Over the years, I have developed an approach for personal witness evangelism that has worked for me. Several people have asked that I write out a script of a typical gospel presentation. This article is written to do that. I offer it for your consideration to use as you can. Doubtless no two people will use the same approach, though the gospel is the same for everyone.
Personal witness evangelism is simply a presentation of the gospel to a lost person leading to a decision on his or her part to receive God’s gift of eternal life. It has to start with a deep desire to see lost people get saved. It must be a mind set that is first and foremost in a person’s life. All other activities in a person’s life are opportunities to reach lost people with the gospel. Therefore, all activities of life must give testimony to the fact that the gospel has made an impact in your life.
Conversation: A witnessing believer must feel comfortable engaging in conversation. If you are talking to a stranger, the FORM approach usually works well in establishing dialogue:
- Family – People enjoy talking about their family.
- Occupation – People generally talk freely about what occupies their time.
- Recreation – This is an easy area to discuss with most people.
- Religion – This area is a bit harder to touch on but information here will be helpful
- Message – This is what you want to get to. This is your message from the Bible about the most important subject your friend will ever talk about i.e., that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1Cor 15:3&4).
Uncovering the Need: In getting to the message of the gospel, the witnessing believer must uncover to the lost person his need to trust the Savior. Asking a series of questions can do this. You should start by simply obtaining permission to ask the questions. I have yet to meet anyone who did not want to find out what questions I wanted to ask.
The first question uncovers your friend’s confidence in his or her eternal destiny. It is basically this: “If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain (beyond a shadow of a doubt) that you would be in heaven?” You should always ask this question whether your friend professes to be a believer or not. Never presume anything—the eternal stakes are too high to risk passing up an opportunity to present the gospel because someone thinks they are saved when they really are not.
The second question that is asked depends on how your friend answered the first question. If your friend answered the previous question in the negative or with uncertainty—i.e., he/she either did not know they would be in heaven or was uncertain, the next question would be: “If you could know for certain that you would be in heaven, would you like to know?” Most people who do not know for certain would be interested in the prospect of having the same confidence that you have. Or, at least they would be curious as to what gives you this confidence. If their answer to the second question was positive, then you would proceed as outlined in the section “The Gospel Presentation” below.
If the answer to the first question: “If you were to die tonight do you know for certain that you would be in heaven?’ was positive, the next question must uncover what your friend is trusting in to get to heaven. The next question then would be something like: “If you were to stand before the gates of heaven and the Lord were to ask you ‘(name)…why should I let you into My heaven?’ What would you tell Him?” Any answer other than a simple and clear statement that “Christ died for my sins” would show the need for your friend to have some clarification as to what the gospel really is. You will come across many counterfeit testimonies such as “I invited Jesus into my heart” or “I repented of my sins” or “I gave my heart to Jesus” or perhaps “I was baptized and Spirit filled.” The only issue that has to be dealt with is the issue of one’s sins. The only provision for sin is the cross of Calvary. Therefore, the only true testimony of salvation is one that sees the sin question settled forever by the cross. If your friend gave any other answer other than “Christ died for my sins”, you must tell him that his answer would not get him in. If your friend is not a true believer, don’t let him find that out when it is too late. Remember “…it is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment..” Here, then, is where you would present the gospel.
The Gospel Presentation: To make the Gospel clear and understandable, we need to consider some of the attributes of God. There are four in particular that have a direct bearing on salvation. They are:
- He is a loving God.
- He is a holy God.
- He is an absolutely just God.
- He is a wise God.
Let’s consider these attributes and how they relate to our relationship to God. As a loving God, He desires that every man, woman and child be able to love Him and enjoy Him forever. “God is love…” (1John4:8) “God commended his love for us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8). Truly God is “…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9). But—God is absolute in His holiness. That means that He can not and will not tolerate the slightest sin in His presence in eternity. This presents a problem for both God and man. On God’s part, His holiness prevents Him from venting His love toward man “…for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). On man’s part, we each would be excluded from eternal life. As an absolutely just God, He absolutely cannot and will not let any sin go unpunished. God “…will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:7). When all of the accounting for sin is done, every sin will be accounted for. Now this really puts each of us in a predicament. We have a loving God who desires that we have eternal life with Him but we each have disqualified ourselves. Worse yet, God’s wrath against sin has to come upon sinners. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone…” (Rev. 21:8). But wait, there is blessed hope.
There is yet another attribute of God that we must consider: i.e., He is infinite in wisdom. In His infinite wisdom, He devised a plan whereby He could be a loving God and bring sinners into His presence while not bringing sin with them. The plan involved God becoming a man in the person of Jesus Christ. As the only person in the universe who is both God and Man in one person, Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only avenue of approach whereby any man can come to God to have eternal life. But, they must come to God by faith in the work that our Lord accomplished on the cross of Calvary.
But God commendeth his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”(Rom. 5:8)
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (I Peter 3:18).
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time..” (I Tim. 2:5-6)
Now, God can be a loving God in giving eternal life as a free gift to those who will only believe. He can be a just God in doing it because He did not overlook sin; He paid the debt Himself in the person of His only begotten Son. Finally, God’s holy character is not compromised in doing so because all of the believer’s sin and guilt is transferred to Jesus Christ enabling Him to pay the debt in full while we have His righteousness credited to our spiritual bank account.
“For he [the Father in Heaven] hath made him [Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior] to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we [the ones who committed the sins] might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (II Cor. 5:21).
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Rom. 3:23-26)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2: 8-9)
Illustrating the Concept
At this point an illustration of the concept of a gift is helpful. God the Father planned eternal life. God the Son (our Lord Jesus Christ) accomplished redemption by His death on the cross. And today, the Holy Spirit today bestows eternal life as a gift on every person who will simply reach out in faith and take it. I like to use an illustration to convey this simple but important concept that a gift must be received before it is yours. I use the “Round Tuit” to do this. It is a plain round wooden chip about the size of a 50-cent piece with the word “ Tuit” written on it. It works especially well with young people. The dialogue between you (W.B. for a “Witnessing Believer”) and a friend (L.F. for “ Lost Friend”) would go something like this:W.B Let’s illustrate the concept of a gift. Have you ever seen one of these? [Show him or her the Round Tuit] These are very useful. For example, if you asked someone to do something for you and they said “I’ll do it when I get a round to it, you could give it to him and he would have to do it because he got a Round Tuit. Would you like to have one? Here, this is my gift to you. I want you to have it. Please take it.
L.F = Sure ( He takes it )
W.B = Now let me ask “Is that your Round Tuit?”
L.F = Yes, now it is.
W. B. = How do you know that?
L.F. = You just gave it to me
W.B = If you would have left it on the table and not taken it, would it be yours?
L.F = No, it wouldn’t.
W.B = That’s right. It was not yours until you reached out in faith and took it. Even though I bought it for the express purpose of giving it to someone like you and I offered it freely to you, it would not be yours until you made the decision to receive it. It is the same way with God’s gift of eternal life. Even though God the Father planned for the redemption of lost souls and Jesus Christ His only begotten Son bought redemption for every one and the Holy Spirit now offers to everyone eternal life as a gift of God’s grace, it is to not yours until you reach out in faith and take the gift of eternal life. Now you decided that you would like to have that Round Tuit. Have you decided to receive eternal life from God as a free gift? If so, I encourage you to speak to God in the quietness of your own thoughts to tell God:
1. I know that I have sinned against You.
2. I know my sins have separated me from You and that they would doom me to hell.
3. I know that Your Son Jesus Christ paid for my sins debt on Calvary
4. I know that You offered eternal life to me as a gift and I claim that gift right now.
5. Thank You for saving my soul.
Once a person makes a profession you need to check to see if this new life was not a still birth. There are several questions that you could ask to determine whether or not you just witnessed a genuine conversion.
W.B = Earlier you received a gift from me of a Round Tuit. What you have as a result is a round tuit. But if you received a gift from God and that was eternal life what would you have?
P.B = (Potential Believer – alias L.F.- Lost Friend) I would have eternal life.
W.B = How long is eternal life?
P.B = It would last forever.
W.B = Can you ever lose it?
P.B = Not if it is eternal.
W.B= Did you receive that gift of eternal life?
A.F.F = ( A Friend Forever – alias Potential Believer ) Yes, I did.
At this point, I would give your friend a copy of The Dictionary of the Gospel by Tom Bruscha.