What does Jesus say about me?

We have read, in the opening verses of the chapter, of sheep in a fold, such as might have been seen any day in Palestine. Their shepherd the sheep knew, and would follow him, but no one else. Now we learn no longer in a proverb, but in plain language, both that which would characterise Christ's sheep, as well as something about Him, the Shepherd. As for the sheep, they hear His voice, and follow Him. Then, speaking of Himself, He declares, "I know them." Of the sheep's knowledge of Him He here makes no mention. His knowledge of them He makes prominent. How gracious was this! Many an one might question his or her knowledge of Christ. Did they know Him aright? Did they know Him as they ought? And then write bitter things against themselves. Now here He gives no room for such morbid thoughts. The question for them is a very different one. Do they hear His voice? Do they follow Him? Each one should be able to answer this, however haltingly one may follow the Shepherd. Very gracious, then, was it of the Lord thus to speak of His sheep — gracious, too, how gracious, to speak of Himself as He does: "I know them." Nothing can they tell Him about themselves of which He is ignorant. Their circumstances, their trials, their difficulties, their needs — all fully known to Him. What they are as sinful creatures, what they have done in the past, to what they are prone, if not kept — all is perfectly known to Him. What comfort!

Oh! be warned in time, do not put it off: do not think you may have plenty of opportunities. "Today," He says. Today way be your sole — your solitary chance — of accepting Christ. It is real agony to the heart of the evangelist to think of seeing one he has known on earth among the number of the eternally lost on that day. For once, once, I shall see you (God grant it may not be once only), but once we shall meet, and where? At the great white throne. You, will be there, and I shall be there, but I shall be with the Judge, and like the Judge, and you, where will you be? Oh, will you be among the impenitent, the condemned, the unwashed, the unforgiven, among those who stand clothed in their sins, before that great white throne, to be judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works? Preachers say sometimes, Sinners are judged only for neglecting Christ. God does not say so. That is the deepest, darkest sin of all — the sin of despising His mercy, refusing His love — but there is more than that against you before God. In those books are recorded all your sins, every one of them; each thing put down you have done, each evil word, each evil way, each idle thought, for these you must give account in that terrible day, and this, as the aggravation of all the rest, that you heard the gospel of His grace, time after time, and rejected it. Do not, I implore you, reject it any longer! Do not refuse to listen to His voice a day more!

Jesus says, He "came to seek and to save that which was lost." He treats every one as lost who is not already saved by faith in Him. This is the point from which I behold the Gospel. I am lost; but Jesus came to seek and to save the lost; therefore He came to seek and to save me. He came to seek and to save you, will you not let Him? Do I hear you say — 'I am seeking Jesus?' Well, you are sure to find Him, for the Saviour-seeking sinner and the sinner-seeking Saviour are sure to meet. Whenever a soul is really anxious, the moment will come when the Gospel will fall on the ear of that one, and he or she will see Jesus, and get salvation. The soul that is anxious leaves, as it were, no stone unturned to get where it wants to get — to the feet of Jesus. Satan will always try to hinder the anxious soul; but his very devices bring out decision for Christ. Again I say, the soul that is really anxious will always get to Jesus. And where is the spot where you may meet Jesus, the Saviour? That spot, my dear friend, is the small circle of the consciously lost; for He came for the lost and only for the lost. Reader, if you are not lost, I have no Gospel for you.

The fear of man is cast out by a greater fear, the fear of God. Nothing but the fear of God can cast out the fear of man. We shall stand in awe of men round about us, if the fear of God does not control us. But the Lord says, "Be not afraid of them that kill the body." In the plainest possible language He cheers us, for the fear of God works most blessedly in the heart. Then He asks: "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Observe, in the fifth verse it is, "Fear him," and in the seventh verse it is, "Fear not." There is no contradiction. Oh, no! In the fifth verse, it is the holy fear of a child, lest he should do that which would pain, or grieve the Lord. And then in the seventh verse, it is, you have the sense of the care of God. If God keep His eye upon the sparrow, how much more upon His servants, and saints. The care of God, in its exquisite particularity, is put in a way that is very touching. "Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." There is the blessed, the deeply blessed interest which God has in us, and His eye is upon us in all the tender affection of a Father's love. It is a great thing to cultivate the sense of this as you go through this scene. What a blessed thing it is to have this sense, I am so the object of His interest, that He has actually numbered the hairs of my head. If you had this sense, you could leave everything with God.

Hear also what our Lord Jesus Christ says on this subject. "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Out of what heart? Is it the heart of some hideously depraved and abominable wretch wholly unfit to appear in decent society? Nay; it is out of the human heart the heart of the writer and of the reader of these lines.

Will you believe in Him? I ask you, Will you believe in the Son of Man? I think you will feel an awful fool by-and-by, when the Lord has to say of you — There is a man who would not trust Me, there is a man who would not believe in Me. Note that Gods says that "whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Mark, it is an absolute present possession, the possession of faith. Eternal life is the gift of God. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Oh, that is a beautiful verse, the 16th verse of John 3. Look at it. It begins with God, and ends with life. You cannot get life save from God, but "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but HAVE everlasting life." You may have it. I have it. You have in this verse God's side of the action, and man's side also. God's side, loving and giving; and on man's side — my, and your side — believing and having. Really, my dear fellows, the gospel is wonderfully simple. God, loving, and giving; and man, believing, and having. I believe His love, I believe His grace, I believe what He says, I believe on His Son, and what is the result? I get eternal life as His own free gift.

319 Christ's sheep thus have safety too. "None can pluck them out of my Father's hand." They have liberty, "go in and out," and they have all the food God can give. They "find pasture," and what more will they have? They will have the glory by-and-by. Then He contrasts Himself with all these false teachers that have gone before, and says of Himself, "I am come that they might have life." Not content with giving life only, He gives it "more abundantly"; as in Romans, "They that receive abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ." Here we serve in life; then we shall reign in life. What liberty, what abundance of all things it gives, when we see that He is our life! He gives life more abundantly. Cost what it will, He is intent on saving them. "He giveth his life for the sheep." As though He said, I am devoted to you, and I am determined to get you out of this wretched place in which you are: I will get you out, cost what it will. "I am the good shepherd, and I lay down my life for the sheep." He has so given His sheep life, and now He will give all that they want in life. (See the contrast of these hireling shepherds.) It might be said, if He has given His life for them, He can do nothing more. But no! it is not so with Him. See verse 14, "I know my sheep and am known of mine." There is not only caring for the flock as a whole, but for the individual sheep: "and am known of mine." Paul knew He "loved the church, and gave himself for it" and he knew also that He loved him, and gave Himself for him. Then there is as true a relationship of love between Christ and the sheep now as there is between Him and His Father (v. 14, 15).

Accordingly He pointed out that all that enters into the mouth goes into the belly, and then becomes purged by nature, so that the man is not defiled. But that which comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart; and the human heart being hopelessly evil all that issues from it is defiling indeed. An awful exposure of the heart follows: "evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." This is what both your heart and mine contains, beloved reader. If the grossest of these evils have not broken forth, it is due to the mercy of God in the environment in which He has been pleased to set us, but the evils are most assuredly within us, only awaiting opportunity to show themselves in all their hideousness. What stronger proof could we have that it is not reformation men need, but a new creation! What proof, too, that mere external observances can never of themselves suffice, because they cannot reach to that which is within! If men but realized their own innate corruption, as thus set forth by the Lord Jesus in answer to Peter's inquiry, surely they would palter no more with priests and their doings, but hasten at once to the Saviour's feet, where alone blessing can be found for eternity.

But what tender care in the Shepherd! "He calleth his own sheep by name." His love is in the fullest way personal. His interest is in each personally, and He would have all to know it. What could evince it more than His calling His own sheep by name? So the apostle wrote, for those who believe as well as himself, He loved me, and gave Himself for me.

But, further, the Lord says to Nicodemus, — "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believes on him is not condemned; but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:17-18). Now nothing can be plainer than this. The man who has not truly and really believed in the Son of God, who has not, in other words, been "born again," and turned to God through faith in Jesus, is "already condemned." He is not on trial, and the state of his soul an open question. The trial is over. The judge has spoken. The verdict is given. The unbeliever is "condemned already." The only thing future, is the execution of the sentence, — death; and "after this the judgment," — the lake of fire for ever, "the second death."

The testimony of Scripture then, my reader, is clear as to the line you are upon, if still an unbeliever. You are already a lost sinner, and as such you are treated and addressed by God, in the gospel. "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost," is the glorious news which Jesus Himself first proclaimed, and which the Holy Ghost yet carries forth. As an evangelist, it is my joy to tell you this. You are lost, but Christ came for such as you. He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." Now, I beseech you, let Him save you. If He does not save you now, He must execute judgment on you in a day not far distant. Which shall it be? Will you have salvation, or judgment, from the hands of Jesus? "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men."

There is a marked distinction between what is said here of Jesus giving rest and our finding rest, a distinction of much importance. He does not tell me to do any thing in order that He might give me rest, it is simply "come unto me;" but in order to my finding rest, He says, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart." Practical obedience is made necessary.