John 10

THE Shepherd who died,
For His flock will provide;
The Shepherd who leads,
Is the Shepherd that feeds.
He calls them His own,
And He now on God’s throne
Doth carefully keep,
Both His lambs and His sheep.
Ere long He will come,
And take them all home,
To glory above,
There to sing of His love.
Then God will behold
In the heavenly fold,
The Shepherd who bled,
And the flock He hath led.
Decision.
No. 2.
THEN, again, as to our bodies; they also are not our own, but the Lord’s. “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?” This was remarkably shown in the consecration of the priests of the last dispensation. The tip of their right ear, the thumb of their right hand, and the great toe of their right foot being sprinkled with blood, sheaved that they were wholly the Lord’s. The redemption-price has been paid for our bodies in the blood of Christ, as well as for our souls; and we know that the Spirit of God will yet quicken these mortal bodies, and that Christ at His coming “will change our vile body, and fashion it like unto His glorious body.” Our bodies then are the Lord’s. Hence we are commanded to yield ourselves unto God, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. We have, therefore, no more right as Christians to use our bodies as we like, than to allow our affections and imaginations to revel in an un-unholy atmosphere. “The body is for the Lord;” and the Lord claims it too, for He addresses Himself to the various members of our body. He commands the ear to hearken to Him, the eye to look to Him, the lip to praise Him, the tongue to be slow to speak, the hand to work in the thing that is good; yea, whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, to do all to the glory of God. And yet more, for we are exhorted “by the mercies of God, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1.) Yes, it is but reasonable, if Christ gave Himself for us, that we should yield ourselves unto Him; that as He bare our sins in His own body on the tree, to save us from hell and bring us to God, our bodies should be entirely devoted in acceptable service to Him. Again, our body being the temple of the Holy Ghost, it is but reasonable that we should honor Him by implicit obedience to His leading and guidance. The person who walks with God, will be able to say with the Apostle, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.” All real decision for Christ begins with ourselves. Let our hearts be abiding in His love; let us not grieve that Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed unto the day of redemption; let us heartily and gratefully confess that we are not our own, but bought with a price; let our aim be to glorify Him in our bodies and spirits, which are His; then we shall not be barren and lukewarm, but our walk and testimony will be characterized by decision and power.
But further. We are still in a world which lieth in the wicked one. What is our position in reference to it? Here also the word of God is very clear and decided. Our Lord said, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” And again, “As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” (John 17:16, 18.) This at once marks out for us a very plain path. The only question is, what position did Jesus the Son of God take while in the world? Did He seek its honors, its wealth, or its offices? No; His path was diametrically opposite; for He always pleased God, and the world was without God. He made Himself of no reputation; His meat and drink was to do the will of Him that sent Him. The world not only knew Him not, but despised, rejected, hated, and crucified Him. Is the world any better now? No; the Lord has in grace called out of the Gentiles many for His name, but the world, and all its elements, and its relation to God, are unchanged. Still Satan is its god and prince; still it is under condemnation for the rejection of the Beloved Son; still its character is Christ-despising, and its course hastening onward to judgment.
Again. Christ gave Himself for our sins, not only to save us from eternal condemnation, but that He might deliver us from this present evil world; and the redemption-work of Christ, known in power on our souls, does practically and decidedly separate us from the world, its wisdom, its false religion, and its pleasures, as well as from its ungodliness. The more we realize the value of the Cross of Christ, the less attraction will the world have upon our hearts, and the more power we shall have over it, because we shall be increasingly assured that “we have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.” By the electing love of the Father, the precious blood of the Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, our God has drawn an everlasting line of demarcation between the Church and the world. Oh! beloved,
“We’re not of the world, that Meth away,
We’re not of the night, but children of day;
The chains that once bound us by Jesus are riv’n,
We’re strangers on earth, our home is in heaven.”
Nothing, beloved brethren, will enable us to take a decided path for Christ while in the world, if we forget the suffering, death, and triumph of our blessed Saviour; but, abiding near His Cross, we shall be able to say like one of old, “God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Gal. 6:14.) The grace of God teaches us to deny worldly lust. Satan’s boastful temptation to the Lord was, that all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them were at his disposal. How plain then our path is; and, seeing what a heavenly calling and standing we have in Christ, what decision should characterize us! There is no room left for any question on the subject. “Be not conformed to this world,” is the teaching of the Holy Ghost by Paul; while another Apostle, with equal plainness, says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (1 John 2:15-17.)
One word more. Not only are our bodies and spirits the Lord’s, and are we called to hold forth the word of life in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, and to shine as lights in the world, but what we possess is His also. David exclaimed with gratitude of heart, “Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee. For we are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers; our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy name, cometh of Thine hand, and is all Thine own.” (1 Chron. 29:14-16.) This was David’s language: he felt that all he had was God’s, came from His hand, and should be used for His glory; although he could also say, “I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, gold, silver, &c., in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of my own proper good of gold and silver which I have given to the house of my God,” &c. He who has been so “rich in mercy” to us, knows that it is for our real good, as well as for His glory, that we should have an eye to His honor in the use of all temporal supplies, be they little or much. “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much.” “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase; so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” (Prov. 3:9, 10.) “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom,” &c. (Luke 6:38.) When “great grace” was upon all the saints, we find that they so honored the Lord with their substance, that those who had houses and lands sold them for the benefit of their brethren; and so fully and decidedly did the grace of God operate in their souls, that none said that aught of the things that he possessed was his own. How unselfish is the working of the love of God in the heart!
Let us pause, dear reader, and consider these things before the Lord. What can give us a firm, even, decided step in the ways of God, but abiding in the sense of the eternal, immutable love of our God and Father in Christ! Realizing by the Spirit’s teaching, that we are given to Christ, chosen in Christ, blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, redeemed by Christ, made accepted in Christ; that we are complete in Him, sons of God, and that we shall not come into condemnation, will give such steadfastness and stability of character and purpose, that, as to the world and circumstances around, we shall fall instinctively, as it were, into that path which is according to the mind of God. When it is otherwise, is it not owing to forgetfulness of what the depths, and heights, and lengths, and breadths of the love of Christ are? “He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 15:5.)
We tremble to see Israel so soon connecting Mount Sinai and the Golden Calf; but how much worse is it to connect Mount Calvary and The World.
The Holy Ghost is the Witness of all that we have, and the Producer of all we should be.
If we take delight in the things God has judged, we shall also in those He is going to judge. Rather let us walk in the light of His judgments, drawn by the cords of His love!
Never occupy a young Christian with the faults of others. It is dangerous for the moat humble and prayerful, but ruinous for the novice and the weakly.