Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Part 2 of 2)

Sharing our faith can be discouraging, especially in those times when we're met with rejection more than acceptance. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg points out common obstacles to successful evangelism and shows us how we can find hope and assurance in the process of sharing our faith.

We're wrapping up our study in evangelism called Crossing the Barriers. He once asked Charles Heaven Spurgeon, How do you reconcile the notion of divine sovereignty and human responsibility? And Spurgeon replied, I don't.

You don't have to reconcile friends. And he understood that these truths, set side by side, sometimes even in the one verse as we note here in John 6, were purposefully put there by God. And here is one of God's secrets—that is, how to reconcile the plain truth of human responsibility and the clear truth of God's divine sovereignty. Man's responsibility for his actions and God's sovereignty in relation to those same actions are equally real and ultimate facts. How, then, does a robust faith in the sovereignty of God affect our duty to evangelize?

Now, Packer answers it as follows, and I'm doing this for those of you who don't read or can't read or won't read, but for those of you who do and can and will, then you will find the book greatly beneficial. This is what he says, The sovereignty of God in grace does not affect anything we have said about the nature and duty of evangelism. He has just spent two chapters saying, We better evangelize. Now he comes back to his question that he has posited in the opening chapter, and he says, The facts of God's sovereignty in no way negate the previous two chapters. God's secrets in relation to salvation have no bearing on our clear duty to evangelize. You need to read the old Puritan writers to get to grips with this, because those men pointed out that God had his secret will that would not be known to us. And then he had his revealed will. And the Reformers pointed out that our inability to grasp his secret will could not be used as an excuse for failing to fulfill his revealed will. And his revealed will is that we should evangelize the world. And his secret will is that he has purposed from eternity to have a people of his own. So his secret will in no way prevents or forgives our responsibility to evangelize. And we may underscore this by noticing, first of all, that the belief in the fact of God's sovereignty in grace does not negate or affect the necessity of evangelism. So often people say, Well, if I believe that God is a sovereign God, why forget the guest service? Let's just all sit on our bottoms and wait for all these people to come in and be saved. After all, isn't that what you're saying? No, it's not for a moment. God's way of saving sinners is to bring them to faith through bringing them into contact with the gospel.

That's how he saves. Matthew 22 and verse 1, Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son, and he sent his servants to those who had been invited to tell them to come. But they refused to come.

It's interesting, see? He sent them, and they refused. How did they refuse?

They refused because they were human and they had responsibility. And then he sent some more of his servants, tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner, and so on. And eventually, as you read the story, what happens is they go out into the highways and the byways, and they populate the banquet as a result of the activity of the servants.

The picture is clear. The banquet, which God has prepared in heaven for us all, will be populated as a result of the activity of his servants, as a result of us going out in evangelism into the highways and byways and compelling people to come in. It is by this means that God will bring to faith those whom he has purposed. So a belief in the sovereignty of God in grace in no way negates the necessity of evangelism.

Secondly, it does not affect the urgency of evangelism. The word of Jesus was clear. Luke 13, verse 3, "'Unless you repent, you will all perish.' Unless you repent, you will all perish,' said Jesus." Now, what was he saying there?

He was saying, I urge you to repentance. Hence, the hymn is a great hymn. Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. And the urgency of the responsibility of evangelism is found in the greatness of our neighbors' need and in the immediacy of their danger. They are like individuals who are asleep in a burning building, and they don't realize. So they need somebody to go and to wake them up and say, Listen, don't you realize? Wouldn't you trust Christ? And we should not be held back—and again, this is Packer—by the thought that if they are not elect, they will not believe us, and our efforts to convert them will fail. That is true.

But it is none of our business and should make no difference to our action. Do you see? So we can say, Oh no, we're not going to have an evangelistic campaign. We can say, We will go to those whom God has elected.

How do you know who they are? That's why Paul, when he proclaims his word, he says, We are proclaiming and warning and teaching, Colossians 1.28, every man. We warn and we teach every man. So the necessity is not negated, the urgency is not negated. Thirdly, the genuineness of the gospel invitation and the truth of the gospel promises, they're not negated either. The fact that God is sovereign in no way undermines or chips away at this truth. Romans 10.13, Whosoever shall call upon the LORD shall be saved. That is true truth.

Right? It is preceded by the whole progression, and how will they go if they're not sent and how will they hear, etc. And whoever calls upon the Lord will be saved. God commands all men everywhere to repent, Acts chapter 17, and God invites all men everywhere to come to Christ and to find mercy. How much does one need to know in order to become a Christian?

Two things. One, that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior. You only need to go through your Bible and underline all these amazing opportunities of Jesus. Matthew 11.28, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. John 3.16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. My belief in the sovereignty of God does not mean that we cannot then preach John 3.16. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15.

I need to turn it up. I can't quote this one off by heart. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Sinners. The invitation then goes out to sinners only, but to sinners universally. None are shut out from God's mercy, save those who shut out themselves through impenitence and unbelief.

And now is a great quote. Some fear that a doctrine of eternal election and reprobation involves the possibility that Christ will not receive some of those who desire to receive him because they are not elect. The comfortable words of the gospel promises, however, absolutely exclude this possibility. So no one who ever wanted to become a Christian was unable to become a Christian on account of God's sovereignty.

Do you understand that? So we need never fear concerning our children. That's why we will bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

We won't lie awake at night wondering if they're elect. We may lie awake at night praying God for their salvation and for our relationship with them and for the nurture and admonition in which we bring them up. And if one day they do not arrive in heaven with us, it will be because of their unbelief. And that, of course, you see, is what we find set side by side back in verse 37 of John chapter 6. Nothing that we may believe concerning God's sovereignty can rob the invitations of Christ of their genuine nature.

Okay? So we said three things. That the sovereignty of God in grace in no way affects the necessity of evangelism, in no way affects the urgency of evangelism, in no way affects the genuineness of the invitation given by Christ. And fourthly, the belief that God is sovereign in grace does not affect the responsibility of the sinner for his reaction to the gospel.

You'll never say that one again. Whatever we may believe about God's sovereignty in grace, it in no way affects the responsibility of the sinner for his reaction to the gospel. Whatever we may believe about election, the fact remains that a man or a woman who rejects Jesus Christ thereby becomes the cause of their own condemnation. There is nowhere in the Bible that we are told that sinners miss heaven because they are not amongst the elect.

The only reason that people miss heaven is because they neglect so great a salvation, because they will not repent and because they will not believe. God gives men and women what they choose. He does not give to them the opposite of what they choose. That, then, is the fundamental truth concerning these things, that the sovereignty of God in grace does not affect anything we have to say about the nature and duty of evangelism. The second thing is this—and I can only just mention it, our time is gone—the belief that God is sovereign in grace gives us our only hope of success in evangelism. See, when you begin to think this out, you realize that far from an implicit belief in the sovereign power of God negating our responsibility and effectiveness in evangelism, it is only an implicit belief in the sovereignty of God that gives us any hope in evangelism. You see, because evangelism is a hopeless task engaged in on a purely human level. If evangelism is go out and convert the world by your own ability to rationalize, if evangelism is go out and by your psychological persuasive powers bring in the redeemed, then it's futility. And when we read our Bibles, we discover that there are two obstacles in the way of successful evangelism, and they're these. Obstacle number one is man's natural and irresistible impulse to oppose God. That's foundational in man. There is none that seeketh after God, no, not one.

So men and women are not wandering the streets of Cleveland looking for God by nature. You see? So to go up to them and say, Do you feel lonely? Of course you may get a reaction on the basis of that. Would you like something to fill up your life? Yes, I certainly would. What are you talking about?

Coca-Cola, or what is it? S, transcendental meditation, whatever it might be. You see, if you approach them on a level of felt need, you can offer them anything, and you can gain many converts. But first we need to realize that there is none that seeketh after God. So the individual who begins to turn their gaze towards God, although they may not realize it, is bearing testimony to the fact that God is already at work in their life. And it is only the fact that God is already at work in their life to engender faith in them that gives any power and efficacy to the evangelistic call.

So we don't need to rely on a methodology, because fact number one is that the great barrier is found in man's natural aversion to God, and secondly, in Satan's activity in seeking to keep men and women in the ways of unbelief and disobedience. The fact of God's sovereignty does not close down evangelistic zeal. It gives it power, and it gives it purpose. And indeed, that was what drove Paul on. Because if anybody understood God's sovereignty, Saul of Tarsus did, didn't he? See, because what was he doing? Walking along the road looking for God? Going to Damascus?

Hey, no. He thought he knew God, first of all. He was plugged in.

He had to find out that he was plugged into the wrong socket first. So we have revelation. God speaks.

Paul hears. He speaks, and listening to his voice, new life the dead receive. The call of Jesus to the tomb, Lazarus come forth, had a name on the front of it, because if he hadn't named his name, the whole shooting match would have come out. Such is the power of his call!

They all would have come out! But he called them by name, Lazarus, come forth. And one day in eternity, when we discover these things, we will praise and magnify him from our hearts. Acts chapter 18, one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, Do not be afraid, keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city. In other words, Paul, here is the basis of your evangelism.

I have many people in this city. Now, Paul, you go preach the Word, and I will bring my people to myself. Well, you see, that immediately refocuses things, doesn't it?

It takes it away from man and his ability, and it turns it to God and his power and his intervention. These are weighty matters, I can tell just by your faces how weighty they really are. Some of you have never thought these things through. I want to conclude by making this assertion. Every single one of us tonight believes unequivocally in the sovereignty of God in the matter of evangelism, even though you may not know you do.

And I'll tell you why I know you do. First, because you thank God for your salvation, don't you? Now, why would you thank him for it if you were responsible for it? If salvation for you was, hey, get smart, choose God, then you can walk around and say, hey, I got smart, why don't you get smart like me? And for the individual who gives his testimony that way, there is a more than even chance that he has never understood salvation at all. Wesley, who debated Whitefield on these very questions, wrote these amazing words, Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. That's total depravity.

That is the human inability of man to change his circumstances. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke.

That's regeneration. The dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off.

That's justification. My soul was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. And Wesley, you see, was a clergyman when it happened.

And the final thing is this, that we believe in it, and that's why we thank God for our salvation, and that is also why we pray for the conversion of others. Go to the prayer meeting and find out if people believe in God's sovereignty. You hear them praying, O God, open their eyes. O God, unstop their ears.

O God, soften their hearts. Why? Because we know that if he doesn't, we can't, and therefore there ain't nobody getting saved. It's as simple as that. So why the problems? Why are there problems in relation to these things? Well, there may be many answers, but part of the answer is this, and with this I close. The reason that you or I may still live with problems in this area may largely be due to a reluctance on our part to recognize the existence of mystery and to allow God to be wiser than us, a reluctance to subject ourselves to the truth of Scripture, an exalted notion of human logic which says, If I can't understand it, I won't believe it. Well, I want you to know, if that's your answer to the study tonight, have a good life, because you ain't ever gonna understand it.

See? You may accept it, which demands humility. You may be able to formulate it, which demands clarity.

But you will never ultimately be able to explain it. Because the reconciliation of these two truths, set side by side, intersect somewhere in eternity, and we're in time, somewhere in heaven, and we're on earth, somewhere in God, and we are mere men. So where does liberation come? It comes in saying, This is the absolute truth concerning God's sovereign plan. This is the absolute truth concerning my responsibility and human responsibility. It is counter to the perversity of our human thinking.

We would like to simplify the Bible in all our parts. On our feet, we may find argument possible. On our knees, all argument ends. The answer to these questions, as I have wrestled with them and continue to wrestle with them in my own mind, finally comes.

On our knees. And it's until we're there, we're nowhere. You're listening to Truth for Life. That is Alistair Begg talking about God's sovereignty and evangelism.

Alistair will be back in just a minute. As we've learned today, it's not our role to save people, but we are called to share the gospel, to proclaim the truth of God's word, and to pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the lives of those who hear. One of the ways you can do this is by supporting and praying for ministries like Truth for Life, where God's word is taught with clarity and relevance. As you give to this ministry, you're enabling people all around the world to hear Bible teaching without cost being a barrier. We recently heard from Candace in Philadelphia who said, I just want to let you know how blessed I am by your daily program. I'm sure you hear it all the time, but your ministry is truly helpful to my soul.

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It's called Confronting Jesus. Now here's Alistair with some closing thoughts. I found a friend, O such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of love, and thus he bound me to him. And round my heart, so closely twined, those ties which naught can sever, for I am his, and he is mine forever and forever. Grant to his humble hearts to bow before your secrets and your mystery.

Save us from embracing one truth to the detriment of the other. Grant that we may become increasingly biblical and live with this antinomy to the salvation of many and to the glory of your great name. Master, let us walk with you into the days of this week in lowly paths of service free, for we ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. Join us tomorrow as we start a brand new study in Psalm 139. It's titled The God Who Knows Me, and we'll discover the answers to some of life's biggest questions, like who am I and why do I matter? The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.