War Update
Week 3: Basic Evangelism Training 101
By Miles Crouse
19 May
2007
Saturday morning, 10AM
Ephesians 6:12
Introduction: I want to once again welcome you to the war. This morning we will have a briefing on the progress of the war. This morning we are going to see:
But right now, the battle is thick! The enemy is all around us. In fact…
I. War is raging
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
This is not a battle against mere human beings. We are in a warfare against supernatural forces.
What is it all about? It is about who shall have the supremacy, Christ or Satan. It is a struggle for the souls of men. It is a battle to keep people out of Hell. It is a struggle to get people saved. It is a warfare, a conflict until the final finish. And every one of us is engaged in it.
Do you realize that you are in a raging warfare?
Evangelism is a spiritual endeavor. God is raising sinners from the grave! We cannot expect to mechanically manipulate people into God’s Kingdom. We are totally reliant upon the POWER of God’s Holy Spirit. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).
A. We must experience God’s POWER. “Ye shall receive power” (Acts 1:8). God is always the initiator in evangelism. Without the power of God to move us out of our front door and into the lives of unbelievers, we will remain apathetic toward evangelism. We need the Lord’s power—his motivating influence.
Jesus said, “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:15).
Matthew 28:18 “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”
Romans 13:1 “For there is no power, but of God . . .”
1 Corinthians 1:24 “Christ, [IS CALLED] the [VERY] power of God…
B. God’s Power is SPECIFIC “YE shall receive power.”
God’s power is upon those who are REDEEMED.
Remember Isaiah 43:1-2 when you are in the midst of the battle: “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
If you are born again by the power of God, then you have the unction of the Spirit—you have the power of God. God has actually raised you to life to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to everyone you see! We must not be ashamed of the Gospel. Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so!
Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth”.
C. The Greatest HINDERANCE to God’s Power.
Having said that, I believe the greatest hindrance to evangelism is unregenerate church members. There are people in our churches that do not want to evangelize the lost, because they themselves are lost. So if you are not redeemed, why would you want to evangelize?
II. Casualty report: The enemy has been spotted and it seams there all dead.
Illustration (The Coroner's Report): After the coroner has made every known test, he gives the following report. “The man is without a single evidence of spiritual life. He is DEAD”.
Ephesians 2:1-5, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved”.
A. The sinner is Really, Most Sincerely Dead!
In the film The Wizard of Oz, the Coroner of Munchkin land comes out to examine the recently departed “wicked witch of the West”. His findings were as follows:
As
Coroner, I thoroughly examined her
And she's not only merely dead
She's really most sincerely dead
Dead is dead! A person cannot be merely dead, but is most sincerely dead! Lost people are not simply sick, they are dead!
There is an old saying, "Where there is life there is hope." When it is discovered that someone is desperately sick, we rush them to the hospital in the hopes of keeping them alive. When they are dead, all hope is gone, and we take them to the grave yard. A lost sinner is not "sick nigh unto death," he is really spiritually dead. He is not a hospital case who might respond to the right treatment. He is dead to righteousness and alive to sin. He loves his death in sin and hates both the doctor and the medicine. The sinner would rather perish than admit he is a sinner. He is a grave yard case that needs a life giving miracle.
B. We need a resurrection! A miracle!
I sometimes try to picture the scene in John 11. I see the stone rolled away from the grave of Lazarus and three men are there.
1. First man (The one who has confidence in man’s power)
The first one is looking into the dark tomb and passionately pleading with the dead Lazarus inside.
“Lazarus, if you will only give God a chance, He will give you life. If you just take the first step, then the Holy Spirit will make you come alive. God honestly wants to make you live, but its all up to you. Lazarus, this is a great deal that God is offering but your 'free will' must decide to take advantage of it. You must get up and take that first step in faith.”
That may be just a bit of a caricature, but not much. That is exactly the way some free-will preachers talk.
2. Second man (The hyper-Calvinist who never evangelizes)
The second man I see at the tomb of Lazarus is what we call a Hyper-Calvinist. He is sitting down and calmly writing a treatise of the futility of preaching to dead sinners. This pathetic creature never preaches or witnesses the gospel and he discourages and condemns those who do. Since Lazarus is "dead" this man concludes that it is a waste of time to address the dead sinner in any way.
3. Third man (the Obedient Follower of Christ)
The third man is a preacher of the Biblical Gospel. While the second man sneers and the first man gasps for breath, the third man cries out, "Sinner, believe! Lazarus, come out!" And Lazarus walks out of the tomb. If we interviewed the third man, the questions might go as follows:
"Were you fully aware that Lazarus was totally dead in that tomb?"
"Of course I was. Is not that what Scripture says?"
"Did you think that Lazarus had the ability to hear and respond to your message?"
"Not for a moment. How can a dead man respond to my voice?"
"Why did you command him to believe when you knew he was unable to comply because he was dead?"
The man would smile and say, "Friend, my confidence was neither in my ability to preach and invite, nor was it in the supposed (wrongly) power of Lazarus' 'free will.' My whole confidence was in the power of the Words that I spoke. I spoke the Words of Christ believing that Christ Himself has the power to wake the dead and give them faith."
My friend, the gospel is the power of God that can "wake the dead" when it is attended by the power of the Holy Spirit.
See John 5:21-25, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”
III. Victory is guaranteed—We Have Guaranteed Victory
A. Illustration of Victory: Moses and the Amalekites (Exodus 17).
Let me give you a Bible illustration of it.
We read in chapter 17 of Exodus where the children of Israel were fighting against the Amalekites. They were the descendants of Amalek. It was an
Amalekite who killed King Saul because he would not destroy the flesh.
Amalekites in the Bible stand for the flesh and its power. The children of Israel, in chapter 17 of the Book of Exodus, are gathering against the Amalekites. Here is
a great picture. Moses said to Joshua, the general of the army, “I want you to
go down yonder in the valley and fight against those Amalekites. Slay them. God
has said that the Amalekites must be destroyed—men, women and children. Destroy
them from the face of the earth. They represent the flesh.”
Moses, yonder on the mountaintop, lifts his hands toward
God. He has no sword. He does not touch an Amalekite. He is not actually
engaged physically in the conflict. He reaches his hands toward God; and when
he does, down yonder in the valley, Joshua and the children of Israel literally put to flight and slay the Amalekites.
When his hands grow tired, they fall down to his side. When they fall, the Amalekites begin to win. God says to Aaron on one side and Hur on the other, “Hold up the hands of Moses toward Heaven, because when his hands are lifted toward God, the children of Israel win; and when they are not lifted toward God, the children of Israel lose.”
The conflict was not being won by what went on in the valley but by what went on upon the mountaintop.
B. The Battle and the Victory is the Lord’s to win!
And so it is today this spiritual war being fought in the trenches is being won from on high. Why? Because “the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
God is not willing to lose one of the sheep He died for.
The bride chosen by the Father to give to His Son before the foundation of the world, the one He has loved and still loves and will always love with an everlasting love will be perfect and complete.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day (John 6:39, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day”).
Application: We are simply tools in the Master’s hands. It is our job to sow and water the seed or preach the Gospel and God’s job to give it life. As 1 Corinthians 3:7 so clearly says, “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” It’s not about us winning the a soul, it is God who must give the increase!
C. The actual saving is not found in our clever arguments or in our persuasion.
This saving conviction of sin is not the work of a preacher; or his persuasive arguments. If Christ does not speak, there is no preaching. All the wisdom of the world, all the glittering oratory of a wonderfully fluent and attractive speaker, all the sentimentalism of a modern revivalist, all the touching stories he may be able to tell, all his emotional begging and pleading, are vain. The unregenerate sinner is like Lazarus dead in the grave and until or unless Jesus calls his name he is still four (4) days dead and he stinketh. It is not even the work of the sinner himself; it is the work of God's sovereign grace alone. And without it, the sinner will never take the first step out of the spiritual grave on the way to Jesus.
1. No man can come to Jesus, except the Father draw him! And this is a matter of experience of every sinner that is saved by grace.
2. And while it is absolutely certain that "whosoever will may come." And it is equally certain that whosoever comes will certainly be received. No one was ever refused that came to Christ to be saved. No one ever approached the river of the water of life, thirsty and faint, and was denied a drink. Whosoever comes to eat of the bread of life will not be sent away hungry. One that will come to Christ does not have to hesitate. He need not fear that he will be disappointed or ashamed. If one asks he shall receive. He that seeketh shall surely find. To him that knocks it surely shall be opened. On this you may depend. Such is the gospel.
3. And the gospel is the promise of God that can never fail. And this promise of the gospel is so indubitably sure to every one that comes to Christ, because before one can ever come to Him, and even before one can will to come, the grace of God already operated in his inmost heart and wrought this will to come in him. Grace is always first. The coming of the sinner is the fruit of God's drawing.
IV. Orders remain unchanged. The orders remain unchanged from our Commander and Chief. They are “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Conclusion: Don’t shoot to kill instead, shoot to make alive. In most wars he objective is to kill the enemy however in God’s war the enemy is already dead and the objective is to use the Gospel Gun make them alive. Remember to use the laser guided missile that goes straight for the heart (“the Law that is written on the heart”) that brings the knowledge of sin. The Law of the Lord is the perfect weapon, not to bring death, but to “convert the soul”! Wow, a weapon that brings life!!