Why you need to share your faith

Read Romans 10:16–17 “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Intro

Some of you might think the 3 Circles is silly.

You might be thinking, ‘this isn’t gonna work.

But the Bible,

The Lord,

says otherwise.

And that’s why the title of today’s message us:

Why you need to share your faith.

So you can be encouraged

to share the gospel with the people around you.

1. You’ve been ____ to share the gospel (v.14-15)

1. You’ve been sent to share the gospel (v.14-15)

Let’s start with v.14,

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?

The reason why Paul is saying this is because of the previous verse, v.13,

Romans 10:13 (ESV)

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

What does it mean to call on the name of the Lord? (ask)

It doesn’t mean make a phone call,

or just yell God’s name.

It means to ask God to save you.

This verse is actually a quotation,

from the OT book,

Joel.

Joel, not Joel Osteen,

was a prophet in the OT.

He preached about the end times.

Joel 2:30–32 (ESV)

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

As we see here, Joel is saying in the end times,

God will bring His judgement on unbelievers,

by doing great miracles on the Earth.

Blood and fire, columns of smoke.

The sun becoming dark and the moon to blood. (blood moon pic)

But those

who ask God to save them,

will be saved.

And this doesn’t only apply in the end times,

it also applies now.

Anyone who asks God to save them today,

will be saved today.

With this,

we realize that there is a certain way of calling on God.

It’s not,

calling Jesus just by acknowledging that He exists.

Even demons do that.

Demons know Jesus exist, but they are not saved.

It’s the ones who ask God to saved them, that will be saved.

So if you hear people who talk about Jesus,

they may claim to know Him,

or say good things about Him,

or even claim to be a Christian,

but they never asked Jesus to save them,

then that they never called upon the Lord.

That is not true faith.

True faith looks at Jesus and asks Him to save you from your sin.

Why would people ask Jesus to save them?

Only if they realize,

that they are in serious danger.

That they understand and believe that God will judge them.

But more importantly that their sin,

will destroy them.

Because Jesus is a savior,

but He’s a specific type of savior.

What does Jesus save people from?

Does he save people from an unfilfilling life?

Does he save people from poverty?

Does he save people from illness?

The answer is in Matthew 1:21

Matthew 1:21 (ESV)

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Jesus can definitely,

give people a fulfilling life,

and sometimes even heal people from sickness.

But what Jesus is the true savior of,

is your sin.

And so what this also means,

is that if you believe in Jesus,

only,

because you don’t want to go to hell,

you are in big trouble.

Because what is sending you to hell in the first place if you are not a Christian?

Sin.

But this brings up a deeper problem.

Many people see no problem with sin. (gay parade pic)

In fact, they love their sin and celebrate it.

And as I mentioned before students,

homosexuality is just one of many sins,

and equally as wrong.

Whether you commit sexual immorality between the same gender,

or the opposite gender outside of marriage, (pic of couple living together)

they are both equally wrong.

Sin is sin.

Pride, theft, lust, hate, idolatry, etc.

Will all be judged by God.

So the question is,

students, have you asked Jesus to save you from your sin?

Or do you just see Jesus as backup insurance,

against hell?

And if that’s how you see Jesus,

then you probably love your sin.

And you haven’t called upon the name of the Lord.

Back to Paul’s argument in Romans 10.

Paul is saying that if you don’t believe in Jesus,

you will not ask Him to save you from your sin.

But he goes down further the chain,

‘and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?’

He’s saying,

that if you haven’t heard about Jesus,

then you can’t believe in Him.

This continues,

in the follow phrase,

‘and how shall they hear without a preacher?’

Or in other words,

people will not hear the gospel,

unless someone tells it to them.

The word, preacher,

means to proclaimer,

or a herald.

An example of this is the person who says the announcements at school over the PA.

That person is proclaiming,

the events that are happening at school.

Another example is a flag bearer. (flag bearer pic)

That person makes everyone know,

what they are representing.

The point of this,

is that preacher doesn’t just mean your pastor,

who preaches to you on Sunday.

Although it would include that.

What it means,

is that everyone of you,

can proclaim,

herald,

and share,

the gospel with others.

But Paul has one final link,

to his chain of thought,

in the next phrase,

‘And how shall they preach unless they are sent?’

What Paul is saying here,

is not,

that there are no gospel sharers,

but there are!

Because God has been sending prophets for thousands of years.

And He sent the Prophet,

that you may have heard of,

Jesus Christ.

And Jesus is the one,

who said this

in Matthew 28:18-20

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus has commissioned you,

has sent you,

to make disciples,

which means make followers of Jesus,

of all kinds of people.

And that,

is a beautiful thing.

That all of us together can take part,

of this wonderful divine mission.

That’s why Paul ends the verse by saying,

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who brings glad tidings of good things!’

To God and the angels,

it is a beautiful sight,

to see people share the gospel.

When you share the gospel students,

God sees what you are doing as a beautiful thing.

When we think of beautiful, we usually think of:

a beautiful sunset,

a gorgeous mountain view,

but what God sees as beautiful,

is you sharing the gospel.

Students you want to know, why you need to share your faith?

Because Jesus has sent you to share the gospel.

You have been sent to share the gospel.

Jesus has commanded you to share the gospel.

A command that’s equal,

to any of the 10 Commandments.

If God tells you to do something, you need to obey it.

And if not, that’s disobedience,

which is sin.

So ask yourselves students,

‘am I sharing the gospel with others?’

‘Will I obey the Lord Jesus?’

If there was only one reason, to share your faith students,

this would be enough.

That you have been sent to share the gospel.

2. Unbelief is part of the process (v.16)

One of the most common reasons we don’t share gospel,

is because we are afraid that people may say no.

We are afraid to look like fools.

But this is far less scary,

when it is to be expected.

Look at v.16,

But they have not all obeyed the gospel.

What is interesting here,

is that Paul doesn’t say,

‘have not believed the gospel’.

He says, ‘have not obeyed the gospel’.

Many other times,

Paul will write,

‘believed the gospel.’

So what Paul is also saying here,

is that there is a relationship between believing,

and obeying.

That believing and obeying,

are two sides of the same coin. (coin pic)

You can’t have one,

without

the other.

If you say

you believe in Jesus,

but don’t obey Him.

Then it’s not real faith.

Luke 6:46 (ESV)

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

You believe in Jesus,

you call Him Lord,

but you don’t obey Him,

then you don’t truly believe in Him.

But the opposite is also true.

Just like the other side of the coin.

If you obey Jesus,

but don’t believe in Him,

then both the obedience,

and the faith

aren’t real.

Matthew 15:8 (ESV)

“ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

Jesus quotes the OT,

to condemn the Pharisees.

If your mother or father needed help with money,

the Pharisees said,

‘you can just say, I can’t give you money,

because I am giving it to God.’

In other words,

the Pharisees are ‘obeying God’

but their hearts,

miss the point,

because they don’t actually believe in God.

On the outside they obey,

but on the inside their hearts are from God,

they don’t believe in God.

So students,

do you have one side of the coin

but not the other?

Do you have faith but no obedience?

You say you are a Christian,

but outside of church,

your life is completely different?

I remember going to a youth group,

over 10 years ago.

And this group would act Christian on Sundays,

but then party and get drunk the night before.

Or do you have obedience but no faith?

Coming to church for you is a chore.

You force yourself to go,

or someone else forces you to go,

but you don’t actually come

to worship God.

You come just for the friends,

and nothing else.

If you don’t have both sides of the coin

obedience and faith,

then you have no coin at all.

This is not a surprise however.

Because God said this would happen,

a long time ago.

Look at the end of v.16,

‘For Isaiah says, Lord who has believed our report?’

Isaiah a famous prophet,

was being chased by King Ahab and his wife Queen Jezebel.

Isaiah would preach God’s message,

but instead of believing in it,

the king and queen sought to kill him.

So he famously ran to the wilderness in hiding,

and wished to die.

Because of the constant unbelief,

towards the gospel message.

So when Isaiah says,

‘Lord, who has believed our report?’

It’s a rhetorical question.

The answer is no one has believed!

Now you may see this as depressing.

But I want you to see,

that this is actually good for you.

Because as I said earlier,

we often get frustrated,

or give up,

when we share our faith,

but then people reject it.

And the reason why we give up

is because there is a small expectation,

that people would believe.

But if you have the right expectations,

that unbelief

is to be expected,

than instead of frustration,

there is courage.

If you know that unbelief,

is part of the process.

Then it’s far less scary

to share your faith.

A very common strategy in sports,

such as basketball or football,

is called tanking.

This is where you know your team has no chance

of getting to the finals,

so instead of winning games in the regular season,

you intentionally lose games,

in order to receive the highest draft pick,

for next season.

Because the higher the draft pick,

the better young talent you can accumulate,

and over time and years,

you have a chance to end up with an incredibly good team.

The 76ers famously did this in the mid to late 2010s, (76ers pic)

it took 5 years +

of being the worst team in the NBA,

but eventually they had one of the best teams in the NBA.

They had a famous slogan called,

‘trust the process’.

And students,

you need to also trust the process.

You need to trust God’s process,

in evangelism.

Remember this students,

that if God Himself,

the Lord Jesus,

came to earth,

was perfectly holy and righteous,

never sinned,

was the perfect son,

the perfect brother,

the perfect friend,

the perfect worker,

the perfect student,

did thousands of miracles

in front of millions of people,

and they still did not believe in Him,

what makes you think,

that they will believe you?

You want to share your faith students?

Remember that unbelief is part of the process.

3. People can only come to faith if they ____ you share the gospel (v.17)

3. People can only come to faith if they hear you share the gospel (v.17)

Despite the massive amounts of losing,

the 76ers

over a very long amount of time,

became one of the best teams in the NBA.

And despite all the unbelief that people had in the gospel,

over time,

many have come to faith.

Look at v.17,

‘So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’

What Paul is saying here,

is that even with all the unbelief towards the gospel,

there will be those who come to faith,

after hearing it.

Jesus said in Luke 15:10

Luke 15:10 (ESV)

Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Students how many sinners do God and the angels rejoice over?

1 million? No.

A hundred thousand? No.

A hundred? No.

One. Students, one.

Part of God’s process

is that eventually over time someone

will come to faith.

But that process,

of coming to faith,

can only happen if they hear.

So you know what that means students?

People can only come to faith if they hear you share the gospel.

We talked before

about people in remote jungles and islands,

being judged to hell if they do not believe in Christ.

But guess what?

The people who are right next to you,

your classmates and friends,

your family,

will also be judged by God,

if they do not hear the gospel.

You don’t need thousands of miles to go to hell.

You could be a foot away from a church or a Chrisitan,

not hear the gospel,

and suffer God’s judgement for eternity.

So students,

if you are a Christian,

don’t you want your friends, family, and coworkers, come to Jesus?

Have you ever imagined them being saved,

and then coming to church with you?

What a beautiful friendship it is,

when it is two Christians,

who are both filled in Jesus,

and they can just give and serve one another?

So students I want to encourage you,

inviting your friends to church,

is a good thing.

Don’t stop doing that.

But maybe,

your friend isn’t accepting your invitation,

to student events,

or church,

because they haven’t even accepted Jesus yet.

People will want to come to church students,

if they first put their faith in Christ.

So I want to challenge you students,

to make sharing the gospel the top priority.

And then if they don’t want to listen,

then you can settle for an invitation.

Because faith,

does not come,

by an invitation,

it comes from hearing the gospel.

Your friends, classmates, coworkers, and family,

will never come to Jesus,

unless they first hear you share the gospel.

Gospel conclusion

I want to end our message today as usual,

with the gospel by using the 3 Circles.

Usually I share the gospel by connecting it to today’s message,

but I’m going to simply present it

the way the 3 circles guide presents it,

so that you can learn to share it better.

The Bible says that God created the world good in Genesis. (God’s design slide)

However because of sin,

came brokenness, (brokenness slide)

I myself am an example of that,

before Jesus I was filled with depression,

sorrow, and rage,

because of my sin.

And I try to solve that problem with drugs,

immorality,

entertainment,

but they all failed,

because we live in a broken world.

But the good news is, the gospel, (gospel slide)

is that Jesus came to take the punishment we deserve by dying on the cross for those who believe in Him,

and that by rising from the dead,

He showed that we would also have eternal life.

And students,

had someone shared this with me earlier,

I would have been saved at a much earlier age.

The first time I heard this,

I was saved.

And I only wished someone shared with me sooner.

You have the message,

the antidote to sin,

in your hands,

will you not give it to others

who need it now?

And that’s exactly how

you can be saved if you are not a Christian today,

by faith alone in Christ alone.

You say,

‘Lord, I have no way to be saved from my sin except you, please help me’,

that’s how

you put your faith in Jesus.

And when you put your faith in Jesus,

he will give you a a new life today (restoration slide),

and be with Him for eternity.

So if you haven’t believed in Jesus,

will you do so today?

Let’s pray.