Sermon Tone Analysis

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,

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.

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,

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;

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.

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.