“Every one that is called by My name: … I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:7
The purpose of the Christian life is to glorify God.
There are two basic ways that we glorify God. Both of them involve faith. The Bible says in Romans 4:20 that Abraham “Was strong in faith, giving glory to God.”
So, what is it that brings glory to God? It is Faith. When we have faith in Jesus Christ by trusting Him to get us to heaven, we glorify God.
After that, how can we continue to glorify God? We do that by causing others to believe. We glorify God by getting others to trust Christ as their Savior. Consequently, it is still faith that brings glory to God. Salvation is completely free. There are no works involved on our part. God says that we are “saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works.” in Ephesians 2:8-9. That is how we glorify God. When we trust His work as the finished work that gets us to heaven instead of trusting in ourselves to finish what we believe God did not finish, our faith glorifies God’s work. If we trust our own good works, we glorify ourselves.
But where do works come in?
Helping other people understand what Christ has done to get them to heaven involves work. It is still faith that glorifies God, but it involves work to lead others to faith in Christ.
A very obvious example of changing our life to help others trust Christ would be in the matter of alcohol. If you try to tell someone about Jesus with alcohol on your breath, it is likely that you will permanently turn them away from your witness for Christ. You do not have to quit drinking to get to heaven, but you may have to quit drinking to get other people to heaven. In some people’s lives that may take a great deal of work.
We need to have a life that backs up what we say about the Lord, and that takes work. However, a good life without a verbal witness simply glorifies you instead of God.
It is almost like the person who has not trusted Christ as his Savior, is working to get himself to heaven instead. That person is trying to serve the Lord, but that person is serving the Lord for himself, rather than serving the Lord for others.
On the other hand, the person who knows that he is going to heaven because he has trusted Jesus as his Savior, can, for the first time, serve the Lord for others rather than for himself.
As long as a person does not know that he is going to heaven, then he serves the Lord selfishly trying to earn or prove his salvation. He is working selfishly. That is why God wants us to know that we are going to heaven. Then our service will glorify Him instead of ourselves. When you are sure of going to heaven, then you can serve God unselfishly. For the first time we can get self out of the way in our service for the Lord.
After we are saved, we continue to glorify God by bearing fruit. God says in John 15:8, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” Notice that God did not say that this is how you show that you are My disciples, as if we already were. A disciple is a follower or a student. This is how we, as believers, become disciples. Jesus said, “Follow Me and I will make you to become fishers of men.” So it stands to reason that if you are not fishing for men, then you are not following Christ. You are not a disciple. You are saved and on your way to heaven, but you are not a disciple.
So to glorify God, you must bear fruit. What is the fruit of a Christian? Just as the fruit of a pear tree is a pear, so the fruit of a Christian is another Christian.
To try to bear fruit it takes some work. It takes some preparation. In Ephesians 6:15 God says, “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of gospel of peace.” Here it is talking about the armor of God. Sometimes we carelessly think that we are told to have our feet shod with the gospel. That is not what it says. It says that our feet should be shod with the PREPARATION of the gospel. If you are going to go give the gospel, then you must have your feet shod with preparation.
If you go to a play, chances are the participants had some kind of preparation, even if it is an impromptu comedy.
When a preacher gives a sermon, he will have spent some time in preparing himself.
God says that we are to prepare to give the gospel.
In this booklet I want to give seven steps that will help a person understand the gospel.
I used to think that witnessing would come naturally. I thought that memorizing steps or using a tract was using a crutch.
Whenever a person goes into some line of work, the more important the job, the more preparation that person expects to do.
“How did you become a doctor?”
“Oh, it just came naturally.” Would you want to go to a doctor like that?
“I want to recommend my doctor. He never went to school. He just trusts the Lord to guide him.”
Would you take advice like that?
The most important job in the world is explaining the plan of salvation to the lost. It is true that anybody can do it, but some do not know how to explain the gospel clearly.
If soldiers are going into battle, they have a battle plan. Those who do not are easily defeated. Great generals had great plans.
We are in a battle with Satan for the souls of men, therefore, we need to have a battle plan.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:12-13
The going power of the gospel is preparation. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. That is what we have been commanded to do. The way many people like to read this command is, “Send ye missionaries into all the world, and let them do the work.” The Bible says “Go YE into all the world and preach the gospel.” How do we go? How are our feet shod? Our feet are shod with preparation.
In I Peter 3:15 God says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
The command is to be ready. If you are not ready to give the gospel, that does not relieve you from the responsibility to give the gospel. God says to BE ready. He does not say to get ready. The preparation should have already taken place. So if you are not ready, you need to get ready.
How do we get ready?
Proverbs 15:28 tells us, “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer:”
Proverbs 16:1 says, “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.”
When you study and get the answer, then you get what God promises in chapter fifteen verse twenty-three: “A man has joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!”
Where does the Holy Spirit come into this? He draws upon what we prepare. In other words, if we learn how to present the gospel, if we memorize it, and we are ready to do it; then when we present the gospel, He will guide us as to what to say. He will not guide us if we have not prepared ourselves. The Holy Spirit promises to draw out of us what we put into us. God promises in John 16:13, “When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come,” and in John 14:26 God says, “The Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Why is that important? If you have not put anything into your brain by studying and preparing yourself, then He does not promise to puts words in our mouth that we have not already put into our brains (Hearts).
There is no question that God is well able to put answers into our minds and mouth that we have not studied previously, but that is not His promise. That would be grace, and He might rarely do that. However, God will not violate your free will, nor will He reward your laziness.
I have heard people say that after you are saved, then you WILL do good works. That would violate your free will. You do not lose your free will after you are saved. You still have the choice to serve God or not. Without that choice, then we could not glorify God. You see it is “choice” that glorifies God. It is your choice who you trust for salvation. Do you trust Jesus, or do you trust yourself? After you are saved, it is your choice who you will trust with your life. God gives you everything you need to accomplish His will for your life. He gives you time, talent, material goods, energy, and opportunity to serve Him. If all of these things come from Him, how can we glorify Him? We glorify Him when we choose to use those things He has given us to win souls.
It is like a computer. I could write on my computer, “I love you, Jerry.” Then I could copy that statement and make it repeat it indefinitely. But that would not bring the glory to me that I would receive by my wife saying it one time of her own free will. What’s more, I receive more glory when she shares the fact that she loves me with someone else.
Likewise, if man is programmed to serve God after he is saved, then there is no glory to God. We must choose to serve Him of our own free will.
In this service, we must prepare ourselves. Then God draws UPON THE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE PREPARED.
In view of these facts, let us learn seven steps that have helped many explain the plan of salvation clearly.
How many steps are there to get to heaven?
There is just one. We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to get us to heaven. That’s it.
But what exactly does that mean? What must we believe so that Jesus will take us to heaven?
There are seven steps that will help you get people to do that single step of trusting Christ as their Savior. These are not seven steps to salvation. These are steps to help you make someone understand what it means to trust Christ as their Savior.
The reason we have these seven steps is to help make the gospel plain and clear. II Corinthians 11:3 says that the gospel is simple. We need to make it simple. II Corinthians 3:12 says to make the gospel plain. We should make it plain and simple. I Corinthians 14:9 says to make the gospel easy, so we need to make the gospel easy, plain and simple.
Jesus said to the woman at the well in John four that if she understood the gift of God, and who He was, she would have asked for salvation. So that is what we are trying to do. We want people to understand who Jesus is, and what He did to save us. These steps can help us do that.
Step #1-All have sinned.
If we are going to make the gospel plain, then we need to make people understand that they have sinned. The fact that all have sinned is brought out in Romans 3:23. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In Romans 3:10 God says, “There is none righteous, no not one.” I John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” These verses tell us that all have sinned.
Romans 3:23 goes on to tell us what sin is. Sin is coming… ”Short of the glory of God.”
I used to participate in a ministry on campus of the University of Miami. As we talked to some of the students there, some had accepted an existential philosophy that led them to make a statement such as, “My idea of sin, and your idea of sin are not the same.”
Well, I do not care what idea of sin a person might have, according to the Bible, we have all done it. Romans 3:23 tells us that ALL have sinned.
The Greek word for sin means, “To miss the mark.” We have all missed the mark as far as going to heaven is concerned. To go to a perfect place to be with a perfect God, you would have to be perfect. We have all missed the mark of perfection.
Suppose we had a contest to see who could hit the bull’s eye on an archery mark with an arrow. Let us say that we offer one hundred dollars to anyone who can hit the bull’s eye from one hundred yards. Let us say that Luke shoots first. He holds the bow correctly. He holds his arm correctly. He holds the arrow correctly, and when he lets it go he only misses the bull’s eye by one inch. Then Joshua tries. He takes his time. He aims carefully. He lets the arrow go just right, and misses the bull’s eye by three hundred yards. Which one gets the money? Neither one does, because neither one hit the bull’s eye.
So it is with salvation. No one has hit the mark of perfection. The Bible says in James 2:10, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Some people are better than others. Some may be closer to perfection than others, but all have come short of the mark of God’s perfection.
Why is this important? The next point tells us.
Step #2-The payment for sin is death.
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
To have your sins paid for, there must be a death payment.
I remember one young preacher giving a message where he used this verse. He said, “The wages of sin is death, so we pay for sin by dying to ourself and living a good life.”
Wait a minute! That is not what the payment for sin is! The payment for sin is death! It is not living, or giving, or doing. There must be a death to make a payment of death!
What is death?
This is talking about eternal separation from God in the lake of fire.
How do we know that this verse is talking about eternal spiritual death instead of physical death? We know this, because in the last part of the verse it says that the gift of God is eternal spiritual life, therefore, we know that the death it speaks of is eternal spiritual death.
It is interesting how this verse begins by condemning us, but the last part of the verse leaves us with the promise of eternal life in heaven by Jesus Christ. The first part of the verse views our works and the result of death, while the last part of the verse views Jesus’ work and the consequential eternal life.
It is said to be a gift, and all you have to do to get a gift is receive it.
When we see that the payment for sin is death, we begin to realize that we cannot pay for our sin.
So what? Why is that even important? The third point tells us.
#3-You must be perfect to get to heaven.
Matthew 5:48 says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
We all have sinned, yet we must be perfect to get to heaven.
It only stands to reason that to go to a perfect place to be with a perfect God, you would have to be perfect. The reason for that is really brought out in the previous point.
The reason that the payment for sin is death is because sin causes death. It destroys everything exposed to it, eventually. So if even one sin were to enter heaven, eventually, heaven would be destroyed by sin. God cannot allow sin to enter heaven, because we who go there would be corrupted by sin and its consequential sickness, misery, and death. In short, heaven would not remain very heavenly.
Praise God, however, that God did not say, “The wages of the sinner is death.” By saying that the wages of sin is death, sin can be removed from the sinner and paid for by a person who has no sin. II Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way: “He (God) has made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; (Jesus knew no sin) that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
The fourth step shows us what condition we are in.
Step #4-There is nothing you can do to get yourself to heaven.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast.”
We need to notice from this verse that salvation is, “Not of yourselves.” It IS the gift of God.
The first four points bring us to the conclusion that we are hopelessly lost, if we have to save ourselves; and there is nothing we can do about it. We all have sinned.
The payment for that sin is eternal separation from the presence of God.
You must be perfect to get to heaven, because heaven will be a perfect place and God is a perfect God. Therefore, there is nothing you can do to get yourself to heaven. THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE YOURSELF. That is what we are trying to show people by the first four steps.
Therefore, we have a problem. The first four steps point out a problem to which we have no solution. There is nothing we can do about the problem, but that does not mean that there is not a solution. Since we could do nothing to save ourselves, God did it all. That is the fifth step.
Step #5-Christ died for our sins.
That is the solution. The payment for sin is death. We have all sinned. So Christ died for our sin.
Romans 5:8 says, “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were ye sinners, Christ died for us.”
He did not wait until we deserved it. He did not wait until we got better. Why not? Because mankind was hopelessly lost. While mankind was undeserving, He provided the solution.
The wages of sin is death.
What did Jesus do on the cross?
He died. He paid the penalty for sin. If our sins are completely paid for, then we have the perfection it takes to get us to heaven.
I John 2:2 says, “He is the propitiation (satisfactory payment) for ours sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Every single person has had his sins completely paid for.
What, then, is the difference between a person that goes to heaven and a person who goes to hell?
You must fulfill one condition. The next step points out that condition.
Step #6-We must believe it.
John 3:16 tells us, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
In this verse God does all of the work. He does the loving, and He does the giving. All we do is the believing.
God has done everything it takes to get us to heaven. All we must do is simply believe it. To believe that He is our Savior, we need to understand that we are lost and are in need of saving. Then believe that He has done everything that it takes to get us to heaven, and trust Him to take us to heaven.
When we do that, then we receive the results of the seven steps. The seventh step is the results.
Step # 7-You can know that you are going to heaven.
I John 5:13 says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.”
We should point out that you can KNOW that you have eternal life. You might mention that you do not have to hope you have eternal life. You do not have to wish that you have eternal life. You can know it. You HAVE eternal life right now. You do not have to wait until you die to get it. It is ETERNAL life. That is life forever. (As opposed to eternal death) So, if you know you have eternal life, you have it right now, and you can never lose it, because it is eternal; you can know that you are going to heaven.
When I share the plan of salvation with someone, I seldom go through all of the verses for each step. The first verse I try to get the lost person to look at is I John 5:13. You do not have to use all of these steps in every case. Some people already know that they are sinners. Most understand that Jesus died on the cross and that He was resurrected. However, those who are not saved have not trusted Jesus’ death payment as the only thing required to get them to heaven. In short, they are trusting their own goodness or works in some capacity. If they are trusting themselves in any capacity for salvation, they are not trusting Jesus as their Savior.
The third step that says that you must be perfect to get to heaven is important. This point rules out anything that a man might try to do to save himself. That rules out religion. That rules out church attendance for salvation. That rules out any form of works for salvation. That rules out giving. None of these things is perfection, and salvation is not of works. When a person realizes that he must be perfect to get to heaven, then he is going to realize that there is nothing he can do to get himself to heaven.
The only thing left to do is trust Jesus.
The first four points show a person’s need.
Romans 5:8 in the fifth step give us the solution.
Step number six gives us the condition.
Step number seven gives us the results. The results of trusting Christ as your Savior is you can know that you are going to heaven.
A good way to open the conversation about the gospel is to ask the person if he knows where he is going when he dies. Since the results of trusting Christ as your Savior is you know you are going to heaven, then you can tell pretty well if a person has trusted Christ by asking if he knows he is going to heaven.
Next, so that I can get them into the Scriptures I might ask something like this: “If I can show you a verse that says you can know that you are going to heaven and exactly what you have to do to get there, would you believe it?”
That question leads you right to I John 5:13. First of all I show them that they can know that they are going to heaven. Then I explain the other six steps as I explain what it means to believe on the name of the Son of God.
Explain that all we have to do is trust Jesus to get us to heaven. But what does it mean to trust Jesus?
We trust His death payment.
We trust His death payment for what? What did He pay for? We trust His death payment for our sin, since the payment for sin is death.
Why should that concern me?
We all have sinned.
Why is that important?
It is important, because you must be perfect to get to heaven.
Can’t I be saved my own way?
No, there is nothing you can do.
You do not have to use these seven steps to lead a person to Christ, but make sure you have a plan of what you will use. I have found these seven
steps helpful as have many tens of thousands of others. Learn how to lead a person to the Lord. Prepare yourself. God has commanded us to prepare, so if you simply “fly by the seat of you pants,” you are lots better than that person that does not witness at all, but you are a disobedient witness. Have a plan of how to give out the gospel. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
How should you open the conversation about the gospel? I ask the person, “Do you know where you are going when you die?”
You could ask if the person is born again, but I had been saved for sometime before I understood what it meant to be born again.
You could ask a person if they are saved. Early in my Christian life I did not know what that meant, either.
However, when I trusted Christ as my Savior, I knew from that moment on that I would go to heaven. I still do.
The very precious Biblical term “washed in the blood of the lamb” was confusing to me in my early Christian life.
“What lamb? Why would I want to be washed in blood?
I was saved, but it was not until much later in my Christian life that I realized that Jesus is the lamb of God and His blood cleanses us from all sin. That is why I use the question: “Do you know where you are going when you die?” when opening the conversation about the plan of salvation.
Is where people go when they die important? What happens to them when they die is on people’s minds far more than they like to admit. Lost people are far more interested in where they will go when they die, than they are interested in accepting Christ into their life right now. The Bible is still timely and timeless. People still need to know what God has said about where we will go when we die.
I would write these seven steps with a verse for each in the back of my Bible so that I can refer to them any time I have an opportunity to witness.
Questions:
1-How many steps are there in getting to heaven? _____________________________
2-What is the condition to get to heaven? ____________________________________
3-Does God want us to plan how to give the gospel?_____________________________
4-What is the payment for sin? ____________
5-What is the result of trusting Christ as your Savior?
__________________________________________________________
6-How good must you be to get to heaven? __________________________
7-Write the seven steps to leading a person to Christ with a Scripture verse for each below.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Maybe you could cut out these seven steps and use them. You might write the page number where the verses are in your Bible beside each reference.
1-All have sinned.
Romans 3:23 p. # __________________
2-The payment for sin is death.
Romans 6:23 p. # __________________
3-You must be perfect to get to heaven. Matthew 5:48 p. # ___________________
4-There is nothing that you can do to obtain this perfection.
Ephesians 2:8-9 p. # ________________
5-Christ died to pay for all our sins. Romans 5:8 p. # ___________________
6-We must simply trust His death payment to get us to heaven.
John 3:16 p. # _____________________
7-You can know that you are going to heaven.
I John 5:13 p. # ____________________