Obeying Jesus
by Kevin Cross
IDT Mid-America
Do you get nervous when sharing your faith in Jesus? Me, too. But, for the past six years, I have used the following biblical method of sharing the gospel and it has been very effective!
It can be scary to stand up for Jesus and lovingly share with someone how to have eternal life in Him. But, Jesus has commissioned His followers to do it (Matthew 28:18-20). We have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). It is our duty to fulfill our mission on earth and worship our triune Creator by obeying His Son. Since we’re going to obey Jesus by telling people about Him, we want to be as effective as possible, right?
Although biblical evangelism is very direct, I have found most people appreciate having an honest, caring, non-judgmental conversation about their eternity. Nearly every time I speak with someone, our conversation ends with a handshake and a “Thank you”.
So, here we go---
(1) Pray – We are to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Pray before, during and after
any endeavor if you want to be effective in glorifying the Lord.
(2) Go – Leave your church property. Very few people who are enemies of God (Colossians
1:21) will enter what they see as God’s house or go where they think He will be.
These folks are simply acting according to their sinful, un-born again natures and they
must be converted or they will suffer eternal punishment. We must go to them!
Think about this. If a house near your church was burning, would you stay on your
church property and wave at the house in the hope that your neighbor will see you,
think you are friendly and come join you at your church to escape the fire? That’s
ridiculous! The loving thing would be to run to the house, share the bad news of the
fire with your neighbor and encourage them to flee to safety.
Failure to go is disobedient and ineffective even if we follow the rest of these steps.
(3) Smile – Be friendly and personable. It’s more fun and it quickly disarms people in our
deteriorating and de-personalizing culture. Sufficient relationship to share the gospel
with someone can be built in only a moment with a friendly greeting. We do not
need to, nor can we, earn the right to share the gospel. Jesus has commissioned us to
do it!
(4) Break the ice – Offer the person a good gospel tract (one that includes the words “sin”,
“holy”, “righteousness”, “hell” and “repent” (Acts 17:30-31, James 1:15, Luke
13:2-5). Ask the person, “Did you get one of these?” If they ask what it is, be
truthful and tell them it’s a gospel tract. They will appreciate your honesty
and will either accept or reject it.
Two advantages of using tracts are that they go home and preach to the person
when he/she is ready and the person can read the message again and again.
If handing a tract to someone is too difficult, don’t be ashamed. Leave good
gospel tracts where people will find them. The Holy Spirit can use them to
convict people of sin and cause them to be born again (John 3:5-7, John 16:8).
An alternative to using tracts is to ask if there are any good churches in the
area. You will know by the person’s response if they are open to discussing
spiritual things. If not, wish them a good day and move on to someone else.
(5) God’s Law – The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) along with portions of Jesus’ Sermon on
The Mount (Matthew 5:21-22 and 5:27-28) show our Creator’s perfect, holy,
righteous nature. Anything of imperfect nature cannot survive being in His
presence. Therefore, sinful people must be made perfect by God. The Holy
Spirit uses God’s Law to convict the person of sin and show them their need for
the Savior (Romans 7:7). They must be given the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ by faith in Him in order to escape God’s wrath for their trans-
gressions of His Law (1 John 3:4).
Ask the person if you can ask them a few questions. Most will say yes because you are
asking them to talk about their favorite subject – themselves.
Ask if the person believes they are a good person or good enough to go to heaven.
Ask if they have kept the Ten Commandments. Most will say they try.
Ask if they have ever lied. (Commandment 9)
Ask if they have ever stolen anything. (Commandment 8)
Ask if they have ever used God’s name in vain. (Commandment 3)
Ask about other Commandments in the same way, if you wish, to show them their guilt.
Most people will be very candid if you ask these questions in a friendly, non-judgmental
manner. Tell them they can judge themselves. Remember, dear reader, you are guilty, too.
I know you are not a good person because the Bible says so in Romans 3:12. This verse tells
you that I’m not good either.
If the person turns the questions back on you, simply admit the truth. Guilty people want
others to be guilty with them, but that does not remove their guilt when they stand alone
before God in judgment (Hebrews 9:27)
(6) Analysis – You are not analyzing the person. You are gently giving them an opportunity to
analyze themselves.
Ask if they would be innocent or guilty if God judged them by the Ten Commandments.
Anyone who is humble and honest will answer guilty.
Once they answer guilty, ask if they would end up in heaven or hell. If they answer
“heaven”, go back to the Law and help them see their guilt. If they say “hell”, ask if
they are concerned about that. Give them a moment to think about their possible
eternity in hell. You may feel uncomfortable at this point, but you are doing the
person a great favor by helping them think about the everlasting punishment that may
be in their future. Don’t be afraid to make them sweat. This is the Holy Spirit’s
opportunity to convict them of their sin. It’s much better to hang over hell in our
imagination than it is to go there forever.
When they tell you they would likely end up in hell, tell the person you care about
them and would hate for that to happen to them. If you didn’t care for them, you
would not be sharing the truth with them, right? This small statement of caring is
very powerful in our “it’s all about me” society and it gives the person another
moment to consider eternity.
(7) Gospel – Once the person’s mouth is stopped (Romans 3:19-20), which means they are not
defending themselves and thereby demonstrating self-righteousness, it is time for the
Good News which is the “…power of God unto salvation to everyone who
believes… “ (Romans 1:16). When the person understands that they rightly deserve
eternity in hell for their sins against God, share with them that Jesus took their
punishment for them on the cross and rose again on the third day so that if we repent
(turn from and forsake our sins) and trust in His sacrifice and resurrection, He will
give us eternal life (Acts 20:21, Hebrews 6:1). Share with them that salvation from
sin is by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9,
John 14:6).
Keep in mind that it is almost impossible to overstate the importance of repentance. Jesus told people to repent from early in His earthly ministry (Matthew 4:17) through His post-resurrection letters dictated to John for the seven churches in Revelation. Telling people they must repent may sound harsh, but it is the most loving thing we can do. God has declared that they should repent (Acts 17:30-31) and unless they repent, they will perish. (Luke 13:1-5).
Don’t fall into the trap of counting “your” converts. The Holy Spirit will tell the person if they have been made new creations in Christ (1 John 5:10). Our duty is to simply share the message we have been given and urge people to repent and trust the Savior. We cannot determine whether someone has been saved until they bear good fruit (Matthew 7:17). Share the gospel and let the Lord keep score.
You will be surprised how directly you can speak with people about the possibility of their eternal punishment in hell if you speak with a loving, concerned voice. This is not a mousey voice, but a firm, caring voice of someone who believes hell exists. Don’t be afraid to say to someone, for example, “But you said that you have lied. The Bible says that all liars will go to the lake of fire. Doesn’t that concern you? I would hate for that to happen.” (Revelation 21:8).
Be sure to take the opportunity to encourage the person to whom you are witnessing to read their Bible. Give them a Bible or a Gospel of John if you can. Invite them to your Bible-teaching church or a Bible study. People are best discipled in a local fellowship of believers.
Don’t judge effectiveness by how many people “make decisions for Christ”. That is not the Biblical objective and we don’t have that information because we do not have access to the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:27). The Biblical goal is to worship and glorify Jesus by obeying Him and lovingly sharing God’s plan of salvation with those who do not yet know Him (Matthew 10:37-39). We are to be God’s “ambassadors for Christ”(2 Corinthians 5:20). We can be very effective at being obedient and glorifying God even if no one turns to Christ to be saved. We only fail when we don’t go to share the gospel.
A couple of key verses to remember as you share your faith are:
2 Timothy 2:24-26 – And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all,
able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who
are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the
knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from
the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
Proverbs 15:1 – A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Helpful websites:
If you have questions, comments or disagreements with anything in this post, please send your concerns to me, Kevin Cross, at idtmidamerica@gmail.com I would love to hear from you!
