How to bring men to Christ 7

How to bring men to Christ 7

2. _Serious minded skeptics._ There is a large class of men and women in

our day who are really desirous of knowing the truth but who are in an

utter fog of skepticism. John vii. 17 is a very helpful passage in

dealing with such. It shows the way out of skepticism to faith. Get the

skeptic to act along the line of that verse. Put to him the question,

“Will you surrender your will to God and promise to search honestly and

earnestly to find out what God’s will is that you may do it, to ask God

to show you whether you need a Saviour and whether Jesus is a Divine

Saviour, the Son of God; and will you promise that, if God will show you

that Jesus is the Son of God, to accept Him as your Saviour and confess

Him before the world?” Have him make his promise definite, by putting it

down in black and white. If you get him to do this, his skepticism will

soon take wings.

 

One evening at the close of a service I asked a gentleman why he was not

a Christian. He replied: “I will tell you. I do not talk much about it;

for I am not proud of it as some are, but I am a skeptic. I have lain

awake nights thinking about this matter.” “Do you believe there is a

God?” “Yes, I never gave up my faith that there was a God.” “Well, if

there is a God you ought to obey him. Will you to–night take your stand

upon the will of God to follow it wherever it carries you even if it

carries you over the Niagara Falls?” “I try to do as near right as I

know how.” “That is not what I asked; will you take your stand on the

will of God to follow it wherever it carries you?” “I have never put it

that way.” “Will you put it that way to–night?” “I will.” “Do you

believe God answers prayer?” “I don’t know; I am afraid not.” “You don’t

know that he does not?” “No.” “Well, here is a possible clue to the

truth, will you follow it, will you ask God to show you whether Jesus is

His Son; and what your duty concerning him is?” “I will.” Not long after

that the man came into a meeting with a new look in his face. He arose

and said: “I was all in a mist. I believed nothing.” Then he told us

what he had done. He had done just as he promised. “And now,” he

continued, “my doubts are all gone. I don’t know where they have gone

but they are gone.” If the skeptic will not act in this way you can

“stop his mouth” by showing him that he is not an honest skeptic and

that the trouble with him is not his skepticism but his sin. If the man

does not believe there is a God, you can begin one step further back.

Ask him if he believes there is an absolute difference between right and

wrong (if he does not he is a mere trifler). If he says he does, ask him

if he will take his stand upon the right and follow it wherever it

carries him. He may try to put you off by saying “What is right?” or

that he is doing the right as nearly as he knows how. Get him to promise

that he will take his stand upon the right, whatever he may find it to

be and follow it whatever the consequence may be. Then show him that if

he is honest in this promise, he will try to find out what the right is.

Next say to him, “You do not know whether God answers prayer or not. I

know He does, and you will admit that here is a possible clue to

knowledge. If you are honest in your desire to know the truth, you will

follow this possible clue. You can get down and at least pray, ‘O my

God, if there be a God, teach me thy will and I will do it. Show me

whether Jesus is thy son or not. If you show that he is, I will accept

Him as my Saviour and confess Him before the world.’” Then tell the man

to begin reading the Gospel of John, reading slowly and thoughtfully,

only a few verses at a time, asking God for light each time before

reading and promising God that he will follow the light as fast as He

makes it clear. If the man will follow this rational course, it will

result in every case in the skeptic coming out into the clear light of

faith in the Bible, as the word of God, and Jesus Christ as the Son of

God. If the man is not an honest skeptic, this course of treatment will

reveal the fact and then you can show him that the difficulty is not

with his skepticism but with his rebellious heart.

 

If the man says that he does not know whether there is an absolute

difference between right and wrong, then you can set it down at once

that he is bad and turn upon him kindly and earnestly and say to him,

“My friend, there is something wrong in your life; no man that is living

right doubts that there is a difference between right and wrong. Now you

probably know what is wrong and the trouble is not with your skepticism,

but with your sin.” One afternoon after I had given out an invitation

for any skeptic or any one else who wished to talk with me, to remain

after the meeting, a young man with whom I had dealt some months before

stayed. I asked him what his trouble was. He replied, “The same trouble

that I told you in the spring, I cannot believe that there is a God.” I

asked him if he had done as I had advised him to do in our former

conversation; if he had taken his stand upon the right to follow it

wherever it carried him. He replied that he did not know that there was

any difference between right and wrong. “I do not know that there is

such a thing as right.” I looked him right in the eyes and said, “Is

there some sin your life?”

 

He said “Yes.” I said “what is it?” He replied, “The same that I told

you last spring.” I said, “You promised to give it up, have you given it

up?” He said “No, I have not.” “Well,” I said, “there is the difficulty,

not with your skepticism. Give up that sin and your skepticism will take

care of itself.” In some confusion he replied, “I guess that is the

trouble.”

 

 

3. _Those who doubt the existence of God._

 

The passages under 1 and 2 can also be used with this class and

generally it is wise to use them before those given under this head.

There are however, three passages that are often times effective with

this specific class of skeptics. Ps. xiv. 1; before using this passage

you can say to the man, “Let me read you from God’s own word what he

says about those who deny his existence.” Often times it is well to

leave the passage to do its own work. Sometimes, however, it is wise to

dwell a little upon it. Call the man’s attention to the fact that it is

“in his heart” that the fool says “there is no God.” He does not believe

there is a God because he does not wish to. You can add that the folly

of saying in one’s heart that there is no God is seen in two points;

first, there is a God and it is folly to say there is not one, and

second, the doctrine that there is not a God always brings misery and

wretchedness. Put it right to the man, and ask him if he ever knew a

happy atheist. Ps. xix. 1, 2; Romans i. 19‒22, are also effective

passages.

 

 

4. _Those who doubt that the Bible is the word of God._

 

Romans iii. 3, 4, is useful in showing that questioning the fact does

not alter the fact. Matt. xxiv. 35, is often used by the Spirit to carry

to the heart of the skeptic the certainty and immutability of God’s

word. Mark vii. 13; Matt. v. 18; John x. 35; Luke xxiv. 27, 44, are

useful as giving Christ’s testimony that the Old Testament is the Word

of God. They are especially helpful in dealing with those who say that

they accept the authority of Christ but not that of the Old Testament,

for in them Christ sets His seal to the Old Testament scriptures and

they show conclusively that if we accept His authority we must accept

that of the Old Testament also. Along the same line John xiv. 26, and

xvi. 12, 13, are useful as containing Christ’s indorsement of the New

Testament.

 

1 Thes. ii. 13, can be used with good effect to meet the statement which

is often made, that Paul nowhere claims that his teaching is the word of

God. 2 Peter i. 21, John viii. 47; Luke xvi. 30, 31, can also be used in

dealing with this class. 2 John v. 10, is very effective in showing the

guilt of those who believe not the record that God has given. Before

using this last passage you can say, “You doubt, do you, that the Bible

is the Word of God? Now let us see what God says about those that

believe not His testimony;” then turn them to the passage and have them

read it.

 

 

5. _Those who doubt a future existence._

 

1 Cor. xv. 35‒36; Jno. v. 28‒29; Dan. xii. 2.

 

 

6. _Those who doubt the doctrine of future punishment, or the conscious,

endless suffering of the lost._ Rev. xxi. 8, defines what “death” means

when used in the scriptures Rev. xvii. 8, compared with Rev. xix. 20,

shows what perdition or destruction means in the scriptures. Rev. xix.

20, compared with Rev. xx. 10 shows that “the lake of fire” is not a

place where those consigned to it cease to exist, for we find in the

latter passage the beast and false prophet are still there at the end of

a thousand years and that they, so far from being annihilated or losing

conscious existence are tormented night and day forever and ever. Rev.

xiii. 7‒8 show that those who are subjected to the terrible retribution

here described are those whose names are not written in the Book of

Life. Matt. x. 28 shows that there is destruction for the soul apart

from the destruction of the body. Luke xii. 5, shows that after one is

killed and is of course dead, there is a punishment in “hell.” Mark iii.

28‒29 (R. V.) shows that there is such a thing as eternal sin. Luke xvi.

23‒26, shows that the condition of the wicked dead is one of conscious

torment. Mark xiv. 21, shows that the retribution visited upon the

wicked is of so stern a character that it would be better for him upon

whom it is visited if he had never been born.

 

2 Peter ii. 4; Jude 6, show that hell is not a place where the

inhabitants cease to exist, but where they are reserved alive, for the

purpose of God. Heb. x. 28‒29, show that while the punishment of

transgression of the Mosaic law was death, that sorer punishment awaits

those who have “trodden under foot the Son of God.” Matt. xxv. 41 gives

further light upon the subject. It shows that the wicked go to the same

place with the Beast and False Prophet and the Devil mentioned in Rev.

xix. 20, and xx. 10, and share the same endless, conscious torment.

 

 

7. _Those who doubt the divinity of Christ._

 

a. In Acts x. 36; 1 Cor. ii. 8, compare Ps. xxiv. 8‒10; Heb. i. 8; John

xx. 28; Rom. ix. 5; Rev. i. 17, compare Is. xliv. 6, we find several

divine titles applied to Christ, the same titles being applied to Christ

in the New Testament that are applied to Jehovah in the old.

 

b. In Heb. i. 10, 3, we find divine offices attributed to Christ.

 

c. In John v. 22