(Rom 10:9, 10, 13) “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. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

On a particular Thursday evening, a few years ago, we had four people show up for door-to-door visitation. It was one of those Thursday evenings where, as the coordinator, I wondered anew if it is even worth going out. Not to be dissuaded, I grabbed a map with 27 townhouses and instructed the men that we would all go to the same place and split the map. They all agreed, and off we went.

We were four homes into the map when I knocked on a door that was answered by a 20 year-old young man named Andy. He agreed to do the survey I presented to him. The ensuing conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hi! I am McG and this is David. We are from our church. We are doing a quick community survey. It has seven questions and should take about a minute. Do you have some time?”
Andy: (smiling) “Sure.”
Me: “What is your view of religion, positive or negative?”
Andy: “Positive.”
Me:  “What is your view of Jesus Christ, positive or negative?”
Andy: “Positive. I’m Catholic. I go to church every Sunday.”
Me: “Do you believe there is a literal heaven and hell?”
Andy: “Yes.”
Me: “Where do you think you will go when you die?”
Andy: “Heaven.”
Me: “In your opinion, how does someone get to heaven?”
Andy: “Being a good person in society… ”
Me: “So, essentially doing good works?”
Andy: “Yes.”
Me: “If you were wrong, would you want to know?”
Andy: “Yes.”
Me: “Did you know that the Bible tells you how you can know for sure where you will spend eternity?”
Andy: “No, I do not know the Bible that well.”

After the survey, I reminded Andy that he said he would like to know if he was wrong, and that he said he believes one must do good works to get to heaven. I proceeded to ask him, “If we can do good works to get to heaven, why did Jesus have to die on the cross?” Andy replied, “Maybe he did not have to die, but I guess he just wanted to experience our humanity.” I nodded and said, “That sounds good, but I disagree.”

I paraphrased Heb. 9:22 “and without shedding of blood is no remission” of sins.  I then explained why Christ had to die, and compared that with the sacrificing of lambs in the Old Testament. Because of that, it’s clear that we cannot do enough good works to save ourselves. I then quoted Eph 2: 8, 9 and Titus 3:5 while explaining that salvation has to be by grace and not works: hence the reason Christ had to die.

Andy nodded and said he understood. It was at this point I asked him, “Has there been a point in your life where you repented of yours sins and trusted Christ as your Saviour?” He replied, “No.” I then asked him, “What, then, is preventing you from doing that right now?” He replied, “I do not know how.”

Since it was dark out, I pulled out my phone and opened the scriptures to show Andy how he can be saved. I had him read Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Me: “According to that verse, how many have sinned?”
Andy: “All.”
Me: “And that includes…?”
Andy: “Me…”

I then had him read Rom 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” and I explained that verse to him. Next, I quoted Rom 5:8, because for the life of me, I could not remember the reference at that moment. David came to my rescue with the reference, and I had Andy read the verse. Rom 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” I explained that verse to him as well, and then moved on to Rom 10:9, 10, 13 “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. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

After explaining all the verses, I asked Andy again, “What is preventing you from trusting Christ as your savior?”  He looked me in the eye and said “Nothing!”

I did not want to ask him to repeat after me, so I said, “Why don’t you pray and ask God to save you?”

Andy bowed his head and prayed: “God, I am sinner and I apologize for that. I am asking you to save me, amen.” I prayed next, thanking the Lord for Andy’s newfound faith.

Afterwards, we took another 30 minutes or so to teach Andy further in his new faith.

On the drive home, thinking about the happenings of the night, it dawned on me that God just used a wretched sinner like me to point someone to Him. And my friend, if He can use me, He can sure use you!

Will you join us in our mission to turn our Jerusalem upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ?

(Acts 17:6) “And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;”