in appropriating that which
does not belong to him. If you should be condemned just here and have
determined never to fail again at this point, by an act of your will
you consign this king to the cave and close up the entrance.
Five: Unbelief, which is the greatest sin of all and is the last and
greatest sin to be put into the cave. As a result of such an action
there may be temporary relief, but not permanent, for the kings may
break away from the cave and organize their forces against you once
more and you go down. Here comes in the power of the text. Bring the
kings out, every one of them, and put your feet upon their necks and
stand in all your right and dignity as Christian men, and expect
deliverance not so much because of what you are but because of the fact
that from the days of the first sin it has been said, "The seed of the
woman shall bruise the serpent's head."
Near Toledo, Ohio, there used to live an old doctor noted for his
infidelity. He was violent in his opposition to the church. One day
he called Robert Ingersoll to the town where he lived and paid him two
hundred dollars, that he might by means of his lecture break up the
revival meeting. Everybody was afraid of him. He heard of an old
preacher back in the country who was a stranger to the schools but not
a stranger to God, and he asked his friends to make it possible for him
to meet him. Finally they met, and the infidel with a sneer said, "So
you believe the Bible, do you?" and he said, "Yes, sir; do you?" "And
you believe in God, do you?" and he said, "Yes, sir." "Well, I want
you to understand that I am an infidel, and believe none of these
things." The old minister looked at him and said simply, "Well, is
that anything to be proud of?" and it was an arrow that went straight
through the unbeliever. He went back to his office and began to think
it over. "Anything to be proud of," he said, and he finally realized
that he was not in a favorable position. Then he thought of an old
Christian he knew and said, "If I could be such a Christian as that I
would come to Christ." He went to tell the minister, and the minister
said to him, "Get down on your knees and tell God so," and he began to
tell him, then broke down and sobbed out his confession of sin. His
cry for deliverance was heard, and he rose up a free man in Christ
Jesus. From that day till this he has been freed from every one of his
sins, is preaching the Gospel and count
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