Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler: His Life and Work

1. In the first place, vice destroys health. If a man indulges in gluttony, he brings on dyspepsia with its accompanying pains and distress and torture. All this is increased by a life of idleness, laziness and inactivity. If he indulges in intemperance, he soon becomes a wretched slave, and is consumed by inward fires till delirium tremens ends the miserable career. If he indulges in sensuality, he is likely to contract loathsome and painful diseases – diseases which make life a burden that can hardly be borne; diseases which poison the blood and can not, by any art or remedy, be expelled from the system, but which are transmitted to the innocent offspring, if there be any.

2. It brings disgrace and drives away friends who would otherwise rally around and help. This poor man spent two terms in the penitentiary, lost all his friends, and had to go to a hospital to die!

3. In destroying one's good name and alienating one's friends, it becomes the cause of poverty and want.

4. It destroys the happiness of families, and in this way adds to the wretchedness of the one who does all this mischief and damage.

5. It often produces insanity.

6. It produces remorse, uneasiness of mind, shame, hatred of self.

7. It is what makes men shudder and shiver like convicts under the gallows, when they think of death and come near death. My own fear of death was something terrible.

"The sting of death is sin."

8. But this fear of death, this awful lashing of conscience on the verge of the grave, is but the intimation and the beginning of those awful experiences in the future world which the Bible describes in words of such dark and fearful import.

But there is a remedy for sin, there is a fountain opened in the house of King David for sin and uncleanness. Yes

"There is a fountain filled with bloodDrawn from Immanuel's veins,And sinners plunged beneath that floodLose all their guilty stains."The dying thief rejoiced to seeThat fountain in his day,And there may you, though vile as he,Wash all your sins away."

And beside that, when He gives salvation from the guilt of sin, He sends, also, the power to keep you from sin in the future. It is a full salvation and a free salvation.

How much better to accept Christ while you are in health and let your life of holiness and purity and devotion prove that the work is a genuine work and that you really have been saved. I have almost no faith in death-bed repentances and conversions. Hardly one in a hundred is genuine. And then there is no way of testing the genuineness of it; but if you turn to Christ now you can have time and opportunity to exemplify and manifest the fruits of regeneration in your life. Christ has power to forgive sins, to give peace and to keep from sin and sinful habits. An experience of five years on my part enables me to speak boldly and confidently on this point. God grant some of you may turn to Him to-day.

Note. – This was delivered at the funeral of some man who died unsaved in a hospital. Mr. Holcombe is frequently called on to officiate at the funeral of such men, and of gamblers, and of strangers and unknown persons. – Ed.

ROMANS XIV: 17

"The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."

We heard some time ago of the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Christ, at His coming, brought it near and proclaimed it to the people. At the time when our text was written, the kingdom had been set up, established among men, and many, very many, had entered into it. And now, St. Paul, finding that some of these had fallen into wrong notions as to what constituted citizenship in that kingdom, corrects these wrong notions, and sets before them the right and proper notions about the matter.

1. In the first place, he tells them that religion does not consist in certain things. They had gotten into the notion that they must, as a matter of great importance, attend to certain outward things. But it is not so. They thought, as the Jews, from whose nation Jesus, the founder of the kingdom, arose, observed certain customs as to eating and drinking and keeping certain seasons and days, they also had to do the same; and gradually they allowed these outward things to become more important to them than the inward spiritual life.

So now we (or some of us) have fallen into the notion that religion consists in certain outward things.

There are those who believe that it consists in connecting one's self with some certain church, and that the sanctity and virtue of that church will be imparted to them as members, and they will be saved. But this is not true.

Again, there are some who believe that some outward ceremony, and especially that of baptism by the proper authorities and in the proper mode, will procure salvation, and that it constitutes a man a member of the kingdom of heaven.

Again, some think their own morality and effort to do and live justly will give them a place among those who are in the pale of the kingdom, forgetting that God, Himself, says that the righteousness of us miserable sinners is but as filthy rags in His sight.

And there are many, very many, who think that if they are decent in their outward lives and attend the services of the house of God and contribute to the support of His church, they do all any man can require of them, and that, therefore, they may claim that they are also fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of faith.

But no, none of these outward things can make a man a new creature. He may comply with any one or all of these, and yet be really a bad man at heart, a rebel against God and His government. And the fact that there are many such in the church calling themselves Christians and performing the outward duties of religion, while those who see them every day and know their private walk see that they are not really better than many outsiders, is a great stumbling-block to serious and honest inquirers outside of the church. We admit it, and we are sorry for it, though, of course, it is no valid excuse for them, and will not stand in the trying hour of death or the ordeal of the judgment. But I want to say to you to-day, no matter who it is, if they have no more than a performance of outward duties, ceremonies and services, they are not members of the kingdom of God.

2. But, in the second place, the Apostle does tell us what true religion consists in, in the latter part of the text. "It is righteousness and joy and peace in the Holy Ghost."

And, first, it is righteousness.

In another place it is said that, "The wisdom that cometh from above is first pure."

The object and aim of the Christian religion is to make men holy. That is first. The righteousness mentioned in the text is put first – before the joy and peace. And this is what the world demands of people who profess to be Christians, no less than God's law demands it. The world has no use or respect for Christians who are not righteous or for a Christianity that does not make men righteous.

When God comes into a human heart, He comes with power, with the power of God, and that is greater than all other power, and before it all opposing forces fall. The sins of men, such as avarice, or love of money; the lust of the flesh, such as gluttony, licentiousness, the hatred of fellowmen and the hatred of God, all these are broken and driven out when the spirit and power of God come in. There is not only this demand of God, then, for righteousness, but also ample supply of strength to meet it, and to meet it fully. Come, then, to God, you who are in bondage to evil habits, and who have striven in vain to deliver yourselves. You can not retain your evil practices and be a child of God. His first demand, His imperative demand, is righteousness, and if you have the will He gives the grace to attain it.

But this is not all. When you believe with your heart in Christ, the Holy Ghost is given you, and He brings, with the righteousness and holiness which God requires, also joy and peace. Yes, when you surrender to Christ, He makes you happy.

MATTHEW XI: 28

"Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."

1. The cry of all hearts is for rest, for contentment. Not only does the heart of humanity cry out for rest, rest, rest; their busy and tired hands and feet toil for it day and night, year in and year out.

It is for this that men labor through the days and weeks of summer's heat and expose themselves to the severities of winter's cold.

It is for this that they plow and sow and reap and gather into barns.

It is for this that they blow the bellows and swing the heavy hammers from morn until night.

It is for this they buy and sell and buy again to sell again.

It is for this that men will spend years of toil in schools and colleges, burning the midnight lamp till the eye is heavy and the brain is tired.

It is for this that they will leave wife and children to try their fortunes in some distant California or Australia.

It is for this they will abandon their homes in time of war to brave the dangers of the battle-field.

It is for this that they will worry away the hours of night in games to get each other's money.

It is for this they will devise schemes and lay plans to entrap their fellows, some times going to the length of committing murder.

It is for this that women will toil with the needle and bend over the sewing machine.

It is for this they will stand for weary hours behind counters measuring off goods or waiting for customers to buy.

It is for this that they work over the hot stove or wear out their hands in the wash-tub.

Yes, it is for this that some of them, weary of work-life, will venture on the slippery paths of pleasure, turn their thoughts toward the gilded chambers of licentiousness, sell virtue and abandon home and family to go in the ways that in the end take hold on death and hell.

We are a race of toilers. All over the world it is the same. We see it here in Louisville, It is work, work, work, go, go, go.

And are we happy? Have we rest?

But not only are we toiling, some in one way, some in another; some by innocent means, some by wicked means; some by what does no harm to ourselves or our neighbor, and some by what does harm to both, in order to obtain rest and happiness; it is also true that most of us are heavy laden, oppressed and saddened beneath burdens that we can not shake off, can not get rid of.

Some of us are bowed down under our poverty. No good house to live in, no comfortable home to turn into after the battles and toils of outside life, no comfortable shelter for our families. No assurance as to where we are to get to-morrow's bread. No comfortable and respectable clothes to wear, and, of course, no friends. For when a poor fellow gets poor and shabby, his friends drop off and pass by on the other side. No friends, none of that sympathy and communion of friendship which all human hearts so crave and which they find to be the best part of what this life can give.

Yes; some of us have this burden to bear. And then some of us are bowed down beneath some great sorrow, which may be one thing in one case and another in another. In some cases it is domestic trouble, continual jars and broils in the family, no peace, no quiet, no love. Ah, if we could see into all the homes in this city, I fear we should find in many of them family trouble of some sort. Or it may be some dear one of yours is given to drink or to gambling and is wearing out his life as fast as vice can eat it away, with no hope beyond the grave.

Ah, yes; no doubt some of you are yourselves the slaves of evil habits which you hate and would do anything to break off. You have tried by resolving and promising and all to no purpose; you have felt ashamed and degraded because you had no power to do what you felt you ought to do and what you knew would be infinitely better for you.

Do you not know men who would willingly give a right arm for deliverance from some degrading and ruinous habit? But giving a right arm avails nothing, nor any human effort or means.

Then, again, some of you are bowed down by the recollection of your past life and its dissipation and crimes.

You may have mistreated father, mother, sister, and may have broken hearts by your cruelty that would gladly have bled for you. You may have crushed a loving and faithful wife by your selfishness and your brutality and heartlessness. You may have driven your children to desperation and crime by your coldness and hardness to them.

And may be some life, innocent until you came upon it with your hellish art, has been corrupted and embittered and darkened by your base passions and lusts.

May be your hands have gone to that last extreme of human crime and have deprived a fellowman of life. And, oh, if any of these things be true, what must be the burden of remorse, remorse, remorse, that weighs upon your heart.

But you are the very ones whom Jesus addresses and invites in this tender appeal. Do you believe it?

2. In the second place, consider who it is that offers you rest. It is one who knows you and who knows what you need and one who has all power in heaven and in earth to give what you need.

3. Lastly, consider what this rest means which Jesus offers to you burdened and toiling ones.

1. It is rest from sin, both its guilt and power.

2. It is rest from all care. For He has said, we should cast all our care upon Him because He cares for us.

MATTHEW V: 3

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

These words, as you know, are the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount as it is called. This Sermon on the Mount is the full exposition of the character of those who are members of Christ's kingdom. It is one of the most important parts of the Bible. At the time of Christ there were in the world many teachers and many schools of philosophy all trying to find what was best for men; or, thinking they had found it, were teaching their views to others. But, of course, none of them knew the truth and nearly every one taught a different thing from the others. There was no certainty. It all seemed like guess-work, and while the philosophers were guessing at what was best for men or trying to prove the views of each other to be false, the poor people were perishing in uncertainty and ignorance. But into this age of uncertainty and darkness and hunger, there came a Teacher from God Himself, who knew all things and who could without arguing or guessing tell with authority the simple and certain truth. What then does the Teacher say? He does not say that blessedness consists in any certain kind or degree of knowledge but in the disposition of the mind and heart.

Listen then and hear and be prepared to believe and accept with all your heart what this Instructor from God says. Remember He makes no mistakes. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows eternity as well as time. He knows the future as well as the past and present. He knows God as well as He knows man. He has been all through eternity and knows the nature and purposes of God. He then is competent to say what is good for man, what is best for man. Will you hear it? And, having heard it, will you believe it? "Blessed" – ah, what a sweet word to begin with! "Blessed." But who are blessed? It may be blessed are the great or the powerful or the good and some of us are sadly conscious that we are not great or good. But no, troubled heart, poor fearing heart, it is for you. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." That is what the Divine Teacher says. He brings it right down and home to your poor heart and leaves blessedness at your very door.

And what is it to be poor in spirit? No doubt some of you poor sinners are ready to say "I know what it is, for I am so wretchedly poor that I feel unworthy to set my polluted foot down anywhere in God's universe." Yes, that is it – you are dissatisfied with yourself, disgusted with yourself, weary of yourself; and you know you can not make your condition any better, for you have tried it and failed till you are heart-sick and hopeless. You are satisfied that neither your education, nor your wisdom, nor your shrewdness, nor your money, if you have any, nor your family, nor your friends, nor your strength, nor your will, nor all these put together and multiplied a thousand times can deliver you from soul-bondage and soul-darkness and satisfy your aching and breaking heart. Is that your feeling, my brother? Then you are the one I am talking to; nay, you are the one my Divine Master is talking to. But God said the same thing in other words away back yonder one thousand years before Jesus came to earth. Read it in Psalm xxxiv: 18: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Have your sins broken your heart? Does the recollection of them cast down your spirit? You are not far from the kingdom of God then. Only believe on Jesus Christ who was not only Divine Teacher but also sin-bearer, and see God's willingness to save sinners, in the scene enacted on Calvary's trembling summit. What did Jesus suffer for if not for you and your sins? Say, what for, if not for you and all sinners? Answer that question. Do not turn it away or put it off but answer it.

Did I say you were not far from the kingdom of heaven? My text says, if you have the spirit I have described that "yours is, is now, the kingdom of heaven." Read it again. Will you believe it?

Oh, are you afraid to venture? Is it too good to be true? Well, I tell you I ventured and that with forty-two years of sin and crime on my heart to press me down and keep me back. Yes; I ventured and I found such a welcome that I was constrained in the joy of my heart to give up all other employment and spend my whole time and energy in telling of it to others who are in the condition I was in.

But if there are any here who are satisfied with themselves, who do not feel their need of help and cleansing and deliverance, then this message of comfort is not for you. If you think you know enough about eternity to risk going into it as you are, if you think you know enough about God to meet him as you are, then we have no message of consolation for you. It is not because we do not want you to have a message of consolation and salvation, but because you do not want it.

It is said in one place that the "Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." And now I am sure this text of ours has to-night found you out and shown you to yourself. Where do you stand? And even if you are persuaded, the suggestion to put it off till to-morrow or next week will knock it all in the head.

MATTHEW V: 4-5

"4. Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted."

"5. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth."

Our talk to-night follows right along in the line of the one preceding. We shall continue to speak of that wonderful address of Jesus which is called the Sermon on the Mount and which we began to speak of before. We were speaking of those who are poor in spirit and tried to describe such. Now we go on and we find the next words of Jesus, the Divine Teacher, just suited to those who are poor in spirit, who are dissatisfied with themselves and their condition, and who are wretched because they have not the grace and favor of God, and who, as the Psalm says, have a "broken heart and a contrite spirit." (Psalm xxxiv., 18.) And what are these comforting words of Jesus? "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." Of course, those who are poor in spirit and broken in heart will mourn. They are comfortless and they will mourn for comfort. They are in darkness and they will mourn for light. They are in sin and under condemnation and they will mourn till the power of sin is destroyed and they are set free and until the voice of forgiving love assures them that there is henceforth nothing against them. Ah, yes, when a man is under conviction for sin he is, above all men, a mourner. There is hardly any sorrow that strikes deeper or any suspense that is more intense or awful.

But is there no one here who knows all about this, not because they have heard me describe it, but because they have felt it and groaned under it or, may be, are doing so now?

Well, let me assure you, on the authority of Jesus, there is comfort for you as surely as Jesus will not lie. Does He say "Cursed are they who mourn?" Or "To be pitied are they that mourn?" No, He says, "Blessed are they."

There, now, you are already comforted a little bit, are you not?

But what is the rest of this sentence of Jesus? "For they shall be comforted." And, indeed, the fact that you mourn for a better condition and a better life and for God, is itself a ground for you to surely expect comfort. For only God's spirit could make you dissatisfied with yourself, tired of your sins and eager to find God.

And if He began the work He will carry it on to completion, assuredly, if you do not hinder him by your turning back to sin or going with the vicious or refusing to have faith in Jesus as Saviour.

And the next verse comes right along to fill out the one we are considering. "Blessed are the meek."

If a man is truly poor in spirit, mourning because of his sins and his ignorance of God and his insecurity in view of death, then he will not be egotistic and ambitious and greedy of praise and pompous and self-sufficient and disposed to stand on his honor and his rights. But he will have the opposite feelings exactly.

He feels his unworthiness so deeply and keenly that he is willing to give up his own rights and to prefer others before himself. And Jesus adds, "the meek shall inherit the earth."

A man who has this spirit of humility, deep consciousness of his unworthiness and a disposition to bear all things rather than be contentious, will win everybody and they will want to give up to him.

You have perhaps read of the man who went to his neighbor to claim a piece of ground in his possession, and, contrary to his expectation, that neighbor said, "Well, then, if it is yours, I will not have a strife about it. I will move in my fence and let you have it." This gentle answer and this meek spirit made the other man so ashamed and so completely melted and won him that he said he would not take the land, and he went back home leaving it as it was.

And so if you have this meek and yielding spirit, and this patient and forgiving spirit, you will make even your enemies to be at peace with you. But this meekness of spirit includes, also, cheerful submission to all the hard and disappointing and trying experiences of life, and perfect contentment with one's lot.

A man who is always sour and bitter because things don't go to suit him is the opposite of a meek man. And one of the loveliest and most attractive and winning qualities of human character is this unfailing resignation, this cheerful acceptance of all that comes upon us. If the church were full of people of this description, they would soon win the world, and, as Jesus said, they would "inherit the earth."

Now, let me ask, have we all who profess to be Christians this meek spirit and character? Are we gentle and cheerful at home and abroad, when we are disappointed as well as when we are gratified, when we are treated with ingratitude and injury as well as when we are treated with kindness, consideration and honor? Or are we crabbed and cross and discontented and complaining against those who cross our wills and against the lot that God has given to us in life? If we are of this last sort we shall not draw many to Jesus and to the acceptance of our religion. You can't catch flies with vinegar.

How disposed are we to lay our crossness and roughness to the charge of our health, our dyspepsia or neuralgia or nervousness. But it would be all the more convincing to men if, in the midst of bad health and nervousness, we should have a meek, quiet, patient, bright and cheerful spirit.

And if you haven't it, the way to get it is to be filled with God's spirit, and the way to do that is to pray, to commune with God in secret, to patiently wait for Him, as David did (Psalms xl, 1), and to be with Him so much that He shall become more real to you than the objects of sight and sound and feeling that surround you.