Evangelism - Outreach to The Unsaved

[00:00:00] Spake to them many things in parables, saying, behold, the sower went forth to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside. And the birds came and devoured them. And others fell upon the rocky places where they had not much earth. And straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was risen, they were scorched. And because they had no root, they withered away. [00:00:34] And others fell upon the thorns. And the thorns grew up and choked them. And others fell upon the good ground and yielded fruit, some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. [00:00:50] He that hath ears, let him hear verse 18. [00:00:57] Hear then, ye the parable of the sower. [00:01:01] When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. [00:01:15] This is he that was sown by the wayside. [00:01:18] And he that was sown upon the rocky this is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while? And when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway he stumbleth. And he that was sowed among the thorns, this is he that heareth the the word and the care of the world. And the deceitfulness of riches choke the word. And he becometh unfruitful. [00:01:53] And he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the word and understandeth it, who verily beareth fruit. And bringeth forth some a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. [00:02:11] Now, this evening we are going to take this subject of evangelism. [00:02:19] I don't know how far we shall get this evening, but we are going to first lay a foundation for quite a number of aspects of evangelistic outreach. Perhaps next week we shall speak about the subject of soul winning. And how to really contact people and speak with them about the Lord Jesus. But this evening we are going to confine ourselves to the more general aspect of evangelism. Now, of course, whenever we mention evangelism, people tend to think of enormous campaigns and huge choirs and very colorful and energetic personalities. And in one sense, that's not wrong. But the Bible doesn't call that evangelism. That's the term. Evangelism is not confined to mass meetings and massed choirs and a huge organization engaged to deal with a response. [00:03:34] The word evangelism, in its scriptural sense, covers the whole outreach of Christ to a dying world. [00:03:46] That is what is meant by evangelism. [00:03:50] Teaching is to do with those who know and love the Lord and have been born of his spirit. They come into the realm of teaching and instruction and shepherding, pastoring, caring for them, watching over them, and all these other things. But everything that comes under the heading of outreach to the unsaved multitudes outside of the kingdom of God is evangelism. [00:04:31] And so I would like first of all just to say that we are talking this evening about scriptural evangelism. [00:04:43] Now, there are a tremendous number of misconceptions about evangelism and misunderstanding, and as I have started to look a little more at this matter, I really wondered, well, whether we ought not to take quite a number of studies upon it, for it is a vast and vitally important subject. However, we can't perhaps spend too much time this time on this subject, but we will seek at least to touch some of the more important aspects of it. Now, first of all, I would like to deal with the scriptural basis for evangelism. What is the scriptural basis for evangelism? Well, if you will turn to Matthew 28 and verse 19 and 20, we have it in these words. [00:05:45] We will read from the last part of verse 18, all authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. [00:05:56] Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. [00:06:28] Now the Lord Jesus said, go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations. [00:06:37] And then he said, I am with you always, if you turn over to Luke and chapter 24, Luke, chapter 24, verse 46. [00:07:07] And the Lord Jesus said unto them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Ye are witnesses of these things. [00:07:36] Now mark carefully, it is written that Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations. [00:07:57] And then if you turn back to mark and chapter 16, verse 15, this is how Peter remembered it. [00:08:15] And the Lord Jesus said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Or as the authorized version says, to every creature to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. [00:08:37] And then if you will, turn to John, chapter 20. [00:08:46] John, chapter 20, verse 21. [00:08:55] Jesus therefore said to them again, peace be unto you. As the father hath sent me, so, even so send I you. That's a tremendous statement. As the Father hath sent me, even so, send I you. This tremendous thing I do. Only today I realize just how tremendous that statement of the Lord Jesus is. As the Father hath sent me, the Father sent the son into this world. He asked the son to leave his equality with God, to leave his father's home, to leave the glory that was his, to leave the riches that were his and go into this world. What was his objective? The redemption of mankind, that we might be saved and that we might become the dwelling place of God. Well, that's a tremendous thing. And he says, as the Father hath sent me, so now I send you into the world, that you might proclaim this tremendous salvation and redemption to all the nations, to everyone. [00:10:18] And then if we can turn over to Romans, chapter ten, verse eleven to 15, we've looked at the gospels. We've seen the word of our Lord Jesus, his command to go into the world and reach men and women. [00:10:40] Now, Romans 1011. [00:10:44] For the scripture hath said, whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same lord is lord of all and is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. [00:11:06] How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? [00:11:13] And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? [00:11:18] And how shall they hear without a preacher? [00:11:23] And how shall they preach except they be sent even as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things. [00:11:38] Well, there we have the scriptural basis for evangelism. But there are some other scriptures we ought to look at in which the actual word is used. Evangelist. If we turn to Ephesians, chapter four and verse eleven, we read these words, and he gave some to be apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. [00:12:13] You turn over to two Timothy, two Timothy, chapter four, verse five. [00:12:23] This was Paul's word to Timothy. But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil thy ministry. And then we turn back to acts 21 and verse eight. [00:12:48] Acts 21 eight. [00:12:52] Last part of the verse. [00:12:55] And entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him. So here's a man who's actually called the evangelist, like John was called John the Elder, and Paul's called Paul the Apostle. Here he is called Philip the evangelist. [00:13:17] Now, of course, there are a number of other instances, but there we have at least, I think, the basic verses in connection with evangelism enough, I think, to provide us with an absolutely solid scriptural foundation for evangelism. [00:13:41] The word evangelism, evangelize evangelist, of course, is an anglicized greek word. It is the very word. If we wanted to put it, we would say evangelize, evangel evangelist. [00:13:57] I don't think evangelism comes into the word. But you see, if we were to put it literally, it wouldn't mean so much sense in English. We would say evangelize the evangelist. To preach. To publish the gospel, to preach the gospel, to evangelize the evangel. Because we speak only of evangelizing people. [00:14:17] But you see, these very words have come to us from the greek, and God's word demands evangelism. We are commanded to reach all with the gospel. Now, that's all that evangelism is. It is preaching the gospel to every creature. It is going into the whole world and making disciples of all nations. You can't make a disciple until first you've evangelized him. He's got to be evangelized. And when he's evangelized, we make a disciple of him. We're not to stop at evangelism. This is the tragedy of the 20th century. We stop at evangelism. Everything's centered in evangelism. Evangelism is the apex. It's the climax of everything. In christian circles, there's nothing more wonderful than to have an evangelistic campaign. But when the campaign is over, we forget the people. They all drift. They're left to dead churches and dead ministers, and somehow or other, they've got to fight their own way through like so many orphaned babes without anyone to care for them or to feed them. [00:15:33] You see, evangelism, as we shall see in a moment, has got an objective, and that's very important. But there is an absolutely solid foundation in the word of God for evangelism. It demands it. We are commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to preach the gospel, to take the evangelist to every creature. We are to preach it to all. And as Paul the apostle puts it, how can anyone hear of him except someone be sent as a preacher? Without a preacher, there's got to be a preacher of the gospel, and then the rest follows. [00:16:20] Well, we shall look at a number of these aspects. But the first thing we want to say is that God's word demands that we evangelize. [00:16:31] But there are one or two other things which I think come under the terms the scriptural basis for evangelism. It's not only that we have the actual word of God as the foundation of evangelism. God's so great love. Listen to this word that you hear so often when we speak to those who do not know the Lord. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [00:17:15] God's so great love for the whole world demands evangelism. [00:17:26] His love includes the world, and our evangelism has got to include the whole world. But there's more than that. His atoning work was for the whole world. If you look at one john two and verse two, you read these very familiar words, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world. [00:17:58] So the love of God for the world and the atoning work of God in Christ for the whole world demands evangelism. It's as if God has so loved the whole world that he's not only given his son for it, but has in Christ sought to reconcile the whole world to himself. Such a gospel demands evangelism. It demands that we take to every single man, woman and child this tremendously good news that God loves every single one and has died for the sins of the whole world. [00:18:46] That's tremendous. Then again, I would say this, that God's eternal purpose, to gather out of every nation and every tongue and every kindred and people a bride for his son, demands evangelism. [00:19:07] Our job in this age is to be the vehicle by which the Holy Spirit, in the name of Christ, calls men and women out of all the nations to be born of the spirit of God and be brought into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's eternal purpose. [00:19:31] And that's why we must evangelize. [00:19:36] We've not been saved so that we can just sit in conventions and hear wonderful messages about our own christian life and about the future, so that we might, just, as it were, comfort one another. We are not only meant to grow in grace and go on to all that is ours inheritance. Our inheritance. But we are meant. We are meant to reach out the hand to men and women around us and point them to Christ, help them to find the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:20:21] And after all, if you think at it for a few moments. [00:20:26] Can you believe that the Christ you and I know could be any different to the Christ whom we have found in the word of God? Am I to believe that the Christ who never turned anyone away in his life, the one who worked day and night to help and serve sinful humanity, the one who drank, ate an agent, drank with publicans and sinners? The one who was able to save a Mary Magdalene? Who was able to save a Zacchaeus? Who was able to save a Matthew? Who was able to say that woman taken in adultery? Who was able to say the dying thief? Am I to believe that that one is any different today? [00:21:28] Am I to believe that somehow or other he has confined himself to a select and pious few? [00:21:36] Am I to believe that that one who healed the wound of the high priest's servant Malchus. [00:21:48] Am I to believe that the one who included a Judas in the 12:00 a.m. i to believe that the one whose atoning death can save and cancel out the vilest and foulest sin. Am I to believe that today he is different and unconcerned for the sinful multitudes, that he has no time for them, that he's only concerned for the few that gather in his name? [00:22:23] No. I cannot believe that the Christ I see in the Bible and know in my heart is any different to the one we find in the scripture. [00:22:40] Let's put it this way. [00:22:43] I cannot believe that the Christ that lived for those 33 years on the earth and showed us the heart of God can live happily in the midst of a company which remains absolutely unconcerned about the dying multitudes around it. [00:23:11] I cannot believe that that Christ can live in my heart and it remain absolutely indifferent to the needs of dying men and women around. [00:23:28] This is not the Christ of God's word. Well, now, of course, this is the story of Jonah. [00:23:35] Jonah was the unwitting victim of his own theology. [00:23:40] You know, he was a dear, good, pious evangelical. We would have called him today someone who was absolutely devoted to the Lord. He loved the Lord. He loved the book. He loved the law of God. And he loved the people of God. God. He was. In this sense, he was blameless. He was absolutely unblemished. He was given over to the Lord. And the greatest shock in his life came when one day in his quiet time, the Lord said to him, jonah, you're to go to Nineveh. [00:24:17] And Jonah said, jerusalem, lord, no. Nineveh. Oh, Lord, Nineveh. That wicked, evil, gentile city, that place of the dogs. That place outside of the covenant of God, that place where surely thy presence, Lord, is unknown. You've never walked the streets of Nineveh. You don't know, Lord, what happens in Nineveh. Surely, Lord, you're not going to send me out to that heathens multitude. And you know the controversy that Jonah had with the Lord, as Kossaph has put it, he went straight down to Haifa and bought a ticket for a mediterranean cruise. He thought that was the best way to get out of this very difficult situation. Now, what was wrong with Jonah? Was he, as some people tried to paint him, just a. A rebellious. A rebellious, half hearted, compromised child of God? Not at all. [00:25:28] Jonah was hidden shoulders above most of us for his devotion to the Lord, for his knowledge of God's word, and for his service to God's people. This was a man who was the victim of his own theology. You see, he had never, ever dreamt that God could even bother about the unsaved heathen, let alone love them. [00:25:54] He had never, never crossed his mind that anything else would happen to Nineveh, but that it should be the scene of the wrath of God. [00:26:04] Well, you know the whole story. You know how in the end, when Jonah was on that cruise, the Lord caught up with him and he had a lot of trouble. And finally, when he was brought back miraculously to earth again, to dry land again, he had learned his lesson partly, and he said to the Lord, all right, Lord, I'll go to Nineveh. And off he went to Nineveh. But now he was going to enjoy his ministry in Nineveh, and he denounced them in the most, the most absolutely dogmatic terms. And he enjoyed doing it. There's no doubt about it. He felt now, well, whether the Lord used his energy and love for his message, I don't know. But the whole city came down in sackcloth and ashes, a thing that had not happened in Israel, not happened in Judah. They had heard God's word again and again and gone on murmuring and rebelling against the Lord. But as soon as the people of Nineveh heard the word of God from the king down to the poorest person, they sat in sackcloth and ashes. The whole city, the whole city mourned for its sin and turned to God. And of course, you know what happened. The Lord changed his mind and said, I'll. I'll defer judgment. And, of course, and here is the whole point of the story, Jonah fell out with the Lord. [00:27:41] And you remember how Jonah went out and sulked and said, lord, I've gone there and told them the judgment's coming. And now. And now. And now you've gone and repented. You've gone and repented after I stood up and thundered judgment and said it was coming very soon and the whole city would be destroyed. You've been fickle and you've listened to their little tears and their little moaning and groaning, and you've said, all right, all right. These people that have been so cruel to thy chosen people, these people that are so wicked, you've shown mercy too. [00:28:22] And, you know, I don't know how many really ever see it. [00:28:27] Those last verses of Jonah are amongst the most wonderful in the whole Bible. [00:28:32] When the Lord said to Jonah about the good and then said to him, should I not show mercy to little children that cannot even know their left hand from their right hand and to the cattle? What a God we have when he takes even the very cattle into consideration when it comes to judgment. Now, this is the basis of evangelism. The love of God for this world is incredible. Incredible. Jonah may not know much about Nineveh. He might not know what went on in the hearts and minds of those people. He didn't know the families, the homes of Nineveh. But God knew every single home and family in Nineveh. He knew all the children, and he knew all the livestock. He knew the pets. He knew the lot. [00:29:28] And so when it came to it, you see, the Lord taught Jonah his glory. Greatest lesson. The one of the great objectives of God saving his chosen people was that they might become, in turn, the means of the salvation of the nations. This was God's idea in having a chosen people, that they might be the vessel which, as it were, carried God to the nations. And poor Jonah, he completely misunderstood. And, you know, we might all feel sorry for Jonah, and we might all, in fact, prejudge him. But, you know, the same spirit exists in so many of us. We are unwitting victims of our own theology. [00:30:18] We start to grow up with strange ideas. We think of the world as just a wicked place, which, of course, it is. We forget that we were once as we, wicked in the sight of God. We think of it as a sinful place. We forget that we are just as sinful in the sight of God. And somehow or other, and this is the most terrible thing of all. We forget that there but for the grace of God go we. [00:30:44] You see, the whole point is the Lord's love for the world is deep, compassionate and untiring. [00:30:59] And his desire is that we should move amongst them and carry this gospel of God's redeeming love and grace to them. Well, now, that's the scriptural basis for evangelism. And we, I hope, will learn from the story of Jonas how often theological conceptions about the sovereignty and the election and the foreordination of God, all of which I believe in firmly and wholly, how sometimes they master us as things and rob us of compassion and robbers of humanity and robbers of mercy and love towards those outside, so that we can almost turn away people, as if somehow or other it doesn't really matter what happens. Some Christians seem to think they can treat the world in a way that they would never dream of treating a Christian. [00:32:03] Well, we have to learn, I think, that we have to be delivered from our own theology. And sometimes, if we live near to God, there are times when the law tells us to do things which are quite contrary to our theological conceptions. And in so being obedient, we discover that God is the God of theology. Theology doesn't master God. [00:32:29] And then there is the objective of evangelism. The objective of evangelism. What is the objective of evangelism? Well, first of all, in one corinthians 117, it is to preach the gospel of God's saving grace and power. [00:32:50] One corinthians 110 17 for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void. The first objective of evangelism is to preach, in an uncompromising way, the gospel of God's saving grace and power, to preach Christ crucified. [00:33:16] Now this may cover much, and it does cover much. And this word preach is this word evangelize? It is this word. Publish it is this word announce. It is this word declare. We are to announce. We are to declare. We are to proclaim the gospel, the good news of God's saving grace and power. Now this we are to do. And I want to emphasize this because this is one of the misconceptions, whether people accept it or not. I would like to underline what Mister Roberts said last week. There is one sense in which an evangelistic work there is no failure. [00:34:00] Once we have preached the gospel of God's grace and power, we have succeeded. [00:34:10] We have done what we were meant to do. [00:34:15] We have announced and proclaimed Christ crucified. It is up to people what they do with that message. Sometimes you can live in an age when God is abroad everywhere, and when men and women are turning on all hands toward the Lord, on all sides toward the Lord. There are other times when it's as hard as hard can be. Have you ever thought what it must have been like for Noah? He was a preacher of righteousness and for most of his life he preached and not a soul listened to him. If he did have big congregations, no one did anything. They found him an interesting preacher. Perhaps they found him an entrancing preacher. Perhaps they found him a moving preacher. Perhaps. Perhaps he was a frightening preacher. [00:35:06] But no one did anything. There were only seven people other than no one. They were all members of his family who finally were saved. [00:35:14] Yet you see, he succeeded, and God says by faith Noah. And Noah actually succeeded in God's purpose, although he had no results and no fruit to show for it. Our job first, one of the objectives of evangelism is to announce and declare the gospel of God's redeeming grace, power. The second thing we are to do is found in two corinthians chapter five. The second, shall we say, objective or second aspect of the aim of evangelism is in two corinthians 520. We are ambassadors, therefore on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Now, what is an ambassador? An ambassador represents her majesty. That's all. [00:36:21] An ambassador represents the queen. Wherever he is in the world. He represents the sovereignty of the queen and the government of the queen. [00:36:36] Now of course, I don't know, we have got some people here who come from republics, but your ambassadors represent the president and his, and the government of your country. [00:36:47] You see, an ambassador represents the government of his country. [00:36:54] He represents the truth. [00:36:57] If an infamous scandal sweeps over the country country, the ambassador will speak up and will say, he will protest that this is not the truth. [00:37:12] He is there to represent the queen and he is there to express the truth. Now, in spiritual language, we are ambassadors of Christ. One of the objectives of evangelism is that we are. We represent Christ, we represent his truth, we represent his love, we represent his authority, we represent his kingdom, we represent his grace, we represent his salvation, his saving power. We are ambassadors and we are there to persuade, to entreat, to beseech men and women to be reconciled to God. [00:38:04] What a wonderful ministry is ours to be ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ in that way, and to entreat people, appeal to men and women to be reconciled to God. This is our job. So it's not merely and only that we announce the gospel and that stat we are to go a step further and we are to appeal to people to be reconciled to God. We are acting as ambassadors. It's as if the Lord has sent us personally to them, as if God has said, I have a message for you, and I am sending this person to you. And my message is, be reconciled to me, make peace with me, come to terms with me, be saved. [00:38:58] We are ambassadors, and then we are also. If you look in Matthew 419, which is where the Lord Jesus said, I will make you to become fishers of men. Come ye after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And then again in two corinthians 511, knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. [00:39:28] Now, this is very interesting. Fishers. [00:39:33] What do fishers do? You know, fishers are not silly men. [00:39:38] A lot of intelligence goes into fishing. [00:39:42] They have to notice all kinds of things. I often used to think that fishermen were ignorant, but they're not ignorant at all. And I suppose some are. But on the whole, they're not so ignorant. They are men who've got to use much guile and much ingenuity and watch for all kinds of on both water and weather to know where the fish are. [00:40:11] I read the other day of a play of somewhere in India where men had fished for a whole day and caught two fish. [00:40:21] This is the reason why they've never been taught quite how to fish. Well, if you go down to the Thames and watch, not those amateurs, but you watch the old season, there used to be an old gentleman with a beard was there every morning at 08:00 fishing till about 05:00 in the evening. He was the most remarkable character. But you know, the baits. He had all kinds of different baits and all kinds of things. Now, I'm not saying that we should have baits in evangelism, but nevertheless, you know, we are fishers of men. We've got to know where the Lord wants us to fish, and we've got to. We've got to catch the fish. [00:40:54] And I like this word here. It says, knowing therefore the fear, we persuade men. Now, it seems that some people are very spiritual, feel it's quite wrong to persuade men shouldn't persuade them. Yet it's really interesting that it sweet persuade men. In other words, we use all our powers broken in the hand of God and under the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit, to persuade men to come to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be reconciled to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have got to be fishers of men. Those who know how, as Lindsey Ged always used to say when I was first saying, we must know when to pull the line in. [00:41:38] You see, you always used to say to us, that's the art of it. He said, to know when to pull the line in. You've just felt it nibbling at the bait. Don't pull it. Don't pull it. Leave it. Leave it. You see? But then you must know when to pull the land, and then you must pull. [00:41:55] Yes, he knows what he's talking about. He's a true fisher of men. We must know how to persuade men and women to Christ, how to not only appeal, but how to persuade them to come to him. I was reading today a very interesting thing, by no less a man than Packer, Doctor Packer. And he said, this I thought was very interesting, that the word convert in the New Testament is never used in the way we use it. We always speak of God alone converting men and women. But the Bible always speaks of us converting men and women. I had never thought of that. Of course, it's absolutely true. God is the only one who can convert a man. Yet it isn't. If anyone let brethren know this, if anyone convert a sinner from the error of his ways. And there are three other instances in which this comes. It's very interesting. Anyway, again, we must leave it. But you see, the word convert is to turn. [00:43:06] We persuade men to turn by our earnestness. [00:43:13] We seek by the Holy Spirit to persuade men to turn. Well, this is one of the objectives of evangelism. Not only to announce the good news, not only to represent Christ and appeal to them to be reconciled to him as ambassadors of Christ, but to seek to persuade them to be saved by the grace of God. And then the last thing in the objective of evangelism is in ephesians four, verse eleven and twelve. And this I fear. In fact, I more than fear, I know, is the point overlooked today. [00:43:54] Chapter four, verse eleven and twelve. He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ. [00:44:12] The fourth and last aspect of the aim of evangelism is to build up the body of Christ. To build up the body of Christ. The evangelist's job is to provide, to obtain and provide the material for the construction of God's house. [00:44:37] Looking at it as a building of a temple or a house, his job is to go out and get the material, and he obtains it, as it were, and brings it, and then it's built into the house. You see, the teacher's job is the fashioning of the material. The pastor's job is the fashioning of the material. The apostle's job is the overseer of the whole work in all its aspects. The evangelist's job is to go out and get the material. You can't build a house without the material. [00:45:13] Someone's got to go out and get it. Someone's got to know where to get it, how to get it. Someone's got to know how to bring it in, and then it can be fashioned and built in. The other ministries, of course, are their aim is the actual building, the actual construction work. But we mustn't say that the evangelist is nothing. [00:45:39] I once was speaking with a dear brother, and he said to me about someone, well, he's only an evangelist. [00:45:50] As if we must sort of say, well, we must forgive him anything. [00:45:56] He's only an evangelist. I mean, we must forgive him. And I can understand that when you see some who go by the name of evangelists, but, you know, an evangelist is an essential part, God's work and service. His job is to go out and get the material and bring it in, that it might. That there might be the building work. Now, it is this point which is often overlooked today. You see, you've got all the evangelism. You've got it's quite high powered and well organized, and in some cases is reaching the people, definitely reaching the people. But you see, there is not this clear understanding of the objective of evangelism. So that when people are saved, well, that's it. That's it. They're saved, and that's all. Now they must serve and they must tell others and so on. But they don't realize that the objective is to build up those who are saved into the body of Christ, that they may be built together and built up. This is absolutely vital. And if it's not understood, there is a lot of loss and spiritual poverty that results in our evangelism. I think this is the great cry today, certainly in this country and where I've been in Europe, the great cry is, well, we've had the great evangelistic meetings, but where are the people? What has happened to them? Well, we must go on. I would like to pass on from the objective of evangelism to the scope of evangelism. [00:47:38] The scope of evangelism. A problem with so many is to do with results. [00:47:50] Now, this seems to me to be a very big problem with all, whether it's the great campaigns of Billy Graham or whether it's right down to our own little meetings here. One of the problems that you continually hear brought up is the problem of results. [00:48:07] Indeed, many people, for many people, the scale by which they judge everything is on this level of results. [00:48:17] Well, what are the results? Let me put it more concretely so that you can understand what I mean. These are the kind of questions I often get asked. Why do so few go on? [00:48:28] Why is it that when people are saved, there seems so often to be much difficulty, and then sometimes they fade out altogether, and some profess conversion, they will really, as far as we know, they profess conversion, and we are told that so and so has professed conversion, and we never see them again. [00:48:51] Others we see for a while, and then they falter, and finally they fade out. What is wrong? [00:49:00] Isn't there something really wrong when this happens? Should not, let me put it on the positive side. Should not every single case be solid and genuine, or at least the majority of the cases be really genuine and go right on? If the method is right, if the preaching of the word is right, and if the Holy Spirit is really in charge and is empowering, surely this should be so. [00:49:38] Well, now, if you turn to Matthew, chapter 13, the chapter that we read together, I believe we have here the answer to this. We have what we could call the scope of evangelism. [00:49:56] Now, if you look particularly at verse 18, when the Lord said, hear then, ye the parable of the sower. When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart, this is he that was sown by the wayside, and he that was sown upon the rocky places. This is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while? And when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway, he stumbleth, he that was sown among the thorns, this is he that heareth the word and the care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. [00:50:48] Now, if you turn to Luke, chapter eight, you have an interesting addition. Chapter eight and verse eleven, you have this addition. Now, the parable is this. The seed is the word of God. The seed is the word of God. [00:51:11] Now, this is very, very interesting. [00:51:16] I think many of you will know this, but others may not. [00:51:20] We can all do with being reminded of it anyway. And that is this. [00:51:25] That, and we need carefully to note it three quarters of this precious seed fails. [00:51:36] Three quarters of this precious seed fails. [00:51:42] It is only the last part that really takes root and springs up to the heart. We say three quarters. Of course, it may not be three quarters of all that were sown, but of what the Lord said. [00:52:00] In three cases there is a failure. [00:52:06] And in the fourth, there is a great variety in what we might term success. [00:52:14] There is, if you look carefully at it in verse 23, there is. [00:52:21] Bring up a hundredfold, some 60, some 30. It's interesting the way the Lord puts it, isn't it? It doesn't put it the way we would have put it. Some 30, some 60, some hundred, he says. Some hundred. That's what he'd like. Some 60, some 30. However, let's thank God that even with those that have brought forth thirtyfold, they've at least brought forth something, whereas the other has failed. There are those who hear the word of God, but they don't understand it. They hear it. They don't understand it. And immediately the devil, says, the Lord, he swoops on it and destroys it. He will not leave it in the heart. Oh, how we've seen that again and again, not only here, but in years gone by in other places. How someone came under the word of God. They didn't really understand it. And then immediately something happened. Some friend came, someone rang, something happened, and the thing was destroyed in a flag. [00:53:21] And then afterwards, they were harder than ever. [00:53:24] Or there are those who hear it, and they hear it with emotion. [00:53:30] There is an emotional response. They receive it with joy. Or you have this kind as well. Oh, they say, yes, yes. Oh, yes, I can see. I understand. But they have no root within themselves. [00:53:45] And that's the governing thing. They have not got the root within themselves. [00:53:52] And just a little while, someone at the office asks, you didn't go to church, did you? And someone says, you know, something else? And a little bit of persecution starts. Little bit of the. Begin to feel the currents against them and they falter. And then they wonder, well, is it really worth it? The joy goes and the emotions gone. And now it's Monday morning, and by Wednesday they're finished altogether. Absolutely not for me. Not for me. [00:54:23] And then you've got the other kind. And this is interesting because I would really like to know whether these are safe people. They must be, I think, for it doesn't actually say that the. The seed in the third instance dies. It's only choked. If you look at the others in Luke and Mark, you will see very interesting commentary on this. This does, in fact, take real root and grows. But the other things choke it so that it becomes anaemic and and and dwarfed. Never gets anywhere. It certainly bears no flesh. [00:54:57] And you see, you've got that again. [00:54:59] And then you've got the other kind that bear fruit hundredfold, 60 fold, 30 fold. [00:55:10] Now, I find this a tremendous encouragement in one way. [00:55:16] We want to see far more people genuinely saved. And we want to see them going on with the Lord. And it right that we should be concerned and burdened about that matter. I'm sure of that. That's right. And we should all the time be looking to see that we are walking before the Lord, that we're flexible and sensitive to him in our approach and everything else. All this is right. But we should not be allowed to be brought by the enemy. Under a complete cloud of condemnation over what in fact is in God's word. [00:55:51] Billy Graham reckons that three quarters. Over three quarters of those who go forward at his meetings will never stand. [00:56:02] They were told this in Denmark when they went there before they told Paul and John. They said, well, we know how many will stand. We can tell you now. Can tell you now. Of the 700 that went forward at the meetings, only a quarter of that number will, in fact, go right through and stand for Christ. We know that. This is what we found out, they said from their statistics, which have been compiled over well now, thousands of campaigns. [00:56:32] I think we should not come under condemnation. Our job is to preach the gospel. There are those who sometimes emotionally respond. They don't go through. There are others who, of course, don't really respond at all. The word is destroyed before it's got a chance to take root. There are others who do but have a rocky tower and thank God. There are others who, from the beginning, go on strongly with the Lord. Or there are others who falter for a while and waver for a while. And then finally they take root and really grow in the Lord and bear fruit. We must be in one. We must rest in the Lord, adjusting all the time to him, understanding what his way is, sensitive to his leading, and yet not coming under condemnation in these matters. How the enemy would seek to bring us under condemnation. When God's word does, in fact, give us the answer to this. The scope of evangelism is therefore the whole world. [00:57:38] We cannot confine ourselves to certain people. [00:57:43] We must not be wrongly selective. There is this idea that if you're very, very, very spiritual, you can sort of point out the ones that are going to go on. And you can spend your time on them. My dear friends, I've seen some of these very spiritual people, and I'm not being sarcastic. I've seen people who really are very spiritual people and they made some dreadful mistakes. And I'm one of them. I won't sound very spiritual, but I'm one of the people who's made some dreadful mistakes. Because, you know, some of the people think that person's going to go on. They don't go on. Never forget the day George Holbrook came into the study. He had a smirk on his face. I didn't like it. He said, I want to come to the Lord. I said, do you? So he said, yes. So I questioned him very carefully, but I said to David afterwards, I said, he's been having me on. It's a joke. He's going to go back to the. To the army camp where he was with David. He's going to tell him all when he gets back there. You know, I had the old preacher down on his knees with me and he tried to lead me to the Lord. It was a real laugh, because even when he was coming to the Lord, there seemed to be a sort of leer. Well, not quite a leah, but a sort of grin on his face. And I just didn't like it at all. And he was so cocky as he went out the door. I never thought we'd see him again. [00:59:00] Well, whatever we might feel about George, he went right through. [00:59:04] Absolutely through. There are others, you know. I know one fellow I remember now who worked with Ken Andrews and he came forward and I thought, that man's really going to make his mark. He's absolutely. And he was so clear. But, you know, he faltered. He faltered and then he wrote a letter and he said, coming down for the house, he said, is like holding a high voltage cable. [00:59:29] So he said, I'm going to Westminster Abbey. [00:59:34] Because he thought that in Westminster, I mean, the truth, he was a pagan, poor lad. Very sad case, actually, in Ron, I'll explain it to you. That lad thought by going to where he was going to find a company like us, only a little not so electric. [00:59:47] That boy went back and he committed suicide. He not only married, but he was the lad who was found drowned. Having taken his life over near Ken's works, he went out for a walk and took his life. There are others, you see. There are those we think are going to make their mark and go right through. They don't. There are some way, sure, we are wrong. The most spiritual of us, you see, we cannot be wrongly selective. [01:00:18] Our job is to scatter broadcast seed. It's God's job to care for it. He knows alone what happens. We must just watch. Sooner or later we shall see what's happening. It'll be only too clear to all of us who's really going on and who isn't, who is sad and who isn't. [01:00:36] We must learn this little lesson, that it is God's sovereign prerogative to watch over those who will come to him. We must evangelize all. We must reach all and invite all to drink of the water of life freely. We cannot overlook a single, solitary soul for whom Christ died. It would be quite wrong to have some so called spiritual demagogue think that they know who is going to come to the Lord and who isn't. [01:01:19] This is one thing the Lord has never allowed any of us to know. The Lord's very, very wise. He keeps us from spiritual pride in these things and continually shows us how foolish we are. So here, then, is what we have called the scope of evangelism. Now, there are a number of other things, but I think we'll leave them till next week. A number of practical observations I would like to make on the whole matter of evangelism. But here we've laid a foundation this evening. There is a solid scriptural foundation for evangelism. We've seen something, I hope, of its objective, and we've seen something of its scope. [01:02:08] Now, may the Lord help us all to really translate a little of that into action. But we may be those who really do pray for the men and women around us. Let me close with an illustration which I think is right up to date. [01:02:28] This little lady across the road from here is a person that you and I could easily overlook quite easily. [01:02:39] Apart from that, the whole road has certainly overlooked her. They feel she's beyond any hope or possibility at all. And in one sense, the world in its wisdom is right. [01:02:53] She is beyond hope. And there are many cases like that. They are beyond hope. But, you know, the wonderful thing about God's saving grace is that he can, in fact, take people who are really beyond human hope. [01:03:13] I am afraid we are living in days when somehow or other, the power of God seems confined to more pious people. [01:03:21] And one longs for the day when the Lord will break out again, as he has done again and again and again in history, and saved all the people you least think could be saved. [01:03:38] But you know, when I was reading that story of General Booth, I every page held for me a new marvel. [01:03:49] Some of those people who became the top ranking officers of the Salvation army. When the Salvation army was a real power in the hand of God at the end of the last century were alcoholics and given up as impossible cases. [01:04:09] But it was the faith of a few believers who believed that God was able to redeem. We know God is able, but who believed that God was able to redeem the past and refused to give up until they really did find the Lord. And not only find the Lord, but they were changed characters. And then you get those amazing advertisements and the salvation army halls where they told you to come and listen to the reformed this and the saved that. And there are all these things like cockfighter and of terrible things. You and I would feel that was the flesh. [01:04:59] Surely that was the flesh. And yet the Lord used it and used it to save many people of a kind that you and I again would think it was impossible to say. [01:05:11] God's power is unlimited. Why? [01:05:15] Because the. Because the saving grace of God is unlimited. Why? Because the finished work of Christ is unlimited. That's why God's finished work includes all, and therefore his grace is extended to all, and therefore his power is able to change all. All that. You and I could really understand that and that we were renewed in faith and believed in what Paul called the foolishness of preaching. Sometimes I stand up and I'm quite conscious that a lot of us are looking, oh, this is so silly. It really is so silly. Of course, we know. We know it's silly. It's in the Bible, for a start. You're not the first person to think that the preaching here is foolish. It's in the Bible. It is the foolishness of. Of preaching. It has pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to say those that believe. Isn't it amazing? It is so foolish. And you know, the gospel is folly to the men in the world. It's so foolish. It seems so. So strange, so childish, so simple, so unreasonable in one way, and yet it is the power of God unto salvation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. [01:06:53] Well, let's pray. [01:07:05] Lord Jesus, we do pray that thou wouldst truly write on our hearts something of this that we've studied this evening make us, Lord, aware of the scope of evangelism. And we do pray, dear Lord, that we may not only understand what has been said, but, Lord, it might clear up a number of misunderstandings and misconceptions that with renewed trust and confidence in thyself, we may give ourselves to thee and may see thee work in a much more powerful and mighty way. O Lord, it is the work of thy Holy Spirit to convict and convince men of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And faith does come by hearing and hearing by thy word and thy word. By those that are sent to preach it. And, Lord, oh, we pray that we might be a people who know how to take the victory of Christ in this matter and bind the strong man and let loose the captives. We might know, Lord, what it is to really see thee at work. Because we are trusting thee and expecting thee to work. O Lord, help us then, in this matter as we give ourselves afresh to thee. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.