Message for Good Friday

Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” If you were to die today and God judged you, would you go to heaven or hell?

What is it that makes you a Christian and assures you of your salvation? Are you relying on your profession of faith? Did you pray a prayer to accept Jesus into your heart and then you were saved? Did you pray this prayer but continue to live the same way you did before you prayed this prayer? Was it your baptism?

Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” These are people who called their selves Christians. They were people who prophesied in Jesus’ name, cast out demons in His name, and did many mighty works in His name- yet they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Not everyone who calls their self a Christian is saved!

Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Does praying a prayer to accept Jesus into your heart and then continuing to live the way you did before sound narrow to you? Does that sound like a hard way? You may look to people who are “consumed” by Jesus and call them fanatics for Jesus. Jesus said those who enter are few. Let me ask you- who are there fewer of? People who made a profession of faith, “accepted Jesus into their hearts” and continue to live the same way they did before- or the fanatics? Remember- Jesus said few will enter- not a majority. Majority does not equate with validity here!

Jesus commands us to surrender our lives to Him. Luke 17:33 says: “Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.” If you seek to hold on to your life and control it, you will lose it, but if you surrender your life to Jesus, you will gain eternal life. Once you give your life to Jesus, you won’t have any more decisions to make- they are all up to God.

From Luke 9:59-62: To another He (Jesus) said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

When you surrender your life to Jesus, you have to completely abandon your old ways and not look back. Jesus tells us that if we look back, we are not fit for the kingdom of God. In 2008, I thought I had surrendered my life to Jesus, but I realized I was far from it. I believed Jesus was my savior and I repented of some of my sins- the ones I was comfortable with. There were sins I thought I couldn’t overcome- and as long as I thought that- I never did.

When you surrender your life to Jesus, you need to repent of all your known sins- not just the ones you are comfortable with. It will be different for each of us- perhaps for you it is lust, dirty language, dirty TV shows and movies, gossiping, lying, coveting, and the list goes on.

So, what must one do to inherit eternal life? In John 3:3, Jesus tells us that we must be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven. What does it mean to be born again? It is to completely surrender your life to Jesus, repent of your sins, and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus makes it clear in Luke 13:3 that unless you repent, you will perish. When you are born again, God will give you a new heart that will no longer desire your old ways and will desire to worship and praise Him. Your heart wants to serve Jesus. Not only do you read the Word of God, but you delight in it.

Jesus says in Matthew 7: 24-27, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” The foundation of rock here is repentance and surrendering one’s heart to Jesus. A profession of faith lacking repentance and surrendering one’s heart to Jesus is the sand. How many Christians, when they come under personal attack for their faith, back down and succumb back to the world? Instead of proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior and losing their friends, they put Jesus in a corner so they can keep their friendships.

The problem is all the church goers who proclaim to be Christians who do this. Another Christian looks at them and thinks this is the norm. It is ok to act this way because everyone else in church does- and since they profess to be Christians and are “saved,” I am perfectly fine to act the same way. I again ask you, who are there fewer of- people who act like this, or people who proclaim Jesus “in season and out of season” and have lost their friends and family? Jesus said in Mark 13:13, “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Look around you- are those people hated for proclaiming Jesus, or are they still friends with everyone in the world?

Jesus even said himself that division in your family would happen. Jesus says in Matthew 10:34-38, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” I have a relative in my family who would rather have family harmony than for me to talk about Jesus- even among people who all call their selves Christians!

One is either a Christian or they are not. Either they fully follow Jesus or they don’t. There is no grey area. We love the grey area- because that way we can be both part of the world and be a Christian. 1 John 2:15-17 makes it clear for us, though: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Jesus hates lukewarm Christians. Revelation 3:16 says, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Do you want to be spit out on the Day of Judgment?

Let me ask you this- would you consider yourself to be a “good person?” Most people will say yes without hesitation, even to say they are a “very good person.” Are you familiar with the Ten Commandments? Would you say you’ve kept them? Let’s see how you stack up using God’s rules:

Have you ever told a lie, even a small, white lie? That makes you a liar.
Have you ever stolen something, no matter what value? Ever taken anything from work, downloaded an MP3, copied a CD? That makes you a thief.
Have you ever had hate or anger in your heart? Jesus says in Matthew 5:22 God views this the same as murder.
Have you ever lusted (sexual desire) after another? Jesus says in Matthew 5:28 God views this as committing adultery in your heart.

Based on those standards above, you are a lying thief, and a murderer and adulterer at heart, and you have to face God on judgment day. If God judges you based on those standards, would you be guilty or innocent? Everyone would be guilty. If you say innocent because you do more good than bad, consider James 2:10 which says if you have broken one commandment, you have broken them all. It’s like hanging on to a chain with 10 links and one breaks. It only took one break for you to fall.

Still not convicted? Have you ever taken the Lord’s name in vain. God gave you life and you used His name as a cuss word- He calls that blasphemy. Have you always remember to keep the sabbath? Have you always honored your mother and father? Have you ever coveted (desired something that isn’t yours)? Have you always honored God with all your mind, soul, heart and strength?

If God judges you based on His standard you would be guilty. So would I.

So, would you go to Heaven or Hell? You should say Hell. I am just as guilty as everyone else and would have been destined for Hell. If you say Heaven because you think God won’t judge you because He is a god of love, you are breaking the second commandment- you shall not make a graven image- a god to suit yourself. A god not of wood or metal made with your hands, but in your mind. An example would be a god that is contrary to what the Bible teaches or worshiping money. You may say you do more good then bad. Consider how many people someone needs to kill to be convicted of murder. Just one.

You may say, “I go to confession.” We are called to confess our sins (1 John 1:9), but confession alone won’t save you. The Bible says in Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Consider this: a husband cheats on his wife and confesses to her he has committed adultery. The husband says he is sorry, but the next weekend he goes out and cheats again with a different woman. He again confesses to his wife what he has done. Unless the husband stops cheating and turns away from his cheating ways (repents), his confession is worthless and his wife will leave him. In the same sense, we have to do more than just confess our sins- we need to repent and stop our sinful habits.

There is a way for you to go to Heaven, though. God did something wonderful for you. In place of your being sent to Hell as punishment for your sins and suffering eternal judgment, He sent His one and only Son to die in our place for our sins. 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ died an excruciating death on the cross for your sins. Then He rose on the third day forever defeating death. If you repent of your sins (stop living in your sinful way and turn away from them) and place your trust in Jesus Christ as your savior, you, too, can have eternal salvation (Matthew 4:17, Luke 5:32, Mark 1:15, Luke 13:3; Luke 24:47).

Imagine you are in a court of law and you are facing sentencing for a crime you committed. The judge tells you that your sentence is either a one million dollar fine or life imprisonment. You tell the judge you do not have one million dollars. He is about to pass judgment on you and send you to jail for life when someone comes in the court and places one million dollars in front of him to pay your fine. The judge looks at you and says, “Your fine has been paid, you are free to go.” You may say you will never be in that situation. In this lifetime, you may be correct. What happens when you die, though?

Ten out of ten of us die- we are all part of the oldest statistic. When your judgment comes, where will you go? Don’t delay, place your trust in Jesus Christ today and repent of your sins! Confess to God your sins and ask for His divine forgiveness. Then, repent of your sins and place your trust in Jesus Christ, His one and only Son, as your savior. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” -1 John 1:9.

The crime you have committed is sin and your judgment is life in Hell. Someone paid your fine, though. His name is Jesus Christ and His suffering on the cross was the sentence for your sins. If you repent of your sins and place your trust in Jesus Christ, the fine and judgment for your sins will be met and you, too, can have eternal life. How would you feel towards someone who paid that fine for you?

Forgiveness is available, but it is not automatic. You have to ask for it. Surrender your heart and your life to Jesus. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Nicodemus asked Jesus in John 3 what one must do to be saved. Jesus replies in John 3:3: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus continues in John 3:5-6: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

What dwells among you and controls your life, thoughts, and actions? Desires of the flesh or the Holy Spirit?

Imagine you are on a plane 25,000 feet in the air that is about to crash. There is a parachute under your seat which can save you. Simple declaring “I believe the parachute will save me” will not save you. You have to put on the parachute and jump from the crashing plane to be saved. In the same sense, you have to leave your old self and “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14) like a parachute and jump from your sinful lifestyle that will leave you dead if you don’t abandon it (”to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” -Ephesians 4:22-24; “You were dead in the trespasses and sins” -Ephesians 2:1).

It is my prayer, if you are reading this and you are not saved, that you ask God into your life this moment. I pray that you place your trust in Jesus Christ as your savior and repent of your sins. Make sure you read your Bible daily and feed on the Word of God. Obey what you read. Start with the Gospel of John and see if what I have said is true. God will not let you down.

One final thought: please don’t confuse confession and repentance. Jesus told us we must repent to be saved (Luke 13:3). Confession merely means acknowledging guilt. Criminals only confess when they’ve been caught, and even then most of them won’t. We are all criminals against God. You may be offended by that statement. If you are, please reread this article and see how you have broken all of God’s commandments (moral laws). Repentance requires a turning from your sin and abandoning your old ways. To be saved, we must turn from our sin and dedicate ourselves to Jesus Christ. God will give you a new heart with new desires.

You can not earn your salvation. Nothing you do will ever save you- regardless of what a church or a certain religion may teach you. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). 1 John 5:13 tell us that we can have assurance of our eternal destiny: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” What a wonderful thing!

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with His angels in the glory of His Father, and then He will repay each person according to what he has done” (Matthew 16:26-27). Who will be the payment for your sins? Yourself or Jesus Christ?

Again, Jesus first words preaching were, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” That's what you have to do to be saved- repent and believe that Jesus died for your sins. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Are you ready to be judged by God? Today is the day of salvation.

Dover Center and Lorain in North Olmsted - 3/24/10

Wednesday, I went to the intersection of Dover Center and Lorain in North Olmsted from around 1:00 to 3:00. While I was there, a woman approached me and asked what I was doing. I told her trying to spread the Gospel. She told me she knew Jesus but that she was battling an addiction. She asked for prayer- I briefly prayed for her before she had to go and I left her with a Gospel tract.

When it was getting close to 3:00 and I was soon to leave, a man pulled up and parked in the parking lot behind me (at this point I was standing on the corner diagonal from where I was in this shot). I was watching him as he took some things out of his car, and I realized it was a giant wrench along with a sandwich board. There is a sign guy locally that advertises for a local plumber and turns out this was his spot for the day also.

On Detroit in Lakewood - 3/21/10

Sunday, I went to the intersection of Andrews and Detroit in Lakewood. Shortly after I arrived, a shop across the street sent someone out in a costume for their business to hand out fliers (though they didn't hand out very many). I don't know if they did that in response to me standing right across the street from them or not.

A man saw my sign and asked if it was about 2012. He talked about a variety of things, including tectonic plates and polar ice caps melting- after going on for a while I managed to give him a Gospel tract and encouraged him to read it. An elderly woman also walked by and commended me on what I was doing and said that in a sense, we are all little missionaries for Jesus.

I was also photographed by ClevelandSGS, a site that documents the Cleveland community. Here is a link to the blog post about me on that site. I handed out a couple of gospel tracts and received quite a few hits from ClevlandSGS.

Rocky River Drive and Lorain Road in Kamm's Corner (Cleveland) - St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day, I joined John (an elder at my church) at the intersection of Rocky River Drive and Lorain Road in Kamm's Corner (Cleveland) for St. Patrick's Day. It was bright and sunny all day with temps in the upper 50's (possibly even 60 at some point). John and I were out from 12:15 to 5:00, aside from my bathroom break, and I have a sunburn to prove it (I didn't even think about getting sunburn in the winter, but it can and does happen!). Around 4:00, Beth, who goes to our church, and her two daughters, also showed up.

We stood diagonally across from P.J. McIntyre's Irish Pub. Also nearby were several other bars, including Panini's, West Park Station, and The Public House- all which appeared to be packed. This is a panoramic shot showing the P.J. McIntyre's on the left side of the photo and Panini's is the three story building on the right:



Here is a closer shot of P.J. McIntyre's. This is around 12:45, and the place only got busier as the day progressed:



Here's a shot my pastor took while driving by. You can see John on the left in a yellow sweatshirt and me with a backpack on, right next to the light pole.



John had a sign that said "NeedGod.com" while I had my cross. John and I were handing out Big Money tracts, and when Beth and her two daughters arrived, she had St. Patrick's Day Millions which we started to pass out. I would say about 60% of the people accepted the tracts.

We didn't have too many one on one conversations because everyone was out to party, but we had a few. After a good while, a guy came across the street and wanted to know what our signs were about. John talked to him and told me that he had been a Christian and was even involved in ministry work, but had backslid. John asked me if I thought he ever was a Christian, and I told him that I tend to think that he never slid forward- that he was a tare among the wheat.

A man came up to me and started asking me what I thought about the Torah and the Koran. Then he asked me what I thought about Islam and asked me if I hate them. At this point he started cursing about Islam. He had a shirt on that said "Infidel" and what appeared to be Arabic writing on it. I wasn't sure where it was going to go, but he ended up leaving.

One women, who appeared to be drunk, rubbed up against me on my right side and said, "Jesus loves you." Then I felt someone else on my left side and one of them asked, "Do you think Jesus would do this?" One of them replied, "I think He would." Apparently they got a picture with me and cross, but I was so startled I failed to even realize it.

One woman crossing the street at one point was interested in the cross and asked what she should do if she didn't have Internet access. I didn't end up getting a tract to her or her friend at that moment, but shortly thereafter I went back to my car to drop something off. It turned out the path I followed to return to my car was also their path. I heard the one woman calling out "Mark!" and I heard her friend say "She was looking for you." I ended up giving her and her friend both a tract. One of them said "I'm a good Catholic. I go to church every Sunday." I didn't go into it with them, just told them to read the tracts.

Getting closer to 5 o'clock, a man waiting to cross the street appeared to have a problem with what we were doing. I can't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember him asking, "If there is a God, why is He letting the Pope close down St. Pat's?" St. Pat's is a Catholic church in the area where we were that is due to close soon. Beth told him maybe he should pray about it- I wasn't going to even go into a Catholicism debate.

I am not sure how many tracts were handed out today, but I would say easily over 100, if not 200. There were quite a few people screaming "NeedGod.com" as they drove by (most likely drunk), loud enough for a lot of people to hear it.

A Conversation With a Pedestrian and Ted - 3/10/10

Yesterday, I went to the intersection of Dover Center and Center Ridge in Westlake from 3:00 to 5:00. After standing on the southeast corner for a while, I gave a gospel tract to someone passing by and she asked about the cross. She told me she just came from a function at a Catholic church. I quickly went through the law and the Gospel with her and asked her if she knew where she was going when she died, and she said she did. I didn't really press it beyond that, but she did leave with the tract.

At around 4:00, Ted walked up to me. At this point, I was on the northwest corner of the intersection. Ted told me he was Christian, and when I asked what kind, he said non-denominational, although he grew up Seventh-Day Adventist.

Ted told me he had read parts of the Bible, but not from cover to cover. I asked him if he had read the four gospels, and he said he had. I made reference Jesus saying lust was adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:27-28) and how the Bible to says to hate is to murder. Ted said I struck a chord with him with lust.

I also asked Ted, "If I had 3 minutes to live, what would you tell me?" Most Christians have a hard time with this question, or they always seem to leave something out in their answer. Ted was no exception. At this point I mentioned how both repentance and faith are both necessary and shared the parachute analogy with him.

If you are on a plane about to crash and there is a parachute that can save you, merely "believing" in that parachute won't save you. You must put on the parachute, trust the parachute, and jump from the crashing plane. In the same sense, we must put on the Lord Jesus, trust Him like a parachute, and abandon our sins (repent).

I handed out 5 tracts today.

Detroit and Lake in Rocky River - 3/09/10

It's finally warm again in Cleveland! Yesterday, I went to a new spot- the intersection of Detroit and Lake in Rocky River. I was out from 3:20 to 4:30. At one point, someone in a car was looking intently at the cross and said he would look it up- I am pretty sure he was referring to Mark 1:15 on my cross. He turned onto Lake, turned around, and when he was sitting at the light, he reached for what I think was a Bible. I look forward to hitting the streets more often now that it's warm.

Dover Center and Lorain in North Olmsted - 3/05/10

Today was my first day back on the street since January. It was in the mid to upper 30's yesterday and it is amazing how warm that feels when you go through winter in Northeast Ohio! I was out today from about 2:15 to 3:15.

Shortly after arriving, a young woman came up on the sidewalk and looked at the cross and wanted to know more about it. Her name was Alex. She asked me what Mark 1:15 was and I quoted it to her. She told me she had heard things about the Old Testament and the New Testament and she seemed to be a little confused about it. She told me she grew up Christian and was was currently "experimenting."

I asked her if she thought of herself as a good person, and she replied, "For the most part." We went through the law and she admitted that God would find her guilty, but she started to say, "but if I go and confess..."

I said, "Now wait, if you are guilty, should he send you to heaven or hell?"

She replied, "I think that's up to Him.. it depends."

I brought up an example of her breaking the law here on earth and that the law needs to be satisfied- that her confession isn't going to get her off the hook.

"So he should send you to hell."

She replied, "So, He's like the ultimate sheriff."

I asked her if she knew what Jesus did, and she replied, "He died on the cross."

At this point I started to stumble over my thoughts a bit but still managed to explain imputed righteousness to her, our need for repentance, and how we must trust in Jesus like a parachute. It's been a while since I've had any witnessing conversations (from not being on the streets plus the streets drying up from the cold even when I was out) and I realized I should listen to Hell's Best Kept Secret and True and False Conversion again to brush up on my witnessing analogies.

I gave Alex a million dollar bill and encouraged her to read the tract and check out the website listed on the tract. I was able to hand out 9 tracts yesterday, including the one I gave to Alex. I gave some tracts to some younger guys walking by on the sidewalk and one mentioned, "I have a Michael Jackson one."