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For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans
10:13).
Question:
How do we share our faith with someone who says "I'm too great
a sinner," or "No one can love someone like me?"
In Christian counseling one
of the first things we need to do is find out the spiritual
condition of the person we are trying to help. We often find that we
are dealing with a person who does not know Christ and they are
talking to us because they have heard or think we do. Many are drawn
to the church or known Christians to seek help. Thus, we will often
hear such comments as these very early in our encounter with the
person seeking help. God gave us the answer to every problem that we
will ever face, Jesus Christ.
To begin helping another,
we must first learn where they stand in relation to God's kingdom.
Not knowing Jesus Christ as their personal Savior leads to comments
like those above. This can side-track many who sincerely want to
help; but cannot satisfactorily put the issue of guilt for past sin
to rest. Until this issue is confronted, the person seeking help
cannot hear what you are trying to share.
Sin is dangerous:
To begin with, never give the impression that the sins of the other
person are not serious or can be taken lightly. Sin is an offense
against God and even when dealing with a believer cannot be taken
lightly. Sin separates us from the only true source of help, God.
All sin is repulsive to God, but He loves us despite our sin. He
loves us so much, that with an unconditional love He gave His Son to
die for us.
God has already provided
the answer: God
loved us so much that He prepared a way for every sin we could ever
commit before He even made the world or man. All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the
LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). Have
the person read this verse to you. Ask them what God has done with
sin. The answer is clear that God placed our sins upon Christ. The
issue then is not what God has done about sin but what we have done.
When this person sought you out for advice, they were already
prepared to repent and ask God to forgive them for their sins. (They
did not approach a Christian without expecting a Godly answer.) This
moves us to the real problem they are facing; they feel guilty
because of what they have done. Because they cannot see themselves
forgiving someone who has wronged them this way, they can't see how
God can forgive them.
Whomsoever will –
Point out that Romans 10:13 says "whosoever"
without limitation nor qualifying conditions. Everyone under this
load of guilt is positive that they are the worst sinner to ever
live, or they have committed the "unpardonable sin."
They can't claim to be the world's worst sinner, the Apostle Paul
claimed this title for himself (1 Timothy 1:15). Since God has
already forgiven and accepted the worst sinner to ever live into His
kingdom, this person can't have any sin that can't be pardoned by
God. Have they committed the unpardonable sin? No! If they have
committed this sin their conscience will have been seared and they
will not be talking to you about it.
No one refused:
You can also point out that Jesus said "He that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out," in John 6:37. Jesus
also said that none can come unto Him unless God draws them to Him.
This person is feeling the guilt and seeking God. Thus, they are
being drawn to God by the Holy Spirit. This would not be happening
if their sin could not be forgiven by God. The unpardonable sin is
listed as blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. All of the passages in the
Bible that mention this sin are parallel passages talking about the
same incident. In this incident those involved not only denied the
Holy Ghost but deliberately attributed the power of the Holy Ghost
to Satan. All other sin, no matter how repulsive to man, can and
will be forgiven when the person sincerely repents of their sin and
asks God to forgive them.
God allows us to ask
questions: In
Isaiah we see God speaking this way, "Come let us reason
together . . . though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow. With man this along with many other things are
impossible. With God, nothing is impossible! God wants to see all
come to salvation in Jesus Christ. God provided the means of
salvation and even gives us the ability to believe by the same
unconditional grace that he saves us with. "We are saved by
grace through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of
God" (Ephesians 2:8). God never requires anything of
us that He has not first given to us. Grace implies a free
gift. If our salvation is by grace, we can't give anything for it,
including the act of believing. If we cannot earn our salvation (few
debate this) then we cannot do anything to prevent it. Salvation
begins, is maintained, and is finished by God, because of His love
for man. We love God because He first loved us. This order will
never be reversed.
This is the only answer:
In dealing with this one issue you will not only bring much comfort
to a hurting soul, you will have helped them solve most of their
problems. Leading a hurting soul home to its creator brings peace
and hope. The absence of inner peace and not being unable to see any
hope brings humanity to its lowest point. Unfortunately it is only
from this low point most will take the time to look up and see that
what they have spent their life seeking was right before their face.
The human condition:
As humans we tend to measure others and predict their reaction to
events as we would react. It is hard to conceive of a Holy God who
loves us not because of what we are, but despite what we are. When
we add the broken relationships that flood the world, we have few
earthly models to help us understand our relationship with God.
Without this model, we cannot conceive of a loving parent. We expect
punishment when we have done wrong, not love and pardon without
conditions.
Christ is the final answer
to all our questions about life: Helping
another see that God's love is real and for them too brings an end
to their search. With their new hope in Christ they can pick up the
pieces and go on to live life to its fullest in joy and victory.
Pretty words? Yes, but so true! God so loved the world that He gave
His son that all who should believe in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. That friends is the whole Gospel. All of the
other things are only window dressing. Nice to have, but unnecessary
for salvation. God prepared the way in Jesus Christ. God gives us
the ability to believe in Him. All that is left for us to do is make
use of the gift of faith to receive the gift of eternal life by
believing in Jesus Christ.
© May 2000
1st EPC Clover
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