not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Welcome back to the Hackberry House, a daily podcast devoted to the Word of God and to the persecuted church of North Korea. My name is Bob, and this is podcast number 250. It's August 21, 2015, and what a delight it is for me to be back from my break and ready to go again. to continue on this series of meetings that you and I have together every day. I'm so glad that you've been able to be with me a lot of that time. Today we're concluding Chapter 6 of By My Spirit, written by Jonathan Goforth, a missionary from Canada to China. beginning of the 20th century. He's been going out here and there in China, visiting other mission stations and helping to bring revival to these different places. But now his own team in his own city where he does his work, they're crowding around him and asking him to please bring the revival right there. And so he's at his own place now. And I'm reading Now in the middle of chapter six, we'll finish chapter six and then we'll be done with Jonathan Goforth for just a little while. Try to do something else next week. As the meeting went on, the meetings went on, many of those who had received a blessing hastened back to their villages and urged their relatives and friends to return with them at once to Changte saying, the spirit of God has come. Others who would not get away hired messengers to go to their home places and bring back their families. On the seventh day, the movement became so powerful that I did not have a chance to give either a forenoon or an afternoon address. In fact, from then on till the end of the meetings, there were so many anxious to confess that it was usually found impossible to limit a meeting to less than three hours. On the seventh day, Dr. L. came up on the platform and asked for an opportunity to say a few words. Addressing the congregation, he said, From the beginning of this movement with which Mr. Goforth has been connected, I have refused to believe that it originated with or was guided by the Holy Spirit. The conclusion that I arrived at was that it was due to some hypnotic power which Mr. Goforth was able to exercise over his audiences. But what I have seen here these past few days has convinced me, even against my will, that I was wrong. I was attributing to a man what only God could bring about. I want to say now that I believe with all my heart that this movement is truly of the Spirit of God, whereupon He turned to me before everyone and asked me to forgive him. And then addressing the people again, he said, I also want to ask your forgiveness. I've done you an injury in imagining that you could be moved, as you have been these days, by any other agency but the divine. A word of what was happening at Changthae, having gone around the country, fresh bands of Christians from all parts of the field were constantly arriving. Many of the newcomers were brought under conviction before they had scarcely entered the compound. Sometimes, people would be praying in their rooms hours before a meeting opened, and then, when the time came, they'd go and pour out their confessions. Again, on the eighth day, I found it impossible to give an address. At the morning meeting, even the schoolboys were getting up on their benches and in tears, confessing to all manner of sin. This was too much for Dr. M. At the conclusion of the meeting, he declared, After what I've heard this morning, it's impossible for me to take any further part in the meetings. It couldn't have been anything else than the devil which got into those boys. How could they know anything about the things of which they professed themselves guilty? They had listened to the confessions of the grown-ups, and they were simply playing parrot. Better be careful, doctor, I said, about judging too hastily. After all, how are we to determine the depth of iniquity which may lie even in a schoolboy's heart. Well, Dr. M had been appointed to take charge of the afternoon meeting. It was only after much persuasion that we induced him to fill the position. That afternoon, one after another of his own and other evangelists told how their hearts had been cut to the quick at the schoolboy's confessions. Well, this has certainly been a great revelation to me, said Dr. M after the meeting. Never again will I make out that I know what is the moving of the Spirit of God. The original plan had been that the meetings should last for eight days. But when the eighth day came, everyone was agreed we should go on for several days longer. During these last days, a number who had held out up till then felt that things were becoming too hot for them and they tried to run away. But they found out what a difficult thing it is to escape from a seeking God. Some only got partway home when the pressure became so unbearable that they had to turn around and come back. Others got all the way home, but finding no relief, they returned to Changte. One wealthy man, to whom the idea of public confession was particularly distasteful, had got a few miles from the city when he realized that it was useless for him to go any farther. He came back, and standing up in the rear of the tent, or with the tears coursing down his cheeks, he cried out to me, Pastor, do I have to wait until all those up there at the front have got through? I replied that since they had got there first, it was only fair that we should hear them first. But Pastor, he said, I can't wait. I'll burst if I'm not given a chance to confess my sin right away. Well, if that's the case, I said, Think we better hear you now. The others will have to be patient." And then followed the confession, coming like a torrent, bursting through the dam which had tried to hold it in check. Often during the meetings, great waves of prayer would sweep the congregation. Someone would cry, oh, do pray for my outstation. We're so cold and dead out there. Or another would tell of how his father and mother were unconverted and plead with the people to join him in prayer for them. Instantly, scores all over the audience would respond. It seemed that nothing could resist such importunity. A number of our most influential Chinese leaders had been opposed to the meetings and had declared beforehand that they had not the slightest intention of attending them. Special intercession was offered up on behalf of these men. And as I remember, some of the most broken confessions of the whole movement were from them. All kinds of quarrels were made up and innumerable wrongs righted during those days. Though many confessed to the grosser sins, yet the burden of perhaps the majority ran along the line of neglected duty. The Sabbath question, tithing, testimony to others, right example, neglect of the Bible, believing prayer for their loved ones and friends, these were the matters concerning which many, in great brokenness, confessed their failure. It was remarkable, too, how even the outsiders who came into the compound merely out of curiosity were often brought under conviction. With many, it seemed that an irresistible pressure drew them to the tent to confess their sins and acknowledge Christ as Savior. There was one young man in the hospital who had had both his legs cut off by a train. From his room in the ward, it was quite impossible for the man to hear my voice, and yet During one of the meetings, when the movement in the tent was at its height, he came under conviction of sin and was converted. But any account of the movement of Changche would be incomplete if it did not contain the story of how God dealt with my old friend Wang Yi of Takwachwang, a village some 25 li southeast of our station. Wang Yi was one of our strongest converts My home had no more frequent nor more welcome visitor than he. For a number of years after his conversion, the Lord's cause prospered greatly in his village. Some notorious sinners were saved. And by 1900, there were altogether 19 families in the village professing Christ. In Wang Yi's own household, out of 28 members, all except two had become Christians. In 1900, the boxer trouble broke out. The Chinese leaders immediately urged us to flee while there was time. They assured us that if we stayed, probably all missionaries and Chinese Christians alike would be massacred. If on the other hand we managed to get to a place of safety, we could remain there until the storm had blown over and then return. This is not the place to tell of the harrowing experiences through which we passed before we finally reached the safety of the coast. The Christians in Honan, and among them my friends at Taekwondo, went through great persecution and were stripped of practically everything. On my return to Changtae in the spring of 1902, I immediately hurried out to Taekwondo. What a meeting that was. We all gathered in Wang Yi's home. They showed me their scars. I showed them mine. Then we all knelt down and praised God for his mercy to us. Destitute as they were, not one of the little band had been killed. I felt that surely, since God had brought his people safely through such trials, he must have great things in store for them. Shortly after this visit, I entered upon the evangelization of the northern portion of the field, and another missionary took over the southern section in which Tak-Won-Chang was situated. Thus, for a number of years, I was not able to visit the station again. Wang Yi, however, often came to call on me. When I would ask him how the work was prospering in Takhwanchwang, his face would fall and he would reply, not very well, I am afraid, but pastor, you mustn't blame me. God's time hasn't come yet. When his time comes, he will save the people of my village. Somehow I felt that the hindrance must be with my friend, but where or how I had no means of determining. In the fall of 1908, I wrote a letter to Wang Yi, asking him, as a special favor to myself, to come and attend the meetings which were to be held at Chengte. But at the opening meeting, I looked in vain for the familiar face of my old friend. His son, however, had come. I said to the young man, I sent especially for your father. Why didn't he come? He replied, my father sent me in his stead. He says that he is old and will soon pass on, and that he wants me to learn all I can so as to be able to take his place in the church after he is gone. On the third day, the young fellow appeared to be greatly moved. You go home, I said to him. Tell your father that he simply must come, that if he doesn't, he will offend his best friend. Well, next morning, Wang Yi turned up. His greeting was cold. Why did you send my son home? He asked resentfully. He would have got far more out of these meetings than I could. There's really no particular reason why I should come. I haven't any sin. Wang Yi, I said. I just want to ask one thing of you, and that is that you should stay here several days and just see if God has anything to say to you. On the sixth morning before breakfast, Evangelist Ho came to my home in great excitement. Wang Yi is in a terrible state, he said. Late last night as he was talking with some of us evangelists, he suddenly fell down on the floor as if he'd been shot. Ever since he's been weeping and crying out about his sin, he sent me to ask you to start the meeting as soon as possible so that he can have a chance to make his confession. As soon as breakfast was over, I hurried out to the yard. Just outside the door of the tent, I met Wang Yi. The tears were streaming down his cheeks. He was so overcome that he could not say a word. He just grasped my arm. This was too much for me. I found I couldn't keep the tears back myself. Arm in arm, we entered the tent. Wang Yi knelt down on the platform. For a few minutes, the great sobs that shook his frame rendered him speechless. But at last, Finding his voice, he cried, I told Pastor Goforth that the people of Tangquanchuang had not been saved because God's time was not up. I lied to him. It was because Wang Yi's time was not up. I have sinned and grieved the Holy Spirit. After 1900, when the official was compelled to indemnify me for the property which had been stolen or destroyed by the boxers, I grossly exaggerated my losses. I'd only lost three mules, but I made out a claim for six. I got paid for six. Where I'd been robbed of 300 bushels of wheat, I declared I'd been robbed of 600. I was paid for 600. By lying in this way, I've been made rich out of adversity and quenched the Holy Spirit in my heart." Wang Yi concluded with the declaration that he would use every cent which he had got dishonestly from the boxer indemnity in the construction of a church in his native village. And he kept his word. Well, well, well, what a chapter, what a book. Jonathan Goforth, By My Spirit. Now, you say it's not, you know, I never heard of stuff like this. Is this a new teaching, new doctrine? Is this some Pentecostal? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Confession's a very biblical thing. Jonathan Goforth was not a charismatic Pentecostal, he's just a Christian man. We say, well, we don't have sin like that in our church, don't you? Well, I won't go any farther with this, but even though it all sounds very strange to some who might be listening, it is not strange to confess our sins one to another and pray for one another. That's Bible. The wisdom is that if you've sinned against a person, one person, you go to that one person and confess. If you've sinned against a group, you go to the group. If you've sinned against the church, you confess to that whole church. Whatever it is on your heart that needs to be confessed, because perhaps it's not an accident that you're listening today, whatever it is on your heart that needs to be confessed, why don't you go take care of that? right now. Who knows? Maybe you will be the means of revival breaking out in your church. On the other hand, if you don't or somebody in your church doesn't, maybe that's why there is no revival in your church. If there isn't, I don't know what your church is like. But we certainly must believe that there are churches that are cold and dead and going nowhere because of sin in the camp. I wonder who will begin. I wonder who will humble himself and take care of this matter even today. Well tomorrow Spurgeon, Charles H. Spurgeon, you know the name, takes us to Daniel's life. Oh, that's going to be a fun one. I love listening to and recording Charles Spurgeon. We'll get to have that tomorrow and of course on Sunday we revisit the persecuted church of North Korea. get some more things to think about and pray about. Next week, I'm not sure what we'll do, but it'll be good because I will pray and I'm sure the Lord will show me something that ought to be shared. I've got all those books that we didn't complete yet. I can go back to those or, well, let's just see, okay? But come back tomorrow. Let's listen to the full-length message of Charles Spurgeon. Today, Zechariah 4.6 is where we began. Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit. saith the Lord.