Believe and Speak

I've already described that the activities that we do on campus are kind of based around

small group meetings and faculties.

And every third week, the small group has to organise itself to do evangelism.

And this particular day, I was heading to the engineering faculty, pedalling my bicycle,

riding my bike between my place and the faculty.

And as I went, my phone started to buzz in my pocket.

And every buzz was another member of the group telling me that they couldn't make it that day.

It buzzed a fair bit.

And by the time I got to the faculty, the last message had arrived to confirm for me that

I was going to be alone that day.

No one was coming.

And it's not the first time that I've had to do things on my own, because we've understood,

we've realised that part of our job is the Lord sending us there to be an example of people

who will stand for Jesus and who will carry on.

And that day, sitting in the faculty, when the last message came through and I was alone,

I sat there kind of wrestling with God, angry again, that here I was, this Australian guy

who left a fantastic country to go to Italy.

And a lot of Italians, they say to us, you are nuts.

Why?

Whatever possessed you to think about leaving Australia to come to our country?

They say that all the time.

They just can't believe that we've done such a dumb thing.

And so I wrestled that day thinking, Lord, I've left a great country, Australia.

I've come to this country.

We've suffered a whole bunch of different things.

And here I am again, alone, seeking to tell about Jesus to Italians when all the Italians

can't turn up to do it.

And I was praying and thinking, Lord, what should I do?

Should I just go home?

I've got an extra hour and a half up my sleeve that I didn't think I had.

And then, once again, it became clear to me, no, that if the Lord Jesus is Lord of all life

in Australia, he certainly is Lord of all life in Italy.

And that means all the students that I can see walking to and fro in front of me while

I'm sitting on that bench in the engineering faculty in Florence, he's Lord of them as well.

So that means I have to speak.

So I said, all right, Lord, help me.

I will speak.

And I started praying for the guy who was sitting there next to me.

And I opened my mouth and introduced myself.

And I said that I was from the GBU.

And would he like to talk about Jesus?

And he said, yes.

And I'd love to say that after talking with that guy for an hour, he just was kneeling

on the floor, you know, waiting for me to help him pray the prayer and commit his life

to Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

He didn't do that.

In fact, he walked away fairly pumped up with his, I guess, his intelligence and his ability

to rebut some of the things that I said.

And in effect, I learned in that hour that he was his own God because he wasn't going

to let anyone else in to mess up the scheme that he had going on.

But the thing that moved me to speak and the thing that must move us to speak is the knowledge

and the belief, our trust in the fact that Jesus is Lord of all the universe, there, everywhere

and here.

Would you join me again as we pray and seek the Holy Spirit's intervention right now in

our minds and our hearts as we look at the word of God and we seek to really understand

that Jesus is this Lord and Savior and we can believe him, we need to believe him and we

need to speak that out.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this awesome opportunity to be together now.

We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would open our hearts and our minds to the truth that

is in this word, the truth about the Lord Jesus.

That he really is risen, that he reigns and he will return and that we need to speak that

out.

Help us to not only understand these things, but to do them.

And we pray it for your glory and the sake of the salvation of others.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

If you've got a handout, you can follow the outline that's printed there for you.

The talk is entitled Believe and Speak.

And we're looking just at these verses that have been read for us from 2 Corinthians 4,

2 Corinthians 4:13–18

verses 13 to 18.

And the big point, like I've already said, is that God has raised this Jesus from the dead

and he will raise those who trust in this risen Jesus.

That's what God is urging us to believe, because it's true, and speak out.

The first point there, as you can see, is why you would speak and what you would say.

And essentially, it's just saying again what I've already said, that God has the power to

protect and give life in Jesus Christ.

That's why you would believe and that's why you would speak.

It's interesting that Paul cites Psalm 116.

So he's drawing back into the Old Testament to find some connection point with what he's doing

and saying as he lives and as he writes to the Corinthians.

Please do turn with me to Psalm 116.

It's really important that we look at that together, because it helps us understand

that God is faithful even in the midst of trial and turmoil

that comes because of following him.

Please do turn with me to Psalm 116.

Where God tells us this through the psalmist.

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice.

He heard my cry for mercy.

Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.

And it's in a tricky situation.

The cords of death entangled me.

The anguish of the grave came upon me.

I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

Then I called on the name of the Lord.

O Lord, save me.

The Lord is gracious and righteous.

Our God is full of compassion.

The Lord protects the simple-hearted.

When I was in great need, he saved me.

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.

For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I believed.

And this is the sentence that Paul quotes.

And you might have a footnote similar to mine.

It says,

It's an awful moment in the psalmist's life.

How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

O Lord, truly I am your servant.

I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.

You have freed me from my chains.

I will sacrifice a thank-offering to you and call on the name of the Lord.

I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,

in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord.

The psalmist is in the midst of trouble and difficulty.

And what does he do?

He cries out to this God that he knows,

who is powerful and faithful,

to sustain him.

Why would you speak and what would you say?

Well, you would tell about this great God,

this great powerful God.

And we see the reason that Paul gives in verse 14.

But I wanted to ask someone who has a loud voice

to read out for us, please, verses 13 and 14.

Preferably from an English Bible.

Because otherwise I won't understand it.

Or you could read Italian.

Someone, 13 and 14?

I will.

Great.

Loud voice, please.

That's all right?

Forgive you.

We have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written.

I believe and so I spoke.

We also believe and we also speak.

Knowing that he who reigns the Lord Jesus

will raise us also with Jesus

and bring us with you into his presence.

Excellent.

My version has in verse 14 because,

I think Nick's version was,

knowing that.

But he says,

we believe and we speak

because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus

from the dead will also raise us with Jesus

and present you with us

in his presence.

So what they're banking on is this.

God has showed that he is powerful

because he's raised Jesus from the dead.

And on the strength of that,

they put all they have on Jesus

knowing that he is powerful enough,

or the one who's raised Jesus is powerful enough

to raise them

who've trusted the one who raised Jesus

and he is powerful enough

to raise those who trust in the message

that they are proclaiming.

I've already mentioned it,

but it's a Colum Buchanan line that I'm stealing.

I'll put all I have on Jesus.

I will put all I have on Jesus.

That's what Paul's saying.

He is convinced that Jesus is risen from the dead

and it's not only powerful enough for them,

but it's powerful enough for everyone who trusts him.

I just want to pause for a second here

and make a brief observation

about what this tells us regarding Jesus himself

and why Jesus is so trustworthy,

why Nick's song and the chorus is so cool,

why Jesus is it.

Because Jesus' resurrection actually confirms

Jesus' identity as the eternal king,

the king that God promised to David

on the eternal throne of his people.

If you want to in your own time,

you can have a look at Matthew 28,

Matthew 28:18–20

verses 18 to 20,

and Jesus says there in verse 18,

all power, and it's arisen Jesus talking,

all power in heaven and earth has been given to me.

He's not saying it before his resurrection,

he's saying it after.

Jesus' resurrection confirms God's power

to raise believers.

It confirms Jesus to be true

because if Jesus had not been raised,

he would have been a liar.

So it confirms actually Jesus' power,

the power of Jesus' own words,

his own resurrection,

confirms that he should be believed.

Jesus is trustworthy

and the risen God.

Close the bracket.

Now, listen carefully to this.

Without the resurrection,

there is nothing to believe.

Without the resurrection of Jesus,

there is no Christianity.

Without the resurrection of Jesus,

Jesus is a liar.

On campus,

when I'm talking with people,

I get to a certain point in the conversation

and I say something like this.

I just want to be really transparent with you

and I want you to understand who we are

so that you're not feeling fooled

and so that you can know

if you want to take this conversation further,

you can or not.

We're from the Gruppi Biblici Universitari,

the university Bible groups.

Our motto is sharing Jesus

from student to student.

So Jesus is at the center of everything we do.

We're not trying to build a new church.

We're not trying to create a new institution.

We don't want to establish

a new student group on campus

and really,

we don't care about the GBU.

What we want to talk to you about

is Jesus

and we want to talk to you about

one thing about Jesus.

Do you think he's alive?

Do you think he's risen?

And because I'm a foreigner

and I've had to learn

the Italian language,

I kind of muck around a bit saying,

I'm using the conditional language here, right?

I'm using the conditional tense.

If Jesus is alive,

then it changes everything.

If Jesus is alive,

then he has the solution

to our common problem.

He's overcome death.

But if Jesus is not alive,

then

I'd be happy to go back to Australia yesterday

and stay there

and live there

and die there.

But if Jesus really is alive,

I will go wherever God wants me to go

because if it's good for me

and it really is true,

then it's good for you

and it's good for everybody.

It's important in Italy

that we talk about

the resurrection of Jesus

because otherwise

Jesus is just left

as one of

a hundred,

if not a thousand,

other gods and saints

and lesser deities.

He's someone who got close.

But who knows

if he got close enough?

Good guy.

Top guy.

But

is he the risen Lord

of all the earth

in the mind of the average Italian?

No.

He's not.

So he doesn't have the power

to save if he's not risen.

He can't be saved

if he's not Lord.

It's important in Italy.

It's important here too

where you live.

The guy who dropped off the car

that we're currently using,

we got talking

and it turns out

that he grew up

in country Australia

having a Roman Catholic experience.

as he grew.

Convinced that God was there

but doesn't really know

how going to Mass

makes him any closer

to that God

that he knows is there

but can't really be sure

how to connect with.

And I said to him,

of course it came out

that we were in Italy.

He was doing a favor

for my brother-in-law

giving us this car

so that he didn't really

know much about us.

And I said,

we're missionaries in Italy.

He said,

wow.

And in the course

of conversation

I said,

you know what the really

big deal is

for me being a missionary

or being a Christian?

He said,

no, what's that?

Well,

the kicker for me

is that Jesus is risen.

Because if he's not,

then I'd love to forget it

because it makes my life

a great deal more difficult

being a missionary in Italy.

But if he's alive,

that changes everything.

And this guy said to me,

yeah,

you know,

I've never thought about it

like that before.

Start thinking about it.

But what about you?

What about you?

Because often we can be confused

as Christians.

And we might not be super clear

about what the centre

of Christianity is.

And this is what I meant.

There was a meeting

that I had one time

with a key student

as part of the GBU group.

And the lights were starting

to come on for me

about what I should be doing

and what should be

some of the key things

that I should be doing

with students.

And I said to him,

look,

if I give you two minutes

to share the central message

of Christianity with me,

what are you going to say?

And what are you going to say

with your friends?

And I said,

would you mind doing that

just as a bit of an exercise?

It's not a test.

He said, yep, yep.

I said, right,

time starts now.

Stop.

I said, thanks.

Can I just reflect

something back to you?

I said, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I said, you didn't mention Jesus.

He's like,

oh, yeah, right.

But not only did he not

mention Jesus,

the resurrection

was nowhere in sight.

Paul's big point here,

resurrection,

game on.

No resurrection.

Forget it.

If I can borrow something

from the circus in Rome.

What about you?

What do you say

when you've got two minutes

to share the message

of Christianity

with people you know?

And I'm challenging about this

because it's become obvious

to me that we need

to really understand

that the resurrection of Jesus

changes everything.

And you need to understand

that too,

and we'll see why.

Because without this difference,

without the resurrection

of Jesus,

Christianity is just like

any other religion.

Just a set of rules,

kind of some good examples,

but it goes nowhere

in the end

because it has no eternal value.

There's no guarantee

that by doing Christian stuff,

you're going to actually

overcome death

and have eternal life.

Without the resurrection,

Christianity is just like

any other religion,

but because of the resurrection,

there is believing hope.

It changes everything.

And in keeping with

the title of this talk,

Believe and Speak,

it means not only

is it something worth believing,

but it's worth speaking about.

That's why you would speak

and that's what you would say.

You would talk about

Jesus' resurrection

and it's no mistake

that Paul talks about that here.

I'd invite you to study

the book of Acts again

in your own time

and just see how much

they talk about the resurrection.

They don't talk a whole bunch

about the crucifixion.

They talk much more

about the resurrection

because that's the thing

that confirms that Jesus

really should be listened to

and that his death

actually did what

it should have done.

And Paul goes on,

the goal of what he's doing

is also to bless others

and glorify God.

This is the second point.

We've already looked at,

haven't we,

that we've established

that he refers to the psalmist

in Psalm 116

because it really sums up

what they are experiencing.

When you read from

the start of chapter 4,

you see he's talking about

trials and suffering

and being perplexed,

being crushed.

And this is because

of following Jesus.

But he wants to keep

on telling others

about Jesus

for their sake

that they might be blessed

and for the glory of God.

Can someone read up

verse 15 please?

It doesn't matter

what version it is.

Verse 15 please.

Thank you.

So he says,

we're going to keep

doing this

and as we do it,

it's for your benefit

because as they keep

preaching Christ,

the grace of God,

the news of God's

unmerited favor,

the news of God's

mercy goes out

and the people

who hear it

and they believe it,

they're brought in.

And the effect

in their life

is one of being

overjoyed

at being released

from the uncertainty

of death

and the fear of death.

This thanksgiving

at knowing

that there is a God

and that God

loves them

and they can know

that God

and they can be

connected to that God

forever.

and the joy

that they experience

and the release,

the freedom from sin

and the liberation

from this uncertainty

and God's judgment

wells up in them

as thanksgiving.

But that's pretty good.

That's a personal effect

for the people

who are receiving

Jesus Christ as Lord

but what it does

is glorify God.

So what happens

when a person

is actually hearing

about Jesus

being the risen Lord

of the universe

and accepting that

they are being brought

into a worship

of God

and it works like this.

As Christ is proclaimed

his truthfulness

which shows itself

in actually being raised again

it points to the fact

that there is a God

and that God is true

and he's eternal

and he's loving.

He cares about right and wrong

and he cares about you.

And in all that process

God goes

that's right.

That's what I'm like.

And it's only right

that you should understand me

as that right,

loving,

holy God

who's shown himself

in the Lord Jesus

and I want to bring you in.

Come in.

God is glorified

and Paul is,

he wants to be on that train.

He wants to be with it.

He wants to be on that program.

He wants to keep that happening

and he will not take a backward step.

Cherie is a woman

that Sarah has been meeting with

over the last couple of years now

and Sarah shared a little bit

of that story this morning.

Cherie is someone

who has struggled

with depression

and great uncertainty

relating to

life after death,

judgment.

But as Sarah

has been able to sit

and be very patient with her

opening the scriptures

and studying Jesus together,

getting to know Jesus together,

Cherie has been liberated.

And it's a beautiful thing

to see in the life

of a person

when they really do understand

how God has made peace

through the blood of Jesus

and how that's been confirmed

by his resurrection.

And the joy comes out.

The freedom is there.

The clarity of mind

actually occurs

and it's like,

whoa,

I'm seeing now.

And this has been,

we've been watching this

and praying for this

in Cherie's life.

A brother in our,

in my Bible study group,

church Bible study group

in Florence,

I think summed it up

really well

when we were studying Acts

one night

and he said,

you know,

it really seems to me

that evangelism

is much more

like giving a gift.

Telling Jesus

is much more

about giving a gift

rather than some crazy thing

that we really feel

burdened by

and we can never

really get to doing.

And I think he's right

because we're seeing it in Paul.

He won't take a backward step.

He will keep going

because he wants

to give that gift.

That gift has come to him

and he didn't deserve it.

He wasn't looking for it.

He didn't want to take it.

God said,

here it is.

Jesus says it to him

on the road.

He receives it

and he knows

he can never give it away.

He's not going to lose it

but he wants to give it.

He wants to make sure

that other people

get it as well.

Italy is a place

that needs that gift.

And I think Australia

is not far behind it.

We've got 0.2%

of people

who are non-Roman Catholic

Christians in Italy.

Australia,

I don't know,

5, 6%

that might kind of

fall into that category.

believers

who are in churches.

But there's this

great confusion

in Italy

because Jesus

is not Lord.

He's not presented

as who he actually is

and people are left

in their confusion,

in their fear.

But it's a question

for us,

isn't it?

Are we speaking it out?

Are we being led

to the same thing

that filled Paul's heart

and his life

as he kind of captures it

in verse 15?

He's not going to stop it.

Or this is for your benefit.

And the final point

I've got

is the reason

to keep believing

and speaking

is because this is

an eternal reality.

Look down again

with me please

at the passage

from verses 16 to 18

and I'll read this time.

I think this is a really

awesome reality check

for two reasons.

When we look at the contrasts

in these verses

we see on the one hand

a whole bunch

of difficult stuff.

He talks about losing heart.

He says we do not lose heart

but he's talking about that

because it's pretty easy

to start thinking

oh I'm just not sure.

I don't know if I can keep going.

I'm taking the knocks.

He talks about wasting away.

It's kind of the opposite

of all the advertising

you see around.

It strikes us really

in a big way

when we come back to Australia

and then when we return

to Italy.

The Italians are really

into well-being.

Skin, appearance, beauty.

Being thin.

Not being too fat.

And they talk about it

all the time.

Come back to Australia

and it's kind of like

whoa it seems like

Australia's kind of

going down the Italian path.

Paul's not talking about

going to the gym

and he's not talking

about his own well-being.

He's not talking about

the tablets that he can take

to pump himself up.

He's actually talking

about the fact that

they are wasting away

outwardly.

And he talks about

troubles.

That's on one side.

That's the reality check

of the effect

of following Jesus

and the effect

of being involved

in the ministry

of telling out Jesus.

The other side

he says,

have a look again.

Verse 16.

We're wasting away

outwardly yet inwardly

we're being renewed

day by day.

We have light

and momentary troubles

but they're achieving

for us an eternal glory

that far outweighs them all.

So what do we do?

We don't get weighed down

by thinking about

all the temporary things

but we look for

what is unseen,

what is eternal.

That is the risen Jesus

and what he promises.

The great powerful God

who could raise

this Jesus from the dead

and who will raise

from the dead

those who believe

in this risen Jesus.

In the six weeks

that we've been back

in Australia,

so far I've attended

two funerals.

I've been quite,

two very different funerals.

The first,

the wife of Richard Chin

who is the AFES

national director,

Bronwyn.

She died about

three or four weeks ago

and then most recently

a family friend.

He died at the age

of about 72

and sitting in those funerals

it was a massive

reality check.

It's pretty simple

isn't it?

The message of a funeral

often is that

this life is nothing.

We can't hang on

to these things

to make us live forever.

It doesn't work that way.

Like Ecclesiastes said,

a funeral is a good place

to hang out

because it's a really

good wake-up call.

It's a very good

wake-up call.

And Paul is saying

in the midst of

all this stuff,

all this trouble,

all this body

wasting away,

it's a reminder

he's drawn back

to ask why

and he's pointed

back to the risen Jesus.

And he must

be involved

in this news

going out.

I want to just

leave you with

this one last challenge

and you can pray

it for me as well.

My challenge is this.

There's a danger

for us

if we're already

following this risen Jesus,

the longer we wait

to speak out

what we believe

and what we know

about him,

the further away

our opportunities

will be

to tell others

about him.

I've seen this

in Italy

and I know it

to be true here

because I've

experienced it myself.

This is what

I'm talking about.

For evangelical

Christians in Italy,

like I've already said,

it can be very difficult

to actually live

in this massive

great ocean

of people

who don't understand

who you are

and they don't really

care for who you are.

And the church,

as much as it's

God's blessing,

can become a place

where people really

take very severe,

deep refuge.

It's kind of like

the lifeboat.

They've been hauled

into it

and the last place

they want to go

back into

is the water

that they've just

been rescued from.

But the challenge

with that is

they forget

why they're there

and they just

become a club.

They enjoy

all the benefits

of that club

but they forget

about the founder

and that it's

up to him.

And I think

people can be left

doing this.

They sit around

thinking

about what

they think

other people

think.

It's a bit

tricky that.

Sitting around

thinking about

what they think

other people

think.

And this is how

it goes.

Ah, they hate

Christians.

They don't want

to know.

They're not

interested.

They're going

to kill me.

And in my

experience

that's not

true.

They just

don't know

Christians.

They don't

know Jesus.

They really

want to

understand.

But the

longer we

wait, the

bigger the

wall and

the less

ready we

are to

speak.

And I

think Paul's

encouragement to

us, to you

tonight, to me

tonight, to our

evangelical brothers

and sisters in

Italy, is to

speak it out.

Is to get back

to the fact that

Jesus really is

risen and that

there's much more

going on than

meets the eye in

being a Christian.

It can look pretty

poor on the

outside, but the

eternal reality is

astounding.

Where are you at

with Jesus?

Where am I at

with Jesus?

Are you really

convinced that he's

risen?

What's going to

keep you going as a

Christian, but what's

going to move you to

come and be in

Italy with us?

when you're on

your own?

The Italians

aren't there, but

Jesus is there, and

you're there.

That's enough.

Speak it out.

If we believe it,

we'll speak it out.

And I want to

encourage you to

think about how you

might do that this

week and talk to

each other about how

that's going.

Let's pray.

Hallelujah, Father,

thank you so much

for the chance

once again to look

into the reality

of the Lord Jesus.

Thank you, Father

God, for calling

your servant Paul.

Thank you, Lord

Jesus, for calling

him, for filling

him with the Holy

Spirit and testifying

and giving him such

a great understanding

that, Lord Jesus,

you really are

risen, that he was

never going to take

a backward step.

Please help us to

examine our hearts

and our minds and

understand whether we

really believe that

you are risen, Lord

Jesus, or whether

we've got doubts, and

please help us deal

with those doubts.

And we pray that you

would help us to speak

out the truth about

you, Lord Jesus.

And I pray for your

Italian people, that

they would do the

same thing and help

us to be in it

together, we ask in

Jesus' name.

Amen.