We all know what the Bible teaches: “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) Yet, we often don’t equate chronic everyday sin as something that will eventually lead to spiritual death. The truth is sin can often be a silent killer, one that doesn’t show the damage it can do until it’s in its late stages.

Several years ago, I realized in a very personal way just what sin can do to us, especially over a long period of time. I’ve been a diabetic for 18 years. Over the last several years, I had gained a good bit of weight and guess what? My blood glucose level was running far too high. Obesity doesn’t help the diabetic, but the damage from unmanaged diabetes may not manifest itself for years. In my case, while I had not been on my diet, as evidence by the fact that I’ve ballooned in weight, I also had not experienced any of the symptoms that would suggest that my diabetes was out of control. All of the sudden, I began to notice that something different was going on with my body.

I finally became concerned enough to go to my doctor to see what I needed to do to get things back into check. Much like sin is with God, diabetics can’t lie to their doctors about whether their blood sugar is out of control because there’s a test they can run that will expose you in a heartbeat. So I decided to be honest with my doctor, and he decided to be honest with me. In short, he pointed out that while I’ve been abusing my body for years, it’s only now beginning to show up. “If you don’t get a handle on this,” he told me, “you’re going to damage your body in ways that are beyond repair.”

Sin has the same effect. In fact, the damage it can do is played out in the life of David. In the 38th Psalm, he begged God. “O Lord,” he said, “do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure! For your arrows pierce me deeply, and your hand presses me down. There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger, nor any health in my bones because of my sin.” (Psalm 38:1-3)

David finally realized that sin in his life was killing him. Just like my doctor, he finally realized that he couldn’t hide what he was doing from God. He also realized that only God could ultimately save him from the life he was living.

My diabetes was not going to get better until I allowed my doctor to become a part of my solution. But I had to make the first move. I had to go to him and be honest with what was going on with my life. Only then could he help me.

And so it is with sin. It, too, will lead to death if it goes unchecked. David realized that he could not hide the sin in his life from God. But he had to make the first move in order to allow God to become part of the solution. He decided to visit the one to whom we often refer as the “Great Physician.”

There are no degrees of sin. No one sin is worse than another. If gone unchecked, unconfessed sin can ultimately lead to spiritual death. David decided that he was no longer willing to take that chance. He finally understood that but for the mercy of God, none of us has a chance.

Our mission as Christians is to win others to Christ. But the tricky part about soul winning is that it is more of an art than a science. In other words, how we go about it can make all the difference in the world. For example, the easy thing to do is to point out to our children or friends the consequences of sinful living. How many times have we heard something like this said: “Don’t you realize that if you don’t change your ways, you’re going to end up in hell?”

No Christian will argue the point that true repentance is a must to stay out of hell. The problem is we need to let the Spirit condemn. Our mission is to point out the hope that can be found in knowing Christ.

Jesus modeled such a response for us in the story of the Samaritan woman that he once met at a well. You remember the story. It’s told in John 4. This woman appeared at a well just outside of the town in which she lived. Jesus knew who she was; how she had been living her life; he even knew she was currently living with a man to whom she was not married. He could have unloaded on her. After all, he was the Son of God. He had the opportunity to set the record straight about where she was headed if she continued to live the life she was living.

But notice in the story that there was no condemnation from the Lord – just concern. For starters, he simply approached her at the well and said, “Give me a drink.” The woman was surprised. She knew Jesus was Jewish and that Jews would have nothing to do with Samaritans. “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (John 4:7,9)

What an icebreaker! It makes me wonder how many times we might be willing to reach out to those who would also be surprised that we stopped to even speak to them. In this case, the very fact that Jesus even spoke to her gave her pause to listen to what he had to say. He had her full attention.

Rather than succumb to the opportunity to use what he believed to condemn someone for how they were living, Jesus shows us that offering hope to the lost is the better choice. “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,” he told the woman, “but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst…The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:13-14)

Imagine that! Instead of pointing out that her lifestyle would lead to eternal death, Jesus opted to talk to her about how to achieve eternal life. He offered hope, not condemnation; life rather than death.
My pastor offered a great analogy the other day that helps make my point. If you try to grab an old bone from a dog, he will likely growl and snap at you. But if you throw him a beef steak, he’ll leave that bone and go for it every time.

If you want to win more souls, rethink your message. Lost people are searching for the answers that are troubling them in life. Just like the dog with that old bone, they don’t always realize that there is a better way to live. That’s what the Prophet Isaiah meant when he said, “You are wearied in the length of your way; Yet you did not say, ‘There is no hope’.” (Isaiah 57:10)

We’ve all heard it when we have one of those insurmountable needs that life brings our way. Our Christian brothers and sisters will tell us to turn it over to the Lord. “Put it in His hands,” they will often say.

That’s great advice and I certainly don’t disagree with it. But the spiritual question is how? Turning a problem over to the Lord is an easy thing to say, but applying that spiritual principle is one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to do as a Christian. Let me give you a personal testimony that illustrates my point.

As parents and grandparents, we all want to see our children and grandchildren reach a decision to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. How many times in your church have you heard a fellow believer ask for prayer for an unsaved loved one? Indeed, it is an all-too-frequent request.

That need in my own life has taught me there are two prerequisites. The first is to set an example in front those who are unsaved that will create a yearning for the blessings that salvation brings. Too many times, our children and grandchildren are turned off to the Lord not so much because of the world outside, but because of what they see going on in the lives of their own family members. How we live, how we handle the stress that life brings our way can make all the difference in their decisions to accept Christ. Do they see you pray? Do you ever point out to them how you use Scripture to help solve your everyday problems? Do they see Christ-like qualities in you? Jesus said that we are the light of the world. “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven,” he once told believers. (Mathew 5:16) Our children and grandchildren need to see that light around the hearth as well.

We also have to realize that we can’t save our children. Real salvation can only come by and through the work of the Holy Spirit. Sure, we can and should assist God in salvation, but ultimately we must recognize that He will choose the time and place.

That’s a frustrating reality when you have a child or grandchild who doesn’t know the Lord. In my particular case, one of my own children shows no concern about or love for the things of the Lord. As a parent, I have tried to live a life in front of all my children that not only shows my deep love for Jesus, but also one that illustrates what the peace of God really means in the life of a Christian. All of my children remember me as an unsaved man and have personally witnessed the wholesale change that the Lord has brought to my life. Yet, I still have one child who sees no need to rush to judgment when it comes to a decision to follow Christ. Finally, my wife pointed out to me that this was one of those situations with a child where I could not will the outcome. “Turn it over to the Lord,” she advised.

It was some time before I agreed with her. At first, I decided to speak with my child about salvation. I have repeatedly pointed out that if conviction is present, time could not be wasted. I was told that there was plenty of time left to make that decision.

When I first started praying to God about it, I would pray for salvation, but I would always condition my request. “But please don’t make my child suffer in some unbearable way in order to find you, Lord,” I would invariably add.

I no longer condition my prayer. I just want to see my child saved. If you really want to turn it over to the Lord, then you have to let Him do it, His way, and in His time. Today, my prayer is very different: “Lord, please, just save my child.”

One of my pastors visited a friend of mine who’s been in church all his life. He calls himself a Christian, but confessed that he often felt empty and hopeless.

As they talked, it became evident to him that my friend may very well have looked like a Christian on the outside, but had never asked the Lord to come and live in his heart.
“Have you ever said the Sinner’s Prayer?” my pastor asked.

“You know, I don’t think I ever have” my friend answered.

He then took my friend for a walk along the Roman Road, a trail of verses in the book of Romans commonly used to lay out the plan of salvation. Afterwards, they said the Sinner’s Prayer together, and as the popular television chef Emeril would say, “Bam”, he was saved
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Jesus once explained to a prominent Jewish leader named Nicodemus the same thing that my pastor explained to my friend. “I tell you the truth”, he told Nicodemus one night, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3)

There are a lot of folks, just like my friend, who have been going to church for years, but have never had a born-again experience. In fact, that truth is borne out in some research I ran across. George Barna of the Barna Group, who tracks religious beliefs and behavior, reported in the early 2000’s that 85% of all Americans identify themselves as Christians. Yet, only four out of ten Americans believe that people who do not consciously accept Jesus Christ as their savior will be condemned to hell.

But that’s not what the Bible says. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) It just can’t get any plainer, can it?

Have you ever thought about the meaning of the parable Jesus once told about the wheat and tares? It seems the enemy came one night and sowed tares (weeds) in the farmer’s field where wheat was also planted. When everything came up, you couldn’t tell the difference. They look the same on the outside, but only the wheat has the kernel inside.

How about you? Do you have the real thing inside? Maybe you’ve grown up in church and can walk the walk and talk the talk as good as the next guy, but when you lay your head down on the pillow at night, do you feel empty inside? Have you ever asked Jesus to come live in your heart?

If you don’t know, let me invite you to make sure. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 6:23) In other words, it doesn’t matter how good you are because if you don’t have Jesus in your heart, you haven’t got a chance.

Pray this prayer with me: Jesus, I know I’m a sinner and realize that there’s nothing I can do in exchange for my own salvation. I feel your call on my life, know that you died on the Cross to save me from my own sin, and rose from the dead three days later so that I, too, may walk in the newness of life. Come into my heart, Lord, and work the miracle in my life that I’ve seen you work in the lives of so many others. Save me now Lord Jesus. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer and really meant it, the Word of God says that you’re saved. You can go to bed tonight with the assurance that your name is written in the Book Life. Relax. You will soon see that tomorrow really is a new day.

The Bible promises that times will get worse, all the way up to the end.

It’s a crying shame, but you don’t have to look very far to prove that point. The tragic shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma are life-and-death examples that the work of Satan cannot always be understood. The world struggles to find a solution, but the Bible says that lawlessness is a mystery and will only be brought to a stop by the Second Coming of Christ.

We are not alone with the discouragement that we feel regarding what we see going on in this country. Thirty years ago, a young Indiana songwriter was also discouraged, so discouraged about what he saw happening that it helped to throw him in a state of deep and hopeless depression.

Some of you remember those times. Racial tension was tearing our country apart; the Vietnam Conflict was at its peak; and three American heroes, who wanted to see a different America, were all shot down in their prime. Why I can still remember seeing Dion on television in 1968 singing, Abraham, Martin and John, a song that eulogized the lives of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy, and praised them for the courage they showed.

Against that backdrop, this young, promising songwriter just couldn’t bear the thought of bringing another child in this world. In fact, his wife, then pregnant with their third child, described how they both felt: “Bill and I would talk about the circumstances of this world, and about this new discouragement, and wind up saying, ‘If this world is like this now, what will it be like in fifteen or sixteen years for our baby? What will this child face?’ We were filled with fear and uncertainty.”

That uncertainty turned to endless hope one spring afternoon when Bill’s father provided him with a modern-day parable. Bill had just paved a parking lot next to his office and there in the middle of the newly paved lot stood a tiny blade of green grass. His father showed him that lonely blade of grass, suggesting that it had a direct connection with of the hope we have in Christ. His wife later said, “It was confirming a truth that had been pushing its way to the surface of our souls: Life wins! Life wins!

Well the rest is history. That young Indiana songwriter was none other than Bill Gaither. And it was after his father convinced him that hope is never lost for the Christian that he penned “Because He Lives“, a reminder to us all that hope is never lost for Christians.

Life is difficult and these are dark times in which we live. But we have a gift called salvation that provides light that will show us the way in spite of what may be going on in our world. In fact, Jesus himself said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

That light still shines my friends. And Bill Gaither’s chorus to “Because He Lives” is as true today as it ever was:

Because He lives,
I can face tomorrow

Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Hold on to the promises of God and remember what the Apostle John told us: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17)