“We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.”      John 9:4

Are your dearest friends, loved ones lost? I mean are they spiritually lost?  They are lost if they have not turned to Jesus Christ, repenting of their sin and claiming salvation and right standing with God based on Christ’s death on their behalf.

Pray earnestly for them and look for a chance to lead them to the cross using a verse like John 3:16. Here are some questions you can use to help them understand the verse after they have read it out loud.

• What is God’s attitude toward the world? (He loves us)
• How has God shown us he loves us?  (by giving his only Son)
• Why did God have give his only Son? (Romans 3:23 – we have all sinned against God.                    Romans 6:23 –the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 5:8 – but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.)
• What two destinies does the verse say we all face?  (perishing or eternal life)
• What decides which destiny we receive?  (believing in Jesus)
• Notice “in” and not “about”. I can believe a chair will hold me up.  I only believe about it until I sit down in it.  Then I believe in the chair.  Believing in Jesus requires a commitment, a life-long commitment to him, to follow and obey him.  That kind of believing leads to eternal life.
• Will you now ask God to forgive your sin because of what Jesus did for you and give your heart to follow and obey him?

What if one who claims salvation is not really walking with him? How can we know if they are lost or not? Ultimately only the Lord knows if a person is truly saved.  However the Bible does give us help in discerning a persons heart condition.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:16-17 and 20, “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?  So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit…  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

John expands on Jesus words in I John 3:6-10. “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”

One who is God’s child but practices sin can expect the discipline promised in Hebrews 12:5-11. If there is no evidence of repentance and no disciplinary action from the Lord, beware!  That person cannot have assurance of faith.  I do not say they are not saved, but that they cannot have assurance of it based on the passages above.

What if your loved one or friend is a truly good person, so that you feel no need to speak with them about salvation through Christ Jesus? Then you are the bottleneck keeping them from salvation.  You have not agreed with God about their lost condition and the urgency of being right with God.  Go back to the verse at the very top.  We do not know when the night will fall for any one of us.  Eternity awaits each one of us but we do not know when we will enter that door.

Here is what Ezekiel says to those who know someone not yet right with God by faith in Jesus Christ.

“If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning: his blood shall be upon himself.  But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.  But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them away, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.”

“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.  If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.  But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.”  Ezekiel 33:2-9

There comes a time for each unbeliever when God says, “Enough!” Perhaps that time will come at death.  Perhaps it will come beforehand.  Ezekiel’s warning and the urgency of Jesus’ words needs to ring in our ears.  “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.”  John 9:4