In the last chapter, we studied different methods that we may use in doing personal work. Here, we will look at specific cases.
We are to meet each individual problem and difficulty with the Word.
Remember that the less you give of your own knowledge and experience, the better it will be. Bring them face to face with Christ in the Word.
There are three general classes of people who are unsaved. You will find many outside these classifications.
First is the indifferent, the people who apparently have not thought about their own personal salvation.
Second is the one who has thought about his salvation and has faced it, but is delaying making the decision.
Third is the one who honestly desires to be saved, but does not seem to know how, or lacks the ability to make the decision.
Don’t plan to approach everyone in the same way. You are selling Jesus. You are to be wiser than the adversary who is seeking to hinder that sale.
THE INDIFFERENT CLASS
If they have not been instructed in the Word, it will be necessary to show them that they need a new nature, that they must be recreated.
Read John 3:3–8 to them. Be sure to show them, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (verse 6). Make it clear that they must be recreated by God Himself.
They may ask you why they need to be recreated. Give them John 8:44–45 and 1 John 3:10.
Show them that there are two families in the world: the family of God and the family of Satan. Show them that it is not a question of their own good deeds, or of their church attendance, but it is a question of their receiving eternal life, the nature of God.
They are not lost because of some special sin that they have committed, but because they have the wrong nature.
Make it clear that the thing they need is eternal life.
It might be well to call their attention to the fact that there are two kinds of life: natural, human life; and the life that Jesus brought. (See John 10:10; John 5:24; and 1 John 5:13.)
Also tell them that there are two kinds of death: spiritual death and physical death.
Spiritual death is the nature of the adversary. Eternal life is the nature of God the Father.
Make it clear to them that they must receive eternal life.
You notice in John 5:24 that we pass out of death into life, and in Romans 5:12 that death entered the human spirit through sin.
That death is spiritual. There is only one solution to their problem. They must act on John 1:2, John 3:16, John 6:27, and, in conclusion, Romans 10:9–10.
These Scriptures will make the subject clear. The thing this man must do is to accept Christ as Savior and confess Him as his Lord, knowing that God raised Him from the dead, and that the moment he accepts Christ, he becomes the righteousness of God in Christ.
THE ONE WHO IS HALTING BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
Jesus is a gift that we must receive thankfully.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2:8)
Do not use too many Scriptures. Find out the difficulty, the reason that they have not made the decision. It may be that they are bound by a demon of fear. You know that Jesus said, “In my name they shall cast out demons” (Mark 16:17 DBY).
I have found that when one is unable to make the decision, if I lay my hands on them gently and say, “In Jesus’s name, make the decision; in Jesus’s name, the spirit that has held this life in bondage, leave now,” they will instantly make the decision for Christ.
I have known but a few who failed to respond when I commanded that power that held them to be broken.
You understand clearly that you are dealing with spiritual forces, which are as real as material forces.
God is a spirit. Satan and demons are spirits. Man is a spirit. Be sure that the moment he has made his confession that he knows he is saved, not because of feeling or emotion, but because he has acted intelligently upon the Word of God. Make him understand that believing is acting on the Word.
You might say this to him, “You know that Jesus died for your sins, don’t you? You know that He was raised when He had put your sin away, and that He was raised because He had met every demand of justice, and that on the ground of what He had done, you were justified?” (Romans 4:25 tells us this.)
He [the Father] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
He has accepted Christ. He has confessed Him as his Lord. He believes that Christ died for his sins and was raised for his justification. Now he knows by his acceptance of Christ and his confession that he is now a new creation in Christ, and he stands before the Father without condemnation.
THE MAN WHO WANTS TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN
BUT DOESN’T KNOW HOW
We have practically covered the ground. First, make it clear that eternal life is the thing that he needs, and that it is a gift from God.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10)
Make him see clearly that salvation is not a result of his giving up sin, being sorry for his sin, or promising not to commit any more sin, but he is saved because he accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior. All of the purposes, plans, confessions, and repenting done by a sinner have no virtue in them whatsoever unless he accepts Jesus Christ as Savior.
Repentance and confession of sin have no value unless one acts upon the Word and takes Christ as is Savior.
God gave Jesus to the world as Savior. He has not taken the gift back. Jesus still belongs to the sinner.
He is God’s gift to the lost soul. All that lost soul needs to do is to acknowledge the gift, thank the Giver, and salvation is his.
QUESTIONS
- Why can’t we approach all people in the same way?
- Name the three general classes of people with whom you may come in contact in doing personal work?
- Explain the two kinds of life and the two kinds of death.
- What can you do to aid those who seem to find it hard to come to a decision?
- Name five points we should make clear to everyone we lead to Christ.