We are called to spread the Gospel to the World, yet we fail to reach our own neighborhood. It’s time to examine our motivations for winning souls.
Your motivations will determine your success in life. Winning souls to Christ is no different. The Bible gives us five powerful motivations to win souls in Second Corinthians chapter five.
When was the last time you personally won a soul to Christ? This question is not meant to anger or embarrass you. Instead, it creates a baseline from which we can begin an examination of our soul-winning motivations in light of God’s Word. Perhaps, you have never won anyone to Christ
Generally, there are three groups of Christians in regards to soul winning.
1. Those who have never won a soul to Jesus.
If you are in this group, don’t fret. You can begin to win souls today!
2. Those who have won a few souls to Jesus over the years but not regularly or recently.
If you are in this group, we thank God for those who have been saved! Yet, we encourage you to examine your motivations and methods to move to group #3. You can do it!
3. Those who win people to Christ regularly.
The time frame of souls won to faith in Jesus by those in this group can differ wildly. “Regularly” could mean daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even yearly. Regardless, this group of people live intending to win people to Jesus and expects to do so in a consistent manner.
Which group identifies you?
There are two essential factors in winning souls to Christ.
1. Method
2. Motivation
While some methods are clearly more effective in winning the lost to faith in Christ, the truth is that every believer knows how to win a soul. Simply tell again believer can be a soul winner if they choose to be.
Soul-winning methods are important. However, methods don’t provide the burden or urgency to win souls. In fact, there are many capable Christians who never win a soul. Why? It’s a problem of motivation, not method.
Soul winning is a matter of motivation. Let me prove it to you. What if you were paid $500 for every person to whom you witnessed and $5000 for every person you won to Christ?
Surely, if that were the case, there would be a lot more people about God’s business! Once adequately motivated, these engaged Christians would learn the best methods, make time to go, and talk to as many people as possible!
How sad that God has given us much greater promises than money, but the average Christian despises the promises of Heavenly reward!
John 4:35–36
35. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
The Apostle Paul is one of the greatest soul winners in the New Testament. He worked tirelessly and traveled the known world to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an urgency that convicts us all.
In 2 Corinthians chapter five, we learn what motivated the Apostle Paul.
Allow me to present an old outline of these eternal truths with some fresh insights.
Let’s adopt these inspired motivations as our own and upgrade our soul- winning motivations!
1. The Soul Winner’s Compulsion – To Please The Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:9
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
If you are not striving to bring souls to Jesus Christ, you are not acceptable to Him. How can we ignore the thing most dear to our Saviour’s heart and say that we are pleasing Him?
Luke 19:10
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Saving lost souls is the heartbeat of Christ. He left the glories of Heaven, was wrapped in human flesh, and lived among His sinful creation only to die on the cruel Cross to save the souls of mankind. Surely, if we are to please the Lord, we must care for the same souls for which He died!
1 Thessalonians 4:1
Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
One sure way to please the Lord is to win lost souls to saving faith in the Gospel!
Luke 15:10
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
A concert violinist stood before a vast audience and played his violin masterfully. At the end of his performance, the beautiful hall rang with applause as the crowd stood and cheered. He turned and left the stage while the people were still applauding. Behind the curtain, the staff encouraged him to back out to enjoy the cheers. “They are all standing,” said the stagehand.
The violinist replied with disappointment. “They are not all standing. Do you see that man on the third row? He’s not standing, and he’s my teacher.”
It doesn’t matter how many people you impress in this life if Christ is not pleased.
Andrew Murray said, “There are two classes of Christians: soul winners and backsliders.”
“Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.” – Charles Spurgeon
“The only alternative to soul winning is disobedience.” – Curtis Hutson
The overwhelming desire to please the Lord must motivate us to win souls. This is the soul winner’s compulsion.
2. The Soul Winner’s Compensation – The Judgment Seat Of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Every believer will stand before Christ at the judgment seat. This is not the same as the Great White Throne Judgment found in Revelation 20. At that judgment, there will be no saint. It is a sentencing for sinners who died in their sin without Christ.
On the other hand, the Judgment Seat of Christ is for believers. There will be no lost people. It is a time for the servants of Christ to receive their Heavenly reward.
There is a day coming when God will compensate His children for their work. The Greek word for “judgment seat” is “bema.” It speaks of a raised platform with a seat high above the people. It was a place of judgment. To the Greeks and Romans, a bema seat was used as a place of spiritual or legal judgment. Indeed, Paul would have stood before them as he was constantly in trouble with the law for preaching Christ.
In the Bible, we find the illustration of sports regarding judgment. A bema seat was used in the Greek version of the Olympic games. The winners were brought before the bema seat to be declared victorious and receive their rewards for victory.
1 Corinthians 9:24–26
24. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
25. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
26. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
We will be judged for our labor at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:11–15
11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13. Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
14. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon,
he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Our works for Christ are gold, silver, and precious stones. They cannot be burned. They have already been through the fire. Our selfish works are wood, hay, and stubble. They will be burned to bits with no lasting reward.
At this judgment, we will receive reward or regret.
We will be rewarded for our godly works and suffer loss for our failures.
The Judgement Seat is a place of reward. It is not a place of punishment (our sins were judged in Christ on the Cross), but it is a place of loss. When we stand before Christ, our works will be compared to our potential. We will see what we could have been if we had fully surrendered and obeyed. We will feel the loss of what could have been!
Many people will get to Heaven singed but saved. They will have their life’s accomplishments turn to ash in a flash of judging fire. How sad! It is far better to live for Christ today, laying up gold, silver, and precious stones.
There are five crowns we can win in our Christian race. One crown is for those who win souls. It is called the crown of rejoicing.
1 Thessalonians 2:19
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
Wise Christians strive diligently to win this crown so they can cast it back at Jesus’ feet.
Will you take anyone to Heaven with you? How many people will be in eternity because you were a diligent soul winner?
The old hymn “Must I Go, and Empty- Handed” is a powerful reminder to win souls.
Must I go, and empty-handed,
Thus my dear Redeemer meet?
Not one day of service give Him,
Lay no trophy at His feet?
Chorus
Must I go, and empty-handed?
Must I meet my Saviour so?
Not one soul with which to greet Him:
Must I empty-handed go?
Not at death I shrink nor falter,
For my Savior saves me now;
But to meet Him empty-handed,
Thought of that now clouds my brow.
O 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.
O 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.
Chorus
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?
The Judgment Seat of Christ must motivate us to win souls. This is the soul winner’s compensation.
3. The Soul Winner’s Conviction – The Terror of Hell.
2 Corinthians 5:11
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
This verse speaks of the fear of the LORD. It is the foundation for our relationship with God.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
The fear of the LORD is two-fold. It is the fear to disappoint Him and the fear to disobey Him. If we do not have this holy respect for God, nothing else matters.
We win souls because of the fear of the LORD. We don’t want to disappoint Jesus, and we certainly don’t want to meet Him at the Judgment Seat having disobeyed His great commission.
Yet, this verse goes even deeper. The Apostle Paul knew the end of those who died without Christ. He knew that lost souls would spend eternity in Hell.
Knowing this terrible end, Paul sought to win souls.
There is a place of everlasting fire. There is a place of eternal torment where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. This terrible place is called Hell.
Jesus Christ was the greatest hell-fire and damnation preacher in the Bible. He preached more about Hell than He did about Heaven.
Mark 9:43–44
43. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
44. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Preachers must preach about Hell from the pulpit. Christians must live like there is a Hell.
Some people don’t believe in Hell.
If there is no Hell, the Bible is not true. If there is no Hell, Christ is a fraud. If there is no Hell, Calvary was a blunder and Christ died in vain. If there is no Hell, how can there be a Heaven? Yes, Hell is a terrible truth. It is a real place of suffering and torment.
Hell is a real place. It is just as real as Wakefield, RI, where I sit right now. It is just as real as the place where you are reading to this article.
Hell is the fiery destiny of unbelievers.
Hell is the eternal dungeon of the damned.
Hell is everlasting residence of never- dying souls tormented for eternity because they rejected the self-less sacrifice of the Son of God.
Hell is the final abode of the unrighteous dead who will suffer eternal punishment.
Hell is a place of real suffering. The Bible describes Hell as:
1. Furnace of fire
2. Eternal fire
3. Everlasting punishment
4. Outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth
5. Wrath of God
6. Everlasting separation from God
7. The bottomless pit
8. A place of torment
9. The second death
10. Everlasting fire created for the devil and his angels
11. Unquenchable fire
12. Where the worm (memory) dieth not and the fire is not quenched
HELL IS REAL!
Every lost soul is one heartbeat away from everlasting damnation. We must tell them of the Saviour!
How apathetic are most Christians about Hell! It is a sad fact that most believers are more concerned with their mundane lives and petty comfort than the souls of men.
In the book, Why Revival Tarries, Leonard Ravenhill relayed this compelling story.
“Charlie Peace was a criminal. Laws of God or man curbed him not. Finally, the law caught up with him, and he was condemned to death. On the fatal morning in Armley Jail, Leeds, England, he was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. “The Consolations of Religion,” was the reply.
Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow- human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet slide over the phrase without a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, “You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings”?
All this was too much for Charlie Peace. So he preached. Listen to his on-the-eve-of-hell sermon: “Sir,” addressing the preacher, “if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”
The terror of Hell must motivate us to win souls. This is the soul winner’s conviction.
4. The Soul Winner’s Compassion – The Love Of Christ
2 Corinthians 5:12–15
12. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.
13. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
14. For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
15. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Paul is speaking of the love of Christ.
How can we say that we love Jesus but don’t care about the souls for which He died? Of course, we are to love people as Christ loved them. However, our ultimate motivation to win souls must be our love for the Saviour!
Love is a powerful motivator. We should love people. We should care whether or not people go to Heaven or Hell. If we don’t care for the souls of men, how dwelleth the love of God in us? Yet, our greatest motivation to win souls is not our love for men.
Our strongest motivation to win souls must be our love for Christ!
When Peter quit the ministry, our Lord met him on the seashore. Jesus confronted Peter about his motives.
John 21:15–17
15. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Jesus said in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Love of the Saviour is the reason we obey. If we don’t obey Christ, it’s because we don’t love Him enough.
Our love for Christ will motivate us to seek the sinners for which He died.
The captivating love of Christ must motivate us to win souls. This is the soul winner’s compassion.
5. The Soul Winner’s Confidence – The Power Of The Gospel
2 Corinthians 5:16–17
16. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
17. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Paul knew that if he won someone to faith in Jesus that new believer would become a new man in Christ. What confidence!
When we fish for fish, we take a living creature out of comfortable existence and cause death. When we fish for men, we rescue dead men out of terrible existence and give them life. Christ has called us to be fishers of men.
Matthew 4:19
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
The transforming power of the Gospel must motivate us to win souls. This is the soul winner’s confidence.
6. The Soul Winner’s Commission – The Ministry of Reconciliation
Christ left His people with a great commission before He ascended back to Heaven.
Matthew 28:18–20
18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
God inspired the Apostle Paul to call in the ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18–19
18. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Jesus Christ is the Mediator between our holy God and sinful men. He is the one that can bring us back into fellowship with God through the forgiveness of sins. Yet, who will tell the world of this mediator? Who will spread the news that reconciliation is possible?
Romans 10:14–15
14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15. And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
We have been drafted into spiritual warfare. We are commanded and commissioned to bring the reconciling Gospel of Christ to the lost world. Each sinner who trusts Christ is eternally reconciled to their Creator. Is there any greater business in which we could be engaged?
Soul winning is the most important business in all the world!
God did not save you to sit, soak, and sour. He saved you to serve.
We are appointed ambassadors. We represent the King of kings in this foreign land.
2 Corinthians 5:20
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
If an ambassador does not represent the King, he is guilty of treason.
We have the answer for which the world is searching. We must embrace the ministry of reconciliation.
CONCLUSION
You can be a soul winner. Christ’s sacrificial work is complete. You have the message. You know what to do. All you need is the motivation to get busy. Adopt these mighty motivations for soul winning and get started today.
You can be a soul winner. With Christ’s Gospel and His power, you can lead people to saving faith, rescuing them from eternal damnation.
If you can’t win an older person, win a younger person. If you can’t win a man, win a woman. If you can’t win your
own family, win someone else’s family member. There is always someone you can win.
Would you pray the following prayer? “Lord, forgive me for not winning more souls. Give me a Christ-like compassion for souls. Help me to be a soul winner starting today.”