If you're there, say amen. 1 Peter 3, verse 15, the word of God says, let's read it together. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Let's pray. Lord, thanks for this verse. Pray that you'd help us to always be ready to give an answer for those that ask us and then be ready to give an answer for those that need to hear. And so I pray that you would work through us tonight. Teach us your word in this valuable, valuable subject. May each one of us have confidence and boldness in the area that we preach about tonight. Holy Spirit of God, you're the teacher. Give me the words. I've got far more to say on the subject than we can fit in one message, but help me know exactly what to say tonight. And then, Lord, I pray that people would be saved because of the message this evening. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Tonight, I want to give you a simple Bible message. It might be more teaching than preaching, But I think it's something that each one of us ought to know. The scripture we just read talks about being ready to give an answer about our hope in the Lord. And I think that's something that we all have to work on. We all have to, on purpose, be ready to give an answer. Now, two things stand out about this scripture. The first is that how do we get ready? Well, you get ready first by sanctifying the Lord God in your heart. You won't be ready to talk to people about the gospel unless you have given God a special place in your heart. If God doesn't have a special place in your heart, you're going to be more worried about what people think of you than their need of Christ. We're going to be more concerned about being accepted by those around us than being accepted by He who saved us. And so the Bible says clearly, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready. So the sanctification comes first and sanctify just means set apart. So I've got God in my heart, but he is set apart. He's not jumbled in with the rest of my life. I didn't just tack on God. I didn't just tack on Jesus to the rest of my life. And I love Jesus. Go over there in the corner, Jesus, because I'm living life. And I'll talk to you when I die. No, it's we're giving God a special place in our heart. He's got first place. All right. That comes first. Now, this verse also says the reason why people are going to ask you of your hope is when they see you suffering. If you look at the context, the context is about Christian suffering. This verse does not mean that people are just going to walk up to you and see you living a Christian life and walk up to you and say, wow, you're different, man. Tell me the secret. You might have that happen a handful of times in your life, but you're not going to reach the world with the gospel. We, as a people, are not going to reach the world with the gospel by waiting for them to come up and talk to us. The truth is, when they're really going to have their interest piqued, why you're different is when you're being crucified. When you're being beaten. when you're being publicly shamed and you handle that suffering, when you're being wrongfully imprisoned and you're not handling it like everybody else, then they're going to go, wow, there's something different about this guy. There's something different about this lady. How can you suffer this way? I don't know about you, but I'd rather give a whole lot of people the gospel without having to be crucified, right? Without having to be falsely imprisoned or being imprisoned for my faith, without having to be beaten. And if you study the scripture, 1 Peter here talks an awful lot about suffering and suffering properly. Now, the only way that you're going to care about getting out the gospel whenever you're suffering is if God has a special place in your heart. I am 100% for being ready to give people an answer. I think it'll be something we think about. Someone asked me, why do you go to church? I think you ought to have an answer prepared for that. I mean, you ought to have something that you're going to say. Here's why, because you've thought through it. Why did you go? You say, man, church was great last night. Why did you go to church last night? You've thought that through, not just like, well, it's just what my family does. That's an opportunity to give out the gospel. So we ought to think through life and have answers ready just like if you were going on a TV show to get interviewed about something those people don't just show up and say ask me what you want they think through the possible questions and then the possible answers they might give we ought to look at life and say you know what there's people around me that need Christ what are their questions What were my questions before I got saved? They probably have some of the same ones. And so we have an answer. But we also know the scriptural mandate is not to wait until they come and ask. The scriptural commission is to go and tell them. Right? And so a lot of churches have the sit and wait mentality. We put up our shingle, we open the doors at 9, 10, and 6 today, and if anybody wants to get saved, they can come in and get saved. That's not the right thing. The church tells Christians to go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. And so the different parables and different stories, the lady lost a coin and she went looking for it. The man lost his sheep and he left his ninety nine and went looking for it. All throughout the Bible, you see this going and looking for people going and preaching the gospel. The Bible said about Jesus, he came to seek. and to save so we're looking for people to give the gospel to we're looking for people those opportunities those open doors and sometimes we'll plant and sometimes we'll water and then sometimes we'll get to reap the harvest amen when god gives the increase and so tonight i want to give you a lesson about being ready being ready to win someone to Christ. And so for some of you, this might be you've heard this before, but everybody needs a refresher. And just let me tell you, if you haven't won someone to Christ in the last year, then I think you ought to pay very, very close attention. I mean, maybe even the last six months, you ought to pay super close attention, learn everything you can about what I'm going to say tonight and begin to beg God for open doors for you to tell people how to be saved. Because the truth is, everybody in this room, you can win people to Jesus. You can. Now, wouldn't it be great if God just sent them to me? Wouldn't it be great if I was sitting at home with my lazy boy, and I had a coffee here, and a nice magazine, and maybe some Dunkin' Donuts munchkins, or some baked treat, and there was a line out my door of people wanting to get saved? And man, I'd say, next, and they would come in and I would sit there with my feet up and my head on a pillow and one of my children fanning me, you know, and I would tell them the gospel from my lazy boy. I mean, wouldn't that be awesome? I'm talking to the Lord about that. And so pray for it. If you ever see a lion outside my house, you'll know that he answered my prayer, especially during the winter, right? But no, the scriptural mandate is we don't know who's going to get saved. We don't know where they are. We got to go find them. I would love it if God just put a big check mark on the forehead of people that were ready to get saved. You know, this one, or a big pointy arrow, glowing neon arrow that floated over them as they walked around. Oh, there's one that wants to be saved. We don't know who they are. So we have to talk to a lot of people to find the ones that are ready. And by the way, I don't believe in forcing people to get saved. I will not argue with people into salvation. I'm looking for the ones that are ready. I'm looking for the ones that are under conviction. God's been working on their heart. Maybe they know what they need. Maybe they have no idea what they need, but boy, something on the inside God's been working. And when they hear the gospel, they say, that's it. That's what I need. And it's not me talking them into it. It's it's the Holy Ghost has been working in their heart and they hear the gospel and the Holy Ghost makes that connection. And so I believe in looking for ripe fruit. I don't believe in going and shaking the trees and trying to get the unripe fruit to fall off. I'm looking for people that want to get saved. On the other hand, I am not opposed to witnessing to people that aren't ready to get saved, right? They need to hear it. Some people aren't going to get saved the first time they hear it. How many of you got saved the very first time you knew you heard the gospel? One, two, three, four. All right, so there's about five hands up. There's a lot more people in this room than that. Most people, now there certainly will be people that get saved the first time they hear the gospel. I've seen it happen. I've seen just a light bulb go on. I've seen just, it's almost like a miracle. It's like you can't believe it unless you see it. that someone's like, I don't know for sure I'm going to heaven, and they're like in a hurry, and it's like, can I show you a Bible verse that can show you how you can know for sure you're going to heaven? Yeah, I guess. And they're looking around, and you show them a Bible verse, and something clicks, and they're like, that? And it's almost like, what's next? What's next? What's next? Can I do that now? And it's like you see a miraculous change happen because it's the Holy Ghost conviction. I've seen that happen. But it's also true that many people will have to hear the gospel more than once in order to get saved. By the way, the Old Testament talks about Gentiles who the first time they hear of God will believe. That's a biblical concept. You say, I know preachers, they say, well, nobody gets saved the first time and I don't trust your salvation if it didn't take you over an hour to believe. Don't try to put extra biblical mandates on people. Don't try to make it difficult for people to get saved, right? But at the same token, I had to hear it more than once. How many of you had to hear it, you know you heard the gospel more than once before you got saved? That's most of us. So we have to, as Christians, and don't miss what I'm saying, because one of the number one reasons why people don't go soul winning is, well, people aren't interested. Well, duh, right? That's that's why we need to go tell them is they don't know they have a need. We have to plant the seed. I remember very clearly one time I was down before I got saved. I was down in our laundry room and I must have been an early teenager because I wasn't saved yet. And I found a track as I was doing laundry, and I don't know how it got down there, but it's one of the same tracks we have, the creation version of God's simple plan of salvation. It's the trifold track, got the color world on the front, the very same track. I remember leaning down there on the washer and dryer, and I'm reading that track, reading through it, and I'm considering it, and I'm thinking about it, and I'm like, wow. We have to be willing to talk to people that don't want to be saved yet in order to plant and water. Right? There is no soul winning group where you can say, God, just give me the easy ones. Right? If there was one, we'd all sign up for it. You have to talk to the ones that don't want it or they're not ready yet in order to find the ones that do, right? What I want to focus on tonight, and we're going to dive right into it, is I want to give you the tools to where you feel comfortable leading someone to Jesus. I mean, if you had the opportunity right now, you would say, I know how to do that. If someone said, I want to be saved, there ought to be 70 people in this room go, I know how to do that. Can I do it? Not 50 people going, well, I'm not sure about that. I think I could. I mean, I think I could, but. Well, the truth is, if you're saved, you can get somebody else saved, right? But we got to have the confidence to tell them how to get saved. And I will say this, I look for people who are ready to be saved. They're under conviction. God's working in their hearts. But I also believe that we ought to work to be the best soul winners we can be to make it easy for them to get saved. Right? We don't want to become a stumbling block because we're uncomfortable or we don't know what we're doing. So being a soul winner is something that we ought to polish. We ought to work on. Even if you've led many people to Christ, it ought to be something that you always looking for a new illustration, listening to someone else when someone to Christ, listening to another sermon on it, trying to get more comfortable because soul winning is one of those things that if you do it, you get really comfortable with it. And if you don't do it, you feel really rusty. I mean, I've been sick before and not gone soul winning for two or three weeks, and I'm going soul winning thinking, man, I forgot how to do all this. It's one of those things where you just feel really insecure about it unless you're prepared and you're ready. So how do we get ready? First, we sanctify God in our hearts. I realize it's our job to tell people about Christ, and I realize I want to do it as smoothly as I can. I remember I was working at a, I won't give you the long story, but short version, I was working my first year in Bible college in Indianapolis at a chicken shop. We made hundreds and hundreds of pieces of fried chicken every night. I mean, you talk about getting sick of fried chicken. Fry 600 pieces of fried chicken a night and then see if you wanna drive by Kentucky fried chicken. I mean, it's like, you just smell it and sometimes, and this was good fried chicken, but you just, so much of it, night after night, 500, 600 pieces of chicken. Well, we were working with a lady, and I had been witnessing to her off and on, and there was another guy that worked there, who he said he was a Christian, I think he was saved, and I was trying to help him out. He went to a different kind of church, had never won anybody to the Lord, so this lady was ready to get saved, and I began talking to this other young man. I said, why don't you lead her to the Lord? I mean, I had her primed and ready. Why don't you lead her to the Lord? He said, I can do this. I said, awesome, lead her to the Lord. Well, they're on break, and they're near me, and I'm still working, and they're over here talking on break, and he turns to the Book of Job. I'm like, the Book of Job? What's he doing? I thought, well, maybe he knows a technique that I'm unfamiliar with. And he did, the kind that doesn't work. And I mean, he took her to Job, and then he went to some other portion of scripture, and then he's talking to her about the rapture, and she's like, you mean we're gonna get sucked up? He's like, yeah, sucked up. And it's like, I'm like, what are you doing? You know, I had her primed and ready. I mean, all she needed to do was know how to be saved. She wanted to be saved, and he's got her going all around the Bible. And I finally talked to him. I said, bud, you're not helping. I said, you're getting her more lost, not getting her more saved. And he said, well, you do it. And so. She went into the cooler, there was a big walk-in freezer, and I walked in after her and I called her name, and I said, I said, you want to be saved, don't you? You want to go to heaven? She said, I do. She said, I don't understand what he was saying. I said, let me help you. And we'd been witnessing to her off and on for a while, so we took some minutes in the freezing cold, in the walk-in freezer, Walked her through it, made sure she understood everything, made sure she believed everything. We got on our knees in the walk-in freezer and she got saved. And she was ready. And the other guy said he was kind of frustrated with himself because he felt like he would have done a better job. Have you ever tried something and you're like, I thought that was going to go better than it did? And so I just want to give you some things tonight. And we're not going to get through all of it. So I'm going to give you a couple sheets to take home. And I think we've got one for every adult and every teenager. And then we'll see if we have enough for the kids. So why don't you hand those down, Patrick. A couple guys jump up and grab those from Patrick as we get ready here and go ahead and turn to First John, Chapter five. First John, Chapter five, and I just want to walk you through this. And the sheet you're getting isn't getting is entitled How to win a soul to Christ. And so it's not exhaustive. We could give a lot more lessons about this, but we're getting ready to come up to the spring. Spring is a wonderful harvest time for churches. There's going to be a lot of people get saved this spring all around America. We need to be in on the harvest. I want you to do me a favor. Don't read ahead. Stay with me. I know I'm asking you. It's like parting the sea. Don't read ahead. Try to stay where I'm at. We're going to jump through the Bible. I'm going to show you some things, and I'm going to give you some tips that I think will really smooth out your Your gospel presentation now, let me say this. There's a lot more than than one way to get somebody saved. All right Everybody has a little bit different presentation sometimes by the leading of the Lord I will add different verses or use different illustrations but this way works and We've won hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people to the Lord with this. I've been blessed to lead some people to the Lord recently with it. It just absolutely works. So take what you've got. If you're not a comfortable soul winner now, do this first before you change it. All right, don't reinvent the wheel when you've never even got the wheel rolling. All right, learn how it works, learn the transitions, learn how to use it, and then, after you're comfortable with it, you can add and subtract and put things in. Some people, you can stay in the book of John and lead people to the Lord. You can stay in the book of Romans, the Romans Road. There's a lot of ways to lead people to the Lord. I prefer the Romans Road, but starting with 1 John 5 and verse 13. And so you can read this later and we'll go all through it. But let me say before we get started with 1 John 5, 13, that one of the most difficult things you'll learn when becoming a soul winner is how to transition to the gospel. All right. How do you go from talking about how the guy's day is going to his eternal life? How do you go from talking about groceries to eternity? Or do you know for sure you're going to go to heaven? And so here are five, and these aren't the only five, but there are five transitional questions or statements that do work. And so there are other ones too. And let's look at that. So number one, if you were to die today, are you 100% sure that you would go to heaven? So that's an old standby. And we use the phrase 100% sure because everybody understands that. And some people will say, well, I'm 90% sure, I'm 95% sure, I'm 85% sure. If they're not 100% sure, they're not sure. Right. And so it's 100 percent sure they would go to heaven. So that's an old standby. And many of you have heard me use that. All right. Number two, if they're talking about church or you're talking about, yeah, I go to a Catholic or I'm a Catholic or I go to the Episcopal Church on Main Street or I go to the Methodist Church over on 108. How do you transition from talking about church? Because they're going to feel like, well, of course I'm okay because I go to church. So how do you transition? And the saying I like is, well, more important than going to church is going to heaven. I think everybody would agree with that, right? Yeah, you go to church, but more important than going to church is going to heaven. Do you know for sure that you're gonna go to heaven when you die? And so just those smooth transitions, all right? Number three, if I showed you how you could know for sure you were going to heaven, would you do what the Bible says? And if they say no to that question, then I'm gonna give them a track and say, have a nice day, call me when you're ready, because they're not ready, right? And we might witness a little bit more, give them a couple verses to think about, but again, we're looking for people who are ready. Here's one that I like, especially if I've had an enjoyable conversation, I'm standing on someone's porch, or I just met somebody, and we just talked about their shrubs, or just talked about their family, or whatever, I might say something like this, I've enjoyed our conversation, can I ask you a personal question before I go? And see, it just transitions, and what it tells them is, I'm leaving. I didn't say, hey, can I talk to you for an hour? If they wanna get saved, they're not gonna care about the time, right? But neither do they wanna sit and talk to me for an hour. So I'm being honest with them and asking them a question. I enjoyed our conversation. Can I ask you a personal question? And this is a personal question. You know for sure you're going to heaven. That's personal. And rather than them kind of rebuffing at that and saying, why are you asking me a personal question? I just asked them if I could ask them a personal question and they gave me permission. Right? Hey, before I leave, can I ask you a personal question? Sure. Have you ever thought about what happens to people when they die? If you were to die, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? You know, I've not thought about that. They gave me permission to talk to them. That one's very powerful and very subtle. And then this is one, number five is for whenever you're witnessing to family or friends, maybe you've witnessed to them before, maybe they know you go to church, how do you transition and talk about it again when you've already talked to them about it? Or sometimes even worse, maybe you've been working next to them for years and you've never talked to them about the gospel. Because Satan will tell you, don't talk to him, because they're going to think you're weird. And then if you don't talk to him, he'll say, how can you talk to him now? You haven't talked to him all this time, right? So Satan always plays the game, doing whatever he can do to try to keep us from witnessing to people. So how do you break through those barriers? And what you'll find when it comes to witnessing and really anything in life is just be honest. And so here's an honest statement. I've had you on my mind lately, and I've been praying for you a lot. Can I talk to you about something that's important to me? First of all, very few people are going to say no to that. Secondly, I am asking them basically to help me out. What I'm saying is, and maybe I even say this later, is, you know, I feel bad. I should have talked to you about this earlier. But I'm a Christian, and I'm concerned about your soul. You know, however you go into it from then, but you're making that transition of you're saying the truth. I've had you on my mind a lot lately because you've been concerned about their soul, you've been praying for them to get saved a lot. Can I talk to you about something that's important to me? And they're probably going to say yes. And then you broach it, and you'll at least be able to give them a Bible verse or two before they shut you down. All right, so is that helpful to anybody? Transitioning, smooth transitions, not like, you know, you're talking about the shrubs and then everything gets awkward because you know you got to ask and you're worried about it. Then, hey, are you going to heaven? You know, and they're like, they're like, what? What just happened? We were just talking about shrubs. What are you talking about heaven for? And then when you get nervous, they get nervous, right? You start getting fidgety, you start getting nervous. And the thing is, if you're talking to someone and you're comfortable talking about heaven, then they're still gonna be uncomfortable, but you're not feeding into them, right? You need to talk to them like, hey, I talk about this all the time. I've helped people with this. I'm an expert at helping people know what the Bible says about going to heaven. Now, even if you're not, if you've run through this enough and you prepare your heart enough, you'll feel like it. And that will just put everybody at ease. All right. So then let's dive into it. The one verse that can change your life right now. Hey, can I show you one Bible verse that will change your life right now? Well, I guess. I didn't ask him if I could preach to him. I didn't ask him to give me 15 minutes. I said, can I show you one Bible verse? If that's all I get, they got a Bible verse. If they're interested and they're under conviction, they'll often let me have more. And so I often tell people that this is the one verse that changed my life in the beginning. And this is the verse that tells people how they can know for sure they're going to heaven. Stop and think about this. There are people in our community that have gone to church for 60 years and they don't know they're going to heaven. I talked to a man last fall down in Mattoonic area, Green Hill area. He said, we started talking and we were out knocking on doors and he was out working in the yard and we talked to him and said, hey, you go to church anywhere? He said, see that steeple over there? It's a little neighborhood church. He said, I've gone to that church for 60 years. I said, wow. I said, can I ask you a personal question? He said, sure. I said, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? He said, no. I said, you've gone to church for 60 years, and they've not taught you how you can know for sure you're going to heaven? I said, what if I could show you one Bible verse that tells you you can know for sure you're going to heaven? He said, let me see it. He didn't get saved, but he saw the verse. And I'll often tell people, you can go to church your whole life and never see this verse, and it's an absolute life changer. And so look at 1 John 5, 13. These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, why? That ye may know that ye have eternal life. So the Bible was written, specifically 1 John was written, so that you could know that you have eternal life. Eternal life's talking about heaven. God wants you to know that you're going to heaven. That's a life changer. Not to hope so, not to I hope I make it, not well if my good outweighs my bad. You can know today, right now, I told some people this morning in my office, I said, you can walk out that door in a few minutes and know for sure you're going to heaven. And their eyes got big. Wow. And that's exactly what the Bible says. So what this verse says is notice that eternal life is sandwiched between believing on Jesus. If you believe on Jesus, you can know you have eternal life. And if you don't have eternal life, you don't know you have eternal life, then you believe on Jesus. So it's a beautiful sandwich. Eternal life is found between believing on Jesus. And so we often show them that verse. And once we establish that they can know for sure they're going to heaven, The method I normally use is found in these pages. There's four things you must know in order to go to heaven. And then the powerful statement is, I can almost guarantee you already believe three of them. And now their interest has peaked. So there's four I have to know, and you think I already know three? And then I'll say, if I'm right, that means you're one step from heaven. Well, man, tell me what they are. So we're establishing this to where it's smooth, but it leads them to a natural progression of wanting to know the next thing. And so then it just goes into the Bible. So number one, you're a sinner. And we'll talk about no one is perfect. And of course, the ruler there that you can measure them with are the Ten Commandments, right? The Ten Commandments is the law given to show people that they need a savior. And let me just say that why would anybody get saved if they don't need a savior? You have to show them they're lost before they get saved. But once you show them that they're lost, then they, I need a savior. And so we're not forcing Jesus on them, we're just showing them that salvation's available and they desperately need it whether they know it or not. So we're just opening their eyes, you need a savior. And so how do we do this? Number one, everybody's a sinner. All right, no one is perfect. And then Romans 3.10, you can look at that. As it is written, there is none righteous or perfect, no, not one. All right, why is no one perfect? Verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So a sin is just a transgression of the law. A sin means we've either done something we shouldn't have done or we didn't do something we should have done. Right? And so everybody knows they're a sinner, and 99 times out of 100 people will admit they're a sinner. The one time they don't, you can usually get them to acknowledge it by saying, what would your wife say if I asked her if you're a sinner? And they're like, okay, you got me. Or if it's a teenager, I'd say, what would your mother say? Or what would your husband say? And so normally people build these things up where they lie to themselves. And listen, if your only hope of going to heaven was being a good person and you want to sleep at night, you're probably trying to convince yourself you're good enough. So don't get upset with them for saying, I'm good enough. Although from our point of view, that's ridiculous. But from their point of view, that's their only hope. And so sometimes with just some clear teaching of the scripture, we can just pull the blinders off their eyes and help them to see, yeah, I am a sinner. All right, so number one, everybody's a sinner. And then number two. There is a penalty for sin. And I'll often say, if you break the law, you get punished. I said, if you leave right here and you go down and rob the CVS, you're going to jail, right? You leave here and you drive down 138 and you go over 25 miles an hour, I said, and you get pulled over, you could get a ticket. Now, there might be joggers running past you as you're driving. But you can get in trouble for breaking the law and they'll say, yeah, you're right. So God's law is the same way. There is a spiritual law and there is a spiritual penalty for breaking God's laws. All right. And then Romans 5, 12, go ahead and look at it. And this points them back to. Adam and Eve. Now understand that if you're on the mission field and people don't know who Adam and Eva is are and they've never heard about Jesus and they've never seen a Bible, you're going to have to start way back in the beginning. And honestly, this is part of the soul winners job is you're gauging their Bible knowledge. You'll talk to some people that know everything they need to do. They need to know in order to get saved and they believe most of it. They just have been taught. You gotta be a Catholic to go to heaven. Or you gotta be a good church member to go to heaven. They just don't know, but you're gonna meet some people and they're like, Jesus, yeah, I've heard of him. What was it about him? And so you're going, the goal is not just to get them to say a prayer, the goal is to help them receive true salvation, right? So we are gauging what their knowledge along the way. And if there's anything that they're worried about, I'm going to go back and give them more Bible verses or talk to them about that so that we can help bolster their knowledge. Right. Because the goal is to get them the knowledge and help them trust Jesus. And so let's look at Romans chapter five and verse twelve. All right, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for the love sin. So Adam and Eve sinned. They passed a sin nature to their children, who passed it to their children, who passed it to their children, who passed it to my parents, who passed it to me and you pass it to your kids. And I'll usually say something like, why don't we have to teach children to be bad? And every parent's like, that's true. You don't have to teach them to be selfish, or to say, mine, or to hit their brother or sister, or to begin arching their back. That's built in. That's the sin nature. And so we're sinners by birth, and we're sinners by choice. And that started with Adam and Eve, but the penalty passed down as we go along as well. Look at Romans chapter 6 and verse 23. All right, Romans 6, 23. It says, for the wages of sin is death. Now stop there. So a wage is something you earn. All right, so you work to get paid. How many of you worked a job this week? All right, how many of you expect to get paid for what you worked? All right, how many of you would not be happy if you worked and your boss didn't give you your paycheck? Right? God will give you your paycheck. The problem is you've been earning death. Every day we sin, we just stack up more punishment in hell. And one of these days, we're going to get paid for what we've earned. And I know that's a somber moment, but they need to feel that. They need to feel that burden. They need to accept the fact of, whoa, and let them feel that. And then you can turn on to Revelation 21.8. Go ahead and look at it. All right, the Bible says, but the fearful, those are people, these are reasons why people don't go to heaven, reasons why they don't accept Jesus, but the fearful, those are people who are too afraid to get saved. And I'll tell them this, these are people who are too afraid what other people are gonna think, so they won't trust Jesus. Right? The unbelievers, these are people that think they're smarter than God. I don't need to believe in God, I don't believe all that stuff. Unbelievers go to hell. The abominable, those are people involved in dark sins. All right, and I usually don't take a lot of time explaining that because we've already got them to the place they're a sinner. Murderers, these are people with hatred in their heart. Whoremongers, some people won't get saved because they love their sin. And they love their immorality. That's a terrible reason to go to hell. All right, sorcerers, that's drug abuse. We all know people who are so strung out on drugs, they don't care whether they live or die or go to heaven or hell, they just want the next fix. Right? Witchcraft, people who are believing in other gods and such. And idolaters, those are people who put other things before God. All right, but then notice the last one. This hits all of us. And all liars. You ever told a lie? Yes, I have too. What happens to us? And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So watch this. Create a visual picture. You've been to the ocean. You've seen the ocean. Imagine the ocean with all its waves and the wind and the turmoil in the water. You take out the water and you put in fire and lava, and it's lava and brimstone. And you see people out there floating and burning and dying, but they can never die. They're just in eternal torment. It's a lot like hell. And usually at this point, if if they're listening and if they're under conviction, it gets like it kind of does in the room. It just gets kind of heavy. It's a little bit still as the weight of their sin begins to rest on them. But see, what we're teaching them is they need a savior. And by this time, if they're with you up to this point, they want a savior. Because only a crazy person would want to go to hell. All right, and so the second death speaks of one of these days, my body's gonna die, but my soul, that part of me that's talking to you and that part of you that's hearing me and processing what I'm saying, that part of you is gonna live forever somewhere. It either goes to heaven to be with God or it goes to hell to be tormented, all right? The good news is God doesn't want anybody to go to hell. So see, we start off, you can know for sure you're going to heaven, we take them all the way down to hell and then we bring them back up. So at this moment, the tone changes, but God doesn't want anybody to go to heaven. Isn't that true? He's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The lengths God went to to save people, and sometimes I'll tell people like I did this morning, depending on how God leaves me, I'll say my mom used to say things like, you'll do that over my dead body. Right. And I said, if you go to hell, it'll literally be over Christ's dead body. Because you have to walk right past the cross and say, I don't believe in you. And keep walking to hell. And their eyes usually get. God did everything he could to save you. What more could he have done? The good news is he made a way for you to go to heaven. All right, the third thing you have to know is that Jesus paid for your sin on the cross. Let's look at Romans 5.8. We doing okay? Is this helpful? All right, Romans 5.8. Feel free to get saved tonight if you're under conviction. Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, this is a great verse. Sometimes people say, well, I'll get saved once I get better. God's not waiting for you to get better. The truth is, if you wait, you're going to go to hell. God loved you when you were unlovable. He loves you as a sinner. He died for you because you're a sinner, and so he proved his love towards you in that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. So Christ died for us. Now let's turn back to Romans 623 and look at the rest of that verse that we looked at earlier. Alright, for the wages of sin is what death, but. The gift of God is eternal life, and I'll say wait a minute. We learned earlier that eternal life was talking about heaven, right? Right. So this says that heaven is a gift. What does that mean? And I'll say, okay, Tony, if I were to give you this Bible, and I said, Tony, I bought you this Bible, and I wanna give it to you as a gift, if you go out and wash my car, I'll give you this Bible as a gift. And they're looking at me like, quizzical. And I'll say, now Tony, is that a gift, or did you work for it? You say, well, I work for it, right? So, OK, Tony, I want to give you this Bible as a gift, but I need you to give me $100 for it. Is that a gift or did you pay for it? I paid for it. See, we're teaching them. We're we're already attacking the works mentality. We're already attacking the I gotta I gotta do something myself mentality. No, a gift. You can't do anything to earn a gift. A gift is if I go out and I buy this Bible with my money. And I give it to you, no strings attached. Tony, I bought you this Bible. I paid for it. No strings attached. Would you like it? Now, wait a minute. First of all, you can't have it. This Bible was a gift, by the way. Brother Chamberlain gave it to me and someone in his church gave it to me. And he and Brother Barnes signed the front of it. It didn't cost me a dime. But when you offer someone a gift, they have a choice. They don't have to take it. Is that right? Have you ever given someone a gift and they didn't want it? That's painful. You're giving someone a gift they rejected or you could tell that they weren't really impressed with it. That's painful. God wants to give you this gift, but he lets you decide whether or not you accept it. You can reject and say, no, thanks, I don't want that. Or you can accept the gift of eternal life. And so we use the gift illustration. All right. So let's look back at the verse. Romans 6, 23, for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. Well, how do we accept this gift? So I want the gift. I want to accept it. How do I get it through Jesus Christ, our Lord? All right. So you accept the gift by accepting Jesus. The gift of eternal life comes through Jesus Christ. And then we talk about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. So Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins. He was buried, and then he rose again, conquering death and hell. Now understand, I'm giving you the rough outline. I will spend as much time as necessary on these different points as someone needs and allows in order for them to understand. Now wait a minute. I am gauging them. I'm looking at their eyes. I'm reading their body language. I'm sensitive to the Holy Spirit. You don't want to preach at them on a point when they're like, okay, I got that 10 minutes ago. Next. Right? And you don't want to move on when you notice that they've still kind of got a quizzical look on their face. You don't just rush through. And so we're gauging trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us to give them the amount of medicine they need. All right. And then let's lastly, we turn to Romans chapter 10. All right, so I said there's four things you have to know. We've already been through three of them. Number one, you have to know that you're a what? A sinner, right? Number two, you have to know that there's a penalty on sin. You break the law, there's a penalty. Number three, you have to know Jesus died on the cross for your sin. Now, I think you already believe those things, and by the way, most Catholics believe those things. Most Christian people who are lost will believe those things, but they're not saved. Here's the disconnect, and I'll often say, here's the one piece of the puzzle you might be missing, and that is you accept Jesus' payment for your sin, you have to trust Jesus as your Savior. And I'll say something like this, you see in your notes, IRS illustration. And I said this this morning, I'll often say this, I'll say, okay, we're sitting in my office, let's say you owe $100,000 to the IRS, and two IRS agents bust in my office door right now, and they hook you up, and they're dragging you out, you owe the IRS money. But wait a minute, they're gonna put you in jail so you can't earn any money to pay your debt. And they're like, I know, the IRS. That gets everybody. Everybody hates the IRS, right? The IRS. I said, does the IRS care where their money comes from? And they usually stop and think for a minute, and they're like, no. I said, what if the IRS agents are dragging you out and I take out my checkbook and I say, excuse me, sir, I'll pay that bill. I'll pay that debt. And I write $100,000 check to the IRS and I hand it to him. I said, are they still going to take her? They're going to let you go. And they're like, they're gonna let me go. I said, the IRS doesn't care who writes the check. They just want their money. And I'll say, Jesus paid your debt so you could go free. Right, you couldn't pay it. You were condemned. but Jesus Christ paid your debt for you, the bill's been paid if you accept his payment. And see, these little illustrations just kind of help turn the lights on, and you see the acknowledgement and the lights go on in their head. And you might have different illustrations, but these are the ones that I usually rely on. All right, Romans chapter 10, and look at verse nine. So let's see what the Bible says. We have to trust Jesus as our Savior verse 9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be what? Saved that means saved from hell and remember I'm defining Bible words as we go along Just like if you were drowning in a pool and I I dived it I dove in to save you and I saved you you're going to hell Jesus wants to save you and rescue you this is saved from Hell. Now, what do we have to do, though? The first thing the Bible says is we have to confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus. What does that mean? That Jesus is Lord, that he is the son of God. He is exactly who he said he was. He was born of a virgin. He was the perfect son of God. He came and lived a perfect life on this earth. He died on the cross to pay for our sins. He could die for your sins because he didn't have any sins of his own. This is where I talk about who Jesus is and make sure that they understand that Jesus can save us because of who he is, right? And so it means you believe it in your heart that you're willing to say it with your mouth. And then look at the rest of verse nine. And shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. What does it mean to believe in your heart? All right? And they'll usually not know, but I might ask them that, let it sit there for a second. And I'll say, let me explain what it means to believe in your heart. And here's where I give the Niagara Falls tightrope illustration, all right? So I'll give you the quick version. You've seen Niagara Falls, and sometimes they'll say yes, it's beautiful. Sometimes they'll say no, but I'll say, have you seen a picture of it or a video? They almost always say yes. All right, I'll say, I've been there. And boy, being there, you hear the rushing water, the power of the water. You hear the wind. Sometimes you feel the mist in your face. I said, it's a very powerful thing. And I said, years ago, years and years ago, a man put a tightrope across Niagara Falls, anchored it on this end, anchored it on the other end. And he said he was going to tightrope across Niagara Falls. Crowds gathered. Would he be able to walk across the tightrope without dying? Because falling meant certain death. And so he got there and let's say he asked the crowd, how many of you believe I can walk across this tightrope? And some raised their hands and some were nervous and didn't, but he stands up and he gets on that tightrope and he walks across the other side. The crowd cheers. He says, how many of you believe I can walk across the tightrope now? Well, every hand goes up. They just watched him do it. Then he grabs a wheelbarrow. He does the unthinkable and he grabs a wheelbarrow and he says, how many of you believe I can push this wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls? Some hands went up and some hands didn't. Crowd was nervous. He pushes that wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls, goes back to the other side. Crowd cheers. He says, how many of you believe I can push this wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls? Every hand went up. They just watched him do it. But then he asks a question, if you really believe Who's willing to get in the wheelbarrow and let me push you across? Every hand went down. Because they believed it here, but they didn't believe it here. And I'll say, heart belief is when you're willing to get in the wheelbarrow. It's when you're willing to say, Jesus is my Savior. I'm trusting Him with my soul. I'm not just believing the facts about who Jesus is. I'm not just believing a biography that somebody wrote. I believe as much as I know how with all my heart that He is the Savior, the Son of God, that He died on the cross, was buried and rose again, And I am trusting him to take me to heaven. I'll usually say something like this. That means I'm trusting him that if I go to heaven, it'll be because of Jesus. I got all my eggs in one basket. It's all about him. That's believing in your heart. Also, sometimes I'll say, if you ask me, Pastor Chapman, why do you think you're going to heaven? I wouldn't say, well, I go to church. I wouldn't say I'm a good person. And this morning they stopped me and they said, you'd say because you believe. I said, that's exactly right. I said, I'm going to heaven because I believe in Jesus Christ is my savior. I believe with all my heart and see the light bulb just goes on. We're not just asking people to make a mental ascent, a mental agreement. We're asking them to trust their soul with the savior. It's an important distinction. My pastor used to say a lot of people miss heaven by 18 inches because they believe it up here, but they've never believed it down here. Right. And that's the Niagara Falls illustration. All right. And then let's look down. I usually say more about that. We'll skip down to verse number 13. All right. And here's where the rubber meets the road. So how do I believe in Jesus with all my heart? Well, we just read and I just showed him in verse 10, where it says, uh, with the heart, man, believe with under righteousness, but with the mouth confession made salvation. I'll say something like salvation happens in your heart, but I can tell that you've believed by the confession of your mouth. So your words just point to what happened in your heart. All right, so God says that one of the sure ways to know for sure you're going to heaven and to let other people know is That you ask him to save you and I said, this is a one-time thing. This isn't a Catholic confession This isn't asking him to save you because you sinned today This isn't you know, I was I was bad today and I did some things I shouldn't so I'm gonna ask him to save me again and I'll really convey to them this prayer is different than any other prayer they will ever pray in their whole life and It's so important that you do that, and sometimes it can be done in a couple sentences, but if you don't do that, religious people are used to praying prayers, right? This isn't a prayer like saying Mother Mary or a Lord's Prayer or Father, forgive me for I've sinned, going to confession. This is a prayer that's different from any other prayer they will ever pray in their whole life. This is the prayer of salvation. All right, then let's look at it. For whosoever, so let's put your name in there. So I'm going to say Brother Ken. For if Brother Ken shall call upon the name of the Lord, Brother Ken shall be what? And they'll say saved. And I'll say that means saved from hell. And so we're already getting them right there to that place. So now we've connected all the dots. They're at the place where they know. And this is where I gave you the rest of the outline, drawing the net. So some people are comfortable giving the gospel, but they're uncomfortable Drawing the net and helping people make the final understanding of salvation. So let me just read through this with you quickly as and look at your paper. So we've got Romans 1013, so I'll read him that and I'll read it again, putting their name in the place of whosoever. And then I'll say something like this. I might say, Bob, every person has two choices. Either you will have to pay for your sins and be condemned to hell forever to pay your sin debt, or you will trust Jesus Christ to save you from hell and give you a home in heaven. And then I'll say, let's review. Because again, I want to make sure that they know what they're doing. Right? And so I'll say, Bob, do you believe that you're a sinner? Oh yeah, I know I'm a sinner. Bob, do you believe that there's a punishment for sin? That's right. So we can't go to heaven. We gotta go to hell if we don't trust Jesus. That's right. And I'll say, Bob, who died on the cross for you? And they'll say Jesus, and I'll say, why did Jesus die on the cross to pay for my sin? And see, I'm looking for crisp answers, not just for them to repeat back to me, but that they understand and believe this, right? And see, some people will say, well, you Christians, you just are into easy believism. I hope you see that I'm being pretty thorough here. It's not about just getting them to pray. It's about helping them put their faith in Jesus. But also let me say that salvation is simple. It's called God's simple plan of salvation. The concept of salvation is not difficult. The hard part is humbling yourself. The hard part is admitting that you're a lost sinner and you're going to bust hell wide open if you don't trust Jesus. If you die in your sin, you're going to burn forever and ever where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. That's the hard part. Right? Trusting Jesus. Is really pretty simple. He did the hard part. Right. All right. And then after they ascent to those things and I can tell that that they understand everything, I'll say you already know everything you need to know in order to go to heaven. But there's one thing you need to do. And I'll usually this is a transition statement I use a lot. If Jesus would take you just the way you are. Wait a minute. Is that a true statement? Do they have to get better before he takes them? Do they have to stop sinning before he takes them? Do they have to join the church before he takes them? No, he's going to take him just the way they are. A sinner who's lost in need of a savior, right? If Jesus would take you just the way you are, forgive your sins and give you a home in heaven when you die. Wouldn't you like to ask him to save you? And this, let me be honest with you. If they've stuck with you up to this point, very rarely will they say no. If they're not interested in getting saved, usually they've stopped the conversation before this. It is possible that someone could just be nice and they'll get to this place and they'll be like, no. Very, very rarely. So here's what happens, and let me encourage you. The percentage of people who will let you go through the plan of salvation is low, right? You've got to talk to a lot of people before they let you go through the plan of salvation. That's the hard part. Once they let you in and they listen to the plan of salvation, the percentage gets very high that want to get saved. So that ought to encourage us. If I can just get someone to listen to the gospel and I can find someone under conviction they're going to want to get saved. And so don't get discouraged at the hard part, finding the people, because that's what happens. The gospel stops when God's people stop saying it because, well, nobody wants to get saved anymore. I got door slammed in my face. A lot of people around here don't want the gospel. What about the ones that do? But if you find them, you're going to be able to see people saved. All right? And then this is where it gets awkward. So what do you do now? I don't know about you, but when I got saved, I didn't really know how to pray. So you need to help them know how to pray. I'm not just getting them to repeat a prayer, but if you ask someone to pray who's never prayed and they don't know how to pray, you're asking them to do something they don't know how to do. If I ask you to go build me a boat, you're like, well, I'd love to build you a boat, but what? No, I'm not gonna build you a boat. Well, let me build it with you. Okay. And so you're offering to help them through this. Let me show you, let me teach you how to pray to God, all right? And you can look through this. I'll usually explain to them what's coming next. I'll say, let me say a word of prayer for you, and then I will help you know how to ask Jesus to save you. And I'll always warn them, it's not the words that save you. These aren't magic words. It's the belief in your heart. But if these words point to what you want in your heart, you want to be saved. Pray this prayer with me. And. It's a beautiful thing, and so you can read through there and then I give you a sinner's prayer and I'll often say now with our heads bowed, eyes closed, God's looking on from heaven. He sees us and knows our hearts. If you would like to receive Jesus as your Savior, I will help you word of prayer and he will hear you. And I'll usually say again, it's not the words that save you, it's the faith in your heart. But if you'd like to be saved, pray this prayer out loud to Jesus and mean the words with all your heart or the best you know how. Dear Jesus. And you hear them say, Dear Jesus. It's a beautiful sound. I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner. And I can't go to heaven on my own. And I can't go to heaven on my own. You're just helping them know how to pray. And you'll know if, dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I mean, you'll tell if they're flippant, but oftentimes what happens is you'll hear a lot of emotion because they're getting saved. And emotion doesn't mean salvation, but it is interesting that you get to experience that moment where people get saved, all right? Then when you get done, look them in the eye and say, I know you meant that, didn't you? And they'll say, yeah. And then you give them assurance verses and let me share something exciting with you and you can use those assurance verses. And then let me lastly point out the fact that how do you get a convert to come to church or how do you get a friend to come to church? So I'm just going to leave this with you. A lot of times people don't want to come to church because of fear of the unknown. All right, so how do you get someone to come to church? Explain what our church service is like. All right, there's no obligation to join. I just want you to come visit. If you come, I'll get a New Testament for you. We got a Bible bookstore. Let's get you a Bible if they don't have one. Invite him to a meal after. Be kind and persuasive. Just offer to be his friend. And I'm not talking about manipulation. How about you really be his friend, right? He just got saved. He probably needs a friend. And so tell him you won't be embarrassed. You won't have to say anything. I'll sit with you. I'll show you where to go. Matter of fact, I can pick you up in the morning or, hey, why don't we go out and get breakfast? Or, you know, I'll meet you at the church at this time. I'll meet you outside in the parking lot. I'll walk in with you, show you where everything's at. And then one of the biggest things is if he says, yes, I'm going to come to church, then say, wonderful. If if you'd like to come to church tomorrow, how about we promise God you're going to come to church? And if they didn't mean they were coming to church, you'll see their eyes get big. Promise God I'm coming to church. How about we promise God you'll come to church? And this is where if they go ahead, very few people are gonna promise God knowing that they're lying to you, right? How about we promise God that you're gonna come to church? All right, I'm promising God I'm gonna come to church. Let's pray right now and tell God you're promising him. I'll put my hand, Lord, Bob promises to come to church on Sunday. and it changes the ballgame. You say, is that manipulation? No, it's helping him understand the bigness of it. Aren't you tired of seeing people get saved and not coming to church? And it doesn't mean that they didn't get saved. Maybe they got saved and their Pentecostal friend from work invited them. Or their Catholic aunt said, well, if you're going to go to church, you might as well come with me. Or they said, you know, I went to this church as a kid, so I might as well go back there. There's a million things. And warn them that once they decide to come to church, Satan's going to try to stop them. Right? Somebody's going to get sick. Something's going to happen. The car is going to break down. Something will happen trying to keep you to come from church. But we're promising God. We promised God. So let's say you're in the hospital this week. Your promise transfers to next week, you know, and kind of get a chuckle out of them. What are you doing? It's a big deal whether or not they come. Not because the church saves, but you wouldn't leave a newborn baby in the nursery at the hospital and not take it home. This is a newborn baby that needs to know how to be saved. All right? And then you can follow the rest of those things. Any quick questions? I know I spent some time tonight. Did this help somebody? I know nobody here would do this, but if you're a preacher, we've heard this before. Then let me kindly ask you, why aren't you seeing more people saved? If we've got it all down and we don't need this, then where's all the converts? And this is how I talk to myself. All right, Chapman, you're the pastor, right? Where's your converts? Where are you out witnessing to people? Who'd you talk to this week? Let's not deceive ourselves into thinking, oh, I know all that. If we know so much of it, then we're accountable to use it, right? But let's say this. How many of us would be willing to pray this week, God, I want to be a better soul winner, and that's me. I want to do a better job. And how many of us would pray, Lord, give me boldness. Teach me how to win people to Jesus. Give me opportunities and I'll say a word for you. Would you all be willing to do that? I think that some of you, I think everybody in this room should pray and say, Lord, before the year's out, I would like to win someone to Jesus and have him visit church with me. Now, it's hard to do that because we're putting ourselves on the line. You say, well, I can't decide who's going to get saved. That doesn't mean you go out and strangle someone and put a gun to their head and get saved and come to church. That might mean you have to talk to 100 people before the end of the year. Because you can't control the harvest. All you can do is control your effort. So that's why at our church, we encourage people to make effort goals, not results goals. Because I can't control the harvest, but I can control how often I go planting and watering. And then God gives the increase. All right, let's pray. Lord, thanks for the time today. And I just pray that somebody would just catch the fire of soul winning and say, I can do this. I can do this. I could be good at this with God's help. And Lord, some people are just scared to death to talk to people. Give us victory over our personality. Give us victory over our limiting beliefs, the fears that we have. Others talk to people about everything else. Why not talk to people about the gospel? So I pray that you would work in our hearts tonight, help us to see more people saved in the mighty and holy name of Jesus. Help us to see people saved this year, baptized and added to the church. The gospel still works. Help us to be faithful spreading it. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. Let's stand. As the piano plays, you come. God spoke to your heart. Move quickly out of your seat.