Thoughts on Soul Winning - C. H. Spurgeon
“We do not regard it to be soul-winning to steal members out of churches already established, and train them to utter our peculiar Shibboleth: we aim rather at bringing souls to Christ than at making converts to our synagogue.” "In the next place, we do not consider soul-winning to be accomplished by hurriedly inscribing more names upon our church-roll, in order to show a good increase at the end of the year. This is easily done, and there are brethren who use great pains, not to say arts, to effect it; but if it be regarded as the Alpha and Omega of a minister's efforts, the result will be deplorable."
"Teach gospel doctrines clearly, affectionately, simply, and plainly, and especially those truths which have a present and practical bearing upon man's condition and God's grace. Some enthusiasts would seem to have imbibed the notion that, as soon as a minister addresses the unconverted, he should deliberately contradict his usual doctrinal discourses, because it is supposed that there will be no conversions if he preaches the whole counsel of God. It just comes to this, brethren, it is supposed that we are to conceal truth, and utter a half-falsehood, in order to save souls. We are to speak the truth to God's people because they will not hear anything else; but we are to wheedle sinners into faith by exaggerating one part of truth, and hiding the rest until a more convenient season. This is a strange theory, and yet many endorse it.”
“To try to win a soul for Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth, is contrary to the
mind of the Spirit; and to endeavour to save men by mere claptrap, or excitement, or oratorical display, is as foolish as to hope to hold an angel with bird-lime, or lure a star with music. The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else.”C.H. Spurgeon- The Soul Winner-
posted by Doug E. @ 9:44 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
I love this:
preach it and preach nothing else.
Me summerizing
To win men's hearts
Say the right things at the right time in the right season with a smile.
To win men's souls
Preach the full gospel being:
The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus.
This states very eloquently something that has been on my heart for sometime now. I am deeply concerned about the lack of preaching on the essential elements of salvation, i.e. conviction, repentance, confession, etc. I think this is one of the leading contributors to the lukewarmness of the church.
you know, i was just thinking along the lines of quote #2 "we do not consider soul-winning to be accomplished by hurriedly inscribing more names upon our church-roll, in order to show a good increase at the end of the year...."
how many churches consider their strength to be in numbers, not in the quality of the body? or in how much their "net worth" is - how much can the member give to the church?
if only the leaders of the churches would realize what they are instilling in the minds of the future leaders, power, greed, lust and start working to ensure the church remains strong through the quality of believers.
it's really sad to me to see how many preachers are losing their own children. is it that they have spent their focus on others instead of investing the time needed for their children? or is it that the word that they are preaching doesn't match up with the life that they are living? or is their other reasons i haven't considered.
i must admit, so many churches in our area are basically "social clubs" and it's more about how many pews they can fill, opposed to how many relationships can they help grow for the Lord.
thanks for your love for truth!
Radical One,
You ask a tough question but you also answered it. For many it's business and social clubs. Life lived for the glorification of man instead of the glorification of God.
Doug,
Thanks for sharing more of Spurgeon.
Mark
hmmm...perhaps you've got a good point, doug. i just know something bad is happening with our children (and not just children but i guess that's just where i see a direct/immediate result) and i don't think the answers are "watering down".
on the other side, i don't think we have to have "rules" that are made just for sake of having rules for them to live by.
it still comes down to truly living what you know and say. i don't think they're looking for perfection, not at all, i think they are looking for REAL.
ok, i'll get off my soap box now!
have a wonderful and blessed day!
lisa
Lisa,
You make a good point when you say it is not just about rules. It truely is a heart issue.
Though watering down may not be all of it it certainly seems to be a major player in the problem.
God is the one that gives us a heart of flesh for our heart of stone. He is the one who gives us a new nature that desires to seek Him and live after Him. When we stray He brings us back. We cannot give it to our kids or to ourselves.
But He has shown us the means by which He accomplishes this and it is generally by the teaching of the Word. The Spirit uses it to quicken us. We are dead and He brings us back to life.
"Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
We don't really like to hear this because it takes things out of our hands and puts them into God's, but that is really the best place for them to be.
I don't know if that really said much, but I thought I would give it a shot with my limited knowledge.
God Bless,
Doug
"...preach it and preach nothing else."
Beautiful. There are two traps here i believe.
1. Preaching a half or 'warm and fuzzy' gospel to the pre-saved, when 1 corinthians 15:3-4 spells it out for us that the gospel is simply "that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, "
and
2. Teaching half or 'warm fuzzy' theology to believers. Hebrews 5:13-14 warns "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." The sabed person can't stay at the gospel, although they were 'born again' there, but MUST mature and get into the meat of God's word. Our salvation lies in the gospel but our spiritual maturity lies in correct and thourough doctorine.
wonderful quote...needs to be read to every pastor.
I agree with Charles - and will go one step further - it needs to be read by every Christian. Excellent book.
Great post, Doug. Apparently abuses in Spurgeon's day were not so dissimilar to those of our day.
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