Part 10

Here in London there is no society that would have such a man as John Bunyan once was in their company; yet the Lord saved him, and welcomed him into His kingdom. Here is some poor miserable drunkard cast out by his father and mother, and deserted by all his friends, but the Lord has received him. I have known some of the most miserable outcasts that were ever seen, cast out and despised by everybody, and yet the Lord has received them. Take Him then at His word to-day, and accept His invitation, "Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out."

But you say I must just get rid of my sins first, and then I will come to Him. Why, that's just like a man dying of the scarlet fever saying, "Oh, I'll wait till I get rid of the fever before I send for a doctor!" Why, it is just because you are a sinner, and cannot get rid of your sins, that you need a Saviour. If I was dying for want of bread, it would be just as reasonable for me to say, "When I have got rid of this hunger, then I will begin to eat." It is because I am hungry that I need to eat, and it is because we are sinners that we need Christ. It is because a man is sick that he needs a physician, and Christ is the Physician of the soul.

3. In Luke v. we read of the leper coming to Christ, and the Lord said unto him,

"I WILL: BE THOU CLEAN."

And immediately the leprosy left him. That's another _I will_ I want to call your attention to. Now, if there is any man or woman here full of the leprosy of sin, if you will but go to the Master and tell all your case to Him, He will speak to you as He did to that poor leper, and say, "I will: be thou clean," and the leprosy of your sins will flee away from you. It is the Lord, and the Lord alone, that can forgive sins. There is His word, just look it right over, "I will: be thou clean," and then put that with the other verse, "Him that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out."

THE DEVIL'S CASTAWAYS.

One day when Whitfield was preaching, he said the Lord was so anxious to save souls that He would take in the devil's castaways. Lady Huntingdon remonstrated with him, and said he ought not to make such statements. A little while after, however, there came to his preaching a poor fallen woman, an outcast from society. She was labouring under deep conviction of sin, and before long she found peace in her Saviour, and was received right into the kingdom of God. Now if there is a poor sinner here, let him take this one verse, and then keep in his mind that poor leper coming to Christ. The law forbade him to come, but Christ is above the law. "The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ."

Now, you can make a wonderful exchange to-day. You can have health in the place of sickness; you can get rid of everything that is vile and hateful in the sight of God. The Son of God comes down, and says, "I will take away your leprosy, and give you health in its stead. I will take away that terrible disease that is ruining your body and soul, and give you my righteousness in its stead. I will clothe you with the garments of salvation." Is it not a wonderful thing? That's what He means when He says _I will_. Oh, lay hold of this "I will!"

4. Now turn to Matthew x. 32: "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in heaven." There's the

"I WILL" OF CONFESSION.

Now, that's the next thing that takes place after a man is saved. We have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, and the next thing is to get our mouths opened. We have to confess Christ here in this dark world, and tell His love to others. We are not to be ashamed of the Son of God.

A man thinks it a great honour when he has achieved a victory that causes his name to be mentioned in Parliament, or in the presence of the Queen and her court. A very great honour. And in China, we read, the highest ambition of the successful soldier is to have his name written in the palace or temple of Confucius. But just think of having your name mentioned in the kingdom of heaven by the Prince of Glory, by the Son of God, because you confess Him here on earth. You confess Him here; He will confess you yonder. If you wish to be brought into the clear light of liberty, you must take your stand on Christ's side. I have known many Christians go groping about in darkness, and never get into the clear light of the kingdom, because they were ashamed to confess the Son of God. Don't be ashamed, Christians, to let your friends, and even your enemies, know that you are on God's side.

5. The next _I will_ is the

"I WILL" OF SERVICE.

There are a good many Christians here, I believe, that have been quickened and aroused to say, "I want to do some service for Christ." Well, Christ says, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." There is no Christian who cannot help to bring some one to the Saviour. Christ says, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me"; and our business is just to lift up Christ, and live to Him. You may go on preaching like the angel Gabriel; but if you live like a devil, your preaching goes for nothing. I do not care how eloquent you are, and what beautiful language you use, your preaching goes for nothing. It is no good following this man or that man; follow Christ, and Him only. He says, I will make you fishers of men.

PETER HAD A GOOD HAUL ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST.

I doubt if he ever caught so many fish in one day as he did men on that day of Pentecost. Why, it would have broken every net they had on board, if they had had to drag up three thousand fishes.

Our Lord said, "Follow Me, Peter, and I will make you a fisher of men"; and Peter simply obeyed Him, and there, on that day of Pentecost, we see the result.

But there is one reason, and a great reason, why so many do not succeed. I have been asked by a great many good men, "Why is it we don't have any results? We work hard, pray hard, and preach hard, and yet the success does not come." I will tell you. It is because a good many people spend all their time mending their nets. No wonder they never catch anything.

INQUIRY MEETINGS.

But the great matter is to _hold inquiry meetings_, and thus pull the net in, and see if you have caught anything. If you are always mending and setting the net, you won't catch many fish. Whoever heard of a man going out to fish, and setting his net, and then letting it stop there, and never pulling it in? Why, everybody would laugh at the man's folly.

There was a minister in Manchester who came to me one day, and said, "I wish you would tell me why we ministers don't succeed better than we do." So I brought before him this idea of pulling in the net, and I said, You ought to pull in your nets. I said there are many ministers in Manchester who can preach much better than I can, but then I pull in the net. Many people have objections to inquiry meetings, but I urged upon him the importance of them, and the minister said, "I never did pull in the net; I will try next Sunday." He did so, and eight persons, anxious inquirers, went into his study. The next Sunday he came down to see me, and said he had never had such a Sunday in his life. He had met with marvellous blessing. The next time he drew the net there were forty, and when he came to see me at the Opera House the other day, he said to me joyfully, "Moody, I have had eight hundred conversions this last year! It is a great mistake I did not begin earlier to pull in the net." So, my friends, if you want to catch men,

JUST PULL IN THE NET.

If you only catch one, it will be something. It may be a little child, but I have known a little child convert a whole family. Why, you don't know what's in that little dull-headed boy in the inquiry-room; he may become a Martin Luther, a reformer that shall make the world tremble--you cannot tell. God uses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. God's promise is as good as a Bank of England note--"I promise to pay So-and-so," and here is one of Christ's promissory notes--"If you will follow Me, I will make you fishers of men." Will you not lay hold of the promise, and trust it, and follow Him now?

But then, if you wish to catch men, you must use a little--what shall I say?--

COMMON SENSE.

That's the plain English of it. If a man preaches the gospel, and preaches it faithfully, he ought to expect results then and there. But after he has proclaimed the glad tidings, let him have an inquiry meeting, and, if necessary, a second meeting, and go to the people's houses and talk and pray with them, and in that way hundreds will be brought to God. I believe it is the privilege of God's children to reap the fruit of their labour three hundred and sixty-five days in the year.

"Well, but," say some, "is there not a sowing time as well as harvest?" Yes, it is true, there is; but then, you can sow with one hand, and reap with the other. What would you think of a farmer who went on sowing all the year round, and never thought of reaping? I repeat it, we want to sow with one hand, and reap with the other; and if we look for the fruit of our labours, we shall see it. "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me." We must lift Christ up, and then seek men out, and bring them to Him. Then, again, you must use the right kind of bait. A good many people don't do this, and then they wonder they are not successful. You see them getting up all kinds of entertainments with which to try and catch men. They go the wrong way to work. I will tell you what this perishing world wants: it wants

CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.

There's a void in every man's bosom that wants filling up, and if we only approach them with the right kind of bait we shall catch them. This poor world needs a Saviour; and if we are going to be successful in catching men, we must preach Christ crucified--_not His life only, but His death_. And if we are only faithful in doing this we shall succeed. And why? Because there is His promise: "If you follow Me, I will make you fishers of men." And that promise holds just as good to you and me as it did to His disciples, and is as true now as it was in their time. "They that are wise shall shine like the sun in the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever." Think then of the exalted privilege of turning one soul to Christ. You set a stream in motion that shall go on running for ages after you are gone. "Blessed are they that die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

PAUL AND HIS WRITINGS.

Think of Paul up yonder. Why people are going up every day and every hour, the men and women that have been brought to Christ through his writings. He set streams in motion that have flowed on for more than a thousand years. I can imagine men going up there and saying, "Paul, I thank thee for writing that letter to the Ephesians; I found Christ in that." "Paul, I thank thee for writing that epistle to the Corinthians." "Paul, I found Christ in that epistle to the Philippians." "I thank thee, Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians; I found Christ in that." And so, I suppose, they are going up still, thanking Paul all the while for what he had done. Ah, when Paul was put in prison he did not fold his hands and sit down in idleness. No, he began to write; and his epistles have come down through the long ages of time, and brought thousands on thousands to a knowledge of Christ crucified. Yes, Christ said to Paul, "I will make thee a fisher of men if thou wilt follow Me," and he has been fishing for souls ever since. The devil thought he had done a very wise thing when he got Paul into prison, but he was very much mistaken; he overdid it for once. I have no doubt Paul has thanked God ever since for that Philippian gaol, and his stripes and imprisonment there. I am sure the world has made more by it than we shall ever know till we get to heaven.

6. We find the next "I will" is in John xiv. 18:

"I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS."

To me it is a sweet thought, that Christ has not left us alone in this dark wilderness here below. Although He has gone up on high, and taken His seat by the Father's throne, He has not left us. The better translation is, "I will not leave you orphans." He did not leave Joseph when they cast him into prison. "God was with him." When Daniel was cast into the den of lions, they had to put the Almighty in with him. They were so bound together that they could not be separated, and so God went down into the den of lions with Daniel.

NO SEPARATION.

If we have got Christ with us we can do all things. Do not let us be thinking how weak we are. Let us lift up our eyes to Him, and think of Him as our Elder Brother, who has all power given to Him in heaven and on earth. He says: "Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world." Some of our children and friends leave us, and it is a very sad hour when some member of our family goes to a distant country--perhaps to Australia. But, thank God, the believer and Christ shall never be separated. He is with us here, and we shall be with Him in person by and by. We shall be with Him, and see Him in His beauty by and by. But not only is He with us, but He has sent us the Holy Ghost, who will tell us all things. Let us honour the Holy Ghost by acknowledging that He is here in our midst. He has got power to give sight to the blind, liberty to the captive, and to open the ears of the deaf that they may hear the glorious words of the gospel.

7. Then there is another _I will_ in John vi. 40; it occurs four times in the chapter: "I will raise him up at the last day."

THE "I WILL" OF RESURRECTION.

To me it is a very sweet thought to think that I have a Saviour who has power over death. My blessed Master holds the keys of death and hell. I pity the poor unbeliever and the poor infidel. They have no hope in resurrection. But every child of God can open that chapter and read the promise, and his heart ought to leap within him for joy as he reads it. You know the tradesman generally puts the best specimen of his wares in the window to show us the quality of his stock. And so, when Christ was down here, He gave us a specimen of what He could do. He just raised three from the dead, that we might know what power He had. There was (1) Jairus's daughter, (2) the widow's son, and (3) Lazarus of Bethany. He raised all three of them, so that every doubt might be swept away from our hearts. How dark and gloomy this world would be if we had no hope in the resurrection; but now, when we lay our little children down in the grave, although it is in sorrow, it is not without hope. We have seen them pass away, we have seen them in the terrible struggle with death; but there has been one star to illumine the darkness and gloom--the thought, that though the happy circle has been broken on earth, it shall be completed again in yon world of heavenly light. You that have lost a loved one rejoice as you read that "I will." Those that have died in Christ shall come forth again by and by. The darkness shall flee away, and the morning light of the resurrection shall dawn upon us. It is only a little while, and He that has said it shall come, His voice shall be heard in the grave--"I will raise him up at the last day." Precious promise! precious _I will!_

8. Now, the next _I will_ is in John xvii. 24: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am."

THE "I WILL" OF GLORY.

That was in His last prayer in the guest-chamber, on the last night before He was crucified and died that terrible death on Calvary. I see some here whose countenances begin to light up at the thought that they shall be with the King in His beauty by and by. Yes; there is a glorious day before us in the future. Some think that on the first day they are converted they have got everything. To be sure, we get salvation for the past, and peace for the present; but then there is the glory for the future. That's what kept Paul rejoicing. He said, "These light afflictions, these few stripes, these few brickbats and stones that they throw at me--why, the glory that is beyond excels them so much that I count them as nothing, nothing at all, so that I may win Christ." And so, when things go against us, let us cheer up; let us remember that the night will soon pass away, and the morning dawn upon us.

DEATH NEVER COMES THERE.

It is banished from that heavenly land. Sickness, and pain, and sorrow come not there to mar that grand and glorious home where we shall be by and by with the Master. God's family will be all together there. Glorious future, my friends! Yes, glorious day! and it may be a great deal nearer than many of us think. During these few dark days we are here, let us stand steadfast and firm, and by and by we shall be in the unbroken circle in yon world of light, and have the King in our midst.

THE SINNER'S "I WILL."

And now there is just one _I will_ that I want you to say, and that is the _I will_ of the sinner. You have got the eight "I wills" of Christ: (1) He will give us rest; (2) He will not cast out the vilest, but will receive all that come; (3) He will make us clean; (4) He will confess us as His; (5) He will make us successful winners of souls; (6) He will not leave us comfortless; (7) He will raise us up at the last day; and (8) He wills that we be with Him in glory.

And now I want sinners to say,

"I WILL ARISE, AND GO TO MY FATHER."

Who will say it this afternoon? Who will come to God as the poor prodigal did? I can see him now. Perhaps he is looking over those blue hills; and away in the distance he can see the home he has left, and he knows that there's a loving father, a grey-headed man there; and he says, I perish here in a foreign land, while there is bread enough and to spare in that home which I have left; "I will arise, and go to my father." That was the turning-point in his life. That was a glorious thing to do, was it not, sinner?

When Mr. Spurgeon preached the other day in the West End, he summed up the things his audience had got over. Some of you, he said, have got over the prayers of faithful Sabbath-school teachers who used to weep over you, and come to the house and talk to you. You resisted all their entreaties, and got over their influence. And you have got over your mother's tears and prayers, and she, perhaps, sleeps in the grave to-day; you have got over the tears and prayers of your father and of your minister, who has prayed with you and wept with you, a godly, faithful minister. There was a time when his sermons got right hold of you, but you have got over them now, and his sermons make no impression on you; you have been through special meetings, and they have made no impression on you, they have not touched you. Still, you say, you are getting on. Well, so you are; but bear in mind, you are getting on as fast as you can to hell, and there is not one man in ten thousand who can hope to be saved after he has grown so hard-hearted.

Oh, my friends, say I will arise to-day! Let there be joy in heaven to-day over your return. We read in Luke xv., "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." May many return now, and live.

I am lost, and yet I know, Earth can never heal my woe I will rise at once and go, Jesus died for me.

THE RIGHT KIND OF FAITH

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"--Acts xvi. 30.

I do not know of any more important truth to bring out than the answer to this question, because that is the beginning of everything with regard to the divine life. A man must know he is saved before there is any peace, or joy, or comfort. The answer to the question is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"; and the question that comes right after that from almost every one is, "What is it to believe?" I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; I believe that He came into the world to save sinners. Well, and so do the devils. The devils not only believe, but they tremble. I can believe intellectually that Jesus Christ is able and willing to save, and yet be as far from the kingdom of God as any man who never heard about Jesus Christ. To believe that He can and is willing to save you, won't save you. I will now take up the word "faith," which means believing.

THE BIBLE DEFINITION OF FAITH.

People say, "What is faith?" Now the Bible definition of faith is perhaps as good as any one that we know of. We are told in Hebrews xi., "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Now faith is--what? The substance, or, as you have it in the margin, "ground" or "confidence." In other words, faith is dependence upon the veracity of another. Why, all business is carried on on this principle of faith. Let men lose confidence one in another, and see how quick business could cease here in London. Let men withdraw their confidence, and see what would take place in the commercial world to-morrow. It was faith that brought you here. If you had not faith to believe that there would be a meeting in this hall, you would not have come. Somebody said there are three things about faith--knowledge, assent, and laying hold, and it is the last clause that is safe. Not the knowledge. A great many people say, "I believe Christ is able to save." They give their assent, and say, "I believe" but that does not save. It is the last clause, the laying hold, that saves, and that is what we want to press upon you.

Faith has an outward look, not an inward one. Hundreds of people spend time in looking at their own hearts, but

FAITH IS AN OUTWARD LOOK.

We are to have faith in God, and not in man. A great many people place their faith in men, and they pin their faith to other people's doctrines and creeds. Not long ago I heard of a man who was asked what he believed. He said he believed what his church believed. "What does your church believe?" "The church believes what I believe." And that was all they could get out of him. There are a great many in that same state of mind. They believe what the church believes, but they do not know what the church believes. If their church teaches it, they believe it. All the churches in the world can't save a soul. It is not to have faith in this church or that church, this doctrine or that doctrine, this man or that man, but it is to have faith in the man Christ Jesus at the right hand of God. That is the only faith that will ever save a soul.

PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN MAN.