December
D.L. Moody
Monday, December 3, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
September 30
And the lord said unto the
servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that
my house may be filled. (Luke 14:23)
Is it not time for us to launch
out into the deep? I have never seen people go out into the lanes and alleys,
into the hedges and highways, and to bring the people in, but the Lord gave His
blessing.
If a man has the courage to go
right to his neighbor and speak to him about his soul, God is sure to smile
upon the effort. The person who is spoken to may wake up cross, but that is not
always a bad sign, he may write a letter next day and apologize.
At any rate it is better to wake
him up in this way than that he should continue to slumber on to death and
ruin.
September 29
And not many days after the
younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and
there wasted his substance with riotous living. (Luke 15:13)
He started off, holding his head
very high that morning. He was full of pride and conceit, and he had very lofty
ideas. If any one had told him what he was coming to, he would have laughed in
scorn. But mind you, once a man starts on the downward track, he will sink lower
and lower, unless by the grace of God he turns from sin to righteousness. The
first lie, the first drink, the first petty theft, is often a crisis in a man’s
life.
September 28
Then said they unto Him, Lord, evermore
give us this bread. (John 6:34)
I cannot but believe that the
reason for the standard of Christian life being so low, is that we are living
on stale manna. You know what I mean by that. So many people are living on their
past experience—thinking of the grand times they had twenty years ago, perhaps
when they were converted.
It is a sure sign that we are
out of communion with God if we are talking more of the joy and peace and power
we had in the past, than of what we have to-day. We are told to "grow in
grace"; but a great many are growing the wrong way. The Israelites used to
gather the manna fresh every day: they were not allowed to store it up.
There is a lesson here for us.
If we would be strong and vigorous, we must go to God daily. A man can no more
take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough to-day to last
him for the next six months, or take sufficient air into his lungs at once to
sustain life for a week to come. We must draw upon God's boundless stores of
grace from day to day, as we need it.
September 27
The way of transgressors is
hard. (Proverbs 13:15)
Do you mean to say that God is a
hard master? that it is a hard thing to serve God, that Satan is an easy
master, and that it is easier to serve him than God? God a hard master? ‘If I
read my Bible right, I read that the way of transgressors is hard. It is the devil
who is the hard master.
If you doubt it, young man, look
at the convict in the prison, right in the bloom of manhood, right in the prime
of life. He has been there for ten years, and must remain for ten years
more—twenty years taken out of his life; and when he comes out of that
miserable cell, he comes out a branded felon! Do you think that man will tell
you that the way of the transgressor has been easy ?
Go ask the poor drunkard, the
man who is bound hand and foot, the slave of the infernal cup, who is hastening
onward to a drunkard’s hell. Ask him if he has found the way of the
transgressor easy. "Easy?" he will cry; "easy? The way of the
transgressor is hard, and gets harder and harder every day!"
Go ask the libertine and the
worldling, go ask the gambler and the blasphemer, take the most faithful
follower of the devil and put the questions to him; with one voice they will all
tell you that the service has been hard.
September 26
Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
The devil thought he had done a
very wise thing when he got Paul into prison, but he was very much mistaken; he
overdid it for once. I have no doubt Paul has thanked God ever since for that
Philippian jail, and for his stripes and imprisonment there. The world has made
more by it than we shall ever know till we get to heaven.
September 25
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
(John 5:24)
Note that the difference between
a believer and unbeliever is right here. An unbeliever is living in his day,
and he has nothing but a long dark eternal night to look forward to; a
Christian is now living in his night, and he has a grand morning that he is
looking forward to.
The day is ahead, the glory is
ahead, the best of life is ahead; it is not behind. That is the teaching of
Scripture. For a man whose life is hid with Christ in God, judgment is already
passed; he will not come into judgment. Christ was judged for me, and judgment
is behind me, not before me.
September 24
Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a
tinkling cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1)
If we want to be wise in winning
souls and to be vessels meet for the Master’s use, we must get rid of the
accursed spirit of self-seeking. That is the meaning of this chapter in Paul’s
letter. He told the Corinthians that a man might be full of faith and zeal, he
might be very benevolent, but if he had not love he was like sounding brass and
a tinkling cymbal.
I believe many men might as well
go into the pulpit and blow a tin horn Sabbath after Sabbath as go on preaching
without love. A man may preach the truth; he may be perfectly sound in
doctrine; but if there is no love in his heart going out to those whom he
addresses, and if he is doing it professionally, the apostle says he is only a
sounding brass.
September 23
Moses My servant is dead; now therefore
arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do
give to them, even to the children of Israel
We need the courage that will compel
us to move forward. We may have to go against the advice of lukewarm
Christians; there are some who never seem to do anything but object, because
the work is not carried on exactly according to their ideas. They are very
fruitful in raising objections to any plans that can be suggested. If any
onward step is taken they are ready to throw cold water on it; and suggest all
kinds of difficulties. We want to have such faith and courage as shall enable
us to move forward without waiting for these timid unbelievers.
September 22
Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and
I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:17)
I believe that a Christian man
should lead a separated life. The line between the church and the world is
almost obliterated to-day. I have no sympathy with the idea that you must shunt
up an old musty church record in order to find out whether a man is a member of
the church or not.
A man ought to live so that
everybody will know he is a Christian. The Bible tells us to lead a separate
life. You may lose influence, but you will gain it at the same time. I suppose
Daniel was the most unpopular man in Babylon
September 21
As thy days, so shall thy strength
be. (Deuteronomy 33:25)
Many look forth at the Christian
life, and fear that they will not have sufficient strength to hold out to the
end. They forget the promise "As thy days, so shall thy strength" It
reminds me of the pendulum to the clock which grew disheartened at the thought
of having to travel so many thousands of miles; but when it reflected that the
distance was to be accomplished by "tick, tick, tick," it took fresh courage
to go its daily journey.
So it is the special privilege
of the Christian to commit himself to the keeping of his heavenly Father, and
to trust Him day by day. It is a comforting thing to know that the Lord will
not begin the good work without also finishing it.
September 20
And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
(Revelation 19:9)
I would rather die tonight and
be sure of sharing the bliss of the purified in yon world of light than live
for centuries with the wealth of this world at my feet, and miss the marriage
supper of the Lamb. I have missed many appointments in my life, but by the
grace of God I mean to make sure of that one. Why, the blessed privilege of
sitting down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, to see the King in His beauty,
to be forever with the Lord—who would miss it ?
September 19
But to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness. (Romans 4:5)
I freely admit salvation is
worth working for. It is worth a man’s going round the world on his hands and
knees, climbing its mountains, crossing its valleys, swimming its rivers, going
through all manner of hardship in order to attain it. But we do not get it in
that way. It is to him that believeth.
September 18
And Zacchaeus stood, and said
unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I
have taken anything from any man by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold.
(Luke 19:8)
A short speech; but how the
words have come ringing down through the ages!
By making that remark Zacchaeus
confessed his sin—that he had been dishonest. Besides that, he showed that he
knew the requirements of the law of Moses. If a man had taken what did not
belong to him, he was not only to return it, but to multiply it by four. I
think that men in this dispensation ought to be fully as honest as men under
the Law.
I am getting so tired and sick
of your mere sentimentalism, that does not straighten out a man’s life. We may sing
our hymns and psalms, and offer prayers, but they will be an abomination to
God, unless we are willing to be thoroughly straightforward in our daily life.
Nothing will give Christianity such a hold upon the world as to have God’s believing
people begin to act in this way. Zacchaeus had probably more influence in Jericho
September 17
And Simeon blessed them, and
said unto Mary His mother, Behold, this child it set for the fall and rising again
of many in Israel. (Luke 2:34)
Do you know that the gospel of Jesus
Christ proves either a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death? You
sometimes hear people say: "We will go and hear this man preach. If it
does us no good, it will do us no harm."
Don’t you believe it! Every time
one hears the gospel and rejects it, the hardening process goes on. The same
sun that melts the ice hardens the clay. The sermon that would have moved to
action a few years ago makes no impression now.
There is not a true minister of
the gospel who will not say that the hardest people to reach are those who have
been impressed, and whose impressions have worn away. It is a good deal easier
to commit a sin the second time than it was to commit it the first time, but it
is a good deal harder to repent the second time than the first.
September 16
From above the horse gate
repaired the priests, every one over against his house.
(Nehemiah 3:28)
If this world is going to be
reached, I am convinced it must be done by men and women of average talent.
After all, there are comparatively few people in the world who have great talents.
Here is a man with one talent; there is another with three; perhaps I may have
only half a talent.
But if we all go to work and trade
with the gifts we have, the Lord will prosper us, and we may double or triple
our talents. What we need is to be up and about our Master’s work, every man
building against his own house. The more we use the means and opportunities we
have, the more will our ability and our opportunities be increased.
September 15
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)
Take a little black flower seed
and sow it; after it has been planted some time, dig it up. If it is whole you
know that it has no life; but if it has begun to decay, you know that life and
fruitfulness will follow. There will be a resurrected life, and out of that
little black seed will come a beautiful fragrant flower.
Here is a disgusting grub,
crawling along the ground. By and by old age overtakes it, and it begins to
spin its own shroud, to make its own sepulchre, and it lies as if in death.
Look again, and it has shuffled off its shroud, it has burst its sepulchre
open, and it comes forth a beautiful butterfly, with different form and habits.
So with our bodies. They die,
but God will give us glorified bodies in their stead. This is the law of the
new creation as well as of the old: light after darkness: life after death:
fruitfulness and glory after corruption and decay.
Friday, September 7, 2012
September 14
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes
observe my ways. (Proverbs 23:26)
I remember hearing a story about
an Indian who wanted to come to the Lord. He brought his blanket, but the Lord
wouldn’t have it. He brought his gun, his dog, his bow and arrow, but the Lord
wouldn’t have them. At last he brought himself, and the Lord took him. The Lord
wanted himself.
What the Lord wants is not what
you have got, but yourself, and you cannot do a thing to please God until you
surrender yourself to Him.
September 13
Great peace have they which love
thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalms 119:165)
The study of God’s Word will
secure peace. Take those Christians who are rooted and grounded in the Word of
God, and you will find they have great peace; but it is these who don’t study
their Bible, who are easily offended when some little trouble comes, or some
little persecution. Just a little breath of opposition, and their peace is all
gone.
September 12
Withhold not good from them to
whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. (Proverbs 3:27)
After the Chicago New York Fall
River
"If you ever come to Chicago
He said: "Mr. Moody, don’t
wait for me; do it to the first man that comes along."
I never forgot that remark; it
had the ring of the true good Samaritan.
September 11
Enter ye in at the strait gate:
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and
many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is
the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew
7:13-14)
Many a man would be willing to
enter into the kingdom of God
September 10
Wherefore putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25)
We have got nowadays so that we
divide lies into white lies and black lies, society lies, business lies, and so
on. The Word of God knows no such letting-down of the standard. A lie is a lie,
no matter what are the circumstances under which it is uttered, or by whom. I
have heard that in Siam
Parents should begin with their
children while they are young and teach them to be strictly truthful at all
times. There is a proverb: "A lie has no legs." It requires other
lies to support it. Tell one lie and you are forced to tell others to back it
up.
September 9
Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live. (John 11:25)
At the battle of Inkerman a
soldier was just able to crawl to his tent after he was struck down. When
found, he was lying upon his face, his open Bible before him, his hand glued
fast to the page by his life-blood which covered it. When his hand was lifted,
the letters of the printed page were clearly traced upon it, and with the
ever-living promise in and on his hand, they laid him in a so1dier’s grave. The
words were:
“I am the resurrection and the
life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
I want a religion that can
comfort even in death, that can unite me with my loved ones. Oh, what gloom and
darkness would settle upon this world if it was not for the glorious doctrine of
the resurrection! Thank God, the glorious morning will soon break. For a little
while God asks us to be on the watch-tower, faithful to Him and waiting for the
summons. Soon our Lord will come to receive His own, whether they be living or
dead.
September 8
Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God
The only way to get into the kingdom of God
An unregenerated man would
rather be in hell than in heaven. Take a man whose heart is full of corruption
and wickedness, and place him in heaven among the pure, the holy and the redeemed;
and he would not want to stay there.
Certainly, if we are to be happy
in heaven we must begin to make a heaven here on earth. Heaven is a prepared
place for a prepared people. If men were taken to heaven just as they are by
nature, without having their hearts regenerated, there would be another
rebellion in heaven. Heaven is filled with a company of those who have been
TWICE BORN.
Monday, September 3, 2012
September 7
Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
of His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)
I have very little sympathy with
any man who has been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of God, and who
has not got the spirit of work. If we are children of God we ought not to have
a lazy drop of blood in our veins. If a man tells me that he has been saved,
and does not desire to work for the honor of God, I doubt his salvation.
Laziness belongs to the old
creation, not to the new. In all my experience I never knew a lazy man to be
converted—never. I have more hope for the salvation of drunkards, and thieves, and
harlots than of a lazy man.
September 6
If any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2
Corinthians 5:17)
I saw an advertisement which
read like this: “If you want people to respect you, wear good clothes.” That is
the world’s idea of getting the world’s respect. Why! A leper may put on good
clothes, but he is a leper still. Mere profession doesn’t transform a man. It is
the new nature spoken of in Corinthians, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
September 5
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater
works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (John 14:12)
I used to stumble over that
verse, but the longer I live the more I am convinced it is a greater thing to
influence a man whose will set against God, to have that will broken and brought
into subjection to God’s will—or, in other words, it is a greater thing to have
power over a living, sinning, God-hating man, than to quicken the dead. He who
could create a world could speak a dead man into life; but I think the greatest
miracle this world has ever seen was the miracle at Pentecost.
September 4
And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:42-43)
When a prominent man dies, we
are anxious to get his last words and acts. The last act of the Son of God was
to save a sinner. That was a part of the glory of His death. He commenced His
ministry by saving sinners, and ended it by saving this poor thief.
September 3
Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable
counselor, which also waited for the kingdom of God 15:43 )
I consider this one of the
sublimest, grandest acts that any man ever did. In the darkness and gloom, His
disciples having all forsaken Him, Judas having sold Him for thirty pieces of
silver, the chief apostle Peter having denied Him with a curse, swearing that
he never knew Him, the chief priests having found Him guilty of blasphemy, the
council having condemned Him to death, and when there was a hiss going up to
heaven from over all Jerusalem, Joseph went right against the current, right against
the influence of all his friends, and begged the body of Jesus.
Blessed act! Doubtless he
upbraided himself for not having been more bold in his defense of Christ when
He was tried, and before He was condemned to be crucified. The Scripture says he
was an honorable man, an honorable counselor, a rich man, and yet we have only
the record of that one thing—the one act of begging the body of Jesus. But what
he did for the Son of God, out of pure love for Him, will live forever; that
one act rises up above everything else that Joseph of Arimathea ever did.
September 2
Son, be of good cheer; thy sins
are forgiven thee. (Matthew 9:2)
That was more than his friends
expected; they only thought of his body being made whole. So let us bring our
friends to Christ, and we shall get more than we expect. The Lord met this
man’s deepest need first. It may be his sins had brought on the palsy, so the
Lord forgave the man’s sin first of all.
September 1
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed
of Me and of My word: in this adulterous and sinful generation; him also shall
the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the
holy angels. (Mark 8:38 )
I do not believe there is any
false religion in the world that men are not proud of. The only religion of
which I have ever heard, that men were ashamed of, is the religion of Jesus Christ.
I preached two weeks in Salt Lake City
When within forty miles of Salt
Lake City
Friday, August 17, 2012
August 31
These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded
of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)
We ought in these days to have
far more faith than Abel, or Enoch, or Abraham had. They lived away on the
other side of the Cross. We talk about the faith of Elijah, and the patriarchs
and prophets; but they lived in the dim light of the past, while we are in the full
blaze of Calvary and the resurrection.
When we look back and think of
what Christ did, how He poured out His blood that men might be saved, we ought
to go forth in His strength and conquer the world. Our God is able to do great
and mighty things.
August 30
Think not that I am come to
destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17-18)
Jesus never condemned the law
and the prophets, but He did condemn those who did not obey them. Because He
gave new commandments it does not follow that He abolished the old. Christ’s
explanation of them made them all the more searching. In His Sermon
on the Mount He carried the principles of the commandments beyond the mere
letter. He unfolded them and showed that they embraced more, that they are
positive as well as prohibitive.
The Old Testament closes with these
words: “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in
Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of
the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Does
that look as if the law of Moses was becoming obsolete?
August 29
Then touched He their eyes, saying,
According to your faith be it unto you. (Matthew 9:29)
I remember a man telling me he
preached for a number of years without any result. He used to say to his wife
as they went to church that he knew the people would not believe anything he
said; and there was no blessing. At last he saw his error; he asked God to help
him, and took courage, and then the blessing came.
“According to your faith it
shall be unto you.” This man had expected nothing, and he got just what he
expected. Let us expect that God is going to use us. Let us have courage and go
forward, looking to God to do great things.
August 28
He shall call upon me, and I
will answer Him. (Psalm 91:15)
Listen to the prodigal: “Father,
I have sinned!” That was enough; the father took him right to his bosom. The
past was blotted out at once.
Look at the men on the day of
Pentecost. Their hands were dripping with the blood of the Son of God; they had
murdered Jesus Christ. And what did Peter say to them? “It shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Look at the penitent thief. It
might have been that when a little boy, his mother taught him that same passage
in Joel, “It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved.” As he hung there on the cross, it flashed into his mind
that this was the Lord of glory, and though he was on the very borders of hell,
he cried out, “Lord, remember me,” and the answer came right then and there, “This
day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.”
In the morning, as black as hell
could make him; in the evening, not a spot or wrinkle. Why? Because he took God
at His Word. Why will men doubt Him?
August 27
That they should seek the Lord,
if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from
every one of us. (Acts 17:27)
Philosophers are agreed that
even the most primitive races of mankind reach out beyond the world of matter
to a superior Being. It is as natural for man to feel after God as it is for
the ivy to feel after support. Hunger and thirst drive him to seek for food,
and there is a hunger of the soul that needs satisfying, too.
Man does not need to be
commanded to worship, as there is not a race so high or so low in the scale of
civilization but has some kind of a god. What man needs is to be directed
aright in his worship.
August 26
In God have I put my trust: I
will not be afraid what man can do unto me. (Psalms 56:11)
If God has hid me in the secret
pavilion, let men slander me and abuse me if they like! If I can say that God
is my Father, Jesus is my Saviour, and heaven is my home: let the world rail,
let the flesh do what it pleases, I will not be afraid of evil tidings, for my
trust is in God!
Is not that a good footing for
eternity? “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away.”
If you get your feet fair and square on the rock, let the waves beat if they
will. A Christian once said that he trembled sometimes, but the foundation
never did: he had his feet upon the rock.
August 25
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD
as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of
the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat
of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)
Did you ever notice all but the
heart of man obeys God? If you look through history, you will find that this is
true. In the beginning God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
“Let the waters bring forth,” and the water brought forth abundantly. And one
of the proofs that Jesus Christ is God is that He spoke to nature, and nature
obeyed Him.
At one time He spoke to the sea,
and the sea recognized and obeyed. He spoke to the fig-tree, and instantly it
withered and died, it obeyed literally and at once. He spoke to devils, and the
devils fled. He spoke to the grave, and the grave obeyed Him and gave back its
dead.
But when He speaks to man, man will
not obey Him. That is why man is out of harmony with God, and it will never be
different until men learn to obey God. God wants obedience, and He will have
it, else there can be no harmony.
August 24
If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. (1 Corinthians 15:19)
To deny the resurrection is to
say that we will never see more of the loved ones whose bodies have been
committed to the clay. If Christ has not risen, this life is the only one, and
we are as the brutes.
How cruel it is to have any one
love you if this be true! How horrible that they should let the tendrils of
your heart twine around them, if, when they are torn away in death, that is to
be the end! I would rather hate than love if I thought there would be no
resurrection, because then I would feel no pangs at losing the hated thing. Oh,
the cruelty of unbelief! It takes away our brightest hopes.
August 23
These things have I spoken unto
you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues:
yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God
service. (John 16:1-2)
A man said to me some time ago:
“Mr. Moody, now that I am converted, have I to give up the world?”
“No,” said I, “you haven’t to
give up the world. If you give a good ringing testimony for the Son of God, the
world will give you up pretty quick; they won’t want you.”
August 22
Behold, all souls are Mine; as
the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)
Suppose there was a law that man
should not steal, but no penalty was attached to stealing, some man would have
my pocketbook before the day was over. If I threatened to have him arrested, he
would snap his lingers in my face. He would not fear the law, if there was no
penalty. It is not the law that people are afraid of; it is the penalty for transgression.
Do not suppose God has made a
law without a penalty. What an absurd thing it would be! The penalty for sin is
death: “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” If I have sinned I must die, or
get somebody to die for me. If the Bible doesn’t teach that, it doesn’t teach
anything. And that is where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in.
August 21
They brought young children to Him,
that He should touch them: and His disciples rebuked those that brought them.
(Mark 10:13)
I have no sympathy with the idea
that our children have to grow up before they are converted. Once I saw a lady
with three daughters at her side, and I stepped up to her and asked her if she
was a Christian.
“Yes, sir.”
Then I asked the oldest daughter
if she was a Christian. Her chin began to quiver, and the tears came into her
eyes, and she said:
“I wish I was.”
The mother looked very angrily
at me and said, “I don’t want you to speak to my children on that subject. They
don’t understand.”
And in great rage she took them
away from me. One daughter was fourteen years old, one twelve, and the other
ten, but they were not old enough to be talked to about religion!
Let them drift into the world
and plunge into worldly amusements, and then see how hard it is to reach them.
Many a mother is mourning to-day because her boy has gone beyond her reach. In
those early days when his mind was tender and young, she might have led him to Christ.
August 20
Wherefore let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)
Twenty-five years ago—and for
the first five years after I was converted—I used to think that if I were able
to stand for twenty years I need fear no fall. But the nearer you get to the
Cross the fiercer the battle. Satan aims high. He went amongst the twelve, and singled
out the treasurer, Judas Iscariot, and the chief apostle, Peter.
Most men who have fallen have
done so on the strongest side of their character. I am told that the only side
upon which Edinburgh Castle
August 19
Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)
You may see many countries; but
there is one country—the land of Beulah, which John Bunyan saw in vision—you
shall never behold, unless you are born again, regenerated by Christ. You can
look abroad and see many beautiful trees; but the tree of life you shall never
behold, unless your eyes are made clear by faith in the Saviour. You may see
the beautiful rivers of the earth, you may ride upon their bosoms; but bear in
mind that your eye will never rest upon the river which bursts out from the
Throne of God and flows through the upper Kingdom, unless you are born again.
You may see the kings and lords
of the earth; but the King of kings and Lord of lords you will never see except
you are born again. When you are in London England
You may hear the songs of Zion
which are sung here; but one song—that of Moses and the Lamb—the uncircumcised
ear shall never hear: its melody will only gladden the ear of those who have
been born again. You may look upon the beautiful mansions of earth; but bear in
mind the mansions which Christ has gone to prepare you shall never see unless
you are born again. It is God who says it.
You may see ten thousand
beautiful things in this world; but the city that Abraham caught a glimpse of and
from that time became a pilgrim and sojourner—you shall never see unless you
are born again. (Heb. 11:8, 10-16.) You may often be invited to marriage feasts
here; but you will never attend the marriage supper of the Lamb except you are
born again. It is God who says it.
August 18
And Nathanael said unto him, Can
there any good thing came out of Nazareth? Phillip saith unto him, Come and
see. (John 1:46)
After all, we do not gain much
by discussion. Let objectors or inquirers only get one personal interview with
the Son of God, and that will scatter all their darkness, all their prejudice,
and all their unbelief. The moment that Philip succeeded in getting Nathanael
to Christ, the work was done.
August 17
To the law and to the testimony:
if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them. (Isaiah 8:20)
Any man, any woman who comes to
us with any doctrine that is not according to the law and the testimony, let us
understand that they are from the evil one, and that they are enemies of
righteousness. They have no light in them. You will find these people who are consulting
familiar spirits, first and last, attack the Word of God. They don’t believe
it.
There is another passage which
reads, “And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them that have familiar
spirits, and unto wizards that peep and mutter: Should not a people seek unto
their God? for the living to the dead?”
What is that but table-rapping,
and cabinet-hiding? If it was a message from God, do you think you would have
to go into a dark room and put out all the lights? In secret my Master taught nothing.
God is not in that movement, and we want, as children of God, to keep ourselves
from this evil.
August 16
Ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth. (Acts 1:8)
If these early Christians had
gone out and commenced preaching then and there without the promised power, do
you think that scene would have taken place on the day of Pentecost? Peter
would have stood up and beat against the air, while the Jews would have gnashed
their teeth and mocked at him. But they tarried in Jerusalem; they waited ten
days.
“What!” you say, “with the world
perishing and men dying! Shall I wait?”
Do what God tells you. There is
no use in running before you are sent; there is no use in attempting to do God’s
work without God’s power. A man working without this unction, a man working
without this anointing, a man working without the Holy Ghost upon him, is
losing time after all. We shall not lose anything if we tarry till we get this
power.
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