Chapter XI (5)

+I. Souls can be won to God and goodness.+ 1. _There is in every man a natural light to which to appeal._ If a sick man has something in his constitution upon which the physician can fix as a basis of operation, there is hope of recovery. But where the constitution is utterly and entirely bad, the very effort of the physician is a proof of his lack of wisdom. Man is morally diseased, but he is not so depraved as to make his being won to God a hopeless attempt. There is in him a moral base of operation, he has a conscience which is more or less enlightened. Men are, according to the highest authority, "a law unto themselves," "that which may be known of God is manifest in (or to) them." (See Rom. i. 19, 20, ii. 14.) They would not be "without excuse," as the Apostle there declares that they are, if they had no moral consciousness. 2. _The very existence of the Bible proves that man is not hopelessly lost._ Wise men do not waste words and efforts where they know that they would be thrown away. They do not set on foot plans to help those for whom they know there is no hope. A wise physician will not harass his patient and waste his own energies when he knows there is no possibility of cure. It is kinder to let him die in peace. God is too wise and too kind to send man a revelation which he knows would be useless to him. He would not tantalise him with hopes which could not be realised. 3. _The history of Christ confirms this view._ He claimed to come to this earth for the special purpose of seeking and saving men. He was pre-eminently a winner of souls. There can be but one explanation of the Incarnation. 4. _The moral difference in men is another proof._ For every effect there is a cause. That there is an immense difference in the character of men is admitted by all; and the difference is that some have been won from sin to God.

+II. Souls can only be won.+ There are but two kinds of power in the universe--force and persuasion. The mother who desires her child to take a certain place may attain her end in two ways--she may take the child in her arms and carry it where she desires, or she may use moral suasion and induce the child to fall in with her wishes by the exercise of its own free will. The thing may be done either by strength of muscle or by the strength of love. Souls cannot be dealt with in the first way. The soul can only be won _to_ God by the same kind of power as it was won _from_ God, viz., by that of persuasion. If the tempter had tried force he would have failed with our first parents. He knew human nature too well to attempt the use of such means. Force is of no avail to bring about a _friendship,_ and the winning of a soul is bringing about a _friendship_ between man and God. Therefore the Apostle "beseeches" and "prays" men to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. v. 20). To be won to God is to be won to _service._ Two kinds of service may be rendered to a human parent or ruler. There is a service of the _body only_ which is prompted by fear, and there is the service of the _whole man_ which is the fruit of love. God must have the latter or none (Isa. i. 11, etc.,) hence the soul must be "drawn," "constrained," by the power of moral force. (See Hosea xxi. 4; John xii. 32; 2 Cor. v. 11, 14).

+III. Souls are won by fruit.+ Human nature will not be influenced by words without actions. The actions which make up a holy life are here called _fruit._ When two men are at variance and hatred is deeply rooted, he who would be a peace-maker must _be_ something as well as _say_ something. Words alone will not kill enmity--there must be correspondent deeds. This constituted our Lord Jesus Christ the great Reconciler--that He brought forth the fruits of holiness and self-sacrifice, and so gave weight to His words of persuasion. So many souls have been won by Him because so much fruit was brought forth by Him. And all who would win souls must in their measure do likewise. In this sense they must obey His injunction and be made partakers of His promise: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. iv. 19).

+IV. The fruit that wins souls must be a "tree of life" both to the winner and to those who are won.+ The vine-dresser has joy in rearing his fruit, and the eater has joy in partaking of its sweetness. When he who seeks to win souls brings one to taste the sweets of godliness for himself, there is joy for both. The righteous man is a "tree of righteousness," hence he is himself a "tree of life." Others partake of his fruit and live unto holiness, and become fruit-bearing trees in their turn. And in this sense "he that reapeth and he who soweth rejoice together," and the precious harvest is a "tree of life"--an undying source of soul-satisfaction to both.

+V. He who thus wins souls is a wise man.+ He saves men from a present and real misery. The end of all practical wisdom is to elevate the human race--to lift men out of misery and degradation--to solve the problems of every day social life. The man who wins a soul to God is a truly scientific man--he has reduced his moral science to practice in his own life, and then has brought it to bear upon the lives of others. He is a wise general who can turn the guns of the enemy against the foe. He who wins a soul can teach a man how to turn the forces that have been against him into powers and influences that shall work for him. He is a wise financier who can devise means by which a man can free himself from debt. The winner of souls can show his fellow-man how to be freed from moral debt. He is a wise physician who, by healing one man of a deadly pestilence, prevents the spread of disease. The man who turns another from the error of his ways, not only "saves a soul from death," but hides a multitude of sins (Jas. v. 20) by, in some measure, lessening the increase of sin in the universe.

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

+I. Christians are a blessing to the world.+ 1. _There is the influence of personal character, showing what religion is, viz., a living principle in the hearts of the faithful, which must spread its radiance._ It may be said of a good man, as it was said of Christ, "He could not be hid" (Mark vii. 24). 2. _There is a force of the great principles they advocate--Freedom, Education, etc._ They raise, in this way, the standard of public opinion. 3. _There are their habits of active beneficence._ +II. To win souls the highest wisdom is requisite.+ 1. _Consider the preciousness of the object--souls._ Made in the image of God, and designed to reflect His glory. Of infinite value in the esteem of Him who came to redeem them. 2. _How greatly they are endangered by sin, held captive by Satan, in bondage by the world, entrenched in long habits of evil._ The soul, in its present depraved state, is not inclined to seek God, nor anxious to obtain deliverance. 3. _The difficulty is increased by the shortness of the time and the limitation of the means at our command._ The preacher has only the Sabbath; Satan and the world have all the week wherein to exert their influence. It is more or less so with all who endeavour to win souls.--_S. Thodey._

He may begin as a "leaf" or "branch" (verse 28), but he ends as a "tree." The tree of life made the partaker of it immortal. "The fruit of the righteous" is immortal life to many a poor sinner. The latter clause may read either: "The wise is a winner of souls," or "The winner of souls is wise." It doubtless should be read in both. The grand "tree of life" on earth is the man converted already. The man converted already will be a "tree of life." Both doctrines are true, and, therefore, in so terse a passage, I see no resource but to understand the Hebrew as pregnant of both. It is of the very essence of wisdom to be benevolent, and it is the very height of benevolence to catch the souls of the impenitent. Moreover, no soul is caught but by the wise.--_Miller._

What is dealt on is the power of wisdom, as we say, to win the _hearts_ of men. He that is wise draws men to himself, just as the fruit of the righteous is to all around him a tree of life, bearing new fruits of healing evermore. It is to be noted, also, that the phrase here rendered "winneth souls," is the same as that which is elsewhere translated by "taketh the life" (1 Kings xix. 4; Psa. xxxi. 13). The wise man is the true conqueror.--_Plumptre._

To win souls is one special fruit of the tree of life. This is a noble fruit indeed, since our soul is more worth than a world, as He hath told us who only went to the price of it (Matt. xvi. 26).--_Trapp._

In this verse we have set forth to us the excellency of a righteous man. I. _He is more useful than others._ He is not a barren tree, but a fruitful bough, as Joseph was. And he doth not bring forth fruit unto himself. As the tree of life would give life to them that would eat thereof, so those that will hearken to the counsel of the righteous shall partake with him of eternal life. II. _He is more skilful than others._ He wins souls--1. By Scripture demonstration. Thou canst never throw down the devil's strongholds except by God's own weapons. 2. By earnest supplications. As the prophet did pray life into the dead child, so thou shouldst strive in prayer for dead souls. 3. By kind obligation. Labour by kindness and courtesy to gain upon all thou dost converse with, that thou mayst get within him, that thou mayst be in a capacity to do good to his soul. 4. By faithful reprehension. 'Tis quite contrary to Christian love to let sin lie upon thy brother (Lev. xix. 17). Show your love to souls by the faithful rebuking of sin, not as a token of your displeasure, but as an ordinance of God. 5. By convincing conversation. Live before all thou dost converse with in the convincing power of a holy life. 6. By careful observation of all those advantages that God puts into your hand. Take advantage of his affliction. Make use of thy near relation or of his dependence upon thee, or of thy interest in him. It may be he is concerned in thy goodwill to him, or hath some affection for thee. Make use of it for God.--_Alleine._

_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 31.

THE RECOMPENSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED.

+I. The righteous man will receive a present chastisement for his sins+--1. _Because of his near relation to God._ "You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities" (Amos iii. 2). Is this a strange principle of action? Is it not one which is, or ought to be, acted upon among men? If the son of a king commits a crime, is it not felt that his high position and his special privileges make him more deserving of punishment? Our Lord recognised this truth when He said "To whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more" (Luke xii. 48). Those who stand in special relation to God are expected to show it by a holy life, and when they fall into sin greater dishonour is brought upon the name of God than by many sins of the ungodly. Hence the necessity for their chastisement. 2. _Because he will not be punished in the next world._ The whole tenor of Bible teaching recognises this truth, and Paul asserts it: "We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor. xi. 32). 3. _To overthrow that doctrine of devils--"Let us sin that grace may abound"_ (Rom. vi. 1, 15). Many false doctrines have gone abroad in the so-called church, but surely none is so manifestly from the devil as this which proclaims that the more a child of God sins the more God is glorified! Will the man whose wound has been closed and whose bleeding has been stanched by the surgeon, tear off the bandage and reopen the wound in order to afford the physician another opportunity of displaying his skill? May he not, by such an act, be guilty of suicide? May he not so incur the anger of his doctor as to make him refuse to re-dress the wound? If any man thinks that the abounding mercy of God is a licence for sin, let him read the history of David, and ask himself if it does not prove that he is wofully mistaken. David himself most certainly was, if he presumed upon his high standing with the God whose "gentleness had made him great" (Psa. xviii. 35) when he sinned the great sin which was the curse of all his after life. The God whom men fancy will be thus indulgent is not the God of the Bible--the God of Sinai--the God who visited the sin even of His servant Moses. "Let us sin that grace may abound" came from the forger of the oldest lie in human history. Mount Hor, Mount Nebo, and Mount Zion, each of which was the scene of a penalty inflicted on a distinguished saint of God for a particular and specified sin, bear witness to the truth that the "righteous will be recompensed on the earth." And of these instances that of Moses is, perhaps the most striking. Here is the chastisement of the greatest man in the Old Testament dispensation--the specially elected leader and lawgiver of the chosen people. And though he had been and still was--yea, _because_ he was the most honoured of Old Testament saints, he was shut out of the land to which he had been journeying for forty years for assuming a Divine prerogative--"die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died at Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people: because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Maribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel" (Deut. xxxii. 50, 51). Such a sentence testifies that God is a consuming fire to sin, in the righteous as well as in the wicked.

+II. If God's friends are chastised, His enemies must be.+--For they not only _sin_ but make light of sin, either by denying the fact or blaming their circumstances, their temperament, or their tempters, laying the blame anywhere except upon themselves, and this increases their guilt. If those who acknowledge and confess their sin must yet be chastised for it, how much more those who refuse to do either! The sin of the righteous is the exception of his life, but the entire life of the ungodly man is a course of opposition to the law of God. If, therefore, the isolated instances are visited, how much more such an accumulation of moral debt! The very justice of God demands that if He punish the saint He shall also punish the sinner. This is New Testament teaching as well as Old. "For the time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God?" (1 Pet. iv. 17).

_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._

But where is the righteous person thus scourged, judged, and recompensed? On the earth, even in this life, and in the world. The earth is not that seat which the Lord hath properly appointed for judgment or vengeance, neither is this life the day of the great assize; yet rather than sin shall be unpunished, yea, even in the elect, the Lord will keep a petty sessions in this life, and make the earth a house of correction.--_Muffet._

The righteous are under the _discipline_ though not under the _curse,_ of the rod.--_Bridges._

The best must look for stripes, if they will take liberty to sin against God. True it is that the Lord taketh not advantage of infirmities, He passeth by them, He smiteth not His children for them: but when they grow too bold, He will nurture and awe them with correction. In this sense He may be said to be no respecter of persons, that as He will not endure the sinfulness of the wicked, though they be never so great, so He will not allow of the sins of the godly, though they be never so good. First, _God herein respecteth His own glory,_ who will have His people to know that He doth look for service at their hands. And the wicked see by this that His is neither remiss towards all nor partial towards any. Second, _He respecteth the good._ How wanton, how froward, how stubborn would children be, into what perils would they cast themselves should they be altogether exempted from the rod. They should never feel comfort of their parents' favour unless they sometimes found the smart of their displeasure. . . . And the tribulation and afflictions of good men do not bring them behind the wicked, but show that the plagues and punishments of the wicked are yet behind.--_Dod._

The righteous Lord shall pay His debts even to the righteous. Sin makes God a debtor.--_Jermin._

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