Date: August 30, 1948Place: Kuling
How much truth should an awakened sinner understand, and what should he do in order to receive salvation? Today we will consider these two questions.
The first thing we should do after a sinner is awakened is to show him the gift of God. John 4:10 says, "If you knew the gift of God...you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." What is the gift of God? Verse 14 tells us that the living water satisfies. When a person is touched by our preaching, we can bring him to salvation by just giving him a little push to take a further step. If we drag on with our preaching, however, we may not be able to push him to the Lord. This is something that offends the Lord. For example, some people are afraid of the coming judgment. We should immediately tell them how they can escape it. If we show them Matthew 11:28 instead, telling them that all those who are burdened can come to Him for rest, we are doing a foolish thing even though we are relating Scriptures to them. If a man is awakened to the vanity of the world, it is foolish to ramble on about the coming judgment. Another sinner may feel the bondage and power of sin. If we ignore this and talk to him about the vanity of the world, we are being equally foolish.
An evangelist should know a sinner's needs. Whatever the sinner is thinking, we should meet his needs right away. We should not lead him around in circles. In preaching the gospel, we do not dictate the kind of problems a sinner should have. Rather, we have to observe the problem that he actually has and then try to solve the problem. It is most offensive to the Lord for a gospel preacher to subjectively decide others' needs and problems. A subjective man cannot save anyone. In preaching the gospel, we have to learn to be objective. We have to learn to touch man's inner feelings. Although we can classify sinners into categories, every case is different in reality. We have to dispense God's gift to man. Man needs His gift. We should never force down others' throats what they do not need. We have to give to them what they are awakened to and what they really need.
We must also note that man's natural thoughts are very legal and judicial. He thinks that God cannot give anything for free, that man must do something and behave in certain ways before he can please God and earn His gift. Man thinks that he must pay something in order to have joy. God's salvation, however, is free; it is a gift. The Lord can meet the specific needs of each person. His gift can satisfy man's every need.
After a man knows the gift of God, we have to give him a word from God. A man may believe in a word that we have spoken to him, but he cannot remain in this kind of faith. Whether we are speaking from the podium or in private, we have to point out God's Word to our listener. We have to give him a clear verse. There is no need to give him too many verses. All that is needed is to open the necessary verse to him and to let him read it. We have to explain it clearly to him, and we have to tell him that this is the gift of God. Let him read it over and over again, and let him feel that this is the word that will meet his need.
It is not enough for a sinner just to know God's gift. We have to bring him to God and let him know that God is his Father. We can show him Matthew 7:11: "How much more will your Father who is in the heavens give good things to those who ask Him!" Of course, none of us believe in the teaching of the universal fatherhood of God. However, we can still tell the sinner that God is a Father to the sinner. As far as we are concerned, we are not His children until He begets us, but as far as God's love is concerned, God treats all human beings like His own children, whether or not they are saved. God gave His only begotten Son to all sinners based on His fatherly love. It is not a problem for God to be man's Father. The problem is on the part of the sinner. We will speak about this problem later. If we are willing to ask of Him, He will grant us His gift. In preaching the gospel to sinners, we can tell them that God loves the world like His own children. The only thing He does not have with them is a life-relationship. We can apply this analogy, because the Lord Jesus once did it as well (Luke 15:11-24).
By giving the sinner a word from God, we bring him to a direct touch with God. It is a hard thing to ask a sinner to pray. As gospel preachers, we should always lead a sinner to God; we should always lead him to pray to the Father in heaven. We can read Matthew 7:11 to a sinner. After a sinner understands our preaching, we should consummate the work by bringing him to touch God. We should point out Matthew 7:11 to the sinner and tell him that no father would hold back good things from his sons. God is like our earthly father; He is willing to give us good things freely. Then we have to ask him to pray. Praying a short prayer for five minutes is more effective than listening to a long sermon for five hours. In preaching the gospel, we have to show the sinners through God's word that He is a God who dispenses gifts. He is eager to dispense His grace to man.
On God's side there is no problem being man's Father; the problem is on the sinner's side. God is eager to dispense His grace to the world, but He is held back by man's sin. Sin hinders God from dispensing His grace to man. Isaiah 59:1-2 says, "Behold, Jehovah's hand is not so short that it cannot save; / Nor is His ear so heavy that it cannot hear. / But your iniquities have become a separation / Between you and your God, / And your sins have hidden His face / From you so that He does not hear." John 9:31 says, "We know that God does not hear sinners." We should read these verses to a sinner. This is the third step.
We should not preach a gospel which tries to bring men to God without the need of prayer. I am afraid that there is no such gospel. We must help a sinner to make a turn to God. God is willing to dispense His gift to man, and He will always dispense His gift to man. Man's sinfulness, however, prevents God from answering his prayer and petition. This brings us one step further, from a sense of need to a sense of sin. In preaching the gospel, we should let the sinner see God's gift. After this we should let him see what kind of God He is, and then let him see his own sins. As long as we can get a person to come to God, the question of His existence will not pose a problem. Bringing a person to God is easier than trying to prove His existence. After we have done this, we should awaken him to a sense of sin. After he becomes conscious of his own sin, we have reached the fourth step.
The fourth step is to show the sinner the cross of the Lord Jesus. Only the cross can solve the problem of man's sin. We can ask a sinner to read Hebrews 9:27-28, 1 Peter 2:24, and 3:18. We only need to read these few passages with him. We do not have to speak too much about the doctrine of the cross. All we need is to let a sinner know that the Lord Jesus has borne our sins. This simple preaching is all that is needed. As preachers of the gospel, we must not interrupt our own message. We should never try to be omniscient or try to explain everything clearly. We only have to speak a little; we should not lead the listeners into detours. Rather, we should use simple words and use our own testimony.
Concerning the Lord's crucifixion for us, we can consider a few types in the Bible. The first is the Lord Jesus as the ark. God's judgment fell on Him, and we who are in Him are spared from judgment. The second is the Lord Jesus as the Lamb. He was slain for our sins and transgressions, and His blood was shed for our redemption. The third is the Lord Jesus as the brass serpent being hung on the pole for sinners. As soon as sinners look up to Him, they are saved. The Lord's crucifixion is also like the offering of the sacrifices in the Old Testament. He is the Lamb of God, sacrificing Himself for our redemption. In preaching the gospel, we only need to let sinners know the simple fact of the Lord's crucifixion. As long as they believe, they will be saved by the redemption of the cross.
The above four steps constitute a direct way to preach to the awakened sinners. Through these four steps, we can easily bring them to God. These are basic truths; they are also simple truths. We want to bring men to salvation with the least amount of truth. We want them to know these four things because the thoughts of sinners are totally in darkness. Their mind is not open to God, their emotion does not desire God, and there is no room in their judgment for God. We have to use the above four steps to lead them to a proper desire and decision. This is what we called "clinchers" in the earlier chapters. The goal of our preaching is to create a desire for God within sinners.
Mr. Wilkes said that we have to pray for the sinners, believe for them, and even receive for them. This is true. He meant that we have to feel the sins of the sinners; we have to feel as if their sins are our sins, and that together we have offended the Lord and rejected Him. We should join ourselves to their confession and even to their believing. When they believe, we believe. As they repent, we repent. The two are joined as one. When we deny the world, we are denying the world with and for them. When we accept the Lord, we are accepting Him with and for them. We should join them in prayer, in believing, and in receiving. In this way, sinners will be brought to the Lord easily.
A gospel preacher must be burning in his heart. A cold person cannot save others. For this reason, we must first be kindled ourselves with fire before we can kindle others with the same fire. Only one who identifies himself with those who are about to be saved and feels the same as they do can bring about their salvation.
Next, we have to preach a gospel that speaks of things that are here with us today. We should not preach a gospel that merely speaks of things that happened two thousand years ago. God's gospel is like the manna; it must be fresh and living every day.
Third, we have to grind ourselves into fine powder before we can touch others' feelings in a tender way. We have to echo the sinners' feelings. We have to bear the sinners on our shoulder and carry them to salvation. Our words have to be clinchers, but even more our very person has to be a clincher. A gospel preacher has to possess a certain rare power, a power that will electrify others. He has to be an "electric conductor," and he has to join himself to sinners and pass on this "electricity" to them. We have to be receivers and conductors, those who can pass electricity on to others at will. We have to waste our lives before we can do the work of soul saving. Paul was one who gave up everything for the gospel's sake. He was willing to spend and be spent for others' souls (2 Cor. 12:15). He was not only good at preaching; he was able to waste himself on behalf of others. Paul is a good example to us.
When we reach this point, a sinner will ask, "What should I do to be saved?" Here are also four things.
The first thing we should do is to tell an awakened sinner to confess his sins. First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Although this verse is for Christians, in principle anyone who confesses his sins to God will receive His forgiveness. We must be clear about confession. Confession means to stand on God's side and to acknowledge sin as sin. Many people only plead for forgiveness without making any confession. For example, many people say to God, "I am proud. I am envious. I am lustful. I hate others." They only ask God to forgive them, but they do not acknowledge these as sins. The fact of the matter is that as soon as a sinner acknowledges a sin to be sin, God will forgive him. Confessing to God means acknowledging before Him that a sin is sin indeed. We have to lead sinners not only to pray for forgiveness but to confess sin as sin.
Everyone has a few particular sins of his own. He does not commit all sins in a general way. For this reason, confession means to confess the few particular sins that one has. Confession cannot be general. One has to confess his sins in a specific way. We should not say to God, "I am proud. I am envious. Please forgive me." Rather, we should confess, saying, "I am proud, and this is sin. I am envious, and this is sin." If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins.
The worst thing that an evangelist can do is to invite a sinner to the feast but fail to introduce him to the Host. Our purpose is not to make others nod at our doctrines, but to touch God. After they have understood the four points spoken of above, we should lead them to kneel before the Lord and pray. Once a man confesses his sins, he stands on God's side and condemns sin as sin. If he does not confess his sins, he is still standing on the side of sin. We have to bend the stiffened knees; we have to lead him to kneel down to pray. We should not ask him to just ask for forgiveness; we have to make him confess first and then ask for forgiveness. A great advantage of this confession is that the confessor will never forget what he has done. Once he prays this way, he will no longer be able to escape. This confession will count in the eyes of God.
After a man confesses his sin, we have to give him God's word. This will establish him in the faith. If a man does not believe in his heart, his prayer and confession will be useless. A sinner's body does not play any part in his salvation and regeneration. His spirit is dead. His understanding is darkened, his emotion is void of aspirations, and his will is definitely antagonistic. How can such a person believe? First, something outside of him has to get into him. We have to deposit something into him, something that will not come out once it gets into him — the word of God. Only God's word works. No doctrine will work, and no casual remark will work. Only God's word works. Only His word will enter and operate within man. Hence, the second thing to do with an awakened sinner is to let him read the Bible. Let him read God's Word over and over again, until this word gets into him. This is what Romans 10:14 and 17 mean when they say that seeking comes from believing, believing comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ. James 1:21 says that God's implanted word can save a sinner's soul. Second Peter 1:4 says that a man partakes of God's nature through the promises in His word. Acts 2:41 says that men were saved through receiving God's word, the word which Peter preached at Pentecost.
All of God's work is included in His word. When a man receives God's word, he receives God's work. The content of God's word is His work. Man does not touch God's work directly; he touches God's word, and through His word he touches His work. Gospel preachers must try to memorize many verses concerning God's salvation. In preaching the gospel, we should announce God's Word sentence by sentence until sinners are fully clear. In this way they will never forget God's word.
We have to make others trust in God's word. They have to rest on God's word, to the extent that they treat God's word as a pillow. Such a pillow supports their head all the time even after they are saved.
After a man confesses his sins and reads God's Word, he has to believe in his heart. What is the difference between confessing and believing? Confession is an act. After confession there is God's Word. Believing is trusting that God has done what He said He would do in His Word. In 1 John 1:9 a sinner first confesses his sins — this is an act. Faith means that a sinner believes that God has acted according to His word and has forgiven our sins through the blood of His Son and has washed away our unrighteousnesses. This is all that is needed. Believing is not waiting for something to happen. It is having a living faith toward God's Word. A living faith happens instantaneously, while the knowledge of the assurance of salvation comes afterwards. God's Word says that he who believes has eternal life. As soon as we believe, we have eternal life. The faith that we are speaking of here is not a general faith in the work that the Lord has accomplished but a faith that turns God's Word into accomplished facts immediately. As soon as one believes, he has the facts. We have to make sure that the new ones take this step immediately. We have to let them know that they have received eternal life right then and there.
The last step is to confess with the mouth. The best way to test if a man has believed is to ask him to confess the Lord in public. We can read Romans 10:9-10 and 13 to him, which says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is confession unto salvation....For `whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" Many people are not sure about their salvation because they have not confessed with their mouth. Once a man confesses with his mouth, he can be sure of his salvation. This is like mixing concrete; as soon as water is added, the concrete sets. After a man believes, we have to provide him an opportunity to immediately confess with his mouth. Many people who are not clear about their salvation become clear once they open their mouth to confess.
An awakened sinner should do the above four things. A sinner only needs to believe in God's word and confess with his mouth, then his spirit will be made alive. God will put His Spirit within the spirit of those who believe in Him. Once a sinner takes the step of faith, God gives him a new heart. The result of this believing is a new life, which a man receives from God. He is saved and born again.
We have to spend much time on these matters. A sloppy person will not do a good job in leading men to salvation. We have to study these matters carefully. We must not speak lightly or quote a verse lightly. We have to exercise care in every step we take. We should not only aim at saving men in a general way through our preaching but should aim at a gospel that produces high quality results. I hope that we can all learn these lessons properly and thoroughly.
