Part 3 (2/2)
But this slow-of-speech man became eloquent. Talk about Gladstone's power to speak! Here is a man one hundred and twenty years old, and he waxed eloquent, as we see in Deuteronomy x.x.xii:1-4:
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew, As the small rain upon the tender herb, And as the showers upon the gra.s.s: Because I will publish the name of the Lord: Ascribe ye greatness unto our G.o.d.
He is the Rock, His work is perfect: For all His ways are judgment: A G.o.d of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is He.
He turned out to be one of the most eloquent men the world has ever seen. If G.o.d sends men and they deliver His message He will be with their mouth. If G.o.d has given you a message, go and give it to the people as G.o.d has given it to you. It is a stupid thing for a man to try to be eloquent. Make
YOUR MESSAGE, AND NOT YOURSELF,
the most prominent thing. Don't be self-conscious Set your heart on what G.o.d has given you to do, and don't be so foolish as to let your own difficulties or your own abilities stand in the way. It is said that people would go to hear Cicero and would come away and say, ”Did you ever hear anything like it? wasn't it sublime? wasn't it grand?” But they would go and hear Demosthenes, and he would fire them so with the subject that they would want to go and fight at once. They forgot all about Demosthenes, but were stirred by his message; that was the difference between the two men.
Next Moses said: ”O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.”
Did you ever stop to think what Moses would have lost if G.o.d had taken him at his word, and said:
”Very well, Moses; you may stay here in the desert, and I will send Aaron, or Joshua, or Caleb!”
Don't seek to be excused if G.o.d calls you to some service. What would the twelve disciples have lost if they had declined the call of Jesus! I have always pitied those other disciples of whom we read that they went back, and walked no more with Jesus. Think what Orpah missed and what Ruth gained by cleaving to Naomi's G.o.d! Her story has been
TOLD THESE THREE THOUSAND YEARS.
Father, mother, sisters, brothers, the grave of her husband--she turned her back on them all. Ruth, come back, and tell us if you regret your choice! No: her name s.h.i.+nes one of the brightest among all the women that have ever lived. The Messiah was one of her descendants.
Moses, you come back and tell us if you were afterwards sorry that G.o.d had called you? I think that when he stood in glorified body on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and Elijah, he did not regret it.
My dear friends, G.o.d is not confined to any one messenger. We are told that He can raise up children out of stones. Some one has said that there are three cla.s.ses of people, the ”wills,” the ”won'ts,”
and the ”can'ts”; the first accomplish everything, the second oppose everything, and the third fail in everything. If G.o.d calls you, consider it a great honor. Consider it a great privilege to have partners.h.i.+p with Him in anything. Do it cheerfully, gladly. Do it with all your heart, and He will bless you. Don't let false modesty or insincerity, self-interest, or any personal consideration turn you aside from the path of duty and sacrifice. If we listen for G.o.d's voice, we shall hear the call; and if He calls and sends us, there will be no such thing as failure, but success all along the line. Moses had glorious success because he went forward and did what G.o.d called him to do.
NAAMAN THE SYRIAN
I wish to call your attention to one who was a great man in his own country, and very honorable; one whom the king delighted to honor.
He stood high in position; he was captain of the host of the King of Syria; but he was a leper, and that threw a blight over his whole life. As Bishop Hall quaintly puts it, ”The meanest slave in Syria would not have changed skins with him.”
Now you cannot have a better type of a sinner than Naaman was. I don't care who or what he is, or what position he holds--all men alike have sinned, and all have to bear the same burden of death.
”All have sinned, and come short of the glory of G.o.d.” All men must stand in judgment before G.o.d. What a gloom that throws over our whole life!
”_But he was a leper_.” There was
NO PHYSICIAN
who could help him in Syria. None of the eminent doctors in Damascus could do him any good. If he was to get rid of the leprosy, the power must come from on high. It must be some one unknown to Naaman, for he did not know G.o.d.
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