Notes From the Pastor's Desk
July 27, 2025
The Importance of Getting People to Christ
Read Luke 19:1-10. Verse 10 says, “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The account from which we have read is about Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector. He was despised of men but the Lord Jesus cared about Zacchaeus when others didn't. The Lord saved and accepted a man that others rejected. It stresses how essential it is to bring people to salvation. What moves us to seek to bring others to Jesus?
I. The Condition of the Sinner
Read Eph. 2:1. The Bible tells us the sinner is “dead in trespasses and sins.” When one is dead he is unresponsive to what is around him. Dead people cannot do anything. Since the sinner is dead, he must be quickened or made alive through the regenerative work of God the Holy Ghost. Men are “dead in sins” so we must do all we can to get them to Christ.
II. The Consequence of Sin
Look at Rom. 6:23. It says, “The wages of sin is death.” The “death” there is not so much physical death, as it is a reference to eternal death. Men physically die because of the sin in the Garden of Eden; men are spiritually dead due to their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ; and people who reject Christ as Savior will face the second death, or be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8).
III. The Cost of Salvation
See Eph. 2:8-9. Salvation is free on man's part but it cost the Lord Jesus His own life's blood to free man from the power and penalty of man's sin. Eternal life is a free gift provided in grace and mercy by God, who delights in bestowing grace and mercy. If you had to work for salvation it would not be free. Let's tell the sinner, “Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.”
IV. The Command of the Scriptures
Consider Matt. 28:18-20. There we are told what to do: Go. We are informed as to when to go: Today. Where should we go? Into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature, preaching, teaching and baptizing.
V. The Comfort of the Saved
When one is born again new comfort comes into one's life through forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7) and through fellowship among the saints (1 Jn. 1:3). Look at what we help get a person into when we seek to bring him to the Lord!
VI. The Coming of the Savior
Read 1 Thess. 4:13-17. When folks get saved they are made ready for the coming of the Lord. The lost do not want Jesus to come back but the saved do.