No one was a prophet, called to preach the word, tried to cry repentance, but nobody heard, they weren't busy sinning, no one preached in pain, they wished they hadn't sinned when they saw the ring.
In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.
Thank you all for coming this evening to preach the word ministry's second
service. Title of this sermon this evening is care about the lost.
Just for you guys who are here who you know maybe haven't picked up on it yet, our second
service our evening services sermons are going to be geared towards evangelism and what do I mean
by that? There are going to be tricks and tips and concepts about giving the gospel to the lost
and last week our first week we preached on the subject of basically having a good first impression.
Now I should have preached this sermon first because to me this is the key to evangelism
and it's not that last week's second evening service was not important you know having a
good first impression that's very important but I did want to put the most important thing first
and then later on going to other stuff and in my opinion this subject caring about the lost
is the most important aspect to evangelizing. Why? The bible says if our gospel be hid it is
hid to them that are lost. What good is it that you have put your faith in Christ
but you never share your faith with anybody and it's easy for us to say that
there's a reason we can't go we can create excuses all day long my dog ate my homework
I'm not feeling well fill in the blank literally anything you can put anything in the
category of why you take it upon yourself not to go and preach the gospel to the lost
but the fulfilling of the law is love the bible teaches in first Corinthians chapter 13 for
instance and now abideth faith hope and charity these three but the greatest of these is charity
and what does that mean why wouldn't faith be the most important thing isn't aren't we saved
by faith yes we are saved by faith and I mentioned this more than once and I'll mention
it here again faith in the bible although does mean about our salvation it also means about
continuing our Christian life and the promises of God we if you could hang your hat on any one
of these three doctrines faith hope charity charity is the instrument that will drive us
into the service of God one of the fruits of the spirit is long suffering suffering long
being charitable or the action of love is the whole entire concept of what it even means
to be a Christian and how it is you even got saved the bible says for instance of Jesus
in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 and that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us God loves
us Jesus Christ loves us God is not willing that any would perish but that all would come
to repentance proving that it is because of individuals that they don't get saved
not in this Calvinistic predestination doctrine but rather that individuals choose not to put
their faith in Christ we need to care about the loss we need to care about our neighbors
our loved ones our friends co-workers and people so that they can be benefited
and where I had us turn to this evening John chapter 3 is one of the more famous chapters
of the bible when a newly saved person you know puts their faith in Christ we tend to leave them
with a new testament or a bible and we tell them to start and the gospel according to John
or in the book of Romans why because a lot of what it explains about salvation are found
in those books so for a new believer this is milk of the word for people to understand and the
most the entire bible is found in this chapter John chapter 3 verse 16 for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life so that little wording there right whosoever this also proves in the
concept of God allowing us choice whoever wants to put their faith in Christ can be saved
and we need to care about those people as we see Jesus caring about Nicodemus in this story
so let's take a look down at the bible and before we go into reading it let me explain you
to you a little bit of backstory on this in Christian circles there are a lot of people
who question whether or not Nicodemus is saved or unsaved now i tend to lean to think that he was
saved i am not going to dogmatically say i know for sure he was saved and those who lean
on Nicodemus was probably unsaved should not dogmatically say that for sure they know he's
unsaved why because a very good rule of bible interpretation is to be silent where the
bible is silent but emphasize what the bible emphasizes we've learned that the following week
and this is important why because nowhere in the bible will you see a clear
you know Nicodemus saying out loud that he puts his faith in Jesus there's no clear statement
of that now there's a lot of inferences there's a lot of you know potential and i tend
to lean on Nicodemus being saved because of other verses but i don't dogmatically say that
and what do i mean by that well we know Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews now let's take a look
and see what it says in verse one there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler
of the Jews so pause there really quickly this is we're going to go more into this subject as
the sermon progresses but one of the concepts about caring for the lost is like what the
bible teaches it says go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
now creature there does not mean animals doesn't mean cats dogs birds and fish though you'd be
surprised how many people think that's what it means creature there doesn't mean animal
creature there means in my opinion man woman boy girl elderly or not meaning that whoever
whosoever believeth in him right so when you knock on the door of somebody whatever comes and
answers the door you're to potentially give them the gospel now i'm hesitant to say that
because nowadays we have a lot of people out there who are mentally incapable of knowing
the truth the bible clearly teaches that elsewhere it says ever learning and never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth jesus says of the pharisees that they are twice dead elsewhere
it talks about they've compass sea and land and make one proselytite twofold more a child of hell
than themselves now when it comes to false religion if let's say you knock the door of
what seems to be a mormon elder or a johovah's witness pastor or the catholic priest okay
understand that it is very unlikely that that person can ever be saved why because like the
bible teaches religious leaders people who are preaching things which they ought not for filthy
lucre's sake the bible likens them on as children of the devil they are they are unsavable
just as much as children of god are sealed into the day of redemption children of the
devil are condemned and never can be saved but if jesus christ is preaching to nicodemus here
what that tells me is that nicodemus at least as of this point was not a child of the devil
he was not a reprobate or rejected of god he was someone that jesus cared enough about
to be able to show him the gospel the truth the most famous passage in the bible is given
to nicodemus which is the clearest verse in the bible about salvation proving that nicodemus
at least as as of this time was not a child of the devil and that's why i'm telling you
that when we go preaching the gospel to the lost whoever answers the door we need to care
about them we need to assume their innocence we need to assume that they are not children
of the devil and that they are on they are just they're ignorant the apostle paul
during his life before his conversion before his amazing event on the road to damascus
if you saw the apostle paul preaching in a synagogue if you were there and you were
attempting to give him the gospel and he's coming down at you and he's getting aggressive
you know elser the bible says the apostle paul was a Pharisee of the pharisees above his equals
meaning he persecuted the church of god he was one that did it all ignorantly
and there are plenty mark my words plenty of supposed pastors even here on the island of
kawaii that are not children of the devil they are not given over to a reprobate mind
they are not twice dead they are ignorant they don't know a lot of the truths that the
bible has to teach and if it's said of nicodemus that he could be misconstrued on these things
how much different a pastor this is why here i preach the word ministry our emphasis is about
preaching the bible the word of god not our analogies not our explanations but caring about
the people that we meet and opening our mouths boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel
including a supposed apparent maybe false prophet now there is a teaching in the bible that does
clearly teach and i fall into this category and i agree with it don't cast your pearls before
swine if it is obvious that this person is not interested in hearing the gospel kick
out the dust and move on it is not worth getting into a deeper conversation with them
but let's see how jesus handles the subject of someone who is ignorant of the truth
and they are called a religious leader or a jewish elder or a pharisee and when they are
not knowing an easy simple doctrine how he approaches it let's take a look at verse two
the same of nick this is speaking of nicodemus the same came to jesus by night and said unto
him rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from god for no man can do these miracles that
thou doest except god be with him pause really quickly he's calling him rabbi so he's
looking at him as a religious leader or a teacher and this was a problem that the jewish
people had you know the bible says that the greek seek after wisdom and the jews seek after a
sign but there shall no sign be given unto them except for the sign of jonas the prophet
for in three days and three nights as jonas was in the whale's belly so shall the son of
man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth the sign that jesus wanted
the jews to see was his death burial and resurrection that was the sign that they were
to believe on and it goes on to read jesus answered and said unto him verily verily which
just means truly truly i say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of
god and before we go into the next part this is very important for us to explain when giving
the gospel to the loss unless you are born again nobody can be saved but let me ask you
this how many times do you need to be born once in your family you were born into this world
and jesus is about to go into a parable or an explanation of how that is likened unto salvation
but remember nicodemus being a pharisee is hung up on a lot of weird doctrine he is
coming into this conversation with a lot of preconceived ideas and one of the main things
we need to do when caring about the laws is to make sure they understand take all your
preconceived ideas out of your mind right now and just listen to what the bible
clearly says from there we can get into other questions but for now when you're trying to
present them in the gospel everything that they've learned about christianity or catholicism
or any other religions just take all of that out of the equation at the moment and that'll
be a good instrument to help you give the gospel and it goes on to say in verse four
nicodemus sayeth unto him how can a man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into
his mother's womb and be born jesus answered verily verily i say unto thee except a man be
born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of god now he just told
him you need to be born again nicodemus being ignorant of what that means because remember
he spoke ambiguously to some people because elsewhere in the bible it talks about when
the disciples come to jesus and ask him why do you speak to the crowds and parables but to us
clearly he says it's unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven it's not
under that it's not given unto them to know these things and religious leaders need to empty
their cup before they come to christ in humility and learn what the truth really is anybody not
just religious leaders any and everybody when wanting to find the truth needs to empty their
cup of preconceived ideas and find what the truth says by itself and nicodemus having a carnal
mind basically like being very like questionable about this like what does he mean be born again
and he gives a stupid analogy of like do you go back into your mother's womb
jesus says unless you were born of water and of the spirit now some people have taken this
verse to teach a false doctrine teaching what's known as baptismal regeneration that salvation
by faith alone is not sufficient but you must be baptized and believe and be baptized to be saved
now in the next verse jesus explains what he means by you must be born of the water and
of the spirit it says in verse six that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit so when it says born of water and of spirit in verse five what that
means is that basically you were born in the womb of your parent or your mom and that
you need to physically be born into this world and then once you're in this world you need to
spiritually be born again how well remember what john 3 16 said whosoever believeth in him
now let's go on to read it says in verse 7 marvel not that i said unto thee
ye must be born again and let's skip down for sake of time into
verse 15. verse 15 the bible reads that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have ever eternal life for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life now this next
part is where i want you to pay attention it says in verse 17 for god sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved he that
believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he
had not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god and this is the condemnation that
light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil so what this is saying is that when we go evangelizing everybody is already condemned
how many times when you are presenting the gospel to somebody and you explain to them that we're
all sinners nobody will bat an eye and nobody will question or challenge that 99.9 percent of the
time nobody will challenge that i think i've had two people in my whole entire life questioning
me like no i've never sinned and look that's a extremely fringe minority but then when you
ask somebody if your sin earns you a spot in hell that i've experienced almost half the time
they don't accept that right off the bat right off the bat they think to themselves i'm not
that bad i have not done that bad of things and you know what it's probably true
most people are not just like these degenerate horrible people most people are bad and evil
and sinful as the bible clearly teaches there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good
and sin if not romans chapter 6 verse 23 says the wages of sin is death we've earned
death because of our sin the world is condemned already we are the greatest friend to the unsaved
we are people if we care want to show people salvation and that's going to go into my next
point maybe you don't have courage some people might think to themselves they're like david i
care i really care i really want to do this i'm going to muster up the courage i'm going
to study the bible i'm going to learn to navigate but i'm just a nervous wreck i don't
know how to they they lack courage and you know what i can sympathize for people like that
because here's the thing although i naturally don't have a problem with this even you know just
talking with people randomly it is hard for somebody to take it upon themselves and go to
random people they don't know and have the deepest conversation you could possibly have
and be ready always to give an answer it's easy for an rd you know practicing evangelist
to be like oh yeah just mustard up the courage and go out and do it and that is our goal as
preachers is to bestow upon everyone courage to go out and preach the lost but
for first-time soul winners you can sympathize with them it it makes sense it's it's scary
my joke a joke that my wife and i have is uh it's only scary because it's new and if but
you would help instruct them in these things and ask them to pray for the lord to give them
boldness why would god not give you boldness why would god
show you the the plan of salvation and give it to you on a platter and then you put your faith
in christ and then from there that's the end of your spin spiritual lineage that's it
it's the end of it no god wants you to reproduce god wants you to go out and preach
the gospel and the best thing to do if that's you if you have you know struggles with uh
courage and you're just embarrassed and things like that become a silent partner and what do i
mean by that well when we evangelize when we go out door to door or we're out at art night
or we're out somewhere preaching the gospel just sit there and pray with the soul winner or
the evangelist watch them see what they say go where they go look at the unsafe care about
the person that you're talking to and even if you're the silent partner and you're just like
a mouse and you say nothing you can be praying for them that god would soften their heart and
that they would be humble enough to accept what the bible clearly teaches about faith alone
in christ i know i know for a fact i've seen it too many times where if all you did was
that you came and and were a silent partner to an evangelist inevitably the holy spirit is going
to work on your heart and convince you the importance of this work and inevitably i'm not
saying in a month two three four eight or a year inevitably at some point in time when you're
reading the bible enough and you're going out evangelizing enough the holy spirit will
give you boldness and you will open your mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of the gospel
so that's what i wanted you to realize is that number one nicodemus and here's my evidence just
so you guys know what i mean by this because the apostle paul put his faith in christ and we
know he was saved although i don't i can't dogmatically say nicodemus was saved my evidence
that i point to is twofold number one if you want it you can turn to john chapter 12
it's a good place to see what i'm trying to get at it says in john chapter 12 verse
i think it's 42
yep uh john chapter 12 verse 42 the bible reads nevertheless among the chief rulers now
what was nicodemus called remember he was a Pharisee and a ruler of the jews also many
believed on him but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put
out of the synagogue so a lot of the religious leaders during the time when jesus was on this
earth believed in him but they didn't want to confess him openly because of fear of the
Pharisees they were too engrafted in the pharisaical doctrines and the system of the
jewish religious system and they were not willing to suffer shame for the cause of christ they saw
the pleasures of this world more valuable than being separated as being called disciples of
jesus so that's my first level of evidence and once again that's not it notice it doesn't
say and nicodemus believed on him it just says nevertheless among the chief rulers also
many believed on him so that's one line of evidence that i point to another if you want to
turn to john chapter 19 this is after jesus has just been put to death on the cross
notice what it says in verse i think it's yep 38 notice what it says in verse uh john chapter
19 verse 38 and after this joseph of arabia being a disciple of jesus but secretly for
fear of the jews besought pilot that he might take away the body of jesus and pilot gave him
he came therefore and took the body of jesus i'm going to pause really quickly
notice there's a constant fear of the jews fear of the jews and for fear of the jews
they didn't confess him and for fear of the jews he's asking pilot proving that the
religion of judaism is we should have nothing to do with it that's going to be another sermon
at another time we need to remember that we are christians we are not judaeo christians we are
not messianic christians we are christians and the religion of judaism is a wicked
religion that we should have nothing to do with but it goes on to read in verse 39 and
there came also nicodemus which at the first came to jesus by night in reference to john
chapter 3 and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes about an hundred pound weight so notice
in the beginning in verse 38 it calls joseph a disciple but then it does not call nicodemus
the disciple now assuming that nicodemus at this point had not put his faith in christ
which look there's argument to be made the holy spirit the narrator is not calling him
a disciple do you need to be a disciple to be saved or do you need to believe to be saved
wasn't he a religious leader and didn't many of them believe in jesus
but for argument's sake i cannot definitively know that nicodemus believed but jesus cared enough
about him to give him one of the clearest explanations of what it means to be born again
and then there's a section in the john 12 that says a lot of the religious leaders put
their faith in jesus and then right here at jesus's death nicodemus is there did you know
that even jesus's half siblings didn't believe on him when he was on before the death barrel
and resurrection couldn't nicodemus fall into that camp i want to assume everyone's innocence
i want to assume nicodemus inevitably put his faith in christ or did put his faith in christ
and was ashamed i don't know i believe and that's why i'm silent where the bible silent
but i'm going to emphasize what it emphasizes and what it emphasizes is to
believe alone in jesus so how do we care about the loss well basically you need to have love
all creatures anyone that opens the door assume they are your dying grandparent
now you could take that too far and you know realize what i'm saying i used to when i
evangelize would give too much effort to somebody who has either cognitive dissonance
or someone who doesn't care and you can't make someone care you can show someone your passion
your zeal your enthusiasm you can expound to them the scriptures and you can care about them
but that does not mean they care about what you're saying and a lot of people because of the
weird nature of man they just tend to go along to get along people are very just you know they
don't want to argue and if someone's at their door maybe they'll just say yes to you to get
you off the porch and they'll go with you on the journey of what the bible teaches and
they're like yeah okay yeah i'm a sinner i deserve to go to hell yeah jesus son of god
but they don't truly believe it look when in doubt don't count if somebody you know puts their
faith alone in christ and tells you they believe that go with your gut you know this
is something that i'm having come back to the island of kawaii going to start implementing
more in my life prior to this i've not gone with my gut a lot because i want to always
assume benefit of the doubt and that's a good trait but at some point it becomes unreasonable
and you become naive in coming back to the island of kawaii i'm more so starting to go with my
gut because in the past when that happened let's just say i was found to be right in
a lot of the cases so when you're at the door of somebody whether it's a a 10 year old
boy or a an 80 year old grandma just assume they're your dying grandparent because we need
to have care for the love we need to care about them i don't know about you but if the
bible says god's not willing that any would perish i'm not willing that any would perish i
don't want people to die and go to hell i want people to be saved and if they just but seen a
clear presentation of the gospel they might have the opportunity to believe but here's the
problem i know i'm not stupid enough to think that everyone will be saved the bible clearly
teaches broad is the way that leadeth the destruction and very many go there in that
because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth them to life and few be there
that find it and we ask and we beg god when we go out evangelizing to guide us to those
people that want to hear the truth the bible says he that goeth forth and weepeth bearing
precious seed shall doubtless again rejoice bringing his sheaves with him if we go and weeping
what does that mean caring about who we are talking to doubtless we will come again rejoicing
bringing our sheaves with us so the bible is clearly teaching that the fulfillment of the
law is love we need to love the loss it is our goal to care about who we are talking to
and if you don't start your evangelistic efforts with love don't be surprised if you don't
see people saved why if you're there and this is going to go into the last part of my sermon
it's knowing when to walk away because like i mentioned earlier you know i've spent too much
time on people that weren't interested and jesus says don't cast your pearls before swine
but if you care enough about somebody to see them saved
do everything within your ability but at some point you need to move on and hope that you've
planted a seed turn if you would to titus chapter three
titus chapter three is the last place i'll have you turn
titus chapter three teaches us a clear analogy or explanation of when to basically move on
to basically move on because if you're you're working on this person and you're showing them
versus and they're sincerely wanting to know they're not they're not questioning you as in
challenging you they're questioning you in sincerity they're wanting to know like
what about this and what about that and i've heard this one said before and so on and so
forth it's easy to see when people are being sincere but if somebody's challenging you this
is what the bible says in titus chapter three look if you would at verse eight this is a
faithful saying and these things i will that thou affirm constantly that they which have
believed in god might be careful to maintain good works these things are good and profitable
unto men i'm going to pause there really quickly it's funny because this is a text
that proves when you are to disregard somebody and i've had people point to this
text trying to prove that you need to after you believe maintain good works to be saved
but in it you can see where that's not what it clearly teaches it says this is a
faithful saying and these things i will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed
in god might be careful to maintain good works these people have believed and they should do good
works and then it says these things are good and profitable unto men meaning that your good
works are only profitable to the unsaved yes our good works on the side of god is good
but understand this when you try to present your good works to god for your salvation
he looks down from heaven and sees a filthy rag so don't try to when people trying to mix faith
and works this is the text that they'll tend to bring you to and you can see clearly right
there that it says these things are good and profitable unto men but it goes on to read in
verse 9 but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law
for they are unprofitable and vain remember too many people have been indoctrinated in bad
teaching christianese and and christian sayings that are not biblical remember that sermon we
preach biblically or what is biblical what is found within only the text of the bible so
when someone's looking at you and saying like you need to repent of your sins to be saved all
you need to do is look them in the eye and say where does it say that where in the bible does
it say we must repent of our sins to be saved you're not going to find it anywhere why because
if we had to repent of our sins to be saved it would have been in the bible and it goes on
and or what it says is foolish questions and genealogies not to go too deep into the
subject but basically there are lots of people who are always trying to point to abrahamic lines
and muslims will do this rastafarians do this and they're trying to give you questions about the law
about like the sabbath and things like that look avoid foolish questions well maybe to me
it's not foolish well then study to show yourself approved in the god a workman that
needed not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth and basically what's the result
of this but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law
for they are unprofitable and vain a man that is inherited after the first and second admonition
reject knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of
himself remember what it said in john chapter three right they're condemned already if you're
going to try to prove to me that you need to believe and live righteously you're condemned
you don't get it a professed pastor who's trying to preach to you the bible mind you you're at
their doorstep trying to show them the truth they're going to try to flip the script on you
and twist the scriptures you need to be ready to give an answer but remember care david you seem
pretty passionate up there you seem pretty aggressive talking about this subject you know
the bible teaches if any man preach any other gospel unto you then that which we have preached
unto you let him be accursed it's not our job to go around anathema tizing people or
condemning people at their door our job is to present the gospel and when we go and present
the gospel to the loss and they're questioning things have sympathy if they're challenging you
and trying to debate with you do not get into a debate do not get into a a pissing match
on doctrine it's not the place to do it that's why i'm so passionate up here and that's the
last point i'm going to leave you on don't let people misinterpret your passion for sin don't
let people misinterpret your care for anger jesus christ was very angry a lot of the times
in matthew chapter 23 when he's preaching against the pharisees that's what we're doing here
behind the pulpit because we are preaching against false prophets and false religion
because that's what we are called to do when you're out evangelizing and a false
prophet or what it says here and heretic come to you move on first admonition second
admonition don't get in a debate with them hey how do you not know that who you're talking
to is a type of apostle paul right now he's an idiot right now he's acting like a fool
but what is something you said sinks into his heart and then later on he becomes saved
you don't know now that does not mean sympathize with his
heretical teaching what it means is caring for the loss and having love means
being sympathetic assuming everyone's innocence when someone is guilty they're proven guilty
and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak when they say
things which they ought not then you can realize that you want nothing to do with them
but don't put a bad taste in christianity in the mouths and hearts of people on kawaii
this is why the next point which i would have gone into which we preached last week
is having a good first impression title of this sermon this morning
is let's care about the loss let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
dear god thank you so much for allowing us this time to be together thank you so much for helping
us to have a softened heart for the loss to muster up courage in us to go around preaching
your gospel to them help us to realize that we're not trying to waste time debate or challenge
people or to get into pissing matches with them help us to avoid foolish questions in genealogy
but to be sympathetic to those who towards those who want to know what's going on
towards those who want to know help lead us throughout our week
and help us to care for the laws in jesus christ name we pray amen
when the night has come
and the land is dark and the moon is the only night we'll see