Step-By-Step

 

Yesterday I made my first hospital visit in just over a year. Just last week the hospital began to allow visitors, one visitor per patient per day, and on Tuesday someone here asked me to visit a relative of theirs who is very ill and going onto hospice care. I know the ill person just a little bit and he had asked, specifically, for me. The family member who relayed the request is someone I know fairly well, and he had one overriding concern, which was that I would share the gospel with his relative, whose time among us looks to be short. I was only too glad to do so. Nothing would be more important.

I read a really good book last year on the topic of evangelism, and this definition of that task has stayed with me. Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade. It is a good, clear definition, but how, precisely, does one teach the gospel?

There are ways that I would, and do, teach the gospel as I preach. The average congregation has unconverted people in the pews, people who need to be called to faith in Jesus. I also believe that for converted people to hear the gospel again and again is good, as they are reminded of the truth of God’s love for them in Jesus. But how would I teach the gospel to this person I barely knew, and whose understanding of Christian faith was unknown to me? I decided to go step-by-step.

I began by talking about God, as creator and as holy. He has determined how people should live in ways that are pleasing to Him, and that our disobedience is sin, which He will deal with. I then used seven passages of the Bible to lay out the promise of the gospel. Here they are, in the order that I used them.

First, Genesis 3:3.

God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’

This highlights the serious nature of sin, from God’s point-of-view. What we think of our sin matters little to God. It is a violation of His law, and through the words Eve repeated here, He promises to punish sin with death.

Second, Romans 3:23.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Here, in a few words, Paul makes it clear that all humans are sinners against God. There are no exceptions. None. Not Paul, not me, not anyone ever.

Third, Romans 6:23.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This points to a choice. Live with our sin and its consequences or receive the free gift of God, which only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus.

Fourth, John 3:16-17.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Here we more clearly see the purpose for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. By faith in Him we will not perish in our sin but receive eternal life with God. Jesus, the Son of God, sent by the Father, that we would be saved by Him.

Fifth, Romans 10:9.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

This is a favorite verse of mine, for it very simply states the truth of salvation. I don’t need to earn it, and in fact I can’t earn it. There is nothing I can do with my sin to get rid of it or decrease it. All I can do is to trust in what Jesus did, for me and for everyone else who has faith in Him.

Sixth, John 10:27-28.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Here Jesus teaches that our place with Him, the place that we have by having faith in who He is and what He has done, will never be lost. We will still struggle with sin but, concerning our final state, Jesus has the last word.

And seventh, Romans 8:31-39.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Using very emphatic language Paul makes it crystal clear that there is absolutely nothing on earth, nor any spiritual force, that will separate believers in the Lord Jesus from their Savior. Not now. Not ever.  

After sharing all of this we talked a bit more, where this man told me that he trusted in Jesus as his Savior. It was joy to close my visit in prayer and head back home knowing that I had a new brother in Christ.

I don’t know when the next time will be that I will have to share the gospel with someone one-on-one. It will be a different dynamic, given that the people and the situation will be different. But I pray that the Lord will lead me, step-by-step, to the same wonderful outcome, which is to bring another sister or brother into the Kingdom of God, forever.