inward moving of the Holy Spirit will as certainly produce this result of spiritual care for others as the vital sap of a tree will result in leaves and fruit. He knows His flock. He cares for it, and leads it out into pastures of truth, feeding it with the living Word of God. "The IV. SUCH A SHEPHERD IS RECOGNISED BY THE SHEEP. sheep follow Him, for they know His voice." Is not this so? Is it not proved in manifold instances? When the shepherd cares for the flock, it is repaid in affection and love, in confidence and joyful recognition. The sheep will not hear the thief and robber (ver. 8). Once more from our Lord's explanation we derive the further truth that 66 V. THE RIGHTFUL SHEPHERD DERIVES HIS STRENGTH FROM CHRIST. "By Me, if any man" (any under-shepherd) "enter, he shall be saved, and go in and out and find pasture." There are, let it be observed, two applications of this expression, “I am the door." Christ is the door of the sheep; He is the door of the shepherd. The shepherd enters through this door and leads out his sheep to find them pasturage, and he shall be saved" in his work, and the sheep "shall be saved" by his work. What then of the unfaithful shepherd? what of the self-seeker? what of him who enters the sacred office from mere mercenary motives ? What of him who does not seek in Christ that food which alone can sustain the flock? He shall be lost. In the prophetic description of the shepherd in Zechariah we find that those shepherds who had no pity on the flock but said, "Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich," the soul of the prophet "loathed." This shepherd steals and kills and destroys instead of leading them to Him who came to give them pasturage, and in giving them. pasturage to give them a more abundant life. DETACHING these words from the context I. CHRIST IS "THE DOOR," AS BY HIM WE ENTER INTO THE CHURCH OF GOD. We are baptized into His name, and for His sake adopted into the family of God. II. CHRIST IS "THE DOOR," AS BY HIM WE ENTER INTO THE ENJOYMENT OF SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS. "Is He a door? I'll enter in : None but the sheep have freedom there." Such blessings are— 1. The meaning of His word. 2. The meaning of our life. 3. The meaning of nature. III. CHRIST IS "THE DOOR," AS BY HIM ALONE WE ENTER HEAVEN. LIFE AND MORE ABUNDANT LIFE. "I AM COME THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE LIfe, and that THEY MIGHT HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY ' (John x. 10). CHRIST is the Author of all life, but the life He here speaks of is spiritual life. I. THE LIFE THAT CHRIST GIVES IS THE LIFE OF THE SOUL. The beginning of this life is in holy baptism. Its continuance is by the "daily renewal of the Holy Ghost." The means of its con 1. The Holy Eucharist. 2. The Holy Scriptures. These are used by God's Spirit for this end. II. THE MORE ABUNDANT LIFE IS THE CONSUMMATION OF HOLINESS IN HEAVEN. 1. Holiness is a gracious growth. 2. Holiness attains its perfection only in the presence of the giver and sustainer. "HE CALLETH HIS OWN SHEEP BY NAME, AND THE sheep were named, and the shepherd guided them by going before. I. CHRIST'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS PEOPLE— care. 1. They are His sheep. That implies that they are His special The care that the shepherd gave his sheep was proverbial, and was familiarly employed to indicate the combined watchfulness and tenderness required of men in certain positions. How Christ tends His people! "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." It implies how liable they are to wander. "Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." It implies how helpless they are when they have wandered. Our safety is only in Christ, and VOL. III. 2 A in keeping near to Him: "Not I, but Christ that liveth in me." It implies that they love to be in companies. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." I believe in the commu nion of saints." 2. Each has its own name. That is, each has its own distinc tive character. All alike, and all different. No garden shows such wholesome and lovely variety as the garden of Christ. II. CHRIST'S INTEREST IN HIS PEOPLE. At what a We cannot 1. It is proprietary. They are "His own sheep." price He bought them! "Ye are redeemed," &c. 2. It is personal. He calls them "by name.' realise how such multitudes, which no man can number, can be remembered, individualised-their histories, trials, sins, repentings, known by Christ. Yet so it is. Nothing less satisfies the needs and cravings of the soul. "The very hairs of your heads are numbered." "He knoweth the way that I take." Thou puttest my tears into Thy bottle." III. CHRIST'S CALL AND CARE OF HIS PEOPLE. 1. He calls them; calls them individually. He is calling on every one to repent and believe and live. When any of Christ's warnings, directions, promises, &c., meet our special case, He calls us, as it were, by name. When by His providence He comes to our very door, into our most private circle, He is calling us by name. When our thoughts and hearts, we scarce know how, are drawn to divine things, to God, eternity, spiritual realities, He is calling us by name. "I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine." 2. He leads them out. Leads them; accompanies them, going at their head. Out into wide and rich experience; out into their several fields of duty; out from dangers which they themselves cannot, or will not, see. Let us follow His leading, sure that it is safe, and wise, and kind. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." |