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.