Does Calvinism Kill Evangelism

Please turn with me to 2 Timothy and chapter 2. 2 Timothy and chapter 2. I've been asked to answer a question and it's the question, does Calvinism kill evangelism? And in doing so, I want us to look at this passage of scripture, and we'll read a bit of this chapter up to verse 13. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, beginning to read from verse 1. You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You, therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer even to the point of chains, but the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." This is a faithful saying. For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful. He cannot deny himself. We'll end our reading there. The question that I'm dealing with, does Calvinism kill evangelism? is asked because of an apparent logical deduction. Calvinism clearly teaches that before time began, God chose those whom he would ultimately save and bring into heaven. The logical deduction of that is, well, if those who are going to become Christians have already been predetermined, both in terms of number and also the specific individuals, then it doesn't really matter how much evangelistic effort we make, because ultimately those whom God determined to save will be saved. and those that He determined not to save, even if we preach until our faces are blue, they still will not be saved. So, what's the point? Now, obviously, anybody Thinking like that comes to a point where he feels, well, there must therefore be an easier way to make a living, a better way to spend my time. Let me get on with something else. After all, God's purpose will still be accomplished. So that's really the question, the logical thinking behind the question that I'm seeking to handle in this session. However, the answer that I would like to give to that question is going to be a historical one rather than a philosophical one. In other words, when you look at church history, has Calvinism killed evangelism? When you look at the individuals who truly espoused the Calvinistic tenets. Do you find them sitting back, navel-gazing, waiting for the second coming of Christ? Or do you see in them an evangelistic fervor from the point they come to understand His truths to the time that the Lord takes them to glory? I'd like to suggest that the answer is that Calvinism has not killed evangelism, but hyper-Calvinism has. And the reason why hyper-Calvinism has killed evangelism is because of its failure to give full allowance to the doctrine of human responsibility. which is the other side of the shield of truth. Calvinism, rather hyper-Calvinism, is in many ways the opposite of Arminianism in that it works backwards from the premise of the sovereignty of God, and then tries to discuss human responsibility from that angle, and in the process makes human responsibility meaningless. Nothing but words, but at the end of the day, the life having been drawn out of it because it is being discussed from the perspective of God's absolute sovereignty. Aminism is the opposite extreme. It begins with human responsibility, makes a full show of it, and then says, therefore, and turns to God's sovereignty and empties God's sovereignty of its meaning. In the end, God determines what comes to happen in the future by, first of all, peeping into the future, seeing what human beings will actually do, and then pretending like a schoolboy sitting his exam that he hasn't seen the answer sheet, begins writing down what the answer ought to be. obviously emptying God's sovereignty of its meaning. Calvinism doesn't try to explain one from the position of the other, it explains both from the biblical position. In other words, what does the Bible teach concerning human responsibility? What does the Bible teach concerning God's sovereignty? And although these two truths do not seem to easily sit side by side with each other, well in the Bible, they don't fight with each other. And consequently, a true Calvinist appreciates what the Bible teaches and ends where the Bible ends. And the Bible is very clear. concerning the shield of truth. That on the one hand, you have a God who knows those who are His, and on the other, humans must depart from all that is sinful. God requires it of them. Now, The best way to deal with this matter, as I've already said, is from a historical perspective. And I'm going to do this from what I would consider to be the most vocal Calvinist in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul. Now, I recognize the fact that Calvinism came a good 1,500 years after Paul in terms of the word itself, but I trust that if you understand its contents, you will appreciate that the Apostle Paul again and again teaches both God's sovereignty and human responsibility. And therefore, all we need to do is to look at his example. Did his belief deflect his tires of evangelism? Did it bring him to a position where he was no longer the fiery evangelist that we know him to be in the Bible? I think the best we can do is to listen to Him as He shares His own heart with Timothy. And that's the reason why I have brought your attention to 2 Timothy and chapter 2. More specifically, verse 10. The Apostle Paul there says, Therefore, I endure all sins. for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." You will know that 2 Timothy is probably the last epistle that Paul wrote. He was writing it from prison, anticipating death at any moment. He had already written to Timothy a little earlier on concerning a lot that is related to running the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has graciously preserved that for us in 1 Timothy. However, when we come to 2 Timothy, you find that it is a lot more of a personal letter. A letter in which Paul is not so much addressing the work that Timothy needs to do as the worker that Timothy needs to be. And consequently, you find, for instance, at the very beginning of chapter 2, the words, You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. In other words, he's concentrating more on the kind of person that Timothy ought to be. Sprinkled through this letter are glimpses of the kind of person Paul himself was. And so you will notice in this same chapter, for instance, that he says, and the things you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. In other words, I am passing on the baton to you. You have seen me laboring, you have heard me teaching, and the kind of soldier that I was, when I pass out from this athletic arena, I'd like to see it in you. Or, as he puts it in chapter 3 verse 10, but you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me." And again there he is clearly showing that he had a life that Timothy had already seen. And then he says in verse 14, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them. The point of all that I'm saying here therefore, is that among the glimpses that we have concerning the Apostle Paul, We must not think that these were simply things that Timothy was to look at at a distance and continue his own life. They were things that Timothy was to look at and say, that's the way I ought to be in order to be a true servant of the Lord. And what we have in verse 10 of chapter 2 is one such glimpse, one such example. There, Paul opens his heart with respect to the labors that he went through. We see in it at least three things. First of all, the fact that the work of evangelism and missions is indeed hard work, costly work. Paul had suffered much because of it. He says there, I endure all things. I suffer all things. We've already seen him earlier on in this chapter referring to those who labor, like Timothy, being like an athlete in a field, a farmer in a field. looking forward to a reward. And you and I know that those who run the races, those who plough the field, engage in hard, toilsome work. Indeed, he speaks about it as real suffering. He says in verse 8 there, Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains. But the word of God is not chained. All you need to do is to look at 2 Corinthians 11. to see just how much the Apostle Paul suffered for the Gospel. Let's quickly turn there, because we must answer the question, what is it that kept this man going despite all that suffering? He says, beginning from verse 23, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 23, Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often? From the Jews, five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the sea, in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen. in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily my deep concern for all the churches. Now, we need to realize that this suffering for the cause of the gospel was not limited to the days of the Apostle Paul in the first century. Those who have sought to push back the domains of darkness Whether it is in terms of evangelistic work, faithful evangelistic work, or missions work, reclaiming territory, so to speak, for the gospel of Christ, have had to pay a dear price often. It is hard and it is costly work. Brethren, that is the simple reason why so few engage in it. Many individuals, upon getting converted, in love with the fact that they have now been liberated from sin, experiencing a joy they did not know before, went out very quickly to share the good news, thinking that people will be falling over each other to embrace it. And to their utter shock, They've not only received a cold response, but often they have experienced knives in their backs, so to speak. And before long, their zeal has been quenched. It's been tough. It's been costly. And in the end, they have felt it is not worth it. But here we have the Apostle Paul. continuing to the very end, now in this prison awaiting death, and is turning around to young Timothy, filling in his shoes, and saying to him, follow after my example as a fiery evangelist. Do not Give up that work. Fulfill all the duties of your ministry. And above all, do it in the context of the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. I do think we need to ask ourselves the question, what kept a man like this going on despite these trials? What is it that have kept generations of Christians in times past laboring for the gospel despite the fact that they've had to pay a dear price for it? What is it that motivates Well, if we look at Paul, he gives us the reason. Back to our text. He says, I endure all things for the sake of the elect. That's what he's telling us here. Now there are many reasons, many motives that are in scripture that ought to motivate us in the work of evangelism. For instance, we ought to have a passion for the glory of God. I think that's ultimate. We must seek the salvation of the lost because it is for God's glory. There is also the fact that it is in obedience to the Great Commission. Jesus left it as a duty for the Christian Church. There is also the call to discipleship. We are to be imitators of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to follow Him, and in following Him, He makes us fishers of men. There is the reality of hell. Anyone who reads the Bible and comes to terms with what the Bible describes to be the eternal end of those who are outside Jesus Christ must be moved even merely out of pity to seek to serve. brother and sister, neighbor and friend from the perdition that awaits those who are outside Christ. Then there is also a passion for souls and especially because of God's answer to the world's needs which lies in the gospel. The gospel doesn't just prepare us for heaven It also enables us to live full-orbed lives here on earth. We become better husbands, better wives, better citizens in God's world, better everything. And consequently, therefore, in the midst of all those motives, there is enough to keep us going. However, Paul here gives us one more. And it is this for the sake of the elect. And this is one of the tenets of Calvinism. That God has chosen a people for Himself before time began. That these would be His. He has fixed His love upon them. He has entered into covenant agreement with His Son, so that His Son would come on earth to take their place, to suffer their death, drinking their hell on their behalf. And coming back to heaven, He would receive from the Father the promised Holy Spirit whom He would send into the world to come and fish out His elect people, bringing them to an experience of this glorious salvation purchased for them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this truth that kept the Apostle Paul going. It is this truth that refers to here when it says, I endure all things for the sake of the elect. Because according to God's revelation, the elect are in every nation, in every people, in every tongue. And consequently, Paul wanted to make sure that he took this message to them. There were times when the going was tough. And Paul himself needed to be reminded by God concerning this truth. We see an example of this in Acts and chapter 18. Acts and chapter 18. Paul having experienced a rather difficult time in Corinth, the Bible tells us in verse 9 that the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision. And this is what he said to him, Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent. for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, for I have many people in this city." Yes, the going is tough, persecution is rough, but Paul hung in there Because I have many people in this city. And through the preaching of the Gospel, you are to call them out from a life of sin. A few years ago, I was preaching through a series of messages in my own church entitled, Motives, Biblical Motives for Evangelism. And one of the statements I made was that among the prostitutes in our city were God's elect. One lady in the church was particularly affected by this. She spoke with a few other ladies and they decided to go into the streets at night. to speak to these prostitutes. The initial experience was entering a world they did not know existed. A dark, dark world. To cut the long story short, within this period, Three of those women are baptized members of our congregation from such a dark past. And they're some of the most wonderful Christians, hard-working Christians in our membership. And they bring in their friends. We should not limit God's elect to those who are almost saved, those who've grown up in our pews because they've grown up in our Christian homes, the well-nurtured, religious, middle-class individuals round about us. No, some of them are among the ruffians of our city. And unless we come to terms with this fact, that God's elect are in all these communities, we will not endure as Paul endured. The malice of men to get the gospel to them. But when we realize that God's elect may be they, we will be willing to suffer anything for their sake. And that's what Paul was doing here. Now, the reason why this reminder becomes a source of inspiration is simply because the preaching of the gospel is God's means of drawing in His elect. Look at the way the Apostle Paul puts it back in our text. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 10, Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The Apostle Paul has said it earlier on, remember Verse 8, that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. And it is for this gospel that I am suffering trouble as an evildoer. However, I am willing to suffer because it is through this gospel that the elect will obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The logic there is unstoppable. Paul is saying that yes, God has chosen His elect people from before the foundation of the world. He has also chosen the means by which they will be brought into the kingdom, the gospel. This good news concerning Jesus Christ the Son of God who came into the world, sinners to save. He did it by His life, and above all, by His death and resurrection, proclaiming it to sinners, what is called the free offer of the gospel, so that God may call them from death to life. Putting it a little differently, salvation is the work of God. It is God who saves. The Holy Spirit regenerates dead souls. He has chosen to do it through the gospel. When sinners hear His voice, new life the dead receive. And that's why the Gospel must still be preached. We who preach in many ways are like an individual, a good example being Ezekiel in the valley of Dry Bong. We are among the dead. We know it, that without an act of God, our words are mere words, dropping lifeless a few meters in front of us. But when God the Holy Spirit is pleased, when that is the day in God's eternal counsel, When he was to draw that elect soul to himself, God will use that same word, give it divine energy, life-giving energy, and cause the dead to rise. That's what the Gospel does. And the Apostle Paul was convinced of this. That's why he called it the power of God. Says in the book to the Romans, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. He says, even in our text here, that the word of God is not chained. They can chain me. They can't change God's Word. They can't inhibit the Word of God. When it has gone forth and the Spirit is pleased to use it, to call in His own, they will come in and obtain their salvation with eternal glory. And it is only when this rescue operation being done through gospel preaching is over that God will bring history to an end. And therefore, the great work of evangelism must go on. Many times in most unexpected quarters, We're going to reap a harvest we did not expect. All because God has his elect people there. We don't know who they are. He alone knows. And what he does is to send us with that message that brings them to salvation. Like a fisherman, Our task is to simply place the hook under the lip of the fish. When God the Holy Spirit begins to draw that fish out of the water, it will splatter, it will dance, it will do what it wants, it will soon be out of that water in the basket. The Spirit is all power. It's not us putting up a gallant fight. We preach the gospel as faithfully as we know how. And oh, what a great work. I wonder, is your evangelistic and mission zeal flagging? Are you getting to a point where you are giving up this work? Perhaps you are discouraged? I'd like to plead with you to listen to the words that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to Paul in Corinth. Just give your ears to those words. As He said to him, do not be afraid, but speak. and do not keep silent for I am with you and no one will attack you to hurt you for I have many people in this city I have my own out there in the world meditate much upon this truth that God has his elect people out there. And therefore he sends us to be faithful in gospel preaching. Meditate much on the doctrines of grace in a balanced way. Recognize the fact that human beings are totally depraved. Yes! But at the same time, our God is one who has unconditionally elected, who has gone on to particularly purchase those individuals. And he's a God of irresistible grace. Therein should lie our strength, and our encouragement. And by His grace, when He has saved these individuals, we will meet them in heaven. It doesn't matter even if all hell breaks loose upon their souls. He will persevere in them and they will persevere in the world. Recognize the fact also that God has not only chosen those who will be saved, He has also chosen the means by which they will be saved. And in that we see both His sovereignty and our responsibility. He has chosen. We have been called to be faithful, to do His work. That's what Calvinism says, if we have a true understanding of it. Therefore, when I read verses such as this, I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. I have no difficulties in answering the question, does Calvinism kill evangelism? My answer is certainly not. It is hyper-Calvinism that does. Eternal and gracious God, many of us tend to be Calvinists in head, but hyper-Calvinists in practice. Though doctrinally we believe and teach both your sovereignty, 100 percent, and our responsibility, 100 percent, when face to face with the muddy trenches, the fierce bullets of the battlefield, we run away. Forgive us, O God, and help us to pulsate within our souls with those truths that made pioneer missionaries such a gallant force, that despite disease, persecution, hardship, and death, more and more of them went forth in gospel labors. And help us to see the army of gallant soldiers that have gone on ahead of us. The Whitefields and Spurgeons who no doubt embraced these truths and were a shining light for the gospel in their own day. In the light of all this, O God, help us to respond to that appeal of Paul, to be strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to labor as an athlete, training for the rest, to labor as a hard-working farmer under the heat of the noonday sun, supping all our strength. But because of the great reward that lies ahead, laboring to the break of day. Oh, Father, grant that we might be faithful and we might be fruitful, to your glory and for the sake of the elect. Amen.