True evangelism relies on the pure proclamation of the gospel, not solely on Christian evidences or apologetics. Drawing from Acts 17, it highlights Paul's method of reasoning with Jews from the Old Testament scriptures to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah. The message emphasizes that the gospel's power to save comes from God through the Word, not human logic or philosophical arguments, as illustrated by the convicting power of understandable prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14. It concludes that while apologetics is valuable, the core of evangelism must be the clear, loving, and patient presentation of Christ crucified, which God uses to open hearts and bring salvation.
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apologetics and evangelism. And basically, we're looking, we have looked at evangelism in relation to Christian evidences. And when we speak of Christian evidences, we're talking about evidences that are supernatural, like miracles, and the resurrection and things like this. And while these things do not produce faith in and of themselves, they are great blessings to the child of God, for they give to the child of God a comfort and an encouragement in his knowledge of God.
But we must put evangelism in its rightful place as it appears in the Word of God. And I want you to turn with me to the book of Acts tonight, chapter seventeen. Sunday morning I mentioned that I wasn't in contact with Janie Smith, who had been ill and I learned this week that she's in the hospital again. I saw her yesterday. She had another blackout spell and she fell again. She's in county hospital and she's determined she's not going to a rest home.
It's really something. She is a determined person. But she says she's not going to a rest home. She said, I wish I could go home to heaven instead of to a rest home. And that's how it is. So remember her in prayer. We're in Acts chapter seventeen, where we read, Now when they had passed through Antipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where it was a synagogue of the Jews.
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must need have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Now that is true evangelism. Now look at First Thessalonians chapter one. First Thessalonians chapter one and verse one. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace be unto you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father. knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of a man we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter two. Verse three, For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, which trieth our heart. For neither at any time used the flattering words as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness, nor a men sought the glory. neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children.
So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but our own soul, because you were dear unto us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believed. Now may the Lord bless the reading of his words.
Let us pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the gospel of saving grace. We thank you that we can enter into thy holy presence through our Lord Jesus Christ and his mediatorial work on our behalf and the Holy Spirit. We thank you that we have a relationship with thee because of a relationship with him. And we rejoice in this relationship because God has brought us from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God. We thank you that the gospel has been proclaimed purely through the apostles.
And as it was proclaimed purely through the apostles, a foundation was laid whereby it can be proclaimed purely by us who studied the Word of God and who seek to proclaim that message without fear or favor in order that thy name will be glorified in the earth. O Father, we pray thee that you would attend the ministry of the gospel as you did the apostles. For it says that the gospel came not unto them in word only, but in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance.
This is our desire, O God, in order that thy name will be glorified in the earth and not men. We pray thee that thou wilt work in and through this assembly of believers in such a way that our witness will bear clear testimony to the world that we are walking in love, that we are walking in the light, that we are not walking as other Gentiles do in the vanity of their minds because they are alienated by the darkness that is in them, but rather that we are walking circumspectly as the children of God.
Grant our Father that when we pray for those who are laid aside, like Jamie Smith and others, that our prayers on their behalf will be effectual. to the honor and glory of God your son. We think of Brother Sutton as he's traveling to Florida and ask you to direct him, protect him, and may he come back with a blessing of the Lord. We just thank you that we can ask and receive on behalf of others for thou art gracious in all your ways and thou art perfect in all your acts.
Now feed us with food convenient to us out of thy word, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. When we talk about apologetics in the Christian faith, we're dealing with a defense and the proof of Christianity. But we do not need to defend Christianity. Christianity can defend itself. and it will defend itself, for the Lord said that he will build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But it is a great thing to go through the Word of God and what strong evidence we have for the defense of the truth as we believe it.
But we need to keep in mind the place that God has given God-centered evangelism in the Word of God. Now the biblical method of evangelism is outlined in the verses that we read together tonight. We're to present the true gospel lovingly. And Paul tells how he lovingly presented it. He said, we were among you as a nursing mother and as a nursing father. A mother and a father who cared for children. It must be presented lovingly. It must be presented patiently. We read in Acts chapter seventeen that he opened and alleged from the Old Testament scriptures that this Jesus is their Messiah.
In other words, he used the Old Testament scriptures to show the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the most blessed ways that I know. of getting a person's attention into the Scripture. Now, he did this prayerfully. When he went forth evangelizing, he prayed and he used the Word of God. Now, this message of the Gospel must be proclaimed in the context of a God they like. And Paul exhorts in the second chapter of First Thessalonians, the need for integrity among those who proclaim the gospel.
It is the living and the powerful word of God that penetrates the unbeliever's shield of defense and pierces his heart. It is the word of God. Hebrews four, verse twelve, the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. and thereby it is God who gets the glory in the salvation of the sinner. Now this is brought to our attention vividly in First Corinthians chapter fourteen. I'd like you to go back to First Corinthians fourteen for a moment. There is a verse there that is very important in relation to apologetics and Christian evidences and the Word of God.
And we're looking at verses twenty-four and twenty-five. Now, in the Church of Corinth, First Corinthians fourteen deals with a signed gift of tongues in the Church. And Paul very definitely says, I would rather speak five words that I understand than ten thousand words in a tongue that he doesn't understand. And in verses twenty-four and twenty-five, he says, But if all prophesy, that is, if all speak, that everybody understands, for prophecy is given for exhortation, for edification, and for comfort, if you look back at verse three, But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all.
and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth. And here we see a man saved in the worship meeting through the proclamation of the Word of God in a way that it is known and understood by the clear proclamation of those who stand up. to speak. It is through the Word of God that man is convicted and won to Christ. Now, there are always those who object to the biblical method of salvation through preaching.
And a Christian apologist, he constantly appeals to the Word of God, which is a very good thing, in order to establish its truth. provided he is not guilty of reasoning in a circle. A lot of times apologetics is circular reasoning. Now, when an unbeliever refuses to submit to the Scriptures as divinely inspired, you see, we hold to the Scriptures, but suppose you're speaking to someone who doesn't accept the Scriptures. Should not the apologists abandon the Bible temporarily? and demonstrate the truth independently from, say, archaeology or in other ways, or scientific facts that affirm the claims of Scripture?
Well, the answer to that, really, is no. Because if Christianity is a circle of truth, which is conditioned and defined by other circles of truth, then it is not a true circle at all. Christianity stands in a unique position. And we must learn this. And we must learn it well. The scriptures claim that our God is eternal. He is all-inclusive. He is unique. And he is a final authoritative word. And he has spoken it in his word.
To turn off the word of God. in order to establish a common ground. And this is a danger in our day. We think we have to get on the scientist's level to talk with it. God doesn't say that. We don't have to get on anybody's level in this respect as we present the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe if we're speaking to children, we have to be down where the children can understand it. As Harry Ironside used to say, you put the cookies on the lower shelves. in the cupboard that the children can get to them. And we should always do that as the preachers of the gospel. But we don't turn off the Word of God in order to turn to something else.
For if we turn from light, we grow in darkness. And the Word of God declares that His Word is the light. And we have the light. Now, Suppose someone were lost in a dark cave. You see. And we're going in to rescue them. And here's a fella who wants to talk about the merits of a good flashlight. You see. It isn't the merits of a good flashlight. There are two men who need to be rescued. And the Lord Jesus has done the rescuing through his work on the cross.
and this is what needs to be proclaimed. You see, man's capacity to see and man's capacity to hear in the physical is not by chance, and it is not by chance in the spiritual either. For this reason, in Proverbs chapter twenty, verse twelve, we read the hearing ear and the seeing eye. The Lord is the maker of them both, and I cannot produce by all my logic a hearing ear. And I cannot produce by all my logic a seeing eye. Only God can do this. And God has promised to do it through the preaching of the gospel.
This is why the gospel is so important. Now, when a man is confronted with Christ, the light of the world, it is no help to him at all. If one agrees that he seriously examined another light first, You see, Christ didn't say, I'm a light among many light. The Christian who adopts such a Bible-centered apologetic must prepare himself for intense criticism. Paul confronted that at home. Remember chapter one of first Corinthians? He says the Jews require a sign.
That's Christian evidences. That's exactly what the rich men in hell required. He said to Abraham, send Lazarus to my brothers. I have five brothers. I don't want them to come here. They'll believe if somebody arose from the dead, the Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom. The Greeks, they spent their time listening to something new day by day. Any new philosophy that came along, they wanted to hear it first, you see. The Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom. Paul says, but we preach. Christ crucified. To the Jews of stumbling block.
To the Greeks foolishness. But unto us who are saved. Here is that people. That God is going to save. He's going to open the ear and he's going to open the eye. To us who are saved. It is the power of God. God's word is his special revelation. And what assurance do we ever have that a man believes by a general revelation? Anything else is general to the special revelation that God has given. Now, the Lord Jesus is not one Savior among many Saviors. He's the only Savior.
Now, that causes us to look at man as he really is. man was created in the image and likeness of God. And though that image has been marred by the fall, yet that image is still intact. For James tells us concerning the tongue that with the same tongue we both bless and curse man who is made in the image of God. And it is this that separates the man from the beast. And inwardly Man knows who God is.
He knows this. And this is why he runs from him. Adam, after he fell, he knew who God was. But his conscience didn't bring him to God. It caused him to hide among the trees of the garden. And Adam is hiding ever since. And man will hide behind any philosophy possible that he can lay hold of. that sounds plausible to him and will make him look good as he talks to somebody else. Man knows who God is. That's why he ran away from it. Furthermore, in Romans one and verse nineteen, I read that man suppresses the truth of God in unrighteousness, that which may be known of God.
He continuously suppresses the truth. John chapter three, verse twenty tells me that man hates the right. and will not come to the light, lest the light reproves him that he deeds are evil. Man is responsible. No man can say that God is totally unknown to him. For the general revelation of God has been proclaimed to man. You see, that's why it's impossible and it's improper for man. to demand certain credentials. When the Creator says to him, Repent, believe my word and do it now.
Now is the accepted time. God now commands all men everywhere to repent. And when the Spirit of God says to the human heart, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is potential spiritual suicide to procrastinate and to investigate in some debate that's philosophical in nature. And when you and I are settled on this very fact that it is the gospel that God uses, it is the gospel that has been committed unto us, it is the gospel That's saved.
This is what Paul went to Thessalonica with. He openly, he alleged, and he reasoned. And that word for reason means he argued. He argued with them. He put one argument after another from the Old Testament scriptures proving that Christ is the Messiah. And there was a result. First Thessalonians chapter one tells us he became followers of us. and of the Lord. Usually, they who preach the gospel, if they preach it with genuine integrity, as Paul said he did, did you know what kind of men we were?
We didn't take you by guile. We worked with our own hands. We didn't demand anything of you. We came to give something to you. And there was a church established in Thessalonica. You see, it's wrong to set up man on a pedestal and tell him he can make demands of God before he repents. If man is ever put on that pedestal, and this is the modern method of doing it, if man is ever put on that pedestal, he'll never come down. He'll never come down.
So instead of making Christ the Lord in salvation... That man bows to him as Lord. We're putting man on the pedestal. And man isn't coming down. You see, Romans chapter two, verse sixteen tells me that God is going to judge the secrets of man by the gospel. The gospel, that message concerning Jesus Christ is what is going to judge the secrets of men. in that day. How important it is that we are faithful with that message.
So when you come to First Corinthians chapter two, and Paul says, I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. I think CH Spurgeon was right when he said, no matter where I take a peck, I run as fast as I can with it to the cross. It must be related to the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Christian evidences, I love to study them. And I love to study a defense of the faith.
But don't lose sight of the proclamation of the gospel. in its purity and in its power. For only that will save. All our reasoning will not. We must declare the message of the gospel. When Paul alleged in reason that Jesus is the Christ at Thessalonica, I would have loved to sit in on those Bible studies. It must have been great to hear Paul preach. taking the Old Testament scriptures. Remember, he didn't have the news. All he had was the Old Testament.
And to hear him take the Old Testament scriptures and show how Christ is a fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures. It must have been wonderful. It must have been thrilling. And we need to get back to that. We need to get to the place where we understand the Old Testament scriptures. so that we can preach Christ from the Old Testament scriptures. My father had a series of books, and I still have them. They're just little paper pamphlets written by a man whose name was Roo, W.W. Roo. And the series of papers was called Christ in the scriptures.
And my what a delight it is to pick up one of those little books every once in a while. and read the articles there, how they took the Old Testament scriptures, all the scriptures, and preached Christ. For he's the theme of the Word of God. It is the Word of God that God uses. We must be filled with the Word. This morning in the Bible class, we examined the prayer of the Apostle, three of the six petitions that he makes on behalf of the Ephesians, the Ephesians church in Ephesians chapter three. His first petition for them was that they might be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power by the Holy Spirit in the inner man.
Oh how we need this, to be strengthened with might in the inner man and to realize it is the inner man who is day by day, while the outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed day by day. And we need this. And it is the message of Christ and the gospel that does it. So our time is going. I'll turn it over to Brother Nia.