I hoped to swing the conversation to the gospel before we left but didn't see her again. I keep gospel tracts in my wallet and left a "God's Plan" tract on the table for her. As we were heading out, I saw Jane pick up the tract and look at it.
I went back and asked if she knew God's plan for her life. She said, "no," so I asked if she'd like to know. She said, "yes," so I asked what she thought happened after we die. She believed we'd go to heaven or hell. I asked who she thought would go to heaven. "Those who believe in God," she answered with a bit of hesitation, betraying a lack of confidence.
I explained that Hebrews 9:27 says after we die we stand before God in judgment, and God will judge us according to his law summarized in the 10 commandments. I asked if she'd ever told a lie, and, of course, she had. I asked if she new Revelation 21:8 says all liars will have their part in the lake of fire, and she hadn't. I told her that's how serious our violations of God's law are and that, according to God's standard, we all deserve to be judged guilty (Rom. 3:10, 23). And if we're guilty, our destiny won't be heaven. It will be hell.
Then I asked if she knew what God has done so we can be judged innocent and go to heaven, even though we don't deserve it. "Sent Jesus to die for our sins?" "That's right," I answered. I told Jane Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for all of ours sins--past, present, and even future sins. I then asked if she knew what Jesus said before he died. "What," she asked. I told Jesus said, "It is finished," meaning that the payment for our sin in order for God's justice to be satisfied was finished by Jesus' death on our behalf.
And then he rose from the dead on the third day, just has he predicted, proving he really is God and that our sins really have been paid for in full. I explained to Jane that nothing else needs to be done to save us from our sins except two things, two things Jesus said we need to do to get the benefit of his death and resurrection on our behalf.
I then asked her if she knew what those two things were, and she didn't. I asked her if she'd like to know, and she said yes. So I told her that Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
I told Jane that the first thing we must do is repent. Repentance is turning from your sins to Jesus and crying out to him for forgiveness of all your sins. The second thing we must do, according to Jesus, is believe the good news. That means to trust that Jesus' death for her sins and resurrection for her justification (Rom. 4:25) is alone sufficient to secure her salvation once and for all, and that she should cling to that belief like she'd cling to a parachute to save her from a fall. Just as we'd cling to a parachute and trust it to land us safely to the ground, so we cling to Jesus by faith in our hearts and trust his death and resurrection to land us safely into heaven and the Kingdom of God for eternity.
I then asked Jane if she believed that, and she said she did. I asked if she has repented of all of her sins and placed her faith and trust in Jesus alone for her salvation, and she said she had. I told Jane, "that's great!" Then she can know for sure that her name is written in the book of life (Rev. 20:15; 21:27) and that she'll spend eternity in heaven (1 John 5:11-13).
At the beginning of this friendly gospel conversation, Jane acted hesitant about who gets to go to heaven. By the end of the conversation, she had learned how she can know for sure and confirmed that had repented and trusted in Jesus for her salvation. She also had a tract that laid out the steps we discussed so she could refer back to it if she needs to.
Before we left, we asked her if she had a church home. She didn't. So we encouraged her to check out our church. We're trusting the Lord to lead her where He wants her to be!
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