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
- Bible
- Read the Bible
- Bible Versions
- Verse of the Day
- Reading Plans
- Verses by Topic
- Books of the Bible
- Bible Images
- Study
- Commentaries
- Concordances
- Dictionaries
- Encyclopedias
- Sermons
- Bible Atlas & Maps
- BP Wiki
- Devotionals
- Today's Devotionals
- Light of the World
- All Devotionals
- Inspirational Quotes
- More
- Picture Quotes
- Videos
- Inspirational
- Bible Study
- What The Bible Says
- Bible Q&As
- Daily Bread
- Bible by Genre
- Bible Stories
- Random Bible Verse
- Community
- Store
THE CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS
By R.A. Torrey