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D.L. Moody Weekly: Heavenly Treasures

Last night, you remember, our subject was heaven, and we were trying to find out who were there; and I want to take the subject right up where I left off. And I call your attention to the 6th chapter of Matthew and 19th verse, where you will find these words: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” Now, if we are living as the Lord would have us live, our treasures are laid up in heaven, and not laid up on the earth; and I think we would be saved from a great many painful hours, and a great deal of trouble, if we would just obey that portion of Scripture, and lay up our treasures in heaven, and not upon the earth. It is just as much a command that we lay up our treasures in heaven, and not upon the earth, as it is that we shall not steal. It is a command.

Now, it don’t take long to tell where a man’s treasure is; it don’t take long to find out where a man’s heart is. You talk with a man five minutes, and if he has got his heart upon any one object, you can find it out, if that is your aim. And now, if you want to find out where a man’s treasure is, it won’t take you long to find that out either; for you know that the Bible tells us: “Where your treasure is, there shall your heart be also.” And the reason we have so many earthly-minded people, and so few people of heavenly minds, is because the many have their whole hearts set upon earthly pleasures and objects, and the few have their treasures laid up in heaven. If your treasure is here, you will all the time be disappointed and in trouble and trial, when the Lord has told you plainly to lay up your treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal. Now, you talk with a man a few minutes, and you soon find out where his heart is. Talk about money; and if he loves money, and is making money and longing for more, how his eye will light up; and if he is fond of politics, and you refer to that, his whole face kindles up, for you have touched his heart and the subject dearest to him. If it is pleasure, or if it is passion, speak about it and he is interested at once. But the child of God, who has got his treasures up yonder, when you talk about heaven you will see his heart is there; and if a man’s heart is in heaven, it is not an effort for him to talk about it at all. He cannot help it. And if our affections are set on things above and not on this earth, it will be easy for us to live for God.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Heavenly Treausres in The Gospel Awakening.

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D.L. Moody Weekly: Heaven

We have for our subject this evening, heaven. It is not as some talk about heaven, as just the air. I find a good many people now that think there is no heaven, only just here in this world; that this is all the heaven we will ever see. I talked with a man the other day, who said he thought there is nothing to justify us in believing there is any other heaven than that which we are in now. Well, if this is heaven, it is a very strange kind of heaven—this world of sickness, and sorrow, and sin. If he thinks this is really all the heaven we are going to see, he has a queer idea of it.

There are three heavens spoken of in the Bible, and the Hebrews acknowledge in their writings three heavens. The first is the aerial – the air, the wind, the air that the birds fly in; that is one heaven. Then, there is the heaven of the firmament, where the stars are; and then there is the heaven of heavens, where God’s throne is and the mansions of the Lord are – the mansions of light and peace, the home of the blessed, the home of the Redeemer, where the angels dwell. That is the heaven that we believe in, and the heaven that we want to talk about today. We believe it is just as much a place and just as much a city as New York is, and a good deal more; because New York will pass away, and that city will abide forever. It has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. I do not think it is wrong for us to think about and talk about heaven. I was going to meeting once, some time ago, when I was asked by a friend on the way, “What will be the subject of your speech?��� I said, “My subject will be heaven.” He scowled, and I asked, “Why do you look so?” He said: “I was in hopes you would give us something practical tonight. We cannot know anything about heaven. It is all speculation.” Now, all Scripture is given us by the inspiration of God. Some is given for warnings, some for encouragement. If God did not want to think about heaven and talk about it down here, there would not be so much said about heaven in Scripture, and not so many promises about it. If we thought more about those mansions that God is preparing for us, we would be thinking more of things above, and less of things of this earth.

Dear friends, let me ask you the question today, have you got a home beyond the grave? Can you say your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life? Can you rejoice as only Christ’s disciples rejoice, because your name is there? If you cannot, then don’t let the sun go down until the great question of eternity is settled. Let the news flash over the wires of heaven, up to the throne of God, that you want your name there: “Oh, let my name be written in the Book of Life!” And then when your name is called, and there is a voice heard, “Come up hither!” you will go with joy and gladness to meet your Lord and Savior. That great roll is being called; and it will be a very important thing, more important than anything else when the hour comes, that our names be written in the book of life; for God says, except it is written in the book of life, we shall not enter that city. The gates will be closed against us; no one will enter the kingdom of God except those whose names are written in the book of life. So, my friends, let us be wise. Let us see that our names are there; and then let us go to work, and see if we cannot bring our children to Christ.

Fathers and mothers, let us be wise unto eternity, and bring our children into the kingdom with us. But you may say, What has this to do with heaven? You cannot talk about heaven, but the children must be spoke of, “For of such is the kingdom of heaven.” It seems to me, we ought to teach our children so that they will hail with joy the time that they can go to meet Jesus, their blessed Savior. Oh, may the Spirit of the Lord God come upon this assembly to-night, and may we know that our names are written in the kingdom of heaven, and then see that the children whom God has given us are written in the book of life.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Heaven  in The Gospel Awakening.

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D.L. Moody Weekly: Seek the Lord

In the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, and the 13th verse, it says: “And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” I wish men would seek for Christ as they seek for wealth. I wish men would seek for Christ as they seek for position in this world. Man prepares his feast, and there is a great rush to see who will get there first. God prepares his feast, and the excuses come in: “I pray thee have me excused.” Supposing I should state that last night a man came into this place and lost a very valuable present; something he valued a great deal more than the value of the present, because it was the gift of his dying mother. Suppose he should send up a note to me, saying: “Mr. Moody, I lost, last night, a very valuable diamond; and I am willing to give anyone that can find that diamond, $20,000.” I am sure there would be a great search. How many do you suppose would be seeking for that diamond? I would not give much for my sermon tonight. A man might say: “I am poor; and if I could find that diamond, wouldn’t that take me out of poverty and out of want?” You wouldn’t wait until I got through my sermon; but you would be looking down at your feet, and under the benches. My friend, isn’t the salvation of your soul worth more than all the diamonds that the world has seen? Isn’t it worth more than the whole world itself, and isn’t it the best thing you can do tonight to seek the Lord?

Thanks be to God that you haven’t got to go around the world to get salvation; you haven’t got to go out of this building to find salvation. “Ye shall find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Now, my friend, do you believe it? Young man, do you believe that the Lord can be found here tonight? If he can be found, why not seek for him, and why not look? This cold, bleak night may be the night of your salvation. If it is true that the Lord is worth more than the whole world, and he can be found by seeking, why not seek for him? – not with half a heart, but with all your heart.

How many men were there that were converted in the great revival of ‘57 and ‘58, and yet some people cry out against revivals. They had rather be converted at any time than during a revival. It was not long after the revival of ‘57 and ‘58 that the nation was deluged with blood, and half a million men laid down their lives. Wasn’t it the best thing they could have done, to seek the Lord then? It was my privilege to be in the army at that time. I was by their cots, and I saw them die. I never saw a man all through the war that regretted that he became a Christian. The best thing they could do was to call upon the Lord. It was a great calamity, and came right home to the heart of the nation. We are just now, I am afraid, going to have some of this sad work. I believe that we are even now on the eve of just such work. I believe that judgments are going to happen upon this nation again. Grace always precedes judgments.

By and by will come the piercing cry, “It’s too late!” To-night I plead with you to neglect it no longer. Some of you here may hear the appeal for the last time. Oh, may the Holy Spirit open your eyes to-night! While we were in Europe, a man came into one of the meetings in the coal region; and when the audience was dismissed, he was seen to remain, standing against a post. One of the elders approached him, and asked him why he remained. He said he had made up his mind not to leave that church until he found the kingdom of God. The elder remained with him for a long time, and at last the miner made a surrender. The next day he went into the coal-pit, and before night the mine fell in and buried him. He was taken from the ruins just before life became extinct, and was heard to say: “It is a good thing I settled it last night.” Wasn’t it a good thing? Young lady, what say you? Young man, what do you think?

When Mr. Sankey and I were in the North of England, I was preaching one evening, and before me sat a lady who was a skeptic. When I had finished, I asked all who were anxious to remain. Nearly all remained, herself among the number. I asked her if she was a Christian: and she said she was not, nor did she care to be. I prayed for her there. On inquiry, I learned that she was a lady of good social position, but very worldly. She continued to attend the meetings, and in a week after I saw her in tears. After the sermon I went to her, and asked her if she was of the same mind as before. She replied that Christ had come to her, and she was happy. Last autumn I had a note from her husband, saying she was dead, that her love for her Master had continually increased. When I read that note, I felt paid for crossing the Atlantic. She worked sweetly after her conversion, and was the means of winning many of her fashionable friends to Christ. Oh, may you seek the Lord while He may be found, and may you call upon him while you may.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Seek the Lord  in The Gospel Awakening.

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D.L. Moody Weekly: God is Able to Save unto the Utmost

Let us see how God is able to save unto the utmost. I want you to read the 14th and 15th verses of John chapter 3: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” “That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Let me tell those who are unsaved within these walls tonight what God has done for you. He has done everything that he could do towards your salvation. You need not wait for God to do anything more. In one place he asks the question what more could he do. He sent his prophets and they killed them; and then he sent his beloved Son and they murdered him. And at last he has sent the Holy Ghost, to convince us of sin and how we are to be saved. We are all sinners; and every man and woman knows in their hearts that they are sinners. Now we come here tonight to tell you the remedy for sin, and to tell you how you are to be saved from sin. Jesus came into the world to save that which was lost; for you know there is no name given unto men whereby they can be saved but through the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. And again, “He shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” No sinner need die if he but put his trust in Christ. There is no salvation in anything else, or any other name.

Take the 3rd chapter of Acts, and you may read from there on through all the chapters; and there is hardly one but speaks of Christ’s death and Christ crucified; of Christ dying for thee, or rising again for thee, of ascending into heaven for thee, and of coming again for thee. That is the gospel of Paul and of Peter; that is the gospel that Stephen preached when they condemned him to death. Paul preached that at Antioch, Corinth and Ephesus. Yes, Christ crucified – that is the remedy for sin. We hear a great many men murmur because God permitted sin to come into the world. They say it is a great mystery. Well, I say, too, it is a great mystery. You may recollect how it also was a mystery to Horataus Bonar. He said that, although it was a great mystery how sin came into the world, it was a greater mystery how God came here to bear the brunt of it himself. We could speak all the time about the origin of sin; how it came into the world, but that is not going to help us. If I see a man tumble into the river and going to drown, it would do no good for me to sit down and bow my head, and indulge in deep thought and reasoning how he came to get in there. The great question would then be, how he was to be got out. Just look over your own life. You can prove that you are a sinner and have need of repentance; or if you cannot do it to your own satisfaction, there are some of your neighbors, no doubt, who can do it for you.

Bear in mind, sinner, that he died for all. Look in time, sinner; and be you saved, if there is none else. If Christ opened the way, it is the way. What other name is there given whereby we can be saved? We don’t want to look at Moses. Moses is all right in his place; but Moses can’t save you. You need not look to these ministers. They are just God’s chosen instruments to hold up the serpent, to hold up the remedy, to hold up Christ. And so, my friends, take your eyes off from men. Take your eyes off from the church, but lift them up to Jesus, who took away the sins of the world; and there will be life from this hour. Thank God, we don’t need an education to know how to look. That little girl who can’t read, that little boy four years old who can’t read, can look. That little boy, when the father is coming home, the mother says, “Look! Look! Look!” and the little child learns to look long before he is a year old; and that is the way to be saved. It is, “Look at the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world;” and there is life tonight, and this moment, for every man that is willing to look. Not look at the church, not look at yourselves, but look at Christ. Some people say: “There is a man; what faith he has got; I wish I had his faith.” You might as well say, “I wish I had his eyes.” You don’t need his faith. What you need is his Christ. You need not be wishing for his eyes; you have got eyes of your own.

Some men say, “I wish I knew just how to be saved.” Just take God at his word, and trust his Son this very night, and this very hour, and this very moment. He will save you, if you will trust him. I imagine I hear some one saying: ‘I don’t feel the bite as much as I wish I could. I know I’m a sinner and all that, but I don’t feel the bite enough.” How much do you want to feel it? How much does God want you to feel it? When I was in Belfast I knew a doctor who had a friend, a leading surgeon there; and he told me that the surgeon’s custom was, before performing an operation, to say to the patient, “Take a good look at the wound, and then fix your eyes on me, and don’t take them off till I get through.” I thought at the time that was a good illustration. Sinner, take a good look at the wound tonight; and then fix your eye on Christ, and don’t take it off. It is better to look at the remedy than at the wound. See what a poor wretched sinner you are; and then look at the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. He died for the ungodly and the sinner. Say, “I’ll take him;” and may God help you to lift your eye to the Man on Calvary; and as the Israelites looked upon the serpent and were healed, so you may look and live tonight.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon How to be Born Again  in The Gospel Awakening.

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D.L. Moody Weekly: Come Into the Ark — While that Door is Open

The word comes to Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” Now you see all Noah’s neighbors and friends ridiculing him as he moves in. They say he certainly is mad. After he has moved in, the first thing that alarms them is, they rise one morning, and lo and behold! the heavens are filled with the fowls of the air. They are flying into the ark, two by two. They come from the desert; they come from its mountain; they come from all parts of the world. They are going into the ark. It must have been a curious sight. I can hear the people cry, “Great God! what is the meaning of this?” And they look down on the earth; and, with great alarm and surprise, they see little insects creeping up two by two, coming from all parts of the world. Then behold there come the tiger and the elephant, two by two. The neighbors cry out, “What does this mean?” They run to their statesmen and wise men, who have told them there was no sign of a coming storm, and ask them why it is that those birds, animals, and creeping things go toward the ark, as if guided by some unseen hand. “Well,” the statesmen and wise men say, “we cannot explain it; but give yourselves no trouble; God is not going to destroy the world. Business was never better than it is now. Do you think if God was going to destroy the world, he would let us go on so prosperous as he has? There is no sign of a coming storm. What has made these creeping insects and these wild beasts of the forest go into the ark, we do not know. We cannot understand it; it is very strange. But there is no sign of anything going to happen. The stars are bright, and the sun shines as bright as ever it did. The lambs are skipping upon the hillside, and everything moves on as it has been moving for all time past. You can hear the children playing in the street. You can hear the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the land, and all is merry as ever.” I imagine the alarm passed away, and they fell into their regular courses. Noah comes out and says: “The door is going to be shut. Come in. God is going to destroy the world. See the animals, how they have come up; the communication has come to them direct from Heaven.” But the people only mocked on.

One morning they are startled. They see that the great door of the ark is shut. The door of that ark must have been a large one. We are told God shut it. Perhaps it was so large no one could shut it. The same God that shut Noah in, shut the world out. It was a door of mercy and grace to those inside, but a warning to those outside. God shut that door, and shut them in. Matthew tells us that when the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, there will be no hope. Thank God the door of grace and mercy is open to-night. When that door is shut, there will be no hope for those outside of the ark of safety. “In a day that ye think not, the Son of Man shall come.” That door of mercy and grace may be shut at any moment. While that door is open, and God calls you, oh, be wise, and step into the ark!

The time is coming again when God is going to deal in judgment with the world. It is but a little while; we know not when, but it is sure to come. God’s word has gone forth that this world shall be rolled together like a scroll, and shall be on fire. What then will become of your soul? It is a loving call, “Now come, thou and all thy house, into the ark.” Twenty-four hours before that rain began to fall, Noah’s ark, if it had been sold at auction, would not have brought as much as it would be worth for kindling wood. But twenty-four hours after the rain began to fall, Noah’s ark was worth more than all the world. There was not then a man living but would have given all his living for a seat in Noah’s ark. You may turn away from this hall to-night, and laugh. “I believe in Christ!” you say. “I would rather be without him than to have him.” But bear in mind the time is coming that Christ will be worth more to you than ten thousand worlds like this. Bear in mind that he is offered to you to-night. It is a day of grace; it is a day of mercy. Do you know if you read your Bible carefully, that God always precedes judgment with grace? Grace is a forerunner of judgment. Now he called these men in the days of Noah in love. They would have been saved in those one hundred and twenty years.

God seeks to be merciful, and he wants to have you and your children saved. God said to Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” Father, are you in? Then you should not rest until your children are in. The burden of my prayer is that God may save my children. What would have been Noah’s feelings if he had left one son out of the ark, when those judgment waves came against it? He would have said: “There is my poor boy on some mountain. Poor boy. Would to God I had died in his place. I would rather have perished on the mountain than had him perish.” It is a glorious sight to see a whole family going into the ark. God said to Noah: “Come thou and all thy family into the ark.” Hear the voice of God calling you into the ark, and set your face like a flint and say, “I will press into the kingdom of God.”

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Come into the Ark in The Gospel Awakening.

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D.L. Moody Weekly: Come into the Ark

This word “come” you will find in all parts of the Bible; but this is the first time it occurs. One hundred and twenty years before this invitation was given, Noah had received the most awful tidings that ever came from Heaven to earth. No tidings like that had ever come to this earth. God told Noah he was going to destroy man on account of his wickedness. Some skeptics will say: “I wonder if that man believes there ever was a flood. I thought we in this age of the world had got beyond that.” A great many people say: “I don’t believe there ever was a flood upon the earth. There are some things in the Bible I believe, and some things I do not believe.” Some people say: “I believe the New Testament, but not the Old Testament. There are a great many things in the Old Testament which I can not believe.” Well, if you throw out some things you most throw out the whole. Take the narrative of the flood out of the Old Testament, and you must cut the New Testament to pieces; because the Son of God said: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.” He put his divine seal upon it. If you can make it appear that God did tell a lie and misrepresent one thing, then all his teaching goes for naught. I believe there was a flood, just as much as I believe I exist. I do not see how any man can read the Bible and doubt it. Some of the scientific men try to get over it; but they have to believe it. Heathen nations tell us they found the skeleton of a whale in Asia; and there are other indications of a flood having at one time covered the earth. Skeptics try to make out these things were not caused by the flood recorded in Scripture. They do it because they know if the Bible is true it condemns them. Now, good men could not have written the Bible unless it is true; and what would be the object of bad men writing such a book, condemning themselves?

I will now call your attention to the message: “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” Noah was one hundred and twenty years building that ark; and in all those years it was a warning to the people. It was Noah’s testimony. Every time he drove a nail, it was a warning to them. Every sound of the hammer said, “I believe God.” Noah said, “I believe God.” All the rest of the world did not believe. There was not another family in the world that believed God. Men turned away, and reasoned in this way: “Why, if it was true, others would know it besides Noah.” In our day people say: “Because a great many people don’t believe God, God cannot be true.” They think in consequence of sin, God is a failure. Are the decrees of heaven changed because men do not believe them?

God told Noah to build the ark. It was to be five hundred feet long; it was to be eighty feet wide and fifty feet high; it was to have three stories. If the floors were put on one level, it would be fifteen hundred feet long, two hundred and forty feet wide, and sixteen or seventeen feet high. This building we are in would be nothing to it. You could put five or six such buildings as this into it. That was no small undertaking in those days. I can imagine the people said: “How are you going to get the animals into the ark?” A great many men are ready to ridicule. No man stands up for God but he has to suffer ridicule, scorn, and contempt. I have no doubt that when Noah walked down to his home the people called him, “the lunatic;” they called him, “the old dreamer.” They said he was a fanatic, and was spending all his means in that ark; that he was wasting his time, energies, and strength in a foolish undertaking. Men caviled and laughed at him. If there had been any preachers in those days, they would have preached about him and warned the people against him. If there had been any theatres, they would have had him represented on the floors of those theatres building the ark; and if there had been asylums for the insane, no doubt they would have put him in one, if God had not protected him. If we are true to God, we must be true in heart. All classes of the people were opposed to Noah. The great men of that time, the scientific men, the statesmen, the princes, kings, and rulers,—the whole world were all against him. But thanks be to God, Noah lived and walked close to God, and his children had confidence in him. And when the word came from God for them to move into the ark, they all went in with him.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Come into the Ark in The Gospel Awakening.

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D.L. Moody Weekly: The Compassion of Christ

I want to call your attention this evening to just one word – compassion. Some time ago I took up the concordance, and ran through the life of Christ to see what it was that moved him to compassion; for we read often in his life, while he was down here, that he was moved with compassion. I was deeply pleased in my own soul as I ran through his life, and found those passages of Scripture that tell us what moved him with compassion. In the 14th chapter of Matthew and 14th verse, we find these words: “And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion towards them, and he healed their sick.” He saw the great multitude, and he was moved with compassion, and he healed their sick. And in another place it says that he healed all that had need of it.

He didn’t need anyone to tell him what was in the hearts of the people. When I stand before an audience like this I cannot read your history; but he knew the history of each one. He could read every man’s biography; he knew the whole story. And as he stood before that vast multitude, the heart of the Son of God was moved with compassion; just as in the preceding verses we find him, when John’s disciples had come to him with their sad story, and with broken hearts. Their beloved Master had just been beheaded by the wicked king; they had just buried the headless body, and came to Jesus to tell all their sorrow to him. It was the best thing they could do. No one could sympathize with them as Jesus could; no one had the same compassion with them that Jesus had. In all our troubles, the best thing we can do is to follow in the footsteps of John’s disciples, and tell it all to him. He is a high-priest that can be touched with our infirmities.

In Mark, the 1st chapter and 41st verse, there is a story that brings out the compassion of Christ. There came to him a leper, and when he saw him his heart was moved with compassion. The poor leper was full of leprosy from head to foot. I can just imagine how the leper told his whole story to Christ; and it was the very best thing he could do. He had no friends to be interested for him; he might have had a wife and family, or a loved mother, but they could not be there to plead for him. The law forbid any one speaking to him or touching him; but undoubtedly someone had some day come out and lifted up his voice, and told him that a great prophet had arisen in Israel who could cure him of the leprosy; that he was quite sure that he could do it, because he had performed miracles equal to that, and that he could give him life if he would only ask him.

Let us bring that scene down to our own day. Suppose that anyone in this assembly here tonight should find that he was a leper, and the law required him to leave home. What a scene it must have been when that poor leper left his home, left the wife of his bosom, left his own offspring, with the thought that he never was to see them again! It was worse than death; he had to go into a living sepulcher—to vanish from home, wife, from mother, father, children, friends, and live outside the walls of the city. And while he was out there, if any man should come near him, he had to cry, “Unclean, unclean, unclean!” He had to wear a certain kind of garment, so that all men should know him. You can see him outside the walls of the city. It might happen in the course of years that someone came out and shouted at the top of his voice, and told him that his little child was dying; but he could not go to see his dying child, or comfort his wife in her affliction. There in exile he had to remain, banished from home, while his body was rotting with that terrible disease, with no loved friends to care for him, nothing to do to occupy his time. That was the condition of the poor leper; and when he heard that Jesus could cure him, he went to him and said: “Lord, if thou wilt thou canst cure me; Lord, hear my pitiful story; Lord, have mercy upon me; Lord, save me.” And Jesus was moved with compassion; and he reached out his hand and touched him. The law forbade him doing it, forbade any one touching him; but that great heart was moved, and he touched the man. And the moment he touched him the leprosy was gone; he was healed that very moment. He went home, and told his wife and family what a great blessing had come to him.

Did you ever stop to think that the leprosy of sin is a thousand times worse than that leprosy? All that it could do was to destroy the body. It might eat out the eye; it might eat off the hand; it might eat off the foot – but think of the leprosy of sin! It brought angels from heaven, from the highest heights of glory down, not only into this world, but into the very pit of hell. Satan once lifted on high hallelujahs of heaven; but sin brought him out of heaven down into darkness. Look into the home of the drunkard; look into the home of the libertine; look into the home of the harlot; look into the homes of those who are living in sin! The leprosy of sin is a thousand times worse than the leprosy of the body. But if the poor sinner, all polluted with sin, will come to Christ, and say as this leper did, that we have just read about, “Lord, thou canst have compassion on me: thou canst take away this desire for sin; if thou wilt, thou canst save me,” he will save you tonight. O sinner, you had better come to him; he is the very best friend that you have. It is Jesus that we preach here tonight, the Son of God. He has come to help you; he stands in this assembly, now. We cannot see him with the bodily eye; but we can with the eye of faith; and he will save every sinner who will come to him to-night! My dear friends, will you not come to him and ask him to have mercy and compassion upon you?

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon The Compassion of Christ? in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: What Think Ye of Christ?

I want to ask you a question — not what you think of this church or that church; not what you think of this minister or that minister; nor what you think of this creed or that creed; not what you think of this denomination or that denomination. The question is not what do you think of this belief or that belief; but, “What think ye of Christ?” And I think it is a proper question. There isn’t a noted public man in this country but that if I ask what you think of him, you would give your opinion, quite freely. I hear some of you going out of the hall giving your opinion about the sermon, and sometimes it isn’t very complimentary; but that is nothing. The question is not what you think of the preaching, or what you think of the singing; but, “What think ye of Christ?” It is of very little account what you think of the minister, but it is of vast importance what you think of Christ.

I want you just to ask yourselves this question, Do you believe in Christ? Do you believe that he was the Son of God? Do you believe that he was the God-man? Do you believe that he was with God before the morning stars sang together, and voluntarily left heaven and came down into this world? Whose son was he? Was he the son of man and the Son of God? That is the question. Now, if I had come into this city to find out about someone, to find out about his character, who he was, what he was, there would be two classes of people I would go to see. I wouldn’t go to his friends only; I would go to his enemies; I would go to both classes. I would go to his friends and go to his enemies, and see what his enemies had to say about him, before I gave judgment about the man.

My witnesses are the men that talked with Christ — the bitterest enemies that he had. The first I would like to summon into this court would be the Sadducees. What was it they had against the Son of God? Why, he proclaimed the resurrection; and they didn’t believe in the resurrection. They didn’t believe in future punishment. They didn’t believe that they were going to rise again. And then the Pharisees went about planning how they might destroy him. “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them”—that was all they could bring against him. That is what we like to glory in.

Let us bring in Caiaphas, the highest ecclesiastical potentate of the earth, president of the Sanhedrim, the chief priest; and let Caiaphas open his lips, and let him tell us why he condemned the Son of God to death. Suppose he stood in my place. Caiaphas, just tell us what was the evidence you found against the Son of God. He said to him, “I adjure thee by the living God, Art thou the Son of God?” And he said, “I am.” And Caiaphas says: “When I heard it, I tore my mantle and said he was guilty of blasphemy.” That is what we glory in, his being the Son of God. Stephen said, when the heavens were opened, he looked in and saw him standing at the right hand of God. That is why they condemned the Son of God, just because he was the God-man. If he wasn’t divine, they did right to put him to death; but he was.

Let Pilate come in; now he is an impartial witness. He has no prejudice against Christ. Pilate, just speak out now and tell us why you condemned him to the scourge, and to be crucified, and why you wrote up there upon the cross: “This is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Tell us, what did you find in him – what fault? And hear what Pilate says, “I find no fault in him.” Now men condemn Pilate, and yet there are a great many men worse than Pilate; for they find fault in Jesus Christ. Said he, “I will chastise this man and let him go; for I find no fault in him.”

Yea, my friends, I will bring in Judas, the very prince of traitors. Suppose I should say: “Judas, you sold the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver; you betrayed him; you knew more about him than Caiaphas; you knew more about him than Pilate. Come, now, Judas, tell us why you betrayed Christ? You were with him; you ate with him, and drank with him, and slept with him; tell us what you think of him?” I can imagine him throwing down the thirty pieces of silver, as he cries in agony, “I betrayed innocent blood.” Oh, yes, it is easy to condemn Judas nowadays; but how many men are worse than that!

But here is another witness, and that is the Roman centurion. He occupied the same position as the sheriff does now. This centurion of the Roman band had to go to Calvary and put the Son of God to death. He is a Gentile, and an impartial judge; let him tell us what he thinks of the Son of God. Come, now, centurion, you had charge of the execution of Jesus of Nazareth; you were there when he died. Here is his testimony: “Truly, this was the Son of God.”

I wish I had time to examine his friends. It would take all day and all night, and I think the whole of the week. Suppose I could examine that mighty preacher, the prince of preachers, a man that with his eloquence—and he had the eloquence of heaven—drew all men to hear him. Now, let us call in this wilderness preacher, who looks more like Elijah than any other prophet since Elijah. Ask John the Baptist, What think ye, John, of Christ? Hear his testimony: “I bear record, this is the Son of God.” That is what he thought; he forever settled that question. Another time he says of Christ: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.”

I might bring in doubting Thomas; he didn’t believe that Christ had risen. But Christ says: “Thomas, did you say that you wouldn’t believe unless you saw? Put your fingers in my side and feel the wound there; put your fingers in the palm of my hand and feel the wound there;” and Thomas cried out, “My Lord and my God.” Convinced of the divinity of Jesus Christ, his cloud of unbelief was scattered to the four winds of heaven.

Now, before I close, let me ask you one question – take it home with you – and that is this: “Why don’t you love him?” Just think now, can you give a reason for not loving him? I knew an infidel who was asked by a little child why he didn’t love Jesus, and he finally said to himself, “I will just find out why I don’t love Jesus.” He took the Bible and opened it to the book of John – if you want to find out why you don’t love Jesus, don’t you look there. He found that God so loved the world that he gave Christ for it, and the poor infidel’s heart was broken. And that night he was on his knees crying for mercy!

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon What Think Ye of Christ? in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: Grace

I am going to take tonight a subject, rather than a text. I want to talk to you about grace. There is a sermon just in the meaning of the word. It is one of these words that are very little understood at the present time, like the word gospel. Now grace means unlimited mercy, undeserved favor, or unmerited love. I had a man come to me today to see me, and his plea was that he was not fit to be saved. He said there was no hope for him, because he had sinned all his life, and there was nothing good in him. I was very much gratified to hear him say that. There is hope for that man — and I suppose he is here tonight; and there is hope for any man who thinks there is nothing good in him.

Now let us get at the source of this stream that has been flowing through the world these hundreds of years. You know that men have been trying to find the source of the Nile. Wouldn’t it be as profitable to try to find the source of grace, because this is a stream we are all interested in? I want to call your attention to the 1st chapter of John, the 14th and 17th verses: “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Then the 17th verse: “For the law is given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Then in the 5th chapter of Romans, the 15th verse: “But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if, through the offence of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Now bear in mind that he is the God of all grace. We wouldn’t know anything about grace, if it wasn’t for Jesus Christ. I tell you, if you want to get any grace, you must know God. He is the God of all grace. He wants to deal in grace; he wants to deal with that unmerited mercy, undeserved favor, unmerited love; and if God doesn’t love man until he is worthy of his love, he won’t have time for very much love for him. He is the God of all grace.

A man who believes that he is lost is near salvation. Why? Because you haven’t got to work to convince him that he is lost. Any man or any woman here tonight who will repent and turn to God, God will save him. It don’t make any difference what your life has been in the past. I was preaching one Sunday in a church where there was a fashionable audience, and after I got through the sermon, I said: “If there are any that would like to tarry a little while, and would like to stay and talk, I would be glad to talk with you.” They all got up, turned around, and went out. I felt as though I was abandoned. When I was going out I saw a man getting behind the furnace. He hadn’t any coat on and he was weeping bitterly. I said, “My friend, what is the trouble?’ He said: “You told me tonight that I could be saved; that the grace of God would reach me. You told me that there wasn’t a man so far gone but the grace of God would reach him.” He said: “I am an exile from my family; I have drunk up $20,000 within the last few months; I have drunk up the coat off my back; and if there is hope for a poor sinner like me, I should like to be saved.” It was just like a cup of refreshment to talk to that man. I didn’t dare give him money, for fear that he would drink it up; but I got him a place to stay that night, took an interest in him, and got him a coat, and six months after that, when I left Chicago for Europe, that man was one of the most earnest Christian men I knew. The Lord had blessed him wonderfully. He was an active, capable man. The grace of God can save just such, if they will only repent. I don’t care how low he has become, the grace of God can purge him of all sin, and place him among the blessed.

Salvation is a gift from God. If a man worked it out, he would boast of what he had done and say, “Oh, I did it.” A Scotchman once said it took two persons to effect his salvation — “God gave me his grace, and I fought against him.” It is not then for men to work, or they will boast of it; and when a man boasts, you may be sure there is no conversion. We do not work to get salvation; but we work it out after we get it. If we are ever saved, it must be by grace alone. If you pay anything for salvation, it ceases to be a gift. But God isn’t down here selling salvation. And what have you to give him, if he was? What do you suppose you would give? Ah, we’re bankrupt. “The gift of God is eternal life;” that’s your hope. That grace is free to all — free to every policeman here, every fireman, every usher, every singer, every man, woman and child, every reporter, all of you. What more do you want God to do than he has done? Oh, I hope the grace of God will reach every heart here. Oh, sinner, hear those words! Oh, may the grace of God reach your heart tonight.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Grace in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: Read Your Own Biography

Now, if a man wants to find out what he is, let him turn to the 3rd chapter of Romans. He can read his life there. If you want to read your own biography, you need not write it yourself. Turn to the 3rd chapter of Romans, and it is all there, written by a man who knows a good deal more about us than we do about ourselves. Christ was the only one that ever trod this earth that saw everything in the heart of man. We read that he didn’t commit himself because he knew their hearts. The heart is deceitful. Who can know it? It is deceitful above all things and it is desperately wicked. Now, Satan either tries to make men believe that they are good enough without salvation, or if he can’t make them believe that, he tries to tell them that they are so bad God won’t have anything to do with them.

The law isn’t to save men, but the law is brought in just to show man that he is lost and ruined under the law. These people that are trying to save themselves by the law are making the worst mistake of their lives. Some people say, if they try to do right, they think that is all that is required of them. They say, “I try to keep the law.” Well, did you ever know a man keep the law, except the Son of God himself? The law was never given to save men by. “And what was the law then given for?” It was given to show man his lost and ruined condition. It was given to measure men by their fruits. Before God saves a man, he first stops his mouth. I meet some people in the inquiry-room who talk a good deal. When I meet those people, I say to myself, “They are very far from the kingdom of God.” A perfect God couldn’t give an imperfect standard; a perfect God sees that the law is pure and good; but we are not good if we don’t come up to the standard.

Stop all this idle doing, and just come to the fountain that has just been opened in the house of David for sin and uncleanliness. I can imagine some of you may say: “I am sure I am not as bad as some people. I am not a publican. I never got drunk in my life. I don’t like to have Mr. Moody say I am as bad as other people.” I don’t know but pharisaism is as bad as drunkenness, and I find you can just sum up the whole human race into about two heads – the publican and the pharisee. Yonder is an orchard, and in that orchard there are two apple trees – miserable, sour, bitter. Stop, one of them is bare; they are worthless. Why are they good for nothing? Well, one tree has got five hundred apples, and the other has got five. There is no difference. The fact is, the tree is bad. One man may have more fruit than another, but the fruit is bad – from the old Adam stock. God didn’t look for good fruit from Adam’s stock. Make the fountain good, and the stream will be good. Make men’s hearts good and their lives will be good. You might as well tell a man to jump over the moon as to be moral, if he hasn’t got God in his heart.

Christ kept the law. He was the lamb, pure and spotless. He never broke the law; therefore he can die for the sins of man. The law cuts all down, as a scythe cuts down the grass. All go down before its sweep. Right here comes in the gospel – the Son of God came to seek and to save that which was lost. The grace of God brings grace down to men. Substitution. If you take that out of the Bible, you can take the Bible along with you, if you wish to. The same story runs all through the book. The scarlet thread is unbroken from Genesis to Revelation. Christ died for us, that’s the end of the law.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon No Difference in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: A Tale of Two Fathers

A soldier, wounded during our last war, lay dying in his cot. Suddenly the deathlike stillness of the room was broken by the cry, “Here! Here!” which burst from the lips of the dying man. Friends rushed to the spot and asked what he wanted. “Hark,” he said, “they are calling the roll of heaven, and I am answering to my name.” In a few moments once more he whispered “Here!” and passed into the presence of the King. If we have made sure that our own names are written in heaven, the next most important thing is to be sure that our children’s names are there. The promise is not unto you only but unto your children.

Mother, is the name of that boy of yours written in the Lamb’s Book of life? Is it not better that your children’s names should be written there, than that you should secure for them great possessions on this dark earth? Oh, I pity the son who has never had an interest beyond the grave; but more the mother who has never told him of the rest that remaineth for the people of God. May God make fathers and mothers more faithful and true to their solemn charge, that their children may grow up to be a blessing to the world, and that they meet at last, an unbroken circle, in heaven!

Whenever I think about this subject, two fathers come before me. One lived on the Mississippi river. He was a man of great wealth. Yet he would have freely given it all could he have brought back his eldest boy from his early grave. One day that boy had been borne home unconscious. They did everything that man could do to restore him, but in vain. “He must die,” said the doctor. “But, doctor,” said the agonized father, “can you do nothing to bring him to consciousness, even for a moment?” “That may be,” said the doctor; “but he can never live.” Time passed, and after a terrible suspense the father’s wish was gratified. “My son,” he whispered, “the doctor tells me you are dying.” “Well,” said the boy, “you never prayed for me, father; won’t you pray for my lost soul now?” The father wept. It was true he had never prayed. He was a stranger to God. And in a little while that soul, unprayed for, passed into its dark eternity. Oh, father! If your boy was dying, and called on you to pray, could you lift your burdened heart to heaven? Have you learned this sweetest lesson of heaven or earth, to know and hold Communion with your God? And before this evil world has marked your dearest treasures for its prey, have you learned to lead your little ones to a children’s Christ?

What a contrast is the other father! He, too, had a lovely boy, and one day he came home to find him at the gates of death. “A great change has come over our boy,” said the weeping mother; “he has only been a little ill before, but it seems now as if he were dying fast.” The father went into the room, and placed his hand on the forehead of the little boy. He could see the boy was dying. He could feel the cold damp of death. “My son, do you know you are dying?” “No; am I?” “Yes; you are dying.” “And shall I die today?” “Yes, my boy, you cannot live till night.” “Well, then, I shall be with Jesus tonight, won’t I, father?” “Yes, my son, you will spend tonight with the Savior.” As he turned away, the little fellow saw the tears trickling over his father’s cheeks. “Don’t weep for me, father,” he said; “when I get to heaven I will go right to Jesus, and tell that ever since I can remember you have tried to lead me to Him.” God has given me one little boy, and if God should take him, I would rather have him carry such a testimony as that to my Master, than have all the wealth of the world rolled at his feet.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Heaven, pt. 1 in Twelve Select Sermons

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D.L. Moody Weekly: You Must Be Born Again

It is a very solemn question, then, that comes up before us; and would that every one should ask himself earnestly and faithfully: “Have I been born again? Have I been born of the Spirit? Have I passed from death unto life?” Now there is another class of men who say that these meetings are very good for a certain class of people. That they would be very good if you could get the drunkard here, or get the gambler here, or get other vicious people here; that would do a great deal of good. There are certain men that need to be converted, who say: “Who did Christ say this to? Who was Nicodemus? Was he a drunkard, a gambler, or a thief?” He was one of the very best men of Jerusalem; no doubt about that. He was an honorable Councillor; he belonged to the Sanhedrin; he held a very high position; he was one of the best men in the state; he was an orthodox man; he was one of the very soundest men. Why, if he were here today, he would be made a president of one of our colleges; he would be put at once into one of our seminaries, and have the ” Reverend” put before his name – “Reverend Nicodemus, D.D.,” or even “L.L.D.” And yet, what did Christ say to him? “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” So said he to the woman in the fourth chapter of St. John.

In the eighth chapter you see an example of self-righteousness, when the Pharisees were talking to him. Well, there are Pharisees at the present day, who rely upon their own merits and their own greatness. They say to you: “Oh, yes; these meetings are very good for the abandoned and the outcasts, and the unfortunate; they are very good for immoral men; but we are moral. Tell these things to men who are not moral.” They seem to think that when Jesus said, “Ye must be born again,” he meant some one else that must be born again – didn’t mean them at all. You see John the beloved when walking through the streets, and you say to him, “I met your Master last night – I went around to see him.” John would say, “How did you like him?” His friend would reply, “I never met such a person m my life; never heard a man talk as he did. What he told me has been ringing in my ears ever since. He told me that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John, does your Master talk that way all the time?” “Yes, he always talks in that way.” That man will never forget that interview. He was found in the dark by Christ; he was directed into the right way; in that way he will ever continue, and there is not a thing he would not do for Jesus. See Nicodemus. He, with Joseph of Arimathea, took down the body of Jesus and brought it away, and stayed by Jesus to the last. I never knew a man that had a personal interview with Jesus that did not stay by him. Oh, make up your mind that you will seek him, and follow him until you have an interview with him; for never man spake as that man spake. He is just the man that every one wants.

But I can imagine some one say: “If that is to have a new birth, what am I to do? I can’t create life. I certainly can’t save myself.” You certainly can’t, and we don’t preach that you can. We tell you it is utterly impossible to make a man better without Christ, and that is what men are trying to do. They are trying to patch up this old Adam’s nature. There must be a new creation. Regeneration is a new creation; and if it is a new creation, it must be the work of God. In the 1st chapter of Genesis man doesn’t appear. There is no one there but God. Man is not there to help or take part. When God created the earth, he was alone. When God redeemed the world, he was alone. “That which was born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” A man might just as well try to leap over the moon as to serve God in the flesh. Therefore “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

We may travel through the earth and see many countries; but there is one country – the land of Beulah, which John Bunyan saw in vision – that country we shall never see unless we are born again – regenerated by Christ. We look abroad and see many beautiful trees; but the tree of life we shall never see until our eyes are made clear by faith in the Savior. You may see the beautiful rivers of the earth – the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Hudson – 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. God has said it, and not man. You will never see the kingdom of God, except 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, you may go to the tower and see the crown of England, which is worth millions, and is guarded there by soldiers; but bear in mind that your eye will never rest upon the crown of life, except you are born again. You may come to these meetings and hear the songs of Zion which are sung here; but one song – that of Moses and the Lamb – the uncircumcised ear shall never hear that song, unless you are born again. We may see the beautiful mansions of New York and the Hudson; but bear in mind that 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 sight of – and from that time he became a pilgrim and a sojourner – you shall never see, unless you are born again. Many of you may 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, dear friend. You may be looking on the face of your sainted mother tonight, and feel that she is praying for you; but the time will come when you shall never see her again, except you are born again. I may be speaking to a young man or a young lady who has recently stood by the bedside of a dying mother, and she said to you, “Be sure and meet me in heaven;” and you made the promise. Ah! You shall never see her again, except you are born again. I believe Jesus of Nazareth sooner than those infidels, who say you do not have to be born again. If you see your children who have gone before, you must be born of the Spirit. I may be speaking tonight to a father and mother who have recently borne a loved one to the grave; and how dark your home seems! You will never see her again, except you are born again. If you wish to meet your loved ones, you must be born again.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon The Second Birth in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: Except a Man Be Born Again

If there are a thousand people here tonight who want to know what love God has for them, let them read the 3rd chapter of John; and they will find it there, and find eternal life. They need not go out of this hall tonight to find eternal life. They will find it here in this chapter, and find eternal life before these services close. They hear tonight how the way for the salvation of their souls is open to them. Yes, I do not know anything more important than this subject of regeneration. I don’t know of anything in the Bible more important and more plain than that; and yet it is a question that neither the churches nor the world is sound upon. There is no question upon which the churches and the world are more confounded than upon this very question of regeneration. If a man is sound on every other subject, you may find that he is unsound on this plain subject of regeneration. It is the very foundation of our hope, and the very foundation of our religion. It is a great deal better, with God’s help, to understand this question perfectly first, than to go on further in the Word of God. It is a solemn question – “Am I born of the Spirit? Have I been born again?” For you know that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Now, let me say what regeneration is not. It is not going to church. Very often I see people and ask them if they are Christians. “Yes, of course I am; at least I think I am; I go to church every Sunday.” Why, I could say to them, the very devil goes to church every Sunday; and no one goes more regularly to church than he does. If you go down in the dark alleys and by-ways of the city, and do all the good you can, preach God’s word and show God’s love to those abandoned beings – I tell you that is not regeneration; No! No! It is a false idea that you get regenerated by scattering the seed of God by the wayside. But still there is another class of Christians, or who think they are Christians. They say: “I am trying to do what is right – am I not a Christian? Is not that a new birth?” No; I tell you, no. What has that to do with being born again? There is yet another class—those who have turned over a new leaf, and think they are regenerated. No; forming a new resolution is not being born again. That will not do you any good.

Nor will being baptized do you any good. Yet you hear people say: “Why, I have been baptized, and I was born again when I was baptized.” They believe that because they are baptized into the church, they are baptized into the kingdom of God. I tell you that is utterly impossible. You may be baptized into the visible church, and yet not be baptized into the Son of God. Baptism is all right in its place. God forbid that I should say anything against it. But if you put that in the place of regeneration – in the place of a new birth – it is a terrible mistake. You cannot be baptized into the kingdom of God. If I thought I could baptize men into the kingdom of God, it would be a good deal better for me to do that than to preach. I should get a bucket of water, and go up and down the streets, and save men that way. If they would not let me do it while they were awake, I would do it while they were asleep. I would do it anyhow. For, “except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” If any one here tonight rests his hopes on anything else – any other foundation – I pray to God that he may sweep it away from him. You may be baptized into the church and not be disciples of Jesus Christ. I say to you, do not rest your hopes on that foundation. Another class says: “I go to the Lord’s supper; I partake uniformly of the sacrament.” Blessed ordinance! Jesus hath said that as often as ye do it ye commemorate his death. Yet, that is not being born again; that is not passing from death into life. It says plainly – and so plainly that there need not be any mistake about it – “Except ye are born of the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” What has a sacrament to do with that? What has baptism to do with being born again? What has going to church to do with being born again? But another man comes and says, “I say my prayers regular.” Still, I say, that that is not being born again. That is not being born of the Spirit.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon The Second Birth in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: The Gospel of Whosoever

Now, I like to proclaim the gospel, because it is to be proclaimed to all. When I see a poor drunkard, when I see a thief, when I see a prisoner in yonder prison, it is a grand, glorious thing, to go and proclaim to him the glad tidings, because I know he can be saved. There is not one that has gone so far or fallen so low but that he can be saved; because every one of God’s proclamations are headed “whosoever.” That takes in all; nobody is left out. Somebody said he had rather have “whosoever,” than his own name, because he would be afraid it was some other man who might have had his name.

This was well brought out in a prison the other day, when the chaplain said to me, “I want to tell you a scene that occurred here some time ago. Our commissioners went to the Governor of the state and got him to give his consent to pardon out five men for good behavior. The Governor said the record was to be kept in secret; the men were to know nothing about it, and at the end of six months the men were brought out, the roll was called, and the president of the commission came up and spoke to them; then putting his hands in his pocket he drew out the papers, and said to those 1,100 convicts, ‘I hold in my hand pardons for five men.’ I never witnessed anything like it. Every man held his breath, and it was as silent as death. Then the commissioners went on to tell how they got these pardons; how it was that the Governor had given them,” and the chaplain said the suspense was so great that he spoke up to the commissioner and told him to first read the names of those pardoned, before he spoke further, and the first name read out was, “Reuben Johnson will come out and get his pardon.” He held out the paper, but no one came. He looked all around, expecting to see a man spring to his feet at once; still no one arose, and he turned to the officer of the prison, and said: “Are all the convicts here?” “Yes,” was the reply. “Then, Reuben Johnson will come and get his pardon.” The real Reuben Johnson was all this time looking around to see where Reuben was; and the chaplain beckoned to him, and he turned and looked around and behind him, thinking some other man must be meant. A second time he beckoned to Reuben, and called to him, and a second time the man looked around to see where Reuben was, until at last the chaplain said to him, “You are the man, Reuben;” and he got up out of his seat and sank back again, thinking it could not be true. He had been there for nineteen years, having been placed there for life, and when he came up and took his pardon, he could hardly believe his eyes, and he went back to his seat and wept like a child; and then, when the convicts were marched back to their cells, Reuben had been so long in the habit of falling into line, and taking the lockstep with the rest, that he fell into his place, and the chaplain had to say, “Reuben, come out, you are a free man.”

As I was talking last night in the inquiry-room, a man tried to tell me that he had made many mistakes, but had committed no sins. They were all mistakes, instead of sins. Better call things by their right names. We have all sinned. There is none righteous; and there is no man that has walked the streets that has not broken the law of God. Therefore, all need a Savior; and there is no chance of one being saved, no hope of man being saved, unless he will admit first that he has sinned and is lost. Of course, if a man has not sinned he won’t need a Savior; but it is just because we have sinned that we need the gospel. Now, as I stated last night, the gospel is the very best tidings that could come to us.

In Glasgow, they were telling me of a scene that occurred when Dr. Arnott was preaching there. A woman was in great distress about her rent. She could not pay it, and so he took some money and went around to the house – went to the door and knocked. He listened, and thought he heard the footsteps of some one inside; and so he knocked louder. No one came, and he knocked still louder; but after waiting some time he went away disappointed. A few days afterward he met this lady on the street at Glasgow, and told her that he heard she had been in great distress and he went around to help her; and the woman threw up both hands and said, “Why, doctor, that was not you, was it? I was in the house all the time and I thought it was the landlord coming around to get the rent; and I kept the door bolted.” Now, Christ comes to bless. He doesn’t come to demand; He don’t come to ask you to do something that you cannot do. He comes to bless you. When he commenced his Sermon on the Mount, what did he say? “Blessed! Blessed! Blessed!” When he got ready to go back to heaven, he raised his hands over that little company and breathed upon them blessings. And so, my friends, he comes into this building to-night to bless you; to help you; He offers to be your salvation; He offers to pay all the debt you owe. You owe God a debt you cannot pay. Can you forget this? You have broken the law of God. What are you going to do with the sins you have committed?

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon The Gospel II in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: The Gospel

Christ says, “I did not come to destroy men’s lives. I came to save them.” And it seems to me to be the greatest madness that the world doesn’t receive Christ. That we should have to coax and to entreat men to receive Christ, isn’t it a mystery? Suppose, while I am preaching, a messenger should come in and bring a letter that brought good tidings to that mother. Don’t you suppose she would be glad to receive it? Suppose it told her that her boy that has been gone for ten years has returned? He ran away ten years ago, and the messenger comes in and states that he that ran away has got home. Don’t you think that mother’s face would light up, so I could see it in her countenance? And so, when I preach the gospel, I can’t help but see those that believe. The joy lights up their faces. Look at our churches, how the people throng to them to hear the gospel. Let a man preach about something else than the gospel, and see if the people would throng to them. There is a void in everyone’s heart, and that will never be filled until they receive the gospel of Christ.

Now, I want to tell you why I like the gospel; for I don’t believe God calls on us to believe the gospel without giving us good reason; and I don’t believe he would call it good news unless he gave us a reason. It has taken out of my path four of the most bitter enemies I had. The 15th chapter of Corinthians tells us that the last enemy that shall be destroyed shall be death. I see by the badges of mourning among you that many of you have lost loved ones. Many of you know what it is to have death come to your door, when some loved child has been taken from your bosom. Now, I don’t know but some of you will say, “If a person is afraid of death, he is a coward.” I don’t believe there is a man or woman that ever lived who is not afraid of death, unless they knew that Jesus Christ would overcome death. Before I knew the Son of God as my Savior, death was a terrible enemy to me. Now, up in that little New England village where I came from, it was the custom to toll out the bell whenever anyone died, and to toll one stroke for every year. Sometimes they would toll out seventy strokes for a man of seventy, or forty strokes for a man of forty. I used to think when they died at seventy, and sometimes at eighty, well, that is a good ways off. But sometimes it would be a child at my age; and then it used to be very solemn. Sometimes I could not bear to sleep in a room alone. Death used to trouble me; but thanks to God, it doesn’t trouble me now. If he should send his messenger, and the messenger should come up here on this platform and say to me, “Mr. Moody, your hour is come; I have got to take you away,” it would be joyful news for me; for though I should be absent from the body, I should be present with the Lord. Through the world I can shout, “O death, where is thy sting. And I hear the voice, I hear the voice—buried in the bosom of the Son of God.” That is what Calvary means. “The wages of sin is death,” but he took the wages himself. That is the gospel of the Son of God, and there is no fear for them who believe in Christ Jesus. There was Paul; he had got virtually over death. Let death come—”O death, where is thy sting?” Sometimes I used to go into a grave-yard when someone was about to lie down in that narrow house; and when the sexton would shovel and throw dirt in on the coffin, it would be like a death-knell to my soul. I would hear him say, “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.” Now I can measure its depths. I can shout as Paul did; I can say, “O death, where is thy sting?” But this soul of man shall go into the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Oh, the grave is lost in victory. It is lost in Christ.

Away out on the frontier of our country, out on the prairies where men sometimes go to hunt, or for other purposes, the grass in the dry season sometimes catches fire. You will see the flames uprise twenty or thirty feet high; and you will see those flames rolling over the western desert, faster than any fleet horse can run. Now what do the men do? They know it is sure death, unless they can make some escape. They would try to run away, perhaps, if they had fleet horses. But they can’t; that fire goes faster than the fleetest horse can run. What do they do? Why, they just take a match and they light the grass from it; and away it burns, and then they get into that burnt district. The fire comes on: and there they stand perfectly secure. There they stand perfectly secure—nothing to fear. Why? Because the fire has burned all there is to burn. Take your stand there on Mount Calvary. The gospel of Jesus Christ is to “Whosoever will come.” I thank God that I can come to this city of New York with a gospel that is free to all. It is free to the most abandoned. Still, it may be there are some wives that have got discouraged and disheartened. I can tell you the joyful news that your husband and sons have not gone so far but that the grace of God can save them. The Son of God came to raise up the most abandoned. I noticed, on my way down this morning, not less than four or five tramps. They looked weary and tired; I suppose they had slept on the sidewalk last night. I thought I would like to have time just to stop and tell them about the Son of God, and how Christ loved them. The gospel of the Son of God is to tell us how he loves us. He takes our feet out of the pit, and he puts our feet on to the Rock of Ages. And that, my dear friends, is what Christ wants to do; and don’t think that there isn’t someone in your homes but that he wants to save. Tell them there is none too abandoned, none so young, none so fallen, but that God can save them.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon The Gospel I in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: To Every Man His Work

I believe if the truth was known, that every man and woman in this assembly has a work laid out for them to do; that every man’s life is a plan of the Almighty, and way back in the councils of eternity God laid out a work for each one of us. There is no man living that can do the work that God has got for me to do. No one can do it but myself. And if the work ain’t done, we will have to answer for it when we stand before God’s bar. For it says: “Every man shall be brought unto judgment, and every one shall give an account of the deeds done in the body.” And it seems to me that every one of us ought to take this question home to-night: “Well, am I doing the work that God has for me to do?” God has got a work for every one of us to do. Now in the parable the man who had two talents had the same reward as the man who had five talents. He heard the same words as the man who had five talents. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” The men that take good care of the talents that God has loaned them, he always gives them more. But if we take the talent that God has given us, and lay it away carefully in a napkin and bury it away, God will take even that from us. God don’t want a man that has got one talent to do the work of a man that has got ten. All a man has got to answer for is the one that God has given him. If we were all of us doing the work that God has got for us to do, don’t you see how the work of the Lord would advance? I believe in what John Wesley used to say, “All at it, and always at it;” and that is what the church wants to-day.

But men say: “I don’t believe in these revivals; it’s only temporary, it only lasts a few minutes.” Yes, if I thought it was only to last a few minutes, I would say “Amen” to everything they say. My prayer has been for years that God will let me die when the spirit of revival dies out in my heart; and I don’t want to live any longer, if I can’t be used to some purpose. What are we all down in this world of sickness and sorrow for, unless it is to work for the Son of God, and improve the talents he has given us? But some men are not satisfied with the talents they have, but are always wishing for some one else’s talent. Now, that is all wrong. It is contrary to the spirit of Christ. Instead of wishing for some one else’s talent, let us make the best use of the talents God has given us. Now, there ain’t a father or a mother here but would think it a great misfortune if their children shouldn’t grow any for the next ten or fifteen years. That little boy there, if he shouldn’t grow any for ten or fifteen years, his mother would say, “It is a great calamity.” I know some men of my acquaintance who make the same prayers they made fifteen or twenty years ago. They are like a horse in a treadmill—it is always the same old story of their experiences when they were converted, and going round and round. If you had a child that was deaf and dumb, you would think it a great misfortune. Do you ever think how many dumb children God has got? You speak about political matters, and they can talk. You ask them what do they think about General Grant’s third term; and hear them talk. You ask them about stocks and bonds; and hear them talk. You talk to them about the hard times in New York; and see if they can’t talk. But you ask them to speak about the Son of God, and they say: “O no, I can’t speak about that. Please excuse me!”

Let us do all the business we can. If we can’t be a lighthouse, let us be a tallow candle. There used to be a period when the people came up to meeting bringing their candles with them. The first one perhaps wouldn’t make a great illumination, but when two or three got there, there would be more light. If the people of this city should do that now, if each one should come here with his candle, don’t you think there would be a good deal of light? Let all the gas be put out in this hall, and one solitary candle would give a little light here. If we can’t be a lighthouse, let us be a tallow candle. Some one said, “I can’t be anything more, than a farthing rushlight.” Well, if you can’t be more be that, that is well enough. Be all you can. What makes the Dead Sea dead? Because it is all the time receiving, never giving out anything. Why is it that many Christians are cold? Because they are all the time receiving, never giving out anything. You go every Sunday and hear good sermons. and think that is enough. You are all the time receiving these grand truths, but never give them out. When you hear it, go and scatter the sacred truth abroad. Instead of having one minister to preach to a thousand people, this thousand ought to take a sermon and spread it till it reaches those that never go to church or chapel. Instead of having a few, we ought to have thousands using the precious talents that God has given them.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon Strength in Weakness in The Gospel Awakening

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D.L. Moody Weekly: The Importance of Mothers

Another thing. It seems to me that we devote too little time to studying the Sunday-school lesson. That lesson should be taken up by parents, and they should try to explain it to their children. But how many ever think of this? How many parents ever take the trouble to inquire even as to the kind of Sunday-school teachers who instruct their children? And then we should take our children into the churches with us. It seems to me we are retrograding at the present day. A great many of our children are never seen in the churches at all. Even if the sermon doesn’t touch them, they are getting into good habits.

Encourage them to bring the text home; let the Word be spoken to them at all times, in season and out of season. If the great Bible truths sink down into their hearts, the fruit will be precious; wisdom will blossom upon them, and they will become useful in the Church, and in the world. Now, how many parents will not take the trouble to explain to the children what the minister preaches. Take your children into the pews, and let them hear the Word of God; and if they do not understand it, show it to them. You know the meat they require is the same as we feed on; but if the pieces are too large for them, we must cut it up for them—cut it finer. If the sermon is a hard one, out it into thin slices, so that they can take it.

There was a time when our little boy did not like to go to church, and would get up in the morning and say to his mother, “What day is to-morrow?” “Tuesday.” “Next day?” “Wednesday.” “Next day?” “Thursday;” and so on, till he came to the answer, “Sunday.” “Dear me,” he would moan. I said to his mother: “We cannot have our boy grow up to hate Sunday in that way; that will never do.” That is the way I used to feel, when I was a boy. I used to look upon Sunday with a certain amount of dread. Very few kind words were associated with that day. I don’t know that the minister ever said a kind thing, or ever even put his hand on my head. I don’t know that the minister even noticed me, unless it was when I was asleep in the gallery, and he woke me up. This kind of thing won’t do. We must make the Sunday the most attractive day of the week; not a day to be dreaded, but a day of pleasure.

Well, the mother took the work up with this boy. Bless those mothers in their work with the children. Sometimes I feel as if I would rather be the mother of John Wesley, or Martin Luther, or John Knox, than have all the glories in the world. Those mothers, who are faithful with the children God has given them, will not go unrewarded. My wife went to work and took those Bible stories, and put those blessed truths in a light that the child could comprehend, and soon the feeling of dread for the Sabbath with the boy was the other way. “What day is to-morrow?” he would ask. “Sunday.” “I am so glad.” And if we make these Bible truths interesting—break them up, in some shape, so that these children can get at them, then they will begin to enjoy them.

Now, there’s no influence like a mother’s; and if the mothers will give a little time to the children in this way, and read them some Bible story, or tell them it in a simple way, it will not be long before the child knows the Bible, from beginning to end. I know a little boy, eleven years of age, who got up last Monday in the meeting, and told how he found Christ. His father began by telling him Bible stories, and now he knows them as well as I do. The little fellow of eleven years is quite a preacher. Let us pick out the stories that will interest them, from Genesis to Revelation, and that is the way to bring our children to Christ. It will fill them with the gospel—fill them with Christ. They will soon be so full of Jesus that, when a skeptic comes to unseat their faith, he will find no room for unbelief.

This is from Mr. Moody’s sermon On Saving Children in The Gospel Awakening

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