Doing the Work of Evangelism

Introduction

Background: The Apostles are preaching that Jesus has resurrected from the dead, and the Sadducees are totally against it. They have already arrested Peter and John one time, they threatened them, and they released them. The Apostles go to their friends, and together, they begin to cry out to God.

There is a small intercession where Luke tells the narrative of Ananias and Sapphira. These two attempted to undermine the authority of God, and God put an end to it by taking their lives. When these two were killed, the church began to have a reverent fear of God and understand that His holiness is not something to be tried. God showed the people that any sort of division or deception in the church has to be dealt with right away, there is no room for muddying the waters. Things in the church need to be as transparent as possible.

When the early church began to fear God, the church continued to grow, and the Apostles kept on preaching the resurrection from the dead.

Context: In this passage today, we see that Peter and John are arrested again, God rescues them, the high court intimidates them by physically beating them as punishment, then the Apostle’s continue their faithful witness.

What I want to show you today are three truths concerning the work of Evangelism in the local church.

I. God’s Work Will not be Stopped

No matter what happens, there is no effort of man that can thwart the intentions of God. Men can delay it, they can disobey it, but they can never stop it.

How is it possible that they delay it? People delay what God is attempting to do in their life all the time. What they do is they get a sure word from God, they fall under conviction, and then they disobey. It’s astonishing that we as man can delay or even prevent God from working in certain circumstances.

Israel Delayed God’s Redemption

Understand this as you think about the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament, God said that He wanted to establish them in a land flowing with milk and honey. God did establish them, but He had to work out His plan because the people were disobedient. Think about it in context of these verses. God said that He wanted to save His nation Israel, but here is Israel rejecting Him again. God will bring a national revival to Israel, but it didn’t happen here, and it hasn’t happened now, because they are disobedient and do not believe in Jesus.

So, here we have these Sadducees, and we are going to see them attempt to stop God from working in Jerusalem.

God’s Word in Penetrating

Acts 5:17–18 NKJV

Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.

The Bible says that “they were filled with indignation”. This literally means they were filled with jealousy. Their authority was dead. They had the title, but they didn’t have the powerful ministry. They didn’t have the word of God, they were jealous of what these ordinary men were doing.

1 Corinthians 1:26–27 NKJV

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

Do you know why God’s word is so penetrating? Because you begin to think to yourself, how could an ordinary man have so much power and authority. How can an ordinary man speak with wisdom, how can an ordinary man live with integrity?

The Word of God is penetrating because there is only one solution, that the words the fool speaks must be from God Himself.

When these Sadducees began to come to this conclusion, that they are filled with power from God, it penetrated their hearts, and in their hearts they became jealous.

So jealous, the Bible says they laid hands on them and put them into prison.

When you begin to share Christ at your job or in your family, you can be assured of one thing….that no matter the reaction, God’s word is penetrating the heart of the sinner.

The couldn’t doubt them, they couldn’t refute them, so what they are going to try and do is they are going to try and silence them.

But not only is the word of God penetrating, God’s intervention is liberating

God’s intervention is liberating

Acts 5:19–25 NKJV

But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.” And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. So one came and told them, saying, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!”

To the Average Man

To the average man, what the Apostle’s are experiencing is unfair. But I want you to notice that the Apostle’s didn’t resist the consequences of following Christ, they just embraced it. And what they got to experience because of was God’s intervention.

Now, God’s intervention in your life is liberating because it is a relationship that is based on trust.

Charles Stanley preached something that I have quoted 1,000 times….he said, “fear is a failure of faith.”

Now, he doesn’t mean that we should just do things and expect God to make it right….what he is saying, and what these Apostle’s are embracing, is that if you are following God, He is going to intervene on your behalf.

And when you get to the place in your life when you are totally reliant on God’s intervention and not your own, then you are able to live in liberty. You are able to live in peace and tranquility even in the midst of the storm.

Practically Following This

We are talking about evangelism here

Sometimes in our careers, we are afraid of the ramifications of sharing our faith. Now, think of what these Apostles were facing. They were facing jail time, physical violence, and the early church were probably risking their livelihood to share the name of Jesus.

Right now, in these United States, we aren’t going to face jail time…most likely we won’t face physical violence, but there is a very real possibility that you could be fired from your job if you speak the name of Jesus.

I want to encourage you in this, that you don’t have to be afraid to do what God says, even under threat of unemployment. These men thought they could jail these disciples, but God intervened in such a miraculous way that no one even knew they escaped.

Sometimes in our family we are afraid of tarnished relationships if we really live for the name of Jesus. It’s a hard thing to do. Sometimes it’s a hard thing to say, “Let’s pray” at the family gathering. Sometimes it’s a hard thing to do to talk about church and religion. Sometimes its a hard thing to do to have that conversation about the gospel.

But again, i just want to say do it in love, and do it without fear, because the intervention of God in your life is liberating.

You might not be spared from job loss or hurt relationships, but God just has a way of working these things out.

Not only does this help in evangelism, but this applies to the trials of life.

Let’s say you are going through financial or medial trouble.

I would advise you to take practical steps to make those things better.

If you don’t make enough money, you either need to work more or reduce your lifestyle.

If you have medial issues, I would advise you to see a medical professional.

However, in either case, and in all cases, no matter the storm, always look to God and His intervention. I’m not saying God is going to offer a quick fix, because you will see these disciples back on trial and physically beaten, but what I am saying is that even when you are physically beaten, God is going to use that in a miraculous way.

You’re going to see that next week…when Stephen is martyred, the gospel begins to spread to Samaria and will eventually make it to the Gentile nations. God has a way of making the impossible become possible, the only thing you need to do is trust Him.

Notice one last thing here, what God calls you to do just won’t make sense to the human mind.

Acts 5:20 NKJV

“Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”

Once God releases them from prison, He gives the instruction to go and do the thing that landed them in prison in the first place.

Now, the world would think, “why do you keep preaching when you are threatened?”

That’s exactly what the Sadducees thought. They though, “Logically, if we will beat these men, imprison them, take away their rights, then all of this will stop.”

But what I want you to notice is that God and God’s people cannot operate by human logic.

1 Corinthians 2:14 NKJV

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The World Rejects God’s Wisdom

Listen, you begin to apply biblical wisdom to the world, and they will reject it.

The world laughed at people like Billy Graham and Mike Pence for not meeting alone with a woman, but everyone they know and support is involved in some kind of sexual assualt.

People sneered at Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby for being closed on Sundays and those are two of the best companies out there.

People laught at you because you go to church on Sunday and give your money faithfully, but your life is filled with contentment and joy and you have a sense of ultimate and eternal purpose.

The truth is that the world will always reject the wisdom of God because they cannot understand it…but you, as the people of God, have to do what God says even if it doesn’t make sense, because His intervention is liberating.

Not only is His word penetrating, not only is His intervention liberating…

His Light is revealing

Satan wants nothing more for you than for you to be discouraged. He wants your situation to look hopeless, he wants you to deny the power of God in your life, he wants you to live in defeat. The world will always try to intimidate you. They’ll look at you funny, they’ll poke fun at your religion, they’ll say that you’ve lost your mind when you live by Godly principles…they want to intimidate you out of the faith.

Acts 5:26–28 NKJV

Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!”

These Sadducees are so disgusted by what these men are doing that they won’t even say the name of Jesus.

They say, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name?”.

They’re guilty of murder, not only are they guilty of murder, they are guilty of crucifying the Son of God.

We are the reason

When it comes to evangelism, the main thing that people don’t want to hear is that they bear some sort of guilt. That they’re guilty.

The place that every person has to get to so they can understand they need forgiveness from God is that they did something to offend God.

Most people honestly think they’re good. They can’t even see it. Some people are self-righteous, some are so guilty that they try and cover it up by making themselves look better, but in either case they believe that they are good. They think they’re good with God.

These Sadducees did…they said, “you intend to bring the Man’s blood on us!”

Well my question is, who else is it going to be brought on? Wasn’t your council in session when Barrabbas was set free? Wasn’t your council in session when Pilate said he wasn’t guilty? Wasn’t it your council that caused the people to chant “crucify Him!”? Who else are we going to charge it to?

It’s the same way when you evangelize.

You have to narrow the playing field to the person you are sharing with and the Lord Jesus.

Just last year, me and Elizabeth and another were gathered together trying to console a woman who was experiencing some sort of hardship.

Every time we tried to narrow the playing field to this woman and Jesus, she kept trying to bring others into the mix. She wouldn’t accept the fact that she had personal sin, she wouldn’t accept the fact that she has caused some of her own trial, and she wouldn’t accept the fact that she needed Jesus Christ to buy her back from her sin.

That woman walked out of my office as lost as she was when she came in.

One day, we’re not going to be able to hide. When we stand before God, it will be His light eradicating the dark, and we won’t be able point the finger. Unfortunately for these Sadducees, they will stand before God one by one and they will give an account of the murder of His Son.

They may have had the power to intimidate on this earth, but God will not be intimidated, and you will not hide from Him, He will shine His light on your sin, and He will shine His light on the darkest places of your life.

The Apostles Respond

Acts 5:29–32 NKJV

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Church, I want you to remember this when you share your faith, the work of God will not be stopped. It won’t make sense to the unbeliever, but you have to allow the light of God’s conviction to do it’s work by giving people the Word of God.

Applying the Word of God

Notice this evangelism being performed here. Do you see a book chapter and verse? No…they were simply speaking the truth of God. That truth is this, that Jesus came to this earth to forgive people of their sins, and by accepting Him you can be made clean.

You don’t have to be a theologian to witness to people…there is power and there is conviction in the name of Jesus Christ. These disciples, time and time again, said, “We are just telling you what we witnessed, and that is that Jesus has risen from the dead, and you need to repent and be forgiven of your sin.”

II. People will attack you, ignore you, or believe you.

They will Attack you

Acts 5:17–18 NKJV

Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.

Acts 5:33 NKJV

When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.

Acts 5:40 NKJV

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

It is very true that people will attack you for your faith. This may not always be physical, it might be emotional, it might be intellectual, but you will be attacked for your faith.

Notice this

Threat of attack did not absolve the Apostle’s from sharing God’s truth. They still had a responsibility to do it.

Jesus makes us two promises.

John 16:33 NKJV

In the world you will have tribulation

Matthew 28:20 NKJV

I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

There is no, “I might run into hard times.” There is a 100% guarantee that you will experience some form of attack or will encounter some form of trouble because you are a Christian.

But there is also a 100% guarantee that you are going to experience God’s liberating intervention. You are going to be filled with His power, you are going to defeat death and the grave, and you are going to live with Him forever.

They will Ignore you

Acts 5:34–39 NKJV

Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while. And he said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”

Now Gamaliel is the Pharisee that trained Paul. He is highly regarded in the courts, so regarded that the Sadducees listened to him even though he was a Pharisee. But his problem was not his integrity, it was not his intellect, it was not his societal standing, he was spiritually blind.

Gamaliel does a couple of things here.

He identified Jesus with other rebels and trouble makers.

He just simply said, “if you will ignore this man Jesus, then He will go away just like the others did.”

He did not acknowledge the difference in these Apostles and the disciples of those other rebels.

He assumed that because Jesus was dead, His people would scatter. Now, it was true that they scattered, but when the people of God scattered, it did everything but die out. It increased so much that the Gospel eventually reached you and me.

He was so spiritually blind that he couldn’t see the visible difference between these miracle working men and those other imposters. In his heart and in his mind, Gamaliel has already rejected Jesus.

That should go to show you, that for some, it doesn’t matter how cleanly you live, how powerfully you preach, and how miraculously God works, they will never repent of their sin.

He claimed that he was on the side of the truth and on the side of God, but never examined the evidence.

He didn’t listen to these Apostles. He didn’t recognize that Jesus had risen from the dead…really, he didn’t care. All he wanted to do what get up and play politics.

At the end of the day, Gamaliel just wanted to ignore them because he thought they weren’t worth his time. But what we are going to see in the next chapter is that the Pharisees begin to persecute the Christians, because they didn’t go away, but they began to grow and grow and grow..they refused to be silent even amid the threats.

They will believe you

When you witness, you are God’s ambassador to earth. You are relaying His message, and either people will attack you, they will ignore you, or they ill believe you.

Acts 6:1 NKJV

Now in those days…the number of the disciples was multiplying.

When these Apostle’s didn’t respond in discouragement, and when they weren’t silenced, there were many people who came to faith.

Sometimes, we get so discouraged because people just seem uninterested in the Gospel. But we’re not called to get converts, we are called to faithfully share Jesus. You may not ever know the impact you make on a person just by sharing Jesus with them one time.

I used to have a job delivering those big water slides. I showed up to deliver a slide, and there was a young woman sitting on the front porch, she was slumped over smoking a cigaret, visibly depressed. I began to share with her about the person of Jesus. She was uninterested.

One year later, a woman walks into the office there, and she said, “Do you remember me?” I said, no…it was that woman I shared with a year earlier. She looked so much different. She had gained some weight and looked much healthier, her eyes were bright, she had a radiant smile, and she said, “you shared about Jesus with me last year…I’ve been in church, I was baptized, and He changed my life.”

The results aren’t on you, but the burden to share the good news of Jesus is on you.

We’ve learned these two truths, that God’s work will not be stopped, that people will respond with attack, by ignoring, or by believig, the third and final truth for the day is that the work of the church is to preach Christ.

III. The Work of the Church is to Preach Christ

Everything we do in this church has to revolve around these two things.

Preaching the message of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

Training new converts to preach the message of Jesus to a lost and dying world.

Mark 1:17 NKJV

Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Jesus said that His discipleship, that His training curriculum was designed to make these disciples fishers of men.

In our pursuit of everything good in this church, we cannot lose the focus of these two things.

How Can we be witnesses for Jesus?

Acts 5:41 NKJV

So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

Being Thankful in Unfair circumstances.

These disciples have been flogged, and they leave rejoicing. They are rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for His name.

James 1:2–3 NKJV

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

These Apostles were the embodiment of that.

Church, we have a lost world watching to see where our hope lies. Where does yours lie? In a president? In a bank account?

When you get to the place where your hope is fully on Jesus, and not on anything else, then you will be able to actively rejoice even in unfair circumstances.

Move Outside the walls of the Church

Acts 5:42 NKJV

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

It’s not enough for us to gather in our little Christian circles we call Sunday School. We have to take the message of the Gospel out there if we ever want the sinner to repent and to end up in here.

The message we preach is not popular, it is controversial, but the message that we preach is life changing, and we have to preach it out there beyond the walls of the church.

Evangelize without Compromise

Acts 5:42 NKJV

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

We cannot water down the Gospel to make it more palatable

If we change the message then we render it powerless, we have to preach it as it was given to us.

We have to preach it to anyone, anywhere.

We cannot be a respecter of persons. It doesn’t matter how smart, how rich, or how insignificant, the gospel is for everyone who will believe.

We have to preach it constantly and without ceasing.

I pray that it becomes part of your daily life to share the good news of Jesus.

Don’t get bogged down in the details, the gospel is very simple…whosoever will believe on Jesus will be saved.

Muddying the Water

What we’ve done, is we have so badly muddied the water of the Gospel. The truth is the Gospel is so simple that any child can understand it. The Gospel is this, that we are hopelessly lost, we have been consumed by sin. Sin and death own us. God sent His Son Jesus to this world to die on a cross as a payment for our sin. When Jesus died, He satisfied God’s wrath against anybody who will trust in His name. To give proof to man, and to defeat death once and for all, Jesus rose from the grave. By trusting in Jesus, we can rise too. We might sleep for just a little while, but Jesus is going to give a shout from the heaven, and at the time He shouts we are going to be resurrected from the dead and we are going to live with God for all eternity.

Anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus, that He is the Son of God, will remain in the grave until Jesus returns to judge the earth. At that time, anyone who has not received forgiveness from God through the blood of Jesus will stand before the Great White Throne Judgement, where God will condemn them to Hell, not because of all the wrong they’ve done, but because they rejected His son as the savior of the world.

Folks, to be saved, the Bible says to repent and believe the Gospel. Agree with God about sin, and make Jesus your hope and salvation. It’s really not any more complicated than that.