Lesson 9, the sinner's prayer. Number 1, why someone must pray in order to be saved. Your keyword there is pray.
Why someone must pray in order to be saved. Letter A, someone must in faith call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Romans 10-9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God is raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10-13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Letter B, this is seen all throughout scripture, all throughout the Bible we see this concept.
I'll just give you a few examples here. Genesis 4-26,
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.
Genesis 12, 7-8, And the Lord appeared unto Abraham, and said unto thy seed, Will I give this land?
And there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east.
And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
Psalm 116-13, I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
So, all throughout the Bible, the Bible is clear about this idea of calling upon the name of the Lord, calling upon Jesus.
Number two, understanding the sinner's prayer. Understanding the sinner's prayer, your key word there is sinners.
Letter A, there is nothing special about the prayer itself. It's not a magical prayer.
Letter B, the mere words will not save you. Just saying these words in this order or whatever, they will not save you.
Letter C, the faith in your heart is required for salvation. The faith.
Romans 10-9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God is raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Letter D, we must make sure that we are not going around just praying with people that do not understand salvation.
We need to make sure that we're not just going around praying with people that do not understand salvation.
So let's talk about how this conversation may go, okay?
Now let me just give you a little by the way there.
Soul winners will often attest to the fact that the hardest part of the Gospel authorization for them is to close the deal.
And I hope that's okay for me to use that term. I know that's a sales type term and we're not salesmen, but you understand what I mean by that.
Oftentimes the biggest thing that I hear soul winners say to me that the hardest part for them is once you get to the end, how do you get them to pray, right, quote unquote.
Below I show you how I walk them down the logical steps to want to pray and ask for salvation.
I've been soul winning my whole life. I mean literally since I could walk I went soul winning with my dad.
My whole life all I've ever known is soul winning. I've been preaching the Gospel at the door since I was 16 years old.
So over 20 years that I have been consistently preaching the Gospel in my Christian life.
And because of that I feel like I have a lot of experience, which is why some of these questions you're asking I can give you answers hopefully that are helpful to you.
Because I've had good teachers, I've had people invest in me and I've done this for a very long time.
Honestly I've gotten to the point in the Gospel presentation where I feel like if I get to that transitional point where I explain to them that they're sinners and they understood that, then it's almost for sure that this person is going to get saved.
And it's not because I'm the greatest soul winner ever, okay.
But it is because of experience you learn to teach people things and help people.
You ask questions and you see the gears moving in their head and they're coming to these conclusions themselves.
And when it comes to the sinner's prayer I do the same thing.
Now I'm going to explain to you how I do it. You might feel like that's too much or I can't remember that or whatever and I get that and that's fine and you don't have to.
I'm just telling you if you feel like you struggle with closing the deal, I did too for a long time which is why I developed this kind of plan.
And I'm just telling you it's worked. It's worked well for me.
And when I say it's worked I hope you understand. It's not like we're selling but I feel like it's helped people understand things, alright.
So I got done with the eternal security part. We're all done with that.
And then we're going to Romans 10-9, right. Now I flip to Romans 10-9 and usually I'll say something like this.
I'll come to Romans 10-9 and I'll say, hey let me just show you one more verse.
But before I show you that verse let me go back to the gift illustration, right.
Because remember I like to use the gift illustration the entire way through.
I only take a break for the eternal security part and then I go back.
So I go to Romans 10-9 and I like to tell people like, hey let me show you this last verse, Romans 10-9.
But before I do that let me go back to this gift illustration.
And I'll pull my pen out and I'll say, let's say today was your birthday.
And let's say I was going to give you this gift as a birthday gift, this pen.
And I put a bow on it and I put a little tag on it and I said, here you go, happy birthday, okay.
What do you have to do for this gift to become yours?
They'll say, take it. I'll say, go ahead and grab it.
They grab it from me and I say, alright, well what if you said, I don't want it.
What if instead of taking it you said, thanks but no thanks and you rejected it.
Did this gift ever become yours?
Notice I'm not telling them anything, I'm just asking questions.
What if I went on, I bought this gift, I wrapped it up, I put a bow on it and I write your name.
And I said, here you go, happy birthday, you don't have to do anything for this gift.
You don't have to pay me anything for it, you don't have to do anything for it.
It's a free birthday gift, happy birthday, here you go.
And you said to me, thanks but no thanks and you reject my gift.
Did this gift ever become yours?
They're going to say, no.
I'm going to say, why not?
Because I didn't take it.
They'll say, because I didn't take it.
They'll say, because I didn't accept it.
They'll say, because I rejected it.
They're going to say, because I didn't take the gift.
And then I'll ask them, okay, was it paid for?
Yeah, it's paid for, you paid for it.
Remember, in the illustration I said, let's say I took, I went on, I bought this gift,
I wrapped it up, I put a bow on it, put your name on it.
Let's say, was it paid for?
Yeah, it was paid for.
Who paid for it?
You did.
Was it meant for you?
Yeah, it's meant for you.
But it never became yours because you did not.
And usually I'll stop right there and they'll say, because I did not accept it, because I didn't want it.
I'll say, well, here's the thing.
The gift of God is the exact same way.
Now remember, we connect the illustration back to the point we're making.
The gift of God is the exact same way.
Jesus already paid for it on the cross, and he offers it to all of us freely.
But you get a choice whether you'd like to accept it or reject it.
Now, if you could accept the gift of God, would you do it?
At this point, you're usually a person saying, yes, I would.
I say, well, let me show you how you can do that.
Romans 10 9, the Bible says, that if.
Now, it says if because you get a choice.
It says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
I want you to notice, the Bible says that God wants you to confess.
The word confess means to admit.
You say, what am I admitting?
You're admitting that you're a sinner.
You're admitting that your sin has condemned you to hell.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
But it's not just saying words.
Notice what it says.
And shall believe.
That's the faith.
In thine heart.
What are you believing?
That God had raised him from the depths.
You're believing that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and that God raised him from the dead as a payment for your sins.
The Bible says, thou shalt be saved.
Now, it doesn't say you might be saved.
It doesn't say you hopefully will be saved.
God says, I will save you if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart.
At this point, once I've explained this, I'll take this opportunity to just say, now listen.
I don't know if you noticed, but everything I showed you came straight out of the Bible.
I just read a verse and explained it, read another verse and explained it.
So let me just ask you, do you believe according to the Bible that you're a sinner?
You're going to say, yeah.
Hopefully by now they've been agreeing this whole time.
Do you believe according to the Bible that you're a sinner?
Yes.
Do you believe what the Bible says about those who reject Christ, that they will spend eternity in hell?
Do you believe that?
Yes, I do.
Do you believe that salvation is a gift that God wants to give you?
That it's free.
You don't have to earn it.
You don't have to work for it.
Do you believe that?
Yes, I do.
Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the grave as a payment for your sin?
That that's how he paid for salvation?
Do you believe that?
Yes, I do.
Do you believe that once God gives you the gift, it'll last forever and he'll never take it away?
Do you believe that?
Yes, I do.
Okay, do you believe this verse when it says that if you were to simply confess with your mouth and believe in your heart,
that God would save you and he'd give you everlasting life?
Do you believe that?
Yes, I do.
Well, if you believe that, here's the thing.
I'm not God.
You don't have to say that to me.
But God wants you to confess it and call upon Lord Jesus Christ.
Would you like to pray right now and accept that gift so that you can know you're on your way to heaven?
Usually by this time, they've been saying yes.
They've been agreeing this whole time, yes, yes, I would.
And then at this point, we go ahead and say, well, let's go ahead and pray.
You can say, I can say the words.
I can help you form a prayer.
I can say the words.
You can just repeat what I'm saying.
If you want to explain, this is not a magical prayer.
It's not like we're going to say these words.
There's going to be lightning and thundering or anything like that.
The mere words don't save you.
It's your faith in your heart that saves you.
But if you believe that, why don't we go ahead and pray, and you can just repeat what I'm saying.
Would you like to do that?
Yes, yes, I would.
Okay, well, go ahead and repeat after me.
And then we pray the prayer.
Let me give you some thoughts in regards to the prayer.
Cut the prayer up short enough that you're not, that they can just repeat what you're saying and you're not giving them too much.
So all you say is something like, Jesus, they'll say, Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner.
I know that I'm a sinner.
I deserve to go to hell.
Please forgive me of all my sin.
Please give me eternal life.
I'm not trusting in myself.
I'm not trusting myself.
I'm only trusting in you.
Amen.
Now, you may not like that sinner's prayer.
It doesn't matter.
You can come up with your own prayer.
That's the prayer I like to use.
It doesn't matter.
The thief on the cross said, remember me with all interest in thy kingdom.
I mean, you can literally say anything.
God's on a hair trigger to save people, okay?
But I like to say this prayer.
You can come up with your own.
Once we pray and we say amen.
Now, I'm all about, I hope you've noticed this throughout this seminar,
I'm all about being thorough.
We are not one, two, three, repeat after me around here.
And usually when I pray this prayer and I say amen, I'll close my eyes.
I'll say, okay, go ahead and repeat after me.
Jesus, Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner.
I know that I'm a sinner.
And I deserve to go to hell.
Please forgive me of all my sin.
And please give me eternal life.
Please give me eternal life.
I'm not trusting in myself.
I'm only trusting in you.
Amen.
Then I open my eyes and I say,
now listen, before I show you anything else,
let me just show you this verse again, okay?
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus.
Did you just do that?
Yeah, I did that.
And shall believe in thine heart that God has raised and ruined the dead.
Did you believe in your heart right now when we prayed?
Yeah, I believed.
Well, according to this verse,
the Bible says, thou shalt be saved.
According to the Bible, you're saved.
Congratulations.
God bless you.
I'll shake their hand.
And then I ask, I like to make sure people are saved.
Now, you may not do this because you're afraid that you did a bad job
with the soul winning presentation, okay?
But I'm going to tell you something.
Now, when you grow confident that you do a good job with the soul winning presentation,
you'll have the guts to do what I am going to tell you to do
and what I do, what my wife does, what I teach people to do.
I'll show this to them.
Did you do that?
Well, congratulations.
According to the Bible, you're saved.
And then I'll say this.
Hopefully, this isn't the case.
But if I never see you again, five years from now,
somebody knocks on your door and asks,
hey, let me ask you a question.
Do you know what for sure you died today?
Are you on your way to heaven?
What would you say to them?
Oh, I'd say, yeah, I'm on my way to heaven.
And if they ask you, well, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
They're going to say, well, because I called upon Jesus for salvation
because I put my faith in Jesus Christ because it's not of works.
They're going to explain to me what I explained.
I'm going to say, praise the Lord.
Thank you so much for letting me show that to you.
And then at that point, the gospel presentation is pretty much done.
And then we can move on to the follow up.
But I ask questions throughout the entire thing.
I ask questions at the transitional point.
I ask questions at the end.
And I even ask questions after the presentation.
And here's all I'm telling you.
I would encourage you to ask those questions
because they're going to make you be a good soul winner.
Because you're not going to ask those questions if you're like, I don't know.
Well, I like to ask.
Hopefully this isn't the case.
But if I never see you again, and five years from now, somebody knocks at your door
and asks you, do you know for sure that you're going to heaven?
What would you say to them?
Oh, I say, yeah, I'm on my way to heaven. Absolutely.
Good. Well, what are you trusting in?
What if they ask you, what are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
What would you say?
Well, because I called upon Jesus because I accepted the gift
because it's a free gift because whatever they say,
as long as it's matching what we've been saying,
man, praise the Lord.
Thank you so much for letting me show you these verses.
And then we can transition into the follow up.
OK, so page number 41 there, page number four,
a review of what we've showed people in our presentation.
Letter A, we showed them that they are sinners, for all have sinned, Romans 3.23.
We showed them the consequences for their sin,
for the wages of sin and death, Romans 6.23.
We showed them that salvation is a gift that they don't have to work for,
not of work, so I send you a message for both, Romans 2.9.
Letter D, we showed them that Jesus paid for their sins,
while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, Romans 5.8.
We showed them about eternal security.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, John 3.36.
And then letter F, we finish with having them receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior through prayer,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, Romans 10.13.
So we showed them we're all sinners, their sin is condemned as to how God is a gift he wants to give you
and that gift is eternal life.
Jesus paid for our sins on the cross, was buried and rose from the grave.
To pay for their sins, the gift will last forever,
and you receive it by faith calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Alright, so just real quick to finish up your mapping,
you can write a number 13 at Romans 10.9,
indicating that that's the 13th and final verse that you will go to in your presentation,
and that completes your mapping out of your Bible, number 13 at Romans 10.9.
So that's lesson number 9 in the Sinner's Prayer.