How to Lead Others to Jesus: Letting the Lion Out of the Cage

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free e-books designed to help you grow in your faith. So how do you reach a culture like this? With a powerful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what our culture needs to hear. Our society doesn't need more political correctness or more news, fake or otherwise. Pastor Greg Laurie says we need the good news.

The gospel is filled with power. I don't need to edit it. I don't need to add to it. I don't need to subtract from it.

I don't need to apologize for it. I need to just proclaim it and stand back and watch God play. God could have chosen to invite people into a relationship with Him in any number of ways. Angels, sky writing, speaking through a burning bush. But He chose to use people to reach people.

Regular, fallible, unpredictable people. But He put the power inside the message itself. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie provides some great instruction on presenting that good news most effectively.

And later, some details on a free training course that will help you take this lesson to the next level. The days of cultural Christianity are over. What do I mean by that? Well there was a time in America, especially closer to our birth, when we had a strong Judeo-Christian ethic in our culture. It was in everything that we did. But as time has passed and we have progressed, if you want to use that word, others might say regress.

I would certainly choose that term. And as we have gotten away from this we don't see cultural Christianity like we used to see it. And there was a time when you would go up to someone and tell them about Jesus and not say, I am already a Christian. But you know a lot of people don't say that anymore. Cultural Christianity is over with. There is just a lot of people now that don't profess faith in Christ at all. And in a way it is good because the problem with cultural Christianity is a lot of people thought they were Christians who weren't. Now people just say, I am not a Christian. And that is where I am at. You know. So how do you reach a culture like this?

The answer is simply this. With a powerful message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what our culture needs to hear. Paul says in Romans 1.16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God and a salvation to everyone who believes. Listen.

The gospel is filled with power. I don't need to edit it. I don't need to add to it. I don't need to subtract from it.

I don't need to apologize for it. I need to just proclaim it and stand back and watch God work. That is true. Our job is to let the lion out of the cage. So I think most Christians will say, yes it is the gospel. Preach the gospel. I love the gospel. By the way what is the gospel?

I have no idea. But I believe in it. I mean really do we even know what the gospel is? We throw that term around a lot.

And I wonder. Well a poll was taken and revealed that only 4 percent of adults in America could define the term the Great Commission, quote John 3.16, and define the gospel. Seven out of ten Americans have no clue what John 3.16 means. So have most Americans heard the gospel? It is said most Americans have.

I really don't know if they have. What is the gospel? Well I think we all know what the basic term means. What does the word gospel mean? Good news. Exactly right.

Now this is very important. There are certain elements that must be in place for the gospel to be the gospel. And sometimes in so-called presentations of the gospel that I have heard there are things added that don't belong there.

Or there are things that are subtracted that must be there. And we must be very careful because we don't want to find ourselves guilty of presenting a false gospel. In Galatians 1.6 Paul says, I am astonished that you are quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and you are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Some people are throwing you into confusion and they are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. And I fear that there is a so-called presentation of the gospel being offered to people today that gives false hope. It is a gospel that says just pray and ask Jesus in your heart and you will be saved.

Well it is true. If you ask Him in your heart you can be saved. But the Bible also mentions repentance. The Bible also speaks about transformation. Now we don't do those things before we come to Christ. But if we really come to Christ our life should change. And if our life is not changed have we really come to Christ?

Listen. Any gospel that offers the hope of heaven and does not warn of the reality of hell is not the gospel. Any gospel that promises the forgiveness of God but does not make mention of the need for the sinner to turn from their sin is not the gospel. So what elements must be in place for the gospel to be the gospel?

Well I already defined the term. It means good news. And I think to fully appreciate the good news I have to first know the bad news. We have all heard these good news bad news jokes over the years.

I heard one. Two old guys were wondering if there is baseball in heaven. So they made a deal that if one of them died before the other he would somehow communicate back from heaven if there is baseball there. So one of the guys died and he went to the other side and his buddy Joe was left on earth and one day you know he speaks to his friend Joe from the heavens. This is a true story.

Thoroughly it isn't. He speaks to his friend Joe from heaven and says, Joe I have some good news and some bad news. Joe says, what is the good news? Joe the good news is there is baseball in heaven. Well Joe being the great baseball fan he was it was overjoyed to hear that.

Then his buddy said, now the bad news you are pitching on Friday. What is so good? So the gospel is good news. But before I can appreciate it I have to know the bad news. All right. What is the bad news?

Here it is. We are all sinners separated from God. No matter how good we try to be or how moral we try to be or even how religious we try to be we still fall short of God's standards. Now understand when you tell a person who is not a Christian that they have sinned they are not going to know what you are talking about.

So you are going to have to define the terms for them. Clearly the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3.23. And 1 John 1.8 says, if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. So the Bible clearly says we have sinned. But what does the word sin mean? Well in Ephesians 2.1 it says you were dead in trespasses and sins.

Two different words are used. First there is the word trespass. That means crossing a line. You know you have seen a sign in a park maybe where the grass was just planted. No trespassing. So if you step over under that freshly planted grass you just cross the line. That is trespassing. So to commit a trespass is to break one of the Ten Commandments. It is to do something God has told you not to do. That is one translation of sin.

But the other word that is used there in Ephesians when it says trespasses and sins this word comes from a Greek word that means to miss the mark. And it goes back to the first century version of archery. Ok. So we are firing the arrows at the target. And let's just say you and I decided to have a contest. And we each had ten arrows. And so you walked up to the target and you got nine out of ten arrows in the bullseye. And only one arrow went outside of the bullseye.

Then I walked up and I fired all ten arrows and I missed the target altogether. In fact one of them went in you. Ok. So I missed the mark and you missed the mark. Right. So you see but I got more in than you got in. So I win.

No. To miss the mark means we have missed God's standard. What is God's standard? You ready for this?

Absolute perfection. And if you offend on one point of the law the Bible says you are guilty of all of it. So granted some have sinned more than others.

We will concede that point. But one sin is enough to keep you out of heaven because God doesn't grade on the curve. And this sort of refutes the argument but I am a good person.

Well you know maybe you are a good person to some degree but you are not good enough you see because you have fallen short. And a person will say, well I am not a sinner. And then you will say, well do you believe in the Ten Commandments? Most people will say, yes I do. Do you know the Ten Commandments? No I don't. But you believe in them.

Yes I do. So you might go over some of those commandments and say, have you ever stolen? Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain?

Have you always honored your father and mother? Have you ever lied? They will say, no I have never done any of those things. You are lying right now basically. Now most people will say, yeah I lied once or I stole twice.

You know and if they are honest they will tell you more than you wanted to know. I talked to a girl who made a recommitment to Christ and she said to me, I broke every commandment except one. And she had never murdered anyone. She had broken all the others.

She was honest about it at least. Why did God give us the Ten Commandments to make us righteous? We live up to these standards and if you live by these standards you will get into heaven.

No. The Ten Commandments were not given to make me righteous but to show me I need help. The Ten Commandments were given to open my eyes and shut my mouth. Because they say, I am good. I am wonderful.

I am toast. Because I fall short of God's standards. So we might point those commandments out to them, help them to identify the ones that they have broken.

We have probably all met people who say, well they have lived a good life. They have treated people fairly and because of that they are confident they are going to heaven. How do you set the record straight and point out their need for a Savior? Pastor Greg has the answer in just a moment.

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here encouraging you to join us this weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's worship. It's a message from the Word of God.

You can watch it with your family in your front room or you can watch it on the go on your tablet, on your phone or your computer. Take it with you. Take the Word of God with you and join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org. We're talking about presenting the gospel today and Pastor Greg's message, how to lead others to Jesus. Helping them see their need for a Savior. Now a person may say they are a good person. Let me say something that might surprise you. I think there are good people out there. In fact I have met people who aren't Christians that I think are nicer than some Christians I have met.

Right? But here is the problem. Being a good person, being a nice person will not get you into heaven because heaven is not for good people. Heaven is for forgiven people. Ok. And we have all fallen short.

Here is the bottom line. When we say a person is not good we are not saying that there are not people who have done good things. What we are saying is no one is good enough. There are good people in general but no one is good enough to get to heaven on their own merit. And the person might say to you, well are you saying you are good enough?

No. I am a sinner too. And that is where Jesus comes in because He paid the price for us. God poured His own wrath and anger on Jesus who died in our place. Romans 5 6-8 says, when we were utterly helpless Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. No one is likely to die for a good person.

Though someone might be willing to die for someone who is especially good. But God showed His great love toward us. So why were we yet sinners? Christ died for us.

Because there was no way that Greg Laurie or any of us could satisfy the righteous demands of God, God sent His Son to die in our place. Because we faced a future in hell Jesus died for us. Now if you dare use the word hell get ready.

Because you are going to get pushed back. People don't like to hear the word hell. This is I think one of the reasons Christians skirt this subject. I don't really want to talk about hell. But listen if you only promise the glories of heaven and you don't warn about the reality of hell you are not declaring the whole gospel.

I am not saying we should focus primarily on hell but we certainly shouldn't edit it out of the message. So you might be sharing the gospel with someone saying, you know Jesus has filled the void in my life and I have joy and peace and I am so happy. Hey that is cool man. I can see religion has done a lot for you. I am happy for you.

But I don't really have a void in my life they might say. And I already feel pretty good. You know.

In fact I drink a couple of beers. I have got a good buzz going on. So I am happy. And I like the way my life is going.

And I don't think I need what you have. Oh. So what happens to me when I die?

Well do you like warm climates? Wait. See here is the thing. You are focusing on the fringe benefits of salvation and you are not addressing the core issue. The fringe benefits of salvation are peace, purpose, fulfillment, joy. But the biggest thing about salvation. You want to know what it is? You are not going to hell anymore. You are going to heaven now. That is the biggest thing. You have to know that.

Ok. So if I only offer Jesus as sort of an additive like a new product out on the market that will make their teeth whiter and give them more spring in their step that is not true gospel preaching. I have to tell them the truth that you are separated from God by sin and there is a place called hell. Now you might be surprised to know that most Americans believe in some kind of an afterlife. 84%. 82% of Americans believe in heaven. And 70% believe in hell. So a lot of people believe in hell.

They just don't think they are going there. Because for every American who believes He is going to hell there is 120 who believe they are going to heaven. But that is in direct contradiction to what Jesus said because He said in Matthew 7, broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there are that go that way but narrow is the way that leads to life and few there are that find it. And know this. You can't edit hell out of Scripture. Did you know Jesus spoke more about hell than all the other preachers in the Bible put together. That surprises some people. Why?

Because He and He alone knows the horrors and reality of hell. Now here is what is going to be asked next. You already know it.

I don't even have to tell you. Oh wait a second. They act like they dream this question up themselves.

How can a God of love send someone to hell? Right? How many of you have heard that question? Of course you have. Ok.

Here is your answer. Because He is a God of love and justice He invented hell. But know this. Hell was not made for people. Hell was created according to Jesus for the devil and his angels. If a person ends up in hell God is in effect giving them what they wanted all along. See it is not that God is sending anyone to hell. It is that you send yourself there because you are living this life. You want to live without God and God is saying, well I am going to give you that free will and you can go on. But listen. You are going to have to kind of climb over my dead body to get there. Because I sent my son Jesus Christ to die on the cross in your place so you don't have to go to this place called hell.

Listen. The last thing that God wants is for any man or woman made in His image to spend eternity separated from Him in this place called hell. That is why He sent Jesus. And only Jesus was qualified to bridge the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity. How can you say Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father? I am just saying what Jesus said. John 14.6 Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life and no man comes to the Father but by Me. Acts 4.12 says there is salvation and no other name under heaven. No other name men can call upon to be saved. Paul said the same thing in 1 Timothy 2.5. There is one God, one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus.

This is not multiple choice. Now let me say something that may surprise you. I do believe all roads lead to God. So if someone says, I believe all roads lead to God, you can say, I believe that too. Whatever road you are on you will get to God. If you are a believer, if you are a nonbeliever you will get to God. But only one road leads to heaven.

See the difference? So you can live without God but one day you will stand before God. Even the atheists will stand before God because the Bible says every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father. So you will stand before God and then you will face your sins. And if you said no to Jesus Christ you will face the repercussions of those sins. So a road will lead you to God but only one road will get you into heaven. And that is the road through Jesus Christ who died in our place and satisfied the righteous demands of God. Listen. Here is the bottom line. When you are sharing the gospel you want to know what you have got to make a beeline to.

Ready for this? You make a beeline to the cross. The essence of the gospel message is not your testimony.

That is just a bridge to get started. The essence of the gospel message is not just that Jesus will make you a happier person though He will do that for you. The essence of the gospel message is I don't have to go to hell.

I can go to heaven because Jesus Christ died on the cross. Paul said, brothers, in 1 Corinthians 2 when I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom I just don't want to know anything else among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul says then in 1 Corinthians 1.17, Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel not with words of human wisdom lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. Years ago I was in Billy Graham's home.

A great honor. The greatest evangelist who has ever lived in human history. And it is kind of intimidating to hang around Billy Graham I will tell you. And even though I had gotten to know him quite well I was still nervous and were sitting at the table and Billy turned to me and said, Greg would you like a Coke? And it is just when he said Coke it is just you know the way Billy spoke whatever he said it sounded authoritative you know. Do you want a Coke?

Yes. I don't even like Coke but I want it because we said it. Coke. So I am drinking the Coke.

I didn't really want it. And I am thinking I have got to ask Billy a question. When am I going to get a chance like this again? I have got to ask him a question.

My mind went blank. Finally a question came. I know what to ask him. I said, Billy let me ask you this. If an older Billy was speaking to a younger Billy what advice would you give yourself?

What would you say as someone who has done this for years to a younger version of you without skipping a beat? Billy said, I would preach more on the cross and the blood of Christ. That is where the power is.

Wow. This evangelist remembered that. And what is true of a preacher is true of a Christian. When you are talking to someone about Jesus you talk about the blood that He shed. You talk about the death that He died.

You talk about His resurrection. Here is the problem. Sometimes in our attempt to cross over we don't bring the cross over. We want to be cool. We want to relate. We want to get along.

And we want them to like us. But there is going to come a moment where you are going to have to get to the bottom line and say, tell them they are a sinner. Tell them there is a judgment. Tell them Jesus died on the cross. But that is what the power is.

Don't miss that stuff. I have heard presentations of the gospel so called that never mention the cross. And as far as I am concerned that is not a presentation of the gospel at all. Pastor Greg Laurie clarifying what is and isn't an appropriate effective presentation of the gospel. Good insight today here on a New Beginning from today's message called How to Lead Others to Jesus.

You can get an instant replay of this study by going to harvest.org. Just look for that title How to Lead Others to Jesus. But to take this help a significant step further why not check out the online training course Pastor Greg has developed to coincide with this Tell Someone series. It is completely free. In this course you will receive a lesson per week and it comes via email. And at the end of six weeks you will be better able to share your faith with confidence and with a firm grasp of the gospel message.

So sign up for free today at harvest.org. You know Pastor Greg I am a sucker for crime shows. You know especially where they solve real life crime stories. Especially cold cases. And we happen to have a real life retired cold case detective with us today. And as much as I would like to sit here and hear some stories of cases he has worked on.

He is here to talk about a more important case. Isn't that right? Yeah that is right. It is a brand new book from my friend Jay Warner Wallace. And the J stands for Jim right? It does.

Yes it does. Jay Warner Wallace and his new book is called Person of Interest subtitled Why Jesus Still Matters in a World That Rejects the Bible. You know I think this book is really neat Jim because you are basically looking at the impact of Jesus on culture in general. There are actually people walking around that will say Jesus Christ never existed. This is all a man made myth. Of course that is such a ridiculous statement. But what would you say to someone that would say well all we have is the biblical account.

You can't trust that. So why should we even believe that a man named Jesus ever even walked this earth? Okay so I am with you just for a point of argument.

Like we are in trial. Just for sake of argument let's just toss out the biblical manuscript. If you don't trust that he ever exists you can't trust what the Bible says about Jesus. Okay fine. Let's just take it out. Is there a way to make the case for Jesus even if every single Bible in the history of Bibles had all been destroyed?

Well it turns out there is. It is kind of like when you make a case in a cold case where you have got say a husband who kills his wife and then he gets rid of her body and we take a missing persons report and he says oh she ran off and so then years later we decide hmm this doesn't seem she never came back but something is up. Let's open it as a homicide. So now we are working as a homicide but we have got no crime scene. He moved.

He cleaned the place up. We have got no physical evidence at all. How do we make that kind of a case to a jury?

Well here is how we do it. I always tell the jury on the day of the murder a bomb went off. Something explosive happened but there was a long fuse that burned up to that explosion and there was all kinds of shrapnel afterwards. We are going to make this case to you from simply the fuse and the fallout. All the stuff that led up to this day and all the stuff that followed. If all you did was look at the history of humanity, everything that leads up to the appearance of this explosive moment that breaks the BC into AD or if you want before the common era into the common era whatever you want to term it. Something explosive happens right there that changes history.

So let's just examine the fuse. Let's examine the fallout and here is what you are going to discover is that yes there is only one cause for that turn in history and his name was Jesus of Nazareth and you can reconstruct the story of Jesus without any reference to any biblical manuscript just from the fallout of history in the arts, in music, in literature, in science, in education. As a matter of fact, let me give you an example of this. If all you did was go and visit the top 15 universities in the world today, here is what you discover. They are all founded by Christians. The top 15 all founded by Christians. Now they may not be Christian anymore but they were founded by Christians. And hospitals and relief organizations and all the songs.

Well guess what? If you just took a look at the buildings, no Bibles now, just the buildings, the buildings of these campuses of those top 15 schools, you are going to discover they are covered in verses. They are covered in artwork of Jesus. You could reconstruct the story of Jesus just from the buildings of the top 15 universities in the world. So unless you are willing to destroy all of the top 15 universities, you are going to be stuck with the story of Jesus even if you didn't have a New Testament. How about a nation called the United States of America?

What is the role of Jesus Christ in the Bible itself in the establishing of our country? Oh again, here is what is great. Even people who would say, I am not a religious person, I am not a pastor let's say. How about this? Do you realize there is always this fraction between science and faith, right?

Like you can't do both. Well really, go back and look at the thing called the scientific revolution and all of the fathers of all of the scientific disciplines, here is what you are going to discover. The vast majority were Christians who also wrote about Jesus and their private writings and all you had was the private writings of the top scientists in the history of science. You can reconstruct the story of Jesus. Unless you want to get rid of all those people too from history, you are still stuck with the story of Jesus. Wow.

It is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant here talking to Jim. All this explosive information is contained in this book that we are offering to you. It is called Person of Interest by J. Warner Wallace, Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible. And we will send you this book for your gift of any size because we want to put quality resources into your hands and we also want to give you an opportunity to support us as we teach the word of God and proclaim the gospel all around this planet. So if you like your own copy, Dave is going to give you the contact information and we will send you Person of Interest.

Yeah, that's right. It is brand new. In fact, we have advanced copies. You won't find it anywhere else just yet. So thanks for sending an investment so that this daily study can continue and let us thank you with a copy of Person of Interest by J. Warner Wallace. You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 24-7, again at 1-800-821-3300 or go online to Harvest.org. Well next time, the final installment in Pastor Greg's practical series, Tell Someone. Tune in next time for A New Beginning. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at Harvest.org.