Charles H. Spurgeon
(1834-1892)
PASSION
FOR SOULS
Part 1
Contents
1. Why is this passion implanted in the saved?
2. How does this passion exercise itself?
3. Why is not this passion more largely developed
among Christians?
4. How can this passion be more fully aroused?
A sermon delivered on Lord’s Day morning, April 26, 1874,
at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
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PASSION FOR SOULS
“That I might by all means save some.”
—1 Corinthians 9:22
HE apostle speaks very broadly and talks about
“saving” men. Some of our extremely orthodox
brethren would say at once, “You save men?
How can man do that? The expression is inaccurate in
the extreme. Is not salvation of the Lord from first to
last? How can you, Paul, dare to speak of saving
some?” Yet Peter spoke very much like this when he
said, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation”
(Act 2:40). Indeed, the expression is a little more bold,
if anything; and if Peter were alive now, he would be
called to account.
When Paul wrote to Timothy, he said to him,
“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; con-
tinue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save
thyself and them that hear thee” (1Ti 4:16). This is
another instance of language used in a popular sense
by a man who had not the fear of critics before his
eyes. The apostle did not intend to insinuate that he
could save anybody by his own power, and no one
thought that he did. He used expressions without
guarding them because he was writing to people who
mixed candor1 with their knowledge of doctrine and
would not willfully misunderstand him.
1 candor – openness of heart; frankness.
He did not write for those who must have all the
creed in every sermon and require all statements of
the truth to be cut into one shape. The doctrine that
salvation is of God alone and is the work of the Holy
Spirit was dear to him as life itself; and, having often
proclaimed it, he was not afraid of being misunder-
stood.
Our testimony also has for many years been clear
upon this point, and therefore we shall venture to be
as accurately inaccurate as was the apostle, and to
speak of saving souls and winning souls after the
manner of ordinary speech.
The expression used gives great prominence to in-
strumentality,2 and this is the use and wont3 of Scrip-
ture. There is not much danger just now of
exaggerating the power of instrumentality, and look-
ing to men instead of their Master. The danger seems
to lie in the opposite direction, in the habit of depreci-
ating both an organized church and a recognized
ministry.
Frequently we have heard it said of certain reviv-
als that no particular person was engaged in them,
neither evangelist nor minister had a hand in the
work, and this is thought to be a recommendation,
but indeed it is none.
I fear that many hopeful beginnings have come to
a sudden collapse because faithful and holy ministers
have been despised, and a slur has been cast upon or-
dinary instrumentalities. Men talk thus under the no-
tion that they are honoring God. They are off the track
2 instrumentality – referring to Christians as the means or
instruments of God’s saving others.
3 wont – frequent practice.
Altogether, for God still owns and blesses His chosen
ministers, and is honored thereby; and, as He still
works by them, He would not have us speak disparag-
ingly of them.
The topic of this morning is this: it has pleased
God to save souls by His people, and therefore He
places in them a sacred longing by all means to save
some. He might, if He had pleased, have called all His
chosen to Himself by a voice out of the excellent glo-
ry, just as He called Saul the persecutor. Or He might
have commissioned angels to fly throughout the
length and breadth of the world and carry the message
of mercy. But, in His inscrutable wisdom, He has been
pleased to bring men to Himself by men.
The atonement is complete, and the Spirit’s pow-
er is fully given. All that is needed is that men be led
to believe for the salvation of their souls, and this part
of salvation is accomplished by the Holy Ghost
through the ministries of men. Those who have them-
selves been quickened are sent to prophesy upon the
dry bones. In order that this divine arrangement may
be carried out, the Lord has implanted in the hearts of
all genuine believers a passion for the salvation of
souls. In some, this is more lively than in others, but
it ought to be a leading feature in the character of
every Christian.
I shall speak upon this sacred instinct, and deal
with it thus: first, why is it implanted in us? Secondly,
how does it exercise itself? Thirdly, why is it not more
largely manifested? And fourthly, how can it be quick-
ened and made more practically efficient?
1. Why is this passion implanted in the saved?
For three reasons, I think, among many others,
namely, for God’s glory, for the good of the church,
and for the profiting of the individual.
a. For God’s glory
It is implanted there, first, for God’s glory. It is
greatly to the glory of God that He should use humble
instruments for the accomplishment of His grand
purposes.
When Quintin Matsys4 had executed5 a certain
wonderful well-cover in iron, it was the more notable
as a work of art because he had been deprived of the
proper tools while he was executing it, for I think he
had little more than his hammer with which to per-
form that wonderful feat in metal.
Now, when we look at God’s work of grace in the
world, it glorifies Him the more when we reflect that
He has achieved it by instruments which in them-
selves would rather hinder than promote His work. No
man among us can help God. It is true He uses us, but
He could do better without us than with us. By the
direct word of power, He could do in a moment that
which, through the weakness of the instrument, now
takes months and years, yet He knows best how to
glorify His own name.
He puts a longing to save others into our souls,
that He may get glory by using us, even us who have
little fitness for such work except this passion which
He has implanted in our breasts. He graciously uses
even our weak points and makes our very infirmities
4 Quentin Matsys (1466-1530) – Flemish painter.
5 executed – completed.
to illustrate the glory of His grace, blessing our poor-
est sermons, prospering our most feeble efforts, and
giving us to see results even from our stray words.
The Lord glorifies Himself by making our feeble-
ness to be the vehicle of His power, and to this end He
makes us pant for a work far out of our reach, and sets
our hearts a-longing to “save some.”
It brings glory to God also that He should take
sinful men such as we are, and make us partakers of
His nature. He does this by giving us fellowship in His
bowels of compassion, communion in His overflowing
love. He kindles in our breasts the same fire of love
which glows in His own bosom. In our own little way,
we look down upon the prodigal sons, and see them a
great way off, and have compassion on them, and
would fain6 fall on their necks and kiss them.
The Lord loves men; however, after a holy fashion,
He desires their sanctification and their salvation by
that means. And when we desire the good of our fel-
low men by means of their conversion, we are walking
side by side with God. Every real philanthropist is a
copy of the Lord Jesus, for though it is too low a term
to apply to His infinite excellence, yet truly the Son of
God is the grandest of all philanthropists.
Now, that God should, by the power of His match-
less grace, produce in such cold hearts as ours a burn-
ing passion for the salvation of others is a singular
proof of His omnipotent power in the world of the
mind. To change sinful men so that they pant after
the increase of holiness, to render stubborn wills ea-
ger for the spread of obedience, and to make wander-
ing hearts earnest for the establishment of the abiding
6 fain – gladly.
kingdom of the Redeemer, this is a mighty feat of the
grace of God.
That a perfect angel should cleave the air to per-
form His message is a simple matter enough; but that
a Saul of Tarsus, who foamed at the mouth with enmi-
ty to Christ, should live and die for the winning of
souls to Jesus, is a memorable illustration of the grace
of God.
In this way the Lord gets great glory over the
arch-enemy, the prince of the power of the air, for He
can say to Satan, “I have defeated thee, not by the
sword of Michael, but by the tongues of men. I have
conquered thee, O thou enemy, not with thunder-
bolts, but with the earnest words, and prayers, and
tears of these My humble servants. O My adversary, I
have pitted against thee feeble men and women, into
whom I have put the love of souls, and these have torn
away from thee province after province of thy domin-
ions. These have snapped the fetters of the bondaged
ones. These have burst open the prison doors of those
who were thy captives.”
How illustriously is this truth seen when the Lord
seizes the ringleaders of Satan’s army and transforms
them into captains of His own host! Then is the ene-
my smitten in the house of his former friends.
Satan desired to sift Peter as wheat, but Peter sift-
ed him in return on the day of Pentecost. Satan made
Peter deny his Master, but when restored, Peter loved
his Lord all the more, and all the more earnestly did
he proclaim his Master’s name and gospel. The fury of
the foe recoils on himself, love conquers, and where
sin abounded grace doth much more abound. As for
Saul, who persecuted the saints, did not he become
the apostle of Christ to the Gentiles, laboring more
than any other for the good cause?
Beloved, the ultimate triumph of the cross will be
the more admirable because of the manner of its
achievement. Good will conquer evil, not by the assis-
tance of governments and the arms of potentates, not
by the prestige of bishops and popes, and all their
pompous array, but by hearts that burn, and souls
that glow, and eyes that weep, and knees that bend in
wrestling prayer. These are the artillery of God; by
using such weapons as these, He not only foils His
foes, but triumphs over them in it, confounding the
mighty by the weak, the wise by the simple, and the
things which are by the things which are not.
b. For the church’s good
Next, the passion for saving souls is implanted for
the church’s good, and that in a thousand ways, of
which I can only mention a few. First there can be no
doubt that the passion for winning souls expends the
church’s energy in a healthy manner.
I have observed that churches which do not care
for the outlying population speedily suffer from disun-
ion and strife. There is a certain quantity of steam
generated in the community, and if we do not let it off
in the right way, it will work in the wrong way, or
blow up altogether and do infinite mischief. Men’s
minds are sure to work and their tongues to move,
and, if they are not employed for good purposes, they
will assuredly do mischief.
You cannot unite a church so completely as by
calling out all its forces for accomplishing the Re-
deemer’s grand object. Talents unused are sure to
rust, and this kind of rust is a deadly poison to peace,
an acrid irritant which eats into the heart of the
church. We will therefore “by all means save some,”
lest by some other means we become disunited in
heart.
This passion for saving souls not only employs but
also draws forth the strength of the church; it awak-
ens her latent energies and arouses her noblest facul-
ties. With so divine a prize before her, she girds up her
robes for the race, and with her eye upon her Lord
presses forward to the goal. Many a commonplace
man has been rendered great by being thoroughly
absorbed by a noble pursuit, and what can be nobler
than turning men from the road which leads to hell?
Perhaps some of those ignoble souls, who have
lived and died like dumb, driven cattle, might have
reached the majesty of great fires if a supreme intent
had fired them with heroic zeal and developed their
concealed endowments. Happy is the man whose task
is honorable, if he do but honorably fulfill it.
Lo, God has given to His church the work of con-
quering the world, the plucking of brands from the
burning, the feeding of His sheep and lambs, and this
it is which trains the church to deeds of daring and to
nobility of soul.
Dear brethren, this common passion for souls
knits us together. How often do I feel a fresh bond of
union with my beloved brethren and fellow workers
when I find that I was the means of the conviction of a
sinner, whom one of them comforted and led to the
Savior. And thus we have a joint possession in the
convert.
