The Two Questions

Years ago, I was the member of a megachurch that used the evangelism outreach methodology called Evangelism Explosion, and if any of you are familiar with this system, you know the two questions they ask their prospects for heaven. The first question is, if you die tonight, heaven forbid, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven? And the second question was, if you went to heaven, what would you say to God as to why he should let you into his heaven? And the whole premise of this man-centered system was, if you knew the answers to these two questions, then you were saved. You may find this hard to believe, friends, but I used to use this system and I became so involved with it at church that I went into special training to be a senior trainer in EE to teach others this system, because that's all it is, a system.

You don't get to heaven by a system, or by following a plan of salvation, or by having the correct answers to two questions. I remember we'd all meet at the church on Tuesday evenings, and we'd break off into teams, and and then three of us would go out into the neighborhoods and canvas the city. It was such a big church.

We had about a thousand people meet each week to go out and present this plan of salvation to strangers. And then we'd meet back at the church for statistic time, where the leader would write on the chalkboard the team names, and under each team name he'd write the number of converts each team had that night. One team would say, well, they had three converts, and he'd write that down.

Another team would say they had eight, and he'd write eight down on the chalkboard for that team. Another team said they got 20 that got saved, and everybody in the room would holler and clap and say amen. And the team that ended up with the most converts would get the most applause.

Boy, we sure had fun. The trouble was, none of those converts could be found the next time you went to do follow-up work. You'd approach their house and see the lights on, and as you got closer to their front door you'd hear the TV.

But when you rang the doorbell, no one would come to the door, because they were hiding behind the couch, hiding from those pushy Baptists. It sounded like a good program to me at the time, but I was still a lost person back then, and I just knew the answer to those two questions and thought I was saved. But I didn't know God.

Well, I have two questions for you this evening, friends, and they should be the only two questions you need to ask. I want you to ask God these two questions, because they are the only two questions that really matter. Here they are.

Lord, am I living for you? And are you living through me? That's it, friends. And if you're truly saved, then you can say with the Apostle Paul from II Corinthians 5.15, And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and arose again. Lord, am I living for you, or am I living for me? That's a pretty simple question, friend, but the response says a lot.

The second question to God is, Are you living through me? And that answers the question of our salvation, Christ in you, the hope of glory, the life of God in the soul of man, the new birth. Listen, friends, these two questions are of utmost importance as to your spiritual condition, because if you're truly saved, you will live a life of holiness unto God and live to bring the Lord Jesus pleasure on his throne. If you're unconverted, you will live for yourself to bring you pleasure on your throne.

It's as simple as that. And if God is not living through you, friend, by his spirit, there is a reason, then you are yet dead in your sins. We need to get away from the foolishness we call evangelism today and confront sinners with the demands of a holy God and point them to a bloody cross on which a crucified Christ hung and died.

We must warn folks of a future judgment that awaits all mankind, where every man will be held up against the strict and severe law of God. And if you stand there in your own merits on that day, you will fail the test because I know I am a sinner and I need a substitute for sin in the person of Jesus Christ. And so do you, friend.

So do you. We must inform lost sinners of a God that must punish sin and that there is a literal and real hell for lost sinners and that hell is a place of punishment and torment for sinners not under the blood of Christ. And we must warn men of their duty of repentance for up for except you repent, you shall likewise perish.

And we must witness to folks with tears in her eyes that they must be born again or they'll be cast into a lake of fire that will burn forever and ever that if they want to be saved, they must get to Christ and own him as their savior. For Christ is worth selling all for to gain the pearl of great price. I know that's the gospel in a nutshell, friends.

And I'm telling you, we need to get back to the old past and start preaching it. So summing up, the only two questions you need to ask God are these. Lord, am I living for you? Are you living through me? Let's pray.