Spurgeon Aimed For Conversions

Do you preach with the same clear aim? What exactly is your intention? What would you have God do? The conversion of one or two, a mere handful, perhaps, of your hearers? Or do you climb the pulpit steps praying, ‘would to God that every single one of my hearers may be converted through the means of this sermon’?

Jonathan Watson notes that C. H. Spurgeon was truly apostolic in this respect, as in many others. He considered this such an important element in true preaching that he devoted one whole lecture to it during his Friday afternoon visits to The Pastors’ College, of which he was the President. In ‘On Conversion as our Aim’, he clearly sets before his students their great goal: ‘The grand object of the Christian ministry is the glory of God . . .Our great object . . . is, however, to be mainly achieved by the winning of souls. If we do not, our cry should be that of Rachel, “Give me children, or I die.” If we do not win souls, we should mourn as the husbandman who sees no harvest, as the fisherman who returns to his cottage with an empty net, or as the huntsman who has in vain roamed over hill and dale. Ours should be Isaiah’s language uttered with many a sigh and groan – “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” The ambassadors of peace should not cease to weep bitterly until sinners weep for their sins.’

For Spurgeon this was the great foundational truth, and having established it, he then turned his attention to the practical steps preachers must take if they are to be the instruments in God’s hands for the conversion of men and women. What is the preacher to do who longs to see sinners converted? Here is the considered counsel of an experienced soul winner.

1. Depend entirely upon the Spirit of God and look to him for power over the minds of men.

This is absolutely necessary because conversion is a divine work. His place as God is on the throne, and in all our enterprises he must be first, midst, and end: we are instruments in his hand and nothing more.’

2. Give prominent place in your preaching to those truths which are most likely to lead to conversions.

Spurgeon names a number of doctrines which ought to be prominently preached, taught, explained, and applied, include:

a. First and foremost Christ and him crucified.

b. Teach the depravity of human nature.

c. Preach the necessity for the Holy Ghost’s divine operations. This will follow on as a matter of course from the previous doctrine. ‘Men must be told that they are dead, and that only the Holy Spirit can quicken them; that the Spirit works according to his own good pleasure, and that no man can claim his visitations or deserve his aid. This is thought to be very discouraging teaching, and so it is, but men need to be discouraged when they are seeking salvation in a wrong manner. To put them out of conceit of their own abilities is a great help toward bringing them to look out of self to another, even the Lord Jesus. The doctrine of election and other great truths which declare salvation to be all of grace, and to be, not the right of the creature, but the gift of the Sovereign Lord, are all calculated to hide pride from man, and so prepare him to receive the mercy of God.’

d. Set before your hearers God’s justice and the certainty that every transgression will be punished. We rob the gospel of its power if we leave out the threatenings of punishment.

e. Be most of all clear on the soul-saving doctrine of the atonement. Preach a real bona fide substitutionary sacrifice, and proclaim pardon as its result.

f. ‘If men are to be saved we must in plainest terms preach justification by faith, as the method by which the atonement becomes effectual in the soul’s experience . . . Justification by faith must never be obscured, and yet all are not clear upon it.’

g. Preach earnestly the love of God in Christ, and magnify the abounding mercy of the Lord; but always preach it in connection with his justice.

‘All these truths and others which complete the evangelical system are calculated to lead men to faith; therefore make them the staple of your teaching.’

3. If we are anxious to see souls saved, we must not only preach the truths which are likely to lead to their conversion, but we must also use modes of handling these truths which are appropriate for securing that end.

a. Instruct: sinners are saved out of darkness; shine the light of God’s truth into their eyes. Instruction must precede exhortation.

b. Appeal to the understanding. ‘True religion is as logical as if it were not emotional . . .Of carnal reasoning we would have none, but of fair, honest pondering, considering, judging, and arguing the more the better.’

c. Plead with sinners by way of emotional persuasion. ‘A man known to be godly and devout, and felt to be large-hearted and self-sacrificing, has a power in his very person, and his advice and recommendation carry weight because of his character; but when he comes to plead and persuade, even to tears, his influence is wonderful, and God the Holy Spirit yokes it into his service. Brethren we must plead. But always do this in absolute sincerity; affectation is despicable.

d. Be careful to vary your tone – at times you need to threaten, at times to invite.

4. Think carefully about the times when you address the unconverted. More commonsense is needed in this matter. Don’t always address the unconverted at the same point in every sermon. Use the element of surprise; apply the truth and plead with them when least expected, or when their attention is awakened. Vary your services and don’t always speak to the saints in the morning and sinners in the evening – avoid falling into an evangelical rut. But never close a sermon without a word for the unbeliever.

5. Among the important elements in the promotion of conversions are the preacher’s own tone, temper and spirit in preaching.

a. Don’t be dull and monotonous – yes, it’s possible that God may choose to bless such preaching, but in all probability he will not.

b. Guard against a hard, unfeeling spirit in preaching.

c. Preach believingly, always expecting the Lord who has sent you to bless his own word – ‘this will give us a quiet confidence which will forbid petulance, rashness, and weariness.’

d. ‘Preach very solemnly, for it is a weighty business, but let your matter be lively and pleasing, for this will prevent solemnity from souring into dreariness.’

e. Aim for conversions, expect them and prepare for them. ‘Resolve that your hearers shall either yield to your Lord or be without excuse, and that this shall be the immediate result of the sermon now in hand . . . Impressed with a sense of their danger, give the ungodly no rest in their sins; knock again and again at the door of their hearts, and knock as for life and death. Your solicitude, your earnestness, your anxiety, your travailing in birth for them God will bless to their arousing. God works mightily by this instrumentality.’

6. In addition to earnest preaching it will be wise to use other means. These may include:

a. Pastoral visitation

b. Special meetings for the awakened and anxious with a view to further instruction, prayer, and the sharing of testimonies by recent converts. But he adds a caution here: ‘There must be no persuading to make a profession, but there should be every opportunity for so doing, and no stumbling-block placed in the way of hopeful minds.’ ‘Doubts may be cleared away, errors rectified, and terrors dispelled by a few moments’ conversation’

c. ‘Seek out the wandering sheep one by one, and when you find all your thoughts needed for a single individual, do not grudge your labour, for your Lord in his parable represents the good shepherd as bringing home his lost sheep, not in a flock, but one at a time upon his shoulders, and rejoicing to do so.’

d. ‘Call in every now and then a warm-hearted neighbour, utilize the talent in the church itself, and procure the services of some eminent soul-winner, and this may, in God’s hands, break up the hard soil for you, and bring you brighter days.’

‘In fine, beloved brethren, by any means, by all means, labour to glorify God by conversions, and rest not till your heart’s desire is fulfilled.’