Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler Part 24

PSALM I: 3-6.

We propose to-day a continuance of the study of the first Psalm, which we begun Sunday last. Then we saw the downward course of sin and of the sinner, and of the great transformation of the nature of men when they are converted or become righteous.

And now the inspired writer goes on to speak of the fruitfulness of such men. "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth its fruit in its season." You know a tree planted by a river draws moisture from below, and does not depend on the uncertain rains that may or may not come. And so in time of drought it shall bear its fruit at its proper season.

So the man who is born of G.o.d, whose nature is transformed and made holy, is fruitful in good deeds, in benevolent works. Having himself been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the light, he has a desire, a strong desire, an unquenchable desire, that all others should know the same happiness, and he works by all means to persuade them, to get their good will and their confidence. He will feed and clothe them, take them up out of filth and rags and reclothe them and befriend them (as we are trying to do at the Mission) in order to get their good will and direct them to Christ.

Not only so, but when a man has truly the Spirit of G.o.d, he has an inexpressible pity for his poor brother mortals, and a tender sympathy for their sufferings and sorrows. His heart is a fountain of compa.s.sion for those who are in distress; and this leads him to labor that he may in some way, and in all possible ways, bring them relief and comfort.

And, as the tree on the river is supplied with moisture from an unseen source, and without the showers, so the man whose heart is in communion with G.o.d never suffers a drought. When the benevolence of worldly men fails, his goes on and never fails. Men wonder that he does not get tired or grow weary or disappointed and discouraged. But no! he never does. His zeal not depending on changing influences from without, but supplied from an unseen and never-failing source--that is, G.o.d--never gives out. So he is always bearing fruit. Other men may be cold and selfish, and panics and famines may shut up their feelings of sympathy, but the man of G.o.d goes on working and bearing fruit in panics and famines, in cold and hot, in wet and dry, in plenty or in poverty, always and ever.

"_The unG.o.dly are not so._" No; the unG.o.dly greedily devour all they can get, and crave all they can't get. They want selfish pleasure no matter what sacrifice or pain it may cost others. They want the property of other people, though it leave a widow in poverty and orphans in want.

They want honor and promotion and fame, if it be built on the downfall of their neighbors and fellows. They want the pa.s.sing animal pleasure of licentiousness, if it blight the life and ruin the soul of an innocent being and turn a happy home into a very h.e.l.l of anguish. Self! Self!

Self! always and ever! and if there be some semblance of benevolence, it is for the higher selfishness of getting the honor that men bestow on charity, or to appease an angry and tormenting conscience, that lashes them with fury for their misdeeds done in secret.

"The unG.o.dly are like the chaff." They have no stability, no steadfastness, no fixed purpose or plan in life--nothing to tie to; and so they are the victims of circ.u.mstances and changes and moods and tempers, and are driven hither and thither by every pa.s.sing breeze.

How I do pity the poor man who does not know or care what he is living for, and just pursues every day what _happens_ to take his mind for that day.

And because the unG.o.dly are not steadfast and fixed in their devotion to G.o.d, neither shall they be able to _stand_ in the _judgment_.

Then, there is a judgment coming, is there? Oh, yes! All these things that men are doing are not done and then put away forever and forgotten.

No! no! no! they are all to be brought into review again and exposed before G.o.d and all men a.s.sembled in judgment. All the midnight meanness you have done will then be brought to light. Where were you last night?

What were you doing?

How would you like for me to tell right here before all this crowd all the mean and filthy things you have done in the last week and kept them hidden from father, mother, wife, children and every other mortal except the accomplices of your guilt and shame? Ah! you could not _stand_; no, you could not _stand_.

Then, how do you expect to stand when G.o.d is reciting to you all the misdoings of all the midnights of your whole lives before your father, mother, sisters, wife, neighbors and all the world?

G.o.d'S LOVE FOR SINNERS.

ROMANS V: 8.

"But G.o.d commendeth His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

There are many of us who _feel_ that we are _sinners_, who know it, and who do not want any proof of it; but we can't be persuaded to believe that G.o.d has any love for us or interest in us. We have gotten to be such wicked sinners that maybe our friends have forsaken us, and we can not believe that G.o.d has any feeling of tenderness for us. We are willing to admit that G.o.d loves good people, those who are obedient, and that if _we_ were good, He would _then_ love us; but as it is, He can not love us, and there is no reason why He should love us. And then we go back and try to call up all our sins; all the times when we rejected Christ and the truth, and we find plenty of arguments to prove that G.o.d does not love us.

But stop! You are judging the great G.o.d by yourself. You know you would not love one who would have treated you as you have treated G.o.d, and so you conclude He does not love you. You find it _exceedingly_ hard to believe in the love of G.o.d. This is one of the sad effects of sin. It darkens our hearts and separates us far, far from G.o.d, so that when we come to feel our need of Him we have no confidence that He will accept us or help us.

Besides, by your long service of sin, you have put yourself in the power of an enemy who makes it as difficult as possible for you to _believe_ in G.o.d's love for you.

But I come to you to-day with a declaration and a.s.surance from G.o.d's own word, that though you have been a sinner all your life, and still feel that you are the greatest of sinners, the great G.o.d loves you with a true, deep, warm and yearning love.

The great proof of it is the life and death of Jesus Christ, His Son.

Have you read about it in the Gospel?

Ah, if you had, and had seen Him delighting to be with the poor and the outcast, eating with them, choosing them for His friends, speaking words of heavenly cheer to them, p.r.o.nouncing their sins forgiven and promising them heaven, then you would be moved and attracted and convinced. And then if you had read the pathetic story of His awful sufferings and death, and had reflected that "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; all we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us _all_," then hope would begin to dawn in your breast, and faith in His love would not be so difficult. But you have neglected to read and reflect about it, and so I am come to bring the glad tidings to you where you are, and to beg you to believe it for your own sake.

And now, here are some of the ways G.o.d has taken to tell you of His love: Psalm ciii., 13; Isaiah xlix., 15; Luke xi., 13; Luke xviii., 13, 14; Luke xv., 7, 10; Prodigal Son; Luke vii., 36 to end.

"I came not to call the righteous but _sinners_ to repentance."

Why does G.o.d, in so many ways, express His love for sinners?

Because He wants to touch their hearts and melt them by tenderness.

A father whose son had gone away to California, and was a gambler in San Francisco, sent him word by a friend: "Your father loves you still." And it made him ashamed; it broke his heart; he repented, returned home and was saved.

So G.o.d sends me to-day to say to you: "Your Father loves you still."

Will you not believe it and come to Him for safety? He will not abuse you for your sins; He will save you from your sins, and make you as happy as you were when you were little children at your mother's knee.

You know it is true that parents are more troubled about a wandering boy, and take more pains with him than with the good boys, and think more about him and pray more for him, because he is in danger and must be rescued or perish. So it is with G.o.d. Because you are lost, away from Him, on the road to ruin, He sends after you and He begs you to be reconciled.

G.o.dLINESS PROFITABLE FOR THIS LIFE.

I. TIMOTHY IV: 8.

"But G.o.dliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come."

There are not many who think this. Nearly everybody admits that religion is a good thing to have when he is about to die and to enter upon the future life; and all men, however hardened in vice, wickedness and crime, have a sure expectation and firm intention of making some preparation for death and what may follow death. They fully intend to make amends to conscience for the violations of it, of which they have been guilty.

There are men here to-day who know that this is true of themselves, who feel that the coffin and the grave and the unknown future beyond are the most fearful of realities, and who are firmly persuaded that a day of reckoning is coming, maybe slowly, but surely, and they do mean to make peace in some way with conscience before that time draws near. And so I say all men agree that religion is good for death and what is to follow; but how it can be an advantage to one in _this life_, they can not see.

1. But G.o.dliness is a help to a man in making a living.

If a man is honest, industrious, faithful and conscientious, he will be in demand. Such men are always in demand; and, when they are known, can get employment and can keep employment; but a man who is a true Christian, _is_ honest, industrious, careful, temperate, trustworthy and conscientious, because he works and lives not to please men but G.o.d.

Hence, such a one is always wanted. Employers, rather than give up such men, will increase their salaries and offer them extra inducements. A Main-street merchant found he could not do without Willie Holcombe conveniently, so he raised his salary twenty dollars a month rather than lose him.

And, even if they are among strangers, and not known, yet G.o.d will turn the hearts of strangers toward them, as he turned the heart of the prison-keeper in Egypt toward Joseph. And when they have a chance to _try_ and to show their value, their employers will not give them up.

But then if a man is in business for himself, he will get a large custom if people find out that he does business as a Christian--that is, he does not charge an unjust and exorbitant price, his goods are only what he says they are, he gives full and honest measure, his word can be trusted, he will correct mistakes and take back an article if it is found not to be good. Show people such a man and they will all want to patronize him. William Kendrick was such a man here in Louisville.

The Christian man has the _promise of G.o.d_ that he shall be provided for--Matthew vi.: 32, 33--while the G.o.dless man has no such a.s.surances at all.

2. But religion keeps a man from those vices which destroy the health--as dissipation, debauchery, intemperance, etc.--and health is one of the chief elements in human happiness.

3. Religion keeps men also from those crimes which bring men into ruin and disgrace and bitter remorse.

Many a man has come to the jail or penitentiary or gallows who would have escaped it all if he had had religion to protect and s.h.i.+eld and restrain and a.s.sist him. And many a good and happy man there is who might have been a guilty criminal and a wretched convict but for the grace of G.o.d and the lessons and blessings of true religion. He might gradually have been led off and on and on till he would have become capable of committing any crime.

I might have been a drunkard or a murderer still, if G.o.d had not changed my heart and helped me mightily and constantly by His grace.

4. But religion takes away the fear of death and the dread of the future and gives inward and constant peace--a heart happiness which poverty and disappointment and trials can not destroy. And nothing else can do this but true religion.

5. Religion can release a man from the power of those evil habits which make a man's life miserable--from acquired appet.i.tes, as drinking, opium eating, debauchery, licentiousness, swearing, gambling and even from tobacco.