The Future Life # 2
1. The educated, illiterate, the old, and the young all must die.
2. Death visits the king on the throne and the poor man in the slums.
3. Death comes down the road of the centuries.
4. The muffled tread of death is universal. Death looks in at every window and comes in at every door. It changes music into a funeral dirge. The funeral procession moves slowly through the streets. Listen to the sobs and sighs and see that vacant chair. You may escape contagious diseases, but you cannot escape death.
III. Death being certain, all should prepare. To neglect preparation, is the highest of folly. If you knew a cyclone were coming, you would prepare. You are out of the road of death nowhere. There are thousands of gates leading to death and generations are passing through.
IV. Death ends forever our opportunities to do here what we should have done. Sermons you have heard may be remorse of conscience. You have flirted with opportunity and trifled with your destiny. Once grace flowed like a river, now its channels are dried up forever.
V. Death has been conquered. Death of Christ struck death with a mighty sledgehammer blow. It lifted the gates of death off their hinges. It made the tunnel of death to bloom like the valley.
VI. Resurrection of Christ assures victory over death. Men conquered armies and nations but Christ conquered death.
VII. Testimonies of dying saints are good evidences. Paul was hounded from port to port, shore to shore, imprisoned, and five times beaten with thirty-nine stripes save one. Hear Paul's valedictory address, "I have fought the good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith." This testimony embraces:
1. A victorious past,
2. A peaceful present,
3. A blissful future. "We shall sleep, but not forever, There shall be a glorious dawn; We shall meet to part no, never, In the resurrection morning."
Timothy 4:7, Paul refers to his Christian life under three aspects.
1. It is a warfare.
2. It is a race.
3. It is a trust.
Paul lived such a devoted, consecrated and earnest life that in the end he had no regrets. He no doubt made mistakes but he had a heavenly pull and was constrained by holy motives and purposes. This life is a warfare and we must fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life. Also it is a race and to finish the course with success we must lay aside everything which would hinder or retard our progress and run with patience the race set before us. In this life, we are on trial and to be true to the trust we must keep the faith. We must not compromise for modern ideas and human philosophies. Paul was courageous and heroic in that he laid down his life for the faith. He looked forward to the time when he would receive a crown, crown of life,crown of righteousness, and at that time there would be no mistakes made and no favoritism shown; not for Paul alone but all that have the appearing of Jesus.
"O death, where is thy sting?" You are at the crossing of the river. The icy hand of death is upon the brow. You are now sailing between two great shores. Conscience tells you the end is reached. The Almighty has the balances in His hands. Riches take wings and fly away. Your notions, ideas, and opinions are things of the past. Those the world call great are now turning pale. The vain pomp and show of the world is now worthless. No one now has an argument against holiness. Holiness is popular here. Christian character tells its full value at the station of death. We all arrive at this station on schedule time according to God's time table. And on the highway of holiness, we see heroes, seers, and saints. The angels of God are our closest friends. The smoke of the battle and the shout of new born souls have encouraged us many times along the way. We have heard the mighty thunderings of Jehovah in the mountains and on the plains but He has led us through green pastures, and beside the still waters. But the end is reached; we are here; the last enemy is conquered. The sting is gone, and we enter the door of the morning that knows no night.
That the saints pass immediately at death into heaven is taught by the most pious and learned denominations of all ages. We grant that this does not prove it absolutely true; but it does give much weight to the argument. Therefore, this is no new idea and it is not the faith of the few, but it is the testimony of the Church. The influence of such teaching has been very extensively respected and felt throughout the Church world. No doubt, the doctrine has been responded to with a joyful Amen by millions since the organization of the Christian church. People everywhere believe that the saints immediately after death are admitted into heaven.
Again, some tell us that the full effect and consequences of a person's actions are not fully worked out when one dies. (For our actions follow us and will continue their influence until the end of time comes). For instance, infidels, who have been dead for years, yet their labors and writings are still working for evil; while on the other hand, the labors and writings of many good men are still working for good. There must be brought into consideration when it comes to rewards and punishments. Hence, some claim that destiny cannot be immediately decided. But God knows all things, and He knows how these things will work out and is able to give a justice at the day of death the same as He will at the end of the world. Besides, there is nothing unreasonable or unscriptural in the belief that the happiness of the righteous in heaven or the misery of the lost in hell will increase in exact proportion as the consequences of their actions on earth are developing until the Judgment Day. Our enjoyment in heaven will be in exact proportion to our capacity; and as fast as our spirits are unfolded will our joys increase.
In yonder quiet room shaded with the twilight of mourning and sorrow lies a dying saint. Weeping friends have gathered around waiting for the last breath; the last words have already been heard. Not a look of complain, of agony, or even a frown is seen upon his face. No doubt, he hears exquisite music and sees heavenly sights never yet made known to mortal beings. The pulse ceases to beat, the last breath has been drawn, and the spirit takes its flight to the God who gave it. Will this redeemed soul, set free from earthly captivity,stop on its way before it reaches our Father's throne? The last farewell is said, the body lies before us motionless, all is silent. Some may mourn his absence but I feel we will meet again. In the dreadful stillness of the twilight hour, we look heavenward and the honest heart inquires, "Where is the spirit now?" Who would forbid an answer? Who would refuse to give an answer if they could? What answer would Christianity allow you to give? If the Marys committed no sin in seeking the tomb of their Lord "very early when it was yet dark" that they might anoint His body with spices, they asked with tears where they had laid Him,surely it would not be wrong for us to ask with tearful anxiety, "Where are the spirits of our departed dead?" At once, we find ourselves facing the question of all ages. And the only answer the writer has to give is, "As to where they are, depends exclusively on how they lived while among us."
Many are asking the questions, "Will death shut from our view this present world? Do the saints of heaven know of our joys and sorrows? Do they know of our fortunes and misfortunes? Do they know of our triumphs and temptations? Are they as much interested in us now as when they were on earth?" How glad we would be to have these questions rightly answered. But to be sure, we had better wait until we get there and then we can be absolutely sure. The saints of heaven may know more of our actions and conduct than we think. When we read of the interest the rich man in hell had in his five brethren on earth, we would not want to think of Christians in heaven having less interest or less concern for us who are still entangled with the temptations and dangers of a probationary life. Surely, in heaven, we will remember the world and the scenes of His sufferings and of His marvelous triumph and will remember this world as the battleground of the ages. We live in the past by recollections; in the present by consciousness, and in the future by hope. No doubt, memory in the future world will be keener, and more faithful than it was here. This life and the future life stand evidently in close relationship to each other. The future life is a continuation of this life. What we sew here we will reap yonder providing we do not reap it before we get there.
If this world is for probation and the future world for rewards, then we should know why we are rewarded; and we can only remember why we rewarded by the recollection of a probationary state. A crown would mean nothing unless we could remember some victory we had won. What would a recompense of a reward amount to unless we could remember some service rendered to God and to humanity?
We shall have to society of the pious of all ages. "They shall come from the east and the west and the north and the south and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven." We will have the privilege of conversing with prophets and righteous men of olden times. We will hear the orations of Enoch and Elijah, of Abraham and Job, of Moses and Samuel, of David and Isaiah, of Daniel, Peter, James, Paul and John. O what inspiration as we listen to the eloquent and immortal tongues as they discuss the wonders of redemption!
It is believed that we will recognize each other in heaven. "Then shall I know even as I am known." To think we will know less in heaven than on earth is contrary to the tenor of Scriptures. The inference from the Bible is that in the heavenly state by an intuitive perception of which we can here form no idea, we shall even recognize those whom we have never seen in this life. Then our knowledge will be wonderfully increased. How it rejoices our hearts now to think we shall be able to greet each other in that bright world of bliss and glory.
O what ineffable joy for a father or mother to meet those who were once prodigal sons and daughters. It would be hard for us to imagine here in this life the intensity of emotion of those who unite with friends and loved ones around the throne. There we shall see the King in all His beauty and He will be known to every saint.
Our employment with be pleasing and no doubt of many varieties. We shall all behold and admire the glories of heaven. He will lead the ransomed millions over all the celestial fields of immortality and unfold to us the riches and glory of His eternal Kingdom. The glory of the future life is as real as though we had been wandering over the golden hills of eternal bliss for ten thousand years.
The most exalted conception of the heavenly felicity which awaits the people of God beyond the boundaries of time must be faint and inadequate as Paul asserts, "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9). The most vivid description of revelation, and the most sublime metaphors of Holy Writ are feeble vehicles in describing the ecstatic glories of the heavenly world.
In heaven we will have been saved from all evil. We will not be conscious of any defect to interrupt our happiness. It has been said that the pursuit of knowledge there will constitute a part of our employment and will greatly contribute to our happiness. We shall not die and leave truth behind but it will accompany us to the future world; and where we leave off here, we will take up there with renewed and immortalized powers. There we will not get tired any more but there our faculties will flourish in the freshness of youth.
Evil and sin will not be allowed to enter that holy city. All trouble here has been caused by sin. But there "the wicked cease from troubling." The faithful saint of God has had a hard time here but he will get recognition by and by.
Jesus did not want His followers to have a vain hope concerning future blessedness. He said I am going to that state in glory where there is not only a place of supreme importance for myself but there I will have a prepared place for all my followers.
Every negative has its opposite in the material and scientific world; hence this rule obtains in the spiritual world. Hell is exactly opposite of heaven and what one is, the other is not.
In heaven there will be law. In hell there will be anarchy.
In heaven there will be love. In hell there will be hate.
In heaven there will be joy. In hell there will be sorrow.
In heaven there will be rest. In hell there will be no rest day or night forever.
In heaven there will be light. In hell there will be the blackness of darkness forever.
For the saint, home at last, the voyage is over; the tempest is hushed. No more heart-aches, no more tired and wearied bodies, no more disappointments, no more thorns to be extracted, but blessed rest from the toilsome journey of life.
At home with the Saviour at last. His arms enclose us, His grace comforts us; His light cheers us; and His presence satisfies us. We are now in the morning of the day that knows no night. He will lead us on, up, in and through and be our guide and light as eternal ages roll by.
The home of the soul will be the final abode of the saints. What permanence and satisfaction await us in that day and not us only but unto all them also that love His appearing. Families broken up for centuries will be reunited in that day never to part again. The martyrs and prophets will be there. The apostles and preachers who have been true to the blood and never betrayed their trust will be there.
Our weary bodies will not get tired any more; no more tears, for God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. We shall eat fruit of the tree of life and behold the sea of glass and drink from the river and fountain of life that flows by the throne of God. We will cast our crown at His feet and crown Him Lord of All and will still be loving Him because He first loved us. We shall see His face and His name shall be on our foreheads. "And there shall be no night there: and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign with Him forever."
~W. B. Dunkum~
(The End)
Monday, November 28, 2016
Thursday, November 24, 2016
The Future Life # 1
[W. B. Dunkum was a man of extraordinary abilities. He attended God's Bible School from 1903-06. He served as President of Kingswood Bible College, Kingswood, Kentucky. He also helped to found the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Kentucky and was Conference President in 1924-25 and 1931-32, as well as held many other offices in the Conference over the years. Dr. Dunkum was an evangelist of no small renown. We feel the contents of his books are for the church today, as they were in the yesteryears. Thus our desire for reprinting them. Dr. Dunkum lives on in the lives and minds of those who knew him. And, those who read after him will also remember him. He was a great and godly man and a prolific writer. ]
The Future Life # 1
Occupation of Heaven
Heaven was made for man and man for heaven. When man passes into that glorious home, he will be surrounded by holy and heavenly beings. Peace, joy, and satisfaction will abound with its immeasurable blessedness and an eternal weight of glory.
The prominent characteristic of heaven will be that of praise. They rest not day or night but say holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come. They worship Him who sitteth upon the throne and cast their crowns at His feet saying, "Thou art worthy, for thou wast lain, and hast redeemed us to God by His blood out of every kindred, tongue, and people and nation, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests." We shall be arrayed in white robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. We shall be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain for the former things are passed away. We shall cast ourselves at His feet and worship Him forever. Heaven is a place and a state or a Condition.
1. We speak of the clouds as being up in the heavens.
2. The sun, moon, and stars are beyond the clouds. we refer to them as being up in the heavens.
3. Heaven is the place where God is. For when God dwells in the heart manifesting His love, revealing His glory, there is heaven. In this sense, the way to heaven is heaven all the way. In heaven, we will not be conscious of one thing to interrupt our happiness. Nothing unholy will ever enter to disturb the happiness of the saints.
In heaven, the sun will never set; death shall be swallowed up in life. The saints shall possess all that is essential to their happiness. They shall dwell amidst pleasures forevermore, free from sorrow and death and shall mingle with the saints around the throne. "There the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest."
Our enjoyment there will depend largely upon the development of our capacities here.
I like to think of heaven as a place where God's will is perfectly done. Then, I like to think of heaven as a four-square planet made by God and swung out into space. A city free from sin so different from our cities. No sin, no death, funeral processions are never seen and graveyards are unknown in heaven.
In every serious thinking person, there is a longing for a better country. This world is not our home. We are seeking a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. We are pilgrims and strangers here, but we are looking up for our redemption draweth nigh. The heavenly city is a prepared place for a prepared people. They all shout there, and not one holiness fighter in all that city.
1. Heaven is a great city none other like it. It is the Metropolis of the Universe.
2. It is a well built city. Builder and maker is God; foundations eternal. Its walls are of jasper, gates of pearls, streets of gold; it have twelve gates.
3. It is a well guarded city. At the twelve gates are twelve angels.
4. It is a well governed city; no disturbances; no lawlessness.
5. It is a well peopled city. Saints of all generations have gathered within its walls, population is as the number of stars. No man can number them.
6. It is a glorious city. The glory that fills it is the glory of God.
7. It is a holy city. Nothing that defileth can enter there.
8. It is a well-lighted city. The Lamb is the light thereof.
9. It is a well watered city. A pure river flows through the streets and around the throne.
10. It is a well provisioned city. The tree of life with its twelve crops of fruit and leaves for the healing of the nations grows there. They will never be sick there or ever feel another pain.
2 Corinthians 5:1, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Heaven is a place we have thought about, read about, and talked about all of our lives. We may know but little about it, but what we do know makes us anxious to know what we don't know. How gladly and willingly children gather around their mother to hear her tell them about heaven. And brethren, if we ever get inside the gates of pearl, we must become as humble and as obedient as the little child.
Heaven should be preached on until people have a desire to get ready. In the early days of the country, it was said that the preacher preached on hell until you could smell the brimstone and then preached on heaven until you smell the fruit. The preaching of the doctrine will stimulate and encourage those who are in the way.
The "Narrow way" leads to the Christian's goal, that is the heavenly world. But to make it in, you may expect to wade through grief, slander, reproach, heartaches and misunderstanding. Some have been starved to death while others have gone to the chopping block, but they will be awaiting our arrival.
Heaven will be our eternal home where we'll not get any tax card, rent never comes due, never have to pay a grocery bill, gas bill, or water bill. What a privilege it will be to meet those you have promised to meet "over in the glory land." You no doubt held their hand as they crossed Jordan's chilly stream. You promised to meet them and they are still holding you to that promise. Whatever you do or may not do, do not disappoint them.
In this world, you may wear a badge of reproach and scorn and drink from the cup of bitter disappointment and misunderstanding, but there we will be understood and enjoy perfect health. We will not need physicians, hospitals,drug stores, but perfect health will bloom on every brow. But heaven: who can comprehend it? A place where no sickness, no pain, no sorrow, no cloud, no night, no bitterness, no weariness, no remorse, no anguish, no graves, no sighs, no tears, no sad laments, no dying, no broken hearts, no death-bed scenes, never a corpse, never a coffin, never a hearse, and never a grave in that beautiful land. There the sun will rise and go down no more. Heaven will be a gracious treasure, a profound joy, and an eternal influence which can never come to mortal man. Oh, the blessed hope of a glad reunion, with the departed saints in the glory land. How they do attract us as we journey thus by the way.
Heaven is a permanent place. Our surroundings here are temporary, transitory, passing, decaying, and changing. Earth is a place, where we are to camp for a while. We desire a better country, one that is heavenly. Heaven is free from sin, sorrow, pain, disappointment, and imperfection of every kind. We have troubles and trials here but none in heaven. The best people who ever lived will be there. John saw multitudes that no man could number. They will be there of all nations, peoples, and tongues. Many shall come from the East and the West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Heaven will be a place of happiness because Jesus will be there. He is the motive of our actions, and the inspiration of our hearts. We shall see Him, know Him, and serve Him. A place of happiness because of the absence of all sorrow, disappointments, and heartaches, no deaths, no suffering, no misunderstandings, in heaven, no night, no pain, no cemeteries, no funeral processions, no hunger, no thirst, no unemployment. All will be employed doing the will of God. Nothing there to mar the happiness of the redeemed. Every earthly pain will cease, every trial will be over and all tears dried up.
A city without pain and sorrow. A city without death and burials. A city without marriage and mourning. A city in which Jesus will be King. Angels will be guards. The saints will be citizens. The walls are salvation. The gates are pearls and the streets are paved with gold.
No tongue can tell,
No voice can sing,
No pen can write,
No brush can paint,
The joy and glory of being with Jesus, angels, and the blood-washed of all ages.
O my friends, if you did but know what awaits the Christian, you would not refrain from rejoicing and even leaping for joy. Labors, trials and troubles will be nothing. You will rejoice in affliction and glory in tribulation and like Paul and Silas sing God's praises in the darkest night and in the deepest dungeon. People live in this world until they are captured by wealth and position and forget they are but visitors here and must soon leave for eternity. Only a few short days, weeks, months, or years until we will all be leaving for the great beyond. You see others leave, but some day, much sooner than we expect, we will be leaving never to return.
When Vanderbilt was leaving, he requested some one to sing:
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore.
Death calls from a life of ease and disappointment to the great beyond. Sorrow and disappointment is a universal malady; it is found in every home from the log cabin to the mansion. Sorrow passes her bitter cup to every son and daughter of Adam's race.
Death alone can set the Christian free from this painful decaying house of clay.
Death calls us to our eternal home where there will be no tempter to annoy. Let us claim our starry crown, our harp of gold, and a house of many mansions. 1 Samuel 20:3, "There is but a step between me and death."
A warning to every soul on his way to an open grave and the Judgment.
I. Preparation needed. We're all creatures of two worlds. Live here and hereafter. God serves notice on us that a settling up time is coming.
II. Prepare because we're sinners. Heaven is a country where there is no sin.
III. Preparation includes conviction, forgiveness, confession, restitution, sanctification, and holy living.
IV.Preparation now. Tomorrow may be too late.
1. Death is certain by God's appointment. We do not know how, when, or where.
2. Death is separation - from friends and earthly store.
3. Death is a change - a doorway from time to eternity.
4. Death may be a very happy event - if preparation has all been looked after.
5. Death may be unwelcome and terrible.
a. If it finds one unprepared
b. If it finds one's work unfinished.
c. If it finds one without God. Job 14:10: "But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"
A Solemn Statement
1. Death is the end of our earthly career.
2. Death removes from society, business, and earthly pursuits.
3. Death is separation of spirit and body. Body returns to the ground and spirit returns to God.
II. The Origin of Death
1. Originated in the Garden of Eden as the result of sin.
III. The Nature of Death
1. An event absolutely certain.
2. We cannot escape it.
3. The decree from God.
4. The time fixed by God.
5. We do not know when.
6. Death will overtake you.
IV. The Claim of death
1. He visits battlefields and hospitals.
2. He goes into mansions and claims millionaires.
3. He goes into shanties and claims the poor.
V. Death demands our consideration
1. Its certainty.
2. Its nearness.
3. Its warnings.
4. Its powers settle destinies.
5. Because of our nearness to the river's crossing.
6. Because of preparation we should make.
VI. The Important Question:
1. Infidels die - where are they?
2. Gambler die - where are they?
3. Hypocrites die - where are they?
4. Christians die - where are they?
VII. A sinner dying cried, "I am dying and going to I know not where!"
VIII. A Christian dying shouted, "I am dying and going to a place I have wanted to go all my life."
Alexander the Great, while dying, said, "I have given thought to everything but death and that is the most important subject I could have considered."
Spurgeon said, "Do not fail to warn men to prepare for death."
Death is a familiar subject, yet it is not a popular one. All know he is coming but so few are ready to welcome him.
I. Nothing is more certain than death.
1. It is the nature of the human body to die.
2. The body is mortal and constantly wearing out. As the automobile has limited life, so the human body soon renders its limit of endurance.
II. Bible proves certainty of death. "As in Adam, all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive."
~W. B. Dunkum~
(continued with # 2)
Friday, November 18, 2016
Difference Between Holy and Unholy
Difference Between Holy and Unholy
Scriptures: Leviticus 10:10; Isaiah 5:20; Romans 6:18-20; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; Matthew 12:24
The kingdom of satan and of God, of sin and of righteousness, are opposite and separate. People of those kingdoms are separate. We are to keep things of those kingdoms separate, not to attempt to mix them. Where is the line of separation from unbelievers to be? At what point does cooperation become agreeing? What is the standard? We are not to withdraw ourselves from all contacts with the unsaved, thus shutting them out completely. We are responsible to know the spiritual state of those with whom we are involved.
We find the Israelite nations had gotten so far from God, that they were calling evil good and good evil. It was the result of continual disobedience to God. They daily rejected His Prophets and His Word until they could no longer discern between good and evil.
Today we learn about God's attitude toward mixing holy and unholy under both the old Law and the new.
"But strong meat belongeth to them that are full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14).
For Our Examples
Leviticus 10:10. Here we find recorded the death of two men as punishment for sin. God had forbidden some things concerning the anointed priests. These restrictions were for the purpose of putting difference between holy and unholy. The deaths had come to them because they tried to mix unholy with holy. Holy things must not be handled like unholy ones. Holy and clean things must be kept separate from the unholy and unclean. Priests were to observe this and teach the people to do so. The whole program of God must be kept holy and unmixed. (Deuteronomy 22:5, 9). These Old Testament events and rules are types in the natural realm meant to show us what God wants now in the spiritual realm (the New Dispensation). Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 10:11).
Must Not Call Evil Good
Isaiah 5:20: "Woe unto them that call evil good." This is an expression pointing forward to an unhappy result. What sadness is coming to those who twist the things of life around and replace them with the opposite! They make a lie truth and truth a lie. Their end will be the same as that of all liars. God's way is truth. Many lead the innocent, the ignorant, and the weak into the devil's servitude, still telling them this is the good way. We are seeing much of this falseness in our day and are reaping many sad results (Matthew 5:19).
One mark of the degeneracy of our times is distortion. Much entertainment has the weird, twisted, horrid, and unnatural. Many children are familiar with "monsters" or so-called good fiction characters, but they are seldom taught about Bible characters. What ideal does this place before them to strive toward? What level of culture does this promise for the future? When art is ridiculous, dress immodest, literature fantastic, TV horrible, movies obscene, ethics dishonest, religion sacrilegious, motherhood profaned and the family neglected, and all in the name of freedom and progress, what will be the outcome? This is that on which God pronounces woe.
Values are twisted. A teacher is hauled into court for teaching the Ten Commandments in school. At the same time, a movie is advertised as a "new low in obscenity" and praised as a breakthrough for realism. Communists are brought into the country to teach in our schools. The Council of Churches circulates literature advocating premarital sex relations. The same Council moves to federate all so-called Christian religious along with all heathen ones into a one world church. This is calling evil good and putting darkness for light. Evil always seems to have a louder voice than good. We must remain true to the Lord, spreading light, sweetness, and truth.
God's Children Are a Separated People
Romans 6:18-20 - Those in sin are all the way in, the servants of sin - under its power. It is impossible to serve God and sin at the same time. Everyone has a master, either God or satan. As one serves righteousness, the fruit is holiness. The change from sin to righteousness must be complete, for they are so widely separated, so opposite in nature, that there is no room for coexistence. What about positions in the church? Who should be used when the choice lies between ignorant believer and an educated unbeliever?
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 - As God told the priests of Israel to put difference between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean, so He tells His people now (who are spiritual priests) to keep free from yoking with unbelievers. Joining unequally with the unsaved is forbidden. This concerns: 1. Any relationship in which the Christian witness or work of the saint is hampered. 2. Any relationship in which the saint is committed to action or sanction to be by the non-Christian. We must respect the wall God placed between His kingdom and satan's. There is no fellowship or communion between the two. Any attempt to mix them is sin. "Be ye separate, saith the Lord." Read more about this separation in Matthew 3:12; Matthew 13:30; John 17:14-16; James 4:4; and 1 Corinthians 5:9-13).
By Spiritual Discernment
Matthew 12:24 - God sent Jesus to the Israelites; they rejected Him. We find that they had drifted so far from God, they were calling evil good and good evil. It was the result of continual disobedience to God. They built upon their own traditions until they could no longer discern between good and evil. Of all the good that Jesus did before them, many of the Jews said He cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. They lost all sense of judgment - all spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment becomes keen through daily prayer and Bible study and allowing one's mind to meditate on spiritual things. When spiritual discernment is lost, there is no indicator to judge holy from unholy.
Just A Thought
We must choose between being strangers to the world or strangers to Heaven.
~Adapted from a lesson by Mary Lehmann~
Scriptures: Leviticus 10:10; Isaiah 5:20; Romans 6:18-20; 2 Corinthians 6:14-17; Matthew 12:24
The kingdom of satan and of God, of sin and of righteousness, are opposite and separate. People of those kingdoms are separate. We are to keep things of those kingdoms separate, not to attempt to mix them. Where is the line of separation from unbelievers to be? At what point does cooperation become agreeing? What is the standard? We are not to withdraw ourselves from all contacts with the unsaved, thus shutting them out completely. We are responsible to know the spiritual state of those with whom we are involved.
We find the Israelite nations had gotten so far from God, that they were calling evil good and good evil. It was the result of continual disobedience to God. They daily rejected His Prophets and His Word until they could no longer discern between good and evil.
Today we learn about God's attitude toward mixing holy and unholy under both the old Law and the new.
"But strong meat belongeth to them that are full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14).
For Our Examples
Leviticus 10:10. Here we find recorded the death of two men as punishment for sin. God had forbidden some things concerning the anointed priests. These restrictions were for the purpose of putting difference between holy and unholy. The deaths had come to them because they tried to mix unholy with holy. Holy things must not be handled like unholy ones. Holy and clean things must be kept separate from the unholy and unclean. Priests were to observe this and teach the people to do so. The whole program of God must be kept holy and unmixed. (Deuteronomy 22:5, 9). These Old Testament events and rules are types in the natural realm meant to show us what God wants now in the spiritual realm (the New Dispensation). Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 10:11).
Must Not Call Evil Good
Isaiah 5:20: "Woe unto them that call evil good." This is an expression pointing forward to an unhappy result. What sadness is coming to those who twist the things of life around and replace them with the opposite! They make a lie truth and truth a lie. Their end will be the same as that of all liars. God's way is truth. Many lead the innocent, the ignorant, and the weak into the devil's servitude, still telling them this is the good way. We are seeing much of this falseness in our day and are reaping many sad results (Matthew 5:19).
One mark of the degeneracy of our times is distortion. Much entertainment has the weird, twisted, horrid, and unnatural. Many children are familiar with "monsters" or so-called good fiction characters, but they are seldom taught about Bible characters. What ideal does this place before them to strive toward? What level of culture does this promise for the future? When art is ridiculous, dress immodest, literature fantastic, TV horrible, movies obscene, ethics dishonest, religion sacrilegious, motherhood profaned and the family neglected, and all in the name of freedom and progress, what will be the outcome? This is that on which God pronounces woe.
Values are twisted. A teacher is hauled into court for teaching the Ten Commandments in school. At the same time, a movie is advertised as a "new low in obscenity" and praised as a breakthrough for realism. Communists are brought into the country to teach in our schools. The Council of Churches circulates literature advocating premarital sex relations. The same Council moves to federate all so-called Christian religious along with all heathen ones into a one world church. This is calling evil good and putting darkness for light. Evil always seems to have a louder voice than good. We must remain true to the Lord, spreading light, sweetness, and truth.
God's Children Are a Separated People
Romans 6:18-20 - Those in sin are all the way in, the servants of sin - under its power. It is impossible to serve God and sin at the same time. Everyone has a master, either God or satan. As one serves righteousness, the fruit is holiness. The change from sin to righteousness must be complete, for they are so widely separated, so opposite in nature, that there is no room for coexistence. What about positions in the church? Who should be used when the choice lies between ignorant believer and an educated unbeliever?
2 Corinthians 6:14-17 - As God told the priests of Israel to put difference between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean, so He tells His people now (who are spiritual priests) to keep free from yoking with unbelievers. Joining unequally with the unsaved is forbidden. This concerns: 1. Any relationship in which the Christian witness or work of the saint is hampered. 2. Any relationship in which the saint is committed to action or sanction to be by the non-Christian. We must respect the wall God placed between His kingdom and satan's. There is no fellowship or communion between the two. Any attempt to mix them is sin. "Be ye separate, saith the Lord." Read more about this separation in Matthew 3:12; Matthew 13:30; John 17:14-16; James 4:4; and 1 Corinthians 5:9-13).
By Spiritual Discernment
Matthew 12:24 - God sent Jesus to the Israelites; they rejected Him. We find that they had drifted so far from God, they were calling evil good and good evil. It was the result of continual disobedience to God. They built upon their own traditions until they could no longer discern between good and evil. Of all the good that Jesus did before them, many of the Jews said He cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. They lost all sense of judgment - all spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment becomes keen through daily prayer and Bible study and allowing one's mind to meditate on spiritual things. When spiritual discernment is lost, there is no indicator to judge holy from unholy.
Just A Thought
We must choose between being strangers to the world or strangers to Heaven.
~Adapted from a lesson by Mary Lehmann~
Monday, November 14, 2016
Where Art Thou? # 3
Where Art Thou? # 3
He was ashamed to go home to meet his father, and he fled. The father knew what it all meant. He knew the boy thought he would be very angry with him. He was grieved to think that his boy should have such feelings towards him. That is exactly like the sinner. He thinks because he has sinned, God will have nothing to do with him. But what did that father do? Did he say, "Let the boy go?" No, he went after him. He arranged his business and started after the boy. That man went from town to town, from city to city. He would get the ministers to let him preach, and at the close he would tell his story. "I have got a boy who is a wanderer on the face of the earth somewhere." He would describe his boy and say, "If you ever hear of him or see him, will you not write to me?" At last he found that he had gone to California, thousands of miles away. Did that father say "Let him go?" No; off he went to the Pacific coast, seeking the boy. He went to San Francisco, and advertised in the newspapers that he would preach at such a church on such a day. When he had preached he told his story, in hopes that the boy might have seen the advertisement and come to the church. When he had done, away under the gallery there was a young man who waited until the audience had gone out; then he came towards the pulpit. The father looked, and saw it was that boy, and he ran to him, and pressed him to his bosom. The boy wanted to confess what he had done, but not a word would the father hear. He forgave him freely, and took him to his home once more.
Oh, prodigal, you may be wandering on the dark mountains of sin,but God wants you to come home. The devil has been telling you lies about God; you think he will not receive you back. I tell you, He will welcome you this minute if you will come. Say, "I will arise and go to my Father." May God incline you to take this step. There is not one whom Jesus has not sought far longer than that father. There has not been a day since you left Him but He gas followed you. I do not care what the past has been, or how black your life, He will receive you back. Arise then, O backslider, and come home once more to your Father's house.
Not long ago, in Edinburgh, a lady who was an earnest Christian worker, found a young woman whose feet had taken hold of hell, and who was pressing onwards to a harlot's grave. The lady begged her to go back to her home, but she said no, her parents would never receive her. This Christian woman knew what a mother's heart was; so she sat down and wrote a letter to the mother, telling her how she had met her daughter, who was sorry, and wanted to return. The next post brought an answer back, and on the envelope was written, "Immediately - immediately!" That was a mother's heart. They opened the letter. Yes, she was forgiven. They wanted her back, and they sent money for her to come immediately. Sinner, that is the proclamation, "Come immediately". That is what the great and loving God is saying to every wandering sinner - "immediately". Yes, backslider, come home tonight. He will give you a warm welcome, and there will be joy in heaven over your return. Come now, for everything is ready.
A friend of mine said to me some time ago, "Did you ever notice what the prodigal lost by going into that country? He lost his food." That is what every poor backslider loses. They get no manna from heaven. The Bible is a closed book to them; they see no beauty in the Word of God.
Then the prodigal lost his work. He was a Jew, and they made him take care of swine; that was all loss for a Jew. So every backslider loses his work. He cannot do anything for God; he cannot work for eternity. He is a stumbling block to the world. My friend, do not let the world stumble over you into hell.
The prodigal also lost his testimony. Who believed him? I can imagine some of these men came along, natives of that country, and they saw this poor prodigal in his rags, barefooted and bareheaded. There he stands among the swine and someone says to another, "Look at that poor wretch." "What," he says, "do you call me a poor wretch? My father is a wealthy man; he has got more clothes in his wardrobe than you ever saw in your life. My father is a man of great wealth and position." Do you suppose these men would believe him? "That poor wretch the son of a wealthy man!" Not one of them would believe him. "If he had such a wealthy father he would go to him." So with the backsliders; the world does not believe that they are the sons of a King. They say, "Why don't they go to Him, if there is bread enough and to spare? Why don't they go home?"
Then, another thing the prodigal lost was his home. He had no home in that foreign country. As long as his money lasted, he was quite popular in the public house and among his acquaintances; he had professed friends, but as soon as his money was gone, where were his friends? That is the condition of every poor backslider in London.
But now I can imagine someone saying, "There would be little use of me attempting to come back. In a few days I should just be where I was again. I should like very much to go to my Father's home again, but I'm afraid I wouldn't stay there." Well, just picture this scene. The poor prodigal has got home, and the father has killed the fatted calf; and there they are, sitting at the table eating. I can imagine that was about the sweetest morsel he ever got - perhaps the nicest dinner he ever had in his life. His father sits opposite; he is full of joy, and his heart is leaping within him. All at once he sees his boy weeping. "My son, what are you weeping for? Are you not glad to have got home?" "Oh, yes, father; I never was so glad as I am today: but I am so afraid I will go back into that foreign country!" Why, you cannot imagine such a thing! When you have got one meal in your Father's house, you will never be inclined to wander away again.
Now let me speak to the Third class. "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Sinner, what is to become of you? How shall you escape? "Where art thou?" Is it true that you are living without God and without hope in the world? Did you ever stop to think what would become of your soul if you should be taken away by a sudden stoke of illness - where you would stand in eternity? I read that the sinner is without God, without hope, and without excuse. If you are not saved, what excuse will you have to give? You cannot say that it is God's fault. He is only too anxious to save you. He is only too anxious to save you. I want to tell you tonight that you can be saved if you will. If you really want to pass from death to life, if you want to become an heir of eternal life, if you want to become a child of God, make up your mind this night that you will seek the kingdom of God. I tell you, upon the authority of this Word, that if you seek the kingdom of God you will find it. No man ever sought Christ with a heart to find Him who did not find Him. I never knew a man make up his mind to have the question settled, but it was settled soon. This last year there has been a solemn feeling stealing over me. I am what they call in the middle of life, in the prime of life. I look upon life as a man who has reached the top of a hill, and just begins to go down the other side. I have got to the top of the hill, if I should live the full term of life - three score years and ten - and am just on the other side. I am speaking to many now who are are also on the top of the hill, and I ask you, if you are not Christians, just to pause a few minutes, and ask yourselves where you are. Let us look back on the hill that we have been climbing. What do you see? Yonder is the cradle. It is not far away. How short life is? It all seems but as yesterday. Look along up the hill, and yonder is a tombstone; it marks the resting place of a loved mother. When that mother died, did you not promise God that you would serve Him? Did you not say that your mother's God should become your God? And did you not take her hand in the stillness of the dying hour, and say, "Yes, mother, I will meet you in heaven!" And have you kept that promise? Are you trying to keep it? Ten years have rolled away: fifteen years - but are you any nearer God? Did the promise work any improvement in you? No, your heart is getting harder: the night is getting darker; by and by death will be throwing its shadows round you. My friend,Where art thou? Look again. A little further up the hill there is another tombstone. It marks the resting place of a little child. It may have been a lovely girl - perhaps her name was Mary; or it may have been a boy - Charley; and when that child was taken from you, did you not promise God, and did you not promise the child that you would meet it in heaven? Is the promise kept? Think! Are you still fighting against God? Are you still hardening your heart? Sermons that would have moved you five years ago - do they touch you now?
Once more look down the hill. Yonder there is a grave; you cannot tell how many days, or weeks, or years it is away, you are hastening towards that grave. Even should you live the life allotted to man, many of you are near the end, you are getting very feeble, and your locks are turning gray. It maybe the coffin is already made that this body shall be laid in; it may be that the shroud is already waiting. My friend, is it not the height of madness to put off salvation so long? Undoubtedly I am speaking to some who will be in eternity a week from now. In a large audience like this, during the next week death will surely come and snatch some away; it may be the speaker, or it may be someone who is listening. Why put off the question another day? Why say to the Lord Jesus again tonight, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for Thee?" Why not let Him come in tonight? Why not open your heart, and say, "King of Glory, come in?"
Will there ever be a better opportunity? Did not you promise ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years ago that you would serve God? Some of you said you would do it when you got married and settled down; some of you said you would serve Him when you were your own master. Have you attended to it?
You know there are three steps to the lost world; let me give you their names. The first is Neglect. All a man has to do is to neglect salvation, and that will take him to the lost world. Some people say, "What have I done!" Why, if you merely neglect salvation, you will be lost. I am on a swift river, and lying in the bottom of my little boat. Down yonder, ten miles below, is the great cataract. Everyone that goes over it perishes. I need not row the boat down; I have only to pull in the oars, and fold my arms and neglect. So all that a man has to do is to fold his arms in the current of life, and he drift onwards and be lost.
The second step is Refusal. If I met you at the door and pressed this question on you, you would say, "Not tonight, Mr. Moody, not tonight;" and if I repeated, "I want you to press into the kingdom of God," you would politely refuse: "I will not become a Christian tonight, thank you; I know I ought, but I won't tonight."
Then the last step is to Despise it. Some of you have already got on the lower round of the ladder. You despise Christ. You hate Christ, you hate Christianity; you hate the best people on earth and the best friends you have got; and if I were to offer you the Bible, you would tear it up and put your foot upon it. Oh, despisers! you will soon be in another world. Make haste and repent and turn to God. Now, on which step are you, my friend; neglecting, or refusing, or despising? Bear in mind that a great many are taken off from the first step; they die in neglect. And a great many are taken away refusing. And a great many are on the last step, despising salvation.
A few years ago they neglected, then they got to refuse; and now they despise Christianity and Christ. They hate the sound of the church bell; they hate the Bible and the Christian; they curse the very ground that we walk on. But one more step and they are gone. Oh ye despisers, I set before you life and death; which will you choose? When Pilate had Christ on his hands, he said, "What shall I do with Him?" and the multitude cried out, "Away with Him! crucify Him!" Young men, is that your language tonight? Do you say, "Away with this gospel! Away with Christianity! Away with your prayers, your sermons, your gospel sounds! I do not want Christ!" Or will you be wise and say, "Lord Jesus, I want Thee, I need Thee, I will have Thee?" Oh, my God bring you to that decision!
~D. L. Moody~
(The End)
He was ashamed to go home to meet his father, and he fled. The father knew what it all meant. He knew the boy thought he would be very angry with him. He was grieved to think that his boy should have such feelings towards him. That is exactly like the sinner. He thinks because he has sinned, God will have nothing to do with him. But what did that father do? Did he say, "Let the boy go?" No, he went after him. He arranged his business and started after the boy. That man went from town to town, from city to city. He would get the ministers to let him preach, and at the close he would tell his story. "I have got a boy who is a wanderer on the face of the earth somewhere." He would describe his boy and say, "If you ever hear of him or see him, will you not write to me?" At last he found that he had gone to California, thousands of miles away. Did that father say "Let him go?" No; off he went to the Pacific coast, seeking the boy. He went to San Francisco, and advertised in the newspapers that he would preach at such a church on such a day. When he had preached he told his story, in hopes that the boy might have seen the advertisement and come to the church. When he had done, away under the gallery there was a young man who waited until the audience had gone out; then he came towards the pulpit. The father looked, and saw it was that boy, and he ran to him, and pressed him to his bosom. The boy wanted to confess what he had done, but not a word would the father hear. He forgave him freely, and took him to his home once more.
Oh, prodigal, you may be wandering on the dark mountains of sin,but God wants you to come home. The devil has been telling you lies about God; you think he will not receive you back. I tell you, He will welcome you this minute if you will come. Say, "I will arise and go to my Father." May God incline you to take this step. There is not one whom Jesus has not sought far longer than that father. There has not been a day since you left Him but He gas followed you. I do not care what the past has been, or how black your life, He will receive you back. Arise then, O backslider, and come home once more to your Father's house.
Not long ago, in Edinburgh, a lady who was an earnest Christian worker, found a young woman whose feet had taken hold of hell, and who was pressing onwards to a harlot's grave. The lady begged her to go back to her home, but she said no, her parents would never receive her. This Christian woman knew what a mother's heart was; so she sat down and wrote a letter to the mother, telling her how she had met her daughter, who was sorry, and wanted to return. The next post brought an answer back, and on the envelope was written, "Immediately - immediately!" That was a mother's heart. They opened the letter. Yes, she was forgiven. They wanted her back, and they sent money for her to come immediately. Sinner, that is the proclamation, "Come immediately". That is what the great and loving God is saying to every wandering sinner - "immediately". Yes, backslider, come home tonight. He will give you a warm welcome, and there will be joy in heaven over your return. Come now, for everything is ready.
A friend of mine said to me some time ago, "Did you ever notice what the prodigal lost by going into that country? He lost his food." That is what every poor backslider loses. They get no manna from heaven. The Bible is a closed book to them; they see no beauty in the Word of God.
Then the prodigal lost his work. He was a Jew, and they made him take care of swine; that was all loss for a Jew. So every backslider loses his work. He cannot do anything for God; he cannot work for eternity. He is a stumbling block to the world. My friend, do not let the world stumble over you into hell.
The prodigal also lost his testimony. Who believed him? I can imagine some of these men came along, natives of that country, and they saw this poor prodigal in his rags, barefooted and bareheaded. There he stands among the swine and someone says to another, "Look at that poor wretch." "What," he says, "do you call me a poor wretch? My father is a wealthy man; he has got more clothes in his wardrobe than you ever saw in your life. My father is a man of great wealth and position." Do you suppose these men would believe him? "That poor wretch the son of a wealthy man!" Not one of them would believe him. "If he had such a wealthy father he would go to him." So with the backsliders; the world does not believe that they are the sons of a King. They say, "Why don't they go to Him, if there is bread enough and to spare? Why don't they go home?"
Then, another thing the prodigal lost was his home. He had no home in that foreign country. As long as his money lasted, he was quite popular in the public house and among his acquaintances; he had professed friends, but as soon as his money was gone, where were his friends? That is the condition of every poor backslider in London.
But now I can imagine someone saying, "There would be little use of me attempting to come back. In a few days I should just be where I was again. I should like very much to go to my Father's home again, but I'm afraid I wouldn't stay there." Well, just picture this scene. The poor prodigal has got home, and the father has killed the fatted calf; and there they are, sitting at the table eating. I can imagine that was about the sweetest morsel he ever got - perhaps the nicest dinner he ever had in his life. His father sits opposite; he is full of joy, and his heart is leaping within him. All at once he sees his boy weeping. "My son, what are you weeping for? Are you not glad to have got home?" "Oh, yes, father; I never was so glad as I am today: but I am so afraid I will go back into that foreign country!" Why, you cannot imagine such a thing! When you have got one meal in your Father's house, you will never be inclined to wander away again.
Now let me speak to the Third class. "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Sinner, what is to become of you? How shall you escape? "Where art thou?" Is it true that you are living without God and without hope in the world? Did you ever stop to think what would become of your soul if you should be taken away by a sudden stoke of illness - where you would stand in eternity? I read that the sinner is without God, without hope, and without excuse. If you are not saved, what excuse will you have to give? You cannot say that it is God's fault. He is only too anxious to save you. He is only too anxious to save you. I want to tell you tonight that you can be saved if you will. If you really want to pass from death to life, if you want to become an heir of eternal life, if you want to become a child of God, make up your mind this night that you will seek the kingdom of God. I tell you, upon the authority of this Word, that if you seek the kingdom of God you will find it. No man ever sought Christ with a heart to find Him who did not find Him. I never knew a man make up his mind to have the question settled, but it was settled soon. This last year there has been a solemn feeling stealing over me. I am what they call in the middle of life, in the prime of life. I look upon life as a man who has reached the top of a hill, and just begins to go down the other side. I have got to the top of the hill, if I should live the full term of life - three score years and ten - and am just on the other side. I am speaking to many now who are are also on the top of the hill, and I ask you, if you are not Christians, just to pause a few minutes, and ask yourselves where you are. Let us look back on the hill that we have been climbing. What do you see? Yonder is the cradle. It is not far away. How short life is? It all seems but as yesterday. Look along up the hill, and yonder is a tombstone; it marks the resting place of a loved mother. When that mother died, did you not promise God that you would serve Him? Did you not say that your mother's God should become your God? And did you not take her hand in the stillness of the dying hour, and say, "Yes, mother, I will meet you in heaven!" And have you kept that promise? Are you trying to keep it? Ten years have rolled away: fifteen years - but are you any nearer God? Did the promise work any improvement in you? No, your heart is getting harder: the night is getting darker; by and by death will be throwing its shadows round you. My friend,Where art thou? Look again. A little further up the hill there is another tombstone. It marks the resting place of a little child. It may have been a lovely girl - perhaps her name was Mary; or it may have been a boy - Charley; and when that child was taken from you, did you not promise God, and did you not promise the child that you would meet it in heaven? Is the promise kept? Think! Are you still fighting against God? Are you still hardening your heart? Sermons that would have moved you five years ago - do they touch you now?
Once more look down the hill. Yonder there is a grave; you cannot tell how many days, or weeks, or years it is away, you are hastening towards that grave. Even should you live the life allotted to man, many of you are near the end, you are getting very feeble, and your locks are turning gray. It maybe the coffin is already made that this body shall be laid in; it may be that the shroud is already waiting. My friend, is it not the height of madness to put off salvation so long? Undoubtedly I am speaking to some who will be in eternity a week from now. In a large audience like this, during the next week death will surely come and snatch some away; it may be the speaker, or it may be someone who is listening. Why put off the question another day? Why say to the Lord Jesus again tonight, "Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for Thee?" Why not let Him come in tonight? Why not open your heart, and say, "King of Glory, come in?"
Will there ever be a better opportunity? Did not you promise ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty years ago that you would serve God? Some of you said you would do it when you got married and settled down; some of you said you would serve Him when you were your own master. Have you attended to it?
You know there are three steps to the lost world; let me give you their names. The first is Neglect. All a man has to do is to neglect salvation, and that will take him to the lost world. Some people say, "What have I done!" Why, if you merely neglect salvation, you will be lost. I am on a swift river, and lying in the bottom of my little boat. Down yonder, ten miles below, is the great cataract. Everyone that goes over it perishes. I need not row the boat down; I have only to pull in the oars, and fold my arms and neglect. So all that a man has to do is to fold his arms in the current of life, and he drift onwards and be lost.
The second step is Refusal. If I met you at the door and pressed this question on you, you would say, "Not tonight, Mr. Moody, not tonight;" and if I repeated, "I want you to press into the kingdom of God," you would politely refuse: "I will not become a Christian tonight, thank you; I know I ought, but I won't tonight."
Then the last step is to Despise it. Some of you have already got on the lower round of the ladder. You despise Christ. You hate Christ, you hate Christianity; you hate the best people on earth and the best friends you have got; and if I were to offer you the Bible, you would tear it up and put your foot upon it. Oh, despisers! you will soon be in another world. Make haste and repent and turn to God. Now, on which step are you, my friend; neglecting, or refusing, or despising? Bear in mind that a great many are taken off from the first step; they die in neglect. And a great many are taken away refusing. And a great many are on the last step, despising salvation.
A few years ago they neglected, then they got to refuse; and now they despise Christianity and Christ. They hate the sound of the church bell; they hate the Bible and the Christian; they curse the very ground that we walk on. But one more step and they are gone. Oh ye despisers, I set before you life and death; which will you choose? When Pilate had Christ on his hands, he said, "What shall I do with Him?" and the multitude cried out, "Away with Him! crucify Him!" Young men, is that your language tonight? Do you say, "Away with this gospel! Away with Christianity! Away with your prayers, your sermons, your gospel sounds! I do not want Christ!" Or will you be wise and say, "Lord Jesus, I want Thee, I need Thee, I will have Thee?" Oh, my God bring you to that decision!
~D. L. Moody~
(The End)
Friday, November 11, 2016
Where Art Thou? # 2
Where Art Thou? # 2
There was a little story going the round of the American press that made a great impression upon me as a father. A father took his little child out into the field one Sabbath, and, it being a hot day, he lay down under a beautiful shady tree. The little child ran about gathering wild flowers and little blades of grass, and coming to its father and saying, "Pretty! pretty!" At last the father fell asleep, and while he was sleeping the little child wandered away. When he awoke, his first thought was, "Where is my child?" He looked all around, but he could not see him. He shouted at the top of his voice, but all he heard was the echo of his own voice. Running to a little hill, he looked around and shouted again. No response! Then going to a precipice at some distance, he looked down, and there upon the rocks and briars, he saw the mangled form of his loved child. He rushed to the spot, took up the lifeless corpse and hugged it to his bosom, and accused himself of being the murderer of his child. While he was sleeping his child had wandered over the precipice. I thought as I heard that, what a picture of the church of God!
How many fathers and mothers, how many Christian men, are sleeping now while their children wander over the terrible precipice right into the bottomless pit of hell. Father, where is your boy tonight? It may be just out there in some public house; it may be reeling through the streets; it may be pressing onwards to a drunkard's grave. Mother, where is your son? Is he in in the house of the publican drinking away his soul - everything that is dear and sacred to him? Do you know where your boy is? Father, you have been a professed Christian for forty years, where are your children tonight? Have you lived so godly, and so Christ-like, that you can say, Follow me as I followed Christ? Are those Children walking in wisdom; are they on their way to glory; have they been gathered into the fold of Christ; are their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life? How many fathers and mothers today would be able to answer? Did you ever stop to think that you were to blame; that you had not been faithful to your children? Depend upon it, as long as the church is living so much like the world, we cannot expect our children to be brought into the fold. Come, O Lord, and wake up every mother, and may everyone of us who are parents feel the worth of the souls of the children that God has given us. May they never bring our gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, but may they become a blessing to the church and to the world. Not long ago the only daughter of a wealthy friend of mine sickened and died. The father and mother stood by her dying bed. He had spent all his time in accumulating wealth for her; she had been introduced into gay and fashionable society; but she had been taught nothing of Christ. As she came to the brink of the river of death, she said, "Won't you help me; it is very dark, and the stream is bitter cold." They wrung their hands in grief, but could do nothing for her; and the poor girl died in darkness and despair. What was their wealth to them? And yet, you mothers and fathers are doing the same thing today, by ignoring the work God has given you to do. I beseech you, then, each one of you, begin to labor now for the souls of your children!
A young man, some time ago, lay dying, and his mother thought he was a Christian. One day, passing his room she heard him say, "Lost! lost! lost!" The mother ran into the room and cried, "My boy, is it possible you have lost your hope in Christ, now you are dying?" "No, mother, it is not that; I have a hope beyond the grave, but I have lost my life. I have lived twenty-four years, and done nothing for the Son of God, and now I am dying. My life has been spent for myself; I have lived for this world, and now, while I am dying, I have given myself to Christ, but my life is lost." Would it not be said of many of us, if we should be cut down, that our lives have been almost a failure - perhaps entirely a failure as far as leading anyone else to Christ is concerned? Young lady! are you working for the Son of God? Are you trying to win some soul to Christ? Have you tried to get some friend or companion to have her name written in the book of life? Or would you say, "Lost, lost! long years have rolled away since I became a child of God, and I have never had the privilege of leading one soul to Christ?" If there is one professed child of God who never had the joy of leading even one soul into the kingdom of God, oh! let him begin at once. There is no greater privilege on earth. And I believe, my friends, there has never been a time, in our day, at least, when work for Christ was more needed than at present. I do not believe there ever was in your day or mine a time when the Spirit of God was more poured out upon the world. There is not a part of Christendom where the work is not being carried on; and it looks very much as if the glad tidings were just going to take, as it were, a fresh start, and go round the globe. Is it not time that the Church of God should wake up and come to the help of the Lord as one man, and strive to beat back those dark waves of death that roll through our streets, bearing upon their bosom the noblest and the best we have? Oh, may God wake up the Church! And let us trim our lights, and go forth and work for the kingdom of His Son.
Now, secondly, let me talk a little while to those who have gone back into the world - to the Backslider. It may be you came to some great city a few years ago a professed Christian. You were a member of a church once, and a teacher in the Sabbath school, perhaps, but when you came among strangers you thought you would just wait a little - perhaps take a class by and by. So you gave up teaching in the Sunday school; you gave up all work for Christ. Then in your new church you did not receive the attention or the warm welcome that you expected, and you got into the habit of staying away. You have gone so far now, that you are found in the theater, perhaps, and the companion of blasphemers and drunkards. Perhaps I am speaking now to someone who has been away from his father's house for many years. Come, now, blackslider, tell me, are you happy? Have you had one happy hour since you left Christ? Does the world satisfy you, or those husks that you have got in the far country? I have traveled a good deal, but I never found a happy backslider in my life. I never knew a man who was really born of God that ever could find the world satisfy him afterwards. Do you think the Prodigal Son was satisfied in that foreign country? Ask the prodigals in this city if they are truly happy. You know they are not. "There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked." There is no joy for the man in rebellion against his Creator. Supposing he has tasted the heavenly gift, and been in communion with God, and had sweet fellowship with the King of Heaven, and had pleasant hours of service for the Master, but has backsliden, is it possible that he can be happy? If he is, it is good evidence he was never really converted. If a man has been born again, and has received the heavenly nature, this world can never satisfy the cravings of his nature. Oh, backslider, I pity you! But I want to tell you that the Lord Jesus pities you a good deal more than anyone else can. He knows how bitter your life is; He knows how dark your life is; He wants you to come home. Oh, backslider, come home tonight! I have a loving message from your Father. The Lord wants you, and calls you back tonight. Come home, oh wander, this night; return from the dark mountains of sin." Return, and your Father will give you a warm welcome. I know that the devil has told you that God won't have anything to do with you, because you have wandered away. If that is true, there would be very few men in heaven. David backslid; Abraham and Jacob turned away from God; I do not believe there is a saint in heaven but at some time of his life with his heart has backsliden from God. Perhaps not in his life, but in his heart. The prodigal's heart got into the far country before his body got there. Backslider! tonight come home. Your Father does not want you to stay away. Think you the prodigal's father was not anxious for him to come home all those long years he was there? Every year the father was looking and longing for him to return home. So God wants you to come home. I do not care how far you have wandered away; the great Shepherd will receive you back into the fold tonight. Did you ever hear of a backslider coming home, and God not willing to receive him? I have heard of earthly fathers and mothers not being willing to receive back their sons; but I defy any man to say he ever knew a really honest backslider want to get home, but God was willing to take him in.
A number of years ago, before any railway came into Chicago, they used to bring in the grain from the Western prairies in wagons for hundreds of miles, so as to have it shipped off by the Lakes. There was a father who had a large farm out there, and who used to preach the gospel as well as attend to his farm. One day, when church business engaged him, he sent his son to Chicago with grain. He waited and waited for his boy to return, but he did not come home. At last he could wait no longer, so he saddled his horse and rode to the place where his son had sold the grain. He found that he had been there and got the money from the grain; then he began to fear that his boy had been murdered and robbed. At last, with the aid of a detective, they tracked him to a gambling den, where they found that he had gambled away the whole of his money. In hopes of winning it back again, he then had sold the team, and lost that money too. He had fallen among thieves, and like the man who was going to Jericho, they stripped him, and then they cared no more about him. What could he do?
~D. L. Moody~
(continued with # 3)
There was a little story going the round of the American press that made a great impression upon me as a father. A father took his little child out into the field one Sabbath, and, it being a hot day, he lay down under a beautiful shady tree. The little child ran about gathering wild flowers and little blades of grass, and coming to its father and saying, "Pretty! pretty!" At last the father fell asleep, and while he was sleeping the little child wandered away. When he awoke, his first thought was, "Where is my child?" He looked all around, but he could not see him. He shouted at the top of his voice, but all he heard was the echo of his own voice. Running to a little hill, he looked around and shouted again. No response! Then going to a precipice at some distance, he looked down, and there upon the rocks and briars, he saw the mangled form of his loved child. He rushed to the spot, took up the lifeless corpse and hugged it to his bosom, and accused himself of being the murderer of his child. While he was sleeping his child had wandered over the precipice. I thought as I heard that, what a picture of the church of God!
How many fathers and mothers, how many Christian men, are sleeping now while their children wander over the terrible precipice right into the bottomless pit of hell. Father, where is your boy tonight? It may be just out there in some public house; it may be reeling through the streets; it may be pressing onwards to a drunkard's grave. Mother, where is your son? Is he in in the house of the publican drinking away his soul - everything that is dear and sacred to him? Do you know where your boy is? Father, you have been a professed Christian for forty years, where are your children tonight? Have you lived so godly, and so Christ-like, that you can say, Follow me as I followed Christ? Are those Children walking in wisdom; are they on their way to glory; have they been gathered into the fold of Christ; are their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life? How many fathers and mothers today would be able to answer? Did you ever stop to think that you were to blame; that you had not been faithful to your children? Depend upon it, as long as the church is living so much like the world, we cannot expect our children to be brought into the fold. Come, O Lord, and wake up every mother, and may everyone of us who are parents feel the worth of the souls of the children that God has given us. May they never bring our gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, but may they become a blessing to the church and to the world. Not long ago the only daughter of a wealthy friend of mine sickened and died. The father and mother stood by her dying bed. He had spent all his time in accumulating wealth for her; she had been introduced into gay and fashionable society; but she had been taught nothing of Christ. As she came to the brink of the river of death, she said, "Won't you help me; it is very dark, and the stream is bitter cold." They wrung their hands in grief, but could do nothing for her; and the poor girl died in darkness and despair. What was their wealth to them? And yet, you mothers and fathers are doing the same thing today, by ignoring the work God has given you to do. I beseech you, then, each one of you, begin to labor now for the souls of your children!
A young man, some time ago, lay dying, and his mother thought he was a Christian. One day, passing his room she heard him say, "Lost! lost! lost!" The mother ran into the room and cried, "My boy, is it possible you have lost your hope in Christ, now you are dying?" "No, mother, it is not that; I have a hope beyond the grave, but I have lost my life. I have lived twenty-four years, and done nothing for the Son of God, and now I am dying. My life has been spent for myself; I have lived for this world, and now, while I am dying, I have given myself to Christ, but my life is lost." Would it not be said of many of us, if we should be cut down, that our lives have been almost a failure - perhaps entirely a failure as far as leading anyone else to Christ is concerned? Young lady! are you working for the Son of God? Are you trying to win some soul to Christ? Have you tried to get some friend or companion to have her name written in the book of life? Or would you say, "Lost, lost! long years have rolled away since I became a child of God, and I have never had the privilege of leading one soul to Christ?" If there is one professed child of God who never had the joy of leading even one soul into the kingdom of God, oh! let him begin at once. There is no greater privilege on earth. And I believe, my friends, there has never been a time, in our day, at least, when work for Christ was more needed than at present. I do not believe there ever was in your day or mine a time when the Spirit of God was more poured out upon the world. There is not a part of Christendom where the work is not being carried on; and it looks very much as if the glad tidings were just going to take, as it were, a fresh start, and go round the globe. Is it not time that the Church of God should wake up and come to the help of the Lord as one man, and strive to beat back those dark waves of death that roll through our streets, bearing upon their bosom the noblest and the best we have? Oh, may God wake up the Church! And let us trim our lights, and go forth and work for the kingdom of His Son.
Now, secondly, let me talk a little while to those who have gone back into the world - to the Backslider. It may be you came to some great city a few years ago a professed Christian. You were a member of a church once, and a teacher in the Sabbath school, perhaps, but when you came among strangers you thought you would just wait a little - perhaps take a class by and by. So you gave up teaching in the Sunday school; you gave up all work for Christ. Then in your new church you did not receive the attention or the warm welcome that you expected, and you got into the habit of staying away. You have gone so far now, that you are found in the theater, perhaps, and the companion of blasphemers and drunkards. Perhaps I am speaking now to someone who has been away from his father's house for many years. Come, now, blackslider, tell me, are you happy? Have you had one happy hour since you left Christ? Does the world satisfy you, or those husks that you have got in the far country? I have traveled a good deal, but I never found a happy backslider in my life. I never knew a man who was really born of God that ever could find the world satisfy him afterwards. Do you think the Prodigal Son was satisfied in that foreign country? Ask the prodigals in this city if they are truly happy. You know they are not. "There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked." There is no joy for the man in rebellion against his Creator. Supposing he has tasted the heavenly gift, and been in communion with God, and had sweet fellowship with the King of Heaven, and had pleasant hours of service for the Master, but has backsliden, is it possible that he can be happy? If he is, it is good evidence he was never really converted. If a man has been born again, and has received the heavenly nature, this world can never satisfy the cravings of his nature. Oh, backslider, I pity you! But I want to tell you that the Lord Jesus pities you a good deal more than anyone else can. He knows how bitter your life is; He knows how dark your life is; He wants you to come home. Oh, backslider, come home tonight! I have a loving message from your Father. The Lord wants you, and calls you back tonight. Come home, oh wander, this night; return from the dark mountains of sin." Return, and your Father will give you a warm welcome. I know that the devil has told you that God won't have anything to do with you, because you have wandered away. If that is true, there would be very few men in heaven. David backslid; Abraham and Jacob turned away from God; I do not believe there is a saint in heaven but at some time of his life with his heart has backsliden from God. Perhaps not in his life, but in his heart. The prodigal's heart got into the far country before his body got there. Backslider! tonight come home. Your Father does not want you to stay away. Think you the prodigal's father was not anxious for him to come home all those long years he was there? Every year the father was looking and longing for him to return home. So God wants you to come home. I do not care how far you have wandered away; the great Shepherd will receive you back into the fold tonight. Did you ever hear of a backslider coming home, and God not willing to receive him? I have heard of earthly fathers and mothers not being willing to receive back their sons; but I defy any man to say he ever knew a really honest backslider want to get home, but God was willing to take him in.
A number of years ago, before any railway came into Chicago, they used to bring in the grain from the Western prairies in wagons for hundreds of miles, so as to have it shipped off by the Lakes. There was a father who had a large farm out there, and who used to preach the gospel as well as attend to his farm. One day, when church business engaged him, he sent his son to Chicago with grain. He waited and waited for his boy to return, but he did not come home. At last he could wait no longer, so he saddled his horse and rode to the place where his son had sold the grain. He found that he had been there and got the money from the grain; then he began to fear that his boy had been murdered and robbed. At last, with the aid of a detective, they tracked him to a gambling den, where they found that he had gambled away the whole of his money. In hopes of winning it back again, he then had sold the team, and lost that money too. He had fallen among thieves, and like the man who was going to Jericho, they stripped him, and then they cared no more about him. What could he do?
~D. L. Moody~
(continued with # 3)
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
"Where Art Thou?" # 1
"Where Art Thou?"
The very first thing that happened after the news reached heaven of the fall of man, was that God came straight down to seek out the lost one. As He walks through the garden in the cool of day, you can hear Him calling "Adam! Adam! Where art thou?" It was the voice of grace, of mercy, and of love. Adam ought to have taken the seeker's place, for he was the transgressor. He had fallen, and he ought to have gone up and down Eden crying, "My God! my God! where art Thou?" But God left heaven to seek through the dark world for the rebel who had fallen - not to hurl him from the face of the earth, but to plan him an escape from the misery of his sin. And he finds him - where? Hiding from his Creator among the bushes of the garden.
The moment a man is out of communion with God, even the professed child of God, he wants to hide away from Him. When God left Adam in the garden, he was in communion with his Creator, and God talked with him; but now that he has fallen, he has no desire to see his Creator, he has lost communion with his God. He cannot bear to see Him, even to think of Him, and he runs to hide from God. But to his hiding place his Maker follows him. "Where art thou, Adam? Where art thou?"
Six thousand years have passed away, and this text has come rolling down the ages. I doubt whether there has been anyone of Adam's sons who has not heard it at some period or other of his life - sometimes in the midnight hour stealing over him - "Where am I? Who am I? Where am I going? and what is going to be the end of this?" I think it is well for a man to pause and ask himself that question. I would have you ask it, little boy and little girl; and you, old man with locks turning gray, and eyes growing dim, and natural force abating, you who will soon be in another world. I do not ask you where you are in the sight of your neighbors; I do not ask you where you are in the sight of your friends; I do not ask you where you are in the sight of the community in which you live. It is of very little account where we are in the sight of one another, it is of very little account what men think of us; but it is of vast importance what God thinks of us - it is of vast importance to know where men are in the sight of God; and that is the question now. Am I in communion with my Creator, or out of communion? If I am out of communion, there is no peace, no joy, no happiness. No man on the face of the earth, who was out of communion with his Creator, ever knew what peace, and joy, and happiness, and true comfort are. He is a foreigner to it. But when we are in communion with God, there is light all around our path. So ask yourselves this question. Do not think I am preaching to your neighbors, but remember I am trying to speak to you, to everyone of you as if you were alone. It was the first question put to man after his fall, and it was a very small audience that God had - Adam and his wife. But God was the preacher; and although they tried to hide, the words came home to them. Let them come home to you now. You may think that your life is hid, that God does not know anything about you. But he knows our lives a great deal better than we do; and His eye has been bent upon us from our earliest childhood until now.
"Where art thou?" I should like to divide my audience into three classes - the professed Christians, the Backsliders, and the Ungodly.
First, I would like to ask the professors this question, or rather let God ask it - "Where art thou?"
What is my position in the church, and among my circle of acquaintances? Do my friends know me to be, out and out, on the Lord's side? You may have been a professing Christian for twenty years, perhaps thirty, perhaps forty years. Well, where are you tonight? Are you making progress towards heaven? And can you give a reason for the hope that is within you? Suppose I were to ask those who were really Christians here to rise, would you be ashamed to stand up? Supposed I should ask every professed child of God here, "If you should be cut down by the hand of death, have you good reason to believe you would be saved?" Would you be willing to stand up before God and man, and say that you have good reason to believe you are passed from death unto life? Or would you be ashamed? Run your mind back over the past years: would it be consistent for you to say, "I am a Christian;" and would your life correspond with your profession? It is not what we say so much as how we live. Actions speak louder than words. Do your shopmates know that you are a Christian? Do your family know? Do they know you to be out and out on the Lord's side? Let every professed Christian ask, Where am I in the sight of God? Is my heart loyal to the King of heaven? Is my life here as it should be in the community I live in? Am I a light in this dark world? Christ says, "Ye are My witnesses." Christ was the Light of the world, and the world would not have the true Light; the world rose up and put out the Light, and now Christ says, "I leave you down here as My witnesses." That is what the apostle meant when he said that Christians are to be living epistles, known and read of all men. Then, am I standing up for Jesus as I should in this dark world? If a man is for God, let him say so. If a man is for God, let his come out and be on God's side; and if he is for the world, let him be in the world. This serving God and the world at the same time - this being on both sides at the same time - is just the curse of Christianity at the present time. It retards the progress of Christianity more than any other thing. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."
I have heard of a great many people who think if they are united to the church, and have made one profession, that will do for all the rest of their days. But there is a cross for everyone of us daily. Oh, child of God, where are you? If God should appear to you tonight in your bedroom and put the question, what would be your answer? Could you say, "Lord, I am serving Thee with my whole heart and strength; I am improving my talents and preparing for the kingdom to come?" When I was in England in 1867, there was a merchant who came over from Dublin, and was talking with a business man in London; and as I happened to looking, he introduced me to the man from Dublin. Alluding to me, the latter said to the former, "Is this young man all O O?" Said the London man, "What do you mean by O O?" Replied the Dublin man, "Is he Out-and-Out for Christ?" I tell you it burned down into my soul. It means a good deal to be O O for Christ; but that is what all Christians ought to be, and their influence would be felt on the world very soon, if men who are on the Lord's side would come out and take their stand, and lift up their voices in season and out of season. As I have said, there are a great many in the church who make one profession, and that is about you hear of them; and when they come to die you have to go and hunt up some musty old church records to know whether they were Christians or not. God won't do that. I have an idea that when Daniel died, all the men in Babylon knew whom he served. There was no need for them to hunt up old books. His life told his story. What we want is men with a little courage to stand up for Christ. When Christianity wakes up, and every child that belongs to the Lord is willing to speak for Him, is willing to work for Him, and, if need be, willing to die for Him, then Christianity will advance, and we shall see the work of the Lord prosper. There is one thing which I fear more than anything else, and that is the dead cold formalism of the Church of God. Talk about the false isms! There is none so dangerous as this dead, cold formalism, which has come right into the heart of the Church. There are so many of us just sleeping and slumbering while souls all around are perishing. I believe honestly that we professed Christians are all half asleep. Some of us are beginning to rub our eyes and to get them half-opened, but as a whole we are asleep.
~D. L. Moody~
(continued with # 2)
The very first thing that happened after the news reached heaven of the fall of man, was that God came straight down to seek out the lost one. As He walks through the garden in the cool of day, you can hear Him calling "Adam! Adam! Where art thou?" It was the voice of grace, of mercy, and of love. Adam ought to have taken the seeker's place, for he was the transgressor. He had fallen, and he ought to have gone up and down Eden crying, "My God! my God! where art Thou?" But God left heaven to seek through the dark world for the rebel who had fallen - not to hurl him from the face of the earth, but to plan him an escape from the misery of his sin. And he finds him - where? Hiding from his Creator among the bushes of the garden.
The moment a man is out of communion with God, even the professed child of God, he wants to hide away from Him. When God left Adam in the garden, he was in communion with his Creator, and God talked with him; but now that he has fallen, he has no desire to see his Creator, he has lost communion with his God. He cannot bear to see Him, even to think of Him, and he runs to hide from God. But to his hiding place his Maker follows him. "Where art thou, Adam? Where art thou?"
Six thousand years have passed away, and this text has come rolling down the ages. I doubt whether there has been anyone of Adam's sons who has not heard it at some period or other of his life - sometimes in the midnight hour stealing over him - "Where am I? Who am I? Where am I going? and what is going to be the end of this?" I think it is well for a man to pause and ask himself that question. I would have you ask it, little boy and little girl; and you, old man with locks turning gray, and eyes growing dim, and natural force abating, you who will soon be in another world. I do not ask you where you are in the sight of your neighbors; I do not ask you where you are in the sight of your friends; I do not ask you where you are in the sight of the community in which you live. It is of very little account where we are in the sight of one another, it is of very little account what men think of us; but it is of vast importance what God thinks of us - it is of vast importance to know where men are in the sight of God; and that is the question now. Am I in communion with my Creator, or out of communion? If I am out of communion, there is no peace, no joy, no happiness. No man on the face of the earth, who was out of communion with his Creator, ever knew what peace, and joy, and happiness, and true comfort are. He is a foreigner to it. But when we are in communion with God, there is light all around our path. So ask yourselves this question. Do not think I am preaching to your neighbors, but remember I am trying to speak to you, to everyone of you as if you were alone. It was the first question put to man after his fall, and it was a very small audience that God had - Adam and his wife. But God was the preacher; and although they tried to hide, the words came home to them. Let them come home to you now. You may think that your life is hid, that God does not know anything about you. But he knows our lives a great deal better than we do; and His eye has been bent upon us from our earliest childhood until now.
"Where art thou?" I should like to divide my audience into three classes - the professed Christians, the Backsliders, and the Ungodly.
First, I would like to ask the professors this question, or rather let God ask it - "Where art thou?"
What is my position in the church, and among my circle of acquaintances? Do my friends know me to be, out and out, on the Lord's side? You may have been a professing Christian for twenty years, perhaps thirty, perhaps forty years. Well, where are you tonight? Are you making progress towards heaven? And can you give a reason for the hope that is within you? Suppose I were to ask those who were really Christians here to rise, would you be ashamed to stand up? Supposed I should ask every professed child of God here, "If you should be cut down by the hand of death, have you good reason to believe you would be saved?" Would you be willing to stand up before God and man, and say that you have good reason to believe you are passed from death unto life? Or would you be ashamed? Run your mind back over the past years: would it be consistent for you to say, "I am a Christian;" and would your life correspond with your profession? It is not what we say so much as how we live. Actions speak louder than words. Do your shopmates know that you are a Christian? Do your family know? Do they know you to be out and out on the Lord's side? Let every professed Christian ask, Where am I in the sight of God? Is my heart loyal to the King of heaven? Is my life here as it should be in the community I live in? Am I a light in this dark world? Christ says, "Ye are My witnesses." Christ was the Light of the world, and the world would not have the true Light; the world rose up and put out the Light, and now Christ says, "I leave you down here as My witnesses." That is what the apostle meant when he said that Christians are to be living epistles, known and read of all men. Then, am I standing up for Jesus as I should in this dark world? If a man is for God, let him say so. If a man is for God, let his come out and be on God's side; and if he is for the world, let him be in the world. This serving God and the world at the same time - this being on both sides at the same time - is just the curse of Christianity at the present time. It retards the progress of Christianity more than any other thing. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."
I have heard of a great many people who think if they are united to the church, and have made one profession, that will do for all the rest of their days. But there is a cross for everyone of us daily. Oh, child of God, where are you? If God should appear to you tonight in your bedroom and put the question, what would be your answer? Could you say, "Lord, I am serving Thee with my whole heart and strength; I am improving my talents and preparing for the kingdom to come?" When I was in England in 1867, there was a merchant who came over from Dublin, and was talking with a business man in London; and as I happened to looking, he introduced me to the man from Dublin. Alluding to me, the latter said to the former, "Is this young man all O O?" Said the London man, "What do you mean by O O?" Replied the Dublin man, "Is he Out-and-Out for Christ?" I tell you it burned down into my soul. It means a good deal to be O O for Christ; but that is what all Christians ought to be, and their influence would be felt on the world very soon, if men who are on the Lord's side would come out and take their stand, and lift up their voices in season and out of season. As I have said, there are a great many in the church who make one profession, and that is about you hear of them; and when they come to die you have to go and hunt up some musty old church records to know whether they were Christians or not. God won't do that. I have an idea that when Daniel died, all the men in Babylon knew whom he served. There was no need for them to hunt up old books. His life told his story. What we want is men with a little courage to stand up for Christ. When Christianity wakes up, and every child that belongs to the Lord is willing to speak for Him, is willing to work for Him, and, if need be, willing to die for Him, then Christianity will advance, and we shall see the work of the Lord prosper. There is one thing which I fear more than anything else, and that is the dead cold formalism of the Church of God. Talk about the false isms! There is none so dangerous as this dead, cold formalism, which has come right into the heart of the Church. There are so many of us just sleeping and slumbering while souls all around are perishing. I believe honestly that we professed Christians are all half asleep. Some of us are beginning to rub our eyes and to get them half-opened, but as a whole we are asleep.
~D. L. Moody~
(continued with # 2)
Friday, November 4, 2016
Quotes From Classic Christians
Quotes From Classic Christians
"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."
"Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness."
"Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language"
"I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God."
"Some people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this.
Others say they would be better off in church.
If you do well, you do well wherever you are. If you fail, you fail wherever you are.
Your surroundings don't matter. God is with you everywhere - in the market place as well as in seclusion or in the church.
If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you.
God is not distracted by a multitude of things.
Nor can we be."
Love is as strong as death, as hard as Hell. Death separates the soul from the body, but love separates all things from the soul."
~Meister Eckhart~
________________________
"The all-seeing eye of God beheld our deplorable state; infinite pity touched the heart of the Father of mercies; and infinite wisdom laid the plan of our recovery."
"If you hope for happiness in the world, hope for it from God, and not from the world."
"We should always look upon ourselves as God's servants, placed in God's world, to do his work; and accordingly labor faithfully for Him; not with a design to grow rich and great, but to glorify God, and do all the good we possibly can."
"Never think that you can live to God by your own power or strength; but always look to and rely on Him for assistance, yea, for all strength and grace."
"We are a long time learning that all our strength and salvation is in God."
"Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose."
~David Brainerd~
______________________
"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul."
"Patience is the companion of wisdom."
"O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling."
"Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible."
"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like."
"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."
"The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer."
~St. Augustine~
________________________
"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."
"I more fear what is within me than what comes from without."
"If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn't do anything to you, but since you aren't wise, you need us who are old."
"I have held may things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess."
"Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart."
"I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell,unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth."
"All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked for."
~Martin Luther~
"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."
"Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness."
"Theologians may quarrel, but the mystics of the world speak the same language"
"I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God."
"Some people prefer solitude. They say their peace of mind depends on this.
Others say they would be better off in church.
If you do well, you do well wherever you are. If you fail, you fail wherever you are.
Your surroundings don't matter. God is with you everywhere - in the market place as well as in seclusion or in the church.
If you look for nothing but God, nothing or no one can disturb you.
God is not distracted by a multitude of things.
Nor can we be."
Love is as strong as death, as hard as Hell. Death separates the soul from the body, but love separates all things from the soul."
~Meister Eckhart~
________________________
"The all-seeing eye of God beheld our deplorable state; infinite pity touched the heart of the Father of mercies; and infinite wisdom laid the plan of our recovery."
"If you hope for happiness in the world, hope for it from God, and not from the world."
"We should always look upon ourselves as God's servants, placed in God's world, to do his work; and accordingly labor faithfully for Him; not with a design to grow rich and great, but to glorify God, and do all the good we possibly can."
"Never think that you can live to God by your own power or strength; but always look to and rely on Him for assistance, yea, for all strength and grace."
"We are a long time learning that all our strength and salvation is in God."
"Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose."
~David Brainerd~
______________________
"Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul."
"Patience is the companion of wisdom."
"O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling."
"Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible."
"What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like."
"Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility."
"The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer."
~St. Augustine~
________________________
"To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing."
"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."
"I more fear what is within me than what comes from without."
"If you young fellows were wise, the devil couldn't do anything to you, but since you aren't wise, you need us who are old."
"I have held may things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess."
"Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart."
"I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell,unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth."
"All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked for."
~Martin Luther~
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