This past
Saturday night the Sovereign Joy Evanglism Team went
to the Southlake Town Square to preach the gospel. It was a great night for most of us.
Shortly after we arrived, an ambulance and fire truck pulled up on the scene and the crowd of individuals that were casually strolling down the sidewalk, with ice creams in hand, immediately scurried to see what the action was about.
That’s when our wonderful evangelism leader, Dennis Cain, jumped up on the soapbox and used a new movie, that will be released the end of this month, as a springboard for the gospel. Below is a basic account of what Dennis said last night. I thought it was so good that I wanted to provide it for you to use when you hit the streets.
I stood in the front of the crowd and was glued to every word that Dennis said...I think others were as well. Here's what Dennis said in a nutshell...
“A new movie will be released soon called “Drag Me To Hell.” The story is of a women who was cursed to be tormented for three days by a demon and then would be dragged to Hell for eternity. The tag line to the movie is “Even nice people go to Hell.”
Well, it's true. Nice people do go to Hell. 150,000 people die every day. You would consider most of these people to be nice and good. Some of the nicest people you've ever met will end up in Hell when they die.
What about you? Do you think you are a good person...good enough to get into Heaven when you die? The Bible says to examine yourself. This exam is a 10 question test known as the Ten Commandments.
How many lies have you told in your life? A person is called a liar who has told as many lies as you have. Have you ever taken anything that does not belong to you? A person that steals is called a thief. Have you ever taken God's name is vain? That is called blasphemy and God will not hold anyone blameless who misuses His name. If you ever had an improper sexual thought toward someone then Jesus says you are an adulterer at heart.
These are just four of the Ten Commandments. How did you do? God does not grade on a “good deeds” curve. Your “good” deeds do not give you any credit towards God favoritism. The test is pass/fail and you must score a perfect hundred to pass His test.
If you honestly examine yourself you know you are guilty of breaking God's laws. And if you are guilty, God, being just, cannot you let you into Heaven. He cannot allow liars, adulterers, thieves, and blasphemers in to Heaven and remain holy and just.
If a person wronged you and a judge let the person who wronged you off free without any penalty, you will cry foul and state that the judge was crooked. God's standard of justice is much more strict and he will see that justice is done for those who break His laws.
The Bible says that all liars will have their part in
the Lake of Fire. Think of is like this. If you lie to a child, nothing can happen. If you lie to your spouse, they can get angry. If you lie to your boss, you can be fired. Lying to the Government is called treason and you can go to jail. You can be telling the same lie to each person. So it is not the size of the lie that gets you into trouble, it is the person you lie to that determines the punishment. When a person lies, God sees it as an infinite offense since He is infinite, without beginning or end.
God must send law breakers to Hell. But unlike the tag line in
the “Drag me to Hell” movie, there will be no dragging. The law breakers will be
cast into Hell. This casting will be like you tossing a wadded piece of paper into a waste basket. And it will not be a demon that does the casting into Hell but God Himself.
But you protest “God is Love”. That is true, God IS Love. He is 100% Love, but He is also 100% just, 100% pure, and 100% righteous. The Bible does not ever say God is love, love, love or kind, kind, kind. But the Bible says He is Holy, Holy, Holy and it is His Holiness, His perfection that is the reason you are in big trouble.
So, how do you balance God's 100% Love and 100% justice? 2000 years ago the Son of God came to Earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life; He willingly went to the cross. He willingly had sin placed upon Him. God's fierce wrath toward sin crushed Jesus on the cross.
Jesus died and was buried. Three days later he rose from the grave and was seen alive by over 500 people. He ascended into Heaven and will one day return to earth. You broke God's laws but Jesus paid your fine, your debt to God, for you in His own life's blood.
Please humble yourself before God. This means you repent of your multitude of sins. Forsake your sins, turn from your sins and yourself and turn toward God. Then trust in the person of Christ and receive His righteousness in exchange for your sin. If you repent, then you have been born again.
It will be the hardest thing you ever do in this life; to humble yourself before God. If you think you are a good person, then God will not save you. God resists the proud but give grace to the humble. This is why people, who think they are “good”, will go to Hell when they die. They have not humbled themselves to the point to realize they are not good at all but wicked and sinful in His sight. They compare themselves to each other and not to God who is the standard.
We are Christ’s ambassadors, as if God was pleading through us. We implore you on the behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. God made Christ, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might have the righteousness of God, in Christ.”
Fits nicely over the shoulder.
Fits nicely over the shoulder.
