Sharing the Good News

God is not going to be satisfied until you become, and I become, an adult Christian. But Dr. Tony Evans says God expects more from each of us than just our own spiritual growth. It is also his concern that we influence the growth of somebody else. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. There's never a shortage of bad news. We can find it pretty much anywhere we look, from TV and radio to the internet and social media, or even just in the concerns of our friends and family. Today, Dr. Evans reminds us that in the midst of anxieties, there's always some really good news, and a lot of reasons we should be sharing it with others.

Let's join him as he explains. God's passion, if you will, is that each one of its children become clones or lookalikes of Jesus Christ. That's God's passion. But just like a newborn babe doesn't become a full-org, mature person overnight, a newborn Christian does not become a mature representative of Jesus Christ overnight. They must grow. Now, growth takes time, but growth takes more than time, because what growth takes is development. That is, a child must eat, a child must have social relationships, they must learn to think, they must develop their proper emotional lives. That is, in order for a baby to become a mature adult, they must have comprehensive development. So what God has done is He's created an entity called the church, which is the family whereby Christians grow. It is the context whereby they are to develop into these lookalikes of Jesus Christ. So God is not going to be satisfied until you become, and I become, an adult Christian.

And by that, we simply mean not adult by age, but adult by action. That is, we are responsible believers in Jesus Christ. We have learned through practice and habit living out the character of Christ in the world. That's discipleship. That's what God is after. But there's one thing more.

You're not finished simply because you're growing. Not only is it His concern that we grow, but it is also His concern that we influence the growth of somebody else. And you don't have to go far.

All most of you need to do is look in your own house. There are people there to be discipled. Husbands, your first disciple is your wife. Husband and wife, your first disciple are your children.

And so we all have realms where this can quite naturally take place. The issue of discipleship has everything to do with your spiritual growth. I wanted to do this in a context of a story so that we could get a feel for an Old Testament story and at the same time get the principle, and I found 2 Kings chapter 7 to provide just what we need. He sent a famine to the city of Samaria. The people were literally starving to death. Secondly, He allowed the Syrians, the Armenians, to attack Israel and provide military punishment to them.

So there were problems within and problems without. In Israel at that time, there was a prophet named Elisha who had been discipled by his spiritual father, Elijah. He was a spiritual leader in Israel at that time, calling the people back to God. God told Elijah that he had punished the people and now he was going to redeem them, and that's where we are when we open up with verse 3. Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said to one another, Why do we sit here until we die? If we say we will enter the city, then the famine in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also.

Now, therefore, come, let us go over to the camp of the Armenians. If they spare us, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall die. Now, first of all, in order to appreciate this, you have to understand that these were four lepers. In the New Testament, the Bible describes sin as a kind of leprosy. It's like cancer. When you get it, it spreads.

Okay? So these lepers take the risk. But God supernaturally intervened. Verse 6. For the Lord had caused the army of the Armenians or the Syrians to hear a sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us, the kings of the Hittites, the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Therefore, they arose and fled in the twilight and left their tents, their horses, their donkeys, even the camp, just as it was, and fled for their lives. God intervened. The people were dying in the city.

The lepers were dying outside of the city. There was no hope, but God intervened. Doesn't that remind you of Ephesians 2?

Being dead in our trespasses and in our sins and being by nature children of wrath. But then he comes to verse 4 and says, But God. In spite of our sin, but God. In spite of our alienation, but God.

In spite of our misery, but God. God intervened. And according to His great mercy hath He saved us. God intervened. Brother and sister, if you're saved today, it's because God intervened. If you're on your way to heaven today, it's because God intervened. If He's given you the peace that passes understanding today, it's not because you earned it, saw it, understood it, or bought it.

It's because He intervened. He supernaturally saw your condition. He came down supernaturally and provided you salvation. There will be no one who goes to heaven who will be able to say, We made it, didn't we? It will be because of His grace, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. And these lepers were able to go into the camp because God intervened. And when you get to go to God's good heaven, it will be by grace. It will be because He intervened. The great tragedy of the world is that they don't know how lost they are. They don't know Satan is entertaining them to hell. God intervened and provided a way of salvation.

Well, let's see what happens. Verse 8. When the lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank. Remember, they were starving to death. They ate and drank. Carried from their silver and gold and clothes and went out and hid them.

And they returned and entered another tent and carried from there also and went out and hid them. So according to verse 8, these four lepers had a good old time enjoying God's intervention. God intervened and they said, Look at this. Say, we got more food, more clothes, more than we ever— I mean, all these guys wanted was to live and get some bread and butter. But God had intervened so good, He left the banquets, the clothes, the money, the horses, the donkey.

I mean, He had given them super-abundant intervention, more than they could ever think. So they walked in there and started grabbing stuff and hiding it and putting it away so they could come back later and claim it. And they said, Look at what we got.

Look at it. They started praising and praying and having just a great time. But then verse 9.

That's what I want to get to is verse 9. Everything else, the introduction. Then they said to one another, We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent.

There it is. We are not doing right. They say, It's not right. We're putting all of this goodness for ourselves, and there is a city starving. We're claiming all of this stuff for us for.

And they had to be knocked into their senses. It's not right. Brother and sister, it's not right for you to be going to heaven and your family on their way to hell. That's not right.

It's not right for you to be enjoying the grace of God and your neighbors, relatives, and business associates having their lives destroyed by sin, not knowing that the camp has been deserted. It's not right. It's not right for you to have a reason to praise the Lord and other people not have that same opportunity. It's not right. It's not right for you to have something to shout about.

And people live in misery and sadness without hope. It's not right. They say, It's not right. Now, what made them come to that realization? What made them come to the conclusion it wasn't right? Three things.

Number one, referring back to verse 8. They went into one tent, found more than they could use. Went into another tent, found more than they could use. Went into another tent, found more than they could use. Every time they went into a tent, there was more in the tent that they could use. In fact, there was so much stuff there, they couldn't even hide it all. And it dawned on them.

Now follow this. There was so much blessing. There was so much divine intervention. I mean, there was so much good stuff that they wouldn't lose by sharing it with somebody else. Brothers and sisters, God's not going to take His blessing from you if you share it with somebody else. The Bible says now unto Him, who can do exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or think, be glory and honor and dominion now forevermore. Don't worry about sharing with somebody else. God has left enough in the camp for everybody.

Don't worry that you're going to lose if you hoard it all to yourself. Christians, you're on your way to heaven. You're on your way to glory. God has blessed you and honored you.

What God expects is that the folk in Samaria are going to know something about it. You see, the first motivation was abundant blessing. They had been abundantly blessed.

There was overflow. Dr. Evans will explain why, for some, it's difficult to overflow when he comes back in a moment with more of this message he calls Sharing the Good News. It's part of a brand-new collection we put together called Tony Evans Top 40, 40 of his most powerful sermons over the last 40 years. Right now, volumes one and two of this four-volume collection are yours as our way of saying thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener-supported broadcast coming your way. As a bonus, we'll also send you Tony's popular booklet on fasting.

It explains how saying no to your physical appetite can sharpen your spiritual one, creating a hunger for God that the Lord is only too happy to satisfy. This combo offer is only available through today, so make the arrangements now, and we'll get this great pair of resources on their way to you. Our Resource Center is open around the clock to help you. Just call 1-800-800-3222 day or night.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit us online at tonyevans.org, where you can browse through our huge collection of resources and sign up for Tony's free weekly e-mail devotional. I'll repeat our contact information after part two of today's lesson and this.

Coming to theaters this November. We're at the Church of the Nativity here in Bethlehem where it is believed that the birth of Jesus Christ occurred. Travel with Dr. Tony Evans as he retraces the life and human journey of the greatest being to ever walk this earth. Well, we're here in Capernaum, a place where Jesus did most of his miracles, and it is in this place that He demonstrated He truly is the Son of God. You'll travel the streets, fields, and synagogues that Jesus walked and visit the locations where some of the most powerful events recorded in the Bible took place. It is highly likely that much of what we read about Jesus' ministry in Galilee happened right here. Journey with Jesus in theaters November 15th, 16th, and 17th with Dr. Tony Evans.

Visit tonyevans.org for locations, showtimes, and to learn more. It occurred to me one of the reasons we don't witness, one of the reasons we're not quick to share and to multiply is because we don't have any overflow. So many Christians are living by the skin of their own teeth. It's kind of hard to impact somebody else's life if your life is falling apart. And it dawned on me the reason why many Christians never multiply themselves is because there's not much to multiply, that their lives are such a wreck.

There's no overflow. People who are sharing their faith and telling people about Jesus and not ashamed of people who are excited with all that God is doing in their lives. That's why it's exciting to be around new Christians. In the Bible, evangelism isn't because the church comes up with a program.

Evangelism is because you're just so excited about Jesus you've got to tell somebody so the first synod that crosses your path you grab. There is the eruption in your soul of the reality of God. And when that happens, you can't keep it to yourself. And sometimes we let the things of this life so burden us down, whether it's work or priorities or whatever it is, that there is no overflow. And that's why you can never let anything suck you from your spiritual life.

Nothing. There is nothing more important to you, Saint, than a dynamic spiritual life because then you'll have overflow. The second reason that they had to go and share it was because of the peril that awaited everybody else. See, only these four knew about this free food, free clothes, free donkeys, free everything. It is the height of selfishness to be on your way to heaven and not care whether anybody else makes it. It is the height of selfishness to not also know that your mother and your father, your sisters and brothers, neighbors, co-workers are also going where you're going. It is the height of selfishness to praise God you're not going to hell and never do anything about anybody else getting out of it. Do you know what happens to people who die without Christ?

They go to hell. You say, wait a minute, I'm not sure I believe in hell. I'm not so sure you should take a chance that you're wrong. Certain things you can afford to be wrong about, okay? That's not one of them. See, make a mistake on everything else.

Don't be wrong on that one. You say, wait a minute, I'm in hell already, my life's a mess. No, you're not. I don't care how bad your finances are, you can recover from that. I don't care that you're not living in the house you prefer to live in. That's bad, but you can recover from that.

And I don't care that you're not in the job you prefer to have. That's bad, but you can recover from that. You're not wearing the clothes you want to wear. That's bad, you can recover from that.

You're not driving the car you prefer to drive. That's bad, but you can recover from that. But if you die without Jesus Christ and wake up in hell, hell, you've been hit with a blow you can never recover from.

You can't recover from that. Some say, I don't believe a loving God will send people to hell, and I agree, I couldn't agree with you more, but a loving God won't force you to choose him to get out of hell. A loving God won't send people to hell, but a loving God will let you choose to go there, because all he can do is say, come unto me, argue that labor and a heavy laden and I will give you rest. All he can say is, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

All he can say is, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Him that hung is in thirst, let him come. Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Come. A loving God says, come. The Bible says that hell was prepared for Satan and his angels, so if you want to hang out with Satan and his angels, that's where you wind up. They not only faced a peril in eternity, the Samaritans were gonna die, that was an ultimate peril, but they also faced a peril in time, because starvation is slow. They were starving, so not only did they have to look forward to peril, death, they had to look forward to a terrible process, starvation.

You know it's a tragedy for a lot of people? They'll wind up going to hell and have a little bit of it on the way. They'll have a miserable marriage and hell, a miserable job and hell, miserable health and hell, miserable circumstances in life and hell, miserable relationships and hell, so they're losing time.

They starve in time and go into eternal peril, too. And these four lepers understood what was happening in the city, and because they understood that people were gonna be messed up for time and eternity, they said, this is not right, that we say nothing, this is not right. Finally, they understood that there would be a time of reckoning if they didn't open up their mouths. Look at the end of verse 9. They said, if we wait until morning, punishment will overtake us. They say, if we don't say something, then when they find out that we were here and we didn't tell anybody, they're gonna track us down and get us. They were saying, we're gonna be found out. That's what Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5.

He says, the love of Christ constrains us, and therefore we persuade men to Jesus Christ, for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. God's gonna say, you lived in that house with that child or with that maid. They didn't make it, and you never said a mumbling word.

You worked beside that co-worker for years. I got bad news. They didn't make it, and yet you never said anything about Jesus Christ. There's a day of reckoning that shall overtake us.

So they commuted. They decided, we better say something. There's too much of this stuff here. Our people are in too bad a situation, and it's gonna come back to us. We better say something. They did. The good news in verse 16 is, so the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. In other words, they all got off.

They all shed. Dr. Tony Evans will come back with a closing thought in just a moment, but first, a quick reminder that you can get the full-length version of today's lesson as a part of Tony Evans Top 40, a collection of his best and most powerful messages of all time. Remember, volumes 1 and 2 of this four-volume collection are yours right now with our thanks for your donation to The Urban Alternative. We depend completely on the prayers and gifts of friends like you to keep Tony's teaching on this station. And as a special bonus, we'll send it to you along with Tony's fasting booklet I told you about earlier. Again, that's tonyevans.org, or you can call us at 1-800-800-3222, where someone on our resource team is always available to assist you.

That's 1-800-800-3222. The goal of remodeling is to make a worn and tired place fresh and new. But on Monday, Dr. Evans says some destruction needs to happen before a remodel can occur, and the same is true in our spiritual lives. Join us next week for the beginning of a brand new series titled Divine Reset.

Right now, though, Tony's back with this closing thought for today. Somebody has described the gospel as one beggar telling another beggar where to find food. God has entrusted in us in what Paul calls these earthen vessels, this physical body, the privilege of being ambassadors for Christ.

Do you know who you are? In England, right across the street from where my wife and I were staying was the American Embassy, and located in that building was the power of the US government on one square block. Everything I needed from an American standpoint was inside that building. Because when it spoke, it spoke on behalf of the government. The Bible says that you and I are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. When people hear from us, they've just heard from God. That He has given us delegated authority to speak on His behalf. How can we be ambassadors with our mouth closed? Giving us the privilege of being a spokesman. Speak up, O man. Let your voice be heard. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative, and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.