PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Men of the Bible
Moody, Dwight Lyman, 1837-1899 · 34,898 words · 99 reading sections
THE PREACHER.
I contend that John the Baptist must have been one of the grandest preachers this world has ever had. Almost any man can get a hearing nowadays in a town or a city, where the people live close together; especially if he speaks in a fine building where there is a splendid choir, and if the meetings have been advertised …
518 wordsSECTION 62ONE TEXT:
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Day after day you could hear his voice ringing through the valley of the Jordan: "Repent! repent! repent! The King is at the door. I do not know the day or the hour, but He will be here very soon." By and by some of the people who flocked to hear him wanted to be baptiz…
180 wordsSECTION 63ALL SENSATION.
"Catch me there! No, sir; I never did like sensational preaching." Just as some people speak nowadays when any special effort is made to reach the people! "Great harm will be done," they say. I wish all these croakers had died out with that generation in Judea; but we have plenty of their descendants still. I ventur…
845 wordsSECTION 64NOT ABLE TO SLEEP MUCH
that night; he kept thinking of what he had heard. When the Holy Ghost is dealing with a man's conscience, very often sleep departs from him. Herod cannot get this wilderness preacher and his message out of his mind. The truth had reached his soul; it echoed and re -echoed within him: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven…
126 wordsSECTION 65A HEAVEN-SENT MESSENGER.
Had you gone into the palace in those days, you would have heard Herod talking of nobody but John the Baptist. He would say to his associates: "Have you been out into the desert to hear this strange preacher?" "No; have you?" "Yes." "What! you, the Roman Governor, going to hear this unordained preacher?" "Yes, I h…
902 wordsSECTION 66HE WOULD NOT GIVE UP ONE DARLING SIN.
The longer I preach, the more I am convinced that that is what keeps men out of the kingdom of God. John knew about Herod's private life, and warned him plainly. If those compromising Christians of whom I have spoken had been near John, one of them would have said: "Look here, John, it is reported that Herod is very …
785 wordsSECTION 67Part 67
And now, let me say this to you. If your minister comes to you frankly, tells you of your sin, and warns you faithfully, thank God for him. He is your best friend; he is a heaven-sent man. But if a minister speaks smooth, oily words to you; tells you it is all right, when you know, and he knows, that it is all wrong, a…
283 wordsSECTION 68WHAT IS THE PRICE
that you put upon your soul? You say you do not know. I will tell you. _It is the sin that keeps you from God_. It may be whisky; there is many a man who will give up the hope of heaven and sell his soul for whisky. It may be adultery; you say: "Give me the harlot, and I will relinquish heaven with all its glories. I …
915 wordsSECTION 69ALMOST DECIDED
to become Christians cut down in battle without having taken the step that would have made them sure of eternal life. I confess there is something very sad about it. In one of the tenement houses in New York city, a doctor was sent for. He came, and found a young man very sick. When he got to the bedside the young man…
348 wordsSECTION 70THE MAN BORN BLIND AND JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA
There were two extraordinary men living in the city of Jerusalem when Christ was on earth. One of them has come down through history nameless--we do not know who he was; the name of the other is given. One was not only a beggar, but blind from his birth; the other was one of the rich men of Jerusalem. Yet in the Gospel…
160 wordsSECTION 71AN EVIDENCE OF THE TRUTH
of what He said by performing some miracle. If He had said He was the Light of the world, He would show them in what way He was the Light of the world. If He had said He was the Life of the world, He would prove Himself to be such by quickening and raising the dead; just as He did, after telling them that He was the Re…
232 wordsSECTION 72I
The man mentioned in this chapter was born blind. We find the Lord's disciples asking Him: "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be manifest in him." When He had thus spoken, He spat on …
437 wordsSECTION 73KEEP AWAY FROM CHRIST
because they are looking for the experience of some dear friend or relative. They should not judge of their conversion by the experiences of others. They have heard some one tell how he was converted twenty years ago, and they expect to be converted in the same way. Persons should never count upon having an experience …
717 wordsSECTION 74THE APOSTLE PAUL'S EXPERIENCE
has been recorded three times. I have no doubt that he told it everywhere he went: how God had met him; how God had opened his eyes and his heart; and how God had blessed him. Depend upon it, experience has its place; the great mistake that is made now is in the other extreme. In some places and at some periods there h…
794 wordsSECTION 75COST THEM TOO MUCH.
They represent those Christians who do not want to serve Christ if it is going to cost them anything; if they have to give up society, position, or worldly pleasures. They do not want to come out. This is what keeps hundreds and thousands from becoming Christians. It was a serious thing to be put out of the synagogue …
558 wordsSECTION 76TRYING TO MAKE CONVERTS
of these Pharisees--men who had been fighting Christ for nearly three years! He asked them if they would also become His disciples. He was ready to tell his experience to all who were willing to hear it. If he had covered it up at the first, and had not come out at once, he would not have had the privilege of testifyin…
241 wordsSECTION 77NO VOICE FOR THE SON OF GOD.
Dear friend, if He is your Savior, confess Him. Every follower of Jesus should bear testimony for Him. How many opportunities each one has in society and in business to speak a word for Jesus Christ! How many opportunities occur daily wherein every Christian might be "instant in season and out of season" in pleading fo…
625 wordsSECTION 78A GOOD PLACE TO LEAVE HIM
--at the feet of Jesus. We shall meet him by and by in the kingdom of God. His testimony has been ringing down through the ages these last nineteen hundred years. It has been talked about wherever the Word of God has been known. It was a wonderful day's work that man did for the Son of God; doubtless there will be man…
214 wordsSECTION 79II
Now we come to Joseph of Arimathea. I do not think he came out quite so nobly as this blind beggar did; but he did come out, and we will thank God for that. We read in John that for fear of the Jews he was kept back from confessing openly. "And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly,…
412 wordsSECTION 80MANY JOSEPHS TODAY,
men of position, of whom it could be said they are secret disciples. Such would probably say to-day, "I do not need to take my stand on Christ's side. What more do _I_ need? I have everything." We read that he was a rich and honorable councillor, a just and a good man, and holding a high position in the government of t…
363 wordsSECTION 81ONE OF THE SUBLIMEST, GRANDEST ACTS
that any man ever did. In that darkness and gloom, His disciples having all forsaken Him; Judas having sold Him for thirty pieces of silver; the chief apostle Peter having denied Him with a curse, swearing that he never knew Him; the chief priests having found Him guilty of blasphemy; the Council having condemned him t…
708 wordsSECTION 82NO CROWN WITHOUT A CROSS.
We must take our proper position here, as Joseph did. It cost him something to take up his cross. I have no doubt they put him out of the council and out of the synagogue. He lost his standing, and perhaps his wealth: like other faithful followers of Christ, he became, henceforth, a despised and unpopular man. The bli…
424 wordsSECTION 83THE PENITENT THIEF
It should give us all a great deal of hope and comfort that Jesus saved such a man as the penitent thief just before He went back to heaven. Every one who is not a Christian ought to be interested in this case, to know how he was converted. Any one who does not believe in sudden conversions ought to look into it. If co…
239 wordsSECTION 84REVILING.
The first thing we read, then, of this man is that he was a reviler of Christ. You would think that he would be doing something else at such a time as that; but hanging there in the midst of torture, and certain to be dead in a few hours, instead of confessing his sins and preparing to meet that God whose law he had b…
86 wordsSECTION 85UNDER CONVICTION.
The next time we hear of him, he appears to be under conviction: "And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we recei…
228 wordsSECTION 86TALKING TO HIMSELF
in this way: "What a strange kind of man this must be! He claims to be king of the Jews, and the superscription over His cross says the same. But what sort of a throne is this! He says He is the Son of God. Why does not God send down His angels and destroy all these people who are torturing His Son to death? If He has…
302 wordsSECTION 87BROKE HIS HEART.
It flashed into this thief's soul that Jesus was the Son of God, and that moment he rebuked his companion, saying: "Dost thou not fear God?" The fear of God fell upon him. There is not much hope of a man's being saved until the fear of God comes upon him. Solomon says, "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." W…
110 wordsSECTION 88CONFESSING.
Next, he confessed his sins: "We indeed justly." He took his place among sinners, not trying to justify himself. A man may be very sorry for his sins, but if he doesn't confess them, he has no promise of being forgiven. Cain felt badly enough over his sins, but he did not confess. Saul was greatly tormented in mind, b…
241 wordsSECTION 89JUSTIFYING CHRIST.
The next thing, he justifies Christ: "This Man hath done nothing amiss." When men are talking against Christ, they are a great way from becoming Christians. Now he says, "He hath done nothing amiss." There was the world mocking him; but in the midst of it all, you can hear that thief crying out: "This Man hath done n…
60 wordsSECTION 90FAITH.
The next step is faith. Talk about faith! I think this is about the most extraordinary case of faith in the Bible. Abraham was the father of the faithful; but God had him in training for twenty-five years. Moses was a man of faith; but he saw the burning bush, and had other evidences of God. Elijah had faith; but see …
488 wordsSECTION 91WHAT A CONFESSION
of Christ that was! He called Him "Lord." A queer Lord! Nails through His hands and feet, fastened to the cross. A strange throne! Blood trickling down His face from the scars made by the crown of thorns. But He was all the more "Lord" because of this. Sinner, call Him "Lord" now. Take your place as a poor condemned r…
263 wordsSECTION 92THE ANSWERED PRAYER.
Now consider the answer to his prayer. He got more than he asked, just as every one does who asks in faith. He only asked Christ to "remember" him; but Christ answered: "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise!" Immediate blessing--promise of fellowship--eternal rest; this is the way Christ answered his prayer.…
53 wordsSECTION 93DARKNESS.
And now darkness falls upon the earth. The sun hides itself. Worse than all, the Father hides His face from His Son. What else is the meaning of that bitter cry: "My God! my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?" Ah! It had been written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Jesus was made a curse for us. God canno…
386 wordsSECTION 94THE LAST ACT OF THE SON OF GOD
was to save a sinner. That was a part of the glory of His death. He commenced His ministry by saving sinners, and ended it by saving this poor thief. "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of t…
212 wordsSECTION 95SALVATION IS DISTINCT AND SEPARATE FROM WORKS.
Some people tell us we have to work to be saved. What has the man who believes that to say about the salvation of this thief? How could he work, when he was nailed to the cross? He took the Lord at His word, and believed. It is with the heart men believe, not with their hands or feet. All that is necessary for a man t…
139 wordsSECTION 96SALVATION IS SEPARATE AND DISTINCT FROM ALL ORDINANCES
--not but that ordinances are right in their place. Many people think it is impossible for any one to get into the kingdom of God if he is not baptized into it. I know people who were greatly exercised because little children died unbaptized. I have seen them carry the children through the streets because the pastor c…
416 wordsSECTION 97TWO SIDES.
The cross of Christ divides all mankind. There are only two sides, those for Christ, and those against Him. Think of the two thieves; from the side of Christ one went down to death cursing God, and the other went to glory. What a contrast! In the morning he is led out, a condemned criminal; in the evening he is saved …
187 wordsSECTION 98THE FIRST MAN TO ENTER PARADISE
after the veil of the Temple was rent. If we could look up yonder, and catch a glimpse of the throne, we would see the Father there, and Jesus Christ at His right hand; and hard by we would see that thief. He is there to-day. Nineteen hundred years he has been there, just because he cried in faith: "Lord, remember me …
908 wordsSECTION 99Part 99
O Christ, the King! We also wander on the desert-hills, Though haunted by Thy call, returning sweet At morn and eve. We will not come to Thee Till Thou hast nailed us to some bitter cross, And _made_ us look on Thine, and driven at last To call on Thee with trembling and with tears.-- Thou lookest down in love, upbraid…
172 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.