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No. 16

THAT GOSPEL SERMON

ON THE BLESSED HOPE. 

BY D. L. MOODY. 

_A Sermon delivered by_ D. L. MOODY, _the Evangelist, at the Great ChicagoTabernacle, Jan. 5, 1877. Repeated in the Boston Tabernacle, April29th. _

In 2 Timothy, 3:16, Paul declares: "All scripture is given byinspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, forcorrection, for instruction in righteousness;" but there are some peoplewho tell us when we take up prophecy that it is all very well to bebelieved, but that there is no use in one trying to understand it; thesefuture events are things that the church does not agree about, and it isbetter to let them alone, and deal only with those prophecies which havealready been fulfilled. But Paul does not talk that way; he says: "Allscripture is ... Profitable for doctrine. " If these people are right, heought to have said: "Some scripture is profitable; but you can notunderstand the prophecies, so you had better let them alone. " If God didnot mean to have us study the prophecies, he would not have put them inthe Bible. Some of them are fulfilled, and he is at work fulfilling therest, so that if we do not see them all completed in this life, we shallin the world to come. 

I do not want to teach anything to-day dogmatically, on my ownauthority, but to my mind this precious doctrine--for such I must callit--of the return of the Lord to this earth is taught in the NewTestament as clearly as any other doctrine is; yet I was in the churchfifteen or sixteen years before I ever heard a sermon on it. There ishardly any church that does not make a great deal of baptism, but theNew Testament only speaks about baptism thirteen times, while it speaksof the return of our Lord fifty times; and yet the church has had verylittle to say about it. Now, I can see a reason for this: the devil doesnot want us to see this truth, for nothing would wake up the church somuch. The moment a man takes hold of the truth that Jesus Christ iscoming back again to receive his friends to himself, this world losesits hold upon him; gas-stocks and water-stocks, and stocks in banks andhorse-railroads, are of very much less consequence to him then. Hisheart is free, and he looks for the blessed appearing of his Lord, whoat his coming will take him into his blessed kingdom. 

In 2 Peter 1:20, we read: "No prophecy of the scripture is of anyprivate interpretation. " Some people say: "O yes, the prophecies are allwell enough for the priests and doctors, but not for the rank and fileof the church. " But Peter says: "The prophecy came not by the will ofman, but holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, " and thosemen are the very ones who tell us of the return of our Lord. Look atDaniel 2:45, where he tells the meaning of that stone which the king sawin his dream that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and thatbroke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold. "The dream is certain and the interpretation thereof sure, " says Daniel. Now we have seen the fulfillment of that prophecy all but the closingpart of it. The kingdoms of Babylon and Medo-Persia and Greece and Romehave all been broken in pieces, and now it only remains for this stonecut out of the mountain without hands to smite the image and break it inpieces till it becomes like the dust of the summer threshing floor, andfor this stone to become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. 

BUT HOW IS HE GOING TO COME?

We are told how he is going to come. When those disciples stood lookingup into heaven at the time of his ascension, there appeared two angels, who said Acts 1:11: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up intoheaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall socome in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. " How did he goup? He took his flesh and bones up with him. "Look at me; handle me;give me something to eat; a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see mehave; I am the identical one whom they crucified and laid in the grave. Now I am risen from the dead and am going up to heaven, " Luke 24:39, 43. He is gone, say the angels, but he will come again just as he went. Anangel was sent to announce his birth of the virgin; angels sang of hisadvent in Bethlehem; an angel told the women of his resurrection; andtwo angels told the disciples of his coming again. It is the sametestimony in all these cases. 

I do not know why people should not like to read the Bible, and find outall about this precious doctrine of our Lord's return. Some have gonebeyond prophecy, and tried to tell the very day he would come. Perhapsthat is one reason why people do not believe this doctrine. He iscoming, we know that; but just when he is coming we do not know; Matt. 24:36, settles that. The angels do not know; and Christ says that evenhe does not know, but that is something the Father keeps to himself. IfChrist had said: "I will not come back for 2, 000 years, " none of hisdisciples would have begun to watch for him, but it is the properattitude of a Christian to be always looking for his Lord's return. SoGod does not tell us just when he is to come, but Christ tells us towatch. In this same chapter we find that he is to come unexpectedly andsuddenly. In the twenty-seventh verse we have these words: "For as thelightning cometh out of the east and shineth unto the west, even soshall also the coming of the Son of Man be. " And again in theforty-fourth verse: "Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour asye think not the Son of Man cometh. "

Some people say that means death: but the Word of God does not say itmeans death. Death is our enemy, but our Lord hath the keys of death; hehas conquered death, hell, and the grave, and at any moment he may cometo set us free from death, and destroy our last enemy for us; so theproper state for a believer in Christ is waiting and watching for ourLord's return. 

In the last chapter of John there is a text that seems to settle thismatter. Peter asks the question about John: "Lord what shall this mando? Jesus said unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what isthat to thee? Follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among thebrethren that that disciple should not die. " They did not think that thecoming of the Lord meant death; there was a great difference betweenthese two things in their minds. 

CHRIST IS THE PRINCE OF LIFE. 

There is no death where he is; death flees at his coming; dead bodiessprang to life when he touched them or spoke to them. His coming is notdeath; he is the resurrection and the life, when he sets up his kingdomthere is to be no death, but life forevermore. 

There is another mistake, as you will find if you read your Biblecarefully. Some people think that at the coming of Christ everything isto be done up in a few minutes; but I do not so understand it. The firstthing he is to do is to take his Church out of the world. He calls theChurch his bride, and he says he is going to prepare a place for her. Wemay judge, says one, what a glorious place it will be from the length oftime he is in preparing it, and when the place is ready he will come andtake the church to himself. 

In the closing verses of the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paulsays: "If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so also themwhich sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.... We which are alive andremain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which areasleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the deadin Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall becaught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one anotherwith these words. " That is the comfort of the church. There was a timewhen I used to mourn that I should not be alive in the millennium; butnow I expect to be in the millennium. Dean Alford says--and almosteverybody bows to him in the matter of interpretation--that he mustinsist that this coming of Christ to take his church to himself in theclouds is not the same event us that to judge the world at the last day. The deliverance of the church is one thing, judgment is another. Now, Icannot find any place in the Bible where it tells me to wait for signsof the coming of the millennium, as the return of the Jews, and suchlike; but it tells me to look for the coming of the Lord; to watch forit; to be ready at midnight to meet him, like those five wise virgins. The trump of God may be sounded, for anything we know, before I finishthis sermon--at any rate we are told that he will come as a thief in thenight, and at an hour when many look not for him. 

Some of you may shake your heads and say, "Oh, well, that is too deepfor the most of us; such things ought not to be said before these youngconverts; only the very wisest characters, such as ministers andprofessors in the theological seminaries, can understand them. " But myfriends, you find that Paul wrote about these things to those youngconverts among the Thessalonians, and he tells them to comfort oneanother with these words. Here in the first chapter of 1 ThessaloniansPaul says, "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and trueGod, and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come, " To wait for hisSon; that is the true attitude of every child of God. If he is doingthat he is ready for the duties of life, ready for God's work; aye, thatmakes him feel that he is just ready to begin to work for God. 

Then in 1 Thessalonians, 2:19, he says: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye, in the presence of our LordJesus Christ, at his coming?" And again, in the third chapter, at thethirteenth verse, "To the end that he may establish your heartsunblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of ourLord Jesus Christ with all his saints. " Still again, in the fifthchapter, "For ye yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord socometh as a thief in the night. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should over take you as a thief. " He has something to sayabout this same thing in every chapter, indeed I have thought thisEpistle to the Thessalonians might be called the gospel of Christ'scoming again. 

There are three great facts foretold in the word of God: First, thatChrist should come; that has been fulfilled. Second, that the Holy Ghostshould come; that was fulfilled at Pentecost, and the church is able totestify to it by its experience of his saving grace. Third, the returnof our Lord again from heaven--for this we are told to watch and wait"till he come. " Look at that account of the last hours of Christ withhis disciples. What does Christ say to them? If I go away I will senddeath after you to bring you to me? I will send an angel after you? Notat all. He says: "I will come again and receive you unto myself. " If mywife were in a foreign country, and I had a beautiful mansion all readyfor her, she would a good deal rather I should come and bring her untoit than to have me send some one else to bring her. 

THE CHURCH IS THE LAMB'S WIFE. 

He has prepared a mansion for his bride, and he promises for our joy andcomfort that he will come himself and bring us to the place he has beenall this while preparing. 

My friends it is perfectly safe to take the word of God as we find it. If he tells us to watch, then watch! If he tells us to pray, then pray!If he tells us he will come again, wait for him! Let the church bow tothe word of God, rather than trying to find out how such things can be. "Behold, I come quickly, " said Christ. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus, "should be the prayer of the church. 

Take the account of the words of Christ at the communion table. It seemsto me the devil has covered up the most precious thing about it. "For asoften as ye eat this bread and drink this cup ye do show forth theLord's death _till he come_. " But most people seem to think that theLord's table is the place for self-examination and repentance, andmaking good resolutions. Not at all; you spoil it that way; it is toshow forth the Lord's death, and we are to keep it up till he comes. 

Some people say, "I believe Christ will come on the other side of themillennium. " Where do you get it? I cannot find it. The word of Godnowhere tells me to watch and wait for the coming of the millennium, butfor the coming of the Lord. I do not find any place where God says theworld is to grow better and better, and that Christ is to have aspiritual reign on earth of a thousand years. I find that the world isto grow worse and worse, and at length there is to be a separation. "Twowomen grinding at a mill, one taken and the other left; two men in onebed, one taken and the other left, " Luke 17:34, 36. The church is to betranslated out of the world, we have two examples already, tworepresentatives, as we might say, of Christ's kingdom, of what is to bedone for all his true believers. Enoch is the representative of thefirst dispensation, Elijah of the second, and, as a representative ofthe third dispensation, we have the Saviour himself, who is entered intothe heavens for us, and become the first fruits of them that slept. Weare not to wait for the great white throne judgement, but the glorifiedchurch is set on the throne with Christ, and to help to judge the world. 

Now, some of you think this is a new and strange doctrine, and that theywho preach it are speckled birds. But let me tell you that most of thespiritual men in the pulpits of Great Britain are firm in this faith. Spurgeon preaches it. I have heard Newman Hall say that he knew noreason why Christ might not come before he got through with his sermon. But in certain wealthy and fashionable churches, where they have theform of godliness, but deny the power thereof, --just the state of thingswhich Paul declares shall be in the last days, --this doctrine is notpreached or believed. They do not want sinners to cry out in theirmeeting, "What must I do to be saved?" They want intellectual preacherswho will cultivate their taste, brilliant preachers who will rouse theirimagination, but they do not want the preaching that has in it the powerof the Holy Ghost. We live in the day of shams in religion. The churchis cold and formal; may God wake us up! And I know of no better way todo it than to get the church to looking for the return of our Lord. 

Some people say, "Oh, you will discourage the young converts if youpreach that doctrine. " Well, my friends, that has not been myexperience. I have felt like working three times as hard ever since Icame to understand that my Lord was coming back again. I look on thisworld as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a life-boat, and said to me, "Moody, save all you can. " God will come in judgment and burn up thisworld, but the children of God do not belong to this world; they are init, but not of it, like a ship in the water. This world is gettingdarker and darker; its ruin is coming nearer and nearer; if you have anyfriends on this wreck unsaved, you had better lose no time in gettingthem off. 

But some will say: "Do you then make the grace of God a failure?" No, grace is not a failure but man is. The antediluvian world was a failure;the Jewish work was a failure; man has been a failure everywhere, whenhe has had his own way and been left to himself. 

CHRIST WILL SAVE HIS CHURCH. 

But he will save them finally by taking them out of the world. Now, donot take my word for it; look this doctrine up in your Bible, and if youfind it there, bow down to it and receive it as the word of God. TakeMatthew 24:48, 50: "But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming ... The Lord of that servant shall come in aday when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with thehypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. " Take 2 Peter3:4, 5: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after theirown lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? for since thefathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginningof the creation. " Go out on the streets of Chicago and ask men about thereturn of our Lord, and that is just what they would say: "Ah, yes, theLord delayeth his coming!"

"Behold, I come quickly, " said Christ to John, and the last prayer inthe Bible is, "Even so, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. " Were the earlyChristians disappointed then? No; no man is disappointed who obeys thevoice of God. The world waited for the first coming of the Lord; waitedfor 4, 000 years, and then he came. He was here only thirty-three yearsand then he went away; but he left us a promise that he would comeagain; and as the world watched and waited for his first coming and didnot watch in vain, so now to them who wait for his appearing shall heappear a second time unto salvation. Now let the question go round, "AmI ready to meet the Lord if he comes to-night?" "Be ye also ready, forin such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. "

There is another thought I want to call your attention to, and that isthis: Christ will bring all our friends, with him when he comes. All whohave died in the Lord are to be with him when he comes in the clouds ofheaven. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the firstresurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall bepriests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousandyears, " Rev. 20:6. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until thethousand years were past; this is the first resurrection" (verse 5). Thatlooks as if the church were to have a thousand years with Christ beforethe final judgment, when Satan shall be cast out, and there shall be newheavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. 

Now, I want to give you some texts to study. 

 When we eat the Lord's supper we show forth his death, until he come. 1 Cor. Xi. 26. 

 We are using our talents, until he come. Luke xix. 13. 

 We are fighting the good fight of faith, until he come. 1 Tim vi. 12-14. 

 We are enduring tribulation, until he come. 2 Thes. I. 7. 

 We are to be patient, until he come. James v. 8. 

 We wait for the crown of righteousness, until he come. 2 Tim. Iv. 8. 

 We wait for the crown of glory, until he come. 1 Pet. V. 4. 

 We wait for re-union with departed friends, until he come. 1 Thes. Iv. 13-18. 

 We wait for Satan to be bound, until he come. Rev. Xx. 3. 

 And so let us watch and wait till he comes. 

 D. L. Moody, who is perhaps the most popular and efficient preacher of the gospel of Christ in the world, to-day, is evidently fully committed to a belief in the speedy coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, to judge the world and establish his eternal kingdom. Looking over the published reports of his sermons in Great Britain and in this country, since the beginning of 1874, I give extracts which go to show in a plain light the man's inner love and hope as relates to the last things, and his warm, bold, consistent manner of expressing the same. Thousands pray, God bless D. L. Moody. 

 1. Mr. Moody proclaims that the grand symbols of Daniel's, second and seventh chapters, announce four dominant world empires, and but four, to cover all centuries of human probation. 

 2. That these kingdoms are and were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. 

 3. That these have had their day of earthly supremacy and the last has nearly passed away. 

 4. That the fifth kingdom of Daniel is God's, to come in its order as the fifth, to overthrow all previous kingdoms, to be a visible and eternal kingdom, and to be established by Christ in person at his second coming. 

 5. That the stone cut from the mountain denotes "Christ himself, " "at his appearing and kingdom, " whose advent "is not far distant, " and for whose advent "the whole creation groans. " Rom. 8:19-22. 

 6. That the last days, described by our Saviour in Matt. 24:37-39 as resembling the days of Lot and Noah, are already here; observing, "I do not think the day is far distant when our Lord will return. " And again, "just as judgment overtook Belshazzar carousing at his feast, so will judgment come suddenly and swiftly upon the world revelling in its sins. "

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 The foregoing he preached in the City Hall, Glasgow, March 15th, 1874, before three thousand people. On the same day he preached on "Christ's Second Coming" in the Free church (Pres. ), telling the churches that every thirtieth verse in the New Testament bears on that glorious coming; and says the _London Christian_, "With his usual power he showed what a mighty motive this doctrine is to all who are winning souls. He himself had found it rousing him to ten-fold more effort to save all that could be rescued from the coming wreck. "

 In Philadelphia, in a discourse on Daniel's second chapter, he said: "This dream has been nearly fulfilled as Daniel interpreted it. In the present age the prophecy is nearly completed, and the hour of the Lord's second coming is close at hand. " D. T. T. 

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