D.L. Moody · London · 1875
D.L. Moody (1837–1899) was an American evangelist who filled the largest halls in Britain and America. What follows is from his own words, preached without notes.
I want to call your attention to-night to what I consider one of the most important subjects that I can bring before you. I suppose there are a great many people here to-night who are anxious to be saved, and yet don’t know how. They think salvation is a very mysterious thing, that it is very hard to be saved. Now I want to say right at the outset, that salvation is the simplest thing in the world.
Suppose you do not want to hear a sermon so much as you want to know how to be saved. Well, I think I can tell you in a very few minutes. But some of you say, “I don’t feel that I am bad enough to be saved.” Now there is a great mistake right there. You don’t need to feel bad — you need to feel that Christ died for sinners.
In the Bible’s book of Genesis, God warns a man named Noah that a great flood is coming and instructs him to build a large wooden boat — an ark. Noah, his family, and pairs of animals board before the waters rise. Genesis 6–8.
There was a minute when Noah was outside of the ark, and another minute when he was inside. And, bear in mind, it was the ark that saved Noah — it was not his righteousness; it was not his feelings; it was not his tears; it was not his prayers. It was the ark that saved him.
When I was in Manchester, a business man came in and took his seat on the outskirts of the audience. I think, at first, he had come merely to criticize, and he was a little skeptical. At last I saw he was in tears. I turned to him and said, “My friend, what is your difficulty?” “Well,” he said, “Mr. Moody, the fact is, I cannot tell.” I said, “Do you believe you are a sinner?” He said, “Yes; I know that.” I said, “Christ is able to save you”; and I used one illustration after another, but he did not see it.
At last I thought of the ark, and I said: “Was it Noah’s feelings that saved him? Was it Noah’s righteousness that saved him, or was it the ark?”
“I see it, now,” said he; “I see it.” He got up and shook hands with me, and said: “Good-night: I must go. I have to go away by the train to-night; but I was determined to be saved before I went. I see it now.”
A few days after, he came and touched me on the shoulder. “Do you remember the illustration of the ark?” he said. “It has been all light ever since. I understand it now. Christ is the Ark; He saves me; and I must get inside Him.”
In the book of Exodus, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. God sent plagues to free them; the final one was the death of every firstborn son. Families who marked their doorposts with the blood of a sacrificed lamb were passed over — spared. Exodus 12.
God says, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” Now He does not say, “When I see your feelings, or your prayers and weeping, I will pass over you”; but, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.”
And a little child by that blood was just as safe as Moses or Aaron or Joshua or Caleb. It was the blood that saved them.
Some people say, “If I were only as good as that minister I should feel so safe.” My friends, if you are behind the blood, you are as safe as any man or woman who has been praying for fifty years. It is not their righteousness and good works that are going to save them. They never saved any one.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Look down there. There are two soldiers. Now, if you ask them how they became soldiers, they will tell you this — that one moment they were citizens, and the next minute soldiers. What was it that made them soldiers? It was when they took the Queen’s shilling. The moment they received that shilling they ceased to be citizens, and they became soldiers.
In Victorian Britain, a man formally enlisted in the army by accepting a shilling coin from a recruiting officer. The moment he took it, he was legally a soldier — no ceremony or uniform required. The act of receiving changed his status entirely.
They did not have to wait for the uniform. The minute they received the shilling they became soldiers. What made them soldiers? Receiving the shilling. What makes a man a Christian? Receiving Christ.
“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not: but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.”
Now, the gift of God is eternal life. Who will have the gift to-night? Is it not a wonder to have to plead with so many to take the gift? “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
In Numbers 21, the Israelites were dying from snake bites in the wilderness. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent on a pole — anyone who looked at it would live. Jesus later used this story directly: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life.” John 3:14–15.
God says to the children of Israel, who are dying of the bite of the fiery serpents — “Look, and live!” Now, there is nothing in looking at a piece of brass which can cure the bite of a serpent. It is God who cures it, and the looking is the condition.
One moment the poor sufferer is dying; the next there comes a thrill of life through his veins, and he lives: he is well.
My friends, look to Christ, and not to yourselves. That is what is the matter with a great many sinners; instead of looking to Christ, they are looking at the bite. It is not looking to the wound; it is looking to the remedy. Christ is the remedy of sin.
Who will look to-night, and live? Turn your eye to Calvary; believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.