Reading and Studying—At Family Prayers—A Word in Season—Helpful Questions.
MERELY reading the Bible is not what God wants. Again and again I am exhorted to “search.”
“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, andsearchedthe Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
“So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”
We must study it thoroughly, and hunt it through, as it were, for some great truth. If a friend were to see me searching about a building, and were to come up and say, “Moody, what are you looking for? have you lost something?” and I answered, “No, I haven’t lost anything; I’m not looking for anything particular,” I fancy he would just let me go on by myself, and think me very foolish. But if I were to say, “Yes, I have lost a dollar,” why, then, I might expect him to help me to find it. Read the Bible, my friends, as if you were seeking for something of value. It is a good deal better to take a single chapter, and spend a month on it, than to read the Bible at random for a month.
I used at one time to read so many chapters a day, and if I did not get through my usual quantity I thought I was getting cold and backsliding. But, mind you, if a man had asked me two hours afterward what I had read, I could not tell him; I had forgotten it nearly all. When I was a boy I used, among other things, to hoe corn on a farm; and I used to hoe it so badly, in order to get over so much ground, that at night I had to put down a stick in the ground, so as to know next morning where I had left off. That was somewhat in the same fashion as running through so many chapters every day. A man will say, “Wife, did I read that chapter?” “Well,” says she, “I don’t remember.” And neither of them can recollect. And perhaps he reads the same chapter over and over again; and they call that “studying the Bible.” I do not think there is a book in the world we neglect so much as the Bible.
Now, when you read the Bible at family worship or for private devotions, look for suitable passages. What would you think of a minister who went into the pulpit on Sunday and opened the Bible at hazard and commenced to read? Yet this is what most men do at family prayers. They might as well go into a drug store and swallow the first medicine their eye happens to see. Children would take more interest in family prayers if the father would take time to search for some passage to suit the special need. For instance, if any member of the family is about to travel, read Psalm 121. In time of trouble, read Psalm 91. When the terrible accident happened to the “Spree” as we were crossing the Atlantic in November, 1892, and when none on board ship expected to live to see the light of another sun, we held a prayer-meeting, at which I read a portion of Psalm 107:
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
A lady came to me afterwards and said I made it up to suit the occasion.
I have seen questions that will help one to get good out of every verse and passage of Scripture, They may be used in family worship, or in studying the Sabbath School lesson, or for prayer meeting, or in private reading. It would be a good thing if questions like these were pasted in the front of every Bible:
1. What persons have I read about, and what have I learned about them?
2. What places have I read about, and what have I read about them? If the place is not mentioned, can I find out where it is? Do I know its position on the map?
3. Does the passage refer to any particular time in the history of the children of Israel, or of some leading character?
4. Can I tell from memory what I have just been reading?
5. Are there any parallel passages or texts that throw light on this passage?
6. Have I read anything about God the Father? or about Jesus Christ? or about the Holy Spirit?
7. What have I read about myself? about man’s sinful nature? about the spiritual new nature?
8. Is there any duty for me to observe? any example to follow? any promise to lay hold of? any exhortation for my guidance? any prayer that may echo?
9. How is this Scripture profitable for doctrine? for reproof? for correction? for instruction in righteousness?
10. Does it contain the gospel in type or in evidence?
11. What is the key verse of the chapter or passage? Can I repeat it from memory?
How to Study the Bible—Feeding one’s self—The Best Law—Three Books Every Christian Should Possess—The Bible in the Sabbath School.
SOMEONE has said that there are four things necessary in studying the Bible: Admit, submit, commit and transmit. First, admit its truth; second, submit to its teachings; third, commit it to memory; and fourth, transmit it. If the Christian life is a good thing for you, pass it on to some one else.
Now I want to tell you how I study the Bible. Every man cannot fight in Saul’s armor; and perhaps you cannot follow my methods. Still I may be able to throw out some suggestions that will help you. Spurgeon used to prepare his sermon for Sunday morning on Saturday night. If I tried that, I would fail.
The quicker you learn to feed yourself the better. I pity down deep in my heart any men or women who have been attending some church or chapel for, say five, ten, or twenty years, and yet have not learned to feed themselves.
You know it is always regarded a great event in the family when a child can feed itself. It is propped up at table, and at first perhaps it uses the spoon upside down, but by and by it uses it all right, and mother, or perhaps sister, claps her hands and says, “Just see, baby’s feeding himself!” Well, what we need as Christians is to be able to feed ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try to feed them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never venture.
There are many who have been Christians for twenty years who have still to be fed with an ecclesiastical spoon. If they happen to have a minister who feeds them, they get on pretty well; but if they have not, they are not fed at all. This is the test as to your being a true child of God—whether you love and feed upon the Word of God. If you go out to your garden and throw down some sawdust, the birds will not take any notice; but if you throw down some crumbs, you will find they will soon sweep down and pick them up. So the true child of God can tell the difference, so to speak, between sawdust and bread. Many so-called Christians are living on the world’s sawdust, instead of being nourished by the Bread that cometh down from heaven. Nothing can satisfy the longings of the soul but the Word of the living God.
The best law for Bible study is the law of perseverance. The Psalmist says, “I havestuckunto thy testimonies.” Application to the Word will tend to its growth within and its multiplication without. Some people are like express-trains, they skims along so quickly that they see nothing.
I met a lawyer in Chicago who told me he had spent two years in studying up one subject; he was trying to smash a will. He made it his business to read everything on wills he could get. Then he went into court and he talked two days about that will; he was full of it; he could not talk about anything else but wills. That is the way with the Bible—study it and study it, one subject at a time, until you become filled with it.
Read the Bible itself—do not spend all your time on commentaries and helps. If a man spent all his time reading up the chemical constituents of bread and milk, he would soon starve.
There are three books which I think every Christian ought to possess.
The first, of course, is the Bible. I believe in getting a good Bible, with a good plain print. I have not much love for those little Bibles which you have to hold right under your nose in order to read the print; and if the church happens to be a little dark, you cannot see the print, but it becomes a mere jumble of words. Yes, but some one will say you cannot carry a big Bible in your pocket. Very well, then, carry it under your arm; and if you have to walk five miles, you will just be preaching a sermon five miles long. I have known a man convicted by seeing another carrying his Bible under his arm. You are not ashamed to carry hymn-books and prayer-books, and the Bible is worth all the hymn-books and prayer-books in the world put together. If you get a good Bible you are likely to take better care of it. Suppose you pay ten dollars for a good Bible, the older you grow the more precious it will become to you. But be sure you do not get one so good that you will be afraid to mark it. I don’t like gilt-edged Bibles that look as if they had never been used.
Then next I would advise you to get a Cruden’s Concordance. I was a Christian about five years before I ever heard of it. A skeptic in Boston got hold of me. I didn’t know anything about the Bible and I tried to defend the Bible and Christianity. He made a misquotation and I said it wasn’t in the Bible: I hunted for days and days. If I had had a concordance I could have found it at once. It is a good thing for ministers once in a while to tell the people about a good book. You can find any portion or any verse in the Bible by just turning to this concordance.
Thirdly, a Topical Text Book. These books will help you to study the Word of God with profit. If you do not possess them, get them at once; every Christian ought to have them.[1]
I think Sunday school teachers are making a woeful mistake if they don’t take the whole Bible into their Sunday school classes. I don’t care how young children are, let them understand it is one book, that there are not two books—the Old Testament and the New are all one. Don’t let them think that the Old Testament doesn’t come to us with the same authority as the New. It is a great thing for a boy or girl to know how to handle the Bible. What is an army good for if they don’t know how to handle their swords? I speak very strongly on this, because I know some Sabbath schools that don’t have a single Bible in them. They have question books. There are questions and the answers are given just below; so that you don’t need to study your lesson. They are splendid things for lazy teachers to bring along into their classes. I have seen them come into the class with a question book, and sometimes they get it wrong side up while they are talking to the class, until they find out their mistake, and then they begin over again. I have seen an examination take place something like this:
“John, who was the first man?”
“Methuselah.”
“No; I think not; let me see. No, it is not Methuselah. Can’t you guess again?”
“Elijah.”
“No.”
“Adam.”
“That’s right, my son; you must have studied your lesson hard.”
Now, I would like to know what a boy is going to do with that kind of a teacher, or with that kind of teaching. That is the kind of teaching that is worthless, and brings no result. Now, don’t say that I condemn helps. I believe in availing yourself of all the light you can get. What I want you to do, when you come into your classes, is to come prepared to explain the lesson without the use of a concordance. Bring the word of God with you; bring the old Book.
You will often find families where there is a family Bible, but the mother is so afraid that the children will tear it that she keeps it in the spare room, and once in a great while the children are allowed to look at it. The thing that interests them most is the family record—when John was born, when father and mother were married.
I came up to Boston from the country and went into a Bible class where there were a few Harvard students. They handed me a Bible and told me the lesson was in John. I hunted all through the Old Testament for John, but couldn’t find it. I saw the fellows hunching one another, “Ah, greenie from the country.” Now, you know that is just the time when you don’t want to be considered green. The teacher saw my embarrassment and handed me his Bible, and I put my thumb in the place and held on. I didn’t lose my place. I said then that if I ever got out of that scrape, I would never be caught there again. Why is it that so many young men from eighteen to twenty cannot be brought into a Bible class? Because they don’t want to show their ignorance. There is no place in the world that is so fascinating as a live Bible class. I believe that we are to blame that they have been brought up in the Sunday school without Bibles and brought up with quarterlies. The result is, the boys are growing up without knowing how to handle the Bible. They don’t know where Matthew is, they don’t know where the Epistle to the Ephesians is, they don’t know where to find Hebrews or any of the different books of the Bible. They ought to be taught how to handle the whole Bible, and it can be done by Sunday school teachers taking the Bible into the class and going right about it at once. You can get a Bible in this country for almost a song now. Sunday schools are not so poor that they cannot get Bibles. Some time ago there came up in a large Bible class a question, and they thought they would refer to the Bible, but they found that there was not a single one in the class. A Bible class without a Bible! It would be like a doctor without physic; or an army without weapons. So they went to the pews, but could not find one there. Finally they went to the pulpit and took the pulpit Bible and settled the question. We are making wonderful progress, aren’t we? Quarterlies are all right in their places, as helps in studying the lesson, but if they are going to sweep the Bibles out of our Sunday schools, I think we had better sweep them out.
The Telescopic and Microscopic Methods—Job—The Four Gospels—Acts—Psalm 52:1.
THERE are two opposite ways to study the Bible. One is to study it with a telescope, taking a grand sweep of a whole book and trying to find out God’s plan in it; the other, with a microscope, taking up a verse at a time, dissecting it, analyzing it. If you take Genesis, it is the seed-plant of the whole Bible; it tells us ofLife, Death, Resurrection;it involves all the rest of the Bible.
An Englishman once remarked to me: “Mr Moody, did you ever notice this, that the book of Job is the key to the whole Bible? If you understand Job you will understand the entire Bible!” “No,” I said, “I don’t comprehend that. Job the key to the whole Bible! How do make that out?” He said: “I divide Job into seven heads. The first head is:A perfect man untried. That is what God said about Job; that is Adam in Eden. He was perfect when God put him there. The second head is:Tried by adversity. Job fell, as Adam fell in Eden. The third head is:The wisdom of the world. The world tried to restore Job; the three wise men came to help him. That was the wisdom of the world centred in those three men. You can not,” said he, “find any such eloquent language or wisdom anywhere, in any part of the world, as those three men displayed, but they did not know anything about grace, and could not, therefore, help Job.” That is just what men are trying to do; and the result is that they fail; the wisdom of man never made man any better. These three men did not help Job; they made him more unhappy. Some one has said the first man took him, and gave him a good pull; then the second and third did the same; the three of them had three good pulls at Job, and then flat down they fell. “Then in the fourth place,” said he, “in comesthe Daysman, that is Christ. In the fifth place,God speaks;and in the sixth,Job learns his lesson. ‘I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.’ And then down came Job flat on the dunghill. The seventh head is this, thatGod restores him.” Thank God, it is so with us, and our last state is better than our first.
A friend of mine said to me: “Look here, Moody, God gave to Job double of everything.” He would not admit that Job had lost his children; God had taken them to heaven, and He gave Job ten more. So Job had ten in Heaven, and ten on earth—a goodly family. So when our children are taken from us, they are not lost to us, but merely gone before.
Now, let me take you through the four Gospels. Let us begin with Matthew.
Men sometimes tell me when I go into a town: “You want to be sure and get such a man on your committee, for he has nothing to do and he will have plenty of time.” I say: “No, thank you, I do not want any man that has nothing to do.” Christ found Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. The Lord took some one He found at work, and he went right on working. We do not know much about what he did, except that he wrote this Gospel. But, what a book! Where Matthew came from we do not know, and where he went to we do not know. His old name, Levi, dropped with his old life.
The Key. The Messiah of the Jews and the Saviour of the world. Supposed to have been written about twelve years after the death of Christ, and to be the first Gospel written. It contains the best account of the life of Christ. You notice that it is the last message of God to the Jewish nation. Here we pass from the old to the new dispensation.
Matthew does not speak of Christ’s ascension, but leaves Him on earth.
Mark gives His resurrection and ascension.
Luke gives His resurrection, ascension and the promise of a comforter.
John goes a step further and says he is coming back.
There are more quotations in Matthew than in any of the others; I think there are about a hundred. He is trying to convince the Jews that Jesus was the son of David, the rightful king. He talked a good deal about thekingdom, its mysteries, the example of the kingdom, healing the sick, etc., the principles of the kingdom as set forth in the sermon on the mount; also, the rejection of the king. When anyone takes a kingdom they lay down the principles upon which they are going to rule or conduct it.
Now, let me call your attention to five great sermons. In these you have a good sweep of the whole book:
1. The sermon on the mount. See how many things lying all around Him He brings into His sermon, salt, light, candle, coat, rain, closet, moth, rust, thieves, eye, fowls, lilies, grass, dogs, bread, fish, gate, grapes, thorns, figs, thistles, rock, etc.
Someone, in traveling through Palestine, said that he did not think there was a solitary thing there that Christ did not use as an illustration. So many people in these days are afraid to use common things, but don’t you think it is better to use things that people can understand, than to talk so that people can’t understand you? Now, a woman can easily understand a candle, and a man can easily understand about a rock, especially in a rocky country like Palestine. Christ used common things as illustrations, and spoke so that everyone could understand Him. A woman in Wales once said she knew Christ was Welsh, and an Englishman said, “No, He was a Jew.” She declared that she knew He was Welsh, because He spoke so that she could understand Him. Christ did not have a short-hand reporter to go around with Him to write out and print His sermons, and yet the people remembered them. Never mind about finished sentences and rounded periods, but give your attention to making your sermons clear so that they stick. Use bait that your hearers will like.
The Law was given on a mountain, and here Christ lays down His principles on a mountain. The law of Moses applies to the outward acts, but this sermon applies to the inward life. As the sun is brighter than a candle, so the sermon on the mount is brighter than the law of Moses. It tells us what kind of Christians we ought to be—lights in the world, the salt of the world, silent in our actions but great in effect.
“I say unto you,” occurs twelve times in this sermon.
2. The second great sermon was delivered to the twelve in the tenth chapter. You find over and over again the sayings in this sermon are quoted by men viz.: “Shake off the dust off your feet against them.” “Freely ye have received, freely give,” etc.
3. The open air sermon. You want the best kind of preaching on the street. You have to put what you say in a bright, crisp way, if you expect people to listen.
You must learn to think on your feet. There was a young man preaching on the streets in London when an infidel came up and said: “The man who invented gas did more for the world than Jesus Christ.” The young man could not answer him and the crowd had the laugh on him. But another man got up and said: “Of course the man has a right to his opinion, and I suppose if he was dying he would send for the gasfitter, but I think I should send for a minister and have him read the fourteenth chapter of John;” and he turned the laugh back on the man.
This sermon contains seven parables. It is like a string of pearls.
4. The sermon of woes; Christ’s last appeal to the Jewish nation. Compare these eight woes with the nine beatitudes. You notice the closing up of this sermon on woes is the most pathetic utterance in the whole ministry of Christ. “Your house is left unto you desolate.” Up to that time it had been “My Father’shouse,” or “Myhouse,” but now it is “your house.” It was not long until Titus came and leveled it to the ground. Abraham never loved Isaac more than Jesus loved the Jewish nation. It was hard for Abraham to give up Isaac, but harder for the Son of God to give up Jerusalem.
5. The fifth sermon was preached to His disciples. How little did they understand Him! When His heart was breaking with sorrow, they drew His attention to the buildings of the temple.
The first sermon was given on the mount; the second and third at Capernaum; the fourth in the Temple; the fifth on Olivet.
In Matthew’s Gospel there is not a thing in hell, heaven, earth, sea, air or grave that does not testify of Christ as the Son of God. Devils cried out, fish entered the nets under His influence, wind and wave obeyed Him.
Summary:—Nine beatitudes; eight woes; seven consecutive parables; ten consecutive miracles; five continuous sermons; four prophecies of His death.
The four Gospels are independent of each other, no one was copied from the other. Each is the complement of the rest, and we get four views of Christ, like the four sides of a house.
Matthew writes for Jews.
Mark writes for Romans.
Luke writes for Gentile converts.
You don’t find any long sermons in Mark. The Romans were quick and active, and he had to condense things in order to catch them. You’ll find the words “Forthwith,” “Straightway,” “Immediately,” occur forty-one times in this gospel. Every chapter but the first, seventh, eighth and fourteenth begins with “And,” as if there was no pause in Christ’s ministry.
Luke tells us that Christ received little children, but Mark says He took them up in His arms. That makes it sweeter to you, doesn’t it?
Perhaps the high water mark is the fifth chapter. Here we find three very bad cases, devils, disease and death, beyond the reach of man, cured by Christ. The first man was possessed with devils. They could not bind him, or chain or tame him. I suppose a good many men and women had been scared by that man. People are afraid of a graveyard even in daylight, but think of a live man being in the tombs and possessed with devils! He said: “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.” But Jesus had come to do him good.
Next, the woman with the issue of blood. If she had been living to-day, I suppose she would have tried every patent medicine in the market. We would have declared her a hopeless case and sent her to the hospital. Some one has said: “There was more medicine in the hem of His garment than in all the apothecary shops in Palestine.” She just touched Him and was made whole. Hundreds of others touched Him, but they did not get anything. Can you tell the difference between the touch of faith and the ordinary touch of the crowd?
Thirdly, Jarius’ daughter raised. You see the manifestation of Jesus’ power is increasing, for when He arrived the child was dead and He brought her to life. I do not doubt but that away back in the secret councils of eternity it was appointed that He should be there just at that time. I remember once being called to preach a funeral sermon, and looked the four gospels through to find one of Christ’s funeral sermons, but do you know He never preached one? He broke up every funeral He ever attended. The dead awaked when they heard His voice.
We now come to Luke’s gospel. You notice his name does not occur in this book or in Acts. (You will find it used three times, viz.; in Colossians, Timothy and Philemon). He keeps himself in the background. I meet numbers of Christian workers who are ruined by getting their names up. We do not know whether Luke was a Jew or a Gentile.
The first we see of him is in Acts 16:10 “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had calledusfor to preach the gospel unto them.” He did not claim to be an eye-witness to Christ’s ministry nor one of the seventy. Some think he was, but he does not claim it. It is supposed that his gospel is of Paul’s preaching, the same as Mark’s, was of Peter. It is also called the Gospel of the Gentiles, and is supposed to have been written when Paul was in Rome, about 27 years after Christ. One-third of this gospel is left out in the other gospels. It opens with a note of praise: “And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at His birth;” “And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God;” and closes the same way.
Canon Farrar has pointed out that we have a seven-fold gospel in Luke:
1. It is a gospel of praise and song. We find here the songs of Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, the angels, and others. Some one has written beautifully of Simeon as follows: “What Simeon wanted to see was the Lord’s Christ. Unbelief would suggest to him, ‘Simeon you are an old man, your day is almost ended, the snow of age is upon your head, your eyes are growing dim, your brow is wrinkled, your limbs totter, and death is almost upon you: and where are the signs of His coming? You are resting, Simeon, upon imagination—it is all a delusion.’ ‘No,’ replied Simeon, ‘I shall not see death till I have seen the Lord’s Christ; I shall see Him before I die.’ I can imagine Simeon walking out one fine morning along one of the lovely vales of Palestine, meditating upon the great subject that filled his mind. Presently he meets a friend: ‘Peace be with you; have you heard the strange news? What news?’ replies Simeon. ‘Do you not know Zacharias the priest?’ ‘Yes, well.’ ‘According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense in the temple of the Lord, and the whole multitude of the people were praying without. It was the time of incense, and there appeared unto him an angel, standing on the right side of the altar, who told him that he should have a son, whose name should be called John; one who should be great in the sight of the Lord, who should go before the Messiah and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The angel was Gabriel who stands in the presence of God, and because Zacharias believed not, he was struck dumb.’ ‘Oh,’ says Simeon, ‘that fulfills the prophecy of Malachi. This is the forerunner of the Messiah: this is the morning star: the day dawn is not for off: the Messiah is nigh at hand. Hallelujah! The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple!’ Time rolls on. I can imagine Simeon accosted again by one of his neighbors: ‘Well, Simeon, have you heard the news?’ ‘What news?’ ‘Why there’s a singular story in everybody’s mouth. A company of shepherds were watching their flocks by night on the plains of Bethlehem. It was the still hour of night, and darkness mantled the world. Suddenly a bright light shone around the shepherds, a light above the brightness of the midday sun. They looked up, and just above them was an angel who said to the terrified shepherds, Fear not, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people!’ ‘This is the Lord’s Christ,’ said Simeon, ‘and I shall not taste death till I have seen him.’ He said to himself, ‘They will bring the child to the Temple to present Him to the Lord.’
Away went Simeon, morning after morning, to see if he could get a glimpse of Jesus. Perhaps unbelief suggested to Simeon, ‘You had better stop at home this wet morning: you have been so often and have missed Him: you may venture to be absent this once.’ ‘No,’ said the Spirit, ‘go to the Temple.’ Simeon would no doubt select a good point of observation. See how intently he watches the door! He surveys the face of every child as one mother after another brings her infant to be presented. ‘No,’ he says, ‘That is not He.’ At length he sees the Virgin appear, and the Spirit tells him it is the long-expected Saviour. He grasps the child in his arms, presses him to his heart, blesses God and says: ‘Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.’”
2. It is a gospel of thanksgiving. They glorified God when Jesus healed the widow’s son at Nain, when the blind man received sight, etc.
3. It is a gospel of prayer. We learn that Christ prayed when he was baptised, and nearly every great event in His ministry was preceded by prayer. If you want to hear from Heaven you must seek it on your knees. There are two parables about prayer—the friend at midnight and the unjust judge.
4. Here is another thing that is made prominent, namely, the gospel of womanhood. Luke alone records many loving things Christ did for women. The richest jewel in Christ’s crown was what he did for women. A man tried to tell me that Mohammed had done more for women than Christ. I told him that if he had ever been in Mohammedan countries, he would be ashamed of himself for making such a remark. They care more for their donkeys than they do for their wives and mothers.
A man once said that when God created life He began at the lowest forms of animal life and came up until He got to man, then he was not quite satisfied and created a woman. She was lifted up the highest, and when she fell, she fell the lowest.
5. This is the gospel of the poor and humble. When I get a crowd of roughs on the street I generally teach from Luke. Here are the shepherds, the peasant, the incident of the rich man and Lazarus. This gospel tells us He found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me—to preach the gospel to the poor.” It is a dark day for a church when it gets out that they do not want the common people. Whitfield labored among the miners, and Wesley among the common people. If you want the poor, let it get out that you want them to come.
6. It is a gospel to the lost. The woman with the seven devils, the thief on the cross illustrate this. Also, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the lost son.
7. It is a gospel of tolerance.
“He that winneth souls is wise.” Do you want to win men? Do not drive or scold them. Do not try to tear down their prejudices before you begin to lead them to the truth. Some people think they have to tear down the scaffolding before they begin on the building. An old minister once invited a young brother to preach for him. The latter scolded the people, and when he got home, asked the old minister how he had done. He said he had an old cow, and when he wanted a good supply of milk, he fed the cow; he did not scold her.
Christ reached the publicans because nearly everything he said about them was in their favor. Look at the parable of the Pharisee and publican. Christ said the publican went down to his house justified rather than that proud Pharisee. How did He reach the Samaritans? Take the parable of the ten lepers. Only one returned to thank Him for the healing, and that was a Samaritan. Then there is the parable of the Good Samaritan. It has done more to stir people up to philanthropy and kindness to the poor than anything that has been said on this earth for six thousand years. Go into Samaria and you find that story has reached there first. Some man has been down to Jerusalem and heard it, and gone back home and told it all around; and they say “If that Prophet ever comes up here, we’ll give Him a hearty reception.” If you want to reach people that do not agree with you, do not take a club to knock them down and then try to pick them up. When Jesus Christ dealt with the erring and the sinners, He was as tender with them as a mother is with her sick child. A child once said to his mother, “Mamma, you never speak ill of any one. You would speak well of Satan.” “Well,” said the mother, “you might imitate his perseverance.”
John was supposed to be the youngest disciple, and was supposed to be the first of all that Christ had to follow Him. He is called the bosom companion of Christ. Someone was complaining of Christ’s being partial. I have no doubt that Christ did love John more than the others, but it was because John loved him most. I think John got into the inner circle, and we can get in too if we will. Christ keeps the door open and we can just go right in. You notice nearly all his book is new. All of the eight months Christ spent in Judea are recorded here.
Matthew begins with Abraham; Mark with Malachi; Luke with John the Baptist; but John with God Himself.
Matthew sets forth Christ as the Jew’s Messiah.
Mark as the active worker.
Luke as a man.
John as a personal Saviour.
John presents Him as coming from the bosom of the Father. The central thought in this gospel is proving the divinity of Christ. If I wanted to prove to a man that Jesus Christ was divine, I would take him directly to this gospel. The wordrepentdoes not occur once, but the wordbelieveoccurs ninety-eight times. The controversy that the Jews raised about the divinity of Christ is not settled yet, and before John went away he took his pen and wrote down these things to settle it.
A seven-fold witness to the divinity of Christ:
1. Testimony of the Father. “The Father that sent me beareth witness of me.”
2. The Son bearing testimony. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true; for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I came, and whither I go.”
3. Christ’s works testify: “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in Him.”
No man can make me believe that Jesus Christ was a bad man; because He brought forth good fruit. How any one can doubt that He was the Son of God after eighteen centuries of testing is a mystery to me.
4. The Scriptures: “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.”
5. John the Baptist: “And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.”
6. The Disciples: “And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”
7. The Holy Ghost: “But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”
Of course there many others that show His divinity, but I think these are enough to prove it to any man. If I went into court and had seven witnesses that could not be broken down, I think I would have a good case.
Notice the “I am’s” of Christ.
“I am from above.”
“I am not of this world.”
“Before Abraham was, I am.”
“I am the bread of life.”
“I am the light of the world.”
“I am the door.”
“I am the Good Shepherd.”
“I am the way.”
“I am the truth.” Pilate asked what truth was, and there it was standing right before him.
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
In the gospel of John, we find eight gifts for the believer: the bread of life; the water of life; eternal life; the Holy Spirit; love; joy; peace; His words.
A good lesson to study is how all through the book of Acts defeat was turned to victory. When the early Christians were persecuted, they went every where preaching the Word. That was a victory, and so on all through.
Luke’s gospel was taken up with Christ in the body, Acts with Christ in the church. In Luke we read of what Christ did in His humiliation, and in Acts what He did in His exaltation. With most men, their work stops at their death, but with Christ it had only begun. “Greater works than these shall ye do, because I go to My Father.” We call this book the “Acts of the Apostles,” but it is really the “Acts of the Church (Christ’s body).”
You will find the key to the book in chapter 1:8: “But 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 Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
We would not have seen the struggles of that infant church if it had not been for Luke. We would not have known much about Paul either if it had not been for Luke.
There were four rivers flowing out of Eden; here we have the four gospels flowing into one channel.
Three divisions of the Acts:—
I. Founding of the church.
II. Growth of the church.
III. Sending out of missionaries.
I believe that the nearer we keep to the apostles’ way of presenting the gospel, the more success we will have.
Now there are ten great sermons in Acts, and I think if you get a good hold on these you will have a pretty good understanding of the book and how to preach. Five were preached by Peter, one by Stephen and four by Paul. The phrase, “We are witnesses,” runs through the entire book. We say, to-day, “We are eloquent preachers.” We seem to be above being simple witnesses.
I. Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. Someone said that now it takes about three thousand sermons to convert one Jew, but here three thousand were converted by one sermon. When Peter testified of Christ and bore witness that he had died and had risen again, God honored it, and he will do the same with you.
II. Peter preaches in Solomon’s porch. A short sermon, but it did good work. They did not get there till three o’clock, and I believe the Jews could not arrest a man after sundown, and yet in that short space of time five thousand were converted. What did he preach? Listen:
“But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
And killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised from the dead: whereof we are witnesses.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
III. Peter preaches to the high priests. They had arrested them and were demanding to know by what power they did these things. “By the name of Jesus Christ, . . . doth this man stand here before you whole.” When Bunyan was told he would be released if he would not preach any more, he said, “If you let me out I will preach to-morrow.”
IV. Peter’s testimony before the council. They commanded them not to preach in the name of Christ. I don’t know what they could do if they were forbidden that. Some ministers to-day would have no trouble; they could get along very well. About all the disciples knew was what they had learned in those three years with Jesus, hearing His sermons and seeing His miracles. They saw the things and knew they were so, and when the Holy Ghost came down upon them, they could not help but speak them.
V. Stephen’s sermon. He preached the longest sermon in Acts. Dr. Bonar once said, “Did you ever notice, Brother Whittle, that when the Jews accused Stephen of speaking blasphemous words against Moses, the Lord lit up his face with the same glory with which Moses’ face shone?”
An old Scotch beadle once warned his new minister, “You may preach as much as ye like about the sins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but stick to them and don’t come any nearer hand if ye want to stay here.” Stephen began with them, but he came right down to the recent crucifixion, and stirred them up.
VI. Peter’s last sermon and the first sermon to the Gentiles. Notice the same gospel is preached to the Gentiles as to the Jews, and it produces the same results. “To him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all of them which heard the word.”
Now the leading character changes and Paul comes on.
VII. Paul’s sermon at Antioch, in Pisidia. An old acquaintance once said to me, “What are you preaching now? I hope you are not harping on that old string yet.” Yes, thank God, I am spreading the old gospel. If you want to get people to come to hear you, lift up Christ; He said, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.”
VIII. Paul’s sermon to the Athenians. He got fruit at Athens by preaching the same old gospel to the philosophers.
IX. Paul’s sermon at Jerusalem.
X. Paul’s defence before Agrippa. I think that is the grandest sermon Paul ever preached. He preached the same gospel before Agrippa and Festus that he did down in Jerusalem. He preached everywhere the mighty fact that God gave Christ as a ransom for sin, that the whole world can be saved by trusting in Him.
“Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:
That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people and to the Gentiles.”
Let me show what I mean by the microscopic method by taking the first verse of Psalm 52: “Why boastest thou thyself in iniquity, O mighty man? The goodness of God endureth continually.” This verse naturally falls into two divisions, on the one side being—man, on the other—God. Man—mischief; God—goodness. Is any particular man addressed? Yes: Doeg the Edomite, as the preface to the psalm suggests. You can therefore find the historic reference of this verse and Psalm in 1 Samuel 22:9. Now take a concordance or topical text-book, and study the subject of “boasting.” What words mean the same thing as “boasting”? One is glorifying. Is boasting always condemned? In what does Scripture forbid us to boast? In what are we exhorted to boast? “Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this: that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise loving-kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” Treat the subject “mischief,” in a similar manner. Then ask yourself is this boasting, this mischief, always to last? No: “the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment.” “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and lo, he was not: Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” The other half of the text suggests a study of goodness (or mercy) as an attribute of God. How is it manifested temporally and spiritually? What Scripture have we for it? Is God’s goodness conditional? Does God’s goodness conflict with His justice? Now, as the end of Bible study as well as of preaching is to save men, ask yourself is the Gospel contained in this text in type or in evidence? Turn to Romans 2:4: “Despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering: not knowing thatthe goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” Here the verse leads directly to the subject of repentance, and you rise from the study of the verse ready at any time to preach a short sermon that may be the means of converting some one.
One Book at a Time—Chapter Study—The Gospel of John.
I KNOW some men who never sit down to read a book until they have time to read the whole of it. When they come to Leviticus or Numbers, or any of the other books, they read it right through at one sitting. They get the whole sweep, and then they begin to study it chapter by chapter. Dean Stanley used to read a book through three separate times: first for the story, second for the thought, and third for the literary style. It is a good thing to take one whole book at a time.
How could you expect to understand a story or a scientific text-book if you read one chapter here and another there?
Dr. A. T. Pierson says: Let the introduction cover five P’s; place where written; person by whom written; people to whom written; purpose for which written; period at which written.
Here it is well to grasp the leading points in the chapters. The method is illustrated by the following plan by which I tried to interest the students at Mt. Hermon school and the Northfield Seminary. It provides a way of committing Scripture to memory, so that one can call up a passage to meet the demand whenever it arises. I said to the students one morning at worship: “To-morrow morning when I come I will not read a portion of Scripture, but we will take the first chapter of the Gospel of John and you shall tell me from memory what you find in that chapter and each learn the verse in it that is most precious to you.” We went through the Whole book that way and committed a verse or two to memory-out of each one.
I will give the main headings we found in the chapters.
Chapter 1. The call of the first five disciples.
It was about four o’clock in the afternoon that John stood and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Two of John’s disciples then followed Jesus, and one of them, Andrew, went out and brought his brother Simon. Then Jesus found Philip, as he was starting for Galilee, and Philip found Nathaniel, the skeptical man. When he got sight of Christ his skeptical ideas were all gone. Commit to memory verses 11 and 12: “He came unto his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Key word, Receiving.
Chapter 2. “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” We had a good time in this chapter on Obedience, which is the key word.
Chapter 3. This is a chapter on Regeneration. It took us more than one day to get through this one. This gives you a respectable sinner, and how Jesus dealt with him. Commit verse 16: “God so loved the world, that He gave His Only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Key word, Believing.
Chapter 4. A disreputable sinner, and how Jesus dealt with her. If we had been dealing with her, we would have told her what Jesus told Nicodemus, but He took her on her own ground. She came for a water-pot of water, and, thank God, she got a whole well full. Key word, Worshipping. Memorize verse 24: “God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Chapter 5. Divinity of Christ. Commit verse 24: “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.” Key word, Healing.
Chapter 6. We called that thebreadchapter. If you want a good loaf of bread, get into this sixth chapter. You feed upon that bread and you will live forever. Key verse: Christ the bread of life. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Key word, Eating.
Chapter 7 is thewaterchapter. “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink.” You have here living water and Christ’s invitation to every thirsty soul to come to drink. Key word, Drinking.
Chapter 8. TheLightchapter. “I am the light of the world.” Key, Walking in the light. But what is the use of having light if you have no eyes to see with, so we go on to
Chapter 9. The Sight chapter. There was a man born blind and Christ made him to see. Key word, Testifying. Memory verse: “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work.”
Chapter 10. Here you find the Good Shepherd. Commit to memory verse 11: “I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” Key word, Safety.
Chapter 11. The Lazarus chapter. Memorize verse 25: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” Key word, Resurrection.
Chapter 12. Verse 32: “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” Here Christ closes up his ministry to the Jewish nation. Key word, Salvation for all.
Chapter 13. The Humility chapter. Christ washing the feet of his disciples. Learn verse 34: “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.” Key word, Teaching.
Chapter 14. The Mansion chapter. Commit to memory verse 6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Key words, Peace and comfort.
Chapter 15. The Fruit chapter. The vine can only bear fruit through the branches. Verse 5: “I am the vine; ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” Key word, Joy.
Chapter 16. The promise of the Holy Ghost. Here you find the secret of Power, which is the key word.
Chapter 17. This chapter contains what is properly the “Lord’s prayer.” Learn verse 15: “I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” Key word, Separation.
Chapter 18. Christ is arrested.
Chapter 19. Christ is crucified.
Chapter 20. Christ rises from the dead.
Chapter 21. Christ spends some time with his disciples again, and invites them to dine with him.
Study of Types—Types of Christ—Leprosy a Type of Sin—Bible Characters—Meaning of Names.
ANOTHER way of studying is to take five great divisions—History, Type, Prophecy, Miracle, Parable.
It is a very interesting thing to study the types of the Bible. Get a good book on the subject and you will be surprised to find out how interested you will become. The Bible is full of patterns and types of ourselves. That is a popular objection against the Bible—that it tells about the failings of men. We should, however, remember that the object of the Bible is not to tell how good men are, but how bad men can become good. But more especially the Bible is full of types of Christ. Types are foreshadowings, and wherever there is a shadow there must be substance. As John McNeill says, “If I see the shadow of a dog, I know there’s a dog around.” God seems to have chosen this means of teaching the Israelites of the promised Messiah. All the laws, ceremonies and institutions of the Mosaic dispensation point to Christ and His dispensation. The enlightened eyes see Christ in all. For instance, the tabernacle was a type of the incarnation of Jesus; John 1:14, “and the word was made flesh, andtabernacledamongst us.” The laver typified sanctification or purity: Ephesians 5:26, “that he might sanctify and cleanse the Church with the washing of water by the word.” The candlesticks typified Christ as the Light of the world. The shewbread typified Christ as the Bread of Life. The High Priest was always a type of Christ. Christ was called of God, as was Aaron; He ever liveth to make intercession; He was consecrated with an oath, and so on. The Passover, the Day of Atonement, the Smitten Rock, the sacrifices, the City of Refuge, the Brazen Serpent—all point to Christ’s atoning work. Adam was a beautiful type. Think of the two Adams. One introduced sin and ruin into the world, and the other abolished it. So Cain stands as the representative natural man, and Abel as the spiritual man. Abel as a shepherd is a type of Christ the heavenly Shepherd. There is no more beautiful type of Christ in the Bible than Joseph. He was hated of his brethren; he was stripped of his coat; he was sold; he was imprisoned; he gained favor; he had a gold chain about his neck; every knee bowed before him. A comparison of the lives of Joseph and Jesus shows a startling similarity in their experience.
The disease of leprosy is a type of sin. It is incurable by man; it works baneful results; it is insidious in its nature, and from a small beginning works complete ruin; it separates its victims from their fellow-men, just as sin separates a man from God; and as Christ had power to cleanse the leper, so by the grace of God His blood cleanseth us from all iniquity.
Adam represents man’s innate sinfulness.
Abel represents Atonement.
Enoch represents communion.
Noah represents Regeneration.
Abraham represents Faith.
Isaac represents Sonship.
Jacob represents Discipline and Service.
Joseph represents Glory through suffering.
Another good way is to study Bible characters—take them right from the cradle to the grave. You find that skeptics often take one particular part of a man’s life—say, of the life of Jacob or of David—and judge the whole by that. They say these men were queer saints; and yet God did not punish them. If you go right through these men’s lives you will find that God did punish them, according to the sins they committed.
A lady once said to me that she had trouble in reading the Bible, that she seemed to not feel the interest she ought. If you don’t keep up your interest in one way, try another. Never think you have to read the Bible by courses.
Another interesting study is the meaning of proper names. I need hardly remark that every name in the Bible, especially Hebrew names, has a meaning of its own. Notice the difference between Abram (a high father), and Abraham (father of a multitude), and you have a key to his life. Another example is Jacob (supplanter), and Israel (Prince of God). The names of Job’s three daughters were Jemima (a dove), Kezia (cassia), and Keren-happuch (horn of paint). These names signify beauty; so that Job’s leprosy left no taint.
Study of Subjects—Love—Sanctification—Faith—Justification—Atonement —Conversion—Heaven—Revivals—Separation—Grace—Prayer—Assurance —God’s Promises.
I FIND some people now and then who boast that they have read the Bible through in so many months. Others read the Bible chapter by chapter, and get through it in a year; but I think it would be almost better to spend a year over one book. If I were going into a court of justice, and wanted to carry the jury with me, I should get every witness I could to testify to the one point on which I wanted to convince the jury. I would not get them to testify to everything, but just to that one thing. And so it should be with the Scriptures.
I took up that word “Love” and I do not know how many weeks I spent in studying the passages in which it occurs, till at last I could not help loving people. I had been feeding so long on Love that I was anxious to do everybody good I came in contact with.
TakeSanctification. I would rather take my concordance and gather passages on sanctification and sit down for four or five days and study them than have men tell me about it.
I suppose that if all the time that I have prayed forFaithwas put together, it would be months. I used to say when I was President of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Chicago, “What we want is faith; if we only have faith, we can turn Chicago upside down”—or rather, right side up. I thought that some day faith was going to come down, and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, “Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since.
Take the doctrine that made Martin Luther such a power,Justification—“The just shall live by faith.” When that thought flashed through Martin Luther’s mind as he was ascending the Scala Santa on his knees (although some people deny the truth of this statement), he rose and went forth to be a power among the nations of the earth. Justification puts a man before God as if he had never sinned; he stands before God like Jesus Christ. Thank God, in Jesus Christ we can be perfect, but there is no perfection out of Him. God looks in His ledger, and says, “Moody, your debts have all been paid by Another; there is nothing against you.”
In New England there is perhaps no doctrine assailed so much as theAtonement. The Atonement is foreshadowed in the garden of Eden; there is the innocent suffering for the guilty, the animals slain for Adam’s sin. We find it in Abraham’s day, in Moses’ day; all through the books of Moses and the prophets. Look at the fifty-third of Isaiah, and at the prophecy of Daniel. Then we come into the Gospels, and Christ says, “I lay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.”
People talk aboutConversion—what is conversion? The best way to find out is from the Bible. A good many don’t believe in sudden conversions. You can die in a moment. Can’t you receive life in a moment?
When Mr. Sankey and myself were in one place in Europe a man preached a sermon against the pernicious doctrines that we were going to preach, one of which was sudden conversion. He said conversion was a matter of time and growth. Do you know what I do when any man preaches against the doctrines I preach? I go to the Bible and find out what it says, and if I am right I give them more of the same kind. I preached more on sudden conversion in that town than in any town I was in in my life. I would like to know how long it took the Lord to convert Zaccheus? How long did it take the Lord to convert that woman whom He met at the well of Sychar? How long to convert that adulterous woman in the temple, who was caught in the very act of adultery? How long to convert that woman who anointed His feet and wiped them with the hairs of her head? Didn’t she go with the word of God ringing in her ears, “Go in peace”?
There was no sign of Zaccheus being converted when he went up that sycamore tree, and he was converted when he came down, so he must have been converted between the branch and the ground. Pretty sudden work, wasn’t it? But you say, “That is because Christ was there.” Friends, they were converted a good deal faster after He went away than when He was here. Peter preached, and three thousand were converted in one day. Another time, after three o’clock in the afternoon, Peter and John healed a man at the gate of the Temple, and then went in and preached, and five thousand were added to the church before night, and Jews at that. That was rather sudden work. Professor Drummond describes a man going into one of our after-meetings and saying he wants to become a Christian. “Well, my friend, what is the trouble?” He doesn’t like to tell. He is greatly agitated. Finally he says, “The fact is, I have overdrawn my account”—a polite way of saying he has been stealing. “Did you take your employer’s money?” “Yes.” “How much?” “I don’t know. I never kept account of it.” “Well, you have an idea you stole $1,500 last year?” “I am afraid it is that much.” “Now, look here, sir, I don’t believe in sudden work; don’t you steal more than a thousand dollars this next year, and the next year not more than five hundred, and in the course of the next few years you will get so that you won’t steal any. If your employer catches you, tell him you are being converted; and you will get so that you won’t steal any by and by.” My friends, the thing is a perfect farce. “Let him that stole, steal no more,” that is what the Bible says. It is right about face.
Take another illustration. Here comes a man and he admits that he gets drunk every week. That man comes to a meeting and he wants to be converted. I say, “Don’t you be in a hurry. I believe in doing the work gradually. Don’t you get drunk and knock your wife down more than once a month.” Wouldn’t it be refreshing to your wife to go a whole month without being knocked down? Once a month, only twelve times in a year! Wouldn’t she be glad to have you converted in this new way! Only get drunk after a few years on the anniversary of your wedding, and at Christmas; and then it will be effective because it is gradual. Oh! I detest, all that kind of teaching. Let us go to the Bible and see what that old Book teaches. Let us believe it, and go and act as if we believed it, too. Salvation is instantaneous. I admit that a man may be converted so that he can not tell when he crossed the line between death and life, but I also believe a man may be a thief one moment and a saint the next. I believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, and be saved the next.
Christian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man passes from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the mind—“He that believeth on the Sonhatheverlasting life.”
People say they want to become heavenly-minded. Well, read aboutheavenand talk about it. I once preached on “Heaven,” and after the meeting a lady came to me and said, “Why, Mr. Moody, I didn’t know there were so many verses in the Bible about heaven.” And I hadn’t taken one out of a hundred. She was amazed that there was so much in the Bible about heaven.
When you are away from home, how you look for news! You skip everything in the daily paper until your eye catches the name of your own town or country. Now the Christian’s home is in heaven. The Scriptures contain our title-deeds to everything we shall be worth when we die. If a will has your name in it, it is no longer a dry document. Why, then, do not Christians take more interest in the Bible?
Then, again, people say thy don’t believe inrevivals. There’s not a denomination in the world that didn’t spring from a revival. There are the Catholic and Episcopal churches claiming to be the apostolic churches and to have sprung from Pentecost; the Lutheran from Martin Luther, and so on. They all sprung out of revivals, and yet people talk against revivals! I’d as soon talk against my mother as against a revival. Wasn’t the country revived under John the Baptist? Wasn’t it under Christ’s teachings? People think that because a number of superficial cases of conversion occur at revivals that therefore revivals ought to be avoided. They forget the parable of the sower, where Jesus himself warns us of emotional hearers, who receive the word with joy, but soon fall away. If only one out of every four hearers is truly converted, as in the parable, the revival has done good.
Suppose you spend a month onRegeneration, orThe Kingdom of God, orThe Churchin the New Testament, or thedivinity of Christor theattributes of God. It will help you in your own spiritual life, and you will become a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Make a study of theHoly Spirit. There are probably five hundred passages on the Holy Spirit, and what you want is to study this subject for yourself. Take theReturn of our Lord. I know it is a controverted subject. Some say He is to come at the end of the Millennium, others say this side of the Millennium. What we want is to know what the Bible says. Why not go to the Bible and study it up for yourself; it will be worth more to you than anything you get from anyone else. ThenSeparation. 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 hunt 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 at a certain time, but, thank God, he has outlived all the other men of his time. Who were the chief men of Babylon? When God wanted any work done in Babylon, He knew where to find some one to do it. You can be in the world, but not of it. Christ didn’t take His disciples out of the world, but He prayed that they might be kept from evil. A ship in the water is all right, but when the water gets into the ship, then look out. A worldly Christian is just like a wrecked vessel at sea.
I remember once I took up thegrace of God. I didn’t know the difference between law and grace. When that truth dawned upon me and I saw the difference, I studied the whole week on grace and I got so filled that I couldn’t stay in the house. I said to the first man I met, “Do you know anything about the grace of God?” He thought I was a lunatic. And I just poured out for about an hour on the grace of God.
Study the subject ofPrayer. “For real business at the mercy seat,” says Spurgeon, “give me a homemade prayer, a prayer that comes out of the depths of your heart, not because you invented it, but because the Holy Spirit put it there. Though your words are broken and your sentences disconnected, God will hear you. Perhaps you can pray better without words than with them. There are prayers that break the backs of words; they are too heavy for any human language to carry.”
Some people say, “I do not believe inAssurance.” I never knew anybody who read their Bibles who did not believe in Assurance. This Book teaches nothing else. Paul says, “I know in whom I have believed.” Job says, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” It is not “I hope,” “I trust.”
The best book on Assurance was written by one called “John,” at the back part of the Bible. He wrote an epistle on this subject. Sometimes you just get a word that will be a sort of key to the epistle, and which unfolds it. Now if you turn to John 20:31, you will find it says, “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that, believing, ye might have life through His name.” Then if you turn to 1 John 5:13, you will read thus: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye mayknowthat ye have eternal life; and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” That whole epistle is written on assurance. I have no doubt John had found some people who questioned about assurance and doubted whether they were saved or not, and he took up his pen and said, “I will settle that question;” and he wrote that last verse in the twentieth chapter of his gospel.
I have heard some people say that it was not their privilege to know that they were saved; they had heard the minister say that no one could know whether they were saved or not; and they took what the minister said, instead of what the Word of God said. Others read the Bible to make it fit in and prove their favorite creed or notions; and if it does not do so, they will not read it. It has been well said that we must not read the Bible by the blue light of Presbyterianism; nor by the red light of Methodism; nor by the violet light of Episcopalianism; but by the light of the Spirit of God. If you will take up your Bible and study “assurance” for a week, you will soon see it is your privilege to know that you are a child of God.