Words of Life

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-10 ESV). I remember exiting the airport in New York City on my way back from two weeks in the Ukraine where I had been training pastors. A man was standing on the sidewalk with a sign that said, "The wages of sin are death." He was correct. The wages of sin are death. That’s what the Scripture declares. However, that only part of the story. Those are the words of death, not the words of life. He was misrepresenting the gospel of God. So I walked up to him and said, "Excuse me. Can I ask you a question?" "WHAT?" I didn’t know that I would be yelled at for asking a question. Maybe that’s just the way of New York street preachers. I continued to press a bit. I said, "You know, on your sign it says 'the wages of sin are death.' That's true. That's what the Bible says. But do you know what the rest of that verse says?" "WHAT?" Again with the yelling… I was a taken aback somewhat. I think I was being as calm and soft spoken as is possible for me. Maybe I wasn’t. I plowed on. The rest of the verse says, 'But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Why don't you put that on the back of your sign so you can say, 'The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord'?" I was really surprised by his retort. He told me I was going to hell. Well, I didn’t know that; in fact, I am quite sure that is not the case. I’m going to heaven. Since Jesus is my Savior, I have the absolute promise of God that I will go to heaven. It was wrong for him to present God in that inaccurate way. The whole gospel is that we were sinners separated from God, with no hope of ever being right with Him. But God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die in our place and atone for our sins and absorb the wrath of God. And He rose again from the dead. When we put our faith in Him, we pass from death to life and know that when we die, we will go to heaven. But if we don't believe in Jesus, we will face and will spend eternity separated from Him in hell. People need the whole gospel. They need words of life just as much as the words of death. Preach the whole gospel. Then people will be drawn by the Holy Spirit to life!