Teaching the Lost

by Bennie Cryer
Jesus commissioned His apostles saying: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, 1 am with you always even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew. 28:19-20). With these words He forever settled the question about what to teach the lost.

Teach All Nations The word translated “teach” in verse 19 means “to make disciples.” “All nations” is put for the citizens or inhabitants of the nations. They were to be made disciples, and in this way Isaiah 2:2 would he fulfilled. As a result of the apostles’ efforts the kingdom would be enlarged as “all nations would flow unto it.” The kingdom of God would be made up of disciples from all nations. A disciple is one who is learning from a master or teacher. There is the idea of “thought,” along with an endeavor to follow the doctrine of the teacher. Learning alone does not make one a disciple according to this passage. In verse 20, “teaching” means “to give someone instructions,” and necessarily follows “teach” in the preceding verse. The teacher must always keep in mind the thought in 1 Thessalonians 4:9 --- even though he is the vehicle that carries the message to the lost, it is really God who is doing the teaching, for the message is His. Each saved person must understand that, when he learns from a teacher, he is “taught of God.”

Of Whom Does the Disciple Learn? Jesus said in the passage preceding the great commission, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” As a result, the citizens of all nations were to be called to become disciples of Christ in order to enter into the kingdom of God. It is easy to see from this thought that the very first lesson a lost person hears must he about Jesus and His authority. On the birthday of the church in Acts 2, Peter closed his message by saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” (v. 36). That this conclusion was no accident may be seen in this same speaker’s first address to the Gentiles in Acts 10:34-36, as he again follows the instructions given to him in the great commission.

“Then Peter opened his mouth and said: 'In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ - - — He is Lord of all'.”

Paul adds his testimony to Peter’s: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10). This step is sometimes skipped or deemed unnecessary. Instead of beginning with Jesus as Lord the teacher begins with baptism, the Lord’s Supper, or even long or short hair.

Brother Joe Histle told the story of a young man teaching a young lady friend about baptism and the necessity of it for salvation. After a rather lengthy study the lady friend said, “You have convinced me that I must he baptized!” “That is wonderful,” the young man replied, “Now do yon have any other questions?” “Why yes,” she replied, “Is there really a God?” I think it is rather obvious that all can see the young man had skipped over a rather important step in his instructions. However; similar mistakes are made on a regular basis in teaching the lost, Remember, first of all the lost must know assuredly that Jesus is Lord, and they are to submit themselves to Him in all things. His directions are found not only in the words He spoke while on earth, but also in the words written by the apostles and prophets (1 Corinthians 14:37). This is the first step in discipleship.

Additional Instructions About the Godhead When Jesus stated that all authority in heaven and in earth had been given to Him, He did not intend for us to leave God the Father and the Holy Spirit out of the instructional picture. In order for the lost to become disciples it is necessary for them to he baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). If they were taught the necessity of being baptized into a relationship with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, it naturally follows that they would be interested in knowing about these heavenly and eternal Beings, and what would be the result of this new relationship with them.

It must he emphasized. however, that only through Christ can one come into this new relationship: “For,” wrote Paul, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;” (Colossians 2:9). Since this is true, God the Father has chosen to speak to us now through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2; cf. John 14:6). In agreement with this idea, Jesus closed the great commission with this instruction to the apostles: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 1 have commanded you.” ...“ He is the one with “all authority.” God summed all of this up in Matthew 17:5 by saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” Until the lost soul is ready to accept this principle, he is not ready to go on to the next step in his salvation. If he does not properly understand this idea, and yet is baptized, there is extreme danger that he will fall away.

Summing Up the First Steps in Teaching the Lost These observations are being made with the assumption that the person who desires to become a disciple realizes he is lost because of his sins against God and doomed to eternal punishment that will ban him from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power forever and ever (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). In order to he saved you must teach the lost:

1) Jesus is Lord with all authority in heaven and in earth.

2) The Godhead consists of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The one desiring to be saved must establish the correct relationship with each of these heavenly beings and this is accomplished through Christ.

3) At this point he is ready to receive instructions about baptism. Mark records more of the words of Jesus about it in his account of the commission in Mark 16:15-16:

“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
but he who does not believe will be condemned.’ ”

In this account Jesus taught it was necessary to do at least two things to be saved. But lacking just one will cause one to be lost. Luke’s account of the commission in 24:47 completes the instructions about the teaching to he done to the lost with the addition of repentance and remission of sins.

4) The lost must then be taught the necessity of obeying all that the Lord has commanded. This does not require you to teach what each of the commands are at that point in time.

How Disciples Are Made The commission as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20 affords us a brief outline of how disciples are made scripturally. First of all, there is the command to go and disciple all nations. This is an imperative. Then two participles are used to show how to obey this command. The first one is “baptizing them . .“ The second participle is “teaching them...” Both of these “—ing” words are used to instruct the “goer” how to make disciples of Christ. True disciples of Christ have never been made in any other way than by baptizing them and teaching them.

The Necessity of Considering
the Different Needs of the Lost That there are differences in people who are lost is taught effectively in Jude 22-23: “And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire: hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Jesus is our example in seeing differences in people and their needs. In Matthew 5, the phrase “Ye have heard,” is repeated by Jesus over and over again. He was speaking to the common folks who probably did not have a copy of the Old Testament and perhaps could not even read. They had heard the Scriptures read in the synagogues. They had heard them from the scribes and the lawyers. But to the Pharisees He changed His statement to “Have ye not read?” (Matthew 19:4). The Scriptures had been available to them and they had the ability to read them. Jesus simply accommodated His message to their condition and situation. Again, in talking to the scribes and Pharisees, He scathingly rebuked them, but to those in a different situation He spoke with compassion (Luke 10:38-42). Jesus never used a “canned” approach to those in need. He quickly knew their situation and circumstances. Ought not the modern teacher of the lost follow the Master Teacher in all these things?

The Apostles and Prophets, The Acts of the Apostles is referred to as the book of conversions because of the many accounts of people being saved from past sins. A careful study of these conversion accounts will reveal how each situation was considered, and how different ones were told to do different things. For example in Acts 2:38, Peter told that multitude to “Repent and be baptized . . . in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” However, in Acts 10, the same preacher taught Cornelius and his household the necessity of believing in Christ (v. 43) and of baptism (vv. 47—48). He did not tell them to repent for they had done this already (Acts 11:18). The situation was different and needed. a different approach. The same is true with Philip and the eunuch (Acts 8). In verse 35, the eunuch heard a lesson about Jesus. This was the first step in his conversion. In verse 36, he wanted to he baptized. The preacher told him if he believed he could be. In verse 37 the eunuch answered by saving, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” He was then baptized.

If a person already believed, the person studying with him took that into consideration and told him to do the next step. If he had already believed and repented, then the next step was the confession of Christ as the Son of God. Since this had already been done in the case of Saul of Tarsus, he was told, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16). Ananias, the preacher, took in to account Saul’s situation and understood he already had believed, repented, and confessed Jesus. All that remained for him to do was to be baptized and get on with the work for which God had chosen him for. Each Christian who studies with the lost today should take these things into consideration in order to he more effective in his personal work.

How a Sermon or Study was Concluded
in the New Testament When a New Testament worker concluded his study, whether public or private, the ones listening were not in doubt about the power of God, their personal guilt and condemnation, or the necessity of obedience. This is seen clearly in Peter’s concluding remarks in Acts 2. The audience knew the power of God, for He had raised Jesus from the grave (vv. 3l—32) They knew of their guilt and condemnation before God, because they had crucified Jesus (v. 36). They were then told what they had to do in answer to their own question in verses 37-38.

While we cannot work miracles and produce earthquakes or blindness, God certainly used these things when Saul saw the tremendous power of Christ and was blinded for three days (Acts 9:3-9). In Acts 16:25-30, the Philippian jailer experienced the power of God in an earthquake that released the bonds of Paul and Silas. In some way the person desiring to be saved must believe in the power of God to raise him from the dead and to bring him to judgment. With his message about “righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come,” Paul could make Felix, a governor over an entire province, tremble (Acts 24:24-25). When yon finish each study, the one yon are trying to save must have an idea of the power of God, his own guilt and condemnation, and what he must do to obey God and escape that lost condition.

But What If I Fail As a Teacher? If you have the talent to teach the lost, God expects you to go teach them. That is your marching order. He has not commanded you to be successful. You will fail from time to time. Jesus did. The reason for His failure in some instances is summed up in these words: “And you would not” (Matthew 23:37). In Mark 10:22, Jesus told a man what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. The man listened, but “he was sad at that saving, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” Luke records a failure Paul experienced in Acts 26:27-29. As far as we know King Agrippa never obeyed the gospel. As a teacher you are waging a war with the Devil. He has many years of experience in keeping his captives. A favorite tactic of his is found in Luke 8:11-12:

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.”

The Devil knows the kind of hearts from which he can snatch Word of God, and he is still on the job.

Do not let this disappoint you. God is on your side. “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase,” wrote Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:6. We do not know when Paul, as Saul the persecutor, first heard the gospel. The first time, according to the record, is in Acts 7:58, where he watched over the clothes of those who were stoning Stephen to death. Did the words he heard from Stephen affect him? Most assuredly. In Acts 9:4-6 Jesus told him, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting: it is hard for you to kick against the pricks.” (KJV) “The pricks” were ox goads—sharp pointed sticks used to goad the beasts to greater efforts. When the driver used one, the ox would sometimes kick back at it and in so doing, would be hurt more.” The gospel message was the ox goad that was pricking Saul’s conscience. He was “kicking” back, but the more he did, the more it bothered him.

Finally he was converted. Stephen died for preaching that sermon, but he was not a failure though his listeners rejected him and took his life. Days afterward the sermon yielded fruit, and the greatest Christian worker we have a record of came into the kingdom. In my own work I baptized a man and his wife, both more than seventy years old. Their baptisms took place more than twenty years after my first study with them. So, your job in teaching the lost is to go do it. You may have seemed to fail at first, but you never know what is working in the hearts of listeners after they hear the Word. Remember, it is God who gives the increase. The words recorded in Isaiah 55:11 are encouraging. Take them to heart:

“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

What Are You to Do With Failures? You should examine each failure. You will discern that there are some you should not follow up on. “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” (Matthew 7:6). And again, “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.” (Matthew 10:14). Jesus did not want those He was sending out to waste time on such folks. His message is clear about this. There are others who seem a failure, for the present time at least, but a relationship should be maintained with them.

As a teacher of the lost, you have certain responsibilities in such a situation, in Luke 13:6-9, Jesus told a parable that will help you understand your responsibilities in similar situations. This man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit from it and found none. This had happened for three years, and he told the keeper of his vineyard to cut it down. “But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ” That is the work of the teacher. Keep trying to prepare the soil so the tree will produce fruit eventually. Aid can he enlisted from others. In Mark 5:17, Jesus cast the many unclean spirits out of a Gadarene man. This frightened the inhabitants. “Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.” The man out of whom the unclean spirits were cast wanted to go with Jesus, but He would not permit it. Instead, He told him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” (v.19). The desired results were accomplished. The same people who wanted to send Jesus away now heard him gladly (Luke 8:39-40). Jesus had enlisted another worker to help prepare the people’s hearts to hear Him.

What Do You Do When You Are Successful?
If you keep going to the lost and teaching them you will have success. You must be prepared for success. God was successful in creating man. When God created man, the earth and its Garden of Eden was already in place, prepared to nourish and sustain man. God saw that every need was supplied. Similarly, the local congregation of which you are a member has been built by God to provide nourishment to the new horn spiritual babes, and to sustain them as they grow and develop. If the local church does not have this capability it is lacking in one of the most important aspects of its work and will soon wither a way. As a teacher you must see that you supply your part of this work (Ephesians 4:14-16).

Steps You Can Take to Help Convert, Nourish, and Sustain Others
1. Develop the Family of God concept. After all, the church is called the house of God in 1 Timothy 3:15. God Himself has said that He would “be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters” (2 Corinthians 6:18). When you, teach the lost, you are God’s instrument in the spiritual conception process(1 Peter 1:23-25). After a gestation period of varied lengths of time, this should culminate in the new birth Jesus spoke of in John 3:3-5. At this point, the family concept is essential. Consider how much an infant in the human family is loved. If you are a normal human being, you can hardly wait to hold and hug it and show your love in all the ways you can think of. Motivate your brothers and sisters in the local family of God to share in this, so that the new born babe does not die because of lack of attention and care.

2. Study scriptural materials that will help you do this more efficiently. “Rightly dividing the word” in 2 Timothy 2:15 simply means handling the Word of God correctly and accurately. Therefore you must become skilled in the Word of righteousness (Hebrews 5:13). When I was a young boy I was taught to take a marginal reference Bible and “run down” every verse that was referred to in the margin. This is a good way to begin studying a subject, for it would show you where other passages were that offered additional information on the meaning of that verse or subject. However, I soon found out that the information contained in the margins was inadequate for many of my needs, and many times was slanted toward some denominational false doctrine.

Ivan Stewart authored the book From the House to House and in it he expertly expanded the idea of the marginal reference. Each Christian could develop his own marginal readings for teaching specific subjects to others and for one’s personal study. If you are interested in teaching the lost, I commend the book to you. However, you can begin now to use your Bible more efficiently and make your studies with others more orderly by doing research on various subjects and writing the information on pages of your Bible, or, if you prefer, on paper in a way that is handy to use.

An Example of Marking Your BibleWhen you teach the lost you are helping to prepare a person for the Lord. One of your first studies should be on this subject so the lost will know who is to direct their lives and the benefits they can receive by letting Jesus he their Lord. For the purpose of preparing your Bible for this study we will call this subject “Lord.” Now on a convenient page in the front of your Bible write “Lord” (L). The “L’ in parenthesis will be used to help you identify the proper verses throughout the Bible. Immediately after this title, write your starting verse which will be Jeremiah 10:23. It will then look like this: “Lord (L)—Jeremiah 10:23.” Find this verse and near it write your next verse, “Isaiah 40:3 (L).” Do not forget to write the ‘L” after each verse. There are a few verses that you will use several times even though the subject might he different. Remembering to mark each verse with the correct letters will help you identify the direction you are to go when using this particular study. Now, turn to Isaiah 40:3 and write near it your next verse, “Isaiah 40:31 (L).” Do this same thing with following verses: Luke 2:11; Matthew 3:3; Luke 1:17; Matthew 25:1-13; Acts 2:34-36; Acts 10:34-36; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 10:24; Matthew 8:21-22; Acts 4:8-10; Acts 18:24-26; Acts 22:10; Acts 22:16; Acts 17:27; Ephesians 4:5; Luke 16:13; Ephesians 5:10; Acts 5:14; Acts 2:37-41; Luke 6:46. Since Luke 6:46 is the last verse in this particular study, write “(End-L)” next to the verse, so that you will know to stop the study there.

You will probably want to add or delete verses as you become more familiar with this subject. Before you study this subject with a lost soul, study each verse so you will know what you desire to teach. Above all, become familiar enough with their location in your Bible so that you can easily find the passages yourself. If possible always let the one you are trying to convert read each verse. Faith still comes by hearing the Word of God, and when the person can read the passage, they can more easily believe it. Ask them what each verse means and what God’s will for their life is according to that passage.

Finally, develop your own chain of Scripture references like this on such subjects as: “The Authority of the Word,” “The Plan of Salvation,” “The Church,” “Worship,” “Innovations in the Church,” “Miracles,” “Repentance from Dead Works,” “Faith Toward God,” “The Doctrine of Baptisms,” “Laying on of Hands,” “The Resurrection from the Dead,” “Eternal Judgment,” and other subjects.

“Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.”
(Daniel 12:3).

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Stockton, CA 95210

Plan of Salvation (S), (proof-texts): 2 Timothy 2:15; Acts 17:11; Romans 10:17; 1:16; Mark 4:14-20; Luke 8:21; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Ephesians 4:4-5; Mark 1:15; 16;16; John 1:12; 8:24; Galatians 3:26-27; Acts 2:37-38; Acts 26:20; John 5:23-24; Romans 10:9-10; Matthew 10:32-33; Acts 8:35-38; 2:37-38, 47; Romans 2:13-16; 6:3-6; Matthew 29:18-19; Mark 16:16; Acts 16:30-32; 22:16; Colosians 2:11-14; Galatians 3:26-27; 1 Peter 3:20-21; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Revelation 2:10b; Hebrews 3:14; 2 Peter 3:16-18; Colossians 1:21-23; 2:6-8; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29; 15:58; 2 Coritnhians 13:5; Galatians 6:8-10. (END - S)