What is it to win a soul by Charles Haddon Spurgeon?

What is it to win a soul? This may be answered by describing what it is not. We do not regard it to be soul winning to steal members out of churches already established and train them to follow our particular customs. We rather aim at bringing souls to Christ than at making converts to our church.

There are sheep-stealers out there concerning whom I will say nothing except that they are not brethren, or at least they do not act in a brotherly fashion. To their own master they must stand or fall. We count it utterly contemptible to build up our own house with the ruins of our neighbor's home.

I hope we all sympathize with the big-hearted spirit of Dr. Chalmers, who when it was said that such and such an effort would not be beneficial to the special interests of the free Church of Scotland, although it might promote the general Christianity of the land, he said, what is the free Church compared with the Christian good of the people of Scotland? What indeed is any church or what are the churches all put together as mere organizations if they stand in conflict with the moral and spiritual advantage of the nation? or if they impede the kingdom of Christ.

It is because God blesses men through these churches that we desire to see them prosper, and not merely for the sake of the churches themselves. There is such a thing as selfishness in our eagerness for the exalting of our own party. And from this evil spirit, may grace deliver us.

In the next place, we do not consider soul winning to be accomplished by hurriedly inscribing more names on our church roll in order to show greater numbers at the end of the year. This is easily done, and there are brethren who take great pains not to say arts to affect it. But if it is to be regarded as the beginning and end of a minister's efforts, the result will be deplorable.

Let us by all means bring true converts into the church, for it is part of our work to teach them to obey everything that Christ has commanded them. But still, this is to be done to disciples and not to mere professors. And if we aren't careful, we may do more harm than good at this point. To introduce unconverted persons to the church is to weaken and degrade it, and therefore an apparent gain may be a real loss.

I am not one of those who bad mouth statistics. Nor do I consider that they are evil, for they do a lot of good if they are accurate and if men use them rightly. It is a good thing for people to see the lostness of our nation through statistics that show dwindling numbers, that they may be driven to their knees before the Lord to seek the salvation of souls.

And on the other hand, it is not an evil thing for workers to be encouraged by having some accounting of numbers set before them. I would be very sorry if the practice of adding up and deducting and giving the net result were to be abandoned, for it must be right to know our numerical condition.

It has been noticed that those who object to the process are often brethren whose unsatisfactory reports should somehow humiliate them. This is not always so, but it is suspiciously frequent. I heard of the report of a church the other day in which the minister, who was well known to have reduced his congregation to nothing, cleverly wrote, our church is looking up. When he was questioned with regard to this statement, he replied, well, everybody knows that the church is on its back and it cannot do anything else but look up. Do not consider that soul winning is or can be secured by the multiplication of baptisms and the swelling of the size of your church. What do these reports from the battlefield mean? Last night, 14 souls were under conviction, 15 were saved, and eight rededicated their lives. I am tired of this public bragging, this counting of unhatched chickens, this exhibition of doubtful treasures. Lay aside such numberings of the people, such idle pretense of certifying in half a minute that which will need the testing of a lifetime. Hope for the best, but in your highest excitements be reasonable. And in those meetings after the church service, where people come and make a profession of faith, in all this, it's very good, but if they lead to idle boastings, then they will grieve the Holy Spirit and work abounding evil. Nor is it soul winning merely to create excitement. Excitement will accompany every great movement, We might rightly question whether the movement was earnest and powerful if it was as serene as a quiet reading of the Bible. You can't very well blast great rocks without the sound of explosions, nor fight a battle and keep everybody as quiet as a mouse. Friction and action are the natural result of force and motion. So when the spirit of God is present and men's minds are stirred, There must and will be certain visible signs of movement, although these must never be confounded with the movement itself. Do not aim at sensation and effect. Flowing tears and streaming eyes, sobs and outcries, crowded after-the-service meetings, and all kinds of confusion may occur and may even be accepted as being a genuine moving of the spirit, but please do not try to make these things happen. It often happens that the converts that are born in excitement die when the excitement is over. They are like certain insects which are the product of an exceedingly warm day and die when the sun goes down. Certain converts are like salamanders that die when the temperature reaches a reasonable level. I do not delight in religion which needs or creates a wild emotional outcry. Give me the godliness which flourishes upon Calvary rather than upon a volcano. The utmost zeal for Christ is consistent with common sense and reason. Raving, ranting, and fanaticism are products of another zeal which is not according to knowledge. We should prepare men for the chamber of communion and not for the padded room of an insane asylum. What is the real winning of a soul for God What are the processes by which a soul is led to God and to salvation? I take it that one of its main facets consists in instructing a man that he may know the truth of God. Instruction in the gospel is the beginning of all real work upon men's minds. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." Teaching begins the work and continues with it to the very end of the new Christian's life. The gospel according to Isaiah is, give ear and come to me, hear me that your soul may live. It is ours then to give men something worth their hearing. In fact, to instruct them, We are sent to evangelize or to preach the gospel to every creature, and that is not done unless we teach them the great truths of God's revealed word. The gospel is good news. To listen to some preachers, you would imagine that the gospel was like smelling salts to make them wake up. It is nothing of the kind. It is news. There is information in it. There is instruction in it concerning the matters which men need to know. and statements in it calculated to bless those who hear it. It is not a magical incantation or a charm whose force consists in a collection of sounds. It is a revelation of the facts and truth which require knowledge and belief.

The gospel is a reasonable system and it appeals to men's understanding. It is a matter for thought and consideration and it appeals to the conscience and to the power of reflection. So if we don't teach men something, we can shout all day long, believe, believe, believe. But what are they to believe? Each exhortation requires a corresponding instruction or it will mean nothing. Escape, we say, from what? This requires for its answer the doctrine of the punishment of sins. Fly away, but where? Then you must preach Christ and his wounds, yes, in the clear doctrine of atonement by sacrifice on the cross. Repent! Of what? Here you must answer such questions as, what is sin? What is the evil of sin? What are the consequences of sin? Be converted! But what is it to be converted? By what power can we be converted? From what to what? The field of instruction is wide if men are to be made to know the truth which saves. It is not good to have zeal without knowledge. And it is ours as the Lord's instruments to enable men to know the truth, that they may believe it and feel its power. We are not to try and save men in the dark, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, we are seek to turn them from darkness to light.

And don't believe, dear friends, that when you go to revival meetings or special evangelistic services, you are to leave out the doctrine of the gospel. For you must proclaim the doctrines of grace more rather than less. Teach gospel doctrines clearly, affectionately, simply and plainly, and especially those truths which have a present and practical bearing upon man's conditions and God's grace.

Second, to win a soul, it is necessary not only to instruct the unbeliever and make him understand the truth, but also to impress him so that he may feel it. A ministry which always appeals to the understanding and leaves the emotions untouched would certainly be a limping ministry. Like a lame man's legs, says Solomon, and the unequal legs of some ministries cripple them.

We have seen such a ministry limping about with a long doctrinal leg but a very short emotional leg. It is a horrible thing for a man to be so doctrinal that he can speak coolly of the doom of the wicked, such that it cost him no anguish of heart to think of the ruin of millions of our race. This is horrible. I hate to hear the terrors of a Lord proclaimed by men whose hard expression, harsh tones, and unfeeling spirit betray a very dry doctrine.

All the milk of human kindness is dried out of them. Having no feeling himself, such a preacher creates none. And the people sit and listen while he keeps to dry, lifeless statements until they come to value him for being sound. And they themselves come to be sound too. And I need not add, sound asleep also. Or what life they have is spent in sniffing out heresy and criticizing men who earnestly preach the gospel.

May we never be baptized into this spirit. A sinner has a heart as well as a head. A sinner has emotions as well as thoughts, and we must appeal to both. A sinner will never be converted until his emotions are stirred. Unless he feels sorrow for sin, and unless he has some measure of joy in the reception of the word, you cannot have much hope for him.

The truth must soak into the soul and dye it with its own color. The word must be like a strong wind sweeping through the whole heart and swaying the whole man, even like a field of ripening corn waves in the summer breeze. Christianity without emotion is Christianity without life.

But still, we must be careful how these emotions are caused. Do not play upon the mind by exciting feelings which are not spiritual. Some preachers are very fond of introducing funerals and dying children in their discourses, and they make the people weep through their sheer natural affection. This may lead up to something better, but in itself, what is its value? What is the good of opening up a mother's grief or a widow's sorrows? I do not believe that our merciful Lord has sent us to make men weep over their departed relatives by digging anew their graves and rehearsing past scenes of bereavement and woe. If our listeners will weep over their sins and over Jesus, let their tears flow into rivers. But if the object of their sorrow is merely natural and not at all spiritual, what good is done by making them weep?

There might be some virtue in making people joyful, for there's enough sorrow in the world. And the more we can promote cheerfulness, the better. But what is the use of creating needless misery? What right have you to go through the world pricking everybody with your surgeon's knife just to show your skill in surgery? A true physician only makes incisions in order to effect cures. And a wise minister only excites painful emotions in men's minds. with the distinct object of blessing their souls.

I have already insisted on instruction and impression as being most needful to soul winning. But these are not all they are. Indeed, only means to the desired end. A far greater work must be done before a man is saved. A wonder of divine grace must be acted upon the soul, far transcending anything which can be accomplished by the power of men. It is true of all those whom we would eagerly win for Jesus that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. The Holy Spirit must work a new birth in the objects of our love or they can never be possessors of eternal happiness. They must be quickened into a new life and they must become new creatures in Christ Jesus. The same energy which accomplishes resurrection and creation must put forth all of its power upon them. Nothing short of this will work.

Regeneration or the new birth works a change in the whole nature of man. And so far as we can judge, its essence lies in the implanting and the creation of a new principle within the man. The Holy Spirit creates in us a new heavenly and immortal nature. which is known in scripture as the spirit, by way of distinction from the soul. Our theory of regeneration is that a man in his fallen nature consists only of body and soul, and that when he is regenerated, there is created in him a new and higher nature, the spirit, which is a spark from the everlasting fire of God's life and love. This falls into the heart and lives there and makes its receiver a partaker of the divine nature. From that time forward, the man consists of three parts, body, soul, and spirit, and the spirit is the reigning power of the three. Since this God-bestowed spiritual life in man is a mystery, we will speak to a more practical effect if we dwell upon the signs following and accompanying it. For these are the things we must aim at.

First, regeneration will be shown in conviction of sin. This we believe to be an indispensable mark of the Spirit's work. The new life, as it enters the heart, causes intense inward pain as one of its first effects. Though nowadays we hear of persons being brought into a certainty of their salvation without ever having lamented their condemnation for their sins, We are very dubious as to the value of such salvations. This style of things is not according to the truth. God never clothes men until he has first stripped them, nor does he arouse them by the gospel until they are first slain by the law of God. When you meet with persons in whom there is no trace of conviction of sin, you may be quite sure that they have not been convicted by the Holy Spirit. For the Bible says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.

It is equally certain that true conversion may be known by the display of a simple faith in Jesus Christ. You don't need me to tell you that, for you yourselves are fully convinced of it. The production of faith is the very center of the target at which you aim. You will never have proof that you have won the man's soul for Jesus until he has rejected himself and his own merits and has trusted only in the work of Christ. Great care must be taken that this faith is exercised on Christ for a complete salvation and not for part of it. Numbers of persons think that the Lord Jesus is available for the pardon of past sin, but they cannot trust him for their preservation in the future. They trust him for past years but not for years to come. No such a subdivision of salvation is ever spoken of in the scripture as the work of Christ. Either he bore all of our sins or none of them, and either he saves us once for all or not at all. His death can never be repeated, and it must have made full payment for the future sin of believers, or they are lost. since no further atonement can be given and future sin is certain to be committed.

Blessed be His name. Through Him, everyone who believes is justified from everything. Salvation by grace is eternal salvation. Together with undivided faith in Jesus Christ, there must also be wholehearted repentance of sin. Repentance is an old-fashioned word not much used by modern revivalists. Oh, said a minister to me one day, it only means a change of the mind. This was thought to be a profound observation. Only a change of the mind? But what a change! A change of mind with regard to everything. Instead of saying it is only a change of the mind, it seems to me more truthful to say It is a great and deep change, even a change of the mind itself. But whatever the literal Greek word may mean, repentance is no small thing. You will not find a better definition of repentance than the one given in the children's hymn. Listen.

Repentance is to leave the sins we loved before
and so that we in earnest grieve
by doing so no more.

Another proof of the conquest of a soul for Christ will be found in a real change of life. If the man does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and in society, his repentance needs to be repented of and his conversion is a fiction. Not only action and language, but spirit and attitude must be changed.

But, says someone, grace is often grafted onto a wild tree. I know it is. But what is the fruit of the grafting? The fruit will be like the graft, and not after the nature of the original stem.

But, says another, I have an awful temper, and all of a sudden it overcomes me. My anger is soon over, and I feel very ashamed. Though I cannot control myself, I am sure I am a Christian. Not so fast, my friend, or I may answer that I am just as sure the other way. What is the use of your soon cooling down if in two or three moments you scald everyone around you? If a man stabs me in a fury, it will not heal my wound to see him grieving over his madness. Quick temper must be conquered and the whole man must be renewed or conversion will be questionable.

We are not to hold up a modified holiness before our people and say, you will be all right if you reach that standard. The scripture says, he who does what is sinful is of the devil. There must be a harmony between the life and the profession. A Christian professes to renounce sin, and if he does not do so, he is an imposter.

A drunken man came up to Mr. Rowland Hill one day and said, I am one of your converts, Mr. Hill. I believe you are, replied the shrewd and sensible preacher. But you are not a convert of the Lord's, or you would not be drunk. We must bring all of our work under this practical test.

In our converts, we must also see true prayer, which is the vital breath of godliness. If there is no prayer, you may be quite sure the soul is dead. We are not to urge men to pray as though it were the great gospel duty and the one prescribed way of salvation. for our chief message is, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is easy to put prayer into the wrong place and to make it out to be a kind of work by which men are to live, but this you will, I trust, most carefully avoid. Faith is the great gospel grace, but still we cannot forget that true faith always prays. And when a man professes faith in the Lord Jesus, and yet does not cry to the Lord daily, we dare not believe in his faith or his conversion.

There must also be a willingness to obey the Lord in all of his commandments. It is a shameful thing for a man to profess discipleship and yet refuse to learn his Lord's will on certain points, or even dare to decline obedience when that will is known. How can a man be a disciple of Christ when he lives in open disobedience to him? If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows his Lord's will but does not plan to obey it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Has not the Lord said, anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple? Mistakes as to what the Lord's will may be are to be tenderly corrected, but anything like willful disobedience is fatal. To tolerate it would be treason to Him that sent us. Jesus must be received as King as well as Priest, and where there is any hesitancy about this, the foundation of godliness is not yet laid. Faith must obey her Maker's will as well as trust His grace. A pardoning God is jealous still for his own holiness.

Thus you see, my brethren, the signs which prove that a soul is one are by no means inconsequential, and the work to be done before those signs can exist is not to be lightly spoken of. A soul winner can do nothing without God. He must throw himself before the invisible God or be a laughingstock to the devil, who he guards with utter contempt all who think they can subdue human nature with mere words and arguments. To all who hope to succeed in such a labor by their own strength, we would address the words of the Lord to Job. Can you pull the leviathan with a fish hook or tie down his tongue with a rope? Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls? If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again. Any hope of subduing him is false. The mere sight of him is overpowering. Dependence on God is our strength and our joy. In that dependence, let us go out and seek to win souls for him.

Now, in the course of our ministry, we will meet with many failures in this matter of soul winning. There are many birds that I have thought I had caught, have even managed to put salt on their tails, but they still flew away. I remember one man whom I will call Tom Careless. Tom Careless. He was the terror of the village in which he lived. There were many unexplained fires in the region, and most people attributed them to him. Sometimes he would be drunk for two or three weeks at a time, and then he raved and raged like a madman.

That man came to hear me preach. I remember the sensation that went through the little chapel when he came in. He sat there and fell in love with me. I think that was the only conversion that he experienced. But he professed to be converted to Christ. He had apparently been the subject of genuine repentance and he became outwardly quite a changed character. He gave up his drinking and his swearing and was in many respects an exemplary individual. I remember seeing him tugging a barge with perhaps a hundred people on board, whom he was drawing up to a place where I was going to preach. And he was glorying in the work and singing as gladly and happily as any one of them. If anybody spoke a word against the Lord or his servant, he did not hesitate a moment, but knocked him down.

Before I left the district, I was afraid that there was no real work of grace in him. He was a wild red Indian sort of a man. I have heard of him taking a bird, plucking it, and eating it raw in the field. This is not the act of a Christian man. It is not one of the things that are attractive and of good reputation. After I left the neighborhood, I asked about him and heard nothing good about him. The spirit that kept him outwardly right was gone, and he became worse than he was before. if that was possible. Certainly he was no better. He was unreachable by anyone. That work of mine did not stand the fire. It would not prevent even ordinary temptation. You see, after the person who had influence over the man had gone away. When you move from the village or town where you have been preaching, it is very likely that some who did begin to walk with Christ will go back to their former ways. They have an affection for you and your words have a kind of tranquil influence over them. And when you are gone, the dog will return to his vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."

Do not be in a hurry to count these supposed converts. Do not take them into church too soon. Do not be too proud of their enthusiasm if it is not accompanied with some degree of softening and tenderness to show that the Holy Spirit has really been at work within them.

I remember another case of quite a different sort. I will call this person Miss Mary Shallow. Miss Mary Shallow. for she was a young lady who was never blessed with many brains. But living in the same house with several Christian young ladies, she also professed to be converted. When I conversed with her, there was apparently everything that one could wish for. I thought of presenting her to the church for membership, but it was judged best to give her a little trial first.

After a while, she left the associations of the place where she had lived. and went where she had nothing much to help her. And I never heard anything more of her except that the whole time was spent in dressing herself as smartly as she could and in frequenting high society. She is a type of those who have not much mental furniture. And if the grace of God does not take possession of the empty space, they very soon go back into the world.

I have known several like a young man who I will call Charlie Clever. Charlie Clever. Uncommonly clever fellows at anything and everything. Very clever at counterfeiting religion. They prayed very fluently. They tried to preach and did it very well. Whatever they did, they did it offhand. It was very easy for them.

Do not be in a hurry to take such people into the church. They have known no humiliation on account of sin, no brokenness of heart, no sense of divine grace. They cry, all is peaceful, and away they go. But you will find that they will never repay you for your labor and your trouble. They will be able to use the language of God's people as well as the best of his saints. They will even talk of their doubts and fears, and they will work up a deep experience in five minutes. They are a little too clever and they will do much damage when they get into the church. So keep them out if you possibly can.

I remember one who was very saintly in his talk. I will call him John Fairspeech. John Fairspeech. Oh, how hypocritical he was in a sly way, getting among our young men and leading them into all kinds of sin and iniquity. And yet he would call and see me and have a half an hour spiritual conversation, and an abominable wretch who was living in open sin at the very time he was seeking to come to the Lord's table and joining our ministries, and anxious to be a leading man in every work.

Keep your eyes open, brethren. They will come to you with money in their hands like Peter's fish with the silver in its mouth, and they will be so helpful in the work They speak so softly, and they are such perfect gentlemen. Yes, I believe Judas was a man exactly like that, very clever at deceiving those around him. We must be careful that we do not get any of these into the church if we can help it.

You may say to yourself at the close of a service, here is a splendid haul of fish. Wait a while. Remember our Savior's words. The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. They sat down, and they collected the good fish in baskets, but they threw the bad away. Do not number your fishes before they are broiled, nor count your converts before you have tested and tried them. This process may make your work somewhat slow, but then, brethren, it will be sure. Do your work steadily and well, so that those who come after you may not have to say that it was far more trouble to them to clear the church of those who ought never to have been admitted than it was for you to admit them. If God enables you to build 3,000 bricks into his spiritual temple in one day, you may do it. But Peter has been the only bricklayer who has accomplished that feat up to the present. Do not go and paint the wooden wall as if it were solid stone, but let all your building be real, substantial, and true, for only this kind of work is worth the doing. Let all your building for God be like that of the Apostle Paul. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder and someone else's building on it. but each one should be careful how he builds, for no one can lay any foundation other than that the one already laid, which is Christ Jesus. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Amen.