Have you ever wondered why are those street evangelists always telling you to pray or believe only God can help you? Meanwhile, you feel fine, life is good, believe that God, your Creator is to blame for all the big mess this world is in. So why do you need religion to rock the boat?
Watchman Nee who wrote the well loved book, read by millions, the Normal Christian LIFE shares more showers of blessings for despairing people. Borrow here read free
https://archive.org/details/whatshallthisman0000watc
What Shall This Man Do? "Catching Men"
STORY FROM LAST CENTURY
As several of the incidents recounted earlier have indicated, we should encourage every sinner to kneel down with an honest heart and pray, tellin: the Lord frankly where he stands.
As Christians we are told that we must pray in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 14. 145,15. 16;:16. 23, 24), by which, of course, we understand not a mere formula of words but an act of faith in Him.
But with ‘sinners it is different, for there are prayers which God will hear that are not uttered in the name of Jesus. In Acts'10. 4 the angel says to Cornelius: "Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up for'a memorial before God.’ If there is a sincere cry from the heart, God hears. A sinnners heart can touch god.
A striking example of one who came to God without even wanting to be saved is afforded by the‘experience of an English lady of the last century.’ One of a wealthy family of good social position, she was well educated; a good. musician and an accomplished dancer; and she.was both young and beautiful.
One night there, was a ball to ‘which she was invited.. She had a wonderful ball dress specially made for the occasion, and that night she was the one who compelled most attention and was most sought ‘after by all.
It was, one‘ might say a great triumph for her. After the ball was over shé went home; took' off her ball dress and cast it aside. "She flung, herself down and said, ‘O God, I have everything I want, wealth, popularity, beauty, youth—and yet I am absolutely miserable and unsatisfied.
Christians would tell me that this is a proof that the world is empty and hollow and that Jesus could save me and give me peace and joy and satisfaction. But I don’t want the satisfaction that He could give.
I don’t want to be saved. I hate You and I hate Your peace and joy. But, O God, give me what I don’t want and if You can, make me happy!" It is recorded that she got up from her knees a saved woman, and became one who knew the Lord in a deep way.
THE HELPER NEAR AT HAND
We have said that a cry to God from the heart is sufficient. In the words of Joel, quoted by Peter: “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ How is this possible?
Because God has fulfilled the other promise (quoted by Peter from the same prophecy) that: ‘I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all flesh’ (Acts 4. 17, 21). Because the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all mankind, a cry is enough.
No preacher of the Gospel is of much use unless he believes this, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and His proximity to the sinner, is vital to our preaching. God in the heavens is too far away; He is, as it were, out of reach of man.
But to the Romans Paul writes: “Say not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down) The word is 'igh thee ....For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ (Rom. 10. 6, 8, 13).6
I always believe that the Holy Spirit is upon a man when to teach him. I do not mean to say that the Spirit is within the ears of unbelievers, but that He is outside, What is He doing? He is waiting, waiting to bring Christ into their hearts.’
The Holy Spirit is waiting to enter the heart of the hearer of the. Gospel. He is like the light. Open the window-shutters even a little, and it will flood in and illumine the interior.
Let there be but a cry from the heart to God and at that moment the Spirit will enter and begin His transforming work of conviction and repentance and faith - the miracle of new birth.
Not only had Peter observed the miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit upon his hearers as he preached to them in the home of Cornelius; he had also, of course, his personal experience of the Spirit’s work in his own heart.
‘As I began to speak,’ he reports, ‘the Holy Ghost fell on them, even as on us at the beginning’ (Acts 11. 15).
Perhaps the biggest condition of success in bringing men to Christ is to remember that the same Holy Spirit, who came to our help the hours of darkness, is at hand waiting to enter and illuminate their hearts also. Why? You make good the work of Salvation to which, in crying to God, they have opened the door.
Apparently Hopeless Case
I had a friend who was preaching I a certain city. A woman sought him out and he talked to her and preached Christ to her. He spoke of her sin and of the punishment for sin and of the Lord who came to save.
But the woman said to him, "I don't think you know how nice sin is. You have never tasted its delights. I like to sin. Life would be empty otherwise."
After a while my friend suggested that they pray. The woman said, 'What could one so sinful as I say to your God? I cannot find repentance in my heart. I have nothing I could say that would be acceptable to Him.'
But my friend replied: 'My God understands. He is near to you and He can hear my prayer. So you say to Him just what you have said to me.'
She was amazed for until now she had only heard the kind of formal prayer where you have to say what you do not believe, for politeness' sake!
Then he showed her the verse in Acts 11 where it says of the Gentiles on whom the Holy Spirit fell that God 'granted' them repentance unto life.
So she prayed and told it all to the God who understands sinners.
'Though I do not want to repent', she pleaded, 'O God, help me and grant me repentance.' And He did! She open to His Spirit's illumination the windows of her heart and she arose from her knees a saved woman.
Here then is a principle that because Jesus is the Friend of sinners and because the Holy Spirit undertakes to do what men themselves cannot do, therefore sinners ca come to God JUST AS THEY ARE.
They do not need to change at all and it is not necessary for them to find in themselves the ability to do anything.
If a man asks you to tell him the Gospel of salvation and afterwards he says to you, 'Sir, I want to be saved,' and on your telling him to believe, he replies, 'I can't believe', what will you do?
Will you say, 'I'm afraid you are no good. You go aay and come back when you can believe? Are you thereby asking him to do something towards his salvation?
Another man says, 'I don't want to be saved!'. What will you do then? Will you send him off to wait until some difficulty or sorrow drives him to God? May you not thereby be closing the door to him? Why need we lay down so many conditions for the sinner before they can be saved?
Surely if Jesus is the Frind of sinners all men can come as they are and because His Spirit is at hand to work, we can count on Him to do in them what they themselves can never do.
During the twenty years that I have preached the Gospel in China, many of course have initially understood the way of salvation, many have first of all been convicted of sin, have repented, have believed - and they have come to Christ on that basis and been saved.
But, praise God, there have also been many others who though they did not in the first place repent or believe, or even consciously desire to be saved, yet were persuaded to come honestly to the Lord and make personal contact with Him and in manu of these, too, understanding, conviction, repentance and faith have followed and they have as a result been gloriously saved.
This gives me the confidence to state unequivocally that there is not one other condition necessary to being saved except that of being a sinner and being honest enough to say so to the Lord.
That condition is ENOUGH to allow the Holy Spirit to begin His convicting and transforming work.
WE have spoken of those who won't repent and of those who cannot believe. WE have spoke of those who have no desire for salvation and of those who think they are too bad to be saved. We have spoken of those who are confused and cannot understand the Gospel and of those who understand but will not acknowledge the claim of God upon them.
May I tell you that it is yet possible for any of these to be saved? I have met all of these six types of people and many of them have been saved on the spot.
And in addition I have ,yet a seventh type - those who don't believe there is a God at all and I have dared to say even to them that do not need first to substitute theism for atheism.
They can be saved as they are, even without belief in God at all, if they will be honest about it.
Some will at once rejoin, 'But what about Hebrew 11.6? Surely that verse demands faith in God's existence at least. Well, there was a time when I should certainly have said so, but one day I learned afresh how infinitely far God is prepared to go to meet the son returning from the far country.It happened in the following way,
I was once holding evangelistic meetings in a college in South China. There I met an old friend, in fact an old school fellow. He had been in America and was now in thiscollege as Professor of Psychology.
He had made up his mind about religion and had been in the habit of telling his students that he could explain all so-called conversions on purely psychological grounds.
Before the meeting began I went to call ono him and preached to him Christ.
Out of politeness he had to listen for a while, but finally he smiled and said, 'It is no good preaching to me. I don't believe there is a God'.
I said, perhaps a little rashly, 'Even if you don't believe in a God, you pray. You will discover something.' He laughed.
'Pray? when I don't even believe in a god!' he exclaimed. 'How could I?'
Then I said, 'Though you cannot find a ladder up to God it doesn't alter the fact that He has come down to find you. You pray!'
He laughed again but I still urged him to do so. I said, 'I have a prayer that even you can pray. Say this: 'O God if there is no God then my prayer is useless and I have prayed in vain: but if there is a God, then somehow make me know it.'
He replied, 'But what has this hypothetical God got to do with Jesus Christ? Where does Christianity come in?'
I told him just to add a sentence to his prayer asking God to show him this also.
I explained that I was not asking him to admit there was a God; I was not asking him to admit anything. But, that there was one thing and one thing only that I asked of him and that was that he must be honest.
His heart must be in his prayer. It must not just be an empty repeating of words. I wasnot sure that I had accomplished anything, but when I went away I left with him a Bible.
The next day, at the end of the first meeting of my campaign, I asked any who had been saved to stand up and the first one to do so was this professor. I went up to him afterward and asked him, ‘Has anything happened?”
He replied, ‘Much. I am saved.
‘How did it happen?’ I asked.
He replied, ‘After you went I picked up the Bible and opened it at John’s Gospel.
My eye caught the words: “The day after’, ‘the next day’, ‘the day after’ and I thought to myself, this man knows l what he is talking about. He saw it all. It is like a diary. After that I thought about what you had said to me and I tried to see if there was any catch in it - if you were getting at me in any way.
I went over it point by point and could see no flaw in it. It all seemed perfectly sound. Why should I not pray as you suggested? But suddenly the thought came to me: What if there is in fact a God? Where do I stand then? Having told my students that there is nothing in religion at all, and that psychology accounts for everything, am I willing to admit to them that I have been wrong all the time?
I weighed this up carefully, but nevertheless I felt I had to be honest about it. For if, after all, there really was a God, I would be a fool not to believe in him! ‘So I knelt down and prayed. As I prayed I just knew there was a God. How I knew, I cannot explain, but I just knew it!
Then I remembered the Gospel of John that I had read and how it seemed to be written by an eye-witness, and I knew that if that was so, then Jesus was the Son of God—and I was saved !’
Oh, it is wonderful what our God can do. When you go out preaching the Gospel, never lose sight of the fact that He is a living God, ready to act in mercy. Even if men could be a little better than they are it would not help matters, and if they . were much worse it would not hinder.
All He looks for is ‘an, honest and good heart’. And never forget that the Holy — Spirit is present in power to move men’s hearts to God. Have faith in Him in respect of every soul with whom you have to deal.
Alone you may not be much of a fisherman, but cooperating with the Spirit of God, you may have confidence enough to land the biggest fish.
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