Soul Saving Our One Business

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1 Corinthians 9:20-22

And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law…

It is a grand thing to see a man thoroughly possessed with one master-passion. Lives with many aims are like water trickling through innumerable streams, none of which is wide enough or deep enough to float the merest cockleshell; but a life with one object is like a mighty river flowing between its banks, bearing to the ocean a multitude of ships, and spreading fertility on either side. Note —

I. PAUL'S GREAT OBJECT IN LIFE — "To save some."

1. Some preach with the view of amusing men. But Paul did not lay himself out to please the public and collect the crowd.

2. Others think that the object of Christian effort should be to educate men. Education is an exceedingly valuable thing, but if the Church thinks that it is sent into the world merely to train the mental faculties, it has made a very serious mistake. Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost, and on the same errand has He sent His Church.

3. Paul did not try to moralise men. Dr. Chalmers, in his first parish, preached morality, and saw no good; but as soon as he preached Christ crucified, grace prevailed. He who wishes for perfumes must grow the flowers; he who desires to promote morality must have men saved.

4. What did Paul mean by saying that he desired to save some?

(1) That some should be born again; for no man is saved until he is made a new creature in Christ Jesus.

(2) That some might be cleansed from their past iniquity through the merit of Christ's sacrifice. No man can be saved from his sin except by the atonement.

(3) That they might also be purified and made holy; for a man is not saved while he lives in sin.

II. THE APOSTLE'S REASONS FOR ELECTING SUCH AN OBJECT.

1. The honour of God. Did you ever think over the amount of dishonour that is done to the Lord in London in any one hour of the day?

2. The extreme misery of this our human race. It would be a very dreadful thing if you could get any idea of the aggregate of the misery of London at the present moment in the hospital and the workhouse.

3. The terrible future of impenitent souls. But if they be saved, observe the contrast.

III. THE GREAT METHODS WHICH THE APOSTLE USED.

1. The simple preaching of the gospel. He did not attempt to create a sensation by startling statements, neither did he preach erroneous doctrine in order to obtain the assent of the multitude. To keep ,back any part of the gospel is not the true method for saving men. Give the people every truth baptised in holy fire, and each truth will have its own useful effect upon the mind. But the great truth is the Cross, the truth that "God so loved the world," &c.

2. Much prayer. A great painter said he mixed his colours with brains. A preacher ought to mix truth with prayer. When a man was breaking granite by the roadside, a minister passing by said, "Ah, my friend, your work is just like mine; you have to break stones, and so do I." "Yes," said the man, "and if you manage to break stony hearts, you will have to do it as I do, go down on your knees."

3. An intense sympathy which made him adapt himself to each case. He was all things to all men, that he might by all means save some. Mr. Hudson Taylor finds it helpful to dress as a Chinaman, and wear a pigtail. This seems to me to be a truly wise policy. To sink myself to save others is the idea of the apostle. Never may any whim or conventionality of ours keep a soul from considering the gospel.

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