THE WAY TO GOD
And How to Find
It
BY
DWIGHT L.
MOODY
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Table
of Contents
TO THE READER
CHAPTER
1 — “Love that Passeth Knowledge”
CHAPTER
2 — The Gateway into the Kingdom
CHAPTER
3 — The Two Classes
CHAPTER
4 – Words of Counsel
CHAPTER
5 – A Divine Saviour
CHAPTER
6 – Repentance and Restitution
CHAPTER
7 — Assurance of Salvation
CHAPTER
8 — Christ All and In All
CHAPTER
9 — Backsliding
To The Reader
IN this small volume I have endeavored to
show men THE WAY TO GOD. Beginning with the
"love of Christ" (Ephesians 3:19) to man, the book proceeds to show how man can be just with
God, and to lead souls to Him who is "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life" (John 14:6).
The last chapter is specially addressed to Backsliders- a class,
alas, far too numerous amongst us. How graciously God Himself appeals to those
who have thus wandered from Him! "Return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast
fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto
him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously" (Hosea 14:1,2). And what
an answer of peace He sends!- "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them
freely: for Mine anger is turned away" (Hosea
14:4).
With the earnest prayer and hope
that by the blessing of God on these pages the reader may be
strengthened, established, and settled in the faith of Christ,
I am,
yours in His service,
D. L. Moody.
.
.
CHAPTER
1. Back to Top
“Love that Passeth
Knowledge”
"And to know
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge" -Ephesians
3:19.
IF I could only make men understand the real meaning of the words of the apostle John- "GOD IS LOVE," (1 John 4:8) I would take that single text, and would go up and down the world proclaiming this glorious truth. If you can convince a man that you love him you have won his heart. If we could really make people believe that God loves them, how we should find them crowding into the kingdom of heaven! The trouble is that men think God hates them; and so they are all the time running away from Him.
.
A Text
Burned In
We built a church in Chicago some years ago; and we were very
anxious to teach the people the love of God. We thought if we could not preach
it into their hearts we would try and burn it in; so we put right over the
pulpit in gas-jets these words – GOD IS LOVE. A man going along the streets one
night glanced through the door, and saw the text. He was a poor prodigal. As he
passed on he thought to himself, "'God is
Love!' No! He does not love me; for I am a poor miserable
sinner." He tried to get rid of the text; but it seemed to stand out right
before him in letters of fire. He went on a little further; then turned round,
went back, and went into the meeting, tie did not hear the sermon; but the words
of that short text had got deeply lodged in his heart, and that was enough. It
is of little account what men say if the Word of God only gets an entrance into
the sinner's heart. He stayed after the first meeting was over; and I found him
there weeping like a child. As I unfolded the Scriptures and told him how God
had loved him all the time, although he had wandered so far a way, and how God
was waiting to receive him and forgive him, the light of the Gospel broke into
his mind, and he went away rejoicing.
There is nothing in this world that
men prize so much as they do Love. Show me a person who has no one to care for
or love him, and I will show you one of the most wretched beings on the face of
the earth. Why do people commit suicide? Very often it is because this thought
steals in upon them – that no one loves them; and they would rather die than
live.
I know of no truth in the whole Bible that ought to come home to us
with such power and tenderness as that of the Love of God; and there is no truth
in the Bible that Satan would so much like to blot out. For more than six
thousand years he has been trying to persuade men that God does not love them.
He succeeded in making our first parents believe this; and he too often succeeds
with their children.
.
The
Dimensions of God's Love
In Ephesians 3:18, we are told
of "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height," of God's love. Many of us
think we know something of God's love; but centuries hence we shall admit we
have never found out much about it. Columbus discovered America: but what did he
know about its great lakes, rivers, forests, and the Mississippi valley? He
died, without knowing much about what he had
discovered.
When we wish to know the love of God we should
go to Calvary. Can we look upon that scene, and say God did not love us? That
cross speaks of the love of God. Greater love never has been taught than that
which the cross teaches. What prompted God to give up Christ? what prompted
Christ to die? – if it were not love?
Christ laid down His life for His enemies; Christ laid down His life for His murderers; Christ laid down His life for them that hated Him; and the spirit of the cross, the spirit of Calvary, is love. When they were mocking Him and deriding Him, what did he say?
That. is love. He did not call down fire from heaven to consume them; there was nothing but love in His heart.
.
The Love
of God Is Unchangeable
If you study the Bible you will find that the love of God is unchangeable. Many who loved you at one time have perhaps grown cold in their affection, and turned away from you: it may be that their love is changed to hatred. It is not so with God. It is recorded of Jesus Christ, just when He was about to be parted from His disciples and led away from Calvary, that:
He knew that one of His disciples would betray
Him; yet He loved Judas. He knew that another disciple would deny Him, and swear
that he never knew Him; and yet He loved Peter. It was the love which Christ had
for Peter that broke his heart, and brought him back in penance to the feet of
his Lord. For three years Jesus had been with the disciples trying to teach them
His love, not only by His life and words, but by His works. And, on the night of
His betrayal, He takes a basin of water, girds Himself with a towel, and taking
the place of a servant, washes their feet: He wanted to convince them of His
unchanging love.
There is no portion of Scripture I read so often as John
14.; and there is none that is more sweet to me. I never tire of reading it.
Hear what our Lord says, as He pours out His heart to His disciples':
Think of the great God who created heaven and earth loving you and me...
Would to God that our puny minds could grasp this great truth, that the Father and the Son so love us that They desire to come and abide with us. Not to tarry for a night, but to come and abide in our hearts. We have another passage more wonderful still in John 17:23.
I think that is one of the most remarkable
sayings that ever fell from the lips of Jesus Christ. There
was no reason why the Father should not love Him. He was obedient unto death; He
never transgressed the Father's law, or turned aside from the path of perfect
obedience by one hair's breadth. It is very different with us; and yet,
notwithstanding all our rebellion and foolishness, He says that if we are
trusting in Christ, the Father loves us as He loves the Son. Marvelous love!
Wonderful love! That God can possibly love us as He loves His own Son seems too
good to be true. Yet that is the teaching of Jesus Christ.
It is hard to
make a sinner believe in this unchangeable love of God. When a man has wandered
away from God he thinks that God hates him. We must make a distinction between
sin and the sinner. God loves the sinner; but He hates the sin. He hates sin
because it mars human life. It is just because God loves the sinner that He
hates sin.
.
God's
Love Is Unfailing
God's love is not only unchangeable, but unfailing. In Isaiah 49:15,16 we read:
Now the strongest human love that we know of is a
mother's love. Many things will separate a man from his wife. A father
may turn his back on his child; brothers and sisters may become inveterate
enemies; husbands may desert their wives; wives, their
husbands. But a mother's love endures through all. In good repute, in bad
repute, in the face of the world's condemnation, a mother loves on, and hopes
that her child may turn from his evil ways and repent. She remembers the infant
smiles, the merry laugh of childhood, the promise of youth. Death cannot quench
a mother's love; it is stronger than death.
You have seen a mother
watching over her sick child. How willingly she would take the disease into her
own body if she could thus relieve her child! Week after week she will keep
watch; she will let no one else take care of that sick child.
.
"This Is
My Boy; I Love Him Still"
A friend of mine, some time ago, was visiting in a beautiful
home where he met a number of friends. After they had all gone away, having left
something behind, he went back to get it. There he found the lady of the house,
a wealthy lady, sitting behind a poor fellow who looked like a tramp. He was
her own son. Like the prodigal, he had wandered far away- yet the mother
said, "This is my boy; I love him still." Take a mother with nine or ten
children: if one goes astray, she seems to love that one more than any of the
rest.
The story is told of a young woman in Scotland, who left her home,
and became an outcast in Glasgow. Her mother sought her far and wide, but in
vain. At last, she caused her picture to be hung upon the walls of the Midnight
Mission rooms, where abandoned women resorted. Many gave the picture a passing
glance. One lingered by the picture. It is the same dear face that looked down
upon her in her childhood. She has not forgotten her, nor cast off her sinning
child; or her picture would never have been hung upon those walls. The lips
seemed to open, and whisper, "Come home: I forgive you, and love you still." The
poor girl sank down overwhelmed with her feelings. She was the prodigal
daughter. The sight of her mother's face had broken her heart. She became truly
penitent for her sins, and with a heart full of sorrow and shame, returned to
her forsaken home; and mother and daughter were once more united.
.
The Love
of God Surpasses A Mother's Love
But let me tell you that no mother's love is to be compared with the love of God; it does not measure the height or the depth of God's love. No mother in this world ever loved her child as God loves you and me. Think of the love that God must have had when He gave His Son die for the world. I used to think a good deal more of Christ than I did of the Father. Somehow or other I had the idea that God was a stern judge; that Christ came between me and God, and appeased the anger of God. But after I became a father, and for years had an only son, as I looked at my boy I thought of the Father giving His Son to die; and it seemed to me as if it required more love for the Father to give His Son, than for the Son to die. Oh, the love that God must have had for the world when He gave His Son to die for it!
I have never been able to preach from that text. I have often thought I would: but it is so high that I can never climb to its height; I have just quoted it and passed on. Who can fathom the depth of those words: "God so loved the world"? We can never scale the heights of His love or fathom its depths. Paul prayed that he might know the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth, of the love of God; but it was past his finding out. It "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).
.
The Cross
of Christ Speaks of the Love of God
Nothing speaks to us of the love of God, like the cross of Christ. Come with me to Calvary, and look upon the Son of God as He hangs there. Can you hear that piercing cry from His dying lips: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!" (Luke 23:34) and say that He does not love you?
But; Jesus Christ laid down His life for His
enemies.
Another thought is this: He loved us long before we ever
thought of Him. The idea that He does not love us until we first love Him is not
to be found in Scripture. In 1 John 4:10 it is written:
He loved us before we ever thought of loving
Him. You loved your children before they knew anything about
your love. And so, long before we ever thought of God, we were in His
thoughts.
What brought the prodigal home? It was the thought that his
father loved him. Suppose the news had reached him that he was cast off, and
that his father did not care for him any more, would he have gone back? Never!
But the thought dawned upon him that his father loved him still: so he rose up,
and went back to his home. Dear reader, the love of the Father ought to bring us
back to Him. It was Adam's calamity and sin that revealed God's love. When Adam
fell God came down and dealt in mercy with him. If anyone is lost it will not be
because God does not love him: it will be because he has resisted the love of
God.
.
What Will
Make Heaven Attractive?
Is it the pearly gates or the golden streets? No. Heaven will be
attractive, because there we shall behold Him who loved us so much as to give
His only-begotten Son to die for us. What makes home attractive? Is it the
beautiful furniture and stately rooms? No; some homes with all these are like
whited sepulchres.
In Brooklyn a mother was dying; and it was necessary
to take her child from her, because the little child could not understand the
nature of the sickness, and disturbed her mother. Every night the child sobbed
herself to sleep in a neighbor's house, because she wanted to go back to her
mother's; but the mother grew worse, and they could not take the child home. At
last the mother died; and after her death they thought it best not to let the
child see her dead mother in her coffin. After the burial the child ran into one
room crying "Mamma! mamma!" and then into another crying "Mamma! mamma" and so
went over the whole house, and when the little creature failed to find that
loved one she cried to be taken back to the neighbors. So what makes heaven
attractive is the thought that we shall see Christ who has loved us and given
Himself for us.
If you ask me why God should love us, I cannot tell. I
suppose it is because He is a true Father. It is His nature to love; just as it
is the nature of the sun to shine. He wants you to share in that love. Do not
let unbelief keep you away from Him. Do not think that, because you are a
sinner, God does not love you, or care for you. He does! He wants to save you
and bless you.
Is that not enough to convince you that He loves
you? He would not have died for you if He had not loved you. Is your heart so
hard that you can brace yourself up against His love, and spurn and despise it?
You can do it: but it will be at your peril.
I can imagine some
are saying to themselves, "Yes, we believe that God loves us, if we love Him; we
believe that God loves the pure and the holy." Let me say, my friends, not only
does God love the pure and the holy: He also loves the ungodly.
God sent Him to die for the sins of the whole world. If you belong to the world, then you have part and lot in this love that has been exhibited in the cross of Christ.
.
The
Kidnapping of Charlie Ross
There is a passage in Revelation (1:5) which I think a great deal of–
It might be thought that God would first wash us,
and then love us. But no, He first loved us. About eight years ago there was
intense excitement in America about Charlie Ross, a child of four years old, who
was stolen. Two men in a gig asked him and an older brother if they wanted some
candy. They then drove away with the younger boy, leaving the older one. For
many years a search has been made in every State and
territory. Men have been over to Great Britain, France, and Germany, and have
hunted in vain for the child. The mother still lives in the hope that she will
see her long lost Charlie. I never remember the whole country to have been so
much agitated about any event unless it was the assassination of President
Garfield. Well, suppose the mother of Charlie Ross were in some meeting; and
that while the preacher was speaking, she happened to look down among the
audience and see her long lost son. Suppose that he was poor, dirty and ragged,
shoeless and coatless, what would she do? Would she wait till he was washed and
decently clothed before she would acknowledge him? No, she would get off the
platform at once, rush towards him and take him in her arms. After that she
would cleanse and clothe him. So it is with God. He loved us, and washed us. I
can imagine one saying, "If God loves me, why does He not make me good?" God
wants sons and daughters in heaven; He does not want machines or slaves. He
could break our stubborn hearts, but He wants to draw us towards Himself by the
cords of love.
He wants you to sit down with Him at the marriage supper
of the Lamb; to wash you, and make you whiter than snow. He wants you to walk
with Him the crystal pavement of yonder blissful world. He wants to adopt you
into His family; and to make you a son or a daughter of heaven. Will you trample
His love under your feet? or will you, this hour, give yourself to
Him?
.
A
Mother's Touch
When our terrible civil war was going on, a mother received the
news that her boy had been wounded in the battle of the Wilderness. She took the
first train, and started for her boy; although an order had gone forth from the
War Department that no more women should be admitted within the lines. But a
mother's love knows nothing about orders; and she managed by tears and
entreaties to get through the lines to the Wilderness. At last she found the
hospital where her boy was. Then she went to the doctor and she said: "Will you
let me go to the ward and nurse my boy?" The doctor said "I have just got your
boy to sleep: he is in a very critical state; and I am afraid if you wake him up
the excitement will be so great that it will carry him off. You had better wait
awhile, and remain without until I tell him that you have come and break the
news gradually to him." The mother looked into the doctor's face and said:
"Doctor, supposing my boy does not wake up, and I should never see him alive!
Let me go and sit down by his side; I won't speak to him." "If you will not
speak to him you may do so," said the doctor.
She crept to the cot and
looked into the face of her boy. How she had longed to look at him! How her eyes
seemed to be feasting as she gazed upon his countenance! When she got near
enough she could not keep her hands off; she laid that tender, loving hand upon
his brow. The moment the hand touched the forehead of her boy, he, without
opening his eyes, cried out: "Mother, you have come!" He knew the touch of that
loving hand. There was love and sympathy in it.
.
The
Tenderness of Jesus
Ah, sinner, if you feel the loving touch of Jesus you will
recognize it; it is so full of tenderness. The world may treat you unkindly; but
Christ never will. You will never have a better Friend in this world. What you
need is– to come today to Him. Let His loving arm be underneath you; let His
loving hand be about you; and He will hold you with mighty power. He will keep
you, and fill that heart of yours with His tenderness and love.
I can
imagine some of you saying, "How shall I go to Him?" Why, just as you would go
to your mother. Have you done your mother a great injury and a great wrong? If
so, you go to her and you say, "Mother, I want you to forgive me." Treat Christ
in the same way. Go to Him today and tell Him that you have not loved Him, that
you have not treated Him right; confess your sins, and see how quickly He will
bless you.
.
A Pardon
from Abraham Lincoln
I am reminded of another incident– that of a boy who had been
tried by court-martial and ordered to be shot. The hearts of the father and
mother were broken when they heard the news. In that home was a little girl. She
had read the life of Abraham Lincoln, and she said "Now, if Abraham Lincoln knew
how my father and mother loved their boy, he would not let my brother be shot."
She wanted her father to go to Washington to plead for his boy. But the father
said: "No; there is no use: the law must take its course. They have refused to
pardon one or two who have been sentenced by that court-martial, and an order
has gone forth that the President is not going to interfere again; if a man has
been sentenced by court-martial he must suffer the consequences."
That
father and mother had not faith to believe that their boy might be pardoned. But
the little girl was strong in hope.
She got on the train away up in
Vermont, and started off to Washington. When she reached the White House the
soldiers refused to let her in; but she told her pitiful story, and they allowed
her to pass. When she got to the Secretary's room, where the President's private
secretary was, he refused to allow her to enter the private office of the
President. But the little girl told her story, and it touched the heart of the
private secretary; so he passed her in. As she went into Abraham Lincoln's room,
there were United States senators, generals, governors, and leading politicians,
who were there about important business about the war; but the President
happened to see that child standing at his door. He wanted to know what she
wanted, and she went right to him and told her story in her own language. He was
a father, and the great tears trickled down Abraham Lincoln's cheeks. He wrote a
dispatch and sent it to the army to have that boy sent to Washington at once.
When he arrived, the President pardoned him, gave him thirty days furlough, and
sent him home with the little girl to cheer the hearts of the father and
mother.
Do you want to know how to go to Christ? Go just as that little
girl went to Abraham Lincoln. It may be possible that you have a dark story to
tell. Tell it all out; keep nothing back. If Abraham Lincoln had compassion on
that little girl, heard her petition, and answered it– do you think the Lord
Jesus will not hear your prayer? Do you think that Abraham Lincoln, or any man
that ever lived on earth, had as much compassion as Christ? No! He will be
touched when no one else will; He will have mercy when no one else will; He will
have pity when no one else will. If you will go right to Him, confessing your
sin and your need, He will save you.
.
A
Prisoner's Release
A few years ago a man left England and went to America. He was
an Englishman; but he was naturalized, and so became an American citizen. After
a few years he felt restless and dissatisfied, and went to Cuba; and after he
had been in Cuba a little while civil war broke out; there; it was in 1867; and
this man was arrested by the Spanish government as a spy. He was tried by
court-martial, found guilty, and ordered to be shot. The whole trial was
conducted in the Spanish language, and the poor man did not know what was going
on. When they told him the verdict that he was found guilty and had been
condemned to be shot, he sent to the American Consul and the English Consul, and
laid the whole case before them, proving his innocence and claiming protection.
They examined the case, and found that this man whom the Spanish officers had
condemned to be shot was perfectly innocent. They went to the Spanish General
and said, "This man whom you have condemned to death is an innocent man: he is
not guilty." But the Spanish General said, "He has been tried by our law; he has
been found guilty; he must die." There was no cable; and these men could not
consult with their governments.
The morning came on which the man was to
be executed. He was brought out sitting on his coffin in a cart, and drawn to
the place where he was to be executed. A grave was dug. They took the coffin out
of the cart, placed the young man upon it, took the black cap, and were just
pulling it down over his face. The Spanish soldiers awaited the order to fire.
But just then the American and English consuls rode up. The English Consul
sprang out of the carriage and took the union jack, the British flag, and
wrapped it around the man, and the American Consul wrapped around him in the
star-spangled banner, and then turning to the Spanish officers they said "Fire
upon those flags, if you dare." They did not dare to fire upon the flags. There
were two great governments behind those flags. That was the secret of it.
Thank God we can come under the banner today if we will. His banner of love is over us. Blessed Gospel; blessed, precious, news. Believe it today; receive it into your heart; and enter into a new life. Let the love of God be shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost today: it will drive away darkness; it will drive away gloom; it will drive away sin; and peace and joy shall be yours.
.
.
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CHAPTER 2. Back to Top
The Gateway into
the Kingdom
"Except a man be born again he cannot enter the Kingdom of God"
-John 3:3.
THERE is no portion of the Word of God, perhaps, with which we are more familiar than this passage. I suppose if I were to ask those in any audience if they believed that Jesus Christ taught the doctrine of the New Birth, nine-tenths of them would say "Yes, I believe He did."
.
The Doctrine of the New Birth Most Important
Now if the words of this text are true they embody one of the most solemn questions that can come before us. We can afford to be deceived about many things rather than about this one thing. Christ makes it very plain. He says,
-much less inherit it. This doctrine of the New
Birth is therefore the foundation of all our hopes for the world to come. It is
really the A B C of the Christian religion. My experience has been this- that if
a man is unsound on this doctrine he will be unsound on almost every other
fundamental doctrine in the Bible. A true understanding of this subject will
help a man to solve a thousand difficulties that he may meet with in the Word of
God. Things that before seemed very dark and mysterious will become very
plain.
The doctrine of the New Birth upsets all false religion- all false
views about the Bible and about God. A friend of mine once told me that in one
of his after-meetings a man came to him with a long list of questions written
out for him to answer. He said: "If you can answer these questions
satisfactorily, I have made up my mind to become a Christian." "Do you not
think," said my friend, "that you had better come to Christ first? Then you can
look into these questions." The man thought that perhaps he had better do so.
After he had received Christ, he looked again at his list of questions; but then
it seemed to him as if they had all been answered. Nicodemus came with his
troubled mind and Christ said to him, "Ye must be born again." He was treated
altogether differently from what he expected; but I venture to say that was the
most blessed night in all his life. To be "born again" is the greatest blessing
that will ever come to us in this world.
Notice how the Scripture puts
it.
From amongst a number of other passages where we find this word "EXCEPT" I would just name three.
They all really mean the same thing.
I am
so thankful that our Lord spoke of the New Birth to this
ruler of the Jews, this doctor of the law, rather than to the woman at the well
of Samaria, or to Matthew the publican, or to Zaccheus. If he had reserved His
teaching on this great matter for these three, or such as these, people would
have said: "Oh yes, these publicans and harlots need to be converted: but I am
an upright man; I do not need to be converted." I suppose Nicodemus was one of
the best specimens of the people of Jerusalem: there was nothing on record
against him.
I think it is scarcely necessary for me to prove that we
need to be born again before we are meet for heaven. I venture to say that there
is no candid man but would say he is not fit for the kingdom of God, until he is
born of another Spirit. The Bible teaches us that man is lost and guilty, and
our experience confirms this. We know also that the best and holiest man, when
he turns away from God, falls into sin.
.
What Regeneration Is Not
Now, let me say what Regeneration is not. It is not going to
church. Very often I see people, and ask them if they are Christians. "Yes, of
course I am; at least, I think I am: I go to church every Sunday." Ah, but this
is not Regeneration. Others say, "I am trying to do what is right- am I not a
Christian? Is not that a new birth?" No. What has that to do with being born
again? There is yet another class- those who have "turned over a new leaf," and
think they are regenerated. No; forming a new resolution is not being born
again.
Nor will being baptized do you any good. Yet you hear people say,
"Why, I have been baptized; and I was born again when I was baptized." They
believe that because they were baptized into the church, they were baptized into
the Kingdom of God. I tell you that it is utterly impossible. You may be
baptized into the visible church, and yet not be baptized into the Son of God.
Baptism is all right in its place. God forbid that I should say anything against
it. But if you put that in the place of Regeneration- in the place of the New
Birth- it is a terrible mistake. You cannot be baptized into the Kingdom of
God. "Except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot
see the Kingdom of God." If anyone reading this rests his hopes on anything
else- on any other foundation- I pray that God may sweep it away.
Another
class say, "I go to the Lord's Supper; I partake uniformly of the Sacrament."
Blessed ordinance! Jesus hath said that as often as ye do it, ye commemorate His
death. Yet, that is not being "born again;" that is not passing from death unto
life. Jesus says plainly- and so plainly that there need not be any mistake
about it- "Except a man be born of... the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
Kingdom of God." What has a sacrament to do with that? What
has going to church to do with being born again?
Another man comes up and
says, "I say my prayers regularly." Still I say that is not being born of the
Spirit. It is a very solemn question, then, that comes up before us; and oh that
every reader would ask himself earnestly and. faithfully, "Have I been born
again? Have I been born of the Spirit? Have I passed from death unto
life?"
.
"We Do Not Need to Be Converted"
There is a class of men who say that special religious meetings
are very good for a certain class of people. They would be very good if you
could get the drunkard there, or get the gambler there, or get other vicious
people there- that would do a great deal of good. But "we do not need to be
converted." To whom did Christ utter these words of wisdom? To Nicodemus. Who
was Nicodemus? Was he a drunkard, a gambler, or a thief? No! No doubt he was one
of the very best men in Jerusalem. He was an honorable Councillor; he belonged
to the Sanhedrin; he held a very high position; he was an orthodox man; he was
one of the very soundest men. And yet what did
Christ say to him? "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of
God."
But I can imagine someone saying, "What am I to do? I cannot create
life. I certainly cannot save myself." You certainly cannot; and we do not claim
that you can. We tell you it is utterly impossible to make a man better without
Christ; but that is what men are trying to do. THERE MUST BE A NEW CREATION.
Regeneration is a new creation; and if it is a new creation it must be the work
of God. In the first chapter of Genesis man does not, appear. There is no one
there but God. Man is not there to take part. When God created the earth He was
alone. When Christ redeemed the world He was alone.
The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, and the leopard cannot change his spots. You might as well try to make yourselves pure and holy without the help of God. It would be just as easy for you to do that as for the black man to wash himself white. A man might just as well try to leap over the moon as to serve God in the flesh. Therefore, "that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
.
How to Enter into the Kingdom of God
Now God tells us in this chapter how we are to get into His kingdom. We are not to work our way in- not but that salvation is worth working for. We admit all that. If there were rivers and mountains in the way, it would be well worth while to swim those rivers, and climb those mountains. There is no doubt that salvation is worth all that effort; but we do not obtain it by our works. It is
We work because we are saved; we do not, work to be saved. We work from the cross; but not toward it. It is written,
Why, you must have your salvation before you can
work it out. Suppose I say to my little boy, "I want you to spend that hundred
dollars carefully." "Well," he says, "let me have the hundred dollars; and I
will be careful how I spend it."
I remember when I first left home and
went to Boston; I had spent all my money, and I went to the postoffice three
times a day. I knew there was only one mail a day from home; but I thought by
some possibility there might be a letter for me. At last I received a letter
from my little sister; and oh, how glad I was to get it. She had heard that
there were a great many pickpockets in Boston, and a large part of that letter
was to urge me to be very careful not to let anybody pick my pocket. Now I
required to have something in my pocket before I could have it picked. So you
must have salvation before you can work it out.
When Christ cried out on
Calvary, "It is finished!" (John
19:30), He meant what He said. All that men
have to do now is just to accept of the work of Jesus Christ. There is no hope
for a man or woman so long as they are trying to work out salvation for
themselves. I can imagine there are some people who will say, as Nicodemus
possibly did, "This is a very mysterious thing." I see the scowl on that
Pharisee's brow as he says, "How can these things be?" It sounds very strange to
his ear. "Born again; born of the Spirit! How can these things be?" A great many
people say, "You must reason it out; but if you do not reason it out, do not ask
us to believe it." I can imagine a great many people saying that. When you ask
me to reason it out, I tell you frankly I cannot do it.
I do not understand everything about the wind. You ask me to reason it out. I cannot. It may blow due
north here, and a hundred miles away due south. I may go up a few hundred feet,
and find it blowing in an entirely opposite direction from what it is down here.
You ask me to explain these currents of wind; but suppose that, because I cannot
explain them, and do not understand them, I were to take my stand and assert,
"Oh, there is no such thing as wind." I can imagine some little girl saying, "I
know more about it than that man does; often have I heard the wind, and felt it
blowing against my face;" and she might say, "Did not the wind blow my umbrella
out of my hands the other day? and did I not see it blow a man's hat off in the
street? Have I not seen it blow the trees in the forest, and the growing corn in
the country?"
You might just as well tell me that there is no such thing
as wind, as tell me there is no such thing as a man being born of the Spirit. I
have felt the Spirit of God working in my heart, just as really and as truly as
I have felt the wind blowing in my face. I cannot reason it out. There are a
great many things I cannot reason out, but which I believe I never could reason
out the creation. I can see the world, but I cannot tell how God made it out of
nothing. But almost every man will admit there was a creative power.
.
Impossible to Explain Everything
There are a great many things that I cannot explain and cannot reason out, and yet that I believe. I heard a commercial traveler say that he had heard that the ministry and religion of Jesus Christ were matters of revelation and not of investigation.
There was a party of young men together, going up the country;
and on their journey they made up their minds not to believe anything they could
not reason out. An old man heard them and presently he said, "I heard you say
you would not believe anything you could not reason out."
"Yes," they
said, "that is so."
"Well," he said, "coming down on the train today, I
noticed some geese, some sheep, some swine, and some cattle, all eating grass.
Can you tell me by what process that same grass was turned into hair, feathers,
bristles, and wool? Do you believe it is a fact?"
"Oh yes," they said,
"we cannot help believing that, though we fail to understand it."
"Well,"
said the old man, "I cannot help believing in Jesus Christ."
And I cannot
help believing in the regeneration of man, when I see men who have been
reclaimed, when I see men who have been reformed. Have not some of the very
worst men been regenerated- been picked up out of the pit, and had their feet
set upon the Rock, and a new song put in their mouths? Their tongues were
cursing and blaspheming; and, now are occupied in praising God. Old things have
passed away, and all things have become new. They are not reformed only, but
REGENERATED- new men in Christ Jesus.
.
Practical Results in Real Life
Down there in the dark alleys of one of our great cities is a
poor drunkard. I think if you want to get near hell, you should go to a poor
drunkard's home. Go to the house of that poor miserable drunkard. Is there
anything more like hell on earth? See the want and distress that reign there.
But hark! A footstep is heard at the door, and the children run and hide
themselves. The patient wife waits to meet the man. He has been her torment.
Many a time she has borne about the marks of his blows for weeks. Many a time
that strong right hand has been brought down on her defenseless head. And now
she waits expecting to hear his oaths and suffer his brutal treatment. He comes
in and says to her: "I have been to the Meeting; and I heard there that if I
will I can be converted. I believe that God is able to save me." Go down to that
house again in a few weeks and what a change! As you approach you hear someone
singing. It is not the song of a reveler, but. the strains of that good old
hymn, "Rock of Ages." The children are no longer afraid of the man, but cluster
around his knee. His wife is near him, her face lit up with a happy glow. Is not
that a picture of Regeneration? I can take you to many such homes, made happy by
the regenerating power of the religion of Christ. What men want is the power to
overcome temptation, the power to lead a right life.
The only way to get
into the kingdom of God is to be "born" into
it. The law in this country requires that the President should be born in this
country. When foreigners come to our shores they have no right to complain
against such a law, which forbids them from ever becoming Presidents. Now, has
not God a right to make a law that all those who become heirs of eternal life
must be "born" into His kingdom?
An unregenerated man would rather be in
hell than in heaven. Take a man whose heart is full of corruption and wickedness
and place him in heaven among the pure, the holy, and the redeemed; and he would
not want to stay there. Certainly, if we are to be happy in heaven we must begin
to make a heaven here on earth. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared
people. If a gambler or a blasphemer were taken out of the streets of New York
and placed on the crystal pavement of Heaven and under the shadow of the tree of
life he would say, "I do not want to stay here." If men were taken to heaven
just as they are by nature, without having their hearts regenerated, there would
be another rebellion in heaven. Heaven is filled with a company of those who
have been TWICE BORN.
In the 14th and 15th verses of this chapter we
read:
.
"Whosoever"
Mark that! Let me tell you who are unsaved what God has done for you. He has done everything that He could do toward your salvation. You need not wait for God to do anything more. In one place He asks the question, what more could He have done.
He sent His prophets, and they killed them; then
He sent His beloved Son, and they murdered Him. Now He has sent the Holy Spirit
to convince us of sin and to show how we are to be saved.
In this chapter
we are told how men are to be saved, namely, by Him who was lifted up on the
cross. Just as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life" (John
3:15). If you are lost,, it will not be on account of Adam's
sin.
.
The Case Illustrated
Let me illustrate this; and perhaps you will be better able to
understand it. Suppose I am dying of consumption, which I inherited from my
father or mother. I did not get the disease by any fault of my own, by any
neglect of my health; I inherited it, let us suppose. A friend happens to come
along he looks at me, and says, "Moody, you have consumption."
I reply,
"I know it very well; I do not want anyone to tell me that."
"But," he
says, "there is a remedy."
"But, sir, I do not believe it. I have tried
the leading physicians in this country and in Europe; and they tell me there is
no hope."
"But you know me, Moody; you have known me for
years."
"Yes, sir."
"Do you think, then I would tell you a
falsehood?"
"No."
"Well, ten years ago I was as far gone. I was
given up by the physicians to die; but I took this medicine and it cured, me. I
am perfectly well. Look at me."
I say that it is "a very strange
case."
"Yes, it may be strange; but it is a fact. The medicine cured me:
take this medicine, and it will cure you. Although it has cost me a great deal,
it shall not cost you anything. Do not make light of it, I beg of
you."
"Well," I say, "I should like to believe you; but this is contrary
to my reason."
Hearing this, my friend goes away and returns with another
friend, and that one testifies to the same thing. I am still disbelieving; so he
goes away, and brings in another friend, and another, and another, and another;
and they all testify to the same thing. They say they were as bad as myself;
that they took the same medicine that has been offered to me; and that it has
cured them. My friend then hands me the medicine. I dash it to the ground; I do
not believe in its saving power; I die. The reason is then that I spurned the
remedy. So, if you perish, it will not be because Adam fell; but because you
spurned the remedy offered to save you. You will choose darkness rather than
light. How then shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? There is no
hope for you if you neglect the remedy. It does no good to look at the wound. If
we had been in the Israelitish camp and had been bitten by one of the fiery
serpents, it would have done us no good to look at the wound. Looking at a wound
will never save anyone. What you must do is to look at the Remedy- look away to
Him who hath power to save you from your sin.
Behold the camp of the
Israelites; look at the scene that is pictured to your eyes! Many are dying
because they neglect the remedy that is offered. In that arid desert is many a
short and tiny grave; many a child has been bitten by the fiery serpents.
Fathers and mothers are bearing away their children. Over yonder they are just
burying a mother; a loved mother is about to be laid in the earth. All the
family, weeping, gather around the beloved form. You hear the mournful cries;
you see the bitter tears. The father is being borne away to his last resting
place. There is wailing going up all over the camp. Tears are pouring down for
thousands who have passed away; thousands more are dying; and the plague is
raging from one end of the camp to the other.
.
Life in a Look
I see in one tent an Israelitish mother bending over the form of
a beloved boy just coming into the bloom of life, just budding into manhood. She
is wiping away the sweat of death that is gathering upon his brow. Yet a little
while, and his eyes are fixed and glassy, for life is ebbing fast away. The
mother's heart-strings are torn and bleeding. All at once she hears a. noise in
the camp. A great shout goes up. What does it mean? She goes to the door of the
tent. "What is the noise in the camp?" she asks those passing by. And someone
says:
"Why, my good woman have you not heard the good news that has come
into the camp?"
"No," says the woman, "Good news! What is
it?"
"Why, have you not heard about it? God has provided a
remedy."
"What! for the bitten Israelites? Oh, tell me what the remedy
is!"
"Why, God has instructed Moses to make a brazen serpent, and to put
in on a pole in the middle of the camp; and He has declared that whosoever looks
upon it shall live. The shout that you hear is the shout, of the people when
they see the serpent lifted up."
The mother goes back into the tent, and she says" "My boy, I
have good news to tell you. You need not die! My boy, my boy, I have come with
good tidings; you can live!" He is already getting stupefied; he is so weak he
cannot walk to the door of the tent. She puts her strong arms under him and
lifts him up. "Look yonder; look right there under the hill!" But the boy does
not see anything; he says:
"I do not see anything; what is it,
mother?"
And she says: "Keep looking, and you will see it."
At
last he catches a glimpse of the glistening serpent; and lo, he is well! And
thus it is with many a young convert. Some men say, "Oh, we do not believe in
sudden conversions." How long did it take to cure that boy? How long did it take
to cure those serpent-bitten Israelites? It was just a look; and they were
well.
That Hebrew boy is a young convert. I can fancy that, I see him now
calling on all those who were with him to praise God. He sees another young man
bitten as he was; and he runs up to him and tells him, "You need not
die."
"Oh," the young man replies, "I cannot live; it is not possible.
There is not a physician in Israel who can cure me." He does not know that he
need not die.
"Why, have you not heard the news? God has provided a
remedy."
"What remedy?"
"Why, God has told Moses to lift up a
brazen serpent, and has said that none of those who look upon that serpent shall
die."
I can just imagine the young man. He may be what you call an
intellectual young man. He says to the young convert- "You do not think I am
going to believe anything like that? If the physicians in Israel cannot cure me,
how do you think that an old brass serpent on a pole is going to cure
me?"
"Why, sir, I was as bad as yourself!"
"You do not say
so!"
"Yes, I do."
"That is the most astonishing thing I ever
heard," says the young man. "I wish you would explain the philosophy of
it."
"I cannot. I only know that I looked at that serpent, and I was
cured. That, did it.
I Just Looked; That is All
"My mother told me
the reports that were being heard through the camp; and I just believed what my
mother said, and I am perfectly well."
"Well, I do not believe you were
bitten as badly as I have been."
The young man pulls up his sleeve. "Look
there! That mark shows where I was bitten; and I tell you I was worse than you
are."
"Well, if I understood the philosophy of it I would look and get
well."
"Let your philosophy go: look and live."
"But, sir,
you ask me to do an unreasonable thing. If God had said, Take the brass and rub
it into the wound, there might be something in the brass that would cure the
bite. Young man, explain the philosophy of it."
I have often seen people
before me who have talked in that way. But the young man calls in another, and
takes him into the tent, and says: "Just tell him how the Lord saved you;" and
he tells just the same story; and he calls in others, and they all say the same
thing.
The young man says it is a very strange thing. "If the Lord had
told Moses to go and get some herbs, or roots, and stew them, and take the
product as a medicine, there would be something in that. But it is so contrary
to nature to do such a thing as look at the serpent, that I cannot do
it."
At length his mother, who has been out in the camp, comes in, and
she says, "My boy, I have just the best news in the world for you. I was in the
camp, and I saw hundreds who were very far gone, and they are all perfectly well
now."
The young man says: "I should like to get well; it is a very
painful thought to die; I want to go into the promised land, and it is terrible
to die here in this wilderness; but the fact is- I do not understand the remedy.
It does not appeal to my reason. I cannot believe that I can get well in a
moment." And the young man dies in consequence of his own unbelief.
.
God's Remedy for Sin
God provided a remedy for this bitten Israelite- "Look and
live!" And there is eternal life for every poor sinner. Look, and you can be
saved, my reader, this very hour. God has provided a remedy; and it is offered
to all. The trouble is, a great many people are looking at the pole. Do not look
at the pole; that is the church. You need not look at the church; the church is
all right, but the church cannot save you. Look beyond the pole. Look at the
Crucified One. Look to Calvary. Bear in mind, sinner, that Jesus died for all.
You need not look at ministers; they are just God's chosen instruments to hold
up the Remedy, to hold up Christ. And so, my friend, take your eyes off from
men; take your eyes off from the church. Lift them up to Jesus; who took away
the sin of the world and there will be life for you from this hour.
Thank
God, we do not require education to teach us how to look. That little girl, that
little boy, only four years old, who cannot read, can look. When the father is
coming home, the mother says to her little boy, "Look! look! look!" and the
little child learns to look long before he is a year old. And that is the way to
be saved. It is to look at
and there is life this moment for every one who is willing to look.
.
How to Be Saved
Some men say, "I wish I knew how to be saved." Just take God at
His word and trust His Son this very day- this very hour– this very moment. He
will save you if you will trust Him. I imagine I hear someone saying, "I do not
feel the bite as much as I wish I did. I know I am a sinner, and all that; but I
do not feel the bite enough." How much does God want you to feel it?
When
I was in Belfast I knew a doctor who had a friend, a leading surgeon there; and
he told me that the surgeon's custom was, before performing any operation, to
say to the patient, "Take a good look at the wound, and then fix your eyes on
me; and do not take them off till I get through." I thought at the time that was
a good illustration. Sinner, take a good look at your wound; and then fix your
eyes on Christ, and do not take them off. It is better to look at the Remedy
than at the wound. See what a poor wretched sinner you are; and then
look at "the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world." He died for the ungodly and the
sinner. Say "I will take Him!" And may God help you to lift your eye to the Man
on Calvary. And as the Israelites looked upon the serpent and were healed, so
may you look and live.
.
The Dying Soldier
After the battle of Pittsburgh Landing I was in a hospital at
Murfreesboro. In the middle of the night I was aroused and told that a man in
one of the wards wanted to see me. I went to him and he called me "chaplain"- I
was not the chaplain- and said he wanted me to help him die.
And I said,
"I would take you right up in my arms and carry you into the kingdom of God if I
could; but I cannot do it. I cannot help you die!"
And he said, "Who
can?"
I said, "The Lord Jesus Christ can- He came for that
purpose."
He shook his head, and said, "He cannot save me; I have sinned
all my life."
And I said, "But He came to save sinners."
I thought
of his mother in the north, and I was sure that she was anxious that he should
die in peace; so I resolved I would stay with him. I prayed two or three times,
and repeated all the promises I could; for it was evident that in a few hours he
would be gone.
I said I wanted to read him a conversation that Christ had
with a man who was anxious about his soul. I turned to the third chapter of
John. His eyes were riveted on me; and when I came to the 14th and 15th verses-
the passage before us- he caught up the words,
He stopped me and said, "Is that there?"
I
said "Yes." He asked me to read it again; and I did so.
He leaned his
elbows on the cot, and clasping his hands together, said, "That's good; won't
you read it again?"
I read it the third time; and then went on with the
rest of the chapter. When I had finished, his eyes were closed, his hands were
folded, and there was a smile on his face. Oh, how it was lit up! What a change
had come over it! I saw his lips quivering, and leaning over him I heard in a
faint whisper,
He opened his eyes and said, "That's enough; don't
read any more." He lingered a few hours, pillowing his head on those two verses;
and then went up in one of Christ's chariots to take his seat in the Kingdom of
God.
Christ said to Nicodemus:
You may see many countries; but there is one country- the land of Beulah, which John Bunyan saw in vision- you shall never behold, unless you are born again- regenerated by Christ. You can look abroad and see many beautiful trees; but the tree of life you shall never behold unless your eyes are made clear by faith in the Saviour. You may see the beautiful rivers of the earth- you may ride upon their bosoms; but bear in mind that your eye will never rest upon the river which bursts out from the Throne of God and flows through the upper Kingdom, unless you are born again. God has said it; and not man. You will never see the kingdom of God except you are born again. You may see the kings and lords of the earth; but the King of kings and Lord of lords you will never see except you are born again. When you are in London you may go to the Tower and see the crown of England, which is worth thousands of dollars, and is guarded there by soldiers; but bear in mind that your eye will never rest upon the crown of life except you are born again.
.
What Those Not Born Again Shall Miss
You may hear the songs of Zion which are sung here; but one song- that of Moses and the Lamb- the uncircumcised ear shall never hear: its melody will only gladden the ear of those who have been born again. You may look upon the beautiful mansions of earth; but bear in mind that the mansions which Christ has gone to prepare you shall never see unless you are born again. It is God who says it. You may see ten thousand beautiful things in this world; but the city that Abraham caught a glimpse of- and from that time became a pilgrim and sojourner- you shall never see unless you are born again (Hebrews 11:8, 10-16). You may often be invited to marriage feasts here; but you will never attend the marriage supper of the Lamb except you are born again. It is God who says it, dear friend. You may be looking on the face of your sainted mother tonight, and feel that she is praying for you; but the time will come when you shall never see her anymore unless you are born again.
.
A Promise Made to Mother
The reader may be a young man or a young lady who has recently
stood by the bedside of a dying mother; and she may have said, "Be sure and meet
me in heaven," and you made the promise. Ah! you shall never see her anymore,
except you are born again. I believe Jesus of Nazareth sooner than those
infidels who say you do not need to be born again. Parents, if you hope to see
your children who have gone before, you must be born of the Spirit. Possibly you
are a father or a mother who has recently borne a loved one to the grave; and
how dark your home seems! Never again will you see your child, unless you are
born again. If you wish to be reunited to your loved one, you must be born
again.
I may be addressing a father or a mother who has a loved one up
yonder. If you could hear that loved one's voice, it would say, "Come this way."
Have you a sainted friend up yonder? Young man or young lady, have you not a
mother in the world of light? If you could hear her speak, would not she say,
"Come this way, my son,"- "Come this way, my daughter"? If you would ever see
her anymore you must be born again.
We all have an Elder Brother there.
Over nineteen hundred years ago He crossed over, and from the heavenly shores He
is calling you to heaven. Let us turn our backs upon the world. Let us give a
deaf ear to the world. Let us look to Jesus on the Cross and be saved. Then we
shall one day see the King in His beauty, and we shall go no more
out.
.
.
.
CHAPTER 3. Back to Top
The Two Classes
"Two men
went up into the temple to pray" -Luke 18:10.
I NOW want to speak of two classes:
All inquirers can be ranged under two heads: they
have either the spirit of the Pharisee, or the spirit of the publican.
If
a man having the spirit of the Pharisee comes into the after-meeting, I know of
no better portion of Scripture to meet his case than Romans 3:10:
Paul is here speaking of the natural man.
And in the 17th verse and those which follow, we have:
.
Who Have Sinned?
Then observe the last clause of verse 22:
Not part of the human family- but all- "have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Another verse which has been very much used to convict men of their sin is 1 John 1:8:
I remember that on one occasion we were holding meetings in an eastern city of forty thousand inhabitants; and a lady came and asked us to pray for her husband, whom she purposed bringing into the after-meeting. I have traveled a good deal and met many pharisaical men; but this man was so clad in self-righteousness that you could not get the point of the needle of conviction in anywhere. I said to his wife: "I am glad to see your faith: but we cannot get near him; he is the most self-righteous man I ever saw." She said: "You must! My heart will break if these meetings end without his conversion." She persisted in bringing him; and I got almost tired of the sight of him.
.
Asked Prayers for Himself
But towards the close of our meetings of thirty days, he came up
to me and put his trembling hand on my shoulder. The place in which the meetings
were held was rather cold, and there was an adjoining room in which only the gas
had been lighted; and he said to me, "Can't you come in here for a few minutes?"
I thought that he was shaking from cold, and I did not particularly wish to go
where it was colder. But he said: "I am the worst man in the State of Vermont. I
want you to pray for me." I thought he had committed a murder, or some other
awful crime; and I asked: "Is there any one sin that particularly troubles you?"
And he said: "My whole life has been a sin. I have been a conceited,
self-righteous Pharisee. I want you to pray for me." He was under deep
conviction. Man could not have produced this result; but the Spirit had. About
two o'clock in the morning light broke in upon his soul; and he went up and down
the business street of the city and told what God had done for him; and has been
a most active Christian ever since.
There are four other passages in
dealing with inquirers, which were used by Christ Himself.
In Luke 13:3
we read:
In Matthew 18, when the disciples came to Jesus to know who was to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, we are told that He took a little child and set him in the midst and said,
There is another important "Except" in Matthew 5:20:
A man must be made meet before he will want to go into the kingdom of God. I would rather go into the kingdom with the younger brother than stay outside with the elder. Heaven would be hell to such an one. An elder brother who could not rejoice at his younger brother's return would not be "fit" for the kingdom of God. It is a solemn thing to contemplate; but the curtain drops and leaves him outside, and the younger brother within. To him the language of the Saviour under other circumstances seems appropriate:
.
Defending the Elder Brother
A lady once came to me and wanted a favor for her daughter. She
said: "You must remember I do not sympathize with you in your doctrine." I
asked: "What is your trouble?" She said: "I think your abuse of the elder
brother is horrible. I think he is a noble character." I said that I was willing
to hear her defend him; but that it was a solemn thing to take up such a
position; and that the elder brother needed to be converted as much as the
younger. When people talk of being moral it is as well to get them to have a
good look at the old man pleading with his boy who would not go in.
But
we will pass on now to the other class with which we have to deal. It is
composed of those who are convinced of sin and from whom the cry comes as from
the Philippian jailer, "What must I do to be
saved?" To those who utter this penitential cry there is no necessity to
administer the law. It is well to bring them straight to the Scripture:
Many will meet you with a scowl and say, "I don't
know what it is to believe." And though it is the law of heaven that they must
believe, in order to be saved- yet they ask for something besides that. We are
to tell them what, and where, and how, to believe.
In John 3:35 and 36 we
read:
.
Now This Looks Reasonable
Man lost life by unbelief- by not believing God's word; and we
get life back again by believing- by taking God at His word. In other words we
get up where Adam fell down. He stumbled and fell over the stone of unbelief;
and we are lifted up and stand upright by believing. When people say they cannot
believe, show them chapter and verse and hold them right to this one thing: "Has
God ever broken His promise for these six thousand years?" The devil and men
have been trying all the time and have not succeeded in showing that He has
broken a single promise; and there would be a jubilee in hell today if one word
that He has spoken could be broken. If a man says that he cannot believe it is
well to press him on that one thing.
I can believe God better today than
I can my own heart.
I can believe God better than I can myself. If you
want to know the way of life, believe that Jesus Christ is a personal Saviour;
cut away from all doctrines and creeds, and come right to the heart of the Son
of God. If you have been feeding on dry doctrine there is not much growth on
that kind of food. Doctrines are to the soul what the streets which lead to the
house of a friend who has invited me to dinner are to the body. They will lead
me there if I take the right one; but if I remain in the streets my hunger will
never be satisfied. Feeding on doctrines is like trying to live on dry husks;
and lean indeed must the soul remain which partakes not of the Bread sent down
from heaven.
Some ask: "How am I to get my heart warmed?" It is by
believing. You do not get power to love and serve God until you
believe.
The apostle John says:
.
The Value of the Testimony of Men
Human affairs would come to a standstill if we did not take the
testimony of men. How should we get on in the ordinary intercourse of life and
how would commerce get on, if we disregarded men's testimony? Things social and
commercial would come to a deadlock within forty-eight hours! This is the drift
of the apostle's argument here. "If we receive
the witness of men the witness of God is greater." God has borne witness to
Jesus Christ. and if man can believe his fellow-men who are frequently telling
untruths and whom we are constantly finding unfaithful, why should we not take
God at His word and believe His testimony?
Faith is a belief in
testimony. It is not a leap in the dark, as some tell us. That would be no faith
at all. God does not ask any man to believe without giving him something to
believe. You might as well ask a man to see without eyes; to hear without ears;
and to walk without feet as to bid him believe without giving him something to
believe.
When I started for California I procured a guidebook. This told
me, that after leaving the State of Illinois, I should cross the Mississippi,
and then the Missouri; get into Nebraska; then go over the Rocky Mountains to
the Mormon settlement at Salt Lake City, and procede by the way of the Sierra
Nevada into San Francisco. I found the guidebook all right as I went along; and
I should have been a miserable skeptic if, having proved it to be correct
three-fourths of the way, I had said that I would not believe it for the
remainder of the journey.
Suppose a man, in directing me to the
postoffice, gives me ten landmarks; and that, in my progress there, I find nine
of them to be as he told me; I should have good reason to believe that I was
coming to the postoffice.
And if, by believing, I get a new life, and a
hope, a peace, a joy, and a rest to my soul, that I never had before; if I get
self-control, and find that I have a power to resist evil and to do good, I have
pretty good proof that I am in the right road to the "city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). And if things have
taken place, and are now taking place, as recorded in God's Word, I have good
reason to conclude that what yet remains will be fulfilled. And yet people talk
of doubting. There can be no true faith where there is fear. Faith is to take
God at His word, unconditionally. There cannot be true peace where there is
fear. "Perfect love casteth out fear" (1
John 4:18). How wretched a wife would be
if she doubted her husband! and how miserable a mother would feel if after her
boy had gone away from home she had reason, from his neglect, to question that
son's devotion! True love never has a doubt.
.
Knowledge, Assent, Appropriation
There are three things indispensable to faith- knowledge,
assent, and appropriation.
We must know God.
Then we must not only give our assent to what we
know; but we must lay hold of the truth. If a man simply gives his assent to the
plan of salvation, it will not save him. He must accept Christ as his Saviour.
He must receive and appropriate Him.
Some say they cannot tell how a
man's life can be affected by his belief. But let someone cry out that some
building in which we happen to be sitting, is on fire; and see how soon we
should act on our belief and get out. We are all the time influenced by what we
believe. We cannot help it. And let a man believe the record that God has given
of Christ, and it will very quickly affect his whole life.
Take John
5:24. There is enough truth in that one verse for every soul to rest upon for
salvation. It does not admit the shadow of a doubt.
Now if a person really hears the word of Jesus and believes with the heart on God who sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world, and lays hold of and appropriates this great salvation, there is no fear of judgment. He will not be looking forward with dread to the Great White Throne; for we read in 1 John 4:17:
If we believe, there is for us no condemnation, no judgment. That is behind us, and passed; and we shall have boldness in the day of judgment.
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Had the Pardon in His Pocket
I remember reading of a man who was on trial for his life. He
had friends with influence; and they procured a pardon for him from the king on
condition that he was to go through the trial, and be condemned. He went into
court with the pardon in his pocket. The feeling ran very high against him, and
the judge said that the court was shocked that he was so much unconcerned. But,
when the sentence was pronounced, he pulled out the pardon, presented it, and
walked out a free man. He had been pardoned; and so have we. Then let death
come, we have nothing to fear. All the gravediggers in the world cannot dig a
grave large enough and deep enough to hold eternal life; all the coffin-makers
in the world cannot make a coffin large enough and tight enough to hold eternal
life. Death has had his hand on Christ once, but never again.
Jesus
said:
And in the Apocalypse we read that the risen Saviour said to John,
Death cannot touch Him again.
We get life by believing.
In fact we get more than Adam lost; for the redeemed child of God is heir to a
richer and more glorious inheritance than Adam in Paradise could ever have
conceived: yea, and that inheritance endures for ever- it is
inalienable.
I would much rather have my life hid with Christ in God than
have lived in Paradise; for Adam might have sinned and fallen after being there
ten thousand years. But the believer is safer, if these things become real to
him. Let us make them a fact, and not a fiction. God has said it; and that is
enough. Let us trust Him even where we cannot trace Him. Let the same confidence
animate us that was in little Maggie as related in the following simple but
touching incident which I read in the Bible Treasury:-
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The Story of Maggie
Now, we have power to see and to hear, and we have power to believe. It is all folly for the inquirers to take the ground that they cannot believe. They can, if they will. But the trouble with most people is that they have connected FEELING with BELIEVING. Now Feeling has nothing whatever to do with Believing. The Bible does not say- He that feeleth, or he that feeleth and believeth, hath everlasting life. Nothing of the kind. I cannot control my feelings. If I could, I should never feel ill, or have a headache or toothache. I should be well all the while. But I can believe God; and if we get our feet on that rock, let doubts and fears come and the waves surge around us, the anchor will hold.
.
The Right Kind of Faith
Some people are all the time looking at their faith. Faith is
the hand that takes the blessing. I heard this illustration of a beggar. Suppose
you were to meet a man in the street whom you had known for years as being
accustomed to beg; and you offered him some money, and he were to say to
you:
"I thank you; I don't want your money: I am not a
beggar."
"How is that?"
"Last night a man put a thousand dollars
into my hands."
"He did! How did you know it was good money?"
"I
took it to the bank and deposited it and have got a bank-book."
"How did
you get this gift?"
"I asked for alms; and after the gentleman talked
with me he took out a thousand dollars in money and put it in my
hand."
"How do you know that he put it in the right hand?"
"What
do I care about which hand; just so I have got the money."
Many people
are always thinking whether the faith by which they lay hold of Christ is the
right kind- but what is far more essential is to see that we have the right kind
of Christ.
Faith is the eye of the soul; and who would ever think of
taking out an eye to see if it were the right kind so long as the sight was
perfect? It is not my taste, but is what I taste, that satisfies my appetite.
So, dear friends, it is taking God at His Word that is the means of our
salvation. The truth cannot be made too simple.
There is a man living in
the City of New York who has a home on the Hudson River. His daughter and her
family went to spend the winter with him; and in the course of the season the
scarlet fever broke out. One little girl was put in quarantine, to be kept
separate from the rest. Every morning the old grandfather used to go and bid his
grandchild "Good bye," before going to his business. On one of these occasions
the little thing took the old man by the hand, and, leading him to a corner of
the room, without saying a word she pointed to the floor where she had arranged
some small crackers so they would spell out, "Grandpa, I want a box of paints."
He said nothing. On his return home he hung up his overcoat and went to the room
as usual; when his little grandchild, without looking to see if her wish had
been compiled with, took him into the same corner, where he saw spelled out in
the same way, "Grandpa, I thank you for the box of paints." The old man would
not have missed gratifying the child for anything. That was faith.
Faith
is taking God at His word; and those people who want some token are always
getting into trouble. We want to come to this: GOD SAYS IT- LET US BELIEVE
IT.
But some say, Faith is the gift of God. So is the air; but you have
to breathe it. So is the bread; but you have to eat it. So is water; but you
have to drink it. Some are wanting a miraculous kind of feeling. That is not faith.
That is whence faith comes. It is not for me to
sit down and wait for faith to come stealing over me with a strange sensation;
but it is for me to take God at His word. And you cannot believe, unless you
have something to believe. So take the Word as it is written, and appropriate
it, and lay hold of it.
In John 6:47-48 we read:
There is the bread right at hand. Partake of it. I might have thousands of loaves within my home, and as many hungry men in waiting. They might assent to the fact that the bread was there; but unless they each took a loaf and commenced eating, their hunger would not be satisfied. So Christ is the Bread of heaven; and as the body feeds on natural food, so the soul must feed on Christ.
.
Faith Illustrated
If a drowning man sees a rope thrown out to rescue him he must lay hold of it; and in order to do so he must let go everything else. If a man is sick he must take the medicine- for simply looking at it will not cure him. A knowledge of Christ will not help the inquirer, unless he believes in Him, and takes hold of Him as his only hope. The bitten Israelites might have believed that the serpent was lifted up; but unless they had looked they would not have lived.
I believe that a certain line of steamers will convey me across the ocean, because I have tried it: but this will not help another man who may want to go, unless he acts upon my knowledge. So a knowledge of Christ does not help us unless we act upon it. That is what it is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to act on what we believe. As a man steps on board a steamer to cross the Atlantic, so we must take Christ and make a commitment of our souls to Him; and He has promised to keep all who put their trust in Him. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is simply to take Him at His word.
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CHAPTER 4. Back to Top
Words of
Counsel
"A
bruised reed shall He not break" -Isaiah 42:3; Matthew
12:20.
IT IS DANGEROUS for those who are seeking salvation to lean upon the experience of other people. Many are waiting for a repetition of the experience of their grandfather or grandmother. I had a friend who was converted in a field; and he thinks the whole town ought to go down into that meadow and be converted. Another was converted under a bridge; and he thinks that if any inquirer were to go there he would find the Lord. The best thing for the anxious is to go right to the Word of God. If there are any persons in the world to whom the Word ought to be very precious it is those who are asking how to be saved.
.
Excuses Offered
For instance a man may say, "I have no strength." Let him turn to Romans 5:6.
It is because we have no strength that we need
Christ. He has come to give strength to the weak.
Another may say, "I
cannot see." Christ says,
He came, not only to give light, but
Another may say, "I do not think a man can be saved all at once." A person holding that view was in the Inquiry-room one night; and I drew his attention to Romans 6:23.
How long does it take to accept a gift? There must
be a moment when you have it not, and another when you have
it- a moment when it is another's, and the next when it is yours. It does not
take six months to get eternal life. It may however in some cases be like the
mustard seed, very small at the commencement. Some people are converted so
gradually that, like the morning light, it is impossible to tell when the dawn
began; while, with others, it is like the flashing of a meteor and the truth
bursts upon them suddenly.
I would not go across the street to prove when
I was converted; but what is important is for me to know that I really have
been.
It may be that a child has been so carefully trained that it is
impossible to tell when the new birth began; but there must have been a moment
when the change took place, and when he became a partaker of the Divine
nature.
.
Instantaneous Conversions
Some people do not believe in SUDDEN CONVERSION. But I will challenge anyone to show a conversion in the New Testament that was not instantaneous.
Nothing could be more sudden than
that.
Zaccheus, the publican, sought to see Jesus; and because he was
little of stature he climbed up a tree. When Jesus came to the place He looked
up and saw him, and said,
His conversion must have taken place somewhere between the branch and the ground. We are told that he received Jesus joyfully, and said,
Very few in these days could say that in proof of
their conversion.
The whole house of Cornelius was converted suddenly;
for as Peter preached Christ to him and his company the Holy Ghost fell on them,
and they were baptized (Acts 10).
On the day of Pentecost three thousand
gladly received the Word. They were not only converted, but they were baptized
the same day (Acts 2).
And when Philip talked to the eunuch, as they
went on their way, the eunuch said to Philip,
Nothing hindered. And Philip said,
You will find all through Scripture that
conversions were sudden and instantaneous.
A man has been in the habit of
stealing money from his employer. Suppose he has taken $1,000 in twelve months;
should we tell him to take $500 the next year, and less the next year, and the
next, until in five years the sum taken would be only $50? That would be upon
the same principle as gradual conversion.
If such a
person were brought before the court and pardoned, because he could not change
his mode of life all at once, it would be considered a very strange
proceeding.
.
How to Stop Stealing
But the Bible says,
It is "right about face!" Suppose a person is in
the habit of cursing one hundred times a day: should we advise him not to utter
more than ninety oaths the following day, and eighty the next day; so that in
the course of time he would get rid of the habit?
God's Word commands
that we do not curse.
Suppose another man is in the habit of getting drunk and beating his wife twice a month; if he only did so once a month, and then only once in six months, that would be, upon the same ground, as reasonable as gradual conversion. Suppose Ananias had been sent to Paul, when he was on his way to Damascus breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples, and casting them into prison, to tell him not to kill so many as he intended; and to let enmity die out of his heart, gradually, but not all at once. Suppose he had been told that it would not do to stop breathing out threatenings and slaughter, and to commence preaching Christ all at once, because the philosophers would say that the change was so sudden it would not hold out; this would be the same kind of reasoning as is used by those who do not believe in instantaneous conversion.
.
Afraid That They Will Not Hold Out
Then another class say that they are afraid that they will not hold out. This is a numerous and a very hopeful class. I like to see a man distrust himself. It is a good thing to get such to look to God, and to remember that it is not he who holds God, but that it is God who holds him. Some want to get hold of Christ; but the thing is to get Christ to take hold of you in answer to prayer. Let such read Psalm 121:
Someone calls that the traveler's psalm. It is a
beautiful psalm for those of us who are pilgrims through this world; and one
with which we should be well acquainted.
God can do what He has done
before. He kept Joseph in Egypt; Moses before Pharaoh; Daniel in Babylon; and
enabled Elijah to stand before Ahab in that dark day. And I am thankful that
these I have mentioned were men of like passions with ourselves. It was God who
made them so great. What man wants is to look to God. Real true faith is man's
weakness leaning on God's strength. When man has no strength, if he leans on God
he becomes powerful. The trouble is that we have too much strength and
confidence in ourselves.
Again in Hebrews 6:17-20.
.
Fear of Not "Holding Out"
Now these are precious verses to those who are afraid of falling, who fear that they will not hold out. It is God's work to hold. It is the Shepherd's business to keep the sheep. Who ever heard of the sheep going to bring back the shepherd? People have an idea that they have to keep themselves and Christ too. It is a false idea. It is the work of the Shepherd to look after them, and to take care of those who trust Him. And He has promised to do it. I once heard that when a sea captain was dying he said, "Glory to God; the anchor holds." He trusted in Christ. His anchor had taken hold of the solid rock. An Irishman said, on one occasion, that "he trembled; but the Rock never did." We want to get sure footing. In 2 Timothy 1:12 Paul says:
That was Paul's persuasion.
During the late
war of the rebellion, one of the chaplains, going through the hospitals, came to
a man who was dying. Finding that he was a Christian, he asked to what
persuasion he belonged, and was told "Paul's persuasion."
"Is he a
Methodist?" he asked; for the Methodists all claim Paul.
"No."
"Is
he a Presbyterian?" for the Presbyterians lay special claim to
Paul.
"No," was the answer.
"Does he belong to the Episcopal
Church?" for all the Episcopalian brethren contend that they have a claim to the
Chief Apostle.
"No," he was not an Episcopalian.
"Then, to what
persuasion does he belong?"
"I 'am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I have committed unto Him against that day.'"
It is a grand
persuasion; and it gave the dying soldier rest in a dying hour.
Let those
who fear that they will not hold out turn to the 24th verse of the Epistle of
Jude:
Then look at Isaiah 41:10:
Then see verse 13:
.
It Is God Who Keeps
Now if God has got hold of my right hand in His, cannot He hold
me and keep me? Has not God the power to keep? The great God who made heaven and
earth can keep a poor sinner like you and like me if we trust Him. To refrain
from feeling confidence in God for fear of falling- would be like a man who
refused a pardon for fear that he should get into prison again; or a drowning
man who refused to be rescued, for fear of falling into the water
again.
Many men look forth at the Christian life, and fear that
they will not have sufficient strength to hold
out to the end. They forget the promise that
It reminds me of the pendulum to the clock which grew disheartened at the thought of having to travel so many thousands of miles; but when it reflected that the distance was to be accomplished by "tick, tick, tick," it took fresh courage to go its daily journey. So it is the special privilege of the Christian to commit himself to the keeping of his heavenly Father and to trust Him day by day. It is a comforting thing to know that the Lord will not begin the good work without also finishing it.
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Two Classes of Skeptics
There are two kinds of skeptics- one class with honest difficulties; and another class who delight only in discussion. I used to think that this latter class would always be a thorn in my flesh; but they do not prick me now. I expect to find them right along the journey. Men of this stamp used to hang around Christ to entangle Him in His talk. They come into our meetings to hold a discussion. To all such I would commend Paul's advice to Timothy:
Unlearned questions! Many young converts make a woeful mistake. They think they are to defend the whole Bible. I knew very little of the Bible when I was first converted; and I thought that I had to defend it from beginning to end against all comers; but a Boston infidel got hold of me, floored all my arguments at once, and discouraged me. But I have got over that now. There are many things in the Word of God that I do not profess to understand.
There are many things which were dark and mysterious five years ago, on which I have since had a flood of light; and I expect to be finding out something fresh about God throughout eternity. I make a point of not discussing disputed passages of Scripture. An old divine has said that some people, if they want to eat fish, commence by picking the bones. I leave such things till I have light on them. I am not bound to explain what I do not comprehend.
and these I take, and eat and feed upon, in order to get spiritual strength.
.
Good Advice
Then there is a little sound advice in Titus 3:9.
But now here comes an honest skeptic. With him I
would deal as tenderly as a mother with her sick child. I have no sympathy with
those people who, because a man is skeptical, cast him off and will have nothing
to do with him.
I was in an Inquiry-meeting, some time ago, and I handed
over to a Christian lady, whom I had known some time, one who was skeptical. On
looking round soon after I noticed the inquirer marching out of the hall. I
asked, "Why have you let her go?" "Oh, she is a skeptic!" was the reply. I ran
to the door and got her to stop, and introduced her to another Christian worker
who spent over an hour in conversation and prayer with her.
He visited
her and her husband; and in the course of a week, that intelligent lady cast off
her skepticism and came out an active Christian. It took time, tact, and prayer;
but if a person of this class is honest we ought to deal with such an one as the
Master would have us.
Here are a few passages for doubting
inquirers:
If a man is not willing to do the will of God he
will not know the doctrine. There is no class of skeptics who are ignorant of
the fact that God desires them to give up sin; and if a man is willing to turn
from sin and take the light and thank Him for what He does give, and not expect
to have light on the whole Bible all at once, he will get more light day by day;
make progress step by step; and be led right out of darkness into the clear
light of heaven.
In Daniel 12:10 we are told:
Now God will never reveal His secrets to His enemies. Never! And if a man persists in living in sin he will not know the doctrines of God.
And in John 15:15 we read:
When you become friends of Christ you will know His secrets. The Lord said,
Now those who resemble God are most likely to understand God. If a man is not willing to turn from sin he will not know God's will, nor will God reveal His secrets to him. But if a man is willing to turn from sin he will be surprised to see how the light will come in!
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Why the Bible Was "Dry"
I remember one night when the Bible was the driest and darkest book in the universe to me. The next day it became entirely different. I thought I had the key to it. I had been born of the Spirit. But before I knew anything of the mind of God I had to give up my sin. I believe God meets every soul on the spot of self-surrender, when they are willing to let Him guide and lead. The trouble with many skeptics is their self-conceit. They know more than the Almighty! And they do not come in a teachable spirit. But the moment a man comes in a receptive spirit he is blessed; for
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CHAPTER 5. Back to Top
A Divine Saviour
"Thou art
THE CHRIST, the Son of the living God" -Matthew 16:16; John 6:69.
WE MEET with a certain class of inquirers who do
not believe in the Divinity of Christ. There are many passages that will give
light on this subject.
In 1 Corinthians 15:47, we are told:
In 1 John 5:20:
Again in John 17:3:
And then, in Mark 14:60:
.
What Brought Me to Believe in the Divinity of Christ
What brought me to believe in the Divinity of Christ was this: I did not know where to place Christ, or what to do with Him, if He were not divine. When I was a boy I thought that He was a good man like Moses, Joseph, or Abraham. I even thought that He was the best man who had ever lived on the earth. But I found that Christ had a higher claim. He claimed to be God-Man; to be divine; to have come from heaven. He said:
I could not understand this; and I was driven to the conclusion- and I challenge any candid man to deny the inference, or meet the argument- that Jesus Christ is either an impostor or deceiver, or He is the God-Man, God manifest in the flesh. And for these reasons. The first commandment is,
Look at the millions throughout Christendom who
worship Jesus Christ as God. If Christ be not God this is idolatry. We are all
guilty of breaking the first commandment, if Jesus Christ were mere man- if He
were a created being, and not what He claims to be.
Some people, who do
not admit His divinity, say that He was the best man who ever lived; but if He
were not Divine, for that very reason He ought not to be reckoned a good man,
for He laid claim to an honor and dignity to which these very people declare He
had no right or title. That would rank Him as a deceiver.
Others say that
He thought He was divine, but that He was deceived. As if Jesus Christ were
carried away by a delusion and deception, and thought that He was more than He
was! I could not conceive of a lower idea of Jesus Christ than that. This would
not only make Him out an impostor; but that He was out of His mind, and that He
did not know who He was, or where He came from. Now if Jesus Christ was not what
He claimed to be, the Saviour of the world; and if He did not come from heaven-
He was a gross deceiver.
But how can anyone read the life of Jesus Christ
and make Him out a deceiver? A man has generally some motive for being an
impostor. What was Christ's motive? He knew that the course He was pursuing
would conduct Him to the cross; that His name would be cast out as vile; and
that many of His followers would be called upon to lay down their lives for His
sake. Nearly every one of the apostles was a martyr; and they were considered as
off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the people. If a man is an impostor, he
has a motive at the back of his hypocrisy. But what was Christ's object? The
record is that He "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). This is not the work of
an imposter. Do not let the enemy of your soul deceive you.
In John
5:21-23 we read:
.
How It Works Out
Now, notice: by the Jewish law if a man were a blasphemer he was to be put to death; and supposing Christ to be merely human if this be not blasphemy I do not know where you will find it.
That is downright blasphemy if Christ be not
divine. If Moses, or Elijah, or Elisha, or any other mortal had said, "You must
honor me as you honor God;" and had put himself on a level with God, it would
have been downright blasphemy.
The Jews put Christ to death because they
said that He was not what He claimed to be. It was on that testimony He was put
under oath. The high priest said:
And when the Jews came round Him and said,
Jesus said,
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him
(John 10:24-33). They said they did not want to hear more, for that was
blasphemy. It was for declaring Himself to be the Son of God that He was
condemned and put to death (Matthew 26:63-66).
Now if Jesus Christ was
mere man the Jews did right, according to their law, in putting Him to death. In
Leviticus 24:16 we read:
This law obliged them to put to death everyone who blasphemed. It was making the statement that He was divine that cost Him His life; and by the Mosaic law He ought to have suffered the death penalty. In John 16:15 Christ says,
How could He be merely a good
man and use language as that?
No doubt has ever entered my mind on the
point since I was converted.
.
One Good Proof
A notorious sinner was once asked how he could prove the
divinity of Christ. His answer was, "Why, He has saved me; and that is a pretty
good proof, is it not?"
An infidel on one occasion said to me, "I have
been studying the life of John the Baptist, Mr. Moody. Why don't you preach him?
He was a greater character than Christ. You would do a greater work."
I
said to him, "My friend, you preach John the Baptist; and I will follow
you and preach Christ: and we will see who will do the most good."
"You
will do the most good," he said, "because the people are so superstitious." Ah!
John was beheaded; and his disciples begged his body and buried it. But Christ
has risen from the dead;
.
Christ Is Risen
Our Christ LIVES. Many people have not found out that Christ has risen from the grave. They worship a dead Saviour, like Mary, who said,
That is the trouble with those who doubt the
divinity of our Lord.
Then look at Matthew 18:20.
"THERE AM I." Well now, if He is a mere man, how
can He be there? All these are strong passages.
Again in Matthew
28:18.
Could He be a mere man and talk in that way?
Then again in Matthew 28:20.
If He were mere man how could He be with us? Yet He says,
Then again in Mark 2:7-9.
Some men will meet you and say, "Did not Elisha also raise the dead?" Notice that in the rare instances in which men have raised the dead they did it by the power of God. They called on God to do it. But when Christ was on earth He did not call upon the Father to bring the dead to life. When He went to the house of Jairus He said,
He had power to impart life. When they were carrying the young man out of Nain, He had compassion on the widowed mother and came and touched the bier and said,
He spake; and the dead arose.
And when He
raised Lazarus He called with a loud voice,
And Lazarus heard, and came forth.
Someone
has said, it was a good thing that Lazarus was mentioned by name, or all the
dead within the sound of Christ's voice would immediately have risen.
In
John 5:25 Jesus says:
What blasphemy would this have been, had He not been divine! The proof is overwhelming, if you will but examine the Word of God.
.
Worship Accepted By Christ
And then another thing- No good man except Jesus Christ has ever allowed anybody to worship Him. When this was done He never rebuked the worshipper. In John 9:38 we read that when the blind man was found by Christ he said,
The Lord did not rebuke him.
Then again,
Revelation 22:6-9 runs thus:
We see here, that even that angel would not allow
John to worship him. Even an angel from heaven! And if Gabriel came down here
from the presence of God it would be a sin to worship him or any seraph, or any
cherub, or Michael, or any archangel.
"WORSHIP GOD!" And if Jesus Christ
were not God manifest in the flesh we are guilty of idolatry in worshipping Him.
In Matthew 14:33 we read:
He did not rebuke them.
And in Matthew 8:2
we also read:
In Matthew 15:25:
There are many other passages;
but I give these as sufficient in my opinion to prove beyond any doubt the
Divinity of our Lord.
In Acts 14 we are told the heathen of Lystra came
with garlands and would have done sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas because they
had cured an impotent man; but the evangelists rent their clothes and told these
Lystrans that they were but men, and not to be worshipped; as if it were a great
sin. And if Jesus Christ is a mere man, we are all guilty of a great sin in
worshipping Him.
But if He is, as we believe, the only-begotten and
well-beloved Son of God, let us yield to His claims upon us; let us rest on His
all-atoning work, and go forth to serve Him all the days of our life.
.
.
.
CHAPTER 6. Back to Top
Repentance and
Restitution
"God commandeth all men everywhere to repent" -Acts 17:30.
REPENTANCE is one of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible. Yet I believe it is one of those truths that many people little understand at the present day. There are more people today in the mist and the darkness about Repentance, Regeneration, the Atonement, and such-like fundamental truths, than perhaps on any other doctrines. Yet from our earliest years we have heard about them. If I were to ask for a definition of Repentance, a great many would give a very strange and false idea of it.
.
When Is A Man Prepared to Receive the Gospel?
A man is not prepared to believe or to receive the Gospel, unless he is ready to repent of his sins and turn from them. Until John the Baptist met Christ, he had but one text,
But if he had continued to say this, and had
stopped there without pointing the people to Christ the Lamb of God, he would
not have accomplished much.
When Christ came, He took up the same
wilderness cry,
And when our Lord sent out His disciples, it was with the same message,
After He had been glorified, and when the Holy Ghost came down, we find Peter on the day of Pentecost raising the same cry, "Repent!" It was this preaching- Repent, and believe the Gospel- that wrought such marvelous results then (Acts 2:38-47). And we find that, when Paul went to Athens, he uttered the same cry,
Before I speak of what Repentance is, let me briefly say what it
is not. Repentance is not fear. Many people have confounded the
two. They think they have to be alarmed and terrified; and they are waiting for
some kind of fear to come down upon them. But multitudes become alarmed who do
not really repent. You have heard of men at sea during a terrible storm. Perhaps
they had been very profane men; but when the danger came they suddenly grew
quiet, and began to cry to God for mercy. Yet you would not say they repented.
When the storm had passed away, they went on swearing the same as before. You
might think that the king of Egypt repented when God sent the terrible plagues
upon him and his land. But it was not repentance at all. The moment God's hand
was removed Pharaoh's heart was harder than ever. He did not turn from a single
sin; he was the same man. So that there was no true repentance
there.
Often, when death comes into a family, it looks as if the event
would be sanctified to the conversion of all who are in the house. Yet in six
months' time all may be forgotten. Some who read this have passed through that
experience. When God's hand was heavy upon them, it looked as if they were going
to repent; but the trial has been removed- and, lo, and behold, the impression
has all gone.
.
Repentance Is Not Feeling
Then again, repentance is not feeling. I find a great
many people are waiting for a certain kind of feeling to come. They would like
to turn to God; but think they cannot do it until this feeling comes. When I was
at Baltimore I used to preach every Sunday in the Penitentiary to nine hundred
convicts. There was hardly a man there who did not feel miserable enough- they
had plenty of feeling. For the first week or ten days of their imprisonment many
of them cried half the time. Yet, when they were released, most of them would go
right back to their old ways. The truth was, that they felt very bad because
they had got caught; that was all. So you have seen a man in the time of trial
show a good deal of feeling, but very often it is only because he has got into
trouble; not because he has committed sin, or because his conscience tells him
he has done evil in the sight of God. It seems as if the trial were going to
result in true repentance; but the feeling too often passes away.
Once
again, repentance is not fasting and afflicting the body. A man may fast
for weeks and months and years, and yet not repent of one sin. Neither is it
remorse. Judas had terrible remorse- enough to make him go and hang
himself; but that was not repentance. I believe if he had gone to his Lord,
fallen on his face, and confessed his sin he would have been forgiven. Instead
of this he went to the priests, and then put an end to his life. A man may do
all sorts of penance- but there is no true repentance in that. Put that down in
your mind. You cannot meet the claims of God by offering the fruit of your body
for the sin of your soul. Away with such a delusion!
Repentance is not
conviction of sin. That may sound strange to some. I have seen men under
such deep conviction of sin that they could not sleep at night; they could not
enjoy a single meal. They went on for months in this state and yet they were not
converted; they did not truly repent. Do not confound conviction of sin with
repentance.
.
Neither Is Praying Repentance
That too, may sound strange. Many people, when they become
anxious about their soul's salvation, say, "I will pray, and read the Bible;"
and they think that will bring about the desired effect. But it will not do it.
You may read the Bible and cry to God a great deal, and yet never repent. Many
people cry loudly to God, and yet do not repent.
Another thing: it is not
breaking off someone's sin. A great many people make that mistake. A man
who has been a drunkard signs the pledge, and stops drinking. Breaking off one
sin is not repentance. Forsaking one vice is like breaking off one limb of a
tree, when the whole tree has to come down. A profane man stops swearing; very
good: but if he does not break off from every sin it is not repentance-
it is not the work of God in the soul. When God works He hews down the whole
tree. He wants to have a man turn from every sin. Supposing I am in a vessel out
at sea, and I find the ship leaks in three or four places. I may go and stop up
one hole; yet down goes the vessel. Or suppose I am wounded in three or four
places, and I get a remedy for one wound: if the other two or three wounds are
neglected, my life will soon be gone. True Repentance is not merely breaking off
this or that particular sin.
.
What, Then, Is Repentance?
Well then, you will ask, what is repentance? I will give you a good definition: it is "right about face!" In the Irish language the word "repentance" means even more than "right about face!" It implies that a man who has been walking in one direction has not only faced about, but is actually walking in an exactly contrary direction.
A man may have little feeling or much feeling; but if he does not turn away from sin, God will not have mercy on him. Repentance has also been described as "a change of mind." For instance, there is the parable told by Christ:
After he had said "I will not," he thought over it, and changed his mind. Perhaps he may have said to himself, "I did not speak very respectfully to my father. He asked me to go and work, and I told him I would not go. I think I was wrong." But suppose he had only said this, and still had not gone, he would not have repented. He was not only convinced that he was wrong; but he went off into the fields, hoeing, or mowing, or whatever it was. That is Christ's definition of repentance. If a man says, "By the grace of God I will forsake my sin, and do His will," that is repentance- a turning right about.
.
Can A Man at Once Repent?
Certainly he can. It does not take a long while to turn around.
It does not take a man six months to change his mind. There was a vessel that
went down some time ago on the Newfoundland coast. As she was bearing towards
the shore, there was a moment when the captain could have given orders to
reverse the engines and turn back. If the engines had been reversed then, the
ship would have been saved. But there was a moment when it was too late. So
there is a moment, I believe, in every man's life when he can halt and say, "By
the grace of God I will go no further towards death and ruin. I repent of my
sins and turn from them." You may say you have not got feeling enough; but if
you are convinced that you are on the wrong road, turn right about, and say, "I
will no longer go on in the way of rebellion and sin as I have
done."
Just then, when you are willing to turn towards God, salvation may
be yours.
I find that every case of conversion recorded in the Bible was
instantaneous. Repentance and faith came very suddenly. The moment a man made up
his mind, God gave him the power. God does not ask any man to do what he has not
the power to do. He would not
if they were not able to do so. Man has no one to blame but himself if he does not repent and believe the Gospel.
.
A Conversion Described
One of the leading ministers of the Gospel in Ohio wrote me a letter some time ago describing his conversion; it very forcibly illustrates this point of instantaneous decision, He says:-
Many people are waiting, they cannot exactly tell for what, but
for some sort of miraculous feeling to come stealing over them- some mysterious
kind of faith. I was speaking to a man some years ago, and he always had one
answer to give me. For five years I tried to win him to Christ, and every year
he said, "It has not 'struck me' yet."
"Man, what do you mean? What has
not struck you?"
"Well," he said, "I am not going to become a Christian
until it strikes me; and it has not struck me yet. I do not see it in the way
you see it."
"But don't you know you are a sinner?"
"Yes, I know I
am a sinner."
"Well, don't you know that God wants to have mercy on you-
that there is forgiveness with God? He wants you to repent and come to
Him."
"Yes, I know that; but it has not struck me yet"
He always
fell back on that. Poor man! he went down to his grave in a state of indecision.
Sixty long years God gave him to repent; and all he had to say at the end of
those years was that it "had not struck him yet!"
.
Waiting for Some Strange Feeling
Is any reader waiting for some strange feeling- you do not know
what? Nowhere in the Bible is a man told to wait. God is commanding you now
to repent.
Do you think God can forgive a man when he does not want
to be forgiven? Would he be happy if God forgave him in this state of mind? Why,
if a man went into the kingdom of God without repentance, heaven would be hell
to him. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. If your boy has done
wrong, and will not repent, you cannot forgive him. You would be doing him an
injustice. Suppose he goes to your desk, and steals $10, and squanders it. When
you come home your servant tells you what your boy has done. You ask if it is
true, and he denies it. But at last you have certain proof. Even when he finds
he cannot deny it any longer, he will not confess the sin, but says he will do
it again the first chance he gets. Would you say to him, "Well, I forgive you,"
and leave the matter there? No! Yet people say that God is going to save all
men, whether they repent or not: drunkards, thieves, harlots, whoremongers, it
makes no difference. "God is so merciful," they say. Dear friends, do not be
deceived by the god of this world. Where there is true repentance and a turning
from sin unto God, He will meet and bless you; but He never blesses until there
is sincere repentance.
.
David Made A Woeful Mistake
David made a woeful mistake in this respect with his rebellious
son, Absalom. He could not have done his son a greater injustice than to forgive
him when his heart was unchanged. There could be no true reconciliation between
them when there was no repentance. But God does not make these mistakes. David
got into trouble on account of his error of judgment. His son soon drove his
father from the throne.
Speaking on repentance, Dr. Brooks, of St. Louis,
well remarks.
.
How to Tell if Repentance Is Genuine
Another thing. If there is true repentance it will bring forth
fruit. If we have done wrong to anyone we should never ask God to forgive us,
until we are willing to make restitution. If I have done anyman a great
injustice and can make it good, I need not ask God to forgive me until I am
willing to make it good. Suppose I have taken something that does not belong to
me. I have no right to expect forgiveness until I make restitution.
I
remember preaching in one of our large cities, when a fine-looking man came up
to me at the close. He was in great distress of mind. "The fact is," he said, "I
am a defaulter. I have taken money that belonged to my employers. How can I
become a Christian without restoring it?"
"Have you got the
money?"
He told me he had not got it all. He had taken about $1,500, and
he still had about $900. He said, "Could I not take that money and go into
business, and make enough to pay them back?"
I told him that was a
delusion of Satan; that he could not expect to prosper on stolen money; that he
should restore all he had, and go and ask his employers to have mercy upon him
and forgive him.
"But they will put me in prison," he said: "cannot you
give me any help?"
"No, you must restore the money before you can expect
to get any help from God."
"It is pretty hard," he said.
"Yes, it
is hard; but the great mistake was in doing the wrong at first."
His
burden became so heavy that it got to be insupportable. He handed me the money-
$950 and some cents- and asked me to take it back to his employers. The next
evening the two employers and myself met in a side room of the church. I laid
the money down, and informed them it was from one of their employees. I
told them the story, and said he wanted mercy from them, not justice. The tears
trickled down the cheeks of these two men, and they said, "Forgive him? Yes, we
will be glad to forgive him." I went downstairs and brought him up. After he had
confessed his guilt and had been forgiven, we all got down on our knees and had
a blessed prayer-meeting. God met us and blessed us there.
.
Getting Right with the Government
There was a friend of mine, who some time ago, had come to
Christ and wished to consecrate himself and his wealth to God. He had formerly
had transactions with the government, and had taken advantage of it. This thing
came up when he was converted, and his conscience troubled him. He said, "I want
to consecrate my wealth; but it seems as if God will not take it." He had a
terrible struggle; his conscience kept rising up and smiting him. At last he
drew a check for $1,500 and sent it to the United States Treasury. He told me he
received such a blessing when he had done it. That was bringing forth "fruits meet for repentance" (Matthew 3:8). I believe a great
many men are crying to God for light; and they are not getting it because they
are not honest.
I was once preaching, and a man came to me who was only
thirty-two years old, but whose hair was very gray. He said, "I want you to
notice that my hair is gray, and I am only thirty-two years old. For twelve
years I have carried a great burden."
"Well," I said, "what is
it?"
He looked around as if afraid someone would hear him. "Well," he
answered, "my father died and left my mother with the county newspaper, and left
her only that. That was all she had. After he died the paper began to waste
away; and I saw my mother was fast sinking into a state of need. The building
and the paper were insured for a thousand dollars, and when I was twenty years
old I set fire to the building, and obtained the thousand dollars, and gave it
to my mother. For twelve years that sin has been haunting me. I have tried to
drown it by indulgence in pleasure and sin; I have cursed God; I have gone into
infidelity; I have tried to make out that the Bible is not true; I have done
everything I could- but all these years I have been tormented."
I said,
"There is a way out of that."
He inquired "How?"
I said, "Make
restitution. Let us sit down and calculate the interest, and then you pay the
Company the money."
It would have done you good to see that man's face
light up when he found there was mercy for him. He said he would be glad to pay
back the money and interest if he could only be forgiven.
There are men
today who are in darkness and bondage because they are not willing to turn from
their sins and confess them; and I do not know how a man can hope to be forgiven
if he is not willing to confess his sin.
.
Now Is the Only Day of Mercy
Bear in mind that now is the only day of mercy you will
ever have. You can repent now, and have the awful record blotted out. God waits
to forgive you; He is seeking to bring you to Himself. But I think the Bible
teaches clearly that there is no repentance after this life. There are
some who tell you of the possibility of repentance in the grave; but I do not
find that in Scriptures. I have looked my Bible over very carefully, and I
cannot find that a man will have another opportunity of being
saved.
Why should he ask for any more time? You have time enough
to repent now. You can turn from your sins
this moment if you will. God says:
Christ said He
Are you a sinner? Then the call to repent is addressed to you. Take your place in the dust at the Saviour's feet, and acknowledge your guilt. Say, like the publican of old,
and see how quickly He will pardon and bless you.
He will even justify you and reckon you as righteous, by virtue of the
righteousness of Him who bore your sins in His own body on the
Cross.
There are some perhaps who think themselves righteous; and that,
therefore, there is no need for them to repent and believe the Gospel. They are
like the Pharisee in the parable, who thanked God that he was not as other men-
"extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican" (Luke 18:11); and who
went on to say, "I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all I
possess" (Luke 18:12). What is the judgment about such self-righteous
persons?
Let no one say he does not need to repent. Let each one take his true place- that of a sinner; then God will lift him up to the place of forgiveness and justification.
Wherever God sees true repentance in the heart He meets that soul.
.
.
CHAPTER 7. Back to Top
Assurance of Salvation
"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life. and that ye may believe on
the name of the Son of God" -1 John 5:13.
.
Have All
God's People Assurance?
Someone will ask, "Have all God's people Assurance?" No; I think
a good many of God's dear people have no Assurance; but it is the privilege of
every child of God to have beyond doubt a knowledge of his own salvation. No man
is fit for God's service who is filled with doubts. If a man is not sure of his
own salvation, how can he help anyone else into the kingdom of God? If I seem in
danger of drowning and do not know whether I shall ever reach the shore, I
cannot assist another. I must first get on the solid rock myself; and then I can
lend my brother a helping hand. If being myself blind I were to tell another
blind man how to get sight, he might reply, "First get healed yourself; and then
you can tell me."
There are two classes who ought not to have Assurance.
First: those who are in the Church, but who are not converted, having never been
born of the Spirit. Second: those not willing to do God's will; who are not
ready to take the place that God has mapped out for them, but want to fill some
other place.
None will have time or heart to work for God, who are not
assured as to their own salvation. They have as much as they can attend to; and
being themselves burdened with doubts, they cannot help others to carry their
burdens. There is no rest, joy, or peace- no liberty, nor power- where doubts
and uncertainty exist.
Now it seems as if there are three wiles of Satan
against which we ought to be on our guard. In the first place he moves all his
kingdom to keep us away from Christ; then he devotes himself to get us into
"Doubting Castle:" but if we have, in spite of him, a clear ringing witness for
the Son of God, he will do all he can to blacken our characters and belie our
testimony.
.
Doubt Is
Very Dishonoring to God
Some seem to think that it is presumption not to have doubts:
but doubt is very dishonoring to God. If anyone were to say that they had known
a person for thirty years and yet doubted him, it would not be very creditable:
and when we have known God for ten, twenty, or thirty years does it not reflect
on His veracity to doubt Him?
Could Paul and the early Christians and
martyrs have gone through what they did if they had been filled with doubts, and
had not known whether they were going to heaven or to perdition after they had
been burned at the stake? They must have had ASSURANCE.
C. H. Spurgeon
says:
.
What John
Tells Us
Now let us come to the Word. John tells us in his Gospel what Christ did for us on earth. In his Epistle he tells us what He is doing for us in heaven as our Advocate. In his Gospel there are only two chapters in which the word "believe" does not occur. With these two exceptions, every chapter in John is "Believe! Believe!! BELIEVE!!!" He tells us in 20:31,
That is the purpose for which he wrote the Gospel-
Turn to 1 John 5:13. There he tells us why he wrote this Epistle.
Notice to whom he writes it:
There are only five short chapters in this first
Epistle, and the word "know" occurs over forty times. It is "Know! KNOW!!
KNOW!!!" The Key to it is KNOW! and all through the Epistle there rings out the
refrain- "that we might know that we have eternal life."
I went twelve
hundred miles down the Mississippi in the spring some years
ago; and every evening, just as the sun went down, you might have seen men, and
sometimes women, riding up to the banks of the river on either side on mules or
horses, and sometimes coming on foot, for the purpose of lighting up the
Government lights; and all down that mighty river there were landmarks which
guided the pilots in their dangerous navigation. Now God has given us lights or
landmarks to tell us whether we are His children or not. What we need to do is
to examine the tokens He has given us.
.
Five
Things Worth Knowing
In the third chapter of John's first Epistle there are five things worth knowing.
.
Will the
Christian Sin?
But some will say, "Well, I believe all that; but then I have
sinned since I became a Christian." Is there a man or a woman on the face of the
earth who has not sinned since becoming a Christian? Not one. There never has
been, and never will be, a soul on this earth who has not sinned, or who will
not sin, at some time of their Christian experience. But God has made provision
for believers' sins. We are not to make provision for them; but God has.
Bear that in mind.
Turn to 1 John
2:1:
He is here writing to the righteous. "If any man sin, we"- John put himself in- "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." What an Advocate! He attends to our interests at the very best place- the throne of God. He said, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away" (John 16:7). He went away to become our High Priest, and also our Advocate. He has had some hard cases to plead; but He has never lost one: and if you entrust your immortal interests to Him, He will
.
The Past
Sins of Christians Are All Forgiven
The past sins of Christians are all forgiven as soon as they are
confessed; and they are never to be mentioned. That is a question which is not
to be opened up again. If our sins have been put away, that is the end of them.
They are not to be remembered; and God will not mention them anymore. This is
very plain. Suppose I have a son who, while I am away from home, does wrong.
When I go home he throws his arms around my neck and says, "Papa, I did what you
told me not to do. I am sorry. Do forgive me" I say: "Yes, my son," and kiss
him. He wipes away his tears, and goes off rejoicing.
But the next day he
says: "Papa, I wish you would forgive me for the wrong I did yesterday." I
should say: "Why, my son, that thing is settled; and I don't want it mentioned
again." "But I wish you would forgive me: it would help me to hear you say, 'I
forgive you.'" Would that be honoring me? Would it not grieve me to have my boy
doubt me? But to gratify him I say again, "I forgive you, my son."
And
if, the next day, he were again to bring up that old sin, and ask forgiveness,
would not that grieve me to the heart? And so, my dear reader, if God has
forgiven us, never let us mention the past. Let us forget those things which are
behind, and reach forth unto those which are before, and press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let the sins of the
past go; for
And let me say that this principle is recognized in courts of justice. A case came up in the courts of a country- I won't say where- in which a man had trouble with his wife; but he forgave her, and then afterwards brought her into court. And, when it was known that he had forgiven her, the judge said that the thing was settled. The judge recognized the soundness of the principle, that if a sin were once forgiven there was an end of it. And do you think the Judge of all the earth will forgive you and me, and open the question again? Our sins are gone for time and eternity, if God forgives; and what we have to do is to confess and forsake our sins.
.
How to
Tell If You Are A Child of God
Again in 2 Corinthians 13:5:
Now examine yourselves. Try your religion. Put it
to the test. Can you forgive an enemy? That is a good way to know if you are a
child of God. Can you forgive an injury, or take an affront, as Christ did? Can
you be censured for doing well, and not murmur? Can you be misjudged and
misrepresented, and yet keep a Christ-like spirit?
Another good test is
to read Galatians 5, and notice the fruits of the Spirit; and see if you have
them.
If I have the fruits of the Spirit I must have the Spirit. I could not have the fruits without the Spirit any more than there could be an orange without the tree. And Christ says:
Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good.
The only way to get the fruit is to have the Spirit. That is the way to examine
ourselves whether we are the children of God.
Then there is another very
striking passage. In Romans 8:9, Paul says:
That ought to settle the question, even though one may have gone through all the external forms that are considered necessary by some to constitute a member of a church. Acceptance as a member of a church is not proof that you are born again- that you are a new creature in Christ Jesus.
.
Growing
in Grace
But although you may be born again, it will require time to become a full-grown Christian. Justification is instantaneous; but sanctification is a life-work. We are to grow in wisdom. Peter says:
and in the first chapter of his Second Epistle,
So that we are to add grace to grace. A tree may be perfect in its first year of growth; but it does not attain its maturity. So with the Christian: he may be a true child of God, but not a matured Christian. The eighth of Romans is very important, and we should be very familiar with it. In the fourteenth verse the apostle says:
Just as the soldier is led by his captain, the pupil by his teacher, or the traveler by his guide; so the Holy Spirit will be the guide of every true child of God.
.
Paul's
Teaching On Assurance
Then let me call your attention to another fact. All Paul's teaching in nearly every Epistle rings out the doctrine of assurance, He says in 2 Corinthians 5:1:
He had a title to the mansions above, and he says- I know it. He was not living in uncertainty, He said:
and if he had been uncertain he would not have said that. Then in Colossians 3:4, he says:
I am told that Dr. Watts' tombstone bears this
same passage of Scripture. There is no doubt there.
Then turn to
Colossians 1:12:
Three haths.
It does not say that He is going to make us meet;
that He is going to deliver; that He is going to translate.
Then again in
verse fourteen:
We are either forgiven or we are not; we should not give ourselves any rest until we get into the kingdom of God; nor until we can each look up and say,
Look at Romans 8:32:
If He gave us His Son, will He not give us the
certainty that He is ours. I have heard this illustration. There was a man who
owed $10,000, and would have been made a bankrupt, but a friend came forward and
paid the sum. It was found afterwards that he owed a few dollars more; but he
did not for a moment entertain a doubt that, as his friend had paid the larger
amount, he would also pay the smaller. And we have high warrant for saying that
if God has given us His Son He will "with Him also freely give us all things";
and if we want to realize our salvation beyond controversy He will not, leave us
in darkness.
Again in the thirty-third verse:
.
Assurance
May Be A Certainty
That has the right ring in it. There is Assurance for
you. "I KNOW." Do you think that the God who
has justified me will condemn me? That is quite an absurdity. God is going to
save us so that neither men, angels, nor devils, can bring any charge against us
or Him. He will have the work complete.
Job lived in a darker day than we
do; but we read in Job 19:25:
The same confidence breathes through Paul's last words to Timothy:
It is not a matter of doubt, but of knowledge. "I
know." "I am persuaded." The word "Hope," is not used in the Scripture to
express doubt. It is used in regard to the second coming of Christ, or to the
resurrection of the body. We do not say that we "hope" we are Christians. I do
not say that I "hope" I am an American, or that I "hope" I am a married man.
These are settled things. I may say that I "hope" to go back to my home; or I
"hope" to attend such a meeting. I do not say that I "hope" to come to this
country, for I am here. And so, if we are born of God we know it; and He will
not leave us in darkness if we search the Scriptures.
Christ taught this
doctrine to His seventy disciples when they returned elated with their success,
saying,
The Lord seemed to check them, and said that He would give them something to rejoice in.
.
Our
Salvation Is Sure
It is the privilege of everyone of us to know, beyond a doubt,
that our salvation is sure. Then we can work for others. But if we are doubtful
of our own salvation, we are not fit for the service of God.
Another
passage is John 5:24:
Some people say that you never can tell till you are before the great white throne of Judgment whether you are saved or not. Why, my dear friend, if your life is hid with Christ in God, you are not coming into judgment for your sins. We may come into judgment for reward. This is clearly taught where the lord reckoned with the servant to whom five talents had been given, and who brought other five talents saying,
We shall be judged for our stewardship. That is
one thing; but salvation- eternal life- is another.
Will God demand
payment twice of the debt which Christ has paid for us? If Christ bore my sins
in His own body on the tree, am I to answer for them as well?
Isaiah
tells us that,
In Romans 4:25 we read: He
Let us believe, and get the benefit of His
finished work.
Then again in John 10:9:
Then in the twenty-seventh verse,
Think of that! The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are pledged to keep us. You see that it is not only the Father, not only the Son, but the three persons of the Triune God.
.
Looking
for a Life
Now a great many people want some token outside of God's word. That habit always brings doubt. If I made a promise to meet a man at a certain hour and place tomorrow, and he were to ask me for my watch as a token of my sincerity, it would be a slur on my truthfulness. We must not question what God has said: He has made statement after statement, and multiplied figure upon figure. Christ says:
Let me remind you where our doubts come from. A good many of God's dear people never get beyond knowing themselves servants. He calls us "friends."
If you go into a house you will soon see the
difference between the servant and the son. The son walks at perfect liberty all
over the house: he is at home. But the servant takes a subordinate place. What
we want is to get beyond servants. We ought to realize our standing with God as
sons and daughters. He will not "un-child" His children. God has not only
adopted us; but we are His by birth: we have been born into His kingdom. My
little boy was as much mine when he was a day old as now that he is fourteen. He
was my son; although it did not appear what he would be when he attained
manhood. He is mine; although he may have to undergo probation under tutors and
governors.
Another origin of doubts is looking at ourselves. If you want
to be wretched and miserable, filled with doubts from morning till night, look
at yourself.
Many of God's dear children are robbed of joy because they keep looking at themselves.
.
Three
Ways to Look
Someone has said: "There are three ways to look. If you want to be wretched, look within; if you wish to be distracted, look around; but if you would have peace, look up."
He had God's eternal word, which was sure footing,
and better than either marble, granite, or iron; but the moment he took his eyes
off Christ, down he went. Those who look around cannot see how unstable and
dishonoring is their walk. We want to look straight at the "Author and Finisher
of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
When I was a boy I could only make a straight
track in the snow, by keeping my eyes fixed upon a tree or some object before
me. The moment I took my eye off the mark set in front of me, I walked crooked.
It is only when we look fixedly on Christ that we find perfect peace. After He
rose from the dead He showed His disciples His hands and His feet.
That was the ground of their peace. If you want to
scatter your doubts, look at the blood; and if you want to
increase your doubts, look at yourself. You will get doubts enough for years by
being occupied with yourself for a few days.
Then again: look at what He
is, and at what He has done; not at what you are, and what you have done. That
is the way to get peace and rest.
.
What
Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation Accomplished
Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation declaring the emancipation
of three millions of slaves. On a certain day their chains were to fall off, and
they were to be free. That proclamation was put up on the trees and fences
wherever the Northern Army marched. A good many slaves could not read: but
others read the proclamation, and most of them believed it; and on a certain day
a glad shout went up, "We are free!" Some did not believe it, and stayed with
their old masters; but it did not alter the fact that they were free. Christ,
the Captain of our salvation, has proclaimed freedom to all who have faith in
Him. Let us take Him at His word. Their feelings would not have made the slaves
free. The power must come from the outside. Looking at ourselves will not make
us free, but it is looking to Christ with the eye of faith.
Bishop Ryle
has strikingly said:
Another writer says: "I have seen shrubs and trees grow out of the rocks, and overhang fearful precipices, roaring cataracts, and deep running waters; but they maintained their position, and threw out their foliage and branches as much as if they had been in the midst of a dense forest." It was their hold of the rock that made them secure; and the influences of nature that sustained their life. So believers are oftentimes exposed to the most horrible dangers in their journey to heaven; but, so long as they are "rooted and grounded" (Ephesians 3:17) in the Rock of Ages, they are perfectly secure. Their hold of Him is their guarantee; and the blessings of His grace give them life and sustain them in life. And as the tree must die, or the rock fall, before a dissolution can be effected between them, so either the believer must lose his spiritual life, or the rock must crumble, ere their union can be dissolved.
.
.
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CHAPTER 8. Back to Top
Christ All
and In All
"Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in
all" -Colossians 3:11.
CHRIST is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to emphasize that word "ALL." Some men. make Him to be, "a root of a dry ground... without form or comeliness" (Isaiah 53:2). He is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Christians have a very small Saviour, for they do not let Him do great and mighty things for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make Him to be great and mighty.
.
A Saviour
from Sin
If we would know what Christ wants to be to us, we must first of
all know Him as our Saviour from sin. When the angel came down from heaven to
proclaim that He was to be born into the world, you remember he gave His
name, "He shall be called Jesus, (Saviour) for
He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). HAVE, WE, BEEN
DELIVERED FROM SIN? He did not come to save us in our sins, but from
our sins.
Now, there are three ways of knowing a man. Some men you
know only by hearsay; others you merely know by having been once introduced to
them- you know them very slightly; others again you know by having been
acquainted with them for years- you know them intimately. So I believe there are
three classes of people today in the Christian Church and out of it: those who
know Christ only by reading or by hearsay- those who have a historical Christ;
those who have a slight personal acquaintance with Him; and those who thirst, as
Paul did, to "know Him and the power of His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10). The
more we know of Christ the more we shall love Him, and the better we shall serve
Him.
Let us look at Him as He hangs upon the Cross, and see how He has
put away sin. He was manifested that He might; take away our sins; and if we
really know Him we must first of all see Him as our Saviour from sin. You
remember how the angels said to the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem.
Then if you go clear back to Isaiah, seven hundred years before Christ's birth, you will find these words:
Again, in the First Epistle of John (4:14) we read:
All the heathen religions, we read, teach men to work their way up to God; but the religion of Jesus Christ is God coming down to men to save them, to lift them up out of the pit of sin. In Luke 19:10 we read that Christ Himself told the people what He had come for:
So we start from the Cross, not from the cradle. Christ has opened up a new and living way to the Father. He has taken all the stumbling-blocks out of the way, so that every man who accepts of Christ as his Saviour can have salvation.
.
Christ Is
More Than a Saviour
But Christ is not only a Saviour. I might save a man from
drowning and rescue him from an untimely grave; but I might probably not be able
to do any more for him. Christ is something more than a Saviour. When the
children of Israel were placed behind the blood, that blood was their salvation;
but they would still have heard the crack of the slave-driver's whip if they had
not been delivered from the Egyptian yoke of bondage: then it was that God
delivered them from the hand of the king of Egypt. I have little sympathy with
the idea that God comes down to save us, and then leaves us in prison, the
slaves of our besetting sins. No; He has come to deliver us, and to give us
victory over our evil tempers, our passions, and our lusts. Are you a professed
Christian, but one who is a slave to some besetting sin? If you want to get
victory over that temper or that lust, go on to know Christ more
intimately.
He brings deliverance for the past, the present, and the
future.
.
When
Things Look Dark
How often, like the children of Israel when they came to the
Red Sea, have we become discouraged because everything looked dark before us,
behind us, and around us, and we knew not which way to turn. Like Peter we have
said, "To whom shall we go?" (John 6:68). But God has
appeared for our deliverance. He has brought us through the Red Sea right out
into the wilderness, and opened up the way into the Promised Land. But Christ is
not only our Deliverer; He is our Redeemer. That is something more than being
our Saviour. He has bought us back.
If gold could have redeemed us, could He not have
created ten thousand worlds full of gold?
When God had redeemed the
children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, and brought them through the Red
Sea, they struck out for the wilderness; and then God became to them their Way.
I am so thankful the Lord has not left us in darkness as to the right way. There
is no living man who has been groping in the darkness but may know the way. "I
am the Way," says Christ. If we follow Christ we shall be in
the right way, and have the right doctrine. Who could lead the children of
Israel through the wilderness like the Almighty God Himself? He knew the
pitfalls and dangers of the way, and guided the people through all their
wilderness journey right into the promised land. It is true that if it had not
been for their accursed unbelief they might have crossed into the land at
Kadesh-barnea, and taken possession of it.. But they desired something besides
God's word; so they were turned back, and had to wander in the desert for forty
years. I believe there are thousands of God's children wandering in the
wilderness still. The Lord has delivered them from the hand of the Egyptian, and
would at once take them through the wilderness right into the Promised Land, if
they were only willing to follow Christ. Christ has been down here, and has made
the rough places smooth, and the dark places light, and the crooked places
straight. If we will only be led by Him, and will follow Him, all will be peace,
and joy, and rest.
.
Blazing
the Way
In the frontier when a man goes out hunting he takes a hatchet with him, and cuts off pieces from the bark of the trees as he goes along through the forest: this is called "blazing the way." He does it that he may know the way back, as there is no pathway through these thick forests. Christ has come down to this earth; He has "blazed the way:" and now that He has gone up on high, if we will but follow Him, we shall be kept in the right path. I will tell you how you may know if you are following Christ or not. If someone has slandered you, or misjudged you, do you treat them as your Master would have done? If you do not bear these things in a loving and forgiving spirit, all the churches and ministers in the world cannot make you right.
Christ is not only our way: He is the Light upon the way. He says, "I am the Light of the world" (John 8:12; 9:5; 12 46). He goes on to say, "He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life." It is impossible for any man or woman who is following Christ to walk in darkness. If your soul is in the darkness, groping around in the fog and mist of earth, let me tell you it is because you have got away from the true light. There is nothing but light that will dispel darkness. So let those who are walking in spiritual darkness admit Christ into their hearts: He is the Light. I call to mind a picture of which I used at one time to think a good. deal; but now I have come to look more closely, I would not put it up in my house except I turned the face to the wall. It represents Christ as standing at a door, knocking, and having a big lantern in His hand. Why, you might as well hang up a lantern to the sun as put one into Christ's hand. He is the Sun of Righteousness; and it is our privilege to walk in the light of an unclouded sun.
.
Trying to
Catch One's Shadow
Many people are hunting after light, and peace, and joy. We are
nowhere told to seek after these things. If we admit Christ into our hearts
these will all come of themselves. I remember, when a boy, I used to try in vain
to catch my shadow. One day I was walking with my face to the sun; as I happened
to look round I saw that my shadow was following me. The faster I went the
faster my shadow followed; I could not get away from it. So when our faces are
directed to the Sun of Righteousness, the peace and the joy are sure to
come.
A man said to me some time ago, "Moody, how do you feel?" It was so
long since I had thought about my feelings I had to stop and consider awhile, in
order to find out. Some Christians are all the time thinking about their
feelings; and because they do not feel just right they think their joy is all
gone. If we keep our faces towards Christ, and are occupied with Him, we shall
be lifted out of the darkness and the trouble that may have gathered round our
path.
I remember being in a meeting after the war of the rebellion broke
out. The war had been going on for about six months. The army of the North had
been defeated at Bull Run: in fact, we had nothing but defeat, and it looked as
though the Republic was going to pieces. So we were much cast down and
discouraged. At this meeting every speaker for awhile seemed as if he had hung
his harp upon the willow; and it was one of the gloomiest meetings I ever
attended. Finally an old man with beautiful white hair got up to speak, and his
face literally shone. "Young men," he said, "you do not talk like sons of the
King. Though it is dark just here, remember it is light somewhere else." Then he
went on to say that if it were dark all over the world it was light up around
the Throne.
.
Rise
Above the Clouds
He told us he had come from the East, where a friend had
described to him how he had been up a mountain to spend the night and see the
sun rise. As the party was climbing up the mountain, and before they had reached
the summit, a storm came on. This friend said to the guide, "I will give this
up; take me back." The guide smiled, and replied, "I think we shall get above
the storm soon." On they went; and it was not long before they got up to where
it was as calm as a summer evening. Down in the valley a terrible storm raged;
they could hear the thunder rolling, and see the lightning's flash; but all was
serene on the mountaintop. "And so, my young friends," continued the old man,
"though all is dark around you, come a little higher, and the darkness will flee
away." Often when I have been inclined to get discouraged, I have thought of
what he said. Now if you are down in the valley amid the thick fog and the
darkness, get a little higher; get nearer to Christ, and know more of
Him.
You remember the Bible says, that when Christ expired on the cross,
the light of the world was put out. God sent His Son to be the light of the
world; but men did not love the light because it reproved them of their sins.
When they had tried to put out this light, what did Christ say to His disciples?
He has gone up yonder to intercede for us; but He wants us to shine for Him down here.
So our work is to shine: not to blow our own trumpet so that people may look at us. What we want to do is to show forth Christ. If we have any light at all it is borrowed light. Someone said to a young Christian: "Converted! it is a moonshine!" Said he: "I thank you for the illustration; the moon borrows its light from the sun; and we borrow ours from the Sun of Righteousness." If we are Christ's, we are here to shine for Him: by and by He will call us home to our reward.
.
The Blind
Man and the Lantern
I remember hearing of a blind man who sat by the wayside with a
lantern near him. When he was asked what he had a lantern for, as he could not
see the light, he said it was that people should not stumble over him. I believe
more people stumble over the inconsistencies of professed Christians than from
any other cause. What is doing more harm to the cause of Christ than all the
skepticism in the world is this cold, dead formalism, this conformity to the
world, this professing what we do not possess? The eyes of the world are upon
us. I think it was George Fox who said every Quaker ought to light up the
country for ten miles around him. If we were all brightly shining for the
Master, those about us would soon be reached, and there would be a shout of
praise going to heaven.
People say- "I want to know what is the truth."
Listen: "I AM... THE TRUTH" (John 14:6), says
Christ. If you want to know what the truth is, get acquainted with Christ.
People also complain that they have not life. Many are trying to give themselves
spiritual life. You may galvanize yourselves and put electricity into
yourselves, so to speak; but the effect will not last very long. Christ alone is
the author of life. If you would have real spiritual life get to know Christ.
Many try to stir up spiritual life by going to meetings. That may be well
enough; but it will be of no use, unless they get into contact with the living
Christ. Then their spiritual life will not be a spasmodic thing, but will be
perpetual; flowing on and on, and bringing forth fruit to God.
.
Then
Christ Is Our Keeper
A great many young disciples are afraid they will not hold out.
It is the work of Christ to keep us; and if He keeps us there will be no danger of our falling. I suppose if Queen Victoria had to take care of the Crown of England, some thief might attempt to get access to it; but it is put away in the Tower of London, and guarded night and day by soldiers. The whole English army would, if necessary, be called out to protect it. And we have no strength in ourselves. We are no match for Satan; he has had six thousand years' experience. But then we remember that the One who neither slumbers nor sleeps is our keeper. In Isaiah 41:10, we read,
In Jude also, verse 24 we are told that He is "able to keep us from falling."
But Christ is something more. He is our SHEPHERD. It is the work of the shepherd to care for the sheep, to feed them, and protect them.
In that wonderful tenth chapter of John, Christ uses the personal pronoun no less than twenty-eight times, in declaring what He is and what He will do. In verse 28 He says,
But notice the word "man" is in italics. See how the verse really reads: "Neither shall ANY pluck them out of My hand"- no devil or man shall be able to do it. In another place the Scripture declares,
How safe and how secure!
Christ says, "My
sheep hear My voice... and they follow Me" (John 10:27). A gentleman in the East
heard of a shepherd who could call all his sheep to him by name. He went and
asked if this was true. The shepherd took him to the pasture where they were,
and called one of them by some name. One sheep looked up and answered the call,
while the others went on feeding and paid no attention. In the same way he
called about a dozen of the sheep around him. The stranger said, "How do you
know one from the other? They all look perfectly alike." "Well," said he,
"you see that sheep toes in a little; that other one has a
squint; one has a little piece of wool off; another has a black spot; and
another has a piece out of its ear." The man knew all his sheep by their
failings, for he had not a perfect one in the whole flock. I suppose our
Shepherd knows us in the same way.
.
His Sheep
Knew His Voice
An Eastern shepherd was once telling a gentleman that his sheep
knew his voice and that no stranger could deceive them. The gentleman thought he
would like to put the statement to the test. So he put on the shepherd's frock
and turban, and took his staff, and went to the flock. He disguised his voice,
and tried to speak as much like the shepherd as he could; but he could not get a
single sheep in the flock to follow him. He asked the shepherd if his sheep
never followed a stranger. He was obliged to admit that if a sheep got sickly it
would follow anyone.
So it is with a good many professed Christians: when
they get sickly and weak in the faith, they will follow any teacher that comes
along; but when the soul is in health, a man will not be carried away by errors
and heresies. He will know whether the "voice"
speaks the truth or not. He can soon tell that, if he is really in communion
with God. When God sends a true messenger, his words will find a ready response
in the Christian heart.
Christ is a tender Shepherd. You may sometime
think He has not been a very tender Shepherd to you: you are passing under the
rod. It is written,
That you are passing under the rod is no proof
that Christ does not love you.
A friend of mine lost all his children. No
man could ever have loved his family more; but the scarlet fever took one by one
away; and so the whole four or five, one after another, died. The poor stricken
parents went over to Great Britain, and wandered from one place to another,
there and on the continent. At length they found their way to Syria. One day
they saw an Eastern shepherd come down to a stream, and call his flock to cross.
The sheep came down to the brink, and looked at the water; but they seemed to
shrink from it, and he could not get them to respond to his call. He then took a
little lamb, put it under one arm; he took another lamb and put it under the
other arm, and thus passed into the stream. The old sheep no longer stood
looking at the water: they plunged in after the shepherd; and in a few minutes
the whole flock was on the other side; and they hurried away to newer and
fresher pastures. The bereaved father and mother, as they looked on the scene,
felt that it taught them a lesson. They no longer murmured because the Great
Shepherd had taken their lambs one by one into yonder world; and they began to
look up and look forward to the time when they would follow the loved ones they
had lost. If you have loved ones gone before, remember that your Shepherd is
calling you to "set your affection on things above" (Colossians 3:2). Let us be faithful to
Him, and follow Him, while we remain in this world. And if you have not taken
Him for your Shepherd do so this very day.
.
Wonderful
Description of Christ
Christ is not only all these things that I have mentioned: He is also our Mediator, our Sanctifier, our Justifier; in fact, it would take volumes to tell what He desires to be to every individual soul. While looking through some papers I once read this wonderful description of Christ. I do not know where it originally came from; but it was so fresh to my soul that I should like to give it to you:-
Here is another beautiful extract: it is from
Gotthold:
[Note: Christian Scriver, Born January 2, 1629 was a court
preacher who had quite a friendship with Gotthold, whose first name he does not
give, but from whose lips he heard and took down what he called "Gotthold's"
emblems. They were well known in Martin Luther's day. Translated in U.S.A. in
1859.]
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.
.
CHAPTER 9. Back to Top
Backsliding
"I will heal
their backsliding; I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away"
-Hosea 14:4.
THERE ARE TWO KINDS of backsliders. Some have
never been converted: they have gone through the form of joining a Christian
community and claim to be backsliders; but they never have, if I may use the
expression, "slid forward." They may talk of backsliding; but they have never
really been born again. They need to be treated differently to real
backsliders,- those who have been born of the incorruptible seed, but who have
turned aside. We want to bring the latter back the same road by which they left
their first love.
Turn to Psalm 85:5. There you read:
Now look again:
.
Backsliders and the Word of God
There is nothing that will do backsliders so much good as to
take them to the Word of God; and for them the Old Testament is as full of help
as the New. The book of Jeremiah has some wonderful passages for wanderers. What
we want to do is to get backsliders to hear what God the Lord will
say.
Look for a moment at Jeremiah 6:10.
That is the condition of backsliders. They have no delight whatever in the word of God. But we want to bring them back, and let God get their ear. Read from the fourteenth verse to the seventeenth:
That was the condition of the Jews when they had backslidden. They had turned away from the old paths. And that is the condition of backsliders. They have got away from the good old book. Adam and Eve fell by not hearkening to the word of God. They did not believe God's word; but they believed the Tempter. That is the way backsliders fall- by turning away from the word of God.
.
"I Will
Plead With You"
In Jeremiah 2 we find God pleading with them as a father would plead with a son.
Now there is one thing to which we wish to call
the attention of backsliders; and that is,- that the Lord never forsook them;
but that they forsook Him! The Lord never left them; but they left Him! And this
too without any cause! He says: "What iniquity have your fathers found in Me,
that they are gone far from Me?" Is not God the same today as when you came to
Him first? Has God changed? Men are apt to think that God has changed; but the
fault is with them.
Backslider, I would ask you, "What iniquity is there
in God, that you have left Him and gone far from Him?" You have, He says, hewed
out to yourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. The world cannot satisfy
the new creature. No earthly well can satisfy the soul that has become a
partaker of the heavenly nature. Honor, wealth, and the pleasures of this world,
will not satisfy those who, having tasted the water of life, have gone astray,
seeking refreshment at the world's fountains. Earthly wells will get dry. They
cannot quench spiritual thirst.
Again in the thirty-second verse:
I have often startled young ladies when I have
said to them, "My friend, you think more of your earrings than of the Lord." The
reply has been, "No, I do not." But when I have asked, "Would you not be
troubled if you lost one; and would you not set about seeking for it?" the
answer has been, "Well, yes, I think I should." But though they had turned from
the Lord, it did not give them any trouble; nor did they seek after Him that
they might find Him.
How many once in fellowship and in daily communion
with the Lord now think more of their dresses and ornaments than of their
precious souls! Love does not like to be forgotten. Mothers would have broken
hearts if their children left them and never wrote a word or sent any memento of
their affection: and God pleads over backsliders as a parent over loved ones who
have gone astray; and He tries to woo them back. He asks: "What have I done that
they should have forsaken Me?"
The most tender and loving words to be
found in the whole of the Bible are from Jehovah to those who have left Him
without a cause. Hear how He argues with such:
I do not exaggerate when I say that I have seen hundreds of backsliders come back; and I have asked them if they have not found it an evil and a bitter thing to leave the Lord. You cannot find a real backslider, who has known the Lord, but will admit that it is an evil and a bitter thing to turn away from Him. I do not know of any one verse more used to bring back wanders than that very one. May it bring you back if you have wandered into the far country.
.
A Bitter
Thing to Turn Away
Look at Lot. Did not he find it an evil and a bitter thing? He
was twenty years in Sodom, and never made a convert. He got on well in the sight
of the world. Men would have told you that he was one of the most influential
and worthy men in all Sodom. But alas, he ruined his family. And it is a pitiful
sight to see that old backslider going through the streets of Sodom at midnight,
after he has warned his children, and they have turned a deaf ear.
I have
never known a man and his wife to backslide, without its proving utter ruin to
their children. They will make a mockery of
religion and will deride their parents: "Thine own wickedness shall correct
thee; and thy backsliding shall reprove thee!"
Did not David find it so?
Mark him, crying,
I think it was the ruin, rather than the death, of his son that caused this anguish.
.
Wandering
on the Barren Mountains of Sin
I remember being engaged in conversation some years ago, with an
old man. He had been for years wandering on the barren mountains of sin. That
night he wanted to get back. We prayed, and prayed, and prayed, till light broke
in upon him; and he went away rejoicing. The next night he sat in front of me
when I was preaching; and I think that I never saw anyone look so sad and
wretched in all my life. He followed me into the inquiry-room. "What is the
trouble?" I asked. "Is your eye off the Saviour? Have your doubts come back?"
"No; it is not that," he said. "I did not go to business, but spent all this day
in visiting my children. They are all married in this city. I went from house to
house; but there was not one but mocked me. It is the darkest day of my life. I
have awoke up to what I have done. I have taken my children into the world; and
now I cannot get them out." The Lord had restored unto him the joy of His
salvation; yet there was the bitter consequence of his transgression.
You
can run through your experience; and you can find just such instances repeated
again and again. Many who came to your city years ago serving God, in their
prosperity have forgotten Him. And where are their sons and daughters? Show me
the father and mother who have deserted the Lord and gone back to the beggarly
elements of the world; and I am mistaken if their children are not on the high
road to ruin.
As we desire to be faithful we warn these backsliders. It
is a sign of love to warn of danger. We may be looked upon as enemies for a
while; but the truest friends are those who lift up the voice of warning. Israel
had no truer friend than Moses. In Jeremiah God gave His people a weeping
prophet to bring them back to Him; but they cast off God. They forgot the God
who brought them out of Egypt, and who led them through the desert into the
promised land. In their prosperity they forgot Him and turned away. The Lord had
told them what would happen (Deuteronomy 28). And see what did happen. The king who made light of the word of God,
was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, and his children brought up in front of him
and every one slain; his eyes were put out of his head; and he was bound in
fetters of brass and cast into a dungeon in Babylon. (2
Kings 25:7). That is the way he reaped what he had sown.
Surely it is an evil and a bitter thing to backslide, but the Lord would win you
back with the message of His Word.
In Jeremiah 8:5 we read:
That is what the Lord brings against them.
.
"They Refuse to Return"
Now look: "I hearkened and heard; but they spake not aright." No family altar! No reading the Bible! No closet devotion! God stoops to hear; but His people have turned away! If there be a penitent backslider, one who is anxious for pardon and restoration, you will find no words more tender than are to be found in Jeremiah 3:12:
Now notice:
think of God coming and saying, "I am married unto you"!-
"Only acknowledge thine iniquity." How many times
have I held that passage up to a backslider! "Acknowledge" it; and God says I
will forgive you. I remember a man asking, "Who said that? Is that there?" And I
held up to him the passage, "Only acknowledge thine iniquity;" and the man went
down on his knees, and cried, "My God, I have sinned"; and the Lord restored him
there and then. If you have wandered, He wants you to come back.
He says
in another place,
His compassion and His love is
wonderful!
In Jeremiah 3:22:
He just puts words into the month of the
backslider. Only come; and, if you will come, He will receive you graciously and
love you freely.
In Hosea 14:1, 2, 4:
Just observe that, Turn! Turn!! TURN!!!
rings all through these passages.
Now, if you have
wandered, remember that you left Him, and not He you. You have to get out of the
backslider's pit just in the same way you got in. And if you take the same road
as when you left the Master you will find Him now, just where you
are.
.
How
Backsliders Treat Christ
If we were to treat Christ as an earthly friend we should never leave Him; and there would never be a backslider. If I were in a town for a single week I should not think of going away without shaking hands with the friends I had made, and saying "Good bye" to them. I should be justly blamed if I took the train and left without saying a word to anyone. The cry would be, "What's the matter?" But did you ever hear of a backslider bidding the Lord Jesus Christ "Good bye"; going into his closet and saying "Lord Jesus, I have known Thee ten, twenty, or thirty years: but I am tired of Thy service; Thy yoke is not easy, nor Thy burden light; so I am going back to the world, to the flesh-pots of Egypt. Good bye, Lord Jesus! Farewell"? Did you ever hear of that? No; you never did, and you never will. I tell you, if you get into your closet and shut out the world and hold communion with the Master you cannot leave Him. The language of your heart will be,
You could not go back to the world if you treated
Him in that way. But you left Him and ran away. You have forgotten Him days
without number. Come back today; just as you are! Make up your mind that you
will not rest until God has restored unto you the joy of His salvation.
A
gentleman in Cornwall once met a Christian in the street whom he knew to be a
backslider. He went up to him, and said: "Tell me, is there not some
estrangement between you and the Lord Jesus?" The man hung his head, and said,
"Yes." "Well," said the gentleman, "what has He done to you?" The answer to
which was a flood of tears.
In Revelation 2:4-5, we read:
I want to guard you against a mistake which some people make with regard to doing "the first works". Many think that they are to have the same experience over again. That has kept thousands for months without peace; because they have been waiting for a renewal of their first experience. You will never have the same experience as when you first came to the Lord. God never repeats Himself. No two people of all earth's millions look alike or think alike. You may say that you cannot tell two people apart; but when you get well acquainted with them you can very quickly distinguish differences. So no one person will have the same experience a second time. If God will restore His joy to your soul let Him do it in His way. Do not mark out a way for God to bless you. Do not expect the same experience that you had two or twenty years ago. You will have a fresh experience, and God will deal with you in His own way. If you confess your sins and tell Him that you have wandered from the path of His commandments He will restore unto you the joy of His salvation.
.
Peter's
Fall
I want to call your attention to the manner in which Peter fell; and I think that nearly all fall pretty much in the same way. I want to lift up a warning note to those who have not fallen.
Twenty-five years ago-and for the first five years
after I was converted- I used to think that if I were able to stand for twenty
years I need fear no fall. But the nearer you get to the Cross the fiercer the
battle. Satan aims high. He went among the twelve; and singled out the
Treasurer- Judas Iscariot, and the Chief Apostle- Peter. Most men who have
fallen have done so on the strongest side of their character. I am told that the
only side upon which Edinburgh Castle was successfully assailed was where the
rocks were steepest, and where the garrison thought themselves secure. If any
man thinks that he is strong enough to resist the devil at any one point, he
need specially watch there for the tempter comes then.
Abraham stands, as
it were, at the head of the family of faith; and the children of faith may be
said to trace their descent to Abraham: and yet down in Egypt he denied his wife
(Genesis 12). Moses was noted for his meekness; and yet he was kept out of the
promised land because of one hasty act and speech, when he was told by the Lord
to speak to the rock so that the congregation and their beasts should have water
to drink.
.
Elijah's
Cowardice
Elijah was remarkable for his boldness: and yet he went off a day's journey into the wilderness like a coward and hid himself under a juniper tree, requesting for himself that he might die, because of a message he received from a woman (1 Kings 19). Let us be careful. No matter who the man is- he may be in the pulpit- but if he gets self-conceited he will be sure to fall. We who are followers of Christ need constantly to pray to be made humble, and kept humble. God made Moses' face so to shine that other men could see it; but Moses himself knew not that his face shone, and the more holy in heart a man is the more manifest to the outer world will be his daily life and conversation. Some people talk of how humble they are; but if they have true humility there will be no necessity for them to publish it. It is not needful. A lighthouse does not have a drum beaten or a trumpet blown in order to proclaim the proximity of a lighthouse: it is its own witness. And so if we have the true light in us it will show itself. It is not those who make the most noise who have the most piety. There is a brook, or a little "burn" as the Scotch call it, not far from where I live; and after heavy rain you can hear the rush of its waters a long way off: but let there come a few days of pleasant weather, and the brook becomes almost silent. But there is a river near my house, the flow of which I never heard in my life, as it pours on in its deep and majestic course the year round. We should have so much of the love of God within us that its presence shall be evident without our loud proclamation of the fact.
.
Peter's
Self-Confidence
The first step in Peter's downfall was his self-confidence. The Lord warned him. The Lord said:
But Peter said:
But the Lord warned him:
Though the Lord rebuked him Peter said that he was
ready to follow Him to death. That boasting is too often, a forerunner of
downfall. Let us walk humbly and softly. We have a great Tempter; and, in an
unguarded hour, we may stumble and fall and bring a scandal on
Christ.
The next step in Peter's downfall was that he went to sleep. If
Satan can rock the Church to sleep he does his work through God's own people.
Instead of Peter watching one short hour in Gethsemane he fell asleep, and the
Lord asked him,
The next thing was that he fought in the energy of the flesh. The Lord rebuked him again and said,
Jesus had to undo what Peter had done. The next thing- he "followed afar off." Step by step he gets away. It is a sad thing when a child of God follows afar off. When you see him associating with worldly friends, and throwing his influence on the wrong side, he is following afar off; and it will not be long before disgrace will be brought upon the old family name, and Jesus Christ will be wounded in the house of his friends. The man, by his example, will cause others to stumble and fall.
.
Another
Wrong Step
The next thing- Peter is familiar and friendly with the enemies
of Christ. A damsel says to this bold Peter:
"Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee." But he denied before them all, saying,
"I know not what thou sayest." And when he was gone out into the porch another
maid saw him and said unto them that were there, "This fellow was also with
Jesus of Nazareth." And again he denied with an oath, "I do not know the Man."
Another hour passed, and yet he did not realize his
position; when another confidently affirmed that he was a Galilean for his
speech betrayed him. And he was angry and began to curse and to swear, and again
denied his Master: and the cock crew (Matthew
26:69-74).
He commences away up on the pinnacle of
self-conceit, and goes down step by step until he breaks out into cursing and
swears that he never knew his Lord.
The Master might have turned and said
to him,
The Lord might have upbraided him with questions such as these;
but He did nothing of the kind. He cast one look on Peter: and there was so much
love in it that it broke that bold disciple's heart; and he went out and wept
bitterly.
And after Christ rose from the dead see how tenderly He dealt
with the erring disciple.
.
"And
Peter"
The angel at the sepulcher says, "Tell His disciples, and Peter" (Mark 16:7). The Lord did not forget
Peter, though Peter had denied Him thrice; so He caused this kindly special
message to be conveyed to the repentant disciple. What a tender and loving
Saviour to have!
Friend, if you are one of the wanderers, let the loving
look of the Master win you back; and let Him restore you to the joy of His
salvation.
Before closing, let me say that I trust God will restore some
backslider reading these pages, who may in the future become a useful member of
society and a bright ornament of the Church. We should never have had the
thirty-second Psalm if David had not been restored:
or that beautiful fifty-first Psalm which was
written by the restored backslider. Nor should we have had
that wonderful sermon on the day of Pentecost when three thousand were
converted- preached by another restored backslider.
May God may restore
other backsliders and make them a thousand times more used for His glory than
they ever were before.
.
THE END.