How to Bring Men to Christ: What the Bible Tells Us About Fruitful Evangelism to Unique Individuals

By Reuben A. Torrey

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did exhort you by us; we beseech you in Christ’s name, be ye reconciled to God. – 2 Corinthians 5:20

How to Bring Men to Christ sheds light on how to reach the lost with the gospel – not new light, but tested and true light. Reuben A. Torrey will show you how to use appropriate, applicable Bible passages to reach every kind of lost individual. Regardless of the angle the lost may use to try to justify why they remain in their sad condition, Torrey offers Scripture passages and biblical principles that have proven to reach even the most stubborn of the unsaved.

This is an excellent resource and training manual to equip individuals and groups to share the gospel with the lost.

Some of the topics covered in this book:
* Dealing with yourself first
* Dealing with the indifferent or careless
* Dealing with people who desire to be saved, but do not know how
* Dealing with those who desire to be saved but who have difficulties
* Dealing with those who entertain false hopes
* Dealing with those who lack assurance and dealing with backsliders
* Dealing with professed skeptics and infidels
* Dealing with the complaining
* Dealing with those who wish to put off a decision until some other time
* Dealing with the willful and the deceived
* The baptism of the Holy Spirit

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aneko Press
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781622456147

Reuben A. Torrey

Reuben Archer Torrey traveled all over the world leading evangelistic tours, preaching to the unsaved. It is believed that more than one hundred thousand were saved under his preaching. Torrey married Clara Smith in 1879, with whom he had five children. In 1908, he helped start the Montrose Bible Conference in Pennsylvania, which continues today. He became dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (now Biola University) in 1912, and was the pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles from 1915 to 1924. Torrey continued speaking all over the world and holding Bible conferences. He died in Asheville, North Carolina, on October 26, 1928.

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How to

Bring Men

to Christ

What the Bible Tells Us About Fruitful Evangelism to Unique Individuals

Reuben A. Torrey

Contents

Preface

Ch. 1: Dealing with Yourself First

Ch. 2: How to Begin

Ch. 3: Dealing with the Indifferent or Careless

Ch. 4: Dealing with People Who Desire to Be Saved, but Do Not Know How

Ch. 5: Dealing with Those Who Desire to Be Saved but Who Have Difficulties

Ch. 6: Dealing with Those Who Entertain False Hopes

Ch. 7: Dealing with Those Who Lack Assurance and Dealing with Backsliders

Ch. 8: Dealing with Professed Skeptics and Infidels

Ch. 9: Dealing with the Complaining

Ch. 10: Dealing with Those Who Wish to Put Off a Decision until Some Other Time

Ch. 11: Dealing with the Willful and the Deceived

Ch. 12: Some Additional Hints and Suggestions

Ch. 13: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Reuben A. Torrey – A Short Biography

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Preface

This book was written because it seemed to be needed. The author has been repeatedly requested by pastors, YMCA secretaries, Christian workers, and his own students to write down the substance of what he has said at conferences, summer sessions, and in the classroom regarding personal work. The time has come to give in to these requests.

Never before in the history of the church have there been so many people who desire to win others to Christ. The good work done by the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor is in no other way so evident as in the many thousands of young people in this land who today are on fire with a desire to win souls. But while they desire to do this work, many do not know how.

The purpose of this little book is to tell them. There are several well-known and valuable manuals of texts to be used with those seeking to be saved, but this book is intended not only to point out passages to be used, but also to show how to use them, illustrating this use by cases from actual experience. It is hoped that from a careful study of these pages, any sincere Christian can learn how to be effective in bringing others to the Savior.

Chapter 1

Dealing with Yourself First

There are certain general conditions that are absolutely essential and must be fulfilled in order to have real success in bringing people to Christ. These conditions, fortunately, are few and simple, and everyone is able to meet these conditions.

You must be truly and thoroughly converted. The person who desires real success in bringing people to Christ must himself be a thoroughly converted person. Jesus said to Peter, When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren (Luke 22:32). Peter was in no position to help his brothers and sisters until he himself, after his cowardly denial, had turned again to his Lord with his whole heart.

If we desire to bring others to Jesus, we must turn away from all sin, worldliness, and selfishness with our whole heart, yielding to Jesus the absolute lordship over our thoughts, purposes, and actions. If there is anything in which we are seeking to have our own way and not letting Him have His own way in our lives, our power will be crippled and people will be lost who might have been saved.

This principle can be applied to the many questions that come up in the life of every young Christian as to whether he should or should not do certain things. Each individual can settle these things for himself if he has Christ’s honor and not his own pleasure uppermost in his mind, and if he looks honestly to God to guide him, asking what will most honor and glorify God.

You must have a love for others and a desire for souls to be brought to Jesus. The person who desires real success in bringing people to Christ must have a love for souls. He must have a longing for the salvation of the lost. If we have no love for souls, our efforts will be mechanical and powerless. We may know how to approach people and know what to say to them, but there will be no power in what we say and it will not touch the heart. But if, like Paul, we have great sorrow and continual pain in our hearts for the unsaved (Romans 9:2), there will be a sincerity in our tone and manner that will affect even those who are the least concerned about their souls. Furthermore, if we have a love for souls, we will be constantly watching for opportunities to speak with the unsaved. We will find opportunities on the street, in the store, in the home, at work, and in many other places that we otherwise would not have noticed.

But how are we to get love for souls? This question is easily answered. First of all, a love for souls, like every other grace of Christian character, is the work of the Holy Spirit. If, then, we are conscious that we do not have that love for souls that we should have, the first thing to do is to go to God and humbly confess this lack in our lives, asking Him by His Holy Spirit to supply that which we so desperately need, and expecting Him to do it.

And this is the confidence that we have in God, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we also know that we have the petitions that we asked of him (1 John 5:14-15).

My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Secondly, Jesus Christ had an intense love for souls.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that didst kill the prophets and stone those who are sent unto thee, how often I desired to gather thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37).

The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).

Intimate and constant companionship with Jesus will provide to our lives this grace that was so prominent in His life.

In the third place, feelings are the result of thoughts. If we desire any certain feeling in our lives, we should focus on the thoughts that are beneficial in producing that feeling. If any saved person will dwell long enough upon the danger and misery of anyone out of Christ and the worth of his soul in God’s sight as seen in the death of God’s Son to save him, a feeling of intense desire for that person’s salvation is almost certain to follow.

In the fourth place, reflection upon our own broken and unhappy condition without Christ and the great sacrifice that He made to save us is sure to fill our hearts with a desire to bring others to the Savior we have found.

You must know and love the Word of God. The person who desires real success in bringing people to Christ must have a working knowledge of the Bible. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (see Ephesians 6:17). It is the instrument God uses to convict of sin, to reveal Christ, and to bring people new life. If we desire to work together with God, the Bible is the instrument upon which we must rely and that we must use in bringing people to Jesus.

We must know how to use the Bible so that we can:

show people their need of a Savior;

show people that Jesus is the Savior they need;

show them how to make this Savior their own Savior;

meet the difficulties that stand in the way of their accepting Jesus Christ.

A large part of the following pages will be devoted to providing this knowledge.

You must be a person of much prayer. The person who desires real success in bringing people to Christ must pray much. Solid work in soul winning must be accompanied by prayer at every step.

We must pray to God to lead us to the right people to approach. God does not intend for us to speak to everyone we meet. If we try to do so, we will waste much valuable time in speaking to those whom we cannot help, and we will not do any good in speaking with them when we might have been speaking to those to whom we could have done much good. God alone knows the ones with whom He intends us to speak, and we must ask Him to point them out to us. We must expect Him to do it, just as He did for Philip. The Spirit said unto Philip, Go near and join thyself to this chariot (Acts 8:29).

We must pray to God to show us just what to say to those to whom He leads us. After all our study of the passages to be used in dealing with the various kinds of people, we will need God’s guidance in each specific case. Every experienced Christian worker will testify to the many times in which God has led them to use some text of Scripture that they would not otherwise have used, but which proved to be just the one needed.

We must pray to God to give power to that which He has given us to say. Not only do we need a message from God, but we also need power from God to send the message home to the person’s heart. Most Christian workers have to learn this lesson by humiliating experiences. They sit down beside an unsaved person and reason and plead and bring forth texts from the Word of God, but the person does not accept Christ.

At last it dawns upon them that they were trying to convert the person in their own strength. They then say a humble and earnest prayer to God for His strength. God hears, and in a short time this person who was once thought to be a very difficult case has settled the matter of his sin and is rejoicing in Christ.

We must pray to God to carry on the work after our work has come to an end. After having done that which seems to have been our whole duty in any given instance, whatever may have been the apparent outcome of our work, whether successful or unsuccessful, we should definitely commit the case to God in prayer. If there is anything the average Christian worker in this hurrying age needs to have impressed upon him, it is the necessity of more prayer. By praying more, we will not work any less, but we will accomplish much more.

You must be filled with the Holy Spirit. The person who desires real success in bringing people to Christ must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ye shall receive the virtue of the Holy Spirit which shall come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth, Jesus said to His disciples (Acts 1:8). The greatest condition of soul-winning power is the same today, we must have the Holy Spirit before we can be effective witnesses. A later chapter will be given to a study of what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is and how any Christian can obtain it.

Chapter 2

How to Begin

When God has led us to think that He wants us to make an effort to lead some specific person to Christ, the first question that confronts us is, How should I begin? If the person has gone forward after a church service or has remained to talk after a prayer meeting or Sunday school, it is comparatively easy. You can then ask him if he is a Christian, if he wants to follow Jesus, why he is not a Christian, or some other direct and simple question that will inevitably lead to a conversation along this line.

But if the person is one whom you know outside of church or who perhaps is a complete stranger to you, it might not at first appear as simple, yet it is not so very difficult. You can talk with the person about some general topic or on something suggested by recent events, and soon bring