Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler Part 28

How would you like to get back into bondage and darkness where you were?

You say: "Not for the world!" But, if you knew you could, by diligence and watchfulness, gain the world, you would be diligent and watchful.

And yet, by this diligence, you not only keep yourself secure from falling back, you make your family happy, you bless many others--and, best of all, you make _sure_ of everlasting life, and escape the h.e.l.l which we all fear more than all things else combined.

"Since I must fight if I would reign, Increase my courage, Lord; I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, Supported by Thy word."

ECCLESIASTES XII: 13.

"Let us bear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear G.o.d and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man."

The book of Ecclesiastes contains the experience of a man who had tried every phase of life, who had tasted every kind of pleasure, and who, also, had experience in the service of G.o.d, with its consolations and its sacrifices; and he had also made a study of the great questions that come up in considering the affairs of the world about him. And after his long and thorough experience, and his deep and life-long study of the facts of human life and history, he at last reaches a conclusion concerning it all, and this conclusion he has recorded in the text I have read, "Fear G.o.d and keep His commandments," etc.

1. Fear G.o.d.

The fear of G.o.d is natural to man until, by false teaching and evil a.s.sociation, it is destroyed. The severe things we see in nature about us lead us to have a dread of Him who is the author of all these things.

And, then, death is an awful and a fear-inspiring thing, and the thought of what is to come after death, in that unknown country from which no traveler has ever returned to tell us of it, fills us with awe and sobers us whenever it comes to us. And most men even that are in their lives wicked, and seemingly have no thought of G.o.d or fear of Him, are often troubled with the fear of death and what is to come after death.

This was my own experience.

2. But merely to have this fear of G.o.d is not sufficient, and will do no good if it does not lead a man to obey G.o.d and keep His commandments, as the text says. For example, I knew a fireman in an engine-house here who had this fear of G.o.d; but he lived a swearing, drinking man, and, of course, he was not at all benefited by his fear of G.o.d. No doubt this fear of G.o.d was created in the human mind in order to lead men to keep G.o.d's commandments. But how are we to know His commandments? Why, my brothers, they are given with great plainness in His Holy Word--so plain that the wayfaring man, though he be a fool, need not miss them if only he is willing to know them and to do them. And, as St. John says, "His commandments are not grievous." They only require of us what is most just and reasonably due to Him who is the giver, the free and bountiful giver, of all the good things of this life, and the gracious promiser of perfect blessedness in the life to come. And, on the human side, His commandments require of us only that we keep from doing to others what they ought not do to us, and that we do for others that which they ought to do for us. In other words, the commandments of G.o.d are all embraced in two sentences, "Love G.o.d with all your heart, because He first loved you," and "Love your fellowmen, because they are commanded to love you,"

and when you submit to G.o.d's Spirit, and become renewed in mind and heart, born again, made a new creature, you will see the reasonableness of keeping G.o.d's commandments, and the desirableness of it, in such a light that you will go on in His ways with delight, desiring to know more and more of Him.

3. And we are told that to do this is the _whole purpose_ of man's existence, and when he does this he has fully answered the end of his existence, met all that is required of him and is secure amid the problems of life and the possibilities of the unknown future.

This, also, brings rest to the human heart, a rest to be found nowhere else. I am in a position to speak with some confidence and positiveness on this point; for, like the man who uttered the text, I have tried life in all its phases. I have had all the kinds of pleasure, and I have tested them to the bottom. I have found out all there is in them. For forty years I gave myself to seeking and enjoying worldly pleasure, and I ought to know what it can do for a human soul. But I have another advantage, too; I have tried the doctrine of my text. I have surrendered myself, my life, my prospects, my all, to G.o.d, and live only to keep His commandments and to please Him. My mind has been renewed, transformed, my life entirely turned around. I have pa.s.sed through the struggle and the sacrifice that were involved in becoming a Christian, and I have been pa.s.sing through those that belong to the life of a Christian. But you may say I speak thus because it is a novelty to me. No, sir; it is no longer a novelty. I have been trying it now for ten years--surely a long enough time to know pretty well how it compares with the old life; and my testimony, from forty years' experience of the old life and ten years of the new life, is that of the writer of my text, "Fear G.o.d and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."

HEBREWS XII: 1, 2.

"1. Wherefore, seeing we also are compa.s.sed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

"2. Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of G.o.d."

The Apostle here speaks of a great number of witnesses, who, having tried G.o.d and His ways, are competent to testify as to what G.o.d can do for those who trust Him and serve Him. In the chapter just preceding he has spoken of Abraham and Joseph and Moses, and many others, and they, having lived the life of faith, were prepared to say whether it was a disappointment or not to trust G.o.d and to walk in His ways. And they were not disappointed. They obtained a good report, held fast to their faith in G.o.d, and were content to endure all sorts of trials and sufferings for the comfort and compensation of their religion. And so now there are witnesses, not a few, who have tested this matter, and tested it under circ.u.mstances the most adverse and trying, and they give no uncertain testimony as to the desirableness of religion. There are people who have none of the good things of this world; none of its honors; none of its pleasures; none of its wealth, and not many of its comforts, and yet they are contented, and even happy. Yes, far happier than many who have the best that this world can give. I am one of this cla.s.s myself. Then the Apostle goes on to exhort them to hold fast, and to go on, because others having tried it were conquerors.

He exhorts to three things:

1. To lay aside every weight, and especially every besetting sin that might have especial attraction and special power. And it is impossible to serve G.o.d and have peace of conscience and to overcome sin while the mind is divided and undecided. A man can not expect to win a race if he ties heavy weights upon his person; be must be unenc.u.mbered and free.

So, in running the Christian race, we must free ourselves from everything we find to be a hindrance, no matter how desirable or how dear it may be to the flesh. So Jesus Himself says: "If anything so dear as a right arm or a right eye becomes a hindrance to to us, it must be given up." There are men who say they want to serve G.o.d, and expect to do so, but then they enjoy certain things they know to be wrong and hurtful, and they will indulge in them just a little, not enough to cause them to get clear away from G.o.d. I know and you know men who think they can enjoy sin just a little, or once in awhile. In the first place, this is ungrateful and mean. It is the same as to say: "I want to be just religious enough to escape h.e.l.l, and yet I want to enjoy all the pleasure I can from sin, too." Such a feeling dishonors G.o.d. And, in the second place, it is exceedingly dangerous. It shows that the heart is not right. While you are trifling thus with sin, you may become so fascinated by it and led away as to be enslaved before you know it, and lose all your taste for heavenly things. Besides, G.o.d will not long bear with a man who has no better heart and no more self-sacrificing spirit than that. For myself, I should tremble and shudder if I were so far gone as to feel that I could go and deliberately indulge in some pleasant sin for awhile and then come back to resume the service of G.o.d when I had satiated my evil desires. Be a.s.sured, you can not serve G.o.d and sin. They are as opposite as light and darkness; you must give up one or the other. "But," you say, "how can I give up sin?" If you are _willing_ to do so, G.o.d will see that you have the _power_ to do it.

Give it up if it gives you pain--yes, if it breaks your heart! G.o.d Himself will pour in the oil of comfort and joy, and heal all your wounds.

2. The Apostle exhorts to run with patience the race set before us. It is easy to do well for awhile; to abstain from sin while the excitement of novelty in the religious life is upon us; and how many there are who began well and did well for awhile, but when the novelty wore away, and the excitement of the change was gone, they grew weary and sought the old pleasures of sin again. Some have thus done in connection with our work here in this mission. Make up your mind before hand that when the time of temptation and loneliness comes, you will endure it and go through with it patiently, waiting for the removal of the temptation and the return of joy. And when temptation does come, pray, oh pray. Go alone and ask G.o.d to restore to you the joy of His salvation and trust Him until he does it. Go work for others; go mingle with Christian people, whether you feel like it or not, and you will soon find how to meet the enemy, and how to defeat his plans and purposes.

3. But his last exhortation is to look to Jesus. He bore our sins on the cross, and therefore we are released from them, if we trust Him and accept Him as our sin-bearer. He is alive forevermore; and when earnestly asked, He gives spiritual life and joy and strength by sending the Holy Spirit into our hearts. Then again, His life is the pattern of patience in loneliness and trials, which you and I are to follow; and can we desire or aspire to be or to do any better than did He?

"Would you lose your load of sin?

Fix your eyes upon Jesus.

Would you have G.o.d's peace within?

Fix your eyes upon Jesus."

ACTS II: 38.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

We may not be able to understand how it is, but these inspired Scriptures represent the work of salvation as applied to human hearts by the Holy Spirit. We do not hear enough of the Holy Spirit. We do not know Him and speak of Him and pray for His help and guidance and power, as the Scriptures teach us to do. These Scriptures are our guide; what they say we do not question, nor can we subtract from them or add to them. Let us see, then, what they teach us as to the Holy Spirit. In the 14th, 15th and 16th chapters of St. John's Gospel Jesus distinctly promises His disciples that upon His departure He would send to them and to the world a divine agent whom He calls the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, etc., and He tells them what that divine agent would do. Let us, then, fix our minds now intently on what He says, and be prepared to believe it.

He said that this Spirit of Truth should "convince men of sin." Well, the fact is, we do see men convinced of sin as sin, and not merely because it is damaging and ruinous. But we see this only in connection with the Christian religion. So it must be by means of some power that belongs to the Christian religion. And if any of you here to-night see your sins and feel them to be, not only damaging and destructive, but mean and hateful and crimes against the good Father who has borne with you and blessed you through all these years of sin, then you may know that it is G.o.d's Holy Spirit that has produced that feeling in you; and especially so if you feel that your ingrat.i.tude to G.o.d, who has provided for you a way of salvation at such great cost, and your cold and heartless neglect of Jesus Christ through all these years of sin are the most aggravated part of your guilt. And you may be sure if G.o.d is willing to begin a good work in you He is willing to carry it on to completion, and will do so if you do not hinder Him. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is G.o.d that worketh in you."

And since it is He who has begun this work, beware that you do not hinder it or stop it by your coldness, carelessness or sin.

But, in the second place, Jesus says the Holy Spirit should reveal Him to sinners as their sin-bearer and life-giver. So the promise is to you.

Hold on in prayer and patient expectation. You can not be disappointed, for G.o.d can not lie. I was ignorant of Christ to an astonis.h.i.+ng and shameful degree; but I was told to pray and I did so. I shut myself up in my back room one evening and told G.o.d I was going to stay there until He blessed me, and I was blessed, and the only three words I uttered were "Jesus of Nazareth." By some power I was so illuminated and changed that I saw Jesus as the dearest and loveliest being I ever thought of.

Was not this a fulfillment to me of the promise made in John xvi.: 14?

And having received grace from my G.o.d, I continue to this day witnessing to small and to great the things I have experienced since becoming a Christian. Now, let us inquire what else this gracious divine agent working in man is to do.

He it is who produces that change in men which we call conversion or regeneration or new birth. You remember in John (3d chapter) the expression, "Born of the Spirit," and again in t.i.tus iii.: 5, it is said we are saved by the "renewing of the Holy Ghost." When we know, then, that these changes are the immediate effect of the inworking of this divine agent, we need not be surprised that they are so sudden and so thorough as we see them to be in some cases that we know of. Let me say to those who have not yet experienced this wonderful deliverance from the power and love of sin and this inner revolution, that many of us have tested this matter who were in the deepest depths of sin and darkness, and G.o.d will do to depend on. Go ahead, go ahead; keep on praying and keep on hoping and trust yourself to Jesus, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

But, after we have experienced this change which we call conversion, G.o.d's spirit abides with us and keeps on doing great things for us when we are converted. We are not made angels or G.o.ds, but are still human, and, though delivered from the guilt and power of sin, we are hampered by ignorance and depressed by sorrow and encompa.s.sed with temptations.

But just antic.i.p.ating these needs of ours, the Holy Spirit is to be our teacher and to guide us into the truth. So we need not fear if we are only humble and honest and teachable; we shall not go dangerously astray, for G.o.d Himself will thus open to our minds the wonderful things of Scripture, and cause us to understand as much of it as we need.

But He, the Holy Spirit, is to be the comforter of G.o.d's people in their loneliness and trials and conflicts in this world of exile. I have been sustained by unseen power in my trials as a Christian. But He enables them to overcome, and be more than conquerors, when they are a.s.sailed by temptation to sin. "He strengthens with might in the inner man"

(Ephesians iii.: 16), and gives joy and peace; so that the soul, being content with these, does not need or desire the poor pleasures of sin.

This has been my experience.

He sanctifies G.o.d's people; He makes them holier and holier; He produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, faith; and He gives power to reach, by our poor words, the hearts and consciences of others, though they be dead in sin.

Jesus says, "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you." (Acts 1.: 8.) There are some men who have this power to reach and awaken and interest sinners in the salvation of their souls. And they do have power to bring sinners into this new life of peace and purity and joy. And you and I might have this power, and far more of it than we do, if, like the Apostle, we would wait before G.o.d in patient, believing prayer till the Holy Spirit should come in fullness and power. Pentecost was a display of this power, and we may have another Pentecost when we are willing to wait for it and pray for it as did the little company in the upper room at Jerusalem.

LUKE V: 32.

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

These words of Jesus were spoken to the Scribes and Pharisees, and combine in themselves a defense of His own course in mingling with sinners, and a keen rebuke of the spirit of those who brought against him an accusation of a.s.sociating with sinners, as well as the declaration of the object of His mission into this poor darkened world.

And does it not seem strange that a man should be required to defend himself for going to spend and be spent for the good of those who are most sorely in need of help and relief? But it has always been so. Men are so selfish, so utterly without concern for the interests of others that they want to monopolize and swallow up everything that is good. So when Jesus of Nazareth was revealed to the Jewish people, and made Himself conspicuous and famous by the daily performance of astonis.h.i.+ng miracles, the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought that everything ought to be subservient to their own personal interests and aggrandizement, fell out with Jesus because He did not fall in with notions of what He ought to be and do. They did not care a baubee for the people, the rabble, the mob, the human cattle. Indeed they utterly despised them, and would have nothing to do with them. They might perish and rot so far as the Scribes and Pharisees were concerned, provided these latter could hold the places of honor and gain. And so utterly possessed were they by this feeling of all-consuming selfishness, that when they saw this Jesus of Nazareth going with sinners, talking with sinners and eating with sinners, they set it down as a conclusion they would never give up that He was not, and could not be, and should not be, their Messiah. So that Jesus was thus forced to reason with them, and to make His defense before these self-const.i.tuted judges of His, and tell them why it was that He pursued the course He did. So it was in the time of John Wesley in England. He went among sinners, talked with them, taught them, and drew them by the magic force of his great love to follow him wherever he went to preach; and they so crowded the churches to hear the words of grace and tenderness that fell from his lips, that the doors were shut upon him, and he had to go out on the commons and into the fields beneath the sky of that G.o.d and Father whose words he was preaching, and whose lost children he was trying to save. This has been the experience of other zealous and earnest ministers of Christ. And they, too, have had to defend themselves for such a course. Our dear Brother Morris felt himself pressed to say why he went to the courthouse steps to try to lift up the fallen and save the wretched and the lost. But the words of Jesus contain also a scathing rebuke of the self-righteous spirit of those hard-headed, hard-hearted Scribes and Pharisees. It was the same as saying, "you claim that you are the righteous of the world. You are not willing to be cla.s.sed with sinners, or to be called sinners, or to believe yourselves sinners. Therefore you have no need of me, and I have nothing for you; for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Let us beware then, my dear friends and brethren, of thinking or feeling that we are better than others, or that we are not sinners. Now, need I stop here to prove that any of you are sinners?

Does any one here need to have arguments worked out and laid before him to prove to him that he is a poor, miserable, blind sinner? If there is any one here who thinks and feels that he is not, then he has no business here, he has no business with Christ, and we have nothing to tell him or give him here. We bid him farewell, and turn away from him, to work for and to talk to others. If I were to go to see a sick man concerned about his soul, and he were to begin to tell about his good deeds and his freedom from sins and vices, I would get my hat and tell him good-bye; that I knew nothing about salvation for anybody but sinners. But for sinners I have and hold up a Saviour, a divine Saviour, who, blessed be G.o.d, is able to save to the uttermost all who come to him, and to save them here and now. If you want to see a specimen of Christ's interest in sinners and feeling for sinners, look at His life.

In the beginning of His ministry He chooses Matthew, one of the despised cla.s.s of publicans, to be one of His disciples--nay, one of His Apostles. Then He went to Matthew's house to dinner. It was as if some leading minister of the Gospel here to-day would be seen walking down the street with some leading gambler, on his way to take dinner and spend the afternoon with him. It was as if Mr. Moody should come to Louisville to conduct one of his great meetings, and, instead of stopping with Mr. Carley or Mr. Carter or Judge Bullock, should stop with John Young or Harry Johnson, and be his willing guest. So Jesus went to the house of another big gambler, so to speak, in his day. It was the publican Zaccheus (Luke xix., 1-10), and Jesus not only went there to dinner, but took salvation with Him to Zaccheus' house. So by His tenderness and grace, Jesus drew to Him the poor outcast women of His day. One wretched sinner of this cla.s.s was so won by His concern for sinners, that she pressed her way into a rich man's house where Jesus was dining, and going to Him washed His feet with her tears, and anointed them with costly perfume, Jesus not only not forbidding her, but defending her for it (Luke 7). And Jesus spoke the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Silver, the Lost Prodigal Son, and said--oh, hear it--"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."

JAMES I: 25, 26.

"25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

"26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."

James, the writer of this language, is that inspired servant of G.o.d, who gets impatient with mere professions of piety, and who wants to see action, action! not mere words, not dead faith, but also action. He speaks, in the text, of "forgetful hearers of the Word." Now, do you not know all about what that means? Have you not, many a time, read the Bible, or heard a sermon from it that, like a mirror, held up to your heart, showed you yourself even better than you knew yourself? And have you not said: "Well, I will change; that picture is true, and it is too dark to be endured any longer?" But, instead of carrying out your purpose and doing what you say, you went away and forgot all about it, and soon you were as dead as ever. And, instead of continuing to read the Bible and see yourself there; and instead of continuing to go where faithful ministers would uncover your poor, wicked heart and life to your eyes, you went on your accustomed ways of business or pleasure, and became a "forgetful hearer of the Word," and it did you no good. How, then, in the name of G.o.d, can a man keep himself from forgetting the things he reads or hears from the Bible? Why, it is very simple--to go to _doing_ at once, without waiting even till to-morrow. "Do what?" you say. Why, go to praying. Cut yourself off from retreat by coming out on the side of Christ and taking your place among those who are seeking His mercy and salvation, till you can take your place among those who have that salvation. But I want to say a very solemn word to those who profess to have already obtained salvation. Are _you doing_, as well as _hearing_ the Word of G.o.d? Does your life exemplify "holiness to the Lord," and does it abound in good works and good words? Do you abstain from evil and keep yourself from evil a.s.sociations? Do you turn away from dangerous and suspicious places and people? Do you obey readily and heartily what you find to be commanded in G.o.d's Word? If you do not do the things you hear, then you, too, will soon become "forgetful hearers," and little by little the world will re-a.s.sert its power over you, and the flesh will get the upper hand, and at the last you may wind up as our poor friend Eicheler did. Doing is as important a part of the Gospel as hearing. Read the last part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew vii., 24-27). Notice that Jesus says the man who does His sayings is like one who buildeth on a solid and enduring foundation that can stand storms and temptations. Now, do you not find that if you do what you find in the Bible, then the Bible becomes sweeter and sweeter to you? You do not shut it up then and shove it aside for fear of finding yourself condemned, for when you do its biddings it will not condemn you, but commend you, and that makes you love it and keeps you from forgetting it. And thus you grow stronger and stronger, and sin will grow weaker and weaker, and you will surely find that you have built on a strong foundation. But, in the last part of the text is a subject I want to talk about. Read verse 26. It is the tongue. If any man seems to be religious, and fails to control his tongue, then he is mistaken. Oh, have you not found your tongue to be one of the most troublesome things you have to contend with? If you want to see James'

idea of the tongue, read chapter iii., 1-10. Do you watch your conversation? Do you guard the door of your lips? Do you? I am in earnest.

Do you ever indulge in the least obscenity? Some so-called Christians do, and it is sickening and disgusting to others; and while it shows what their thoughts dwell on, it does themselves great harm, for it keeps temptation before their minds, and makes it a great deal more difficult to resist temptations when they come in their lives. Do you mean it only as innocent fun? It is not innocent. For if you are so hardened as to unclean thoughts, that they don't hurt _you_, they, will hurt others.

What about swearing? If the devil can get you to swear a few times, then he will say: "Oh, you might as well confess that you are no Christian, and give up this hypocritical business." There is one of the Ten Commandments forbidding to take G.o.d's name in vain; the Sermon on the Mount forbids it still more strongly, and James, in chapter v., 12, condemns it in the strongest language. And yet there are some church members who practice it, especially when they get mad. That man's heart is not right, and he is treading on very dangerous ground who is not changed enough to avoid swearing. And if a man, by G.o.d's grace, will turn away from it and from the thought of it, he will soon become so that it will make him shudder to hear others swear. I know this from my own experience.