"If any man thirst, let him come unto
Me, and drink." "Whosoever drinketh of the water that
I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." John 7:37; 4:14.
If, with these promises before us, we choose
to remain parched and withered for want of the water of life,
it is our own fault. If we would come to Christ with the simplicity
of a child coming to its earthly parents, and ask for the things
that He has promised, believing that we receive them, we should
have them. If all of us had exercised the faith we should we
would have been blessed with far more of the Spirit of God in
our meetings than we have yet received. I am glad that a few
days of the meeting still remain. Now the question is: Will we
come to the fountain and drink? Will the teachers of truth set
the example? God will do great things for us if we by faith take
Him at His word. Oh, that we might see here a general humbling
of the heart before God!
Since these meetings began, I have felt
urged to dwell much upon love and faith. This is because you
need this testimony. Some who have
entered these missionary fields have said: "You do not understand
the French people; you do not understand the Germans. They have
to be met in just such a way."
But I inquire: Does not God understand
them? Is it not He who gives His servants a message for the people?
He knows just what they need; and if the message comes directly
from Him through His servants to the people, it will accomplish
the work whereunto it is sent; it will make all one in Christ.
Though some are decidedly French, others decidedly German, and
others decidedly American, they will be just as decidedly Christlike.
The Jewish temple was built of hewn stones
quarried out of the mountains; and every stone was fitted for
its place in the temple, hewed, polished, and tested before it
was brought to Jerusalem. And when all were brought to the ground,
the building went together without the sound of ax or hammer.
This building represents God's spiritual temple, which is composed
of material gathered out of every nation, and tongue, and people,
of all grades, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned.
These are not dead substances to be fitted by hammer and chisel.
They are living stones, quarried out from the world by the truth;
and the great Master Builder, the Lord of the temple, is now
hewing and polishing them, and fitting them for their respective
places in the spiritual temple. When completed, this temple will
be perfect in all its parts, the admiration of angels and of
men; for its Builder and Maker is God.
Let no one think that there need not be
a stroke placed upon him. There is no person, no nation, that
is perfect in every habit and thought. One must learn of another.
Therefore God wants the different nationalities to mingle
together, to be one in judgment, one in purpose.
Then the union that there is in Christ will be exemplified.
I was almost afraid to come to this country
because I heard so many say that the different nationalities
of Europe were peculiar and had to be reached in a certain way.
But the wisdom of God is promised to those who feel their need
and who ask for it. God can bring the people where they will
receive the truth. Let the Lord take possession of the mind and
mold it as the clay is molded in the hands of the potter, and
these differences will not exist. Look to Jesus, brethren; copy
His manners and spirit, and you will have no trouble in reaching
these different classes. We have not six patterns to follow,
nor five; we have only one, and that is Christ Jesus. If the
Italian brethren, the French brethren, and the German brethren
try to be like Him, they will plant their feet upon the same
foundation of truth; the same spirit that dwells in one will
dwell in the other--Christ in them, the hope of glory. I warn
you, brethren and sisters, not to build up a wall of partition
between different nationalities. On the contrary, seek to break
it down wherever it exists. We should endeavor to bring all into
the harmony that there is in Jesus, laboring for the one object,
the salvation of our fellow men.
Will you, my ministering brethren, grasp
the rich promises of God? Will you put self out of sight and
let Jesus appear? Self must die before God can work through you.
I feel alarmed as I see self cropping out in one and another
here and there. I tell you, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth,
your wills must die; they must become as God's will. He wants
to melt you over and to cleanse you from every defilement. There
is a great work to be done for you before you can be filled with
the power of God. I beseech you
to draw nigh to Him, that you may realize His rich blessing before
this meeting closes.
There are those here upon whom great light
in warnings and reproofs has shone. Whenever reproofs are given,
the enemy seeks to create in those reproved a desire for human
sympathy. Therefore I would warn you to beware lest in appealing
to the sympathy of others and going back over your past trials,
you again err on the same points in seeking to build yourselves
up. The Lord brings His erring children over the same ground
again and again; but if they continually fail to heed the admonitions
of His Spirit, if they fail to reform on every point where they
have erred, He will finally leave them to their own weakness.
I entreat you, brethren, to come to Christ
and drink; drink freely of the water of salvation. Do not appeal
to your own feelings. Do not think that sentimentalism is religion.
Shake yourself from every human prop and lean heavily upon Christ.
You need a new fitting up before you are prepared to engage in
the work of saving souls. Your words, your actions, have an influence
upon others, and you must meet that influence in the day of God.
Jesus says: "Behold, I have set before thee an open door,
and no man can shut it." Revelation 3:8. Light is shining
from that door, and it is our privilege to receive it if we will.
Let us direct our eyes within that open door and try to receive
all that Christ is willing to bestow.
Each one will have a close struggle to
overcome sin in his own heart. This is at times a very painful
and discouraging work; because, as we see the deformities in
our character, we keep looking at them, when we should look to
Jesus and put on the robe of His righteousness. Everyone who enters the pearly gates of the city of
God will enter there as a conqueror, and his greatest conquest
will have been the conquest of self.
"For this cause I bow my knees unto
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be
able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length,
and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness
of God." Ephesians 3:14-19.
As workers together for God, brethren and
sisters, lean heavily upon the arm of the Mighty One. Labor for
unity, labor for love, and you will become a power in the world.