The Conditions of Success

I. PERSONAL EXPERIMENTAL KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST

AS SAVIOR.

The first condition of success in personal work,

and in all soul-saving work, is a personal

experimental knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior.

It was because the Apostle Paul could say:

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all

acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners; OF WHOM I AM CHIEF." 1_Timothy

1:15.

that he had power in bringing other men to that

Savior. It is the man who knows Jesus as his own

Savior, who will have a longing to bring others to

this wonderful Savior whom he has himself found;

and it is the man who knows Jesus as his Savior

who will understand how to bring others to the

Savior whom he has found. There are many today who

are trying to save others, who are not saved

themselves. There are others, who, while they are

probably saved men, have such a vague knowledge of

Christ as their own Savior, that they cannot hope

to make the way of salvation clear to others.

A personal, experimental knowledge of Jesus Christ

as a Savior includes three things:

1. A knowledge that our own sins have been

forgiven because Jesus bore them in His own body

on the Cross;

2. A knowledge that the risen Christ is delivering

us daily from the power of sin;

3. An absolute surrender of our wills to Jesus

Christ as our Lord and Master.

II. LIFE IS CLEAN WITHIN AND WITHOUT.

The second condition of success in personal work

is really involved in the first, and is a life

clean within and without. {15}

In 2_Timothy 2:21 we read,

"If a man therefore 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."

If a man is to be used of God, his life must be

clean -- not only his outward life as the world

sees it, but his inward secret life as it is known

only to God and to himself. One who holds on to

any sin of act or thought or affection cannot

expect to have power with a holy God, and

consequently cannot expect to have power for God.

Many a man and woman of great natural gifts, and

unusual knowledge of the Bible, are trying to do

work for God and meet with little or no success.

People wonder why it is that their work is so

devoid of results, but if we knew their secret

life as God knows it, we would understand their

failure; there is sin before God. It has often

been said, and well said, that "God does not

demand a beautiful vessel for His work, but He

does demand a clean one." Many are working on in

disappointment and failure, working hard but

accomplishing nothing, because God sees sin in

their inner life which they will not give up.

III. PERSONAL WORK IS A SURRENDERED LIFE, A LIFE

WHOLLY GIVEN UP TO GOD.

The third condition of success in personal work is

a surrendered life, a life wholly given up to God.

Paul was mighty as a worker for Christ because he

could say,

"For me to live is Christ."

The miracle of the five loaves and two fishes

(Matthew 14:17-20), is deeply significant. The

disciples said unto Jesus, "We have here but five

loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither

to me." We are told with a good deal of emphasis

upon the definite article, He "took THE five

loaves and THE two fishes," that is, He took all

that they had. It was not much, but they brought

it all. Then He blessed it and broke it and there

was an abundance for all. But if one of these

insignificant barley loaves had been kept back, or

one of these little fishes, there would not have

been enough to go around. We, too, may not have

much, it may be only five barley crackers and two

little fishes, but if we will bring them all,

absolutely all, to Christ, He will take them,

bless them and {16} multiply them; but if we

hold back one cracker or one fish, He will not

bless and multiply. Here lies the secret of

failure in many a one who would work for Christ;

there is one cracker kept back, or one little

fish. We talk very lightly of absolute surrender

to God, but it means more than most people who

profess it seem to realize. I would ask each

reader of these pages, have you brought all to

Christ -- absolutely all -- absolutely ALL?

IV. MEN OUT OF CHRIST ARE LOST.

The one who would have success in personal work

must have a deep realization that men out of

Christ are lost. Jesus had this. He said,

"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save

that which was LOST." Luke 19:10.

When He looked upon men living in sin. He knew and

realized the utter ruin of their condition. The

same thing was true of Paul. We read in Acts 20:31

that he "ceased not to warn every one night and

day WITH TEARS." He knew that if one had not a

saving knowledge of Jesus Christ he was eternally

lost. This overwhelming conviction that men and

women out of Christ are eternally lost, seems to

be very rare in our day, and this is one great

reason why so few have real power in soul-winning.

How can we get this realization?

1. First of all, by studying what the Bible has to

say about the present standing and condition and

future destiny of those who are out of Christ.

2. By believing what the Bible says upon these

points without trying to tone it down, and make it

fit in with the popular notions of the day.

3. By dwelling upon these truths about the lost

condition of men out of Christ until they take

hold upon our hearts and we realize their meaning.

These things are not pleasant to think about, but

they are true, and we ought to think about them

until our souls are on fire to save men from the

awful condition of utter ruin in which they now

are, and from the destiny of eternal shame and

despair to which they are hurrying.

V. LOVE.

The fifth condition of success in personal work is

love. Nothing wins like love. In the first place

it leads to untiring effort for {17} the

salvation of others. If I really love men, I

cannot bear the thought that they should be lost

forever, and I will be willing to work day and

night to save them from such an awful destiny. In

the second place, love attracts others to us.

There is nothing so irresistible as love. It is

Jesus Christ lifted up on the Cross, a revelation

of God's love and of His own love to man, that

draws all men unto Him (John 12:32). Men will not

put you off if they really believe that you love

them, but they will never believe that you love

them unless you really do. We need not only to

love to men, but love to Christ. It was the love

of Christ that constrained Paul to his untiring

efforts to bring men to a knowledge of Christ. The

great men and women of Christian history have been

the men and women who have had a great love to

Christ, men and women whose hearts were all aglow

with love to the glorious Son of God.

But how can we get love? First of all, by dwelling

upon Christ's love to us.

"We love him, because he first loved us." 1_John

4:19.

We shall never appreciate Christ's love to us

until we see it against the black background of

our own sin. It is the one who is forgiven much

who loves much (Luke 7:47). The one who has never

been brought to a deep realization of his own

sinfulness before God will have no warmth of love

to that Savior who, by His own atoning death on

the Cross, redeemed him from the awful depth to

which he had sunk. The Apostle Paul realized that

he was the chief of sinners, and that Jesus loved

him and gave Himself for him, so he was full of

love to Jesus Christ.

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all

acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners OF WHOM I AM CHIEF." 2_Timothy

1:15.

"I am crucified with Christ, nonetheless I live;

yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life

which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith

of the Son of God who LOVED ME, AND GAVE HIMSELF

FOR ME." Galatians 2:20.

If we are to have love to Christ and love to men,

the Holy Ghost must impart it. The first fruit of

the Spirit is love:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace,

longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith."

Galatians 5:22.

If we will look to the Holy Spirit to do His whole

work in our hearts, He will soon fill them with

love to Christ and love to our fellow men. {18}

VI. PERSEVERANCE.

The sixth condition of success in personal work is

perseverance. No work requires so much patience

and perseverance as soul-winning. Men are not

usually won to Christ in a day. You must hold on

to men day after day, week after week, month after

month, and if need be, year after year. You must

not give up even though you seem to make

absolutely no headway at first, and even though

you seem to do more harm than good. When you start

out to lead a man to Christ, keep after that man

until he is saved, no matter how long it takes.

Study how to get at men who are unreachable. Men

who cannot be reached in one way can in another.

There are very few men in the world to whose

hearts there is not an open door somewhere, if

only we will search diligently until we find it.

If we cannot get in at the door, perhaps we can

break up the roof and get in that way. Any one who

wishes to win souls at the rate of one every

fifteen minutes had better go into some other

business. Take time; never give up; and do

thorough work. I waited and watched fifteen long

years to get my chance with one man. Never a day

passed for all those fifteen years that I did not

speak to God about that man. At last my chance

came, and it was my privilege to lead him to

Christ. He afterwards became a preacher of the

Gospel, and is now in heaven. I was with him the

day before he died, and shall never forget that

day as long as I live. When you undertake to bring

a man to Christ, never give up.

VII. PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE.

The seventh condition of success in personal work

is a practical knowledge of the Bible.

"Every Scripture inspired of God is also

profitable for teaching, for reproof, for

correction, for instruction with is in

righteousness: that the man of God may be

complete, FURNISHED COMPLETELY UNTO EVERY GOOD

WORK." 2_Timothy 3:16-17 RV.

In the Bible is all the truth we need in dealing

with men. The Word of God is the only instrument

that God has appointed for the salvation of men,

and the only instrument He honors is the Word. It

is the Word that produces conviction of sin. It is

the Word that regenerates. It is the Word that

produces faith: {19}

"Now when they heard this, they were PRICKED IN

THEIR HEART, and said unto Peter and to the rest

of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we

do?" Acts 2:37.

"Being BORN AGAIN, not of corruptible seed but of

incorruptible, by THE WORD OF GOD, which liveth

and abideth for ever." 1_Peter 1:23.

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by

THE WORD OF GOD." Romans 10:17.

If then we are to be used in soul-winning, we must

know the Bible. There are five texts that ought to

sink deep into the heart of every personal worker.

They are:

1. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing

by THE WORD OF GOD." Romans 10:17.

2. "The seed is THE WORD OF GOD." Luke 8:11.

3. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but

of incorruptible, by THE WORD OF GOD, which liveth

and abideth for ever." 1_Peter 1:23.

4. "And take the helmet of salvation, and the

sword of the Spirit, WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD."

EPHESIANS 6:17.

5. "Is not MY WORD LIKE AS A FIRE? said the Lord:

and LIKE A HAMMER that breaketh the rock in

pieces?" Jeremiah 23:29.

The personal worker who depends upon any

instrument other than the Word of God is doomed to

failure. But we must have a practical knowledge of

the Bible, that is we must know how to use it for

definite results. A great many men have a large

theoretical knowledge of the Bible, but no

practical knowledge. They do not know how to use

the Bible so as to accomplish anything definite by

its use. In an inquiry meeting one evening, I

asked one of the best Bible scholars in America to

speak to an inquirer and show her the way of life,

and he whispered in my ear, "I don't know how to

do that." A small practical knowledge of the Bible

is better in personal work than a large

theoretical knowledge. A practical knowledge of

the Bible involves four things:

1. A knowledge how to so use the Bible as to show

men, and make men realize, their need of a Savior.

2. A knowledge of how to use the Bible so as to

show men Jesus as just the Savior who meets their

need.

3. A knowledge of how to use the Bible so as to

show men how to make Jesus their own Savior.

4. A knowledge of how to use the Bible so as to

meet the difficulties that stand in the way of

their accepting Christ.

A large part of the following pages will be

devoted to imparting this particular kind of Bible

knowledge. {20}

VIII. PRAYER.

The eighth condition of success in personal work

is prayer. God honors prayer. In nothing does He

honor it more than in the matter of soul-winning.

The one who is to be much used of God in

soul-winning, must spend much time in prayer.

There are four things for which we must especially

pray:

1. We must ask God to bring to us, or us to, the

right persons. We cannot speak with every one. If

we attempt it, we will spend much time in speaking

where we can do no good, that we might have used

in speaking where we could have accomplished

something for Christ. God alone knows the one to

whom He intends us to speak, and we must ask Him

to point him out to us, and expect Him to do it.

"Then THE SPIRIT SAID UNTO PHILIP, Go near, and

join thyself to THIS chariot." Acts 8:29.

2. We should ask God to give us the right message

in each case where we do speak with any one. We

can learn much by studying what is the right

message for any given class of men, but after all

our study, we must look directly to God for the

right message in each individual case. Many cases

will baffle us, but no case will baffle God. We

need and must have the direct guidance of the Holy

Spirit in each individual case. Every experienced

worker could testify to many instances in which

God has led him to use some text of Scripture that

he would not otherwise have used, but which proved

to be just the one needed.

3. We must pray God to give power to that which He

has given us to say. We need not only a message

from God, but power from God to send the message

home. Most 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 man does

not accept Christ. At last it dawns upon them that

they are trying to convert the man in their own

strength, and they lift a short but humble prayer

to God for His strength, and in a very little

while this "very difficult case" has settled the

matter and is rejoicing in Christ.

4. We must pray to God to carry on the work after

we have done everything in our power, and our work

has come to an end. {21} After having done that

which seems to have been our whole duty in any

given instance, whatever may have been the

apparent result of our work, whether successful or

unsuccessful, we should definitely commit the case

to God in prayer. If there is anything the average

worker in this hurrying age needs to have

impressed upon him, it is the necessity of much

prayer. By praying more, we will not work any

less, and we will accomplish vastly more.

IX. BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST.

The ninth condition of success in personal work is

the baptism with the Holy Ghost. In Acts 1:8 we

read,

"But ye SHALL RECEIVE POWER, after that the Holy

Ghost is come upon you."

The supreme condition of power in the apostolic

church was the definite baptism with the Holy

Ghost. The supreme condition of success in

soul-winning is the same today. Many in these days

are trying to prove that there is no such thing as

a special baptism with the Holy Spirit, but a

candid and careful study of the Acts of the

Apostles will show that there is. Very many in our

day also know by blessed experience that the

baptism with the Holy Spirit is a present day

reality. One ounce of believing experience along

this line is worth whole tons of unbelieving

exegesis, no matter how subtle and learned it may

be. There are thousands of men and women in this

and other lands who have been brought out of a

place of powerlessness into a place of power in

the Lord's service, through meeting the conditions

plainly laid down in the Bible for receiving the

Holy Ghost. This baptism with the Holy Spirit is

for every child of God, and the one who would be

largely used of God in personal work must get it

at any cost.