Short Sermon.

THE SHEEP OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

BY M. F. SADLER, M.A., PREBENDARY OF WELLS, RECTOR OF HONITON.

St. John, x. 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.'

HERE are three marks of Christ's true sheep here set before us by the Good Shepherd Himself-(1) They hear His voice. (2) He knows them. (3) They follow Him. (1.) They hear His voice. There are those amongst us who, in a way that others do not, 'hear Christ.' They have recognised in the words of the preacher, or in the words of the Church, or in the words of the Bible, a message from Christ to them.

What has this message been? We cannot tell. It may have been a different one in each case. I mean that first message of Christ, which came home to the heart as the voice of Christ. Perhaps it was such a word as, 'Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' You were restless, weary of the world, weary of yourselves; overwhelmed with care or distress, and you heard words such as these, which came home to you, and drew you to Christ, and now you have rest. Perhaps you were perplexed about the way to God and heaven, and you heard, as it were, such words as, 'I am the way.' Perhaps you were perplexed with the strife of tongues, so that you were fain to ask, 'What is truth?' and you heard Him say, I am the truth.' Perhaps your soul could find no nourishment; no earthly bread could feed it, and you heard One saying, 'I am the bread of life.'

Or, it may be, you simply heard Him say, 'Follow me,' and you felt that a spell was laid upon you, and follow Him you must.

Or, it may be, you heard His warning voice asking of you the question, 'What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?'

Or it may have been a threat of judgment, such as, ' Then will I say unto them, Depart from me, I never knew you, all ye that work iniquity;' and you felt that if Christ were to come now, He must, if He be true, say these words to you, for you work iniquity; and so, as it were, you were driven to take refuge in Him.

In ways like these the true sheep hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Blessed are they who have thus heard His voice calling to them as they were losing themselves in the wilderness of the world and of sin. Thrice blessed are they who from their childhood have heard His voice before they went astray, and have continued in the fold of His goodness and grace.

But the true sheep hear Christ's voice. They have not merely once heard it: they continue to hear it. We read of Christ saying to certain who believed in Him, 'If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed.' Yes, to be His true sheep you must not once only hear the voice of Christ. You must continue in His word.' You must not only hear Him say, 'Come unto me,' 'believe in me ;' you must hear Him say Follow me,' Abide in me,' Be ready for me when I come.'

If you are His true sheep you will hear His voice, not only when He promises and invites, but when He preaches-when He preaches, as He does, of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.

You will hear His voice when He solemnly pronounces that character blessed which the world despises, for in His very first sermon the Saviour actually pronounces a blessing on the poor-spirited, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. Now, if you hear His voice you will believe, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, that this style of character shall be blessed.

Again, the voice of the great Shepherd says, 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;' Sell that ye have, and give alms ;' 'Let thine alms be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly;''Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth; Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven;'Give alms of such things as ye possess.' The voice of the great Shepherd says all this, and much more, about the poor and about alms-giving. Can they be the sheep who put these words from them? Can they be the sheep of Christ who always give as little as they can, and give that because they fear the reproach of their neighbours rather than the displeasure of their Saviour? Can they be the true sheep who spend upon themselves so much that they have nothing to spare, as they call it, to give in alms for the relief of Christ Himself?

No, such are not the sheep; they are not even lost or straying sheep they are a different race; they are the goats, those whom our Lord says that He will separate eternally from the sheep and drive them from Him into everlasting punishment, because He was an hungered and they gave Him no meat-because they were selfish, covetous, hard-hearted, and unmerciful.

Again, let me solemnly put it to you-If you are the true sheep must you not hear the voice of the Saviour saying, 'I am the Bread of life? The Bread that I will give is my Flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Take, eat, this is my Body; do this in remembrance of me. Drink ye all of this.'

(2.) The next mark of the true sheep is, that Christ knows them. This expression may have several meanings. First of all, it may mean that Christ knows His sheep in the way of seeing what is in their hearts. His glance searches them through and through. He sees their weakness, and yet He sees their sincerity. He knows that they are sincere when they appeal to Him in such words as, 'Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.' He knows them far better than they know themselves, and so He can order for them far better than they can choose for themselves.

Or it may mean, I recognise them amongst the multitudes who profess to be My sheep, or who are outwardly in My fold.' He knows who are His; and He has His eye upon them, and distinguishes them from all others.

Or it may mean, I have converse with them. One man is said to know another when there is mutual converse or intercourse between them as between friend and friend. Christ also said, respecting His apostles, I have not called you servants, but I have called you friends, for whatsoever I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.' And so Christ knows His sheep in the sense of making known to them Himself and His purposes.

(3.) The next mark of the true sheep is they follow Christ.

On this head we shall not enlarge. It is quite plain that it means

Short Sermon.

that they follow His example. They strive to be like Him in goodness, in righteousness, in truth. They strive to be like Him in meekness, lowliness, and humbleness of mind. They strive to be like Him in forbearance, forgiveness, gentleness. They strive to be like Him in godliness, in purity, in courageous assertion of the truth of God. They strive to be like Him in benevolence. They feel and confess their best efforts in copying such an example to be very feeble attempts. They follow Him at a distance, but they really do follow in His steps. Ofttimes they walk feebly and lag behind; but still they follow none else but Him: if they are the true sheep, they follow not Satan, they follow Christ.

We now come to consider the privileges of the true sheep-'I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.'

From this we gather that the true sheep of Jesus Christ have already, even now in this world, eternal life vouchsafed to them, and they shall never be cast away.

That Christ has true sheep who have these unspeakable blessings vouchsafed to them is certain. If it were not so there would be no certainty that at the last day Christ would have any Church at all — any number of saved souls to be with Him where He is. God cannot leave the future reward of His own Son-the Church of saved souls that are to be His crown through eternity-to the changes and chances of such a world as this.

But who are these souls ?

The text, if we will listen to it, tells us plainly: Christ gives eternal life to those who follow Him. You see the text runs : They,' -i. c., My sheep-'follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.' If, then, you would know in your own case whether Christ be giving to you eternal life, you must look to your own life and walk. If you are following Him, then He is giving to you eternal life. If, on the contrary, you are not following Him, not following His example, then you have no certainty whatsoever that Christ is giving to you eternal life.

For what is eternal life? It is not only the life of the body in the day of the resurrection. It is not only being delivered from hell. It is the life of God in the soul now. You hope that you are one of Christ's sheep. You trust that you will not perish everlastingly. Well, but have you life? Has God given you life? Are you living as if Christ's life was in you? If so, depend upon it you are following Christ? You are following, that is, the example of His forbearance and forgiveness, His benevolence and devotion. If you are living without prayer, without thanksgiving, without forbearing, forgiving-if you are living a covetous life-then be assured that you are not following Christ, and you can have no assurance whatsoever that at the last day you will be welcomed into the joy of the Lord.

Now, let me say something about the use that has been made of this text. This text is often quoted as proving that Christ has a certain number of elect souls, who will be certainly saved at the last. Well, it may prove this; but what is this secret truth to us unless we have some means of knowing whether we are of this number or not? Now, the text gives us a means of knowing. The sheep of Christ,

to whom He vouchsafes eternal life, are those who follow Him. This is the one mark given in the text of those who are the true sheep. if you are, feebly it may be, but still sincerely and faithfully, following Christ, then God is giving to you eternal life, and you shall never perish. If you are in any way declining from Christ's steps and wilfully going counter to His example, to that extent, and, so far as that goes, you lose all evidence that you are of the number of His sheep. Let me take an illustration of this from a too common case.

You find a man who has evidently once heard the voice of Christ calling him, and he has begun, it may be, to follow Christ in some things; but the same man bears malice and envy, and hates his brother, and speaks of those who cross him in a churlish and unChristian way. In what state is such a man? Can he be one of the true sheep? Can he take comfort from the words of the text? 'I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.' St. John, the inspired apostle, gives a most decided 'No' in answer to this question. 'Whoso,' he says, 'hateth his brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.' You see that the apostle says that such an one has not eternal life abiding in him — he may have had eternal life granted to him, but he retains it not. So that, in fact, no soul which is not following Christ's example can derive on Scripture grounds any comfort from my text.

But some may say-This is poor consolation. I feel that my Christian life is very feeble: sometimes I do not know whether I am following Christ's example or no. I want some assurance independent of my life, that I shall not be lost at last. Ah, I daresay you do; but, as far as I know, there is none such for you in the whole Bible. Indeed, there is not likely to be. For what was the very end for which God sent His Son into the world? Was it not that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our lives.' Now, if you are not walking before Him in holiness and righteousness -if, that is, you are not following Christ, you are, as far as lies in you, frustrating the very end for which Christ came into the world.

But if you are, feebly it may be, but still perseveringly and sincerely following Christ, then Christ gives to you eternal life: you shall never perish. The very world on which you tread may pass away, shrivel up as a parched scroll; but you shall abide for ever. Your eyes shall see the King in His beauty. In your flesh, in your risen and glorified flesh, you shall see God. He will welcome you to share His joy, and that joy must be very deep, very satisfying, and of very long continuance if it is His joy. You shall know God and His way, and the hidden mysteries of His nature and His will, with a knowledge to which your present knowledge is mere ignorance. You shall no more feel pain, or hunger, or thirst, or weakness, or decaying strength; for your body will be raised in the likeness of the risen Body of your Saviour. You shall no more be parted from your friends. You shall love them and be glad with them for ever. All this, and infinitely more than tongue can tell or heart imagine, shall you be, if now, in this your day of grace, you hear the voice of Christ, and follow Him, the Good Shepherd.