To answer the question I posted in the header of this post, let me start out with a story of an experience that I had last August, on Friday the 19th, 2010 at the Bristol Motor Speedway. Some of my fellow evangelist and I, got together and went over the the race track, and handed out gospel tracts. We were blessed to get into many witnessing conversations the entire weekend. Well when we arrived on Friday, I started handing “NASCAR Trivia” gospel tracts out. As I was walking down the sidewalk, in front of the race track, I began to hand out a gospel tract called “Name ten Beers”. That particular gospel tract is great for getting into conversations with. I handed the tract to 4 teenagers, 2 couples around 17 and 15 years old. I handed them the tract and said, can you name ten beers? The oldest boy ( we’ll call him Troy) said Hell yes! Then he started naming off as many beers as he could (he named 8). While he was naming the beers off, and cussing every time he messed up, I just stood there and waited for him to finish. When he could not remember any more, I said, you did pretty good, now I’ll ask you the big question! He was excited then, so I asked, can you name The Ten Commandments? He said "oh sh*t, I know those". He named Murder, Adultery, Blasphemy, and Steeling. He didn’t know the rest. So I said "you did pretty good, now can I ask you another question". He said sure, to which I quickly responded, have you kept the Ten Commandments? He said well no, but we all sin. I then took him through the “Good Test” (you can see a great example of it on YouTube “the good test”). As I was sharing with him, his friends stood there listening intently, and I began to ask them questions as well. The girls were crying, by the end, and as I finished talking to them, I asked them their names and where they were from. They all live in the Bristol area, and I asked them if they go to church anywhere. That’s when they broke my heart! They told me that they all attend churchs in this area, and that this is the first time anyone had ever shared the gospel with them. They told me that if they died right then that they would diserve to be judged and go to Hell. Then they told me that they were going to go and talk to God ” right now”! What is so sad about this story, is that these kids have been raised up in a church, but they know nothing about Christianity. Oh sure they know cute little stories, but they had no clue why they must Repent, why it is reasonable for God to judge us all! And they did not see Jesus as their greatest need, but as something they just use when it convienient. But the really terrible thing is, this is not just some random occurance, it is typical, I see this everywhere. I was preaching at a church one time, and asked them ” if I said that God is Holy, what does that mean”? They didn’t know! I then asked ” well if I say God is Righteous, what does that mean”? Several said they both just mean that God is sinless. I preached to a youth group one time, and the first question I asked is ” What is the Biblical definition of Sin”? I then let the group answer for about 10 minutes, and found out that they had no clue. You see, as Christians, God has commanded us to be “salt and light”, to “study to show ourselves approved unto God”! We are commanded to be a shining beacon, that all the world see’s and knows, that we are pointing them to Jesus Christ. We are commanded to “put off the things of the world”, things like lust, greed, hate, anger, lying, adultery, etc. And to seek to be like Christ. We were commanded to go into all the world, and preach the gospel, to warn everyone we can, about sin, and what it is. To tell everyone that ” it is appointed for man once to die, and after that, the judgement. But the problem is, those that profess to be Christians, are not living up to the standard. They are compromising the truth of Gods word for comfort, and mediocre religion. And this is to the distruction of those that are lost. Think about it, if you have not repented of your sin (transgression of the Law of God, His Commandments) and placed you complete trust/faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible warns that if you die that without Jesus Christ, you will be judged by God, found guilty, and spend eternity in Hell! If you are not a Christian, and you have friends who claim to be “Christians”, then why have they not told you this? If this is true, and it is, then how much must a person hate you, to NOT tell you about the danger you are in. Are they scared that they would hurt your feelings, or that you might get mad at them? Or is it that they don’t actually believe that God is a Good Judge! The Bible warns us that God will in no way clear the guilty, and that is because He is a good and just loving Judge. That might not sound loving or good to a person who does not understand justice, so think about this. If a man broke into your house and murdered your entire family, and waited for you to get home, then smiled at you and said look what I did, and let you call the police. The police arrest the man, and take him before a judge, the man confesses, brags even about what he did, then the judge looks at the man and you and says ” I’m a good judge, and because I Love people, I’m going to just let you go free”! How would you feel? I’ll tell you, you would be filled with hate and anger against the judge, you would scream and shout to everyone about the corrupt judge that did not uphold the law. You see we demand that the judges do right, and God is the best and greatest judge, He is truthful, honest and Holy, and He says that He WILL do right. If we violate Gods Laws, it is right that we must pay the fine, and that fine is death and Hell, seperated from God and all the good things that He has provided. As a true Christian, I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a disciple. And as a disciple, I must obey His commands. Commands like, love your neighbor as yourself, love one another, do not steal, commit adultery, lie, hate, and in Matthew 28: 18-20, Jesus comanded all Christians to go into every part of the earth and preach the gospel to those that are lost, to teach them to obey His commands. Jesus said He came to seek and save the lost, to save them (you) from the wrath of God. In other words, you broke Gods law and Jesus came to pay your fine, to be your Propitiation- that means that Jesus stands in your place to pay for you violation of Gods law. Jesus is God the Son, and He is the only one that could ever pay for your fine and satisfy God's demand for payment. No ammount of good thing that you could do would balance out your debt, or make up for it. Just like that hypothetical murder, you are guilty, and if he could not atone for his crime, by being nice, helping little old ladies across the street, or just by being really sorry. Then How could we expect that God would just look past our sin, just because we try to be good enough! But there is a greater reason to share the gospel than that! You see God is the creator of all life, He is Loving kind and tender towards His children. He cares for us, and wants to reveal Himself to us. And because of sin, we are seperated from Him, but This is love in that while we were yet in our sin, Christ died for us! It pleased God to send Jesus His only Son to die for our salvation, so that we might be declared justified, innocent, and right before God. And we get the honor and privilage to glorify God for all the great things that He has done! Because He diserved to be Glorified, praised and worshiped for both who He is and what He has done! Now the question is, Have you repented of your sin, and trusted in Jesus Christ alone to save you. Have you sought to glorify God with your life? Think about it, and watch the video! \"The Good Test\"
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