Dwight Lyman Moody

“ The moment a man believes the gospel, down goes his arm of rebellion, and the unequal controversy is over. A light from Calvary crosses his path, and he can walk in unclouded sun, if he will. It is the privilege of every man and woman in this vast assembly from this hour to walk in unclouded sun if they will. What has brought darkness into the world? Darkness came because of sin, and the man who does not believe the gospel is blinded by the god of this world. ”

“ I do not care who you are; I do not care what your past life may have been. As He said to the poor woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” He had compassion upon her, and He will have compassion on you. That man coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho represents thousands in London, and that good Samaritan represents the Son of God. Young man, Jesus Christ has set His heart on saving you. Will you receive His love and compassion? Do not have such hard thoughts about the Son of God. Do not think He has come to condemn you. He has come to save you. ”

“ Let that be our prayer, that we may know what it is to be sheltered behind the blood of God’s dear Son. The blood of the cross speaks peace. If I am sheltered behind the blood, there is peace, but there is no peace until my sin is covered. If you had committed sin against a man, you would get no peace until that was forgiven. Men are running after peace; and if it could be bought in the market, many would give hundreds of thousands of pounds to secure it. The blood of Christ speaks peace, and it will bring peace to every guilty conscience and aching heart to-day if you only seek it. ”

“ Oh, may God help many now to say, “I will set to my seal that God is true” this very hour; and, my friends, the moment you do set your seal that God is true, and put your faith in God, then comes the peace, the happiness you have been looking for so long!
NO PEACE WITHOUT TRUST. A great many people go looking for peace and happiness before they trust. There will be no peace, no happiness, no joy, until you put your trust in God. The joy that flows through the Christian’s heart is the result of trusting God. Suppose I meet a man to-night leaping for joy, laughing at the top of his voice. ”

“ Certainly God could not have clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of beasts unless He had shed blood. Here, then, we have the innocent suffering for the guilty—the doctrine of substitution in the garden of Eden. God dealt with Adam in grace before He dealt in judgment. Death came by sin. Adam had sinned, and the Lord came down to make the way of escape. God came to him as a loving friend, and not to hurl him from the earth. Adam could have said to Eve, “Though the Lord has driven us out of the garden of Eden, He loves us,” for this coat is a token of love. ”

“ This poor world needs a Saviour; and if we are going to be successful in catching men, we must preach Christ crucified—not His life only, but His death. And if we are only faithful in doing this we shall succeed. And why? Because there is His promise: “If you follow Me, I will make you fishers of men.” And that promise holds just as good to you and me as it did to His disciples, and is as true now as it was in their time. “They that are wise shall shine like the sun in the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.” ”

“ GOD CAN CHANGE THE DRUNKARD. It may be that I am talking now to some poor drunkard here. When he comes into his house his children listen, and hear by the footfall that their father is coming home drunk, and the little things run away and hide from him as if he was some horrid demon. His wife begins to tremble. Many a time has that great, strong arm been brought down on her weak, defenceless body. Many a day has she carried about marks from that man’s violence. He ought to be her protector, support, and stay; but he has become her tormentor. His home is like hell upon earth ”

“ I do believe in election; but I have no business to preach that doctrine to the world at large. The world has nothing to do with election; it has only to do with the invitation, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” That is the message for the sinner. I am sent to preach the gospel to all.
After you have received salvation, we can talk about election. It’s a doctrine for Christians, for the Church, not for the unconverted world. Our message is “good tidings, which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” ”

“ We are not to put our faith in this man or that man, not even in a prophet if it is contrary to the word of God; not to believe the best man living if it is contrary to the word of God. If God says it, let us take our stand upon it. God’s word will stand when these men and their names have been swept away and forgotten. There have always been false teachers, men trying to teach us it does not make any difference what a man believes if he is only sincere. My friends, let us have faith in the living God, and then it will be light where it is darkness now. ”

“ I have lived thirty-seven years, and have never seen the wind. It is folly for men to talk about the wind.” I can just imagine that boy there saying, “Why, I know more than that man; I know there is wind, for it blew my hat off this very day into the mud, and I have often felt it blowing in my face.” My friends, you have never felt the wind more than I have felt the Spirit of God. You have never seen the effects of the wind more than I have seen the effects of the Spirit of God, and of the working of the Holy Ghost, and there are hundreds of witnesses here who would testify the same thing. ”

“ DEATH NEVER COMES THERE. It is banished from that heavenly land. Sickness, and pain, and sorrow come not there to mar that grand and glorious home where we shall be by and by with the Master. God’s family will be all together there. Glorious future, my friends! Yes, glorious day! and it may be a great deal nearer than many of us think. During these few dark days we are here, let us stand steadfast and firm, and by and by we shall be in the unbroken circle in yon world of light, and have the King in our midst. ”

“ The world cannot, and never could, satisfy a hungry soul. The Lord Jesus can—He is the true Shepherd. He is seeking to restore your soul, to lead you back to the paths of righteousness. Even to death will He lead you, and safely through its shadow guide you to a better land. Mother, father, will you claim Him as your Shepherd? ”

“ In the first Adam we have lost all, but the second Adam has redeemed everything by His death. A friend of mine who was in Paris went to a great meeting of Jews, at which one of the leading men presided, and that man said the Jews had the honour of killing the Christian’s God; and those Jews stamped and applauded at the statement. They were proud of the act, and cried out, “His blood be upon us, and upon our children,” and that imprecation has been literally fulfilled in their history. Now His blood either cries for our peace and salvation or for our condemnation. ”

“ When I go before an audience, there is hardly a person I have seen before; but as I begin to talk about the King their eyes light up, and I see they are kinsmen, they are blood relatives, and in a short time I become attached to them. A man may go into a town a perfect stranger, but as soon as he finds out those who love God, they will be one. ”

“ I plead with you as a fellow-traveller; don’t go out of this hall without saying, “Heaven is my home, and God is my Father.” Don’t let the scoffers laugh you into hell; they cannot laugh you out of it. The Blood is upon the mercy-seat, and while it is upon the mercy-seat you can enter into the kingdom. God says, “There is the Blood; it is all I have to give. As long as it is there, there is hope for you. ”

“ If it is a new birth you are to have, you cannot create life. Can you bring life to the dead? All the wise men in London cannot do it. God alone is the author of life; and if you have the new birth, it must be God’s work. When the Jubilee Singers were in the North of England my family went to see them, and my little boy asked why they didn’t wash the black off their faces. ”

“ Yes, the grave has lost its victory. The grave has no terror to the man in Christ Jesus. The gospel takes that enemy out of the way.
SIN PUT AWAY. Again, I thought all my sins would be blazed out before the great white throne; that every sin committed in childhood and in secret, and every secret thought, and every evil desire, would be blazed out before the assembled universe; that every thing done in the dark would be brought to light. But, thanks be to God, the gospel tells me my sins are all put away in Christ. ”

“ Nearly 1900 years have rolled away, and the Jews are wanderers on the face of the earth without a king. Their having been scattered all these years, what a proof it is the word of God is true! May our prayer be to-day, His blood be upon us and our children, not to condemn us, but to save us. ”

“ No longer an outcast, no longer a loathsome thing, no longer cursed with that terrible leprous disease, but going back to his friends rejoicing. Now, my friends, you may say you pity a man who was so badly off, but did it ever strike you that you are a thousand times worse off? The leprosy of the soul is far worse than the leprosy of the body. I would rather a thousand times have the body full of leprosy than go down to hell with the soul full of sin. ”

“ Oh, come to-night to the Son of God, and He will have compassion on you, and take you off from the dunghill, and transform you, and lift you up into His kingdom, and into the heights of His glory, if you will only let Him! ”

“ The drunkard doesn’t want heaven. What is he to do there? He has no whisky to drink there, and he has none of his old companions. What is he to do? He would say, “This is hell to me. I don’t want to stay here.” A man that cannot spend one Sabbath on earth among God’s people, what is he to do with that eternal Sabbath, with those that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb? A man must have a spiritual nature before he wants to go to heaven. Heaven cannot have any attractions to a man until he is born of the Spirit. ”

“ THE GREATEST INSULT TO GOD. It is considered you cannot offer a man a greater insult than to tell him he is a liar. Unbelief is telling God He is a liar. Why, suppose a man said, “Mr. Moody, I have no faith in you whatever,” don’t you think it would grieve me? There is not anything that would wound a man much more than to be told that you do not have any faith in him. A great many men say, “Oh, I have profound reverence and respect for God.” Yes, profound respect, but not faith. ”

“ Young men, you have heard the driver’s whip for the last time; you are free to-day! Young maidens, you have been put up on the auction-block for the last time!” They spoke right out, they shouted for joy; their prayers had been answered, it was the gospel to them. In like manner Jesus Christ proclaims liberty to the captives. Some have accepted it; some, like the poor negroes, scarcely believe the good tidings; but it is none the less true. Christ has come to redeem us from the slavery of sin. Now, who will accept of that redemption? ”

“ Faith has an outward look, not an inward one. Hundreds of people spend time in looking at their own hearts, but
FAITH IS AN OUTWARD LOOK. We are to have faith in God, and not in man. A great many people place their faith in men, and they pin their faith to other people’s doctrines and creeds. Not long ago I heard of a man who was asked what he believed. He said he believed what his church believed. “What does your church believe?” “The church believes what I believe.” ”

“ I don’t believe there is a word in the Bible Satan is fearing more than the word “blood.” Judging from past experience, I shall probably receive many letters to-morrow attacking me for what I have said to-day. These letters will say it is heathenish to stand up and preach what would only do for an unenlightened age. May God forgive those who dare to say such things. If you will read your Bible in the light of Calvary, you will find there is no other way of coming to heaven but by the blood. The devil does not fear ten thousand preachers who preach a bloodless religion. ”

“ The blood touched the Roman spear, and it was not long before the Roman government became at least nominally Christian. The blood ran down from His side upon the earth, and this earth has been redeemed by Him; for He will have the world by and by. He is
THE TRUE SOVEREIGN, and He will ere long cast out the prince of darkness, and sway His sceptre from end to end of this earth. A little longer, and He will personally return and set up His millennial kingdom and reign over this earth. He has redeemed the earth by His blood, and He will have all He has redeemed. ”