DEALING WITH THOSE WHO ENTERTAIN FALSE HOPES
1. Among those who entertain false hopes, perhaps the largest class are
_those who expect to be saved by their righteous lives_. These persons
are easily known by such sayings as these, “I am doing the best I can.”
“I do more good than evil.” “I am not a great sinner.” “I have never
done anything very bad.” Gal. iii. 10, is an excellent passage to use,
for it shows that all those who are trusting in their works are under
the curse of the law and that there is no hope on the ground of the law
for any one who does not “continue in all things which are written in
the book of the law to do them.” James ii. 10 is also useful. Gal. ii.
16, and Romans iii. 19, 20 are very effective by showing that by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God’s sight. Matt.
v. 20—All these passages show the kind of righteousness God demands and
that no man’s righteousness comes up to God’s standard, and that if a
man wishes to be saved he must find some other means of salvation than
by his own deeds. It is sometimes well in using these passages to say to
the inquirer: “You do not understand the kind of righteousness that God
demands or you would not talk as you do. Now let us turn to His word and
see what kind of righteousness it is that God demands.” There is another
way of dealing with this class, by the use of such passages as Luke xvi.
15; Rom. ii. 16; 1 Sam. xvi. 7. These passages show that God looks at
the heart. Hold the inquirer right to that point. Every man when brought
face to face with that, must tremble because he knows that whatever his
outward life may be, his heart will not stand the scrutiny of God’s eye.
No matter how selfrighteous a man is, we need not be discouraged for
somewhere in the depths of every man’s heart is the consciousness of sin
and all we have to do is to work away until we touch that point. Every
man’s conscience is on our side. Matt. xxii. 37, 38 can be used when a
man says “I am doing the best I can, or doing more good than evil.” Say
to him, “You are greatly mistaken about that; so far from doing more
good than evil, do you know that you have broken the first and greatest
of God’s laws?” Then show him the passage. Heb. xi. 6, John vi. 29, show
that the one thing that God demands is faith and that without that it is
impossible to please God, and John xvi. 9, shows that unbelief in Christ
is the greatest sin. John iii. 36, shows that the question of eternal
life depends solely upon a man’s accepting or rejecting Jesus Christ,
and Heb. x. 28, 29, that the sin which brings the heaviest punishment is
that of treading under foot the Son of God. Before using this latter
passage, it would be well to say, “You think you are very good, but do
you know that you are committing the most awful sin in God’s sight which
a man can commit?” If he replies, “No,” then say “Well let me show you
from God’s word that you are;” then turn to this passage and read it
with great solemnity and earnestness.
2. Another class of those who entertain false hopes, are _those who
think_ “_God is too good to damn anyone_.”
When any one says this, you can reply, “We know nothing of God’s
goodness but what we learn from the Bible, and we must go to that book
to find out the character of God’s goodness. Let us turn to Romans ii.
2, 4, 5.” Having read the verses, you can say something like this, “Now,
my friend, you see that the purpose of God’s goodness is to lead you to
repentance, not to encourage you in sin and when we trample upon his
goodness, then we are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” John viii. 21, 24 and iii.
36, will show the man that however good God may be that he will reject
all who reject His Son. Still another way to deal with these men is by
showing them from John v. 40; 2 Peter iii. 9‒11 or Ezek. xxxiii. 11,
that it is not so much God who damns men as men who damn themselves in
spite of God’s goodness because they will not come to Christ and accept
the life freely offered. You can say “God is not willing that any should
perish and he offers life freely to you, but there is one difficulty in
the way. Let us turn to John v. 40, and see what the difficulty is.”
Then read the passage: “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life,”
and say, “My friend here is the difficulty, you won’t come; life is
freely offered to you but if you will not accept it, you must perish.”
2 Peter ii. 4‒6, 9; Luke xiii. 3, show how the “good” God deals with
persons who persist in sin. Sometimes this last passage can be
effectively used in this way: “You say God is too good to damn any one.
Now let us see what God Himself says in his word.” Then turn to the
passage and read, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
Repeat the passage over and over again until it has been driven home.
3. A third class of those who entertain false hopes, are _those who say
“I am trying to be a Christian.”_ John i. 12, will show them that it is
not “trying” to be a Christian or “trying” to live a better life or
“trying” to do anything that God asks of us, but simply to receive Jesus
Christ, who did it all, and you can ask the inquirer, “will you now stop
your trying and simply receive Jesus as Saviour?” Acts xvi. 31, shows
that God does not ask us to _try_ what we can do but _trust_ Jesus and
what He has done and will do. Romans iii. 23‒25, shows that we are not
to be justified by trying to do, “but freely by His grace, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus” on the simple condition of faith.
4. Still another class of those who entertain false hopes are _those who
say_, “_I feel I am going to Heaven_,” or “_I feel I am saved_.” Show
them from John iii. 36 that it is not a question of what they feel but
what God says, and what God says distinctly in his word is that, “He
that believeth not on the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him.” One afternoon I was talking with a lady who a few weeks
before had lost her only child. At the time of the child’s death she had
been deeply interested, but her serious impressions had largely left
her. I put to her the question, “Do you not wish to go where your little
one has gone?” She replied at once “I expect to.” “What makes you think
you will?” I said. She replied, “I feel so, I feel that I will go to
heaven when I die.” I then asked her, if there was anything she could
point to in the word of God which gave her a reason for believing that
she was going to heaven when she died. “No,” she said, “there is not.”
Then she turned and questioned me, saying, “Do you expect to go to
heaven when you die?” “Yes,” I replied, “I know I shall.” “How do you
know it?” she said. “Have you any word from God for it?” “Yes,” I
answered and turned her to John iii. 36. She was thus led to see the
difference between a faith that rested upon her feelings and a faith
that rested upon the word of God.
Luke xviii. 9‒14, can also be used in the following way; you can say
“there was a man in the Bible who felt he was all right, but was all
wrong. Let me read you about him.” Then read about the Pharisee who was
so sure that he was all right, but who was all the time an unforgiven
sinner; and make the inquirer see how untrustworthy our feelings are and
what the ground of assurance is, viz: God’s word. Prov. xiv. 12 can also
be used as showing that “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man
but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
5. The last class of those who entertain false hopes, are _those who say
they are saved though they are leading sinful lives_. In the case of
many forms of sin, a good passage to use is 1 Cor. vi. 9‒10. 1 John ii.
29 will also in many cases sweep away this false hope. 1 John v. 4‒5 is
useful as showing that one who is really born of God overcomes the world
and the fact that they are living in sin and are not overcoming the
world is evidence that they have not been born of God.