A SAFE PLACE IN JESUS

 

 

I have no problem telling the unsaved that God loves them. However, there is also a place for stronger medicine. In the first two evangelistic sermons in the Book of Acts, Peter went right to the sin issue:

• "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” (Acts 2:22-23)

• “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life.” (Acts 3:13)

In both cases, Peter called upon them to repent. He didn’t have to mention faith because faith and repentance are inseparable, opposite but complementary sides of the same coin. Both are the product of a regenerated heart. However, Peter’s focus on repentance zeroed in on the central issue.

This illustrates an important but often neglected principle. Good preaching and evangelism should usually be accompanied by the conviction of sin. In letters to five of the seven churches of the Book of Revelation, Jesus convicted them of their sins and commanded that they repent.

The preaching of many churches often lacks this key element. It is often replaced by unbiblical concepts of “niceness” and “love,” which equates preaching sin with judgmentalness or even self-righteousness. However, this is the very thing that the Church is commanded to preach:

• Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2)

Paul had warned that sin was like yeast. Just a little dab could transform the entire loaf (Galatians 5:9) and also the church. This is particularly the case regarding the Church’s unwillingness to preach against sexual sin. I asked several church leaders regarding the presence of homosexual couples and the transgendered in their church. I was told that instead of preaching against it, “We just want to love them into the Kingdom by providing a safe place for them.”

However, the real safe place for the unrepentant sinner is the place that confronts him with his sin in hope that this will produce repentance and lead him to the only true hope in Christ.