PERSONAL
EVANGELISM (Part 7)
Memory Verse:
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom
the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you
of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26).NIV.
LESSON
OBJECTIVES AND FOCUS
Last week we looked
at the careless and the deceived, and how to handle them. Today we shall look
at the skeptic and how to approach them and others in their group in our
personal evangelism.
LESSON INTRODUCTION
The Lord encountered
the skeptics in His ministry – people who just did not want to believe in Him,
people who were ready to challenge His every claim or statement. Whereas we are
urged “… not (to) believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are from God …”, I John 4:1,
(thereby implying we are not expected to believe everything we hear or see), we
need to pray for the Spirit of discernment so we do not reject the good the
Lord is sending us while throwing out error.
On the other hand,
most of the skeptics in John 8 were
interested in fault-finding, and not in knowing the truth. For instance, they
queried every statement or claim the Lord made:
o
“Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony
is not valid”, v.13. And when he
addressed this in vs. 14-18, they
again queried Him,
o
“Where is your Father?” v.19. His answer to them in vs.
19-20 was a challenge to them which they did not respond to.
o
Rather than be
concerned about His warning in v. 21
that they would die in their sins, their query was, “Will He kill Himself?” v.22.
o
Despite again warning
them several times in vs. 23-24 that
they would die in their sins if they did not believe in Him, they showed no
concern at the warning. Instead they queried Him, “Who are you?” v. 25.
Thank God v.31 refers to the Lord addressing “…the Jews who had believed in Him…”
Yes, our God saves even the skeptic when he turns from his sin, pride and cleverness
to faith in Jesus.
LESSON OUTLINE 1: THE SKEPTIC
We need to depend on
the Holy Spirit and the wisdom from above as we approach the skeptic. It will
be foolish of us to attempt to depend on our own “superior” knowledge, or
cleverness in dealing with him/her. Our business is not to win the argument –
we may succeed, but loose the soul. Rather our desire must be to lead the
person to a saving faith in Christ Jesus.
What
do these Scriptures teach us as we witness to skeptic?
I Cor.
1:18; 3:18; II Cor. 4:3-5a.
LESSON OUTLINE 2: WITNESSING TO OTHERS IN THE CAMP OF THE SKEPTIC
Quite often we may be
faced by those who are ready to claim,
·
“The Bible is full of contradictions.”
o
Why not read and
gently explain the relevance of I Cor.
2: 14; John 3:3, 7 to his/her claim?
·
“God is unjust to create man and condemn him/her to hell”. Gently explain to
him/her that
o
God in fact created
man in His own image so we may praise Him. We can’t do that from the pit of
hell, can we? Gen 1: 26; Psalm 102:18.
o
The desire of God’s
heart is to save, and not to condemn, sinners. Mark 10:45; Ezek. 33:11.
o
The sinner only finds
himself in hell because he has refused to accept the Lord Jesus as his Saviour.
John 5:39-40.
·
“Where is hell? I believe hell is here on earth.” Gently point out to him that
o
Those who are saved
through faith in Christ (sometimes described as “Abraham’s seed” – Gal. 3:29) do not end up in hell, Luke 16:22-26. Since there are so many believers here on
earth, this earth cannot possibly be hell.
o
There is nothing like
preaching or receiving salvation in hell. The word of God abounds here on
earth, and men and women are being saved today. As such this earth is not hell.
o
Hell is real and it
will be a horrible place to be in. But you do not have to find yourself there
if you receive the Lord today. See Rev. 20:11-15; Luke 16:19-31.
·
“God will never punish man after making him in His own
image.”
o
Explain to him/her
that despite our opinion on the matter, God will punish sin and the sinner who
refuses to repent. See Ex. 34:6-7; Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 1:18-20.
SUMMARY
The Lord is ready to
save the skeptic too, for He says “…every
living soul belongs to me, …” (Ezekiel 18:4a).NIV.