Randall
Caselman
1-11-98
Type: Sermon
Evangelism – Ready To Give An Answer
Reading — 1 Peter 3.8-22
Tonight, I want to talk, more than preach. I want us to think and talk about evangelism. Evangelism is:
• The core.
• The nucleus.
• The essence
Of Christianity.
For instance, God, the Father, is evangelistic.
Two thirds of God is go. God so loved the world that he sent His only Begotten Son. God only had one Son and He WAS... IS evangelistic. And here it is church... God ask us to be like Him. We must be:
• Like God, ready to send.
• Like Jesus, ready to go.
The Holy Spirit is evangelistic. Evangelism, saving lost souls, is the whole purpose of God’s word. This book is evangelistic. The work of the holy Spirit has one focus... Revel Christ to save the lost. In Scripture the Holy Spirit says;
• Jesus is coming,
• Jesus has come,
• Jesus is coming again.
You see, the Old Testament is evangelistic: Aabraham was evangelistic... According to Romans 4.16, He is father of the faithful. The law of Moses was evangelistic. Paul declares, in Galatians 3.24, the law was a school master to bring us to Jesus.
There is a lot of talk today about the subject of hermeneutics... Proper understanding and interpretation of Scripture. We must know tonight that really, evangelism must be the center of our hermeneutic. There is no proper understanding the Bible, we cannot rightly divide and handle right the word of God, outside of the gospel. And, who would try to contend that the gospel is not evangelistic? INDEED! The gospel is for all.
In the churches of Christ, we do things out of a three pronged hermeneutic: Before anything is considered or understood to be doctrine, it must pass one of three test.
• First, is there a direct command for this belief or practice?
• Secondly, is there a New Testament example of the practice?
• Thirdly, is there a necessary inference that this belief or practice is
mandatory?
Evangelism, communicating Jesus Christ, to others passes all three of these test.
• We have direct command.
Go into all the world, preach the gospel to everyone, baptizing them and teaching them all that Jesus commanded. This is the command from the lips of Jesus Himself.
• We have New Testament Example.
Luke tells us in Act 8, Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
• And we have necessary inference.
In Acts 4.12, Peter says, Salvation is found in no-one else, except in Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. If there salvation is only possible only through Christ, it is necessarily inferred that we must be evangelistic... We must communicate Jesus to our world.
Church, there should be no doubt that we are to be evangelistic.
• By command,
• By example,
• And by necessary inference.
We need to understand here that no Christian, NO CHRISTIAN INDIVIDUAL can excuse his or her self from being evangelistic. Peter, in our text, is writing to those in the New Testament church and he says... Note verse 15.
• Acknowledge Jesus in your life.
Acknowledging Jesus as Lord is the duty of every single Christian... RIGHT?
• Always, Always, be ready to give an answer, give a reason for the hope
that you have in Jesus.
Church, is there any doubt at we ALL must be ready to give an answer? Peter is not writing to JUST preachers, Elders, teachers or deacons... Not just to missionaries. Being evangelistic means that each of us are to be ready to:
• Give a Bible answer as to why we acknowledge Jesus as Lord...
• Give a reason as to why we serve Him..
• Why we are interested in others becoming disciples of Jesus.... Children of God, saved folk.
Here it is audience, evangelism is nothing more than:
•Being ready,
• Prepared,
• Willing,
To give an answer for our hope, our faith. Question!... Are we evangelistic?
Now, when we define evangelism for the purpose of the lesson tonight, we are talking about everything:
• Our local preaching and teaching.
• In home Bible studies.
• Our bulletin and tape ministry.
• Our support of missionaries like;
Selwyn in Cape Town South Africa.,
Javier in Colombia,
Alvaro Ortize Lopez in Honduras.
• Friendship evangelism where we talk about Jesus and invite our
friends and neighbors to participate with us in things spiritual.
• Evangelism could be simply be good works, in the community, done to
others as a demonstration of Jesus working in and through us as His
people.
OK — We want to know how... How can we, each one of us, be evangelistic?
First, we must have the proper attitude and approach.
We must not have an arrogant or argumentive spirit. Sometimes right answers may have wrong results, because of a poor attitude on our part. Notice, if you will, Peter’s advice in verses 15 and 16.
• Be gentle.
• Be respectful.
• Be of clear conscience.
What are you saying Peter? Don’t be arrogant, harsh and argumentive in your evangelistic efforts. We must respect peoples beliefs. We must remember they hold them as truth.
Secondly, make sure your personal life is a proper example, a proper witness for Jesus.
Peter is saying we must practice what we preach. Make sure we have a clear conscience before God and a proper motive in our trying to persuade others. Grandma was right when she said, our actions speak louder than words. Some people can’t hear what we are saying for what we are.
Evangelism is the work of bringing the lost to Jesus. It must be done with:
• Gentleness.
• With respect for the faith of others.
• And by proper everyday example.
You see, we can all be evangelistic... Can’t we?
Let’s look at evangelism acrosticly. Being ready to give an answer for our hope means.
R — Resist the temptation to argumentive or debate issues.
Now, I am not saying we a cannot point our error with the truth.. I am not saying we should not use the sward of the Spirit to defend truth. I am saying, we must resist the trade off between winning an argument, and losing a soul over a point of difference that may not be important at the time. We can win an argument, while leaving the soul devastated.
A man walked into my study this week in tears and asked, if the pastor was in. I didn’t set him straight, with an explanation that I was not a pastor. It was evident that he was hurting and needed comfort, not an argument over who was Biblically qualified to wear the title pastor.
E—Exemplify Christ like behavior at all times.
Jesus was honest, but never mean spirited and ugly with people.
A—Always be in an attitude of prayer.
I have people tell me, they have loved ones and friends that they want to bring to Christ, but don’t know how. Have you asked for God’s help? Have we begged God’s divine intervention:
• To give us the wisdom needed to know what to say and when to say it.
• And His intervention in opening their heart to that truth.
But brother Randall, I’ve talked to them for hours. Question! How many hours have we spent in prayer for them? Consider this tonight... For every hour spent in talking to others, let there be a corresponding hour spent in prayer for that individual and our efforts with them. Church, this will change our soul-winning efforts completely.
D—Depend on the Word of God.
We must never depend on:
• Tricks,
• Intimation,
• Manipulation
• Or any invention of well meaning men
To win souls.
Our evangelism must result in genuine New Testament conversion, not mere disciplining:
• To a cause,
• To a movement,
• To a church,
• Or to some sect.
Peter says in verse 21, salvation comes as a result of conversion (To whom? To what?).... THE RESURRECTED CHRIST.
Y—Yield to the Spirit.
Genuine New Testament conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. You see church, our responsibility is:
• To preach the Word...
• To teach...
• To preach...
• To give an answer.
It is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to convince and convict of sin. God is the one responsible for the increase. Allow God, through the word to work on the heart of men... He does that so well.
Lets finish the lesson by noting some objections that we frequently hear.
Objections that as soul-winners, we must have be ready to give an answer for.
I intend to become a Christian, but I have plenty of time.
Few people see their time on this earth as short. We all see ourselves as saviors, not casualties. However, common sense and Scripture tell us differently, don’t they? Check the obituary of our daily papers. People are dying my age, your age... Whatever that age might be.
• Isaiah 55.6 tells us to seek God and respond to Him while He is near.
• The parable of the Rich Fool who had an abundant crop exposes the
foolishness of putting of eternal decisions, because of temporal
concerns. This man said, soul, take thine ease, you have many goods laid
up for retirement. But God said, you fool, tonight your soul will be require
of you.
• Jesus put it in these words in Luke 12, Be dressed ready for service and
keep your lamps burning... You also must be ready, because the Son of
Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
• Paul says, today is the day of salvation... Now is the accepted time.
Here is another, there are hypocrites in the church.
Unfortunately this is true. In fact, we are all hypocrites at times. We are all not what we
• Should be,
• Ought to be,
• Or even claim to be.
This is the reason we need Jesus and the blood of the cross. We need to
point our neighbors to the fact that salvation and forgiveness is
granted to those willing to acknowledge their sins and their need for f
orgiveness.
• Jesus, in the narrative of the Pharisee and the Publican sinner,
praying in the Temple made it very clear that justification is
granted to those willing to admit their sin and submit to God
• James tells us we ought to confess our fault one to another and pray for
one another.
• 1 John 1.9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will f
orgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
You see, the only difference between an alien sinner in the world and a sinner in the church is that one has access to the blood of Christ and the other does not. Tell people that the church is not God’s trophy case... It is a hospital for sinners. The church is a group of people that God continues to forgive as they walk
• In the light of His word...
• In the light of truth.
We need to let others know that the church is made up of people who need
the:
• Perpetual,
• Continual,
Cleansing power of the blood of Jesus.. Not just one time in conversion,
but everyday we live.
All good people will be saved.
It is a false assumption that good people are going to heaven and bad people are going to hell. The Bible teaches that saved people are going to heaven, lost people are going to hell. The difference between being saved and being lost is not our good deeds, but our response to God’s Son.
Turn with me to Acts chapter 10. Church, if goodness could save... Then Cornelius would have been saved. Cornelius was a good man... Better than most of us here tonight. Listen to how the Holy Spirit describes his goodness in verses one and two.
• He and all his family were devout and God fearing.
• He gave generously to those in need... Not just to the poor, but the poor
of whom he was the military ruler over. Cornelius is not giving to his
poor fellow citizens, but to the poor who are in subjection to him
• He prayed to God regularly.
• In verse 22 we find that he was a righteous man.
• One who was respected by all the people for his goodness, his
righteousness.
But church, this man was lost... Lost... Lost.
• He needed Jesus...
• He needed to be forgiven of his sins by the blood of Christ.
• He needed New Testament baptism in the name of Jesus.
And that’s what he did... Verse 48.
God is good... God is love and He would not allow any to be lost.
Indeed, the Bible does teach God’s goodness... His love and His mercy... His grace. But it also speaks to us of
• His Holy nature...
• His justice...
• And His intolerance, even His hate for sin.
You see, God in His goodness, in His love has provided us with a way to be saved. But we MUST respond to His love God sent His Son Jesus into the world to save us, but we must believe in HIM. God gave us air to breathe, but we will drown if we insist on living under water. The question is do you believe in Jesus?
Question!
• Which of these objections are we hiding behind?
• Which one are we using as an excuse not to become a child of God, by
faith, repentance and baptism?
• Which one are we using to excuse ourselves from being theevangelistic
person God is asking us to be?
If you have some changes to make in your life, will you do it now
Randall Caselman.