Word of Salvation – Vol. 29 No. 30 – August 1984
Biblical Evangelism (IV)
Sermon by Rev. H. W. Pennings, v.d.m. on John 3:16
Scripture Readings: John 3:16-21; Acts 17:22-31
Suggested Hymns: BoW 702; 377; 412; 405
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
In this sermon we bring to a conclusion a series of sermons about evangelism. The word evangelism itself seems to strike fear into people; as if, somehow, it presents an impossible situation. That’s why, for a while, I considered not even using the word “evangelism”. Yet all it is, is telling good news! This morning/evening we concentrate on the subject, “What is the MESSAGE of an evangelist?” We have already looked at what the Scripture teaches about PRAYING for people, about the question, “WHAT IS EVANGELISM?”, and about the aim of evangelism. But what is our message? In twenty minutes you can’t repeat the whole story of Scripture. What sort of things MUST BE MADE CLEAR to people to whom we are aiming to bring the message of the glorious kingdom of our Saviour?
Of course, our text John 3:16 is very well known. That’s because in it find the heart of the gospel put so very simply. What it teaches is the minimum of what a person needs to know in order to know the truth about God and about man so that he/she can make a meaningful commitment to Christian discipleship. There are four main subjects which we must at least touch on before a meaningful commitment can be made. They are:
(1) the doctrine of our relationship to God
(2) the doctrine of sin
(3) the doctrine of the person and work of Jesus Christ, and
(4) the doctrine of justification by faith.
In our text the word “to believe” is central, and the rest of the verse explains it. You may note that we will hardly even touch on what the Bible teaches about eternal life.
It’s very important, but because so many people think Christians “do Christian things” only in order “to go to heaven” our emphasis has to be on the fact that we love the LORD because He is so worthy to be worshipped and loved.
1. What do we mean when we talk about GOD?
When the apostle Paul in Athens found the altar with the inscription, “To the unknown god”, he used his experience to teach us a valuable lesson. They worshipped “a god”. Also today many people “intuitively” understand that there is, somehow, a god. People talk about God. The word “God” comes up all the time, even by those who are convinced that there is no “God”. That is to be our starting point. We start with God. Who is God?
God is unknowable EXCEPT in the way that He has revealed Himself. The apostle Paul started off by explaining that we all owe our very existence to God. In other words, he explained that God is the CREATOR, and that we are CREATURES. Scripture tells us that not only do we owe our existence to God, but that FOR GOOD OR FOR ILL we are in His hands. He is the potter, and we are the clay. And the clay cannot tell the potter what to do.
God made us, and without Him (in the sense of: without acknowledging Him and without worshipping Him) we are not what God wants us to be. That’s our starting point in evangelism. God has created man, and He has created man to have FELLOWSHIP, COMMUNICATION with Him. We have to stick to simple terms. God is our Creator. Even those who want to cannot hide from Him. He allows us a certain freedom in that He allows us to rebel against Him. But God’s desire is that we know Him and love Him. The apostle Paul explained to those people who spoke about an unknown ‘god’: “From one man God made every nation of men… For in Him we live and move and have our being.” In fact, “We are His offspring (children).” We CAN DO what by nature we want. But we SHOULD DO what He wants. God claims the right to be obeyed in love and thankfulness.
When we speak about God as the Creator it’s quite possible that we will be challenged. People will want to talk about the theory of evolution. Maybe there are times when we have to defend our faith by pointing out that this is only one of a great many ideas people have come up with to explain human life and the meaning and purpose of human life. But you cannot go into that when you want to present the gospel to your neighbour or friend. Satan will try to keep you from a positive proclamation by trying to put you on the defence. Try to remain positive and stick to the point. You want your neighbour/friend to meet Jesus and to experience His love and grace. They won’t meet Him if you digress. So, emphasise that God is the Creator and that man is His creature, but that we have gone our own way; that we don’t live as children of God.
2. As the Creator God has set certain standards and He demands that we live according to those standards.
But the first people God created sinned, and everyone since has sinned. Sinners cannot communicate or have fellowship with God. God won’t allow it. People who are sinners Scripture says, will have to give an account of their sins at the time of judgement, and will perish.
When you talk about SIN and its consequence you should not highlight SINS (plural). For sin is not so much breaking individual commandments, it is A WAY OF LIFE. If you are able to get someone to admit that he/she has stolen or has been deceitful or has used ungodly or unseemly language that will have little purpose. A SINNER is a person who refuses to love God and give Him the place of honour and lordship in his life. Sin is a matter of our relationship with God. A sinner is a person who has rejected God’s claims on his life. We must emphasise that, and explain it as best we can. A person doesn’t perish because he is an adulterer. A sinner is someone who puts God out of his life. God made man to love and obey Him, but He didn’t make man a puppet who does this automatically. We have a responsibility to love and obey God, but we also have the freedom to perish without Him. Sin, ultimately, is unbelief. That is the only sin that in the end will not be forgiven.
It’s so easy to miss the point about sin and many Christians do when they try to evangelise. Sin isn’t a social disease. I do not sin against you and you do not sin against me. We sin against God. When you ask people, “Are you sorry for sin?” and they answer, “Yes, I’m sorry for some of the things I’ve said and have hurt people; and for some of the things I’ve done and have hurt people,” that is not repentance. We have to admit that, if sin were social, there would be as many good people among unbelievers as among believers. The sign which we see on some cars “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” could be quite misleading. Christians ARE perfect! Not because we obey the commandments, but because we have that right relationship with God. Of course, Jesus also suffered because of our social sins, and they are forgiven. But sin is still not social but spiritual. We sin against God. Jesus is a Saviour, not a social worker or a psychiatrist. That’s how we must present Him.
In evangelism we are presenting good news for sinners, but in order to tell the good news we must also tell the bad news about sin. For it’s totally bad. Criminals might be roses with diseased leaves. Sinners are weeds.
3. But our God is a merciful God.
That’s how we must present Him. He hates sin. No sinner should expect his ungodly lifestyle to be overlooked, for it won’t be. Yet, God’s love for this world of sinners is unspeakably rich.
There is mercy with God. It is our delight to tell about God’s mercy. We love God’s justice, for it’s perfect and it includes mercy. Our aim is that sinners meet Jesus, because through Jesus comes salvation, wholeness. Jesus came into the world NOT to condemn the world, but to SAVE the world, John 3:17. But, who is Jesus? It’s important that we tell the truth about Jesus, just as important as telling the truth about God the Creator/Father and about sin.
Jesus is the miracle of the Son of God who has lowered Himself to become man. The Son of God has existed as God ALWAYS, but as man he was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.” It’s a mystery about which you have to tell even though it’s a miracle. You can’t EXPLAIN it. For God so loved the world that He became man in Jesus Christ while remaining God the FATHER and God the Son and God the HOLY SPIRIT. This fact has to be told. That a man called Jesus died on the cross makes no sense in itself. It’s part of the WHOLE of God’s work of redemption. When you say to people, “Jesus Christ can bring you into a right relationship with God again,” you must explain who Jesus is. It needs to be told, though at first very simply, that the love of God for sinners started even before He created the heavens and the earth. We need to present the doctrine of the PERSON OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS as well as the doctrine of the WORK OF GOD in Him.
And then we must tell about the climax of Jesus’ work. We have to make sure that the blame for Jesus’ death is laid to the account of every sinner. It was our sin which caused Jesus to surrender His life on the cross. He died so that man who is living a PERISHING life can have the sure hope of ETERNAL life. It was not just our sinning, breaking each of the Ten Commandments, that made Jesus show us God’s love in that final way. It was because we are totally estranged from God from birth, and live as strangers to God. Jesus is the Saviour of sinners in that He saves us from EVERY SIN and from our SINFUL NATURE. Jesus as Saviour is not someone who pulls a drowning person out of the water. Scripture says that we ARE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SIN. Jesus as Saviour gives dead people new life! That’s the kind of Saviour we need… and honour!
When we have presented these three doctrines: of God the CREATOR who has a claim to our love and honour; of SIN which is estrangement from God; and of JESUS’ PERSON and WORK, we’ve presented the facts about the way of salvation. But, we must admit, there is one fact missing. We’ve told our neighbour or friend how God stretches out His hands to us; that He needs to because, otherwise, we remain dead in sin. We believe these things, that is, we have faith that they are true. But faith is more than that.
4. Faith is believing these things to be true, but it must be put into a personal context.
“I believe that it is true for ME!” Yes, it was to sinful mankind that Jesus Christ came. And God says: “Whoever believes is not condemned.” In Jesus Christ God is STRETCHING OUT His hand of love. But woe to the person who thinks, “I don’t need love and forgiveness.” We must make sure that, in our presentation of the facts, it leads to the same kind of questioning response we find in John 6:28. “What must we do to do the works God requires?” That’s an essential question. Then you can quote the answer which Jesus gave long ago. “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.”
Many people make distinctions between certain kinds of sin. In time past, and even sometimes today, certain sins committed by church-members have to be confessed before the congregation. But according to Scripture, we must tell people, there is only one ULTIMATE sin. It’s the sin of unbelief. Jesus came so that those who believe in Him will not perish. But all unbelievers who have heard the gospel and REMAIN UNBELIEVERS will perish. It’s the ultimate sin, and the question of faith is the ultimate question. Some believe that they don’t need to have faith in Jesus. Others believe that it doesn’t make any difference anyway.
But the Scriptures declare that true confession of sin – that is, of a sinful existence as well as individual sins too numerous to mention that a true confession of sin will lead to true faith in Jesus’ person and work, and that God rewards that true faith with eternal life.
There is no substitute for faith in Jesus Christ. Resolutions to “do better” or to “turn over a new leaf” still leave a person estranged from God. It is the message of the evangelist that FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST is the wonderful gift of God which restores the broken relationship. Through faith we become children of God. Is there a more wonderful message?
In 1517 Martin Luther placed on the notice-board in the German city of Wittenberg 95 statements. Most people who have studied a bit of history will have heard of them. This is how the first statement began. “When our LORD and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent”, He called for THE ENTIRE LIFE OF BELIEVERS to be one of repentance.” That’s because true faith in Jesus Christ isn’t the result of repenting for this sin and that sin. We have to make that clear. TRUE repentance which is a result of TRUE faith concerns the whole of life, and that true faith alone lasts for ever.
We must prayerfully and faithfully declare who God is. We must explain what sin is. We must present Jesus Christ as God’s answer to our dire need. And then we must say, “Will you, too, believe in Jesus Christ?” For when Jesus said, “The Father sent me,” He added, “So I send you.” He sends us with the message of God’s answer, to turn people away from total darkness and to lead them to Jesus who is the world’s total light. We are where we are by God’s appointment. And we are here to proclaim with joy and with hope that faith in Jesus Christ brings eternal life. Sinners are reconciled with God by faith. They became God’s adopted children. They may call God, “Abba”, “Father”. We must declare that it isn’t the will of the God who truly loves this world, that even one person perishes eternally. He calls upon all to walk with their hand in His hand.
That is to be our message. It’s a message of hope. There is no better or higher calling than the one we all share. Sometimes that responsibility seems heavy. But it is the burden Jesus has given us for the world’s sake. Jesus makes that burden light. He said so.
Amen.