Our Greatest Weapon

Week 2: Basic Evangelism Training 101

By Miles Crouse

12 May 2007
Saturday morning, 10AM
2 Corinthians 10:4-5

 

Introduction:  Open your Bible to 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.  The title of our lesson is “Our Greatest Weapon”.  As evangelists for the Lord, we need to know our weapons.

 

Let’s look at our text in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”. 

 

The Lord didn’t leave us without something to fight with.

And the weapons the Lord has given us, we have the weapons to win.

 

You know, you can have the finest buildings in the world, you can have the most beautiful church in the world, but that will not win the battle. It is a spiritual battle.

So, “the weapons of our warfare are not physical, but are mighty through God.”

 

What are they? The Lord has given us something to fight with. It is amazing, astounding, pathetic and pitiful how little the average Christian uses the weapons the Lord has given him to fight this warfare.

 

I.          First of all, there is the Word of God. There is absolutely nothing in this world like it. Chapter 6 of Ephesians tells us that one of our weapons is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Can you imagine a fellow going off to fight and not having a sword? He is to have it in his heart, in his life and in his mind. But the average Christian does not use the weapon of the Word of God.

 

When the Devil came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, three times from one Old Testament book, Jesus said, “It is written.… It is written.…It is written.” And when Jesus met the Devil, He unsheathed His sword and fought the Devil with the Word of God.
 

There is no other way for the Christian to fight.

 

These are not ordinary days. Our enemy is not an ordinary foe. Just ordinary human weapons will never win the victory. We have the same powerful weapons and the same mighty God today that Moses had when he won the victory from the whole Egyptian nation. David slew Goliath with a slingshot and a smooth pebble from the brook, but God’s power was in it all. I had rather have a slingshot and God than the mighty sword of Goliath and have to depend on the power of the flesh.

 

God’s weapons in this warfare are sufficient for every test. The mighty power of God can melt the hardest hearts of men. We need not quake and fear in the presence of the enemy. God’s Word says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37).
 

Dear friends, we are “more than conquerors.” No foe can stand against the church of Jesus Christ if the church is appareled in the armor of the Lord and fighting with His weapons.

 

And army travels on its stomach.

And a malnourish army will be weak and trampled by it’s enemy

 

II.       Second, there is Prayer.  And we as Christians must feed on God’s word daily and come into God presence in daily prayer. Remember last week we said: If the church is ever to get on its feet it must first get on its knees. As Jeremiah 33:3 clearly reminds us, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

 

III.     Finally, in evangelism there is the most important and greatest weapon, the Law.

 

Illustration: The Laser Guided missile.  If you where in war with a fierce enemy, what would be your weapon of choice?  --A stone, a bow and arrow or spear.  How about a laser guided missile?

 

Well a laser guided missile is the obvious answer and that’s what the law is like a laser guided missile right to the heart of man. The place where God has written His law is upon the heart of man. A place that goes around the intellect and speaks directly to a man’s conscience.

 

Timothy 1:9-10, “Knowing 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, 10  For 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”

 

Charles Spurgeon, called the Prince of Preachers, also stated, “I do not believe that any man can preach the Gospel who does not preach the Law. The Law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the Gospel through a man’s heart unless you first send the needle of the Law to make way for it.”

 

The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. So How do we preach the gospel to mans heart?  The law.  The Law was designed primarily as an evangelistic weapon.

A weapon that is use for pulling down the strong hold that bind men’s hearts.

 

Paul wrote in Romans 7:7, “I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.”

 

We’ll look at some of the functions of God’s law for humanity.

The Five Functions of God’s law

1.      Bear Witness with the Conscience

2.      Stop Proud Hearts from Boasting (“I’m a pretty good person”)

3.      Tells us What Sin Is

4.      Bring the Knowledge of Sin & a Need for the Saviour

5.      Brings us to Christ!

 

A.   Bear Witness with the Conscience

 

Romans 2:14-15, “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 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”.

 

B.   To stop proud sinners from boasting ( “I’m a pretty good person”) 

Romans 3:19 “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”

 

So one of the function of God’s law is to stop the mouth. To stop sinners from justifying themselves and saying, “There’s plenty of people worse than me. I’m not a bad person. Really.” No, the law stops the mouth of justification and leaves the whole world, guilty before God.

 

C.   Tells us What Sin Is.  So God’s law tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, “Sin is transgression of the law.” Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then?” says Paul. “Is the law sin? God forbid! No, I had not known sin but by the law.” Paul says, “I didn’t know what sin was until the law told me.”

 

D.   Bring the Knowledge of Sin & a Realization of Need for the Saviour.  As Romans 3:20 says, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin...”  

 

E.   Brings us to Christ!  In Galatians 3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

 

God’s law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in His blood.   The law doesn’t help us; it just leaves us helpless. It doesn’t justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God.

 

The Bible says in Psalm 19:7, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul.”  God’s Law can actually convert the soul!

 

Conclusion: (Groaninzin’s Disease)… You see, if you came to me and said, “Hey, Miles,” and I said, “Yeah.” You said, “This is a cure to Groaninzin’s disease; I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I’m giving it to you as a free gift.” I’d probably react something like this: “What? Cure to what? Groaninzin’s disease? You sold your house to raise the money to get this cure? You’re giving it to me as a free gift? Why, thanks a lot. Bye.…That guy’s a nut.” I mean, that’s probably how I’d react if you sold your house to raise the money to get a cure for a disease I’d never heard of and your giving it to me as free gift, I’d think you’re rather strange.

 

But instead, if you came to me and said, “Miles, you’ve got Groaninzin’s disease. I can see ten clear symptoms on your flesh. You’re going to be dead in two weeks.” And I became convinced I had the disease (the symptoms were so evident), and said, “Oh! What shall I do?” And then you said, “Don’t worry. This is a cure to Groaninzin’s disease. I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I’m giving it to you as a free gift.” I’m not going to despise your sacrifice; I’m going to appreciate it and I’m going to appropriate it. Why? Because I’ve seen the disease that I might appreciate the cure.

 

And sadly, what’s happened in the U.S. and the Western world as follow is that we have preached the cure without first convincing of the disease. We have preached a gospel of grace without first convincing men of the law, that they’re transgressors; and, consequently, almost everyone I try and witness to in America or around the Bible belt has been born-again six or seven times. You say, “You need to give your life to Jesus Christ.” “Uh, I did that when I was seven, eleven, seventeen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty-two…” You know the guy’s not a Christian. He’s a fornicator. He’s a blasphemer, but he thinks he’s saved because he’s been “born-again”. What’s happening? He’s using the grace of our God for an occasion of the flesh. He doesn’t esteem the sacrifice. For him it’s not a bad thing to trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb. 10:29). Why? Because he’s never been convinced of the disease that he might appreciate the cure.

 

Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never will you see Jesus giving the gospel, the good news, the cross, the grace of our God, to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous person. No, no. With the law He breaks the hard heart and with the gospel He heals the broken heart.

 

“Everyone who is proud of heart,” scripture says, “is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs16:5)