How to Share the Gospel Pt.2

And we'll get started with our study on how to share the gospel. And although we could just take a few minutes and we could talk briefly about maybe a process that you could use to approach someone in sharing the gospel, unfortunately those processes are all different with every experience and every person that you interact with, so that's not exactly easy for that to happen. But something I think that's important in sharing the gospel, and obviously for the last several weeks, in fact probably almost two months now, we've been spending our time going through a study in the book of Galatians where Paul is defending the gospel. And so getting the gospel right is very, very, very important. And so that's why we're spending so much time on that. And we're going to cover several scriptures today, um, in relation to the gospel and why is it such good news. Um, and then we're going to go ahead and hopefully by God's grace we'll, we'll manage to get through most of this tonight. And um, this will be a benefit hopefully to you in the future as you share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those that God brings your way. And that's the hope of it. So just quickly, would you open your Bibles to Second Corinthians chapter 5? And then I'm going to read just a little bit here. And I may have done this, uh, Wednesday evening, I can't remember now, um, when we actually discussed this. But I just want to talk about this just briefly as we begin to look at sharing the gospel. And then we're going to get into this in more detail. So Paul makes it very, very clear he's speaking about, um, the ministry of reconciliation. And that's really what we are called by God to be involved in. And it's something that God has given to us and entrusted to us. And that is the gospel. And I'm just going to quickly read this. We have a lot of verses, and I hate to say this, but I don't know, we may not even get through it tonight. But um, in second Corinthians chapter five, Paul starts here in verse 11. He says, "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord" — and we talked about this, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge — "we persuade others." And that's really, uh, kind of what we are involved in. And we do spend time with someone and asking their and answering their questions the best that we can by what God's word says. And so in a sense we kind of are persuading others. We desire for others to know Christ. And we know that we cannot save anyone, but yet we in our own hearts and desire within our hearts that others would come to know Christ. And so we do that. Paul says, "But we, but what we are is known to God, and I hope it's known to you also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you the cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it's for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us." And really that's what compels us. It really is the love of Christ. And that love that we have for Christ compels us to share this incredible good news with others who do not yet know him. So the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Paul says in verse 16, "From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, all of it, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us — and this is our ministry, Christian, this is our ministry, every one of us — he gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation, which is the gospel, how man is reconciled to God, justified before a holy, righteous, and just God, how sinful man can be reconciled." And then verse 20, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you," Paul says, "on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." I love that passage of scripture. And that really is our mandate for Christians: that we have this message that we have been entrusted with. And this is God's design, his plan, that we would be used by him to share the message of reconciliation to those who are outside the forgiveness and love and righteousness of Christ. And that's what we're doing, and that's what we're called by God to do. And so let's continue on in our study with the gospel. And we know that the gospel means we're all provided by God in Christ Jesus absolutely everything that we need for salvation.

And so as you begin to, to begin to witness to others, or begin just in conversation at work or maybe a family member — and sometimes family members are challenging because number one, you know them, they know you, um, and they may be in from a whole different background in a system of religion or whatever it could be — and so there's a lot of questions that may come up within that discussion. But one thing I want to make very, very clear is that you and I cannot save anyone. And I mentioned this last week: the pressure is off us. Whether or not an individual comes to faith in Christ, that's not my responsibility. In fact, Paul here in Second Corinthians, you don't see anything there: we're imploring, "Be reconciled to God." But that's not our job. We can't do that because, as we'll learn here if we get to it tonight in John chapter 3, this new birth is something that the Holy Spirit and God the Father and God the Son are involved in. We simply are vessels that God is using with this incredible message we've been entrusted with to share this message with others. That's all our responsibility is. And so, um, you may struggle when you, when you, when you begin to share the gospel, or maybe you currently are and you're just sharing your testimony — and Paul did that often through scripture — and um, people don't just immediately repent and turn to Christ in faith. That's okay. Um, we have to let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit only can do in the life of a person. So we're not responsible for that. So just remember that as you move forward in this. But we are responsible to be stewards of what we've been entrusted with. And I've been entrusted with, and you've been entrusted with, this incredible gospel message. And it is the good news. It's the good news. We're not going to go into a whole lot of these other scriptures. Uh, I've got so many of them that we could cover tonight. One thing I think is very, very important, especially when sharing the good news: oftentimes when you hear the gospel presentation given, um, it's just given and there's absolutely no reason for which a person would need the gospel. In other words, you might hear someone say to someone, "You need Jesus in your life." Okay, that's great. And then they say, "This is what Jesus did." But they don't understand why they need Jesus in their life. Okay, if you didn't know you had fourth stage cancer and that you were soon to leave this world, and the doctor just came into a room — you're perfectly healthy in your mind — he says, "Hey, by the way, you need to go ahead and take chemotherapy for the next eight months, right? Eight weeks or whatever." If you're perfectly healthy in your own mind, you're not going to listen and take chemotherapy. You're gonna say, "Doctor, what in the world you talking about? Why do I need chemotherapy? Look at me, I'm a picture of health, right?" But if he sets you down and says, "Let me say, I need to share something with you. We've run tests. The tests are in. You have four stage cancer. It's metastasized. We believe that we can probably fix this, but we're going to have to start you immediately on chemo or whatever this drug would be." Oh, now I kind of understand why I probably need to go through chemo and radiation for the next however many weeks. So for me, it's important also when I share the gospel that we, that someone that I'm sharing this with, understands why they would need Jesus Christ in their life. Because the American gospel is simply this: it's like a saddlebag Christianity, is what I call it. In other words, you often hear, "You just need to add Jesus to your life." And so people say, "Well, hey, I'll take a little Jesus and put him in his, in their saddle bag of life as they trot down through the road of life, and every once in a while I'll pull Jesus out if I need him." That's not what this is about. Jesus Christ is your life. He's everything. And so they need to know why this news is good news. And it is good news. And this is God's good news to men. And so oftentimes when I'm in conversation with someone sharing the gospel, or just in conversation in general about these things, I will also bring up for them the reason why this is good news. And the reason why it's such good news — what I'm going to share with you about what God has done for you — is because first, let me share with you the reality of the bad news. The bad news is given in order that they understand the desperate situation that they are in, that they need a savior. And so I oftentimes will take time to share with them that. Right there you say, "Well, John, how do you do that?" Because oftentimes you're going to meet somebody that even probably in context to those that are in the world, they may be even in that context above others in society. They're faithful to their wife. They don't cheat in their business workings or deals. They're hard working. You can go down the list of things. I mean, most people in the community just say, "Man, that is a good man," or "She is such a good lady." Those people are difficult because what we have to do is we have to start with what, what is good in the first place. And if we measure our standard of good based on what we think is good, we've missed the mark entirely, haven't we? So where does the standard of good that we need to measure ourselves by come from? Where is that standard? Anybody? You know, right. The word of God. That's where it is. And so when someone says, "Well, I, I think," you know, in conversation, "If you were to die, where would you spend eternity?" Um, you know, whatever that question may be or however that conversation has been led. "Well, I think or I hope that you know what, that God would look at my life and say, 'You know what, my good things I've done outweigh my bad, and he would accept me.'" And so now we need to get on the topic of what good is and how righteous God is. And so you can simply take them to Genesis, and you can take them to Genesis chapter 20. And you can open your Bible and just go down through these 10 standards that God set for people, and you can just simply start and begin to go through the Ten Commandments. It's not very hard. In fact, it doesn't take very long before this person begins that they have already fallen short of this standard. And so if you have your Bibles, you can quickly turn there. I've got it in my notes, but if you want to, if you want to turn there real quick quickly in Genesis chapter 20... let's see here. I don't know what we would do if they didn't offer us glasses to put on here to what big print is that? What you said? Big, big print? Oh my goodness. So what I'm going to do is just take them through — if, if you would do the same, you can do this — but I'm going to take them through the Ten Commandments. And I'm sorry, did I say Genesis? I meant Exodus. I apologize. If you're in Genesis, you're probably still wondering what in the world is this guy talking about? Yeah, Abraham probably somewhere in there, right?

So you can simply just show them: well, if we are to be measured by the standard of God, and God gave just a 10 measurement standard, let's just use this alone here. Number one: God is righteous, God is holy, God is just. And if you just simply use these 10 and measure your life by these 10, let's just kind of see where we fall in line here. And uh, it won't take long before you'll kind of be able to see where these, where they lie. Number one: "You shall have no other gods before me." So if, if God is to be God, that means he has to be number one in every aspect in our life. He is God. He is Sovereign. He is our Lord. He's God. So number one, the first commandment he gave was there was to be no other God before him. We can't be worshiping anything other than God. Obviously they know that that's not the case in their life. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image." And here we're going to get into idolatry. In other words, we worship other things as God. "You shall not take the name of your Lord God in vain." It's not difficult to find that one being broken in our society or forever as far as that goes. "Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy." "Honor your father and your mother." Some of them may say, "Well, I've done a pretty good job of that." "You shall not murder." They're like, "Man, I've got this one covered. Didn't do that one." "You shall not commit adultery." "I've been faithful to my wife." "You shall not steal." "You shall not bear false witness" — that means you shall not lie. And you take him simply through here: "Shall not covet your neighbor's house." You just simply can lead them through this and say, "Okay, by the standard of God, are you guilty or innocent before God?" "Well, I've done most of these pretty, pretty well. I mean, not too bad." Well, let's say, let's go to the New Testament, see what Jesus said. "You haven't committed adultery?" Well, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5 verse 27 that if a man looks at a woman and lusts after in her heart, he's already committed adultery. "Have you ever looked at a woman, sir, and lusted after her?" "Well, yeah. Hasn't everybody?" "Well, there you go. You broke that one." In First John 3:15, you say you haven't murdered? This is what Jesus said: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that a murderer has no eternal life abiding in him." In Ephesians chapter 2, 1-3, you can write these down. These are just things for you to study and to prepare yourself for in advance. Paul the Apostle is going to talk about where we were and how we lived at one time. We went over that actually this morning, so I'm not going to read it to you. But Ephesians 2:1-3, and then Ephesians 2:11-12. This is where the Gentiles are, or everyone even Jew today that are outside of the grace of God through salvation by faith in Christ: they are separated from Christ, they are alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, they are strangers to the covenants and promises, they have no hope, they're without God in this world. The Bible says that he'll render to each man according to his works. Romans 2:8 says, "But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." Where do all men stand before the holy righteous God who will judge each man according to what he has done? All men, the Bible says, are guilty. It's not hard to prove this to whoever you're speaking with. And then we take him simply. We can take him through some of Romans really, really quickly. Romans 6:23, some of you know this one: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life." We're going to talk about the bad news, and then we're going to offer them the good news of what the word of God says. And you can even ask them: "Based on your own admission, if God was to judge you alone by just these ten, would you be guilty before God or would you be innocent?" And I've never had anybody say that they were innocent before God. Never. Guilty. And so the guilt and the payment of their sin is death. It's not good news. And then you can, in your own mind, you don't have to take him to all these, but these are just things you can study and prepare yourself for. In Revelation chapter 20, 11-15, we're going to look at something called the Great White Throne judgment, because scripture says that it's appointed unto man once to die and to face the Judgment seat of almighty God. We're all going to stand before God, and we're all going to give an account for the life that we've lived. In Revelation chapter 20, 11-15: "Then I saw a great white throne in him who was seated on it. From his presence Earth and Sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged — and this is it right here — they were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades" — which is the, the, the place for those who die outside of Christ now, and before Christ was a part of this, this gnome with this chasm between it — but right now all the unrighteous dead, their spirit goes to hell, that's where they go, Hades. We know that after the resurrection and Jesus Christ led triumphantly over his enemies, he took those from what was known as Abraham's bosom or paradise and took them unto God. And now we know that hell itself is the waiting place of the spirits of the unrighteous from the time of Adam all the way on through. That's where they're at waiting now for this dreadful day, the dreadful day of the coming great white throne judgment of God, which is coming. It's a guaranteed fact. It's coming. And every man outside of Christ who has ever lived, every man, every woman, every one who has died outside of Christ by faith in Christ or faith like Abraham in the Old Testament, they will be standing before this great white throne judgment. Something fascinating about the resurrection: remember, God's going to resurrect every single person. Every one of us will be resurrected. Us? We don't stand before the great white throne judgment. The Apostle Paul tells us in First Corinthians chapter three there's another place we're going to stand. It's called the Bema seat judgment of God before in Christ. We're going to stand before Christ, and our judgment's not going to be based on our salvation because that's been taken care of through faith in Christ. That's been done. In fact, not only have we been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God, who is a guarantee on the inheritance that we will possess one day, but we're going to stand before Christ and give an account also in relation to works — not works to, to salvation, but works that resulted from salvation. In other words, what did I do with what God has entrusted me with, which is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ? How did I live my life before others? Did I live a life that exalted and glorified God? This is not salvific, but these are rewards. So there'll be a place where we as Christians will be raised also and will stand before the Bema seat judgment of Christ, and he will give out rewards, and these rewards we will enjoy for all of eternity. We will not stand before the great white throne judgment of God here, but all the dead unrighteous will. And this is a sobering thing to think about. And there will be no one because the, the, the, the books are written in. This has all been recorded. It's not something that's going to be, uh, hearsay. This is recorded. And then we're going to see here very, very interesting. It says, "And they were each judged, each of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades" — which is hell, which is now the waiting place of the unrighteous, wicked spirits of those who die. If there's someone who dies outside of Christ today, we know their spirit is not in their body, and it's not laying in the ground waiting for resurrection. Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord Jesus Christ. And we also see this very clearly in the gospels with Lazarus when he died. We have the rich man and Lazarus, and we have one in paradise and the other one with the chasm between him who is suffering in this location of death and Hades, and he was begging that that Lazarus would just come and dip his finger in water and drop some water on his tongue, and he said, "Please, would you at least go back and tell my brothers, tell my brothers so they don't come to this place." And that didn't happen obviously, but it's real. And so the spirits of the unrighteous who die outside of Christ are going to a waiting place as we know called death and Hades, but they will be resurrected from this place. Their spirits will be joined with their bodies wherever their bodies were buried, wherever they were burned, lost at sea — all of it's here. It's all going to give up those parts of the DNA, and God will resurrect every person, and we all will stand before the judgment seat of God. Christians will stand before the Bema seat judgment of, of, of rewards. The dead unrighteous will stand here at the great white throne judgment. And this is what they're going to do: they're going to take an account before the judge, the mighty judge. We will see this, guys, because the Bible says — and we talked about this before — that you, Christian, you're even going to judge the angels. We're going to judge the angels, which is absolutely incredible. But we will see this take place. Now, I don't know to what degree and how this will affect us or what we see, but this is going to be a reality. This is not just a make-believe story, Puff the Magic Dragon. This is really going to take place. This is why Paul says we are compelled. You know? I mean, we, there's things that push us and drive us to share the truth of the Gospel with people we love. And this is the other thing: I can't make someone I love come to faith in Christ. Only the Holy Spirit drawing that person to them in salvation can bring that about in their life. I can't do that. And so, um, it compels us to, to share the gospel because this is the reality of where those outside of Christ, the unrighteous, will stand one day. And they're going to stand before the great white throne judgment of almighty God, and he will give judgment to those here. And here's the sad part, even, even worse than this. You know, it's, it's bad enough that we died once because of, we're all born in Adam, and from Adam all die. That's a result of sin. The tainted reality of sin brought death to all mankind, not only physically but spiritually as well, separated from God. But this reality here is incredible, because all of the unrighteous, wicked will be resurrected to life again. Now they're standing before the throne of almighty God, and they're giving account for their life. This is why I say the gospel does two things. This is, this is so true. The word of God never returns to him void, never. And when the word of God is shared or it's proclaimed, it's doing more than one thing always. People who have sat under teaching and preaching for years of their life and have heard the gospel, over folks in America have had the gospel since its inception. It's on, it's all over. You have to, you have to just turn away. It's everywhere around you. And what's fascinating here about this is that they're going to be raised to life and then they're going to experience the second death, the second death. And this is what the Apostle John is writing here through inspiration of, of Christ. And it says, "This is the second death." What is it then? "Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire." This is not an imagination. This place was created for Satan and those angels that rebelled against God. If anyone's name was not found written in the other book there called the Book of Life, he or they were thrown into the Lake of Fire. It's incredible. So it does behoove us, or to push us forward, to compel us to share the gospel.

So this sobering destiny and reality for all who die in their sins is something that, that is not necessarily bad to share with those that need to hear the gospel. When you stand before God one day, and you will, is a reality. Hebrews 9:27 says this: you can write it down: "And just as it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that comes the judgment." It doesn't matter an atheist, an agnostic, it does, it makes no difference who they are. They're all going to stand before God and give an account. Period. So how is a man then, since we are unrighteous and we are guilty before God, and this is the destination for all men in their sin — the wages of their sin is death — if this is a true reality and it is, then what and how can a man or a woman be made righteous before God? That's the question. And so now that we've explained to them the bad news and the reality of where everyone will go outside of Christ, we now share with them what the Bible teaches. It's called the good news. The good news is not about what man can do to be made right before God, but it's about what God did so man could be made right before him. That's the good news. Why did God do this? Love. He is a loving God. You can simply take them through some of the basics now of what the word of God teaches about these, these, these truths of the Gospel. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, and he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jesus came, gave his life, a perfect sacrifice. First John 4:10 says, "In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins," that he would be a substitutionary sacrifice and payment for the wages of sin that is credited to his account before a holy and just God. Jesus Christ has come — and you all know the gospel — he's come and give his life and taken our place and paid the price before God as judge to set us free, because the price still had to be paid. So Jesus did. Ephesians chapter 1, 3-14 is another section you can write down. And just for the sake of time tonight, I'm not going to read it all, but it's, I love this section of scripture, probably one of my very favorite sections of scripture. I love it. Um, so this is what God did: he paid for the debt of sin to set us free unto eternal life in Christ. The only true righteous one came and took upon himself the unrighteous sin that all men had done before God in their rebellion and in their sin nature. In love, he laid down his life, gave it freely, shed his blood, because the Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. So Jesus Christ shed his blood to redeem us, to purchase us unto God, to reconcile us unto God. And he did for man what man could not do for himself. In First Corinthians we read this one here: this is Paul's gospel, he kind of lays this out for you. In First Corinthians chapter 15, 1-8, Paul lays out this gospel. It's real simple, but let's look at it now. "I would remind you, Brothers," Paul says, "of the Gospel that I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you — unless you believed in vain." And here is the gospel Paul preached. Here it is: "For I delivered to you as first importance what I also received." And who did he receive this from? He told us in Galatians: who received the gospel from? Who was it? Jesus Christ, right. He said, "This is not man's gospel. The gospel that I preach is the gospel that I was taught by Christ himself." This is the gospel I received: "that Christ died." Why did Jesus Christ die? For our sins. That's why Christ died, in accordance with the scriptures. Isn't it interesting that all of this is in accordance with the scriptures? Why? Because the whole Bible, from Genesis chapter 1 all the way to Revelation chapter 22, all of it is the gospel. It's the gospel. It is the good news of how God has redeemed fallen humanity. It's incredible. And then Paul continues that he, Jesus, was buried. He really died. It was a real death, a real sacrifice, a real payment. And he bore not only our sin, but he bore our shame and our guilt and all that before God. He bore all. And then also that he was raised on the third day, that there's a resurrection that happened in accordance with the scriptures. The scripture says that Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead, and it's exactly what happened. And now Paul says, "And then I'm going to add a little bit more here to this, to, to give you some credence to this gospel: and that he appeared to Peter after his resurrection, he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom," Paul says in writing this to the Corinthians, "are still alive" at the time that Paul told them this. We have first-hand eyewitnesses. Paul, uh, Paul says of those who saw Christ after his resurrection, "and many of them are still alive today, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James," which is the half-brother of Christ, "then to all the apostles, last of all, to one untimely born, he appeared also to me." The first thing we want to note here as we think about this in sharing this gospel: it's not man's gospel. It's the gospel of God in Christ Jesus. And Paul received it from Christ. In Galatians 1:11 through 2: "I'd have you know, brothers, that the gospel that I preach was not given to me by man, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through revelation of Jesus Christ." That Christ, the Eternal Son of God, died for our sins according to scripture. That is the purpose in which Jesus Christ came and gave his life: to atone, to die, to redeem those who were under the curse of sin and the penalty of sin, which is death. In Romans 5:12-20: "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man" — which is through Adam, all the way back in Genesis we learn this — "and death came through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even though law was not given until it was given to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai. There was still sin in the world," Paul says, "it was still there." And the proof that sin was in the world prior to the law being given was the fact that up until then all men had died, because death is a result of the penalty of sin. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like a transgression of Adam. Why? Because God gave Adam a specific command in the Garden of Eden: "You shall eat from any tree, any fruit of the tree in the garden, but you shall not eat from the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden." That was God's command to Adam. "You shall not even touch it. Don't even look at it. Stay away from it, because on the day that you take and eat, you shall die." And so Adam broke that command of God. Obviously, for if many died through one man's sin, which is Adam's, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of one man's sin, for the judgment followed one trespass bringing condemnation. Adam's one sin condemned the human race, and we are all born of Adam, every one of us are. And then Paul says this: "But the free gift following many sins" — it's the opposite — "but the world has sinned, and so the trespasses are innumerable. They brought what? Justification through the one man Christ. For if because of one man's sin death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ." Wonderful, wonderful news. Therefore, Paul continues, "As one trespass led to condemnation of all men, all sin because of Adam — we're all in Adam, born in Adam, received his nature, we are all sinners and we're born that way, it's called total depravity, it's original sin, we all have it — and then he says, 'So one act of righteousness' — which is Christ's sacrificial atonement on the cross of Calvary, it was his act of righteousness — 'leads to justification in life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience' — which is Christ — 'the many will be made righteous.' Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. The law was given so we knew what sin was." First Peter 3:18, you can write this one down: "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit." Hebrews 9:28: "So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him." Matthew 20:28: "Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Romans 5:6-11, we're going to look at a lot of scriptures here, you can just write them down, you can go over them later. Romans 5:6-11: "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare to even die — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified" — that means to be judicially set right before God. The, the, the, uh, verdict was in: you were guilty. There has to be payment for your guilty sin. It has to be paid because God is righteous, and sin must be paid. No way around it. And the wages of all sin is death. And so Jesus Christ had to pay for the required — um, what's the word I'm looking for? Uh — payment to set us free from the payment of our sin. So he died and took our place. It's called substitutionary death. Jesus Christ was a substitutionary, atoning sacrifice. He died in our place. And isn't it interesting that even in the story that we read of the cross, that before Jesus Christ was actually crucified, there were actually three men who were consigned to be crucified before Christ was. But there was one in the middle who was an insurrectionist by the name of Barabbas. And Barabbas was guilty of his sin and his rebellion against Rome; he was an insurrectionist. And Pilate, what did Pilate do? He gave the people an option. Barabbas, who is guilty of insurrection, he is guilty, we've already condemned him to die by verdict, and his, his death will be by crucifixion — it was already done and sealed. And then he says, "And here's Jesus, whom I find no fault. I'm giving you an option. Barabbas or Jesus?" Who do they choose? We know. Set Barabbas free, the guilty man, pardon him. And the innocent man took the middle cross. The middle cross belonged to a man who was already convicted of his crime. Jesus Christ was never convicted of any crime because he was sinless, and yet he went and took the center cross. That is a beautiful picture of you and me and what Christ has done for us. Before God, we were already guilty, and Christ took our place in order that we could be redeemed and pardoned of all sin — past, present, future. I stand before God righteous in Christ. Amazing. It's amazing. Let me see where I left off here. Okay, let's move on to John. We ready? To John 3:16. We did Second Corinthians 5:21. The next part we're going to look at is that Christ was buried. Not only did Christ die as the scriptures tell us he did and as the scriptures foretold he would, but Christ was buried. And the burial of Christ was very significant because its burial proves Christ varied — his Christ's death was very real. And Christ's burial demonstrates that Christ fulfilled the requirement to redeem us who in faith believe in his death and burial in his resurrection. Christ received the true wages of our sins — death — so that instead we would receive his righteousness and eternal life. Very important that he was dead for three days to fulfill Jewish law. And Jewish law would state that a man before he was given a death certificate must be three days dead to prove that he was really, really dead. Jesus Christ was really, really dead. He really, really died. And he atoned exactly like the word of God said he would. He made a way that man could be reconciled to God only through Christ. The next thing was this: that Paul preaches about his gospel: that Christ was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. The resurrection — without the resurrection, Paul says if Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, then we of all people are the most to be pitied, right? If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, then no one has been raised from the dead, and no one ever will be raised from the dead. Therefore the gospel we preach is in vain. Jesus Christ himself has never raised from the dead, and we are guilty of preaching something that is not true about God. But then Paul goes on and says, "But oh yes, Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead." Thank God for the resurrection. The resurrection demonstrates his power in completing the requirements for our redemption and justification before God. He, Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God, is alive, and he has triumphed over all his enemies — everyone. Romans 4:25, you can write this one down: "Jesus who was delivered up for our trespasses or sins and raised for our justification." He's raised for our justification. In Acts 13:26-39, let me read this, this is a little bit long: "Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which they read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you good news that God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus. As also it is written in the second Psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.' And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way: 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' Therefore he says also in another Psalm, 'You will not let your Holy One see corruption.' For David, after he had served the purposes of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore," Paul says, "brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which they could not be freed by the law of Moses." Paul makes it very clear that Jesus Christ himself was raised from the dead. First Corinthians 15:12-22, and this is kind of what I said just a minute ago: "If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our, then our — if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised him from — cried, raised Christ whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. If he hasn't been raised from the dead — but in fact Paul says, 'Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.' For by, for as by one man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die — this is such good news — so also in Christ shall all be made alive." Isn't that awesome? The condition of all men before God is guilty. Man's merited wages of sin is death and eternal damnation. God provided all the necessary requirements to redeem and justify, to make right before God even though we are guilty. Repent and believe upon Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. There's no work man can do to be made right before God. And here's the real question: how are we justified? Not by works. We are justified before God by faith in Christ's death, his burial, and his resurrection. This is the gospel that the Apostle Paul preached. This is it. It's the good news. In Acts chapter 2, through 22 through, um, 41, you can read this. This is the story of Peter, um, and he actually stands before all the men of, of Jerusalem there, and he shares what happened: who Christ was, what they did. And these men are all very, very, very, very, very, very concerned, and they ask, "What must I do to be saved?" They wanted to know. "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, even whom the Lord God calls to himself." Acts chapter 16 — this is when Paul and Silas were in jail, and you'll remember the story. The jailer, after the, the, uh, the big earthquake and the doors were open, and he called for lights, and Paul says, "Listen, don't fall on your sword." He was getting ready to kill himself because he knew if any prisoner escaped, at Manny's life — and Paul...

says do not do that, Paul and Silas. After they were beaten, the Bible says that they were about midnight. What were they doing? They were singing songs of praise to God in jail for preaching the gospel. Beaten, and these men are proclaiming the glories of God and worshiping God. Don't you know that that was quite a precedent in that jail?

And then this jailer runs up to Peter, into I mean to uh, yes, to Peter. I mean to Paul and Silas, excuse me, to Paul and he says, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household."

And then this is what they did. They told him what he must do, and then they're going to tell him what the word of the Lord says. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. What are they doing? They're sharing with this man the gospel. They're sharing with this man what Christ had done. His case before God, guilty. Here we have the gospel message, the good news. And they share this with this man. And it says here, including those who were in his household. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. This, this jailer washes them up after all of this. And then it says, and he was baptized at once, he and all of his family. What does that mean? That means that they believed in the gospel. They believed in the gospel and they were saved.

Ephesians 2:4-9. We know this, you're saved by grace. That's it, through faith in Christ alone, nothing else. Galatians 2:15-16. I have all these passages. We've been going through them, it seems like on a weekly basis. Paul says that no man is justified by works of the law, because of the works of the law, no one will be justified. But he says that we know a person is not justified by works, but is justified through faith in Jesus Christ.

So here's the other thing. When you share the gospel with somebody and and and they do believe, it's not my job to determine whether or not they're a genuine salvation, folks. And it's not your job either. What we do is we just trust and believe that what the Holy Spirit has begun in their life, He will bring to completion. I don't know what all took place. I don't know. But I can believe the testimony of someone who says they have put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ after sharing with him the gospel. And and that's what we do. And maybe, and you'll have this happen often, they don't, they're not at that place yet. And that's okay too. My goal is not just to put notches on a belt. It's not what it is. My only responsibility is to be faithful with what God has entrusted me with. That is it. That's it.

I mean, I've got pages and pages and pages of of notes that we can go through. Let me give you a few more scriptures that you can study at your own convenience. And then I'll just address a few questions here as we as we close out tonight. Um, Galatians 3:1-9, you can write that down. Romans 3:21-28, great one there to set down with somebody. Open your Bible and begin to read these scriptures with them. And sometimes I'll simply open the word of God and I'll set it before him. In fact, I've even got my Bible. In fact, I don't even, not this one, but the Bibles that I've had where I've got it reversed. And so I've got everything down here. And early on when I began to do this, I would have where I'm going to go next. And it's, it's got it all laid out. So I flip my Bible around across the table from somebody. And I'm simply saying, you know what, I'm not going to read this. Why don't you read this? And then I'd have down where I'm going to go next. Flip over there, go next. I got the next place I'm going to go. And so on and so forth. When I'm taking them through the simple, basic gospel message of what Christ Jesus has done, explaining not only their condition and their guilt before God, but the good news of what Christ Jesus has done. And God's perfect plan to redeem and save those who would believe by faith in Christ. And take them through that. It's not hard at all. It's not difficult.

Um, we're, our biggest obstacle, guys, is to be honest with you. That's the truth. Let me give you a few more scriptures and then we'll, we'll just open up for some questions tonight. One thing I do want to say that is, before man understands why he needs the good news of the gospel, I think it's significant that we try to explain by God's grace through the word of God, his condition before God as he currently stands, his position, and his destination, which is slated for all eternity. The good news is the only means for salvation. It is, it, we're to share the good news. We don't save anyone. God does, through the Holy Spirit, through Christ, and through the Father. The Godhead is who saves. And it is a work of the Spirit of God. This is very important to understand this and remember this. It is a work of the Spirit of God, for sure.

I want to just quickly, we're going to look at one passage in John chapter 3. So just quickly go to John chapter 3. And then I just want to show you one more thing. And then I've got a few more scriptures if you want them. But John chapter 3. Let me see here. Here Jesus meets with one of Israel's teachers. And they recognize that Jesus had a lot of authority and power, not only miracles, the signs and wonders that he was doing, but also just the authority by which he preached and spoke. He says, "Rabbi," it means teacher, "we know that you were a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you can do unless God is with him." And Jesus answered him, this is fascinating. "Truly, truly, I say to you, Nicodemus, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "Here's the question, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not marvel at what I say to you, that you must be born again."

And here it is, guys. This has been something that I have seen that has been absolutely amazing to me. The wind. In verse 8, the wind. Jesus has given a description of how we are saved. Nicodemus says, "How is this possible?" Jesus says, "With man, this is not possible. With man, but let me tell you how it is possible. It is possible by God." This is how this is. But there's something significant about this. You're not going to be able to write down one, two, three, and it happens. If you think that you can just somehow get the Romans Road down well enough, you're going to go out into the community and everybody you share it with is going to follow Jesus. That's not how it works. There is an element here that you and I have nothing to do with, other than the responsibility that we've been entrusted with the gospel. That's where it stops, guys. That's it.

And also educating myself with knowledge of the word of God. That way that I'm in, in a discussion like I was here not long ago with a former lawyer, constitutional lawyer. This guy was from California, extremely left-wing. I'm talking way out in left field. But he begins to ask some very, very interesting questions. So an hour and a half later, we're still wrapping things up. I can't brush the guy off. You know, it's not fourth and 40 and I'm going to punt from my end zone hoping to get the ball down there far enough that he'll just, you know, leave the question alone. No, people want answers to some questions. And I don't have answers for everybody's questions. But if I've studied the word of God and prepared myself, that I'm able to understand and know scripture when someone asks a question. And there are many of them, are almost all the same questions. Prepare myself for a handful of those. And then I'm able to, what? I'm able to give a defense for what I believe the Bible teaches. And it's not about what I think. It has to be about scripture. So I take him to the word, take him to the word, take him to the word, take him to the word. It's not about what John Reeks thinks because he's going to tell me what he thinks or what he believes. I could care less about what he thinks and what he believes. And for me, don't care what I think or believe. But what does God's word say? Because this is the standard. And at the end of the day, whether he receives Christ or doesn't, that's not my responsibility. That's the work of the Spirit of God. And that's what Jesus is saying here to Nicodemus. And this is what he says.

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes." It's kind of like the wind, Nicodemus. You see the result of the wind because you can see the trees blowing. But you cannot tell where it came from. And you can't tell where it's going. It's the same thing with the Spirit of God and how He works. And when you share the gospel, you don't know how it's going to happen. You don't know what the result will be. But we're just to be faithful with God, God with God's gospel, uh, and that He's entrusted us with. And that's, that's it. That's what we do.

So I have more scriptures. I mean, we could, we could load you down with even more. Um, but, but my, my whole thing is this, guys. If you're looking for just a one, two, three, like draw three circles on the board and sit down and put a chair in this one and a crown on that one, and that's that. That's not, that's not what I do because it's not a cookie-cutter thing. It just isn't. It's not hard. It's not difficult. I know the gospel because I have responded to the gospel. I know my own testimony of where I was, what God has done, where He's brought me to now. And so I don't need to draw three circles on the board and sit down with somebody on a napkin at a diner and say, "This is you. This is you without God. And this is where God's supposed to be in my, in your life." Don't do that. I can sit down with him as a real person who has had real experiences in life, who have gone through very difficult things, or good things, or bad things, or religion this, or religion that. And what do we do? It's not the same for everybody. But I'm here just being available, however God chooses to use me. And I'm just simply going to share with him what exactly what Paul did. I share with him the gospel that Jesus Christ died for sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day. And among all those other things, why He died, all of that. It's, it's not hard. So you don't have to complicate it. Um, and you can trust the Holy Spirit. And you can trust God in all of these things. And allow the Holy Spirit to do what only the Holy Spirit can do. And you and I are only responsible for what God has entrusted us with. And that's simply to share the good news. And it's great news. It's good news. Satan will have you believe that what you have to share, nobody wants. It's not true. Because he knows it's what everybody needs.

Any questions? Anybody? Anybody? Anybody have a question? The conversations for me usually are very, very, very easy and simple to start. Um, I do believe that people have more value to me than simply just getting to the point because people are real. They're human beings. They're people that I would say have maybe a different way in which they do evangelism where they cold call pretty much anybody they see. And if they just meet them or they happen to brush by them in a grocery store, I mean, before they get down to the dehydrated, dehydrated peas, they're already asking if they know Jesus. Okay. There's nothing necessarily inherently wrong with that. But that's not what we see happening in scripture. In fact, we know that people are relational. And that people also, um, that they're real. And so oftentimes it will be through either relationships, someone maybe that I've worked with. Sometimes it'll just be a cold call deal where I'm somewhere and God brings someone there. And before I know it, man, the conversation, they start talking to me. I don't even, I haven't even been doing anything. And the conversation turns. Before long, they're asking me questions. And we talk about different things. And it's amazing to me how that thing just begins to work that direction. I don't even have to go there. It just goes there. And so that happens sometimes. Um, sometimes if it's someone you really know, like a good friend, I can be a little more forthright with a friend. And I can approach them and ask them that question. But oftentimes for me, it's, it just happens. It's a naturally, it just naturally happens.

Um, we used to have evangelism where we went door to door and beat on doors and shared the gospel. And we've done that here. We did that for a season. I don't know how many homes we actually went to and knocked on doors. Um, but there's not a massive response in that. Not that there can't be, but there's not. And so for me, if I'm visiting with somebody and that conversation begins to turn to spiritual matters, I know something's happening. Something significant's going on in that person's life. Maybe it could be a life experience. Maybe they just went through a divorce. I mean, there's all kinds of things that are happening in their life. Don't think that God don't use those things, won't use those things in their life to draw that person to himself. And so looking at people the way Paul says in First Corinthians, I no longer look at people from a worldly view. I look at them in a different way. And that's how we have to view people today. They're real. And you have to show some care and some concern. And so everybody has their own style and their own way of doing that. And what you feel comfortable doing. But for me, it happens more just naturally. And it happens just in public. I mean, just be amazed where it happens. But it does happen. And we can just share with them the hope that we have in Christ. And share the truth of the gospel message. And I can leave that with them. I don't have to say, "Get on your knees right now and say this prayer and ask Jesus into your heart." Because that's not even in scripture. Not asking Jesus into my heart. I'm repenting of sin and turning to Christ and believing in faith that He died for my sins. He was buried and He was raised from the dead. Nowhere in scripture will see just to say this prayer and ask Jesus into your heart. There's unfortunately going to be a lot of people probably that are walking through the gates of hell that have walked in and said a prayer that God never did any work through the Spirit of God in their life whatsoever. So I'm very cautious and careful about that. I'm not just like trying to get, you know, notch here, notch here, notch here, notch here. Yay, I had five people today that made a profession. Uh, no. Words. The Bible says to go and make disciples. That takes a lot of work. Takes a lot of work. So start with the people you know and love. Go throughout your day, at your work, people you interact with. I'm telling you, God will use you in all kinds of ways and circumstances just to share the good news of what Christ has done. They can see the joy of the Lord in your life. People today are miserable. And they can see it. What in the world are you so happy about today? Grumpy. He's just grumpy. Well, let me tell you what I'm happy about today. May not mean anything to you. But let me tell you the reason I have so much joy in my life today. You asked. I'm gonna tell you. Anybody else have a question? Yes. I, um, um, I don't waste a whole lot of time on that. Um, I've found this to be the case for people who don't want to believe. You will never give them a satisfactory, not a satisfactory answer because they're always going to come up with the next thing because they're really not interested in the truth. They want to argue with you though. And people who are nothing, all they want to do is argue. I'm not, I'm not here. I have nothing to argue about. Uh, nothing at all. And so, like I said, I mean, yes, apologetics is great. But apologetics has never saved anyone. But apologetics is a great tool to be able to defend, right? It is good. But someone who doesn't want to believe that God exists, I mean, I don't know how much plainer you can make it. Just look at creation. I mean, if they don't want to believe it, you know, that's, that's on them anyway. Um, so I don't, I don't spend a whole lot of time trying to fight with people and and prove that the Bible is is inerrant. I mean, I just, I don't do that.

Um, sure. Right. Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. And, and she was saying that not everybody knows the truth. And that, and that is so true. And the fact that, you know, God may use another avenue for that truth to be realized in their life. And that's kind of what you're saying. Absolutely. That is, that is very, very true. Um, absolutely. Sure. And you, you probably would be actually very shocked the number of people that you come in contact with who you work with or whatever that might say that they're in Christ. And you can be in discussion with them and find out very, very quickly that that's not, they don't even have, never heard the gospel. Like I'm fortunate to be able to do marriage counseling. And you will be surprised. I have been surprised that when couples come in and I can ask them, one of the first things I ask them, I said, "Well, first of all, are you both, are you both followers and believers in Christ? Are you Christians?" "Yes, sir, absolutely." So what I stopped doing was just taking that. What I do now is I say, "Well, I would love to hear your testimony about how you came to know Christ." And they will begin to share. And you know, they were watching Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. You know, ran up to the, there's no gospel at all in there. But they'll say something like this because this is what they really believe. You know, "I've always been a Christian." "Really? You're the first person I've ever met that's always been a Christian." Now, no, you haven't always been a Christian. And they just never heard the gospel. And to be able to sit across from them with their spouse, to whom they're wanting to marry, and share with them the truth of the gospel. And they come to faith in Christ. Just hearing the gospel. One guy here that I did recently, he said, "I'm just not ready for that yet." I said, "Hey, that's no problem. But I want you to know before God, I can't marry the two of you." I said, "Because I, I only do covenant marriage. That's all I do. And I said, "The two of you are obviously not equally yoked." Um, but I'm not, I said, "You know, by all means, you're going to do what you guys want to do. But I said, if you want me to do the ceremony, I'm not going to be able to do your ceremony because before God, I can't do that with a clear conscience. I just can't do it." He said, "Okay, no problem." I said, "Tell you what I want you to do. I gave him some scripture to read. I said, "Just go and just with an open mind, just say, God, if you're real and you exist, show me." And just read. I gave him some stuff to read. I didn't hear anything from him for three weeks. He called me right out of the blue one time, three weeks later. And he was, he was in Connecticut. I was shocked at first because I'm like, what in the world? This guy. He called me. Said, "Hey, I just want to share with you something." I said, "What is that?" He said, "I have, I have come to believe in Christ. And I have, I don't know what all has happened to me, but I'm a different man. Something has totally changed my life. I have given my life to Christ. I believe." I mean, all those things that he didn't at first. But it took three weeks before he ever called me back. And he may never call me back. But see, I wasn't trying to pin him down, say, "Well, right now, buddy, you better pray and get this thing out of the way." No, I'm not doing that because it's a work of the Spirit of God. It's not my work. It's God's work. Three weeks he calls me. I said, "Praise God, man." He was so excited. He just, he was so pumped. He had found Christ. He'd been in and out of church. He didn't know Jesus. And so that was a great wedding to be able to do that, stand there with a brother in Christ, new to the to the faith, and know Christ and was changed. And, uh, so it's not about just like hammering them down, you know, "Well, right now, let's pray and do that." Well, no, that's not necessarily the answer. Now, if they're like the Ethiopian eunuch and say, "Hey, there's some water, why not?" Now, I've had that happen. Well, man, if you're, if that's where you are, and God is drawing you to himself, and God's calling you right now, man, let's, let's do it now. Go for it. You know, I can't pray for you, but you sure can. I can pray for you, but I can't pray the prayer that you're going to pray in faith and thanking God and asking God. I can't do that for you. And so anyways, I, I just, I'm not a guy that that does that where we have a little thing and you just take it around with a pamphlet and, you know, and this is kind of how it works. Man, if my God is no bigger and no more powerful than a three-point pamphlet, He's not the God of the Bible that I read about. And the God that I know. And like I've said, I've watched Him save people through translators. I don't even know what the translators say. And he may not even be saying what I'm saying. Who knows? And those people come to faith in Christ Jesus because see, it's the word of God. It's the Holy Spirit drawing that person. It is faith. It is regeneration. It's all something that's done outside of what you and I can do. We just have the simple joy and pleasure of being able to share with those who do not know Jesus what Christ has done in order that they could be made right before God. And so some of the hardest people to reach are those that have been indoctrinated with religion. Very, very hard. Because according to the religion, they're okay and they're right. Very difficult. But God is more powerful than the stronghold of religion. And so we just do what God's given us to do and trust Him with the results of that.

Any other questions? Good question though, Psy. Yeah, guy. Um, right, right. Propitiation, things like that. Yeah. Well, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, right? Yeah. And that's one reason I like to let him read it. I like to let them read it. And, uh, that's good for them to read it and read it out loud, you know? Yeah. And that's still going to be, yeah. To me, and I, I've always said this, that the preaching of the cross, Paul says, is foolishness. It's foolishness to those who are perishing. This is my thing. And guy, I know we've talked about this. I've said this many times. Guys, the gospel that God has chosen is not what we would have chosen. How men can be made right. When you think about the gospel, and you think about Christ, and you think about all of this stuff, if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit working in your life, you would believe like the unbeliever. They say, "That guy, you are a foolish man. You're foolish to believe the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ. You're foolish, man. That's a bunch of baloney." And that's what the, the, the unconverted man believes many times. But it's the power of God, salvation for those who believe. And I've often said this, the faith that we have to believe was instituted by a work of God in our life. And free will is still active and involved in my salvation. It's not God says, "Nope, you don't have free will. Here you are. You're going to believe whether you like it or not." No, He doesn't do that. I have free will. But what happens is when He reveals Christ to me, when He did, my will was, I wanted Christ. God didn't say, "John, you have no free will." No, no, no. And why did I believe? There's only one reason I believed is because God, He, He did call me. And then Christ was revealed to me. And when Christ was revealed to me, I don't know how we know, but I knew who He was. I knew that I wanted Christ and needed Christ desperately. And so when I hear people that say, "Yeah, you know, I've just run from God for 25 years." I don't know what you were running from. Maybe religion. But if you encounter Christ, you don't run from Christ because you have never in your entire life experienced peace. I don't even know how to describe it. It is an overwhelming peace that is beyond even description. You can't even describe what that feels like. And in the same time, you're feeling that peace, you're feeling this love. I mean, I can't even, you know what I'm saying? If you're here and you're in Christ, the overwhelming love is not like a love Mom and Dad had for you. That was a great love. But that's nothing like the love that you feel when you stand before Jesus Christ and you sense His pure love. Yes, brokenness over my stinking sin. All of a sudden, why am I so broken over my sin? I mean, literally broken. Not only that, the peace, the love. And then you experience something else. When they say forgiveness, it's a real thing. But forgiveness has more than just the fact of of something that has been atoned for. There is a lifting that happens. Like it lifts off you. It's gone. And I think it's the closest experience that you can have to what it's going to be like in heaven. At that moment when Jesus Christ is revealed to you. I don't care what in the world is going on. It's like everything out there is gone. And you're in this bubble of just the mercy, the grace, the love, the peace, the joy, the splendor of God's presence. You'll run from that. You cling to that because it's what you really desire. That's what, that's what drugs are replacing. Sex is replacing. Work is replacing. All of these things that you see people doing, all of their binges and everything that's going on in their life. You can't find that anywhere on Earth. Only in Christ can you find that satisfaction that is found in Jesus. That's it.

So, um, any other questions? Great question, guy. Or great comment, I should say. It went earlier. Question? Anybody else? Well, let's head downtown. That's what we should do. I'm just kidding. You're actually going to head out into the world now and tomorrow and the next day. And you've been entrusted with an incredible gift. It is the gift that only God has chosen by means for men to be saved. And it is the good news of the gospel. And you have it. Isn't that awesome? So I love what Paul does. Before he's before King Agrippa, before whoever he was before. Now, men, as he has a chance to talk, maybe he's before a crowd that's about to strip him to shreds and beat him. He'll, he'll get him quieted down. Let me tell you, "I was on the road to Damascus." What does Paul do? He shares with these people. Standing before kings, he tells them the story of how he came to know Christ. Agrippa's like, "Paul, you're mad. Do you think in such short order you're going to get me to believe in Christ?" [Laughter] "Oh, if you could just be as I am." Paul says, King Agrippa had all the power to squash Paul. Do what he did. And Paul says, "Let me tell you something, King Agrippa. You have nothing if you could just have what I have." And that's really what we are. We just tell people what Jesus has done in our life. Share with them the good news. That's it. It's not hard. Even kids understand it. It's not difficult. And trust the Holy Spirit. Anybody else before we close? No. All right, then we're going to close in prayer.

Lord Jesus, we love You tonight. God, I thank You so much for Your gospel. I thank You for our salvation, Lord, that we have tonight. Lord, I thank You for my brothers and sisters that are here tonight, those that are watching, and Father, even those that will watch down the road. Lord, that God, You would use the truth of Your word and this gospel message, God, in the lives of people that we come in contact with. Lord, I pray that You would use us this week somehow, some way, Lord, however You see fit and choose to use us. Lord, I pray that You'd give us opportunities, God, every single day to tell somebody who needs to know the good news about what You have done in our life. Would help us not to look at people the way we used to from a worldly perspective, but help us to see people, Jesus, the way that You do. Help us to realize that we have been given a ministry and it's called the ministry of reconciliation. And that God, it's as if You were reconciling the world through this gospel message. And we've been given it. And that's our ministry. Every single day to be those that help bring fallen men through the gospel unto God through Christ by faith. Lord, we love You. Thank You once again for Your goodness in our life. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that You'd go with us from this place. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Yes. Amen. God is good. You all have a wonderful week. Wednesday night, I'll be, we'll be teaching through the Providence of God's.