The Regenerating Work of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit in convicting men of sin. We saw
that it was the work of the Holy Spirit to convict men of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Today we shall study further the work of the Holy Spirit.
YY itay spit we were studying the work of the
Li tes Hoty, Spirit BEARtNG WITNEss TO THE
EGARDING JESUS “Curist Turn first of all to Jno. 15:26, 27: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father,.He. shall..bear. witness,.of -Me:. and ye also bear witness because ye have been with Me from the beginning.” Here we see that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bear witness concerning Jesus Christ. All the work of the Holy Spirit centres in Jesus Christ. It is His work to magnify Christ to us, to glorify Christ by taking of the things of Christ and declaring them unto us (cf. ch. 16:14). ae is. only through. the direct..testimony of the Holy pirit. in the individual heart the t any man ever comes ie o a true and living and saving knowledge of Jesus, Christ .! No amount of listening to the testimony of men regarding Jesus Christ, and no amount even ef studying what the Scriptures have to say about Christ y Jesus, will ever lead anyone to a true and eh and
My OF
It is true that He Holy Spirit’s testimony regarding Jesus Christ is found in the Bible. In fact, that is exactly what the whole Bible is, the Holy Spirit’s testimony to Jesus Christ. The whole testimony of the Book centres in Jesus Christ. As we read in Rev. 19:10, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” But while that is true, unless the living Spirit, Who lives and works today, takes His Own testimony as it is found in the written Word, the Bible, and interprets it Ayeies to the heart of the individual and makes, it.a.living thing
heart of the individual, he will not come rm a real, ae saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
If, therefore, you wish men to get a true view of Jesus Christ, such a view of Him that they will believe on Him and be saved, you must seek.for.them the, testimony,of the.
Holy, Spirit, and you must put yourself in such relations to God that the Holy Spirit can bear His testimony through you. No amount of mere argument and persuasion on your part will ever bring anyone to a living knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And if you wish to have a true knowledge of Jesus Christ yourself, it is not enough that you study the Word and what the Spirit of God has said about Jesus Christ in the Word: ‘the Spirit of God..direc ly to your Own,neart through. J i
ord, and put, yourself, in, such,relations, to,.God that. the)... Holy Spirit can bear His testimony. directly.toyour, heart,
The attitude that you must take toward God in order that the Holy Spirit may bear His testimony to Jesus Christ directly to your heart is the attitude of absolute surrender to the will of God; for Peter is recorded as saying iny
{Acts 5: 32, “ve are wittiese ce of these pe and so is
And we read these words of ‘our Lord Je
Himself in Jno. 7:17, “If any man wille th to do. His
will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of |:: Desi RAR dR i
This explains why it is t rau one may read the Gospel of John time and time again and not come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, even though that Gospel was written for the specific purpose of bringing men to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The writer himself tells us in the twentieth chapter and the thirty-first verse, These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have But if the same man will
his will to God before beginning to, read the, Gospel. will ask God. each time he reads; to send, His Holy.
to interpret to his heart SpE ted thins ngs. the that. he teads, he cannot read the Gospel through ey even once, without coming to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and through believin: I have seen this illustrated many a time. One Sunday night as I was going out of the inquiry meeting in the Moody Church a young man was waiting for me in the vestibule, I think he had already been a Church member. He said to me, “Mr, Torrey, I don’t believe anything. Can you tell me how to believe?” “Don’t you believe anything at all? Don’t you believe there is a God?” “Yes,” he said, “I believe there is a God, but I am in doubt about everything else.” “All right,” I said, “if you believe there is a God you ought to surrender your will to God, then begin at the first chapter of John, first verse, read a few verses at a time, not too many, and pay close attention to what you read and each time before you read pray this prayer, ‘Oh God, show me what of truth there is in these verses I am about to read, and what Thou showest me to be true I promise to take my stand upon.’ And read on, day after day consecutively until you get through the Gospel. Will you de it?” “Yes,” he replied, “I will.” “One thing more, when you get through the Gospel, come and report to me.” About two weeks after when I went out of prayer-meeting one night I met him in the vestibule again. He said, “I have come to report.” I said, “What is your report?” He said, “Don’t you know?” “Yes,” I replied, “I think I do.” “Well,” he said, “my doubts are all gone. I do believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and I do believe in the Bible as the Word ot God.” Why did he now believe when he did not believe before, although he had read the same book through time and time again? He believed now because he had put himself in such a relation to God that the Holy Spirit could bear His testimony through His Own written Word.
This also explains why it is that one who has been long in the darkness concerning Jesus Christ so quickly comes to see the truth, when he surrenders his will to God.) It explains an experience that pretty; much e every - thoughtful worker has had: You sit down beside an inquirer who really desires to know the truth and be saved, and you take your Bible and show him from some of the plainest statements of the Word just what one must do to be saved, namely, to believe on Jesus Christ; and you take the truth about Jesus Christ’s atoning death and about, resurrection,.and about His being a Deliverer from he power of sin today, and you show it to him from some f the plainest statements of the Bible along those lines; and you make the way of life as plain as day and you go ‘over it, and over it, and over it; but still the inquirer does ‘not see it at all but sits there dumb, puzzled, perplexed, bewildered, and he very likely tells you, “I cannot see it.” Yet you have made it as plain as day. That is, to you it is as plain as day. But it is not plain to him and sometimes you are tempted to think that the inquirer is intellectually stupid. Not at all. He is perfectly clear about other things. And then you go on and on, and you go over it again and again, and suddenly a new light comes into the inquirer’s face and he exclaims, “I see it — I see it,’ and he believes on Jesus Christ and is saved right then and there. Now what has happened? Simply this, jg that the Holy. sapitit. has DOrns ddan Shimon that inquirer’s heart.
o in all our dealing with inquirers we must not only make sure that we give them the right Scripture to show them their need of a Saviour and that Jesus Christ. is. just the e Saviour ur, they need, we must..see.to. it..also..that we are look in to the Spirit. TE God,,£o bear Tis. ‘witness to Jesus Christ through us and that we are in such a relation to God that the Holy Spirit can bear His witness t esus Christ through us,
Take what occurred on the day of Pentecost. ‘The Apostle Peter bore his testimony to Jesus Christ, and lgave the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit, through. Peter’s. testimony.and that. of. Testament, Scripture: ‘2nbore His. testimony to
Jesus Christ, and so men saw and believed, and i in that ra SCN day. there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Now, if the Apostle Peter had given just the same testimony the day before and had given just the same Scriptures the day before (that is, the day before Pentecost, the day on which the Holy Spirit was given), there would have been no such results; but the time had come for the Holy Spirit to do His work and Peter had been “filled with the Holy Spirit,” “when Pentecost was fully come,” and now not only did Peter give his testimony, but™ God, Who had taken possession of Pe ave His testimony, and men saw and believed.
Mr. Moody used to put it in this graphic way. He aid: “Peter said, ‘ Therefore let all the house of Israel
= At one time when I was superintendent of the Bible Institute in Chicago I lived in the Bible Institute, and every night I would try to get home from my own meetings before the students got home from the various places they had gone to help in the work, and I would meet them on the stairway and we would talk over the experiences of the night together. One night a large company of them came back from the Pacific Garden Mission full of enthusiasm and joy. “Oh,” they said, “Mr. Torrey, we had a wonderful time at the Pacific Garden Mission tonight. Crowds of men came to the altar, all kinds of drunkards and outcasts, and were saved.” ‘The next day I met Harry Monroe, who was at that time in charge of the Pacific Garden Mission. I said, “Harry, the boys ‘ell me you had a wonderful time at the Pacific Garden
Mission last night.” He replied, “Mr. Torrey, do you want to know the secret of it? I just held up Jesus Christ and it pleased the Holy Spirit to illumine the face of Jesus as I held Him up and men saw and believed.” I thought that was a beautiful way of putting it. And so when you and I preach, or when we do personal work or teach, we should hold up Jesus sti; He is presented in the Scriptures and t then. look..to, Holy Spirit to illumine His face, and to be very sure we are in such a relation to God an and to the Holy Spirit, a and so dependent upon the the ‘Holy. ‘Spirit, and; sO. sunbed b he Holy Spirit to, do, His. work,.that. He, can. do it, and ‘then men will. see. and. believe.! Let me repeat it in order that we may be sure that you get it, if you wish men to see the truth about Jesus Christ do not depend upon your own powers of expression or persuasion, or upon your own eye of pa and At how to use it, but ca:; pirit ina realization of your ee helplessness, sness ae look to Him to bear The is testimony to Jesus Christ, a and see to git also that those you are dealing with put it themselves i in suck h an attitude toward “God that the Holy Spirit in ea to ‘o them, and see to it also t hat you are i are in eae a telation to God, so ful surrendered to Him, so “so separated from all ‘that hinders H His work, 1 that He can bear Hisy ‘ testimon through you. In nthe Tio! Hol; irit’s testimony O a esus Chri Christ lies the ct cure for all ignorance concerning. Christ, and Fall’s ‘scepticism c ‘concerning Christ,
a oe oe
[ PIRIT. ENERATING MEN.
Now jets me cal your attention to another wonderful, gracious and glorious work of the Holy Spirit. Turn in your Bibles to Jno. 3:3-5: “Jesus answered and said unto him (that is, unto Nicodemus), Verily, peal T =
; ee ae Except one be born again (or, “anew,” or, PS fro he cannot. see.the. kingdom “of ro N en. saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be.born of water and ixit,, he cannot venter into the kingdom of God.” Here we are told that men are born of the Spirit, or born Bi the Amie s a aN f xactly the same truth is set forth in a way that may enable some of you to grasp it more readily, in Titus 3:5:)
iF “Not by works done in righteousness, which we did our- F Vselves, but according to to
dis mercy He saved us, ‘through e the washing of regeneration anc and ren newing 0 of. ‘the Holy.
PER:
pirit.” Here we are taught that i that it is ist the work.of the Holy. Spirit to renew men or to make me men anew, or “(to use the
common theological expression ) ) to. ‘reg jenerate men. ‘ Wat Is RECENERATION? We have two de apa ‘ * Regeneration, ’ “iN irth,” in the Bible. You will find the first of these definitions i in Eph, 2:1; “And you..did He make alive, when eW. ere A sad. through your.
MParta-. tion o i ee men, who..are morally... ritually dead Because of their trespasses and ies en man and “woman and child of us, no matter how excellent in character or how religious our parents may have been, was born into this world spiritually dead. We are: ee nature oral and spiritual corpses.::
mparts. to. us this life..
miparts t es aa aaa
) Of Course they sist. =. God is the instrument that the 1e
Ioly Spirit uses in imparting life. That we are eee in
Bey il Pet, 1: 23: zi Having been egotten aga again, not. of .c =|) ruptible seed, but of incorruptible throu ugh tl the word orl (God, which liveth and abidet ante “And we are told the same thing in Jas. 1:18: ‘ His o n will begat He. us! with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first- fruits. of. His creatures.” We see plainly i in both of these passages that the Word of truth, the Word of God, the Word contained in the Bible, is the instrument which the),
Holy Spirit uses in regeneration, BUT IT Is ONLY AS THE Hoty Spirit uses THE Word THAT REGENERATION. .RE= SEN e mere written Word will not produce the New
“Birth, no matter how faithfully preached or faithfully given in personal work, unless the living Spirit of God makes it a living thing in the hearts of those to whom we preach or with whom we are dealing. This comes out very plainly in another statement of the Apostle Paul’s found in 2 Cor. 3:6: “The letter killeth, but the Spirit
giveth, life.” What does this mean? It is often taken in these days of superficial and careless thinking, and careless Bible study, to mean that the literal interpretation of
Scripture (which these men call “the letter”), that is, taking the Scripture to mean just what it says by applying the usual laws of grammar and diction, kills, but that some spiritualizing interpretation, some interpretation that makes the Word mean something it evidently was not. intended to say, that gives life. This is one of the favourite tricks in misinterpreting the Scriptures employed by those who are determined not to take the Bible as meaning what it says; and they call all those of us who insist on interpreting the Bible to mean what it says, “deadly literalists.”. There never was a more unwarranted misconstruction of Paul’s words, or the words of anyone else, than that. Paul did not have the remotest thought of teaching anything of that kind. If there ever was a “deadly literalist’ (if literalism is really deadly), it was the very man who wrote these words. Paul was always insisting upon the exact force of every word used. Paul would build a whole argument on a word, or on a part of a word, on the number of a noun, or on the case of a noun, or on the tense of a verb. No, Paul did not mean anything of that kind.
What did he mean? Well, the way to discover what any man really means by what he says or writes is to read what he says or writes in the connection in which it is said. In this case the connection shows beyond the possibility of honest doubt exactly what Paul meant. In the third verse of this same chapter Paul draws a contrast between the Word of God written on parchment or on paper with pen and ink, or graven on tables of stone as in the case of the Ten Commandments, and the Word of God written as he puts it by “it..Of, the livin - not in tables of stone, but gm taples that are hear, esh,” and what Paul therefore says is, that the mere “letter” of the Word, the Word written or printed in a book, kills, 7. e., brings condemnation and death; but that it he Word of God written by the S‘pirit of the a God i: in our hearts (“on tables that are hearts of flesh Py ‘that e..| This, of course, is only to say in other words; Vv What 1 we have already said above, that st ts only as the
ing, oly Sp akes today.to..the.heart of .the.indix. wid the Wordo ad. and..quites. it.on,.the heart, are. i men,made. alive, o born. again. No amount of giving the y Bible, he: written Word, in sermon, or personal work, or
teaching, will ever lead to.a.man being. born agaif.) If we
‘wish to see men born again through our preaching, or through our personal work, or through our teaching, we, must realizeour..dependence upon the Holy Spirit.and!) look. to. Him, and count upon. Him, to carry, the truth that we preach ot or give out in personal work or in teaching ‘home fo.the. bear and sosto it. that we. ourselis are in| such a relation to God that the. Hol oly Spirit can do His regenerating work through us. We have a second God-given definition of Regeneration in 2 Pet. 1:3, 4: Seeing that His divine power, hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and sone throug h the 1¢ knowledge of Him that cated us by His Own glory and virtue; whereby He athgranted unto us His precious ane exceeding great promises; that
g secaped ae the SST AOT TS is in the
lworldbylust.”] is, the ii haHenon of a new nature, “the divine ature, be baborttian of mete are all born into this world with a corrupt nature, corrupt in its thoughts, corrupt in its affections, corrupt in its will.
1. First of all, Every one of us, no matter how fine our ancestry, or how pious our parents, are born into this world with a mind that is blind to the truth of God. As
aul puts it in 1 Cor. 2:14, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they ar
2. In the Pena place, We are all of us born into this world with affections that are corrupt, that is, with affections set upon things that displease God. We love the
things we ought to hate, and we hate the things we ought to love.
3. And, in the third place, We are all of us born into this world with a will that is perverse. As Paul puts it in Rom. 8:7, “The mind of the flesh (that is, “the mind of” the natural and unregenerate man) is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.” We are all of us born into this world with a will that is perverse, a will that is set upon pleasing self, and not set upon pleasing God. Now, what pleases self may not be something corrupt or criminal or vile or immoral. What pleases us may be something refined, something of a high character; it may not be getting drunk or stealing or lying or committing adultery or doing any evil or vile or base thing; it may be culture or music or art or some other high and refined thing; but pleasing self is the very essence of sin, whether the thing that pleases self is something very high or something very low. And any will that is set upon pleasing self is a will in rebellion against God: it is “enmity against God.” There is only one right attitude for the human will, and
So then we are all ten into the world with this nature that is Pee ys acy and meonally corrupt.
a fied which instead of cae blind to tie truth of God is open-eyed to the truth of God. How often I have seen that. I have seen a man come into a meeting like this, an utter infidel. I have a man in mind at this moment, a man who had not been inside a church for fourteen years, and who was a rank and very bitter infidel. But this man was induced to come and hear me preach. The Spirit of God wrought through me that night and through a personal worker who dealt with him in the after-meeting, and that man was born again then and there, and that thoroughly darkened mind became,illuminated at ’ once, and, instead of the things “of the Spirit of God” being any longer “foolishness unto him” they became as clear as day, and within a week he was bringing others into a knowledge of the truth. He brought his own wife to meeting the following Sunday night and led her into the light; and within a year he was preaching the Gospel,, 2. But we are not only given a new intellectual nature,
old loves.) Instead of loving ene longer the things tha isplease God we now love the things that please God. The things we once hated we now love, and the t ings we once loved we now hate. How clearly that was illustrated in my own experience. As I look back upon my life before I was born again I can hardly believe what I know to be true about my own affections and about my likes and my dislikes, before I was born again. In those days I hated the Bible. I read it every day, but it was to me about the most stupid Book I read, I would rather have read last year’s almanac any day than to have read the Bible. But when I was born again my heart was filled with love for the Bible and today I would rather read the Bible than any other book or all books put together. I so love it that sometimes I think I will not read any other book but the Bible. In those former days, before I was born again, I loved the card-table, the theatre, the dance, the horse-race, the champagne supper, and I hated the prayer-meeting and the Sunday services.
Today I hate the dance and the card-table and the theatre and the horse-race, and I love the gathering together of God’s people and the services of God’s house on the Lord’s Day. It is just as Paul puts it in 2 Cor. 5:17, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: the olings are passed away; behold, they are become new.” 3. But in the New Birth we are not only ae intellectual nature anda ne are given a new.volitional, nature,..that4s, we are given a new will, When one is born again his will is no longer set upon pleasing self: his will is set upon pleasing x0 There is nothing else in which. he. so. deli hts as. What he himself desires is See to him: what pleases God is everythin to him e see, then, that the New Birth is the impartation.o “a new nature, God’s Own nature, to men who are dead a od and sins, J t is the Holy S piri t Who i im~ As we have already said, the Word of
od is the ins arcat the Holy Spirit uses in imparting’ this new nature. ‘This comes out in the very verse we ye already quoted as containing God’s definition of the: “ee Birth, 2 Pet. 1:4, “Whereby He hath granted unte us His precious and exceeding...great prot mises; that through these. (that,dS. ils fc satde ling great promises, t EE t ord). ‘ye may become pei kers of, the wit ie! natu ure.” Yes: always the written Word i is the instrument through which the new nature is imparted to men, BUTIT Is ONLY A THE Holy SPIRIT USES THE INSTRUMENT, THE WRITTEN
SL NAD EA
Norp, tHat THE New Birtu, ce IMPARTATION OF
O we see again ‘tt rat if we wis to rhe born again ourselves, it is not enough to read the Bible, sie that is the instrument the Fol; Spirit uses, in Tegene ae eaiGe
We s see aaas that t if we 1 we ae others t to be born again. i oT TEE TE k, or teaching, or whatever it may be, we must see to it we not only give them the written Ore and give them the right passages from the” Word, butt that we are rein such. a
right relation toward. God, and that we.so, realize our de-y
pendence upon the ‘Holy Spirit for Him ‘to a the work i ‘and. that we so count upon Him t to do tl 1 e work, that ‘He can do His regenerating work thr ough us. a
he mere letter of the C Sospe “will ‘merely bring condemnation and. kill, unless accompanied by the Holy Spirit’s power. The ministry of many a perfectly orthodox preacher or teacher is a ministry of death; indeed one of the deadest things on earth is dead orthodoxy. His ministry is a ministry of death because while he gives the Word, he gives it “with enticing words of man’s) wisdom and not in dome stratioy .theSpirit..andof
be WShrrerdise OF. 2 ete No anor ney ee TT no
It is He, and He alone that makes a man a new creature. But thank God He is ever ready to do this, when the conditions are supplied which are necessary if He is to do His work. We are all dependent upon Him, if there are to be real results, real regeneration.
Just as we are utterly dependent upon the work of Christ for us in justification so we are utterly dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit in us for regeneration. The whole work of regeneration can be described in this way: the human heart is the soil, the Word of God is the seed, we preachers and teachers and personal workers are the sowers. We go to the granary of the Bible and take from it that portion of seed we wish to sow; we preach it or teach it or use it in personal work; but if it all stopped there there would be no real result, there would be no New Birth. But, if as we preach or teach or do personal work, we look to the Holy Spirit to do His work, He will quicken the seed as we sow it, and it will take root in the hearts of those to whom we speak, and the human heart will close around it by faith, and a new creation will be the result. ’
I am often asked if I believe in sudden conversion, I believe in something far more wonderful than sudden conversion. I believe in gudden regeneration, Conversion is an outward thing; it means merely turning around: One is faced one way, faced away from God; he turns around and faces the other way — he faces toward God. That is conversion. But regeneration goes down to the very depths of the human heart and spirit. It is a radical transformation of the innermost man, an impartation of life, and the impartation of a new nature. An outward conversion, if it is to be real and lasting, must be the result of an inward regeneration. A man may be converted a hundred times, but he cannot be born again but once; for, when one is born again, when God imparts His Own nature to a man, he stays born again; as John puts it in 1 Jno. 3:9, “Whosoever is begotten.of.God.is not doing sin (that is, not making a practice of sin), but
; 5 bak:
od-s..seed OC-S..CM
82 THE HOLY eae
es, I ee PURINES OT orougion..of..the..inmostman.*)
Why do I believe in it? Because this Book teaches it and because I have seen it over and over again. How could I doubt it when I had sitting beside me week after week and year after year on the platform of the Moody Church in Chicago, as my assistant pastor, a man who, up to the time he was forty-two years of age was one of the most desperate and notorious sinners that ever lived, a man who at the age of nine was a drunkard, and utterly incorrigible all through his school days, a man who entered the United States Navy at the age of fifteen and went through the Civil War and learned all the vices of the navy, and who at the close of the war went into the regular army and learned all the vices of the army, and spent a good deal of that time while with the army at Fort Leavenworth in the guard-house, and was there elected the leader of a gang of desperados that were con- — fined in the army guard-house at that time, a man who was ordered out of the city of Omaha by the mayor and chief of police for almost killing the bully of Omaha in a fight, a man who rode down the streets of Omaha in a cab with a revolver in each hand firing the revolvers out of both windows as he sped down the street, a man who, in spite of the money he inherited from his father, was outlawed from the town where he lived in Iowa, but who came back to that same town one night, went into a Gospel meeting and knelt at the altar and accepted Jesus Christ and was transformed into the best friend I ever had in my life, a man I loved as I never loved any other man, a man of whom if anybody should ask me who was the most Christlike man I ever met in my life, I would teply without hesitation, “Rev. William S. Jacoby” — the dearest man I ever knew; he is now with Christ in the glory. Yes, I beli
If I did not believe in sudden “regeneration, I would quit preaching, for what would be the use of it all? What use, for example, of my preaching to such a congregation as I used to preach to every Sunday night in the Moody Church in Chicago, when that building was packed of a Sunday night with the motley crowds who gathered there. There were some of the finest Christians in Chicago there, there were university students, medical students, law students, lawyers, doctors, and prominent business men and earnest Christian men anc women were there, but there were also “jail birds” there, criminals just out of Joliet State Prison, infidels, ‘outlaws, depraved men of pretty much every nation on earth. What would be the use of preaching to a crowd like that, if it were not for the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit? But, believing as I did in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, I always arose to preach with a heart full of hope and expectation; Be I never knew any night
the Sp ’ 1 ve, would light.
“Take, for example, one aT Sundae night. There had come into the audience that night, long before the meeting began, a man so intoxicated that the moment he was given a seat he went to sleep. He was not turned out, for we had given our ushers instructions never to turn out any man no matter how drunk, unless he insisted on making a disturbance, and, if they were compelled to turn him out, to follow him out and deal with him and, if possible, lead him to Christ. This man did not make a disturbance, except possibly he snored a little. As I rose to preach that night, I offered a prayer before I preached, as I usually do; but I offered that night a different prayer from any I ever offered before, and I have never offered the same prayer but once since (and that was when this man asked me to offer it again). JI am sure God put-it on my lips that night; for I knew nothing about this man. ‘The prayer I offered was this, “Oh God, if there is any man here in Chicago Avenue Church tonight who has run away from New York or from any other Eastern city, and has left his wife and children there to starve, and is drinking himself to death here in Chicago, save that man tonight.” Though I had never heard of this man before, when I offered the prayer I had described that man’s case exactly. He had not only run away from an Eastern city, but from New York, and he had left his wife and children there to starve, and he was drinking himself to death in Chicago. Just as I offered that prayer he awakened from his slumber, and he heard my words and they sank into his heart. When he left that building he could think of nothing else. As he afterwards described it to me and others, that night he wet his pillow with his tears and God saved him. He got up. wWLSCnerated MMe am
member him! I can see his face yet.
That very same night there was a man sitting up in the gallery to my left who was a competent railroad engineer, but who had been blacklisted by every railroad running into Chicago because of his intemperate habits. As I preached that night the Holy Spirit carried my words home to that man’s heart and he believed on Jesus Christ and was saved, and born again. As I finished preaching one of my elders stepped up to him and said to him, “Are you saved ?,” The man replied,” loam. ttle said, “When were you saved?” He said, “About five minutes ago as that man was preaching.” The next day that man went down to the office of the vice-president of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad. How an engineer that was blacklisted by every railroad running into Chicago ever got into the office of the vice-president of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, I do not know; but he certainly did. He said to the vice-president, “I am a competent railroad engineer, but I have been blacklisted by every railroad running into Chicago for getting drunk, but last night I was converted up in the Moody Church.” The vice-president sprang from the table, went to the door and locked it and said, “I believe in that sort of thing, let us pray.”’ And so the vice-president of the railway and the engineer that was blacklisted by every railroad running into Chicago, knelt and prayed together. When they got up from the floor the vice-president said to him, “Everything I say on this road goes. I will give you a letter to the foreman of the round-house at Danville. He will give you an engine.”
Oh, yes, I believe in sudden regeneration, and believing
tin the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit through the
vomen,all over, I never despair of any man or woman on) ‘earth, and I expect to keep on preaching and teaching the mighty Word o od in the..power..of..the, Floly ost as long as I have strength enough to stand on my feet and preach. Yes, if God sees fit to put me on a sick bed ‘before I pass into eternity or before the Lord comes, I expect to preach Jesus Christ to men there on the sick
be nd I expect to see men and women and childreny. y Is it any wonder that I would not give up preaching the Gospel to be President of the United States or to occupy any throne on earth?
his doctrine of the New Birth isa glorious doctrine, ]
‘It is true it sweeps away false hopes.| It comes to the
oy man who is trusting in his morality and ie “Morality
4s not enough. You Mus? BE BORN AGAIN.” It comes
to the man who is trusting in reform, in turning over a
i new leaf, and says, “Reform is not enough, no matter bho thorough it may be. ost abs
It comes to the man or woman who is trusting in education and culture and says, “Education and culture are — not enough — ». It comes to the man or woman who is trusting in his or her amiability of character, in his kindness of heart and generosity in giving, and says, “Amiability of character, kindness of heart and generosity in giving are not enough. You Mus? BF BORN AGAIN.’ It comes to the one who is trusting in the externalities of religion, in the fact that he goes to church regularly and has been baptized and united with the - Church, and partakes of the Lord’s Supper, and regularly reads his Bible and says his prayers; and * All the externalities of religion are not enough.
Id aie
Or BORN. ACATIN Yes, the doctrine of the New Birth sweeps away all th false hopes such as a multitude of you here this morning, are building upon, and tells you a better way, the o ay.. But while it sweeps awa false hopes, it brings in a
Vone of us and says, “You MAY BE BORN AGAIN.”
comes to the one who hae no nee for the things of God jgand therefore thinks thereis no hope for him, and says. i It comes to the one who is
down in sin of one kind or another, the one who is strugog hard but futilely to break away from sin and says, ae may be born again nian all your love for, si 1¢ erly 7 ‘) It comes si and committed so many sins that he thinks there is no hope for him, that there is nothing to look forward to but an eternal hell, an eternal continuance of the hell he is already in, and that is getting worse ever
Oh, men and women, have ats been Henn again? I do not ask you whether you are church members; I do not ask whether you have been baptized; I do not ask whether you go regularly to the Lord’s Supper; I do not ask you whether you are giving as much of your income to the church and to the poor as you should give; I do not ask you whether you go to prayer-meeting regularly, and say your own prayers regularly every day and study your Bible ecient I ask you, A ake
He IS READY TO MAKE YOU ALL OVER; ee IMPART TO YOU Gov’s Own Nature THROUGH His WorD IF YOU WILL ONLY LET Him Do Ir.