Lily of Valleys
Well-Known Member
I agree with what you said with regard to unbelievers. However, Apostle Paul has made a distinction between how we should treat unbelievers and those who claim to be believers:For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. -- John 3
In John 6:37, Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me.” And in verse 44, he says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” And in verse 65, he says, “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
In other words, most of the work of the salvation of any person is already done by God without and before he hears the Gospel from an evangelist.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." John 10
People who have been given by the Father to the Son, people who have been convicted by the Holy Spirit, people who have been drawn by the Father are also people who are already prepared to follow the voice of Jesus.
So the gospel is actually for certain people in the crowd, and those people have been prepared to respond to it. This cannot say that the evangelist can determine who they are, but he can be confident that if he goes where the Holy Spirit directs and actually preaches the Good News of salvation, those who have been enabled by the Father will respond.
All the evangelist has to do is speak in Jesus' voice, the voice of Jesus to His sheep, not the voice of Jesus to the wolves and vipers.
Some people will say, "We must convict sinners of their sin," but scripture says:
And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. -- John 16
So, no, it's not the job of the Gospel evangelist to convict sinners of their sins...that's the Holy Spirit's job. And the Holy Spirit is qualified because He knows each person's sins...which the evangelist does not. The evangelist will be slashing his "weaponized gospel" around like a meat cleaver while only the Holy Spirit knows exactly where and how to "slice" at that particular person's own hard point of sin.
So convicting the sinner is properly the job of the Holy Spirit, just as scripture says. The evangelist can do nothing but mess it up and possibly delay the work.
I know a woman, a member of a former congregation I was a member of in Washington DC, who had formerly been a prostitute. I've told this story in this forum a couple of times before, so I'll cut it short.
She had heard street preachers many times before. They had always pointed to her and "told her the truth with love" that she was a vile sinner and that her sin was taking her to hell. You, see, they had to convict her first.
But her reaction was: "Okay, so I'm going to hell. My life is already hell. Bye, Felicia."
Until one night, on the first night my congregation set out to preach to the prostitutes on that street, this evangelist preached something she'd never heard before. He and his fellows later noted among themselves something they hadn't realized until later: That this woman had never seemed to be listening to the sermon, yet she had never actually strayed out of earshot.
But when the evangelist finished his sermon, she walked up to him and actually poked her finger in his chest, demanding: "That stuff you said about being a new creation in Christ and all the old things going away...is that the truth?"
Nobody had ever preached that to her before. She'd been told by previous preachers she was going to hell because they all thought they needed to do the Holy Spirit's job and convict her of her sin. The Holy Spirit had already convicted her of her sin--which is why she hung around when an evangelist finally tool the next step and actually preached the gospel of the Savior.
You see, for those who have been given to Christ by the Father, "You're going to hell" is not the truth...it's a lie, because Christ will not lose any of them.
"You're going to hell" is the voce of the Accuser. The sheep of Jesus will not heed that voice because for them it's a lie. Their destiny is not hell, their destiny is heaven.
"You are a new creation in Christ" is the voice of Jesus, and Jesus' sheep will know His voice when they hear it.
I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)
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