But the great matter is to _hold inquiry meetings_, and thus pull the net in, and see if you have caught anything. If you are always mending and setting the net, you won"t catch many fish. Whoever heard of a man going out to fish, and setting his net, and then letting it stop there, and never pulling it in? Why, everybody would laugh at the man"s folly.
There was a minister in Manchester who came to me one day, and said, "I wish you would tell me why we ministers don"t succeed better than we do." So I brought before him this idea of pulling in the net, and I said, You ought to pull in your nets. I said there are many ministers in Manchester who can preach much better than I can, but then I pull in the net. Many people have objections to inquiry meetings, but I urged upon him the importance of them, and the minister said, "I never did pull in the net; I will try next Sunday." He did so, and eight persons, anxious inquirers, went into his study. The next Sunday he came down to see me, and said he had never had such a Sunday in his life. He had met with marvellous blessing. The next time he drew the net there were forty, and when he came to see me at the Opera House the other day, he said to me joyfully, "Moody, I have had eight hundred conversions this last year! It is a great mistake I did not begin earlier to pull in the net." So, my friends, if you want to catch men,
JUST PULL IN THE NET.
If you only catch one, it will be something. It may be a little child, but I have known a little child convert a whole family. Why, you don"t know what"s in that little dull-headed boy in the inquiry-room; he may become a Martin Luther, a reformer that shall make the world tremble--you cannot tell. G.o.d uses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. G.o.d"s promise is as good as a Bank of England note--"I promise to pay So-and-so," and here is one of Christ"s promissory notes--"If you will follow Me, I will make you fishers of men." Will you not lay hold of the promise, and trust it, and follow Him now?
But then, if you wish to catch men, you must use a little--what shall I say?--
COMMON SENSE.
That"s the plain English of it. If a man preaches the gospel, and preaches it faithfully, he ought to expect results then and there. But after he has proclaimed the glad tidings, let him have an inquiry meeting, and, if necessary, a second meeting, and go to the people"s houses and talk and pray with them, and in that way hundreds will be brought to G.o.d. I believe it is the privilege of G.o.d"s children to reap the fruit of their labour three hundred and sixty-five days in the year.
"Well, but," say some, "is there not a sowing time as well as harvest?" Yes, it is true, there is; but then, you can sow with one hand, and reap with the other. What would you think of a farmer who went on sowing all the year round, and never thought of reaping? I repeat it, we want to sow with one hand, and reap with the other; and if we look for the fruit of our labours, we shall see it. "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me." We must lift Christ up, and then seek men out, and bring them to Him. Then, again, you must use the right kind of bait. A good many people don"t do this, and then they wonder they are not successful. You see them getting up all kinds of entertainments with which to try and catch men. They go the wrong way to work. I will tell you what this perishing world wants: it wants
CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.
There"s a void in every man"s bosom that wants filling up, and if we only approach them with the right kind of bait we shall catch them.
This poor world needs a Saviour; and if we are going to be successful in catching men, we must preach Christ crucified--_not His life only, but His death_. And if we are only faithful in doing this we shall succeed. And why? Because there is His promise: "If you follow Me, I will make you fishers of men." And that promise holds just as good to you and me as it did to His disciples, and is as true now as it was in their time. "They that are wise shall shine like the sun in the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever." Think then of the exalted privilege of turning one soul to Christ. You set a stream in motion that shall go on running for ages after you are gone. "Blessed are they that die in the Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."
PAUL AND HIS WRITINGS.
Think of Paul up yonder. Why people are going up every day and every hour, the men and women that have been brought to Christ through his writings. He set streams in motion that have flowed on for more than a thousand years. I can imagine men going up there and saying, "Paul, I thank thee for writing that letter to the Ephesians; I found Christ in that." "Paul, I thank thee for writing that epistle to the Corinthians." "Paul, I found Christ in that epistle to the Philippians." "I thank thee, Paul, for that epistle to the Galatians; I found Christ in that." And so, I suppose, they are going up still, thanking Paul all the while for what he had done. Ah, when Paul was put in prison he did not fold his hands and sit down in idleness. No, he began to write; and his epistles have come down through the long ages of time, and brought thousands on thousands to a knowledge of Christ crucified. Yes, Christ said to Paul, "I will make thee a fisher of men if thou wilt follow Me," and he has been fishing for souls ever since. The devil thought he had done a very wise thing when he got Paul into prison, but he was very much mistaken; he overdid it for once. I have no doubt Paul has thanked G.o.d ever since for that Philippian gaol, and his stripes and imprisonment there. I am sure the world has made more by it than we shall ever know till we get to heaven.
6. We find the next "I will" is in John xiv. 18:
"I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS."
To me it is a sweet thought, that Christ has not left us alone in this dark wilderness here below. Although He has gone up on high, and taken His seat by the Father"s throne, He has not left us. The better translation is, "I will not leave you orphans." He did not leave Joseph when they cast him into prison. "G.o.d was with him." When Daniel was cast into the den of lions, they had to put the Almighty in with him. They were so bound together that they could not be separated, and so G.o.d went down into the den of lions with Daniel.
NO SEPARATION.
If we have got Christ with us we can do all things. Do not let us be thinking how weak we are. Let us lift up our eyes to Him, and think of Him as our Elder Brother, who has all power given to Him in heaven and on earth. He says: "Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world."
Some of our children and friends leave us, and it is a very sad hour when some member of our family goes to a distant country--perhaps to Australia. But, thank G.o.d, the believer and Christ shall never be separated. He is with us here, and we shall be with Him in person by and by. We shall be with Him, and see Him in His beauty by and by. But not only is He with us, but He has sent us the Holy Ghost, who will tell us all things. Let us honour the Holy Ghost by acknowledging that He is here in our midst. He has got power to give sight to the blind, liberty to the captive, and to open the ears of the deaf that they may hear the glorious words of the gospel.
7. Then there is another _I will_ in John vi. 40; it occurs four times in the chapter: "I will raise him up at the last day."
THE "I WILL" OF RESURRECTION.
To me it is a very sweet thought to think that I have a Saviour who has power over death. My blessed Master holds the keys of death and h.e.l.l. I pity the poor unbeliever and the poor infidel. They have no hope in resurrection. But every child of G.o.d can open that chapter and read the promise, and his heart ought to leap within him for joy as he reads it. You know the tradesman generally puts the best specimen of his wares in the window to show us the quality of his stock. And so, when Christ was down here, He gave us a specimen of what He could do.
He just raised three from the dead, that we might know what power He had. There was (1) Jairus"s daughter, (2) the widow"s son, and (3) Lazarus of Bethany. He raised all three of them, so that every doubt might be swept away from our hearts. How dark and gloomy this world would be if we had no hope in the resurrection; but now, when we lay our little children down in the grave, although it is in sorrow, it is not without hope. We have seen them pa.s.s away, we have seen them in the terrible struggle with death; but there has been one star to illumine the darkness and gloom--the thought, that though the happy circle has been broken on earth, it shall be completed again in yon world of heavenly light. You that have lost a loved one rejoice as you read that "I will." Those that have died in Christ shall come forth again by and by. The darkness shall flee away, and the morning light of the resurrection shall dawn upon us. It is only a little while, and He that has said it shall come, His voice shall be heard in the grave--"I will raise him up at the last day." Precious promise!
precious _I will!_
8. Now, the next _I will_ is in John xvii. 24: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am."
THE "I WILL" OF GLORY.
That was in His last prayer in the guest-chamber, on the last night before He was crucified and died that terrible death on Calvary. I see some here whose countenances begin to light up at the thought that they shall be with the King in His beauty by and by. Yes; there is a glorious day before us in the future. Some think that on the first day they are converted they have got everything. To be sure, we get salvation for the past, and peace for the present; but then there is the glory for the future. That"s what kept Paul rejoicing. He said, "These light afflictions, these few stripes, these few brickbats and stones that they throw at me--why, the glory that is beyond excels them so much that I count them as nothing, nothing at all, so that I may win Christ." And so, when things go against us, let us cheer up; let us remember that the night will soon pa.s.s away, and the morning dawn upon us.
DEATH NEVER COMES THERE.
It is banished from that heavenly land. Sickness, and pain, and sorrow come not there to mar that grand and glorious home where we shall be by and by with the Master. G.o.d"s family will be all together there.
Glorious future, my friends! Yes, glorious day! and it may be a great deal nearer than many of us think. During these few dark days we are here, let us stand steadfast and firm, and by and by we shall be in the unbroken circle in yon world of light, and have the King in our midst.
THE SINNER"S "I WILL."
And now there is just one _I will_ that I want you to say, and that is the _I will_ of the sinner. You have got the eight "I wills" of Christ: (1) He will give us rest; (2) He will not cast out the vilest, but will receive all that come; (3) He will make us clean; (4) He will confess us as His; (5) He will make us successful winners of souls; (6) He will not leave us comfortless; (7) He will raise us up at the last day; and (8) He wills that we be with Him in glory.
And now I want sinners to say,
"I WILL ARISE, AND GO TO MY FATHER."
Who will say it this afternoon? Who will come to G.o.d as the poor prodigal did? I can see him now. Perhaps he is looking over those blue hills; and away in the distance he can see the home he has left, and he knows that there"s a loving father, a grey-headed man there; and he says, I perish here in a foreign land, while there is bread enough and to spare in that home which I have left; "I will arise, and go to my father." That was the turning-point in his life. That was a glorious thing to do, was it not, sinner?
When Mr. Spurgeon preached the other day in the West End, he summed up the things his audience had got over. Some of you, he said, have got over the prayers of faithful Sabbath-school teachers who used to weep over you, and come to the house and talk to you. You resisted all their entreaties, and got over their influence. And you have got over your mother"s tears and prayers, and she, perhaps, sleeps in the grave to-day; you have got over the tears and prayers of your father and of your minister, who has prayed with you and wept with you, a G.o.dly, faithful minister. There was a time when his sermons got right hold of you, but you have got over them now, and his sermons make no impression on you; you have been through special meetings, and they have made no impression on you, they have not touched you. Still, you say, you are getting on. Well, so you are; but bear in mind, you are getting on as fast as you can to h.e.l.l, and there is not one man in ten thousand who can hope to be saved after he has grown so hard-hearted.
Oh, my friends, say I will arise to-day! Let there be joy in heaven to-day over your return. We read in Luke xv., "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." May many return now, and live.
I am lost, and yet I know, Earth can never heal my woe I will rise at once and go, Jesus died for me.
THE RIGHT KIND OF FAITH
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"--Acts xvi. 30.
I do not know of any more important truth to bring out than the answer to this question, because that is the beginning of everything with regard to the divine life. A man must know he is saved before there is any peace, or joy, or comfort. The answer to the question is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"; and the question that comes right after that from almost every one is, "What is it to believe?" I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of G.o.d; I believe that He came into the world to save sinners. Well, and so do the devils. The devils not only believe, but they tremble. I can believe intellectually that Jesus Christ is able and willing to save, and yet be as far from the kingdom of G.o.d as any man who never heard about Jesus Christ. To believe that He can and is willing to save you, won"t save you. I will now take up the word "faith," which means believing.
THE BIBLE DEFINITION OF FAITH.
People say, "What is faith?" Now the Bible definition of faith is perhaps as good as any one that we know of. We are told in Hebrews xi., "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Now faith is--what? The substance, or, as you have it in the margin, "ground" or "confidence." In other words, faith is dependence upon the veracity of another. Why, all business is carried on on this principle of faith. Let men lose confidence one in another, and see how quick business could cease here in London. Let men withdraw their confidence, and see what would take place in the commercial world to-morrow. It was faith that brought you here. If you had not faith to believe that there would be a meeting in this hall, you would not have come. Somebody said there are three things about faith--knowledge, a.s.sent, and laying hold, and it is the last clause that is safe. Not the knowledge. A great many people say, "I believe Christ is able to save." They give their a.s.sent, and say, "I believe"
but that does not save. It is the last clause, the laying hold, that saves, and that is what we want to press upon you.
Faith has an outward look, not an inward one. Hundreds of people spend time in looking at their own hearts, but
FAITH IS AN OUTWARD LOOK.
We are to have faith in G.o.d, and not in man. A great many people place their faith in men, and they pin their faith to other people"s doctrines and creeds. Not long ago I heard of a man who was asked what he believed. He said he believed what his church believed. "What does your church believe?" "The church believes what I believe." And that was all they could get out of him. There are a great many in that same state of mind. They believe what the church believes, but they do not know what the church believes. If their church teaches it, they believe it. All the churches in the world can"t save a soul. It is not to have faith in this church or that church, this doctrine or that doctrine, this man or that man, but it is to have faith in the man Christ Jesus at the right hand of G.o.d. That is the only faith that will ever save a soul.
PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN MAN.
Let me call your attention to a few verses where G.o.d has warned us not to put faith in man: Jeremiah xvii. 5: "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." You will find some men have not faith in G.o.d; they are like a tree that is withered and blasted. And there is a man perhaps right along next to them who has strong faith in G.o.d; "he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water; his leaf also shall not wither." Why?
He trusts in the living G.o.d. "Happy is the man that hath the G.o.d of Jacob for his help." Cursed is the man that leaneth upon an arm of flesh, and trusteth in man. The same thought is brought out in Isaiah x.x.x.: "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin: that walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion." In one place He says, "Woe," and in another place He says, "Cursed be the man." It is a terrible thing for man to put faith in man. Then Psalm cxlvi. 3: "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the G.o.d of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his G.o.d." Now here we are told very plainly by G.o.d that we are not to put our trust in this man or that man--not to lean upon an arm of flesh. All the ministers in the world and all the potentates in the church put together cannot save one soul. It is thoroughly impossible. It is the Lord that can save, and the Lord alone; therefore we want to get our eyes away from man, from the church, and right straight up to the man Christ Jesus. We read in Mark xi. 22 whom we are to believe in. Christ says--and how sweet it sounds--"Have faith in G.o.d." I never saw a man or woman in my life that had faith in G.o.d who was confounded, I do not care what their troubles or trials were. Have faith in G.o.d, and not in man.
THE GREAT DELUSION OF OUR DAY.
We are living in very strange days. Some people tell us it does not make any difference what a man believes if he is only sincere. One church is just as good as another if you are only sincere. I do not believe any greater delusion ever came out of the pit of h.e.l.l than that. It is ruining more souls at the present time than anything else.