ONE INQUIRER AT A TIME.
Then it is very important to deal with one at a time. A doctor doesn’t give cod-liver oil for all complaints. “No,” he says, “I must seek what each one wants.” He looks at the tongue, and inquires into the symptoms. One may have ague, another typhoid fever, and another may have consumption. What a man wants is to be able to read his Bible, and to read human nature, too.
Those do best who do not run from one person in an inquiry-meeting to another, offering words of encouragement everywhere. They would do better by going to but one or two of an afternoon or evening. We are building for eternity, and can take time. The work will not then be superficial.
Try first to win the person’s confidence, and then your words will have more weight. Use great tact in approaching the subject.
It will be a great help to divide persons into classes as much as possible, and bring certain passages of Scripture to bear upon these classes. It is unwise, however, to use verses that you have seen in books until you are perfectly clear in your own mind of their meaning and application. Avail yourself by all means of suggestions from outside sources, but as David could not fight in Saul’s armor, so you possibly may not be able to make good use of texts and passages which have proved powerful in the hands of another. The best way is to make your own classification, and select suitable texts, which experience will lead you to adopt or change, according to circumstances. Make yourself familiar with a few passages, rather than have a hazy and incomplete idea of a large number.
The following classification may be found helpful:—
1. Believers who lack assurance; who are in darkness because they have sinned; who neglect prayer, Bible study, and other means of grace; who are in darkness because of an unforgiving spirit; who are timid or ashamed to confess Christ openly; who are not engaged in active work for the Master; who lack strength to resist temptation and to stand fast in time of trial; who are not growing in grace.
2. Believers who have backslidden.
3. Those who are deeply convicted of sin, and are seeking salvation.
4. Those who have difficulties of various kinds. Many believe that they are so sinful that God will not accept them, that they have sinned away their opportunities and now it is too late, that the gospel was never intended for them. Others are kept back by honest doubts regarding the divinity of Christ, the genuineness of the Bible. Others again are troubled by the mysteries of the Bible, the doctrines of election, instant conversion, etc., or they say they have sought Christ in vain, that they have tried and failed, they are afraid they could not hold out. A large class is in great trouble about feelings.
5. Those who make excuses. There is a wide difference between a person who has a reason and one who had an excuse to offer.
The commonest excuses are that there are so many inconsistent Christians, hypocrites in the church; that it would cost too much to become Christians, that they could not continue in their present occupation, etc.; that they expect to become Christians some day; that their companions hold them back, or would cast them off if they were converted.
6. Those who are not convicted of sin. Some are deliberately sinful; they want to “see life,” to “sow their wild oats;” others are thoughtless; others again are simply ignorant of Jesus Christ and His work. A large number do not feet their need of a Savior because they are self-righteous, trusting to their own morality and good works.
7. Those who hold hostile creeds, embracing sectarians, cranks, Jews, spiritualists, infidels, atheists, agnostics, etc.
Always use your Bible in personal dealing. Do not trust to memory, but make the person read the verse for himself. Do not use printed slips or books. Hence, if convenient, always carry a Bible or New Testament with you.
It is a good thing to get a man on his knees (if convenient), but don’t get him there before he is ready. You may have to talk with him two hours before you can get him that far along. But when you think he is about ready, say, “Shall we not ask God to give us light on this point?” Sometimes a few minutes in prayer have done more for a man than two hours in talk. When the spirit of God has led him so far that he is willing to have you pray with him, he is not very far from the kingdom. Ask him to pray for himself. If he doesn’t want to pray, let him use a Bible prayer; get him to repeat it; for example: “Lord help me!” Tell the man: “If the Lord helped that poor woman, He will help you if you make the same prayer. He will give you a new heart if you pray from the heart.” Don’t send a man home to pray. Of course he should pray at home, but I would rather get his lips open at once. It is a good thing for a man to hear his own voice in prayer. It is a good thing for him to cry out: “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
Urge an immediate decision, but never tell a man he is converted. Never tell him he is saved. Let the Holy Spirit reveal that to him. You can shoot a man and see that he is dead, but you can not see when a man receives eternal life. You can’t afford to deceive one about this great question. But you can help his faith and trust, and lead him aright.
Always be prepared to do personal work. When war was declared between France and Germany, Count von Moltke, the German general, was prepared for it. Word brought to him late at night, after he had gone to bed. “Very well,” he said to the messenger, “the third portfolio on the left”; and he went to sleep again.
Do the work boldly. Don’t take those in a position in life above your own, but as a rule, take those on the same footing. Don’t deal with a person of opposite sex, if it can be otherwise arranged. Bend all your endeavors to answer for poor, struggling souls that question of all importance to them. “What must I do to be saved?”