Last night was day two of our outreach at the Rooster Days Festival. There were many great witnessing encounters. Let me tell you about the last one of the evening, the one that really touched his heart and mine too.
I struck up a conversation with a group of young adults. Some in the group thought they were going to heaven because "they had Jesus in their heart." They said they got Jesus in their heart by "praying a prayer." I asked them if they knew what Jesus said to do in order to be born again and to know their destiny would indeed be heaven (John 3:3 - "Unless a man is born again, he will not see the kingdom of heaven."). They did not know. I asked them if they would like to know. They did, so I told them.
I began by explaining that the bible says we will appear before God in Judgment after we die or upon his return (2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 9:27; 2 Thes. 1). I explained that God will judge us according to his law, the 10 commandments (Matt. 5). As we walked through the law one by one, they admitted they had violated God's law and would be judged guilty if they were to die today. They also admitted their destiny would be hell, not heaven, and that such a result would in fact be just, since they believed God is just (Rom. 3:10, 23; 6:23). I asked them if it concerned them that if they died today they would go to hell. It did. I said it should, and explained to them what Jesus said about hell.
One man, who had been fighting back tears as we went through the law, began to share how he felt like he was in hell already, because it's like hell at his home. My heart broke. I then began to pour out the good news of the gospel. Just as the darkness of night makes the brightness and glory of the stars stand out that much brighter, the darkness of our sin as revealed by the light of God's law made the glory and grace of the gospel stand out to him that much brighter. I explained that God sent his son to die on the cross for our sins in order to spare us from the punishment we deserve--that's how much God loves us. I also shared that while on the cross, Jesus suffered for an infinite number of sins committed by all mankind. Not only that, but he also suffered all of the grief, sadness, sorrow, and pain that all mankind has suffered and experienced because of our own sins and the sins committed by others. I shared with this brokenhearted young man that no one has suffered as much because of sin than Jesus, and he did it all for this young man and for the world. God was really working on this young man's heart. I then shared that the way we get the benefit of what Jesus has done in order to be born again is to repent and believe (Mk. 1:15; Jn. 3:14-16). We talked about what that means. I then urged them to do that today before it's too late, and encouraged him that as he begins to follow the Lord and as they begin to follow the Lord, they will begin to experience heaven here and now and could very well transform their hell at home to heaven now.
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