John R. Rice
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.–Prov. 11:30.
It is the wise person who takes the long look. How foolish to think only of today with its passing pleasure or profit! Esau is a classic example of the man who thought only of the pleasures of today. He sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Afterwards he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. He threw away his opportunity to be the head of a great race, the ancestor of Jesus Christ, for a bowl of chili. On that account, the Bible calls Esau that “profane person.” Whatever faults Jacob had, he did take the long look.
Jacob was given spiritual wisdom, and sacrificed, suffered and sweated to receive the promised blessing in the uncounted years ahead. The best estimate of these two–the folly of Esau and the wisdom of Jacob–is expressed in the words of the Lord: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
Abraham was wise; Lot was foolish. Abraham counted himself a sojourner and lived in tents all his days, as did Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Hebrews 11:13-16 tells us:
“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”
That heavenly wisdom of Abraham, who by faith took the long look, will never be fully justified until the New Jerusalem comes down from God out of Heaven, and Abraham dwells in eternal happiness in the land of Palestine, made new like the Garden of Eden, in the presence of Christ and the Father with all the redeemed. On the other hand, Lot, who was enamored by the riches of this world, moved into Sodom and there saw the ruin of his home, the death of his wife, and later was guilty of drunken shame with his own daughters. Lot sought the things of today, but Abraham looked to the morrow. Lot chose the things that are seen, which are temporal, while Abraham chose the things that are unseen, which are eternal (II Cor. 4:18).
Every day. I see those who take the short look and live only for today. Their thoughts and efforts are centered on food, clothing,jobs, business, pleasure, which are enjoyed for a moment or a day or a year, and then vanish away.
The Wisdom of the Soul Wmner in the Light of the Worth of a Soul
“He that winneth souls is wise.” We may put it down, on the authority of Holy Writ, that the best wisdom of this world is not shown by the banker nor by the statesman nor by the educator nor by the millionaire businessman, but by the humble soul winner. All other labor is insignificant beside the supreme labor of winning souls. All other efforts are as good as wasted when the results they bring are considered beside the eternal and glorious results of soul winning.
The Saviour Himself indicated that one soul is worth more than all the world: “For what shall it profit a man, ifhe shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36, 37).
Certain considerations help us to see the value of a soul, and I want to suggest them for your prayerful meditation. Our fathers were accustomed to pray, “Lord, roll on us the weight of immortal souls.” Again and again I have heard that heartfelt petition as men besought God to give them a Heaven-born concern for the salvation of sinners. That prayer I heard often in my childhood, and I make it my Own again today.
Soul winning is such a delicate art, it requires such a heavenly wisdom, it weighs so little in the minds of worldly men, that we are not likely to win souls unless we consider some appalling and glorious facts that bear on the subject. Suppose we think about the fact of Hell, the ruin and misery of this world, the death of Christ, and the glories of Heaven, as they bear on soul winning.
The Fact of Hell
I suppose the most horrible. concrete fact in all the world is that of Hell. The doctrine of Hell has a most prominent place in the Bible. Even Jesus Himself, who spake as never man spake, the tender and lowly One, the forgiving, the healing, the comforting Jesus, referred again and again to the place called Hell. The most startling things ever said in the Bible about it came from His lips.
It was Jesus who said that the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched in Hell.
It was Jesus who said that men should be cast both soul and body into Hell.
It was Jesus who opened for us the lid of Hell and let us hear the cries of the doomed rich man who lifted up his eyes in torment and begged for one drop of water to cool his tongue, as he was tormented in flames!
If any man has a heart, a soul, he ought to be profoundly moved at the thought of one human being going to that place!
Let us be honest about it; the Bible does teach that Hell is a place. It teaches that men are conscious there, that men remember there, that they cry out, beg for water, long to warn their loved ones, “lest they also come into this place of torment.” The Bible does teach that the smoke of their torment in Hell ascends up forever and ever, and that they have no rest day or night. It does teach that all the impenitent who die without Christ wake up in the terrible world of eternal punishment. The Scripture makes clear that at the resurrection of the unjust, the unsaved dead will come out of Hell only long enough to get physical bodies and then be sentenced forever to the unending doom of the lake of fire (Rev. 20)!
If they believe the Bible, honest people will not quibble about a literal Hell. If Hell is not a fact, then the inspiration of the Bible is not a fact. If Hell is not a fact, then the deity of Christ is not a fact, for He believed in and preached about Hell.
The Red Cross takes up collections for storm sufferers and victims of floods and drought. Congress passes laws and appropriates money for the relief of the distressed. A recent report of some government officials indicated a good deal of anxiety because some families were so poor that they could only attend the movies once a week and other nights must remain at home! Other social activities appeal to the tenderhearted on the basis that some children do not have as much milk to drink as others, and some do not have lunch money, and some boys do not have clubs, “older brothers” and outings as do the children of the better privileged. In fact, the term “underprivileged” is used again and again these days, as if to be “underprivileged” was the greatest of disasters.
We may well help the poor, but no want or poverty, no distress of mind or body is to be compared for a moment with the torture of the damned who go to Hell. The most awful fact is the fact of Hell and that some whom we know, who live in the same houses or go to the same schools or work in the same business or are our daily companions, will die and spend an eternity away from God, eternally unforgiven, eternally sinning, and eternally doomed. That one fact will enable you to see what God meant when He said, “He that winneth souls is wise.”
If one who reads this has yet any tenderness of heart, any love for his neighbor, any of the milk of human kindness, then he will see some of the spiritual wisdom in winning souls.
I do not wonder that modernists who deny the fact of Hell, or who scoff at the idea of literal fire, do not win souls. Not believing the Bible. which is the wisdom of God, it is not strange that they miss the wisdom of soul winning. Let him who would be wise consider the eternal doom of the lost.
Disappointments and Unhappiness of This World
This present world is a failure, which fact is not hard to prove. That homes have failed is evidenced by the ever-mounting divorce rate. About one in every two and a half marriages ends in divorce, and many other couples live in stark tragedy and bitterness of soul.
Our jails are full of boys and girls. Suicides are high among high school teenagers, proving that both horne and school have failed.
Governments have failed. They cannot put down crime. They cannot control graft. More than threequarters of the population of the globe have been killing and being killed. Unbalanced budgets, mounting taxes, show the failure of the governments of the world. And disease, suicide, crime; heartless, conscienceless wickedness everywhere prove the failure of this present civilization. It is a sad, bitter, wicked world, and it offers no peace to the human heart.
I am impressed more and more with the sad, stark tragedy that stares out of the faces of people. As I preach, and the faces of people relax into the grim, sad, lonely lines of despair, I realize that this world has wrought tragedy in the heart of every person who ever put his hope in it.
Youth starts out so gay, so optimistic, with so many delightful prospects, with visions, dreams, air castles, laughter and high ambitions; but before youth merges into mature manhood or womanhood, life has become a grim business of making ends meet, or wringing some drops of joy out of the fleeting pleasures of a day. And old age comes on to bring, in most cases, a sadder disillusionment, which results either in the bitter, querulous resentment of the aged or the calmer resignation of defeat.
This is a sad, bitter, wicked, disappointing world. It does not give men and women, boys and girls what they cry out for, what they hunger for, what they need!
Here, then, is a weighty argument for winning souls. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only sure road to peace!
One Sunday night a young man stood in my service during the invitation time and said to a friend, “I have given up hope of ever being happy.” This friend said to him, “There is no real happiness except in Jesus Christ!” Peace, soul peace, real rest for the weary and heavy laden, can be found only in Jesus Christ! You may give your wealth to the poor, you may die a martyr in a good cause, you may relieve human distress and earn the gratitude of millions; but no philanthropist ever did so much for any man as he who told him the Gospel and taught him to trust in Jesus and obtain peace of heart and forgiveness of sins!
The pleasure, the wealth and all the good things that this world can give, fail men. How important, then, to offer troubled, sinning people the soul peace that comes with salvation! If you will be wise, remind people of the words of Jesus:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. “–Matt. 11:28-30.
Here is reason enough for winning souls and proof that he that winneth souls is wise.
Sufferings of Christ
What weighty reasons there are for winning souls! What crushing arguments prove the wisdom of the soulwinner’s course! I press on your mind another and perhaps the most compelling of all reasons for winning souls! The sufferings of Christ prove the eternal worth of a soul.
The modernist doubts a literal Hell and the eternal torment of the unsaved. Very naturally so, for the modernist doubts that the blood of Jesus Christ was shed as the only possible atonement for man’s sin. But he who believes the Bible must see in the sufferings of Christ how greatly He valued a soul and how wise with the wisdom of God is the winner of souls.
The torture of Jesus by the Roman soldiers, by the mob and by wicked Jewish leaders preceding and during the crucifixion was hellish with all the venom of Satan. Unless there were some immeasurable profit to be gained, some infinite good to be bought by the sufferings
of Christ, then His life and death were the folly of Jesus and the wickedness of God! If Christ does not keep souls out of torment and purchase for them eternal happiness, then He died like a fool. Ifby the offering of His Son, God the Father did not redeem men from the torments of Hell to everlasting life, then to put the lovely and innocent Jesus on the cross was the most awful wickedness! Oh, the death of Christ proves the worth of a soul!
Christian, if you can go through the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus to win a soul, then you are learning a little of the wisdom of God. If, like Paul, you can bear in your body the marks of the Lord Jesus to win a soul, then you are learning the lesson of eternal wisdom which will bring the eternal fruit of joy.
John 3:16 proves the worth of a soul. Jesus’ thirty-odd years away from the angels, homesick for Heaven, the poorest of the poor, ‘despised and rejected,’ ‘a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,’ setting His face like a flint toward the cross-that is concrete evidence of how important saving a soul is and how wise is the soul winner. The sufferings of Christ for sinners form one of the best arguments for soul winning. If you would be wise like Jesus, then win souls, for that was the supreme passion of His heart.
This is what He meant when He said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Glories of Heaven
At the beginning of this chapter, I indicated that true wisdom takes the long look. Proverbs commands the improvident, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise,” because the ant provides for tomorrow. So with the soul winner. He must somehow forget today in order to provide joy for many a tomorrow. Soul winning does not pay much in United States dollars.
The soul winner has many blessed rewards in this world. He has the great joy of the Holy Spirit’s conscious presence, for no one ever won souls without an enduement from Heaven. He has the joy of answered prayer, for whoever won souls without beseeching God for wisdom and power? It is sweet to know that God has heard, and to have the burden lifted after long pleading, The soul winner enjoys the gratitude of those he wins. I remember with glad heart the affectionate thanks I have received from many I have won to Christ. I treasure a great number of letters written out of a heart full of gratitude and love by those I was privileged to snatch as brands from the burning with the Gospel of Christ.
The soul winner has much joy in this world, I say, and “he that winneth souls is wise,” very largely because he believes the Word of God and knows that there will be rewards commensurate with the importance of the taskrewards in the world to come.
This is the meaning of Daniel 12:3, “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.” The rewards of the soul winner are eternal.
The man who works day and night in acquiring a fortune may wake up someday to find the fortune gone overnight. Even if he can hold it in the clutch of his withered hand, finally the monster Death will drag him away unwillingly, and his riches will slip between his palsied fingers. Men do not carry their wealth into the grave.
The fame of this world is hard won, and a man may lose in a week or a year what he has toiled for during a lifetime.
President Wilson earned the plaudits and praise of the civilized world, and sat on the highest pinnacle of fame when he went to Paris to dictate the terms of worldwide peace. Christian gentleman, idealist, statesman and orator, he held for a moment the limelight of the world. But a few months later he died a brokenhearted, disillusioned man, defeated by his opponents, forsaken by former friends, broken in health and neglected. It is well that he could say, “I am willing to wait for the verdict of mankind,” for certainly the sweetness of fame had turned to wormwood and gall.
Fame of Earth
How easy it is to illustrate the vanity of fame! President Hoover was swept into office by the most overwhelming vote this nation had ever seen. But after only four years in office, he was denied a second term and was crowded out by the even more crushing victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The rewards that men slave for, scheme for, yea, even sometimes sell their souls for, are rewards that flee away and are found no more, like the dew that melts in the heat of the rising sun.
But not so the eternal rewards of a soul winner. He shall shine “as the brightness of the firmament,” and “as the stars for ever and ever,” says the Word of God.
Jesus Himself took the long look. Nothing could possibly have happened in the years of Christ’s ministry that could pay Him for the loss of coming to earth and the torture of the cross. But in Isaiah 53:11 we are told that “he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Well did Jesus with heavenly wisdom know that all the travail of His soul, the pouring out of His soul unto death, would be paid for later, “when the saints go marching in.” Jesus knew that, though He had made Himself poor for our sakes, one day the riches of the universe would be His to enjoy again as the Creator of them all. He was despised and rejected, but well He knew that one day He would be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords, and rule the nations with a rod of iron. He knew that all the Father gave Him would one day be His, so He was content.
Jesus, then, is the great pattern for soul winners. Concerning this, Hebrews 12:1, 2 tells us:
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The inspired writer of Hebrews tells us that, for the joy that was set before Him, Jesus endured the cross and despised the shame. He looked forward to the joy in Heaven, so He despised the shame of the cross and endured it gladly. The soul winner must have the same wisdom.
I well know that the course of a soul winner will not bring me the wealth of this world. I once thought that if I won many souls I would gain the fame and honor of Christian people everywhere. Alas, I find that is not true. The churches honor the scholar more than the soul winner. In denominational councils the man who can raise money for schools and hospitals is more valued than he who can keep the drunkard and the harlot out of Hell. The pay of the world for soul winning is not large. But, thank God, I can take the “long look,” as Moses did when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt and was content not to be called Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, or be like Paul who gave up his place as a blameless Pharisee, a leader of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, and became the despised. but soul-winning apostle to the Gentiles. Moses had insupportable burdens. Paul so suffered that he said, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” Both endured as seeing Him who is invisible. They knew there is a life beyond the grave, when the soul winner will have his payday. “He that winneth souls is wise,” and there will be eternal glories and rewards for the one who has the wisdom to turn many to righteousness.
My Christian friends, if the cost of soul winning seems too great, then I urge you to take private lessons from the Holy Spirit, for I Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The Holy Spirit can show you the things of God, the worth of a soul, and help you to be a soul winner. No one ever wins souls except by the power of the Holy Spirit. Do not be deceived by the foolish wisdom of this world.
“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God …. lt pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” — I Cor. 1:18,21.
Let those who would be wise win souls; and when the soul winner hears the word of the Saviour, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord,” then he will have just begun to enjoy the eternal rewards and the glorious returns of his investments.
“He that winneth souls is wise”
