Sharing the Gospel can be a daunting experience. We often feel frightened and inadequate. Below is the outline of a conversation that I had with a coworker.
First, I explained the law. I tried to follow the Biblical model of getting him to clearly see his sin and understand his need for repentance.
Second, I explained the Gospel. I explained how God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all.
With fear and trembling the conversation came around to where I asked the following question.
Question 1. Do you know for sure that you are going to be with God in heaven?
Answer: Everyone would like to believe that if there is an afterlife in heaven they will be there but certainty is a pretty high standard.
Q 2. If God were to ask you, “Why should I let you into heaven?” what would you say?
A. If the essence of God is love, since I always try to be a good person, I hope that He will want me to come into heaven.
Q 3. Actually the Bible gives you more than just hope. The Bible says… these things have been written to you so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13
Did you catch that? You may know!
Can I explain to you what the Bible teaches us about how we can have eternal life?
A. Sure
Q 4. First the Bible teaches that:
The wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23
Do you sin?
A. Not really, like I said, I’m a good person overall.
Q 5. God has an entrance requirement for heaven: You must be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48
Are you perfect?
A. Well, no one is perfect.
Q 6. So lets just look quickly at God’s law to see God’s standard for perfection.
Are you familiar with the Ten Commandments?
A. Kind of, I guess.
Q 7. Have you ever told a lie?
A. Yes, sure.
What would you call someone who lies?
A liar.
Q 8. Have you ever stolen anything.
A. Yes, when I was younger.
What would you call someone who steals?
A thief.
Q 9. Have you ever looked at a woman with lust in your heart?
A. I guess everyone has.
Have you ever had sex with someone other than your wife?
What would you call that?
Adultery.
Q 10. So by your own admission you are a lying, stealing, adulterer.
Do you meet God’s standard of perfection… the standard that is required for heaven?
A. No.
Q 11. The bad news is that you cannot be good enough to earn heaven.
Would you like to hear the good news?
A. I’m ready.
By grace you have been saved (given the promise of eternal life) through faith. It is a gift of God, not earned by works, so that no one can boast about being good enough to deserve it. Ephesians 2:8-9
Unlike a paycheck that you earn by working, Eternal life is a gift. It can’t be earned. Think of it this way, you have a job. You work and you earn a paycheck. You deserve that paycheck because of the work you have done. However, you would not consider that paycheck a gift. If you have to do good things to earn your way into heaven it is not really a free gift is it?
Or, if someone promised you a gift and then turned around and demanded payment, why, it would not really be a gift would it?
Q 12. Why must eternal life be a gift?
God is perfect in every way, including perfect in justice: I do not excuse the guilty.” Numbers 14:18
So the question is: Can anyone be perfect? The Bible realistically says, no. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
This presents us with a dilemma: To earn eternal life God requires perfection but we can’t even live up to our own standards much less God’s standards. We simply cannot be good enough nor can we ever do enough to earn our way into heaven. Though we try as hard as we can, all we can earn is death. Death is our wage no matter how hard we try to offset it with good deeds because we cannot meet God’s standard.
Q 13. God provided the solution to our dilemma… and it is the only solution.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, so that whosoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. John 3:16
All we, like sheep, have gone astray, but God laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6
Jesus is God. The Bible explains that all things were created by Him. Christians celebrate Christmas, as God coming to earth as a human in the person of Jesus. Jesus then lived the perfect life; the sinless life that we are unable to live. As such, of all the people that ever lived, Jesus alone, earned and deserved eternal life. However, rather than claim His “paycheck”, in order to satisfy God’s justice, Jesus decided to take the punishment that we had earned onto Himself. This is the story of Easter. Jesus, the One who did not have to die, died in our place, satisfying God’s requirement. Then Jesus resurrected, rose from the dead, offering us everlasting life.
Q 14. How do we receive this gift?
By grace have you been saved through faith… whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. Ephesians 2:8-9
Whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life. John 3:15
Q 15. So it comes down to this: Do you hope to get into heaven by being good enough to please God?
This is the impossible plan of all of the world’s religions.
Or:
Q 16. Do you trust that Jesus Christ, through His death in your place, is offering you a gift, a free pass into heaven? This is God’s unique offer. It is what Christianity is all about.
Everyone is captive to their own shortcomings, failures, contradictions, thoughts, actions; what the Bible calls sins, bad things that we do and good things that we refuse to do. Jesus, by His actions; gave Himself as a ransom, I Timothy 2:6, to give us life. Jesus said: I have come that you may have life to the fullest. John 10:10