“Restore those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11).
I am always intrigued by the way God is seeking the lost and providing means for them to be rescued from certain death — eternal death, I should say — and to bring them to life — eternal life, I should say. The process of taking the Gospel to the lost is simple, and yet very complicated… Let me explain: it is simple because the message of salvation is totally poured down to the hearts of men, women and children by the power of the Holy Spirit. In this case, it is completely out of our control. We are just instruments in God’s hands, ambassadors of Christ, commissioned to share the Good News. But the work is entirely done by the Holy Spirit.
However, it is very complicated because we make it really difficult. We are masters of complicating things; and I confess, I am probably the chief of all in this. I love making things difficult and I really do not understand why. In the end of the day, we make so many excuses and bring so many plans and strategies that evangelism becomes one of the most difficult things to do. But I think we end up realizing that the best we can do is to simplify the way we share the Gospel with others.
Sometimes it is very painful to share the Gospel with someone. I remember years ago when I met a young man who was a strong agnostic. I started a conversation with him when still in a public bus and then we stepped out of it close to my home, we found out we were neighbors, about two blocks apart. It was already past 11:00 PM and the night was cold because of the mild winter we were experiencing at the time. We ended up exchanging “philosophical jabs” until around 2:00 AM with no positive results. We left for our homes frustrated and I felt the weight of “losing the battle” with the young man. I still hope that he would have come to the saving knowledge of salvation and that he would have believed in Jesus Christ.
On other occasions, we see that God has been working in someone’s life and preparing that person to receive the impact of salvation through someone’s witness to Christ. When Luke was reporting Barnabas’ and Paul’s first missionary journey, he wrote the following, inspired by the Holy Spirit, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48, emphasis added). Yes, all those appointed to receive eternal life will believe when they hear the Gospel! I also remember when I did an internship in the Amazon Basin, in the state of Pará, in my home country of Brazil. My dear friend and evangelist Gervásio and I left for our first day of work that week, visiting the several cottage farms along the Trans-Amazon Highway. We did not have a car so we had to hitchhike on a regular basis. Before we stepped out of the house that first day, we prayed and also came to an agreement that we would not preach to anyone; instead, we were going to “harvest” what others might have sowed before. That is, we would just ask people if they wanted to receive or accept the Lord Jesus in their hearts.
So we got the first ride of our week long journey. It was in a midsize truck and the driver allowed us to ride with him in the cabin, which was rather unusual in that part of the country due to the high level of carjacking and other harmful things. We were glad because it was a very wet day, so it was comfortable inside the cabin. I elbowed Gervásio suggesting that he should ask the driver if he wanted to receive Jesus. But he told me to do it. So I did. The driver, whose name was David, did not say anything, but continued to drive silently, however showing that the question made him somewhat emotional. After a mile or so he found a place to stop the truck. The highway was not paved and rather difficult to find a place to park. After he stopped the truck, he burst in tears and with a loud voice told us that, “for about two weeks I am hoping that someone would ask me this question!” At that moment, the two of us were also in tears, but this time “shouting” of joy. We stepped down from the truck and knelt by the side of the right front tire and David accepted Jesus into his heart. During that day, every single person we asked the question believed in Jesus, about thirteen to fifteen people. Yes, God works ahead of us in preparing people’s hearts to believe in Jesus for their eternal salvation.
The text in Proverbs will help us in the understanding of the great urgency we have to “rescue those being led away to death.” There are so many people who are in great need of salvation; that is why Jesus came to this earth, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). We have the responsibility of sharing the Gospel with those who are perishing, so they may believe and be saved. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, emphasis added). In that case, let us obey and see how the simplicity of the Gospel may be translated to our neighbors through our uncomplicated lives.