| Problem In a gospel conversation, the problem to be shared is: People are separated from God. Before sharing the gospel, the apostles told the reason why the gospel is needed. They brought up the topic of humankind's disobedience toward God (you have done evil deeds; you killed the Savior). The following verse tells how people can become aware of their disobedience, so they will realize the reason for which Jesus had to die: Romans 3:20 For no one is put right in God's sight by doing what the Law requires: what the Law does is to make man know that he has sinned. When people hear the message about their need (through the LAW) and about God's solution (through the GOSPEL), there is an effect. The Holy Spirit brings about repentance (looking at sin from God's viewpoint) and faith (trust in Jesus). Peter and Paul never failed to mention these responses. SCRIPTURES. Without the Bible, we probably wouldn’t have guessed that our basic problem is separation from God – which means separation from the source of life: “you were apart from Christ … you did not belong to God’s people.” Eph 2:12 “In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience.” 1 Cor 2:1 Without God’s law, we might not have guessed that we have violated God’s standards: “through the law we become conscious of sin.” Romans 3:20 “everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4 “the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 The law can show us the problem, but it can’t solve the problem: ”no one will be declared right in God’s sight by obeying the law: what the law does is to show us that we have sinned.” Romans 3:20 “the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.” Romans 7:14 This separation is caused by sin. (Isaiah 59:2 -- yours sins have
made a separation between you and God.) People have felt needs; many of these needs are symptoms of sin (whether their sins or because of someone who has sinned against them). People already know what their felt needs are, but they will not know the root problem -- separation from God -- unless someone tells them. You do not need to accuse the listener in order to explain the notion of sin: you can give examples from society or from your own life. In a gospel conversation, the problem of sin is shared in order to remove right on to the answer -- the gospel. If the listener objects to your statements about sin before you have a chance to share the gospel, try to answer that objection as briefly as possible or to postpone it so that you have time to first explain the gospel. After hearing the entire salvation message, if the listener still wants to object to the idea of sin, then you can invest time in talking about that subject together. Try to talk not as the listener's opponent, but as two people seeking truth together. The link Explaining Problem has suggestions for such a conversation. Return to Salvation Message Content page Return to meeting Objections about sin
|
||