The Moody Church: “The Flower And The Fruit” of DL Moody’s Great Work As Represented In The City Of Chicago

An address delivered by Rev. James M. Gray, D.D., President of the Moody Bible Institute, in The Moody Church Tabernacle, on the occasion of laying the cornerstone of the D.L. Moody Memorial Church and Sunday School Building, December 16, 1924.

My dear brethren: I have in my files in the Moody Bible Institute a newspaper editorial that I greatly prize. It appeared in one of the morning dailies of this great city. It is entitled, “Chicago’s Most Notable Citizen,” and the citizen of whom it speaks is D.L. Moody, who was, under God, the founder of this church. And I would have you know that the reason why the editor of that great paper spoke of him as Chicago’s most notable citizen was because of what he had done for the citizens of Chicago and the people of the whole world in the name of God and His Son Jesus Christ. And the flower and the fruit of that great work as it was and is represented in this city is The Moody Church, under whose auspices we are gathered together tonight.

“I Will Be That Man.”

Often I have said to you, my dear brethren, when I have been privileged to come here in these later years that you have a great heritage in the name and the memory of that man of God. Often have you heard it repeated how that on one memorable occasion in his life, when he was in the service of God on the other side of the water, he heard a fellow servant say, “O, what God could do with one man who was entirely consecrated to him!” And D.L. Moody said in his heart, “Before God, I will be that man.” He consecrated himself to God, or rather, he yielded himself to God absolutely, that God might do the consecrating, and God did it. God filled him with the Holy Ghost and power, and his works do follow him. And one of the greatest works he ever wrought in the name of God is this Moody Church, of which we are a part tonight.

Losses In Leaving The Old Building.

I wish to say to you, my dear brethren, speaking personally, that this is a very glad hour for me. When some years ago, The Moody Church decided to remove from the old corner of Chicago Avenue and LaSalle Street, I felt that it had decided to do a wise thing, and when it chose this other great corner as the location for its future work, I again thought that it had done a wise thing. And yet, notwithstanding, from the human side simply, there was anxiety associated with that thought, and there was in a certain sense, uncertainty associated with it. I knew—we all knew—that that removal meant necessarily a depletion in the ranks of this church. It meant a scattering of the flock of God. It meant a new and somewhat radical readjustment of things, and it meant very especially a long period before the great amount of money could be gathered together, or could be found in sight, to encourage the management of the church to erect a new building on this corner.

God Perfecting His Work.

But tonight that anxiety is removed and that uncertainty is removed. God in His grace has again been hearing and answering the united prayers of His people, and He who has begun a good work here and a great work, has been perfecting that work; and it is evident to all our eyes tonight that it is His purpose to continue perfecting it, let us hope and believe, till the day of Jesus Christ; for we are looking for His coming, and there are times when we feel that He must be very near. Therefore, I say that I am glad tonight—and I am more than glad—I am grateful, and my heart is going up in praise and thanksgiving.

A Great Conflict in Progress.

And my dear brethren, never was there a time in the history of the church of Christ—never was there a time when the life and work, when the testimony of The Moody Church was more needed than it is needed just now. I need not remind you that we are in the midst of a great spiritual conflict between the powers of light and darkness. Christ and Satan. And I need not remind you that the storm center of that conflict is the Bible considered as the revelation of God. But this has been the case always. It has been the case from the very beginning of sin. It has been the case since our first parents were driven out of the garden of Eden.

Christianity’s Three Great Crises.

But there are wise and good men, men who are students of the Word of God who say that we perhaps are living in a day when the conflict between Christ and Satan is more intense than it has ever been. As one of them said recently, “We are today in what may be regarded as one of the three great crises in the history of the church.” The first was in the second century, when a false philosophy known as Gnosticism, almost throttled the infant church in its cradle. The second crisis was the rise and development of the papacy, from which the church was delivered by the Protestant Reformation through the providence and grace of God. But the third crisis, that of today, is one in which the church of Christ is opposed by an apostasy known as Liberalism or Modernism, and those who are better able to judge than I, believe that the apostasy today is the deepest and the darkest that the church has ever known.

Modernism Christ’s Foe.

For Modernism, I ask you to believe, and I have good and sufficient grounds for it. Which I have shown elsewhere, is a revolt absolutely against Christianity. It is a revolt against the God of Christianity, the Bible of Christianity, and the Christ of Christianity. And if it be permitted to continue unchecked, it would not be long until there would be no such thing known on this earth as a pure and simple Bible Christianity.

But, thank God, it is not going to go unchecked, and we have tonight in this gathering an illustration and an example of that fact. God has made bare His holy arm in the sight of the people here. He has carried on this work in the face of great obstacles and difficulties, and perplexities; and the laying of this cornerstone tonight is, as it were, the voice of God speaking through this community and saying that He is, and that He is the rewarder of all them that diligently seek Him. So we have great reason tonight, to thank God and to take courage and to go from this place strengthened and renewed in the inner man by the Holy Ghost.

The Four Pillars Of The Gospel.

Now just a word about D.L. Moody personally, and about him personally as a witness for Christ and a preacher of the Gospel. I brought with me tonight a very brief clipping from one of the great sermons of D.L. Moody, a sermon which he preached at the old corner and in the old church, and a sermon which, as expressed in this extract from it, represents what this church has always been since his day, what this church is tonight, in its witness and testimony, and what the laying of this cornerstone now represents.

He preached from the words of the apostle Paul in the epistle to the Galatians, the first chapter and the seventh and eighth verses. The words of the text are these: “But there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” And then he adds as a comment on those words: “The Gospel preached by the apostle rested upon four pillars. The first was the atoning work of Christ; the second, His burial and resurrection; the third, His ascension into heaven, and the fourth, His coming again. These four doctrines were preached by all the apostles, and by them the Gospel must stand or fall.”

Has not that been the testimony of The Moody Church as long as any of us have known it, and is it not the testimony of The Moody Church today? And am I not right when I say that it is that which is being laid in the representative cornerstone tonight?

Winning Souls Always First.

One closing word: D.L. Moody was nothing if he was not a great evangelist and a great soul winner. This church was born in the desire to win souls to God, and this church has ever made the winning of souls its first object. It is for that reason, I believe, that God has set His seal upon it and that His blessing is realized in it tonight. D.L. Moody never stood in his pulpit that he did not appeal to men to come to God in Christ. I stand here tonight, in a sense, as his successor. On this memorable occasion, I desire to employ the opportunity God and this church have given me to make the same appeal, for there are unsaved men and women in this assembly, there is little doubt, and I wish to make the appeal not in my own words, but in the words of D.L. Moody himself. I am quoting again from a sermon preached in the old church, and he being dead, yet speaketh. And this is based on John 3:3, those familiar words so often dwelt upon in this sacred house, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Mr. Moody goes on to say with that rare eloquence of his that many of us tonight remember—for though he is often spoken of as a man of no education, let it be remembered that he was a man of great education; he had the education of the Spirit of God and God often spoke, commonly spoke, through his lips in words of the rarest and highest eloquence—and he goes on to say:

What The Unsaved Will Miss.

“You may see many countries, but there is one country, the land of Beulah, you shall never behold unless you are born again.

“You may look abroad and see many beautiful trees, but the tree of life you shall never behold unless your eyes are made clear by faith in the Saviour.

“You may see the beautiful rivers of the earth, but bear in mind that your eyes will never rest upon the river which bursts out from the throne of God unless you are born again.

“You may hear the songs of Zion which are sung here, but one song, that of Moses and the Lamb, will only gladden the ears of those who have been born again.”

Love’s Blessed invitation.

It is God who says it through the lips of D.L. Moody, and I take up his words and I echo them in your ear tonight as I beseech you who are out of Christ to make this the night, this the hour, this the occasion, when you will say to God, “O God, I am the sinner whom Jesus came to save. I now receive Him as my Saviour, and by thy grace I will confess and follow Him as my Lord.” God help you to do that tonight. God help you to do it now, and you shall know, for God’s Word has promised it, the meaning of that blessed revelation of His grace expressed in the words that Christ, His only begotten and well beloved Son, is His and our chief cornerstone. God grant it for His name’s sake. Amen.