Christ Centered Evangelism Session 5

Alright, let's turn. We're thinking about we cannot illuminate blinded minds. Let's turn for a moment to 2 Corinthians 4. If you don't have your Bible nearby, I'll read it. 2 Corinthians 4, and we want to answer this question. Why, number 5, why does this person we're praying for, we're witnessing to, why do they have no ability to perceive and receive the gospel? Notice 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3, familiar passage.

"But even if our gospel is veiled, hidden, covered up, it is veiled to those who are perishing spiritual death, whose minds the God of this world has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." Why does he have no ability to perceive and receive? Well, the answer is obvious on this second point tonight. Letter A, he is living in spiritual blindness, total spiritual darkness. Again, this person may have intellectual knowledge of the Bible and even the gospel intellectually, but in the spiritual realm they are living in total darkness.

Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus. In Ephesus 5 and verse 8, obviously they are born again, they're converted, but he's describing again what their condition was before their conversion, and notice what he says to them, "You were once darkness." He's not even nice enough to say they were in darkness. He says, "You were darkness." The unconverted sinner loves the darkness. They may be moral, they may be immoral, but they're willfully blind to the glories of the gospel. They are darkness. They are totally spiritually blind. Letter B, I have a question for you. What can a blind man see? Nothing.

You could take a 5,000 watt light bulb and shine it in his face. What can he see? He can feel the heat of the light, but he cannot see. What did Jesus say to Nicodemus? Up to his eyeballs in apostate Judaism. He said, "Nicodemus, unless something happens to you from above," that's the Greek word, "unless you are born from above, you cannot," what? "See the kingdom of God." Much less enter the kingdom of God. How are you going to enter into something you can't see? And the point is, you and I cannot savingly reveal Jesus Christ to them. Well, brother, this sounds absolutely hopeless.

I'm submitting to you that the unconverted sinner that you're praying for, you're longing to witness to, can no more perceive and treasure the glories of Jesus than a dog could perceive and treasure the majestic glories of the billions of galaxies if we stuck that dog's face up to the Hubble telescope. His eyes see, but he sees no majesty in it. He cannot treasure it. Unless you're born from above, Nicodemus, you cannot see. Well, brother, this is hopeless. Notice number six, is there any possibility of illumination? What can we do?

Well, the same text says in verse five, letter A, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 5, I'll tell you what we do, we preach. We testify, letter A, or you can put, "We witness," you can put, "We herald," "We proclaim." What do we proclaim? Well, the second half of verse five tells us, letter B, we preach, "Jesus as Lord." We do not deviate from a message that is centered on the person and the work and the conditions of the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach a person, not a place, not a felt need. We preach Christ Jesus the Lord. And that little phrase is speaking about who Jesus is, what he did, what are his conditions to a saving relationship with him.

We are not at liberty to change the message. We are to herald a Christ-centered message to sinners. And why? For what purpose? Letter C, that God may shine the light out of darkness. Now, have you thought about that? How in the world can you shine a light out of darkness? We could close all these windows, close them up real tight, cover them over, cover over the doors. We could get it pitch black, dark in this room tonight. And if I had a flashlight in my pocket, I could take that flashlight out, turn it on, and shine a light into darkness. But I can't shine a light out of darkness. Who can do that?

Number seven, only God can shine a light out of darkness. That's what happened in the first creation, wasn't it? The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, but the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. In letter A, God said, "Let there be light." And God shined a physical light out of the darkness, out of the void, out of the formlessness in the first creation. And this is precisely what happens in the new creation. In authentic conversion letter B, God creates supernatural light in a darkened soul.

God, the Holy Spirit, takes the gospel and mightily steps into the utter darkness of a sinner's heart and turns on the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's exactly what verse 6 says. "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness in the first creation, who has shone in my heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." That's how I got in. How about you? That better be your testimony. I'll tell you, one night in New Orleans, Louisiana, at 19.80 at 3 o'clock in the morning, God took a simple gospel message.

My wife had been praying for two years. She'd been living a Christ-centered life for two years. She'd been consistently, passionately, persistently praying for my lost soul for two years. One night God shined the light out of the darkness, the void of my wicked heart. I can't do that. You can't do that. Only God can accomplish that. Right? Amen? This is Paul's testimony. Notice letter C. But when it pleased God, Paul is giving his testimony, one of the occasions he's given his testimony. It's in Galatians 1.15 to the church at Galatia. He's talking about his own conversion.

He says, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace to reveal his son in me." Now, in light of Paul's own testimony, in light of the inspired word of God, page 19, if we ask Paul this question, in light of this testimony, number one, when did you get saved, Paul? He would say, "When it pleased who?" Right? That's exactly right. Saul of Tarsus was a blasphemer, a persecutor, an arrogant attacker of the church. At that point in his life, he had one supreme ambition in his heart and life to slaughter the infant church of Jesus. He'd been tracking down believers, imprisoning them.

He wanted to wipe out the church. You remember what Jesus said to Saul in Acts 9? Saul, it's hard for you to kick against the goats. Those goats in those days was a long pointed stick that a farmer would use to urge an oxen to go in the direction that the farmer purposed for the oxen to go. And Saul had been kicking against the goats, and sinners can, and do kick against the goats. Oh, but something happened on the Damascus Road that was infinitely different than goatings. There was a call of grace that came to Saul of Tarsus, and listen, that call of grace contained supernatural light that illuminated his blinded mind.

It contained supernatural life that resurrected him from spiritual death. It contained miraculous power that actually gave Saul of Tarsus a spiritual heart transplant and graced him to do what he would never do, left to himself. And that's a repent and believe on the Lord. When did it happen? When it pleased God. That's when it happened. He was physically blinded but spiritually illuminated. Only God can do that. Amen? We can't do that. We can't savingly reveal Jesus to a sinner. There's things we must do, but we cannot do that. And then letter C, we're thinking about the last thing that we cannot accomplish, and it's this.

We cannot liberate their captive will. Their captive will. But I've been in the Baptist Church all my life, brother Ed, and all I've heard about is free will. What do you mean, captive will? Well, let's look at the Bible. It's in verse 17. Paul is talking to some folks who've now been converted. They've now been born from above. It has pleased God to call them by His amazing grace and through His gospel. But he's describing their condition before they were converted. And he says, "We were once slaves of sin." Does that sound like freedom to you or slavery?

"We were once slaves of sin." And if you didn't believe Paul the first time, he repeats it three verses later, and he gets personal. "For when you were slaves of sin." Now, what do we want to see in relation to evangelism here, in relation to this person that we long to see converted, who is an unconverted sinner? Just number one, the unconverted sinner's will is in captivity to sin.

Every person that's born into this world, except for the Lord Jesus, was born into this world, bound in the kingdom of sin, in bondage to their own hopelessly wicked heart, living in captivity to their own wicked sinfulness, living in slavery to their own willful selfishness. Every person who's never come to Jesus on his conditions is living under the tyranny of sin. They're living under the dominion of sin. They don't realize it. They may think they're the captain of their own faith. They may think they're running the show. In reality, they are slaves to a master who is known as sin.

Now, I've been in about 20 different nations on this planet, but in reality, there's only two kingdoms on this planet. There's the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of sin. There are only two masters in this world. There's the master who is called the Lord Jesus Christ, and there's the master who is called sin. And every person in this county on this planet is a slave to one of these two masters. You're either a slave to Jesus because you've been born again, you've been converted, or you're still a slave to sin.

This is why the Lord Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." If you are already free, why would you need to be made free? But if the sun makes you free, you are free. What are we thinking about? Not only is this person spiritually dead, not only are they absolutely blind, they are darkness, but thirdly, they are in captivity to sin. This is the Lord Jesus' words. He ought to know whether a sinner is a slave to sin or not.

And he says, number two, "He who practices sin," that's the unconverted person, the person who hasn't been born from above, the person who has neither seen Jesus nor knows Jesus, "he who practices sin is a slave of sin." So, my neighbors, Bill and Annette, my neighbors, Christy and Danny, my neighbors across the street, they are in slavery. I'm praying for them. I've been witnessing to them. They've been in our house and they've heard the gospel. They are slaves. Their wills are in bondage in the kingdom of sin.

Listen to Proverbs 5, 22, "His own iniquity shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin." So, this person I'm praying for, I'm witnessing to, I have to understand they're dead. They're blind and they're bound in the kingdom of darkness. But notice what God says to this person who's a slave of sin. Number three, "But God commands this sinner to repent and believe." They're permitted to repent and believe. They're invited to repent and believe. We are to urge them to repent and believe. They're responsible to repent and believe.

They'll be eternally accountable if they don't repent and believe because number four says, I'm moving along here, number four, "Without repentance and faith, there is no salvation." And God commands this person who's a slave of sin to repent and believe. Now, get this, watch closely here. I'm reminding you that repentance and faith are not nice ideas to take or leave. They're not suggestions. They are gospel duties. They are gospel commands letter A. These are commands of the gospel.

That's why when the Philippians jailer, when God sent that physical earthquake to the jail, the spiritual earthquake to the jailer man, and he's been persecuting Paul and Silas earlier, but now as we heard yesterday, he runs in before them and he cries out, "Surge, what must I do to be saved?" What did Paul say? Do you remember? Repeat this prayer with me. Is that what he said? No, he never said that. Jesus never said that. There's not a disciple. There's not an apostle who ever asked anyone to parrot a prayer. That was invented in the 1930s by Billy Sunday. He invented, repeat this prayer.

"Sister, what must I do to be saved?" Well, Paul said, "Look, all the prisoners are still here, and I'm sure out of this big crowd some of them can sing, and Silas plays the harp. So jailer man, what I want you to do, I want you to get over there to the other end of the jail, and I'm going to leave the prisoners and a little invitation song, and when they begin singing, I want you to come from the other side of the jail and walk up to me." Is that what he said? No. Where in the world did that come from? It's not in the Bible. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" What did Paul do? He gave him a command.

He said, "Jailer man, it's in the imperative tense. Believe on someone who is Lord, someone who is Jesus, someone who is Christ, and he preached the word to him." Paul issued an order. You see, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ is not a suggestion. It's not a nice idea. It's a command. It's a gospel duty. But not only that. Number two, God commands all men everywhere to repent.

When Peter proclaimed the message that kept the spotlight on Jesus in Acts 2, and he prosecuted the audience of their wickedness, their sinfulness, their crimes against God, they were pierced to the heart, they cried out to Peter and the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" But Peter did not say, "Accept Jesus as your personal Savior." Because the issue is never will you accept Jesus. The issue is will Jesus accept you. He did not say, "Ask Jesus to come into your heart or repeat this prayer." No, he gave them a command to repent. And again, it's an imperative word. It is a command from the Lord.

Turn from your sins, turn from your ways, turn from your idols, turn from your rejection of Jesus as Messiah, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Both of these are gospel commands to sinners who are enslaved in their own desperately, hopelessly wicked hearts. And if the sinner does not obey these gospel commands, one day the Lord Jesus is going to be revealed in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know Him and on those who do not listen obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. But remember, we're about to close for the night. These sinners are slaves to sin.

They're in captivity to their own self-centered, self-directed, self-pleasing hearts. They hate the light. They love the darkness. They are in bondage under the mastery of sin. They desperately need to be liberated, emancipated, but we cannot liberate. They're captive wills. And thank God you know this here because of your leadership, but many churches don't understand what I'm saying. We cannot bring about this conversion, this repentance and faith through human methods, human manipulation, or human coercion. We can't set the captive free. Let's put it this way, number five.

We cannot induce, I-N-D-U-C-E, repentance and faith, through human influence or persuasion. Why do you use the word "induce"? When a mom is overdue, the days have passed before her birth is supposed to take place. It's because there's a hormone called oxytocin that should be being produced by her pituitary gland, but she's not producing enough. It's normally found naturally in the mother's body, but she's not producing enough so the doctors inject a synthetic form of oxytocin to induce labor. Now that's a wonderful advance in the medical realm, but it does not work in the spiritual realm. We cannot induce Bible repentance and saving faith.

Why can't we, Brother Ed, let her A, why not? Here's why. Why we can't. Repentance and faith are not found. They're not within the unconverted heart to begin with. Repentance and faith are not lying around dormant somewhere within the hopelessly wicked heart of a dead blind bound sinner waiting for me to humanly induce it, coerce it through some human technique or human salesmanship. No, the desperately wicked heart left to itself will never repent and believe. They're invited to repent and believe. They're responsible to repent and believe.

They'll be accountable if they don't repent and believe, but they're living in death, darkness, bondage and loving it, and repentance and faith are not found lying dormant within that wicked heart waiting to be induced. How do you know that? Because the Bible tells us clearly, let her be, both repentance and faith are gifts of God. Right? Amen? Second Peter 1, verses 1, second half of the verse. Peter is writing to those who have obtained like precious faith. The word they're obtained is "received." They have received that faith. Philippians 1, 29.

Paul's writing is the folks who are converted, and he says to them, "It has been granted to you to believe." Does that sound like something they worked up or something that was given to them? Repentance of faith are gifts. Every Baptist knows Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace are you saved through faith. That not of yourself, it, even the faith, is a gift from God, not of human works, lest any man should boast. But not only saving faith, repentance is a gift from God. Acts 5, 11. God granted repentance. Acts 11, 18. God granted repentance at Cornelius' house to those Gentiles, to those pagans. God granted them repentance.

And 2 Timothy 2, 25, found in the context of sharing truth, proclaiming truth to folks. We need to proclaim it in meekness. We're not beating them over the head with the Bible, but we proclaim it in meekness and love that God would perhaps grant repentance unto life. That who would grant it? God would grant it. Sinners left to their own spiritually dead, blind, enslaved devices in and of themselves will not repent and believe, and we cannot induce repentance and faith. We can induce them to repeat a prayer. Oh, I can do that. Trust me. We can induce them to get up out of a seat and take a walk to a platform.

And when you do that, you know what you did. You only got 15, 20, 50 feet of exercise. That's all that happened. We can induce them to raise a hand. Oh, we can do that. But we cannot induce Bible repentance and saving faith in Jesus. Now, as we close, five minutes at the most, we need to hear this. Tomorrow night, we'll see what we can and must do. But notice 6. How shall these three realities, how should they influence our evangelism? If this is true, and I've proved it's true out of the Bible, we can't resurrect, we can't illuminate, we can't liberate. How should these truths influence the way we carry out our evangelism?

Letter A, they should bring us to a conscious awareness of our total dependence on God when we are witnessing. Salvation is of the Lord. He is the author and finisher of my faith. And listen, he must work in this sinner's heart, or salvation is hopeless. Right? Oh, but he is working. He's working all over this world. So as long as they're breathing, there's still hope. Amen. And when we witness to them, these truths should inspire us, energize us, to witness with a conscious dependence on the Lord. That's why we pray before we go. We don't say, "Well, happy fishing. Good luck." We pray. Why do we pray?

Because they're dead, they're blind, they're bound, and if God doesn't resurrect, illuminate, and liberate, they'll never repent. So when we go, we need to go with a conscious dependence on God. If you understand and believe these truths, letter B, they will prevent us from using any methods that have not been appointed by God. If I think this person's conversion is ultimately my responsibility to get some decision, some religious profession, then I'm going to go out and find the latest program, the latest gimmick, the latest gadget that is giving success in numbers so I can close the deal and make the sale.

But if I realize that this person is dead, blind, and bound, and only God can resurrect, illuminate, and liberate, then I won't be looking to the arm of the flesh. What will this do? This will cause me, letter C. These truths will draw us to a prayerful use of God's ordained means. I'll be doing all that God's called me to do and prayerfully wait for what God can only accomplish in God's time. I'll be using his means to carry out his mission. We have absolutely no right to manufacture our own means.

If you've ever heard a preacher say, "The message doesn't change, but the means do or the methods do," if you've ever heard that from a preacher, raise your hand. That preacher's dead wrong. I'm submitting to you that the message is not to change and neither are the means to change. God has ordained the means to carry out his mission. He's promised to bless his means. Letter D, if we understand the truths we heard tonight, they will prevent us from being filled with pride when our evangelism is successful because God, Apoll planet, Apollos water, who gives the increase in whose timing? So who gets the glory? God.

We won't be guilty of robbing God of the glory that he is due when he does bring the increase in his timing. Then letter E, and finally we close, they will prevent us from being overwhelmed with despair when our evangelism is not outwardly successful at that time. Because thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph, in Christ. Amen? Whether there are 3,000 saved or we get stoned, God is leading us in triumph. Yes, we have a burden for souls. I'm praying for neighbors. I'm praying for relatives even today. Praying for people God brings within the sphere of the influence of my life. You are too. We have a burden for them.

We have a passion that they would come to know the Lord. But when our evangelism is not immediately successful, we're still bringing glory to the Father. And he's pleased. Amen? Amen. Well, you're going to have to listen faster tomorrow night than you've been listening. I'm already behind, but anyway. I pray the Lord is encouraging you, speaking to you, and it's a joy to serve you. I know it's tough to come here after a long day and appreciate your commitment to come under the Word.