by Jack Hyles
I think that is the best question that I have ever used. Some use, “Do you know Jesus? Are you born again? Are you saved? Are you a child of God?” I try to avoid terminology that will be too religious for them. Many don’t know that kind of terminology.
Basically there are only two religions in the world. One is the belief that
salvation is all of God, and Jesus did it all on the cross; the other is that we
have to do something to get converted. In this second you have combined all of
the false religions. That is the old mystery of Babylon, mother of harlots in
Revelation 17. Many religions are wrapped up in this one thing—that you have
to do something to go to Heaven. Anybody who says you have to do something to go
to Heaven, doesn’t know if he is going or not. He usually says he thinks so or
has a good chance or may go to purgatory. The only person who will tell you he
knows that if he dies he will go to Heaven is the fellow who has trusted Jesus
completely to save him. That is why I ask, “Do you know if you died you would go
to Heaven? Do you know it?” Some ask, “Are you a Christian?” Almost anybody will
say yes to this. I think that the best question is, “Do you know that if you
died you would go to Heaven?” Now ask,
19. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW?”
Now ask,
20. “IF I SHOWED YOU HOW YOU COULD KNOW, WOULD YOU DO WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS?”
It may be done thusly. “Now, Mr. Doe, let me ask you a question: Do you know that if you died this minute you would go to heaven?” “No, I don’t believe I do.”
“Let me ask you this: Would you like to know? Don’t you think it would be fine if you could know that if you died you would go to Heaven?” “Yes.”
“Well, let me ask you this: If I could take this Bible and explain to you how you could know beyond any shadow of a doubt, that you could know right now, and you could see it and you could understand it, would you believe it? Would you do what the Bible says?”
Do you see what I’m trying to say? It is good to get him committed that he will do it; then you have gone a long way toward getting him saved before you ever present the plan. So these three questions: (1) “Do you know that if you died today you would go to Heaven?” (2) “Would you like to know?” and (3) “If I could show you how you could know, would you do it?”
21. SHOW HIM THAT HE IS A SINNER
For this, use Romans 3:10 and 3:23.
22. SHOW HIM THE PRICE ON SIN
Show him this in Romans 5:12 and 6:23.
23. SHOW HIM THAT JESUS PAID THE PRICE
Use Romans 5:8.
24. REVIEW THE MAIN POINTS TO BE SURE HE UNDERSTANDS
I always use the following: “Now, Mr. Doe, there are only four things you must know to be saved. First, you must know that you are a sinner. For example, Romans 3:10 says, ‘As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.’ Let me illustrate. If there is none righteous, that means I’m not righteous, doesn’t it? (Notice, I didn’t get him unrighteous first; I got me unrighteous. Never put the sinner below you. You always let him know that but for the grace of God you would be in the fix he is in. You get yourself lost first.) So if there is none righteous, I’m not righteous. If there is none righteous, then Mr. Doe, you are not righteous. Also, it says, ‘For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.’ Now if all have sinned, that means I’ve sinned—right? That means your wife has sinned, and that means you have sinned.” If he still acts like he is not a sinner, you just list a few sins and you will catch him. A lot of times I say this: “You do realize that you are a sinner? For example, the Bible mentions some sins such as evil thinking, bad literature, ugly disposition, etc.” Some where along that line there will be something that he does. Show him that he is a sinner.
Second, show him the price on sin. Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin…” What kind of death? All death, both spiritual and physical death, the sum total of death. “…and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” And Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” So there is a price on sin. What is that price? Death. What kind of death? That includes the second death of Revelation 20:14, and that second death is the Lake of Fire. So ultimately a person who is a sinner must pay for it by going to Hell. That is the basic price on sin. Third, the next thing we must do is show that Jesus paid the price. So I say this: “Mr. Doe, God looked down from Heaven and saw that you were a sinner. He saw that you were in debt. He saw that you and I deserved to go to Hell. He wanted to save us and made a plan to do it. He came to the world Himself. His name was Jesus. He was God in a human body. For thirty-three years He lived here in this world. He did not commit one single sin. This is important. Mr. Doe, suppose that Jesus Christ had sinned one time only. The price on sin being death or Hell, where would Jesus have had to go when He died? The answer is Hell, but He did not sin. He did not commit one sin, but He went to the cross, and on the cross He suffered spiritual death when He said, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ He suffered the same thing that a lost person will have to suffer in Hell. I’ll go farther than that. I believe that He suffered as much in that moment on Calvary as the sum total eternal suffering of all the lost people who will ever go to Hell to stay forever. Actually He was paying our price for our sins. He was becoming our substitute.”
Fourth, “If we will receive that price as our hope for Heaven and receive Him as our Saviour from sin, He will make us His children and take us to Heaven when we die.”
That’s the review. You explain it to them first, then you review. Let me review it with you now. “Let me ask you a question, Mr. Doe. Do you realize that you are a sinner?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you realize that people who die in their sins must go to Hell?” (Now be severe with that as you can. If a sinner knows he is going to Hell, say, “Do you realize that if you died right now, you would go to Hell?” If he is a little sensitive about it, then you can say, “Do you realize that a man who dies in his sins goes to Hell?” Be as severe as you can but don’t make your patient so sick you will kill him before you heal him. You have to stay with him.) “Do you realize that Jesus Christ has suffered your Hell already for you? If we knelt here together and had prayer and you sincerely received Christ as your Saviour, do you believe God would make you His child?”
That is the review. I have explained to him how to get saved, then I have reviewed and asked these questions.
by Jack Hyles from the book Let’s Go Soulwinning