Mentoring Men for the Master

THE INCREDIBLE REWARDS OF SOUL WINNING

There is nothing this side of heaven that brings more rewards and genuine joy than soul winning.  This promise runs throughout the Scriptures, being strongly stated in texts like Psalm 126:6 and Daniel 12:3 in the Old Testament and in Phil. 1:6 and James 5:20 in the New.  Let us then note eight specific rewards:

  1. There is the Reward in The Soul-Winner’s Personal Life:
    1. In personal growth in Christ (Phil. 1:6).
    2. In the knowledge that we are following Christ (Matt. 4:19).
    3. In the sheer joy of obedience (Acts 5:31)
    4. The contentment in knowing our lives are not wasted.
  1. There is the Reward We See in The Lives We Win:  Nothing brings greater joy than to watch those you have won to Christ.  Permit me to just mention a few:  The first person I ever won to Christ was Eugene Oakley.  This was in my first church of 108 members.  I saw this simple man move from spiritual death to life in Christ and to pass on his faith to his wife Lucy and son David.  He even quit smoking, a major victory for a man who had been a member of the “Nicotine Club” all his life.  About the next person I won was Carl Garner.  I visited him four or five times before I found him at home.  I then led him to Christ and be became a powerful preacher of the Word.  I will never forget winning a professional man, a medical doctor, a Jew, one Monday evening and he invited me to come back Thursday PM to win his wife and daughter.  Could there be a greater joy on this earth than what I have just described?
  1. There is the Reward We See in The Body of Christ, The Real Church. The Apostle Peter compares the local church to a building under construction.  In 1 Peter 2:4-5, he says we come to Christ, the living Stone, and then we become “like living stones who are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.”  Most local churches today are not growing but gradually dying.  Why?  Because there are few or no new births or living stones coming into the churches.  Illus:  11,000 Southern Baptist Churches do not baptize one person per year.  But oh the joy to see a church growing through new births. 
  1. There is the Reward in Seeing The Needs of The Church Being Met. For the body of Christ to grow, it must have deacons, teachers, choir members, nursery workers, caretakers, etc.  Illus:  I pastored a very large church for about twenty years.  When I arrived on the scene, there was practically no soul winning going on.  We needed about 35 deacons, hundreds of teachers, etc. but we could not find them until Evangelism exploded through EE.  Then we had enough men to have 115 deacons and Yoke Fellows.  The Choir became so outstanding that it was invited to sing across the country, including the SBC.  What is more exciting than to see a church growing because the members are winning the lost to Christ.  What could be more depressing than to see churches dying because there is no new life coming in.  Illus:  Doris and I were in Gatlinburg one Wednesday evening.  We ate dinner at a restaurant made lively by the good food and happy waitresses and waiters.  We then stepped across the street to attend services at the large Baptist church.  Oh what a contrast as we moved from a scene of life into a scene of death.  I said to Doris, “If the restaurant and this church had given me an opportunity to join, I would have joined the restaurant.”
  1. There Are The Rewards in The World Mission of Christ. World Missions depend on Home Missions.  “Home Missions” have been called the “Seed Corn” of all missions.  On the farm you must have “Seed Corn” or there will be no corn crop.  In the church you must have some “Spiritual Seed Corn,” some persons being saved or there will be no one to go.  :  The greatness of a church is not determined by its seating capacity, but its sending capacity.  Indigenous Missions depend on foreign missions.
  1. There Are The Incredible Rewards in Eternity. Daniel 12:3, “Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.”  When I read these words I think of a dear lady who grew up on a farm and never was able to own a home, but who gave her life to winning the lost.  Her name – Ann Curtis.  While most all other ladies were cavorting to the malls, living it up socially, Ms. Curtis was either on her knees or on her feet introducing scores to Jesus.  What is her state today?  Daniel 12:3 answers.  I thrill even to think of her heavenly rewards.
  1. There Is The Overwhelming Reward of Knowing That I Will Have Someone to Present to Christ at The Judgment Seat of Christ and Be Innocent of The “Blood of All Men” (Ezek. 33:8; Acts 20:26. 2 Cor. 5:10 says that every believer must stand at the Judgment Seat and give account of his life on earth.  Certainly the most serious part of that accounting will be when Jesus asks, “Whom did you bring with you?”  I shudder to think of being there with not one soul to present.  But oh the joy of having some to bring.  What an unspeakable privilege it is to be used of God in doing a work in human lives that will result in eternal blessings.  Every soul won to the Lord will be a worshipper of the Lamb of God forever and ever!  “He who wins souls is wise”  (Prov. 11:30b).   The most sobering song in the Hymn book asks this very question:
  1. “Must I go, and empty-handed,”
    Thus my dear Redeemer meet?
    Not one day of service give Him,
    Lay no trophy at His feet?

    • Refrain:
      “Must I go, and empty-handed?”
      Must I meet my Savior so?
      Not one soul with which to greet Him,
      Must I empty-handed go?
  2. Not at death I shrink or falter,
    For my Savior saves me now;
    But to meet Him empty-handed,
    Thought of that now clouds my brow.
  3. Oh, the years in sinning wasted,
    Could I but recall them now,
    I would give them to my Savior,
    To His will I’d gladly bow.
  4. Oh, ye saints, arouse, be earnest,
    Up and work while yet ’tis day;
    Ere the night of death o’ertake thee,
    Strive for souls while still you may.
  1. Finally, There Is The Indescribable Joy of Leaving a Soul- Winning Legacy.  Illus:  Story of Edwin Kimball, D. L. Moody, F. B. Meyer, Wilber Chapman, Billy Sunday, Mordecai Ham, and Billy Graham.  Our earthly lives will soon be over (James 4:14).  For what will we be remembered?  I know of no greater or more wonderful than this:  He was a winner in life and now in death because He was a SOUL WINNER!

 

“Some want to live in the sound of church or chapel bell.

I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell!” (C.T. Studd)