Share the Gospel

Today is the 4th message in our series, entitled Grow Up. We are looking at what it means to be an involved and engaged member of the body here at First Baptist New Orleans. The first week we talked about the role of membership in the body, then we talked about the importance of serving in the body, and last week we talked about the importance of the word of God in the body of Christ. And today, we are going to be looking at the importance of sharing the Gospel as a part of the body of Christ. What I love about the text today is that not only does it give us an example of sharing the Gospel, but it also provides a clear picture of what the Gospel is. If we’re not careful, we can throw around the term “gospel” but not truly understand its meaning or significance for our lives. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a one-time decision that we make but instead a daily rediscovery of what Christ did on our behalf on the cross. Every day we should reflect on the freedom we have in Christ because Jesus took our place on the cross. So let’s begin reading in Acts 2:22.

The Gospel: Initiated by God:

"...this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it." — Acts 2:23-24

Peter is essentially giving a sermon in this passage. He addresses all of the Men of Israel, and he is quick to point out that God initiated the Gospel.

Peter writes that Jesus was delivered up according to the plan and foreknowledge of God. Jesus’s incarnation, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection was not God’s plan B. He knew from the beginning of time that Jesus was the solution to man’s sin problem. It was initiated and carried out by God the father.

This plan was not reactionary based on man’s sinfulness, but rather it was the proactive plan of God from the beginning. Old Testament prophecy points to a day when Jesus would come and save people from their sins. Old Testament prophecies discuss Jesus’s ministry, his birth, his death, and his resurrection. This was all orchestrated by the work of God.

Even in this sermon, Peter goes back to King David, and the reason he would appeal to David in an address to Israel is that Jesus was prophesied to come from the lineage of David. Jeremiah 23:5-6 says, “Behold the day are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called. ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’

What I hope you get a glimpse of through this passage today is that the Gospel is not just a New Testament concept. The entire story of the Bible is God redeeming fallen humanity. Traces and hints of the Gospel story can be found in Genesis, Kings, Ezra, Proverbs, and Malachi. All of the Bible matters. Let’s take the book of the Old Testament that people probably most struggle with: Leviticus. And we read all of these passages about particular ways the Israelites are supposed to sacrifice and all of these rules that they are supposed to follow. All of those sacrifices in Leviticus should point us to the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for us. Also, all of those laws ultimately lead us to our need for Jesus. We are incapable of living out what is required in the law perfectly, but Jesus is capable.

Peter talks about King David to these people because he knew they loved David, and he knew that if he could show them that King David pointed to the significance of Jesus, then perhaps they would listen. But Peter points out a difference between David and Jesus. David is still dead and buried, but Jesus is not. You cannot find the body of Jesus. People have been hoping to find it for over 2,000 years, and it still hasn’t happened, and that’s because you won’t find it.

The Gospel: The Sending of the Holy Spirit:

"Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing." — Acts 2:33

The followers of Jesus just received the Holy Spirit earlier in Acts 2. The spirit that these believers received is the same spirit that resided in Jesus during his earthly ministry. The Spirit of God was given to Jesus by his Father, and now Jesus is pouring this same spirit out on the followers of Jesus.

Listen carefully, the Spirit of God that was at work in Jesus’s life is the same Spirit of God that is at work in your life. We are called to continue the work that Jesus did while he was on earth. Do we live our lives as though the Spirit of God is working in our lives and the lives of others? Let’s be honest with ourselves this morning. We undercut the power of the Spirit of God many times, and we do so partly because we live in a world comprised of what the philosopher Charles Taylor calls buffered individuals. In a buffered world, people are closed off to external factors like the Spirit of God, miracles, and the supernatural. Five hundred years ago, however, we were a world comprised of porous individuals, which describes people open to the supernatural.

Even though we as Christians understand that the Spirit of God lives inside of us because much of the secular world that surrounds us is not open to spiritual things we sometimes fall into the trap of undercutting the power and work of the Spirit. The way to stay sensitive to the Spirit of God at work in your life and the world around you is not rocket science. You stay in the word of God, and you remain in dialogue with God. The spirit of God speaks to us as we read God’s word, and as we communicate with God through prayer.

Peter tells the Jewish people assembled that it is not David who sits at the right hand of God but Jesus. The one who sits at the right hand of God controlling the universe loved us enough to not only die for us but to give us His spirit.

• I’m reading a book called 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You, and one of the dangerous ways our phones affect us is that we have forgotten what it’s like to not be distracted. Our little companion that lives in our purse or our pocket is always willing and waiting for us to utilize it. The notifications, the vibrations, the beeps draw us to the phone. And what the book points out is that if we were, to be honest with ourselves, we want to be distracted. We don’t want to think about the heavy things in life. It’s much easier to scroll Facebook or Twitter than it is to think about our neighbors and coworkers who don’t know Jesus or to think about our sin and how that is robbing us from living abundantly in Christ. It’s so much easier to pick up the phone and begin scrolling.

The Spirit of God resides in you Christ-follower, but his power in your life can be quenched through many distractions. Let’s examine our hearts and eliminate the ways we quench the work of the Spirit in our lives and our church.

The Gospel: Cuts to the Heart:

"Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles. 'Brothers, what shall we do?'” — Acts 2:37

Peter tells these Jewish people that they can know for sure that Jesus is the Messiah because of the witness of the disciples and because prophecy confirms it.

Luke tells us that when they heard Peter’s sermon, they were cut to the heart. I love that phrase “cut to the heart.” Because that is precisely what happened to me when I decided to follow after Jesus, I was cut to my heart. I realized the seriousness of my sin and knew that it was only through a relationship with Jesus that I could freely receive forgiveness of that sin.

Those of you in the room who are followers of Jesus, remember when God was stirring in your heart? Remember when you realized that your sin was going to keep you apart from a relationship with God for eternity unless you believed that Jesus died for you? If you have forgotten that feeling and that assurance, I challenge you to rediscover it.

If you have never been cut to the heart by the Gospel, than I would encourage you to do exactly what Peter tells these people to do in verse 38. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

This verse is communicating that you must repent of your sin. To repent, which means turn away from your sin, you have to acknowledge that sin exists. We were not born good we were born sinful. If you can’t admit that you have a sin problem, then you won’t see your need for Jesus. I always tell people the reason I know we were born sinful is that I never once had to teach any of my children the wrong thing to do. And those of you with children and grandchildren can agree with this statement. Never once did I sit my children down to teach them how to do wrong. They know how to do it naturally, and that’s because all of humanity from the time we are born has a sin nature.

We don’t choose to follow after Jesus because it makes us a moral person, we don’t follow after Jesus because it gives us more significant social standing in the community, we don’t follow after Jesus because it guarantees us health, wealth, and happiness because it guarantees none of those things. You’ll get sick one day, you will deal with heartache and sadness, and many of us will ever be rich. We follow after Jesus because we need forgiveness of our sin, and he is the only one who can do it through his death on the cross for you and me. Let’s not promise people things that scripture never promises they will receive.

Let’s also make sure people understand in what they are putting their faith. We are not putting our faith in our church attendance, our charitable giving, baptism, or the way we treat other people. None of those will make us right with God.

• Since I only have a couple of Sundays left I have to make sure I get my Tim Keller quotes in: “The Gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” Here’s the deal: the good news of Jesus doesn’t make sense. It seems too good to be true, and yet it is true. It seems too simple. However, it is that simple. It seems too loving and gracious and merciful, and yet it is all of those things. We look for fulfillment and validation from our families, jobs, friends, and sports teams and yet Jesus’ death on the cross tells us that our identity in him is entirely secure regardless of what anyone says about us or anything that happens to us.
  
  

The Gospel: A Promise for All:

"For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” — Acts 2:39

The good news of Jesus is not conditional upon your behavior. It is a promise. And it is not only a promise for those of us in this room, but it has been a promise for past generations, and it will be a promise for future generations. My grandparents, my parents, my kids, my grandkids, my great-grandkids all did and will benefit from the hope of salvation found through Jesus Christ.

It’s also a promise for those who are far off. This is not just a promise for the wealthiest 1% of Americans. It is a promise for the man in the remote Indonesian village who has never even heard of Jesus before. It is for the woman who lives in the Himalayan mountains who prays every day to false gods and ancestors thinking that they can save her and give her eternal life.

Peter ends his sermon the same way he begins it. By making sure that the audience understood that salvation is an act of God on our behalf. God is the one who calls us to himself. Salvation is not our doing. We bring nothing to the table except our response to God drawing us to himself.

Peter calls them a crooked generation, and the reason he does is that they refused to believe that Jesus was the Messiah before he was crucified. There were many who even after Peter preached this sermon refused to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Their pride and arrogance blinded them.

But this particular day, Luke tells us that 3,000 souls were added to the church of Jesus Christ.

The number is impressive, but not for the reason you might expect. Of course, it is incredible that 3,000 people decided to become followers of Jesus, but the coolest part of the story is that in this one sermon Peter, through the power of the Holy Spirit, brought more people to faith in Christ than at any time when Jesus was on earth. What is significant about that? It shows us the power that we have through the Holy Spirit to make the gospel known to those around us. John 14:12 says this is Jesus talking. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” Did Jesus just say that we will be able to do greater works than he did? Yes, he did because when he left earth, he equipped all of us who have the Holy Spirit to make a difference where we live, work, and play. It is better now for the kingdom of God that Jesus remain in Heaven until he comes back again because the power of the Spirit of God is all we need. Three thousand souls are still possible today. The same Spirit that was alive and well in Jerusalem is the same spirit that resides in the hearts of believers in this room. But you have to be all in. Great movements of God never happen by accident. They occur when the people of God get serious and intentional about making a difference in their communities. Let’s leave here today remembering that the promise of God for salvation is available to anyone who will receive it.