V JAN 15 1924 ** OfiltAL BV 4915 .T6 Torrey, R. A. 1856-1928 How to be saved, and how to be lost Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/howtobesavedhowt00torr_0 How To Be Saved By R. A. TORREY, D. D. LATEST ISSUES The Voice of God in the Present Hour . Cloth. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit. Cloth. Difficulties and Alleged Errors and Contradic¬ tions in the Bible. Cloth . . Practical and Perplexing Questions Answered. Cloth . Anecdotes and Illustrations. Illustrated. Cloth, FOR REVIVAL WORK How to Bring Men to Christ. Cloth, paper, How to Work for Christ. Cloth . How to Promote and Co7iduct a Successful Revival ,. REVIVAL TALKS AND ADDRESSES The Bible and Its Christ. Cloth, paper, Revival Addresses. Clo., pa., Real Salvation and Whole-Hearted Service. l2mo, cloth, paper, FOR BIBLE STUDY What the Bible Teaches. What the Bible has to Say Concerning the Great Doctrines of which it Treats. Cloth, How to Study the Bible for Greatest Profit. Cloth. FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE How to Succeed in the Christian Life. Cloth, ; paper, How to Pray. Cloth. How to Obtain Fullness of Power in Christian Life and Service. Cloth . „ , The Baptism With the Holy Spirit. Cloth.. A Vest Pocket Companion for Christian Workers. Leatherette How To Be Saved AND HOW TO BE LOST The Way of Salvation and the Way of Condemnation Made as Plain as Day *. By R. A. TORREY, D. D '4 JAN 15 1924 Author of “The Gospel for To-day“How to Bring Men to Christ, 1 1 etc . New York Chicago Fleming H. Revell Company London and Edinburgh Copyright, 1923, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY New York: 158 Fifth Avenue Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. London: 21 Paternoster Square Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street PREFACE T HE immediate purpose of this book is to make the way of salvation as plain as day, to men, women and children, with the ex¬ pectation that many of those who read the book, when they see the way, will take it, and be saved at once, and obtain eternal life immediately. The book goes out into the world for the same purpose that Jesus Christ came into it, “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19: 10). The average man or woman, even among well-educated people, does not know just what to do to be saved. When I was nineteen years of age, and a Senior in Yale College, I was awakened to the fact that I needed salvation, but I was totally ignorant of what to do to get it. I groped in deepest darkness. I had gone to perfectly ortho¬ dox churches every Sunday of my life ever since I was a very little boy, and had been years in the Sun¬ day School, could quote whole chapters in the Bible, had read the Bible every day of my life for six years, had read it through at least once, and had taught a large Sunday-school class; but I did not know what to do to be saved. I have reason to be¬ lieve that what was true of me then is equally true of the average man and woman, and the average boy and girl to-day. I have reason to think that these sermons, which are simply an exposition in language that any man, 6 PREFACE woman, or child, can understand of what God has to say in His word on this all-important subject, make the way to be saved so plain that anyone who wishes to know that way can easily find it. Many (especially men) saw the way of life and took it when these sermons were preached to my own people this year and last. One man said to me one night, a few weeks ago, “ I am fifty-two years old, and I have been waiting to hear that sermon for thirty- four years.” He took the Lord Jesus and publicly confessed Him, and was saved that night. I think fie had never been in our church before. It is hoped that many who have unsaved friends will put this book in their hands, and that these un¬ saved friends will be saved at once. I shall pray for every unsaved person that reads this book, and that many may be saved through reading the book. I hope also that some of my brethren in the min¬ istry may be helped into a more effective ministry by reading this book. If any of them wish to borrow from these sermons to enrich their own, they are heartily welcome to do so. The truth in these ser¬ mons is not mine—it is God’s, and His servants are welcome to it. Many preachers say to me, “ I bor- « rowed one of your sermons. I hope you are not angry.” No—I am glad: that is why I publish my sermons. God grant that these sermons may be even more abundantly blessed in this book than they were in the pulpit of “ The Church of the Open Door.” R. A. Torrey. Contents I. Why Jesus Christ Came Into the World.9 II Tim. 1 :15 II. A Good Man Who Went to Hell and a Bad Man Who Went to Heaven 22 Luke 18 :9-14 III. A Wonderful Contrast: Under the Curse of God, or a Child of God. Which Are You? .... 40 Gal. 3 :10 R. V. IV. How a Good Man But an Unsaved Man Became a Child of God . . 54 Acts 11:13,14 V. Saved By a Cry.67 Acts 10:13 VI. How to Be Unspeakably Happy at All Times and Under All Circum¬ stances .83 I Pet . 1 :8 VII. Is There Any Man or Woman in this City Whom the Lord Jesus Cannot Save and Fill With Radiant Joy? . 102 Heb. 7:25 VIII. The Unpardonable Sin .... 127 Matt. 12 :31, 32 ,8 CONTENTS IX. The Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Cleanseth From All Sin . . 139 I John 1:7 X. Paths to Perdition. 150 Matt. 7 :13, 14 XI. There is a Hell, and If You Don’t Look Out, You Are Going There . 165 Matt. 5 : 29 R. V.; Matt. 10 : 28 R. V; Matt. 23 : S3 R. V; Matt. 25 : 41 R- V. XII. There is a Heaven, and Whosoever Wishes To, Can Spend Eternity There. 183 John 14 * 2-6; John 17 :24; Heb. 8:1; II Cor. 5 :1; I Pet. 1:3-5 XIII. The Day of Golden Opportunity . 200 Heb. 3:7 I WHY JESUS CHRIST CAME INTO THE WORLD “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief .”— Timothy i: 15. O UR subject to-night is one that has engaged the thoughtful and earnest attention for years not only of theologians but also of sociologists, historians, political philosophers and re¬ formers. Some tell us that “ Christ Jesus came into the world to proclaim the great truths of the Father¬ hood of God and the Brotherhood of Man ” Others say that “ Christ Jesus came into the world to carry to completion God’s original thought in the creation of man.” Still others tell us that “ He came into the world to reorganize society on new lines, to estab¬ lish a new form of human society, the kingdom of God on earth.” Not a few tell us that “Jesus Christ came into the world simply as the proclaimer of new ethical principles by which men were to mould their lives.” But there is no need that we speculate or guess or argue as to why Jesus Christ came into the world; for God Himself has seen fit to tell us in the most plain and explicit words just why Jesus Christ came 9 10 HOW TO BE SAVED into this world. You will find God’s own statement of why Jesus Christ came into the world in I Tim. 1:15, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” No one can mistake the meaning of those words. Listen again: “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” When we stop to reflect upon the exact meaning and full force of this statement it will seem incredible. These words unmistakably declare that it was an interest in sinners, in the vile outcast, in rebels against God, in blasphemers, persecutors, perjurers, thieves, rob¬ bers, harlots, thugs, bandits, murderers, that induced the glorious Son of God to leave heaven’s joys and glories and to come down into this world. And these words furthermore tell us that Christ Jesus came into the world not to punish sinners as the holy executioner of God’s wrath against sin, nor to study them as a great philosopher. No, no, He came to save them. Does it look credible that the Son of God should step down from the throne of His glory, lay that infinite glory aside, consent to enter this world through the lowly door of Bethlehem’s manger and leave it through the shameful and dreadful door of Calvary’s Cross to save sinners? No wonder that Paul felt it necessary to preface this astounding statement with the words, “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation” Paul well knew that philosophers and thinking men generally would not be ready to accept this state¬ ment of the purpose of the coming of that infinitely glorious person, Jesus Christ, into this world, and WHY JESUS CHRIST CAME 11 therefore he will call their attention to the fact that as incredible as this statement appears to be, it was God’s own word and therefore worthy of man’s un¬ questioning and absolute confidence and of all ac¬ ceptance. Yes, this is why Christ Jesus came into the world, this is the great central purpose of His coming, to save sinners. “ Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners .” I. In Whose Behalf it was that Christ Jesus Came Into the World Notice first of all, please, in whose behalf it was that Christ Jesus came, in the behalf of “ sinners.” “ Sinners ” is not a nice word, and the fact for which it stands is even worse than the word. Sin is the foulest, hatefullest, most hideous, most loath¬ some thing in all the universe. Disease, leprosy, death, corruption, rottenness, putridity, and all other repulsive and disgusting things are one and all merely inadequate types of sin and its hideousness and repulsiveness. The sinner is the personal em¬ bodiment of all this foulness and vileness and re¬ pulsiveness, and yet Jesus Christ the Holy Son of God came into the world in behalf of sinners. Men and women who were sinners and who were conscious of the fact seemed to be the only people in whom Christ Jesus took any interest when He was here on earth. He “ received sinners,” He “ called sinners,” He “ ate with publicans and sin¬ ners.” He announced as His program, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9: 13), and again, “ The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). A 12 HOW TO BE SAVED very prominent and eminently respectable and pro¬ foundly pious leader among the Jews came in a very deferential way to Christ Jesus one night to ask Him a few important questions, and He practically slammed the door in his face by saying “ you must be born again.” He would not even reason with him, but kept saying “ you must be born again.” In the very next chapter a loose, abandoned woman strays His way and He tells her all about the water which if a man drink thereof he will “ never thirst again,” and about the true way to worship, and about His own Messianic office. In the 18th chapter of Luke a most attractive young man came to Jesus Christ, a young man who had led a most exemplary life, a life of morality and piety and generosity and culture, and Christ sends him away sorrowful by an uncompromising demand that he sell all his honestly gotten possessions and give the proceeds to the poor, and in the very next chapter He tells a notorious, money-grasping old sin¬ ner named Zacchaeus that He wants to put up at his house. In the 7th chapter of Luke, Jesus Christ hits a very respectable and highly esteemed and hospitable gentleman named Simon a slap in the face, and al¬ most in the same breath tenderly says to a disrepu¬ table woman of the town “ Thy sins are forgiven— go in peace.” All of His interest was in sinners, all His tender¬ ness was for sinners, all His infinitely gracious in¬ vitations were for sinners. Oh, how wondrously kind and gentle He was to sinners. But how merci¬ less He was to moralists, to all who boasted of their WHY JESUS CHRIST CAME 13 own goodness, of their religion and their righteous¬ ness, stripping off the veneering of decency that cov¬ ered the real rottenness within, calling them “ white¬ washed sepulchres/’ “ hidden graves,” enclosures of rottenness and corruption and dead men’s bones, “ generation of snakes.” Christ Jesus came to save sinners. Do you wish Christ Jesus to take an interest in you and to save you? Well, then, you must take your place before Him as a sinner, just a commonplace, unadorned, un¬ varnished, inexcusable, self-confessed sinner. Not a respectable sinner, no; nor a genteel sinner, nor a cultivated sinner, no; nor an attractive sinner, no; nor an amiable sinner, no; but just a plain, unadorned sinner; a poor, miserable, vile, guilty, worthless, hell¬ deserving sinner. Do you know that more people are shut out of Jesus Christ’s saving grace and out of pardon and out of heaven and out of eternal life be¬ cause they won’t get right down before Christ Jesus as sinners, plain, ugly, wretched sinners, than by any¬ thing else? Far more people are shut out of heaven by the pride that keeps them from crying “ God be merciful to me a sinner,” than are shut out by the enormity of their sins or by the stubbornness of their infidelity. It is as true to-day as it was when Jesus Christ first said it to the moralists of His own day, “ the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you” (Matt. 21:31). One night in an after-meeting in Chicago, as I passed through the innermost inquiry room, a lady of large culture sat there among the inquirers. This woman had taken two or three university degrees, she was in professional life and was one of the most 14 HOW TO BE SAVED highly cultured women who attended our church. As I passed by she said, “ Mr. Torrey, will you speak with me? ” I replied, “ If you will wait a few moments until I speak to these poor creatures over yonder/’ looking toward some poor outcasts grouped together in a corner of the room, “ I will come back and speak with you.” These poor outcasts knew that they were sinners and they accepted Jesus Christ. Then I came back to the lady and drawing up a chair sat down in front of her and asked her “ What can I do for you? ” She replied, “ Mr. Tor¬ rey, I have not a satisfactory Christian experience.” I replied, “ I do not think you have any Christian experience at all.” “ Why,” she replied, “ I am a church member.” I answered, “ Unfortunately that does not prove anything. I am sorry to say that I have known many church members whom I could not believe were really saved.” “ But,” she said, “ I am a Sunday-school teacher.” I said, “ Unfortu¬ nately that does not prove anything, I am sorry to say I have known not a few Sunday-school teachers of whose salvation I was not at all sure.” “ But,” she replied, “ I am the widow of a minister,” “ Well,” I said, “ unfortunately even that fact does not prove anything. I do not read anywhere in the Bible that anyone is saved by marrying a parson.” “ Now,” I said, “ I do not believe that you ever in all your life came to God as a poor, vile, worth¬ less, miserable, hell-deserving sinner, not essentially better than those poor creatures over in the corner.” She immediately straightened up and her eyes flashed as she replied, “ No, I never did, for I am not.” I looked at her and quietly said, “You are about as WHY JESUS CHRIST CAME 15 full of spiritual conceit as anyone I ever met.” She gasped out, “Mr. Torrey, you are cruel.” “No,” I replied, “ I am kind. It is not cruel, it is kind, to tell people the truth.” “ Now,” I said, “ you are a physician, are you not?” She said, “Yes, I am.” “ Suppose you had a patient who had a great big tumor and you took a sharp knife and cut it out. Would that be cruel? ” “ No,” she answered, “ that would be the kindest thing I could do.” “ Well,” I said, “ you have a great big tumor of spiritual pride and by the grace of God I will cut it out to-night.” The woman had sense even if she was proud. She immediately dropped on her knees and came to God as a poor, vile, worthless, miserable, hell-deserving sinner, and she got “ a satisfactory Christian experi¬ ence.” But there are some of you who have never done it, and some of you who are determined that you never will do it. Well, you will or else you will spend eternity in hell. Come, my genial, upright, polished, perfect gentle¬ man, you must get down and take your place as a sinner, if Jesus Christ is to take any interest in you and save you. Come, my fine lady, with fair and attractive life and beautiful character and generous culture and winsome personality and an honoured place in society, you, too, have got to get down in your right place before God as a sinner if Christ Jesus is to save you. Yes, you must get down right alongside your sister from the slums, for “ Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners ” and He saves nobody else. Are you one? Are you a real, genuine sinner? If not, Christ did not come for you. Oh, we have thousands in our churches to-day 16 HOW TO BE SAVED who have never taken their places as lost sinners be¬ fore Jesus Christ, and, of course, they have never been saved. Over the door of the Moody Church in Chicago, when I was pastor, these words were engraved in the stone, “ Welcome to this house of God are strangers and the poor.” I fear that motto kept a good many people away from that church. They preferred to go where the rich and cultured were especially welcome. But suppose that motto had read, “ This church is for sinners.” Would you like to have gone to that church? But if this church in which we are met to-night is to be a true church of Jesus Christ that is whom it is for, for “ sin¬ ners”: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” But while this great and wonderful text takes away all hope from the mere moralist, while it says to every man and woman who is unwilling to take their places before Christ as sinners, “ Christ Jesus is not for you, the Gospel is not for you, the Bible is not for you, heaven is not for you,” on the other hand, how wide this text throws open the door for all who are sinners and who know it. Yes, even for the vilest. Listen again, “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” How many a man and woman there is to-day who is say¬ ing, “ Christ Jesus is not for me, salvation is not for me, eternal life is not fqr me, the inheritance incor¬ ruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away is not for me.” Why not? “ Oh, I am so great a sinner.” Listen, “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all WHY JESUS CHRIST CAME 17 acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Do you hear that? It was in be¬ half of sinners that Jesus Christ came into this world, and because you are just what you are, a “sinner,” a grievous, way-down, miserable, hopeless, helpless, hell-deserving sinner, it is just that fact that makes Christ Jesus for you, and heaven for you, and salvation for you, and eternal life for you: “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta¬ tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners .” I see passing before me as I speak a long, long line of men and women whom I have met in different parts of the world who seemed utterly beyond hope, and who considered themselves utterly beyond hope, because they had gone so deep into sin and remained so long in sin, but who by the power of this text were led to put their trust in the Saviour who came into the world to save “sinners” Yes, “ Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” and He does it. And He can do it for anyone here to-night who will take his place as a lost sinner. But He cannot do it for anyone else. II. What Was the Purpose of Christ Jesus Concerning Sinners? We see then it was in behalf of sinners that Christ Jesus came into the world, but What Was His Pur¬ pose Concerning Sinners? To Save. “ Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” As already suggested, He did not come into the world to punish sinners. Neither did He come to condemn sinners. He did not come to upbraid sinners. He did up¬ braid certain classes of sinners sometimes but that 18 HOW TO BE SAVED was not what He came for, that was merely an inci¬ dent. He did not come to reform sinners. That is a hopeless and worthless task. It is like painting the cheeks of a corpse. It will not keep the corpse from rotting. He did not come to help sinners, to help them to do better. Ah, friends, a sinner’s case is so desperate that he needs something more than help, something that goes far deeper than help. He came to save sinners, to redically, thoroughly and eternally save sinners. To save them freely, fully, and forever. i. First of all, He came to save sinners from the guilt of their sins. There is a Holy God up yonder, an infinitely Holy God, and when a man once sins he is a guilty sinner before yonder Holy God. His sins avert the face of that Holy Being from him, his sin separates between him and that Holy God, and the wrath of that Holy God is kindled against him, though that God loves him. Christ Jesus came into the world to save us from our guilt, to save us from the wrath of God, and to give our guilty consciences peace. How did Jesus save sinners from their guilt? Listen to God’s own answer to that question, “ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: for it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree ” (Gal. 3:13). He saved us from the guilt of sin by taking our guilt upon Himself, by bearing our penalty in His own body on the Cross, of Calvary. The curse was your due and mine; but Jesus Christ, God mani¬ fested in the flesh, took that curse upon Himself. Listen again, “ All we, like sheep, have gone astray; WHY JESUS CHRIST CAME 10 we have turned everyone to his own way; and Je¬ hovah hath made to strike on Him (that is, on Jesus Christ) the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6, literally translated). By His atoning death Jesus Christ put away the sin that stood between you and God. By His atoning death, by the shedding of His blood, God’s wrath at my sin and at your sin was settled and settled forever. By His death my guilty con¬ science finds peace. Let me say that this is with me not a mere matter of theological opinion but a mat¬ ter of glad and certain experimental knowledge. Christ Jesus saves from the guilt and penalty of sin, I know that. I do not merely think so or hope so, I know it. I know that Christ Jesus “has power on earth to forgive sins ” because He has forgiven my sins, and they were very many and they were very great. And I know that through His atoning death, which I have accepted as the whole ground and the sole ground of my salvation, every sin of mine has been blotted out forever, and that there is not a cloud between me and the Infinitely Holy God in whose presence the very seraphim veil their faces and their feet. 2. But Christ Jesus came not merely to save the sinner from the guilt of his sins and from the penalty of his sins, but to save him also from the power of sin. Jesus Christ does save from sin’s guilt and from sin’s punishment, He does save from a guilty conscience and from hell, but thank God that is not all, He saves from sin's power. Our Lord’s own words bring this out with great clearness and force, He Himself says in Jno. 8:34, “Every one that committeth sin is the slave of sin.” Now 20 HOW TO BE SAVED we all know this is true. Oh, how many of us know to-night from bitterest experience the slavery of sin, the slavery, e. g., of intemperance, or the slavery of lust, or the slavery of the greed for gold, or the slavery of a bad temper, or the slavery of an unruly tongue, or the slavery of a mean dis¬ position, or the slavery of unclean thoughts. Yes, we have all known something about the bondage of sin, but listen to what Jesus Christ says two verses further on, “ If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (Jno. 8:36). Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour who died on Calvary's Cross to make pardon possible, rose from the dead, and is to-day a living Saviour, and has “all power in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:19) and is therefore able to save to the uttermost, not merely from the uttermost but to the uttermost all those who come unto God through Him (Heb. 7:25) ; and He saves us from all the slavery of sin. He saves us from sin’s power as well as from sin’s guilt. That is what He came to do, that is what He does do. Paul, who wrote the words of my text, knew from personal experience the power of Christ Jesus to save not merely from the guilt of sin but to save from the power of sin as well. Paul had known the bondage of sin, the awful, grinding slavery of sin. Pie gives us a leaf from his autobiography in the 7th chapter of Romans. He tells us of how he had found the law of God, and how earnestly he had tried to keep it, and how utterly he had failed. He had tried to break away from sin. The struggle as described in Romans seven was a hard one, a deter- WHY JESUS CHRIST CAME 21 mined one, but it resulted in utter failure. Paul tells us that the more he tried to break away from sin the more helpless he found himself until at last, in utter despair, he cried, “ O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?” He seemed to himself like one chained for¬ ever to the “ dead,” stinking “ body ” of sin, but when he cried, “ Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ” he got his answer at once. You will find the answer in the next verse, “ I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord ” (Rom. 7:24,25). Christ Jesus came into the world in behalf of sin¬ ners. He came to save sinners. He came to save them from the guilt and penalty and power of sin. He does save from the guilt and penalty and power of sin whoever comes to Him and puts his trust in Him. He will save any sinner who will believe on Him, who will just put their case in His hands. He will save them right now. He will not save anyone who will not come to Him and come as a sinner, but He will save, at once, freely, and fully and forever, every man, woman, and child who will come to Him and confess that they are sinners and put their trust in Him as their Saviour from the guilt and power of sin. He will save them freely, fully, and for¬ ever. Will you let Him save you? If any man, woman, or child, goes out of this building to-night unsaved, you will have no one to blame but your¬ self. “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Let Him save you right now. II A GOOD MAN WHO WENT TO HELL AND A BAD MAN WHO WENT TO HEAVEN “And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be thou merciful to me, a sinner. I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” —Luke 18:9-14. S OME of you will think I have this subject twisted and that it ought to read, “A Good Man who went to Heaven and a Bad Man who went to Hell;” but the subject, as I have given it, is exactly right. Jesus Christ Himself is my authority for saying that this good man went to hell and that this bad man went to heaven. He has given us the picture of this good man and of this bad man, 22 A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 23 and Jesus Himself is responsible for the statement that the good man was lost and that the bad man was saved. Let me read you our Lord’s own words about it, Luke 18:9-14: “And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be thou merciful to me, a sin¬ ner. I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Jesus here definitely declares that the publican “ went down to his house justified ” and a man who is “ justified ” before God is saved, he is sure to go to Heaven, and on the other hand Jesus Christ tells us with equal plainness that the Pharisee went down to his house “unjustified” and a man who is unjustified before God is sure to go to hell. Now let us look at the two men of whom our Lord Jesus has drawn so graphic and so instructive a picture in a very few but very telling words. I. The Good Man Who Went to Hell We will look first at the Good Man who went to Hell. 24 HOW TO BE SAVED 1. We notice first of all that, this man who was unjustified, and therefore went to hell, was a moral man, a clean man in his personal habits. He could look right up into the face of God Who knows our every act, our secret acts, done under cover of the night as well as our public acts open for all to see, and our secret thoughts, and could say, “ I am not an adulterer. I am a clean man morally.” It is a good thing to be able to say that. Some of you men here to-night could not say it. God pity you. You might say it to me, but you could not say it to God, you would not dare. But this man could say it and say it to God; and yet he was not saved. There are a good many men in our day who are building their hopes for eternity on their personal purity, on the fact that their actions have not been defiled by one of the most loathsome of all sins in any of its forms, that their speech is clean, that their imagination is pure, that they never read the vile literature so prevalent in our day, and never fre¬ quent the hellish dens called “ vaudeville shows ” and disgusting movies that play on a harp with a single string, and that string a rotten old string, sex problems. Well, personal purity is a good thing; but it won't save anyone, and if that is all you have to build your hope of Heaven upon you are lost and headed straight for hell. 2. In the second place, we notice that this man was square in his business relations. He could look up into God's face and say, “ I am not an extor¬ tioner,” that is, a money grabber, rapacious, avari¬ cious. This man did not charge exorbitant rates of interest. He did not freeze other men out of bush A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 25 ness. He did not oppress his employees in their wages. He did not cheat his customers. It is a good thing to be able to say what this man said. There are a good many men here to-night who could not say what he said. Some of you found a man in a corner and you had a little money to loan, and oh, how you squeezed your poor brother. Some of you needed to have work done and you found a poor fellow starving, and you got him to do a dollar’s worth of work for fifty cents, and even then you called it “ charity.” Some of you took advantage of a man’s or woman’s ignorance and charged them two prices for what you sold them and called it “ business enterprise,” but God called it “ stealing.” Then how many “ eminently respectable citizens ” there are to-day building up great business enter¬ prises by crowding someone else to the wall. Their vast fortunes are built upon the ruined business en¬ terprises of others, upon broken hearts and desolated homes, and God only knows what all. It is a great thing in days like these to be able to look up into God’s face and say what this man said, “ I am not rapacious, I am not a money grabber, I am not an extortioner;” but it won’t save you. This man could say it; but Jesus Christ says he was lost for all that, that he went down to his house unjustified, that he went to hell after all. There are a good many here to-night who are building their hopes for eternity upon the fact they are perfectly honest in business, that they “ believe in the Square Deal ” and “ practise the Square Deal,” themselves; but if you have no better founda- 26 HOW TO BE SAVED tion than that for your hope of Heaven you are a lost man. 3. We notice next that this man was a highly respected member of society. He was a “ Pharisee The Pharisees were a highly respected class of so¬ ciety. They deserved to be. Everybody respected them. They were the one class of society that was held in highest esteem. They occupied a higher place in public esteem in Jerusalem than the members of any of our present civic organizations for moral and political uplift, occupy in public esteem to-day; and perhaps with better reason. When the ordinary citi¬ zen saw a Pharisee going down the street he would say to his son, “ There goes Mr. Simon Dikaios, he is a Pharisee, a very fine man, very upright, very pure, and thrifty withal. I hope, my son, that when you grow up you will be like him.” Now it is a fine thing to be highly respected. It is an exceedingly pleasant thing to be well thought of and to be well spoken of; but it won’t save any¬ body, it won’t keep anybody out of hell. It did not save this man. He is in hell now. A good many men think God must think well of them because men do. This is a great mistake; for Jesus Christ Himself tells us, “ God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15.) You see God does not see as men see, for men look merely upon the outward appearance, but God looks upon the heart. I once heard a distin¬ guished liberal preacher in Chicago say, when he was preaching a funeral sermon over a man who was an upright man, but was not a Christian, and the A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 27 brilliant, liberal preacher wished to make it clear that this man had gone to Heaven; I say I heard this liberal preacher, under these circumstances, say, “Any world will welcome a good citizen,” the in¬ tended implication being that Heaven would welcome this man because he was a good citizen, though he was not a Christian man. I am afraid this liberal preacher was not well posted about the heavenly world and the conditions upon which one is welcome there. There are a good many citizens of Los An¬ geles, highly respected gentlemen like our friend the Pharisee of the text, who do not stand the slightest chance of spending eternity in Heaven unless they do something that they have never done yet. 4. Look at the Pharisee again, This man sazv no flaws in himselfbut was the best man in the world in his own estimation. Speaking to God he said, “ I thank thee, that I am not as other men are.” (Luke 18: 11.) Literally translated, what he said was, “ I thank Thee, that I am not as the rest of men.” He divided society into two classes. He was in one class all alone, and all “ the rest of men ” were in the other class. He was good and all the rest of men were bad; and there he stands exclaim¬ ing, “ I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men.” He had a mighty high opinion of himself, but he went to hell just the same. How many men there are who are building their hopes of Heaven upon their inability to discover any flaws in themselves. “ I do not see what I need of Christ,” many are saying, “ I see no great sins in myself. Jesus Christ may do for the drunkard, the harlot, the thief and the murderer, but what do I 28 HOW TO BE SAVED need of Him?” Well, let me tell you what need you have of Jesus Christ, you need Him to save you from being everlastingly damned. That is all, but that is enough, isn’t it? You talk quite like this Pharisee, who, our Lord Jesus tells us, went down to his house unjustified, was lost and is now in hell. 5. Again, This Pharisee was a religious man. Every Pharisee was very religious, and this par¬ ticular Pharisee was especially so. All Pharisees were much given to reading the Bible and other pious books. They were much given to prayer and religious ceremonies. This particular Pharisee could tell the Lord how often he fasted every week; he fasted twice every week. He fasted far more fre¬ quently than the law required of him. He was also perfectly orthodox. The Pharisaical party was the orthodox party. The Sadducees were the heretics. Now, religious ceremonies are good. Praying is good. Fasting is good. Orthodoxy is very good. But all of these put together won’t save anyone, they won’t keep anyone out of Hell. No, in all this world’s history they have never saved one single soul. There are many depending upon these things as the foundation of their hope of Heaven. “ Oh, I am quite sure I will go to Heaven,” many are say¬ ing, “For I pray every morning and every night, I read the Bible every day, I go to church every Sunday, I fast on Fridays and through Lent. I par¬ take of the Sacrament very often, I am orthodox in my creed, very orthodox. I believe in the Verbal Inspiration of the Bible and in the Virgin Birth of A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 29 our Lord, and in the Real Deity of the Lord Jesus, and in the literal Bodily Resurrection, and in the Atonement by the Shed Blood of Jesus Christ, and in the Premillennial Coming of Christ, I believe in endless punishment. Oh, I am safe.” Fine, very fine; but listen: All this you have mentioned does not prove that you are saved, that you are headed for Heaven. Religion is a good thing, a very good thing, but there will doubtless be very many men and women in hell who were very religious when on earth, and very orthodox, too. 6 . But we have not gotten to the end of the ex¬ cellencies of this Pharisee even yet, this Pharisee was a generous man. He could tell God he gave a tenth of all he made. It is a good thing to be able to say that. I wonder how many in this audience to-night could say, “ I give a tenth of all I get.” I wish more of you could. I wish it for your own sakes. I wish it for the sake of the poor. I wish it for Jesus Christ’s sake. It is a good thing to be generous. It is a good thing to give away one dol¬ lar in every ten dollars you make, ten dollars in every hundred dollars, ten thousand dollars in every hundred thousand you make. Yes, it is a good thing, a mighty fine thing, but it won’t save you. It won’t take you to Heaven. This Pharisee did it and he was lost after all. He went to hell as straight as many who never gave a penny. Do you not think that this Pharisee was a pretty good man, as men go? Was he not in many im¬ portant respects a most exemplary man? But he was lost! Jesus Christ distinctly tells us he went down to his house unjustified, an unforgiven sinner. 30 HOW TO BE SAVED under the wrath of God. He went to hell! Why? For precisely the same reason that many of you here to-night are lost and on the road to hell. 1. First of all, He went to hell because he trusted in himself. In verse nine we read that Jesus spoke this parable, “ Unto certain who trusted in them¬ selves that they were righteous.” This man counted up his virtues, his clean life, his honesty in business, the high esteem in which he was held in the com¬ munity, his own high estimation of himself, his religiousness, his generosity in giving, and he put his trust in these good qualities of his own. And any man who puts his trust in his own virtues and good¬ ness, and many righteous acts, or in himself in any way, will be lost; he will spend eternity in hell, no matter how good he is. 2. In the second place, This man went to hell be¬ cause he despised others. We read in verse nine that Jesus spoke “ This parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others ” He thanked God he was “ not as the rest of men,” or “ even as this publican,” who stood near him praying. There are many like this man. There are many here to-night. You despise the drunkard. You despise the rum seller, you despise the bootleg¬ ger, you despise the harlot, you despise the criminal. You think that you are essentially different from all these; but God has plainly said in His Own Word, “ There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22, 23). And God also says in I John 1:8, 10, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If we say that we have A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 31 not sinned, we make God a liar, and His Word is not in us.” You will be lost unless you get over this trusting in yourselves and despising others. 3. In the third place, and principally, This man went to hell because he did not acknoztdedge him¬ self to be a sinner. There is not one word or hint of confession of sin in all his prayer. There is no pardon of sin possible without confession that we are sinners. No man who will not definitely confess himself to be a sinner will ever enter Heaven. God tells us this over and over again in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, for example, He says in Frov. 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confessetli and forsak- eth them shall obtain mercy.” If you will not take the sinner’s place before God and confess yourself a sinner, there is no possibility of your escaping hell. 4. In the fourth place, This man went to hell be¬ cause he did not cry to God for mercy. He told God how good he was. He considered himself as a saint richly deserving God’s admiration, not as a sinner sorely needing God’s mercy and pardon. There are a good many like him. There are a good many men in Los Angeles who might have sat for this picture of “ the Man who Went to Hell ” which our Lord Jesus has drawn in our text; and all such persons are lost. Every man is a sinner needing pardon, and no matter how good a man may be, or may fancy he is, he will never be saved, he will never get God’s favour, he will never be pardoned, he will not escape an everlasting hell until he gets down be¬ fore God and honestly cries to God for mercy. 32 HOW TO BE SAVED It was a very simple way in which this good man was lost, just by not taking his right place before God as a sinner, and crying to God for mercy, and that is the way many of the best men and women in this house are being lost to-night. Wake up! Wake up, before it is too late! Wake up now, to the fact that you are a sinner, or you will wake up some day in hell! Cry to God to-night for mercy and for forgiveness of your many sins, or you will cry some day for a drop of water to cool your swollen tongue when you are in anguish in the flames of hell. II. The Bad Man Who Went to Heaven Now, let us look for a few minutes at the Bad Man who was saved, the Bad Man who is now in Heaven. i. In the first place, he was an immoral man . There can be no doubt that he was an immoral man. The business he was in necessitated his being im¬ moral. A man could not be honest in the business in which this man was engaged. He was a petty tax gatherer. The Roman Government farmed out the taxes of a Province as a whole, and the collector for the Province had to get his money back as best he could, by whatever means he could, and in addi¬ tion had to get a profit for himself. He farmed out his province in sections and the collector of taxes of each section had to get his rake-off. This man in turn farmed out his section to the petty tax gath¬ erers, the publicans, and they had to get their rake- off. Extortion and crookedness of all kinds were necessary to make the business of a publican pay. A A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 33 man could not be honest in that business, and he was necessarily an outcast from good society, and was classed with sinners. “ Publicans and sinners,” was the phrase constantly used concerning publicans. 2. In the second place, This man was looked down upon by his fellow-men. While the Pharisee was the man who was universally held in highest esteem, the publican was the man who was univer¬ sally held in utter contempt. Listen, the fact that you belong to a class everyone despises is no proof whatever that you can never enter Heaven. 3. In the third place, This man saw many faults in himself. In his own eyes he was the chief of sin¬ ners. While the Pharisee thought himself the best man in the world, the publican thought himself the worst. While the Pharisee thanked God he was “ not as the rest of men,” the publican regarded him¬ self as “ The sinner” (Luke 18: 13 R. V. margin), the one preeminent sinner. The fact that a man sees himself as a great sinner, even the greatest of sinners, is no reason for his thinking he cannot get to Heaven. Paul said, “ This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin¬ ners; of whom I am chief.” Yet Paul is in Heaven to-day. When they cut off his head in Rome, his spirit departed to be with Christ in Glory. (Phil. 1:23.) There will be a great company of men and women in Heaven who, when here on earth, saw themselves as the chief of sinners. 4. In the fourth place, “ This publican who went to Heaven had not been a religious man.” The pub¬ licans were an irreligious, careless, godless lot. We 34 HOW TO BE SAVED see him in this picture becoming religious, going “ up into the temple to pray,” but it was something new. He had been disdainful of the religion of his fathers or he would never have been in the business he was in. Only the man who put the getting of money before the religion of his fathers would con¬ sent to be a publican. How often we look at the careless, irreligious crowd, the men and women who seldom or never go to church, who seldom or never pray, who never read the Bible, who have never been baptized and joined the church, and think, “ there is no hope for that crowd.” Oh, yes, there is. This once utterly irreligious publican is now in Heaven. There are hosts of men and women in Los Angeles to-night who never darken church doors, who will some day turn around and get to Heaven, if you and I do our duty. I have gone to a lumber town in Wisconsin where there was not a single church, but where there were twenty-two saloons, and have spoken on the streets and in an old saloon, and have seen a lot of these hard, old, irreligious toughs saved, and the former keeper of that very saloon was saved. I have seen a tough old sporting man, whose mother before him ran a sporting house in Omaha, and he had never been in a Protestant church before in his life, and he started on that very day to spend the afternoon and night gambling, brought into our church in Chicago and saved before he got out. I have had a man call me out-of this pulpit to speak to me under that gallery yonder, a man who had been a gambler and crook all his life, and now he wanted to take Christ and could not wait until I had A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 35 preached my sermon. The irreligious gang are often more hopeful material to work on than the religious gang, and a man may be as bad a heretic as this pub¬ lican probably was; yes, he may have been a rank, rampant, raging infidel or agnostic up to the present moment, and then get saved and start for Heaven and Eternal Glory before this meeting is over. I have seen a man who was a rank and bitter in¬ fidel, who had not been inside a church for twelve years, come into our building and be beautifully saved before he got out, and that man was preach¬ ing the Gospel within a year. One of the brightest converts we had in Kansas City while I preached there a short time ago was a very intelligent university man who the first time he came to hear me was an utter agnostic. I once saw a man who was ninety-two years old and who had not been inside a church for eighty years, come into a meeting like this, where I was preaching, and go out a saved man. 5. In the fifth place, This man who is now in Heaven, was a miserable old skinflint. Money was his god. He got all he could by hook or by crook, and kept all he got. I admit that a man held in the power of the love of gold, is almost the hardest man there is to save, far harder than a drunkard, a gambler or a harlot; but it can be done. This bad man who Jesus Christ tells us went to his house justified, and so beyond a doubt got to Heaven and is there now, was certainly a tough cus¬ tomer; but he was saved. What did he do that brought him salvation in spite of all that was against him? 36 HOW TO BE SAVED 1. First of all, He took his right place before God, he took his place as a sinner. That is what anyone must do and everyone must do in order to be saved. God’s Word is as plain as day about that. God says in a passage already quoted, I Jno. i: 8, 9, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our¬ selves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There is not a man or woman on earth who will ever get to Heaven unless they own up to what God says in this Book, namely, that “ we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and get right down before God and confess that they are poor, miserable, vile, worthless, hell-deserving sinners. Jesus Christ can save sinners, even the worst, but He cannot save anyone but sinners, and sinners who confess fully and frankly that they are sinners. Some of you here to-night will spend eter¬ nity in hell for that very reason, just because you won’t own up that you are sinners. You know you are, but you won’t admit it, you seek to conceal it, or excuse it or palliate it, and before you get through you have tried to make out that you are a pretty good sort after all. Listen! You are bound straight for hell. You are taking the shortest and swiftest cut to that awful place. 2. In the second place, This man asked for mercy. He saw there was only one hope for him and that was in the unmerited favour of God. Any man can be saved by grace. No one can be saved in any other way. 3. In the third place, This man recognized that A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 37 there was no mercy to be had except on the ground of shed blood . That comes out in the literal transla¬ tion of the word translated, 44 be merciful.” Literally translated, it means, 44 be propitiated.” Listen, friends, very carefully right now: There is no salvation or pardon to be had by anybody except on the ground of the shed blood, the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Listen to what God says, 44 Without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Listen again, 44 A 11 have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood , to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done afore¬ time, in the forbearance of God” (Rom. 3:23-25). Listen again, 44 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us: for it is writ¬ ten, Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree ” (Gal. 3: 13). There is pardon, complete pardon, for the vilest sinner that ever walked this earth, on the ground of the shed blood of Jesus Christ: there is no pardon for anyone on earth in any other way. I was vile enough, God knows, so vile as God and I alone know, but my sins are all forgiven. They are all blotted out. Thank God, I know that. If I should die to-night I would be in Heaven before you were sure I was dead, but it is only on the ground of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Nobody will ever get to Heaven on any other ground. Our Lord Jesus Himself says, in John 14:6, 44 1 am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one cometh unto the Father but by me.” The Unitarian denies the atoning blood 38 HOW TO BE SAVED and he will not and cannot get to Heaven until he changes his position on that matter. The Christian Scientist denies the atoning blood, and not a Chris¬ tian Scientist can get to Heaven until he gives up that damning error. It is true, many call themselves Christian Scientists who are not really so, and they do not realize that Mrs. Eddy denied and sneered at the atoning blood, but she did, and a real “ Christian Scientist ” cannot get to Heaven until he recognizes his error at that point. Many of our professedly orthodox people in these days deny the atoning blood, and not one of them will get to Heaven until they give up that damning error. There is a way to Heaven open to the vilest sinner that ever walked this earth, if he will simply recognize the fact he is a sinner and accept God’s testimony about Jesus Christ and His atoning blood, and trust God to for¬ give him on the ground of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Not one man or woman on earth can be saved in any other way. There are a great number of you here to-night who are trusting in the very same things that landed the Pharisee of our text in hell, and unless you stop trusting in these things you will soon land there too. You are neglecting to do what the Pharisee neglected to do, and you will wind up where he has already wound up, unless you change your tactics pretty quickly. But listen! The Door of Heaven stands open to-night to anyone here who will do what the publican did, First. Take your place as a sinner before God. Second. Cry to God for mercy. Third. Recognize that there is no mercy to be A GOOD MAN AND A BAD MAN 39 had except on the ground of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Fourth. Believe to-night God’s testimony about that blood, that by the shedding of Christ’s blood, your sins were all atoned for, and trust God to for¬ give you and save you to-night, because Jesus Christ died in your place. Do that, and you are sure to get to Heaven. Who will do it right now? Every one in this audience to-night will leave this building “justified ” or unjustified, on the direct road to Heaven or on the direct road to hell. It depends entirely upon whether you do what the Pharisee, the good man who went to hell, did, or what the pub¬ lican, the bad man who went to Heaven, did. It is for each one of you to decide for yourself which you will do. How will you decide? Ill A WONDERFUL CONTRAST: “ UNDER THE CURSE OF GOD ” OR “ A CHILD OF GOD.” WHICH ARE YOU? “For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them .”— Galatians 3: 10, R. V. B (t ~ UT as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name ”— John i : 12. What a sermon these two passages preach when thus placed side by side? They need little comment. They tell their own story and ought to produce their own effect. I. All Who Are of the Works of the Law, Under the Curse of God Let us look first at the dark side of the contrast, Gal. 3:10, “ For as many as are of the works of the laiv are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them.” Every man who is “ Of the works of the law,” rests under a curse. 40 A WONDERFUL CONTRAST 41 I. Here a question of vital importance arises. What Is Meant by Being of the Works of the LawI The context in which the words are found answers the question clearly and definitely. To be “ of works of the law ” is to be seeking the favour of God and consequent salvation, life and blessing by keeping the law of God; to be seeking salvation, life and blessing by our own good deeds; to be seeking the favour of God by our own righteousness; to be seeking “ salva¬ tion by character ”; it is to be seeking salvation as something due us because of our own righteous works, instead of seeking it as a “ free gift of God ” by the “ grace ” of God, the unmerited favour of God. Those who are “ of the works of the law ” are all those who are seeking the favour of God and His blessing and His salvation by their own good deeds, by their own righteousness, by their own character; and as many as are doing this are under a curse. “ Everyone ” who is doing this, every man and woman here to-night who is seeking “ salvation by character,” seeking salvation on the ground of anything that you yourself are or do, is “ under a curse.” So God Himself declares, and therefore we may be sure it is true, in spite of all the reasonings and philosophizings of men, even though those men are leaders of thought in this “ Wonderful Twentieth Century ”: wonderful in the self-satisfied conceit of its “ Scientists ” and “ Philosophers ” and essayists and novelists, if in nothing else. Listen again to God’s Own Words: “As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things 42 HOW TO BE SAVED that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them” (Gal. 3:10, R. V.). 2. But, Why are Those Who are “ Of Works of Law ” “ Under a Curse ”? It is perfectly proper for us to ask that question, and God has been pleased to answer it even before we ask it. It is answered right here in our text, “ As many as are the works of the law, are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do themThe reason why those who are u Of works of law are under a curse ” is because the law, in order to get its blessing and the blessing of the Author of the law, that is God, demands absolutely perfect obedience. The law says, “ Keep me per¬ fectly and you shall be blessed, keep me perfectly and you shall live; but break me at any point and you shall die. He that doeth these things shall live by them, but cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them,” and there is only one member of the human race who has ever perfectly kept the law of God, and that Person is Jesus Christ. So no man but Jesus Christ can find life by his own doing, no man but Jesus Christ can be “saved by character.” To talk about anyone but Jesus Christ being saved by character is to talk the sheerist nonsense. If any of us should keep the Law of God perfectly, abso¬ lutely perfectly, from the hour of our birth to the hour of our death, we would thereby obtain the favour of God and win Eternal Life by our own doing, by our own character, but not one of us has A WONDERFUL CONTRAST 43 ever done it. No human being but Jesus Christ has ever done it. The moment any man, woman or child breaks the Law of God at any smallest point, that moment “ Salvation by character,” salvation by our own doing, becomes an absolute impossibility. And every man, woman and child has already broken the Law of God at some point, and therefore if we are seek¬ ing God’s favour by our own good deeds, by our own righteousness, by our own character, *we are “ Under a curse.” No man here to-night can stand up and say, “ I have kept the Law of God per¬ fectly. I never broke God’s law at any point.” There is not a man or woman here to-night but has not only broken God’s law but broken the first and greatest commandment of God at some time. What is the first and greatest commandment of God’s law? Listen to our Lord Jesus’ own answer to that question, Matt. 22:37, 38, “And Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” Who here to-night can say, “ I have always kept that commandment, I have always put God first in everything, I have always put God first in business, I have always put God first in politics, I have always put God first in home life, I have always put God first in social life, I have always put God first in pleasure, I have always put God first in study, I have always put God first in everything ” ? Who can say it? Be honest now, be honest with yourself, be honest with God. You know you cannot say ft. Every one of us has broken this great and first com- u HOW a?0 BE SAVED mandment. There is, then, no hope for anyone of us on the ground of “ the law,” no hope for anyone of us on the ground of our doing, no hope for any¬ one of us on the ground of our own character or morality or merit. “As many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them.” If we cannot get out of the sphere of the law into some other sphere, into the sphere of Grace, we are doomed, and will ultimately be damned. How utterly foolish, then, is the man who expects to be saved by the law, by his own good deeds, and win Eternal Life by his own good character or by his own good deeds. “ For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone who continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law, to do them.” Every man here to-night who is counting on his own good deeds, on his own morality, on his own good character, to recommend him to God’s favour, is “ Under a curse.” II. All Who Receive Jesus Christ, Children of God Now let us turn to the other side, the bright side of the contrast, Jno. 1:12: “But as many as re¬ ceived him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name.” The first side of the contrast is very dark, dark as midnight, pitch dark, but the other side of the contrast is very bright, bright as the full noon- A WONDERFUL CONTRAST 45 time sunlight of the eternal day. While “every man who is of works of law,” every man who is de¬ pending upon his own deeds and his own goodness for salvation, every man out of Christ, is “ Under a curse”; on the other hand, every man who has thrown away all confidence in himself and his own doing and his own character, and who has accepted Jesus Christ, is given the “ power to become a child of God.” The word translated, “ power ” in the authorized version of this verse (Jno. 1: 12) means more than the sense that we usually give to the word “ power.” It means the “ authority ” or the “ right.” The one who receives Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, has not merely the ability to become a child of God, but he has the God-given authority to become a child of God. It is the Divinely be¬ stowed prerogative of everyone who receives Christ Jesus, to call himself a “ Child of God.” As John puts it in his first epistle, I Jno. 3:1: “Behold, what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us (that is upon believers in Jesus Christ, those who have received Jesus Christ), that we should be called the children of God; and such we are.” There is just one condition of attaining to this immeasurably exalted authority prerogative and honour of becoming a “ Child of God,” and that is receiving Jesus Christ. Whosoever, anybody and everybody who, receives Jesus Christ the Son of God, instantly becomes himself a child of God. It matters not what his past history may have been, he may have been a very bad man or he may have been a very good man, he may have been a very re¬ ligious man or he may have been an utterly godless 46 HOW TO BE SAVED and profane man, he may have been very orthodox, an intelligent believer in all the great fundamental doctrines of our faith, or he may have been an utter heretic or rank infidel, but the moment he receives Jesus Christ, he instantly receives authority to be¬ come a child of God. “ But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the chil¬ dren of God, even to them that believe on his name 99 (Jno. 1:12). Any man or woman in this audience to-night can get the God-given “ right ” to become a child of God in an instant. All you have to do is to receive Jesus Christ. 2. What does it mean to “ receive ” Jesus Christ? We need to be very clear and very sure about this. The Greek word translated, “ receive ” means simply “ to take ” or “ to take to oneself,” to receive (or, accept) what is offered. So, then, to receive Jesus Christ means to take Jesus Christ to ourselves, to take Him to be to ourselves all that He came into this world to be to us. What did Jesus Christ come into this world to be to anyone who would take Him? The Bible answers that question with great plainness and great definiteness. 1. First of all, Jesus Christ came into this world to be our Sin-Bearer, the One who bore our sins in our place, so that we would not have to bear them ourselves; and to pay the penalty of our sins. We read in the twenty-ninth verse of this same chapter from which our text is taken,/* Behold, the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!” So then, to receive Jesus Christ means to take Jesus Christ to he our Sin-Bearer, the One who paid A WONDERFUL CONTRAST 47 the penalty of our sins for us, or as Paul puts it in the thirteenth verse of the chapter from which our other text was taken, Gal. 3:13: the One who “ Re¬ deemed us from the curse of the law (that we were under, because we had broken it) by becoming a curse for us (that is, in our place) ; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.” 2. In the second place, Jesus Christ came to be our Deliverer, not merely from the guilt of sin, but from the power of sin. We read in the eighth chap¬ ter of the same book from which our text is taken, Jno. 8:34, 36: “ Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ... If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” So then, to receive Jesus Christ means to take Him to ourselves to be our Deliverer from the power of sin, to give up all our self-efforts to deliver our¬ selves from the power of sin, and just look up to the Risen Christ, Who has “all power in Heaven and on earth ” to deliver us from the power of sin. 3. In the third place, He came to be our Divine Teacher and Absolute Lord, Who has a right to the absolute control of all our thoughts and desires and purposes and actions. In the thirteenth chapter of this same book, verse 13, our Lord Jesus is recorded as saying, “Ye call me, teacher, and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am.” Even in the Revised Ver¬ sion we have not in this passage an accurate trans¬ lation of the Greek. What Jesus really said was, “Ye call me the teacher, and the Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.” So then, To “receive Him” means then, to take 48 HOW TO BE SAVED Him to ourselves as "the Teacher” the One and Only absolutely authoritative Teacher, the One Whom we shall believe against the whole world (if the whole world says one thing, every philoso¬ pher, scientist and university professor and sage and poet in it, and Jesus Christ says another, we shall believe Him against them all), and “ The Lord,” the One Who is our Divine, and Absolute Lord to Whom we hand over unquestioningly and unhesitat¬ ingly the absolute control of all our conduct in every relation of life, and to Whom we bow the knee and “ Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the father” (Phil. 2:10, 11). When anyone thus receives Jesus Christ, takes Him to be to himself his Sin-Bearer, and trusts God to forgive him because Jesus Christ made a full atonement for his sin by dying in his place, and to be to himself his Deliverer from the power of sin, giving up all his self-efforts to overcome sin, and trusting the risen Christ Jesus alone to give him vic¬ tory over sin, and to be his inerrantly authoritative Teacher, Whom he will believe against the world, and to be “The Lord” (not “A Lord,” but “The Lord ”) to Whom he unquestioningly and unhesi¬ tatingly surrenders the absolute control of all his con¬ duct in every relation of life, and to Whom he will bow the knee, “ confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord” (cf. Rom. 10:9, I0 )> the moment that any¬ one does this, that moment that person gets the right, the authority, the authority which God Him¬ self bestowed upon him, to call himself “ God's child ! ” Anyone here to-night who will, can thus become God’s child, and become so at once. A WONDERFUL CONTRAST 49 We do not become children of God by praying or by reading the Bible, or by turning over a new leaf, or by quitting our sins, or by doing good deeds, or by leading holy lives, as good as all these things are in their place, we become children of God by the one simple act of receiving Jesus Christ, of tak¬ ing Him to be to ourselves what He came into the world to be. “ As many as received him, to them gave He the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Even if we have never been to church before in our lives, even if we have never read a verse in the Bible in our lives, even if we have never said a prayer in our lives, even if we have never done one single good deed in all our lives, even though our lives have been full of sin and vileness every day of our lives, the moment we thus receive Jesus Christ we get the right, the authority, the authority given to us by God Himself, to become “ children of God ” If, on the other hand, we go to church several times a week, if we read the Bible every day, if we pray every morning, noon and night, if we give up our every bad habit, even if we give much to the poor, even if we do all sorts of good deeds, and avoid all sorts of sins, if we do all these, and do not receive Jesus Christ as our Sin-Bearer, as our Deliverer from the power of sin, as our Authorita¬ tive and Final Teacher, and as our Divine Lord, we are not and cannot become “ children of God.” The right to sonship is in Jesus Christ, and you only get the right by receiving Him. If I put $1,000 in a certain package and then say to you, “ Here, if you 50 HOW TO BE SAVED take that package you can have what is in it,” if you took the package you would get that $1,000, but if you did not take the package you would not get that $1,000, no matter how many other great and good things you might do. Now, God has put the right to sonship in a package and that package is a per¬ son, Jesus Christ. If you take Him you get it; if you refuse Him you cannot get it, no matter how many other good things you may do. God makes this very plain in another place, I Jno. 5:10-12. Here He says: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the testimony in Him: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he hath not believed in the testimony that God hath borne concerning his Son. And the testimony is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son, hath the life; and. he that hath not the Son of God, hath not the life.” Look squarely, seriously and intently at the con¬ trast, “As many as are of the deeds of the law,” as many as are trusting in their own doing and not in Jesus Christ, as many as are out of Christ, as many as have not definitely “received” Jesus Christ, good and bad alike, are “ under a curse ”; but on the other hand as many as receive Christ, regardless of the past, the vilest as well as the best, get the authority to become children of God. To which class do you belong to-night ? I do not ask you whether you have been good or bad, moral or immoral, religious or godless, orthodox or heretical, but are you trying to get to Heaven by your own doing, or by trusting in what Another, Jesus Christ, has already done, are you “ of the works of the law,” or are you of those A WONDERFUL CONTRAST 51 ’ who have received Christ and put their trust in Him, and Him alone? If you are of the former, God’s Word for it, you are, “ Under a curse.” If you are of the latter, God’s Word for it, no matter what the past has been, you are a child of God to-night. “ Under a Curse ! ” What an appalling phrase! How those words make a thoughtful man shudder. “ Under a Curse!” What curse? Whose curse? The curse of the Law of God, which you have broken, and the curse of the God whose law you have broken, under the curse of the Infinite, Omnip¬ otent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Eternal, Infinitely Holy God, Who made all the great worlds that go to make up our universe, Who upholdeth and abso¬ lutely controlleth that universe and all things in it, Who holds the destinies of all individual men and all nations, the destinies of time and the destinies of eternity in His hand, under the curse of “ the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways” (Dan. 5:23). “ Under the curse of God!” It is awful. It is appalling. It suggests that solemn and terrifying word spoken by Jesus Christ Himself, in Matt. 25:41: “ Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.” Now turn to the other side of the contrast, “Au¬ thority (the divinely given right) to become children of God.” How those “ God-breathed ” words make the intelligent heart bound and throb, “ The author¬ ity to become children of God.” Whose children? “ Children of God.” Ah! What would it be for a ragged, starving street urchin to become a child of .52 HOW TO BE SAVED a king? But that is nothing, nothing at all, in com¬ parison with this, for you and me, moral derelicts such as we have been, “ sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore,” to “ become children of God ”; not slaves, mind you; not servants, mind you; not retainers, mind you; not representa¬ tives, mind you; but children, “ children of God.” I thought it quite fine once, when Mrs. Tor- rey and I had the privilege of sitting at table three times a day for a week or two, right beside the son of one of Europe’s reigning monarchs, the Prince, and his wife, the Princess; but to be a “ Child of God /” Think of it! We cannot take it in,—but I know that I am a “ Child of God.” Do you know that you are a “Child of God?” You may become one and you may know it, inside of five minutes. Listen, “ But as many as receive him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name” (Jno. 1:12). Can it be true? Yes, beyond all peradventure or question it is true, God Himself says it. And it is not only true, but it is open to you, open to any one of you, no matter how poor, ignorant and wicked you may be, open to you right now. Oh, men and women, and young men and maidens, step out right now from “ under the curse ” of God into the glory of becoming “ children of God.” What must you do? Only this, receive Jesus Christ, that is all. Take Him to be your Sin-Bearer and trust God to forgive you because Jesus Christ died in your place; take Him to be your Deliverer from the power of sin, and trust the Risen Christ, Who has “ all power in Heaven and on earth,” to keep A WONDERFUL CONTRAST 53 you day by day from sin’s power; take Him to be your Absolutely Authoritative Teacher and your Di¬ vine Lord, to Whom you surrender the entire con¬ trol of your life in all its relations, and to Whom you bow the knee and confess that He “ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father.” That is all. Will you do it? Will you do it right now? There is no greater folly that anyone can be guilty of than this, by our own free choice, to remain “ under the curse,” rather than to enter into the glory of becom¬ ing a “ Child of God,” by just receiving Jesus Christ. No inmate of any insane asylum ever did an insaner thing than that. Will you receive Jesus Christ and become a “ Child of God ” right now ? IV HOW A GOOD MAN, BUT AN UNSAVED MAN, BECAME A SAVED MAN AND A CHILD OF GOD “Send to Joppa and fetch Simon, whose surname is Peter; who shall speak unto thee words zuhereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house .”— Acts 11:13, 14. I N the record of the incident from which my text is taken we are told that Cornelius, a captain in the Roman army, but who, as we shall see directly, was a remarkably good man in many ways, was not as yet a saved man. He was bidden to send to Joppa for Peter, the apostle; and Peter would speak unto him words through hearing which and believing which and acting upon which he would be saved. The life of Cornelius was already a most exemplary life in many respects and he was further¬ more a most candid, sincere, honest and earnest seeker after the truth. Nevertheless, our text clearly teaches us he was not saved as yet, although he was soon going to be saved. To my mind the story of the salvation of this man Cornelius is one of the most interesting and instructive contained in the whole Bible, not merely because he was the first Gentile convert to Christianity, but because of what he himself was. 54 A CHILD OF GOD 55 I. The Character of Cornelius Let us look closely at the character and conduct of this man Cornelius. I. In the first place, the inspired record declares that, He was “a Devout Man" (Acts 10:2), “ and One That Feared God." He was a man who lived as in the sight of God and with a reverential regard for God’s will and God’s law. It is evident from the whole story that his devotion was genuine; for it affected his whole household. We are told that not only did he fear God, but that he “ feared God with all his house." Furthermore, the soldiers under him and his near friends also were affected by the gen¬ uineness of his pious regard for the Deity (Acts 10:2, 7, 24). It certainly speaks well for a man’s piety when his whole family participate in it and when those who serve under him share in it. I know not a few religious people whose families do not take much stock in their religion and whose em¬ ployees do not take any stock at all in it; but so genuine was the regard for God of this man Cor¬ nelius, that his whole family shared in it and even his soldiers were affected by it. Cornelius was not in a position very favourable to the promotion of piety. Many have told me that it is impossible to be truly religious, even in our own army, but it was certainly very difficult in the old Roman army. But it was in this place of extreme difficulty that we see Cornelius maintaining his de¬ votion at a very high level. The truth is, there is no position in life where it is impossible to serve God. Someone (George C. Grubb) has said, “ Have you never noticed that God’s most brilliant saints 56 HOW TO BE SAVED have been placed in positions of peculiar difficulty ? ” And he cites as illustrations of this the case of Joseph in the awful court of Pharaoh, and Daniel at the depraved court of Nebuchadnezzar. He might have added Elijah at the vile court of Ahab and John the Baptist at the licentious and bloody court of Herod, and many others. No, my friend, who¬ ever you may be who is making the excuse, “ I can¬ not serve God in my position ”; that is not true. If you cannot serve God in any other way in that posi¬ tion, you can serve Him by giving up your position. 2. But Cornelius was not only a devout man toward God, he was also righteous toward men. This we are told in so many words in Acts io: 22. This was the testimony regarding him by those who went to Peter. I am sorry to say that devoutness toward God is not always accompanied by righteous¬ ness toward men. Of course, a faith in God and love for God that does not lead to honesty in deal¬ ing with men and love toward men is not an intelli¬ gent and genuine faith; but there is much of that sort of “ faith in God ” in the world to-day. There is much that passes for devotion that is not accom¬ panied by righteousness in private, domestic, busi¬ ness and political life. I have known men of most demonstrative piety who were utterly unreliable in business. Now I do not believe these men are all conscious hypocrites, but they certainly have a de¬ voutness which is of no value in the sight of God. But Cornelius was a man wEo was “ righteous ” toward men, as well a9 “ devout ” toward God. That is a most happy combination. I wish we had more men of that type here in Los Angeles. A CHILD OF GOD 57 3. In the third place, Cornelius was an excep¬ tionally and notably generous man. God’s own record concerning him is that he “ gave much alms to the people” (Acts 10:2). So notable was the generosity of Cornelius’ gifts to the poor that God took notice of them and kept a record of them. He even went so far as to send an angel down to say to Cornelius, “ Thine alms are gone up for a memorial before God” (Acts 10:4). That is to say that they had gone up to be remembered by God. If the only memorial that some of you professing Christians here to-night get in Heaven is your alms to the poor, I am afraid that it will be of such small dimensions that you will have a hard time finding it when you get there. All that a good many people give to the poor is their cast-off clothing, that they themselves would not wear any more anyhow. Not so with Cornelius, he “ gave much alms to the people.” 4. But even this is not all, Cornelius was a Man of Prayer. We are told that he that you would better suffer any lifelong loss here on earth than go there: and as Jesus Christ says so that settles it. We know nothing about the future, but what Jesus Christ tells us, tells us either directly Himself or through His inspired apostles. The wisest man’s THERE IS A HELL 175 speculations, the greatest philosopher's speculations, about the future are absolutely worthless. You may say “ I don’t believe what the Bible says, I think so and so.” But your “think so” is not worth the breath you waste in telling it. Your opinion about either Heaven or hell or about the coming of Christ, or about anything else that lies in the future is worth no more than the opinion some man has about the interior of Africa, who has never been in the interior of Africa, nor heard directly or indirectly from someone else who had been in the interior of Africa. Your opinion is utterly foolish and futile guessing. The man we want to hear is the man who has been there, the man who knows. Jesus knows. Listen to Him. (2). Turn to another utterance of Jesus Christ on this subject, Matt. 10:28 R. V.: “ Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” Here Jesus tells us that hell is a place to which “ both soul and body ” go. The body does not go to Hades, the soul goes there, it may have some temporary body there, but this body that we now inhabit lies in the ground and is disintegrated, but at the end of the thousand years Jesus will raise the bodies of the wicked dead, the righteous dead having already been raised at His coming, but at the end of the thousand years the wicked dead shall hear His voice and come forth and their bodies will be raised and soul and body will both (be cast together into hell to spend eternity there and suffer (Rev. 20: 11-15). It is evident from this verse that according to the teaching of 176 HOW TO BE SAVED Jesus Christ, hell is a place of physical torment as well as of mental anguish, of remorse and shame. The physical agonies of hell are not the worst agonies of hell, but they constitute a very important part of its misery. Even in this present life sin has physical penal¬ ties. My! but what awful physical suffering I have seen men undergo as a direct consequence of their wrongdoing. It will be so in a greatly enhanced de¬ gree in hell. (3.) Listen to a third statement of Jesus Christ, Matt. 25:41 R. V., “ Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels ”; and to a fourth, Matt. 25:46 R. V., “ And these shall go away into eternal pun¬ ishment: but the righteous into eternal life.” Here the word “ hell ” is not found, but the fact of hell is set forth in vivid and appalling language, and it is Jesus Christ who is speaking. We see something of the awfulness of the suffering of hell, and we see the everlasting duration of hell. The question arises, Does the word “ eternal ” used in both verses forty-one and forty-six mean never ending? To this would say that the word, according to its etymology, might mean simply a^-lasting, but according to its unvarying usage in the New Testament it does mean m?rlasting. That I have shown in my pamphlet “ The Real Truth About an Everlasting Hell.” But, furthermore, the word “ eternal ” is used twice in the forty-sixth verse. In the first instance it is coupled with the word “ punishment,” and in the sec¬ ond instance it is coupled with the word “ life” Now what it means in one case it must mean in the THERE IS A HELL 177 other, because certainly our Lord Jesus Christ was no mere trickster in His use of words, and therefore He would not use the very same word in one sense in one part of a verse, and in an entirely different sense in another part of the verse where it is put in contrast with it: so what the word “ eternal ” means in connection with “punishment” it must also mean in connection with “life,” and what it means in connection with “ life ” it must also mean in connection with “punishment” Now every one knows that the life that is the reward of the right¬ eous is endless, therefore according to the teaching of Jesus Christ the punishment of the lost must also be endless. Never accept any interpretation of any pas¬ sage that inevitably involves your making Jesus Christ out to have been a contemptible trickster in His teaching. Some one may ask, Does the “ fire ” here mean literal fire? We will not stop to argue that to-night. If you take it as a figure, remember that figures al¬ ways stand for facts, and that as Jesus was no liar, the figures He use9 never overstate the facts. How terrific, how appalling must be the facts that war¬ rant Jesus’ using such a figure as this. It is certain that there is an everlasting hell because Jesus says so. We have exactly the same reason for believing in a future hell for the wicked as we have for believing in a future life of blessed¬ ness for the righteous, God's zuord uttered by God's own Son. There is no other conclusive proof for either Heaven or hell. Give up belief in hell and, if you are logical, you must give up belief in Heaven or any future after death. Give up your belief in 178 HOW TO BE SAVED hell, such a hell as Jesus taught, and logically noth¬ ing remains but annihilation for everybody. But if you are really logical you will not give up one or the other. For Jesus Christ taught both, and the known facts about His resurrection from the dead and many other things also, compel us, if we are really logical, to accept Jesus Christ as a teacher sent from God, absolutely reliable and inerrant, who spoke the very word's of God. It is certain, then, that there is a hell after death, that its agonies are so appalling that we would better suffer any loss or pain than go there, that body and soul both share in its suffering, and that its agonies are so awful as to warrant the figure of “everlasting fire ” (if it be a figure) in speaking of them, and that its suffering never ends. 2. If there were time or necessity I could show you that if there is any future life at all, it is cer¬ tain that there is an awful and eternal hell because every fact of experimental psychology, every dictate of unprejudiced reason, every known fact of God's present dealing with man, points that way, and the only thing against such belief is an appeal to preju¬ dice and mere baseless sentiment, or an irrational dwelling upon, and drazmng unwarranted inferences from some statements in Scripture, which inferences flatly contradict other plain statements of the same Bible. There is nothing more certain about the future than that there is beyond the grave an awful and eternal hell for many. II. If You Don't Look Out You Will Go There Now a few words about the second part of our THERE IS A HELL 179 subject. The first part of our subject as announced was there is a hell. That we have seen is cer¬ tain. The second part was, if you don't look out you will go there. Nobody will escape hell with¬ out a conscious effort, without deliberate action, without doing one specific thing. We all deserve to go to hell; for we have all sinned, and God is an infinitely holy God. There is not a man or woman here to-night, young or old, who has not sinned: “ For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God ” (Rom. 3:23 R. V.). “ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his word is not in us” (I John I :8-io R. V.). There is not a man or woman here to-night who has not sinned outrageously, there is not a man or woman here to-night who has not broken God’s first and greatest commandment and thereby committed the greatest sin a man or woman can commit. What is God’s first and great com¬ mandment? Listen to the words of Jesus again, Matt. 22:37, 38, “And he (Jesus) said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment.” This is God’s first and great commandment, to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, to put God first in everything, God first in business, God first in politics, God first in home life, God first in social life, God first in amusements, God first in study, God first in everything. Not one of us has ever done it our whole life through; therefore every¬ one of us has broken this first and greatest of God’s 180 HOW TO BE SAVED commandments and therefore everyone of us has committed the greatest sin a man or woman can pos¬ sibly commit, and we all deserve to go to hell; and we will go to hell unless we look out, unless we make some definite effort and take some definite step to keep from going there. No one ever drifted to Heaven. Anyone who merely drifts, drifts to hell. Many of you here to-night are merely drifting. I once saw a little card. On one side of the card this question was printed, “ What must I do to be saved ? ” and then God’s own answer to the question was given as found in Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved.” At the bot¬ tom of the card it said “ Turn over.” And turning it over I found this question, “ What must I do to be lost?” and it gave the answer in one word, “ Nothing.” One does not need to do anything to be lost. We are lost already unless we do some¬ thing definite. If you are on the Niagara river, even way up above the Falls and the Rapids, if you just drift you are bound to go over the Falls. You do not need in order to go over the Falls to take up the oars and pull with the stream. The way to keep from going over the Falls is to pull upstream, and you must begin pulling before you get into the rapids. Well we are in the current of sin, and the current is moving toward hell, at first slowly, but soon faster, and at last with a rush that cannot be resisted. Consent to drift and you are sure to wind up in hell. If you don’t look out you will go there. In what way must we look out in order not to go there? What must we do to keep us from going THERE IS A HELL 181 to hell? There is only one thing we can do that will keep us from going to hell. Anyone who does that one thing will escape hell and go to Heaven, but on the other hand anyone good or bad, vicious or moral, liberal and generous or outrageously miserly, lovely and amiable or mean and disgusting, anyone who does not do it will go to hell. What is that one thing? The answer is found repeatedly in the Word of God: Accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Read John 3: 18, “He that believeth on him is not con¬ demned : but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten son of God. ,, Listen to John 1:12, “As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name ” Listen to John 3:36, " He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” We have all sinned as we have seen, and therefore are hellward bound. But Jesus Christ died for our sins, “ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6). He made perfect atonement for our sins, and then He arose from the dead and lives to-day, and has “ all power in heaven and on earth,” and therefore has power to give us victory over sin every day. Accept Him as your atoning Saviour, who settled every one of your sins by dying for them on the cross, and trust God to forgive you because the Lord Jesus died in your place, and the moment you do it your sins are all forgiven. “ Be it known unto you therefore, 182 HOW TO BE SAVED brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins; and by Him every one that believeth is justified from all things” (Acts 13:39). Trust Him also as your Risen Saviour to keep you from the power of sin, and He will. Do that and you will be saved, do not do it and you will spend eternity in hell. Really doing it involves surrender¬ ing your life, and your thoughts, and your will, and your conduct to His control. It involves also the open confession of Him before the world. Real faith always leads to open confession. As Paul puts it, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation ” (Rom. 10:9, 10). What are you going to do? Are you going to choos? Heaven or hell? Will you accept Christ to-night, and make sure of Heaven? or will you reject Christ and make sure of hell? / XII THERE IS A HEAVEN AND WHOSOEVER WISHES TO CAN SPEND ETERNITY THERE “In my father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may he also. And whither I go, ye know the way. Thomas saith unto him, Lord we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." — John 14:2-6., A S in the previous address, I am here using five texts. My second text is Jno. 17:24: “ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory; which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” My third text is Heb. 8:1: “ Now in the things which we are saying the chief point is this: We have such an high priest, who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.” My fourth text is II Cor. 5:1: “ For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dis- 183 .184 HOW TO BE SAVED solved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.” My fifth text is I Pet. i: 3-5: “ Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ac¬ cording to his great mercy begot us again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and un¬ defiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” My subject in the previous address was: There is a hell and if you don't look out you are going there. We saw that it was absolutely certain that there was a hell after death, that its agonies were so appalling that we would better suffer any loss or pain than go there, that body and soul both shared in its suffering, and that its agonies are so awful as to warrant the figure of “everlasting fire” (if it be a figure) in speaking of them, and that its suffer¬ ing never ends. And we saw that it was certain that we would go there unless we did one specific thing, accept Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, and, that that involved the surrender of ourselves to Him as our Lord and Master, and the open con¬ fession of Him before the world. To-night we turn from this very dark and forbidding subject to a very bright and alluring subject, namely, There is a Heaven and whosoever wishes to can spend eternity there. Last Sunday night I confined my texts to statements of Jesus Christ, because men very natu¬ rally are so unwilling to believe in hell, and because with very many the words of Jesus Christ have more THEKE IS A HEAVEN 185 weight than the words of Paul or John or other New Testament writers. Indeed, with any really in¬ telligent and fair-minded and genuinely logical man, who faces the facts in the case, the words of Jesus Christ must be absolutely conclusive and decisive. When Jesus Christ says anything, that settles it for any man who is not really a fool. I know that there are those who pose as great scholars, who do not accept the statements of Jesus Christ as final, but that only shows how a man can be a great scholar and at the same time be a great fool. We all know that the history of human thinking abounds in in¬ stances where great scholars have been proven to be great fools. In fact through the whole history of human scholarship the “ assured results ” of the scholarship of one generation have continually proven to be the exploded nonsense of the next gen¬ eration. Every generation of scholars admits that about the scholarship of preceding generations, but each generation cherishes the hope that it will not prove true of their generation. They fancy that they at last have attained “the final science/’ and the “Absolute Philosophy.” Well, that is what our dear departed ancestors thought about the science and philosophy of their day, but it did not turn out that way. And, our descendants will be making merry over our scientific and philosophical follies, just as we are now making merry over those of the scholars who have passed on. But amid the wreck of human scientific theories and human philosophies, the words of Jesus Christ stand unmoved and unassailable. And every man who is really wise believes His words absolutely, and the man who does not may 186 HOW TO BE SAVED fancy that he is a Philosopher, but he would better spell the first syllable with two o’s rather than one i. To-night I start with two foundation texts that are from the words of Jesus Christ, but also use texts from others who were unquestionably inspired of God, texts that illuminate and emphasize the words of Christ. I. The Absolute Certainty That There Is a Heaven The first thought I wish to drive home and so rivet in your minds that you will never question it again is, that It is absolutely certain that there is a Heaven to which certain persons are going. I am as certain that there is such a place as Heaven as I am that there is such a place as Los Angeles. Why is it absolutely certain that there is such a place as Heaven? i. First of all, It is absolutely certain that there is such a place as Heaven because Jesus Christ says so. He says so in the first of our texts. He says, “ I go to prepare a place for you.” He does not say, I go to prepare a state or condition for you, He says, “ I go to prepare a place for you,” and when our Lord Jesus says “place,” He means place. All this modern swash about Heaven being a condition, or a state of mind, has no warrant in the words of Jesus Christ nor in anything else in the Bible. Of course it would be better to be in a heavenly moral condition and a heavenly state of mind in a de¬ cidedly unheavenly place, than to be in a hellish moral condition and hellish state of mind in a heav- THERE IS A HEAVEN 187 enly place, but it is better yet to be in a heavenly moral condition and heavenly state of mind in a heavenly place , and that is what is ahead of us if we meet the conditions that I shall state later. Yes, Heaven is a place. We are not going to be disem¬ bodied spirits in our eternal condition any more than Jesus Christ to-day is a disembodied spirit. His spirit, His real, essential personality, was disem¬ bodied for three days and three nights. He left His body on the cross, and went down into Hades, but after three days His body was raised, which we have seen again and again from this platform is the best proven fact of history, and His spirit returned to that body, and took that resurrected, transformed, and glorified body up to Heaven with Him, and Stephen saw Him in His body after His ascension (Acts 7:55, 56 R. V.), and Saul of Tarsus saw Him after His ascension, and He is in a bodily form to¬ night, in a place, Heaven. We, too, shall have bodies and be in a place, and that place is Heaven. You may like this disembodied spirit stuff, I do not. As I read Sir Oliver Lodge’s “ Raymond,” and the descriptions given by the alleged spirit of his son, through various spiritualistic fakirs, of the life he was living since his death, I thought to myself, I cannot see what comfort Sir Oliver Lodge gets out of that. If that is the Heaven of Spiritualism I would about as soon that my son should be in hell, and much rather that he would be annihilated and utterly cease to be. But that is not the Heaven Jesus Christ teaches, nor is it the Heaven of actual fact. Heaven is a place, and no one who goes there will have any desire to come down and hover around 188 HOW TO BE SAVED darkened and uncanny rooms, and get in contact with his friends through some low-living medium, who is usually a drunkard or a dope fiend, and many of whom are notoriously immoral, and all of whom are of a low type of mentality. Jesus Christ emphasizes the fact that Heaven is a place by the first statement of the same verse when He says, “In my father's house are many mansions” that is many “Abiding places ” as distinguished from the transitory character of our earthly homes. I had a home in Montrose, Pennsylvania. It was as beautiful and comfortable a home as I desired in this world. My wife was tired of wandering about Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and America, and wanted to settle down, and I bought this home; and we thought it would be our home for the rest of our earthly lives. She said, Let us call it “ Alabama,” which means “ Here we rest.” And we called it “Alabama,” and we rested, or she did. How long? Less than four years, and here we are away out in California, and in a few months from now we will be in Asia again. But in the next world we have a “Continuing City” (as God calls it in Heb. 13: 14) ; the Revised Version translation is “ an abiding city.” The Greek word translated “ abiding ” is the par¬ ticiple of the verb from which the noun translated “Mansions” in John 14:2 is derived. Heaven is a place , and a permanent place. Yes, Heaven is a place. Furthermore, Jesus says, “I go to prepare a place.” Evidently He was going from a place where He then was, Jerusalem, on this earth, to another place where He was not then but was soon to be. THERE IS A HEAVEN 189 What was that place? Verse twenty-eight of the same chapter answers the question, “Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the father.” Here Jesus says, “ I am going away from where I now am and where you are. I am going away from you to My Father ” that is God. Well, where is God? Turn to the Lord’s Prayer as found in the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus will tell you just where God is. That prayer which our Lord taught us begins with the words “ Our Father Who art in Heaven” (Matt. 6:9 R. V.). That is where God is, “in Heaven.” Of course God is everywhere in His spirit, but that is only one side of the truth. God has a local habitation and that habitation is Heaven. That is where God is, and that is where our Lord Jesus Christ now is, at His right hand. That is where Stephen saw Him (Acts 7 : 55, 56). That is where we are going some day. Somebody heard that I was going to China next summer, and they asked me if I would not take them along as private secretary. Let me tell you, I am going before a great while to a much more interest¬ ing place than China. I am going to Heaven, and any of you can go along if you wish to. I will tell you how before I get through to-night. There are other places in the Sermon on the Mount in which our Lord Jesus tells us that Heaven is a place, and that God the Father is there. Fie tells us so, for example, in Matt. 7: 11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven, give good things to them that ask Him ? ” 190 HOW TO BE SAVED And in Matt. 7:21, “ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in Heaven” Our Lord Jesus tells us in another of our texts that Heaven is a place, and a glorious place, and that all those who will believe on Him are going there. Listen again to John 17:24, “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.” If there is anything that Jesus teaches over and over again, and that is therefore absolutely certain, because there is no possibility of doubting what Jesus taught about it, it is, that there is a Heaven, and that Heaven is a place, and that God is there in a sense that He is nowhere else, and that Jesus is now there, and that all who really be¬ lieve in Him are to be there some day. 2. In the second place, It is certain that there is a Heaven, not only because our Lord Jesus says so, but also because those who have been unmistakably proven to have been inspired of God say so . Paul says so in II Cor. 5:1 R. V., “ For we know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dis¬ solved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavensJ’ The “ house of God ” of which Paul here speaks, refers, as the context plainly shows, to our glorified resur¬ rection body, the body made in the likeness of our Lord’s own glorified body (Phil. 3:21 R. V.). And Paul here tells us that that body is not only “ eter¬ nal ” but “ eternal, in the heavens ” That body will THERE IS A HEAVEN 191 exist elsewhere eternally, and where that body will exist eternally is " in the heavens” Peter also tells us that there is a Heaven, and that it is a place, in I Pet. i: 3-5: “ Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Here Peter tells us that Heaven is a place, and that in that place there is an “ inheritance incor¬ ruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,” securely kept there for all those who are themselves kept by the power of God through faith unto that glorious “ salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” People are wondering in these days of bank looting, and high-power explosives, and Bolshevik uprisings, where they can store their possessions with absolute safety. Well, there is no place on this earth where you can store them with absolute safety. Even if they do not succeed in blowing up your safe or safety deposit vault, you may die any day, and then you cannot get at your possessions, and some one else will get them, probably the lawyers. But if they are “reserved in Heaven ” they are abso¬ lutely safe. People sometimes want to know if you have your money in a “ Federal Reserve Bank.” Better have it in the Heavenly Reserve bank. If it is there not only can “ neither moth nor rust corrupt nor thieves break through and steal,” but further¬ more there is no power either in earth or hell to rob 192 HOW TO BE SAVED you of it. It is absolutely eternally safe. And what a glorious inheritance it is, “ incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” It is more specifically described in Rom. 8:17, “Heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ,” that is, heirs of all that God has and all that God is. Better give up any¬ thing and everything on earth and get Heaven, than to get everything that you can get on earth, great wealth, beautiful homes, high-power sedan automo¬ biles, diamonds and other gems, operas, theatres, balls, and all the rest, and lose Heaven. Do you know how I feel when I ride by the palatial homes of some of our very rich and utterly godless mil¬ lionaires, and sometimes enter them? I do not have a feeling of envy at all, I feel a great pity; so rich to-day, and utter paupers to-morrow, paupers for all eternity. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews also teaches that there is a Heaven, and that it is a place. It makes no difference whether Paul is the author of this Epistle to the Hebrews or someone else, the book in either case is inspired of God. In either case it bears the marks of its inspiration on every page. It differs radically from all the other litera¬ ture, outside the Bible, of that time or any other time. It has the unmistakable inspired flavour. Listen to what God says in Heb. 8:1, “ Now in the things which we are saying, the chief point is this: We have such an high priest (that is, of course, Jesus Christ) who sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” God here teaches us that there is a Heaven (or Heavens), that it is a place, that His Own throne is there. THERE IS A HEAVEN 193 and that Jesus is there. Elsewhere in this same book He tells us that we are going there, too, if we are Christ’s. He tells us that Christ has entered Heaven as “a forerunner” (Chapter 6:20), that is He has gone there before us and we are to follow after. It is absolutely certain then that there is a Heaven because Jesus Christ says so, and because men who beyond an honest doubt were inspired of God, men through whom God Himself spoke, say so. That settles it. As I stated last night, we know absolutely nothing about the eternal future but what God has been pleased to tell us through His Son Jesus Christ and through His inspired servants, the writers of the New Testament. That is absolutely sure, all else is mere guesswork and baseless speculation. What the philosophers or the speculative theologians or the scientists guess about Heaven or hell is of no more value that what an inmate of an imbecile asylum guesses about them. Here the philosophers and scientists are entirely out of their sphere. A story is told of a distinguished man of sci¬ ence who had to cross a ferry in a rowboat. As the man at the oars pulled him across, the scien¬ tist said to him, “ Do you know Astronomy?” “ No,” replied the rugged oarsman, “ I do not.” “ Well, then,” said the man of science, “ a quarter of your life is gone.” “ Do you know anything about geology?” “No.” “Then one-half of your life is gone.” “ Do you know anything about biology ? ” “ No.” “ Then three-quarters of your life are gone.” Just then the boat struck a snag and upset. As they plunged into the water the oarsman cried, “ Do you know how to swim?” “No.” “Well then your 194 HOW TO BE SAVED whole life is gone,” and the ferryman struck out for shore, but the great scientist drowned. He was out of his element And when mere scientists and philosophers begin speculating about the eternal future, they are out of their element, and they floun¬ der around and drown, unless they will let some one who knows his Bible pull them ashore. What the scientist or philosopher speculates about Heaven or argues about Heaven is pure and simple guessing, and absolutely worthless: what God says through His Son, and through the inspired writers of the Bible, is absolutely sure. It is absolutely sure then that there is a Heaven, and that Heaven is a place, and that it is a wonderful place, and that God is there, and Christ is there, and many of us are going there, and we can all go there if we so desire. II. What Kind of a Place is Heaven? Now what sort of a place is Heaven? Some think that we know nothing about that, that it is all guess¬ work, and they quote I Cor. 2:9 to prove it, “ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” But they stop too soon. They should quote the next verse, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God.” We know nothing about Heaven but what God has revealed, but God has been pleased to re¬ veal a great deal about Heaven. I think very few Christians realize how much God has told us in the Bible about Heaven. I think even very few Bible scholars realize how much God has told us about THERE IS A HEAVEN 195 Heaven. I have studied this subject more or less for many years, but when I took it up again last Monday night, I confess that I was surprised to find so much about Heaven in the Bible. What God, Who made Heaven and Who lives there, has told us about Heaven in the Bible, what God has re¬ vealed to us about Heaven through His Son in the Bible, is not only very interesting but immensely cheering, and calculated to awaken in every wise and sensible heart an intense desire to go there. But we have not time to go into that at length to-night. Just this hasty summary without any attempt to cite the passages or to expound at length: 1. Heaven is a place of matchless, and to our present minds, inconceivable, external, material, vis¬ ible beauty. I love beauty and it has been my good fortune to see a very large share of the most re¬ nowned beauty spots of Europe, Asia, Australasia, and America. I have sat for hours just drinking in the beauty of some of these places. But nothing I have ever seen in Japan or China or India or Australia or New Zealand or in the Yosemite or the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, or in the Alps, or in the Rockies, or on Loch Lomond, or at Ben Nevis, or anywhere else, can be compared for one moment to the beauty and majesty and sublimity and glory of that land beyond the shadows—the peerless City of God. 2. Heaven is a land of indescribable harmony, and melody, and music. They have a choir of one hundred million voices there, (Rev. 5:11), and every voice sweeter and richer than Caruso’s, and 196 HOW TO BE SAVED no orchestra of earth can match those “ harpers harp¬ ing with their harps.” 3. Heaven is a place of countless wealth. Every inhabitant is a multi-millionaire, “ heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ” (Rom. 8:17). 4. Heaven is a place unmarred by Sin, where God’s will is perfectly done by all, and where “ noth¬ ing that defileth ” mind or affections or will shall ever enter. 5. Heaven is a place where there is no trace of sickness or twinge of pain, and where Death never enters, and zvhere no tear is ever shed. 6. Heaven is a place of highest, holiest and most ennobling companionships. 7. Heaven is the place zvhere God is, and zvhere His son, Jesus Christ, is, and where we shall be with Christ and with God the Father, and we “shall see his face ” (Rev. 22: 4). Oh! to see the face of God! Moses wanted to see the face of God, but was told that no man could see His face and live (Ex. 33:20). But with the strength of our resurrection bodies and perfectly redeemed spirits we can gaze and gaze and gaze upon that wondrous face of God, and live. I wonder, if when God took Moses up into Mount Nebo, to die, He did not let Moses have his prayer at last and see His face and then die, die a death of immeasurable ecstasy. But in that world we shall see His face, and live! and be satisfied! Oh! how profoundly significant are the words of the Psalmist in Ps. 17:15, as rendered in the Revised Version, “ I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with beholding thy form.” THERE IS A HEAVEN 197 III. Anyone Who Wishes to, Can Spend Eternity in Heaven Now just a few words on the last part of our sub¬ ject: Anyone who wishes to, can spend eter¬ nity in Heaven. Why do I say that? Because our Lord Jesus says so. He says so in our first text. He says, “ Whither I go, ye know the way.” And then Thomas said unto Him, “ Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way ? ” Then Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Here He says that He Himself is the Way to Heaven, and anyone who takes Him takes the way to Heaven, and if you really take Him and start to Heaven you are bound to get there. He says also in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” “ If any man,” mind you, no exceptions. The poorest are as welcome as the richest, the most ignorant are as welcome as the wisest, the vilest sinner is as welcome as the finest saint. “If any man.” Come along, friends. Peter also tells us the same thing in our last text, I Pet. 1:3-5, “ Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” That is all, “ kept by the power of God through faith.” It is not a question of our puny strength, but of His Al- 198 HOW TO BE SAVED mighty strength, given to all who just believe on His Son. Believe in Jesus Christ, that is all. All God’s children are certainly going to spend eternity in the Father’s House, and Jno. 1:12 tells us how to become children of God, “as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Just accept Jesus, that is all. Accept Him as your personal Saviour, the One whom God Himself tells us bore all your sins in His own body on the cross, and trust God to forgive all your sins because the Lord Jesus died in your place. Accept Him as your Risen Saviour who now lives in Heaven, and who has “ all power in Heaven and on earth,” and there¬ fore has power to keep you every day and hour, and just trust Him to do it. Accept Him as your Lord and Master to whom you surrender the entire con¬ trol of your thoughts and life, and confess Him as your Lord before the world, and you will spend eternity in Heaven. Refuse to do that, or neglect to do that, and you will spend eternity in hell. There is a Heaven, and whosoever wishes to can spend eternity there. Do you wish to? It is up to each one of you to-night to say for yourself whether you will spend eternity in Heaven or eternity in hell. Which do you choose? Oh! unless you are a poor, blinded fool you will choose to spend eternity in Heaven. Then accept the Lord Jesus Christ right now. You may say, “ I do not want to do it right now, but I will do it some future time.” Take no chances. Hell is too awful to take any chance of going there, and Heaven is too glorious to take any chance of missing it. There is only one thing for THERE IS A HEAVEN 199 any man or woman who has a least spark of wisdom left and who has not already accepted Jesus Christ, to do, and that is to accept Jesus Christ and confess Him to-night. XIII THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY “ The Holy Ghost saith, to-day .”— Hebrew 3:7. T HE Day of Golden Opportunity is To-day. Golden opportunities, opportunities of price¬ less worth are open to every one of us to-day. But “ to-morrow ” has no sure promise for any one of us. “ The Holy Ghost saith. To-day,” and Conscience also cries “ To-day,” and the voice of Reason and the voice of History and the voice of Experience unite in one loud chorus and shout, “ To-day.” Only the voices of lassitude and laziness and folly murmur, “ To-morrow.” The Holy Ghost is every calling “ To-day.” Men in their folly are forever saying, “ To-morrow.” When the frightful plague of frogs came upon Pharaoh of old and upon his people, Pharaoh in his terror sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “ Entreat Jehovah, that he take away the frogs from me, and my people, and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice unto Jehovah” (Ex. 8:8). Moses re¬ plied, “ Against what time shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs be destroyed from thee and thy houses and remain in the river only?” ’One would naturally suppose Pharaoh would have answered, “At once,” 200 THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 201 but Pharaoh, like many another king, played the fool and answered, “ To-morrow ” (Ex. 8:9, 10). Men show a similar folly and often a greater folly in these days. When urged to forsake sin with its miseries and degradation and perils and turn to Christ with the joy and peace, and ennobling of our character and security that He gives, they answer, “Yes, I think I will.” “When?” “Oh, to-mor¬ row.” But “ the Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” A poor wretch came into my office one day. He had been drinking and drinking had brought misery into his heart and ruin into his life. I asked, “ Will you quit drinking and turn to Jesus Christ? ” “ Oh,” he exclaimed, “ there is nothing else that I can do, I will.” “Will you do it now?” He hung his head, and murmured, “ not now, to-morrow.” But “ the Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” To-morrow is the devil’s day and the fool’s day. To-day is God’s day, and the wise man’s day. I wish to give you to-night some conclusive and unanswerable reasons why every man and woman in this auditorium who makes any pretensions to in¬ telligence and common sense should not only accept the Lord Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, but should accept Him here before he leaves this building to¬ night, if he has not already done it. What I want to get is action, immediate action, intelligent and wise action. And the only action that is intelligent and wise for anyone who has not already accepted Jesus Christ is to accept Him right here to-night. Resolutions to do the right thing and the wise thing at some indefinite time in the future are of no value 202 HOW TO BE SAVED whatever. God’s time is now. “ The Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” I. Because the Lord Jesus Brings Peace to the Tormenting Conscience i. The first reason why every man and woman in this auditorium who has not already accepted Jesus Christ should not only accept Him but accept Him to-night, is, Because the Lord Jesus brings peace to the tormenting conscience as soon as He is accepted, and the really wise man will not only desire that peace but desire it just as soon as he can get it. Wherever there is sin there will be an ac¬ cusing conscience. And we “ all have sinned.” If any man has sinned and his conscience does not ac¬ cuse him and torment him he has sunken very low, very low. There are, of course, different degrees of torment of conscience and different kinds of tor¬ ment of conscience. With some the pain is sharp and piercing, with some it is dull and grinding, but there is pain, there is unrest, there is no peace in the heart where sin has entered until that sin has been forgiven. But Jesus Christ gives peace to the most agonized conscience. Men and women have come to me in all degrees of misery over the memory of some sin that they have committed and I have pointed them to the Lord Jesus, and everyone who has really gone to Him has found rest. I could not tell how many men and women have come to me who were driven to the very verge of hopeless de¬ spair by the accusations of their conscience and were contemplating self-destruction in the hope of thus getting away from their mental agony. But I led THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 203 them to Jesus Christ, and now they have rest and the peace of God that passeth all understanding. A young man came to me one Sunday morning in Chicago in awful agony. He had sinned grievously and was reaping the harvest. He was contemplat¬ ing all sorts of mad expedients to escape the inevi¬ table consequences of his sin. I pointed him to the Son of God and he accepted Him. Afterwards he brought to me his companion in sin. She was fully determined on a desperate deed that was likely to land her in prison or in the cemetery. I plead with her and pointed her to the real cure, to the Saviour. When she left me she was still undecided as to what she would do. She afterwards decided and decided right. One night a long time afterwards, as I was going down the back stairs of the Moody church to the inquiry room, a young, happy faced woman stopped me and said, “ I want to thank you for what you did for me, and for my husband and for my child.” I did not recognize her for a moment, and she said, “ I am the young woman who came to you,” and she explained the circumstances. It was the woman who had contemplated the destruction of her child, and her own destruction for time and for eternity. But she had found peace in Jesus Christ. Men and women with tormenting consciences, and with uneasy, restless hearts, there is rest for you in Jesus Christ. If you are wise you will not only find it, but you will find it to-night. “ The Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” You need not spend even one more day or one more hour in the agony of your accus¬ ing, tormenting conscience. 204 : HOW TO BE SAVED II. Because Jesus Christ Brings Joy Unspeak¬ able and Full of Glory to Those Who Accept Him The second reason why every man and woman in this auditorium to-night who has not already ac¬ cepted Jesus Christ should not only accept Him but accept Him to-night is, Because Jesus Christ brings joy unspeakable and full of glory, a joy to which the joy of this world is as nothing in comparison, to every one who accepts Him as soon as they really accept Him and confess Him. Any really wise man will not only desire this joy but desire it at once. I for one not only wish the best I can get, but I wish it as quickly as I can get it. The joy that is in Jesus Christ is the very best joy one can get. There is not a particle of doubt about that. Ask anyone who has ever tried the world and has then really tried Jesus Christ. You cannot find one single man or woman who has really tried the joy that there is in Christ, anyone who has really put his trust in Him as his personal Saviour and unre¬ servedly surrendered to Him as his Lord and Mas¬ ter, who will not tell you that the world has no joy for a moment comparable with that joy which is found in Jesus Christ. No matter how rare their opportunities may have been for enjoying the world, they will tell you without the slightest hesitation that the joy that one finds in Christ is incomparably greater and finer and more satisfying than any joy the world can give. There are millions of witnesses to this fact, and their testimony is absolutely unani¬ mous. I know the joy that comes from wealth > I know the joy that comes from the theatre, I know THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 205 the joy that comes from the dance, from the card- table, and the joy that comes from the race course, and the joy that comes from the wine supper, and so on down to the end of the catalogue of this world’s joys. I know also the joy that comes from literature and from art, the joy that comes from music, from science, from philosophy and from travel. I know practically every joy that this world has to give, but I say to you to-night that the joy of all these put together is nothing to the joy un¬ speakable and full of glory that comes from a gen¬ uine acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and a whole-hearted surrender to Him as our Lord, and a constant and open confession of Him before the world, and from receiving the Holy Spirit Whom He gives to those who do thus accept Him and fully surrender to Him and confess Him. Men and women if you wish the highest, deepest, purest, and most abounding joy, immeasurably the most satis¬ fying joy that is to be known not only in the life which is to come but in the life which now is, not only come to Jesus Christ but come to-night. “ The Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” III. Because Jesus Christ Brings Deliverance From tue Power of Sin The third reason why every man and woman in this auditorium who has not already accepted Jesus Christ should not only accept Him but accept Him to-night, is, Because Jesus Christ brings deliv¬ erance from the power of sin , and any wise man or woman not only wishes deliverance from the power of sin but wishes it as soon as he can get it. There 206 HOW TO BE SAVED is no other form of slavery known to man so de¬ grading and so wretched as the slavery of sin. Better far be the poor black slave of the most brutal nigger driver the South ever knew than to be the slave of rum, or the slave of lust, or the slave of bad temper, or the slave of dope, or the slave of an impure imagination, or the slave of greed for gold, or the slave of any other form of sin. Poor old Uncle Tom, groaning in his cabin after the cruel blows of the brutal Legree, is not so pitiable an object as yonder wretch, poor or rich, who is under the lash of appetite or of lust or of dope or of any other sin. But there is freedom right at hand, right now. Jesus Christ sets men free from sin in all its form. He sets men free who have been slaves for years. He sets them free in a moment. Any sin¬ ner here to-night can find deliverance in Christ from any sin, can find it to-night. What Jesus said when He was here on earth is just as true to-day. “ Everyone that committeth sin is the slave of sin ” (Jno. 8:34). But thank God it is also as true to-day as when He said it that, “ If, therefore, the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed ” (Jno. 8:36). Any man or woman here who has a spark of intelligence left will not only wish deliv¬ erance from sin and its awful bondage, but wish it at once. What would you have thought of any old- time black slave of a vile and cruel master who had been offered freedom and answered, “ Yes, I wish liberty. My bondage has been awful. But I don’t want the freedom just yet. I will wait until next year. I will wait until next month. I will wait until next week. I will wait until to-morrow.” ' THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 207 You would exclaim, “ What a fool! ” But he would not be so colossal a fool as you are when you say, “Yes, I do wish deliverance from the power of sin,” and then add, “ but not to-night, to-morrow.” Oh, men, listen, “ The Holy Ghost saith. To-day.” IV. Because Jesus Christ Brings Beauty of Character The fourth reason why every man and woman who has not already accepted Jesus Christ should not only accept Him but accept Him to-night, is, Because Jesus Christ brings beauty of character, and every wise man and woman will not only desire beauty of character, but desire it just as soon as they can get it. I sometimes notice advertisements in the papers that read, “ The Secret of Beauty.” I can tell you the secret of beauty, men and women, the secret of permanent, indestructible beauty. It is Jesus Christ in the heart. He not only beautifies the face. He beautifies the soul. He makes over the soul that trusts in Him into His own glorious like¬ ness. I have seen some of the foulest men and women I ever knew made over into the fairest; and it was Jesus Christ Who did it. Sam Hadley of the Water Street Mission, New York, was the friend of all men who were down and out. He was always on the lookout for an oppor¬ tunity to help some man who was about as bad as they make them onto his feet, and to lead him to Christ and to thus get the man saved. A man said to Mr. Hadley one day, “ I have a friend whom I wish you would take an interest in.” Sam Hadley asked, “Who is he?” “He is Bowery Ike.” 208 HOW TO BE SAVED " Well/’ said Hadley, “ what is he anyhow ? ” The man replied, “ He is a crook. He makes his living by stealing and picking pockets and all that sort of thing. Just at present he is on Blackwell’s Island, serving a term there. You can find him more easily now than usual.” Sam Hadley went over to Blackwell’s Island and looked up Bowery Ike, and found him; for he could not get away, he was be¬ hind the bars. Bowery Ike had no use for Sam Hadley, except when he got out he came around to Sam to get a little money to get a new suit of clothes. But he was soon off to the Island again. Every time he would come out of confinement he would go around to see Hadley, but as soon as he got on his feet again he would go back to his crooked work. Sam Hadley followed Bowery Ike for seven long years, and one day at the end of the seventh year Bowery Ike was thoroughly sick and tired of sin, and this time not only came to Sam Hadley but came to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ opened His arms and took Bowery Ike in. After Bowery Ike had been saved about a year, Sam wrote me, saying, “ Mr. Torrey, I have a man who wants to study out at your school. They used to call him Bowery Ike. His right name is Ira Sny¬ der. We believe in him. He has been a tough cus¬ tomer. He has been a hard case. But he is saved and we believe God wants to use him. Will you take him ? ” “ Dear Sam,” I replied, “ I will take anybody you recommend.” He wrote back, “ I recommend him.” Then I wrote, “ Send him on.” And Bowery Ike (Ira Snyder) came. Listen, men, though that man had been a crook from his boyhood, THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 209 for he commenced picking pockets when a little lad, though he had been a crook nearly all his life, he became one of the most beautiful Christians I have ever met in all my life. And I say to you people to-night I have known thieves who have come to Christ, burglars who have come to Christ, train robbers and bank robbers who have come to Christ, I have known harlots, and murderers and people guilty of every kind of crime I ever heard of, who have come to Christ and have become some of the loveliest Christians I have ever known. Yes, some of the men and women who were once down in the deepest depths of sin. But to come back to Ira Sny¬ der, Bowery Ike. He came on to Chicago. He stayed with us about a year, a little over a year. One night he said to me, “ I want to walk home with you and have a little talk with you.” On the way to my home he said, “ I made a little visit down in New York a few weeks ago. I think they need me in New York. I have loved it in Chicago, I would like to stay on, but I believe they need me in New York. I have written Mr. Hadley that I am ready to go back to New York and help in the work.” A few days after this Ira Snyder was taken down with the influenza, a slight attack, not a very serious case, but he went to bed with it. They did not think he was very ill. But as I was leaving the dining table one night the maid told me that Mr. Hunter, who was one of my assistants there at that time, as he is now here, wished to see me. I met Mr. Hunter and he said, “ Mr. Torrey, Ira Snyder is dead.” I said, “ What, John? You don’t mean Ira Snyder?” We had another man at 210 HOW TO BE SAVED the Institute at the same time whose name was much the same, and who was very ill at that time, too, and I thought Mr. Hunter must mean him. “You don’t mean Ira Snyder,” I said, “you must mean So-and-So,” naming the other man. “ No,” Mr. Hunter said. “Mr. Torrey, Ira Snyder is dead. He died very suddenly about an hour ago.” I asked, “Where is he, John?” “He is over at the undertaker’s. They have prepared him for his burial and have placed him in his coffin. They are going to have the services to-morrow, and I thought I should come to tell you to-night.” “ That was right, John,” I replied, “let us go over.” We went to the undertaker’s, which was not far away, and walked into the parlours. And there in a beautiful coffin lay Ira Snyder. When I looked down into that face, one of the noblest faces I have ever looked into in my life, I will tell you what I did, I could not help it, I broke down, and, leaning over, I kissed Ira Snyder’s beautiful face as he lay there in his coffin. Yes, friends. Bowery Ike had been a crook before he became a Christian, but by the power of Jesus Christ in his heart he became one of the loveliest Christians I ever knew in my life. I don’t think my heart ever ached over anybody out¬ side my own family as it did over Ira Snyder, who was formerly a pickpocket, a burglar, and every¬ thing that was bad, but who in his lost and ruined condition came to Jesus and the heart of Jesus was big enough to take him in a.nd Jesus came into his heart and transformed him into His own likeness. The Lord Jesus is doing that sort of thing every day. THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 211 And the Lord Jesus is also taking others who are not so foul, who indeed the world thinks fair, and He is making them immeasurably fairer. It is Jesus and Jesus only who makes truly lovely char¬ acters. Ah, men and women, do you not wish to be fair? Not only fair in the eyes of man, but fair in the eyes of God? You may be. It is Jesus , work to make you so. Let Him begin it at once. Let Him begin it to-night. “ The Holy Ghost saith. To-day.” What do you say? “ To-morrow ”? No, not if you have a particle of sense left, and I believe you have. You will say, “ To-night. Right now.” V. Because Jesus Christ Fills Our Lives With Highest Usefulness The fifth reason why every man and woman in this auditorium who has not already accepted Jesus Christ should not only accept Him but accept Him to-night is, Because Jesus Christ fills our lives with highest usefulness; and every wise man and every wise woman desires not only to he useful hut desires to begin being useful as soon as possible. The Christian life is the only really useful life. We look at the life of many a one who is not a Chris¬ tian and say, “ there is a useful life ”; but God looks at it and looks through it, looks at it in all its bearings, and writes this verdict upon it, “ use¬ less.” Whether you and I see it or not, the man or woman who is not with Christ is against Him (Matt. 12:30), and the man who is against Jesus Christ is against God and against humanity. His life is useless and worse than useless. But the life 212 HOW TO BE BAYED that is fully surrendered to Jesus Christ becomes at once a useful life. It may be the mere wreck of a life, but it becomes at once a useful life. A friend of mine found one of the most hopeless wrecks of womanhood in New York City and brought her to Jesus Christ. I think this poor creature lived less than two years after her con¬ version and many months of that time were spent upon a sick bed. But that woman was used to the eternal salvation of more than a hundred persons while she lay there dying, and the story of the trans¬ formed life of “ the Bluebird of Mulberry Bend ” has gone around the world and saved thousands. Come to Christ. Really come to Him. He will make you useful. Come at once that your useful¬ ness may begin at once. I am glad I came to the Lord Jesus when I did, but Oh! if I had only come sooner. How many precious years were wasted 1 How many golden opportunities were lost, oppor¬ tunities that will never return. Come, men and women. Come now. “ The Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” VI. Because the Sooner We Come to Christ the Fuller and Richer Will Be Our Eternity The sixth reason why every man and woman in this auditorium who has not already accepted Jesus Christ should not only accept Him but accept Him to-night, is, Because the sooner we come to Christ the fuller and richer will he our eternity. The eternity of each one of us will be just what we make it in the life that now is. You are con- THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 213 structing your eternity, every day. Every day of true service for Christ makes our reward so much the greater and our eternity so much the fuller and richer. Come to Christ next Sunday and you will be behind for all eternity by as much as you might have wrought this week. You may cry in coming years, “Backward, turn backward, O Time in Thy flight,” but Time will not turn backward in its flight. Time cannot turn backward. Time is flying by every moment and never returns. To-day is hur¬ rying by us at express speed. To-morrow will soon follow. And as I turn around and peer after Yes¬ terday and To-day as they plunge into the unfath¬ omable depths of the Fast, I cry, “ Yesterday, where art thou?” Out from the fathomless abyss of by¬ gone days comes the answer, “ Gone forever.” And I hear the Holy Ghost crying, “To-day”! “To¬ day”! “To-day”! “The Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” VII. Because If We Do Not Come to Jesus Christ To-day We May Never Come At All I will give you one more reason why every man and woman in this auditorium who has not al¬ ready accepted Jesus Christ should not only accept Him but accept Him to-night, and that is, Because if we do not come to Jesus Christ to-day we may never come at all. That is not at all a remote pos¬ sibility. Thousands and tens of thousands have been as near to an acceptance of Jesus Christ as you are to-night and have said, “ Not to-night,” and now they have passed without Christ into that world in which there is no hope for repentance no matter 214 HOW TO BE SAVED how “ diligently with tears ” we may seek it, into that world in which there is no opportunity to change our mind or our eternal destiny. A man came into one of our tents one night in Chicago. It was the first time he had ever been in a meeting of that kind in his life. The words of Mr. Schiverea, who spoke that night, made a deep impression upon him, and after the meeting was over he lingered with a friend and talked per¬ sonally with Mr. Schiverea. His friend accepted Christ and he was on the very verge of accepting Him. Mr. Schiverea said to him, “ You will accept Jesus Christ right now?” “No,” the man said, “ this is the first time in my life that I was ever in a meeting of this kind. I cannot decide to-night, but I promise you that I will come back Sunday night and accept Christ.” It was Friday night and there was to be no meeting on Saturday. Mr. Schiverea replied that he did not question at all the honesty of his intention or the sincerity of his promise to return Sunday night and settle it; but he added, “We have no guarantee whatever that you will live until Sunday night.” “ Oh,” the man said, with a laugh, “you don’t suppose that God is going to cut me off after the first meeting of this kind that I ever attended in my life and not give me another opportunity?” Mr. Schiverea replied, “ I do not know. But I do know you are taking a great risk in waiting until Sunday night. I greatly fear that if you do not accept Jesus Christ now you will never accept Him and be lost forever.” “ No,” the man said, “ I give you my word that I will be back here Sunday night and accept Christ.” Mr. THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 215 Schiverea continued to plead with him, but the man would not yield. He went out of the tent with his friend. They got into a carriage and turned toward home. And as they drove up the street they passed a saloon. The man said to his friend, “ Let's stop and have one more drink and then we will both swear off." “ No," said his friend, “ I have settled it already. I have accepted Christ and I will never take another drink." “Well," said the other, “I'm going to have one more drink anyhow. You drive up the street and then come back for me and I will be waiting for you outside." He entered the saloon. His friend drove up the street, and after a few min¬ utes returned to pick up his friend. He was no¬ where to be seen. He went into the saloon to look for him. He was not there. He went into the street again and looked up and down it for his friend, but he was nowhere in sight. Passing a high board fence he heard a groan and passing swiftly around behind it he discovered his friend lying behind it stabbed, with an awful gash in his body, unconscious and dying. He was taken to the Presbyterian Hospital and lived until Monday morn¬ ing, but never regained consciousness and passed into eternity unsaved, lost forever. Why? Because when “the Holy Ghost said, To-day" he said, “To¬ morrow." So he passed unprepared into the pres¬ ence of God, and so will some of you, if you do not listen to the Holy Ghost to-night, as He saith, “ To-day." One night when I was preaching in Bradford, England, a man and his wife sat side by side in the 216 HOW TO BE SAVED meeting and were deeply moved, but they made no decision, and gave no sign. As they walked away from the meeting the wife said to her husband, “ Would it not have been nice if you and I both had risen to-night and gone forward together and both accepted Christ?” He answered, “Yes, it would.” They reached home and retired. About two o’clock the following morning his wife awakened him and said, “ I feel so strange.” In a few minutes from that time she had passed into eternity. After he had laid his wife’s body away in the cemetery he came back to the meeting and told us this story and accepted Christ, but he came alone. Oh, men and women listen! Do you not hear the Holy Spirit crying, “ To-day.” There are so many things besides death that may make this the last opportunity you will ever have and make a refusal to-night final and fatal. Loss of opportunity may come. The Holy Spirit is here in power to-night. It is a great opportunity, the Day of Golden Opportunity. A like opportunity may never come again. It never will come again for some of you. “The Holy Ghost saith, To-day.” A hardened heart may seal your doom. When a human heart is moved upon by the Spirit of God as some of your hearts are to-night, and the heart continues to resist the Holy Spirit, it is likely to become very soon hardened and hopeless. One night in our church in Chicago, after the meeting in which many had accepted Christ, I re¬ mained talking with a young man. He was under deep conviction, within one step of a decision. I THE DAY OF GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY 217 urged upon him an immediate acceptance and con¬ fession of Christ “ No,” he said, “ I cannot do it to-night. But I will give you my word of honour that I will come back to-morrow night and do it. I told him I did not question his word or his in¬ tention ; but I said, “ I have no guarantee whatever that you will keep your word. I have a feeling in my heart that if you do not settle it to-night you will never come back.” “ Why,” he replied, “ my mother is here every night. We live within a block of this place. I give you my word of honour I will come to-morrow night and settle it.” Again I said, “ I do not question your word, but the Spirit of God is working mightily with you to-night, and if you go out of here resisting the Spirit of God, I believe your heart will be so hardened that your eternal destiny will be sealed and you will never come back.” “ No,” he said, “ I cannot accept to-night, but I will come to-morrow night and settle it.” He walked away. I watched him with a heavy heart as he passed out of the door. I said to myself, “ He will never come back,” and he never did. Quite a while later I asked his mother about him and she told me he had never come back into the church from that night. Men and women, listen! You cannot trifle with God, and you cannot trifle with your own souls, and you cannot trifle with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not only saying in our text, but he is say¬ ing in your hearts to-night, “ To-day! Right now! accept Christ.” Will you listen to the mighty, gracious Spirit of God? Will you do as He bids 218 HOW TO BE SAVED you? Will you listen right now and harden not your heart, but accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, surrender to Him as your Lord and Master, and begin to confess to Him as such before the world, and be saved, and get right here and now the won¬ derful blessings that He gives and He alone gives? Printed in the United States of America EVANGELISTIC METHODS, ETC R. A. TORREY , D.D. The Gospel for To-day New Evangelistic Sermons for a New Day. $1.50. A new volume of appealing addresses by the well-known evangelist and Bible teacher, characterized by unusual clearness of statement and frankness of appeal. The Christian Endeavor World says of Dr. Torrey’s sermons: “They are full of power. They have Moody’s earnest¬ ness and pith. They are sound to the core. They will make revivals even in their printed form.” R. A. TORREY , D.D. Personal Work $1.25. A new edition of Dr. Torrey’s pertinent and timely volume for evangelistic work. As one reviewer said: “Dr. Torrey is not one of the men who ‘aim at nothing and hit it.’ He is no trifler, and does not act as if he imagined that one bit of argument or appeal is not about as good as another irrespective of the particular state ol mind of the person appealed to.” DWIGHT MALLORY PRATT , D. D. Pilgrim *— - 1 ■ Memorial Fund. The Master’s Method of Winning Men Introduction by Frederick L. Fagley, D.D. $1.00. A plea for “personal evangelism.” While not unmind¬ ful of the usefulness and practicability of other ways of bringing men to Christ, Dr. Pratt gives pride of place to personal contact as the most effectual method of win¬ ning souls. 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And here in treating of great Gospel themes he gives us of his best, bringing to their presentation his splendid gifts and ripened powers. R. A . TORREY, D.D. How to Be Saved Evangelistic Sermons. $1.50. A striking new volume of Evangelistic addresses, by the famous preacher and Bible teacher, which are marked by all his old-time vigor and certitude. He is the pro- claimer of a straight Gospel, about which no note of doubt or preadventure finds a place. EDWARD M. BOUNDS The Possibilities of Prayer The Bounds “Spiritual Life Books” Edited by Homer W. Hodge. $1.25. A rich, exceptionally helpful addition to Dr. Bounds’ books. “Many will find their understanding clarified and their faith in the possibilities of prayer strengthened by a careful reading of this book.”— Watchman-Examiner. SADHU SUNDAR SINGH Translated by Rev. and Mrs. Arthur Parker . At the Master’s Feet Boards. 75c. 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This new edition contains a 28-page appendix reporting the Sadhu’s visit to England and America in 1920, his experiences in Tibet in 1921, and his trip through Palestine and Europe in 1922. ROBERT E. SPEER , D.D. {Editor) A Missionary Pioneer in the Far East A Memorial of Divie Bethune McCartee. $1.50. *‘A story of wonderful achievement and is a striking illustration of how the missionary, when he has states¬ manlike qualities, touches the whole life of the nation where he ministers .”—Christian Work. HELPFUL SERMONS JAMES I. VANCE , D.D., LL.D. Pastor First Presbyterian Church , Nashville, Tense, In the Breaking of the Bread Communion Addresses. $1.25. *‘A volume of communion addresses marked by deep spiritual insight and knowledge of the human heart. They are well adapted to awaken the spiritual conceptions which should accompany the observance of the Lord’s Supper— suggestions fitted for a communion occasion. The ad¬ dresses all bear upon the general theme of the Lord’s Sup¬ per and showed marked spirituality of thought and fervency of expression .”—United Presbyterian. TEUNIS E. GOVWENS Pastor Second Presbyterian - Church , Louisville , Ky, The Rock That Is Higher And Other Addresses. $1.25. An unusually successful volume of discourses of which Dr. Charles S. Macfarland of the Church Federal Council, says: “Contents the intellect because it first satisfies the heart, and commands the incontestable assent of human experience. As I have read it I have found my conscience penetrated, my faith deepened and my hope Quickened." W. RUSSELL BOWIE , D.D. Rector of St. Paul's Church, Richmond, V ill? .•« - ■' * -** *r v? l/IAR 2 0 '$*4 ■ .1 ,/?*> )« *>* i a - ' ^-