Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Okay, let's get our Bible. And we are actually going to be in a number of different passages.
[00:00:07] We're going to kind of survey to look for one particular topic in each of the passages.
[00:00:17] So we're going to be beginning in Luke, chapter four. So if you would go there.
[00:00:22] We are, of course, in our study that we're calling the school of evangelism. And so I'm trying to pray and seek the Lord's help in what to especially, you know, we've looked at a lot of doctrinal things with faith and repentance and the gospel and those kinds of things. But also I want to look at practical things, and that's kind of where this lesson comes from. And hopefully we can get through it without much trouble today.
[00:00:57] One way that you can study the Bible is obviously we do. In our church especially, we do a lot of expositional going verse by verse and looking at the context and things. And of course we should do that, and that's good. But another way that you can do it is, of course, you have the topical, which you just look for topics in scripture and you run references. And that's also a biblical method of, you know, of studying the scripture. But another way you can do it is by looking for topics that are common with, you know, spanning several portions of scripture, spanning several passages that maybe aren't directly about that topic, but that topic, it's touched upon within that particular context. And that's what we're going to do today.
[00:01:44] What I want to the lesson is how I titled it was the proper spirit and tone in evangelism. The proper spirit and tone in evangelism. Now, we don't have to go very far to see and to understand that.
[00:02:05] Even if you are saying everything right, even if you are, you know, you can run doctrinal circles around people and you know every reference and you can quote it. You can quote the verses, you know, from memory.
[00:02:18] That does not mean that you will have the right tone and attitude. When you talk to a person, you know, one has to do with your head, the other has to do with your heart.
[00:02:29] By contrast, a person who does not know all the reverses and doesn't know all the doctrinal things and doesn't know everything about it, and sometimes even people who have bad attitudes, the Lord can still use that.
[00:02:43] So I think the Lord sometimes, this is my personal opinion, I think sometimes he uses things that we think he can't use just to show us that he is not bound by our box.
[00:02:56] He does it on purpose. He's like, well, he could never. Lord can never use that person. Or, you know. And he does. He does. He uses, you know. And the proof of that is no further than the nose on our own face. Because how many of us have been in a place where the Lord could never use us? We thought, or maybe others thought, and yet he does. And so anytime the Lord uses a human being, he has to overlook a bunch of stuff. And that's me, and that's you.
[00:03:30] So I want to look, I want to try to be very practical today about this subject of having the proper tone and spirit in evangelism. So let's pray, and then we'll look at Luke, chapter four. Our father, thank you for the time to be here today and to study your word. Lord, I pray, please let your word be precious. And let your word be helpful to your people as they try and give the gospel to others. Help us to have the right tone, the right attitude and spirit.
[00:04:01] And, Lord, I pray that the truths that are here in the scripture that you have recorded and preserved for us will be.
[00:04:09] Will be evident to us and clearly understood. So we ask. We also, Lord, want to ask. And your blessing upon sister Pam and Abby and Miss Beverly. As they teach their classes downstairs. And the kids help the kids understanding to be open. And the truths that they hear would sink deep into their hearts and would affect them, Lord, on a permanent basis. And so, Lord, work in that as well. As well as those who are listening in and who can't be here with us, Lord, bless them and help their. Help them to grow and learn from the scripture today. In Jesus name also. Amen.
[00:04:43] All right. Luke, chapter four. Let's look at verse number 22. Well, to get the context, we've already actually, not too long ago, covered this portion when we talked about in Matthew the prophecy where the Bible says he shall be called a Nazarene. And so we looked at Nazareth and the things that happened at Nazareth. In particular, this attempt on the life of Christ. You know, where there we.
[00:05:12] I wish I could have shown you pictures of that, but I actually looked on Google Earth and some photographs of Nazareth. And from the present day town of Nazareth, some distance from the present day town of Nazareth, there is a.
[00:05:28] There is a rock kind of outcropping a cliff and. Which is believed to be the cliff where they tried to throw jesus off.
[00:05:36] You know, when they. And remember, Jesus was one of theirs, he grew up among them, which makes it even more heinous.
[00:05:46] But we already studied that how that the events that happened at Nazareth. So I want to kind of pick up on that. So jesus goes, he's at Nazareth. And verse 18, he says he's in the synagogue. And he says, he reads the portion of Isaiah that says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. And he finishes it. He closes the book. Verse 20, verse number 21 of Luke, chapter four, he says, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Now look at verse 22. So Jesus, remember, picture in your mind. Jesus is in the synagogue. He has. He has literally just read the verses.
[00:06:27] Read the Bible, right?
[00:06:30] And he says, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And verse 22, notice the words. And all bear him witness and wondered. Now notice the all.
[00:06:47] What that means is simply all the people who were around the Lord Jesus, whether they were his friends or his enemies, all of them with one voice would say the same thing about his tone. You see that?
[00:07:03] They wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Now, let me remind you of this, that the character and tone of our words is a reflection of the character and tone of our heart and our attitude. I mean, that's how. I mean, you have facial expressions, right? You have your posture can convey your attitude and your tone, can it not? You know, sometimes if somebody stands like this when you're trying to talk to them in a situation that's hostile, you know, that you're not, you know, versus. Versus this, you know, how the hands are. All that conveys, you know, in small ways, it conveys different things about our attitude, our tone. Well, one of the primary ways that's conveyed is by our words, the actual words we use and how we say the words. And these words are gracious words. And that reflects his attitude.
[00:07:56] Now it says, so all bore him witness, bear him witness. And wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son? Notice what is being noticed is not how much he knows.
[00:08:09] Although he knew a lot. Right? Remember Luke, chapter two? I think it is end of Luke, chapter two. And he was asking the doctors questions, and he was. And they were posing questions to him, and he was answering their questions. So he knew stuff. Jesus knew stuff. And that's one of the reasons that in other parts of scripture, they were so amazed at Jesus, because they knew him growing up. He was a carpenter. He shouldn't have been, you know, he shouldn't have been a person who knew all this stuff. And yet he did.
[00:08:36] But what they point out, rather, is the character and tone of his words.
[00:08:43] That's important.
[00:08:45] Gracious listen to this definition. Characterized by or exhibiting kindness, courtesy or generosity of spirit. Courteous, considerate, tactful and generous.
[00:09:02] Now what's interesting is verse 22 is kind of out of context. In other words, it doesn't follow the flow. Did you notice that when you read it, you're like, it's almost like a parenthetical statement. Did you notice that when you read it? In other words, it's not talking about what's happening at Nazareth. But while we're on the subject about Jesus talking in the, you know, Luke is like, everybody said that Jesus words were gracious. Now back to the story, you know, so this is really a statement about Jesus words generally.
[00:09:39] Now notice what the Lord says you will. Verse 23. And he said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself.
[00:09:52] Verse 24. Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. Verse 25. But I tell you of a truth. Many widows in Israel were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up, three years and six months, when the great famine was throughout all the land. And unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sareptah, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in the Israel in the time of Eliseuse the prophet. And none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
[00:10:22] And at that word, even though. Now stop, stop. And remember, how did Jesus say that? Now we read that and we think, yeah, okay, whatever.
[00:10:30] This is among the most offensive things that Jesus could have said to them.
[00:10:36] Jesus is in essence saying.
[00:10:38] He's in essence saying, in the days of Elijah and Elijah, Elijah and Elisha, there were plenty of people that needed healing, but God healed gentiles.
[00:10:50] And the implication obviously, is because you wicked people weren't worthy and you didn't believe, and they flew into an absolute rage. Now remember, his words were gracious, right? Even when he said the most cutting thing that was true. Obviously it came out gracious.
[00:11:16] Is that not our job? When we give the gospel to people, are there not unpleasant truths that we must tell them or else we are unfaithful? Right.
[00:11:26] But it is possible to say those things with gracious words. And in a gracious tone.
[00:11:34] You see that he was pointed, his message was pointed, but his words were nevertheless gracious. Now remember this, and this is the second point we need to remember. This is not the only time we're going to see this. This is going to repeat. All right, just because Jesus was gracious and his words were generous did not mean they were going to receive it.
[00:12:02] We get this idea somehow that if we say something and we coat it in the right way, we coat the pill in the right way, then everyone's going to receive it. It's just not true. We should have gracious words like the Lord Jesus. And sometimes we judge ourselves wrongly. Right? We judge ourselves wrongly, thinking, well, because they received it. I must have said something wrong, or maybe I said it in the wrong way. Well, that's, you know, you should examine the way, you know, we all should examine the way we talk to people, especially if this conversation goes the wrong way. But that doesn't necessarily mean that we said the wrong thing or said it in the wrong way. In other words, that's not an accurate guide.
[00:12:49] Jesus was gracious. Ben, when you talked to this fellow, Don yesterday, how did the conversation end?
[00:13:00] Did it end in such a way that you felt like, you know, he was receptive to what you were saying?
[00:13:13] Go ahead. I'm sorry.
[00:13:17] Did you end the conversation, or did he end the conversation? Why do you think he did that?
[00:13:33] So, Ben, what'd you do wrong?
[00:13:36] You see what I'm saying, Ben? I'm not positive Ben has the capacity to speak meanly to someone. No, he does. But.
[00:13:47] But Ben is a very, you know, Ben is one whose words are almost always gracious. Right.
[00:13:54] Didn't matter. You know, didn't matter. So what I'm saying is, don't be discouraged when someone doesn't receive the gospel you're telling them or outright rejects it. There's a lot of reasons they might do that.
[00:14:08] Our job is to make sure we have the words like our Lord gracious, but. And then we also, you know, Jesus, even though he was gracious, what you do not see him doing is kind of cutting out the unpleasant parts of his message so that they would receive it. That is wrong, dead wrong.
[00:14:30] So you can see the tone and the spirit that our Lord had in. And I call it evangelism, which introducing someone to the truth. That's kind of what Jesus is doing, kind of in broad terms. All right, let's look at another example in mark, chapter ten.
[00:14:48] Mark, chapter ten, verse.
[00:14:50] Let's start in verse number 17.
[00:14:55] Now, it was my plan, and we might still do it yet. I know, especially as we go through these verses, there's a lot of information that we could look at about evangelism and how to share the truth with people and how to address people and what to address people and those kinds of things from these passages. And maybe one day we will do that. But as I said, we're just looking at one particular aspect in these various passages, which is the manner and tone of our words. All right, look at mark, chapter ten, starting verse number 17.
[00:15:31] And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, saying, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and thy mother. And he answered and said unto him, master, all these things have I observed from my youth. That sounds a little funny to us. If somebody asked, what must I do to have eternal life? We would tell them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus did not say that. He did not even say believe on me.
[00:16:09] That's instructive. That might be something we look at later, but not now. Okay.
[00:16:15] Verse 21. Then Jesus. This is key. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. And come, take up the cross and follow me. And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great.
[00:16:44] Now look at the spirit and the attitude in which the Lord speaks. We can see it because mark records it for us. And he says, jesus, beholding him, loved him.
[00:16:58] How do you think that we. How do you think that mark knew? How was it evident that Jesus loved him? Do you think it came out in the way he spoke? Do you think it came out in his facial expressions?
[00:17:12] It likely did, because you can't very well love someone right? You can't very well love someone without it coming out in some way, fashion or form at some point. And Jesus is talking to this man and is trying to lead him to have eternal life. But let me ask you a question further.
[00:17:31] Did this man receive the message that Jesus gave him?
[00:17:39] No, he didn't. Notwithstanding the fact that Jesus loved him.
[00:17:45] So Jesus loved this man. He's demonstrating. He's showing his love. Of course, we already saw. He has gracious words. So he's speaking with those gracious words out of a heart of love. That is his attitude. And yet his message is still rejected.
[00:18:00] And did the Lord, because he loved him, did he cut out part of the message and pare down his message? No, he had to give him the whole truth, right, the whole scripture.
[00:18:12] So this is a good example for us. And we're trying to share the gospel with people, because it ought to be that in our heart and in our attitude and in our tone and spirit is a spirit and an attitude of love. Love that ought to be evident.
[00:18:32] Now, I want to say more on this, but let's look at another example in Luke chapter nine, if you would.
[00:18:43] And this example will give us maybe a contrasting illustration that will help us. Luke nine down in verse number, number 51.
[00:19:03] And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face. And they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, see that?
[00:19:21] Because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. Now note, note this. And this is a practical point.
[00:19:28] They did not receive Jesus. Why? Was it because they didn't like his message? Was it because he was mean to them? Was it because of something he said?
[00:19:40] Here's what I want you to note from this. This is just in passing. They rejected Christ because of something really unrelated to his message.
[00:19:50] You see that you will find when you share the gospel with people, that people that do not receive it, sometimes they don't receive it. And it has nothing to do with what you said or how you said it, and might not have to do with the message at all. It might have to do with a loved one who died without Christ.
[00:20:10] Something really unrelated, immediately unrelated. It might have to do with something, you have no idea that is informing that decision.
[00:20:21] We can't know all that, you know, we can't know all. Ultimately, this work that the Lord has given us to do, to evangelize and share the gospel with people is a work of God. He has to work in people's heart because he is the only one who knows the secrets of the heart, just like we see here, verse 54. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did? They're not joking.
[00:20:48] Do they love these people?
[00:20:52] Did they look upon them and love them like we just read in Luke?
[00:20:57] I'm sorry, in Mark? No, no, this is a negative example.
[00:21:05] The disciples, due to a wrong spirit, verse 55, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of, due to a wrong spirit, are eager to actually retaliate against people that reject them.
[00:21:21] Because, remember, everybody loves someone who receives them? Right? That's the easy part. But what do we do when they.
[00:21:28] When people reject us? Is our urge to retaliate. That is not the proper spirit intoning evangelism.
[00:21:37] It doesn't matter how hostile that person is. That is improper.
[00:21:42] And here's the kicker. Here's the kicker.
[00:21:46] Notice the very last two, four words, rather, verse 54. What does it say? What did the last four words say?
[00:21:56] See, that?
[00:21:58] They had a Bible verse to say. See, we can give it to them. They had a Bible verse, and Jesus rebukes them.
[00:22:16] Listen, I'm sure brother David has seen this. Anybody who's done ministry with people that are big into public ministry, like on the street and stuff, sometimes their attitude goes into the toilet pretty quick. And listen, there is no excuse.
[00:22:32] No excuse to have this kind of spirit and attitude toward people, especially people that reject you. Again, everybody loves those that receive them. So that's. Just put that to the side. It has nothing to do with it.
[00:22:45] And those people who think they have a Bible verse like these, see, we got a Bible verse as a pretext to excuse a bad attitude and a poor tone and a hateful tone toward people that are contrary to them. They'll quote verses like psalm five. Five, thou hatest all workers of iniquity. We covered that when we were going through the psalms.
[00:23:09] They'll just float these verses, you know, not telling you exactly what they mean in the context. Not, you know, they just float them, you know, kind of. Kind of throw it out there and hopefully somebody bites.
[00:23:20] They'll look at the words of Jesus to the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 23 and how the Lord's words were very cutting.
[00:23:28] They'll look at Jesus cleansing of the temple, and they'll say, see, even Jesus got angry.
[00:23:35] They'll look at mark, chapter number three, verse five, the Bible says. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, they don't bother looking at the context.
[00:23:46] And then they'll go to any reference in the Bible that deals with public preaching. And they'll then characterize that as kind of a cutting, biting, kind of hostile tone.
[00:24:00] But Jeremiah was known as the what? The weeping prophet. The message he had to give to the people of Israel was not something he enjoyed giving to them.
[00:24:12] That's his attitude. That's his tone.
[00:24:15] So even and again, even when we are mistreated, when we try to give the gospel, even when we're insulted, even when our message is flat out rejected, the door is slammed in our face, any inclination or urge to say, well, go to hell, then.
[00:24:36] Well, I hope whatever that is not of God at all.
[00:24:41] That is not of God.
[00:24:43] Yes, sir.
[00:24:45] I've been out with people and they'll give somebody a track.
[00:24:54] It is.
[00:24:56] Yeah, that's true.
[00:25:01] This is not the proper attitude and tone.
[00:25:03] And again, the hard part is when somebody rejects it, and it's often hard just to be upfront and transparent. The hardest time is when we're dealing with one of our family members, because they can be mean, man, a lot of times when you don't know somebody, in some cases when you don't know someone, just that the common human courtesy prevents them from being too hostile. Now, if you're in downtown Greenville at 11:00 at night trying to give out gospel tracts and or preach on the street, that's going to be a different category.
[00:25:35] Under normal circumstances, people are not usually hostile. If you try to witness to them, they might turn you down, but they're not going to be, like actively hostile, generally speaking. But your family's another case altogether.
[00:25:51] They will vent on you.
[00:25:54] And the only response, the only response can be tears running down your face. That's it.
[00:26:02] That's the only attitude.
[00:26:08] But notice this. At the end of verse 56, Jesus rebukes them.
[00:26:13] You know not what manner of spirit you are of.
[00:26:17] For the son of man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Notice what he says. And they went to another village. You know what they did. There was no retaliation. They rejected it, and the Lord moved on.
[00:26:33] Well, does that mean they're not going to be judged? Yeah. Oh, yeah, they'll be judged. They'll be judged.
[00:26:39] But that's not why we give the gospel. We don't give. We don't give gospel. And I've heard people, and I'm sure you have, too, some of you have heard people describe one of our purposes for giving the gospel is to let people know that reject the gospel, they're going to be judged. That's nothing. That's not what the gospel is there to save men's lives. That's. Now, there is a judgment aspect we bring up to people, but the purpose of gospel preaching is to save.
[00:27:10] That's the whole idea. In fact, you don't have to go any further in John three. 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. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That's God's intention. The whole world gets saved, right?
[00:27:30] All right. Let's look at Luke, chapter 19.
[00:27:33] It's already here. Look at Luke 19, verse number 41.
[00:27:49] And when he was come near, he beheld the city and wept over it, saying, if thou hadst known even thou, at least in this, thy day, the things which belonged unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.
[00:28:05] For the days shall come upon thee. Now, what is the Lord speaking of here? His message, his words. This is a declaration. Of what?
[00:28:16] Of wrath. Right of judgment. Notice. For the day shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee. He's speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Encompass thee around and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee 1 st upon another, because thou knewest not the day of thy visitation.
[00:28:39] I mean, the Lord said. Listen, the Lord says plainly that Jerusalem was leveled in ad 70 because they rejected Jesus. That's what he's saying here.
[00:28:55] Verse 41. But as he said it, tears were coming down his face.
[00:29:01] You see that? Even the most biting words.
[00:29:07] Even the most biting words were spoken with tears running down his face.
[00:29:18] Look at acts chapter seven. We got to hurry.
[00:29:25] Acts seven. We'll just look at a couple verses here about.
[00:29:40] If you've read acts seven, I'm sure you have. Acts seven is a message that is summarized in verse 51 and 52. And three, Stephen preaching says, ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before the coming of the just one, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. This is the summary and the conclusion of his message. It is judgment. It is a rebuke.
[00:30:16] Yet in verse number 60, he prays that this sin might not be laid to their charge. Back in chapter six, the last verse, and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
[00:30:34] You see that? His tone, his attitude.
[00:30:38] In other words, we should not assume that because Stephen's message was a cutting, biting message designed to reprove them and awaken them out of their sinful stupor, that it was cutting and biting and hostile. It wasn't a.
[00:30:55] His face was like a face of an angel. That didn't mean they were going to receive it. In fact, they're going to stone him despite. They're going to take the face and bash a rock as big as they can carry into that face that looks like an angel.
[00:31:10] It's a good lesson. Right?
[00:31:13] Let's look at.
[00:31:18] But again, let me just say this again. Even though he's telling about their judgment for their rejection of Christ, were his teeth gritted as he told it?
[00:31:29] Right? No. Did he soften his message because it was unpleasant? Did he exclude the more unsavory and difficult parts of the message to avoid offense? No.
[00:31:40] And even though his face was as the face of an angel, and even though he had a heart that wanted to pray for them, even though they were stoning him, his message was still not received.
[00:31:51] Look at acts, chapter 20, verse 19.
[00:32:11] Notice what Jesus says.
[00:32:13] Jesus, Paul says, rather, verse 18 says, and when they were come to him, he said unto them, this is to the ephesian elders, ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears.
[00:32:35] When Paul went to a new place, they're not saved. There's no believers. And he says, I served the Lord with tears.
[00:32:47] Look at verse 31.
[00:32:49] Therefore, watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears.
[00:33:00] Tears.
[00:33:04] Have you ever had tears come down your face when you sharing the gospel with someone?
[00:33:10] If you never have, it might be that you need to kind of work on your attitude and your tone and spirit.
[00:33:19] Now, that's not to say every time you do it, you'll cry. Some people do. But if it's never happened, maybe the attitude's a little callous toward them. Maybe we need to work on that.
[00:33:32] Look at Philippians three, if you would.
[00:33:36] Philippians chapter three, verse number 18, Philippians 318. For many walk, of whom I have told you often and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. So this is not just a rejecter.
[00:34:08] This is someone who is an active enemy. This is someone who wants to shut it down.
[00:34:15] Right?
[00:34:16] Even those who are active enemies. Jesus said, love your enemies. Right? Even those who are active enemies. Not only is Paul saying, I love them, but I weep over them.
[00:34:32] I mean, listen, this is not human here. This is next level. This transcends human nature. This is divine. This is what God's spirit does in a person. And this is one of the reasons why I think the disciples early on wanted to call down fire from heaven is because at that point, they did not have the spirit of God in them in the way that we do. That would happen in Pentecost.
[00:34:57] We could go into, I don't have time, but we could go into psalm 126, verses five and six. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Right. And I know that's a, that's not directly a reference to the gospel, but it has total application to the gospel, sowing in tears.
[00:35:12] So, to summarize, and we'll be finished, an angry spirit in evangelism, at any time whatsoever, under any circumstance, is contrary to the spirit of God. And it is not the spirit of God who is leading us when we exhibit that kind of attitude in our evangelism.
[00:35:30] Can a person, an angry spirit is essentially of the flesh, right? It's a work of the flesh, anger, right?
[00:35:39] Can a person do, can a person give out the gospel while simultaneously walking in the flesh?
[00:35:49] Absolutely.
[00:35:51] Absolutely. Problem is, it'll come out even when we're rejected and insulted. The biblical response should be blessing and sorrow over that person's rejection.
[00:36:07] Some evangelists have screamed, if I didn't care about you, I'd just let you go to hell.
[00:36:14] That's just not believable. I'm sorry. That's just not believable.
[00:36:19] The way you show the care is not by talking about the care, but by the tears coming down your face.
[00:36:28] The words are not matching the tone.
[00:36:32] And remember this, speaking unpleasant words of judgment, which is sometimes necessary with evident compassion, is the way to speak unpleasant words with the greatest chance of those words being received. That's the thing. They might not always be received, but you have the greatest probability of that happening. If those difficult words come from a heart and a tone and an attitude that's gracious and loving and compassionate and is moved with where that person is with the Lord.
[00:37:07] No one exhibited a more proper spirit in evangelism than our Lord Jesus Christ, and he was still rejected. And so it's not a guarantee. A right attitude is not a guarantee that our message will be received.
[00:37:24] And we should also remember that it is also not right to soften our message or exclude certain unpleasant truths upon the pretext of compassion or concern or love.
[00:37:36] The message and the truths that we speak to people, the gospel, are given to us by the Lord and must be conveyed to others as they were given to us. We don't have the power or right to alter those out of a, you know, compassion or love. No, but the way we speak, those things can absolutely come with compassion and graciousness and love.
[00:38:00] Let's pray.
