ridicule of, you believe that kind of stuff. Often the ridicule is when you say something that is obviously directed toward an evangelist, again to religious purpose, and the person just ignores it. And then you feel like crawling into a corner somewhere and hiding here, I've said this, I've opened myself up, and the person is obviously so uncomfortable with it or thinks that I'm so strange, they just kind of redirect the conversation or walk away or find some reason to cut it short. I mean, that's a form of ridicule, too, in the sense that we feel the same way as if somebody were to actually open up and. And laugh at us. Maybe that's even the worst kind of ridicule, because sometimes there's just enough feistiness in us that we're willing to be laughed at. If it's going to come down to it, if somebody will just really raise the issue, so it's me for Jesus and you for Satan, then we'll stand up for it. But to have this kind of social ostracism or this kind of silent put down really hurts us, really makes us afraid to present a witness for Jesus Christ. And I was really hit hard by these words, this fellow who said, believe me, it's better to be offended than to be condemned. That's why I decided tonight we'd start by looking at the motives and the sanctions for evangelism to overcome the natural reserve that we all have about speaking word for Jesus Christ or inviting somebody to church or saying something religious in the midst of an irreligious conversation to overcome the natural reserve we have about that and to overcome our conventional coolness to Christianity. It's not really the end thing to be enthusiastic for religion right now, isn't that right? You know, it's not the end thing because there are even some of us who are willing to turn on the TV and to watch almost in an entertaining way, the kind of misguided enthusiasm of others. And I don't mean to condone this misguided enthusiasm by this, nor to necessarily condemn the idea that we look upon this and feel a certain humor in it. But nevertheless, that does tell. Tell us not just that it's misguided enthusiasm, but enthusiasm in general just doesn't fit in. This is a day and age we're being laid back and kind of cool about things. I don't know if that's necessarily the best jargon for it anymore, but you've got to be, you know, kind of casual. Especially here in Southern California, I think there are different atmospheres around the. And I don't mean just climate, but different social atmospheres. Have a more traditional and staid atmosphere in the Northeast. And I think we have just the opposite of that at the other end of the country, the Southwest. But especially out here in the Southwest, you know, you don't want to get real worked up about anything. Everybody is just kind of taking things as they come. You want to be in the flow and you don't want to make waves, that sort of thing. Now, to overcome that, to overcome our natural disinclination to speak for Jesus in the coolness that is conventional, I think to overcome our fear of ridicule, be it silent or open, and to overcome our fear of being argumentative, I think we need very strong incentives for evangelism. You need strong incentives for coming back the next day, 11 weeks here on Wednesday evening. So I want to make this worth your while. And so tonight I want to lay out for you the incentive or the motivation that I think we can find a number of them that we can find in the scripture for evangelizing. And the first one, I'm going to give you a number here. The first one is found in the Acts of the Apostles. Okay, so let's turn to the book of Acts. And the text I have in mind. Here is the entire book, now that you're there, the Acts of the Apostles. Ever stop to think about just the title of that? You want to know what the apostles did or what is the characteristic life of the church of Jesus Christ? It's right here. This is how they act or acted. These are the Acts, the accomplishments, the lifestyle of the apostles. What did the apostles do in the Book of Acts? Well, they settled down and raised children, had nice families and bought homes in the suburbs, right? No, they didn't. The Acts of the Apostles were self sacrificial. They gave themselves completely to the propagation of the Gospel and the establishment of the church of Jesus Christ throughout the world. They did a very good job of it, too. The apostles laid a foundation on which we've been building for years. In fact, the Bible tells us that, that the word of Christ was heard everywhere in the known world. By the death of the apostles, throughout the Roman Empire, Christianity was known. The gospel was being established everywhere. And that through the work of 11, and then finally 12, and actually 13 apostles. Eventually, that's not very many people. Should we count the number here tonight? So we have a tendency to say small is, you know, that's not good and it isn't powerful and it can't do much. But these men, small in number, had at the first church, 120 more. And then on the day of Pentecost, after they preached, how many people joined the church? I think it was 3,000, wasn't it? So let's never think that the smallness of our number means the smallest smallness of our success. And why is that? Because the success does not reside in numbers. It resides in what? The power of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy spirit can take 12 men, 13 men, then, and create a church of 3,000 in just a month's time, you can do that. Here you say, but we're not apostles. We weren't given the gift of being apostles. But you have to remember that the success didn't come because of the gifts of the apostles. The success came only through the work of the Holy Spirit. Now I'm going to talk about the key to success and a number of them. In other meetings, I want to especially talk about prayer. Because if there's one thing that's hampering, I think our own group from growing, it's a lack of fervent, dedicated, sincere prayer to that end. But my first reason for evangelism going beyond just that is that that is the normal life of the Christian. If we were to trust the Acts of the apostles. Let's look at Acts 8:1:4. Kathy, would you read that? Is that all of verse one? No, but it isn't.

I'm sorry, I'm not used to this Bible. After that Paul female agreement was. And on that day, a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.

Okay. And then verse four says, what did they do when they were scattered? They went about preaching the word. Not just fitting into the society or as I was suggesting a little sarcastically, you know, getting their families built up there, but they went preaching the word. You might want to stop and think about that if we were to characterize, there was only one thing we could say about what you are doing, the city of Placentia or wherever else you happen to be residing, wherever you are, would it be that we have come here preaching the word? Now, it is also true that these people in some cases had families. They did engage in cultural pursuits. They ate and they drank and they did the sorts of things that people normally do. But the thing that stood out is that they went preaching the word. Well, I don't think it's just that the proportion in our lives is such that people wouldn't characterize our lives that way. If that's the one thing that was to be said. I think, in fact it would be untrue to say that about us. It's not just, well, they really do pay a lot more attention to their own comforts than they do to preaching the word. It's that they don't preach the word and we don't. And what I'm saying to you tonight is not from the standpoint of, well, now look, I out there doing this and you aren't. So now why don't you get with it? I mean, it's true of all of us. We are not very interested in getting the Word out. And the first reason we should be is because that's the example set by the apostles. Now, there's a second reason too. And we'll see this in Psalm 22:27. I'll have Greg look that up. And then Matthew 12, 15, 21. Read if you would take that. There's another reason why we should be motivated to be evangelistic. It's not just because that's the example set for us in the Bible by the apostles, but the Bible has promised us great success. There's no reason to think that what we're going to do is going to fail. Psalm 22:27. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him. Who's going to believe the Gospel? All nations, not just those who are brought up in Christian homes, not just those who have nice personalities. And it's easy to talk to God. Everybody's going to bow the knee all the ends of the earth to the remotest ends of the earth, the outer borders. They're all going to turn. That turning obviously indicates conversion being turned around, so they'll now worship the Lord God. You all remember the story of Jonah going to Nineveh. That's in the Old Testament. That's before the day of Pentecost. But that's the standard Old Testament story, the example of an evangelistic mission, somebody actually taking the word out to others. What happened in Nineveh. Nineveh was a terrible city. It was the capital of the Assyrian empire. And anybody who studied world history will tell you the Ninevites and the Assyrians in general were feared greatly by everybody because when they conquered a people, they did savage things to them. They would impale people on poles, crucify them, skin them alive. I mean, and nobody wanted to fight with them because they thought, well, even if we have a fairly good chance of beating them, the risk is so great if we lose, we're going to be tortured to death by these people. And they were hated. They were despised. And you have to know that to understand something of the human motivation for Jonah saying, I'm not going to take the gospel to Nineveh. If people are going to be saved, let the nice people in the world be saved. I'm not going to Nineveh with the gospel. Jonah didn't want to go. So then we have the story which most people know about Jonah being three days in the belly of the fish. But that, of course, is just part of the means to the end. The story of Jonah is about Jonah getting to Nineveh and what happened when he preached the gospel. How many repented? The whole city. And they repented, mind you, not with somebody who was some charismatic personality. That was somebody who stood up and preached because he just was so on fire, enthusiastic. My guess is Jonah probably did his best to really make it hard to believe. Jonah probably wanted people to go home and say he's dull. Who wants to hear that? He probably mumbled a lot. I know he grumbled a lot about having to do it. He probably emphasized the hardest parts of the message. He wanted people not to believe it. And I'll tell you, you know, how true that is, that when Jonah did this, after the great success was seen, he went out outside the city and sat underneath the tree and he pouted about it. He said, lord, you shouldn't have done that. So, you know, Jonah did not have his heart in this. I mean, he had to have a fish bring him back to the task of getting on to Nineveh. And when it was successful, he didn't like it even then. So he's not your current example of a church growth enthusiast. You know, the sort of guy who's just, you know, hail, fellow, well met and really friendly and a bubbling personality and gets people to like him. And therefore, like his religion and therefore finally hopefully become a Christian or a follower of God. Jonah went and he grumbled and he complained and he did the worst he possibly could. And yet God saved the entire city. The whole city repented. Now, if that was true in the Old Testament before the Holy Spirit had been poured out, and true for a person who was doing his best to sabotage the mission, how much more can we expect success today? What happened in the first evangelistic preaching mission of the Church? We've already seen 3,000 were converted. There's no reason why we shouldn't see success. Matthew 12, 15, 21.

Jesus knew it. He followed him, and he healed them all and charged them that they should not make him known, that it might be fulfilled by the prophet saying, behold, my servants whom I have chosen will be beloved and whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him. And he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry. Neither shall any man whom the voice of. Smoking flax shall he not plants.

And in his name shall the Gentiles hope. When's Jesus going to stop his work? When he has sent forth judgment unto victory. Now, the judgment here we must remember is the word. Judgment here doesn't simply indicate judgment upon those who hear the gospel and don't believe it, but the judgment also represents the justice of God that was seen in Christ being crucified for sinners. And what Jesus is going to do is to establish justice among the nations. He's going to send forth this word of justice that we have been made right with God through his day. And that's why he's not going to strive or cry aloud. Neither shall anyone hear his voice in the streets. He's going to willingly give up his life unto death and notice. He's not going to break any bruised reed. He's not going to quench any smoking flax. Jesus is not going to reject or offend or just if you will march over anybody, no matter how sensitive they may be, he's going to call all men to himself. And he won't stop that process until he has sent this judgment, this justice unto victory. And that's why in his name, the Gentiles are going to hope. They're going to trust in Him. He is going to be victorious. So let us establish right here and now that first of all, the rapture is not going to take place this Saturday. Okay? I read in today's register there's somebody who has been teaching that it's time to sell everything because the rapture is going to take place this Saturday. I'm telling you right here and now, it is not going to take place this Saturday. In the first place, there's not going to be a rapture seven years before the end. There's going to be a rapture on the Day of Judgment when all men are going to be caught up. But even more importantly, Jesus is not going to stop his work until he is sent forth. Justice unto victory. Jesus is going to establish the gospel in earth's remotest ends. All the ends of the earth are going to turn and are going to bow to the Lord God. The day is going to come when a pure offering will be made from the rising of the sun to the setting thereof. Malachi the first chapter says God is going to establish the gospel throughout the earth. So we have the promise of success, the example of the apostles. But now let's get a little more personal. I think there's a third reason why we should be motivated to be engaged in evangelism. It's found in Romans 1:14. Duncan, could I get you to look that up? Shelley, First Corinthians 9:16. The third reason is that we are indebted to give the gospel to people. Romans 1:14. Paul says that he engages in preaching the gospel and carrying out his apostolic ministry because he is a debtor. Now, if I were to have given you a fill in the blank type of exam where the question was something like this, the reason we should do the Lord's bidding is because we are debtors to blank. I think our inclination would be to write in there. And it wouldn't be incorrect, by the way, to write in there. We are debtors to the Lord. He's done all these good things for us. We ought to do what he tells us to do. And if he tells us to evangelize, we should do it. But notice that Paul says, I'm a debtor to Jew and to Greek. I'm a debtor to Gentiles and to the Jews. I'm a debtor to all men. I am in their debt. I owe it to them to give them the gospel. You see, we live before a world that is in need, and we have the cure to that need. There has been from time to time illustrations of this sort of thing. But even without having a specific and concrete illustration of it, what would you think of a doctor who gets a call while he's out on the golf course and he's told that he has the technique necessary to save some patient's life? But he'll have to stop his game right away and come to the hospital and perform the surgery because this man is dying. What would you think of the doctor who said, well, yeah, that has its place, but I mean, I'm going to finish my last nine holes first. Then he finishes the nine holes and he goes about doing his doctoring work. But of course the man has died in the meantime. We wouldn't think well at all would be abhorred. In fact, very likely there'd be some kind of suit brought against the doctor who did that sort of thing. And it was well known and it's happened and usually it's covered up fairly well. What would we think of somebody who had the life giving serum for some plague that was about our community, but felt that, well, in time maybe we'll get it out? Well, that's usually our attitude toward evangelism. In time, when it's convenient, when I'm finished with this, that or the other thing that's personally interesting to me, then I'll work around to saying something to somebody about Jesus. But Paul says, I'm a debtor to people. He had the cure and they were sick people, sick unto death, and he owed it to them to preach the gospel. First Peter 2, 3. We are described as Christians, as those who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and we who have tasted the grace of God owe it this good news to the world. First Corinthians 9:16. Well, there's two things in that verse. The last part is, woe unto me if I preach. Preach not the gospel. You know, until we finally actually feel that in our heart of hearts, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. We aren't ever going to really take an interest in evangelism. We aren't going to be very successful at it. I don't believe either. We have to feel that urgency that I owe it to Greeks and to Jews, and woe is me if I don't preach it. But that first part of the verse is interesting too, because Paul says isn't much to say in my behalf if I preach the gospel. Well, you know, Paul gave up an awful lot. He has places in his writings where he gives us a rehearsal of all the things that he went through for the sake of preaching the gospel. Many times he was beat and portrayed and shipwrecked, left to die and stoned and ridiculed and tried. And all these terrible things happened to Paul. Paul says, you know, nothing can be said really favorably for me just because I do that. That isn't our attitude, is it? I think probably all of us, I admit it myself, all of us think tonight that if I were to have a life that is enthused for events, evangelism, in the way that I am trying to get you to be tonight, I would really stand out, you know, and I would really have something coming. I would be different. There are a lot of Christians who aren't living that way, and if I did, that'd be great. You might be willing to say, of course, all glory goes to the Lord and all that, but we would still think in our heart of hearts. You know, I've really gone beyond the normal Christian life. I've begun to lead the evangelistic Christian. Paul didn't say that the normal Christian life was the evangelistic Christian life. With Paul, he said, it isn't anything if I go ahead and do that. It's just the opposite. It's woe to me if I don't. So that's another attitude thing that I hope that we can get changed. Here's a fourth reason for evangelism. The example of the apostles, the promise of success, our indebtedness to people, to give them the gospel. But fourthly, Mark 16:15 indicates straightforwardly, it's commanded that we do so. Mark 16, verse 15. Jim, would you read that? And he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all preachers when you have time. It's not the parentheses. No, not when you have time, not when it's convenient, not when it feels good, not when you're getting a lot of encouragement, not when there's a lot of strokes, because there's a lot of people standing behind you, say, aren't you great for doing that? Jesus says, just do it. Go and preach the gospel in all the world, everything in every place. When all is said and done. If we don't evangelize, we're just plainly disobedient. We tend to think of obedience to the Lord, often in terms of, like, the Ten Commandments. And that's true in itself. We're being obedient to God if we don't steal from our neighbors or don't commit adultery or don't tell lies. We honor the Sabbath and these sorts of things. That's being obedient to God. But if you do all of that but fail to teach the good news to your neighbors, your relatives, your friends, you are not being obedient to God. You're plainly disobedient. There can be no evasion of this fact, a mute Christian, a Christian who doesn't speak is a disobedient Christian. Let me put it to you a little stronger. It's a rebellious Christian. It's somebody who hears the word of the Lord and says, no, I won't do it. Now, what if you thought you were going to be ostracized if you said something in favor of Jesus Christ.

And.

Yet Jesus were standing right there saying, you speak in my behalf. And if Jesus were right there, we'd hear Jesus speaking. We'd see the hostility of the world, and we do it anyway. I think most of us would. If we really love Jesus, if we really understand his lordship, we do it well. You know, the difference between what I've just described to you and the situation we're in tonight is just that Jesus is not physically present in this room saying it, but he left the Word. There was a day when he stood right in the midst of his followers and he said, go preach the Gospel everywhere. And if they would have said, well, after I bury my father or say goodbye to my parents or something like that, and we'll get around to it. Remember the sermon we had on that just recently? Jesus wouldn't stand for that. That's not true discipleship. We have to get out there and do it. When we do not, we are engaging in not just silence, but a guilty silence. We're guilty because we aren't doing what Jesus told us, and we're guilty because we're letting people very frankly go to hell. Well, the fifth reason I have in my notes for evangelism and getting kind of excited about it is love. There's a passage that speaks right to that. 2nd Corinthians, 5:14. Everybody turned to that one together. 2nd Corinthians, 5 14. Second Corinthians 5:14. I'm going to read verse 11 to give you the context. Paul says, knowing, therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. And it goes on to say, but we are made manifest unto God. And I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. But the opening thought is, we know the fear of God, and that's why we try to persuade men. We have this conviction in our hearts that God is a God of justice and people are under his wrath. And knowing his fear, we try to persuade them. Verse 14, however, follows that up. Not just with the thought of judgment, the fear of God and the respect due to his name, but he says in verse 14, for the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge that One died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. For the love of Christ constrains us. We not only know the fear of God, we know the love of Christ. And that love of Christ constrains us. And when I find myself ashamed or unwilling or too lazy to present an event, evangelistic witness, I have to say the love of Christ is not that which has just taken hold of my life. It's not constraining me. The love that we have to have is to love first of all to God. The first and great commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind. Not love him 20% of the time or where it's easy, but to love him with everything we've got all the time. In the sign of love, Jesus said in John 14, is obedience. If you love me, keep my commandments. What is the Great Commission? The great Commandment Jesus gave to the Church, therefore, having gone, disciple the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you. The Great Commission, that's a commandment from Jesus. And so love to him will be seen in obedience to it. And then secondly, there's love to our neighbor as well. In Mark 12:31, Jesus said we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. When you think about the eternal consequences of being silent about the gospel of Jesus Christ, can you say that you love anybody, that you won't help to come know the Savior, Jesus Christ? If for any reason you are unwilling to share that news, is that the way you loved yourself? You know very well. When you became a Christian, you became a Christian with a sense of urgency. I need the gospel. I need to be made right with God. I need to flee from the wrath to come. But we don't treat our neighbors that way. That was alright for me. It was urgent for me. Me. But if that person happens to die and go to hell, it's not so important. Love for the neighbor should show the same urgency as your love for your own well being was seen when you became a Christian. You must seek your neighbor's highest good. And of course, if you're seeking the highest good of your neighbor, you know that your neighbor can't live by bread alone. Can't live by bread alone. Then he must come to know the Christ who is the author of and the center of the word of God, by which we are to live. The Bible tells us that when Christ looked out on the crowds, he looked upon them with compassion. In all honesty, I think if I were to look at the crowds that I had to minister to, given the hecticness of my life and so forth, I'd probably look at them and kind of moaned and said, there's a lot of work to be done there. It's going to take a lot of time. But Jesus didn't. He looked. And the first emotion that came to him was not anger, because they were walking in a wayward fashion. And it wasn't despair because there was so much work to be done. It was compassion. He cared for the crowds he loved, even as we are to love our neighbors and to do them good. And then finally, a motivation for evangelism that we'll end with tonight. The sixth motivation is jealousy for God's name and God's glory. Let's ask ourselves if there is a stirring of jealousy in us when we see the world giving its worship and its time and its emotion and its interest and its obedience to anyone other than Jesus Christ. When Paul was in Athens, According to Acts 17, he was there on a missionary furlough, by the way. He was supposed to have a little bit of time off before he continued his work. But as he walked around Athens, here's the great cultural center of the ancient world. The Bible says his heart was provoked within him because of the idolatry of the city. He couldn't stand it that anybody would give his or her life to anybody but Jesus Christ. He was Jesus, jealous for the name of God, jealous for his Savior. Jesus in the temple, of course, was jealous for the glory of God, willing to take up even a whip to drive out those who didn't understand what the temple was all about. Think of Elijah on Mount Carmel and the jealousy he had for the name of God that he would face all the priests of BAAL if need be, to turn Israel around to the Lord. See, these are examples of genuine harm. Heartfelt jealousy for God's glory. Exodus 34:14 tells us that God is a jealous God, and he will give his name. He will give honor to no one else. The only one who is to receive our obedience in our lives is God. God is intolerant of rivals. That's why the first and the great commandment in the Decalogue is, you shall have no other gods in my prayer presence. It's interesting how throughout the New Testament, the work of evangelism and establishing the church, the work of the Christian Life is often said to be carried on for the sake of his name. For the sake of his name. We haven't honored the name of God. That name has been placed in our lives, has been written right on us. We belong to him. And yet so often we lift up up the name of God in vain in our lives, don't we? We don't live for Him. We don't live with an all consuming passion for that Name and for the honor of that name, and the glory of that name, and the propagation of that name among all the nations. Isaiah 42:8. We'll close with this tonight. Isaiah 42:8. I am Jehovah, that is my name. And my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images. If we are jealous for the name of God, we won't allow people's lives to be wasted and squandered, misdirected in following false gods. The false gods of comfort or pleasure, of indulgence, even of apparently good things like family life. Now we're going to be concerned that people live their lives first and foremost for Jesus Christ. As he said, you're to seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and then all the other things will be added to you. Well, let's review here tonight. But note, let me do it in the easy way. Why should you be interested in evangelism? What is it that should make you willing to stand out from the crowd, to be separate, as God says, willing to be offended and to give offense rather than to see the condemnation come upon your neighbor? What is it that should give you an incentive in that direction? I gave you six of them tonight. Can we name him real quickly? Amy? What's that? Jealousy. I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. Jealousy for God's name and glory. Okay, Greg. We are indebted to people that end. Okay, reader. Judith. It's a command. We must do that. Jonathan. Shelley. Okay. Love for God and love to neighbor. The love of Christ constrains us. That's four. Jim. Example of the apostles. The example of the apostles. Kathy in the promise of Success. That's right. Okay. We all have a natural reserve about evangelism. We all have a conventional coolness about it. We're not very enthusiastic. We do fear ridicule. We don't want to be deemed weird and to stand out in that way. But now you have six reasons why that should all be just passed and say, well, as true as that may be, it's subordinate to the example the apostles have set. For us, the promise that God's given us that we're going to be successful, our indebtedness to everybody, to give them the gospel, the command that Jesus has already laid down, we must give it to people. We must remember the love that constrains us. Love for God, love for our neighbor. And finally, above all, I think, is the jealousy for the honor of God's name, that people would follow him and not any other false religion. Let's pray. Lord, help us not to be cool to that which we have learned tonight. Indeed, help us to be convicted. The many things that we've looked at, and there are many more, of course, but in these few reasons that we have found for evangelism, we pray that we would all go home and cultivate the attitudes and the mentality that they represent. Give us a true sense of indebtedness. Do constrain us by your love. Give us an overwhelming zeal for your glory and for the honor of your name. Lord, help us to follow the commands of Jesus Christ and to emulate the example of the apostles and encourage us with the promise that we have that success will come, that it won't be for nothing that we have spread your name to earth's remotest ends. Lord, we ask that even as great success was seen in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria in the first days of the church, we pray that you would give us that success here in Placentia, in the surrounding communities, do motivate us to speak the good news to others. Lord, we pray that as we find ourselves consumed with conversation about everything else in life, that you will give us from the heart the desire to direct our conversations to Jesus Christ in the advance of his coming kingdom. For it's in his name we pray. Amen. All right, go ahead.

I'm asking, are we up against something that is way more difficult for us to understand? Basing aside, okay, let's say if you were in the belly of a big fish for three days, hey, don't you think that it would do something to your spiritual.

It didn't seem to in Jonah's case.

In act, the apostles saw the result. And today we are taught to go out into witness and you may not ever see the result. Although we do have a promise that his words will not come back. Right?

Right.

We do not have to see results. Are we the kind of generation that is in the dark context? But I'm looking for a sign that we have to have this kind of story type of opinion. In other words, do we just not Want to get all fired up in that because you don't seem to. Or is that.

Well, I think you're.

Is that a mental thing that you say, hey, faith. We have to really, really strengthen our own faith before we can go out. And the whole basis of it all is you've got to have a strength of faith because it's terrible to go out and witness and to walk away. Eyewitness to you friend one time at a business center and we've also happened to be friends and we had a mentally child and we talked a lot about that because I've been involved with children like that, Granddad and I also got into talking about Christ and my views and my beliefs. And I saw him about a year and a half later and we went out to dinner and she said, I had to put you on it that night and reach me to any of them. She said that?

But you didn't say that at first, did you? She became a Mormon. Oh, at that time, yeah. And I thought, I'm getting, you know.

Is this really going to make me feel.

I never feel like I've ever gone.

Out and witness and felt, hey, I.

See a little bit of reward.

Or maybe, you know, it says she became a Mormon.

Well, it's true that when we don't see the success that we want or any success, I mean, sometimes we just see this bleh, you know, nothing that we're still under obligation, we are to be enthusiastic and all that. But I don't think that we need to depreciate the fact that there's a snowball effect that when we are successful, that does encourage us and we do get more enthusiastic and we're willing to risk a little bit more. And I'm sure that's probably the experience of most, at least evangelical and conservative churches that have grown to be big churches is that they begin to.

Exit. Is it because maybe some of us are not?

No, no, I don't believe that. In fact, we'll talk about that in future lessons. The redeemed of the Lord are to say so. All of us would be witnesses for Jesus Christ. Not all of us are called to have the mantle of an ordained ministry as an evangelist. Not all of us stand up before audiences, but all of us are to be speaking to individuals about Jesus Christ. And I think the problem you're bringing up really has many facets to it. The one is our sole motivation is not the emotional gratification of seeing success, so we ought to do it even when we're not successful. Out of faith, as you say. Secondly, it's perfectly legitimate when we see the success to let that encourage us, we ought to continue at it. And thirdly, we should ask ourselves, why aren't we having success? There's no reason that I can see in the Bible for any group not to be successful that's willing to be diligent in living the whole Christian life and preaching the whole counsel of God. Now, there are a number of reasons we can see humanly and a number of sins that get in the way. But there's no reason inherent in our situation, in our age, in our circumstance, why we shouldn't be seeing success. And although I don't agree with the church growth movement says that after a certain number of years, if you don't see a certain percentage of conversion, then you pull up stakes and go somewhere where the Spirit's moving. I don't buy that since we do believe the gospel is going to be successful, there's reason for real hard searching. If we're not seeing success, I think we should stop and say, why? What are we doing wrong here? Also, what are we doing right? Because when you do the right things, that offends people. The gospel cuts by ways. It's a savor of life unto life and death unto death. But oftentimes people, I think, rationalize their very poor performance as Christians by saying, well, God is sovereign, he's only predestined. So many people, many are called, few are chosen. And therefore, if we're having small churches, that probably shows how faithful we really are. There's a perverse logic in that perverse, proud Pharisaical logic that if we're not being successful, that's what you would expect. I'm going to suggest the opposite. If we're not being successful, we'd better do some part searching. There's something wrong because God has promised success. And since Jesus says, lo, I'm with you always to the end of the age, there's no reason why we shouldn't see success. He has all power and authority in heaven and earth.

I mean, who knows how effective our witnesses will be.

That's right. Remember I said there's many. Benefited from it. There's a lot of facets, as I said, and I don't want to delay our conversation any longer. But one of them is how do you gauge success? It is success when people hear the gospel clearly and rebel against it because we presented a clear witness for God and we've accomplished his purposes. Because I honestly believe when somebody rebels against God, that's not contrary to what God has predestined for history. That fits right into his plan. And so we've advanced his plan by preaching the gospel. But I also think his plan overall is to see success in the preaching of the gospel, in the beneficial and blessed way of people being converted. And then also, you know, when you offer a witness sometimes, and I thought your story was beginning to give us an example of somebody planting a seed that later is watered. And finally, you see, we don't always see the utter outcome of our witness. And it isn't always to be measured by how many people come to our church. Obviously, that would be a very poor motivation to say, well, I want people to be converted, but only for the sake of the Covenant Community Church. I mean, if somebody's converted, although I don't agree with it, if they should happen to go to a Baptist or a Lutheran or Methodist church that preaches the gospel in difference with my distinctive. The important thing is that they're converted, of course, and then we try to nurture them to do everything that Jesus has commanded. So the measure of success is not just that we have more people on Sunday mornings than our church. But then again, there should be some correlation between our success. It's just not a simple issue. And that's why I want to suggest there's all these facets to it. Well, I promise we've only gone one hour now. We started a few minutes late, but in our future meetings, I will start right at 7 unless providential reasons prevent me from being here. But I'll start right at 7 and we'll end right at 8. In any conversation after, please feel free to leave. I'm glad to discuss things, but I want to keep these things very trim so that you can make your plans accordingly. Rational economic planning, the basis of what we promise you. Okay.