Adrian Rogers - Salvation
Would you take God's Word and be finding Romans chapter 10? As you've found it, let me ask you a question. Of all of the needs that humanity has, what is the greatest need? Is it education? If it were education, when the Lord Jesus came to this earth, He would've come as an educator. Is it finance? If that is true, when the Lord Jesus came, He would've come as an economist, perhaps as a banker. Is it peace? Well, if that's true, Jesus would've come as a diplomat. But what is man's greatest need? Why did Jesus come? Well we don't have to guess about it. Luke 19:10, Jesus said, "I've come to seek and to save that which was lost".
Now, salvation is man's greatest need. To be saved is man's greatest need, but do you know when I say that, I know, having preached as long as I have preached, that that falls flat; to say that man needs to be saved. That's an old fashioned word. It's almost out of vogue; it's out of date, to be saved. Well, we've heard that before, haven't we? But one of these days, friend, it will make a colossal difference. Now we've heard a lot about the Titanic. And when people sailed on the Titanic, there were some sailed with very exclusive provisions and very fine accommodations, and there were some below in the steerage. But do you know when the final tally came back to the New York office; they put them in two categories: saved and lost.
Now some of you may be going to Hell first class. But there's coming a day when you're going to stand before God, and the thing that's going to matter more than anything else in this world is this; are you saved or are you lost? Look in God's Word here, Romans chapter 10, I begin in verse 1 through verse 4, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved". Paul's heartbeat, Paul's passion, Paul's prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to everyone that believeth".
Now I just want to pause right there and I want to talk about this salvation. And the very first thing I want to tell you about is the freeness of this salvation. It is absolutely, totally free. Now, most people who even think of salvation think that salvation roots in the merit of man. If you were to walk up and down the streets of this city or any city and ask people, "Are you going to Heaven"? they'll say, "I hope so". and if you were to say, "Why"? they would say, "Well, I'm trying to live as best I know how". They think that salvation is a reward for the righteous. But salvation is not a reward for the righteous; salvation is a gift for the guilty.
And if you don't understand that you're never going to have salvation because Paul talks about his brothers in the flesh, the Jewish nation, and he said in Romans 10 verses 2 and 3, "I bear them record, they have a zeal for God," they're very religious, very zealous, "but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God". You see, that's when something good can become something bad if it keeps you from the best. There're many people in this congregation and many who are listening to me across the nation. You're going to go to Hell, not because you're a drunkard, not because you're a thief, but because you never were. You think the Gospel is for the harlot, you think the Gospel is for the thief, you think the Gospel is for the drunkard.
Most of the people in America are egomaniacs strutting to Hell, thinking they're too good to be damned, trusting in their own religion. The apostle Paul was one of these. I want you to put in your margin this passage of Scripture. It's very insightful; Philippians 3 verses 4 through 7. Here's what the apostle Paul said of himself. Now I want you to listen to a very religious man talking. He says, "Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more".
Paul said, "If you want to get in a bragging contest about who's a good boy," he said, "let me just tell you about myself". He said, "I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews". He said, "You ought to know my ancestors. You ought to know my lineage. You ought to know that I am a blueblood". "As touching the law, a Pharisee". Said, "You want to talk about accomplishments? I rose up in the ranks until I held the highest religious position in the nation". "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church". "You talk about a man who practiced what he believed, I was the one". He says, "Touching righteousness which is by the law, blameless".
If you were to take the Ten Commandments, Paul would say, at least outwardly, "I have kept every one of them". But then notice verse 7, here's the thing that I want you to see, "But what things were gain to me I counted but loss". Paul said, "I'm going to take my heritage, my pedigree, I'm going to take my accomplishments, I'm going to take my zeal, I'm going to take my good old boyishness, and I am going to take that from the positive side of the ledger, and I'm going to put it over here on the negative side of the ledger". He said, "I'm going to count it as loss. I'm going to take my goodness and I'm going to count it as badness, as loss".
Well you say, "Pastor, that doesn't make sense. How could you put striving to keep the Ten Commandments and be religious; how could you put all of that on the negative side? Now, granted, it may not get him to Heaven, but at least let's keep it over here on the positive side". "No," he said, "I count all these things but loss". Why? Because those were the things he was trusting in and those were the things that were keeping him from the Lord.
Let me illustrate this way. I was down in Florida one day; I had an engagement in South Florida. I had a wonderful flight, got off the plane in Tampa, and I was going over to Ft. Lauderdale. And, so I rented an automobile and they gave me a very nice car. I think it was an upgrade. And I was so happy to have it. And the sun was shining; it was one of those beautiful Florida days; we've got some good ones down there. It was a beautiful Florida day and so I turned on the stereo and I got the most gorgeous music. Oh, it was beautiful, and violins and all of that playing. And I just turned it up real loud; nobody in the car but myself. And then I got on this road. It was an incredible road, very little traffic, the sun was shining, the road was good, the car was beautiful, the music was glorious, and here I am on my way to something I looked very forward to, just driving along, just so happy.
And then, after I had driven about two hours, I said, "I ought to be there, I ought to be getting closer. This doesn't look familiar. Something is wrong". And I got to looking around and I said, "Where is the sun? Let me get myself oriented here". And then it dawned on me. I was going the wrong way. I was on the wrong road! I was making good time on the wrong road. And the good car and the music and all of these things that might be good were bad, because they were taking me in the wrong direction. Now, folks, that's what religion is without the Lord. You see, the worst form of badness is human goodness, if human goodness keeps you from salvation.
Paul said in Philippians 3 verse 7, "The things I counted for gain, they were loss". He said, "My brothers, my sisters, the Jews according to the flesh," he said, "I bear them record, they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge and they, going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God". Romans chapter 10 verse 2 through 3. You see, then in verse 4 he says this, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to everyone that believes". You see, there is the law. The law says, "Do," and we can't. But the Gospel says, "Done". The law demands perfection, but only the Gospel gives perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ. John Paton was a missionary in the South Sea Islands, and he was with a tribe that did not have a Bible.
So he was translating the Bible into their language. It was a very laborious thing to do. They did not know the Bible and he had to learn their language. And so he got to the word believe, trust in Romans 10, "Christ is the end of the law," you're going to see it in verse 4, "to everyone that believeth". And so, he's saying, "Now what is the word for belief"? So they gave him the word for intellectual belief, like I believe that two and two is four. He said, "No, that's not the word I want". He said, "I want the word for belief that means trust, confidence, reliance upon". And he kept asking and they couldn't give him the word. He kept asking; he said, "What is this word, what is this word"? They couldn't understand him. He was in his hut, a straw hut, and it was a sweltering day and he was writing, and a native came in to the hut.
The native had been running. He was absolutely exhausted. That native came into that hut, and he was just so tired, there was a chair there, and he just sat down, plopped down in the chair. And Paton looked at him. He said, "What did you do"? He said, "Please, I'm sorry, I just sat down". "No, no, no, no. What did you do"? "Well," he said, "I sat down". He said, "But what do you call it, when you just committed yourself completely, totally to that chair, what did you do"? "Oh," he said, "that? Facca ron rongo". He said, "What"? "Facca ron rongo". That's the word he put in his Bible for reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you just say, "Lord Jesus, I just cast myself upon You". Not intellectual belief, but, "Lord, here I am. Lord, I trust You"! And you see, salvation is the gift of God. We're thinking now about the freeness of it. Don't miss my point. The freeness of it. There was a Baptist preacher, he told a wonderful story. I could never get it out of my heart; it was his own testimony. He said, "I was doing things before I was saved that I ought not to have done. My eyes were watching things, my hands were handling things, my feet were going places that were all wrong". So he said, "I went to the doctor to see if the doctor could help me".
He said, "The doctor I went to was named Doctor Law. And I said, 'Doctor Law, I've got some problems, I want you to help me. My hands, I've got a hand problem. My hands are handling things they ought not to handle.' And Doctor Law said, 'Let me look here.' Said, 'No, the problem is not your hands; the problem is your heart.' He said, 'No, Doctor, it's my hands.' 'You trust me, it's your heart.' He says, 'Well now, Doctor, it's not just my hands, it's my eyes. My eyes have been looking at some things they ought not to look at. What's wrong with my eyes, Doctor?' 'It's not your eyes, it's your heart.' 'No, Doctor, it's my eyes.' 'No, it is your heart!' 'Well, Doctor, what about my feet? They're going places they ought not to go. I've got a foot problem.' 'No. You've got a heart problem.' 'Doctor Law, are you absolutely convinced that I have a heart problem?' 'Yes, and furthermore, it's fatal. You're going to die of your heart problem.' 'Well, Doctor Law, can you cure me?' 'Oh, no, I can't cure you. As a matter of fact, I don't cure anybody. All I do is diagnose. That's my job, I'm just here to diagnose, I cannot cure anybody.' 'And you say I'm going to die? Is there no hope?' 'Oh, no, there's hope.' 'Well, where's my hope?' 'Well, Doctor Grace.' 'Doctor Grace? Where is he, can I find him?' 'He's right across the hall.' 'Well, do I need to make an appointment?' 'No, just go knock on the door. He never turns away a patient.' 'Oh! Well, will it cost a lot?' 'No, he has never charged a patient.'"
So, he leaves Doctor Law, and he goes and knocks on Doctor Grace's door. And there, as Doctor Grace opens the door, is a kindly physician standing there. He says, "Come in. How did you know to come"? "Well, Doctor Law told me I had a heart problem and you could help me. Can you help me"? "Yes I can". "Well, what medicine are you going to give me"? "I'm not going to give me any medicine, I'm going to give you a transplant". "A what"? "I am going to give you a transplant; I am going to give you a new heart"! "Will it hurt"? "It might". "What will it cost"? "Not a thing in the world". "And Doctor Grace opened my chest," he said, "and reached in while I was still conscious and pulled out the most vile, filthy, stinking heart. I could not believe that such a thing had been in me, causing my eyes to do what they did, my hands to do what they did, my feet to do what they did. And then Doctor Grace put within me a new heart. And when he did, I felt a change of nature that went through me, that affected my eyes, my hands, my feet".
You know Doctor Law, friend, is the law of God. Doctor Grace, His name is Jesus. Romans 10:4, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth". What I need, what you need, what every mother's child in America and in the whole world needs is Doctor Grace and a brand new heart, Amen? Now we're talking here about the freeness of salvation, but now here's the second thing I want you to see; I want you to see the nearness of salvation. Begin reading now in Romans chapter 10 verses 6 through 10, "But the righteousness which is by faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into Heaven"?
That is, to bring Christ down from above, "or who shall descend into the deep," that is to bring Christ up again from the dead. "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee," that means near thee, "even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach, 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".
Now Paul wanted his brothers and sisters in the flesh, the Jews, to be saved, and he says, "Here's the way to do it". And he's saying to them and he's saying to us, that if you want to be saved, salvation is very near. You may not dream how close you are today to being saved; you just don't know how close you are. Now what is Paul saying? He's saying you don't have to go on a pilgrimage; you don't have to go up into Heaven and appear before the throne and say, "God, we're a bunch of sinners down here and we're in a mess. Can You help us out? Could You come down, Lord"? You don't have to do that. Why? One Christmas two thousand years ago He already did that. Amen? He stepped out of Heaven.
Well, they nailed Him to a cross and put Him in a grave, but you don't have to go down into Hell and say, "Lord Jesus, please come out of that grave, please give victory over death, Hell, sin and the grave. Come out! Please"! You don't have to descend into the deep. He's already been raised. I mean, these are accomplished facts. The incarnation and the resurrection, sandwiched with the crucifixion, have already taken place. So He says in Romans 10 verse 6 through 8, "Don't say in your heart, who shall ascend into Heaven or who shall descend into the deep, bring Christ down or bring Him up. The word is nigh thee". Let me tell you how close salvation is. Now listen carefully or you'll miss this, "The word is nigh thee, even in your mouth and in your heart".
You say, "Pastor, that's silly". No, that's what Paul said. The word is so close; let me tell you how close you are to being saved today. Let me tell you, if you're not saved, let me tell you how close you are to being saved. Jesus Christ and salvation already in your mouth, already in your heart. Now you say, "Now wait a minute, in my mouth, in my heart? How did it get in my mouth? How did it get in my heart"? I just put it there. "Well," you say, "Adrian, how did you put it there"? Listen again to Romans 10:8, "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, the word of faith which we preach".
You see, what I did, I'm telling you right now, that salvation is by grace through faith. I have put this in your mouth and in your heart. It is there. It's in your mouth; it's in your heart. Well then, what do you do with what is in your mouth and in your heart? Listen, Romans 10:9, "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". I put it there. I told you what it is. It is there, it is waiting on you.
Now, now, right now, you confess and believe and God says, "You'll be saved, you'll be saved". You don't have to bring Jesus down. He's come down. You don't have to bring Jesus up. He has come up. It is done, it is a finished thing. Romans 10:4, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness, to everyone that believeth," and now it is ready for you, so close you are, it is in your heart and in your mouth, Romans 10:9, "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".
Friend, you'll be saved. That's not what I'm saying, it's what God has said. That means you will not go to Hell. It means you will receive a new heart, a new nature. And one day you'll spend eternity with the redeemed of all of the ages. Now listen, what is the confession that you make? The confession that you make, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Now here's where many people are going to miss salvation. They want to receive Christ as their Savior and that's it.
Now, friend, He is Savior, but the Bible says in Romans 10 verse 9, "Confess Him as Lord, confess Him as Lord". Do you know what that means? That means to take yourself off the throne of your life and put Jesus Christ upon the throne of your life. Salvation is not just some intellectual belief that you tack on. It is doing what that man did to that chair, it is trusting the Lord Jesus, it is committing everything to the Lord Jesus. It is saying, "Jesus Christ is Lord". Now He is Lord, isn't He? And friend, if you don't receive who He is, you cannot have what He gives. He is Lord. That doesn't mean that you're saved by good works. It just simply means that you bow the knee to Him and say, "Jesus, I take hands off my life, I give You my life".
Let's just imagine a scene. There's been a wedding. The rice has been thrown, the confetti has been thrown. The cake has been cut. The hugs have been given, the gifts have been exchanged. And Sue and Bill are in the car driving away from the wedding. Sue and Bill, just been married. And Sue says to Bill, "It was a beautiful wedding, oh, it was so wonderful, I just enjoyed it so much. Now, Bill, will you take me home"? "Well," he says, "Sue, you know, we can't go home yet, the house is not ready, and this is our honeymoon". "Oh, oh, no, no, I don't mean that home, I mean my home. I want you to take me back to my mother". "What"?
"To my mother. Bill, you know, I have accepted you as my husband, and that was a wonderful ceremony, but I want to go back home to my mother, Bill, don't expect me to change the way I've been living. I'm going back home. Now, Bill, don't get me wrong. I love you, Bill. And I hope to see you on weekends if it's convenient. And also, Bill, I want you to know that I'm glad that you're committed to take care of me. So Bill, if I'm sick or need money or have any problems, you know I can call on you, Bill, because, after all, I've taken you as my husband. And, we did have a wonderful ceremony. It was just wonderful when I took you as my husband. But now Bill, take me back to my house. Don't get any idea that what we did down there at the church is going to change the way I live. Take your hands off my life".
Now what kind of a marriage would that be? It's the same kind of salvation that some people think they have. They say, "Now, Lord Jesus, I take You as my Savior. Now, Lord, I may even come to church and visit You every Sunday or so often. And if I get in trouble and I need some money or if I'm sick, I'll call on You, but in the meanwhile, I'm going to go on with my life just the way it was". Friend, I want to tell you something, that's not going to work; that is not going to work. Romans 10 verse 9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead".
You see, when you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you believe all the rest of it. I mean, that's the capstone. He's, "Shown to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead". Romans 1:4. And so if you believe in the resurrection, you have to believe in the crucifixion. And if you believe in the crucifixion, you have to believe in the incarnation. And if you believe in the resurrection, the crucifixion, the incarnation, you have to believe in the Deity. So the capstone of the whole thing is, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved".
Friend, there's the freeness of it and there's the nearness of it. He is so near, He is so near. Romans 10 verses 8 and 9, "The Word of God is near you, nigh you, even in your mouth, in your heart". It is the word of faith that we preach, "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". Now confession is very important. Jesus said in Luke 9 verse 26, "If you are ashamed of Me and of My Word before this sinful and adulterous generation, I'll be ashamed of you when I come in the glory of the Father with the holy angels, but if you will confess Me before men, I will confess you before My father".
The Bible says in Psalm 107 verse 2, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so". That's the reason later on, I'm going to give you an invitation to openly and publicly, unashamedly, say that you're trusting Jesus. Why? Well, you see, confession shows possession. Now walking an aisle can't save anybody. Shaking a preacher's hand can't save anybody. It's what that indicates that saves us. Jesus is simply saying, "Look, if you are ashamed of Me, I'll have to be ashamed of you". Do you know the mark that you're really trusting Jesus? Read it in Romans 10 verse 11, "For the Scripture saith whosoever believeth in Him shall," what? "not be ashamed".
I've often told the story of a girl who was in a service, a revival service, and she was under conviction, in the back just weeping copiously. A personal worker went back, it was during the invitation, and said, "Won't you come forward and confess Christ as your Lord and Savior"? She said, "Oh, no, there're too many people there, I can't do that. I'd like to be saved back here, please"? And the personal worker said, "You can't be saved back here". So the next night, the same thing, same song, second stanza, she's under deep conviction. The worker goes back and, and says, "Won't you come forward and confess Christ"? She said, "Oh, no, I can't do that. I would be frightened. I don't want to stand there in front of all of those people. Can't I be saved back here"? He said, "I'm sorry, you can't be saved back here".
Now I know what you're thinking, but you let me finish the story. And so, the third night, he goes back there, she's weeping again, and he says, "Young lady, won't you come and give your heart to Jesus, openly and publicly"? She says, "Yes, I will! I will! I'll go anywhere; I'll do anything, if I can just have peace with God". He said, "Now you don't need to come to the front, you can be saved back here". Now, folks, that's what we're talking about. Jesus said, "If you're ashamed of Me, I'll be ashamed of you". So don't you let your pride keep you from coming. The Bible says in Romans 10:11, "When we believe on the Lord Jesus we'll not be ashamed of Him".
Romans 10:8, it is so near, "The word is nigh thee, even in your mouth and in your heart". But you've got to confess with your mouth and believe with your heart. And God says, God says that you'll be saved. Now here's the third and final thing I want you to see. I want you to see not only the freeness of it. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. And I want you to see not only the nearness of it, but I want you to see the richness of it. Look if you will beginning now in verses 12 and 13 of this same chapter of Romans, if you will. Oh, this is such wonderful Scripture. "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him". Moffat translates that, "His boundless resources are made available to those who call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved".
That's the reason we preached last week. I don't believe that anybody is predestined to go to Hell. I believe that God wants everybody saved. I believe that whosoever is in the Bible, and the same Lord over all, whether you're Jew, or whether you're Greek, whether you're the chosen race or not the chosen race, whoever you are, wherever you are, if you will call upon the name of the Lord, He will save you. And if you show me anytime, anyplace, anywhere, where anybody ever comes to Jesus in repentance and faith and He doesn't save them, I'll close my Bible and never preach again. I tell you, He'll save you, He will save you.
Romans 10 verse 13, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved". Now, He is rich, He's, "Rich unto all who call upon Him". Romans 10:12. I've been walking with the Lord now since I was a teenage boy. And I'll tell you this, I've failed Him sometimes, but He has never failed me. His resources have been there for me every time I've called upon Him. I'm not talking about; I'm not talking about financial resources, though He's done that. I'm talking about the life of God that's in my heart. And friend, He has met my need. "Friends all around me are trying to find what the heart yearns for by sin undermined. I have the secret, I know where 'tis found, only true riches in Jesus abound". He is rich unto all who call upon Him, not some, anybody who wants to be saved.
Now, Paul started out telling these people who were very religious, who had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, they need to be saved. And yet Paul himself, talking about it, called himself the chief of sinners, so what does that mean? Listen to me, there's nobody in this building today, nobody so good you don't need to be saved if you haven't been saved, say, "Amen". Nobody so good that you don't need to be saved if you haven't been saved. And secondly, there's nobody so bad that you cannot be saved. See, that's what it's all about.
Now, folks, salvation is by grace through faith, you trust the Lord Jesus. Let me just share this story and I'll be finished. True story. There was a preacher, a minister, and he was educated in a seminary, very religious. He was a so called Christian minister, but he's what we call a liberal. Now, when I mean liberal, I don't mean he was just progressive in his ideas, I mean he doubted sincerely the blood atonement, the crucifixion, the bodily resurrection, the virgin birth. He just didn't believe these things. But he was one of these men that had a good heart, as men have good hearts. I'm not talking about a new heart, I'm just talking about he was a nice, loving guy.
Would've made a good neighbor, a great granddaddy, and he just loved people. Went about as best he could, helping hurting people. A little girl knocked on his door one night; late at night. He went to the door and opened the door and there was a little ragged girl standing there, a frightened little girl. She said, "Sir, are you a minister"? "Well, yes, young lady, I am". "Well, sir, are you a man of God"? "Well I would like to think I'm a man of God. Darling, may I help you"? "Sir, could you come with me and help get my mother in"? "Well, darling, what's wrong with your mother, she hasn't been drinking, has she"?
"Oh, no, no, no, no. You've got to help get my mother in. My mother's dying. My mother doesn't know how to get into Heaven. My mother doesn't think she has long to live. And my mother asked me if I would go find a minister to help get my mother in. Sir, you're a minister. You're a man of God. Sir, come help get my mother in". "Well, let's go, child". And he went down through the streets into the back part of that city, down to a little hovel of a home. There she was, on a deathbed, no nurses to attend, no doctor there, no hospice. This precious little girl watching her mother die. The woman looked up at the minister and his heart was broken. She said, "Are you a minister"? "Yes, madam". "Are you a man of God"? "Well, I want to be". "Can you tell me how to get to Heaven? I'm dying".
And do you know what he did? He began to give her platitudes about God's love, about the goodness of God, about the beauties of Heaven, about how God is merciful and all of this, and how it pays to live a godly life. And after a while, she just shook her head at him and said, "Don't you understand? I'm dying! I can't do any of that! I can't live a good life! I can't do all of those things that you're talking about, and I'm about to die! Don't you have a message for a dying woman like me"?
And this man realized he didn't have a message for a woman like that. But he remembered, and mothers, I want you to hear this, he remembered his mother, who was a Godly, praying woman, who believed in the old time religion. And he told her the story, not really believing it himself, how Jesus came to this earth, took our sins and carried them to the cross in agony and blood and died and said, "It's finished," and paid the sin debt, and how Jesus walked out of the grave. And then he told her, "The Bible says in John 3:16, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life.' And if you will pray and ask Him to come into your heart, He will forgive your sin and He will save you".
Later on, here's what that preacher said, and here's how we know the story. He said to a group of preachers when he was giving his testimony, he said, "Gentlemen, that night that lady got in and so did I, so did I. I realized that my so called religion was not enough. I needed Jesus! And so do you". "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth". Now Paul's heart's prayer and heart desire to God for Israel was that they might be saved, and that's my desire for you today. Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed.
Father, I pray, I pray now that many in this day, in this room, in this hour, will give their hearts to Jesus, and people, wherever it may be, will come in to Your fullness, oh, Lord, into Your richness. We thank You, Lord; we thank You in Jesus' holy name.
Now while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, if you would like to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, if you would just pray and tell Him that you're a sinner, that you cannot save yourself, that you believe that Jesus Christ paid your sin debt on the cross with His blood. And then pray like this:
Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin to You. I confess You as Lord. I believe that God raised You from the dead, and I trust You to save me. Help me never to be ashamed of You. In Your name, Amen.