Evangelism begins with God’s plan of Salvation

John 3:3-18

 

          Today the parliamentary General Election is being held in Turkey.  These are special elections called because of the impasse over the election of a new president.  In Turkey the result of a General Election is not always clear_cut, and may require parties to negotiate the formation of a coalition to govern.  In this particular election, there is a great deal of turmoil, posturing, and deal_making.  Accusations of Islamic radicalism or secularist anti_religion are being hurled from all sides.  Much is at stake regarding the future of Turkey—and of the Turkish Church.  Prayer for Turkey is important today.

          What Turkey needs, as well as all other countries, is to hear the good news.  The word “gospel” means “good news.”  Evangelism begins with good news.  Have you ever thought about that?  Evangelism begins with good news. What does that mean?  I want to explain the three basic parts to the gospel, the good news, and then I want to help you memorize them so that you can use them this week.

 

I.  What is the gospel?

          The good news is an announcement of God’s miraculous provision for our eternal need, God’s miraculous provision for our eternal need.  Evangelism begins as we simply spread the announcement of God’s miraculous provision for our eternal need.  This announcement includes three parts:

 

       A.  Our NEED – people can’t get saved until they first get unsaved.  Good news is not necessarily “good” until a person understands the horror of the bad news.  Think of the word, “good.”  It’s a qualitative description of something.  What’s good to one may not be good to another. 

          Suppose two students take the same final exam.  One is an “A” student and the other stands on the border of failure.  After you grade both tests, you say to both of them, “I have good news.”  What would be good news to the failing student?  That he made a C- on the test and passed?  Would that same report be good news to the “A” student?  Of course not.  Good to one may not be good to another.

          In the same way, the good news of Jesus Christ is only good news to those who realize that they are failing.  The tragedy is that most people today think that they are passing.  For religious people, the good news is probably an insult when it suggests that they are not on their way to heaven.  To wealthy people, it’s often a bother for them to interrupt their work or pleasure to think about God’s announcements.

 

          1.  The Holy Spirit awakens people to their need.  What opens the eyes of people to the fact that they are failing – that they are not saved?  The convicting work of the Holy Spirit.  John 16:7-11 says, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

          The Holy Spirit convicts people.  He awakens them to sin.  People live without realizing the tragedy of their sinful choices.  He awakens them to God’s standard of righteousness.  Most people think that God grades on the curve, and that His standard of righteousness is like 60% or 70% rather than 100%.  And He awakens them to judgment that is coming, when each person stands alone before God the final judge.  They won’t be able to blame their parents, or environment, or the devil who made them do it.  That’s what the Holy Spirit does – He awakens by speaking to the heart of each individual. 

          But notice in verse seven that He convicts people as the “Helper,” our Helper, your Helper.  This means that He convicts people through us.  He works as we make the announcement of God’s miraculous provision for our eternal need.  As we state the good news that Jesus Christ died for sinners, the Holy Spirit applies that to the hearts of our listeners by saying, “and that includes you.”  What this means is that anytime we open our mouths to make people aware of their need, the Holy Spirit is working in their hearts.  We can bank on it, because He is our Helper who convicts!

          I’ve told the story before about how clearly I saw the Holy Spirit’s convicting work when sharing the gospel one night door to door.  The guy who answered the door started shaking as soon as we started talking about the gospel – visibly shaking.  Along the way he changed the subject to talk about the Lutheran church, and as we started talking about the Lutheran church, he stopped shaking.  Once we went back to the gospel, he started shaking again.  It was like day and night.  And I was so grateful that there was Someone else there with us doing work inside the man that we couldn’t do.  That’s the joy of it all – being used of the Holy Spirit to awaken people to their need.

 

          2.  Jesus awakened Nicodemus to his need.  Look at the way Jesus gave out the good news in John 3:  Nicodemus was a Jewish leader who sought out Christ at night.  There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

          Christ instantly introduced him to his need.  He said that unless Nic was born again he would never see the kingdom of God.  That was quite a charge – that Nic was unprepared for the kingdom of God.  He was the religious leader in Israel.  He knew all things that were necessary for entering the kingdom, at least, he thought he did.  He had been to school, he had studied the rabbis, he had probably memorized much of the Old Testament.  But he didn’t realize that he was flunking out in God’s sight until Jesus said to him, “you are not going to make it.”

          Do you see how clearly Jesus presented Nicodemus’ need?  No beating around the bush.  No, “you are a very good man, Nic, but . . .”  He simply told him, “you’re not going to see the kingdom of God without a second birth.”  That statement is the gospel.  That is the first part of the good news.  The good news has to start with the bad news, otherwise it is not that “good.”  The gospel is only good news for those people who aren’t going to make it to heaven.

 

          3.  News turns “good” when the need becomes great.  The example that Jesus gives to Nic is from his fathers back in the wilderness.  He mentioned that Moses “lifted up” the serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14).  Do you remember that story?  Tony read it earlier.  It’s from the fourth book in the Old Testament, Numbers chapter 21.

          The children of Israel were discouraged, frustrated, and tired of the way God was leading them.  They had to go around the land of Edom instead of traveling through on the “kings highway” (Numbers 20:17), which was probably the Old Testament interstate.  That meant probably 30 more miles of trudging through the hot sand of the desert.  Numbers 21:5 says, And the people spoke against God and against Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread."  They didn’t like what was going on and so they complained – as if that is going to help Moses do his job. 

          Remember where they were and what they were doing?  They were traveling to the promised land!  They had a pillar of cloud by day to lead them (and protect them from the blazing sun) and a pillar of fire by night to protect them.  They were eating manna every day.  But they were tired of it all, and could think of nothing better to do than scream against Moses.

          So God brought them into an area full of “fiery serpents.”  These were small snakes whose venom caused one’s temperature to rise uncontrollably.  People became overheated and many died, verse 6 says.  In the panic of their need people came crying to Moses admitting their sin, and asking for God to relieve them of the snakes.  Up until the snakes entered, they didn’t realize how badly they were failing.  They were like a sleeping family in a burning building.

          But now, suddenly, the fire alarm goes off, and they recognize that they are all at death’s door.  They cry to Moses to solve their problem.  Now when Moses creates a brass snake, puts it on a pole and commands them to look at it for healing, his command comes as “good” news.

          People need to know how bad their sin is, because before people get saved they need to get unsaved.  Nicodemus didn’t understand that he was a sinner and under the judgment of God.  And until he did, the good news was irrelevant news.  How does a person find out what his need is?  We tell him.  That’s our privilege.  Give it to them straight – and the Holy Spirit will help us!

          Two weeks ago I read a testimony from the web site called testimonyshare.com.  Here’s another one that shows how the Holy Spirit used a friend to awaken this religious young man to his need: “Very soon after I graduated from high school, I entered the Air Force. I was a good Mormon while in Basic Training in Lackland AFB near San Antonio, Texas.  I had a friend who was a born_again Christian, Mel Pound, who was always talking to me about Christianity and I saw him living a different kind of “Christian” life than I did. He kept telling me that being a Mormon was wrong and it was a cult. That many of the Mormon “Holy Books” didn’t agree with the Bible and sometimes not even with Mormon beliefs. And that the only true Christianity is only based on the Holy Bible.  Over a period time and using only the Bible he proved to me that Mormonism is a cult and not Christian. He then told me how he became a Christian, (his testimony), and how everyone is a sinner and why Jesus died on the cross and why he was resurrected, and how Jesus could become part of my life.”  Later on, “I prayed to God telling Him that I was sorry for being a sinner and would He please forgive my sins, and told God that I accept Jesus as my Savior, and that Jesus could wash all my sins away with his blood, and please accept me into Your family so that I will one day see You in Heaven. I prayed the prayer in the name of Jesus and said Amen.”

          God used Mel to introduce this young man to his need of salvation in Christ.  He wants to use you and me the same way.  Before a person ever gets saved, he/she must first get unsaved.  There’s a Lutheran commentary from 1875 that contains this beautiful statement about Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well in John 4: “Observe that salvation is the gift of God, and that the only condition of receiving it is asking.  The water is always ready; it is the thirst only that is [lacking] wanting” (Abbott’s Commentary on John, 53).

 

       B.  God’s PROVISION – people can’t get saved until they are unable to save themselves.  Some people recognize that they are failing.  But they still maintain confidence that they can work hard enough to pass.

 

          1.  Nicodemus thought that he was good enough.  He was religious with a capital “R.”  He was “the” teacher in Israel (3:10), and if anyone had it together, the rabbi did.  He was “good.”  He was “obeying the ten.”  He didn’t understand why he of all people would not be able to enter the kingdom of God.

          The statement Jesus made which mystified him was “you must be born again.”  When Christ said, “born again” He was talking about something that Nic couldn’t do.  He could get baptized; he could do more righteous acts.  But get “born again?”  He didn’t have anything to do with his first birth, and now he needed a second birth like the first one. 

          People don’t understand how good God’s good news is until they understand how bad their own efforts amount to – until they realize that salvation is akin to getting born again.  And they say with Nicodemus, “how can these things be?”

          Here’s what we announce:  “Do you understand that God has done something about your need?”  He has the solution for your drug problem; He has the answers to the frustrations in life you can’t answer.  Before you even thought about it, before you even asked Him, He has thought about it and made provision for your salvation.  Isn’t that amazing?

 

          B.  Moses announced God’s provision for Israel.  Back in Numbers 21, Moses didn’t say to the people “save yourself.”  “Get serious about developing an anti-venom.”  “Learn how to suck the snake poison out of your blood stream.”  Moses was privileged to announce that God had done something about Israel’s need.  He had given directions, and a serpent had been lifted up on a pole as the answer for their desperate need.  The report went out that salvation was available to those who would look at the snake on the pole.  I doubt that anyone lying in a tent with a high fever would have even thought of going outside their tent and looking for a pole with a snake on it — until the announcement came.  And then some believed the report, and responded, and got up and went out of the tent and strained their eyes to try to see the snake on the pole — and were amazingly saved from the snake’s bite!

 

          C.  Jesus announced that He was God’s provision for the world.

This is the report that Jesus gives in John 3:  “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.”  Jesus came to earth to be made sin for us, to take sin away.  He had to be made a curse to rescue us from the curse.  He came to earth to be our Sacrifice, to die in our place, so that we could live.   Thus 3:17 says that He came into the world not to impose a sentence on the world as the judge, but to bring salvation as the Sacrifice.  Jesus did not come into the world as a Rabbi or a prophet, even though He was both, but He came as the Sacrifice for our sin, so that as a result He could give life to the world.  John the Baptist made it clear when he said, “behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  

          What an incredible message!  What a statement of God’s love and genius.  Have you heard that message?  Have you thought about that message, that Jesus Christ came to earth to be the Sacrifice for YOUR sins?  He had to be lifted up on a cross for you to ever experience spiritual life.  And He was lifted up and offers the new birth to you and anyone who will “look and live.”

          Have you ever shared that message with others?  That is the incredible privilege we have. 

          Think of how Jay Sekulow, a Jewish man, came to trust Christ as Savior.  As the chief counsel for the American Center for Law and justice, who successfully argued the Lambs Chapel case before the Supreme court, you would expect him to be argumentative against the gospel.  Yet he writes that he was trying to understand the description of the “suffering servant” in Isaiah 53: “I kept looking for a traditional Jewish explanation that would satisfy, but found none.  The only plausible explanation seemed to be Jesus.  My Christian friends were suggesting other passages for me to read, such as Daniel 9.  As I read, my suspicion that Jesus might really be the Messiah was confirmed . . . I’d always thought my cultural Judaism was sufficient, but in the course of studying about the Messiah who would die as a sin bearer, I realized that I needed a Messiah to do that for me” (World, March/April, 54).

          Do you see what is happening?  The Holy Spirit already had this man thinking.  He simply needed a few Christians to help direct his thinking.  The Spirit of God is at work in thousands of lives like this.  They are asking questions that can only be answered by information that points to the finished work of Jesus Christ.  And they are looking for people who have some facts in their hearts and aren’t afraid to share them.

          Here’s another recent testimony from testimonyshare.com: “How did I meet the Lord? I was working for John Lucente’s Barber Shop.  Wayne and Barb Brink invited me over to talk.  This was a very low point of my life. I just sat and vented my frustrations out to them.  They were so kind and compassionate towards my situation at that time of my life. I felt loved and cared for from their attitude towards me.  They asked if I ever read the “Four Spiritual Laws booklet.” I said that I never heard of it. They sat and read it out loud to me. After reading this I accepted Christ into my life and heart on a daily basis making Christ my focus instead of myself as the focus. After I walked out their door of their home, I felt different.  I did not understand why I read the booklet or what the prayer would do for me. I just obeyed what I was told to do.”

          What did these people do?  They read a little booklet to him entitled, the “Four Spiritual Laws,” and God did the rest.  God can use us the same way, just by reading a tract with a neighbor in need. 

 

 

       C.  Our RESPONSIBILITY – people can’t get saved until they obey what God says.  Why do people die and go to hell if Jesus has already paid the price for their sin?  Because, thirdly, a pardon has to be accepted.

 

          1.  Moses commanded the people to “LOOK!”  The provision was there, the snake was up on the pole, and all people had to do was look.  But they had to look.  Were people healed who refused to look?  Suppose someone didn’t believe it could work; suppose some Israeli scientist thought it was a scientifically inadequate answer to try to heal a physical problem with nothing more than a look at a brass replica.  It didn’t matter what they thought about it; all they had to do was obey.  They had to LOOK.  The Israelites could have done many other good things — visited the doctor, drunk more water, cut their skin where the fangs of the snake went in and sucked out the venom.  But the command was very specific – “LOOK.”

          2.  We are commanded to “BELIEVE/RECEIVE.”   There are many religious activities a person can do.  But the command is to “believe,” to “call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.   Notice that the issue is one’s response to the message.  The one who believes is not condemned and the one who refuses to believe is condemned.  And why is the non-believer condemned?  Because of his sin?  No that is not the issue any more; Christ has paid for that; the issue is his lack of response to God’s command to “believe.”  He’s condemned because he refuses to believe.  Like Israel – did they die because of a snake bite?  No, not after Moses put the brass serpent on the pole.  They only died because they refused to look.  They failed to obey. 

          Have you believed?  Have you received Him?  You are a sinner, but it’s not your sin that is going to keep you from heaven; it’s your lack of response to Him.  Salvation comes to those who believe, just as salvation in the Old Testament came to those who looked.  You trust Jesus Christ to forgive all your sins and give you new life.  It’s not that you ask God to help you do better what you are going to do.  It’s not that you promise to do for Him great works.  You come as a helpless person with a high fever, who can’t do anything, and cry to Him.  You come in all your ugliness; you don’t fix yourself up to be more presentable.  You come, as the song says, “Just as I am.”

 

          Someone wrote David Hunt and said: “I’m confused about how one gets saved.  As a Catholic, my favorite catechism stated: “What is necessary to be saved?”   And the answer was, “You have to be baptized, belong to the Church established by Jesus Christ, obey the Ten Commandments, receive the Sacraments, pray, do good works and die with Sanctifying Grace in your soul.”  That seemed to impose a hopeless burden.  If I missed Mass and died with that mortal sin upon me before I could get to confession, I would be lost forever.  Since leaving Catholicism I’ve only become more confused by the contradictory teachings among Protestant denominational churches.  Some say baptism is essential for salvation, others that it isn’t.  Some say that holiness or speaking in tongues are necessary, others say no.  How can I know the truth?”

          Hunts answer: “Your very question `What must I do to be saved?’ was asked of the apostle Paul.  His concise answer is the truth you seek: `Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved’”(Acts 16:30, 31).

          Paul said nothing about baptism, church membership, penance, Mass, Mary or other saints, good works, or anything else.  Salvation comes through faith in Christ and nothing else.  To suggest that more is needed is to deny the Bible’s clear teaching that Christ is the only Savior of sinners.  Never does the Bible suggest that Christ can only partially save us, and it is up to us . . . to make up for what Christ couldn’t or didn’t do.  If Christ was not able to complete our salvation, then it would do no good to look elsewhere for supplemental help (quoted from In Defense of the Faith, 293).

          If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior, think about the stage in the gospel at which you have stopped.  Do you not see your desperate need?  Do you not realize that you can’t do it yourself?  Do you simply refuse to turn your heart over to Jesus Christ?  People can get stuck at each of those stages.

          If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, God wants to use you as a testimony of His Grace.  He wants you not only to tell others what happened to you, but He wants you to explain to them the Gospel.