A (40:48)
Well, that's a great question and I don't say that flippantly. It gets right to the heart of things, doesn't it? And Richard, there are methodologies that people have that kind of sum up the gospel and allow people to respond. Maybe an invitation at the end. And all of these have value. The four spiritual laws. I think Bill Bright with what used to be called Campus Crusade for Christ now crew wrote that. I guess they still use that booklet. I actually memorized that whole booklet, they were simple steps and these four spiritual laws. And it was great to get into conversations with people about it. And it gave people an opportunity to pray at the end if they wanted to put Jesus on the throne of their own life and receive forgiveness, etc. That's all part of this very simple, very straightforward, easy to use. And these are all virtues of that method. I think Billy Graham's organization had a pamphlet or even a little tract called Steps to Peace with God. And they were basically the four steps with different words. Then there are things that people use that's called the Roman Road. And there are verses in the Bible that lays out this basic pattern. And I actually don't know the Roman Road. I know some of the verses, but I can't lay it out. Here it is. Here's a 1, 2, 3, 4. But they amount to the same thing, and that is to identify. Let me see if I can put this right. Identify the purpose and role that human beings have in this world to be in friendship with their Creator. And there's a problem. And the problem is that there is sin and rebellion that has separated us from God. And God has made a solution for that through Jesus. And our response to Jesus in trust is what secures for us the good ending of the story, not the bad ending of the story. Okay, so there is your very, very broad characterization, I think, of the Gospel. That can be really helpful to people. All right, I don't. As a matter of habit, I guess I don't follow that in that kind of rigidly. Many people are familiar with Ray Comfort, and he's fabulous. And Ray has his own particular of moving forward by asking questions about one's culpability, one's guilt before God, the sin that we all have, and now what? All right, So I think this kind of bad news before the good news is really a helpful way to think of it. And when I get involved in conversations, what I am first looking to do, Richard, is I am trying to think of what is it in this unique set of circumstances that I can contribute. All right, so it might be that a person is pushing back at me with a challenge to Christianity. And what I'm trying to do is trying to deflect the challenge and not merely deflect it, but maybe answer it so that it is deflected and it's no longer a problem for them. Thinking about Christianity, the plausibility of Christianity. Okay. Or it may be that something else is taking place. But I think when I start getting down to the In a certain sense, the nitty gritty of the gospel proper. I want to start, by and large with the bad news. I don't want to tell people how much Jesus loves them, all right? There is no one in the New Testament that does that in the communication of the Gospel. In fact, I'm trying to think. I can't even think of any time when Jesus does that, when he's. I don't know, I could be mistaken. But is there any time Jesus is speaking out to the audience, says, I love you? I don't think. And certainly this doesn't happen in the Book of Acts because the word love doesn't even occur in the Book of Acts. It's not there at all. And the 13 times the gospel is preached there, either to individuals or groups, that isn't what they lead with, the love of Jesus or the love of God. Instead, they kind of lead with the bad news. You know, this Jesus whom you've crucified, God has made him both Lord and Christ. And they all cut to the quick. That's Acts 2 and other things like that. A judgment's coming, and that's not good news, that's bad news. The good news is there's a pardon that's available. All right? So that's Ray Comfort's approach. I think he wrote a piece called Hell's Best Kept Secret. I think it's a little booklet and he had a tape. And for a number of years, every time somebody had purchased something, we threw a copy of that tape in there, cassette tape. And some of you don't have any idea what I'm talking about. That's how long ago that was. But what's Hell's Best Kept Secret? Hell, the law that convicts you and sends you there. Well, it's actually God who sends you there because of the violation of his law. And I think that's really important. And what sometimes we communicate is we undersell man's culpability. And then we oversell a kind of. Of, gee, what's the right sentimentalist understanding of God's love? And that's just not the way the gospel was communicated by Jesus or by those who he trained personally to take the message after him. Okay? So I think that's going to be a safer way. If I'm thinking about how do I do this in a tactically sound way. I want to make the risk or the challenge, the danger clear to people if I'm able to get that far. A lot depends on the nature of the circumstances. So I'm Dealing with what God gives me, so to speak. But there was one time, long time ago, and Frank Beckwith and I had just written the book Relativism, feet firmly planted in midair, and I had an invitation to speak at a Barnes and Noble, and they were selling the book there. And so the author shows up and gives a presentation in the stacks there. People have chairs and whatever. I've done that a couple of different times with that book. It's great, great fun. But afterwards, somebody came up to me and he said, you know, I heard you talking over there and I just have this question of you. Why do I need Jesus? Now, that book doesn't talk about Jesus, but it was clear that I was representing the Christian worldview as I'm talking about moral relativism and why do I need Jesus? He says, I'm a Jewish person. He said, I try to live the best life I can, so why do I need Jesus? Okay, great opportunity for the gospel. Wouldn't you like to have somebody ask you that question? But I was very careful about the way I answered. And what I said first was, do you mind if I ask you a few questions? No, go ahead. All right, here's the first question. Do you believe that people or do you think that people who commit moral crimes ought to be punished? People do bad stuff, should they pay? And he said, well, since I'm a prosecuting attorney. Yeah. Now, I got lucky with the attorney business, right? I didn't know that. But most people have this sense, if you do bad stuff, you got to pay. You don't get off scot free, you know, he got away with murder, man. See, people have these moral intuitions that inform their reaction. And so, no, he said. He said, I think they should pay. And I said, I agree with you. Okay, second question. Have you ever done any bad things? Now that's personal, right? What do you think he said? He said, yeah, I guess I have. Now, if he said he hasn't, I just want to talk to his wife, right? Or his kids. But he said, yeah, I've done bad things. And I said, so have I. And then I said, look at where we've come. Just in two questions, we both believe that people who do bad things ought to be punished. And we both believe that we've done those things. Then I said, do you know what I call that? He said, what? I said, I call that bad news. All right? Now, do I need to tell this man he's a sinner? No, he just told me because of the question I asked. Do I have to tell him he's under judgment. No, he already knows that. He wasn't thinking about it when he walked into the Barnes and Noble, probably, but now, because the questions I asked, now he's thinking about it. And then I went on to explain, since he knows the bad news, like we're both in the dock and the judge is about to lower the gavel upon two guilty people, and the judge pauses and he says, by the way, are either of you interested in a pardon? Of course, if you know you're guilty and you're going to be judged, this makes more sense. Right? Right, yeah. Pardon sounds pretty good right about now. And then I was able to then explain to him in very simple terms about Jesus, you know, took the wrap, he paid the price, he took the punishment that we deserve so that if we put our trust in him, that payment is applied to our account and we receive a pardon. Okay, there you go. That's the simple, the simple gospel. It didn't get any simpler than that. But I didn't use a bunch of, you know, flowery gospel language. I just, just explained using a tactical approach. And incidentally, that entire dialogue, as I recall, is in the tactics book and a version of it is in the street smarts book, I think. But the, the, the point is meant to show how I can use questions to establish a foundation that is necessary for communicating the good news of the Gospel. First the bad news, then the good news, first the bad news, then the good news. And that's my approach. But if I had to have a little style, a little two step program, that would be it. And it's interesting that Jesus did make an appeal. But you find this later on in the Book of Matthew, where at least the version or the Gospel that I recall reading it in, Jesus says, come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn't start that way. Jesus gives the Beatitudes famously, and they're wonderful. But for the people who are not Christian and who think that the Sermon on the Mount is fabulous, I think they're just giving it lip service. They've heard other people say, oh, Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, so great they remember a couple of Beatitudes, forget that one of them is, blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are you when people persecute you and say all kinds of false things about you on my behalf behalf. Happy are you because your reward and heaviness, great. They don't remember those and they don't remember what follows where Jesus makes clear the demands of the law. Don't murder. You're not going to get rid of the law. No, you're not going to get rid of it. All has to be fulfilled, right? And then he says, don't murder. I haven't killed anybody. Did you ever call your brother an idiot? Sure. He is an idiot. It. Well, you're going to hell. That's Jesus. Don't commit adultery. Didn't do that. Do you ever think about it? You're going to hell. That's Jesus. This is not good news. This is bad news. He says in that section, your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, or there's no hope for you. Now, those are the popes and cardinals of their day, right? These are like the most religious, spiritual people going, and you got to be better than them. What luck is there for the rank and file? And I think all of that, including the last sentence of that portion of the Sermon on the Mount, you are to be perfect, as my Heavenly Father is perfect. All of that is to put the burden of the law heavily on people's shoulders. Bad news, bad news, bad news. And then later on, he said, okay, you feeling that? Come to me. Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Because my yoke is easy, My burden is light. We follow Jesus, we get forgiveness and cleansing and the help of the Holy Spirit. That changes everything, doesn't it? Okay, so that's kind of the way I want to do gospel presentation. I don't want to tell people, hey, hey, Jesus loves you. This is a big deal in the Jesus movement. I acknowledge that. And God used it. All right. And doesn't Jesus love them? Well, kind of. I mean, yes and no. What do you mean and no? Well, he's also mad at them, too. I mean, think of Psalm 5 and what Psalm 11. Those Psalms actually say, God hates those who do evil. Whoa, that's pretty heavy. Where's all the love? Well, the love comes in forgiveness. And he makes forgiveness possible because he loves people enough to provide a way of pardon. But he's not happy with people, generally speaking. In fact, is it one of the Proverbs says even the prayer of the ungodly is an abomination to God. Whoa. So. So there are ways to communicate that without sounding so extreme, but I think we have to do that. The good news is not good news without the bad news. And the good news is really, really good, because the Bad news is really, really bad. Sometimes I ask people, or maybe an audience, I'll just say how many here care about insulin? You don't have to raise your hand. I know people who are diabetic. The rest of you who are not diabetic, you don't care about insulin, insulin until you get diabetic and then you're going to care about insulin right quick. And the same thing is true, I think in this situation. If people don't realize their fallenness, then they are not going to hunger for a pardon. All right. And there's an old saying that says whatever a person is one with, he will be one too. As in W O N, whatever a person is one with, they will be one too. If you are one with this message that you're just fine with Jesus and everything's cool and wonderful and he loves you so much and that's the long and short of it and become a Christian so you can experience the love of Jesus. Well, I think that is true. But we're leaving out a big giant thing. And if they're one with this soft message of Jesus love, then they're going to be one to that, that and then they're going to be expected everything to be lovey dovey after they start walking with Christ and that ain't the way it works. And all of a sudden things get hard and difficult, then they wonder, holy smokes, where is Jesus? All right. But if you're one with the message of sin, satisfied, met result by the grace of God through Christ, then that changes everything. And that's what you'll be one too. A humble walk with Christ. Hope that helps. Richard. All right friends, that's it for me for this hour. Greg Koukl for Stan de Reason. Give him heaven. Bye bye now. Sam.
