seated. It is good to see all of you here this evening. And before we come for tonight to take up the next message in our mini series entitled Nine Foundations for Biblical Evangelism, brethren, let's once again pray and ask the Lord's blessings on our time. Let's pray together. Our great God, we are so thankful that You are our God, and besides you, there is no other. Oh, wonderful God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for the communion that we have with you, because you have brought us in a relationship with yourself. We're thankful for such grace, such mercy, We're thankful for such love. And this night, oh God, we pray that as we come to your word, you would come to us in a special way, that you would minister to each one by the spirit of God, and that you would take your own truth, oh God, and write it upon our hearts this night. To the end, O God, that our feet would be found walking in the ways of your truth all of our days. O God, we pray that we would not be mere hearers, mere auditors of your word, but rather doers of it. And so help us, we pray, Lord. Give us grace. To this end, empower us by the spirit of God to do all that we'll consider this night. We pray and we ask all of these things in that wonderful and glorious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Now, the account goes that the well-known evangelist named D.L. Moody once made a covenant with God that he would witness to at least one person every day. Well, the story goes that one night around 10 o'clock, he realized that he had not yet witnessed to anyone, And so that evening, he went into the streets, and he spoke to a man standing by a lamppost. And he asked him, saying, are you a Christian? Well, upon hearing this, the man flew into a violent rage. And then he threatened to knock Mr. Moody into the gutter. Well, after this, the same individual went to a local church and he complained that Mr. Moody was doing more harm in Chicago than 10 men were doing good. Well, around three months later, the story goes that Moody was awakened at night by a loud banging at his door. And who was it? Well, it was the same man. whom he had witnessed to several weeks earlier. This man said to Moody, I want to talk to you about my soul. He then apologized to him for the way that he had treated him, and he said that he had no peace ever since that night Moody had witnessed to him on the street. Well, by God's grace, Moody then led this individual to Christ. This man was radically converted that night, and then he became a very zealous worker and witness for the Lord, our God. Well, in thinking about the point in this illustration, in this account, We come for this evening to our fourth message concerning biblical evangelism, and this in order to take up the subject of its method. Having seen in recent weeks its need, its scope, and its motive, tonight We're going to consider the agents that God Almighty uses in order to tell others about His wonderful and glorious Son. even Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, as we begin, I want to do so by asking all of you here this night one basic, one very simple question, and it is this. How is it that the God of the Bible, the God of heaven and earth, has ordained that his glorious gospel message would be heard by the lost around us. Now, as a side note here, I must remind you, brethren, that this matter of hearing the gospel is absolutely crucial to the salvation of people's souls. I mean, this matter is emphasized, is highlighted all throughout the Word of God, so that, for example, you're taking notes, Paul could say, Romans chapter 10 and verse 17 that faith comes by what? Well, he says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Further, in this regard, when writing to the Thessalonians, Paul says there in 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 3, Quote, for this reason, we also thank God. How often? Paul says, without ceasing. Why? He says, because when you receive the word of God, which you, quote, heard from us, you welcomed it, not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God. Third, in Galatians 3 and verse 2, Paul says to the Galatians, He's asking them rhetorically, did you receive the Spirit, that is to say the Holy Spirit, by the works of the law or, quote, by the hearing of faith? And then fourth, through the Ephesians, he says in Ephesians 1 and verse 13, that in Christ you also trusted after you what? Well, he says. after you, quote, heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Now, having said this, dear ones, I trust that you get, that you understand that hearing requires someone speaking, right? I mean, this presupposes that a human being We'll make contact with another human being and share the message of life and salvation with them, which is found in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so having said this, concerning our central question for this evening of how is it that the God of the Bible has ordained that his glorious gospel message would be heard by the lost around us, well, My brethren here this evening, the answer is plain, and it is through us. The answer of Scripture is that Christians must be involved in evangelism because this is God's method for spreading His gospel. which is the great remedy for lost and ruined souls. And so, simply stated, beloved, if you want to write it down, it is this. You and I are God's method of evangelism. We are his means, if you will, for reaching the lost around us. And this, so that they might be delivered from the wrath to come and enter heaven at last. Now, if this fact seems too remarkable, too incredible to be true, well, that's the whole point, right? You see, brethren, the reason why our great God has designed us to be his method for reaching the lost is not because of how great we are as human beings, no. And it's not because of our exceptional wisdom or talent or gifting, no. In fact, church, the very opposite thing is true. You see, the point is God uses us as his method because we are utterly incapable of handling such sacred truth as the gospel except by his grace alone. Thus, the result is this whole matter should utterly astonish us, should absolutely humble us that we would be used by God for gospel good. I mean, brethren, that the God of heaven and earth has decreed it proper to use such pitiful, such stumbling and stammering sinful creatures like us to speak His eternal gospel to the lost on His behalf so that they might be saved, shows us that when it's all said and done, and someone does get saved, what is to happen? Well, what is to happen is that God alone is to get all the glory and praise. God alone is to get all the glory and praise. Now, in order to clearly see this matter, with reference to God using human instrumentality in order to reach the lost, I invite you, please, to turn with me in your copy of the scriptures to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Now, here in this setting, again, 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul is dealing with the topic of divisions in the church, as verses 1 to 4 highlight to us. Unfortunately, in Corinth, a biased spirit had emerged around different leaders, including Paul and Apollos. Now, both of these men were considered to be really pillars in the church. They both had huge reputations among the people. Ah, but sadly, dear ones, out of this fact, a disruptive, a divisive, or we might say divisive. Spirit was dividing the Christians into a shameful cult of personalities. Well, while there were many approaches, many remedies that Paul could have taken, in order to correct this, the one that he chose to use was to ask the church the question that appears in verse 5 of this chapter when he says there, look at it with me in your Bibles, he writes, saying, 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 5, here's his question, here's how he dealt with the whole matter of divisions among the people of God. You're rallying around this guy, you're rallying around this guy, look what Paul says. Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? Here's the answer. But ministers, quite literally servants in the Greek text. Through whom you believed as the Lord gave to each one. Now, here Paul tells us two things about evangelism. And the first is neither he nor Apollos were worth fighting over. The point is they were merely men, not heads of rival schools. And so it wasn't worth rallying around these individuals, just as the case is whenever anyone's being used in the church for evangelism or anything else. Additionally, since they were indeed mere men and not celebrities, regardless of what success their ministries had, they were still dust and bones and nothing more. Thus, as with all people in the church, those who do evangelism or anything else, they're never to be the centers of attention. Secondly, and specifically in connection to our topic for tonight, concerning the method of biblical evangelism, the apostle tells the Corinthians here in verse 5 that it was through them that they heard the gospel and were saved. Now, dear ones here this evening, consider with me what Paul is actually doing here in our passage. I mean, here he didn't say to the Corinthians that he and Apollos were the objects of their faith. No. Nor did he say that they were the originators of their faith. No, for that was all of God Himself. But rather, look at the verse again. He says that they were ministers, mere servants through, the Greek word dia, through whom they believed. And so you ask a pastor, what's the point? Well, the point is Paul here doesn't say to the Corinthians that they were servants in whom they believe. That might be a cause for pride and division. Nor does he say that they were servants from whom they believe. Again, which is to say that they were the originators of their faith. No, but again he says that they were God's ordained channels or agents through whom all of this came to pass in their lives when they delivered the message of the gospel to them. This is the case and all of this was only as the Lord gave to each one of them, Paul and Apollos, the ability to do what they did, just as Paul says at the end of the verse. And so you see, church, this is why it is utterly foolish to build a following around such men. or any man or woman for that matter. Paul says, don't rally around us as if we're something super special. No, for we were only the conduits through which Christ's saving message came to the Corinthians and nothing more. In fact, Paul even goes on to emphasize this point again in the following verse. Look at it with me. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 6. Look what he says here. He says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Stop looking to us. Stop having this cult of personalities in the church. I'm a Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas. Paul says, don't do it. We're mere conduits through whom you believed. One planted, one watered, but God himself gave the increase. May God always be central in your ministry. Well, because this is so, Paul summarizes the matter once again in verse seven. When he writes saying, look at it with me there, so then, the word so then in the word of God are words of summary. Here's the result. So then, neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters but God who gives the increase. And so, brethren, back to the matter at hand concerning the method of evangelism. What's the point? Well, the point is, according to the Bible, evangelism is to be done by people, to people, and for. people. The point is, although the Lord our God is the only one who can sovereignly transform a person's heart, when we share his saving truth, we play a vital part. Servants through whom you believed. Now by way of application here, this is why, of course, It's absolutely crucial, dear ones here this evening, that you and I are not apathetic, lazy, when it comes to speaking to the lost about Jesus Christ our Lord. I mean, church, since in fact, according to Scripture, we are God's agents for this sacred task, therefore, like Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we are to plead with people on Christ's behalf, saying, be reconciled to God. And so let me ask you here, brethren, this evening, have you been an agent for God in this regard in recent days? I ask, are you being God's agent? for gospel good to the lost as you are able. Paul says, don't let us be the focus of your attention. We were merely ministers through whom you believed. But nonetheless, we were still ministers through whom you believed. We had a crucial part in this whole thing, and the part is, we were God's method in this regard. And so church, keep this in mind. And again, as I said, by way of application, ask yourself the question, if this is true, if this is what the Bible teaches, have I been involved in being God's agent, God's mouthpiece? in order to tell others about our lovely and living Lord Jesus Christ. Well, if so, by God's grace, I say, praise God. But if not, I say, may this matter change quickly. I say, church, may godly compassion for the lost swallow your fears so that you might begin to be God's channel for good in the lives of many. Including who? Well, including your neighbors, including your co-workers, and including, of course, your unsafe family members, et cetera. And this for their good, and ultimately, as we've seen in recent days, for the glory of God. Now, of course, all that I just set forth regarding us being God's method for evangelism is highlighted to us in many other passages in the Word of God, right? It is so that, for example, when you think about the angel of God coming to Cornelius, in Acts chapter 10, telling him what? Well, telling him to call on Peter so that he could come to his house and tell them, quote, words by which he and his household would be saved. The question we should ask is, why didn't the angel himself just communicate the gospel directly to Cornelius and his household? I mean why go through that entire process of sending Cornelius' men to Joppa to get Peter and then to have Peter travel all the way to Cornelius' household and to share with him and the members of his household what could have been done right there on the spot by the angel of God. I mean, he could have done this, but he didn't. And why? Well, again, church, the answer is because according to Scripture, God has chosen us, not angels, but us, men and women, his redeemed people, to be his method for accomplishing this wonderful task of evangelizing the lost. You see, even though God does, employ angels in various ways. He has chosen to use us, who are Christians, when it comes to seeing lost souls saved. Well, Peter, who I just spoke of a moment ago in that whole narrative there with Cornelius, Peter certainly knew this. And he learned this lesson first hand back in Luke chapter five, when after he had a terrible night of fishing, he then obeyed our Lord Jesus Christ to cast his net back out into the water. And after he did this, as you know, he had a great catch. He was amazed by the whole thing. And after this, What did Jesus say to Peter? Well, he said to Peter, don't be afraid, Peter. No doubt this is a great miracle that you just witnessed. Don't be afraid, Peter. For from now on, you will catch men. You will catch men. Well, finally, in this regard, it's interesting also to see. How in Acts chapter 8, the angel of the Lord, what does he do? He commissions Philip to go down to Gaza where he would encounter the Ethiopian eunuch. To what end? Well, so that he could preach the gospel to him so that this man might come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But again, brethren, I ask, why not just do this himself? Why not just speak the gospel to the eunuch himself? Well, again, the answer is, because according to the Bible, God doesn't use angels to witness to the loss. They could certainly do that, but that's not God's plan. Why? Because he's ordained to use us. He's ordained to use us, his people, for this mighty task. Thus, I believe that the great theologian named R.B. Kuyper was correct when he said, quote, every single believer is a God-ordained agent of evangelism. Now, church, it's because the Bible teaches this matter plainly But I must say at this point that this is why hyper-Calvinism must utterly and absolutely be rejected by us whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head. Now you all know that, or I should say what Calvinism is. You all know what Calvinism is. But this is what we hold to in this place. And Calvinism puts forth those five great points, known as the doctrines of grace, which is summarized nicely in three words. What are those three words? God saves sinners. You want to know what Calvinism is all about? That's what it's all about. God saves sinners. It's the language of Jonah. Salvation is of the Lord. Calvinism is the biblical system of belief which exalts God in all of his glory. And it shows man in all of his ruin. As this is the case, biblical Calvinism has historically been the great impetus, the great motive for prompting men and women around the world to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord, to the lost. You see, Calvinism, while teaching the biblical doctrine of election, also teaches that it's through the preaching of the gospel that the elect gets saved. Ah, but brethren, here is where the hyper-Calvinist falls short. And why? Well, it's because he believes that God saves the elect solely through his sovereign will, and this with little or no use of means. For bringing about such salvation such as the means of evangelism, such as the means of praying for the lost, that they might be saved, et cetera. Well, my dear ones, all of this flatly contradicts the Word of God. Flatly contradicts. It flatly contradicts the Apostle Paul, who in our passage in Corinthians said to them that it was, quote, through, not apart from, but it was through his gospel witness to them that they came to faith. His gospel witness to them didn't produce their faith. No, faith is a gift of God. But as he preached the gospel to them, God did his saving work in making them Christians. Well, may it be then, brethren, that you and I in this place, like Paul and our forefathers in this regard, will understand and preach the gospel, knowing that as we do, Jesus' sheep will hear his voice and will be saved. May we understand that as we preach to all people, because we don't know who the elect are, that as we do what God calls us to do, Acts 17, calling all men everywhere to repent, to believe that as we do what God commands us to do, that Jesus' sheep will hear his voice. Not in a mystical way, but through the scriptures being preached to them. And that they will seek the Lord and be saved. Yes, may it be that we'll never forget Paul's earlier words to the Corinthians as set forth in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 21. When he said there what? Well, he said there that it pleased God through the foolishness of the thing preached to save those who believe. Not apart from the preaching of the gospel, but through the preaching of the gospel. Now thankfully, brethren, all the greatest evangelists who ever lived all knew this, right? You see, while holding to biblical Calvinism, they all fervently preached to the lost, knowing that this was God's means. They were God's method of bringing his four ordained people to faith. And who were such people? Well, what about John Calvin himself? The great evangelist, the one who sent missionaries from Geneva to other parts of the world, even Brazil. Because he understood that God uses the witness of his people to see others saved. What about the Puritans after Calvin? Such great evangelists. What about Mr. Whitefield? Perhaps the greatest evangelist the world has ever known. What about Mr. Spurgeon? What about Mr. Edwards? What about Lloyd-Jones? And all the rest, oh dear brethren, I can go on and on and on. Well, having said this, and having established from the Word of God, I trust, that God uses humans to share the Gospel with other humans, that they might be saved, we are now ready briefly to take a look at some practical ways that we can do this. Now, in the outset, I want to freely acknowledge that evangelism can be done in a multitude of ways and in a multitude of contexts. So that, for example, one way is not necessarily right or wrong. This is the case so that Whether one is doing personal evangelism, one-on-one, or door-to-door evangelism, as the men do in our church, or open-air preaching, as I've done for decades, or even what we might call social media evangelism, et cetera, these can all be legitimate ways for getting the gospel out. In the church I say that this is crucial for you to keep in mind. And this is because our God uses all kinds of ways to get the gospel out. He uses different personalities and different backgrounds, etc. Thus no method should be treated as the best method. Nor should any method be frowned upon assuming one key thing. And what is that one key thing? Well, it is that the message which is shared is biblical. Is biblical. And so whether, for example, People want to have more of a lifestyle evangelism approach which attempts to build relationships first with people and then speak the gospel to them or what has been called a servanthood evangelism approach, which seeks to share the gospel with others through practical actions like helping people out with various projects, et cetera, or through what some have called confrontational evangelism, where we just speak to strangers directly Dear ones, each one of these types of evangelistic outreaches could be used by God. Of course! And He does use them. Ah, but again, the main thing is we must be sure that the message we bring to others is according to Scripture. It must present the biblical gospel. And what is the biblical gospel all about? Well, this is what we're going to consider next time together, God willing, as we take up our fifth foundation for biblical evangelism. And so, as I begin to wind down for this evening, I want to do so by putting forth three applications for those of you who are the people of God in this place, to you who are true Christians here this night. If, in fact, you are going to be used by God for reaching the lost as his agents of gospel good, then what is this going to mean for you specifically? Well, again, it's going to mean at least three things, and the first is you must equip yourself for this sacred task. That's where we begin. Okay, pastor, I get it. Through the message shared, not angels, but us. I get it, I get it, I get it. All right, how do I prepare myself for this matter? Number one, you must equip yourself for this sacred task. How? I've got several ways, but number one, at the top of the list, you must know your Bible well. You must know your Bible. We don't go around speaking about ourselves. No, Paul says we don't preach ourselves, but we preach Christ. You gotta know your Bible well, do you, Christian? Know your Bible well. We share the Word of God, the Logos. We share Scripture. And how do you know your Bible well as a Christian? Well, you read your Bible every day. I trust all of you here read your Bible every day. And what a sweet thing that is. And you read your Bible daily. You read the Word of God, and you let the Word of God read you. Show you your shortcomings, your sins, and then your lovely Savior, even Jesus. But you need to know the Word of God, because that's what we're bringing to people. The Bible, the Scriptures. As Paul did, Acts 17, he went among the Jews there in Thessalonica, expounding and explaining the Christ to them. So you need to know your Bible well. Best way to do that, in my humble opinion, is by memorizing the Word of God. Memorizing the Word of God. Oh, dear Christian here this night, please make it part of your spiritual disciplines. As I've said many times, I think the greatest spiritual discipline any Christian can give himself, can give herself too, is memorizing the Word of God. Taking it in. Blessed is the man who, what? Someone who knows the word of God, who thinks upon the word of God day and night. He meditates on the Torah of Jehovah. He knows the word, she knows the word. And as we memorize scripture, That's what the Holy Ghost uses when we evangelize the lost, the very scripture which, by the way, he himself inspired. So memorize the word of God. Be able to quote scripture when you're talking to the lost. regardless of the approach that you might take. Maybe you say, I'm going to do the friendship evangelism part. I'm going to get to know this guy, this girl for several weeks. They can see that I'm a real person, et cetera, et cetera. But now it's time, because God doesn't use angels to speak to people. God's not going to write in the sky, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved. I'm God's instrument. What an amazing thing that is. What a humbling thing that is. I need to bring them the Word of God. And I need to know the Word of God. So I've got to memorize the Word of God. Let the Word of God richly dwell within you, the Word of Christ. And so, brethren, firstly, you do this by knowing your Bibles well and by memorizing Scripture. Second, you're going to be useful in evangelizing the lost. You do this by reading the great biographies, the works of the great evangelist whom God has used throughout church history. You say, who can I read, Pastor? Read Mr. Whitfield. I mentioned him earlier. I was privileged to see where he's buried in Newburyport about a week ago. I almost wept. I went to the church where he's buried. He's buried in the basement. where now I believe a female occupies the pulpit, where Whitfield is buried below. No doubt he's turning in his grave, as it were. Went there on a Saturday. The doors were locked. I thought, oh, I can't miss this opportunity. So there were rails next to the church. I climbed up on the rails. I leaned into the window with my phone, and I took a photo of Whitfield's Epitaph. Can't miss this opportunity. But there's Whitfield. And he's seen in his biography, biographies, many, many, many, The Banner of Truth, many biographies on Mr. Whitfield. Steve Lawson has Whitfield in the little small biography set that He's done, you read these biographies and you get stirred up. Read the sermons of Whitfield, very simple. You must be born again, great sermon by Whitfield. You know, Whitfield would say constantly as he preached, you must be born again, you must be born again. Someone came up to him one time, Mr. Whitfield, why do you keep saying that we must be born again? To which he replied saying because you must be born again. It's really the essence of the whole matter. Read Whitfield, read Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Oh, I trust all of you have read Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. I wanna ask for a show of hands, but I might be disappointed. Read Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God as he takes that text, I believe, out of Deuteronomy. In due time, their feet will slide. Oh, what a revival God used to bring through that man. He preached the sermon twice, actually. Sinners in the hands of an angry God. The first time, nothing happened. And so, like all good preachers, he preached the message somewhere else, hoping that God would use it. And the second time, it was as if the ground split open and people were holding on to the pews, thinking they were going to slip into the abyss. Read Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Oh, sinner, you are like a spider on a slender thread hanging over the precipice of hell. The flames, he says, are licking at your feet. Oh, read Edwards. Read, of course, Spurgeon, my all-time favorite. Spurgeon, the soul winner. Read Spurgeon's sermons. They're so evangelistic. Read the Puritans. Oh, these are the great Calvinists. And they're evangelistic on every side. Read Baxter's Call to the Unconverted. Read Joseph Alleyne's Alarm to the Unconverted, one of my all-time favorite books. Alleyne's Alarm to the Unconverted. The Puritans, 17th century, 1600s. Spurgeon comes on the scene, 19th century, 1800s, and when he was a little boy at the end of the Sabbath day, he says, Mom would rally us around the fire and read to us Elian's Alarm to the Unconverted. Spurgeon said he was quaking in his boots, quaking in his boots. Have you read Elian's Alarm? Oh, it's unbelievable. A little short book. Alarm to the Unconverted. Unfortunately, the title's been changed. Oh, it's terrible. Now it's called A Sure Guide to Heaven. That is weak. But Aleehan's Alarm to the Unconverted, very Puritan. And right from page one to the end of the book, it's like he's having a conversation with you as if you were not a Christian. And he says, my dear reader, I love your soul. And by the time you're done reading this book, I want to see you saved. And he goes after the sinner on every page. And the sinner goes, here, I'm not going to be saved. And he chases him after. He chases after him. And then as it were, he takes his broom hand on him, and he pushes him out of that corner. No, you can't hide behind that. And he says, well, I'm going to hide behind this. No, no, no, you can't do that either. And he keeps shutting the sinner up till he's centered with Christ and says, all of those excuses aren't going to do you any good on the day of judgment. Sinner, you need Christ. Take Christ, he says. Take Christ. Oh. It was one of the books I read as an early Christian. It's forever shaped my life. Third, how do you do this? You do it by watching those who are gifted in this regard. When it comes to evangelism, people who are gifted, right? Some people in the church are gifted at open air preaching or door-to-door evangelism or whatever it might be. There are some gifted evangelists online. And so you might look at some of them. You could ask me if so-and-so is decent. You want the one with good theology, of course. But with the advent of YouTube, there's a lot of good guys witnessing. I watch these guys. They have a ministry in Israel. And they're preaching Hebrew, using the Hebrew tongue and preaching, and it is excellent excellent excellent and they're Calvinistic and they speak in English also, but they go back and forth and Boy, I tell you you want to Stir up a hornet's nest Go to Jerusalem and preach Christ. It's no joke But I'm watching and saying oh, this is excellent and then fourth brethren you do this by studying apologetics apologetics and so that you could defend the faith from those who oppose it. It's good to be able to defend the faith. Peter says it. Maybe Victor will get to it soon, someday, at this rate, maybe five years from now. Defend the faith, Peter says, give an answer, an apology, not I'm sorry, but an apologia, a defense of the faith. Be able to defend the faith. While you evangelize, you're gonna meet all kinds of stuff. Humanism, pragmatism, all the cults are gonna be out there. You need to know the Bible. You need to be able to defend the Bible. So you wanna pick up a good book on apologetics so you can defend the faith. But secondly, church, if you're going to be used by God for evangelism, then maybe this really should have been first. You've gotta be a holy person. You gotta be a holy person. Long story short, church, the Holy Spirit uses holy people to do his bidding and none other. The Holy Spirit uses holy people to do his bidding and no one else. Not to say you gotta be perfectly holy, no, because then none of us would be used of God. But practically speaking, not talking about positionally holy, we understand that, I trust, that we're all as Christians positionally holy before the judgment bar of God. But practically speaking, we need to be holy people. As Robert Murray McShane rightly said, quote, none but holy vessels are employed by the Holy One of Israel. It's not just the Spirit of God, but there's the word before Spirit of God, it's the Holy Spirit of God. And if you want to be used by God and by the Spirit of God, who is holy, you yourself need to be holy. Separate from sin, not without sin. No, we all sin. But when we sin, brethren, I trust that you're in the practice of repenting of your sins. And then you're clean before God, practically speaking. You have a good conscience. Confess your sin to God. If you sinned against someone else, confess your sin to the person. Get right, vertically, horizontally. Then you go out with a good conscience, and you tell others about Jesus. McShane says, quote, It's not great talents, God blesses, so much as great likeness to Jesus. He said, quote, a holy minister is an awful, translated, a tremendous weapon in the hand of God. And so, since we are God's ordained instruments, agents to speak to others about Christ, and that God only uses holy people, practically speaking, people who are not living in patterns of sin. Sometimes Christians fall into that. Christians who are confessing their sins, walking humbly before God, then this is what we must do. We must seek to be holy before the Lord our God in our sanctification. knowing that God uses holy people to do his bidding, and then thirdly, church, you're going to be used by God for evangelism. A prayerful person, prayerful person. You and I, brethren, must be a praying people. You have not because you ask not. Praying for what? Praying firstly for ourselves, that we would be individuals who might know what to say when we speak to the lost. Anyone ever get tongue-tied when they try to witness to the lost? They'd be memorized a whole bunch of verses, and here comes Mr. Unconverted, Mrs. Unconverted, and those verses go, whew, out of your mind. You're left stumbling and stammering. You don't know what to say. Pray, oh God, give me recall. that I might be able to bring your word to such ones. And then pray that God would open the hearts of those to whom we speak and give divine opportunity and occasion for this very thing. As a church, I ask, do you pray that God would use you for gospel good? I'm not saying waking up every day, asking God for this, although you could, but you're going into work. There's gonna be an occasion where you're gonna be among unbelievers. Holidays are coming up. Lord, help me to be a faithful witness to Christ. As I travel, Lord, help me to have opportunities for gospel good. You're in an airplane. That person's not getting out of this airplane. Unless they jump, that's not gonna be pretty. Here's an opportunity. You might start with the approach of friendship evangelism, getting to know the person, what do you do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Hopefully they'll ask you, what do you do? I do this, I do that. And of course, Sunday I go to church. Oh, there you go, you just broached the subject. You go to church, they might say, well, so do I. Praise God, brother. But bridging the gap, why? Well, Lord, I'm your method. I'm your man. I'm your woman. I'm your mouthpiece. Help me to be faithful, Lord. Help me not to mess it up. Help me to be simple. Help me to be biblical. Brother, we need to pray for these things. I'm glad that as a church we regularly pray for the lost in this place, showing me that there's no hyper-Calvinism here. No. I trust that as I preach every week to you, and you see, I hopefully sense the evangelistic fervor, you say, this guy pleads with people, As if he honestly believed that it was through his pleading with people that they might run to Christ. It's exactly what I believe. As though God were pleading with you through us. Be reconciled to him. But we gotta pray. In fact, I don't think a Sunday goes by when we are in the prayer room and we don't say, Lord, we pray you'd save the lost. Almost every Sunday I've got Confirmation. And praise God that God in his grace has kept us balanced in this regard. But brethren, let's continue to pray. Pray, pray, pray, oh God. Give us souls lest we die. Give us children lest we die. Spiritual children, unto your glory. Let's keep praying. God uses us as his means for gospel good. He uses prayer to start working in people's hearts that might seem very, very hard to us. You know, Paul in Romans chapter 16 lists some of his relatives, actually, some family members in the list. You could check my commentary for that. That wasn't a plug, by the way, but it's in the library for free. Some of his relatives, it seems that some of Paul's relatives were converted before he was. He had family members who were saved. It seems like that's the case. So could you imagine like Paul being your uncle or something like that? And being like, oh, this guy is just a terror. He's persecuting Christians. He's putting them in chains. He's putting them in jail. He's breathing out murderous threats. What do you think his relatives were doing? They were praying for him. Praying for him. Oh God, save what they would say Saul. Save Saul, oh God. He's vicious right now, oh God, but you're no respecter of persons. Oh God, no case is too difficult for you. You're the almighty God. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, oh God, make Saul a Christian. They're praying for him, no doubt. In fact, after Paul got saved, what do we read in Acts chapter nine? The very first thing that we're told about Paul. Behold, he prayeth. Behold, he prayeth. That's what happens when you get saved. You enter into a relationship with God and you begin to pray to him. But they were praying for Saul of Tarsus. And I remember when I got saved many, many years ago, I called my very close friend at the time, a martial arts instructor. That's no plug for martial arts, by the way. But he was converted. And he was the first person to ever tell me about Jesus. In fact, he stopped teaching Kung Fu because he became a Christian. Not that you have to stop. Learning Kung Fu, that's not my point. But for him, that's what he did. And he said, I'm gonna follow Jesus. I was 16. I thought, hmm, interesting. I didn't know who Jesus was. I didn't know why he stopped teaching Kung Fu to follow Jesus. It didn't make any sense to me. But years later when I got saved, I picked up the phone and I called him. And I said, Frank, you won't believe what happened. God save me, to which he replied saying, I've been praying for years that he would do that very thing. Years, years, it was probably nine, 10 years, six, seven, eight years. He's praying for me, for me, that I would be saved. God answered his prayer. God answers the prayers of his people. Not always immediately, sometimes he does. Oftentimes he doesn't. Prayed for a family member for years and years and years and God finally got hold of them. My mom, as you know, same thing. You all have stories you can tell me. We need to pray, brethren. Pray that God will save His people. And so let me end then by speaking to any non-Christian here this night, since I believe that the Bible teaches that human beings are God's ordained method for reaching other human beings. What can I say to you this evening? Well, simply this. Be reconciled to God. Be saved. You're in big trouble with the God of the Bible. Your sins are stinking in his nostrils. He's angry at you all the day long. His justice demands that you be punished for your crimes, your immoralities, your theft and your lies and adulteries and idolatry and all the rest, His justice demands that He punish you for your sins. It's the bad news of the Bible. God's holy and we are not. It means we're in big trouble with Him. Thank God that's not all that the Bible says about God. It also says that He's a God of great love and compassion. And that in mercy, He sent His love into the world. In mercy, He sent His Son into the world. To be our substitute. To be our sin-bearer. To be our surety. The very thing that Jesus Christ was. 2,000 years ago on the cross. And so this God who's holy and must punish us for our sins is the God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Gave Him to be a sacrifice for our sins. He gave Him. to die in our room and in our stead. He knew no sin, therefore he was the perfect scapegoat so that sin could be placed upon him. And at the cross, the sins of sinners were placed upon the Son of God. And there he was punished in their place. For as Isaiah says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. In that posture, in that position, Jesus Christ was punished for the guilty. And he shed his blood in order to atone for their sins. That he might, as we considered this morning, redeem us to God. And that's what Jesus did at the cross. He redeemed sinners to God. Fully and finally and freely. And the Bible says that all who now turn from their sins and put their trust in His finished work, His accomplishment, will be saved, forgiven of all their sins, reconciled to God. They'll know what life is all about. They'll have true meaning because God will enter into their lives. There'll be no more estrangement, no more alienation. But God will be their God. They will belong to Him. And so may it be this night that if you don't know God in truth, that you won't harden your heart to His invitation to you this evening through this weak preacher. God invites you to Himself. He invites you to Himself. God incarnate, Jesus Christ has come to me. All you who labor and are heavy laden, then I will give you rest. Jehovah incarnate, God the Son, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, says, come to me now. And I will receive you, I will forgive you, I will show you love that, humanly speaking, you could never experience from anyone else. Come to me, Jesus says. And I'll change your life all together. And so might it be that for some here this night who have not experienced the free grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, that you'll hear His voice saying, come, come, come by faith to Jesus Christ, for He receives all who come to Him. Let's pray together. Our great God, we are humbled this evening that you would use such earthen vessels as we are, weak, pitiful individuals. But people nonetheless who have received great mercy, and this so that we might tell others about all that the Lord has done for us. Help us then, we pray, O Lord, to be your agents, your channels, your conduits, in order to tell others about Christ, your glorious Son, and our wonderful Savior, in whose name we pray, amen.