Why Win Souls – 3 Reasons By Charles Spurgeon
Why Win Souls?
“And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”—Matthew 4:19
#1 Make Us What We Shall Be
When Christ calls us by grace, we must remember both who we are and what He can make us. “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men,” it says. We should repent of what we have been, but rejoice in what we may become. It is not, “Follow Me, because of what you are already.” It is not, “Follow Me, because you may make something of yourselves;” but, “Follow Me, because of what I will make you fishers of men.”
“It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” I may say about every one of us as soon as we are converted. It did not seem a likely thing that lowly fishermen would develop into apostles, that men so handy with the net would be as much at home in preaching sermons and in instructing converts. One would have said, “How can these things be? You cannot make founders of churches out of peasants of Galilee.” That is exactly what Christ did; and when we are brought low in the sight of God by a sense of our own unworthiness, we may feel encouraged to follow Jesus because of what He can make us. “He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes.” Said the woman of sorrowful spirit as she lifted her song.
We can’t predict what God will do with us in the new creation, just as we couldn’t predict what He did with chaos in the old. Who could have imagined all the beautiful things that came forth from darkness and disorder by that one fiat, “Let there be light”? Then, when God’s grace says, “Let there be light,” who knows what lovely displays of divinely fair may yet appear in a man’s formerly dark life. Come, you who see nothing desirable in themselves, and follow Christ for what He can make of you! Do you hear His lovely voice calling out to you, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”?
#2 Make Us Fishers Of Men
Next, keep in mind that when we are fished for and caught, we are not made all that we will be, nor all that we should wish to be. This is what God’s grace does for us at first, but it isn’t everything. We are like the fishes, living in sin, and the gracious Lord comes along with the gospel net, delivering us from the life and love of sin. When He has done this, however, He has not accomplished all that He can, nor all that we should wish for Him to accomplish; for it is another and greater miracle to transform us from fish to fishers,—to transform the saved into saviors,—to transform the convert into a converter, to transform the receiver of the gospel into an imparter of the same gospel to others.
If you are saved, the job is only half done until you are employed to bring others to Christ, I believe I may say to everyone to whom I am speaking, “If you are saved, the work is only half done until you are employed to bring others to Christ.” You are just half-formed in the image of your Lord right now. You have not fully developed the Christ-life in you unless you have begun, however feebly, to tell others about God’s love; and I pray you will not find rest for the sole of your foot until you have been the means of leading many to the blessed Saviour, who is your confidence and hope. To be saved or sanctified is not enough; He says, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Follow Christ with that intent and aim, and fear that you are not entirely following Him unless He uses you to fish for men.
The fact is that each of us must go into the man-catching business. If Christ has caught us, we must catch others. If we’ve been captured by Him, we must be His constables, tasked with apprehending rebels on His behalf. Let us pray to Him to grant us the grace to go fishing and cast our nets so that we may catch a significant amount of fish. Oh, if the Holy Spirit would raise up some master-fishers from among us, who would sail their boats over many seas and surround vast shoals of fish!
#3 We Will Not be Barren
My instruction will be basic, but I hope it will be very practical, for I desire that none of you who love the Lord fall behind in His duty. What does the Song of Solomon say about particular sheep that are washed? “Everyone bears twins, and none is barren among them,” it states. May it be thus for all church members and all Christians who hear or read this sermon! The fact is, the day is very dark. The heavens are lowering with heavy thunderclouds. Men can only imagine the tremors that would soon shake this city and the entire social fabric of this land. The night may grow so dark that the stars appear to fall from the sky like rotten fruit from a tree. The times are evil. Now more than ever, every glow-worm must shine. The smallest farthing candle must be taken from the bushel and placed on a candlestick. We need you, everyone.
Lot was a miserable being. He was a horrible believer, but he could have been a huge blessing to Sodom if he had just pleaded for it the way he should have. And, in these terrible days, poor, poor Christians, as I fear many are, one treasures every truly converted soul, praying that each one may honor the Lord. I pray that every righteous man, troubled by the wicked’s speech, will be more urgent in prayer than he has ever been, and return to his God and gain more spiritual life, so that he may be a blessing to those who are perishing around him. So I address you now first on this thought. Oh, that God’s Spirit would make each of you feel personally responsible!
“Follow Me.” Christ’s followers are told, in order to be useful. Second, their great Lord and Master say, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” You will not become fishermen until you follow Jesus. Finally, here is an excellent illustration, as is our great Master’s habit, for He rarely spoke to the people without using a parable. He shows us what Christian men should be like—fishers of men. I wish the Holy Spirit blesses us with some good hints.
This article is an edited version of the article “Instruction in Soul Winning” 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.
