In Luke 6:37 Jesus tells us not to condemn others and not to judge others. Does this mean that condemning others to hell is God's job? And warning people that they're going to hell is a bad thing? How are we to spread the gospel if we can't warn other people about hell? Is Jesus saying we can't tell people "I sentence you to hell for sinning against God and for denying Jesus." that obviously is God's job. But there has to be more to it than that. Just what did Jesus mean when he said we can't judge and condemn others? Obviously if our brother is sinning we should be allowed to point it out. Or is that God's job as well?
No one can come to Me unless he is enabled by the Father.
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
This is the thing about people who have been enabled by the Father: Every person who has or will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior has
never been destined for hell. That person's destiny, known to God alone, was
always heaven.
So if you say to someone who will accept the gospel, "You're going to hell," you've lied to him. He was never going to hell. He was
always going to accept the gospel...if someone would ever actually give him the true gospel.
This is the thing about people who have been enabled by the Father: They already know something is wrong in their lives. Being enabled by the father discomfits a person with this life. One pastor has called that the "God-shaped hole" that can't be satisfactorily filled by anything else.
But what they need is the true gospel, and the true gospel--the "Good News" is not about condemnation...those enabled by the Father already feel condemnation, which is one of the roles of the Holy Spirit.
You don't have to convict them of sin--that's the Holy Spirit's job. He's the "bad cop." The gospel is that there is salvation--we are the "good cop."
For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
I knew a woman in a former congregation who had been a prostitute. I heard the story of her conversion from two sources, one from the street pastor of our church who'd given her the gospel, then again from her own lips.
This was in Honolulu, and the church had just begun its street ministry in the notorious Hotel Street district of the city, which had been known for its prostitution since "From Here to Eternity." It was, in fact, their very first night. They set up at the corner and preached the sermon, with, predictably, almost nobody seeming to pay them any attention.
But as they packed up the lectern and began to head for their van, one prostitute walked up to the preacher and actually poked him in the chest with her finger,
demanding: "What you said about everything being new in Christ and all the old things passing away
...is that the truth?"
He assured her that it was.
She said, "Hmmm," but then walked away. As the group drove off, they compared their observations of the night and realized that woman had stayed within earshot the entire time. She had never appeared to be paying attention...but she also had never actually walked away.
The next Saturday, as soon as they had parked and started getting out of the van, they heard a shout from down the street and saw that woman running toward them. She stumbled in her high heels at one point, but ripped off the shoes and threw them into the street, running to them barefooted.
She gave herself to Jesus then and there.
Later, as I heard her giving her testimony, she said that there had been other street preachers who had pointed at her and told her she was going to hell.
And she'd accepted that. Her life was already hell, so, okay. Everyone else was already condemning her, so okay. Hell it is, then. Maybe they'd said something about "forgiveness," but the hell message had been clearly dominant--her sin was already so great, she was already carrying too much baggage. Heaven was obviously for people who'd only sinned a little bit.
This was the first time she'd heard "new creation."
New creation--all the old would be gone.
