Rob Ventura’s Equipped to Evangelize, Pt 3
Editor’s Note: Christian Focus has graciously supplied us with a chapter from Rob Ventura’s forthcoming book Equipped to Evangelize: A Biblical Foundation. Ref21 will publish portions of chapter one along with endorsements over the next several months in anticipation of its September release date. Enjoy!
“Rob Ventura’s new book on evangelism is an uncomfortable read. It is refreshingly
biblical, but it is also searchingly pointed. Rob’s aim is not to leave his readers informed,
but to spur them to action. The chapters are brief, engaging, and rounded off with four
questions to drive home the teaching. If every gospel church gave all its members this
book, who knows what God might do!”
—Ian Hamilton, President and Professor of Historical Theology, Westminster
Seminary, UK
“All of us need to take seriously the call to engage in the work of evangelism. We also
need sound biblical teaching on this subject. This helpful new book provides exactly that.
This work is a powerful resource that will equip and prompt you to action for the
great task of proclaiming the good news of Christ to sinners. Pick it up, read it, and
put it into practice.”
—Jonathan Master, President, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Why Evangelism is Necessary?
This leads us back to where we began our discussion at the start of the chapter. Biblical evangelism is critical at any time, but this is especially true today in the period and culture in which we live. There is a great need for evangelism because the gospel is the only lasting, eternal remedy for the lost.
As we consider the need for evangelism, we should note that our society is similar to the one that Paul addressed in his letter to the Romans. Pagans, unbelievers, and fornicators lived side by side with very religious Jews, and they were all lost and heading to hell. This is what we find in the world. There are very religious people among us, but much of their religion is nominal. At the same time there is much non-religious activity that occupies the attention of many, such as the idolatrous worship of sports and entertainment, along with an increase in occultic practices. If we can see how Paul approached such a situation with a view to seeing sinners made right with God through Jesus, we can apply it to our context. So what was Paul’s remedy for people in the messy and godless Roman Empire? What did he see as the biblical solution?
First, the apostle reminds us that all people are guilty before God and under His just condemnation: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). Notice that it is the “ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” which provokes God’s just anger. The human being is the one at fault, not God. This is partly because all people have been given insight into the reality of God’s existence. They know certain of His attributes and are thus “without excuse” or, more literally without legal defense (Rom. 1:20).[1] The person’s conscience, as well as God’s creation, testifies to God’s existence, righteousness, and eternal power, but people have suppressed it. They have lived without gratitude or thankfulness to Him (Rom. 1:21). They have become “futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21). They became worshippers of idols and of themselves, serving “the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 1:23, 25).
Such a picture of the Roman Empire reads like a description of any society where godlessness reigns, including our own. Perversity, drugs, violence, spiritism, and false religion are rampant today, as was the case in Paul’s context. Consider the description of the evils which conclude Romans 1:
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them (Rom. 1:28-32).[2]
Second, Paul reminds us that there’s another sector of society that isn’t into sexual deviancy or paganism but still desperately needs the Savior. He addresses such people in Romans 2. These are the people who are outraged by violence and drugs, yet they approach it from an angle of self-righteous disinterest. These are the cults, formalists, and religious Pharisees. They are trying to get to heaven based on their own merit or worth. They fast twice a week, give alms to the poor (Luke 18:12), and often look at sinners all around them with haughty disapproval. These are zealous Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or, tragically, even some people in the professing Christian church. This is a type of dead orthodoxy or false religion; it is outward religion without inward regeneration of the heart. They think their religion, tradition, and rituals can save them. Not so, says Paul. Such folks are in no better condition than the sinners they look down upon. In Romans 3:10-18, Paul then summarizes the situation concerning all people, whether religious or not:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
“Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Having written this, thankfully, Paul doesn’t leave us without hope. He doesn’t simply describe the scene and then throw up his hands in great despair and grim pessimism. Rather, he tells us that the remedy is the gospel, and so, even though “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” such fallen sinners through the gospel can be “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-24). This is what Paul calls “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Such a gospel is full, wide, and free to all (I will speak about this more in the next chapter). It is for Jew or Gentile, pagan or self-righteous Pharisee. This is why he told us back in Romans 1 that he is “not ashamed”[3] or embarrassed about the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16). And why should he be since the gospel is the instrument through which the saving power of God operates in order to rescue men and women from their sins (1 Cor. 1:18)? It is the plain preaching of the gospel that is the means through which God’s omnipotence works to bring spiritually dead sinners to new life in His Son. As the great Puritan William Gurnall said, the gospel is “the chariot wherein the spirit rides victoriously when he makes his entrance into the hearts of men.” This is why the gospel is the only message worth proclaiming. This is why Paul was not ashamed of it.
But this leads to a new problem. Now that we know the gospel is the great remedy for lost souls, how will it spread? How can people actually be saved by it? Does God just zap people in their sleep? Does He write out the gospel for them on tree leaves or in the clouds of the sky? Does He send Michael or Gabriel down to herald the good news? Again, Paul doesn’t leave us guessing. He tells us exactly how this gospel is to be spread.
[1] Here, the apostle is acting as a prosecuting attorney. He is saying that unbelievers are without a valid reason for the rejection of God since general revelation about him is so effective. Clearly, then, he’s teaching us that the problem with humanity is not that they lack the knowledge that there is one true and living God. Rather, he says that they will not respond correctly to it.
[2] For an exposition of these words, or any other words found in this book from the book of Romans, the reader can consider my commentary on Romans: Expository Outlines and Observations on Romans, Hint and helps for preachers and Teachers, Scotland, Great Britain: Mentor Books. 2023, 93-94.
[3] The word ashamed here in the Greek text is a present tense verb indicating habitual disposition. The point is, Paul was not at all ashamed of the gospel, nor would he ever be—the gospel, which was centered on the doing, the dying, and the rising of Jesus Christ our Lord on our behalf.
