Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church this evening.
Let's turn in our hymn notes to page 395.
Three hundred ninety-five, Only One Life.
Jesus, my Lord and King, Only one tongue to praise Thee,
And of Thy mercy sing, Only one heart's devotion.
Saviour, oh, may it be, Consecrated alone to Thy matchless glory,
Yielded fully to Thee, O Master, call me, Only this hour is mine, Lord,
May it be used for Thee.
May every passing moment count for eternity,
Souls all above are dying, Dying in sin and in shame.
Help me bring them the message of Calvary's redemption,
In Thy glorious name, on the last, Only one life to offer.
Sing it out. Take it, dear Lord, I pray,
Nothing from me with owning, Thine will I now obey,
Thou who hast freely given, Thine all in all for me.
Claim this life for thine own to be used, My Saviour, every moment for Thee.
And let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much, dear Lord,
that we have a wonderful building we can come to that's nice and warm,
and where we can meet and hear the gospel preached
and the other doctrines of the Bible and we can just fellowship.
Thank you so much, dear Lord, that we have this place to gather together.
Lord, I pray you'd bring all the brothers and sisters here tonight
and that more would even show up in the next few minutes here.
And Lord, be with our speaker tonight.
I pray in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
Amen.
Page 409.
Page 409. Hold the fort.
Oh, my comrades, see the signal wearing in the sky.
Reinforcements thou appearing, victory is nigh.
Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus' signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will.
See the mighty, most advancing Satan leading on.
Mighty men, the ground is falling, courage almost gone.
Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus' signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will.
On the third.
See the glorious Anna waving, hear the trumpet blow.
In our leader's name we triumph over every floor.
On the third.
I am coming, Jesus' signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will.
Along the battle ranges, thou thy help is near.
Onward comes our great commander, cheer my comrades, cheer.
Sing it out now, brothers.
Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus' signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will.
And now we're going to have some announcements.
Welcome to Bible Believers Baptist Church.
The verse of the week, Psalms 65, 12.
They drop upon the pasture of the wilderness and the little hills rejoice on every side.
Thank you for joining us at the Bible Believers Baptist Church.
It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the music and the preaching and the word of God.
If you are a first time guest, please fill out the guest card and drop it into the offering plate when it goes by.
If we can be of service to you, please do not hesitate to ask.
Bible Believers Baptist Church is an independent, fundamental Baptist Church.
We are King James Bible only, soul winning salvation by faith alone and family integrated.
I set aside time after the service to answer any questions about spiritual matters.
Feel free to come and talk to me or the brothers here at the church.
We use the WhatsApp to coordinate soul winning locations and details.
Ask pastor or soul winning leader for more information.
Sunday services and morning services are 10.30, soul winning between time, 3.30 and afternoon service.
Wednesdays, 4 o'clock soul winning and 6 o'clock service time.
We are a family integrated church.
Children and infants are always welcome in the church service.
We have a mother's baby room available for your convenience during all the services.
Please no men or children above three years old in the mother's baby room.
No unattended children in any area of the building, please.
No food in the assembly area, please reserve the back row for families with young children.
Rockers are for pregnant and nursing mothers and elders only.
Please help us to keep the building the way we found it.
Clean up after yourselves and your families if necessary.
Silence your cell phones, please.
Assistance to your vehicles is available by the ushers.
Don't hesitate to ask.
If you need help to your vehicles, come up and ask us ushers.
We'll help you to your vehicles.
Souls saved of this year, 2023, we have 156 souls.
It says here 153, but we added three more, so we've got 156 souls.
Praise the Lord on that.
Thank you, Jesus, Father.
Upcoming preaching schedule.
Tonight we have Deacon Russell with us tonight.
Amen.
For that, Sunday is November 26th, we've got Brother Robert Larson who will be preaching for us.
Upcoming events, December 2nd, 3rd, preaching and soul winning trip to Calgary, Alberta.
Contact evangelist Jim Weeb for details.
December 8th and 9th, Indianapolis preaching and soul winning event.
And the birthdays of this month were Cody, November 13th, and Sister Angie.
November 20th was Brother Roman.
And November 24th, Aili.
And that's it for the bulletin.
And now let us pray.
Father, thank you, dear Lord, for today, dear Lord, be it the preaching, Father God,
and be it Deacon Russell as he preaches to us.
Dear Heavenly Father, share the word to us.
Dear Heavenly Father, speak to our hearts.
Dear Heavenly Father, convict us, encourage us.
And thank you for your love, your grace and mercy for everything you do for us.
Dear Heavenly Father, and what you did in Jesus' precious mighty name.
Amen.
Oh, dear Lord, bless the offering as we do the offering.
Heavenly Father, bless those who showed up tonight.
And bless those that didn't come.
Dear Heavenly Father, just be with our church congregation in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Oh, dear Lord, bless the offering as we do the offering.
And bless those that didn't come.
Oh, dear Lord, bless the offering.
And bless those that didn't come.
Oh, dear Lord, bless the offering.
And bless those that didn't come.
Oh, dear Lord, bless the offering.
Amen.
Alrighty. Let's sing our last song, 518.
In your Great Hymns of the Faith hymnbook there, 518.
Over the Sunset Mountain.
Over the Sunset Mountain,
Soon may our song be sung
Into the arms of Jesus, he who has loved me so.
Over the sunset mountains, he who lives for me.
Page 518.
Over the sunset mountains, Jesus,
my Savior I'll sing.
Toiling will all be ended.
Shadows will flee away.
Sorrow will be forgotten.
Oh, what a wonderful day.
Over the sunset mountains, heaven awaits for me.
Over the sunset mountains, Jesus, my Savior I'll sing.
Now we're going to ask Brother Corbin Russell to come and
preach for us tonight, our special guest speaker tonight.
Won't you come, Brother Russell?
We're privileged to have him here tonight.
He's a fine preaching man.
I appreciate that.
That's all right.
Give me my 20 after this, so I'm going to win.
It's comes cheap, you know?
I wish it was like that.
It is a pleasure to be up here with you.
I'd like to thank everybody for coming out on a Wednesday.
A lot of these midweek services, people are getting out of work.
And I'll try my best blessing to you tonight.
And I want to preach tonight on the subject of soul winning.
But I'm going to let you know how to sermon, OK?
So I'm sure there's people here that are already fairly familiar with soul winning.
But I believe sermons like this are needed.
And sermons like this will be beneficial to those who are soul winning.
So I think it's a blessing to be here to be able to preach tonight.
Because obviously on a Wednesday night, you're kind of preaching to soul winners.
And if you want to win, you're serious about coming to church.
Typically serious about the law.
So hopefully tonight, there'll be some things you can learn from the sermon.
And I don't like to start a sermon like this.
But I'll tell you, it's probably going to be a little bit longer.
Because I'm going to try and cover a lot tonight.
And there's going to be a lot of Bible verses.
But I believe that if you'll pay attention, and that if you'll take some notes
and write some things down, there's going to be some things that will help you.
So let's go ahead and just open, first of all, with a word of praise.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for these folks that have come out, Lord, to your house to hear the preaching of your word.
Lord, I pray that you can direct me tonight to say what needs to be said and nothing more.
And Lord, that we would learn what it is to preach the gospel, how to do it.
And Lord, we've seen most of all the importance of it in the day and age that we're living in, Lord.
There's so few of us that are doing this work anymore, Lord, that makes us all the more valuable.
I pray you'd help us to understand the great importance of preaching the gospel to the lost.
We ask these things. Amen.
So the title of the sermon tonight is All Aboard the Gospel Express.
All Aboard the Gospel Express.
And that's just, I got that title from, this is something I'd hear over the years.
I don't know if it was a song that I heard somewhere, but someone would say,
All Aboard the Gospel Express, the letters on the side read J-E-S-U-S, right?
So that'll make a little bit more sense at the end.
But I think a good thing we can or something we take out of that phrase,
All Aboard the Gospel Express, is that we need to make sure that we're being efficient in our soul winning, right?
If you think about a locomotive or a train, you know, that's kind of what that saying is indicating.
You know, get on the gospel express, get on the locomotive for the Lord, right, so to speak.
When you think about a train, they're very efficient. They know where their destination is.
They have times. They have places they have to be at a certain time and things have to run smoothly.
And it's the same way with us today. You know, we as God's people have to make sure that we're preaching the gospel,
that we're making good use of our time, that we're being efficient and we're being thorough when we're preaching the gospel.
OK, now, again, there's probably.
Of, you know, fairly well acquainted with preaching the gospel, have been doing it and but I would I would say tonight,
though, that I'm sure there's something in the sermon that will be of help to you,
and we should always be willing and ready and able to receive instruction.
Regardless of where, regardless of how long we've been involved in ministry,
we should all be open to hearing sermons like this and perhaps being corrected or instructed or gleaning something from it.
None of us should ever come to anything in the Christian life thinking that we've got it all figured out and that we can't.
We don't have any more room to grow. We all do. OK. In fact, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself,
but I remember I'd been soul winning for several years in Phoenix and then going out doing it and getting soul saved.
And I remember hearing a sermon like this where it was just a very instructive sermon,
where just things were laid out in a very methodical way about how to present the gospel and just some practical pointers were given.
And I said, you know what? I've kind of got. Works, you know, I'm just going to.
Before, and I'm just going to take what I've learned from the sermon and I'm going to start doing it that way.
And I can tell you that that really helped me find a tried and true method of presenting the gospel to somebody that is efficient and thorough.
And that really helped me to actually see more people get saved and to.
Clearly, again, clearly present the gospel. So. Let me just.
You know, it was. That people.
I win souls right out of the gate. Wait, man, right?
He didn't say, hey, follow me, because you guys already know how to do this.
You guys have already got everything figured out. And and, you know, there's no need for instruction.
He said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, meaning the disciples.
Had to be instructed, had to learn how to preach, had to know what to preach.
You know, there was, you know, maybe it's not exactly obviously what I'm going to be preaching to you tonight, but.
Side. And instructing them because they were going to be made fishers of men.
OK, that's something that they had to learn to do.
OK, and then later in Luke 10, that's when you see Jesus finally eventually sending them two by two before his face,
you know, whether he himself would come later. OK, so they are eventually sent out on their own.
But there had to be a period of time where they learned how to preach.
To learn how to minister. OK, we're no different. You know, we all have to come to the Lord and learn how to do these things.
OK, now, if you would go to Second Corinthians, chapter number five, Second Corinthians, chapter number five.
And I just want to start by emphasizing the importance of what we do as soul winners.
We should never think that what we're doing or what we're doing, you know, doesn't happen.
He also is going to. You know, when the son of man.
You know, his little. OK, you know, as we approach, you know, the end times,
as we get deeper and deeper into these last days, the love of many is going to wax colder and colder.
And we're living in a world where people are less interested in the things of God, where our Christian or our nation, rather, is.
Christianize, you know, that means that what we're doing is all the more important.
Look, it was already important. I mean, what could be more important than going out and preaching the gospel?
What could be more important than going out and telling somebody how to avoid the eternal fire of hell?
I mean, there's nothing more important. I'm not saying that there aren't.
Important to people in general, but look, preaching the gospel is of the utmost importance,
and we need people to go out and preach the gospel, and not only that, when they go to make sure that they're being efficient.
Look at second Corinthians number five. Look at verse 17.
It says, Therefore, if many man be in Christ, the creature, old things are passed away.
Behold, come new and all things are of God with reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
I love this verse. You know, Christ has reconciled us to himself.
You know, we got saved the same way everybody else is going to get saved in this world by faith in Christ,
by someone preaching us to the gospel, whether it's you saw on a YouTube video or someone came to your door or,
you know, there was somebody somehow explained to you the gospel and you got saved and you were reconciled unto Christ through his blood.
Obviously, Christ is reconciling. We've been reconciled to him by himself, by Jesus Christ.
He's the one that reconciled us. But there was. Just the guy.
Notice the latter half of verse 18 and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is what preaching the gospel is. You're you are reconciling sinners to a sin.
And the you know, the people in the world, God and what we're preaching is that people can have peace with God through Christ,
that there can be that reconciliation. You're bringing the sinner and God.
Reconciliation is a very powerful work for us to go out and reconcile with God.
It's powerful work. And notice something has been given to us, right?
He said he has given to us this ministry. You know, he didn't task us with it.
You know, he has given us, granted to us that we can go out and be ambassadors, as it says here, for Christ.
It's a great privilege to go out and to be able to reconcile with God.
Verse 19, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them,
committed unto us, the word of God has been committed unto us.
That if we are not going to save anybody, the Jehovah is not going to save anybody, the church of Christ is not going to save anybody.
In fact, on the opposite direction, because they're preaching a false gospel and they're going to damn people to hell
when they're denying the son, the deity of Christ, and they're denying salvation by grace through faith,
when they're saying that baptism is necessary for salvation, when they're preaching a thinly veiled works-based salvation,
you know, they're not going to save us, damn souls to hell.
This ministry of reconciliation is something that's been committed unto us, meaning it's incredibly important.
And it's a great privilege to be able to go out and reconcile to God.
Look at verse 20, now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you.
We pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God.
I mean, let those words sink in. He beseeched you, beseeched you by...
When we're telling people about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, when we're preaching that to them,
what's really... preaching them through us, through the preaching of his words, powerful.
Ambassadors for Christ. Now think about being an ambassador, okay?
Ambassadors, you know, if you were in an emissary to a foreign country,
you probably just wouldn't pull a name out of the hat and say, that guy will do.
You would probably make sure it was somebody who had a certain list of credentials, wouldn't you?
I mean, if we were to be a little...
You know, I doubt any of us in this room would probably qualify or probably even want that job to begin with.
I mean, good night.
We have to go and be an ambassador for these days. That's another...
Isn't it? I'm not going to get off track, okay? It's tempting.
You know, if we wanted to be an ambassador of some sort, you know, we'd have to have a certain degree,
meaning we'd have to be educated, meaning we'd have to have learned some things about what it's going to take.
Look, we might consider a world that...
We have to approach it that way.
How can we improve? How can we get better?
I mean, maybe we're all in different spots,
in different places, you know, we all have to grow.
And again, let me just point out that there's so few...
Rare, it's incredibly valuable, isn't it?
We put great value on things that are rare.
You know, and he that win his souls is wise, okay?
When you have a soul winner, you know, that's a very valuable thing.
In a church of any size, because in comparison...
How much more so in a church such as this?
You know, which is a little bit smaller than your average church, just being honest...
What that should tell you is that you're that much more important.
There's what, a couple hundred people in Yakima, the greater...
I got a little bit of hot water last year,
a little old Yakima last time I was up here, right?
This isn't bigger than the town I grew up in.
You know, a few hundred thousand people, that's...
You know, who's going to knock all those doors?
You know, if it's not this church, who is it going to be?
If it's not you sitting here tonight, who's it going to be?
Just tonight is winning, right?
You're not...
If it's just you guys, if it's just a handful of people trying to knock a city of this size,
it's important that you're efficient.
It's important that you're effective, because nobody else is doing it.
You know, I get frustrated sometimes, even where I live.
We've got to knock these doors and then we've got to go back again.
And then we've got to keep knocking these doors and reach everybody with insurmountable
tasks.
Honestly, you know, the reality of the situation, the fact is that there's going to be people
who would have gotten saved that aren't saved, simply because the laborers are few, because
people are slipping through the cracks.
You know, and if we are not being efficient and effective in our time and being thorough
in the gospel and knowing when to walk away and all these other things, you know, that's
just making our job all the more difficult of reaching every soul that we can.
Okay, so that's why it's important to be efficient.
You're already a rare breed of soul.
And we're just going to look at a real basic gospel presentation, all right?
And this isn't something I made up.
And the person I heard it from, they didn't make it up either.
They heard it from somebody else, who probably heard it up from somebody else.
And ultimately, it's all Bible anyway, okay?
They have this broken up into three sections, really, where you have the opening, where
you're walking up to the door, where you're presenting the gospel, and then essentially
kind of where you're closing it, okay?
In the gospel, that's the three categories, right?
You're first knocking that door, greeting that person, see the gospel presentation,
and then the closing, right?
Where you're trying to wrap it up and pray with them or not.
Excuse me.
And let me also say this.
If there's anything that I say tonight that is contrary to the way things that Pastor
Thompson wants them done, I'm wrong, okay?
Do them the way Pastor Thompson wants them.
I'm not going to try and get off to minor technicalities.
I really want to focus on the gospel, okay?
But let's start with the opening, where you're just knocking the door and greeting the sinner,
okay?
And that's what they are, all right?
Just like me and you.
They're all sinners.
My first, and again, I'm not going to get too far in the weeds, but just think about
how you knock, even something as practical as that.
Make sure you're knocking nicely, right?
We don't want to have the cop knock, all right?
Especially in some of the rougher neighborhoods that we go into.
They're going to sound like, they're going to say, I recognize that sound, okay?
Because it sounds like a cop knock, right?
And you don't want people coming to the door either apprehensive or aggressive, right?
And don't do one of these little, like you don't want to be heard knocks either.
Obviously, you want to have a nice, good, solid knock.
But you know, it's probably not a good idea, all right?
And you say, why do you say that?
Because people do it.
Because people knock very aggressively.
And then the people come to the door, you know, either they jump out the back window
because they have a warrant, no, I'm just kidding, or they come to the door and they're
very apprehensive.
Or maybe again, I don't know what it's like around here.
Maybe there's some neighborhood where they're just going to shoot first and ask questions
later.
But you get the point.
You know, have a nice knock.
You know, when people come to the door, greet them with a smile, be courteous, okay?
Now when it comes to the opening, what's important is that you tell them who you are and why
you're there right away, okay?
Just get that right.
Because that's what they're thinking.
Think about all the times anyone's ever come to your door.
What is the first thing you think?
Who is this?
Why are they here, right?
You don't want to have, you're not going to go to the door, expect them to start just
striking up a conversation.
You want to know who is this person and why are they standing at my door?
So you know, that's pretty simple, right?
Hey, my name is, hey, how you doing?
My name is Brother Corbin.
I'm from Bible Believers Baptist Church in Union Gap, okay?
And I'm just out inviting folks to church.
I think everyone here gets the gist of that, okay?
So the next part of the opening is where we begin to confront them with the gospel.
And again, I'm preaching this thing so that we can just be concise, so that we can be
effective, so that we can be thorough.
Once I've told somebody why I'm there, I immediately confront them with the gospel, okay?
And I do it politely and I just ask something as simple as like, hey, are you a Christian?
You know, I'll hold out the invitation, you know, typically they'll accept it, you know.
And let me say this, if a person at, you know, right there at the beginning of that is giving
you clear signals that they're not interested, it's time to walk away, okay?
Let's not beat our heads against a wall here trying to talk to somebody who has no interest
in talking to us.
Because again, you guys are already a rare group here, okay?
A valuable group, okay?
So you're, you need to hurry up and find the guy that is interested, the guy or gal that
is down the road that is ready, willing, and wanting to hear the gospel.
Not somebody who's just like, hey, you know, I'm not really interested right now.
As soon as they give you the first hint that they're not interested, have a good night.
Thank you for your time.
And just politely excuse yourself, you know.
And that's why, you know, I don't get upset about people who, you know, are rude and slam
the door.
So I'm not interested.
I'm just like, thank you for not wasting my time and just move on to the next person,
right?
Because the next guy isn't always going to be like that.
But let's say, you know, they are expressing some interest.
They're at least letting you talk, you know.
What do you say?
Hey, are you a Christian?
Maybe they'll say yes or no.
You say, you know, if they say yes, hey, where do you go to church, right?
And I'm not trying, you know, to, to, I'm just trying to ascertain a little bit about
this person.
Are they saved is really what I'm trying to figure out.
Ultimately, in that opening, all roads lead to the Romans road.
That's all what I'm trying to figure out.
Are you a Christian?
Yes.
Hey, what do you think it takes to be saved?
That's great.
You know, are you 100% sure of heaven and 99% of people are going to say what?
I'm a good person, right?
And people say, oh, you know, I, you know, I, I'm a good person.
And I'll just say something like, hey, it's, it's great to be a good person or it's, that's
a good thing to do.
You know, the Bible does tell us that we ought to love our neighbors as ourselves.
You know, Jesus taught us to do that, but you know, that's also a lot of work too, isn't
it?
And they'll say, yeah, that is a lot of work because some neighbors are more lovable than
others.
You know, we're supposed to love our neighbors ourself.
We don't always do that.
And they're like, yeah, you're right.
You know, they'll agree with that.
And you say, hey, but the good news of the gospel is that going to heaven is a lot easier
than that.
In fact, the Bible says it's a gift.
Can I just show you from the Bible?
And either they're going to say yes or no.
And if they say no, it's time to go.
If they're not, they're not interested, it's time to leave.
Okay.
Cause a lot of times if we sit there and twist people's arms, they're just going to listen
long enough to not be rude.
Okay.
What they really want to say is get off my porch.
I'm not interested if we start twisting their arms.
But what they're, you know, they're just, so they're, they're only going to feign interest
so long.
They are eventually just going to say, you know what, make up an excuse.
And now we just wasted five, 10, 20 minutes talking to somebody who didn't even want to
hear it at the beginning.
So if someone's not interested, it's time to move along.
Now what if they are interested?
You say, hey, can I show you from the Bible what it takes to get to heaven?
That's when we begin the gospel presentation, right?
And I'm sure a lot of this, a lot of folks already know.
But if you don't, let me just very quickly go through it with you.
Obviously we all know Romans three, right?
That's the place that we would go.
Romans three.
You know, that's a great place to start.
Romans three, verse 10, as it is written, there is none good, no, not one, right?
Nobody's good.
And, and here's the thing, whenever you're talking about sin and trying to get somebody
convinced to sin, don't put it all on them, you know, or are you a sinner?
They don't want to say, oh yeah, who wants to admit to that?
No one wants to say, yeah, you're right.
You know, you got, well, got me, busted, right?
I'm a sinner.
You already know they're a sinner, right?
You know, because when people are coming to the door, they're apprehensive.
Then you started confronting them with the gospel.
They're getting nervous.
And let me, you know, people don't want to be wrong at the door.
No one wants to be, feel stupid, do they?
They don't want to get the answer wrong.
So we got to be careful about the questions that we ask, right?
How is that going to make them feel?
Are you a sinner?
You know, we already know they're a sinner because the Bible says all have sinned.
So I just show them in Romans chapter three, verse 23, for all have sinned.
So I'll just say, you know, the Bible says right here, all have sinned, you know?
So the Bible says we're all sinners, right?
I'm a sinner.
You're a sinner.
You notice how I did that?
I'm a sinner.
You're a sinner.
Now I'm relatable.
Okay?
And I understand these are kind of soft skills.
These are people skills.
Not everybody has the same, you know, the same personality.
Not everybody's alike.
Not, you know, there's different levels of charisma and all that stuff, but, you know,
that's a good principle.
Hey, I'm a sinner.
You're a sinner.
Make it relatable, right?
Let them get their guard down a little bit so that they'll be willing to listen.
Not just, you know, hey, are you a sinner?
You know you're a sinner, right?
Let me tell you how wicked you are.
Okay?
Name some sins.
Come on, let's hear them, right?
There's probably some things you don't want to hear, to be all honest.
You know, I'll say, you know, we're all sinners, and if I got my soul winning partner there,
I'll say, especially this guy.
He's a big old sinner.
Pray for him, right?
No, I'm just kidding.
Sometimes I'll do that.
But all joking aside, I'll show him that, and then, of course, I'll go over to Romans
chapter six, verse 23, because here's the thing.
Most people are going to admit they're a sinner like that, especially if you ask them nice.
Say, hey, you're a sinner, right?
Have you ever told a lie?
I know I've told a lie.
I've told some whoppers.
Say, yeah, I've told a lie.
Yeah, we've all at least done that.
And then you show them Romans 6, 23, and then you just show them that first half.
The wages of sin is death, right?
The wages of sin is death, and then I'll say something like, you know, a wage is something
you earn.
A wage is something you deserve, right?
So you go to your job and you earn wages, not because they're being nice to you, but
because you've earned that.
That's what you deserve.
If they didn't pay you your wage, you'd be upset.
But the Bible is showing us here that the wages, or what we've earned because of our
sin, is death.
And not just the physical death, but what the Bible calls the second death, right?
And I'll say, have you ever heard the second death?
And most people are going to say no.
They're going to say they've never heard the second death.
They'll say, well, you know, the second death is what we would refer to commonly as going
to hell, right?
So then I'll take them over to Revelation 21, 8.
You know, and if you're new to preaching the gospel, I would really recommend you just
following this path.
You know, this is the one I still use to this day.
This is nothing new, okay?
Why do I use it?
Because it works.
Because it's effective.
Because our time is precious.
Because who we are in the sight of God is valuable.
Because we have the ministry of reconciliation committed unto us.
It's important that we're good at this and we're effective.
So use what works.
Revelation 21, verse 8.
The Bible says, but the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers,
and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burnt
fire and brimstone.
And I'll say, you see, which is the second death.
So I'll say at the end there, you see, so the second death is where we're cast like
a fire and brimstone.
That's what we refer to hell, right?
So the wages of sin is death.
That's going to hell.
The second death, right?
So because we're all sinners, not only deserve to die a physical death, but then our soul
is going to go to hell, okay?
And then I'll say, you know, there's a list of people that are going to go there.
And there's a lot of really bad things, you know?
And this is just me because, you know, I like to use a little levity, okay?
And I'm not saying you have to do everything that I do, obviously.
But I'll say, hey, you know, I'm not a lot of these things.
Are you?
I'm like, are you a murderer?
Now be careful because in some places they will say that you might be talking to somebody
who's killed somebody.
No joke.
So you got to kind of read that situation, right?
If you're in Gary, Indiana, or Detroit, Michigan, or even some part, maybe even here on the
rez, I don't know how bad it is here, but I know on the Gila River or the Navajo Reservation
or the White Mountain Apache where I've been, you probably don't want to make that joke
because there's a chance that they are or they know somebody else.
It's not a laughing matter.
It's reality, okay?
But, you know, you might say something like that.
You know, if you kind of get a sense of the person, you know, have you killed anybody?
I haven't.
You know, okay, well, we're both safe then, right?
Or if it's just some sweet, nice little person, you might say, you're not a murderer, are
you?
You're not being stuffed in the fridge.
You're buried out back.
Right?
Because we're talking about sin.
We're talking about going to hell.
You know, it's very serious, but it's also okay to be a little, have a little levity
too, right?
I'll say, you know, I've never done any of these things, but it does say all liars.
Not about you, but I've told a lie.
Have you told a lie?
You're going to say yes.
And I'll say, you know, honestly, you and I have probably said, done, or at least thought
worse things of lying.
The point is, is that we've all committed sin.
We all deserve that wage of sin, which is death and hell, okay?
And all I'm trying to show them is that we all deserve to go to hell.
That should take no time at all.
Two minutes, right, to go to those couple of verses and show them that.
The next part I like to talk to them about is, of course, Jesus.
Say, hey, so the Bible says that we all deserve to go to hell, right?
And I'll say yes.
Say, do you think God wants everybody to go to hell?
Most people are going to say no.
Right?
And I'll say, that's right.
God doesn't want us to go to hell.
In fact, that's why Jesus came and died for us.
And if you would, you know, let's go over to, where do we want to go?
Let's go to Romans chapter number five, Romans chapter number five.
In Romans chapter number five, because you already, you know, you're already in Romans,
you can kind of just keep a bookmark in Romans the whole time.
In Romans chapter five and verse eight, sometimes I'll just quote this, but I'll say, but, you
know, the Bible says that, you know, we all deserve to go to hell, but God doesn't want
us all to go to hell.
Does he?
They'll say no.
I'll say that's right.
And we know that's true because it says here in Romans five, verse eight, but God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, right?
And this is a great verse because it says in that while we were yet sinners.
So I'll say, you know, the Bible is showing us that God loves us and that he died for
us and that he's willing to take us to heaven, not after we clean up our lives, right?
It doesn't say, it says while we were yet sinners, even though we've broken God's commandments
and deserve to go to hell, you know, Christ died for us, right?
That's how we know God loved us, right?
And then I'll just ask him like, hey, do you think that Jesus died for some people or everybody?
And they'll say everyone.
And I'll say, that's right, and that includes you, doesn't it?
They'll say, yeah.
And I'll say, what's your name?
You know, that's usually when I try to get their name and they'll say, and they'll say
their name is, you know, John, and I'll say, hey, John, Jesus died for you, right?
And he died for everybody, right?
And I'll say, yeah.
I'll say, well, now, do you think, John, that he died for all of your sins or just some
of them?
And they'll say all of them.
And I'm trying to get this into their head, the idea, the concept of eternal security,
right?
That's right.
Jesus didn't just die for all the sins that you did, but all the sins that you're going
to do because we're all sinners.
We're going to sin every day, right?
We're going to make mistakes.
The thought of foolishness is sin.
We're all going to make mistakes.
So yeah, John, if Jesus wants to save you from hell, it would make sense that he has
to die for all of your sins, okay?
And then I'll just say, now, John, do you think that, I'll say, you know, it's true
that Jesus died for everybody, but do you think that means everybody is going to heaven?
And most people will say no, right?
And if they say yes, I'll say, well, what about the list that we just looked at in Revelation
21.8?
The fearful, that's a whole list of people.
And then, you know, I'll just quote them and say, hey, you know, and Jesus said, broad
is the way and wide is the gate which leadeth unto destruction and many there be which go
in there at.
Narrow is the gate and straight is the way which leadeth unto eternal life and few there
be that find it.
And I'll say, so Jesus himself taught that more people are going to go to hell than heaven,
John.
I say, but it's not because Jesus doesn't love them, it's because those people haven't
done the one thing that we all must do to go to heaven, okay?
And now you've got their attention, right?
And we've explained, hey, you know, we're all sinners, we all deserve to go to hell,
but Jesus died for us and he's made it possible, and he's died for not just the whole world
but for us, right?
And now they're like, okay, what is it that I have to do?
And I just said, hey, there's one thing we all must do.
Jesus said, there's one thing we all must do.
We all deserve to go to hell, you know, and not everyone's going to go to heaven, but
the people that choose to go to hell, it's because they haven't done the one thing that
Jesus said we all must do to go to heaven.
I mean, you probably want to hear me say it at this point.
What's the one thing, right?
And you already know it, okay?
So you kind of got them on the, you know, there's one thing I have to do, and then we're
going to show them.
Now, I apologize if I'm a little, you know, out of order tonight or just kind of rambling
a little bit, but I kind of skipped over a part that I want to make sure we get covered
here, okay?
It's that when we explain hell, right, we also want to make sure that we understand,
we want these people to understand that Christ is God, okay, and this doesn't take a lot
of time because most people believe this, right?
Especially in a very Catholic community, you know, they're going to agree with this.
Now, if you're in a very heavily Mormon community, this is where you're going to have an excuse
to get out of there.
But it says in 1 Timothy chapter 3 that, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, right?
Scene of angels preached on the Gentiles, believed on the world, received up into glory.
So when I say, and I'm backing up a little bit, okay?
So I apologize if I'm losing you here a little bit.
Just pay attention.
But when I say, hey, you know, we all deserve to go to hell, but do you think that God wants
everyone to go there?
They'll say, no.
I'll say, that's right.
That's why Jesus died for us.
You've probably heard about Jesus.
And they'll say, yeah.
I'll say, you know the story about Jesus, how he was born of a virgin, right?
And they'll say, yes.
They'll say, that's right.
And the Bible teaches that Jesus is God.
Do you believe that?
And they'll say, yes, typically.
And they'll say, well, that's right, because the Bible says that God was manifest in the
flesh, talking about the virgin birth.
And just like that, just in that quick statement, I've already confirmed whether or not they
believe in the deity of Christ, okay?
Because obviously, they've got to believe that to be saved, okay?
So they have to believe in the deity of Christ, but I just covered that real quickly.
And I don't try to get too hung up on it, because if someone's going to argue that point,
they're probably into some false doctrine, okay?
But you got verses like John 1, 1, right?
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word is with God, and the Word was God, okay?
You got 1 John 5, 7, and 8.
There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one, okay?
So those are some backup verses if you need them, if someone's just kind of like, well,
I'm not sure.
Is he?
Is he like, well, he's the Son of God, but does that mean he's God?
And they're just genuinely sincere, right?
So you got some other verses there.
But 1 Timothy 3, 16, you know, you can kind of just quote, right?
That's why, you know, God doesn't want us all to go to hell.
That's why he sent Jesus, his son, to die for us.
You know about Jesus, right?
Yeah, he was the Son of God.
He was God in the flesh, right?
The Bible says that God was manifest in the flesh, okay?
Hopefully that makes sense there.
And then I'll just mention, you know, Romans 5, 8, you could turn there, or you could also
quote 1 Corinthians 15.
Let's go there real quick.
1 Corinthians chapter number 15, chapter 15, verses 3 and 8, for I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, right?
According to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and he was rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures, okay?
So I've explained hell.
I've briefly just mentioned Christ's deity.
They've agreed with it.
And now I'm explaining, you know, God doesn't want us to go to hell.
We know that's true because the Bible says that in Romans 5, 8 that God commended his
love toward us and that while we were at sinners, Christ died for us, right?
Christ died for us.
That's how we know that God loves us and that we have that way to heaven.
He made that sacrifice.
What else happened?
Jesus.
After he died.
He was buried.
What happened three days later?
He rose, right?
And he got 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4 to kind of help them with that, okay, if
you need it.
So all of that really, most people are going to get fairly quick, okay?
So hopefully that makes sense.
That's kind of the Romans road there, right?
We've got Romans 3, 10, Romans 3, 23, Romans 6, 23a, Revelation 21, 8.
You can quote 1 Timothy 3, 16, John 1, 1, 1 John 5, 7.
Those are there if you need them.
1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4, Romans 5, 8, okay?
Now once they kind of understand, okay, Jesus died for us, you know, but, you know, we want
to explain that salvation is a free gift, okay?
And this is something you have to take your time with when you're preaching the gospel,
is explain to people the concept of the gift.
Okay, and you're already there in Romans, and, you know, I should be bookmarking it
myself, but in Romans, chapter 6, we all know the verse, verse 23, right, because we were
there earlier, and you could show them here in Romans, chapter 6, verse 23, it says, in
the latter half, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is such a great verse because, one, it contrasts a wage with a gift, right?
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God.
These are two different concepts, so you can even point that out, hey, a wage is something
you earn, but you don't earn a gift, do you, right?
But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
You know, a gift is not given, or excuse me, a gift is given, it's not earned.
It's the opposite of a wage.
That's what Paul's doing here.
He's contrasting the two, and then you just illustrate the concept of a gift, and you
say, boy, do you really have to do that?
Yes, you do, because people have, they don't even get it sometimes, okay?
Most people understand you do not work to obtain a gift.
Most people get that.
They understand you don't pay for a gift, right?
And that takes two seconds, you know, you just say, hey, you know, the Bible says that
it's the gift of God, that it's a gift.
Now, if I were to give you my Bible as a gift and say, and I said, hey, just give me one
penny, John, is that a gift?
John's gonna say no.
I say it might be a good price, right?
It's a great deal, it's not a gift, because you gave me something in return, right?
And then I'll say, you know, so you don't pay for a gift, right?
Well, what if I said this, hey, John, you know, you can have this Bible as a gift, you
don't have to pay me anything for it, but, you know, you gotta come out of the church
building and vacuum or something, you gotta come to church this Sunday, do some work around
the building, and then I'll get you a gift.
Is that a gift?
And again, everyone understands this.
It's not a gift, right?
Unless they had some really backwards parents or something, I don't know, right?
But that's not a gift.
Everyone gets it.
I say, that's right, it's not a gift, but what about this, John, what if I said, I wanna
give you this Bible as a gift, you don't have to give me anything, you don't have to do
anything for me, it's yours, you can have it, but I'm gonna stop by every so often,
and if I find any dirty dishes in the sink, I'm gonna take my gift back.
Is that a gift?
And they'll say no, so that's right, because now you're thinking, if I wanna keep this
gift, every time I have, you know, a bowl of cereal or a cup of coffee, I have to rinse
the dish out and put it away because that guy might show up and take my gift away.
So I say, now you don't work to keep a gift, do you?
Right?
They'll understand that.
You don't work to get it, and you don't work to keep it, okay?
So take the time to really drive that home so they understand that it's completely free
in both ways.
You don't work to get it, you don't work to keep it, because that's where most people
get mixed up, where they understand, oh, I get it, but now I have to pray every day,
confess and repent of my sins, to keep the gift, okay?
And then I'll explain to them, you know, the reason why it's a gift is because once you
have a gift, it's yours forever, right?
Once I give you this Bible as a gift, John, how long is it yours for?
It's forever, it's always mine, no matter what you do, right?
And then I'll explain to them, that's right, it's because, you know, it's a gift, it sounds,
and I'll say something like, you know, that sounds pretty easy, doesn't it?
They'll say, yeah, they'll say, yeah, God loves us so much that he just made it a gift
that all we have to do is just believe, right, that it's a gift.
And I'll say it's because once you have it, it's yours forever, and then I'll ask him,
you know, I'll use, however you get to this point, it's up to you, but I'll use the illustration
of the new birth, okay?
Because that's the one Jesus used.
So I figure any illustration Jesus is using is good enough for me.
And I'll take him to John 3, okay?
So go to John 3, and I'll just say, have you ever heard of being born again?
Most people have, right?
And if they haven't, well, they're about to.
And we just go to John 3, I know we all know it, it says here in John 3, we're going to
read it, we're going to take the time to do it tonight, it says in John 3, verses 3 through
7, Jesus said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
You can just drown to verse 5, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water,
and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God, okay?
And then some people will mistakenly think that he's referring to baptism, being born
of the water, but the answer is in the next verse, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, okay?
So it says the Bible says you have to be born again, I'll say the reason why Jesus is saying
you must be born again is because, he's using that illustration because it's a one-time
event, it's a one-time event, right?
And I'll ask him something like, how many birthdays do you have in a year?
We'll say one, right?
I said, yeah, if I pull out my driver's license, there's one birthday on it, okay?
Because when our mothers break, right, when that she was, you know, that water is part
of that process, when the water break, that just was born of the water, okay?
That's why it's the flesh and the water are synonymous terms.
I'm saying that was a one-time event, right?
Now, so is being born again, spiritually, that only happens once, right?
You receive the gift one time, you're born again one time.
And this is something you have to explain to people because this is what's going to
help them understand eternal security, okay?
They have to get out of their head that they can lose their salvation.
And when they start to understand that it happens one time, because we've all run into
those people and said, oh yeah, I prayed this morning, I pray every morning for salvation
or, you know, I confess my sins every night.
Well, that's great, but you only have to pray once to receive Christ.
You only have to receive a gift one time for it to become yours.
You only have to be born again one time to be a child of God, right?
So I'll kind of park it there for a minute and explain all that.
Hey, you know, he's saying it's born of the flesh because just like our physical birth,
our spiritual birth is a one-time event.
And I'll say, you know, and then you have Romans 3.16 is right there.
So then you take them there.
How do you be born again, right?
The Bible says in John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
What's the one thing that verse has to say?
And you know, I don't try to put people on the spot too much, but I'm going to put them
on the spot here because it's as plain as the nose on your face, right?
And if they don't get it the first time, maybe it's because they're not paying attention.
I'll just say, I'm going to show you right here what the one thing is that you have to
do in order to go to heaven.
Remember how I said that earlier?
You know, yeah, it's true, Jesus died for everybody, but that's because they haven't,
the people that, but they're still going to people that go to hell.
They're going to go there because they haven't done the one thing that Jesus said we all
must do.
What's that one thing?
Now we're showing them.
And he says here, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and I'm
showing them that whosoever believeth in him, and I'm not trying to be cryptic about it.
Whosoever believeth in him.
Like, I want them to get the answer.
I'm not playing hide and seek with the gospel here.
You know, this isn't a game show.
I'm trying to make it as easy for them to understand, right?
And whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
What's the one thing Jesus said you got to do?
Believe, right?
I'll say, that's right.
Did he say you have to go to church?
No.
Did he say you have to be baptized?
No.
Did he say you have to repent of all your sin?
No.
Did he say you have to be a good person?
No.
He said, all you have to do is believe, right?
I said, yeah.
And I'll say, they'll say, well, that sounds pretty easy.
And I'll say, that sounds pretty easy.
Just believe, right?
Yeah.
Well, that's why it says, for God so loved, right?
God loves us so much that he made it that easy, that all we have to do is believe, okay?
So hopefully it's clicking with them, right?
And then, you know, if you need it, Romans, excuse me, John 3, verse 18 is right there.
You can further emphasize this point.
He that believeth is not condemned, but, excuse me, he that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God.
So I'll show him and say, John, the only difference between a guy who's going to go to heaven
and go to hell, who's condemned and not condemned, is not how good of a person he is, it's whether
or not he has believed in the name of the Son of God, right?
So you're just emphasizing it's belief, belief, belief, one time, born again, right?
So you're saying, you're showing him, hey, it's a one-time event.
You're born again.
Once you believe, that's it, you're saved.
And then when I'm showing them, you can just go back to John 1, when I'm showing them next,
is how to be born again, and it's exactly what you'd expect.
It's through belief, right?
It's by faith.
John 1, 12.
But as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name.
You see, so the Bible is showing us, John, that when we believe on the name of the Son
of God, we're born again, and we become his child, right?
That's a one-time event, okay?
So hopefully they're grasping it at this point, that salvation's a free gift, you receive
it once, and you're born again, and it's eternal, you cannot lose it, okay?
So that's how they receive it, through believing, right?
Now at this point, you know, I like to explain to them, because at this point, they're either
getting it or they're not, okay?
And if we've been thorough up to this point, in explaining these verses, and turning them
there and showing it to them, and I know I'm kind of rambling a little bit, you know, because
I don't want, I'm not trying to get you to say things exactly the way I say them, but
hopefully we're going to turn to these verses and make the same illustrations, make the
same points, and however you do it, okay?
But these are things that we must show.
We must show that it's a gift and that it's eternal, okay?
Before we lead anybody in prayer, they should understand these concepts, not after.
And then what I like to do at this point is use myself as a testimony to test their understanding
of what I've explained thus far, okay?
So at this point, I would just show them, I would just say, or I'd show them all this,
and I would just say, John, you know, somebody showed me the same thing that I just showed
you about 20 years ago.
It's probably been longer than that, I haven't done the math in a while.
You know, I said 20 years ago, someone showed me that I was a sinner, that I deserved to
go to hell, that Jesus is God, that he loved me, that he died for my sins, was buried
and rose again, and that if I believed on him, I would be saved.
You know, so that's what I did 20 years ago.
The Bible says that if thou shalt believe in thine heart and confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, thou shalt be saved.
So 20 years ago, I believed these things in my heart, and then I confessed with my mouth,
meaning, you know, I prayed and asked Jesus to save me 20 years ago.
I was born again and became his child.
And I'll say it pretty much exactly like that.
You know, and then I'll say, you know, but since then, John, since that day 20 years
ago, I've gotten married.
I'm a married man today, and hopefully I remember to wear my ring so, you know, they don't think
I'm lying, right?
So I'm a married man, but let me ask you this, John, if let's say sometime in the future,
I were to go out and commit adultery on my wife.
That's pretty bad, huh?
And they'll go, yeah.
And I'll say, do you think I'd still go to heaven?
Now I'm testing whether or not they've been paying attention or understanding what I've
explained.
You know, it's not, it's not, we're not only testing their ability to understand, it's
also a test of our ability to explain these things correctly and thoroughly.
And I already, I feel scattered tonight, I understand, okay, but hopefully you've got
the thread there of where I'm going, okay, with the Romans road, and you've at least
got that in some of these illustrations.
But I'm saying, hey, if I commit adultery on my wife, do you think I'd go to heaven?
Now we're going to get somewhere, like how good of a job did I do explaining it?
Because at the end of the day, if we get to the end of our gospel presentation and
they're confused or they're arguing or they're not understanding, it's not always their fault.
We have to shoulder some of the blame and say, hmm, maybe I'm not doing a good enough
job in explaining the gospel.
Maybe I need to re-examine my methods here, make sure I'm being more thorough, okay?
And if they say, well, yeah, you'd go to hell, of course, you've given adultery.
You know, now it's kind of cluing me in, like they're not getting it, okay?
Now it's kind of up to you at that point, are you going to continue on with this?
Are you going to, you know, if you've done it, felt like you've done a good job and it's
just going, whoop, maybe it's just not their day, okay?
But a lot of times people say no just because they think that's the right answer.
Because remember what I said earlier, people don't like to be wrong.
So they're not going to tell you necessarily what they think, they're going to tell you
what they think is the, you want to hear.
Because how many people go around saying, you can go commit adultery and go to heaven?
Like nobody, right?
We're like pretty much it, right?
But isn't it true?
If I were, hey, think about it, if I were to go out and commit adultery on my wife,
wouldn't I go to heaven?
I would, right?
But most people aren't going to think that, they're going to think, no.
I would say, well, actually, I would go to heaven.
Let's say you said no.
I was like, no, I don't think you would.
So actually, John, the Bible, I would go to heaven, right?
Because what does it take to go to heaven?
And hopefully that comes back to them, believe, right?
Or I'll say something like, well, did Jesus die for some of my sins or all of them?
All of them.
Would that include adultery?
Yes.
And now it's beginning to click with them a little bit, right?
Hopefully they're starting to get it.
And I think it's at this point you kind of help people work them through this because
they're trying to get over a big mental hurdle because we've been taught our whole lives,
do good, get good things, right?
Not, you can be bad and still go to heaven.
It's like completely opposite of what we've been taught, okay?
So say, actually, you know, if I did commit adultery, I'd go to heaven.
But the Bible says, you know, that because I'm born again, I'm God's child, that he would
chasten me here on earth.
And you have Hebrews 12 for that, if you need to.
That the Bible says that he chasteneth every son whom he receiveth, and it chastens like
a whippen, right?
Because we're all going to do bad things.
We're all going to, God is going to chasten us on earth.
So I'll say, John, you know, if I committed adultery to my wife, I'll still go to heaven,
but I'll be punished here.
You know, my wife might find out and leave me.
You know, I could catch a disease.
She could take the kids.
Maybe I'd get so depressed about the whole situation that I start taking drugs and alcohol.
I lose my job.
Right?
You see, I could, bad things could happen to me.
I could do bad.
In fact, yeah.
In fact, I get so depressed about the whole thing that I might even take my own life and
commit suicide.
Do you think I'd still go to heaven?
And people ask me, do you think you should cover suicide?
Yes.
You know, suicide is like one of the ultimate tests of whether or not people are understanding
eternal security.
And the other thing is, too, we've all been taught that's the unpardonable sin, right?
Because you can't repent of your sin after committing suicide.
That's what everyone has in their head, right?
And yet there's examples in the Old Testament of godly men committing suicide and going
to heaven, right?
Think about Samson.
He literally prayed and asked God for the strength to commit suicide when he pushed
the pillars apart and brought down the house of the Philistines.
And look, I'm not saying go there or explain that because most people aren't, you know,
you're lucky if they know who Jesus is these days.
You start talking about Samson, you know, you start talking about King Saul falling
on his sword.
They'd be like, who?
You know what I mean?
You could, if you need to, you could just say, well, there's Old Testament examples
of men that committed suicide and went to heaven.
People say, well, no, if you commit suicide, yeah, you'd go to hell, right?
Because that's the illustration I'm using.
Hey, if I commit adultery, will I still go to heaven?
No, actually I would.
I would be chasing here.
I might get chasing so bad and I get so depressed about it that I take my own life and commit
suicide.
Would I still go to heaven?
So I'm testing them again.
And then they say, well, no, because everyone knows you can't do that.
And I'll say the same thing I said about adultery.
Did Jesus die for some of my sins or all of them?
All of them.
The suicide of sin?
Yeah.
And then they'll go, oh, I said, no, John, because I'm saved, do you think I should go
commit adultery, commit suicide?
No, of course not.
That's not what we're saying.
What I'm saying, John, is that if we're saved, we can do bad things and still and be chastened
and still go to heaven.
But if we want to be blessed in this life, then we have to obey God and keep his commandments.
And look, if people are understanding everything you've explained thus far, that usually is
enough to make it click.
And people have to weigh out, obviously, I don't want to paint with a broad brush and
just say if people don't get that, walk away.
But after those two illustrations and that lengthy of an explanation, if they're still
arguing with you, they're probably not getting it.
And they're probably not going to get it.
But I'm not saying carte blanche, walk away.
But let's say they do get it, like, oh, you know, that does make sense.
In fact, that might even be what they wanted to say, but they just didn't want to sound
wrong.
Which is another thing, like when you ask people at the door, when you start and say,
hey, what do you think it takes to get to heaven?
Some people will say, you know, just believe on Jesus.
And then I'll hear people say, do you have to do anything else?
And then I've seen people at the door make up things, like they'll say, well, you live
a good life, you know, why, well, then you must not be saved.
Well, no, it's because you asked them, you know, and they're just like, well, yeah, I
guess you got to do this.
And people will just say things that they think that they want you to hear.
Okay, so you have to keep that in mind when you're out there talking to folks.
But let's say they get it.
It's obvious to you.
It's really apparent.
And you've been thorough.
You've covered these things.
You've explained a gift.
You've explained eternal security.
You've used these illustrations.
You've turned to these verses.
You've shown them to them.
They understand it.
You've used your own testimony as a test of their understanding.
And I like to use myself as that example.
Okay.
You know, if I committed adultery on my wife, right, I don't say, well, let's say you got
saved today, John, and then you went out and did X, Y, and Z, right?
You don't want to do that because you're kind of putting it on them again.
That's embarrassing.
Okay, use yourself.
They don't mind you talking trash on yourself.
Okay.
I appreciate it.
Now it's time to close.
Now obviously the Romans wrote, everything I just explained, you know, the Bible says,
Paul said, you know, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God
and the salvation.
The great thing about the Romans wrote and everything I've explained is that really it
does all the heavy lifting for us.
We just have to explain a few concepts, make sure they're understanding a few things.
But when you're showing them the verses and just explaining them, man, the Holy Spirit's
working, he's beseeching, you know, God is beseeching them through us, through his word.
God's working in their hearts.
He's doing all that heavy lifting.
So really, it might not sound like it, but that part of the gospel or that part of our
presentation when we're talking to somebody at the door is really the easiest part.
What most people struggle with, now I'm not saying, you know, that we all don't have room
to improve in there.
We all do.
We ought to make sure that we're being thorough when we're doing this, not take it lightly.
But generally speaking, the hardest parts are the opening and the closing.
How do you end it?
The opening can get a little awkward if we're not careful.
And remember, in the opening, all we're trying to do is get to the gospel.
Just get to preaching the gospel.
Hey, are you Christian?
No?
Great.
Well, you know, we're out here preaching the gospel, asking people if they're 100% sure
that they're on their way to heaven.
Are you 100% sure?
No?
Can I show you?
Yes or no?
Okay, whatever they say, all roads lead to the Romans Road.
That's all we're trying to get to as quick as we can.
Then the closing, we've explained everything.
This is important, okay?
You must ask these questions, okay, because we don't want to be in a rush to just pray
with people.
Because what if people we prayed with somebody and they didn't understand any of it?
We could come back and report a number, but big deal.
You know, if they didn't get saved, well, who cares?
It's not about, and look, I'm not saying I'm against numbers.
I'm not against keeping track of how we're doing.
But don't get it in your head that all we care about is just reporting a number.
Well, if I could just get this person to pray, then when I go back, I can hold up my hand
and say, well, I got one person today.
You know, that's vain, it's meaningless.
We want to get people saved, and we want to make sure that they understand, okay?
So ask these questions at the end.
You know, I'll say, John, you know, after I've explained all that, I'll say, you know,
I'm almost done.
Let me just ask you a few questions, okay?
And here's how I do it, okay?
I'm not saying you have to do it like me.
But I'll say this.
I'll say the first question is real easy, John.
Are you a sinner?
At that point, hopefully, they're a little bit more comfortable in saying yes because
you've explained, well, we all are, right?
And I've used myself as an example of someone who's a sinner.
So say yeah, okay?
And look, at that point, they say, no, I'm not a sinner.
Well, you know, have a nice day, you know, tell them at that point, like, you know?
I'm not going to argue with a person at that point, no, I'm not a sinner, you know?
They're going to say yes if they're getting it, okay?
Yeah, I'm a sinner.
I'll say, yeah, that's an easy question, isn't it?
I'll say, now, the next question is a little bit harder, okay?
And I'll say it's not hard to understand, but it's hard to admit, okay, because people
struggle with this one.
They'll say, would you admit today that because you're a sinner, you deserve to go to hell?
I mean, we take it for granted because we've, you know, we've already settled that years
ago.
We've already asked, you know, hundreds of people that question potentially.
We forget sometimes the impact of that question, right?
Asking somebody to admit to a perfect stranger that they deserve to go to hell.
That's intense, right?
And most people are going to say no, okay?
Or they'll say yes.
But what trips a lot of people up is when they say no, they think that, the soul winner
thinks that they're not understanding it.
They'll say, well, why don't they, you know, earlier they admitted that, yeah, we all,
you know, when I was showing them Revelation 21, 8, it seemed like they got it.
But now here I am after preaching the gospel, and I'm asking them, do you deserve to go
to hell because you're a sinner?
And they're saying no.
Did I just waste my time?
A lot of times here's what's going on is that if you've been thorough and they've paid
attention, they've understood the gospel, and now they're saying no because they understand
that they believe, right?
They're thinking, well, because I believe.
I don't deserve to go there.
What they really mean is that I'm not going to go to hell, right?
They're not listening to the question, you know, you're saying do you deserve to go to
hell?
But what they're hearing is are you going to go to hell?
And they'll say no.
But here's the thing.
Who in this room deserves to go to hell tonight?
That's exactly right.
And we all do.
Every single one of us.
Because we're all sinners, right?
What takes a person to hell?
Sin, right?
They're just not understanding that.
They're thinking, oh, no, I'm not going to go to hell because I believe.
You just explained to me how not to go to hell, and I believe that, right?
But the truth is we all deserve to go there.
So I'll just say, hey, are you, are you, if they say no, I'll just say, well, you deserve
to go there, don't you, but, you know, why won't you go there?
You got to kind of work that through a little bit.
That's a, can be tricky, right?
But ask that question, right?
And if they say, and you say, well, why don't you deserve to go there?
If they say because I believe, then they got it, right?
And that's what a lot of times I'll do.
Are you a sinner?
That's an easy one, right?
Yes.
Okay.
This one's hard.
Do you deserve to go to hell?
No.
Why don't you deserve to go there?
Because I believe.
I'm like, yes.
Okay.
But if they say something like, well, because I'm a good person.
But one of two things has happened, okay?
And look, this is why it's important to ask these questions because you're, now you're
really fleshing it out.
Did they get it or not?
Are they actually trusting in Christ or are they just telling me what I want to hear?
Are they, have they changed their minds at all about what they believe?
And if they say, you know, no, I'm a good person, it's like one of two things happened.
Either I wasn't thorough enough or they're just not getting it, okay?
For whatever reason.
And you know, once you've kind of asked those two questions, which are pretty heavy, that's
why I like to follow up with, well, do you believe that God loves you, right?
Are you a sinner?
Do you deserve to go to hell?
Okay.
Do you believe that God loves you?
And they're going to say yes to that.
And that's a little bit more reassuring.
Do you believe that Jesus is God?
Yes.
Do you believe that he died for your sins, was buried and rose again?
Yes.
And they'll say, do you believe that if you asked for the free gift of eternal life, he
would give it to you?
And they'll say yes, hopefully, if they're getting it, right?
And they'll say yeah, that's right.
And then you have Romans 10, 9 and 10, right?
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved, right?
And I'll say that's right, you know, the Bible says if thou shalt confess with thy mouth,
the Lord Jesus, thou shalt be saved.
Not maybe, right?
He will give it to you.
And I'll say, if God gave you the free gift of eternal life, how long will it be yours
for?
And hopefully at this point they say forever, right?
And I'll say, do you think you could do anything to lose it?
And if they say yes, well, then they didn't get it.
Okay.
I mean, what else are you going to say at this point to this person to get them to understand?
I mean, you've explained the gospel.
You've gone through all these verses.
And sometimes it's hard for us, especially if we've gotten to this point in our gospel
presentation, you know, this could take anywhere from 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes.
And you've invested all this time trying to explain it.
You're doing all the talking.
You're thinking they're getting it.
And then you get to this question, could you do anything to lose it?
Yeah.
It's just not their day, okay?
But are they any less saved than when you got there?
No.
In fact, they're closer to heaven than when you got there, right?
Because that seed has been planted.
They've been told the gospel.
You know, at that point it's like, hey, you know what?
It's been nice talking to you.
I think you should just watch this YouTube video sometime.
Give them a QR code or come see us at church.
I'd love to talk to you about this again sometime.
You know, because, you know, one watereth, another planteth, but God giveth the increase.
You know, it might be that you were just there to plant that seed that day.
I mean, I know, I look back on my own salvation.
I see a seed planted here and a seed planted there and a seed planted there.
It wasn't like it all happened at once.
You know, God planted seeds along the way.
You can see that in hindsight.
That may be all you're doing that day.
But hopefully they say, could you say, could you do anything to lose it?
They say, no.
I mean, okay, let's pray then.
And some people will criticize and say, well, I mean, are you sure that they get it?
Well, I mean, I can only take people at face value.
And if they're lying to me at that point, well, that's on them, okay?
So what comes next is the prayer.
And yes, you should lead, must lead people in prayer, okay?
And it just boggles my mind that this is even a debate and that from time to time, we even
have to deal with it in our church.
It was prayer necessary.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, thou shalt be saved.
Right?
We'll say, well, if you believed, is that enough?
I believe, therefore, have I spoken, right?
We believe and therefore we speak.
It makes no sense to sit there and say, well, yeah, I believe that there's a holy God in
heaven and he's willing to save me and save me from an eternal hell, but I'm just not
going to talk to him about that.
I'm not going to communicate with that God.
That makes no sense.
And obviously, you know, we could call in all kinds of different ways.
People can say things that can pray in their heart, but there's going to be some form of
calling upon the Lord.
If someone really believed these things, they're going to confess that to God.
All we're doing at this point is making sure that they do it.
It's like, let's just take care of it right now, right?
And if they get all these questions right, are you a sinner?
Do you deserve hell?
Does God love you?
Do you believe in Jesus?
Do you believe that he died, was buried and rose again?
If he gave you the free gift of eternal life, how would it belong to be divorced?
Could you do anything to lose it?
And they get all the questions right.
I'll say, you know what?
I'd like to just pray with you right now, so you can tell God that you believe these
things and then you know from this day forward you have the free gift of eternal life.
Because I just quoted Romans 10 just recently, so you know, let's just do that.
Let's just call upon the name of the Lord.
I'm going to help you.
We're not going to do anything fancy.
It won't take long.
Let's just bow our heads and you can just repeat after me.
Oh, dreaded words.
Repeat after me.
You know, big deal.
People you know, you're just making people repeat a prayer.
Well, no, I'm helping them mouth words to a God they've never spoken to before.
When I say, okay, go ahead and pray.
I want to hear it.
It's like, yeah, they won't even know what to say.
You know how awkward that is?
So I'm just, you know, and it's awkward if when you say, hey, you're going to say a prayer
and I'm going to, you know, but then I kind of put them at ease, right?
Let's just pray right now.
And you can tell God that you believe these things.
That way, you know, have the free gift of eternal life.
I'm going to help you.
We won't take long.
Let's just bow our heads and pray.
You can just repeat after me.
And I do it just like that.
Okay.
And this is hard.
This can be awkward, especially if you've never done it that way before.
I still struggle with it.
Okay.
Because the temptation is, can we do that to say to ask if you could pray with them?
Right.
I don't ask.
I try not to ask at all.
I just say, hey, if they believe these things, they need to confess and call upon the Lord.
I'm going to help them do that.
I don't want to even make it an option because people are shy.
You give them an out, they might take it.
You know, and then if I just say, hey, let's pray and they pray, you know, and then they
open up, they, you know, and what's the prayer like?
You know, it's not some big, long, fancy prayer.
Oh, our great Father, thou who created heaven and earth, you know, in the beginning you
said that all was good, but man came and you know, it's just like, by one man's sin
entered into the world.
No, it's just like, I'll pray with you.
Let's just pray.
You can repeat after me.
Dear Lord Jesus.
Jesus, I know I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner.
I don't believe that you died for me.
You were buried.
It grows again.
Please take me in heaven when I die.
I'm trusting only in you.
Amen.
Right.
It's that simple.
Right?
Because it's not exactly about the words.
It's the fact that they are confessing and praying to God.
And then once I prayed that prayer with them, we look up, I say, hey, you meant that, right?
I say, yeah.
And you can usually tell whether or not they meant it, you know, obviously some people
are better at reading people than others, you know, I don't know, but you can usually
get a sense of whether or not they really meant that.
And usually if they've taken the time to do that and allowed you to do that, they probably
meant it.
And I've had people say, I don't want to pray.
You know, then, well, hopefully they pray later.
Hopefully they go inside and think about it and they pray to the God in their heart.
You know, when they're put their head down on the pillow at night, the Holy Spirit ministers,
hopefully they pray.
You know, at that point.
It's a new birth.
It's done.
All right.
Look, you know, I love the fact that Jesus used the illustration of a new birth, right?
Anyone who's who's been around that, you know, I have five kids, they've all all but one
were born, born home.
I was there for every one of those births.
You know, and I read books about being a birth partner and how to help your wife through
that that process and everything, you know, and part of it, you know, I've since, you
know, after a couple of them, I just kind of let the midwife handle it and they're better
at it than I am.
Right.
But what do they what do they what do they say oftentimes, you know, push.
Right.
They're trying to, hey, let's do this, do that.
That's all we're doing by trying to make people pray.
We want to push that new birth out.
Right.
Pardon the illustration.
But, you know, it's the one Jesus used.
OK.
The new birth.
Right.
That's all we're really doing.
Pray.
We're just coaching that new birth, helping it take place, getting it out of them.
OK.
But once that happens, you know, it's hey, maybe a quick word about baptism.
You know, you're God's child now.
The Bible says you should be baptized.
You know, if you want to go to some verses, Acts eight, you can talk about Ethiopian eunuch.
You can show them Jesus baptism real quick.
You know, that's you go down into the water, you come up out of the water.
You know, you need to do these things and walk with the Lord.
You should come to church and learn the Bible.
You know, but the fact is, is that if people don't have character to get to themselves
in church, you know, you giving a guilt trip about it probably isn't going to help either.
They're just going to you're going to leave and they're going to forget about going to church.
So what I'll say is like, hey, you know, I'd love to see you in church.
You should get baptized.
But if I never see you again, I'll see you in heaven.
Right.
And they'll say, yeah.
I'll say, why is that?
And there's no better feeling when they look back and say, because I believe.
Because you know, they got it.
Right.
That's that's a real assurance.
Amen.
All right.
Well, I'd love to see out sometime.
And then I leave.
You know, and I go away rejoicing.
And they go inside rejoicing.
You know, maybe with the church thing, I might emphasize a little bit and say, hey, you know,
if they're going to another church, I might say something like, did your other church
ever show you this?
I said, maybe you should think about getting a church, another church.
I mean, what good is it to go to a church where they're not even teach you how to go
to heaven?
Right.
Maybe you should come to a church where we preach this, you know, and and try to try
to get them that way.
Let me just make a few closing points here about this.
OK, so again, I apologize if that was rushed, but typically I preach sermons like this before
it.
I don't do it all in one sermon.
I slow down a lot, OK?
But what I'm really trying to emphasize tonight is the fact that we must be thorough in our
gospel presentations.
And if we're getting to the end with people and they're and they're resisting us, they're
doubting us, they're arguing with us, they're not getting it.
Obviously, a lot of times it can be them, but we should be honest and ask, is it me?
Am I the problem?
Am I not explaining things?
Am I not taking the time?
And and I would recommend that everybody use this Romans road.
Everyone use this pattern.
And you say, why is it?
Because that it's effective.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, OK?
We don't need no need to worry about being unique.
And I've seen people do this where they just want to have some avant garde, unique way
that's just, you know, just nobody else does it like them.
And, you know, it's like, so what?
You know, I mean, doesn't I'm not going to think any more of them.
And it's sometimes it's less effective.
We're ambassadors.
There's so few of us.
We're valuable.
There's so much work to do.
The, you know, the harvest is white and there's few laborers to go into that harvest.
There's so few of us.
Let's make sure we're being efficient.
Let's make sure that we're being thorough and not wasting time.
If they don't want to hear it, let's move along.
Let me just make this point real quick.
The benefits of memorizing the verses, memorize the verses, all of them, you know, you know,
we should be memorizing scripture anyway, you know, in preparing the sermon, I realize
I probably need to brush up on these because it's it's been a while.
But at one time, I know I had all of these memorized.
If I can at least quote them and the references might get a little little cloudy now and then,
you know, we need to brush up on them, use it or lose it.
And that just tells me that, you know, I haven't been soul winning in a very receptive area
for very long because I haven't been able to use it that much.
Right.
But, you know, memorize the verses, because think about it, if you have this memorized
and you're caught somewhere without your Bible, you can preach the gospel anywhere.
You're on a plane, the Bible, you know, got stowed away or you're at work and, you know,
your lunchbox is back at the shop or something, whatever.
If you're somewhere without your Bible and someone starts talking about, you know, Bible
things and you get on the subject of salvation and you've got these verses memorized, man,
you can start laying it on them.
The other thing is, too, and I'm a big proponent of showing people from the Bible the verses
or at least some of them.
Right.
But I'm not against people just quoting verses to people.
You know, some people say, oh, you must show them.
Well, how do they, you know, because they get this idea, like, well, if you're just
quoting it to them, how do you know those people might not know whether or not to trust
you.
Right.
You know, if you're just quoting the verses, they might be thinking, is that what the Bible
says?
Right.
It's like the person is thinking that even if you showed them from the Bible, then they'd
be like, is that really what the Bible says?
You could be showing them point blank and they'd be like, oh, man wrote that or something.
You know what I mean?
It's just it's just a silly argument to me, you know, like I'm coming to your door with
the Bible and then I'm just going to quote you the verses, but I'm going to quote them
wrong because I'm trying to deceive you like, like, do you think that's how what people
are thinking?
This guy came from a church with his Bible in his hand and he's he's quoting me the verses,
but he's trying to lead me astray.
People aren't.
You know what I mean?
It's like it doesn't it's a navel gazing thing.
It's just a it's just a it's a foolish and unlearned question.
You know, it's it's a doubtful disputation.
It's just some things people say a lot of times because they just want to be a holier
than thou.
I've always turned to every single verse and it's like, well, well, good for you.
And I'm not against it, you know, but, you know, sometimes it's nice to be able to just
quote these verses and the people are tracking with you and they're getting it because you
move quickly.
Right.
Because, again, I'm not saying let's rush our gospel presentations, but I'm saying let's
be thorough.
Let's be effective.
Let's go get the next guy.
Right.
So take the time as much time as necessary and no more.
And if you have the Bible verses memorized, you could quote it anywhere.
You could preach the gospel anywhere and it'll help you in your presentation.
Like when you're going through your turn to one verse, you're quoting First Timothy three.
You're quoting, you know, First Corinthians 15 while you're going to Romans 5a.
You know, and you just got the deity of Christ and the death, burial and resurrection covered
while you're going to the next verse.
You know, and there and the person's listening, they're getting it.
OK, well, I know you showed me those verses, but those couple that you quoted, I don't
know about those.
You know, that's not going on.
That's that's just weird.
Not only that, if you have, you know, this memorized, you know, or you don't even have
to memorize necessarily to do this, but a lot of times you can just jump ahead to eternal
security.
Right.
Because you run into people sometimes they understand everything, but they're just they're
just mixed up on.
They think they can lose it.
Yeah.
And it's like, well, you know, the Bible says we're all sinners, right?
Yeah.
You know, you could explain.
I mean, you could just blow through that, get right to a certain internal security and
shore them up on that and get them saved.
OK.
But, you know, that's really all I have for you tonight.
And I just really I hope that, you know, that that all made sense.
Hopefully that wasn't too of a too confusing.
I'm actually just going to go ahead and leave this this here.
Do you guys want to make copies or anything?
Not because, you know, it's just like the greatest sermon ever written or something
like, you know, you should put this on when I come back, this better be on the wall, you
know, frame.
Yeah.
Put a gold frame around this.
Right.
No, I'm going to leave it back to you.
Just in case you want the verses.
Right.
Because, you know, whenever I heard sermons like this, I had to go back the road and write
all the verses down and then mark my Bible.
And I would encourage you to do that.
Tag your Bible.
Go through this Roman's road.
Use it.
Use these illustrations.
And then once you have that track to run on, because, again, what's the title of the sermon?
All Aboard the Gospel Express, right?
And if we are are, you know, running on it on a track that's already been laid, we're
going to be more efficient.
Let's get the Gospel Express on the track.
That's already been laid.
OK.
And it's already been laid in the Bible.
Other other men of God and others have gone before us.
We're entering into their labors.
They've figured out, hey, what's the best way to explain the gospel to somebody?
What's a good, efficient, thorough way of preaching the gospel so that we can get to
the to preach the whole world?
Other men have done this.
If we're entering and there's labors, they've already laid that track.
Let's just run that train down that track that's already been laid.
OK.
Get on that get on that gospel train.
You know, and if you're not soul winning, you know, it's time to get the locomotive
out of the station.
Time to gain some steam and get out there, you know, pray for those that are going or
get out there yourself.
Do whatever you can preach to somebody.
Somebody has somebody that they can preach to in their life.
That's why it's important that we're all sinners or excuse me, we're all.
Hey, the fact is, we are OK, that we're all soul winners, all right.
That's why it's important that we all win souls, because, you know, each and every single
one of us, you know, people that the rest of us don't, you know, you can reach people
I can't reach just because of your you know, because of your network of friends and relatives
and things like that.
Preach them the gospel.
Get the train out on the track.
You know, use the steam shovel of your devotions and your disciplines to keep that coal into
the engine and get the steam of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Amen.
I'm trying to make sure I don't waste this sermon title using that illustration.
Right.
Get the get the gospel express rollin.
Let's go ahead.
Close in a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for this group of people, Lord, that have come out in the
middle of the week or to listen to the preaching of your word, Laura.
And I pray that you would take whatever is said tonight and, Lord, help help these folks
and bless them with it.
Lord, help us to be effective and efficient soul winners.
Help us not do anything hastily, Lord, or to rush through things or to be too eager
to just pray with somebody, Lord, but help us to do a good job of presenting the gospel
in a thorough manner so that, Lord, we can we can come back bringing our sheaves with
us, Lord, not just with the number, but with with real salvations that will that represent
people that represent souls that will see again in heaven, Lord, because of our efforts
and most of all, because of the sacrifice that you made for us or thank you forestry
of reconciliation.
Lord, I pray you help us to do that all the days of our lives.
We ask these things in Christ's name.
Amen.
All right.
Go ahead and sing one more song, I assume, before we go.
All right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right, all right,
all right, all right, all right, all right.
All right, all right, all right, all right, all right.
All right, all right, all right.