Why It's Wise to Win Souls
by Evangelist Ted Huston
Ted Huston served the Lord and preached the Gospel message for many years, both as a pastor and an evangelist.
He graduated to glory in 2021.
He graduated to glory in 2021.
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)
I am burdened for Christianity. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but we are rapidly becoming extinct. Something to the tune of 2,500 to 3,500 churches close their doors every year in America. That’s about 200 a month that are shutting their doors. It will not be long before you will be pretty hard pressed to find somebody who claims to be a truly born again Christian right here in America. I don’t know if you know it or not, but the majority of Jefferson City people were not in church this morning. In fact, it was a small minority that attended church this morning. If you take the three independent Baptist churches in this town, there probably weren’t more than 500 people in those three churches out of a town of 50,000. With that thought in mind, I want to look at this passage of Scripture, and then give you just a few reasons why it is wise to win souls.
Here the Word of God says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;...” It doesn’t say ‘might be a tree of life.’ What does that statement mean? Who are the righteous? According to the definition of that word, that means the just man. When you study Scripture, the word ‘just’ or ‘righteous’ is referring to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. It is referring to the believer. We are the righteous. That’s kind of funny for us, because we don’t feel very righteous. But the Bible is clear that all those who have received Christ and trusted in His blood that was shed on Calvary to wash away their sins, God sees them as clothed in the righteousness of Christ. In the vernacular of the Bible, the just or the righteous are the saved.
Soul winning in not just a New Testament doctrine; it’s a Bible doctrine. This verse is Old Testament. We didn’t start soulwinning when Jesus came in flesh to a manger in Bethlehem. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He tried to win his whole world, at that time, to the Lord. He preached for 120 years trying to win them to Christ, trying to win them to God. Soulwinning is not new. It’s a Biblical doctrine. The Psalmist talks about it. Here Solomon talks about it. It’s all through the Scriptures. I’m telling you that God has always been in the business of people seeking out and winning souls to keep them out of Hell. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise... but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9) God never intended for anybody to go Hell, not even in the day of Abraham, not even in the day before the flood or after the flood, or in the day of the law.
I’m afraid many Christians have this kind of concept that under the law, before Calvary, they didn’t tell folks and they didn’t win folks. They might not have used the New Testament verses, the plan of salvation that we do, but they had to warn and win souls or people would die in their sin unwarned. It wasn’t just Jews that believed in the Jewish faith. There were ‘strangers’ that also came, strangers who were circumcised and partook of the Passover. God’s chosen people were not just worried about themselves being saved; they wanted other people to come to believe in their God. We have this erroneous idea that soulwinning is something new. But here in the Old Testament it says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;...” The righteous, then, being the just man or the saved man. As folks who understand the Bible, we know what the Bible is talking about when it refers to the righteous. Thus it speaks of the fruit of the righteous or the fruit of the saved.
What is the fruit of the saved? This verse goes on to tell us the fruit of the saved is a tree of life. The fruit of the righteous is, not might be, but IS a tree of life. That which a living tree or plant brings forth, that’s the fruit. For some plants, that is a fruit. For other plants, it’s a seed. Everything that is living must bring forth fruit, or else it’s not living. You and I as human beings also have seed. If the human race quits producing seed, it will also cease to exist. If the whole human race were to become sterile and not produce fruit, the human race would disappear. I’m telling you that’s what is happening to Christianity. Because we are not winning souls, we are becoming extinct. If Christians don’t produce new Christians, we will no longer exist. It bothers me that a seeming majority of believers are not winning souls. If the majority of our population is not reproducing, then we are becoming a smaller and smaller and smaller number. Statistics are bearing that out.
What is a fruit? Fruit is what a plant brings forth. For some plants it’s a fruit, for some it’s a seed. Everything that has life brings forth fruit. Let’s ask ourselves a question. What is the purpose of that fruit? Maybe a better question is, “What is the ultimate purpose of that fruit?” What is the ultimate purpose of an apple on an apple tree? Here is what our philosophy is. That apple is there for us to have food. That’s not the ultimate purpose. That’s not the reason that God put fruit on apple trees. He gave it to us for food, but that isn’t the reason He created the fruit.
Go with me to Genesis 1. I want you to understand what the ultimate purpose for fruit is. People might think, “It’s so that animals can have something to eat. The ultimate purpose for wheat grain is so that we can have bread. The ultimate purpose for an apple and the seed in the apple is so we can have fruit. The ultimate purpose for a petunia seed is so that we can have a flower to look at and smell.” No, that’s not the ultimate purpose. That’s not the ultimate reason that God had them produce seed. In Genesis 1:12 God says, “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Understand something. God created the fruit for the seed and the seed is the thing that produces another plant that can produce fruit.
If the apple trees do not produce apples, there will be no seeds. Consequently there will be no new apple trees. If the wheat plants quit producing wheat seeds, there will be no seed. Consequently there will be no wheat anymore. Many animal species in our world have become extinct because they quit reproducing, for whatever reason. Because reproduction was reduced down to a minimum or down to nothing and the habitat where they thrived was gone, but extinction has come to many of God’s creatures because reproduction did not take place.
I’m trying to get you to see something. Many of us think that the fruit we produce as Christians is a fruit given for our and other people’s enjoyment, but the fruit that you and I produce, the fruit that God wants in our life, is a fruit that produces more Christians. You know what? God enjoys me, but you know what? He didn’t create you just to be enjoyed. Primarily He created and redeemed you so there would be more Christians, so somebody will be a Christian after you are gone. All that is necessary for Christianity to fail is for one generation not to receive the Gospel and be led to Christ.
God, in the Old Testament, tells the Old Testament saints that you’d be wise to win souls. Notice that word ‘yielding’ there in Genesis. That means to disseminate or to plant. God says, “I made the fruit. I made the herb of the ground so that it would disseminate its seed and plant its seed.” It means to bear or to conceive. It means to sow. God says, “I made the plant yielding seed, so that it disseminates its seed. That’s why I made the plant with the seed, not just so it would produce a piece of fruit for man to eat. That’s a by-product, a blessing. I made it so it would disseminate its seed and continue to provide for every generation.”
Picture a dandelion head. When we were kids, we used to like to give them haircuts. Pull the dandelion up when it turned to seed and blow it and watch the seeds blow in the wind. That’s called dissemination. What did that do? It produced more dandelions in my dad’s yard. My dad used to get pretty upset. “Boys, don’t do that. You are just causing more dandelions to grow.” That’s the purpose of the seed. God talks about the seed bearing herbs here. Then He talks about the fruit trees that produce fruit. We do eat that fruit, but the seed was within the fruit and that is there for the purpose of disseminating or sowing the seed that can become another tree that will produce fruit, that will become another tree that will produce fruit, that will become another tree that will produce fruit.
That is the ultimate purpose of fruit, not just something pretty to look at, though Eve got taken in by that. Not just something good to taste, though Eve got taken in by that. Not just something that can make one wise, though Eve got taken in by that. But the seed is there so that it can yield more trees yielding more seeds. The plant was made so that it would yield the seed and disseminate it, so that there would always be apple trees. There would always be peach trees. There would always be wheat crops, barley crops, corn crops, bean crops, tomatoes, onions and green beans. Boy, let’s go to the house and eat! God put the seed in the fruit, in the plant, for the primary purpose that they would yield or disseminate and sow continuously so more could grow.
The Bible says to us here that if you are really righteous, if you really are a just man, a saved man or woman, if you really are a born again child of God, you will bear fruit that will bring forth a tree of life. Not just a piece of fruit that just hangs there and looks good, not a tree that brings forth fruit that is taken off and eaten, but fruit that brings forth another tree that produces life also. The wheat crop has the life and produces another wheat plant that has life to produce another wheat plant that has life, to produce another wheat plant that has life, to produce another wheat plant... I think you get the picture. That picture is if you are truly saved, your fruit is a tree of life, or a life-producing tree.
If you are truly a righteous person who is fruitful, you will have brought forth other Christians who win souls. Your fruit, your seed, that was planted in you in the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God and Jesus Christ, it will bring forth born again Christians. If you don’t have any born again Christians as a result of your seed, you have produced no fruit. “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;...” Our job, if we are born again, we are going to bear a fruit that will bring spiritual life to other people just like ours. Those people will produce other Christians that are just like them, that will produce others. We will continue the Christian faith by winning souls.
God’s Word says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” That leads me to my title. Why is it wise to win souls?
#1. We’d be wise to win souls, so that we don’t become extinct. Bible Christianity seems on the verge of extinction now. Do you understand there are seven billion people on the face of planet earth, and we are a very small minority? Do you understand that our ranks are dwindling while Islam and other religions are multiplying? They are reproducing rapidly. Is that because their religion is true? I don’t believe that and neither do you, if you are truly born again. Is that because their religion is better? I don’t believe that and neither do you. We have the truth -- Jesus Christ. We have the way. We have the life. We have the Word of God. Why are we then becoming extinct? I’ll tell you why? We are not reproducing. How many babies have you had this year? How many Christians have you produced this year? How many souls have you led to Christ?
We had a missionary the other day with eight children. That poor lady has been criticized and ostracized by people. Shame on us. Since when did Christians get the idea that we are not supposed to raise more Christians? Why limit the number of children we have, when we need more Christians in the world? Here is a missionary with eight kids, intending to raise and train them for God. I believe that all eight will get saved and all eight will likely become missionaries and win souls to Christ. We need as many Christians as we can get so we can populate this would with Christianity. Here we are falling into the stupid secular philosophy that you shouldn’t have very many children. No. Have all the children God wants to bless you with and raise them for God and teach them to be soulwinners. Because we are headed toward extinction if we don’t produce some Christians around here. I didn’t find anything in the Bible about God being pleased when people limited their children. We are letting the secular world and the pagan religions multiply, not only religiously, but also physically and populate and take over this world. We are becoming the minority by our own doing. True Christianity is on the verge of extinction.
You know the fluff, ‘Let’s have a concert or a drama.’ That type of so called Christianity will probably go on because it is fleshly. I’m talking about historic Christianity that preaches the old-time Bible and talks about soulwinning and getting right and preaches against sin, preaches on Hell, that old time religion is becoming extinct.
My mom and dad had a couple that moved in near them. They visited the church, so the preacher went by to see them the next week. He said to the preacher, “If I knew you believe in Hell, I would never have come to your church.” That is where America is at, folks. You can go to a lot of churches today that don’t believe in Hell, but the Bible is clear that there is a Hell. We are sinners. We are condemned to spend eternity there to pay the price of our sin. Jesus Christ is the only way to be forgiven and be delivered from Hell. If you don’t accept Jesus, you will go to Hell when you die. Mark her down. It is an absolute guarantee. You say, “But I don’t like Hell.” I don’t either, but it is in the Bible and you are not going to change it. I don’t like prison either, but there is one. You don’t have to agree with it. You are not the sovereign God.
I won’t mind if we grow our church from the inside. Several of our ladies are expecting right now. I’m happy happy to see babies born into our church. Have all the babies God will bless you with, but just make sure you raise them up to be young Christian men and women. We need preachers. We need missionaries. We need laymen. We need Sunday school teachers. We need bus workers. The harvest is truly plenteous and the laborers are few. We need to have Christians being born, not just that way, but most importantly spiritually, through soulwinning like I’m speaking about tonight. We would be wise to win souls so we don’t become extinct.
Think about this. If a certain species of plant or trees quits producing fruit, thus it quits reproducing. That species will eventually become extinct and pass away. Did you know that just in the last year or so, some kind of bees were dying off? Millions of bees were dying. Our world became very concerned because it’s the bees that pollinate, that take the seed from one plant over to the other plant so that reproduction takes place. Scientists actually were thinking that we might literally starve because the plants were going to quit producing and there would be no new production.
Do you understand that if a plant or a tree quits producing its fruit, then reproduction cannot take place and extinction will come? This is really what is happening to true Christianity in America. Christians have quit producing. We are no longer winning souls. Do you know what we’ve got? We’ve got museums that are someday going to be antiques. We are trying to maintain our museums. A lot of churches are going out and finding old Christians or folks that got saved before, who aren’t in church anymore and they are building their churches by populating them with people who are already born again. We’ve become so concerned about maintaining our numbers and maintaining our flock and maintaining our offerings. The church has to pay its bills, but we’ve become so money-conscious and numbers-oriented that we are no longer reproducing. We are no longer winning souls. We go out and knock on doors. “Well, I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church anywhere.” “Why don’t you come on over?”
Now we have a bunch of museum pieces that one of these days are going to be antiques that people are going to come in and look at in awe and say, “There really was such a thing as a Christian. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” We’ll have our little museums that are hanging on till Jesus comes. I’m not interested in being a museum curator. I’m not interested in becoming extinct. I don’t want to see what I love become extinct -- my Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel and the old time religion. Hell’s hot. Heaven is real. Jesus is coming again. He’s the only way. I’m not interested in seeing that message and emphasis become extinct, but it will if we don’t win souls. We are literally dying out, and nobody is being reproduced to replace us.
Can I say to you, young couples, I’m so thankful you are in church. You are the hope of this church. I’m getting old. I’m not quitting yet, but if we don’t start winning the younger generation, there will be no Christians. How many people are there in Jefferson City? How many of them are truly born again? I’m talking about in a world of seven billion people, what’s the percentage of Christians? Statistically, how many people are becoming Muslims and how many people are becoming Christian? When you look at statistics, I’m telling you we are shrinking while there is a mushroom of other religions. I’m going to tell you why it is happening. Because we are not winning souls anymore. If you don’t produce children, the human race will die. If we don’t produce Christians, souls being born again, Christianity is going to die.
I read this statistic a while back by the Barna group. Seventy percent of American adults have no meaningful relationship with any church. That’s probably what happened this morning in Jefferson City. Do you understand that probably only about 30% of our population was in any church this morning, if that much? I don’t know how big the Assembly of God churches are. I don’t know how big the Methodist churches are. I don’t know how big the Southern Baptist churches are. I don’t know how big the Catholic churches are. I’m just taking all types of churches, and I would not classify all of them as knowing what it means to be born again. I’m not trying to be mean, but in all of Jefferson City I’ll bet 70% were not in church today. I bet it is a much smaller percentage than 30% who actually know what it means to be born again.
I’m not trying to put a big cloud over your head and make you discouraged. I’m trying to challenge you that it would be wise for us to win souls. Even if only a small percentage of our population is Christian, if that group would start reproducing by the tens and the twenties and the hundreds, if you and I as Christians would decide, “I’m going to lead a lot of people to Christ, as many people to Christ as I can. I’m not going to be satisfied with one this year. Maybe I’ll win 20. Maybe I’ll have 40 this year.” I’m talking spiritually. We could rapidly replenish the Christian population. I’m telling you why we are not. Because we are not winning souls. We would be wise to do it.
I don’t know if you understand what a godless world is going to be like. I don’t know if you’ve gotten a glimpse of what it is like when the pagans are in power. It wouldn’t do you much harm to read your Old Testament. It wouldn’t do you much harm to read about the Roman Empire, who took Christians and fed them to the lions. I’m not trying to be wacky or crazy, but we may find out that there are already facilities for Christian concentration camps here in America. We are already hearing of a security force that is being proposed that will put us there. We’d be wise to bear fruit, because if we could win enough souls to get the majority back to being truly born again believers in Christ, we could turn this country back to God. We could turn the tide, if we’d win souls. “I just don’t believe it is going to happen.” It doesn’t change the fact that you are supposed to do it anyway. We would be wise to win souls so we don’t become extinct.
Did you know that 70% of American teenagers have never been in church? Folks, we are becoming extinct. You and I are weird museum pieces to this world. “I have never seen one of those before.” You say, “I just don’t believe that.” Well, study the statistics. I’m just going to tell you statistically speaking, we are becoming extinct. The reason is because the righteous are not producing a tree of life. How many Christians have you produced this year? How many saved people have left our churches and decided to no longer be and live like a Christian, let alone be a soulwinner? How many churches are closing their doors because there are not enough Christians to merit having a church? We’d be wise to win souls so we don’t become extinct. Every Christian is to be a tree of life. If you and I are truly righteous and we are bearing fruit, we’ll produce a tree of life. If we are going to turn this tide, we must be winning souls. It’s wise to win souls, so we don’t find ourselves as a persecuted minority being hunted down because we failed to win souls.
#2. It would be wise to win souls, so we don’t become expendable. There are little towns where I grew up in Kansas that don’t have a Bible preaching church in them. My heart breaks for any city, any community, any town that doesn’t have a Bible preaching church like this. Don’t you feel sad that in some cities, it’s already extinct? There is no such thing as an independent, fundamental, Bible believing, King James Bible, devil fighting, sin hating, God exalting, Heaven preaching, Hell exposing church. There are communities where true Christianity is extinct. They have dead religion, but not one Christian to produce any fruit. That’s a shame. That’s because Christians aren’t winning souls. If we really love God, we ought to find a community like that and go in there and say, “God, help me to win some souls in this town.” Just somebody that would get a burden like Brother Jeremy and say, “I want to just go somewhere and win some souls and start a church for the glory of God.” Because if we don’t do that, there won’t be any independent, fundamental, Bible believing, Gospel preaching churches left.
You are going to have the concert froth and fluff. I wouldn’t even feel like I went to church, if it was like Hollywood. If I watched it on a big screen like a movie, I’d have a hard time believing I had been to church. “You are just old fashioned.” You’re right. I’m planning to stay that way because the old fashioned way is the Biblical way. “Seek ye the old paths and walk ye in them.” We are going to be extinct, but what about being expendable? If you get to the place where God doesn’t need you anymore, it’s a pretty serious thing.
Look at Luke 13:6-9. “He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.” Remember, what’s the main purpose of fruit? It’s not so you can have something to eat. It’s for dissemination. “Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”
Do you know why it would be wise to win souls? You don’t want to become expendable. You don’t want God to say, “I don’t need you anymore. You are expendable. You are not doing anything for the kingdom of Heaven.” What does it say? “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) What is the kingdom of God? Getting people into Heaven. It is building the kingdom. How do you build the kingdom? People being saved. The kingdom isn’t about gold, silver, and all that stuff. God takes care of that. Our job is to go out and reach folks so they get into the kingdom of Heaven. He says that if you are not going to do that work, if you are not going to produce fruit, you become expendable to Me.
Some of you have never heard something like this because you are new Christians. If anyone knows how to go to Heaven, you can tell other people how to go to Heaven, and you should. You don’t have to know all the Bible verses. You don’t have to use the Roman’s Road. All you have to do is just tell people, “Let me tell you what happened to me. I was going to Hell. Now I’m going to Heaven. Here is how I know I’m going to Heaven. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour.” Sometimes, Paul did not use Scripture to preach the Gospel. He just told his testimony. You don’t have to be bold and brash. You don’t have to have great wisdom and courage. All you’ve got to do is just say, “Look, I’m saved and I want to see other people get saved.”
Just get busy telling folks about Christ. Maybe you won’t win a bunch of people, but at least you will plant the seed and somebody will get saved. It will amaze you. You’ll be so thrilled when somebody gets saved because you just took the time to be a soulwinner and allowed God to use you.
Look at John 15:1-2. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:...” I’m trying to help you. I’m not trying to be mean. Don’t you think our Father in Heaven is burdened that we are not producing fruit for Him? We’d be wise to produce children, if for no other reason, than just to please our Father. If we don’t want to become extinct and you and I as individual Christians don’t want to become expendable, we’d better win souls. I think that is what Revelation two, the church at Ephesus, is talking about, when you left your first love. You get back to doing the first work, or else I’m going to come. Churches that are not actively winning souls are going to become shells of religiosity. If you loved your church, and I know we do, the thing to do to help your church is just to try to win people to Jesus Christ. That’s how God keeps His hand on a place. That’s how He doesn’t take you away. “You are not producing fruit. I’m going to take you away.” A church that doesn’t produce fruit, I promise you, becomes a museum of antiques. I’ve been in a lot of Baptist churches like that.
I preached in one once. It was so dry and so dead. I couldn’t think or speak. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. We had the invitation. Not a holy grunt, not an amen and not one person came to the altar. I said, “God, deliver me from this dead church.” I never want to be a part of a church that God says, “I don’t need you anymore. My hand of blessing is removed.” You are wise to win souls so you don’t become expendable.
#3. We would be wise to win souls so that we can stay excited. I’m getting to be an old codger. I don’t have much excitement in life anymore. I’m just teasing with you. I’ll tell you one thing I’ve really been excited about. I have two daughter-in-laws getting ready to have babies. I am so excited. Those sonograms are something. One the other day showed the facial view of Tyson, Jeremy’s and Jessica’s boy they are going to have. I’m excited. There is just something about having babies around that keeps you thrilled and excited and happy.
You know what keeps excitement in a church -- baby Christians, when new folks are getting saved and getting baptized, converts are growing. Have you ever gone into a nursing home where that is all they’ve got, a bunch of old, dying people? It’s like a morgue, folks. You let a child walk in and see what happens. They just want to touch that little child. They get a thrill just looking at a baby or a small child. Do you know what keeps churches excited? It’s when people are winning souls. People are getting saved. Baby believers are coming in and people are growing. Isn’t it good to see new folks come to Central Baptist Church, get saved, get baptized, start growing? You’d be wise to win souls so your church will stay on fire. I don’t want to come to church and sit and yawn the whole time. I don’t want to sit there and look like some zombie staring at the wall. When souls are getting saved, it just brings excitement.
Look at Psalm 126:5-6. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” You would be wise to win souls because it will keep your blood pumped up. It will keep some excitement in your step. I don’t like going a week without winning somebody to Christ. It puts me in the doldrums. I get discouraged. I like to see people saved. It keeps me excited. Hell is real. People are going into it. I get thrilled when somebody gets delivered from it. If you don’t get excited about that, I’m telling you something. I’m not questioning your salvation, but I sure think you need to ask God to get you stirred up.
#4. We’d be wise to win souls so we could be exalted. I’m preaching Bible here. I don’t think you and I are supposed to run around here and go, “Look, I won 10,000 people to Christ. I’m better than you.” But I do tell you that, one day, if we have won folks to Christ, the Lord is going to reward and commend and exalt us. When I get to Heaven, I want Jesus to say, “Let that boy shine.” It’s in the Book.
Look at Daniel 12:3. This was Dr. Hyles’ life verse. Dr. Hyles signed my Bible and put Daniel 12:3 in there. When I sign a Bible, I put Proverbs 11:30 in it. When we get to Heaven, Dr. Hyles is going to be shining. I’ve got a little hunch, I think how much you let your light shine down here will be in correlation to how much it gets to shine up there. How much you hide your light down here is how much your light won’t get to shine up there.
I’m not a great soulwinner. I’m nothing and I know that. God knows my heart. But if I got a chance to do some shining one of these days in Heaven, I’d like to shine just a little bit for God’s glory. Daniel 12:3 says, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” You’d be wise to win souls so you’d be exalted. I’d like to shine in Heaven. I don’t shine too much down here, I’m talking about in the eyes of men. Ted Huston is not this glowing light that walks around and everybody says, “Oh, there is Pastor Huston,” like they say, “There is the President.” But one of these days, I hope I get to shine. I’m not going to shine because of the number of sermons I preached. I’m going to shine because of the number of souls I turned to righteousness. We would be wise to win souls so we can be exalted.
Being something outstanding down here is not nearly as important as being something up there. John and James were not criticized for wanting to sit on the right hand and the left hand. I don’t think that we are very dedicated, committed, or good Christians if we don’t desire to have some reward in Heaven. “I just want a cabin in the corner of Glory land.” Not me, buddy. Please don’t misunderstand this. I don’t want you to think I’ve got a huge ego. But I don’t want to be second, third, or fourth. I want to be first for my God. I know I’m not going to be, but I’m striving to be. If I want to shine in Heaven and be exalted as a faithful Christian witness, I’ve got to turn many to righteousness.
Every Christian has been commanded to go. You’ve been commanded to do two things. Mark 16:15, “...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” In Luke 14 the Lord said, “...Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” If we would be wise, we would go out and, every chance we got, we would share the Gospel with people. Then if we were not able to do that, we would compel them to come to the house of God, so they might hear the Gospel. I promise, you’d be a wise person to go out and start sharing the Gospel and compelling people to come in.
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” I beg for us to be soulwinners.
I am burdened for Christianity. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but we are rapidly becoming extinct. Something to the tune of 2,500 to 3,500 churches close their doors every year in America. That’s about 200 a month that are shutting their doors. It will not be long before you will be pretty hard pressed to find somebody who claims to be a truly born again Christian right here in America. I don’t know if you know it or not, but the majority of Jefferson City people were not in church this morning. In fact, it was a small minority that attended church this morning. If you take the three independent Baptist churches in this town, there probably weren’t more than 500 people in those three churches out of a town of 50,000. With that thought in mind, I want to look at this passage of Scripture, and then give you just a few reasons why it is wise to win souls.
Here the Word of God says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;...” It doesn’t say ‘might be a tree of life.’ What does that statement mean? Who are the righteous? According to the definition of that word, that means the just man. When you study Scripture, the word ‘just’ or ‘righteous’ is referring to those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. It is referring to the believer. We are the righteous. That’s kind of funny for us, because we don’t feel very righteous. But the Bible is clear that all those who have received Christ and trusted in His blood that was shed on Calvary to wash away their sins, God sees them as clothed in the righteousness of Christ. In the vernacular of the Bible, the just or the righteous are the saved.
Soul winning in not just a New Testament doctrine; it’s a Bible doctrine. This verse is Old Testament. We didn’t start soulwinning when Jesus came in flesh to a manger in Bethlehem. Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He tried to win his whole world, at that time, to the Lord. He preached for 120 years trying to win them to Christ, trying to win them to God. Soulwinning is not new. It’s a Biblical doctrine. The Psalmist talks about it. Here Solomon talks about it. It’s all through the Scriptures. I’m telling you that God has always been in the business of people seeking out and winning souls to keep them out of Hell. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise... but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9) God never intended for anybody to go Hell, not even in the day of Abraham, not even in the day before the flood or after the flood, or in the day of the law.
I’m afraid many Christians have this kind of concept that under the law, before Calvary, they didn’t tell folks and they didn’t win folks. They might not have used the New Testament verses, the plan of salvation that we do, but they had to warn and win souls or people would die in their sin unwarned. It wasn’t just Jews that believed in the Jewish faith. There were ‘strangers’ that also came, strangers who were circumcised and partook of the Passover. God’s chosen people were not just worried about themselves being saved; they wanted other people to come to believe in their God. We have this erroneous idea that soulwinning is something new. But here in the Old Testament it says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;...” The righteous, then, being the just man or the saved man. As folks who understand the Bible, we know what the Bible is talking about when it refers to the righteous. Thus it speaks of the fruit of the righteous or the fruit of the saved.
What is the fruit of the saved? This verse goes on to tell us the fruit of the saved is a tree of life. The fruit of the righteous is, not might be, but IS a tree of life. That which a living tree or plant brings forth, that’s the fruit. For some plants, that is a fruit. For other plants, it’s a seed. Everything that is living must bring forth fruit, or else it’s not living. You and I as human beings also have seed. If the human race quits producing seed, it will also cease to exist. If the whole human race were to become sterile and not produce fruit, the human race would disappear. I’m telling you that’s what is happening to Christianity. Because we are not winning souls, we are becoming extinct. If Christians don’t produce new Christians, we will no longer exist. It bothers me that a seeming majority of believers are not winning souls. If the majority of our population is not reproducing, then we are becoming a smaller and smaller and smaller number. Statistics are bearing that out.
What is a fruit? Fruit is what a plant brings forth. For some plants it’s a fruit, for some it’s a seed. Everything that has life brings forth fruit. Let’s ask ourselves a question. What is the purpose of that fruit? Maybe a better question is, “What is the ultimate purpose of that fruit?” What is the ultimate purpose of an apple on an apple tree? Here is what our philosophy is. That apple is there for us to have food. That’s not the ultimate purpose. That’s not the reason that God put fruit on apple trees. He gave it to us for food, but that isn’t the reason He created the fruit.
Go with me to Genesis 1. I want you to understand what the ultimate purpose for fruit is. People might think, “It’s so that animals can have something to eat. The ultimate purpose for wheat grain is so that we can have bread. The ultimate purpose for an apple and the seed in the apple is so we can have fruit. The ultimate purpose for a petunia seed is so that we can have a flower to look at and smell.” No, that’s not the ultimate purpose. That’s not the ultimate reason that God had them produce seed. In Genesis 1:12 God says, “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Understand something. God created the fruit for the seed and the seed is the thing that produces another plant that can produce fruit.
If the apple trees do not produce apples, there will be no seeds. Consequently there will be no new apple trees. If the wheat plants quit producing wheat seeds, there will be no seed. Consequently there will be no wheat anymore. Many animal species in our world have become extinct because they quit reproducing, for whatever reason. Because reproduction was reduced down to a minimum or down to nothing and the habitat where they thrived was gone, but extinction has come to many of God’s creatures because reproduction did not take place.
I’m trying to get you to see something. Many of us think that the fruit we produce as Christians is a fruit given for our and other people’s enjoyment, but the fruit that you and I produce, the fruit that God wants in our life, is a fruit that produces more Christians. You know what? God enjoys me, but you know what? He didn’t create you just to be enjoyed. Primarily He created and redeemed you so there would be more Christians, so somebody will be a Christian after you are gone. All that is necessary for Christianity to fail is for one generation not to receive the Gospel and be led to Christ.
God, in the Old Testament, tells the Old Testament saints that you’d be wise to win souls. Notice that word ‘yielding’ there in Genesis. That means to disseminate or to plant. God says, “I made the fruit. I made the herb of the ground so that it would disseminate its seed and plant its seed.” It means to bear or to conceive. It means to sow. God says, “I made the plant yielding seed, so that it disseminates its seed. That’s why I made the plant with the seed, not just so it would produce a piece of fruit for man to eat. That’s a by-product, a blessing. I made it so it would disseminate its seed and continue to provide for every generation.”
Picture a dandelion head. When we were kids, we used to like to give them haircuts. Pull the dandelion up when it turned to seed and blow it and watch the seeds blow in the wind. That’s called dissemination. What did that do? It produced more dandelions in my dad’s yard. My dad used to get pretty upset. “Boys, don’t do that. You are just causing more dandelions to grow.” That’s the purpose of the seed. God talks about the seed bearing herbs here. Then He talks about the fruit trees that produce fruit. We do eat that fruit, but the seed was within the fruit and that is there for the purpose of disseminating or sowing the seed that can become another tree that will produce fruit, that will become another tree that will produce fruit, that will become another tree that will produce fruit.
That is the ultimate purpose of fruit, not just something pretty to look at, though Eve got taken in by that. Not just something good to taste, though Eve got taken in by that. Not just something that can make one wise, though Eve got taken in by that. But the seed is there so that it can yield more trees yielding more seeds. The plant was made so that it would yield the seed and disseminate it, so that there would always be apple trees. There would always be peach trees. There would always be wheat crops, barley crops, corn crops, bean crops, tomatoes, onions and green beans. Boy, let’s go to the house and eat! God put the seed in the fruit, in the plant, for the primary purpose that they would yield or disseminate and sow continuously so more could grow.
The Bible says to us here that if you are really righteous, if you really are a just man, a saved man or woman, if you really are a born again child of God, you will bear fruit that will bring forth a tree of life. Not just a piece of fruit that just hangs there and looks good, not a tree that brings forth fruit that is taken off and eaten, but fruit that brings forth another tree that produces life also. The wheat crop has the life and produces another wheat plant that has life to produce another wheat plant that has life, to produce another wheat plant that has life, to produce another wheat plant... I think you get the picture. That picture is if you are truly saved, your fruit is a tree of life, or a life-producing tree.
If you are truly a righteous person who is fruitful, you will have brought forth other Christians who win souls. Your fruit, your seed, that was planted in you in the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God and Jesus Christ, it will bring forth born again Christians. If you don’t have any born again Christians as a result of your seed, you have produced no fruit. “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life;...” Our job, if we are born again, we are going to bear a fruit that will bring spiritual life to other people just like ours. Those people will produce other Christians that are just like them, that will produce others. We will continue the Christian faith by winning souls.
God’s Word says, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” That leads me to my title. Why is it wise to win souls?
#1. We’d be wise to win souls, so that we don’t become extinct. Bible Christianity seems on the verge of extinction now. Do you understand there are seven billion people on the face of planet earth, and we are a very small minority? Do you understand that our ranks are dwindling while Islam and other religions are multiplying? They are reproducing rapidly. Is that because their religion is true? I don’t believe that and neither do you, if you are truly born again. Is that because their religion is better? I don’t believe that and neither do you. We have the truth -- Jesus Christ. We have the way. We have the life. We have the Word of God. Why are we then becoming extinct? I’ll tell you why? We are not reproducing. How many babies have you had this year? How many Christians have you produced this year? How many souls have you led to Christ?
We had a missionary the other day with eight children. That poor lady has been criticized and ostracized by people. Shame on us. Since when did Christians get the idea that we are not supposed to raise more Christians? Why limit the number of children we have, when we need more Christians in the world? Here is a missionary with eight kids, intending to raise and train them for God. I believe that all eight will get saved and all eight will likely become missionaries and win souls to Christ. We need as many Christians as we can get so we can populate this would with Christianity. Here we are falling into the stupid secular philosophy that you shouldn’t have very many children. No. Have all the children God wants to bless you with and raise them for God and teach them to be soulwinners. Because we are headed toward extinction if we don’t produce some Christians around here. I didn’t find anything in the Bible about God being pleased when people limited their children. We are letting the secular world and the pagan religions multiply, not only religiously, but also physically and populate and take over this world. We are becoming the minority by our own doing. True Christianity is on the verge of extinction.
You know the fluff, ‘Let’s have a concert or a drama.’ That type of so called Christianity will probably go on because it is fleshly. I’m talking about historic Christianity that preaches the old-time Bible and talks about soulwinning and getting right and preaches against sin, preaches on Hell, that old time religion is becoming extinct.
My mom and dad had a couple that moved in near them. They visited the church, so the preacher went by to see them the next week. He said to the preacher, “If I knew you believe in Hell, I would never have come to your church.” That is where America is at, folks. You can go to a lot of churches today that don’t believe in Hell, but the Bible is clear that there is a Hell. We are sinners. We are condemned to spend eternity there to pay the price of our sin. Jesus Christ is the only way to be forgiven and be delivered from Hell. If you don’t accept Jesus, you will go to Hell when you die. Mark her down. It is an absolute guarantee. You say, “But I don’t like Hell.” I don’t either, but it is in the Bible and you are not going to change it. I don’t like prison either, but there is one. You don’t have to agree with it. You are not the sovereign God.
I won’t mind if we grow our church from the inside. Several of our ladies are expecting right now. I’m happy happy to see babies born into our church. Have all the babies God will bless you with, but just make sure you raise them up to be young Christian men and women. We need preachers. We need missionaries. We need laymen. We need Sunday school teachers. We need bus workers. The harvest is truly plenteous and the laborers are few. We need to have Christians being born, not just that way, but most importantly spiritually, through soulwinning like I’m speaking about tonight. We would be wise to win souls so we don’t become extinct.
Think about this. If a certain species of plant or trees quits producing fruit, thus it quits reproducing. That species will eventually become extinct and pass away. Did you know that just in the last year or so, some kind of bees were dying off? Millions of bees were dying. Our world became very concerned because it’s the bees that pollinate, that take the seed from one plant over to the other plant so that reproduction takes place. Scientists actually were thinking that we might literally starve because the plants were going to quit producing and there would be no new production.
Do you understand that if a plant or a tree quits producing its fruit, then reproduction cannot take place and extinction will come? This is really what is happening to true Christianity in America. Christians have quit producing. We are no longer winning souls. Do you know what we’ve got? We’ve got museums that are someday going to be antiques. We are trying to maintain our museums. A lot of churches are going out and finding old Christians or folks that got saved before, who aren’t in church anymore and they are building their churches by populating them with people who are already born again. We’ve become so concerned about maintaining our numbers and maintaining our flock and maintaining our offerings. The church has to pay its bills, but we’ve become so money-conscious and numbers-oriented that we are no longer reproducing. We are no longer winning souls. We go out and knock on doors. “Well, I’m a Christian, but I don’t go to church anywhere.” “Why don’t you come on over?”
Now we have a bunch of museum pieces that one of these days are going to be antiques that people are going to come in and look at in awe and say, “There really was such a thing as a Christian. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” We’ll have our little museums that are hanging on till Jesus comes. I’m not interested in being a museum curator. I’m not interested in becoming extinct. I don’t want to see what I love become extinct -- my Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel and the old time religion. Hell’s hot. Heaven is real. Jesus is coming again. He’s the only way. I’m not interested in seeing that message and emphasis become extinct, but it will if we don’t win souls. We are literally dying out, and nobody is being reproduced to replace us.
Can I say to you, young couples, I’m so thankful you are in church. You are the hope of this church. I’m getting old. I’m not quitting yet, but if we don’t start winning the younger generation, there will be no Christians. How many people are there in Jefferson City? How many of them are truly born again? I’m talking about in a world of seven billion people, what’s the percentage of Christians? Statistically, how many people are becoming Muslims and how many people are becoming Christian? When you look at statistics, I’m telling you we are shrinking while there is a mushroom of other religions. I’m going to tell you why it is happening. Because we are not winning souls anymore. If you don’t produce children, the human race will die. If we don’t produce Christians, souls being born again, Christianity is going to die.
I read this statistic a while back by the Barna group. Seventy percent of American adults have no meaningful relationship with any church. That’s probably what happened this morning in Jefferson City. Do you understand that probably only about 30% of our population was in any church this morning, if that much? I don’t know how big the Assembly of God churches are. I don’t know how big the Methodist churches are. I don’t know how big the Southern Baptist churches are. I don’t know how big the Catholic churches are. I’m just taking all types of churches, and I would not classify all of them as knowing what it means to be born again. I’m not trying to be mean, but in all of Jefferson City I’ll bet 70% were not in church today. I bet it is a much smaller percentage than 30% who actually know what it means to be born again.
I’m not trying to put a big cloud over your head and make you discouraged. I’m trying to challenge you that it would be wise for us to win souls. Even if only a small percentage of our population is Christian, if that group would start reproducing by the tens and the twenties and the hundreds, if you and I as Christians would decide, “I’m going to lead a lot of people to Christ, as many people to Christ as I can. I’m not going to be satisfied with one this year. Maybe I’ll win 20. Maybe I’ll have 40 this year.” I’m talking spiritually. We could rapidly replenish the Christian population. I’m telling you why we are not. Because we are not winning souls. We would be wise to do it.
I don’t know if you understand what a godless world is going to be like. I don’t know if you’ve gotten a glimpse of what it is like when the pagans are in power. It wouldn’t do you much harm to read your Old Testament. It wouldn’t do you much harm to read about the Roman Empire, who took Christians and fed them to the lions. I’m not trying to be wacky or crazy, but we may find out that there are already facilities for Christian concentration camps here in America. We are already hearing of a security force that is being proposed that will put us there. We’d be wise to bear fruit, because if we could win enough souls to get the majority back to being truly born again believers in Christ, we could turn this country back to God. We could turn the tide, if we’d win souls. “I just don’t believe it is going to happen.” It doesn’t change the fact that you are supposed to do it anyway. We would be wise to win souls so we don’t become extinct.
Did you know that 70% of American teenagers have never been in church? Folks, we are becoming extinct. You and I are weird museum pieces to this world. “I have never seen one of those before.” You say, “I just don’t believe that.” Well, study the statistics. I’m just going to tell you statistically speaking, we are becoming extinct. The reason is because the righteous are not producing a tree of life. How many Christians have you produced this year? How many saved people have left our churches and decided to no longer be and live like a Christian, let alone be a soulwinner? How many churches are closing their doors because there are not enough Christians to merit having a church? We’d be wise to win souls so we don’t become extinct. Every Christian is to be a tree of life. If you and I are truly righteous and we are bearing fruit, we’ll produce a tree of life. If we are going to turn this tide, we must be winning souls. It’s wise to win souls, so we don’t find ourselves as a persecuted minority being hunted down because we failed to win souls.
#2. It would be wise to win souls, so we don’t become expendable. There are little towns where I grew up in Kansas that don’t have a Bible preaching church in them. My heart breaks for any city, any community, any town that doesn’t have a Bible preaching church like this. Don’t you feel sad that in some cities, it’s already extinct? There is no such thing as an independent, fundamental, Bible believing, King James Bible, devil fighting, sin hating, God exalting, Heaven preaching, Hell exposing church. There are communities where true Christianity is extinct. They have dead religion, but not one Christian to produce any fruit. That’s a shame. That’s because Christians aren’t winning souls. If we really love God, we ought to find a community like that and go in there and say, “God, help me to win some souls in this town.” Just somebody that would get a burden like Brother Jeremy and say, “I want to just go somewhere and win some souls and start a church for the glory of God.” Because if we don’t do that, there won’t be any independent, fundamental, Bible believing, Gospel preaching churches left.
You are going to have the concert froth and fluff. I wouldn’t even feel like I went to church, if it was like Hollywood. If I watched it on a big screen like a movie, I’d have a hard time believing I had been to church. “You are just old fashioned.” You’re right. I’m planning to stay that way because the old fashioned way is the Biblical way. “Seek ye the old paths and walk ye in them.” We are going to be extinct, but what about being expendable? If you get to the place where God doesn’t need you anymore, it’s a pretty serious thing.
Look at Luke 13:6-9. “He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.” Remember, what’s the main purpose of fruit? It’s not so you can have something to eat. It’s for dissemination. “Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.”
Do you know why it would be wise to win souls? You don’t want to become expendable. You don’t want God to say, “I don’t need you anymore. You are expendable. You are not doing anything for the kingdom of Heaven.” What does it say? “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) What is the kingdom of God? Getting people into Heaven. It is building the kingdom. How do you build the kingdom? People being saved. The kingdom isn’t about gold, silver, and all that stuff. God takes care of that. Our job is to go out and reach folks so they get into the kingdom of Heaven. He says that if you are not going to do that work, if you are not going to produce fruit, you become expendable to Me.
Some of you have never heard something like this because you are new Christians. If anyone knows how to go to Heaven, you can tell other people how to go to Heaven, and you should. You don’t have to know all the Bible verses. You don’t have to use the Roman’s Road. All you have to do is just tell people, “Let me tell you what happened to me. I was going to Hell. Now I’m going to Heaven. Here is how I know I’m going to Heaven. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour.” Sometimes, Paul did not use Scripture to preach the Gospel. He just told his testimony. You don’t have to be bold and brash. You don’t have to have great wisdom and courage. All you’ve got to do is just say, “Look, I’m saved and I want to see other people get saved.”
Just get busy telling folks about Christ. Maybe you won’t win a bunch of people, but at least you will plant the seed and somebody will get saved. It will amaze you. You’ll be so thrilled when somebody gets saved because you just took the time to be a soulwinner and allowed God to use you.
Look at John 15:1-2. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:...” I’m trying to help you. I’m not trying to be mean. Don’t you think our Father in Heaven is burdened that we are not producing fruit for Him? We’d be wise to produce children, if for no other reason, than just to please our Father. If we don’t want to become extinct and you and I as individual Christians don’t want to become expendable, we’d better win souls. I think that is what Revelation two, the church at Ephesus, is talking about, when you left your first love. You get back to doing the first work, or else I’m going to come. Churches that are not actively winning souls are going to become shells of religiosity. If you loved your church, and I know we do, the thing to do to help your church is just to try to win people to Jesus Christ. That’s how God keeps His hand on a place. That’s how He doesn’t take you away. “You are not producing fruit. I’m going to take you away.” A church that doesn’t produce fruit, I promise you, becomes a museum of antiques. I’ve been in a lot of Baptist churches like that.
I preached in one once. It was so dry and so dead. I couldn’t think or speak. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. We had the invitation. Not a holy grunt, not an amen and not one person came to the altar. I said, “God, deliver me from this dead church.” I never want to be a part of a church that God says, “I don’t need you anymore. My hand of blessing is removed.” You are wise to win souls so you don’t become expendable.
#3. We would be wise to win souls so that we can stay excited. I’m getting to be an old codger. I don’t have much excitement in life anymore. I’m just teasing with you. I’ll tell you one thing I’ve really been excited about. I have two daughter-in-laws getting ready to have babies. I am so excited. Those sonograms are something. One the other day showed the facial view of Tyson, Jeremy’s and Jessica’s boy they are going to have. I’m excited. There is just something about having babies around that keeps you thrilled and excited and happy.
You know what keeps excitement in a church -- baby Christians, when new folks are getting saved and getting baptized, converts are growing. Have you ever gone into a nursing home where that is all they’ve got, a bunch of old, dying people? It’s like a morgue, folks. You let a child walk in and see what happens. They just want to touch that little child. They get a thrill just looking at a baby or a small child. Do you know what keeps churches excited? It’s when people are winning souls. People are getting saved. Baby believers are coming in and people are growing. Isn’t it good to see new folks come to Central Baptist Church, get saved, get baptized, start growing? You’d be wise to win souls so your church will stay on fire. I don’t want to come to church and sit and yawn the whole time. I don’t want to sit there and look like some zombie staring at the wall. When souls are getting saved, it just brings excitement.
Look at Psalm 126:5-6. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” You would be wise to win souls because it will keep your blood pumped up. It will keep some excitement in your step. I don’t like going a week without winning somebody to Christ. It puts me in the doldrums. I get discouraged. I like to see people saved. It keeps me excited. Hell is real. People are going into it. I get thrilled when somebody gets delivered from it. If you don’t get excited about that, I’m telling you something. I’m not questioning your salvation, but I sure think you need to ask God to get you stirred up.
#4. We’d be wise to win souls so we could be exalted. I’m preaching Bible here. I don’t think you and I are supposed to run around here and go, “Look, I won 10,000 people to Christ. I’m better than you.” But I do tell you that, one day, if we have won folks to Christ, the Lord is going to reward and commend and exalt us. When I get to Heaven, I want Jesus to say, “Let that boy shine.” It’s in the Book.
Look at Daniel 12:3. This was Dr. Hyles’ life verse. Dr. Hyles signed my Bible and put Daniel 12:3 in there. When I sign a Bible, I put Proverbs 11:30 in it. When we get to Heaven, Dr. Hyles is going to be shining. I’ve got a little hunch, I think how much you let your light shine down here will be in correlation to how much it gets to shine up there. How much you hide your light down here is how much your light won’t get to shine up there.
I’m not a great soulwinner. I’m nothing and I know that. God knows my heart. But if I got a chance to do some shining one of these days in Heaven, I’d like to shine just a little bit for God’s glory. Daniel 12:3 says, “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” You’d be wise to win souls so you’d be exalted. I’d like to shine in Heaven. I don’t shine too much down here, I’m talking about in the eyes of men. Ted Huston is not this glowing light that walks around and everybody says, “Oh, there is Pastor Huston,” like they say, “There is the President.” But one of these days, I hope I get to shine. I’m not going to shine because of the number of sermons I preached. I’m going to shine because of the number of souls I turned to righteousness. We would be wise to win souls so we can be exalted.
Being something outstanding down here is not nearly as important as being something up there. John and James were not criticized for wanting to sit on the right hand and the left hand. I don’t think that we are very dedicated, committed, or good Christians if we don’t desire to have some reward in Heaven. “I just want a cabin in the corner of Glory land.” Not me, buddy. Please don’t misunderstand this. I don’t want you to think I’ve got a huge ego. But I don’t want to be second, third, or fourth. I want to be first for my God. I know I’m not going to be, but I’m striving to be. If I want to shine in Heaven and be exalted as a faithful Christian witness, I’ve got to turn many to righteousness.
Every Christian has been commanded to go. You’ve been commanded to do two things. Mark 16:15, “...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” In Luke 14 the Lord said, “...Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” If we would be wise, we would go out and, every chance we got, we would share the Gospel with people. Then if we were not able to do that, we would compel them to come to the house of God, so they might hear the Gospel. I promise, you’d be a wise person to go out and start sharing the Gospel and compelling people to come in.
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” I beg for us to be soulwinners.
