Offering the Parachute

One of the greatest revelations we can have is that the law cannot help us with our sin problem. It reflects that we are unclean in God’s sight and sends us to the fount of mercy, where we can be washed. I first filmed a witnessing encounter in the late 1990s. More than two decades later, I still explain the same simple gospel. Once someone has begun to see the reality of their state with God, you can show them why Jesus is so important.

First, I explain what Jesus did. It could go something like this: “The Ten Commandments are called the moral law. You and I broke the law, and Jesus paid the fine. He died on the cross for the sins of the world. If you’re in court and someone pays your fine, a judge can legally let you go. God can legally dismiss your case, take the death sentence off you, let you walk, guilty though you are, and grant you everlasting life as a free gift—not because you’re good but because he’s good, rich in mercy, and he provided a Savior who paid our fine.”

Then, I explain what genuine repentance looks like: “Go straight to God and say, ‘I’ve done things I know are abhorrent to you that are worthy of the death sentence; I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me.’ That’s genuine repentance.”

Finally, I give people a visual example of what it means to trust in Jesus: “Trust in Jesus like you trust a parachute. If you jump from a plane ten thousand feet up and you don’t put a parachute on, you’re going to die. You put a parachute on because you know you’d hit the ground at 120 miles an hour otherwise. What I’ve tried to do with you today is put the fear of God in you because I know the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and fear that makes you put on a parachute is actually good. Realizing your salvation is at stake will cause you to get right with God and say, ‘I have sinned against you.’”

Analogies can be so powerful in that they can show the lost another perspective. Mine aren’t copyrighted. Please use them if you think they can help your witness.

Remember that every encounter we have with the lost should culminate in Jesus. Why Jesus? Because no other name under heaven can save us (Acts 4:12).