The Overcoming Life, and Other Sermons — John Shaqi
The Overcoming Life, and Other SermonsMoody, Dwight Lyman
Religion
The Overcoming Life, and Other Sermons
Moody, Dwight Lyman
Evangelistic sermons; Evangelistic work; Sermons, American
I honestly believe that in the present day most men standing in his
position would do that. On the railroad train, some time ago, I heard
a man talking so loud that all the people in the car could hear him.
He said that he had baptized more people than any man in his
denomination. He told how many thousand miles he had traveled, how
many sermons he had preached, how many open-air services he had held,
and this and that, until I was so ashamed that I had to hide my head.
This is the age of boasting. It is the day of the great "I."
My attention was recently called to the fact that in all the Psalms
you cannot find any place where David refers to his victory over the
giant, Goliath. If it had been in the present day, there would have
been a volume written about it at once; I don't know how many poems
there would be telling of the great things that this man had done. He
would have been in demand as a lecturer, and would have added a title
to his name: G. G. K.,--Great Giant Killer. That is how it is to-day:
great evangelists, great preachers, great theologians, great bishops.
"John," they asked, "who are you?"
"I am nobody. I am to be heard, not to be seen. I am only a voice."
He hadn't a word to say about himself. I once heard a little bird
faintly singing close by me,--at last it got clear out of sight, and
then its notes were still sweeter. The higher it flew the sweeter
sounded its notes. If we can only get self out of sight and learn of
Him who was meek and lowly in heart we shall be lifted up into
heavenly places.
Mark tells us, in the first chapter and seventh verse, that John came
and preached saying, "There cometh one mightier than I after me, the
latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose."
Think of that; and bear in mind that Christ was looked upon as a
deceiver, a village carpenter, and yet here is John, the son of the
old priest, who had a much higher position in the sight of men than
that of Jesus. Great crowds were coming to hear him, and even Herod
attended his meetings.
When his disciples came and told John that Christ was beginning to
draw crowds, he nobly answered: "A man can receive nothing, except it
be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I
am not the Christ, but that I am sent before Him. He that hath the
bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which
standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must
increase, but I must decrease."
It is easy to read that, but it is hard for us to live in the power of
it. It is very hard for us to be ready to decrease, to grow smaller
and smaller, that Christ may increase. The morning star fades away
when the sun rises.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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