Salvation, Evangelism and Humility

How does one get saved from his sin? Bible believing Christians should be able to get together on this one and come up with, "Repent and believe the gospel". At that point you may end up disagreeing on how that comes about. Is God sovereign? Is man's free will the ultimate deciding factor? Wherever you are in your Soteriology, we have to have the Bible as our final authority. Look at Noah for instance. Was he any better than all the other people who stood by mocking him as he built the ark? Probably not. But God chose him and his family to be saved. I doubt there was a line of people who had chosen to get on the ark and God was smacking these people off the door hinges. God may however, have given the rest of the world over to their own depravity. Just like he did with Pharaoh and just like the people described in Romans 9 who are "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction." Conversely, for those who are saved, remember that chapter 9 of Romans also states that "it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy". We are again reminded in Ephesians 2, "that by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." God has countless passages that remind us how humbling of an act salvation should be viewed as by saved people and as people looking for others to be saved. Let's take a look at a great example of God doing a mighty work in a very famous king's life.

I wanna stay back in the Old Testament for this one. A few days ago Kelli and I were reading the book of the Prophet Daniel. The portion of scripture we were reading in was about Nebuchadnezzar's second dream which Daniel, yet again, interpreted for him. King Nebuchadnezzar starts out by praising the Most High God. We'll get to how he gets to that point soon. He then goes on to explain his dream in great detail. Let's pick up after that and get into Daniel's(Belteshazzar's) interpretation. Chapter 4, Verses 19-26 read:

“My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you and its interpretation for your enemies! The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived— it is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him,’ this is the interpretation, O king: It is a decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king, that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that Heaven rules.

Daniel uses his God given gift to interpret the king's bizarre dream. But he doesn't stop there. Check out what he tells him in verse 27:

Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.”

Many times in the Old Testament, prosperity was correlated to God's favor. We see that in Daniels warning to King Nebuchadnezzar. When I see those words that Daniel gave to the King, however, they remind me of Jesus saying plainly, "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” over in the Gospel of Luke. But back to Daniel. Now, you would think that after Daniel had already correctly interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's first dream back in chapter 2, the king would listen to him on this one. Of course that doesn't happen. Look at the king's lack of humility in verses 28-33:

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.

So even though Nebuchadnezzar was given more then sufficient warning from Daniel, Daniel's words were not enough to break down the kings pride. He thought himself to be a self-made man and no mortal's words were about to change that. It took a miraculous work of God to get Nebuchadnezzar to humble himself. It took 7 years of eating grass like an animal when all he had to do was simply listen to a prophet who had never steered him wrong. He finally was humbled and as promised earlier in verse 26, his kingdom was confirmed after he knew that Heaven ruled. His kingdom was restored and glory was given to God by Nebuchadnezzar in verses 34-37:

At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,

for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”

At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendor returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

All this to say that as evangelists we are to remain humble. After all, we are just being obedient to God's commands, leadings, and giftings. Daniel was all about obedience. He only did what he was called to do. He said all the right things to Nebuchadnezzar. His accurate interpretations along with the warning to repent should have brought the king to his senses but ultimately God did all the work in getting the king broken, then restored. Nebuchadnezzar finally went from glorifying himself to glorifying God. Daniel, though obedient, had nothing to do with it in the end. Like Paul Washer has said, "God saved you from Himself, God saved you for Himself and God saved you by Himself.” Nebuchadnezzar would have to agree with Paul Washer on that one. We see that in his response in verse 37. It tells as that he was humble. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that his restoration and new found praise for the Most High had nothing to do with any decision he had made. It was all of God. So whether you are saved or you are the person who is out in the world telling other people how to be saved, show some humility. To God alone be the glory for salvation and for the free gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!!

I just want to leave you with a couple last thoughts. We may say all the right things to someone as we witness to them and, like Daniel, have nothing immediate come from it. Don't get discouraged, God is in the business of saving people. It could be that God has saved people that we have shared the gospel with but to keep us humble, perhaps we don't get to see those results in this life. Remember that it took Nebuchadnezzar 7 years to come to repentance! If someone does turn from their sins and put their faith in Jesus through our message that's great! Let us stay humble about it and give all glory to God. We just need to concentrate on continuing in our obedience to the Lord Jesus and His Great Commission by giving lost sinners the biblical message. I love what John MacArthur said in a sermon. "No one should be so humble. No one should be so meek as those who preach the gospel. Because, we're the only profession in the world where we can take absolutely no credit for everything we do." We see that in this story of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. We clearly see that salvation is a truly amazing gift of God. It came to me in a hospital room as my daughter was near death. I wasn't looking for it but He came looking for me nonetheless. Why? Sometimes I just have no idea. It still baffles me to this day how much He loves me no matter how much I fail Him. This beautiful information doesn't keep me nearly as humble as it should though. That God would write my name in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world and that He would take my place on a Roman cross is truly amazing grace(Ephesians 1)! So I write this to keep myself humble. If it works to keep you humble too, Soli Deo Gloria!! Let's humbly do the work of evangelists, God will take care of the rest.

Psalm 68:20

English Standard Version (ESV)

Our God is a God of salvation,
and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

June/July Recommended Reading-Ultimate Proof of Creation

What happens when different groups of people look at the exact same evidence and come up with two completely different conclusions? Will one side ever be able to convince the other using the same information that has already caused them to believe what they already do? It's like having a bloody glove in a murder case. One side says, "the glove proves so-and-so was the murderer." The other side replies, "if the glove don't fit, you must acquit" while going out of their way to make it not fit. Likewise, in the creation vs evolution battle, we all have the same evidence. One side however goes out of their way to make the evidence "not fit" making their view of it totally impractical. So, if we cant use evidence to convince evolutionists that there was a Creator, what do we do? What is the Ultimate Proof of Creation?

This book by Dr. Jason Lisle from Answers in Genesis will help you use things like morality, laws of logic, and uniformity of nature to show how the biblical worldview is the only one that has any legs to stand on in these areas and how any attempt by the evolutionist to adhere to any of these is trespassing on christian grounds. This is a must read for anyone who is serious about sharing their faith with the new breed of people who oppose Christianity these days. There is also a DVD that accompanies this book which can be found here. Additionally there is an article on the Answers in Genesis website by Dr. Lisle called Evolution: The Anti-Science that you should check out. I highly recommend reading this so you can get a better idea of what kind of content you will find in the book. This is really great information!

Finally, I am embedding a video of an episode of On the Box from Way of the Master. It features Sye TenBruggencate(http://www.proofthatGodexists.org) talking about pre-suppositional apologetics. This episode is where I found out about Dr. Lisle's book from Sye as well as Chad Williams. Fortunately for me, my wife had already bought it about a year ago along with the DVD! If you read the book, leave us some comments and let us know what you think!

George Street Sermon

This is a very encouraging story for you evangelists out there. Maybe you are not seeing any fruit from your laboring in the harvest field but that doesn't mean that there isn't any. Listen to this amazing story of one faithful man who used gospel tracts to witness to people. Also remember that Jesus, our example, did not get a decision when He witnessed to the rich young ruler. The ruler ran off, money still being his god. Keep up the work guys. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. Don't quit!

Charles Spurgeon's Punch-Out

Charles Spurgeon has knocked me out with his quotes before. On more than one occassion, I've had to pick myself up off the mat and rethink the strategy of my witnessing as well as my Christian walk. So with a nod to our gaming roots as well as to the prince of preachers, here is a list of Spurgeon quotes. Feel free to bookmark this page as a one-stop-shop for Spurgeon uppercuts. We also have Spurgeon morning and evening devotionals on DiGoutreach.com. Enjoy and God bless.

"Brethren, do something; do something, do something! While societies and unions make constitutions, let us win souls. I pray you, be men of action all of you. Get to work and quit yourselves like men. Old Suvarov's idea of war is mine: `Forward and strike! No theory! Attack! Form a column! Charge bayonets! Plunge into the center of the enemy! Our one aim is to win souls; and this we are not to talk about, but do in the power of God!"

"Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter."

"Do you want arguments for soul winning? Look up to Heaven, and ask yourself how sinners can ever reach those harps of gold and learn their everlasting song, unless they have someone to tell them of Jesus, who is mighty to save. But the best argument of all is to be found in the wounds of Jesus. You want to honour Him, you desire to put many crowns upon His head, and this you can best do by winning souls for Him. These are the spoils that He covets, these are the trophies for which He fights, these are the jewels that shall be His best adornment."

"Lost! Lost! Lost! Better a whole world on fire than a soul lost! Better every star quenched and the skies a wreck than a single soul to be lost!"

"I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unravel all the mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the one thing we are to live for."

"If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness,
it is the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world."

"When preaching and private talk are not available, you need to have a tract ready....Get good striking tracts, or none at all. But a touching gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life. herefore, do not go out without your tracts."

"To be a soul winner is the happiest thing in the world. And with every soul you bring to Jesus Christ, you seem to get a new heaven here upon earth."

"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."

"If there existed only one man or woman who did not love the Saviour, and if that person lived among the wilds of Siberia, and if it were necessary that all the millions of believers on the face of the earth should journey there, and every one of them plead with him to come to Jesus before he could be converted, it would be well worth all the zeal, labour, and expense. If we had to preach to thousands year after year, and never rescued but one soul, that one soul would be full reward for all our labour, for a soul is of countless price."

"The hearing of the gospel involves the hearer in responsibility. It is a great privilege to hear the gospel. You may smile and think there is nothing very great in it. The damned in hell know. Oh, what would they give if they could hear the gospel now? If they could come back and entertain but the shadow of a hope that they might escape from the wrath to come? The saved in heaven estimate this privilege at a high rate, for, having obtained salvation through the preaching of this gospel, they can never cease to bless their God for calling them by his word of truth. O that you knew it! On your dying beds the listening to a gospel sermon will seem another thing than it seems now."

"Do you know, my dear unsaved hearer, what God’s estimate of the gospel is? Do you not know that it has been the chief subject of his thoughts and acts from all eternity? He looks on it as the grandest of all his works. You cannot imagine that he has sent his gospel into the world to be a football for you to play with–that you may give it a kick, as Felix did when he said to Paul, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee" (Acts 24:25). You surely cannot believe that God sent his gospel into the world for you to make a toy of it, and to say, as Agrippa said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28), and then put away all thought of it out of your souls. You cannot even speak of it irreverently without committing a great sin."

"Avoid a sugared gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek the gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter into your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let his gospel soak into your soul."

"Never lose heart in the power of the gospel. Do not believe that there exists any man, much less any race of men, for whom the gospel is not fitted."

"Let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching - where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus."

"If God does not save men by truth, he certainly will not save them by lies. And if the old gospel is not competent to work a revival, then we will do without the revival."

"On Christ, and what he has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived, died, was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God."

"We have an unchanging gospel, which is not today green grass and tomorrow dry hay; but always the abiding truth of the immutable Jehovah."

"If the Lord's bearing our sin for us is not the gospel, I have no gospel to preach."

"The heart of the gospel is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ."

"When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed."

"Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that." ~Charles Spurgeon

When Evangelism Becomes It's Own Religion

Ok, so I listened to this 10 minute, amazing, segment of a sermon by Mark Driscoll the other day. He is the preaching and speaking pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He spoke of how religion leaves you with the feelings of pride or despair, depending on how you are doing within the guidelines of that religion. I got to thinking and came up with that's how I feel sometimes when I do or don't share my faith. I can easily get puffed up or deflated. Not all the time, but enough for that sermon to strike a chord in me. It's easy when so few within the church are being obedient to the Great Commission to feel abundantly prideful when you are witnessing on a regular basis. Of course there's the flipside to this right? The side where you feel useless, disobedient, and unworthy when you don't share your faith. That's because you know that when you don't witness, you are not following God's commands and the bible says, "If you love Me you will obey My commands." Tough spot to be in, I know. So I want to just talk with our fellow evangelists out there and encourage you guys not to get puffed up and prideful. All you are doing is being obedient to the Lord. Being obedient is a no brainer and not something that should inflate your ego in the slightest or you are doing it for the wrong reasons. On the other hand, if you let someone slip by you without sharing don't let it ruin your day. That's a joy stealer and Jesus wants us to have joy in our hearts because of Him. Pastor Mark mentioned in that sermon that there's no joy in religion. It's true. Don't let evangelism become it's own monster of religion. Redemption and a relationship with Christ offers you true joy. Joy to be obedient. Joy to share your faith. You don't share because of the chains of a requirement or religious duty. You do it in joyful, loving obedience. You don't share to put a notch in your evangelistic belt. You do it because you have the cure for death and you want every lost person to know what that cure is.

Contact vs Friendship Evangelism

A while back I wrote a blog article titled, "Are you preparing people for the reality of Judgment Day and Hell or just being nice to them until you go to Heaven?" This was written to get people to share their faith. To share the whole gospel including sin and future judgment, first and foremost whether it be in contact evangelism(strangers) or in the first step of their friendship or lifestyle type witnessing. I'm currently reading a book called, "Evangelism in the New Testament" by Jon Speed and in the back it has listed bible verses that deal with contact evangelism, or witnessing to strangers and also a list of friendship witnessing verses. I am going to share these verses with you now. Note that even in the case of the friendship evangelism in the bible, that the friendship started with the gospel. It didn't end up with the gospel as some sort of right of friendship between a non-believer and a Christian.

Contact Evangelism in the Bible:
Matthew 3:1-17; 4:18-25; 5-7; 8:1-13,18; 9:1-8,9,18-26,27-31,35-38; 10:1-11:1; 12:1-8,9-13,15,22-30,46; 13:1,2,54-58; 14:13-21,34-36; 15:21-28,29-31,32-39; 17:1 4-21; 19:2,16-26; 20:29-34; 21:8; 23:1-39; 27:11-14; 28:18-20
Mark 5:1-20; 7:31-37; 8:22-26; 10:1-12; 16:15
Luke 2:16,36-38; 5:1-11; 7:11-16,24-30,36-39; 8:1-3; 9:10,11,51-56; 10:1-16,25-37; 11;14,29-36; 12:13-21; 13:10-17,22-30; 14:1-6,25-35; 17:11-19; 18:15-17; 19:1-5,28-44; 22:66-71; 23:42,43,47-49; 24:46,47John 1:35-42,43-51; 3:22-36; 4:1-26,39-42; 5:1-9; 6:22-59; &:25-31,32-36; 8:1-11; 9 :1-41; 12:20-26; 18:20,21
Acts 1:8; 2:5-13; 3:1-10,11-26; 4:5-12; 5:12-16,20,21; 6-7; 8:4,5-8,26-40; 9:17-19,32-35; 10:24; 11:19; 13:5,6-12,14-33,44,45; 14:1-5,7-11,19; 20:20; 21:40-22:23; 23:1-11; 24:10-25; 26:1-32; 28:7-15,17-22

Friendship Evangelism Verses
Matthew 8:14-17; 11:19; 25:34-36; 26:6-13
Mark 2:15-17
Luke 7:36:39; 10:38-42; 11:37-44; 15:1-16:13; 19:5-10
John 2:1-10; 11:1-44
Acts 9:20-22; 19:8,9; 20:20; 24:26,27; 27; 28:23,30,31

These are taken from the back of the book. As you can see, the example from scripture is to share our faith to anyone we come in contact with, not just friends. You will find it easier to witness to strangers. Trust me that's from experience, not a book lol. I recommend anyone who's serious about sharing your faith to pick up a copy of the book here.

Jesus Loves You! The Gospel in Reverse.

The following is an example of what can happen if you start your Gospel presentation by shining the light in someone's eye who is living in darkness. He can easily make you backpedal if you go into it unprepared. Remember that the Gospel of John says that "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. John 3:19

"Jesus loves you" says the Christian.

"Why" says the non-believer.

The Christian replies, "Well He died on the cross. Romans says that God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

"Ok, so why did he do that? What sin have I commited?"

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!"

"Ok, ok I've sinned so now what?" asks the non-believer.

"Well eternal separation from God"

"What does that mean?"

"Um, well a Christ-less eternity"

"Where would that be?"

"Not a nice place" replies the Christian.

"Like where?"

"Hell"

"What are you talking about I'm a good person and if Jesus loves me why would God send me to hell!?!"

You can see that ultimately Jesus' love doesn't make sense because you have to go back to the cross, then after the cross you need to explain why the cross and then finally the punishment for not believing what happened on the cross. So basically you started out with a message of love and have to end up talking about hell, damnation and punishment. You've already established that Jesus loves them so the idea of hell is now unreasonable and doesn't make sense to them. They never shed an ounce of self-righteousness and it is probably worse now. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. 1 Cor 1:18

To make the cross make sense, start with God's Law. For those not familiar with biblical evangelism, a conversation with a reasonable non-believer would go something like this.

"Hey nice day huh?"

"Sure" replies Don TneedGod

"Hey you know of any Churches around here?"

"I wouldn't know!"

"Oh ok, do you have a christian background?"

"No way!"

"Really? Gotcha. Well would you consider yourself to be a good person?"

"Absolutely"

"Let me ask you this, have you ever told a lie?"

"Well, um, ya"

"What does that make you?"

"A liar"

"How about stealing, ever stolen anything?"

"Yup"

"What do you call someone who steals?"

"Steeler, no wait a thief"

"Ok ever take God's name in vain?
"Sure who hasn't"

"Well Don, that's called blasphemy and by your own admission you are a lying thieving blasphmer and you have to face God on Judgment day. These are just 3 of the 10 commandments. Do you think you will be innocent or guilty on that day?"

"Guilty"

"So do you think you will go to Heaven or Hell?"

"Hell I guess"

"Does that concern you?"

"Yes"

At this point you presenting what Jesus did on the cross for the non-believers sins will make sense and he will see that Jesus died on the cross because He loved us. Don't start with the modern gospel and backpedal the rest of the time. Use God's Law lawfully and go on the attack, stepping around issues that aren't relevant and keep your eyes on their conscience. Their conscience is our ally, or spy if you will, inside their camp. Inside their heart. Go for it, appeal to it. Use it to show them their need for salvation. Don't just shine the light in their eyes. Witness the way Jesus did it. Look to the examples Jesus gave us with the woman at the well and the rich young ruler. Jesus used the commandments to show those people their need for Him. Ultimately we are supposed to walk in His ways including the way we evangelize. A good way to start this is by listening to Hell's Best Kept Secret or reading Way of the Master by Ray Comfort. For more info check out DiGoutreach.com, needGod.com, or wayofthemaster.com. If none of these seems to make this click, the following verse about men and women of faith should tell every reason why you shouldn't tell people that Jesus loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life as the main draw to follow Christ.

Hebrews 11:36-37 (New International Version)

36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—