Many of the symbols have become so popular that the moment we see their logo we recognize their company without even having to see the name of the company. We Christians today likewise have a symbol that represents our faith. That symbol is the cross. The moment we see this symbol we automatically think of Christianity. This symbol is fitting because the Bible says, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins," and that blood was shed upon the cross. However, the cross has not always been the symbol of the Christian faith. In the early days of the church the symbol was that of a fish.
Illus: If you visit the catacombs in Rome, where the early Christians used to hide to escape their persecutors, you will find the fish symbol carved there.
The Greek word for "fish" is "ichthus." This symbol became a secret password for Christians because they were not allowed to worship publicly. This symbol came from the teachings of Christ, particularly from His saying, "Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." (Mark 1:17)
Illus: When the Lord started His Church, He chose to start it with men who fished for a living.
• They knew what it was to spend every day of their lives catching fish.
• They knew they did not catch fish by wishing for them, but by going where they were, casting in the net, and drawing the fish in to them.
Many of the men of that day were fishermen. It was not by accident that God chose those fishermen. He chose them because they best REPRESENTED what the Christian was to be. To all who come to know Jesus as their Savior, God said, Luke 5:10b, "...Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." Now, what did the Lord mean, "...from henceforth thou shalt catch men." He simply meant that as in the past they had caught fish, in the future they would be catching men for Him. The word "catch" comes from the Greek word, "ZOGREO," which means: "To catch ALIVE or CAPTURE for life."
Illus: Charles Trumbull, in his book, "Taking Men Alive," gets his title from "Zogreo." He points out in his book that the word "zogreo," only appears in the New Testament scriptures twice.
• In Luke 5:10, Jesus said to the disciples, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt CATCH men."
• In II Timothy 2:26, "And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken CAPTIVE by him at his will."
Notice, the New Testament words CATCH and CAPTIVE are used to describe alike what God and Satan seek to do. They both desire to have the souls of mankind. Don't forget the word Zogreo means: "To TAKE MEN ALIVE! God wants to take men alive and save them from sin so that they, in turn, can win lost souls to Christ. If we, as Christians, do not get out and win the lost to Christ, we can rest assured that Satan will win them. Wouldn't it be a marvelous thing if God's people were as aggressive with their lives reaching people for Christ as Satan's crowds are as they are out trying to snare men into sin.
Illus: For example:
• We see prostitutes out walking the streets in every major city, trying to LURE men into sin and become unfaithful to their wives. How? They use their bodies!
• We see teens using their bodies to cause other teens to defile their bodies with sex. How? They are using their bodies.
• We have legislators who are supposed to represent the good of the people. Some of these have recognized that their office gives them a wonderful opportunity, given by God, to use their bodies to help people, but it is sad when we see reports on the news so often that these men and women, behind closed doors steal from the American people. How? They are using their bodies.
• We have doctors today who have used their God-given talents to help mankind. But it is going to be rough on many doctors who have used the talents God has placed in them to take advantage of the sick and dying people. How do they gain such mass wealth? They use their bodies to OVER-CHARGE sick patients. Some charge for services they never administered.
• We have also have lawyers across this country who find people in serious trouble and they drain every nickle out of them that they can drain. How? They use their bodies!
One thing we can say for lost people is, that they are all active using their bodies to:
1. Gain wealth for themselves.
2. Lure others into sin.
They ADVERTISE, they PROMOTE, they light the city up in NEON LIGHTS trying to attract mankind into sin. Wouldn't it be marvelous if God's people were even half as aggressive as the devil's people. We see many who sit back while their loved ones and friends are lost, doomed to a Christless eternity, and never even open their mouths TO WARN THEM...
Jesus said, "...Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."
For us to become fishers of men we need to consider THREE THINGS:
I. THE MODE OF A SOUL WINNER.
Jesus said, "...Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men,." We need to consider at least two methods of fishing:
1. Hook fishing.
2. Net fishing.
At the time the Lord said, "...Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," the METHOD OF FISHING IN THAT DAY was net fishing, so we assume He was referring principally to net fishing.
Illus: Arthur McPhee, in his book, "Friendship Evangelism," shows us there is a big CONTRAST between HOOK FISHING and NET FISHING. And it is because of this contrast, when Christ said I will make you become fishers of men that Christ was speaking of NET FISHING, not HOOK FISHING. It is net fishing that best represents what the Lord wants us to do. For example:
• Hook fishermen depend upon trickery and deception.
• Hook fishermen generally fish for the sport, not because it is a way of life.
• Hook fishermen are more interested in the CATCHING, instead of being concerned with the KEEPING.
• Hook fishing is more of a solo effort, while net fishing is more of a group effort.
The early disciples knew what it was to cast their nets and pull the fish to them. They knew what it meant to mend their nets so no fish could escape once the nets were being pulled in. The MODE OF FISHING that Christ gives this challenge from was NET FISHING, not HOOK FISHING. The reason He used NET FISHING also was because one can catch more fish with a net than he can with a hook. With this MODE OF FISHING in mind, Christ said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." But look at-
II. THE MODEL OF A SOUL WINNER.
The majority of the things that we learn in this life, we learn by watching others. When the Lord commanded us to follow Him, He was saying that He wanted us to follow Him and do as He did. One of the things we learn as we follow Him through the Scriptures is that every soul is precious in His eyes. Jesus, our MODEL OF A SOUL WINNER, never met a person that He did not LOVE. For example, we see in the Scriptures, as we follow Christ, that He loved the POPULAR as well as those who were POPULAR. Let us look at His example in dealing with-
A. The popular.
In the third chapter of St. John we read of Nicodemus. Who was this man? Delos Miles said, "If we were to take a justice of the United States Supreme Court, a bishop of the church, and a university professor with his Ph. D. degree and put all three of these men together in one man, we would have an idea of the kind of person Nicodemus was."
Nicodemus mixed with the most elite of his day and time. This could be the reason that he chose to visit the Lord at night - so that he could not be seen. But the Lord Jesus did not scold him for that. Jesus is pleased with men anytime they will come to Him. But, also notice, Jesus did not exalt Nicodemus, as probably he may have been used to being exalted. Jesus saw/sees all people only as individuals who need to be saved. Regardless of their social position, He saw them in their lost condition. Jesus is our MODEL in that He was not prejudiced against the elite. He is our model also in that He was not prejudiced against -
B. The unpopular.
St. John 4:7-42 tells of another person. Everything Nicodemus was in society, the woman Jesus witnessed to at the well in Sychar of Samaria was not. She was at the other end of the spectrum. Jesus, the model soul winner was as kind to this prostitute as He was to Nicodemus. We see a number of things that our Lord overlooked about her in order to win her to Himself.
1. She was a woman.
When Christ arrived on the scene, women did not enjoy the social status that American women enjoy today. And still we find women are treated unfairly in many ways. But, in Christ's day women were very subservient, almost to the point of being as property.
Illus: For example, a husband could divorce his wife for just burning the biscuits.
Every day the devout Jewish man would rise up and thank God he was not born an uncircumcised gentile and a woman. Women were only important because they could bear children. That is why it was so SHAMEFUL for a woman not to have any children in those days. That tradition is still held among the Arabs to this very day.
Illus: An obvious example of this was when King Hussein, of Jordan, divorced his wife because she could not bear him children.
Paul spoke out, in Galatians 3:28, and said, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Jesus, the MODEL soul winner, looked beyond sexism. Also-
2. She was a Samaritan.
Jesus knew that sexism had no place in soul winning, and neither did racism. The woman was a half-breed, but the Lord loved her just as much as He loved anyone else. Men may be prejudiced against other races, but God loves men of every race!
3. She was a heathen.
That is, she thought she was worshipping God, when, in fact, she was more concerned about the place of worship. In other words, her religion was a false religion. The Samaritans had erected a temple on Mount Gerizim that they thought was equal to the temple of the Jews on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. In John 4, the woman brought the subject up about where people should worship. All she knew had come from her false religion, but when she came into contact with the MASTER SOUL WINNER she found there was no prejudice.
Illus: How many times have Christians slammed the door in the face of Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, or people from some other false religion? They overlook the fact God has given them an excellent opportunity and place to tell them about the Lord Who died for their sins and how they can be saved by His marvelous grace, instead of by their works.
4. She was immoral.
The woman had been married four times and the man she was then with was not even her husband. She was just like so many today who have let the devil seduce them and wound up with their lives all messed up! It is possible that when the Samaritan woman saw Jesus at the city well she thought she might proposition him. Did he leave in a huff, saying, "I cannot talk to you, woman. I have my reputation to be concerned about"? No! Jesus did not arrange to meet that woman in any private place, she came to where He was in a public water supply area. As they talked there she trust Him as Lord and Savior and became a first-class witness in bringing others to Him. We all should be concerned about those who would teach that Christians should invade night clubs and other sinful places with the gospel. But God's Word says we are to, "Abstain from ALL APPEARANCE of evil." (I Thess. 5:22). We are not to cast our "pearls" before "swine." Why? Because they will just trample upon them.
Illus: This would be like a Christian going on the Phil Donahue program and telling how God marvelously saved him. That crowd could not appreciate the glorious gospel. They would trample upon it the same way a pig would trample upon a costly pearl.
We can go to lost people outside their dens of sin. The Samaritan woman had her:
• SEX,
• RELIGION,
• RACE,
• IMMORALITY, all against her,
but she had the MODEL SOUL WINNER, JESUS, Who was for her!
Jesus has shown us: THE MODE OF A SOUL WINNER, and He is the MODEL OF A SOUL SINNER. Last of all, He shows us -
III. THE MAKING OF A SOUL WINNER.
Remember, Jesus said that He would make fishers of men out of those who would follow Him? It is His job to make us soul winners. He begins showing us how we can win men to Christ immediately after we are saved.
Illus: For example, when Jesus cast the demons out of the man of Gadara, He immediately instructed, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." (Luke 5:19).
When the woman at the well was converted, immediately she went to town and told everyone what the Lord had done for her and John 4:39 says, "And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified..."
Did you know that often new converts can win more people to the Lord than people who have been saved for some time because they have many unsaved friends to witness to.
Illus: New converts are like the person who decides to become an insurance salesman - the first month he becomes the top salesman. Why? Because all of the older sales people have sold insurance to all their family members and their friends, but the new salesman has access to all his friends and neighbors so he has many prospects to go to work on.
Christ, the master soul winner, wants to make fishers of men out of every one of us, but He will never be able to make us soul winners until we start sharing the gospel with lost people.
Illus: Remember the old story of the lady who would tell the preacher every Sunday, no matter what he preached on, that she "aimed" to start doing it! But never did. Finally, one Sunday morning, the preacher was fed up with her aiming and never doing anything and he said, "It's time you stopped just aiming. For goodness sake, cock the gun and shoot!"
Conclusion/Summary: The key to becoming a soul winner is being willing to FOLLOW THE LORD'S EXAMPLE. If one wants to become a dentist, he must go to where denistry is taught. If one wants to become a surgeon, he must be willing to attend classes in which surgery is taught. But, if you are going to be a soul winner, you have to be willing to enroll in the school of Christ and let the master soul winner MAKE YOU BECOME A FISHER OF MEN.
I. THE MODE OF A SOUL WINNER.
II. THE MODEL OF A SOUL WINNER.
III. THE MAKING OF A SOUL WINNER.
