<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

ABC Prayer Crusade

Glenn Coon

Path to the Heart

1-Jesus Only

2-Enamored With Jesus

3-Jesus Prepares You

4-Jesus, The Argument

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

6-Witnessing for Jesus

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

9-Jesus Loves

10-Jesus the Magnet

Dear Lord, make me a nail up upon the wall, fasten securely in its place. Then from this thing so common and so small. Hang a bright picture of thy face and we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. The topic today, enamored of Jesus has to do with a tremendous principle of soul-winning the law of choice. And our opening text of scripture is found in Joshua 24, 16, 15. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. Choose ye this day whom you will serve. There are two great philosophies in the world today concerning how to win our loved ones to the Lord Jesus. We're standing on a hill overlooking great city of Chattanooga, Tennessee some time ago with a fine Christian lady whose husband was not a Christian. As we stood there together in his presence, she turned to Austin and said, how can I get my husband to be a member of the church? He was standing there listening. Others have come to me and they've said, how can I get my wife to stop smoking? The wife is listening. Many individuals come to us and say, how can I somehow persuade men and women to be good like I am If we can learn the Lord's way for remember friends, there are two outstanding philosophers of soul winning. One is the philosophy of nagging, belittling, condemning, hoping thereby to bring people to conviction. You see, when conviction is the work of the Holy Spirit, the other method is to present Jesus, to draw side that curtain so that they can see the loveliness of Jesus and they will so completely fall in love with him that they choose to fall at his feet and worship him and give their lives completely to him. Which method are you and I using and if we have been using the wrong method, shall we ask the Lord today to change our methods so that they shall conform to that which will cause people to want Jesus to choose to serve him of their own volition, to say, ah, this is the one that I wanna serve. Now in order to know how to use the new method, let us turn to Song of Solomon chapter five, verse 16. And it says here, speaking of Jesus, and notice the way to really win people to Jesus. Let us notice how to persuade them to accept him. Here it is, song of Solomon five 16. His mouth is most sweet. He is all together. Lovely. This is my beloved and this is my friend. How can we get people? How can we persuade people to choose Jesus on their own volition? It is for them to know that his mouth is most sweet. His character is delightful. He is someone that we cannot get along without. We need his friendship. We crave his love. There was a little girl whom her mother was tucking into bed one day and it seemed that this little girl only preps four or five years of age, noticed for the first time her mother's hands all scarred. She said, mommy, why do your hands look so ugly? You know how little children are, they don't fill her their thinking and you imagine how it must have cut the mother's heart. But she understood. She said, this is how honey, she said, when you weren't quite as old as you are now a fire broke out in the bedroom where you were, your bed was on fire. But I hasten quickly to your rescue. And she said, I was able to extinguish the flame, but in doing it, my hands were severely burned. But she said, honey, in doing it, I saved your life. Friends, those hands appeared to that little girl from then on as the most beautiful hands she'd ever seen in all her life. Don't you think so? Because there was a significance to it. But 1900 years ago, there was one whose wounded more than the sons of men. There was one whose hands were nailed to Dark Cal. You know the story. He was despised and we esteemed him not. But when we realized that he was crucified, he was wounded, he was disfigured because he loved us and he saved us. We say, oh, he's all together. Lovely. I choose that kind of a savior. Can you say amen? There was a little boy in school, he was not a very bright boy. He couldn't spell too well. One day the teacher said, Jimmy, would you try to spell the word friend? It seemed to him as a rather big assignment, but he struggled through it and he spelled it F R I E N D. And the teacher said, Jimmy, that's wonderful. Now can you tell us what a friend is? And that was a bigger assignment, but you know how little boys and girls are, they'll tackle anything till they get into their teens. And he said, well, a friend, he was determined to answer. He said, A friend or or is, is a, is a feller who who knows all about you and loves you just the same. That's Jesus. If you and I can persuade people as to that kind of a friend whose mouth is most sweet, who is all together lovely, he is my beloved. He is my friend. We don't have to nag anymore. We do not have to belittle anymore. We don't have to try to take the place of the Holy Spirit consciously or unconsciously because here is one whom they wanna adore. He loves them with an everlasting love, with loving kindness. He's drawn them. This is my friend. Now, Jesus methods are so different from our methods. In Isaiah chapter two verse verse 14, we find the Lord Jesus revealed himself in an outstanding way in the Old Testament days to many individuals, including Isaiah, the prophet. We're not going to relate the whole story of Isaiah and Gomer, his wife, except to say that his wife Gomer had fallen for someone else, maybe several else. She had now been living out of wedlock in a very unworthy life. But the man who had taken her to be his concubine himself found her so unworthy that he was ready to dispose of her. And in thinking it over, he decided that an auction sale would be the best way. So he announced that he was going to take Gomer up to the auction block and sell her to the highest bidder. Now here's Jose, a holy man of God, a righteous saint of God, a prophet. If you please, how is he going to win this character back to the love of Christ? Which method will he use? Will he go up to that auction block and say, listen, Gomer, I want everybody to know that you have been one of the most rotten characters in this whole neighborhood, but still I may condescend to put you on trial for a while and if you live up, I'm going to condescend from my high and hol estate and I'm going to be so, so marvelously kind to accept you back. That would be a miracle, wouldn't it? To accept your bike under any conditions. But Gomer had learned of the fabulous of him who's altogether lovely and the very Christ was living within him. And Christ in him said this, Jose two 14, I will Allure her. Can you imagine? I will allure her? I will speak comfortably to her. How do you win a har to Jesus, the alluring love of Jesus Christ? We love him because he first loved us. And so he went to the auction block and he bought her and he all lured her and he spoke comfortably to her, my friends. That is Jesus method. Many years ago I read from a book that I love very much entitled The Desire of Ages On page 826, A marvelous quotation about Jesus. I said, whoever wrote that certainly had the concept, the true concept, the concept of Jesus. And it went on to say this of Jesus, his blessings, he presents in the most alluring terms. I said alluring. When I was a boy, the word allure stood for something very, very wicked, filthy. The devil borrowed the word allure from Jesus. The allurement belongs to Jesus and his people, oh my God, help you and me to use the alluring method of Jesus Christ. What do you say? His blessings, he presents in the most alluring terms. That's how he won Mary Magdalene. That is how the woman of C of Samario was converted. That is how the thief on the cross turned to him in his great salvation. And this is how men and women, men down through the ages have found the Christ of God. Let us be done with belittling friends. What do you say? Can you say amen? Amen. Let's be done with condemning. Let's be done with thinking that we must play Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows how to convict and present the loveliness of Jesus when we are merely witnesses to his love to us. You know, I've thought many times of how do you capture honeybee? You know there are two ways here. You have a nice quart jar and you come to the honeybee and you say, miss, miss honeybee, I really want to take you with me. I want to capture you. And I have a little switch and I'm gonna see to it that you get into that jar. And there I realize that, that the jar isn't too, too beautiful because I have a little vinegar in the bottom of it. But that's all right. That's part of my religion. I really have a vinegar religion of the of the seven last plagues. And I'm one the first of the plagues and the time of trouble and I'm already making some trouble. And of the time of PEs. I'm already a church pastor, so, so honeybee, I wanna capture you in my vinegar jug. And here's a switch to make sure honeybee. Why don't you respond? Honeybee. Honeybee. Let me say why the world is hard. Bees. Bees are so hard. All I got out of this fabulous effort was a sting. Did you ever hear people today saying, my friends and relatives are so hard, the world is hard Friends, the honeybee can either gather the honey or he can sting your friends and mine can either respond with a stinging response or they can say, you have the nectar, you are telling about me, about him. Whose lips are most sweet? His mouth is most sweet. He's all together. Lovely. You are reflecting his love in your continents, in your voice. Oh, I want him in my life. Let's not forget there's a way to get the honeybee. Put honey in the jar and you'll be surprised. We won't get just one honeybee. There won't be enough jar to go around. That's a way to capture honeybees. Do you know friends? I wanna thank God that in this law of choice, there are many, many Christians that are learning that the way to win others to Jesus Christ is the alluring way. I was speaking one one morning at the 11 o'clock service down in Florida on the love of Jesus and his methods. They're so superior to the methods of the devil. And right in the middle of my sermon, there was a lady sitting there with her unchurched husband. They had been married for decades and can you kind of imagine the methods that she may have used on him through that period of time? A little nag, you know, a little thrust playing Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit came to her that morning and the Lord said to her, you have been using the wrong methods. Christ's methods are so much more successful than the devil's methods. The devil is the accuser. Jesus is the lover. Soul winning might be sent to be 95% spiritual courtship and only 5% instruction and no nagging thrown in as extra. How about that? And the lady listened to the voice of God right there in the middle of my sermon and she turned to her husband and she kissed him on the cheek right in church. And she whispered to him, she said, honey, will you forgive me? I have used the wrong methods on you for 20 years. Two or three nights later, he came to the church again, his face beaming. He said, you know, something happened when you preach that sermon. He said, my wife sat there in that service and she changed religions, not denominations, religions. He said, I'll tell you how annoying. He said, for years and years and years, there's been a lot of contention in our home. And he said, much of it has been over the dog. Think of that. He said, now I love dogs, but my wife is so religious that she doesn't. He said, and my wife wouldn't think of letting that dog in the house. He went on and described it. It was as though if, if he ever, if that dog ever came in and and sat on the couch, he'd be a hot dog. And He said, but you know what happened? She made me make a dog house far from the house. But he said, after my wife changed religions the other day, he said, I'll tell you how I know. He said, I, I run a bus and I come home about three o'clock in the afternoon. He said, I came home the other night, the afternoon, three o'clock, and my wife was out there at that dog house petting my pet dog. He said, pastor, I couldn't understand it and I know the dog couldn't. His wife had changed religions. Isn't it wonderful? The dog even understood it. He understood it. His mouth is most sweet. He's all together. Lovely. This is my beloved, this is my friend. I don't think I'll ever forget the story of the twins. We're holding a series of meanings. Thousands of miles from here. Any of these sort of negative things have happened outta state, you understand? And one evening, as I finished my sermon, a pair of twins stepped into pastor study quickly, we wanna see you, we wanna see you. They wanted to went on to tell us, tell me what terrible husbands they had. I wondered whether they had poor judgment when they chose the husbands or poor judgment. Now you know, but I didn't raise any issue. You don't raise issues in soul winning. And the one said, I'm the one that brought my sister into the church. She said, but in doing so, her husband won't even speak to me. I said, do you speak to him? Well, no, you don't speak to him. What kind of a church, an entity is that? I didn't say it. I thought it. She said, but my husband is a practically a demonn. Can you imagine such a precious woman being married to a demonn? And her sister agreed and she said, my husband is no better. How in the world are we going to go about winning these, these terrible men? I said, well, how about going home and being a sweetheart? They said, what's that? What's that? I said, well, you just go home and you don't quarrel. Well, they said, you mean we can't say anything? You get the message? I said, yes, you may talk, but don't talk like the devil. See the devil accuses. And I said, when you find yourself becoming irritated, don't talk. But when you stop talking, don't look like the devil because he's the accuser. Oh, They said, oh, is that it? That's it. But she said, listen, there's nothing on earth I can ever do. That'll change my husband's attitude. Well, I'll try it. I said, you'd be surprised what the Lord does through this method, the method of Jesus. It's a miracle method. Just try it and see. She said, if my husband ever knew I was the meeting, he'd never even let me come back. Well, I said, she's our live 70 miles away. I said, well just try it And see what'll happen. Well, okay, well I know it won't work. Two or three nights later, they were both there. They were musicians and somebody had asked them to sing a special for that evening, one of the latest sang a solo. She had a beautiful voice. Her sister was a beautiful pianist and she accompanied her. And the song they sang was the holy city that she sang was the Holy City. As she began singing that, I saw a look of glory on her covenants. Her sister was accompanying her. I said to myself, something has happened. They must have a fabulous story to tell. And then I knew it was so when I heard her sing, she began singing for all she was worth. And she was so enthused that she got ahead of her sister who was accompanying her, and the sister thought, I better catch up. So she caught up and got ahead of the one that was singing than the one there singing got ahead of her. I never heard anything or saw anything like that going to the holy city in all my life. I could hardly wait till I got through speaking. I knew they had something wonderful. I walked in the pastor study to close the sermon. They barged in smiling. They said, listen, something wonderful has happened. The sister who came from 70 miles, she said, something marvelous has happened. She said, I went home and did just what you suggested. Nothing outstanding. I was just a sweetheart. And she said, do you know somehow my husband learned I was the meeting the other night. She said, at noon today, my husband walked up to me with a big smile. He reached his hand in the billfold. He pulled out a $5 bill and she talks so fast I could hardly keep up with her, but I'm sure I got it straight. She said, and he handed me the $5 bill. And he said, listen, go up to the gas station, fill up the tank. That's when money was money. Fill up the tank with gasoline and go back to the same meeting and get some more of the same thing you got the other night. His mouth is most sweet. He's all together. Lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend friends. It works. It works. A Christian writer has said that if we'd use these methods, we'd find 100 people cor crowding in to our fellowship where there's now one. Don't you think we ought to be done with all of these forms of belittling and nagging. A man came to me at the close of one of my sermons. He said, brother Coon, I see what's wrong with me now. He said, I've been using the wrong methods. He said, I've been working for the Lord like the devil. Accusing, belittling, trying to bring people to condemnation, to conviction. Instead of saying, look, I found what I wanted. When I found the Lord, I found a satisfaction in him. I'm not on cloud nine. All the while, because the devil still lives, there's still persecutions. I still have to contend with self. But in the overall picture, I've found what I wanted because I found the Lord. First John four 19 says, this is how men fall in love with Jesus. We love him because he first loved us. Soul winning is a spiritual courtship. There are two philosophies. The one philosophy is the high human pressuring philosophy of nagging a little, belittling a little bit, trying to shame a person a little bit and finding that we're inviting the honeybee into the vinegar jug. The other is the Christ method. I will allure her, I will speak comfortably unto her. And then we'll see the saints of God go trooping through the gates to the new Jerusalem and they say, it was you who invited me here. You reflected his love in your countenance, even when you're going through deep dark struggles. You said, I know who I believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed to him against that day. Shall we pray? Dear Lord in heaven, I thank you for forgiving me. I thank you for forgiving my people for where we have used Satan's methods. This media was brought to you by audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

Back to Menu

Series

Path to the Heart

2-Enamored With Jesus

Parent Series

Sponsor

Other Teachings in Series

1-Jesus Only

26m

2-Enamored With Jesus

27m

3-Jesus Prepares You

27m

4-Jesus, The Argument

33m

5-Jesus, Not Condemnation

26m

6-Witnessing for Jesus

27m

7-Jesus Inspires Hope

27m

8-Jesus Quickens Faith

26m

9-Jesus Loves

27m

10-Jesus the Magnet

25m

Sound Doctrine