Receiving and Trusting Christ.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 130, 26 February 1887, Page 8

Receiving and Trusting Christ.

Sermon by D. L. Moody.

I believe there ore thousands who are just halting and wavering between two opinions. They are almost, but not altogether, per suaded. They have come to aay to thempelvee, " I don't want t,o go without Chcwc ; I want to be saved " Hence, I shall endeavour to answer the anxious enquiry WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED ? If I say to you, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," you will say, " Oh, baliovo « I have heard that word till 1 am tirod of it. Scarcely a week but I hear it in the church, or at a prayer-meeting, or at come meeting." You have all heard it over and over again ; I don't suppose there is a child over five years of age but can repeat that text. What you want is, to know HOW TO BELIEVE AND WHAT IT LS TO BELIEVE. Some of you Bay, " We all believe that Christ came into the world to seek and to save the lost ;" and that "he that believer h shall be saved." But the devils believe, and are not saved. They believe and tremble ! You must believe in the Lord Je-'us Christ, and not merely about Him, aud then you will knour what ealvation id. Well, we''l take another word whi.h means the same thiner ; perhaps you'll get hold of it better. "He came unto Hid own, and Hiß own received Him nor. But a« many ac received Him, to them gave He powwr to become the sone of God, even to them that believe on his name " (John i. 11, 12 ) Bear these two words in mind, RECEIVE, HIM. That's it ; not receiving a doctrine or a belief, but receiving Him Ie is a peraon we must receive. Now, my [experience with anxioua enquirers for the last few years ifi, that many people want to feel they are in Christ before they will receive Him. But we cannot love God and feel His presence until first of all we have received Him into our heartn It is juet like a boy with a ball ; he throws ir to you. Wei', you must catch it before you throw it back again. That is the teal meaning of " believe "— ib i* "receive"— receive Christ as youra. I don't know- any verse in the Bible that God has blessed to moreBouls than John i. 12: "To asm my as received Him, to thorn gave He power." I cannot give any better illustration of this than MATRIMONY. Some of you may smile at this illustration, but the Bible uses it, and if God use** it in His word, why ehould not I ? In thu Old TestamentGodusesit-" lam married utitj you." (Jeremiah iii. 14 ) Jesus Himself uses ifc, when He speaks of the Bride in John ii 39. Paul uses | it in his epistles, as in Romans vii. 4. as an illustration of the union between Christ and His church. Now, it is an illustration you can all understand When a man offers himself, tha woman must do either of two ihingq—ie ceive or reject him. So every soul that hoars the Gospel must do ON'H Of THESE TWO THINGS — " RECEIVE" OR 44 REJhCT " CHRIST. Woll, if you receive Him, that is all you have to do. He has promised power to become tfco eons of God to all that receive Him. TUk-RS WAS A SHOE -GIRL IN CHICAGO, A FEW yi;aj^ aoo ; one day she could not have bought a pound's worth of anything: ; the next day she could go and buy a thousand pound" worth of whatever she wanted. What made the difference ? Why, she had married a rich husband ; that was all. She had recoived him, and then all he had became hers. And so you can have power, if you only receive Christ. Remember, you can have no power without him ; you will fail, fail constantly, until you receive Him into your heart ; but I have Scripture authorit} to say that Christ will receive every soul that will come to him. Ah, what a mistake come people make ! They say, " I'd like to become a Christian if I hadn't to give up co much." Juet turn round and look at tho other side. You v'on't have to give up any thine: -you simply have to receive : and when you have received Christ, everything cUe vanishes away into comparative insignificance. Christ tills you, so that you don't feel these things to be worth a thought. V.-lICN A BRIDE MARRIES A MAN, it 13 generally love that prompts her. If any one really loves a man, is she thinking of how much she will have to give up? No ; that wouldn't be love. Love doesn't feed upon itself, it feeda upon the peraon who in lo\ed So, my friend?, it is not by looking \t what you ie ill have to give up, but b\ looking at what you vill receive, that you will be enabled to accept the Saviour Think of what Chiist is willing to be to sou, if you will have Him. You will be made heirs of heaven, joint-heirs with Christ— to reign wiih Bim for ever and ever — to be His — Tl IU. WITH HIM VIIERE HE IS— TO BE WHVT HE Ib. He wi 1 be made to you wipdom, righteoueno", aanclification, and redemption. You i^jti't need to trouble yourselves at precenr^ about what you have to give up. Kecowe Him, and all earthly things will appear v.tt9rly insignificant. Before I wa3 converted, I used to think of what I would have to give up if I became religious. I dearly loved many of tho pleasures of this earth ; but now I'd as rfoon go out into the streets and eat mud, a f« do those things God doesn't say, '•Uivoup thi3 and that." But He say?, " Hero is the Son ot My boeom — recei\e Him." When you do receive Him, everything eleo goes. — Stop that talk about giving up things. LKT CHSIST SAVE YOU, AND \LL OTIILR THINGS WILL GO FOR NOTIIIXG. Mark tho word*, "To aa many a=) received Him, to them gave Ho power." Now, my friends, will you go with this man ? You have often heard about Christ ; you know as much about Him as anyone on this platform psrhaps ; and did you over know a man or woman who regrotted receiving Him ? No man ever regretted receiving Christ ; but I have heard of thousands who havo been followers of the devil and have ro-gs-etted it very bitterly. And I notice that it ia alwayH the most faithful followers of the devil who regret it the most. My friends, accept my advice, and take Jesus with you when you leave this hall. Remember, He is the gift ©f God offered to V iJOPOEVEtt BELIEVETH IN IWM (JOHN HI, 18). You belong to that class, don't you ? Just take Him ; that's the first thing you have to do. When you go to cut down a tree, you don't take the axe and commence to now down the branches. No, you begin tigrt down at the root. So here, you must ake Christ, and then you will cet power to f eei9t the world, the flesh, and the ddvil.

I'll take another wor ?. I have been 'peaking of " receive :" b ■*i the next word [ want your attention to, id TRUST. Many get hold of that when they cannot get hold of " believe " "or receive " You all know what it» is to trust. If it were not rru=t, there would be a terrible commotion in this building to-night. If you could not trust that the roof was firmly put up, you would get out prettyquick ; and if you couli not trust these chairs to support you, how long would you ait on them? Why, you wouldn't have come here at all if you didn't trust our word that there would be jan address. Now. IT IS JUST THE SAME KIND OF TRUST THAT GOD WANTS. It ia no miraculous trust or faith, but just the same sort, only the object is different. Instead of trusting in these earthly things, or in an arm of flesh, you aro asked to trust in the Son of God. In Dublin I was speaking to a lady in the inquiry-room, when I noticed a gentleman walking up and down before the door. I went, forward, and eaid, " Are you a Christian ?" He was very anerry, and turned on his heels and left me. The following Sunday night I was preaching about " receiving," and I put the question "Who'll receive Him now?" That young man was present, and the cmeation sank into his heart. The next day he called upon me— ME WAS A MERCHANT IN UT7PLIN —and said, " Do you remember me ?" " No, I don't." ,'Do you remember the young man who answered you so roughly the other nieht?" " Yes, I do." " Well, I've come to tell you 1 am paved." " How did it happen ?" " Why, I wa3 listening to your sermon ia?t night, and when you asked, ' Who'll receive Him now ?' God put it into my heart to say, |' I will ;' and He haß opened my eyes to see Hia Son now." I don't know why thousands should not do that. If you are ever to be saved, why not now ? But another point you mnst remember— SALVATION IS A FREE GIFT, and it is a free gift for us. Can you buy it? It is a free gift, presented to " whosoever." Suppose I were to say, I will giva this book to " whosoever " will take it. But a man L'omes forward, and says, " I'd like to have it ; but I'd like to give you something for it. I don't like to take it for nothing ; let me give you a penny for it " Suppose I took the penny ; the book would not be a free gift. Mark the point ; when he gives the penny, it ceases to be a gift. So with salvation. If you were to pay ever so little, it would not be a gift. Man is always trying to do something. Thia iriserablo word "try" is keeping thousands out of heaven. When I hear men speak of "trying," I generally tell them that it is the way down to death and hell. [ DELIKVE MORE SOULS ARE LOST THROUGH ** TRYING " than any other way. You have often tried, and as often failed ; and as long as you keep trying you will fail. Drop that word, then, and take as your sure foothold for eternity, "trust." "Though He ela.\ me, yet will I trust Bim ;" that is the right kind of trust. Would to God that you would all say, " I will trust Him now to night " Did you ever hear of any one goiog down to hell, trusting in Jesus. I never did. If you commit yourself to B'tn, the battle will be over. You are complaing you don't feel better. Well, remember, the child must be born before it can be taught. So we cannot learn of God until we receive Him. We must be born — born again of the Holy Ghost, ere we can feel. Christ must be in us the hope of glory. How e&n He be in us it we don't receive Him and trust Him ? Another verse that has been used a great daal during the pa^r two years, and I feel that I rest my own salvation on it, is John v 24. 1 hope God will write it on your hearty, and burn it down into your souls " Vorily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and beliveth on Him that t-ent Me, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE " Thank Gid for that "hath." I HAD A FKW MEN IN THE INQUIRY- ROOMT HE OTHER NIGHT who could not find peace. I said, "Do you beueve the Biblo?" "Ye*, sir." "I think I will prove you don't. Turn up -John v. •24 " Tbey turnc-U it, up " Kead the verse." "Be that heareth My Word—' You behave that?" " Vee, sir." 'And beiieveth on Him that sent Me—' You btjiieze that God sent Jesna ?" "Yes." "Well, read oo " "'Hath evelasting life.' ' " You believe you hare everlasting life V " No, we don't." "Oh 1 thought you didn't beiiove in the Bible. What right have vois to cut a verse in two, and say you belid\e the one half, but not the other ? It plainly saj s, that he wko believes " hath overlap ing life, and shall not ccme into cou demnation ; but ia passed fro:n death unto life." Why, if you believe God'a worcM, you can ?ay, "I have passed fiom uarinesa unto light." Just by resting on th^t one little word in the present tense, " hulk," we may have "assurance" now. We don't need to wait till we die, or till the great aay of judgment, to find it out. A LAD If IN (.LASGOW CAME TO ME, and said, "Mr Moody, you.are always eayin£ 'T.ike. take !' Is there any place in the Bible where it says 'Tuke,' or is it ouly a word yon u*e ? I have been looking iv the Bible tor it, but cannot see it " " Why," I eidid, "'i,he Bible is sealed with it ; it ia ahnosi. the last word in the Bible. 'And tho opiric and the bride say. Come And let him thac heareth cay, Come. And let him tint ia athirst romo. And whosoever w ill, Ll T IHM ' TAKE ' THK WATER OF LIFE FREELY.' " "Well/ she said, "Inover saw thab bef.T3. la that all 1 have to do ?" " Yes the Bible says so." And she took it juet there. God eaye, " Lot him take ;" who can &top ua if God says it ? All the devils in holl cannot hinder a poor soul from taking, it GodP.\)S "Take." My friends, are you going to "Take" to-night? Are you goinjj U) let these precioua meetings pass without getting Christ? without bein# able to look up and cay, "Christ is my Saviour, God is my Father, heaven is my homo " A LADY CAME TO MY HOUSE THE OTHER NIGHT, anxious about her soul; but after some conversation she left, without finding peace. She came again, and I asked, " Wtiat ia the trouble?"— "l haven't got peace." I took her to this verse, "He that believelh on the Son hath everlasting life." (John Hi. 30.) I just hold up that little word " hath " to her, and turned to John v, 24, and vi. 47. There these words were spoken by Jesus, and they are all linked on to believing on the Son. After we had talked for some time, she looked in my face earnestly and said, "I have gpt it!" and went away rejoicing in the Saviour's love. If you seek life yo« can have it now, as you sit upon your seat. The word " hath " occurs again in lea. liii. 6: "All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ;

AND THE LOBS HATH LAID OK HIM THE I INIQUITY OP US ALL," I Our iniquity has been laid upon Christ, and the Lord is not going to demand payment twice. " Who His own self bare our sins in His oven body on the tree." (1 Feter ii. 24.) Suppose I owed a creditor a thousand pound?, and had nothing to pay, so that he was likely to eend me to prison. But suppose a friend henrd of it, and said, " I don't want to see Moody taken to prison." So he pays the debt for me, and gets the receipt. When I see the receipt, I know that lam free. But the oreditor finds out that I didn't pay it, and gets me hauled off to court. He cays be must have me pay it> myself, or I must go to prison. I show the receipt. "Why," says the judge, "the debt is paid, and cannot be demanded again." WELL, IP MAN DON'T ASK PAYMENT TWICE, WILL GOD? No, certainly not ! The case is this ; the debt has been paid,, our pins have been atoned for. Christ Himself has redeemed up, not with corruptible things, nuch as silver and gold, but with His precious blood ; therefore we are free. But remember, although salvation is so free for us, it copt God a great deal to redeem us. He had an only Son, and he gave him upfreely for us. What a wonderful gift? If you make light of so great a salvation, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Hence arises the all-important question : WHAT ABE YOU GOING TO DO WITH CHRIST # You have got to settle that question. You may get angry, like a man a short time ago who marched out of a church, saying, " What right has that American to make such a statement V" Hut it is true ; you must eettle it. Pilate wanted to shirnk the responsibility, and sent Jesus to Herod ; but he was forced to a decision. When the Jews forced him to decide, he washed his hands, and said he " was innocent of this just man's blood." But did that take away hi? g«iilt ? No. A MAN WAS ONCE BEING TRIED FOR A CRIME, the punishment of which was death. The witnesses came in one by one, and testified to bis guilt ; but there he stood, quite calm and unmoved. The judge and the jury marvelled at his indifference ; they could not underptand how he could take such a serious matter so calmly. When the jury retired, \\ did not take them many minutes to decide on the verdict "guilty;" and when the judge was passing the sentence of death upon the criminal, he told him howsurpri-ed he waa that he could be so unmoved in the prospect of death When the judge had finished, the man put his hand in his bosom, pulled out a document, and walked out of the dock a free man. The reason he could be so calm was that he had in his pocket all the time a free pardon from his king. The king had instructed him to allow the trial to proceed, and to produce the pardon only when he waa condemned. No wonder, then, that he was indifferent as to the result of the trial. Now, that is just what will make us joyful in the great day of judgment ; we have got a pardon from the Grrat King, and it is sealed with the blood of His Son. AFTER THE CHICAGO FIRE TOOK PLACE, a great many things were sent to us from all parts of the world. The boxe? in which thegoods were packed were labelled " for the people who were burned out," and all a man had to do was to prove that he had been burned out, and he got a share. So here you have but to prove that you are poor, miserable «inners, and there's help for you. If men, who are ruined and lost, cling to their " there is no hope ; but if they give up all their doings as hopeless, then Christ will save them. The law condemns, but Christ saves us. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF A SABBATH-SCHOOL IN EDINBURGH was walking; down the street one day, wht-n he met a policeman leading a little boy by the hand, whu was crying bitterly. He stopped, aud asked the policeman what wa« the matter with the boy. " Oh," paid the officer, "he has got lost." The superintendent asked to look at him. They went to a lamp and held up the little fellow. Why, in a moment the boy know his superintendent, and flow to his arms The gentleman took him from the policeman, and the boy waa comforted. In like manner the law has got hold of us, but lot us flee into Jesus' arm?, and we are aafe. A friend of mine iv the North told me of A POOR SCOTCH LASSIE, who waa very anxious about her soul. He told her to read Isaiah liii, She replied, " I canna read, aod I cauna pray ; Jesus take me as lam !" That was the true way ; and Jesu^ took her as she was. Let him take you thie night, jnat as you are, and He will receive you to Hi^ arms. One n>ght, when preaching in Philadelphia, 'iujht down by the suds of the pulpit, there was A VOL r NO LADY, WHOSE EYES WHERE RIVETED ON ME, a? if she were drinking in every word. It ir* precious to preach to people like that ; they generally get good, even if the sermon bo pour I got interested iv her atate of nnnd, und atfcer I had done talking, I went and spoke to her. *• Are you a Christian ?" " No, I wish I was ; I have been seeking Jesus for three years" I said, "There rnuac be some mistake. " She looked strangely at me, and said, " Don't you believe me?" "Well, no doubt you thought you were peeking Jesus, but I'M DON'T TAKE AN ANXIOUS SINNER THREE YEARS to meet an anxious Saviour." " What am Ito do, then?" "The matter is, you axe trying to do something ; you must just beliov© on the Lord Je3ua Christ." "Ob,' she replied, "I am tired of the word, 'Believe, believe, believe 1 ' I don't know *bal it is." " Well," 1 said, " we'll change the word ; take 4 trust.' " "If I say I'll trust Him, will He save me?" "No, I don't say tint; you may t-ay a thousand things, but if you do trust him." " Well," she said, " I do trust him ; but," she added in the same broath, " I don't feel auy better." "Oh, that's it," I said. "You've been looking for feelings for three years, instead of for Jesus. Faith is up above, not down here."' So I said to tho lady, " Have no more to do with feelings ; but, like Job, say, 'Though He slay mo, yet I will trust in Him.'" She looked at mo a few minutes, and then, putting her hand to take mine, she said, "Mr Moody, I trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul to-night " Then she went to the elders and said the same words. As she passed out the met one of the church officer?, and, shaking his hand, said again, " I trust tho Lord Jesus to save my soul." Next night she was in front of the pulpit again. I SHALL NEVER EORGET HER BEAMING FACE, She light of eternity was shining in her eyeballs ! She went into the inquiry room, I wondered what -she waa gaiog there for ; but when I got there, I found her with her arms round a lady friend, saying, " It's only to trust him. I have found it so. 1 ' From that night she was one of the best workers in the inquiry-room, and whenever

I met a difficult case, I got her to speak to the person, and she was sure to help them. . My hearer?, surely you can trust God. You must have a very poor opinion of God if you ca,nnot trußt Him. Sou havfc only to come to Him thus— receive Him, truatj Him. What more can you do, and what less can. you do than trußt Him? Is He not worthy of it? Now, let us be perfectly- still a moment, and while the voice or. man is hushed, let us think of one passage of Soripture : " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock." That is Cirist Btanding at thedoor of your heart, knocking, utid Lie says,. "If any man hear my voice, ana open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him. and he with me." Will anyone pull back the bolfce, and say, " Enter, thou welcome, thrice welcome One Blessed Saviour, come in," God grant that all mayy do this !

The laird of B. having givan bis coachman notice to quit for having overturned the carriage in coming homo from a dinnerparty, was waited upon by th« defaulter the next morning. He admitted his offence but said in mitigation, '• I am very sorry, but I wasna Bae verra drunk ; and, gentlemen, ye ken whiles get drunk." c * Weel," was the reply, " I dinna nay you were verra drunk for a gentleman , but ye w^r* dreadfully drunk for a coachman ~ao aff ye go !" A scientist has discovered a way to re* move moustaches from the lips of ladies. No prudent lady should allow a moustache, to etay on her lips more than a few seconds at the time.