FEB 4 1916 
 
 BV 3790 .C43 1911 
 
 Chafer, Lewis Sperry, 1871- 
 
 1952. 
 True evangelism 
 
ll'PO 
 
 K ^'1 
 
TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 BY 
 
 LEWIS SPERRY CHAFER 
 
 NORTHRELD. MASS. 
 Author of "Satan" 
 
 A 
 
 GOSPEL PUBLISHING HOUSE 
 
 692 EIGHTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 VASE 
 
 Introduction 3 
 
 Foreword 5 
 
 False Forces in Evangelism . , .13 
 Salvation, the Objective in Evangelism . 39 
 The Convicting of the Spirit , . .71 
 The Prayer of Intercession , , • 99 
 Suffering with Christ ..... 117 
 The Cleansing of the Priests ... 133 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 If there is suflficient warrant for this book, in addition 
 to the many already written on Evangehsm, it Hes 
 in the effort which is here made to place an emphasis 
 upon the fact that evangelism is the service of the 
 whole company of believers, and that when they 
 intelligently co-operate with the Spirit in this 
 work, there is less demand for the modem evangelist 
 or his methods. 
 
 What is here written is the result of evangelistic 
 experience and study covering a period of almost a 
 score of years. During this time the trend of the 
 writer's conviciion has been away from emotional 
 and superficial methods, which are too often thought 
 to be the only possible expression of earnestness and 
 enthusiasm in soul-winning, and toward an entire 
 dependence upon the Spirit to do every phase of 
 the work that has been assigned to Him in the 
 purpose of God. 
 
 It is not a pleasant task to offer criticism of any 
 faithful effort in evangelism ; for a sincere attemp 
 
4 INTRODUCTION 
 
 to reach the lost, though misguided, is preferable 
 to the spiritual death and formalism which knows no 
 burden or sacrifice for the unsaved. What may seem 
 as criticism has been introduced only where it is 
 needed to emphasize true evangelism by way of 
 contrast. It is intended that this work shall be 
 constructive rather than critical. If some of the 
 difficulties in soul-winning, with the Divine provi- 
 sions to overcome them, are herein revealed, and 
 any new light shall fall on the exact responsibility 
 of the individual Christian in co-operation with 
 Christ, and that new light be acted upon, the going 
 forth of this testimony in the name of Christ and for 
 His glory will not have been in vain. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 NORTHFIELD, MaSS. 
 
 March ist, 1911. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 By MR. HENRY VARLEY 
 
 Your welcome letter from Northfield found me 
 in much physical pain and weakness. The more 
 welcome may I say on this account, for should my 
 brotherly words in reference to your timely volume 
 prove to be my latest, I would be grateful for their 
 occasion. The proof pages read at the early stages 
 of convalescence have been greatly valued and 
 enjoyed. The standard is, as it should be, high, 
 true, clear, and unmistakably loyal to the revelation 
 of God. 
 
 Your volume, in my judgment, is of great value. 
 I praise God for your writing. The ministry of the 
 Holy Spirit is clearly revealed in the luminous pages 
 of " True Evangelism." I heartily endorse and 
 rejoice in the prominence to the unchanging cha- 
 racter of human salvation effected at the instance 
 and by the power of the living God in Christ Jesus 
 the Lord. 
 
 The distinct revelation e:iven from the W^ord of 
 
6 FOR t WORD 
 
 God is admirable. You have not failed to " hold 
 fast the form of sound words," which the Spirit of 
 God maintains in the New Testament. These can 
 never be changed, modified, or made to teach the 
 crude fallacies of " modem criticism," or " New 
 Theology." 
 
 Needless to say, you have revealed the cause of 
 much failure in past evangelistic effort. Despite 
 these failures, we will never forget that it is written 
 of the exalted Lord that " He gave some apostles, 
 some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and 
 teachers for the perfecting of the saints to the work 
 of the ministry, to the edifying of the Body of 
 Christ " (Eph. iv. ii, 12). That the god of this age 
 will counterfeit the r^al gifts is certain, the modem 
 sacrificing priest and the mere professional evan- 
 gelist yielding conclusive proof. 
 
 Many years since, in conversation with our 
 glorified friend, C. H. Spurgeon, the question came 
 up, of what our part was, or could be, in connection 
 with the salvation of men, seeing that the fact 
 and glory of their saJvation belonged entirely to 
 Christ. 
 
 I remember expressing the following, " that real 
 and personal fellowship in the compassionate love 
 and sufferings of Christ in regard to the salvation 
 
FOREWORD 7 
 
 of others might yield partnership in that glory which 
 by right alone beloogs to Our Lord." 
 
 With the structure and furtherance of your theme, 
 as indicated by the titles of the successive chapters, 
 I am in hearty agreement. Your searching words in 
 relation to certain phases of modem evangelism, 
 both as to men and methods, should cause deep 
 searching of heart ; nor must we fail to point out 
 what poor " soul- winners " at best we all are. Our 
 cry must be : " O Lord, be with us, and help us, 
 for without Thee we can do nothing." 
 
FALSE 
 FORGES IN EVANGELISM 
 
TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 CHAPTER 1 
 
 FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 
 
 T^HE Lord Jesus described His mission by the 
 words : " For the Son of Man is come to seek 
 and to save that which was lost " (Luke xix. lo), 
 and this concise statement included both His 
 finished work UDon the Cross (John xix. 30), and His 
 unfinished won in the worid (Acts i. i). While 
 the work of saving the lost must ever be a Divine 
 undertakinr^ r.,';,.omplished only through His finished 
 work on .he Cross, there are aspects of the work of 
 '•^ eking them which were committed to His followers, 
 jtnd which are a part of His unfinished work in the 
 world. 
 
 The work of seeking the lost, Uke the work of 
 saving them, is in reahty a Divine undertaking. 
 It is distinctly stated that the Son of Man is come 
 to seek. Thus He is again pictured in the Parable 
 of the Lost Sheep : " When He hath found it. He 
 
 13 
 
14 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 layeth it upon His shoulders, rejoicing." It is the 
 " goodness of God that leadeth to repentance," and 
 the whole undertaking of finding lost men is but 
 " the power of God unto salvation " ; for no human 
 effort or service can be effectual apart from the 
 power of God. Seeking the lost is more than a mere 
 attempt to locate unsaved men, for they are present 
 on every hand. The term " seeking the lost," there- 
 fore, suggests a Divine preparation of the unsaved 
 that will bring them into adjustment with the 
 necessary conditions of salvation. 
 
 It will be found, in the course of these studies, that 
 there are successive aspects of the Divine seeking of 
 the lost to be traced in Scripture, and every phase of 
 this work, it will be seen, is undertaken and wholly 
 accomplished by God the Holy Spirit. To recog- 
 nize these Divine movements and to be willing hum- 
 bly to co-operate with them is the true basis of all 
 soul-saving work. 
 
 While it has pleased God to appoint to His saints 
 (not as a corporate body, but as individuals) a 
 portion in the work of seeking, the human part in 
 that work is not worthy to be compared with the 
 Divine. Yet man, who by nature comprehends and 
 measures only visible things, is ever prone to dis- 
 regard the invisible working of the Spirit, and tr 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 15 
 
 place an undue emphasis upon the comparatively 
 small human share in those undertakings. 
 
 It is under these distorted estimates of the factors 
 in the work of salvation that those things which may 
 be called " false forces " in evangelism are substi- 
 tuted for the true. What are here termed " false 
 forces " are, in some measure, God-appointed means 
 in true evangelism. They become false forces only 
 when they receive too much emphasis, or are strained 
 to perform a function beyond that assigned to them 
 in the purpose of God. Thus it may be seen that 
 failure in evangelism is not always due to an entire 
 neglect of some part, or parts, of the Divine appoint- 
 ments for the work ; but may be due to an un- 
 balanced estimate of the relative values of these 
 forces. 
 
 This discussion of false forces in evangelism will 
 be limited to three general aspects — i.e., Men, 
 Methods, and Messages. 
 
 Men. — By this term reference is here made to a 
 class of men in the ministry called " evangelists," 
 and on whom the church has so largely come to 
 depend for her activity in evangelism. 
 
 The word " evangeHst " is used but three times 
 in Scripture, and but one of these passages is to any 
 
i6 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 extent descriptive. It is as follows : " Wherefore 
 He saith, when He ascended on high, He led captivity 
 captive, and gave gifts unto men." ..." And 
 He gave some to be apostles ; and some, prophets ; 
 and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and 
 teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, mito the 
 work of ministering, unto the building up of the body 
 of Christ : till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, 
 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full 
 grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ " (Eph. iv. 8, 11-13, R.V.). 
 
 Here the evangelist is seen, with the apostle, 
 prophet, pastor and teacher, to be a gift of the 
 ascended Christ to His church in the world. This 
 ministry gift of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, and 
 pastor and teacher should be distinguished from the 
 enduement for service bestowed upon the individual 
 believer (i Cor. xii. 4-31 ; Rom. xii. 3-8). In the one 
 case the servant of God who has been endued for 
 ministry is Christ's gift to the whole church ; while 
 in the other case a special enablement for service is 
 given to the individual believer by the sovereign 
 Spirit " as He will." In this same connection still 
 another distinction should be made, in that the 
 believer, in addition to the exercise of gifts, is 
 appointed to the ministry of the priestly office ; and 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 17 
 
 since evangelism will be found to depend so largely 
 upon the exercise of the believer's gifts and his 
 ministry in the priestly office, a violation has been 
 done to the plan of God, as revealed in His Word, 
 insomuch as the work of evangeUsm has been taken 
 from the whole company of behevers and entrusted 
 to a few. 
 
 The evangelist of Scripture is, without question, 
 the messenger to the unevangelized, preparing the 
 way for the pastor and teacher in his more constant 
 ministry in the church. The evangelist, therefore, 
 finds his fullest Divine purpose as a pioneer mis- 
 sionary to the hitherto unevangelized. 
 
 The modem " revival," the work of the " revival- 
 ist " who comes under the title of an evangelist, but 
 works as a religious promoter in the organized 
 church, is unexpected in Scripture, except as the 
 word " revival " is used to denote a forward move- 
 ment in the spiritual life of the church, without 
 including the idea of attempting to regain some 
 spiritual position once held, but now lost. The use 
 of the word usually means, however, a getting up 
 after having fallen down, or a waking after sleeping, 
 or a coming to strength after a period of weakness ; 
 while, on the other hand, the Scripture pre-supposes 
 a continual erect, wakeful and aggressive position 
 
i8 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 for service on the part of every Christian (Eph. vi. 
 10-17). Thus, it may be seen, a " revival " is 
 abnormal rather than normal. It may have a 
 function when needed, but in no way should become 
 a habit, much less a sanctioned method of work. 
 Having regained vitality, believers are not war- 
 ranted in habitually returning to an anaemic state. 
 
 The re-adjustment of a powerless church into a 
 normal position of fruit-bearing fellowship with 
 God is, without question, an undertaking that is 
 warranted in Scripture. Such a transformation, 
 however, can be accomplished only through a 
 ministry of teaching and pastoral care. Thus it 
 falls naturally within the sphere of service com- 
 mitted to the pastor and teacher whose ministry 
 is not necessarily located in one place since he is a 
 gift to the whole body of believers. Such a ministry 
 may be undertaken by a pastor and teacher who is a 
 speciahst in such work, and who may visit the field 
 to temporarily assist the resident pastor in his work. 
 If this adjustment of the church is accomplished, 
 the pastor or special assistant may then " do the 
 work of an evangelist." There is an important 
 possible distinction, however, between being an 
 evangelist by calling, and doing the work of an 
 evangelist as occasion may arise in the pastoral office. 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 19 
 
 The efficiency of the whole company of behevers 
 must depend upon their proper adjustment to God 
 in the cleansing and fitting of their individual lives. 
 Just here there is a grave danger lest the church 
 shall ignore her God-appointed work, and the 
 necessary individual preparation for it, and attempt 
 to substitute the wholesale machinery and appeal 
 of the modern evangelist in its place. 
 
 The fact that a " revival " is planned for is a 
 confession on the part of a church of a condition 
 which would render the normal movements of the 
 Spirit in salvation impossible. The call for the 
 evangelist, under those conditions, also reveals the 
 fact that the expectation of the church, to a great 
 extent, is toward the man that is invited, rather than 
 toward the Holy Spirit and His appointed ministry 
 through the church itself. The special help of a 
 Scriptural evangelist might be imperative in gather- 
 ing the abundant fruit produced by the faithful 
 evangelizing efforts of a church. It will be admitted, 
 however, that such conditions do not often exist in 
 the churches : on the contrary, the sincere 
 and intelligent evangelist must, almost without 
 exception, first do the work of a pastor and 
 teacher by seeking to revive the church itself. 
 
 This unfruitful condition of the church has 
 
20 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 created a great temptation for the evangelist to be 
 superficial in his aim and undertakings. His repu- 
 tation, and often his remuneration, are dependent 
 upon apparent results ; for many pastors and 
 churches have been trained to a vision of quantity 
 in results rather than to a due regard for quality. 
 If the evangelist understands the Divine programme 
 in soul-winning, and proposes to go to the bottom 
 with the churches, and do a teaching work that he 
 may build the necessary Scriptural foundation for 
 abiding fruit, he may often have to do so against 
 the opposition of pastors and churches. They, 
 expecting a sudden and apparent transformation, 
 are naturally unprepared for the extended period 
 of time and the pastoral instruction that is required 
 to accomplish the necessary work. In undertaking 
 a thorough foundation work in the churches, the 
 evangelist would thus be forsaking his own calling, 
 and assuming the work of the pastor and teacher ; 
 and would be a disappointment to those who had 
 called him and on whom he depends, humanly 
 speaking, for his support. His temptation is to 
 secure the apparent results that are expected ; for 
 it is not natural for him to follow a programme that 
 would drive him entirely from the ministry which 
 he has chosen. 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 21 
 
 The discussion of the fundamental error of the 
 church in unduly magnifying the work of the evan- 
 gelist, and neglecting her own God-appointed minis- 
 try in salvation, will be the theme of succeeding 
 chapters. 
 
 Methods. — Likewise the undue emphasis upon 
 methods in modem evangelism is almost universal. 
 The erroneous impression exists that evangelistic 
 effort should be confined to stated times and seasons, 
 and that belief has led to a far more serious one, 
 namely, that God is only occasionally " on the giving 
 hand ; " whereas the Scriptural forces in true evan- 
 gelism depend upon the unchanging promises of God, 
 the constant abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in 
 the church, and His continual working through the 
 church. 
 
 Frequent gatherings may be of unmeasured value 
 in the life of any company of believers ; but such 
 meetings should not become the only time of soul- 
 winning expectation. The conditions are most 
 unreasonable when the unbelievers of any locality 
 have come to realize that to avoid the spasmodic 
 solicitude of the church for a period of a few days 
 is to be free from such appeals for the rest of the 
 year, or :2or, perhaps, a term of years. That 
 
22 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 unreality is one of the fruits of an evangelism that 
 depends upon times and seasons. 
 
 Again, the false or undue emphasis on methods is 
 disclosed in the evangelist's demand for some public 
 action in connection with conversion, such as 
 standing or going forward in a meeting. Great 
 confusion has been wrought by the intrusion of such 
 public acts into the conditions of salvation ; thereby 
 making salvation to seem to be by faith in Christ, 
 plus a meritorious and more or less spectacular 
 demonstration. 
 
 These required public acts are usually justified 
 from one or two passages of Scripture, which are here 
 quoted : " Whosoever therefore shall confess Me 
 before men, him will I confess also before My Father 
 which is in heaven " (Matt. x. 32), and, " That if 
 thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, 
 and shalt beheve in thine heart that God hath raised 
 Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For 
 with the heart man believeth into righteousness ; 
 and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
 tion " (Rom. X. 9, 10). 
 
 A careful study of the whole context of the former 
 passage will reveal that the passage occurs in a body 
 of Scripture which is primarily applicable to the 
 yet future Kii'^dom age, and it, like all that truth, 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 23 
 
 bears only a moral or secondary application to the 
 age of the church. Confession cannot, therefore, 
 be made a present condition of salvation from this 
 particular passage. 
 
 The second passage quoted above (Rom. x. 9, 10), 
 is perhaps more important, since it falls within the 
 teachings and conditions that belong primarily to 
 the soul under grace. 
 
 The force of the positive statement in verse 9, 
 '* If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord 
 Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath 
 raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved," is 
 explained in verse 10 : " For with the heart man 
 believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth 
 confession is made unto salvation." In the latter 
 verse the true meaning and use of the word " con- 
 fess " is suggested. Of this word in this same 
 passage Dr. Arthur T. Pierson wrote : " That word 
 means to speak out of a like nature to one another. 
 I believe and receive the love of God. In receiving 
 His love I receive His life, in receiving His life I 
 receive His nature, and His nature in me naturally 
 expresses itself according to His will. That is con- 
 fession. Dr. McLaren has said : ' Men do not light 
 a candle and put it under a bushel, because the candle 
 would either go out or bum the bushel.' You 
 
24 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 must have vent for life, light and love, or how can 
 they abide ? And a confession of Christ Jesus as 
 Lord is the answer of the new life of God received. 
 In receiving love, you are bom of God, and, being 
 bom of God, you cry, ' Abba Father,' which is 
 but the Aramaic word for ' Papa ' — syllables 
 which can be pronounced before there are any 
 teeth, because they are made with the gums and lips 
 — the first word of a new-bom soul, bom of God, 
 knowing God, and out of a like nature with God 
 speaking in the language of a child." 
 
 Confession, then, does not provide a reason for 
 salvation, but rather proves its reality. It is 
 clearly the believer's privilege, and is of no value 
 until Christ has been received and. the new life 
 begun. 
 
 So with the heart, or inner consciousness, man 
 believes unto righteousness, which is the one 
 condition of acceptance before God ; and with the 
 mouth confession is made unto salvation, which is 
 but the normal answer of the new-bom soul to 
 God. 
 
 That these passages do not demand a public act 
 as a condition of salvation is obvious for at least two 
 other reasons. First, such an interpretation would 
 disagree with all other passages of Scripture on 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 25 
 
 salvation, since it would cause grace to be no more 
 grace, inasmuch as there was saving merit in a 
 human deed ; and it is impossible to demand con- 
 fession in connection with conversion without making 
 it seem to be meritorious, and, to that extent, a 
 frustrating of the whole doctrine of grace. And 
 second, a public confession cannot be a necessity in 
 salvation, since an innumerable company have found 
 fullest peace with God through Christ Jesus, who 
 were deprived of the supposed value of any such 
 action. 
 
 Because of satanic blindness to the Gospel of Grace 
 (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4), unregenerate man cannot compre- 
 hend the true basis of salvation, and is therefore 
 ever prone to do the best he knows. This is to 
 attempt to work out his own standing before God 
 by his own efforts. It is this natural tendency to 
 do something of merit that prompts many to respond 
 to the evangelist's appeal. It was an expression of 
 sincerity that inquired of Jesus : " What shall we 
 do, that we might work the works of God ? " And 
 His answer then is His answer now : " This is the 
 work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath 
 sent " (John vi. 28, 29). 
 
 It may be conceded that genuine results are some- 
 times obtained even where misleading methods are 
 
26 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 employed ; but there is great harm done as well. 
 Far too little has been said on this point. Some 
 of these evils should, perhaps, be mentioned. 
 
 I. — A False Issue 
 
 The leader who has accustomed himself to years 
 of public service can hardly realize the almost 
 impossible task that is placed before the majority 
 of people when they are asked to do some conspicuous 
 act. Such an undertaking, to them, is stupendous ; 
 and while they might be willing to receive Christ as 
 a personal Saviour, they often shrink from taking a 
 public step because of their natural timidity. Thus 
 the real issue is many times subordinated to another ; 
 and that new issue is not only unreal, but is entirely 
 foreign to the all-important question. In this 
 connection it is often urged that the unsaved should 
 be sufficiently in earnest to readily comply with any 
 method or custom that may be employed. But is it 
 not evident, in addition to the fact that such demands 
 are a denial of the doctrine of grace, that they are 
 both unwarranted and unreasonable, since God has 
 provided no enabling power whereby unregenerate 
 people may do commendable acts for Him ? A 
 public confession is a far different task to the same 
 timid person after he has received a new Divine 
 
FALSE FORCES IN 'EVANGELISM 27 
 
 Life ; for he can then say by faith, and in all humility : 
 " I can do all things through Christ which strengthen- 
 eth me " (Phil. iv. 13). 
 
 The one necessary step — the acceptance of Christ 
 as Saviour — can only be performed in the secret of 
 the heart itself, by a personal choice and action of 
 the will. This is a dealing with Christ alone, and as 
 the time of this decision is the most critical moment 
 in a human life, reason demands that it should be 
 guarded from every distracting and confusing con- 
 dition. 
 
 II. — ^A False Assurance 
 
 A leader with a commanding personality (and 
 every successful evangelist must possess that char- 
 acteristic in the extreme) may secure the public 
 action of many, when the issue is made one of 
 religious merit through some public act. Under 
 such an impression, a serious person may stand in a 
 meeting who has no conception of what is involved 
 in standing by faith on the Rock Christ Jesus ; or 
 he may be persuaded to abandon his natural timidity 
 when he knows nothing of abandoning his satanic 
 tendency to self-help, and resting by faith on that 
 which Christ has done for him. The basis of assur- 
 ance with all such converts, if questioned carefully, 
 will be found to be no more than a consciousness 
 
28 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 that they have acted out the programme prescribed 
 for them. 
 
 III. — " Backsliding ** 
 
 Careful students of evangehsm have noticed that 
 where the necessity of pubHc action as a part of 
 conversion has been most emphasized there has 
 been a corresponding increase in the God-dishonour- 
 ing record of so-called " backsliding " ; and this is 
 natural. The covenant of God is to keep eternally 
 all who are truly saved, and there are no other 
 provisions than the one way of salvation by Christ's 
 willing substitution, whereby God can be just and 
 stiU be the justifier of a sin-cursed soul. To attempt 
 to " come unto God " on the grounds of a public 
 performance, even with great earnestness, is but to 
 fail, and the misguided soul who makes that attempt 
 when his hope has proven false is the hardest, above 
 all others, to reach thereafter. 
 
 IV. — Discredit to the Covenant of God 
 
 As has just been stated, the essential and Scriptural 
 doctrine of the eternal keeping by God of every 
 regenerate soul has been brought into discredit 
 and almost lost. This has come to pass through 
 an attempt to reconcile His covenants with " actual 
 experience " in evangelism to-day. It has been 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 29 
 
 necessary to question this otherwise clear doctrine 
 of Scripture to allow for the appalling percentage 
 of failures in the ranks of supposed converts. But 
 when it is remembered that the niodification of that 
 positive doctrine, and the forced interpretation of 
 Scripture to that end, has been attempted only by 
 those who have insisted on a spectacular conver- 
 sion, their challenge of that glorious truth may be 
 set aside without discussion. 
 
 Although an innumerable multitude may have 
 been misguided by responding to false issues and 
 have, sooner or later, returned to their own place 
 outside Christian fellowship, the covenant of God 
 is not involved. "He is able also to save them 
 to the uttermost (eternally) who come unto God by 
 Him " (Christ) — Heb. vii. 25 ; He " is able to keep 
 you from falling, and to present you faultless before 
 the presence of His glory with ex-ceeding joy " 
 (Jude 24). And the soul that believes in Christ 
 " shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed 
 from death unto life " (John v. 24). Nor can any 
 " pluck them out of My Fathei's hand " (John x. 
 29), or separate them " from the love of God, which 
 is in Christ Jesus our Lord " (Rom. viii. 39). 
 
 It is quite possible for a uewly-saved person to so 
 misunderstand the forces and habits of the old life 
 
30 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 and the possible power and victory of the new hfe as 
 to be overtaken in sin and appear, for a time, to 
 be " in a far country " ; yet, if he has ever been in 
 the Father's house as a son, he, Hke the prodigal, 
 is still a son, and will therefore be constantly con- 
 strained by the Spirit to arise and go to his Father. 
 Incalculable harm has been done to all Christen- 
 dom by this widespread denial of the grace and 
 faithfulness of God. Because of this denial, saints 
 have been occupied with futile attempts at self- 
 keeping to the neglect of true service for God, and 
 intelligent sinners have feared to take the Christian's 
 position when reason warned them that such a 
 position would be impossible for them to maintain. 
 
 V. — Dishonour to the Spirit of God 
 
 The aim of all public demands in modem evangel- 
 ism is to terminate indifference and hesitation by 
 a positive decision. But this is often undertaken 
 without due regard for the whole process of prepara- 
 tion by the Spirit for the intelligent exercise of 
 saving faith. Thus the all-important work of the 
 Spirit for the unsaved has often been neglected 
 and the Spirit dishonoured in the vain attempt to 
 hasten decisions and to secure visible results. 
 
 A true decision must depend upon the action of 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 31 
 
 the will of the individual as he is moved by his own 
 clear vision of his place in the saving work of Christ, 
 and that vision must be created by the Spirit. When 
 this is accomplished, there will be little occasion to 
 argue and plead, and methods which are calculated 
 to force a decision will be found to be superfluous ; 
 and any method which is superfluous is usually 
 resented by intelligent people. Such methods 
 create a sense of unreality where there should be a 
 growing reality. 
 
 To send out workers to plead with individuals in a 
 miscellaneous congregation is not only embarrassing 
 to the people thus approached, but is, in the majority 
 of cases, a service which hardens and repels. Forced 
 decisions sometimes follow such appeals. These, 
 it may be observed, are usually premature and 
 unintelligent decisions ; for in such methods there 
 is no waiting for the conviction of the Spirit and no 
 definite dependence upon His leading. On the 
 other hand, the many who have resisted the 
 personal appeal have been hardened or driven 
 away. 
 
 Public methods which embarrass any person or 
 class of persons are not only useless but intrusive. 
 There is little gained in inviting all Christians in a 
 public gathering to stand, thus forcing all others 
 
32 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 into a conspicuous position, causing them annoyance 
 and creating an occasion for prejudice. It is not 
 strange that inteUigent unsaved people avoid meet- 
 ings where these methods are employed. By 
 adopting such a programme the evangelist or pastor 
 is positively hindering the very work of God he is 
 attempting to do. 
 
 Where the spectacular element in public soul- 
 winning is eliminated there is little opportunity to 
 count supposed results, and the test of conversion 
 is taken wholly out of the sphere of profession 
 and made to rest on the realitv "^f a changed life 
 afterwards. 
 
 The sincere evangelist wno fearlessly judges, 
 before God, every method he employs — judging them 
 as to their exact value or possible harm in their 
 influence on immortal souls — will find that many 
 methods are more a habit than a necessity in evan- 
 gelism, or that they have been employed in an effort 
 to produce visible results, rather than to create a 
 means by which sin-burdened souls may find rest 
 and peace through a personal and intelligent faith 
 in Christ as Saviour. 
 
 Lest it seem that this criticism of modem methods 
 in evangelism has left no possible means of bringing 
 a whole congregation to a point of decision, the 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 33 
 
 following suggestions are offered, which have proved 
 valuable. 
 
 The real value of public methods will be secured 
 and many evils avoided if, after explaining the way 
 of life and during a season of silent prayer, the 
 unsaved are simply asked to accept Christ by a con- 
 scious act of the will, directed in definite silent prayer 
 to God. After such an appeal, an opportunity 
 should be made for personal conversation with any 
 who beheve they have accepted Christ by faith, or 
 any others who may have honest difficulties. In 
 this conversation the individual's exact under- 
 standing of the step can be ascertained and his faith 
 strengthened. Such conversations can easily be 
 secured in an after-meeting, or by offering some 
 attractive literature suited to beginners in the 
 Christian life. When it is clear that an intelligent 
 decision has been made, confession of Christ, as a 
 personal Saviour, should be urged along with the 
 other duties and privileges of the new Ufe. 
 
 Messages. — In considering messages as the last of 
 the three " false forces " in evangelism already 
 mentioned, it may well be restated that the ministry 
 of the evangelist of Scripture was intended to be 
 wider in its scope than the accepted mission of the 
 
34 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 evangelist of to-day. As his name implies, he is the 
 " bearer of glad tidings," and so is in marked contrast 
 with the prophet who proclaims the great principles 
 of morality and righteousness. He has also a far 
 different mission than the pastor and teacher who 
 shepherds the flock and feeds them on the Word of 
 God. 
 
 The evangelist of Scripture is given a particular 
 message to proclaim. That message is the " good 
 news " of the Gospel of Grace ; it is therefore a 
 distinct body of truth for this age. His evangel is 
 one of " glad tidings," in that it offers freedom 
 from the bondage of the law, with attempts at self- 
 fitting for the presence of God, and in that it pro- 
 claims a perfect salvation by the power of God 
 through faith in Jesus Christ and His redemption 
 by the Cross — a salvation through which God by His 
 power produces a " new creature," able, because of 
 the new life imparted, to bring forth fruit to His 
 glory. 
 
 Any deviation from this prescribed message of 
 redemptive truth is an unwarranted undertaking 
 on the part of the evangelist, and is fraught with 
 grave dangers. On the one hand, he may be tempted 
 to adopt the message of the prophet, and so emphasize 
 only moral conduct or civic righteousness as to lower 
 
FALSE FORCES IN EVANGELISM 35 
 
 his own aim from regeneration to reformation ; or 
 he may undertake the work of the pastor and teacher 
 and deal with matters of Christian Uving, and thus 
 encumber the glorious but limited message of the 
 evangelist. For the issue before the unsaved is not 
 one of after- conduct. The life to be led after 
 conversion can only be determined by the individual 
 himself in the light and power of the new relation to 
 Christ, Whom he has received, and the manner of that 
 new life is a personal matter between the Christian 
 and his Lord (Rom. xiv. 4) . Yet the questions which 
 belong to Christian living, such as forms of amuse- 
 ment, or even church membership, are often dis- 
 cussed by evangelists,when deahng with the unsaved, 
 and these issues may become, in their minds at least, 
 conditions of salvation. The individual may be 
 willing to accept Christ, but be wholly unable to see 
 beyond that one step until that one step is taken. 
 
 Again, a message may become a " false force " and, 
 to some extent, a hindrance in true evangelism, 
 through a common tendency to depend upon it to 
 move the unsaved to decision. Only the Spirit of 
 God can illuminate the vision and convict the heart 
 of its sinfulness ; and while the Spirit may use the 
 message to that end, the work is His and His alone. 
 The real purpose of the message and the utter 
 
36 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 impossibility of its possessing convicting power in 
 and of itself will be more fully stated in another 
 chapter, when dealing with the illuminating of the 
 Spirit as one of the true forces in the evangelism 
 of Scripture. 
 
 In considering the true forces in evangelism as 
 they are set forth in the Scriptures, it will be seen 
 that they, in contrast with the " false forces " already 
 mentioned, depend upon the activity of the whole 
 company of believers ; that they demand an unceas- 
 ing effort for their fullest realization ; and that they, 
 from necessity, must usually be carried on inde- 
 pendent of public gatherings or special leaders. 
 These true forces in evangelism will, for the sake of 
 emphasis, be taken up in their reverse order ; begin- 
 ning with the objective, or end, which true evan- 
 gelism must have in view, and tracing the successive 
 steps backward to the real point of human respon- 
 sibility. 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 
 IN EVANGELISM 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE IN EVANGELISM 
 
 A LL evangelism finds its consummation in one 
 ** phase of the great Scriptural word, " Salva- 
 tion." A word which covers more than the 
 objective of evangelism, in that it includes, 
 beyond the dehverance from the penalty and 
 condemnation of sin both the deliverance from 
 the present power of sin and the final unfold- 
 ing and development of the saved one into the 
 image of Christ. The word, then, includes a whole 
 series of other great doctrines and revelations 
 in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are seen 
 working toward the transformation of the individual, 
 body, soul, and spirit, into a celestial being and a 
 partaker with Christ of the heavenly glory. This is 
 the mighty working of the Triune God toward the 
 heavenly perfection of every one for whom Christ 
 died. Blessed indeed are they who learn to yield 
 themselves wholly to His saving power ! 
 
 Because of the universal satanic blindness upon 
 
40 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 the minds of unregenerate people (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4) 
 the scope of the transforming work of salvation 
 is not always understood, even where such knowledge 
 is boldly assumed, and many religious leaders, 
 through this blindness, have ignorantly turned away 
 from the real Gospel and have sincerely espoused 
 " another gospel " of social reform, ethical culture, 
 humanitarianism or morality. In turning to these 
 good but subordinate things they have revealed, 
 both by their careless rejection of the one Gospel of 
 Grace and by their unbounded enthusiasm for these 
 unworthy substitutes, that the riches of the " glori- 
 ous Gospel 01 Christ, who is the image of God, has 
 not dawned on them." 
 
 This unconscious ignorance of the central truth of 
 the Word of God is one of the mightiest hindrances 
 to evangelism to-day ; for not only are the blinded 
 unable to take a part in real soul-saving work, but 
 they have pleaded for, and to some extent secured, an 
 attitude of tolerance toward their doctrines from 
 many who should be resisting them in defence of 
 the truth. 
 
 The spirit of tolerance toward the preaching of 
 " another gospel," instead of the Gospel of Christ, is 
 usually justified by the assuring statement that.the 
 Word of God needs no defence, and therefore any 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 41 
 
 controversy with these perverters of the truth would 
 be a needless and aimless warfare. To this it may 
 be replied : No defence of the whole truth is ever 
 made from a fear that man will destroy the eternal 
 Word itself, but that defence is made from a God- 
 given compassion for the m( ^ itude who are being 
 beguiled away from all hope .y the sophistries of 
 these teachings ; for any true burden for the lost will 
 extend to the misguided as much as to the 
 unguided. 
 
 With the many pious substitutes for the one 
 Gospel of Grace to-day, and the ecclesiastical influence 
 and blind enthusiasm of their promoters, evangelism 
 has new enemies to face, and her glorious work can 
 never be accomplished by waving the white flag of 
 tolerance before these foes. 
 
 Since much depends, in true evangelism, on a 
 clear understanding of all that is included in " the 
 power of God unto salvation," it is important to 
 dwell at some length on the various aspects of that 
 great word. This is undertaken with a deep con- 
 sciousness that the heart-comprehension of the glori- 
 ous riches of salvation must depend upon a Divine 
 illumination, or, as it is stated in the Scriptures : 
 " That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father 
 of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom 
 
42 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 and revelation in the knowledge of Him : the eyes 
 of your understanding being enlightened ; that ye 
 may know what is the hope of His calling, and what 
 the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the 
 saints" (Eph. i. 17, 18). 
 
 In I Cor. i. 30, Christ is set forth as having been 
 made unto the believer, " Righteousness, Sanctifica- 
 tion, and Redemption." These three words, to some 
 extent, suggest the three tenses — past, present, and 
 future — of salvation ; for the believer was saved 
 from condemnation into righteousness and life when 
 he believed ; he is being saved from the habit and 
 power of sin through sanctification ; and he will 
 be saved from the presence of sin when he, with his 
 glorious body, is wholly redeemed and complete in 
 the presence of his Lord at His Coming. 
 
 The present and future tenses of salvation, though 
 in no way a part of evangelism, should be carefully 
 distinguished from the past tense, which is its true 
 objective. 
 
 To the believer who has come into the first great 
 tense of salvation, the body of truth mentioned above 
 which sets forth " Sanctification," and " the second 
 tense of salvation " is of greatest import ; for it 
 presents to him the only solution of all the problems 
 gathering about his responsibility to walk worthy 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 43 
 
 of the vocation wherewith he is called, and to show 
 forth the virtues of Him Who hath called him from 
 darkness into His marvellous light. The believer's 
 high position of sonship with God, co-partnership 
 with Christ, and communion and fellowship with 
 the Spirit of Holiness Who indwells him, demands 
 nothing short of a God-wrought salvation from the 
 habit and power of sin, which is independent of all 
 human energy and strength ; for human nature, at 
 its best, has no capacity to produce the smallest 
 part of a true God-honouring life. 
 
 It may further be stated in this connection that 
 no intelligent Christian can contemplate the three- 
 fold fact of his own high calling in Christ Jesus, his 
 sinful nature, and the overpowering strength of his 
 adversary Satan, and not welcome the God-pro- 
 vided victory and salvation by the Spirit from the 
 control and domination of evil. It is, however, often 
 difficult for the child of God to abandon his own 
 resources and tendency to self-help as a means to 
 victory, and to rest in faith and expectation toward 
 God that He wiU work in him both to will and to do 
 of His good pleasure ; yet the victory over evil is 
 never gained by any other plan than a complete 
 dependence upon the saving power of God through 
 Jesus Christ. " He that hath begun a good work 
 
44 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ " 
 (Phil. i. 6). 
 
 So it is revealed that the last tense of salva- 
 tion, even that faultless presentation before the 
 presence of His glory, is a work that is accomplished 
 independent of all human energy and strength. 
 
 In each revealed purpose of God for man in the 
 ages past some responsibility has fallen upon 
 the faithfulness of man ; but in this age of grace, 
 wherein God is calling out a heayenly people, it is as 
 though He would not allow the glorious result to be 
 marred by one human touch, so perfectly has He 
 reserved to Himself every necessary step in the 
 great work of man's salvation. 
 
 Returning to the first tense of salvation, or that 
 which is the real objective in true evangelism, it will 
 be seen that this part of the saving work of God 
 includes the greatest issues that can come into a 
 human life. Some of the more important aspects 
 of the first tense of salvation will here be considered 
 separately : 
 
 I. — The penalty of sin and the condemnation of an 
 offended law are wholly set aside through justifica- 
 tion, and on the grounds of the substitutionary 
 sacrificial death of Christ. As it is recorded in 
 Eph. i. 7 : " In Whom we have redemption through 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 45 
 
 His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the 
 riches of His grace," and so complete has been this 
 atoning work that God, in perfect justice and 
 righteousness, can not only forgive and cancel all 
 sin, but He can also receive the forgiven sinner as 
 covered with all the worthiness of Christ. The same 
 passage records : " Having predestinated us unto 
 the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Him- 
 self, according to the good pleasure of His will, to 
 the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath 
 made us accepted in the beloved " (Eph. i. 5, 6). 
 
 This is an atonement based upon substitution. It 
 is the only meaning given in the New Testament to 
 the death of Christ, and it is the only value foreseen 
 in that death in the types and prophecies of the Old 
 Testament. In Isa. liii. 5, 6, it is written : " But He 
 was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised 
 for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace 
 was upon Him ; and with His stripes we are healed. 
 All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned 
 every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid 
 on Him the iniquity of us all." To reject this 
 repeated and only revelation of the purpose of God 
 in the Cross is but to set sail upon a shoreless sea of 
 uncertainty, to abandon the only cure for sin which 
 the world can ever know, and to forsake the one 
 
46 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 and only foundation upon which every hope for 
 humanity is made to rest, according to God's revela- 
 tion to man. 
 
 This fact, namely, that the Divine compassion 
 fulfilled all the demands of righteousness in behalf 
 of sinful and unrighteous man, stands alone without 
 any worthy comparison or illustration in the range 
 of human experience. Nevertheless there are inter- 
 preters of the meaning of the death of Christ who 
 claim that they find a line of analogy to this great 
 revelation in the things of this world. They claim 
 that such sacrifice is to be seen in the dying of one 
 generation of flowers for the enrichment of future 
 generations of flowers ; and the suffering of a mother 
 for her child is, in principle, akin to the suffering of 
 the Cross. The failure of all such comparisons may 
 be seen in the fact that the dying of one generation 
 of flowers does not save any future generations from 
 death ; nor does the suffering of a mother substitute, 
 or in any way relieve, the pain and sufferings of the 
 child. 
 
 Christ did not die to show us how to die : He died 
 that we might not die. Apart from this central 
 distinction, there may be maintained a " form of 
 religion " ; but there can be no power in salvation. 
 There may be a carefully selected use of Scripture ; 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 47 
 
 but there can be no reasonable interpretation of the 
 whole testimony of God. 
 
 The sin question was met and perfectly dealt with 
 by God, Himself being the sole mediator, and the 
 result is a perfect lifting of all penalty and condem- 
 nation for sin. All himianity was included in this 
 mediation ; for it is written, " He is the propitiation 
 for the sins of the whole world," and " He tasted 
 death for every man that cometh into the world," 
 and again, " God so loved the world that He gave 
 His only begotten Son." Hence it is revealed that 
 the condemnation of the unsaved is not now the 
 sins which Christ bore in His body on the tree ; but 
 the condemnation rests in the fact of the rejection 
 of the Sin-bearer. Thus it is written : " He that 
 believeth on the Son is not condemned : but he 
 that believeth not is condemned already, because 
 he hath not believed on the name of the only begot- 
 ten Son of God." Even so, the Spirit convinces a 
 world that rejects its propitiation of but one great 
 sin : " Of sin, because they believe not on Me." 
 
 The believer, in contrast to the unsaved, has 
 consented to the atonement as the basis of his 
 salvation, and has thus appropriated by faith the 
 propitiation made for him. 
 
 The exact position of the believer in relation to 
 
48 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 the condemnation justly due to him for his sins may 
 be illustrated by the relation which an executed 
 criminal bears to the law which has already con- 
 demned and put him to death. He has been drawn 
 into court, judged and sentenced to death for his 
 sins, and the death penalty has been perfectly 
 executed. His execution has, however, been borne 
 for him, in substitution, by the very Judge Whose 
 righteousness condemned him. For it must ever 
 be remembered that it was the Judge Who pro- 
 nounced the death sentence — " The soul that 
 sinneth, it shall die," and " The wages of sin is 
 death " — Who also in His great love bowed the 
 heavens and came down from that throne, making 
 •bare His Own bosom and receiving into His Own 
 breast the very death blow He had in righteousness 
 imposed. It was God that " was in Cnrist, reconcil- 
 ing the world unto Himself, not imputing their 
 trespasses unto them." 
 
 The believer, thus standing beyond his own per- 
 fect execution, is in a position which is not under 
 law ; for the last demand of the law has been 
 satisfied. He is in a position, therefore, wherein 
 God is free to work out every desire of His Own love 
 without a possible challenge of His perfect righteous- 
 ness and true holiness. Since all the demands of 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 49 
 
 righteousness have been so fully satisfied, it is written 
 that God can remain just, and still be the justifier 
 of him that believeth. When God is thus free to 
 act He will accomplish by His Own power His Own 
 eternal purpose, and the believer will finally be 
 presented faultless before the presence of His glory, 
 and will be conformed to the image of His Son. 
 
 Wonderful indeed are the figures used in Scripture 
 to set forth the complete removal of sin and con- 
 demnation from the one who counts God's provided 
 sacrifice in the Cross to be his only hope. In Micah 
 vii. 19 it is said of Israel : " And thou wilt cast all 
 their sins into the depth of the sea " ; so also, in 
 Psa. ciii. 12 : " As far as the east is from the west, 
 so far hath He removed our transgressions from 
 us," " And their sins and iniquities will I remember 
 no more " (Heb. x. 17). And again, the strong 
 figure of " blotting out " is frequently used : " I, 
 even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions 
 for My Own sake, and I will not remember thy sins " 
 (Isa. xliii. 25). "I have blotted out, as a thick 
 cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy 
 sins : return unto Me ; for I have redeemed thee " 
 (Isa, xliv. 22). " But those things which God hath 
 before showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that 
 Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled. Repent 
 
50 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may 
 be blotted out " (Acts. iii. 19). 
 
 So again, this forgiveness of sin, as in the passage 
 just quoted, is said to be made possible only in the 
 blood of the Cross. In Col. ii. 13-14 : " And you, 
 being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of 
 your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, 
 having forgiven you all trespasses ; blotting out 
 the handwritings of ordinances that was against us, 
 which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, 
 nailing it to His Cross." 
 
 II. — Not only is sin and condemnation removed in 
 the first tense of salvation, but the beUever is said 
 to be "clothed with the righteousness of God " in 
 place of the " filthy rags " of self-righteousness, 
 as the following Scriptures describe : " But we are 
 as an unclean thing, and our righteousnesses are 
 as filthy rags " (Isa. Ixiv. 6). "I will greatly rejoice 
 in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God ; 
 for He hath clothed me with the garments of His 
 salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of 
 righteousness " (Isa. Ixi. 10). " Let thy priests be 
 clothed with righteousness ; and thy saints shout 
 for joy " (Psa. cxxxii. 9). 
 
 So, also, many other passages reveal that this 
 imputed righteousness is possible only on the 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 51 
 
 grounds of faith in Christ as personal Saviour through 
 His sacrificial death : " Unto Adam also and to his 
 wife did the Lord make coats of skins, and clothed 
 them " (Gen. iii. 21). A striking type of Christ 
 made our righteousness through the shedding of 
 blood. " But now the righteousness of God without 
 the law is manifest, being witnessed by the law and 
 the prophets ; even the righteousness of God which 
 is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them 
 that believe" (Rom. iii. 21, 22). "What shall we 
 say that Abraham our father as pertaining to the 
 flesh hath found ? For if Abraham were justified 
 by works, he hath whereof to glory ; but not before 
 God. For what saith the Scripture ? Abraham 
 believed God, and it was counted unto him for 
 righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the 
 reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to 
 him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that 
 justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for 
 righteousness. Even as David also describeth the 
 blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth 
 righteousness wdthout works " (Rom. iv. 1-6). 
 " For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, 
 and going about to establish their own righteousness, 
 have not submitted themselves unto the righteous- 
 ness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for 
 
52 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 righteousness to every one that believeth " (Rom. 
 X. 3, 4). " That I may win Christ, and be foimd in 
 Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of 
 the law, but that which is through the faith of 
 Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith " 
 (Phil. iii. 8, 9). " And to her was granted that she 
 should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : 
 for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints " 
 (Rev. xix. 8). " But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, 
 Who of God was made unto us wisdom from God, 
 and righteousness and sanctification, and redemp- 
 tion " (i Cor. i. 30, R.V.). " For He hath made 
 Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin ; that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in Him " 
 (2 Cor. v. 21) 
 
 Space has been given to these many passages that 
 imputed righteousness may be seen to be, as it is, 
 an important theme in both the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, and a necessary thing as well, if sinful man 
 is ever to appear before Jehovah God. So also 
 this " imputed " righteousness is said in these 
 Scriptures to be Christ Himself " made . . , 
 our righteousness " by an act of God ; for according, 
 to the last passage quoted, the believer is made the 
 righteousness of God in Christ as perfectly as Christ 
 was made sin for him. His position is said to 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 53 
 
 be "in Christ " and he is " accepted in the 
 beloved." 
 
 There is also a position of perfect justification 
 through the work of the Sin-bearer. " He hath 
 become the end of the law for righteousness to every 
 one that beheveth " (Rom. x. 4). Under these 
 " riches of grace " righteousness is not required ; 
 but is rather bestowed as the basis of acceptance 
 before God, and righteousness is fulfilled in, rather 
 than by the believer. 
 
 The revelation that the righteousness of God is 
 " imto all and upon all that believe " has always 
 seemed an impossible and unreasonable thing from 
 the view-point of the " wisdom of this world " ; 
 but it is not impossible or unreasonable in the light 
 of the Cross. 
 
 III. — Also there is in salvation an impartation of 
 a new life ; and that which alone can bring relief 
 to one who is " dead in trespasses and sins." It is 
 a new creation and regeneration by the power of 
 God on the grounds of the blood of the Cross. It, 
 too, is bestowed at the beginning of salvation. 
 
 The following passages, selected from over eighty 
 New Testament references on this theme, will give 
 some conception of the whole doctrine and revela- 
 tion : 
 
54 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 (a) It is in no way the present possession of the 
 unsaved. " Jesus answered and said unto him, 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
 bom again (from above), he cannot see the kingdom 
 of God " (John iii. 3). " Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and 
 drink His blood, ye have no hfe in you " (John vi. 
 53). " Because strait is the gate, and narrow 
 the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be 
 that find it " (Matt. vii. 14). 
 
 (b) Eternal life is the present possession of the 
 believer. " Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that 
 heareth My words, 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). " He that believeth on the Son 
 hath everlasting life : and he that beheveth not the 
 Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth 
 on him " (John iii. 36). " These things have I 
 written unto you that beUeve on the name of the 
 Son of God ; that ye may know that ye have 
 eternal life " (i John v. 13). 
 
 While eternal life is a present possession of the 
 believer and now secure (John v. 24; x. 28), it is, 
 like salvation, referred to a few times in its future 
 aspect : "Be thou faithful unto death and I will 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 55 
 
 give thee the crown of life " (Rev. ii. 10). " For 
 godliness is profitable unto all things, having the 
 promise of the life that now is, and of that which is 
 to come " (i Tim. iv. 8). 
 
 (c) Eternal life is from Christ. " In Him was life ; 
 and the life was the light of men " (John i. 4). 
 " Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and 
 the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but by 
 me " (John xiv. 6). " But ye denied the Holy One 
 and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted 
 unto you ; and killed the Prince of life, whom God 
 hath raised from the dead ; whereof we are witnesses " 
 (Acts iii. 14, 15). " This is the record, that God hath 
 given unto us eternal life, and the life is in His 
 Son " (i John v. 11). 
 
 (d) Eternal life is the indwelling Christ (also spoken 
 of as a " new nature " 2 Pet. i, 4 ; and the " new 
 man," Col. iii. 10). " Then Jesus said unto them. 
 Verily, verily, I say unto you ; Except ye eat the 
 flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have 
 no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh 
 My blood, hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up 
 at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and 
 My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh 
 and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in 
 him. As the hving Father hath sent Me, and I 
 
56 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 live by the Father : so he that eateth Me, even he 
 shall live by Me " (John vi. 53-57). " To whom 
 God would make known what is the riches of the 
 glory of this mystery among the Gentiles ; which is 
 Christ in you, the hope of glory " (Col. i. 27). " When 
 Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also 
 appear with Him in glory " (Col, iii. 4). "I am 
 crucified with Christ ; nevertheless I live ; yet not I, 
 but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now 
 hve in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
 Who loved me, and gave Himself for me " (Gal. ii. 
 20), " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the 
 faith ; prove your own selves. Know ye not your 
 own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except 
 ye be reprobates " (2 Cor. xiii. 5) ? " Always 
 bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord 
 Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made 
 manifest in our body " (2 Cor. iv. 10). 
 
 (e) Eternal life is conditioned on faith in Christ as 
 Saviour. " But these are written, that ye might 
 believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; 
 and that believing ye might have Ufe through His 
 name " (John xx. 31), " 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 : which 
 were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 57 
 
 nor of the will of man. but of God " (John i. 12, 13). 
 " For the waees of sin is death ; but the gift of God 
 is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord " 
 (Rom. vi. 23). 
 
 Thus regeneration is set forth in the Scriptures as 
 a most important part of the work of salvation ; 
 and since all its aspects are outside human limitation, 
 it is wholly omitted from the religions of men ; and 
 since it is the only gateway through which a soul 
 can be delivered from the power of darkness and 
 translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Col. i. 
 14), it, too, is carefully omitted from the creeds of 
 Satan, and from the teachings of his apostles (2 Cor. 
 ii. 13-15). Yet, if this revelation is rejected, what 
 other interpretation can be given to this great body 
 of truth ? Or what other dynamic can be substi- 
 tuted that will enable the soul to rise to the present 
 and future estate of the Christian, as that estate is 
 described in the Word of God ? 
 
 IV. — The Gift of the Spirit. The God-honouring 
 quality of life in the believer has suffered untold 
 failure through the almost universal confusion and 
 neglect of the truth in regard to the work of the 
 Spirit in and upon the believer. This misunder- 
 standing begins even with that part of the Spirit's 
 work in which He prepares a soul for salvation. 
 
58 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 In the relation of the Spirit to the believer it is, 
 perhaps, most important to recognize that the Spirit 
 takes His permanent abode in the believer at the 
 moment he is saved. Receiving the Spirit is not, 
 then, a " second blessing " bestowed upon especially 
 consecrated Christians in answer to believing prayer ; 
 for, since the day of Pentecost, and since the Gospel 
 was given to the Gentiles as recorded in Acts x., 
 the Spirit has taken His place in the believer 
 at the moment he has passed from death unto 
 life. 
 
 In this connection it need only be remembered 
 that in Rom. v. i-ii, where some immediate results 
 of justification by faith are enumerated, it is stated 
 in the fifth verse that " the love of God is shed abroad 
 in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto 
 us." Also Paul, while correcting the Corinthian 
 Christians for unmentionable sins, based his whole 
 appeal to them on the fact that they were the 
 temples of the Holy Spirit (i Cor. vi. 19). So, also, 
 in Rom. viii. 9 : " But ye are not in the flesh, but 
 in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in 
 you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, 
 he is none of His." And Gal. iv. 6 : " And because 
 ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His 
 Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 59 
 
 It is possible and necessary to be " filled with the 
 Spirit" anew for every time of need (Eph. v. 18) ; 
 but that should never be confused with receiving 
 the Spirit, which is one of the aspects of the first 
 tense of salvation. 
 
 By this new relation with the Spirit, the believer 
 becomes enabled at once to meet all the demands 
 of his new life ; both as to its victory over the 
 " old man " with the desires and habits of the flesh, 
 and as to the new undertakings for God of the " new 
 man " in all holy living and service which are so 
 infinitely beyond all human power and might. The 
 fact that he comes instantly into possession of suffi- 
 cient power by the Spirit to live wholly unto God 
 is in marked contrast to the world's ideal of " char- 
 acter-building," which demands years of painful 
 defeat and failure. The believer has but to learn 
 to yield himself wholly to the power of the indwelling 
 Spirit to find that he is delivered from all the " works 
 of the flesh " which are these : " Adultery, fornica- 
 tion, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, 
 hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, 
 heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, reveUings, 
 and such like " ; and in the place of these, the Spirit 
 Who indwells the beHever will bear in him " the 
 Iruit of the Spirit " ; which is " love, joy, peace, 
 
6o TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance " (Gal. v. 19-24). 
 
 Thus the behever, having received the Spirit at 
 the moment he was saved, and being wholly yielded 
 to Him, is enabled from that moment to realize 
 victory over the " old nature," the flesh, and his 
 enemy, Satan. He is able, also, to experience a holy 
 life in fellowship with God ; and to find his indivi- 
 dual gift of the Spirit for service (Rom. xii. 3-8 ; 
 I Cor. xii. 4-31) ; and while there is much sanctifying 
 and teaching work of the Spirit yet to be accom- 
 plished in him he may, from the first, fill to the full 
 all the present will of God for him. 
 
 V. — The Baptism of the Spirit. Any understanding 
 of this aspect of salvation must depend, in a large 
 measure, upon a clear conception of the various 
 meanings of the word " church " as it is used in the 
 Bible. While that word often refers to a local 
 organization of professing Christians, the word is 
 more often used to designate the whole company of 
 regenerate people who have been, or will be saved 
 during this age of grace. This body of people, or 
 organism, is the true church of the Scriptures. It is 
 sometimes mentioned directly, and sometimes in 
 types and figures, which suggest the perfect union 
 that exists between Christ and the believers, and 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 6i 
 
 between believers themselves. The Shepherd and 
 the sheep (John x.) ; the Vine and the branches 
 (John XV.) ; the Comer Stone and all the stones of 
 the building (Eph. ii. 19-22) ; the Bridegroom and 
 the bride (Eph. v. 29 ; 2 Cor, xi. 2 ; Rev. vi. 9, with 
 many Old Testament types) ; the Living Head and 
 the one body with its many members (i Cor. xii. 
 12-31 ; Eph. i. 22, 23, etc.). The gathering out of 
 this company is the purpose of the present age 
 (Acts XV. 13-18) ; for they are the heavenly people 
 whose purpose and glory will be manifest in all the 
 ages to come. 
 
 It is into this body of glorious heavenly people that 
 the believer is organically placed by the baptism of 
 the Spirit at the moment he is saved. This bap- 
 tism, by which he is united to his Lord and to his 
 fellow-members in the same body, surpasses all 
 human understanding, and is a union that is closer 
 than any human relationship. The husband and 
 wife are, in the purpose of God, " one flesh " ; while 
 it is said of this mystic union of the church with its 
 " Living Head " that they are " one spirit " : " For 
 by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 
 whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be 
 bond or free ; and have been all made to 
 drink into one Spirit " (i Cor. xii. 13). " He 
 
62 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit " 
 (i Cor. vi. 17). 
 
 So great a relationship must produce some 
 personal experience in the believer, even though this 
 doctrine is wholly unknown by him ; hence the test 
 is given for all professing Christians, " We know that 
 we have passed from death unto life, because we 
 love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother 
 (Christian) abideth in death " (i John iii. 14). 
 
 The believer's union in the body, as has been 
 stated, is perfect and complete from the very begin- 
 ning of his saved life ; and, while it imposes no 
 demands in personal service beyond his individual 
 responsibility as a believer, it opens before him the 
 blessed certainty of going with that body to meet the 
 Lord when He comes to receive His own (i Thes. iv. 
 13-19) ; and to be of the bride, in the bosom of the 
 Bridegroom, in the palace of the King. 
 
 VI. — The Christian Priest. The believer is also 
 constituted a priest unto God when he enters the 
 saved life ; he is one of the whole company of priests, 
 which is the true church ; and he has access, through 
 the blood of the Cross, into the hohest place, where 
 Christ, the High Priest, is now entered in. The 
 believer, as a priest in the holiest place, is privileged, 
 like the priest of old, to offer his sacrifice and praise 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 63 
 
 unto God, and to intercede before God for his fellow- 
 men. 
 
 VII. — The Intercession and Advocacy of Christ. 
 Three times over in the Epistles it is recorded that 
 Jesus now lives to make intercession for behevers 
 (Rom. viii. 34; Heb. vii. 25, 9-24). In addition to 
 this, Christ said in His High Priestly prayer : "I 
 pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them 
 which Thou hast given me ; for they are Thine " 
 (John xvii. 9). Thus the unregenerate, when they 
 believe, come instantly into the place of privilege 
 wherein Jesus becomes their Intercessor. This is 
 a vital factor in the safety and security of the one 
 who is resting in Christ by faith ; for it is in this 
 connection that these references to the intercession 
 of Jesus occur. Following the question, " Who can 
 lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? " and 
 " Who is he that condemneth ? " is the assuring 
 answer : " It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is 
 risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, 
 Who also maketh intercession for us " (Rom. viii. 
 33, 34). And again : " Wherefore He is able to 
 save them to the uttermost (evermore) that come 
 unto God by Him, seeing He ever Uveth to make 
 intercession for them " (Heb. vii. 25). 
 
 Thus Christ, as Intercessor, stands between the 
 
64 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 weakness and helplessness of the saint and the whole 
 requirement of God. 
 
 As Advocate, He meets the transgressions and 
 failure of the believer, on the ground of His all- 
 sufficient sacrifice for sin. It is written : " My little 
 children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin 
 not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with 
 the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And He 
 is the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours 
 only, but also for the sins of the whole world " 
 (i John ii. I, 2). So, to the behever, it is said : 
 " \i we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness " (i John i. 9). With the Advo- 
 cate pleading His own sufficient atonement for the 
 sins of the saved one, the removal of transgression 
 is no longer of present mercy ; for God is said to be 
 " faithful and just to forgive us our sins." 
 
 Thus Christ has become both the Intercessor and 
 Advocate for the believer ; providing him with all 
 cleansing from the defilement of sin and becoming 
 his assurance of security, in spite of his weakness and 
 unworthiness ; and all this from the moment he 
 comes " unto God by him." 
 
 Any attempt to describe this salvation must prove 
 inadequate ; for the half has never been told of the 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE 65 
 
 riches of grace in Christ Jesus. Yet enough has 
 been stated to show that the first work in salvation, 
 which is offered to the unregenerate on the grounds 
 of the merit and sacrifice of Christ, is a stupendous 
 and instantaneous transformation of the whole 
 estate of man from the power of darkness and the 
 condemnation of sin, into the glorious light, liberty 
 and security of the sons of God. It is the un- 
 measured power, wisdom and love of God working, 
 at His own infinite cost, to create a new humanity, 
 redeemed and heavenly in being. Before such an 
 objective the humanitarian substitutes, offered by 
 Satan or man, pale into insignificance and fade 
 away. 
 
 This salvation is in no way the product of human 
 thought or invention : but it has rather " appeared " 
 as a " revelation " from God to man (Tit. iii. 4, 
 and Gal. i. 11, 12). The awe-inspiring words, 
 " scholars have agreed " is the final evidence offered 
 in defence of other so called " gospels " of to-day : 
 but of the one true Gospel of Grace it may be said 
 " all Scripture has agreed," for it is the central 
 message of the Bible from its beginning to 
 its end. 
 
 This great salvation is offered to man as a perfect 
 whole and therefore cannot be divided ; for there 
 
66 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 are no Divine provisions whereby any portion of 
 this mighty work can be accepted apart from the 
 whole. He who would accept the forgiveness of 
 sin, or a place with the redeemed in glory, can do so 
 only as he accepts the Lord Christ ; and with 
 Him, all that God in His infinite love would bestow. 
 And when he is thus saved he will but little compre- 
 hend the extent of that redeeming work ; yet his 
 limited understanding, while it may deprive him of 
 much joy and blessing, does not change one fact of 
 his new and glorious estate. It remains true, in 
 spite of his ignorance, that God has " given him all 
 things richly to enjoy." 
 
 It is also clear that the transcendent undertaking 
 of salvation is wholly a work of God, since its every 
 phase depends upon a power that surpasses the 
 whole range of human strength. Because of this, 
 the condition of salvation is reasonable, which 
 demands only an attitude of expectation toward 
 God. In preparation for this, the blinded and self- 
 sufficient person must not only be so wrought upon 
 that he will want to be saved ; but he must see his 
 utter helplessness apart from the power of God and 
 the sacrifice of the Cross, and this, in spite of the 
 blinding and opposition of Satan who energizes 
 him (Eph. ii. 2). 
 
SALVATION, THE OBJECTIVE &y 
 
 Who is sufficient for these things ? Surely not 
 the eloquent preacher or the pleading evangelist I 
 God alone is sufficient ; and He has fully provided 
 for the necessary preparation of mind and heart in 
 the all-important conviction of the Spirit. 
 
THE 
 CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 
 
 r'VERY soul-winner becomes aware, sooner or 
 *-^ later, of the fact that the vast company of 
 imsaved people do not realize the seriousness of 
 their lost estate ; nor do they become alarmed even 
 when the most direct warning and appeal is given to 
 them. They may be normally intelligent and keen to 
 comprehend any opportunity for personal advance- 
 ment in material or intellectual things ; yet there 
 is over them a spell of indifference and neglect 
 toward the things that would secure for them any 
 right relation to God. All the provisions of grace 
 with the present and future blessedness of the 
 redeemed are listened to by these people without 
 a reasonable response. They are, perhaps, sym- 
 pathetic, warm-hearted and kind ; they are full of 
 tenderness toward all human suffering and need ; 
 but their sinfulness before God and their imperative 
 need of a Saviour are strangely neglected. They 
 lie down to sleep without fear and awaken to a life 
 
 71 
 
72 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 that is free from thought or obligation toward God. 
 The faithful minister soon leams, to his sorrow, 
 that his most careful presentation of truth and 
 earnest appeal produces no effect upon them, and 
 the question naturally arises : " How, then, can 
 these people be reached with the Gospel ? " 
 
 The answer to that question lies in a right under- 
 standing of the cause of their indifference, and in an 
 adjustment of methods in work so that there may be 
 co-operation with the Spirit in following the Divine 
 programme in soul-winning. 
 
 One of the greatest foes to modem evangelism, 
 which has been treated far too lightly, is described 
 in the following passage : " And even if our gospel 
 is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing : 
 in whom the God of this age hath blinded the 
 thoughts of the unbelieving, that the illumination 
 of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the 
 image of God, should not dawn upon them " 
 (2 Cor. iv. 3, 4, R.v. with margin). 
 
 This passage scarcely needs comment beyond a 
 slight reference to the exact meaning of the word 
 " gospel " as that word is here used. 
 
 That body of truth which Paul received as a special 
 revelation (Gal. i. 12), and afterwards called " my 
 gospel," " the gospel of Christ " and " the gospel of 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 73 
 
 God " (Rom. ii. 16 ; Phil. i. 27 ; i Thes. ii. 2), is a far 
 more limited theme than the life story of Jesus, as 
 recorded in the Four Gospels of the New Testament. 
 It is rather the exact grounds of salvation by the 
 Cross of Christ and through the grace of God. It is 
 the whole revelation of the Divine propitiation for 
 sin. While this Gospel had a larger mission than 
 the Jew could anticipate, in that it was to be a new 
 revelation from God, and was to be extended to the 
 Gentiles also, it is the Divine offer of all of God's 
 provisions for man's salvation in this age ; and by it 
 life and immortality were brought to light (2 Tim. 
 i. 10). It is simply the offer of redemption and the 
 statement of those conditions under grace, by which 
 a soul may " turn from darkness unto light and from 
 the power of Satan unto God " (Acts xxvi. 18) ; 
 and being the point of deliverance " from the power 
 of Satan unto God," it is veiled by Satan and is 
 opposed by all satanic wisdom and strength. 
 
 It is clear from Scripture that the Gospel of the 
 substitutionary sacrifice of Christ is the only possible 
 ground of salvation and escape from " the power of 
 Satan unto God." It is therefore suggestive that 
 Satan is imposing his blindness upon the unregenerate 
 mind only at this one point. The demons in the 
 days of Christ's earthly ministry bore faithful 
 
74 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 testimony to His Deity as the Son of God ; just so 
 Satan is now directly witnessing to the value of the 
 only offers of salvation by thus centralizing all his 
 blinding power upon the way of the Cross. 
 
 In addition to the exercise of his own power in 
 directly blinding the unsaved to the value of the 
 cross, Satan is increasingly active, through his min- 
 isters, in attempting to expel this central truth from 
 the Christian faith. To do this he is now, as 
 predicted, forcing great counterfeit religious systems 
 and restatements of doctrine upon the world. It is 
 also suggestive that in aU these the only revealed 
 basis of salvation is carefully omitted. 
 
 The bUnding or veiUng of the mind, mentioned 
 in 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4, is then a universal incapacity to 
 comprehend the way of salvation, and is imposed 
 upon unregenerate man by the arch enemy of God 
 in his attempts to hinder the purpose of God in 
 redemption. It is a condition of mind against 
 which man can have no power. Yet God has provided 
 a means whereby this satanic veil may be lifted, 
 the eyes opened (Acts xxvi. 18), the eyes of the 
 heart enlightened (Eph. i. 18, R.v.), and the soul 
 come into the illumination of the Gospel of the glory 
 of Christ. Then, after this " opening of the eyes " 
 is accomplished, the way of hfe, which is the Gospel, 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 75 
 
 will seem, to the enlightened person, to be both 
 desirable and of transcendent import. This great 
 work is accomplished by Divine energy, and is one 
 of the mightiest movements of the " power of God 
 unto salvation." It is spoken of in Scripture as the 
 drawing of God and the convicting of the Spirit : 
 "No man can come unto Me, except the Father 
 which hath sent Me draw him " (John vi. 44). " And 
 when He (the Spirit) is come. He will convict the 
 world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment " 
 (John xvi. 8). 
 
 This individual and particular drawing and con- 
 victing should be distinguished from the universal 
 drawing and illuminating of all men that is mentioned 
 in other passages : " And I, if I be lifted up from 
 the earth, will draw all men unto Me " (John xii. 
 32), and " That was the true Light that Hghteth every 
 man that cometh into the world " (or, " That was 
 the true Light which coming into the world, shineth 
 for every man ") — John i. 9. The former passages 
 refer to a special Divine work to be accomphshed 
 in each individual, and they present the only 
 sufiicient means by which a Satan-ruled soul (Eph. 
 ii. 2) may be inclined unto God, and by which, 
 Satan-bUnded eyes may receive a new vision of the 
 Gospel of Grace. 
 
76 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 This Divine unveiling of the individual mind and 
 heart to the Gospel is spoken of at length in Heb. 
 vi. 4-9. While this passage is Jewish in its character, 
 it is an important statement of a phase of the truth 
 under present consideration. The passage is as 
 follows : " For it is impossible for those who were 
 once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift 
 and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and 
 have tasted the good word of God, and the powers 
 of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew 
 them again unto repentance ; seeing they crucify 
 to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him 
 to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh 
 in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth 
 forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, 
 receiveth blessing from God : but that which beareth 
 thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing ; 
 whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are 
 persuaded better things of you, and things that 
 accompany salvation, though we thus speak." 
 
 It would seem impossible that so much could be 
 accomplished in any person as is here described, and 
 yet that person remain unsaved, were it not for the 
 phase of truth which is under consideration ; for 
 the passage states that those described have been 
 " once enhghtened," " have tasted of the heavenly 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 77 
 
 gift," and have been made " partakers of the 
 Holy Ghost." They have " tasted the good word 
 of God " and the " powers of the world to come " ; 
 yet this is all true of unregenerate persons who have 
 been " drawn " and " convicted " by Divine power 
 in preparation for salvation. 
 
 When the passage has been interpreted as being 
 a description of regenerate people, it has been used 
 as a proof text to substantiate that unscriptural and 
 God-dishonouring theory that a saved person can 
 '• fall away " and find it impossible to renew his 
 repentance. That the passage does not describe a 
 true child of God is evident, for the description is 
 wholly inadequate for a Christian. All that is here 
 said is, in a sense, true of a believer ; but very 
 much more is true of him also. The believer has 
 received, not " tasted," the heavenly gift ; he has 
 been " sealed by the Holy Spirit," which is more 
 than to have " partaken " of the Spirit in conviction 
 or illumination. The " tasting of the Word of 
 God " is a poor substitute for the behever's " washing 
 of regeneration by the Word " ; and " tasting " of 
 the powers of the world to come is insignificant 
 compared with the power of God in salvation. 
 
 But again, it is clearly stated in the closing verse 
 of this passage that this is not a description of the 
 
78 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 " better things " that " accompany salvation." It 
 is therefore a description of the condition into 
 which a soul is brought when Divinely prepared for 
 an intelligent choice of Christ as Saviour, This 
 condition is, to some extent, a sphere of probation 
 (which is never the relation of a true believer to 
 God) ; for, as the hfe-giving rain waters the earth 
 and causes it to yield herbs or thorns, so that soul 
 that has been so favoured with the vision of life 
 and salvation in preparation for jdelding to the 
 saving power of Christ, may " bear thorns and briars " 
 by continually resisting the vision, and finally '* fall 
 away " and find no place for repentance ; seeing he 
 crucified to himself the Son of God afresh and put 
 him to an open shame. Thus the doom of such a 
 person is said to be final ; for he has rejected God's 
 best gift and his only hope. There remains, there- 
 fore, no more " a place of repentance." He must 
 then return to a complete and hopeless satanic 
 blindness. " If therefore, the light that is in thee 
 be darkness, how great is that darkness." 
 
 A very similar, and equally important statement 
 of the same truth is given in Heb. x. 26-29 • *' For 
 if we sin wilfully after that we have received the 
 knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a 
 sacrifice for sins ; but a certain fearful looking for 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 79 
 
 of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall 
 devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' 
 law died without mercy under two or three witnesses : 
 of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he 
 be thought worthy, who has trodden underfoot the 
 Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the 
 covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy 
 thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace " ? 
 
 The importance of this truth will warrant a 
 reference to three other brief passages. In each of 
 these this Divine drawing, or calling, may be seen 
 in its true place and order among the other aspects of 
 '* the power of God unto salvation." In these 
 passages, this phase of truth is mentioned by the 
 words, " to open their eyes," " called me by His 
 grace," and " called." 
 
 " To open their eyes, and to turn them from dark- 
 ness to Ught, and from the power of Satan unto God, 
 that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inherit- 
 ance among them that are sanctified by faith that is 
 in me" (Acts xxvi. 18). "But when it pleased 
 God, who separated me from my mother's womb, 
 and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in 
 me, that I might preach Him among the heathen ; 
 immediately I conferred not with flesh and 
 blood " (Gal. i. 15, 16). ** Moreover, whom He did 
 
8o TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 predestinate, them He also called : and whom 
 He called, them He also justified ; and whom He 
 justified, them He also glorified " (Rom. viii. 30). 
 
 Other passages which emphasize the necessary 
 illumination of the Spirit should also be quoted : 
 " No man can come unto Me, except the Father 
 which hath sent Me draw him ; and I will raise 
 him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets. 
 And they shall be all taught of God. Every man 
 therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the 
 Father, cometh unto Me " (John vi. 44, 45). " MTiere- 
 fore I give you to understand, that no man speaking 
 by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed ; and 
 that no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the 
 Holy Ghost " (i Cor. xii. 3). " Jesus said unto them : 
 But whom say ye that I am ? And Simon Peter 
 answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of 
 the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto 
 him. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh 
 and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My 
 Father which is in heaven " (Matt. xvi. 15-17). 
 
 This special aspect of the Divine work, which has 
 been seen in these passages already quoted, is more 
 particularly dwelt upon in John xvi. 8-1 1. The 
 whole context of this passage (xvi. 8-15) announces, 
 in addition to the three-fold work of the Spirit for 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 8i 
 
 the unsaved, or " world," a special instructive and 
 illuminative work of the Spirit for the saved, here 
 addressed as " you." As these two classes have 
 had to be distinguished in connection with a pre- 
 viously quoted Scripture, their difference should be 
 noted here also. In this connection it will be seen 
 that the saved are to be led into " all truth " ; while 
 the unsaved are to be instructed along but one 
 particular line. To the saved the *' all things " of 
 Christ and of God are to be shown ; while the unsaved 
 are to see only that which first concerns them, which 
 is the way of life in Christ Jesus. This passage 
 referring to the work of the Spirit for the unsaved is 
 as follows : " Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; 
 it is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not 
 away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but 
 if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He 
 is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of 
 righteousness, and of judgment : of sin, because 
 they believe not on Me ; of righteousness, because 
 I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more ; of 
 judgment, because the prince of this world is 
 judged." 
 
 In considering this passage it may first be noted 
 that the word " reprove " (r.v. " convict ") is not 
 limited, as is usually supposed, to the first word 
 
82 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 ** sin," but applies to the words " righteousness ** 
 and " judgment " as well. This suggests a much 
 larger meaning to the word than an acute mental 
 agony for sin, though that may be included. These 
 three words, it will be seen, state three aspects of 
 the work of reproving, and are never separated in 
 the work of the Spirit. 
 
 A careful study of, in all, about sixteen passages 
 where the original of the word " reprove " is used, 
 will reveal that it is usually descriptive of a condition 
 of mind resulting from the impartation of truth ; 
 and so this convicting work of the Spirit for the 
 world is identical with the enlightenment by the 
 Spirit already considered. 
 
 Much depends at this point upon an adequate 
 understanding of the whole scope of the action of 
 the Spirit as suggested by the three words, " sin," 
 " righteousness " and " judgment." 
 
 " Of Sin, because they beUeve not on Me." 
 " Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, 
 I say unto thee. Except a man be born again, he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God " (John iii. 3). 
 " But the natural man receiveth not the things of 
 the Spirit of God : for they are fooHshness unto 
 him ; neither can He know them, because they are 
 spiritually discerned " (i Cor. ii. 14). 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 83 
 
 It is just this incapacity and blindness of the 
 unregenerate mind which is stated in these passages 
 that demands the illuminating work of the Spirit 
 in " convincing of sin." It is evident from the words 
 ** because they beheve not on Me " that they do not 
 comprehend the way of hfe in Christ Jesus, nor has 
 the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ dawned 
 on them. 
 
 The Gospel demands a special revelation for its 
 understanding ; since it announces a perfect freedom 
 to all humanity from the penalty of sin, and also 
 presents the corresponding fact that there can be 
 but one reason for condemnation ; and that, the 
 rejection of the Saviour, Who bore the sin. Man's 
 relation to God on the question of sin, in the Hght 
 of the Cross, is so unnatural to the unregenerate 
 mind, and is so much the object of satanic blinding 
 that there can be no understanding of this truth 
 apart from a direct and personal illumination by 
 the Spirit. 
 
 The work of the Spirit, then, is to distinctly 
 reveal the cure of sin as already accomplished, and 
 to warn against the only remaining possible con- 
 demnation that must follow the rejection of the 
 Cross. Though the imsaved and " natural man " 
 may be educated, gentle, refined, or gifted, he has 
 
84 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 no vision of salvation, and thus it is obvious that 
 there can be no adequate conception of the one 
 condemning sin of rejecting Christ as Saviour, until 
 the Christ and His saving work as sin-bearer are 
 made real. This the Spirit accomplishes by con- 
 vincing of righteousness and judgment ; for both 
 the conviction of righteousness and of judgment are 
 but revelations of the Christ and His salvation. 
 
 " Of Righteousness, because I go to My Father 
 and ye see Me no more." " But ye denied the 
 Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be 
 granted unto you ; and killed the Prince of life, 
 Whom God hath raised from the dead ; whereof 
 we are witnesses " (Acts iii. 14, 15). " Who was 
 delivered for our offences, and was raised again for 
 our justification " (Rom. iv. 25). 
 
 In the vision of the Righteous One Who died 
 upon the Cross it will be revealed to the unsaved by 
 the Spirit that " God was in Christ reconcihng the 
 world imto Himself," and that He, the Righteous 
 One, bore the curse of the sinner's unrighteousness 
 " in His own body on the tree." That it was the 
 Righteous One Who died is for ever assured by His 
 resurrection and present place in glory. This is 
 the all-important vision ; for the Righteous One 
 upon the Cross is the sinner's only point of contact 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 85 
 
 with the saving power of God. So, also, as the 
 ground of salvation is revealed, by the conviction of 
 the Spirit to be the death of the Righteous One, 
 so the enjo5mient of all present blessing in fellowship 
 and security must depend upon as direct and per- 
 sonal a revelation, by the Spirit of the present 
 living Christ. 
 
 Hence, in convincing of righteousness, the vision 
 is created in the unregenerate mind of the Righteous 
 One Who died on the Cross as a personal Saviour, 
 Who is now raised from the dead, and seated in 
 glory with all His atoning work accepted before God, 
 and Who is able to " guard that which is committed 
 unto Him against that day." 
 
 On the Cross Christ judged all sin and secured a 
 perfect salvation for all who believe. So in heaven 
 He saves those who have believed from every 
 challenge of a broken law. 
 
 " Of Judgment, because the prince of this world 
 is judged." " Now is the judgment of this world : 
 now shall the prince of this world be cast out " 
 (John xii. 31). " And you, being dead in your sins 
 and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He 
 quickened together with Him, having forgiven you 
 all trespasses ; blotting out the handwritings of 
 ordinances that was against us, which was contrary 
 
86 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His 
 Cross ; and having spoiled principalities and powers 
 he made a show of them openly, triumphing over 
 them in it " (Col. ii. 13-15). 
 
 In convicting of judgment, the Spirit reveals to the 
 unregenerate mind that, through a judgment now 
 past, the power and domination of Satan has been 
 broken for every man ; and with this " spoiling of 
 principalities and powers," all the handwritings and 
 ordinances that were against us, that were contrary 
 to us, have been taken out of the way and nailed to 
 the Cross. 
 
 The claim which Satan held upon man, before the 
 Cross, was the very fact of man's sin and unlikeness 
 to God. That claim was wholly broken by the Cross, 
 and the curse of sin was lifted for all. Since the 
 Cross it has been Satan's one advantage to bHnd those 
 in his power as to the fact of the imiversal atonement 
 for sin, and to secure an attitude of misunderstanding 
 and rejection of this atonement that will keep man 
 under the last and only condemnation : " that they 
 believe not on Me." 
 
 Thus aU " principalities and powers " were 
 " spoiled " and " triiunphed over " in the Divine 
 judgment of sin. Now the way of redemption is 
 open to all who will come by the Cross. But it is 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT Sy 
 
 this very value of the death of Christ that is the 
 object of Satan's blinding, and the Spirit alone can 
 unveil the blinded unregenerate mind. This He 
 does by convincing of the judgment of the Cross. 
 
 It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the 
 phase of the Gospel which Satan has veiled from 
 " those that are perishing " is the way of life through 
 the death of Christ, and that it is the same central 
 truth which the Spirit would make real to " those 
 that are perishing," by convincing them " of sin, 
 of righteousness and of judgment." 
 
 It is not claimed in this connection that an 
 unsaved person must come to know every phase of 
 truth about the atonement of Christ before he is 
 Divinely prepared for salvation ; but it is claimed 
 that the Spirit proposes to make the meaning of the 
 Cross sufficiently clear to that person to enable him 
 to abandon all hope of self-works, and to turn to the 
 finished work of Christ alone in inteUigent saving 
 faith. The vision of redemptive truth was revealed 
 to Paul directly from God, and there is a very real 
 sense in which that truth must be directly revealed 
 to every individual, that he may himself choose it 
 as the only basis of his hope. The atoning sacrificial 
 death of Christ as a distinct and sufficient founda- 
 tion for salvation must become a reality before it 
 
88 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 can become a finality in saving faith. And in 
 convincing the world of sin, righteousness, and of 
 judgment that truth is made real by the Spirit. 
 
 What human argument or influence can convince 
 Satan-blinded minds that to fail to beheve on Jesus 
 Christ is the all-condemning sin ? Surely that sin 
 will not be seen in all its magnitude until the mind 
 has been enlightened in regard to the Person of Christ 
 and His atoning work. Thus only by the Spirit 
 can any conception be had of all that is being 
 rejected when they " believe not on Me." 
 
 It is quite clear, then, that the sin of rejecting 
 Christ is committed, in its most terrible form, by 
 those who have a special vision, or realization, of 
 Christ and His salvation. It is after having seen 
 the Divinely wrought vision that the soul may 
 ** draw back unto perdition." 
 
 No understanding of the illuminating work of the 
 Spirit on the minds of the unsaved wiU be complete 
 until the important agency or means used by the 
 Spirit in that work is recognized. 
 
 " The Word of God, which is the sword of the 
 Spirit." Another sharp distinction must be made 
 at this point, as in the enlightening and teaching 
 work of the Spirit, between the whole Divine work 
 for the saved and that small part of the same work 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 89 
 
 that may be done for the unsaved as a preparation 
 for salvation. The riches of the work for the saved 
 can only be suggested here. 
 
 To the saved the Word of God is a cleansing, 
 sanctifying and reflecting power (John xiii. 10, 11 ; 
 XV. 3 ; Eph. V. 25, 26 ; John xvii. 17 ; and 2 Cor. 
 iii. 18). 
 
 To the unsaved, the Word of God is the " sword 
 of the Spirit " (Eph. vi. 17). 
 
 As has been seen, the convicting work of the Spirit 
 involves a radical change in the deepest part of 
 man's being, where his motives and desires are 
 first formed ; so that both an entirely new concep- 
 tion of the God-provided grounds of redemption 
 and a vision of the glorious Person of Christ are 
 created. As both the Person and the work of Christ 
 are presented in the Scriptures, it is only necessary 
 for the Spirit to vitalize His own Word, either 
 upon the printed page, or through the lips of His 
 messenger, to bring a new light and possibility into 
 the hitherto blinded mind. It is, therefore, said of 
 the Word of God : " For the word of God is quick, 
 and powerful (Uving and active, R.v.), and sharper 
 than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the 
 dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and 
 marrow, and is a discemer of the thoughts and 
 
90 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 intents of the heart " (Heb. iv. 12). The Word 
 itself is however but the sword, and must be 
 wielded by the Spirit to be effective. 
 
 The fact that the Word of God, in the hands of the 
 Spirit, is living and operative is the only warrant 
 for any appeal to the unsaved ; and is a warning 
 as well that the message, to be effective, must be in 
 accord with the whole truth of God, that it may be 
 used by the Spirit. It is a conspicuous fact that 
 every successful soul-winner has been a fearless 
 defender of every essential doctrine of the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 The skill of the evangelist or the pastor who would 
 do the work of an evangelist, is seen in the ability 
 to present the limited body of redemptive truth 
 repeatedly, yet with freshness and variety. 
 
 The evangelist is limited to that evangel which 
 unfolds the cure of sin and the way of life by the 
 substitutionary death of the Cross, since that is 
 the only message which the Spirit can use, as His 
 Sword in unveiling those eyes which are blinded 
 to that particular truth. How helpless, then, in 
 true soul-saving co-operation with God, is that 
 person who has a heart of unbelief toward the blood 
 of the Cross, or whose message has been beguiled away 
 from the way of hfe by Christ Jesus, to an appeal for 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 91 
 
 morality, or religious ceremonials, which are the 
 result of human energy and expediencies ! 
 
 Jesus has commanded His own that are in the 
 world to preach the Gospel of redemptive truth to 
 every creature : yet their preaching is of no avail, 
 save as it is accompanied with the convincing and 
 illuminating work of the Spirit, and this work of the 
 Spirit is dependent upon a ministry of the believer 
 that is more important than preaching. This is the 
 prayer of intercession. 
 
 Thus it may be concluded on the question of the 
 use of the Word in true evangelism that it is the 
 work of the Spirit to present the sacrificial judgment 
 of the Cross and the living glorious Person of Christ 
 to the unsaved through the preaching of the Word. 
 And where an individual would evade either the 
 message of the Cross, or the essential Deity of 
 Christ, there has been, and can be, no co-operation 
 of the Spirit in convincing power, though every 
 element of literary merit and human eloquence may 
 be suppUed. 
 
 It is not a mere arbitrary caprice with God that 
 there must be an intelligent appropriation of the 
 work of Christ as the grounds of redemption : " For 
 there is none other name under heaven given among 
 men, whereby we must be saved " (Acts iv. 12). On 
 
92 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 no other grounds can the mercy and grace of God be 
 exercised in righteousness and justice. It follows, 
 therefore, that the grounds of redemption must be 
 sufficiently clear to each individual to elicit a repose 
 of faith, and a willing deposit of all eternal interests 
 into the saving power of Christ. No human argu- 
 ment or teaching can dispel the satanic darkness 
 that hinders saving faith, or create the new vision 
 that is required. It is quite possible for a blinded 
 soul to be religious, or even to pose as a minister of 
 the Gospel ; yet, having never comprehended the 
 way of life, to be " tossed to and fro by every wind 
 of doctrine," and, though sincere, and possessing 
 every other degree of human knowledge, to be in his 
 blindness no more than the minister of Satan 
 (2 Cor. xi. 13-15)- 
 
 The wide difference of appreciation of the Gospel 
 that exists between people of equal mental attain- 
 ments cannot be explained on the grounds of per- 
 sonal temperament or training, else their various 
 attitudes would be more or less permanent, when 
 in reality the attitude of indifference is often sud- 
 denly changed to a glowing fire. It need hardly be 
 pointed out that unsaved men do not weigh the 
 evidence of testimony and fact as accurately in 
 matters relating to salvation as they do in any other 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 93 
 
 sphere of investigation. In matters between men 
 in the world the sworn testimony of two reliable 
 witnesses demands a corresponding conclusion ; 
 yet the obvious fact of regeneration and the willing 
 testimony of multitudes, " whereas I was blind, now 
 I see," creates no impression on others who are yet 
 in their blindness. 
 
 There is a reality in satanic blindness. But, blessed 
 be God, there is a reality in Divine illumination I 
 
 It should be observed that, apart from Divine 
 power, superficial decisions can easily be secured, 
 and apparently great results accomplished ; for 
 some minds are so dependent upon the opinions of 
 others that the earnest dominating appeal of the 
 evangelist, with the obvious value of a religious life, 
 are sufficient to move them to follow almost any plan 
 that is made to appear to be expedient. They may 
 be urged to act on the vision of the way of life 
 which the evangelist possesses, when they have 
 received no sufficient vision for themselves. The 
 experience of thousands of churches has proved that 
 such decisions have not met the conditions of grace 
 in " believing with the heart " ; for the multitude 
 of advertised converts have often failed, and these 
 churches have had to face the problem of dealing 
 with a class of disinterested people who possess no 
 
94 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 new dynamic, nor any of the blessings of the truly 
 regenerate life. 
 
 It is possible to reverently repeat the most pious 
 phrases and assume devotional attitudes and yet 
 have the inner hfe in no way correspondingly 
 moved. All such exercise, though producing appa- 
 rent results, is of no avail in real salvation ; for the 
 Spirit has not wrought in such a mind to the end that 
 the utterance of those words become the expression 
 of the greatest crisis of the inner hfe, and the only 
 adequate rehef for that soul's sense of utter helpless- 
 ness and burning thirst for the water of Ufe. 
 
 A few genuine decisions may occur among the 
 many, and these have always justified the wholesale 
 evangelizing method. There is, however, a very 
 grave harm done to those who are thus superficially 
 effected, and this harm may sometimes outweigh 
 the good that is done. In reply to this it is argued 
 that nothing can outweigh the value of one soul that 
 is saved ; yet when the harm of a false decision is 
 analysed, it will be seen that the after-state of 
 bewilderment and discouragement which results in 
 an attitude that is almost unapproachable and hope- 
 less, has its unmeasured results as well. 
 
 The Gospel will always prove, in this age, ** a 
 savour of death unto death " as well as of " life 
 
THE CONVICTING OF THE SPIRIT 95 
 
 unto life " ; for some, even upon whom the Spirit 
 has wrought in conviction, will reject the way of 
 life. But there is no expectation in the evangeUsm 
 of Scripture, that souls are to be hurried into unreali- 
 ties and be misguided in their blindness. God has 
 faithfully provided the one all-sufficient preparation 
 for a full and inteUigent decision in the ministry 
 of the Spirit who came to convict the world of sin, 
 of righteousness, and of judgment. 
 
 The examples of soul-wiiming in the New Testa- 
 ment present a conspicuous contrast to the usual 
 evangelism of to-day. Then there seemed to be no 
 urging or coaxing, nor was any person dealt with 
 individually who had not first given evidence of a 
 Divinely-wrought sense of need. It is recorded that 
 Peter directed the converts at Pentecost in the way 
 of life after they were " pricked in their hearts, and 
 said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and 
 brethren, what shall we do ? " So also there is no 
 record that Paul and Silas made themselves obnoxious 
 to the Philippian jailor by urging him to become a 
 Christian before he had any such desire ; but rather, 
 after a great change had taken place in his whole atti- 
 tude which compelled him to fall tremblingly before 
 them and say : " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ? " 
 did they personally direct him to ' ' believe on the Lord 
 
96 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 Jesus Christ." Peter does not send for Cornelius : 
 Cornelius reaches out for Peter. And Saul is led into 
 the light almost without human aid or direction. 
 
 In view of this all-important Divine preparation 
 for salvation, it is clear that all evangelism, be it 
 public ministry or personal work, which does not 
 wait for the movings of the Spirit in the hearts of 
 the unsaved is insomuch removed from true 
 co-operation with God, and is in danger of hindering 
 more souls than it blesses. 
 
 Such a waiting on God and for God as is necessary 
 for true co-operation with the Spirit, although it 
 may shatter the evangelist's claim to large numbers 
 of converts, will tend to wean the church away from 
 her dependence upon spasmodic periods of concern 
 for the lost into a true and more constant attitude 
 of fruit-bearing. 
 
 The Scriptures furnish us with examples of true 
 evangelism, the results of which were reported many 
 centuries ago when it was said : " And the Lord 
 added to the church daily such as should be saved " 
 (Acts ii. 47). This blessed condition will always 
 1 result when believers depend upon the Lord to add 
 ! to the church and they " continue steadfastly in 
 the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking 
 of bread and in prayers " (Acts ii. 42). 
 
THE 
 PRAYER OF INTERCESSION 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION 
 
 IN this attempt to consider the successive 
 * aspects of the movements of the " power of 
 God unto salvation," it has already been seen that 
 true evangelism must face the humanly impossible 
 task of lifting the satanic veil that rests upon all 
 unregenerate minds in connection with the one 
 subjt;':t of " the Gospel." This blinding of Satan 
 having been imposed at this one point for the 
 sufficient reason that " the Gospel " is the revelation 
 of the only way of escape for sinful man from the 
 power of Satan unto God — by this blindness both 
 the " good news " of the finished work upon the Cross 
 and the glory of the living Christ, in His present 
 position as Intercessor and Advocate, have been 
 obscured. On the other hand, it has been seen that 
 there is a Divinely provided illumination by the 
 Spirit which causes the same " good news " of the 
 finished work and the present glory of Christ to 
 become a reality to the hitherto bUnded mind. 
 
 99 
 
100 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 The unveiling of the Gospel by the Spirit is 
 necessary and reasonable. For the conditions of 
 saving faith are no less than a deposit of the whole 
 being into the saving power of Christ ; and, while 
 superficial decisions may be secured through mere 
 human influence and power, there will be no complete 
 repose of faith until the way is made plain by the 
 enlightenment of the Spirit. 
 
 It is true that no man can know the Father, in 
 soul rest, save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son 
 will reveal Him (Matt. xi. 27, 28). This is the basis 
 of all fellowship with God. It is equally true of the 
 unsaved that no man can come to Christ as Saviour 
 except the Father draw him (John vi. 44). Again, 
 "It is written in the prophets, And they shall all 
 be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath 
 heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto 
 me " (John vi. 45). 
 
 In view of the appalling absence of personal con- 
 cern on the part of the multitude of unsaved, in 
 spite of the ever-increasing ministry of preaching 
 and exhortation, every serious soul-winner will, 
 sooner or later, raise the question : " What, then, 
 hinders the Spirit from performing His office work of 
 convincing the world of sin, and of righteousness, and 
 of judgment " ? The answer to this central question 
 
THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION loi 
 
 in modern evangelism is found in that subject which 
 is the next step in the successive aspects of the power 
 of God unto salvation, as they are here being con- 
 sidered in their reverse order. That subject is the 
 Prayer of Intercession. 
 
 There are but three possible ways in which the 
 believer can fulfil the God-appointed human part 
 in seeking the lost. These are : prayer, personal 
 effort or influence, and giving. Both the first 
 and the last are world-wide in their scope, whUe the 
 other is limited to the locality and opportunity of 
 the individual. There can never be a question as 
 to the relative value of these various lines of service, 
 for the ministry of prayer is continually open to every 
 believer, and is only Hmited in its possibilities by 
 the feeble faith of man. There is much in Scripture 
 that emphasizes the importance of preaching the 
 Word as a means unto salvation, and this ministry 
 has sometimes been thought to be the greatest human 
 service in evangelism ; but it is evident that there 
 must be more than the human statement of the 
 truth. The Spirit must wield His mighty Sword 
 and that work of the Spirit, to a large extent, is 
 subject to beheving prayer. 
 
 A Christian, as has been mentioned in a previous 
 chapter, is, from the moment of his salvation, con- 
 
I02 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 stituted a Royal Priest unto God. The meaning 
 and scope of his position can be better understood 
 by referring to the Aaronic Priesthood under the 
 law, for the Old Testament priesthood is a type of 
 the royal priesthood under grace. 
 
 That there is a royal priesthood under grace 
 is revealed in the following Scriptures : " But ye are 
 a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy 
 nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should shew 
 forth the praises (virtues) of Him Who hath called 
 you out of darkness into His marvellous light " 
 (i Pet. ii. 9). "Ye also, as lively stones, are built 
 up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up 
 spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus 
 Christ " (i Pet. ii. 5). " And he made us to be kings 
 and priests unto God and His Father ; to Him be 
 glory and dominion for ever and ever " (Rev. i. 6). 
 " Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for 
 we know not what we should pray for as we ought : 
 but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with 
 groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that 
 searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the 
 Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints 
 according to the will of God " (Rom. viii. 26, 27). 
 
 The essential truth concerning the priesthood under 
 grace is suggested in these passages. Here it is seen as 
 
THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION 103 
 
 composed of the members of the body of Christ, which 
 is His church. A " chosen generation " speaks of 
 their position by the new birth ; a ** royal priest- 
 hood " and " kings and priests " of their office ; 
 a " holy nation " and a " holy priesthood " of their 
 necessary cleansing ; and a " pecuhar people " of 
 their essential heavenly character, as distinguished 
 from the people of the world. So again, " Uvely 
 stones " speaks of their individual responsibiUty 
 and service ; " offer spiritual sacrifices " and the 
 ** intercession by the Spirit " speak of their min- 
 istry ; while the words " acceptable to God by Jesus 
 Christ " speak of the rent veil, their access to God, 
 and of their " boldness to enter into the holiest by 
 the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which 
 He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that 
 is to say. His flesh " (Heb. x. 19, 20). 
 
 Returning to these important teachings to consider 
 them in the same order, and more at length, it will 
 be seen : 
 
 LA" Chosen Generation.* 
 
 Like the Aaronic priest under the law, the New 
 Testament priest is bom to his position. He is 
 constituted a priest unto God as a part of the salva- 
 tion that is in Jesus Christ. His position and his 
 
104 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 privileges, therefore, begin with his new birth into 
 the nature and family of God. It is most important 
 to emphasize the truth that every believer is a priest 
 unto God, though he may never intelligently exercise 
 his glorious privilege. The full realization of this 
 position, so far as it affects prayer, is one of the 
 greatest needs among believers to-day. It is more 
 than a belief in the general efficacy of prayer. It 
 is to be able to say " I know God will do His greatest 
 works solely in answer to my prayer." 
 
 //. A " Royal Priesthood " and " Kings and Priests." 
 The New Testament priesthood is an office. This 
 is in marked contrast to the believer's gifts for 
 service. The contrast is seen in the fact that 
 those things which constitute the ministry of the 
 priest are the privilege and duty of aJl believers 
 alike : while the gifts for service are bestowed by the 
 Spirit " as He will " (Rom. xii. 3-8 ; i Cor. xii. 4-11). 
 Not all beUevers have the same gift for service : but 
 all are privileged to minister in the priestly office. 
 Not all have the gift of teaching, or of healing ; 
 but all have access in prayer. 
 
 ///. A " Holy Nation " anda" Holy Priesthood." 
 
 The importance of cleansing for the exercise of 
 the priestly office under grace is seen through the 
 
THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION 105 
 
 words " a holy priesthood." It is seen both as it is 
 foreshadowed in the demands for laving and purifica- 
 tion of the Old Testament priest, and in the fact that 
 the ministry of the New Testament priest is also 
 in the holiest place, and is directed unto God. In 
 that holy place the least taint of sin or defilement 
 cannot be allowed, though a degree of unfitness 
 might not hinder the exercise of gifts where the 
 service is only to men. 
 
 IV. A " Peculiar People:* 
 
 No greater evidence of the mighty transformation 
 that is wrought by salvation can be found than the 
 fact that the privilege is granted to him who is 
 saved of entering the holiest place where Christ is 
 already entered in, and is there making intercession 
 for His own who are in the world. Only those who 
 have partaken of the Divine nature by regeneration 
 and have come, by grace, to be heavenly in being 
 and destiny could be so favoured. 
 
 V. " Lively Stones" 
 
 As the ministry of gifts in the church is individual, 
 even world-wide evangelism being committed to 
 each believer, rather than to the church as a body, 
 so there is no present service for the New Testament 
 
io6 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 priests as a whole ; but their service is individual, 
 as their cleansing and fitness must be. 
 
 VI. To " Offer Spiritual Sacrifices " and the " Inter- 
 cession by the Spirit." 
 
 The Old Testament priest was sanctified and 
 cleansed that he might offer sacrifices and enter the 
 " Holy of holies " to intercede for others ; so the New 
 Testament priest is appointed to offer sacrifices in 
 three particulars : (a) His own body : "I beseech 
 you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 
 that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
 acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship " 
 (Rom. xii. i, R.v., with margin. See also Phil, 
 ii, 17 ; 2 Tim. iv. 6 ; James i. 27). (b) His wor- 
 ship : "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of 
 praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our 
 lips giving thanks to His name " (Heb. xiii. 15). 
 (c) His substance : " But to do good and to 
 communicate forget not : for with such sacrifice 
 God is well pleased " (Heb. xiii. 16) ; " But I 
 have all and abound : I am full, having received of 
 Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, 
 an odour of a sweet smeU, a sacrifice acceptable, 
 well pleasing to God " (Phil. iv. 18). 
 
 The New Testament priest is also an intercessor, 
 
THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION 107 
 
 which, as the word implies, differs from a suppHcator 
 who may pray wholly for himself. The inter- 
 cessor bears the burden and need of otliers before 
 God, and intercedes in their behalf. No human 
 wisdom is sufficient for this ministry in the holiest 
 place ; for " we know not what to pray for as we 
 ought " ; but God has anticipated our inability 
 and provided the energizing Spirit Who " maketh 
 intercession for us," and " according to the will of 
 God " (Rom. viii. 26, 27). 
 
 VII. '• Acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ." 
 
 How much is required in those searching words, 
 " acceptable to God " ! Yet how perfect is the 
 believer's fitting '* by Jesus Christ " ! Only some 
 personal defilement uncleansed, or sin unconfessed 
 can hinder the exercise of the priestly office by the 
 least of all behevers. " By Jesus Christ " he has 
 been made " acceptable to God," and only personal 
 pollution can now hinder the realization of those 
 precious privileges in the presence of God. 
 
 All evangehsm must begin with prayer. And 
 no human service, or device, can take the place of 
 the intercession of a priest who is cleansed, and 
 ** acceptable to God," even in the holiest place ** by 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
io8 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 While the behever-priest may intercede in behalf 
 of his fellow-members of the body of Christ, he, too, 
 may intercede for the lost ; and the answer to that 
 prayer will be the going forth of the Spirit to convince 
 them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. 
 
 The importance of preaching and teaching the 
 truth is in no way lessened by this emphasis upon 
 priestly prayer. It must only be borne in mind that 
 prevailing prayer necessarily precedes all other 
 ministry ; for it alone commands the power of God, 
 and secures the needed illumination of the mind 
 toward the Word that may be preached. Without 
 prayer there can be little understanding and vision 
 of the Gospel, even though faithfully presented. 
 
 The reason for human intercession in the Divine 
 plan has not been wholly revealed. The repeated 
 statements of Scripture that it is a necessary link in 
 the chain that carries the Divine energy into the 
 impotent souls of men, in addition to its actual 
 achievement as seen in the world, must be the 
 sufficient evidence of the imperative need of the 
 prayer in connection with the purpose of God. 
 Thus in Scripture and in experience it is revealed 
 that God has honoured man with an exalted place 
 of co-operation and partnership with Himself in 
 His great projects of human transformation. 
 
THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION 109 
 
 Among the many direct and positive promises 
 wherein the activity of the Divine power is con- 
 ditioned on human faithfulness in prayer but one 
 will here be quoted and considered. 
 
 In John xiv. 14, it is written : " If ye shall ask 
 anything in My name, I will do it " (see also John 
 XV. 7 ; xvi. 23, 24 ; and Luke xi. 9). In this 
 Scripture the assignment of both the Divine and 
 the human part in the work is clearly seen ; for the 
 mere outline of this passage is, "If ye shall ask, 
 . . . I will do." Thus God reserves to Himself 
 the undertaking and accomplishment of every object 
 of human intercession, and assigns to man the service 
 of prayer. This is quite reasonable ; for it is 
 evident that the accomplishment of any spiritual 
 transformation must ever be His to do, since its 
 consummation is possible to Divine strength alone. 
 Thus, though man cannot do the important task, 
 he is permitted, through intercession, to co-operate 
 with God in its accomplishment, and to fulfil, accord- 
 ing to revelation, a necessary part in the Divine 
 programme. 
 
 It should be noted that, under these conditions 
 and relationships, every true prayer is not only an 
 acknowledgment of God as the only sufficient One, 
 but it demands an attitude of entire expectation 
 
no TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 from Him on the part of the supplicant. This is 
 essential if normal relations are to exist between 
 God and man. The answer to prayer, when the 
 expectation is not wholly toward God, would but 
 divert the confidence of man, and foster a false 
 trust in his mind. It is necessary for man, therefore, 
 in the interests of his own understanding of God and 
 truth, to come directly to God, acknowledging His 
 Omnipotence, and looking to Him as alone sufficient 
 to do the thing for which he may be praying. 
 
 Again, it may be seen from this promise that God, 
 to some extent, has seen fit to condition His action 
 upon the believer's prayer ; for the Scripture 
 says : " If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will 
 do it " ; and this is the secret of all true evangelism. 
 
 There is another promise bearing directly on this 
 point : "If any man see his brother sin a sin which 
 is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him 
 life for them that sin not unto death. There is a 
 sin unto death : I do not say that he shall pray for 
 it " (i John v. i6). 
 
 It is, then, the teaching of Scripture that the mighty 
 doing power of God in convicting and illuminating 
 the unsaved is also, in a large measure, dependent 
 upon the priestly intercession of the believer. This, 
 too, is a conspicuous fact in experience as revealed 
 
THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION iii 
 
 in history. Where believing prayer has been offered 
 with expectation toward God alone, there has always 
 been evidence of the power of God unto salvation, 
 according to His covenant promises. These periods 
 of refreshing have been called " revivals." The 
 immediate blessing resulting from the adjustment of 
 believers to the programme of God is natural ; 
 but the sure return to an attitude of indifference, 
 on the human side, has made that brief season of 
 blessing seem to be some special visitation from 
 heaven when God was thought to have been '* on 
 the giving hand." It may have been impossible, 
 in such a case, for the extra meetings and methods 
 to have continued ; but the blessing was in no way 
 conditioned on the meetings or methods. Inter- 
 cessory prayer, the real basis of the blessing, could 
 and should have continued. The marvellous, and 
 so little experienced movings of the Spirit upon the 
 unsaved are at the command of the least of God's 
 children, if that one be cleansed ; for such a believer 
 is a priest unto God, and there is no condition in 
 Scripture upon his intercession of times and seasons. 
 How little the stupendous fact of this individual 
 power in prayer is realized by Christians to-day ! 
 The present failure to enter the holy place in inter- 
 cession according to the appointment of God, on the 
 
112 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 part of Christians, is sufficient to account for the 
 present lack of Holy Ghost conviction and conversion 
 in the church. 
 
 The neglect and ignorance of the facts regarding 
 the believer's privileges in prayer, when those facts 
 are so clearly stated in the Scriptures, can be 
 explained only in the light of the revealed satanic 
 opposition to the purpose of God ; for intercessory 
 prayer is a strategic point for the attack of this arch 
 enemy, inasmuch as the mighty movements of the 
 Spirit for salvation are, for the present time, awaiting 
 this human co-operation. 
 
 If there are exceptions in the history of * revivals " 
 where there have been what seemed to be unprayed- 
 for out-pourings of the Spirit, in no case can it be 
 proved that prayer was not offered. In every case 
 where the Spirit seemed to descend upon the church 
 with sovereign power, there has been either an 
 appalling spiritual death in the church, or a new 
 emphasis has been needed upon some neglected 
 truth in evangelism. Such seasons have been so 
 rare in the history of the church that they can be 
 counted only as exceptions, and should in no way be 
 used to qualify the revealed plan of God, which He 
 has blessed throughout the years. 
 
 Not only are the priceless results of the saving 
 
THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION 113 
 
 power of God hindered, but the individual believer 
 has suffered unmeasured loss in his possible reward, 
 when the prayer of intercession has for any reason 
 ceased ; for prayer presents the greatest opportunity 
 for soul-winning, and there is precious reward 
 promised to those who bring souls to Christ, and 
 are found to be suffering with Him in His burden 
 for the lost. 
 
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 
 
 IT should not be concluded from what has gone 
 •* before that there is no other God-appointed 
 human service in behalf of the lost than the prayer 
 of intercession. It is claimed, however, that inter- 
 cessory prayer is the first and all-important service 
 according to Scripture. The Divine order is to talk 
 to God about men, until the door is definitely open 
 to talk to men about God. Any service which He 
 may appoint after believing prayer has been offered 
 will be wonderfully blessed by Him. But to intrude 
 upon strangers, unless positively led to do so, or 
 to implore unwilling and unprepared men, is to 
 display a zeal without knowledge, and is fraught 
 with peril to immortal souls. Such boldness is 
 often urged and commended as being a high form 
 of Christian service ; yet no Spirit-filled person can 
 rush ahead of the movements of God without a deep 
 sense of protest from the Spirit Who indwells him. 
 It is not altogether due to personal diffidence that 
 
 117 
 
ii8 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 true believers often find it difficult to speak to the 
 unsaved about their need of Christ. There is a 
 restraint upon such service ; for if the unsaved are 
 not prepared by the Spirit, any attempt to force a 
 decision will be a violation of the Divine order. 
 
 If space could be given here to incidents illustrat- 
 ing the necessity of waiting on God and for God 
 as the first effort to be made for the salvation of 
 any person, it would be apparent that the prepara- 
 tion of one soul may require many years, or this 
 preparation may be accomplished in another in as 
 many hours ; but in no case has it ever been advan- 
 tageous to press the decision until some evidence is 
 given that the preparation is complete. Such quiet 
 waiting will always be rewarded ; for, as in the days 
 of the Acts of the Apostles, there will be some clear 
 indication from the illuminated person that the heart 
 is prepared which will perfectly open the way for any 
 necessary word to be spoken that will direct that 
 heart to its acceptance of Christ. Coaxing and 
 pleading will be found to be unnecessary, for the soul 
 will be thirsting for the Water of Life. 
 
 The precious service of leading the enlightened 
 person to a decision is often appointed to the one 
 who has first suffered for that person in intercession. 
 This is the real place of so-called " personal work," 
 
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 119 
 
 and too much cannot be said of the value of the 
 careful preparation and instruction of every believei 
 for this particular service, for there is need of great 
 clearness and skill in explaining the exact terms of 
 the Gospel to the one upon whom the Spirit is moving 
 in conviction and illumination. A distinction should 
 be made, however, betv/een directing a convicted 
 and burdened soul to Christ, and forcing an issue 
 upon one who is unprepared by the Spirit. 
 
 The burden of heart that can find no peace 
 because of the lost condition of some individual is 
 the highest form of human suffering, and is several 
 times referred to in Scripture. There this burden for 
 the lost is seen, not only to form a part of human 
 suffering, but to be a normal experience in the Ufe 
 of every saved person. That it is not a common 
 experience among Christians to-day can be explained 
 only by the fact that there are abnormal conditions 
 in many Christian lives. 
 
 The reaUty of human suffering and its place in a 
 Christian's life is so vital a part of true evangelism, 
 and occupies so conspicuous a place in the New 
 Testament, that it should be considered sufficiently 
 at length to distinguish that particular part of 
 suffering which has to do with salvation of the lost 
 from its other aspects. 
 
120 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 The believer may suffer much for Christ. This 
 form of suffering may include the involuntary 
 sacrifice of the loss of friends, property, reputation, 
 or health, and the voluntary sacrifice or separation 
 from loved ones, gifts, humiliation and faithful 
 service, even unto death. It is stated in Phil. i. 29 
 that such suffering is a gift to the believer : " Unto 
 you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe 
 on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Unto you 
 it is given to be parted from loved ones in the world- 
 wide ministry of the Gospel, to become poor that 
 others may become rich, to suffer separation or 
 privation as a sacrifice for Him. 
 
 This form of suffering was experienced by the 
 Lord of Glory, and to those who are in the midst of 
 these afflictions it is said : " The sufferings of this 
 present time are not worthy to be compared with 
 the glory that shall be revealed in us " ; and " Our 
 light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
 for us a far more and exceeding weight of glory." 
 
 The suffering of a Christian according to the 
 Scriptures is primarily suffering with Christ. This 
 is attested by various passages (i Pet. iv. 13 ; Rom. 
 viii. 17 ; Col. i. 24 ; Phil. ii. 5-9 ; and 2 Tim. ii. 
 12). The important word used in connection with 
 the believer's relation to Christian suffering is "with," 
 
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 121 
 
 and that word emphasizes the necessary distinction 
 that much of the suffering in the world is ahen to 
 fellowship with Christ. On the other hand, this word 
 suggests a vital union and Divine co-partnership 
 between the suffering believer and His suffering Lord. 
 
 In suffering with Christ the Christian may either 
 suffer from man the reproaches of Christ, or he 
 may come to experience with Christ a Divinely 
 wrought burden and sorrow for the lost. Beyond 
 this it is impossible for any believer to go in the 
 mystery of the sufferings of Christ ; for what He 
 suffered from God in becoming Himself an offering 
 for sin could not be shared by any other, though one 
 might greatly desire a similar ministry. See 
 Rom. ix. 1-3. 
 
 Suffering with Christ is a natural phase of a 
 Christian's life and experience. He is sojourning 
 in an enemy's land, is called to be a witness against 
 its sin, and is summoned to labour that souls may 
 be saved from its evil and darkness. " If the world 
 hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated 
 you. If ye were of the world, the world would 
 love his own ; but because ye are not of the world, 
 but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore 
 the world hateth you " (John xv. 18, 19). To those 
 who did not beUeve on Him He said : " The world 
 
122 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 cannot hate you ; but Me it hateth, because I 
 testify of it, that the works thereof are evil " (John 
 vii. 7). " It is enough for the disciple that he be as 
 his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have 
 called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much 
 more shall they call them of his household ? " (Matt. 
 X. 25). "As thou hast sent Me into the world, even 
 so have I also sent them into the world " (John xvii. 
 18). " Beloved, think it not strange concerning 
 the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some 
 strange thing happened unto you ; but rejoice, 
 inasmuch as you are partakers in Christ's sufferings, 
 that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be 
 glad with exceeding joy " (i Pet. iv. 12, 13). 
 
 So also, as is seen by these passages, suffering 
 with Christ here is the only possible path into the 
 reward of being glorified together with Him over 
 there. This is not salvation, for salvation cannot be 
 gained by any degree of human suffering. It is 
 rather the glorious crown and reward to be given 
 to the faithful in their co-partnership with Christ. 
 This truth is emphasized in the following passage : 
 " Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ 
 Jesus : who being in the form of God, thought it not 
 robbery to be equal with God ; but made Himself of 
 no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a 
 
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 123 
 
 servant, and was made in the likeness of man : and 
 being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself 
 and became obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the Cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, 
 and given Him a name which is above every name : 
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
 of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
 under the earth ; and every tongue should confess 
 that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
 Father " (Phil. ii. 5-11). 
 
 Here it is inferred that the believer is to allow the 
 mind of Christ to be reproduced in him by the power 
 of God (Phil. ii. 13), and these seven successive steps 
 in the path of Christ, from His native place in the 
 glory to the felon's death on the cross, are reviewed in 
 this Scripture only that such steps may be admitted 
 in the Christian's life, who is to be " as his Lord " 
 even in this world. It is also inferred in this passage 
 that, through this relation to Jesus in suffering, 
 there is to be an identity with Him in His glory. 
 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that 
 we are the children of God : and if children, then 
 heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ; 
 if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be 
 also glorified together. For I reckon that the suffer- 
 ings of the present time are not worthy to be 
 
124 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 compared with the glory which shall be revealed in 
 us" (Rom. viii. 16-18). "It is a faithful saying: 
 For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with 
 Him : if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him : 
 if we deny Him, He also will deny us " (2 Tim. ii. 
 II, 12). 
 
 Suffering was the ministry to which Paul was 
 appointed by the Lord through the disciple Ananias 
 when the Lord commanded Ananias : "Go thy 
 way : for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My 
 name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children 
 of Israel : for I will shew him how great things he 
 must suffer for My Name's sake " (Acts ix. 15, 16). 
 
 Thus it may be concluded that, while all the 
 mystery of suffering is not explained, and probably 
 cannot be, it is an essential part of the Christian's 
 life and union with Christ in this world, and of 
 identification with Him in His glory. 
 
 Of that suffering which is from man and because 
 of the believer's relation and loyalty to Christ it is 
 said : " Beloved, think it not strange concerning 
 the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some 
 strange thing happened unto you : but rejoice, 
 inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings ; 
 that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be 
 glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached 
 
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 125 
 
 for the name of Christ, happy are ye ; for the 
 spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you : on 
 their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he 
 is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, 
 or a thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busybody in 
 other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a 
 Christian, let him not be ashamed ; but let him 
 glorify God on this behalf" (i Pet. iv. 12-16). 
 
 It is, however, sympathetic suffering that enters 
 most directly into the movements of the power of 
 God in evangelism. As a mother's face may reflect 
 more pain than the face of her suffering child, so there 
 is an unlimited realm of possible suffering in sym.- 
 pathy and burden for another. This highest and 
 deepest suffering is bom of two parents, which are 
 love and appreciation. The brute may love its 
 offspring, but cannot appreciate its sufferings ; while 
 a savage may appreciate pain, but cares nothing for 
 the suffering one. To the one who both knows and 
 feels there is revealed a degree of the mystery of 
 suffering in sympathy. 
 
 MTien the sufferings of Christ are contemplated in 
 the light of this simple fact, it will be seen that back 
 of the Cross is, first, the infinite wisdom, vision and 
 power to appreciate on the part of God. He com- 
 prehended man's sin, his eternal ruin, and necessary 
 
126 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 banishment from His presence. And second, He 
 loved the world of men enough to act mightily in 
 their behalf. That He loved them is the reason 
 for His effort for them. That He appreciat-ed their 
 terrible need was the warrant for the particular thing 
 He did. The measure of His appreciation and love 
 is unbounded ; for " He bore our sins in His own 
 body on the tree," which reveals the reality of our 
 sins as viewed by an infinite God. He became the 
 propitiation for the sins of the whole world. 
 
 It was not the love of God alone that was revealed 
 in the Cross, His eternal wisdom and Godhead are 
 seen as well by the particular thing which He did 
 for man's redemption. In the Cross He also disclosed 
 His estimate of man's need. So the Cross is, in the 
 mind and heart of the Infinite, both a warning of 
 doom and a wooing of love ; and it is no credit to 
 finite man that he denies the voice of the Infinite, 
 rejects His verdict of human hopelessness, and 
 misinterprets the value and vision of the death of 
 Christ. 
 
 The dominant motive that prompted the sufferings 
 of Christ was revealed in one of His prayers at the 
 Cross. Had His suffering been physical alone, His 
 prayer might have been, Father, they are causing 
 Me physical pain ; or had His sufferings been His 
 
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 127 
 
 personal sacrifice alone, He might have prayed, 
 Father, they are taking My life from Me : in reality 
 He prayed, " Father, forgive them, they know not 
 what they do." And while the sufferings of His 
 body and the sacrifice of His life constituted an 
 offering for sin, " once for all," these were prompted 
 by the Divine vision of human need and His yearning 
 compassion for lost and ruined men ; for He prayed 
 not for Himself, but for them. In that mysterious 
 suffering for the sin of the world no human can suffer 
 with Christ. That suffering was final and complete. 
 It can only be believed in and appropriated by the 
 one who has come to realize his own share in it. 
 
 When a soul has come under the shadow, and 
 received the redemption of the Cross, that one is 
 then privileged to suffer with Christ in a compassion 
 for the lost ; being also prompted, in some measure, 
 by the same Divine vision and love, through the 
 presence and power of the indwelling Spirit. 
 
 This is illustrated by the testimony of the Apostle 
 Paul in Rom. ix. 1-3 : " I say the truth in Christ, 
 I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in 
 the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and 
 continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that 
 myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, 
 my kinsmen according to the flesh." 
 
128 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 Much is said in the preceding context of the 
 power and blessing of the Spirit indwelling the 
 Christian. In this passage, however, He is seen 
 lifting the Apostle Paul to the same view-point that 
 Christ occupied, when He was wilUng to be accursed 
 that lost men might be saved, and which He ex- 
 perienced when He cried, " My God, my God, why 
 hast Thou forsaken me ? " From this point of 
 Divine vision Paul longs, too, with an unutterable 
 longing to make some sufficient sacrifice, even an 
 impossible and terrible separation from Christ his 
 Lord, if only his brethren, his kinsmen after the 
 flesh, might be saved. This attitude of agonized 
 suffering for the salvation of his brethren was not 
 an element of the human nature of Saul, who found 
 his delight in the condemnation and execution of his 
 brethren when they were found to be followers of 
 Jesus ; nor is this Divine touch found in any 
 unregenerate life. It is " The love of God shed 
 abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is 
 given unto us," or in reality, the very love of God 
 reaching out for the lost through the believer. This 
 experience of Paul's is possible to others. By the 
 Indwelling One, the believer may come both to 
 appreciate the lost estate of men and to experience 
 a Divine compassion or them. 
 
SUFFERING WITH CHRIST 129 
 
 Suffering with Christ, then, in its deepest meaning, 
 is to come to experience by the Spirit an unutterable 
 agony for men out of Christ, and from that vision 
 and love to be willing to offer personal sacrifice or 
 endure physical pain, if need be, that they may be 
 saved. This is as near to " a cross " as the Christian 
 can come in experience ; for he can make no atone- 
 ment, nor is human atonement needed. As his 
 eyes are opened and his heart is made sensitive 
 to the indescribable need of any soul out of Christ, 
 he has, to that extent, experienced the Divine 
 compassion " shed abroad in his heart." Such 
 suffering with Christ is the heritage of every 
 regenerate soul. 
 
 One has but to recaD the spiritual agony of soul, 
 like the physical pain of a woman in travail, that 
 has borne down upon believers in the great ingather- 
 ings of history in connection with the birth of souls 
 to understand the reahty of Divinely wrought 
 suffering with Christ, which is granted to the behever, 
 and is the sure warrant of identification -with Him 
 in His glory. So, whenever a believer is prepared 
 to receive this great gift of suffering with Christ, it 
 will be granted unto him to such a degree, and at 
 such times as he is able to bear it. All pity for 
 those Christians who, through want of adjustment 
 
130 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 to the mind and purpose of God, are never so 
 privileged ! 
 
 There is a great lost world of individuals sur- 
 rounding every believer, and if his heart is attuned 
 to the Spirit that indwells him, he cannot but suffer 
 at times with Christ in an agony of soul that they 
 may be saved. That soul-anguish in a believer 
 may find its expression only in " groanings that 
 cannot be uttered." In this extremity, he will be 
 driven into the holiest place, and he will find no 
 relief except in the pntstiy prayer of intercession. 
 
 Through such intercession the Spirit is covenanted 
 to go forward to deal with unregenerate men, and 
 by His mighty Sword strike the bhndness from their 
 eyes, and bring them face to face with the salvation 
 that is in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Here it will be observed that this Divine burden 
 for the lost is a very uncommon experience among 
 believers to-day ; and the solution of this problem is 
 found in the last step that marks the movements of 
 the " power of God unto salvation." The difficulty 
 Ues with the defilement of the priests before God who 
 do not and cannot, because of their own unfitness, 
 experience the love of God for others, or prevail with 
 God in the holy place. 
 
THE 
 CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 
 
 TTHE various conditions on which the answer to 
 prayer depends, as set forth in the New Testa- 
 ment, require an experience in the suppKcant of com- 
 mon vision and sympathy with the mind and will of 
 God. '* If ye abide in Me and My words abide in you," 
 is a condition which demands a relation to God on 
 the part of the individual, wherein both the present 
 leading of God is realized and His written will is 
 known. To abide in Christ is to keep His com- 
 mandments (John XV. lo), and to be in close fellow- 
 ship with Him. To have His Word abiding in us 
 is to be instructed in the Scriptures ; and to one who 
 has thus been brought into full sympathy with the 
 purpose of God, it can safely be said, " Ye shall 
 ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." 
 This promise of prayer, then, is not unlimited, as is 
 sometimes supposed, but is qualified by a required 
 adjustment to the will of God of the mind and heart 
 of the one who prays. So, also, the oft-repeated 
 
 133 
 
134 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 condition, " In My name " admits of only such 
 themes in prayer as can reasonably be coupled with 
 the glory of Christ and the projects of His unfinished 
 work in the world. 
 
 Another condition of prayer is given in Mark xi. 24 : 
 " Therefore I say unto you, What things soever 
 ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
 them, and ye shall have them." This condition 
 does not include every subject of prayer ; for it 
 would be impossible to believe that God would grant 
 anything inconsistent with His own purpose or 
 Being. Yet with all this nearness to the mind of 
 God there will be many legitimate objects of prayer, 
 concerning the wisdom of which the believer must 
 ever be in doubt ; for all requests in prayer naturally 
 fall into two classes at the point of the known will 
 of God. When there is no revelation, the supplicator 
 can never pass the boundary of the qualifying 
 words, " Thy will, not mine, be done." But when 
 there is a revelation of the will of God, this boundary 
 is done away ; and to be uncertain of the will of 
 God, when His will is clearly revealed, is but to 
 doubt the Word through which He has made it 
 manifest. 
 
 The priestly intercession of the believer, which is 
 a necessary element in true evangelism, falls in the 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 135 
 
 realm of this latter phase of prayer. This prayer is 
 nothing less than the mighty movings of the " power 
 of God unto salvation," since the Spirit indites 
 the intercession. It is a glorious human co-partner- 
 ship with the Divine Shepherd in His solicitude and 
 effort to seek the lost. 
 
 Every possible question as to the Divine will in 
 the salvation, sanctification and glorification of 
 men has been wholly answered in the revelation of 
 the heart of God through the sacrifice of the Cross. 
 ** His eternal power and Godhead " were revealed 
 in the things created ; " For the invisible things of 
 Him from the creation of the world were clearly 
 seen, being understood by the things that are made, 
 even His eternal power and Godhead " (Rom. i. 20). 
 His soul-saving compassion and desire for helpless 
 men was revealed in the Cross of Christ ; as it is 
 written : "No man hath seen God at any time ; 
 the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the 
 Father, He hath declared Him " (John i. 18). " For 
 God so loved the world, that He gave His only begot- 
 ten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life " (John iii. 16). 
 *• For this is good and acceptable in the sight of 
 God our Saviour ; Who will have all men to be 
 saved, and to come into the knowledge of the truth " 
 
136 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 (i Tim. ii. 3, 4). " God was in Christ, reconciling 
 the world unto Himself " (2 Cor. v. 19). 
 
 From the foregoing Scriptures it may be seen that 
 there has been a completion of all the grounds of 
 salvation, and a sufficient revelation of the purpose 
 and will of God for the redemption of all men 
 through the Cross of Christ ; and since His covenant- 
 promises, relating to prayer, are still in force, it is 
 clear that all hindrances to the movements of God 
 in salvation must be due to some failure on the 
 human side. Either the believers do not meet their 
 high privilege in the holy place, or the unsaved, 
 when convicted, reject the vision that is given unto 
 them. Since there is little evidence of any new 
 vision received, or rejected, on the part of the 
 unregenerate, the solution of the question as to 
 why there is not more saving power among believers 
 to-day must be sought for in the realm of the 
 believer's ministry of intercession. 
 
 It has already been pointed out that, while there 
 may be little demand for purification in the exercise 
 of gifts, where the service is only between man and 
 man, there can be no entering into the holy place 
 without the laving or removal of defilement, which 
 God alone may see. This cleansing has been 
 t}T)ified by the laver that stood at the entrance to 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 137 
 
 the "Holy of holies " in the tabernacle of old. Thi 
 necessity of that special cleansing of the priest 
 before he approached the presence of Jehovah 
 " in the tent of meeting " was emphasized by the 
 penalty of death if the cleansing was neglected. 
 The passage in Ex. xxx. 17-21 is here given : 
 
 " And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou 
 shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also oi 
 brass, to wash withal : and thou shalt put it between 
 the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, 
 and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and 
 his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat : 
 when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, 
 they shall wash with water, that they die not ; or 
 when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn 
 offerings made by fire unto the Lord : so they shall 
 wash their hands and their feet, that they die not : 
 and it shall be a statute for ever to tliem, even to 
 him and his seed throughout their generations." 
 
 The restatement of the same truth is found in 
 several passages in the New Testament in which 
 the cleansing and refitting of the believer-priest is 
 set forth. In John xiii. 3-1 1, Jesus speaks of the 
 first tense of salvation as the whole bath (" He that 
 is bathed ") ; and, in contrast to this, He also 
 speaks of His own work in removing the believer's 
 
138 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 defilement that may have been received through 
 contact with the world. This cleansing of the 
 believer is typified by the bathing of the feet. This 
 is most suggestive when compared with the one 
 preparatory whole bath of the Aaronic priest which 
 was required when he entered the priestly office 
 {Ex. xxix. 4), and the necessary repeated laving 
 before each entrance into the holy place in the course 
 of his priestly ministry. 
 
 John xiii. 3-1 1, which teaches the possible cleans- 
 ing of the believer-priest, is as follows : " Jesus 
 knowing that the Father had given all things into 
 His hands, and that He was come from God, and 
 went to God, He riseth from supper, and laid aside 
 His garments ; and took a towel, and girded Himself. 
 After that He poureth water into a basin, and began 
 to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with 
 the towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh 
 He to Simon Peter : and Peter said unto Him, Lord, 
 dost Thou wash my feet ? Jesus answered and 
 said unto him. What I do thou knowest not now ; but 
 thou shalt know hereafter. Peter said unto Him, 
 Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered 
 him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. 
 Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet 
 only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 139 
 
 to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash 
 his feet, but is clean every whit : and ye are clean, 
 but not all. For He knew who should betray Him ; 
 therefore said He, Ye are not all clean." 
 
 Upon this passage, Dr. C. I. Scofield gives the 
 following note in the " Scofield Reference Bible " : 
 " The underlying imagery is of an oriental returning 
 from the public bath to his home. His feet would 
 contract defilement and require cleansing, but not 
 his body. So the believer is cleansed as before the 
 law from all sin ' once for all ' (Heb. x. 1-12), but 
 needs ever to bring his daily sins to the Father in 
 confession, that he may abide in unbroken fellow- 
 ship with the Father and with the Son (i John i. i-io). 
 The blood of Christ answers for ever to all the law 
 could say as to the believer's guilt, but he needs 
 constant cleansing from the defilement of sin. See 
 Eph. V. 25-27 ; I John v. 6. Typically, the order 
 of approach to the presence of God was, first, the 
 brazen altar of sacrifice, and then the laver of 
 cleansing (Ex. xl. 6, 7). See, also, the order in 
 Ex. xxx. 17-21 : Christ cannot have communion 
 with a defiled saint, but He can and will cleanse 
 him." 
 
 Other passages on the cleansing of the New Testa- 
 ment priest should be quoted also : " Husbands, love 
 
140 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave 
 Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse 
 it with the washing of water by the word, that He 
 might present it to Himself a glorious church, not 
 having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that 
 it should be holy and without blemish " (Eph. v. 
 25-27). " If we say that we have fellowship with 
 Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the 
 truth : but if we walk in the light, as He is in the 
 light, we have fellowship one with another, and the 
 blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all 
 sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
 selves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our 
 sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 
 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (i John 
 i. 6-9). " Nevertheless the foundation of God 
 standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth 
 them that are His. And, let every one that nameth 
 the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in 
 a great house there are not only vessels of gold and 
 of silver, but also of wood and of earth ; and some 
 to honour and some to dishonour. If a man there- 
 fore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel 
 unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's 
 use, and prepared unto every good work " (2 Tim. 
 ii. 19-21). 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 141 
 
 The Aaronic priest met the penalty of instant 
 death if he attempted to enter the Holy of hohes 
 without the laving that was prescribed by the law, 
 and while that penalty is not continued under 
 grace, it is evident that God has safeguarded His 
 holy Presence by closing the door of the believer's 
 priestly ministry so long as his sin and defilement is 
 not put away. As the priest of the Old Testament 
 failed in his office through unfitness before God, so 
 the priest of the New Testament, from the same 
 cause, may sacrifice much of his privilege in holy 
 service and communion Math Christ. His priestly 
 ministry of sacrifice, in which he presents his body, 
 his praise and his benevolence, may go on in their 
 outward forms, he being under grace ; yet it cannot 
 be effectual when, because of sin, it is a ministry that 
 is not acceptable to God. So also his priestly 
 ministry of intercession may become of no avail 
 through defilement. 
 
 Here, as in the ministry of sacrifice, the loss 
 is immeasurable. Not only are all his possible 
 services to Grod and blessings to men hindered, 
 which might be realized through his ministry 
 in the holiest place, but he is without the joy 
 and peace of fellowship with Christ. It is of great 
 importance for the believer to realize that through 
 
142 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 his defilement, not only his priestly ministry is 
 hindered, but his own fellowship with Christ is 
 sacrificed as well. " If we say that we have fellow- 
 ship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do 
 not the truth : but if we walk in the light, as He is 
 in the light, we have fellowship one with another, 
 and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us 
 from all sin " (i John i. 6, 7). " These things 
 (about abiding in Christ) have I spoken unto you, 
 that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy 
 might be full " (John xv. 11). " Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father 
 in My name. He will give it you. Hitherto ye have 
 asked nothing in My name : ask, and ye shall 
 receive, that your joy may be full " (John xvi. 23, 
 24). " And now I come to thee ; and these things 
 I speak in the world, that they might have My joy 
 fulfilled in themselves " (John xvii. 13). " That 
 which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, 
 that ye also may have fellowship with us : and 
 truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with 
 His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write 
 we unto you, that your joy may be full " 
 (i John i. 3, 4). 
 
 It may then be concluded that defilement in the 
 believer hinders every phase of his priestly office. 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 143 
 
 makes fellowship with Christ impossible, and robs 
 him of his personal joy and blessing. 
 
 The limitation that is placed upon the priestly 
 prayer of intercession through undealt-with sin in 
 the behever's hfe is the only aspect of this truth 
 that is directly related to the subject of evangelism. 
 
 The following Scriptures warrant the conclusion 
 that sin directly hinders prevailing prayer : 
 
 " If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will 
 not hear me " (Psa. Ixvi. 18). " Behold, the Lord's 
 hand is not shortened, that it cannot save ; neither 
 His ear heavy that He cannot hear : but your 
 iniquities have separated between you and your 
 God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that 
 He will not hear " (Isa. Ux. i, 2). " Therefore if 
 thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember- 
 est that thy brother hath ought against thee ; leave 
 there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way : 
 first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come 
 and offer thy gift " (Matt. v. 23, 24). " If ye abide 
 in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what 
 ye will, and it shall be done unto you " (John xv. 7). 
 " I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting 
 up holy hands, without wrath and doubting " 
 (i Tim. ii. 8). " Ye lust, and have not : ye kill, and 
 desire to have, and cannot obtain : ye fight and war, 
 
144 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and 
 receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may con- 
 sume it upon your lusts " (James iv. 2, 3). " Con- 
 fess your faults one to another, and pray one for 
 another, that ye may be healed. The effectual 
 fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much " 
 (James v. 16). " Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with 
 them according to knowledge, giving honour unto 
 the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being 
 heirs together of the grace of life ; that your prayers 
 be not hindered " (i Pet. iii. 7). 
 
 There is no point more strategic for the subtle 
 attack of Satan against the plan and work of God 
 in saving men than the one where God offers to meet 
 the Christian for cleansing ; for, if cleansing can be 
 hindered, very much of human co-operation with 
 God in " seeking the lost " is hindered also. This 
 Satanic influence is seen first in the fact that the 
 Christians are almost universally ignorant of the 
 God-provided way by which they may be cleansed 
 from their defilement ; and second, this satanic 
 influence is seen in the tendency of the flesh to resist 
 the necessary requirements of God, even when they 
 are understood. 
 
 The definite offer to the unregenerate person of 
 the forgiveness of his sins is conditioned upon his 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 145 
 
 receiving Christ as his personal Saviour, and there 
 is equally as definite an offer to the Christian for the 
 forgiveness of his sin and defilement. The condi- 
 tion which is imposed upon the believer is that he 
 confess his sins. "If we confess our sins, He is 
 faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
 cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (i John i. 9). 
 
 The offer of forgiveness to the unsaved and the 
 offer of forgiveness to the saved should never be 
 confused. While both are made possible by the 
 blood of Christ, the sin question with the unsaved is 
 dealt with as a part of the whole first tense of salva- 
 tion, which cannot be divided, and is likened by 
 Christ to the whole bath : while the sin question 
 with the saved person stands alone, since no other 
 aspect of his glorious salvation is disturbed by his 
 sin. Hence the removal of his defilement is all that 
 is called for ; and that is likened by Christ to the 
 bathing of the feet of one who is returning from the 
 whole bath. 
 
 The Prodigal Son presents an illustration of the 
 way in which a Christian may return to fellowship 
 and blessing. There is no record that the prodigal 
 was any less a son " in the far country " than he was 
 in his own home ; nor is it recorded of him that he 
 returned to his father's house on the basis of sacrifice 
 
 K 
 
146 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 or atonement : but it is stated that he returned on 
 the basis of confession ; for it is said that he arose 
 and came to his father, and said unto him, " Father, 
 I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and 
 am not worthy to be called thy son." 
 
 In this same connection it may be seen that con- 
 fession is the only requirement that can reasonably 
 be demanded of a sinning saint ; for the basis of 
 any true fellowship is a symphonizing of thought and 
 purpose. Hence any defilement in a believer of 
 necessity interrupts his fellowship (though not his 
 salvation) with a holy God. When fellowship with 
 God is broken by sin, it can be re-established only 
 by a frank admission of guilt and failure on the part 
 of the sinning one. To refuse a confession is to 
 contend that right is wrong, and wrong is right, which 
 would be a contradiction of the very nature and 
 character of God. 
 
 Confession re-opens the way for fellowship with 
 God and of access to God, but it does not in any way 
 atone for sin. Propitiation for sin was perfectly 
 accomplished at the Cross. Since His ascension, 
 Christ has been continually pleading the efficacy of 
 His own sacrificial death for sin in behalf of believers 
 (Rom. viii. 33, 34 ; Heb. vii. 25). Therefore, it is 
 said to the Christian : " If we confess our sin, He is 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 147 
 
 faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse 
 us from all unrighteousness." The sin of the saved 
 one is not forgiven on the grounds of an immediate 
 act of mercy, but is forgiven on the grounds of the 
 sacrifice made " once for all " at the Cross. So it is 
 said that God is faithful and just to forgive us our 
 sins, rather than that He is tender anc^ merciful 
 to forgive us our sins. 
 
 The importance of confession of sin and of self- 
 judgment is mentioned also in i Cor. xi., 31, 32. 
 " For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be 
 judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened 
 of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with 
 the world." In considering this important passage, 
 it may be noted : 
 
 I. This Scripture, like that relating to confession 
 of sin, is addressed only to believers. 
 
 II. The believer is first given the opportunity to 
 judge himself before God, and if he fails in voluntary 
 self-judgment, God will judge him by chastisement. 
 
 III. And the chastisement of God is given that 
 His child may not be condemned with the world. 
 In this connection it should be remembered that 
 God is in covenant with His children to the effect 
 that they " shall not be brought into condemnation." 
 '• Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth 
 
148 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath 
 everlasting Ufe, and shall not come into condemna- 
 tion ; but is passed from death unto hfe " (John 
 V. 24). So again, " There is therefore now no 
 condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus " 
 (Rom. viii. i). 
 
 The whole relation between the believer and his God 
 is one of eternal sonship, which cannot be broken ; 
 hence all the judgments of God upon His own are 
 for correction, while His judgments of the unsaved 
 are unto condemnation. " He that believeth on 
 Him is not condemned ; but he that believeth not 
 is condemned already, because he hath not believed 
 on the name of the only begotten Son of God " 
 (John iii. 18). 
 
 The same family relationship of the father to his 
 son is carried through both the Old and the New 
 Testaments. " I will be His father, and He shall be 
 My son. If He commit iniquity, I will chasten Him 
 with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the 
 children of men : but My mercy shall not depart 
 away from Him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put 
 away before thee " (2 Sam. vii. 14, 15). " And 
 David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the 
 Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord 
 also hath put away thy sin ; thou shalt not die. 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 149 
 
 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great 
 occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, 
 the child also that is bom of thee shall surely die " 
 (2 Sam. xii. 13, 14). " To deliver such an one unto 
 Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit 
 may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus " (i Cor. 
 V. 5). " For consider Him that endured such 
 contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be 
 weary and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet 
 resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye 
 have forgotten the exhortation, which speaketh unto 
 you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the 
 chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art 
 rebuked of Him : for whom the Lord loveth He 
 chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiv- 
 eth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you 
 as with sons ; for what son is he whom the Father 
 chasteneth not ? But if ye be without chastisement, 
 whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and 
 not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our 
 flesh which corrected us, and we gave them rever- 
 ence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto 
 the Father of spirits, and live ? For they verily for 
 a few days chastened us after their own pleasure ; 
 but He for our profit that we might be partakers of 
 His holiness. Now no chastening for the present 
 
150 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 seemeth to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless 
 afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of right- 
 eousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 
 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and 
 the feeble knees ; and make straight paths for your 
 feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way ; 
 but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all 
 men, and holiness, without which no man shall see 
 the Lord : looking diligently lest any man fail of 
 the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing 
 up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled " 
 (Heb. xii. 3-15). " Every branch in me that 
 beareth not fruit He taketh it away ; and every 
 branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it 
 may bring forth more fruit " (John xv. 2). 
 
 From this extensive body of Scripture it may be 
 seen that the Christian is privileged to " walk in 
 the light, as He is in the light," which does not 
 necessarily mean a sinless life : but it does mean 
 the humble confession of all the fruits of a sinful 
 nature, and an attitude of willingness to meet every 
 demand of God for the putting away of sin. If the 
 confession of sin and the judgment of self is not 
 willingly entered into, there must be a chastisement 
 from God, lest the believer be condemned with the 
 world. The execution of this chastisement, it 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 151 
 
 would seem, is sometimes committed to Satan 
 (i Cor V. 5 ; I Tim. i. 20). If fruit is not borne after 
 chastisement, then God taketh the branch awa}^ 
 (John XV. 2). This is not a loss of salvation, but is 
 an entire removal from this life and service. 
 
 There are two practical questions which arise in 
 connection with the confession of sin on the part of 
 the believer. First, How may he know what to 
 confess ? and second, To whom should he confess ? 
 
 In answer to the question — How may he know what 
 to confess ? — it may be stated that there are at 
 least three ways by which a Christian may come to 
 know his unlikeness to the mind and character of 
 God. These are : 
 
 I. The written Word of God, the teachings of 
 which he may have neglected or transgressed. 
 " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and 
 is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
 for instruction in righteousness : that the man of 
 God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all 
 good works " (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). 
 
 n. The faithful admonition of the fellow-members 
 of the body of Christ. " Moreover if thy brother 
 shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault 
 between thee and him alone : if he shall hear thee, 
 thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not 
 
152 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 hear thee, then take with thee one or more that 
 in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word 
 may be estabhshed. And if he shall neglect to hear 
 them, tell it to the church : but if he shall neglect 
 to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an 
 heathen man and a publican " (Matt, xviii. 15-17). 
 " Take heed to yourselves : if thy brother trespass 
 against thee, rebuke him ; and if he repent, forgive 
 him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in 
 a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, 
 saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him " (Luke 
 xvii. 3, 4). " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a 
 fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in 
 the spirit of meekness ; considering thyself, lest 
 thou also be tempted " (Gal, vi. i). 
 
 III. The grieved Spirit who indwells him. The 
 grieving of the Spirit will be to the Christian as an 
 inner consciousness of wrong, which he must carefull}' 
 and prayerfully heed. " And grieve not the Holy 
 Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day 
 of redemption " (Eph. iv. 30). 
 
 The child of God will learn to distinguish between 
 the ever-present unlikeness to Christ and the grosser 
 sins that are mentioned in the Bible. " Adultery, 
 fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, 
 witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife. 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 153 
 
 seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, 
 revellings, and such hke " (Gal. v. 19-21). In this 
 passage it will be seen that the sins of hatred, 
 wrath, envy, variance, emulations and strife are 
 mentioned in the same list with adultery, murder 
 and drunkenness. 
 
 If a Christian really purposes to get right with God 
 at any cost, he may well pray the prayer recorded 
 in Psa. cxxxix. 23, 24 : " Search me, O God, and 
 know my heart ; try me, and know my thoughts : 
 and see if there be any wicked way in nie, and lead 
 me in the way everlasting." There is assurance 
 that every unholy thing will be revealed to the one 
 who thus prays. " Let us therefore, as many as be 
 perfect, be thus minded : and if in anything 3'e be 
 otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto 
 you " (Phil. iii. 15). 
 
 In answer to this prayer for light upon the hidden 
 sins in the life, there may be but one sin revealed at 
 a time, and further revelations may be made to 
 depend both upon an honest dealing with the 
 revelation already given and upon a repetition of 
 the same supplication. There is no other way for a 
 Christian to deal with his sin-hindered life. 
 
 The voice of the unseen enemy must also be 
 detected. He is ever present to dissuade the believer 
 
154 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 from taking the necessary step that leads him back 
 into fellowship with God, and into the power and 
 blessing of service. Satan's method is to seek to 
 minimize the hindering sin, to justify the unholy act 
 or position, and to appeal to the personal pride of 
 the Christian, or suggest that a confession of sin 
 would hinder the believer's influence for his Lord, 
 
 The answer to the second question : " To whom 
 should a Christian confess ? " is more simple : 
 
 I. Confession of sin should always be to God ; for 
 He is wronged by the sin of a Christian more than 
 any mortal. The Scripture examples of confession 
 are clear on this point. " Against thee, thee only, 
 have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight " 
 (Psa. li. 4). "I will arise and go to my father, 
 and will say unto Him, Father, I have sinned against 
 heaven, and before Thee, and am no more worthy 
 to be called Thy son : make me as one of thy hired 
 servants " (Luke xv. 18, 19). 
 
 n. Confession should be made to the person or 
 persons who have been in any way wronged by 
 the sin. Here, it may be added, confession does 
 not in any way involve the wrong attitude of others, 
 nor does it demand that the responsibility for sin 
 shall be assumed by a person who is in no way at 
 fault. If there has been an enmity between a 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 155 
 
 Christian and some other person, the Christian is 
 asked to consider and confess only his own wrong 
 state of heart or sinful acts. This may not solve 
 the misunderstanding between the two parties, but 
 it will open the way for the cleansing of the Christian 
 who confesses his sins. 
 
 Again, confession of sin should always be limited 
 to those who have been wronged, whether the sin 
 has been committed against the community, the 
 church or an individual. 
 
 III. Confession should be made to any who have 
 known of the sin ; for they, in a measure, have also 
 been wronged. " And make straight paths for your 
 feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way ; 
 but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all 
 men, and holiness, without which no man shall see 
 the Lord : looking diligently lest any man fail of 
 the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness spring- 
 ing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled ' 
 (Heb. xii. 13-15). " Let us not therefore judge one 
 another any more : but judge this rather, that no 
 man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in 
 his brother's way " (Rom. xiv. 13 ; see also Luke 
 xvii. I, 2 ; I Cor. viii. 7-13). 
 
 The fifty-first Psalm is the record of David's 
 repentance and return to fellowship with God after 
 
T56 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 his great sin, and is an exact statement of the neces- 
 sary steps to be taken by a Christian in returning 
 to his place of joy and power in service. The Psahn 
 opens with a complete confession of sin ; claims the 
 cleansing that is promised ; and ends with the 
 restoration to joy, service, and whole fellowship 
 with God. 
 
 If there is no fruit borne to the glory of God, no 
 fellowship with God, and no joy in the life of a 
 believer, it is evidence that there is need of adjust- 
 ment in that life to the mind and will of God. Such 
 adjustments are the common experience of those 
 who know what it is to walk with God ; for there 
 is no other way to keep that priceless fellowship and 
 blessing. The secret of abiding in such a walk with 
 God is instant confession of every known sin, 
 rather than a delay in, or an entire neglect of the 
 performance of that duty. 
 
 Let it be restated that the believer may not 
 realize a state of sinless perfection ; but he can and 
 must maintain an attitude of willing and instant 
 confession of every known wrong, if he would walk 
 in fellowship with his Lord and minister in the 
 priestly office. 
 
 When the heart is searched before God, and all 
 sin is put away, the believer will " walk in the light 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 157 
 
 as He is in the light " ; for that is the normal, if not 
 the usual, Christian experience. In this relationship 
 there wall be fellowship with the Father and with His 
 Son Jesus Christ, a running over with peace and joy, 
 and unhindered outflow of the love of God through 
 the life. 
 
 Of this outflow of love it may be stated that, as 
 the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the 
 Spirit which is given unto us, the normal experience 
 of every believer should be a Divine sense of the 
 lost condition of unsaved people, which will prompt 
 any necessary sacrifice or effort to win them. The 
 particular person or persons for whom a Christian 
 may be burdened, and the extent of that burden, 
 will be indicated and governed by the sovereign 
 movings of the Spirit of God ; while a sense of the 
 burden, made possible through a cleansing of the 
 life, is the one responsibility of the believer. 
 
 Where the believer-priest is cleansed and is in 
 communion with God, the love of God shed abroad in 
 his heart will create in him a Divine longing for the 
 salvation of the lost and this will be brought about 
 by the Spirit " which is given unto him." He will 
 then, from time to time, be driven to intercession 
 and prayer through his suffering with Christ for 
 the lost. Like Paul he will say : " My heart's 
 
158 TRUE EVANGELISM 
 
 desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might 
 be saved," and this prayer will be an intercession by 
 the Spirit ; " For we know not what to pray for as 
 we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession 
 for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." 
 And since that prayer is indicted by the Spirit, Who 
 knows the mind of God, that prayer will be answered 
 by the going forth of the Spirit in power, wielding 
 His mighty sword to convict of sin, of righteousness, 
 and of judgment. Then where this Divinely wrought 
 vision is received and acted upon by a depositing of 
 all hope and trust in the Lamb of God that taketh 
 away the sin of the world, there will be, by the same 
 Spirit, a marvellous transformation of the whole 
 estate from the power and darkness of Satan into 
 the light, liberty and blessing of the sons of God. 
 
 Thus when the believer-priest is cleansed and in 
 a normal relation to God, the Spirit is free to take 
 every necessary step in the " power of God unto 
 salvation," and the behever will be led in perfect co- 
 operation with Christ in His great unfinished work 
 of seeking the lost. The work is all accompHshed 
 by the Spirit ; for it is the Spirit Who inspires the 
 prayer which is the only relief for the one who is 
 suffering with Christ through the Divinely given 
 burden for the lost ; it is the Spirit Who convinces 
 
CLEANSING OF THE PRIESTS 159 
 
 of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment in answer 
 to prayer which He inspires ; and it is the Spirit 
 Who meets the wiUing soul with the power of God 
 in salvation. 
 
 True evangelism begins, then, with a cleansed 
 priest, and while the human instrument may co- 
 operate in much of the subsequent work in seeking 
 the lost, " It is not by might, nor by power, but by 
 My Spirit saith the Lord." 
 
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