Just Added - Moody Gold

This compilation of the best of DL Moody has just been added to my resource directory!

MOODY GOLD
Ray Comfort (Editor), D L Moody
Category: Biography, Heroes, Puritans, And Reformers
Click Here To Order
Moody Gold is the fourth book in the popular Gold series. This book draws from some of the best sermons by D. L. Moody and combines them with life application and inspiring commentary by best-selling author Ray Comfort. D. L. Moody was a true patriarch of the modern church. He once said, "The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is wholly consecrated to him. I will try my utmost to be that man," and try he did in so many ways. This book is seared in my memory due to Moody's terrifying story about a man who "put off repentance" only to find himself on his death bed and unable to find it.

A Scary Story Of Damnation

I have just been reading through Ray Comfort's book on the life and quotes of DL Moody called "Moody Gold". There is one account in this book that I will never forget because it is a terrifying story, and a frightening reminder, that as sinners grow older, their hearts grow colder. And that there comes a time where they cannot find a place for repentance. Please read this story as told by DL Moody . . .

I remember a few years ago while I was still working in my church, I closed the meeting one night by asking any that would like to become Christians to rise, and to my great joy, a man arose who had been anxious for some time. I went up to him and took him by the hand and shook it, and said, "I am glad to see you get up. You are coming out for the Lord in earnest, are you not?"

"Yes" said he, "I think so. That is, there is only one thing in my way."

"What's that?" said I.

"Well" said he, "I lack moral courage. I confess to you that if such a man (naming a friend of his) had been here tonight I should not have risen. He would laugh at me if he knew of this, and I don't believe I have the courage to tell him."

"But" said I, "You have to come out boldly for the Lord if you come out at all".

While I talked with him he was trembling from head to foot, and I believe the Spirit was striving earnestly with him. He came back the next night, and the next, and the next; the Spirit of God strove woth him for weeks; it seemed as if he came to the very threshold of heaven, and was almost stepping over into the blessed world. I never could find out any reason for his hesitation, except that he feared his old companions would laugh at him.

At last the Spirit of God seemed to leave him; conviction was gone. Six months from that time I got a message from him that he was sick and he wanted to see me. I went to him in great haste. He was very sick, and thought he was dying. He asked me if there was any hope. Yes, i told him, God had sent Christ to save him; and i prayed with him.

Contrary to all expectations he recovered. One day I went down to see him. It was a bright, beautiful day, and he was sitting out in front of his house.

"You are coming out for God now, aren't you? You will be well enough soon to come back to our meetings again."

"Mr. Moody", said he, "I have made up my mind to become a Christian. My mind is fully made up to that, but I won't be one just now. I am going to Michigan to buy a farm and settle down, and then I will become a Christian."

"But you don't know yet that you will get well."

"O," said he, "I shall be perfectly well in a few days. I have got a new lease of life."

I pleaded with him, and tried every way to get him to take his stand. At last he said, "Mr. Moody, I can't be a Christian in Chicago. When I get away from Chicago, and get to Michigan, away from my friends and acquaintances who laugh at me, I will be ready to go to Christ."

"If God has not grace enough to save you in Chicago, He has not in Michigan" I answered.

At last he got a little irritated and said, "Mr. Moody, I'll take the risk," and so I left him.

I well remember the day of the week, Thursday, about noon, just one week from that very day, when I was sent for by his wife to come in great haste. I hurried there at once. His poor wife met me at the door, and I asked her what was the matter.

"My husband," she said, "has had a relapse; I have just had a council of physicians here, and they have all given him up to die."

"Does he want to see me?" I asked.

"No."

"Then why did you send for me?"

"I cannot bear to see him die in this terrible state of mind."

"What does he say?" I asked.

"He says his damnation is sealed, and he will be in hell in a little while."

I went in, and he at once fixed his eyes upon me. I called him by name but he was silent. I went around to the foot of the bed, and looked at his face and said, "Won't you speak to me?", and at last he fixed that terrible deathly look upon me and said:

"Mr. Moody, you need not talk to me any more. It is too late. You can talk to my wife and children; pray for them; but my heart is as hard as the iron in that stove there. My damnation is sealed, and I shall be in hell in a little while."

I tried to tell him of Jesus' love and God's forgiveness, but he said, "Mr. Moody, I tell you there is no hope for me." And as I fell on my knees, he said, "You need not pray for me. My wife will soon be left a widow and my children will be fatherless; they need your prayers, but you need not pray for me."

I tried to pray , but it seemed as if my prayers didn't go higher than my head, and as if heaven above me was like brass. The next day, his wife told me, he lingered until the sun went down, and from noon until he died all he was heard to say was, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved." After lingering along for an hour he would say again those awful words, and just as he was expiring his wife noticed his lips quiver, and that he was trying to say something, and as she bent over him she heard him mutter, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved." He lived a Christless life, he died a Christless death - we wrapped him in a Christless shroud, and bore him away to a Christless grave.

Are there some here that are almost persuaded to be Christians? Take my advice and don't let anything keep you away. Fly to the arms of Jesus this hour. You can be saved if you will.

(Excerpt from p62-64, Moody Gold, compiled by Ray Comfort).

The Long Arm of the Law

In the build up to tonights interview on Revelation TV www.revelationtv.com concerning open air preaching I'd like to take a look at an issue that is one of the greatest bones of contention concerning preaching of the Gospel in the modern era.

One of the great stumblingblocks in modern evangelicalism is a correct biblical understanding of the function of God's Moral Law in evangelism. Mere mention of the word "Law" is likely to evoke responses such as "legalism", "works righteousness", "we are on the other side of the cross", and "we are now in the age of grace".

This is simply not the case. In fact correct expounding of the law reveals our utter hopelessness to meet the requirements of the law and hence our need for alien righteousness found only in Christ. It is true that salvation is by grace but it is impossible to explain grace without explaining the impossible requirements of God's law. Grace is, by definition, unmerited favor. How can we possibly see it is something we don't merit until we see our transgressions against God. How can we preach love without the law when God showed us His love in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). In order to comprehend God's love we must comprehend our sinfulness. In order to comprehend our sinfulness we must grasp the requirements of God's justice system found in the law.

In fact the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5) magnifies the law to the point where Christ points out that

"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire." (verses 20-22)

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (verses 27-28)

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (verse 48)

The Law serves as the schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.

Here is what some great preachers through history had to say about preaching the law of God.

A. W. Pink "Just as the world was not ready for the New Testament before it received the Old, just as the Jews were not prepared for the ministry of Christ until John the Baptist had gone before Him with his claimant call to repentance, so the unsaved are in no condition today for the Gospel till the Law be applied to their hearts, for 'by the Law is the knowledge of sin.' It is a waste of time to sow seed on ground which has never been ploughed or spaded! To present the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to those whose dominant passion is to take fill of sin, is to give that which is holy to the dogs."

A. W. Tozer "No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God."

Augustine "The Law is not in fault, but our evil and wicked nature; even as a heap of lime is still and quiet until water be poured thereon, but then it begins to smoke and burn, not from the fault of the water, but from the nature and kind of the lime which will not endure it."

C. S. Lewis "When we merely say that we are bad, the 'wrath' of God seems a barbarous doctrine; as soon as we perceive our bad-ness, it appears inevitable, a mere corollary from God's goodness..."

Charles Spurgeon "I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law." Then he warns, "Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt; this is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain; for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion. I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ . . . They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law. Therefore the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it must not be removed from its place."

D. L. Moody “It is a great mistake to give a man who has not been convicted of sin certain passages that were never meant for him. The Law is what he needs … Do not offer the consolation of the gospel until he sees and knows he is guilty before God. We must give enough of the Law to take away all self-righteousness. I pity the man who preaches only one side of the truth, always the gospel and never the Law.” EB - Jos 1:7

Dr. Martin Loyd-Jones "A gospel which merely says, 'Come to Jesus,' and offers Him as a friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convincing of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. (The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the Law; and it is because the Law has not been preached that we have had so much superficial evangelism.) True evangelism... must always start by preaching the law."
"The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Savior, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the Law to bring such an understanding to a man's mind and conscience. That is why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago in the time of the puritans, and 200 years ago in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary law work."

George Whitefield "First, then, before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your actual transgressions against the Law of God."

J. C. Ryle "People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell ... Let us expound and beat out the Ten Commandments, and show the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of their requirements. This is the way of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do better than follow His plan. We may depend on it, men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those who the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world."

J. I. Packer "Unless we see our shortcomings in the light of the Law and holiness of God, we do not see them as sin at all."

John Bunyan "The man who does not know the nature of the Law, cannot know the nature of sin."

John MacArthur "God's grace cannot be faithfully preached to unbelievers until the Law is preached and man's corrupt nature is exposed. It is impossible for a person to fully realize his need for God's grace until he sees how terribly he has failed the standards of God's Law."

John Newton "Ignorance of the nature and design of the Law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes."

John R. Stott "We cannot come to Christ to be justified until we have first been to Moses, to be condemned. But once we have gone to Moses, and acknowledged our sin, guilt and condemnation, we must not stay there. We must let Moses send us to Christ."

John Wesley "While he cries out, O what love have I to thy Law! all the day long is my study in it. He sees daily, in that divine mirror, more and more of his own sinfulness. He sees more and more clearly, that he is fullness a sinner in all things -- that neither his heart nor his ways are right before God, and that every moment sends him to Christ. Therefore I cannot spare the Law one moment, no more than I can spare Christ, seeing I now want it as much to keep me to Christ, as I ever wanted it to bring me to Him. Otherwise this 'evil heart of unbelief' would immediately 'depart from the living God.' Indeed each is continually sending me to the other--the Law to Christ, and Christ to the Law."

Jonathan Edwards "The only way we can know whether we are sinning is by knowing His Moral Law."

Martin Luther "Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ."

Matthew Henry "Herein is the Law of God above all other laws, that it is a spiritual law. Other laws may forbid compassing and imagining, which are treason in the heart, but cannot take cognizance thereof, unless there be some overt act; but the Law of God takes notice of the iniquity regarded in the heart, though it go no further."

RECOMMENDED BOOKS - D L MOODY

Dwight Lyman Moody, also known as D.L. Moody (1837 -1899) was a Christian preacher and evangelist. Raised on a farm in Massachusetts, he moved first to Boston, where he converted to evangelical Christianity in 1856, and then to Chicago, where he prospered in business. He gave up business in 1860 and engaged in missionary work with the YMCA (1861 – 1873). He founded Moody Church and preached in the slums, emphasizing literal interpretation of the Bible and the need to prepare for the Second Coming. In 1870 he teamed up with the hymn writer Ira D. Sankey (1840 – 1908), and they began a series of highly popular revival tours in Britain and the U.S. Moody founded the Northfield School (1879), the Mount Hermon School (1881), and the Chicago Bible Institute (1889; now the Moody Bible Institute). Some have claimed he was the greatest evangelist of the 19th century.


MOODY GOLD
Ray Comfort (Editor), D L Moody
Category: Biography, Heroes, Puritans, And Reformers
Click Here To Order
Moody Gold is the fourth book in the popular Gold series. This book draws from some of the best sermons by D. L. Moody and combines them with life application and inspiring commentary by best-selling author Ray Comfort. D. L. Moody was a true patriarch of the modern church. He once said, "The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is wholly consecrated to him. I will try my utmost to be that man," and try he did in so many ways. This book is seared in my memory due to Moody's terrifying story about a man who "put off repentance" only to find himself on his death bed and unable to find it.