The Means used in Biblical Evangelism – Romans 10:13-17

 When God created the universe, did He begin small and work up to the really big stuff? By that I mean, when He created life, did He begin with algae and plankton, using them to develop more complex forms of life? Did Jehovah begin the universe with creation and then use evolution over a zillion years to put the finishing touches on everything? The Lord created all things in less than seven days – complete and complex. I suppose that the things which the Lord created could even have had the appearance of age.

So why didn’t the Lord instantly do the same thing with salvation? The Lord could have glorified you and made you completely perfect at the time of your repentance and faith. And if we are going to put it that way, why bother with repentance and faith at all? Why didn’t the Lord save you before creation, and glorify you before you were even born? Assuming that you are a child of God, the Lord certainly intends to glorify you and to make you perfect. There is no doubt that He will do that for all of those whom He has chosen to save. We could even say that it is a done deal; it is completed – as far as the decree of the Lord is concerned. But it is not finished as far as you and time are concerned. As you may known some people believe that the elect were never lost people. Some think that the chosen of God were never children of wrath or children of Satan. But they most certainly were.

Okay, some day the Lord is going to glorify all of His redeemed. Does that mean that the elect should postpone their repentance in order to enjoy a few more sinful days prior to their redemption? What about the Christian: are we supposed to behave like the ungodly until the time of our glorification? There should be a gradual progression of holiness from the time of our salvation until the time that the Lord chooses to take us unto Himself. I won’t say that there are a precise number of steps that we are to take, but there should be progress toward more and more Christ-likeness. And there are means and tools that the Lord uses in bringing us to that point and that glory.

The same might be said about bringing the lost man to the foot of the cross and then into salvation. These verses point to a couple of those means and tools. And one of them happens to be you.

But first there is the WORD OF GOD.The Bible is the first and foremost tool that the Lord uses in evangelism. Can a person become a child of God apart from the ministry of the Word? Of course, God can do anything, but He has made His Word absolutely essential. A person be convicted of his need and be brought to Christ through reading a tract or an internet sermon. But can he be saved if that tract or sermon contains no scripture or a presentation of the gospel? That particular appeal may not have much or any scripture, but in that case, the person must have been given the gospel and the Word of God previously. The Word of the Lord is always a part of the “process” of evangelism. Can someone be saved by watching or studying the life of a godly saint? Not if he hasn’t also been given the testimony of the gospel. Can someone be saved through the singing of Christian hymns, or by watching a godly play? I suppose so. But can someone call himself an “evangelist,” if he does nothing more than live a godly life, sing Christian songs and invite people to watch Mel Gibson’s movie? The first segment of the so-called “Great Commission” requires the teaching of the Word of God. From your understanding of the Book of Acts, would you say that the New Testament era began with great hymns of the faith? How many “Passion Plays” do you recall from our study of Acts? Although there aren’t as many as there were during the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, there were some miracles recorded in the Book of Acts. But following those miracles there was the preaching of the gospel. Preaching was the key activity which engaged the Apostles and evangelists in the history of the early church. The Apostles weren’t writing Christian novels about fictional people being saved. They weren’t writing songs and poem, or producing plays or movies.

We could take Romans 10 as a description of the primary job of the Biblical evangelist. And it teaches that sinners need to be confronted with the Word of God. In order for men to be saved, they must repent and place their faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus. And the place where we learn of these things is in the Word of God. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

What are some of the things from which we are delivered through salvation? We are saved from sin, judgment, Hell, the Lake of Fire and so on. Saved from sin….. how can someone know what sin is, if he hasn’t learned it from God Himself? There isn’t any way that someone can know about the judgment of God for sin apart from the Word of God. And who is the Saviour? Is there some other source of information about Christ, apart from the Word of God? Can a person be saved who does not repent of his sin? Where do we learn about repentance?

Think about faith. The primary source of instruction for faith in Christ is to be found in the Bible. Is Biblical faith – saving faith – a leap in the dark? I remember hearing and using the story about a child at the stop of the stairway into the family basement. The basement was completely dark and the little one couldn’t see a thing down below. But at the bottom of the stairs was her dad, who could see up into the light & the silhouette of his child. He was trying to test her confidence, encouraging her to jump; telling her that he would catch her. She did, and he did. This, we are told, is an illustration of faith. This is actually a pretty good example of Biblical faith. It’s not perfect, but it isn’t terrible, because it wasn’t a leap in the dark for that little girl. She could hear the voice of her father, who was promising to catch her. She believed him and had confidence in his ability to catch her – because he had done it all her life. Faith in Christ is not blind, but rather just the opposite – it should be well-instructed – in the Word of God. Knowledge of the Word of God, at least to some degree, is a prerequisite to saving faith. It is the nature of true faith which leads me to make a statement like that. The Word is not only a prerequisite to saving faith it is also the key element in saving faith.

But how much must a person know about the Lord before possessing Biblical faith? He must know that he is a sinner and that he needs a Saviour. He must know that Christ Jesus is the Saviour and sufficient to meet all that sinner’s need. Must that believer understand and accept what the Bible says about the virgin birth of Christ? Must that believer know about the relationships within the Trinity? These will come with time, but no he doesn’t need them in order to believe on Christ to save him. But what if that person denies the deity of Christ; can he possess true faith?

There is a correlation between knowing certain things and trusting them. But there is a difference between the acceptance of Scriptural facts concerning Christ and salvation, and committing one’s soul to God, based upon those facts. King Agrippa knew the facts about Christ, but he did not become a child of God. Judas knew, preached, and believed certain facts about Christ. But there a difference between believing on Christ and believing what the Bible says about Christ. Turning that around, can a person believe on Christ, but reject what the Bible teaches about Christ? “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” – II John 9.

If a person lacks absolute and full assurance of faith, does that mean that he doesn’t possess saving faith? In Matthew 11:28 the Lord Jesus used the word “come” when inviting people to salvation. It wasn’t predicated on first learning the deep things of God. And when the fiery serpents were attacking Israel all that they were encouraged to do was to look. But was that “look” a step of blind faith? It was based upon the promise of the Lord – “Look and ye shall live.” “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Repentance cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

The Word of God is the primary instrument to be used in Biblical evangelism. It is absolutely necessary, in some form or other. We can say that it is a human means or that it is a part of the divinely-provided tool-kit of the evangelist.

But the means of getting that Word to people comes through a human Evangelist.The Lord sometimes saves people who have received the Word of God through the ministry of lost men. Do you suppose that there were any who believed on Christ through Judas’ preaching? During the days when Christ was battling with the Jews, the Sanhedrin met and wicked Caiaphas spoke. “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” Omitting divine revelation, how was it that John had this information from what was a closed meeting? Was it possible that later, after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, one of the members of that priesthood, remembered what the High Priest had said and this was a part of the means in which he was brought under conviction? The salvation of souls through the words of the wicked and unbelievers are definitely exceptions to the rule.

But should the Christian with known sin in his life expect the blessing of the Lord on his ministry? What did the Jews mean when they said “Physician, heal thyself”? Wasn’t the implication that the doctor who is sick with scurvy is in no position to heal someone else of scurvy. What did the people of Philippi think as they heard the demon-possessed woman testifying of Paul? Did they flock to Christ? What does the unbeliever think when he hears the gospel coming from lips that often blaspheme?

On the other hand, we shouldn’t expect the mere good life of a person to be sufficient in saving others. In Matthew 10:7-8 the Lord sent out some of His disciples, commanding them, “Preach, saying, The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick.” If we had the power to heal all the sick who walk into our church services, would that make us evangelistic? Luke 9:6 says that the disciples, “went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” I know that there are some who would disagree, but the preaching was far more important than the healing. Is teaching someone how to read – the same thing as evangelism? Is there anything wrong with a missionary teaching people how to farm more effectively? Is there anything unbiblical about a missionary using medical skills among people to whom he ministers? Teaching science and healing the sick are not the same thing as evangelism and theology.

The way that we live our lives, the way that we speak, or the way that we recreate, either make or break our work as evangelists. It would be nice to be able to miraculously heal the sick; and it would probably be evangelistically helpful. It would be helpful to be able to predict the future, like some of the Biblical prophets of God, and then to use that knowledge to coerce people into trusting Christ. But we don’t have these gifts; we are stuck with other gifts – or we are stuck without special gifts at all. The question is: how do we use the gifts that we have – gifts like truth, and kindness, generosity and friendliness…. How we use our time and even our opportunities to sin can have an effect on our evangelistic efforts. Let’s say that you are repairing your fence or working on your car and you hit your thumb with a hammer. If you blurt out some profanity within the hearing of a neighbor, you may never again have the opportunity to give that man the gospel. But just the opposite may be true – your self-control may open the door for the gospel.

The primary tool of the evangelist is the Word of God. And, humanly speaking, the arm that the Lord has given to use that tool, is your life. Mess up your arm and you may not be able to pick up the scripture to offer to someone else.