SOUL WINNER

Romans 15:14–17 ESV

14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. 15 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.

The book of Romans is the most profound statement of Christian doctrine ever composed. Yet, when you read the book you know there is a very practical purpose all the way through the study. You will notice in verse 18 he says that his purpose is to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed.

Turn back to the first chapter of Romans and I want you to see that at the very outset of the letter Paul states that clear and very practical down to earth purpose. In

Romans 1:5 ESV

5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

he says, His purpose is to bring people to Christ for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name.

Turn to the last chapter of book of

Romans 16:26 ESV

26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

He gives us what his purpose is. “But now is made manifest by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” In those words, Paul is saying, “my purpose in writing you this letter, my purpose in desiring to come to see you is that people might be obedient to the faith. That people might receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior.

Paul was many things -— a writer —- a theologian —— a missionary statesman - Christian apologist, but above all of it Paul was a soul winner. When Paul came to visit a city, he did not come there to embellish their culture, nor did he come there to enhance their philosophy, he came there to win people to faith in Jesus. Paul was not primarily a philosopher; he was a preacher. He was not only on his travels to be a sightseer; he was there to be a soul winner. He was mocked in Athens. He was mobbed in Jerusalem. He was martyred in Rome because he had a real, regular and redemptive burden to see people come to know Jesus as their Savior.

I have come to believe after many years of studying the Bible that the bottom-line of it all is to get people to Jesus Christ. I believe that’s the heart of the Bible. I believe that’s the meaning of the Christian life. I believe that’s the purpose of our existence as God’s children until we get to heaven and that is to win as many people as we possibly can to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, Paul, in these rather interesting verses is paint for us a portrait of a soul winner. Here’s what my purpose is this morning. There are many of you who have been soul winners and are winning people to Christ. I want to encourage you and to help you to renew your commitment to lead people to the Lord. If you have never led anybody to Jesus, then my purpose today is to give you a burning desire to see people come to know our Lord. You really find the purpose of life when you come to know what it is to lead people to faith in Jesus.

W.A. Criswell in Dallas, Texas. He will be celebrating, in a few weeks, his Anniversary as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. He followed a man named George Truett who served for 42 years as pastor. So, that means that for 92 years that church has had two pastors. George W. Truett was a great soul winner. He tells the story about what created the desire in his heart to be a soul winner. He said there was a little mother in his church who had a wayward boy who desperately needed Jesus. Very often she would ask her pastor, Dr. Truett, to pray for him. Very often with tears she would express her desire that this boy come to know the Lord. Well, on a Sunday night service, kind of like this, before the service she came up to her pastor and said, “0, Dr. Truett, my boy is going to come tonight. Preach, Dr. Truett Let’s see if he won’t come to Jesus tonight. The service was conducted, the message was preached, the invitation hymn was given and down the aisle of that church came that boy giving his hand to the preacher and his heart to the Lord Jesus. Dr. Truett said when the service was over that little mother came down and her joy was just more than she could express. He said she grabbed that boy and hugged and kissed him and rejoiced in his salvation. Then he said she turned to him and looked at him for a moment and got down on her knees and she kissed his feet. She said, “Dr. Truett, I want to kiss the feet of the man who led my boy to Jesus.” Dr. Truett said that night he decided that he had rather be a soul winner than to be crowned the king of England. The most important thing you could ever do today is to lead a soul to Jesus Christ. More important than being the president of our nation. More important than being the mayor our city. More important than anything you could ever do would be to be used of God to win people to faith in Jesus Christ.

I. The DEFINITION of A Soul winner.

Romans 15:14 ESV

14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

Really in verse 14 you have a definition of a soul winner. Notice Paul talks about them rather than about himself. Notice his courtesy and tact. He says, “I am persuaded of you...“ He talks about things he believes are characteristic of them. He mentions three things in this verse which really define what it means to be a soul winner. He says you are full of goodness; you are filled with knowledge and you are able to admonish one another.

I believe in those three statements you have defined what it means to be a soul winner. “You are full of goodness.” I believe I could say that about this congregation here that we have good people in our church. It was said of Barnabas in the Bible that he was full of goodness and the Holy Spirit. If folks can say you are a good person then they have said something very wonderful about you. Yet, when I read that statement in my own mind, I’m aware that there seems to be a little bit of a contradiction here.

Romans 3:21 ESV

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

Romans 3:21 ESV

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

Romans 3:10 ESV

10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

Now he says, “you are full of goodness.” Jesus said this. “There is none good but God.” Yet here he says you are full of goodness. What’s he talking about? When Paul says about them “you are full of goodness” he doesn’t mean some innate goodness. He doesn’t mean some goodness in and of themselves. He really means an imparted goodness. That’s what it means when you are saved. It means that God imparts his righteousness to you. God puts His own goodness in you. And gives you the capacity to be a good person. That’s why in the book of we are told about the fruit of the spirit. It names those nine graces of the spirit. One of them is goodness. God can make us good. God can make us the kind of person we ought to be.

So, the first thing that is necessary in order to be a soul winner is to be saved. You have to know Christ as your Savior. You have to have His goodness in your life. That’s the first definition of a soul winner. If you’ve been saved, now you have the capacity to be a soul winner. If you’ve met Jesus Christ as your Savior now you can tell somebody else about Him. The book of Acts is the great soul-winning book in the Bible. Over and over again in the book of Acts you see the word, witness. A witness is someone who can tell others what he himself knows to be true.

I heard about a church one time and a person came forward in the service and got up to give their testimony. The pastor said would you share with the congregation your experience. The person said, “the other night I went to bed and I couldn’t sleep, and I heard a bug scratch under my pillow and I just thought it was time for me to join the church.” The pastor said, “Excuse me sir, if all you’ve done is just heard a bug scratch under your pillow, I’m not sure that’s enough for you to join the church.” An old deacon spoke up and said, “Aw, let him in preacher, some of our members haven’t even heard a bug scratch.” But if you have been saved you have an experience with God that you can tell somebody else about. Do you think all the 1000 members of our congregation have really been saved? I wish it were true. I wish I could say that all of them are saved. But I’m not sure that’s true. I wonder can I say it about you. Have you really been saved? Have you really invited Jesus in your heart? If you received the news from the doctor tomorrow that your days were numbered would you have the confidence in your heart that you were going to be with the Lord? Would you have confidence in your heart that you would come to see Jesus one of these days? That’s the first thing you have to know - that you are saved yourself if you are going to lead somebody else to Christ.

Then he says you are “filled with all knowledge.” What does it mean when it says you are filled with all knowledge? He’s not talking about physics, geometry, algebra, biology. When he says you are filled with all knowledge, he’s talking about bible knowledge. He is saying to these people you are growing in your knowledge of the Scriptures — you are going in your understanding of the things of the Lord. One of the reasons I know I’m saved is because I love to study the Bible. I love God’s word and I want to know what God has to say. If you are a growing Christian, growing in your knowledge of the Bible, that gives you a capacity to lead others to faith in Jesus.

There are only two reasons I can get why a person ought to study the Bible as a believer. Number one is to get food for yourself. Number two is to get food to carry to other people. I think one of the greatest definitions of a soul winner I ever read anywhere is that a soul winner is one poor beggar telling another poor beggar where to find bread. That’s what it is. The more you study the bible the more you ought to have a desire to see people saved. I do not believe that a genuine understanding of the Scriptures and a genuine growth in the Scriptures will give anybody less a desire to win people to Christ, but rather will give them more a desire to win people to Jesus.

Bible study in and of itself is very, very useless. Just studying the Bible to accumulate facts won’t do anything for anybody - you or anybody else. In fact, if all you do is just study the Bible and never tell others what you’ve found in the Scriptures will cause you to be flabby and lazy and conceited. You’ll walk around bragging about what a great wealth of Bible information you are, but if you don’t share it with anyone else, you don’t tell anyone else about this wonderful truth in the Bible that there is a God who sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, then you tell me what it is all about. It’s not whether you have mastered the Bible, but whether the bible has mastered you.

One time I was walking on the campus of one on the schools I attended with a professor who was a friend of mine. I was kind of young and brash and probably shouldn’t have said what I did. I said, “Dr. So and So, I don’t understand. It seems to me that the more you men study the Bible the less interested you seem to be in leading others to Christ. The more I study the Bible the more my heart gets hot to see people come to know Christ. What’s the problem?” That was really not a kind thing for me to say but it makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

Paul says He is persuaded they are full of goodness. If you are saved you can lead people to Christ. If you are studying the Scriptures you can lead people to Christ.

Then he says, “You are able to admonish one another.” The word, admonish, is a sermon in itself. It literally means to put on the mind or the heart. Sometimes the word is used of a pastor giving Bible counsel to his congregation. At other times it is used of Christians admonishing, encouraging one another. But in

Acts 20:31 ESV

31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.

Paul uses it significantly when he says, “warning others day and night.” He is using it there in the wider sense of confronting people with the things of Jesus. Putting it on the heart. Going for the heart of the lost. Reaching out to those who need Christ as their Savior. The Bible says if you are saved, you are able to admonish others. You are able to get to the heart of others. A saved person knows what it’s all about. If you are really saved you know what life is all about. Life is a preparation for eternity. You do not begin to live until you come to know Jesus as your Savior.

As I was preparing and praying over this message I was thinking about all of the training and all of the opportunity that God has provided in our fellowship here. We probably have more opportunities for people to learn how to be soul winners here than any place you could ever go. There are probably more of you who have received more Bible training and more practical instruction about how to personally lead people to faith in Jesus than any congregation I know.

That puts a burden on us. That puts a responsibility on us. We are not here to just enjoy the good things of God ourselves. We are not here to just fellowship with one another. There is a lost world out there. This city of Jacinto City is going to hell on a jet ski. IF you and I don’t get concerned they are going to go by the hundreds and thousands into hell unprepared, without God and without hope. Dear Child of God, Dear member of First Baptist Church of Jacinto City, you are saved, you are in the Word of God, you know how to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ. Let’s get about it. Let’s get involved in it.

I love football. I heard a story about a coach. One of the ways he liked to teach his ball players and those who were the subs was by taking a real life situation and asking them questions. They had come to a tight point in the game. They were right down there close to the goal line. He turned to the boys on the bench and said; ok, now fellows we are on the five-yard line and time is running out. The score is tied. What would you do? “One of the boys said, “Coach, I don’t know about the other fellows, but I’m going to get me a seat further down on the bench so I can see what’s going to happen.” I’ve got news for you, it’s time for us to get off the bench and get in the game. Instead of us sitting around waiting to see what’s going to happen, let’s get out there in the name of Jesus and make something happen. Let’s win people to faith in Jesus Christ. I can envision seeing people by the hundreds coming to know the Lord in our fellowship. I can envision people being saved and pouring down these aisles, as you and I get serious about this matter of soul winning.

The definition of a soul winner. He’s just painting the picture now. He’s just making the strokes now of a soul winner.

II. The MINISTRATION Of a Soul winner.

As he continues to paint this portrait of a soul winner there is a very beautiful picture which emerges here. I call this the ministration of a soul winner. I use the word, ministration, very carefully because that’s what you really see going on in .

Romans 15:16 ESV

16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

If you will look at the words in your Bible you will notice it says minister, ministering, offering up, acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. All of that language has a background in the Bible. It is the background of temple worship. It is the language of worship. It is the picture of a priest in the Old Testament moving among the holy things in the tabernacle and the temple. The Bible teaches that every Christian is really a priest of God. In the Old Testament they had a priest who represented man before God. The Good News of the New Testament is that every child of God is a priest.

1 Peter 2:5 ESV

5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

says, “You also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” That involves privileges. It means that you and I have the privilege of going to God for ourselves. You don’t have to go to any man on earth and get that man to represent you before God. You don’t have to get any other person to go to God on your behalf. You have the privilege as a priest of God of going directly into the very presence of God himself in the holy of holies in heaven by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

says, “You also as living stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” That involves privileges. It means that you and I have the privilege of going to God for ourselves. You don’t have to go to any man on earth and get that man to represent you before God. You don’t have to get any other person to go to God on your behalf. You have the privilege as a priest of God of going directly into the very presence of God himself in the holy of holies in heaven by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So being a priest has privileges, but it also has responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is the sharing of the gospel with others. Telling others about the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, “that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.” The word, minister, there points us to the idea of proclamation. A minister would go into those holy places and the sacrifices would be made. The people would be on the outside of the tabernacle of the temple waiting for the return of the priest. After the sacrifices had been made, the blood had been applied and all of those things, the priest would come out and make a proclamation. He would proclaim to the people that the sins had been rolled one more year toward Calvary. He would proclaim sins forgiven for those people who were gathered here. That’s what Paul is saying right here. He is saying that we as Christians have a ministration of soul winning. We have a privilege of making a proclamation. We have the privilege of telling others that there is forgiveness of sin and that salvation is available. Paul says I’m the minister to the Gentiles. That was his particular sphere of influence. That was his place of opportunity. All of us have a sphere of influence. All of us have a place of opportunity. One of our young teenagers met me today as I was coming out of the morning service. He said to me that it is getting harder to witness in school. I don’t doubt that’s true. I tried to speak a word of encouragement to him. He’s carrying his bible to school and he’s encountering some opposition. They may laugh at you, kids, but one of these days when they really have a need in their life, they are going to look for you Bible-toting kids. It may be tough - your sphere of influence - but that’s why God has you there. We all have a sphere of influence. It may be the office where you work. It may be the neighborhood where you live. It may be the social circles in which you move. It may be that neighborhood grocery store where you go. You go places and you see people no one else may see. That no one else may have the opportunity to impact for Jesus Christ. We are handling holy things. We have a message that is a holy message. We have a message that can keep them out of hell. We have a message that can give them a life that is full and meaningful. We have a message that can deal with the deepest burdens and problems of our lives. How can we fail to exercise the ministration of our priesthood in proclaiming the good news of Jesus? “ Ministering the gospel of God.” There the picture is of a priest who is before the altar of incense, offering up incense which symbolizes prayer. One of the main functions of a priest in the Bible is the function of prayer. In the Old Testament the priest had a breastplate on front of him. That breastplate had stones and each one of those stones had the name of one of the tribes of the children of Israel. So, he would go into the place of prayer where the odors of fragrant incense could be smelled. He would go in there with the names of the people on his heart. There he would make intercession for the people. There he would pray for the people. Then, with that odor of incense on him he would come out and minister again to the people. That’s an important part of winning people to Jesus. Not only going to win people to Jesus but we must make a proclamation and tell them about the gospel, but we must also learn what it is to pray for them. We must learn the importance of the ministry of intercession, getting people on our heart, praying for people to be saved.

God answers prayer. God saves people in answer to prayer. Do you have anybody on your heart tonight? Is there somebody you would like to really see saved? Is there a momma here that has a son you want to see saved? Is there a family member here — a sister or brother - you want saved? Is there a business associate you want saved? Put them down on your prayer list. Start praying for them.

Early in my ministry God taught me the importance of prayer in soul winning. I was brought up in a soul winning church. I was pastoring a small church and it came time for the first revival. I had some sermons - about five. I’d run through them and go preach somewhere else. About all I had. So they announced to me that it was time for their annual revival meeting in the month of August. They also informed me that it was going to be an B-day meeting and we would have services twice a day. I’m not a mathematician but I do know eight times two is sixteen. That means that after three days I was going to be out of sermons. So, we started off in that revival meeting. I preached through my sermons in three days. I had to really dig and really pray. But when I gave the invitation no one came forward. It bothered me. I preached again, gave an invitation, no one came forward. I always thought that when you preached and when you witnessed something was supposed to happen. God was supposed to do something and nothing was happening. You say, “Preacher, you don’t expect people to be saved every time you preach, do you?” Oh, Yes! I really do! I expect them to be saved and I’m disappointed if they are not.

I was staying in the associational missionary’s home, a dear friend of mine. Wednesday night came and nobody had been saved. I went back to my room that night and got down by my bed as an 18-year-old boy and I began to pray. I’m not saying this to brag. God in heaven knows all about it. I prayed all night. I didn’t go to sleep, praying that God would save people. I went to the services that morning, Thursday. Preached again, nobody saved. That afternoon I got in the woods out behind the church preparing my sermon and praying. I prayed all afternoon in the woods. It wasn’t an audible voice in the woods that afternoon, but God seem to speak to my young heart and say, “Son, I’m going to save people tonight. You’ve paid the price of prayer.” I didn’t have much of a sermon that night. I had very little to say. It’s not your sermons, folks, that do it. It’s not the words you say, but I preached and I had the assurance in my heart that god was going do something. I gave the invitation and eight precious souls came walking down that aisle to get saved. Talk about a happy preacher boy. I learned in that experience that if you want to see people saved you have to go into the presence of God. You have to go in with a heavy heart and ask God to move on the hearts of people. God is not dead. God is not out of the soul saving business. God’s not up there in heaven saying - things are so bad down there in America; I can’t do anything about it. His arm is not shortened that He cannot save. He’s just waiting for somebody to get a burden on their heart for those who are lost.

Proclamation! Intercession! This is precious to me - “that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” Another thing a priest does is to make an offering. The word, there literally means brings to. It’s the picture of a priest bringing an offering and laying it on the altar of the Lord. This is a beautiful picture here. God laid the Gentile nations on Paul’s heart. So, he labored, he went on journeys, he prayed, he wept and he won multitudes to faith in Jesus Christ. Then Paul took those souls that he had won to the Lord and like an offering he laid them on the altar, so to speak, before the Lord and said, “Lord, these are the souls I’ve laid to you. I lay them on the altar in your presence.”

You can tell whether a Christian is really in love with Jesus. You can tell whether a church is really in love with Jesus by the souls they lay on the altar. What a precious experience. What a glorious experience of being able to lay on the altar before the Lord those we’ve laid to faith in Jesus Christ. The ministration of a soul winner.

Let’s put on those final strokes real quick.

III. The CELEBRATION Of A Soul winner.

Romans 15:17 ESV

17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.

Roman 15:17 “I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.” Paul is saying I’m having a celebration. I’m rejoicing over these people who are won to faith in Jesus.

“I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.” Paul is saying I’m having a celebration. I’m rejoicing over these people who are won to faith in Jesus.

It’s the secret of joy in the Christian life. Sometimes we have the idea that you have to feel just right to lead people to Jesus. To be perfectly honest with you on some Tuesday nights I don’t feel like going visiting at all. In fact, if I had done what I’d rather have done I’d gone somewhere else. But I found out a long time ago that winning souls is not dependent upon whether you feel like winning people to Jesus. In fact, I have found that going out and witnessing and telling others about Christ is one of the most positive things you can do to get you out of the doldrums and to get the mullygrubs out of you. I’ve gone out some times just as low as a snake, just as down in the dumps as I could possibly be. I’d go out and lead somebody to faith in the Lord and the joybells of glory go to ringing in my soul. Jesus didn’t say when you feel like it - go witness. He said you just go witness. You go witness and lead someone to Jesus and you’ll get to feeling like it, too. There’s a rejoicing.

I’ll tell you what makes a church happy. Ever notice a church that is as elaborate as it can be and it’s just as dull and dead as it can be. There’s no souls being saved. Yet, you can take a church made out of blocks and it’s just as happy and lively as it can be. Why? There’s people being saved. There’s babies being born in the fellowship.

Talk about happy! The happiest time in a family is when those little babies are born. Isn’t that a happy time when babies are born! Same thing true in the house of God. When you have prayed, when you have witnessed, when you have brought people to the services and they come walking down that aisle to receive Jesus, as their Savior there’s joybells going to ring in your soul. “Rejoice with me,” the shepherd said, “I have found my sheep that was lost.” The soul winner comes out of the fields bringing his sheave with him with rejoicing.

Notice he’s not rejoicing in something he did. He said it’s through Jesus. We never take credit for ourselves. We say, “Lord Jesus, you did it all.” If you ever lead a soul to Christ the next thing you need to do is get alone somewhere just you and Jesus and say, Jesus I know it wasn’t me, you did it all. Thank you for letting me have a little part in it. God is involved in soul winning. God had only one son and lie made Him a Soul winner. He sent Him into this old world to win souls to faith in Jesus Christ. If I could just get your heart stirred tonight, if I could just challenge you anew and afresh tonight to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ, I’d do you the greatest favor anyone has ever done you. I’d put joy, joy, joy in your hear.

Do you know Jesus as your Savior?