Dealing with the Unsaved

 How are we called to do so?

Dealing with the unsaved. Should we? How should we? If we should, do we put the Bible in our hand, go down to the unsaved, into the middle of their sin, and slap them in the head with the Bible and yell “You going to hell!”? Should we just ignore them or their sin? Accept all for who and what they are. Seriously, How do we deal with the unsaved?

Some will hate you.

Some will attack you.

Some will never, EVER, hear you.

Some will hear you but will fear to take the next step.

Some will hear you and become children of God themselves.

You were once unsaved. Someone, most likely, came to you and told you the Truth, showed you the Way and showed you a life worth living. A better way. His name is Jesus. They pointed out to you how you are on the wrong road and you can be saved through Jesus’s sacrifice for you on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. You accepted this truth and you said this prayer or one like it.

"Oh heavenly Father, Lord God. I am a sinner. I know this. I know there is nothing I can do to change that. But I know you can. I accept Jesus's sacrifice for me. I believed He rose from the dead. I repent my sins. Please send the Spirit of Adoption into my life. Help me to get to know the real you. Save me. Please. In the name of Jesus, Amen!"

You are now a child of God. I hope you found the church that God wants you to be a part of and either have been or plan to be baptized, for you are now a new creature. You;

"have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."Colossians 3:10

You were, like them, unsaved, and on your way to hell. You, like them, deserved to go there. You like them, did not have the Spirit of Adoption, named the Holy Spirit, in your life. It took two things for this to happen in your life. God calls you out, and a Child of God shows you the way. Now you are the Child of God.

The unsaved are unsaved for various reasons. The three primary reasons are these.

1- They are unsaved because they know no better.

2- They are unsaved by choice.

3- They are unsaved out of fear or doubt.

Since you are now a child of God, is it really your job to go out and save the world? After all, Jesus did give us the “Great Commission.”

"Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20

OK, so I should quit my job empty my bank account, and go be a missionary in some far-off land? Well? If that is what God has truly led you to do, then may I suggest you do it. But no, this is not for everyone. God may want to use you right here. On your job? In your hometown? In the marketplace? The unsaved are everywhere. If it were not for that child of God who talked to you, you would not be saved. Why would you NOT want to do the same for someone else? Especially if you love that person.

Think about it. Is it love and genuine compassion to watch someone you care about walking to their death and destruction without attempting to at least warn them about it? We are told by the world we should live and let live. Leave people alone and let them live their lives however they choose. Is this love? Is this hate? Think about it. You have the keys to heaven and hell. You have the answer that they need to save themselves from an eternity of pain and suffering, and you withhold that from them? Is that love? Or is that hate?

You see, the short answer to, “How to deal with the unsaved?” is simply, love. We are to love them. This does not mean accepting them as they are, justifying them and their sin, and surely does not mean celebrating or taking pride in them and their sin. No, it means to love them. It does not mean we should leave them alone and let them perish. No, it means to love them. We are tellers of the Truth. Showers of the Way, and we are to present to them a life, worth living. The only way to live. Is the life, of Jesus.

The question is, how? How do we deal with the unsaved? On a daily basis by the way, not just one day a week. Not just those you love and want to see get saved, but also those who hate you, and you may not be all that fond of yourself. This is what we will be talking about for the next few times we get together.

I want to first start out today, by talking about your responsibility. Yes. You are obligated to share the Gospel. Yes. You ARE responsible for yourself, and the decisions you make. Yes. There are absolute consequences for actions. However? Acceptance of this truth and reality is everyone's own responsibility to accept it or not. We are not responsible for their choices or actions. Look how God talks to Ezekiel here

“And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.”

Stop there for a second. Think about that. If someone you claim to love, dies and goes to hell because you did not share with them what God did for you, and what God could do for them, can you take some of the responsibility yourself? Sounds a little like that.

“But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” Ezekiel 3:16-21

We are obligated to be sowers of the Seed. Tellers of the Truth. Sharers of the Gospel. However? We are not responsible for their acceptance. You tell them the Truth. John 3:16-18

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.“

You share with them all of the Gospel and they say, "I do not believe in God." Or "I do not believe that you have to accept Jesus to get to Heaven." Or "religion is for idiots." Something to this effect. Have you failed? Have you not communicated properly? Are you responsible for the fact that they will now die, not accepting Christ, and forever be cast out? You think about this. Someone you care about, someone you love, and you have the key to give them, so that they may enter into Heaven, and yet, they are on their way to Hell. Have you failed to save them?

The simple answer is NO. You have fulfilled your obligation. You are now free and clear. You have told them the Truth. You are not responsible for their decision to accept or not. It is your responsibility to tell people the Truth. It is your responsibility to live as God commanded us to live. John wrote this warning to us not to think of ourselves as higher or more holy than anyone else. It is our responsibility to keep ourselves in check and to spread the Truth.

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:5-10

The truth is simple. Believe and accept Jesus, and live. Or do not, and die. This is the message. The Truth. This is what we are obligated to tell people.

"he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Not that God is going to condemn you. You are condemned already. Not that God is looking to punish you. But instead, God is looking to save you.

However, Jesus never told us to go out, get in people's faces, and thump them on the head with the Bible. He never told us we should go out and try to force people to believe. He told us this.

"And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town." Matthew 10: 14-15

Why? Because before someone hears the Truth, they know no better. They have an excuse for living the way they do. After they hear the Truth, they are without excuse. "I didn't know" is far different from "I didn't believe." If I was going through a strange town, and I get pulled over and told that the speed limit in that town is 35. If there are no signs, and no way of me knowing, "I didn't know." may find me some compassion and grace. However, the first thing I see when I enter is the sign saying 35. Someone who lives there tells me it's 35. I get pulled over, and I say "I didn't believe it, nor do I accept it." Guess what? I'm guilty beyond any excuse.

I understand your compassion and your desire to free those you love from the laws of sin and death. God has blessed me, with now, three beautiful children. Joshua who just graduated from high school, accepted Jesus into his heart at age 7. Without conversation or prompting, he stood up and walked up to the altar, and asked to be, and was, baptized. Elijah is 12, and Maya is now 9, at this time. When the time comes, it will be their choice.

Let's say that one or both of my youngest, chose to live a life of sin. Do I love them? Yes. Of course. Would I do whatever it takes to save them from the laws of sin and death? Of course. Let's say one or both are living in a way that causes me to have to lay down my life for them. I do so. I have paid the ultimate price. If they choose to go back to the same life, I can no longer help them.

Jesus loved us so that He came and died for us. He can do no more. He paid the ultimate price. If we choose not to accept that, there is no longer anything He can do for us. He already paid the ultimate price. Death. He cannot, nor will He, come and do it again. It is final. It is settled. It is now up to us to accept it or not. It is up to all of us, individually, to do so or not.

Our responsibility is to be sowers of the Seed. Tellers of Truth. Share freely what we received freely. The Way. The Truth. The Life. That is our responsibility. That is our obligation. Acceptance of this truth and reality. It is everyone's own responsibility to accept it or not. We are not responsible for their choices or actions.

This does not mean we should not try. I hope that during this series of messages, we can come to a better understanding as to why some seem unable to even hear what you say, or why some “choose” to remain unsaved. Why do they hate you? How do you respond? Why do they attack you? How do we respond? Why is it, that some very “good” people, intelligent people, choose to never take the step to lead them to salvation? Join us won’t you, as we try to tackle these things, coming right up here at TAG.

Email if you wish to contact me, it's truthbygod1@gmail.com

May the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and the peace of our Lord Jesus, be with you all. May God bless and be with you, always.

Until next time, be blessed, be a blessing, and Jesus is Lord!