Our Duty Toward the Rising Generation (6)

Introduction and Prayer for the Spirit

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday evening, June 12, 1994, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:14 Will you turn with me in your Bibles to one of the portions that we will be considering this evening in the opening up of the Scriptures, Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, and I shall read in your hearing verses 12 through 15. In the ministry of the Word this morning, we read Paul's assertion that there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile or Jew and Greek as to sinfulness and universal need of salvation. In this passage, the universal availability of salvation and the certainty of salvation to everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord has been asserted, and in that train of thought, the Apostle states in verse 12, there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom? Whom they have not believed.

1:38 And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Even as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things.

2:04 Now let us again seek God's face in prayer. As we have done in the singing of the hymn, pleading that God would send his Spirit. So let us now again plead with God for the gracious presence and ministry of the Spirit.

2:22 Our Father, we thank you for the great encouragement given to us in the words of our Lord Jesus, that if we who are evil know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more will you, our Heavenly Father, Father of infinite holiness and infinite love and unchangeable faithfulness, how much more will you give the Holy Spirit to those who ask you? And we come this night asking that you would grant us copious measures of the Holy Spirit, not to do things for which we have no warrant to ask, but, O Lord, send your Spirit for those very things that your Word reveals we so desperately need him. We need him as the Spirit of illumination, the Spirit of conviction, the Spirit who attests to the validity of your Word, the Spirit who delights to reveal Christ savingly and powerfully to the heart, the Spirit who alone can move our hearts, to embrace the Word in faith and in loving obedience.

3:44 O God, send the Spirit in copious measures that these gracious works upon us and in us may be wrought in this hour as your Word is preached. Hear our cry and do not disappoint our eager yet needy hearts, as together we place our cry before you, in the merits of your dear Son, our Savior and our Lord. Amen.

Recap: The Mandate and Necessity of Aggressive Gospel Proclamation

4:21 Now, as many of you already know, tonight's message is a continuation of the ministry of this morning. In dealing with the subject of our duty to the rising generations of our spiritual children, we've been focusing our attention upon the kind of church that we ought to seek to be while it leads us to the Lord. At least one and part of another generation are among us, and the kind of church we ought to seek to leave as a legacy to the generations to come. And in the course of opening up this theme as part of the larger issue of the manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, we have come to the seventh and final characteristic of this kind of a church. And I stated, We must seek to maintain an unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming and defending the gospel of Christ. And in developing the subject, I set before you, first of all, a sampling of the biblical mandate to proclaim and to defend the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness. Having done that, on the basis of several pivotal passages in the word of God,

5:48 I then raised and sought to answer the question, What realities necessitate proclaiming and defending the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness? And we then considered three lines of biblical truth which answer that question. First, the unchanging condition of mankind, Second, the unchanging condition of mankind, and we considered Romans 3, 9 to 20, and more briefly, Ephesians 2, 1 to 3. The unchanging remedy for this condition, looking particularly at Romans 3, 21 through 26.

Question: God-Sanctioned Means for Gospel Proclamation and Defense

6:30 And then the unchanging purpose of God, a purpose in which He is committed to save His chosen ones, but to save them by means of the gospel, making it natural, then, for the apostle to say, as he did, I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Now, tonight, we take up the second question, having established that God indeed has revealed His will, that His church be marked by unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming, and defending the gospel, having sought to establish those things which make this a necessity, then the question should arise, what are the means sanctioned by God for the proclamation and defense of the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness? What are the means sanctioned by God for this proclamation, and defense of the gospel? Now, as I take up the question and seek to answer it from the scriptures, I want to make two very vital qualifications on the threshold of our study.

Qualification 1: Distinguishing God's Sovereign Use from His Sanctioned Means

7:58 The first is this, I am not, I am not addressing the question concerning all the means sovereignly used by God for the proclamation and defense. I am not addressing the question concerning all the means sovereignly used by God for the proclamation and defense of the gospel. But we are concerned with the means sanctioned or approved by God. Now, God often uses means which He does not sanction.

8:27 For example, in the day of judgment, the Lord Jesus said, according to Matthew chapter 7, 21 and following, that there will be those who have taken Christ's name upon their lips, but will be shut out of heaven, and among them will be not a few who prophesied by His name, and by His name cast out demons, and by His name did many mighty works. But He will profess unto them, depart from Me, I never knew you, ye that work iniquity. In this passage, it's obvious that God sovereignly used the prophesying and the miracle work, the working of damned, doomed, unconverted men and women to advance the cause of the gospel. Now, God sovereignly uses such men, but nowhere does He sanction their ministries. God nowhere sanctions unconverted workers of iniquity to prophesy in Christ's name. Yet, He sovereignly uses them.

9:42 So, our concern, is not with what God sovereignly uses, but what He clearly sanctions. The rule of our duty is not what God may do in His own sovereign rights, but what He has revealed as our duty as the people of God. Another example is found in Philippians chapter 1. Paul says in verses 15 and following, that due to his imprisonment, there has been a tremendous, intensification of gospel proclamation.

10:19 Here, the very word proclaim is used. Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strife. Some also of goodwill. The one do it out of love, knowing that I'm set for the defense of the gospel.

10:33 Our words proclamation and defense are here in the passage. But the other proclaim Christ of faction, not sincerely thinking to raise up affliction for me, and my bonds. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, that is, in methods of pretended goodness, but they are not good methods, they are motives, I'm sorry, or whether in motives that reflect the impress, and the submission to the truth of God, Christ is proclaimed, and therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

11:14 Paul is confident that since these people who had rotten motives were not tampering with the content of the gospel, he rejoices that the gospel is being preached, even though their motive is trying to irritate Paul while he's in prison. Now, God obviously blesses the gospel when preached out of bad motives, but he nowhere sanctions preaching it out of bad motives. You see the difference between what God sovereignly blesses and what God clearly sanctions. A third example would be in Acts chapter 8.

11:52 God uses the evil action of persecution in order to intensify gospel proclamation. For we read after the death of Stephen, there arose on that day, Acts 8.1b, a great persecution against the church that was in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles.

12:20 Verse 4. They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word. And we learn from chapter 11 that this persecution even resulted in some men going up into Antioch and preaching the word of God not only to Jews but also to Gentiles. And God marvelously works, and a church is established.

12:45 Well, because God so used persecution, does that mean we're to agitate governments and hope that persecution will be let loose so that there will be a proliferation of gospel endeavors? No. God sovereignly ordered persecution as a means to intensify the proclamation of the gospel, but he nowhere warrants persecution against his people. Now, do you see the distinction?

13:12 I don't want to labor the point, but I want to establish it. Because in our day, we have two great problems when it comes to this matter of what are the means sanctioned by God for the proclamation and defense of the gospel. On the one hand, you have those who simply will not take their head out of the sands and acknowledge that God does indeed use means that he does not sanction. And when he does, you must keep your hand on it, keep your hand over your mouth, and say, Let God be God, and to his own master a servant stands or falls.

13:49 On the other hand, we have far more who say, Well, since God is obviously blessing this particular means, therefore it must be legitimate, for surely if it were not legitimate, God would not bless it. My friends, we do not argue from what God seems to bless to what our duty is. Our duty is to be determined by the word of God. And there are many means being used in our day, some by very sincere people, in order to proclaim and to defend the gospel.

14:26 But those means are not warranted by God. And our disposition must be those of stewards who must be prepared to give an account of our stewardship to God and any means, that we employ, to proclaim and to defend the gospel, upon which we pray for God's blessing. We must be able to do so in the confidence that they are means for which we have a divine sanction. So that's qualification number one.

Qualification 2: Non-Exhaustive List of Specific Means

15:04 I'm attempting to set before you, as God's people, the means sanctioned by God. For the proclamation and defense of the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness. Then the second qualification is this. I am not attempting to give an exhaustive list of every specific means to proclaim and to defend the gospel.

15:31 There are many specific activities under the general categories that I will identify, which it indeed would be sanctioned by God, though we may not find an explicit reference to that specific activity in the scriptures. We can by just and necessary inference and legitimate deduction from what is explicitly warranted, we can deduce that many specific means are indeed warranted or sanctioned by God. Therefore my silence concerning many things, must not be construed as condemnation or indifference to those specific issues. And I say that only because the years of pastoral labor have taught me that there are sensitive souls who, if they hear the words, the means sanctioned by God, and then the things that they are doing are not specifically mentioned, they wonder, well, in pastor's mind, is this under God's condemnation? Is this an unsanctioned activity? Is this strange fire that I'm offering to God?

Means 1: Men Equipped and Set Apart by the Church for Preaching

16:44 Not necessarily. All right? With those two qualifications, conditioning all that follows, let us take up our question, what are the means sanctioned by God for the proclamation and defense of the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness? And I will answer the question in three broad categories.

17:09 First of all, the first means is the activity of men equipped by God and set apart by the church to engage in the task of defending and proclaiming the gospel as their calling in life. The first means is the activity of men equipped by God and set apart by the church to engage in the task of proclaiming and defending the gospel as their calling in life. And I want you to turn with me to several portions of the word of God, the first being the one read in your hearing. Here in Romans chapter 10, the apostle has declared his burden for his own fellow countrymen in verse 1. He describes his fellow countrymen as those who are seeking to establish their own righteousness and therefore have not submitted to the righteousness of God, that great central blessing held forth in the gospel according to Romans 1 and verse 17. And then he goes on to show

18:37 that this righteousness is near to us in the preaching of the gospel. We don't need to go searching for it up in the heavens or in the depths. It is near us, verse 8, but what saith it? The word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart.

18:55 That is the word of faith which we preach. Because if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be put to shame.

19:22 So this great blessing of the saving mercy of God available to men in the gospel, this word of faith is brought near in the preaching of the gospel. And if men will from the heart embrace the message and embrace it in such a way that they are ready to commit their lives to it by open confession, God says they shall be saved. Now this great blessing is a blessing available alike to Jew and to Greek. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all and rich unto all that call upon him. Now the laying hold of salvation is set before us in the terminology calling upon him. It's not a different way of salvation from believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. The Bible has a rich vocabulary of terminology for the saving embrace of the offered savior and the salvation offered in him.

20:34 And now it is in this framework of reference calling upon the Lord. For the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all that call upon him. For then quoting from the prophet Joel, speaking of the great blessings extended in the days of the new covenant, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now then Paul starts a string of questions that are bound together in a very clear logic.

21:12 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? If the calling is to be a calling upon an objective savior held forth in a gospel that has specific propositions. Christ died for sinners. Christ was buried.

21:35 Christ has been raised. Salvation is accessible and sincerely offered to all men without distinction in this marvelous savior. Whoever calls upon him shall be saved. How can they call upon one in whom they have no faith?

21:54 There's been no proclamation coming to their ear. There's been nothing upon which faith can fasten itself. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Obviously they can't.

22:10 And how can they believe in him whom they have not heard? Now notice it doesn't say how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard, but how can they believe in him whom they have not heard? The clear indication being that it's the very voice of Christ that reaches men in the gospel and elicits from men the call that is unto salvation. How can they call upon one in whom they do not believe?

22:43 And how can they believe in one whom they have not heard? Obviously they can't. Well then he asks another question. How shall they hear without a preacher?

22:59 And here he focuses on the fact that God's ordinary instrument to bring men to hear and to hear the voice of Christ which leads to a calling upon Christ in faith is the person of the preacher. How shall they hear without a preacher? Now does this mean a preacher in any sense that a little child speaking of Jesus, a man or a woman passing out a gospel tract, anyone who heralds or proclaims the gospel in any way whatsoever? No.

23:41 There's a much more limited reference to the preacher. Or read on. And how shall they preach except they be sent? Not except they send themselves, appoint themselves, except they be sent.

24:02 So the understanding of the identity of the preacher here is more limited. It is a preacher who has been sent. One who has been identified as equipped by God and called of God to this labor has not been a self-appointed prophet, someone who in the privacy of his own room says he has heard the flutter of angels' wings and the voice of God and therefore he is sent utterly apart from the assessment and the recognition of the church of Christ. For even the apostle who was saved and commissioned by direct revelation from heaven was not sent on his first missionary journey apart from the concurrent activity of the church at Antioch. Now I've taken the time to look at this passage and to give at least an overview of its content that we might see with reference to our responsibility and privilege to be unashamedly aggressive in the proclamation and defense of the gospel, central and crucial to the question what are the means sanctioned by God for the church to carry out that task. The first means is the activity of men

25:29 equipped by God and set apart by the church to engage in the task of proclaiming and defending the gospel as their calling in life. Now where do I get that terminology as their calling in life? If you'll turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 I'm trying to express the thought that is embodied in this text. Here Paul is dealing with the subject of Christian liberty and in chapter 9 he is demonstrating that he is fully conscious of his manifold liberties in Christ but for the sake of the gospel and the salvation of the souls of men he willingly relinquishes voluntarily foregoes the exercise of a number of those liberties the liberty to have a wife the liberty to be supported by his gospel endeavors and other liberties. Now it's in the midst of such a treatment of his own voluntary relinquishment of blood bought liberties in Christ that he is definitely demonstrating that those who preach the gospel have a divinely ordained right to be supported by their gospel endeavors. And he begins dealing with that subject all the way up in verse 6 For I only and Barnabas have we not a right

26:58 to forbear working that is working at an ordinary calling in life to supply our basic needs. He uses the illustration of a soldier what soldier ever went out at the behest of his king or of his government and had to provide his own k-rations had to provide his own rifle and his own ammunition it's never heard of the one who sends him provides for him. Then he uses the illustration of the vine dresser the farmer whoever plants a vineyard and eats not of the fruit thereof or who feeds the flock and eats not of the milk. Do I speak these things after the manner of men or saith not also the law the same for it is written in the law of Moses Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn is it for the oxen that God cares or says he it assuredly for our sake yea for our sake it was written that he who plows ought to plow in hope and he that threshes to thresh in hope of partaking if we sowed unto you spiritual things is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things if others partake of this right over you do not we yet more nevertheless we did not use this right but we bear all things that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Then he brings in another argument

28:26 from the circumstances of the Old Testament ceremonial law know ye not that they that minister about the sacred things eat of the things of the temple and they that wait upon the altar have their portion with the altar even so now he comes to his conclusion after using illustrations from what we would call the theatre of common human experience the soldier the vine dresser the herdsman he uses illustrations to demonstrate that it is right that men should have as their calling in life by which they are able to support themselves and their families and meet their basic needs their calling should be that of laboring in the proclamation of the gospel he comes to this summary statement in verse 14 even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the gospel should live of the gospel now does that mean everyone who in every situation in any way legitimately conveys the gospel should immediately be remunerated that would make nonsense of the passage what he is saying is even so did the Lord ordain that they that proclaim the gospel as Paul was proclaiming the gospel as his calling in life

29:51 should live of the gospel and any other conclusion from the passage is ludicrous and yet he says though that was my divinely revealed right from God I voluntarily relinquish that right for higher and more noble ends but it does not undermine the great principles established by the apostle that the proclamation and defense of the gospel is so critical an issue that the church ought always to have those who are within and being sent without in order to engage in this task as their calling in life now it's that very principle that Paul brings forward when writing to Timothy in 1st Timothy chapter 5 underscoring the double honor to be given to those who labor in the word and in doctrine let the elders 1st Timothy 5 17 that rule well be counted worthy of double honor especially those who labor in the word and in teaching and whatever the double honor is it obviously involved financial remuneration for the scripture says you shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn the very passage he used in 1st Corinthians 9

31:18 and the laborer is worthy of his hire so when the church has recognized those whose graces and gifts and equipment by God and the sense of internal constraint from God conspire that there should be those set apart to labor to engage in the task of proclaiming and defending the gospel as their calling in life now that is a major and a foundational means by which we are to fulfill our task of proclaiming and defending the gospel with unashamed aggressiveness and the focus you see is upon men who preach men who are heralds men who are equipped by God and recognized by the church to give themselves to that task now if we think biblically and in the light of the history of the church as recorded in the book of the Acts down to this preface I believe we can state as Broadus does in his classic work on the preparation and delivery of sermons there has never been an age in the Christian church beginning with the days of John the Baptist

32:44 down to this present day when there has been any outpouring of the spirit any reanimation of spiritual life without preaching being both central as to the cause and instrument of God in that work of the spirit and also as the fruit of that work of the spirit and therefore if we would have a church that is now and by the grace of God continues to be worthy of that legacy that we want to leave to rising generations it must be a church that is marked by unashamed aggressiveness in the proclamation and defense of the gospel and if it is to be such a church then the means sanctioned by God is that that church both have within its ranks and be continually sending out from its ranks men equipped by God and recognized by the church to proclaim and defend the gospel as their calling in life now isn't this why when the Lord Jesus looked out upon the vast multitudes what did he tell his disciples to do in Matthew chapter 9 he saw the multitudes moved with compassion beheld them as sheep

34:13 scattered in distress sheep without a shepherd and he said the harvest indeed is plenteous but the laborers are few pray the Lord of the harvest that he would cast out thrust out laborers into his harvest indicating that this is not a work that ultimately can be done by men it is the Lord of the harvest who must ultimately thrust out those whom he has marked out as laborers not every convict in Harry who is bitten with the preaching bug not every person who has some romantic need of the notion of the work of the ministry or the work of missions or everyone who has been emotionally manipulated into offering himself to be a missionary some of us were the horrible victims of that kind of emotional manipulation but those whom God himself has laid his hand upon and fashioned into able ministers of the new covenant and those whom the church acting according to the principles and standards of the word of God sees as Christ's men formed by him fashioned by him some are set apart to labor in the word and in teaching within her own ranks and others are recognized

35:42 as those who should be thrust out in church planting endeavors in our Jerusalem our Judeas our Samarias and what to us is the uttermost part of the earth therefore dear people of God at Trinity in a day that despises by and large preaching and in a day that denigrates the concept of men being set apart primarily to labor in the word and in teaching to be sent forth as creatures in a day that talks about facilitators and in a day that takes the corporate model for the church rather than the prophetic model that God has set before us you need to determine before God that in your commitment to see the gospel proclaimed and defended with unashamed aggressiveness you are a people who never never denigrate the significant place of the preacher how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach and how shall they present so we must pray the Lord of the harvest that he will thrust forth laborers we must keep fresh and I did not consult with Pastor Lamar

37:10 as he brought this before God in our corporate prayer tonight keep fresh our vision for the academy God is sending to us as far as we know at least four and possibly a fifth new men this fall a good vision for this task that God would give to all of us who have been in it now going on close to two decades this fall will mark I believe the eighteenth year of that endeavor and we grow weary over the long haul in those months when the sessions are the semesters are in session for some of us it's a relentless grind week after week and Sunday seems to kiss Sunday and for me Friday kisses Friday and for my other brethren their days which are far more in the academy it's a laborious task but dear people of God do you see the significance of it what did we pray for today we prayed for Areth in Westchester why is Areth in Westchester because there was a young man who came among us more than a dozen years ago from Indiana and entered this academy and here God fashioned him and molded him and thrust him forth to a little handful of people and now a thriving stable tested and proven church is there as a city set upon a hill in Westchester Pennsylvania

38:38 why could we pray for the situation in paradise because there a church with a death rattle in its throat cried out for help and we were able to send a man who proved himself over the course of a year under the scrutiny of the people of God as to life and to doctrine and as we have worked with him giving us the opportunity he has even gained a more firm hold upon our conscience that indeed he is a man equipped of God and sent forth by the church in the person of Jim Don and we prayed for the work in Irvington where this night Pastor Brevard is laboring to establish that segment of our congregation that has had a peculiar burden for that part of our Jerusalem and we can pray for God blessing upon him why because as he has sat with us in our elders meetings and as we have interacted as he has ministered among us and among our sister churches we believe him to be a true servant of Christ one with peculiar gifts to bring the word of God in a popular way upon the consciences of men then I think of what we prayed for tonight for the church in Moonwalk where a red headed kid came among us immature in so many ways that at times I wondered did we do the wrong thing admitting him to the academy and Steve wouldn't mind hearing this state because he said that to me

40:08 more than once and then to see God fashion him into a man and fashion him into a man of God and then seeing him go forth to the Philippines absorb the Tagalog language until he speaks it like a Filipino with a local accent and with the heart of Christ who came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give to have the consciences of a people who are suspicious of the Kanos with their bravado and their know-it-all superiority attitudes this man is gone with the disposition of Christ and has a hold upon the consciences of those to whom he ministers and he is doing what proclaiming and defending the gospel I wonder will Steve be the last where are the other Steve Hoffmeyers his degree in engineering a father who had good contacts a whole career that would have been a noble Christian endeavor was opened before him he turned his back upon it all and lives in a situation that we would call borderline poverty here in the states where are his light are they here where are the young men who even pray Lord if it please you lay your hand upon me fashion me from the inside out into a preacher

41:35 who can be sent forth some of you it's never entered your head degree you just assume whatever you have and are oh yes you want to be that and use it as a Christian but it's never entered your head that the proclamation and defense of the gospel may have claims upon you it's about time it did enter your head if you're not roasting in hell and if you have a solid well grounded assurance of heaven it's because Christ thought not his own emptied himself taking the form of a servant being found in fashion as a man humbled himself he did not cling to what was rightfully his but relinquished it that you and I might have a just pardon and a righteous salvation it's about time some of you who have reaped the benefits of preachers in your midst ask the question where are the preachers going to come from for the succeeding generations when we ask the question what are the means sanctioned for the proclamation and defense of the gospel of Christ the first strand of the answer is man equipped by God set apart by the church to engage

Means 2: Each Christian Seizing God-Given Opportunities to Proclaim and Defend

43:04 in the task of proclaiming and defending the gospel as their calling in life but secondly the second means sanctioned by God for the proclamation and defense of the gospel is the activity of each Christian seizing his God given opportunities to proclaim and to defend the gospel the activity of each Christian seizing his God given opportunities to proclaim and to defend the gospel now contrary to what a number of us were told in our early days as Christians when we were in circles that said once you're saved there's only one purpose in life that's to be a soul winner and we were so inundated with that kind of thinking and pressure that the very word soul winner has a kind of knee jerk reaction to this day some of you don't know a thing about you don't know what I'm talking about you don't have a clue you are so naive about the jungle that's out there that a lot of us came out of you don't have a clue we as young Christians were told there's only one reason God's left you here on earth once he saved you and that's to make a soul winner out of you the thought that we were here to glorify God to be conformed to the image of his son

44:32 to be light and salt part of the new humanity that would validate the we never heard that we thought we're here for one reason as to buttonhole everything that walked and breathed stick a track under its nose or in its pocket preach them into hell or try to drag them into heaven that was it beginning middle and end that was your duty and some of us took it seriously we went into bars and sat up in the bar stool not to drink but to preach to people I marveled and we never got punched out or thrown out it just so shocked people they just kind of sat there with their jaws hanging down and we give them a little track that said a bar to heaven a door to hell whoever named it named it well and it went on to speak of what a bar was and attacked drinking and I marveled but people told us that's what we did and we made a general point we didn't test of ourselves I used to get on the bus start at the front start passing out a track and the person wouldn't take it I'd preach him right into hell in response sincere as you could be but made a general nuisance of myself because I was told that you're here for one person that purpose that to be a soul winner to be a witness and I took it seriously and I could tell a lot of other anecdotes but I'm not an anecdotal preacher that's about all you'll get from me now for about another six months but then the day came when I sat down with my Bible and said Lord if this is so clear a duty and so dominant a duty there must be text of scripture jumping off every page and I began to read my New Testament

46:01 from beginning to end with this end in view I want to find all the clear statements that say every single believer is to be a verbal witness for Christ and I came to the shock of my life I came up with only one or possibly two maybe three clear texts but there are there is one and possibly two and three and how many times does God need to say something to be listened to and I want you to turn to the text that I am convinced to indeed tell us that in the proclamation and defense of the gospel this is to be an activity of every Christian seizing his God given opportunities in this regard 1 Peter chapter 2 I'll steal a little of the thunder that will come after a few months to our study in 1 Peter I will not be as detailed now as I will be God willing then but now in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9 Peter describing what all of God's people are says but you are an elect race that is a sovereignly loved and chosen race a royal priesthood drawing language from the Old Testament he says the new covenant believer is all of these things

47:30 in a way God's old covenant people could never be a holy nation a people for God's own possession that's what God has made you in his grace an elect race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession but now to what end that in order that you God comprising the elect race the royal priesthood the holy nation the people for God's own possession all without exception may ex-angeleo not show forth it's a poor translation that you may tell forth that you may declare that you may proclaim that you may tell out the virtues of him that he called you out of darkness into his marvelous light all of the new covenant community all without exception are made what Peter describes and all without exception are made that in order that they may ex-angeleo that they may tell forth they may declare that they may proclaim the virtues

48:59 of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light so the purpose of God for every one of his people is in his or her own station according to his or her present knowledge and opportunities etc all the variables but given all the variables God never intended to have one mute member of his new covenant community now that's the point of this text I say there aren't a lot of them but I tell you this one is sufficient on which to rest the case God has made you what you are in the blessings described in this passage that you may tell forth that you may proclaim and declare and tell out the virtues of the glorious gracious God who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light chapter 3 and verse 15 points in the same direction though here the aggressiveness is not so much one that initiates speaking of Christ but the aggressiveness is found in a disposition of readiness to speak for Christ

50:27 chapter 3 and verse 15 in a context in which the apostle tells them not to be discouraged if they suffer for righteousness sake not to be afraid but rather verse 15 sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord always live with Christ occupying his proper place in the very seat of your being no matter what men are doing to you never forget whose you are to whom you are accountable under whose eye you live in whose presence you carry out your life sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord being ready always to give answer that's verbal to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you yet with meekness and fear having a good conscience you see what he's saying here that as we seek to live as Christians unto our Lord even in the midst of adverse circumstances and unjust persecution we are to be in a constant state of readiness to spring forth with an answer of the hope that is in us what makes us different why don't we respond tit for tat when we are unjustly treated and we are unrighteously

51:55 handled why do we not retort with unrighteous words and deeds after a while it's as though Peter is saying what you are and how you respond will provoke a question what in the world makes you tick and you are in a state of aggressive readiness you're not caught as it were

52:16 you say you know I was hoping you'd ask me that for the longest time you know I've been praying for you would you really like to know what makes me tick let's sit down in the next ten minutes if you agree to just listen to me I want to tell you what it is and you're in readiness to give an answer in what disposition he says that you do it not in a way that is off-putting because of its arrogance you do it with meekness and fear and with a good conscience but there's the mandate to the people of God in general not just to preachers but the people of God in general that they are to tell forth the virtues to nine they are to be in a state of readiness to give an answer and there's no way to do that without verbal communication giving out a booklet giving out a tape saying something this is the explanation of what you've said listen to it and we'll discuss it here's a book I'm not saying it just must be words this way but it must be the communication of the thoughts and the realities of your Christian faith communicated intelligibly and in a gracious manner to those who ask and what's the third passage it's Philippians chapter 2 and I'm a little more tentative because I'm very much aware of the

53:44 debate about the proper translation of this passage and so I've put it as my third rank soldier not my first I'd rest my case on 1 Peter 2 9 and 1 Peter 3 15 but here in Philippians 2 Paul has just exhorted the Christians to work out their own salvation all of them with fear and trembling in the confident knowledge that God is at work in them to willing to work for his good pleasure now he doesn't stop with the generality he moves to specifics and using language that throbs with Old Testament overtones particularly from the wilderness wanderings and I don't have the time to demonstrate that but you can cross reference the words he says do all things without murmurings and questionings why in order that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen as lights in the world literally luminaries the assumption is the world is like the darkness of the heavens without a luminary in it and you are the stars that God has placed in the midst of that darkness and how are we to shine the emphasis of this part

55:12 of Paul's exhortation is upon their consistent Christian lifestyle doing what they do in a disposition that sets them apart from the average world do everything without murmuring and disputing do things cheerfully as unto the Lord in any situation let your reaction and your relationship to responsibility and to duty be entirely different from the world do these things in this way that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are seen as lights in the world that's the consistent lifestyle that is to be the crucible out of which the verbal witness flows the next verse holding forth and that's where the exegetical debate comes and for those of you more knowledgeable in these things I'm fully aware of the debate as to precisely what that Greek word means epocho but our translation is holding forth the word of life in the context of a lifestyle that is radically different from the world that shines like a luminary in the midst of darkness in that context of a consistent life you are to hold forth

56:41 the word of life holding forth holding out as well as holding to the word of life and the most balanced comment that I have read on that particular text is found in John Stone's commentary on Philippians in which he writes in this statement on the way in which Christians shine by holding forth the word of life the apostle passes from the image of the luminary and adopts one somewhat of this kind a herald of the king of kings holding out to public view a scroll on which is inscribed in great letters a proclamation of mercy a promise of everlasting life to all that believe in Jesus the primary reference here is evidently from the tenor of the passage to the proclamation of the truth and power of the gospel which to all who are willing in any degree to attend is made by completeness of Christian character by the exhibition of spiritual energy and sweetness and patience nothing holds forth the word of life more impressively than a life manifestly governed by that word a Christian of this type is himself a gospel an epistle of Christ written in letters so large and fair that even those who run can scarce but read such a distinct Christian life a life explicit and

58:09 convincing to all observers as a confession of Christ is the legitimate fruit from the seed of truth received into the soul scripture knows nothing of invisible religion men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel but on a candlestick and it gives light unto all that are in the house let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven but to hold forth the word of life lies not merely quiet consistent beauty of character but definite action for the extension of the kingdom of Christ every believer has heard his father say son go work in my vineyard and is in some way busy among the vines his faith has given him oneness of purpose with Christ who died and reigns to overthrow sin by lip as well as by the eloquence of holy living the saint endeavors to speak for Christ as God gives him ability and opportunity be it to his little children by his own fire side or to assemble thousands he cannot but speak the things which grace has taught him and given him to experience he delights too to send the truth to multitudes whom he cannot personally reach by aiding in the support of agents for the sending forth of the gospel at home and abroad through

59:37 them he endeavors to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and he who sees the end from the beginning recognizes in his servant sympathy and prayers and gifts for missions a true holding forth of the word of life everywhere would it be that the very ambiguity of the word is intended to encompass both ideas that there would be in the context of a holy life that verbal life without which listen carefully a consistent holy life without a verbal witness is an unexplained mystery you got that a consistently holy life without a verbal witness is an unexplained mystery people can't help but see that you're different they may be some of them shown up by the light of your life and be irritated and therefore hate you Jesus said if the world hates me it will hate you others it says of the early church they have favor with all the people God may give you in his common grace favor with the unconverted who will admire you for the very graces that they wish they had integrity resilience in the face of disappointment and tragedy and hardship but you see your life is an unexplained mystery until you open your

61:05 mouth a holy life without a verbal witness is an unexplained mystery and hear me a verbal witness without a holy life is an inexcusable tragedy a verbal witness without a holy life is an inexcusable tragedy in the language of Paul you give occasion for the enemies of God to blaspheme I've been around people that blabber about Jesus all the time and every time they open their mouths they make the gospel stink the gospel comes out of their mouth not as a sweet fragrance but as horribly acrid garlic breath because their life does not adorn the gospel in its demeanor and disposition but dear people it's not either or a holy life or a verbal witness according to Peter God has made us a holy nation not just positionally but in reality he has separated us from the dominion of sin from the love of the world unto himself to be his own possession to be regulated by his word and governed by his spirit all to the end that as a holy nation we should with boldness

62:32 unashamed aggressiveness the virtues of him who called us out of darkness into marvelous light even the virtues of our gracious God who so loved us as to send his son to die for us who by his spirit has opened our eyes to see our sin and the beauty of the savior and transformed us we are to sanctify Christ as Lord so live in his presence and under his eye and in his fellowship that in every situation out of the context of a radically different alternate lifestyle that has already piqued the curiosity of those who see us we stand ready to leap forth with an answer to everyone who asks a reason of the hope that is in us and though we are ready with eagerness we do it with meekness and with fear and with a good conscience before God we don't witness to try to salve a conscience that's screaming at us because of a shoddy life I'm convinced a lot of activitis in a lot of people's witnessing is an attempt to silence an accusing conscience for a shoddy life no amount of power passing out tracts and giving your testimony will substitute for radically cutting off right hands and plucking right eyes and living a holy life

63:59 but I remind you dear people and I believe this is our greater danger a consistently holy life without a verbal witness is an unexplained mystery and if you love men and you're keeping the law of God and we could argue from the second commandment it's one of the avenues that can be taken and I've taken it in the past but it's more deductional argumentation rather than explicit if we love our neighbor as ourselves and if out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak these are all ancillary texts that would pressure us into the conviction that it is a warranted a sanctioned means of God that each Christian should seize his God given opportunities both to proclaim and to defend the gospel and then thirdly and this I'll be much more brief because in this area hopefully in days to come there will be the need for further biblical instruction and practical counsel the third means sanctioned by God for this unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming and defending the gospel is this it is the means of the church promoting specific concentrated efforts to engage

Means 3: The Church Promoting Specific, Concentrated Evangelistic Efforts

65:27 its members in the proclamation and defense of the gospel it is the means of the church promoting specific concentrated efforts to engage its members in the proclamation and defense of the gospel and where do we see these principles well I believe we see them in the life of our Lord particularly in conjunction not only with his personal example but with how he dealt with those whom he gathered around him as the community of his servants the twelve and then the seventy if you'll look very quickly with me at Mark chapter six Mark chapter six when Jesus called the twelve unto himself verse seven he called unto him the twelve notice he had a specific program for them he began to send them forth by two and two he didn't just say now look there's a job to be done go out and do it the best way you think it can be done he organized it he directed it he gave them specific authority over unclean spirits parallel passages say over all forms of disease and sickness even to the

66:56 raising of the dead verse eight he charged them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only no bread no wallet no money in their purse but to go shod with sandals not to put on two coats he told them how to handle themselves in terms of hospitality what to do when they came into a city what not to do he gave them specific directives for a specific time framed endeavor for the proclamation of the gospel there in that section of Palestine he did a similar thing with the seventy in Luke chapter ten verses one and following when he chooses seventy in the light of the plenteous harvest and the few laborers Luke ten one he appointed seventy others and sent them two and two before his face now notice into every city and place whether he himself whether he himself was about to come there was order there was structure there was a plan go your ways verse three he tells them the disposition they must have as they go forth lamb like in the midst of wolves carry no purse no wallet no shoes what they are to say when they enter into a city and again specific directives the principles that I

68:23 believe are here is that Jesus did not leave this concentrated proclamation of the gospel to these areas of Palestine to a kind of ad hoc arrangement he gave specific directives to those who had been gathered around him and sent them forth marking out those directives and surely we see similar principles in the missionary endeavors of the apostle Paul there was an element of divine sovereignty the spirit suffered him not when he tried to go into one place the spirit of Jesus did not permit him when he sought to go into another he says to the Romans I purpose many times to come to you but I've been hindered hitherto there was not a wooden regimentation yet in the midst of those elements of divine sovereignty Paul obviously had a plan and visiting the various cities in his missionary endeavors returning to those cities to establish them looking beyond the areas he had already preached saying I have no more places in these parts I want to come to you at Rome and establish a new base and launching pad for gospel endeavors up into Spain this is a man who is planning his missionary endeavors he's not inflexible he has not got these things laid out in such a way that there's no place for sensitivity to divine providence and the superintendence and

69:51 sovereignty of the spirit but within those things there was a commitment to a plan I believe that there are principles and God has been dealing with my own heart and these are matters that will have to be worked through at the level of the eldership and then communicated to you the people of God yes in terms of seeking to get the gospel out by means of the technology that's available to us God's word to our nation putting it on a station that's more accessible seeking to assist other churches in their gospel endeavors sending men out to strengthen the hands of our brethren our ministries in the nursing home in the overbooked hospital in the goodwill mission yes these are endeavors but in days past many of you don't know this we had endeavors organized people with peculiar strengths and aptitude and willingness to be trained going house to house systematically in Essex fells door to door you say well what fruit did you see from it very little but the fruit of a good conscience that we were seeking to take the gospel to every creature in a systematic way that didn't leave it to a haphazard effort and surely in this whole area I stand before you to acknowledge there must be much more that we in leadership need to grasp of principles from the word of God without in any

71:20 way falling prey to this artificial canned approach of the gospel that treats people with an impersonal indifference that is an abomination and a contradiction of the gospel but that notwithstanding dear people surely we as a congregation have not begun to mobilize the potential for the proclamation and defense of the gospel within our own ranks and I ask you to pray for us in leadership that God will help us that God will give us wisdom as we seek from his word the principles and precepts that ought to guide our thinking and that we as the Lord's people may move ahead in this area so that our children will not only see that we give due recognition of the strategic place in this matter of the proclamation and defense of the gospel to those men whom God equips and the church recognizes who give themselves as their calling in life to this proclamation and defense but they not only see mom and dad with some tracts always readily available to give out to the parcel post man or woman when he or she comes they see mom and dad engaging the neighbors in conversation passing out

Conclusion and Prayer for Gospel Duty

72:48 a booklet but that they will remember a church in which their memories will call up to the surface those endeavors that were made by the church in periodic concentrated ways to seek under God to reach out and to bring the gospel in a graciously aggressive and unashamed way to our own Jerusalem as well as to the ends of the earth well dear people you've been patient as I've sought to lay out these matters few things can be handled and produce false guilt in God's people more quickly than this subject and I've not wanted to traffic in that horrible pastoral butchery and I hope that I've brought no one under any kind of false guilt I've tried to stick with texts that are clear with respect to these matters I've not tried to give a place to the office of the preacher beyond what God gives him I've not sought to rub your conscience raw and tell you if you're not witnessing to it like one unconverted person every day you're sinning I've said no such things but I do plead with you that you as the people of God would ask the Lord to write these things upon your heart and remember that in this great task and privilege God has given to us in seeking to maintain

74:16 and increase and leave as a legacy a church marked by unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming and defending the gospel we're not left to our own resources Jesus said you shall receive power the Holy Spirit coming upon you and you shall be my witnesses God has granted us his spirit he is prepared to grant his spirit in increasing and copious measures to us that we might in the grace and strength and power and wisdom of the spirit fulfill our blessed privilege of being witnesses unto him concurrently in our Jerusalem Judea and Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth let us pray our father we thank you that your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway and as we have sought this night to open up your word and have our consciences conditioned by your word we pray that your spirit would write your word upon our hearts that our consciences may be regulated by the light of holy scripture and that we may be animated by the power of the Holy Spirit in the way of our gospel duty we do indeed plead with you that this church may increasingly

75:44 be marked as a church that is unashamedly aggressive in its proclamation and its defense of the gospel not only in her official ministries but in the rank and file of her members and oh God may that telling forth of your virtues ever be out of the setting of godly lies may our witness not be neutralized by shoddy living but oh Lord grant us increased blamelessness of life with increased boldness of lip may your spirit take these things and move our hearts into conformity to them and for those who may sit here strangers to your grace and to your salvation father we pray that in your own mysterious and powerful way you would brood over their hearts and bring them out of darkness and into your marvelous light dismiss us with your blessing we pray that during the coming week each one of your children may in his or her respected spheres of duty in your providence oh may we be quick to seize every opportunity graciously and lovingly to speak of Christ and of his saving mercy hear our prayer forgive our sinful silence and be with us

77:13 we plead in Jesus name Amen