HELPING PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE THE LORD’S SALVATION THROUGH REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS
Question: A man of about eighty years old came to our gospel meeting. Coming from a religious background, he likes to visit with us, but he seems satisfied merely to be saved. How should we go on with a person like this?
Answer: With such an aged person, we first must find out whether or not he has been truly saved. Then if he has been saved, we have to find out whether or not he has the assurance of being saved. If we have some doubt about these two matters, we should endeavor to help this person to realize the Lord’s salvation. However, if he has been saved and has the assurance of salvation, we have to praise and thank the Lord. Then if we have more time, and if we have only this one person in our hands, we can help him further and work on him for the Lord. However, if we do not have much time, if we have more persons to take care of, there may be no need to spend more time with him.
Question: A few months ago a certain person came to the United States from Taiwan and is now learning English. He senses the emptiness of this world and was touched by the gospel. He prayed with us, but he needs more help in the confirmation of salvation. He is very busy now. How should we follow up on him?
Answer: This person needs some real help to pray with repentance, to confess his sins. All the brothers who have contacted him need to pray for him, to remember him before the Lord that the Lord would grant him the repentance and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:31 speaks of repentance and forgiveness of sins. This indicates that at a certain point this kind of person must not only realize that he needs Christ and must not only believe in Christ, but he must repent before the Lord. We cannot cause people to repent. This requires a work of the mercy of God. More or less, we have passed on the knowledge of the gospel to him, but now we have to pray for him, because there is the need of the real work of the Holy Spirit within him to cause him to repent. Then he will confess his sins and experience the forgiveness of sins. At that time his spirit will be made alive. First, all the brothers who have contacted him need to pray for him. Then the next brother who contacts him needs to help him to realize a real repentance and a living confession. This will require some fellowship with him, some kind of talk to help him to realize his need. Then the Holy Spirit will have the ground to make his spirit alive. No doubt he is busy, but when his spirit is made alive, something will energize him from within, and he will spare some time for coming to the meetings. If we do not do this, we will merely help him to be religious; that does not help much.
TAKING THE PROPER WAY TO PREACH THE GOSPEL THROUGH THE CHURCH
If we take the way we have fellowshipped here, the Holy Spirit will work wonderful things. What we do will pave the way and open the door for the Holy Spirit to come in, not only to work on the unbelievers but also to work on us. It is in this way that “one stone will kill two birds”—we will have both the gospel preaching and the building up of the church. This will cause us all to be living. We will spend our life, our time, our energy, and our money for the Lord’s kingdom, winning souls for the Lord. This will be very much blessed by the Lord, and it will influence people.
If we love one another and cooperate in coordination, this will influence the people of the world. If we are one in Christ, the world will believe that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the One sent by God. This will be a real influence on the unbelievers. In this way the doors will gradually open widely and effectively. Therefore, we have to build this up. If we go on in this way, we will see a glorious outcome. We can compare this to an orchard. If we work on it a little to plant and care for it, one day we will have glorious blossoms and bountiful fruit. We are working here to build up an orchard. Many trees will grow up and will bear fruit. This is the proper way for the preaching of the gospel through the church.
We are now on the right course. The only thing we need now is for all the brothers and sisters to continue to work some more. I hope that we all will work by prayer. We should pray for all the names that come to us, remembering them before the Lord. It is not by us that people are saved; it is by the Lord Himself. We simply pave the way; we open the door. We are the channel, the influence, but the living One must be the Lord Himself. He is the only living One, so He must come in. Therefore, we have to pray whenever we receive the names of new contacts, and we should pass their names on to others for them to pray also. I believe that the Lord will honor this kind of prayer. We work through prayer. We do not have any trust in ourselves, in our doing, or in our working. We trust in the Lord Himself, and we simply do our duty to cooperate with Him.
I look to the Lord and pray that we all will learn to go on in this way, in the way of life and in the way of being built up. Then the Lord will be lived out through us and be ministered to others, and they will receive life. More materials will be added to the church, and the church will be built up in a living way. Brothers and sisters, go on in this way. We will see the glorious result in the long run.
(Preaching the Gospel in the Way of Life, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
