The Beauty Of Evangelism

Introduction:

Over the next several weeks you are going to get to hear about how great God was during our Mission Project to Brazil. We saw Him work in wonderful ways and because of the willingness of people both here and in Campos, over 4,500 people prayed to receive Christ. What happened in Campos was not unique to that place or that time. Wherever, and whenever God’s people are committed to evangelism, others will get saved!

I read an account of an interaction between the Evangelist D.L. Moody and a church woman in England. Moody was in England conducting evangelistic services and after one service this woman approached him and said: “I don’t much like the way you do evangelism.” Moody replied, “Neither do I ma’am, it needs to be better, how do you do it?” The woman responded, “I don’t.” To which Moody said, “In that case, I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”

Doing evangelism is something that is the responsibility of all believers, not just evangelists, missionaries, pastors and so forth. Jesus clearly called His followers to share the Good News with their world, and as His followers today we have the same calling. In Romans 10 Paul gave a picture of the importance of evangelism, and through quoting the Prophet Isaiah, he showed his readers the “Beauty of Evangelism.”

Text: Romans 10:8-15

Special Music: How Beautiful

I. God Has Provided the Gift of Salvation (8-13)

How do we relate to His provision?

1. Faith

God provides the necessary faith to be drawn to His Son Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Myself.” Jesus does this through the Holy Spirit who through conviction draws all people to Christ. It is true that we are “saved by grace through faith,” but understand that the faith we have is given to us because of God’s grace. If we could someone muster up enough faith on our own, then in essence we would be “earning,” or “deserving” of our salvation.

2. Belief

Paul identified what belief was necessary for salvation. First, it has to come from the heart not the head. Secondly, you must believe that Jesus is who He said He was, and that He did what the scriptures said He did! In other words, that Jesus is God’s Son who died on the cross for your sins, and that the Father raised Him from the dead to conquer sin and death and provide the hope of eternal life to all who believe. These are non-negotiable beliefs. They are the center of the salvation story. Paul made the resurrection is the key because many have died for good causes, but only one man, Jesus Christ rose from the dead to turn a good cause into a heavenly promise.

3. Confession

When we think of confession we normally think of admission of sin, and that is the largest portion of how confession is lived out. But that is not the only aspect of confession. When a person responds to the invitation of God to accept His Son as their Savior they must confess their sin and ask for forgiveness, but they must also confess Christ before others. In that case, which is what Paul was talking about here; it is a matter of commitment. To confess Christ before others is to identify oneself as His disciple, one willing to follow Him no matter what.

Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33—“Everyone who confesses Me before men I will confess before My Father in heaven. But anyone who refuses to confess Me before men I will deny Him before My Father in heaven.”

Paul challenged Timothy to—“Not be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord or of me his prisoner; but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:8).

Those who respond to the message of salvation must be willing to take a stand with Christ, and with other believers, to be willing to be counted as one of His disciples.

II. God Wants Us To Share the Message of Salvation (10:14-15)

One of my favorite stories is about a young seminary student who was terrified of speaking in front of others. He waited until his last semester to taking his preaching class, knowing that he would have to get up and present a sermon. His professor tried to reassure him that God would give him the strength but the student was truly shaken by the prospect of standing before his classmates.

The class all had to prepare their sermons on the urgency of evangelism. The sermons had to be in manuscript form, and the young student had the best material of his entire class. He had done great textual research on his passage, including historical context, and cultural implications of the verses to those who first received them. He had put together a very concise outline that clearly explained the text, and had found wonderful contemporary illustrations to help make application of the biblical truth. His professor was very impressed with all the work, and was sure that the student would have no problem presenting the sermon to the class.