PLUNDERING HELL TO POPULATE HEAVEN
Acts 17:1-17, NKJV
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR:
1. How many of you know, that when you send a messenger, you want them to tell the correct message!
2. Juan Carlos was a famous pirate. He was notorious for his thievery, and it was rumored that he had a very large amount of plunder buried.
3. One day he was in Mexico and a man came up to him, pushed him to the ground and said in English, “Juan Carlos tell me where all your money is buried or I will shoot you right here.”
4. Juan Carlos didn’t speak a word of English, so he signaled to a young boy to act as interpreter. The boy relayed the message to Juan Carlos, and fearing for his life Juan Carlos answered;
5. “Tell him that I don’t want to die. All my money is located 30 paces north of the city water tower under a large rock.”
6. So the boy, with a gleam in his eye, turned to the man and said, “Juan Carlos says he is an honorable man and will never tell you where the money is. He says you might as well kill him now.”
B. TEXT
They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. 5 But the Jews who were not persuaded…gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar, 6 “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too 7 ….acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” 10 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed…13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. 14 Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away… 15 to Athens. 17 There he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.”
C. THESIS
1. The Devil doesn’t like it when we decide to make an impact for God. He doesn’t want you to get a burden for reaching the Lost.
2. He doesn’t like it when we decide to work in the church, or to change things through prayer, or to make new commitments!
3. My title this morning is “Plundering Hell to Populate Heaven.” The definition of “plunder” is a). To steal goods using force, usually in a time of war or civil disorder. b). the violent acquisition of property.
4. Jesus said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” Mt. 11:12, NIV, 1984.
5. Our Lord Jesus came to plunder Hell of her prisoners!
Think how Jesus said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” Mt. 10:8.
6. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” 1 Jn. 3:8. He came to take captivity captive, & give gifts to men!
7. The Early Church joined in that mission. What made them so successful spiritually? They did 3 things we too must do if we would impact the world:
I. THEY ASSUMED EVERYONE WAS LOST
A. THE EARLY CHURCH ASSUMED ALL WERE LOST
1. One of the secrets of the early church was that they witnessed to everyone they met. They did this because assumed everyone needed salvation. This very assumption makes things easier.
2. We foolishly think that because people are in the U.S. that they’re probably saved. Barna polls say only 10% are really living as Christians, thus 90% are really lost!
3. Our conviction must be that all men/women are lost and must be saved, or they will go to hell.
4. HUMOR
a. A minister who was very fond of pure, hot horseradish always kept a bottle of it on his dining room table.
b. He was trying to win a neighbor to the Lord, and over dinner he had brought up the reality of Hell.
c. He simultaneously offered the neighbor some horseradish, and he took a big spoonful.
d. When his guest finally was able to speak, he gasped, "I've heard many ministers preach hellfire, but you are the first one who ever passed out a sample of it!"
5. When a church or Christian loses their conviction that the lost will go to hell, indifference and complacency set in.
THE GREAT COMMISSION IS THE VERY REASON FOR OUR EXISTENCE!
6. Evangelism is not a SIDELINE of the Church, it’s the MAINLINE of the church! Lose that & we lose our vision and become ingrown and self-focused.
B. DO WE CARE? ARE WE CONCERNED?
1. The question is: "Do We Care?"
2. THE BROKEN HEART OF GOD. “The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” Gen. 6:6. “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” 2 Pet. 3:9.
3. In Matt. 9, Jesus was “moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd” (vs.36).
4. We care if a friend’s pet dies! We care if a friend develops a terminal illness. Shouldn’t we care about people going to hell when we can prevent it?
5. Illus.: “Happy Without Christ?”
a. Years ago, some missionaries were making an attempt to reach a remote tribe in Borneo with the Gospel of Christ.
b. Traders (with a Christian background) in that same
area criticized their efforts. “Why don’t you just leave these
people alone; they’re happy with their own religion; they don’t need another one.”
c. The Missionary answered, “Happy? Bound by evil spirits, disease, drunkenness, polygamy, war, hatred. You call that happy? It’s the compassion of Christ that drives us to tell them the good news of freedom & forgiveness in Christ!”
6. Let’s recapture the concern of Jesus and see the lost as He sees them.
II. THEY KNEW JESUS WAS THE ONLY ANSWER
A. JESUS IS THE ONLY SAVIOR
1. Another thing we see in the Early Church was that they were convinced that the solution to everyone’s problems is Jesus Christ.
2. In America, Christians have frequently believed that the Republican Party was the answer to our problems! (That’s fallen flat now!)
3. Secular sociologists teach that as mankind evolve, we get better & better. They believe education is the answer. (Tell that to the unibomber – a PhD).
4. Political correctness says "there’re many ways to heaven" or "all religions are the same & speak of the same God." That’s completely wrong!
5. The truth is, the human race is messed up & is closer to annihilation by nuclear arms than ever before. We’re not inherently GOOD, we’re inherently SINNERS! We need a Savior; Jesus alone is the Savior!
6. “Salvation is found in Christ alone; there’s no other Name that can save us” (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" Jn. 14:6.
7. Buddha never died for anyone's sins; Krishna never died for anyone's sins; Mohammed never died for anyone's sins; Moses never died for anyone's sins.
8. Only Jesus paid the price for the sins of the world, dying as the ultimate sacrifice for all sin, past, present, and future. He is the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
B. THE GOSPEL ALONE BRINGS SALVATION
1. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto SALVATION….” Rom. 1:16.
2. It breaks the power of sin, erases our past, gives us a new nature, a new future, and a hope beyond this life!
3. A PEACE that passes all understanding; a JOY that drugs & alcohol can’t give; the Presence of God living within us – the Holy Spirit.
4. AND A REASON TO LIVE! He’s coming again, to take us away from this evil world and take us to a Heaven beyond our wildest dreams!
5. Jesus healed the sick and gave us authority to heal them too. Demons are still subject to the mighty Name of Jesus!
6. I’m not ashamed I have a message that can rescue men from hell, give them a new heart, a new hope, and set their direction toward heaven, and all the time give them peace and joy!
III. ACTION CALLED FOR: “COMPEL THEM”
Paul’s love FOR Christ also compelled him. What was important to Jesus was also important to him. “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that [Jesus] died for all …. that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Cor. 5:14-15.
A. IF JESUS WAS A SOULWINNER…
1. Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” Lk. 19:10. Christians are “those like Christ.” Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I’ll make you fishers of men” Mt. 4:19. Jesus obviously intends we also be soulwinners.
2. We constantly see Jesus confronting a). the Woman at the Well; b). Zaccheaus; c). Nicodemus; d). the Man Born blind; and others. He set us the example of how to conduct our lives.
3. Jesus was the Light while He was here. He told us “You are the light of the world…” Mt. 5:14.
4. In Luke 14:23, the servants of the King were told to “go into the highways and hedges and COMPEL them to come in.” It indicates we are to be “forceful” in our attempts to persuade the lost to accept Christ.
5. Nothing is more VALUABLE than the human soul. Jesus said, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world
but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Mt. 16:26 NLT.
B. IT’S THE GREAT COMMISSION AND NOT THE GREAT SUGGESTION
Jesus commanded: “Preach the Gospel to every creature!” Shedding a few tears at the altar won’t do it. God asks, “Whom shall I send and who will GO for us?”
1. Fires have been burning out of control over large sections of Canada. In the last two weeks, 930 square miles have burned and 88,000 people have had to be evacuated.
2. There are many stories of people who had to be awakened in the middle of the night to save them from being burned alive.
3. If you lived up there, and at 2 o’clock in the morning, if you heard a noise, got up, looked out your window, and saw the woods around you on fire and could tell the fire was going to sweep over your neighbor’s house, what would you do?
4. Would you stand there and debate, “I’m sure they wouldn’t want me to:
a. wake them out of a sound asleep;
b. they’d have to run out in their pajamas;
c. they might be embarrassed by all the fire trucks, news trucks, and cameras everywhere. I DON’T THINK I SHOULD DISTURB THEM!”
5. Would that be the right and loving thing to do? No! The loving thing would be to run over, break their door down, yell “Fire!”, run upstairs, turn on the lights, and wake them so they can get out.
6. Confronting a lost person with their need for salvation is the most loving, caring, compassionate thing we can do, and our responsibility should over-ride our timidity.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION:
1. A missionary to Africa many years ago told of a woman who came to every service, accompanied by her dog. She would sit on the outside, next to the aisle.
2. At the end of the service, when the pastor gave the invitation to come forward for prayer, she would go forward, and the dog would come along beside her.
3. The woman’s husband was a hard, abusive man. In fact, he beat her so severely because of her Christian lifestyle that she died.
4. There must not have been any law enforcement in that part of Africa then, because the man was not arrested. So he was left alone with the dog. He began to feel great remorse.
5. He began to notice that every Wednesday evening about 7 p.m. the dog would disappear for about 2 hours. Also, every Sunday morning, the dog would leave about 9 and return about noon. Sunday evening, again the dog would leave for a couple of hours and then return.
6. The man’s curiosity was so aroused that he decided to follow the dog. He followed it to church and he took a seat in the back to watch. The dog sat down near the aisle, in his usual place.
7. After the service, he watched the dog go forward and take his place at the altar, where his wife had prayed.
8. The man was so touched in his spirit that he, too, went forward and gave his life to Christ. So God used a dog to lead a hardened sinner to Christ.
9. If God can use a dog to bring someone to Christ then surely He can use me.
B. THE CALL
1. We need to pray that God will open our eyes to the fact that everyone around us is lost and needs to hear the Gospel. 2ndly, That Jesus is the Only Answer!
2. Thirdly, we are under obligation to tell them of salvation, whether they want to hear it or not. Doctors tell people of remedies for their sicknesses. Sometimes they refuse treatment, but it’s still the doctor’s responsibility to tell them.
3. We have a FAMILY REVIVAL tonight. Is there someone you can bring with you tonight when you come?
4. Let’s ask Jesus to give us soul-winning hearts and a burden to reach those destined for hell.
5. Prayer. Salvation call.
