The Law's Necessity (Evangelism Episodes, Part 4)

John Bunyan wrote, “Unless we see our shortcomings in the light of the Law and holiness of God, we do not see them as sin at all.”

His words echo those of the inspired Scriptures, which read, “The law is our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24).

While traveling in San Francisco, my husband and I frequently use the Bay Area Transportation (BART).  One night, we ascended the stairs of the BART platform to return to the city.  Donning our jackets, for the wind was whipping past us and chilling us slightly, we prayed for opportunities to talk to people about the Lord.  In the meantime, we handed tracts to those who were waiting.  Soon, I had met Jessica, a third-shifter at San Francisco Airport.  Jessica told me she loved God and tried to raise her girls to love and obey Him. 

“So if you died tonight, are you 100% sure you’d go to Heaven?”

“I’ve been baptized,” Jessica told me. 

So I turned to Ephesians 2:8-9, among several other passages, and iterated the sufficiency of Christ. Then I asked the question another way: “Let's say you died tonight and stood before God.  He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ What would you say?” 

“Well, I been good.  I done my best to follow Your laws,” she said. 

We’d gone off topic some as she elongated answers and spoke in a friendly, upbeat, and positive way.  But I was mystified.  She still didn’t get it.  Over and over I had shown her from the Bible how Christ was the only way.  Why hadn’t she seen it? 

We parted ways—Jessica to her work and I to another train.

When I told my husband later about the encounter, he said, “She wasn’t convicted.”

That witnessing experience should have caused me to never again fail to assist people in seeing their guilt before the law.  For a time, that encounter served as an anchor in rooting me to the truth of using God’s method to lead people to Christ—the Ten Commandments.  As we waited to get onto the next train, I approached a young woman.  Leaning against the wall, she took out one ear bud as I offered her a tract.  Taking the pamphlet, she told me, “Yeah, I’m a Christian.   My sister’s over in the Philippines right now doing mission work.” 

A few moments later I asked her, “If you were to die tonight and stand before God and He said, ‘Why should I let you into Heaven?’ what would you say?” She said, “I’ve been pretty good.” 

We didn’t have long before our next train arrived, but I explained briefly the problem of sin, and she seemed convicted. 

A few years passed.  In that time, the memory of the Law’s necessity in being linked with conviction of sin slowly dissipated from my mind.  I sought to give people Gospel witness regularly but did not see much in the way of conviction of sin and turning to Christ to be freed from sin’s penalty.

Then I attended a Gospel conference.  There, I met a woman from the island of Tuvalu who told me the amazing story of how God had graciously saved her—He had sought for her and found her, leading her to America to a church where a woman sat down with her weekly and offered her counsel from God’s Word.  The Word had shown this woman her true heart condition; and, embracing Christ, she had become His follower.  I was reminded of my own need to open my mouth frequently, not merely to rely upon the message in Gospel tracts to deliver God's message of salvation.

Later, in being challenged to pray for the lost, I was specifically reminded of a faded prayer sheet no longer in my possession and decided to create a new one with names spread over it, reminding me of those among my acquaintances and family members who do not know the Lord.  As I began praying daily for the unsaved (and adding more names frequently), it was as if God gave me a new set of glasses: I started seeing the lost around me that had, unfortunately, been somewhat invisible before.

Then, not too long ago, as I bargain shopped at a local thrift store, I got the opportunity to use the law to witness to the clerk.  Since I was the only shopper that afternoon, I knew this opportunity couldn't be missed, and I needed to open my mouth boldly to give the Gospel (starting with the law) to the woman working.  Praying fervently for boldness, I went to pay for my items and struck up a conversation with Kanya. Then I handed her a tract and asked her if she’d ever gotten one.   

She said, “Not this one.”  
  
I told her it was a Bible tract and had an important message inside.  Then I asked, “Would you consider yourself to be a pretty good person?” 

Without hesitation, she replied, “Yes.”

“What if God judged you on the basis of the Ten Commandments?”

Immediately she changed her mind.  “Then I wouldn’t be so good.”

We went through a few of them together.

After doing so, I asked, “Would you be innocent or guilty on Judgment Day?” 

“Guilty,” was her immediate reply

“Heaven or Hell?”

Kanya nodded, not saying a word, her face showing that she knew the Bible answer to the question. 

“Do you know what God did so that we wouldn’t have to go to Hell?”

Kanya shook her head.

I told her how He had sent Jesus, the Perfect God-Man, to die for her sins.  Then I said, “Jesus uttered three words on the cross—his last words.  Do you know what they were?”

She didn’t.

“'It is finished.'  What that meant was that the debt had been paid; God’s wrath had been satisfied.  Jesus Alone could fulfill God’s law.  In fact, being God, only He never broke it."

“Do you know what you have to do so that you don’t suffer God’s perfect justice for your sin?”

Kanya shook her head again.

I told her she needed to do what Jesus preached in Mark 1:15-- repent of her sin and believe the Gospel.  Borrowing an illustration from an evangelist who uses the law frequently in his ministry, I explained it like this:  “That means, as you feel sorry to have broken God's law, you need to turn away from your sins and put all your trust in Jesus, like you would trust a parachute.  If you were thousands of feet up in the air in a plane that was going down, you would need a parachute.  You’d have to trust that—nothing else—to land you safely on firm ground again.  That’s what it’s like to trust Jesus—to trust Him fully, for Jesus paid our fine that we deserve since God is a righteous Judge.  Only His righteousness will deliver us from the penalty of death that we deserve.

Kanya thanked me for talking with her.

I left Kanya with another tract entitled “Prepare for Judgment” and referred her to the website on the back.

Kanya was humble and sweet. 

“Will you think about what we talked about?”

She said she would.

The next week I returned, and Kanya told me she had shared the message of the Gospel with her boyfriend and that he, too, had read the tract.  She agreed they both needed to take care of their souls before God, and I urged her to do so.  When I handed her an invitation to an upcoming event at church, Kanya told me she wanted to come. 

Please pray for Kanya.  She was humbled by the truth of God’s Word and understood God's just punishment for her sins.  It does not seem she is far from the kingdom of God.

May I urge you, dear friend, to use the Law in your witness to the lost?  This is God’s tool designed to drive sinners to the Savior and to see their guilt before the righteous God of Heaven.

Let us examine the Law of God and hold it up as His standard before we present the life-changing message of salvation.  In so many instances, the Gospel, which is the power of God, may be rendered of none effect if sinners do not realize their guilt and desperate need for Christ’s righteousness before a Good and Holy Judge.  Let us remind the world that every one of us will stand before the Judge of the universe someday, a perfect Judge who must punish based on His perfect and holy law.

Then let us give the Gospel, after the plowing work of the law in hearts has been done, as individuals see their need for a Deliverer from the sin whose fine they justly owe, whose punishment they rightly deserve.

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