Illus: One of the greatest soul winners of all time was a man known as Uncle John Vassar. In a railroad station one day he saw a lady with a serious look on her face sitting by herself. He sat down and talked to her and led her to the Lord.
Just as he left, her husband came up and, seeing the tears, demanded to know what was going on.
She told him that a man had just been telling her of her need to be saved. "Why didn't you tell him to go about his business?" said the indignant husband.
She answered, "Husband, if you had only been here you would have seen that he was about his business." ("Choice Illus." W.W. Clay pg. 48)
The business of every Child of God is to lead men to Christ. But sometimes some Christians do not use a lot of wisdom in how they do this.
Illus: Such is the case with the Christian barber that loved the Lord but was not the smartest when it came to witnessing for the Lord.
He had a lost man in his chair and he was preparing to shave him. The man was in the chair with shaving leather all over his face and the Christian barber wanted to witness to him about the Lord. With razor in hand, he said, “ARE YOU READY TO DIE AND MEET THE LORD?” He scared the man almost to death thinking he was going to get his throat cut.
Sometimes the things we say are not clear. For example:
Illus: A preacher was trying to make a point of how many babies die in Africa. He started clapping his hands into the microphone and said, "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies."
A voice from near the front pierces the silence, "Well, stop clapping your hands you idiot!"
Christians need to be careful what we say in our witnessing to people that HAVE BEEN BLINDED BY SIN!
Illus: Reminds me of when Stevie Wonder and Tiger Woods were together talking.
• Woods turns to Wonder and says: "How is the singing career going?"
• Stevie Wonder replies: "Not too bad! How's the golf?"
• Woods replies: "Not too bad, I've had some problems with my swing, but I think I've got that right now."
• Stevie Wonder says: "I always find that when my swing goes wrong, I need to stop playing for a while and not think about it. Then, the next time I play, it seems to be all right."
• Tiger Woods says: "You play golf?"
• Stevie Wonder says: "Oh, yes, I've been playing for years."
• Woods says: "But, you're blind. How can you play golf if you're blind?"
• Wonder replies: "I get my caddy to stand in the middle of the fairway and call to me STEVIE and I play the ball towards him. Then, when I get to where the ball lands, the caddy moves to the green or farther down the fairway and again I play the ball towards his voice."
• "But, being blind how do you putt?” asks Woods.
• "Well," says Stevie, "I get my caddy to lean down in front of the hole and call to me Stevie with his voice with his head on the ground and I just play the ball towards his voice."
• Woods, incredulous, says to Stevie: "We've got to play a round some time."
• Wonder replies: "Well, being a blind man people do not take me seriously, so I only play for money, and never play for less than $10,000 a hole."
• Woods thinks about it and says, "OK, I'm game for that, when would you like to play?"
• Stevie says, "Pick a night."
People listen to what we say and we have to be careful what we say.
Another problem we have with our witnessing is that we live in a society that promotes neo-evangelism.
WHAT IS NEO-EVANGELISM?
Illus: Have you ever heard a person say in witnessing, "DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE EXISTENCE OF THE LORD JESUS?"
• The Lost person say, “Yes, of course!”
• The other person says, "Good you are now a child of God.”
WAIT A MINUTE! There is more to being saved spiritually than acknowledging that the Lord Jesus once existed on this earth.
It is because of this Neo-evangelism that we have people all over this nation that are in our churches and they:
• Think they are saved and they are not
• Think they are born again and they are not
• Think they are going to heaven and they are not
Listen, the Bible clearly teaches that we are not to judge anyone, but we can tell by the fruit that many bear that they do not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. THEY ARE STILL THE SAME OLD SINFUL CREATURES THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN!
Look at what Peter said to this crowd that was convicted of their sins. They wanted to know what they must do to be saved and Peter did not say, "SAY THIS MAGIC PRAYER USING THESE MAGIC WORDS AND YOU WILL BE SAVED!
Look at Acts 2:38, we read, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Peter said several things will take place when we are truly saved:
• We will repent of our sins
• We will be baptized identifying ourselves with His atonement for our sins
In our witnessing we need to lead people to the Lord Jesus, the Savior.
Let me show you some things about THIS GREAT SALVATION.
I. THE DISCIPLES BELIEVED IT
Illus: In a cellar in Germany, after World War II were found these words on the wall: "I BELIEVE."
• I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining
• I believe in love, even when I don't feel it
• I believe in God, even when He is silent
We all believe in something!
The New Testament Christians truly believed that salvation could only be found in the Lord Jesus. Look at Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
The only way you can get to heaven is to come to Christ for salvation. John 10:9 says, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved."
Listen:
• You can join every church in this town and still be lost
• You can be baptized in every baptistery and every pond in the county and still be lost
• You can do all kinds of good works and still be lost
• You can tithe every Sunday and still be lost
SALVATION IS FOUND ONLY IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!
The writer of Hebrews is writing to folks that have, “Received the knowledge of the truth”. They have received the KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH about Christ, but evidently it has never got into their hearts.
You see a person can come to church and hear what the Bible teaches about salvation, but HEARING THE KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH is not enough.
Illus: They say the distance between Heaven and Hell is the distance from the mind to the heart. A lot of folks have HEARD THE TRUTH! But hearing is not enough. It starts with hearing but you have to act on what you hear.
Look at Hebrews 10:26. We read, “For if we sin wilfuly after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.”
WHY IS THE WRITER OF HEBREWS SAYING THIS?
This is a warning to those who have received the knowledge of truth about Christ, but have not acted on that knowledge.
Before Christ came, the Jews would offer sacrifices for their sins in the temple. These sacrifices represented the ultimate sacrifice of Christ Who was to come. At the writing of Hebrews, Christ has come and has died for the sins of mankind and they are still going to the temple to offer sacrifices.
To continue to do this was to imply that CHRIST'S SACRIFICE was not sufficient.
The writer to the Hebrews is telling them that they can't look to the temple any more, because there is no other sacrifice for sin available, and there is no other way to come to God. They are to look to Christ now rather than to the temple. They had received the knowledge of truth concerning Christ and now they must act on that knowledge or be lost.
The Old Testament sacrifices were offered frequently for sin. But the writer of Hebrews is showing us that Christ's sacrifice is far superior to the animal sacrifices in that it is only offered once. Again, we read, “…There remaineth no more sacrifices for sins.”
Going to the temple day after day to offer sacrifice for sin, would be like some today that keep coming to the Lord for salvation over and over again. HE IS NOT GOING TO DIE AGAIN!
Look at Hebrews 6:4-6 says, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, TO RENEW THEM AGAIN UNTO REPENTANCE; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."
If you are saved by grace and you could lose your salvation, then in order for you to be saved He would have to die again. And there is no need for that, because He is the ultimate sacrifice that DIED ONCE FOR SIN! If his sacrifice for sin is no more than that, it would put Christ's sacrifice “...TO AN OPEN SHAME.”
In Hebrews 10:11-12, "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: BUT THIS MAN, AFTER HE HAD OFFERED ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOR EVER, SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD."
This great salvation that we receive by grace is all based on the ONE SACRIFICE HE MADE FOR OUR SINS. The disciples believed that CHRIST'S ATONEMENT FOR SIN WAS ADEQUATE.
When we consider this GREAT SALVATION, we see THE DISCIPLES BELIEVED IT and -
II. THE PEOPLE WERE AMAZED BY IT
Salvation in Christ is miraculous! When a person believes in the Lord Jesus, the Bible says they become a NEW CREATURE.
• The liar stops lying
• The drunkard stops drinking
• The gambler stops gambling
• The adulterer stops committing adultery
• The homosexual stops his homosexuality
The Bible says when a person truly come to the Lord they BECOME BORN AGAIN!
Some might be saying, “Preacher, what about all these people who profess to be saved but they still live the way they did before they were saved?" According to the scriptures, they ARE STILL THE SAME SINFUL CREATURES THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN!
Many in our churches are going to be surprised one day to find out they are not one of God's children.
Look at Matthew 7:22-23, we read, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Listen, we are not saved by WORKS, but if we have truly been saved, we have a salvation that does WORK! This is why we say that salvation in Christ is miraculous! THIS IS A FACT!
We all know a lot of folks who claim they are saved and still live like they did before they claim they were saved. But it is a BIBLE FACT that if you truly come to know the Lord Jesus, you are A NEW CREATURE.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
The thing that really got these people's attention was they knew these disciples before they were saved and now they can see the change that has taken place in their lives.
Look at Acts 3:13, we read, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus."
In other words they could tell Jesus had rubbed off on them! When the people saw the courage of Peter and John they were amazed.
When we consider this GREAT SALVATION, we see THE DISCIPLES BELIEVED IT, THE PEOPLE WERE AMAZED BY IT and -
III. THE OFFICIALS WERE DISTURBED BY IT
Look at Acts 4:15-22, we read, "But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was showed."
The devil hates and despises this great salvation. He has always had evil men and women who wanted to wipe this gospel from THE FACE OF THE EARTH!
The wicked society in which we live and the Hollywood crowd have nothing nice to say about the Lord. For example, men like Ted Turner have said some horrible things about Christianity.
• He said, "Christianity is a religion for losers.”
• He also said, “I don’t want anybody to die for me. I’ve had a few drinks and a few girlfriends and if that’s gonna put me in hell, then so be it."
The ungodly want to classify us as the, "RELIGIOUS RIGHT!"
One day they will find out we are RIGHT when it comes to the salvation the Bible teaches! THE ONLY WAY TO GET TO HEAVEN IS THROUGH CHRIST.
The only way to change their attitude and thinking is for us to live a faithful, loving, Christian life and keep on preaching Jesus! They’ll either get turned on to Him or else turned off even more!
Conclusion:
When we consider this GREAT SALVATION, we see-
I. THE DISCIPLES BELIEVED IT
II. THE PEOPLE WERE AMAZED BY IT
III. THE OFFICIALS WERE DISTURBED BY IT
