The Work of Soul Saving

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I. The one work more precious than any other is the work of soul-saving. The same intensity of desire for the saving of souls that marked the life of the Saviour marks the life of His true followers. The Christian has no desire to live for self. He delights to consecrate all he has and is to the Master’s service. He is moved with an inexpressible desire to win souls to Christ. Those who have nothing of this desire might better be concerned for their own salvation. Let them pray for the spirit of service.

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To secure your present and future good, Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice. Will you draw back from making a covenant with God by sacrifice? Christ died on the cross to save the world from perishing in sin. He asks your co-operation in His work of soul-saving. You are to be His helping hand, to do in the world the work that needs to be done to place the truth before as many as possible. «Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.»

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Refuse to admit the worldly interests that strive for supremacy in your life. Regard yourself as pledged to Christ’s service for time and for eternity. Enter into no business that will make you indifferent to His claims. Say to those who seek to draw you from His work, «I am not my own; Jesus has bought me. I belong to Him. Every particle of my influence is to be used to magnify the principles of His law. God is mine, and I am His, united to Him by a perpetual covenant of service. I must devote myself wholly to the service of the Lord God of hosts. He has put it out of my power to give Him anything that is not already His. Every part of my being, every talent, every faculty belongs to Him. If I had more than one life, I would give it to Him; for it would be His. My children belong to God. From their birth I must do all in my power to train them for Him, that in their lives He may be glorified.»

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I have a message for our people. They must awake, spread their tents, and enlarge their borders. Men and women must act an earnest part in saving souls. The present state of things must be changed. Our church members must awake to the situation and begin work where they are. Everywhere are souls who know not the truth.

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We are living in solemn times. The world is to be warned. Workers are needed. The truth is to be taken to men of the world, that they may see the duty the Lord has placed on them. Those belonging to the class called monied men, have been neglected. God says, «Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.»

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The Lord calls for self-sacrificing workers, those who will labor quietly and unobtrusively, living so close to the Lord that they continually receive grace to impart.

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Let not church members wait for a verbal command to enter God’s service. They know their duty. Let them do it in humility and quietness. There are hundreds who should be at work, who need to be encouraged to make a beginning.

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You are to hold every new-found power as a precious trust, for use in God’s service. Remember that it is your sins that made the cross necessary. When you accepted Christ as your personal Saviour, you pledged yourself to unite with Him in bearing the cross. You are to unite with Him in carrying out the great plan of redemption. For life and for death you are bound up with the Saviour. You are part of His great scheme of mercy and love. Your knowledge and wisdom will increase as you seek to grasp the great science of salvation. Before the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds and before fallen human beings you are to live the life of Christ, that unbelievers may be constrained to acknowledge, «He has been with Christ, and has learned of Him.» The purity of your language and the unselfishness of your actions are to bear witness to the power of Christ’s grace.

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II. Those who receive the truth must communicate it to others. As they take up this work in earnestness and sincerity, asking the Lord to give them tact and skill, hearts will be reached by their efforts. The transforming power of Christ’s grace molds the one who yields himself to the Saviour. Imbued with the spirit of the Redeemer, he is ready to deny self, ready to take up the cross, ready to make any sacrifice in the service of the Master. No longer can he be indifferent to the souls perishing around him. He is lifted above self-serving. He has been created anew in Christ Jesus, and self-serving has no part in his life. He realizes that every part of his being belongs to Christ, who has redeemed him from the slavery of sin; that every moment of his future has been bought with the precious life-blood of God’s only begotten Son.

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God opens ways whereby such ones can work for Him. Let them look ever to Him, that they may know what He wants them to do. Let them do what they can; even though it be little, it may result in great good.

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How many have a sufficient understanding of the plan of redemption to appreciate the value of human beings? How many have so deep an appreciation of the sacrifice made on Calvary that they are willing to make every other interest subordinate to the work of saving souls? Why is it that those who have been purchased by the blood of Christ have not a deeper sense of their obligation to serve their Redeemer?

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How can I best glorify Him whose I am by creation and by redemption? This is to be the question we are to ask ourselves. With anxious solicitude the one who is truly converted seeks to rescue those who are still in Satan’s power. He refuses to do anything that would hinder him in this work. If he has children, he realizes that his work must begin in his own family. His children are exceedingly precious to him. Remembering that they are the younger members of the Lord’s family, he strives with all his power to place them where they will stand on the Lord’s side. He has pledged himself to serve, honor, and obey Christ, and he puts forth patient, untiring effort so to train his children that they will never be hostile to the Saviour.

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On fathers and mothers God has placed the responsibility of saving their children from the power of the enemy. This is their work,-a work that they should on no account neglect. Those who have a living connection with Christ will labor for their children. They will not rest until they see them safe in the fold. They will make this the burden of their life.

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Parents, why do you neglect the work waiting for you in the little church in your own family? The home is your first field of missionary effort. The most important work you can do is to place your children on the Lord’s side. When they err, deal with them tenderly, yet firmly. Let them unite with you in opposing the evil by which Satan seeks to destroy the souls and bodies of human beings. As you take them with you into the service of the Lord, what a victory you gain! Share with them the secret of the cross, the secret that to you means sanctification, redemption, and eternal victory.

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If the families around you are opposed to the truth, strive to lead them to yield to the claims of Christ. Work patiently, wisely, considerately, winning your way by the tender ministry of love. Present the truth in such a way that it will be seen in all its beauty, exerting an influence that cannot be resisted. Thus the walls of prejudice will be broken down.

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If this work were faithfully done, if fathers and mothers worked for the members of their own families, and then for those around them, uplifting Christ by a godly life, thousands of souls would be saved. When God’s people are truly converted, when they realize the obligation resting on them to labor for those within their reach, when they leave no means untried to rescue sinners from the power of the enemy, the reproach will be removed from our churches.

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The Lord has presented before me the work that must be done in our cities. The believers in these cities can work for God in the neighborhood of their homes. They are to work quietly and in humility, carrying with them wherever they go the atmosphere of heaven. If they keep self out of sight, pointing always to Christ, the power of their influence will be felt on the side of truth.

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As the human agent gives himself unreservedly to the work of the Lord, he gains an experience that enables him to work more and more successfully for his Master. The influence that drew him to Christ helps him to draw others to Christ. He may never have laid on him the work of a public speaker, but he is none the less a minister for God; and his work testifies that he is born of God.

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Why do not believers feel a deeper, more earnest concern for those who are out of Christ? Why do not two or three meet together and plead with God for the salvation of some special one, and then for still another? In our churches let companies be formed for service. In the Lord’s work there are to be no idlers. Let different ones unite in labor as fishers of men. Let them seek to gather souls from the corruption of the world into the saving purity of Christ’s love.

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The formation of small companies as a basis of Christian effort is a plan that has been presented before me by One who can not err. If there is a large number in the church, let the members be formed into small companies, to work not only for the church members, but for unbelievers also. If in one place there are only two or three who know the truth, let them form themselves into a band of workers. Let them keep their bond of union unbroken, pressing together in love and unity, encouraging one another to advance, each gaining encouragement and strength from the assistance of the others. Let them reveal Christlike forbearance and patience, speaking no hasty words, using the talent of speech to build up one another in the most holy faith. Let them labor in Christlike love for those outside the fold, forgetting self in the endeavor to help others. As they work and pray in Christ’s name, their numbers will increase; for the Saviour says, «If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask in My name, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.»

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Let us never forget that we are not our own, that we have been bought with a price. Our powers are to be regarded as sacred trusts, to be used to the glory of God and for the good of our fellow-men. With earnest, unwearying fidelity, we are to seek to save the lost. The Lord has put it out of our power to give Him anything that does not already belong to Him. He gave His life for us. We are His, bought with an infinite price. His sacrifice on Calvary has made it possible for us to live a new, transformed life. For life and for death we are bound up with His mercy and His love. We are included in His great plan for the saving of souls. We are to be laborers together with Him, drawing others within the circle of His love. Mrs. E. G. White.