Moody Cared for Souls Do You — E.A. Johnston

D.L. Moody's Burden for Souls

It was said of the great evangelist D .L. Moody that he depopulated hell by a million souls. There are few men in history who were so mightily used of God as Moody. Let's face it, friends, Moody did more for God than all of us put together, and Moody understood what a true conversion was, and he had a firm grip of the gospel of the Son of God.

But what stands out about Moody more than anything else is the fact that he cared for souls. When he first was saved, he made a vow to God that he would not go to bed at night without speaking to someone about their soul, and he kept that vow until the day he died.

Moody was also familiar with the wicked windings of the human heart, and he was familiar with all the excuses sinners made to avoid the subject of salvation. Moody knew full well that a man had to be lost before he was saved.

The Son of Man Came to Seek and Save the Lost

And I want to read you today, friends, a sermon by Moody which deals with this very subject of getting men lost. The title of my message is Moody Cared for Souls, Do You? And my text can be found in Luke's gospel in chapter 19 and verse 10.

Let me read that verse to us at this time. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is what? Lost. Allow me to take this time to read you Moody's sermon, friends. And I promise you, if you will listen intently to it, you will benefit greatly from it in regard to sharing the gospel with the lost and our generation.

Here now is Moody's message in his own words. Do you know why so few persons are saved? It's because you can induce so few to believe they are lost. What is it to be lost? It is to be out of God's way.

So many of you stay out of God's way, but you won't believe you are lost. It's such a hard thing to find men who are lost. If we could only get the confession of a man that he is lost, it wouldn't be long before he would be saved.

If a man ain't lost, what does he need of a savior? But oh, how refreshing it is to find a one who will admit that he is lost. If you will admit that you are a sinner, I can tell you there is one mighty to save, the one who came to save sinners.

Moody's Prison Ministry and the Self-Justification of Sinners

I was invited one day some years ago to visit and preach in the tombs prison in New York. I had supposed that I should address the prisoners face to face, as I used to talk to the prisoners in the chapels in most of our jails.

But when I got there, I found I had a stand on a little iron railing running from one tier of cells to another. There was a tier above one and one below and one on the same level with me. There I talked to a great long narrow passageway to gates, to bars, and to brick walls.

It was pretty hard preaching. I had never attempted to preach in that way before. I did not know when I got through with it how they had received me. And so I thought I would go and see them. I went to the first cell and looked in and I found the men playing euchre.

I suppose they had been playing all the time that I was preaching and took no interest in the sermon. I looked into the window and said, how is it with you here? And they said, oh chaplain, we do not want you to have a bad idea of us.

I said to myself, there is no one here to be saved for there is no one lost. And I got away as quick as I could. I went to another cell. There were three or four men in there and I said, how is it with you here?

Well stranger, we will tell you. We got into bad company and the men that did the deed got clear and we got caught. I said to myself, there is no one here for Christ to save for there was no one lost.

And I went along to the next cell and I said, how is it with you my friends? One of them said, a false witness went to court and swore a lie upon me. He was perfectly innocent and ought not to be there.

I went on to the next cell and looked in and said, well friends, how is it with you? They were innocent as well. But the man that did the deed looked very much like them. The people thought they were the men and they got caught.

They were perfectly innocent. They were not the men. I went along to the next cell. But no sooner did I ask the same question that they said they had not had their trial. They were going to have it next week and they would be out on next Sunday.

And so I went on. I never found so many innocent men. They were all innocent. I found a great many innocent men under lock and key and they were all trying to justify themselves. There was no one guilty but the constables, the justices or magistrates.

They were the guilty ones. I got discouraged. I thought I would give it up. But I kept on. I found one man in a cell alone. He had his elbows on his knees and he had his head buried in his hands. As I looked in, I could see the streams of tears running down upon his cheeks.

Recognizing Sin and Receiving Mercy

They were the first tears I had seen. It did me good to look at them. I said, my friend, how is it with you here? He looked up. It was a look of remorse and despair. He said, oh, sir, my sins are more than I can bear.

Thank God for that, said I. Thank God for that? Ain't you the man that's been preaching to us? Yes, sir. And yet I thought you said you was a friend to the prisoner and you're glad that my sins are more than I can bear.

Yes, yes. Then you are a strange kind of friend. How is it that you're glad my sins are more than I can bear? I am glad that they are more than you can bear. For if they are more than you can bear, you can cast them on the Lord Jesus.

He will not bear my sins. Why, I am the worst sinner in here. I'm the worst man living today. And he began enumerating his sins and what a load it was for him to bear. It was refreshing to stand there and hear him tell me it was the Lord Jesus that had gotten to that cell and into that man's heart.

And I told him so. Then I told him to pray to God to forgive him and to take away his sin. He thought God would never forgive such a sinner as he was. I told him that you can get all those sins multiplied by 10 ,000 forgiven because you have committed probably 10 ,000 more sins than you've never thought of.

You can sum them all up and write underneath the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses from all sin. And I stood there and preached the gospel to that thirsty soul. He seemed to drink it in. I said, let us get down here and pray.

And we did. He inside and I outside. And after I got through prayer, I said, my friend, now you pray. I pray it would be blasphemy for me to pray for a wretch like me to call upon God. I said to him, call upon God.

Ask for mercy. That's what you want. Ask him to have mercy upon you. The poor wretch could not lift his eyes toward heaven. He knelt down on the pavement and all he could say was, God, be merciful to me, a foul wretch.

After his prayer, I put my hand through the window in the door. He got hold of it and shook it. And a hot tear fell on my hand. That tear seemed to burn into my very soul. I said, I'm going to the hotel.

Prayer, Conversion, and Follow-Up

And between 9 and 12 o 'clock, I want you to join me in prayer and make up your mind that you will not sleep tonight until you know. Well, that night I got much interested in prayer for the man. My heart was so overborn that I could not go back to Chicago without going down to the prison to see him.

I went down and I got the governor of the tombs to let me in. And I went to his cell. And when I got there and saw him, the remorse and despair had all disappeared. It was all gone. His face was lit up with a heavenly glow.

He seized my hand and tears of joy began to flow. He pressed my hand and shook it and said, I believe I am the happiest man in the whole city of New York. I thought when they brought me to this prison, I should never go out again.

I thought I could never walk down Broadway again. I thought I could never see my godly mother again. Now I thank God that they brought me. For if they had not, I would have never have known Christ. He said when he prayed, the Lord Jesus heard his prayer.

I asked him what time of the night he thought it was. And he said he thought it was about midnight that the Lord Jesus came into the cell and saved his soul. My dear friend, can you tell me why it was that God came into that prison and passed by cell after cell and set that one captive free?

It was because he took his place as a poor law center and asked for mercy. The moment centers do that and cry for mercy, they will get it. You don't change human nature a bit by locking it behind the bars.

Those men wouldn't admit they were guilty and you won't admit you were lost. Well, friends, I will stop there. I want us to notice several things from Moody's sermon in regard to how he dealt with centers.

Moody's Evangelistic Method

Notice first that he presented the gospel to them. He preached in the prison to the inmates. Notice secondly that he then conducted one on one evangelism in speaking to each one about the condition of his soul.

Thirdly, notice he excluded those individuals who refused to admit their guilt and need of a savior. He did not cast his pearls before swine once he determined their self-righteousness. Notice fourthly that when he did find a poor center, he rejoiced.

Here was a man who had a need to be forgiven. He recognized his guilt. And notice fifthly that Moody then presented the glorious gospel to this hungry center and showed him the bread of life. Notice sixthly that Moody then prayed with the man and then asked the man to pray.

Notice next that Moody went back to his room at the hotel to intercede with God on behalf of this poor center. He told the prisoner he would pray between nine and midnight and for the man to do the same in seeking God's mercy.

And lastly, Moody goes the extra length to do follow up work the next day and check in on this man that he had witnessed to. This should be our example as well, friends. If we model Moody, we do well in regard to the souls of men.

Renewed Commitment to Soul-Winning

We can learn a lot from Moody, friends. Well, I hope this story about D .L. Moody has helped us in our understanding of dealing with the souls of men. We must be like Moody and get men lost and then bring them to the savior, to the one who can wash them, wash them in his blood.

Only then will they realize their need of a savior from sin. Let us pray.