If We Do Not Witness and Share the Gospel, Will Some People Not Go to Heaven?

Should our evangelism be motivated by a fear that some of God’s people may be lost if we don’t share the gospel? Today, hear how R.C. Sproul described the real motivation for our evangelism.

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week, we're going back into our archives where Dr. Sproul was asked during one of our live events, "If we do not witness and share the gospel, will some people not go to heaven?"

DR. R.C. SPROUL: I had a conversation with the leader of one of the world's largest evangelistic organizations a few years ago, and there had been a dispute in the church and we were meeting to try to solve the problem. We were able to resolve the problem, and this man looked at me, leaned over to me, and he said, "Boy, if we hadn't had this meeting tonight, millions of people would have been lost." And I said: "If we wouldn't have had this meeting tonight, not one person would have been lost. Because when God from all eternity elects somebody to salvation, you can bet the last dollar that you have that that person is going to come to faith. Because God does not make those sovereign determinations and leave their fulfillment up to chance."

Now, the point that we have to see in the New Testament is that my witnessing, my preaching, our preaching are the means by which God brings to pass the ends of His divine purposes. And though God does not depend on me to preach or to teach or to witness to bring about His perfect purpose, nevertheless He gives me the unspeakable privilege of participating in His plan of redemption. As Paul writes in Romans 10: "How shall they believe unless they hear? How shall they hear unless there's a preacher?" And then he goes on to quote the Old Testament: "How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of those who bringeth good tidings and who publish peace."

Now, I know that I came to Christ through the witness of an individual who told me about Jesus. And because of his witness to me, I will love him forever and be eternally grateful to him. But I also know that God could have converted me without him"but He didn't. He chose to use the witness and the testimony of that person as the means by which He brought me to saving faith. So, we can never ever diminish the importance of our witnessing, our bearing testimony, our proclaiming the gospel to friends and family and everybody else, at the same time knowing that their salvation does not depend on me but on God the Holy Spirit.