Transcription
So, so you have someone with a flat tire, and they want to get saved. How do you lead them to the Lord? Real quickly, that's what I want to go through with you. Let's turn to the book of Well, before we go to Romans, find the first page in the front of your Bible where there's something light enough that you can write on it, and you write in that corner. It's usually the second page in. You write Romans 3:10. And that means forever, for the rest of your life, you always especially when you're getting ready to lead someone to Christ, you get a little dry in your mouth, and you get a little scared, and you say, "Oh, Lord, send someone else. You know, here am I, Lord, send Aaron." Like Moses did, you know? It But But the Lord doesn't send Aaron. He's got you there, and he says, "Hey." So, you you you shake a little bit, and then you look in your Bible, and you have Romans 3:10. And that means when it's time, open to Romans 3:10. So, now let's go to Romans 3:10.
And now some people don't like to mark in your Bible, so you can write this on a piece of paper if you don't like to write in your Bible, but I actually write in my Bible because if you find someone whose Bible is falling apart, they probably aren't. Okay? Their life is probably together cuz they're wearing out their Bible. So, wear it out. And mark it up. Fact, in seminary, they used to tell me that if you don't like the hymn books in the church you pastor, put pencils in the pews. They said the kids will destroy them. You know what I mean? So, mark it up. It'll wear your Bible out, but uh you you wear it out for the Lord. At the top of Romans 3:10, wherever it is, I have written number one, we all have sinned.
Now, what you do if you're talking to someone, you open Romans 3:10, and you you state that to them, but so far we all have sinned. I just have those four words. I have number one, we all have sinned. Somewhere near Romans 3:10, drew a little circle around 10, so I know that's where I'm going. But I haven't given them the word of God yet. And did you know a lot of people are great talkers, and they talk and talk and talk and talk, and they say all the right things, and say, "You know, we've all sinned, and Jesus is the answer, and you need him." And what have you left out? The living and abiding word of God that is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. You actually have to use the Bible. It As Spurgeon said, you don't need to fend the Bible. It's like a caged lion. Let it out, and just let it go.
Friend of mine was was uh visiting as a pastor, and he he was going to see this couple, and they just lost an infant, and he just said, "I don't know what to do. I've never lost an infant. I don't even know what to say to them. I feel awful going there." And he just gave himself 50 excuses for not going. So, finally, he just found the Psalm, and he went in anyway, and went to visit them at their home, knocked on the door, and they were weeping, and he started crying, and he said, "I don't know what to say, so I'm not going to say anything." And he just read those verses, and he left. A few months later, they wrote him, and they said, "You know, we had all kinds of people come, and they did everything to us, but they said, 'You know what? We don't remember anything except those verses you read from the Bible." You see, it's the word of God that cuts right through and gets to our heart. And so, you have to read it.
Look at verse 10. And you can go as far as you want with this. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. You know what that says? We're all bad people. You're going to talk to people who think they're basically a good person. And you know what? You have to see them come to the point where they understand under the power of God's Spirit that they are bad. They're not as bad as Idi Amin, the guy who used to skin people alive in Uganda, and they might not be as bad as Joseph Stalin, or they might not be as bad as whoever you can think of, but they're bad. How do we know they're bad? God said it, but he's indescribable. There's none righteous. And then what he does is he he goes through, starting in verse 13, showing all the ways we're bad. Verse 13, we're bad by our words. Our throat is an open tomb, and with our tongues, we've practiced deceit. So, sin shows up with some people by the way they talk. Look at verse 15, by our deeds. Our feet are swift to shed blood. We do bad things. Verse 16, we have bad habits. Destruction and misery are in their ways. There was some people that are very destructive. They have these sinful habits. Verse 17, sometimes we're sinful by neglect. It says, "And the way of peace they haven't known." They've neglected even knowing that. And some people just are greatly sinful by irreverence. They have no fear of God before their eyes. And so, what Paul does is he gives you many different avenues by quoting. By the way, when Paul gives the gospel, if you notice there, he's quoting from the Psalms, from Ecclesiastes. He He gives the gospel from the Old Testament. Because it's the word of God. And it can cut to the heart.
So, right up in your still, if you're marking your Bible, number one, you wrote, "We all have sinned." But you need to have a little knowing what to do next. And so, I have a little arrow, and it says verse 23. What you're trying to get to. So, right next to we all have sinned, I put a little tiny arrow, and I wrote V, you know, verse 23. What you want to get to is verse 23. So, 3:10, we all have sinned. And so, verse 23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And so, I look up at people, and I say, "So, we all are sinners." And and recently, I I had someone I was talking to, and I looked right in their eye, and I said, "And I'm the worst sinner I know of in the whole world." And they stepped back. But you know what? You You don't isolate yourself from this. You say, "I'm a sinner. I'm painfully aware of my sin. I'm so aware of it that I I was convicted of my sin." See, you And And if if you have to talk them into this, and keep twisting their arm, they probably, you know, they're just humoring you. But what you'll see is if you're leading someone to Christ, they're they're listening to you. They're They're leaning forward sometimes. Sometimes they even want to actually Could I see that? And so, I even I let them read the verse. Now, there is a big thing. You get them actually reading the scriptures. For some of these people, they've never I I mean, it's hard for them. In fact, I've had people I'm leading to the Lord, they go, "What is all that writing?" I said, "Well, that's just so I remember stuff." They go, "Oh, I didn't know you could write in the Bible." I said, "Probably you can't, but I do." But okay.
So, right next to verse 23, you have to put another little arrow because you're so caught up, you've got to keep going. And I have my little arrow 5:8. That means you're going to Romans 5:8. So, put a little arrow by 3:23, and go to 5:8. And when you get to 5:8, you write number two. This is the second Remember, this is the Romans road, and it has four stops. Stop one is we all have sinned. Stop two is Christ died for sinners. See, they're connected. God has established we've all sinned. If they don't jump into the circle that they've sinned, I mean, I was talking to someone at Starbucks recently, and sharing the gospel, and they were kind of You know, they weren't really listening. I said, "So, you've never sinned?" And they stepped back. You know, it was a very personal question, but I guess they'd seen me enough that they trusted me, and they said, "Yeah, I've sinned." I said, "There." I said, "You can be saved." The The beginning of someone coming to Christ is when they acknowledged that they're a sinner. But you It's not enough. That's just You just kind of are in the waiting room. You haven't seen the doctor yet.
Look at 5:8. This is what it says. And And I wrote number two, Christ died for sinners. And I By the way, if you're up there, put a little arrow cuz the next one you're going to is 6:23. So, while you're there, number two, Christ died for sinners, and you're going to cover that. And then put a little arrow so you know what's next, 6:23. And so, I take them to 5:8, and I actually read it. And I say, "God demonstrated his own love toward us in the while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." And that's when you go through, and you can talk about the Lord Jesus Christ death to whatever level. And And you know, we have people they they are even in America, we're a growing pagan nation. They don't even know, you know, the whole thing. They They think it's just a movie. And you know, And that's what movies have done. People cannot separate real history from movie history, from fantasy, from science fiction. And you know, And the longer we go in this generation we're in, people are going to detach from from actual events in the past. And so, you have to introduce them it it as the Lord leads you to this idea. Verse eight says, "God And And you know, if you want to introduce God as who God is, you know, he's the creator. He's the one through whom all exist. But he demonstrates his love in that Christ died for us. Christ Christ is the fulfillment and the answer of all God's promises to us in Christ Jesus. Is God a human in human flesh who came and died for us. And so, you work with them that Christ died for sinners. And And what I do is I don't quite get them in there yet. We all have sinned, and they go, "Yeah, I've I've sinned." And I say, "Christ died for sinners." You know, you just get them to that point where they understand why he died. And then you go to 6:23.
So, just look across to your Bible there to 6:23. And that's the third stop on the Romans road. And I have a number three written there. And I write, "If number two was Christ died for sinners," little arrow to go to 6:23, then number three is salvation is a gift." And I have a little arrow to 10:10. And then I read In fact, that's why I always carry a pen. Where is my pen? Oh, no. My illustration's gone. Well, I'll just have a fake pen. I must have dropped it somewhere. But I always have a pen right here. And I pull it out right then, and I I I have it in my hand while I'm reading. It says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, 6:23, is eternal life in Jesus our Lord." And I talk to them a little bit about that, and say, "The wages, you know, you work, don't you?" And they might, you know, be working somewhere. Maybe they're on their break, or, you know, you just You say, "Yeah, and you work, and you get paid for your time." I said, "You know what you get as a payment for sinning, even once, eternal death. You ever heard of hell? Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels and for all people who refuse the gift of God, which is Jesus Christ, payment to give you eternal life. And all that time I'm holding that pen in my hand. And finally I say, "Let me show you something." I say, "Here, here's my pen. This is a gift." And I hold it out to him. But I hold on the other end and I start tugging on it and I say, "It's $5." You know, and they laugh and I say, "No, no, it's a gift. Take it." "No, no, it's $5." And I said, "Did you know that's how most people are? God wants to give them a gift and what do they want to do? They want to give him a tip or something. They want to pay for part of it." It reminds me of the same thing when people you take them out to dinner, you take them to someplace costs $50 and they wrestle with you over the bill. I've told you this before and finally you pay it and so then they stick a $5 bill in your pocket. It costs 50. Either give me 50 or don't give me anything, you know? I don't want your five cuz you're ruining it. It's a gift, you know? And so stop that. Don't do the wrestling match and the tugging on the bill. Either pay it or don't pay it. Don't put the dollars in the pockets. It's not kosher, okay? It's not good. And that's what people do when they say that the gift of God is eternal life, but they think they got to add to it by being baptized or add to it by joining the church or add to it by being good or add to it by, you know, whatever. And and that's where you have to emphasize that you've already earned the wages of sin that is death, but you must realize since you're building on it that Christ died for sinners. While you were still sinner, Christ died for you. We already covered that, number two. And that's the basis he can give you this gift. And I mean, if they're a thinking person, I even go so far as this at this point as to talk about the fact that I take my Bible. I I say, "This is me and this is all my sins weighing me down when Jesus found me." And I said, "You know what Jesus did? He took all of my sins onto himself. It's a gift. I couldn't get them off. I was crushed under there. He took them on himself. But I said, "That's only half the gospel. Now all I have is my sins are gone, but I'm still I'm still unsaved. I just have my sins gone. He, as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For he hath made him who knew no sin to become sin for us." Sin goes on him. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. And that's where you talk about the fact that Jesus Christ moves within and gives us his righteousness. His spirit lives within us. We become a brand new creation. That's what being born again is. We are regenerated. We're made into the into those who partake of the very nature of God. We're not gods, as the false teachers say, but we partake of God who lives within us and and he, his spirit, energizes us. He gives us a new heart. So, you can go as deep as you want, but you still have by number three this little arrow.
Now, the problem with most people is they get this far and the people are talking and everything and they think it's wonderful and some interruption comes and the people have just heard the gospel and have not been given the opportunity to respond. That's why you have to time it so you get to 10:10. So, turn over the page to 10:10, chapter 10 of Romans, verse 10 and you have a number four and you write, "Ask Jesus to save you." So, number four, ask Jesus to save you. And this is what in Romans 10:10. It Well, actually 10:9 and 10 through 13, but I just put 10:10 and I have it right in the middle so and I have them all circled. I have nine circled and 10 circled and 13 circled, but I show them. It says in verse nine, "If you confess with your mouth" and I explain what confession is. It's not admitting. If you say, "Mhm, I ran the red light." You're you're not confessing, you're admitting. But if you say, "I was in a hurry and I decided that that my schedule's more important than the laws of the land and and I shouldn't have done it and I did I did break the law and and so whatever you want to do to me is fine." That's a a confession. You agreed. See, confession homo lego means to say the same thing about it God does. So, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus that he is sinless and perfect and righteous and I am sinful and a sinner and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, that that Christ died. You already told them that in 5:8. And that remember the gospel I delivered unto you first of all, 1 Corinthians 15:3 and 4 says how that Christ died for sin according to scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again. You remember the essence of the gospel is that Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, died, was buried and that he rose again. And we explain that to them and say that you have got to believe in your heart that that miraculous, supernatural death of Christ for your sins before you were even born. Did he know you? And he died in your place 2,000 years ago? Amazing. And his burial that he took those sins with him upon himself and that they would never be remembered against us, the records erased once we receive Christ, and that God raised him from the dead. It says you will be saved, verse 10, "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness with the mouth confession is made to salvation." And then you've got to get to 13, "For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." And I look right at him. I say, "Would you like to receive the Lord Jesus Christ tonight?" And you know, one of the most beautiful moments is you'll see sometimes tears running down their face. Sometimes you'll just you'll just see them you see a lot of different things. Sometimes there's no emotional response. But what they'll say is either yes or no. And this is the most important time. You just wait. You you have shared that all of sin, Christ died for sinners, uh Jesus Christ is the one who offers you this gift. And then you have to call on him. And you explain it after you're done explaining. See, some people just can't turn it off. They can't stop talking. There is a point and that's why you have to pray about this. There's a point where you look at him and say, "Would you like to receive Christ right now?" And sometimes they go, "Here? You mean right now?" And you can answer them then. You go, "Mhm." They go, "Well, I don't know how to pray." And I say, "Well, praying is like talking. And you don't see him right now, but he's here and I just introduced you to him and you can talk to him, but if you'd like me to help you, I will. But you have to be very careful because some people think you got to say this intricately exactly right. It's almost like uh you know what I mean? You got to you got to have this magical weaving together the right words. No, the Lord says that that all the those who seek me will find me. And you seek for me. Paul reduced salvation down to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's simple. And and Peter, I I mean, he just said, "Lord, save me." Luther was saved as he was in turmoil. All he said is, "Lord, save me." So, you don't Whoever calls on the name of the Lord, look what it says in verse 13, "will be saved." It's not us making sure we've massaged it just right. The Lord saves them. I don't. And if they don't mean it, they're not saved. If they do mean it and don't say the right words, the Lord knows that. You understand what I mean? The biggest verse for soul winning is Jonah 2:9. You know what that says? Salvation is of the Lord. I am just a tool and if he wants to use me, I get ready. I mark my Bible. All have sinned. Christ died for sinners. Uh salvation is a gift. Ask Jesus to save you. And you know what the joy is of my life? Being able to lead over the years men and women and boys and girls to Christ. And you know what? It says in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 and 20, "What is my hope? What is my joy? And what is the crown of rejoicing? It's you at the coming of Jesus Christ. The only thing you can take with you from Earth to Heaven are people. Now, why did the Lord leave us here? To be in the stands and to cheer on all the soul winners and missionaries? Mhm. >> [clears throat] >> He brought us all here to have this eat your guts cross country training and be scared to death and to mark our Bibles and to get a gospel track and to start praying having in the front of your Bible a little list of unsaved people and to say, "Lord, I'm scared. I'm not good at this. You bring someone in my life that I can share the gospel with. And Lord, I would love to lead someone to Christ." That's just the beginning. You lead them to Christ and you get to have a lifelong friend that you will will be able to nurture and disciple. And that's one of the greatest gifts of all this that the Lord gives us. They become our friends.