Sinners Shall Be Converted – Part One

Americans love easy 3-step solutions to solving their problems or becoming successful. Christians are no different. We want easy salvation, easy theology, and above all easy evangelism.

I got bad news for you; easy isn’t Christianity. But the good news is that God has made it simple so that you do not have to go to seminary; you do not have to be a theologian; you do not even have to be Billy Graham. You just have to be willing.

If you are a Christian who wants easy evangelism then you are either lazy or lost.

However, for the lazy and lost, yesterday morning the Holy Spirit showed me a 3-step way to evangelize the lost. The wonderful thing about this discovery is that it can be tailored specifically to the individual.

“Well c’mon Bro Dave; don’t keep us in suspense any longer!” Ready? Here it is:

    “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.” (Psalm 51:10-13)

Any questions? Okay good, I’ll be praying for you! See you tomorrow!

Huh? Where are the three steps? I figured someone would say that. Okay, let’s start from the very beginning by asking a question?

What is the number one reason Christians do not witness? Fear? Most likely yes. What causes that fear? A number of things, but the root of that fear is pride. And to take it a step further that boils down the number one reason we do not witness to sin. And it is not only pride, but also disobedience, which is also sin.

So sin is the number one reason we do not witness.

Is there any wonder that David started this passage in Psalm 51 with “create in me a clean heart”? David knew that sin, the sin of adultery, had caused a huge chasm between God and him.

Sin not only defiles our heart, it also weakens us spiritually. The desire to witness for Jesus is a spiritual matter as much, if not more, than it is matter of our volition. A weak spirit can in no way aid our souls in being obedient to the call of evangelism. And so sin weakens our spirit and affects our will.

Step one to evangelism is purity. We must remove all sin from our lives to be effective witnesses. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and that comes from confession.

    “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

I could go on and discuss steps 2 and 3, but then we might skip over step 1.

What sinfulness has defiled your heart? This weekend the Lord showed me how deeply and widespread pride has permeated my heart; literally in every area of my life. And in that precious revelation the Holy Spirit illuminated to me that I cannot become a vessel for Him if I am dirty.

So I am seeking what David wrote of in verse 7 of today’s psalm:

    “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7)

Do you need that? Have you allowed pride to enter into your life? Go to the Lord and confess it and allow the Holy Spirit to renew your spirit.

Or maybe you’ve never done this before in your life; confessed your sins to Christ. He died on the cross for all of us. He made the way simple. It’s not easy to admit we are wrong; it takes giving up our pride to do so

Whatever your circumstance, won’t you get on your knees and confess your sins to Jesus? Do it right now! Don’t wait another second. Don’t even finish reading this.

Tomorrow we will look at step two.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2010 David Jeffers

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