Wondrous Love, and other Gospel addresses

By Dwight Lyman Moody

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Title: Wondrous Love
       and other Gospel addresses

Author: Dwight Moody

Release Date: August 23, 2010 [EBook #33520]

Language: English


*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WONDROUS LOVE ***




Produced by Keith G. Richardson









WONDROUS LOVE

AND OTHER GOSPEL ADDRESSES

BY

D. L. MOODY

AUTHOR OF

"PREVAILING PRAYER" "SOVEREIGN GRACE" ETC.

DELIVERED DURING MESSRS. MOODY AND SANKEY'S

FIRST CAMPAIGN IN ENGLAND

PICKERING & INGLIS

14 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C. 4

229 BOTHWELL STREET, GLASGOW, C. 2

29 GEORGE IV. BRIDGE, EDINBURGH



_THE WORLD-WIDE LIBRARY_

THE SEEKING SAVIOUR

By Dr. W. P. Mackay

Author of "Grace and Truth"

HOW AND WHEN

Do we Become Children of God?

50 Answers by Well-Known Men

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

By H. Forbes Witherby

ABUNDANT GRACE

By DR. W. P. MACKAY

Author of "Grace and Truth"

FORGIVENESS, LIFE AND GLORY

By Sir S. Arthur Blackwood

WONDROUS LOVE: Original Addresses

By D. L. Moody

First issued in 1876

Made and Printed in Great Britain



CONTENTS

Christ's Boundless Compassion

The New Birth

The Blood (Two Addresses)

Christ All in All

Naaman the Syrian

One Word--"Gospel"

The Way of Salvation

Eight "I wills" of Christ

The Right Kind of Faith

The Dying Thief



WONDROUS LOVE

   God loved the world of sinners lost
      And ruined by the fall;
   Salvation full, at highest cost,
      He offers free to all.
         Oh, 'twas love, 'twas wondrous love,
            The love of God to me;
         It brought my Saviour from above,
            To die on Calvary!
   E'en now by faith I claim Him mine,
      The risen Son of God;
   Redemption by His death I find,
      And cleansing through the blood.
   Love brings the glorious fulness in,
      And to His saints makes known
   The blessed rest from inbred sin,
      Through faith in Christ alone.
   Believing souls, rejoicing go;
      There shall to you be given
   A glorious foretaste, here below,
      Of endless life in heaven.
   Of victory now o'er Satan's power
      Let all the ransomed sing,
   And triumph in the dying hour
      Through Christ, the Lord, our King.



WONDROUS LOVE

_Addresses by_ D. L. Moody

CHRIST'S BOUNDLESS COMPASSION

"And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with
compassion toward them, and He healed their sick."--Matthew xiv. 14.

It is often recorded in Scripture that Jesus was moved by compassion;
and we are told in this verse that after the disciples of John had
come to Him and told Him that their master had been beheaded, that he
had been put to a cruel death, He went out into a desert place, and
the multitude followed Him, and that when He saw the multitude He had
"compassion" on them, and healed their sick. If He were here to-night
in person, standing in my place, His heart would be moved as He looked
down into your faces, because He could also look into your hearts, and
could read the burdens and troubles and sorrows you have to bear. They
are hidden from my eye, but He knows all about them, and so when the
multitude gathered round about Him, He knew how many weary, broken,
and aching hearts there were there. But He is here to-night, although
we cannot see Him with the bodily eye, and there is not a sorrow, or
trouble, or affliction which any of you are enduring but He knows all
about it; and He is the same to-night as He was when here upon
earth--the same Jesus, the same Man of compassion.

When He saw that multitude He had compassion on it, and healed their
sick; and I hope He will heal a great many sin-sick souls here, and
will bind up a great many broken hearts. And let me say, in the
opening of this sermon, that there is no heart so bruised and broken
but the Son of God will have compassion upon you, if you will let Him.
"He will not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax." He
came into the world to bring mercy, and joy, and compassion, and love.

If I were an artist I should like to draw some pictures to-night, and
put before you that great multitude on which He had compassion. And
then I would draw another painting of that man coming to Him full of
leprosy, full of it from head to foot. There he was, banished from his
home, banished from his friends, and he comes to Jesus with his sad
and miserable story. And now, my friends, let us make

THE BIBLE STORIES REAL,

for that is what they are. Think of that man. Think how much he had
suffered. I don't know how many years he had been away from his wife
and children and home; but there he was. He had put on a strange and
particular garb, so that anybody coming near him might know that he
was unclean. And when he saw any one approaching him he had to raise
the warning cry, "Unclean! unclean! unclean!" Aye, and if the wife of
his bosom were to come out to tell him that a beloved child was sick
and dying, he durst not come near her, he was obliged to fly. He might
hear her voice at a distance, but he could not be there to see his
child in its last dying moments. He was, as it were, in a living
sepulchre; it was worse than death. There he was, dying by inches, an
outcast from everybody and everything, and not a hand put out to
relieve him. Oh, what a terrible life! Then think of him coming to
Christ, and when Christ saw him, it says He was moved with compassion.
He had a heart that beat in sympathy with the poor leper, He had
compassion on him, and the man came to Him and said, "Lord, if Thou
wilt, Thou cant make me clean." He knew there was no one to do it but
the Son of God Himself, and

THE GREAT HEART OF CHRIST

was moved with compassion towards him. Hear the gracious words that
fell from His lips--"I will; be thou clean!" and the leprosy fled, and
the man was made whole immediately. Look at him now on his way back
home to his wife and children and friends! No longer an outcast, no
longer a loathsome thing, no longer cursed with that terrible leprous
disease, but going back to his friends rejoicing. Now, my friends, you
may say you pity a man who was so badly off, but did it ever strike
you that you are a thousand times worse off? The leprosy of the soul
is far worse than the leprosy of the body. I would rather a thousand
times have the body full of leprosy than go down to hell with the soul
full of sin. A good deal better that this right hand of mine were
lopped off, that this right foot should decay, and that I should go
halt and lame and blind all the days of my life, than be banished from
God by the leprosy of sin. Hear the wailing and the agony and the woe
that is going up from this earth caused by sin! If there is one poor
sin-sick soul filled with leprosy here to-night, if you come to Christ
He will have compassion on you, and say, as He did to that man, "I
will; be thou clean."

THE DEAD RAISED.

Well, now we come to the next picture that represents Him as moved
with compassion. Look into that little home. There is a poor widow
sitting there. Perhaps a few months before she had buried her husband,
and now she has an only son. How she dotes upon him! She looks to him
to be her stay and her support and friend in her old age. She loves
him far better than her own life-blood. But see, at last sickness
enters the dwelling, and death comes with it, and lays his ice-cold
hand upon the young man. You can see that widowed mother watching over
him day and night; but at last those eyes are closed, and that loved
voice is hushed, she thinks, for ever. She will never see or hear him
more after he is buried out of her sight. And so the hour comes for
his burial. Many of you have been in the house of mourning, and have
been with your friends when they have gone to the grave and looked at
the loved one for the last time. There is not one here, I dare say,
who has not lost some beloved one. I never went to a funeral and saw a
mother take the last look of her child but it has pierced my heart,
and I could not keep back the tears at such a sight. Well, the mother
kisses her only son on that poor, icy forehead; it is her last kiss,
her last look, and now the body is covered up, and they put him on the
bier and start for the place of burial. She had a great many friends,
The little town of Nain was moved at the sight of the widow's only son
being borne away. I see that great crowd as they come pushing out of
the gates; but over yonder are thirteen men, weary, and dusty, and
tired, and they have to stand by the wayside to let this great crowd
pass by, and the Son of God is in this group, and the others with Him
are His disciples. And He looked upon that scene and saw the mother
with her broken heart; He saw it bleeding, crushed, and wounded, and
it touched His heart. Yes, the great heart of the Son of God was moved
with compassion, and He came up and touched the bier, and said,

"YOUNG MAN, ARISE!"

and the young man came forth. I can see the multitude startled and
astonished; I can see the widowed mother going back rejoicing with the
morning rays of the resurrection shining in her heart. Yes, He had
indeed compassion on her. And there is not a widow in this hall but
Christ's voice will respond to your trouble and give you peace. Oh,
dear friends, let me say to you whose hearts are aching, you need a
friend like Jesus. He is just the friend the widow needs; He is just
the friend every poor bleeding heart needs; He will have compassion on
you and will bind up your wounded, bleeding heart if you will only
come to Him just as you are. He will receive you, without upbraiding
or chastising, to His loving bosom, and say, "Peace, be still," and
you can walk in the unclouded sunlight of His love from this night.
Christ will be worth more to you than all the world besides. He is
just the friend that all of you need; and I pray God you may every one
of you know Him from this hour as your Saviour and friend.

THE MAN WHO WAS ROBBED AND SPOILED.

The next picture which I shall show you to illustrate Christ's
compassion is the man that was going down to Jericho and fell among
thieves. They had taken away his coat, aye, and if he had a watch they
would have taken that as well. However, they took his money, and
stripped him, and left him half dead. Look at him wounded, bleeding,
dying; and now comes down the road a priest, and he looks upon the
scene. His heart might have been touched, but he was not moved with
compassion enough to help the poor man. He might have said, "Poor
fellow"; but he passed by on the other side and left him. After him
came down a Levite, and he said, "Poor man"; but he was not moved with
compassion to help him. Ah, there are a good many like the priest and
Levite! Perhaps some of you coming down to this hall meet a drunkard
reeling in the street, and just say, "Poor fellow," or it may be you
laugh because he stammers out some foolish thing. We are very unlike
the Son of God. At last a Samaritan came down that way, and he looked
down on the man and had compassion on him. He got off his beast, and
took oil and poured it into his wounds, and bound them up, and took
him out of the ditch, helpless as he was, and placed him on his own
beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. That good
Samaritan represents your Christ and mine. He came into the world to
seek and to save

THAT WHICH WAS LOST.

Young man, have you come to London, and fallen in with bad companions?
Have they taken you to theatres and vicious places, and left you
bleeding and wounded? Oh, come to-night to the Son of God, and He will
have compassion on you, and take you off from the dunghill, and
transform you, and lift you up into His kingdom, and into the heights
of His glory, if you will only let Him! I do not care who you are; I
do not care what your past life may have been. As He said to the poor
woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no
more." He had compassion upon her, and He will have compassion on you.
That man coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho represents thousands in
London, and that good Samaritan represents the Son of God. Young man,
Jesus Christ has set His heart on saving you. Will you receive His
love and compassion? Do not have such hard thoughts about the Son of
God. Do not think He has come to condemn you. He has come to save you.

THE PRODIGAL.

But I should like to draw another picture, another scene--that young
man going away from his home that we read of in the fifteenth chapter
of Luke; an ungrateful man, an ungrateful wretch as ever one saw. He
could not wait for his inheritance till his father was dead, he wanted
his share at once; and so he said to his father, "Give me the goods
that belong to me," and his good old father gives him the goods, and
away he goes. I can see him now as he starts on his journey, full of
pride, boastful and arrogant, going out to see life, off in grand
style to some foreign country--say, going down to London. How many
have come down to London, that being the far country to them,
squandering all their money. Yes, he was a popular man as long as he
had money. His friends last as long as his money lasts; a very popular
young man in London, "hail-fellow-well-met" greets him everywhere. He
always paid the liquor bill and cigars. Yes, he had plenty of friends
in London. What grand folly! But when his money was gone, where were
his friends? Oh, you that serve the devil, you have a hard master!
Well, when the prodigal's money was all gone, of course they laughed
at him, and called him a fool; and so he was. What a blind, misguided
young man he was! Just see what he lost. He lost his father's home,
his table and food, and testimony, and every comfort, and lost his
work, except what he got down there while feeding those swine. He was
in an unlawful business. And that's just what

THE BACKSLIDER

is doing; he is in the devil's pay. You are losing your time and
testimony. No one has any confidence in a backslider; for even the
world despises such a character. This young man lost his testimony.
Look at him amongst the swine. At last one in that far country comes
along, and, taking stock of him, says, "Look at that miserable,
wretched, dirty, barefooted fellow taking care of swine." "Ah," says
the prodigal, "don't talk to me like that. Why, my father's a rich
man, and has got servants better dressed than you are." "Don't tell me
that," says the other. "If you had such a father as that, I know very
well he wouldn't own you." And no one would believe him.

HE HAD LOST HIS TESTIMONY.

No one believes a backslider. Let him talk about his enjoyment with
God, nobody believes it. Oh, poor backslider, I pity you! You had
better come home again. Well, at last the poor prodigal comes to
himself, and he says, "I will arise and go to my father," and now he
starts. Look at him as he goes along, pale and hungry, with his head
down; his strength is exhausted, and perhaps disease in his frame, and
so shattered that no one would know him but his father. Love is keen
to detect its object. The old man has often been longing for his
return. I can see him many a night up on the house-top looking out to
catch a glimpse of him. Many a long night he has wrestled with God
that his prodigal son might come back. Everything he had heard from
that far country told him his boy was going to ruin as fast as he
could go. The old man spent much time in prayer for him, and at last
faith begins to arise, and he says, "I believe God will send back my
boy"; and one day the old man sees afar off that long-lost boy. He
does not know him by his dress, but he detected the gait of him, and
he says to himself, "Yes, that's my boy." I see him now pass down the
stairs; he rushes along the highway; he is running. Ah! that is just
like God. Many a time in the Bible God is represented as running; He
is in great haste to meet the backslider. Yes, the old man is running;
he sees him afar off, and he has compassion on him. The boy wanted to
tell him his story what he had done, and where he had been, but the
old man could not wait to hear him; his heart was filled with
compassion, and he took him to his loving bosom. The boy wanted to go
down into the kitchen, but the old man would not let him. No, but he
bade the servants put shoes on his feet, and a ring on his finger, and
kill the fatted calf, and make merry. The prodigal has come home, the
wanderer has returned, and the old man rejoices over the backslider's
return. Oh, backslider, come home, and there will be joy in your heart
and in the heart of God. May God bring the backsliders back
to-night--this very hour. Say as the poor prodigal did, "I will arise
and go to my father," and on the authority of God I tell you God will
receive you; He will blot out your sins, and restore you to His love,
and you shall walk again in the light of His reconciled countenance.

CHRIST WEEPS OVER JERUSALEM.

But look again. He comes to mount Olivet. He is under the shadow of
the cross. The city bursts upon Him. Yonder is the Temple; He sees it
in all its grandeur and glory. The people are shouting, Hosanna to the
Son of David! They are breaking off the palm branches, and taking off
their garments, and spreading them before Him, still shouting, Hosanna
to the Son of David! and bowing down before Him. But He forgets it
all. Yes, even Calvary with all its sorrow He forgets. Gethsemane lay
there at the foot of the hill; He forgot it too. As He looked upon the
city which He loved, the great heart of the Son of God was moved with
compassion, and He cried aloud, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

My friends, look at Him there weeping over Jerusalem. What a wonderful
city it might have been. How exalted to heaven it was. Oh, if they had
only known the day of their visitation, and had received instead of
rejected their king, what a blessing He would have been to them! Oh,
poor backslider, behold the Lamb of God weeping over you, and crying
to you to come to Him, and receive shelter and refuge from the storm
which has yet to sweep over this earth!

LOOK AT POOR PETER,

See what he does. He denied the Lord, and swore he never knew Him. If
ever He needed sympathy, if ever He needed His disciples round Him, it
was that night, when they were bringing false witnesses against Him,
that He might be condemned to death; and there was Peter, one of His
foremost disciples, swearing he never knew Him. He might have turned
on Peter and said, "Peter, is it true you don't know me? Is it true
you have forgotten how I cured and healed your wife's mother when she
lay at the point of death? Is it true you have forgotten how I raised
you up when you were sinking in the sea? Is it true, Peter, you forgot
how you were with me on the mount of transfiguration, when heaven and
earth came together, and you heard the voice speaking from the clouds?
Is it true you have forgotten that mountain scene when you wanted to
build the three tabernacles? Is it true, Peter, you have forgotten
me?" Yes, thus He might have taunted poor Peter; but instead of that
He just gave him one look of compassion that broke his heart, and he
went out and wept bitterly.

THE PERSECUTING SAUL.

Again, look at that bold blasphemer and persecutor who was going to
stamp out the early Church, and was breathing out threatenings and
slaughter, when Christ met him on his way to Damascus. It is the same
Jesus still. Listen, and hear what He says--"Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou Me?" Why, He could have smitten him to the earth with
a look or a breath; but instead of that, the heart of the Son of God
was moved with compassion, and He cries out, "Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou Me?" If there is a persecutor here to-night, I would
ask you, "Why persecute Jesus?" He loves you, sinner; He loves you,
persecutor. You never received anything but goodness and kindness and
love from Him. And Saul cried out, "Who art thou?" And He answered, "I
am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks." It is hard to fight against such a loving friend, to
contend against one who loves you as I do; and down comes the proud,
persecuting Saul, down upon his face, and he cried out, "Lord, what
wouldst Thou have me to do?" And the Lord told him, and he went and
did it. May the Lord have compassion upon the infidel, and sceptic,
and persecutor. Let me ask you, my friend, Is there any reason why you
should hate Christ, or why your heart should be turned against Him?

I remember a story about a teacher telling the scholars all to follow
Jesus, and how they might all be missionaries, and go out to work for
others. And one day one of the smallest came to her and said, "I asked
such and such a one to come with me, and they said they would like to
come, but their father was an infidel."

"WHY DON'T YOU LOVE JESUS?"

And the young child wanted to know what an infidel was, and the
teacher went on to explain to her. And one day, when she was on her
way to school, this infidel was coming out of the post office with his
letters in his hand, when the child ran up to him, and said, "Why
don't you love Jesus?" He thought at first to push her aside, but the
child pressed it home again, "Why don't you love Jesus?" If it had
been a man, the infidel would have resented it; but he did not know
what to do with the child, and with tears in her eyes she asked him
again, "Oh! please, tell me, why don't you love Jesus?" He went on to
his office, but he felt as if every letter he opened read, "Why don't
you love Jesus?" He attempted to write, with the same result; every
letter seemed to ask him, "Why don't you love Jesus?" and he threw
down his pen in despair, and went out of his office, but he could not
get rid of the question; it was asked by a still small voice within,
and as he walked along it seemed as if the very ground and the very
heavens whispered to him, "Why don't you love Jesus?" At last he went
home, and there it seemed as if his own children asked him the
question, so he said to his wife, "I will go to bed early to-night,"
thinking to sleep it away; but when he laid his head on the pillow it
seemed as if the pillow whispered it to him. So he got up about
midnight, and said, "I can find out where Christ contradicts Himself,
and I'll search it out and prove Him a liar." Well, the man got up,
and turned to the Gospel of John, and read on from the beginning until
he came to the words, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have everlasting life." What love! he thought; and at last the old
infidel's heart was stirred. He could find no reason for not loving
Jesus, and down he went on his knees and prayed, and before the sun
rose the old infidel was in the kingdom of God.

I will challenge any one on the face of the earth to find any reason
for not loving Christ. It is only here on earth men think they have a
reason for not doing so. In heaven they know Him, and they shout,
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." Oh, sinner, if you knew Him you
would have no wish to find a reason for not loving Him. He is "the
chiefest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely." I can imagine a
good many saying, "I should like very much to become a Christian, and
I should like to know how I can come to Him, and be saved."

COME TO HIM AS A PERSONAL FRIEND.

For twenty years I have made this a rule. Christ is just as habitually
near, as personally present to me as any other person living; and when
I have any troubles, trials, and afflictions, I go to Him with them.
When I want counsel I go to Him, just as if I could talk face to face
with Him. Twenty years ago God met me one night and took me to His
bosom, and I would sooner give up my life to-night than give up
Christ, or that I should leave Him, or that He should leave me, and
that I should have no one to bear my burdens, or tell my sorrows to.
Why, He is worth more than all the world beside; and to-night He will
have compassion upon you as He had upon me. I tried for weeks to find
a way to Him, and I just went and laid my burden upon Him, and then He
revealed Himself to me, and I have ever since found Him a true and
sympathizing friend, just the friend you need. Go right straight to
Him. You need not go to this man or that man, to this church or that
church. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

There is no name so dear to the Americans as that of

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

and in an audience like this in America you would see the tears
trickle down many a cheek at his name: he is very dear to us
Americans. Do you want to know the reason why? I will tell you. He was
a man of compassion; he was very gentle, and was noted for his heart
of sympathy for the down-trodden and the poor. No one went to him with
a tale of sympathy but he had compassion on them, no matter how far
down they were in the scale of society. He always took an interest in
the poor. There was a time in our history when we thought he had too
much compassion. Many of our soldiers did not understand army
discipline, and a great many were not true to the army regulations.
They intended to be, but they did not understand them. Many a man
consequently went wrong, and they were court-martialed and condemned
to be shot; but Abraham Lincoln would always pardon them; and at
length the nation rose up against him, and said that he was to
merciful, and ultimately they got him to give out that if a man was
court-martialed he must be shot, that there would be no more
reprieves.

THE SLEEPING SENTINEL.

A few weeks after this, news came that a young soldier had been
sleeping at his post. He was court-martialed, and condemned to be
shot. The boy wrote to his mother, "I do not want you to think I do
not love my country, but it came about in this way: My comrade was
sick, and I went out on picket for him; and the next night he ought to
have come, but still being sick I went out for him again, and without
intending it I fell asleep. I did not intend to be disloyal."

It was a very touching letter, and the mother and father said there is
no chance, there will be no more reprieves. But there was a little
girl in that home, and she knew that Abraham Lincoln had a little boy,
and how he loved that little boy; and she said if Abraham Lincoln knew
how my father and mother loved my brother he would never allow him to
be shot, and she took the train to go and plead for her brother; and
when she got to the President's mansion the difficulty arose how was
she to get past the sentinel. So she told him her story, and the tears
ran down his cheeks, and he let her pass. But the next trouble was how
to get past the secretary and the other officials. However, she
succeeded in getting, unobstructed, into his private room, and there
were the senators and ministers busy with State affairs. The President
saw the child, and called her to him, and said, "My child, what can I
do for you?" and she told him her story. The big tears rolled down his
cheeks. He was a father, and his heart was full; he could not stand
it. He treated the girl with kindness, and then having reprieved the
boy, gave him thirty days furlough, and sent him home to see his
mother. His heart was full of compassion.

And, let me tell you, Christ's heart is more full of compassion than
any man's. You are condemned to die for your sins; but if you come to
Him He will say, "Loose him, and let him go" (John xi.). He will
rebuke Satan, and the dead shall live. Go to Him as that little girl
went to the President, and tell Him all; keep nothing from Him, and He
will say, "Go in peace."

THE TOUCH OF COMPASSION.

Let me ask the poor backslider, Did you ever feel the touch of the
hand of Jesus? If so, you will know it again, for there is love in it.
There is a story told in connection with our war of a mother who
received a despatch that her boy was mortally wounded. She went down
to the front, as she knew that those soldiers told to watch the sick
and wounded could not watch her boy as she would. So she went to the
doctor, and said, "Would you like me to take care of my boy?" The
doctor said, "We have just let him go to sleep, and if you go to him
the surprise will be so great it might be dangerous to him. He is in a
very critical state. I will break the news to him gradually." "But,"
said the mother, "he may never wake up. I should so dearly like to see
him." Oh, how she longed to see him! and finally the doctor said, "You
can see him, but if you wake him up and he dies, it will be your
fault." "Well," she said, "I will not wake him up if I may only go by
his dying cot and see him." Well, she went to the side of the cot. Her
eyes had longed to see him; and as she gazed upon him she could not
keep her hand off that pallid forehead, and she laid it gently there.
There was love and sympathy in that hand, and the moment the
slumbering boy felt it, he said, "Oh, mother, have you come?" He knew
there was sympathy and affection in the touch of that hand. And if
you, oh, sinner, will let Jesus reach out His hand and touch your
heart, you, too, will find there is sympathy and love in it. That
every lost soul here may be saved, and come to the arms of our blessed
Saviour, is the prayer of my heart!

   Jesus, my Saviour, to Bethlehem come,
   Born in a manger to sorrow and shame;
   Oh it was wonderful blest be His name,
      Seeking for me, for me.
   Jesus, my Saviour, on Calvary's tree,
   Paid my great debt, and my soul He set free;
   Oh, it was wonderful, how could it be!
      Dying for me, for me.



THE NEW BIRTH

"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."--John
iii. 3

Much less inherit it. He can't even get a glimpse of the kingdom of
God except he be born again. I believe this is the most important
subject that will ever come before us in this world. I don't believe
there is any truth in the whole Bible so important as the truth
brought out in the third chapter of the Gospel of John.

It is the A B C of God's alphabet. If a man is unsound on
regeneration, he is unsound on everything. That is really the
foundation-stone; and he must get the foundation right. If he don't,
what is the good of trying to build a house? Now, Christ says plainly,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." But
although regeneration or the new birth is taught so plainly in the
third chapter of John, I don't believe there is any truth in the whole
Bible that there is such great darkness about as this great truth.
There are a great many like the man that saw men as trees walking.
Many Christians do not seem to be clear about this new birth.

BORN A CHRISTIAN.

Only this afternoon, as I was in the inquiry-room, a person came in,
and I said, "Are you a Christian?" "Why," she says, "of course I am."
"Well," I said, "how long have you been one?" "Oh, sir, I was born
one!" "Oh! indeed, then I am very glad to take you by the hand; I
congratulate you; you are the first woman I ever met who was born a
Christian; you are more fortunate than others; they are born children
of Adam." She hesitated a little, and then tried to make out that,
because she was born in England, she was a Christian. There are many
who have the idea, that because they are born in a Christian country,
they have been born of the Spirit. Now, in this third chapter of John,
the new birth is brought out so plain, that if any one will read it
carefully and prayerfully, I think his eyes will soon be opened. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh; it remains flesh; and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit, and remains spirit. So, when a man is
born of God, he has God's nature. When a man is born of his parents,
he receives their nature, and they received the nature of their
parents, and you can trace it back to Adam. But when a man is born of
God, or born from above, or born of the Spirit--that is the way the
Holy Ghost puts it in that third verse--he receives God's nature, and
then it is he leaves the life of the flesh for the life of the spirit.

Before I go on I want to say one thing, and that is, what this new
birth, or being born of the Spirit, is not. A great many think they
have been born again because they go to church. A great many say, "Oh,
yes, I am a Christian; I go to church every Sabbath!" Let me say here
that there is no one that goes to church so regularly in all London as
Satan. He is always there before the minister, and he is the last one
out of the church. There is not a church in London, or a chapel, but
that he is a regular attendant of it. The idea that he is only down in
the slums and lanes and alleys of London is a false idea. He is
wherever the Word is preached; it is his business to be there, and
catch away the seed. He is here to-night. Some of you may go to sleep,
but he won't. Some of you may not listen to the sermon, but he will.
He will be watching, and when the seed is just entering into some
heart he will go and catch it away.

A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE BAPTIZED.

Another class say, "Oh, yes, I am a Christian, because I was
baptized." Now, I want to say here that baptism is one thing, and
being born again is another. Because a person is baptized, you cannot
say that that is the new birth. Would you call that being born from
above? You cannot baptize a man into the kingdom of God. Now, bear
that in mind. If I could save men by baptizing them, you would not
catch me preaching. I would get water and baptize them; that would be
the quickest way. It would be no use to be praying and pleading for
men to flee from the wrath of God. But you can never get them into the
kingdom of God by baptism. Baptism is all right in its place. I am not
here crying down church ordinances; I am talking about the new birth:
and there are a great many, I believe, being deceived on this one
point, that because they have been baptized at some time in their life
they have become Christians. But that is not the new birth; that is
not being born from above and of the Spirit. Do not let Satan deceive
you, my friends, on that point, for it is a very important truth; and
we want to have every one here to understand, and I hope the Spirit of
God will make plain the difference between baptism and regeneration,
or being born of the Spirit.

JOINING THE CHURCH.

There is another class that say, "Oh, yes, I became a Christian when I
joined the church." That is not being born again. What has that to do
with the new birth, being united with the church on earth? There are a
great many united with the church who are on their way to death and
ruin. A great many have no hope of eternal life who are church
members. One of the twelve Christ chose to follow Him turned out a
hypocrite and a traitor; he was not loyal to Christ at heart. My
friends, don't build your hope of heaven upon some profession of your
faith, but bear in mind you must be born of God. Now just let me stop
a minute, and you think, and ask yourselves this question, "Have I
been born again?" It is the most solemn question that will ever come
before you down here, "Have I been born from above? Have I been born
of the Spirit?" It is not making some new resolutions. You have made
enough of them. I never met any one who had not made some good
resolutions in their life. It is not trying to do good. A great many
say, "I try to do the best I can, and I think it will come out all
right." What is that to do with the new birth and the new creation?
God does not promise salvation to him that tries to do the best he
can, but to him that believeth, or that is born of the Spirit; for
"except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

THE NEW BIRTH INSTANTANEOUS.

Now, I believe this new birth is instantaneous. I have met a great
many people who cannot tell the day or the hour of their conversion;
but there must have been a time when they passed from death unto
life--when they were born of the Spirit. There must have been a time
when their names were written in the Book of Life. They may not be
conscious of the day, or the hour, or the week, or the month, or the
year; but, my friends, I beg of you to be sure that you have been born
of the Spirit. Don't be deceived upon this one truth, because Christ
Himself says, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God."

THE FLESH CANNOT SERVE GOD.

As I said before, when I was born of my parents I received their
nature, I received the nature of the flesh; and I cannot serve God in
the flesh. "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth." And before a man can worship God he must
be born of God; he must be born of the Spirit. Then with this new
birth, with this new life, he can serve God; then the yoke is easy,
and the burden is light. A man may as well try to fly to the moon as
to serve God before he has been born of the Spirit; it is utterly
impossible. The natural man is at enmity against God; his natural
heart is at war with God; it always has been, and it always will be.
And not only that, but you cannot make it better. God never mends, He
creates anew; therefore don't be trying to patch up that old Adam
nature. God says, "It shall never come into my presence." Therefore
God has just set it aside. But He tells us how we are to come into His
presence, and how we are to get into His kingdom. This is worthy to be
borne in mind. You cannot educate men into it. That is what the world
is trying to do. But he that climbeth up by some other way than the
Lord's way, the same is a thief and a robber. You had better be born
into it in God's way.

We have a law in America that no man shall be President of the United
States that has not been born on American soil. We have a great many
Englishmen come to America, and a great many men from all parts of the
world, and yet I have never heard one complain of that law. They say
America has the right to say who shall be President. I come here to
your country, and I do not complain because you have a Queen to reign
over you. What right have I to complain? Has not England a right to
say who shall rule it, and who shall be its Queen? Foreigners have no
right to interfere. And I would like to ask you this question, Has not
God a right to say who shall come into His kingdom, and how we shall
come? Now, my friend, God tells us here we are to come into His
kingdom by the new birth. We must be born from above, born of the
Spirit, and then we get a nature that goes out towards God. If you
take a drunken man, and put him on the very pavement of heaven, he
will not be happy there. The drunkard doesn't want heaven. What is he
to do there? He has no whisky to drink there, and he has none of his
old companions. What is he to do? He would say, "This is hell to me. I
don't want to stay here." A man that cannot spend one Sabbath on earth
among God's people, what is he to do with that eternal Sabbath, with
those that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb? A man must have a spiritual nature before he wants to go to
heaven. Heaven cannot have any attractions to a man until he is born
of the Spirit.

THE MORAL NEED THE NEW BIRTH.

Now let us go back to the man to whom Christ said these words. I often
rejoice He didn't say this to the woman at the well, nor to Mary
Magdalene. If He had said it to them, people would have said, "Oh,
that poor woman needs to be converted; but I am a moralist; I don't
need to be converted. Regeneration will do for harlots, thieves, and
drunkards, but we moralists do not need it." But who did Christ say it
to? He said it to Nicodemus. Who was he? He belonged to the house of
bishops. Nicodemus stood very high; he was one of the church
dignitaries; he stood as high as any man in Jerusalem, except the high
priest himself. He belonged to the seventy rulers of the Jews; he was
a doctor of divinity, and taught the law. There is not one word of
Scripture against him; he was a man that stood out before the whole
nation as of pure and spotless character. What does Christ say to him?
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." I can
see a scowl on his forehead. He says, "What do you mean by being born
again--born from above, born of the Spirit? Now I am old, can I a
second time enter my mother's womb, and be born again?" Jesus saith,
"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." He didn't take back
what He had said, but He repeated it. I can imagine Nicodemus was like
tens of thousands of men in London to-day. The moment you talk to them
about regeneration or conversion, there is a scowl on their forehead.
They say, "I don't understand it." Of course, the natural man doesn't
understand spiritual things. It is a matter of revelation. A great
many men try to investigate and find out God. Suppose you spend a
little of your time in asking God to reveal Himself to you.

REASON CANNOT UNDERSTAND THIS NEW BIRTH.

I heard some time ago of some commercial travellers who went to hear a
man preach. They came back to the hotel, and were sitting in the
smoking-room talking, and they said the minister did not appeal to
their reason, and they would not believe anything they could not
reason out. There was an old man sitting there listening, and he said
to them, "You say you won't believe anything you can't reason out?"
"No, we won't." The old man said, "As I was coming in the train
yesterday, I noticed some sheep, and cattle, and swine, and geese, all
eating grass. Now, can you tell me by what process that same grass was
turned into feathers, hair, bristles, and wool?" "Well, no, we can't
just tell you that." "Do you believe it is a fact?" "Oh, yes, it is a
fact." "I thought you said you would not believe anything you could
not reason out?" "Well, we can't help believing that; that is a fact
we see before our eyes." "Well," said the old man, "I can't help but
believe in regeneration and a man being converted, although I cannot
explain how God converted him."

CHRIST'S ILLUSTRATION.

Now, the illustration which Christ used to Nicodemus was the wind.
"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth."
Now, you cannot see the Spirit of God work in this audience; but I
hope and pray He may be working now in the hearts of many, convincing
them of sin! Do you believe more than ever that you are a sinner?
Well, that is the work of the Holy Ghost. The devil never told you you
are a sinner; he tries to make you believe that you are good enough.
If you believe to-night that you have sinned against God, that is the
work of the Holy Ghost. He is here at work. We cannot see Him, but
there are a great many who know He is here. Suppose I should say, "I
don't believe in the wind, and that it must be all imagination; I have
lived thirty-seven years, and have never seen the wind. It is folly
for men to talk about the wind." I can just imagine that boy there
saying, "Why, I know more than that man; I know there is wind, for it
blew my hat off this very day into the mud, and I have often felt it
blowing in my face." My friends, you have never felt the wind more
than I have felt the Spirit of God. You have never seen the effects of
the wind more than I have seen the effects of the Spirit of God, and
of the working of the Holy Ghost, and there are hundreds of witnesses
here who would testify the same thing. Yet this invisible power does
its work in creation, and the mighty invisible power of God does its
work effectively in the spiritual sphere.

New life in Christ means the breaking of old fetters.

GOD CAN CHANGE THE DRUNKARD.

It may be that I am talking now to some poor drunkard here. When he
comes into his house his children listen, and hear by the footfall
that their father is coming home drunk, and the little things run away
and hide from him as if he was some horrid demon. His wife begins to
tremble. Many a time has that great, strong arm been brought down on
her weak, defenceless body. Many a day has she carried about marks
from that man's violence. He ought to be her protector, support, and
stay; but he has become her tormentor. His home is like hell upon
earth; there is no joy there. There may be one such here to-night who
hears the good news that he can be born again, and receive a nature
from heaven, and receive the Spirit of God. God can give him power to
hurl the infernal cup from him. God will give him grace to trample
Satan under his feet, and the drunkard will then become a sober man.
Go to that house three months hence, and you find it neat and clean.
As you draw near that home you hear singing; not the song of the
drunkard, that is gone, all things have become new. He has been born
of God, and is singing one of the songs of Zion:

   "Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
   Let me hide myself in Thee."

Or perhaps he is singing that good old hymn that his mother taught him
when he was a little boy:

   "There is a fountain filled with blood,
      Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
   And sinners plunged beneath that flood
      Lose all their guilty stains."

He has become a child of God, an heir of heaven. His children are
climbing up his knee, and he has his arms round their necks. That dark
home is now changed into a little Bethel on earth. God dwells there
now. Yes; God has done all that, and that is regeneration.

THE WORTH OF GOOD RESOLVES.

Then some of you may have been saying, "I wish Mr. Moody would tell us
how we are to become Christians, for he says that we cannot be
Christians by trying to do good and by making new resolutions." Many a
time you have been at a meeting like this, and have resolved to turn
over a new leaf, and you may now form another good resolution. If you
do, you will break it. What are you going to do? If it is a new birth
you are to have, you cannot create life. Can you bring life to the
dead? All the wise men in London cannot do it. God alone is the author
of life; and if you have the new birth, it must be God's work. When
the Jubilee Singers were in the North of England my family went to see
them, and my little boy asked why they didn't wash the black off their
faces. I told him it was because they were born black. The Ethiopian
cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots. You cannot save
yourself. There is a man dying--can you put new life into him? Or can
you raise up a dead body by saying, "Young man, arise"? That is the
work of God. Your souls are dead in trespasses and sins, and only the
Lord Jesus Christ can speak life.

THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCE.

I imagine some of you will say, "Haven't I anything to do?" Well, you
haven't. Salvation has been worked out for you by another. Many go all
round the world in search of honour or possessions. Salvation is worth
thousands of times more than any thing earth can produce; but you
don't get it that way. God has but one price for salvation. Do you
want to know what it is? It is without money and without price.
Rowland Hill said that most auctioneers found they had hard work to
get people up to their price, but that he had hard work to get people
down to his. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life." Who will have it now? I say to you, young man, will you
have this gift? Suppose I was going over London Bridge, and saw a poor
miserable beggar, bare-footed, coatless, hatless, with no rags hardly
to cover his nakedness, and right behind him, only a few yards, there
was the Prince of Wales with a bag of gold, and the poor beggar was
running away from him as if he was running away from a demon, and the
Prince of Wales was hallooing after him, "Oh, beggar, here is a bag of
gold!" Why, we should say the beggar had gone mad to be running away
from the Prince of Wales with the bag of gold. Sinner, that is your
condition. The Prince of Heaven wants to give you eternal life, and
you are running away from Him.

THE DYING SOLDIER.

Then you say, "If it is not by working in earnest, how am I to be
saved?" I will tell you; Scripture will tell you--that is better. Take
the illustration Christ used to Nicodemus; you could not have a
better. He took him to the remedy: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life"
(John iii. 14, 15). Now there is the remedy. How am I to be saved? By
looking to Christ; just by looking. It's very cheap, isn't it? Very
simple, isn't it? Just look away to the Lamb of God now and be saved.
What says the great wilderness preacher? "Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world." You might say the whole plan
of salvation is in two words--Giving; Receiving. God gives; I receive.

I remember, after one of the terrible battles in the American Civil
War--I was in the army, tending soldiers--and I had just laid down one
night, past midnight, to get a little rest, when a man came and told
me that a wounded soldier wanted to see me. I went to the dying man.
He said, "I wish you to help me to die." I said, "I would help you to
die if I could. I would take you on my shoulders and carry you into
the kingdom of God if I could; but I cannot. I can tell you of One who
can." And I told him of Christ being willing to save him; and how
Christ left heaven and came into the world to seek and to save that
which was lost. I just quoted promise after promise, but all was dark,
and it almost seemed as if the shades of eternal death were gathering
around his soul. I could not leave him, and at last I thought of this
third chapter of John, and I said to him, "Look here, I am going to
read to you now a conversation that Christ had with a man that went to
Him when he was in your state of mind, and inquired what he was to do
to be saved." I just read that conversation to the dying man, and he
lay there with his eves rivetted upon me, and every word seemed to be
going home to his heart, which was open to receive the truth. When I
came to the verse where it says, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in
the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life"--the dying man cried, "Stop, sir. Is that there?" "Yes, it is
all here." Then he said, "Won't you please read it to me again?" I
read it the second time. The dying man brought his hands together, and
he said, "Bless God for that. Won't you please read it to me again?" I
read through the whole chapter, but long before the end of it he had
closed his eyes. He seemed to lose all interest in the rest of the
chapter, and when I got through it his arms were folded on his breast,
he had a sweet smile on his face; remorse and despair had fled away.
His lips were quivering, and I leant over him, and heard him faintly
whisper from his dying lips, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." He opened
his eyes, and fixed his calm, deathly look on me, and he said, "Oh,
that is enough; that is all I want"; and in a few hours he pillowed
his dying head upon the truth of those two verses, and rode away on
one of the Saviour's chariots, and took his seat in the kingdom of
God.

Oh, sinner, you can be saved now if you will! Look and live. May God
help every lost one here to look on the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world.



THE BLOOD

"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without
the shedding of blood is no remission."--Heb. ix. 22.

No man can give a satisfactory reason for the hope that is in him if
he is a stranger to the "Blood." At the very commencement of the Bible
we find reference made to the subject in Genesis iii. 21: "Unto Adam
also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed
them." In this verse we get the first glimpse of blood. Certainly God
could not have clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of beasts unless He
had shed blood. Here, then, we have the innocent suffering for the
guilty--the doctrine of substitution in the garden of Eden. God dealt
with Adam in grace before He dealt in judgment. Death came by sin.
Adam had sinned, and the Lord came down to make the way of escape. God
came to him as a loving friend, and not to hurl him from the earth.
Adam could have said to Eve, "Though the Lord has driven us out of the
garden of Eden, He loves us," for this coat is a token of love.

God put a lamp of promise into Adam's hand before He drove him out;
for He said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."
Did you ever think what a terrible state of things it would be if man
was allowed to live for ever in his lost, ruined state? It was from
love to Adam that God drove him out of Eden, that he should not live
for ever. God put the cherubim with a flaming sword there. But now
Christ has taken the sword out of his hand, and opened wide the gate,
so that we can come in and eat. Adam might have been in Eden ten
thousand years, and then be led astray by Satan; but now "our life is
hid with Christ in God." Man is safer with the second Adam out of Eden
than with the first Adam in Eden.

Let us next turn to Genesis iv. 4: "And Abel, he also brought of the
firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had
respect unto Abel and to his offering." Cain and Abel were brought up
outside of Eden, and had the same parents, and both received the same
instruction as to how they were to draw near to God; but

CAIN CAME IN HIS OWN WAY,

while Abel came in the way God commanded. Cain said to himself, "I am
not going to bring a bleeding lamb. Here is the grain and the
beautiful fruit that I have raised by my industry; and I'm sure it
looks better than blood, and I'm not going to bring blood." Now it was
not that there was any difference between these two men, but it was
the offering which each brought. One came in the way God had marked
out, and the other in a way of his own. Now there are a great many
just like that at the present day. They prefer what is agreeable to
the eye, as Cain did his beautiful corn and fruit, and they do not
like the doctrine of

THE BLOOD OF ATONEMENT.

But any religion that makes light of the Blood is the work of the
devil, even if an angel from heaven came down to preach salvation
through any other means.

Undoubtedly on the morning of creation God marked out the way a man
might come to Him; and Abel walked in God's way, and Cain in his own.
Perhaps Cain could not bear the sight of blood, and so he took that
which God had cursed and laid it upon the altar.

THERE ARE MANY CAINITES IN THE CHURCH

even now; and some have got into the pulpit, and they preach against
the doctrine of the Blood, and that we can get to heaven without the
Blood. From the time Adam went out of Eden there have been Abelites
and Cainites. The Abelites come by the way of the Blood--the way God
had marked out for them. The Cainites come by their own way. They
repudiate the doctrine of the Blood, and say it does not atone for
sin. But it is better to take God's word than man's opinion.

Again, turn to Genesis viii. 20: "And Noah builded an altar unto the
Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and
offered burnt-offerings on the altar." We have thus passed over the
first two thousand years, and have come to the second dispensation.
The thought I want to call your attention to is this: The first thing
Noah did when he got out of the ark was to build an altar and slay the
animals, thus putting blood between him and his sin. The second
dispensation is founded upon blood; and these animals were taken
through the flood in the ark that they might illustrate the
indispensable necessity of the shedding of blood.

ABRAHAM OFFERING UP ISAAC.

Again, in Genesis xxii. 13, it is written: "And Abraham lifted up his
eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by
his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a
burnt-offering in the stead of his son." The ram was typical, and was
offered up in the place of Abraham's son. God loved Abraham so much
that He spared his son; but He so loved the world that He would not
spare His own Son, but gave Him up freely for us all. It may be that
from the top of the mountain Abraham saw a glorious sight. He saw
Christ going up Calvary carrying His cross. He saw that mountain peak
sprinkled with blood; and he saw that sacrifices were to go on until
the true Isaac made His appearance and offered Himself for us all.
Abraham had the altar built, and he was ordered to take his only son,
and to bind him, and to slay him; and he bound that boy, and
everything was ready. He took the knife, and was about to slay him,
because it was the will and command of God. He did not know what it
meant; but he obeyed.

Would that there were more men like him now, ready to obey God in the
dark without asking the reason why! The old man took his son, and he
told him the secret that he had hid from him all the journey--that God
had told him to offer him up as a sacrifice. And he bound the boy hand
and foot, and laid him all ready on the altar; and just when he was
about to stretch forth his hand and slay him, he heard a voice from
heaven calling to him: "Abraham, Abraham, spare thy son." God was more
merciful to the son of Abraham than to His own, for He gave Him up
freely for us all. He opened up to him the curtain of time, and showed
him Christ coming in the future; and Abraham saw his sins laid on
Christ and was glad.

THE PASSOVER.

In Exodus xii. 13 we read: "And the blood shall be to you for a token
on the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over
you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you." God did not
say, When I see your good deeds; when I see how you have prayed, and
wept, and cried. No; but "When I see the blood I will pass over you.
The blood shall be a token." What was it saved those men? Was it their
good resolutions or their works? It was the blood. "When I see the
blood I will pass over you." Very likely when some of the lords, and
dukes, and great men rode through Goshen, and saw the Israelites
sprinkling their dwellings, they said they never saw such foolishness,
and that they were spoiling their houses. They were to sprinkle the
door-posts and lintels of their houses with the blood, but not the
threshold. God would not have

THE BLOOD TRAMPLED UPON,

but that is what the world at the present day is doing.

Some preachers speak not of the death of Christ, but His life, because
it is more pleasing to the natural ear; but the life of Christ may be
preached for ever and it will not save any man, if His death is left
out. A live lamb could not have kept death out of the houses of
Goshen. God did not say that He wanted a live lamb at every door, but
to have the lintels and door-posts sprinkled with the blood of the
lamb. People sometimes say, "If I was as good as that minister, that
preached the gospel for fifty years"; or, "If I was as good as that
mother, who did so and so for her children"; but if we are behind the
blood of God's Son, we are just as safe as any Christian that has ever
walked the face of the earth.

It is not a long life of usefulness that makes men and women
acceptable to God. We must work for Christ; but we get salvation as a
gift, and then begin to work because we cannot help it. All the work a
person does before he becomes converted goes for nothing.

The little child down in Goshen behind the blood of the lamb was just
as safe as Joshua, or any man in the whole town. The angel of death
passed by when he saw the blood. The little tiny fly was as safe in
the ark with Noah as the elephant. It was equally the ark that saved
the fly and the elephant, and it is

THE BLOOD THAT SAVES

the weakest and the strongest. When death came that night with his
sword, he entered the palace of the prince, and went into the houses
of the great and mighty, and they all had to pay tribute to death; for
the first-born in Egypt was smitten down that night. The only thing
that kept death out was death itself. The only way that death can be
met is by death. I have sinned, and must die; or get some one to die
for me. The great question is--Have you got the token? If death should
come after any one of us to-night, are we sheltered behind the blood?
that is the point. It is the blood that atones. Not my good
resolutions, or prayers, or position in society, or what I have done,
but what has been done by another. God looks for the token.

Take another illustration. Suppose a man wanted to go from London to
Liverpool, and he got into a railway carriage, he would soon hear the
guard running along the platform crying out for tickets. A man might
be rich or he might be poor, black or white, he might be learned or
unlearned, that was not what the guard wanted to know--he wanted to
see the tickets; for the ticket was the token, and if you have got a
ticket you pass.

NO DEATH WHERE THE BLOOD WAS.

The Egyptians looked at the Israelites killing a lamb and sprinkling
the blood on the door-posts no doubt as a very foolish proceeding, but
not one house in the city, upon the doorposts and lintels of which the
blood was not sprinkled, escaped; no matter who were the inhabitants,
rich or poor, that night there was no difference. There was a wail
heard in every habitation, from the palace to the meanest hovel where
the blood _had not_ been sprinkled, but where it _had_ been sprinkled
death was kept out. That showed clearly the truth, that without the
shedding of blood there is no remission. Let no man or woman be guilty
of laughing at this doctrine, that "the blood of Jesus Christ, His
Son, cleanseth us from all sin."

In the eleventh verse of the same chapter we read, "And thus shall ye
eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your
staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's
passover." Why you have not got more power is because you don't feed
on the Lamb; and this is why there are so many weak Christians. The
Lamb not only atones for our sins, but we are to feed upon the Lamb.
We have got a wilderness journey before us, as the children of Israel
had. After we are saved we are to feed upon Christ; He is the true
bread from heaven. If I don't feed my soul with the true bread from
heaven I am sickly, and have not power to go and work for Christ; and
that is the reason, I believe, why so few in the Church have power.
Some people think if they get one glimpse of Christ that is enough.

Some think much of their dinner; why should not God's children think a
good deal of

THEIR SPIRITUAL FOOD?

We should no more think of laying in spiritual food to last for ten
years than we should bodily food. A good many people are living on
stale manna. A man in Ireland said to his boy, "I want you to eat two
breakfasts. Do you know why?" The boy said he understood one was for
his body and the other for his soul. All Christians should similarly
take two breakfasts, for the soul and for the body.

The Passover was to be to the Jews the beginning of months. "This
month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first
month of the year to you" (Exodus xii. 2). All the 400 years that they
had been in bondage went for naught, because this was the first month
of the year to them. And in like manner throughout all the years that
we have served the devil, and all the time that we have been in Egypt,
whatever good we may have done in this world is to be reckoned as
naught. Everything dates back to the Passover night--to the time the
blood was put upon the door-posts. All the time we are serving the
world goes for naught. If you have not come to Calvary you are losing
time. Everything you do on the wrong side of the cross counts for
naught; the first thing is to be saved by faith in Christ, and then we
commence our pilgrimage to heaven. We don't start, as some people
suppose, from the cradle to heaven. We start from the cross. We have
got a fallen nature that is taking us hellward. We must be born of the
Spirit, and

SHELTERED BY THE BLOOD,

and then we become pilgrims for heaven.

Each man was to take a lamb for his house. "And if the household be
too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house
take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to
his eating shall make your count for the lamb." The lamb was not too
little for a household, but the household might be too little for the
lamb. Christ was enough for every household, enough and to spare, and
we ought to pray that salvation may come to every member of our
households.

Let us next turn to Exodus xxix. 16: "And thou shalt slay the ram, and
thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the
altar." Even Aaron could not come to God until he sprinkled blood
round about the altar; and when the high priest went into the holy of
holies, he had to take blood with him. From the time when Adam fell
there has been no other way by which a man can approach God than by
the blood. You cannot have an audience of God until you come by that
appointed way. So it has been for 6000 years. When Adam fell in Eden
he broke the golden chain that linked humanity to the throne of God,
but Christ came and made atonement for that fall.

Again, observe in Leviticus viii. 23: "And he slew it; and Moses took
of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and
upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right
foot." I used to read a passage like this, and say it seemed absurd. I
think I understand it now. The blood _upon the ear_ means that we are
to hear the voice of God. The unconverted man does not understand the
voice of God; and we are told that when the voice of God was heard,
the uncircumcised said that it thundered. They did not know the
difference between God's voice and thunder. Without the blood we
cannot hear the voice of God and understand it. A man must be
sheltered behind the blood before he can hear God's voice.

The blood _upon the hand_ signifies that a man may

WORK FOR GOD.

You cannot work for God until you are sheltered behind the blood; and
until you are sheltered it all stands for naught. You may build
churches, endow colleges, pay ministers and missionaries; but it all
goes for naught until you are sheltered behind the blood. Don't let
any one deceive you on this point. Don't let Satan deceive you by
telling you that you can get to heaven by some other way. They asked
Christ, "What must we do that we may work the works of God?" Perhaps
these men had got their pockets full of money, and were ready and
willing to build churches. Christ told them that the work of God was
that they should believe in His Son. But they were not willing to do
such a small thing; they would rather do some greater thing; but that
was not what was wanted. You cannot do anything to please God until
you believe.

"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." People may work day and
night, and even work themselves to death; but they never will do right
until they do what God requires them to do.

The blood _on the toe_ of the right foot was to show that Aaron was to
walk with God. When Adam fell, communion with God was broken. Before
he had walked with God; but the moment he sinned he fell out of
communion with Him; and from that time to this God has been trying to
get man back into communion. God is full of truth and justice. His
justice must be met; and after that has been met He is satisfied. God
never walked with men until He put them behind the blood at Goshen.
What could stand before them then? They passed through the Red Sea,
and God said to Joshua, "Take this country, and no man shall be able
to stand before you all the days of your life." In the days of Joshua
there were whole regiments of giants; but one stripling from the
Lord's hosts defeated the giant of Gath. If God is with us, the giants
will be like grasshoppers; but if God is not with us, it will be
different. I would rather have ten men separated from the world than
ten thousand nominal Christians who go to the prayer-meeting to-night
and the ball to-morrow.

In Leviticus xvi. 14 it is said: "He shall take of the blood of the
bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward;
and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his
finger seven times." It seems as if God originally gave Adam a life by
which he held communion with Him; but on the day that he broke the
command he lost that communion. And ever since God has been trying to
get men back into communion with Himself. But how could God be just
and the justifier of sinners? That is done through the Blood of
Christ. "The life of the flesh is in the blood." God demands blood to
atone for sin.

MAN'S LIFE WAS FORFEITED,

and he had to die, or pay the wages of death. He could not pay the
penalty and live; so he wanted a substitute. Every man had sinned, and
could not be a substitute for his fellow; but Christ was sinless, and
could become the substitute for man; and He has become that
substitute, because He has died in the room and stead of man to
satisfy the law. Then the question for each and every one to answer
is, whether they will love Him and serve Him who has died to redeem
them by His precious Blood.

In Leviticus xvii. 11, we read: "For the life of the flesh is in the
blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement
for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the
soul." There may be some who are saying, Why does God demand blood?
Some one said to me: "I detest your God; He demands blood. I don't
believe in such a God; for my God is merciful to all." I want to say,
My God is full of mercy! But don't be so blind as to believe that God
is not just, and that He has not got a government. Suppose Queen
Victoria didn't like any man to be deprived of his liberty, and she
threw all her prisons open, and was so merciful that she could not
bear any one to suffer for guilt, how long would she hold the sceptre?
how long would she rule this empire? Not twenty-four hours. Those very
men who cry out about God being merciful would say: "We don't want
such a Queen."

GOD IS JUST.

God is merciful, but He will not take an unredeemed sinner into
heaven. If He did, the redeemed would plant the banner of indignant
remonstrance round the throne, and there would be a revolt in heaven.
God said to Adam, On the day thou sinnest thou shalt surely die. Sin
entered, and brought death into the world. God's word must be kept. I
must either die, or get somebody to die for me; and in the fulness of
time Christ comes forward to die for the sinner. He was without sin;
but if He had committed one sin, He would have had to die for His own
sin. The life of the flesh is in the blood; and it is not blood He
demands really; it is life, and life has been forfeited. We have
sinned, and death must come, or justice must take its course. Glory to
God in the highest because He sent His Son, born of a woman, to take
our nature and die in our stead, tasting death for every man. You take
this blood out of this body of mine, and life is gone.

GOD DEMANDS BLOOD.

He demands life. Man has sinned; therefore life must be forfeited, and
I must die, or find somebody to die for me. My friends, I have only
just touched this subject. If you read your Bibles carefully you will
find the scarlet thread running through the Bible. It commenced in
Eden and flows on to Revelation. I cannot find anything to tell me the
way to heaven

BUT BY THE BLOOD.

This book (holding up the Bible) wouldn't be worth carrying home if
you take the scarlet thread out of it; and it doesn't teach anything
else; for the blood commences in Genesis, and goes on to Revelation.
That is what this book is written for. It tells its own story; and if
a man should come and preach another gospel, don't you believe him. If
an angel should come and preach anything else, don't believe it. Don't
trifle with the subject of the Blood. In your dying hour you would
give more to be sheltered behind this Blood than for all the world.

A MOTHER'S LOVE.

In the time of the Californian gold fever a man went to the diggings,
and left his wife to follow him some time afterwards. While on her
voyage with her little boy, the vessel caught fire; and as there was a
powder-magazine on board, the captain knew when the flames reached it
the ship would be blown up. The fire could not be got under, so they
took to the life-boats; but there was not room for all. As the last
boat pushed off, the mother and boy stood on the deck. One of the
sailors said there was room for another. What did the mother do? She
decided to perish herself in order to save her boy. She dropped him
into the boat, and with a mother's last look, said: "If you should
live to see your father, tell him that I died in your place." Do you
think when that boy grew up he could fail to love that mother who died
to save him? My friends, this is a faint type of what Christ has done
for you and me. He died for our sins. He left heaven for that purpose.
Will you go away saying, I see no beauty in Him. May God break every
heart here! You will need Him when you come to cross the swelling of
Jordan. You will need Him when you go up to the bar of God. God forbid
that when death comes it should find you without Christ, and without
God, and without hope!

Not only is the vitally important subject of the "Blood of Christ"
referred to frequently in the Old Testament, but likewise in many
places in the New Testament.

Let us turn to the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and
verses 22-26, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain." What is this but the bloodshedding and death of
Christ? Read also Acts iv. 10; v. 28; vii. 52; viii. 32; x. 39; xvii.
3; xviii. 21; Hebrews ix. 22; 1 Peter i. 19; and many other passages
will be found if the word _Blood_ is referred to in a Concordance.

REDEMPTION.

A friend of mine was in Ireland, and saw a little Irish boy who had
caught a sparrow, and the poor little bird was trembling and panting
in his hand, from which it wanted to get away. It was evidently very
much affrighted. The gentleman told the boy to let it go, as the bird
could not do him any good; but the boy said he would not let it
escape, for he had been chasing it for three hours before he could
catch it. The gentleman then offered to buy the bird, and the boy
agreed to a price, which was paid. He took the poor bird and held it
out on his palm, where it sat for a time, scarcely able to realise the
fact that it had got its liberty; but at last it flew away, chirping,
as if to say to the gentleman, "You have redeemed me."

That is an illustration of what is meant by redemption. Satan is
stronger than any man upon earth, and there is no match for him but
Christ. The lion of Calvary--the lion of the tribe of Judah--He is
stronger than the lion of hell. When Christ on Calvary said, "It is
finished!" it was the shout of the conqueror. He came to redeem the
world by His death.

Once when I was re-visiting my native village I was going to a
neighbouring town to preach, and saw a young man coming from a house
in a carriage, in which was seated an old woman. I felt interested in
them, and asked my companion who they were. I was told to look at the
adjoining meadow and pasture, and great barns that were on the farm,
as well as a good house. "Well," said my companion, "that young man's
father drank that all up, and left his wife in the poorhouse. The
young man went away and worked until he had got money enough to redeem
that farm, and now it is his own, and he is taking his mother to
church." That is another illustration of redemption.

In the first Adam we have lost all, but the second Adam has redeemed
everything by His death. A friend of mine who was in Paris went to a
great meeting of Jews, at which one of the leading men presided, and
that man said the Jews had the honour of killing the Christian's God;
and those Jews stamped and applauded at the statement. They were proud
of the act, and cried out, "His blood be upon us, and upon our
children," and that imprecation has been literally fulfilled in their
history. Now His blood either cries for our peace and salvation or for
our condemnation.

PEACE.

In Colossians i. 20 it is written, "Having made peace through the
blood of the cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him,
I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." That is
what the blood of the cross does, it brings peace. In Romans v. it is
written, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
God." In this three things are stated: there is _justification_ for
the past as well as peace. As the believer looks back to Calvary, the
blood speaks peace and pardon for guilt. Then there is _grace_ for the
present, and _glory_ for the future.

In John xix. 34 it is written, "But one of the soldiers with a spear
pierced His side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water." There
is a striking fact intimated in this verse. The spear that went into
the side of the Son of God was the crowning act of sin, the
culminating crime of earth and hell. I don't see how they could have
done a more cruel thing than that. What act could have been more black
and hellish? And the blood came out and covered the spear, and a
fountain was thus opened in the house of David for sin. The blood
touched the Roman spear, and it was not long before the Roman
government became at least nominally Christian. The blood ran down
from His side upon the earth, and this earth has been redeemed by Him;
for He will have the world by and by. He is

THE TRUE SOVEREIGN,

and He will ere long cast out the prince of darkness, and sway His
sceptre from end to end of this earth. A little longer, and He will
personally return and set up His millennial kingdom and reign over
this earth. He has redeemed the earth by His blood, and He will have
all He has redeemed.

ONENESS IN CHRIST.

Has the Blood touched you? The blood of Christ makes us one, brings us
into the family of God, and enables us to cry, "Abba, Father." At the
time of the American war, during the days of slavery in America, when
there was much political strife and strong prejudice against the black
men, especially by Irishmen, I heard a preacher say, that when he came
to the cross for salvation he seemed to find a poor negro on one side
and an Irishman on the other side, and the blood came trickling down
upon them and made them one. There may be strife in the world, but
those whom Christ has redeemed He has made one family. We are blood
relatives.

When I go before an audience, there is hardly a person I have seen
before; but as I begin to talk about the King their eyes light up, and
I see they are kinsmen, they are blood relatives, and in a short time
I become attached to them. A man may go into a town a perfect
stranger, but as soon as he finds out those who love God, they will be
one. I wish Christians had more of this oneness. I hope the time will
soon come when sectarian walls will be broken down, and people will
not want to ask whether you belong to the Established, Wesleyan, or
Baptist Churches. If washed in the blood, we are blood relatives. I
believe

GOD WILL JUDGE THE WORLD BY THE BLOOD.

"What have you done with that blood?" will be the great question in
that day. If we make light of it, and send back an insulting message,
saying we don't stand in need of it, we shall stand speechless before
God's tribunal. If we make light of that blood, what is going to
become of our souls?

JUSTIFICATION.

The only way a man can be brought within the family of God is by the
blood, as it is said in Romans iii. 24, "Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus"; and again in
Romans v. 9, "Much more then, being now _justified by His blood_, we
shall be saved from wrath through Him." Justified from all things from
which we could not be by the law of Moses. When God looks into His
ledger, there is nothing found against the man who is washed in the
blood. One plunge in the crimson fountain, and the sinner is justified
in the sight of God. Christ was raised from the grave for the
justification of all who put their trust in Him, and such are not only
pardoned men but justified men. Justification is more than pardon. It
is said of an emperor of Russia that he sent on one occasion for two
noblemen who were charged with some conspiracy, and one he found to be
perfectly innocent, so he sent him home justified; but the other was
proved guilty, but was pardoned. They both returned home, but ever
afterwards would stand very differently in the estimation of their
sovereign and neighbours. From that may be seen the difference between
pardon and justification.

CONFIDENCE.

When a man is justified he can go through the world with his head
erect. Satan may come to him, and say, "You are a sinner"; but the
reply would be, "I know that, but God has forgiven me through Christ";
as it is written in Revelation i. 5, "And from Jesus Christ, who is
the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the
prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed
us in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God the
Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever."

Many people try to come to Christ, but think they cannot come unless
they first become good. But He loves all Christians even before their
sins are washed away. He loves them, and then washes them in His own
blood. It is wonderful love! To think that He loves them first and
then washes them in His blood from their sins! There is no devil in
hell that can pluck them out of His hand. They are perfectly safe; for
they are washed in the blood of the Lamb.

NO REMISSION WITHOUT BLOOD.

It is said in Hebrews ix. 22, "And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood; and without shedding of blood there is no
remission." It is utterly impossible that a man can be saved who makes
light of the blood. There is no other name under heaven whereby we can
be saved than the name of Christ Jesus. Are we willing to receive what
Christ has already done? The salvation of those who trust in Him was
already worked out when He said upon the cross, "It is finished."

In Matthew xxvi. 28 we get the words of Christ Himself: "For this is
my blood of the New Testament, which was shed for many for the
remission of sins." That was what Christ Himself said about the blood.
He could have saved His life, but He loved the human family so much
that He shed His blood for their redemption. He opened that fountain
referred to in the lines:

   "There is a fountain filled with blood,
      Drawn from Emmanuel's veins."

That hymn will last as long as the Church, and so will others like:

   "Rock of ages, cleft for me,
   Let me hide myself in Thee."

There is a great deal about the blood in these hymns, and they will
all live. Every hymn into which the scarlet thread is woven will live.
There is another sweet hymn that will last through all ages:

   "Just as I am, without one plea,
      But that Thy blood was shed for me."

In Hebrews x. 19 we read, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way,
which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say,
His flesh." When Christ's work was done, the veil of the temple was
rent from the top to the bottom. God came out of the holy of holies,
and man can now go in. He makes all His people in this dispensation
kings and priests. Every one can come right into the presence of God
Himself. In the Jewish dispensation none but the high priests could
enter into the holy of holies; but the veil being rent, God came out
and man can go in through the veil of His flesh. "Let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure
water." Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. The new and
living way has been opened by His blood. The only thing that Christ
left down here was His blood. When He ascended to heaven, He took with
Him His flesh and His bones, but His shed blood was left on this
earth.

THE BLOOD HAS TWO CRIES.

It either cries for my damnation, or for my salvation. If I make light
of the blood, and trample it under my feet, then it cries out for
God's condemnation; but if I am sheltered behind the blood, there is
no condemnation for me. God dealt in judgment with Cain; and when
Pilate wanted to know what to do with Christ, he washed his hands and
said he was innocent. The Jews said, "Let His blood be upon us and our
children, not to save us, but to condemn us." Would that they had
said, "Let His blood be upon us to save us and protect us." Nearly
1900 years have rolled away, and the Jews are wanderers on the face of
the earth without a king. Their having been scattered all these years,
what a proof it is the word of God is true! May our prayer be to-day,
His blood be upon us and our children, not to condemn us, but to save
us. Let that be our prayer, that we may know what it is to be
sheltered behind the blood of God's dear Son. The blood of the cross
speaks peace. If I am sheltered behind the blood, there is peace, but
there is no peace until my sin is covered. If you had committed sin
against a man, you would get no peace until that was forgiven. Men are
running after peace; and if it could be bought in the market, many
would give hundreds of thousands of pounds to secure it. The blood of
Christ speaks peace, and it will bring peace to every guilty
conscience and aching heart to-day if you only seek it.

In Hebrews x. 28, 29, we read: "He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden
under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite
unto the Spirit of grace?" To me these are very solemn verses. I don't
see how any one can sit here and hear these verses read and be content
to remain unsaved. "They died without mercy"; but how much more sore
will be the punishment of those who live in this age with an open
Bible, which tells how Christ died to redeem us, and make us heirs of
heaven.

In Revelation xii. 11, we read: "And they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death." They overcame by the blood. I don't believe
there is a word in the Bible Satan is fearing more than the word
"blood." Judging from past experience, I shall probably receive many
letters to-morrow attacking me for what I have said to-day. These
letters will say it is heathenish to stand up and preach what would
only do for an unenlightened age. May God forgive those who dare to
say such things. If you will read your Bible in the light of Calvary,
you will find there is no other way of coming to heaven but by the
blood. The devil does not fear ten thousand preachers who preach a
bloodless religion. A man who preaches a bloodless religion is doing
the devil's work, and I don't care who he is.

VICTORY THROUGH THE BLOOD.

It is said of old Dr. Alexander, of Princeton Seminary, that when he
parted with the students who were going to preach the gospel, he would
take them by the hand, and say, "Young man, make much of the
blood--make much of the blood."

As I have travelled up and down Christendom I have found out that a
minister who gives a clear sound upon this doctrine is successful. A
man who covers up the cross, though he may be an intellectual man, and
draw large crowds, cannot touch the heart and conscience. There will
be no life there, and his church will be like a gilded sepulchre.
Those men who preach the doctrine of the cross, holding up Christ as
the sinner's only hope of heaven, and as the sinner's only substitute,
and make much of the blood, God honours, and souls are always saved
where that truth is preached.

I would say,

MAKE MUCH OF THE BLOOD.

May God help us to make much of the blood of His Son. It cost God so
much to give us this blood, and shall we try to keep it from the world
which is perishing from the want of it? The world can get along
without us, but not without Christ. Let us preach Christ in season and
out of season. Let us go to the sick and dying, and hold up the
Saviour who came to seek and save them, and died to redeem them.

CHRIST WILL CONQUER.

It is said of Julian the Apostate in Rome, that when he was trying to
stamp out Christianity he was pierced in the side by an arrow. He
pulled the arrow out, and taking a handful of blood as it flowed from
the wound, threw it into the air, shouting, "THOU GALILÆAN, THOU HAST
CONQUERED!" Yes, this Galilæan is going to conquer. May God help us to
give no uncertain sound on this doctrine.

I would rather give up my life than give up this doctrine. Take that
away, and what is my hope in heaven? Am I to depend upon my works?
Away with them when it comes to the question of salvation. I must get
salvation distinct and separate from works, for it is "to him that
worketh not, but believeth on Christ." None will walk the celestial
pavement of heaven but those washed in the blood. The first man that
went up from this earth was probably Abel. You can see Abel putting
his little lamb upon the altar, thus placing blood between him and his
sin. Abel sang a song the angels could not join in. There must have
been one solo song of redemption in heaven, because Abel had no one to
join him. But there is a great chorus now, for the redeemed have been
going up for six thousand years, and they sing of Him who is worthy to
receive honour because He died to save us from condemnation.

ROBES MADE WHITE THROUGH THE BLOOD.

In Revelation vii. 14, we read: "And I said unto him, Sir, thou
knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb." Sinner, how are you going to get your robes clean
if you don't get them washed in the blood of the Lamb? How are you
going to wash them? Can you by yourself make them clean? Oh, may we
all reach that paradise above! There they are singing the sweet song
of redemption, and may it be the happy lot of each of us to join them.
It may be only a short time, at the longest, before we shall be there,
and shout the song of redemption, and sing the sweet song of Moses and
the Lamb. There "they hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither
shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living
fountains of water: and God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes." At that day sceptics and scoffers will pray for the rocks and
mountains to fall on them, and cover them from the wrath of God. If
you die without Christ, without hope, and without God, where will you
be? Sinner, be wise! don't make light of the blood!

THE DYING SAINT.

An aged minister of the gospel, when dying, said, "Bring me the
Bible." Putting his finger upon the verse, "The blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us from all sin," he said, "I die in the hope of
this verse." It wasn't his fifty years' preaching, nor his long life
in the Lord's service, but the blood of Christ, upon which he relied.
When we stand before God's tribunal we shall be pure, even as He is
pure, if we are washed in the blood of the Lamb.

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD.

During the American war a doctor heard a man saying, "Blood, blood,
blood!" The doctor thought this was because he had seen so much blood
shed upon battlefields, and endeavoured to soothe his mind. The man
smiled, and said, "I wasn't thinking of the blood upon the
battlefield, but I was thinking how precious the blood of Christ is to
me as I am dying." As he died his lips quivered, "Blood, blood,
blood!" and he was gone. Oh, it will indeed be precious when we come
to our dying bed! it will then be worth more to us than all the world!
One sin is enough to exclude us from heaven, but one drop of Christ's
blood is sufficient to cover all our sins.

Beware how you treat the gospel message of redemption through the
blood.

THE DOWN GRADE.

A stage-driver away on the Pacific coast--as I was told when I was
there about three years ago--while lying on his dying bed, kept moving
one of his feet up and down, saying, "I am on the down grade, and
cannot reach the brake." As they told me of it, I thought how many
were on the down grade, and could not reach the brake, and were dying
without God and without hope. I plead with you as a fellow-traveller;
don't go out of this hall without saying, "Heaven is my home, and God
is my Father." Don't let the scoffers laugh you into hell; they cannot
laugh you out of it. The Blood is upon the mercy-seat, and while it is
upon the mercy-seat you can enter into the kingdom. God says, "There
is the Blood; it is all I have to give. As long as it is there, there
is hope for you. I am satisfied with the finished work of my Son, and
will you be satisfied?" Don't leave this meeting until you can claim
this as yours.

How dark and sad it is to go to the bedside of a dying infidel or
atheist, or one who is dying without the light of the resurrection
morn. But if we trust to Christ, death has lost its sting, and the
grave its victory.

An eminent minister in America, Alfred Cookman, the Robert McCheyne of
his day, was dying, and when his friends were gathered round his
couch, waiting to see him depart to be with Christ, his face lit up,
and with a shout of triumph he said, "I am sweeping through the gates,
washed in the blood of the Lamb!" And this echoes and re-echoes
through America to-day: "I am sweeping through the gates, washed in
the blood of the Lamb!" May these be our last words, and may an
abundant entrance be granted us into the gates of the heavenly city!

   Who, who are these, beside the chilly wave,
   Just on the borders of the silent grave;
   Shouting Jesus power to save,
   Washed in the blood of the Lamb.
   Sweeping through the gates of the new Jerusalem
   Washed in the blood of the Lamb.



CHRIST ALL IN ALL

Read Colossians iii. 11.

Christ is all in all to every one who has truly found Him. He is our
Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer, Shepherd, Teacher, and also sustains
toward us many more offices, to which I desire to call your attention.

1. If we turn to Luke ii. 10, 11, we find Christ is there announced as
our

SAVIOUR:

"Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David _a
Saviour_, which is Christ the Lord." We learn to know Christ as our
Saviour, to meet Him on Mount Calvary, to look on Him as the bleeding
Lamb of God, before we know Him as our Redeemer, Deliverer, and
Shepherd. Now, looking round upon this vast assembly, I, who do not
know the hearts of the people, cannot know whether you can say that
Christ is your Saviour. There are many, I trust, who can say this, and
who rejoice in His salvation; while, without being uncharitable, I am
afraid there are many who know nothing personally of Jesus as their
Saviour.

He is offered to every one of you to-day as a Saviour; "God gave Him
up freely for us all," that we all through Him might be saved. If you
are belonging to this world, I can prove that you have a Saviour. If
you belonged to some other planet, such as the moon or any of the
stars, then I could not say a Saviour was offered to you; for it is
not revealed whether the people of these distant worlds, even if they
are inhabited, require salvation or not. But this I know, that every
man on this globe has a Saviour offered him.

SALVATION FREE TO ALL.

I have no sympathy with those men who try to limit God's salvation to
a certain few. I believe that Christ died for all who will come. I
have received many letters finding fault with me, and saying I surely
don't believe the doctrine of election. I do believe in election; but
I have no business to preach that doctrine to the world at large. The
world has nothing to do with election; it has only to do with the
invitation, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
That is the message for the sinner. I am sent to preach the gospel to
all.

After you have received salvation, we can talk about election. It's a
doctrine for Christians, for the Church, not for the unconverted
world. Our message is "good tidings, which shall be to all people; for
unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." All
people, this Saviour is proffered to you. Accept Him, and God will
accept you; reject Him, and God will reject you. Your eternal destiny
depends on your refusal or otherwise to accept the proffered Saviour.
The case is simply one of giving and taking. God gives; I receive. We
must, then, first of all know Christ as our Saviour.

2. But He is still more: He is our

REDEEMER.

Supposing I saw a man tumble into a river, and I were to jump in and
rescue him, I should be a saviour to him--I should have saved him. But
when I brought the man ashore, I should probably leave him, and do
nothing further.

But the Lord does more. He not only saves us, but He redeems us--that
is, buys us back. He ransoms us from the power of sin, as if I should
promise to watch over that rescued man for ever, and see that he did
not again fall into the water. The Lord not only saves us from
spiritual death, but He redeems us for ever that death can never touch
us.

LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES.

When I was at Richmond, U.S., the coloured people were going to have a
meeting. It was the first day of their freedom. I went to the African
church, and never before or since heard such bursts of native
eloquence. "Mother," said one, "rejoice to-day. Your little child has
been sold from you for the last time; your posterity are for ever
free. Glory to God in the highest! Young men, you have heard the
driver's whip for the last time; you are free to-day! Young maidens,
you have been put up on the auction-block for the last time!" They
spoke right out, they shouted for joy; their prayers had been
answered, it was the gospel to them. In like manner Jesus Christ
proclaims liberty to the captives. Some have accepted it; some, like
the poor negroes, scarcely believe the good tidings; but it is none
the less true. Christ has come to redeem us from the slavery of sin.
Now, who will accept of that redemption? There was one coloured woman,
a servant in an inn in the Southern States, who could not believe she
was free. "Be's I free, or be I not?" she asked of a visitor. Her
master told her she was not, her coloured brethren told her she was.
For two years she had been free without knowing it. She represents a
great many in the Church of God to-day. They can have liberty, and yet
they don't know it.

3. Again, Christ is our

DELIVERER.

The children of Israel were not only saved and redeemed from the
bondage of the Egyptians, but they were also _delivered_, that they
should not be led back again into bondage. Many are afraid; they think
they are not able to hold on, and therefore shrink from making a
profession. But Christ is able to keep you from falling; He is able to
deliver you in the dark hour of trial and temptation, from every evil
device of Satan, and from the snare of the fowler.

In Isaiah xlix. 24, we read: "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the
captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the
terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that
contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children." I will save him;
I will deliver him. The children of Israel were _saved_ from the cruel
bondage of Egypt, they were led out of the land of Goschen; but still
they were not fully _delivered_. The great host of the Egyptians was
thundering behind them. It was not till they had passed safely through
the Red Sea, which closing behind them, swallowed up the host of the
enemy--it was not till then that they were free, that they were
delivered.

And similarly in our times of danger we shall find it to be true of
Christ, "He delivered my soul"; and again in Job xxxiii. 24, "Then He
is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the
pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's:
he shall return to the days of his youth! he shall pray unto God, and
He will be favourable unto him: and he shall see His face with joy:
for He will render unto man His righteousness. He will deliver his
soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light."

Here we have the saving, the redeeming, the deliverance from the pit.
Man is fallen into the deep pit, he is kept there a lawful captive by
one who is mighty. If he is to be brought back from the darkness of
the pit to see the light, then we must have a ransom. Here God comes
forward, and says, "I have found a ransom." Christ is the ransom, and
He will deliver us. Sound out the cry, "Christ is our deliverer." He
is mighty to save, He is able to deliver.

A LEADER.

4. But now we need something more. Look back again to the children of
Israel; when they had marched gloriously through the Red Sea, they had
been saved, redeemed, and delivered; but was that all they required?
No; they had been brought into the wilderness. What now do they need?
They must have a way to go in the pathless desert. They required a
leader. Then Christ is the way and the leader. Are we in difficulties,
in doubt, or in perplexity? Christ is our way. "I am the way, the
truth, and the life" (John x.).

I have heard some say, "Well, if I am converted, and become religious,
I don't know what church I would go to. There are so many different
churches and denominations. I really don't know which is the right
one." Hence some people are bewildered, and do not know which is the
true way. Well, I would say to such, Look only to Him who says,

"I AM THE WAY."

He is the only true way, and if you want to reach the kingdom you have
only to follow Him. We may be in darkness, but He is able to lead us
in the right path. He is the Shepherd of His flock. He will go before
us and lead us. He is calling upon us to arise and follow Him, and He
will lead us by a way we know not; He will guide us to the green
pastures if we only look to Him.

THE PILLAR OF CLOUD.

All that the children of Israel had to do was to follow the cloud. If
the cloud rested, they rested; if the cloud moved forward, then they
moved. I can imagine that the first thing Moses did, when the grey
dawn of morning broke, was to look up and see if the cloud was still
over the camp. By night it was a pillar of fire, lighting up the camp,
and filling them with a sense of God's protecting care; by day it was
a cloud shielding them from the fierce heat of the sun's rays, and
sheltering them from the sight of their enemies.

Israel's Shepherd could lead them through the pathless desert. Why?
Because He made it. He knew every grain of sand in it. They could not
have a better leader through the wilderness than its Creator.

And, sinner, can you, in all your difficulties or doubts and fears,
have a better leader than Jehovah? Oh, I do like that good old hymn:

   "Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
      Pilgrim through this barren land;
   I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
      Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
         Bread of heaven,
      Feed me till I want no more."

Yes, that is the true prayer of the bewildered sinner, God is _able_,
and still more, He is _willing_, to lead us, and to feed us. "Thou
gayest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth
water for them out of the rock for their thirst" (Nehemiah ix. 15). He
is still as able to lead any of us as He was four thousand years ago
to lead the children of Israel, "For I am the Lord; I change not." To
every one of us He says, "Fear not, I will lead thee; I will help
thee." Wonderful thing, is it not, to have God to help us on our way?

In our Western countries, when men go out hunting into the dense
backwoods, where there are no roads or paths of any kind, they take
their hatchet and cut a little chip out of the bark of the trees as
they go along, and then they easily find their way by these "blazes."
They call it "blazing the way." And so, if you will allow me the
expression, Christ has "blazed the way." He has travelled the road
Himself, and knowing the way, He tells us to follow Him, and He will
lead us safe on high.

5. Now we have seen Christ is our Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer,
Leader, or Way. But He is more than all that;

HE IS OUR LIGHT.

"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life." He shall have the very
"light of life." Yes, it is the privilege of every Christian to walk
in an unclouded sky.

But do we walk thus in an unclouded sky? No, most Christians are often
in darkness. If I were to ask this congregation if they were all
walking in the light, I believe there is scarcely one, if he spoke the
true feeling of his heart, but would reply, "No, I am often in
darkness." Why is that? It is because we are not following Christ, and
keeping close to Him. We are much in darkness when we might be in the
light.

Suppose the windows of this building were all closed, and we were
complaining of the darkness, what would any one say to us? Why, they
would say, "Admit the light; open the windows all round, and you'll
soon have plenty of light." Similarly we must let in Christ, who is
the light, and open our minds to receive Him, and we shall soon walk
in light. There is a great deal of darkness at the present time, even
in the hearts of God's own people. But follow Him, and then you will
have plenty of light. Then Christ will show to each of us that He is
"The Light"; and He will do more, He will set us on fire with His
light, that we also may shine as lights in this dark world.

May God help His own people to

SHINE BRIGHTLY,

to flash out of darkness, that men may take knowledge of us that we
have been with Jesus. But remember, the world hates the light. Christ
was the light of the world, and the world sought to extinguish it at
Calvary. Now He has left His people to shine. "Ye are the light of the
world." He has left us here to shine. He means us to be "living
epistles, known and read of all men." The world is certain to watch,
and to read you and me. If we are inconsistent, then you may be sure
the world will take occasion to stumble at us.

The world finds plenty of difficulties on the way; let us see that we
Christians do not add more stumbling-blocks by our un-Christlike walk.
God help us to keep our lights burning clear and brilliant! Out West a
friend of mine was walking along one of the streets one dark night,
and saw approaching him a man with a lantern. As he came up close to
him he noticed by the bright light that the man had got no eyes. He
went past, but the thought struck him, "Surely that man is blind." He
turned round, and said, "My friend, are you not blind?" "Yes." "Then
what have you got the lantern for?" "I carry the lantern that people
may not stumble over me, of course," said the blind man. Let us take a
lesson from that blind man, and hold up our light, burning with the
clear radiance of heaven, that men may not stumble over us.

6. Objectors have said that it's all moonshine about Christ's people
being lights on the way. Well, that's just what we believe; we reflect
the light of Christ.

REFLECTED LIGHT.

Just like the moonshine, our light is borrowed light. When we are
living in the light of our Saviour we shine with His light: somewhat
like the face of Moses, which shone after he had been in the mount
with God. Let us live in an atmosphere of heaven, and we cannot help
shining. But whenever we get downcast and weak in faith, then we are
sure to lose our light.

I remember during the American war I was in a prayer meeting. We were
all very dark and gloomy. Things had been going against us for some
time. At last an old man got up, and said, "What is the matter with
us, that we are downhearted and sad? It is simply our lack of faith."
Moses, Joshua, and David were men strong in faith. They believed, and
therefore God honoured them. Whence comes our want of faith? God is
not dead. He is as powerful, as willing, to help to-day as ever
He was. Why, then, are we not full of faith in Him? It is
God-dishonouring to forget that He still has power, although our
armies are defeated, and all seems dark and gloomy.

GET ABOVE THE CLOUDS.

I will tell you what happened to me some time ago when I was out West.
I wanted to reach the summit of one of the Western mountains. I had
been told that sunrise was very beautiful when seen from the summit.
We got up to the half-way house one afternoon, where we were to rest
till midnight, and then set out for the top. Soon a little party of us
started with a good guide. Before a great while it began to rain, and
then it became a regular storm of thunder and lightning. I thought
there was little use in going on, and said to the guide, "Guess we'd
better turn back; we won't see anything this morning, with all these
clouds." "Oh," said the guide, "I expect we'll soon get through these
clouds, and get above them, and then we'll have a glorious view." So
we went on, whilst the thunders were rumbling right about our ears.
But soon we began to get above the thunder-cloud; the air was quite
clear, and when the sun rose we had a splendid view of his rays as
they tinged the hilltops; and then, as the glorious sunshine began to
break on where we stood, we could see the dark cloud far beneath our
mountain height. That's what God's people want--to get into the clear
air above the stormy clouds, and to

CLIMB HIGHER

away up to the mountain peak. There you'll catch the first rays from
the Sun of Righteousness far above the clouds and mists. Some of you
may be in great darkness and gloom; but fear not, climb higher, get
nearer to the Master, and soon you'll catch His bright rays on your
own soul, and they will sparkle back upon others.

KEEP THE LOWER LIGHTS BURNING.

We must live as children of the light, not as children of the
darkness. If we are dark and sorrowful, how is the world to know that
we are children of peace, and joy, and gladness? Our determination
must be to keep our lights burning. A few years ago, at the mouth of
Cleveland harbour there were two lights, one at each side of the bay,
called the upper and lower lights; and, to enter the harbour safely by
night, vessels must sight both of these lights. These Western lakes
are more dangerous sometimes than the great ocean. One wild, stormy
night a steamer was trying to make her way into the harbour. The
captain and the pilot were anxiously watching for the lights. By and
by the pilot was heard to say, "Do you see the lower lights?" "No,"
was the reply; "but I fear we have passed them." "Ah, there are the
lights," said the pilot! "and they must be, from the bluff on which
they stand, the upper lights. We have passed the lower lights, and
have lost our chance of getting into the harbour." What was to be
done? They looked back, and saw the dim outline of the lower
lighthouse against the sky. The lights had gone out. "Can't you turn
her head round?" "No; the night is too wild for that. She won't answer
her helm." The storm was so fearful that they could do nothing. They
tried again to make for the harbour, but they went crash against the
rocks, and sank to the bottom. Very few escaped; the great majority
found a watery grave. Why? Simply because the lower lights had gone
out.

And with us the upper lights are all right. Christ Himself is the
upper light, and we are the lower lights, and the cry to us is, _keep
the lower lights burning_, that is what we have to do. In the place
God has put us He expects us to shine, to be living witnesses, to be a
bright and shining light. While we are here our work is to shine for
Him, and He will lead us safe to the sunlit shore of Canaan, where
there is no more night.

7. But Christ is more than our Light on the way; for He is

OUR TEACHER.

What a wonderful thing to have a teacher sent from heaven. "If any man
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James i. 5).

"If any lack wisdom": I am afraid there are a great many of us who
lack wisdom, and even the best of us at times will be in perplexity.
There are moments in the life of us all when we seem in a fix; we just
stand still, and say, "What shall I do? I don't know what is the best
way." Oh, leave it with God, He will Himself be our teacher!

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and _learn of me_." Here is a
wonderful teacher. He has had a school for many thousand years; He has
had the best men in His school; but still there's room for another
scholar there. His college is not too full yet, and the teacher is the
One sent from heaven. Any one, every one in this assembly may join
this school. Jesus will welcome you there. Are you in doubt about
anything? ask Jesus; He will tell you.

Anxious sinner, seek the good teacher, as Nicodemus did: "Master, we
know thou art a teacher sent from God." If you seek Him thus He will
direct you. He will keep you, and lead you into green pastures and by
the still waters. I met a woman the other day who was full of infidel
doubts and fancies. She could not believe. Reading for some time
infidel works had thrown a dark and gloomy pall over her mind. It made
me sad to see her in such a case. Some of you may be like her. I wish
you would take Christ as your teacher, and then all darkness would
flee away.

Christ is able to teach us. See how He taught the disciples. He never
wearied of their learning from Him. So He will teach us if we will
only listen to Him.

THE OLD JUDGE CONVERTED.

I remember, as I was coming out of the daily prayer meeting in one of
our American cities a few years ago, a lady said she wished to speak
to me; her voice trembled with emotion, and I saw at once that she was
heavily burdened by something or other. She said she had long been
praying for her husband, and she wanted to know if I would go to see
him; she thought it might do him some good. What is his name?
"Judge---," and she mentioned one of the most eminent politicians in
the State. "I have heard of him," I said; "I am afraid I need not go,
he is a booked infidel; I cannot argue with him." "That is not what he
wants," said the lady. "He has had too much argument already. Go and
speak to him about his soul." I said I would, although I was not very
hopeful. I went to his house, was admitted to his room, and introduced
myself as having come to speak to him about salvation. "Then you have
come on a very foolish errand," said he; "there's no use in attacking
me, I tell you that. I am proof against all these things, I don't
believe in them."

Well, I saw it was no use arguing with him; so I said, "I'll pray for
you, and I want you to promise me that when you are converted you'll
let me know." "Oh, yes, I'll let you know," he said in a tone of
sarcasm. "Oh, yes, I'll let you know when I'm converted!" I left him,
but I continued to pray for him. Some time subsequently I heard that
the old judge was converted. I was again preaching in that city a
while after that, and when I had done talking the judge himself came
to me, and said: "I promised I'd let you know when I was converted; I
have come to tell you of it. Have you not heard of it?" "Yes; but I
would like to hear from you how it happened."

"Well," said the judge, "one night, some time after you called on me,
my wife had gone to the meeting; there was no one in the house but the
servants. I sat by the drawing-room fire, and I began to think:
Suppose my wife is right, that there is a heaven and a hell; and
suppose she is on the right way to heaven, where am I going? I just
dismissed the thought. But a second thought came: Surely He who
created me is able to teach me. Yes, I thought, that is so. Then why
not ask Him? I struggled against it, but at last, though I was too
proud to get down on my knees, I just said, 'Father, all is dark; Thou
who created me canst teach me.'

Somehow, the more I prayed the worse I felt. I was very sad. I did not
wish my wife to come home and find me thus, so I slipped away to bed,
and when she came into the room I pretended to be asleep. She got down
on her knees and prayed. I knew she was praying for me, and that for
many long years she had been doing so. I felt as if I could have
jumped up and knelt beside her; but no, my proud heart would not let
me, so I lay still, pretending to be asleep. But I didn't sleep that
night. I soon changed my prayer; it was now, 'O God, save me; take
away this terrible burden.'

I didn't believe in Christ even yet. I thought I'd go right straight
to the Father Himself. But the more I prayed I only became the more
miserable; my burden grew heavier. The next morning I did not wish to
see my wife, so I said 'I was not well, and wouldn't wait for
breakfast.' I went to the office, and when the boy came I sent him
home for a holiday. When the clerks came I told them they might go for
the day. I closed the office doors: I wanted to be alone with God. I
was almost frantic in my agony of heart. I cried to God to take away
this load of sin. At last I fell on my knees, and cried, 'For Jesus
Christ's sake take away this load of sin.' At length I went to my
wife's pastor, who had been praying with her for my conversion for
years, and the same minister who had prayed with my mother before she
died. As I walked down the street the verse that my mother had taught
me came into my mind, 'Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.' Well, I
thought, I have asked God, and here I am going to ask a man. I won't
go. I believe I am a Christian. I turned and went home. I met my wife
in the hall as I entered. I caught her hand, and said, 'I am a
Christian now.' She turned quite pale; she had been praying for
twenty-one years for me, and yet she could not believe the answer had
come. We went into our room, and knelt down by the very bedside where
she had so often knelt to pray for her husband. There we erected our
family altar; and for the first time our voices mingled in prayer. And
I can only say that the last three months have been the happiest
months ever I spent in my life."

Since then that judge has lived a consistent Christian life; and all
because he came to God, asking for guidance.

If there is one here to-day whose mind is filled with such infidel
thoughts, go honestly to God, and He will teach you the right way
through the dark wilderness of infidelity. He won't leave you in
darkness or doubt. It is the devil's own work to lead men into such
doubts; well he knows if he once gets them there he has them pretty
safe.

It is Satan's work to keep you in ignorance or doubt. It is God's work
to teach you. The teacher is Christ; He is appointed by God for this
work. God help us all to accept Him as our teacher.

8. Now we have seen Christ as our Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer,
Leader, Light, and Teacher. But He is still more; He is also

OUR SHEPHERD.

A very sweet thought it is to me, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall
not want."

There is not one here, except the very babes, who does not understand
the work of a shepherd. He watches over his flock, protects them from
danger, feeds them, leads them into the best pastures. In fact, the
23rd Psalm is just a statement of the duties of a good shepherd: "The
Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want," etc.

You want to be fed; are you going to wander about seeking something to
satisfy the cravings of your soul? Then, I tell you, you never will
find anything to satisfy the longings of your heart. The world cannot,
and never could, satisfy a hungry soul. The Lord Jesus can--He is the
true Shepherd. He is seeking to restore your soul, to lead you back to
the paths of righteousness. Even to death will He lead you, and safely
through its shadow guide you to a better land. Mother, father, will
you claim Him as your Shepherd?

Young man, young woman, will you have Him as your Shepherd?

My little child, will you have Jesus as your Shepherd? He will lead
safely and softly.

You can, all of you, if you will. For "God gave Him up freely for us
all," that He might have us for His flock. He will lead us through
life, down to the banks of the Jordan; He will lead us across the dark
river into His kingdom. He is a tender, loving Shepherd.

I sometimes meet people in the anxious inquiry-room who are nourishing
hard, bitter feelings against God, generally because they have been
afflicted. A mother said to me the other day, "Ah, Mr. Moody, God has
been unjust to me; He has come and taken away my child." Dear
afflicted mothers, has God not removed your children to a pure and
happy life? You may not understand it now, but you will by and by. He
wants to lead you up there.

THE EASTERN SHEPHERD.

A friend of mine, who had been in eastern lands, told me he saw a
shepherd who wanted his flock to cross a river. He went into the water
himself and called them; but no, they would not follow him into the
water. What did he do? Why, he girded up his loins and lifted a little
lamb under each arm, and plunged right into the stream, and crossed it
without even looking back. Whenever he lifted the lambs, the old sheep
looked up into his face and began to bleat for them; but when he
plunged into the water the dams plunged after him, and then the whole
flock followed. When they got to the other side he put down the lambs,
and they were quickly joined by their mothers, and there was a happy
meeting.

My friend says he noticed the pastures on the other side were much
better and the fields greener; and on this account the shepherd was
leading them across. Our great Palestine Shepherd does that. That
child which He has taken from the earth is but removed to green
pastures of Canaan, and the Shepherd means to draw your hearts after
it, to teach you to "set your affections on things above." When He has
taken your little Mary, Edith, or Julia, accept it as a call to look
upward and beyond. You, mother, are you weeping bitter tears for your
little one? Do not weep! Your child has gone to the place where there
is neither weeping nor sorrow. Would you have it return? Surely never.

Christ is our Shepherd--faithful and loving. Though sickness, or
trouble, or even death itself, should come to our house, and claim our
dearest ones, still they are not lost, but only gone before. God help
each one of us to have Him as our Shepherd.

If time permitted, I should like to take up the subject of Christ as
our Justification, our Wisdom, our Righteousness, the Friend that
sticketh closer than a brother; but it would take a whole eternity to
tell what Christ is to His people, and what He does for them.

I remember when I was preaching on this subject in Scotland, after I
had done, I said to a man that "I was sorry I could not finish the
subject for want of time." "Finish the subject," said the Scotchman,
"why, that would require all eternity, and even then it would not be
complete; it will be the occupation of heaven."

9. Once more, let us look at Christ as

OUR BURDEN-BEARER.

Oh, I love to think of Him as the bearer of our burdens as well as our
sin-bearer. He carries our sins, although they are more numerous than
the hairs of our heads. Great and terrible as these burdens are, God
has laid them all on Jesus.

   "O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head!
      Our load was laid on Thee."

That aspect of His burden-bearing we have already looked at in His
work as Saviour and Redeemer. I wish now to take up the sweet thought,
which has been a great comfort to me.

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." Glorious,
is it not, to know we have such a Saviour? Can you feel that He has
lifted your burden off your shoulders on to His own shoulder? Then you
will feel light in heart.

A LIGHT HEART.

On one occasion, after I had been talking this way, a woman came
forward, and said, "Oh, Mr. Moody, it's all very well for you to talk
like that, about a _light heart_. But you are a young man, and if you
had a heavy burden like me you would talk differently. I could not
talk in that way, my burden is too great." I replied, "But it's not
too great for Jesus." "Oh," she said, "I cannot cast it on Him." "Why
not? surely it is not too great for Him. It is not that He is feeble.
But it is because you will not leave it to Him. You're like many
others. They will not leave it with Him. They go about hugging their
burden, and yet crying out against it. What the Lord wants is, you to
leave it with Him, to let Him carry it for you. Then you will have a
light heart, sorrow will flee away, and there will be no more sighing.
What is your burden, my friend, that you cannot leave with Christ?"
She replied, "I have a son who is a wanderer on the face of the earth.
None but God knows where he is." "Cannot Christ find him, and bring
him back?" "I suppose He can." "Then go and tell Jesus, and ask Him to
forgive you for doubting His power and willingness; you have no right
to mistrust Him." She went away much comforted, and I believe she
ultimately had her wandering boy restored to her!

A MOTHER'S PRAYER ANSWERED.

This circumstance reminds me of a pious father and mother in our
country, whose eldest son had gone to Chicago to a situation. A
neighbour of theirs was in the city on some business, and he met the
young man reeling along the streets drunk. He thought, "How am I to
tell his parents?" When he returned to his village, he went and called
out the father, and told him. It was a terrible blow to that father,
but he said nothing to the mother till the little ones had all gone to
rest; the servants had retired, and all was quiet in that little farm
on the Western prairies. They drew up their chairs to the little
drawing-room table, and then he told her the sad news. "Our boy has
been seen drunk on the streets of Chicago--drunk." Ah, that mother was
sorely hurt; they did not sleep much that night, but spent the hours
in fervent prayers for their boy. About daybreak the mother felt an
inward conviction that all would be well. She told the father "she had
cast it on the Lord, had left her son with Jesus, and she felt He
would save him." One week from that time the young man left Chicago,
took a journey of three hundred miles into the country; and when he
reached his home, he walked in, and said, "Mother, I've come home to
ask you to pray for me." Ah, her prayer had reached heaven; she had
cast her burden on Jesus, and He had borne it for her. He took the
burden, presented her prayer sprinkled with the atoning blood, and got
it answered. In two days that young man returned to Chicago rejoicing
in the Saviour. What a wonderful thing it is to have Christ as our
burden-bearer! How easy, how light do our cares become when cast upon
Him!

Do you say Christ is nothing to you? If so, it is only because you
won't have Him. He is to all who will accept Him a Saviour from death,
a Redeemer from the power of sin, a Deliverer from our enemies, a
Leader through the wilderness; He is the way Himself, He is Light in
the darkness, He is a Teacher to His people, He is the Shepherd of His
flock, our Justification, Wisdom, Righteousness, Elder Brother,
Burden-bearer. He is in fact "Our all in all."

   Then come to Christ; oh, come to-day,
   The Father, Son, and Spirit say,
   The Bride repeats the call,
   For He will cleanse your guilty stains,
   His love will soothe your weary pains,
      For Christ is All in All.



NAAMAN THE SYRIAN

Read 2 Kings v.

I wish to call your attention to a man rather than to a text; to one
who was a great man in his own country, and very honourable; one whom
the king delighted to honour. He stood high in position; he was
captain of the host of the king of Syria; but he was a leper, and that
threw a blight over his whole life.

Now, you cannot have a better type of a sinner than Naaman was. I
don't care who nor what he is, nor what position he holds--all men
alike have sinned, and all have to bear the same burden of death. "All
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." All men must stand
in judgment before God; what a gloom that throws over our whole life!
_But he was a leper_. There was

NO PHYSICIAN

to help him in Syria. None of the eminent doctors in Damascus could do
him any good. Neither could any in Jerusalem. There was no balm in
Gilead. If he was to get rid of the leprosy, the power must come from
on high. It must be some one unknown to Naaman, for he did not know
God.

THE LITTLE MISSIONARY.

But I will tell you what they had in Syria--they had one of God's
children there, and she was a little girl, a simple captive maid.
Naaman knew nothing about her, though she was one of his household. He
knew nothing about this little Israelite. I can imagine her one day as
she said to Mrs. Naaman, her mistress, that there was a prophet in her
country that could cure her master of his leprosy. "Would to God," the
maid said, "my lord were with the prophet in Samaria! for he would
recover him of his leprosy." There's faith for you! "Why," says the
mistress, "what are you talking about? Did you ever hear of anybody
being cured of leprosy?" "Ah," said the little girl, "it is true, I
can assure you; we have got physicians down there that can cure any
one."

So at last some one told the king about what the little maid of Israel
had said. Now, Naaman stood high in the king's favour, for he had
recently won a great victory. He was called a lord, perhaps he was a
prince, a sort of Syrian Prince Bismarck, who stood near the throne.
So the king said, "You had better go down to Samaria, and see if there
is anything in it, and I will give you letters of introduction to the
king of Israel."

MONEY WILL NOT BUY SALVATION.

Yes, he would give Naaman letters of introduction to the king. That's
just man's idea. The notion was, that if anybody could help him, it
was the king, and that the king had power both with God and man. Oh,
my friends, it is a good deal better to know a man that knows God! A
man acquainted with God has more power than any earthly potentate.
Gold can't do everything.

Well, away goes Naaman down to Samaria with his kingly introduction,
and he takes with him a lot of gold and silver. That is man's idea
again; he is going to pay for a great doctor, and he took about
£100,000 sterling, as far as I can make it out, to pay for the
doctor's bill. There are a good many men who would willingly pay that
sum if with it they could buy the favour of God, and get rid of the
curse of sin. Yes, if money could do it, how many would buy salvation!
But, thank God, it is not in the market for sale. You must buy it at
God's price, and that is "without money and without price." Naaman
found that out.

And now, my dear friends, did you ever ask yourselves, Which is the
worst--the leprosy of sin, or the leprosy of the body? Why, for my own
part, I would a thousand times sooner have the leprosy of the body
eating my eyes out, and feet, and arms! I would rather be loathsome in
the sight of my fellow-men, than die with the leprosy of sin in my
soul, and be banished from God for ever! The leprosy of the body is
bad, but the leprosy of sin is a thousand times worse. It has cast
angels out of heaven, it has ruined the best and strongest men that
ever lived in the world. Oh, how it has pulled men down! The leprosy
of the body could not do that.

But to proceed. There is one thing about Naaman that I like, and that
is his earnestness of purpose.

HE WAS THOROUGHLY IN EARNEST.

He was quite willing to go one hundred and fifty miles, and to take
the advice of this little maid. A good many people say, "Oh, I don't
like such and such a minister; I should like to know where he comes
from, and what he has done, and whether any bishop has laid his hands
on his head." My dear friends, never mind the minister, it is the
message you want. Why, if some one were to send me a telegraph
message, and the news were important, I shouldn't stop to ask about
the messenger who brought it. I should want to read the news; I should
look at the message, and not at the boy who brought it.

And so it is with God's message. The good news is everything, the
minister nothing. The Syrians looked down with contempt on the
Israelites, and yet this great man was willing to take the good news
at the hands of this little maiden, and listened to the words that
fell from her lips. Why, if I got lost in London, I should be willing
to ask anybody which way to go, even if it were only a shoeblack boy;
and, in point of fact, a boy's word in such a case is often better
than a man's. It is the way I want, not the person who directs me.

HUMAN PRIDE BROUGHT LOW.

But there was one drawback in Naaman's case. Though he was willing to
take the advice of the little girl, he was not willing to take the
remedy. The stumbling-block of pride stood in his way. The remedy the
prophet offered him was a terrible blow to his pride. I have no doubt
he expected a grand reception from the king of Israel, to whom he
brought letters of introduction. He had been victorious on many a
field of battle, and held high rank in the army; perhaps we may call
him Major-General Naaman of Syria, or he might have been higher in
rank even than that; and bearing with him kingly credentials, he
expected no doubt a distinguished reception. But instead of the king
rushing out to meet him, he, when he heard of Naaman's arrival, and
his object, simply rent his mantle, and said, "Am I God, to kill and
to make alive?"

But at last the king bethinks himself of Elisha the prophet, and he
says, "There is a subject in my kingdom who may be able to help you
and cure your leprosy." And I can imagine Naaman's pride reasoning
thus: "Surely the prophet will feel very much exalted and flattered
that I, the great Syrian general, should come and call upon him." And
so, probably, full of those proud thoughts, he drives up to the
prophet's humble dwelling with his chariot, four-in-hand, and his
splendid retinue. Yes, Naaman drove up in grand style to the prophet's
abode, and as nobody seemed to be coming out to greet him, he sent in
his message: "Tell the prophet Major-General Naaman of Syria has
arrived, and wishes to see him."

THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE.

Elisha takes it very coolly. He does not come out to see him, but as
soon as he learns his errand he sends his servant to tell him to dip
seven times in the river Jordan, and he shall be clean. Now that was a
terrible blow to his pride. I can imagine him saying to his servant,
"What did you say? Did I understand you aright? Dip seven times in
Jordan! Why, we call the river Jordan a _ditch_ in our country." But
the only answer he got was, "The prophet says, Go and dip seven times
in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall become like the flesh of a little
child." I can fancy Naaman's indignation as he asks, "Are not Abana
and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?
may I not wash in them, and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a
rage.

The fact was, the Jordan never had any great reputation as a river. It
flowed into the Dead Sea, and that sea never had a harbour to it, and
its banks were not half so beautiful as those of the rivers of
Damascus; for Damascus was one of the most beautiful cities in the
world, and it is said that when Mahomet beheld it he turned his head
aside for fear it should divert his thoughts from heaven.

Naaman turned away in a rage. "Ah," he said, "here am I, a great
conqueror, a successful general on the battlefield, holding the very
highest rank in the army, and yet this prophet does not even come out
to meet me; he simply sends a message. Why, I thought he would surely
come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God,
and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper."

I THOUGHT.

There it is; I never knew a man yet who, when talked to about his
sins, didn't always say, "Yes, but I _thought_ so and so." "Mr.
Moody," they say, "I will tell you what _I think_; I will tell you _my
opinion_." In the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah it says, "God's
thoughts are not our thoughts, nor His ways our ways." And so it was
with Naaman. In the first place he thought a good big doctor's fee
would do it all, and settle everything up. And besides that there was
another thing he thought; he thought going to the king with his
letters of introduction would do it. Yes, those were Naaman's first
thoughts.

_I thought_. Exactly so. He turned away in rage and disappointment. He
thought the prophet would have come out to him very humble and very
subservient, and bid him do some great things. Instead of that Elisha,
who was very likely busy writing, did not even come to the door or the
window; he merely sent out the message, "Tell him to dip seven times
in the Jordan." And away went Naaman, saying, _I thought, I thought, I
thought_. I have heard that tale so often that I am tired of it. I
will tell you just what I think about it, and what I advise you to
do--"Give it up," and take God's words, God's thoughts, God's ways. I
never yet knew a man converted just in the time and manner he expected
to be. Now there is a class of people in our country who have been
looked down upon there, just as they have been in yours; I mean the
Methodists. And I have heard people say, "Well, if ever I am
converted, it won't be in a Methodist church; you won't catch me
there." Now, I never knew a man say that but, at last, if converted at
all, it was in a Methodist church.

A man to be converted has to give up his will, his ways, and his
thoughts. And I have noticed this, that when a man says, "Well, if
ever I am converted, it will be in this way or that," God leads him in
quite a contrary direction. And so Naaman, after his anger had abated
and cooled down a little, took a second thought, which proved the
best, although his pride had been so dreadfully humbled.

THE SIMPLE REMEDY.

Whilst Naaman was thus wavering in his mind, and thinking on what was
best to be done, one of his servants drew near and made a very
sensible remark: "My lord, if the prophet had bid thee do some great
thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he
saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?" Yes, and there is a great deal of
truth in that.

Why, if Elisha had said to him, "Go back to Syria on your hands and
knees," he would most likely have done it. If he had said, "Go back
all the way on one foot," he would have tried to do it. Or if he had
said, "Give ten thousand pieces of gold for the medicine I shall offer
thee, and thou shalt be cleansed," no doubt he would have done it. But
to tell him merely to dip in the river Jordan seven times, why, it
seemed absurd on the face of it. Well, this servant suggested to him
that he had better go down to the Jordan and try the remedy, as it was
a very simple one.

I can fancy Naaman, still reluctant to believe in it, saying, "Why, if
there is such cleansing power in the waters of Jordan, would not every
leper in Israel go down and dip in them, and be healed?" "Well, but
you know," urges the servant, "now that you have come a hundred and
fifty miles, don't you think you had better do what he tells you; for
after all you can but try it; and he sends word distinctly, my lord,
that your flesh shall come again as that of a little child." And so
Naaman accepts this word in season. His anger is cooling down; he has
got over the first flush of his indignation, and he says, "Well, I
think I might as well try it." That was the starting-point of his
faith, although still he thought it a foolish thing, and could not
bring himself to believe that the result would be what the prophet had
said.

How many men have told me right to my face they did not believe a man
could be saved by simply obeying God. Faith, they thought, was not
enough, they must do something. They will have it that there must be a
little asking, and reasoning, and striving, and wrestling with God,
before they can get the blessing.

FOOLISH QUESTIONS.

I recollect once praying with a man for his conversion, and just when
I thought conviction had been brought home to him, he turned round and
said, "Who do you think Melchisedek was, Mr. Moody?" And then I have
had others who, when I have been praying with them that their sins
might be taken away, would turn round and ask me, "Do you believe in
infant baptism, Mr. Moody?" My friends, you need not trouble
yourselves about those questions, but, if you wish to be saved, just
do as the Bible tells you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved (Acts xvii. 31).

The salvation of God requires from the sinner an

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.

Well, at last Naaman's will was conquered, and subdued, and broken;
and he had faith, and he surrendered. I recollect when General Grant
was besieging a town which was the stronghold of the Southern
Confederacy, some of the officers sent word that they would leave the
city if he would let them go with their men. But General Grant sent
word, "No, nothing but an unconditional surrender!" Then they sent
word that they would go if he would let them take their flag with
them. But the answer was, "No, an unconditional surrender." At last
the beleaguered walls were broken down, and the city entered, and then
the enemy made a complete and unconditional surrender. Well, it was so
with Naaman, he got to that point when he was willing to obey, and the
Scripture tells us, "To obey is better than to sacrifice."

OBEDIENCE.

So he goes down to the river and takes the first dip, and as he comes
up, I can imagine him looking at himself, and saying to his servant,
"There, there I am, no better than I was when I went in. If
one-seventh of the leprosy was gone, I should be content." Well, down
he goes a second time, and he comes up puffing and blowing as much a
leper as ever; and so he goes down again and again, the third, fourth,
fifth, and sixth time, with the same result, as much a leper as ever.
And the people standing on the banks of the river probably said, as
they certainly would in our day, "Why, that man has gone clean out of
his mind." So when he comes up the sixth time, he looks at himself,
and says, "Ah, no better. What a fool I have made of myself. How they
will all laugh at me. I wouldn't have the generals and aristocracy of
Damascus know that I have been dipping in this way in Jordan for all
the world. However, as I have gone so far, I'll make the seventh
plunge." He has not altogether lost faith, and down he goes the
seventh time, and comes up again. He looks at himself, and shouts
aloud for joy. "Lo, I am well! My leprosy is all gone, all gone! My
flesh has come again as that of a little child. I never knew such a
thing. I never felt so happy in all my life. I thought I was a great
and a happy man when I accomplished that victory; but, thank God,
praise God, I am the happiest man alive!"

So he comes up out of Jordan and puts on his clothes, and goes back to
the prophet, and wants to pay him. That's just the old story, Naaman
wants to give money for his cure. How many people want to do the same
nowadays? Why, it would have spoiled the story of grace if the prophet
had taken anything. You may give a thank-offering to God's cause, not
to purchase salvation, but because you are saved.

The prophet Elisha refused to take anything, and I can imagine no one
felt more rejoiced than he did. So Naaman starts back to Damascus a
very different man than he was when he left it. The dark cloud has
gone from his mind; he is no longer a leper, in fear of dying from a
loathsome disease. He lost the leprosy in Jordan when he did what the
man of God told him; and if you obey the voice of God, even while I am
speaking to you, the burden of your sins will fall from off you, and
you shall be cleansed. It is all done by the power of faith.

Well, you may be sure when he got home there was no small stir in
Naaman's house. I can just see his wife, Mrs. Naaman, when he gets
back; she has been watching and looking out of the window for him with
a great burden on her heart. And when she asks him, "Well, husband,
how is it?" I can see the tears running down his cheeks as he says,
"Thank God, I am well"; and then they embrace each other, and pour out
mutual expressions of rejoicing and gladness; and the servants are
just as glad as their master and mistress, as they have been waiting
eagerly for the news; and there never was a happier household than
Naaman's now that he has got rid of the leprosy. And so, my friends,
it will be with your own households if you will only get rid of the
leprosy of sin to-day. Not only will there be joy in your own hearts
and at home, but there will also be joy among the saints in heaven.

Another thought is suggested to us by this history of Naaman in the
fifteenth verse of the chapter; and which shows what Naaman's faith
led him to believe. "And he returned to the man of God, he and all his
company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I
know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now
therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant." Now what I
want particularly to call your attention to is the words,

I KNOW.

There is no hesitation about it, no qualifying the expression. Naaman
doesn't now say, "I think"; no, he says, "I know there is a God who
has power to forgive sins and to cleanse the leprosy."

Then there is another thought. Naaman left only one thing in Samaria,
and that was his sin, his leprosy; and the only thing God wishes you
to leave with Him is your sin. And yet it is the only thing you seem
not to care about giving up. "Oh," you say, "I love leprosy, it is so
delightful, I can't give it up; I know God wants it, that He may make
me clean. But I can't give it up." Why, what downright madness it is
for you to love leprosy; and yet that is your condition. "Ah, but,"
says some one, "I don't believe in sudden conversions." Don't you?
Well, how long did it take Naaman to be cured? The seventh time he
went down, away went the leprosy. Read the great conversions recorded
in the Bible. Saul of Tarsus, Zacchæus, and a host of others; how long
did it take the Lord to bring them about? Why, they were effected in a
minute. We are born in iniquity, shapen in it, dead in trespasses and
sin; but when spiritual life comes it comes in a moment, and we are
free both from sin and death.

The other day, as I was walking down the street, I heard some people
laughing and talking aloud, and one of them said, "Well, there will be
no difference, it will be all the same a hundred years hence." And the
thought flashed across my mind, "Will there be no difference?

WHERE WILL YOU BE A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE?"

Young man, just ask yourself the question, "Where shall I be?" Some of
you who are getting on in years may be in eternity ten years hence.
Where will you be, on the left or the right hand of God? I cannot tell
your feelings, but I can my own.

A hundred years hence all this vast audience will be gone. Some will
probably be gone in less than a week, in less than a month or a year,
and at the best we shall all be gone in a few more years. I ask you
once again, "Where will you spend eternity? Where will you be a
hundred years hence?"

THE CONVERTED NOBLEMAN.

I heard the other day of a man who came a few years ago from the
Continent, and brought letters with him to eminent physicians from the
Emperor. And the letters said, "This man is a personal friend of mine,
and we are afraid he is going to lose his reason; do all you can for
him." So the doctor asked him if he had lost any dear friend in his
own country, or any position of importance, or what it was that was
weighing on his mind. And the young man said, "No; but my father and
grandfather and myself were brought up infidels, and for the last two
or three years this thought has been haunting me, 'Where shall I spend
eternity?' And the thought of it follows me day and night."

The doctor said, "You have come to the wrong physician, but I will
tell you of one who can cure you"; and he told him of Christ, and read
to him the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, "With His stripes we are
healed." And the young man said, "Doctor, do you believe that?" The
doctor told him he did, and prayed and wrestled with him, and at last
the dear light of Calvary shone on his soul, and a few years ago he
was writing to this self-same doctor as only one Christian can to
another. He had settled the question in his own mind at last where he
would spend eternity; and I ask you sinners to settle it before you
leave this hall to-night. It is for you to decide. Shall it be with
the saints, and martyrs, and prophets, or in the dark caverns of hell,
amidst blackness and darkness for ever? Make haste to be wise; for
"how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?"

DECIDE NOW.

At our church in Chicago I was closing the meeting one day, when a
young soldier got up and entreated the people to decide for Christ at
once. He said he had just come from a dark scene. A comrade of his, he
said, who had enlisted with him, had a father who was always
entreating him to become a Christian, and in reply he always said he
would when the war was over. At last he was wounded, and was put into
the hospital, but got worse and was gradually sinking. One day, a few
hours before he died, a letter came from his sister, but he was too
bad to read it. Oh, it was such an earnest letter! The comrade read it
to him, but he did not seem to understand it, he was so weak, till it
came to the last sentence, which said, "Oh, my dear brother, when you
get this letter, will you not accept your sister's Saviour?" The dying
man sprang up from his cot, and said, "What do you say? What do you
say?" and then, falling back on his pillow, feebly exclaimed, "_It is
too late! It is too late!_"

My dear friends, thank God it is not _too late_ for you to-day. The
Master is still calling you. Are you going to let present opportunity
pass without coming to Christ? Are you going to let these solemn
moments come to an end without entering the ark? Let every one of us,
young and old, rich and poor, come to Christ at once, and He will put
all our sins away.

   Only a step to Jesus,
      O why not come, and say,
   Gladly to Thee, my
      Saviour, I give myself away.



ONE WORD--"GOSPEL"

Read 1 Cor. xv. 1

I shall take for my text the one word "gospel." I do not think there
is a word in the English language that is so little understood in this
Christian land of England as this very word "gospel." We have heard it
from our earliest childhood up. There is not a day, and with many of
us not an hour during the day, but that we hear the word "gospel." And
yet, I say, a partaker of the gospel is a long time before he really
knows the meaning of the word. It means "good tidings." I think it
would do us good sometimes to get a dictionary and hunt up the meaning
of some of the words we use so often; some of those Bible words, such
as "gospel" and "Christ." I think it would change our ideas. I think
this would be a very joyful meeting to-night, if every one really
believed that the gospel is good news. Let a man or a boy bring a
despatch into this audience and hand it to any one here, and if that
brings good news you can see it immediately in the man's face; his
face lights up when he opens the despatch. You can see he really
believes it. And if it is really good news, if it brings him the
tidings of a long-lost boy coming home, why, if his wife is sitting
next to him, he passes the despatch to her; he wants her to have
knowledge of it too. He does not wait for her to ask for it; he does
not wait till they get home. So when I preach, those who really
believe the gospel, if I am near enough to look into their eyes, I see
their faces light up and they look remarkably sharp; but those who do
not believe it put on a long face, and look as if you had brought them
a death-warrant, or invited them to attend a funeral.

THE BEST NEWS IN THE WORLD.

No better news ever came out of heaven than the gospel. No better news
ever fell upon the ears of the family of man than the gospel. Hark!
hear those shepherds talking to one another after the angels had gone
away. They believed the message, and they were full of joy. You can
see them on the way now to Bethlehem. They said, "Let us go and see
what has taken place." And what was the message that the angels
brought to those shepherds? "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Saviour." Now, if those shepherds had been like a
good many people at the present time, they would have said, "We do not
believe it is good news. It is all excitement. Those angels want to
get up a revival. Those angels are trying to excite us. Don't you
believe them." That is what Satan is saying now. "Don't you believe
the gospel is good news." Because he knows the moment a man believes
good news, he just receives it. I never saw a man in all my life that
did not like good news. And every man and woman that is under the
power of the devil does not believe the gospel is good news. The
moment you are out from under his power and influence then you believe
it. May God grant that the gospel may sink deep into your hearts, and
that you may believe it and be saved.

It is the best news that ever came to this sin-cursed world. It means
"Good spell," or, in other words, "God's spell." We are dead in
trespasses and sin, and God wants us to be reconciled. It is a gospel
of reconciliation, and God is shouting from the heights of glory, "Oh,
ye men, I am reconciled, now be ye reconciled!" We have glorious news
to tell you--God is reconciled and beseeches his subjects to be
reconciled. The great apostle says, "We beseech you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God." The moment a man believes the gospel, down
goes his arm of rebellion, and the unequal controversy is over. A
light from Calvary crosses his path, and he can walk in unclouded sun,
if he will. It is the privilege of every man and woman in this vast
assembly from this hour to walk in unclouded sun if they will. What
has brought darkness into the world? Darkness came because of sin, and
the man who does not believe the gospel is blinded by the god of this
world. Now I want to tell you why I like the gospel. It is because it
has been the very best news I have ever heard. That is just the reason
I like to preach it. Because it has done me so much good. I do not
think a man can preach the gospel until he believes it himself. A man
must know it down deep in his own heart before he can tell it out; and
then he tells it out but very poorly at the best.

POOR AMBASSADORS.

We are very poor ambassadors and messengers; but never mind the
messenger, take hold of the message--that is what you want. If a boy
brought me good news to-night, I would not care about the look of the
boy; I would not care whether he was black or white, learned or
unlearned. The message is what would do me good. A great many look at
the messenger instead of the message. Never mind the messenger. My
friends, get hold of the message to-night. The gospel is what saves,
and what I want now is that you may believe the gospel now.

CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS.

Paul says in this fifteenth chapter of the 1st of Corinthians what the
gospel is. He says, "I declare unto you the gospel." And the first
thing he states in the declaration to these Corinthians is this:
"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." That was the
old-fashioned gospel. I hope we never will get away from it. I don't
want anything but that old, old story. Some people have itching ears
for something new. Bear in mind there is no new gospel. Christ died
for our sins. If He did not, how are we going to get rid of them?
Would you insult the Almighty by offering the fruits of this frail
body to atone for sin? If Christ did not die for our sins, what is
going to become of our souls? And then he goes on to tell that Christ
was buried, and that Christ rose again.

CHRIST RISEN.

He burst asunder the bands of death. Death could not hold Him. I can
imagine, when they laid Him in Joseph's sepulchre, if our eyes could
have been there, we should have seen Death sitting over that
sepulchre, saying, "I have Him; He is my victim. He said He was the
resurrection and the life. Now I have hold of Him in my cold embrace.
Look at Him. There He is; He has had to pay tribute to me. Some
thought He was never going to die. Some thought I would not get Him.
But He is mine." But look again. The glorious morning comes, and the
Son of man bursts asunder the bands of death, and came out of the
sepulchre. We do not worship a dead God, but a Saviour who still
lives. Yes, He rose from the grave; and then they saw Him ascend. That
is what Paul calls the gospel. Not only Christ's death and burial, but
His ascension into heaven. He went up and took His seat at the right
hand of God, and He will come back again. The gospel consists of five
things: Christ's death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and coming
again; for "I will come again," said He. Thanks be to God, He is
coming back by and by. He will come and take the kingdom; He will sway
His sceptre from the rivers to the ends of the earth. A little while
and He shall rule and reign. Let us lift up our heads and rejoice that
the time of our redemption draweth near.

Let us get back to the simple gospel--Christ died for our sins. We
must know Christ at Calvary first, as

OUR SUBSTITUTE,

as our Redeemer; and the moment we accept of Him as our Saviour and
our Redeemer, then it is that we become partakers of the gospel. The
moment I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as my substitute, as my
Saviour, that moment I get light and peace. I know some people say,
"Oh, it is not Christ's death, it is Christ's life. Do not be
preaching so much about the death of Christ, preach about His life."
My friends, that never will save any one. Paul says, "I declare unto
you the gospel. Christ died"--not Christ lived--"Christ died for our
sins," "who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree."
Now, when I accept of Christ as my Saviour, as my Substitute, then I
am justified from all things which I could not be by the law of Moses.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.

The reason I like the gospel is, that it has taken out of my path the
worst enemies I ever had. My mind rolls back to twenty years ago,
before I was converted, and I think very often how dark it used to
seem at times as I thought of the future. There was death--what a
terrible enemy it seemed! I was brought up in a little village in New
England. It was the custom there when a person was buried to toll out
the age of the man at his funeral. I used to count the strokes of the
bell. Death never entered that village and tore away one of the
inhabitants but I always used to count the tolling of the bell.
Sometimes it would be away up to seventy, or between seventy and
eighty; beyond the life allotted to man, when man seemed living on
borrowed time when cut off. Sometimes it would be clear down in the
teens, and childhood, and death would take away one of my own age. It
used to make a solemn impression on me; I used to be a great coward.
When it comes to death, some men say, "I do not fear it." I feared it,
and felt terribly afraid when I thought of the cold hand of death
feeling for the cords of life, and being launched out to eternity, to
go to an unknown world. I used to have terrible thoughts of God; but
they are all gone now. Death has lost its sting. And as I go on
through the world I can shout now, when the bell is tolling, "O death,
where is thy sting?" And I hear a voice come rolling down from
Calvary, "Buried in the bosom of the Son of God." He robbed death of
its sting; He took the sting of death into His own bosom. If you take
a wasp, and just take the sting out of that wasp, you will not be
afraid of it any more than you would of a little fly. The sting has
been taken out. And you need not be afraid of death if you are in
Christ. Christ died for your sin. The penalty, the wages of sin is
death. Christ received the wages on Calvary, and therefore there is no
condemnation. All that death can get now is this old Adam. I do not
care how quickly I get rid of it. I will get a better body, a
resurrected body, a glorified body, a body much better than this. Yes,
my friends, "To die," says the apostle, "is gain."

THE FEAR OF DEATH.

If a man is in Christ, let death come. Suppose death should come
stealing up into this pulpit, and should lay his cold, icy hand upon
my heart, and it should cease to throb; I should rise to another
world, and should be present with the King. I should be absent from
the body, but present with the Lord. That is not bad news. There is no
use in trying to conceal it, death is an enemy to a man's rest. What a
glorious thought to think that when you die you will sink into the
arms of Jesus, and that He will carry you away to yon world of light.
A little while longer here, a few more tears, and then you can gain an
unbroken rest in yon world of light. The gospel turns that enemy into
a friend, and you even shout for death. Well, then, I used to go and
look into the cold, silent grave, and I used to think of that terrible
hour when I would have to be laid down in the grave, and this body
would be eaten up with the worm. But now the grave has lost its terror
and gloom; I can go and look down into the grave and shout over it,
and cry out, "O grave, where is thy victory?" And I hear a shout
coming up from the grave; it is the shout of the Conqueror, of Him who
has been down and measured the depth of it, of my Lord and Saviour:
"Because I live, ye shall live also." Yes, the grave has lost its
victory. The grave has no terror to the man in Christ Jesus. The
gospel takes that enemy out of the way.

SIN PUT AWAY.

Again, I thought all my sins would be blazed out before the great
white throne; that every sin committed in childhood and in secret, and
every secret thought, and every evil desire, would be blazed out
before the assembled universe; that every thing done in the dark would
be brought to light. But, thanks be to God, the gospel tells me my
sins are all put away in Christ. Out of love to my soul, He has taken
all my sins and cast them behind His back. That is a safe place to
have sin, behind God's back. God never turns back; He always marches
on. He will never see your sins if they are behind His back. That is
one of His own illustrations. Out of love to my soul, He has taken all
my sins upon Him; not a part. He takes them all out of the way. There
is no condemnation to him that is in Christ Jesus. You may just pile
up your sins till they rise up like a dark mountain, and then multiply
them by ten thousand for those you cannot think of; and after you have
tried to enumerate all the sins you have ever committed, just let me
bring one verse in, and then that mountain will melt away--"The blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." The blood covers
the sin.

WHAT GOD CANNOT DO.

In Ireland, some time ago, a teacher asked a little boy if there was
anything that God could not do, and the little fellow said, "Yes; He
cannot see my sins through the blood of Christ." That is just what He
cannot do. The blood covers them.

Is it not good news to get rid of your sin? You come here a sinner,
and if you believe the gospel your sins are taken away. "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." You shall be
justified from all things, which you could not be by the law of Moses.
By believing, or by receiving the gospel, Christ becomes yours. Only
think, young man, you are invited to accept of the gospel, you are
invited to make an exchange--to get rid of all your sins, and to take
Christ in the place of them. Is not that wonderful? What a foolish
young man you will be not to make the bargain. The Lord says, "I will
take your sins, and give you Myself in the place of them." But a great
many say, "No"; and just hug the sin to their bosom. May God help you
to come up, sinner, to-night, and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as
your way, your truth, and your life.

There is another name which used to haunt me a good deal--

THE GREAT JUDGMENT-DAY.

I used to think that was a terrible day when I should be summoned
before God, and could not tell till then whether I should have a seat
on His right hand or on His left. Until I stood before the great white
throne of judgment I could not tell whether I should hear the voice of
God saying, "Depart from Me, ye cursed," or whether God would say,
"Enter thou into the joy of the Lord." But the gospel tells me that
question is already settled--"There is now no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus." Listen to this verse--"Verily, verily"--and
when you see that word "Verily, verily" in Scripture, you may know
there is something very important coming; it means, "Mind what I tell
you," or, "Truly, truly"--"Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that
heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath [h-a-t-h,
hath] everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [that
means, into judgment]; but is passed from death unto life." Well, now,
I am not coming into judgment for sin. The question has been settled,
because Christ was judged for me, and died in my stead, and I go free.
Is not that good news?

I heard of a man praying the other day that I might lay hold of
eternal life. I could not have said Amen to that. I laid hold of
eternal life twenty years ago when I was converted. What is the gift
of God if it is not eternal life? And that is what God wants to give
to every one in this hall to-night, and it is the greatest gift that
can be bestowed on any one down here in this dark world. If an angel
came straight from the throne of God on to this platform, and
proclaimed to this vast assembly that God had sent him here to offer
to this audience any one thing they might ask, that each one should
have his own petition granted, what would be the cry in this audience?
There would be but one cry coming up from you, and the shout would
make heaven ring--"Eternal life! eternal life!" Everything would float
away into the dim past. There is not anything a man values more than
his life. Let a man worth a million sterling be on a wrecked vessel,
and if he could just save his life for six months by giving that
million, he would give it in an instant. The gift of God is eternal
life; and is it not one of the greatest marvels that we have to stand
and plead, and pray men to take this gift. May God help you to take it
now. Do not listen to Satan any longer. Reach out the hand of faith
and take it now. Young man, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved." Trust Him to save you now, and then there will
be no condemnation. Death will have lost his sting, the grave and its
victory will be safe out of the way, and the judgment will be past for
you. Believe the gospel. Lay hold of eternal life while God is
offering it to you. Be reconciled to-night. Take your stand hard by
the cross, and you are saved for time and eternity. I am told that at
Rome, if you go up a few steps on your hands and knees, that is nine
years out of purgatory. If you take one step now you are out of
purgatory for time and eternity. You used to have two steps into
glory--out of self into Christ, out of Christ into glory. But there is
a shorter way now with only one step--out of self into glory, and you
are saved. May God help you to take the step now! Flee, my friends,
to-night to Calvary, and get under the shadow of the cross.

THE FIRE ON THE PRAIRIE.

Out in our western country, in the autumn, when men go hunting, and
there has not been for months any rain, sometimes the prairie grass
catches fire, and there comes up a very strong wind, and the flames
just roll along twenty feet high over that western desert, and go at
the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour, consuming man and beast.
When the hunters see it coming, what do they do? They know they cannot
run as fast as the fire can run. Not the fleetest horse can escape
from that fire. They just take a match and light the grass around
them, and let the flames sweep, and then they get into the burnt
district and stand safe. They hear the flames roar as they come along,
they see death coming towards them, but they do not fear, they do not
tremble, because the fire has swept over the place where they are, and
there is no danger. There is nothing for the fire to burn. There is
one mountain peak that the wrath of God has swept over--that is, Mount
Calvary, and that fire spent its fury upon the bosom of the Son of
God. Take your stand here by the cross, and you will be safe for time
and eternity. Escape for your life; flee to yon mountain, and you are
saved this very minute. Oh, may God bring you to Calvary under the
shadow of the cross now! Then let death and the grave come. You will
shout, "Glory to God in the highest." We will laugh at death and glory
in the grave, and just know this, that we are safe, sheltered by the
precious blood of the Lamb. There is no condemnation to him that is in
Christ Jesus.

God is coming down and beseeching you to take the pardon. Every man
and woman here has broken the law, and he that has broken the least of
the laws is guilty of all. I am sure I am not talking to one man or
woman in this audience to-night who can say they have not broken the
law.

"NOW AND TO-MORROW."

You have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, but God comes,
and says, "I will pardon you. Come now, and let us reason together."
"Now" is one of the words of the Bible the devil is afraid of. He
says, "Do not be in a hurry; there is plenty of time; do not be saved
now." He knows the influence of that word "now." "To-morrow" is the
devil's word. The Lord's word is "now." God says, "Come now, and let
us reason together: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool." Scarlet and crimson are two fast colours; you cannot get the
colour out without destroying the garment. God says, "Though your sins
be as scarlet and crimson, I will make them as wool and snow. I will
do it." That is the way God reasons. He puts the pardon in the face of
the sinner the first thing. That is a queer way of reasoning, but
God's thoughts are not our thoughts; and so, my friends, if you want
to be saved, the Lord says He will pardon you.

THE GOVERNOR IN THE CONDEMNED CELL.

A few years ago, when Pennsylvania had a Christian governor, there was
a young man down in one of the counties who was arrested for murder.
He was brought before the court, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to
death. His friends thought there would be no trouble in getting a
reprieve or pardon. Because the governor was a Christian man, they
thought he would not sign the death-warrant. But he signed it. They
called on the governor, and begged of him to pardon the young man. But
the governor said, "No, the law must take its course, and the man must
die." I think the mother of the young man called on the governor and
pleaded with him, but the governor stood firm, and said, "No, the man
must die." A few days before the man was executed, the governor took
the train to the county where the man was imprisoned. He went to the
sheriff of the county, and said to him, "I wish you to take me to that
man's cell, and leave me alone with him a little while, and do not
tell him who I am till I am gone." The governor went to the prison,
and talked to the young man about his soul, and told him that although
he was condemned by man to be executed, God would have mercy upon him
and save him, if he would accept pardon from God. He preached Christ,
and told him how Christ came to seek and to save sinners; and having
explained as he best knew how the plan of salvation, he got down and
prayed, and after praying he shook hands with him and bade him
farewell. Some time after the sheriff passed by the condemned man's
cell, and he called him to the door of the cell, and said, "Who was
that man that talked and prayed with me so kindly?" The sheriff said,
"That was Governor Pollock." The man turned deathly pale, and he threw
up both his hands, and said, "Was that Governor Pollock? was that
kind-hearted man the governor? Oh, sheriff, why did you not tell me?
If I had known that was the governor, I would have fallen at his feet
and asked for pardon; I would have pleaded for pardon and for my life.
Oh, sir, the governor has been here, and I did not know it."

RECONCILIATION.

Sinner, I have got good news to tell you. There is one greater than
the governor here to-night, and He wants to pardon every one. He does
not want you to go away condemned. He wants to bring you from under
condemnation; to pardon every soul. Will you have the pardon, or will
you despise the gift of God? Will you despise the mercy of God? Oh,
this night, while God is beseeching you to be reconciled, let me join
with your praying mother, with your praying father, with your godly
minister, with your Sabbath-school teacher, and all your praying
friends; let me join my voice with theirs to plead with you to-night
to be reconciled. Make up your mind now, while I am speaking, that you
will not cross your threshold until you are reconciled, and there will
be joy in heaven to-night over your decision. Oh, may God bring
hundreds to a decision to-night!

An Englishman told me some time ago a little story of reconciliation,
which illustrates this truth. We want to preach the gospel of
reconciliation; the good news that God is reconciled. God does not say
He can do, but that He has done it. You must accept what He has done.
The story is this: There was an Englishman who had an only son; and
only sons are often petted, and humoured, and ruined. This boy became
very headstrong, and very often he and his father had trouble. One day
they had a quarrel, and the father was very angry, and so was the son;
and the father said he wished the boy would leave home and never come
back. The boy said he would go, and would not come into his father's
house again till he sent for him. The father said he would never send
for him. Well, away went the boy. But when a father gives up a boy, a
mother does not. You mothers will understand that, but the fathers may
not. You know there is no love on earth so strong as a mother's love.
A great many things may separate a man and his wife; a great many
things may separate a father from a son; but there is nothing in the
wide world that can ever separate a true mother from her child. To be
sure, there are some mothers that have drunk so much liquor that they
have drunk up all their affection. But I am talking about a true
mother; and she would not cast off her boy.

A MOTHER'S AFFECTION.

Well, this mother began to write and plead to the boy to write to his
father first, and his father would forgive him; but the boy said, "I
will never go home till father asks me." She pleaded with the father,
but the father said, "No, I will never ask him."

At last the mother was brought down to her sickbed, broken-hearted,
and when she was given up by the physicians to die, the husband,
anxious to gratify her last wish, wanted to know if there was not
anything he could do for her before she died. The mother gave him a
look; he well knew what it meant. Then she said, "Yes, there is one
thing you can do, you can send for my boy. That is the only wish on
earth you can gratify. If you do not pity him and love him when I am
dead and gone, who will?" "Well," said the father, "I will send word
to him that you want to see him." "No," she says, "you know he will
not come for me. If ever I see him you must send for him." At last the
father went to his office and wrote a despatch in his own name, asking
the boy to come home. As soon as he got the invitation from his
father, he started off to see his dying mother. When he opened the
door to go in he found his mother dying and his father by the bedside.
The father heard the door open, and saw the boy, but instead of going
to meet him he went to another part of the room, and refused to speak
to him. His mother seized his hand--how she had longed to press it!
She kissed him, and then said, "Now, my son, just speak to your
father. You speak first, and it will all be over." But the boy said,
"No, mother, I will not speak to him until he speaks to me." She took
her husband's hand in one hand and the boy's in the other, and spent
her dying moments and strength in trying to bring about a
reconciliation. Just as she was expiring she could not speak, so she
put the hand of the wayward boy into the hand of the father, and
passed away. The boy looked at the mother, and the father at the wife;
and at last the father's heart broke, and he opened his arms, and took
that boy to his bosom, and by that body they were reconciled. Sinner,
that is only a faint type, a poor illustration, because God is not
angry with you. God gives you Christ, and I bring you to-night to the
dead body of Christ. I ask you to look at the wounds in His hands and
feet, and the wound in His side. My friends, gaze upon His five
wounds. And I ask you, "Will you not be reconciled?" When He left
heaven, He went clear down to the manger that He might get hold of the
vilest sinner, and put the hand of the wayward prodigal into that of
the Father, and He died that you and I might be reconciled. If you
take my advice, you will not go out of this hall to-night until you
are reconciled. "Be ye reconciled." Oh, this gospel of reconciliation!
My friends, come home to-night. Your Father wants you to come. Say as
the prodigal did of old, "I will arise and go to my father," and there
will be joy in heaven.



THE WAY OF SALVATION

Read Acts xvi. 23, 40

I shall not preach a sermon; I have just one thought, and that is, to
tell every anxious soul what they must do "to be saved." That is the
first question of every one who is honestly and really inquiring "the
way of salvation," and, God helping me, I will try to-night to make it
plain to all.

BELIEVING.

If I say to you, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," you will reply,
"Oh, believe! I have heard that word till I am sick and tired of it.
Scarcely a week but I hear it in the church, or at a prayer-meeting,
or at some drawing-room meeting." You have all heard it over and over
again; I don't suppose there is a child here over five years of age
but can repeat that text. What you want is, to know how to
believe--what it is to believe.

Some of you say, "We all believe that Christ came into the world to
seek and to save the lost; and that he that believeth shall be saved."
But the devils believe, and are not saved. Ay, they believe and
tremble! You must believe _on_ the Lord Jesus Christ, and not merely
_about_ Him, and then you will know what _salvation_ is.

RECEIVING.

Well, we'll take another word which means the same thing; perhaps
you'll get hold of it better. "He came unto His own, and His own
received Him not. But as many as _received_ Him, to them gave He power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."
Bear in mind, "received _Him_." That's it; not receiving a doctrine or
a belief, but receiving _Him_. It is a person we must receive.

Now, my experience of the last few years is, that we all want to have
the _power_ before we receive Christ. That is, we want to _feel_ we
are in Christ before we will receive Him. But we cannot love God and
feel His presence until we have received Him into our hearts. It is
just like a boy with a ball; he throws it to you. Well, you must catch
it before you throw it back again. That is the real meaning of
"believe"--it is "receive"--receive Christ as yours. I don't know any
verse in the Bible that God has blessed to more souls than John i. 12:
"To as many as received Him, to them gave He power."

I don't know any better illustration I could have than matrimony; for
every other one doesn't hold good in some points; but I think this is
one of the best I could use. Some of you smile at this illustration,
but the Bible uses it, and if God uses it in His word, why should not
I?

In the Old Testament He uses it--"I am married unto you" (Jer. iii.
14). Jesus Himself uses it, when He speaks of the bride in John iii.
29. Paul uses it in his epistles, as in Romans vii. 4, as an
illustration of the union between Christ and His church.

Now, it is an illustration you can all understand; there is no one
here but knows what it means. When a man offers himself, the woman
must do either of two things--either receive or reject him. So every
soul in this hall must do one of these two things--"receive" or
"reject" Christ. Well, if you receive Him, that is all you have to do,
He has promised power.

THE RICH HUSBAND.

There was a shop-girl in Chicago, a few years ago; one day she could
not have bought a pound's worth of anything; the next day she could go
and buy a thousand pounds' worth of whatever she wanted. What made the
difference? Why, she had married a rich husband; that was all. She had
received him, and of course all he had became hers. And so we can have
power, if you only receive Christ. Remember, you can have no power
without Him; you will fail, fail constantly, until you receive Him
into your heart; and I have Scripture authority to say that Christ
will receive every soul that will only come to Him.

SEEKING A WIFE.

You know that Abraham sent his servant Eliezer a long journey to get a
wife for his son Isaac. When Eliezer had got Rebekah, he wanted to be
up and off with the young bride; but her mother and brother said, "No,
she shall wait awhile." When Eliezer was determined to go, they said,
"We will inquire of the damsel." And when Rebekah appeared, they said
to her, "Wilt thou go with this man?" That was a crisis in her life.
She could not have said "No." Undoubtedly it cost her an effort; it
would, of course, be a struggle. She had to give up her parents, home,
companions, all that she loved, and go with this stranger. But look at
her reply; she said, "I will go."

I have come to-night to get a bride for my Master. "Wilt thou go with
this man?" I can tell you one thing that Eliezer could not tell
Rebekah; he could not say, "Isaac loves you." Isaac had never seen his
bride. But I can say, "My Master loves you!"

HE GAVE HIMSELF FOR YOU.

Ah, that is love! But bear in mind, my friends, that the moment
Rebekah made up her mind to accept Isaac he became everything to her,
so that she did not feel she was giving up anything for him. Ah, what
a mistake some people make! They say, "I'd like to become a Christian
if I hadn't to give up so much." Just turn round and look at the other
side. You don't have to give up anything--you have simply to receive;
and when you have received Christ, everything else vanishes away
pretty quick. Christ fills you, so that you don't feel these things to
be worth a thought.

When a bride marries a man, it is generally love that prompts her. If
any one is here that really loves a man, is she thinking of how much
she will have to give up? No; that wouldn't be love. Love doesn't feed
upon itself, it feeds upon the person who is loved. So, my friends, it
is not by looking at what you will have to give up, but by looking at
what you will receive, that you will be enabled to accept the Saviour.

WHAT IS CHRIST TO YOU?

What is He willing to be to you, if you will have Him? Won't you be
made heirs of heaven, joint-heirs with Christ--to reign with Him for
ever and ever--to be His--to be with Him where He is--to be what He
is? Think, then, of what He is, and of what He gives. You don't need
to trouble yourselves at present about what you have to give up.
Receive Him, and all these things will appear utterly insignificant.

I used to think of what I would have to give up. I dearly loved many
of the pleasures of this earth; but now I'd as soon go out into your
streets and eat the dirt as do those things. God doesn't say, "Give up
this and that." He says, "Here is the Son of my bosom--receive Him."
When you do receive Him, everything else goes. Stop that talk about
giving up; let Christ save you, and all these things will go for
nothing.

Mark the words, "To as many as received Him, to them gave He power."
Now, my friends, will you go with this man? You have often heard about
Christ; you know as much about Him as any one on this platform
perhaps; but did you ever know a man or woman who regretted receiving
Him?

No man ever regretted receiving Christ; but I have heard of thousands
who have been followers of the devil, and have regretted it bitterly.
And I notice that it is always the most faithful followers of the
devil who are regretting it most.

TAKE JESUS.

My friends, accept my advice, and take Jesus with you when you leave
this hall. Remember, He is the gift of God offered to _whosoever_. You
belong to that class, don't you? Just take _Him_; that's the first
thing you have to do. When you go to cut down a tree, you don't take
the axe and commence to hew down the branches. No, you begin right
down at the root. So here, you must take Christ, and then you will get
power to resist the world, the flesh, and the devil.

RUTH AND ORPAH.

Now, another case--Ruth and Orpah. Many are like these two young
widows. A crisis had come in their lives; they had lost their
husbands, and had been living up there in the mountains of Moab. Often
had they visited the graves of their dear ones, and perhaps planted a
few flowers there, and watered them with their tears. Now, Naomi is
about to return to her native land, and they think they will go a bit
of the road with her. It is a sad parting; but now the crisis comes.
Down in the valley they embrace each other, and give the parting kiss.
Then they both say they will go with Naomi, but she warns them of the
difficulties and the trials which might await them. So Orpah says, "I
will go back to my people"; but Ruth cannot leave her mother, and says
she will go with her.

Orpah turns back alone, and I can see her on the top of the hill; she
stops, and turns round for a last look. And Naomi says to Ruth,
"Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back to her people, and unto her
gods; return thou after thy sister-in-law." What does Ruth say?
"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee;
for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will
lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Her choice
was made. Poverty here or suffering and want yonder, she would share
Naomi's lot.

A BLESSED DECISION.

Orpah loved Naomi, but not enough to leave all for her; while Ruth
loved her mother so much, that the leaving of her people seemed
nothing to her. Oh, may God draw out all your hearts, so that you may
leave _all_ and follow Him! We never hear any more of Orpah; the
curtain falls upon her life. Perhaps she died away up in the mountains
of Moab, without God and without hope. But how different with Ruth!
She becomes famous in history; she is one of the few women whose names
have come along down the roll of ages; and she is brought into the
royal line of heaven. I have an idea that God blessed her for that
decision. And He will bless you if you decide in a like manner. Who
will say to-night, as Ruth did, "I will follow thee; and thy God shall
be my God"? Will any one take up the language of Ruth? Is there not a
Ruth here? If there is, the Master is calling.

I'll take another word. I have been speaking of "receive"; the next
word I want your attention to is,

TRUSTING.

Many get hold of that when they cannot get hold of "believe" or
"receive." You all know what it is to trust. If it were not for trust,
there would be a terrible commotion in this building to-night.

If you could not trust that the roof was firmly put up, you would get
out pretty quick; and if you could not trust these chairs to support
you, how long would you sit on them? Why, you wouldn't have come here
at all if you didn't trust our word that there would be an address.
Now, it is just the same trust that God wants. It is no miraculous
trust or faith, but just the same kind, only the object is different.
Instead of trusting in these earthly things, or in an arm of flesh,
you are asked to trust in the Son of God.

THE DUBLIN MERCHANT.

In Dublin I was speaking to a lady in the inquiry-room, when I noticed
a gentleman walking up and down before the door. I went forward and
said, "Are you a Christian?" He was very angry, and turned on his heel
and left me. The following Sunday night I was preaching about
"receiving," and I put the question, "Who'll receive Him now?" That
young man was present, and the question sank into his heart. The next
day he called upon me--he was a merchant in that city--and said, "Do
you remember me?" "No, I don't." "Do you remember the young man who
answered you so roughly the other night?" "Yes, I do." "Well, I've
come to tell you I am saved." "How did it happen?" "Why, I was
listening to your sermon last night, and when you asked, 'Who'll
receive Him now?' God put it into my heart to say, 'I will'; and He
has opened my eyes to see His Son now." I don't know why thousands
should not do that here to-night. If you are ever to be saved, why not
now?

But another point you must remember--

SALVATION IS A FREE GIFT,

and it is a free gift _for us_. Can you buy it? It is a free gift,
presented to "whosoever." Suppose I were to say, I will give this
Bible to "whosoever"; what have you got to do? Why, nothing but take
it. But a man comes forward, and says, "I'd like that Bible very
much." "Well, didn't I say 'whosoever'?" "Yes; but I'd like to have
you say my name." "Well, here it is." Still he keeps eyeing the Bible,
and saying, "I'd like to have that Bible; but I'd like to give you
something for it. I don't like to take it for nothing." "Well, I am
not here to sell Bibles; take it, if you want it." "Well, I want it;
but I'd like to give you something for it. Let me give you a penny for
it; though, to be sure, it's worth twenty or thirty shillings." Well,
suppose I took the penny; the man takes up the Bible, and marches away
home with it. His wife says, "Where did you get that Bible?" "Oh, I
bought it." Mark the point; when he gives the penny it ceases to be a
gift. So with salvation. If you were to pay ever so little, it would
not be a gift.

THE USELESSNESS OF TRYING.

Man is always trying to do something. This miserable word "try" is
keeping thousands out of heaven. When I hear men speak of "trying," I
generally tell them it is the way down to death and hell. I believe
more souls are lost through "trying" than any other way. You have
often tried, and as often failed; and as long as you keep trying you
will fail. Drop that word, then, and take as your sure foothold for
eternity, "trust." "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him" I that is
the right kind of trust. Would to God that you would all say, "I will
trust Him now, to-night." Did you ever hear of any one going down to
hell trusting in Jesus? I never did. This very night, if you commit
yourself to Him, the battle will be over.

You are complaining you don't _feel_ better. Well, remember, the child
must be born before it can be taught. So we cannot learn of God until
we receive Him. We must be born--born again--_i.e._ the new birth, ere
we can feel. Christ must be in us the hope of glory. How can He be in
us if we don't receive Him and trust Him?

PRESENT SALVATION.

Another verse that has been used a great deal during the past two
years, and I feel that I rest my own salvation on it, is John v. 24. I
trust God will write it on your hearts, and burn it down into your
souls. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and
believeth on Him that sent Me, _hath_ everlasting life." Thank God for
that "hath."

I had a few men in the inquiry-room the other night who could not find
peace. I said, "Do you believe the Bible?" "Yes, sir." "I think I will
prove you don't. Turn up John v. 24." They turned it up. "Read the
verse." "'He that heareth My Word--'" "You believe that?" "Yes, sir."
"'And believeth on Him that sent me--'" "You believe God sent Jesus?"
"Yes." "Well, read on." "'Hath everlasting life.'" "You believe you
_have_ everlasting life?" "No, we don't." "Oh, I thought you didn't
believe in the Bible!" What right have you to cut a verse in two, and
say you believe the one half, but not the other? It plainly says, that
he who believes "hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Why, if you believe
God's words, you can say, "I have passed from darkness into light."
Just by resting on that one little word in the present tense we may
have "assurance" now. We don't need to wait till we die, and till the
great day of judgment, to find it out.

"TAKE, TAKE!"

A lady in Glasgow came to me, and said, "Mr. Moody, you are always
saying 'Take, take!' Is there any place in the Bible where it says
'Take,' or is it only a word you use? I have been looking in the Bible
for it, but cannot see it." "Why," I said, "the Bible is sealed with
it; it is almost the last word in the Bible. 'And the Spirit and the
bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that
is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him _take_ the water of life
freely.'" "Well," she said, "I never saw that before. Is that all I
have to do?" "Yes, the Bible says so." And she took it, just there.
God says, "Let him take"; who can stop us if God says it? All the
devils in hell cannot hinder a poor soul from taking, if God says
"Take." My friends, are you going to "Take" to-night? Are you going to
let these precious meetings pass without getting Christ--without being
able to look up and say, "Christ is my Saviour, God is my Father,
heaven is my home"?

AN ANXIOUS INQUIRER.

A lady came to my house the other night, anxious about her soul; but
after some conversation she left, without finding peace. She came
again, and I asked, "What is the trouble?" "I haven't got peace." I
took her to this verse, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life" (John iii. 36). I just held up that little word "hath" to her,
and turned to John v. 24, and vi. 47. There these words were spoken by
Jesus, and they are all linked on to believing on the Son. After we
had talked for some time, she looked in my face earnestly, and said,
"I have got it!" and went away rejoicing in the Saviour's love.

If you seek life you can have it now, as you sit upon your seat. The
word "hath" occurs again in Isa. liii. 6: "All we like sheep have gone
astray;... and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Our
iniquity has been laid upon Christ, and the Lord is not going to
demand payment twice. "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body
on the tree."

THE DEBT PAID.

Suppose I owed Mr. Wanamaker a thousand pounds, and I became a
bankrupt; I would have nothing to pay, so he might send me to prison.
But suppose Mr. Stone heard of it, and says, "I don't want to see
Moody taken to prison." So he pays the debt for me, and gets the
receipt. When I see the receipt, I know that I am free. But Mr.
Wanamaker finds out that I didn't pay it, and gets me hauled off to
court. He says he must have me pay it myself, or I must go to prison.
I show the receipt. "Why," says the judge, "the debt is paid."

Mr. Wanamaker says, "Moody didn't pay it." Would any judge in the land
support him? No; it is paid, and cannot be demanded again. Well, if
man do not ask payment twice, will God? No, certainly not! The case is
this: the debt has been paid, our sins have been atoned for. Christ
Himself has redeemed us, not with corruptible things, such as silver
and gold, but with His precious blood; therefore we are free.

But remember, although salvation is so free for us, it cost God a
great deal to redeem us. He had an only Son, and He gave Him up freely
for us. What a wonderful gift! If you make light of so great a
salvation, how can you escape the damnation of hell?

THE GREAT QUESTION.

Now, one question: What are you going to do with Christ? You have got
to settle that question. You may get angry, like a man a short time
ago, who marched out of a church, saying, "What right has that
American to make such a statement?" But it is true; you must settle
it. Pilate wanted to shirk the responsibility, and sent Jesus to
Herod; but he was forced to a decision. When the Jews forced him to
decide, he washed his hands, and said he "was innocent of this just
man's blood." But did that take away his guilt? No.

An angel may be here, hovering over this audience, and he is listening
to what is said. Some one may say, "I will receive Him; I will delay
no longer." Immediately the angel will wing his way right up to the
pearly gates, and tell the news that another sinner has been saved.
There will be a new song ringing through the courts of heaven over
sinners repenting. God will issue the command to write down their
names in the book of life, and to get rooms ready for them in the new
Jerusalem, where we all will soon be.

GUILTY, BUT SAFE.

A man was once being tried for a crime, the punishment of which was
death. The witnesses came in one by one, and testified to his guilt;
but there he stood, quite calm and unmoved. The judge and the jury
were quite surprised at his indifference; they could not understand
how he could take such a serious matter so calmly. When the jury
retired, it did not take them many minutes to decide on the verdict
"guilty"; and when the judge was passing the sentence of death upon
the criminal, he told him how surprised he was that he could be so
unmoved in the prospect of death.

When the judge had finished, the man put his hand in his bosom, pulled
out a document, and walked out of the dock a free man. Ah, that was
how he could be so calm; it was a free pardon from his king, which he
had in his pocket all the time. The king had instructed him to allow
the trial to proceed, and to produce the pardon only when he was
condemned. No wonder, then, that he was indifferent as to the result
of the trial. Now, that is just what will make us joyful in the great
day of judgment; we have got a pardon from the Great King, and it is
sealed with the blood of His Son.

THE CHICAGO FIRE.

After the Chicago fire took place, a great many things were sent to us
from all parts of the world. The boxes they came in were labelled "For
the people who were burned out," and all a man had to do was to prove
that he had been burned out, and he got a share. So here, you have but
to prove that you are poor, miserable sinners, and there's help for
you. If every man who is ruined and lost will cling to "try," there is
no hope; but if he give it all up as a bad job, then Christ will save
him. The law condemns us, but Christ saves us.

THE LOST SCHOLAR.

The superintendent of a Sabbath school in Edinburgh was walking down
the street one day, when he met a policeman leading a little boy by
the hand, who was crying bitterly. He stopped, and asked the policeman
what was the matter with the boy. "Oh," said the officer, "he has got
lost." The superintendent asked to look at him. They went to a lamp,
and held up the little fellow. Why, in a moment the boy knew his
superintendent, and flew to his arms. The gentleman took him from the
policeman, and the boy was comforted. The law has got us, but let us
flee into Jesus' arms, and we are safe.

A friend of mine in the North told me of a poor Scottish lassie, who
was very anxious about her soul. He told her to read Isaiah liii. She
replied, "I canna read, and I canna pray; Jesus, take me as I am!"
That was the true way; and Jesus just took her as she was. Let Him
take you this night, just as you are, and He will receive you to His
arms.

THREE YEARS SEEKING JESUS.

One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right down by the side of
the pulpit there was a young lady, whose eyes were riveted on me as if
she were drinking in every word. It is precious to preach to people
like that; they generally get good, even if the sermon be poor.

I got interested in her, and after I had done talking, I went and
spoke to her. "Are you a Christian?" "No, I wish I was; I have been
seeking Jesus for three years." I said, "There must be some mistake."
She looked strangely at me, and said, "Don't you believe me?" "Well,
no doubt you thought you were seeking Jesus; but it don't take an
anxious sinner three years to meet an anxious Saviour." "What am I to
do, then?" "The matter is, you are trying to _do_ something; you must
just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."

"Oh, I am sick and tired of the word, 'Believe, believe, believe!' I
don't know what it is." "Well," I said, "we'll change the word; take
'trust.'" "If I say, I'll trust Him, will He save me?" "No, I don't
say that; you may _say_ a thousand things, but if you _do_ trust Him."
"Well," she said, "I do trust Him; but," she added in the same breath,
"I don't feel any better." "Ah, I've got it now! You've been looking
for feelings for three years, instead of for Jesus. Faith is up above,
not down here."

People are always looking for feelings. You are getting up a new
translation of the Bible here, and if the men who are translating it
would only put in _feelings_ instead of _faith_, what a rush there
would be for that Bible. But if you look from Genesis to Revelation,
you cannot find feelings attached to salvation. We must rise above
feelings. So I said to this lady, "You cannot control your feelings;
if you could, what a time you'd have! I know I would never have the
toothache or the headache."

FEELINGS, THE DEVIL'S STRATAGEM.

"Feelings" is the last plank the devil sticks out, just as your feet
are getting on the "Rock of Ages." He sees the poor trembling sinner
just finding his way to the Saviour, when he shoves out this plank,
and the poor sinner thinks he's "all right now." Some sermon you have
heard arouses you, but then you feel all right when you get on this
plank. Six months after, perhaps, you are dying, and the devil comes
along when you think you're quite safe. "Ah," he tells you, "that was
my work; I made you feel good." And where are you then? Oh, take your
stand on God's word, then you cannot fail. His word has been tried for
six thousand years, and it has not failed.

So I said to the lady, "Have no more to do with feelings; but, like
Job, say, 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.'" She looked at
me a few minutes, and then, putting her hand to take mine, she said,
"Mr. Moody, I trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul to-night."
Then she went to the elders and said the same words. As she passed out
she met one of the church officers, and, shaking his hand, said again,
"I trust the Lord Jesus to save my soul."

Next night she was right before me again. I shall never forget her
beaming face; the light of eternity was shining in her eyeballs! She
went into the inquiry-room. I wondered what she was going there for;
but when I got there, I found her with her arms round a lady friend,
saying, "It's only to trust Him. I have found it so." From that night
she was one of the best workers in the inquiry-room, and whenever I
met a difficult case, I got her to speak to the person, and she was
sure to help them.

"WORTHY OF ALL ACCEPTATION."

Surely you can trust God to-night. You must have a very poor opinion
of God if you cannot trust Him. You have only to come to Him
thus--receive Him, trust Him. What more can you do, and what less can
you do than trust Him? Is He not worthy of it? Now, let us be
perfectly still a moment, and while the voice of man is hushed, let us
think of one passage of Scripture "Behold, I stand at the door and
knock." That is Christ standing at the door of your heart, knocking;
and He says, "If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come
into him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Will any one
to-night pull back the bolts, and say, "Enter, thou welcome, thrice
welcome One. Blessed Saviour, come in." God grant that all here may do
this!



EIGHT "I WILLS" OF CHRIST

Read Matt. xi. 28, 29

I wish to call your attention to eight "I wills" of Christ.

1. The first one you will find in Matthew xi. 28: "Come unto Me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and

I WILL GIVE YOU REST.

Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in
heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy,
and My burden is light."

Now I never met a person that did not want rest. That man or woman is
not living on the face of the earth that doesn't want rest. We read of
the rich man that was going to pull down his barns and build larger,
saying to his soul, "Take thine ease, there is plenty laid up in
store, so now take thy rest." Merchants toil day and night to amass
money, in order that they may get rest. Men leave their families and
friends and go round the world to earn money, in the hope that they
may get rest. Sailors plough the sea, and are away from home for
months to get money, in order that it may bring them rest. In fact, if
rest could be bought in the market, there are many hundreds in London
who would be paying a very high price for it; but though money can't
buy it, nevertheless by believing the word of God you can get it
without money and without price. "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and
are heavy-laden, and _I will give you rest_." Now when _we_ say "we
will," it doesn't mean much very often. Perhaps we don't intend to
keep our word when we say we will do a thing; or if we do mean to keep
it, we very often fail for want of ability to make our promise good.
But bear in mind, God never breaks His promise; He never makes a
mistake; He never fails to fulfil His word. And the words I have read
may be relied on; for they are not the words of man, but of the Son of
God--"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will
give you rest."

This tells us of the only place where we can find rest. There is no
other place where a man can by any possibility find rest for his soul.
Bear this in mind: it is not coming to some creed, it is not coming to
some particular church, or to some particular doctrine, but to Christ.
"Come unto _Me_." It is the coming to a personal Christ that alone
gives peace and rest to the soul.

PEACE.

Now, in John xiv. 27, there is a promise which is very precious to me.
Christ says, "Peace I leave with you"; I am going away, but I am not
going to take away My peace from you; that I leave behind Me. "My
peace I give unto you." Mark that little expression "My _peace_"--"My
peace I give unto you." A good many people look for their peace from
worldly sources, but when they do find it they don't get much out of
it, for the devil can play on men's feelings as men play on a harp,
and can delude them into almost anything. But if we go to Christ for
it, we do get what we want, we get rest for the soul, and until we do
go to Him we shall never get it.

There are a good many things which disturb our peace; but nothing can
disturb the peace of God. You might take this little island, and throw
it right into the Atlantic, and it would make a great stir and
commotion in this world, but I don't think that God would be moved on
His eternal throne by it; it would not disturb Him in the heavens,
high and lifted up above all the earth. Let us have the peace of God,
and then we shall have rest.

Again He says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might
remain in you." Christ's joy, not our own joy. When we come to a
personal Christ, and our souls are stayed on Him, then we get rest,
and peace, and joy. That is a rest that nothing can disturb; that is
peace that flows on like a river; that is joy for evermore.

2. Now, the next "I will" is in John vi. 37. I can imagine some of you
people saying, "Ah, if I were only good enough to come, I would come,
and get this rest, and peace, and joy." But if you will read the verse
I am speaking of, you will find it says, "Him that cometh to Me

I WILL IN NO WISE CAST OUT."

Surely that is broad enough--is it not? I don't care who the man or
woman is; I don't care what your trials, what your troubles, what your
sorrows, or what your sins are, if you will only come straight to the
Master, He will not cast you out. Come then, poor sinner; come just as
you are, and take Him at His word.

There was a wild and prodigal young man who came into one of our
meetings. He was running a headlong career to ruin, but the Spirit of
God got hold of him. Whilst I was conversing with him, and
endeavouring to bring him to Christ, I quoted this verse to him. I
held it right up to him, and led his mind right up to it, for some
time, and at last light seemed to break in upon him, and he seemed to
find comfort from it, so I told him to stick to that verse. Well,
after he had left, on his way home the devil met him. Why, I don't
believe that any man ever starts to go to Christ but the devil strives
somehow or other to meet him and trip him up. And even after he has
come to Christ the devil comes, and tries to assail him with doubts,
and make him believe there is something wrong in it. And so this young
man was met by Satan, who whispered to him, "How do you know that is a
right translation?" So that brought him for a while to a standstill,
and threw him into darkness again. But he remembered my telling him to
stick to that text, and there he was, after Satan had put that into
his mind, holding on to it, but he did not find peace till two
o'clock. He then said to himself, "I will stick to it anyhow, and if
it is not the right translation, when I get to the bar of God I will
tell Him I didn't know it was wrong, because I didn't understand
anything about Greek and Latin." "Him that cometh to Me I will in
nowise cast out." If you will only come to Him, I have got good
authority to tell you that Christ will receive you to-day--yea, this
very hour.

The kings and princes of this world, when they issue invitations, call
round them the rich, the mighty and powerful, the honourable and the
wise; but the Lord, when He was on earth, called round Him the vilest
of the vile. "This man," they said, "receiveth sinners, and eateth
with them." Publicans, sinners, and harlots pressed into the kingdom
of God in His days.

THIS MAN RECEIVETH SINNERS.

Here in London there is no society that would have such a man as John
Bunyan once was in their company; yet the Lord saved him, and welcomed
him into His kingdom. Here is some poor miserable drunkard cast out by
his father and mother, and deserted by all his friends, but the Lord
has received him. I have known some of the most miserable outcasts
that were ever seen, cast out and despised by everybody, and yet the
Lord has received them. Take Him then at His word to-day, and accept
His invitation, "Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out."

But you say I must just get rid of my sins first, and then I will come
to Him. Why, that's just like a man dying of the scarlet fever saying,
"Oh, I'll wait till I get rid of the fever before I send for a
doctor!" Why, it is just because you are a sinner, and cannot get rid
of your sins, that you need a Saviour. If I was dying for want of
bread, it would be just as reasonable for me to say, "When I have got
rid of this hunger, then I will begin to eat." It is because I am
hungry that I need to eat, and it is because we are sinners that we
need Christ. It is because a man is sick that he needs a physician,
and Christ is the Physician of the soul.

3. In Luke v. we read of the leper coming to Christ, and the Lord said
unto him,

"I WILL: BE THOU CLEAN."

And immediately the leprosy left him. That's another _I will_ I want
to call your attention to. Now, if there is any man or woman here full
of the leprosy of sin, if you will but go to the Master and tell all
your case to Him, He will speak to you as He did to that poor leper,
and say, "I will: be thou clean," and the leprosy of your sins will
flee away from you. It is the Lord, and the Lord alone, that can
forgive sins. There is His word, just look it right over, "I will: be
thou clean," and then put that with the other verse, "Him that cometh
to Me I will in nowise cast out."

THE DEVIL'S CASTAWAYS.

One day when Whitfield was preaching, he said the Lord was so anxious
to save souls that He would take in the devil's castaways. Lady
Huntingdon remonstrated with him, and said he ought not to make such
statements. A little while after, however, there came to his preaching
a poor fallen woman, an outcast from society. She was labouring under
deep conviction of sin, and before long she found peace in her
Saviour, and was received right into the kingdom of God. Now if there
is a poor sinner here, let him take this one verse, and then keep in
his mind that poor leper coming to Christ. The law forbade him to
come, but Christ is above the law. "The law came by Moses, but grace
and truth by Jesus Christ."

Now, you can make a wonderful exchange to-day. You can have health in
the place of sickness; you can get rid of everything that is vile and
hateful in the sight of God. The Son of God comes down, and says, "I
will take away your leprosy, and give you health in its stead. I will
take away that terrible disease that is ruining your body and soul,
and give you my righteousness in its stead. I will clothe you with the
garments of salvation." Is it not a wonderful thing? That's what He
means when He says _I will_. Oh, lay hold of this "I will!"

4. Now turn to Matthew x. 32: "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me
before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in
heaven." There's the

"I WILL" OF CONFESSION.

Now, that's the next thing that takes place after a man is saved. We
have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and the next thing is to
get our mouths opened. We have to confess Christ here in this dark
world, and tell His love to others. We are not to be ashamed of the
Son of God.

A man thinks it a great honour when he has achieved a victory that
causes his name to be mentioned in Parliament, or in the presence of
the Queen and her court. A very great honour. And in China, we read,
the highest ambition of the successful soldier is to have his name
written in the palace or temple of Confucius. But just think of having
your name mentioned in the kingdom of heaven by the Prince of Glory,
by the Son of God, because you confess Him here on earth. You confess
Him here; He will confess you yonder. If you wish to be brought into
the clear light of liberty, you must take your stand on Christ's side.
I have known many Christians go groping about in darkness, and never
get into the clear light of the kingdom, because they were ashamed to
confess the Son of God. Don't be ashamed, Christians, to let your
friends, and even your enemies, know that you are on God's side.

5. The next _I will_ is the

"I WILL" OF SERVICE.

There are a good many Christians here, I believe, that have been
quickened and aroused to say, "I want to do some service for Christ."
Well, Christ says, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
There is no Christian who cannot help to bring some one to the
Saviour. Christ says, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men
unto Me"; and our business is just to lift up Christ, and live to Him.
You may go on preaching like the angel Gabriel; but if you live like a
devil, your preaching goes for nothing. I do not care how eloquent you
are, and what beautiful language you use, your preaching goes for
nothing. It is no good following this man or that man; follow Christ,
and Him only. He says, I will make you fishers of men.

PETER HAD A GOOD HAUL ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST.

I doubt if he ever caught so many fish in one day as he did men on
that day of Pentecost. Why, it would have broken every net they had on
board, if they had had to drag up three thousand fishes.

Our Lord said, "Follow Me, Peter, and I will make you a fisher of
men"; and Peter simply obeyed Him, and there, on that day of
Pentecost, we see the result.

But there is one reason, and a great reason, why so many do not
succeed. I have been asked by a great many good men, "Why is it we
don't have any results? We work hard, pray hard, and preach hard, and
yet the success does not come." I will tell you. It is because a good
many people spend all their time mending their nets. No wonder they
never catch anything.

INQUIRY MEETINGS.

But the great matter is to _hold inquiry meetings_, and thus pull the
net in, and see if you have caught anything. If you are always mending
and setting the net, you won't catch many fish. Whoever heard of a man
going out to fish, and setting his net, and then letting it stop
there, and never pulling it in? Why, everybody would laugh at the
man's folly.

There was a minister in Manchester who came to me one day, and said,
"I wish you would tell me why we ministers don't succeed better than
we do." So I brought before him this idea of pulling in the net, and I
said, You ought to pull in your nets. I said there are many ministers
in Manchester who can preach much better than I can, but then I pull
in the net. Many people have objections to inquiry meetings, but I
urged upon him the importance of them, and the minister said, "I never
did pull in the net; I will try next Sunday." He did so, and eight
persons, anxious inquirers, went into his study. The next Sunday he
came down to see me, and said he had never had such a Sunday in his
life. He had met with marvellous blessing. The next time he drew the
net there were forty, and when he came to see me at the Opera House
the other day, he said to me joyfully, "Moody, I have had eight
hundred conversions this last year! It is a great mistake I did not
begin earlier to pull in the net." So, my friends, if you want to
catch men,

JUST PULL IN THE NET.

If you only catch one, it will be something. It may be a little child,
but I have known a little child convert a whole family. Why, you don't
know what's in that little dull-headed boy in the inquiry-room; he may
become a Martin Luther, a reformer that shall make the world
tremble--you cannot tell. God uses the weak things of this world to
confound the mighty. God's promise is as good as a Bank of England
note--"I promise to pay So-and-so," and here is one of Christ's
promissory notes--"If you will follow Me, I will make you fishers of
men." Will you not lay hold of the promise, and trust it, and follow
Him now?

But then, if you wish to catch men, you must use a little--what shall
I say?--

COMMON SENSE.

That's the plain English of it. If a man preaches the gospel, and
preaches it faithfully, he ought to expect results then and there. But
after he has proclaimed the glad tidings, let him have an inquiry
meeting, and, if necessary, a second meeting, and go to the people's
houses and talk and pray with them, and in that way hundreds will be
brought to God. I believe it is the privilege of God's children to
reap the fruit of their labour three hundred and sixty-five days in
the year.

"Well, but," say some, "is there not a sowing time as well as
harvest?" Yes, it is true, there is; but then, you can sow with one
hand, and reap with the other. What would you think of a farmer who
went on sowing all the year round, and never thought of reaping? I
repeat it, we want to sow with one hand, and reap with the other; and
if we look for the fruit of our labours, we shall see it. "If I be
lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me." We must lift Christ up, and
then seek men out, and bring them to Him. Then, again, you must use
the right kind of bait. A good many people don't do this, and then
they wonder they are not successful. You see them getting up all kinds
of entertainments with which to try and catch men. They go the wrong
way to work. I will tell you what this perishing world wants: it wants

CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.

There's a void in every man's bosom that wants filling up, and if we
only approach them with the right kind of bait we shall catch them.
This poor world needs a Saviour; and if we are going to be successful
in catching men, we must preach Christ crucified--_not His life only,
but His death_. And if we are only faithful in doing this we shall
succeed. And why? Because there is His promise: "If you follow Me, I
will make you fishers of men." And that promise holds just as good to
you and me as it did to His disciples, and is as true now as it was in
their time. "They that are wise shall shine like the sun in the
firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness like the stars for
ever and ever." Think then of the exalted privilege of turning one
soul to Christ. You set a stream in motion that shall go on running
for ages after you are gone. "Blessed are they that die in the Lord;
for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

PAUL AND HIS WRITINGS.

Think of Paul up yonder. Why people are going up every day and every
hour, the men and women that have been brought to Christ through his
writings. He set streams in motion that have flowed on for more than a
thousand years. I can imagine men going up there and saying, "Paul, I
thank thee for writing that letter to the Ephesians; I found Christ in
that." "Paul, I thank thee for writing that epistle to the
Corinthians." "Paul, I found Christ in that epistle to the
Philippians." "I thank thee, Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians;
I found Christ in that." And so, I suppose, they are going up still,
thanking Paul all the while for what he had done. Ah, when Paul was
put in prison he did not fold his hands and sit down in idleness. No,
he began to write; and his epistles have come down through the long
ages of time, and brought thousands on thousands to a knowledge of
Christ crucified. Yes, Christ said to Paul, "I will make thee a fisher
of men if thou wilt follow Me," and he has been fishing for souls ever
since. The devil thought he had done a very wise thing when he got
Paul into prison, but he was very much mistaken; he overdid it for
once. I have no doubt Paul has thanked God ever since for that
Philippian gaol, and his stripes and imprisonment there. I am sure the
world has made more by it than we shall ever know till we get to
heaven.

6. We find the next "I will" is in John xiv. 18:

"I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS."

To me it is a sweet thought, that Christ has not left us alone in this
dark wilderness here below. Although He has gone up on high, and taken
His seat by the Father's throne, He has not left us. The better
translation is, "I will not leave you orphans." He did not leave
Joseph when they cast him into prison. "God was with him." When Daniel
was cast into the den of lions, they had to put the Almighty in with
him. They were so bound together that they could not be separated, and
so God went down into the den of lions with Daniel.

NO SEPARATION.

If we have got Christ with us we can do all things. Do not let us be
thinking how weak we are. Let us lift up our eyes to Him, and think of
Him as our Elder Brother, who has all power given to Him in heaven and
on earth. He says: "Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world."
Some of our children and friends leave us, and it is a very sad hour
when some member of our family goes to a distant country--perhaps to
Australia. But, thank God, the believer and Christ shall never be
separated. He is with us here, and we shall be with Him in person by
and by. We shall be with Him, and see Him in His beauty by and by. But
not only is He with us, but He has sent us the Holy Ghost, who will
tell us all things. Let us honour the Holy Ghost by acknowledging that
He is here in our midst. He has got power to give sight to the blind,
liberty to the captive, and to open the ears of the deaf that they may
hear the glorious words of the gospel.

7. Then there is another _I will_ in John vi. 40; it occurs four times
in the chapter: "I will raise him up at the last day."

THE "I WILL" OF RESURRECTION.

To me it is a very sweet thought to think that I have a Saviour who
has power over death. My blessed Master holds the keys of death and
hell. I pity the poor unbeliever and the poor infidel. They have no
hope in resurrection. But every child of God can open that chapter and
read the promise, and his heart ought to leap within him for joy as he
reads it. You know the tradesman generally puts the best specimen of
his wares in the window to show us the quality of his stock. And so,
when Christ was down here, He gave us a specimen of what He could do.
He just raised three from the dead, that we might know what power He
had. There was (1) Jairus's daughter, (2) the widow's son, and (3)
Lazarus of Bethany. He raised all three of them, so that every doubt
might be swept away from our hearts. How dark and gloomy this world
would be if we had no hope in the resurrection; but now, when we lay
our little children down in the grave, although it is in sorrow, it is
not without hope. We have seen them pass away, we have seen them in
the terrible struggle with death; but there has been one star to
illumine the darkness and gloom--the thought, that though the happy
circle has been broken on earth, it shall be completed again in yon
world of heavenly light. You that have lost a loved one rejoice as you
read that "I will." Those that have died in Christ shall come forth
again by and by. The darkness shall flee away, and the morning light
of the resurrection shall dawn upon us. It is only a little while, and
He that has said it shall come, His voice shall be heard in the
grave--"I will raise him up at the last day." Precious promise!
precious _I will!_

8. Now, the next _I will_ is in John xvii. 24: "Father, I will that
they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am."

THE "I WILL" OF GLORY.

That was in His last prayer in the guest-chamber, on the last night
before He was crucified and died that terrible death on Calvary. I see
some here whose countenances begin to light up at the thought that
they shall be with the King in His beauty by and by. Yes; there is a
glorious day before us in the future. Some think that on the first day
they are converted they have got everything. To be sure, we get
salvation for the past, and peace for the present; but then there is
the glory for the future. That's what kept Paul rejoicing. He said,
"These light afflictions, these few stripes, these few brickbats and
stones that they throw at me--why, the glory that is beyond excels
them so much that I count them as nothing, nothing at all, so that I
may win Christ." And so, when things go against us, let us cheer up;
let us remember that the night will soon pass away, and the morning
dawn upon us.

DEATH NEVER COMES THERE.

It is banished from that heavenly land. Sickness, and pain, and sorrow
come not there to mar that grand and glorious home where we shall be
by and by with the Master. God's family will be all together there.
Glorious future, my friends! Yes, glorious day! and it may be a great
deal nearer than many of us think. During these few dark days we are
here, let us stand steadfast and firm, and by and by we shall be in
the unbroken circle in yon world of light, and have the King in our
midst.

THE SINNER'S "I WILL."

And now there is just one _I will_ that I want you to say, and that is
the _I will_ of the sinner. You have got the eight "I wills" of
Christ: (1) He will give us rest; (2) He will not cast out the vilest,
but will receive all that come; (3) He will make us clean; (4) He will
confess us as His; (5) He will make us successful winners of souls;
(6) He will not leave us comfortless; (7) He will raise us up at the
last day; and (8) He wills that we be with Him in glory.

And now I want sinners to say,

"I WILL ARISE, AND GO TO MY FATHER."

Who will say it this afternoon? Who will come to God as the poor
prodigal did? I can see him now. Perhaps he is looking over those blue
hills; and away in the distance he can see the home he has left, and
he knows that there's a loving father, a grey-headed man there; and he
says, I perish here in a foreign land, while there is bread enough and
to spare in that home which I have left; "I will arise, and go to my
father." That was the turning-point in his life. That was a glorious
thing to do, was it not, sinner?

When Mr. Spurgeon preached the other day in the West End, he summed up
the things his audience had got over. Some of you, he said, have got
over the prayers of faithful Sabbath-school teachers who used to weep
over you, and come to the house and talk to you. You resisted all
their entreaties, and got over their influence. And you have got over
your mother's tears and prayers, and she, perhaps, sleeps in the grave
to-day; you have got over the tears and prayers of your father and of
your minister, who has prayed with you and wept with you, a godly,
faithful minister. There was a time when his sermons got right hold of
you, but you have got over them now, and his sermons make no
impression on you; you have been through special meetings, and they
have made no impression on you, they have not touched you. Still, you
say, you are getting on. Well, so you are; but bear in mind, you are
getting on as fast as you can to hell, and there is not one man in ten
thousand who can hope to be saved after he has grown so hard-hearted.

Oh, my friends, say I will arise to-day! Let there be joy in heaven
to-day over your return. We read in Luke xv., "There is joy in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth." May many return now, and live.

   I am lost, and yet I know,
   Earth can never heal my woe
   I will rise at once and go,
      Jesus died for me.



THE RIGHT KIND OF FAITH

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"--Acts xvi. 30.

I do not know of any more important truth to bring out than the answer
to this question, because that is the beginning of everything with
regard to the divine life. A man must know he is saved before there is
any peace, or joy, or comfort. The answer to the question is, "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"; and the question
that comes right after that from almost every one is, "What is it to
believe?" I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; I believe
that He came into the world to save sinners. Well, and so do the
devils. The devils not only believe, but they tremble. I can believe
intellectually that Jesus Christ is able and willing to save, and yet
be as far from the kingdom of God as any man who never heard about
Jesus Christ. To believe that He can and is willing to save you, won't
save you. I will now take up the word "faith," which means believing.

THE BIBLE DEFINITION OF FAITH.

People say, "What is faith?" Now the Bible definition of faith is
perhaps as good as any one that we know of. We are told in Hebrews
xi., "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen." Now faith is--what? The substance, or, as you have
it in the margin, "ground" or "confidence." In other words, faith is
dependence upon the veracity of another. Why, all business is carried
on on this principle of faith. Let men lose confidence one in another,
and see how quick business could cease here in London. Let men
withdraw their confidence, and see what would take place in the
commercial world to-morrow. It was faith that brought you here. If you
had not faith to believe that there would be a meeting in this hall,
you would not have come. Somebody said there are three things about
faith--knowledge, assent, and laying hold, and it is the last clause
that is safe. Not the knowledge. A great many people say, "I believe
Christ is able to save." They give their assent, and say, "I believe"
but that does not save. It is the last clause, the laying hold, that
saves, and that is what we want to press upon you.

Faith has an outward look, not an inward one. Hundreds of people spend
time in looking at their own hearts, but

FAITH IS AN OUTWARD LOOK.

We are to have faith in God, and not in man. A great many people place
their faith in men, and they pin their faith to other people's
doctrines and creeds. Not long ago I heard of a man who was asked what
he believed. He said he believed what his church believed. "What does
your church believe?" "The church believes what I believe." And that
was all they could get out of him. There are a great many in that same
state of mind. They believe what the church believes, but they do not
know what the church believes. If their church teaches it, they
believe it. All the churches in the world can't save a soul. It is not
to have faith in this church or that church, this doctrine or that
doctrine, this man or that man, but it is to have faith in the man
Christ Jesus at the right hand of God. That is the only faith that
will ever save a soul.

PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN MAN.

Let me call your attention to a few verses where God has warned us not
to put faith in man: Jeremiah xvii. 5: "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose
heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the
desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the
parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord
is." You will find some men have not faith in God; they are like a
tree that is withered and blasted. And there is a man perhaps right
along next to them who has strong faith in God; "he is like a tree
planted by the rivers of water; his leaf also shall not wither." Why?
He trusts in the living God. "Happy is the man that hath the God of
Jacob for his help." Cursed is the man that leaneth upon an arm of
flesh, and trusteth in man. The same thought is brought out in Isaiah
xxx.: "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take
counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my
Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to go down into Egypt,
and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the
strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore
shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the
shadow of Egypt your confusion." In one place He says, "Woe," and in
another place He says, "Cursed be the man." It is a terrible thing for
man to put faith in man. Then Psalm cxlvi. 3: "Put not your trust in
princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath
goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts
perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose
hope is in the Lord his God." Now here we are told very plainly by God
that we are not to put our trust in this man or that man--not to lean
upon an arm of flesh. All the ministers in the world and all the
potentates in the church put together cannot save one soul. It is
thoroughly impossible. It is the Lord that can save, and the Lord
alone; therefore we want to get our eyes away from man, from the
church, and right straight up to the man Christ Jesus. We read in Mark
xi. 22 whom we are to believe in. Christ says--and how sweet it
sounds--"Have faith in God." I never saw a man or woman in my life
that had faith in God who was confounded, I do not care what their
troubles or trials were. Have faith in God, and not in man.

THE GREAT DELUSION OF OUR DAY.

We are living in very strange days. Some people tell us it does not
make any difference what a man believes if he is only sincere. One
church is just as good as another if you are only sincere. I do not
believe any greater delusion ever came out of the pit of hell than
that. It is ruining more souls at the present time than anything else.
I never read of any men more sincere or more earnest than those men at
Mount Carmel, those false prophets. They were terribly in earnest.
Some people say, "Why, if these men are holding, as you say, error,
why should they be so in earnest?" Those prophets of Baal were the
most earnest men I ever read of. You do not read of men getting so in
earnest now that they take knives and cut themselves. Look at them
leaping upon their altars; hear their cry, "O Baal! O Baal!" We never
heard that kind of prayer on this platform. They acted like madmen.
They were terribly in earnest, yet did God hear their cry? They were
all slain. "I believe one religion is just as good as another, if you
are only sincere in what you believe." It is one of the devil's lies.

HAVE FAITH IN GOD,

not in man. I don't care how good a man is, don't you put your faith
in him. His breath departs from him, he dies, and where is your help?
Our God never dies, our God never will disappoint us if we put our
faith in Him. "Have faith in God," says Christ.

I saw some time ago some men arranging to go up in a balloon fastened
to the car. They had one rope fastened, and by some mistake that rope
got untied, and instead of seizing hold of the car they seized hold of
the rope. One of them let go; the other just hung on, and he was swept
away in the heavens and lost. "It did not make any difference; if he
had hung on to the car it would have been just the same," you say, "if
he was only sincere." Why, that man was very sincere when he seized
hold of that rope, yet he was lost--perished in his earnestness. My
friends, bear in mind if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
you must perish. It is God that says it--not man. Some people say, "He
is such a good man, I cannot help but believe him; it is all right
because he is such a good man, and he holds that doctrine." Paul says,
"If a man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received,
let him be accursed." And if Gabriel should come right down here
to-night, and commence to proclaim a different gospel from this
platform, I would get out of the hall, and would not listen to him.

DECEIVERS AND DARK DAYS.

Deceivers are going out into the world who would deceive even the very
elect if they could. I believe we are living in dark days. Error is
coming in on all sides, and it is a time when we must maintain the
faith. "I have kept the faith," says Paul. The good old doctrine of
our forefathers, and of the Puritans, is a good deal better than your
new doctrine at the present time, that is just doing away with Christ,
with hell, and even with heaven. Let us cling to the word of God, and
have faith in God.

There was a young man God sent down to Bethel, and told him to
prophesy against it. He was not to eat and drink in the place, nor to
go back by the same way as he went. Down the young man went. The king
asked him to go to his palace, but he refused. No, God had told him to
go and prophesy, not to eat and drink. But there was an old prophet,
and he sent out word to tell him an angel had told him to invite him,
and the young man obeyed the voice of the angel rather than God, and
then he started home another way, and a lion met him and slew him. We
are not to put our faith in this man or that man, not even in a
prophet if it is contrary to the word of God; not to believe the best
man living if it is contrary to the word of God. If God says it, let
us take our stand upon it. God's word will stand when these men and
their names have been swept away and forgotten. There have always been
false teachers, men trying to teach us it does not make any difference
what a man believes if he is only sincere. My friends, let us have
faith in the living God, and then it will be light where it is
darkness now.

HOW TO GET FAITH.

Now, just turn to John xx. I can imagine some of you saying, "I would
like to have faith in God, but I do not know how to get it; I have
been praying a long time for faith." I used to pray, "O God, give me
faith," and at the same time I was all the time neglecting the Bible.
Here it stands; see how we are to get faith: "But these are written
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing ye might have life through His name." Now John took up
his pen and wrote the gospel for one express purpose. What was it?
That men might believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Every
chapter but two in John speaks of believing, and if you run through
the gospel and mark out the word "believe," you would find what that
gospel is written for. It is, "Believe, believe, believe, believe,"
and it keeps right on to that one thing. He took up his pen and wrote
that gospel that we might believe, and by believing we get life. Then
turn to Romans x. 15: "How shall they preach, except they be sent? as
it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have
not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed
our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God." Do you want to know how to get faith? It is to get acquainted
with God. Jehovah says, "Acquaint now thyself with me, and be at
peace." We find the people that are best acquainted with God have the
most peace. It is the people that do not know God that do not trust
Him. The people that know God put their trust in Him. I never knew a
man to be well acquainted with God who did not trust Him. The more you
know of a true man the more you trust him. I met a man ten years ago
for the first time; I had not much faith in him, because I did not
know much about him. In the course of a year I got well acquainted
with him, and found him to be a true man; then I had more faith in
him; the second year I had still more; and this year I have more faith
in him than ever, because I know him well now. If you know God you
cannot help trusting Him.

LITTLE WILLIE.

I wanted to teach my little boy what faith was some time ago, and so I
put him on a table. He was a little fellow two years old. I stood back
three or four feet, and said, "Willie, jump." The little fellow said,
"Pa, I'se afraid." I said, "Willie, I will catch you; just look right
at me, and jump"; and the little fellow got all ready to jump, and
then looked down again, and says, "I'se afraid." "Willie, didn't I
tell you I would catch you? Will Pa deceive you? Now, Willie, look me
right in the eye, and jump, and I will catch you"; and the little
fellow got all ready the third time to jump, but he looked on the
floor, and said, "I'se afraid." "Didn't I tell you I would catch you?"
"Yes." At last I said, "Willie, don't take your eyes off me," and I
held the little fellow's eyes, and I said, "Now jump; don't look at
the floor"; and he leaped into my arms. Then he said to me, "Let me
jump again." I put him back, and, the moment he got on the table he
jumped, and after that, when he was on the table, and I was standing
five or six feet away, I heard him cry, "Pa, I'se coming," and had
just time to rush and catch him. He seemed to put too much confidence
in me. But you cannot put too much confidence in God. Now faith never
looks down; it looks right up. God says, "Trust me," and God will
bring us through all our difficulties, if we will only trust Him. Who
will trust Him to-night? Who will have faith in Him to-night?
"Whatsoever He saith unto thee, do it," is what the mother of Christ
said at the wedding; and whatsoever God speaks to you, do it. If God
tells you to run, run. If God says, "Believe," believe, and you will
always be safe in doing just what God tells you to do.

UNBELIEF THE GREATEST ENEMY.

I have a great admiration for the old coloured woman who said, if God
told her to jump through a stone wall she would jump; getting through
the wall was God's work, not hers, and she would do whatever God told
her to do. The greatest enemy God and man have got is unbelief. Christ
found it on both sides of the cross. It was the very thing that put
Him to death. The Jews did not believe Him; they did not believe God
had sent Him; they took Him to Calvary and murdered Him; and the first
thing we find after He got up out of the grave was unbelief again.
Thomas, one of His own disciples, did not believe He had risen. He
said, Thomas, feel these wounds; and Thomas did, and believed, and
said "My Lord and my God." Now those Christians here that have learnt
to trust God in past years will bear me out in this, that the more
they know of God, the more they can trust Him. Why? They have found
God to be true. When man has failed, God never has failed; and when
every one else has disappointed them, God has proved true. Now, you
that never trusted Him, won't you just leap right into His arms
to-night? Won't you just take Him at His word, and believe on Him now?

THE GREATEST INSULT TO GOD.

It is considered you cannot offer a man a greater insult than to tell
him he is a liar. Unbelief is telling God He is a liar. Why, suppose a
man said, "Mr. Moody, I have no faith in you whatever," don't you
think it would grieve me? There is not anything that would wound a man
much more than to be told that you do not have any faith in him. A
great many men say, "Oh, I have profound reverence and respect for
God." Yes, profound respect, but not faith. Why, it is a downright
insult! Suppose a man says, "Mr. Moody, I have profound respect for
you, profound admiration for you, but I do not believe a word you
say." I wouldn't give much for his respect or admiration; I wouldn't
give much for his friendship. God wants us to put our faith in Him.
How it would wound a mother's feelings to hear her children say, "I do
love mamma so much, but I don't believe what she says." How it would
grieve that mother. And that is about the way a great many of God's
professed children talk. Some men seem to think it is a great
misfortune that they do not have faith. Bear in mind it is not a
misfortune, but it is the damning sin of the world.

GOD'S WORD IS ALWAYS KEPT.

Is there any reason why you should not have faith in God? Has God ever
broken His word? I will defy any infidel to come forward and put his
finger on any promise God has ever made to man that He has not kept. I
can show you for 6000 years how the devil has lied, and how he has
broken every promise he has made. What a lie he told Adam and Eve; and
yet I can find a thousand men that will believe one of the devil's
lies quicker than I can find one man that believes God's truth. Men
will believe lies; but when it gets to real truth, then how few will
believe the word of God. Why should not every man and woman in this
house have faith in God? Why should not every one put confidence in
Him now, and trust God to save them? And let me say, if you are ever
saved, you will have to come to this one point of trusting to God for
salvation. You never will be saved until you put your trust and
confidence in God.

SETTING THE SEAL.

Look at John iii. 33: "He that hath received his testimony hath set to
his seal that God is true." In those days men used to wear a signet
ring, with their initials, and instead of signing their names, they
used to take the ring and seal the document. That was setting to their
seal; that was an endorsement. And now God comes down into this
unbelieving world, and says, "Who will set to his seal that I am
true?" And so I want to ask the friends in this hall, Who will set to
his seal or her seal that God is true? It is a great deal better for
us to make ourselves liars and God true than to try and make ourselves
out true and God a liar. That is what many men will do. Who will set
to his seal that God is true? Unbelief says, "I won't." Faith says, "I
will set to my seal." Oh, may God help many now to say, "I will set to
my seal that God is true" this very hour; and, my friends, the moment
you do set your seal that God is true, and put your faith in God, then
comes the peace, the happiness you have been looking for so long!

NO PEACE WITHOUT TRUST.

A great many people go looking for peace and happiness before they
trust. There will be no peace, no happiness, no joy, until you put
your trust in God. The joy that flows through the Christian's heart is
the result of trusting God. Suppose I meet a man to-night leaping for
joy, laughing at the top of his voice. I say, "My friend, what makes
you so happy?" "Oh, I don't know; I am so happy I cannot contain my
feelings!" What would you say? Why, you would say the man had gone
mad. But suppose I meet a man whom I have seen out here night after
night begging, and I say to him, "Hullo, beggar, is that you?" "Don't
call me a beggar; I am no longer a beggar." "Are not you the man who
has been begging here every night?" "Yes." "Where did you get your
good clothes? How is this you are not a beggar?" "No, I am no beggar;
I am worth a thousand pounds." "How is that?" "Well, sir, last night I
was here begging, and a man came along and put a thousand pounds in my
hand." "How did you know it was good money?" "I took it to the Bank of
England, and they gave me gold for it." "How was it done?" "Well, I
just held out my hand, and he came and put a cheque right into it, and
I took it to the bank and got gold for it." "Did you really get it in
that way?" "Yes." "How do you know it was the right kind of hand?"
"Why," says the beggar, "what do I care about the hand, I have got the
money." Faith is the hand that reaches out and takes the blessing. Any
faith that brings me to Christ is the right kind of faith, and instead
of looking at your faith look to Christ. Some one has said, faith sees
a thing in God's hand, and says, "I will have it." Unbelief sees it
there, and says, "God won't give it me." Look to God by faith to-night
and have salvation.

WHO WILL HAVE IT?

Every man and woman may have it if they will but put their trust in
God. Is not God worthy of our confidence? Is not God worthy of our
trust? You must have a poor opinion of God if you cannot trust Him. We
consider we have a poor opinion of a man if we cannot trust him. If a
man should tell me something, and I did not believe a word he said, I
would have a very poor opinion of the man. Faith is putting confidence
in God's word. Take hold of His word to-night. He will save all that
will come--not only that, but He will save you when you do come. Away
with everything but Christ, and take Him now. Who will take God at His
word to-night? Some one has said, "Faith is saying yes to God." Who
will say yes to-night, and take it? Now, is it too much to ask or to
expect that every person in this hall should put their faith in God?
If God does not save us, who will? Men cannot, the church cannot,
creeds and doctrines cannot; the sacraments cannot save; baptism
cannot save. You must have a living personal Christ, and God presents
Him to the world. Who will take Him? Who will have Christ--who will
trust Him? Faith says, I will. Is it not the very best thing you can
do? Can you do a better thing than trust to God for salvation? "What
must I do to be saved?" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, or trust the
Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and trust Him now.

STORY OF A CONDEMNED MAN.

Away back some years ago it is recorded in history of a man that was
condemned to be put to death, that when he came to lay his head on the
block the prince asked him if there was any one petition that he could
grant him, and all that the condemned man asked for was a glass of
water. They went and got him a tumbler of water, and when he got it
his hand trembled so that he could not get it to his mouth. The prince
said to him, "Your life is safe until you drink that water." He took
the prince at his word, and dashed the water to the ground. They could
not gather it up, and so he saved his life. My friends, you can be
saved to-night by taking God at His word. The water of life is offered
to "whosoever will." Take it now, and live. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. x. 17).

   Faith is not what we see or feel,
      It is a simple trust;
   In what a God of love has said
      Of Jesus as the Just.



THE DYING THIEF

Read Luke xxiii. 39-43

I am going to take as my text a man who was the last one saved before
Christ went to heaven, or before He died on the cross, and the story
of his conversion ought to give hope to every man. We have got an
account of the conversion of all classes of people in the Bible. There
is not one class left out. There is the richest and the poorest; the
greatest and the smallest; all classes of men, and all classes of
women.

There are so many people nowadays talking against sudden conversions,
that I think the very best thing we can do is to see what the
Scripture says about it--to see how long it takes God to convert a
soul. If I read my Bible correctly, there were eight thousand
converted in two days. That was a good number in a short time, was it
not? We have not got to that yet; I wish we had. But I feel sure, if
the church of God would only wake up, we should see something like it.

NEVER TOO LATE.

Well, this man was not only a thief, but a reviler of God, right upon
the threshold of eternity, a most depraved and abandoned wretch.
Matthew tells us: "And the two thieves cast the same in His teeth."
You would have thought they would have been doing something better
than that, coming so near death and the grave; and that their thoughts
would have been made very solemn in the face of not only death, but
after death the judgment. Instead of that, they were reviling Christ,
and casting accusations in His teeth a few hours before their death.
Well, I do not think this thief could have sunk any further, until he
sunk into hell. Though so far off Jesus found him. Matthew and Mark
both tell us that these two thieves reviled Him. John says nothing
about their reviling; in fact, he does not tell us about one of them
being converted. The first we get of it is in Luke xxiii. 40, where we
find him saying to the other thief, "Dost not thou fear God?" Solomon,
the wise man, says, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God." Now,
there we have the beginning of wisdom in this thief. He began to
_fear_ God. I hope there will be hundreds in this building who will
fear Him; for that is the true beginning of wisdom.

CONVICTION OF SIN.

Now, the next thing was, the man was convicted. No man is likely to be
converted until he is first convicted of sin. This thief was
convicted. And what convicted him? He heard no sermon from Christ. The
rulers were then deriding Him. The chief men of His own country had
found Him guilty of blasphemy, and had condemned Him to die the death
of the cross. The chief men of the realm were there wagging their
heads and mocking Him. What was it then that convicted this poor
thief? He had seen Christ perform no miracles; he had heard no
wonderful words fall from His lips; he saw no glittering crown upon
His brow. True, it was written over His cross, "Jesus, the King of the
Jews"; but where was His kingdom? He saw nothing of the Jews paying
homage to Him. The Jews were putting Him to death. There was no
sceptre in His hand. True, He had been crowned a little while before,
but only with thorns, and yet amidst it all this poor thief was
convicted after fear fell upon him.

THE POWER OF LOVE.

What convicted him? I will tell what I think convicted him, though I
could not teach it dogmatically but I think it was the Saviour's
prayer. When the Lord Jesus cried out from the very depths of His
soul, "Father, forgive them," conviction flashed into his heart. He
must have said, "Why, this is more than a man; He has got a very
different spirit from me. I could not ask God to forgive them. I would
call down fire from heaven to consume them, and I would call upon God
to smite them with blindness as Elijah did, and I would sweep them
from this mountain if I had the power." That's what he must have
thought as he heard the piercing cry go up, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." Ah, it was love that broke his heart. In
those days, when they crucified a man, they used to scourge him. This
poor man had been taken into the court, and tried and condemned by the
judge; but that had not broken his heart. He had been led forth and
scourged; but that had not broken his heart. And now they had nailed
him to the cross; but even that had not broken his heart. There he is
reviling his God. But when he saw that loving Saviour, he got a
glimpse of His love, and that one glimpse broke his heart.

I heard of a young man once who was very hardhearted. His father loved
him as he loved his own life. He had tried everything he could to win
that prodigal boy back. When his father was dying, they sent for him;
but he refused to come. But after his father's death, he returned home
to attend the funeral; but not a tear fell from his eyes. He followed
that father to his resting-place, and never dropped a tear over his
grave. But when they got home, and the will was read, they found that
father had not forgotten his prodigal boy, but had remembered him
kindly in his will; and that proof of the father's love just broke his
heart. And so I think it must have been with the thief when he heard
the Saviour crying, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they
do"; it pierced like an arrow down into his heart, and he was
convicted.

CONFESSION FOLLOWS CONVICTION.

Well, then, the next point in this man was, he confessed his sin. He
says to his brother thief, "We are suffering justly; we deserve it." I
never knew a man saved till he took his stand as a sinner. Cain never
confessed his sin. Judas never confessed his sin to God, though he
went and confessed it to man.

Now, I want to say that I am not come here to urge you to confess your
sins to any man, unless you have done some sin against him and he is
stumbling over it; if so, go and confess that certainly. We must not
confess our sins to any but God. I have not much sympathy with the
class of people that are always running to this man and that man to
confess their sins. There is no priest on earth that can forgive sins.
I have got a high priest who is "a priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek." The only man we have a record of in Scripture who
confessed his sins to man was Judas, and he went right out and hung
himself.

FAITH IN CHRIST.

The next thing about this thief was his faith in Christ Jesus. We talk
about the faith of Abraham and Moses; why, this thief had the most
remarkable faith of any man on record. He took his stand at the very
head of the class, passing by many who had wonderful faith. He heard
no sermon, saw no sceptre in Christ's hand, no crown on His brow, nor
witnessed any marvellous works, yet he had wondrous faith. Why, God
was twenty-five years toning up Abraham's faith. God met Moses in the
burning bush, and went up into the mountains and talked with him; and
Isaiah saw God lifted up on His throne; but not so with this thief.
There were many who had met Christ and seen wonderful things. His
disciples had heard Him discourse, and had seen Him raise the dead,
and yet they had forsaken and left Him. Yet here amidst the darkness
and gloom this poor thief had faith in Him; for although the Jews had
nailed his hands and feet to the cross, they did not nail his eyes,
and he could look at Him. They did not nail his heart to the cross,
and it is with the heart man believeth, as we read in Romans, and with
his heart _he believed_. There's faith for you.

NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST.

Then the next thing is, he confessed Christ at that dark period. It
was the darkest hour of Christ's pilgrimage down here. We will never
see another dark hour like that. The sin of the world was on Him;
heaven was closed against Him--locked, bolted, and barred. He was now
hanging on the tree bearing our sins; and it is written, "Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree." And even God had to hide His face
from Him, for He could not look on sin, and Christ was then bearing
the sin of all the world. I believe that's what Christ meant in the
garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed that the cup might pass from Him.
Up to that time He saw His Father's face, and He knew He was blessed
of Him, and from time to time a voice came from heaven, "This is my
beloved Son." But now He was taking our place before God as a sinner,
and God had to hide His face from Him. Yes, it was breaking the
Saviour's heart; and now, when darkness is coming over creation, and
the moon is to be turned into blood, and the sun is about to veil its
face because it cannot look upon the terrible scene, and Peter, one of
His most conspicuous disciples, had denied Him with a curse, and swore
that he never knew Him, and Judas, one of His own disciples, had gone
out and sold Him for thirty pieces of silver, and the chief men of the
nation were mocking Him, saying, "He saved others, let Him save
Himself, if He be the Christ"--amidst all this darkness and gloom, out
comes this signal faith of the thief, "Lord, remember me," He called
Him Lord there and then; and he said to the other thief, "This man
hath done nothing amiss." Thank God for that confession. There's faith
and confession for you. If you want to be saved, you must have faith
in Christ, and be ready to confess Him before all men.

"LORD, REMEMBER ME."

Look at the prayer of the thief. People say, "Oh, pray for salvation,
and you will get it!" Yes, but bear in mind you must have faith in
Christ before you can pray. He had got faith in Christ, and now he
calls Him "Lord." It was the sound of a young convert's voice, "Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." It was not a very long
prayer, but it was a prayer red-hot, one right out of his heart. Some
people tell you they cannot pray without a prayer-book. But the poor
thief had no prayer-book; and if there had been any prayer-books then,
there was nobody to give him one. He wanted salvation, he simply
wanted to be saved, and he cried from his heart, "Lord, remember me!"
and a more eloquent prayer never was heard or printed on earth. But
not only that, he got more than he asked, for he only asked to be
remembered. We always get more than we ask when we come to the Lord.

THE WORLD'S LAST LOOK AT CHRIST.

Now, when a great man dies, people are very anxious to get his last
words and acts. It is sweet to get the last words of the Son of God.
The last sight the world had of Christ was on the cross. They have
never seen Him since. We have no record that any uncircumcised eye
beheld Christ after He rose from the dead. The last glimpse the world
had of Christ was saving a poor sinner as he hung upon the cross,
saving him from the very jaws of hell, and the grasp of Satan. Christ
snatched him out of the very grasp of the devil, and said unto him,
"This day shalt thou be with me in paradise." The lion of the tribe of
Judah conquered the lion of hell, when He snatched the dying thief as
a lamb out of Satan's grasp. "This day shalt thou be with me in
paradise." That's the glorious gospel. Free from the law. There is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

FREE! FREE!

In the days of Wilberforce, when slavery was abolished, and it was
said that no slave could live under the Union Jack, because a bill had
been passed declaring every man free, the news had got abroad, and
when the captain of a ship was going to a distant island in the slave
dominions, the negroes were on the watch to get the news and make sure
if it were true. They were anxious to know if the bill had passed that
they were really free. And when the captain came in sight of the
little island, there they were waiting to get the tidings, and the
captain put his trumpet up to his mouth, and shouted across the
island, "Free! Free!" And the cry was taken up and echoed through the
island, "Free! Free!" And they shouted for joy, because they were
slaves no longer. I bring you good news. The Son of God will speak the
word, "Free." He spoke the words on the cross, and the poor thief was
a free man, and Satan could not hold him.

Then think of the contrast! In the morning led out a poor condemned
man, cursing and reviling the Son of God Himself; in the evening
singing the new song of redemption. That evening I see him hard by the
throne, singing the sweet song of Moses and the Lamb. In the morning
cursing, in the evening singing, "Glory to God in the highest." Was it
not a change? What a contrast! Think of it, O sinner. Condemned in the
morning by man, cast out as too vile for earth; in the evening good
enough for heaven; in the evening washed in the blood of the Lamb, and
Christ ready to receive him into the kingdom of heaven. Christ was not
ashamed to walk down the crystal pavement of heaven with him. He heard
the shout on the cross when Christ called out, "It is finished!" How
his soul must have thrilled with joy at that shout! He said, "My
salvation is completed now." He saw the spear thrust into that side
and the blood flow out, and I can see the sparkle on his face lit up
with glory. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." It
was a sad sight, but glorious.

THE BEST THING TO DO.

Now, young man, do you want Him to save you? Are you ready to confess
Him as your Lord and Saviour, and take your stand by the Master, and
say from this hour, I will serve the Lord Jesus? If so, it will be the
best night in your life up to this time. The best thing you can do is
to yield to Christ at once. Every true Christian would give you that
advice, and if I could shout clear up to the throne, and ask the
Saviour what He would have you to do, I should hear a voice rolling
down from heaven, and saying, "Tell him to seek salvation." When the
poor thief was converted, it was probably the first time he had ever
heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, or had been invited. But it is surely
not so with you. How many people keep putting salvation off and off,
until it is one day too late! There are so many that live in the
future. It is better you should be wise, and enter into the kingdom of
God now. Let your prayer, like that of the poor thief, go up from your
heart, "Lord, remember me," and you will not ask in vain.

A TIMELY CONVERSION.

A minister in Edinburgh tells a story of the conversion of a young man
who was working in one of the mining districts. When the meeting at
one of the churches was over on a particular evening, he saw him
standing by a pillar in the church, the rest having gone out, all but
two or three, and they asked this man if he was not going home. He
said, "I have made up my mind that I will not leave this church till I
become a Christian"; so they stopped and talked and prayed with him.
It was the best thing he could do. I would like every man here to do
the same thing. Make up your minds that you won't leave till you have
settled about your soul for eternity. Well, the next day, while this
young man was working in the mine, the coal fell in upon him, and
before he died, he had just strength enough left to say to his
companions, "It's a good thing that I settled it last night--a very
good thing." Young man, I will leave you to answer the question, Was
it not a good thing he settled it that night?

A young man, who was in the army during the Civil war, told me that
when he heard that his brother, from whom he had never been separated,
had joined a certain regiment, he went right away and put his name
down under his brother's. They messed together, marched together, and
fought shoulder to shoulder. At last his brother was struck with a
Minnie ball, and he fell mortally wounded by his side. He saw too
plainly that he must die, and as the battle was raging, and he could
do nothing to save him, he put his brother's knapsack under his head,
and made him as comfortable as he could, and bending over him, kissed
him, bade him good-bye, and left him to die. As he was going away, his
brother said, "Charlie, come back, and let me kiss you upon your
lips." "As I bent over him," said the young soldier who told me the
story, "he kissed me on my lips, and said, 'Take that home to mother,
and tell her that I died praying for her'; and as I turned away from
him, I could hear him say, 'This is glory,' and as he lay weltering in
his blood, and I wondered what he meant, I asked him what was glory.
He said, 'Charlie, it's glorious to die looking up--I see Christ in
heaven.'"

DYING LOOKING UP.

If you want to die looking up and seeing Christ, seek the kingdom of
God. You may never hear the call again. Do not leave this place
without making up your mind to settle the solemn question of eternity
at once.







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