One of the things that I would like to look at today is that God has given us the command to go into the world with the Gospel. This command is still in effect today. This command ends when Judgment Day begins, when the true believers will be with God forevermore, and when God will begin to pour out His wrath upon the ones who are left behind.
As we share the Gospel with the world, with our loves ones, with our friends, with our neighbors, do not be surprised at man’s reaction. As you know, there are those who are going to think that you are crazy or an oddball. If you are a little older, they may think that you are senile or that you are losing your mind. They may think all of these things. All of these things are going to happen. These are things that man will do to you, so do not be surprised and do not take it personally. When you are sharing the Gospel with someone and they revile you or speak badly of you, these things are going to happen.
As true believers, our desire is to share the Gospel with the world, with our family, and it breaks our hearts when our loved ones whom we are close to want nothing to do with the Gospel. It brings sadness to our hearts to see our loved ones turn away from the Gospel, but we know that God is in control of all of this. He is in control of all things. God is on His throne.
One thing that we can do when we share the Gospel is to pray. Pray for our loved ones. Pray for our children. Pray for a spouse who may not be saved and who cannot see what the Bible is saying, which is that we are only a short time away from Judgment Day. We have to live with these loved ones every day, seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day. This breaks a true believer’s heart because of how we desire the salvation of our loved ones, but we know that God is sovereign.
Whatever God does, whether He chooses to save a loved one or not, whatever He does is absolutely perfect. You are not deserving of salvation and I am not deserving of this either. If you are saved, tell me one reason why God should have saved you and I will tell you a thousand different reasons why He should not have saved you. This is what we have to keep in mind as we share the Gospel.
Let us turn to Matthew 5 and take a look at the Beatitudes. We read in Matthew 5:10-11:
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you…
We are going to be reviled because we are telling the world that in just a few months Judgment Day will be here and that God is going to destroy the universe. Unsaved man does not want to hear this. This is his “heaven.” His family is here. He lives his life here. His hopes and future dreams are here in this life, and here we come with the terrible news that in just a few short months Judgment Day will be here. The world does not want to hear this, so we are going to be reviled. God tells us beforehand that we are going to be reviled as we bring the Gospel, and so we should not be surprised when this happens.
Matthew 5:11 says:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
This is for Christ’s sake, and so we are not to take this personally when men revile us. They are doing this to Christ. They are doing this unto the Lord. When they snicker at us and we are being evilly-spoken of, we are not to take this personally or be offended. Do not be offended. We also need to remember that we are to remain humble as we go out with the Gospel. Be humble. We cannot just expect that people are going to see this.
As we go on a little further, we will see that Christ is our example in bringing the Gospel. This is because Christ is the Gospel, but look at how He was treated! Should we expect things to be any different as we go out in the world with the Gospel?
We are light bearers of the Gospel to a sin-darkened world. By nature, mankind loves his sin and he does not want to give it up. Here we come along with the Gospel and it is the nature of God’s Word to condemn people. We are not judging them. The Bible judges man in His sin and man takes great offense at the Bible because of this.
Matthew 5:11 says again:
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Matthew 5:12 ought to be our response. It says:
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
All true believers are prophets. As we read the Bible, we can see how the apostles and prophets were persecuted for bringing the Gospel.
Should we expect to be treated any differently? No. As true believers share the Gospel, this is par for the course. We are going to be reviled and we are going to be persecuted. Many of us have had all sorts of experiences as we have gone out and handed the Gospel out to people and how they react to the Gospel, so we should not be surprised when this happens to us.
Look at Isaiah 51. God tells us in Isaiah 51:6-7:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner…
At the end, mankind will be annihilated. He will be gone forever.
God continues on to say:
…but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness…
These are the true believers. Christ is our righteousness.
It continues:
…the people in whose heart is my law…
He is still talking about His people. Then He says:
…fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
God is encouraging us. We are not to fear the reproach of man. What can they do to us? Whom are we to fear? We are to fear God, “Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Wonderfully in our land today, we have laws that protect us from this type of persecution. We are going to be reviled here and there, but we are not living in a land where we have to fear that someone will come and knock on our door in the middle of the night to take us away.
Can we not put up with a little taunting here and there? If someone calls you names for Christ’s sake, what are we really going through in our land compared to others? In other lands, others might be killed for the sake of the Gospel. We do not have to go through this. This is only by the mercy of God.
So He tells us here in Isaiah 51:7:
…fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
Do not be afraid of man and what he can say about you as you share the Gospel. Do not let it bother you. Do not be offended and do not take it personally. Do not worry about any of this, because this will happen if you are sharing the true Gospel. If you are sharing the true Gospel, this is what will happen to you. If you are bringing a gospel that says that God loves everybody, there will be many who will embrace this. But when you are coming with the true Gospel and you are telling others that in a few short months Judgment Day will be here, they are not going to take this well. This is what the Bible teaches.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 4. We read in 1 Corinthians 4:9-13:
For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
We are despised, are we not? It continues:
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
This tells us how we will be treated. We will be reviled, but we are not to take this personally. We are going to be persecuted and we suffer it. We are going to be defamed and we take it.
As we listen to the “Open Forum” program on Family Radio (www.familyradio.com) and to the comments that people make, we can hear how angry some of the people are in their response to the true Gospel. They are angry at the fact that the Bible is teaching that we are near the end of the world. They are angry. By nature, they do not want to hear this. Mankind is greatly offended by this, “How can you know that Judgment Day is May 21st, 2011? Where did you get this information from?” We tell them that this is coming right from the Bible, and yet this makes them angry. Why? This makes them angry because their only life is what exists here in this world.
This is a beautiful world that God has created. The wonders of this world are beyond human comprehension, and yet God will destroy this world. This is a fact. This is what the Bible teaches. By nature, the unsaved do not want to hear this. We can read in the news how mankind is fighting tooth and nail to preserve so-called “mother earth.” They are doing all sorts of things to try to save planet earth, but the fact is that this earth will be destroyed and there are those who are greatly offended when they hear this.
Then God tells us in 1 Corinthians 4:14:
I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons…
The true believers are the “sons of God.” It continues:
…but as my beloved sons I warn you.
God has told us beforehand what we will go through. If we are true believers and if we are sharing the true Gospel faithfully, He has told us how we are going to be treated in this world. The Bible is a sword; it cuts. It is “a twoedged sword.” The Bible says, “To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.”
So when we are in this situation, whether it is within our own families or it is out there in the world as we share the Gospel, God’s grace is sufficient. I know that it is particularly difficult to live in a home where only one spouse is saved. It is very difficult to live in this type of household, but God’s grace is sufficient.
God tells us that on the Day of Judgment, “The one shall be taken, and the other left.” The unsaved spouse is going to be left behind while the true believing spouse is going to be taken up to be with Christ. I can imagine just how difficult it is to live in a situation like this where one spouse is saved and the other is not. They are in two different kingdoms. One is in the Kingdom of Light and the other is in the kingdom of darkness.
It grieves the true believer to see their spouse and their children in this way because they know what is going to happen to them. We know that when the Day of Judgment comes, they are going to be left behind and destroyed at the end. How awful this is! We love our children and our family members and we desire the best for them, but their spiritual eyes are not opened. The only way that they are going to see this is if God opens their spiritual eyes to the truth of the Gospel. All we can do is pray.
Let us turn to 1 Peter 2. We read in 1 Peter 2:20-21:
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Christ is our example. He has left us an example. As we walk in the footsteps of Christ, we are going to be evilly reviled and we are going to be evilly spoken against, but we should not be surprised.
It goes on to say in 1 Peter 2:22-23:
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again…
If you are being reviled for the Gospel, you do not have to respond to this. You do not have to respond to this at all. You are to take this patiently while recognizing the fact that those who are doing the reviling are doing so because their spiritual eyes have not been opened. We also need to recognize that we were in this same situation before we were saved. It is only God in His mercy who has opened our eyes to truth. We can understand where they are coming from. They are not going to understand if God does not open their eyes to truth.
It continues:
…when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
We leave everything in God’s hands. We do not have to worry about our reputation being ruined. It has been ruined already if you have been sharing the true Gospel, but we do not have to react to man’s reviling or to their comments or to their crude remarks. We do not need to worry about being slandered or being looked upon as someone who is losing their mind, nor do we ever need to respond to this. This is par for the course. We will suffer as we go out with the Gospel, and Christ is our example.
Let us turn to Luke 4. Let us look at this example of Christ as He brought the Gospel. This is just one example. Christ is speaking in a synagogue of His day, and He says in Luke 4:24-27:
And he said, Verily, I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias [Elijah], when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias [Elijah] sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus [Elisha] the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
Then we read in verse 28, Luke 4:28:
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
They became angry as Christ stood there speaking to them. Do you see their reaction? They were angry and their hearts were filled with murder! What they wanted was to kill the Lord Jesus.
Then we read in verse 29, Luke 4:29:
And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Do you see their response? Here was Christ, the perfect preacher. He was standing in front of them and sharing the Gospel. They became angry at Christ and wanted Him dead. They wanted Him dead!
Then we read in the next few verses, in Luke 4:30-31:
But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.
Did He stop bringing the Gospel? No, even though they wanted to kill the Lord Jesus as He was speaking to them.
As we share the Gospel with others and tell them about May 21 st, 2011, there are those who are going to become angry with us. Should this shut us up? No. If they do not want to hear it, we are to just go to someone else.
So we can see the reaction of the people to whom Christ was bringing the Gospel. Should we expect things to be any different as we bring the Gospel to the world? No. Christ is our example, and so He has left us an example. We are to follow in His footsteps. Man’s anger is going to be directed towards us, but it is not really towards us; it is towards Christ. They are angry at Christ, and so do not be dismayed.
Do you remember the account with Samuel when Israel wanted a king? Samuel the prophet was beside himself, was he not? He was beside himself, and so he prayed. We read this account in 1 Samuel 8. Israel had rejected God from being King over them. Samuel was a true believer, a prophet of the Lord, and he was greatly displeased with Israel. He then went to the Lord. We will start in verse 4. We read in 1 Samuel 8:4-7:
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto JEHOVAH. And JEHOVAH said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee…
Samuel was not to have taken this personally, nor are we when we share the Gospel with someone and they reject it.
1 Samuel 8:7 continues:
…but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
So when we are sharing the Gospel and we are being reviled, we are not to take this personally. They are reviling the Lord Jesus. This is man’s rebellion. This will happen to us as we share the Gospel, but we should not take this personally at all. We are going to be reviled. We will be reviled in the newspapers, by our friends, by our families, by those around us, but we are not to take this personally.
Look at Matthew 11 where we will look at another example of Christ. We read in Matthew 11:28-29:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart…
As we go with the Gospel, we are not to put on airs. We do not take any airs upon ourselves and say, “Look at what we know! You do not know this.” No. Remember that Christ was our example and He was “meek and lowly in heart.” Who is Christ? He is eternal God! So as we go with the Gospel, we are to be very careful. We are not to walk proudly. We are to walk in humility, as it says here.
He continues on to say in Matthew 11:29-30:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
As we go with the Gospel, we need to make sure that we walk in humility. We walk in humility because Christ, God Himself, was clothed with humility. So should we be. If we are truly saved, we are Christlike. The Spirit of God indwells us and we should go very humbly to our fellowman as we share the Gospel with him. We should be “meek and lowly in heart” as we go to the world with the Gospel.
Let us look at a passage in Philippians 2 where the Bible tells us who Christ is. We read in Philippians 2:5-8:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation…
In the Greek, this word “reputation” means “to make empty.” So Christ emptied Himself:
…and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself…
God humbled Himself. Why should we be any different? How should we come as we bring the Gospel? God humbled Himself as He brought the Gospel, even though He could have wiped all of those people out in the snap of a finger. He could have done this, but He did not; and so we also ought to be clothed with humility. We need to walk in humility as we share the Gospel with the world. We are not to brag about what we know. We do not want the attention to be on us. We want the attention to be on Christ. This is where the attention needs to be as we share the Gospel.
We read again in Philippians 2:7-8:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
This is our example as we bring the Gospel. When we bring the Gospel to the world, it is not about how much we know; but as we bring the Gospel to the world, we need to make sure that it is faithful to God’s Word, the Bible. We need to make sure that what we are saying is true, that it is what the Bible says. This is because as we are sharing the Gospel, we are saying, “Thus saith the Lord”: and so we need to be sure that what we are sharing is what God actually says in His Word, that it is true to the Bible.
As we bring the Gospel, we are to bring the whole Gospel. We are to warn the world. I wonder about those who say that they are bringing the true Gospel, and yet they are not warning the world of May 21st, 2011. What are they telling the people then? Judgment Day is just a few months away. There is an urgency here. We are to tell the world what the Bible says, not what we like or do not like.
Let us turn to the book of Acts. We will break right into the middle of this chapter and start in verse 19. We read in Acts 20:19-27:
Serving the Lord with all humility of mind…
Do you see how we are to serve the Lord? It continues:
Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me…
Paul is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he is telling us about all that he went through. He was reviled and went through many things, and yet none of these things moved him. He did not take these things personally because his mind was focused on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul continues:
…neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
As we go with the Gospel, we need to bring the whole Gospel. We have to warn the world of the coming judgment. We tell them about the grace of God, but we also tell them that Judgment Day is almost here. If we are not warning them in this way, what are we telling them? We have to tell our children and all whom we come into contact with that Judgment Day is almost here.
This word “shunned” in Acts 20:27 is the same word as “kept back” that is used in Acts 20:20. We are not to hold anything back. We tell the world about May 21st, 2011. We should not shun from declaring the Gospel. We are not to hold back and be afraid to tell the people about May 21st. Judgment Day is almost here and we are to tell the world what the Bible says. We should not hold back or try to keep anything back from man as we share the Gospel.
I read this verse in an Interlinear Bible. Acts 20:27 is translated in this way:
For I did not keep back [shunned] from declaring to you all the counsel of God.
As we declare the Gospel, although we are going to be reviled and persecuted, we do not “keep back” the Gospel. We tell the world what the Bible says, not our own thoughts or ideas or whatever it is that we think is true. No; our thoughts do not come into play. Our thoughts do not come close. We tell the world what the Bible says because the Bible is the Word of God and we should keep nothing back. We should not shun from declaring what the Bible says, even if it makes your loved ones or the world angry. In humility, we tell the world what the Bible says.
Judgment Day is practically here. There are only a few more days and a few more Sundays remaining, and we are to tell the world with great urgency that the Day of Judgment is almost here and that there is still salvation with God because God is still saving a great multitude.
We are the watchman, as we read in Ezekiel 33. This is what the Bible calls us. Let us read this passage. Do you remember this wonderful passage in Ezekiel 33? Let us read a few of these verses. We read in Ezekiel 33:1-3:
Again the word of JEHOVAH came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them…
God is telling us to speak unto them these things. It continues:
…When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
What are we going to warn them about? We are going to tell them that God the Judge, God as the enemy is coming, that He is going to destroy them and that they will be destroyed forever. We tell them that He is going to destroy them, but that there is a way of escape. We escape by crying to the Lord, like the Ninevites of old did. God is merciful, is He not? This is what we should tell the people. Judgment is at the gates. The Judge is standing at the door and He is about to come in, but there is still the possibility of salvation.
We continue on to read in Ezekiel 33:4-5:
Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning…
Those who are going to hear are God’s elect. They will hear the warning. This is something we do not have to worry about because it is God’s business whom He has elected unto salvation and whom He has not. Many people hear this warning with their ears, but God’s elect will truly hear this.
It continues:
Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
So those who take warning are God’s elect.
Then we read in Ezekiel 33:6:
But if the watchman see the sword come…
We are supposed to be the watchman and we will see the sword coming. It continues:
But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
We are to sound the alarm that Judgment Day is almost here. It is not pleasant to know what is about to fall on the unsaved of the world. We weep for our unsaved loved ones. Even Christ wept over Jerusalem. He said, “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” We go weeping with the Gospel.
Is this not what the Bible tells us? Look at Psalm 126. Spiritually speaking, we go out into the world weeping. Many of us cry real tears before God for our loved ones. We read in Psalm 126:1-6:
When JEHOVAH turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, JEHOVAH hath done great things for them. JEHOVAH hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O JEHOVAH, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed…
The seed of the Gospel is “precious seed.” Then it continues on to say that they:
…shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
So we go out weeping with the Gospel. We got out with a heavy heart. For the true believers, this is a great joy. We have a great joy to share the Gospel with the world, but Judgment Day is coming and we know what is ahead for those who know not God.
It is our duty to do this, to lay our lives down as Christ did for us. As we go with the Gospel, we go weeping. The days are getting shorter. Judgment Day is now in sight. It is coming very quickly upon us, so we ought to go with eagerness and with humility, as Christ did, and pray as we go forth.
Let us stop here.