The Cost Of Soul Winner By Charles Spurgeon

What are The Cost Of Soul Winner?

The Cost of Going Through Unexpected Experiences

I’d like to say something to those of you who are attempting to draw people to Jesus. You aspire to be useful, but do you understand what that there are cost involved to be soul winner? Are you certain you know what you’re doing? Prepare to see and experience many things with which you would not expect. If the Lord uses you for the salvation of others, experiences that would otherwise be unimportant to you will become your part. 

“Therefore, I endure all things for the elect’s sakes,” Paul says, “that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” An ordinary person may sleep all night, but a surgeon will be called at all hours. A farmer may relax by his fire, but if he becomes a shepherd, he must be out among the lambs and bear all weathers for them. For this reason, we will be forced to go through unexpected situations.

I was the victim of a terrifying spiritual depression a few years ago. Certain troubling circumstances had occurred in my life; I was also ill, and my heart fell. I was forced to cry out to the Lord from the depths. I suffered much in flesh just before going to Mentone for relaxation, but even more so in spirit, for my spirit was overwhelmed. 

I presented a sermon based on the lines, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?” under duress. I was as qualified to preach from that passage as I could ever hope to be. 

I trust that only a handful of my brethren could have gone so thoroughly into those heart-wrenching lines. I felt the horror of a soul abandoned by God to the fullest extent possible. That was not a pleasant experience. I shudder at the thought of going through that soul eclipse again. I pray that I never have to go through it again unless the same outcome awaits me.

That night, after the sermon, a guy came into the vestry, who appeared to be as close to being insane as he could be without being in an asylum. His eyes seemed to be about to start from the top of his head, and he stated he would have given up if he hadn’t heard that sermon, which had made him feel as if there was one man alive who understood and could articulate his feelings. I spoke with him and tried to encourage him, and I invited him back on Monday night when I would have more time to speak with him. 

I met the brother again, and I told him I believed he was a hopeful patient, and that I was delighted the word was so appropriate for his situation. Apparently, he put aside the comfort which I presented for his acceptance, and yet I had the consciousness upon me that the precious truth which he had heard was at work upon his mind, and that the storm of his soul would soon subside into a deep calm.

Now, listen to what happened subsequently. After the service last night, of all times of the year, when I was preaching from the words, “The Almighty has vexed my soul,” in strolled the same brother who had called on me five years earlier. This time, he appeared to be as different as noon and midnight, or life and death. “I am glad to see you,” I told him, “because I have often wondered whether you have been brought to perfect peace,” I told you I went to Mentone, and my patient went to the country as well, so we hadn’t seen each other in five years. This brother responded to my questions by saying, “Yes, you stated I was an optimistic patient, and I’m sure you’ll be relieved to learn that I’ve been walking in the sun since that day. With me, everything changes and shifts.” Dear friends, I thanked God that my frightful experience had prepared me to sympathize with and guide my poor despairing patient the first time I saw him; but last night, when I saw him totally recovered, my heart overflowed with thankfulness to God for my previous sorrowful feelings. 

It is good for me to have been tormented so that I would know how to speak a word in season to one who is tired. I would walk into the deeps a hundred times to cheer a downcast spirit: it is good for me to have been afflicted so that I might know how to speak a word in season to one who is weary.

Bear The Cost To Be Qualified

If you could have your right arm made a little longer by undergoing a painful operation, I doubt you would want to do so; but if you knew that by doing so, you could reach and save drowning men who would otherwise perish before your eyes, I believe you would gladly bear the pain and pay a high fee to the surgeon to be thus qualified for the resuscitation. 

Consider that gaining soul-winning power will need you to pass through fire and water, uncertainty and despair, mental anguish, and soul discomfort. Of course, it will not be the same for all of you, or even for any two of you, but your preparation will be based on the job assigned to you. 

If you want to save others from the fire, you’ll have to plunge into the blaze, and if you want to save others from the floods, you’ll have to dive into the water. You can’t work a fire escape without feeling the heat of the fire, and you can’t man a lifeboat without becoming wet. 

If Joseph is to keep his brothers alive, he must first travel to Egypt; if Moses is to lead the people through the wilderness, he must first spend forty years with his flock there. “If anyone asks to be made a successful minister, he knows not what he asks; and it becomes him to consider whether he can drink deeply of Christ’s bitter cup and be baptized with His baptism,” Payson remarked.

The prayer just said by our renowned brother, Mr. Levinsohn, prompted me to think about this. He is, as you can see, of Abraham’s seed, and he was converted by a city missionary from his own country. That city missionary would not have known the young stranger’s heart or won his ear for the gospel message if he had not been a Jew himself. 

Made Able To Sympathize

Suitable instruments are used to win men to Christ, and this suitability is often found in the ability to sympathize. An earnest communication strikes the heart because it meets the state of that heart. A key unlocks a door because it fits the wards of the lock. You and I must be molded into a variety of shapes to suit various mental and emotional states. 

As Paul puts it, “we must be made into all kinds of shapes to suit all kinds of minds and hearts.” “And I became a Jew in order to gain the Jews; To the weak, I became weak, so that I could gain the weak; to all men, I became all things, so that I might save some.” These processes must likewise be carried out on us. Let us joyfully bear the Holy Spirit works inside our spirits, so that we may be more abundantly blessed to our fellow men. 

Come, brethren, and throw whatever you have on the altar! Give yourself over to the Lord’s control, you laborers. You who are delicate may need to be shocked into having the power to help the vulgar and uneducated. You who are wise and educated may have to be made fools of, that you may win fools to Jesus; for fools need saving, and many of them will not be saved except by means which men of culture cannot admire.

Cost Us Energy

How finely some people go to work when the thing needed may not be daintiness, but energy! On the other hand, how violent some are when the desired thing is tact and gentleness, and not force! This has to be learned; we must be trained to it like dogs to follow the game.

Here’s an example of one kind of encounter: The brother is elegant; he wants to be sincere, but he also has to be elaborate. He has a well-prepared speech written out, and his notes are neatly organized. Regrettably, he has forgotten to bring the important paper with him! What is he going to do about it? He is far too nice to give up; he will attempt to converse. He gets off to a good start and finishes first. “Fair and softly, good sir.” says the speaker. After that, what happens? For the second time, he’s gazing upwards. What do you think you should say? What else is there to say? The good man flounders about, but he cannot swim As he struggles to land, you can hear him mentally exclaim, “That’s my last attempt.” But this isn’t the case. He talks once more. He gains confidence and develops into a powerful public speaker. The Lord equips him to accomplish his job well via humiliations like these. 

The Cost To Serve As an Apprenticeship

We are too small to be fit or too large to be good in the beginning. We must serve an apprenticeship and learn about our trade. A black lead pencil is useless until it is sliced; the fine cedar wood must be removed before the inner metal, which marks and writes, can be used. The knife of affliction is keen, yet it is beneficial; you cannot enjoy it, but faith can teach you to value it. 

Are you not willing to go through an ordeal in order to save some? 

If this is not your spirit, you’d better stick to your farm and your business, for no one will ever win a soul unless he is willing to suffer everything within the realm of possibility for the sake of that soul.

Be Prepared For The Work

A good deal may have to be suffered through fear, and yet that fear may assist in stirring the soul, and putting it into a fit posture for work; at least, it may drive the heart to prayer, and that alone is a great part of the necessary preparation. A good man thus describes one of his early attempts at visiting, with the view of speaking to individuals upon their spiritual condition:

“On the drive to the residence, I was thinking about how I would introduce the issue and what I would say. I was trembling and nervous the entire time. As I approached the door, I felt as if I would sink through the stones; my courage had left me, and when I lifted my hand to the knocker, it fell at my side without touching it. I proceeded halfway down the stairs out of utter terror; after a brief pause, I returned to the knocker and entered the home. The words I spoke and the prayer I made were broken, but I’m thankful that my worries and cowardice did not win. ‘The ice had been broken.’” That ice-breaking process must be completed, and the result is really beneficial.

Christ Died For You, His People Live For You

O poor souls, you that wish to find the Saviour, Jesus has died for you; and now His people live for you! We cannot offer any atoning sacrifice for you; there is no need that we should, but still, we would gladly make sacrifices for your soul’s sake. 

Didn’t our brother just say in his prayer, “We would do anything, be anything, give anything, and suffer anything to bring you to Christ?” I assure you that many of us feel even so. Will you not take care of yourself? Will we be serious about your souls, or will you toss them aside? Be wiser, I implore you, and may infinite wisdom guide you to the feet of our precious Saviour at once. Amen.

This article is an edited version of the article “The Cost of Being a Soul Winner” from Charles Spurgeon’s book “The Soul Winner”. Check out our related posts for more information on this topic, or get a copy of the book from Amazon.