Knock

Hello my name is _____________and this is my friend _____________and we are out visiting from Faith Baptist Church.

 

What is your name? (Shake their hand).

 

Well, (use their name) I know its (say the day you are out soul winning) and you are probably busy, but may we visit with you for a few minutes? (When you get yes for the answer say)

 

May we come in?

 

Once inside, make casual conversation for 3-5 minutes.

 

Then ask, “Do you attend church anywhere?” (No matter what they answer don’t be critical even if they say they don’t go at all) Your reply is “Well I think it is good to go to church and going to church is quite important and obviously if it wasn’t I wouldn’t be out here today.

 

But, there is something more important than going to church and that is knowing that you are going to Heaven.”

 

(Their name), if you were to die today, are you 100% certain without any shadow of a doubt that Heaven would be your home?

 

 (No matter what they answer, ask them) So, what do you think one has to do to go to Heaven? (Remember what they say).

 

Now ask (name) “Do you believe the Bible to be the Word of God?” (No matter their answer is, your reply should be:)

 

“(Name) would you mind if I showed you from the Bible how one can know for sure that they are going to Heaven?”

 

Well (name) I am going to take you to the Book of Romans for the most part because the book of Romans is the doctrinal book of the Bible. Doctrine simply means teaching and in this book we see what God teaches us about how to go to Heaven. Now some of the things I am going to tell you, you may already know but you probably haven’t seen them lined up quite like I’m going to show you.

 

Notice here in Romans 3:23 it says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

 

 This verse teaches that I am a sinner and so are you. Now, we may have never met before. We don’t have a lot in common. But it doesn’t matter who you are or where you are from. I have something in common with you and that is “I am a sinner, just like you.”

 

Now sin is the breaking of one of God’s commandments. And one of His commandments is “Thou shalt not bear false witness” or as most folks say “Thou shalt not lie.”

 

(Name) I know that I have told a lie before, Have you? So you see that we are all sinners. Would you agree with that?

 

Then notice that this verse goes on to say “and come short of the glory of God.” This means we have fallen short of God’s perfect standard of righteousness and our sin separates us from God. So would you agree with God that you are a sinner?

 

So first of all we see that we are sinners.

 

The second thing I want us to see is that there is a penalty for sin.

 

 “(Name) have you ever been in trouble with the law before?”

 

If they say “yes” tell them: Well, you don’t have to tell me what you did but, let’s say you got caught speeding. If they say no, ask them if they ever got a speeding ticket. If they still say no, ask them if they know what happens to those who get caught speeding? Tell them because one was caught driving faster than the posted speed limit, they have to pay a fine, points are taken off their license, and sometimes their insurance company finds out and they raise their rates. This is all the result of breaking the law.

 

 Now people still speed don’t they and they do so because they know police are not everywhere and they are willing to take that risk every now and then. But do you know who is every where?

 

 God is, and He always catches us. He knows every word we have ever spoken, every thought that has crossed our minds, every deed we have ever done and He keeps accurate records.

 

In Romans 5:12 He tells us the penalty for breaking His law. It reads: “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.” The Penalty is death.

 

Let’s break this verse down. The first part reads, “Wherefore by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin” That one man was a guy by the name of Adam. God created Adam out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Not a living body. Out of his side God created Eve and placed them in His garden.

 

 There He gave man three rules to live by:

1. Take care of My garden.

2. Be fruitful and multiply.

3. Don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

 

Well, the Devil tempted them, they ate the forbidden fruit and they died that day just as God had said. Now they didn’t die physically that day, but spiritually, for their sin separated them from God and I believe the process of physical death started in their body then due to their disobedience.

 

So when it’s talking about death here, it is speaking of a physical and spiritual death.

 

It goes on to say,” So death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.” The same penalty Adam faced because of his sin is the same penalty we face because of our sin and that is death, both physical and spiritual. God is no respecter of persons and all sinners are under the condemnation of death.

 

Look at Romans 6:23: It reads, “For the wages of sin is death.” A wage is what you earn. For instance if worked for a company and they paid you $10 per hour and you put in 40 hours of work you would expect a check on payday for $400 minus whatever taxes you would have to pay. Now we all look forward to payday don’t we?

 

But, here is a payday no one wants, for the wages of sin is death. (Name) have you ever heard of the second death?

 

Well it is found in Revelation 21:8 and it reads,

 

 “But the fearful; these are those who are more afraid of man than of God and those who are afraid of man are capable of doing anything. Some are more afraid of their family, friends and even their church and that’s why they refuse to come to God the way He demands.”

 

It goes on to say, “and unbelieving” It’s those who have heard what God has to say and don’t believe it.

 

 “And the abominable” That is a very wicked person.

 

 “And murderers” How many innocent lives does one have to take to be a murderer? (One) That’s right you don’t have to set a record.

 

 “And whoremongers” That’s those who participate in any sexual activity outside the confines of marriage between a man and a woman.

 

 “And sorcerers” That would be those who play with wiji boards, go to palm readers, follow the Horoscopes, do witchcraft and the like. This word comes from the word “pharmakia” where we get our word pharmacy. So it would include those who do drugs to get high not, those who take them for medicinal purposes, but you know what I am talking about. Those who smoke pot, do crack, or get drunk (for alcohol is a drug).

 

“And idolaters” Those who bow down before statues and those who worship anything other than the true God of the Bible.

 

 “And all liars” (Name) how many lies does a person have to tell to be a liar? (One)

 

That’s right; notice that it goes on to say that those folks in this list

 

“Shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

 

 (Name) do you see yourself in this list anywhere? Sure you do, it says all liars doesn’t it? This wouldn’t exempt you would it? So if you died right now, where would you go?

 

That’s right, to Hell.

 

 (Name) I came to tell you good news, but I haven’t said a good thing yet. I showed you from the Bible that you are a sinner and you are on your way to the lake of fire, that’s not good news. But I had to tell you the bad news first if the good news is to make sense.

 

Here is the good news. It is found in Romans 5:8.

 

It reads “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Name) the word “commendeth” in this verse means “proved or demonstrated”.

 

 We all know that love is an action word. Now it is nice to hear someone say I Love You, but it is better felt than telt. Now I’ve been married for ___ years and do you think I’d still be married if all I did was tell my wife I love you and never show her any attention or affection? No, matter of fact, if after I got married and all I did was lay on the couch and say I love you and did nothing for her, I believe it wouldn’t have taken her long to tell me to put up or shut up, for love needs to be demonstrated.

 

Well, God tells us He loves us.

 

 John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world” but He also understands it needs to be proved and so He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for us.

 

This verse says, “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

 

 While we broke His commands, rebelled against them, He sent His son Jesus Christ to die for us or instead of us. God loves us. He doesn’t want us to go to Hell. But He is also just and sin had to be paid for.

 

So Jesus Christ became our sacrifice for sin. He bore our sins in His own body and suffered the wrath of God for sin on our behalf. Everything we would have suffered in Hell, Jesus suffered for us. The Bible teaches He tasted death for every man. God’s love is demonstrated by Christ dying in our place and paying our sin debt in full all by Himself through His death burial and resurrection.

 

First of all we see we are sinners, second we deserve Hell, third God loves us and doesn’t want us to go to Hell so He sent His son Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice we sinners needed.

 

The fourth thing I want you to see is you have a gift coming.

 

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death”

 

(If you want to pay for your sins yourself you will have to die and go to Hell forever) but (you have a choice) the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

A gift is something free. Someone else did the work and paid for it and our only obligation is to receive it or reject it. In my hand I have a Bible I spent $12 on. If I gave it to you and told you it could be yours for $1 would that be a gift? No, it would be a good deal but not a gift. What if I told you here, you can have this Bible but before it’s yours I want you to wash my truck? Would that be a gift? No, you had to work for it. A gift is absolutely free. It is paid for by someone else and they did all the work for it.

 

Well the gift of God is eternal life. How long is eternal?

That’s right, it is forever.

This means you would go to Heaven.

Your sins would be forgiven,

God is your father,

Christ is your Savior,

the Holy Spirit lives within you,

you have peace, rest, joy in you soul

and a whole lot more.

 

Then notice it says, “Through Jesus Christ our Lord”. It’s not what you told me earlier what one has to do to go to Heaven is it? You see if we could go to Heaven by (list the things they told you) someone needs to tell me why Christ left Heaven where was adored by angels, came to this earth by the means of a virgin womb, lived a perfect life for 33 ½ years and then died on Calvary’s cross and rose from the tomb 3 days later. Yet it is all about that.

 

It is not through what we do that we get to Heaven it is through trusting what He has done for us. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”

 

Now there is one of two things you do with a gift.

 

You either receive it or reject it.

 

What would you like to do with it?

 

Receive it. Now that’s a smart choice. Let me show you how to receive the gift of eternal life.

 

Romans 10:9&10 says, “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.”

 

The word, confess in verse 9 means to speak and the word Lord means God and Jesus means Savior.

 

Christ is God the Savior.

 

It says if we believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead, “Thou shalt be saved”.

 

Not might be, not hope to be, but will be saved.

 

Saved from what?

 

The penalty of sin and saved from Hell.

 

How does that happen?

 

By believing with your heart.

 

Now there is a difference between a head belief and a heart belief. Lets say I go home this afternoon and say to my wife, “Honey I love you with all my head”. What do you think will happen? She will probably think she married someone outside his mind. But if I tell her I love her with all my heart, she understands that my heart is fixed only on her and she is the only woman for me.

 

Likewise, when we believe with our heart that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again, we are placing our faith in that alone as the means of salvation. When we do that, we are made righteous.

 

Now look at Romans 10:13 it says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”. (Name) are you a whosoever? Sure. This means anybody and who is the Lord the verse is talking about? That’s right, it is Jesus. So you see (Name) the gift of eternal life is yours for the asking. Now (Name), would you like to ask Jesus to save you now?

 

If you would, put your hand on the Bible and repeat after me. Now I’ll be honest with you; you can put your hand on a million Bibles and say this prayer a million times. But if you don’t believe with all your heart that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again and that His sacrifice for sin is the only thing that saves you, when you die, you will go to Hell.

 

So (Name) repeat after me, “Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. I know that I deserve Hell for my sins. I know Christ died and rose again to save me and that you offer me the gift of eternal life. I now accept that gift and ask Christ to come into my heart and save my soul.

 

(Name) if you meant that, would you shake my hand?

 

So (Name), what was the gift of God you received?

 

Eternal life.

 

So that means if you died right now, where would you go?

(Heaven)

 

 If you died 10 days from now, where would you go?

 

 (Heaven)

 

If you died 10 years from now, where would you go?

 

(Heaven)

 

God forbid, we live another 100 years but, if we did, where would we go?

 

(Heaven)

 

My, isn’t God good to us?