The Essentials of Sharing your Faith Part 3 - Confidence in the Power of the Cross

Understanding God’s sovereignty is vitally important during the time in which we live. It sometimes feels as if we are losing ground. Friends reject the gospel, and the culture mocks our faith at every level of the media, education establishment and in politics. Israel should have rejoiced at the salvation of the Gentiles. Instead they grew jealous. Do you remember reading "The adventures of Tom Sawyer" when you were a child? Tom was bothered that he had to whitewash Aunt Polly’s fence. So he played a little game on his friends. He made the work look like fun, and challenged his friends that they were unqualified to paint. Soon, he was getting payments from his friends so they could whitewash the fence while Tom watched! Their jealous condemned them to work.

Yes, the cross has power! It’s greatest power is not the power to motivate, or comfort, or calm. It is the power to cleanse sinners from their sin.

Have you turned to the cross?

Satan works like that in our lives. He tricks us into envy, keeping us away from God. We stay angry at God, and treat respond to God’s promises as if they are a curse. And all the while, we remain in our deception and far from God.

In Isaiah 52:13-53:1, Israel rejects the good news. In reality, they were rejecting JESUS. The gospel is all ABOUT JESUS. Isaiah 53 is about Christ. He is the central figure in Isaiah.

He is "a child born, a son given" in ch. 7

He is "the root of Jesse" in ch. 11

He is "the King reigning in righteousness" in ch 32

He is "the highway to Zion" in ch. 35

He "renews the strength of the weary" in ch. 40

He is "the suffering servant" in ch. 53

He is "the redeemer coming to Zion" in ch. 59

He "proclaims good news to the poor, and proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor" in ch 61

He "extends peace like a river" in ch. 66

Our needed encounter is with HIM!

In this third section of Romans 10, we can take confidence that the GOSPEL is STILL POWERFUL. We can have Confidence in sharing the gospel.

Let’s review the three sections of Romans 10:

Romans 10:1-13 - A Clear message

Romans 10:14-15 - A Committed Messenger

Romans 10:16-21 - Confidence in the Power of the Cross