By J. Wilbur Chapman
As has been suggested, it is necessary, if one is to be a successful personal worker, to know well the Scriptures. The incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God, when it is received into the human heart as good and honest ground, will, without question, produce a satisfactory harvest. If you should attempt to win one to Christ, who insists that he is out of the Kingdom because of his doubts, tell him to come with his doubts, and Christ will set him free. "My doubts are round about me like a chain," said one in the audience, with whom one of our personal workers was labouring, and the worker said quickly, "Come, chains and all." The doubter hesitated a second, then said, "I will," and as he rose to move forward, he testified that the chains were snapped, and he was free.
If the one you are seeking to introduce to Christ says that he is such a great sinner, and because of this he cannot come, then tell him to come with his sins. He wants him just as he is, and stands ready to set him free from the sins that have enslaved him and blinded his eyes so that he could not see Christ as he stood waiting to save him.
It is a good thing to start by giving the assurance to the unsaved that God is Love, and that His love is boundless. This may be easily proved by the Scriptures. Tell him also that Christ is not only able, but ready and willing to save. There are abundant evidences of this in the New Testament. Tell him that no one is too sinful; none too far from God; none too depraved by sin to be saved. There are evidences on every side of us of many such seeking and finding pardon.
It is well to start with such a declaration as is found in John i. 12, "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." Insist upon it that Christ has laid down the conditions, and that if we are to be saved, we must honestly and sincerely, with all our doubts and sins, receive Him as a personal Saviour.
Make it very plain to the one with whom you are dealing that when one comes into the Kingdom he is born into it. There is no other way than this, for Jesus said, John iii. 3, "Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." If the joy of regeneration is to be experienced, it is necessary that the acceptance of Jesus as a Saviour should be definite, and that there should be sufficient confidence in God's Word to lead us to believe that when we have fulfilled our part of the contract the Saviour will keep His.
If we are born into the Kingdom then we start as babes in Christ. We are expected to grow. If we are to grow, we must have proper food; this is found in the Word of God. We must be faithful in prayer. We must have proper light and air; this is found by walking in fellowship with Christ, and learning His will as we study the Scripture, we seek with joy to do it. We may stumble as little children do, but He will help us, and if at times we seem to fail, He will hold us fast.
As little babes in Christ it will not be strange that at times we grow discouraged and faint-hearted, but if we press on to know the Lord we shall find our strength increasing and our temptations decreasing until at last we may enter into a continuous and joyous Christian experience.
Tell the one with whom you are dealing that the assurance of salvation is possible. Jesus said, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life" (John v. 24). And the Apostle John wrote, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God" (1 John v. 13).
State very plainly the fact that we are saved by faith and not by feeling, and being thus saved we are kept by Divine Power.
When we have passed through the darkness of doubt into the light of our conscious acceptance of Christ, and when on the authority of God's Word we have the assurance of salvation, then let it ever be remembered that we must seek to bring others to Him. And as we labour day by day our own faith will grow stronger, our hope will be brighter, and our consciousness of the presence of Christ will be more marked. Day by day we may walk with Him and talk with Him until at last we shall see Him as He is and then we may hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant ... enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
