Importance Of Soul Winning By Charles Spurgeon
Importance of Soul Winning:
“I have become all things to all people, that by all means, I might save some.” 1 Cor 9:22
This is an excerpt from Charles Spurgeon’s article “Soul-Saving Our One Business” in which he discusses the Importance of Soul Winning.
God Is Dishonored If They Are Lost
If Apostle Paul were here, I believe he would say something like this. To save people’s souls! How God is dishonored if they are lost! Did you ever consider how much dishonor the Lord our God receives in London on a single day? Take, for example, this prayer hour, when we are assembled to pray. How many of these people’s thoughts would be unworthy of the Most High if they could be read? But consider the thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands of people who have disregarded the very semblance of worship of the God who has created them and keeps them alive outside of every house of prayer, outside of every house of worship of any type! The gin palace door has swung open many times during this sacred hour, and God’s name has been blasphemed at the drinking bar! There are worse things, but I won’t reveal them. Imagine an hour later, when the night has descended. Shame will not allow us to consider how God’s name is desecrated in the lives of those whose first father was created in God’s image, but who contaminate themselves by becoming Satan’s slaves and prey of bestial lusts! Alas! “It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” the apostle stated of this city’s abominations.
Only The Gospel Can Eradicate Social Evil
Only the gospel can eradicate social evil, Christian men and women. Vices are like vipers, and only Jesus’ voice can expel them. Nothing else will purify this city’s filthiness but the gospel. Will you not, for God’s sake, try to save some? Consider the number of idolaters in China and India, worshippers of the false prophet and antichrist. What a stench this false worship must be in Jehovah’s nostrils! How often He had to place His hand on the hilt of His sword as if to say, “Ah! I will ease Me of Mine adversaries.” But He is patient. Let us not forget His patience, but daily appeal to Him and work for Him, if we can save some for His glory.
The Extreme Misery Of This Our Human Race
Consider, too, the extreme misery of this our human race. It would be a terrible thing if you could see the total suffering of London right now in the hospitals and workhouses. While some people are impoverished because of unforeseen events, a vast majority of London’s poverty directly results from wastefulness, lack of planning, inactivity, and worst of all, drinking. Ah, that drunkenness! That is the master-evil. If we could only get rid of alcohol, we’d be sure to beat the devil. The devilish liquor-dens that plague-spot the entire city are responsible for a shocking amount of drunkenness. In fact, many of the drinking establishments are worse than hell, in some aspects, because whereas hell serves as a heavenly protest against sin, the gin-palace serves no such purpose. Three-quarters of all poverty is caused by the vices of the era. To look at the homes, where women tremble at the sound of their husband’s foot approaching, where children run and hide upon their little heaps of straw as the human brute who calls himself “a man” returns from where he has been indulging his appetites, if you could look at such a sight, and remember that it will be seen ten thousand times over to-night, I think you would say, “God help us by all means to save some!” Since the gospel of Christ is the great ax to lay at the root of the deadly upas tree, may God help us keep that ax there and to work with it until the poison tree’s huge trunk rocks back and forth, and we cut it down, and London and the world are saved from the wretchedness and misery that now drip from every bough!
Terrible Future Of Impenitent Souls
Again, my friends, the Christian seeks to save some for other reasons, chiefly the terrible future of impenitent souls. Only those blessed with heavenly eye-salve may see beyond the veil before me, and what do they see? Immense parade of spirits leaving their bodies, but where? We see them go up to the solemn bar, unsaved, unregenerate, and unwashed in the precious blood, where the sentence is read in silence, and they are banished from God’s presence, banished to horrors that cannot be recounted or even imagined. This alone keeps us awake at night. This fateful decision has a dreadful solemnity to it. However, the sound of the resurrection trumpet can be heard. Those spirits are released from their imprisonment. I see them rising from the pit and returning to their bodies, and now I see them standing in the Valley of Decision—throngs, multitudes, multitudes, multitudes. And He appears, seated on a big white throne, crown on His head, books before Him, and they stand at the bar, prisoners. My eyes now see them trembling. They tremble like aspen leaves in a gale. Can they flee? Mountains will not open their guts to conceal them! How will they fare? Pain is their endless torment. My heart falls when I see their plight and hear their horrible cries of late awakening. Christians, save some! Save as much as you can. Seek to save some by yonder flames and outer darkness, and the crying, wailing, and gnashing of teeth! Let this, as in the apostle’s case, be your great, your ruling object in life, that by all means, you may save some.
Contrasting Destiny
Because, oh, assuming they’re saved, look at the contrast. Their spirits ascend to heaven, where they glorify redeeming love. No fingers were more nimble on the harp strings than theirs! To Him who loved us and cleansed us from our sins in His own blood and made us King and Priest before God and His Father; glory and dominion forever and ever.” What joy to see former rebels reconciled to God and heirs of wrath made heirs of heaven! All of this is necessary for salvation. Oh, that a slew of people could flock to this blessed land! “Save some”—oh, save some. Seek those who will be there in glory. Behold your Master. He’s your model. He left Heaven to save. He went to the cross, to the grave, to “save some”: this was His life’s mission. He loved His Church and offered Himself for her redemption. Follow your Master. Learn His self-denial and blessed consecration to save some.
Become Spiritual Parents Of God’s Children
My spirit yearns to “save some,” but my yearning goes beyond that. I want each of you, my dear friends, to become spiritual parents of God’s children. Oh, that you all could “save some.” Yes, my aged brethren, you can still serve. Yes, my young friends, you are not too young to serve the King. The kingdom will not come to our Lord through a few ministers, missionaries, or evangelists preaching the gospel. Every one of you must preach it—at the store, beside the fire, on the street, and in the chamber. You must all endeavor to “save some.” Tonight, I’d re-enlist you all and re-bind the King’s colors around your necks. I wish you would fall in love with my Master all over again, and enter upon the love of your espousals for the second time. We occasionally sing a Cowper hymn: A closer walk with God!
How Many Others Have You Brought To Christ
May we become closer to him, and so more eager to magnify Christ in the salvation of sinners. I want to ask my saved listeners tonight, how many others have you brought to Christ? I know you can’t do it alone, but how many have the Holy Spirit brought you? I said how many. Are you sure you’ve led any to Jesus? Can’t you recall one? So I pity you! “Write that man childless,” Jeremiah said. That was a dreadful curse. Is it okay to write to you, childless? Your children aren’t saved, and you’re spiritually childless. Can you bear it? I pray you to awaken and ask the Master to use you. We sinners need the saints, a young man said. “They do care,” one said, “very much.” “Then why don’t they show it?” he wondered. “I’ve often wished to have a conversation about good things, but my friend, who is a member of the church, never brings it up, and seems to study how to avoid it when I’m with him.” Do not allow them to say that. Tell them about Christ and the divine, and resolve that if men perish, it will not be for lack of your prayers or your serious and loving instructions. God grant you grace to resolve to save some and then to do so.
This article is an edited version of the article “Soul-Saving Our One Business” 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.
