GLAD TIDINGS | by D. L. Moody

"There was a man converted in Europe several years ago, and he liked the Gospel so well, he thought he would like to go and publish it. Well, he started out to publish it, and great crowds came to hear him out of curiosity, just as a great many come here out of curiosity, to hear the singing or something of that kind. Well, they came to hear him. The man wasn't much of a speaker, so the next night there wasn't many there, and the third night the man didn't get a hearer. But he was anxious to publish the Gospel, and so he got some great placards and posted them all over the town, that if there was any man in that town that was in debt, to come to his office between certain hours on a certain day with the proof of their indebtedness, and he would pay the debt. Well, of course it went all over the town, but the people didn't believe him. One man said to his neighbor, 'John, do you believe this man will pay our debts?' 'Oh, of course not; that is a great sell; that is a hoax.' The day came, and instead of there being a great rush, there didn't anybody come.

Now, it is a great wonder that there isn't a great rush of men into the Kingdom of God to have their debts paid when a man can be saved for nothing. About 10 o'clock there was a man walking in front of the office; he looked this way and that to see if there was anybody looking, and by and by he was satisfied there wasn't anybody looking, and he slipped in, and he said, 'I saw a notice around town if any one would call here at a certain hour you would pay their debt. Is there any truth in it?' 'Yes,' says the man, 'it is quite true. Did you bring around the necessary papers?' 'Yes.' And after the man had paid the debt he said, 'Sit down, I want to talk to you,' and he kept him there until 12 o'clock. And before 12 o'clock had passed there were two more came in and had their debts paid. At 12 o'clock he let them all out, when they found some other men standing around the door, and they said, 'Well, you found he was willing to pay your debts didn't you?' Yes, they said, it was quite true that he had paid their debts. 'O, if this is so, we are going to get our debts paid.' And they went in, but it was too late. The man said if they had called within a certain hour he would have paid their debts.

To every one of you that is a bankrupt sinner—and you never saw a sinner in the world but that he was a bankrupt sinner—Christ comes and He says, 'I will pay the debt.' And that is just what He wants to do to-night. Bear in mind that the Son of God came into the world to save sinners, and He has got the power to forgive sin. And He has not only got the power, but He is willing to save, and He is anxious to save; and so, my friends, if you will accept Christ's offer you can get out of this hall to-night cleansed of all sin.

Now the question comes, 'Who will accept of Him?' But I can imagine there is a man down in the audience who will say, 'Well, I don't believe in these sudden conversions. I don't believe a man can come in here and be saved at once.' What is it God has got? Is it a gift? Now we read in the sixth chapter of Romans, it is a gift: 'The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Now, if a man is saved, there must be one minute when he has not got the gift, and there must be another minute when he has it. And that is what it is represented in the Bible. It is a gift."¹


ENDNOTES:

¹ D. L. Moody, "THE GOSPEL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT." H. H. Birkins, Editor, GLAD TIDINGS (New York: E. B. Treat, 1876), pp. 80-82. Note: This is an excerpt from a sermon preached by the evangelist D. L. Moody to audiences in New York. The words are just as true today as they were over one-hundred years ago!