iChange The World.

08’ Summer Evangelism Series

Part 2 - Good News Bad news Wrong news

”[God], who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2:4-5

Wrong news
If you went out to the street and took a poll, you would likely discover that many many people in America, perhaps even 80%, claim to be a Christian, a believer, born again or any of these similar expressions. However, when we take a look at our society and what is going on and how people live, you may realize that this reality does not match such confessions. Why is that?

Unfortunately, there is a sad mix of misinformation and erroneous concepts that have led people to make assumptions that are fundamentally wrong. It is commonly said that to be ‘saved’ you need to make a prayer, or ‘walk down the aisle’, or just believe in God. Technically, this is ‘kind-of-true’, however, the way is understood and applied is wrong and hence it carries horrible consequences. People have been told a false interpretation of the Gospel and this sometimes, I believe, even more harmful than not knowing it at all

Picture someone dying due to a poisonous snake bite. Someone else comes along side and gives him a bottle with the antidote but fails to tell him a vital part of the treatment: “drink it!”. The person with the snake bite hopes and thinks that he will be ok because he has the antidote in his hand and will live but never actually drinks it… and he dies. I hope I’m not stretching the analogy, but in an essence that’s what happens to many. They think they are saved because they made a prayer or were baptized when little or come from a Christian family and never do anything else… and at the end, they will perish.

Bad news
Often times when talking about sharing the Gospel or sharing our faith, telling people about Jesus’ work in the cross, we refer to as: ‘sharing the Good news’. That’s what Gospel means, “The Good News”. But, in order to be good news, there has to be bad news. Frequently, the common person will accept that there is a God, somewhere, somehow and most will agree to this fact. Unfortunately, many also reject the concept that hell exists. The Bible tells us that there is a place where people will go if they don’t want to be in God’s presence for eternity. It is real, as heaven and God are. (Revelation 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.) Now, the worse part is that we all, are heading that way from birth. The Bible says that there is none righteous, not one. That we are all fallen from God’s grace and we all deserve death. (Rom 3:23 and 6:23) The Bible also says that if we break just one commandment, we’ve broken tem all. (Deut 27:26 and James 2:10) That’s the bad news and it would be difficult to give somebody the Good news if they are not aware of the bad news.

The Good News
The bright side of it is that God has provided a way for us so that we don’t have to go to hell. Not only He provided a way that anyone can attain it (John 3:16) but also it is His desire that all would be saved. (1 Timothy 2:4-5 ”[God], who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus”)
The best part is that it is by grace, not by something you can do but by something that you could never do, just he could do it. Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.”)

The a-b-c of Christianity
What’s the most important word of The Gospel? What is the first word of Jesus’ and Peter’s and Paul’s message? Is it faith? Believe? Baptism?, ‘the sinners prayer’?, prayer?, grace? Mercy?
If we knew what this key word, it would probably help us to understand what the foundation of The Gospel is, what The a-b-c of Christianity is.

Let’s take a look to all of these Bible preachers to see if there is anything in common to their very first public sermons:

John the Baptist: Matthew 3: 1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Jesus: Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Luke 24:46-47 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise[a] from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem

The twelve: Mark 6: 12 So they went out and preached that people should repent.

Peter: Acts 2:38 [After explaining what was going on at Pentecost…] Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peters second sermon: Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Paul: [At first sight, we don’t have a record of what Paul said at first, we just know that, after his conversion, he went out preaching. However, when defending his case before King Agrippa, he gives us the scope of what his message was] Acts 26:19-20 19 “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

What a coincidence, isn’t it? This shows us what the core of being born again is. It is not just the prayer or ‘believing’ the way we sometimes understand it. It is repentance.

Now, repentance is not just feeling bad or sorry about what we’ve done. We carry this meaning from the catholic term ‘penitence’, to pay or suffer for your sin. It is more than that.
The original language word for ‘Repentance’ comes from two root words: ‘meta’ (‘Change’; as in Metamorphosis) and ‘noia’, knowing or mind. It is consequently a change of mind and therefore of attitude and actions. It is a complete make up of the way you see things. Not as the world but as God sees them. A spiritual view and the effect that this has in material life.

Believe is not just to accept something is real, but to act upon it. I can believe that a car driving down the street can kill me, but if I don’t move out of the way, I wouldn’t be confirming that I truly believe it.

Same thing with salvation. We are saved when we, not only accept that God exists and Jesus is His Son and died for my sins and rose again, but we act upon it, making His death and propitiation personal and taking action upon it. Such action is a change of mind, a change in the way I live and do things. That is in actuality giving our lives to Him.

Notice that we refer to salvation as believing by faith. I am not saying now that you have to do two things to be saved: repent and believe. I am saying (or the Bible says) that they are one thing together. If I say I am going to Washington, Am I saying that I am leaving Atlanta or that I am arriving at Washington? The answer is both. I cant get to Washington if I didn’t leave Atlanta, I cant leave Atlanta of I am not going to Washington. In the same way, I cant believe if I don’t repent and I cant repent if I don’t believe. They go together and one confirms the other.

Now we can understand when Paul refers to when he wrote in Romans 10:9,10 "...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation

Application
1 Peter 3:15 reads: “and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”. As we understand the process of salvation and we get ready to change the world, one soul at a time, it is important that we are ready to do so anytime, anywhere.

You may have heard of the “Romans Road” or “The Four Spiritual Laws”. They are simply put, scripts that people have put together to make easier to memorize scripture and principles about salvation in a way that you can share it with others.

I suggest you make your own script based on this downloadable document and prayerfully consider and select one verse from each category, write it on an index card and memorize it.
Often times I need to share a vers with somebody but I cant remember where the verse is. This exercise hopefully will help you to get practice on memorizing key Bible verses.
And, as always, pray for opportunities to share this with others and when the opportunity comes, take it. Remember, the Word of God is powerful and wont come back empty but will do what God intended.