How Do I Lead Someone to Christ?

00:00:00.000 | How do I lead someone to Christ?

00:00:07.760 | I love this question.

00:00:08.760 | It's so good.

00:00:09.760 | It comes from a listener named Brooke.

00:00:11.360 | "Pastor John, hello.

00:00:13.160 | For our online church services during the coronavirus season, I volunteer to reach

00:00:18.400 | out to people who have contacted us to let us know that they want to trust in Christ.

00:00:23.560 | Yet I don't really know how to do this.

00:00:25.640 | I've grown up seeing people walk through a written prayer, but I wrestle with the doctrine

00:00:30.160 | behind the idea that you can simply pray this prayer and you're good.

00:00:34.720 | When someone says they're ready to accept Christ, how do you lead them?"

00:00:40.680 | Great question.

00:00:41.680 | Great question.

00:00:42.680 | It is.

00:00:43.680 | Oh, that every Christian was ready and eager to declare the good news and to lead people

00:00:51.520 | into saving faith.

00:00:54.400 | So thanks for the question.

00:00:56.400 | It's very good for John Piper to go back and rehearse the basics of the gospel and the

00:01:03.080 | practicalities of a phone call like this or a Zoom chat or sitting across the table six

00:01:09.920 | feet apart maybe to share the gospel.

00:01:13.480 | It's helpful to have a simple plan.

00:01:17.600 | If we were all God, we wouldn't need to have a simple plan.

00:01:21.040 | We could just overflow spontaneously.

00:01:22.880 | We're not God.

00:01:23.880 | The picture I would like to use for my simple plan is that we all need four treasure chests.

00:01:31.040 | And I call them treasure chests because they're just packed with more than we could share

00:01:35.160 | at any given time.

00:01:36.160 | And that's good.

00:01:37.160 | We don't need to share everything in every treasure chest all the time.

00:01:40.640 | The reason I choose the term treasure chest is because Jesus said, "Bumping into the

00:01:45.800 | kingdom and being ready to walk into the kingdom and be saved is like a man who stumbles across

00:01:50.080 | a treasure chest hidden in a field."

00:01:52.760 | So our job as shepherds that lead new sheep into the fold is to unpack treasures.

00:02:01.880 | So before I give you my four treasure chests that you put in front of you on the table

00:02:07.840 | when you're talking or on the phone table, maybe the first thing I would say to a person—a

00:02:14.000 | total stranger—say that I've just called up to follow up would be something like this.

00:02:19.680 | I am so excited because you are about to enter into the hardest and happiest way of life

00:02:28.320 | that there is.

00:02:29.720 | Now they might be puzzled by that statement, and it might issue in a little conversation,

00:02:35.960 | but I think it strikes a very crucial balance.

00:02:39.240 | Hard and happy, hard and happy.

00:02:41.660 | You could explain from Psalm 37, 4, it's a happy way.

00:02:46.920 | Delight yourself in the Lord.

00:02:48.280 | The Lord is worthy of our joy.

00:02:50.600 | He wants us to be happy in him.

00:02:53.340 | In his presence is fullness of joy.

00:02:55.760 | At his right hand are pleasures forevermore, Psalm 16, 11.

00:03:00.760 | And from Matthew 16, 24, you might explain that Jesus said, "If anyone would come after

00:03:07.040 | me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

00:03:14.200 | You might say a few words about taking up the cross is not a vacation.

00:03:19.880 | It's where you die.

00:03:21.040 | It's where you suffer.

00:03:22.600 | In other words, you will say to them, "Jesus will lead you through some very hard things.

00:03:32.100 | Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom," Acts 14, 22.

00:03:36.960 | The reason for starting that way is the double truth, and they're both so crucial, is that

00:03:42.680 | the gospel is spectacularly good news.

00:03:46.400 | I mean, it's good news.

00:03:48.360 | News, news, news, really good, good, good news.

00:03:53.680 | The best news in the world.

00:03:55.800 | And we need to strike that note loud and clear.

00:03:58.560 | I am about to tell you the best news in the world.

00:04:03.520 | And Jesus said, Luke 14, 28 to 33, "Be sure to count the cost.

00:04:09.320 | You don't want to go out against an army that you can't beat, and you don't want to build

00:04:12.840 | a tower you can't finish.

00:04:14.880 | You need to tell everybody this involves total devotion to Jesus Christ who was crucified."

00:04:22.900 | So that's one possible way of starting the conversation, happy and hard.

00:04:30.060 | And you can follow up maybe later with lots more about what that means, because I think

00:04:35.880 | so many people are drawn into the Christian life with some naive prosperity notion that

00:04:41.800 | things are going to get better for them when in fact they might get worse in many ways,

00:04:46.880 | even though the joy is going to go down deeper than they ever imagined.

00:04:51.400 | Then I would begin to unpack my four treasure chests of biblical truth.

00:04:58.080 | There are four great realities that you need to know in order to be saved by Jesus Christ,

00:05:04.920 | and that's what you want.

00:05:05.960 | You want to close with Christ, receive Christ, believe Christ, engage with Christ, have Christ,

00:05:12.640 | and there are four things you need to know.

00:05:16.080 | And you can name your four chests with four words, and here's the basic simple plan—God,

00:05:21.760 | sin, Christ, faith.

00:05:24.200 | I've remembered those for decades.

00:05:25.880 | Oh, how they have served me so well—God, sin, Christ, faith.

00:05:31.940 | Those are my four chests of truth, and I call them treasure chests because every chest has

00:05:38.180 | dozens of passages of Scripture and dozens of ways to talk about God and sin and Christ

00:05:44.820 | and faith.

00:05:45.820 | And I don't want to give the impression that there's a one-size-fits-all presentation

00:05:49.820 | of the gospel.

00:05:52.220 | You have four chests.

00:05:53.220 | They're full of Bible truth, and our job is to trust the Spirit to guide us and then

00:06:00.280 | take out of each chest one or two Scriptures to show those riches to your new friend.

00:06:08.780 | So let's just walk through them real quick.

00:06:11.040 | Treasure chest number one, truth about God.

00:06:14.720 | Everything starts with God.

00:06:16.720 | Everything starts with the greatness of God, the glory of God.

00:06:19.380 | You might start with His holiness or His justice, because what we need to clarify here in this

00:06:25.560 | first treasure chest is that everything else is not going to make any sense if we don't

00:06:30.720 | have some sense of who God is and what He's like and how sin, which we're going to talk

00:06:36.720 | about in treasure chest number two, how sin is against God.

00:06:39.920 | It's not just against people, and we can't do that if we don't know who God is.

00:06:44.260 | So I like to start with God's glory, because Paul's going to define sin out of treasure

00:06:49.920 | chest number two as a falling short of God's glory.

00:06:53.500 | So I would like to say to my friend Isaiah 43,6, "Bring my sons from afar, my daughters

00:06:59.760 | from the ends of the earth, everyone whom I called by my name, I created for my glory."

00:07:05.680 | And I would say to them, "You were created, you exist to glorify God, to make God look

00:07:12.720 | glorious.

00:07:14.360 | You were created to show God's glory, His greatness, His beauty, His worth.

00:07:19.600 | That's our duty."

00:07:21.400 | First Corinthians 10, 31, "Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory

00:07:26.280 | of God."

00:07:27.280 | That's treasure chest number one.

00:07:29.760 | Treasure chest number two, sin, truth about sin, namely, all of us have failed to live

00:07:37.560 | for the glory of God.

00:07:38.820 | You have, I have, everybody has.

00:07:41.200 | Romans 3, 23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," which I think means

00:07:48.000 | Romans 1, 23, "We have exchanged the glory of God for images."

00:07:53.840 | All of us have preferred other things to God.

00:07:56.680 | And so we've made the glory of God look worthless.

00:07:59.600 | We've dishonored God in so many ways, which means we've chosen the way of death.

00:08:06.240 | Romans 6, 23, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in

00:08:12.760 | Christ Jesus our Lord."

00:08:14.560 | And sin isn't just things we do, it's the way we are.

00:08:18.060 | We are by nature, Paul said, Ephesians 2, 3, "Children of wrath like the rest of mankind."

00:08:25.200 | None of us escapes this condition.

00:08:27.840 | None of us escapes the penalty of death and judgment and hell.

00:08:31.240 | "Whoever," Jesus said, John 3, 36, "does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the

00:08:37.880 | wrath of God remains on him."

00:08:40.660 | So without salvation, we're all sinful by nature and we're all under God's wrath.

00:08:46.160 | That's treasure chest number two.

00:08:48.920 | Here's treasure chest number three, truth about Christ.

00:08:53.060 | The saying is trustworthy, deserving of full acceptance.

00:08:57.600 | Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

00:09:02.460 | That's why this phone call is happening.

00:09:04.520 | First Timothy 1, 15, "Everything up till now is designed to make Christ and his way of

00:09:11.020 | salvation appear as great and beautiful and wonderful as it really is.

00:09:17.820 | God sent his Son, his divine, eternal Son, to bear the punishment we deserve."

00:09:27.180 | This is the heart of everything.

00:09:28.500 | This is the most glorious news in the world.

00:09:32.420 | There's no way we can save ourselves from our sin and from his wrath.

00:09:37.840 | So here's the wonder, Romans 8, 3, "God has done what the law could not do by sending

00:09:47.220 | his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh."

00:09:59.040 | God condemned sin.

00:10:00.200 | He punished sin.

00:10:01.920 | The death of Jesus, his Son, is our punishment.

00:10:06.720 | All the sins of all those who would ever be united to Christ by faith were punished in

00:10:13.600 | Jesus.

00:10:14.600 | So he says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ."

00:10:20.680 | This is spectacular news.

00:10:22.520 | No more guilt, no more punishment, no more wrath, no more condemnation, eternal life,

00:10:27.840 | peace with God forever.

00:10:29.880 | Romans 6, 23, "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

00:10:35.880 | That's treasure chest number three, Christ.

00:10:39.880 | And here's the last treasure chest, truth about faith.

00:10:43.960 | I think it helps at every point, by the way, along the way, to make these as personal as

00:10:49.180 | possible from your own experience.

00:10:50.840 | I might say my favorite verse in the Bible to help explain how to receive all of this

00:10:58.840 | is Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.

00:11:00.720 | "By grace you have been saved through faith."

00:11:06.540 | This is not your own doing.

00:11:08.680 | It is the gift of God, not a result of your works, so that no one may boast.

00:11:15.840 | In other words, you can't work for your salvation, can't earn it.

00:11:20.360 | It's a free gift.

00:11:21.920 | You can't deserve it.

00:11:23.600 | It comes from God's grace or God's love.

00:11:26.820 | Just a few verses earlier, it says, "God being rich in mercy because of the great love

00:11:32.360 | with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with

00:11:39.640 | Christ by grace you have been saved."

00:11:42.920 | That means that even your faith is a gift of God right now in this moment.

00:11:48.600 | If you are reaching out to take Christ, if you are ready to have him as your Savior and

00:11:54.520 | Lord and the treasure of your life, you are a miracle.

00:11:59.080 | God has made you alive.

00:12:00.840 | It's called new birth.

00:12:02.760 | Trust him.

00:12:03.760 | Speak to him.

00:12:04.760 | Tell him all your heart.

00:12:06.400 | Declare your faith to him.

00:12:08.160 | Welcome him as your friend.

00:12:10.600 | And you might ask at this point, "Do you have any questions?"

00:12:14.520 | Of course they're going to have questions.

00:12:16.400 | You have to decide how long you're going to talk.

00:12:19.120 | And you might draw things to a close either by inviting them to pray or giving them the

00:12:25.400 | option of dealing with God in private.

00:12:27.920 | I've done it both ways.

00:12:30.080 | Send them away to pray.

00:12:31.080 | I said, "You need to get alone with God and deal with him on the basis of everything you've

00:12:34.960 | heard so that I don't do any manipulating here."

00:12:38.480 | And I remember one wonderful night at about 11 o'clock in my office, a man was just so

00:12:43.640 | ready.

00:12:44.640 | I forgot to send him away because he was just, "Oh, I want to get this over."

00:12:51.120 | And oh my, it was glorious the way it got over.

00:12:54.260 | But I didn't put words in his mouth.

00:12:55.600 | I mean, I've already put a hundred words in his mouth by sharing the gospel.

00:13:00.280 | You'll suggest some texts that they should read when they hang up.

00:13:05.000 | Maybe some places to go in the Bible, giving them particular scriptures.

00:13:09.560 | You may welcome them into a discipling relationship with yourself or with somebody else your church

00:13:14.480 | has arranged or invite them to a class.

00:13:17.640 | You want to encourage them to think about baptism and prepare for baptism in due time.

00:13:23.080 | And you're going to warn them that the devil is real and will put them to the test.

00:13:28.480 | You're going to say, "Resist him firm in your faith," and you're going to leave them with

00:13:32.520 | a promise.

00:13:33.520 | And oh my, there's so many you could choose.

00:13:35.700 | Maybe you'll leave them like this.

00:13:37.720 | Hebrews 13.5, "I will never leave you.

00:13:40.600 | I will never forsake you so we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper.

00:13:46.880 | I will not fear.

00:13:48.360 | What can men do to me?'"

00:13:50.840 | Incredibly simple and clear and glorious outline.

00:13:53.840 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:13:54.840 | Well, on Friday, we talked to new believers about how to first approach the Bible.

00:13:59.840 | It seems like a very intimidating book.

00:14:01.600 | It is an intimidating book with lots of places where you could start.

00:14:05.080 | So how do we approach the Bible for the first time?

00:14:07.320 | Come back for that.

00:14:08.320 | That episode really pairs nicely with this one.

00:14:10.200 | It's going to be on Friday.

00:14:11.840 | But thanks for joining us today on the podcast.

00:14:13.560 | For our feed, our archive, or to send us your own question, go to our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:14:21.560 | Up next time, we're going to talk about John chapter 6.

00:14:24.520 | There you'll remember that Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 hungry mouths with five loaves and

00:14:30.120 | two fish.

00:14:31.440 | And the next day, Jesus told that very same crowd, "Do not work for the food that perishes,

00:14:37.940 | but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you."

00:14:43.220 | So the question for all of us is, well, then should we labor and work to buy bread?

00:14:47.640 | Should we work at all?

00:14:49.000 | Or should we just trust God to supply all of our bread needs supernaturally?

00:14:54.080 | The answer to this question actually sheds a lot of light on what it means to work 9

00:14:58.480 | to 5 as a Christian.

00:15:00.620 | So that's the topic.

00:15:01.620 | Up next time on Wednesday when we return, I'm Tony Reinke.

00:15:04.400 | We'll see you then.

00:15:05.260 | [End of Audio]

00:15:05.780 | www.TheBusinessProfessor.com

00:15:07.780 | www.TheBusinessProfessor.com

00:15:09.780 | www.TheBusinessProfessor.com

00:15:11.780 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

How Do I Lead Someone to Christ?

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