Go and Tell How Much the Lord Has Done For You
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Who of the Gospel
Goal:
Underline the heavy task of evangelism
Make it seem doable because of the gospel’s work in the hearers
Make it seem doable in practice from a heart of zeal
Intro
I. Who is universal
A. Universal God—Universal Praise—Psalm 148
B. Universal Rebellion—Romans 3:11-20
C. Universal Savior—1 Timothy 2:1-7
D. Universal Proclamation—Romans 10:10-15
II. The Zeal Needed to Obey the Mandate
Go and Tell How Much the Lord Has Done For You--Mark 5:1-20
III. Sphere of Influence
A. What it is
B. Example of it from Isaiah
Conclusion
A. A universal task
B. Driven by God’s work specifically in you
C. What is your sphere of influence?
i. Are you praying and desiring for more open doors?
ii. Are you taking advantage of what God has given you now?
Family
Friends
Community
Intro
There is no point on which men make greater mistakes than on the relation which exists between the law and the gospel.
There is no point on which men make greater mistakes than on the relation which exists between the law and the gospel.
I. Who is universal
A. Universal God—Universal Praise
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! 2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! 3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! 4 Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. 6 And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. 7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, 8 fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! 9 Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! 10 Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! 12 Young men and maidens together, old men and children! 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. 14 He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord!
B. Universal Rebellion
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
C. Universal Savior
1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
D. Universal Proclamation
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
II. The Zeal Needed to Obey the Mandate
19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
To our ears can seem like Jesus just lead this man to the very doorstep of the heavily fortified city of Jericho on his way into the promise land
Friends doesn’t just mean a few acquaintances
ESV, KJV, NKJV: Friends
NIV, NASB, CSB: Your own people
σούς: your
Seems to be very inclusive language
20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
The language is he proclaimed widely in the city
And everyone marveled
Now let me ask you, maybe you are like me, if you came up to Jesus and asked to follow him, and he said to go to your hometown and declare how much he had done for you
And you go home to find its a day of a large gathering downtown for a festival, just how many knots would be in your stomach
The walls would loom high above and perhaps there would a desire to forget you ever asked Jesus to follow him which lead to his mandate to you
Perhaps you would be tempted to leave Jericho’s walls and retreat into the wilderness wanderings
What is it, do you think that drove this man to go and obey Jesus which caused everyone to marvel
With not one ounce of evidence that he recoiled at such a high order
The answer is found in a repeated phrase in verses 19 and 20
Declare: How much Jesus (the Lord) had done for him
The man was able to scale the walls of evangelism embolden by how much Jesus had done for him
How much had the Lord done for him?
I want to make a few remarks to draw this out
This is a man who had a legion of demons in him
A legion is a group of Roman soldiers, up to the hundreds or even thousands
If this is any indicator when they were brought out of the man they entered into about two thousand pigs
With such demonic activity in this man we see that he had increased strength
And no one was able to subdue him
3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.
And he was not even able to subdue himself
5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Night time is a time of restful sleep under a roof and in a warm bed
But this man is so tortured that his instinct is to be out in the tombs hurting himself
Surely, no one had the strength to tame him, if chains could not subdue him, and if even within himself he is helpless to the terrible spirit within him
There was no hope for him
6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.
Don’t miss the insanity of this detail
No one is able to help the man, he is a lost cause forever reserved for misery within his condition
Yet at the sight of Jesus he falls down and is subdued (the Greek is literally worshipped)
7 And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
Instead of the man crying out because of being tormented by the demons, the demons cry out in fear of being tormented by Jesus
Being totally dependent on the powerful will of Jesus, they asked to be released into pigs, and again with a display of Jesus’ complete power and authority he allows it
The pigs act in a tormented way now, leaping to their death
But the man is changed forever
14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.
15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
The man, once tormented by demons was just saved by Jesus who tormented his demons.
This man, once no one could contain him, not even himself, Jesus contains him
He is sitting with Jesus in his right state of mind, clothed.
Something tells me he was going to sleep in a bed that night in warm shelter
And as Jesus is about to leave because these foolish towns people don’t like their economy being messed with even if it was to save an individual
The man panics as his savior is leaving
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.
Now, in the right mind, he wants to use it to serve his Lord
19 And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
Jesus tells him, use that passion to serve me in going home and declaring just how much I have done for you
This man, who has not been around other sane people in who knows how long
Probably, if he is thinking right would have many doubts that such a mission would go well
Another words this guy had a billion reasons to tell Jesus that the wall is why too high
I have cuts all over my body, who would want to listen?
They might find out I am the guy at the tombs acting insane, who would listen?
Beyond the cuts, it is going to take a second to get rid of some of these mannerisms and looks of a guy who lived like an animal for so long
But since he was driven by just how much Jesus had done for him
20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
As you consider the who of evangelism and see it is everyone around you
The walls in front of you never seem bigger with the task at hand
And the ability to scale the walls needs to be driven by what the Lord has done for you
What has the Lord done for you?
Were you ever possessed by dark forces?
The likes of which made you odious to God and odious to others—like the demon possessed man?
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
Indeed, sin held such a sway over you that you screamed in agony while you followed the deceit of sin convinced that its death would give you life
As its death grip grew tighter over your soul your only answer to alleviate your hell was to do more sin which make the grip only tighter
No one could contain you, no not even yourself
You lived in squalor with no hope for an appetite for greater things
But you saw Jesus come to shore and in your hatred for truth you ran to him to implore him to leave you alone so you can continue in your death and decay
But Jesus withdrew his hand of wrath and placed his hand of grace upon your wretched soul
Your depraved and wicked heart was put to flight and a regenerated heart filled with gospel life took its place
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Like Peter you say there’s no where else for me to go but where Jesus is
And Jesus tells you at the shore that he will be at the right hand of the Father, but you must stay back and tell yours how much the Lord has done for you.
And thus, fueled each day with just how much Jesus does for you, you see the walls have crumbled and it is your delight to share the gospel with anyone you come into contact with.
You want to be faithful to the who of evangelism?
Let it be done as an act of worship of just how much Jesus has done for you
III. Sphere of Influence
With the who established in a very inclusive way
With the fuel to the engine of evangelism being the worship of what God has done for you
There is a need to get a little exclusive here
If not then we would be in sin every time we failed to preach the gospel to literally everyone we see
And I don’t think that's the case, or what we see in Scripture as a whole
While all people need to hear the gospel, you are not called to be the one who gives the gospel to all people
I don’t think it would be helpful to burden you with such a task that the Bible doesn’t burden individual people with
A. What it Is
3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—
8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
And also knowing when God was not opening up a door
9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Our God is creator of all things
He is worthy of praise from all creation
He has provided a savior for all people to enable such universal worship
And has called you to give this gospel to all he opens the door to in your area of influence
A heart that is overwhelmed with what God has done for you will have the spirit of Isaiah
B. Example from Isaiah
i. He is lost and unclean
4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
ii. He is cleansed
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
iii. He desires to serve
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Conclusion
A. A universal task
B. Driven by God’s work specifically in you
C. What is your sphere of influence?
i. Are you praying and desiring for more open doors?
ii. Are you taking advantage of what God has given you now?
Family
Friends
Community
So the rest of my time with you I want to show you how
it begins with proclaiming the message to yourself
It then organically goes forth from you to your family around you
And then it will organically go to those you are around in your community
It Begins with You
If you want to be more consistent in telling people the good news of the gospel it begins with consistently proclaiming it to your own heart
So that you go forth from your time with God thankful for the gospel, which motivates you to tell it to others
When you are alone with God what is your main objective?
Is that something you ask yourself as you spend time in study and prayer?
If you aren’t in the habit of asking yourself that for the day you can easily being doing it for the wrong reasons
1.This is what I have been told to do (not a bad thing at first but eventually it has to go deeper)
2.This is just what I am supposed to do.
3.I want to know more about the Bible.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.
God, in the Bible, is not interested in bare knowledge but works driven by knowledge. i.e wisdom
And so, what your main objective is in your own time with God matters
And so, I will ask again, when you are alone with God what is your main objective?
The answer is easy, your main objective is the same thing you will be telling unbelievers what they need to start doing
Repent, believe upon Jesus, and obey him from the heart.
If someone tells me, I don’t know how to give someone the gospel
It is a good indicator they do not know how to give themselves the gospel
If someone says to me, I am too intimidated to give someone the gospel
It is a good indicator they have been too timid in giving themselves the gospel
The proclamation of the gospel to your own thirsty soul prepares you to with power and conviction to then give it to your neighbor
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
12 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
You cannot understand your sin....it needs to be revealed to you
Jesus as our faithful prophet reveals the word to you and brings it to bare on your soul
By the end of it you are like the woman at the well that he reveals her sins and she says to the people
39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
But the revealing isn’t where it stops…if it did we would be the most depressed of all people since we cannot handle the weight of such sin against a Holy God
That is why you need Jesus as the High Priest
The gospel of Isaiah says
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
And with this work complete the apostle says
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Don’t miss how foundational and explosive this is to your own relationship with God
God’s grace, in the framework of Jesus Christ as Prophet and Priest, causes you to use your sin to boldly approach the throne of grace
And this enables us to see Christ as King as he conquers your sin, both at your justification and progressively through sanctification as you bring your sin to the throne of grace.
And so as you experience Christ take care of your sin as you expose yourself to him and his word each day, and you repent of it as its brought to light and you receive the life of forgiveness and resolve to flee such death
You emerge from that time with a heart that wants nothing more than to share that gift with anyone God puts in your path that day to share the good news of the gospel
In fact a common petition to the Lord before you go about your day is that he would open up doors of ministry to you that day
God opening up opportunities is a common theme in Scripture
3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—
8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
And also knowing when God was not opening up a door
9 But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
And so as you emerge from proclaiming what Jesus has done to your own heart, your petition is driven by God’s powerful work of opening doors around you today to proclaim this wonderful good news
And the most typical open door that you are to take is your own family
Then as you set about your first circle of influence it will most probably be your own family
Your family is your first ministry because that is typically a door open for ministry for you
Especially if you are a husband, a wife, a father or mother
Do you understand what a gift it is to raise up children?
They have such mold-able minds. You can get them to believe anything…including that an overweight old man can travel the world in a flying sleigh giving presents to millions of kids in one night.
God has made their minds like this on purpose to give you a wide open door to share the gospel with them with your every breath and deed.
Bad parenting is so bad because you are wasting precious time to evangelize.
Another open door is the intimacy of a marriage relationship:
You know why fighting with your spouse is so wicked? Because you are wasting precious time to proclaim the gospel
Wives it might not be preaching a sermon to your husband but you might do it with a submissive and longsuffering heat
Husbands your wive may be too bull headed to hear your sermon, but you have opportunities to win her over with gospel charity she will see no where else in the world
A mind driven to share the gospel that has rejuvenated your own heart to your child will make you a better parent
A mind driven to share the gospel that has overcome your own heart that morning will make you a better spouse.
Perhaps you don’t have a spouse or kids but just siblings and parents, your heart overcome with the reality of the gospel will help you be a better witness at family get togethers and avoid the weeds of common pagan family strife.
Then, as you take the open doors God has given to you within your very near influence in your family
As you are so enriched by proclaiming the gospel to yourself, you will beg God for open doors to society around and begin to see doors open that weren’t open before or were open all along but your heart was not soft enough by the gospel to see it.
Two examples
You have a coworker who has a rude demeanor and people typically just don’t get along with him. Usually you roll your eyes when around him, and enjoy talking bad about him to others.
But what about a different scenario. You have been overcome in your time alone with God as you proclaim the work of forgiveness Jesus has done for your wretched soul, amazed as he continues to show you your sin and gives you victory over it by the proclamation of the gospel each day
And with your interaction with this coworker you pity his obvious lack of freedom to enjoy Christ and his forgiveness in that same way. So now your mind is set on proclaiming this same message that has given you life to him and you ask God to lead you in doing that very thing.
This coworker is not used to such thoughtfulness and by the aid of the Spirit responds to the message and is freed from their sin.
Such a door was opened all along, you just had not taken it.
Or picking up your kids at school and you usually just wait in the car as you scroll through facebook. You have noticed there are a group of parents that wait by the doors but you always figured the facebook statuses were not going to read themselves.
But now, being overcome with the gospel proclamation in your own life, you are compelled to stand with others just for the sake of perhaps God opens up a door to a conversation that leads to your sharing the good news of Jesus.
Relationships are built over time at that door, hardships are shared to you by the people on the other side of those relationships, and the freedom found in Christ is given in return to them which leads to salvation.
So when I say the who of the gospel being everyone needs to hear
And gospel faithfully proclaimed to yourself with cause you to want to scale that large wall
I do not mean you will leave everything behind and only proclaim the gospel (although God could lead you to that)
But what I mean is your heart is like the heart of Paul that is constantly looking for open doors to minister
And being compelled by the ministry of the gospel in your own heart, you will not be able to help but proclaim it all those God has opened the door for you
And you will put yourself in situations for more doors to open.