The Conduct Of The Gospel Series

Over the past few weeks, we have discussed how we as Christians should "Stand in the Gap" regarding some of the social issues of the day; ones that not only plague our society but have leeched their way into the church. It seems that the farther along we go as a church in the USA, the more and more like the world we become.

We have discussed how the church has compromised on issues such as sexual immorality, and will be discussing topics such as abortion, homosexuality and other issues but before we go much farther we should take a look at one key failing of the church: LIVING the gospel message. This message is based upon John MacArthur's "The Conduct of the Gospel", found in the MacArthur Study Bible.

II) What Does The Word "Gospel" Mean?

In the Greek language, the word that we translate as 'gospel' is euaggelion (yoo-ang-ghel'-ee-on); a good message, or good news.

Now let me ask you folks a question: Have you ever had such good news to tell that you just couldn't keep it in? I can tell you of quite a few:

New girlfriend

Winning my first wrestling match

Graduating from High School

Marriage

Pregnancy

Turtle was born

Seeing a life saved on TV

But of all of the good news that we could offer to anyone, don't you think that we should be willing to do our best to spread the news our Savior? Of all of the "good news" that we can share with anyone, seeing someone saved from an eternity apart from God should be the top of the list.

How can we make the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, our top priority? Let's see what God's Word tells us this evening.

II) The Conduct of the Gospel

A. Declare it:

In the gospels of Matt, Mark, Luke and John Jesus repeatedly shares the good news of Himself with others. In Matthew, we can see that he went directly into Galilee, a 'rough neighborhood' if there ever was one:

Matthew 4:23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

I had mentioned a few months ago that an athiest had written Ray Comfort a few months back and stated that if the gospel were true, that we as Christians are indeed cruel for watching people going to Hell without saying a word. That man likened our conduct to that of us seeing a man standing in the street, about to be hit by a bus and, not saying a word, letting him be hit.

Instead, we are to be bold in expressing our faith. Now not everyone is going to be a Billy Graham, and not everyone is going to be able to go door to door witnessing. But God gives us opportunities to share the good news with others and for those times that we have been given the opportunities to share the gospel and not declared it, we will have to answer for.

In Romans 10, Paul speaks of the 'beautiful feet' of those that share the gospel message:

Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!" (NKJ)

Does that mean that I have beautiful feet? No, not really--Kay and Turtle will tell you this is not the case. What it means is that the my action of moving my feet to spread the gospel is a move that is beautiful in God's sight because I'm spreading the good news about His Son.

Matthew 28:19-20

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,

[20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

As I've mentioned before, we are to Go Win Baptize and Teach. A key component of a growing church is one that is a soul winning church. When Jesus tells his disciples (and no, this is not just directed at the Disciples with a captial D, but all of his followers, if you check the context) to 'Go', is that a request or a command? It's a command. It's not just a good idea, but it's a command.

B. Defend it:

Jude 1:3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

When Jude, the brother of Jesus, wrote that little book of Jude, he was not just saying to defend, or contend, for the faith. He was saying something stronger.