Out and Out for Christ

The great evangelist D.L. Moody was walking with a Boston minister who asked him, Mr. Moody, I see you sign your name D.L. Moody O.O. I am a doctor of divinity and I sign my name D.D. But tell me, what does O.O. stand for? Moody looked him squarely in the eye and replied, I am D.L. Moody O.O. on the out and out for Christ. And when you examine the life of D.L. Moody, you see that, friends, he was a Christ-intoxicated man who lived on the full stretch for his God. He lived on the out and out for Christ.

And that's the title of my message this evening, out and out for Christ. Moody did more than all of us put together. I used to often visit his grave in Northfield, Massachusetts.

There on the rise of a hill behind his home is Round Top where his mortal remains lay. I have stood there by myself on many an occasion, praying to the God of Moody, reflecting on how God used Moody, how God built Moody. I was standing on Round Top one afternoon in complete solitude for the campus where his school is.

It's a ghost town now. All the buildings are deserted. They're unoccupied.

And as I stood there looking down at the little white home where Moody was born, and I glanced over the other way down the hill at the home where he died in the upstairs bedroom, and from my vantage point atop Round Top, I could see the grand auditorium where Moody often preached, along with such greats as G. Campbell Morgan, Andrew Bonar, and F.B. Meyer. And as I stood at Moody's grave, my thoughts ran to the great usefulness of the man who lived on the out and out for Christ. I pictured in my mind Moody preaching in London to vast crowds of 10,000 people at a time, many of them royalty in the upper crust of London society.

And here he was, an uneducated man who couldn't even speak right. He couldn't even spell the word bed properly. Yet he possessed the power when he preached, for he had unction of the Holy Spirit.

And when he preached, his hearers were gripped with eternity and the God of that eternity. It was said of Moody when he died that he had depopulated hell by a million souls. Surely he lived his life on the out and out for Christ.

The last time I was standing at his grave at Round Top, I recalled how a British minister once remarked to Moody, The world has yet to see what God can do with a man completely sold out to him. D.L. Moody walked away from that meeting, muttering under his breath, By God's grace, I will be that man. He said on the voyage home, every plank in that ship stood out with those words.

When he got back to Chicago, every stone and every pavement he walked upon were emblazoned with those words. It was the crossroad in Moody's life when he became a man who lived on the out and out for Christ. And as I strolled down Round Top that last time, tears flowed down my own face as I too cried out in prayer, Oh God, I want to be that kind of man, completely sold out to you.

And I want to ask you, friend, have you ever given yourself to God like that? Have you ever crossed your own personal Rubicon, so to speak? Were you made a vow to God himself that from that point forward your life would be different? As you listen to me now, can you say like those two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Did not our hearts burn within us? Is your heart burning, friend, to be more useful to God? Or are you consumed with the thought that a life is short, and every person in the world is an eternity-bound soul who will enter a realm which is either heaven or hell? I was recently on vacation in another state, and I saw all the merry men of the crowds at the mall, all the party-goers filling the streets at night, all the people in that town who were enjoying life in this present now, and how they were quite oblivious to the eternity that awaited them. One day, we are each going to be placed in the ground, and our soul will return to the God who gave it. And if we die as Christians, will it be enough that we love Jesus and we're truly saved? Or will we have regrets as to how we lived our one opportunity at life here on planet Earth? Will we wish we had prayed more? Will we wish we had wept more for lost souls, witnessed more regularly to the lost around us? Will we be ashamed at how little we did for Christ in our generation? Will we look back on our life in eternity, and realize it was a life lived more unto ourselves than a life lived for others? I'll never forget the plaque that my late mentor, Dr. Stephen F. Oldford, kept on his desk in his study.

It had one word written upon it, and that word was, Others. Stephen Oldford lived his life for others. He told me that he had no intention to become a preacher.

He wanted to race motorcycles and design engines. That's what his life was consumed with as a young man. But he got into a bad motorcycle accident and landed in the hospital.

And while he was there, he contracted an infection. And for a while, the doctors were saying he wasn't going to live. While in the hospital, Stephen Oldford received a letter from his father, who was a missionary in Africa.

In the letter was the following poem. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last.

Stephen Oldford told me that when he read those words, he got out of bed, got down on his knees, confessed his sins to God, and committed his life to Christ as a preacher right then and there. He said, Lord, if you will raise me up, I will be yours. God healed him, and Stephen Oldford became one of the greatest preachers in his generation.

And his life motto always was, Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. How about you, friend? How about you? Have you gotten to the place in your life where you are tired of running from God and the call he has on your life? Will you cross that Rubicon now and give yourself entirely to him in service for whatever he calls you to do, for his great glory? Will you be a girl or a woman on the out and out for Christ with your life? Will you be a boy or a man who will say now, Whatever the cost, Lord, I will follow you.

Just use me, use me, use me. There's a scripture verse which has impacted my own life. It is found in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 16 and verse 25.

Let me read it to you now. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Those words were dynamite for me.

The very thought of the cost involved in those words sent a river of terror through me. Lose my life for his sake? What would that mean? What would that entail? What would the sacrifice be? Why, the sacrifice was none other than me. When you opened my Bible on the flyleaf, I've written the following, which has been my own life motto.

When I wrote those words, I had no idea what I was getting into. But nevertheless, when I wrote them, I meant it with my whole heart in whole submission to God. This is what I have written in my Bible.

It's my own translation of Matthew 16, 25. What is my life that I should keep it selfishly for me? I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee. Since that time, my life has been one great trial after another.

It amazes me that I am even here now speaking to you today, but God has allowed me to do that very thing to realize my heart's desire to have so lost my life completely that I have found it in him. Jesus said, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. I can say this, friends.

There is a cost involved to those words. What cost counts and what counts costs. Listen, dear friend.

Are you hanging on to your life and keeping it selfishly for you? Are you living for this world and just your family? Do you desire more usefulness to God in reaching the lost in this generation? Have you come short of the mark in your spiritual life? Do you long to say with moody, the world has yet to see, what God can do with a person completely sold out for him? Do you long, friend, to live a life that is utterly and entirely lived on the out and out for Christ? Then get about it, friend. Go to God and seek his presence. Go to the Almighty and make your vows to him with the rest of your life here on this sin-soaked side called planet Earth.

Go to God now. Fall on your face. Ask his forgiveness for hanging on to your life.

Why are you saving your life, friend, when you can lose it for God and really find it? Do you not want to enter into the greatest capacity that Christ has for you as his follower? Do you not want to enter into the greatest usefulness that he has waiting for you to bring him glory? Are you into self-preservation? Or are you willing to count the cost in following a crucified Savior and be quite willing to lay down your life, lay down all your rights, right now and give yourself entirely to him, give yourself to God in such a way of commitment and surrender that you will be losing your life as you presently know it? It sounds scary, doesn't it? There's a great unknown attached to that kind of surrender. But do you know what, friend? When you truly lose your life for his sake, you will better understand how he gave his life for your sake. He poured out his blood on your behalf because of sin.

Christ held nothing back for you. He endured it all for you. How can you hold anything back from him? Perhaps you may wish to silently repeat in your hearts the words which so radically changed my own life, the words I wrote in the flyleaf of my Bible.

Here they are again. What is my life that I should keep it selfishly for me? I choose to lose it so completely and have it found in thee. Jesus is saying to you right now, to you personally, he beckons with a great challenge to you, friend, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Oh, friend, come join the out-and-out club. Come get out on a limb for Jesus and lose what you are holding on to so selfishly. Life is short.

Eternity is forever. Souls are perishing all around us every minute. Why don't we witness for Christ more? Why don't we get up earlier in the morning to spend more time with God? Oh, why do we waste the time God has given us on entertainment and sports? Are we redeeming the time because the days are evil? Are we making the best use of our time? Or are we selfishly spending it all on ourselves? Time is a commodity, friend.

Once it's spent, it can never be recovered. Eternity waits. Souls perish.

Listen, friend. I will leave you with J. Sidlow Baxter's life motto. When I was at his home in lovely Santa Barbara, going through his personal papers, I found the following motto, which he lived his life by.

It sums up exactly what we've been discussing here today. Are you holding on to your life, friend, in self-preservation? Are you willing to lose your life for Christ? Are you willing to give it all to Him? Listen now to the wise counsel of J. Sidlow Baxter as to what Jesus does when we do give it all to Him. Here now are his words.

What I give to Him, He takes. What He takes, He cleanses. What He cleanses, He fills.

What He fills, He uses. Is that your desire, dear friend? Then go to the God of the Bible. Throw down your shotgun of rebellion and submit everything to Him.

You can trust Him with it all. I can promise you that. The road may be difficult.

The path may be hard. The pain may be at times unbearable. But you can trust Him, friend.

Jesus is a faithful friend who will always be there by your side and He always has your best interests at heart. Ask Him now to grant you the grace to lose it all for Him. Only one life will soon be passed.

Only what's done for Christ will last. And as I lay dying, how good it shall be when the lamp of my life has been burned out for thee.