Evangelism, Part 2
The Joy of Sharing the Good News
As we continue our series on evangelism, it’s essential we get the gospel straight in our own minds. What we’re considering today is more of a framework as we think about the gospel rather than how we present it.
The gospel is an epic story and the gospel is the center of the story: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you” (Luke 24:44-49).
In his short but substantive book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer says the gospel is a message about God, sin, Christ, and repentance & faith. Let me summarize and comment on the first two this week.
First, the gospel is a message about God. He is the Sovereign Lord and Creator (Acts 17:24-31) to whom we are accountable. He is a holy and just Judge who must punish sin (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23). And yet, God is a gracious Father who loves to show mercy (Exodus 34:6,7; John 3:16). Some will ask, “Why can’t God simply decide to forgive our sins?” The real question is, how is it possible that God can forgive our sins? How can God express his love without compromising his holiness and vice versa? In order to satisfy himself, the Lord sacrificed himself.
Second, the gospel is a message about our sin. Sin is failure to be like God. Since his character is reflected in his law (Romans 3:23), the Shorter Catechism defines sin as “any want of conformity unto or transgression of, the law of God.” It’s not only the bad things we think, say or do, but all the good things we fail to do. We must face the problem of our guilt. Humanity is under sin’s penalty. Sin is not merely a matter of conduct; sin is a condition. Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (Mark 7:21-23). There is sin beneath the sin that flows from an idolatrous heart. J.C. Ryle noted, “Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption.”
In addition to the problem of guilt, there is also the problem of corruption. Humanity is under sin’s power. Our Confession teaches, “Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or prepare himself” WCF 9.3. Because sin enslaves, we are not able to liberate ourselves. While Christians will never be free from sin’s influence in this world, through union with Christ we can be free from its dominance.
Sin separates man from God and his blessedness but not from his wrath (Isaiah 59:2, Romans 6:23; John 3:36). Someone must pay the penalty sin deserves, either us or someone in our stead. What are some signs of true conviction of sin? Conviction of sin is essentially an awareness of a wrong relationship with God. It includes both conviction of sins (a bad record) and conviction of sinfulness (a bad heart). John Stott remarks, “The essential background to the cross … is a balanced understanding of the gravity of sin and the majesty of God. If we diminish either, we thereby diminish the cross.”
Truly, only a miracle can raise sinners to life, but all things are possible with God. You who know Jesus have graciously experienced this miracle in the Spirit’s work of regeneration. Just as the Lord spoke light into existence by the power of his word, so he spoke light and life into your heart and made you a new creation: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). If you have given up on certain individuals and have concluded they are somehow beyond hope, then you have stopped believing in the transforming power of the gospel. If the Lord saved people like you and me, he can save anyone. Confidence in God’s power makes one bold and expectant in evangelism.