“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2nd Tim. 3:12)
You tell them all they need to do is believe in their heart and confess with their mouth, you politely inform them that they are sinners in the eyes of the Lord, but that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and so, by this the Roman’s Road, if they simply confess and believe, they will become children of the Most High God, they will be saved.
Simple enough, welcome to the family of God.
Perhaps you spoke to them of the accounts leading up to and including the cross, the crucifixion and all its pain and suffering, and then the glorious resurrection of the Savior of mankind, bring that one you’re speaking to, to an emotionally charged moment, before you lead them down the Roman’s Road. If they are emotionally based individuals you can almost rest assured that they will repeat the “sinner’s prayer” that you have prepared and spoken to many. Perhaps you have even gone that step further and spoken Luke 13:3 to them, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Telling them that now they need to stop doing A and start doing B, no more this and a lot more of that.
Now, not only have you got an emotionally based individual all excited with new emotions, but you have added a works-based ideology on top of that. Tell me, this person, are they now a born-again believer?
Did you tell them of our opening verse, did you tell them that almost all their family and friends are going to desert them, that all their acquaintances are going to leave them and any semblance of friendship they had with them will be gone. Did you tell them that the world is going to hate them, that trials and tribulations, pain and suffering are going to be their constant companion, that they must hate mother and father, that they must hate even themselves. Did you tell them that there will be persecutions, and that they must be prepared not only to die to every desire they will ever have in this life that does not glorify the Lord, but that if He asks them to, they must die for Him at the hands of those that hate those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Or did you just have them repeat some words and then tell them they are now a Christian?
Would you like to guess which one of these two scenarios happens the most often?
Can you now better see not only the truth of Matthew 7:14, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” and the reason for the apostacy, the great falling away we find ourselves in?
If the Lord Jesus Christ is precious to you, if you are truly concerned with the lost and the eternal place their soul will be at, you will tell them the entire truth, you will tell them to count the cost, you will ask them “Are you sure this is what you want?”
You know which one happens the most often, it probably was that way with you, just repeat the words while in that highly charged emotional state, leave reason, deductive thought processes and logic out of the equation, just get that feeling. But with that feeling the Holy Spirit does not arrive, He does not take up residency in the heart of one whose heart has been deceived.
There is a price to pay, a very high price, the Lord Jesus Christ paid it, you must pay it.
You must reveal to them the entire truth.
