Evangelist Dwight Moody preached two consecutive sermons on heaven which are
just as encouraging today as they were when he originally presented them.

May God bless,
Carl
website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/

Evangelist Dwight Moody preached two consecutive sermons on heaven which are
just as encouraging today as they were when he originally presented them.

May God bless,
Carl
website --http://www.nettally.com/saints/
blog --http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/

---

Heaven
by Dwight L. Moody

PART ONE
I was on my way to a meeting one night with a friend, and he asked, as we
were drawing near the church, "Mr. Moody, what are you going to preach
about?" "I am going to preach about heaven," I said. I noticed a scowl
passing over his face, and I said, "What makes you look so?" "Why, your
subject of heaven. What's the use of talking upon a subject that's all
speculation? It's only wasting time on a subject about which you can only
speculate." My answer to that friend was, "If the Lord didn't want us to
speak about heaven He would never have told us about such a place in the
Scriptures, and, as Timothy says, 'All the Scriptures are given by
inspiration, and all parts are profitable.' ? " There's no part of the Word
of God that is not profitable, and I believe if men would read more
carefully these Scriptures they would think more of heaven.

If we want to get men to fix their hearts and attention upon heaven we must
get them to read more about it. Men who say that heaven is a speculation
have not read their Bibles. In the blessed Bible there are allusions
scattered all through it. If I were to read to you all the passages on
heaven from Genesis to Revelation, it would take me all night and tomorrow
to do it. When I took some of the passages lately and showed them to a lady,
"Why," said she, "I didn't think there was so much about heaven in the
Bible." If I were to go into a foreign land and spend my days there, I would
like to know all about it; I would like to read all about it. I would want
to know all about its climate, its inhabitants, their customs, their
privileges, their government. I would find nothing about that land that
would not interest me. Suppose you all were going away to Africa, to
Germany, to China, and were going to make one of those places your home, and
suppose that I had just come from some of those countries; how eagerly you
would listen. I can imagine how the old gray-haired men and the young men
and the deaf would crowd around and put up their hands to learn anything
about it.

My friends, where are you going to spend eternity? Your life here is very
brief. Life is but an inch of time; it is but a span; but a fiber, which
will soon be snapped, and you will be ushered into eternity. Where are you
going to spend it? If I were to ask you who were going to spend your
eternity in heaven to stand up, nearly every one of you would rise. There is
not a man here, not one in Chicago, who has not some hope of reaching
heaven. Now, if we are going to spend our future there, it becomes us to go
to work and find out all about it. I call your attention to this truth: that
heaven is just as much a place as Chicago. It is a destination-it is a
locality. Some people say there is no heaven. Some men will tell you this
earth is all the heaven we have. Queer kind of heaven this. Look at the
poverty, the disease in the city; look at the men out of employment walking
around our streets, and they say this is heaven. How low a man has [become]
when he comes to think in this way. There is a land where the weary are at
rest; there is a land where there is peace and joy-where no sorrow dwells.
And as we think of it and speak about it, how sweet it looms up before us.

I remember, soon after I got converted, a pantheist got hold of me and just
tried to draw me back to the world. Those men who try to get hold of a young
convert are the worst set of men. I don't know a worse man than he who tries
to pull young Christians down. He is nearer the borders of hell than any man
I know. When this man knew I had found Jesus he just tried to pull me down.
He tried to argue with me, and I did not know the Bible very well then, and
he got the best of me. The only thing to get the best of these atheists,
pantheists, or infidels is to have a good knowledge of the Bible. Well, this
pantheist told me God was everywhere-in the air, in the sun, in the moon, in
the earth, in the stars, but really he meant nowhere. And the next time I
went to pray it seemed as if I was not praying anywhere or to anyone.

We have ample evidence in the Bible that there is such a place as heaven,
and we have abundant manifestation that His influence from heaven is felt
among us. He is not in person among us; only in Spirit. The sun is 95
million miles from the earth, yet we feel its rays. In Second Chronicles we
read, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I
hear from heaven and forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Here is
one reference, and when it is read a great many people might ask, "How far
away is heaven? Can you tell us that?" I don't know how far away it is, but
there is one thing I can tell you: He can hear prayer as soon as the words
are uttered. There has not been a prayer said that He has not heard; not a
tear shed that He has not seen. We don't want to learn the distance. What we
want to know is that God is there, and Scripture tells us that.

Turn to First Kings and we read, "And hearken thou to the supplication of
Thy servant and of Thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this
place, and hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling place, and when Thou hearest
forgive." Now, it is clearly taught in the Word of God that the Father
dwells there. It is His dwelling place, and in Acts we see that Jesus is
there too. "But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into
heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of
God," and by the eye of faith we can see them there tonight too. And by
faith we shall be brought into His presence, and we shall be satisfied when
we gaze upon Him. Stephen, when he was surrounded by the howling multitude,
saw the Son of man there, and when Jesus looked down upon earth and saw this
first martyr in the midst of his persecution, He looked down and gave him a
welcome. We'll see Him by-and-by.

The Charm of Heaven

It is not the jasper streets and golden gates that attract us to heaven.
What are your golden palaces on earth-what is that that makes them so sweet?
Is it the presence of some loving wife or fond children? Let them be taken
away and the charm of your home is gone. And so it is Christ that is the
charm of heaven to the Christian. Yes, we shall see Him there. How sweet the
thought that we shall dwell with Him forever, and shall see the nails in His
hands and in His feet which He received for us.

I read a little story not long since which went to my heart. A mother was on
the point of death, and the child was taken away from her in case it would
annoy her. [The child] was crying continually to be taken to [her] mother
and teased the neighbors. By-and-by the mother died, and the neighbors
thought it was better to bury the mother without letting the child see her
dead face. They thought the sight of the dead mother would not do the child
any good, and so they kept her away. When the mother was buried and the
child was taken back to the house, the first thing she did was to run into
her mother's sitting room and look all round it, and from there to the
bedroom, but no mother was there. And she went all over the house crying,
"Mother, Mother!" but the child could not find her, and then said to the
neighbor, "Take me back, I don't want to stay here if I cannot see my
mother." It wasn't the home that made it so sweet to the child. It was the
presence of the mother. And so it is not heaven that is alone attractive to
us; it is the knowledge that Jesus, our leader, our brother, our Lord, is
there.

And the spirits of loved ones, whose bodies we have laid in the earth, will
be there. We shall be in good company there. When we reach that land we
shall meet all the Christians who have gone before us. We are told in
Matthew, too, that we shall meet angels there. "Take heed lest ye despise
not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels
do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven." Yes, the angels
are there, and we shall see them when we get home.

He is there, and where He is His disciples shall be, for He has said, "I go
and prepare a mansion for you, that wheresoever I am there ye may be also."
I believe that when we die the spirit leaves the body and goes to the
mansion above, and by-and-by the body will be resurrected and it shall see
Jesus. Very often people come to me and say, "Mr. Moody, do you think we
shall know each other in heaven?" Very often it is a mother who has lost a
dear child, and who wishes to see it again. Sometimes it is a child who has
lost a mother, a father, and who wants to recognize them in heaven. There is
just one verse in Scripture in answer to this, and that is, "We shall be
satisfied." It is all I want to know. My brother who went up there the other
day I shall see, because I will be satisfied. We will see all those we loved
on earth up there, and if we loved them here we will love them ten thousand
times more when we meet them there.

Assured of a Place

Another thought. In the tenth chapter of Luke we are told our names are
written there if we are Christians. Christ just called His disciples up and
paired them off and sent them out to preach the gospel. Two of us-Mr. Sankey
and myself-going about and preaching the gospel is nothing new. You will
find them away back eighteen hundred years ago going off two by two, like
brothers Bliss and Whittle, and brothers Needham and Morehouse, to different
towns and villages. They had gone out, and there had been great revivals in
all the cities, towns, and villages they had entered. Everywhere they had
met with the greatest success. Even the very devils were subject to them.
Disease had fled before them. When they met a lame man they said to him,
"You don't want to be lame any longer," and he walked. When they met a blind
man they but told him to open his eyes, and behold he could see. And they
came to Christ and rejoiced over their great success, and He said to them,
"I will give you something to rejoice over. Rejoice that your names are
written in heaven." Now, there are a great many people who do not believe in
such an assurance as this: "Rejoice, because your names are written in
heaven." How are you going to rejoice if your names are not written there?

While speaking about this some time ago, a man told me we were preaching a
very ridiculous doctrine when we preached this doctrine of assurance. I ask
you in all candor, what are you going to do with this assurance if we don't
preach it? It is stated that our names are written there, blotted out of the
Book of Death and
transferred to the Book of Life.

I was with a friend while in Europe-she is in this hall tonight. On one
occasion we were traveling from London to Liverpool, and the question was
put as to where we would stop. We said we would go to the Northwestern at
Lime Street, as that was the hotel where Americans generally stopped. When
we got there the house was full, could not let us in. Every room was
engaged. But this friend said, "I am going to stay here. I engaged a room
ahead. I sent a telegram on."

My friends, that is just what the Christians are doing-sending their names
in ahead. They are sending a message up saying, "Lord Jesus, I want one of
those mansions you are preparing; I want to be there." That's what they're
doing. And every man and woman here who wants one, if you have not already
got one, had better make up [your] mind. Send your names up now. I would
rather a thousand times have my name written in the Lamb's Book than have
all the wealth of the world rolling at my feet.

A man may get station in this world, but it will fade away; he may get
wealth, but it will prove a bubble. "What shall it profit a man if he gain
the whole world and lose his own soul?" It is a solemn question, and let it
go around the hall tonight: "Is my name written in the Book of Life?" I can
imagine that man down there saying, "Yes; I belong to the Presbyterian
church; my name's on the church's books." It may be, but God keeps His books
in a different fashion than that in which the church records of this city
are kept. You may belong to a good many churches; you may be an elder or a
deacon and be a bright light in your church, and yet you may not have your
name written in the Book of Life. Judas was one of the twelve, and yet he
hadn't his name written in the Book of Life. Satan was among the elect-he
dwelt among the angels, and yet he was cast from the high hallelujahs. Is
your name written in the Book of Life?

A man told me while speaking upon this subject, "That is all nonsense you
are speaking." And a good many men here are of the same opinion; but I would
like them to turn to Daniel, twelfth chapter, "And there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time:
and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be
found written in the book." Everyone shall be delivered whose names shall be
found written in the book. And we find Paul, in the letters which he wrote
to the Philippians, addressing them as those "dear yokefellows, whose names
were written in the Book of Life." If it is not our privilege to know that
our names are written in the Book of Life, here is Paul sending greeting to
his yokefellows, "whose names were written in the book." Let us not be
deceived in this. We see it too plainly throughout the Holy Word. In the
chapter of Revelation which we have just read, we have three different
passages referring to it, and in the twenty-seventh verse, almost the last
words in the Scriptures, we read, "And there shall in no wise enter into it
anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a
lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life."

My friends, you will never see the city unless your name is written in that
Book of Life. It is a solemn truth. Let it go home to everyone and sink into
the hearts of all here tonight. Don't build your hopes on a false
foundation; don't build your hopes on an empty profession. Be sure your name
is written there. And the next thing after your own names are written there
is to see that the names of the children God has given you are recorded
there. Let the fathers and mothers assembled tonight hear this and take it
to their hearts. See that your children's names are there. Ask your
conscience if the name of your John, your Willie, your Mary, your Alice-ask
yourselves whether their names are recorded in the Book of Life. If not,
make it the business of your life, rather than to pile up wealth for them,
make it the one object of your existence to secure for them eternal life
rather than to pave the way to their death and ruin.

I read some time ago of a mother in an eastern city who was stricken with
consumption. At her dying hour she requested her husband to bring the
children to her. The oldest one was brought first to her, and she laid her
hand on his head and gave him her blessing and dying message. The next one
was brought, and she gave him the same; and one after another came to her
bedside until the little infant was brought in. She took it and pressed it
to her bosom, and the people in the room, fearing that she was straining her
strength, took the child away from her. As this was done she turned to the
husband and said, "I charge you, sir, bring all those children home with
you." And so God charges us. The promise is to ourselves and to our
children. We can have our names written there, and then by the grace of God
we can call our children to us and know that their names are also recorded
there. That great roll is being called, and those bearing the names are
summoned every day-every hour; that great roll is being called tonight, and
if your name were shouted could you answer with joy? You have heard of a
soldier who fell in our war. While he was dying, he was heard to cry, "Here!
here!" Some of his comrades went up to him thinking he wanted water, but he
said, "They are calling the roll of heaven, and I am answering." And in a
faint voice he whispered, "Here!" and passed away to heaven.

If that roll was called tonight would you be ready to answer: "Here"? I am
afraid not. Let us wake up. May every child of God wake up tonight. There is
work to do. Fathers and mothers, look to your children. If I could only
speak to one class, I would preach to parents, and try to show them the
great responsibility that rests upon them.

There is a man living on the bank of the Mississippi River. The world calls
him rich, but if he could call back his first-born son he would give up all
his wealth. The boy was brought home one day unconscious. When the doctor
examined him, he turned to the father who stood at the bedside and said,
"There is no hope." "What?" exclaimed the father, "Is it possible my boy has
got to die?" "There is no hope," replied the doctor. "Will he not come to?"
asked the father. "He may resume consciousness, but he cannot live." "Try
all your skill, doctor. I don't want my boy to die." By-and-by the boy
regained a glimmering of consciousness, and when he was told that his death
was approaching, he said to his father, "Won't you pray for my lost soul,
Father? You have never prayed for me." The old man only wept. It was true.
During the seventeen years that God had given him his boy, he had never
spent an hour in prayer for his soul, but the object of his life had been to
accumulate wealth for that first-born. Am I speaking to a prayerless father
or mother tonight? Settle the question of your soul's salvation, and pray
for the son or daughter God has given you.

But I have another anecdote to tell. It was Ralph Wallace who told me of
this one. A certain gentleman had been a member of the Presbyterian church.
His little boy was sick. When he went home, his wife was weeping, and she
said, "Our boy is dying. He has had a change for the worse. I wish you would
go in and see him." The father went into the room and placed his hand on the
brow of his dying boy, and [he] could feel that the cold, damp sweat was
gathering there; that the cold, icy hand of death was feeling for the chords
of life. "Do you know, my boy, that you are dying?" asked the father. "Am I?
Is this death? Do you really think I am dying?" "Yes, my son, your end on
earth is near." "And will I be with Jesus tonight, Father?" "Yes, you will
be with the Savior." "Father, don't you weep, for when I get there I will go
right straight to Jesus and tell Him that you have been trying all my life
to lead me to Him."

God has given me two little children, and ever since I can remember I have
directed them to Christ, and I would rather lead them to Jesus than give
them the wealth of the world. If you have got a child, go and point the way.
I challenge any man to speak of heaven without speaking of children, "for of
such is the kingdom of heaven." Fathers and mothers and professed Christians
ignore this sometimes. They go along themselves and never try to get any to
heaven with them. Let us see to this at once, and let us pray that there may
be many names written in the Lamb's Book of Life tonight.

PART TWO

You who were here last night remember that the subject upon which I spoke
was "Heaven, and Who Were There." We tried to prove from Scripture that God
the Father, and Christ the Son, and angels, and redeemed saints who have
gone up from earth are there, and that if we have been born of God our names
are recorded there.

Now I will commence tonight right where I left off last night, and the next
thought upon the subject that presents itself is: "Are we laying our
treasures there?" If we are living as God would have us live, we are doing
this. There are a great many people who forget that there are eleven
commandments. They think there are only ten. The eleventh commandment is,
"Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." How many of us remember-ah! How
people in Chicago forget the words of the Lord now in His wonderful Sermon
on the Mount: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up
for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."

How few of our people pay any heed to these words? That's why there are so
many broken hearts among us; that's why so many men and women are
disappointed and going through the streets with shattered hopes; it's
because they have not been laying up treasures in heaven. They pile up
treasures on earth, and some calamity comes upon them and sweeps all away.
The Chicago fire burned up a good many of these treasures. A great number of
people put their treasures in banks, which dissolve, and away they go. Some
have put their treasures in railway shares which have all disappeared like a
vapor; and that is why so many are brokenhearted today, and in great
distress, and do not know what is before them. If they had taken heed of the
words of this commandment, this thing would not have happened to them. "Lay
up your treasures in heaven."

Where Your Heart Is

It doesn't take long in conversation with a man to find out where his heart
is. Wherever it is, there is his treasure. Go to a political man and talk to
him about Hayes and Wheeler or Tilden or Hendricks on any political
question, and how his heart gets ablaze and his eye sparkles. His treasure
is in politics. Go talk to a man who loves the theater about a new play, and
see how his eye glistens. His heart is set upon pleasure-upon the world. And
yet [there is] another class whose heart is set on business: go and talk to
[a businessman] about some new speculation and show him where he can make a
few thousand dollars, and you will soon tell where his treasure lies. But
talk about heaven and all interest is lost. I could not help that thought
coming to me last night, when I saw before me some dozing-some almost
asleep, as if they thought I was talking about a myth; and others were
sitting with eyes aglow, and all attention when I mentioned heaven. Ah! They
expected to go there and were glad to hear about it.

Some men think it is too far away to lay up their treasures. I was talking
to a businessman before the fire about laying up treasures in heaven, and he
said, "I like to have my treasure where I can see it." And that is the way
with a great many people-they like to have their treasures here so they can
see them. It is a great mistake. People go on accumulating what they must
leave behind them. How many here do not devote five minutes to anything else
than money-making? It is money, money, money, and if they get it they are
satisfied. You will see occasionally in the newspapers accounts of men dying
who are worth so many millions. It is a great mistake. He cannot take it
with him. If it is in business, it isn't his. If it is in banks, it isn't
his. If in real estate, he cannot take it. It isn't his. Now, ask yourselves
tonight, "Where is my treasure? Is my heart set upon things down here?" If
it is set upon wealth it will by-and-by take to itself wings and fly away.
Oh, think of this. If your heart is set upon pleasure, it will melt away; if
your heart is set upon station or reputation, some tongue may blast it in a
moment, and it is gone. If your hopes and heart are set upon some loved wife
or dear children, whom you have set up in your hearts as an idol in place of
your God, death may come and snatch your god from your life. It is wrong to
set up anything, however dear to us, in the place of our God. And so it is
wrong "to lay up treasures for yourselves upon earth."

Now, are you-are the people of Chicago heeding this commandment? Ask
yourselves this as you are passing through the street tomorrow: "How many of
the people of this city are obeying this commandment: 'Lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven'?"

I remember before the Chicago fire hearing of a minister coming up to see
his son. He found him completely absorbed in real estate. You remember
before the fire how everyone was mad about real estate. It was a mania with
all of us. If we could get a corner lot, no matter whether we threw
ourselves in debt, or smothered it with mortgages, we were confident that in
time, when prices went up, we would make our fortune. This minister came up,
and when he saw his son he tried to talk about his soul, but it was no use.
Real estate was there. He talked about real estate in the morning, in the
afternoon, and [at] night. No use of trying to talk of heaven to him. His
only heaven was real estate. The son had a boy in his store, but he being
absent the father was left to mind the business one day. When a customer
came in and started upon the subject of real estate, it was not long before
the minister stepped off and was speaking to the customer about his soul,
and telling him he would rather have a corner lot in the New Jerusalem than
all the corner lots in Chicago. And the people used to say that no real
estate could be sold when the father was around. The trouble was that the
son had real estate in his heart-that was his god-and his father had in his
heart treasures in heaven. If we have anything in our hearts which we put up
as our god, let us ask Him to come to us and take it away from us.

I remember when I went to California just to try and get a few souls saved
on the Pacific coast. I went into a school there and asked, "Have you got
someone who can write a plain hand?" "Yes." Well, we got up [to] the
blackboard, and the lesson upon it proved to be the very text we have
tonight, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven." And I said, "Suppose
we write upon that board some of the earthly treasures? And we will begin
with 'gold.'? " The teacher readily put down gold, and they all comprehended
it; for all had run to that country in the hope of finding it. "Well, we
will put down 'houses' next, and then 'land.' Next we will put down 'fast
horses.'? " They all understood what fast horses were-they knew a good deal
more about fast horses than they knew about the kingdom of God. Some of
them, I think, actually made fast horses serve as gods. "Next we will put
down 'tobacco.'? " The teacher seemed to shrink at this. "Put it down," said
I, "many a man thinks more of tobacco than he does of God. Well, then, we
will put down 'rum.'? " He objected to this-didn't like to put it down at
all. "Down with it. Many a man will sell his reputation, will sell his home,
his wife, children, everything he has. It is the god of some men." Many here
in Chicago will sell their present and their eternal welfare for it.

"Now," said I, "suppose we put down some of the heavenly treasures. Put down
'Jesus' to head the list, then 'heaven,' then 'river of life,' then 'crown
of glory,'? " and went on till the column was filled, and just drew a line
and showed the heavenly and the earthly things in contrast. My friends, they
could not stand comparison. If a man just does that, he cannot but see the
superiority of the heavenly over the earthly treasures.

Well, it turned out that the teacher was not a Christian. He had gone to
California on the usual hunt-gold; and when he saw the two columns placed
side by side, the excellence of the one over the other was irresistible, and
he was the first soul God gave me on that Pacific coast. He accepted Christ,
and that man came to the station when I was coming away and blessed me for
coming to that place.

Those of you who do not lay your treasures up in heaven will be sure to be
disappointed. You cannot find a man who has devoted his life to the
treasures of this life-not one in the wide, wide world-but [he] has been
disappointed. Something arises in life to sweep all away, or the amount of
joy which they expect to obtain from their riches falls short of their
anticipations. If men center their affections on heaven they will have no
disappointment; all is joy and comfort from that source, and the whole
current of their lives will be drifting toward heaven.

Someone has heard of a farmer who, when someone-an agent-called upon him to
give something for the Christian Commission, promptly drew a check for ten
thousand dollars. He wanted the agent to have dinner with him, and after
they had dined the farmer took the man out on the veranda and pointed to the
rich lands sweeping far away, laden with rich products. "Look over these
lands," said the farmer. "They are all mine." He took him to the pasture and
showed the agent the choice stock, the fine horses he had, and then pointed
to a little town, and then to a large hall where he lived, saying, "They are
all mine. I came here as a poor boy, and I have earned all that you see."
When he got through my friend asked him, "Well, what have you got up
yonder?" "Where?" replied the farmer, who evidently knew where my friend
meant. "What have you got in heaven?" "Well," said the farmer, "I haven't
anything there." "What?" replied my friend, "You, a man of your discretion,
wisdom, business ability, have made no provision for your future?" He hadn't,
and in a few weeks he died-a rich man here and a beggar in eternity. A man
may be wise in the eyes of the world to pursue this course, but he is a fool
in the sight of God. Wealth to most men proves nothing more or less than a
great rock upon which his eternity is wrecked.

A great many Christians wonder how it is they don't get on better-how it is
that they don't get on. It is because [they] have got [their] hearts on
things down here. When they look toward heaven they don't have a love for
the world. [They] are then living for another world. We are pilgrims and
strangers upon the earth. It is easy to have love for God when we have our
treasures there. The reason, then, why so many of us do not grow in
Christianity is because we have our treasures here.

Mr. Morehouse told me he was looking down the harbor of Liverpool one day,
when he saw a vessel coming up, and she was being towed up by a tug. The
vessel was sunk in the water nearly to her edge, and he wondered it did not
sink altogether. Upon inquiry he found that it was loaded with lumber and
that it was waterlogged. Another vessel came up, her sails set, no tug
assisting her, and she soon darted past the waterlogged vessel. And so it is
with some Christians. They are waterlogged. They may belong to a church, and
if they find anything in the church disagreeing with them they won't go
back. They want the whole church to come out and look for them, and tow them
in. If the church doesn't, they think they are not getting the attention due
them. When men go up in balloons they take bags of sand with them, and when
they want to rise higher they throw them out. There are a great many
Christians who have got too many bags of sand, and to rise they [need] to
throw some out. Look at the poor men here in the city-the rich Christians
can relieve themselves by giving some of their bags of sand to them. A great
many Christians would feel much better if they relieved themselves of their
bags of sand. "He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord," and if you
want to be rich in eternity, just give to the poor with your heart, and the
Lord will bless not only you, but all connected with you.

A Place of Rest

The next thing is our rest in heaven! A great many people have got a false
idea about the church. They have got an idea that the church is a place to
rest in. Instead of thinking that it is a place of work, they turn it into a
resting place. To get into a nicely cushioned pew, and contribute to
charities, listen to the minister, and do their share to keep the church out
of bankruptcy, is all they want. The idea of work for them-actual work in
the church-never enters their mind. In Hebrews we see the words, "There is a
rest for the people of God." We have got all eternity to rest in. Here is
the place for work; we must work till Jesus comes. This is the place of
toil-eternity of repose. "Blessed are they that die in the Lord, for their
works do follow them." Let us do the work that God gives us today. Don't
think that you have to rest in the world where God sent His Son who was
murdered.

I remember hearing a man who had worked successfully for the Lord
complaining that he didn't have the success he used to, and one night he
threw himself on his bed sick of life and wanting to die. While in this
state of mind he dreamed that he was dead and that he had ascended to
heaven. And as he was walking down the crystal pavement of paradise he saw
all at once three friends in a chariot, and when the chariot came opposite
to where he was one of them stepped out and came to him. He noticed that His
face was illuminated with a heavenly radiance, and He came to this man and
took him to the battlements of heaven. "Look down," said He; "what do you
see?" "I see the dark world," replied the dreamer. "Look down again, and
tell me what you see." "I see men walking blindfolded over bridges, and
below them are bottomless pits," was the dreamer's reply. "Will you prepare
to stay here, or go back to earth and tell those men of their danger-tell
them of the bottomless pits over which they walk?" At this the man awoke
from his sleep and said he didn't want to die anymore. He just wanted to
remain down here and warn his fellow men [of] the dangers which surrounded
them.

When we turn a soul to Christ we do not know what will turn up-what will be
the result of it. It may be the means of saving a million souls. The one man
may convert another man, and those two may convert a hundred, and that
hundred may convert a thousand, and the current keeps widening and widening
and deepening and deepening, and as time rolls on the fruit will ripen which
you have gathered for God. It is a great privilege, my friends, to work for
God.

I want to call your attention to the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. After Paul
mentions Jacob and Isaac and Enoch, he says, "These all died in faith, not
having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth." Are the Christians of Chicago living like
pilgrims and strangers, and by their faith do they show "that they seek
another country"; do they show by their fruits and their deeds that they are
pilgrims and strangers here? When I get into a man's mind the beauties of
that country beyond the grave, it looks as if his only thought was for it.
We are to be pilgrims and strangers passing through this world on our way to
a better land. The moment Abraham by faith got sight of that land, he
declared himself a pilgrim and a stranger. This earth had no charm for him
then. Lot might go down to that city of Sodom or Gomorrah, and that city
might be burned up. We might fix our affections on this city. Chicago has
been burned twice, and it will be burned again-this whole world shall pass
away with all its boasted riches and glory, and where shall we be then? If
we build our hopes here we shall be disappointed; if we build our hopes upon
that foundation whose builder and maker is God, we shall not be
disappointed. We are told in Matthew to set our affections on things above,
and that "there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."

There are rumors of war in Europe, and if war were declared it would
probably excite the whole civilized world. Trade would be affected, and
relations of all kinds. I don't know whether it would excite heaven at all.
If the President of the United States issued a proclamation, I don't know
whether it would be noticed in heaven or not, but the papers would speak of
it, the people would be excited, and great changes might take place over it.
If Queen Victoria died, telegrams would go all over the world, newspapers
would speak of it, the whole world would be excited-I don't know if it would
be noticed in heaven at all. But if that girl there should repent there
would be joy in heaven. Just think of it-think of a little girl, of a little
girl being the cause of joy in heaven. I don't think the papers would record
it-they would never notice it. There would be no headline in the morning
telling the people that there had been joy in heaven over the repentance of
a little girl in the tabernacle. "There is joy over one sinner that
repenteth." I have been wondering who it is that rejoiced in heaven when He
brought back that lost sheep. We are told that there is joy in the presence
of the angels; but who else is it that rejoices? It may be that I am going a
little too far, but I think that I have a right to believe that the redeemed
saints who have gone up from earth may be led to rejoice when they hear in
heaven of the conversion of some living ones here.

Perhaps while I am speaking, some loving mother may be looking over the
battlements of heaven on her boy in the gallery yonder, and it may be that
while she was on earth she prayed earnestly and constantly, and when she got
there she pleaded at the throne for mercy to her son. It may be that as she
is watching some angel will carry the news to her of that boy's conversion
and take his name there to be recorded in the Book of Life. Perhaps that
mother and the Lord Jesus Christ will rejoice over that son, or it may be
some daughter. Perhaps it is some child who is looking from that country
down to her mother in this hall, and when the news of her acceptance of
salvation reaches that little child she will strike her golden harp and
shout, "Mother, Mother is coming!" While I was touching on this topic in
Manchester I remember a man getting up and shouting, "Oh, Mother, I am
coming!" The mother had been fruitless in her endeavors to convert that man
while on earth, but her intercession there and the influence of her prayers
here touched his heart and he decided.

I remember in the Exposition building in Dublin, while I was speaking about
heaven, I said something to the effect that "perhaps at this moment a mother
is looking down from heaven upon her daughter here tonight," and I pointed
down to a young lady in the audience. Next morning I received this letter:

On Wednesday when you were speaking of heaven you said, "It may be this
moment there is a mother looking down from heaven expecting the salvation of
her child who is here." You were apparently looking at the very spot where
my child was sitting. My heart said, "That is my child. That is her mother."
Tears sprang to my eyes. I bowed my head and prayed, "Lord, direct that word
to my darling child's heart; Lord, save my child." I was then anxious till
the close of the meeting, when I went to her. She was bathed in tears. She
rose, put her arms round me, and kissed me. When walking down to you she
told me it was that same remark (about the mother looking down from heaven)
that found the way home to her, and asked me, "Papa, what can I do for
Jesus?"

May the Spirit of God bring hundreds to the cross of Christ tonight.

The significance of the blood sacrifice began in Eden with the death of
several animals to provide clothing for Adam and Eve after they disobeyed
God. From that time up to the death of Christ, blood played an important
role in biblical history.

The sin of Adam passed on the curse of death to all humanity. Cain and Abel
were the first people to show the right and wrong approach to pleasing God
in presenting offerings to Him: Abel's blood sacrifice was acceptable; Cain's
produce offering was not.

The importance of blood is clearly demonstrated by the story of Abraham. The
command for him to sacrifice his son was the first clear picture of what God
was later going to do with His Son for the benefit of the world. The blood
of Christ made it possible for all individuals to be saved. The blood washed
the sinner clean, paying the debt that no one could pay to God.

As Moody described the death of Christ, he made it clear that such a payment
was of the greatest value with eternal dividends. All that is required is
faith in Christ for the remission of sin. By trusting Christ the sinner
finds eternal life and happiness.