Why Tell Others about Jesus?

(Matthew 22:35-40)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Last month,
We watched four Alistair Begg videos
On different aspects of evangelism,
To encourage us in our need to be engaged in it.

He showed us:

How much those around us need it:

That no one is good enough on their own;
They must be born again of the Spirit.

How the Lord brings this new birth about:

Only through the Gospel
The Gospel must be sown,
Before the Spirit will work.

Why we can be confident that the Spirit will bring the new birth:
Because Hes in control
Hes the One who brings the people He does across our path,
That Hes intending to save.

And where we can find the ability to do this work:

If we were left up to our own resources,

We would have every right to believe we would fail
But He has given us His Spirit.

B. Preview.
This evening,
I want us to consider a few things
That the Lord may use to motivate us to reach out more.

Motivation is so important:
Without it, we have no desire no want to
If theres something we really want to do,
Its difficult to stop us
But if theres something we dont want to do,
We just wont do it,
Unless and until enough force is applied.
We know this is true from experience.

The main reason

We struggle to evangelize more than we do,
Is because we lack desire.
How can we strengthen it?
We need the right motivation.
Heres something else we know is true:

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When we have it,
Its amazing what we can do.

But what is the right motivation for evangelism?

The answer to that question
May be different for each of us
For some of us, it might be a sense of duty;
For others, gratitude;
For others, fear;
And for others, love.
The thing that moves us most
May be different for each of us,
But all of these things will move us in some way.

II. Sermon.
A. So what are some of the motives we have for this work?
We saw a couple of things from Spurgeon the other night.
One is: this is reason He made us.

This is the reason He made everything

Paul writes, For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be
the glory forever (Rom. 11:36).

This is the answer to the three big questions:

Where did you come from?
God made you.

Why are you here?

To glorify Him.

Where are you going?

To heaven, if youre trusting Jesus Christ,
That you might glorify Him forever.

Spurgeon writes, God has formed us for Himself that we may show forth His
praise. The main end of a Christian man is that, having been bought with
precious blood, he may live unto Christ and not unto himself.

Why should you do what God calls you to do?

Because thats why He made you
And redeemed you by His Son.

What is the main thing He wants you to do?

To be involved in the Great Commission.
Jesus says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I commanded you (Matt. 28:19-20).
He wants us to sow the seed of the Gospel,
To disciple those who believe,
And to send them into this work.

Our first motive to evangelize is:

This is why God made us and saved us.

B. A second motivation is:

That Jesus has promised to help us: we dont have to be afraid of man.
We saw this morning,
He is the Good Shepherd who goes before His sheep:
When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him
because they know his voice (John 10:4).
He told His disciples, when He gave them the Great Commission,
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:20).
Thats why Peter can write, Do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled
(1 Pet. 3:14).
There is nothing those who reject the Gospel can do to us
That Jesus is not willing to allow for our good.
Hes even given us His Spirit to give us courage.
Paul writes to Timothy, For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power
and love and discipline (2 Tim. 1:7).
We dont have to be afraid:
Jesus is with us.

C. A third motivation is: this is our duty.

This is why He made us and redeemed us.
But this is also what He commands us to do
Which is what we just saw in the Great Commission.
A duty is something we are responsible to do
Whether we feel like it or not.
Did any of the disciples
Ever need to encourage themselves to push forward

With this kind of motivation?

Paul told us earlier, For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am
under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this
voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship
entrusted to me (1 Cor. 9:16-17).
Sometimes we might not want to do the work
It might be against our will
But we still need to do it.

D. Pauls comments here reveal a fourth motivation: fear.

What did Paul say would happen
If he didnt do what the Lord commanded him to do?
He says, For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.
The phrase woe is me literally means, how terrible it would be for me.
Fear can be a powerful motivation.
The psalmist writes, The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good
understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures
forever (Ps. 111:10).

Now does Paul mean

That if he doesnt meet his quota
The Lord would cast Him away? No.
He could mean that if he refuses to do what the Lord called him to do,
That he really didnt know him after all
As he says later in this chapter,
But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to
others, I myself will not be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27).

Or he could be referring to the fact that if he doesnt do this work,

Many will perish who might otherwise have lived,
As Spurgeon writes, I would not say a hard word if I did not feel compelled to do
it, but I am constrained to remind our brethren that let God send what revival He
may, it will not exonerate them from the awful guilt that rests upon them of
having been idle and dilatory during the last twenty years. Let all be saved who
live now, what about those that have been damned while we have been sleeping?
Let God gather in multitudes of sinners, but who shall answer for the blood of
those men who have been swept into eternity while we have been going on in
our canonical fashion, content to go along the path of propriety and walk around
the path of dull routine, but never weeping for sinners, never agonizing for
souls.
How terrible it would be for us if we should be any part of the cause of someone
perishing in hell forever?

E. Another, more positive motivation, is reward.

God promises a reward
For what we do for Him in this world.
If we are faithful in what He gives us to do here,
He will pronounce His blessing on us
On the day He examines our work,
Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put
you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master (Matt. 25:13).
You dont get into heaven by your works
That is a gift of His free grace,
All who trust Jesus will get there safely
But He will reward you for your works.
Paul writes, For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold,

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silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each mans work will become evident;
for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself
will test the quality of each mans work. If any mans work which he has built
on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any mans work is burned up, he will
suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Cor. 3:11-15).

F. Another motive is the promise of Gods blessing in this life.

This is what we were looking at before the Begg series.
If we listen to the Lord and do what He says,
He will be more inclined to listen to us
And be with us to help us,
Even as He was with George Mueller.
The psalmist writes, If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear
(66:8).
And the Lord says through Isaiah, But to this one I will look, to him who is
humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word (Isa. 66:2).
James writes, The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much
(5:16).
Do you want the Lord to hear and answer your prayers?
Then listen to His call to you to evangelize,
And do your best to carry it out.

G. Undoubtedly, one of the most powerful motivations is love

Love for God and love for man.

1. If we love the Lord, as He calls us to,

Theres nothing we wont do for Him.
How much should we love Him?

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Jesus said, YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL
YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR
MIND. This is the great and foremost commandment (Matt. 22:37-38).
Why should we love Him with this kind of intensity?
Because of who He is: the infinitely beautiful and glorious God.
And because of what Hes done for us:
Because He made us in His image.
Because when we were His enemies,
He loved us and sent His Son to die for us.
Because He adopted us into His family.
Because He takes care of us every day
He watches over and protects us.
Because one day He will bring us to heaven
Where He will bless us for the rest of time.
God deserves that we love Him in this way.
And if we do love Him like this,
We wont find it hard to endure the little bit of difficulty we will face,
For doing what He calls us to do.

2. If we love our neighbor,

Well want to do the same.
How much should we love them?
Jesus says, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF (v.
39).
We wouldnt want to go down forever into hell

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We shouldnt want that for our neighbor.
If we were walking by a pool and saw someone drowning,
We would do what we could to save them
How much more
When we see people all the time
Who will one day sink down in the lake of fire
Where they will suffer for eternity?

H. Finally,
How can each of these motivations
Have a stronger impact on our evangelism?

We have to believe theyre true:

That God really did make us for His glory.
That He really does want us to glorify Him through evangelism.
That a real Jesus really has promised to be with us and help us.
That He really calls us to do this work.
That there really are consequences for not sharing the Gospel people will perish.
That He really will reward us in heaven for doing this work.
That He really will bless us for doing it while were here.
That God really does love us, He did send His Son for us, and He does take care of
us,
And so we really should love Him as He calls us to in return,
And love our neighbor enough to do what we can to save them from an eternity of
suffering.

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If we dont believe any of this to be true,

Were not going to do anything about it.
If were not certain,
To the degree were not, our resolve will be weakened.
So we need to seek, by Gods grace,
To grow in our conviction of these things,
To the point, where we can pray as Spurgeon,
Oh! I pray God that I may feel that I am Gods man, that I have not a hair on my
head that is not consecrated nor a drop of my blood that is not dedicated to His
cause. . . . I have nothing to care for, nor to live for in this world, but that I may
glorify God and spread forth the savor of my Saviors name. Amen.
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