Defending the Gospel

There are so many different evangelism models out there today. Different ways of approaching people and doing cold evangelism. Many of them are effective and I have nothing against these models. Models for doing something are fun and can be helpful and I don't want to go through and teach on a model of evangelism this morning but instead what I want to do this morning is focus on the call of the church which is for the church as it is going to make disciples. We looked last week on standing firm in the gospel which is very important to stand firm in the gospel, this morning I want to take a look at what evangelism can turn into which is a defense of the gospel. I say it is the defence of the gospel for the sole reason that when you are sharing the gospel message with people, when you are evangelizing the lost whether it is your intention or not you are defending what you believe against a world that is hostile toward God, His Son and their Holiness. Jesus told His apostles this in John's gospel,

John 15:18–25 NASB95

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

So you see the world hates Jesus, it is a battle against the gospel, it is and has been since the dawn of time the gospel has been under attack. The church has been called to be the defenders of the truth, in fact Paul tells Timothy his protege this about his conduct and applies it to his function within the church.

1 Timothy 3:14–15 NASB95

14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

Do you see what Paul tells Timothy about his conduct, Paul's letter to Timothy is all about how to conduct oneself in the church so as not to defame the Word of Truth so as not to bring about a reproach on God's Church. The church is, as Paul tells us, the 'pillar and support of the truth.' This means as believers in Jesus Christ and being a part of God's living house, the church, we are to be actively defending the gospel which is the only truth that leads to salvation. The greatest example of the defenders of the truth are the apostles and as we look this morning at the apostles on trial for "Standing firm in the Gospel," we will learn Three practices of defending the gospel.

Three Practices of Defending the Gospel.

These three practices are found in Acts 5:27-42,

Acts 5:27–42 NASB95

27 When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. 31 “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32 “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” 33 But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 “For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38 “So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.” 40 They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Now we are actually starting in the middle of what has been happening. The apostles have been proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ which has been affirmed or authenticated by the signs and wonders which were performed by them. This has drawn massive crowds to Jerusalem and the sick and the demon possessed are being healed both spiritually and physically. The church is exploding at an exorbitant rate and the region of Jerusalem is receiving the gospel message. Not everyone was happy about the proclamation of the gospel, the religious leaders of the day especially the Sadduccees were threatened by this message because it not only hindered their ability to control the people but as we see in verse 28 with the charges against the apostles the religious leaders say, "We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us." Just a word about this, these men are jealous because the teaching is contrary to theirs. Their teaching lacked mercy and compassion and here we have the apostles teaching and pointing to God's mercy and compassion in and through Jesus Christ. This infuriated the religious leaders. Also notice that Jerusalem is filled with the teaching, everyone has heard it and it is spreading like wildfire. The third issue that infuriated these men is the fact that the apostles made sure to lay the guilt where the guilt was due. The blood of Jesus Christ was on their hands. They didn't like this at all. Which is ironic because look at what they said when they called for Jesus' Crucifixion;

Matthew 27:24–25 NASB95

24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” 25 And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!”

Notice how they took responsibility for Jesus' blood but now they are denying their responsibility. They will not acknowledge their guilt in Jesus' death, and if they don't acknowledge their guilt there will be no salvation for them. They don't want to hear this kind of talk and also notice something else which leads to our first point, they don't even mention Jesus' name. Did you catch this? They didn't charge the apostles with, "you intend to bring Jesus' blood upon us," they say this man. This is a big deal and this is important when it comes to the practice of defending the gospel, the apostles demonstrate for us that Jesus name must be preeminent, or primary. Let's look a little deeper at this, The Preeminence of Jesus.

Preeminence Of Jesus

We see this in verses 29-32 in Peter's response to the Council. The first thing Peter says to them is, "We must obey God rather than men." Peter makes it clear who he has chosen to obey. God has commanded them to make disciples of all the nations and they are going to obey God. The religious leaders have also placed an injunction on them telling them they are not to teach any longer in the name of Jesus but Peter didn't listen to them. Here in lies the real issue, the religious leaders are being pitted against God. Peter also has to state they are following God's command because those who are sitting and presiding over the trial would all agree they should 'obey God.' This court is a court where the rule of law is God's law, so Peter is not only saying he must obey God but then he follows it up buy presenting the defence of how God has commanded and how God has ordained this. Verse 30 Peter continues and presence his case and the case he presence revolves around the name of Jesus Christ. He doesn't shy away from the name of Jesus, in fact Jesus' name takes preeminence, it is of first importance in the defence of the gospel.

Peter's defence opens this way, "the God of our fathers," notice how Peter is being very specific on God's work and this is the same God the religious leaders of the day are to be defending. Peter lumps all of them together in saying the God of our fathers. This is the same God the religious leaders go to the temple to give sacrifices to and the same God who they are supposed to worship this God is the One who has raised Jesus. Peter makes it a point to mention the name which is a name that means, God saves. God raised Him, God has raised Jesus from the dead, and Peter places the responsibility of Jesus' death squarely on those who are conducting the trial. Of course this is a blow to the Sadducees especially because of the fact that they don't believe in resurrection and here Peter is saying God raised Him up.

Not only did God raise Jesus up but in the next verse we find God also exalted Jesus to His right hand. This is a big deal, Jesus is the one who was raised and He is also the one who is exalted not just to heaven but to the right hand of God. This means they share equal control, all that is God the Father's, is also the Son's. This is a blow to the Jewish monotheistic practice, Peter is saying Jesus is equal to God and not only is He equal but He is God. Jesus is the first fruits of all those who are resurrected and Peter in the defence of the gospel makes sure Jesus' name is on display, it is first and not only first but His name is equal to God in name as well. So the defence of the gospel points to Jesus and to His name and the equality of Jesus to God and then Jesus' position is important too.

Peter says Jesus is exalted "as a Prince and a Savior." The idea Peter is getting at with this phrase is Jesus is the author of Salvation. In Peter's earlier sermon he said Jesus is the author of life and here Peter is saying Jesus is the author of salvation. It is only through Jesus' name that people can be saved. It is not through this court, it is not by what you guys deem is what we should do, you have no power or authority over salvation as much as you think you do. You can't just tell people, if you do this, this and this you will be saved and if you are sick or a prostitute or a tax collector then there is no hope for you. This is man's way to salvation and it is wrong. It is works based.

Peter is going to obey God's plan of salvation and it is only through the author of salvation, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Jesus is the name Peter stands by and Jesus is the One who has taken His position as the author of Life and Salvation and He is the one who can grant repentance to Israel and forgive sins. It is not the religious leaders of the day and it isn't even Peter, it is only Jesus and this is the name the religious leaders can't and won't even mention and if you can't or won't mention the name of Jesus then how can you be saved.

Salvation only comes from acknowledging who Jesus is and it is the church's job to defend His name and His work. This must be the practice within the life of the church body to honor His name and to make His name preeminent in all we say and do and especially when we give the gospel. The gospel without Christ is not the gospel. The gospel without centering Salvation squarely in Jesus' hands is not a gospel at all. Jesus is the author of Salvation and Jesus has been exalted. He is the one who offers forgiveness of sins not us, He is the one who grants repentance not us. The message of the gospel is about a need to repair a relationship with God and the only way this relationship can be repaired is if we acknowledge Jesus' name as preeminent or primary in our lives and in the lives of those we are presenting the gospel to.

Peter continues in verse 32 to say, "And we are witness of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." They are witnesses of not only Jesus' exaltation when Jesus ascended on a cloud to be seated at the right hand of God. They are not only witnesses to Jesus being raised up, resurrected from the dead and in His life now brings life to all those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior. They are not only witnesses to personally seeing God’s power at work in the lives of those who they preach to and seeing them come to saving faith. They are also witnesses to the events of the kangaroo court that condemned Jesus to death and to Jesus' undeserved execution. And you better believe those religious leaders sitting there knew this is exactly what Peter was meaning and when Peter ends this with 'God has given to those who obey Him,' that was a knock on how those who were presiding over this case believed themselves to be the most righteous and obedient followers of God and here Peter by making it clear those who obey are those who are have the Holy Spirit and this is not the religious leaders.

Jesus even tells the apostles about their witness to these things in the end of Luke’s gospel. Luke writes this.

Luke 24:44–49 NASB95

44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 “You are witnesses of these things. 49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Only those who trust in the name of Jesus can have the Holy Spirit and those who have the Holy Spirit will obey God and not man. As I thought about this passage and as I thought about Jesus' name being preeminent I realized something important. Two things about defending the gospel, number one, when you defend the gospel you are defending the name of Jesus Christ. This means you can't give the gospel without His name. When someone says they don't believe in God you can provide convincing proofs there is a God. That is fine, the thing is without explaining the relationship of Jesus Christ to God and His relationship to salvation then there is no gospel. The gospel always entails the name of Jesus Christ, it always points to His death, His resurrection, His exaltaion. He is the only reason for salvation, He is the author of Salvation so if you don't want to offend people and you feel Jesus' name is to offensive then you are not giving the gospel. Jesus is the only way to salvation and how do we know this, because the Scriptures provide plenty of evidence and we are second hand witness to these events. The proofs are there in Scripture you just have to look.

The second issue with Jesus' name being exalted is one of honoring His name. All to often even Christians are way to free and lose with Jesus' name. It is the one name above all other names that must be honored and not used inappropriately. This is the name that brings life and all to often it is a name used as a common curse word. Don't do it. That is not putting into practice a defence of the gospel because not having Jesus' name as preeminent in your language means He will never be preeminent in your presentation of the gospel. In order for His name to be preeminent in the defence of the gospel we need to put it in to practice in our everyday living. We need to view His name as holy in the same way we need to view God's name as holy and not say it in vain. The defence of the gospel begins with Jesus Christ because He is the author of Salvation and this must begin in our own lives. Is Jesus preeminent in your own life? If He is then I will make one suggestion to you, defend the gospel and when you defend the gospel be sure that at the same time you defend the sanctity and the holiness of the name of the One who is the author of your Salvation.

We need to have this practice in us in the defence of the gospel, we need to make His name preeminent. The second practice we must have in the defence of the gospel is the Preperation through Doctrine.

Preparation through Doctrine

Let's look at verses 33-39. We have here in verse 33 the response of the council. "But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them." This phrase cut to the quick means literally to saw in two. To say they were fuming is an understatement. Notice they are angry about being accused of having Jesus' blood on their hands but they have no problem with having the blood of these twelve men on their hands. They are ready to kill the twelve. But in God's providence, the twelve are spared by what seems to be an unlikely ally.

In verse 34 we find Luke writes this, "But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time." So we find a Pharisee, this is no ordinary Pharisee. Historically Gamaliel is very well respected leader of the community. People viewed him as a wise man and they would listen to him. He has been given a name Raban which has never been given to any other Pharisee ever. The Mishna, which is the writings of Jewish History, says this about Gamaliel

‘Since Rabban Gamaliel the elder died there has been no more reverence for the law; and purity and abstinence died out at the same time’ (m. Soṭah 9:15).

The Sadduccees, who were out for blood, wanted to be able to control and keep their power. The Pharisees on the other hand wanted to keep their respect with the people. Gamaliel who was a wise man knew how the people perceived the apostles and he also knew the death of Jesus was still a very fresh wound for many. So he wanted to curb the possible fall out from the Sadduccees rash act of putting the apostles to death out of anger. Now I want to make it very clear I don't believe Gamaliel is Saved, I don't think he is intentionally working for Jesus Christ and the Christians. The reason why I believe this is because his son is known as a Pharisee and so is his grandson who was honored with the name Gamaliel. Not to mention in the end of Acts 7 and beginning of Acts 8 we are introduced to Gamaliel star pupil, Saul, who is the greatest persecutor of the church and there is no indication what so ever Gamaliel is a follower of Christ. He is really only acting on his own wisdom and the preservation of the religious leadership.

So Gamaliel sends out the defendants, calls for a recess, so to speak, so the Sanhedrin can deliberate. Gamaliel takes charge in verses 35-39 and we pick up in 35 with Gamaliel's words, "Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God."

Gamaliel in his defence of keeping the Sanhedrin from doing something rash provides two examples of how men have come along and begun a revolt. Each of these men Gamaliel mentions stirred up the people, gathered followers and when the men were taken out their revolt came to an end. The idea here is of course, you want to stop a snake you cut off its head and it will stop. Then Gamaliel adds in verse 39 what sounds like very biblical advice. He says, "if it is of God, you will not be able to over throw them; or else you may be found fighting against God" Now I want you to understand something this doesn't mean Gamaliel believed this was from God and not to mention this isn't even a biblical principle. Just because people say they are following God, or they believe God is involved in whatever it is they are doing doesn't necessarily mean it is from God. Take many false religions for that matter. The Jehovah Witnesses, the Moslems Religion, the Mormons all would say they are from God but they are not. They are all false religions that are completely based on works.There are many so called Christians out there who will even chase after something or someone they shouldn’t be and hide behind, "Oh, well God wants me to be happy so God would want me to do this." The is human rationalization. If you are doing things on your own and you have to justify your actions then really is God in it. Gamaliel was coming at this from human wisdom and yes in God's providence God worked it out for His own good but Gamaliel did something very wrong. The same thing many Christians do even today, he had the practice of leaning on his own wisdom instead of having the practice of being prepared through doctrine. These men were all the keepers of the law. They all had the Scripture and the Scripture points to Jesus as the Messiah. Gamaliel should have pointed to the Scripture, the doctrines that point to the Messiah and the descriptions of who He is.

He is a religious leader and some may want to say the leadership of the church needs to have this practice and I will wholeheartedly agree. Leadership should know doctrine, they should know what it means to be Saved, they should know the issues of sin and evil, they should know about Jesus as the High Priest, Prophet and King. They should also know about Jesus' equality with God and the power of God unto Salvation. This should be the practice of the church leaders life. They should and must exemplify this.

Paul instructs both his protege Timothy in this manner.

1 Timothy 1:8–11 NASB95

8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.

The Law is there for us to look at which points out sin and all of these things Paul mentions in verse 9-10 are all sin they are all contrary to God and to the gospel. We need to know this teaching and we need to stand firm in the teaching and we must put this into practice because when we know and teach this we are working toward defending the gospel. Also notice everything that is on this list. Everyone of these items on the list all work against the gospel and do you know what the world says about all this. They elevate everyone of these sins and they even glorify them and say if someone has a problem with it they are intolerant. Well if I am going to be intolerant because I hate sin like God hates sin so be it, call me intolerant.

Now listen to the charge Paul provides for Timothy and this is something every preacher and leader in the church should have memorized. Note to self, memorize 2 Timothy 4:1-5;

2 Timothy 4:1–5 NASB95

1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Listen this is a charge to leaders but don't you who are not leaders or ever aspiring to be a leader check out in this passage. The only difference between being able to defend the gospel and just providing worldly wisdom is the practice of preparation through doctrine, sound doctrine. This is so crucial, and as disciples of Jesus Christ we are always students of the doctrine of God. As long as we walk this earth we walk in sin stained bodies and we need to have the practice of preparation of doctrine in our lives. When we have this practice in us we can be a better defender of the gospel. This is discipline and it is a discipline with a great payoff. You would want to run a 5k without practicing would you. You wouldn't want to step into a boxing ring without practicing how to punch and how to take a punch. You also wouldn't want to go out to fight in the military with the proper training on how to shot a gun, or fight in hand to hand combat how to put on you protective equipment the proper way so you have the highest level of protection. So why would you want to go out into the world to defend the gospel without the practice of being prepared through doctrine.

Gamaliel used human reason instead of sound doctrine, let's not be like Gamaliel and lean on our own intellect let's lean on the only real stable source of truth in the entire world, Sound Doctrine through the study of God's Word. Even though Gamaliel's advice was not biblical or rooted in sound doctrine. Even though he didn't turn to the word of God to deal with the gospel message, the others listened to him and spare the lives of the apostles. Still with there lives spared there is a penalty for their contempt of court, breaking the rule of not teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus Christ.

Let's go ahead and look at verses 40-42, "40 They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name." The apostles punishment was a flogging. This means they were whipped 39 times. This was painful very painful. Look at their response to this flogging, they "rejoiced." They rejoiced at suffering for His name, and we are afraid of what I mean really.

This brings us to the last practice of defending the gospel. We need to practice, the Preeminence of Jesus in the gospel message, we need to practice a preparation through doctrine and we also need to practice persistently proclaiming the gospel.

Persistently Proclaim

Verse 42 spells this out. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." The threat of death and the physical violence they endured didn't deter them one bit from going out and persistently proclaiming and defending the gospel. They were in the temple, again out in the open, and go from house to house, and they refused to proclaim the gospel. They were persistent in the practice of proclaiming. This is what practice does, it cause us to proclaim the gospel and persist in doing so. They didn't water down their message, they didn't stop speaking in the name of Jesus, they didn't shy away from saying God had appointed Him, selected Him as the High Priest, Prophet and King. They kept on going. This is a sign of their faith it is also a sign of the drive and motivation they have because they have put into practice the preeminence of Jesus and the preparation through doctrine. They knew the truth of the word of God and didn't falter from proclaiming it. Because they knew the doctrine of God and the truth of Jesus' resurrection and how through Jesus' life they now have a much better life waiting for them in the here after they could care less what would happen in this life. The only thing they cared about was telling people about Jesus Christ. They desired only to see people come to faith and be saved from the destiny they deserve which is a destiny apart from God. They