Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler Part 30

Paul, in the second chapter of the Philippians, tells us how Jesus humbled himself. Let us see verse 5: "Who being in the form of G.o.d, thought it not robbery to be equal with G.o.d, but made _Himself_ of _no reputation_ and took on Him the form of a servant, and humbled Himself and became obedient unto _death_, yea even unto the death of the cross."

Christ, then, was the equal of G.o.d, the Father, worshipped by angels; and yet He consented to become man, and so be made "a little lower than the angels." But He not only became man, He became a servant among men.

So His life was one of lowly service and unremitting toil for others. He once girded Himself with a towel and washed the feet of His disciples.

But He not only became man and servant to man, He went to a deeper depth of humiliation than any other ever descended to: He suffered as an evil-doer, though in fact He was the only good and pure man that ever lived. "He was numbered among the transgressors," though He was guilty of no transgression, and He descended down to the bottom floor of disgrace--He was nailed on a cross and left there to die as you hang the worst criminals by the neck till they are dead.

Yes, He was born poor; He lived in toil and sorrow and died in shame: the Prince of Glory did all this. But, stop and ask, Why did He endure all this when He might and could have avoided it? Let G.o.d answer: "Surely He hath borne _our_ griefs and carried _our_ sorrows. He was wounded for _our_ transgressions. He was bruised for _our_ iniquities; all we like sheep had gone astray, and the Lord laid on _Him_ the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah lviii., 4, 6.) Yes, "He was manifested to take away our transgressions" in the sense that He suffered in our stead for those transgressions that are past. But what good would it do to forgive sinners if they were not changed and renewed, so that they could have the power in the future to abstain from sin? What good would it do for G.o.d to say to a drunkard, "Your sins are forgiven" if He did not at the same time so change that drunkard as to make him able to keep from drinking in the future? What good to forgive the past sins of a debauchee or a liar or a gambler or a thief or a murderer if, at the same time, their hearts were not so changed that they would and could keep from sinning again? It would do no good, for they would go straight into the sins they had been practicing. Well, does Jesus make provision for this? Yes, He does. He was manifested not only to take away the guilt of our transgressions, but also their _power_ over us. Do we not read in the Scripture that if the Son shall make us free we shall be free indeed? Jesus promised a mighty agent which should work in the hearts of men and renew their natures. I, myself, am as different a man as if I had been blotted out of existence and born again a new creature.

And these are the very expressions the Scripture uses for describing the wonderful change. This, then, is what Jesus was born in poverty, lived in sorrow and died in shame for, and at this time of remembrance and rejoicing He makes appeal to you:

"I gave my life for thee, my precious blood I shed That thou mightest ransomed be, and quickened from the dead.

My Father's house of light, my glory-circled throne, I left, for earthly night, far wanderings, sad and lone.

I've borne it all for thee; what hast thou borne for me?"

NEW YEAR'S SERMON.

DEUTERONOMY VIII: 2-11.

The people of Israel had journeyed long and wearily since leaving Egypt.

For forty years they had wandered and now at last had come to the borders of the Promised Land. Only the narrow Jordan was between them and the Canaan of their hopes. They were encamped upon the eastern bank of this river and were only awaiting orders to pa.s.s over and possess the goodly land which lay before them. And Moses, who was not to cross over with them, but to be buried in the land of Moab, gives this parting address to them. They were just pa.s.sing from one stage of their journey to another and they need to be reminded of the _past_ and instructed and warned as to the _future_.

So he says:

"Thou shalt _remember_ all the way which the Lord hath led thee these forty years."

1. They were to remember the trials and temptations they had. The object of these, he says (verse 2), was to _humble_ them and to _prove_ them that they might know what was in their hearts. And so, my brother, if during the past year, or during your past life, you have had trials and temptations, it was that you might learn your own weakness, a hard lesson for proud mortals to learn, and so be humbled to distrust yourself and seek help from G.o.d. And if you have had sorrow or bereavement it was for the same purpose, that you might learn to give up seeking perfect happiness in anything or any creature on earth and seek it in G.o.d. And have not some of you learned this lesson or are you not beginning to learn it at last? Have not the sins and the sorrows of your past life humbled you and at last brought you to feel your _need of G.o.d_? But another object of these past experiences of trial was to prove what was in your heart. A man does not know what there is in his heart till temptation brings it out. He does not know how bad it is. I thought I was patient; but when temptation came, I found my heart had much impatience in it. I thought I was humble and did not think highly of myself till people began to praise me and I found I enjoyed it and loved it and I was not humble.

2. But they were to remember G.o.d's goodness to them also (see verses 3 and 4). He had fed them Himself with manna and kept their clothes from wearing out and their feet from swelling. And so _you_ are to remember the goodness of G.o.d to you during the past year and during your past life. Remember how He has spared you in the midst of your wickedness as He spared me in my neglect of Him _for forty years_, and how He has furnished you many blessings and would have given you more, but you would not. And if He has allowed your wickedness to bring you into trouble and distress, it is to cause you to _stop_ and _reflect_ upon your ways and turn from them unto Him for deliverance and true happiness. Thus you are to recall, from the past year and from your past life, your sins and sorrows, and G.o.d's manifold mercies to you.

II. But, just entering upon this new year, you are to look ahead also, even as the Israelites were to look ahead to the goodly land into which the Lord was going to bring them (see verses 7, 8 and 9).

1. G.o.d _promises_ you much, my brother, on condition that you follow Him and obey Him. He promises to bless you temporally and spiritually, and to give you happiness--a goodly possession--if you, for your part, give yourself up, _unreservedly_ to His directions. He has done much for _me_, since I began to follow and obey Him years ago.

2. Moses ends his discourse with a solemn warning (verse 11). _Beware_ that you forget not the Lord your G.o.d, and go at any time to trusting to yourself or any earthly help.

ON AFFLICTION AND SUFFERING.

LAMENTATIONS, III: 32-33.

"32. But though He cause grief, yet will He have compa.s.sion according to the mult.i.tude of His mercies.

"33. For He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."

There is a vast deal of suffering and of sorrow in the world, and the most of it, if not all, is due directly or indirectly to _sin_ as the cause. Sin is followed by suffering, as for example, intemperance ruins the health and brings on a slavery worse in some cases than death; and sensuality is often followed by loathsome and painful diseases. Thus G.o.d declares His feeling towards sin in these sufferings that result from it. He has set up a barrier to keep men from the practice of it. But we will consider how afflictions and sufferings may all be overruled to the good of the sufferer and his deliverance from the evil of _sin_.

1. Sufferings which are the direct effect of sin have a tendency to make us turn away from sin. For example, the poverty and distress of the Prodigal son were the cause of his returning to his Father. So it was with Jack Harrington and others whom we know.

2. But sufferings and misfortunes which are not the direct effect of sin stir up the memory to a recollection of past sins, and excite a remorse for them. For example, a lady who is the wife of a whisky dealer told her husband she believed that their losses and misfortunes were judgments sent on them for being in that business.

3. Sometimes it takes the greatest and most prolonged suffering to conquer man's stubbornness and independence of G.o.d. But suffering humbles him, and, his pride being out of the way, he has no more trouble.

4. Sorrow that is too great for any earthly consolation leads the sorrowing one to seek comfort in G.o.d. One of the greatest and best preachers of Germany was thus led to G.o.d by the loss of his young wife.

So parents are brought to G.o.d by the death of children and children by the death of parents.

5. Sometimes suffering is necessary to wean us from some idol which we would not otherwise be willing to give up.

6. Sometimes when we forget G.o.d and become absorbed in the world, nothing but some affliction will make us come to ourselves and turn again to G.o.d with repentance and consecration. Read Psalm cxix., 67-75.

The case of Sister P----, at Portland, was one of this kind. She was a backslider and put off her return to G.o.d and kept putting it off. But she had a great sorrow. Her son left home under a cloud, her son's wife lost her mind and then died, and her son was put in prison. To this was added her own bad health. These things broke the spell of the world, woke her up from her apathy and made her seek G.o.d with all her heart and she found Him again, and died in great peace and triumph.

7. Then suffering purifies us and develops us and prepares us for work we could not otherwise do. "Tribulation worketh _patience_." What _excellent training_ I got when I rubbed the engine for a dollar and a half a day. It brought patience and resignation and a better preparation for the work I am doing than any other sort of experience, perhaps, could have given me.

REVELATIONS XXI: 3.

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of G.o.d is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and G.o.d Himself shall be with them, and be their G.o.d."

The subject suggested by the text is, the future and final conquest of the world by the Church of Christ, and the rest and reward of that church in Heaven.

And the Scriptures do teach that, in time, all nations shall learn righteousness. The time is coming when neighbor shall not say to neighbor, "Know ye the Lord," but when all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest; and the knowledge of G.o.d shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the deep. When this blessed time is to be, and what are to be the signs of its approach, are not questions for us to attempt to discuss here to-day, though we may be allowed to say that the Gospel is being preached to more people to-day that at any former period in the history of the church. There is a missionary zeal in the church to-day that has not been paralleled in all her history. There is not only a readiness among heathen people to hear the Gospel, but there seems to be a positive hunger for it, and within the last few years the Gospel has penetrated to the interior of nations and continents that were previously inaccessible. Certainly the church is more aggressive and bold in her plans and operations to-day than ever before. And if it be a prophecy of the not distant conquest of the world to the reign of Christ, we take courage, and say: "G.o.d speed the day!" It is well for us to pause now, and to reflect upon the reward promised to us in the end of our course. We do not give enough attention to this. To study about it; to learn what we do not know concerning it; to realize the unspeakable blessedness of that state would make us more patient in waiting, more cheerful in suffering, more earnest and active and untiring in our efforts to help others to the attainment and enjoyment of it.

Heaven, then, is represented in the Bible as a place of _perfect beauty, perfect security, perfect rest and perfect joy_.

It is so represented as to appeal to the desires and longings of all cla.s.ses of people. To the inhabitant of the city, what could be more pleasing than the freedom and freshness and beauty of the country? So heaven is described as having its landscapes, with its fruit-bearing trees, its crystal rivers and gurgling fountains. But for the rustic peasant, it is said to be a resplendent city, with walls of sapphire and gates of pearl and streets of gold.

But in some respects we are all alike.

We want to be free from sin and danger.

To a Christian heart, sin is the most abhorred and dreadful of all things. It gives more pain and causes more darkness than any other cause; and the fear of it causes more suspense than the fear of all bodily suffering.

But in heaven we shall be free from sin, and free from all fear of sin and all liability to sin. For nothing that defileth or maketh a lie can ever enter there; and they who are so happy as to gain heaven shall go out no more forever.

We all dread sorrow and grief and pain. And truly we all have our share of it in this life. "Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward."

"Man is of few days and full of trouble," but we leave it all behind when we go in at the gate of the City of G.o.d. "And there shall be no more sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are pa.s.sed away." Christians in this world feel that they are pilgrims and strangers in a foreign land, away from their home and their Father's house. Their hearts have been so changed, and they have tasted of the powers of the world to come, and have come into communion with G.o.d, so that neither the pleasures of the world nor the friendships of earth can content them--their hearts are not here, but away in heaven.

I heard a Christian man say, not long ago (though he has a sweet family and many friends), that he felt that day an unutterable loneliness, as if he were an exile. His heart had such a longing for his Father and his kindred and his home beyond the skies. Oh, the sympathy and love and tenderness we know we shall get at home! It makes us all feel a thrill that responds to the poet's immortal lines:

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

And all the sympathy and tenderness of father, mother, brother and sister are transcended by the sympathy and tenderness of G.o.d, for marvelous to tell it is said that "G.o.d _Himself_ shall wipe away all tears from our eyes."

And how we thirst for _knowledge_ here. We know nothing now. We are surrounded on all sides by things we do not understand. If we undertake to investigate, we soon reach the limit of our capacity and have to stop before we have learned anything. "But then we shall know as also we are known."

What it means, when it says we shall "sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb" we know not, nor what it implies when it says we are to "enter into the joy of our Lord;" nor do we understand that wonderful saying, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." No, no; now we see through a gla.s.s darkly, but then face to face, and "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." But we know that "if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him." The suffering comes first, the humiliation first, the toil and weariness, the _cross_ first, and then the crown. Peter the Great, of Russia, during one of his wars, was separated from his army and lost, and, to escape detection, took off his royal apparel and dressed in common garb. In his wanderings he came to a humble cottage, and was kindly received and ministered unto by the peasant woman, who knew not who he was. She gave him a home until danger was pa.s.sed, and then helped him to get back to his capital. When the war was ended, Peter sent for this poor peasant woman, brought her to his splendid court, and, marrying her, made her the partner of his throne and his empire. She who had ministered to him in his sufferings now reigned with him as Queen Catherine, of Russia.

So, my brethren, see that you serve Christ, suffer for Him; spend and be spent for His cause, and _then_, oh, then, how sweet to rest and reign forevermore.