In Joshua 23, turn if you would to Acts 1 because we are going to deal with the critics
of soul winning. There are many critics. I remember when Paul said, a great door is opened
up to be ineffectual and there are many adversaries. Any time God opens a great door, any time
a man here, and let me tell you something, Pastor Jimenez has a vision, any time there's
a man that has a vision that's doing a great work for God, there are going to be many adversaries.
There are going to be many naysayers. I've been attacked through the years, just in the
short time, five and a half years that I've pastored, I've been attacked and run through
the ringer. It's going to happen because all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution. Brother Jimenez is going to suffer persecution. Brother Jimenez is
going to be attacked and there are going to be the naysayers who will give the thumbs
down to soul winning. There will be the naysayers and the people who will try to say soul winning
doesn't work and they'll throw the wet blanket on soul winning and it's always going to be
that way and so that's what I'm going to deal with tonight here in Acts chapter 1 in
verse 14. I love the book of Acts. Acts chapter 1 verse 14, it says, These all continued with
one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and married the mother of Jesus
and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and
said the number of names together were about 120 and I'm not going to focus on what he
said tonight but let me ask you something. How many disciples were in the early church
in Acts 1? Call it out to me nice and loud. Everybody's afraid to talk tonight. Come on,
how many? 120. So let me ask you this, where was everybody else? Now it says here that
this is including, very clear, this is including the women. This is including Mary. This is
including Jesus' four half brothers. This is including woman and man alike, the early
church. These are the same people that are about to be endued with power from on high
and preached at the day of Pentecost. How many of them were there? 120.
Now this is what the critics of Soul Winter are going to say tonight. Well where are all
these people that you won to Christ? I don't think they really got saved because they're
not in church tonight. They must not really be saved. They didn't get baptized. Well,
you know what? There's a church of Christ down the street and they believe that you
have to be baptized to be saved. You may want to go down there tonight and join that religion.
If you think somebody has to get baptized to join the church, I don't believe in seven
steps to salvation tonight. I believe in one step. Believe I'm the Lord Jesus Christ and
I shall be saved in thy house. And so the critics of Soul Winter will inevitably say,
where are all these people that you won to Christ? Soul Winter is a fraud. That's what
they'll say. Now let me say this, the greatest man who's ever walked on the face of this
earth, the greatest man who's ever walked on the face of this earth outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself who was God in the flesh, Jesus said that the greatest man who ever
walked the earth was who? John the Baptist. Now let me ask you something. Didn't John
the Baptist get a lot of people saved? He baptized multitudes, the Bible says. Multitudes.
Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and the region round about Jordan and they
came and were baptized of him and Jordan, confessing their sins. You remember when Jesus
Christ in John 3, it was said of John the Baptist that he made him baptized more disciples
than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples. So John the Baptist had
a ton of people saved and baptized and then Jesus and his apostles came along and they
had far more saved and baptized. Multitudes, thousands, I mean thousands upon thousands
upon thousands but wait a minute, only 120 of them were really saved. Do you really expect
me to believe that? So 90 some percent of all the people that John the Baptist baptized,
they weren't really saved, none of the people Jesus, it was just those 120 who were in church
that were really saved. But that's the garbage that's being preached today in independent
Baptist church. Well it's only the ones who really get in church and stay in church and
endure until the end. They're the only ones who really got saved. Well that means that
John the Baptist was the biggest fraud then because all his converts, you know, they didn't
pan out and Jesus' converts and the apostles for three and a half years of Jesus' ministry
and six months of John the Baptist, for four years these great men, John the Baptist and
the Lord Jesus Christ had multitudes and thousands and tens of thousands of people saved and
yet in that early church when the going got rough, there were only 120 people in that
church period. And people would look at a church that has 120 people in it today, they'd
look at that church and say, oh they're lying, they didn't get those people, those people
didn't really get saved. Now look, if somebody believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, they're
saved. I mean if we can't rely on that then none of us can even be sure that we're saved.
That's the promise I'm relying on. Now look, are there people out there who think they're
saved and they're not? Oh yeah, there are a lot of people out there and it's because
they're trusting in their own works, it's because they're trusting in self-reformation,
it's because they're trusting in, you know, I have joined the church, I've been baptized,
or I quit this sin, or I was willing to quit this sin. You know, they're trusting in their
own works tonight and they think they're saved and they're not. And many will say unto Jesus
Christ in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have
cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works? And then, while I profess
unto them, I never knew you, depart from me that work iniquity. There are a lot of people
today that are relying on their work. You say, how do you know that every single person
that you talked to out on soul winning really got saved? I don't. The only person I really
know is saved is the person that you're looking at right here. You know, I know I'm saved,
but I do know this, I get on my knees and pray that God will lead me to those who want
to hear the gospel. I do know this, I open my Bible and very thoroughly go through scripture
after scripture after scripture and preach the gospel and ask that person questions that
they understand and dialogue with that person and try to get that person to understand the
gospel. And when they say, hey, I believe that. I believe it's all through Jesus Christ.
I believe he's the only way to heaven. I believe that once I'm saved, and by the way, this
time I emphasize on soul winning, that I can't lose myself. Because it's eternal life. It's
everlasting life. You know, hey, I believe that. I believe, well, okay, well, call upon
the name of the Lord right now and be saved if you believe that you are. But that person
didn't really get saved. Then God saved him. Call upon the name of the Lord and believe
in their heart that God raised him from the dead. No doubt about it. Now, somebody could
lie to me. Somebody could be a Judas Iscariot. You know, Jesus had a phony in his church,
you know, that was not saved. The Bible says he didn't believe on him. Judas Iscariot didn't
believe on Christ. You know, they're going to be the tares among the weak. But you know
what? If we're going out and really being thorough, that's really the problem with the
law of the soul, you know, not being thorough. Be thorough and really preach it unto them
and make sure they really understand it and they believe it, you know, they're saved.
Otherwise, you know, who is saved, my friend? And so the critics of soul winning need to
read Acts 1, 14 and 15 and rethink this thing that says everybody who's saved is going to
go to Verity Baptist Church. And by the way, I say this to a lot of the critics. I say,
well, do you want to go to my church? No. Are you saved? Yeah. Well then, apparently
everybody who's saved doesn't want to go to Faithful War Baptist Church and everybody
who's saved doesn't want to go to Verity Baptist Church. Maybe it's some of the things that
are preached at Verity Baptist Church that some people just can't handle, you know, but
does that mean that they're not saved? Anybody who can't, you know, hang in here with this
radical, you know, they're not really saved. That's garbage. All you got to do is believe
on Jesus Christ to be saved and truly trust Him alone as Savior. That's what John 3.16
says. That's what John 3.18, John 3.36, John 5.42, John 6.47, John 10. I mean, where do
you want to stop with this? It's the message of the Bible.