“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.”
Isa. 55:6
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D. L. Moody (1837-1899) was an American evangelist who founded the Northfield Schools in Massachusetts, Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and the Colportage Association. Ira Sankey was solo singer/music director for their evangelistic campaigns in both the United States and Great Britain. To read full biography click here. |
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I have learned that when anyone becomes in earnest about his soul’s salvation and he begins to seek God, it does not take long for an anxious sinner to meet an anxious Saviour. “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). Those who seek for Him with all their hearts, find Christ.
I am tired and sick of half-heartedness. I don’t like a half-hearted man. I don’t care for anyone to love me halfheartedly. And the Lord won’t have it. If we are going to seek for Him and find Him, we must do it with all our hearts.
I believe the reason why so few find Christ is that they do not search for Him with all their hearts; they are not terribly in earnest about their souls’ salvation.
Everything God has done proves that He is in earnest about the salvation of men’s souls. He has proved it by giving His only Son to die for us. The Son of God was in earnest when He died. What is Calvary but a proof of that? And the Lord wants us to be in earnest when it comes to this great question of the soul’s salvation. I never saw men seeking Him with all their hearts but they soon found Him.
It was quite refreshing one night to find in the inquiry room a young man who thought he was not worth saving, he was so vile and wicked. There was hope for him because he was so desperately in earnest about his soul. He thought he was worthless. He had a sight of himself in God’s looking glass and had a very poor opinion of himself.
One can always tell when a man is a great way from God for he is always talking about himself, and how good he is. But the moment he sees God by the eye of faith, he is down on his knees, and, like Job, he cries, “Behold, I am vile.” All his goodness flees away.
The Lord Is Near Us Now
When men earnestly seek the Lord and are in earnest about their salvation, they will soon find Christ. You do not need to go up to the heights to bring Him down, or down to the depths to bring Him up, or go off to some distant city to find Him. This day He is near to every one of us.
I once heard someone in the inquiry room telling a young person to go home and seek Christ in his closet. I would not dare tell anyone to do that. He might be dead before he got home.
If I read my Bible correctly, the man who preaches the Gospel will not tell me to seek Christ tomorrow or an hour hence, but now. He is near to every one of us this minute to save.
If the world would just come to God for salvation and be in earnest about it, all would find the Son of God right at the door of their hearts.
More Precious Than Precious Jewels
Suppose I should say I have lost a very valuable diamond here worth $100,000. I had it in my pocket when I came into the hall, and when I had done preaching, it was not in my pocket but in the hall somewhere.
Suppose I should say that anyone who finds it could have it.
How earnest you would all become! You would not get very much of my sermon for thinking of the diamond. I do not believe the police could get you out of this hall. The idea of finding a diamond worth $100,000! If I could only find it, it would lift me out of poverty at once, and I would be independent for the rest of my days! Oh, how soon everybody would become terribly in earnest!
I would to God I could get men to seek for Christ in the same way. I have something worth more than a diamond to offer you. Is not salvation eternal life worth more than all the diamonds in the world?
Hellfire Necessitates a Holy Fire
People seem to forget that there is no door out of Hell. If they enter there, they must remain there age after age. Millions on millions of years will roll on, but there is no door, no escape out of Hell.
May God wake you up and make you anxious about your soul. People talk about our being earnest and fanatical about our being on fire. Would to God the church were on fire! This world would soon shake to its foundation. May God wake up a slumbering church!
What we want you to do is not to shout “amen” and clap your hands. The deepest and quietest waters very often run swiftest. We want you to go right to work; there will be a chance for you to shout by and by. Go and speak to your neighbor and tell him of Christ and Heaven. You need not go far before you will find someone passing down to the darkness of eternal death. Haste to his rescue!
What we want to see is people really wishing to become Christians, those who are in dead earnest about it. The idea of hearing one say in answer to the question, “Do you want to become a Christian?” “Well, I would not mind”!
My friend, you will never get into the kingdom of God until you change your language. Men should be crying from the depths of their hearts, “I want to be saved!”
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D. L. Moody (1837-1899), American evangelist
D. L. Moody - On February 5, 1837 in Northfield, Massachusetts Dwight Lyman Moody was born the sixth child of Edwin and Betsy Holton Moody. He started 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, and they began a series of highly popular revival tours in Britain and the U.S. He also founded the Bible Institute that bears his name. To read full biography click here. |
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