Pastor’s Training School –
2003
Evangelism
Psalm 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul…”
Hosea 4:1-6 “1Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of
6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.”
PRAY
On
Our American Birthright
One nation under God was their cry and declaration,
Upon the law of Nature's God they built a mighty Nation.
For unlike mankind before them who had walked this earthen sod,
These men would never question the Sovereignty of God.
That all men were "created" was a truth "self-evident,"
To secure the rights God gave us was the role of government.
And if any form of government became destructive of this end,
It was their right, their duty, a new one to begin.
So with a firm reliance on Divine Providence for protection,
They pledged their sacred honor and sought His wise direction.
They lifted an appeal to God for all the world to see,
And declared their independence forever to be free.
I'm glad they're not here with us to see the mess we're in,
How we've given up our righteousness for a life of indulgent sin.
For when abortion isn't murder and sodomy is deemed a right,
Then evil is now called good and darkness is now called light.
While truth and law were founded on the God of all Creation,
Man now, through law, denies the truth and calls it "separation."
No longer does man see a need for God when he's in full control,
For the only truth self-evident is in the latest poll.
But with man as his own master we fail to count the cost,
Our precious freedoms vanish and our liberty is lost.
Children are told they can't pray and they teach them evolution,
When will they learn the fear of God is the only true solution?
Our schools have become the battleground while all across the land,
Christians shrug their shoulders—afraid to take a stand.
And from the grave their voices cry the victory has been won.
Just glorify the Father as did His only Son.
When your work on earth is done, and you've traveled where we've trod,
You'll leave the land we left to you, ONE NATION UNDER GOD!
Recently, the 10 Commandments controversy was all over the
news. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore
lost his last-minute appeal to the US Supreme Court to keep the 10 Commandments
monument in the rotunda of the state judicial building in
What about the church in all of this? Where are they? It seems that we get all upset when the 10
Commandments are removed or threatened to be removed from schools and
government buildings – but many churches all across this country have long
forgotten the 10 Commandments or moved them to a darkened closet away from
public view. Many have compromised and
no longer preach against idolatry, keeping the Sabbath Day holy, using the
Lord’s name in vain, honoring your parents, murder, lying, stealing, adultery,
or covetousness. Furthermore, why would
we expect to hear anything scripturally on the ills of fornication, sodomy,
abortion, drunkenness, violence, pornography, gambling or anything else the
Bible calls sin, when many churches and preachers won’t even acknowledge the 10
Commandments. The fact is that these
sins are more and more increasingly lauded as cultural norms in our society
today. Perhaps if we spent more time in
the Word of God to learn what He has to say about such things and faced the
error of our ways rather than trying to feverishly grow the church through
gratuitous schemes, our country might have a little more regard and respect for
those timeless commands given us by Almighty God.
You see, many churches in this land today have traded in God’s law
for a feel-good gospel of love, grace, and forgiveness. Many preach nothing about what God actually
requires from us. In doing so,
“spirituality” has become almost completely horizontal and preoccupied with
“felt needs” – “seeker sensitivities”, pop psychology, high-tech gadgetry, mass
marketing, come as you are, Vegas-style entertainment – all designed to lure
and delight the flesh “in the name of Jesus.”
How is this philosophy any different from the world’s? In all our ignorance and apathy, we seem to
have developed an acute aversion to addressing the more unflattering aspects of
human behavior that demand correction.
We need to re-examine the vital role that the LAW plays in the
salvation of a man. Remember, Psalm 19:7
said: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The LAW is the forgotten key to evangelism! Jesus referred to it in Luke 11:52 “Woe unto you, lawyers!
for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and
them that were entering in ye hindered.”
The Pharisees should have been the ones who should have known and
taught the law so that those hearing it would receive knowledge of their sin
and thus recognize their need for a Saviour – but Jesus rebuked them for
effectively taking away this vital key.
And in doing so, there are tragic consequences…
ILLUS: Picture a man hurriedly pulling
into a parking lot, arriving somewhat late for a meeting, and if I came up to
him and said, “Sir, you have a $25K speeding ticket – but I have good news –
the fine has been paid for you!” The
man would be like “That’s absurd!
What are you talking about?
That doesn’t make sense! I
don’t have a fine – I didn’t even break the Law!” This good news would not be good news to him
– it would seem foolishness to him! But
more than that it would be offensive to him because I’m insinuating that he’s
broken the law when he doesn’t believe he has.
However, if I put it this way, it may make
more sense: “On the way to this
meeting, the law clocked you going 55 MPH in an area set aside for a blind
children’s convention. The were 10 clear
warning signs stating the speed limit was 10 MPH. What you did was extremely dangerous. There is a $25K fine. The law was about to take its course when
someone you don’t even stepped in and paid the fine for you. You are very fortunate.”
Can you see that telling him precisely
what he’s done wrong first, actually makes the good news make sense. If I don’t clearly bring instruction and
understanding that he’s violated the law, the good news will seem foolishness
and offensive. But once he understands
that he’s broken the law, the good news will become good news indeed.
Now in the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and tell
him that Jesus died on the cross for his sins – it will be foolishness and
offensive to him. Foolishness because it
won’t make sense. In I Cor
But if I take the time to
follow in the footsteps of Jesus – it may make more sense. If I take the time to open up the divine law
– the 10 Commandments – and show the sinner precisely what he has done wrong –
that he has offended God by violating His law, then when he becomes as James
said in James 2:9 “convinced of the law as a transgressor” the good news
of the fine being paid for won’t be foolishness, it won’t be offensive, but it
will be the power of God unto salvation.
Well, let’s look at some of
the functions of God’s LAW for humanity:
#1 – Romans
#2 – Romans
#3 – Romans 7:7 – The LAW defines sin – it shows us the
depth of our sin. The Apostle Paul
didn’t even know what sin was, until the LAW told him.
#4 – Galatians
The LAW leaves the sinner with no means of payment before the
Judge of the Universe.
ü
The LAW doesn’t help us – it just leaves us
helpless!
ü
The LAW doesn’t justify us – it just leaves us
guilty before the judgment bar of Christ.
CAN YOU SEE HOW CRITICAL THE LAW IS TO THOSE OF US WHO TRULY WANT
TO SEE MEN & WOMEN BORN AGAIN! YET,
SO MANY HAVE FORSAKEN IT. AND IN DOING
SO, THE KEY HAS BEEN HIDDEN!
Without the use of the LAW, Modern Evangelism today has had to
seek out another way to attract sinners === LIFE
ENHANCEMENT
The Modern Gospel has become the message that Jesus will give you
Love, Joy, Peace, Fulfillment, and Lasting Happiness!
When we preach this modern gospel, many seemingly come to Christ
in an “experimental fashion” as they “put on the Saviour.”
Ø
What do they get? Temptation, Tribulation, Persecution
Ø
What do they do?
They take off the Lord Jesus – he was offended for the Word’s Sake. He was promised love, joy, peace,
fulfillment, lasting happiness. Now he
is embittered against God and those who shared the message with them!
Ø
Have you ever wondered why so many people come
forward and make a profession of faith and then it’s like they fall of the face
of the earth and you never see them again???
Ø
Jesus called these people “stony ground hearers”
in Mark 4. According to that parable,
these people were never truly born again!
The horrific effect of this modern gospel is that we’ve birth thousands
of “illegitimate” believers into God’s family that have never really been born
again!
We need to warn sinners of the wrath to come!
ü
Heb
ü
When a sinner
understands the horrific consequences of breaking God’s LAW, then he will flee
to the Saviour to escape the wrath to come!
ü
God commands all
men to repent because there’s coming a day in which He will judge the world in
righteousness.
§
You see, it is
not an issue of happiness – but righteousness
§
It doesn’t
matter how happy a sinner is, enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Without the righteousness of Christ, he will
perish in the day of wrath!
·
Proverbs 11:4 “Riches
profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death”
Peace & joy are
legitimate fruits of the Spirit – but it is not legitimate to use these as a
drawing card for salvation. Sinners will
respond with an impure motive – lacking repentance!
If we put on Jesus Christ
for the right reason – to flee from the wrath to come – when life gets
difficult, we won’t get angry and lose our joy & peace. Why should we? We didn’t come to Christ for a happy
lifestyle – but to flee from the wrath to come!
If anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Saviour. Sadly, we have multitudes of profession
Christians who lose their joy & peace when life gets difficult. Why?
They’re the product of a man-centered gospel – they’ve come lacking
repentance – and without which you cannot be saved!
2 Cor
If a man doesn’t realize
that his sin is vertical (against God), he will come and exercise superficial,
experimental, and horizontal repentance and will fall away when tribulation,
temptation, and persecution come.
ILLUS: Disease
BIBLICAL EVANGELISM IS ALWAYS:
Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel (good news, grace,
cross) to a proud arrogant, self-righteous person. No!
v
With the LAW, he breaks the hard heart
v
With the GOSPEL, He heals the broken heart.
James 4:6 “…God
resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
Proverbs 16:5 “Every one
that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand,
he shall not be unpunished”
Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to
set at liberty them that are bruised”
EXamples:
Luke 10:25-29
Jesus gave him LAW because he was proud, arrogant, self righteous.
Luke 18:18-23 Rich Young Ruler
John 3 – Nicodemus (grace given to the humble)
John 1: Nathanel
Jews at Pentecost (devout Jews – ate, drank, slept God’s LAW. There to celebrate the giving of the LAW thru
Moses.
AT
What was the LAW designed for?
1 Tim 1:8-10 “But we
know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9Knowing this,
that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and
disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for
murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10For
whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is
contrary to sound doctrine;”
The Law was made for
sinners!
Let the LAW Prepare their
heart for grace and bring them to the foot of a blood stained cross.
Romans 2:15 “Which show
the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one
another;)”
ILLUS:
Witness to a man….If God judges you by this standard (His LAW) –
will you be innocent or guilty? Will you
go to Heaven or Hell?
Heaven because I think God will overlook my sin.
JUDGE ILLUS – Because of my goodness, I will make sure you are
punished!
Sin is vertical – Against God!
The gospel is basically – We broke the Law – He paid the fine!
Gal