Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we sang the chorus to a contemporary hymn entitled, “People Need the Lord.”

The inspiration for the song came to Steve Green while he was sitting in a coffee shop in Nashville, TN.

In the second stanza, Green reminds us that we have the “words of life” that lost sinners need to hear:

We are called to take His light

To a world where wrong seems right

What could be too great a cost for

Sharing life with one who's lost?

Through His love our hearts can feel

All the grief they bear

They must hear the words of life

Only we can share

This morning, I want to preach the third of five messages on becoming a Great Commission Church.

Each sermon is based on one of the five passages where the Commission is found.

So far we’ve looked at the Great Commission from Matthew and Mark’s Gospels.

This morning we will examine the commission found in Luke’s Gospel.

Luke 24:45-49 /"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 And ye are witnesses of these things.

49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."/

!

I.

The Third Great Commission: WE ARE TO GO TO ALL PEOPLE

* ILLUS.

Most of you have probably heard of a religious group known as the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.

However, you probably know them better as the Shakers.

They were originally known as “shaking Quakers.”

We know them today primarily for their beautiful furniture of simple design, straight lines, and sturdiness.

At their zenith in the mid-1800's they numbered about six thousand adherents.

Their’s was a simple and uncluttered life-style.

They were an evangelistic faith and ardently sought to win converts.

Today, however, their numbers have declined dramatically to a mere three adherents—all of whom are very elderly women—who live in one small community at Sabbathday Lake, Maine.

Barring a miracle or some unexpected resurgence of interest, (unlikely since their primary spiritual discipline is celibacy) we are witnessing the last generation of Shakers.

When the last three believers are dead, no more Shakers will remain unless someone chooses to resurrect their beliefs.

The death of this religious group has a reason.

The reason is reflected in a statement made by one of the remaining Shakers a few years ago.

In a television interview she said, “ ... no one asks to become a member.

No one seems interested.”

Her words are prophetic for churches today.

!! A. WE MUST GO TO ALL PEOPLE BECAUSE PEOPLE WILL NOT COME ON THEIR OWN

#. we dare not wait until people come to church to ask us about Jesus

#. we cannot wait for the unconverted to ask us about Jesus because the vast, vast majority of lost sinners do not seek after God and will not ask us about Him

* /“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”/

(1 Corinthians 2:14, ESV)

* /“as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.”

“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”/

(Romans 3:10–18, ESV)

#. these are not flattering descriptions of the lost sinner, but they are accurate descriptions

#. according to the Scriptures, the typical lost sinner is not actively seeking after a relationship with God

#. whether it’s a Muslim raised under Islamic fundamentalism or a Baptist raised under the Christian gospel—without Jesus in their life, both love darkness rather than light, both are spiritually discerned, neither seeketh after God, both have become unprofitable, neither doeth good, neither are righteous, and neither seeks for God

#. both need a saving relationship with Jesus who is the Christ

#. both need to be told about a Savior who died for sinners

#. both need to repent and confess that /“Jesus is Lord”/

#. someone may ask, “Pastor, if these verses are true, and no one seeks after God, then why are there so many religions in the world?

#. because man has—since very soon after his fall into sin—sought to satisfy his spiritual nature with religious rites and personal righteousness rather than serving the true and living God

#. religion actually becomes a means of keep people away from a knowledge of and relationship with God

#. and friends – that’s even true of Christianity

* ILLUS.

One of the great calamities of American culture is that vast majorities of our nation’s citizens have been inoculated against the power of the Gospel.

We have given them a little dose of Jesus—just enough to make them think that they have the real thing, but not enough to bring them to repentance and faith.

#. there is also another problem—preachers who refuse to preach the scandal of the cross

#. there are thousands of churches across America and around the world, where congregants may occasionally hear the story of Jesus, but they never hear the Gospel of salvation

#. the scandal of the cross has become too scandalous even for some churches

#. we must go to all people because people will not come on their own

!! WE MUST GO TO ALL PEOPLE BECAUSE THE SPIRIT IS DRAWING MANY PEOPLE TO THE FATHER

* /“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

And I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ”/ (John 6:44–45, ESV)

#. we must never forget that the Spirit of God is at work in the lives of sinners

#.

His primary function—according to John 16:8—is to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment

#.

God does not leave the salvation of sinners to our persuasive efforts alone

#. but he does involve us!

#. one of the means by which he accomplishes that conviction is the preaching of the gospel

* /“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

But they have not all obeyed the gospel.

For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”/

(Romans 10:13–17, ESV)

#. another means by which he accomplishes that conviction is through the lives and the witness of Christians

* /“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

“You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”/

(Matthew 5:13–16, ESV)

#. your Christians responsibility in this world is to sting and shine

#. the sting comes when we challenge our friends and family and co-workers and school mates with the Gospel—that they are sinners who need redemption that only Jesus can provide

#. the shine comes when we live a life that backs up what we say and models a Christ-like life before them

#. the result is that they will glorify God in heaven

#. how will they glorify God in heaven?

#. by believing that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb.

11:6)

#. we must go to all people because the spirit is drawing many to the Father