[featured_image]
Here is the reality: People are going to hell. That is their eternal destiny without Jesus. We have the answer. We have the only hope. We should be compelled to tell them the Good News about Jesus.
If a car dealer were giving away free cars and you heard about it and you went down and you got your free car and you are driving around and loving your car, would you keep that good news to yourself? Or would you tell all your friends and neighbors and everyone you know: “HEY, THEY ARE GIVING AWAY FREE CARS DOWN AT THE DEALERSHIP. GO GET YOUR FREE CAR!”?
The gospel is such incredible news. It beats free cars for everyone! It brings an eternity with Christ forever. We have to tell people—“Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of your sins so that you do not have to!”
The first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism describes the good news like this:
Q: What is the only comfort in life and death?
A: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth to live unto him.
If Christians embrace the cross and enjoy fellowship with other Christians, but they do not get close enough to lost people to show and then tell them the good news; it is still not good news. It is only good news to those who hear and embrace it.
Randy Alcorn points this out in The Grace and Truth Paradox:
Most sinners loved being around Jesus. They enjoyed His company, they sought Him out, invited Him to their homes and parties. Today, most sinners don’t want to be around Christians. Unbelievers tore the roof off a house to get to Jesus. Today they can’t seem to get away from Christians fast enough.
Why is that? What did Jesus show them that we don’t? It’s GRACE. People sensed that Jesus loved them, even when He spoke difficult words. He was full of grace and truth (p 19).
As Christians, we need to get close enough to unbelievers to tell them the Good News of God’s grace and truth.
