Question 5 – Would you allow me the privilege of opening the Bible and explaining how to get to heaven?

If they are depending on works, which 99% of the time is their answer, you ask them this. If what you are believing isn’t true, and it is not the way to heaven, and there is only one way to get there, and I can show you a 100% guaranteed way to know for sure that heaven could be your home when you die, would you allow me the privilege to open up the Bible and explain this to you? This is really crazy now – you get their permission to open the Bible. I use a Share Jesus Bible that has all the verses highlighted I will use. I turn the Bible facing the unbeliever. I ask the unbeliever to please read romans 3:23 out loud because we know the principle of Romans 10:17 – faith come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So, they read that verse out loud and then I ask them what that verse says to them. They usually say something like all have sinned or everybody is a sinner. I say correct. Sometimes I go through five of the Ten Commandments to really drive the point home.  I say everybody will say we are all sinners, but let me ask you another question. Do you know the Ten Commandments? Have you ever told a lie or stolen something? Sometimes I have them read Romans 3:23 again to acknowledge they are a sinner.

Next, we go to Romans 6:23. They read the verse out loud and I ask them what the verse says to them. The three key words in that verse are wages, sin, and death. I ask them what wages mean to them. They respond by telling me it means a paycheck or a payday. At the end of the week, I get a paycheck for the work I have done. I say, “exactly, you get what you deserve.” So according to this verse, the wages of how many sins is death?  Is sin a singular or a plural word?  Sin is singular so the wages of one sin is death. On top of the word death, I put hell. From there they read Revelation 20:14-15, John 3:3 and I hammer home Romans 10:9-13. Again, we do not want easy believism, ABC, dear Jesus come into my heart, I’m a sinner. Like a Polly want a cracker prayer. After a prayer like that we have to convince them to come to church and convince them that they are saved because they got nothing from a prayer like that. So when I get to Romans 10, I ask who they think Jesus is and what do they think Lord means. I tell them when they get saved Jesus is going to be the Lord of their life. The master, the king. If you were in a kingdom under a king and you one of the servants, what would the king expect you to do when he gives an order? He would expect you to obey immediately, and if you don’t, your head would probably get chopped off. So if you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, He not only wants to be your Savior, but He wants to be your King, and you need to be obedient to your King.

Then I go to II Corinthians 5 to understand Lordship. He died for them, so it is a reasonable thing for Him to ask them to live for Him. Then I go to Luke 13:3. I ask them what the two key words in the verse are. Repent and perish. I don’t explain, I ask questions. I ask what they think perish means. They usually say die. Some will die and go to hell. But the other word is repent, a very important word. If they don’t understand the word repent, they are going to perish. The only time I explain anything is the word repent, because most of the time, they say it means to say you are sorry. Repent means a turning away from sin and turning to Christ. You do a 180 and follow Christ. You also change your mind from what you thought twenty minutes ago about what will get you to heaven. Your good works or baptism will not get you to heaven. Repenting will get you to heaven. You change your mind and embrace the cross and all that means. You trust in the blood of Christ. I hammer that home. We want to make sure they understand repentance.

Then I go to Revelation 3:20. I ask them what that means and they get it. When we go to Revelation 20:14-15, I never tell anybody they are going to hell. I let them read the verse so that they will see that if their name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they will be cast into a lake of fire. I ask them if they were to die and their name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, where does the Bible say they would go? They point their finger down and say I’ll go down there. I’ll go right to hell.

All of that takes about 10-12 minutes. At this point, I do a little review. We do back to Romans 3:23. I ask if they are willing to admit they are a sinner and they say yes. I ask if they believe in heaven and hell and they say yes. I refer to Romans 10:9-10 and ask them if they believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and rose from the dead for their sins, and they say yes. The next two questions are the key and these are the questions I never asked before I attended “Share Jesus Without Fear.” I tell them I am going to ask them two a very important questions. I refer to II Corinthians and ask them if they remember that we do not live for ourselves, but we live unto Him? I then ask them if they are ready to surrender their life to the Lord. I tell them they have permission to say no. I will not force them. If they make the decision they are doing it for God’s glory, and they are going surrender control of their live from this moment on. And then I shut up. They take about ten seconds and say yes. Then I ask them if they remember Revelation 3:20, they say yes. I ask them if they are ready right now, to invite Jesus Christ into their life? He’s knocking ever so gently. You must open the door of your heart. Are you ready? They take about 10-15 seconds and say yes. I have a prayer that I have written on a piece of paper and I ask them to read it out loud. I ask them if that is the desire of their heart. They say yes. The I lead them in a prayer of salvation and they get saved. I then tell them all of heaven is rejoicing and that their name is being written in the Book of Life right then. I then give them a spiritual birth certificate.

Then I don’t ask them if they would like to come to church. People who made Jesus Christ their Lord come to church. Christians go to church. Lost people say they don’t want to come to church. Truly born again people come to church. Instead, I tell them about our foundations class that meets at 9:45. I ask them if they have transportation or would they like me to pick them up? I tell them when they get to the church I will be at the door looking for them.

Then I go to I John 5:11-13. I have them read those verses out loud. I’m never going to tell someone they are eternally saved. It has to be the Word of God. I tell them that tomorrow morning they might not feel saved, but salvation is not a feeling. It is based on facts. This is especially important to Catholics. I ask them if they died right now where would they go? Lastly, I tell them they are my brother or sister. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We are family members now, here’s my phone number, if you ever need anything feel free to call.

tom@lbcxenia.com