The Gospel Presentation

Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

Working for the Unconverted is a Specialty

Christian Service The Church Missionary Curriculum

Many would be willing to work if they were taught how to begin. They need to be instructed and encouraged. Every church should be a training school for Christian workers. Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings, how to conduct and teach Sabbath school classes, how best to help the poor and to care for the sick, how to work for the unconverted. There should be schools of health, cooking schools, and classes in various lines of Christian help work. There should not only be teaching, but actual work under experienced instructors. Let the teachers lead the way in working among the people, and others, uniting with them, will learn from their example. One example is worth more than many precepts.

Grace

The Introduction

New Testament Witnessing Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

Grace: It is very important to establish the fact that eternal life is a gift, that we cannot earn it by anything we do and if indeed we earned any part of eternal life it would no longer be a gift. The Bible texts on this point are very clear.

Typical Texts:

Romans 6:23 KJV 1900

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ephesians 2:8–9 KJV 1900

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Other Good Texts:

Titus 3:5 KJV 1900

5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Titus

Paul’s repeated expression of “free gift:”

Romans 5:15–18 KJV 1900

15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

“Free Gift”: 3 times.

“Gift”: 3 times.

Paul refers to salvation as a gift from heaven 6 times in 4 verses.

Also see:

Romans 4:4–5 MEV

4 Now to him who works, wages are not given as a gift, but as a debt. 5 But to him who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Romans 9:30–32 MEV

30 What shall we say then? The Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, did not attain the law of righteousness. 32 Why not? Because they did not seek it by faith, but by the works of the law. For they stumbled over the stumbling stone.

is especially clear:

Philippians 3:9 MEV

9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God on the basis of faith,

Philp 3 9

New Testament Witnessing Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

The Living Bible paraphrase of Philippians 3:9 is especially clear; “I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with Him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone.”

You can help people grasp this by asking how they would feel if upon bringing a birthday present to their best friend the individual would want to pay for part of the gift.

New Testament Witnessing Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

“I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, and become one with Him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone.”

This would obviously spoil the whole idea of its being a gift.

Man

The whole point of this is to establish the fact that man is a sinner by nature and also by choice.

Nature:

Psalm 51:5 KJV 1900

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.

Nature and Choice:

Romans 3:9–18 KJV 1900

9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

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For those who seem quite self-satisfied with their goodness, it is appropriate to challenge the idea with stating the difficulty of even a sincere Christian living through a single day without some selfish act or thought or the omission of a good deed that they ought to have done.

Sin is no only defined as “what we do” .

Sin can also be “what we fail to do” .

We are sinful not only because we do wrong things;

But we are sinful because we fail to meet the righteousness of law expressed in love.

We miss the mark:

Romans 3:23 KJV 1900

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

This one verse describes man’s situation:

“All have sinned”: We have violated the divine law;

“Come short of the glory of God”: We have “missed the mark” of God’s righteousness; we have failed to reach, attain, or experience the glory of God, or in being like Him in character.

New Testament Witnessing Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

It is important to stress that if our eternal life depended upon our record we would have no hope. We are guilty of having sinned and the wages of sin is death. If we had to pay the penalty for our own sins we would have no chance for eternal life. Of course, we use the Bible texts that tell us “all have sinned” and “there is none righteous, no not one”.

If any further Bible evidence is needed and on-wards can be studied in detail with the prospect.

There is a time or moments when all of us thought ourselves “pretty good”, and this was the case for Paul “I was alive without the law once” but this changed “when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”

God

There was a time when people’s concept of God was His justice in punishing sin was the overwhelming concept.

Today’s concept of most professed Christians is the reverse. Their concept of God is about His overwhelming love and grace, and even this to excuse sin to greater or less degree.

The other concept for non-professors of Christianity is that God is not a personal God who is interested in man’s affair. They justify this concept when disasters and tragedies happen where human life is taken or compromised and ask “Where is God in all of this?”

In presenting this gospel presentation first: talk of God’s love and mercy and His desire to save us, then second: spend most of the time in this section in showing from the Bible that God must also be just, - that part of love is justice and that God must punish sin.

This concept in our time is not a popular concept of God, but this must be realized by the prospect or he will not sense his lost condition.

2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV 1900

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Christ

New Testament Witnessing Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

We can help a prospect understand this by discussing our reactions to a local judge who would repeatedly turn loose upon society criminals who break into homes to steal, and who kill and rape,—excusing his actions on the basis that he was merciful and gracious and hated to punish anyone. It isn’t difficult for them to see that such irresponsibility would be anything but love, on the part of the judge, tor the society ne was supposed to serve. It is also helpful to point out that if God should tell us that sin doesn’t matter, and excuse it, He would be telling a falsehood. Sin does matter, and by its very nature it destroys. It makes people selfish and covetous and finally leads to stealing and rape and murder and war and all the other tragic aspects of sinful humanity. A God of love must punish, and finally eradicate sin.

Spend Time at the Cross

It is very important for people to realize the great sacrifice that was made in Christ.

How can we do this?

We need to make very clear that Jesus is truly God as well as man.

Many people do not understand that Jesus existed with the Father before He was born as the Messiah.

Helping them to understand this from such passages as the first chapter of John’s gospel will make a great impression upon their hearts regarding the sacrifice made for them.

John 1:1–5 KJV 1900

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

1-

We want to impress others with the truth that it was really Deity, One who was equal and eternally God took our sin and gave His own life to pay for our penalty. If we can do this effectively, the heart is won to God’s love in a mysterious way.

Philippians 2:5–11 KJV 1900

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

phil 2 5-

New Testament Witnessing Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

It is equally important, of course, to help them to realize that Jesus truly became guilty for our sins. The concept that is generally entertained on this subject is very shallow. Most Christians believe that Jesus merely accepted our punishment. Many illustrations that have been used in preaching on this subject have really impoverished the truth—the idea of a friend stepping in to take a whipping for someone else, etc.… We must realize that what Jesus accepted for us was far more than punishment. He actually became guilty of our sin and it was that guilt that crushed His life. To realize that miracle power was exercised in making Christ to be sin for us, is a real revelation to most people. They can be helped to understand this by realizing that the same miracle power is used in bringing us pardon. That, just as surely as we can feel forgiven, Christ felt our guilt. It would be difficult to spend too much effort on this part of the presentation. It is at the foot of the cross that men’s hearts are changed.

Serpent, Sin, and Jesus

Some time should be spent explaining the meaning of .

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV 1900

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

John 3:14–15 KJV 1900

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

To help others understand what it means that Jesus was made “to be sin for us” we can tell the experience of the children of Israel and the fiery serpents of the wilderness, when their look of faith at the serpent of brass which Moses lifted up was enough to save them from the deadly effects of those fiery serpents.

New Testament Witnessing Understanding the Presentation and the Prospect

It is a sobering realization that Christ was symbolized by the serpent, a symbol of sin, while he hung on the cross. Elsewhere throughout the Scripture, an innocent victim symbolized Christ … a lamb, a turtle dove, etc. But because he had taken our sin and become guilty of our transgressions in a very real way, because he had become “sin for us,” He was now symbolized by a serpent. Having suffered the death and the wrath of God that sin deserves, He now has eternal life for us, and it may be ours if we will but look to Him in faith, even as the children of Israel looked to the brazen serpent for deliverance. This story never fails to have a moving effect upon one who will hear it with an open mind.