Notes:

1. In the Book of Acts we see the example of the apostles carrying out the mission of Christ – the preaching and proclaiming of the Gospel. What did they do?A. They preached repentance (turning) from sin – Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; 11:18; 14:15; 17:30; 19:18,19; 20:21; 26:20; They followed the example of the Lord Jesus – Matthew 4:17,Luke 24:47 – and John the Baptist – Mathew 3:2. B. They preached Jesus as Lord attested by God through miracles, signs and wonders – Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:2; 5:42; 8:35; 9:20; 13:23; 14:3,4.C. They proclaimed the exaltation of Jesus Christ as Lord, Messiah and the Son of God – Acts 2:33-36; 3:20, 21-26; 4:12; 5:31; 8:37; 9:20-22; 10:36,38; 17:5-9; 18:5.D. They preached the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins – Acts 2:23,24,36; 3:15; 5:30-32; 10:43; 13:38,39; 26:18. E. The proclaimed the resurrection of Christ – Acts 2:24-32; 3:15,26; 4:2,33; 5:30-32; 8:5; 10:40-43; 13:29,31; 14:30-37; 17:18,31.F. They preached the fact of Christ’s resurrection based on their (the apostles) eyewitness testimony – Acts 2:32; 3:15; 4:19,20; 5:30-32; 10:39-41; 13:28-31,34,37; 22:15; 23:11; 26:25,26.G. They preached the resurrection and power of Jesus Christ as “common knowledge”. – Acts 2:22-24; 3:13-17; 4:7,10; 5:31,32; 8:25,35; 10:40,41.H. They preached the Gospel and the Holy Spirit gave witness with the miraculous display of power. – Acts 2:43; 3:1-11; 4:33; 5:1-12,14-16,30-32; 8:5-7,13 ; 14:3,4; 15:7,8,12 ; 19:11-19; 9:34, 40-43.’rnI. They preached salvation from our sin through faith in Christ – not works. – Acts 8:37; 10:43; 13:38,39; 15:1,7-11; 16:30-34; 20:24.J. They taught the newly established believers in Christ the Word of God. – Acts 2:42; 5:42; 6:24; 15:35; 19:10,20; 20:27.K. They baptized the new believers in Christ in water and they received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. – Acts 5:32 ; 8:14-17; 10:44-48 ; 11:13-18; 18:8; 19:1-7; 22:16.L. They preached the Gospel and some people believed the Gospel and received Jesus Christ and others did not believe and rejected Him . – Acts 2:37-41; 4:4,13-18; 5:14,17,18, 33: 6:1,7,9-15; 7:54; 8:6; 11:19-21,24-26; 13:42,43,45-52; 14:1,2,5,6,19-22; 16:5,20-23 ; 17:4-9,12,13,32-34 ; 18:4-6,8 ; 19:9,17-20; 19:26; 21:27-30,36 ; 22:22,23; 23:12; 28:24,26-29.M. They preached the Gospel and persecution followed. – Acts 4 – 1st persecution, Acts 5 – 2nd persecution, Acts 6 – 3rd persecution, Acts 7 – Stephen’s martyrdom, Acts 8 – 4th persecution, Acts 12 – 5th persecution, Acts 13:50, Acts 14:5,6, 19,20. – numerous persecutions.N. They preached the Gospel and when necessary they defended the Gospel. – Acts 13:6-12; 15:1,2; 17:16-32 ; 20:27-32.The apostles and early church preachers of the Gospel insisted that Jesus Christ was Lord based on (3) essential facts:A. Jesus’ resurrection. – Acts 2:22-32. Romans 1:1-4.B. Their eyewitness record and account of what happened in Jesus’ life and ministry. – Acts 2:32; Acts 3:15.C. The fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. – Acts 3:18.The record of these evidences and the proclamation of the Gospel are found in the Book of Acts.2. The following is a list of the books and authors that provide excellent reading material on defending the Gospel. This list is provided with the title of the book and the name of the primary author. There may be various editions and publication dates for these books, but this information will not be provided here:1. The Kingdom of the Cults – Walter Martinrn2. The Kingdom of the Occult – Walter Martin, Jill Martin, Kurt Van Gordenrn3. Handbook of Today’s Religions – Josh McDowell, Don Stewartrn4. Reasoning from the Scriptures with Mormons – Ron Rhodesrn5. Mormonism – Anthony Hoekemarn6. The Changing World of Mormonism – Jerald and Sandra Tannerrn7. The New Cults – Walter Martinrn8. How to Witness to a Jehovah’s Witness – William Schnellrn9. Scripture Twisting. 20 Ways the Cults Misread the Bible – James Sirern10. Jesus Among Other Gods – Ravi Zacharias3. It is important for every believer in Jesus Christ to fully understand that the effort to expose counterfeit gospels is not simply a matter of opinion or philosophy, it is a spiritual battle.The Bible teaches the reality of Satan. Jesus encounters him in the very crucial test that is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12,13; Luke 4:1-13. Jesus refers to him as the father of lies – John 8:44 and the apostle Peter warns believers to – “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” – I Peter 5:8.The apostle Paul stated that behind the false apostles and counterfeit gospels is Satan himself – “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” – II Corinthians 11:13-15. The apostle Paul refers to these false prophets and deceivers as Satan’s “ministers”.The pride and spiritual arrogance of cultic leaders is exposed over time and it becomes evident that their “wisdom” is earthy, even demonic and certainly not godly. James 3:17, 18 describes the difference between earthly wisdom and godly wisdom. Earthy wisdom – exalts self, trusts in self, seeks self’s ways and the fruit if it is envy, strife, confusion and evil. Godly wisdom – exalts God, trusts in God, seeks God’s ways and the fruit of it is purity, peace with no hypocrisy and no partiality.Ephesians 6:12-20 teaches that the presentation and defense of the Gospel is not just about words or people’s responses, but that there is a spiritual battle that must be engaged and this requires a soldier’s armor and weaponry. We must put on the whole armor of God: 1. The belt of truth – knowledge of God’s truthful character applied to our lives – truth and honesty. 2. The breastplate of righteousness – Christ’s character which is the fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22.23. 3. Our feet fitted with the readiness to preach the Gospel – a willing desire to preach Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 4. The shield of faith – total trust and absolute confidence in God’s power by which we can extinguish (quench) all the arrows of the evil one. 5. The helmet of salvation – a right relationship with God through faith is Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 6. The sword of the Spirit – the Word of God, the Bible. We keep the armor on by “praying in the Spirit.” – Ephesians 6:13-184. Something that I have learned that has helped me in my defense of the Gospel is the fact that God has never entrusted to me the job of determining a person’s heart and then judging their eternal standing with Him. That is a task that belongs only to God. He alone is the Judge of someone’s heart. Nowhere in Scripture is there an indication that God has entrusted that responsibility to us. The task that He has given to us is to “preach the word, be instant in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.” – II Timothy 4:2-5. We are to “prove (test) all things and hold fast to that which is good.” – I Thessalonians 5:21. We like Paul, are to be “set for the defense of the Gospel.” – Philippians 1:17. This is our task.II Timothy 2:19 – “the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord knows those who are His, and, let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” God alone knows those who belong to Him and our job is to be faithful to His Word and leave the rest up to him.5. Time has a way of exposing those who really belong to Christ. People who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ and yet are not genuine in their faith, eventually demonstrate that reality. When an individual begins to compromise the simple truth of the Gospel, pulls away from fellowship and identification with the church and then influences others in their separation, their true nature is exposed. This is what the apostle John was referring to when he wrote to fellow believers in I John 2:19,26. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that it might be made manifest that none of them were of us… These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you.”This particular letter written by the apostle John to his fellow believers in Christ, is one of the most important narratives in the New Testament dealing with the importance of believing and defending the basics of the Gospel – (the Person and the work of Jesus Christ). Here John deals directly with the reality that some people who look and sound like Christians really are not and they need to be exposed as such- Matthew 7:21-29. Over the course of time this true indication will be demonstrated. Many times the ones who deceive and corrupt the Gospel message are ones who, at one time, identified themselves as believers in Christ. This is always very disappointing for those who love Jesus Christ and His church. But our task is to love Jesus, preach and defend the Gospel and care for one another and sometimes in fulfilling this task the discouraging fact of false believers among us will be encountered. The Scriptures also instruct us that we are to warn and attempt to correct a wandering brother or sister in Christ. “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” – James 5:19,20.“Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” – Galatians 6:1.The other response that we have to remember is that we are called to “contend earnestly for the faith.” The book of Jude provides a very clear instruction regarding this. “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Jude 3,4.The Scriptures teach us that both of these responses are our responsibility. There are times when we need to love, encourage, exhort and correct one who is straying from the faith. In this situation, we are to follow the procedure lined out by Christ in Matthew 18:15-17. There are other instances where we must strongly contend for the faith and expose those who proclaim counterfeit gospels – Jude 3,4,20-25.