EXTERNAL FOES.
What are our enemies without? What does James say? "Know ye not that
the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore
will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." And John? "Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
Now, people want to know what is _the world_. When you talk with them
they say:
"Well, when you say 'the world,' what do you mean?"
Here we have the answer in the next verse: "For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever."
"The world" does not mean nature around us. God nowhere tells us that
the material world is an enemy to be overcome. On the contrary, we
read: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world,
and they that dwell therein." "The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth His handywork."
It means "human life and society as far as alienated from God, through
being centered on material aims and objects, and thus opposed to God's
Spirit and kingdom." Christ said: "If the world hate you, ye know that
it hated Me before it hated you . . . the world hath hated them
because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."
Love of the world means the forgetfulness of the eternal future by
reason of love for passing things.
How can the world be overcome? Not by education, not by experience;
only by faith. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God?"
Worldly Habits and Fashions.
For one thing we must fight _worldly habits and fashions_. We must
often go against the customs of the world. I have great respect for a
man who can stand up for what he believes is right against all the
world. He who can stand alone is a hero.
Suppose it is the custom for young men to do certain things you
wouldn't like your mother to know of--things that your mother taught
you are wrong. You may have to stand up alone among all your
companions.
They will say: "You can't get away from your mother, eh? Tied to your
mother's apron strings!"
But just you say: "Yes! I have some respect for my mother. She taught
me what is right, and she is the best friend I have. I believe that is
wrong, and I am going to stand for the right." If you have to stand
alone, _stand_. Enoch did it, and Joseph, and Elisha, and Paul. God
has kept such men in all ages.
Someone says: "I move in society where they have wine parties. I know
it is rather a dangerous thing because my son is apt to follow me. But
I can stop just where I want to; perhaps my son hasn't got the same
power as I have, and he may go over the dam. But it is the custom in
the society where I move."
Once I got into a place where I had to get up and leave. I was invited
into a home, and they had a late supper, and there were seven kinds of
liquor on the table. I am ashamed to say they were Christian people. A
deacon urged a young lady to drink until her face flushed. I rose from
the table and went out; I felt that it was no place for me. They
considered me very rude. That was going against custom; that was
entering a protest against such an infernal thing. Let us go against
custom, when it leads astray.
I was told in a southern college, some years ago, that no man was
considered a first class gentleman who did not drink. Of course it is
not so now.
Pleasure.
Another enemy is _worldly pleasure_. A great many people are just
drowned in pleasure. They have no time for any meditation at all. Many
a man has been lost to society, and lost to his family, by giving
himself up to the god of pleasure. God wants His children to be happy,
but in a way that will help and not hinder them.
A lady came to me once and said: "Mr. Moody, I wish you would tell me
how I can become a Christian." The tears were rolling down her cheeks,
and she was in a very favorable mood; "but," she said, "I don't want
to be one of your kind."
"Well," I asked, "have I got any peculiar kind? What is the matter
with my Christianity?"
"Well," she said, "my father was a doctor, and had a large practice,
and he used to get so tired that he used to take us to the theater.
There was a large family of girls, and we had tickets for the theaters
three or four times a week. I suppose we were there a good deal
oftener than we were in church. I am married to a lawyer, and he has a
large practice. He gets so tired that he takes us out to the theater,"
and she said, "I am far better acquainted with the theater and theater
people than with the church and church people, and I don't want to
give up the theater."
"Well," I said, "did you ever hear me say anything about theaters?
There have been reporters here every day for all the different papers,
and they are giving my sermons verbatim in one paper. Have you ever
seen anything in the sermons against the theaters?"
She said, "No."
"Well," I said, "I have seen you in the audience every afternoon for
several weeks and have you heard me say anything against theaters?"
No, she hadn't.
"Well," I said, "what made you bring them up?" "Why, I supposed you
didn't believe in theaters." "What made you think that?"
"Why," she said, "Do you ever go?"
"No."
"Why don't you go?"
"Because I have got something better. I would sooner go out into the
street and eat dirt than do some of the things I used to do before I
became a Christian."
"Why!" she said, "I don't understand."
"Never mind," I said. "When Jesus Christ has the pre-eminence, you
will understand it all. He didn't come down here and say we shouldn't
go here and we shouldn't go there, and lay down a lot of rules; but He
laid down great principles. Now, He says if you love Him you will take
delight in pleasing Him." And I began to preach Christ to her. The
tears started again. She said:
"I tell you, Mr. Moody, that sermon on the indwelling Christ yesterday
afternoon just broke my heart. I admire Him, and I want to be a
Christian, but I don't want to give up the theaters."
I said, "Please don't mention them again. I don't want to talk about
theaters. I want to talk to you about Christ." So I took my Bible, and
I read to her about Christ.
But she said again, "Mr. Moody, can I go to the theater if I become a
Christian?"
"Yes," I said, "you can go to the theater just as much as you like if
you are a real, true Christian, and can go with His blessing."
"Well," she said, "I am glad you are not so narrow-minded as some."
She felt quite relieved to think that she could go to the theaters and
be a Christian. But I said,
"If you can go to the theater for the glory of God, keep on going;
only be sure that you go for the glory of God. If you are a Christian
you will be glad to do whatever will please Him."
I really think she became a Christian that day. The burden had gone,
there was joy; but just as she was leaving me at the door, she said,
"I am not going to give up the theater."
In a few days she came back to me and said, "Mr. Moody, I understand
all about that theater business now. I went the other night. There was
a large party at our house, and my husband wanted us to go, and we
went; but when the curtain lifted, everything looked so different. I
said to my husband, 'This is no place for me; this is horrible. I am
not going to stay here, I am going home.' He said, 'Don't make a fool
of yourself. Everyone has heard that you have been converted in the
Moody meetings, and if you go out, it will be all through fashionable
society, I beg of you don't make a fool of yourself by getting up and
going out.' But I said, 'I have been making a fool of myself all of my
life.'"
Now, the theater hadn't changed, but she had got something better and
she was going to overcome the world. "They that are after the flesh do
mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the
things of the Spirit." When Christ has the first place in your heart
you are going to get victory. Just do whatever you know will please
Him. The great objection I have to these things is that they get the
mastery, and become a hindrance to spiritual growth.
Business.
It may be that we have got to overcome in _business_. Perhaps it is
business morning, noon and night, and Sundays, too. When a man will
drive like Jehu all the week and like a snail on Sunday, isn't there
something wrong with him? Now, business is legitimate; and a man is
not, I think, a good citizen that will not go out and earn his bread
by the sweat of his brow; and he ought to be a good business man, and
whatever he does, do thoroughly. At the same time, if he lays his
whole heart on his business, and makes a god of it, and thinks more of
it than anything else, then the world has come in. It may be very
legitimate in its place--like fire, which, in its place, is one of the
best friends of man; out of place, is one of the worst enemies of
man;--like water, which we cannot live without; and yet, when not in
place, it becomes an enemy.
So my friends, that is the question for you and me to settle. Now look
at yourself. Are you getting the victory? Are you growing more even in
your disposition? are you getting mastery over the world and the
flesh?
And bear this in mind: Every temptation you overcome makes you
stronger to overcome others, while every temptation that defeats you
makes you weaker. You can become weaker and weaker, or you can become
stronger and stronger. Sin takes the pith out of your sinews, but
virtue makes you stronger. How many men have been overcome by some
little thing! Turn a moment to the Song of Solomon, the second
chapter, fifteenth verse: "Take us the foxes, the little foxes that
spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." A great many
people seem to think these little things--getting out of patience,
using little deceits, telling white lies (as they call them), and when
somebody calls on you sending word by the servant you are not at
home--all these are little things. Sometimes you can brace yourself up
against a great temptation; and almost before you know it you fall
before some little thing. A great many men are overcome by a little
_persecution_.
Persecution.
Do you know, I don't think we have enough persecution now-a-days. Some
people say we have persecution that is just as hard to bear as in the
Dark Ages. Anyway, I think it would be a good thing if we had a little
of the old fashioned kind just now. It would bring out the strongest
characters, and make us all healthier. I have heard men get up in
prayer-meeting, and say they were going to make a few remarks, and
then keep on till you would think they were going to talk all week. If
we had a little persecution, people of that kind wouldn't talk so
much. Spurgeon used to say some Christians would make good martyrs;
they would burn well, they are so dry. If there were a few stakes for
burning Christians, I think it would take all the piety out of some
men. I admit they haven't got much; but then if they are not willing
to suffer a little persecution for Christ, they are not fit to be His
disciples. We are told: "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution." Make up your mind to this: If the world has
nothing to say against you, Jesus Christ will have nothing to say for
you.
The most glorious triumphs of the Church have been won in times of
persecution. The early church was persecuted for about three hundred
years after the crucifixion, and they were years of growth and
progress. But then, as Saint Augustine has said, the cross passed from
the scene of public executions to the diadem of the Caesars, and the
down-grade movement began. When the Church has joined hands with the
State, it has invariably retrograded in spirituality and
effectiveness; but the opposition of the State has only served to
purify it of all dross. It was persecution that gave Scotland to
Presbyterianism. It was persecution that gave this country to civil
and religious freedom.
How are we to overcome in time of persecution? Hear the words of
Christ: "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer:
I have overcome the world." Paul could testify that though persecuted,
he was never forsaken; that the Lord stood by him, and strengthened
him, and delivered him out of all his persecutions and afflictions.
A great many shrink from the Christian life because they will be
_sneered at_. And then, sometimes when persecution won't bring a man
down, _flattery_ will. Foolish persons often come up to a man after he
has preached and flatter him. Sometimes ladies do that. Perhaps they
will say to some worker in the church: "You talk a great deal better
than so-and-so"; and he becomes proud, and begins to strut around as
if he was the most important person in the town. I tell you, we have a
wily devil to contend with. If he can't overcome you with opposition,
he will try flattery or ambition; and if that doesn't serve his
purpose, perhaps there will come some affliction or disappointment,
and he will overcome in way. But remember that anyone that has got
Christ to help him can overcome every foe, and overcome them singly or
collectively. Let them come. If we have got Christ within us, we will
overthrow them all. Remember what Christ is able to do. In all the
ages men have stood in greater temptations than you and I will ever
have to meet.
Now, there is one more thing on this line: I have either got to
overcome the world, or the world is going to overcome me. I have
either got to conquer sin in me--or sin about me--and get it under my
feet, or it is going to conquer me. A good many people are satisfied
with one or two victories, and think that is all. I tell you, my dear
friends, we have got to do something more than that. It is a battle
all the time. We have this to encourage us: we are assured of victory
at the end. We are promised a glorious triumph.
Eight "Overcomes."
Let me give you the eight "overcomes" of Revelation.
The first is: "_To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree
of life_." He shall have a right to the tree of life. When Adam fell,
he lost that right. God turned him out of Eden lest he should eat of
the tree of life and live as he was forever. Perhaps He just took that
tree and transplanted it to the Garden above; and through the second
Adam we are to have the right to eat of it.
Second: "_He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death_."
Death has no terrors for him, it cannot touch him. Why? Because Christ
tasted death for every man. Hence he is on resurrection ground. Death
may take this body, but that is all. This is only the house I live in.
We need have no fear of death if we overcome.
Third: "_To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden
manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it_." If I
overcome God will feed me with bread that the world knows nothing
about, and give me a new name.
Fourth: "_He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to
him will I give power over the nations_." Think of it! What a thing to
have; power over the nations! A man that is able to rule himself is
the man that God can trust with power. Only a man who can govern
himself is fit to govern other men. I have an idea that we are down
here in training, that God is just polishing us for some higher
service. I don't know where the kingdoms are, but it we are to be
kings and priests we must have kingdoms to reign over.
Fifth: "_He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white
raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but
I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels_." He
shall present us to the Father in white garments, without spot or
wrinkle. Every fault and stain shall be taken out, and we be made
perfect. He that overcomes will not be a stranger in heaven.
Sixth: "_Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My
God; and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name
of My God and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem,
which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him
My new name_." Think of it! No more backsliding, no more wanderings
over the dark mountains of sin, but forever with the King, and He
says, "I will write upon him the name of My God." He is going to put
His name upon us. Isn't it grand? Isn't it worth fighting for? It is
said when Mahomet came in sight of Damascus and found that they had
all left the city, he said: "If they won't fight for this city what
will they fight for?" If men won't fight here for all this reward,
what will they fight for?
Seventh: "_To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His
throne_." My heart has often melted as I have looked at that. The Lord
of Glory coming down and saying: "I will grant to you to sit on My
throne, even as I sit on My Father's throne, if you will just
overcome." Isn't it worth a struggle? How many will fight for a crown
that is going to fade away! Yet we are to be placed above the angels,
above the archangels, above the seraphim, above the cherubim, away up,
upon the throne with Himself, and there we shall be forever with Him.
May God put strength into every one of us to fight the battle of life,
so that we may sit with Him on His throne. When Frederick of Germany
was dying, his own son would not have been allowed to sit with him on
the throne, nor to have let anyone else sit there with him. Yet we are
told that we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and that we are to sit
with Him in glory!
And now, the last I like best of all: "_He that overcometh shall
inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son_."
My dear friends, isn't that a high calling? I used to have my
Sabbath-school children sing--"I want to be an angel": but I have not
done so for years. We shall be above angels: we shall be sons of God.
Just see what a kingdom we shall come into: we shall inherit all
things! Do you ask me how much I am worth? I don't know. The
Rothschilds cannot compute their wealth. They don't know how many
millions they own. That is my condition--I haven't the slightest idea
how much I am worth. God has no poor children. If we overcome we shall
inherit all things.
Oh, my dear friends, what an inheritance! Let us then get the victory,
through Jesus Christ our Lord and Master.
RESULTS OF TRUE REPENTANCE.
I want to call your attention to what true repentance leads to. I am
not addressing the unconverted only, because I am one of those who
believe that there is a good deal of repentance to be done by the
Church before much good will be accomplished in the world. I firmly
believe that the low standard of Christian living is keeping a good
many in the world and in their sins. When the ungodly see that
Christian people do not repent, you cannot expect them to repent and
turn away from their sins. I have repented ten thousand times more
since I knew Christ than ever before; and I think most Christians have
some things to repent of.
So now I want to preach to Christians as well as to the unconverted;
to myself as well as to one who has never accepted Christ as his
Savior.
There are five things that flow out of true repentance:
1. Conviction.
2. Contrition.
3. Confession of sin.
4. Conversion.
5. Confession of Jesus Christ before the world.
1. Conviction.
When a man is not deeply convicted of sin, it is a pretty sure sign
that he has not truly repented. Experience has taught me that men who
have very slight conviction of sin, sooner or later lapse back into
their old life. For the last few years I have been a good deal more
anxious for a deep and true work in professing converts than I have
for great numbers. If a man professes to be converted without
realizing the heinousness of his sins, he is likely to be one of those
stony ground hearers who don't amount to anything. The first breath of
opposition, the first wave of persecution or ridicule, will suck them
back into the world again.
I believe we are making a woeful mistake in taking so many people into
the Church who have never been truly convicted of sin. Sin is just as
black in a man's heart to-day as it ever was. I sometimes think it is
blacker. For the more light a man has, the greater his responsibility,
and therefore the greater need of deep conviction.
William Dawson once told this story to illustrate how humble the soul
must be before it can find peace.
He said that at a revival meeting, a little lad who was used to
Methodist ways, went home to his mother and said,
"Mother, John So-and-so is under conviction and seeking for peace, but
he will not find it to-night, mother."
"Why, William?" said she.
"Because he is only down on one knee, mother, and he will never get
peace until he is down on both knees."
Until conviction of sin brings us down on both knees, until we are
completely humbled, until we have no hope in ourselves left, we cannot
find the Savior.
There are three things that lead to conviction: (1) Conscience; (2)
the Word of God; (3) the Holy Spirit. All three are used by God.
Long before we had any Word, God dealt with men through the
conscience. That is what made Adam and Eve hide themselves from the
presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the Garden of Eden. That
is what convicted Joseph's brethren when they said: "We are verily
guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul
when he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore," said they (and
remember, over twenty years had passed away since they had sold him
into captivity), "therefore is this distress come upon us." That is
what we must use with our children before they are old enough to
understand about the Word and the Spirit of God. This is what accuses
or excuses the heathen.
Conscience is "a divinely implanted faculty in man, telling him that
he ought to do right." Someone has said that it was born when Adam and
Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, when their eyes were opened and they
"knew good and evil." It passes judgment, without being invited, upon
our thoughts, words, and actions, approving or condemning according as
it judges them to be right or wrong. A man cannot violate his
conscience without being self-condemned.
But conscience is not a safe guide, because very often it will not
tell you a thing is wrong until you have done it. It needs
illuminating by God because it partakes of our fallen nature. Many a
person does things that are wrong without being condemned by
conscience. Paul said: "I verily thought with myself that I ought to
do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." Conscience
itself needs to be educated.
Again, conscience is too often like an alarm clock, which awakens and
arouses at first, but after a time the man becomes used to it, and it
loses its effect. Conscience can be smothered. I think we make a
mistake in not preaching more to the conscience.
Hence, in due time, conscience was superseded by the law of God, which
in time was fulfilled in Christ.
In this Christian land, where men have Bibles, these are the agency by
which God produces conviction. The old Book tells you what is right
and wrong before you commit sin, and what you need is to learn and
appropriate its teachings, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Conscience compared with the Bible is as a rushlight compared with the
sun in the heavens.
See how the truth convicted those Jews on the day of Pentecost. Peter,
filled with the Holy Ghost, preached that "God hath made this same
Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." "Now when they
heard this, they were _pricked in their heart_, and said unto Peter
and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
Then, thirdly, the Holy Ghost convicts. I once heard the late Dr. A.
J. Gordon expound that passage--"And when He (the Comforter) is come,
He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment;
of sin because they believe not on Me,"--as follows:--
"Some commentators say there was no real conviction of sin in the
world until the Holy Ghost came. I think that foreign missionaries
will say that that is not true, that a heathen who never heard of
Christ may have a tremendous conviction of sin. For notice that God
gave conscience first, and gave the Comforter afterward. Conscience
bears witness to the law, the Comforter bears witness to Christ.
Conscience brings legal conviction, the Comforter brings evangelical
conviction. Conscience brings conviction unto condemnation, and the
Comforter brings conviction unto justification. 'He shall convince the
world of sin, because they believe not on Me.' That is the sin about
which He convinces. It does not say that He convinces men of sin,
because they have stolen or lied or committed adultery; but the Holy
Ghost is to convince men of sin because they have not believed on
Jesus Christ. The coming of Jesus Christ into the world made a sin
possible that was not possible before. Light reveals darkness; it
takes whiteness to bring conviction concerning blackness. There are
negroes in Central Africa who never dreamed that they were black until
they saw the face of a white man; and there are a great many people in
this world that never knew they were sinful until they saw the face of
Jesus Christ in all its purity.
Jesus Christ now stands between us and the law. He has fulfilled the
law for us. He has settled all claims of the law, and now whatever
claim it had upon us has been transferred to Him, so that it is no
longer the _sin_ question, but the _Son_ question, that confronts us.
And, therefore, you notice that the first thing Peter does when he
begins to preach after the Holy Ghost has been sent down is about
Christ: 'Him being delivered by the determinate counsel of God, ye
have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.' It doesn't
say a word about any other kind of sin. That is the sin that runs all
through Peter's teaching, and as he preached, the Holy Ghost came down
and convicted them, and they cried out, 'What shall we do to be
saved?'
Well, but we had no part in crucifying Christ; therefore, what is our
sin? It is the same sin in another form. They were convicted of
crucifying Christ; we are convicted because we have not believed on
Christ crucified. They were convicted because they had despised and
rejected God's Son. The Holy Ghost convicts us because we have not
believed in the Despised and Rejected One. It is really the same sin
in both cases--the sin of unbelief in Christ."
Some of the most powerful meetings I have ever been in were those in
which there came a sort of hush over the people, and it seemed as if
an unseen power gripped their consciences. I remember a man coming to
one meeting, and the moment he entered, he felt that God was there.
There came an awe upon him, and that very hour he was convicted and
converted.
2. Contrition.
The next thing is contrition, deep Godly sorrow and humiliation of
heart because of sin. If there is not true contrition, a man will turn
right back into the old sin. That is the trouble with many Christians.
A man may get angry, and if there is not much contrition, the next day
he will get angry again. A daughter may say mean, cutting things to
her mother, and then her conscience troubles her, and she says:
"Mother, I am sorry: forgive me."
But soon there is another outburst of temper, because the contrition
is not deep and real. A husband speaks sharp words to his wife, and
then to ease his conscience, he goes and buys her a bouquet of
flowers. He will not go like a man and say he has done wrong.
What God wants is contrition, and if there is not contrition, there is
not full repentance. "The Lord is nigh to the broken of heart, and
saveth such as be contrite of spirit." "A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, Thou wilt not despise." Many sinners are sorry for their sins,
sorry that they cannot continue in sin; but they repent only with
hearts that are not broken. I don't think we know how to repent
now-a-days. We need some John the Baptist, wandering through the land,
crying: "Repent! repent!"
3. Confession of Sin.
If we have true contrition, that will lead us to confess our sins. I
believe that nine-tenths of the trouble in our Christian life comes
from failing to do this. We try to hide and cover up our sins; there
is very little confession of them. Someone has said: "Unconfessed sin
in the soul is like a bullet in the body."
If you have no power, it may be there is some sin that needs to be
confessed, something in your life that needs straightening out. There
is no amount of psalm-singing, no amount of attending religious
meetings, no amount of praying or reading your Bible that is going to
cover up anything of that kind. It must be confessed, and if I am too
proud to confess, I need expect no mercy from God and no answers to my
prayers. The Bible says: "He that covereth his sins shall not
prosper." He may be a man in the pulpit, a priest behind the altar, a
king on the throne; I don't care who he is. Man has been trying it for
six thousand years. Adam tried it, and failed. Moses tried it when he
buried the Egyptian whom he killed, but he failed. "Be sure your sin
will find you out." You cannot bury your sin so deep but it will have
a resurrection by and by, if it has not been blotted out by the Son of
God. What man has failed to do for six thousand years, you and I had
better give up trying to do.
There are three ways of confessing sin. All sin is against God, and
must be confessed to Him. There are some sins I need never confess to
anyone on earth. If the sin has been between myself and God, I may
confess it alone in my closet: I need not whisper it in the ear of any
mortal. "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee."
"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy
sight."
But if I have done some man a wrong, and he knows that I have wronged
him, I must confess that sin not only to God but also to that man. If
I have too much pride to confess it to him, I need not come to God. I
may pray, and I may weep, but it will do no good. First confess to
that man, and then go to God and see how quickly He will hear you, and
send peace. "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there
rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy
gift before the altar, and go thy ways. First be reconciled to thy
brother, and then come and offer thy gift." That is the Scripture way.
Then there is another class of sins that must be confessed publicly.
Suppose I have been known as a blasphemer, a drunkard, or a reprobate.
If I repent of my sins, I owe the public a confession. The confession
should be as public as the transgression. Many a person will say some
mean thing about another in the presence of others, and then try to
patch it up by going to that person alone. The confession should be
made so that all who heard the transgression can hear it.
We are good at confessing other people's sins, but if it is true
repentance, we shall have as much as we can do to look after our own.
When a man or woman gets a good look into God's looking glass, he is
not finding fault with other people: he has as much as he can do at
home.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Thank God for the
Gospel! Church member, if there is any sin in your life, make up your
mind that you will confess it, and be forgiven. Do not have any cloud
between you and God. Be able to read your title clear to the mansion
Christ has gone to prepare for you.
4. Conversion.
Confession leads to true conversion, and there is no conversion at all
until these three steps have been taken.
Now the word "conversion" means two things. We say a man is
"converted" when he is born again. But it also has a different meaning
in the Bible. Peter said: "Repent, and be converted." The Revised
Version reads: "Repent, and _turn_." Paul said that he was not
disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but began to preach to Jews and
Gentiles that they should repent and _turn_ to God. Some old divine
has said: "Every man is born with his back to God. Repentance is a
change of one's course. It is right about face."
Sin is a turning away from God. As someone has said, it is _aversion_
from God and _conversion_ to the world: and true repentance means
conversion to God and aversion from the world. When there is true
contrition, the heart is broken _for_ sin; when there is true
conversion, the heart is broken _from_ sin. We leave the old life, we
are translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
light. Wonderful, isn't it?
Unless our repentance includes this conversion, it is not worth much.
If a man continues in sin, it is proof of an idle profession. It is
like pumping away continually at the ship's pumps, without stopping
the leaks. Solomon said:--"If they pray, and confess thy name, and
turn from their sin . . ." Prayer and confession would be of no avail
while they continued in sin. Let us heed God's call; let us forsake
the old wicked way; let us return unto the Lord, and He will have
mercy upon us; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
If you have never turned to God, turn now. I have no sympathy with the
idea that it takes six months, or six weeks, or six hours to be
converted. It doesn't take you very long to turn around, does it? If
you know you are wrong, then turn right about.
5. Confession of Christ.
If you are converted, the next step is confess it openly. Listen: "If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Confession of Christ is the culmination of the work of true
repentance. We owe it to the world, to our fellow-Christians, to
ourselves. He died to redeem us, and shall we be ashamed or afraid to
confess Him? Religion as an abstraction, as a doctrine, has little
interest for the world, but what people can say from personal
experience always has weight.
I remember some meetings being held in a locality where the tide did
not rise very quickly, and bitter and reproachful things were being
said about the work. But one day, one of the most prominent men in the
place rose and said:
"I want it to be known that I am a disciple of Jesus Christ; and if
there is any odium to be cast on His cause, I am prepared to take my
share of it."
It went through the meeting like an electric current, and a blessing
came at once to his own soul and to the souls of others.
Men come to me and say: "Do you mean to affirm, Mr. Moody, that I've
got to make a public confession when I accept Christ; do you mean to
say I've got to confess Him in my place of business, and in my family?
Am I to let the whole world know that I am on His side?"
That is precisely what I mean. A great many are willing to accept
Christ, but they are not willing to publish it, to confess it. A great
many are looking at the lions and the bears in the way. Now, my
friends, the devil's mountains are only made of smoke. He can throw a
straw into your path and make a mountain of it. He says to you: "You
cannot confess and pray to your family; why, you'll break down! You
cannot tell it to your shopmate; he will laugh at you." But when you
accept Christ, you will have power to confess Him.
There was a young man in the West--it was the West in those days--who
had been more or less interested about his soul's salvation. One
afternoon, in his office, he said:
"I will accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior."
He went home and told his wife (who was a nominal professor of
religion) that he had made up his mind to serve Christ; and he added:
"After supper to-night I am going to take the company into the
drawing-room, and erect the family altar."
"Well," said his wife, "you know some of the gentlemen who are coming
to tea are sceptics, and they are older than you are, and don't you
think you had better wait until after they have gone, or else go out
in the kitchen and have your first prayer with the servants?"
The young man thought for a few moments, and then he said:
"I have asked Jesus Christ into my house for the first time, and I
shall take Him into the best room, not into the kitchen."
So he called his friends into the drawing room. There was a little
sneering, but he read and prayed. That man afterwards became Chief
Justice of the United States Court. Never be ashamed of the Gospel of
Christ: it is the power of God unto salvation.
A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he
was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men who passed the
time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees
and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw
boots at him.
So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man
went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he
should do.
"Well," said the chaplain, "you are not at home now, and the other men
have just as much right in the barracks as you have. It makes them mad
to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say
your prayers in bed and don't provoke them."
For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one
day he met him, and asked--
"By the way, did you take my advice?"
"I did, for two or three nights."
"How did it work?"
"Well," said the young man, "I felt like a whipped hound, and the
third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed."
"Well," asked the chaplain, "how did that work?"
The young soldier answered: "We have a prayer-meeting there now every
night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the
rest."
Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity. Let us be out and out
for Christ; let us give no uncertain sound. If the world wants to call
us fools, let them do it. It is only a little while; the crowning day
is coming. Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing Christ.
TRUE WISDOM.
"They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and
they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."
Dan. 12:3.
That is the testimony of an old man, and one who had the richest and
deepest experience of any man living on the face of the earth at the
time. He was taken down to Babylon when a young man; some Bible
students think he was not more than twenty years of age. If anyone had
said, when this young Hebrew was carried away into captivity, that he
would outrank all the mighty men of that day--that all the generals
who had been victorious in almost every nation at that time were to be
eclipsed by this young slave--probably no one would have believed it.
Yet for five hundred years no man whose life is recorded in history
shone as did this man. He outshone Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus,
Darius, and all the princes and mighty monarchs of his day.
We are not told when he was converted to a knowledge of the true God,
but I think we have good reason to believe that he had been brought
under the influence of Jeremiah the prophet. Evidently some earnest,
godly man, and no worldly professor, had made a deep impression upon
him. Someone had at any rate taught him how he was to serve God.
We hear people nowadays talking about the hardness of the field where
they labor; they say their position is a very peculiar one. Think of
the field in which Daniel had to work. He was not only a slave, but he
was held captive by a nation that detested the Hebrews. The language
was unknown to him. There he was among idolaters; yet he commenced at
once to shine. He took his stand for God from the very first, and so
he went on through his whole life. He gave the dew of his youth to
God, and he continued faithful right on till his pilgrimage was ended.
Notice that all those who have made a deep impression on the world,
and have shone most brightly have been men who lived in a dark day.
Look at Joseph; he was sold as a slave into Egypt by the Ishmaelites;
yet he took his God with him into captivity, as Daniel afterwards did.
And he remained true to the last; he did not give up his faith because
he had been taken away from home and placed among idolaters. He stood
firm, and God stood by him.
Look at Moses who turned his back upon the gilded palaces of Egypt,
and identified himself with his despised and down-trodden nation. If a
man ever had a hard field it was Moses; yet he shone brightly, and
never proved unfaithful to his God.
Elijah lived in a far darker day than we do. The whole nation was
going over to idolatry. Ahab and his queen, and all the royal court
were throwing their influence against the worship of the true God. Yet
Elijah stood firm, and shone brightly in that dark and evil day. How
his name stands out on the page of history!
Look at John the Baptist. I used to think I would like to live in the
days of the prophets; but I have given up that idea. You may be sure
that when a prophet appears on the scene, everything is dark, and the
professing Church of God has gone over to the service of the god of
this world. So it was when John the Baptist made his appearance. See
how his name shines out to-day! Eighteen centuries have rolled away,
and yet the fame of that wilderness preacher shines brighter than
ever. He was looked down upon in his day and generation, but he has
outlived all his enemies; his name will be revered and his work
remembered as long as the Church is on the earth.
Talk about your field being a hard one! See how Paul shone for God as
he went out, the first missionary to the heathen, telling them of the
God whom he served, and who had sent His Son to die a cruel death in
order to save the world. Men reviled him and his teachings; they
laughed him to scorn when he spoke of the crucified One. But he went
on preaching the Gospel of the Son of God. He was regarded as a poor
tent-maker by the great and mighty ones of his day; but no one can now
tell the name of any of his persecutors, or of those who lived at that
time, unless their names happen to be associated with his, and they
were brought into contact with him.
Now the fact is, all men like to shine. We may as well acknowledge it
at once. Go into business circles, and see how men struggle to get
into the front rank. Everyone wants to outshine his neighbor and to
stand at the head of his profession. Go into the political world, and
see how there is a struggle going on as to who shall be the greatest.
If you go into a school, you find that there is a rivalry among the
boys and girls. They all want to stand at the top of the class. When a
boy does reach this position and outranks all the rest, the mother is
very proud of it. She will manage to tell all the neighbors how
Johnnie has got on, and what a number of prizes he has gained.
Go into the army and you find the same thing--one trying to outstrip
the other; everyone is very anxious to shine and rise above his
comrades. Go among the young men in their games, and see how anxious
the one is to outdo the other. So we have all that desire in us; we
like to shine above our fellows.
And yet there are very few who can really shine in the world. Once in
a while one man will outstrip all his competitors. Every four years
what a struggle goes on throughout our country as to who shall be the
President of the United States, the battle raging for six months or a
year. Yet only one man can get the prize. There are a good many
struggling to get the place, but many are disappointed, because only
one can attain the coveted prize. But in the kingdom of God the very
least and the very weakest may shine if they will. Not only can _one_
obtain the prize, but _all_ may have it if they will.
It does not say in this passage that the statesmen are going to shine
as the brightness of the firmament. The statesmen of Babylon are gone;
their very names are forgotten.
It does not say that the nobility are going to shine. Earth's nobility
are soon forgotten. John Bunyan, the Bedford tinker, has outlived the
whole crowd of those who were the nobility in his day. They lived for
self, and their memory is blotted out. He lived for God and for souls,
and his name is as fragrant as ever it was.
We are not told that the merchants are going to shine. Who can tell
the name of any of the millionaires of Daniel's day? They were all
buried in oblivion a few years after their death. Who were the mighty
conquerors of that day? But few can tell. It is true that we hear of
Nebuchadnezzar, but probably we should not have known very much about
him but of his relations to the prophet Daniel.
How different with this faithful prophet of the Lord! Twenty five
centuries have passed away, and his name shines on, and on, and on,
brighter and brighter. And it is going to shine while the Church of
God exists. "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the
firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars
forever and ever."
How quickly the glory of this world fades away! Eighty years ago the
great Napoleon almost made the earth to tremble. How he blazed and
shone as an earthly warrior for a little while! A few years passed and
a little island held that once proud and mighty conqueror; he died a
poor broken-hearted prisoner. Where is he to-day? Almost forgotten.
Who in all the world will say that Napoleon lives in their heart's
affections?
But look at this despised and hated Hebrew prophet. They wanted to put
him into the lions' den because he was too sanctimonious and too
religious Yet see how green his memory is to-day! How his name is
loved and honored for his faithfulness to his God.
Many years ago I was in Paris, at the time of the Great Exhibition.
Napoleon the Third was then in his glory. Cheer after cheer would rise
as he drove along the streets of the city. A few short years, and he
fell from his lofty estate. He died an exile from his country and his
throne, and where is his name today? Very few think about him at all,
and if his name is mentioned it is not with love and esteem. How empty
and short lived are the glory and the pride of this world! If we are
wise, we will live for God and eternity; we will get outside of
ourselves, and will care nothing for the honor and glory of this
world. In Proverbs we read: "He that winneth souls is wise." If any
man, woman, or child by a Godly life and example can win one soul to
God, their life will not have been a failure. They will have outshone
all the mighty men of their day, because they will have set a stream
in motion that will flow on and on forever and ever.
God has left us down here to shine. We are not here to buy and sell
and get gain, to accumulate wealth, to acquire worldly position. This
earth, if we are Christians, is not our home; it is up yonder. God has
sent us into the world to shine for Him--to light up this dark world.
Christ came to be the Light of the world, but men put out that light.
They took it to Calvary, and blew it out. Before Christ went up on
high, He said to His disciples: "Ye are the light of the world. Ye are
my witnesses. Go forth and carry the Gospel to the perishing nations
of the earth."
So God has called us to shine, just as much as Daniel was sent into
Babylon to shine. Let no man or woman say that they cannot shine
because they have not so much influence as some others may have. What
God wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably
did not have much influence down in Babylon at first, but God soon
gave him more, because he was faithful and used what he had.
Remember a small light will do a good deal when it is in a very dark
place. Put one little tallow candle in the middle of a large hall, and
it will give a good deal of light.
Away out in the prairie regions, when meetings are held at night in
the log schoolhouses, the announcement of the meeting is given out in
this way:
"A meeting will be held by early candlelight."
The first man who comes brings a tallowdip with him. It is perhaps all
he has; but he brings it, and sets it on the desk. It does not light
the building much; but it is better than nothing at all. The next man
brings his candle; and the next family bring theirs. By the time the
house is full, there is plenty of light. So if we all shine a little,
there will be a good deal of light. That is what God wants us to do.
If we cannot all be lighthouses, any one of us can at any rate be a
tallow candle.
A little light will sometimes do a great deal. The city of Chicago was
set on fire by a cow kicking over a lamp, and a hundred thousand
people were burnt out of house and home. Do not let Satan get the
advantage of you, and make you think that because you cannot do any
great thing you cannot do anything at all.
Then we must remember that we are to _let_ our light shine. It does
not say, "_Make_ your light shine." You do not have to _make_ light to
shine; all you have to do is to _let_ it shine.
I remember hearing of a man at sea who was very seasick. If there is a
time when a man feels that he cannot do any work for the Lord it is
then--in my opinion. While this man was sick, he heard that someone
had fallen overboard. He was wondering if he could do anything to help
to save the man. He laid hold of a light, and held it up to the
port-hole. The drowning man was saved. When this man got over his
attack of sickness, he went on deck one day and was talking with the
man who was rescued. The saved man gave this testimony. He said he had
gone down the second time, and was just going down again for the last
time, when he put out his hand. Just then, he said, someone held a
light at the port-hole, and the light fell on it. A sailor caught him
by the hand and pulled him into the lifeboat.
It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; yet it saved the
man's life. If you cannot do some great thing you can hold the light
for some poor, perishing drunkard, who may be won to Christ and
delivered from destruction. Let us take the torch of salvation and go
into the dark homes, and hold up Christ to the people as the Savior of
the world. If the perishing masses are to be reached, we must lay our
lives right alongside theirs, and pray with them and labor for them. I
would not give much for a man's Christianity if he is saved himself
and is not willing to try and save others. It seems to me the basest
ingratitude if we do not reach out the hand to others who are down in
the same pit from which we were delivered. Who is able to reach and
help drinking men like those who have themselves been slaves to the
intoxicating cup? Will you not go out this very day and seek to rescue
these men? If we were all to do what we can, we should soon empty the
drinking saloons.
I remember reading of a blind man who was found sitting at the corner
of a street in a great city with a lantern beside him. Someone went up
to him and asked what he had the lantern there for, seeing that he was
blind, and the light was the same to him as the darkness. The blind
man replied:
"I have it so that no one may stumble over me."
Dear friends, let us think of that. Where one man reads the Bible, a
hundred read you and me. That is what Paul meant when he said we were
to be living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men. I would
not give much for all that can be done by sermons, if we do not preach
Christ by our lives. If we do not commend the Gospel to people by our
holy walk and conversation, we shall not win them to Christ. Some
little act of kindness will perhaps do more to influence them than any
number of long sermons.
A vessel was caught in a storm on Lake Erie, and they were trying to
make for the harbor of Cleveland. At the entrance of that port they
had what are called the upper lights and the lower lights. Away back
on the bluffs were the upper lights burning brightly enough; but when
they came near the harbor they could not see the lights showing the
entrance to it. The pilot said he thought they had better get back on
the lake again. The Captain said he was sure they would go down if
they went back, and he urged the pilot to do what he could to gain the
harbor. The pilot said there was very little hope of making the
harbor, as he had nothing to guide him as to how he should steer the
ship. They tried all they could to get her in. She rode on the top of
the waves, and then into the trough of the sea, and at last they found
themselves stranded on the beach, where the vessel was dashed to
pieces. Someone had neglected the lower lights, and they had gone out.
Let us take warning. God keeps the upper lights burning as brightly as
ever, but He has left us down here to keep the lower lights burning.
We are to represent Him here, as Christ represents us up yonder. I
sometimes think if we had as poor a representative in the courts above
as God has down here on earth, we would have a pretty poor chance of
heaven. Let us have our loins girt and our lights brightly burning, so
that others may see the way and not walk in darkness.
Speaking of a lighthouse reminds me of what I heard about a man in the
State of Minnesota, who, some years ago, was caught in a fearful
storm. That State is cursed with storms which come sweeping down so
suddenly in the winter time that escape is difficult. The snow will
fall and the wind will beat it into the face of the traveler so that
he cannot see two feet ahead. Many a man has been lost on the prairies
when he has got caught in one of those storms.
This man was caught and was almost on the point of giving up, when he
saw a little light in a log house. He managed to get there, and found
a shelter from the fury of the tempest. He is now a wealthy man. As
soon as he was able, he bought the farm, and built a beautiful house
on the spot where the log building stood. On the top of a tower he put
a revolving light, and every night when there comes a storm he lights
it up in the hope that it may be the means of saving someone else.
That is true gratitude, and that is what God wants us to do. If He has
rescued us and brought us up out of the horrible pit, let us be always
looking to see if there is not someone else whom we can help to save.
I remember hearing of two men who had charge of a revolving light in a
lighthouse on a rock-bound and stormy coast. Somehow the machinery
went wrong, and the light did not revolve. They were so afraid that
those at sea should mistake it for some other light, that they worked
all the night through to keep the light moving round.
Let us keep our lights in the proper place, so that the world may see
that the religion of Christ is not a sham but a reality. It is said
that in the Grecian sports they had one game where the men ran with
lights. They lit a torch at the altar, and ran a certain distance;
sometimes they were on horseback. If a man came in with his light
still burning, he received a prize; if his light had gone out, he lost
the prize.
How many there are who, in their old age, have lost their light and
their joy! They were once burning and shining lights in the family, in
the Sunday-school, and in the Church. But something has come in
between them and God--the world or self--and their light has gone out.
Reader, if you are one who has had this experience, may God help you
to come back to the altar of the Savior's love and light up your torch
anew, so that you can go out into the lanes and alleys, and let the
light of the Gospel shine in these dark homes.
As I have already said, if we only lead one soul to Jesus Christ we
may set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and
gone. Away up the mountain side there is a little spring; it seems so
small that an ox might drink it up at a draught. By and by it becomes
a rivulet; other rivulets run into it. Before long it is a large
brook, and then it becomes a broad river sweeping onward to the sea.
On its banks are cities, towns and villages, where many thousands
live. Vegetation flourishes on every side, and commerce is carried
down its stately bosom to distant lands.
So if you turn one to Christ, that one may turn a hundred; they may
turn a thousand, and so the stream, small at first, goes on broadening
and deepening as it rolls toward eternity.
In the book of Revelation we read: "I heard a voice from heaven saying
unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labors; and their works do follow them."
There are many mentioned in the Scriptures of whom we read that they
lived so many years and then they died. The cradle and the grave are
brought close together; they lived and they died, and that is all we
know about them. So in these days you could write on the tombstone of
a great many professing Christians that they were born on such a day
and they died on such a day; there is nothing whatever between.
But there is one thing you cannot bury with a good man; his influence
still lives. They have not buried Daniel yet: his influence is as
great today as it ever was. Do you tell me that Joseph is dead? His
influence still lives and will continue to live on and on. You may
bury the frail tenement of clay that a good man lives in, but you
cannot get rid of his influence and example. Paul was never more
powerful than he is to-day.
Do you tell me that John Howard, who went into so many of the dark
prisons in Europe, is dead? Is Henry Martyn, or Wilberforce, or John
Bunyan dead? Go into the Southern States, and there you will find
millions of men and women who once were slaves. Mention to any of them
the name of Wilberforce, and see how quickly the eye will light up. He
lived for something else besides himself, and his memory will never
die out of the hearts of those for whom he lived and labored.
Is Wesley or Whitefield dead? The names of those great evangelists
were never more honored than they are now. Is John Knox dead? You can
go to any part of Scotland today, and feel the power of his influence.
I will tell you who are dead. The enemies of these servants of
God--those who persecuted them and told lies about them. But the men
themselves have outlived all the lies that were uttered concerning
them. Not only that; they will shine in another world. How true are
the words of the old Book: "They that be wise shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness
as the stars forever and ever."
Let us go on turning as many as we can to righteousness. Let us be
dead to the world, to its lies, its pleasures, and its ambitions. Let
us live for God, continually going forth to win souls for Him.
Let me quote a few words by Dr. Chalmers: "Thousands of men breathe,
move and live, pass off the stage of life, and are heard no more--Why?
They do not partake of good in the world, and none were blessed by
them; none could point to them as the means of their redemption; not a
line they wrote, not a word they spoke could be recalled; and so they
perished; their light went out in darkness, and they were not
remembered more than insects of yesterday. Will you thus live and die,
O man immortal? Live for something. Do good, and leave behind you a
monument of virtue that the storms of time can never destroy. Write
your name in kindness, love and mercy, on the hearts of the thousands
you come in contact with year by year; you will never be forgotten.
No, your name, your deeds will be as legible on the hearts you leave
behind as the stars on the brow of evening. Good deeds will shine as
the stars of heaven."
"COME THOU AND ALL THY HOUSE INTO THE ARK."
I want to call your attention to a text that you will find in the
seventh chapter of Genesis, first verse. When God speaks, you and I
can afford to listen. It is not man speaking now, but it is God. "The
Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark."
Perhaps some sceptic is reading this, and perhaps some church member
will join with him and say,
"I hope Mr. Moody is not going to preach about the ark. I thought that
was given up by all intelligent people."
But I want to say that I haven't given it up. When I do, I am going to
give up the whole Bible. There is hardly any portion of the Old
Testament Scripture but that the Son of God set His seal to it when He
was down here in the world.
Men say, "I don't believe in the story of the flood."
Christ connected His own return to this world with that flood: "And as
it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son
of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given
in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the
flood came, and destroyed them all."
I believe the story of the flood just as much as I do the third
chapter of John. I pity any man that is picking the old Book to
pieces. The moment that we give up any one of these things, we touch
the deity of the Son of God. I have noticed that when a man does begin
to pick the Bible to pieces, it doesn't take him long to tear it all
to pieces. What is the use of being five years about what you can do
in five minutes?
A Solemn Message.
One hundred and twenty years before God spake the words of my text,
Noah had received the most awful communication that ever came from
heaven to earth. No man up to that time, and I think no man since, has
ever received such a communication. God said that on account of the
wickedness of the world He was going to destroy the world by water. We
can have no idea of the extent and character of that antediluvian
wickedness. The Bible piles one expression on another, in its effort
to emphasize it. "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man
on the earth, and it grieved him at His heart. . . . The earth also
was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And
God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh
had corrupted his way upon the earth." Men lived five hundred years
and more then, and they had time to mature in their sins.
How the Message was Received.
For one hundred and twenty years God strove with those antediluvians.
He never smites without warning, and they had their warning. Every
time Noah drove a nail into the ark it was a warning to them. Every
sound of the hammer echoed, "I believe in God." If they had repented
and cried as they did at Nineveh, I believe God would have heard their
cry and spared them. But there was no cry for mercy. I have no doubt
but that they ridiculed the idea that God was going to destroy the
world. I have no doubt but that there were atheists who said there was
not any God anyhow. I got hold of one of them some time ago. I said,
"How do you account for the formation of the world?"
"Oh! force and matter work together, and by chance the world was
created."
I said, "It is a singular thing that your tongue isn't on the top of
your head if force and matter just threw it together in that manner."
If I should take out my watch and say that force and matter worked
together, and out came the watch, you would say I was a lunatic of the
first order. Wouldn't you? And yet they say that this old world was
made by chance! "It threw itself together!"
I met a man in Scotland, and he took the ground that there was no God.
I asked him,
"How do you account for creation, for all these rocks?" (They have a
great many rocks in Scotland.)
"Why!" he said, "any school boy could account for that."
"Well, how was the first rock made?"
"Out of sand."
"How was the first sand made?"
"Out of rock."
You see he had it all arranged so nicely. Sand and rock, rock and
sand. I have no doubt but that Noah had these men to contend with.
Then there was a class called agnostics, and there are a good many of
their grandchildren, alive to-day. Then there was another class who
said they believed there was a God; they couldn't make themselves
believe that the world happened by chance; but God was too merciful to
punish sin. He was so full of compassion and love that He couldn't
punish sin. The drunkard, the harlot, the gambler, the murderer, the
thief and the libertine would all share alike with the saints at the
end. Supposing the governor of your state was so tender-hearted that
he could not bear to have a man suffer, could not bear to see a man
put in jail, and he should go and set all the prisoners free. How long
would he be governor? You would have him out of office before the sun
set. These very men that talk about God's mercy, would be the first to
raise a cry against a governor who would not have a man put in prison
when he had done wrong.
Then another class took the ground that God could not destroy the
world anyway. They might have a great flood which would rise up to the
meadowlands and lowlands, but all it would be necessary to do would be
to go up on the hills and mountains. That would be a hundred times
better than Noah's ark. Or if it should come to that, they could build
rafts, which would be a good deal better than that ark. They had never
seen such an ugly looking thing. It was about five hundred feet long,
and about eighty feet wide, and fifty feet high. It had three stories,
and only one small window.
And then, I suppose there was a large class who took the ground that
Noah must be wrong because he was in such a minority. That is a great
argument now, you know. Noah was greatly in the minority. But he went
on working.
If they had saloons then, and I don't doubt but that they had, for we
read that there was "violence in the land," and wherever you have
alcohol you have violence. We read also that Noah planted a vineyard
and fell into the sin of intemperance. He was a righteous man, and if
he did that, what must the others have done? Well, if they had
saloons, no doubt they sang ribald songs about Noah and his ark, and
if they had theaters they likely acted it out, and mothers took their
children to see it.
And if they had the press in those days, every now and then there
would appear a skit about "Noah and his folly." Reporters would come
and interview him, and if they had an Associated Press, every few days
a dispatch would be sent out telling how the work on the ark was
progressing.
And perhaps they had excursions, and offered as an inducement that
people could go through the ark. And if Noah happened to be around
they would nudge each other and say:
"That's Noah. Don't you think there is a strange look in his eye?"
As a Scotchman would say, they thought him a little daft. Thank God a
man can afford to be mad. A mad man thinks everyone else mad but
himself A drunkard does not call himself mad when he is drinking up
all his means. Those men who stand and deal out death and damnation to
men are not called mad; but a man is called mad when he gets into the
ark, and is saved for time and eternity. And I expect if the word
crank was in use, they called Noah "an old crank."
And so all manner of sport was made of Noah and his ark. And the
business men went on buying and selling, while Noah went on preaching
and toiling. They perhaps had some astronomers, and they were gazing
up at the stars, and saying, "Don't you be concerned. There is no sign
of a coming storm in the heavens. We are very wise men, and if there
was a storm coming, we should read it in the heavens." And they had
geologists digging away, and they said, "There is no sign in the
earth." Even the carpenters who helped build the ark might have made
fun of him, but they were like lots of people at the present day, who
will help build a church, and perhaps give money for its support, but
will never enter it themselves.
Well, things went on as usual. Little lambs skipped on the hillsides
each spring. Men sought after wealth, and if they had leases, I expect
they ran for longer periods than ours do. We think ninety-nine years a
long time, but I don't doubt but that theirs ran for nine hundred and
ninety nine years. And when they came to sign a lease they would say
with a twinkle in their eyes:
"Why, this old Noah says the world is coming to an end in one hundred
and twenty years, and it's twenty years since he started the story.
But I guess I will sign the lease and risk it."
Someone has said that Noah must have been deaf, or he could not have
stood the jeers and sneers of his countrymen. But if he was deaf to
the voice of men, he heard the voice of God when He told him to build
the ark.
I can imagine one hundred years have rolled away, and the work on the
ark ceases. Men say, "What has he stopped work for?" He has gone on a
preaching tour, to tell the people of the coming storm--that God is
going to sweep every man from the face of the earth unless he is in
the ark. But he cannot get a man to believe him except his own family.
Some of the old men have passed away, and they died saying: "Noah is
wrong." Poor Noah! He must have had a hard time of it. I don't think I
should have had the grace to work for one hundred and twenty years
without a convert. But he just toiled on, believing the word of God.
And now the hundred and twenty years are up. In the spring of the year
Noah did not plant anything, for he knew the flood was coming, and the
people say: "Every year before he has planted, but this year he thinks
the world is going to be destroyed, and he hasn't planted anything."
Moving in.
But I can imagine one beautiful morning, not a cloud to be seen, Noah
has got his communication. He has heard the voice that he heard one
hundred and twenty years before--the same old voice. Perhaps there had
been silence for one hundred and twenty years. But the voice rang
through his soul once again, "Noah, come thou and all thy house into
the ark."
The word "come" occurs about nineteen hundred times in the Bible, it
is said, and this is the first time. It meant salvation. You can see
Noah and all his family moving into the ark. They are bringing the
household furniture.
Some of his neighbors say, "Noah, what is your hurry? you will have
plenty of time to get into that old ark. What is your hurry? There are
no windows and you cannot look out to see when the storm is coming."
But he heard the voice and obeyed.
Some of his relatives might have said, "What are you going to do with
the old homestead?"
Noah says, "I don't want it. The storm is coming." He tells them the
day of grace is closing, that worldly wealth is of no value, and that
the ark is the only place of safety. We must bear in mind that these
railroads that we think so much of, will soon go down; they only run
for time, not for eternity. The heavens will be on fire, and then what
will property, honor, and position in society be worth?
The first thing that alarms them is, they rise one morning, and lo!
the heavens are filled with the fowls of the air. They are flying into
the ark, two by two. They come from the desert; they come from the
mountain; they come from all parts of the world. They are going into
the ark. It must have been a strange sight. I can hear the people cry,
"Great God! what is the meaning of this?" And they look down on the
earth; and, with great alarm and surprise, they see little insects
creeping up two by two, coming from all parts of the world. Then
behold! there come cattle and beasts, two by two. The neighbors cry
out, "What does this mean?" They run to their statesmen and wise men,
who have told them there was no sign of a coming storm, and ask them
why it is that those birds, animals, and creeping things go toward the
ark, as if guided by some unseen hand.
"Well," the statesmen and wise men say, "We cannot explain it; but
give yourselves no trouble; God is not going to destroy the world.
Business was never better than it is now. Do you think if God was
going to destroy the world, He would let us go on so prosperously as
He has? There is no sign of a coming storm. What has made these
creeping insects and these wild beasts of the forest go into the ark,
we do not know. We cannot understand it; it is very strange. But there
is no sign of anything going to happen. The stars are bright, and the
sun shines as bright as ever it did. Everything moves on as it has
been moving for all time past. You can hear the children playing in
the street. You can hear the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the
land, and all is merry as ever."
I imagine the alarm passed away, and they fell into their regular
courses. Noah comes out and says: "The door is going to be shut. Come
in. God is going to destroy the world. See the animals, how they have
come up. The communication has come to them direct from heaven." But
the people only mocked on.
Do you know, when the hundred and twenty years were up, God gave the
world seven days' grace? Did you ever notice that? If there had been a
cry during those seven days, I believe it would have been heard. But
there was none.
At length the last day had come, the last hour, the last minute, ay!
the last second. God Almighty came down and shut the door of that ark.
No angel, no man, but God Himself shut that door, and when once the
master of the house has risen and shut to the door, the doom of the
world is sealed; and the doom of that old world was forever sealed.
The sun had gone down upon the glory of that old world for the last
time. You can hear away off in the distance the mutterings of the
storm. You can hear the thunder rolling. The lightning begins to
flash, and the old world reels. The storm bursts upon them, and that
old ark of Noah's would have been worth more than the whole world to
them.
I want to say to any scoffer who reads this, that you can laugh at the
Bible, you can scoff at your mother's God, you can laugh at ministers
and Christians, but the hour is coming when one promise in that old
Book will be worth more to you than ten thousand worlds like this.
The windows of heaven are opened and the fountains of the great deep
are broken up. The waters come bubbling up, and the sea bursts its
bounds and leaps over its walls. The rivers begin to swell. The people
living in the lowlands flee to the mountains and highlands. They flee
up the hillsides. And there is a wail going up:
"Noah! Noah! Noah! Let us in."
They leave their homes and come to the ark now. They pound on the ark.
Hear them cry:
"Noah! Let us in. Noah! Have mercy on us."
"I am your nephew."
"I am your niece."
"I am your uncle."
Ah, there is a voice inside, saying: "I would like to let you in; but
God has shut the door, and I cannot open it!"
God shut that door! When the door is shut, there is no hope. Their cry
for mercy was too late; their day of grace was closed. Their last hour
had come. God had plead with them; God had invited them to come in;
but they had mocked at the invitation. They scoffed and ridiculed the
idea of a deluge. Now it is too late.
God did not permit anyone to survive to tell us how they perished.
When Job lost his family, there came a messenger to him: but there
came no messenger from the antediluvians; not even Noah himself could
see the world perish. If he could, he would have seen men and women
and children dashing against that ark; the waves rising higher and
higher, while those outside were perishing, dying in unbelief. Some
think to escape by climbing the trees, and think the storm will soon
go down; but it rains on, day and night, for forty days and forty
nights, and they are swept away as the waves dash against them. The
statesmen and astronomers and great men call for mercy; but it is too
late. They had disobeyed the God of mercy. He had called, and they
refused. He had plead with them, but they had laughed and mocked. But
now the time is come for judgment instead of mercy.
Judgment.