Our Duty Toward the Rising Generation (8)

Introduction: Review of Hindrances to Aggressive Gospel Proclamation

0:02 The following message was delivered on July 3, 1994, in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 We do welcome back those who were away last week at the Southeastern Conference, some of whom did not leave until after the morning services, others who left on Saturday, and also on this Fourth of July weekend, any who may be visiting among us, and for the sake of those who were not with us last week, let me take just a moment to explain where we are in our adult class and why. Ms. Bart Carlson is presently teaching a series on the attributes of God, or the doctrine of God, and he is away on vacation, having attended the conference, and God willing will resume. He will resume those studies next Lord's Day, and in these two classes that were available in his absence, it was felt that this would be a good time to put kind of an addendum to one of the last messages in the lengthy series we just completed. In that series, in the morning ministry, we were dealing with the marks of the kind of the rising generations of our spiritual children, and the seventh mark, or characteristics of such a church, was expressed this way, a church that is unashamed in its aggressiveness

1:41 in proclaiming and defending the gospel of Christ, and in the messages themselves, we opened up the biblical basis for the duty of an unashamed aggressiveness in proclaiming and defending the gospel. And also, the biblical data concerning the mandated means for fulfilling the duty, but we did not take up the question, what are the major hindrances to our having greater measures of unashamed aggressiveness in both proclaiming and defending the gospel, and how can we deal with those hindrances? And so, last week, we took up the first of...

2:26 two of those hindrances, number one, our evil heart of unbelief concerning the true state and ultimate fate of men apart from a saving knowledge of Christ, and then the antidote to that condition, periodically to meditate upon and bring near the final day, to plead with God to increase our faith in these realities, and to memorize the scriptures which clearly... clearly describe the true state and the ultimate fate of unbelievers.

3:02 And then, when we threw the class open for you to bring forward what you judged to be other major hindrances to greater aggressiveness in both proclaiming and defending the gospel, you brought forward what I had expressed as our sinful reluctance to bear the hatred, reproach, and rejection... that often accompany an open verbal confession of Christ by the people of God.

3:33 And we looked at four or five key texts which indicate that the ordinary response of the world to the open, aggressive confession of Christ and defense of his gospel is one of rejection, of hatred, and of reproach. Matthew 5, Matthew 10, and John 15. And I think that's an interesting, interesting, interesting concept, isn't it? And I think that's an interesting concept, isn't it?

3:55 Then our class time ran out. I did not have time to address the question, what is the biblical antidote to this sinful reluctance to bear the hatred, reproach, and rejection that accompany aggressive confession of Christ and of his gospel? And in the interest of time, though I believe I could eventually draw these out of you, let me take the lecture form in dealing with the antidote and then we will open up the class for your input as we hopefully will address the third and the fourth major reasons for reluctance to be more bold in our verbal witness. What then is the biblical antidote to this reluctance to bear?

Antidote to Sinful Reluctance to Bear Reproach (Part 1): Confession and Prayer

4:48 First, the negative response which accompany aggressive proclamation and defense of the gospel as the people of God. Well, let me suggest that the scriptures set before us at least four components in the biblical antidote to this sin. There is no magic formula. These are basic spiritual perspectives. Let me lay them before you and one or two texts under each of them.

5:17 First, we must confess the sin of reluctance to bear rejection and reproach for the sake of Christ. Surely, if anything is a sin, our unwillingness to bear rejection and reproach for the sake of Christ is a sin which needs continually to be confessed. And we have the wonderful promise of God in 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, we must confess the sin of reluctance to bear rejection and reproach for the sake of Christ.

5:48 First, we must confess the sin of reluctance to bear rejection and reproach for the sake of Christ. Surely, if anything is a sin, our unwillingness to bear rejection and reproach for the sake of Christ is a sin which needs continually to be confessed. And we have the wonderful promise of God in 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, we must confess the sin of reluctance to bear rejection and reproach for the sake of Christ.

5:55 He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's the encouraging word. And then the word of warning is Proverbs 28.13.

6:10 He that covers his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesses and forsakes them. He that covers his sin shall obtain mercy. And if we cover the sin of reluctance to bear the negative responses which accompany a bold confession of Christ, if we cover it by rationalizing, well, it's not our temperament to speak out. We are so concerned to be tactful. In other words, if we cover what is sinful shame with rationalization and calling it something else, we'll never have greater boldness.

6:48 Because he that covers his sin shall not prosper. And the way of deliverance increasingly from those measures of shame is to be honest about the sinful nature of that shame. So the biblical antidote is, first of all, to confess the sinfulness of our reluctance to bear rejection and reproach for the sake of Christ. Secondly, the antidote is to pray.

7:18 Pray that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit and the boldness of utterance which he gives. Pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit and the boldness of utterance which he gives. You'll remember the promise of Jesus in Acts 1.8.

7:36 You shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me. And when we read through the Bible, the book of Acts, though most of the references have to do with those who had a more formal ministry of preaching, nonetheless, the connection between being filled with the Spirit and speaking with boldness is unmistakable. The classic passage, of course, is Acts chapter 4, when after receiving opposition and reproach for openly speaking of Christ, you'll remember that the two who were assembled, especially the objects of that reproach and opposition, went back to their own company. They had a prayer meeting, and at the end of that prayer meeting, we read in Acts 4.31, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were gathered together, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. And in a parallel passage, in Ephesians 6, where Paul is admonishing the Ephesian Christians to take up the weapon of all prayer, he says in Ephesians 6.19,

8:58 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly. In other words, he believed there was a connection between the prayers of the Ephesians and his boldness in speaking the word of God. Now, surely, if that is true, for those who have been given a special gift of utterance, have been set apart to minister the word of God in a more formal way, it is true of every child of God, in every circumstance, where he ought boldly both to proclaim and to defend the gospel, we need the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus said the Father delights to give to those who ask him. Luke 11 and verse 13. So the antidote to this reluctance to bear the negative response is confess the sin of that reluctance, pray to be filled with the spirit and the boldness of utterance which he gives. Thirdly, meditate on the shame, rejection, and hatred which our Savior bore in order to secure our salvation.

Antidote to Sinful Reluctance to Bear Reproach (Part 2): Meditation on Christ's Suffering and Fear of His Rejection

10:17 Thirdly, meditate on the shame, rejection, and hatred which our Savior bore in order to secure our salvation. Thirdly, meditate on the shame, rejection, and hatred which our Savior bore in order to secure our salvation. Here we are in a situation where we know we have an opportunity, or where, if we take the initiative, an opportunity may open before us to speak of Christ, to confess him, to defend his truth and his cause. And at that point, there is the temptation to be ashamed of him.

10:38 What should we do? Meditate upon the shame, the reproach, the rejection that he was willing to bear to secure your salvation and mine. And this is a biblical principle. For in Hebrews chapter 12, writing to believers who were growing weary of opposition and persecution, which the writer says were part of divine chastisement and discipline, he says to the Hebrew Christians in Hebrews 12.3, Consider him that has endured such condemnation. Consider him that has endured such condemnation. Consider him that has endured such condemnation. Consider him that has endured such condemnation.

11:17 MICHAEL F. F действительно, icansfinly probability. MICHAEL F. that to secure our salvation? And should we be unwilling to bear a few frowns, a few snickers, a little rejection in order to confess that such a salvation is ours and seek to communicate the knowledge of that salvation to others? You see, it is a biblical principle that when we are tempted to draw back from confessing Christ for the shame and reproach and rejection, it may bring to us that we ought to meditate upon the rejection, the shame, the hatred that our Savior endured to secure our salvation. And he said in the passage we studied last week, the disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. If they've

12:39 hated me, they will hate you also. But the hatred that was directed to him resulted in the spittle, the buffeting, the bruising, the crown of thorns, the cross, the rejection, the darkness, the Father's hidden face. Shall we draw back from confessing our love to and faith in a crucified Savior for a few frowns? Surely this is an effective antidote in the heart of a true Christian. And the fourth component of the biblical antidote to this is to remind ourselves that the rejection of Christ is infinitely more terrifying than the rejection of men. Remind ourselves that the rejection of Christ is infinitely more terrible than the rejection of men. And what do I mean by the rejection of Christ? I mean that according to Matthew, Matthew chapter 2, verse 1, I mean that the rejection of chapter 10 and verse 32, if we confess him before men, he will confess us before the

13:57 Father who is in heaven. But if we deny him, verse 33, before men, Jesus said, him will I deny before my Father. How frightening is the rejection and the denial of Christ that he bears any saving relationship to us. He says that denial of him before men will result in his denial of us in the presence of the Father. And when we are tempted to be silent and that silence becomes sinful denial of Christ, if someone is speaking scurrilous, vile things about one that I love, if my neighbor were to begin, to speak vile things about my wife's character and her noble Christian walk as a woman, and I were to remain silent, my silence is a denial both of her virtue and of my professed attachment to her in love. And there is a denial of Christ by silence. And we need to contemplate the infinitely more terrifying nature of being denied by Christ.

15:17 Then, whatever we may receive from the hands of men, Mark 8, 38, whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory. To be ashamed of Christ and of his words in the midst of a generation that doesn't want to hear his words is to have Christ be ashamed of us. It is coming. People, we need to take those words seriously. And when we are tempted to draw back in this reluctance to bear reproach and shame and rejection that will come, or even may come, with a more bold, aggressive testimony of our faith in Christ and of the gospel of Christ, let us remind ourselves that the rejection of Christ is infinitely more terrible than the rejection of God. And so I set before you that four-fold antidote, that antidote with those four components, and you may find other biblical principles that are helpful to you. I have found these helpful to me. When I've been sitting on the plane, praying for an opportunity to speak to

16:39 the one whom God has providentially put next to me as he sovereignly ordered what happened at the desk or at the travel desk, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, I've been able to say, when seats were assigned, we don't believe anything is by accident, and believing that that person is there by divine appointment and praying, when I've sensed a reluctance as an opening was coming or as I was seeking to make an opening by general conversation and to somehow guide it and pick up little leads and little loops that I might snag in order to open the conversation and have been struggling with this horrible reluctance. to bear reproach for Christ's sake that might come, I've had to lift up my heart and say, Oh God, forgive me. When the opening has not come until the meal was served, that immediate sense of shame when I go to bow my head before I've given thanks for food, I've had to say, Oh God, forgive me. That I would be ashamed to acknowledge that you give me my daily bread in the presence of fellow mortals who are just as dependent upon you as I am. God, have mercy on this wretched sinner.

17:53 Before I could thank God for my food, I had to confess the sin of being ashamed to give him thanks for it. You say, You too? Yes, me too. Yes.

18:04 But don't stop there. Having confessed that sin, say, Oh God, fill me with your spirit and with the spirit, that boldness of utterance. And then meditate. What did Christ bear for me?

18:19 Publicly, openly. Shall I be ashamed of a cold shoulder and a very clear lead wall between me and the person next to me on the plane? And I've had it more than once. When once it became evident I was to speak of my Savior, down came the lead wall.

18:38 And they may as well have run to the back of the plane and I've picked up the signals and I've stopped.

18:45 I'm sure you feel the deck.

18:49 But my friend, what's a little temporary twinge in our feelings? Compared to the arrows of God that plunged into his heart.

18:59 And then do we really believe if we deny him before men, he'll deny us before the Father? This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of heaven and hell. Open confession of Christ is not a luxury.

19:13 Thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in thine heart. Thou shalt be saved. An inescapable accompaniment of true faith is a confessing mouth. Well, I lay that antidote before you, dear people, trusting it will be of help to you as I find it continually a help to myself.

Identifying a Third Major Hindrance: Overreaction to Boorish Evangelism

19:34 Well, we've looked at two major hindrances to our being more unashamedly aggressive, both in proclaiming and defending the gospel. Number one was our evil heart of unbelief concerning the true state and ultimate fate of men apart from the saving knowledge of Christ. Secondly, our sinful reluctance to bear the hatred, reproach, and rejection that accompany this open verbal confession of Christ. Now, as you've thought upon this in your own experience, what have you found to be other major hindrances?

20:12 Now, we could come up with probably a dozen, minor, but major hindrances. Does anyone want to suggest the third major hindrance? All right, Phil.

20:30 The lack of an immediate positive response from the person who is in the church. The person we're involved with, all right? And how does that, what, how do we react? Flush that out a little bit more.

20:41 I don't want to put words in your mouth.

20:51 Mm-hmm.

20:58 Okay, so lack of a positive response discourages us from making a second attempt. All right? All right? Others have other reasons that you want to suggest.

21:10 I'm sure that's a valid one with many of us in various situations. Norman? All right? Norman has suggested that having a bad conscience about our patterns of behavior before that person makes us draw back saying, who am I to speak to them?

21:36 If I open my mouth, the first thing that may come out of their mouth is saying, who in the world are you to be talking to me about sin and grace and salvation and heaven and hell and about the power of the gospel? And surely that's obvious that Peter had that in mind in the first Peter 3 passage. Let's look at it. I'm not going to open that up as a major factor now, but I think it's valid enough to address it at least for a moment.

22:04 First Peter, chapter 3. Notice how Peter puts together these two things. Giving a reason of the hope that is in us while at the same time, at that very moment, possessing a good conscience. First Peter 3, 15.

22:21 Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, being ready always to give answer to every man that asks you a reason, concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that wherein you are spoken against, they may be put to shame, who revile your good manner of life in Christ. So one of the accompaniments of the verbal witness must be not only for the validation of our witness before others, a godly life, but in order, to have the boldness in our own hearts to speak with confidence that our witness will not be thrown back in our own faces justly. Now they may unjustly do it, as they were in the case of these believers, but that none would justly be able to do that. All right? Other hindrances to greater boldness and aggressiveness.

23:22 Yes, David?

23:53 Yes. Did you all hear what David said? That when the JWs come, with their approach, and I've got words for that here, we're turned off by that, but is it only the JWs that we've seen do that?

24:09 Pardon? All right. Well, may I, in the interest again of time, we could keep fishing around, but the time keeps moving ahead. I have put down as a third, not the third, these have no inspired order, but it's been my observation over the years, validated, I believe, in my own experience, both individually and pastorally, that, a third major hindrance is this.

24:38 Our overreaction to a boorish, insensitive aggressiveness in proclaiming the gospel which dishonors Christ. Now, in the case of the JWs, they have a boorish, insensitive aggressiveness in proclaiming their heresy that even turns you off. But now, I'm convinced that some of us are reluctant, reluctant to be more bold and more aggressive because we've overreacted to a boorish, if you want to know what boorish is, look it up in the dictionary. It's an excellent word to describe what I'm talking about.

25:17 A boorish, insensitive aggressiveness in proclaiming the gospel which dishonors Christ. You see, there is a way of proclaiming the gospel of Christ and defending the gospel that dishonors the very gospel we're proclaiming and defending. Let me describe what I mean. I can very vividly think of a particular individual.

25:45 It was almost, I was reluctant to even introduce him to people because the first thing he did in a very jocular, very overpowering way, the moment you introduced him to anyone, he was someone about 50 pounds overweight. He had the kind of voice that had a built-in megaphone. You could hear him three blocks down the street. Just talking in a normal tone of voice.

26:07 And whenever he was introduced to someone, slap him on the back and say, are you born again? Are you born again?

26:15 I mean, totally boorish and insensitive with an aggressiveness that was dishonoring to Jesus Christ. There is nothing in the word of God that says you have the right to meet total strangers, slap them on the back and say, are you born again? And we've seen that. Some of us indulge that.

26:38 In our early days of Christian experience, when we had blind zeal and bad teaching, we felt we had an obligation to grab anything that moved or was stationary long enough to do it, to get under its nose or in its face and hurl the gospel into the ears of whatever would stand around long enough to let us do it. And that kind of boorish, insensitive, aggressiveness, we instinctively sense there is something that dishonors the very Christ of the gospel in that kind of a presentation of the gospel. And we have overreacted. And lest we be considered in that category, we have in our overreaction failed to cultivate an aggressiveness that is not boorish and is not insensitive and which does not be considered insensitive. It does not dishonor Christ. Now, when we ask the question, what is wrong with that approach that is boorish, insensitive in its aggressiveness? We're talking now again in the area of personal witness.

Why Boorish Evangelism is Wrong: Violating God's Law and Christ's Example

27:50 We're not talking about preaching on the street corner or preaching in an evangelistic context. Remember now, we're talking about the individual believer seizing his natural opportunities to communicate the gospel. Don't wrench what we're discussing into another sphere. We have to keep bringing it back, bringing it back.

28:08 This is what we're talking about in these matters. Now, what's wrong with that approach? Well, two things, basically. It violates the spirit of the law of God.

28:20 Matthew 7, 12 says, As you would that others should do unto you, even so do you also unto them, for this is the law and the prophets, a distillation of all of the ethical requirements of the law and the prophets at a horizontal level is beautifully captured by our Lord in these words. As you would that others do unto you, even so do ye unto them. Do we want people with respect to anything to treat us in a boorish, insensitive, aggressive manner? What do you do with the salesman that does not respect your own pace of wanting to consider his product? You want to boot him out the door or turn on your heel and walk away. You say, look, bucko, it's my money. It's the product I'm contemplating.

29:16 Get off my back. Why? Because that salesman is not respecting the dignity of your humanity. And while men are lost and on their way to hell, they are still fallen image bearers of God whom we are to regard with the dignity befitting their identity.

29:37 We are not to communicate the gospel in a way that violates the law.

29:44 That's the first thing that's wrong with it. And secondly, it contradicts the example of Christ and his apostles.

29:51 You will never find Christ and his apostles in areas of personal witness, in personal proclamation and defense of the gospel, boorish and insensitive in their aggressiveness. And 1 John 2, 6 says, He that abideth in him ought himself so to walk even as he walked. And the two classic examples of Jesus in personal work back to back are John 3 and John 4. Here is a man, Nicodemus, who comes to Jesus.

30:28 He's an inquirer. He already evidences that he wants to talk about the things pertaining to Christ and his miracles. And he comes and he starts the conversation saying, No man can do the miracles that you do except God be with him. In other words, Jesus, I want to talk about who you are and what you're doing.

30:54 Now in that situation, with the man all alone and nobody around, our Lord does not rear back on his hind legs and say, Except you are born again, you're going to go to hell. There's nothing to indicate that. There are places even in the Gospel of John where it says, He lifted up his voice and he cried, saying, And that Greek verb, krabzo, means to cry out. Our Lord preached with passion and intensity of volume.

31:24 If any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. Well, Nicodemus came at night. Maybe they were sleeping people in the house where Jesus was talking with him. And Jesus went right to the heart of the issue with that man.

31:37 And said to him, Except one be born from above, he cannot see, he cannot perceive the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus says, How can one be born if he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And when Jesus sees that he's responding to his statement, he then picks up his theme right then and there and says, Except one be born, born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

32:11 Well, how can one enter? Can he be born? That's when he asked the question. And Jesus said, Wait a minute.

32:16 No, Nicodemus. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit. You see what our Lord is doing?

32:22 He's taking his responses at face value and responding to them in a way that is directing the truth to his conscience, but is not boorish and insensitive in its aggressiveness with respect to God. He's not boorish and insensitive with respect to God. He's not boorish and insensitive with respect to God. He's not boorish and insensitive with respect to Nicodemus' person.

32:40 Now, there's a totally different situation in John chapter 4. You can open up there and look at it with the woman at the well. And what does Jesus do with her? He knows all about her.

32:50 He knows that she is a woman who is right now living in either a common law relationship or something less than that, certainly an immoral relationship. And she's had quite a past, a number of husbands. And what does Jesus do? He ingratiates himself to her.

33:07 He says, would you give me a drink?

33:10 He doesn't say, woman, I know all about you and you're on your way to hell and if you don't repent, you'll burn. Now, that was true. He knew all about her. A few minutes later, she's running off into town saying, come see a man that told me everything I ever did.

33:24 She overstated a little bit. He just talked about her marital experiences and the men in her life. But she knew if he knows that much, he must know the rest. So she said, come see a man that told me everything that I've ever done.

33:37 But how did Jesus, start with her? He treated her with dignity.

33:42 Have a drink of water? Wait a minute, you're a Jew. How come you being a Jew are asking of me, a Samaritan, a drink of water? Jews don't have dealings with the Samaritans.

33:52 If you ask something of me, you're putting yourself in debt to me. Jews don't put themselves in debt to Samaritans. They don't even have dealings with them. Why are you doing this?

34:02 So the Lord draws her out and says, ah, if you knew who I was, you'd be asking something of me. Our curiosity is really raged. Read the passage. There's not a smidgen of evidence, if you don't mind an old New England word, not a smidgen of evidence that the Lord was boorish, insensitively aggressive.

34:23 Now the time came when she's all ready to, quote, make a decision. Lord, give me this water to drink. I want this. Lord said, we've got to talk about some other matters now.

34:33 Go call your husband. One can only see her neck beginning to flush and her ears turn red. The cheeks flush. Oh, I don't have a husband.

34:43 The Lord says, yes, I know all about it. And at that point again, the Lord was not boorish. Even though he was lancing the putrid sore of her darling sin, he did it not like a butcher, but like a loving surgeon.

35:02 Now, dear people, you go through the Gospels and you never find Jesus being boorishly insensitive in his aggressiveness in proclaiming himself. He's the Savior of man. Pointed, fearless when dealing with the Pharisees and the scribes, calling them whitewashed sepulchers, yes, but that was a public preachment to a group of people who needed his scathing denunciations. But remember, before he gave them, he was wailing over Jerusalem on his way in, Luke chapter 90, so that the disposition was not one of insensitivity, boorishness, and likewise with the Apostles, 1 Corinthians chapter 9 is the pivotal text where the Apostle says, look, I've got all kinds of liberties in Christ. Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Haven't I seen the Lord Jesus?

Paul's Example of Sensitive Evangelism: Becoming All Things to All Men

36:00 Are not you the very proof of my Apostleship? And then he talks about all the liberties he was willing to forego for the sake of the Gospel, lest he cause any unnecessary unnecessary, prejudice against the Gospel, and he summarizes his relinquishment of lawful liberties with these words so horribly abused in our day. Verse 22, To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.

36:41 Now the context is not Paul accommodating the Gospel to the art forms of his day and to the, to what we would call the dance forms of his day, the rhetorical forms, the entertainment patterns, this nonsense. Becoming all things to all men means take rap music with its driving beat and its whole ethos of hate and lawlessness and sprinkle some words about Jesus. That's becoming all things to all men nonsense.

37:19 You'll end up having burlesque shows as pre-evangelism.

37:27 No, that's not what this passage is talking about. We don't have a lawful liberty from God to cheapen the Gospel by putting it in forms that are antithetical to the Gospel. He's talking about lawful liberties to lead about a wife, to be supported by the Gospel, to eat non-kosher foods, to live as freely with regard to the ceremonial law as any Gentile did. But he said, I'm willing to do what?

37:56 To forego all those liberties. Why? That he might sensitively gain the ears and the affections and the goodwill of men that having gained their goodwill he might present the good news. That's why he takes Timothy before he goes out in his first missionary journey and pays a visit to the local rabbi.

38:18 He said, Timothy, we're going to go into places and the minute people find out your father's a Greek they're going to ask, did he have you circumcised? And if they find no, that will become the issue and we won't gain their ears. So let's go take a trip to the local rabbi and rid ourselves of that impediment to the Gospel. So you see, there is no hint in the examples of our Lord of the Apostles of a boorish, insensitive aggressiveness in proclaiming the Gospel.

Antidote to Overreaction to Boorish Evangelism: Recognizing Two Wrongs, Acknowledging Sin, and Wisdom

38:48 A boorish, insensitive aggressiveness which indeed dishonors the very Christ whom we're seeking to proclaim. What then is the antidote to this overreaction to that thing that we have seen and from which we've recoiled and said, I want in no way to be identified with that? Well, I say the antidote is made up of three components. Number one, recognize two wrongs don't make a right.

39:17 Two wrongs don't make a right. Is it wrong for my friend to come up to total strangers to whom he's just been introduced and slap them on the back and say, are you pouring again? Yes, it's wrong. But it's also wrong for me not to seek in a way that is sensitive and in a way that is not boorish to gain the ears of men and women that I might communicate the Gospel of Christ, that I might graciously not just ramble, ram a trap in their nose and say, read it or you'll go to hell.

39:53 That's what I used to do as a young Christian. I've told some of you, get on a bus and start right down the bus and give a tract to everyone and if someone refused it, I'd preach them right under the judgment of God there and then and there on the spot. I thought that's what I was supposed to do. God knows my heart was right but my head was sure skewed and I wonder how much offense was brought.

40:15 But you see, one of the problems was there weren't wiser Christians whom I could respect for their discipline. And gracious zeal who could teach me better. Most of them were sitting on their duff, dead silent about Christ. And I knew that wasn't difficult because I knew enough of my Bible to see that confession of Christ was a part of discipleship.

40:40 So, two wrongs don't make a right, dear people. Well, doesn't the Bible say, cast not your pearl before swine lest they turn again and rend you and trample your pearls under feet? Yes. But don't assume anyone's a swine until they show a swinish disposition.

40:55 And when you have sought graciously and lovingly and tactfully to introduce the subject of the gospel if they say as one of my neighbors did, look, Al, if you and I are going to have any kind of a meaningful relationship don't ever discuss religion with me. Do you understand?

41:12 He proved himself to be a swine.

41:17 I wouldn't speak what the gospel did.

41:20 He proved himself to be a swine. See the difference? But don't assume someone's a swine. Let them show the swinish nature.

41:29 You may be surprised. If we had known all about that woman we'd say, speak to her. She'll just turn you off and despise the gospel. No.

41:39 The Lord knew. He must needs go through Samaria. Not because it was the best way to go but because there was a needy soul whom he had determined to minister to. So recognize, dear people, the two wrongs don't make a right.

41:53 And while we see and react against and rightly so this boorish insensitive aggressiveness, let's not be guilty of a sinful silence. Secondly, acknowledge that our overreaction in the past has been sinful. And then remember the injunction of our Lord, Matthew 10, 16. This is a most helpful injunction given to the twelve when he commissioned them be wise as serpents, harmless as boars.

42:24 Paul said, being crafty, I caught you with guile. It is right for us to be graciously crafty in seeking to introduce the subject of the gospel. To be dove-like, not lion-like, and elephantine in our approach to people. Plonking in with massive feet, crushing anything that gets in our way.

42:51 Harmless as doves. And then feed your heart on the perspectives of 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Ask God to make Paul's sensitivity your sensitivity so that you will learn what would unnecessarily offend this person or that person and seek by the grace of God to accommodate your approach in such a way that if there's any rejection it will be a rejection of the gospel not of your insensitivity. Paul never walked up to a Jew who was obviously an orthodox Jew however he could identify him and say, hey, you want half of my ham sandwich?

43:33 I've run the way to win him.

43:36 I've run the way to win him. You didn't win him by offering him a ham sandwich. You better offer him some of your potato chips and make sure they weren't cooked in animal fat that wasn't a clean animal.

Paul's Sensitivity and Cultural Accommodation

43:51 That's what Paul is saying. To the Jews, I became as a Jew. That means he had to know the Jewish mindset. I told you how I learned very quickly my first trip to Pakistan.

44:00 A lot of things that were offensive to me and Muslims. And I got hit with these things all at once. And some of them were a pain in the neck to have to adjust to. But if I loved those people then I was willing to have a pain in the neck and not sit cross-legged and show the bottom of my foot and not reach out for food with my left hand and a host of other little things.

44:20 If you love people, love is willing to relinquish what are perfectly innocent, rightful patterns of behavior that we might gain the ears and the goodwill of the people. of people. Well, it's 20 after. Some feedback on that.

Discussion and Mandated Aggressiveness in Specific Relationships

44:39 I've done mostly lecturing. You introduced the matter and again in the interest of time I've done that. But perhaps some of you have raised some questions. How many of you would agree that as you sit here this morning and are honest as best you can be before God and in the light of the little time you've had to reflect upon it that this has been a major hindrance in your being more aggressive you have not wanted in any way to be identified with that boorish insensitive aggressiveness that you've seen in others.

45:09 How many would acknowledge that that's okay, good. Well, at least I mean it's not good that we've overreacted but it's good that we're dealing with something that all of us are familiar with or many of us. Anyone want to respond to anything or raise a further question on that head before hopefully at least address the fourth and final major hindrance? Anyone just pressing with a question?

45:33 Yes. Bill?

46:06 Yes.

46:14 Well, there's two things that need to be considered, Bill. The first is there's some God-ordained relationships where whether people want it or not we have both the right and the obligation to give it to them i.e. our kids.

46:26 Suppose your kid thinks with the 16th birthday comes the right to say I don't want to be part of family worship anymore I don't want to be taken to church and have the gospel preached to me you say too bad as long as you're under this roof and you eat at this table you not only sit at family worship and here's where some of you parents need to get your act together you enter in wholeheartedly to family worship with your looks with your voice with your responses you don't sit there with a sulky look you permit that some of you shame on you you have a divine mandate to impose the rule and law and gospel of Christ on your household and anyone in it unless of course because in our case we took in an unconverted father-in-law he was an old man I had no right to say dad as long as you're in this house you must sit at our table and you must listen while we have family worship no we said dad we'd love to have you sit at our table and join in family worship but if you choose not to we'd appreciate it that after supper then you go down in your room keep your television down low etc I did not have the right to demand that my father-in-law who was brought in the home to die should sit at my table and have family worship I did have an obligation to feed him as we have opportunity

47:55 let us do good unto all men you see there so you have to ask what is the relationship and then secondly if someone takes the posture as my neighbor did who said look I don't want to talk about religion and about the gospel you let him know that though you're respecting that wish you love him you continue to pray for him you continue to take those steps to show you have good will toward him you don't wait for him to come to you you go to him and that's what I did with my neighbor when he'd be out working in his yard I'd go to him say Glenn how you doing talk about what he's doing seek to find some way to see if there was a softening and in the goodness of God though the man never opened up to the gospel the credibility with his wife was such a Roman a practicing Roman Catholic he lived and died a pagan she asked me to take his funeral and I said but look I'm going to read the scriptures from the Old and New Testament and speak that Christ is the only way of salvation and there will be Jewish people there and people of different faiths that might embarrass you Elaine you sure that's what you want she said that's just what I would expect from you that's what I want and I stood in the funeral home in Cedar Grove several years ago and preached the gospel to many of my neighbors and friends and relatives of that thing of that family where the man said I don't want to hear the gospel from you but little did he know that I would be preaching it over his casket so we have to ask do I have a relationship

Fourth Major Hindrance: Lack of Prayerful, Considered Preparation

49:25 that mandates my continuing to be aggressive in spite of the person's rejection or indication I don't want that and then secondly if they do take that posture make it plain by your words say look if you ever get to the place where you do want to discuss these things I'm more than ready and willing to speak of them and then meanwhile continue to show your disposition of goodwill toward them that would be my the distilled essence of my response bill is that am I scratching where you itch on that okay alright can we quickly then go on to number four because I've got to give up the class as of three four minutes from now the fourth major reason that I personally speaking for me and pastorally and dealing with God's people over the years believe contributes to our lack of aggressiveness in both proclaiming and defending the gospel is the absence or the lack I wrestled with which word were better the lack or absence of prayerful considered preparation to seize our God given opportunities the lack of prayerful considered preparation to seize our God given opportunities and here of course the key text

50:53 is first Peter 3.15 sanctify Christ is Lord being ready always there's the key phrase being ready always and it goes on to say to give answer to everyone who asks you but the concept you see of previous preparation and readiness is a biblical concept now it's readiness as opposed to an unprepared state but then Peter says readiness to do it with meekness and with fear that is in a manner opposed to the cocky self-assured sales pitch approach I've got it all in hand boom there point number one point number two that's not with meekness and with fear if we recognize what men are by nature and that the gospel is offensive unless the spirit of God performs a moral and spiritual miracle upon the mind and upon the soul there will be a disposition of meekness and of fear in the sense that we are utterly dependent upon God but that meekness and fear is to be joined to readiness so readiness as opposed to unpreparedness meekness and fear as opposed to a cocky self-assured pre-prepared slick sales pitch so what's the antidote then to this absence of prayerful considered preparation

52:22 well obviously pray for the grace of readiness pray that God will help you to be ready secondly acquaint yourself with good and suitable tools and I want to mention some of them at least where you can find them I think the finest most helpful single book written from the standpoint of someone who shares our doctrinal perspectives is Will Metzger's book To Tell the Truth their actual practical suggestions what to do to turn a conversation to spiritual matters real lives specific circumstances that can be used I would urge you to get this book study it do the workbook section parts of it to acquaint yourself with good and suitable tools this little cassette series personal evangelism by yours truly I'm not pressing it because I think it's the best but at least it's available and I believe it has some helpful biblical materials thirdly actually prepare some stock responses or leading questions with which you feel comfortable see this is why we have not through the years tried to regiment everyone into a prepared canned approach God has made all of us different now I have a friend of mine who moved in circles where he found this particular

53:50 approach very very helpful because he was moving among people in the upper echelons of business most of them college graduates etc and he would often introduce the subject by asking when he got to know someone well enough to warrant his asking the question John have you ever given adult consideration to the claims of Jesus Christ for him his personality his station in life that was an excellent means of being prepared to seek to introduce the subject of the gospel now others would feel very uncomfortable with that but you and I must seek prayerfully to have a stock of questions responses to questions that we are asked that we can as it were not be frozen by our ill preparedness and then we think back and say oh if only I had said this if only I had said that and so I would urge you as the Lord's people to pray for the grace of readiness acquaint yourself with good suitable tools and then prepare a few stock responses or leading questions and number four always have some suitable tracts or evangelistic booklets in your briefcase in my case that's where I keep them that's where I get most of the opportunities to distribute literature is on airplanes when I've had conversations on the plane before I leave to say to someone look there are matters of far greater

55:20 importance than we've been able to talk about that are contained in this booklet had we had more time it seemed appropriate these are the things I wish we could have talked about John would you mind taking this and reading it at your leisure I've done that on many occasions other times said look we've talked about these things here's something I'd like you to read my return address is there if you have any desire to further discuss the matter I'd be glad to correspond with you sometimes I've written in my phone number leave a business card you find the things that are suitable the things you can carry in your purse keep in your glove compartment ready ready ready ready ready the tools are there in the bookshop there's no excuse and we've got excellent materials from little four little one-fold tracks to booklets to books and you and I must seek prayerfully to be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in us to seize the opportunities to be more bold and aggressive in our proclamation and defense of the gospel well I hope you found this helpful as God's people it's been a kind of a patchwork of these four things I'm sure there are many others other reasons why we are not more bold and more aggressive but may the identification of these four and the biblical antidotes be used of God to intensify by the enablement of the spirit our usefulness as a congregation in seizing opportunities to bear

Conclusion and Prayer

56:49 witness to the truth as it is in Christ let's pray together our father our hearts are known to you and we have confessed before you and before one another that we have been sinfully reluctant to bear the shame and reproach of Christ and we are ashamed even to confess our shame have mercy upon us and help us so to thirst as Paul did to share in the fellowship not only of Christ power in the resurrection but also of his suffering of his rejection Lord we pray that we may ever remember that to us it has been given not only to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus but also to suffer for his sake we pray that you forgive our overreaction to the boorish insensitive way we have seen others present the claims of Christ and then forgive us for our sin of ill preparedness our spiritual laziness our preoccupation with things that at the end of the day really matter very little if anything at all Lord forgive us have mercy upon us help us not only to have our consciences smitten and freshly cleansed but oh Lord our wills renewed and redirected

58:19 in these practical matters that there will be an increasing measure of spirit directed Bible based gospel witness from this congregation oh Lord hear our cry and answer us for the sake of your dear son we ask in his name amen