Evangelism God's Way, Part 2

Introduction: The Soil and Taproots of Evangelism

0:03 Now will you follow in your Bibles as I read in your hearing two portions of the Word of God, familiar, I am sure, to most of us. First of all, Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20.

0:21 Matthew 28 and verse 16.

0:26 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, unto the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe.

1:03 All things whatsoever I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. And then to Luke chapter 24, Luke chapter 24, and beginning at verse 45. Luke 24, beginning at verse 45. Then opened he their mind, that they might understand.

1:36 And he said unto them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send forth the promise of my Father, upon you, but tarry in the city until you be clothed with power from on high. Let us again seek God's face for the help of his Spirit in the ministry of the Word.

2:20 Our Father, as we come once more to take your Holy Word into our hands and to set its truth before our minds and hearts, we would consciously acknowledge the measure of belief we have in the Word, the words of our Lord Jesus, who said, Without me you can do nothing. Again, we remember those words of John the Baptist, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Lord, we lay those nothings to heart, and acknowledge that preacher and people will be utterly bereft of any spiritual blessing unless you are pleased to give, unless you, Lord Jesus, by your living power, are present to instruct and to give us understanding in your truth. We ask you to give to us liberally. We ask as we consciously cast ourselves upon you, come to us in our need, and meet us for the good of our souls, and for the good of the souls of others, we pray. Amen.

3:42 Now the message tonight is the second in a brief series which I have entitled Some Biblical Perspectives Concerning God-Honoring Spirit-Empowered Evangelistic Endeavors. In the first message this morning I set before you the visual metaphor of a tree rooted and nourished in good, healthy soil. And I said that the brief series of messages will be organized around that visual metaphor with the soil of the tree, and then the tree with its tap roots, its trunk, its major branches, and its secondary branches, and its leaves. And I began by asserting that the soil of God-honoring, spirit-empowered evangelism is nothing other than the word of God. The precepts, the principles, and the practices, the precedents found in Scripture must regulate our endeavors in bringing the gospel to others. Paul said to Timothy that God-breathed Scripture

5:00 was sufficient to make him fully adequate for every good work as a servant of Christ. And as we as a church seek to engage in this good work of evangelistic endeavor, we must proceed with the conviction that Scripture is an adequate and an authoritative body of divine revelation to guide us in this endeavor. And then we move secondly to begin to consider what I'm calling the tap roots embedded in the soil of Holy Scripture, the tap roots of such God-honoring, spirit-empowered, evangelistic endeavors. And I asserted that the first tap root was a biblical understanding and conviction concerning who and what people really are. That if we are to move forward in evangelistic endeavors that are honoring to God, and that we have reason we'll be empowered by the Spirit, we must do so with a biblical understanding and conviction concerning who and what men really are. It was when Jesus beheld the multitudes in terms of what they really were,

6:26 He saw them for what they were, scattered sheep without a shepherd. And it was in seeing them for what they were that He was moved with compassion. And if we are to be moved with compassion, if we are to see our endeavors moved forward in compassion that in some way mirrors the heart of Christ, it will only be as we have this biblical understanding and conviction concerning who and what people really are. We considered three facets of what they are according to the Scriptures, and tonight's message we'll look at the fourth. This is really the fourth point of this morning's message. This is the conclusion of the morning message. We saw in our study this morning that we must see people as uniquely created by God.

Three Facets of Humanity Reviewed

7:28 They are image of God in their essential identity. And this means above many things that God has made them with a God-shaped hole in the soul that God alone can fill. Secondly, we must see people as really fallen and ruined in Adam. According to the Scriptures, all men in Adam are in a state of total depravity, total inability, and yet total accountability.

8:02 And we must continually bring ourselves to look at them in terms of who and what they really are according to the Scriptures. We must be able to say with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5.16, Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh, that is, we do not regard them in terms of those fleshly categories by which men evaluate one another. But we must view them through the eyes of Holy Scripture as totally depraved, totally unable, and totally accountable to the living God.

8:46 And then thirdly, we must see people as savable and possibly elect in Christ. We must look upon no man, no woman, no boy or girl as beyond the power of God to save them. And we must not look upon anyone with a final judgment that they are non-elect. We do not know who God's elect are.

The Fourth Facet: People in Christ's Loving Mind and Heart

9:12 We can look upon all men as possibly elect in Christ and in the confidence that the Lord Jesus will call to Himself those other sheep who are His by the Father's donation, those whom He has purchased by His own blood. With the Apostle Paul, we can say by the grace of God we are willing to endure all things for the elect's sake that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Now tonight I complete this morning's sermon by addressing the fourth facet of how we are to view people if we are viewing them for who and what they really are. I teased you with a title for that fourth heading this morning and told you I wasn't satisfied with it. Well, as I labored over it this afternoon I came up with what I think is a better and more satisfying heading. We must see people in the fourth place as those who were in the loving mind and heart of Jesus when He gave the church her evangelistic mandate.

10:33 Let me repeat that. We must see people as those who were in the loving mind and heart of Jesus when He gave the church her evangelistic mandate. We must look upon people in terms of who they are as image of God, fallen and ruined in Adam, savable and possibly dead, and also as those who were in the loving mind and heart of Jesus when He gave the church her evangelistic mandate. After His crucifixion and resurrection, before His ascension back to the right hand of the Father, our Lord Jesus gave to His church a condensed statement of her evangelistic mandate. And that is, her evangelistic mandate, her orders with respect to an aggressive effort to bring the good news of His salvation to all men, everywhere, until He returns. Now this mandate has often been called the Great Commission. And I have no fault with that terminology.

11:52 I think it is good terminology. And what I intend to do is to demonstrate to you that bound up in that Great Commission, that is, the evangelistic mandate given to the church is a revelation of the loving heart and mind of Jesus to all men, everywhere, in any place, at all times, until He returns. So that I have warrant to look upon all men, collectively and individually, as those who were actually in the loving mind and heart of Jesus when He gave to His church her evangelistic mandate or the Great Commission. And so we are going to look at two accounts of the Great Commission as I seek to demonstrate that very basic principle and then apply it especially to our endeavor in the days to come. First of all, coming back to the Matthew 28 passage. Matthew 28.

The Matthew 28 Mandate: Authority, Scope, and Duration

13:08 Now I want us to notice five things in these verses, verses 18 to 20. Jesus came to them, that is, to the eleven disciples, verse 16, and He said to them and spoke to them, saying, All authority, all authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. The first thing we note about this evangelistic mandate, the Great Commission, is that the mandate has behind it the full weight of the plenary authority of the risen Christ. This mandate has behind it the full weight of the plenary authority of the risen Christ. All authority has been given unto Me, going therefore, and whatever instructions inhere to this evangelistic mandate, the Great Commission, nothing less than the full authority of the risen Christ stands behind it. Now it's crucial for us to understand that, because when we engage in any form of evangelistic endeavor, communicating the gospel to others, with its call to repentance and faith,

14:36 with its call to acknowledge Jesus Christ in the language of Peter in Acts 4.12, that there is salvation in no other, we are throwing down the gauntlet in this age of pluralism. When you hear the word pluralism, don't be put off by it, it simply means the teaching that all ways to God are equally valid. You have your way, I have my way.

15:06 You are free to believe your way, you are free to practice your way, leave me free to believe my way and practice my way, but don't you come into my turf and tell me your way is right and mine is wrong. But you see, bound up in the very task of communicating the gospel, is the declaration that there is only one way, and that way is bound up in Him who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me. And no matter how gracious and loving and patient we may be to establish bridges of credibility with men and women, no matter how compassionate we may be in seeking to relate to them as fellow image bearers, never denigrating them, never speaking disrespectfully of them or to them, sooner or later, if we are faithful to the message we are commissioned to convey, whether we convey it by a tract, whether we convey it by having someone come along to the Bible study who confronts the Scripture through our influence, sooner or later, the line is going to be drawn in the sand that we have the nerve to assert

16:33 there is only one way of salvation. There is only one way for the forgiveness of sins. There is only one way to escape hell and to gain heaven. And you and I can so easily be intimidated by this climate of pluralism in which the only sinful thing is the sin of saying there is such a thing as sin.

17:01 That the only heresy is to say there is such a thing as heresy. And if we do not have this sense bound up in the words of Jesus that His authority stands above us and behind us in this evangelistic endeavor, we are going to be intimidated, we are going to back off, we are going to blur the lines of the exclusive claims of the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior of sinners. So it is vital for us that we understand that the mandate has behind it the full weight of the plenary authority of Jesus. Secondly, notice in this passage that the mandate is given to the church. Now there are some people that have tried to treat this passage as though every single individual believer had a commission from the risen Christ to go out and to make disciples, to baptize them and to teach them. No, baptizing and teaching are the prerogatives of the church.

18:16 Ephesians chapter 4 makes this very clear. With regard to teaching and by a collation of a number of passages of scripture and the practices of the apostles, we then can deduce that baptizing is not the prerogative and the right and the responsibility of every individual believer. This task is laid upon the church collectively. In this passage, it is laid upon the church through these foundation stones of the church, the eleven of them.

18:48 The eleven apostles. However, the mandate that is given to the church and is to be fulfilled by the church is a mandate which every member of the church ought to feel something of its pressure and to find his or her place in the fulfillment of that mandate. Though it is given to the church, the church is made up of individuals. Individuals who according to such passages as 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans chapter 12, there is diversity of gift.

19:27 God gives some this gift and others that gift. And I have never taught that every single believer is called by God and gifted of God to be a confrontational one-on-one evangelist. I do not see that taught in the word of God. And I have never been able to rub the consciences of God's people raw by laying upon them a duty that God has not laid upon them.

19:55 However, the mandate is given to the church. And if you are a part of the church, the mandate is yours in connection with the life and ministry of the church. And you ought to have a sense of constant inquiry. Lord, what is my place in the church's fulfillment of this evangelistic mandate?

20:16 Thirdly, we see from this passage that the evangelistic mandate has as its goal the making of disciples. Going therefore, make disciples of all the nations. That is, seek to bring men and women, boys and girls, into a relationship of submission to Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior, so that they become attached to Him. They become learners of Him.

20:48 They become followers of Him. The evangelistic mandate has something far more glorious in mind than simply blitzing a community with a two-page tract and then saying, it's been evangelized. We have fulfilled our evangelistic mandate. Or sending gospel balloons across.

21:10 They did a lot of this during the when the Iron Curtain was still up and fill balloons with little tracts and shoot them off and send them across the Iron Curtain boundaries. Well, I'm sure God used those leaflets as they came down with the balloons, but you see, the great end, the goal of the evangelistic mandate is nothing short of the making of disciples. And the gathering of those disciples into marked, visible communities of disciples, baptizing them, and then seeing those disciples come to maturity by securing for them a solid teaching ministry that respects the whole corpus of the will of Christ as revealed in the commandments of Christ. Make disciples, baptizing them, teaching them, whatsoever I have commanded you. Fourthly, the evangelistic mandate has as its extent the nations. Look at the text.

22:13 Going therefore, make disciples of all the nations, all the nations, as our Lord Jesus stands with the eleven at the appointed place in Galilee. And he says, make disciples of all the nations. What is in the mind and heart of Jesus? That heart full of love for sinners, that heart that moved him to go voluntarily to all of the shame and all of the brutality, all of the suffering and horrors of the cross.

22:53 He says, I have the nations in my mind and in my heart. Now I ask a simple question. Of what are the nations comprised? They are comprised of people, individual people, with all of their own individual world of understanding, of desire, of disappointment, of frustration, their own individual tailor-made world of their own particular sins and aberrations and twistedness.

23:25 And when Jesus gives the evangelistic mandate to his church, in his loving heart and mind are the nations. Make disciples of all the nations. So the evangelistic mandate has as its extent the nations, but the nations as comprised of specific individuals. And then fifthly, note in the passage that the evangelistic mandate has as its duration the entire age.

23:59 Make disciples, baptizing, teaching and lo, I am with you always, even unto the consummation of the age. Though he was speaking explicitly and directly in context to the eleven, he envisions the time that spreads far beyond the demise of the eleven apostles. He sees the whole gospel age to its very consummation and he says, I am with you in the accomplishment in this endeavor and all that pertains to the endeavor as I have outlined it is to obtain and frame and shape the life and ministry of the church until the consummation of the age. Now then, pulling all that together, how in the world does that fit the premise with which I announce this fourth heading? We must see people as those who are in the loving mind and heart of Jesus when he gave the church her evangelistic mandate. I hope you see the connection.

25:18 He sees the church's task to the end of the age. He sees it as a task that is to penetrate and touch the nations, the nations comprised of individuals of all different kinds of races and classes and ethnic and social backgrounds and his heart is moved for them when he gives that commission. So that as I look out on this congregation tonight, I have every reason to believe that the mind and heart of Jesus was moved in grace to you and to you and to you and to you and every one of you. When he said to that original eleven, make disciples of all the nations, giving to them and to the church in perpetuity an outline of its evangelistic task and endeavor. So that this great commission becomes a commission in which you and I in our neighborhood thinking of our neighbors in our colleges and universities thinking of our fellow students as we go and shop for our groceries and see the cashier. As we go into our doctor's offices and see the nurses.

26:46 We have warrant to look upon every single one of them as having been in the mind and heart of Jesus when he gave this commission. But he said the terms of this commission are to frame the life and ministry of the church for the consumm until the consummation of the age. So that everyone who is in this bracketed period of time from the crucifixion the resurrection and the sending of the spirit until the glorious consummation at the coming of the Lord Jesus is included in the mind and in the heart of our Lord Jesus. And therefore we must view people for who and what they are and what are they. And we must look at what they are and what are they. They are those who were in the loving mind and heart of Jesus when he gave this mandate to his church make disciples of all the nations though I am with you always even to the consummation of the age. So that if my great problem is timidity I need to focus on that first principle with which he introduced it.

28:07 The first principle is to look upon this person as a subject of evangelistic endeavor. Whether he or she wants to hear a message which draws this line in the sand and says that Jesus is the only way and that they must have dealings with him and with him and with him they must have dealings with Jesus. Whether or not they want that message whether or not they are favorably disposed to that message Lord Jesus I have a mandate from you you had them in your mind and in your heart because you knew there was no way for them to be fit to live or prepared to die and go to the end of the earth. And that is what mercy contained in it. Then we turn to Luke chapter 24 the second of the great commission passages that I want us to look at for a few moments. Luke chapter 24 and beginning at verse

The Luke 24 Mandate: Content and Call to Repentance

29:37 45. Now when it says because in this section of Luke there is condensed historical narrative you would get the impression when you read this at a first reading that all of this happened on the first day of the Lord's resurrection when we know he was around for at least 40 days teaching the things concerning the kingdom before he came to the world. And it says in verse 24 that he was called to the kingdom of God and that he was called to the kingdom of God and that he was called to the kingdom of God and that he was called to the kingdom of God. But for our purposes it's really not vital to determine that point. I just know some of you are very observant readers and you would be thinking of that question and so I didn't want your mind distracted as we came to the passage. I want

31:07 us to see where I am going in the world. There are many verses in the New Testament that speak of the true gospel of Jesus at the day of jesus as rooted in the scriptures jesus says as you go out you are to preach something in my name to all the nations beginning from jerusalem and what is it that is to be preached and heralded you are witnesses of these things what things the things concerning which he had just opened their minds to have spiritual perception then opened he their mind that they might understand the scriptures and he said unto them thus it is written that the christ must suffer and rise again from the dead the third day in other words that which is to form the focal point of the evangelistic message is the presentation of the saving work of jesus

32:32 as rooted in the scriptures now it's important for us to keep that in mind that which forms the focal point of our evangelistic mandate is not is not the doctrine of election it's not this or that or some other doctrine it is the proclamation of the saving work of jesus as rooted in the scriptures you are witnesses of these things the things concerning which you now have perception and understanding you now understand that the suffering servant of isaiah 53 is me you now understand what is spoken of in the old testament scriptures concerning my person and my work as messiah who suffers in order to save so the right thing we see in this passage that is vital for us is that the evangelistic mandate focuses on the presentation of the saving worker jesus as rooted in the scriptures now it's crucial for us to understand when jesus gives the commission moved by is loving heart and mind

33:55 for many of the man has lost War men he knows the fee only message that can bring deliverance is that which focuses upon his unique saving work in dying on behalf of sinners, in rising from the dead, in triumph over sin, death, and the grave, and that this is all rooted in and buttressed by the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. The second thing I want you to see in this passage is this, that the evangelistic mandate climaxes in a call to repentance and faith with the promise of the forgiveness of sins. The evangelistic mandate climaxes in a call to repentance and faith with the promise of the forgiveness of sins. Look at the text again. Thus it is written that Christ should suffer, rise again from the dead the third day.

34:57 And that repentance unto remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations beginning from Jerusalem, the nations comprised of individual people. We have a warrant to come to every man, woman, boy, or girl and proclaim repentance unto remission of sins. Faith is implicit. We know from the analogy of Scripture there is no true saving.

35:27 Faith without repentance. There is no repentance unto life without faith. So it is implicit though not explicit in this text. And the evangelistic mandate climaxes not in a call for people to discover whether or not they are elect. As we saw this morning, that is not their task. That is not what we preach to them. What we preach to them is that in the light of the death and resurrection of Jesus, in whom there is a perfect and adequate salvation for any sinner who will come to him, Almighty God calls you in grace and gracious authority to repent of your sins, to cast yourself upon the Savior with the promise that as you do, you will receive in Jesus forgiveness of sins. That is the evangelistic mandate climaxing in a call. To repentance and faith with the promise of the forgiveness of sins. And then thirdly,

36:34 parallel to the Matthew 28 passage, the evangelistic mandate applies to all of the nations. Look at the text again. Repentance unto remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations. Beginning from Jerusalem. And how do we preach it to the nations? When we proclaim it to individuals, when we proclaim it to little groups in our living room, when I proclaim it from this pulpit, when someone sits at his computer and downloads from sermonaudio.com. However, whatever the particular context may be, the evangelistic mandate applies to all of the nations, and it can only come to the nations as the nations are comprised of specific individuals. Keep thrusting that into your consciousness because it's crucial. If my thesis is to hold up that if we are to engage in evangelistic endeavors

37:41 that are God-honoring and Spirit-empowered, we must not only view men as they are created in the image of God, but also as God-honored. So, if we are to engage in evangelistic endeavors that are God-honoring and Spirit-empowered, we must not only view men as they are created in the image of God, fallen and ruined in Adam, as savable and possibly elect in Christ, but we must also view them as those who were in the loving mind and heart of Jesus when he gave us the mandate to bring the gospel to them, so that I can look at every man, every woman, every boy, every girl, not as elect or non-elect, but as one who was in the loving mind and heart of Jesus, to whom I have a divine authorization to convey a message that offers forgiveness and pardon of sins in this one exclusive Savior upon the turns of repentance and of faith. And so, for this reason, when we turn to the book of Acts and we find the apostles preaching,

Apostolic Preaching Reflects Christ's Mandate

38:53 we find that this is exactly how they preached. They had this commission, constantly shaping and framing their perspectives. I want you to look at two examples, and then we're going to look at two statements in the epistles that reflect the same truth. First of all, Acts chapter 13. Here Paul is preaching in Antioch of Pisidia, and he gathers these people with Jewish background together.

39:32 And he gives this overview of the work of Jesus, first of all the work of John, and then the events in the life history of our Lord Jesus, his death and resurrection. And then he says in verse 38,

40:03 Be it known unto you, therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins, and that by him every one that believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. He says, I bring this Savior to each and every one of you. Be it known unto you, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins, and that by him every one that believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. In other words, he says, I have a warrant to bring this Jesus to you in the preaching of the gospel, with the promise that upon believing in him you will be justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. This is the book of Acts chapter 13. This is a free, unfettered, sincere, passionate offer of life and salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. We find in Acts 17 a similar emphasis as Paul is preaching amidst all the paganism and the idolatry of Athens.

41:23 And he is there amidst the philosophical eggheads. And he's preaching to them. And as he brings his sermon...

41:33 And as he brings his sermon to a conclusion, he says this, verse 30, The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. God showed unusual patience in the time prior to the manifestation of the person of his own beloved Son. But now he commands that men should all everywhere repent. God issues this command that men should all...

42:03 Repent of them in every place. Repent. Why? Because I have a commission from the risen Lord Jesus Christ to proclaim in his name forgiveness of sins and preparation for the coming day of judgment in him and through him.

42:21 And that God comes to you in the proclamation of the word and calls you to repent. Then in 1 Timothy chapter 1.

42:34 Here the apostle... The apostle makes a marvelous statement.

42:39 1 Timothy chapter 1.

42:43 Verse 15. Faithful is the same. That is, trustworthy. A saying to be counted upon is universally and perpetually true.

42:55 Faithful is the same. And worthy of all acceptation. Worthy to be embraced by everyone to whom it comes. That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

43:16 Here is a saying. Worthy to be accepted by all to whom it comes. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And he comes to us in the proclamation of the word.

43:33 With his own commission standing behind. Every man, every woman, boy or girl, preacher, Bible study leader. It matters not who it is. And with his authority, he says, You may present to all men in all circumstances wonderful news of my saving grace to sinners.

43:57 And urge them to embrace those offers of my mercy upon condition of repentance and of faith. And then that...

44:07 That marvelous passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20. Here speaking more exclusively of himself and his fellow servants. We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ.

44:30 Now notice this language. As though God were entreating by us. We beseech you on behalf...

44:41 Of Christ.

44:44 We plead with you on the behalf of Christ. As though Christ himself were extending the plea. In his place. In his stead.

44:57 On his behalf. We entreat you on the behalf of Christ. Be reconciled to God. Him who knew no sin.

45:08 He made to be sin on our behalf. That we might become. The righteousness of God in him. And working together with him.

45:16 We entreat you also. That you receive not the grace of God in vain. For he said at an acceptable time. I hearken to you in the day of salvation.

45:28 Did I succor you? Behold now is the acceptable time. Behold now is the day of salvation. What a picture.

The Privilege of Proclaiming Christ's Offer

45:39 Christ is not going to leave the right hand of the Father. And come down into this building tonight. And stretch out his hands. And say to you.

45:50 Come unto me. All you that labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. He is not going to come down.

45:59 And say to you individually and personally. Him that comes to me. I will in no wise cast out. But he authorizes this hell deserving preacher.

46:11 To stand in his room. And to say to any and all of you. Be reconciled to God. In Christ there is an adequate.

46:23 Sincerely loving offer made. Of mercy and salvation to you. And on that basis. To plead with you in the room.

46:33 Instead of Christ. Be reconciled to God. And dear people. You don't need to be a preacher.

46:41 To be within the compass. Of that gracious commission of our Lord Jesus. Over which stands his plenary authority. All authority has been given unto me.

46:53 In heaven and in earth. The church's task is to make disciples. To make them by the proclamation of that message. According to Luke.

47:03 That focuses on a presentation of his saving work. That climaxes in the call to repentance. And faith in him. And to know that you have a divine authority.

47:17 To tell anyone.

47:20 Not to say. Specifically. Christ died for you. You don't find that terminology used once.

47:29 In the evangelistic messages of the book of Acts. That may shock some of you. But I hope it will challenge you to study. Every evangelistic sermon.

47:37 And never once. Did they say. Christ died specifically for you. What to do.

47:43 What to say. Jesus Christ has died for sinners. The vilest of sinners. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.

47:53 Triumphing over sin. And the grave. And death. And the powers of hell.

47:59 He has risen. And in his name. I now can beg you in his stead. Be reconciled to God.

48:07 Cast yourself upon this savior. And you will find in him. An almighty. A welcoming.

48:15 A powerful savior. What gospel could be more free. And earnest. And passionate than that.

48:24 And dear people. We are privileged. All of us. To be caught up in that same privilege.

48:30 That you may look upon. Your fellow students. You may look upon your neighbors. And say.

48:38 That neighbor. Was in the loving mind and heart of Jesus. When he commissioned his church. To the concert.

48:46 To the summation of the age. To make disciples of all the nations. To speak to the nations. About his salvation.

48:55 A salvation. That is offered on condition of repentance. And faith. With the promise of full.

49:02 Irrevocable forgiveness of sins. What a privilege. To be caught up in such a task. And it will help us.

Mirroring Christ's Heart in Evangelism

49:11 I believe. That as we try. To think of people. For who and what they really are.

49:20 To think of them in that light. They were the objects. Long before I had any existence. Or they had any existence.

49:28 In space time history. They were in the loving mind. And heart of Jesus. When he stood on the mountain.

49:36 In Galilee. And said make disciples of all the nations. And carry on this task. To the end of the age.

49:45 When he said to his. Old you are witnesses of these things. Beginning at Jerusalem. He had those neighbors in mind.

49:55 That someday you. As one who has been drawn to him. Would be placed next to them. To be his instrument.

50:02 Who in Christ's room. Instead. Would be privileged to beseech them. To be reconciled.

50:11 To God. Now your method may be. Not that of the verbal. Confrontational evangelist.

50:18 You may never cultivate. The gift of an evangelist. But so to establish. A relationship of respect.

50:28 And trust that when you hand them. That booklet. Ultimate questions. With the earnest plea.

50:35 That they would read it. And that you'd like to discuss it. Sometime in the future. You have reason to believe.

50:42 That as you go back to your home. And pray for them. That God. May take that simple.

50:47 Clear presentation of the message. And make it effectual. To their salvation. And if he does not.

50:56 You have at least rightly represented. Your Lord. Your Lord who had them. In his mind and heart.

51:03 When he said to all the nations.

51:07 You have mirrored. The heart and mind of your Lord. And you have sought. To bring the message.

51:14 Of life and salvation. To that neighbor. To that classmate. To that work associate.

51:22 In keeping with your own particular station. And gifts and standing. And all the variables. We're not talking about making a little army.

51:31 Of cookie cutter evangelists. With a canned presentation of the gospel. We're not talking about that. But we are talking about.

51:39 The church as church. Seeming both the weight. And the privilege. Of mirroring.

51:46 The heart and the mind of Jesus. Toward a world of sinners. That's what we're talking about. You see the difference between those two things.

Self-Examination: Do I See People Biblically?

51:55 And I ask the question of myself. And I hope you are asking it of yourself. Am I accurately mirroring. The heart and mind of my Savior.

52:08 Who had them all. In his mind and heart. When he gave that commission.

52:16 When I meet people. When I meet people. When I meet people. When I meet people.

52:18 When I meet people. When I meet people. When I meet people. When I sit in the barber chair.

52:20 When I have occasion to begin to establish relationships. Do I even think in these categories. Do I see them for who they really are. They are those who are in his heart and mind.

52:35 Lord Jesus. Help me to have them in my heart and mind. As those to whom. The message of life.

52:44 And salvation. Is to be conveyed. That's the question. And I'm not trying to drive us all.

52:52 Into unnecessary paroxysms of guilt. But I think we've got to ask the question. I look back on my early days as a Christian. And I'm ashamed at how far I've departed in some of these very areas.

53:09 Finding myself now more analyzing secondary issues about people. Than the first question that used to grip me. Are they saved or lost. Are they on the other way to heaven.

53:21 Or to hell. There is no middle ground dear people.

53:28 We must think of them for what they are. Heaven bound. Hell bound. Now yes.

53:36 That does not mean that we boorishly walk into the office the first day we're there. And holler out everybody's going to heaven or hell around here. And I want you. Now I'm not talking about that nonsense.

53:47 That's a disgrace to God and to the gospel. But I am saying. That we think in these categories. Wherever I am.

53:56 I am amidst my fellow human beings. I'm amidst those made uniquely in the image of God. With a capacity to know Him. To commune with Him.

54:08 To fellowship with Him. Consciously to obey Him and glorify Him. They were made for something more. Than filling their bellies and satisfying their nerve endings.

54:19 And living out their days and retiring and dying. They were made for God. Do I see them that way? Do I?

54:26 Do I see them as those made for God? Who every day they live without Him. No fear of God before their eyes. No love of God in their hearts.

54:36 No passion to glorify God in their lives. They're robbing God of His due. Do I see them that way? That's what they are.

54:45 Do I see them that way? If not, why not?

54:51 I need to see them for who they are. As creatures made in the image of God. I need to pity them. If they do not know Him.

54:59 They've got a God-shaped hole. And they're stuffing everything under the sun into that hole. Trying to fill it. And it's still a chasm.

55:11 And I know how it can be filled. I have the secret as to how it can be filled. I must look upon them for what they are. Unique image of God.

55:22 I must look upon them for what they are. As fallen and ruined in Adam. Totally depraved. Totally unable.

55:31 To make themselves move towards Him in a saving way. Totally accountable for all they are and do. Do I view them as savable? Do I look upon every unconverted person and first thing I say, Well, you know, this guy, God could save him.

55:50 He could put the name of Jesus on his lips. He could put the songs of Zion in his heart. We could over lunchtime fellowship and talk about our Savior. This is what.

56:02 Do you get a sense of excitement? This is what God can do to this guy. This is what God can do to this gal. To this woman.

56:08 To this neighbor. And he just may be chosen in Christ. One whom God is going to bring and to think I might be privileged to be a part of the voice of Jesus. Who said they shall hear my voice.

56:22 And there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And do I view them as those who are in the loving mind and heart of Jesus. When he gave the evangelistic mandate to his church. Well, my dear brothers and sisters.

Conclusion: The Call to Meditate and Pray

56:40 I lay before you the fact that if we are to have our evangelistic endeavors glorify God and be owned of the Spirit. Then I trust in the light of our study today you'll agree with me. That the beginning point is to make sure our soil is biblical. And that the first taproot.

57:03 Is seeing people for who and what they really are.

57:09 And you won't come to this just by hearing these sermons. You've got to meditate upon these matters. You've got to pray them in. You've got to take conscious steps to remind yourself of these things.

57:22 As you interact with people. Before you go into a setting where you know you're going to interact with people. Lord Jesus help me to see them for who and what they are. You saw and were moved with confidence.

57:34 Compassion because you saw them for what they were. He was moved with compassion because they were. They were as sheep scattered and not having a shepherd. He saw them for what and who they were.

57:52 Let us cry to him that he will help us to see them for who and what they really are. Well, let's pray together.

58:04 Oh, our Father. We confess to you that. The world's thinking and the world's ways. Have too much clogged up our spiritual eyeballs.

58:15 We pray that you would take away the cataracts of worldly carnal perspectives. And give us clear biblical sight. That we may see our fellow men for who and what they really are. And seeing them that you will move our hearts with genuine compassion.

58:37 And with. Spirit enabled grace. To be able to find those ways. To get a hook in their consciences.

58:47 And a hook in their minds. Oh Lord we offer ourselves up afresh to you. That you would indeed empower us by the Holy Spirit in the days to come. That as we make this more concentrated effort to reach our own Jerusalem.

59:05 We acknowledge Lord that there. There are no gimmicks. There are no programs. That in themselves will accomplish anything.

59:15 But we pray that as you've stirred up the hearts of many. Continue to work in us. We pray our God for those who sit here tonight. Who once again have had the Lord Jesus come to them in the free unfettered offers of his mercy.

59:32 Oh may they not turn away and spurn such offers. But may they. Embrace the Savior in all the glorious salvation that is in him. Seal then your word to our hearts.

59:46 And accept our thanks for your presence with us on this your day. We ask in Jesus name.