O Lord, You say that he that continually wins souls (to You) is wise. i confess that i have gotten, by hook and by crook, to get many people to pray a prayer and 'ask Jesus into their hearts' i know of not one of those who is a disciple (someone who receives Jesus' instructions and is making them the RULE of his life). O make me wise dear Lord!
43 God is infinitely benevolent and unconverted sinners are supremely selfish, so that they are radically opposed to god. their commitment to the gratification of their appetites and inclinations is know in Bible language as 'the carnal mind' or the minding of the flesh, which is 'enmity against God. romans 8.7
44 this enmity is voluntary and must be overcome, if at all, by the Word of god, made effective by the teaching of the Holy spirit.
the gospel is adapted to this end, and , when wisely presented, we may confidently expect the effective cooperation of the Holy spirit. this is implied in our commission, 'go therefore and make disciples of all nations...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. matt. 28.19-20
if we are unwise, illogical and out of all natural order in presenting the Gospel, we have no right to expect divine cooperation.
in winning souls, as in everything else, God works through and in accordance with natural laws. hence, if we wish to win souls we must wisely follow natural laws. we must present the necessary truths and do so in an order adapted to the natural laws of min, thought and mental action. a false mental philosophy will greatly mislead us and we will often be found ignorantly working against the Holy Spirit.
sinners must be convicted of their enmity. they do not know god and consequently are often ignorant of the opposition of their hearts to Him. 'by the law is the knowledge of sin (romans 3.20), because by the law the sinner gets his first true idea of god. by the law, he first learns that god is perfectly benevolent and infinitely opposed to all selfishness. this law, then, should be arrayed in all its majesty against the selfishness and enmity of the sinner. (note: tracts by ray comfort, at Living Waters, use the Law effectively..especially in the one about being good enough to go to heaven.)
this law carries irresistible conviction of its righteousness, and no moral agent can doubt it.
all men know that they have sinned, but not all are convicted of the guilt and deserved punishment of sin. many are careless and do not feel the burden of sin, the horrors and terrors of remorse and do not have a sense of condemnation and of being lost. but without this, they cannot understand or appreciate the gospel method of salvation. one cannot intelligently and heartily ask or accept a pardon until he sees the justice of his condemnation.
45 the law does its work -annihilates the sinner's self righteousness and shows him that mercy is his only hope. then, he should be made to understand that it is morally impossible for a just God not to execute a penalty when the law has been broken.
right here the sinner should be made to understand that he cannot assume that because God is benevolent He will forgive him.
for unless public justice can be satisfied, the law of universal benevolence forbids the forgiveness of sin. if public justice is not regarded in the exercise of mercy, the good of the public is sacrificed to that of the individual. God will never do this. this teaching will give the sinner no choice but to look for some offering to public justice.
now give him the Atonement as a fact revealed and
point to Christ alone as his own sin offering.
stress the revealed fact that god has accepted the death of Christ as a substitute for the sinner's death,
..that this is to be received upon the testimony of God.
46 since the sinner is already crushed into contrition by the convicting power of the law, the revelation of the love of god manifested in the death of Christ will naturally produce great self-loathing. it will produce the godly sorrow that needs 'not to be regretted'. II corinthians 7.10
under this evidence, the sinner can never excuse himself.
\God is holy and glorious and he a sinner, saved by sovereign grace.
this teaching may be more or less formal, as the souls you address are more or less thoughtful, intelligent and able to understand.
it was not by accident that the dispensation of law preceded the dispensation of grace; rather, it is in the natural order of things and in accordance with established mental laws.
evermore the law must prepare the way for the Gospel.
to overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope and in the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience and to fill the church with false converts.
time will make this plain.
the truth should be preached to the people present and so personally applied as to COMPEL EVERYONE TO FEEL THAT YOU MEAN HIM OR HER.
it has been often said of a certain preacher, 'he does not preach but explains clearly what other people preach and seems to be talking directly to me'.
if we fail to interest them personally, it is either because we do not address them personally, because we lack fervency and earnestness, because we lack clearness and force, or because we lack something else that we ought to possess. to make them feel that we and that God means them is INDISPENSABLE.
do not think that earnest piety alone can make you successful in winning souls.
this is only one condition of success.
THERE MUST BE COMMON SENSE.
47 THERE MUST BE SPIRITUAL WISDOM in adapting means to the end.
souls need instruction in accordance with the measure of their intelligence.
a few simple truths, when wisely applied and illuminated by the holy Spirit,
will convert CHILDREN to Christ.
i say wisely applied, for they, too, are sinners and need the application of the law, as a tutor,
to bring them to Christ so that may be 'justified by faith'. galatians 3.24 if the preparatory law work has been omitted and Christ has not been embraced as Savior from sin and condemnation,
one cannot be saved.
it will sooner or later be known that supposed conversions to Christ are false where these two things have been omitted.
sinners who are FULL OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE -
who are, perhaps, as a result, skeptical and not convicted in their hearts -
need a much more extensive and thorough explanation of truth.
professional men need the gospel net to be thrown quite around them
with no break through which they can escape
and when thus dealt with,
they are all the more sure to be converted in proportion to their real intelligence...
be sure to EXPLAIN THE TERMS you use.
before i was converted i failed to hear the terms
REPENTANCE, FAITH, REGENERATION and CONVERSION intelligibly explained.
repentance was described as a feeling. (note: to word, in the Bible, means 'a change of mind'
faith was represented as an intellectual act or state and not as a voluntary act of trust.
regeneration was represented as some physical change in the nature,
48 produced by the direct power of the Holy spirit.
it was not explained that it is a voluntary change of the ultimate preference of the soul,
produced by the spiritual illumination of the Holy Spirit.
conversion also was represented as being so completely the work of the Holy Spirit
that the fact that it is the sinner's own act, under the persuasions of the Holy Spirit, was covered up.
urge the fact that REPENTANCE INVOLVES THE VOLUNTARY AND ACTUAL RENUNCIATION OF ALL SIN, that it is a radical change of mind toward God.
also urge the fact that saving faith is heart trust in Christ,
that it works by love (galatians 5.6),
that it purifies the heart (acts 15.9), and
overcomes the world (I john 5.4).
no faith is saving that does not have these attributes.
the sinner is required to put forth certain mental acts.
he needs to understand what these are.
error in mental philosophy only embarrasses and may fatally deceive the inquiring soul.
sinners are often put on the wrong tract.
they are put under the strain to FEEL
instead of being asked to put forth the required acts of will....
the deceitfulness of sin renders the inquiring soul exceedingly exposed to delusion;
therefore, it is necessary for teachers to SEARCH OUT EVERY NOOK AND CORNER
where the soul con find a false refuge.
be so thorough and discriminating that it will be impossible, as far as you can make it,
for the inquirer to entertain a false hope.
do not fear to be thorough.
do not through false pity put on a bandage where surgery is needed.
do not fear that you will discourage the convicted sinner and turn him back
by searching him out to the bottom.
if the Holy spirit is dealing with him,
the more you search and probe the more impossible it will be for the soul to turn back or rest in sin.
if you wish to save the soul, do not spare a right hand or right eye or any favorite idol,
but see to it that every form of sin is given up. (see matthew 5.30)
INSIST IN FULL CONFESSION OF WRONG to all who have a right to confession.
INSIST ON FULL RESTITUTION, as far as possible, to all injured parties.
49 do not fall short of the explicit teaching of Christ on this subject.
whoever the sinner may be, LET HIM DISTINCTLY UNDERSTAND that
UNLESS HE FORSAKES ALL that HE HAS,
HE CANNOT BE A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST.
INSIST ON entire and total consecration of all the powers of body and mind, and of all the property, possessions, character and influence, to God.
INSIST ON the total abandonment to God of all ownership of self or anything else,
as a condition of being accepted.
understand yourself and, if possible, make the sinner understand,
that nothing short of this is involved in true faith or true repentance
and that true consecration (note: Christ being LORD, romans 10.9) involves them all.
keep constantly before the sinner's mind that
IT IS THE PERSONAL CHRIST THAT HE IS DEALING WITH.
it is God in Christ seeking his reconciliation to Himself. II corinthians 5.19
the condition of the sinners reconciliation is that he gives up his will and his whole being to God
-that 'not a hoof shall be left behind'. exodus 10.26
assure him the 'God has given (him) eternal life and this life is in His Son. I john 5.11
'Christ Jesus...became for (him)
wisdom form God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. I corinthians 1.30
from first to last, he is to find his whole salvation in Christ. (note: not ANYTHING he DOES!)
when satisfied that the soul intelligently receives all this doctrine and the Christ herein revealed,
INSTRUCT HIM IN THE BASIC PRINCIPLES of the Christian life.
WARN HIM..(what) SIN CONSISTS IN...
'in fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind'. ephesians 2.3
CHALLENGE HIM..'to be spiritually minded is life and peace'. romans 8.6
INSTRUCT HIM ABOUT THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT,
by whose fervency and power all victory against satan comes.
and EXHORT HIM 'to run with endurance the race that is set before (him),
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of (his) faith'. hebrews 12.1-2
-that he may 'adorn the doctrine of god our Savior in all things.' titus 2.10,
be 'approved in Christ' romans 16.10, and ultimately gain the victor's crown.
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