The Reason For Our Boldness

Once we become Christians, we have a responsibility to share the truth of salvation with others. But oftentimes, we are not bold in sharing our faith because we have questions and doubts about exactly what the gospel is. For more messages from Charles Stanley

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The reason for our boldness when you hear the word gospel, what do you think?
Do you think Jesus Cross, John 3 16, the Bible, what do you think when you hear about the cross and you hear about the gospel primarily?
Well, people think different things and one of the reasons I think many people do not understand what the Christian life is all about and they do not witness, they do not share their faith is because here’s one of those words, they’ve been hearing all of their life and they say they’ve trusted Jesus Christ as their personal savior.
But they couldn’t even tell you what the gospel is. If someone should ask you.
Now, what’s the gospel? What would you say if they said to you?
Well, explain, explain the gospel to me. What would you say to them?
And what happens is because we’re not confident. We’re not bold because we’re not sure we’re not bold.
And because we have questions and doubts about the things we believe.
We’re not bold and we let people sometimes intimidate us for the simple reason.
We think that they know better than we do and they think we think that they know more than we do.
And oftentimes we think that what they have to say is more important than what we have to say.
Nothing could be further from the truth. If you understand the gospel. Now, if you don’t understand it.
You could get intimidated by somebody, but I want us to think about what this gospel is all about and the fact that boldness, confidence is what every single believer needs in this day and time as in every day because we’re confronted with so much rubbish, so many philosophies, so many ideas that are so totally unscripted.
It’s amazing. Oftentimes how little someone is willing to believe about something they don’t know anything about, but just something different.
Just so it’s different when you’re Christian. No, no, no, I, I Christian stuff don’t work. You read the Bible?
No, no, I don’t read the Bible.
In other words, if they told you why, they really couldn’t tell you why they don’t know what they believe, but they’re willing to argue with you about what you believe.
So what I want us to understand before you leave here today and for all of you who are watching and listening, what is the gospel?
And I want us to begin by looking at the place of the gospel in the life of Jesus.
For example, if you remember when Jesus started in this ministry, uh he said in that fourth chapter of uh Luke, he said, the spirit of God is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel that is he had empowered him and commissioned him and called him to preach the gospel.
And of course, Jesus uh began to go through the cities and towns of Galilee and other places and preaching and teaching.
And everywhere he went, he was talking about the Kingdom and the Kingdom of God and, and the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
And also when he went back to Nazareth, his hometown, he mentioned the fact that the prophet is usually not accepted in his hometown.
So he began to preach in the synagogue.
And as a result, uh they were just astounded and amazed and just complimenting him and just couldn’t be greater where this man get all this authority.
And then he gave an illustration in his message.
And the next thing you knew, they stood up and just the, the Bible says, they were in agony against him and drove him out of the synagogues and we’re gonna kill him, push him off the mountain, but he just walked away.
The gospel has different effects on people.
And then of course, uh Jesus spent his time talking to his disciples about the gospel, explaining to them how to explain it to other people.
He sent them out. He said to make disciples.
He said, for example, the 16th chapter mark, he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
And in the 24th chapter of Matthew, uh part of which most of which has to do with the, the tribulation period.
He said, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world. And then the end will come.
So Jesus spent his three years preaching the gospel, preaching the truth, sharing the truth with those who were his most intimate friends, the disciples, plus everybody else that he healed and multiplied fish and did all kind of things.
It was the gospel. And so he said to them, as you go make disciples of all nations that is you teach them what I’ve taught you, he says, uh teaching them all things that I’ve taught you.
And what he was saying is I want you to spread this message of the gospel all over the world and he commissioned them to do it.
And he said, now before you go, I want you to be filled with the spirit of God.
Wait in the city of Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit has come upon you, then you’ll be ready, then you’ll be equipped to take on the whole world.
So that was the gospel as far as Jesus was concerned.
But look at it as far as the Apostle Paul, now the place of the gospel and the life of the apostle Paul.
So I want you to turn to Romans chapter one and let’s look at this passage.
And uh the book of Romans is the theology book of the whole Bible because there’s so much of it here.
And so Paul writing to the Romans first chapter verse one, watch what he says, Paul, a bond servant of Christ Jesus called as an apostle set apart for the gospel of God.
He calls it the gospel of God.
Here in the uh the, the second chapter, he says that three times the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets and the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh.
So he says this gospel concerns Jesus who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ, our Lord, he gives you a big mouthful to start with, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the gentiles for his name’s sake, among whom you also are the call of Jesus Christ To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called Us Saints Grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now I want you to go to verse 14.
Then he says, I am under obligation both to Greeks and the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
So for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome for, I’m not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it that is in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written.
But the righteous man shall live by faith. Now, the Apostle Paul understood the truth of the Gospel.
Where did it begin with Him on the Damascus Road when he was on his way to persecute Christians?
And scripture says that God revealed himself to him and blinded. And finally, God gave him his sight back.
But in those moments, he was transformed, he said, who are thou Lord?
And God revealed to him himself, that is Jesus Christ.
He had this awesome transforming experience, went into the uh desert for some time and studied and listened because remember he was a pharisee and um he knew all about Hebrew history.
He knew all about the, the past, but here was something dramatic that had happened to him that changed his life.
He was, he was out to destroy the very Christ that met him on the, on the uh the road to Damascus.
So when you look at the apostle Paul, I want you to see the place of the Gospel in his life and to explain something so that when you walk out of here today or wherever you are, you understand what the gospel is.
And you will also understand your responsibility, your accountability to God to share the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around you.
So let’s think uh for just a moment.
And um here’s what he said in this first verse, he said, he was Paul who was set apart for the gospel of God that is God set him apart as a, an apostle, a preacher, a missionary of the gospel of Christ.
He says in first Corinthians, he said he was called, he was called to be an apostle.
And in Galatians chapter two verse seven, he says it was entrusted to him.
Now watch this, remember that God called Paul primarily to preach first of all to the gentiles.
And so when he says here in this passage, he was entrusted with the Gospel and Galatians, he makes uh the explanation, explanation of that, that um to be entrusted with something means it’s been given to you for a specific reason and entrusted to you.
You’re accountable. Paul says, I am accountable for the truth of the gospel which has been given to me.
And so he saw himself as a steward of the gospel.
God had entrusted him with things that he had entrusted no one else with till that point.
And the truth is the apostle Paul had the most accurate, clearest vision understanding of who Jesus was of anybody of his time.
And so he says, I’ve, I’ve been entrusted in the gospel.
He felt the weight of that, that it was his responsibility to get the truth out there.
Because a as the other uh others before him had shared with him, what Jesus said, for example, going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
And so the Apostle Paul took that personally and he said, God called him and that God had entrusted him with the gospel and that he had also appointed him for the defense of the gospel.
In Philippians chapter, one of what’s happening is that he’s in jail and he’s writing to the Philippians Christians and he’s talking about people criticizing him and so forth.
But he said, you know, he said, God had entrusted him with this gospel and he also had worked in his life in such a way that he intended for him to be in defense of the gospel.
He was to defend the Gospel.
And of course, God gave him lots of opportunities because when he was in Athens, for example, he’s up on Mars Hill talking to all these philosophers and so called intelligent of his day.
And uh he knew exactly how to handle that because he understood what the Gospel was all about.
He understood the truth and the problem is today, most people don’t know the truth.
If they knew the truth, they wouldn’t live the way they’re living.
If they knew the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they would be willing to share what they know, entrusted with it.
Listen, the day you got saved, you had an experience with Jesus Christ.
And at that moment, you were entrusted with the knowledge of who Jesus was of his death and his resurrection.
And your experience of faith in Him, you not only experience the gospel, you are entrusted to share it.
And I wonder if you feel any of that responsibility, that words, you don’t just get saved and sit down.
Thank thank God on my way to heaven.
You’ve been entrusted with the most awesome incomparable, powerful message the world could ever hear.
There is nothing to equal the gospel. You can go through all the religions that exist.
They have nothing that even begins to compare with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
They don’t, you can ask any of them will tell me what you believe and they’ll tell you what they believe.
They don’t, they don’t have any peace. They don’t have any real joy. They have, they have no eternal security.
There’s no promise of going to heaven and everything in every religion is based on is the works of the people you’re talking to.
If I’m good enough, if I do enough, if I fast enough, if I, if I deprive myself, it’s all works, works, works, works, works.
And the reason that I’m having a real secure is because you never know how much works, how many works.
You never know how long you gotta work. It’s absolutely totally incomplete.
There’s no satisfaction and no assurance in any other message in the world except the gospel and to be entrusted with that is a treasure.
And if I should ask you if you’re a wealthy person you’d probably say, well, no, I’m not wealthy.
If you have the gospel, you are, you have the most precious message there is in the world.
The only message that gets you from this earth to heaven is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So Paul says, I’m appointed for the defense of it.
That’s why he was always in arguments with people and defending the truth of the gospel.
And I remember this, he had this, this experience on the Damascus Road.
That is his salvation was his foundation for everything else he taught.
You have, you have a foundation and you see, here’s the problem.
Many people think they don’t have any testimony. That’s why they don’t witness.
Well, I don’t have a testimony and here’s the way the devil has trapped us people today think, well, you have a testimony either have to have been on drugs, alcohol, abortion, three marriages, robbed a bank.
In other words, you, you, you, you’ve got to have had this terrible, terrible testimony before anybody is going to be excited.
And so I was talking to somebody this week and when I said to them about their testimony, the person said to me, I don’t have a testimony.
I said, oh, wait a minute. Now, you don’t have a testimony. Have you been saved? Yes.
So I asked a number of questions and every answer I got a yes.
I said, well, look here, here’s what you’re thinking.
You’re thinking the way the world thinks because you didn’t have a bad background.
Everything was terrible and you’ve been poor and they treated you this way and then you got saved and things got better.
And look at this testimony. I said, let me tell you a better testimony than that.
And I said to this person, you have a wonderful testimony because you grew up in a Christian home, you got saved.
I happen to know about this person at the age of five. You were in Sunday school early.
Uh We, we prayed at your house and uh read the Bible and I just went through all these things and how God had worked in that person’s life.
And by the time I got through smiling, well, I guess I do have a testimony.
Well, I said here, here’s the problem you think because it isn’t bad that it’s not dramatic.
Let me tell you how much better it is.
It’s a whole lot better if you get started early and be taught to live a Godly life and be in the word of God and following God’s will and purpose and plan for your life.
That’s a whole lot. Listen, that’s not dramatic as far as the world is concerned. But you know what?
It’s not dramatic, they don’t understand it.
And so when people say well, so and so is coming to give their testimony.
Well, what did, what did they do? That’s not the question. That’s not the question.
It’s who are they? How did God work in their life?
And I wanna say to you, you have, you’ve been saved, you’ve got a testimony.
If you just stop and think what God’s done in your life, you have a testimony.
So Paul was ready and willing to defend the gospel because of the testimony he had.
Then he’s, he spoke of being anointed as a preacher of the apostle.
So I want you to look at this passage in Second Timothy for a moment because it’s a pretty explanatory.
And uh I just, I just want you to see uh in this uh first chapter of Second Timothy.
And uh let’s begin reading um uh verse six, Timothy, for example, was rather timid.
And uh so Paul had to encourage him a little bit along the way.
And so in verse six, for this reason, I remind you to kindle a fresh the gift of God which is in you to the laying on of my hands.
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity of fear, but of power and of love and discipline.
Therefore, listen to what he said because of what God has done for you in your life, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.
Listen the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us called us with the holy colon, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.
But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus who abolished death, brought life and immortal to life through the Gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle and a teacher.
For this reason, I suffer these things, but I am not ashamed if you and I would think about how God’s worked in our life.
We have no reason to be ashamed of the gospel.
So when somebody confronts you and says, well, you know, uh I don’t understand all that and that doesn’t work for me.
It won’t work unless you trust the Lord.
But Paul saw himself as a preacher, as a teacher, as an, as, as an apostle set apart called by God and appointed for the defense of the gospel.
Now, in this 14, 15, 16 verses here in Romans, I want you to notice uh what he says.
He says in verse 14, watch this. This is, this is what motivated him.
He said I am obligated both the Greeks and the barbarians.
And that was the way of his saying to the Greeks who were supposed to be the most knowledgeable and they, and they were in many ways, their civilization has probably never been uh really totally surpassed.
But he says, he says, I’m obligated both the Greeks, the most educated and refined and the barbarians, the lowest part of the earth, both to the wise and the foolish.
So for my part, I’m eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome for, I’m not ashamed of the gospel, but it’s the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes Jew first and also Greeks.
So I’ll ask you a question.
He says, I am obligated to preach the truth.
Let me ask you a question. Do you feel obligated?
They share the gospel with anybody? Obligation speaks of a responsibility.
Do you feel obligated? And if you, if a person feels obligated to share the gospel, where should they start in their family?
In other words, every father who is a believer is obligated to teach his Children the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ very early in life.
Every mother is responsible to teach those Children the truth of the gospel very early in life and then live it out before them.
We all have an obligation. You have friends who are not Christians, you have the truth of the gospel.
Listen the only message that can get that person from earth to heaven. You’ve got it. You’re obligated.
Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. You say I’m not a preacher.
You don’t have to be a preacher. You just have to have the message.
You have to have an experience with Christ have the message.
You’re obligated to share it with people who do not have the message you say, well, suppose they don’t listen, we’ll ask the Apostle Paul what he did.
He just kept on talking. He said, I’m not ashamed of the gospel.
No matter what they say, no matter whether they believe it or not, we’re obligated.
Every father in here feels obligated to take care of his family. You should financial in every other way.
What about the gospel obligated to teach them obligated to live before them. A godly life?
He said, I’m not only obligated, he said, but something else I wanna tell you.
He says, I’m not only obligated but I’m eager to do it. He said that there’s something within me.
There’s a, there’s a burning within me. There’s a desire within me to get the truth of the gospel.
He said, I’m eager to do it. So I ask you another question. Is there anybody that you can say?
I am eager to tell them about Christ. I’m eager to share my testimony with them.
I am eager to see that that person gets saved. I’m eager to pull out my heart.
I’m eager to do whatever is necessary that they would, that they would hear the gospel.
Now people are eager to get a job.
They’re eager to have a new car, eager to have been able to either to keep their home or buy a new one.
They’re eager to be dressed right. And we, we’re eager about a lot of things. Are we eager about?
The most important thing in existence is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There’s no message like it, no message like it.
There’s no message they can do for you. What the gospel can do for you.
Is there anybody? You are eager to tell when I go to a restaurant, I am eager to find out something.
And so I’m gonna ask a few questions and if, if it’s a lady or a man doesn’t make any difference, I’m gonna say, well, you certainly have a pleasing personality.
You know what’s happened as soon as I say that light up because they’ve probably been ignored and didn’t get a good tip last time or whatever it might be.
So they light up. Then I oftentimes say, where are you from?
They’ll tell me then if I’m just going from there, people listen, people are interested in people who are interested in them.
I could go sit down and ignore the person, whoever it might be, but that’s not who I am.
In other words, when you have an eagerness in your heart, you’re always your antennas are out and somebody will say something and, or maybe if somebody says, and, and in fact, uh, I was, I was somewhere, uh, eating in this place and I knew by this, by this person’s expression and by her counting that something was wrong.
So I just said, are you having a bad day?
She looked at me and I was sitting there with a friend of mine.
She said, how did you know?
I said, well, you just didn’t look like you were very happy.
I said, do you have any peace in your life? And we’re right in the restaurant.
She said, no, I don’t. Listen.
When God stirs your heart, you’re gonna have an eagerness to tell it. Listen.
How could you not tell it? It’s the most powerful message in the world.
You can challenge anybody in the world. Give me your message versus the message of the gospel.
They don’t have anything. And Paul said, listen, not only am I not, not only do I feel obligated, I’m eager to tell it.
And besides that, I’m not ashamed of it.
I wonder how many of you are ashamed of the gospel and don’t know it.
Why don’t you tell it? You work around people who are lost.
You said we’re not, not allowed to, not allowed to talk about Jesus on my job.
Well, go to lunch when you’re out of the building, you’re on your own.
Listen, you and I live around people and, and when you work in the workplace like you do, you work around, you are living around people, listen, who are desperately hungry for something.
They don’t know what it is and you do and you’re on the obligation.
You’ve been entrusted with the truth. Week after week after week, you’re entrusted with truth. You have responsibility.
And Paul said, I’m eager to tell it because listen, he said, I’m obligated to, I’m eager to tell it because there’s no message to match it.
Listen, when you understand the gospel, I’m gonna, I’m gonna explain what that is in a few moments, but I’m working up to it when you understand what the gospel is and how simple it is to explain it to somebody.
You’re gonna wanna tell it. You live around people every day.
They are, they’re hungry, they are, they don’t know, they don’t know what they’re looking for.
And if you start talking about church, they’ll say I don’t, church of business don’t start with church.
Here’s where you start with, where they’re hurting.
Most people are hurting over something just start where they are.
And if they’re one of those cocky prop, egotistical person who’s got it all together in the center, that’s just a cover up.
So you just watch for the cover up and then you watch for the people who are willing to admit that they’re hurting and, and you just ask God and Lord, I want you to open the door for me.
You so how knows he’s gonna open the door?
Here’s what’s gonna happen when you’re eager to tell it.
He’s gonna open the door and you’re gonna know immediately this is my opportunity.
And then if you say, oh, but I suppose they say that it doesn’t mean that’s what they say.
When you express genuine interest in somebody, they start letting down that they’re living in sin.
Your very presence may be a real, a real hindrance to them because they know that you’re living a Godly life and they are not.
And they, and so they don’t want to talk to you.
Then you say, ok, just start praying for him. But God make him so miserable, make him so miserable.
Lord, they’ll ask me about it. You don’t think he’ll answer that prayer. Yes, he will.
Because listen, Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel, every creature and he wasn’t just talking to a bunch of disciples.
All of us, we all have our world. Some people’s world is bigger than others. But that’s not the issue.
I’m only responsible for the world that I have an opportunity to touch and all of us have a big world, an opportunity to touch.
So Paul said, I’m obligated, I’m, I’m eager to do it.
And besides that, I’m unashamed now, I want you to turn to First Corinthians chapter nine for a moment because he says something else here.
Chapter nine that I think is a very, very important. Chapter nine.
First Corinthians lucky if you will in verse 16.
For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of for I am under compulsion.
I am compelled to do it something within me. Just moves me in that direction. I am compelled.
Then he says, for woe is me.
If I do not preach the gospel, now, I want you to turn back if you will to, I’m coming back to that, to the 20th chapter of Jeremiah twenth chapter of Jeremiah Paul said, woe is me if I don’t preach the gospel or what do you mean by that?
Well, Jeremiah the prophet, in fact, he, in fact, he’s sort of arguing with God here because he’s uh he’s going through some real suffering and persecution in verse seven.
It says, oh, Lord, you’ve deceived me and I was deceived, you have overcome me and prevailed.
I’ve become a laughing stock all day long.
Everyone mocks me for each time I speak, I cry loud, I proclaim violence and destruction.
And what he was saying was that the message that God had given him was a message of warning to Israel that the Babylonians are coming and they’re gonna destroy the nation and you need to wake up and get right with God.
They didn’t wanna hear that just like people don’t wanna hear today.
Then he says, I proclaim violence and destruction because for me, the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and the reason all day long, what are you saying is God, I’m preaching the gospel.
I’m telling what you want me to know and all they’re doing is persecute me. But then let watch this.
But if I say I will not remember him or speak any more in his name, then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire.
Shut up in my bones and I’m wary of holding it in and I cannot endure it.
That’s what war was all about.
And I wonder when you meet somebody, you know, somebody who’s lost, you know, that I, if, if they were to get killed today, they wouldn’t go to heaven, they’d be separated from God forever.
We don’t like to talk about hell and separation from God. Well, that’s what he was saying.
They couldn’t stand what he was saying.
And what he said happened, the Babylonians came, destroyed the nation to some, to a great degree.
So what is his woe? There was, here’s what it is, is this feeling within Him?
That was so horrible. If he thought he could not speak the truth of the gospel.
He said war with me.
What I can’t even imagine what it would be like Paul said not to preach it.
And what he was saying, it’s like a fire burning on the inside of him.
And I would ask you, do you have a son or a daughter who’s living in sin?
And if so, do you feel obligated? Are you eager? Do you have something burning on the inside of you?
Are you unashamed to confront them in love with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Oh, I may drive them away.
They’re already driven. They’re driven by the devil.
You need to reach out with the gospel of truth and of love and of forgiveness and draw them to Christ as best.
You know, how we are obligated.
You have the message you would say, for example, let’s say that if I were to fall off here and break my leg and there’s a doctor sitting on the second row, I suppose he said, well, somebody ought to help him.
Would you not feel with his oath to be a doctor that he’d have an obligation to step up here and help me?
Right then. Amen. Well, what about all these people on their way to hell?
What about all these people separated from God who are miserably lost? They don’t like being lost.
They just don’t know what’s going on. We, we have the truth. Listen, you are to the lost person.
What that physician would be to me. I’m in trouble. I’ve broken my leg.
I’m in terrible pain and you can help me and you’re working around living around people and listen in your family.
There are people who won’t even talk to each other about Jesus and their family. Well, they’ll just be critical.
So what they crucified Paul in every way possible. Finally, it cost him his life.
They beheaded him in Rome, but he never ceased to preach the gospel because he felt obligated.
He had an eagerness. He was unashamed, he was willing.
He said it’s the gospel of God, it’s the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And he says, I’m gonna tell it no matter what.
And so what we found here is Paul saying that he was obligated and, uh, he had to tell it.
Now, let’s look at the nature of the gospel for a moment now because I haven’t even defined though I’ve been talking about it, but I’m leading up to that and the source of it.
And I’ve said to you several times, Paul said, for example, in Galatians chapter one, that the gospel is not of Him, it’s not a man, it’s of God.
That’s where it comes from. It’s called the Gospel of God three times in first Thessalonians chapter two and Paul called it the word of truth.
Now, the word gospel is a Greek word is a word is a big long word, but it’s the word for gospel.
And so what does Gideon mean? It means good news. The very word gospel means good news.
But I want you to get this definition down because when somebody says what’s the gospel? Here’s what it is.
It’s the good news of Jesus Christ and his offer of salvation through his death, burial and resurrection to be received by faith.
That is the God. I want you to jot it down.
Then I want you to turn to First Corinthians 15 because where did I get this out of the Bible?
And the 15th chapter first Corinthians first Corinthians 15 is all about the resurrection.
He begins this passage with these words. Listen to what he says in the first few verses.
Now I make known to you brethren the gospel.
Listen, I make known to you brethren the gospel, which I preach to you.
So he’s getting ready to tell him what it is.
He says, I make known to you brother the gospel, which I preach to you, which also you received in which also you stand and by which also you are saved makes it very clear by the gospel.
If you hold fast, the word which I preach that you really believe and truly believe that unless you believed in vain, here’s the gospel verse three for I deliver to you as a first importance.
What I also receive that is the gospel Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.
That is, that is the Gospel itself.
It becomes the truth that transforms my life when I put faith to it. That is when I believe it.
So when somebody says, what’s the gospel?
If put that, put that back up there again, I wanna be sure everybody got it.
It’s the good news we said means good news.
It is the good news of the gospel about Jesus Christ and his offer of salvation by faith.
You believe that he died and paid our sin debt in full.
That is not just died, but this is the son of God who died.
And in the process of doing so, he paid our sin debt in full.
And therefore we put our trust in Him. That is the Gospel and we’re saved.
Everybody gets saved the same way. They may not have the same experience.
But if a person, if a person does not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, or he was just a good man that won’t cut it.
Jesus Christ, the son of God came into this world sent by the Father for the purpose of dying on the cross to pay for our sin, death, buried, risen and in the process of doing so gives us the gift of salvation by faith.
That is the gospel. That is the message that every person on the face of this earth needs to hear and understand.
Now you say, well, how, how, what do you have to, how much explanation is there?
Well, here’s a whole bunch of it right here. That was God’s bigger than a couple of verses.
What I want you to see is this any person who says, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God that he died on the cross for my sins, was buried and rose again for my salvation.
I accept him by faith as my savior and Lord and trust him to be just what he promised and do what he promised to be my savior.
That’s all a person has to know, but they have to believe it.
He said, well, what about all this back in the Old Testament?
All that’s God’s preparation for the coming of the Messiah.
You and I have the message when you walk out of here today.
Or when you turn off the television or the radio, you’re under obligation to deal with this message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and his death.
And he, you’re under obligation. When you hear it, you’re obligated to believe it.
When you believe it and your life is transformed, you’re obligated to share it.
That’s what the Great Commission was all about. That’s what Jesus was saying.
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
You say, well, I can’t go into all the world.
You have a world that was your world may be this big or that big.
But you and I are under obligation.
We ought to be eager, we ought to be unashamed and absolutely committed and willing to defend the gospel whenever is necessary.
You, I don’t know what to say. Let me tell you the best thing you can say.
Let me tell you what happened to me to, to me the day I placed my life in the hands of God and trust in Him as my savior.
And so you and I have a message and that message is crystal clear.
And so when I think about uh how the Apostle Paul said it and, and I, I think about how, how could he have said it any better than that?
Now, think, think about this. It can also be bad news if I think that in order to be saved to be forgiven of my sins that I’ve got to work for it and do certain things for it.
That’s bad news and I’ll tell you why because you can’t ever figure out how long you have to work and what you have to do.
And in other words, that’s salvation by works is absolutely totally unscripted. It’s the idea that most people have.
You can ask most people. Uh, well, why do you think God’s gonna accept you?
And they’re gonna say, well, I’m not so bad.
I do this and I do that and I do the other.
There’s no security in that and there’s no real finality to it.
I’ve gotta work and one of these days if I’ve been good enough, I’ll be safe if that’s not a message.
What watch this? What makes it good news is this for by grace?
Are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, not of works lest any person should boast. It’s crystal clear.
You cannot get to heaven by works but you ask anybody you work around or why do you think they’re gonna tell you how good they are?
Well, listen, if I saw I could pick a few people and I could be around and I’d be a holy saint compared to them.
So I’d look pretty good comparatively. And that’s what people do they say.
Well, I don’t do this and I don’t do that or I’m not so bad and I’ve never been to prison and I’ve done all, never done all these, they pickies, bizarre things.
The truth is, it’s the grace of God and the grace of God, listen, the grace of God is his undeserved favor.
We’ll never deserve it. That’s why it’s not works.
The, the, the gospel is the grace of God given to mankind.
And as a result of His death and resurrection and our faith in the power of His death and resurrection, we are safe.
It’s all a matter of grace. In fact, what is it about salvation that we can boast of?
Not anything God is the one who reveals it. He sent the savior.
He paid the price. He reveals the truth and what do we do by faith? We accept it.
You’re saved by faith that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God.
He says, lest any person should boast. And this is why Paul was so adamant about it.
And he says, there’s something burning within me.
He knew in the, in the Greek or Roman world in which he lived.
It was all about other gods and all about emptiness and loneliness and, and they, they they had no answers.
Look around today, people who are not Christians, they don’t have any answers.
They have a front and they say, well, I’m, this is my religion and I believe in it and it satisfies me.
Well, where is it gonna take you other words? When it comes to death? Then what?
And it’s all gonna be on a matter of works. Well, how much works? Well, uh What did you do?
The gospel, the good news of the grace of God provided as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is a matchless message. In fact, it’s not only good news, it’s the best news.
It’s breathtaking news to think that God would love us that much.
And then when I think about that message, I think about it’s the only message at uh that, that’s adequate enough to know the will of God, to have the power within us, to live out the will of God, to have God’s promise of peace and protection and watch care and provision.
There’s no message like it. None.
So listen, the next time you start witnessing to somebody sharing your faith with them and they start giving you a lot of stuff.
Just say, well, what uh what as, what assurance do you have, what’s gonna, what’s gonna happen when you die?
Well, I don’t wanna talk about that one of these days.
You’re gonna want to talk about it. Now, I wanna give you something.
Um, I wanna give you a list of words because when you listen to watch this carefully, remember it’s good news.
It’s the good news of the saving power of God through Christ that comes into your life when you trust him as your personal savior.
Now you say, well, what, what happens when he saves me? I wanna give you a list of words.
Here’s the first one when you trust him as your savior. The Bible says crystal clear.
The Bible says that you are redeemed. First Peter, you’re redeemed by the blood of Jesus.
That means that Christ paid the price for your sin and purchased you so to speak.
And now you belong to God. Secondly, you are forgiven in the process of redeeming you.
He forgives you of all your sin, which means He does not hold it against you any longer.
The third word is justification because Jesus paid the price for your sins.
And even though He said the soul that sin that shall die and we’ve sinned since he paid our price, he now declares us no longer guilty and one of his Children, that’s what justification means.
He declares us no longer guilty. Have I been guilty? Yes.
How can he declare me not, no, no longer guilty because Jesus paid my sin debt.
Then the next word is reconciliation that is in my sinfulness.
I was away from God separated by sin. I am reconciled now to him.
That is, I’m brought back into fellowship with him. I have a personal relationship with him.
Now, that’s what reconciliation is all about. And then I am sanctified.
That means that when you trust in Jesus Christ, your personal savior, he comes in changes your life and does what sets you apart as one of his Children.
Listen, he sets you apart as one of his Children, for himself, for his glory and honor and for your good.
And the last word is glorification. He said, what in the world does that mean? Listen, thank God.
It’s the last step. And glorification means when, when, when he calls our name and he calls us home, we take our last step on this earth and we step into our reward and in the glory and all that God has for us in heaven.
Now let me ask you a question, who has a message that matches that nobody who, who’s got a message to match that, that almighty God redeems us and forgives us and justifies us.
Listen, when I, when I think about justifying me, reconciling me, bring, bring, bring him into a relationship with himself, sanctifying me, setting me in the right direction.
And then that sanctification is, is the Holy Spirit working in our lives for the rest of your life.
And then one day what happens, you take the last step in the glory.
There’s not anybody anywhere, no religion, no philosophy, no idea to match that that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, let me ask you a question.
That being true.
Give Me one reason why you should ever be ashamed to share it. Yes.
Anybody, nobody, why?
Because there’s no reason to be ashamed of the best news. Listen.
It’s not only good news, it’s the best news and nobody’s ever come up with a better news than that.
If you’ve never trusted him as your savior, it is my plea to you to stop and think about what you’ve heard.
I’ve just told you what God says. Not my opinion.
I’ve just quoted you some scriptures and tell you what God said.
If you’ve never trusted Him as your savior, listen, you don’t have any security.
You have no hope of eternal life, no assurance of eternal life because the Bible is so crystal clear that your works will not get you to heaven.
Because if they would God, the father made a horrible mistake in sending Jesus to the cross and dying.
And God doesn’t make any mistakes.
I am pleading with you to think about what you heard and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins, believing that He is the son of God, that He did come to down the cross, that he did shed his blood and pay your sin debt in full and in the process of doing so transform you, make your child of God seal you with the Holy Spirit and sanctify you unto himself that all the days of your life, he’ll be there in you with you and enabling you to become the person he wants you to be.
There’s no message to match it. You know, that’s true.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, when this is over, whether it’s your television, your radio or whether you’re sitting here, why don’t you just bow your head and say, God, I’ve made a mess of my life.
Uh He’s right. I don’t have any assurance about anything.
I’m asking you to forgive me of my sins based on what I’ve heard today that Jesus paid my sin that didn’t fill at the cross.
I do believe he’s the son of God. I do believe he died for me.
I do believe that he rose from the dead.
And I do believe now as I accept him as my savior, transform your life, not for a day but Hallelujah forever.
That’s what happened to you.
And let’s say that you are saved.
You’ve been a Christian a long time.
Maybe before you walk out of here today, you need to confess to God that you’ve been ashamed.
You’ve been embarrassed, you’ve been intimidated. You’ve been afraid, you haven’t given a testimony like you ought to.
But be beginning today since you know that you have the best message there is the only message that can transform a person’s life and get them to heaven that you will start being.
Listen sensitive to opportunities and eager to take advantage of them. Amen.
Father, how grateful we are this morning. That little word gospel is awesome news.
Not just good news. It’s breathtaking news. It’s the best news.
And I pray the Holy Spirit would stare every one of us to have an eagerness within us, to share it, not just a desire but an eagerness to share it because it is the best news anybody could ever hear.
And we pray that in Jesus name.
Amen.