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  PICKING UP THE BIBLE
  by D.L. Moody
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Summary: Becoming a Christian is the most difficult thing to do, yet it
is also the easiest, requiring only the willingness to give up one's
will and trust in Christ.

Topics: "Faith", "Surrendering Will"
Scripture References: Matthew 11:28, John 3:16, Romans 10:9

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DESCRIPTION
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D.L. Moody emphasizes the paradox of becoming a Christian, describing it
as both the hardest and easiest thing a person can do. He illustrates
this with a story about his nephew who initially refuses to pick up a
Bible, reflecting how people often resist coming to Christ by saying
they won't, can't, or don't want to. Moody asserts that the true
challenge lies in surrendering one's will to God, and that accepting the
gospel is a simple act of faith. He encourages listeners to trust in
Jesus as their Savior, promising that He will embrace them with love and
righteousness once they do. The message is a call to recognize the ease
of faith when one decides to let go of their resistance.

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CONTENT
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The hardest thing, I will admit, ever a man had to do is to become a
Christian, and yet it is the easiest. This seems to many to be a
paradox, but I will repeat it; it is the most difficult thing to become
a Christian, and yet it is the easiest. I have a little nephew in
Chicago. When he was three or four years of age, he threw that Bible on
the floor. I think a good deal of that Bible, and I didn't like to see
this. His mother said to him, "Go, pick up your uncle's Bible from the
floor."

"I won't," he replied. "Go and pick that Bible up directly." "I won't."
"What did you say?" asked his mother. She thought he didn't understand.
But he understood well enough, and had made up his mind that he
wouldn't. She told the boy she would have to punish him if he didn't,
and then he said he couldn't, and by-and-by he said he didn't want to.
And that is the way with the people coming to Christ. At first they say
they won't, then they can't, and then they don't want to. The mother
insisted upon the boy picking up the Bible, and he got down and put his
arms around it and pretended he couldn't lift it.

He was a great, healthy boy, and he could have picked it up easily
enough. I was very anxious to see the fight carried on, because she was
a young mother, and if she didn't break that boy's will, he was going to
break her heart by-and-by. So she told him again, if he didn't pick it
up, she would punish him, and the child just picked it up. It was very
easy to do it when he made up his mind. So it is perfectly easy for men
to accept the gospel. The trouble is, they don't want to give up their
will.

If you want to be saved, you must just accept that gospel; that Christ
is your Savior; that He is your redeemer, and that He has rescued you
from the curse of the law. Just say, "Lord Jesus Christ, I trust you
from this hour to save me"; and the moment you take that stand, He will
put His loving arms around you and wrap about you the robe of
righteousness.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/dl-moody/picking-up-the-bible/
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