0076. Preparation for Those Who Would Fish for Men–Win Souls
Preparation for Those Who Would Fish for Men–Win Souls
1. 2Ti_2:19-21 shows clearly that the one who would be "meet for the Master’s use", must be clean in his own life. David prayed, "Create in me a clean heart * * then shall I teach transgressors Thy ways". The ones who would bring men to God must not only be saved, but they must be clean.
Isaiah gives us the vision of the seraphim calling forth, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts". Then the Prophet saw his own guilt and the guilt of his people and cried, "I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips". Quickly the angel flew with a live coal from off the altar, and said: "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged". Then it was that Isaiah heard the voice saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go"? And he answered the angel, "Here am I; send me" (Isa_6:1-8). So God places cleansing of life before service.
2. Rom_9:1-4 explains how Paul had a real heart yearning for his kinsmen, and so also we must have a preparation of heart as well as of head. No man will prove a winner of souls until he has a yearning and a burning for the lost. In Ezekiel, chapter 9, the cry is made: "Go through the midst of the city * * and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof". If this were done today, how many are there who would be found with a real ache of heart over the condition of lost men? If Christ wept over Jerusalem, should we not weep over our lost?
3. 2Ti_2:15 shows that we not only need a preparation of life and of heart to be soul-winners, but we need a preparation of mind. We must be able to "rightly divide the Word of Truth", especially being taught in those simple but fundamental truths that teach the way of life. It is not enough to give our personal experience–we need to give a clear passage of Scripture that will show the lost with whom we are dealing what God says about his sins, his Saviour and the faith that saves. Soul-winners must know the Book.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR