Letters to the Family of God
by Joe Franzone | January 13, 2022 | Pastor's Blog
January 13, 2022
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21)
Ever since the world began, it's been that way for man.
Tell Him, by The Exciter’s
Dear Friends,
Foreword
It was stirring to hear the call from some for their need for evangelism training at our most recent family gathering.
In light of this, by way of letters written over the next couple of months, the goal is to meet a part of this need from the scriptures.
It is not the only way, but it is a way. May God in mercy be pleased to bless this endeavor. People are worth saving.
General Revelation
What people already know
How can our understanding of General Revelation help equip us in personal evangelism? Much in every way.
First, everything God made (and God made everything) is/was intentionally designed to confront human beings with His existence and nature. Every morning, when a person wakes up, they essentially bump into God and come face to face with who He is. The things that we see, touch, taste, smell, and experience are all signposts that point to God, His existence, and His glory.
Second, General Revelation is named this because everyone receives it just by being alive in God's world. In other words, if you have a heartbeat, you have received General Revelation from God. There is not one human being that this is not true for, and it has been true since the start of human history.
Third, General Revelation reveals God is powerful. He is praiseworthy. He is wonderfully good, and He has a claim over our lives.
Fourth, in General Revelation, God actively reveals aspects about Himself to every human being no matter who they are. So that in every case failure, to thank God, and serve God in righteousness is a sin against known knowledge and denial of having received this knowledge from God; added to the fact that we have not taken that knowledge seriously at all.
The point of all this is this; everyone knows heart in there is a God. What has been made known about God is clear—God has made it so (vs.19). It is clear as glass (vs.20). Therefore, we have no excuse when human beings go before the bar of God’s judgment.
However, what is clear about God. What is known about God because God has made it known, all of it, is suppressed (vs.18) and denied by our open, rebel, wicked, sin.
Now, our denials can be extremely complicated. As a result, you have intellectual, scientific, philosophical arguments that have argued ferociously against General Revelation and the God of the Bible's existence. (Therefore, we read hard books, study apologetics to help us.)
Their denials also can be archaic. For example, Jesus Christ did not really exist. He was just a made-up religious figure by His followers.
Their denials can be self-serving. I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. (Invictus) or I did it (life) my way. (Sinatra)
Regardless, in sin, we say there is no God. There will be no judgment by Him, no line of life to live on from Him. No Heaven, No Hell just people, to quote John Lennon, Living for today.
Here’s the point. In our evangelism, the opening grace we have is this. Everyone, whether they openly admit it or not, knows God exists. He has a standard, and we have broken it.
In effect, God has laid the groundwork in every human being, to begin the conversation of their need for a savior. General Revelation has its limit. It does mean people know God but, it does not mean they know His saving grace through Christ. Which is why we go and tell.
One last thing, there has always been a strong bent for Christians to “withdraw into a kind of closed, evangelical, monastic community.” (As John Stott says in Motives and Methods, p.14.) This was not how things were at the beginning of the church. The early church was very good at going and telling. We may think we don't know what to say. But take heart, we do. Pay attention to the songs you sing in public worship, the logic of them, the sermons you hear, the prayers prayed. All of them are telling the story of our sin, its penalty, and Christ's substitutionary death to defeat it.
May God help us all in evangelism,
Pastor Joe