Good News Worth Sharing

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We’re just excited to finally be here with you. My family and I are all excited to be here. It’s been a lot of months we’ve been waiting for this.

My kids are still struggling to understand a little bit about what’s going on here. Yesterday, as we were driving back to the hotel, my son said to me, Now, Daddy, what would happen if God called you to preach at a Catholic church, for example? I said, son, somehow I don’t feel like we’re in much danger of that happening.

And he said, yeah, they probably wouldn’t vote for you anyway. Thanks for that vote of confidence. And then last night I was trying to explain to Madeline about what happened during the Q&A session yesterday, because they weren’t in there.

And there’s a thing I do sometimes in our church on Wednesday nights that I call Stump the Preacher, where I give people the opportunity to ask Bible questions, and I take a stab at answering it. And so I was trying to explain this Q&A session to her, and I said, well, it was basically like the world’s longest, most intense time of Stump the Preacher. And she said, well, it was really nice of them to let you do that to them.

So, two votes of confidence from my children. I guess I should start out this morning by saying thank you for letting me inflict myself on you this morning. I want to talk to you this morning about the subject of good news.

I’ve been thinking a lot about good news. Because does it seem to anybody else like 2020 is more like some kind of dystopian science fiction movie than real life? I would say I don’t think it can get any weirder, but I don’t want to jinx things.

we could all stand some good news. I think people are hungry for good news. And I realized this a few weeks ago when I came in one evening and Charla was in the kitchen making dinner and she was listening to the radio and the radio station had people calling in with the opportunity, hey, tell us some good news.

Tell us some good news that’s happening in your life. And people people were just calling in in droves. They loved it.

They were anxious to share about good things happening in their jobs, about good things happening with their families, good news from the doctor, educational opportunities, you name it. They were excited to call in and share good news. And I think there’s something in our nature where I think God has wired us that way, that we like to share good news.

I mean, it’s good news, right? So we like to share it. I know that I like to share good news.

When I have good news, it’s hard to keep it a secret. I know every time one of my children has been born, one of the first things I can’t wait to do is rush out and tell everyone. As a matter of fact, when we’re expecting a child, I can’t wait to rush out and tell everyone.

I think it was when we were expecting Charlie. Charlie said, should we maybe wait a few weeks and keep it a secret and surprise everybody? I said, I’ve got a compromise here.

I’ve got a solution. We’ll compromise. You keep it a secret and I’m going to go tell everyone I know.

Because I I can’t hold it in. I can’t keep it a secret. And my wife will attest to, even if it’s something as simple, even something as mundane as, hey, I found you the perfect present.

I can’t wait to share the good news. That poor woman has opened more than her fair share of Christmas presents in October or November because I can’t wait to share it. I love to share good news.

And you know, God wants us to share good news because good news is worth sharing. God wants us to share good news. If you’ll turn with me this morning to the book of Acts chapter 4, I want us to look together at an example that he’s given us in his word of a couple of men who could not wait to share good news.

By the way, if you hear my stories and think, well, he can’t be trusted, I’m not going to confide in him. I won’t share your news. I just like to share my good news with everyone.

Acts chapter 4, and we’re going to start in verse 8. If you’ll stand with me as we read from God’s word, if you’re able to, we’re going to read from Acts chapter 4 starting in verse 8 and going through verse 20 this morning it says then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers of the people and elders of Israel if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.

But when they had commanded them to go outside, go aside out of the council, they conferred amongst themselves saying, what shall we do to these men? For indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in his name.

So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Thank you. You may be seated. Now, just to give you a little bit of background, in case you’re not familiar with the story, I’m sure many of you are, but in case you’re not familiar with the story and what’s happened here, in chapter 3, Peter and John had been on their way to the temple and they saw a man there who was unable to walk and had been unable to walk for many years.

Everybody was familiar with this man and he was begging there in front of the temple. And as Peter and John walked in, he was asking them for money and they said, we don’t have any money to give you, but we have something better. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

I believe the text says that Peter grabbed the man and helped steady him and the man got up and he was able to walk. He had strength in his legs and he was jumping around and he was leaping and he was praising God. And this, of course, drew a crowd because people knew this man.

He couldn’t walk, and suddenly, not only can he walk, but he can jump around. And so people wanted to know what was going on. They gathered in, and Peter didn’t waste the opportunity.

He began to tell them about Jesus because he had good news, and that good news was worth sharing, so he was not going to waste the opportunity. And so as he had the people there, specifically Peter, this good news he shared was about the death and the resurrection of Jesus. And he called people to repent and trust Christ as a result of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The good news that he offered them was the fact that man could now be reconciled to God because of what Jesus had done. And that brings us to chapter four, the beginning of chapter four, which for the sake of time, we didn’t read all of chapter four. But Peter and John at the beginning of chapter four were arrested for preaching because they were preaching the message of the resurrection.

And not only did the message of the resurrection offend the authorities, but people were turning to Christ for salvation as a result of this message of the resurrection. And that offended the authorities even more. That’s what they really weren’t going to stand for.

And so we see that this message of the resurrection that they preached and this good news of salvation caused quite a ruckus because the resurrection is a pretty big claim. The idea that Jesus was dead and then suddenly three days later, he’s not dead anymore and he’s not a ghost. He’s there in the same body. That’s a pretty tall claim.

It’s folks, it’s not just a Bible story. It’s not just another one of the Bible stories. It is the Bible story.

It’s the nail that everything else hangs on. And so if the resurrection is true, then all of Christianity falls into place. And if the resurrection is false, then all of Christianity that he falls apart.

The Apostle Paul even said that. If Christ is not risen, our faith is vain. So they come out with this compelling story preaching the resurrection of Christ and it convinced people because a lot of people either were eyewitnesses to Jesus being alive again or they knew people who were eyewitnesses.

This is not that long after the resurrection. So they preached this message and people realized that the resurrection proves that Jesus is everything that he ever claimed to be and it validates everything he ever taught. And people were coming to Christ in droves as a result of the preaching of this message.

So Peter and John were accused of upsetting the religious and the social order of their day with this earth-shattering, life-changing message of the resurrection. The authorities ran them in. I find it funny in the story that they don’t deny the miracle of the man being healed.

They also don’t deny the resurrection. Instead, they said, who gave you the right to preach about the resurrection? I think down in their hearts, they knew it was true.

But their answer was, what gives you the right to preach the resurrection? Whose name, whose authority do you speak in? They were brought before this court and asked basically what they had to say for themselves.

And that’s where we picked up in verse 8. They were here in hot water for preaching the gospel, and they used their day in court as an opportunity to preach the gospel. They were excited to share it because it’s good news.

they had no better news that they could possibly share. And so when the authorities asked them, by what authority do you preach this message? Peter kind of says, let me tell you whose authority I preached this message by.

You remember a man named Jesus? You know, the one you killed, the one you were responsible for putting to death? Yeah.

And you thought he’d stay dead. The same Jesus that you put to death, God raised him from the dead, that Jesus. And it’s by him that this man stands before you home.

So he rose again and he was able to give this man new life. That’s the authority that I speak in, that Jesus that you put to death and God raised up from the dead. And in verse 11, when he called Jesus the chief cornerstone, he’s going through this explanation of who Jesus is and by one authority he preaches about Jesus.

He calls him the chief cornerstone and that’s a reference to the Old Testament in Psalm 118 and how God was going to deliver Israel. And so what he’s doing is to this group of Jewish authorities, he’s identifying Jesus as the Messiah that they were waiting for, but they rejected when he showed up. And so his message to them, it was really in your face.

Here’s who Jesus is, and that’s who we’re preaching, and that’s who gives us the right to do the preaching. This message was that they could continue to deny all the evidence that they knew about Jesus. They could continue to deny the evidence, but it wouldn’t change what God had already declared him to be.

And it wouldn’t change who the resurrection had proven him to be. They could deny it all they want, but they weren’t going to change reality. And they could continue to reject Jesus as the Messiah.

The builders could continue to throw away the cornerstone, but it didn’t change anything. Because verse 12 tells us there’s no salvation anywhere else. There’s no other way of salvation.

There wasn’t for them and there’s not for us. There’s no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. He said there’s no other way.

Salvation was only available to them and it’s only available to us because Jesus died to pay for our sins in full and he rose again. And they could only receive that salvation by calling on his name. Now that means to trust in him fully as their savior.

They who rejected Jesus would have to turn to him instead. And that was their good news. Now, it might not have sounded like good news to them because that’s not what they wanted to hear.

But it’s great news. It may not sound like good news to some people in our day because it’s not what they want to hear. As a matter of fact, what we will hear sometimes is, oh, how narrow-minded of you Christians to think there’s only one way to salvation.

How harsh is your God that he would only make one way of salvation? You know what? It’s not harsh.

It’s gracious because for him to make one way of salvation is one more way than what we deserved. And so instead of saying, well, he should have offered 56 ways, it was more than enough for him to offer one. The fact that Jesus Christ came to bear the penalty of the sin that we had committed.

He who knew no sin became sin for us. He took responsibility for our sins and he died in our place. He paid it all.

The fact that he did that and God offers one way is far better than we deserve. And it’s great news. The fact that salvation is available to us at all is the best news in history.

and so the authorities were shocked as he preached about this. They were shocked at how eloquent Peter was because they said he was an ignorant man, and yet he had kind of put them in their place, and they said it’s got to be the influence of Jesus, and they looked at this man that they’ve known who has not been able to walk, and suddenly he’s leaping around. They can’t deny that a miracle’s taken place, and they realized it was the influence of Jesus.

They saw the power and the presence of Jesus at work in both of these men’s lives, and they couldn’t deny it, but they had to figure out something to do about it. And so they sent Peter and John out while they deliberated. We know from verse 17, their main concern is we just don’t want the message to spread anymore.

So whatever we have to do to avoid the message of Jesus and the resurrection and all that business, in order to avoid that spreading anymore, whatever we have to do, that’s what we’ll do. But they began to deliberate about what that might look like, what they might be able to do. And they realized we can’t just throw Peter in prison.

The people have witnessed a miracle. Several of them have turned to Christ. The people are kind of with them or at least interested in hearing what they’ve got to say. We can’t throw Peter and John in prison.

We’ll risk an uprising. So what can we do? I know we’ll bluff.

We’ll make them think we can do something to them. And so they brought Peter and John back in and they said, tell you what, we’re going to let it go this time, this one time. We’re not going to throw you in prison, but I tell you what, don’t you go preaching or teaching in the name of Jesus anymore.

Just we’ll let it go this time, but don’t do it again. and I think a lot of Christians would say, okay, thanks for letting us off the hook. But not Peter and John.

When they were told, don’t preach anymore in the name of Jesus, Peter and John said, okay, how about you consider whether we ought to obey you and what you just said or whether we ought to obey God? And the authorities are on the horns of a dilemma here. They don’t have an answer they can give because if they say, well, obey God, of course, Peter and John say, well, that’s what we’re doing.

We’re sharing his good news. If they say obey us instead of God, well, then they’ve got bigger problems to deal with. And so they, I imagine they just sit there kind of dumbfounded for a minute.

What do we do? But Peter and John don’t even give them a chance to answer because they finish with verse 20 that I just love. We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

We cannot stop talking. It doesn’t matter what you say. We cannot stop talking about the good news that we have witnessed, the good news of what Jesus has done.

And folks, their example reminds us, it’s a needed reminder that the gospel is good news worth sharing. Now, I want to be very clear here because on occasion, when I’ve used that word gospel, somebody will ask me, what do you mean by the gospel? The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 that the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s that story, it’s that foundation.

And then Ephesians chapter 2 tells us it’s the offer of salvation by grace through faith that God makes because of what Jesus did on the cross. So very simply put, the gospel is the idea that Jesus Christ died for us and rose again. And because of that, and because of that alone, we can be forgiven and we can be reconciled to God.

That’s the gospel. I think sometimes we make it more complicated than it has to be. So these two men demonstrated that what Jesus did was good news worth sharing.

They were willing to put their freedom, they were willing to put their lives on the line, not only to preach the message, but to continue preaching it, to continue sharing that good news. In this whole story, they shared it, what, three times? And then they were told by the authorities to stop, and they said, no, I think we’ll go share it some more.

I mean, they were willing to risk everything because this was good news worth sharing. And their example reminds us that there is no good news that’s more important. There’s no story we should be more excited to share than the fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again to prove it.

And now God offers forgiveness and salvation to us. And I would imagine that every Christian in this room would agree with me that the gospel is good news, but it’s the best news in history. And here’s where I find myself convicted by this story.

If we agree that the gospel is good news, and that good news is worth sharing, then we ought to make sharing that good news a habit. We ought to make sharing that good news a habit. If we really believe that what he did for us is good news, we ought to make a habit of sharing it.

We ought to be able to say honestly with Peter and John, you know what, I can’t stop talking about this. I can’t stop myself. You may be wondering, well, that sounds great, but how do I do that?

Well, I think we have to look at what led to their openness to share the gospel. And we see their attitude at the very last verse we looked at, verse 20, but we see what caused it in verse 8. Read it with me again.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, and we can stop right there. That right there explains why they were so open to sharing the gospel, why they were so excited. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit.

He let God’s Spirit lead him, and he let God’s Spirit speak through him, and it made him far more willing and far more open and far more capable, honestly, of sharing the gospel. so for us the answer is not I’ve got to figure out a new plan here for us the answer is very simple listen to the Holy Spirit just listen to him he’ll lead us earlier Mike was telling me here’s the plan for before church and after church and we’ll go here I said just tell me where to go because I won’t I promise you by the time I’m done preaching I won’t remember all this just tell me where to go that’s the that’s the attitude we need to have with the Holy Spirit just tell me where to go just put me where you want me that’s what they did and and listening following the leadership of the Holy Spirit makes all the difference.

When we try to do this in our own power, sometimes it can come across as off-putting, obnoxious, aggressive. Some of you may have a negative connotation in mind when you think about evangelism because you’ve seen somebody do it that way. Sometimes, you know, just trying to do it in my own power, I can’t get the words out right.

Have you ever felt like that? I’m trying to explain the gospel and I just can’t make them understand there’s some kind of block with my tongue. It’s because we’re trying to do it in our own power instead of listening to the Spirit.

But when we follow the Spirit’s leadership, He works both in the heart of the speaker and in the heart of the listener to connect the gospel in a way that we just can’t do with our own eloquence and our intellect and our abilities. He has to change their hearts, and He has to enable us to speak. And so they listened to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, And that made them capable of sharing the gospel with compassion.

We don’t want to share the gospel and sound like we’re mad about it, right? They were able to do it with compassion. They were able to do it with clarity in a way that people understood.

They were able to do it with conviction, where they really sound like they believe what they’re saying. Those are all important. They were alert to the opportunities as they came.

I’m ashamed to think of how many opportunities I’ve let go by only to realize 15 minutes later, an hour later, As I’m laying in bed that night, oh my goodness, God gave me an opportunity right there to share the gospel. It was right in front of me and I missed it because I was too busy thinking about something else. They were alert to the opportunities when they came.

And they were able to resist the temptation to keep quiet. If we want to not share the gospel, we can always find a reason that listening to the Holy Spirit will help us avoid that temptation. If anybody had a reason to keep quiet, it was them.

They’d been threatened that they went right on sharing anyway. Now, if all of this sounds difficult or scary or unpleasant, to go out and share the gospel with others, we need to realize that we are indwelled. If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, if you’ve trusted in him for your salvation and you’ve been born again, you are indwelled by the very same Holy Spirit that lived inside of Peter and John.

The very same Holy Spirit that showed up in verse 8 right there and showed out in all the subsequent verses, That same Holy Spirit has taken up residence inside of you. He’s empowered you. And Jesus, Jesus promised us in Luke 12, 12, promised his followers that when we had the opportunities to share the gospel, we shouldn’t worry because he said, the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you want to say.

So we have the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have the promise of Jesus. That should be reassuring to us.

It’s really not up to us, but to be anything but a mouthpiece and let him speak through us. He’s given us the Holy Spirit who lives in us and he’ll give us the words when we need them, if we’ll rely on him. And I can give you a case in point, an illustration of this.

I used to be somebody that loved to argue and debate. Not so much anymore. Life’s too short.

But, you know, these missionaries will come two by two, kind of like Noah’s Ark to your house from different religions. And I used to like to engage with them because I’ve got to change their mind. I never did change anybody’s mind.

I did make a couple cry once, but I felt bad on it. But I needed to change their mind. I needed to prove to them this doctrine is wrong, and here’s what you need to believe instead.

And I realized, wait a minute, these are opportunities to share the gospel just like any other opportunity. And there was a time about a year and a half ago, my son and I were out in the garage building shelves on a Saturday afternoon. I saw him coming down the street in their white shirts and dark ties.

And I thought, not today, Lord. I’m tired. I’m not.

I’m probably going. Then I thought, no, he’s sending me an opportunity. I don’t want to fight with them.

It’s not ultimately this doctrine that needs to be fixed or they need to understand being wrong here. They need to understand that Jesus died to pay for their sins in full. Because they believe in Jesus.

They even believe that Jesus died to pay for sins. They just believe there’s still room for them to have to work some of it off themselves. themselves.

So I realized in that moment what they really need to understand more than anything. I don’t care if I convince them of anything else. They need to hear that Jesus paid for their sins and fall.

I’m not going to fight with them. I’m going to see if I can have the opportunity to have a constructive conversation. I prayed in that moment for the Holy Spirit to help me.

And they came with this survey. They like to ask surveys, ask questions to try to engage with their doctrine. And these two men came up and they were asking me questions, you know, with the world feeling so crazy.

How do you deal with the stress? And this was before coronavirus. The world was already crazy then.

I said, well, you know, I really don’t worry about it because I know that Jesus Christ has paid for my sins in full. And whatever happens here, I’ve got that relationship with him that nothing can take away, that I’m absolutely secure in, not because of anything I’ve done, but because of what he’s done. And I know that whatever happens here, I’ve got that.

And I know that when this is over, however it ends for me. I get to be with the father. And so what is there to worry about?

And I thought, where did that come from? And they said, one of their questions was, well, how do you deal with family strife? I said, we have disagreements and squabbles just like any family that’s going on.

By the way, I didn’t tell them I was a preacher. That already puts them on the defensive. But how do you deal with family squabbles?

I said, we have disagreements just like anybody else. But you know, when God has forgiven you of everything, God has forgiven you of so much because of what Jesus has done, you start to learn the meaning of grace that it’s all been forgiven. It’s really hard to hold little things against other people.

Folks, I’m not telling you this to brag. I don’t know where it all came. Well, I do know where it all came from, but it wasn’t from me.

And I tell you what, the conversation went on like that for 10 or 15 minutes as I watched the more senior missionary get more and more frustrated. But I watched the more and more junior missionary kind of lean in with more and more interest, like he was trying to figure out this assurance and where I got this idea from that Jesus died to pay for my sins. And I would love to tell you that that young man came back and received Christ as his Savior.

He didn’t. To my knowledge, I don’t know that he has. But I tell you what, I got far more of an opportunity to share with him what Jesus Christ did than I had with all the other missionaries combined up to that time.

Jared doesn’t get credit for that. The Holy Spirit gave those words at just the right time. I just said, I’m going to have a conversation with these men and I’m going to enjoy it.

It’s good news. Just let the Holy Spirit lead me. And so folks, if I can learn to stop arguing and try to do it myself and just follow the Holy Spirit, I’m confident anybody can because I’m one of the most stubborn people I know at times.

If I can do it, you can do it. If we’ll follow him and we’ll rely on him, he’ll give us the right words because the gospel is good news, wants us to share. So my challenge to you this week, my challenge to all of us really, is that we would ask God for the opportunity to tell at least one person about what Jesus has done for us.

You may say, well, I don’t know all the answers. What if they ask me a question that I can’t answer? They probably will.

They still ask me questions. I have to go research. You don’t have to have all the answers.

If you know that Jesus died to pay for your sins, you know that he rose again and you know that he’s forgiven you. You know the gospel. All you’ve got to do is let the Holy Spirit use you as you bear testimony of what he’s done for you, the things that you have seen and heard.

So I would encourage you this week, I’d challenge you this week, to ask God for the opportunity to tell at least one person what Jesus has done for you. Because the good news of Jesus is worth sharing. Now some of you this morning may be still wrestling with understanding that good news.

And I’ve already explained it during the message, but I know that was a few minutes ago. So let me summarize again. If you’re sitting there and thinking, I don’t have that assurance you’re talking about.

I don’t have that confidence that I know I get to be with the Father and that I have this relationship and I know He loves me. I don’t feel that close to God. Let me explain it to you again.

See, we are all separated from God by something called sin. It’s any act of disobedience, any disobedient thought or word or attitude even. All this disobedience separates us from the Holy God.

And we could try to do something about that. We could try to be good enough for God, but we just wear ourselves out and get no closer. Because we cannot do enough good to erase the sin that we’ve committed.

That sin has to be punished and it has to be paid for. So there are two options. By default, we have separated ourselves from God to the point where we will remain separated from God when we die and be separated from him for eternity in a place called hell.

But God also loved us enough that he said it didn’t have to be that way. And where we could never pay for our own sin, we could never do enough to undo the wrong we’ve done, Jesus Christ came as a perfect sacrifice. And he took responsibility for every sin of mine and every sin of yours.

He took responsibility for it and he shed his blood on the cross and he died to pay for it in full. Three days later, just like he promised he would, he rose again from the dead in the exact same body and proved that he had that power for good sins. now because of that God offers forgiveness and salvation if you need that salvation this morning the answer for you is to cry out to God in just a moment we’ll s