Word of Salvation – Vol.29 No.26 –July 1984
Biblical Evangelism III
Sermon by Rev. H. W. Pennings, v.d.m. on Acts 26:17b & 18a
Scripture lessons: Isaiah 42:1-7 & Acts 28:1-32
Suggested hymns: BoW Psalm 27:1,2,3; BoW.901; Ps.H. 81; 409; 405
Acts 26:17b & 18a: “I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God…!”
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
When speaking about evangelism (as we have seen before) we should remember that when we do not seem to see many results from our efforts to bring people into the kingdom of God, it doesn’t necessarily prove that our MESSAGE is wrong or that our METHOD is wrong. Evangelism is man’s task. Results are God’s business. Our efforts don’t always lead to positive results. But remember that Jesus, also, had to weep over people who refused to understand and who hardened their hearts against Him. Our primary task is to be obedient to the calling He has given us – the calling He has given to ALL believers. We are, and HAVE TO BE, AMBASSADORS OF CHRIST, people who speak with the authority He has given us. We ARE, and HAVE TO BE, STEWARDS of the secret things of God. We ARE, and HAVE TO BE, HERALDS who “herald” the good news of Jesus Christ wherever and whenever possible.
We have this calling so that God will do His glorious work through us. Unbelievers must be given every opportunity to meet Jesus so that they may turn to Him for forgiveness and renewal. Results will always remain within the counsel of the sovereign LORD. For, who but God alone can understand why some are chosen, and others left to the consequence of their sin? When we pray for people, continuing to knock on the doors of heaven for their salvation, we know that God alone can bless our work to the extent that the hearts of men are opened and become receptive. Otherwise they will not change. They cannot change.
Yet, as important as this distinction is – that BRINGING the gospel is our responsibility, but CHANGING hearts the work of God – it can be quite wrongly applied. People who see this distinction clearly have applied it in a manner in which Scripture doesn’t apply it. For we cannot say that the results of bringing the gospel have NOTHING WHATEVER to do with the person who brings it. It has everything to do with us as we find from our text for this sermon. You and I cannot change anyone. Results are God’s business. But unless we WORK FOR RESULTS we are unfaithful in our task says the LORD. We have the calling of God to CONVERT people.
This subject of CONVERSION is not only interesting, but it is very important. We can plainly see that converts produced by some methods of evangelism are not truly converted. When the full truth about God’s claim on people is not told, these are shallow conversions because the message which is presented is only a shallow message. We’ll turn our attention to this more fully in the final sermon. Two things in particular need to be emphasised.
FIRSTLY, conversion leads to an ABOUT-TURN of a person’s heart and will. It’s not just turning a little way.
It’s an ABOUT-TURN,
from darkness to light,
from evil to righteousness.
SECONDLY, it’s an about turn
not only of the INNER-MAN (how he thinks and feels)
but an about- turn of man’s ACTIONS.
The apostle Paul, addressing king Agrippa and many other important people, told how the risen and exalted LORD Jesus spoke to him when, on the road to Damascus, he’d been thrown from his horse and confronted with the reality of Jesus’ divinity; he said: “Paul, go and OPEN THEIR EYES. That’s what I am sending you to do. Paul, turn them from darkness to light..! Paul, turn (CONVERT) them from being under Satan’s power in misery to being under God’s power in thanksgiving.
In one sense this is a unique command and a part of a unique commission given to a unique person. The apostle Paul was to work especially among the gentiles. Not among the CHURCHED, but UNCHUR CHED. But the heart of this commission applies to all believers and to whatever kind of unbelievers we confront with the claims of the Christ. It applies also to “backsliding” covenant people.
Remember what Peter emphasised on the day of Pentecost. He called on people to (actively) REPENT, and demanded, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” And is not rebirth CONVERSION? They are words which point to the same thing. They both refer to radical and complete change and to a new life that leads to a NEW WAY OF LIFE.
Although the LORD Jesus gave this particular commission to a particular person, PAUL, THE APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES, it applies to all who want to be JESUS’ DISCIPLES and whose desire it is to do God’s work in MAKING DISCIPLES, of all nations, starting at home.
The apostle Paul had been arrested when he made this address. These rulers and other V.I.P.’s didn’t meet many prisoners like him. That’s not surprising, although in many countries of the world Paul has modern-day companions – brothers and sisters in Christ. When given the opportunity he told them something about himself. He testifies about his one- time opposition to Christian work, about his Damascus Road experience, and of his wonderful calling to bring light where there is darkness. He tells them about some of the things he had experienced during his ministry of God’s Word, and why some of his own countrymen has vowed to kill him. It was because, he said, he had not been disobedient to the LORD’s command. But the apostle wasn’t only DEFENDING the faith. He was PROCLAIMING it. That was why he was interrupted by king Agrippa. “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”
That exactly was the point! Jesus had said to him, “Paul, open their eyes. Turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God.” King Agrippa saw it straight away. He understood that Paul, who stood as a prisoner before him, was trying to convert him. And Paul replied earnestly, “…I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
Whenever as believers we have an opportunity to give an account of the HOPE God has given us we must tell of our hope in such a way that lives can be changed; that the hearer can be converted. King Agrippa saw it straight away. That was why he was so offended. Paul could not convert. We can’t convert. That’s God’s domain. But we must AIM to convert.
We also see this very clearly in the last few verses of the letter of James. Please turn to it with me; James 5:19,20. “My brothers…. multitude of sins…. WILL SAVE HIM (actively) from death.” Did you see it? “Whoever (actively) turns a sinner away from his error will save him from death. That’s the command the LORD has given us. “I am sending you to OPEN THEIR EYES, to turn them from darkness to light.”
This is the task given in a unique way to God’s apostle, yet to all of us as we have the general ministry to be evangelists. In our proclamation of the gospel we encourage, and even DEMAND of people, to turn to God in repentance and faith.
Is this such an important point to make? It is! We should not forget that there are people who are covered by the darkness of sin and who need more than just to be told about a possible solution. We must present the solution, who is Christ Jesus. We should try to BE THE SOLUTION in our Christ-like presentation of the facts and call to repentance and faith and wholeness. The misery of sin isn’t natural misery. Yes, we are born in it. Everyone is. But that’s not the way we have to live. No-one has to. People seem to understand the word “estrangement” a bit better these days. For we often mention that a husband is ESTRANGED from his wife. Though they are meant to live together in loving unity, they have become strangers to each other. That’s how a sinner is over against God until he/she repents and is converted. A stranger to God, living an estranged way of life. Sin brings many sad results. Estrangement in the marriage relationship is just one of them; and by no means the worst. People who live in darkness and unbelief are in Satan’s power. Unless they repent they will suffer eternally. There is no joy in sinfulness now. But there will be no joy whatever when a sinner’s three-score years and ten are over. We must never be ashamed to tell people what the ultimate result of unbelief is.
So, God gives us the calling to be EVANGELISTS, bearers of the good news. But that isn’t an end in itself. God gives us an OBJECTIVE and GOAL. The unbelieving must be brought to faith, or they are lost eternally. Always in darkness. Never out of Satan’s power. That was how the apostle responded to his commission as he was speaking to these V.I.P.s. He used the same language as he would have used in speaking to anyone else. The work of CONVERSION is God’s work. Only God can change a person’s heart. But it is OUR GOAL. The preacher (and this has nothing to do with standing in a pulpit), the preacher is to preach in order to make more and more people say, “Truly, the LORD of heaven and earth is a wonderful LORD.”
We have neighbours.
We have friends.
They are unbelievers.
If we practice the faith which God gives us, we will go out to change the heart of every unbeliever whom the LORD expressly brings into your life. As stewards of the gospel of peace we may aim at nothing less. More is too much. Less is not enough.
Presenting the gospel, congregation, is more than JUST presenting it. It’s more than, for example, showing someone a lovely picture, or reciting a poem. It is endeavouring to obtain a positive response. When you pray that the LORD will give someone a new heart, your personal presentation of the gospel should be challenging, with a view to bringing about conversion.
Anything less than that can be compared to telling a story for the sake of telling a story. But which story-teller is satisfied unless his audience responds? Our calling is not to TELL ABOUT the discipleship of Jesus and how good it is. Our calling is to MAKE DISCIPLES. When we can’t do this, we must at least show our love to people. When no opportunity is given us for anything else, that’s what a believer is committed to. Jesus told Peter, “I’ll make you a fisher of men.” That’s also our calling. But which fisherman in his right mind will leave his net in the boat?
Our text presents an evangelist who is busy in this positive way. While, in one way, he is a prisoner who is in their power, in another way he stands there in a freedom which these others don’t have. A man with no message worthwhile telling might have used the time allotted to him to try to make a good impression on these powerful people. Or he might have pleaded for his release. But a person charged with the office of an evangelist speaks as is appropriate for every occasion. Elsewhere Paul wrote that, for the sake of winning people to Christ, he would be weak among those who are weak and strong among those who are strong. “I have become all things to all men,” he writes in 1Cor.9:22, “so that BY ALL POSSIBLE MEANS I MIGHT SAVE SOME.” As a servant of the servant-Saviour, Jesus Christ, he will “rescue the perishing” by presenting the way of salvation, and will “care for the dying” by telling them about eternal life as a free gift of God for all who will believe.
Wherever Paul went he PLEADED with people. Can a person who cares plead with the LORD in prayer, but not plead with the person he is praying for? He pleaded with people. He taught them as a teacher with authority. He reasoned with people that faith in God is the only REASONABLE FAITH. And, of course, there were also times when he had to DEFEND his precious gospel; or, to defend himself as a minister of the gospel. When he met people who were in the grip of Satan’s darkness he was primarily concerned to bring them into the marvellous light of Jesus who said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
But speaking with authority doesn’t mean SHOUTING at people. Speaking positively and with urgency can still be accomplished with gentleness. People who listened to Jesus WARMED TO HIM because He was so different in his approach compared to the religious leaders of the church. We are not to be hard, but considerate with people and their problems. You’ll win hardly a soul if you BOMBARD people with harsh language, as if you look down on them. Are we not all sinners? Has anyone needed LESS GRACE than God’s total grace? We must show our love for people, Christlike love, which is a love that is patient, kind, without envy and anger and rudeness, a love that hopes and always perseveres.
Furthermore we must, as did the apostle, adapt ourselves to different kinds of people. There is no such thing as a two-minute gospel talk which is suitable for all people in all circumstances. God never changes. The gospel is always the same. But if you read what Paul said before these rulers, and compare it with what he said on Mars Hill in Athens, you’ll see the difference plainly. Yet he presented Christ Jesus, risen from the dead. We need to ask the LORD for guidance so that we’ll have spiritual discernment. He will help us. God has promised that. We should try to be very positive, yet, if people take offence, let it not be because of us, but because of the cross of Christ Jesus; and because we speak about an empty tomb.
Yes, results are God’s business. We must acknowledge that, as in fact all Christians do when they pray. We ask the LORD, “You do it.” But the LORD still sends us as He sent the apostle, to open the eyes of the blind, to release those who are prisoners in unbelief; to set free from the dungeon those who sit in the darkness; those who will, unless they are led to Christ, continue to have no hope for today or for tomorrow. The harvest is plentiful, Jesus said. But the labourers are few. Reach out to them, for their sake, in obedience to your commission.
Amen.