How to bring men to ChristTorrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer)
Religion
How to bring men to Christ
Torrey, R. A. (Reuben Archer)
Evangelistic work; Witness bearing (Christianity)
A very large number of persons whom we try to lead to Christ, we will
find are really anxious to be saved and know how, but are confronted
with difficulties which they deem insurmountable.
1. One of the difficulties is, “_I am too great a sinner_.” 1 Tim. i. 15
meets this fully. One Sunday morning a man who had led a wild and
wandering life and who had recently lost $35,000 and been separated from
his wife, said to me in response to my question, why he was not
Christian, “I am too great a sinner to be saved.” I turned at once to
1 Tim. i. 15. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief.” He quickly replied, “well, I am the chief of sinners.” “Well,” I
said, “that verse means you then.” He replied, “It is a precious
promise.” I said, “Will you accept it now?” and he said, “I will.” Then
I said, “Let us kneel down and tell God so,” and we knelt down and he
confessed to God his sins, and asked God for Christ’s sake to forgive
him his sins. I asked him if he had really accepted Christ and he said
he had. I asked him if he really believed that he was saved and he said
he did. He took an early opportunity of confessing Christ. He left the
city in a short time but I was able to follow him. He became a most
active Christian, working at his business day times but engaged in some
form of Christian work every night in the week. He was reunited to his
wife and adopted a little child out of an orphan asylum and had a happy
Christian home. Luke xix. 10 is also a very useful passage to use in
dealing with this class of men; especially useful when a man says, “I am
lost.” You can say, “I have a passage intended expressly for you. If you
really mean what you say, you are just the man Jesus is seeking. ‘For
the Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost.’” Romans v.
6‒8 is a very effective passage. I stopped a man one night as he was
hurrying out of a meeting. Laying my hand on his shoulder I said “Did
you not hold your hand up to–night for prayers?” He said “yes.” I said,
“Why then are you hurrying away? Do you know God loves you?” He replied,
“You do not know who you are talking to.” “I do not care who I am
talking to but I know God loves you.” He said: “I am the meanest thief
in Minneapolis.” I said “If you are the meanest thief in Minneapolis,
then I know God loves you,” and I opened my Bible to Romans v. 8. “But
God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners
Christ died for us.” “Now,” I said, “If you are the meanest thief in
Minneapolis, you are a sinner, and this verse tells that God loves
sinners.” The man broke down and going into another room with me told me
his story. He was just out of confinement for crime; had started out
that very night to commit what he said would have been one of the most
daring burglaries ever committed in the city of Minneapolis; with his
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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