Word of Salvation – Vol.49 No.27 – July 2004 – and reprinted in:

Word of Salvation – Vol.51 No.34 – September 2006

 

The Agony of Reaching Those Who Know

 

A Sermon by Rev Albert Esselbrugge on Acts 26:27-29

Scripture Readings:  Ecclesiastes 11:7-12:14; Acts 25:23-26:3; 26:19-32

 

Brothers and sisters, young people, boys and girls.

We often speak about the teaching of the Bible and the Lord’s great commission for His people to be involved in proclaiming the gospel to the world, and not being afraid as we do so. But what we want to do now is to take up the matter of witnessing the gospel to the church. Not only must we be reaching out to those who do not belong to the Church of Christ, but we must also reach out with the message of the gospel to those who are already a part of the church, but not in the Church of our Lord.

We want to look together now at the agony of trying to reach those who already know. We have already addressed the mark or characteristic of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ where we are to be willing to go out and reach out to the people around us who are in peril of entering hell. What we are addressing today is reaching in; it is as important a mark of the church as reaching out.

I know there are parents here who experience real agony and grief over children who know all about the truth, but who for various reasons have closed their ears to the blessed grace and the love of God in Christ Jesus. I know also, that some of us agonise over how we may touch with the gospel of Jesus Christ, those friends who come to church but give every evidence of being deaf, dumb and blind to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

How we can agonise over those who know, those who have heard and even learned all the great, even the critical and fundamental teachings of the Word of God, but whose hearts seem to be so calloused and cold to the saving Word of the Gospel! We agonise over those who are so close, yet so far from knowing and experiencing the true liberation from the chains and burdens of sin.

In this regard, I want to point you to the apostle Paul, who gives us great comfort on just this. He, too, agonised over the souls of those who knew the truth, but rejected it.

As the church today has its share of fakes, the pretenders who pretend to be Christians, so the New Testament believers struggled with the same burden.

The apostle Paul in Acts 26 was on trial for his faith. He had fearlessly proclaimed, “Jesus Christ is the Son of God”. He had literally shouted it out in public, that Jesus Christ was sent into this world by His Father God, that He rose from the grave to life again after He had been put to death, and all this, so that all who call on His Name might have all their sins washed away.

Just as Jesus had said it before him, the apostle called on all who had ears to hear, to listen and be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, to submit to the Holy Spirit’s work, to receive eternal life. But remember that those who heard Paul were Jews, they were people who knew what Paul was talking about, they were people who were thoroughly familiar with the Old Testament. Paul was willing to suffer even death for the sake of the gospel, so that these people who knew the truth, might truly know it. And yet they wouldn’t listen. They rioted, and demanded that Paul be put to death. “Rid the earth of him”, they shouted, “He is not fit to live.”

And so, rescued by the Romans, Paul, under the demand of the Jews, was put on trial for his faith, and his judges were a Roman governor and a Jewish king – Herod Agrippa. Before these men, Paul launched out on his defence, which was in fact a defence of his faith. He told his life’s story. He told of how he had once persecuted the Christians with a fanatic zeal. He told how one day on a journey to Damascus to imprison and hound Christians, Christ, the Son of God appeared to him in a blaze of glory. He told how Jesus Christ had spoken to him there as he lay in terror upon the road. He told how Jesus had given him a job to do, the job of preaching a message of light and rescue to people chained in darkness and under the power of Satan, “so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith” in Christ Jesus.

You’ll notice, when you read this chapter of Acts 26, that the apostle’s whole defence was directed at King Agrippa. This man was a Jew. He had been brought up in the way of the Jewish religion. He had been raised on the teachings of the law and the prophets, the whole of the Old Testament. From earliest childhood this man had been taught that the Scriptures contain nothing but the very Word of God. This man knew what Paul was speaking about. He knew that the Christ Paul testified to, was prophesied about in the Word of God. By education and profession, he was a Jew, and as such he believed what the prophets, the writers of the Old Testament had written was the inspired, infallible Word of the Most High God.

And the apostle, in his defence of the Christian faith, turned this to his own advantage and focussed on witnessing the gospel to the king, and so in God’s purpose, perhaps to convert him. “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I KNOW YOU DO!”, he said, “I know you believe them to be the very spokesmen and messengers of God. King Agrippa, do you believe?”

What a critical moment that was in the life of this king! The gospel is a matter of life and death. Paul had with every energy declared that, “King Agrippa, Christ Jesus can take you out of the power of Satan. He can give you true life and peace. If anyone rejects Him, then I tell you, you shall die in deepest, darkest torment! King Agrippa do you believe?”

The king confronted by the challenge of the gospel had to make a choice, own up to his belief in the Scriptures, or it would count against him forever. But the king refused to make the choice. Trying to save face with the officials, he muttered, “Do you think you can make me a Christian that easily?”

Agrippa, despite his upbringing, despite Paul’s presentation of the gospel to him, never became a Christian. He wasn’t a bad man though. He did try his best to free Paul from jail. But all his goodness and godly upbringing couldn’t save him, because he refused to choose for Christ. How hard it is to reach “good” people who have a “religious” background. We know that very well, don’t we?

Parents agonise over the souls of sons and daughters, and sons and daughters agonise over the eternal destiny of the souls of parents, people who know the truth of salvation in Christ, who know the Bible to be the God’s Word, who have sat under the preaching of the Word for years, and have learned the doctrines of the Bible in Catechism classes and church education classes, but who still won’t choose Christ as their Lord and Saviour.

I came across this poem which expresses the struggle well.

It’s called, ‘Parents who Pray’.

I wash the dirt from little feet and, as I wash, I pray,

“Lord keep them ever pure and true to walk the narrow way”.

I wash the dirt from little hands and earnestly I ask,

“Lord, may they ever yielded be to do the humblest task!”

I wash the dirt from little knees and pray,

“Lord may they be, in places where victories are won and orders sought from Thee.”

I scrub the clothes that soil so soon and pray,

“Lord may her dress, throughout eternal ages be Thy robe of Righteousness.”

Ere many hours pass I know I’ll wash those hands again,

And there’ll be dirt upon the dress before the day shall end:

But as she journeys on through life and learns of want and pain,

“Lord keep her precious little heart cleansed from all sin and stain.

For soap and water cannot reach where Thou alone canst see;

Her hands and feet – these I can wash; I trust her heart to Thee.”

(B Ryberd)

Every Christian parent knows the struggle of that poem. But when our children grow up, or when we are close to others and we see them drifting along, stuck between two opinions, stuck between Christ and the world, then we become scared and agonise over the question, “What will become of them? Don’t they know the urgency of the situation? Don’t they see how vitally important it is to cast their souls upon the mercy and grace of God in Christ?”

And then in our fear, we plead, and we bully, and lecture, and lay down the rules in desperate efforts to make them choose Christ.

The elders, too, agonise over those of us who appear to be drifting from the faith, especially over those who show no signs of a fruitful Christian life. Long discussions are held as to how as a church we shall act. Will the elders go and reprimand the person? How will they react? Will it be better to be patient and use gentler means, involve others (friends perhaps, or family members), or perhaps invite the people over for coffee and try to affirm the positive things and encourage them to continue to struggle? Perhaps the preaching of the minister should hone in on the difficulties of those who know but aren’t doing anything about it. Perhaps the minister should make an appointment with them and spend time with them? What shall we do that will bring a person who knows the truth of the Way of salvation to make a decision for Christ?

Jesus once said, “I come not to minister to the healthy, but to seek and to save that which was lost”, but the problem would seem to be, people who have a Christian background just don’t feel the need for a Saviour, and so God’s people agonise over them, they are so close, and yet so far – so with hearts full of anguish, we pray, “Lord their hearts we trust to you, Lord, use us to wash their hands and feet, their dirty knees and their clothes, that in this way we may minister your love, but Lord their hearts we leave to you.”

That’s what the apostle Paul did. Paul was faced with a man who wanted to believe in God, but didn’t want God to interfere in his life; a ‘good’ man who let his pride keep him from exercising faith in the only Saviour, a man who could only reply to the call of the gospel. “I feel the force of your persuasive arguments, but do you really think you can persuade me to be a Christian in such a short time. Man, I know what the prophets say. But I live a good life. I’m a solid upstanding citizen. I need more than what you have to convince me.”

Paul’s response was prayer. He said, “I pray God that not only you but all who are listening today may become what I am, except for these chains.”

There was in fact nothing more he could do. He had given his best effort in the proclamation of the gospel. He had been kind, polite, but firm. He hadn’t beaten around the bush. He had been direct. And he had brought praise and glory to the Name of Jesus. But his appeals had been rejected. There was nothing left for him to do, but to earnestly pray for the souls of these poor unbelievers. In his prayer he will most certainly have asked the One True God, that He might send His Holy Spirit to touch the stony hearts, deaf ears and blind eyes of those people, so that they too might know and experience the complete forgiveness of sins, and be washed clean so as to be made a part of Christ’s body, and so in God’s time enter into paradise, just as he would.

And there’s the lesson we may learn from this great servant of the Lord. He was laughed at. His former colleagues, the Pharisees, at first just sneered at him, then later turned and hated him so much that they wanted him dead. He was called a madman. And yet, with great courage and trust in the Almighty, he went on to tell of Christ, and Him crucified, for the forgiveness of sin to all who turn to Him and choose Him. Paul went on, because he knew that Christ’s name must be glorified, “for the momentary afflictions of this life are not worthy of comparison with the glory that awaits God’s people in heaven.”

So often, we are too timid, too careful, too scared of placing the gospel of salvation in front of our children and others, because we think we might chase them away and turn them off. Somehow we seem to think that by putting the One Name, and One Way of salvation in front of them is like casting pearls before swine. And that may be true, but not until we have agonised long and deep in prayer for their souls, and in presenting Christ. So often we walk about with our silence, burdened by a heavy heart, and we grow spiritual ulcers, instead of politely, firmly and kindly confronting each other with the truth of Jesus Christ, and prayer – “their hands and feet – these I can wash; I trust their hearts to you.”

And congregation, if you hear these words now… and you are one who knows the truth, but have not yet openly, consciously and unashamedly chosen for Christ, if you feel anything at all now, if you are stirred in any way at all, then know this, it is the Lord God Almighty at work.

Is the Spirit of God at work here today? Congregation pray. Pray that God will forgive us our sins in His Son. His promise is that He will if we ask Him to. Pray that God will make us alive in Jesus. Pray that He will fill our lives. Because congregation, there are a great number of other people in agony over the eternal destiny of your souls.

In the words of the apostle Paul….

“I pray God that… all who are listening to me today may become what I am”, forgiven, redeemed, an eternally blessed child of God.

Amen.