Real Religion

About the Book

Gipsy Smith writes, When your Church membership is to you all that it ought to be, when you are alive from the dead and filled with the Holy Spirit, then you will accomplish something. Just as long as the Church of God is content to remain one of many institutions, she will have her little day and die; but the moment she becomes so God-filled and God-inspired that she is unique -- when the world looks on and says that she is drunk and mad -- at that moment she will be on the highway to capture the world for Christ. Here are Thirteen Revival Sermons delivered by evangelist Gipsy Smith during his twentieth visit to America.

Real Religion

Revival Sermons

Delivered During His Twentieth Visit to America 1922

by

Gipsy Smith

(1860-1949)

First published in 1922

This eBook is from the British edition

This edition ©White Tree Publishing 2018

eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-10-0

Published by

White Tree Publishing

Bristol

UNITED KINGDOM

More books on www.whitetreepublishing.com

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this abridged edition.

Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown's patentee, Cambridge University Press.

About the Author

Rodney Gipsy Smith was born in a gipsy tent in Epping Forest, England. He was the son of gipsies, Cornelius Smith and his wife Mary. Growing up, he had to help support the family by making and selling items like clothes pegs around the area. He only had a few weeks at school one winter, and was unable to read or write. One day his father Cornelius came home to say that he had been converted, and was now a Christian. Cornelius helped bring his son to the Lord, and from that moment, Rodney wanted to share the way of salvation with others.

Now followed a difficult time, because he knew that in order to preach to others, he had to be able to read the Bible, both for himself and aloud to others. He writes, I began to practise preaching. One Sunday I entered a turnip field and preached most eloquently to the turnips. I had a very large and most attentive congregation. Not one of them made an attempt to move away. When he started preaching to people, and came across a long word in the Bible he was unable to read, he says he stopped at the long word and spoke on what had gone before, and started reading again at the word after the long one!

Gipsy Smith quickly learnt to read fluently and was soon into fulltime evangelism, where he soon became known as Gipsy Smith, a name he accepted gladly. He joined the Salvation Army for a time, until being told to resign. Instead of this being a setback, he now took up a much wider sphere of work in England, before travelling to America and Australia where he became a much-loved preacher. In spite of meeting two American presidents at the White House, and other important figures in society, Gipsy Smith never forgot his roots. He never pretended to be anything other than a Gipsy boy, and was always pleased to come across other Gipsy families in his travels.

Other books by Gipsy Smith, published by White Tree Publishing:

My Life and Work: eBook ISBN: 978-1-9997899-4-7

Evangelistic Talks: eBook ISBN: 978-1-9997899-7-8

As Jesus Passed By: eBook ISBN: 978-1-912529-05-6

Publisher's Note

Because these chapters are taken directly from Gipsy Smith's talks, he did not slow down his speaking by giving the references of his many Scripture quotations. Other speakers have found that when people start to turn the pages of their Bibles, it causes a distraction and a delay. We have added them in this printed edition, where the readers may wish to check the wording for themselves, perhaps in a version of their own choosing.

There are 13 chapters in this book. In the second half are advertisements for our other books, so this book may end earlier than expected! The last chapter is marked as such. We aim to make our eBooks free or for a nominal cost, and cannot invest in other forms of advertising. However, word of mouth by satisfied readers will also help get our books more widely known. When the book finishes, please take a look at the other books we publish: Christian non-fiction, Christian fiction, and books for younger readers.

You can also check our website: www.whitetreepublishing.com

Contents

Cover

About the Book

About the Author

Publisher's Note

1 The Agony and Joy of Salvation

2 The Faith That Saves

3 The Marks of the New Birth

4 The Spirit-Filled Life

5 The Model Christian

6 The Model Church

7 The Real Kingdom

8 Seedtime and Harvest

9 Strength and Beauty

10 Jesus and the People

11 Christ in the Home!

12 Paul Teaching in the Inquiry Room

13 Bearing and Sharing

About White Tree Publishing

More Books

Christian Non-fiction

Christian Fiction

Younger Readers

Chapter 1

The Agony and Joy of Salvation

Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door…. (Luke 13:24-25a).

Let me read this text as I think it should be read, Strive (or agonise) to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able when once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door.

It has been hinted to me that in my preaching I am making things rather difficult. If you will read the New Testament you will discover that Jesus never made salvation easy. Anyone who thinks that it is an easy thing to be a Christian does not know Jesus, neither does he know the New Testament. I am certain that if anyone thinks it is easy to live the Christ-like life, he or she has never tried to live it in all its fullness and beauty. I want to emphasise this, because I do not want any candidate for discipleship to be under an illusion concerning what it means to be a Christian. I want to make discipleship as plain as the New Testament makes it, as difficult as the New Testament makes it, as easy as the New Testament makes it. I may, perhaps, sweep away many of your preconceived ideas on the subject, but I am prepared for that.

You may not relish all I have to say but I never knew anyone yet who thoroughly enjoyed a surgical operation. Do you expect that I am looking to you to enjoy my ministry if you are not right with God? I want to present my message to you that you will not feel at peace under my preaching until you do get right with Him.

There are thousands upon thousands of people who are called Christians and who yet have no right to the title. Many of these are Church members, without knowing why they are. But the child of God knows why he seeks fellowship with the Church, and with God's people. The man who is born again can give an answer to the question as to why he is a Church member. A person coming under the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit can give an answer. They know!

Some time ago a young lady wrote to me and said, I have just graduated. I am leaving college! My minister wants me to join the Church. He says I ought to. My parents also seek to persuade me, and they are giving me no rest. But, Gipsy Smith, I once heard you speak, and say that the first thing necessary to discipleship is a change of heart. What ought I to do? Ought I to join the Church in response to my parents' wishes, and my pastor's request? What do you say?

I replied, The New Testament says you must be born again. It does not say 'join the Church.' Church membership is all right in its proper place. It is the natural outcome of a change of heart, of a new-born spirit. It is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. But if you put Church membership in the place of discipleship you are mocking God, and deceiving your own soul.

Anyone, pastor or parents, who induces you to join the Church as a member, without first making enquiry concerning your new birth, is leading you along a crooked path which leads nowhere. No true teacher, with an open Bible in his hand, could do such a thing. I hear people crying Peace! Peace! where there is no peace, and where there never will be peace until the occasion for war has passed away.

It is a big thing to be a Christian -- a real Christian. It would be easy for me to take your name and write it down on a piece of paper and place the paper in a musty cupboard belonging to an ecclesiastical building and call it a Church Roll. I could write your name there. I could sprinkle you in baptism. I could immerse you. I could put my hands upon you and confirm you. I could do all that -- but it takes the Holy Ghost to make you a Child of God. That is a vital experience in the pathway of discipleship.

The New Birth is not after the will of man, or the will of flesh. It is a work done in you by the Holy Ghost. No organisation can do it. No creed can accomplish it. It is done for you from the throne of the Omnipotent God. Listen! You will never experience it without a struggle -- you will never obtain it without an effort -- and effort of your own. Your minister may want it done for you. Your father and mother may pray that it may come upon you; your husband or your wife may also pray. Somebody else who loves you may want this thing to be done, but only you and God can do it.

Nothing can be done until you and God come together. If ever you get through the gates of pearl, if ever you see the King in His beauty, if ever you witness the glory of those ministering angels who wait upon God, if ever you walk the golden streets and breathe the air of an endless Paradise, it will be because you have sufficient volition, intelligence, will and determination to settle this matter with God and with yourself.

This leads me to the next thing. The Bible does not say do this, and do that and you will be a Christian. It says, Ye must be born again! But, you object, is not Love's atoning work done? "Yes! 'Love's' atoning work -- but not yours. God has never done your work -- and never will. You are a free agent. He appeals to you for action, and expects a response. The whole matter rests with you. I say this reverently -- that God can do no more for you than He has done, not until you respond to this great appeal. I want you to think over this statement, for unless you do think over it, I can lead you nowhere. I want your conscience and your intelligence to work together upon this subject, for the more deeply you consider it the more certain will your experience become.

People who are superficial in spiritual things -- who live on the surface of great spiritual events -- can never be satisfied. The people who gain most are those who dive down into the depths, who probe into the heart of things. Jesus never made it easy for anyone to be saved. There was a man, you remember, who came to Jesus and found Him in the midst of a great work, healing all sorts of people, and blessing them. Yet this man had the will-power to get to Jesus.

Here, for example, is an inquisitive man. There has not been a preacher in his locality for twenty years whom he has not heard. He goes from one church to another. All the religion he has is in the heels of his boots. He is a speculative sort of person, and says, There are lots of men moving around Christ and apparently moving toward Christ, but how many will get really converted? How many will remain true in six months' time? We preachers, all of us, know this man, and have heard him speak time and again. I have had people come to me some time after a great revival and say, Where are your converts now? I say, in reply, They are where you drove them. Are there few that will be saved? Listen to the answer: Jesus says, Save yourselves! Never mind the other fellows who strive to enter the strait gate, for they will seek to enter and will not be able when once the master of the house has shut the door. What does that mean? Get in while the bell rings! Don't rush up ten seconds after the train has left the platform and look so earnest and wistful as if its departure had broken your heart. Don't find fault with the railway company for starting the train on time. Get in while the train is there -- waiting! There is a time limit. Strive to get in! Strive to the point of blood and death if necessary to enter the strait gate. Lose everything else in the world if it hinders you from achieving your object. Strive to do this! It will not be easy. It is a life and death struggle! Strive!

There was another man who came to Jesus. He came to headquarters and he said to the Commander in Chief, to the high authority, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Jesus said, Sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor ... and come, take up the cross and follow Me. It was too difficult. He did not do it. He went away sorrowful. But Jesus did not lower the standard, not even for the young ruler, whom He loved. He did not compromise.

Take note of another man, one of the inner circle, one of the professed princes of the Church of his day, an office bearer in the Church, but one who was not born again. This was a man who could boast of the mantle of religious knowledge, the phylactery of the Pharisee. He said, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God. Jesus said to this man, Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus would not make discipleship easy, even for a master in Israel.

There was another man who said, Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest. Jesus knew this man had counted the cost of discipleship, and said, The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. It will not be easy, said Jesus, in effect, to follow Me! If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out. … If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off. It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. It is your Master who speaks. Hear him. He never makes discipleship an easy thing. It is we who have cheapened religion; we who have vulgarised it.