Saturday, August 13, 2011

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SECOND COMMAND.

Now reader, we have come to the second command of the Savior. We have seen the first command and also the first call, but now we want to look at the second command. What was it? We will see for ourselves.
Listen to the words of Jesus as He said “Loose him, and let him go.” This is the second command of the Master. The first command was, Take ye away the stone, and the second is Loose him, and let him go. You can see the importance of this second command. How important it is that we get all of the strings off of us.
We see in these two commands the two works of grace. Notice, the first was to take away the stone; that had to be done before Christ could call Lazarus out of the tomb. After the stone was removed we hear Christ say, Lazarus, come forth, and behold we see a living man before us, and to our surprise he is still bound, hand and foot, and the napkin is still over his mouth. Now we hear Christ say to the church, “Loose him, and let him go.” This brings out the twofold mission of the church in the world. We are to get sinners converted and we are to get believers into the experience of sanctification. Everything on earth that we are to do is hinged on the fact that we get all of the strings off of us. No man is at his best for God or man until he is wholly sanctified, and of course if no man is at his best for God, how could he be at his best for himself, or the church of which he is a member. Therefore, I offer you this thought: If a church that is unsanctified is left for a year or two without a pastor it will die and you may go back in a year or two and not find a thing of the church left. Well, why is that? Because a church with its hands and feet tied and a napkin over its mouth can’t feed itself and if they don’t have a pastor to look after them they will die; but it is not so with a holiness man. I have seen men and woman all over America, who had been without a pastor all the way from one year to maybe a half dozen years, and they would be standing as true as steel, with the glory still in their souls.
Well, why is it that a sanctified man can live better than the unsanctified? It is because the sanctified man has got all of the strings off and can feed himself. That is the reason. Look at Lazarus bound hand and foot and even his mouth tied. How in the world would you expect him to feed himself? Don’t you see that if he doesn’t get help he will die, and now how long would a card-playing, dancing church live without a pastor? You can see that they are as completely bound as Lazarus was, and therefore they can’t feed themselves. How thankful I am that we can have every cord broken and have perfect freedom, and because we are free we don’t advocate the idea that holiness people don’t need a pastor and don’t enjoy one, for they do. To go to church and enjoy a message they beat any people that it has ever been my privilege to meet. They enjoy the message as no other people on earth can, from the fact that they have the use of their hands and feet. They can walk in the ways of the Lord and can clap their hands for joy; the napkin is off of their mouths and now they can praise God with a loud voice. Therefore, they are world beaters when it comes to enjoying a religious service.
The crowd that is bound by the things of the world never seems to really enjoy a religious service, and as the people with all of the strings off leap and praise God, and clap their hands, the bound crowd looks on with perfect amazement. In fact they don’t see a thing in the world to praise God for. While the holiness crowd is just tearing up the ground the other folks look on and wonder why these folks are so awfully excited, when there is really nothing to shout about. But don’t you see that they have been called out of the tomb of spiritual death, and don’t you see that they have got every string off of them? It is no wonder to me that they shout. It is a wonder that they ever keep still.
So the Master said, Loose him, and let him go. Yonder stands a bound man, but look again and yonder stands a free man,–not only out of the tomb, but out of the strings. I have seen people so completely bound by the opinious [sic] of folks that it almost fit them like a garment; and I have seen big strong men so bound by the man-fearing spirit that they were almost miserable and had but little religious joy for fear they wold offend somebody up town who did not believe in making a noise. Well, folks, if such a fellow had been there the day that Christ and His disciples came into Jerusalem and if they had seen the disciples leaping and praising God and breaking down the limbs of the trees and throwing down their coats and whooping to the top of their voices, such a fellow would have had a convulsion right on the spot. Men don’t have to have much religion to give God a good deal of glory and the more they have the more glory they are going to give their Lord. One of the greatest commands that ever fell from the lips of the Son of God was, Loose him and let him go, and for the past ages the church has heard His voice as He called out to His ministering servants, Loose him, and let him go.
Again, there is in the bosom of every man a longing to be perfectly free, and no man is a free man who has the carnal mind in his heart, for the carnal mind is in fact the cords that bind men. When the carnal mind is gone and the old man is destroyed then brother you are a free man, and not till then. I don’t care what you may have or may not have, you are not a free man until old carnality is gone.
I heard a young man say the other day, O Lord, crucify the old man and then back up the hearse and haul off old carnality, and I said, Well, glory, that is a new one on me, but it is a good one and I will remember it.
As long as the roots of bitterness or the carnal mind or the old man or the body of sin are allowed to remain there cannot be perfect freedom in the religious life; but thank God, Christ says in a loud voice, Loose him and let him go. Every string can be removed and the child of God can be made as free as heaven, and we can walk through this old world as clean as if we were in heaven. Of course the devil doesn’t die when we get the strings off and thank the Lord we don’t either, in the sense of being dead to what the devil is doing; we are alive and we catch on to what he is up to and we are ready to meet his assaults. With all of the strings off and Christ enthroned in the soul we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Now, reader, when you come to think about it, the most beautiful thing that you ever saw was a Christian without a thing in the way of their Christian work. Take a man or a woman who is all given up to God and delivered from the man-fearing spirit, who is delivered from the people, who is long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and filled with all the fulness of God, who knows how to love God and lost humanity, how to pray and bring things to pass, you look at them and admire them because of their freedom and deliverance. You would not have the same respect for them if they were all tied up with the world. But a free man is the ideal of all men, and what makes men free? Nothing but to be delivered from all sin and filled with all the fulness of God. That means out of the tomb and all of the strings off.

Friday, August 12, 2011

CHAPTER XII.

THE CALL OF THE MASTER.

The stone has been removed and now listen to the call of the blessed Christ, “Lazarus, come forth.” and he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot, with a napkin about his mouth. Reader, Lazarus as a resurrected man is one of the most beautiful types of the blessing of regeneration that can be found in the Bible. Lazarus proves that our holy religion is not man-made and proves it to be supernatural. Don’t you see that Lazarus was beyond turning a new leaf? Don’t you see that he was beyond a little human enthusiasm? Don’t you see that he was beyond signing a card? Don’t you see that it would have been impossible for him to have ever gotten out of the tomb? Don’t you see that he was beyond the help of man? Even man, in all of his glory, was unable to do one thing in the world for Lazarus, for he was dead, bound, entombed, and putrified, and the tomb was sealed up and he on the inside. Ho, man, it will take a God to ever get you out of that tomb. Now Lazarus stands before us a living man, which is a type of the new birth. We saw him dead and now we see him a living man, and it is no sleight of hand performance, for it is a well known fact that he was dead and now he is alive. There he stands in the presence of the Christ.
But there is another fact that I want you to see and it is this, that while Lazarus is alive and represents the new birth, he also brings out another fact in the experience of every regenerated man. While he has life he is still bound and he has the strings on him yet. We see him a living man and he stands in the presence of the Master, and there is shouting ground and rejoicing enough for us to shout over for the next thousand years. While that is true and we all see it, at the same time he has the cords on him also, and we have seen Christians all over the land as completely bound by the opinions of other folks as Lazarus was with strings. Reader, just think of the twentieth century church and take one look at it and you will see a Lazarus standing before you completely bound. Look at the present and you will see men and women bound by a man-fearing spirit, bound by the opinions of the other fellow, bound by the cords of worldliness, bound by the awful secret oaths of their lodges, and it is not an uncommon thing for men and women to dance and play cards and run after the circus, theater, and all kinds of worldliness.
Now, I want you to see that when Lazarus got out of the tomb there was something else that he needed. Then take a look at the average church member and in all kindness and honesty you are forced to say that the church member needs the strings taken off of him as bad as Lazarus did. Lazarus was alive, but he was bound. The regenerated man is alive, but he is bound. Nevertheless, while we stand and look at the Christians we wonder why they don’t walk in the light as He is in the light; but then we remember that their feet are still bound, fo rhis [sic] feet were bound. We wonder why they don’t clap their hands, and then we remember their hands are still tied. Then we wonder why they don’t shout, and behold we look and see that the napkin is still over their mouths. We know that a man can’t do much with a napkin over his mouth. When will the church get all of the strings off and get to the place where she can walk, leap, rejoice, praise God and clap her hands, and rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
We see that the resurrected Lazarus is a type of the new birth but we see that the bound Lazarus is a type of the unsanctified Christian. It is life and strings and life and strings; a living man but a bound man; a living church but a bound church; a man next to helplessness and a church next to helplessness. I know that some good people will say, Well now, Bro. Robinson, if Lazarus still had the strings on him, his conversion was not complete, and they will say that conversion is a perfect work or it is a failure one or the other. You will notice this fact, that the resurrection of Lazarus was a perfect resurrection, and also that Lazarus had perfect life, but he still had the cords on him.
You will also notice that the new birth of a Christian is a perfect birth, and that the new convert has perfect life, but Lazarus, like it, still has the strings on; so you see a perfect birth and new life in the new convert, but at times there will be cords of anger or cords of pride, or there will be cords of jealousy, or cords of the man-fearing spirit, or a craving for the things of the world, which is out of harmony with the blessed, sweet will of God. We see all of those things almost every day of our lives, as we go up and down in this country, and I have seen them by the thousands tumble into the altar and pray through and get all of the strings broken; that is the only hope of the church to-day. I am glad to see the man out of the tomb, but I am so anxious to see him get every string taken off. I would love to live in this country just a few years when every Christian in the United States had every cord broken and was as free and happy as a bird that cleaves the sky. How many Christians have been called on to pray and at once begged to be excused, and there was no excuse on earth that they could offer, only they were bound hand and foot and still had a napkin about their mouth.
I know a lot of Christian folks who never say a word of all the Lord has done for them. Their voice is never heard. They go to church on Sunday if the weather will permit, but if it rains or is too hot they sit at home all day and the Sunday papers of course afford their litertrue [sic]. Not one of them ever thinks of being a witness for the Lord.
Now, reader, I am going to show you one of the most pitiful things in the whole land. Well, you ask, What is it? It is a Christian all bound by the things of the world until they are perfectly helpless and almost lifeless and just about hopeless. To see a sinner bound by the cords of this world is sad enough, but to see a Christian all tied up until he is a slave of the devil is one of the saddest things I ever looked at and as you look at Lazarus you see so many confessing Christians. Brother, there is no mistake about it, we are not deceived, we are not preaching heresy, it is an awful fact. Lazarus is a bound man; although he has life, and is in the presence of the Lord a bound man.
Not twenty-four hours ago a young man told me that his elder did not want him to preach on holiness for fear that he would dishearten the young converts. Now reader, do you suppose that it would have disheartened Lazarus for somebody to have told him that he could get all of those strings off of his feet and hands, and that he could get that napkin off of his mouth? How an elder can make up his mind to the awful fact that his members are better off with hands, feet and mouth bound, is a mystery to both God and man; and, I might say, to angels. Oh, the deadness in the average church; how helpless they are no man can tell. Think of a church with 565 members and only 15 of that number can be counted on at the prayer meeting, and only five out of the fifteen that are willing to work in the altar, and try to get sinners converted. Man, do you tell me that they are not bound? Do you tell me that they are happy and free, and do you tell me that they don’t need another work of grace? Why man, just look at the multiplied numbers of the leading church members who are as worldly as the sinners of your town, and you can’t look at them and tell any difference in them and the sinners.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

CHAPTER XI.

THE FIRST COMMAND.

Now, reader, we have come to a very interesting fact in the history of this remarkable man. We now have the first command from the blessed Savior. It was given to the church. You will remember that the woman in the old Book most always represents the church, and we now listen to the first command. What was it? Well, just stop a minute and listen, and you will hear just what it was: “Take away the stone.” If every church in the land would obey and take away the stone there would be such a revival break out, as has never been heard of since the day of pentecost.
We can look at anything that hinders a revival and it will take the place of the stone at the grave of Lazarus; one card playing Christian can prevent and keep a revival out of a church for a whole year. A few of these kind altogether may keep a revival out for several years. But here is the Master at the grave and the tears are still on His cheeks. His voice rings out loud and clear, Take ye away the stone; but oh my, the church has got to the place where she doesn’t believe in revivals and she begins to make some sort of an excuse and proceeds to tell the Master the condition of the community. Listen at the awful description of the man. Lord, by this time he stinketh.
Now reader, you have the condition of every sinner in the land until he is regenerated; but thank the Lord the Master has given His command and right in the face of the unbelievers He stands by the tomb and says, Take away the stone. Listen to His words to Martha when she was just about without a particle of faith. He said to her, Did I not say unto thee if thou wouldest believe thou shouldest see the glory of God? She believed and obeyed the Master and the stone of difficulty was removed and behold there was great joy in that city, for the revival broke out, and it always will when the church obeys the command of the Master. When we see what took place there just by obedience it looks like every church in the land would go to work at once to get all of the hindrances out of the way, for it will be impossible for the revival to break out while these things are in the way.
Every card playing and every dancing, theater going church member is a great stone that the devil has rolled in the way of an old time revival, and until we rise up and obey the Master’s command we will never see a revival in the church that is bound by worldliness. It is impossible. If you will look for just a minute you will see that it would have been impossible for Lazarus to have ever been raised from the dead. So it is with your own son. He is dead and bound and entombed and putrified; the tomb is sealed up and a great stone is rolled against the mouth of the grave. The Master stands without and says to us, Take away the stone; remove all of the difficulties; get ready, look up, and expect a revival; throw every doubt away, pull up unbelief by the roots and throw it over the fence; put all the faith that you have on the throne; muster all of the courage possible, and look the world in the face and tell them to come to the old-fashioned revival, for it is on. Expect the altars to be full from the first service, for the Mester [sic] is in town and He is at the grave of Lazarus and has given the command, Take away the stone, for the revival is on just now and somebody will be converted in the first service. That always takes place when the church obeys the Master and removes all the stones.
Now we want to move to the next step in this man’s life, or history and see what took place when the stone was removed. It will be worth while to look at the next stage of Lazarus.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

CHAPTER X.

CHRIST AT THE GRAVE.

Now, for a little while we want to look at Christ at the grave of Lazarus weeping over him. This is one of the most touching incidents in the life of the blessed Son of God. It brings out the heart and tenderness and love of the blessed Christ as no other incident that is recorded. We see Him at another time weeping over the city of Jerusalem, and as we hear Him say, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stones them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thee together as a hen doth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not; therefore your house is left unto you desolate. And as He behold the city He wept over it, but at the same time it seems that when He saw the broken-hearted sisters, the criticizing Jews, the doubting of the sisters of Lazarus, and knowing that they had given up all hope and that Lazarus was not a ghastly corpse in the tomb, His poor heart almost broke and he stood and wept with Mary and Martha. He said to Martha, Your brother shall rise again; and Martha said, I know that he shall rise again in the last day. She could not grasp the thought that Lazarus would rise that day.
It seems that it is much easier to have faith for the future than to have faith for the present. Martha had no trouble in believing that Lazarus would be raised at some future time, but to bring it right down to the present moment, she doubted it, and I have met with so many mothers who thought that at some future time their son would be saved and they seemed to rest in perfect ease about it. At the same time they had no faith on earth for their son at the present time, and he was just as dead and hopeless as Lazarus.
The devil comes up and helps people to have a future faith. He says, Oh well, it will all come out right in the end; go and have a good time and don’t bother yourself about it. The Lord will bring it all out just right,–but he doesn’t tell them that while they are going on and living without a burden for the lost that he has them in his hand and that they are just as hopeless as Lazarus. Just as truly as the blessed Son of God wept over Lazarus He is weeping over every sinner on earth to-day; and just as truly as Lazarus was dead and bound and in the tomb and putrified, every sinner in the land to-day is in the same condition morally; and just as truly as Lazarus was in a hopeless condition every sinner is in the same condition. The very fact that Christ wept over Lazarus shows us that He was interested in him, and if He was interested in Lazarus He is in every sinner in all this broad land of ours. If Lazarus was not a hopeless case then there is hope of every sinner in the land, for there is no man that could be more corrupt morally than Lazarus was physically. He was just as bad off as a fellow ever gets, and we will see pretty soon that there was hope of him. It is not any easier for the Master to raise a fellow from the dead that has only been dead one day than it is to raise one that has been dead four days. The same life-giving word that it takes to raise a man that has been dead one day would raise him if he had been dead ten years, and we see that when it comes to the salvation of a man’s soul that the same act of divine grace that it takes to forgive a twelve-year-old boy will save his father. One word from the Master will settle all questions. Glory to His name.

Monday, August 8, 2011

CHAPTER IX.

CHRIST SEEKS THE DEAD MAN.

Dear reader, we come to the ninth stage in the history of the man Lazarus. We saw him sick, dead, bound, entombed, and putrified, and then we first saw Christ appear on the scene and declare Himself to be the resurrection and the life. Then He inquired about the dead man, and now He is seeking for the dead man. We read in Matt. 18:11: “For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost,” and again we read in Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
No person ever came on such a mission as the one that the Son of God came on. His was purely a missionary journey, and thank God it was self-supporting, for we were unable to do what He came to do, and in this narrative we have Christ in the town of Bethany, seeking a dead Lazarus. If we will lift up our eyes and behold we will not only see Him seeking a Lazarus, but we will see Him seeking a lost world. He is seeking the sinner, the wanderer, the lost, the homeless, the friendless, the tempest-tossed, sin-sick soul. Hear His voice take courage, and rise up, for He calleth for you, and while He seeks the sinner He does many other things. He meets a blind man and says to him, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash, and he went and washed and came seeing. He met a man with a withered hand and said to him, Stretch it out, and immediately his hand was restored whole as the other. On His journey He met up with a man that was deaf and the Lord spoke to him and the sound of the voice of the Son of God entered into his head and he never had any more trouble with his hearing. Well, I say glory to God!
He met a man with the leprosy and said to him, Go shew yourself to the priest and as he went he was cleansed from his awful disease and turned back to give glory to God. He met a man with the palsy and spoke the living word to him and the man had no more trouble with his nerves all the days of his life. Hallelujah!
We next read that He met a woman that had been diseased for twelve years and she had spent all her living on the physicians and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she saw Jesus she said, If I may but touch His garments I shall be made whole, and she slipped in behind Him and touched His garments and immediately she was made whole. I tell you, old boy, a Savior who can do that is worth tying on to. Bless His dear name. Again we read that one beautiful Sabbath morning the blessed Son of God was out for a morning stroll. He went out about the sheep market and He saw a poor man on a cot, by one of the pools of Jerusalem, who had been there for thirty-eight years, Jesus looked at him and said, Arise, take up thy bed and walk and go unto thy house, and behold, the next thing we see is a man going down the streets of Jerusalem with a bed on his shoulder. Oh my, the next thing we see is those old Jews. Now just listen to them. They say to him, It is not lawful for you to carry your bed on the Sabbath day. But listen to him. He said to them, He who made me whole said to me, Take up thy bed and walk. Bless the Lord, somebody had been to town that could do something. There that poor man lay for thirty-eight years and I don’t suppose that one of those old Jews ever prayed with that poor fellow in his life, but just as soon as the blessed Son of God got him off of his bed they raised a racket with him. How much like some of the rest of us that sounds. After Jesus met us and blotted out all of our sins and called us into His blessed work and sanctified us and then healed us and put us out on the turnpike for glory; then the D. D.’s [Doctor’s of Divinity] began to wherefore and whereas, and resolve and be it known that, we do not indorse or take any part with or have anything to do with the meeting that is now being held by the said ––– . I will just leave off the name and you can put your name there and you will have the key to the gate.
But thank the Lord the blessed Christ went on down the stream of time and He met a poor woman with seven devils in her, cast them out, and left her rejoicing, and I suppose that Mary hasn’t quit rejoicing yet. Well, I can’t stand much more. I want to shout now. I know that she loved Him for we find her at the grave weeping. In His strolls through the country He met up with a few fellows fishing and He said to them, Let down your net for a draught; to their surprise they caught a boat load. Ho, man, He knows where to catch ‘em, and they always bite His hook or go into His net, one or the other. He went on out into the mountain and a great multitude came out to hear Him preach and they hung on His word until they were hungry and famishing. He blessed five barley loaves and two small fishes, and fed five thousand men besides women and children. That night He wanted to cross Galilee and the boat was gone and He did something that no other man has ever done; He went afoot, and the waves of Galilee were adamant under His feet; He did not get the soles of His sandals wet.
At another time we see Him out on Galilee and an awful storm came up. He was asleep and the disciples became much alarmed and awoke Him and said, Master, we perish. He arose and rebuked the wind and sea and they obeyed Him. Every blue breaker went back into his hole and shut his eyes and kept quiet because the Master had spoken.
When He had reached the other shore or come over to the country of the Gadarenes, He met a man with a legion of devils in him and He cast them out and the whole herd of devils ran into a herd of swine and they we choked in the sea. The last time we saw the man he was clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus and wanting to become an evangelist. But the Master said to him, Go back to your house and tell what great things the Lord has done for thee. He went on his journey and found a woman at Jacob’s well and told her her life’s story, an caused a great revival to break out in a city of Samaria and she found that a greater One than Jacob was there. As He journeyed on in search of those who needed help He found a man up a sycamore tree and said to him, Make haste and come down, for I must abide at your house today. The man came down, and thank the Lord he got religion between the first limb and the ground, straightened up his life, and I expect to see him in heaven. Glory to God in the highest!
Now, reader, it was this same Jesus that we have been telling you about who came to Bethany and declared Himself to be the resurrection and the life, and inquired about the man Lazarus, and He is now seeking for him. I believe He will find him in spite of that old critical Jew, and in spite of the doubts of Martha and in spite of the fact that Lazarus has been dead four days already. I believe that something will be done. I can feel the victory now and hear the roar of the battle. I am expecting an old-fashioned revival to break out and shake the whole town and put the whole pit in confusion and knock the scales off of the eyes of those old Jews and bury the doubts of Mary so deep under the hills of Bethany that she will never see them again in this world. Well, amen. Keep up your faith, the victory is ours. Christ is in town and the revival is on and the devil is almost ready to give up the fact that something will be done. A little faith in a big Jesus will bring a big blessing to the heart of any of God’s children.
Now we have come to the next stage in the history of this, the most remarkable man that is described in the New Testament or the Old either. Before we take up the next chapter I want you to see just how much ground Lazarus does cover. We first saw him a sick man; second, we saw him a dead man; third, we saw him a bound man; fourth we saw him a putrified man; sixth we saw Jesus appear on the scene; seventh, we saw Jesus, the resurrection and the life; eighth, we saw Jesus making inquiries about the dead man; ninth, we saw Jesus seeking for the dead man, and tenth, we see Jesus at the grave of the dead man weeping over him. The reader will notice that there is no hope of Lazarus in the world. If some power unknown to man doesn’t enter into him he will stay there in that tomb forever and ever, for he is beyond turning a new leaf, and he is beyond new resolutions and he is beyond human enthusiasm, for he is dead and putrified and in the tomb and the tomb is sealed up. Without a doubt, he is a dead man, but thank God there is hope, for Christ is in town.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

CHAPTER VIII.

CHRIST INQUIRES ABOUT THE DEAD MAN.

Now we have come to the eighth stage in the history of this man Lazarus. We have just discussed the first ray of hope and Christ the resurrection and the life. The next thing that we want to notice is Christ not only in town and not only the resurrection and the life, but now he makes inquiry about the dead man. Listen to His own words. He says: “Where is he?” Now it begins to look like He meant just what He said when He said that I am the resurrection and the life. Here He is in town and He said I am the resurrection, and He said, Where is he? No doubt those old Jews said, Well, He claims to be the resurrection and the life, but He will never go to the grave of Lazarus, for they knew that Lazarus was a dead man, not a sick man, – no put on about it, for they had helped to bury him and they had been there four days weeping with Martha and Mary.
Now, mother, if Jesus comes to town and makes inquiry about your dead boy whom you know is dead in trespasses and in sins, whatever you do, never stop until you get Christ to come to the grave of your boy and call him out of the tomb of spiritual death and set him free. Christ says, Where is he, and He acts just like He wanted to find him. I believe that those old Jews began to feel a little shaky, for here is Christ right in town and Lazarus has been dead already four days. At once Christ proceeds to tell just what He can do, and He said that He could raise a dead man to life; and now He goes so far as to ask about Lazarus and says, Where is he? it really looks like He wanted to find him; but at this moment a few of those old Jews believed that something might be done. Some of them were still hard and cold and critical, and watched Him with an evil eye, and tossed their heads and said, Oh well, the Pharisees have proven Him to be an impostor, but a man of faith can begin to feel revival fire in the air, and already the people are beginning to talk meeting and some of the hardest cases in town have have been asking when the revival would start, if the revivalist had come, and if they thought he would be a success. Praise the Lord, He has come and He is a great success, and we are just as sure to have revival before He leaves town, as the world stands. Glory to His name!
Just here we read that some of the Jews went their way. Oh yes, the world is still going their way, and it is an awful way. Just think of a man turning away from the blessed Son of God and going his way; where will his way lead him, do you think? Down to the pit of eternal despair, of course. But thank God, Christ is in town, and has already said, I am the resurrection and life. He has already inquired about Lazarus and asked, Where is he? Oh, reader, if I could have felt that Christ was inquiring about me, it would have almost tickled me to death. Today there are not less than 5000,000 men and women in the United states, who, if they could just feel that Christ loves them well enough to inquire about them, would get saved in the next forty-eight hours; but they are down and nobody cares for them and the devil tells them that Christ will ruin them if they give Him their lives; that He will rob them of all of their pleasure and fun. While he lies on the Son of God he doesn’t tell them that he himself has made them miserable and wretched and hopeless and friendless and homeless. What a vile devil he is. He tells them that God is a hard Master and for them to never trust Him with their lives; at the same time while he deceives them he keeps them blinded to the awful effect of sin on the human family, and while he has broken hearts, robbed heaven, populated hell, broken up homes, wrecked lives and disgraced whole communities, he is so sly and subtle that he keeps all of this in the background.
The devil will say to a man, serve me and I will make you a happy man, and turn around and rob him of his manhood and swing him off of the gallows by the neck, and put him in hell and laugh at him as he goes down. The other sinners will stand by and see the whole thing and go right on in the service of the devil. Didn’t the word of God call him a deceiver, and a devil and a serpent and a dragon and Satan, and the accuser of the brethren? How many women he has robbed of every hope and laughed at their dying groans and mocked them as they tried to call on God for mercy in the jaws of death. Yet the women are almost as bad as men and will flirt with the world or die, and go to an awful hell in spite of the grace of God, and the blood of Jesus Christ and the prayers of God’s people. And in the face of wreck and ruin the devil well tell men that if they will follow him he will give them freedom.
Well, I saw 1,036 the other day in one of the state prisons behind the wall with striped clothes on that the devil had set free, and I just watched them, as the overseers looked on, and wondered if they were out if they would give up sin and follow the blessed Son of God and enjoy real freedom; or would they go into sin again and get back into the pen and go on enjoying the devil’s freedom. You see, the devil’s freedom is a bloated face and a big stomach and a red nose and greasy breeches and run down shoes, a slouch hat, and no home, no friends, and jails and prisons and scaffolds. Doesn’t that look like freedom?