Now tonight I'm going to finish my sermon that I preached this morning, I didn't get
all the way through the material, I pretty much knew that I wouldn't because it takes
a couple hours to teach this, but I'm teaching about how to win somebody to Christ and we're
talking about how to do it either door to door or just if you're opening your Bible
with your friend, co-worker, loved one, how to give them the Gospel and get them saved.
Remember the verse that we looked at this morning and Romans said, so as much as in
me is I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Paul was ready to preach the Gospel, we ought to be ready, we ought to know what verses
we're going to turn to and have the skills to effectively preach the Gospel unto someone.
Now I'm not going to re-preach my sermon from this morning, I'm not going to do a big long
review, we're just going to jump in where we left off, but basically where we are is
that, you know, you've already showed up at the door, you've already knocked the door
and we already went through point one of the meat of giving someone the Gospel.
Because remember there's the intro, then there's the main course, and then there's the closing.
So in that main meat and potatoes of giving someone the Gospel, there are four main points.
One of them is that we're all sinners and that we all deserve hell and we already covered
that this morning.
The second point is going to be to talk to them about how Jesus Christ died for our sins,
was buried, and rose again, and just tell them the story of Jesus.
Now flip over if you would to Romans 5-8, Romans 5-8 and then we're also going to look
at 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4.
So this is the second point when I'm giving somebody the Gospel.
After I've already shown them we're sinners, we deserve hell, I always tell them that God
loves us.
And because God loves us, God does not want us to go to hell.
That is where we deserve to go, so I make that distinction.
We deserve hell, but God does not want us to go to hell.
So I show them Romans 5-8 which says, but God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And at this point I just explain to them who Jesus Christ is.
Now a lot of people that you talk to out soul winning or friends that you talk to, they've
already known who Jesus is.
They know the basic story of Jesus, maybe they've seen a Jesus movie on TV or they've
been to church or they've heard people talk about it, but I still think it's great, even
if they already know who Jesus is, just to give them a quick review and just make sure
that you're on the same page about who Jesus is.
Now sometimes you'll run into somebody who knows virtually nothing about Jesus and at
that point you've got to slow down and actually explain more on this point.
Usually that will be a child.
And today I'm running into teenagers who literally know nothing about Jesus Christ because our
culture in America has become so de-Christianized that you ask them, have you ever heard of
Adam and Eve?
Talk to 15, 16 year olds.
Have you heard of Adam and Eve?
No.
Have you heard of Noah?
No.
Do you know anything about Jonah and the whale?
No.
Samson?
No.
I mean, look, go soul winning with me.
I'm telling the truth.
That's the answers you get from teenagers today.
You'll talk to 15, 16 year olds and you'll say to them, so Jesus died on the cross and
what happened three days after Jesus died on the cross?
They have no clue.
And then when you tell them that he rose from the dead, I've said to them, have you ever
heard that before, that Jesus actually walked out of the grave and that he actually came
back to life?
And they'll say, I've never heard that.
I talked to a girl that went to one of these kind of, whoo, you know, like Pentecostal
type churches.
You know, the Holy Roller type church.
She'd been going there her whole life.
She was 15.
And she said, when I told her about the resurrection of Christ, she said, wait a minute, did this
really happen?
Is this real?
I'm like, yeah.
Is this just a story?
I'm like, yeah, this really happened.
Have you ever heard it?
No.
What was the name of it?
What's that church?
The Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church is where she went.
And she said she'd been going there her whole life and she was 15.
So there you go.
They're really teaching the Gospel well down there.
But what I'm saying is that a lot of people today, you can't just assume that they know
who Jesus is.
So that's why it's always good to just give them a quick run through of who Jesus is.
And if they're nodding their head and saying, oh yeah, I'm familiar with this, then you
don't need to spend a lot of time on the point if they've already heard it.
But a lot of people, especially children, especially teenagers, maybe somebody who's
coming from a Hindu background or they're an immigrant from another country, you might
need to spend more time on this point.
So the basics of what I like to run through with somebody about Jesus is I explain to
them, you know, that basically God came to this earth and became man.
God was manifest in the flesh.
And that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and he lived a sinless life.
He was born of a virgin.
When he was 30 years old, he began to preach and to teach God's word.
He also performed a lot of miracles.
Maybe you can talk about some of the miracles they did just to refresh people's memory about
the stories of Jesus.
And then I explain to them that because of his preaching, he was hated by a lot of the
Jews and the Pharisees and the Sadducees had him arrested.
They lied about him.
They beat him.
They spat upon him and they nailed him to the cross.
And the Bible says that when he was on that cross, he himself bare our sins in his own
body on the tree.
So I explain to them that every sin that I've ever done, every sin that you've ever done,
when Jesus was on the cross, it was as if he had done it.
Now flip over to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15.
This is an optional verse you can turn to.
The core verse for this point is Romans 5.8, but an optional verse that you could turn
to and show people is 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4, which drives this in.
It says in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4, For I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
I just explain to them that when it says that Jesus died for our sins, basically he was
taking the punishment that we deserve for our sins.
I show them that verse, I show them Romans 5.8, and explain that.
Then I like to ask this question.
Do you think Jesus died for everybody or just for certain people?
And 99% of people will tell you, I think Jesus died for everybody.
And I always tell them, you're right, because the Bible says that he died not for our sins
only but also for the sins of the whole world, but do you think that because he died for
everybody that means everybody's automatically going to heaven?
And again, 99% of people will tell you no.
So then I take them to Acts 16, and this is where we get into the third point.
So when we get into the meat of the Gospel, point one is that we're all sinners and we
all deserve hell.
I show them at least four Scriptures on that.
Then we get into the fact, just the story of Jesus.
You can tell that in your own words, show a few Scriptures, go into depth as needed.
If somebody's unfamiliar, spend a lot more time on that point.
If somebody already knows a lot about Jesus, that's not the point you're going to want
to spend the most time on, necessarily, because they already know that.
You want to talk about the stuff they don't know.
Then the third point is to teach them that believing is what saves us, that faith is
what is going to get us saved.
So I always say to them, not everybody is automatically going to heaven just because
Jesus died for all.
There's one thing that we must do to be saved.
I take them to Acts 16 verse 30 and it says, And brought them out and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Then I just like to ask that person, what does that verse say that we have to do in
order to be saved?
And sometimes if they're not paying attention, they'll go, what?
That's why I like to ask people questions a little bit, just to make sure that they're
paying attention, that they're listening.
And then if they don't know, then I say, okay, let's read it again.
Let's read it again.
And then I have them read it and then tell me what it is.
And it's, of course, believe on Christ.
And I ask them, does it say go to church and thou shalt be saved?
Does it say get baptized and thou shalt be saved?
Does it say turn over a new leaf, stop sinning, live a good life and thou shalt be saved?
No.
Then I flip over to John 3.16, that's the next place I go.
And I like to tell people that John 3.16 is the most famous verse in the entire Bible.
Because I notice that if I say to people, John 3.16 is the most famous verse in the
whole Bible, that gets their attention.
And I always tell them, hey, if people in the world know one verse, this is usually
the verse they know.
Because then it peaks people's interest, like, oh man, I better listen to this if this is
the big one.
So I show them John 3.16.
And sometimes I even ask them, hey, have you been to In-N-Out Burger?
Time of the Cup says John 3.16.
Sometimes there will be a guy at a football game holding up a sign that says John 3.16.
This is the most famous verse on the planet.
And it 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.
Again, not whosoever is a part of the church, not whosoever gets baptized, not whosoever
lives a clean life.
Then I just jump them right down to verse 18.
It says, 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.
It's crystal clear.
If you feel like you want to reinforce it even more, jump down to verse 36.
It says, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Now again, I show people as many verses as are necessary on this point.
If after I show them 2, 3, 4 verses that believing is what it takes to get in heaven, that it's
all through faith, then I'll move on to the next point.
But if I feel like they're a little shaky on it, they're a little skeptical of it, they're
thinking, hey, wait a minute, I think I still need to do more, there are so many verses
that you can show.
You can just take your pick, but just to give you a few, a lot of times I like to,
if I need to belabor the point, I'll go to John 6.47.
I think John 6.47 is just such a short, clear, concise verse.
It says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
It just doesn't get any simpler than that, folks.
And if I really want to drive it in even more, I'll flip them over to John 11, verse 25 and
26 where it says, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die.
Believest thou this?
Of course, you don't have to turn there, but Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 is another great scripture
to show people that says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Because the main thing I'm trying to get across to them on this point is that salvation is
not by our deeds, it's not by our works, it's not by following the laws of God because we've
all sinned and come short, it's just by believing on Christ.
It's faith in Christ, trust in Christ as our Savior.
You can use as many verses necessary to get that point across.
Usually two, three, four verses is plenty to get that point across.
But if somebody's skeptical, I'll just keep showing them.
Let's look at 20 of them.
We could go on and on.
We could go to Romans 3 and find all kinds of... therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law, Romans 4-5, Galatians 3-16, not 3-16,
what is it, Galatians 2, 2-16, there you go.
So there's all kinds of scripture on that.
So then the fourth point that I like to cover, besides the fact that we're all sinners, we
deserve hell, Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again, faith is what saves
us, not works, it's not based on works of righteousness, which we have done.
But then the fourth point is I show them from the Bible that salvation is eternal.
Do not skip this point.
This point is important and so many people across America today, when they go out and
knock doors in fundamental Baptist churches, they don't cover this point, they skip this
point.
Now let me say this.
If you skip this point, it is still possible for someone to get saved and understand the
Gospel if you skip this point, because you've already showed them that it's by faith alone.
You've already showed them that Christ died, was buried and rose again.
You've already showed them that it's by faith alone.
So it is possible, of course, for someone to be saved if you were to skip this point.
But here's the problem with skipping this point, if you skip this point, most people
haven't got it yet.
People are so ingrained that they have to do all these works or go to church or live
a good life.
So if you skip this point, there are going to be people who haven't got it.
Now every once in a while, I'll run into somebody that when I get on this point, it's like they
already understood it from point three.
They're just like, well yeah, of course you can't lose it if it's just by believing.
But here's the problem though, 9 out of 10 people still are hanging on to some kind of
works or something that they have to do.
So when you get to this point that salvation is eternal, that you can't lose your salvation,
this just really makes it so crystal clear.
And isn't that the goal of soul winning?
It's to make the gospel clear so that people will understand.
What's the number one thing that Jesus taught in the parable of the sower?
He said, when any man heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not, then
cometh that wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart, this is
he that received seed sown by the wayside.
That shows you that that is a major problem where people are given the gospel and they
don't understand it.
And what happens when they don't understand it?
The devil catches away that which is sown in their heart.
We need to make sure people understand it and the best way to make sure that people
get it crystal clear that it's by faith alone is by teaching them that salvation is eternal.
Again, a lot of scriptures you can go to, here are the ones I like to go to.
I like to take them back to Romans 6.23 where I took them earlier in point one and give
them the rest of that verse.
Because in Romans 6.23 it says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
light through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And I use that illustration of a gift.
And I say to them, if I were to give you a gift, let's say I were to give you my Bible
as a gift, but I said to you, hey I got this gift for you, I just need you to give me five
dollars.
Is that really a gift?
Or if I said to them, hey it's free, but I need you to wash my car and then it's yours.
That wouldn't be a gift.
Or I'll say to them this, if I were to give you this Bible and then three weeks later
I come back and knock on your door and say, hey I need that back.
Was that a gift?
No.
So you learn two things right away about a gift.
Gifts are free.
And you get to keep them.
They're permanent.
They're a temporary thing.
A gift, that would be a loan or a pawn.
You know, this is a gift.
You get to keep it.
You own it.
And I always say to them, who pays for a gift?
The giver or the receiver?
Because everything costs money.
Who pays for the gift?
The giver pays for the gift.
So I say, okay, who's giving us eternal life?
Jesus Christ.
Who paid for it?
Jesus.
And how did he pay for it?
And let them answer.
With his blood.
With his death.
With his burial.
With his resurrection.
Jesus paid for it by dying for us.
How much do we have to pay?
Nothing.
Okay.
So the gift of God is eternal life.
When we believe on Christ, he gives us eternal life.
Now I always say to them this, what does eternal mean?
And usually people know that eternal means forever.
If not, then I'll explain it to them using the word everlasting.
I'll say, hey, have you heard the word everlasting?
Lasts forever, everlasting.
I explain to them that eternal just means it goes on forever.
And I say if God gives you a gift that lasts forever, how many times do you have to receive
that gift if once you get it, it's eternal, it lasts forever?
One time.
And once you have it, it lasts forever.
And I tell them, you know, I was never good enough to be saved in the first place.
I'm never going to be bad enough where he'll take it away.
It's all of grace.
Grace is something that we do not deserve.
Now another supporting verse on this point could be John 10.28, okay?
John 10.28 or Titus 1.2.
You turn to John 10.28.
While you're turning there, I'll quote for you Titus 1.2 which says, in hope of eternal
life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
God promised us eternal life.
John 2.24 is another one that says, and this is the promise that he had promised us, even
eternal life.
Look at John 10.28.
This is another good one to show people.
It says, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand.
And again, you could show them all types of verses here to show them that it's eternal
life.
The one that I like to use is just Romans 6.23 on that point, okay?
I show them Romans 6.23 and then you could use John 10.28, Titus 1.2, or a multitude
of others.
But when I'm on this point, I like to make a second point on this point of eternal life
because I feel it's so important and that is a point that I like to make in John 1.12.
John chapter 1 verse 12.
Because I find that this illustration really hits home with people.
People really get this when you show them this because sometimes people get it with
the gift.
The gift is a great illustration.
A lot of people, that makes perfect sense to them.
But I like to use this illustration also because this really hits home with people and that
is the illustration of a parent and a child.
And I say to them, you know, John 1.12 says, but as many as received him, to them gave
thee power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
So when the Bible says that when we believe on the name of the Son of God, we are his
child now.
We are his son.
And sometimes I ask them, do you have children?
Yes.
Do you have rules for your children?
If they don't have children, I tell them about my children.
I say, look, I have rules for my children.
And if my children break my rules, I punish them.
But I'm not going to kick them out of the family.
I don't say, hey, you're not my son anymore.
And I explain to them it's the same way with God.
When you believe on Christ, you have eternal life, you're a child of God, God has a lot
of rules.
He's got a lot of commandments.
And I always say to them, you know, when my kids break my rules, I don't just laugh
and say, that's okay, don't worry about it.
And neither does God.
God expects his rules to be kept and he has commandments.
He didn't say, if you let me keep my suggestions, you know, he said if you let me keep my commandments.
But I explained to them that if you break God's rules, he's not going to kick you out
of the family.
He will discipline you.
Just like I would punish my children, I'll give them a spanking, I'm not going to throw
them out of the family.
God's not going to throw us out of the family.
But the Bible does say, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth.
Now the reason I think this is an effective point to make is because a lot of times when
you explain to people eternal security, it kind of just blows them away because it's
a radical concept to them.
To us, it's the Gospel.
But to them, it's this crazy radical, wait a minute, you mean to tell me I can do whatever
and I'm still going to go to heaven?
They can't comprehend that.
Now I like to really drive the point in about eternal security because I want to make sure
they understand it.
And so a lot of times I'll even give examples and say, look, if I were to go out and commit
murder or commit adultery, you know, or even kill myself, you know, I try to look, there's
nothing you can do to lose your salvation.
But here's the thing, you want to be careful that when you say that, you don't just sound
like a raving lunatic.
Now is it true that you can commit murder and you're still going to go to heaven?
Of course.
That's biblical.
Is it true that if you commit adultery, you'll still go to heaven once you say it?
Of course.
But you don't want to phrase it to people in such a way that you sound like a raving
lunatic, just yeah, you just kill, rape, pillage, and you're saved, you know.
What in the world?
Because what's your goal?
Your goal is to get people saved.
You want them to understand it.
You want it to make sense to people.
Look, you're not giving them the full picture if you just say it like that.
But you do want them to understand that, so here's the way I explain it.
I say to people, look, God's going to punish you on this earth when you commit sin.
But He's not going to send you to hell, because that's the truth when it comes to people that
are saved.
Now the unsaved are going to go to hell.
The unbelievers will have their part in the lake of fire.
But when it comes to people that are saved, we get our punishment now on this earth.
So I explain to them, look, if I went out and committed murder, God's going to punish
me.
I'm going to prison, I'm going to the electric chair, something horrible's going to happen,
God's going to make sure that I get punished.
I always say to them, do you think if I went out and committed adultery I'm just going
to get away with it as a Christian?
No, because God could cause me to get a disease, to lose my family, to lose my job, to be busted.
So I always explain to them that yes, if we commit a big sin, we will still be saved,
but God will chastise us on this earth.
Because usually when you say it that way, it clicks with people.
They understand.
When you just say yup, you murder, you commit adultery, and you go to heaven, that just,
what in the world?
Even though it's true, it's better to give them the whole picture, and then they say
okay that makes sense.
Okay so God punishes us here, but because of our faith in Christ, it's all forgiven,
we make it into heaven.
That helps people to understand it, so I like to touch on that.
Now that pretty much wraps up the meat and potatoes of giving somebody the gospel, okay?
So just to give you a quick review if you're taking notes or anything, the core verses
that I show people, the minimum core verses are Romans 3.23, Romans 6.23, Revelation 20,
14 and 15, Revelation 21.8, Romans 5.8, Acts 16.31, John 3.16, Ephesians 2.8 and 9, Romans
6.23, okay?
And then the father-son point would add John 1.12 on the end of that, okay?
So that's the core right there.
So it consists of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12 verses that are the backbone
of when I give someone the gospel.
Those 12 scriptures are the backbone.
But again, any point where you feel like they need some extra clarification, they need some
reinforcement, additional verses are good to have on hand to kind of park it on that
point and give some additional support, additional verses, and I showed you about 10 or 15 additional
verses.
You can find your own additional verses, but 12 scriptures make up the backbone when I
present the gospel, of just a minimum that I show people to get all the points out there.
Now here's a tip for you if you're new at giving people the gospel.
You can draw a map in your Bible, and here's what I mean by that.
You go to the first verse, which is Romans 3.23.
If you always start with Romans 3.23, all you have to do is put a bookmark or something
in Romans 3.23, dog-ear the page, just make it easy to find, and Romans 3.23 will get
you started.
As a child, my parents' Bibles both had this in their Bible, where next to Romans 3.23,
they had the next verse already labeled.
So next to Romans 3.23, it said Romans 6.23.
So that tells them, okay, after I show them this verse, I go to Romans 6.23.
Then next to Romans 6.23, it said turn to Revelation 20.14.
And then they go to Revelation 20.14, it says turn to Revelation 21.8.
When you get to Revelation 21.8, it says turn to Romans 5.8.
When you get to Romans 5.8, it says turn to John 3.16, or whatever.
And so that's a way where if you're new and you don't have it all memorized, you can write
out a map in your Bible, so to speak, that just takes you to the next step.
Then all you have to do is be able to find Romans 3.23.
And once you find that, it's all just walking you through it.
And then what you can do in addition to that is in the back of your Bible, find a nice
blank page in the back of your Bible and just write out the whole list of the core verses.
Maybe really big, put the core verses.
And then maybe next to them, put in small some of your auxiliary verses.
You know, some of your extra verses that you might tie in if you need to really drive in
a point.
Okay?
That way you've got like a master plan in the back and then in the text itself, it always
tells you what the next step is.
So that's a good point.
So that's the meat and potatoes.
Before I get into the closing, because remember the most important parts are the beginning
and the end.
Those are the hardest parts.
Those are the parts where people mess up.
But before I get into the closing, let me just bring up one objection that sometimes
people will raise when you bring up the fact that we can't lose our salvation, that it's
eternal life.
Sometimes people will bring up the objection, well hey, what if you stop believing?
You know, I mean who's had somebody asking that?
I mean, see what I mean?
It's pretty common.
They'll say, well hey, what if you stop believing?
Now let me say this, personally my opinion from my study of scripture, I don't believe
that anybody who's saved is ever going to just completely stop believing in Christ.
That's my opinion.
Okay?
And the reason I say that is because when a person gets saved, the Holy Spirit doesn't
dwell them.
The Bible says the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we're the children of
God.
That's what it calls being saved, being enlightened, having our eyes open.
And so I'm not really fully convinced that a person who's saved could ever stop believing.
But theoretically, hypothetically, if they did stop believing, they would still be saved.
Because it's impossible to lose your salvation.
Now let me say this, I think that everybody has probably doubted their salvation at one
point or another.
I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but if I said hey, who here has doubted your
salvation or doubted the Bible or doubted Jesus Christ, pretty much every hand would
go up that people have had doubts.
But to just fully stop believing in Christ is something that I do not believe that a
believer is going to ever do.
That's my opinion, I'm not 100% sure on that, but that's where I would lean toward.
But this is a question that comes up though where people say hey, what if you stop believing?
And what I like to say to people at that point, I like to show them John 3.18.
Because John 3.18 really just puts this one to bed in my opinion.
And there are a few places you could go to answer this common objection.
One place you could go to is 2 Timothy 2.13.
In 2 Timothy 2.13 the apostle Paul is talking to Timothy, this is one preacher to another.
Paul saying to Timothy, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful.
He cannot deny himself.
So he can't break his word, he can't break his promise.
If we believe not, he's still going to abide faithful according to 2 Timothy 2.13.
That's a good scripture on that, but the thing I like to point out in John 3.18 is that it
says, he that believeth on the son is not condemned, I'm sorry, he that believeth on
him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.
Watch this, because he hath not believed.
Now notice, it's past tense.
It says there, the one who is condemned hath not believed.
He never believed on Christ, you see what I mean?
Because if you've ever believed on Christ, it could not be said of you, you have not
believed.
So I think John 3.18 proves that even if you were to stop believing, you would still be
saved.
Because the one who is condemned is the one who hath not believed.
And of course there's a scripture where Jesus says in Matthew 7, I never knew you, depart
from me.
He didn't say I used to know you, he said I never knew you.
And so if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, the ones who are unbelievers, it says they
have not believed.
And I even can bring it back at this point, if they're stuck on this, to the Father-Son
illustration and say, hey, what if my son came to me and said, Dad, I'm starting to
doubt that you're really my dad.
That would be an awful thing to say, but would it change the fact that I'm his dad?
If he doubted, or what if he said, I don't even believe that you're my dad.
That would not change the fact that I am his dad.
So that proves it again, but there's a lot of scripture you could go to.
So now we're done with the meat and potatoes of giving somebody the Gospel, now let's talk
about the closing.
A lot of people, they get to this point and it's like they don't know what to do.
So you got it?
You got it?
You believe that?
Now some people will say, hey, just declare them saved at this point.
Now the reason I don't like that method, and theoretically, yeah, you've given them the
Gospel, you've preached the Gospel to them, you've done your part.
And theoretically, that could be enough for somebody.
Just show them everything, preach them everything.
But here's the thing, that is not the best way to go soul winning, or the best way to
win people to Christ, because you want to make sure that people are brought to a decision
right then and there.
Because a lot of times people, they hear all this information, they're agreeing with it,
they're agreeing with it, they're seeing the scripture, they're nodding their head, they're
believing it, but how much do they believe it?
Have they really fully gotten on board?
Are they fully trusting Christ, or is it theoretical in their mind at this point?
So you want to bring that person to the point of pulling the trigger, sealing the deal,
and calling upon the name of the Lord.
Now a lot of people will bad mouth the doctrine of calling upon the name of the Lord.
Calling upon the name of the Lord is a very scriptural doctrine.
Now we know that of course by faith we're saved, and that anyone, and people have accused
me of teaching that if a person believes on Christ but doesn't pray a prayer they're
not saved.
Look, you'll never catch me saying that anybody who believes on Christ isn't saved, because
the Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
There are no exceptions to that.
If a person truly believes on Christ, not believing on their own works, but truly believes
on Jesus Christ as their only way to heaven, they are saved, no exceptions, period.
You'll never catch me saying anything other than that.
But I will say this though, the doctrine of calling upon the name of the Lord is a Biblical
doctrine all throughout the Old Testament and New Testament, and what it is, is it is
the outward expression of the belief of the heart.
The person confessing with their mouth, and of course it says in Romans 10, 9, that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation, and it follows that up with, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?
And I'm not going to go through all this, I've done whole sermons on calling upon the
name of the Lord, all the way back to Genesis 4.
It says in the days of Adam, Seth, and Enos, then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord.
Isaac called upon the name of the Lord.
David called upon the name of the Lord for salvation.
It's all in there, it's all biblical.
A lot of people with a strange Calvinist type doctrine, we're not Calvinist here, at all.
A lot of people with this strange Calvinist doctrine will say that calling upon the name
of the Lord is works.
Good night.
It's so bizarre.
Jesus said, if thou knewest the gift of God, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water.
So if you ask for a gift, that doesn't mean you worked for it.
You just asked for it and God gave you it.
I mean look, if I walked up to you and said, hey Charlie, give me that Bible as a gift.
Give me that Bible as a gift, and he gives me his gift.
Was that a free gift?
Did I pay for that?
Did I earn that?
Did I work?
No.
Because working for it is bizarre.
Not only that, the Bible says, if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father which is heaven give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him?
So it's still a gift even if you ask for it.
What's the purpose of asking for it?
It's just to solidify the deal and to just tell God that that's what you believe, and
to just ask him to save you so that you can know for sure that you're saved.
I mean you just, okay I've seen all the facts, I believe it, now I'm going to act upon that
by calling out to the Lord and just asking him to save me.
Now you'll run into some people where somebody gave them the Gospel and didn't close the
deal.
They did not finish the third point, and what happens is they gave them all the Gospel,
they gave them all the Scriptures, and they believed it, and they went away and thought
about it, and obviously they're talking to God.
My belief is that the only reason a person would never talk to God is if they don't believe
he exists.
Any person who believes that God exists is probably going to call out to him at some
point and talk to him.
Even atheists, I talked to an atheist who had later gotten saved.
He said even when he was an atheist he would talk to God and say, God I don't know if you're
out there, but if you are, you know.
The thing is, I've talked to people who heard the Gospel, they believed it when it was shown
to them, and then basically over time they thought about it, they prayed, they talked
to the Lord about it.
But here's the thing, then they're like, obviously they're saved because they believed the Gospel,
but they had trouble pinpointing when they got saved because of the fact that they didn't
call upon him right then and there.
So then it was later on, and it just created in them doubts about their salvation, like
did I believe it enough?
Because the question is, how much do you have to believe it?
And here's what I say, believe it enough to say it with your mouth.
If you say it and you mean it, that's enough.
Because you know, Jesus said to a guy one time who came to him about getting his son
healed, he said, if thou canst believe all things are possible, then they believe it.
And you know what he told Jesus?
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.
Did you get that?
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.
So did this guy have just a ton of faith?
No but he put his faith in Jesus.
You know, he had enough to just say I'm trusting you Jesus, and you know what, Jesus did heal
him.
He healed the son.
So that's a great example of just a guy, you know, he didn't have much faith, but he was
willing to put it all on Jesus.
So you can't have some of your faith in Buddha and Jesus, you know, you can't have some of
your faith in your works and Jesus.
You got to put it all on Jesus, even if it's a tiny faith, put it all on Jesus, and confessing
it with your mouth, you know, it shows you and God and the person that you're talking
to that you believe it.
It's just an outward expression of the faith that's in your heart.
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confessions made unto salvation.
And it forces people to make a decision right then and there.
Because sometimes you'll go through the whole gospel, everybody's nodding their head, agreeing
with you, and then it's like, okay, well let's pray right now and you can tell God and ask
Him to save you.
Oh, no thanks, I'm good, I go to church, I live a good life, and it shows that they were
just kind of agreeing with you and going along with you.
The prayer kind of weeds people out.
That's why I insist that when you go soul winning for faith-forward Baptist church that
you pray with people when you give them the gospel.
And you can sit there and say, well theoretically can people say, you know what, I could actually,
I could put on my pants every morning with a pair of pliers.
But is that the best way to put on my pants?
Is that the most effective way to put on a pair of pants, to use a pair of pliers to
do it?
No.
So this idea that says, well is it possible?
You know, a lot of things are possible, buddy.
But is it the best way to do it?
What's a scriptural way to do it?
The best way to do it is for people to hear the word of God, believe the word of God,
and call upon the name of the Lord.
That's what Romans 10 teaches is a best case scenario.
And yeah, you could go to Acts 8 where he didn't really pray it to the Lord, he just
said it to Philip, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Obviously that guy got saved, he confessed with his mouth in a little different way,
but the best way to do it is to just have them tell God and call upon the Lord right
there.
It just makes it so much clearer to everyone.
And there's not any doubt about it for them.
It's good for them too.
So how do you do that, okay?
Let's work on this third point, this is the closing, this is it, we're done.
We've already knocked the door, we've already gotten into the conversation, we've already
given the people the whole plan of salvation from scripture, now where do we go next?
How do we land the plane?
How do we seal this thing?
And make sure, well here's what I do.
Number one, I review the points quickly by asking them a series of questions to verify
that they've understood what I said.
These are the questions I ask.
Do you believe that you've sinned?
They say yes.
Do you believe that according to the Bible we all deserve to go to hell according to
scripture because of our sins?
Yes.
Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for all your sins, was buried, and rose again?
Yes.
And then I like to say this, what do you personally think that a person has to do to be saved?
And by wording it that way, so what do you personally think?
Then some of the people are like, well I personally think that they have to go to church, get
baptized, you know what that tells me?
Everything I just told them for the last 10-15 minutes just went over their head.
And I say to them, well you know what, that's not what the Bible says, and I show them
a few more supporting scriptures, I shake their hand and say, hey God bless you, have
a great day.
But you know, you didn't get it, hopefully you'll get it next time, okay?
But by wording it that way, because you don't want to just feed everybody all the right
answers, because some people are just real agreeable, you know, and it's like yeah, just
believe right?
Right?
Just believe, yeah okay, pray with me.
It's better to just ask them, what do you think?
Now you don't want to make it hard for people to get saved, but you don't want to just feed
them every answer.
Now throughout giving them the Gospel, feeding them the answers is great, but what's the
purpose of the closing?
To actually see if they really got it.
So at this point we don't want to feed them the answer, we want to ask them, you know,
do you believe you've sinned?
Do you believe that hell is the punishment for our sins?
Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and rose again for your sins, and
what do you personally believe that a person has to do to be saved?
And at this point they should say, you know, you just have to believe on Christ.
It's all faith, nothing more.
That's the answer you're looking for.
And then I say to them, do you think it's possible to lose your salvation for any reason
after you've been saved?
No.
So those five questions tell me that this person has understood and they're saying,
I, in my heart, believe what you've shown me from the Bible is correct.
So that gives me confidence now that I've asked those five questions.
Now at this point you might want to, depending on the situation, gently, and I say gently,
explain to them that when you first got there, why they didn't know for sure when you first
got there.
And I say gently because I've seen some people kind of badger people at this point.
Say like, well when I got here you said something totally different.
When I got here you said it was works, you said it was bad.
You're putting people on the defensive because you've just shown them how wrong that is and
they're like, yeah, that's what you thought.
You know, then it comes across as offensive.
Here's instead of, or, or, you know, okay, this is another bad idea.
Another bad idea is say, okay, well why, why, so why did you, why did you not know when
we got here?
I mean, it's just like, what in the world?
But I've seen all this stuff, okay?
So here's the best way, and I, personally, I don't even think this is necessary, you
know, you don't have to do this because honestly, just because a person, I don't think a person
has to admit or, or say, you know, hey, when I got here I was wrong, now I'm, you know,
you know that's true.
You know that when you got there they were wrong and that they're right now because they've
learned it.
But here's the thing, I like to just gently explain to them why, and, and I've done this
literally, listen to me now, I've done this hundreds of times, this is the best way to
do it.
I've done it hundreds of times and I've watched other people do it other ways and, and, and
confuse and, and, and, and basically just cause division and just cause animosity.
The way that I do it is to say to them, now when I got here, you said that you weren't
a hundred percent sure that you were going to heaven and here's why you thought that.
I don't ask them, I already know why.
So I just say to them, you know, when I first got here, you said you didn't really know
for sure that you were on your way to heaven, here's why, because you thought, you know,
I've done good, I've done bad, you know, and I, you know, I don't know if I've done enough.
But now, and, and whenever I do that with people, you know what they always do?
Nine times out of ten, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, you know what they do?
They nod their head and say, yeah, that is what I thought, because I do it in a friendly
way, not a badgering, adversarial way.
I just say, now when I first got here, you, you said you weren't a hundred percent sure
you were going to heaven and, and I think it's because you thought, you know, I've done
good, I've done bad, and, and you weren't really a hundred percent sure that you're
good enough to make it.
And then I say, they're nodding their head.
And then I say, but now you see that that has nothing to do with it.
It's whether or not you believe on Christ.
That's the best way to just gently show them that you've, that something has changed in
their belief, okay?
If you feel that that's necessary.
Then I say this, before I go, I want to help you pray right now and just tell God that
that's what you believe so that you can know for sure that you're on your way to heaven.
I just want to pray with you right now.
Just help you tell God that's what you believe and just call upon him to save you right now.
Just ask him to save you right now and you can just repeat after me.
Okay.
Now I do not ask them, would you like to pray and ask Jesus to save you?
He said, why not ask them?
Because here's the thing, I've already determined that they believe and understand everything.
They just need to do it.
You understand what I'm saying?
If you ask people, so do you want to pray?
A lot of people are just intimidated by prayer.
They think that they have to compose some big prayer.
You know, our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
A lot of people don't know much about prayer.
They don't really know what that entails.
So I don't ask them, hey, do you want to pray?
It's a dumb question.
You already showed them everything.
They already said they believe it.
At this point, just say let's do it.
I mean look, the Bible says, others saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating
even the garments by the by the fire.
The Bible says compel them to come in.
Talk about into the Father's house in heaven.
The Bible says, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
Look, we should be aggressive about this part.
Now look, we don't want to walk people through something that they don't believe in because
then we're just going around praying prayers with people and wasting our time.
But look, we already asked them the question, we've thoroughly given them the Gospel.
Then we asked them questions saying, what do you personally believe?
They've given the right answers.
We've taught them everything.
They've agreed to it.
They believe it.
It's their personal belief.
At this point, let's just pray and do it.
And you want to just help people do it.
And then I say you can repeat after me because then that alleviates any fear that they're
going to have to come up with.
Look, there's a trendy thing now amongst fundamental Baptists of like, make them word
their own prayer.
Make them word their own prayer.
Yeah, okay, why?
Give me one good read, just to make sure.
Shut up.
You know what, if you gave the Gospel thoroughly and asked the questions and verified that
they understood it, you don't need to make sure, you've already made sure.
And making them compose their own prayer, putting them on the spot, making them uncomfortable,
there's no point.
You know, just, and be like, oh no, repeat after me, oh no, you're Catholic.
Look, this has nothing to do with being Catholic.
There's nothing wrong with helping somebody pray and having them repeat after you as long
as they believe it, if they're saying it and they believe it.
So what?
And guess what, is it the prayer that saves or is it faith that saves?
So the prayer is not where the emphasis is.
Whenever I ask people that I wonder to the Lord, how do you know you're going to heaven?
They never say, because I prayed a prayer.
They always say, because I believe on Jesus.
The prayer is not the emphasis.
I like the prayer, the prayer is important, the prayer is biblical, calling upon the name
of the Lord is biblical, but I'm not going to sit there and make it all about the prayer
and you've got to word your own prayer.
It doesn't matter what words they use.
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
That got the thief on the cross into heaven.
The publican who prayed and asked for salvation said, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Those are very different prayers.
Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
It doesn't matter the exact words.
I like to just lead people in prayer because then they're not nervous or intimidated.
I'm trying to make it easy, yes, easy believism.
What do you believe in?
Hard believism?
Hard repentism?
Look, believing is easy.
You know what the hard part was?
Dying on the cross.
You know what the hard part was?
Living a perfect life for 33 years, being tempted at all points like as we are yet without
sin.
You know what the hard part was?
Rising from the dead.
You know, believing isn't the hard part.
Thank God for his unspeakable gift.
So I don't ask them.
I just say, hey, before I go, I'd like to help you pray right now and just tell God
that's what you believe and just ask him to save you right now and you can just repeat
after me.
Let's go ahead and pray right now and usually, again, the vast majority of people I'm talking
to are nodding their heads saying, yeah, let's do it because they understood they want to
do it.
Then I lead them in a prayer and the prayer, again, it's not important.
It doesn't have to be a big, long, complicated prayer.
It can be something like, you know, dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, I know I deserve hell,
I believe you died for me and rose again, please save me, give me eternal life, I'm
only trusting you, Jesus, amen.
Or it could even be simpler than that, just dear Jesus, I believe the gospel, save me
now.
Amen.
I mean, it doesn't have to be anything fancy.
It can be anything.
Okay, but that's just some samples.
Before I end the sermon, let me just cover some special situations because what we've
gone over so far is the basic plan.
This morning and tonight was just the basic plan of how to win somebody to Christ.
I gave you the backbone of about 12 verses, a bunch of auxiliary verses you could bring
in, you know, the four main points, how to get the conversation started, how to end the
conversation.
And by the way, when they're done praying, what do you say next?
You know what I say?
I say, you meant that, didn't you?
Well, according to the Bible, you're on your way to heaven.
You know, congratulations, you know, because you believe that.
You know, and I shake their hand, I tell them about the church, I give them a Bible.
We have those Bibles in the back, they're pretty good Bibles that we give out for free
on so when you give them a New Testament, give them a Bible, I talk to them about Bible
reading, you know, I try to talk them into coming to church, set them up on a Bible.
And when you give them a Bible, show them where to start reading and give them a plan.
I like to show them, hey, read the book of John or whatever, and if it's a small child
or somebody, I'll start them on Mark just because there's a lot of Bible stories in
the book of Mark.
I'll say, hey, read the book of Mark, you know, because it's exciting.
So wherever you start them, but you know, you can give them a little discipleship.
That's not really in the scope of this sermon, but give them a Bible, give them a sermon
preaching CD, give them a DVD of one of our DVDs, whatever you want to give them to help
them grow.
But let me say this.
Some people that are of false religions that have really been taught and ingrained with
false doctrine, you might have to go a little beyond what I just taught you this morning
and night.
Okay, now first of all, let me reiterate what I said this morning, though.
The same Gospel works for everybody, because let me tell you something.
That the Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, Jews, and everybody else that's on their way to
hell all have in common.
They all believe that you have to work your way to heaven, and they all believe you can
lose your salvation.
True or false?
Do the Catholics believe you work your way?
Do they believe you can lose it?
Mormons?
Jehovah's Witnesses?
Yeah?
I mean, Muslims?
They all believe.
So here's the thing.
What I just showed you is applicable to all of them.
Okay, it's the best way to give the Gospel.
You'll eventually personalize it and tweak it to your own methods.
But listen, that Gospel plan, you don't have to just get out a whole new Gospel plan when
you run into a Jew.
Now a lot of people will say this, well the Jews, they only believe the Old Testament,
so use the Old Testament.
They don't believe the Old Testament.
Jesus said if you believed Moses, you'd believe me.
They don't even claim to believe the Old Testament.
Let me say it again, Jews only claim to believe that the first five books of the Bible are
the Word of God.
That's it.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Jesus said, you're lying.
Because if you believed Moses, you'd believe me.
You're of your father the devil.
We were out soul winning, was it you, Quinn?
Quinn and I were out soul winning recently, I think Wednesday or something, and we're
out soul winning and we knock on the door of a guy and this Jew says, well you know,
you're the original, you know, because they said we believe the Old Testament, you know
the New Testament came out later, I said no.
And we were trying to be nice to him, but the guy's just like, that's a yes or no question.
And I said okay, well the answer is no, because I said you don't believe the Old Testament,
you guys follow the Talmud, all of your teachings come from the Talmud, I said your rabbi has
never even read the Old Testament cover to cover, I said you believe the Talmud, and
the Talmud was written after the New Testament, so ours goes back further than yours.
And then he called us skinheads and neo-Nazis.
I mean it's just, you know, anti-Semitic, anti-Semitic.
See anytime you expose the errors of Judaism, look, forget errors, the lies, the satanic
lies of Judaism, whenever you expose the satanic devilish lies of Judaism, you know what you're
accused of being racist.
News flash, Judaism's not a race.
Neither is homosexuality by the way, okay?
Judaism is not a race, Judaism is a religion.
And people who are Jews today are not a race.
Because all throughout history, all kinds of strangers and mixed multitude have gotten
circumcised and joined the nation of Israel all throughout history, and so Jews are of
all nationalities, they'll try to get you to believe, oh we all descend from Abraham,
yeah bologna.
There's so much mixture in there of just all different strangers who've come in, even in
the days of Esther, many became Jews.
Even when they left Egypt, a mixed multitude followed them that was all circumcised and
joined the multitude.
Okay, even when Abraham and Ishmael, the first men in the whole Bible got circumcised, guess
who else got circumcised besides Abraham and Ishmael?
All of his servants, 316 men, all got circumcised too.
Okay, were they all Jews?
No, Abraham wasn't even a Jew because Jews are descendants of Judah and Benjamin from
that southern kingdom, Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.
So anyway, the point is that, what is the point?
Okay, Jews don't believe the Old Testament, so go to Romans 3.23, because they're not
going to believe Romans 3.23 any more or less than if you try to go through some elaborate
Old Testament, hey let's go to Ecclesiastes to show you you're a sinner, because in Ecclesiastes
it says there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
They're not going to believe it any more from Ecclesiastes than they will from Romans 3.23,
so you might as well go to Romans 3.23 because that's where you have the map in your Bible.
So you've got to get off this idea that every religion needs a totally different Gospel.
But let me say this though, there are some religions where there is some specialization
that needs to take place.
But here's what I like to emphasize, that I like to do that at the end of the Gospel,
not at the beginning, at the end.
Here's why I do it at the end.
I don't want to just right out of the gate attack their religion because then you're
putting them on defensive.
So if I'm there with a Mormon, the first thing I do is I whip out a quote from Brigham
Young talking about how there's gods on other planets.
That's not the first thing I do with a Mormon, because that's just going to make them defensive.
Some girl cussed me out when I was speaking at South Mountain Community College about
a week ago because I pulled out the Brigham Young quote because I was teaching a class,
I didn't even know she was Mormon, she started screaming and cussing, and the teacher's like
googling it and putting it on the PowerPoint saying, this is what Brigham Young said, why
are you so mad?
We don't believe that.
It's like, well, is this your prophet?
Because they do believe that.
They believe that people live on other planets.
But anyway, you don't want to just attack people right out of the gate.
What's the power of God unto salvation?
Proving to them that they believe in false gods?
No.
What's the power of God to salvation?
The Gospel.
So start by giving the Gospel, because that's where the power is.
Give them the whole plan of salvation, and if you give them the whole plan of salvation,
hopefully the Holy Ghost's power has already been working in them as you've been preaching
to them, and they're going to be more receptive to hearing what's wrong with their religion.
Now, again, if somebody's just a run of the mill, non-denom, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal,
whatever, it's not necessary, or even an unsaved Baptist.
It's not necessary because you've already gone through all the points that would be
applicable for them.
But here's the thing.
When you're dealing with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, there's kind of something else
that you need to cover.
Because Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses are denying the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because the Jehovah's Witnesses are saying, hey, Jesus is not God.
He's a created being.
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus is Michael the Archangel.
Well that's another Jesus.
When you're believing in Michael the Archangel, and that he's not God, and that, you know,
Jesus said if you not believe that I am he, you'll die in your sins.
The Mormons, they believe that there are billions of gods.
You've got to confront them with that.
Because if they're going to still walk away, and still believe in billions of gods, and
Jesus isn't the only one and everything, you know what?
They're not going to get, they're not saved.
You can't believe all that crazy stuff and claim to be believing in the Jesus of the
Bible.
Mormonism has another Jesus.
The Jehovah's Witnesses have another Jesus.
And the Bible warns us in 2 Corinthians 11 of someone who will come to you preaching
another Jesus.
Just because his name Jesus doesn't make it the Jesus of the Bible.
So when I'm dealing with a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness, at the end, meaning after I've covered
the eternal security point, but before the review, I add an additional point and I say
this, I say now look, I know you're a Jehovah's Witness, and I know you guys don't believe
that Jesus is God.
I know you guys believe that Jesus is a created being, that he's Michael the Archangel.
Can I just show you a couple verses real quick on the fact that Jesus is God?
I say to them this, I say if I show you in the Bible where it flat out says Jesus is
God, would you believe it if you saw it in the Bible?
And I've had a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses say if I see it in the Bible, I'll believe
it.
And I say let me show you four places, I show them four places, and I've had Jehovah's Witnesses
get saved.
Many times.
Okay.
Because you just say to them, if I could show you in the Bible, will you believe it?
And if they say yes, you show them.
And if they will confess at that point that Jesus Christ is God, contrary to the cult
that they've been in, and I don't call it a cult to them, but I tell them it's false.
I tell them that Jehovah's Witnesses have taught you a false doctrine, and that Jesus
is not God, let me show you from the Bible, and then I'll take them through the review
and pray with them.
But I'm not going to pray with them if they're going to keep on believing this nonsense,
you know, because I don't believe you can be saved and believe in this other Jesus that's
Michael the Archangel that's a created being.
Similar to what the Mormons believe too, by the way.
But here are some verses, and again, you can write these down if you like, but I take them
to Hebrews 1.8, I take them to 2 Timothy 3.16, I'll take them to 1 Timothy 3.16.
So I'll take them to Hebrews 1.8, 1 Timothy 3.16, I'll take them to Mark chapter 10 where
it says there's none that do with good but one and that's God, and then a lot of times
I like to take them to Isaiah 9.6 because the New World translation, the Jehovah's Witness
Bible, it changes a lot of the proofs of the deity of Christ.
But in Isaiah 9.6 it's not been changed yet.
So in Isaiah 9.6 it says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, his name
shall be called the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.
So you can take them to John 1.1, you can take them to 1 John 5.7, show them the Trinity,
you can take them wherever you want but you need to deal with that when you're dealing
with Jehovah's Witnesses.
Now if I'm dealing with Mormons, basically I show them the fact that there's only one
God, I take them to Isaiah 43 verse 10 and 11, show them that there's no other gods on
other planets and everything, you know, you've got to deal with it and you've got to show
them.
Here's the thing, those are pretty much the only ones that have that special scenario
of the deity of Christ.
Usually it's going to be Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses that are really, you've really got
to deal with them by the deity of Christ.
But let me also say a word about Catholics because you're going to talk, if you go out
door to door soul winning in this area, you're going to run into a lot of Catholics and let
me tell you something.
Catholics are usually pretty receptive to the Gospel.
Catholics are a pretty good mission field, I mean they are pretty receptive, my wife
was raised Catholic, who here was raised Catholic before you got saved?
Look around the building, keep your hand up high, look around.
So Catholics are often a very receptive mission field, they're very receptive to the Gospel
and we run into a lot of them around here so I want to say a word about Catholics and
again I don't start out by attacking Catholicism, give the Gospel first, but here's how I end
it with a Catholic, a little special ending for Catholics.
I say this, I say now look, you mentioned that you were Catholic, the Catholic Church
teaches something different than what I just explained to you.
The Catholic Church actually teaches that in order to be saved you do have to be baptized,
you do have to go to church, you do have to confess your sins to the priest, and you
have to do good deeds to be saved.
Usually they'll be nodding their head, yeah that's right, and I always say to them, but
the Bible says that it's by faith alone, which one do you believe?
Now isn't that just, I mean that's it.
So you're not badgering them, you're not being rude, you're not being adversarial, but you're
getting them to choose, and you know what, they need to choose.
And the reason I tag on the special ending for Catholics is because some Catholics have
this attitude of just, they just kind of believe whatever they're hearing right now, and then
they'll just repeat any prayer, because remember these are people who just go around just repeating
prayers all the time, to saints, Hail Mary, Our Father, mindlessly repeating.
So we don't want this to just be another just mindless repetition, we don't want them
to just yup, yup, yup.
It's just a good way to just make sure that they're understanding the difference.
Without being rude or adversarial, I just say to them, look, the Catholic Church teaches
that it's X, Y, and Z, I just showed you from the Bible it's faith, which one do you believe?
Now, the vast majority of time, if I've gone through it thoroughly and they've been with
me up to this point, they're going to say, I believe what the Bible says.
And then at that point I say, okay, let's pray.
Now I don't need to expose to them every single error of the Catholic Church.
Let's go into Mary worship, let's go into calling the priest father, let's go into why
he needs to put on a pair of pants, I'm not going to sit there and go through everything
that's wrong, it's not necessary.
If they've understood everything about the Gospel and they're willing to admit, Bible
right, Catholic wrong on the Gospel, that's enough.
So I just say that simple question, which one do you believe?
And then if they say, I believe the Bible, great.
Let's pray, I'm going to help you right now, I want to just help you tell God that's what
you believe and just pray and ask Jesus to save you right now.
If they say, well I'm going with my Catholic religion.
Well there you go, you have your answer, God bless you, have a good day, thanks for listening,
take it easy.
Because you know what, if they're going to hang on to that, nope, I still think you have
to do it.
Well, they can't be saved unless they stop believing that stuff.
So I hope that it's been clear tonight, again, the only ones I tag on a special ending, the
Jews don't get a special ending, atheists don't get a special ending, the only people
I tag on a special ending for is like Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and also Roman Catholics.
Other than that, it's pretty standard.
One other question that people have asked me is, how do you deal with an atheist?
I've seen people get real intimidated by an atheist.
They knock the door and somebody's like, well I'm an atheist.
And then it's just like, they don't know what to do, like okay, have a good day, see you
later.
I've been soul winning with people who did that, where it's just like, oh you're atheist,
alright, see you later.
You know what, here's what I do with them.
I just say to them, can I just take five or ten minutes and show you what the Bible says
about how to go to heaven and then you can decide whether or not you believe it.
Because remember these atheists, they think they're so smart.
They're so intellectual and they're so open minded.
So by saying like, hey I'm just going to show it to you and then you can decide whether
you believe it or not, then they're like, yeah, I'm going to decide whether I believe
it or not.
But at least it gets them to listen.
That's what I say to atheists.
But other than that, the Gospel's the same.
And I have one atheist to Christ.
They can be saved.
I don't need some special, and by the way, I don't whip out the fossil record with an
atheist.
I don't whip out a Ken Hovind creation seminar and say, hey let's sit down and watch this
together.
Because here's the thing, the power, and I'm not against Ken Hovind's creation seminar,
I think it's really interesting stuff.
I think it's educational.
But let me say this, the Gospel saves.
Not science.
Science does not save.
The Gospel saves.
And what's the Gospel?
The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
You know, I'm not going to sit there and go into young earth theory.
Now here's the thing, if I give somebody the Gospel, and I'm done giving them the Gospel,
and then they say, well I don't believe and I believe in all this big bang and Star Trek
and everything, then I tell them, okay, well then I might argue that point with them a
little bit.
You know, after I've given them the Gospel.
But honestly, that's not going to save anybody.
And look, can I just explain something to you?
People were going to hell for thousands of years before evolution was ever invented.
I mean do you, you talk to some of these creationists, and of course we believe in six day literal
creation.
We believe in young earth.
We believe the earth is about 6,300 years old.
We don't believe in millions of years.
But it's like you talk to these people who are really into creationism, and it's like
they believe.
It's almost like they think that everybody would be saved if it weren't for evolution.
Why did people go to hell for like 6,000 years before Darwin was even born?
Because that's not the biggest issue.
That's not the biggest hang up that people have.
Most people I talk to on the streets, they already believe in some god.
They believe something's out there.
The minority believes in the big bang in evolution.
Who agrees with that?
If you've been out sawing and you say, hey, most people don't believe big bang.
Now if you're on the ASU campus, Devil State University, Satan U, then they're going to
believe that stuff.
But Joe Plummer doesn't believe that.
So I hope that this has helped you.
I hope you're inspired to go soul winning.
I hope you're going to give the gospel to your friends and family.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
I want to thank you so much, Lord, for a great church.
That's a great soul winning church, Lord.
And for people who came this morning and heard the teachings, came back tonight to finish
it out.
Lord, please help these teachings to bear fruit and that people would give the gospel
and see people saved, Lord.
Please just help every single person to be thoroughly furnished unto all good works and
ready to preach the gospel.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.