Great Things and How Any One Can Get Them
You will knd toy text in i Corinthians 3:21, “All thingre yours,” That is a text that stirs the blood. I pity any man who is not stirred to the very depths of his being by an utterance of God like that, “All things are yours,” There are many who think that only a few men can ever attain unto great things, that the great mass tent with small things, with
everything that is of infinite
and eternal value is open to all men. There is not a man or woman here to-night who cannot have great things, the very greatest things, those things which are of most priceless worth. Certainly, if any one will become a member of that class of people to whom God, in our text, makes the marvelous promise, “All things are yours,” he can have the very greatest things, those things which a,re of most priceless value.
First of all. Any one here can have great joy. When Christ was born at Bethlehem an angel came down from heaven and proclaimed, “Behold, I bring
That is not so. The very
Great Joy. you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord ’’ (Luke 2: 10, ii). The birth of Jesus, the Christ of God, into this world brought great joy into the world: the reception of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord by the individual man or woman brings great joy into the heart of that man or woman. No matter who the man or woman may be who receives Jesus Christ, he will find joy, great joy ‘’ in Him.’’ The highest form of joy known to man is joy in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus fills every heart into which He is admitted with boundless joy. One may be very gloomy and despondent by nature but if he really receives Jesus Christ he will find great joy.
I recall a man who I think was one of the gloomiest men I ever met. He had one of those despondent, despairing faces that make you shudder. I dreaded to have him approach me. The man had at one time been the inmate of an insane asylum where he was sent for melancholia, and he looked and acted as if he ought to be there still. It was my privilege to point that man to Jesus Christ. He did not accept Jesus Christ in a day. I dealt with him day after day for quite a while, and he seemed so deeply immersed in his gloom that the light could not penetrate his darkened heart. It seemed as if he never would see the truth and accept the Lord Jesus. He was one of the most discouraging men with whom I have ever dealt. ‘But he kept coming back to me, and at last, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the light broke in upon his darkened heart and he received Jesus Christ, and became at once one of the brightest. happiest men I ever knew, as well as one of the most faithful and effective Christian workers.
I met another man who had made a shipwreck of life. He belonged to a good family, he was a man of unusual ability and well educated; but he had gone wrong and had thrown away his life in sin. The night I first met him he was a wanderer on the face of the earth, hundreds of miles from home, money gone, friends gone, manhood gone, and seemingly everything worth while gone. He came to me at the close of a service I was conducting and asked me if I thought there was any hope for a man like him? I told him, “Yes,” that I knew that there was, and pointed him to the Lord Jesus and he took Him that night and became a very happy man. That was years ago, but for many years, every now and then, I got a letter from him telling me of his great joy. He is happy indeed, to-day; for he is with Christ in the glory.
No one ever really took Jesus Christ, rich or poor, learned or ignorant, moral or vicious, honest or criminal, of any nation or character, who did not find great joy. God has provided great joy for every one in Jesus Christ. I know a man at the present time in San Quentin for murder, but in San Quentin where he has already been some years he was led to accept the Lord Jesus Christ. His letters, some of which his father lets me see, are among the most joyous letters, and the most full of Jesus Christ, of any letters I have even seen.
If any one has not great joy, it is wholly his own fault. No one can rob another of his joy if his joy is really in Jesus Christ. Men may rob you of your money, lhey may rob you of your good name, they may rob you of your friends, but they cannot rob you of your joy, if it really is in the Lord Jesus.
I met a woman in Chicago many years ago. She was most wretched. She had had great misfortunes come into her life. She had been defrauded of her money. She had been robbed of her husband and his love. Her soul was bitter. She had a hard, sour face, — one of the hardest faces I ever saw. I spoke to her of Jesus Christ. She would not listen. She hated the one who had wronged her and longed to get even, and would not listen to the story of the love of God. She said God did not love her or He would never have permitted her to suffer what she had suffered. I met the same woman again in the Moody Church some years later. Again, I spoke to her of Jesus Christ and of God’s love. This time she professed to be an infidel. I knew she was lying to me and told her so, and recalled her story as she had told it to me several years before. She supposed that I had forgotten her and so had ventured on this new story that she was an infidel. But she was still hard and bitter. A year or two later I met her again. Again I spoke to her of Jesus Christ, and this time she broke down and accepted Him. Immediately her life was changed. Instead of bitterness, she found great joy at once. I met her again some time later. She had been very sick but was still rejoicing in Jesus Christ and longing to tell others of this wonderful Saviour and the joy He brings into the heart of those who accept Him.
I was once sitting in my office in Minneapolis and a woman with a very hard face came in. She ap-THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
preached my desk and said, Do you send missionaries to talk with people who are dying?”
Yes,” I replied. ‘’ Well, there is a woman dying at my house” (and she gave me the street and number).
I wish you would send a missionary around to talk to her.” I judged from the woman’s appearance the kind of place it must be and the kind of woman it must be who was dying. In a little while two women missionaries came in. I said to them, There is a woman dying around at such and such a street and number. Will you go around and talk with her? I think it is a wicked place and that the woman has lived a life of sin.”
The two missionaries went aside and prayed and then went around to this house. It was as I had suspected, — a den of infamy, and the dying woman was a woman who had made the worst shipwreck of life that a woman can make. They told the dying woman of Jesus Christ and His death for her upon the Cross of Calvary, and how He had made full atonement for all her sins. And then she received Jesus Christ and great joy at once came into the heart which sin had so darkened. When the missionaries came back I asked them, Did she accept Jesus Christ?” ‘“Yes,” they said, ‘‘but that is not all, Mr. Torrey, though she was dying of an incurable disease that no physician could heal, we were led to kneel down and pray that God would not only save her soul but would also heal her body. God heard our prayer and she is healed.” The woman was beyond any human physician’s skill, but these missionaries had been given faith to pray for her recovery from an incurable and loathsome disease.
God had heard their prayer. She got up from that bed, a saved, happy, and well woman. Years afterward, when I had moved to Qiicago, one of these two missionaries came to Chicago to study at the Moody Institute, and this woman heard that she was coming and came to her and told her to bring me a message of her joy in the Lord.
Oh, there is great joy for everybody, if they will only seek it in God’s way. Any one can have it. If you wish it, come to me at the close of this service and I will tell you just what to do to get it.
We are told in Acts 8:8, that when Samaria received the truth regarding the Lord Jesus Christ, there was great joy in that city.” If any one will receive the truth regarding Jesus Christ and receive Jesus Christ Himself into his heart, there will be ‘‘ great joy
But there is another great thing any one here can have. You can have great peace. Peace and joy are closely related but they are not the same thing by any means. But they are to be obtained in much the same way. If we accept Jesus Christ, and trust in Him, and obey His Word, we shall have great peace as well as great joy. Paul says in Philippi ans 4: 6, 7, In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passeth all unde^standing, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.’* And the experience of thousands and tens of thousands
in” that heart.
II. Great Peace.
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
of people proves this promise that God made through Paul, to be absolutely true.
Think of that! The peace of God, which pass-ETH ALL understanding,” Is not that a ‘‘great peace “? It is infinite peace, “the peace of God/^ i, e., not only the peace which God gives, but the deep, infinite peace that there is in the heart of God Himself. And it is for any one of you here who wishes it. Your heart may be tempest tossed to-night. Your heart may be a raging sea of doubts, and fears, and anxieties, and unsatisfied desires and passions. But there is peace for you, “great peace,’’ “perfect peace,” “the peace of God which passeth all understanding.”
I wonder if there was ever a more tempestuous soul than that of Saul of Tarsus? He breathed an atmosphere of storm, and passion, and hatred. He “breathed out (or, to translate more exactly, “breathed in “) threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord “(Acts 9: i). But that stormy soul found such peace in Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus Christ bestows upon all those who receive Him, that even in jail at Philippi, at midnight, when his back was tom and bleeding from the stripes he had just received, we find him singing praises to God (Acts 16: 23-25). And, later, in prison at Rome, awaiting sentence of death, no ruffle of anxiety or fear disturbs the deep calm of his soul. It was at that time he uttered such words as these, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: again, I say, rejoice.” And a little further on he writes the words I just quoted, “In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” And a little further on he says again, ‘‘ I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content.” And two verses still further on he says, ‘’ I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me.” Yes, every one can have great peace, abiding peace, abounding peace, never failing peace, ‘‘ the PEACE OF God which passeth all understanding.” Jesus said the night before His crucifixion, in His farewell words to His disciples and to all who should become disciples in after years, Peace I leave with you; MY PEACE I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful” (John 14:27).
HI. A Great Position.
There is another great thing any one can have and that is, A GREAT POSITION. We have a way of thinking that the great positions are only for a very select few. That is a great mistake. The greatest and grandest and most glorious of all positions is for any one who will have it. Very few can ever be President of the United States. Very few can become United States Senators or members of Congress. Very, very few can ever become kings or emperors. But there is a position higher far than that of congressman or senator, or President of the United States, or king or emperor, that is open to any one of us. Turn to John i: 12 and you will find out just what that position is. This is what it says, ‘‘ As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
CHILDREN OF God, even to them that believe on his name,” To be a “child of God” is surely to occupy a higher position than to be an earthly president, prince, king or emperor. What is any earthly monarch to the King of kings and the Lord of lords? The greatest and most potent monarch of this earth looks like a gnat when compared with the Infinite, Eternal God, Who created all things seen and unseen. The greatest earthly throne is but a toadstool compared with the throne of God. And the position of becoming God’s child and God’s heir is open to any one who desires it in his heart.
One day it was my fortune to run by accident upon a real, live king. I was not looking for him, and he certainly was not looking for me. I was coming down the hall of the University at Leipzig all alone, and I saw a man coming up the stairway all alone. I instantly recognized him as the King of Saxony. Of course, I uncovered and bowed as we passed one another, and he bowed back with a smile, very courteously and very pleasantly. And I had met a king — and he had met — what had he met? He had met a free American citizen, but he had met something more than that, he had met a child of God, and to be a child of God is to hold a far higher position than to be a king. And this position is open to any one who wishes to fill it, ‘‘As many as received HIM, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name,” Think of it! Any man or woman can become a CHILD OF God. Yes, any one.
But some of you will decline that great honour. Why? Because you had rather have some disgusting sin or some contemptible sin than to become a child of God. Or you would rather have the silly satisfaction of calling yourself a sceptic and therefore fancying yourself very brainy and an independent thinker, than to become a child of God. Or you are not willing to endure the world’s sneers, and you would rather have this fool world’s praise, than to be even a child of God. Oh, for what paltry baubles we trade this great honour of becoming children of God! What pitiable fools we are. I did it for years myself, I thank our wondrous God that He had mercy upon me and patience with me, and at last brought me to my senses.
IV. A Great Hope.
There is another great thing that any one can have and that is, a great hope. Paul describes this great hope. He says in Titus 1:2, In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised.” What a hope that is, hope of eternal life”! The world has nothing to match against that. The very best the world can give cannot last more than eighty, ninety or a hundred years at the longest. We say this world has been good to Rockefeller, it has given him several hundred millions or it may be a billion. But for how long? For but a very little while. The poorest living newsboy on the streets of this city will be richer than Rockefeller in this world’s wealth in a very few years. This world’s hopes are poor things, for upon them all is written, ‘‘ For a few days only.”
One day, quite a while ago, the newspapers contained glowing accounts of the magnificent gifts of gold and precious stones presented to two young
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
people who were to be married, the man the son o£ one of America’s richest millionaires, and the woman, the daughter of another multi-millionaire. But in a very few years they will leave all these costly gifts, all these diamonds and pearls and all this gold. But the one who will believe on Jesus Christ gets a hope that is indeed great, eternal life; life, Divine in its quality, endless in its duration, the very life of God Himself. Years roll on, the life eternal still lasts. Centuries fly by, the life eternal still lasts. Ages and ages sweep on in endless procession but the life eternal is just beginning. Ah! Eternal Life! that is something worth while. To me there is a growing charm in these words, Eternal Life.” In former years I did not think much of them. The present life seemed fair and long and very alluring. But of late years as I have seen one thing after another end, as I have seen vast fortunes crumble, and one great man after another pass into oblivion and some one else come on and take his place, as I have seen not only vast fortunes but mighty kings and even vast empires collapse and vanish, as I have seen the stamp of transitoriness and decay upon everything earthly, I have felt an ever increasing pity for the poor fools who live for the present fleeting world, and an increasing joy in these great words, eternal life.”
‘‘ In hope of eternal life,” that is indeed a hope worth having. And any one here can have it. The poorest can have it just as well as the richest. The weakest can have it just as well as the strongest. The sinfullest can have it just as well as the holiest. The great, the glorious hope of life eternal is open to all.
V. A Great Inheritance.
Then there is another great thing that is open to all and that is, a great inheritance. Peter describes this inheritance in this way, “An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven ‘’ (i Pet. 1:4). Now that cannot be said about any earthly inheritance. What earthly inheritance is incorruptible? The hand of decay is upon every earthly inheritance. What earthly inheritance is undefiled? My! how dirty most great earthly inheritances are! What earthly inheritance fadeth not away? They are fading, every last one. The fool son or grandson of the shrewdest millionaire is likely to wind up in jail, and the inheritance disappears entirely in every case as soon as the owner of it dies.
Paul describes this great inheritance that any one of us can get in a still more remarkable way in Romans 8: 16, 17, ‘‘The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ/^ Think of that a moment please. “Heirs of God! Heirs of all God’s infinite wealth, joy, and glory, and “joint heirs (fellow-heirs, co-heirs) with Christ,” heirs in the way in which Jesus Christ is heir and to the extent to which Jesus Christ is an heir. Co-heirs with Him in whom dwelt “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”; and who was, therefore, the “heir of all things.” In that same way the one who receives Jesus Christ becomes an heir of God. Look out upon the whole earth with all its wealth and say, “this all belongs to God, and I
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
am His child and His heir, and therefore I am heir of all this,” Look up at the stars, those great immeasurable, incomprehensible, overwhelmingly stupendous worlds of light and splendour and bewildering magnitude and majesty, and say, I am an heir of all these.” Think of the infinite wisdom, infinite joy, and infinite glory of the Deity, and say, ‘‘ I am His child. Therefore all this is my inheritance. There is absolutely no limit to what is open to me.” Millionaire? that is nothing. Billionaire? that is still nothing. I am an heir of God, a co-heir with Jesus Christ! It fairly makes one’s head swim just to think of it. This inheritance is open to any one. Take, for example, some washer-woman. This inheritance is open to her. Or some labouring man. This inheritance is open to him. Or an ex-convict. This inheritance is open to him. Or men and women who have squandered their lives. This inheritance is open to them.
One night in Birmingham, England, upon going on to the platform in Bingley Hall I received a note from a young woman. She asked me to pray for her brother who she said had squandered two fortunes and had just returned from India where he had squandered a third. I read the note from the platform and the audience joined me in prayer for this man. Though we did not know it, miles away in Worcester, while we prayed, that man was seated by a table with a loaded revolver upon it preparatory to taking his own life. But God heard our prayer, and he was converted and saved as he sat by that table, just within a few minutes of hell. He had thrown away three inheritances, but he received that night an inheritance to which all three together were as nothing.
There are poor men, there are rich men. There are good men, there are bad men. But this inheritance is open to one and all without distinction. Listen to the way Peter puts it, an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,^^ For whom? Listen.
For you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time,” Do you take in the force of these words? This inheritance is for any one who believes on Jesus Christ and who, therefore, is kept, not by his own power, but by the power of God,” unto that complete salvation of spirit, soul, and body, that is to be made manifest in the last time. That, then, is all one has to do to get this great inheritance, just place faith in Jesus Christ and be “kept by the power of God through faith unto (that glorious, infinite) salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Any one can do that, and therefore any one can get this inheritance.
We see, then, that there is for us all, for any one who will have them, a great joy, a great peace, a great position, a great hope, and a great inheritance. Do you want these five great things? I put the question to each one of you. Do you want these five great things? You can have them. Take Jesus Christ as your Saviour and surrender to Him as your Lord, and confess Him as such before the world, and these five great things become yours. Do that and you will get them all. Oh, how can any one of you refuse to do it? How can you hesitate to do it? If
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
I should take a bushel basket full of large diamonds of the finest water and make it known that any one who wished could have one, would you hesitate? There might be some friend near you, to laugh at you, but you would come just the same. Well, I am setting out something infinitely better than a basket full of fine diamonds. I set forth a great peace, I set forth here’ a great joy, I set forth a great position, I set forth a great honour, I set forth here a great hope, I set forth here a great inheritance, and I say on the authority of God, Who cannot lie, “Come up and help yourself.” How many of you will?
VIII
NOAH AND HIS ARK
And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the arkJ’ — Genesis 7:1.
Noah was one of the most remarkable men in the world’s history. He stands out absolutely alone of all the men of his day. He was the one man whom God chose out of the whole human race then living to be the head of a new race. The story of the Flood is a most amazing one, so unusual indeed that one’s first impulse is to question its historicity. But it has abundant confirmation even outside the Bible. Legends of a universal flood are found well-nigh everywhere where men are found. The Cuneiform Tablets of Central Asia, the Bhagavatas of Ancient India, the Legend of Deucalion in Greece, the traditions of the Cree Indians in the North and of the natives of Orinoco on the South and of China on the East, of Mexico on the Southwest, of Scandinavia in the Far North, and of the ancient Celts all contain accounts of such a flood. The three great branches of the human race, the Turanians, Semites and Aryans all have it. So it is evident that this extraordinary story of the Flood has abundant historic confirmation outside of the very plain and very full and very precise statements of the Bible.
I2S
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
But more important than all this is that the Old Testament story has the endorsement of Jesus Christ. You cannot doubt the truth of the story of the Flood as recorded in the Book of Genesis without discrediting Jesus Christ. If this story is not true Jesus Christ was a fool, for He expressed in the most unmistakable terms His belief in the truth of the story. Yes, if this story is not true Jesus Christ was worse than a fool. He was a fraud. He claimed to be a teacher sent from God, who spoke the very words of God, and if the story of the Flood be not true, if it be not accurate history, Jesus accepted an idle tale as true history, and His claim to be a teacher sent from God, who spoke the very words of God, was absolutely false and He was a gross impostor.
Not only the credibility but the honour of Jesus Christ are involved in the truthfulness and accuracy of this Old Testament story of the Flood. But Jesus Christ’s claims to have been a teacher sent from God who spoke the very words of God, are abundantly substantiated. They are so abundantly substantiated that no one can thoroughly and candidly study the conclusive proofs of the truth of His claims and not believe in them, and consequently he must believe in the truth of the story of the Flood which Jesus Christ so explicitly and fully endorsed.
So it is absolutely certain that the story of the Flood as recorded in the Book of Genesis is true history. It is true that the world was swept in judgment by a Flood and Noah and his family, eight persons in all, alone were saved of all members of the Adamic race then living on the earths Why was Noah saved? The Bible tells us.
I. Noah Was Saved by Grace,
I. In the first place, Noah was saved because he found grace in the sight of Jehovah. God’s own statement is, Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah” (Gen. 6:8). Noah was not saved because he deserved to be saved. He was “saved by grace.” He was not saved because he was sinless. It is true that he was righteous,” Genesis 7 i says so, but it says that he was ‘‘ righteous before God” and the only righteousness in God’s sight is the righteousness of faith,” and Hebrews 11:7 tells us that Noah’s righteousness was a righteousness of faith and not a righteousness which he worked out for himself. The exact words are, “Noah... became heir of
the righteousness which is according to faith.” Noah’s righteousness was the kind of righteousness that is open to every one of us, open to the vilest sinner on earth. Noah was a sinner. He was not sinless, he was far from it. He was far from perfect, he got drunk even after the Flood and his wonderful deliverance (Gen. 9:21). Of course he had more excuse for getting drunk than you or I would have to-day. He did not understand the effects of alcohol as fully as we do, but he surely must have known that it was not right to get drunk. He was a sinner saved by grace. So must we be sinners saved by grace if we are saved at all and we all can be saved in that way, and not one of us can be saved in any other way. God*s Word is as plain as day on that point, and universal experience confirms God’s Word at this point. God says, There is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; be-THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
ing justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ‘’ (Rom. 3: 22-24). And He says again, For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8).
II. Noah Was Saved by Faith.
2. In the second place, Noah was saved because he believed God. As God puts it in Hebrews 11:7, ‘‘ By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.’’ God told Noah that there was to be a flood, and Noah believed Him. Noah believed that there was to be a flood just because God said so. He had no other reason whatever for believing it, he asked no other reason for believing it. The wisest philosopher on earth is the man who has sense enough to believe what an infinitely wise God, who cannot lie, says, even if he has no other ground for believing it. And there is no bigger fool on earth than the would-be philosopher who doubts anything God says simply because he has no other ground for believing it than God’s unsupported Word. The wisest man of his day well said, Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him” (Prov. 26:12), and these puny self-styled philosophers” and would-be ‘’ scientists” of our day who are so wise in their own conceit” that they venture to doubt God’s Word because it does not agree with some of their “erudite” notions, would do well to lay this wise utterance of Solomon’s to heart.
Jehovah said, ‘‘ There is to be a flood,” and Noah had sense enough to believe it with all his heart just because God said so, and thus he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith (Heb. 11:7). And by his wise action in this matter he not only condemned the world that then was, but condemned a very large share of the world that now is. Happy is the man to-day who has as good sense in this matter as Noah had so many centuries ago.
There was no sign of a flood. The sun rose and set year after year just as it always had. The laws of nature moved on in their uniform course. No man of science saw anything indicative of an approaching flood. But God said to Noah, ‘’ There is to be a flood,’’ and Noah believed it. People tried to laugh him out of it. They pointed to the steady course of the seasons, the uniformity of nature, to the fact that all of the great scientists were against him, that the theologians and the scholarly critics were all against him, that indeed all kinds of scholars were against him, that in fact he stood entirely alone. Nevertheless, Noah stuck to his faith in God’s Word. Many doubtless said, “Noah, you are mistaken in thinking it is God’s Word. It is not God’s Word. If it were God’s Word our great men would believe it.” Some doubtless said that there was no God anyway, and that all this belief in God and God’s Word was mere empty superstition.
But Noah believed God in the face of it all, and it was well for him that he did. Unquestionably believing God’s Word saved him and his whole family from utter destruction. You and I must be saved in exactly the same way if we are saved at all. We also
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
have God’s Word. The proof that this Book is God’s Word is overwhelmingly conclusive, and God’s Word, as found in this Book, tells of another coming judgment, it tells us that in that judgment many will be eternally lost. God’s Word about that is not generally believed. Many men of science do not believe it, and in this day many theological professors do not believe it, and not a few preachers even ridicule the idea. Many scoff at the very idea of God having a Word at all, and some even question whether there is a God. But there is a God, and this Book is God’s Word. That can be easily proven. And God’s Word says that there is to be a judgment of all mankind (Acts 17:31), and God’s Word about that, just as God’s Word about the Flood, will be fulfilled to the letter.
Our salvation depends upon our holding fast to God’s Word and believing it to the very letter, in spite of objections and sneers and specious arguments of men, even of scholarly men. Oh, happy is the man who has sense enough to learn from the unvarying history of the past and believe what God says in spite of the proud unbelief of men, no matter who they may be.
III. Noah Was Saved by Obedience.
3. In the third place, Noah was saved because he obeyed God. Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark,” and Noah came and brought all his house with him just as God had bidden him do (Gen. 7:5). Noah’s faith was a real faith. Noah’s faith was not a mere opinion of the head. That sort of faith will not save any one. Noah’s faith was a faith of the heart, a faith that acts upon what it believes, that obeys the God it believes in; and that is the only kind of faith that saves anybody. God said, Make thee an ark” (Gen. 6: 14), and told Noah exactly how to make it. Noah made the ark and made it exactly after God’s specifications. He attempted no improvements of his own upon God’s plans. He was wise enough to do exactly as God told him. The ark God commanded him to build was on a vast scale, and it must have seemed like a huge undertaking. Not only that, it must have seemed like an absurd undertaking. And it was a very expensive undertaking. No doubt Noah was ridiculed. No doubt men tried to dissuade him. No doubt some of his most judicious and trusted friends pointed out more profitable ways to invest his money and more pleasant ways to employ his time, but Noah went right on doing exactly what God told him to do.
It is probable that he put all that he had into that old ark. He had nothing to bank on but God’s Word, but that was enough. It was well for him that he banked on it. It is always well to bank on God’s Word. Very likely it cost Noah his entire fortune to build the ark, and when the last nail was driven he had nothing left. But when he came out of the ark he owned the whole earth. It was all his. There were no rival claimants. His title was clear and indisputable. All the men who had laughed at him were dead. They had lost everything. Noah had gained everything. So will it be with you and me, if we obey God. The one who obeys God may lose
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
everything for the time being, but he will gain everything for eternity; for he becomes an “heir ot God and joint heir with Christ (Rom. 8: 17).
God told Noah to build the ark for his own salvation and the salvation of his house. What does God command us to do for our salvation and that of our house? Acts 16:31 answers the question: ‘”Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.’’ God commands us to believe on Jesus Christ, not to believe about Him, but to believe on Him, i. e., to accept Him, to take Him, to take Him as your Saviour, to take Him as your Lord and Master, surrender yourself absolutely to His will, and confess Him as your Lord and Master before the world (John 1:12; Rom. 10:9, Do that and
you shall have life, eternal life. You will be ridiculed if you do. No doubt of that. If some young men who may read these words accept Christ, their companions will make fun of them to-morrow morning. If some business man accept and confess Christ some of his business friends will make fun of him. If some wdves accept Jesus Christ now their husbands will certainly ridicule them. It may cost any of these a good deal. It may cost some of them their position. It may cost some of them all they have in the world, just as it cost Noah. But it will pay. They will gain more than even Noah did, though he gained the whole earth. They will gain an “inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (i Pet. 1:4). They will become heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. They may have to suffer with Christ but the old Book of God says, “If we suffer with him we (shall) be also glorified with him’’ (Rom. 8: 16, 17, 18).
When Noah came out of the ark safe and found the whole earth his I do not think he regretted the ridicule he had endured, nor the money he had expended. And when you who read my words stand before God and all things are yours for all eternity you will not regret the ridicule you may have endured nor the money you have expended because of your belief in Jesus Christ and your obedience to God. On the other hand, wtien those who had ridiculed Noah saw the flood arising they wished they too had invested all in an ark and were safely housed inside. So in the Judgment Day that is surely coming on this old world those who sneer at the Christian now, and ridicule the Christian now, will wish that they too had invested their all in Jesus Christ. There were no more sceptics when the flood had gotten well to work, and there will be no sceptics or agnostics nor theosophists in the Judgment Day, and there will be a good many of you gentlemen and ladies who will wish you never had been sceptics or agnostics or theosophists or Christian Scientists falsely so-called. I tell you the smart young man who has caught a few of the stock phrases and arguments of modern Infidelity and goes around laughing at preachers and Christians and those who invite him to the church and to Christ, will wish in that day that he had had more sense and had not done it.
lY. Noah was Saved Because He Accepted God’s Invitation.
4. In the fourth place, Noah was saved because
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
he accepted God’s invitation. God had said, Come thou and all thy house into the ark,’” and Noah just came. It was not merely the invitation that saved Noah, but his own acceptance of the invitation. That is what will decide the matter with each one of us. We are all invited. God says, ‘‘ Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). The Lord Jesus says, ‘‘ Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out “(John 6:37). Will you accept the invitation or will you decline it? It is just as true of many to-day as it was when our Lord said it when He was here upon earth, ‘‘Ye mil not come to me that ye may have life” (John 5: 40), and that is the sole reason why they are lost; they won’t accept the invitation.
A friend of mine told me many years ago a story. I do not know where he heard it and, of course, I cannot vouch for its truth; but it exactly illustrates my point. He said that a certain rich Christian worker who wished to illustrate how men are saved by simply accepting the Gospel invitation, offered to pay the debts of every one who came to his office for that purpose. Most men naturally regarded it as a hoax or a trick of some kind and did not go to his office. One man believed it at least enough to try it. He went, and the rich worker paid every penny of his debts. That man was saved from his burden of debt by accepting the invitation. The invitation was for all but only the one who accepted it received the salvation offered in it. Noah accepted God’s invitation to “Come into the ark” and was saved, and every one of us who accepts God’s invitation to come into Jesus Christ by accepting Him as our personal Saviour, surrendering to Him as our Lord, and confessing Him as such before the world, will be saved. Every one who does not accept God’s invitation to come into Christ will be lost. It is up to every one of you to say for yourself whether you will be saved or whether you will be lost, whether you will spend eternity in Heaven or whether you will spend eternity in Hell. You decide that by your decision whether you will accept God’s invitation or decline God’s invitation.
Noah accepted the invitation for his family as well as for himself. He took them in with him. The whole family were gathered in. The record reads, ‘’And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark” (Gen. 7:7). It has been said that it speaks well for Noah that in the midst of such prevailing unbelief Noah’s whole household had such faith in the old man that they all accompanied him into the ark. Perhaps it speaks even better for his consistency and integrity and nobility of character that his daughters-in-law had as much confidence in him as his own sons. It is certainly more than can be said of all professed Christian parents to-day that every member of their household follows them in the acceptance of Christ. I think the Bible plainly indicates that when a man’s family does not come along with him it is somehow the parent’s fault. There is some screw loose somewhere in his character or his conduct. He is worldly or overbearing or not strictly truthful or unchristian somewhere, or else he neglects persistent prayer or wise, spirit-filled personal effort. At all events God is saying,” Come thou and all thy house into the ark,” and He says in Acts 16:31: Believe bn tHe
Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house,” I do not see how any Christian man or woman can rest while even one child is out of the ark. Suppose Noah had found Shem, Ham, or Japheth lacking, do you not think he would have made a strenuous effort to find him and bring him in?
In the first church of which I was pastor there were two women, who were members of the church. One of these women, a farmer’s wife, had a large family of children, but saw to it that every one of them was saved. Several of them became missionaries. At least three of them are missionaries at the present time. The other woman’s children were unsaved. The woman who had brought her own children to Christ one by one, went to the other woman in a time of deep religious interest and tried to stir her up to win her own children to Christ. But the woman replied, Oh, I believe they will all be saved — sometime.” But they were not. One of them at least is dead now and died out of Christ.
Dr. George Pentecost once talked with a young man whose mother was a professing Christian. The young man sneered at Christianity and at Christians. Dr. Pentecost said to him, Oh, you think then that Christians are weak in their minds, that they have a soft spot in their brains somewhere, or else they are hypocrites?” The young man replied, ‘‘Well, I don’t like to put it just that way, but that is about what I think.” “But,” said Dr, Pentecost, “is not your mother a Christian?” “Yes.” “Is your mother weak-minded or is she a hypocrite?” “You
have no right to speak that way of my mother,” the young man hotly replied. No, but you said that all Christians had a soft spot in their brains somewhere and you say your mother is a Christian.’’ The young man blushed, hesitated and then replied, ‘‘If my mother really is a Christian, why then has she never spoken to me about my soul?” That is what some of your children are thinking of some of you professing Christians. Which one of your children are you willing to have lost? Oh, if you have an unsaved child let God’s invitation sink down to the very depths of your heart, “Come thou, and all thy house into the ark.”
V. Jehovah Shut Him In.
Just one thing more. Let me call your attention to five wonderfully expressive words in the Bible account of the Flood. They are found in the seventh chapter and the sixteenth verse, “And Jehovah shut him in.” When God shut to the door of that ark Noah was safe. The torrential rains might fall from above, the earth might subside beneath, and the waters of the sea might rush in upon the doomed land, but Noah was safe inside the ark built according to God’s pattern. And so with us also, when once we are in the ark built according to Gods pattern, when we are in Christ, by accepting Christ with our whole heart. When we accept Christ fully as our Saviour, surrender to Him unreservedly as our Lord, and gladly confess Him as such before the world, God shuts us in and we are safe. There may be appalling storms, there may be fierce tempests, there may be an awful Judgment Day, we may be ;weak in ourselves, but we are safe. That awful
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
Great Tribulation ’’ of which the Bible so often speaks and toward which things seem to be so rapidly moving to-ddy, in Russia and Germany and England and even in America, may come, but we are safe, “shut in’” the ark. And our Lord Jesus Himself says in John 10:28, 29, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, which hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
It was not any strength or goodness of his own that made Noah safe in that awful day, it was being in the ark that made him safe. It is not any strength or goodness that you or I may have that makes us safe, it is being in Christ Jesus, being in the ark made on God’s pattern, thoroughly well built, and that ark will stand any storm.
But the door that shut Noah and his family in, shut the unbelieving world out, and when the door was once shut the day of grace was ended. The door had stood open many years, “the long-suffering of God (had) waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing” (i Pet. 3:20). God’s long-suffering grace had waited one hundred years and more. But the day of grace was now over. The day of grace will soon be over with you. The door is still open. It will be shut some day. It will be shut for some of you before another year passes, it will be shut for some of you before another month passes, it will be shut for some of you before another week passes, it will be shut for some of you before another day passes. Of course, I do not know who the people are who will read this solemn declaration.
But whoever you are, do not presume on God’s longsuffering mercy. Listen to the solemn words of Him who proved His love by dying to save you, When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door saying. Lord, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I know ye not whence ye are” (Luke 13:25).
Let us go back in thought to the last day of the antediluvian world. One of the most wonderful paintings I ever saw is Schorn’s picture of the Deluge in the new Pinakothek in Munich, Germany. The painting is unfinished, but it is a masterpiece. That day broke bright and clear as other days had. There was little sign of any approaching catastrophe. Noah had gone into the ark, the animals had gathered from near and far and gone in too, and the people had been a little startled by this strange procession of animals come from the four points of the compass. But seven days had gone by since then and nothing had happened and their fright had passed away (Gen. 7: 4~io). These seven days were seven days of depised mercy. Not only their fear had passed away, so also had their opportunity. Men and women went about their ordinary pursuits again (Matt. 24:38), They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the (very) day that Noah entered into the ark.” Evening came on, the streets were crowded with people. In many a house there were gay festal scenes. The sun went down in a cloud. There were rumblings of distant thunder. Men laugh and say, ‘‘ This is a striking coincidence. Old Noah said the flood would come to-day, and
THE GOSPEL FOE TO-DAY
really it does look like raia,” The more timid are fearful. The rain begins to patter in the streets and people hurry on to their destination. Now the storm bursts in its fury. The heavens are illumined with white and purple light, then all is dark. The thunder roars and reverberates, the water falls in cloudbursts, the earth seems to be sinking. It is sinking. It is slowly sinking beneath the level of the sea. The waters of the lake overflow and the Caspian Sea will soon burst its ancient barriers and flood the entire inhabited earth. Yes! the waters are pouring in now, ‘‘ the fountains of the great deep (are) broken up.’” Terror-stricken men and women with ashen faces flee from theatres, ballrooms, and homes. To the hills and to the mountains! Still the land is sinking and the waters are rising. The beasts of prey forget their savage instincts and cower beside terror-stricken men and women. Higher and higher rise the waters. Strong men fight with feeble women for the place of vantage. The waters sweep over a low hill and a hundred souls huddled upon it are swept into eternity.
Look! on yonder hill stand a husband and wife alone. The waters are fast coming nearer and nearer. With her former love turned into savage hate the woman turns on the man she has loved and cries, Man, you have deceived me, ruined me. I longed to enter the ark and you laughed me out of it.” The remorseless waters sweep them away together.
Look again! yonder is a maiden. She, too, had longed to enter the ark but no one of her friends had gone in and she was unwilling to go alone. The waters sweep her away on their angry bosom, and soon the fair face sinks beneath the flood. Yonder is a man who had mocked at Noah’s faith, but now fear and agony are depicted on the distorted countenance and now it sinks beneath the flood. A young man who has hesitated long in indecision turns an appealing look toward heaven, but it is too late, and he too sinks beneath the engulfing waters. Thus they go down, singly, by pairs, by hundreds, until the last man of the unbek’eving world has disappeared. The end has come. The whole land is submerged, not an unbeliever left, but yonder floats the ark of God in safety while the moon sheds its gentle light upon the unbroken surface of the great deep.
There is another day of doom hurrying on. God tells us in this Book, He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead’’ (Acts 17:31), Are you ready for that day? Come into the ark. Believe God. Obey God. Accept the invitation, accept Jesus Christ. Confess Him before the world. Let the world laugh if it will. Some of you in the deepest impulses of your heart would like to get right down on your knees now and beg God for mercy. Do it. Don’t mind what people say. Don’t mind who laughs.
Come into the Ark.”