MOTIVATIONS FOR SOUL-WINNING

TEXTS-- Proverbs 11:30 "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; And he that is wise winneth souls."
Luke 21:19 "In your patience ye shall win your souls."

Matthew 28:19-20 "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

I. INTRODUCTION--
A. The Great Commission operates in a cycle.
1. Teach--baptize the taught--teach the baptized to do the same things.
2. Paul also commands this cycle in perpetuating the work of teaching within the church. 2 Timothy 2:2 "And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."
B. If the Apostles are to teach us to do the same things they do, we need to be familiar with their obligations.
1. Paul considered his"bonds" a motivations to speak the word. Colossians 4:2-4 "Continue stedfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving; 3 withal praying for us also, that God may open unto us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds; 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak."
2. There is spiritual reward in imitating Paul. Philippians 4:9 "The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you."

II. LESSON--
A. God reveals the motivations for soulwinning.
1. We can imitate God, who wants all to be saved! 1 Timothy 2:1-4 "I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men; 2 for kings and all that are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth."
a. Kings were included in Paul's work! Acts 9:15-16 "But the Lord said to (Ananias) Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake. "
b.But even when standing before kings, he said that he sought to convert all men to Christ. Acts 26:27-29 "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. 28 And Agrippa said unto Paul, With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian. 29 And Paul said, I would to God, that whether with little or with much, not thou only, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except these bonds."
2. Christ's mission was to seek and save! Luke 19:10 "For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
3. We must have a feeling of indebtedness.
a. To aliens (because of ignorance and sin). Romans 1:14-15 "I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are in Rome."
b. To erring brethren. James 5:19-20 "My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he who con-verteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins."
c. To self.

Philippians 3:7-11 "Howbeit what things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: 10 that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; 11 if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead."

Jude 21-23 "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have mercy, who are in doubt; 23 and some save, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh."

4. Several "Scriptural" motives are revealed, including...
a. The Gospel's sake. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 "For though I was free from all men, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. 20 And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; 21 to them that are without law, as without law, not being without law to God, but under law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 23 And I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof."
b. To follow and share with Christ. John 4:34-36 "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work. 35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. 36 He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together."
c. To save self with others. 1 Timothy 4:16 "Take heed to thyself, and to thy teaching. Continue in these things; for in doing this thou shalt save both thyself and them that hear thee."
B. With these examples of motivation, what examples of soul-winning help us?
1. Andrew first finds his own brother Simon. John 1:40-42a "One of the two that heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42 He brought him unto Jesus."
a. Sharing with a RELATIVE was his first thought (this is not bad in itself, but the opportunity for salvation must not be limited to relatives).
b. Many, in efforts to teach non-relatives, neglect to teach their own!
c. Andrew's tactic is practical--he offered his own reason for being attracted to Christ, "We have found the Messiah." We can easily identify with this.
2. "Philip finds Nathanael." John 1:45-46 "Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see."
a. He was not a blood relative, so far as we know.
b. Philip's approach assumed that Nathanael would be interested in the one, "of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, wrote."
c. However, he aroused a commonly held prejudice in Nathanael by calling Jesus a "Nazarene."
(1) The prejudice of Nathanael shared a common conception of the Jews. John 7:41-52 "Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? 43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. 44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. 45 The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring him? 46 The officers answered, Never man so spake. 47 The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye also led astray? 48 Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees? 49 But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed. 50 Nicodemus saith unto them (he that came to him before, being one of them), 51 Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth? 52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet."
(2)The conception was an error. Matthew 4:12-17 "Now when (Jesus) heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali: 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 the people that sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, to them did light spring up." (This last part is a quotation of Isaiah 9:1-2.)
(3) We can expect to meet similar prejudice based on misconceptions of the "church of Christ."
d. Philip overcomes Nathanael's prejudice by a challenge, not an argu ment--"come and see" (Nathanael's honesty caused him to find sufficient evidence to convince him of his error).
3. The Samaritan woman, after being convinced of Jesus' identity, brings a whole city. John 4:29-30, 39, 42 "Come, see a man, who told me all things that ever I did: can this be the Christ? 30 They went out of the city, and were coming to him........ 39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did.,,,....42 and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world."
a. It takes tact and enthusiasm to bring such results.
b. Her enthusiasm outran the invitation of Jesus.
(1) Jesus said, "Go call your husband." This was Jesus' way of testing her interest.
(2) She was convinced by his penetration of her inner thoughts that He was the Christ.
(3) She chose to use the tactic of asking, "Can this be the Christ?" rather than saying, "This is the Christ."
(4) After their own experience with Christ, the people of the city held their own conviction, rather than the woman's.
III.CONCLUSION-- With a proper understanding of the desire of God for the salva tion of all men, of the mission of Christ, of the importance of our own participation in that mission, and of the wise tools exhibited in Scripture for saving men, we can be efficient instruments in this work. We need the spirit of Paul, who said, "I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls." 2 Corinthians 12:15