The Soul Winner (Updated, Annotated): How to Lead Sinners to the Saviour

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

With true

simplicity of heart, he must seek to please God, whether men and women are pleased or not.

Yield yourself unreservedly to the mind and will of God in this way and, eventually, when you get out into the ministry, you’ll be compelled to use a peculiar expression at times or to offer an odd prayer, which at the time may seem a bit strange even to you.

So, when God puts His hand upon the very strings of your being, and every power within you seems to respond to the movements of His hand, you are an instrument He can use.

These seven things are the qualifications Godward, which I think would come to mind if you tried to put yourself into the position of the Most High and considered what you would wish to have in those whom you employed in the winning of souls. May God give all of us these qualifications, for Christ’s sake.

The listener explained it this way. “I didn’t benefit, because I didn’t believe in the man who delivered it. He was simply an actor performing a part. I didn’t believe he felt what he preached, and I don’t think he cared whether or not we felt or believed it.”

I implore you to speak from your hearts or else don’t speak at all. If you can be silent, be silent, but if you must speak for God, be thoroughly sincere about it.

I believe the most damnable thing a man can do is to preach the gospel merely as an actor and turn the worship of God into a kind of theatrical performance.

but I do say you must have big hearts if you are to win men to Jesus. You must be great-hearts if you are to lead many pilgrims to the Celestial City.

If you have any trace of selfishness about you, pray to get rid of it at once. Or you will never be a fit instrument for winning souls for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ambassadors don’t apologize when they go to a foreign court.

When you preach, speak out straightforward but be very tender about it. If something unpleasant needs to be addressed, take care that you put it in the kindest possible way.

Tell the people something. You are to teach them, to preach the gospel to your hearers. You are to make them understand (as far as you can) the things which should result in their peace. We can’t expect people to be saved by our sermons unless we try to really instruct them by what we say to them.