AN ANATOMY OF SOUL-WINNING
Much of what goes on today in the name of “soul-winning” is a far cry from what the Bible teaches. Although the Bible doesn’t have a structured course laid out on reaching the lost we can learn a lot if we take a look at the examples we find in the New Testament. In this article I want to look at our commission and then I want to look at some examples and draw some conclusions.

Our commission is given in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Note that our marching orders include three tasks. All three must be accomplished before we can consider our mission a success.

Teach all nations
This means that we are to get the whole message out to all nations. This message is more than simply ‘God loves you and wants to save you.” This is meaningless until there is some understanding of God’s righteousness, man’s sinfulness, and the coming judgment. Most people are pretty good when measured by man’s standard. To most people their sin is not enough to condemn them to Hell. Most will admit that they are sinners but will say to themselves that they are better than most and if God is going to forgive anyone, it will certainly be them.

For a person to understand their sin they need the backdrop of God’s righteousness. Romans 2:4 tells us “the goodness of God leaded thee to repentance.” With out this background you cannot have the godly sorrow that “worketh repentance.” (II Corinthians 7:10)

There also must be an understanding of what sin is and what it does. They need to know that breaking God’s law makes the guilty before God and therefore condemns them to eternal punishment.

They don’t need to be able to write a theological dissertation on these subjects but they do need a basic understanding of them. Without this understanding the Gospel has no real meaning. It has about the same importance to them as a parachute to a man who is walking down the sidewalk.

Baptizing them
Scriptural baptism is the next part of our commission. This is where the professing believer is asked to confess their Lord before men. (Matthew 10:32-33 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”) It is also the first step of obedience to God.

Baptism also brings the new believer into the New Testament church. It brings him to the place that God has ordained for teaching and service. There is no other God ordained organization on earth to carry out His will.

Teaching them to observe
This third part of our commission is where the new Christian is taught what God expects of him. Our Christian life is not left up to us. We love to read Ephesians 2:8-9 which says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” But we often forget verse 10 which says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Although good works cannot save us, God has ordained that His children walk in them. Those who think that how one lives after salvation is unimportant have little understanding of the full meaning of salvation.

Our Goal – To see God create new creatures – II Corinthians 5:17
If someone is truly in Christ there is a real change in their lives. The Bible teaches that the saved are partakers of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4). If this is true it will show in our lives.

We are told that old things are passed away and all things become new. Notice that it says “are” not “will be”. One of the best testimonies I ever heard concerning one’s salvation was when a man told me that he knew he was saved because it didn’t want to do the same things he did before or go the same places as before. His desires and thoughts changed.

It is not the outside that counts as we are told in Galatians 6:15 which says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” Much of what passes for “Soul-winning” today gets professions of faith but does not produces new creatures. The job is not done if the end product is not something different.

An Anatomy of Biblical Soul-winning
The first thing that was done was the communication of a message designed to bring conviction to the lost sinner. We see this in Acts 2:23 “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” Peter tells his hearers that they have just crucified the Lord of Glory. They were made to understand their guilt before God.

You will find if you take the time to look that in Scripture the soul-winner did not ask for a decision. They always waited for a response from the person or persons they were trying to reach. Once there was a response to the message by the prospect then, and only then, was the Gospel business.

On the day of Pentecost it went like this. They heard that they had crucified the Lord of Glory. They were pricked in their hearts and asked the apostles for the solution to their condemnation. They were told to repent and be baptized as a testimony to their faith in Christ.

What do we learn from this?
First we learn that we are but servants of God. I Corinthians 3:5-6 says, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” This tells us that we really are nothing but tools. The real work is done by God.

John 16:8 tells us that the Holy Spirit does the work. “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:” We are not salesmen trying to sell a prayer. We do not see people praying the sinner’s prayer in the Bible. Our goal is to confront the lost with their condition before God so the Holy Spirit can bring conviction in their hearts.

We are not to manipulate the lost so we get the answers we want. Our purpose is to present the Gospel to repentant sinners, not rebellious mockers. The end result of our labors should not be empty professions of faith. It is to see new creatures with changed lives.

Real salvation makes a difference in the outside. Listen to Matthew 12:34-35 “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”