I like to witness in the bar sections of towns, especially in the summer. These areas are usually bustling with people hanging outside or walking from bar to bar, and many of them are eager to engage in a conversation. One Saturday night in Buckhead, the bar area of Atlanta, I used my survey approach to begin a conversation with a couple in their early twenties.
After the young woman gave me an answer, the guy said, "There is a Heaven and a Hell. And when I die I am going to Heaven because I keep the Ten Commandments." It didn't take long to get right to the point! "Okay," I began, "let's see how you are doing. Have you ever told a lie?"
He said, "Nope."
I was thinking, We have all told a lie. You just lied to me in your answer! So I responded, "What do you mean 'nope'?"
"I have only stretched the truth before."
He thought he had me, but I asked, "How far do you have to stretch the truth before it becomes a lie?" He smiled and admitted, "Okay, I have lied before."
"What does that make you?" I asked.
"A liar."
"Have you ever stolen something?"
"Yes."
"What does that make you?"
"A thief."
I continued, "Have you ever lusted in your heart for a girl before?"
His answer was, "No."
His girlfriend quickly pointed a finger at him and said, "You've lusted for me before!" He's in trouble now! When she said that, he responded with a curse word—it was the Lord's name in vain.
I said, "Wait a minute. There is another one you have broken! You are 0 for 4 and we have only gone through four of the Commandments! Would you be guilty or not guilty on Judgment Day?" He said "guilty," and you know where we went from there. Using the Ten Commandments really is incredibly effective.
After I spoke at a church in Kansas, people came forward at the end of the service to give testimonies. One woman said she had been going to church for twenty-six years, but that this was the first time she could say that she was cleansed of her sin and was right with Jesus Christ.
During the sermon, I'd spent time talking about witnessing and discussed how to use the Ten Commandments. She said that she knew about Jesus, but didn't fully understand why she needed Him. The Ten Commandments made her realize her guilt before God, and drove her right to the cross!
On another occasion, I was speaking at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting at Clemson University. It is always a fun place to speak because they have a dynamic group with about eight hundred students at a meeting.
As I gave a talk on the Ten Commandments, I discussed what each Commandment was about, and explained that each one of us has broken each one of them. I then illustrated how to use the Ten Commandments in witnessing. Afterwards, people came up to ask questions.
As I was talking with others, I noticed a young man walk up and stand a few feet away. The look on his face said he really wanted to talk with me.
As soon as I could, I walked over to him and asked if I could help him with anything. He blurted out, "I am not right with God."
I asked what he meant, and he replied, "I am in a fraternity here at Clemson. All I do is drink—that's it. Last week while I was at the fraternity house drinking, I was lying on the floor, and I looked up to God and said, 'God, I am not right with you. If I died today, I would die and go to Hell; and I don't want to go there.'" Now, just a few days later, he walked into this talk I was giving—the first Christian event he had ever been to!
I asked him, "Do you want to get right with God?"
"Yes, I do."
"Have you ever told a lie before?"
His response was, "Yes, and I know I am not right with God!"
I was starting to walk him through the Ten Commandments, like I normally do, completely forgetting that I had just given a fifty-minute talk on them! He knew his guilt before God. So we talked about the purpose of the cross, and I asked if he wanted to walk away from this lifestyle, repent of his sins, and commit his life to Jesus.
"Yes, I do," he repeated.
When someone is ready to commit his life to Christ, let him pray. People who are ready to repent of their sins and come to Jesus really don't need to repeat a prayer after you. God is already working on their hearts—and if He isn't, having them repeat words not only will not help, it will hurt! Just let them pray.
After praying, we talked about assurance of salvation. I asked if he had a Bible so he could get started reading. He didn't, so I called one of the FCA guys over to help him get a Bible and get plugged into a men's Bible study group.
I learned a few months later that this young man had already read the entire New Testament! It is very important to get people lost before you can get them saved.
When you use the Ten Commandments to help people see their sin before God, they grab hold of Jesus and don't let go! And that is how it should be.
