The closer anyone lives to the Lord, the
more that one will long to become a
winner of souls.
And so this afternoon I'm going to speak
on the subject of the Holy Spirit in
action, or personal evangelism.
And then as I said this morning, wake
up and get into the front line of
action with the Holy Spirit.
Where would I turn for my scripture?
Well, there's always a good scripture for any
theme that you want to follow along scripture
lines.
And this is in Acts, the Acts of
the Apostles, the Acts of the Holy Spirit,
chapter 8 and verse 26.
Acts 8, 26.
And this is a message that I love
to give wherever I go.
And the angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise and go toward the south,
unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem
unto Gaza, which is desert.
And he arose and went.
And behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch
of great authority, and a Candace, the queen
of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of
all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem
for to worship, was returning.
And sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah the
prophet.
Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near
and join thyself to this chariot.
And Philip ran thither to him, and heard
him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest
thou what thou readest?
And he said, How can I, except some
man should guide me?
And he desired, Philip, that he would come
up and sit with him.
And the place of the scripture which he
read was this, He was led as a
sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb
done before his shearer, so opened he not
his mouth.
In his humiliation his judgment was taken away,
and who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.
And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I
pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this?
Of himself, or of some other man.
Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at
the same scripture, and preached unto him, Jesus.
And as they went on their way, they
came unto a certain water, and the eunuch
said unto, and said, See, here is water.
What doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If thou believest with all
thine heart, thou mayest.
And he answered and said, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still,
and they went down both into the water,
both Philip and the eunuch, and they baptized
him.
And when they were come up out of
the water, the spirit of the Lord caught
away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no
more, and he went on his way rejoicing.
But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing
through, he preached in all the cities, till
he came to Caesarea.
One thing is stressed in our thinking in
these days, and that is that God is
not seeking better methods, as much as he
is seeking better men.
He is seeking holier men.
For if a man is living in the
attitude and experience of holiness in the presence
of God, he will have a deep yearning
to reach the lost for Christ.
He will have a deep longing to go
out after those who know nothing of our
Savior.
I told you of Dr. Johnson from Japan
who said, Rather, unbelievers do not believe because
they do not believe that believers believe.
Shall I read that again to you?
Unbelievers do not believe because they do not
believe that believers believe.
The fact is this, that oftentimes our own
attitude towards the things of God seems to
be so cold, and so indifferent to the
welfare of others, that we act towards the
ungodly as though we had no responsibility towards
them, and further, that we did not really
believe that any out of Christ are on
their way to hell.
But I believe that our convictions will have
to deepen in connection with this, and the
truth with regard to men and women who
are out of Christ.
We are told of one minister who preached
a sermon on hell one Sunday night.
The next morning he was down in the
city, and a man of the city met
him and said, I was in your service
last night.
I want to ask you a question.
Do you really believe what you were preaching
last night?
The minister said, well, of course I do.
He said, of course you do not.
So the man said again, let me ask
you, do you really believe the doctrine you
were preaching last night?
He said, I certainly do.
He said, you certainly do not.
And so the minister said, well, what do
you mean?
He said, I mean just this, that if
you really believed that men and women who
are unsaved are on their way to hell,
you'd live a different kind of a life
from the life you are living.
There was something in the minister's life which
did not impress the questioner, and it may
be that when we have said the last
word in our sermon, there may be something
that hinders the acceptance of the message.
And we need to live lives in dead
earnest in relation to the subject that I
am presenting to you this afternoon.
It was Charles Finney who said at the
end of his life, he said, if I
could have my life over again, for every
sermon I have preached to the unsaved, I
would preach ten to the saved.
He was convinced that that is where the
trouble lies, that if men and women who
profess to belong to Christ were really aflame,
really on fire for God, that would be
the testimony which would gather in the unsaved
to hear the gospel.
And what is needed even today in this
large auditorium is that every one of us
shall be in prayer, praying that God the
Holy Spirit shall visit us according to his
own mighty power, his convicting power, his revealing
power for the exaltation of Christ and for
the winning of the lost to Christ.
Now I have read a scripture, it is
a very important scripture, and it has to
do with the Holy Spirit's work in relation
to personal evangelism.
And may I suggest this, never attempt personal
evangelism or tract distribution without looking to the
Holy Spirit of God for his guidance in
this matter.
Can you conceive of anything more wonderful that
God should use anyone here in this auditorium
to win another to Christ?
Who can tell the thrill of joy and
blessedness in the hearts of those young people
after they have told the story of that
elderly man being saved, to pass out of
darkness into light and to be willing to
tell of Jesus Christ as his own personal
saviour?
In giving this message I'm going to give
you quite a number of outstanding points which
I discover in this particular passage of scripture,
because I feel convinced of this that if
you want to preach on any particular theme
there is usually some scripture which gives a
condensation of that which you want to give.
It is an epitome of the message with
regard to the winning of the lost to
Christ.
And so I give you the first thought
here, and that is the Holy Spirit's choice
of a man.
It says here, and the angel of the
Lord speak unto Philip.
Now it may be that the Holy Spirit
of God will speak unto an individual here
and there and there.
I ask you this this afternoon, are you
ready to hear the voice of the Holy
Spirit as addressed to you, or do you
regard the message as being given in a
general sense for everybody but no one in
particular?
Well, I believe that it's going to be
for someone in particular, and I hope it'll
be you and you and you, and as
well as myself, because we must first preach
a message to ourselves before we dare to
preach it to anyone else.
Now here is the thought then, the Holy
Spirit's choice of a man.
Have you ever asked yourself this question, why
did the Holy Spirit choose Philip?
I want to ask you to look at
the gospel according to John the first chapter
and verse 43, and here you discover the
reason.
The day following Jesus would go forth into
Galilee and findeth Philip and saith unto him,
follow me.
Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of
Andrew and Peter.
Philip findeth Nathanael and saith unto him, we
have found him of whom Moses in the
law and the prophets did write, Jesus of
Nazareth the son of Joseph.
Notice, the day following Jesus would go forth
into Galilee and findeth Philip and saith unto
him, follow me.
Philip findeth Nathanael.
Philip was no sooner called by Jesus Christ
than he went out to call someone else.
May I dare to ask this question of
you today?
I don't know how long you have been
a Christian or how long you have been
saved, but how many have you directed to
Jesus Christ?
How many of you sought to lead to
Jesus Christ?
Perhaps you've already been a believer for 5,
10 or 15 years, and perhaps you could
not put down a list of names of
those you have brought to the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Well the question is this, are you ever
going to engage in this work?
If you are, when do you propose beginning?
Are you going to begin now or are
you going to defer it for a more
convenient season?
The Holy Spirit's choice of a man, well
may the Lord choose many here today for
this tremendous work.
The second thought here is this, the Holy
Spirit's call and command.
And here it is in this scripture, and
the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip
saying, arise and go.
There's the call and there is the command.
And it may be this afternoon one will
hear that word of the Holy Spirit, arise
and go, calling you to some special field
of service, calling you to go to speak
to ministers, to someone in particular.
One thing I have found is this, that
if you are willing to engage in this
work, you will discover that if the Holy
Spirit of God directs your mind towards a
particular individual, he is in all probability, if
not in all certainty, preparing that mind, the
mind of that one to receive you.
I remember when I was on the train
between Santa Barbara and San Francisco, and the
train was crowded, but I saw on in
that coach a United States Army captain, captain
of the army.
He was in full uniform, his breast was
covered with medals and ribbons.
And as I looked at him, he walked
down the aisle towards me and past me.
And as he passed me, I thought to
myself, I would like to talk to that
man.
He soon returned and was in his seat
and the seat alongside of him was vacant,
so soon I was in it.
And I began to talk to him, I
drew out my tracks and I began to
present one to him and then to talk
to him as to our need, not your
need or his need, but our need of
the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Savior.
I'd only proceeded talking with him just for
a minute or so when he looked me
directly in the face and he said, there's
something very remarkable about this.
He said, do you know just last night
I was praying God to send someone to
talk to me and now you come and
talk to me.
And in that coach, I had the privilege
of talking to him about the Lord Jesus
Christ, telling him of what the Lord had
done for me because I think we must
be very practical when we're talking people about
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he was willing to bow with
me in prayer in that coach with the
people all around while I prayed with him
and prayed for him.
And then he jumped to his feet and
he put out his hand, he said, I'll
never forget this and I'm going to read
what you have given me.
And so we parted, but who knows what
we're going to meet in the glory because
of that meeting that day.
Well, I go further than that and here
in the third place I find the Holy
Spirit's choice of a field.
And it says here the angel of the
Lord speak unto Philip saying, arise and go
down toward the south.
Here is the Lord giving direction to Philip.
And some of you young people are asking
the question, well, where am I going to
serve?
Am I going to India, Africa, or where?
Do not be concerned about that.
The Holy Spirit, if he has his hand
upon you at all, he has already chosen
a field for you and he will lead
you into the field of his choice.
And if it is the field of his
choice, it will be the field where he
will use you to his own glory.
I would like to mention this, that a
commander in the Navy, when he leaves port,
usually has sealed orders and he is not
supposed to open that envelope with the sealed
orders until he reaches a certain latitude and
longitude on the ocean.
But when he reaches that point, he can
open it and there discover where he has
to go.
And so it is here in this story.
It seemed that the Holy Spirit gave sealed
orders to Philip, go down toward the south.
He didn't tell him to whom he was
to go, he didn't tell him just what
he was to do, but he started him
out in the direction where he wanted him
to go.
And it may be that the Holy Spirit
will do that with you.
He will deal with you in the same
way.
He will perhaps redirect you as you're going
downtown someday.
And instead of going down one street, you
will go down another street.
But whichever way you go, you may depend
upon it, that the Lord has some work
for you to do, someone to meet, someone
he will use you to bring blessing to.
I was on the ferry going from Vancouver
to Victoria and I usually give out tracks
on the boats.
But there was one lady in particular, I
saw her and I thought I must give
her the track.
But she had her back towards me and
as I advanced towards her, she went through
the door onto the deck outside and the
door sprung to and I was on the
inside, she was on the outside.
So she walked along the outside, I walked
along the inside.
And I met her at the other end
of the lounge as she came in again.
And when she came in, I just advanced
towards her with a gospel tract and I
began to talk to her.
And you know, I realized in a moment
that I was in the presence of a
woman in great distress.
What were her words to me?
She says, one thing I know, I know
that God sent you to me.
Now how did I know?
I did not know.
But the Holy Spirit of God does know.
And if I could impress anything upon your
hearts today, it is this.
Trust the Holy Spirit to direct you in
this great work.
He knows the one to whom he would
have you go and he will give you
just the right word to say at the
right time.
Well then the fourth thought here is this.
The soul winner's response and obedience.
We have been stressing the thought of obedience
to the revealed will of God.
And here we stress it once again.
The soul winner's response and obedience.
And notice what it says in verse 27.
And he arose and went.
The angel of the Lord spake unto Philip
saying, arise and go.
And he arose and went.
How immediate was the response.
Are we prepared to make a like response
today?
When the Holy Spirit calls, there's no time
to reason about it and to question why.
There's no thought here in the mind of
Philip of asking a reason for it.
Well, was there any reason why he should
ask a reason?
Well, humanly speaking, there was.
Because in the very same chapter, you find
that he was already a very busy man.
For instance, in Acts 8 and verse 5,
then Philip went down to the city of
Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
And the people with one accord gave heed
unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and
seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits crying with loud voice came
out of many that were possessed with them,
and many taken with pulses, and that were
lame were healed.
And there was great joy in that city.
There, Philip is in a field to which
the Holy Spirit had called him.
He was in a prosperous piece of work.
And there was great joy because of the
great results.
When suddenly the Spirit of God says, Philip,
arise and go.
Didn't that require faith on his part?
No questioning at all.
And now if there is that ready obedience
in your heart and mind, you may depend
upon it that the Lord is going to
use us and that to his own glory.
Right here in the heart of this passage
is this thought, that the Holy Spirit makes
the appointment.
You find here that Philip had come to
Jerusalem for to worship, in verse 27 and
in verse 28, and he was returning.
Here he had come to the city of
religion in Jerusalem.
He did not obtain what he was wanting.
He did not obtain any spiritual help.
And he was returning to his home.
But will the Holy Spirit leave him if
he has his mind and heart upon him?
No.
He will discover a servant he can send
after him.
And he found in Philip the one who
would go after the Ethiopian treasurer who was
returning from Jerusalem.
How soon are you to respond the moment
the thought, the appeal, the challenge comes to
you?
I've told this different times because I value
the experience very much.
On one occasion I arrived back home when
I was pastoring the church in Victoria.
My wife said there's an urgent call for
you to go to the hospital.
A man is dying and he's not a
Christian and his wife is deeply concerned.
I jumped in my car, went round to
the hospital, went found the nurse.
She said, well he's so very ill.
I said, I know that's the reason I'm
here.
She took me to his room and I
went into the room and I saw there
lying on the bed a man of big
stature with his hands and arms stretched out
over the bed covers.
And I began to talk to him of
our need of Christ as a personal savior.
And I'd only mentioned just a few words
when those hands, helpless as they were, just
came groping their way up until they were
in the attitude of prayer.
I knew he was the line he was
thinking on and yet I had been told
before I went that I would have to
be very careful because he had been a
very wicked man and no one had ever
dared to talk to him along religious lines.
And so when you go into a man's
room and you're told that then you are
wondering, well what am I to say to
such a man?
Well never bother yourself about that.
The Holy Spirit knows.
He has the wisdom and he will guide
you.
He has promised to do the guiding.
And I said to that man, I said,
I suppose you used to go to Sunday
school as a boy.
He said, I did.
I said, and then you used to go
to church.
He said, yes I did.
I said, and isn't it easier to get
away from these things?
He said, yes and I've been thinking a
lot about these things lately.
Well I would never have known that that
godless, wicked commander of the Canadian Navy had
been thinking about spiritual matters.
And you will never know how deeply concerned
this man or that man is until you
approach them.
Give them an opportunity to open up their
hearts to you as many will if you
approach them in the right way and under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
I mustn't stay with that story but I'll
stay long enough to say this.
I quoted this and quoted that and scripture
after scripture and he came to the definite
personal acceptance of Jesus Christ as his saviour.
And then I prayed with him and I
prayed to the Lord to give him the
blessed certainty of salvation and I wish you
could have heard the hearty amen from that
man.
And then that the Lord would give him
the certainty of heaven and again there was
that hearty amen.
And as soon as I had finished he
said, I'm very tired now.
I said, yes I'm going to leave you.
I'd only been in his room for approximately
eight minutes.
But I said, now before I go on
I'm going to ask you this question.
Can I go to those who sent me
and tell them that you have definitely accepted
the Lord Jesus Christ as your saviour?
He said, yes you can.
Now this is the crucial point of my
story.
Something I did not know and that was
that he had been unconscious for days before
I went into his room and up to
within a few minutes of my going into
the room.
That was the reason the nurse told me
he was very ill.
And another thing I didn't know that in
less than an hour of my leaving him
he sank into unconsciousness again.
And when his wife came to see him
that night she couldn't talk to him and
he died that night.
Now you know Christian friends I could just
as easily have stayed at home because that
was one of the days when I was
feeling most unwell physically.
And I had humanly speaking a reasonable excuse.
But I don't believe in using those excuses.
I believe that we ought to launch out
and if God gives you an opportunity he'll
give you strength.
And there was that man gloriously saved.
And the people asked me to write out
an account of what happened in that room
during those few minutes.
And I wrote it out and they had
it mimeographed and it was sent to relatives
in California and in England and elsewhere because
they were so amazed at the results.
But why should we be amazed when we
have the God we have?
You know when I get on this theme
it's a theme that I love to deal
with because I know that it can become
supremely practical.
I know there are men and women all
around us.
You are thinking of going to India, Africa,
China, somewhere else, but there are people right
on the campus here.
There are people in Calgary when you go
down.
Can you reach them?
Of course you can.
I was on the plane.
I got on the plane in Victoria just
last Tuesday, Wednesday rather.
The plane couldn't land in Vancouver.
It landed in Abbotsford, fortunately for me because
I found a whole crowd of people there
in the port.
And among them a lot of men from
Ireland belonging to the Irish Fusiliers.
I thought well these are just the men
who ought to have gospel tracts.
And so I was soon giving them out
to them and by and by I had
a number of them around me and quite
willing for me to talk to them about
spiritual matters.
Now I wish that you would pray just
for that in particular, that those gospel tracts
in the hands of those men who went
on the plane with me and many of
them came to Calgary and then they were
going on to Toronto.
But pray the Lord will cause those messages
to find a lasting lodgment in the minds
of these men.
And then too in the airport there was
a Roman bishop.
I thought well here's another opportunity.
So I advanced to him and I gave
him one of my tracts.
And I gave him my tract Blessed Assurance.
And he took it and I sat right
opposite from him and watched him read it
through.
I believe this that once you put a
spiritual message into the hand of a man
and he begins to read it then begin
to pray for him.
Pray with him as he reads through.
Why shouldn't a man be saved by reading
a printed message as much as if he
comes into a gospel service and is saved?
This ministry is open to every young person
here.
And if every one of you would become
an ardent winner of souls, an ardent tract
distributor between now and the end of your
school year, how many would be saved?
I don't know but I know that the
Lord is willing to do mighty things for
any one of us.