Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Have you ever thought of yourself as an evangelist? That title and job description is not just for the great glories of the world.

Jeff Johnson: Me, an evangelist? I believe, church, this is our marching orders, this is our job description. And He wants to give every single one of us happy feet. You'll have a kick, a spring in your step that will be different. Feet that are just moving for the Lord, excited about God.

Guest (Male): "Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor," so said famed British preacher Charles Spurgeon. But it's more than an assertion; it's a challenge for the Christian to really be a Christian. You see, once we receive the gospel, we're then to share it. In fact, we should have a strong desire to share it.

Today on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff Johnson takes us to Romans chapter 10. The emphasis here is on reaching out with the gospel. When's the last time you've done that? You might have to think long and hard; perhaps some changes need to be made.

Jeff Johnson: There's a great need for us to do the work of an evangelist. And it's easy for us here at Calvary Chapel of Downey to settle in because you can get really spoiled here. I know this. You just come in, pull up a pew, sit there and get fed the Word. You get the Word, you get the Word. You can go on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The Word, the Word. You're always getting the Word.

You can get huge here, spiritually speaking. Keep well-fed, well-exhorted. You're sitting on four-inch pews, air conditioning. You can get spoiled here. There is a choice. The choice is this, and I shared this the other night. It's an analogy: you can either be the Sea of Galilee or you can be the Dead Sea.

You say, well, what makes the difference between both of those and what's the choice? Well, the Sea of Galilee has an inlet and an outlet. The Dead Sea only has an inlet. Nothing gets out. It's dead. There's the danger. Lord, we don't want to be called Christians in name only. We want to live the life.

We want to have, yes, we want to receive. Yes, we need to receive. But we need an outlet, Lord. Can you give us an outlet so we can live? So we can live life and that much more abundantly, so we can understand what it is to have joy in our hearts and to reach out to those around us that are hurting and dying every day?

The Lord says it this way: "Freely you have received, freely give." Millions haven't heard so that they could cry out and be saved. And I hope you're following me on this. There are many in our families that haven't been saved. There are many in our community that haven't been saved, let alone our world.

And the need is great. The call is very clear. The call is "go." It's a command: "go." Interesting about that, there's two aspects to this going in Acts chapter 13 and verse 2. Let me give you the divine and the human aspect of this whole thing as far as God sending us.

In the divine is in Acts 13:2: "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said through prophecy, 'Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.'" And so God spoke loud and clear. You see, God gives you a word and He separates us and He calls us.

But then verse 3 says, "And when they had fasted and prayed," a lot of fasting and prayer going on in the early church, "and they laid their hands on them, they sent them away." Laying of the hands is an affirmation of what God has already done. He's called, and hey, we're to go. And they sent them away, as you're going to be sent away after this message.

Part of our equipment, our armor for battle, I love this, once we come to the Lord is there in Ephesians chapter 6. And remember Ephesians 6, for you women on Mondays, Monday night you're going to start it, it's the whole armor of God. Part of that armor of God is in verse 15 of Ephesians 6: "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."

There's something about a soldier's footwear, his socks, that are so important. He moves on his feet, and he needs to keep his feet dry and they need to be good boots. Yuri was up in the mountains and he was going through all the snow and stuff and he's going, "I'm glad I brought my marine boots. Nothing's going to get to me," you know?

And he was going "thump, thump, thump." I was in my little tennis shoes running around going "oh, oh, oh," you know? We need gospel shoes, and that's what he's talking about. We are all called to be evangelists. Multitudes upon multitudes are in the valley of decision. Never before have so many not heard the gospel in our world today. Not heard.

You say, well, with all the technology and the media and the TV and the satellite and this and that? No, it's worse. We need to remind ourselves that hell is not just for a weekend. It's an eternity. 180,000 unsaved people die daily. Daily. 180,000. 7,000 every hour go out into a Christless eternity. 100 people every single minute go into a Christless eternity. That's more than one a second go into eternity to face the judgment of God immediately. That's how it's happening.

Jesus taught more about hell than He did heaven. Why? Because it's a real, literal place. And He made that fact very clear in Luke chapter 16; you can read it later on. But interesting, in Mark 9:44, Jesus said about hell, "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." And then He said it again in verse 46, "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched."

And then in verse 48, "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched." I think He's getting the point. It's a place where there's torment, there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's a place of excruciating pain for eternity. It's a place that you don't want to go, that nobody should go, but everybody makes their own choice to go.

But they need to hear. How are they going to hear unless someone is sent? Unless a preacher comes? As we proudly call ourselves believers and we profess to be the people of God, I think we should take these statistics to heart and what God says in His Word and allow them to move us.

Allow the Holy Spirit to bring that to our attention, our remembrance on a constant basis. As you're looking at someone, as you're checking them out. Some people are people watchers, they just like to sit on a chair in a shopping center or whatever and just watch people. God's talking about more than just watching them. He's talking about telling somebody the need.

In Matthew 10 in verse 1, just jot this down, Matthew 10:1. He says He sent His disciples and gave them power against unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. And then in verse 7 it says, "And as you go," Jesus says, "preach, saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It's coming.

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. Freely you have received, freely give. He made it very clear that God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to communicate this salvation. A lot of people think it's foolish, but they're the ones that are perishing. Now, we know it's the power of God unto salvation. And so we use the gospel. He says, "I want you to go, give them the gospel."

But few are going for it. And so my prayer this morning is may God help us to be that generation that gets it. And you would think that the last generation would get it. At least the last generation that's listening has ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Why did God save me? Oh, God saved you to take you to heaven. Oh, good, good, good, good. I'm going to heaven.

But there's more to it than that. He saved you to pass it on. He saved you to tell somebody. And therein lies our work, our laboring in the field in the harvest. At one time, Avon, remember Avon? It was back a while. Amway, you know all those. At one time, believe it or not, they had more salespeople in the United States than the church had missionaries in the world.

Think about that. May God forgive us of our slothfulness because the church has been slothful to reach out. And may God empower us this day to go forth with boldness into our mission field. Again, you're reminded every time you leave this sanctuary of that. It's above the door: "You are now entering your mission field."

Remember we're sent, we're the sent ones. As Jesus was the sent one, we are the sent ones to this world. And what a blessing, what an anointing that God gives to those that understand that they're sent. I found a scripture over in John chapter 3 in verse 34. I just found this. What an eye-opener.

John 3:34, He says, "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without measure unto Him." I love it. He who is sent speaks the words of God and God pours out His Spirit upon that individual to continue to do it. What a promise. Do you remember Peter?

And Jesus said, "Peter, listen, when you really get this, when you get converted, you're going to go strengthen your brothers." I mean, that's it, you're just going to go forth and you're going to be mightily used of the Lord when you get this. Jonah, I think, is a good example of someone who was called but he was very selfish, he was stubborn and he was rebellious.

But God helped him to decide what to do. I mean, it's a pretty incredible story as God was trying to help him. God's word came to Jonah, it says, the second time. God, let us be as Jonah. May Your Word come to us this day again, reminding us of our call. That God would help us not only see our call but go for our call.

What is our call? Paul talking to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 said, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard of me," here's that pass it on thing, "among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also."

So the raising up of leadership and the passing on of the baton. "But thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." I believe that God called every single one of you to be a soldier in His army, that He has given you the armor that you need to be effective in the world that we live in.

You just need to understand that armor a little bit more and begin to put it on regularly, and to be filled with the Spirit, and to be a witness. And you will naturally, it's not something you have to go door-to-door with. It's not that type of thing. It's a natural flow of your life in Him. It's a natural just, He's loved you and nurtured you and you're just going forth and you're telling people and you're making it known.

An evangelist is a traveling seller of soap. The word "evangelist" means "seller of soap." That's classic. Evangelist, you know, hey, you need to clean up your life. You can't do it. There's no other cleanser like this cleanser. It's Jesus. The spray of the blood of Jesus Christ on our lives. And you know the power of it.

There's power in the blood of Jesus because you've received it. It's so good. It's so cleansing. It takes away our sin as far as the east is from the west. You become white as snow. And we had some snow up there in the mountains this last weekend. Wow. And it was virgin snow, six feet high, piled up, white.

So white it'd blind you when the sun hit it. It was incredible. That's what He does inside of us when we accept Him. Our joy and our fulfillment as evangelists is not in this world. We're not here to make a bundle. We're not here to get rich. We're not here to get into the world. No, we're trying to get out of it.

What are you doing, man? Well, I'm just trying to hang out, you know, and collecting a lot of stuff. And you know, I know what I want next, I'm saving for it. In fact, I think I'll get another job. You get caught up in it and you don't realize this is not our home. Our home's in glory. We're just here to be used of the Lord and then He's going to take us home. We need to learn to be content where He has got us.

But it is in telling others of God's love, of His forgiveness, of this peace that He's talking about here in verse 15. Go, gosh, Jeff, you're really hanging out in this verse. I think it's awesome. We've got this gospel of peace. What is this peace? Peace with God. You don't have to fight God anymore. You could be at peace with God.

What is this peace? It's the peace with God and of God that will rule in your heart and in your mind. This peace will envelop you. That which has been choking you will be off. I believe, church, this is our marching orders, this is our job description. And He wants to give every single one of us happy feet.

Did you see that? You'll have a kick, a spring in your step that will be different. Feet that are just moving for the Lord, excited about God. Remember the woman at the well? Remember Jesus went and He spoke with her and she didn't receive it at first, but then she finally got it. It was such a great classic way of how to minister to someone.

But then His disciples came and they went into the village to get meat because they haven't eaten in a long time. And they all went in there and they all got burgers or whatever they get, you know, fajita, and the whole bit. And they were bringing it all out to Jesus. "Jesus, we got your lunch, man." And he's sitting there with a big grin on his face.

They said, "Hey, who gave you a Quarter Pounder?" didn't say it that way, but "who gave you something to eat that you're so happy and you're sitting there so satisfied?" This is what He said, "My meat, listen guys, my meat is to do the will of the Father. And as I'm obeying the Lord, as I'm walking with the Lord, I'm getting ministered to, I'm getting blessed, I'm getting filled, I'm getting satisfied."

I'm in the right place at the right time. And there's just something about that. And then He said, "My meat is to do the will of the Father that sent me." See, sent me. So our mission is to open our eyes to the harvest, to a world that is lost, and reach this place that they might hear.

We need to break out of the Christian bubble sometimes we get in and realize that there's thousands upon thousands that are going to hell daily. And we can each make a difference. We can make a dent in that as we take our stand. I believe that God sent His Son, that He saved my life to tell others.

I don't know about you, but that's what I see that God has done. And He's raising up disciples to do that very same thing. I believe this generation of Christians, now listen, are responsible for this generation of sinners. When you think about it, it makes sense. Well, responsible to the point of at least we're telling them.

We're leaving with them the message. They got to choose, they got to make the decision. But still, remember our orders, remember the command, remember the mandate, remember the commission: go, tell somebody, so they can hear, understand, and get saved. Or call on the Lord, and when you call on the Lord, you get saved.

God help us to renew our commitment, to reevaluate our priorities in our lives and be open to His call on our lives to be evangelists. Now, how many evangelists do we have? Oh, we picked up some. That's great, that's exciting. But it's more than the raising of the hand, isn't it? There's the living of the life. So don't move around in defeat anymore. Get your feet moving with the gospel and go.

Guest (Male): Will you accept the challenge to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ, to share His gospel with a lost and dying world? We hope so. And that you'll keep it right here for more Sound Doctrine. Pastor Jeff Johnson will be right back.

If you enjoyed today's message from Pastor Jeff Johnson from the magnificent book of Romans, I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to sounddoctrineradio.org, where you can hear today's study as well as make a donation to this radio outreach. That's at sounddoctrineradio.org.

You can also listen at oneplace.com and also through the Sound Doctrine Radio podcast app. And of course, speaking of podcasts, Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Let's visit the gospel of Luke before we close up shop.

Jeff Johnson: Finally, Luke's Gospel. I want to close with this verse. It's just great. In Luke 10 verse 16: "He that hears you hears me." Wow. That's a heavy statement because you're giving them what God's given to you. "He that hears you hears me. And he that despises you despises me," the Lord says. "And he that despises me despises him that sent me."

So what is God saying? He's saying, well, you need to receive this gospel, this awesome God. In rejecting it, you're rejecting God, your Creator. You're rejecting His plan for your life. You need to accept Christ into your heart. You need to be born again, as Jesus said in John 3. "If you confess me before men, I'll confess you before my Father. If you deny me before men, I'll deny you."

And so to all of His disciples this morning, that's what He says to those that do not know Him this morning. If you're here, you need to come, okay? But to the disciples that are here this morning, it's time to receive His power into your life to be His witnesses, okay?

So there's two things going on here. There's a call for those that have heard and understand to come and to receive Christ as Savior. And then there's a call to those who are His disciples who want to be His soldiers in these last days to be filled with His Spirit.

Guest (Male): We'll get back into Romans chapter 10 next time on Sound Doctrine as Pastor Jeff again poses the question, "Me, an evangelist?" This program is listener-supported and brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.