N Baltimore, a few years ago, we held
a number of meetings for men. I am very fond of this hymn; and we
used to let the choir sing the chorus over and over again, till
all could sing it.
“Oh, word of words the sweetest,
Oh, word in which there lie
All promise, all fulfillment,
And end of mystery!
Lamenting or rejoicing,
With doubt or terror nigh,
I hear the ‘Come!’ of Jesus,
And to His cross I fly.
Come! oh, come to me!
Come! oh, come to me!
Weary heavy-laden,
Come! oh, come to Me!
O soul! why shouldst thou wander
From such a loving Friend?
Cling closer, closer to Him,
Stay with Him to the end
Alas! I am so helpless,
So very full of sin;
For I am ever wandering,
And coming back again.
Oh, each time draw me nearer,
That soon the ‘Come!’ may be
Nought but a gentle whisper
To one close, close to Thee;
Then, over sea and mountain,
Far from, or near, my home,
I’ll take Thy hand and follow,
At that sweet whisper, ‘Come!’”
There was a man in one of the meetings who had been
brought there against his will; he had come through some personal
influence brought to bear upon him. When he got to the meeting,
they were singing the chorus of this hymn—
“Come! come! come!”
He said afterwards he thought he never saw so many
fools together in his life before. The idea of a number of men
standing there singing, “Come! come! come!” When he started home
he could not get this little word out of his head; it kept coming
back all the time. He went into a saloon, and ordered some
whiskey, thinking to drown it. But he could not; it still kept
coming back. He went into another saloon, and drank some more
whiskey; but the words kept ringing in his ears: “Come! come!
come!” He said to himself, “What a fool I am for allowing myself
to be troubled in this way!” He went to a third saloon; had
another glass, and finally got home.
He went off to bed, but could not sleep; it seemed
as if the very pillow kept whispering the word, “Come! Come!” He
began to be angry with himself: “What a fool I was for ever going
to that meeting at all!” When he got up he took the little hymn
book, found the hymn, and read it over. “What nonsense!” he said
to himself; “the idea of a rational man being disturbed by that
hymn.” He set fire to the hymn book; but he could not burn up the
little word “Come!” “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My
word shall not pass away.”
He declared he would never go to another of the
meetings; but the next night he came again. When he got there,
strange to say, they were singing the same hymn. “There is that
miserable old hymn again,” he said; “what a fool I am for
coming!” I tell you, when the Spirit of God lays hold of a man,
he does a good many things he did not intend to do. To make a
long story short, that man rose in a meeting of young converts,
and told the story that I have now told you. Pulling out the
little hymn book for he had bought another copy and opening it at
this hymn, he said: “I think this hymn is the sweetest and the
best in the English language. God blessed it to the saving of my
soul.” And yet this was the very hymn he had despised.
I want to take up this little word “Come!”
Sometimes people forget the text of a sermon; but this text will
be short enough for any one to remember. Let me ring out a chime
of Gospel bells, every one of which says, “Come!” The first bell
I will ring is,
“Incline your ear, and come
unto me; hear, and your soul shall live;
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David.” “Incline your ear,” God says. You have
sometimes seen a man who is a little deaf, and cannot catch every
word, put his hand up to his ear and lean forward. I have seen a
man sometimes put up both hands to his ears, as if he were
determined to catch every word. I like to see that. This is the
figure that the prophet uses when he says on God’s behalf,
“Incline your ear.”
Man lost spiritual life and communion with his
Maker by listening to the voice of the tempter, instead of the
voice of God. We get life again by listening to the voice of God.
The Word of God gives life. “The words that I speak unto you,”
says Christ, “they are spirit, and they are life.” So, what
people need is—to incline their ear, and hear. It is a great thing when the Gospel preacher
gets the ear of a congregation—I mean the inner ear. For a man
has not only two ears in his head; he has also what we may call
the outer ear, and the inner ear—the ear of the soul. You may
speak to the outward ear, and not reach the ear of the soul at
all. Many in these days are like the “foolish people” to whom the
prophet Jeremiah spoke: “Which have eyes, and see not; which have
ears, and hear not.” There are many in every congregation whose
attention I am not able to secure for five minutes together.
Almost any little thing will divert their minds. We need to give
heed to the words of the Lord: “He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear.”
You remember when Peter was sent to Cornelius, he
was to speak to him words whereby he and his house were to be
saved. If you are to be saved, it must be by listening to the
Word of God. Here is the promise: “Hear; and your soul shall
live.”
There was an architect in Chicago who was
converted. In giving his testimony, he said he had been in the
habit of attending church for a great many years, but he could
not say that he had really heard a sermon all the time. He said
that when the minister gave out the text and began to preach, he
used to settle himself in the corner of the pew and work out the
plans of some building. He could not tell how many plans he had
prepared while the minister was preaching. He was the architect
for one or two companies; and he used to do all his planning in
that way. You see, Satan came in between him and the preacher,
and caught away the good seed of the Word. I have often preached
to people, and have been perfectly amazed to find they could
hardly tell one solitary word of the sermon; even the text had
completely gone from them.
A colored man once said that a good many of his
congregation would be lost because they were too generous. He saw
that the people looked rather surprised; so he said, “Perhaps you
think I have made a mistake; and that I ought to have said you
will be lost because you are not generous enough. That is not so;
I meant just what I said. You give away too many sermons. You
hear them, as it were, for other people.” So there are a good
many now hearing me who are listening for those behind them: they
say the message is a very good one for neighbor So-and-so; and
they pass it over their shoulders, till it gets clear out at the
door. You laugh; but you know it is so. Listen! “Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him
that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
The next note in this peal of bells I wish to ring
out is—
Scripture not only uses the ear, but the eye, in
illustrating the way of salvation. When a man both hears and sees
a thing, he remembers it twice as long as if he only heard it.
You remember what Philip said to Nathanael: “Philip findeth
Nathanael, and saith unto him, we have found Him of whom Moses in
the Law, and the Prophets, did write—Jesus of Nazareth, the son
of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing
come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”
Philip was a wise winner of souls. He brought his friend to
Christ. Nathanael had one interview with the son of God; he
became His disciple and never left Him. If Philip had gone on
discussing the matter with him, and had tried to prove that some
good thing could come out of Nazareth, he might have never been a
disciple at all.
After all, we do not gain much by discussion. Let
objectors or inquirers only get one personal interview with the
Son of God; that will scatter all their darkness, all their
prejudice, and all their unbelief. The moment that Philip
succeeded in getting Nathanael to Christ, the work was done.
So we say to you, “Come and see!” I thought, when I
was converted, that my friends had been very unfaithful to me,
because they had not told me about Christ. I thought I would have
all my friends converted inside of twenty-four hours; and I was
quite disappointed when they did not at once see Christ to be the
Lily of the Valley, and the Rose of Sharon, and the Bright and
Morning Star. I wondered why it was. No doubt many of those who
hear me now have had that experience; you thought when you saw
Christ in all His beauty that you could soon make your friends
see Him in the same light.
But we need to learn that God alone can do it. If
there is a skeptic now hearing me, I want to say that one
personal interview with the Son of God will scatter all your
infidelity and atheism. One night, in the inquiry-room, I met the
wife of an atheist, who had been brought to God at one of our
meetings. She was converted at the same time. She had brought two
of her daughters to the meeting, desiring that they too should
know Christ. I said to the mother: “How is it with your
skepticism now?” “Oh,” said she, “it is all gone.” When Christ
gets into the heart, atheism must go out; if a man will only come
and take one trustful, loving look at the Saviour, there will be
no desire to leave Him again.
A gentleman was walking down the street in
Baltimore, a few years ago. It was near Christmas-time, and many
of the shop-windows were filled with Christmas presents, toys,
etc. As this gentleman passed along, he saw three little girls
standing before a shop window, and he heard two of them trying to
describe to the third the things that were in the window. It
aroused his attention, and he wondered what it could mean. He
went back, and found that the middle one was blind—she had never
been able to see—and her two sisters were endeavoring to tell her
how the things looked. The gentleman stood beside them for some
time, and listened; he said it was most interesting to hear them
trying to describe the different articles to the blind child—they
found it a difficult task. As he told me, I said to myself, “That
is just my position in trying to tell other men about Christ: I
may talk about Him; and yet they see no beauty in Him that they
should desire Him. But if they will only come to Him, He will
open their eyes and reveal Himself to them in all His loveliness
and grace.”
Looking at it from the outside, there was not much
beauty in the Tabernacle that Moses erected in the desert. It was
covered on the outside with badgers’ skins—and there was not much
beauty in them. If you were to pass into the inside, then you
would find out the beauty of the coverings. So the sinner sees no
beauty in Christ till he comes to Him—then he can see it.
You have looked at the windows of a grand church
erected at the cost of many thousands of dollars. From the
outside they did not seem very beautiful; but get inside, when
the rays of the sun are striking upon the stained glass, and you
begin to understand what others have told you of their
magnificence. So it is when you have come into personal contact
with Christ; you find Him to be the very Friend you need.
Therefore we extend to all the sweet Gospel invitation “Come and
see!”
Let me now ring out the third bell—
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters: and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat: yea,
come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” If you
will come and drink at this fountain, Christ says you shall never
thirst again. He has promised to quench your thirst. “If any man
thirst,” He says, “let him come unto Me and drink.”
I thank God for those words: “If any man.”
That does not mean merely a select few respectable people; it
takes in all—every drunkard, every harlot, every thief, every
self-righteous Pharisee.
“If any man thirst.” How this world is
thirsting for something that will satisfy! What fills the places
of amusement—the dance houses, the music halls, and the theaters,
night after night? Men and women are thirsting for something they
have not got. The moment a man turns his back upon God, he begins
to thirst; and that thirst will never be quenched until he
returns to “the fountain of living waters.” As the prophet
Jeremiah tells us, we have forsaken the fountain of living
waters, and hewn out for ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns,
that can hold no water. There is a thirst this world can never
quench: the more we drink of its pleasures, the thirstier we
become. We cry out for more and more; and we are all the while
being dragged down lower and lower. But there is “a fountain
opened to the House of David . . . for sin and for uncleanness.”
Let us press up to it, and drink and live.
I remember after one of the great battles in the
War we were coming down the Tennessee River with a company of
wounded men. It was in the spring of the year, and the water was
not clear. You know that the cry of a wounded man is: “Water!
water!” especially in a hot country. I remember taking a glass of
the muddy water to one of these men. Although he was very
thirsty, he only drank a little of it. He handed the glass back
to me, and as he did so, he said, “Oh for a draught of water from
my father’s well!” Are there any thirsty ones here? Come and
drink of the fountain opened in Christ; your longing will be
satisfied, and you will never thirst again. It will be in you “a
well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Water rises to
its own level; and as this water has come down from the throne of
God, it will carry us back to the presence of God. Come, O ye
thirsty ones, stoop down and drink, and live! You are all
invited: come along! When Moses took his rod and struck the
flinty rock in the wilderness, out of it there came a pure
crystal stream of water, which flowed or through that dry and
barren land. All that the poor thirsty Israelites had to do was
to stoop and drink. It was free to all. So the grace of God is
free to all. God invites you to come and take it: will you
come?
I remember being in a large city where I noticed
that the people resorted to a favorite well in one of the parks.
I said to a man one day, “Does the well never run dry?” The man
was drinking of the water out of the well; and as he stopped
drinking, he smacked his lips, and said: “They have never been
able to pump it dry yet. They tried it a few years ago. They put
the fire engines to work, and tried all they could to pump the
well dry; but they found there was a river flowing right under
the city.” Thank God, the well of salvation never gets dry,
though the saints of God have been drinking from it for six
thousand years! Abel, Enoch Noah, Abraham. Moses, Elijah, the
Apostles all have drunk from it; and they are now up yonder,
where they are drinking of the stream that flows from the throne
of God. “They shall 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 shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes.”
Let me ring another Gospel bell:
My brother, my sister—are you hungry? Then come
along and dine. Some people are afraid of being converted,
because they think they will not hold out. Mr. Rainsford once
said, “If the Lord gives us eternal life, He will surely give us
all that is needful to preserve it.” He not only gives life; but
He gives us our daily bread to feed that life.
After the Saviour had risen from the dead, He had
not appeared to His disciples for some days. Peter said to the
others, “I go a fishing.” Seven of them started off in their
boats. They toiled all night but caught nothing. In the grey of
the morning, they saw a Stranger on the shore. He addressed them
and said “Children, have ye any meat?” They told Him they had
not. “Cast the net on the right side of the ship; and ye shall
find.” I can imagine they said to each other, “What good is that
going to do? We have been fishing here all night, and have got
nothing? The idea that there should be fish on one side of the
boat, and not on the other!” However, they obeyed the command;
and they had such a haul that there was no room for the fish in
the boat. Then one of them said, “It is the Lord.” When he heard
that, Peter sprang right into the sea, and swam to the shore; and
the others pulled the boat to land.
When they reached the shore the Master said, “Come
and dine.” What a meal that must have been. There was the Lord of
Glory feeding His disciples. If He could set a table for His
people in the wilderness, and feed three millions of Israelites
for forty years, can He not give us our daily bread? I do not
mean only the bread that perisheth; but the Bread that cometh
from above. If He feeds the birds of the air, surely He will feed
His children made in His own image! If He numbers the very hairs
of our head, He will take care to supply all our temporal
wants.
Not only so: He will give us the Bread of Life for
the nourishment of the soul—the life that the world knows nothing
of—if we will but go to Him. “I am the Bread of Life,” He says.
As we feed on Him by faith, we get strength. Let our thoughts
rest upon Him; and He will lift us above ourselves, and above the
world, and satisfy our utmost desires.
Another Gospel bell is—
Dear friend, do you not need rest? There is a
restlessness all over the world to-day. Men are sighing and
struggling after rest. The cry of the world is, “Where can rest
be found?” The rich man that we read of in the parable pulled
down his barns, that he might build greater; and said to his
soul, “Take thine ease.” He thought he was going to find rest in
wealth; but he was disappointed. That night his soul was summoned
away. No; there is no rest in wealth or pleasure.
Others think they will succeed in drowning their
sorrows and troubles by indulging in drink; but that will only
increase them. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked:”
they are like the troubled sea that cannot rest. We sometimes
talk of the ocean as being as calm as a sea of glass; but it is
never at rest: and here we have a faithful picture of the wicked
man and woman.
O weary soul, hear the sweet voice that comes
ringing down through the ages: “Come unto me, all ye that labor,
and are heavy-laden; and I will give you rest.” Thank God, He does not sell it! If He
did, some of us are so poor we could not buy; but we can all take
a gift. That little boy there knows how to take a gift; that old
man, living on borrowed time, and almost on the verge of another
world, knows how to take a gift. The gift Jesus wants to bestow
is rest: Rest for time, and rest for eternity. Every weary soul
may have this rest if he will. But you must come to Christ and
get it. Nowhere else can this rest be found. If you go to the
world with your cares, your troubles, and your anxieties, all it
can do is to put a few more on the top of them. The world is a
poor place to go to for sympathy. As some one has said: “If you
roll your burdens anywhere but on Christ, they will roll back on
you with more weight than ever. Cast them on Christ; and He will
carry them for you.”
Here is another bell—
Perhaps there are some infidels reading this. They
are fond of saying to us, “Come and reason.” But I want to draw
their attention to the verses that go before this one in the
first chapter of Isaiah. The trouble with a good many skeptics is
this—they take a sentence here and there from Scripture without
reference to the context. Let us see what this passage says:
“When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:
yea, when ye make many prayers I will not hear: your hands are
full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of
your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do
well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow.”
Then we have the gracious invitation, “Come
now, and let us reason together.” Do you think God is going to
reason with a man whose hands are dripping with blood, and before
he asks forgiveness and mercy? Will God reason with a man living
in rebellion against Him? Nay. But if we turn from and confess
our sin, then He will reason with us, and pardon us. “Though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow: though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
But if a man persists in his rebellion against God,
there is no invitation to him to come and reason, and receive
pardon. If I have been justly condemned to death by the law of
the State, and am waiting the execution of my sentence, I am not
in a position to reason with the governor. If he chooses to send
me a free pardon, the first thing I have to do is to accept it;
then he may allow me to come into his presence. But we must bear
in mind that God is above our reason. When man fell, his reason
became perverted; and he was not in a position to reason with
God. “If any man willeth to do His will he shall know of the
teaching.” We must be willing to forsake our sins. “Let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and
let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,” The moment a man
is willing to part with his sins, God meets him in grace and
offers him peace and pardon.
The next bell I would like to sound out is—
“Behold, I have prepared my dinner: . . . all
things are ready; come unto the marriage.” Who would not feel
highly honored if they were invited to some fine residence, to
the wedding of one of the members of the President’s family? I
can imagine you would feel rather proud of having received such
an invitation. You would want all your friends to know it.
Probably you may never get such an invitation. But
I have a far grander invitation for you here than that. I cannot
speak for others; but if I know my own heart, I would rather be
torn to pieces to-night, limb from limb, and die in the glorious
hope of being at the marriage-supper of the Lamb, than live in
this world a thousand years and miss that appointment at the
last. “Blessed is he that is called to the marriage-supper of the
Lamb.” It will be a fearful thing for any of us to see Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob taking their place in the kingdom of God, and be
ourselves thrust out.
This is no myth, my friends; it is a real
invitation. Every man and woman is invited. All things are now
ready. The feast has been prepared at great expense. You may
spurn the grace, and the gift of God; but you must bear in mind
that it cost God a good deal before He could provide this feast.
When He gave Christ He gave the richest jewel that heaven had.
And now He sends out the invitation. He commands His servants to
go into the highways, and hedges, and lanes, and compel them to
come in, that His house may be full. Who will come? You say you
are not fit to come? If the President invited you to the White
House, and the invitation said you were to come just as you were;
and if the sentinel at the gate stopped you because you did not
wear a dress suit, what would you do? Would you not show him the
document signed in the name of the President? Then he would stand
aside and let you pass. So, my friend, if you can prove to me
that you are a sinner, I can prove to you that you are invited to
this Gospel feast—to this marriage supper of the Lamb.
Let me ring out another bell in this Gospel
chime—
“Then shall the King say unto them on His right
hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world.” A kingdom!—think of
that! Think of a poor man in this world, struggling with poverty
and want, invited to become possessor of a kingdom! It is no
fiction; it is described as “an inheritance incorruptible and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time.” We are called to be kings
and priests: that is a high calling. Surely no one who hears me
intends to miss that kingdom! Christ said, “Seek ye first
the Kingdom of God.” Those who inherit it shall go no more
out.
Yet another bell—
In the Revelation we find that the two witnesses
were called up to heaven when their testimony was ended. So if we
are faithful in the service of our King, we shall by and by hear
a voice saying, “Come up hither!” There is going to be a
separation one day. The man who has been persecuting his godly
wife will some day find her missing. That drunkard who beats his
children because they have been taught the way into the Kingdom
of God, will miss them some day. They will be taken up out of the
darkness, and away from the persecution, up into the presence of
God. When the voice of God saying, “Come up hither” is heard,
calling His children home, there will be a grand jubilee. That
glorious day will soon dawn. “Lift up your heads, for the time of
your redemption draweth nigh.”
One more bell to complete the chime—
It is the last time that the word “Come” appears in
the Bible; and it occurs there over one thousand nine hundred
times. We find it away back in Genesis, “Come, thou and all thy
house, into the ark”; and it goes right along through Scripture.
Prophets, apostles, and preachers, have been ringing it out all
through the ages. Now the record is about to be closed, and
Christ tells John to put in one more invitation. After the Lord
had been in glory for about sixty years, perhaps He saw some poor
man stumbling over one of the apostles’ letters about the
doctrine of election. So He came to John in Patmos, and John was
in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day. Christ said to His disciple,
“Write these things to the Churches.” I can imagine John’s pen
moved very easily and very swiftly that day; for the hand of his
Lord was upon him. The Master said to him, “Before you close up
the Book, put in one more invitation; and make it so broad that
the whole world shall know they are included, and not a single
one may feel that he is left out.” John began to write “The
Spirit and the Bride say, Come,” that is, the Spirit and the
Church; “and let him that heareth say, Come!” If you have heard
and received the message yourself, pass it on to those near you;
your religion is not a very real thing if it does not affect some
one else. We have to get rid of this idea that the world is going
to be reached by ministers alone. All those who have drunk of the
cup of salvation must pass it around.
“Let him that is athirst, come.” But there are some
so deaf that they cannot hear; others are not thirsty enough or
they think they are not. I have seen men in our after-meetings
with two streams of tears running down their cheeks; and yet they
said the trouble with them was that they were not anxious enough.
They were anxious to be anxious. Probably Christ saw that men
would say they did not feel thirsty; so He told the apostle to
make the invitation still broader. So the last invitation let
down into a thirsty world is this: “Whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Thank God for those words “Whosoever will!” Who
will come and take it? That is the question. You have the power
to accept or to reject the invitation. A man in one meeting once
was honest enough to say “I won’t.” If I had it in my power I
would bring this whole audience to a decision now, either for or
against. I hope many now reading these words will say, “I will!”
If God says we can, all the devils in hell cannot stop us. All
the infidels in the world cannot prevent us. That little boy,
that little girl, can say, “I will!” If it were necessary, God
would send down a legion of angels to help you; but He has given
you the power, and you can accept Christ this very minute if you
are really in earnest.
Let me say that it is the easiest thing in the
world to become a Christian, and it is also the most difficult.
You will say: “That is a contradiction, a paradox.” I will
illustrate what I mean. A little nephew of mine in Chicago, a few
years ago, took my Bible and threw it down on the floor. His
mother said, “Charlie, pick up Uncle’s Bible.” The little fellow
said he would not, “Charlie, do you know what that word means?”
She soon found out that he did, and that he was not going to pick
up the Book. His will had come right up against his mother’s
will. I began to be quite interested in the struggle; I knew if
she did not break his will, he would some day break her heart.
She repeated, “Charlie, go and pick up Uncle’s Bible, and put it
on the table.” The little fellow said he could not do it. “I will
punish you if you do not.” He saw a strange look in her eye, and
the matter began to get serious. He did not want to be punished,
and he knew his mother would punish him if he did not lift the
Bible. So he straightened every bone and muscle in him, and he
said he could not do it. I really believe the little
fellow had reasoned himself into the belief that he could not do
it.
His mother knew he was only deceiving himself; so
she kept him right to the point. At last he went down, put both
his arms around the Book, and tugged away at it; but he still
said he could not do it. The truth was he did not want to. He got
up again without lifting it. The mother said, “Charlie, I am not
going to talk to you any more. This matter has to be settled;
pick up that Book, or I will punish you.” At last she broke his
will, and then he found it as easy as it is for me to turn my
hand. He picked up the Bible, and laid it on the table. So it is
with the sinner; if you are really willing to take the Water of
Life, you can do it.
“I heard the voice of Jesus say,
‘Come unto Me, and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down,
Thy head upon My breast.’
I came to Jesus as I was—
Weary, and worn, and sad,
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
‘Behold, I freely give
The living water—thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.’
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.
I heard the voice of Jesus say,
‘I am this dark world’s Light:
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.’
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of life I’ll walk
Till traveling days are done.”
Dr. H. Bonar
WHAT IT IS TO BE A CHILD OF GOD. — II.—MR. MOODY AND REV. MARCUS RAINSFORD.
R. MOODY—What is it to be a child of
God? What is the first step?
Rev. M. Rainsford—Well, sir, I am a child of God
when I become united to the Son of God. The Son of God prayed
that all who believed upon Him should be one with Him, as He was
one with the Father. Believing on Jesus, I receive Him, and
become united to Him; I become, as it were, a member of his Body.
I am an heir of God, a joint-heir with Christ.
Mr. M.—What is the best definition of Faith?
Mr. R.—Trust in the Son of God, as the Saviour He
has given to us. Simple trust, not only in a creed, but in a
Person. I trust my soul to Him. I trust the keeping of my soul to
Him. God has promised that whosoever trusts Him, mercy shall
compass him on every side.
Mr. M.—Does not the Scripture say that the devils
believe?
Mr. R.—They believe the truth, do they not? They
believe that Jesus was manifested to destroy them; and they
“tremble.” I wish we believed as truly and as fully that God sent
His Son into the world to save us.
Mr. M.—What is it to “trust?”
Mr. R.—I take it to mean four things:
(1) Believing on Christ: that is, taking Him at His
Word.
(2) Hoping in Christ: that is, expecting help from
Him, according to His Word.
(3) Relying on Christ: That is, resting on Him for
the times, and ways, and circumstances in which He may be pleased
to fulfill His promises according to His Word.
(4) Waiting on Christ: that is, continuing
to do so, notwithstanding delay, darkness, barrenness, perplexing
experiences, and the sentence of death in myself. He may keep me
waiting awhile (I have kept Him a long time waiting); but He will
not keep me waiting always. Believing in Him, hoping in Him,
relying upon Him, and waiting for Him—I understand to be trusting
in Him.
Mr. M.—Can all these friends here believe the
promises?
Mr. R.—The promises are true, whether we believe
them or not. We do not make them true by believing them. God
could not charge me with being an unbeliever, or condemn me for
unbelief, if the promises were not true for me. I could in that
case turn round and say: “Great God, why did you expect me to
believe a promise that was not true for me?” And yet the
Scriptures set forth unbelief as the greatest sin I can continue
to commit.
Mr. M.—How are we “cleansed by the
Blood?”
Mr. R.—“The blood is the life.” The sentence upon
sinners for their sin was, “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”
That we might not die, the Son of God died. The blood is the
poured-out life of the Son of God, given as the price, the
atonement, the substitute, for the forfeited life of the believer
in Jesus Christ. Any poor sinner who receives Christ as God’s
gift is cleansed from all sin by His Blood.
Mr. M.—Was the blood shed for us all?
Mr. R.—
“There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may we, though vile as he,
Wash all our sins away.”
Mr. M.—Some may think that this is only a hymn, and
that it is not Scripture. Did the Lord ever say anything similar
to what the hymn says?
Mr. R.—He said: “I have given you the blood upon
the altar to make an atonement for your souls.” That was said of
the picture of the blood of Christ. And at the Last Supper our
Lord said His blood was “the blood of the new testament which is
shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.”
Mr. M.—What is “the gift of God?”
Mr. R.—There are three great gifts that God has
given to us—
(1) His blessed Son.
(2) The Holy Ghost, “the promise of the Father,”
that we might understand the unspeakable gift bestowed on us when
He gave His Son.
(3) He has given us His Holy Word.
The Holy Ghost has inspired the writers of it that
we may read, and hear, and know the love that God has to us, “in
that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” We could not
have the Son for our Saviour, unless God gave Him. We could not
understand the gift of God, unless the Holy Ghost had come to
quicken us and teach us; and this He does through the Word.
Mr. M.—How much is there in Christ for us who
believe?
Mr. R.—In Him dwelt “all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily”—fullness of life, of righteousness, of
sanctification, of redemption, title to heaven, and meetness for
it; all that God wants from us, and all that we want from God, He
gave in the person of Christ.
Mr. M.—How long does it take God to justify a
sinner?
Mr. R.—How long? The moment we receive Him we
receive authority to enroll ourselves among the children of God,
and are then and there justified from all things. The sentence of
complete justification does not take long to pronounce. Some
persons profess to see a difficulty in the variety of ways in
which a sinner is said to be justified before God: (1) Justified
by God; (2) Justified by Christ; (3) Justified by His Blood; (4)
Justified by grace; (5) Justified by faith; (6) Justified by
works.
Justification has reference to a court of justice.
Suppose a sinner standing at the bar of God, the bar of
conscience, and the bar of his fellow-men, charged with a
thousand crimes.
(1) There is the Judge: that is God, who alone can
condemn or justify: “It is God that justifieth.” That is
justification by God.
(2) There is the Advocate, who appears at court for
the sinner; the counselor, the intercessor: that is Christ.
“Justified by Christ.”
(3) There is next to be considered the ground and
reason on account of which the Advocate pleads before the Judge.
That is the merit of His own precious Blood. That is
justification by His Blood.
(4) Next we must remember the law which the Judge
is dispensing. The law of works? Nay, but the law of grace and
faith. That is justification by His grace.
(5) And now the judge himself pronounces the
result. “Be it known unto you that through this Man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him all that believe are
justified from all things.” Now, for the first time, the sinner
at the bar knows the fact. This is justification by faith.
(6) But now the justified man leaves the criminal’s
dock. He does not return to his prison, or to his chains. He
walks forth from the court-house a justified man; and all men,
friends or foes, are made aware that he is free. That is
“justification by works.”
Mr. M.—A man says: “I have not found peace.” How
would you deal with him?
Mr. R.—He is really looking for the wrong thing. I
do not look for peace. I look for Christ; and I get peace
with Him. Some people put peace in the place of Christ. Others
put their repentance or prayers in the place of Christ.
Anything put in the place of Christ, or between the sinner
and Christ, is in the wrong place. When I get Christ, I
possess in Him everything that belongs to Him, as my Saviour.
Mr. M.—Some think they cannot be Christians until
they are sanctified.
Mr. R.—Christ is my Sanctification, as much as my
Justification. I cannot be sanctified but by His blood. There is
a wonderful passage in Exodus. The high priest there represented
in picture the Lord Jesus Christ. There was to be placed on the
forefront of the miter of the high priest, when he stood before
God, a plate of pure gold, and graven upon it as with a signet,
the words: “Holiness to the Lord.” My faith sees it on the
forefront of the miter on the brow of my High Priest in heaven.
“And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the
iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall
hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always
upon his forehead, that they may be
accepted before the Lord.” That was for Israel of old!
That on the brow of Jesus Christ is for me. Yes—for me,
“that I may be accepted before the Lord.” As I believe this truth
it purifies my heart, it operates on my affections and my
desires; and I seek to walk with Him, because He is my
Sanctification before God, just as I trust in Him as my
Justification—because He shed His blood for me.
Mr. M.—What is it to believe on His name?
Mr. R.—His name is His revealed self. We are
informed what it is in Exodus. Moses was in the mount with God,
and He had shown him wonderful things of kindness and of love.
And Moses said, “O God, show me thy glory!” And He said,
“I will make all my goodness pass before thee.” So He put
Moses in the cleft of the rock, and proclaimed the name of the
Lord: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin”—there
it is, root and branch “and that will by no means clear the
guilty.” That is His name; and His glory He will not give unto
another: and to believe in the name of the Lord is just to
shelter under His promises.
Mr. M.—What is it to “receive the Kingdom of God
like a little child?”
Mr. R.—Well, I do not believe in a little child
being an innocent thing. I think it means that we are to receive
it in all our need and helplessness. A little child is the most
dependent thing on earth. All its resources are in its parents’
love: all it can do is to cry; and its necessities explain the
meaning to the mother’s heart. If we interpret its language, it
means: “Mother, wash me; I cannot wash myself. Mother, clothe me;
I am naked, and cannot clothe myself. Mother, feed me; I cannot
feed myself. Mother, carry me; I cannot walk.” It is written, “A
mother may forget her sucking child; yet will not I forget thee.”
This it is to receive the Kingdom of God as a little child—to
come to Jesus in our helplessness and say: “Lord Jesus, wash me!”
“Clothe me!” “Feed me!” “Carry me!” “Save me, Lord, or I
perish.”
Mr. M.—A good many say they are going to
try. What would you say to such?
Mr. R.—God wants no man to “try.” Jesus has already
tried. He has not only tried, but He has succeeded. “It is
finished.” Believe in Him who has “made an end of sins, making
reconciliation for iniquity, finishing transgression, and
bringing in everlasting righteousness.”
Mr. M.—If people say they are “going to try,” what
would you say to them?
Mr. R.—I should say, Put trusting in the
place of trying; believing in the place of doubting; and I
should urge them to come to Christ as they are, instead of
waiting to be better. There is nothing now between God the Father
and the poor sinner, but the Lord Jesus Christ; and Christ has
put away sin that I may be joined to the Lord. “And he that is
joined unto the Lord is one spirit;” “And where the spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty.”
Mr. M.—About the last thing an anxious inquirer has
to contend with is his feelings. There are hundreds here very
anxious to know they are safe in the Kingdom; but they think they
have not the right kind of feeling. What kind of feeling should
they have?
Mr. R.—I think there are several of those present
who can say that they found a blessing in the after-meetings
through one verse of Scripture. I will quote it as an answer to
Mr. Moody’s question. “Who is among you that feareth the Lord,
that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness,
and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and
stay upon his God.” Some of you may be walking in darkness; that
is how you feel. What is God’s command? “Let him trust in the
name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.” If I am to trust God in
the darkness, I am to trust Him anywhere.
Mr. M.—You would advise them, then, to trust in the
Lord, whether they have the right kind of feeling or not?
Mr. R.—If I were to think of my feelings for a
moment, I should be one of the most miserable men in this hall
to-night. My feelings are those of a sinful corrupt nature. I am
just to believe what God tells me in spite of my feelings. Faith
is “the evidence of things not seen:” I might add, “the evidence
of things not felt.”
Mr. M.—Some may say that faith is the gift of God:
and that they must wait till God imparts it to them.
Mr. R.—“Faith cometh by hearing.” The word of God
is the medium through which faith comes to us. God has given us
Christ; and He has given us His Spirit, and His Word: what need
is there to wait? God will give faith to the man who reads His
Word and seeks for His Spirit.
Mr. M.—What, then, should they wait for?
Mr. R.—I do not know of anything they have to wait
for. God says: “Come now; Believe now.” No, no; there is nothing
to wait for. He has given us all He has to give: and the sooner
we take it the better.
Mr. M.—Perhaps some of them think they have too
many sins to allow their coming.
Mr. R.—The Lord Jesus has put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. “As far as the east is from the west, so
far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” Why do we not
believe him? He says He has “made an end of sins.” Why do we not
believe Him? Is He a liar?
Mr. M.—Is unbelief a sin?
Mr. R.—It is the root of all sin.
Mr. M.—Has a man the power to believe these things,
if he will?
Mr. R.—When God gives a command, it means that we
are able by His grace to do it.
Mr. M.—What do you mean by “coming” to Christ?
Mr. R.—Believing in Him. If I were to prepare a
great feast in this hall to-morrow night, and say that any man
that comes to it would have a grand feast and a five-pound note
besides, there would not be any question as to what “coming”
meant. God has prepared a great feast. He has sent His messengers
to invite all to come; and there is nothing to pay.
Mr. M.—What is the first step.
Mr. R.—To believe.
Mr. M.—Believe what?
Mr. R.—God’s invitation; God’s promise; God’s
provision. Let us believe the faithfulness of Him who calls us.
Does God intend to mock us, and make game of us? If He did so to
one man, it would hush all the harps in heaven.
Mr. M.—Suppose the people do “come,” and that they
fall into sin tomorrow?
Mr. R.—Let them come back again. God says we are to
forgive till seventy times seven. Do you think the great God will
do less than He commands us to do?
Mr. M.—If they truly come, will they have the
desire to do the things they used to do before?
Mr. R.—When a man really receives Christ into his
heart, he experiences “the expulsive power of a new affection.”
The devil may tempt him to sin; but sin has lost its attraction.
A man finds out that it does not pay to grieve God’s Holy
Spirit.
Mr. M.—What would you advise your converts to
do?
Mr. R.—When you were little babes, if you had had
no milk, no clothing, and no rest, you would not have lived very
long. You are now the result of your fathers’ and mothers’ care.
When a man is born in the family of God he has life; but he needs
food. “Man doth not live by bread alone.” If you do not feed upon
God’s promises you will be of no use in God’s service: it will be
well for you if your life does not die out altogether before
long. Then you need exercise. If you only take food, and do no
work, you will soon suffer from what I may call spiritual
apoplexy. When you get hold of a promise, go and tell it to
others. The best way for me to get help for myself is by trying
to help others. There is one great promise that young disciples
should never forget: “He that watereth shall be watered also
himself.”
Mr. M.—How are they to begin?
Mr. R.—I believe there are some rich ladies and
rich gentlemen on the platform. When such persons are brought to
the Lord, they are apt to be ashamed to speak about salvation to
their old companions. If our Christian ladies would go amongst
other ladies; Christian gentlemen amongst gentlemen of their own
class; and so on we should see a grand work for Christ. Each of
you have some friends or relations whom you can influence better
than anybody else can. Begin with them; and God will give you
such a taste for work that you will not be content to stay at
home: you will go and work outside as well.
Mr. M.—A good place to start in would be the
kitchen, would it not? Begin with some little kitchen meetings.
Let some of you get fifteen or twenty mothers together; and ask
them to bring their young children with them. Sing some of these
sweet hymns; read a few verses of Scripture; get your lips
opened; and you will find that streams of salvation will be
breaking out all around. I always think that every convert ought
to be good for a dozen others right away.
Mr. R.—Let me tell a little incident in my own
experience. I was once asked to go and see a great man and tell
him about Christ. He did not expect me; and if I had known that,
perhaps I should not have had the faith to go at all. When I went
he was very angry and very nearly turned me out of the house. He
was an old man, and had one little daughter. A few weeks
afterwards he went to the Continent, and his daughter went with
him. One day when he was very ill he saw his daughter looking at
him, while the tears rolled down her cheeks. “My child,” he said,
“what are you crying about?” “Oh, papa, you do not love the Lord
Jesus Christ; I am afraid you are going to hell!” “Why do you say
that?” “Do you not remember when Mr. Rainsford called to see you,
you were very rude to him? I never saw you so angry. And he only
wished to speak to you about Jesus.” “Well, my child, you shall
read to me about Jesus.” If that man has gone to heaven—I do not
say whether he has or not—the only light he had he got from his
little daughter. You set to work; and you cannot tell what may be
the result, by the blessing of God.
“Sons of God, beloved in Jesus
Oh, the wondrous word of grace!
In His Son the Father sees us,
And as sons He gives us place.
Blessed power now brightly beaming—
On our God we soon shall gaze;
And in light celestial gleaming
We shall see our Saviour’s face.
By the power of grace transforming
We shall then His image bear;
Christ His promised word performing,
We shall then His glory share.”
El Nathan
HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN. — III.—MR. MOODY AND MR. RADSTOCK.
R. MOODY.—Mr. Rainsford, how can one
make room in their heart for Christ?
Rev. M. Rainsford.—First, do we really want Christ
to be in our hearts? If we do, the best thing will be to ask Him
to come and make room for Himself. He will surely come and do so.
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
“Without Me ye can do nothing.”
Mr. M.—Will Christ crowd out the world if He comes
in?
Mr. R.—He spake a parable to that effect. “When a
strong man armed keepeth his palace [the poor sinner’s heart],
his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he shall come
upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour
wherein he trusted [unbelief, false views of God, worldliness,
and love of sin], and divideth his spoils.” The devil keeps the
heart, because Christ desires it for His throne—until Christ
drives Him out.
Mr. M.—What is the meaning of the promise?—“Him
that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out.”
Mr. R.—I think we often put the emphasis upon the
wrong word. People are troubled about how they are going to
come, when they should put the emphasis
on Him to whom they are coming. “Him that
cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast
out:” no matter how he may come. I remember hearing this incident
at an after-meeting. A gentleman was speaking to an anxious
inquirer, telling him to come to Christ, to trust
in Christ; but the man seemed to get no comfort. He said that was
just where he found his difficulty. By and by, another friend
came and spoke to the anxious one. All he said was: “Come to
CHRIST; trust in CHRIST.” The man saw it in a minute. He went and
told the other gentleman, “I see the way of salvation now.” “Tell
me,” said he, “what did that man say to you?” “Well, he told me
to trust in Christ.” “That is what I told you.” “Nay, you bade me
trust in Christ, and come to Christ; he bade me
trust in Christ, and come to Christ.” That made all
the difference.
Mr. M.—What does Christ mean by the words “in no
wise?”
Mr. R.—It means that if the sins of all sinners on
earth and all the devils in hell were upon your soul, He will not
refuse you. Not even in the range of God’s omniscience is there a
reason why Christ will refuse any poor sinner who comes to Him
for pardon.
Mr. M.—What is the salvation He comes to proclaim
and to bestow?
Mr. R.—To deliver us from the power of darkness and
the bottomless pit, and set us upon the throne of glory. It is
salvation from death and hell, and curse and ruin. But that is
only the half of it. It is salvation to God, and light, and
glory, and honor, and immortality; and from earth to heaven.
Mr. M.—If the friends here do not come and get this
salvation, what will be the true reason?
Mr. R.—Either they are fond of some sin which they
do not intend to give up, or they do not believe they are
in a lost condition, and under the curse of God, and therefore do
not feel their need of Him who “came to seek and to save that
which was lost.” Or they do not believe God’s promises. I have
sometimes asked a man, “Good friend, are you saved!” “Well, no, I
am not saved.” “Are you lost?” “Oh, God forbid! I am not lost.”
“Where are you, then, if you are neither saved nor lost?” May God
wake us up to the fact that we are all in one state or the
other!
Mr. M.—What if any of them should fall into sin
after they have come to Christ?
Mr. R.—God has provided for the sins of His people,
committed after they come to Christ, as surely as for their sins
committed before they came to Him. Christ “ever liveth to make
intercession for all that come unto God by Him.” “If we say that
we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” . . . . For,
“if any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the
propitiation for our sins.” He will take care of our sinful,
tried and tempted selves, if we trust ourselves to Him.
Mr. M.—Is it not said that if we sin willfully
after we have received the knowledge of the truth, “there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins?”
Mr. R.—Yes. Paul wrote it in his Epistle to the
Hebrews. Some of them were trifling with the blood of Christ,
reverting to the types and shadows of the Levitical Law, and
trusting to a fulfilled ritual for salvation. He is not referring
to ordinary acts of sin. By sinning willfully he means, as
he explains it, a “treading under foot the Son of God,”
and a total and final apostatizing from Christ. Those who reject
or neglect Him will find no other sacrifice for sin remaining.
Before Christ came the Jewish ceremonies were shadows of the good
things to come; but Christ was the substance of them. But now
that he has come to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,
there is no other sacrifice for sin remaining for those who
reject Him. God will send no other Saviour, and no further
atonement; no second “fountain shall be opened for sin and
uncleanness.” There remains, therefore, nothing for the rejector
of salvation by Christ, but “a fearful looking-for of
judgment.”
Mr. M.—There are some who say they do not know that
they have the right kind of faith.
Mr. R.—God does not ask us if we have the right
kind of faith. He tells us the right thing to believe, and the
right faith is to believe the right thing, even what God
has told us and promised us. If I told you, Mr. Moody, that I had
found a hymn-book last night you would believe me, would you not?
(Mr. Moody: Yes.) Suppose I said it was the valuable one
you lost the other night, you would believe me also just
the same. There is no difference in the kind of faith; the
difference is in the thing believed. When the Son of God
tells me that He died for sinners, that is a fact for my faith to
lay hold of: the faith itself is not some thing to be considered.
I do not look at my hand, when I take a gift, and wonder what
sort of a hand it is. I look at the gift.
Mr. M.—What about those people who say their hearts
are so hard, and they have no love to Christ?
Mr. R.—Of course they are hard and cold. No man
loves Christ till he believes that Christ loves him. “We love
Him, because He first loved us.” It is the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that makes the change.
Mr. M.—Paul said he was “crucified with Christ.”
what did he mean?
Mr. R.—Oh, that is a grand text! Thank God I have
been “crucified with Christ.” The Cross of Christ represents the
death due to the sinner who had broken God’s laws. When Christ
was crucified every member of His body was crucified: but every
believer that was, or is, or shall be, is a member of Christ’s
body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Again, we read: “Whether
one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member
be honored, all the members rejoice with it: now ye are the body
of Christ, and members in particular.” So when Christ was
crucified for sin, I was also crucified in Him; and now I am dead
and gone as far as my old self is concerned. I have already
suffered for sin in Him. Yes; I am dead and buried with Christ.
That is the grand truth that Paul laid hold upon. I am stone dead
as a sinner in the sight of God. As it is written, I am “become
dead to the law by the body of Christ, that I might be married to
another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that I should
bring forth fruit unto God.” “I am crucified with Christ;
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me;” and God
Himself commands me so to regard my standing before Him as His
believing child. “In that Christ died, He died, unto sin once:
but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Mr. M.—Should not a man repent a good deal before
he comes to Christ?
Mr. R.—“Repent a good deal!” I do not think any man
repents in the true sense of the word till he loves Christ and
hates sin. There are many false repentances in the Bible. We are
told that Pharaoh repented when the judgment of God came upon
him, and he said, “I have sinned;” but as soon as the judgment
passed away, he went back to his sin. We read that Balaam said:
“I have sinned.” Yet “he loved the wages of unrighteousness.”
When Saul lost his kingdom he repented; “I have sinned,” he said.
When Judas Iscariot found that he had made a great mistake, he
said: “I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood;”
yet he went “to his own place.” I would not give much for these
repentances; I would rather have Peter’s repentance: when Christ
looked upon His fallen saint it broke His heart, and he went out
and wept bitterly. Or the repentance of the Prodigal, when his
father’s arms were around his neck, and his kisses on his cheek,
and he said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before
thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.”
Mr. M.—What is your title to heaven?
Mr. R.—The Person, the Life, Death, and
Righteousness, of the God-man, the Son of God, my Substitute, and
my Saviour.
Mr. M.—How do you obtain that?
Mr. R.—By receiving Him. “As many as received Him,
to them gave He authority to become the sons of God, even to them
that believed on His name.”
Mr. M.—What is your meetness for heaven?
Mr. R.—The Holy Ghost dwelling in my heart is my
fitness for heaven. I have only to get there; and I have, by this
great gift, all tastes, desires, and faculties, for it: I have
the eyes to contemplate it: I have the ears for heaven’s music:
and I can speak the language of the country. The Holy Ghost in me
is my fitness and qualification for the splendid inheritance for
which the Son of God has redeemed me.
Mr. M.—Would you make a distinction between
Christ’s work for us and the Spirit’s work in us?
Mr. R.—Christ’s work for me is the payment of my
debt; the giving me a place in my Father’s home, the place of
sonship in my Father’s family. The Holy Spirit’s work in me is to
make me fit for His company.
Mr. M.—You distinguish, then, between the work of
the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the Holy
Ghost.
Mr. R.—Thanks be to God, I have them all, and I
want them all—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I read that my
Heavenly Father took my sins and laid them on Christ; “The Lord
hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” No one else had a right
to touch them. Then I want the Son, who “His own self bare my
sins in His own body on a tree.” And I want the Holy Ghost. I
should know nothing about this great salvation, and care nothing
for it, if the Holy Ghost had not come and told me the story, and
given me grace to believe it.
Mr. M.—What is meant when we are told that Christ
saves “to the uttermost?”
Mr. R.—That is another grand truth. Some people are
troubled by the thought that they will not be able to hold out if
they come to Christ. There are so many crooked ways, and
pitfalls, and snares in the world; there is the power of the
flesh, and the snare of the devil. So they fear they will never
get home. The idea of the passage is this. Suppose you are on the
top of some splendid mountain, very high up. You look away to
where the sun sets, and you see many a river, and many a country,
and many a barren waste between. Christ is able to save you
through and over them all, out and out, and beyond to the
uttermost.
Mr. M.—Suppose a man came in here just out of
prison: all his life he has been falling, falling, till he has
become discouraged. Can Christ save him all at once?
Mr. R.—It is just as easy for Christ to save a man
with the weight of ten thousand sins upon him and all his chains
around him, as to save a man with one sin. If a man has offended
in one point, the Scripture says he is guilty of all.
Mr. M.—If a man is forgiven, will he go out and do
the same thing to-morrow?
Mr. R.—Well, I hope not. All I can say is that if
we do, we shall smart for it. I have done many a thing since the
Lord revealed Himself to my soul that I should not have done—I
have gone backward and downward; but I have always found that it
does not pay when I do anything that grieves my Heavenly Father.
I think He sometimes allows us to taste the bitterness of what it
is to depart from Him. And this is one of the many ways by which
He keeps us from falling.
Mr. M.—What do you consider to be the great sin of
sins?
Mr. R.—The Word of God tells us that there is only
one sin of which God alone can convince us. If I cut a man’s
throat or if I steal, it does not need God to convince me that
that is a sin. But it takes the power of the Holy Ghost to
convince me that not to receive Christ, not to love Christ, not
to believe in Christ, is the sin of sins, the root of sins.
Christ says, “When the Spirit is come, He will convince the world
of sin, because they believe not on Me.”
Mr. M.—What do you mean by the Word of God?
Mr. R.—The Son of God is the Word of God incarnate:
the Bible is the Word of God written. The one is the Word of God
in my nature: the other is the Word of God in my language.
Mr. M.—If a man receives the word of God into his
heart, what benefit is it to him, right here to-night?
Mr. R.—The Father and the Son will make their abode
with him; and he will be the temple of the Holy Ghost. Where He
goes the whole Trinity goes; and all the promises are his. “Man
doth not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.”
Mr. M.—Who is it that judges a man to be unworthy
of eternal life?
Mr. R.—Himself!! There is a verse in Acts
xiii that is worth remembering: “Seeing ye put it [the Word of
God] from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” God does not
judge us unworthy. He has given His Son for our salvation. When a
man puts away the Word of God from him and refuses to receive
Christ into his heart, he judges himself unworthy of
salvation.
Mr. M.—I understand, then, that if a man rejects
Christ to-night, he passes judgment on himself as unworthy of
eternal life?
Mr. R.—He is judging himself unworthy, while God
does not so consider him. God says you are welcome to eternal
life.
Mr. M.—If any one here wants to please God
to-night, how can he do it?
Mr. R.—God delights in mercy. Come to God and claim
His mercy in Christ; and you will delight His heart.
Mr. M.—Suppose a man say he is not “elected?”
Mr. R.—Do you remember the story of the woman of
Canaan? Poor soul; she had come a long journey. She asked the
Lord to have mercy on her afflicted child. He wanted to try her
faith, and He said: “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.” That looked as if He Himself told her that she
was not one of the elect. But she came and worshipped Him,
saying, “Lord, help me!” and He helped her there and then. No;
there is no election separating between the sinner and
Christ.
Mr. M.—Say that again.
Mr. R.—There is no election
separating between the sinner and christ.
Mr. M.—What is there between the sinner and
Christ?
Mr. R.—Mercy!! Mercy!!
Mr. M.—That brings me near to Christ.
Mr. R.—So near that we cannot be nearer. But we
must claim it. In John we get God’s teaching about election.
“This is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which
He hath given Me I should lose nothing; but should raise
it up again at the last day.” He will do his work, you may depend
upon it. Then in the next verse we read: “And this is the will of
Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will
raise him up at the last day.” That is the part I am to take: and
when I have done so I shall know the Father’s will concerning
me.
Mr. M.—What do you mean by the New
Birth?
Mr. R.—I judge it by what I know of the
Old Birth. I was born of human parents
into the human family; so I belong to Adam’s race by nature and
by generation, and I inherit Adam’s sin and curse accordingly.
The new birth is from my union by faith with the second Adam; but
this is by grace, not nature: and when I receive the Lord
Jesus Christ I am born of God—not by generation, but by
regeneration. As I am united to the first Adam by nature and
generation, so I am united by faith through grace and
regeneration to the second Adam, and inherit all His fullness
accordingly.
Mr. M.—What is the meaning of being “saved by the
Blood?”
Mr. R.—A gentleman asked me that in the
inquiry-room; “What do you mean by the shed Blood?” It is the
poured-out life of the Son of God forfeited as the atonement for
sinners’ sins.
Mr. M.—Is it available now?
Mr. R.—Yes; as much as ever it was.
Mr. M.—You mean it is just as powerful to-day as it
was eighteen hundred years ago when He shed it?
Mr. R.—If the blood of Abel cried out for vengeance
against his slayer, how much more does the blood of Christ cry
out for pardon for all who plead it! “It cleanseth (present
tense) from all sin.”
Mr. M.—How do you get faith?
Mr. R.—By hearing God’s Word. “Faith cometh by
hearing; and hearing by the Word of God.”
Mr. M.—How do you get the Holy Ghost?
Mr. R.—In the same way as you get faith. The Holy
Ghost uses the Word as the chariot by which He enters the
believer’s soul. The Gospel is called “the ministration of the
Spirit.”
Mr. M.—Is the Word of God addressed to all
here?
Mr. R.—“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith to the Churches” (Rev. iii 22).
Mr. M.—What is the Gospel?
Mr. R.—“Good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people.” If our Gospel, proclaiming life, pardon, and
peace, is not as applicable for salvation to the vilest harlot
here as to the greatest saint in London, it is not Christ’s
Gospel we preach.
Mr. M.—What reason does the Scripture give tor the
Gospel being hid to some?
Mr. R.—It is “hid to them that are lost; in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who
is the image of God, should shine into them.” May God open all
our eyes, and take away the veil of unbelief with which the devil
may be blinding any of us!
Mr. M.—Are there not many who give an intellectual
assent to all these things; and who yet have no power, and no
divine life?
Mr. R.—An intellectual assent is not faith. I have
never found anyone who really believed God’s Word who did not get
power in believing it. People may assent to it; but I do
not admit that that is believing it. I do not think there is any
man or woman here who really believes the Gospel of the grace of
God, who has not been taught it by the Holy Ghost. I could easily
cross-examine any one of those “intellectual believers” who
imagines he believes God, but really does not; and he would break
down in a few minutes.
Mr. M.—For whom, then, did Christ die?
Mr. R.—For “the
ungodly.”
Mr. M.—Why is salvation obtained by faith?
Mr. R.—That it might be by grace. “For this cause
it is of faith, that it may be according to grace?”
Mr. M.—How may a man know if he has eternal
life?
Mr. R.—By not treating God as if He were a liar,
when He tells us He has given us eternal life in His Son.
Mr. M.—What is the means by which the New Birth we
were speaking of is effected?
Mr. R.—“Of His own will begat He us with the
word of truth.” “Being born again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God
. . . . and this is the Word, which by the Gospel is preached
unto you.”
“Oh, the wondrous love of Jesus
To redeem us with His blood!
Through His all-atoning merit,
He has brought us near to God:
For the boundless grace that saves us
We His name will magnify;
He is coming in His glory,
We shall see Him by and by!
Oh, the wondrous love of Jesus
To redeem our souls from death!
We will thank Him, we will praise Him,
While His mercy lends us breath:
We are waiting—only waiting—
Till He comes our souls to bear
To the Home beyond the shadows,
In His Kingdom over there!”
F. J. Crosby
WHAT IT IS TO BE CONVERTED.
R. MOODY: Christ says, “Except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven.” What is it to be converted?
Mr. Radstock: To be “converted” is to turn to God,
who is the only one that can save. We cannot save ourselves even
by our religion. Therefore, in order to salvation we must turn to
God, who alone has the grace, the wisdom, and the power to
save.
Mr. M.—What is it to be born of the Spirit?
Mr. R.—Man, by nature, cannot enter into the
thoughts of God. He cannot hold communion with God until he has a
new nature. The natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God: he has no capacity until he has the new life which
God will give him by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Mr. M.—Can he get that to-day if he repents?
Mr. R.—Yes. Repentance means a change of mind—a
turning away from his own thoughts to hear the voice and the
message of God. If we listen to the voice of God and confess our
sins, God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins.”
Mr. M.—To whom are we to confess our sins?
Mr. R.—When the light of God comes in, we see that
we are guilty before him; then we are constrained to go and lay
our case before Him. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us.
Mr. M.—There is a passage that says the Lord Jesus
Christ bear our sins. In what sense did He bear our sins.
Mr. R.—The Lord Jesus Christ had really laid to His
charge sins which He had never committed. He was punished as if
He had been the sinner. Therefore on the cross He cried out, “My
God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” God was dealing with
Jesus as if He had really been the guilty one.
Mr. M.—Do we get any help by believing that?
Mr. R.—When I believe God’s testimony, God’s
witness about Jesus, I then can trust myself to God, Giving
myself to God, God becomes my Saviour.
Mr. M.—Have these friends the power to believe?
Mr. R.—They are commanded to believe. They can
believe it just as well as they can believe any other fact, if
they only listen to God’s voice. But they must get rid of their
own thoughts, and listen to God: Hearing His voice they will
believe. “Faith cometh by hearing: and hearing by the Word of
God.”
Mr. M.—All the sinner has to do is to repose in the
promises of God?
Mr. R.—Simply to trust Himself to God.
Mr. M.—What would you say to a man who says he has
tried a good many times and failed; and who has become
discouraged?
Mr. R.—That man has probably made a good many
resolutions, hoping that he would gradually make himself a
Christian by going through this or that process, or by doing this
or that thing. Of course he failed, because he tried to make
himself a Christian. Instead of trying to save himself, let him
trust in God, who has pledged His word that every one who
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has at that moment everlasting
life.
Mr. M.—Should a man not break off from some of his
sins before he comes to God? Suppose he swears or has a bad
temper, should he not get a little control over his temper, or
stop swearing, before he comes to Christ?
Mr. R.—God knows that a man’s nature is wrong:
therefore He has promised to give a man a new nature. We must
therefore go to God, just as a man goes to a physician, because
he needs to be cured of some disease.
Mr. M.—Can a drunkard or a blasphemer be saved all
at once?
Mr. R.—Paul says: “To him that worketh not, but
believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly” bad people, lost
people, ruined people—“his faith is counted for righteousness.”
When he believes God, God becomes his Saviour. God is the friend
of sinners.
Mr. M.—What is it to believe God?
Mr. R.—To take Him at His word.
Mr. M.—Do you not think there are a good many here
who believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world; and
yet they are not saved?
Mr. R.—No doubt; because they have not believed for
themselves. A man at the time of the Deluge, for instance, might
have said, “Yes, I believe it is a very good ark indeed; and that
it will save those who get into it.” But it does not follow that
he got into it himself. The ark only saved those who went into
it. So, when a man trusts in Jesus Christ for himself, Jesus
becomes his personal and eternal Saviour.
Mr. M.—What if he should fall into sin after he has
believed in Christ?
Mr. R.—“These things write I unto you that ye sin
not,” says John; “and if any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father.” The Good Physician will not give up His case because
of the disease; He will deal with it. The Good Shepherd will not
turn His poor wandering sheep away; He will go after it, and
bring it back. He has promised that He will save His people
from their sins.
Mr. M.—Is salvation within the reach of every man
here tonight?
Mr. R.—Jesus said, “God so loved the world that He
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Mr. M.—But some say they do not feel that; they do
not realize it.
Mr. R.—When they take God at His word, and cast
themselves upon Him, whether they feel it or not—when they
confess Jesus Christ as their Lord—the Holy Ghost will come as a
power to make them realize it. For instance, a man at the time of
the Deluge might have stood outside the ark, and said, “I cannot
realize how this ark will lift me up above the waters.” But if he
were inside when the flood came he would realize it. The sinner
must believe first, and have his experience afterwards. A man is
told that a certain train will take him to Edinburgh. He has
never been there: he does not understand about this particular
train; and he cannot realize that it will take him there. But he
knows that he may trust the friend who told him; so he gets into
the train. Then he realizes that he is in the train; by and by he
will be able to realize that he is in Edinburgh.
Mr. M.—Would you advise people to come to God as
they are, with their unfeeling, treacherous, hard hearts—with any
kind of heart?
Mr. R.—God has provided this salvation for lost
sinners—those who are thoroughly bad and corrupt. It is for such
that God has shown His salvation, His love, His grace.
Mr. M.—What would you say to any one who thinks he
has no power to believe?
Mr. R.—He has the power to believe. Probably
he is trying to believe something about himself; to feel
something about himself instead of giving credit to God—He is not
asked to realize this or that about himself, but to believe the
faithful God.
Mr. M.—Some say they have no power to overcome a
besetting sin?
Mr. R.—Jesus came proclaiming liberty to the
captives. As we read in the beautiful words of the Church of
England Prayer-book: “Though we be tied and bound by the chains
of our sin, let the pitifulness of Thy mercy save us.” Jesus
Christ takes the prisoners of sin and breaks off their
chains.
Mr. M.—There is something said about confessing
Christ. Would you advise any one who wants to become a Christian
to start right here by confessing Christ with the mouth?
Mr. R.—God is already on your side, whoever you
are. Christ is Immanuel—God with us and for us. He is already on
your side, whether you believe it or not. Now it is for you to
decide whether He shall be your Saviour. He says that if you own
Him as Lord—who is now the one rejected by the world—He is
responsible to be your Saviour from that moment.
N the exercise of his high calling,
the faithful ambassador of Christ must not scruple to declare the
whole counsel of God—“rightly dividing the word of truth,” to all
classes of hearers. He must warn the openly wicked man that if he
persists in his evil courses, the just judgments of God will
inevitably overtake him; he must unmask the hypocrite; he must
utter no uncertain protest against the crooked and devious ways
of the self-seeker and the time-server. But if he enters into the
Spirit of his Master, no part of his public work will be more
congenial or delightful than the proclamation of the full, free,
and sovereign grace of God, manifested
towards sinful men in the gift of His Eternal Son, to be the
Saviour of the world. It has been my happy privilege in years
past to tell out, as best I could, this wonderful story of
redeeming grace. The following pages record the addresses I have
given on the various aspects of this great subject. I pray God
that in their printed form they may serve to deepen in the mind
of the reader the appreciation of this grace, at once so infinite
and so undeserved.
HERE are some words with which we
have been familiar from our infancy up, and probably there are
few words in the English language that are so often used as this
word “GRACE.” Many of you at your table “say grace” three times a
day. You seldom go into a church without hearing the word
mentioned. You seldom read any part of the New Testament,
especially the Epistles, without meeting the word.
OW we come to a very important part of
our subject—Grace for living. One of the saddest things in the
present day is the fact that so many professed Christians have no
spiritual power. They bear no testimony for Christ. There are so
few who can go to the homes of the sick and read the Bible to
them, pray with them, and minister comfort to their souls. How
few can go to the abode of the drunkard, and tell him of Christ’s
power to save! How few there are who are wise in winning souls to
Christ!
OR the grace of God that bringeth
salvation to all men hath appeared; teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works.”