1. Careless back–sliders; those who have no great desire to come back to the Saviour. With such persons use Jer. ii. 5, drive the question right home, “What iniquity have you found in the Lord?” Show them the base ingratitude and folly of forsaking such a Saviour and Friend. Very likely they have wandered away because of unkind treatment by professed Christians, but hold them right to the point of how the Lord treated them and how they are now treating Him. Use also Jer. ii. 13, and show them what they have forsaken and for what. Have them read the verse and ask them, “is not that verse true? When you forsook the Lord did you not forsake the ‘fountain of living waters’ and turn to ‘broken cisterns that can hold no water?’” Illustrate the text by showing how foolish it would be to turn from a fountain of pure living water to broken cisterns or muddy pools. God has greatly honored this verse in bringing back–sliders back to himself. Use Jer. ii. 19. When they have read it ask them whether they have not found it “an evil thing and bitter” having forsaken the Lord their God. Prov. xiv. 14; 1 Kings xi. 9, and Luke xv. 13–17, can often times be used with effect with an impenitent back–slider, showing him the result of his wandering. I have a friend who always uses Amos. iv. 11, 12, and often times with good results.
2. Back–sliders who are sick of their wanderings and sin and desire to come back to the Lord. These are perhaps as easy a class to deal with as we ever find. Jer. iii. 12, 13, and 22, will show them how ready the Lord is to receive them back and that all he asks of them is that they acknowledge their sin and return to him. Hos. xiv. 1–4, is full of tender invitation to penitent back–sliders and also shows the way back to God. Is. xliii. 22, 24, 25, and Is. xliv. 20–22; Jer. xxix. 11–13; Deut. iv. 28–31; 2 Chron. vii. 14; 1 John i. 9; ii. 1–2, set forth God’s unfailing love for the back–slider and His willingness to receive him back. Mark xvi. 7; 2 Chron. xv. 4; xxxiii. 1–9, 12, 13, give illustrations of great back–sliders who returned to the Lord and how lovingly He received them, 1 John i. 9; Jer. iii. 12–13; 2 Chron. xv. 12, 15; vii. 14, show just what steps the back–slider must take to come back to the Lord and be restored to his favor, viz: humble himself, confess his sins and turn from his sin. Luke xv. 11–24, is perhaps the most useful passage of all in dealing with a back–slider who wishes to return for it has both the steps which the back–slider must take and the kind of reception he will receive.
When a back–slider has returned he should always be given instructions as to how to live so as not to back–slide again. The instruction to be given will be found in [Chapter xii. sec. 15].
CHAPTER VIII.
DEALING WITH PROFESSED SKEPTICS AND INFIDELS
There are various classes of Sceptics and the same methods of dealing will not answer for all.
1. Skeptics who are mere triflers. With such use 1 Cor. i. 18. If a man says the Bible is foolishness to him, you can say “Yes, that is just what the Bible itself says.” He will probably be surprised at this reply and then you can show him 1 Cor. i. 18; “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.” Then you can say to him, “You see that the Bible says that it is foolishness to some—them that perish—and the reason it is foolishness to you is because you are perishing.” 1 Cor. ii. 14, can be used in a similar way. A worker was one night dealing with a man who said to him when he was trying to persuade him to come to Christ, “all that you are saying is foolishness to me.” The worker quickly replied, “Yes, that is just what the Bible says.” The man looked at him in astonishment and said: “What?” “You said all that I have been saying to you was foolishness to you, and that is just what the Bible says.” The man was more astonished then than ever and the worker turned him to 1 Cor. ii. 14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.” The man said “I never saw that before; I never thought of it in that light before.” 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4, is very useful in showing the trifler that he is lost and that his skepticism arises from the fact that the “god of this world hath blinded his mind.” 2 Thes. ii. 10–12, is useful in showing the origin of skepticism, “because they received not the love of the truth” and the consequences of skepticism—delusion and damnation. John viii. 21, 24, is also very searching in dealing with this class of skeptics, showing the terrible consequences of unbelief. John v. 44; iii. 18, 19, 20 expose the origin of scepticism. Ps. xiv. 1, is useful in some cases though one needs to be guarded in its use, using it only when it can be done with earnestness and tenderness. 2 Thes. i. 7, 8 can also be used with good results.
2. Serious minded skeptics. There is a large class of men and women in our day who are really desirous of knowing the truth but who are in an utter fog of skepticism. John vii. 17 is a very helpful passage in dealing with such. It shows the way out of skepticism to faith. Get the skeptic to act along the line of that verse. Put to him the question, “Will you surrender your will to God and promise to search honestly and earnestly to find out what God’s will is that you may do it, to ask God to show you whether you need a Saviour and whether Jesus is a Divine Saviour, the Son of God; and will you promise that, if God will show you that Jesus is the Son of God, to accept Him as your Saviour and confess Him before the world?” Have him make his promise definite, by putting it down in black and white. If you get him to do this, his skepticism will soon take wings.
One evening at the close of a service I asked a gentleman why he was not a Christian. He replied: “I will tell you. I do not talk much about it; for I am not proud of it as some are, but I am a skeptic. I have lain awake nights thinking about this matter.” “Do you believe there is a God?” “Yes, I never gave up my faith that there was a God.” “Well, if there is a God you ought to obey him. Will you to–night take your stand upon the will of God to follow it wherever it carries you even if it carries you over the Niagara Falls?” “I try to do as near right as I know how.” “That is not what I asked; will you take your stand on the will of God to follow it wherever it carries you?” “I have never put it that way.” “Will you put it that way to–night?” “I will.” “Do you believe God answers prayer?” “I don’t know; I am afraid not.” “You don’t know that he does not?” “No.” “Well, here is a possible clue to the truth, will you follow it, will you ask God to show you whether Jesus is His Son; and what your duty concerning him is?” “I will.” Not long after that the man came into a meeting with a new look in his face. He arose and said: “I was all in a mist. I believed nothing.” Then he told us what he had done. He had done just as he promised. “And now,” he continued, “my doubts are all gone. I don’t know where they have gone but they are gone.” If the skeptic will not act in this way you can “stop his mouth” by showing him that he is not an honest skeptic and that the trouble with him is not his skepticism but his sin. If the man does not believe there is a God, you can begin one step further back. Ask him if he believes there is an absolute difference between right and wrong (if he does not he is a mere trifler). If he says he does, ask him if he will take his stand upon the right and follow it wherever it carries him. He may try to put you off by saying “What is right?” or that he is doing the right as nearly as he knows how. Get him to promise that he will take his stand upon the right, whatever he may find it to be and follow it whatever the consequence may be. Then show him that if he is honest in this promise, he will try to find out what the right is. Next say to him, “You do not know whether God answers prayer or not. I know He does, and you will admit that here is a possible clue to knowledge. If you are honest in your desire to know the truth, you will follow this possible clue. You can get down and at least pray, ‘O my God, if there be a God, teach me thy will and I will do it. Show me whether Jesus is thy son or not. If you show that he is, I will accept Him as my Saviour and confess Him before the world.’” Then tell the man to begin reading the Gospel of John, reading slowly and thoughtfully, only a few verses at a time, asking God for light each time before reading and promising God that he will follow the light as fast as He makes it clear. If the man will follow this rational course, it will result in every case in the skeptic coming out into the clear light of faith in the Bible, as the word of God, and Jesus Christ as the Son of God. If the man is not an honest skeptic, this course of treatment will reveal the fact and then you can show him that the difficulty is not with his skepticism but with his rebellious heart.
If the man says that he does not know whether there is an absolute difference between right and wrong, then you can set it down at once that he is bad and turn upon him kindly and earnestly and say to him, “My friend, there is something wrong in your life; no man that is living right doubts that there is a difference between right and wrong. Now you probably know what is wrong and the trouble is not with your skepticism, but with your sin.” One afternoon after I had given out an invitation for any skeptic or any one else who wished to talk with me, to remain after the meeting, a young man with whom I had dealt some months before stayed. I asked him what his trouble was. He replied, “The same trouble that I told you in the spring, I cannot believe that there is a God.” I asked him if he had done as I had advised him to do in our former conversation; if he had taken his stand upon the right to follow it wherever it carried him. He replied that he did not know that there was any difference between right and wrong. “I do not know that there is such a thing as right.” I looked him right in the eyes and said, “Is there some sin your life?”
He said “Yes.” I said “what is it?” He replied, “The same that I told you last spring.” I said, “You promised to give it up, have you given it up?” He said “No, I have not.” “Well,” I said, “there is the difficulty, not with your skepticism. Give up that sin and your skepticism will take care of itself.” In some confusion he replied, “I guess that is the trouble.”