Jesus said in Mark 1:17, "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." (Mark 1:17, NASB)

With that one statement to his first followers, Jesus told all his future followers that they were to continuously go "deep soul fishing."

With that one statement, we know that Jesus wants His followers to be in the fishing business.

With that one statement, we know that Jesus wants His followers to be His fishing buddies.

With that one statement, we know that when we do go fishing we will experience fish bites.

As we talk about "deep soul fishing" there is one thing about fishing we haven't discussed and without this we will never catch any fish. When you go out to fish you can have the best fishing boat money can buy, the finest rod and reel on the market, and you can be in a lake full of hungry fish, but if the fish are going to bite, you must have fish bait.

I did a little study about fish bait and I learned some interesting things. First of all, the best bait is always live bait and it must be fresh. Next to having good bait the correct presentation of the bait is the most important factor governing success or failure. You cannot skimp with bait. You have got to be generous with it. You have got to make it worthwhile to the fish to chase your bait. You have got to match the size of the bait to the size of the fish that you are trying to catch. Then, above all, the fish bait must be presented properly.

What is our fish bait? A pastor was giving a children's sermon one Sunday and he was talking about fishing. He had a fishing pole and had already talked about the different types of bait that would attract fish. He then quoted the verse of scripture that I just quoted about fishing for men and looking for an answer from the children, he said, "Now if I am going to fish for men, what kind of bait do you think I should use?" Before he could answer it a little four year old boy shouted out, "Doughnuts!"

As we do think about the type of bait we have to use to catch people, I want to remind you that fishing is simple. All you have to do is go to a lake or pond, bait a hook, throw your line into the water, and you are fishing. The reason why Jesus talked about fishing for people is because fishing for people is just as simple as fishing for fish. The problem is that we have made it complicated.

The bait itself is simple, because as you are going to see today, the bait is what we call the "Gospel" and the Gospel is simple. It is so simple, that no matter what your race is, or your nationality, where you were born, or where you are from, everybody becomes a Christian the same way. Everybody gets into heaven the same simple way.

The bait that I am going to share with you today answers two key questions that make it easy to fish, makes it simple to catch fish and makes it both easy and simple for fish to become followers of Christ.

What does a person need to know to become a Christian?
What does a person need to do to become a Christian?

The answer is the same for everybody. It is as simple as a four letter word - S-U-R-E (Pop each letter up as he says it in sequence.)

I John 5:13 says, "My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. (I John 5:13, MSG)

The Apostle John, one of those early followers of Christ said, "You can be sure you have eternal life". I want you to remember those four letters, because I am going to share with you four things today that begin with those four letters that gives us universal bait that you can fish with anywhere. Anybody who takes this bait will know what they need to know to become a Christian and will do what they need to do to become a Christian.

I. See That You Are A Sinner In God's Eyes And Separated From Him

The Bible says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard." (Romans 3:23, NLT)

This is the first thing that any person must know if they are going to become a Christian. You will never see God correctly through your eyes until you understand how God sees you through His eyes. He sees us for just what we are - sinners. If you wonder or not whether you are a sinner, let me make it simple. If you are not perfect, you qualify.

Unfortunately, we are living in a day when instead of admitting they are sinners, people keep insisting on how good they are. Many of the moral controversies of our day such as abortion, homosexual marriage and fornication are basically attempts to simply define away sin.

Any doctor will tell you that you will never heal a disease if you only treat the symptom rather than the problem. Libraries are filled with volumes of books written by psychologists, sociologists and philosophers trying to answer the basic question, "What is wrong with this world?" The answer is in the question. What is wrong with this world is the world. Even though it is not politically correct and it can be offensive, we have to lovingly share the fact and the truth of sin to people without Christ or else they will never see their need for Christ.

We are having our grand opening here on September 12th. I got an email from a mother in our church, who shared a hilarious story about how her young son has invited a girl in his school to be with us on that day. This is the dialogue according to her young son. I am going to change the name to protect the guilty. In this case, we will call the young man, John.

John: "Have you ever stolen a pencil or something like that?"
Girl: "Yes"
John: "Do you know what that makes you?"
Girl: "No"
John: "It makes you a thief!"

John: "Have you ever lied about anything toanyone?"
Girl: "Yes"
John: "Do you know what that makes you?"
Girl: "A liar?"
John: "Exactly!"

John: "Have you ever killed a bug, like a spider or an ant?"
Girl: "Yes"
John: "And that makes you a...?"
Girl: "A killer?"
John: "Yes"

John: "Where do you think that thieves, liars and killers go after they die? To Heaven or to Hell?"
Girl: "Probably not heaven. Huh?"
John: "No, that is why I would like to invite you to come to church with me to our grand opening in September!"
Girl: "Okay!"

Though I do not advocate that as an approach you should generally take with other people, he understands the principle that the first thing a person must know if they are going to get on the road that leads to heaven, is that we are all sinners in God's eyes and separated from Him.

II. Understand That Jesus Christ Died For Your Sins And As God Came Back From The Dead

"It is this Good news that saves you if you firmly believe it - that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, He was raised from the dead on the third day as the Scriptures said." (I Corinthians 15:2-4, NLT) This is the Gospel in a nutshell. This is the only remedy for the sin problem.

Jesus Christ alone lived a sinless life. Therefore, He alone could die a substitutionary death for our sins. He alone has been raised from the dead. That is why He alone is the only way to heaven.

That is why all religions cannot and do not lead to heaven. The truth is, if you bypass Christ and you bypass the cross, you bypass heaven. If you live here in Atlanta, you are very familiar with I-285. If you take I-285, you will totally bypass Atlanta. The flipside of that is, you don't get to go to Atlanta, you will never enter Atlanta, and you will never even see Atlanta.

If you bypass Christ and the cross, you will never enter heaven. You won't even see heaven. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6, NLT)

The cross is both a bridge and a wall. It is a bridge to heaven for those who take it. It is a wall over heaven for those who reject it. If you are going to become a Christian and be sure that you have eternal life, there are two things that you must know. You must know that you are a sinner in God's eyes and separated from Him and you must know that Jesus Christ died for your sins and as God came back from the dead.

III. Receive God's Forgiveness For Your Sins By Trusting Christ As Your Savior

Romans 3:22 says, "Now God says He will accept us and acquit us - declare us "not guilty" - if we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins… we can be saved by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like." (Romans 3:22, LB) If you see that you are a sinner and believe in the concept of sin, then you understand the only remedy for sin is forgiveness. That is exactly what a Savior does - provide forgiveness.

If the world had needed knowledge, God would have sent a teacher. If the world had needed money, God would have sent a philanthropist. If the world had needed technology, God would have sent a scientist. If the world had needed peace, God would have sent a diplomat, but the world needs forgiveness so God sent a Savior.

Christianity is not about punishment. It is about getting out of the punishment we deserve. Christianity is not about being good. It is about how to find forgiveness when you finally realize that compared to God, you are not good.

Think about it this way. Sin is like a debt. There are only two things you can do with a debt:
Pay it
Declare bankruptcy

Donald Trump recently had to go into Chapter 11 on his main casino. He had to go into bankruptcy, because he owed a debt he could not repay.

We are all in Chapter 11 before God. We are all spiritually bankrupt. Sin is a debt that we owe that we cannot pay. People try all kinds of ways to pay off that debt. They try to pay off the debt by going to church. Some people try to pay off the debt by trying to live a good life. Some try to pay off the debt by giving money to churches and charities, but that is like trying to pay off a debt with counterfeit money.

That is exactly why Jesus, the Savior, came to planet earth - to pay off a debt He didn't owe and to provide God's forgiveness for our sins.

That is what a savior does. He pays off a debt he does not owe for those who owe a debt they cannot pay. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, He pays off your sin debt completely. I John 1:7 says, "And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, makes our lives clean from all sin." (I John 1:7, NLV) The first thing you must do in order to be sure you have eternal life is to receive God's forgiveness for your sins by trusting Christ as your Savior.

IV. Express Your Desire For Christ To Be The Lord Of Your Life

Romans 10: 9 says, "If you say with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved from the punishment of sin." (Romans 10:9, NLV) Jesus wants to do more than cancel your sin. He wants to control your life. There is more to being a Christian than just going to heaven.

The word "saved" in this verse means the same thing as to have "eternal life". Understand that eternal life is not just the promise of living forever somewhere, because everybody is going to do that. I told you several times that is why we need to be fishing for people, because everybody is going to spend eternity some where, but that is not the same thing as receiving eternal life.

I was reading the other day about two students at a Baptist seminary in Alabama. They decided they would spend their summer doing evangelistic work in a rural area around Montgomery. One hot summer day they stopped their car in front of a farmhouse and walked up the path through a gauntlet of screaming children and barking dogs. When they knocked on the screen door, they could see the mother inside changing the dirty diaper of one little baby who was screaming her lungs out, while another little boy was pulling on her dress trying to get her attention. At the same time, the telephone was ringing. She wiped the sweat on her blouse and asked them what they wanted.

They looked at her and said, "We would like to tell you how to have eternal life." That exhausted mother thought for a moment and said, "Thank you, but I don't believe I could stand it!"

You need to understand that eternal life is not just life unending, it is life unlimited. It is not just eternal in quantity. It is eternal in quality. It is a life that is right with God and spent with God for all eternity. I have told you the two things you need to know to become a Christian. You have got to see yourself as a sinner in God's eyes and separated from Him and you've got to understand that Jesus Christ died for your sins and as God, came back from the dead.

I have told you the two things you have to do to become a Christian - receive God's forgiveness for your sins by trusting Christ as your Savior and express your desire for Christ to be the Lord of your life. Once you know what you need to know and when you do what you need to do, then and only then you can know for sure you have eternal life.

Jesus called His followers to be fishers of men. If you are a follower of Christ, that makes you an Ichthyologist. Do you know what an Ichthyologist is? It is someone who studies fish. Let me tell you one last thing I have learned about fish. There are about 30,000 different kinds of fish. Yet, most all of them share two similarities beyond just living in water and breathing through gills.

First of all, they don't see very well except up close. Secondly, they don't have eyelids, so they can't close their eyes.

As spiritual Ichthyologists we can apply those two traits to fishing for people. People will most likely see their need for salvation when someone gets close to them and demonstrates what a real Christian really is. Likewise, they always have their eyes open and they are always watching to see if our faith is truly genuine and worthy of their attention.

We are in the fishing business. Jesus wants us to be His fishing buddies. There are fish out there ready to bite. We've got the bait that can catch any fish. You are holding it in your hands. It is time for us to take the bait, go out to the sea of humanity, and go deep soul fishing.