Biyernes, Pebrero 28, 2020

Free Will -- A Slave (Charles H. Spurgeon, 1855)

John 5:40

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

THIS is one of the great guns of the Arminians, mounted upon the top of their walls, and often discharged with terrible noise against the poor Christians called Calvinists. I intend to spike the gun this morning, or, rather, to turn it on the enemy, for it was never theirs; it was never cast at their foundry at all, but was intended to teach the very opposite doctrine to that which they assert. Usually, when the text is taken, the divisions are:—First, that man has a will. Secondly, that he is entirely free. Thirdly, that men must make themselves willing to come to Christ, otherwise they will not be saved. Now, we shall have no such divisions; but we will endeavour to take a more calm look at the text; and not, because there happen to be the words “will,” or “will not” in it, run away with the conclusion that it teaches the doctrine of free-will. It has already been proved beyond all controversy that free-will is nonsense. Freedom cannot belong to will any more than ponderability can be­long to electricity. They are altogether different things. Free agency we may believe in, but free-will is simply ridiculous. The will is well known by all to be directed by the understanding, to be moved by motives, to be guided by other parts of the soul, and to be a secondary thing. Philosophy and religion both discard at once the very thought of free-will; and I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, “If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.” It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free-will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that he gives both; that he is “Alpha and Omega” in the salvation of men.
Our four points, this morning, shall be,—First. that every man is dead, because it says, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.”Secondly, that there is life in Jesus Christ—”Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” Thirdly, that there is life in Christ Jesus for every one that comes for it—” Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life;” implying that all who go will have life. And fourthly, the gist of the text lies here, that no man by nature ever will come to Christ,for the text says, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.” So far from asserting that men of their own wills ever do such a thing, it boldly and flatly denies it, and says, Ye WILL NOT come unto me that ye might have life.” Why, beloved, I am almost ready to exclaim, Have all free-willers no knowledge that they dare to run in the teeth of inspiration? Have all those that deny the doc­trine of grace no sense? Have they so departed from God that they wrest this to prove free-will; whereas the text says, “YE WILL NOT come unto me that ye might have life.”
I. First, then, our text implies THAT MEN BY NATURE ARE DEAD. No being needs to go after life if he has life in himself. The text speaks very strongly when it says, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life,” though it saith it not in words, yet it doth in effect affirm that men need a life more than they have themselves. My hearers, we are all dead unless we have been begotten unto a lively hope. First, we are all of us, by nature, legally dead:—“In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death,” said God to Adam; and though Adam did not die in that moment naturally, he died legally; that is to say death was recorded against him. As soon as, at the Old Bailey, the judge puts on the black cap and pronounces the sentence, the man is reckoned to be dead at law. Though perhaps a month may intervene before he is brought on the scaffold to endure the sentence of the law, yet the law looks upon him as a dead man. It is impossible for him to transact anything. He cannot inherit, he cannot bequeath; he is nothing—he is a dead man. The country considers him not as being alive in it at all. There is an election—he is not asked for his vote because he is considered as dead. He is shut up in his condemned cell, and he is dead. Ah! and ye ungodly sinners who have never had life in Christ, you are alive this morning, by reprieve, but do ye know that ye are legally dead; that God considers you as such, that in the day when your father Adam touched the fruit, and when you yourselves did sin, God, the Eternal Judge, put on the black cap and condemned you? You talk mightily of your own standing, and goodness, and morality:—where is it? Scripture saith, ye are “condemned already.” Ye are not to wait to be condemned at the judgment-day—that will be the execution of the sentence:—“ye are condemned already.” In the moment ye sinned; your names were all written in the black book of justice; every one was then sentenced by God to death, unless he found a substitute, in the person of Christ, for his sins. What would you think if you were so go into the Old Bailey, and see the condemned culprit sitting in his cell, laughing and merry? You would I say, “The man is a fool, for he is condemned, and is to be executed; yet how merry he is.” Ah! and how foolish is the worldly man, who, while sentence is recorded against him, lives in merriment and mirth! Do you think the sentence of God is of no effect? Thinkest thou that thy sin which is written with an iron pen on the rocks for ever hath no horrors in it? God hath said thou art condemned already. If thou wouldst but feel this, it would mingle bitters in the sweet cups of joy; thy dances would be stopped, thy laughter quenched in sighing, if then wouldst recollect that thou art condemned already. We ought all to weep, if we lay this to our souls: that by nature we have no life in God’s sight; we are actually, positively condemned; death is recorded against us, and we are considered in ourselves now, in Gods sight, as much dead as if we were actually cast into hell; we are condemned here by sin, we do not yet suffer the penalty of it, but it is written against us, and we are legally dead, nor can we find life unless we find legal life in the person of Christ, of which more by-and-bye.
But, besides being legally dead, we are also spiritually dead. For not only did the sentence pass in the book, but it passed in the heart; it entered the conscience; it operated on the soul, on the judgment, on the imagination, and on everything. “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” was not only fulfilled by the sentence recorded, but by something which took place in Adam. Just as, in a certain moment, when this body shall die, the blood stops, the pulse ceases, the breath no longer comes from the lungs, so in the day that Adam did eat that fruit his soul died; his imagination lost its mighty power to climb into celestial things and see heaven, his will lost its power always to choose that which is good, his judgment lost all ability to judge between right and wrong decidedly and infallibly, though something was retained in conscience; his memory became tainted, liable to hold evil things, and let righteous things glide away; every power of him ceased as to its moral vitality. Goodness was the vitality of his powers—that departed. Virtue, holiness, integrity, these were the life of man; but when these departed man became dead. And now, every man, so far as spiritual things are concerned, is “dead in trespasses and sins,” spiritually. Nor is the soul less dead in a carnal man, than the body is when committed to the grave; it is actually and positively dead—not by a metaphor, for Paul speaketh not in metaphor when he affirms, “You hath he quickened which were dead in trespasses and sins.” But my hearers, again, I would I could preach to your hearts concerning the subject. It was bad enough when I described death as having been recorded; but now I speak of it as having actually taken place in your hearts. Ye are not what ye once were; ye are not what ye were in Adam, not what ye were created. Man was made pure and holy. Ye are not the perfect creatures of which some boast; ye are altogether fallen, ye have gone out of the way, ye have become corrupt and filthy. Oh! listen not to the syren song of those who tell you of your moral dignity, and your mighty elevation in matters of salvation. Ye are not perfect; that great word, “ruin,” is written on your heart, and death is stamped upon your spirit. Do not conceive, O moral man, that thou wilt be able to stand before God in thy morality, for thou art nothing but a carcase embalmed in legality, a corpse arrayed in some fine robes, but still corrupt in God’s sight. And think not, O thou possessor of natural religion! that thou mayest by thine own might and power make thyself acceptable to God. Why, man!thou art dead! and thou mayest array the dead as gloriously as thou pleasest, but still it would be a solemn mockery. There lieth queen Cleopatra—put the crown upon her head, deck her in royal robes, let her sit in state; but what a cold chill runs through you when you pass by her. She is fair now, even in her death—but how horrible it is to stand by the side even of a dead queen, celebrated for her majestic beauty! So you may be glorious in your beauty, fair, and amiable, and lovely; you put the crown of honesty upon your head, and wear about you all the garments of uprightness, but unless God has quickened thee, O man! unless the Spirit has had dealings with thy soul, thou art in God’s sight as obnoxious as the chilly corpse is to thyself. Thou wouldst not choose to live with a corpse sitting at thy table; nor doth God love that thou shouldst be in his sight. He is angry with thee every day, for thou art in sin—thou art in death. Oh! believe this; take it to thy soul; appropriate it, for it is most true that thou art dead, spiritually as well as legally.
The third kind of death is the consummation of the other two. It is eternal death. It is the execution of the legal sentence; it is the consummation of the spiritual death. Eternal death is the death of the soul; it takes place after the body has been laid in the grave, after the soul has departed from it. If legal death be terrible, it is be­cause of its consequences; and if spiritual death be dreadful, it is because of that which shall succeed it. The two deaths of which we have spoken are the roots, and the death which is to come is the flower thereof Oh! had I words that I might this morning attempt to depict to you what eternal death is. The soul has come before its Maker; the book has been opened; the sentence has been uttered; “Depart ye cursed” has shaken the universe, and made the very spheres dim with the frown of the Creator; the soul has departed to the depths where it is to dwell with others in eternal death. Oh! how horrible is its position now. Its bed is a bed of flame; the sights it sees are murdering ones that affright its spirit; the sounds it hears are shrieks, and wails, and moans, and groans; all that its body knows is the infliction of miserable pain! it has the possession of unutterable woe, of unmitigated misery. The soul looks up. Hope is extinct—it is gone. It looks downward in dread and fear; remorse hath possessed its soul. It looks on the right hand—and the adamantine walls of fate keep it within its limits of torture. It looks on the left—and there the rampart of blazing fire forbids the scaling ladder of e’en a dreamy speculation of escape. It looks within and seeks for consolation there, but a gnawing  worm hath entered into the soul. It looks about it—it has no friends to aid, no comforters, but tormentors in abundance. It knoweth nought of hope of deliverance; hath heard the everlasting key of destiny turning in its awful wards, and it hath God take that key and hurl it down into the depth of eternity never to be found again. It hopeth not; it knoweth no escape; it guesseth not of deliverance; it pants for death, but death is too much its foe to be there; it longs that non-existence swallow it up, but this eternal death is worse than annihilation. It pants for extermination as the laborer for his Sabbath; it longs that it might be swallowed in nothingness just as would the galley slave long for freedom, but it cometh not¾it is eternally dead. When eternity shall have rolled round multitudes of its cycles it shall still be dead. For ever knoweth no end; eternity cannot be spelled except in eternity. Still the soul seeth written o’er its head, “Thou art damned for ever.” It heareth howlings that are to be perpetual; it seeth flames which are unquenchable; it knoweth pains that are unmitigated; it hears a sentence that rolls not like the thunder of earth which soon is hushed—but onward, onward, onward, shaking the echoes of eternity—making thousands of years shake again with the horrid thunder of its dreadful sound—“Depart! depart! depart ye cursed!” This the eternal death.

II. Secondly, IN CHRIST JESUS THERE IS LIFE, for he says, “ye will not come me that ye may have life.”There is no life in God the Father for a sinner; there is no life in God the Spirit for a sinner apart from Jesus. The life of a sinner is in Christ. If you take the Father apart, though he loves his elect, and decrees that they shall live, yet life is only in his Son. If you take God the Spirit apart from Jesus Christ, though it is the Spirit that gives us spiritual life, yet it is life in Christ,life in the Son. We dare not, and cannot apply in the first place, either to God the Father, or to God the Holy Ghost for spiritual life. The first thing we are led to do when God brings us out of Egypt is to eat the Passover—the very first thing. The first means whereby we get life is by feeding upon the flesh and blood of the Son of God; living in him, trusting on him, believing in his grace and power. Our second thought was—there is life in Christ. We will show you there are three kinds of life in Christ, as there are three kinds of death.
First there is legal life in Christ. Just as every man by nature considered in Adam had a sentence of condemnation passed on him in the moment of Adam’s sin, and more especially in the moment of his own first transgression, so I, if I be a believer, and you, if you trust in Christ, have had a legal sentence of acquittal passed on us through what Jesus Christ has done. O condemned sinner! thou mayest be sitting this morning condemned like the prisoner in Newgate; but ere this day has passed away thou mayest be as clear from guilt as the angels above. There is such a thing as legal life in Christ, and, blessed be God! some of us enjoy it. We know our sins are pardoned because Christ suffered punishment for them; we know that we never can be punished ourselves, for Christ suffered in our stead. The Passover is slain for us; the lintel and door-post have been sprinkled, and the destroying angel can never touch us. For us there is no hell, although it blaze with terrible flame. Let Tophet be prepared of old, let its pile be wood and much smoke, we never can come there—Christ died for us, in our stead. ‘What if there be racks of horrid torture? what if there be a sentence producing most horrible reverberations of thundering sounds? yet neither rack, nor dungeon, nor thunder, are for us! In Christ Jesus we are now delivered. “There is, therefore, Now no condemnation unto us who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Sinner! art thou legally condemned this morning? Dost thou feel that? Then, let me tell thee that faith in Christ will give thee a knowledge of thy legal acquittal. Beloved, it is no fancy that we are condemned for our sins, it is a reality. So, it is no fancy we are acquitted, it is a reality. A man about to be hanged, if he received a full pardon would feel it a great reality. He would say, “I have a full pardon, I cannot be touched now.” That is just how I feel.
“Now freed from sin I walk at large,
The Saviour’s blood’s my full discharge;
At his dear feet content I lay,
A sinner saved, and homage pay.”
Brethren, we have gained legal life in Christ, and such legal life that we cannot lose it. The sentence has gone against us once—now it has gone out for us. It is written, “THERE IS NOW NO CONDEMNATION, and that acre will do as well for me in fifty years as it does now. Whatever time we live it will still be written, “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”
Then, secondly, there is spiritual life in Christ Jesus. As the man is spiritually dead, God has spiritual life for him, for there is not a want which is not supplied by Jesus, there is not an emptiness in the heart which Christ cannot fill; there is not a desolation which he cannot people, there is not a desert which he cannot make to blossom as the rose. O ye dead sinners! spiritually dead, there is life in Christ Jesus, for we have seen—yes! these eyes have seen—the dead live again; we have known the man whose soul was utterly corrupt, by the power of God seek after righteousness; we have known the man whose views were carnal whose lusts were mighty, whose passions were strong, suddenly, by irresistible might from heaven, consecrate himself to Christ, and become a child of Jesus. We know that there is life in Christ Jesus, of a spiritual order; yea, more, we ourselves, in our own per­sons, have felt that there is spiritual life. Well can we remember when we sat in the house of prayer, as dead as the very seat on which we sat. We had listened for a long, long while to the sound of the gospel, but no effect followed, when suddenly, as if our ears had been opened by the fingers of some mighty angel, a sound entered into our heart. We thought we heard Jesus saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” An irresistable hand put itself on our heart and crushed a prayer out of it. We never had a prayer before like that. We cried, “O God! have mercy upon me a sinner.” Some of us for months felt a hand pressing us as if we had been grasped in a vice, and our souls bled drops of anguish. That misery was a sign of coming life. Persons when they are being drowned do not feel the pain so much as while they are being restored. Oh! we recollect those pains, those groans, that living strife which our soul had when it came to Christ. Ah! we can recollect the giving of our spiritual life as easily as could a man his restoration from the grave. We can suppose Lazarus to have remembered his resurrection, though not all the circumstances of it. So we, although we have forgotten a great deal, do recollect our giving ourselves to Christ. We can say to every sinner, however dead, there is life in Christ Jesus, though you may be rotten and corrupt in your grave. He who hath raised Lazarus hath raised us; and he can say, even to you, “Lazarus! come forth.”
In the third place, there is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And, oh! if eternal death be terrible, eternal life is blessed; for he has said, “‘Where I am there shall my people be.” “Father, I will, that they also, whom thou hast given unto me, be with me where Lam, that they may behold my glory.” “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Now, any Arminian that would preach from that text must buy a pair of India rubber lips, for I am sure he would need to stretch his mouth amazingly; he would never be able to speak the whole truth without winding about in a most mysterious manner. Eternal life—not a life which they are to lose, but eternal life. If I lost life in Adam I gained it in Christ; if I lost myself for ever I find myself for ever in Jesus Christ. Eternal life! Oh blessed thought! Our eyes will sparkle with joy and our souls burn with ecstasy in the thought that we have eternal life. Be quenched ye stars! let God put his finger on you—but my soul will live in bliss and joy. Put out thine eye O sun!—but mine eye shall “see the king in his beauty” when thine eye shall no more make the green earth laugh. And moon, be thou turned into blood!—but my blood shall ne’er be turned to nothingness; this spirit shall exist when thou hast ceased to be. And thou great world! thou mayest all subside, just as a moment’s foam subsides upon the wave that bears it—but I shall have eternal life. O time! thou mayest see giant mountains dead and hidden in their graves; thou mayest see the stars like figs too ripe, falling from the tree; but thou shalt never, never see my spirit dead.

III. This brings us to the third point: that ETERNAL LIFE IS GIVEN TO ALL WHO COME FOR IT. There never was a man who came to Christ for eternal life, for legal life, for spiritual life, who had not already received it, in some sense, and it was manifested to him that he had received it soon after he came. Let us take one or two texts:— “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto him.” Every man who comes to Christ will find that Christ is able to save him—not able to save him a little, to deliver him from a little sin, to keep him from a little trial, to carry him a little way and then drop him—but able to save him to the uttermost extent of his sin, unto the uttermost length of his trials, the uttermost depths of his sorrows, unto the uttermost duration of his existence. Christ says to every one who comes to him, “Come, poor sinner, thou needst not ask whether I have power to save. I will not ask thee how far thou hast gone into sin; I am able to save thee to the utter­most.” And there is no one on earth can go beyond God’s “uttermost.”
Now another text: “Him that cometh to me, (mark the promises are nearly always to the coming ones) I will in no wise cast out.” Every man that comes shall find the door of Christ’s house opened—and the door of his heart too—Every man that comes—I say it in the broadest sense—shall find that Christ has mercy for him. The greatest absurdity in the world is to want to have a wider gospel than that re­corded in Scripture. I preach that every man that believes shall be saved—that every man who comes shall find mercy. People ask me, “But suppose a man should come who was not chosen, would he be saved?” You go and suppose nonsense and I am not going to give you an answer. If a man is not chosen he will never come. When he does come it is a sure proof that he was chosen. Says one, “Suppose any one should go to Christ who had not been called of the Spirit.” Stop, my brother, that is a supposition thou hast no right to make, for such a thing cannot happen; you only say it to entangle me, and you will not do that just yet. I say every man who comes to Christ shall be saved. I can say that as a Calvinist, or as a hyper­Calvinist, as plainly as you can say it. I have no narrower gospel than you have; only my gospel is on a solid foundation, whereas yours is built upon nothing but sand and rottenness. “Every man that cometh shall be saved, for no man cometh to me except the Father draw him.” “But,” says one, “suppose all the world should come, would Christ receive them?” Certainly, if all came; but then they won’t come. I tell you all that come—aye,if they were as bad as devils, Christ would receive them; if they had all sin and filthiness running into their hearts as into a common sewer for the whole world, Christ would receive them. Another says, “I want to know about the rest of the people. May I go out and tell them—Jesus Christ died for every one of you? May I say—there is righteousness for every one of you, there is life for every one of you?” No; you may not. You may say—there is life for every man that comes. But if you say there is life for one of those that do not believe, you utter a dangerous lie. If you tell them that Jesus Christ was punished for their sins, and yet they will he lost, you tell a willful false­hood. To think that God could punish Christ and then punish them—I wonder at your daring to have the impudence to say so! A good man was once preaching that there were harps and crowns in heaven for all his congregation; and then he wound up in a most solemn manner: “My dear friends, there are many for whom these things are prepared who will not get there.” In fact, he made such a pitiful tale, as indeed he might do; but I tell you who he ought to have wept for—he ought to have wept for the angels of heaven and all the saints, because that would spoil heaven thoroughly. You know when you meet at Christmas, if you have lost your brother David and his seat is empty, you say: “Well, we always enjoyed Christmas, but there is a drawback to it now—poor David is dead and buried!” Think of the angels saying: “Ah! this is a beautiful heaven, but we don’t like to see all those crowns up there with cobwebs on; we cannot endure that uninhabited street: we cannot behold yon empty thrones.” And then, poor souls, they might begin talking to one another, and say, “we are none of us safe here, for the promise was—‘I give unto my sheep eternal life,’ and there is a lot of them in hell that God gave eternal life to; there is a number that Christ shed his blood for burning in the pit, and if they may be sent there, so may we. If we cannot trust one promise we cannot another.” So heaven would lose its foundation, and fall. Away with your nonsensical gospel! God gives us a safe and solid one, built on covenant doings and covenant relationships, on eternal purposes and sure fulfilments.

IV. This brings us to the fourth point, THAT BY NATURE NO MAN WILL COME TO CHRIST for the text says, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.” I assert, on Scripture authority from my text, that ye will not come unto Christ, that ye might have life. I tell you, I might preach to you for ever, I might borrow the eloquence of Demosthenes or of Cicero, but ye will not come unto Christ. I might beg of you on my knees, with tears in my eyes, and show you the horrors of hell and the joys of heaven, the sufficiency of Christ, and your own lost condition, but you would none of you come unto Christ of yourselves unless the Spirit that rested on Christ should draw you. It is true of all men in their natural condition that they will not come unto Christ. But, methinks I hear another of these babblers asking a question:—“But could they not come if they liked?” My friend, I will reply to thee another time. That is not the question this morning. I am talking about whether they will,not whether they can. You will notice whenever you talk about free will, the poor Arminian, in two seconds, begins to talk about power, and he mixes up two subjects that should be keep apart. We will not take two subjects at once; we de­cline fighting two at the same time, if you please. Another day we will preach from this text:—“No man can come except the Father draw him.” But it is only the will we are talking of now; and it is certain that men will not come unto Christ, that they might have life. We might prove this from many texts of Scripture, but we will take one parable. You remember the parable where a certain king had a feast for his son, and bade a great number to come; the oxen and fatlings were killed, and he sent his messengers bidding many to the supper. Did they go the feast? Ah, no; but they all, with one accord, began to make excuse. One said he had married a wife, and therefore he could not come, whereas he might have brought her with him. Another had bought a yoke of oxen, and went to prove them; but the feast was in the night-time, and he could not prove his oxen in the dark. Another had bought a piece of land, and wanted to see it; but I should not think he went to see it with a lantern. So they all made excuses and would not come. Well the king was deter­mined to have the feast; so he said, “Go into the highways and hedges; and” invite them—stop! not invite—“ compel them to come in;” for even the ragged fellows in the hedges would never have come unless they were compelled. Take another parable:—A certain man had a vineyard; at the appointed season he sent one of his servants for his rent. What did they do to him? They beat that servant. He sent another; and they stoned him. He sent another and they killed him. And, at last, he said, “I will send them my son, they will reverence him.” But what did they do? They said, “This is the heir, let us kill him, and cast him out of the vineyard.” So they did. It is the same with all men by nature. The Son of God came, yet men rejected him. “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.” It would take too much time to mention any more Scripture proofs. We will, however, refer to the great doctrine of the fall. Any one who believes that man’s will is entirely free, and that he can be saved by it, does not believe the fall. As I sometimes tell you, few preachers of religion do believe thoroughly the doctrine of the fall, or else they think that when Adam fell down he broke his little finger, and did not break his neck and ruin his race. Why, beloved, the fall broke man up entirely. It did not leave one power unimpaired; they were all shattered, and debased, and tarnished; like some mighty temple, the pillars might be there, the shaft, and the column, and the pilaster, might be there; but they were all broken, though some of them retain much of their form and position. The conscience of man sometimes retains much of its tenderness—still it has fallen. The will, too, is not exempt. What though it is “the Lord Mayor of Mansoul,” as Bunyan calls it; the Lord Mayor goes wrong. The Lord Will-be-will was continually doing wrong. Your fallen nature was put out of order; your will, amongst other things, has clean gone astray from God. But I tell you what will be the best proof of that; it is the great fact that you never did meet a Christian in your life who ever said he came to Christ without Christ coming to him. You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I dare say; but you never heard an Arminian prayer—for the saints in prayer appear as one in word, and deed and mind. An Arminian on his knees would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about free will: there is no room for it. Fancy him praying,
Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that 1 have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but l do. There are many that wilI go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was;  they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as l am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not—that is the difference between me and them.
That is a prayer for the devil, for nobody else would offer such a prayer as that. Ah! when they are preaching and talking very slowly, there may be wrong doctrine; but when they come to pray, the true thing slips out; they cannot help it. If a man talks very slowly, he may speak in a fine manner; but when he comes to talk fast, the old brogue of his country, where he was born, slips out. I ask you again, did you ever meet a Christian man who said, “I came to Christ without the power of the Spirit?” If you ever did meet such a man, you need have no hesitation in saying, “My dear sir, I quite believe it—and I believe you went away again without the power of the Spirit, and that you know nothing about the matter, and are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.” Do I hear one Christian man saying, “I sought Jesus before he sought me; I went to the Spirit, and the Spirit did not come to me?” No, beloved; We are obliged, each one of us, to put our hands to our hearts, and say—
 “Grace taught my soul to pray,
And made my eyes o’erflow;
‘Twas grace that kept me to this day,
And will not let me go.”
Is there one here—a solitary one—man or woman, young or old, who can say, “I sought God before he sought me?”No; even you who are a little Arminian, will Sing  
“O yes! I do love Jesus—
Because he first loved me”
Then, one more question. Do we not find, even after we have come to Christ, our soul is not free, but is kept by Christ? Do we not find times, even now, when to will is not present with us. There is a law in our members, warring against the law of our minds. Now, if those who are spiritually alive feel that their will is contrary to God, what shall we say of the man who is “dead in trespasses and sins?” It would be a marvellous absurdity to put the two on a level; and it would be still more absurd to put the dead before the living. No; the text is true, experience has branded it into our hearts,” Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.”
Now, we must tell you the reasons why men will not come unto Christ. The first is, because no man by nature thinks he wants Christ. By nature man conceives that he does not need Christ; he thinks that he has a robe of righteousness of his own, that he is well-dressed, that he is not naked, that he needs not Christ’s blood to wash him, that he is not black or crimson, and needs no grace to purify him. No man knows his need until God shows it to him; and until the Holy Spirit reveals the necessity of pardon, no man will seek pardon. I may preach Christ for ever, but unless you feel you want Christ you will never come to him. A doctor may have a good shop, but nobody will buy his medicines until he feels he wants them.
 The next reason is, because men do not like Christ’s way of saving them. One says, “I do not like it because he makes me holy;I cannot drink or swear if he saves me.” Another says, “It requires me to be so precise and puritanical, and I like a little more license.” Another does not like it because it is so humbling; he does not like it because the “gate of heaven” is not quite high enough for his head, and he does not like stooping. That is the chief reason ye will not come to Christ, because ye cannot get to him with your heads straight up in the air; for Christ makes you stoop when you come. Another does not like it to be grace from first to last. “Oh!” he says, “If I might have a little honor.” But when he hears it is all Christ or no Christ, a whole Christ or no Christ, he says, “I shall not come,” and turns on his heel and goes away. Ah! proud sinners, ye will not come unto Christ Ah! ignorant sinners, ye will not come unto Christ, because ye know nothing of him. And that is the third reason.
Men do not know his worth, for if they did they would come unto him. Why did not sailors go to America before Columbus went? Because they did not believe there was an America. Columbus had faith, therefore he went. He who hath faith in Christ goes to him. But you don’t know Jesus; many of you never saw his beauteous face; you never saw how applicable his blood is to a sinner, how great is his atonement ; and how all-sufficient are his merits, therefore, “ye will not come unto him.”
And oh! my hearers, my last thought is a solemn one. I have preached that ye will not come. But some will say, “it is their sin that they do not come.” It is so. You will not come, but then your will is a sinful will. Some think that we “sew pillows to all arm-holes” when we preach this doctrine, but we don’t. We do not set this down as being part of man’s original nature, but as belonging to his fallen nature. It is sin that has brought you into this condition that you will not come. If you had not fallen, you would come to Christ the moment he was preached to you; but you do not come because of your sinfulness and crime. People excuse themselves because they have bad hearts. That is the most flimsy excuse in the world. Do not robbery and thieving come from a bad heart. Suppose a thief should say to a judge, “I could not help it, I had a bad heart.” What would the judge say? “You rascal! why, if your heart is bad, I’ll make the sentence heavier, for you are a villain indeed. Your excuse is nothing.” The Almighty shall “laugh at them, and shall have them in derision.” We do not preach this doctrine to excuse you, but to humble you. The possession of a bad nature is my fault as well as my terrible calamity. It is a sin that will always be charged on men; when they will not come unto Christ it is sin that keeps them away. He who does not preach that, I fear is not faithful to God and his conscience. Go home, then, with this thought: “ I am by nature so perverse that I will not come unto Christ, and that wicked perversity of my nature is my sin. I deserve to be sent to hell for it.” And if the thought does not humble you, the Spirit using it, no other can. This morning I have not preached human nature up, but I have preached it down. God humble us all. Amen.

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Lunes, Pebrero 24, 2020

The Marks and Blessings of Christ's Sheep (Robert Murray M'Cheyne , 1813-1843)



John 10:26 "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father's hand. 30 I and [my] Father are one."

There is nothing more surprising to an attentive reader of the gospel than to notice the little success Christ had in the conversion of sinners. Although he speaks with love such as never man spake with, yet for all that, Christ had to complain, just as we have, "Ye believe not." O brethren! is it to be wondered at, then, that there are so few believers among us, when there were so few converted under Christ? We are always to expect this, then. Observe still further that the more that Christ opened out his mind to them, they seemed to hate him the more. They said, "He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him? They were pulling one another away from hearing him. Brethren, it is the same now; the more that ministers have Christ in their sermons — the more faithfully they preach — the more you will say they are mad, and have a devil. Is the servant greater than his master, or the disciple than his Lord? Still farther, observe, when Christ pressed the truth hard upon them, they could not bear it; verse 31, They were not content with disbelieving what he said, but they stoned him; and he asked this question, "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do you stone me?" Brethren, the same is true still; the nearer we come to your conscience — the nearer we bring the Word home to you, if you are not converted by it, no doubt you hate us. If it is not the savour of life unto life, it will be the savour of death unto death. "Am I become your enemy, because, I tell you the truth?" And yet, brethren, it is sweet to notice that Christ had his sheep for all that. "My sheep hear my voice and they follow me." Although it is a world of adversaries, yet there is a sheepfold.
 Let us notice two things today:
     1. The marks of Christ's sheep.
     2. The blessings of Christ's sheep.
 I. The marks of Christ's sheep. 1. "My sheep hear my voice"; and, 2. "They follow me.
     1. They know my voice. You know, brethren, this is the characteristic of the sheep of the east, they know the shepherd's voice. There was once a traveller in the east who denied that they knew the voice of the shepherd, and contended that it was the voice they knew; and to prove it, they changed clothes. The person called the sheep, and they moved not; but when the shepherd called them, they instantly followed him. Now, this is just the way with Christ and his sheep. Christ may be disguised, but faith hears his voice. The first time they hear his voice is the time of conversion. You remember Zaccheus, he was up in the sycamore tree, and he might think, "Christ's word will not reach me"; but Christ said to him, "Come down, Zaccheus, for today I must abide at thy house." The voice of the shepherd reached him. This was the first day that Zaccheus heard the shepherd's voice. You remember Lydia, she sat among the Grecian matrons by the river side, and heard Paul preach. Someone opened her heart, and said, "Come away"; it was the voice of the shepherd. "The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to attend unto the things that were spoken." It was the outward voice of Paul, but it was the inward voice of Christ.
     Again, all that are Christ's hear his voice in the time of duty. They hear a voice behind them saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the left." They hear the voice of Christ directing them how to go. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters." When the world are in perplexity and know not what to do, the sheep of Christ hear his voice and follow him. And they hear his voice in the time of secret prayer. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. And when they open the Bible in secret they hear the voice of the beloved saying, "Come unto me, and I will give you rest"; "My grace is sufficient for you"; — "Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
     There is another hour in which they hear his voice — it is that of affliction. They hear the voice of the shepherd — they hear the voice of the rod, and say, "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good."
     Again, in the hour of death, when the Christless hear nothing but coming wrath, the sheep hear his voice. They hear it when they pass through the valley. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee," etc. "Fear not, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." "O death, I will be thy plagues, O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes."
     Ah, brethren, do you hear the voice of Christ? Those of you who are Christless hear the voice of business or of pleasure. You hear the call of the strange woman, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant"; but ye do not hear the voice of Christ, when he says, "Come to me, and I will give you rest." You shut your ears, you believe not, because you are not of his sheep. Those of you that are Christ's are as in a solitude, and there is one voice that you hear so shrill and loud; it is the voice of Christ — he says, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." You that hear the voice of Christ, love him, and not another.
     2. "They follow me." You know this is the case in eastern countries; the sheep follow the shepherd. There are two ways the sheep follow the shepherd — when they are looking at his person, and when they hear his voice. So it is with those that are Christ's. The wounds in his side, in his hands, and in his feet, are attracting things in a believer's eye. Why do they follow him? They follow him that they may get pardon; they follow him that they may get living water. Just as the sheep follow the shepherd to the well, or down into the valley, or beneath some shady rock, so those that are Christ's follow him. They follow him every day; they follow him in all parts of the world. In whatever they do, they follow Christ. They follow him in bearing his cross; they follow him in reproach. "Reproach hath broken my heart." Christ could say, "I am the song of the drunkard." So the sheep can say the same. They follow him in his love. "Christ loved us and gave himself for us." So Christ's sheep have the same love in their hearts. If you are Christ's, you will have the same love he had. Christ died for his enemies; so you will be willing to do the same if you are Christ's. They follow him in prayerfulness. Christ was a man of prayer. He often went out and continued all night in prayer; he could say, "I give myself to prayer." So it is with all the sheep of Christ — they follow him. As he had communion with the Father, so have they. They follow him in holiness. Christ was separate from sinners, he was of a different nature from them. So will we, if we are his; we will not be of the world, even as he was not of the world. Whom do you follow? Do you follow the world? then ye are not of his sheep. Do you follow Christ? are you following him? then you are one of his sheep, and if you follow him now, you will follow him to all eternity.
 II. The blessings of Christ's sheep.
1. "I know them." 2. "I give them eternal life." 3. "They shall never perish."
     1. "I know them." The shepherd in the east knows his sheep — he knows them by appearance: "I know my sheep." Christ knew his sheep from all eternity. We spoke of this last Sabbath. Just as he said, "Before Abraham was, I am," so does he know us. Ah, the eternal love of Christ passeth knowledge! To think that there never was a time that he did not know them. But "I know them" in time. The world does not know them; the world thinks that they are wolves in sheep's clothing. They give no credit to your new birth; they say, wait a while, and we will see what it will come to. The church does not know them. You remember Paul, when he came to Jerusalem, the disciples did not believe that he was a disciple. And Ananias said, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem." So it may be with you. Perhaps they will not let you into their society; but, "I know you." And then he knows your wants: "I know them."
     2. "I give unto them eternal life." You know that the shepherd leads the sheep to a living well or to some gushing stream that flows between two rocks. So is it with Christ. Observe, it is said, "I give unto them eternal life." If you are one of Christ's flock you will never want. "I give unto them eternal life." What does this imply. It implies daily pardon. You know when the Queen sends a pardon to any condemned criminal, she is said to give the man his life. If you are Christ's you need daily pardon. If there is any sin separating between you and a loving God, you need it pardoned. It implies spiritual life. The life that Christ gives flows through the heart. If the Holy Spirit were to leave the heart, you would lose spiritual life. Thus David says, "Take not thy Holy Spirit away from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit." Brethren, are you daily drinking of this living water? Does it spring up within you? Ah! remember it is Christ's gift; "I give unto them eternal life."
     3. "They shall never perish." You know, brethren, that the shepherd often loses his sheep. Thus Jacob did, he sometimes lost the sheep. And you remember David sometimes lost the sheep. A lion and a bear came once and carried away one of the sheep. But there is one shepherd that never loses any. "These are they which thou has given me, and I have kept them, and none of them is lost," "They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." Those that are Christ's sheep have got many adversaries; there is the devil, like a roaring lion, going about seeking whom he may devour; there is the world, gaping like strong bulls of Bashan; and then there is the old heart striving to get back to its pleasures; but you shall never perish. It is true that you have got many tossings. Oftentimes God's people cry to the Rock, but it hears not. Often they cry, "My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God." But that word will stand, "I know them — they shall never perish." Never did one sheep of Christ's perish yet. Ah, it is true that there are many falls — that there are many backslidings; but they shall never perish. There have many perished out of this place — many that seemed to be his; but Christ's sheep shall never perish. Why can they not perish? There are three reasons: 1. They are in "my hand." 2. They are in "my Father's hand." 3. "I and my Father are one."
     1. They are in "my hand" You know what is in his hand is safe. Whose hand is stronger than his? "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." "They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."
     2. They are in "my Father's hand." "My Father gave them to me"; he said, "I commit these sheep into thy hand." Christ accepted them, and the Father draws them to him. So that there are two hands upholding the sheep, one below the other, so that if you were to fall out of one hand, you would just fall into the other.
     3. "I and my Father are one" — one in essence, one in power, one in purpose, one in love. If one hand was pulling the one way, and the other the other, then we do not know what might be the case; but they are both pulling the same way. Are you Christ's? then you will never perish. But I believe there are some here that will perish. You know I have sometimes said, if there was but one sitting in the middle of the church that should perish, then you might all gather around him, and weep over his awful state; but I believe that there are many sitting in all parts of the church that will yet perish. But if you are in Christ's hand; you are in his Father's hand, and he and his Father are one. Amen.

Sabbath Forenoon,
25th September 1842.

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The True and the False Shepherd (Robert Murray M'Cheyne, 1813-1843)



John 10:1 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. 6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them."

We learn, dear brethren, from the sixth verse that this passage is one of considerable difficulty. How much need then have I of a fresh baptism that I may speak rightly from it; and how much need have you to have your heart opened, as was that of Lydia, that you may attend unto the things that are spoken, if you would understand them. "This parable spake Jesus unto them but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them."
Let us notice:
     1. The false shepherd. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."
     2. The true shepherd. "But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep."
     3. The character of the sheep, which I fear I will not have time to enter upon.
 I. First of all let us meditate for a little on what is said of the false shepherd. And we shall consider: 1. Who the false shepherd is. 2. What is the mark of the false shepherd. 3. What is the object of the false shepherd.
      1. Who the false shepherd is. It seems evident that this chapter is a continuation of the last. Christ had been speaking of the Pharisees — those false shepherds, and in this chapter he shows that all false shepherds that will ever be in the world enter not in by the door, but climb up some other way. It is evident that he speaks of one great false shepherd, and I have no doubt that it means the great false shepherd, the god of this world, who is continually trying to climb over the wall into the sheep-fold.
     Now, Satan has got three ways in which he attacks the sheep-fold. The first of these is by Antichrist. We know quite well that it is Satan who gives Antichrist all his power. You will see this in 2 Thessalonians 2.8: "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." Compare this with the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, verses 1 and 2: "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." Now, we know quite well that the beast is the Church of Rome; we are told that the beast sits on seven hills; and we are told at the end of the 2nd verse that the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. So that there is no doubt, dear brethren, but that the great enemy of the sheep — the false shepherd, who comes like a lamb, but who has the paw of a bear — is Antichrist. Now, there can be no doubt but that he gets his power from Satan. 
     But there is another way in which Satan attacks the sheep-fold, and this is by the world. All you who are the children of disobedience, are the children of the devil. Satan has two ways in which he attacks the sheep-fold by the world. 1. He makes the world to frown. 2. He makes it to smile upon you. Another way is through false teachers. It is said that Satan entered into Judas; and it is said that Satan filled the hearts of Ananias and Sapphira. So no doubt he fills the hearts of many who are false ministers. You will see this in 2 Corinthians 11.13-15: "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." So you see, brethren, that there are many who are the ministers of righteousness, who are the ministers of Satan. It is he that helps them over the wall.
     2. The marks of the false shepherd. Verse 1: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." The great mark of false shepherds is that they enter not by the door. Verse 9: "I am the door; by me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Christ is the door into the sheep-fold. The mark of every false shepherd is, he is not saved himself. This is the mark of the devil; he is lost! lost! lost! Those of you who follow Satan as a master are following one who is lost himself. And this is the mark of the Antichrist, just that he enters not in by the door. They make another way into the sheep-fold; they have other mediators than the one Mediator between God and man. This is the mark of the world, they enter not in by the door. Is it a lost world? Oh, dear sheep, why do you fear the world? It will soon perish. The same is the mark of all false ministers. Ah, brethren, remember that you live in a dangerous time.
     3. But farther, let us observe the object of the false shepherd. Verse 10, "The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." You know, dear brethren, this is Satan's great object in the world; it is to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. This is the object of Antichrist. This is the object of the world. This is the object of all false ministers. This is the object of your enemies, little flock, for whom it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Satan comes to rob God of your souls; Antichrist comes to rob God of his throne — to rob God of his laws; and the world comes to rob God of his Sabbath. So with worldly ministers in like manner, they come to rob you of your soul, of peace, of joy, of holiness. Antichrist robs you of the true way to the Father. And the world comes to rob you — that pleasant world which says, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." And so with worldly ministers — this is their object, to rob, to steal, and to destroy. O my brethren, be warned to flee; be warned to flee from Antichrist; be warned to flee from an ungodly world! "Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go," Prov. 22.24; or with a covetous man thou shalt not go. And beware of worldly ministers; if your minister should be taken from you, beware of them, for they will come to destroy.

II. The true shepherd, verses 2, 5. The shepherd of the sheep is Christ himself. He says, verse 11, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep"; verse 14, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." And why is he called the shepherd of the sheep? Just because he died for them. The sheep were once condemned to die; he came in the character of a man and died for them. Is he not worthy, then, to be called the shepherd of the sheep? He did not flee when he saw the wolf come. He sees the sheep that is lost, and goes after it. "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?"
Then, let us consider what are the marks of the shepherd of the sheep:
     1. He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep," verse 2. We see that the door is Christ himself. Some of you will ask, then, Why could Christ enter in by the door, when he is the door himself? But this is just the very thing he did. Hebrews 9.11, 12: "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." He showed himself the good shepherd by his entering in by the door, that is, "by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." True, if he had remained without our taking our sins upon him, he would not need to have entered in, but he took our sins upon him. Ah, brethren, this is the mark of every true shepherd whom Christ sends — he comes in by the door, that is, the blood of Christ. He speaks of sin, because he has seen its greatness; he speaks of pardon, because he has been forgiven; of blood, because he has felt its power. "He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." No other qualification will do. All the learning at colleges will never make a minister. All the eloquence in the world will never make a minister. Pray that Scotland may have such ministers.
      2. There is another mark here given of the true shepherd — verse 3, "He calleth his own sheep by name." This, first of all, shows the complete knowledge he has of the sheep. You remember Zaccheus, when he was a stray sheep, Christ said to him when he was in the tree, "Come down; for today I must abide at thine house." You remember Nathaniel, when a stray sheep under the fig-tree, "he saw him." You remember, after his resurrection, he saw Mary, and said to her, "Mary"; and she turned herself, and said unto him, "Rabboni: which is to say master." So it is still. Ministers do not know you; elders do not know you; but Christ knows you, and he calls his own sheep by name, and they follow him. And this implies, also, the love of Christ. You know when you love one, you love their name. Christ does not only know you, but he calls you by his name. He called Bethany, "the town of Mary and her sister Martha" Christ loves the names of those for whom he died. Your names are graven on his heart, and on the palms of his hands; and this shows he changes their names. He said to Abraham, "Thy name shall no more be called Abram, but Abraham shall thy name be." And you remember he said of Peter, "Thy name shall be called Peter," which means a stone. And it is said of the Jews, "I have called thee by my name, thou art mine." So it implies that they get a new name, that is, a new nature. And, when we come to the temple above, he says, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God; and I will write upon him my new name." And you that are of the world, if you will come, you will get a new name.
      3. Last of all, there is another character of the true shepherd here mentioned, and that is, "He goes before them," verse 4. In the countries of the east, brethren, you know that the shepherd goes before the sheep, and they follow him. When he says, "Let us go to the well," they follow him. When he says, "Let us go down into that dark valley," they go after him. So it is with Christ. Christ never asked a sheep to go where he never went himself. He has borne all that he calls his sheep to bear. Christ went in a lower level of sorrow than you will be called to bear. Do not be alarmed then when you are called to suffer, you will not be called to go where he has not gone. Do not be afraid to put down your tender feet where he put down his. And it is still true that he goes before you. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Do not be afraid then when Christ is before you.
Brethren, let me ask you, in conclusion, Are you following him, or are you following a stranger? I do not ask you, Are you following a godly minister? but, Are you following Christ? Do you hear his voice in the Word? Do you hear his voice in the preaching of the gospel? And do you follow him? Happy flock, follow on to know the Lord: soon shall we be where no tempting devil — where no deceiving world — where no false ministers are. There "they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Amen.
 Sabbath Forenoon,
4th September 1842.

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The Hireling and the True Shepherd (Robert Murray M'Cheyne, 1813-1843)

John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep."

In our first lecture we saw that the people did not understand Christ. There were two things that they did not understand. The first thing that they did not seem to understand was the door of the sheepfold; the second, who the shepherd was. And we saw last Sabbath that he explained to them what the sheepfold was. And now he begins to show who the shepherd is: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." It is exceedingly interesting to know the many names by which Christ calls himself in the Bible. These are above a hundred, I think a hundred and seven. He calls himself a rose, "I am the rose of Sharon," and a lily, "I am the lily of the valley."The reason why he has so many names is that one name would not describe him; he has so many offices that one name would not explain them; nay, all of them put together do not, for Paul said, "Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I might preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Of all the names given, that of a shepherd is the sweetest. We understand things best by figures; so, at the beginning of this chapter, he contrasted himself with a stranger, and in these words he contrasts himself with a hireling, whose own the sheep are not.
We shall consider these two things, the hireling and the true shepherd.
I. The hireling, verses 12, 13. There can be little doubt, I believe, that the hireling represents unfaithful ministers. Let us then go over the features, here laid down, of an unfaithful minister:
     1. He is a hireling; that is to say, the end he seeks is the hire. You know, dear friends, that a minister should be maintained. It is written in the law, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." "They that preach the gospel should live of the gospel," 1 Cor. 9.14. But then, dear brethren, observe that this should not be the end of the ministry. The hireling here mentioned, is one who seeks the hire and not the flock. This was often complained of by the prophets. Isaiah complained of it in his day. "His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs; they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter." Isaiah 56.10, 11. Now, this is just the hireling. Jeremiah complained of them in his day: "For, from the least of them even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet, even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely," Jer. 6, 13. This is the hireling again. Ezekiel complained of them in his day. "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" Ezek. 34.2. Paul complained of them in his day: "For I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's, Phil. 2.20, 21. Ah! brethren, this is the black mark of the hireling: verse 12, "He that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth," etc. But, brethren, it is not merely the seeking money that marks the hireling, but seeking our own ease ? our own honour ? our own fame. Pray for ministers ? pray that they may not be given to covetousness.
     2. "Whose own the sheep are not." You know, dear brethren, that faithful ministers stand in a peculiar relation to the sheep. They are called fathers ? watchmen that stand on the watch tower, etc. It is a relation that outlasts death. You know, dear friends, that Paul often calls himself a father; see 1 Cor. 4.15; Gal. 4.19; 1 Tim. 1.2; Philemon, l0th verse. Ah, friends, this shews you the union between the minister and the flock. He is a father ? he begets them through the gospel. It is not so with a hireling ? his own the sheep are not. God does not own him as a father. God does not own him in the conversion of souls. He cannot say as Paul said, "My dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown." He will not meet a crown of saved souls in the judgment. Ah! this is the mark of a hireling ? a withered branch. Pray that ours may not be so.
     3. "The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep." You know that the ministers who are sent of God, take care of the sheep. Observe the apostle Paul ? what labours did he not undergo; what sufferings did he not endure! 2 Cor. 11.23. Hear how he prayed for them ? "God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers," Rom. 1.9. "For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh," Col. 2.1. How he cared for the sheep! And hear how he speaks to the elders at Ephesus ? "Remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears," Acts 20.31. And observe, brethren, what tears he used to shed for them ? "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears," 2 Cor. 2.4. "I fear lest when I come, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned," 2 Cor. 12.21. And then what thanksgiving he used to offer up to God ? "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy," Phil. 1.3. "For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before God" 1 Thess. 3.9. "I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers," Eph. 1.16. This is the mark of a true shepherd. But a hireling cares not for the sheep, he does not and cannot weep for the sheep, he has no anguish of heart for them. Pray that we may so love Christ that we may care for the sheep.
     4. He flees away when the wolf comes; verse 12, "But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep and fleeth." The wolf is taken in Scripture to represent two things, either false ministers or heresy. See Acts 20.29. "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing flock." The grievous wolves are evidently those false teachers who bring in another gospel which is not another. See also Matt. 10.16, "Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves," etc. There you see the wolves are evidently those men who bring them before the councils. The time when the wolf comes is the time to mark who the true shepherd is. He stands between them when heresy comes in, or when a persecuting world stretches out its hand towards them; that is the time for the true shepherd to stand between the fold and it; but ah! the hireling flees. The time when he can get no more his own ease ? his own comfort ? is the time he flees. Pray that Scotland may have true shepherds; not those who care not for the sheep; not those whom God has never owned in the conversion of souls; not those who will flee in a time of heresy or persecution. Pray that the true shepherds may be known in a time of heresy or persecution, and that the day may never dawn on Scotland when it will be given over to hireling ministers.
II. I come now, secondly, to consider the true shepherd. Oh! it is sweet to turn from looking at the hireling to the true shepherd: "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep," etc. Christ here gives us three marks of the true shepherd.
     1. The true shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Jacob was a good shepherd to Laban. You remember his care of the sheep; he says, "That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night," etc., Gen. 31.39,40. But he did not give his life for the sheep. David was a good shepherd. You remember when a lion and a bear came and took away the sheep, that he went after it and rescued it, and slew both the lion and the bear; 1 Sam. 17.35. But David did not give his life for the sheep; but Christ gave his life. The sentence was written against the sheep, "Thou shalt die;" ? Christ came between and died for them. Observe, brethren, that it was not merely temporal death that he died; but it was equal to eternal death. It was death under uniquity ? "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities," Isa. 53.5. It was a death under sin ? "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6.23. And observe, it was freely; he did it out of free love; therefore it is always said, "He gave himself for us". Love one another, even as Christ loved the church, "and gave himself for it." There is one Mediator "who gave himself a ransom for all." Brethren, observe that Christ so loved the sheep that he gave his life "What are these wounds in thy hands? These are the wounds I have received in the house of my friends." Brethren, if ever you and I get to heaven, this is what we will see, "A Lamb as it had been slain." Are you attracted by the sight? What are you made of, that you do not see this love? O brethren, to whom will you go if not to him? Observe what he offers ? himself. "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep;" that is, lam willing to give myself to you.
     2. "I know my sheep, as the Father knoweth me." You know, brethren, how completely the Father knows his Son. He knew him from all eternity: "Then I was by him as one brought up with him, I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Brethren, so Christ knows his sheep. "He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world." You know, brethren, that the Father knows him with a love of delight. So Christ knows his sheep with the same love; "Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee." "As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters!" "My love, my undefiled is but one, she is the only one of her mother." Christ delights in every one of his sheep. And you know the Father knew Christ during all the time of his sufferings on earth. So Christ knows his sheep in all their temptations. And you know the Father will know Christ to all eternity. So Christ says, "I know my sheep." Christ knows his sheep to all eternity. "They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my Father's hand." Ah, brethren, is there any shepherd like this shepherd?
     3. "I am known of mine." The sheep know Christ, and Christ knows the Father. Christ has a perfect acquaintance of the Father: "O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee," so the sheep know Christ: he manifests himself unto them. Ah, brethren, has Christ made himself known unto you? Has he given you an understanding to know him that is true, and are you in him that is true? This is the mark of all his sheep. "I am known of mine." And this is one of the excellencies of Christ to his own. He lets fragrance forth when he passeth by, and we follow him. Brethren, has he let out his fragrance to you, and do you follow him? Are you known of him even as he is known of the Father? Amen.

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Christ the Door into the Church (Robert Murray M'Cheyne, 1813-1843)

John 10:6 "This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly."

Christ is the kindest of all teachers. He was speaking to a crowd of ignorant and prejudiced Jews, and yet how kindly he deals with them. He told them one parable, but they understood not. "This parable spake Jesus unto them; but they understood not what things they were he spake unto them." And yet, we are told, Christ spake unto them again. He hath given them a description of the true and false shepherd, and of the door into the sheepfold; but they seem to have been at a loss to know what the door meant; therefore he says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep." You see how kindly he tries to instruct them. My brethren, Christ is the same kind teacher still. Are there not many stupid and prejudiced persons here? And yet has he not given you "precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little," Isaiah 13.28. He has broken down the bread for you.
 Let us now examine this explanatory parable:
1. Christ is the door into the Church.
2. The invitation here given to enter in.
3. The promise to those that enter in.
 I. Christ is the door into the Church. "I am the door." The only way into the Church of God, either for ministers or members, is by Christ, and through faith in him. Many enter in by learning; learning is not to be despised, but yet it is not the door. There are many that have entered into the ministry, by having eminent gifts, but these are not the door. And those who enter in such a way are thieves and robbers, for they enter not in by the door. Again, many enter in by the door of worldly favour, some by the favour of the rich, some by the favour of the common people, some by the favour of the patron; but still they are thieves and robbers, for they enter not in by the door. Remember then, and never forget it, that the right way into the ministry is through Christ. None can tell of sin, but those who have felt its burden. None can tell of pardon, but those who have tasted of it. None can tell of Christ's power to sanctify but those who have holiness in their hearts. Brethren, hold such in reverence; flee from all others; they may have learning, they may have gifts, they may have the flattery of the common people, but they are thieves and robbers.
     But further, there are many members who enter into the fold another way; they also are thieves and robbers. There are many who enter in by the door of knowledge ? they have got acquainted with Bible knowledge, they can tell of the way of a sinner's acceptance with God; but if you have not come into the fold by being washed in the blood of Christ, you are a thief and a robber.
     Some enter into the fold by a good life. As touching the law they are like Paul, blameless. You are not a thief, you are not a swearer, you are not a drunkard, and you think you have a right to enter in ? a right to sit at the Lord's table; but Christ says it over and over again, you are a thief and a robber. Ah, brethren, remember if you are admitted into the fold on account of your morality ? your outward decency ? your good life, you are a thief and a robber. Brethren, there is a day coming when those who have entered into the sheepfold, not by the door, but some other way, will look back and see their guilt when they shall enter an undone eternity.
     Observe, brethren, before I leave this part of the subject, that Christ is a present entrance. Brethren, there is a time in each of your lives ? or rather I should say, history ? that the door of the sheepfold is open to you. "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved"; but that time will pass away. It is but a moment compared to eternity. This is a solemn truth. Brethren, if I could promise you that the door will stand open for a hundred years, yet it would still be your wisdom to enter in now; but I cannot answer for a year, I cannot answer for a month, I cannot answer for a day, I cannot answer for an hour; all that I can answer for is, it is open now ? tomorrow it may be shut for ever.
 II. I come now to the second thing proposed, and that is, to shew you Christ's invitation. "I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved." There are many sweet invitations to sinners in the Bible; I have often felt these words to be the sweetest. There are some invitations addressed to those who are thirsty. It is said in Isaiah, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters," etc. Christ said on the last day, that great day of the feast, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." And he says, near the end of Revelation, "I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Again, there are some invitations that are addressed to those that have a burden; "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Again, there are some that are addressed to those who are prisoners; "Turn you to the stronghold ye prisoners of hope." But this appears to me the sweetest of all, for it is said, "If any man." It is not said, if any thirsty man, if any weary man, if any burdened man, but if any man enter in he shall be saved. I have seen some rich men's doors, where none could enter but the rich; and where the beggar must lie at the gate. But Christ's door is open to any man, whatever your life, whatever your character may be. Christ is not like the door of some churches, where none can enter in but the rich; Christ's door is open to the poor; "To the poor the gospel is preached." Some, perhaps, can say, "I am the most vile one in this congregation," yet Christ says, "Enter in." Some, perhaps, can say, "I have sinned more than all; I have sinned against a father, I have sinned against a mother, I have sinned against mercies, and against judgments, against the invitations of the gospel, and against light," yet Christ says, "Enter in."
     Observe still farther that the invitation is not to look at the door, but to enter in. There are many that hear about the door, but that is not enough; it is to enter in at it. And there are many that like to hear about the door, but yet they do not enter in. Ah, my brethren, that's a great cheat of the devil. I am persuaded many of you will go away this day well pleased because you heard about the door, but you do not enter in. There are many that go a step farther, they look in at the door, but yet they do not enter in. I believe that many of you are often brought there; but when it comes to the point, that you must leave your idols, that you must leave your sins, you do not enter in. "By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved."
     Again, there are some who see other people enter in, but they do not enter in themselves. You, perhaps, have seen a father, or a mother, or a neighbour enter in; you have seen a change come over them, and a peace possess their minds, and you say, "I wish I were them"; but you do not enter in. Ah! if you would be saved, you must enter in at the door; convictions will not do, tears will not do, etc. And this is the reason why so many of you are not happy; you do not enter in.
 III. I now come to the third and last point, and that is, the promise; "If any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." The first part of the promise is, "They shall be saved." Christ pledges his word for it, that those who enter in shall be saved. Those who do not enter in shall be damned. If you are not Christ's, you are without, and without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolators, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. But those who enter in shall be saved. It is immediate pardon. There will be even now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. O my brethren, it is immediate pardon we offer you from the Father, "If any man enter in, he shall be saved." And then, "He shall go in and out, and find pasture." That is to say, you will have all the privileges of a sheep; it goes out to the well; it goes out to the pasture. So, if you are his, you can go in and out to find pasture. My dear brethren, there may come a time in Scotland, when there will be little pasture, when there will be no under-shepherd, when the witnesses will be slain. Yet the Lord will be your shepherd, he will feed you. You shall "go in and out, and find pasture." Amen.
Sabbath Forenoon,
11th September 1842.

Author
Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843), the pastor of St Peter's, Dundee, died in his thirtieth year, and in the seventh of his ministry. His epitaph describes him as a man who "walked with God," and who was "honoured by his Lord to draw many wanderers out of darkness into the path of life".

A Basket of Fragments is a selection of sermons first published five years after M'Cheyne's death. The sermons were put together from the notes taken down by hearers during his ministry "without the least view to publication." One advantage of this is that, as the editor of the first edition wrote, "they bring before us those extemporaneous pleadings with sinner in which few so greatly excelled." The sermons are indeed stamped with eternity; they are the expression of one upon whose heart the weight of perishing sinners pressed; they are the yearnings of one who was "deein" to the folks converted.
Taken from the 1975 edition of A Basket of Fragments, published by Christian Focus Publications, 118 Academy Street, Inverness, Scotland.

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