Communicating the Joy of Salvation

When God gives undeserving sinners the gift of salvation, we cannot help but spread the good news of Christ’s saving grace. Today, R.C. Sproul describes how the forgiveness of God should fuel our evangelism.

“Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me by Your generous spirit. And then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.”

The biggest change in my activity after I was converted to Christ was that I could not meet a person that I didn’t tell them about Jesus. And when I went home for the first time after I became a Christian, I went to all my friends and I said, “Guys, listen, I got to tell you what happened to me.” And I expected them to all jump in the same boat with me, when they looked at me like I was crazy. They thought I had lost it, that I was a fanatic or something. And none of them responded positively. But when I reflect on that, what motivated me was not a sense, after I had been converted, that my buddies were awful guys that needed to repent. It was true that they did need to repent. There’s no question about that.

But that wasn’t what I was excited about. I had so much joy. I had found the pearl of great price, and I wanted all my friends to know about it. Some people say that all evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. Because what motivates the spirit of evangelism in the church and among Christians is forgiveness. When I experience the forgiveness and the pardon of God, if I have any affection for anybody else, am I not going to want to communicate that to them? And this is what David is saying. “God, You forgive me. You restore. Then I will teach transgressors Your way. I will be an evangelist because that would be my natural response to the experience of Your grace.”