The Gospel for The Religious

In talking with a person that claims to be religious it is easy to see when they are depending on their religiousness for their justification in making themselves right before God.  It doesn't matter if they are claiming to be Christian or another religion.  Works based faith always fails because man fails. 

Typically the religious lean on these couple beliefs:

1. They can try hard to do 'good'
2. They can do 'good'
3. They can try and do enough 'good'
4. If their good outweighs the bad, it is enough

But they also recognize a couple important problems:

1. They get tempted
2. They do bad things sometimes
3. They don't do enough some times
4. It is hard to always try and be good
5. They need 'help' to do good (ie a belief system)

As you enter in a spiritual conversation with them, ask them questions about what exactly they believe.  Ask "how do they know what is good and what is not?", "Why is never doing wrong so hard?", "If we are good, why is doing good all the time take so much effort?", "Why is only doing good all the time impossible?".  Questions like that dig deeper into the heart. 

Then transition with "Wouldn't you want to be free from having to try so hard to please God but knowing you will continue to fail?" and then go right into The Gospel.  The points of the Gospel message you would stress is the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God.

The Gospel Presentation:

Compare yourself to God:

I am a sinner.  I can not do good compared to God.  God is Holy and my sins offend him.  He is kind enough to show me how sinful I am by putting His Law in my heart and in my mind through the Bible.  I constantly break his moral law. 

Explain How God Showed You Your True Self:

He convicted me of my sins and yet I can't stop sinning.  But He did this so that I would see that I need to be saved from myself.  I need Him to take away what offends him because I can't.  I can't do any good without it being corrupted by my sinfulness. Because its not a problem of my actions but a problem of my heart.  My sinful actions are because of my sinful heart.  My heart offends him.  Convicted of a sinful nature that I can't escape I ask Him, Almighty God, creator of all that is Good, to save me.  He did. 

Explain How God Solved Your Problem: Introduce Jesus Christ

He sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to pay for my sinful nature. He paid the debt of my sinfulness to free me from what I could not free myself from; sin.  He paid the price of my sin;  I no longer offend God because Jesus took on the price of my offence.  To prove his promise and power over sin and death, He was raised from the dead exactly when he said he was going to.  He is alive and defeated sin. My sinful self died with Christ on The Cross and my new self was raised to life just as he was.  In return, God granted me His Sons righteousness.  Through His Son's death on the cross, in my place, He justifies me before God.  That old heart that constantly offends him; He gave me a new one. 

Explain Your Freedom From Sin:

He made me a new person and He empowers me to do good in his sight.  My sins are no longer mine.  Christ become my sin on the cross and I was given his righteousness.  All my effort and trying hard is pointless.  My faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to Him makes what I do good because it is not me doing them but Him working through me. 

Discuss Your New Relationship with God:

I am at peace with God and I no longer have to worry about his wrath or condemnation.  I don't have to worry about how much good have I done compared to my bad.  I hate my sin as much as he does and I have to fight it only because God sacrificed his son for it.  I have been saved by God's Grace and given the free gift of eternal life through faith in the person and works of his Son Jesus Christ. 

When I sin, I am forgiven already and forever compelled to repent and remain faithful to God.  As I live and seek faith in Him, He makes me more and more like his son; soon he will call me home where he will remove me from my sinfulness and I will be with him for eternity.

Relate It Directly To Their Belief System:

So now is it hard for me to do good? No, because God does it for me despite my sinful nature. It is not me doing good but God through me.  Do my sins ever out weight my good? No because it is God's good that I depend on. My sins have been paid for and taken care of by Christ on the Cross.  Though I am still a sinner, my past, present, and future sins are forgiven.  I try to do what is pleasing to God only because of my faith in Jesus Christ.  I know I can do what is pleasing to God only because of what Jesus Christ has done for me and still doing through me. 

The Call To Faith:

You can just simply come to Jesus Christ and ask him to take care of all your sins.  You can ask God to redeem you and make you new so that you wouldn't have to try so hard to do what will never be enough.  Relax and let God work in you and through you by believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Stop all your pointless trying and put your faith in Him today.