Goodbye To Glory - Ichabod # 4
To this I make additional comment saying that a church deserves to have Ichabod written from its lowest cellar step to the sky-touching point of its steeple which prefers the adulation of saints to ardent anxieties concerning lost sinners as well as abhorrence of that which is evil.
Glory yields up its scepter - when the fancies of literary notables have place along with the facts of the gospel, when there is the frivolity of the flesh instead of the fervor of the spiritual in serving the Lord - godliness in form only instead of glorying in the Cross of Christ - a groping after eternal verities - and a guessing that only borders on godliness as to the certainties of God's promises instead of a guidance of others into paths of righteousness.
Glory "packs its baggage for a one-way trip" when the church people are noted for faultfinding instead of being notable for forgiveness - when offense is quickly taken and there is overlordism instead of the offering of self for lowly service - when the making of money means more than the mastery of money.
How can the glory of the church be as a sunlit mountain whose position never changes when in the church there is playing at the job and little praying on the job - when peevishness and petulance predominate over praise - when there is quarrelsomeness instead of quietness - when there is frequent rumpus-rising and riotous revelry instead of restfulness, sinfulness instead of saintliness, selfishness instead of service, tattling instead of testimony, tampering with temptation instead of triumph over temptation.
"Thy glory hath departed" will be written on earth and known in Heaven of the church where there is more yawning over watches than yearning over wanderers - where there is mere zest and not zealousness in good works. Let us so live and give, so love and serve, so watch and pray, that, if the individuals conduct were universalized, it would never be as a hand that writes of a church, "Thy glory hath departed."
The true glory of a church consists: "in the purity of its members; in its spiritual progress; in the unity of its fellowship; in the spiritual children born into its household of faith; in its self-sacrificing spirit toward others; and in the prayer life of the whole group. When a church is in a healthy condition hypocrisy will be limited; progress in purity will be constant; strife and discord will disappear; sympathy for the lost will seek means for their rescue; recruits will outnumber the losses from backsliding, removal, and death; private devotion will be a pleasure, family religion a joy, and public worship a sought delight."
Along with this let us remember that any church will undergo the frightful processes of dishonorable self-burial where there is a lax theology that advocates a mutilated Bible, a minimized sin, a deified man, a humanized Christ-substituting human opinions and speculations for the revealed pronouncements of God concerning the Bible, concerning the nature of men, concerning the terrors of sin, concerning the deity of Christ, concerning the meaning of Christ's death on the Cross, concerning the plan of salvation, concerning hell, concerning Heaven.
A Home May Lose Its Glory
Yet, glorious as the glory of a real home is, the glory can depart - sometimes does depart - assuredly will depart - if the things "down under" Christian ideals, sordidly below Christian standards for a home - get the upper hand and put their oppressive heels upon the virtues which would weave wedding garments instead of shrouds on the home loom.
Answer these questions: Are there not many homes that are polluted reservoirs which muddy streams that carry deadly contamination flow? Are there not many homes that a grindstones on which the devil sharpens his weapons of wickedness?
The glory of a home departs when parents walk on the edges of mental abysses - talking nonsense. The glory of a home will assuredly leave a home as a flower wilts under heavy frost - when parents, by neglect or omission in spiritual matters, send children out to sea in paper boats, as though seas did not drown - when parents permit children, in daring defiance of Christian conduct, to walk bare-footed on live coals, as though fire did not burn.
Today so many homes die in houses. Today many who know better, living for things that least, neglecting things that matter most, are content with houses in which their are no homes. In explorer amid the wilds of the North ever had to face as many dangers as our children of today face, their spiritual warfare, their mental wealth, their soul's salvation considered.
Parental delinquency makes glory depart from a home. Are we unfair to say that behind every delinquent child is a delinquent parent? Are we ceasing to tell the truth which we say that behind every broken youth is a broken home? Do we not speak words of truth when we say that behind every broken home is a neglect of God in that home?
When a fifteen year old unmarried girl, pregnant with child, stands before the court and states that she does not consider she has done wrong - no more than thousands of other young girls are doing - where are the mothers?
When a fourteen year old boy, apprehended for roaming the streets of a city at early morning hours, stands before the court with tears in his eyes and asks to be sent to the state school - because he knows he would be happier there than in his own home - where is the father?
~Robert G. Lee~
(continued with # 5)
A Proliferation of Christian Devotionals and Sermons
Saturday, February 23, 2019
What Shall I Do With Jesus? # 4
What Shall I Do With Jesus # 4
Lost! What will you do then? You can sit out there now and sneer at me. You can damn me, call me crude, and illiterate; but old man, I have you beat.
Now, our acceptance with God is going to depend on what we do with Jesus. The vilest sinner on earth, if he accepts Jesus Christ, will be accepted and the very moment you accept Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven. If you reject Jesus, God will spurn and reject you!
There is nothing compared with the scrutiny that we will have to pass through when we stand before God. We can't muster because of our wealth or intellectual standing. It is because of our acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ; then our becoming children of God depends on what becomes of Jesus.
There is an insidious heresy: the teaching about the universal Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, the teaching that we are all one flesh. But if you are not a child of God, you are a creature of God. We are all creatures of God. (Nobody is a child of God but a Christian.) You are my brother in the flesh; that is, you are human and I am human. But you are not my brother in the spirit unless you are a Christian. God is the Creator of us all, but God is the Father of none but those who believe in Jesus Christ.
There was one way you came into the world - you were born. There is one way you will get into Heaven - you must be born again. You have had a physical birth. You must have a spiritual birth and that must come through Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Does Jesus Christ lack anything in your esteem? Wherein does He fail to measure up to your idea? Where could He improve? What could you suggest that would improve Christ? I would be very glad to know.
A man said, "If you can find me an absolutely flawless character, I will worship Him." I challenge all the infidels on earth or in hell to find one flaw in the character of Jesus Christ.
Oh, the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, Vanderbilts, Armours, Astors are all powered to the commercial and the financial world. Kelvin, Agassiz, Newton, Spencer are all prominent in the scientific world. Caesar, Alexander, Hannibal, Napolen, Wellington, Washington, Grant, Lee are all powerful in military service. Mightier in England than the king; mightier in Germany than the emperor; mightier in America than Washington or Lincoln or Roosevelt or Bryan or Jefferson is the name of Jesus Christ!
That is the name that unhorsed Saul of Tarsus. That is the name that knocked him blind on the highway. That is the name that knocked Newton to the deck of the ship. That is the name that holds 500,000,000 of the world's population in its magic grip and power.
It is an encouraging name. Go to the cemetery, to the graves and read the epitaphs on the tombstones of the people who used to rule twenty-five or forty years ago. Oh, none so poor as to do them honor today.
Mighty names of earth will perish. All the great Caesar, Cleopatra, Nero, Charlemagne, Gregory VI, Catherine de Medici, Catherine of Russia, Louis XIV, Louis XVI, Madam du Barry, Madam Pompadour - are gone.
We will perpetuate it in art. There will be other Raphaels, there will be other Michelangelos, there will be other Murillos, there will be other da Vineis, there will be other Rubens, there will be other Corots, other Millets, other Munkacsy's to paint "Christ Before Pilate."
We will perpetuate the name of Jesus in art, in literature and in song. There will be other Cowpers who will write, "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform: He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm."
There will be other Topladys who will write, "The Rock of Ages." There will be other Blisses who will write, "Almost Persuaded." There will be other Fanny Crosbys who will write, "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross": "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour"; "Once I was Blind - Now I Can See." There will be other Charles Wesleys who will write, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul, Let Me to Thy Bosom Fly."
Oh, you can cut, burn and crucify if you will, but if he who thus dies stands for some immortal truth, his soul will merge from his mulitated casket and go sweeping triumphantly down the halls of time.
Look at the love the pure holy bear Him. See what an object of love He is with them in Heaven. Look at Him when He got ready to come to this old earth. The angels had to come down to sing to the shepherds, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11).
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 5)
Lost! What will you do then? You can sit out there now and sneer at me. You can damn me, call me crude, and illiterate; but old man, I have you beat.
Now, our acceptance with God is going to depend on what we do with Jesus. The vilest sinner on earth, if he accepts Jesus Christ, will be accepted and the very moment you accept Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven. If you reject Jesus, God will spurn and reject you!
There is nothing compared with the scrutiny that we will have to pass through when we stand before God. We can't muster because of our wealth or intellectual standing. It is because of our acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ; then our becoming children of God depends on what becomes of Jesus.
There is an insidious heresy: the teaching about the universal Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, the teaching that we are all one flesh. But if you are not a child of God, you are a creature of God. We are all creatures of God. (Nobody is a child of God but a Christian.) You are my brother in the flesh; that is, you are human and I am human. But you are not my brother in the spirit unless you are a Christian. God is the Creator of us all, but God is the Father of none but those who believe in Jesus Christ.
There was one way you came into the world - you were born. There is one way you will get into Heaven - you must be born again. You have had a physical birth. You must have a spiritual birth and that must come through Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Does Jesus Christ lack anything in your esteem? Wherein does He fail to measure up to your idea? Where could He improve? What could you suggest that would improve Christ? I would be very glad to know.
A man said, "If you can find me an absolutely flawless character, I will worship Him." I challenge all the infidels on earth or in hell to find one flaw in the character of Jesus Christ.
Oh, the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, Vanderbilts, Armours, Astors are all powered to the commercial and the financial world. Kelvin, Agassiz, Newton, Spencer are all prominent in the scientific world. Caesar, Alexander, Hannibal, Napolen, Wellington, Washington, Grant, Lee are all powerful in military service. Mightier in England than the king; mightier in Germany than the emperor; mightier in America than Washington or Lincoln or Roosevelt or Bryan or Jefferson is the name of Jesus Christ!
That is the name that unhorsed Saul of Tarsus. That is the name that knocked him blind on the highway. That is the name that knocked Newton to the deck of the ship. That is the name that holds 500,000,000 of the world's population in its magic grip and power.
It is an encouraging name. Go to the cemetery, to the graves and read the epitaphs on the tombstones of the people who used to rule twenty-five or forty years ago. Oh, none so poor as to do them honor today.
Mighty names of earth will perish. All the great Caesar, Cleopatra, Nero, Charlemagne, Gregory VI, Catherine de Medici, Catherine of Russia, Louis XIV, Louis XVI, Madam du Barry, Madam Pompadour - are gone.
We will perpetuate it in art. There will be other Raphaels, there will be other Michelangelos, there will be other Murillos, there will be other da Vineis, there will be other Rubens, there will be other Corots, other Millets, other Munkacsy's to paint "Christ Before Pilate."
We will perpetuate the name of Jesus in art, in literature and in song. There will be other Cowpers who will write, "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform: He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm."
There will be other Topladys who will write, "The Rock of Ages." There will be other Blisses who will write, "Almost Persuaded." There will be other Fanny Crosbys who will write, "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross": "Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour"; "Once I was Blind - Now I Can See." There will be other Charles Wesleys who will write, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul, Let Me to Thy Bosom Fly."
Oh, you can cut, burn and crucify if you will, but if he who thus dies stands for some immortal truth, his soul will merge from his mulitated casket and go sweeping triumphantly down the halls of time.
Look at the love the pure holy bear Him. See what an object of love He is with them in Heaven. Look at Him when He got ready to come to this old earth. The angels had to come down to sing to the shepherds, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11).
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 5)
Future Punishment And The Bible # 3
Future Punishment And The Bible # 3
Such has always been the effect of the doctrine when proclaimed in power and pity and love with the fire-touched lips of holy men and women. But let met in their folly imagine themselves wiser and more pitiful and just than God, and so begin to tone down this doctrine, then conviction for sin ceases, the instantaneous and powerful conversion of souls is laughed at, the supernatural element in religion is called fanaticism, the Holy Spirit is forgotten, and the work of God comes to a standstill.
But some one objects that God is not just to punish a man for ever for the sins he commits in the short period of a lifetime. And thus speaking he thinks of certain acts of sin such as lying, cheating, swearing, murder, or adultery. But it is not for these sins that men are sent to hell. God has pardoned multitudes who were guilty of all these sins, and has taken them home to Heaven.
All men are sent to hell by the weight and pull of their self-chosen evil and discordant nature and character, because they will not repent and turn from sin to God, but choose to remain filled with unbelief, which begets pride and self-will; consequently they are out of harmony with, and are in antagonism to God and all His humble, obedient servants; they will not come to Jesus, that they may be saved from sin and receive a new heart and life. They are dead in trespasses and sins, and they refuse the Life-Giver. Jesus says: "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life." Again He says: "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light."
If sinners would come to Christ and receive the gracious, loving life He offers, and allow Him to rule over them, God would not impute their trespasses to them, but would forgive all their iniquities, and their sins would drop off as the autumn leaves from the trees in the field.
But men will not come. They refuse the Saviour; they will not hear His voice; they turn away from His words; they remain indifferent to His entreaties; they laugh or mock at His warnings; they walk in disobedience and rebellion; they trample on His holy commandments; they choose darkness instead of light; they prefer sin to holiness, their own way to God's way; they resist the Holy Spirit: they neglect and reject Christ crucified for them - and for this they are punished.
All this stubborn resistance to God's invitations and purposes may be linked to a life of external correctness and even apparent religiousness. Not until all His judgments and warnings, His entreaties and dying love have failed to lead sinners to repentance and acceptance of the Saviour, and not until they have utterly refused the eternal blessedness of the holy, does God cease to strive with sinners and to follow them with tender mercies.
By obstinate persistence in sin men come to hate the things that God loves, and to love the things that God hates; thus they become as dead to God's will, to holiness, and to His plans for them, as the child destroyed by smallpox is dead to the hopes and plans of its mourning father and mother. And as such parents in sorrow put away the pestilence-breeding body of their dead child, so God puts sinners, in their utter spiritual corruption, away from His holy presence and from the glory of His power.
How could God more fully show His estimate of sin, with His love and pity and longing desire to save the sinner, than by dying for sinful man?
God has done that. But the sinner tramples on Christ's Blood, rejects His infinite mercy, resists His infinite love, and so hardens himself into an eternal sinner; hence he deserves eternal punishment.
If sin is such a crime - and the Bible teaches that it is - then God, as moral Governor of the universe, having provided a perfect way, to place sinners under sentence of punishment. And when God does so my conscience takes God's part against my sensibilities, and pronounces Him just and holy.
Finally, for a man to say, "I believe in Heaven, but I do not believe in hell," is much as though he should say, "I believe in mountains, but not in valleys; in heights, but not in depths." We cannot have mountains without valleys, we cannot have heights without depths, and we cannot have moral and spiritual heights without the awful possibility of moral and spiritual depths, and the depths are always equal to the heights.
The man who chooses the things God chooses, loves the things God loves, and hates the things God hates, and who, with obedient faith, takes up his cross and follows Jesus, will go to the heights of God's holiness and happiness and Heaven; but the man who goes the other way will land in the dark, bottomless abysses of hell. Every man chooses his own way!
Joseph Cook, closed his address at the Chicago Parliament of Religion with these words, which you may put on my tombstone:
Holiness, or Heaven lose.
If what Heaven loves I hate,
Shut for me is Heaven's gate.
Endless sin means endless woe,
Into endless sin I go.
If my soul from reason rest
Takes from sin its final rent
As the stream its channel grooves,
And within that channel moves;
So does habit's deepest tide
Groove its bed and there abide.
Light obeyed increaseth light;
Light resisted bringeth night.
Who shall give me will to choose,
If the love of light I lose?
Speed, my soul, this instant yield,
Let the light its sceptre wield
While thy God prolongs His grace,
Haste thee to His holy face,
HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION?
WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP."
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(The End)
Such has always been the effect of the doctrine when proclaimed in power and pity and love with the fire-touched lips of holy men and women. But let met in their folly imagine themselves wiser and more pitiful and just than God, and so begin to tone down this doctrine, then conviction for sin ceases, the instantaneous and powerful conversion of souls is laughed at, the supernatural element in religion is called fanaticism, the Holy Spirit is forgotten, and the work of God comes to a standstill.
But some one objects that God is not just to punish a man for ever for the sins he commits in the short period of a lifetime. And thus speaking he thinks of certain acts of sin such as lying, cheating, swearing, murder, or adultery. But it is not for these sins that men are sent to hell. God has pardoned multitudes who were guilty of all these sins, and has taken them home to Heaven.
All men are sent to hell by the weight and pull of their self-chosen evil and discordant nature and character, because they will not repent and turn from sin to God, but choose to remain filled with unbelief, which begets pride and self-will; consequently they are out of harmony with, and are in antagonism to God and all His humble, obedient servants; they will not come to Jesus, that they may be saved from sin and receive a new heart and life. They are dead in trespasses and sins, and they refuse the Life-Giver. Jesus says: "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life." Again He says: "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light."
If sinners would come to Christ and receive the gracious, loving life He offers, and allow Him to rule over them, God would not impute their trespasses to them, but would forgive all their iniquities, and their sins would drop off as the autumn leaves from the trees in the field.
But men will not come. They refuse the Saviour; they will not hear His voice; they turn away from His words; they remain indifferent to His entreaties; they laugh or mock at His warnings; they walk in disobedience and rebellion; they trample on His holy commandments; they choose darkness instead of light; they prefer sin to holiness, their own way to God's way; they resist the Holy Spirit: they neglect and reject Christ crucified for them - and for this they are punished.
All this stubborn resistance to God's invitations and purposes may be linked to a life of external correctness and even apparent religiousness. Not until all His judgments and warnings, His entreaties and dying love have failed to lead sinners to repentance and acceptance of the Saviour, and not until they have utterly refused the eternal blessedness of the holy, does God cease to strive with sinners and to follow them with tender mercies.
By obstinate persistence in sin men come to hate the things that God loves, and to love the things that God hates; thus they become as dead to God's will, to holiness, and to His plans for them, as the child destroyed by smallpox is dead to the hopes and plans of its mourning father and mother. And as such parents in sorrow put away the pestilence-breeding body of their dead child, so God puts sinners, in their utter spiritual corruption, away from His holy presence and from the glory of His power.
How could God more fully show His estimate of sin, with His love and pity and longing desire to save the sinner, than by dying for sinful man?
God has done that. But the sinner tramples on Christ's Blood, rejects His infinite mercy, resists His infinite love, and so hardens himself into an eternal sinner; hence he deserves eternal punishment.
If sin is such a crime - and the Bible teaches that it is - then God, as moral Governor of the universe, having provided a perfect way, to place sinners under sentence of punishment. And when God does so my conscience takes God's part against my sensibilities, and pronounces Him just and holy.
Finally, for a man to say, "I believe in Heaven, but I do not believe in hell," is much as though he should say, "I believe in mountains, but not in valleys; in heights, but not in depths." We cannot have mountains without valleys, we cannot have heights without depths, and we cannot have moral and spiritual heights without the awful possibility of moral and spiritual depths, and the depths are always equal to the heights.
The man who chooses the things God chooses, loves the things God loves, and hates the things God hates, and who, with obedient faith, takes up his cross and follows Jesus, will go to the heights of God's holiness and happiness and Heaven; but the man who goes the other way will land in the dark, bottomless abysses of hell. Every man chooses his own way!
Joseph Cook, closed his address at the Chicago Parliament of Religion with these words, which you may put on my tombstone:
Holiness, or Heaven lose.
If what Heaven loves I hate,
Shut for me is Heaven's gate.
Endless sin means endless woe,
Into endless sin I go.
If my soul from reason rest
Takes from sin its final rent
As the stream its channel grooves,
And within that channel moves;
So does habit's deepest tide
Groove its bed and there abide.
Light obeyed increaseth light;
Light resisted bringeth night.
Who shall give me will to choose,
If the love of light I lose?
Speed, my soul, this instant yield,
Let the light its sceptre wield
While thy God prolongs His grace,
Haste thee to His holy face,
HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION?
WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP."
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(The End)
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Future Punishment And The Bible # 2
Future Punishment And The Bible # 2
Some labor hard to strip this Scripture of its evident meaning and to rob it of its point and power, by declaring that it is only a parable. On the contrary, the Saviour's statements are given as facts. But even though we admit the account to be a parable, what then? A parable teaches either what is or what may be, and in that case these words lose none of their force, but stand out as a bold word-picture of the terrible doom of the wicked.
Over and over Jesus speaks of the wicked being cast into "outer darkness," where "there shall be weeping" and "wailing and gnashing of teeth." Three times in one chapter He speaks of the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched.
Paul says, "Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish," shall come upon the wicked. And John, in the Revelation, says they are in torment." What can all this mean but conscious punishment?
Let a man who never before saw the Bible, read these words for the first time, and he would at once declare that the Bible teaches the conscious suffering of the wicked after death. He might not believe the teaching, but he would never think of denying that such was the teaching of the Bible. The punishment mentioned in the Bible must be felt, must be conscious, otherwise it is not "torment, tribulation and anguish." The "second death," the death of the soul, must be something other than the destruction of its conscious existence.
Jesus has defined for us eternal life as the knowledge of God: This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). If then this blessed knowledge constitutes eternal life, what is the death which sin imposes but just the absence of this knowledge, with consequent wretchedness and misery? To lose God, to sink into outer darkness, to lose all fellowship with pure and loving souls, to be an outcast for ever, this is "the second death," this is "torment and anguish," this is hell, and this is the wages of sin.
The Bible further teaches that the punishment of the wicked after death will be endless.
There are distinguished teachers and preachers who have declared that Bible does not teach the eternity of sin and of punishment. But if we examine for ourselves, we find this teaching as clear as human language can make it. In the Revised Version we read: "Whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin," and eternal sin will surely be followed by eternal woe. While sin lasts misery lasts.
The strongest terms that can be used have been used to teach eternal punishment. When we say a thing will last for ever we have put it strongly, but when we duplicate the phrase and say it will last for ever and for ever, we cannot add to its strength - we have said all that can be said. This is just what the Bible does in speaking of the punishment of the wicked.
The phrase "for ever and ever" is the strongest term by which the idea of eternity is expressed in the Bible. It is the phrase used to express the eternal life and glory of the righteous: "And they shall reign for ever and ever." Paul used these words when he prayed for the continuance of God's glory: "To whom be glory for ever and ever." (Galatians 1:5; Phil. 4:20; Hebrews 17:21). It is also the very phrase used to assert the eternal existence of God Himself - Who liveth for ever and ever (Rev. 4:9, 10; 10:6, 7).
This phrase, which is used to declare the endless life and glory of the righteous and the existence of God Himself, is also used to declare the endless punishment of satan (Rev. 20:10). In verse 15 we are told that the wicked are to share the punishment of the devil himself. And Jesus, in foretelling the sentence of the wicked at the Judgment Day, declares: Then shall He also say to them on the left hand, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels;" thus showing that the wicked are to share the punishment of the devil, which is "for ever and ever."
The sinner is not alarmed by the thought that death ends all. He will say, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die." It is not death he fears, but that which follows death. Nor does he care for punishment after death if he can only believe it will end sometime he will still harden himself in sin and mock God. But preach to him the faithful Word of God, until the awful fact of endless punishment, set over against the endless blessedness of God's approval and favor, pierces his guilty conscience and takes possession of his soul, and he will go mournfully all his days until he finds Jesus the Saviour.
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(continued with # 3)
Some labor hard to strip this Scripture of its evident meaning and to rob it of its point and power, by declaring that it is only a parable. On the contrary, the Saviour's statements are given as facts. But even though we admit the account to be a parable, what then? A parable teaches either what is or what may be, and in that case these words lose none of their force, but stand out as a bold word-picture of the terrible doom of the wicked.
Over and over Jesus speaks of the wicked being cast into "outer darkness," where "there shall be weeping" and "wailing and gnashing of teeth." Three times in one chapter He speaks of the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched.
Paul says, "Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish," shall come upon the wicked. And John, in the Revelation, says they are in torment." What can all this mean but conscious punishment?
Let a man who never before saw the Bible, read these words for the first time, and he would at once declare that the Bible teaches the conscious suffering of the wicked after death. He might not believe the teaching, but he would never think of denying that such was the teaching of the Bible. The punishment mentioned in the Bible must be felt, must be conscious, otherwise it is not "torment, tribulation and anguish." The "second death," the death of the soul, must be something other than the destruction of its conscious existence.
Jesus has defined for us eternal life as the knowledge of God: This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3). If then this blessed knowledge constitutes eternal life, what is the death which sin imposes but just the absence of this knowledge, with consequent wretchedness and misery? To lose God, to sink into outer darkness, to lose all fellowship with pure and loving souls, to be an outcast for ever, this is "the second death," this is "torment and anguish," this is hell, and this is the wages of sin.
The Bible further teaches that the punishment of the wicked after death will be endless.
There are distinguished teachers and preachers who have declared that Bible does not teach the eternity of sin and of punishment. But if we examine for ourselves, we find this teaching as clear as human language can make it. In the Revised Version we read: "Whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin," and eternal sin will surely be followed by eternal woe. While sin lasts misery lasts.
The strongest terms that can be used have been used to teach eternal punishment. When we say a thing will last for ever we have put it strongly, but when we duplicate the phrase and say it will last for ever and for ever, we cannot add to its strength - we have said all that can be said. This is just what the Bible does in speaking of the punishment of the wicked.
The phrase "for ever and ever" is the strongest term by which the idea of eternity is expressed in the Bible. It is the phrase used to express the eternal life and glory of the righteous: "And they shall reign for ever and ever." Paul used these words when he prayed for the continuance of God's glory: "To whom be glory for ever and ever." (Galatians 1:5; Phil. 4:20; Hebrews 17:21). It is also the very phrase used to assert the eternal existence of God Himself - Who liveth for ever and ever (Rev. 4:9, 10; 10:6, 7).
This phrase, which is used to declare the endless life and glory of the righteous and the existence of God Himself, is also used to declare the endless punishment of satan (Rev. 20:10). In verse 15 we are told that the wicked are to share the punishment of the devil himself. And Jesus, in foretelling the sentence of the wicked at the Judgment Day, declares: Then shall He also say to them on the left hand, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels;" thus showing that the wicked are to share the punishment of the devil, which is "for ever and ever."
The sinner is not alarmed by the thought that death ends all. He will say, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die." It is not death he fears, but that which follows death. Nor does he care for punishment after death if he can only believe it will end sometime he will still harden himself in sin and mock God. But preach to him the faithful Word of God, until the awful fact of endless punishment, set over against the endless blessedness of God's approval and favor, pierces his guilty conscience and takes possession of his soul, and he will go mournfully all his days until he finds Jesus the Saviour.
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(continued with # 3)
Future Punishment and the Bible # 1
Future Punishment and the Bible # 1
"But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath. Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile" (Romans 2:8-9).
Joseph Cook, one of America's soundest and clearest thinkers, said to me a generation ago, "Let the church banish from their pulpits the preaching of hell for a hundred years, and it will come back again, for the doctrine is in the Bible, and in the nature of things." And he said in his great lecture on the "Final Permanence of Moral Character": "The laws by which we attain supreme bliss are the laws by which we descend to supreme woe. In the ladder up and the ladder down in the universe, the rungs are in the same pieces. The self-propagating power of sin and the self-propagating power of Holiness are one law. The law of judicial blindness is one with that law by which the pure in heart see God."
There is but one law that can save me from "the law of sin and death", that is "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." If I refuse to submit to that law, I abide eternally under the law of sin and death and endure eternally its dread penalties.
"Every sinner must be either pardoned or punished."
I once heard these words uttered by The Army Founder in the midst of an impassioned appeal to men to make their peace with God; and they have remained in my memory, always representing a tremendous truth from which we can never get away. The Atonement opens wide the door of pardon, of uttermost salvation, and of bliss eternal to every penitent sinner who will believe on Christ and follow Him, while it sweeps away every excuse from the impenitent who will not trust and obey Him.
The Atonement justifies God in all His ways with sinful men.
The holiest beings in the universe can never feel that God is indifferent to sin, when He pardons a believing sinner, lifts up his drooping head and introduces him to the glories and blessedness of heaven, because Christ has died for him. On the other hand, the sinner who is lost and banished to outer darkness, cannot blame God nor charge Him with indifference to his misery, since Christ, by tasting death for him, flung wide open the gateway to escape. That he definitely refused to enter in will be clear in his memory for ever, and will leave him without excuse.
We do not often encounter now the old-fashioned Universalist, who believed that all men, whether righteous or wicked, enter into a state of bleessedness the moment they die. But others, with errors even more dangerous, because seemingly made agreeable to natural reason and to man's inborn sense of justice, have come to take his place and weaken men's faith in the tremendous penalties of God's holy law; in fact, there seems to be a widespread and growing tendency to doubt the existence of hell and the endless punishment of the wicked.
A theory often advanced is the annihilation, or extermination, of the wicked. It is said that there is no eternal hell; and that the wicked do not enter into a state of punishment after death, but are immediately or eventually blotted out of existence.
Then there is the doctrine of "eternal hope." This asserts that the wicked will be punished after death, possibly for ages, but that in the end they will all be restored to the favor of God and the bliss of the holy. The words of our Lord to the traitor appear to be an unanswerable refutation of this doctrine. If all are to be saved at last, would Jesus have said of Judas, "It had been good for that man if he had not been born?" For what are ages of suffering when compared to the blessedness and rapture of those who finally see God's face in peace and enjoy His favor to all eternity?
There is something so awful about the old doctrine of endless punishment, and such a seeming show of fairness about these new doctrines, that the latter appeal very strongly to the human heart, and enlist on their behalf all the sympathies and powerful impulses of the carnal mind which is enmity against God, and which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
In forming our opinions on this subject we should stick to the Bible. All we know about the future state is what God has revealed and left on record in "the law and the testimony," and "if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." Human reason, as well as human experience fails us here, and we can put no confidence in the so-called revelations of spiritualism nor in the dreams of sects who pretend to be able to probe the secrets of eternity. If the Bible does not settle the question for us, it cannot be settled.
The Bible teaches us that there is punishment for the wicked after death, and that of this punishment they are conscious. In the record of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus says: "The rich man also died...and in hell he left up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said..."Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame."
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(continued with # 2)
"But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath. Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile" (Romans 2:8-9).
Joseph Cook, one of America's soundest and clearest thinkers, said to me a generation ago, "Let the church banish from their pulpits the preaching of hell for a hundred years, and it will come back again, for the doctrine is in the Bible, and in the nature of things." And he said in his great lecture on the "Final Permanence of Moral Character": "The laws by which we attain supreme bliss are the laws by which we descend to supreme woe. In the ladder up and the ladder down in the universe, the rungs are in the same pieces. The self-propagating power of sin and the self-propagating power of Holiness are one law. The law of judicial blindness is one with that law by which the pure in heart see God."
There is but one law that can save me from "the law of sin and death", that is "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus." If I refuse to submit to that law, I abide eternally under the law of sin and death and endure eternally its dread penalties.
"Every sinner must be either pardoned or punished."
I once heard these words uttered by The Army Founder in the midst of an impassioned appeal to men to make their peace with God; and they have remained in my memory, always representing a tremendous truth from which we can never get away. The Atonement opens wide the door of pardon, of uttermost salvation, and of bliss eternal to every penitent sinner who will believe on Christ and follow Him, while it sweeps away every excuse from the impenitent who will not trust and obey Him.
The Atonement justifies God in all His ways with sinful men.
The holiest beings in the universe can never feel that God is indifferent to sin, when He pardons a believing sinner, lifts up his drooping head and introduces him to the glories and blessedness of heaven, because Christ has died for him. On the other hand, the sinner who is lost and banished to outer darkness, cannot blame God nor charge Him with indifference to his misery, since Christ, by tasting death for him, flung wide open the gateway to escape. That he definitely refused to enter in will be clear in his memory for ever, and will leave him without excuse.
We do not often encounter now the old-fashioned Universalist, who believed that all men, whether righteous or wicked, enter into a state of bleessedness the moment they die. But others, with errors even more dangerous, because seemingly made agreeable to natural reason and to man's inborn sense of justice, have come to take his place and weaken men's faith in the tremendous penalties of God's holy law; in fact, there seems to be a widespread and growing tendency to doubt the existence of hell and the endless punishment of the wicked.
A theory often advanced is the annihilation, or extermination, of the wicked. It is said that there is no eternal hell; and that the wicked do not enter into a state of punishment after death, but are immediately or eventually blotted out of existence.
Then there is the doctrine of "eternal hope." This asserts that the wicked will be punished after death, possibly for ages, but that in the end they will all be restored to the favor of God and the bliss of the holy. The words of our Lord to the traitor appear to be an unanswerable refutation of this doctrine. If all are to be saved at last, would Jesus have said of Judas, "It had been good for that man if he had not been born?" For what are ages of suffering when compared to the blessedness and rapture of those who finally see God's face in peace and enjoy His favor to all eternity?
There is something so awful about the old doctrine of endless punishment, and such a seeming show of fairness about these new doctrines, that the latter appeal very strongly to the human heart, and enlist on their behalf all the sympathies and powerful impulses of the carnal mind which is enmity against God, and which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
In forming our opinions on this subject we should stick to the Bible. All we know about the future state is what God has revealed and left on record in "the law and the testimony," and "if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them." Human reason, as well as human experience fails us here, and we can put no confidence in the so-called revelations of spiritualism nor in the dreams of sects who pretend to be able to probe the secrets of eternity. If the Bible does not settle the question for us, it cannot be settled.
The Bible teaches us that there is punishment for the wicked after death, and that of this punishment they are conscious. In the record of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus says: "The rich man also died...and in hell he left up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said..."Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame."
~Samuel Logan Brengle~
(continued with # 2)
Saturday, February 9, 2019
He That Winneth Souls Is Wise # 6
He That Winneth Souls Is Wise # 6
"Well," the deacon said, "do you know that boy ain't overly bright?" "He's got backed off the boards. He's got sense enough to make a response," replied Dr. Broughton. "Well," he said, "I thought I'd tell you." The preacher said, "You don't need to tell me." The pastor came to Dr. Broughton and said, "Doctor, before I was sure that you were coming to preach on Sunday morning for a brother minister in another city who is away and I'd like to have you preach for me on Sunday morning." He said, "Very well." On Saturday night he heard a rap at the door. "Come in!" In came the old deacon, stroking his whiskers. "Howdy, Doc." "How do you do deacon?" He said, "The domine asked ) they always call the preacher the "domine") - the domine asked you to preach on Sunday morning, didn't he?" "Yes," He said, "Now, don't you ask for converts because they ain't any."
"Deacon, look me in the face, if you can, and answer me this: You knew that if I did, there would be one or some and you don't want that one, or some, to join the church." He squirmed uncomfortably. "Well," he said, "you can do as you please." He said, "I'd do that without your consent. I'll preach if I feel God and the Spirit; if I don't, I won't. I won't do it because you told me to do it, or not to do it. Neither would I do it if you asked me to or if you asked me not to." Sunday morning he walked out and preached. When he got through he said, "If there is anybody here who wants to be a Christian, wants to join the church, come down and take me by the hand." Pretty soon there was a shuffling and down the aisle came that boy. Dr. Broughton took him by the hand and said, "Sit down, sonny." He asked the usual questions. The child gave answers and Dr. Broughton repeated the answers. He said to the audience, "You have all head the questions I have asked and the answers given, for I have repeated both. All who are in favor of giving this boy the right hand of fellowship- and receiving him in full membership, say 'aye' ". Two farmers voted aye and the rest of them kept quiet. Dr. Broughton said, "The ayes have it." He got the kid up on the platform and baptized him.
The boy went bounding home. He lived with his grandfather since his mother was dead. His grandfather was an invalid, and the richest man in that section of Georgia. For nearly sixty years he had never been known to darken a church door. He was a leader of the infidels; he denounced religion because of unbelief, and blatantly spewed out the theories and doctrines of infidelity. The boy bounded in, put his arms around the old man's neck and said, "Grandpa, they took me into the church, and Dr. Broughton baptized me, and if you will come up there, they will take you in, too." He said, "Go away, son, don't bother me. Grandpa don't care about it." He pushed the boy off, but back in again he came. He kept begging his grandpa to go, but he said, "Don't bother your grandpa; go on away." He said, "Grandpa, I'll tell you what they will ask you, and I'll tell you what to say. Come on and go." My friend preached to men only on Sunday afternoon. They saw this boy come into the church leading his old grandfather, who was hobbling on the crutches of decrepitude as he came down the aisle. He sat down and listened.
When my friend got through the grandfather arose and said, "Dr. Broughton, may I speak a few words?" He stood trembling on his cane. "I have cussed and damned God all my life. This is the first time I have crossed a church threshold for over sixty years. My little grandson - and you know he ain't overly bright; his ma's gone and he lives with me and his grandma - he came home and said you took him into the church and told me if I'd come you'd take me in. Dr. Broughton, if you think God will reach down and take an old reprobate like me, who has cussed Him all my days, and I've never, never prayed - if you think the Lord will take me in the sunset of my life and kiss away the stains of guilt, I'd like to come."
Dr. Broughton said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
The old man came hobbling down and said, "I have wandered far away from God, but now I'm coming home."
He was baptized and received into the church. "Listen! They went home. The next day, the little boy went bounding downtown into a saloon kept by his father. He said, "O papa, grandpa and me have joined the church and if you'll come up, they will take you in. I will tell you what they will ask you and I'll tell you what to say." He said, "Go out of here, my son; this is no place for you." Say, if a dirty, stinking saloon is no place for my boy, it's no place for me. If it's good for me, it's good for him, and if it's bad for him, it's bad for me. To hell with the saloon!"
He said to him, "Go on out of here, son. Go on out of here. This is no place for a boy." "Pa, come on. They will take you in."
Listen! The next Sunday that man walked down the aisle, told the story of what his little boy had done, and he said, "If you think that God can save a saloon-keeper, I'd like to be a Christian."
He joined the church, then he said, "Come down tomorrow morning and we will break the bottles of Whiskey and champagne and beer." They brought them into the street and they did. They turned it into the sewer as the people stood singing. He said, "I feel that my mission is to the saloon-keepers of that part of the country."
He started out and by personal effort, with drunkards and saloon-keepers, started a tidal wave of religion. And the first county that went dry in Georgia was that county. The state was put dry by the legislative enactment, and they never had a saloon in that county from that day till this. It all started with that little boy.
You've got as much sense as that boy, haven't you? Go do likewise; that is my message!
~Billy Sunday~
(The End)
"Well," the deacon said, "do you know that boy ain't overly bright?" "He's got backed off the boards. He's got sense enough to make a response," replied Dr. Broughton. "Well," he said, "I thought I'd tell you." The preacher said, "You don't need to tell me." The pastor came to Dr. Broughton and said, "Doctor, before I was sure that you were coming to preach on Sunday morning for a brother minister in another city who is away and I'd like to have you preach for me on Sunday morning." He said, "Very well." On Saturday night he heard a rap at the door. "Come in!" In came the old deacon, stroking his whiskers. "Howdy, Doc." "How do you do deacon?" He said, "The domine asked ) they always call the preacher the "domine") - the domine asked you to preach on Sunday morning, didn't he?" "Yes," He said, "Now, don't you ask for converts because they ain't any."
"Deacon, look me in the face, if you can, and answer me this: You knew that if I did, there would be one or some and you don't want that one, or some, to join the church." He squirmed uncomfortably. "Well," he said, "you can do as you please." He said, "I'd do that without your consent. I'll preach if I feel God and the Spirit; if I don't, I won't. I won't do it because you told me to do it, or not to do it. Neither would I do it if you asked me to or if you asked me not to." Sunday morning he walked out and preached. When he got through he said, "If there is anybody here who wants to be a Christian, wants to join the church, come down and take me by the hand." Pretty soon there was a shuffling and down the aisle came that boy. Dr. Broughton took him by the hand and said, "Sit down, sonny." He asked the usual questions. The child gave answers and Dr. Broughton repeated the answers. He said to the audience, "You have all head the questions I have asked and the answers given, for I have repeated both. All who are in favor of giving this boy the right hand of fellowship- and receiving him in full membership, say 'aye' ". Two farmers voted aye and the rest of them kept quiet. Dr. Broughton said, "The ayes have it." He got the kid up on the platform and baptized him.
The boy went bounding home. He lived with his grandfather since his mother was dead. His grandfather was an invalid, and the richest man in that section of Georgia. For nearly sixty years he had never been known to darken a church door. He was a leader of the infidels; he denounced religion because of unbelief, and blatantly spewed out the theories and doctrines of infidelity. The boy bounded in, put his arms around the old man's neck and said, "Grandpa, they took me into the church, and Dr. Broughton baptized me, and if you will come up there, they will take you in, too." He said, "Go away, son, don't bother me. Grandpa don't care about it." He pushed the boy off, but back in again he came. He kept begging his grandpa to go, but he said, "Don't bother your grandpa; go on away." He said, "Grandpa, I'll tell you what they will ask you, and I'll tell you what to say. Come on and go." My friend preached to men only on Sunday afternoon. They saw this boy come into the church leading his old grandfather, who was hobbling on the crutches of decrepitude as he came down the aisle. He sat down and listened.
When my friend got through the grandfather arose and said, "Dr. Broughton, may I speak a few words?" He stood trembling on his cane. "I have cussed and damned God all my life. This is the first time I have crossed a church threshold for over sixty years. My little grandson - and you know he ain't overly bright; his ma's gone and he lives with me and his grandma - he came home and said you took him into the church and told me if I'd come you'd take me in. Dr. Broughton, if you think God will reach down and take an old reprobate like me, who has cussed Him all my days, and I've never, never prayed - if you think the Lord will take me in the sunset of my life and kiss away the stains of guilt, I'd like to come."
Dr. Broughton said, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
The old man came hobbling down and said, "I have wandered far away from God, but now I'm coming home."
He was baptized and received into the church. "Listen! They went home. The next day, the little boy went bounding downtown into a saloon kept by his father. He said, "O papa, grandpa and me have joined the church and if you'll come up, they will take you in. I will tell you what they will ask you and I'll tell you what to say." He said, "Go out of here, my son; this is no place for you." Say, if a dirty, stinking saloon is no place for my boy, it's no place for me. If it's good for me, it's good for him, and if it's bad for him, it's bad for me. To hell with the saloon!"
He said to him, "Go on out of here, son. Go on out of here. This is no place for a boy." "Pa, come on. They will take you in."
Listen! The next Sunday that man walked down the aisle, told the story of what his little boy had done, and he said, "If you think that God can save a saloon-keeper, I'd like to be a Christian."
He joined the church, then he said, "Come down tomorrow morning and we will break the bottles of Whiskey and champagne and beer." They brought them into the street and they did. They turned it into the sewer as the people stood singing. He said, "I feel that my mission is to the saloon-keepers of that part of the country."
He started out and by personal effort, with drunkards and saloon-keepers, started a tidal wave of religion. And the first county that went dry in Georgia was that county. The state was put dry by the legislative enactment, and they never had a saloon in that county from that day till this. It all started with that little boy.
You've got as much sense as that boy, haven't you? Go do likewise; that is my message!
~Billy Sunday~
(The End)
He That Winneth Souls Is Wise # 5
He That Winneth Souls Is Wise # 5
Oh, he that winneth souls is wise! Is wise! You would feel different, perhaps, if it were some of your own, but remember, if it is not your flesh and blood it is somebody else's.
Out in Pennsylvania they had a mine cave-in. The alarm was sounded and men came and volunteered. With pick and shovel they worked, trying to dig quickly to the men lest they die. Up tottered an old man seventy-five years old. He threw off his cap, coat and vest, spit on his hands, and picking up the pick, he picked and picked. Then he got the shovel and he shoveled until the sweat rolled down his cheeks. He stood tottering, about ready to fall. Some of the younger men said to him, "Grandpa, get away and let us young fellows do this."
He said, "Great God, boys! I've got three sons down in there! I must do something!" And if it isn't your boy, it is somebody else's. If it isn't your girl, it is somebody else's.
That is the trouble with the world today. We don't care a rap what becomes of others so long as we go through the world. Now you may soon go; you may die and they may die; and you may live and they may die, but no matter whether you go first or last, you have to meet at the judgment. That is settled! You have to do that!
So there must be a confession of sin. The sin of neglect - confess that; and the sin of unforgiveness, the sin of indifference. David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Oh, you get the light of Jesus in your heart! Jesus Christ is able, my friend, to reveal Himself to the agnostic, materialist, like He did to Balaam until he knew Jesus Christ. Oh, He can flash the deity of Jesus Christ into the brain of the son of an orthodox Unitarian of New England, as He did the son of Edward Everett Hale. He is able to knock the scales from the credulous worshipers of Mary Baker Glover Eddy until you will find that matter is existent and not an illusion of the mortal mind.
What God did through the testimony of a Fourteen year old boy He that winneth souls is wise! My friend, Dr. Broughton, used to be a pastor of a big Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia. When he was a young minister he went out to help a pastor in revival meetings. He said he would ask God to forgive him a good many times. He said he went and preached and he never in all his days saw such a dead, lifeless, indifferent, apathetic crowd. He didn't believe there was such a crowd this side of the cemetery. He said he preached. Nobody smiled. They all looked like epitaphs on a tombstone. He said he asked for a show of hands; nobody would lift them. He said he would ask for a request for prayer; nobody would appeal. To every appeal they were as deaf as hades. He was discouraged about it. One time he made an appeal and said, "If there is a man here who wants us to pray, a father who wants us to pray for his children, lift your hand."
A boy, fourteen years of age, who sat on the end of the seat, raised his hand. He said, "If there is a mother here who wants us to pray for her child, or children, lift your hand." The boy lifted his hand. He said, "If there is a businessman here who has interests that concern his partner, lift your hand." Up went the boy's hand. He made the appeal governing both sexes. He said to himself, "This child's a monstrosity." He said, "I have made an appeal covering both sexes and all ages. To every appeal he has lifted his hand." He went back to the hotel. Sitting in his chair he heard a rap at the door. "Come in!" In walked one of the deacons, stroking his long bird-tail whiskers.
"How do you do, Deacon?"
He said, "We ain't having much of a meeting."
"Never saw anything worse."
"I thought I'd come up and tell you about that little boy who's down to the church," the deacon said. "What do you mean?" Dr. Broughton asked. "Well, every time you make an appeal, he lifts his hand. He's just making a fool of you."
"Forget it. He's making a fool of you and all the rest of the fools who profess to be Christians." The deacon said, "Well, I thought I'd come and tell you so you could tell him to stay away." Dr. Broughton said, "I'll give that boy ten dollars a day to come." He's the only evidence of life I've seen in the city. If you think I'm going to turn the hose on him, you've got another guess coming."
"Well," the deacon said, "I thought I'd tell you." Stroking his whiskers, he went out. Dr. Broughton went on to preach and make similar appeals. The only one who would respond was that boy. Up would go his hand. Another day he heard a knock. "Come in!" In came the old deacon. He said, "Do you know that boy?"
"Certainly I know him; he's the only one I do know." He said, "You ain't have much of a revival." He said, "No, you need an undertaker in this town instead of an evangelist. You are the deadest crowd that I have ever seen. And if God or anybody else had told me that there was such a dead, indifferent membership on earth, I wouldn't have believed it."
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 6)
Oh, he that winneth souls is wise! Is wise! You would feel different, perhaps, if it were some of your own, but remember, if it is not your flesh and blood it is somebody else's.
Out in Pennsylvania they had a mine cave-in. The alarm was sounded and men came and volunteered. With pick and shovel they worked, trying to dig quickly to the men lest they die. Up tottered an old man seventy-five years old. He threw off his cap, coat and vest, spit on his hands, and picking up the pick, he picked and picked. Then he got the shovel and he shoveled until the sweat rolled down his cheeks. He stood tottering, about ready to fall. Some of the younger men said to him, "Grandpa, get away and let us young fellows do this."
He said, "Great God, boys! I've got three sons down in there! I must do something!" And if it isn't your boy, it is somebody else's. If it isn't your girl, it is somebody else's.
That is the trouble with the world today. We don't care a rap what becomes of others so long as we go through the world. Now you may soon go; you may die and they may die; and you may live and they may die, but no matter whether you go first or last, you have to meet at the judgment. That is settled! You have to do that!
So there must be a confession of sin. The sin of neglect - confess that; and the sin of unforgiveness, the sin of indifference. David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Oh, you get the light of Jesus in your heart! Jesus Christ is able, my friend, to reveal Himself to the agnostic, materialist, like He did to Balaam until he knew Jesus Christ. Oh, He can flash the deity of Jesus Christ into the brain of the son of an orthodox Unitarian of New England, as He did the son of Edward Everett Hale. He is able to knock the scales from the credulous worshipers of Mary Baker Glover Eddy until you will find that matter is existent and not an illusion of the mortal mind.
What God did through the testimony of a Fourteen year old boy He that winneth souls is wise! My friend, Dr. Broughton, used to be a pastor of a big Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia. When he was a young minister he went out to help a pastor in revival meetings. He said he would ask God to forgive him a good many times. He said he went and preached and he never in all his days saw such a dead, lifeless, indifferent, apathetic crowd. He didn't believe there was such a crowd this side of the cemetery. He said he preached. Nobody smiled. They all looked like epitaphs on a tombstone. He said he asked for a show of hands; nobody would lift them. He said he would ask for a request for prayer; nobody would appeal. To every appeal they were as deaf as hades. He was discouraged about it. One time he made an appeal and said, "If there is a man here who wants us to pray, a father who wants us to pray for his children, lift your hand."
A boy, fourteen years of age, who sat on the end of the seat, raised his hand. He said, "If there is a mother here who wants us to pray for her child, or children, lift your hand." The boy lifted his hand. He said, "If there is a businessman here who has interests that concern his partner, lift your hand." Up went the boy's hand. He made the appeal governing both sexes. He said to himself, "This child's a monstrosity." He said, "I have made an appeal covering both sexes and all ages. To every appeal he has lifted his hand." He went back to the hotel. Sitting in his chair he heard a rap at the door. "Come in!" In walked one of the deacons, stroking his long bird-tail whiskers.
"How do you do, Deacon?"
He said, "We ain't having much of a meeting."
"Never saw anything worse."
"I thought I'd come up and tell you about that little boy who's down to the church," the deacon said. "What do you mean?" Dr. Broughton asked. "Well, every time you make an appeal, he lifts his hand. He's just making a fool of you."
"Forget it. He's making a fool of you and all the rest of the fools who profess to be Christians." The deacon said, "Well, I thought I'd come and tell you so you could tell him to stay away." Dr. Broughton said, "I'll give that boy ten dollars a day to come." He's the only evidence of life I've seen in the city. If you think I'm going to turn the hose on him, you've got another guess coming."
"Well," the deacon said, "I thought I'd tell you." Stroking his whiskers, he went out. Dr. Broughton went on to preach and make similar appeals. The only one who would respond was that boy. Up would go his hand. Another day he heard a knock. "Come in!" In came the old deacon. He said, "Do you know that boy?"
"Certainly I know him; he's the only one I do know." He said, "You ain't have much of a revival." He said, "No, you need an undertaker in this town instead of an evangelist. You are the deadest crowd that I have ever seen. And if God or anybody else had told me that there was such a dead, indifferent membership on earth, I wouldn't have believed it."
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 6)
Saturday, February 2, 2019
He That Winneth Souls Is Wise # 4
He That Winneth Souls Is Wise # 4
Soul winning is difficult work
Now, it is a difficult form of work. It is more difficult than preaching; it is more difficult than attending conventions; more difficult than giving goods to the poor. (When you give goods to the poor, don't wait until the moths have eaten holes in them. And when you give them away, don't cut off all the buttons and braid. Poor folks like them as well as you do. It is not act of charity when you have taken off all you want, then turned the rest over to somebody else. No, no! Then angels never record an act like that.) You will never see it when you get to Heaven if you have an easy time. Oh, you can pin on a badge, usher people to their seats, pass the collection plate, be an elder or a deacon or a steward; you can go to church, sing in the choir, be a member of a Missionary society - the devil will even let you attend Bible conferences - but the minute you begin to do personal work, to try to get somebody to take a stand for Christ, all the devils of hell will be on your back, for they know that is a challenge to the devil and to his forces. And I hope that the work of leading people to Christ by personal effort will always be hard. I have no sympathy for folks who are looking for something easy!
I preached out in Salida, Colorado, a few years ago. The city lies 8,500 feet on one of the spurs of the Rocky Mountains. There was a woman there who sang in the choir. I used to drive them out when they went to speak to somebody about Jesus Christ. One day she came to me and said, "Mr. Sunday, will you speak to my husband about being a Christian?"
I said, "Have you spoken to him?"
She said, "No."
I said, "No madam, I will not."
She said, "Why?"
I said, "God wants you to go and you are trying to sidestep and get me to do it." I said, "You go speak to him and if you can't win him for Christ, come and tell me, then I will go."
"Well," she said, "you would have a greater influence with him than I have."
"How long have you been married?" I asked. "Five years." I said, "I have been in this town three weeks and it is a compliment for you to say that to me. You have cooked for him and sewed on buttons for him for five years."
Finally, one night, she said, "Isn't it hot?" I said to her, "You like to sing in the choir, don't you?" She said, "I love to do that." "You don't like to do personal work?" I asked. "Then your idea of serving God is to pick out the things you would like to do, and the things that you don't like to do you let somebody else do; then you let it go at that." I said, "Then you will forget every blessing that ever came to you."
One night I drove her off the platform; later I saw her coming down the aisle. Her husband sat on the front seat. She slipped her arm around his neck and whispered something in his ear. He nodded his head and down the aisle he came. He turned to her and said, "Bess, I've been waiting for weeks for you to ask me that."
I was out in Colorado Springs not very long ago and she came up to Denver. I said, "How do you do, Mrs. C." "How do you do?" I said, "Where's Charlies?" "He went to heaven two years ago, but he prayed and lived consistently until the hour that God called him."
Get our and do something! That same spirit of letting people go to the devil because they don't eat at your table and because you are not married to them - there is too much of that today in the world. "He that winneth souls is wise."
God Blesses Personal Effort
A mother in a home had a magnificent character. To my knowledge there had never been a stranger enter that home for years that she hadn't talked to them about Jesus Christ. She was bemoaning the fact that she couldn't do anything or wasn't doing anything for the Lord, yet she was doing more practical Christian work, consistently every day, than the entire membership of that church of five hundred people. She was doing more!!
So it is the personal effort that God will honor and that God will bless. And listen! There are fifteen million young men in this country between the ages of sixteen and thirty-five. Fourteen million of them are not members of any church. Seven million of them attend church regularly. Nine million of them never darken a church door from one year's end to another.
After the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago where six hundred people burned to death, a girl of about seventeen years of age fought her way through the great torrents of blood and crushed and charred and baked flesh. Her hair was singed, her eyebrows were burned off, her face and hands were blistered, her clothing was hanging in charred rags. As she got on the street car to go home she was moaning and sighing. She would wring her hands and say, "O, God! O, God!" A lady next to her said, "Well, you ought to be thankful that you got out alive." She said, "I am, but I didn't help anybody else out! It was all I could do to get out." What she was moaning about was the fact that others had to die because she didn't help them. Yet she was sitting by people who had not thought of others - letting them go to hell!
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 5)
Soul winning is difficult work
Now, it is a difficult form of work. It is more difficult than preaching; it is more difficult than attending conventions; more difficult than giving goods to the poor. (When you give goods to the poor, don't wait until the moths have eaten holes in them. And when you give them away, don't cut off all the buttons and braid. Poor folks like them as well as you do. It is not act of charity when you have taken off all you want, then turned the rest over to somebody else. No, no! Then angels never record an act like that.) You will never see it when you get to Heaven if you have an easy time. Oh, you can pin on a badge, usher people to their seats, pass the collection plate, be an elder or a deacon or a steward; you can go to church, sing in the choir, be a member of a Missionary society - the devil will even let you attend Bible conferences - but the minute you begin to do personal work, to try to get somebody to take a stand for Christ, all the devils of hell will be on your back, for they know that is a challenge to the devil and to his forces. And I hope that the work of leading people to Christ by personal effort will always be hard. I have no sympathy for folks who are looking for something easy!
I preached out in Salida, Colorado, a few years ago. The city lies 8,500 feet on one of the spurs of the Rocky Mountains. There was a woman there who sang in the choir. I used to drive them out when they went to speak to somebody about Jesus Christ. One day she came to me and said, "Mr. Sunday, will you speak to my husband about being a Christian?"
I said, "Have you spoken to him?"
She said, "No."
I said, "No madam, I will not."
She said, "Why?"
I said, "God wants you to go and you are trying to sidestep and get me to do it." I said, "You go speak to him and if you can't win him for Christ, come and tell me, then I will go."
"Well," she said, "you would have a greater influence with him than I have."
"How long have you been married?" I asked. "Five years." I said, "I have been in this town three weeks and it is a compliment for you to say that to me. You have cooked for him and sewed on buttons for him for five years."
Finally, one night, she said, "Isn't it hot?" I said to her, "You like to sing in the choir, don't you?" She said, "I love to do that." "You don't like to do personal work?" I asked. "Then your idea of serving God is to pick out the things you would like to do, and the things that you don't like to do you let somebody else do; then you let it go at that." I said, "Then you will forget every blessing that ever came to you."
One night I drove her off the platform; later I saw her coming down the aisle. Her husband sat on the front seat. She slipped her arm around his neck and whispered something in his ear. He nodded his head and down the aisle he came. He turned to her and said, "Bess, I've been waiting for weeks for you to ask me that."
I was out in Colorado Springs not very long ago and she came up to Denver. I said, "How do you do, Mrs. C." "How do you do?" I said, "Where's Charlies?" "He went to heaven two years ago, but he prayed and lived consistently until the hour that God called him."
Get our and do something! That same spirit of letting people go to the devil because they don't eat at your table and because you are not married to them - there is too much of that today in the world. "He that winneth souls is wise."
God Blesses Personal Effort
A mother in a home had a magnificent character. To my knowledge there had never been a stranger enter that home for years that she hadn't talked to them about Jesus Christ. She was bemoaning the fact that she couldn't do anything or wasn't doing anything for the Lord, yet she was doing more practical Christian work, consistently every day, than the entire membership of that church of five hundred people. She was doing more!!
So it is the personal effort that God will honor and that God will bless. And listen! There are fifteen million young men in this country between the ages of sixteen and thirty-five. Fourteen million of them are not members of any church. Seven million of them attend church regularly. Nine million of them never darken a church door from one year's end to another.
After the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago where six hundred people burned to death, a girl of about seventeen years of age fought her way through the great torrents of blood and crushed and charred and baked flesh. Her hair was singed, her eyebrows were burned off, her face and hands were blistered, her clothing was hanging in charred rags. As she got on the street car to go home she was moaning and sighing. She would wring her hands and say, "O, God! O, God!" A lady next to her said, "Well, you ought to be thankful that you got out alive." She said, "I am, but I didn't help anybody else out! It was all I could do to get out." What she was moaning about was the fact that others had to die because she didn't help them. Yet she was sitting by people who had not thought of others - letting them go to hell!
~Billy Sunday~
(continued with # 5)
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