How to bring men to Christ 1

How to bring men to Christ 1

How to bring men to Christ

Author: R. A. Torrey

PREFACE

 

 

This book is written because it seems to be needed. The author has been

repeatedly requested by Ministers, Y. M. C. A. Secretaries, Christian

Workers, and his own students to put into a permanent and convenient

shape the substance of what he has said at Conventions, Summer Schools

and in the class–room on personal work. The time has come to yield to

these requests. Never before in the history of the Church were there so

many who desire to win others to Christ. The good work done by the Young

People’s Society of Christian Endeavor is in no other direction so

evident as in the many thousands of young people in this land who to–day

are on fire with a desire to win souls. But while they desire to do this

work, many do not know how. This little book aims to tell them. There

are several well–known and valuable manuals of texts to be used with

inquirers, but this book is intended not only to point out passages to

be used but to show how to use them, illustrating this use by cases from

actual experience. It is hoped that from a careful study of these pages

any earnest Christian can learn how to do efficient work in bringing

others to the Saviour.

 

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CONTENTS.

 

 

PREFACE.

 

CHAPTER. PAGE.

 

I. THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN BRINGING MEN TO CHRIST 7

 

II. HOW TO BEGIN 14

 

III. DEALING WITH THE INDIFFERENT OR CARELESS 20

 

IV. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ARE ANXIOUS TO BE SAVED BUT DO NOT 29

KNOW HOW

 

V. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ARE ANXIOUS TO BE SAVED AND KNOW 36

HOW, BUT WHO HAVE DIFFICULTIES

 

VI. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ENTERTAIN FALSE HOPES 50

 

VII. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO LACK ASSURANCE, AND BACK–SLIDERS 57

 

VIII. DEALING WITH PROFESSED SKEPTICS AND INFIDELS 65

 

IX. DEALING WITH THE COMPLAINING 77

 

X. DEALING WITH THOSE WHO WISH TO PUT OFF DECISION UNTIL SOME 83

OTHER TIME

 

XI. DEALING WITH THE WILLFUL AND THE DELUDED 87

 

XII. SOME HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 94

 

XIII. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 104

 

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HOW TO BRING MEN TO CHRIST

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER I.

 

THE GENERAL CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS IN BRINGING MEN TO CHRIST

 

 

There are certain general conditions, the fulfilment of which is

absolutely essential to real success in bringing men to Christ. These

conditions, fortunately, are few and simple and such as any one can

meet.

 

 

1. _The one who would have real success in bringing others to Christ

must himself be_ A THOROUGHLY CONVERTED PERSON. Jesus said to Peter,

“When thou art _converted_ strengthen thy brethren.” He was in no

position to help his brethren until he himself, after his cowardly

denial, had turned again to his Lord with his whole heart. If we would

bring others to Christ we must turn away from all sin, and worldliness

and selfishness with our whole heart, yielding to Jesus the absolute

lordship over our thoughts, purposes and actions. If there is any

direction in which we are seeking to have our own way and not letting

Him have His own way in our lives, our power will be crippled and men

lost that we might have saved. The application of this principle to the

numerous questions that come up in the life of every young Christian as

to whether he should do this or that, each individual can settle for

himself if Christ’s honor and not his own pleasure is upper–most in his

mind and if he looks honestly to God to guide him.

 

 

2. _The one who would have real success in bringing others to Christ

must have a_ LOVE FOR SOULS, _i. e._ _a longing for the salvation of the

lost_. If we have no love for souls, our efforts will be mechanical and

powerless. We may know how to approach men and what to say to them, but

there will be no power in what we say and it will not touch the heart.

But if like Paul we have “great heaviness and unceasing pain in our

hearts” for the unsaved, there will be an earnestness in our tone and

manner that will impress the most careless. Furthermore if we have a

love for souls we will be on the constant watch for opportunities to

speak with the unsaved and will find opportunities on the street, in the

store, in the home, on the cars and everywhere that would otherwise have

entirely escaped our notice.

 

But how is one to get a love for souls? This question is easily

answered. First of all, a love for souls like every other grace of

Christian character, is the work of the Holy Spirit. If then we are

conscious that we do not have that love for souls that we should have,

the first thing to do is to go to God and humbly confess this lack in

our lives and ask Him by His Holy Spirit to supply that which we so

sorely need, and expect Him to do it (1 Jno. v. 14, 15; Phil. iv. 19).

In the second place Jesus Christ had an intense love for souls (Matt.

xxiii. 37; Luke xix. 10), and intimate and constant companionship with

Him will impart to our lives this grace which was so prominent in His.

In the third place feelings are the outcome of thoughts. If we desire

any given feeling in our lives we should dwell upon the thoughts which

are adapted to produce that feeling. If any saved person will dwell long

enough upon the peril and wretchedness of any man out of Christ and the

worth of his soul in God’s sight as seen in the death of God’s Son to

save him, a feeling of intense desire for that man’s salvation is almost

certain to follow. In the fourth place, reflection upon our own ruined

and unhappy condition without Christ and the great sacrifice that Christ

made to save us, is sure to fill our hearts with a desire to bring

others to the Saviour we have found.

 

 

3. _The one who would have real success in bringing men to Christ must

have a_ WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE. The Word of God is the sword of

the Spirit (Eph. vi. 17). It is the instrument God uses to convict of

sin, to reveal Christ and to regenerate men. If we would work together

with God, the Bible is the instrument upon which we must rely and which

we must use in bringing men to Christ. We must know how to use the Bible

so as (1) to show men their need of a Saviour, (2) to show them Jesus as

the Saviour they need, (3) to show them how to make this Saviour their

own Saviour, (4) to meet the difficulties that stand in the way of their

accepting Christ. A large part of the following pages will be devoted to

imparting this knowledge.

 

 

4. _The one who would have real success in bringing men to Christ must_

PRAY MUCH. Solid work in soul winning must be accompanied by prayer at

every step. (1). We must pray God to lead us to the right persons to

approach. God does not intend that we speak to every one we meet. If we

try to do it, we will waste much valuable time in speaking to those whom

we cannot help, that we might have used in speaking to those to whom we

could have done much good. God alone knows the one to whom He intends us

to speak, and we must ask Him to point him out to us, and, expect Him to

do it. (Acts viii. 29). (2). We must pray God to show us just what to

say to those to whom He leads us. After all our study of the passages to

be used in dealing with the various classes of men, we shall need God’s

guidance in each specific case. Every experienced worker will testify to

the many instances in which God has led them to use some text of

scripture that they would not otherwise have used but which proved to be

just the one needed. (3). We must pray God to give power to that which

He has given us to say. We need not only a message from God but power

from God to send the message home. Most workers have to learn this

lesson by humiliating experiences. They sit down beside an unsaved man

and reason and plead and bring forth texts from the word of God, but the

man does not accept Christ. At last it dawns upon them that they are

trying to convert the man in their own strength and then they lift an

humble and earnest prayer to God for his strength, and God hears and in

a short time this “very difficult case” has settled the matter and is

rejoicing in Christ. (4). We must pray God to carry on the work after

our work has come to an end. After having done that which seems to have

been our whole duty in any given instance, whatever may have been the

apparent issue of our work, whether successful or unsuccessful, we

should definitely commit the case to God in prayer. If there is anything

the average worker in this hurrying age needs to have impressed upon

him, it is the necessity of more prayer. By praying more we will not

work any less and we will accomplish vastly more.