02 - The Good Shepherd: 1-5
THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND HIS SHEEP. The Gospel of John begins with Christ as "The Word "-not as the Shepherd. The Word tells out all the heart of God. The mysteries of His grace will take eternity to unfold them all. The Word becomes flesh: the Lamb is seen, and the Lamb becomes the Shepherd. This is illustrated in Psalms 23:1-6., where He is seen walking through the valley, the utmost sorrow of death.
"The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep" (verse 11). It is His life, and it is His as Son of God. But it must be laid down. We see the type in Genesis, chapter 22.-the Father and the Son are there. On Moriah, God said to Abraham-"Lay not thine hands upon the lad;" but at the Cross "He spared not" His Own Son (Romans 8:32). His only alternative was to sacrifice Him, or leave us in our sin. God had no way save one by which He could redeem us, that was by the blood of the Cross.
"The door" is redemption. By the death of Christ the door was opened.
"The sheep." This name is frequently given to believers in the Word: it denotes fellowship. The sheep first hear His voice for salvation, and after for obedience, to follow in His steps.
"I am come that they might have life." We have life out from Christ, as Eve from Adam. Our life is unspeakably above the highest angel, being derived from Christ in redemption.
"The porter openeth." God’s satisfied justice now opens the way to life and endless glory with Christ.
"Other sheep," such as Cornelius and ourselves, not of the Jewish fold.
"Saved, and go in and out." Access to all the fullness of God. Angels deem it an honor to remain waiting on those who are heirs of such salvation. What obligations belong to those who have been so richly blessed, and brought into a place of such nearness to God. How deep the doom of all who despise such grace. Surely Satan is less guilty than man, for he never had the opportunity of rejecting God’s salvation. And as we begin with the Lamb and the Shepherd (John 1:29), so we end (Revelation 7:14-17, Revelation 22:3). mod this is created by D. (0xmade by Dav1d C0x OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST.
Notes of Mr. Chapman’s Last Reading.
Read Hebrews 7:1-28, Hebrews 8:1-13.
Mr. Chapman remarked, "There is a vast difference between saying "There is a Great High Priest," and " We have a Great High Priest.this is created by D. (0x Before the Cross, Christ could not take up the Melchisedec priesthood. He had not fulfilled the Aaronic. In eternity we shall not need His restoring grace: there will be no weakness, no wanderings there.
Here our wants are numberless, so are His supplies. If I thank God for my wants, He will not forget His supplies. I see a fellow-believer in perplexity, I make his wants my wants, but I do not stop there. I go to the Great High Priest, and draw from Him, for I know His resources are infinite.
I look at myself seventy years ago. I found I must conjoin the two: my wants, His supplies, His supplies need my wants. I search out my wants small and great, and match them with His supplies.
We need our Melchisedec less than He needs us. He feels our condition and need, more than we do. His need of us is so great.this is created by D. (0x Ever so little increase is a growth in fellowship.mod made by Dav1d C0x
I have been growing every day for seventy years. I have been happy ever since I knew my sonship first, yet every day I grow happier.this is created by D. (0x A tender conscience can only grow in communion with Christ. By unbelief and neglect, we make the Bible a much smaller book.
Christ is my Surety. I never use the word "substitution," I refer to my Friend who pays for me. On the Cross His act was much above a substitute: He raised us to oneness with Himself.
FAITH AND UNBELIEF.
Read Hebrews 11:1-40, Hebrews 12:1-29. The word "testament" throughout Hebrews should be read "covenant."
God’s grace is seen in Hebrews xi., where no mention is made of any faults attaching to His people. The disposition to unbelief dishonors God: faith honors Him. Unbelief is the easily-besetting sin. The battle with unbelief is to be maintained every hour. The Word of God and Its Use: AN ADDRESS TO YOUNG BELIEVERS.
Let us dwell a little on the words in John 17:8, John 17:14· "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me,"-" I have given them thy Word;" and in Colossians 3:16, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." Remember, there is a certain measure of truth graven in the conscience of man as man. We shall not find a human being who has not some conviction of the existence of God in his conscience. This conviction may be corrupted, overlaid, almost buried under the delusions of Satan, and the unbelief of the carnal mind; but, still, there it is. See how the apostle, in preaching to the Athenians, profits by this. He does not begin by proving to the Athenians the existence of God; but he profits by that which was graven on all their hearts and consciences-a consciousness of their obligation to God, and a knowledge of His being. Why do I speak so? Because I am coming to what I judge to be of infinite importance to us all, particularly to young believers-that there is not naturally in the conscience of man any knowledge whatever of God as a Father-God, a God of grace and redemption, a God who can pardon sin-who acts in perfect justice, and yet justifies the sinner who believes. Not only is there not this knowledge naturally in man, but there is everything in guilty, defiled man, in his reasoning about God, against supposing that there is forgiveness with God. We find the human, corrupt heart, breaking out in the garden in Adam and Eve. They hid themselves from God, and then shifted the blame from themselves in reality on God. "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me." It was Thy fault in giving the woman to be with me. It was Thy fault in allowing the serpent to tempt me.
Again, afterwards, it is striking if we take the marginal reading of what Cain said: "My sin is greater than can be forgiven." Here is the natural heart speaking out. He had had the accepted worshiper before him, his brother Abel, and had killed him. Now he speaks as if his hand had lain in his bosom, and he shows a lamentable ignorance of God as a God of grace in saying, "My sin is greater than can be forgiven." He determined to make the best of his existence by turning his back upon God, forgetting Him; and occupies himself in building, and such things. In speaking thus, I have a particular aim in view. The Bible is a self-proving book. If you see your elders taken away, and you younger ones attain old age, you will find that the world will boast itself more and more of its own wisdom and even of wisdom from God. The Bible runs entirely contrary to man’s wisdom, and therefore it will be a settled matter with the world, that fools only hold the Bible to be a revelation from God. We find in the Bible the doctrine of God as Father running through it from beginning to end. No human being could ever have invented the doctrine of "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son;" or that God so loved the Church, that He chose it, that Christ might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Beloved, never read any book to prove that the Bible is true. It is only a waste of time, but it gives great advantage to the adversary of your souls. All books, more or less, I do not say in the same measure, allow the natural man (I) to be capable of judging the truth of Scripture; and, moreover, that such a revelation of Himself was to be expected from God.mod made by Dav1d C0x
They say the glories of the Scripture are self-evident; but to whom are they evident? To those whose eyes are opened, who see that God has given Christ and His Spirit to open the eyes of their understanding; just as a blind man cannot see the sun, though it is shining in the clearness of its noonday strength. So it is with a blind world.
Again, as the world cannot see Christ, because of its blindness, it cannot see itself. The Bible is the only book under heaven where the human heart, as it truly is in the sight of God, is set forth according to truth. Other books may have truth in them out of the Bible, but no book could or does declare, "The heart is deceitful above all things," but the Bible. Truly we need a revelation from God respecting our hearts, as much as respecting Christ.
It appears to me at the present time very clearly, that all the wise men of the world are saying there is some good in man, that man is destined to attain a glorious state of being, that there are capabilities in man to attain to greatness and glory. This is a universal doctrine. It was the doctrine of the old philosophers of Greece and Rome. There was one of them put to death, three hundred years before Christ for righteousness sake-that is to say, human righteousness-because he boldly rebuked the wickedness of the nation, when he sought to regenerate the people; but all his philosophy was, that there was goodness in the heart of man; he himself said that he had lived so that he could not possibly have lived better. He had no conscience of being a sinner going to hell, but he had been adjudged to take a draught of hemlock, and his last command to his friend was, "Offer a cock to Esculapius." It was as much as to say, "This cup is a cure of all ills, and therefore the honor of an offering is due to the God of medicine." Such was the human heart in one of the best men the world ever saw. At the present time, the great and wise are proceeding on the false principle that there is some good thing in man to be unfolded, which will raise him to a higher being, to a glorious state of exaltation. The Scripture counts this all folly. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." Dear young friends, remember this book, the Bible, scorns all support from man’s reasoning. It is entirely self-proving. All the words of man’s wisdom are folly to it, and its doctrines are and must be folly to the world’s wisdom. Do not waste your time in proving the Bible to be true; read the Bible itself. After you have found the knowledge of Christ as your Saviour and Redeemer, and He has given you rest, you must, according to Matthew xi., take His yoke upon you, and learn of Him. . . . And you shall find rest unto your souls." The second rest is very distinct from the first. Every child of God has the first, and ought to attain to the second. What happiness! All wise, humble walk and service to Christ hang on it, yet, alas! few attain it. Very few, in truth, find rest from the restlessness of self-will and self-exalting pride: rest from the cravings after some portion to fill the heart, short of Christ.
It seems to me, that the Church is made up to a great degree of Lot’s children. The world is made up of Cain’s children. The Church of God is made up of Lot’s children, when they ought to be Abraham’s true sons and daughters. They begin to find friendship and happiness in the midst of the evil world around them; they do not seek happiness in Christ alone, though they have sought and found redemption, and, alas! care not to observe the commandment- Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. The day spent with God brings happiness and peace: this is the proper state of the Church of God, and if this were its condition, it would shine forth "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." It would be so separate from the world and its forbidden fellowships, so walking in the daylight of God’s presence, that believers would naturally speak one thing, and walk in one way. We are wanting in fellowship, because we do not take the yoke of the Lord upon us. We do not seek rest from the restlessness of self-will and self-affection, and we are perpetually taking up some portion short of God and of Christ Himself. One mark of this Lot-like spirit is, that the Bible is not dealt with as it should be. The Lord says, "I have given them thy Word." That is, the whole of Scripture. The Scripture comes to us from a risen Christ, who has given us the Spirit to unfold it to us; and thus we have a spiritual, heavenly relation, entirely above everything even of what angels know of God. The best gift is ours. The Lord reckoned it to be a better thing than His continuance here after He was risen. When He conversed with His disciples, He said, "It is expedient for you that I go away," because He, unseen, is better known by faith, and by the Spirit in the Word, than He was or could have been when here in the days of His flesh.
Again, observe the first psalm; we see the blessed Son of God, as God’s servant, delighting in God’s Word: "His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth He meditate day and night." While the blessed Lord was never anything lower than He is now, yet He was always, in the days of His flesh, a Learner. "He grew," "He increased," in wisdom and stature. He was wisdom-Himself the substance of Scripture testimony; yet, I suppose, when He was working as the carpenter, and the whole of His days were spent in labor, His nights were often sleepless -He, the carpenter, the Son of God, the Redeemer-in order that He might meditate on the word of Moses, of Samuel, of David, of Isaiah, and of Daniel. Oh, what a pattern is the Lord Jesus to us, meditating on the Scriptures! If we do take up with the Scriptures for the sake of being the friends of Christ, then let us observe the Word-" Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you" (John xv. 14). We cannot know the will of the Lord, unless we meditate on His Word. If we desire to walk in the truth, and seek, in obedience to Christ, to meditate on His Word, we have the promise of the Spirit to guide us into all truth. But supposing a believer is not taking this path, has he the promise? Surely not; he is in a state of self-will, desiring earthly things to be his portion. He may be united to Christ, but he does not get the promise, because the promise is coupled with, "if ye do whatsoever I command you." On the other hand, amid all our infirmities, and ways so contrary to Christ, let us be stirred up to settle in our minds to take His yoke upon us and learn of Him. He that walks in Lot’s path does not know himself. He that walks in Abraham’s path, follows the path of Hebrews -looking unto Jesus, the perfect Example of faith. Resistance to the flesh brings greater self-knowledge, but not discouragement, because we can say, "Christ is my great High Priest within the vail." Christ is there for me, in the presence of God, my power and advocate. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
What we want is obedience, to take the Scriptures as the daily food of the soul; exactly as we take food for the daily nourishment of the body. If we deal with our souls as well as we deal with our bodies, to nourish, adorn, and cleanse them, we shall certainly thrive, and shall be living not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us and rose again. I cannot but say, that the great means of growth, taking the first psalm for my authority, is reading the Word of God in the closet for the sake of obedience to God. It is not the public assemblies for teaching (though may God increase them), and raise up men of wisdom, shepherds, and teachers. The Lord put a cry into the hearts of His children for them; we cannot value them too highly: still, everything must be in its proper place. Let the teachers have their place, and the Bible and the closet their place.
There are some very common habits among Christians, as to reading the Bible. I am accustomed to put the question, How do you read the Bible? And I frequently get the sorrowful answer- "I take up a chapter anywhere." When do you read the Bible? When all the house is quiet? Is that the best time? Did the Israelites gather the manna at nine o’clock in the evening? No one takes his breakfast at such an hour. If I read a letter from some one dear to me, I begin at the beginning, and read it through to the end. So we ought to deal with the Gospels, the Psalms, the Epistles; reading each in the order in which each is written. Begin, for instance, with the Gospel of John. If you have not half an hour, use the time that you have. If you have only five minutes for taking your breakfast, rather than starve your soul, spend the five minutes with your Bible, and let the body take care of itself. Order your conversation according to the Word of God. Let this be your settled resolve, to take the yoke of Christ upon you, to yield unreserved, unqualified obedience to the Word, that you may enjoy the friendship of the King of kings, the Son of God. The Unchangeable Priesthood of Christ.
Read Hebrews 13:8-21.
It is well for us to call to mind the place in this epistle of the words, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever;" they occur in the last chapter, after the offering of Himself and His present priestly ministry have been dwelt upon.
We remember that when some boasted that they had Abraham to their father, the Lord replied, "Ye are of your father the devil;" and concerning Himself He added, "Before Abraham was, I AM." He had not then offered Himself on the cross, and though He had been anointed by the Spirit for Himself, He had not received that Spirit for us. But when He had, "through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God," and had been raised up as "Head over all things to the church," He was anointed as the great Melchizedek-the great High Priest of our profession, and through that anointing we receive the Spirit who now dwelleth in us. That Spirit bears witness to Him as the One who has been manifested and tested, declaring that He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." When we consider that these words are spoken of our Priest at God’s right hand, what manner of persons ought we to be in point of trusting Him! Though we cannot see Him with the bodily eye till He shall come in His glory, yet we do see Him by faith; and though we may be called to walk through darkness-even thick darkness-we walk in the light of His priesthood, His intercessory power, His sympathy with us in every heartache, in every sigh of our souls, as well as in our joys and rejoicings-"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."
We are called to reckon time as God reckons it, and to redeem and use it according to His estimate of it. We might surely say, that when Aaron went into the holiest on the day of atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month, no one thought of going to his dwelling until the high priest came out again. We know that Christ is Aaron as well as Melchizedek, and that as Aaron He has entered into heaven itself, and the blessed word in this epistle, quoted from Habakkuk, is this: "Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." The prophet thought the vision tarried; the Spirit by Paul omits the words "though it tarry," for He tarries not, He has not lost a moment. We speak as if it were a long course of time; but through all this time, He is preparing for coming glory. In the ninth chapter we learn that, as He once appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (v. 26), so He now appears in the presence of God for us (v. 24), while we have the assurance that "unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (v. 28).
Beloved, how unspeakably precious is this waiting season, if we but turn it to good account!
We sing, and it is good to sing,
Hence, through all the changing seasons,
Trouble, sickness, sorrow, woe,
Nothing changeth God’s affection,
Abba’s love shall bring us through.
Let us remember that Christ is an eternal gainer, by His present rule as Head over all things to the church. We are very apt to think that the future joy only consists in two things-Christ Himself as seen by us, and our being with Him and like Him, according to the words in John’s first epistle. Now, without these we know there could be no eternal joy. But, when we are brought into this glorious condition, Christ will be revealing Himself, unfolding the story of His love, unfolding to us all His steps in the days of His flesh, and expounding to us His grace in His dealings with us, as He cannot do now. We see now through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face, and know even as we are known. The wisdom of God is as necessary to us as the love of God. Our love indeed will be perfect, but our reverence will be perfect also. And how? He will unfold to us the equity of His ways. And what is the equity of God, but the wisdom of His justice and the wisdom of His love? He will unfold the equity of these, and not only shall we confess, but foes as well shall confess that He who died on the cross is not only Lord in power, but Lord in the equity of the wisdom of God. And the foes under His feet, from the depths of hell, shall confess, that He is the rightful Lord of all. The wicked prophet Balaam said, "How goodly are thy tents, 0 Israel!" and, "I shall see Him, but not now." He confessed the beauty of the Lord then, but he will more perfectly confess it in that day of final reckoning.
Let us now turn to the prayer of the apostle: "The God of peace . . . make you perfect." "We know that, according to chapter 10, we have the perfection to which nothing can be added, and from which nothing can be taken away. In verse 14 we read, "By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." In this epistle we have no mention of justification, but we have sanctification by the blood of Christ. The reason is, that in Romans and other Scriptures, the great matter of guilt is dealt with--the need of being justified is set forth, with God’s way of justifying the sinner by faith in the blood of Christ. But here we are taught by the Spirit what the world never knows, even our natural unfitness for worship. Those who are not taught of God, never consider the guilt of sin, still less does it enter their thoughts to consider the unholiness that unfits them to worship God. It is because of this that people gather together and offer unto God Cain-like worship, which can only be a provocation to Him. But a child of God walking in any measure of obedience, and examining himself in God’s presence, will chiefly lament the fact that there are in him checks and drawbacks to communion with God. It is God’s Holy Spirit who gives us any sense of the uncleanness of sin, as well as of the holiness of God. But we are sanctified to God as His priests, and the sanctification is accomplished once for all. To it nothing can be added, and from it nothing can be taken away. All who are born of God are His priests, not one less and not one more; and such draw near to God in the name of Jesus, and by the blood of Jesus. The Lord Jesus is a Saviour for the world, but He is the High Priest for those who are sanctified by faith in His blood. Only such can truly worship God; but they should ever remember what they are called unto. Their office is everlastingly theirs, and their fitness for the worship pertaining to their office is according to God Himself. We are told that God sought worshipers (John 4:23), and He has found them through the work of His beloved Son. By the blood of Christ they are cleansed from sin, and as a result, they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and now God looks for constant worship from all His royal priesthood. Not that our thoughts can be always immediately directed upwards, but whatever our hands find to do we should do as worshipers. We should ever be acting and walking in a spirit worthy of the royal priesthood. The word in Hebrews 10:1-39 -"By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified"-has nothing to do with attainment ; but denotes a perfection that belongs to every new-born child of God. The prayer in the last chapter, that God will make them perfect has a somewhat different meaning. In Php 3:1-21., Paul tells us how he himself sought that he "might attain to the resurrection from among the dead," adding, "not as though I had already attained." He sought to be a man perfectly one with the risen Saviour, and perfectly one with the mind of the suffering Saviour-a mirror of the mind of Christ. He always looked onward to the goal in the race, and never measured the distance between the starting point and any point he had reached. He looked back for godly purposes, to beget thankfulness and to confirm his apostleship; but never to rest with satisfaction upon any attainment. He forgot the distance already traversed, and thought only of what lay before him. He could say to Timothy, "Thou hast known my . . . purpose;" even as Barnabas, having the mind of Christ, exhorted the saints to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. Let it be our aim-our settled aim-thus to cleave to God and His Word.
O, how much God makes of the new creation in every child of His love! He can look upon the hosts of angels and behold the creation of His power and will; but He looks not on one of them as having life springing from the blood of Christ. Every child of God, whatever age or time he lived in, has spiritual, eternal life from Christ and the blood of His atonement. He Himself was raised from the dead through the power of His death, and now He gives us to know that the life is in the blood. Our eyes do not see all the features of Christ in the new-born child of God; but He does not fail to discern every feature of His beloved Son, in every new-born soul. And what delight the purpose to please God gives to Him! I should regard as perfect the believer whose aim-the business of whose life-is to please God according to His Word, and according to the obligations that lie upon us because of Christ within the veil.
It is very important that we never divorce the Word of God and the Spirit of God. If we neglect the Scriptures we are sure to go wrong; but if we deal aright with God’s Word, remembering that the Spirit of God is the continual Reviver of thought and purpose and desire through the Word, we shall perfectly please our Father, and shall have His testimony that we do so. To this end we must take heed to the whole of the Scriptures, seeking to put every truth in its own place and to use it truthfully, according to the design for which God has given it. We cannot speak of attainment, for Paul said, "Not as though I had already attained." The one attainment he had reached was to count himself "less than the least of all saints," and we may well seek the same mind.
If we be worshipers within the veil, we shall always find reason for both thanksgiving and praise. Speaking to God, and admiring Him in Christ, we shall offer this sacrifice continually. People of the world know nothing of the reality of worship, and many Christians little consider the blessedness of worshiping within the veil. Let us remember that God delights to be praised by His children.
There are two sides to the mournful state of the church of God; on the one hand, the sin of the church, and on the other, God’s Fatherly judgment. We are as much bound to be one in heart and spirit and speech as were the saints at Pentecost. Indeed, our larger knowledge of Scripture, lays us under stronger obligations; and yet not only is the church of God divided, but these divisions are even gloried in. It behooves us to lay this to heart, and to take the part of God and justify Him in His judgment because of our grievous ways, for the state of schism and division in the church is one of the heaviest judgments that is to be seen. But, in spite of this, Christ has all the church in His heart, and cares for us according to our present condition.
We long to see the fulfillment of Psalms 132:1-18 and Psalms 133:1-3, and behold all the countless multitude of Israel as if they were but one: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" With such a happy prospect let us "pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee." And let us indeed seek to have the bowels of Christ towards all the children of God. Let us beware lest we be ensnared into the habit of harshly judging others, remembering the word concerning all who are Christ’s, "Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me."
If we humbled ourselves aright before God, nothing would interrupt that song of thanksgiving and praise which God should have from us every moment, not only for what He is, but also for what He does. Then, even though He might lead us in a path of darkness, we should walk in the light shed on us by our High Priest within the veil, and in our personal matters nothing would discourage us. We should be joyful according to Christ, we should be sorrowful according to Christ, and we should always have a heart of tender sympathy for all the family of God.