Why Win Souls?
"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he who wins souls is wise."
Proverbs 11:30
He who wins souls...
Our lives are filled with the cares of our worlds, and there are a multitude of things keeping us busy. Who has time or energy to win souls?
But if a person would stop and think about it, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - more important. All the busy-ness of our world is going to pass. But a soul is forever.
A human soul has infinite value. That person is going to live for all eternity, either in heaven ...or in hell. Make no bones about it, hell is very real. Jesus spent a good amount of his teaching on the subject of hell, in fact he said more about hell than he did about heaven. If Jesus taught on it, you can be sure it is not only real, but is of such importance that it draws us to pay close attention.
How does one avoid hell? By being good?
No! No one can be good ENOUGH.
Many grew up under the teaching that a good person goes to heaven, and an evil person goes to hell. This is a clever heresy that Satan has convinced most of the world of. Most religions teach this as the way to be saved, but this is utterly, utterly, false. Pay close attention: if one could go to heaven by being a good person, the torture and crucifixion of Christ would have been unnecessary. Wouldn't it?
The reason this is such a damning heresy is that it motivates people to try to be "good" in order to attain heaven when they die, rather than showing them their sinful fallen nature. Satan will do anything he can to prevent you from realizing that you, the good person, are actually corrupt in your nature. People do good things to cover over the horrid evil that lurks inside every descendant of Adam, to assure themselves that they are good. But the truth is, the natural human nature is corrupt.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;"
Jeremiah 17:9
Is anyone willing to admit that his heart is DESPERATELY WICKED? If not, he is calling God a liar. According to the Word of God, all ARE desperately wicked. That is such an affront to the mind of man that he desperately tries to do good to assure himself that no, he IS good. It's a lie we tell ourselves.
"There is none righteous, no, NOT ONE;"
Romans 3:10
"...for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..."
Romans 3:23
That includes mother Teresa. It includes every one of the apostles of Jesus. ALL have sinned. There is not one person who has been able to not break the laws of God. If a person breaks the law of God in only one point, he has broken the law of God.
"For whoever shall keep the whole law,
and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."
James 2:10
It's like breaking a glass. If you break it, the whole glass is broken. It doesn't matter if the break is small or large, it's broken.
Every human being has broken the law of God, and is stained with sin. No one stained with sin can go to heaven. When a man is accused of rape or murder and he stands before the judge, if he tells the judge that he has given money to charity, that isn't going to change a thing. The judge doesn't care what good the man has done in his life, the issue is his crime. When one stands accused of breaking the laws of God, what good he has done in life isn't going to matter, his sin is the issue.
But what if another man comes to the judge and persuades him to let him take the punishment FOR the criminal?
That's exactly what God did for us. He sent his Son Jesus Christ to take upon himself the judgment due on our sin. Jesus Christ allowed men that he had made - to scourge him and spit in his face, to place a crown of thorns on his head and to nail him to a cross and crucify him. When Jesus hung on that cross, he was bearing the judgment due those men. He was bearing the judgment due YOU. He shed his blood and died for YOU. But his atonement, to take effect, must be accepted.
"He paid a debt he did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay."
To be acquitted, one has to receive that salvation, one has to be born again, and that can only happen when a person comes to accept the truth about himself, confesses his sinfulness, and surrenders his life to Jesus Christ. When one is born again, he belongs to Jesus. Jesus becomes his Lord, and the Lord begins the story of salvation in that person's life, he begins the process of destroying the works of the devil in that person and in his life.
"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that he might destroy the works of the devil."
1st John 3:8
Surrender to the truth about yourself, and acknowledge the evil in your heart. And if that's too difficult, ask the Holy Spirit of God to help you with it. Once you are humbled by the truth - and the truth is ALWAYS humbling - ask Jesus to receive you and become your Lord. Surrender ALL to him. On the day that you do that, a whole new story will unfold for you as the Lord destroys the works of the devil in your life and begins the work of salvation. You will be amazed, absolutely awed at what he will do in you and for you. You will be filled with joy. You will be so thankful that all that will matter to you will be ...to bring this salvation to others, to win souls.
More:
Born Again -What Does That Mean?
How do you win souls? The disciples were afraid until they were filled with the Holy Spirit. But they still had to step out. They said to new believers : Go tell the good news and make disciples of all men. It really is that simple. Get to know God‘s word let it live in you and share it. Great write. Thanks!
I've spent over fifty years being humbled by the Holy Spirit, learning that I am not trustworthy, that only my Messiah is good, and that He is good because he is always available and obedient to the call of the Father. My prayer is that my reality orientation is thorough enough to enable the Holy Spirit to use me in power with people who need the help of the Spirit so badly.
I can't save anyone. All I can do is be available. It's all about Yeshua Messiah.