The Reason for Our Boldness

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, May 2nd. Fear keeps a lot of believers from sharing the gospel.

Today's podcast explains the reason for our boldness and helps you gather the courage to share the truth. When you hear the word gospel, what do you think? Do you think Jesus, cross, John three sixteen, 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 trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, but they couldn't even tell you what the gospel is. And so, when you hear the word gospel, what do you think? Well, you hear the word gospel, what do you think? Well, you hear the word gospel, what do you think? If someone should ask you, now what's the gospel?

What would you say? If they said to you, well, 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 think that they know better than we do, 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 person 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 unscriptural. 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 the apostle Paul. So, I want you to turn to Romans chapter one, and let's look at this passage.

And 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 bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. That is, God set him apart as 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 in Galatians. He makes a big explanation of that, that 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 been entrusted with the gospel. He felt the weight of that, that it was his responsibility to get the truth out there because as the others before him had shared with him what Jesus said, for example, go 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. What's happening is that he's in jail and he's writing to the Philippian Christians and he's talking about people criticizing him and so forth. But 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. Now, in this fourteen, fifteen, sixteen verses here in Romans, I want you to notice what he says. He says in verse fourteen, watch this.

This is what motivated him. He said, I am obligated both to Greeks and to barbarians. And that was the way of his saying to the Greeks who were supposed to be the most knowledgeable, and they were in many ways.

Their civilization probably never been really totally surpassed. But he says, I'm obligated both to Greeks, the most educated and refined, and to 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, for it's the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, Jew first and also Greek. 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 to 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. He said, I'm not only obligated. He said, but something else I want to tell you. He says, I'm not only obligated, but I'm eager to do it. He said, there's something within me.

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 pour out my heart. I'm eager to do whatever's necessary that they would hear the gospel. When God stirs your heart, you're going to 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 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 say, we're 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 when you work in the workplace like you do, you work around, you're living around people. Listen, who are desperately hungry for something, they don't know what it is, and you do. And you're under obligation. You've been entrusted with the truth.

You have a 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, let's look at the nature of the gospel for a moment. Now, because I haven't even defined it.

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 of 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, euangelion is a word. It's a big long word. But it's the word for gospel.

And so, what does euangelion 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 gospel. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world, sent by the Father for the purpose of dying on the cross, the pay for our sin debt, 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. 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 account. 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. 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 say, I don't know what to say. But what's the best thing you can say?

Let me tell you what happened to me the day I placed my life in the hands of God and trust in Him as my Savior. And I can tell you this. Of all the people I've ever witnessed to when I have said, let me tell you what happened to me, nobody's ever shut me out.

People want to know what happened to you. And so, you and I have a message and that message It's crystal clear. And so, when I think about how the Apostle Paul said it and I think about how could he have said it any better than that? Now, think about this. 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. In other words, that's salvation by works is absolutely, totally unscriptural. It's the idea that most people have. You can ask most people, well, why do you think God's going to accept you? And they're going to 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 got to work and one of these days if I've been good enough, I'll be saved if.

Watch this. What makes it good news is this, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that's 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, well, why do you think, they're going to tell you how good they are. 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 the, say, picky, bizarre things. The truth is, it's the grace of God. And the grace of God is His undeserved favor. We'll never deserve it.

That's why it's not works. The gospel is the grace of God given to mankind. And as a result of His death, burial, and resurrection and our faith in the power of His death, burial, and resurrection, we're saved. 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 Greco-Roman world in which he lived, it was all about other gods and all about emptiness and loneliness. And 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's it going to take you? In other words, when it comes to death, then what? And it's all going to be on a matter of works. Well, how much works?

Well, what did you do? The gospel, the good news of the grace of God provided as a result of the death, burial, 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 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 and sharing your faith with them, and they start giving you a lot of stuff, just say, well, what assurance do you have? What's going to happen when you die? Well, I don't want to talk about that.

Well, one of these days you're going to want to talk about it. Now, I want to give you a list of words because when you, listen, 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 happens when He saves me? I want to 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 sinned it 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 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's all about. And then, I am sanctified. That means that when you trusted 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. You say, what in the world does that mean? Listen, thank God, it's the last step.

And glorification means 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's got a message to match that? That Almighty God redeems us and forgives us and justifies us. When I think about justifying me, reconciling me, bringing me into a relationship with Himself, sanctifying me, setting me on the right direction. And in that sanctification 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. 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. Amen? Thank you for listening to The Reason For Our Boldness. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.