Evangelism - Soul Winning

[00:00:00] We are going to deal with what is commonly called soul winning. [00:00:08] There's quite a lot written about this subject of soul winning, and it is in fact, a very vital subject, because there is nothing like leading someone else to Christ to make you grow. [00:00:34] It's only when you've really pointed someone else to Christ that suddenly you have to become responsible. [00:00:41] It's rather like having a baby. [00:00:44] You can be quite irresponsible in some ways before the birth of a child. But once the child has been born, you've got to think of being a little more responsible. There are all kinds of things you can't do, all kinds of limitations and restrictions. You have privileges, but you have responsibilities. And it is just the same with soul winning. There is nothing more designed to bring you to spiritual adulthood and maturity than spiritual children. [00:01:20] This is absolutely true. There should be no such thing. Forgive me for putting it like this, but there should be no such thing as spiritual bachelors or maids. [00:01:33] We should all have children, all of us. We are intended to have children spiritually. [00:01:43] And it is also very, very interesting that this is the one prayer in the Old Testament and in the new that is never unanswered. [00:01:56] Whenever anyone sought the Lord long enough persevered, asking him for a child, the Lord always answered every single instance we have in scripture. You will find that when there was perseverance, the Lord finally answered. [00:02:19] And this therefore makes us to realize just how important this whole matter is of soul winning. I'm not sure I like the word soul winning, but I'm going to use it right the way through this time, because, in fact, it is the simplest way of defining and describing this subject. Now, first of all, I would like to say just a little about the need of winning souls to Christ. [00:02:50] Why we need to win souls to Christ. [00:02:58] There are dying multitudes all around us, in every home. [00:03:05] I suppose in every family, in this room, there must be some who are not the Lord. [00:03:11] In every office, in this room, the majority are not the law. [00:03:18] In this town around us, there are multitudes and multitudes of men and women without Christ, and therefore without hope. If we do not tell them, no one else will. [00:03:38] If we do not win them, no one else will. [00:03:44] This is why there is a desperate need for soul winners. [00:03:51] The design of the Lord in the church was that every single one of us should be a soul winner. It is not left to the platform, it is not left to the evangelist. [00:04:06] It is not left to the big people in the public eye to be soul winners. There is no such thing as a kind of spiritual profession called soul winning. And you are a soul winner. [00:04:24] Every single one of us ought to be able to lead a person to Christ. Now this is what I want to know because I believe that the Lord's going to answer prayer and before long we shall see many, many people inquiring, far too many for one or two of us to point to Christ. What would happen if suddenly this weekend over 150 people suddenly started to seek the Lord and I had to come to you and say, take this person into that room and deal with them, and I had to come to someone else? You take that person to that room and deal with them. And when you dealt with that one, you'll have to deal with another one. Would you know what to do? Would you know what to say? Would you know how to point them to Christ? Would you be absolutely lost, dithering, floundering somehow? No authority, no clarity, no real knowledge of how to deal with the soul? What do you think happened on the day of Pentecost when 3000 people were saved? There were only 120 believers there, including of course the eleven apostles. And I'm quite sure you who are good mathematicians, you can work it out. I'm quite sure that they were not able to deal with them all. The eleven weren't able to deal with the 3000. It must have been that the 120 were busy the whole day. No time for meals, no time for anything else. They spent the whole day. Bach Singh said that they spent, they started baptizing a quite small number. I think it was at such a time in the morning and ended at such time of the evening, of course, giving allowance for indian ways and so on. It just did occur to me. How on earth did they baptize those 3000? [00:06:17] 3000 were baptized. [00:06:20] Well, I leave all that. That's not in our subject this evening. But what I am pointing out is that every single one of that 120 believers in the upper room must have been a soul winner, able by the Holy Spirit's anointing and power to point others to Christ. They'd been to no college, they'd been to no school, they'd had no real training. Some of them may have known the Old Testament a little, but some of them undoubtedly couldn't read or write. [00:06:53] And yet the Lord was able to use them so that they were able to point others to Christ. [00:07:03] You know, some people have got the idea that all this can be quite sovereign and so it can be the actual work of a man. Coming to Christ is a sovereign work of God's holy spirit. But you know, when God works, men ask questions. Sir, what must I do to be saved? You must know what to say. Paul didn't just say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and turn his back on him. [00:07:28] He must have said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved thy household. And then he must have instructed him and got on his knees with him. And the man gave his heart to the Lord. And then one by one, his whole family came forward and they all gave themselves to the Lord, Lord Jesus. And so clear cut was their conversion that Paul baptized them the same night. [00:07:53] So, I mean, we all, we all should be sole winners. There's no such thing as a peculiar, qualified class who should be sole winners. And if something should happen this weekend, and we pray it will, in one way, though, we are unprepared for it. But if it should so happen, where would we all be? What would we all do? Well, I know one thing. Suddenly a lot of people would sit up. [00:08:22] They'd have to. They'd have a lot on their hands. And suddenly they'd begin to realize, I've been sitting in those meetings for so long, I don't think I've been taking in what was being said, really. [00:08:33] What did he say about her? Oh, if only, if only, if only I had learnt those scriptures. If only I bothered to really explore the Bible a little more. Now I'm in the midst of it, I've really got to put it all into action. So we trust the Lord, that it will happen. [00:08:52] Well, there are dying multitudes all around us. If we don't win them, if we don't reach them, if we don't tell them, no one else will. We are Christ's body. [00:09:05] We are his hands, his feet, his means of expressing himself to the world. I am sometimes fearful that we have made such a doctrine of this word body that somehow we've put it into the realm of theology and forgotten what really its meaning is. We are the body of Christ. What does this mean? We are his hands and his feet. Here in Richmond. We are the visible, concrete means for the expression of his personality, his mind, his will, enrichment. This is what it means to have a body. [00:09:49] We are this. In this area, wherever we are, wherever are there are believers. When they are built together and gathering together in the name of Christ, they are meant to be the concrete expression, the visible expression of the invisible Christ. [00:10:10] These people around us, they can see no other Christ. [00:10:15] Never more true than what Torrey said, that if the only Christ the world will see is you and me, we are the only Christ in one sense that the world can see. If they can see him in us, then maybe they will be drawn after him. They will be attracted to him. The light of God will so shine through us that others will be exposed. Their need will be exposed, and they will see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. [00:10:53] Oh, there is so much we could say about this. I fear that sometimes when we think about the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, we dwell upon vital things related to it. We think, for instance, of being in his body. The glorious wonder of being within the body of Christ. Can there be anything more wonderful than that? You and I are in the body of Christ. Think of it. Think of it. We are living members of him. We are in him. We are part of him. What a glorious thing. But we think of it like that. Or we think of being built up into Christ. Every time the word body is mentioned, we think of being built up. The need to grow up into the head in all things, the need to be knit together in him. We think of the unity of Christ. The body speaks of the oneness of Christ. We perhaps think of the functions, the many different gifts, all related one to the other. But you know, there is one absolutely vital aspect of the body that you and I can overlook. And it is this, that whilst all these other things are vital, they are all inward. [00:12:13] The body, in fact, has all these things in order that the personality may be expressed with to others. [00:12:22] The whole point of my body is that my personality has a concrete means of expression. Some people might think more concrete in some parts than other. But it is a concrete means of expression. That's the point of a body. Just supposing none of us had bodies. It would be very difficult here this evening, I must say. I wouldn't know, for instance, where misses cox. I wouldn't know where Ron was. There was no body there, so the spirit would be there. But I couldn't see the spirit. That body of Ron's is the concrete expression of his personality. Whatever we may feel about it, he at present is tied down to that body. I am tied down to this body. Now. You don't have to make any mistake. Ron is wrong and lance is lance. We are both tied to the visible means of the expression of our personalities. You understand? [00:13:20] That's why we have bodies. If I want to get out of that door, I can't get out in any other way than through my body. My body has to carry me out of me, wish to get out the door, but I can't get out of it. I've got to tell my feet, my legs to walk out and out I go. Because at present, until the Lord delivers me from this body, I am tied to the body. It is the concrete means for the expression of my personality, of my being. [00:13:48] If I want a glass of water, my spirit may wish and wish and wish. It will never bring the water to me until my hand takes the glass and I drink of the water. You see, my body is the means for expression. [00:14:04] And in some ways, of course, it's good that we have bodies. Because, you see, for us to have on this earth fellowship with one another, we do need bodies. [00:14:16] We need to be able to see each other. We need to be able to see on a person's face a love and emotion and feelings. [00:14:27] We look for these things in one another. This is what the body is for. [00:14:33] When I see a person with a decidedly sour look upon, upon their face, I take it that they're not very fond of me. I mean, when they look at me in that way, and when I see someone with a smiling countenance and radiant, I take it that they're glad to see me and so I can respond freely straight away. Of course, the other I've got to respond freely to and lovingly in the Lord. But what I'm getting at is that, you see, the body is the means by which the personality within is expressed. It is the concrete and visible means for the expression of the personality. [00:15:14] Now, we forget, when we talk so much about the unity of Christ, which is vital, and the functions of the body and being built up into Christ and being knit together, and the glorious wonder and privilege of being within the body. We forget that one of the vital aspects of the use of this word is that Christ wants a concrete means for expressing himself to others. [00:15:45] That's the point. You and I are the body of Christ. He wants to express, if I may use it, whether it's personality through us. He wants to express his mind through us. He wants to express his heart through us. He wants somehow or others, that other men and women might see through us the Lord Jesus himself. [00:16:10] Therefore, a very solemn responsibility rests upon us. [00:16:16] Any church, any company which can only think of its own spiritual growth and of its own glorious privileges and of the, of its future destiny. And has forgotten that we are meant to be the vessel of God's salvation in this poor dying world is denying its very vocation. [00:16:47] It is a caricature of a church. [00:16:51] You cannot have the heart of Christ beating within a body and be altogether different. In attitude and approach to him. [00:17:06] Oh, that we could understand this and therefore see the very solemn responsibility that rests upon us as members of the body of Christ. Christ to be sole winners, to reach other men and women with the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's turn to Ezekiel, chapter 33. [00:17:37] Ezekiel 33. [00:17:40] One. I read it. [00:17:45] Ezekiel 33. One. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son of man, speak to the children of thy people. And say unto them, when I bring the sword upon the land, and the people of the land, take a man from among them and set him for their watchman. If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people, then whosoever heareth the sound at the trumpet and taketh not warning. If the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, took not warning, his blood shall be upon him. Whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned. And the sword come, and take any person from among them. He has taken away in his iniquity. But his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So, thou son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, o wicked man, thou shalt surely die. And thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. [00:19:06] And then chapter three, verse 18. [00:19:18] Chapter three, verse 18. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hands. I don't think there's any more solemn word in the whole of the Bible than these terrible words. [00:19:45] God has given to us a tremendous responsibility. [00:19:49] And woe betide us if we do not fulfil that solemn charge. [00:19:57] We have a charge not only towards God's people, but to the world. We are to blow the trumpet for God. We are to, as it were, issue a clarion call for the kingdom's sake. And if men we we do sound forth no uncertain note concerning the kingdom of God. And men laugh at us and scorn us and turn away from us, then if they die, their blood is upon their own head. But if there's any man or woman in our office, any man or woman in our home, any man or woman around us, and we could have spoken to them and should have spoken to them and haven't spoken to them, and that person dies, then God says, you and me, will he hold responsible for the death of that person? This is a terrible and solemn responsibility. And it was the recognition of this tremendous responsibility that started the whole missionary era. [00:21:03] It was when William Kearney and others first began to wake up to the commission that was the churches and which must be fulfilled if we were to have clean hands and pure hearts before God, that started them out. And their example meant that many others woke up and followed them. Whatever we might feel about the mistakes of the missionary enterprise, can you and I go before the judgment seat of Christ empty handed? [00:21:37] Can you and I stand before Christ and say, well, Lord, I bothered myself about spiritual growth. I bothered myself about my own needs. [00:21:48] And the Lord Jesus might say, well, what did you do about the great commission that I gave to you to preach the gospel to every creature? Can any of us go before the judgment seat of Christ and answer in this way again? Let me put it like this. Is there any one of us who will be able to bear at that great white throne? I'm not talking about the judgment seat of Christ, but the great white throne. Now, will there be any single one of us who will be able to look or bear the look of an unsaved man or woman who sees us with Christ and says, but he. [00:22:36] He brushed shoulders with me. He was in my office. She spoke often with me. Never once did they speak to me about Christ. Never once did they try to get me under the sound of the gospel. Never once did they show any concern for my soul. How will you and I, in whose hands the judgment of unbelievers is going to rest? How will you and I be able to bear the look of such people? [00:23:09] Now, this isn't just foolishness. [00:23:12] If you look at two Corinthians, chapter five, two Corinthians, chapter five and verse ten, this is what we read, verse ten and eleven. For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each 1 may receive the things done in the body according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad. [00:23:39] Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. [00:23:46] Now, this is what I want to point out to you. He says, we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that each 1 may receive the things done in the body, good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men there was a vital connection in the apostles mind between appearing before the judgment seat of Christ and preaching the gospel to men and women. [00:24:20] There was a vital connection in his mind between appearing before Christ at the, at that heavenly tribune and being a soul winner down here. [00:24:37] Now, again, this isn't wishful thinking. [00:24:40] One. Thessalonians, chapter two. [00:24:45] One. Thessalonians, chapter two. [00:24:48] And verse 19 and 20. [00:24:54] We read this, for what is our hope or joy or crown of glory? Are not even ye before our Lord Jesus at his coming? For ye are our glory and our joy. This was what Paul said to this church that he had been used of God to found. Many of them were his spiritual children. He said, you are our God. Glory and joy. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes, our glory and joy. Our crown of rejoicing is going to be you folk, because we shall be able before the Lord's face to see you there as the fruit of our labors. You turn to Philippians chapter four, back to Philippians chapter four, verse one. [00:25:44] And listen to this again. The apostle Paul says to the church at Philippi, wherefore, my brethren, beloved and longed for my joy and crown. [00:25:56] My joy and crown. Now, a crown is something you receive at the end in scripture. It is a reward. [00:26:06] And the apostle was saying, the church at Philippi, you are the ground I have for believing that I'm going to have a crown. [00:26:17] I'm not going before the Lord empty handed. And then again, two Corinthians, two. Now, this is a very interesting little reference. Two Corinthians, chapter one, verse 14. [00:26:36] As also ye did acknowledge us in part that we are your glory, even as ye also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that beautiful? [00:26:48] The apostle again, was saying here, not only the apostle Paul, but Timothy as well. He was saying to the church at Corinth, now, we, Paul and Timothy, we are your glory. [00:27:02] There'll come a day when you'll stand before the Lord and you'll say, well, Lord, we weren't able to go over the whole roman empire, but we financially supported these two dear brothers. We were behind them in prayer. We were absolutely with them in fellowship in every way. They are our glorying in thy presence. We may have made a lot of other mistakes, but in this matter, Lord, we were absolutely behind them, and it was right. And Paul and Timothy will turn round and say, lord, these folk are our glorying. Look at them, Lord, by thy grace and through the power of thy spirit. We brought them to birth. They were saved when we went into that place and preached the gospel. Isn't this a wonderful thing? We're all in this together. We can all be the glorying of one another. It's one thing to glory in oneself. It's another thing that we should be the glory of one another at the coming of our Lord Jesus. What are you putting into the building would hay and stubble? You'll be ashamed of the coming of the Lord Jesus. Or are you putting in gold and silver and precious stone which is going to go through the fire and will be glorying? You know it's not. You don't put it in yourself, you put it into others. You're putting gold and silver and precious stones into others and others putting that into you. That's going to be our glorying one day when we're in heaven and we're able to talk about it to the Lord himself. Well now here is the need to win souls. Now the next thing I would like to just touch upon is the command to win souls souls to christ. [00:28:37] And this of course grows out of the need. For the command of the Lord is the need to win souls as well. Matthew 28 and verse 19 and 20. So well known scriptures go ye therefore to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This commission is not merely to the eleven, although it was given to the eleven only at that point. It is the commission of the law to the whole church. It is not to a specials in the church. This is a commission to the whole church. And that is why the Lord Jesus ends it by saying, and lo, I am with you even unto the end of the age. [00:29:30] This is our commission. [00:29:34] And you and I have received through the apostles, we have received this last great sovereign commission of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we must answer for it if we are not fulfilling it. That is why we must be sold with us. We are to go and make disciples. Some of us may have to go to Japan, some of us may have to go to South America. [00:30:06] Some of us may have to go to Europe. [00:30:10] I mean, just across the water. [00:30:12] Some of us may have to go across the street. [00:30:19] But we must all go and we must all make disciples. [00:30:23] And it's not enough just to preach the gospel and say farewell, I leave you to others. We are to go and make disciples. It is the responsibility of the church as a whole, not only to preach the gospel, but to make disciples and that's something more than just getting people saved. The second scripture I'd like you to look at is acts, chapter one and verse eight. Another very well known scripture indeed. [00:30:53] But ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you. And ye shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, to the outermost parts of the earth. Now I want you to note that every one of us is to be a witness. There is not one single believer that is left out of this. It wasn't just the eleven. It was the whole 120 that were to be witnesses of Christ. And there is not one person in this room. If you're born of the spirit of God, who is not meant to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:31:33] Now this is vital. We must understand it. We are not witnesses to a movement. We are not witnesses to blessings. We are not witnessing witnesses to doctrines. We are not witnesses to things, to an organization, to an institution. We are witnesses to a living, risen Christ, a coming Christ, a saving Christ. Witnesses. Witnesses to his power. Not just witnesses to his salvation, but witnesses to his enthronement. [00:32:08] We are witnesses not only to his enthronement. We are witnesses to his coming. Again, this is what it means to be witnesses. We are living witnesses in this world to the risen Christ. [00:32:22] What a glorious thing. And not one single person who is a child of God is meant to be anything other than a witness. You and I are witnesses. [00:32:34] I can't help feeling that whatever we may feel about Jehovah's Witnesses as heretics, they have cottoned onto something which is absolutely true. And that is that everyone is to be a witness. And this is exactly how they grow. For they simply go from door to door, propagating their awful doctrine. But they are witnesses to something. And by the word of the mouse, they are winning multitudes of people. [00:33:05] We have no truck with Jehovah's Witnesses. But the truth remains that everyone on earth is to be a witless to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then if you turn back to John, chapter 15 and verse 16, we read this. [00:33:26] Ye did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide. [00:33:37] Here again, we have the sovereign purpose of God for every one of us. [00:33:43] You didn't choose him. [00:33:46] He chose you. [00:33:48] And he chose you and appointed you that you might go and bear fruit. [00:33:56] Isn't it interesting? The Lord Jesus here is talking about abiding. Now he says, go. [00:34:02] Abide. Go. Here's a paradox. We are to abide and yet we are to go. Some Christians don't abide, but they stay. [00:34:11] This is strange. We are to abide in Christ, and yet go and bear fruit. The Lord says all the time, go, go, go. This is his word to us. We have to go in faith and bear fruit. [00:34:25] There are chosen and appointed that we might bear, that we might go and bear fruit. [00:34:32] Now, if you will turn to Jude, the little letter of Jude. [00:34:43] Of course, I know some christians will immediately say that the fruit here is the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 522. And I'm sure that they're right. But fruit has seed within it. Remember that. [00:34:57] And then in Jude 23, and some save snatching them out of the fire, and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Here is another command to us all. If you look in the first part of this little epistle, you will see that it is to all who know something about this common salvation. [00:35:27] And he tells us that some we are to save, snatching them out of the fire, people who are just about to go on the brink, as it were, of a lost eternity, almost within singeing distance of the fire of hell, we are to snatch them and save them from going any further. What a command. And then, of course, there are other scriptures, and we can't see them all, but there are two that are quite interesting. In proverbs eleven and verse 30, the last part of the phrase, he that winneth souls is wise. Now, that's where the word came from. [00:36:11] The only place in the whole of the scripture the soul winning is mentioned. But it came from this little proverb in chapter, in proverbs eleven and verse 30, where it says, he that winneth souls is wise. Now, why is he wise? [00:36:27] Why is he wise? Well, if you turn to Daniel, chapter twelve, I think you might have some little clue as to why the Lord says, the person who wins souls is wise. Chapter twelve, verse three. [00:36:45] They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. [00:36:57] You see, if you and I turn many to righteousness, then there's going to be glory. [00:37:05] We shall shine. We're being wise, you see, really, there's an awful lot that stops us from being so wise. We don't want the scorn of the world. We don't want to put our foot in it. It's much easier to be. To be quiet and make excuses. Well, people don't like this kind of thing today. It's not done to talk about the soul and about spiritual things and so on. But if we're wise, if if we argue like that, we are short sighted, if we are wise and have foresight, we shall be uncompromising and bold in our testimony, because those that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever. [00:37:51] And then, of course, again, the Lord Jesus put it this way when he said in Matthew 419, come, and I will make you to become fishers of men. [00:38:05] Fishers of men. Here we've got the idea again. Soul winning. Now it is God's work to convict and to convince a man of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. It says so in John, chapter 16 eight. It is God's work to draw a soul to Christ. It says so in John chapter six, verse 44. No man can come unto the son except the father. Draw him. It is God's work to give faith to a man. It says so in Ephesians two eight. Faith is the gift of God, and it is God's work to give repentance. For it says so again in two Timothy 225, where it says, if it may please God to grant unto them repentance. [00:38:58] We know therefore, that it is God's work. [00:39:02] It is God's work to convince, to convict, to draw, to give repentance and faith. [00:39:11] And yet, in some amazing way, this work is done through you and me in some strange way. Normally, not always, there are exceptions, but normally it is done through men and women that God in some wonderful way reaches out and touches others. Now there are some examples I want to bring up to you, very simple examples. You have to forgive me for being very simple this evening. But as I say, the simplicity of this amazes me. Some people find soul winning so difficult, and yet it is really so utterly simple. There are four examples I would like you to turn to. The first is in John chapter one. [00:40:05] Here we have the first soul winner, John chapter one, verse 40 40 to 42. One of the two that heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. [00:40:32] He brought him unto Jesus. Now here are three little phrases. He findeth, he saith, he bringeth him unto Jesus. [00:40:49] He was saved. Andrew beheld the lamb of God and was saved. [00:40:57] It says, he first findeth his own brother. Oh, if only we would all first find our own brothers and sisters and others. He first found his own brother. Whoever it is, husband, wife, whoever it is that we might go out to those nearest to us and find them. And then he saith, what did he say? Did he preach a fully fledged sermon? Did he read to him the whole of the book of Isaiah? Did he give him a whole sort of anthology of scriptural verses to go through? No, he just said, we. I have found the Messiah. We have found the Messiah. That's. [00:41:45] And the next minute he brought that difficult brother Peter. He brought him to Jesus. Isn't that simple? Turn over the page to verse 45. And we have the second example, verse 45 and 46. Philip Findeth Nathaniel and saith unto him, we have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, come and see. And if you read on, you'll find what happened here. You've got three things again. First, Philip Findeth Nathaniel. He findeth. The second, he. [00:42:30] We have found him of whom the prophet spoke. [00:42:35] And the third thing he said, he bringeth him to Jesus. Come and see. [00:42:43] Isn't that simple? Nathaniel was a little bit more difficult than Peter, evidently. He said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Well, said Peter, not, not starting to go into a great, said Philip, not going into a great theological discussion, which is the habit of some. [00:43:05] He let us all go and said, come and see the best way to get people under the sound of the gospel. Come and see for yourself. And Nathaniel came and he met with the Lord. And the Lord said, nathaniel, when you were sitting under the fig tree, I saw you and saw that Daniel was amazed. His whole heart was exposed. And he found the Lord. Now there's another example in John, chapter four, verse 28. [00:43:35] So the woman left her water pot and went away into the city and saith to the people, come see a man who told me all things that ever I did. [00:43:45] So here you've got the three things again. The woman of Samaria, she went to the city. She found the people. Wasn't any good trying to find someone around the well. There wasn't anyone there, not in the middle of the day, only the Lord. So she went to where she knew she could find people, to the city. That was the sensible thing to do. She findeth the people. She findeth, she says, what did she say? Come see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Can this be the Christ? [00:44:12] The third thing she did, she bringeth them to Jesus. They were coming out to him, it says, and this is exactly what the people say in verse 39 to 40 when they say, they said to the woman, verse 42. Now, we believe not because of thy speaking, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the savior of the world. Three things. [00:44:32] He findeth, he saith, he bringeth unto Jesus. Three things. Now turn over to acts. Chapter eight. [00:44:43] Acts, chapter eight. [00:44:49] Now, here's an interesting thing. [00:44:52] From verse 26 to the end of the chapter. Now, I can't read it all, but here you've got it again. Here's Philip the evangelist. Another Philip this time. Now, what happens with Philip? First, he's led of the spirit of God. Now here's an important point. He's led the spirit of God. Secondly, he findeth. Yes, he findeth the man. Behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, who was over all the queen's treasure, come to Jerusalem to worship. He found him. That was the second thing. The third thing, he Seth. You see what he says. Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, understandest thou what thou readest? [00:45:33] And the last thing was, he brought him to Jesus. Listen. And beginning it says from this scripture, Philip preached unto him, Jesus. And the result was, they stopped the chariot. And the big civil servant of the ethiopian government said, can't I be baptized? [00:45:56] And so, in some little brackish pool in the desert, the great greatest civil servant in the ethiopian government was baptized by a very humble evangelist. [00:46:10] He findeth. [00:46:12] He saith, he bringeth him to Jesus. [00:46:16] Here is the three simple essentials in soul winning. First, you must find the people. Secondly, you must testify to them. And thirdly, you must bring them to Jesus. So simple. Well, now, the last quarter of an hour we have, I'd like to spend just on Sunday saying a few things about these three essentials. First, he findeth. He findeth. The first thing we must do is find the people. [00:46:45] No good sitting at home and saying, lord, lord, bring them to me. [00:46:52] Oh, lord, if I have any opportunity, I'll speak. And then sitting in the kitchen. How can you expect to have any opportunity sitting in the kitchen? [00:47:03] You must find the people. You must find the people. Now, listen. Listen carefully. I'm not just joking. Listen very carefully. Andrew evidently knew Peter's horns. [00:47:16] And he went off to find him. He went into this place. He said, is Simon here? [00:47:22] He was here a little while ago. He's gone. He went up somewhere else. Is Simon. There? You are, Simon. I would have a word with you. He knew where to find him. He went to look for him. He found him. You and I have got to find people. It's no good us waiting for them to come to the Lord. Oh, we say, when revival comes, the people pouring. [00:47:40] Well, all I can say is that it doesn't seem to be exactly scriptural because when there's a revival, it seems to me the christians pour out. [00:47:50] Seems to be as simple as that. We go out and find the people. We find the people where they are. Then again, the woman of Samaria. Suppose she sat on the well and said, lord, this is wonderful. This is wonderful. Bring the city out to us. We'll have an open air here. No, she left a water pot and she left the Lord even. And she went back to the city and she must have been like a woman in a daze. They must have thought, well, look at her. This. There's almost. [00:48:23] Look, she's left her. What's wrong with her? She's got a water pot. Hasn't got a water pot. [00:48:29] And then she began to say to them, come and see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Can this be the Christ? [00:48:38] No better fisher than the woman of Samaria. They flocked out. They flocked out. I expect they asked all kinds of questions straight away. What on earth has been happening to this woman who was known to be a sinful woman with a broken life? [00:48:54] She reads rather like some of our modern film stars for the kind of life she'd been living. And then she went. She became a soul winner. She took the whole city out, samaritans of all people. And they were all converted. It's an amazing thing. And then Philip the evangelist, you see, supposing he had seen when the spirit of the Lord said to him, Philip, I've got a job for you. Supposing Philip had said to the Lord, well, Lord, then bring the eunuch here. [00:49:24] We've got the most wonderful revival meetings here in Samaria. There's most marvellous things happening here, Lord. People are being saved. Even Simon the sorcerer's being saved and says he wants the Holy Spirit. He wants to be filled with the Holy Spirit. With marvelous things happening here, Lord, now, you bring the. You too within your sovereign power to bring him here. Isn't it better for him to come amongst us, see us all, all these saved people? No. The Lord said, you go off, Philip. You go off. I'll lead you. Send him off to a desert place. I just wonder what on earth Philip thought as he journeyed on that desert way. But you see, he found his men. [00:50:05] Well, now, this is very, very important. People do not just miraculously appear. We have to find them. That's the general point. Sometimes the Lord does bring people to us and that's wonderful. But, you know, the general principle is we've got to go and find them. Now then, pray each day that the Lord will lead you to one soul, at least to whom you can speak of Christ. Do you pray like that? And if you do pray like that, do you expect to meet a soul to whom you can speak of Christ? Pray each day, Lord, give me. So this was Wesley's great prayer. Every day, Lord, give me at least one soul today to whom I can testify of yourself. Pray and expect the Lord to answer. Secondly, be on the lookout for opportunities and take them by faith when they come. Now, often when the opportunity comes, you will feel the least prepared for it. You will probably have some squalling child in an arm, or the telephone's ringing, or someone else, some aunt's just gone into hospital, or someone else is in need, or the boss is in a dreadful mood, filthy mood, or something else is happening and you just feel terrible about it. And then someone starts to talk about the life hereafter and you just don't get, oh, Lord, I'm not ready for it tomorrow, Lord, tomorrow, Lord, I'm not ready for it today. But you go, take the opportunity by faith. Don't go by your feelings. Don't go by what you might appear to have or not have. Go by faith. If you ask the Lord for an opportunity, when the opportunity comes, take it by faith. A few stumbling words are better than some perfect eloquence in an occasion like that. Whether it's in the street, whether it's in public transport, whether it's in your home or whether it's in the office. Take the opportunity when the Lord gives it to you. Be ready to go out fishing. Be ready to go out fishing. [00:52:11] Be ready to go out door to door visiting. Be ready to go out into the pubs if necessary, or any other form of personal work in which you're contacting men and women where you're finding people, where they are. [00:52:26] Be prepared for it. Now, don't let us be foolish about this. Let us learn to show love to people genuinely. I mean, I don't mean that sort of sickly stuff that some can put on. I mean the genuine article. Let us be prepared to trust the Lord and show real love and concern for other people. Show a genuine interest in them, really. Be prepared to go out of your way to help them. Someone's fallen ill and their grass is growing high. Go over and mow the lawn for them or someone's fallen. Bake a cake. I said this in lint. And some dear old ladies, really dear old ladies with great black things over their heads. They were refugees from eastern Europe. [00:53:12] Smiled at me and I thought it had gone in. And I had never had so many christian capes been baked in a small village since, I think, the reformation. They baked and they baked and they baked. And I think the whole unsaved section of the village had capes given to them. But, but, and this was the point. You've never seen the number of people that came in in the cars from that place. They packed them in, those old ladies and marched in triumphant with strings of other old ladies behind them. All unsaved, all who are ignorant of the Lord Jesus. You see, they just got hold of a simple little law. Do you know, one of them said to me, to Sister Dora, she said, we never knew that was the way to win souls, to bake a cake. So simple. Just a little expression of love. Just a little expression of real interest. Visit someone. If you know they're ill, inquire after them. Just go out of your way. Break the ice. Do something. Just do something. If people think you're mad, all right, you put your foot into it and that's finished with. But you can at least show loving, genuine interest in other people. And this can often be the first step, the first link in a chain that will lead someone to cry. So do remember that. And then again it says, the second thing is, he saith, he saith, he findeth. And then he saith, testify to Christ. [00:54:47] Don't preach unless you are gifted that way. There are some who are gifted in that way and they are permitted to preach. But generally speaking, don't preach. People in the street don't like being preached at in the street and people in neighbors. And so they don't like sonic. Someone suddenly assuming the office of the vicar and giving them a little sermonette. They don't like it. Testify. There's all the difference in the world to testify. A sermon won't save anyone, but a testimony might. [00:55:17] Now, this is so important. Listen to these little worms. We have found the Christ testimony again. We have found him of whom Moses spake in the law testimony. Come and see a man who's told me all things that ever I did. It's not this, the Christ. [00:55:38] You see, you see, this is the whole point. Of course, I must say this. Philip preached Jesus. He preached. Well, Philip was gifted that way. And some of us are gifted that way and can do it. But normally folk, unsafe folk, don't like being preached at. But they will. A testimony can open the door to many a heart. A simple. A few simple words of personal testimony speak to people naturally. [00:56:11] Better to stumble over words to speak poorly and be yourself than word perfect and artificial. Do whatever you do. A very void. [00:56:23] Cliches and phrases learnt off pact, as it were, off by heart, which can give the impression that it's just a slick salesmanship. We have to be so careful of this kind of thing. A few stumbling words out of the heart. I found the Lord and he's changed. My life can go into a person's heart like a. Like an arrow and hit the target. [00:56:51] And suddenly they're really and deeply moved by what they've heard. They never forget it. So do remember this. It's so important. Ron and I will never forget a lady that we knew and giving her testimony she used all just the way we felt she should never do it. And she was so ultra dramatic that we felt that it. How anyone could ever be saved, we didn't know. Just put everyone on, she said. And there was I under the lamppost when I saw the light of God. And all the boys just roared with laughter. [00:57:25] The poor lady just didn't. She had no idea. You can't do these kind of things. You've got to be natural and normal. If you've seen the light of God, put it in the normal way. [00:57:36] Don't, whatever you do, mix lamp posts up with the light of God, please. You're asking for trouble. But you see, it is. The point is to be natural. Don't preach at people. Be yourself, be absolutely natural. [00:57:50] You know, use, of course, sort of things like, do you know that you are a sinner? I mean, this kind of thing, a person is sort of all screwed up and so is not going to win anyone to Christ. Not going to win anyone to Christ. A word of personal testimony. I discovered that I was a sinner. [00:58:10] The person may look at you and say, my dear, you don't look a sinner, you see? But there's your opportunity. [00:58:19] So do remember this. Some words concerning Christ given in a personal way are worth more than many tracts and many sermons. [00:58:32] Just a few words like apples fitted in a golden silver apples in a golden frame, just in the right time, the right place, and they go right into the heart. The danger in personal work is what I've already said. American style salesmanship. I have something to give you, sort of here. How about this. [00:58:56] You ever seen that you need a savior? [00:59:00] This won't win anyone, especially the British and especially the Europeans. They may go down the other side, the Atlantic, I don't know. But do avoid slick kind of salesmanship and avoid what I call being a biblical parrot. [00:59:18] That is the kind of person who can run off a number of scriptures and not really be able to discuss them or explain. [00:59:25] This is just as dangerous. People in the street don't want to have a whole volley of scriptures fired at them as they go past. Anyway, most of them feel that it's irreverent to do that, to handle God's word in that way. If in discussion you use God's word, it's different. But be careful. Be careful of just being like a biblical, a kind of scriptural parrot, just simply pouring out scripture without any feeling or understanding. Just a few scriptures you've learned and out they go to every person willy nilly. Be careful. And be careful of being tract machines. [01:00:04] Tracts are very important in personal work. But do read the tracts you give, for instance. Don't, whatever you do, give that kind of tract to a cultured person. [01:00:15] If you want to come and have a look at it, it's a harps naked savage. And then it really, I think it's a children's track. But I should be very, very careful of giving that to a cultured person. I wouldn't give that to a professor. I would give it to a mod, perhaps that might go down with someone a little more cultured. But you see, you must be careful of the kind of traps you use. I mean, don't give them out willy nilly. Don't become tract machines. And whatever you do, remember, my job is to speak to people, is to make contact with people, not just to dish out tracks. This is a terrible danger because we are afraid of speaking. And the devil knows that he can play on our fear of using. I. [01:01:01] I found the law. [01:01:04] I'd like to invite you to come with me this evening because I found the law, the Lord Jesus Christ or something on that I don't know. But a few words, simple, clear words from the heart, are worth much more than that. Use tracks, but use them discriminately and use them wisely. See, watch how you use them. Keep abreast with the news, know what people are talking about and start at their level in the office. I mean, it's no good you always starting from an ultra heavenly position. They don't know what you're talking about and they're not even interested in some ways, in what you're talking about. But even if everyone's talking about Vietnam, there's a glorious opportunity for you to listen to the conversation. And when someone says, isn't it a strange thing that we just don't seem to be able to get peace with all these big men and all these big brains and everything else? There's your opportunity to say something when there's been an air crash and people start to talk about the life hereafter. Opportunity, opportunity. You see, all the time there's wonderful opportunities in the office. Start where people are talking. Go to that point. Go to that point and start there. You see? Be on the lookout. Don't try to start up here. It's about their heads anyway, and they won't understand what you mean. And do try to be as intelligent as you possibly can. [01:02:29] Don't try to be above your intelligence, intelligence. But do try to be intelligent. If you're talking with someone from another country, do either keep your mouth well and truly shut and say very little about their country. But if you do know something about it, make sure your facts are right. It's no good talking to someone from Peru and speaking to him and saying, oh, we have many people from Tokyo come to us. [01:02:57] The man may very well be deeply hurt and deeply upset. I remember once we had a lunch here and we laid it on, he won't mind me telling you, and had a wonderful lunch here. And a group from France came from Strasbourg. And there we also went. A brother turned round and said Laudi and heinously swallowed the fork and knife and everything. He said, what is Strasbourg? Do tell me. Is it a village, a town? What is it? Has it got street lamps? Has it got drams? At that time, Strasbourg was the centre of the European Union. So you see, you must get to know your facts. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut. If you don't know, come and ask someone who does. [01:03:47] Is it true that Copenhagen is the capital of science? [01:03:53] Ask before you make a dreadful mistake and upset them all. Just get your facts clear. If you're not sure that a person is japanese or peruvian, just ask whoever's there. Is he japanese or peruvian? But don't do it at the table. Some people say, I smell, because these are the kind of things I know they may be funny, but these are the kind of things that ruin our testimony. They're little things, they're flies in the ointment, but they're things which ruin it. Now do remember. Then start at their level. Try to be as intelligent as possible. And when you are ignorant of a person's background, keep your mouth shut. I'm not being rude, but keep your mouth shut. It's best to be quiet and talk about other things that you do know something about than upsetting people. Always be courteous. Always be courteous. There is no excuse at all for being discourteous. No excuse at all. And, and we ought to underline this. Rudeness and crudeness are quite unnecessary, you know, this is one of the things that has stopped the gospel in Japan, because the westerner has found it almost impossible to adjust himself to japanese manners. [01:05:20] But if you're going to win a people, you must adjust yourself to their manners. You must be sensitive. Now, the lord's people will put up with all kinds of discourtesies, although some of them find it difficult at times. But the man in the street will not put up with it if he finds someone pushing the gospel at him and he finds it objectionable anyway in the slightest discourtesy, and he will just feel the man's a savage or the woman's a savage, and shouldn't no more need be said. [01:05:53] I think this is very important. Also, I do think that we ought to say something else along these lines, where bluntness often puts, puts people on the defensive straight away. [01:06:09] Now, you can be absolutely frank with absolute grace. [01:06:16] You can be absolutely frank in such a way that your very frankness goes right into the hearts, because it's said in such a gracious and loving way. But if you're blunt or abrupt or like a tank like approach, you'll find that people immediately on the defensive, you see, and once the person's on the defensive, you can give up all thought of soul winning, because it's a false level. [01:06:45] You are trying to win them and they are on the defensive. They're not really being themselves. You can't win a facade. [01:06:53] And the more you pound away at the facade, the more defenses they will muster. This is no good. Now, can I give you a few little examples? [01:07:03] The Lord Jesus Christ did the most amazing thing with Zacchaeus. [01:07:08] Just supposing it stopped at the tree and said, Zacchaeus, you wicked sinner, come down, I've got something to say to you. When Zacchaeus had come down, that man's defenses would have been up. He would have been terrified, but his defences would have been up. Do you know what the lord said to him? Zacchaeus, come down, I'm staying with you today. [01:07:30] This bowled Zacchaeus over that the master was asking a favour of one of the known sinners of Jericho, it so bold Zacchaeus over, he was converted on the spot. And when he got back and the lord went in, everyone murmured, saying, the lord's gone in with a chief publican with a thinner. [01:07:52] And, you know, inside the courtyard, it says, Zacchaeus stood and said, lord, the half of what I have I give to the poor and I will pay back four times what I have exacted wrongly. What a conversion. Now, supposing the lord had said to the woman at the well of Samaria, you know you're living in sin, don't you? [01:08:14] I know all about you. [01:08:16] You think you've had five husbands, but you haven't. [01:08:19] The one you've got now isn't your husband. And do you know what the law of Moses says about people like you? [01:08:26] It would have been the end. That woman's defences would have been up instantly. And this is the way some christians approach the whole matter of soul with them. But you know what the Lord Jesus said? [01:08:38] Could I have a drink? [01:08:42] Well, now, this sinful woman was shunned by all the rest. That's why she went out in the middle of the day to get water. No one else would go with her. So she went out in the heat of the day to fetch water. And for this godly man, who was different, obviously different from others, to say to her, give me a drink of water, will you? It knocked her right off her guard. [01:09:05] And so began the conversation that led it to her conversion and the conversion of a multitude from that city. [01:09:13] Now, you know, I could go on, and I could go on. The Lord does this kind of thing again and again, as if he. He is the master soul winner. Do you know what he said to the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda? He said to him, do you want to be made whole? Now, isn't that a stupid thing to say? [01:09:33] Of course the man wants to be whole. He'd been there for 38 years waiting to be made whole, waiting for an angel to go down the water. But you see, what the Lord said, it was the Lord's approach. He didn't say, no, no, my man, I've come here. I'm the savior of the world. I've got eternal life. I can raise you. I've raised people all over the place. I can raise you. Do you believe this is the kind of way you and I do it? We tumble into people and say, now, look here, you're a sinner. You need this, you need that. But the way the Lord did it was so simple, do you want to be made whole? He played on the broken cords of that man's life. [01:10:09] He brayed on all those hidden hopes and fears of 38 years. [01:10:16] And that man said, oh, lord, of course I want to be made on. You see, he won the man. He won the man naturally, before ever he started to preach the gospel, if you see what I mean. And I would like to just say that we need sensitiveness in our approach to people that wins a person naturally first. I never forget Brother Fischbacher once saying to me, first the natural, then the spiritual. It's the law. Fir if you want a friendship of person, sometimes you've got to win them naturally first before you can win them spiritually. [01:10:52] Even a Christian, or maybe you disagree with that, but there's something in it. And, you know, here it is certainly true. Unless you win a person naturally, their heart isn't open for personal work. You can't really testify in the same way. But once you, you've put yourself in their hands, once you, you've. Well, I could tell you so many stories. Tari's got some wonderful story. You go read your. But there was wonderful all his. Trumbull's father was a great soul winner, was in a carriage of a train going, and there was a man who was obviously an alcoholic, a young florid man sitting opposite. And after a while he got out a whiskey bottle and a little metal container and started to pour it out and he offered it to the great preacher of the gospel trouble. And Trumbull said, no, thank you very much, and went on reading his paper. But he was praying for the man. A little while later, the man again got the whisky bottle out and poured a bit more and offered it again to Trumbull first. No, said Truman, thank you very much. And he went, and you don't, you don't like drink, said the man on the other side. And Trumbull said, no, I don't, I don't drink. [01:12:08] And then the man said to him, I suppose you think I'm a wicked old sinner. [01:12:13] And Trumbull said, no, I was thinking what a generous man you were to offer me twice a drink before you took it yourself. That led to that man's conversion, because he immediately said afterwards, he said to him, you know, this thing's ruining my life. Now he would never have said that. It trembled and said to him, do you know what the scripture says? Wine is a mocker. [01:12:39] Wine is a mocker. Strong drink. So on. He could have thundered on the scripture to him and obliterated any chance of the man's salvation. But you see, he won the man naturally, and then the man opened like a flower and he was saved. [01:12:58] Well, this, this to me is so important. [01:13:01] We need to be so sensitiveness. [01:13:05] We need such sensitiveness in our approach to people. Some people need a hammering and other people need the utmost delicacy of handling. But I am quite sure that it is earnestness, sincerity and truth which are the essential in our testifying. [01:13:28] Paul said, you know how for the space of three years I have warned you day and night with tears, earnestness. Now, there are very few people in this world that can put up a barrier to earnestness when they feel someone's coming to them with, I know it all. [01:13:50] I am a Christian. [01:13:52] I've got it all. You're a sinner. You need, sailor. They will immediately the barriers go up. [01:13:59] But when they see an earnestness. This was the glory of the Salvation army in its beginnings. [01:14:07] It was its earnestness. Some of those early salvationists were prepared to stand on their heads in order to wind, and they did. [01:14:19] They literally stood on their heads. They did. They did cartwheels across the in order somehow or other, to get hold of the attention of alcoholics and others in order to win them. And the earnestness and the genuineness of the love for the person was the thing that in the empire's the most concrete fortifications and won them to Christ. [01:14:42] I think this is something we need to take note of. Now, I'm going to stop. I've obviously got to. There's quite a lot more we could say, but we will say it at another time and we'll talk about the last point. He bringeth him unto Jesus, and we'll talk about the way to use scripture and how exactly to point a soul to Christ when you're dealing with them. But can I just say this? These two things. He findeth, we must find the people. That's essential. [01:15:17] And the second thing is, he saith we must testify. He saith we have found the Christ. [01:15:27] It's so simple to be witnesses of Christ. [01:15:31] It's not easy to preach. [01:15:34] It's not easy to preach, but it's very easy to be a witness. [01:15:38] If you'd seen an accident today and you were a witness, it's not so hard to testify. [01:15:45] You just say what you saw. What you didn't see, you can't say, but what you saw, you recount. [01:15:52] It's as simple as that. [01:15:54] You saw the sun set, you can be a witness to it. You can tell us about it. You saw it. And I might put it in different words, you might put it in other words, but it lives because you saw it with your own eyes. You felt it in your own soul. It registered on you. And this is what we are to be witnesses. Every one of us, witnesses. And this is the thing. The devil stops if he can stop us from being witnesses. He's won such a backhoe if he can just somehow stop that simple, direct word in the office, in the home, amongst people, in the street, either known or unknown, which speaks of Christ in a living and vital way. [01:16:41] Shall we pray? [01:16:47] O dear Lord, we pray that thou wouldst make every one of us soul winners. By thy grace, by thy power, Lord, we need thee. Thou knowest that. Oh, and how we need thee. But, Lord Jesus, every one of us can be a soul winner. Thou hast appointed us that we should go and bear fruit, and that our fruit should remain. Lord, we ask thee that we may be found within thy will, within thy life, within thy power, and within thy joy. [01:17:20] And from this night we pray that there may be a new concern for men and women around us. We may look upon them with new eyes, Lord, with new vision. And we shall seek thee for little ways and means by which we can express some interest, some concern, some love. And help us, Lord, to speak in simplest language of thyself. For we know, Lord, that in this way thou hast saved so many any. So hear us, Lord. We commit this evening to thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.