The Overcoming Life, and Other SermonsMoody, Dwight Lyman
Religion
The Overcoming Life, and Other Sermons
Moody, Dwight Lyman
Evangelistic sermons; Evangelistic work; Sermons, American
To me, one of the saddest things in all the life of Jesus Christ was
the fact that just before His crucifixion, His disciples should have
been striving to see who should be the greatest, that night He
instituted the Supper, and they ate the Passover together. It was His
last night on earth, and they never saw Him so sorrowful before. He
knew Judas was going to sell Him for thirty pieces of silver. He knew
that Peter would deny Him. And yet, in addition to this, when going
into the very shadow of the cross, there arose this strife as to who
should be the greatest. He took a towel and girded Himself like a
slave, and He took a basin of water and stooped and washed their feet.
That was another object lesson of humility. He said, "Ye call me Lord,
and ye do well. If you want to be great in my Kingdom, be servant of
all. If you serve, you shall be great."
When the Holy Ghost came, and those men were filled, from that time on
mark the difference: Matthew takes up his pen to write, and he keeps
Matthew out of sight. He tells what Peter and Andrew did, but he calls
himself Matthew "the publican." He tells how they left all to follow
Christ, but does not mention the feast he gave. Jerome says that
Mark's gospel is to be regarded as memoirs of Peter's discourses, and
to have been published by his authority. Yet here we constantly find
that damaging things are mentioned about Peter, and things to his
credit are not referred to. Mark's gospel omits all allusion to
Peter's faith in venturing on the sea, but goes into detail about the
story of his fall and denial of our Lord. Peter put himself down, and
lifted others up.
If the Gospel of Luke had been written to-day, it would be signed by
the great Dr. Luke, and you would have his photograph as a
frontispiece. But you can't find Luke's name; he keeps out of sight.
He wrote two books, and his name is not to be found in either. John
covers himself always under the expression--"the disciple whom Jesus
loved." None of the four men whom history and tradition assert to be
the authors of the gospels, lay claim to the authorship in their
writings. Dear man of God, I would that I had the same spirit, that I
could just get out of sight,--hide myself.
My dear friends, I believe our only hope is to be filled with the
Spirit of Christ. May God fill us, so that we shall be filled with
meekness and humility. Let us take the hymn, "O, to be nothing,
nothing," and make it the language of our hearts. It breathes the
spirit of Him who said: "The Son can do _nothing_ of Himself!"
Oh to be nothing, nothing!
Only to lie at His feet,
A broken and emptied vessel,
For the Master's use made meet.
Emptied, that He might fill me
As forth to His service I go;
Broken, that so unhindered,
His life through me might flow.
REST.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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