A Spiritual Revolution
It was a cold day in February. Howard was engaged in making some repairs on the barn when Allen Baker drove up.
“Hello, Allen,” he called.
“Hello, Howard. Say, have you heard the news?”
“News? What news?”
“Why, those holy preachers are coming back to the Ridge again to hold another meeting—those good fellows, you know, that couldn’t sin if they tried.”
“I suppose you will go to hear them,” said Howard.
“Me? Don’t you think so. I got enough of them the first time they were here.” So saying, he drove on.
“Ha! ha!” said Howard to himself. “He got enough the first time. I should say he did. They laid it down on him pretty heavy.”
Allen Baker was a church member, though he belonged to a different church than did Howard. Baker was a great talker and not always careful to tell the truth. He loved to retell the gossip that he had heard. The boys had nicknamed him “The Daily Times,” and some of them used jokingly to say that his religion never “took” properly. It had happened that one of the evangelists at the Ridge had preached in such a way that, while he did not know anything about Mr. Baker, he had pictured what that kind of a man would do in a community and how far such a life was from real scriptural Christianity. Mr. Baker had been greatly offended and the laughter of the boys at his expense did not lessen his displeasure.
Howard felt differently toward this meeting than he had felt toward the former one. He had a strong desire to go. So when the time came he was there, ready to listen eagerly. He no longer argued against the possibility of one living a righteous life nor against the doctrine of holiness. What he had read in the Bible convinced him. But he was deeply conscious that his own life came short of what it ought to be. He was not content to remain in such a condition. He had a sincere desire to be right with God. So he went to this meeting with an open heart, ready to accept what he could understand to be truth. At the same time he expected to exercise a discriminating watchfulness and not accept what was not according to the Scriptures.
He enjoyed the preliminary exercises, especially the singing. Then the evangelist arose and said, “I will use two texts tonight as a basis for my remarks. The first is found in Matthew 11:28-29, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ The other is found in Matthew 16:24, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.’ My subject this evening is ‘The Way to Christ,’ or ‘How to Become a Christian.’ The two texts that I have read contain two phrases that sum up the whole matter; they are, ‘come unto me,’ and ‘follow me.’ The world of sinners is far from God. They ‘[have] no hope, and [are] without God in the world.’ (Ephesians 2:12) They are unlike God in character and in life. They are laden with iniquity; they are guilty of many sins, they are on the broad way to destruction, and are going away from God. The message of God to them is, ‘Turn ye, turn ye… Why will ye die?’ (Ezekiel 33:11) When a man is awakened to see the sinfulness of his sins, he realizes his need of a Savior. He may try to reform himself, but he will find that sin has such a hold upon him that he cannot conquer it. He may struggle against it as many people do; may try to live right, but he will find himself failing again and again.”
This was a picture of Howard’s experience. He knew all too well what it meant. Would the preacher really tell him the way to something better?
Continuing, the minister said, “Jesus says, ‘Come unto me.’ What does this imply? In order to come unto Him it is necessary to give heed to what He says. It also implies leaving the place where we are. The sinner must leave the way of unrighteousness, forsake his sin, and separate himself from all that is evil. Jesus demanded repentance of all. Repentance means ‘a turning.’ Repentance from sin means a turning away from sin. As the prophet said, ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.’ (Isaiah 55:7) The sinner must quit sinning. He must forsake his evil ways. Jesus said, ‘Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can not be my disciple.’ (Luke 14:33) Again it is written, ‘Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?… Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.’ (2 Corinthians 6:14,17-18)
“Christianity is a new life: ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.’ (2 Corinthians 5:17) He is born again. There is divine life dwelling in him. His old sins have been forgiven, and he has been cleansed from the guilt of those sins. The wall that stood between him and his God is taken away; he is reconciled to God, and has the peace of God in his heart. There has been a deep and great change in his character. But this could not take place until there was a breaking with the old life, a severing of its attachments, a deliverance from its power. So he who comes to Christ must come with his whole heart. Hitherto he has been his own master, has done as he pleased, has followed out his own inclinations, and served himself. But Christ says, ‘Take my yoke upon you.’ (Matthew 11:29) We must become His servants. We must surrender our wills to Him and become obedient to Him. He must have His way with us. We must surrender our way where it is contrary to His. ‘One is your master, even Christ.’ (Matthew 23:8,10) Voluntary self-surrender is demanding. Nothing short of this is taking Christ’s yoke upon us.
“Our second text says, ‘Follow me.’ To follow Christ means to live as He lived. It means to be obedient to Him, to be moved by the same motives and purposes that move Him. The Christian is Christ’s man. He is like Christ in character and in life. If he is not like Christ in these respects, he is not Christ’s man—not following Christ. The man who follows sin goes away from Christ. Only he who follows righteousness walks with Christ.
“But Jesus says that we must take up our cross and follow Him. A cross is an instrument of death. So as Christ died, you and I must die. A literal death is not what He means for us, but a death to sin. Paul speaks about being dead to sin and dead to the old life in which we formerly walked. That is exactly what Jesus meant. It means a separation from the old life, its purposes, desires, and sinful habits as completely as though we had actually died a literal death. The new man is to walk in newness of life. He must make a clean break with the old life. He must give up every sinful habit. Christ will break the power of habit and He will set the sinner free.”
The evangelist then told of a number of instances of men and women who had been great sinners, but who had been wonderfully saved by the power of Christ and brought up from the depths to live high and noble Christian lives. He told how he had known men to be saved from the habit of drink, from the use of tobacco, from swearing, lying, stealing, and scores of other things. And then he said, “When the liar is saved, he becomes a truthful man; when the gambler and the cheat are saved, they become honest; when the impure man or woman is saved, we find purity in the life; when the intemperate man is saved, he no longer is enslaved by the thirst for liquor. And you tobacco-chewers here, I can tell you of a remedy better than any advertised in the newspapers. It is the blood of Christ; it is the power of God. God will deliver you from being enslaved by the appetite for tobacco no matter in what form or in how many forms you use it. No matter what your sin, Jesus Christ will deliver you if you will come to Him, forsaking all.
“Coming to Christ, forsaking your sins is not all there is to do in order to be a Christian. The old account must be settled; the guilt of your sins against God must be washed away. God’s mercy is sufficient for that. The blood of Christ will cleanse you from all sin if you repent of your sins, give them up, and ask God to show mercy to you. But there are sometimes accounts with our fellowmen, and these accounts must be settled. There are people who have bitter grudges against others—they hate them. Perhaps they have been mistreated by these other persons. But this old account must be settled—this hatred must be gotten out of the heart, for the Bible says, ‘Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.’ (1 John 3:15) Jesus said, ‘Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.’ (Luke 6:37) Again He said. ‘For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive your trespasses.’ (Matthew 6:14-15) Some people say they cannot forgive. If this be true, they never can be Christians. They wish God to forgive them, hut they are not willing to forgive others. If we are not willing to give up the hatred that is in our hearts toward others, we cannot cease to be sinners; we cannot become Christians. You must give up that old grudge. You must get rid of that hardness out of your hearts. Do you say you cannot? God will cleanse your heart from that vile thing if you are willing to give it up. But if you are not willing to forgive and turn the matter over into God’s hands for Him to deal with the individual, you can never be forgiven: you will be lost forever. Jesus declares that unless you forgive, you cannot be forgiven.
“But perhaps you have wronged someone else. Christ teaches us to love our enemies. If God puts His love into your heart, you must be willing to manifest that love to others. Before you are saved, you must be willing to make right, so far as lies in your power, the wrong that you have done. If you have cheated someone, God will expect you to make that right if you can. If you have done another person an injury, God will expect you to make that right if you can. He will not only expect you to ask forgiveness and make due confession to the individual wronged, but He will require you to repair the injury as far as possible. You will desire to do this when the love of God is in your heart. If you have cheated your neighbor, you will not wish to keep your ill-gotten gains. They are not yours and you will feel they are not yours—you will want the true owner to have them. If you have harmed the reputation of another, you will desire to make that right and to restore his reputation. And everything else wherein you have wronged another you will be disposed to make right if you are a true Christian. Ezekiel said, ‘If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he hath robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity, he shall surely live, he shall not die.’ (Ezekiel 33:15) How blessed it is to know that the old accounts are all made right! How blessed to know that the past is all under the blood, all cleansed through the mercy of God!
“ ‘Come unto me,’ said Jesus, ‘and I will give you rest.’ (Matthew 11:28) When we come to Christ, a new day begins. We commence a new life; we have new hearts, new aspirations, ambitions, hopes, desires. Life from God comes into the soul, power to abstain from sin, an earnest desire to please God, and the power to please Him. It is now Christ that liveth in us, His grace abounds toward us, and the things of evil that we once loved and that had such a strong attraction for us, have such an attraction no longer. The things of the Spirit are so much more glorious than the things of our former life that we detest what before we loved, and the spiritual things, for which we had little taste, are now the delight of our souls.
“After you have forsaken all, after you have surrendered to Christ, what must you do to be a Christian? You must confess your sins to Him, not necessarily all the details of your sinful life, but you must confess like the publican of old that you are a sinner. You must cry out, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner.’ (Luke 18:13) Like the prodigal son, you must say, ‘I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight.’ (Luke 15:21) But we have the promise concerning our sins that ‘whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.’ (Proverbs 28:13) And again it is written, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:9)
“When we come to God we must believe that our prayers will be heard. He has promised to hear us, and He will not fail to do so. Every penitent heart receives a glad welcome home by the Father and by Jesus who came ‘to seek and to save that which was lost.’ (Luke 19:10) So we can come to God with full assurance that He will hear us and that He will forgive us. And when we ask Him in earnestness of heart, with fullness of purpose to be His for time and for eternity, submitting our will to His will, that is, to His desire for us, then we can ask Him with assurance that He will hear us, will cleanse away our sins, and make us new creatures in Christ Jesus. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’ (Acts 16:31) is the promise He makes to us.
“And so repenting of our sins, we raise our eyes to heaven and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the one full, complete, and adequate sacrifice to take away our guilty stains. And trusting thus in His sacrifice, as the prophet said, God will lay upon Christ the iniquity of us all, and we are permitted to go free, purged from our sins, cleansed from our iniquities, born again, children of the Most High, heirs of God, tasting the joys of His salvation, and knowing the blessedness of being freed from our sins and washed from our guilt in the precious blood of the Lamb.
“If you will do this, you may be a Christian tonight. You may have the consciousness that you are born again. You may know that your sins are gone; that you are Christ’s and He is yours.”
Howard went away from the meeting that night deeply concerned. That was exactly the experience he desired. But he wanted time to think it over; time to apply it to his own heart. In the quiet hours of the night he thought it through. Yes, that was just the experience he needed, what his heart had been crying out for all these years. He must have it. He would go to church the next night and—but was he not a church member? What would the people say? If he should confess that he had never been a Christian, that he knew nothing experimentally of the new birth, and if he should go forward like others who had made no profession, what would they think? What would they say? How humiliating it would be! He fought the battle out and decided he would go anyway.
The next night he went to meeting with a settled purpose in his heart to go forward for prayer. When the time came, his heart failed him. He felt as though he were rooted to the spot where he stood. He seemed to have no power to move. The time passed. He trembled all over. When the invitation had ended, he sat in his seat overwhelmed. He heard little of what was said. He was only half conscious, it seemed, of what was going on about him.
Other nights and days of struggle followed, but Howard kept on attending the meetings. He heard many good things, and still desired to be saved. He determined again and again, when out of the meetings, that he would yield when he went again, but each time he let the opportunity pass. At last the meetings were over, and of all men he seemed most miserable. How he regretted that he had not yielded! Now it was too late; the meetings were over, and the ministers had gone. What should he do? He tried to pray, but found no satisfaction. Day by day a terrible conflict raged in his bosom.
One day, about two weeks after the close of the meeting, Howard was alone in the woods at work when it seemed he could endure the burden of his sins no longer. He cried out to God for mercy, and there made a complete surrender. It seemed that he would be crushed by the burden that rested upon him, as he cried out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” All at once, like a flash of lightning from a clear sky, he found himself illuminated within with a glorious, heavenly light. His burden was gone. He knew not what had become of it. The crushing weight no longer lay upon his soul; instead, a great peace filled his being. Everything seemed wonderfully changed; that somber March morning suddenly became transformed, and everything seemed to glow with a glorious light. He had never seen things look so beautiful before; in fact, he had never been so happy before. He lifted up his heart and praised the Lord. That praise came spontaneously. Those long months of conflict were past, and now he had what he had been craving. He was saved; he knew he was saved, his sins were forgiven, and he had a consciousness deep within his bosom that he was a child of God. The Spirit of God testified to him that he was born again. He could face the world now, and it made no difference if people did laugh. His joy knew no bounds, he was so unspeakably happy.
When Howard went home at noon there was no need to tell the family what had happened. His shining eyes and glowing face told the story. This was the beginning of a new life, the life for which he had longed, but it was greater and richer and fuller than he had ever dreamed it could be. He had never pictured it so glorious as this. There would be lessons he would have to learn in the future and these would not be easy to learn, but he knew nothing then of what lay ahead. He would find out that the Christian life had its difficulties, but now all he could consider was the joy that filled his soul, the inexpressible delight that he found in his new life.