9 Truths for Bold Evangelism
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Introduction
Introduction
We are here to talk about evangelism and apologetics.
2 Cor 10:3–5 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”
Our goal is to destroy speculations and raise up the knowledge of God.
So why do we evangelize?
To give good news
To raise knowledge of God
Why do you think people find evangelism scary?
Why do you think people find apologetics scary?
Don’t know the answers
Not a good arguer
Don’t know how to respond.
If this is our approach to apologetics we will be handcuffed.
We will never know how to respond to every different worldview that’s out there.
In Hinduism there are over 33 million gods.
Are you going to have study them all before you can answer them all?
For example, Lord Ganesha has an elephant head and a human body.
Pretend you meet a Hindu, are you going to leave him until you can study it and find what some apologist has said about refuting Ganesha?
My goal for today is to allow you to be prepared for every encounter.
This is done by knowing that God has given you everything that you need to know.
We have all that we need to know about these things tucked away in the Bible.
The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith says, “the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture.” - Chapter 1, paragraph 6
This statement is based off of 2 Timothy 3:16 - “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;”
Is there a limit to Scripture?
Sure.
You’re not going to learn how to change a flat on your car, or install an app on your phone from the Bible.
But when it comes to things necessary for:
God’s glory
Man’s salvation
Faith
Life
These things are written down in Scripture.
So when it comes to apologetics, a defense of the faith we are equipped.
You don’t need to be afraid
God has given you everything you need.
1. You must be convinced
1. You must be convinced
Be convinced that there is Truth
I took apologetics in my undergrad for college.
I was told to be open-minded and to leave what I know at the door.
I was told that in order to be an effective witness I needed to be open-minded.
In order to be “authentic” I’d need to be convinced that what I believed was false.
I look back on that I think about how wrong that is.
We must not deny what we know to be true.
Could you imagine if Stephen had this mindset?
Stephen was the first martyr of the faith.
He preached his sermon against those that condemned Christ, and the response of his audience was they gnashed their teeth at him and began stoning him to death.
Acts 7:56 says, “and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.””
If my apologetics teacher was right, Stephen should have said, “I currently believe I see the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God … but I could be wrong.”
If that’s the case his death might have been a waste.
We must be confident.
We must stand upon Scripture as true and know it is true.
To do this is to say we love darkness instead of darkness.
Herman Bavinck said “… we do not propose to conduct a so-called pre-suppositionless investigation. We shall not, as the doubters of our day do, go through the gamut of the various religions in order to find out whether these give us the special revelation of God which our heart tells us it requires. The fact that we have learned to know the false religions as being false, … this fact we owe to the special revelation which is granted us in Christ. We should therefore be deliberately putting out the light which enlightens us if we were to set special revelation to one side or take no account of it even temporarily and in a methodological sense. To do that would be to prove that we love the darkness rather than the light lest our thoughts and deliberations should be made manifest ( John 3:19–21).” - Herman Bavinck. The Wonderful Works of God (Kindle Locations 1279-1286). Kindle Edition.
We cannot do what my apologetics professor said, which is to put your beliefs on trial.
Be convinced that there is truth.
As the song goes, “don’t hide it under a bushel - No!”
2. The faith must begin with the Triune God.
2. The faith must begin with the Triune God.
This doesn’t mean we start evangelism by entering into Trinitarian conversations.
But it means we have a specific God that we know.
We aren’t deists or merely trying to convince someone to believe in a higher power like AA.
The 10 Commandments begins with a preamble where God introduces Himself to Israel.
Exodus 20:2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
The Egyptians believed in many gods.
We believe in a specific God.
This God:
God loves
Cares about mankind
He has demonstrated this love in the sending of Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
It’s an eternal love that came from before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love”
The Son was sent.
Jesus condescended.
He came from heaven.
He never ceased being God.
He put on humanity.
In His human nature He:
Came as a child
Learned.
Was weak.
Bled.
What was the ultimate display of His humanity and condescension?
Philippians 2:8 “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
He suffered and died.
He didn’t stay dead.
He rose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father.
He intercedes for us.
He acts as our advocate before the Father.
We eagerly await His return.
The Spirit:
He convicts of sin
Regenerates
Titus 3:5 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”
Indwells
He allows us to pray.
But you think of the attributes of God.
We are not trying to win people to theism.
We are not trying to get them convinced of spirituality.
Think of after the fall and the different cultures that developed.
People are religious.
The Egyptians were religious.
They believed in lots of gods.
We don’t want to convince people that a god is real, then be satisfied if they become Muslim or Mormon.
We believe that there is a single God, who is Triune in persons.
3. The foundation of our religion is built upon the truth of Scripture.
3. The foundation of our religion is built upon the truth of Scripture.
We acknowledge that there is such thing as General Revelation.
God has revealed Himself to creation through creation and His power.
But how do people learn about the saving nature of God?
Through His Word.
The Westminster Confession of Faith says, “The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.”
In other words, we begin with Who the divine author of Scripture is, then we must accept the book as true.
To doubt Scripture as true is to doubt who God is Himself.
I love Bunyan’s book Pilgrim’s Progress.
In the beginning of the book is a conversation between the main character Christian, and a man named Pliable.
Pliable said, "And do you think that the words of your book are certainly true?”
And Christian responded, “Yes, verily; for it was made by him that cannot lie.
How do we know that Scripture has the authority of God’s Word?
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
2 Peter 1:21 “for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
What does this mean for us?
If God is the author of Scripture, don’t be ashamed of believing it.
If God is the author of Scripture, don’t be ashamed of quoting it.
To deny the truth of Scripture means that we are building a house of cards.
Remove the truth of Scripture and it will collapse under it’s own weight.
To remove the truth of Scripture, we cripple ourselves.
The example of Mya from the Anti-Jews for Jesus.
She made a rule up front that I could not quote from Isaiah 53.
I went round and round with her trying to convince her from Scripture.
I was handcuffed without Scripture.
Isaiah 53 is the clearest Old Testament reference to Christ’s DBR.
Finally, I couldn’t hide it any longer and I unleashed Isaiah 53 on her.
4. The Word of God together with the Holy Spirit brings about change.
4. The Word of God together with the Holy Spirit brings about change.
This truth is critical and super encouraging.
One of the biggest reasons why people do not evangelize is because they:
Lack confidence in their ability to argue.
They think that they won’t be affective in evangelizing.
Can you think reasons why people do not become Christians?
Depravity of man
Man is hostile to God
Natural man cannot accept the things of God.
Past hurts
Burned by the church
Hurt by family
Abused, etc.
There are some pretty heavy reasons why people do not become Christians.
If successful evangelism required you to be able to persuade others … we are doomed.
Imagine the pressure if a person’s eternal destiny hung in your ability to effectively string words together.
Imagine the pressure if a person’s eternal destiny was if you were smart enough or pretty enough.
Imagine the pressure if a person’s eternal destiny was based on your ability to be like Jesus.
Some people say, you need to be the Gospel.
Or you need to live the Gospel.
You will never be good enough for this.
The reality is that conversion is a work of and by the Holy Spirit.
Deuteronomy 30:6 ““Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.”
Ezekiel 36:26–27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
1 Corinthians 2:12–14 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
Examples of the Bible that prove this point:
Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dry bones.
Read Ezekiel 37:1–14.
The need for the Holy Spirit does not mean we don’t preach.
We don’t have the Holy Spirit ooze out of us.
The means that God has ordained for conversion is through people speaking about the Gospel to one another.
Romans 10:13–17 “for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
The means that God has set up is:
We preach.
As we preach, the Holy Spirit takes our words and uses them, making them effective.
Think of Jonah.
He was probably the least passionate preacher there was.
“In 40 days you’ll be destroyed. Repent.”
Yet, God used him to save a city that had at least 120,000 people.
The implication is:
We don’t need gimmicks to be effective.
We don’t need to be cool.
We don’t even need to be perfect.
We need truth.
We depend upon the Spirit.
Let me interrupt and say that we need the Gospel.
The Gospel reminds us of our powerlessness to be righteous before God.
In evangelism, the Gospel also reminds us that we are powerless in converting others.
5. Mankind is in relationship with the Triune God.
5. Mankind is in relationship with the Triune God.
Why do we preach to people and not to dogs?
Because people are created in the image of God.
There is something special about all people.
What does it mean to be created in the image of God?
Genesis 1:26–27 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Man is the high point of God’s creation
Genesis 9:6 ““Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”
This verse comes after the flood, which was because of the wickedness of mankind.
Even after man’s great sin, there remains special value in the life of mankind.
To kill a human is blasphemy because its an attack upon the image of God.
We are damaged but not ruined.
If we are in the image of God, we are also in a relationship with God.
He is God
He has authority
He makes rules.
But because of Adam:
All have fallen.
We are guilty because of Adam.
We have proven our guilt by our sin.
The condition of this damaged relationship is evident.
God has expectations of mankind in this relationship
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Man willingly sins.
Opposition to His rule
Since we are created in the image of God we have an eternal relationship with God.
Hell is what we deserve.
Because of Adam one is damned to Hell.
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
All deserve this.
Paradise
Because we are in the image of God, Jesus came to restore this relationship.
This relationship can only be restored with Christ.
The implications of this are:
We see all people in the image of God.
We see all people in a relationship with God.
We see all people as needing this relationship restored.
6. All people know the true God, and that knowledge requires obedience.
6. All people know the true God, and that knowledge requires obedience.
Each of these truths builds on the fact that God has given us all that we need to know.
All people have a knowledge of God.
Romans 1:18–19 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”
This means that our job is not to convince people that there is a God.
People know that there is a God.
People in the most obscure tribe of the Amazon knows that there is a God.
What does it mean that all people know there is a God?
No one can stand before God on judgment day and say, “I never knew you, you should have made yourself known.”
People demand evidence.
This truth frees us from having to convince people.
We don’t need to go scouring the internet for evidence or articles.
We have better evidence, the Word of God.
The evidence is everywhere:
Its found in general revelation.
Creation testifies that there is a God - Psalm 19:1 “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
Their consciences testify that there is a God - Romans 2:14–16 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”
And Scripture gives evidence as well.
Hebrews 1:1–2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
All people have a knowledge of right and wrong and know that they are to obey God.
7. The unregenerate suppress the truth.
7. The unregenerate suppress the truth.
We now move one step forward.
All people have a knowledge of God.
But what do they do with it?
They actively reject truth
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
There is a conscious decision to suppress the truth.
This is a conscious decision.
This is not a new act either.
Ezekiel’s ministry to Israel was similar.
Ezekiel 3:4–7 “Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. “For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel, nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you; yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. Surely the whole house of Israel is stubborn and obstinate.”
This sad truth continues today.
Men have a knowledge of God.
They know there is a God.
They know they should repent.
They know what sin is.
Romans 2:14–15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”
There is a certain foolishness here as well.
A Chili’s fajita platter.
It’s loud.
It’s fizzing.
It’s steaming.
They hand it to you with an oven mit.
And what do they say, “Careful, it’s hot.”
And what is the first thing you do?
You touch it.
You know it’s hot.
Your senses tell you its hot.
But you actively suppress that truth and touch it anyway.
The natural man knows there is a God.
His conscience gives witness.
Creation gives witness.
Yet, he actively suppresses the truth.
Psalm 14:1 says “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.”
This also makes all men responsible.
It makes their sin even worse, because it’s not a sin of ignorance.
1 John 5:10 “The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son.”
God has given the truth necessary.
He actively rejects it.
There are lots of worldviews
As technology has grown and the world has grown closer in communication, people are more separated then ever.
People place themselves in little worldview cages.
Liberals stick to liberals.
Conservatives stick to conservatives.
People are more polarized then ever.
Yet, Scripture says this division is really just suppression of truth.
There is either truth or there is lie.
What are the implications?
The responsibility to prove God does not rest on you.
You don’t need to know fossil records.
You don’t need to be a scientist.
A person’s destiny does not rest on you.
They know the truth.
They have rejected it.
Romans 1:25 “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
This is all a part of understanding what you are going into.
This means you don’t have to be surprised when someone rejects truth.
8. Suppression of the truth is not unfixable
8. Suppression of the truth is not unfixable
I know that is a double negative.
Man is fallen.
Man is depraved.
Man is dead in his sin.
Man is lost.
Man is not righteous.
What does this not mean?
Depravity does not mean man is no longer in the image of God.
Depravity does not mean that God has given up on all of humanity.
Depravity does not mean that man cannot think true thoughts.
They may be inventors of evil, but they can come up with brilliant things.
Henry Ford developed the assembly line, which revolutionized the auto industry.
Steve Jobs was a hippy jerk, but revolutionized computers and telephones.
The unregenerate see things dimly.
It’s like they have spiritual cataracts.
They can see truth:
They still see good things:
Morals
Love
Marriage
Family
Work
But they see them dimly and wrench them from their true context.
For example, after the Exodus, Israel worshipped the Golden Calf.
They believed in God.
But they rejected Him as revealed.
Romans 1:22-23 “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”
They have a desire to worship, but worship a lie.
All this to say that man is not completely lost.
And we think of the Gospel.
What is the Gospel?
Ephesians 2:1–5 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”
We must tell ourselves the Gospel.
We must remember what we have been saved from.
When you look at your own conversion you become an example that suppression is not irreparable.
Devil’s Advocate Time
Devil’s Advocate Time
If man:
Lives in a fallen state.
Actively suppresses the truth.
Cannot come to truth without without the aid of the Holy Spirit -
Then why even evangelize?
Matthew 28:19–20 ““Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””
Romans 10:9-15 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!””
This leads us to our final truth.
9. You are part of God’s plan to change hearts.
9. You are part of God’s plan to change hearts.
God is using you to proclaim His truth.
But something we’ve learned along the way, man already has a knowledge of God.
This frees us to go on the offensive.
2 Corinthians 5:11 “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.”
2 Corinthians 5:20 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
There is a sense of urgency here.
2 Corinthians 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”