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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18486-8.txt b/18486-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e532e59 --- /dev/null +++ b/18486-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6244 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Quiet Talks on Following the Christ, by S. D. Gordon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Quiet Talks on Following the Christ + +Author: S. D. Gordon + +Release Date: June 1, 2006 [EBook #18486] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON FOLLOWING THE *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Quiet Talks on Following the Christ + +By S. D. Gordon + +Author of "_Quiet Talks On Power_," "_Quiet Talks on Prayer_," "_Quiet +Talks On Our Lord's Return_," etc. + +New York Chicago Toronto +Fleming H. Revell Company +London and Edinburgh + + + + +Copyright, 1913, by +Fleming H. Revell Company + + +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue +Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. +Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. +London: 21 Paternoster Square +Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street + + + + +Contents + + + +Introduction + + I. The Lone Man Who Went Before + II. The Long, Rough Road He Trod + III. The Pleading Call To Follow + IV. What Following Means + 1. A Look Ahead + 2. The Main Road + 3. The Valleys + 4. The Hilltops + V. Shall We Go? + VI. Finger-Posts + VII. Fellow-Followers +VIII. The Glory of the Goal,--face To Face + + + + +Introduction + + +These talks have been given, in substance, at various gatherings in +Great Britain, Continental Europe, and parts of the Far East, during the +past four years. The simple directness of the spoken word has been +allowed to stand. Portions of chapters three, four, six, and eight have +appeared at various times in "The Sunday School Times." + +If any who read may find some practical help through the Master's +gracious touch upon these simple words, they are earnestly asked to add +their prayers that that same gracious touch may be felt by others +wherever these talks may go. + + + + +The Lone Man Who Went Before + + + +A Call to Friendship. + + +One day I watched two young men, a Japanese and an American, pacing the +deck of a Japanese liner bound for San Francisco. Their heads were close +together and bent down, and they were talking earnestly. The Japanese was +saying, "Oh, yes, I believe all that as a theory, but is there _power_ to +make a man _live_ it?" + +He was an officer of the ship, one of the finest boats on the Pacific. The +American was a young fellow who had gone out to Japan as a government +teacher, and when his earnest sort of Christianity led to his dismissal he +remained, and still remains, as a volunteer missionary. With his rare gift +in personal touch he had won the young officer's confidence, and was +explaining what Christianity stood for, when the Japanese politely +interrupted him with his question about power. The tense eagerness of his +manner and voice let one see the hunger of his heart. He had high ideals +of life, but confessed that every time he was in port, the shore +temptations proved too much, and he always came back on board with a +feeling of bitter defeat. He had read about Christianity and believed it +good in theory. But he knew nothing of its power. + +Through his new American friend he came into personal touch with Christ, +then and there. And up to the day we docked he put in his spare time +bringing other Japanese to his friend's stateroom, and there more than one +of them knelt, and came into warm touch of heart with the Lord Jesus. + +Just so our Lord Jesus draws men, Oriental and Occidental alike. Just so +He drew men when He was down here. He had great drawing power. Men came +eagerly wherever they could find Him. + +He drew all sorts of men. He drew the Jews, to whom He belonged racially. +He drew the aggressive, domineering Romans, and the gentler cultured +Greeks. He drew the half-breed Samaritans, who were despised by both Jew +and foreigner, as not being either one thing or the other. The military +men and the civilians, the cultured and the unlettered, the official class +and those in private life, all alike felt the strong pull upon their +hearts of His presence. + +The pure of heart, like gentle Mary of Bethany, and the guileless +Nathanael, were drawn to Him. And the very opposite, those openly bad in +their life, couldn't resist His presence, and the call away from their +low, bad level, but eagerly took His hand and came up. Fisherfolk and +farmers, dwellers in the city and country, scholars and tradesmen, crude +and refined, richly clad and ragged,--all sorts contentedly rubbed elbows +and jostled each other in the crowds that came to listen, and stayed to +listen longer, and then went away to come back again for more. + +This was why He came--to draw men to Himself. Our Lord Jesus was the face +of God looking longingly into men's faces. And they couldn't withstand the +appeal of that gentle strong face. He was the voice of God talking into +men's ears; and the music of that low, quiet voice thrilled and thralled +their hearts. He was the hand of God, strong and warm, reaching down to +take men by the hand and give them a strong lift up and back to the old +Eden life. And, in time, as men put their hand in His, they came to feel +the little knotted place in the palm of that outstretched hand, and the +feel of it went strangely into their inmost being. He was the heart of +God, tender and true, beating rhythmically in time and tune with the human +heart. And the music had, and has, strange power of appeal to human +hearts, and power to sway human lives like a great wind in the trees. + +Our Lord Jesus was the person of God in human shape and human garb, come +down close, to draw us men back again to the old trysting place under the +Tree of Life. And in every generation, and every corner of the earth, +then, and ever since then, men of every colour and sort have come back, +and found how His presence eases the tug of life on many a steep roadway, +and more, much more.[1] + +And our Lord Jesus drew men into personal friendship with Himself. He +didn't like the long range way of doing things. Keeping men at arm's +length never suited Him. He gave the inner heart touch, and He longed for +the touch of the innermost heart. He was our friend. He asked that we be +His friends, real friends of the rare sort, of which one's life has only a +few. + +And He asked, too, that all else that we brought to Him should be that +which grew out of this personal friendship. He gave and did all that He +did and gave, because He was our friend. He asked only for what grew out +of a real heart friendship with Himself. He longed to have us give all, +yet only what our hearts couldn't hold back. His friendship has one thing +peculiar to itself. He has no favourites, in our common thought of that +word, among the countless numbers who have come to be included in His +inner circle of friends. Yet He gives to each such a distinctive personal +touch of His own heart that you feel yourself to be on closest terms. He +is nearer and closer than any other, and your longing is to be as near and +close to Him in life as He is to you in His heart.[2] + +Now, because we are His friends and He is our friend, He calls us to +follow Him. It is a privilege of friendship. He would share with you and +with me the things of His own heart and life. He wants to have us come +close up to Himself, and live close up. And the only way we can do it is +by giving a glad "Yes" to His invitation, and following so close that we +shall be up to Himself. Nothing less than this contents His longing. + +But there is more than friendship here. He has a plan of action in His +heart. It is a wide-reaching plan, clear beyond our idea of what +wide-reaching means. It is nothing less than a plan for the whole world, +the entire race, for winning it up to the old Eden life of purity and of +close walking with God. That plan is the passion of His great heart. He +has held nothing back--spared nothing--that it might be done. He is +thinking of that plan as He comes eagerly to you and me, now, all afresh, +and with His heart in His voice says "Follow Me." This is a bit of His +plan for me and for you--that we shall be partners with Him in His plan +for the world. + +And yet--and yet--this helping Him, this partnership, this working with +Him in His plan, is to be because of our friendship, His and mine, His and +yours. It is a more than friendship He is thinking of. But that more is +_through_ the friendship. It grows out of the friendship. Only so does it +work out His real plan. + + + +Climbing the Hilltops. + + +Now this "Follow Me" of His, if taken into one's life, and followed up, +will come to mean two things. There are two great things that stand +sharply out in our Lord Jesus' life down here, His _characteristics_ and +His _experiences_. I mean what He was in Himself; and what He went +through, suffered, enjoyed, and accomplished; the Man Himself, and the +Man's experiences. These are the two things about which these simple talks +will be grouped. Our Lord Jesus wants us to follow that we may climb up +the hill as high as He did in these things. + +Following means climbing. A friend has told recently of a journey taken to +a certain village in New England from which, she had been told, a fine +view could be got of the White Mountains. On arrival it seemed that a low +hill completely shut out the view, to her intense disappointment. But her +companion, by and by, called from the top of the low hill and eagerly +beckoned her to come up. A bit of climbing quickly brought her to where +the magnificent beauty of the mountains broke upon her delighted eyes. + +Our Lord Jesus climbed the hilltops, both in His character and in His +experiences. He wants us to share those rare hilltops with Him. He has +gone away ahead of any other. He is the Lone Man in both character and +experiences. And in some of His experiences He will ever remain the lone +occupant of the hilltop. But He is eager for our companionship. He longs +for the personal touch. He wants us to have all He has got. He has blazed +a way through the thicket where there was no path before. He left the +plain marks on the trees as He went through, so we could surely find the +way. And now He eagerly beckons us to follow. + +But following means climbing. It's a hill road, sometimes down hill, +sometimes up hill. Which makes stiffer climbing? Usually the one you are +doing seems the harder. Sometimes the road is a dead level between hills. +And dead level walking--the monotonous dead-a-way, with no bracing air, no +inspiring outlook--is often much harder than down hill or up. And so it +too is climbing. Following means climbing. He climbed. He made the high +climb all alone. No other ever had the courage to climb so high as He. +It's easier since He has smoothed down the road with His own feet; yet it +isn't easy; still it is easier than not climbing; that is, when you reckon +the whole thing up--with _Him_ in. + +Now He asks you and me to climb. He cannot climb for you. That is, I mean +He cannot do the climbing you ought to do. He has climbed for us, marked +out the hill path, and made it possible for us to climb up too. But the +after-climbing He cannot do for us. Each must do his own climbing. So +lungs grow deeper, and heart-action stronger, and cheeks clearer, and +muscles firmer. Step by step we must pull up, maybe through a fog, with no +view of beauty, no bracing air yet, only His strong beckoning hand. + +But those who reach up and get hold of hands with Him, and get up even to +some of the lower reaches of the climb, stand with full hearts and dumb +lips. They can't find words to tell the exhilaration of the climb, the +bracing air, the far outlook, and, yet more, the wondrous presence of the +Chief Climber, even though there's a bit of smarting of face and hands +where the thorny tanglewood tore a bit as you went by. + +Just now I want you to come with me for a bit of a look at the Lone Man, +who has gone before. I mean at the Man Himself. We want to take a look at +the characteristics of His life; what the Man was in His character. + +And please understand me here. Following does not mean that we are to try +to imitate these characteristics. No, it's something both simpler and +easier, and deeper and better than that. It means that, as we companion +with Him daily, these same traits will appear in us. It is not to be +imitation simply, good as that might seem, yet always bringing a sense of +failure, and that sense the thing you remember most. It is to be some One +living His life in you, coming in through the open door of your will. Your +part is opening up, and keeping open, listening and loving and obeying. +The touchstone of the "Follow Me" life is not imitation but following; not +copying but obeying; not struggle--though there will be struggle--but +companionship, a companionship which nothing is allowed to take the fine +edge off of. + +And please remember, too, the meaning for us sinful men of these +characteristics of His. With us character is a result of choice, and then +nearly always--or should I cut out that "nearly"? the earnest man in the +thick of the fight finds no "nearlys"--it's always with him--character is +always the result of a fight to keep to the choice decided upon. + +Now with greatest reverence for our Lord Jesus, let me say, _it was so +with Him_. He was as truly God as though not man. Yet He lived His +life,--He insisted on living His life, on the human level.[3] He was as +truly human as though not peculiarly divine. He had the enormous advantage +of a virgin birth, a divine fatherhood with a human motherhood. And, be it +said with utmost reverence, He needed that advantage for the terrific +conflict and the tremendous task of His life, such as no other has known. +But His character as a man--the thing we are to look at now--was a result +of choice, and choice insisted upon against terrible odds. + +This gives new meaning to His "Follow Me." He went the same sort of road +that we must go. He insisted on treading _our_ road. It was not one made +easier for His specially prepared feet. It was the common earth road every +man must go, who will. And so the way He went we can go if we will, every +step of it. By His help working through our wills, we _can_, and, please +God, surely we will. + + + +The Dependent Life. + + +There were _three traits in His character upward_, that is in His relation +with His Father. First of all He chose to live _the dependent life_. He +recognized that everything He was, and had, and could do, was received +from the Father, and could be at its true best only as the Father's direct +touch was upon it. This was the atmosphere in which all His human powers +would do their best. He had nothing of Himself, and could do nothing of +Himself. This is the plan the Father has made for human life and +effort.[4] Our Lord Jesus recognized this and lived it. Our common word +for this is humility. Humility is a matter of relationship. It means +keeping one's relationship with the Father clear and dominant. And this in +turn radically affects and controls our relationship with our fellows. + +There were three degrees or steps in the dependent life He chose to live. +There was the giving up part, then the accepting for Himself the plan of +human life, and then accepting it even to the extent of yielding to wrong +and shameful treatment, without attempting to assert His rights against +such treatment. These were the three steps in His humility. In Paul's +striking phrase, He "emptied out" of Himself all He had in glory with the +Father before coming to the earth; He decided to come to the human level +and live fully the human life of utter dependence; and He carried this to +the extent of being wholly dependent on the Father for righting the wrongs +done Him.[5] + +This is God's plan for the human life. It is to be a dependent life. It +actually is a dependent life, utterly dependent upon Him. It is to be +lived so. Then only is the fragrance of it gotten. It is part of the +dependent life--the true human life--that we depend on the Father for +vindication when wronged, as for everything else.[6] + +Our Lord Jesus chose to live this life. There was an entire absence of the +self-spirit, that is the self-assertive, the self-confident spirit. There +was a remarkable confidence in action, but it was confidence in His +Father's unfailing response to His requests or needs. This sense of utter +dependence was natural to Him; as indeed it is natural to man unhurt by +sin. And then He carefully cultivated it. As He came in contact with the +very opposite all around Him, He set Himself--indeed He had to set +Himself--to keeping this sense of dependence untainted, unhurt by His +surroundings. + +Now there were three things which naturally grew out of this dependent +life, or which naturally are part of it. One was, the sense of His Father, +and of His Father's presence. In a perfectly simple natural way, He was +always conscious of His Father's presence. Is this the meaning--one +meaning--of "blessed are the pure in heart for they shall _see God_"? And +then He doubtless set Himself to cultivate this, as an offset to what He +found around Him. He would quietly look up and speak to the Father in the +midst of a crowd.[7] This was the natural thing to do. He was more +conscious of the Father's presence than of the crowd pressing in to get +near. When He was speaking to the crowd He knew the Father too was +listening. He felt the Father watching as He helped the people. This was +the natural thing with Him, the presence of the Father. + +With this there went a second thing, the habit of getting alone to talk +things over with the Father. The common word for this is prayer. Without +doubt His whole outer life grew out of His inner secret talking things out +with the Father. Everything was passed in review here, first of all. This +naturally grew out of the consciousness of His Father's presence, and this +in turn increased that consciousness. So He was in the habit of looking at +everything through His Father's eyes. + +And with these two, there was plainly a third thing, a settled sense of +the power, the authority, of God's written Word. It was not simply that He +did not question it, but there was a deep-rooted sense grown down into +His very being that God was speaking in the Book, and that this revelation +of Himself and His will was _the thing_ to govern absolutely one's life. +This points back to a study of the Book. Doubtless that Nazareth shop was +a study shop too. He quoted readily and freely from all portions of the +Old Testament Bible. He seemed saturated with both its language and its +spirit. The basis of such familiarity would be long, painstaking, +prayerful study. + +These three things naturally grew out of the dependent life He had +deliberately chosen to live and were a part of it. They were necessary to +it. These are the lungs and the heart of the dependent life. + +Now His "Follow Me" does not mean merely that we try to imitate Him in all +this. We will naturally long to do so. And He is the example we will ever +be eager to follow. But the meaning goes deeper than this. It means that +as we really come close up in the road behind Him this will come to be the +natural atmosphere of our lives. We let _Him_ in, and His presence within, +yielded to and cultivated and obeyed, will work this sort of thing out in +our lives. We will come to recognize, and then to feel deep down in our +spirit, how dependent we are upon Him in everything. We will gradually +come to realize intensely that the dependent life is the true natural +life. It is God's plan. It reveals wondrously His love. It draws out +wondrously our love, and radically changes the whole spirit of the life. + + + +Poor--Except in Spirit. + + +Now of course all this is in sharpest contrast to the common spirit of +life as men live, then and now. The spirit that dominates human life +everywhere is a spirit of independence. And this seems intensified in our +day to a terrific degree. There is, of course, a good independence in our +dealings with our fellows. But this is carried to the extreme of +independence of every one, even--say it softly--of God Himself. +Criticising God, ignoring Him, leaving Him severely out so far as we are +concerned,--this has become the commonplace. If for a moment He ignored +us, how quickly things would go to pieces! This has come to be the +dominant spirit of the whole race to a degree more marked than ever +before, if that be possible. + +It seems to come into life early. I have seen a little tot, whom I could +with no inconvenience have tucked under my arm, walking down the road, +head up in the air, breathing out an aggressive self-confidence, and +defiance of all around, worthy of one of the old-time kings. And I +recognized that he had simply absorbed the atmosphere in which his four +brief years had been lived. + +This has come to be the inbred spirit of mankind. Everywhere this proud, +self-assertive, self-sufficient, self-confident, self-aggressive spirit is +found, in varying degree. It is coupled sometimes with laughable +ignorance; sometimes with real learning and wisdom and culture. It is +emphasized sometimes the more by school training, and other such +advantages. But through all these accidental things it remains,--the +dominant human characteristic. The chief letter in man's alphabet is the +one next after h, spelled and written with a large capital. The yellow +fever--the fever for gold--so increasingly epidemic, is at heart a bit of +the same thing. The money gives power, and power gives a certain +independence of others, and then a certain compelling of others to be +dependent on the one who has the money and wields the power. Men +everywhere say just exactly what they are specially warned against saying, +"_my_ power and the might of _my_ hand hath gotten me this wealth." They +forget the words following this in the old Book of God. "But thou shalt +remember the Lord thy God, for it is _He_ that giveth thee power to get +wealth."[8] + +This seems to be the picture that underlies that phrase, "poor in spirit," +which the Master declared to be so blessed.[9] He is trying to woo men +away from the thing that is dominating those all around Him. I have +puzzled a good bit over the phrase to find out just what was in the +Master's mind. Emphasizing the word "spirit" seems to bring out the +meaning. The blessedness is not in being poor, but in a certain spirit +that may control a man. We are all poor in everything except spirit. + +The last degree of poverty is to be a pauper. Now, the simple truth is +that we are all--every last man of us--paupers in everything. We haven't a +thing we haven't got from some one else. We are beneficiaries to the last +degree, dependent on the bounty of Another. We are paupers in life itself. +Our life came to us in the first instance from the creative Hand, through +the action of others, and it is being sustained every moment by the same +Hand. We had nothing to do with its coming, and, while we influence our +life by living in accord with certain physical laws, still the life itself +is all the time being supplied to us directly by the same unseen Hand. + +We are paupers in ability, in virtue, in character, in fact in everything. +We own nothing; we only hold it in trust. We have nothing except what some +One else is supplying. What we call our ability, our genius, and so on, +comes by the creative breath breathing afresh upon and through what the +patient creative Hand has supplied and is sustaining. We are paupers, +without a rag to our bones, or a copper in the pocket we haven't got, not +having a rag to our bones; paupers in everything except----. + +There is an exception. It is both pitiable and laughable. We are +enormously rich in _spirit_, in our imagination, in our thought of +ourselves. Blessed are they who are as poor in spirit as they actually are +in everything else. They recognize that they are wholly dependent on some +One else, and so they live the dependent life, with its blessed closeness +of touch with the gracious Provider. In certain institutions are placed +those who imagine themselves to be in high social and official rank, and +in possessions what they are not, who imagine it to such a degree that it +is best that they be kept apart from others. It would seem like an extreme +thing to say that these people are spirit-mirrors in which we may partly +see ourselves. Yet it would be saying the truth. How laughable, if it were +not so overwhelmingly pitiful, must men look to God,--without a stitch to +their backs except what He has given, without a copper in their pockets +except what has been borrowed from His bank, yet strutting up and down the +street of life, heads held high in air, as though they owned the universe, +and--if it did not sound blasphemous I could add the rest of the fact--and +were doing Him a favour by running His world so skilfully! And it grieves +one to the heart to note that this seems to be about as true within Church +circles as without. The difference between is ever growing smaller to the +disappearing point. + +It was into such an atmosphere, never intenser than in Palestine and +Jerusalem nineteen centuries ago, that the man Christ Jesus came. And He +had the moral daring to begin living a dependent life, the true human +life, looking up gratefully to the Father's hand for everything. Was it +any wonder His presence caused such a disturbance in the moral atmosphere +of the world! He insisted, with the strange insistence of gentleness, on +living such a life, through all the extremes that the hating world-spirit +could contrive against Him. Out of such a life comes His "Follow Me." And +in this He is simply calling us back to the original human life as planned +by God. + +Now, of course, in that first step, that great "emptying out" step, there +can be no following. There He is the Lone Man, unapproachable in the moral +splendour of His solitude. But from the time when He came in amongst us as +Jesus, our Brother, the typical Son of man, He was marking out afresh the +original road for our feet. This was the foundation trait in His +character. He lived the dependent life. + + + +A Father-pleasing Life. + + +The second trait in His upward relation was this--He chose to live _a +Father-pleasing life_. I use those words because He used them.[10] I might +say "consecrated" or "dedicated" or "surrendered" or other like words. And +these are good words, but in common use we have largely lost their +meaning. They are used unthinkingly for something less--much less--than +they mean. Perhaps if we use the phrase He used we may be able to get back +to the thing He meant, and did. + +There are three possible lives open to every man's choice: a bad life, in +which selfishness or passion or both, either refined or coarse, rule; a +good, true, natural life; and a Father-pleasing life. By a good, true, +natural life I mean, just now, a really Christian life in all that that +means, but lived as if there were no emergency in the world to change +one's habit of life. + +You know an emergency coming into a man's life makes radical changes. You +go to bed tonight and ordinarily will sleep out your eight hours in +comfort and quiet. If a fire break out in the house, you are up in the +middle of the night, hurrying around, only partly clad, carrying out +valuables, or helping turn on water, or something of this sort. Your +natural arrangements for the night are all broken up by the fire. An +emergency may make radical changes in one's life for a little time, +sometimes for the whole life. Financial reverses may change the whole +habit of one's life. + +Here's a man who has a well-assured, good-sized income from his business, +or his inheritance, or both. He lives in a luxuriously appointed home, +with many fine pictures and works of art and curios which it is enjoyable +to have. He has a choice library including some fine costly old prints and +editions, and enjoys adding rare books on subjects in which he is +specially interested. He belongs to some literary and social and athletic +clubs. He has an interesting family growing up around him whose education +is being carefully looked after. He is an earnest Bible-loving Christian, +faithful in church attendance and church duties, pure in life, and saintly +in character. He gives liberally to church and benevolent objects, +including foreign missions, which have become a part of the church system +into which he fits. And he goes an even, contented round of life, home, +church, club, recreation and so on, year in and out, holding and using the +great bulk of his money for himself. I think of that as one illustration +of the good, true, natural life. + +Now, the Father-pleasing life is radically different in certain things. +Ordinarily the two would be identical. The true natural life as originally +planned for us would be the life pleasing to the Father. But something, +not a part of God's plan, has broken into life, a terrible something, +worse than a fire in the night, or a financial panic that sweeps away your +all. Sin has wrought fearful havoc; it has made an awful emergency, and +this emergency has affected the life and character of all the race, in a +bad way, terribly, awfully, beyond words to tell, or imagination to +depict. The whole earth is in the grip of a desperate moral emergency. + +And naturally enough this emergency affects the life of any one concerned +with this earth. It has affected God's life, and God's plans, +tremendously. It has broken His heart with grief, and radically changed +His plans for His own life. He has made a plan for winning His world away +from its rebellion, its sin, back again to purity and close touch with +Himself. That plan centred around His Son, and He spared not His own Son, +but gave Him up. + +And that emergency, and that plan of the Father's because of the +emergency, have affected our Lord Jesus' life on the earth. The whole plan +of His human life was radically revolutionized by it. The emergency, the +Father's plan, gripped Him. He turned away from the true, good, natural +life which it would have been proper for Him as a man to have lived, and +He lived another sort of life. It was an emergency life, a life fitted to +His Father's plan, and so the Father-pleasing life. + +He became a homeless man, with all that that means. Would any man have +enjoyed home-life with all the rare home-joys, the sweetest of all natural +joys, so much as He? And then the larger circle of congenial friends, the +enjoyment of music, of exquisite art, the reverent study of the great +questions of life, of the wonders of nature whose powers it was given man +to study and cultivate and develop,[11]--it is surely no irreverence to +think of Him both enjoying and gracing such a life, for such was the +original plan of human life as thought out by a gracious Creator. + +Instead, He had not where to lay His head, though so wearied with +ceaseless toil. He fairly burned His life out those few years, early and +late, ministering to the emergency-stricken crowds, healing their sick, +feeding their hunger, raising their dead, comforting broken hearts, +winning back sin-stained men and women, teaching the ignorant neglected +multitudes, preaching the Father's yearning love, searching out the +straying, ceaselessly travelling up and down, without leisure enough to +sleep or to eat oftentimes, and all this despite the efforts of His +kinsfolk to restrain His burning intensity. + +This is what I mean by a Father-pleasing life. It was truly the +consecrated life, consecrated to His Father's emergency plan for His +world. It was the surrendered life, wholly given up to the one passionate +plan of His Father's broken heart for His earth family. + +Now, His "Follow Me" does not mean imitation. It does not mean a restless, +aggressive hurrying here and there in meetings and Christian service. It +means that there will be a getting so close that the sweet fever of His +heart shall be caught by ours. The world-vision of His eyes shall flood +ours. The passion of the Father's heart shall become the passion of our +hearts. And we shall be controlled in all our lives, our holdings, our +habits, _by what He tells us_. It does not mean that we will seek to be +homeless as Jesus was, though it may possibly turn out to mean for some of +us that we shall be homeless even as He. + +But it means that we shall find out _the Father's plan for our lives_. +And when it has become clear, we will set to music pitched in the joyous +major our Lord's own words, "I do always the things that are pleasing to +Him." And then we will set our lives to that joyous music with its rare +undertone of the exquisite minor. It may mean Africa for you, or China for +this other one. It may mean a plainer home at home, a simpler wardrobe, a +more careful use of money. It may mean a new dominant note in your +preaching, and all the personal influence of your life. It may possibly +mean what will seem like yet more radical changes. It certainly will mean +a deepening peace within, a closer touch of fellowship with the Lord +Jesus, a wholly new conception of the meaning of prayer, and a radically +new experience of the power of God in our own bodies and lives, and in our +touch with others. It will mean that the music of His will and ours +swinging rhythmically together in all things shall sweep our lives even as +the strong wind the young saplings. + +This was the second trait in our Lord Jesus' character upward, He lived +the Father-pleasing life. To some it will seem like a further step--a +fourth step--downward in His humility. And it was. The way up is down. The +down slant is the beginning of the hilltop road. Going down is the way up; +downward in the crowd's estimation; upward into closer touch of +sympathetic life with God, and in reaching the true ideal of life. + + + +The Obedient Life. + + +The third trait of our Lord Jesus' character upward, in relation with His +Father, was that He lived _the obedient life_. This is really emphasizing +what has just been said. But it is putting the emphasis on the daily habit +of His life, rather than on the underneath motive. This was the daily +spelling out of the first two traits. Obedience became the touchstone by +which everything was tested. + +The touchstone was not men's needs, deeply as that took hold of His heart, +and shaped so much His life. It was not the thought of service, though +never was a life so filled with eager glad service. The touchstone was not +natural liking or choice, the proper instinctive reach out of His true +human nature, though this would be strong in Him, the typical Son of Man. +This would not be repressed as an unholy or wrong thing. It would only be +given second place, or left out, as it might run across the grain of the +great life-passion. With a fresh touch of awe it may truly be said: He did +not come down to earth primarily to die, though He knew beforehand that +this would stand out as the great one thing. The death was an item in the +obedience. He came down to do His Father's will. The path of obedience led +straight to the hill of the cross, and He trod that path regardless of +where it led. Obedience was the one touchstone of His life.[12] And it +will be the one touchstone of His true follower's life. We shall run +across this same vein of bright yellow gold, again and again, as we work +on through this "Follow Me" mine. These were the three traits of our Lord +Jesus' character upward, toward His Father. They were not different +because of the emergency of sin He found in the world. They would have +marked His life just as fully had there been no sin. But the presence of +sin caused them to change radically the whole course of the life He +actually lived. + + + +Sinless by Choice. + + +Then there were _two traits of character inward_, in Himself. One was His +_purity_. There was the absence of everything that should not be in Him. +This is the negative side, though no part of His character called for more +intense positiveness. Purity means sinlessness. He was sinless. But we +must quickly remember what this means, or else there may seem to be no +following for us, only a wistful gazing where we cannot go. It does not +mean simply this, that through His peculiar birthright there was freedom +from all taint of sin. + +It means more than this. Sinlessness was a matter of choice with Him, and +of choice insisted upon. And, be it said reverently, no man ever had a +stiffer fight to keep true to his purpose than He. He was tempted in all +points like as we are. He was tempted more than we. The tempter did his +best and worst; he mustered all his cunning and driving power against this +Lone Man. And the temptations were real. I am not concerned over the +merely academical questions of the schoolmen here. The practical side is +the intense side that takes all one's strength and thought. Practically, +that our Lord Jesus was really tempted, means that He could have yielded +had He so chosen. That He did not meant real struggle on His part. Not, of +course, that He ever wanted to yield to what was wrong, but temptation was +never so subtle, and doing the right never made so difficult as for Him. +He suffered in being tempted.[13] His sinlessness meant a decision, then +many a time a moist brow, a clenched hand, and set jaw, a sore stress of +spirit, and deep-breathed continual prayer whose intensity down in His +heart could never be fully expressed at the lips. The temptation to fail +to obey, simply not to obey, when obeying meant going through a sore +experience was never brought so deftly, so subtly, so repeatedly and +insistently to any as to Him. Resisting not only meant the decision, but +the strength of resistance against terrific strength of repeated +insistence. + +How wondrously human this God-man was in His temptations, in His set +refusals, and even more, how human in keeping free from sin. For sin is +not human, letting sin in would have been a going down from the human +level. This is the practical meaning of His sinlessness--choice, choice +insisted upon, fighting, continual prayer, the Father's help, such as any +man may have--not more. + +This helps us to see how intensely practical His "Follow Me" becomes. It +is not only that we will want to fight against the incoming of sin because +we feel we ought to. But as we get close to Him and breathe in His spirit, +there will come an inbred dislike, an intense inner loathing of sin, +however refined it may be in its approach. There will be a continual +coming for cleansing in the only fluid that can remove sin--His precious +blood, and in the only flame that can burn it out--the fire of the Holy +Spirit.[14] There will be a hardening of the set purpose to be free of +sin. We can be sinless in _purpose_. There can be a growing sinlessness in +actual life. And yet all experience goes to show that the nearer we +actually walk with God the more we shall be conscious of the need of +cleansing, the more we will talk about our Lord Jesus, and the less and +still less about our attainments. + +The second inward trait in our Lord Jesus was the other side of this--His +positive _goodness_. I mean the presence in Him of all that should be +there. This is the exact reverse or complement of the purity. It is the +other half that must go with that to make a perfect character. I like to +use the word "holiness" in the sense of whole-ness. He had and developed a +whole life. It was fully rounded out. There was nothing lacking that +should be there, even as there was nothing present that should not have +been there. + +There is among us a good bit of negative goodness of character. We point +with pride to what we don't do of that which is bad or not good. But this +is a very one-sided sort of thing. Purity and goodness together--purity +and holiness, wholeness--made the perfect, completed character of our +Lord. And it was so wholly through His choice, His own action, with His +Father's gracious help working through His choice. And the blessed +contagion of the Leader's presence will make an intense longing within to +follow Him here too. + + + +A Fellow-Feeling. + + +Then there were _two outward traits of character_, that is in His +relations with His fellow-men, of Nazareth, of Israel, and of all the +race. He had _sympathy_ with men; a rare, altogether exceptional sympathy. +_He felt with men_ in all their feelings and needs and circumstances. His +fine spirit reached into men's inner spirit, and felt their hunger and +pain and longings and joys, felt them even as they did, and the arms of +His spirit went around them to help. And they felt it. They felt that He +really understood and felt with them. And so sincere and brotherly was His +fellow-feeling that they gladly welcomed it as from one really of +themselves. To men, this Man, so lone in certain traits and experiences, +was their brother, not only in His feeling with them, but in their feeling +toward Him. + +There's something peculiar in that word sympathy. It's a warm word. It has +a soft cushion to it. It is a help word. There's something in it that +makes you think of a warm strong hand helping, of a soft padding +cushioning the sharp edges where they touch your flesh. It makes you think +of a tender, fine spirit breathing in and through your own spirit, even as +the soft south wind in the spring warms you, and the bracing mountain wind +in the summer brings you new life. + +Our Lord Jesus had this great trait of sympathy with His fellows. He +_could_ have it, for He had been through all their experiences. He knew +the commonplace round of daily life so common to all the race. Nazareth +taught Him that, through thirty of His thirty-three years,--ten-elevenths +of His life. He knew temptation, cunning, subtle, stormy, persistent. He +knew the inner longings of a nature awakening, and yet what it meant to be +held down by outer circumstances. He knew the sharp test of waiting, long +waiting. He knew hunger and bodily weariness, and the pinch of scanty +funds. He was homeless at a time when a home would have been most +grateful. He knew what it meant to have the life-plan broken, and +something else, a bitter something else thrust in its place. + +And he knew, too, the sweets of human life, of human love, of the +helpfulness of others' sympathy, of the Father's pleased smile, of the +Holy Spirit's indwelling, of the wondrous inner peace that follows +obedience in hard places, of the joys of service, of the delight of being +able to sympathize. His experience ran through the whole diapason of human +feelings, and so He can find a key-note in every one of its tones for the +sweet rich symphony of sympathy. + +There is again an exception to be noted here. There could be no +fellow-feeling in choosing wrong, or in yielding to the low or base or +selfish. He is the Lone Man there. Does this make all the stronger His +sympathy with us in our upper reach out of such things? Surely it does. +The exception makes it stand out more sharply that our Lord Jesus felt our +feelings. Wherever you are, however tight the corner, or narrow the road, +or lonely the way, or keen the suffering, you can always stop and say: "He +was here. He was here _first_, and _most_. He understands." As you kneel +and look up, you can remember that there's a Man on the throne, a +fellow-man, with a human heart like mine, and like yours. He understands. +He feels. With utmost reverence let it be said, there's more of God since +our Lord Jesus went back. Human experience has been taken up into the +person of God. + +And let me remind you again, that the "Follow Me" here will mean nothing +less than fellowship in the sufferings of our fellows, fellowship to the +point of radically affecting our lives. Sympathy will go deeper than a +sense of pity for those less fortunate, and a giving to them a warm hand +and a good lift up. The poor woman, living in a slum district, being +visited by a mission visitor, spoke for the universal human heart when she +said earnestly, "We don't want _things_; we want _love_." As we get up +close to our Lord Jesus there will come the indwelling in us of the spirit +that controlled Him. We will see through His eyes, we will feel with His +heart, our hands will reach out to grasp other human hands with the +impulse of His touch upon them. We shall know the exquisite pain of real +sympathy with men in need, and the great joy of sharing and making lighter +their load. + + + +When You Don't Have To. + + +The second outward trait of our Lord Jesus' character was _sacrifice_. +This is not something different from what has been said; it is only going +a step further, indeed going the last step that He could go, in both His +sympathy with men and His obedience to His Father. It helps to remember +what sacrifice means; not suffering merely, though it includes suffering; +not privation simply, though it may include this, too. There is much +suffering and privation where there is no sacrifice. Sacrifice means doing +something to help some one else when it takes some of your life-blood, and +when you don't have to, except the have-to of love. + +Sacrifice was so woven into the very fabric of Jesus' life that wherever +you cut in some of the red threads stick out. It was the never-absent +undertone of His life, from earliest years until the tragic close. But the +undertone rose higher and grew stronger until at the last it became the +dominant, the only tone to be heard. He gave His life out on the cross +that so men might be saved from the terrible result of their sin, when He +didn't have to, except the have-to of His great heart. + +I have spoken of sacrifice as one of the two outward, manward traits of +His character. But the truth is His Calvary sacrifice faced three ways: +upward, inward and outward. It faced toward the Father, for it was +carrying out the Father's plan, and that lets us see not only the Father's +love, but His estimate, as the world's administrator of justice, of the +horribleness of the sin which He was so freely forgiving.[15] It faced in +toward Himself, for it was the purity and perfection of the life poured +out that gave the peculiar meaning to His death, and it was His +sympathetic love that led Him up that steep hill. It faced outward, for +the love of it was meant to break men's hearts and bend their stubborn +wills, and so it did and has. + +His sympathy--love suffering--came to have a new meaning as He went to the +last extreme in His suffering. Sympathy is sometimes spoken of as putting +yourself in the other's place so as to help him better. Our Lord Jesus did +this. He did it as none other did, or could. He actually put Himself in +our place on the cross. He experienced what would have come to us had He +not taken our place. He suffered the suffering that belongs to us because +of our sin. He felt the feelings that came through sin working out to its +bitter end. Indeed He went beyond our own feelings here. For because He +consented to suffer as a guilty sinner, we, who trust His precious blood, +are spared that awful experience. + +Calvary was sympathy to the extreme of sacrifice. But both words, +"sympathy" and "sacrifice," get new depths of meaning at Calvary. This red +shuttle thread of sacrifice will appear again and again in the fabric +which His "Follow Me" weaves out for us. What a character He calls us to! +What strength of friendship to insist on our coming up close to Himself! +Is it possible? Surely not. He is so far beyond us. Yet there is a way, +only one, the way of the dependent life, depending on Him to reproduce His +own likeness in us. And our giving Him a free hand in doing it. + +There is one word that could be used to cover all of this, if we only +knew its full, rich, sweet meaning. That is the little understood, the +much misunderstood, much belittled-in-use word, "love." All that has been +said of the character of our Lord Jesus can be found inside that +four-lettered word. Each trait spoken of is but a fresh spelling of love, +some one side of it. Love planned the dependent life, and only love can +live it truly. Love longs to please love, regardless of any sacrifice +involved. Obedience is the active rhythm of love on the street of life. +Purity is the inner heart of love; and the fully rounded character is the +maturity of love. Sympathy is the heart of love beating in perfect rhythm +with your own, and sacrifice is love giving its very life gladly out to +save yours. Some day we shall know how much is meant by the sentence, "God +is love." + +A little child of a Christian home came one day to his mother, asking what +it meant to "believe on the Lord Jesus." She thought a moment how to make +the answer simple to the child, and then said, "It means thinking about +Him, and loving Him." Sometime after, the little fellow was noticed +sitting very quietly, apparently much absorbed in thought, and his mother +said, "What are you doing, my son?" With child-like simplicity he said in +a quiet tone, "I'm believing on the Lord Jesus." And a warm flush of +feeling came to the mother's heart as she realized the practical tender +meaning to her son, of the word "believing." + +May we be great enough to be as little children while I adapt that +mother's language here: Following our Lord Jesus is thinking about Him and +loving Him. As we come to know the meaning of love we shall find that +following is loving. The "Follow Me" life is the love life. But we must +learn the meaning of love before that sentence will grip us. + +The closer we follow Him the closer we will come to knowing what love is. +The nearer we get to Him the nearer we get to its meaning. We will know it +as we know Him. When we come into His presence, face to face, its simple +full meaning will flash upon us with a great simple surprise. + +Let us follow on to know it, that we may know Him. Let us live it and so +we shall live Him. And in so living we shall know it and Him; we shall +know love, and Jesus, and God. + + + + +The Long, Rough Road He Trod + + + +The Book's Story. + + +It wasn't always a rough road, of course. But as you look at it from end +to end, the roughness of it is what takes your eye most, and takes great +hold of your heart. The smooth places here and there make you feel that it +was a rough road. And yet, rough though it really was, the roughness was +eased by the love in the heart of the Man that trod it; though not eased +for the soles of His feet, nor for hands and face. For there was thorny +roughness at the sides as He pushed through, as well as steep roughness +under foot. + +And it may not seem so long at first. But the longer you look, the sharper +your eyes get to see how great was the distance He had to come, from where +He was, down to where we were. + +Let me take a little sea room, and go back a bit so we can see the full +length, and the real roughness, of the road He came. And lest some of you +may think that the telling of the first part of it has the sound of a +fairy tale, let me tell you that it is simply the story of what actually +took place, as told in the pages of this old Book of God. It will be a +help if you will keep your copy of the Bible at hand, and turn +thoughtfully to its pages now and then as we talk. + +There is a rare simplicity in the way in which the story of the Bible is +told. And it helps to remember that the Bible is never concerned with +chronology, nor with scientific process but only with giving pictures of +moral or spiritual conditions among men as seen from above. And chiefly it +is concerned with giving a picture of God, in His power and patience and +gentleness, and in His great justice and right in dealing with everybody. +Yet the picture and the language never clash with the facts of nature and +of life as dug out by student or scientist. + +It is a great help in talking about these things of God, and of human +life, not to have any theories to fit and press things into, but simply to +take the Book's story, and to tell it over again in the language of our +generation. It simplifies things quite a bit not to try to fit God into +your philosophy, but to accept His own story of life. It not only greatly +simplifies one's outlook, it gives you such sure footing, such steadiness. +Any other footing may go out from under your feet any time. But the old +Book of God "standeth sure," never more sure than to-day when it was never +more riddled at, and mined under. But neither bullets nor mining have +affected the Book itself. The only harm has been in the kick-back of the +firing, upon those standing close by. + +I am frank to confess my own ignorance of the great truths we are talking +over here, save for the Bible itself, and the response to it within my own +spirit, and the further response to it in human life all over the earth +to-day West and East. Human life is a faithful mirror, accurately +reflecting to-day just the conditions found in this old Book. No book so +faithfully and accurately describes the workings and feelings of the human +mind and heart of to-day in our western world, and in all the world, as +this Book, written so long ago in the language of the East. Its finger +still gives accurately the pulse beat of the race. And it helps, too, to +tell the story in the simple way in which this Book itself does, as a +story. + + + +God on a Wooing Errand. + + +God and man used to live together in a garden. It was a most wonderful +garden, full of trees and flowers and fruit, of singing birds with rare +feathers and songs, of beasts that had never yet learned fear, nor to make +others feel it, and a beautiful river of living water. The name given it +indicates that it was a most delightful spot.[16] God and man used to live +together in this garden. They talked and walked and worked together. Man +helped God in putting the finishing touches on His work of creation. It +was the first school, with God Himself as teacher.[17] God and man used to +have a trysting time under the trees in the twilight. But one evening when +God came for the usual bit of fellowship the man was not there. God was +there.[18] He had not gone away, and He has never gone away. Man had gone +away, and God was left lonely standing under the tree of life. + +A friend, in whose home we were, told of her little daughter's remark one +day. The mother had been teaching her that there is only one God. The +child seemed surprised and on being told again, said in her childlike +simplicity, "I think He must be very lonesome." Well, the child was right +in the word used. God is lonesome, though for an utterly different reason +than was in the child's mind. God was lonesome that day, left standing +alone under the trees of the garden. He is lonesome for fellowship with +every one who stays away from Himself. That homely human word may well +express to us the longing of His heart. + +Man went away from God that day, then he wandered farther away, then he +lost his way back, then he didn't want to come back. And away from God his +ideas about God got badly confused. His eyes grew blind to God's pleading +face, his ears dull and then deaf to God's voice. His will got badly +warped and bent out of shape morally, and his life sadly hurt by the sin +he had let in.[19] + +And all this was very hard on God.[20] It _grieved_ Him at His heart. He +sent many messengers, one after another, through long years, but they were +treated as badly as they could be.[21] And at last God said to Himself, +"What more can I do? This is what I will do. I'll go down Myself and live +among them, and woo them back Myself." And so it was done. One day He +wrapped about Himself the garb of our humanity, and came in amongst us as +one of ourselves.[22] And He became known amongst us as Jesus. He had +spoken the world into being; now, in John's simple homely language, He +pitched His tent amongst our tents as our near neighbour and kinsman.[23] +Our Lord Jesus was the face of God looking into ours, the voice of God +speaking into the ears of our hearts, the hand of God reached down to make +a way back and then lead us along the way back again, the heart of God +coming in touch to warm ours and make us willing to go back. + +It was a long road He came, as long as the distance we had gone away from +Him. And no measuring stick has yet been whittled out that can tell that +distance. We want to look a bit at the last lap of the road, the +earth-lap. It runs from the Bethlehem plain where He came in, to the +Olivet hilltop where He slipped away again up and back, for a time, until +things are ready for the next step in His plan. + + + +The Rough Places. + + +The bit of earth-road began to get pretty rough before He had quite gotten +here. The pure gentle virgin-mother was under cruelly hurting suspicion on +the point about which a woman is properly most sensitive, and that too by +the one who was nearest to her. I've wondered why Joseph, too, was not +told of the plan of God when Mary was, and so she be spared this sore +suspicion. I think it was because he simply _could_ not have taken it in +beforehand, though he rose so nobly when he was told. Her experience was +unavoidable, humanly speaking. + +That hastily improvised cradle was in rather a rough spot for both mother +and babe. The hasty fleeing for several days and nights to Egypt, with +those heart-rending cries of the grief-stricken mothers of Bethlehem +haunting their ears, the cautious return, and then apparently the change +of plans from a home in historic Bethlehem to the much less favoured +village of Nazareth,--it was all a pretty rough beginning on a very rough +road. It was a sort of prophetic beginning. There proved to be +blood-shedding at both ends, and each time innocent blood, too. + +The word Nazareth has become a high fence hiding from view thirty of the +thirty-three years. Was this the dead-level, monotonous stretch of the +road, from the time of the early teens on to the full maturity of thirty? +Yet it proved later to have a dangerously rough place on the precipice +side of the town. It seems rather clear that Joseph and Mary would have +much preferred some other place, their own family town, cultured +Bethlehem, for rearing this child committed to their care. But the serious +danger involved decided the choice of the less desirable town for their +home.[24] + +But the roughest part began when our Lord Jesus turned His feet from the +shaded seclusion of Nazareth, and turned into the open road. At once came +the Wilderness, the place of terrific temptation, and of intense spirit +conflict. The fact of temptation was intensified by the length of it. +Forty long days the lone struggle lasted. The time test is the hardest +test. The greatest strength is the strength that wears, doesn't wear out. +That Wilderness had stood for sin's worst scar on the earth's surface. +Since then it has stood for the most terrific and lengthened-out +siege-attack by the Evil One upon a human being. Satan himself came and +rallied all the power of cunning and persistence at his command. He did +his damnable worst and best. + +In an art gallery at Moscow is a painting by a Russian artist of "Christ +in the Wilderness," which reverently and with simple dramatic power brings +to you the intense humanity of our Lord, and how tremendously real to Him +the temptation was. This helps to intensify to us the meaning of the +Wilderness. It stands for victory, by a man, in the power of the Spirit, +over the worst temptation that can come. + +Then follows a long stretch of rough road with certain places sharply +marked out to our eyes. The rejection by the Jewish leaders began at once. +It ran through three stages, the silent contemptuous rejection, the active +aggressive rejection, then the hardened, murderous rejection running up to +the terrible climax of the cross. + +The contemptuous rejection of the Baptist's claim for his Master, by the +official commission sent down to inquire,[25] was followed by the more +aggressive, as they began to realize the power of this man they had to +deal with. John's imprisonment revealed an intensifying danger, and the +need of withdrawing to some less dangerous place. + +Our Lord's change to Galilee, and to preaching and working among the +masses, was followed by a persistent campaign on the part of the +Southerners of nagging, harrying warfare against Him throughout Galilee. +It grew in bitterness and intensity, with John's death as a further +turning point to yet intenser bitterness. The visits to Jerusalem were +accompanied by fiercer attacks, venomous discussions, and frenzied +attempts at personal violence. This grew into the third stage of +rejection, the cool, hardened plotting of His death. The last weeks +things head up at a tremendous rate; our Lord appears to be the one calm, +steady man, even in His terrific denunciation of them, held even and +steady in the grip of a clear, strong purpose, as He pushed His way +unwaveringly onward. Then came the terrible climax,--the cross. The worst +venomous spittle of the serpent's poison sac spat out there. It was the +climax of hate, and the climax of His unspeakable love. + + + +When Your Heart's Tuned to the Music. + + +Surely it was a long, rough road. Its length was not measured by miles, +nor years, but by the experiences of this Lone Man. So measured it becomes +the longest road ever trod, from purity's heights to sin's depths; from +love's mountain top to hate's deepest gulf. It makes a new record for +roughness. For no one has ever suffered what our Lord Jesus did; and no +one's suffering ever had the value and meaning for another that His had +and has for all men and for us. Not one of us to-day realizes how He +suffered, nor the intensity of meaning that suffering actually has for all +the race, and for those of us who accept it for ourselves. + +It was a rough, long road, and He knew ahead that it would be. He saw +dimly ahead, then more sharply outlined as He drew on, those crossed logs +in the road, growing bigger and darker and more forbidding as He pushed +on. But He could not be stopped by that, for He was thinking about us, +and about His Father. He pushed steadily on, past crossed logs all +overgrown and tangled with thorn bushes and poison ivy vines, bearing the +marks of logs and thorns and poison ivy, but He went through to the end of +the road, He reached His world; He reached _our hearts_. And now He is +longing to reach through our hearts to the hearts of the others. + + "But none of the ransomed ever knew + How deep were the waters crossed; + Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through, + 'Ere He found His sheep that were lost. + + 'Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way + That mark out the mountain's track?' + 'They were shed for one who had gone astray + Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.' + + But all through the mountains, thunder-riven, + And up from the rocky steep, + There arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven, + 'Rejoice! I have found my sheep.'"[26] + +But there was something more on that road. Do you know how the wind blows +through the trees on the steep mountain side, and will make music in your +heart, _if your heart is tuned to its music_, even while you are pushing +your way through thorny tanglewood and undergrowth? Do you know how, as +you go down the deep mountain ravines, with the wild rushing torrent far +below, where a single misstep would mean so much, how the breeze playing +through the leaves makes sweetest melody, _if your heart's tuned to it?_ + +Well, this great Lone Man had a heart tuned for the music of this road. +The strong wind of His Father's love blew down through the wild mountains +into His face, and made sweetest music, and His ear was in tune and heard +it. He had a tuning-fork that gave Him the true pitch for the rarest +music, while His feet travelled cautiously the deep wilderness ravines, +and boldly climbed through the thorny undergrowth of that steep hill just +outside the city wall. Obedience is the rhythm of two wills, that blends +their action into rarest harmony. Some of us need to use His +tuning-fork,[27] so as to enjoy the music of the road. + + + +The Pleading Call To Follow + + + +Hungry for the Human Touch. + + +God hungers for the human touch. There's an inner hesitancy in saying +this, and in hearing it. We feel it can hardly be so, even though our +inner hearts would wish it were so. + +We know that we men hunger for the human touch, the strongest of us. And +in our hour of sore need we know that our inner hearts look up, and wish +we could have a really close touch with God. Well, this is a bit of the +image of God in us. We were made so, like Himself. In seeing ourselves +here, we are getting a closer look at the heart of God. He longs for the +human touch. When He made us He breathed into our nostrils the breath of +His own life. And this is not simply a bit of the first Genesis chapter. +It is a bit of every human life. There's the breath of God in every new +life born into the world. He gives a bit of Himself. We are not complete +creatively until part of Himself has come to be part of us. + +And Jesus' coming was but the same thing put in yet more intense, close, +appealing shape to us. He came to get us in touch again after the break +of sin. He gave His blood that we might have life again after the +sin-break had broken off our life, and commenced to dry it up. This was an +even closer touch. The breath of God came in Eden to breathe in our lungs. +The blood of His Son came on Calvary to give life-action to our hearts. +Could there be anything to make clearer His hunger for the human touch? + +The Holy Spirit's presence spells out the same thing once more. There has +been every sort of thing to induce Him to go away. He has been ignored, +left out of all reckoning, and talked against. Yet with a patience beyond +what that word means to us, He has remained creatively in every man as the +very breath of his life. And He comes and remains the very breath of the +spirit life in those who yield to His pleading call. + +Jesus was God coming after us. We had gone away. He came to woo us back +into close touch again. He came to the nation of Israel, that through it +He might reach out to all men. When He comes again it will be again to use +Israel as His messenger, while He Himself will be present on the earth in +a new way to woo men to Himself. When that nation's leaders rejected +John's announcement, and so rejected our Lord Jesus, He began to appeal to +individual men, while waiting for the nation. And the work with +individuals was also His call to the nation. + +So the chief thing He did was to call men. His presence was a call, and +the crowds flocked to Him wherever He went. His life of purity and +sympathy was felt as an earnest call and responded to eagerly. His doings +were a very intense call. Every healed man and woman, every one set free +of demon influence, every one of the fed multitudes, felt called to this +man who had helped him so. His teaching was a continual call, and His +preaching. But above all else stood out the personal call He gave men. For +our Lord Jesus was not content to deal with the crowds simply; He dealt +with men one by one in intimate heart touch. + + + +Called to Go. + + +There are a number of invitations He used in calling men. It was as though +in His eagerness He used every sort that might go home. And yet there was +more than this; these invitations are like successive steps up into the +life He wanted them to have. He said, "Come unto Me."[28] This was always +the first, and still remains first. It led, and it leads, into rest of +heart and life, peace with God. He quickly followed it with "Come ye after +Me."[29] They must come to Him before they could come after Him. This was +found to mean discipleship, learning the road. He would "make" them like +Himself in going after others. He said, "take My yoke upon you."[30]This +meant a bending down to get into the yoke, a surrender of will and heart +to Himself, and then partnership, fellowship side-by-side with Himself. + +Then He spoke another word to the innermost circle, on the night in which +He was betrayed. He had a long talk that evening with the eleven around +the supper table, and walking down to the grove of olives at the Brook of +the Cedars.[31] Several times that evening He used this new word, "abide," +"abide in Me." That means staying with Him, not leaving, living +continuously with Him. It means a continued separation from anything that +would separate from Him. And then it means a fulness of life coming from +Himself into us as we draw all our life from Himself, a rich ripeness, a +rounded maturity, a depth of life, and these always becoming +more,--richer, rounder, deeper. + +Then after the awful days of the cross were past, on the evening of the +resurrection day, in the upper room with ten of the inner disciples, He +practically said, "You be Myself"; "as the Father sent Me, even so send I +you"[32]; "You be I." I wonder if any one of us has ever been taken or +mistaken for the Lord Jesus. We would never know it, of course. But He +meant it to be so. + +A Scottish lady missionary in India tells of a Bible class of girls which +she had. She was teaching them about the life and character of the +Lord Jesus. One day a new girl came in, fresh from the heathenism in +which she grew up, knowing nothing of the Gospel. She listened, and then +became quite intense and excited in her childish way, as she heard them +talking about some One, how good He was, how gentle, how He was always +teaching and helping the people around Him. At last she could restrain her +eagerness no longer, but blurted out, "I know that man; he lives near us." +It was found that she did not know about Christ, but supposed they were +speaking of a very earnest native Christian man living in her +neighbourhood. She had mistaken her neighbour for Jesus. How glad that man +must have been if he ever knew. This was a part of our Lord's plan. + +And at the very end, these successive invitations took the shape of a +command, which was both a permission and an order,--"Go ye."[33] Men who +had taken to heart, one after another, these invitations were ready for +the command. They would be eager for it. The invitations were the Master's +preparation for the command. He could trust such men to go, and to keep +steady and true as they went, in the power He gave them. There is one word +that you find in all these invitations--"Me." They all centre about the +Lord Jesus. He is the centre of gravity drawing every one, in ever growing +nearness and meaning, to Himself. It is only when we have been drawn into +closest touch with Him that we are qualified to "go" to others. It's only +Himself in us, only as much of Himself as is in us, that will be helpful +to any one else, or will make any one else willing to break with his old +way. He is the only magnet to draw men away from the old life up to +Himself. + + + +"Follow Me." + + +But there's one other invitation which belongs in this list. It proves to +be the greatest of them all, because you come to find it includes all +these others. It's His "Follow Me." It seems at first glance to be the +same as that "Come after Me." But it is the word He repeated again and +again, under different circumstances, with added explanations, to the same +men, until you feel that He meant it to stand out as the great invitation +to His disciples. It seems to mean different things at different times. +That is to say, it grew in its significance. It came to mean more than it +had seemed to. + +Peter is a good illustration here. The word really came to him five times, +with a different, an added, meaning each time. His first following meant +acquaintance.[34] John the Herald had sent his disciples, John and Andrew, +along after Jesus as He was walking one day on the Jordan river road. They +followed Jesus to their first acquaintance in a two hours' talk, which +quite satisfied their hearts as to who He was. John never forgot that +first following. Every detail of it stands out in his memory when long +years after he began to write his story of the Master. Andrew went at once +to hunt up Peter, and brought him face-to-face with his newly found Friend +and Master. That interview settled things for Peter. Andrew's following +now included his. Following meant the beginning of the personal friendship +which was to mean so much for both of them. + +It was about a year after, that "Follow Me" had a new meaning to Peter and +some others.[35] The invitation was an illustrated one this time, +illustrated by a living picture of just what it meant. It was one morning +by the Lake of Galilee. Peter and his partners had had a poor night's +fishing, and were out on shore washing their nets. The Master had come +along, with a great crowd pressing in to get closer and hear better. There +was danger of the crowd pushing the Master into the water. The Master +borrowed Peter's boat for a pulpit. Peter sat facing the crowd while the +Master talked to them. + +Was that the first time the spell of a crowd began to get its subtle +heart-hold on Peter as he looked into their hungry eyes? Who can withstand +the great appeal of the crowd's eyes? Not our Lord, nor any that have +caught His spirit. Then the great draught of fishes, after the fishless +night, made Peter feel the Master's power. Fishes would make him feel it, +being a fisherman, as nothing else would. The sense of Jesus' power, and +with it a sense of purity--interesting how the power made him feel the +purity--this brought him to his knees at our Lord's feet with the +confession of his own sinfulness. + +Peter was greatly moved that morning, greatly shaken. A new experience of +tremendous power had come to him. And out of it came a new life, a radical +change as he left the old occupation, fishing, boats, father, means of +livelihood, and entered upon the new life. "Follow Me" meant a radical +change of life, constant companionship with Jesus, sharing His life, going +to school, getting ready for leadership and service; yes, and for +suffering too. He entered the Master's itinerant training school that +morning. A man needs a sight of the Lord Jesus' power, a _feel_ of it, +before he is fit to serve, or even to go to school to get ready for +service. + +It was some months after this that another meaning grew into the words +"Follow Me," and grew out of them. The words are not spoken this time, but +acted. Out of the group of disciples that He had gathered about Him our +Lord prayerfully chose out Peter with the others to be sent out as His +messenger to others.[36]Part of the schooling was over; now a new part, a +new term of school, was to begin. He gave them a special talk that +morning, and sent them out to teach and heal and do for the crowds what +He had been doing. + +He called them Apostles, Sent-ones, Missionaries. "Follow Me" now meant +going to others. It meant more--_power_, power to do for men all the +Master Himself had done. First, power felt that early morning by the lake, +now power given. That was a great advance in training. Power had to be +felt before it could be given, and has to be felt before it can be used. +Only as the power takes hold of our inner hearts to the feeling point, +will it ever take hold of others. And no life is changed through our +service till power takes hold of us to _the feeling point_. + + + +The Deeper Meaning. + + +But there was a special session of the "Follow Me" school one day, a very +serious session.[37]They had to be shown the red threads in the weave of +the word. The words had to be held under the knife, so they could look +into the cut, and see the deeper meaning. "Follow Me" had to take deeper +hold of them yet, if His power was to get the deeper hold of them, and, by +and by, get hold of the needy crowds. The very setting of the words gives +the new meaning to them. John had felt the keen edge of Herod's axe blade, +and was now in the upper presence. They were up in the far northern part +because of the growing danger threatening Him by the leaders. + +It is the turning point where our Lord Jesus begins to tell them that He +was to suffer. Their ears _could_ not take in the words. Their dazed eyes +show that they think they could not have heard aright,--He to _suffer!_ +What could this mean? They hadn't figured on this when they left the nets +and boats to follow. There had been a rosy glamour filling impulsive +Peter's self-confident sky. Now this black storm cloud! Then to Peter's +foolhardy daring came words spoken with a new intense quietness that made +the words quiver: "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself +and take up his cross daily and 'Follow Me.'"[38] + +This was startling to a terrific degree. Here was a new, strange, +perplexing combination--"deny himself," and "cross," coupled with His +"Follow Me." What could He mean? This was surely some of His intensely +figurative language again, they think. Yes, it surely was; and it stood +for a yet intenser experience. "Follow Me" means sacrifice. It means a +going down as well as a going up. And it proves to mean that one can go up +in power and service, only as far as he has gone down in the obedience +that includes sacrifice. Did Peter take in the meaning that day? I think +not. Actions speak louder than words. + +That betrayal night a few short months after, when the actual cross was +almost in actual sight, he "followed Him afar off."[39] Without knowing +it, that was as far as he had ever really followed thus far. He wanted to +keep as "far off" from that cross as possible. He always had. He baulked +at its first mention, baulked tremendously. Yet he "followed." Poor Peter! +he was in a terrible strait betwixt two, this wondrous Master whom he +really loved, and this threatening cross of nails and thongs and thorns. +It was a stiff struggle between heart and flesh; between the longing of +his love and the shrinking from pain and hardship and shame. And Peter's +kinsfolk are still having the same struggle. A great many stop here. This +is going _too_ far! They prefer staying by the easier "Follow Me's," and +forgetting this one. Yes, and go on living powerless lives, and engaging +in powerless service, when the crowds were never so needy. + +Peter didn't follow this time. The road was too rough. He stumbled and +fell badly. Badly? Still no worse than many others. When he got up he was +still facing the same way. You can always tell a man's mettle by the way +he faces as he gets up after a bad fall. + +Six months or so after there came another "Follow Me," to Peter. No, it +wasn't another; it was the same one, the one he hadn't accepted. Peter was +to have another opportunity at the same place where he fell so badly. How +patient our Lord Jesus was--and is. + +It was one morning just after breakfast--a rare breakfast--on the edge of +the lake, after as poor a night's fishing as that other time.[40] Again +the touch of power revealed the Master's presence. Again Peter had a +special word with the Master while the others are hauling in the fish. Now +breakfast's over and the seven are grouped about the One, listening. The +Lord's quiet skilled hand touches the heart meaning of "Follow Me." Its +real meaning is a love meaning. Do you love? Then "Follow Me." Then you +_must_ follow, your love draws you after, even though the path be rough +and broken. This is the same "Follow Me" that Peter baulked at so badly +months before. Its meaning had not changed. It would mean a death, Peter +is plainly told. But now Peter baulks no longer. The Master's great love +had taught Him how really to love. And now not even a cross for himself +would or could keep him from following close up to such a Master. + +Here is the meaning of "Follow Me" as it worked out in Peter's +experience--acquaintance, a new life, schooling, service, a sight of +sacrifice, and a baulking, then--a sight of Jesus on the cross, and then a +willingness to go on even though it meant the sorest sacrifice. This is an +etching of the road Peter actually went, an etching in black and white, +with the black very black. Is it a picture of your road? But perhaps you +have never filled out the last part--still back at that baulking place. In +the thick of our present life, in the noise and din of the street of +modern life, comes as of old the quiet, clear, insistent call "Follow Me." + + + +Getting in Behind. + + +But, some one says, how can we really follow this Lone Man, our Lord Jesus +Christ? He was so pure in His life, stainless in motive, and unstained in +character. And we--well, the nearer we get to Him the more instinctively +we find Peter's lakeshore cry starting up within, "I am a sinful man." His +very presence makes us feel the sin, the sin-instinct, the old selfish +something within. How can we really follow? And the answer that comes is a +real answer. It answers the inner heart-cry. + +It is this: we begin where He ended. The cross was the end of His life. It +must be the beginning of ours. It was the climax of His obedience. All the +lines of His life come together at the cross. It is the beginning for us. +All the lines of our lives, the lines of purity, of character, of service, +of power, run back to the one starting point. And we come to find--some of +us pretty slowly--that it is only the lines that do start there that lead +to anything worth while. The starting point for the true life, and for +real service is very clear. And if any of us have made a false start, it +will be a tremendous saving to drop things and go back and get the true +start. "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth from all sin"--this is the +only point from which to start the "Follow Me" life. "Follow Me" does not +mean imitation. It means reincarnation. It's some One coming to re-live +His life in us. He died that His life might be loosed out to be relived in +us. + +I have already spoken of this as being a call to friendship. All the rest +that comes is meant to be what naturally grows out of this friendship. +Peter never forgot his last "Follow Me" call. "Lovest thou Me?" Then thou +mayest follow. This greatly sweetens all the rest. It's all for Him!--our +friend. Out of this personal relation comes service, power in service, +suffering because of opposition to Him whom we serve, and joy because we +may suffer on His account.[41] + +Matthew became His friend that day down at the little customs-shed at the +Capernaum water edge. And out of that friendship grew our first gospel. +John lived very close, and out of his intimacy came the gospel that +reveals to us most the inner heart of our Lord, and His own intimacy of +relation with the Father. And out of that friendship came, too, not only +John's wonderful little "abiding" epistle,[42] but the Revelation book, +which gives us an inkling of the coming in of the Kingdom time that lies +so near to our Lord's heart. Out of such intimacy of touch grew Stephen's +ringing address before the Jewish council, and--his stormy, stony exit, +out and up into his Master's presence. + +And time would fail me to tell of those in every corner of the earth, and +every generation since our Lord was here, who have served and suffered +because they loved Him and followed. Hidden away in the rocks and caves of +France from the fires of persecution, the Huguenots sang their favourite +hymn: + + "I have a friend so precious, + So very dear to me, + He loves me with such tender love, + He loves so faithfully. + + I could not live apart from Him, + I love to feel Him nigh, + And so we dwell together, + My Lord and I." + +When I was in China a year ago, my heart caught some of the distant echoes +of that sort of singing, by Chinese Christians, in the midst of the fiery +persecutions of the Boxer time. And I heard the same sad, glad undertone +last year out in Corea, in the homes we visited, whose loved ones were +behind prison bars for their Friend's sake. + +One of the latest chapters of this friendship's outcome is only just +closed in the story of that quiet, young friend of the Lord Jesus, William +Whiting Borden, who sat down a little while ago, and so placed the wealth +left him that the world might learn of his Friend, and then went out and +laid down his life in Egypt in this same passion of friendship. So the +earth's sod in every corner has known the fertilizing of such friendship +blood, and shall some day know a wondrous harvest under our great Friend's +own gleaning. + +And this is why He asks us to follow. He needs our help. Our Lord Jesus +gave His precious life blood to redeem the world, to set it free from its +sin-slavery. But there are two parts to that redemption, His and ours. +These two parts are strikingly brought out by a single word in the +beginning of the book of Acts,[43] the word "began." Luke says that what +he has been writing in his Gospel of the life and death of Jesus was only +a _beginning_. This was what "He _began_ both to do and to teach." It is +usually explained that what our Lord Jesus began in the Gospels, the Holy +Spirit continued to _do_ in the Acts, and to _teach_ in the Epistles. And +this is no doubt true. But there is still more here. The Holy Spirit +continued and continues through men what He began through Jesus. There is +a second part to the work of redemption, our part, the Holy Spirit working +through us. There had to be a first part; that was the great part. There +could be no second without a first. That first part was done when our Lord +Jesus was hurt to death for us. That is the great first part. Yet in doing +that He had but begun something. He touched Palestine. We are to cover the +earth. He touched one nation; we are to go to all nations. We are to +continue what He began. The work of redemption was finished on the cross +so far as He was concerned; but not yet finished so far as its being taken +to "all the world" was concerned. He needs us. This is why He asks us to +follow. He needs our co-operation. + +The second great factor in carrying out what He began is--how shall I put +it? Shall I say, men and the Holy Spirit? You say, "No, change that, say +the Holy Spirit and men. Put the Spirit first." Well, the order of these +two depends on where you are standing. If you are standing at the Father's +right hand, you say "the Holy Spirit and men." For the power is all in the +Holy Spirit. He is the power. There can be nothing done without Him. +Whatever is done in which He is not dominant amounts to nothing. How I +wish we men might have that tremendous fact grip us in these days when the +whole emphasis is on organization. + +But, very reverently let me say this, and I say it thus plainly that we +may know how much our Lord Jesus is depending on us, how really He needs +us,--this, that since we are on the earth, in the place of human action, +where the fighting is to be done, it is accurate to say with utmost +reverence, "_men_ and the Holy Spirit." For mark keenly, the initiative is +in human hands. God's action has always waited on human action. The power +is only in the Holy Spirit. The most astute and strong leadership amounts +to nothing without Him flooding it with His presence. But the power needs +a channel. The Spirit needs men strongly pliant to His will. The great +world-plan waits, and always has waited, for willing men. And so our great +Friend asks us to follow because He really needs us in His plan. + +Have you ever noticed the picture in the word "follow"? You remember that +the earliest language was picture language. And it is a great help +sometimes to dig down under a word and get the picture. Here, it is a man +standing on a roadway, earnestly beckoning, and pointing to the road he is +in. The Old Testament word means literally "same road." The very word the +Master Himself used means "in behind." + +To-night this wondrous Lord Jesus stands just ahead. His face still shows +where the thorns cut and the thongs tore. But there is a marvellous +tenderness and pleading in those great patient eyes. His hand is reached +out beckoning, and you cannot miss the hole in the palm of it. The hand +points to the road He trod for us. And His voice calls pleadingly, "Take +this same road; get in behind. I need your help with My world." + + + +Selling All. + + +And yet--and yet----. Do you remember one time our Lord turned to the +crowds that were following and told them it would be better to count up +the cost before deciding to be His disciples?[44] He feared if they didn't +there would be "mocking" by outsiders because His followers' lives didn't +square with their profession. His fear seems to have been well founded. +There seems to be quite a bit of that sort of mocking. It's better to +count the cost, to know what following really means. A Salvation Army +officer in Calcutta tells about a young handsome Hindu of an aristocratic +family. One day he came in, drew out a New Testament, and asked the +meaning of the words, "sell whatsoever thou hast," in the story of the +rich young ruler.[45] The Salvationist told him it meant that if a man's +possessions stood in the way of his becoming a Christian he must be +willing, if need be, to dispose of them for the needy. To his surprise the +young man quietly said, "I fear you don't understand." + +"Do you want to be a Christian?" + +"Yes, but I'm not willing to sell all that I possess." + +After a little more talk the young Indian left. Sometime after he appeared +at one of the Salvation Army meetings, and when the opportunity was given +for those who would accept Christ to kneel at the altar, at once he +started forward. But instantly a storm broke out in the crowded meeting. A +group of men rushed forward, shouting angrily, seized the young man and +bore him bodily out while the crowd watched in terror. A few weeks later +the young man turned up again, asking to be taken in and quietly saying, +"I have begun to sell all." + +Then his story came out. A Bible had come into his hands; the character +and call of the Lord Jesus made a great appeal to him. He was haunted by +the words, "sell whatsoever thou hast." He felt he knew what it meant for +him. His family heard of his interest in Christianity. They belonged to +the highest class, were wealthy and officially connected with the heathen +temple-worship. They did their best to dissuade him, then finding that +useless, they kept watch, and had him forcibly taken from the meeting +where he was about to openly confess Christ. The entreaties of his father +and mother shook him greatly but failed to change his decision. He had +been imprisoned, chained hand and foot, and scantily fed, but all to no +purpose. Then he managed to escape and came to the one Christian place he +knew, the Salvation Army, and asked to be taken in. + +After about two weeks he disappeared as abruptly as he came. Then one day +he came back, and told his Salvation friend that he had been carried to +Benares, their holy city, and forced to bathe in the Ganges. "But," he +said, "as I stood in the water of the Ganges, I said, 'Lord Jesus, wash me +in Thy precious blood,' and when I was forced to bow to idols, I bowed my +soul to the eternal Father and said, 'Thou art God alone.'" His mother had +implored him on her knees not to disgrace them; his tutor, whom he loved +dearly, and his brothers had joined the father in their plea not to bring +such shame on the family. "Well," the Salvationist said, "now, you know +the meaning of 'sell whatsoever thou hast'" "Not yet," he said, "but I +have sold nearly all." + +Again he came back and said quietly, "_I have sold all_." He appeared +deeply grief-stricken, and yet there was a light shining in his eye. In +answer to questions he said, "I have not only ceased to be a Brahmin, I +have ceased to be a human being. I am not only an outcast, I am dead. I +have neither father, mother, brothers, nor sisters. I have been burned in +effigy, and the ashes buried. It was not the effigy they burned; it was I. +My father would not recognize me now if he met me on the street, nor would +my mother. I am dead. I have been buried. It is the end. I have sold +all."[46] He had counted the cost. Then though it meant so much, he +followed. The rich young Jew to whom the words were first spoken, saw +_things_ bigger than Jesus; the rich young Hindu saw Jesus bigger. Each +held to what he prized most, and let the other go. Would it not be better +if we were to count the cost, and then _deliberately_ decide? and if it be +to follow, then follow _all the way?_ I want to talk a little later about +what it means to follow. I hope this will help us a little in our +calculations, in counting the cost before starting in to follow fully. + +And yet, and yet, may the vision of the Lone Man in the road, beckoning, +flood our eyes while we count the cost, even as with the young Hindu. + + + + +What Following Means + + +1. A Look Ahead. +2. The Main Road. +3. The Valleys. +4. The Hilltops. + + + + +1. A Look Ahead + + + +Saltless Salt. + + +The Lord Jesus never tried to make things look easier than they are. He +wanted you to see the road just as it is, and asked you to look at it +carefully. He knew this was the only right way to do. He knew that so the +sinews would be grown in character that would stand the tests coming, and +only so. + +It was never His plan to increase the numbers by cutting down the +doorsills so men could get in more easily. That was a later arrangement. +He was never concerned for numbers, but for right and truth. A man walking +alone down the middle of the one true path was more to Him, immensely +more, than a great crowd wabbling along on the edge, half out, half in, +neither in nor out, and so really out but not knowing it. If they were +really out and knew it, it would be better, for they could see more +distinctly the path they were not in, its straightness and attractiveness. + +This sort of thing grew more marked with our Lord Jesus as the end drew +on, the tragic end. The crowds thickened about Him those last months. They +liked good bread, and plenty of it, and healed bodies, pain gone. And He +liked to give them these. He helped just as far as they would let Him. But +He wanted to give them more. He knew this other was only temporary. He was +more concerned about healing the spirit of its disease, and giving the +more abundant life. And full well He knew that only the knife could help +many. And the knife had to be freshly sharpened, and used with strong +decisive hand, if healing and life were to come. + +And men haven't changed, nor the diseases that hurt their life, nor the +Master, nor the tender love of His heart. But there's more than knife; +there's fulness of life following. He would have us get the life even +though it means the knife. Most times--every time, shall I say?--the life +comes only through the knife. Yet when the life has come, with its great +tireless strength, and its deep breathing, and sheer delight of living, +you are grateful for the knife that led the way to such life. + +One day our Lord entered a vigorous protest against the wrong sort of +salt,[47] saltless salt, the sort that seemed to be salt, and you used it +and depended on it, and then found how unsalty it was, for the thing you +depended on it to preserve, had gone bad. The great need is for salty +salt. There still seems to be a great lot of this saltless salt in use. +It's labelled salt, and so it's used as salt, but it befools you. The +saltiness has been lost out, and the man using it wakes up to find out +how great is the loss, loss of what he thought he had salted, and loss of +time, character and time, the character of that salted with saltless salt, +and the time spent. + +It would be an immense clearing of the religious situation to-day on both +sides of the Atlantic, if the saltless salt could be got rid of, either by +removing the unsaltiness in it--though that seems a hopeless task, it's so +unsalty, and there is so much of it, and such a large proportion of it, +and it's so well content with being just as unsalty as it is. _Or_, the +only other thing is put very simply and vigorously by the Lord in a short +intense sentence, "Cast it out." Out with it. And lots of it _is out_ so +far as preservative usefulness is concerned. + +And yet with wondrous patience He puts up with a great deal of salt that +seems to have nearly reached the utterly saltless stage, hoping to get rid +of the unsaltiness, and then to give it a new saltiness. For, be it keenly +marked, when the saltiness has quite gone out of the salt, when the +preservative quality has quite gone out from that body of people which He +has placed in the world as its moral preservative,--then look out. Aye, +"look up,"[48] for that's the only direction from which any help can +relieve the desperateness of the situation. And "lift up your heads," for +then comes a new preservative to the rotting earth-life. But some of us +will smell the smell of the decay before the new salt begins to work. + + + +The Thing in Us That Wants Things. + + +It was along toward that tragic end, when the tension was tightening up to +the snapping point, the bitter hatred of the leaders yet more bitter, the +crowds yet denser, the terms of discipleship yet more plainly put with +loving, faithful plainness, that a characteristic incident happened.[49] A +young man of gentle blood and breeding, and influential position, came +eagerly, courteously elbowing his way through the crowd that gathered +thick about. Our Lord had just risen from where He had been sitting +teaching, when this young man, in his eagerness, came running to Him. With +deep reverence of spirit he knelt down in the road, and began asking about +the true life, the secret of living it. Our Lord begins talking about +being true in all his dealings with his fellow-men. The young man +earnestly assured Him that he had paid great attention to this, and felt +that there was nothing lacking in him on this score. The utter sincerity +and earnestness of his spirit was so clear that the Master's love was +drawn out to him. And He showed His love in a way characteristic of Him in +dealing with those who want to go to the whole length of the true road. +That is, He talked very plainly to him. There were four things to do +beforehand, He said, four starting steps into this life he was so eager +to enter. Four words tell the four steps: "go," "sell," "give," and +"come." + +"Go" meant the decisive starting in on this way; "sell" meant putting +everything into the Father's hand for His disposal as _He_ alone might +choose. "Give" meant using everything, everything you are, and have, and +can influence, as _He_ bids you. "Come" meant this new man, this decisive, +emptied, now trusted man, trusted as a trustee, coming into a new personal +relation with the Lord Jesus. + +The first three things were important because they revealed the man. But +_the_ thing was that the man, this new-emptied and now God-trusted man, +should come into personal touch with the Lord Jesus. The things he had and +held on to came in between. When they no longer came in to separate, then, +and only then, was he ready to get "in behind" and "follow" along the +"same road." For this is the friendship road. Only friends are allowed +here, inner friends, those who come in by that gateway. There must be the +personal touch. Things that stand in the way of that must be straightened +out. + +It was rather a startling answer. The young man was startled tremendously. +The way to come in is first to go out. The way to get is first to give. +The way to buy what you want is to sell what you have. That is to say, the +way for this young man to get what he was so eager for was to get rid of +what he already had. And yet it wasn't getting rid of the things the +Master was thinking about, but getting rid of the thing in him that +wanted the things, getting rid of their hold upon him. Our Lord Jesus +wanted, and wants, free men, emptied men. He wants the strength in the man +that the emptying and selling process gives. This is the laboratory where +the unsaltiness is being burned out, and the new salty saltiness being +generated, put in. + +This young fellow couldn't stand the test. So many can't. No, I'm getting +the words wrong. He wouldn't stand it; so many won't. The slavery of +_things_ was too much. The thing in him that wanted the things was +stronger than the thing that wanted the true life. He was too weak to make +that "go" decision. He belonged to the weakly fellowship of the saltless +ones. They are not wholly saltless, but that's the chief thing that marks +them. It's a long-lived fellowship, continuing to this day, with a large +membership in good and regular standing. + +I think the real trouble with this fine-grained lovable young man was in +his eyes, the way they looked, what they saw. It was a matter of seeing +things in true perspective. He didn't get a good look at the Man he asked +his question of. He was looking so intently at the _things_ that he +couldn't get the use of his eyes for a good look at the Man. This is a +very common eye-trouble. He was all right outward, toward his fellows, but +he wasn't all right upward toward the Father. + +And yet even that statement must be changed. For a man cannot be right +with his fellows who is not right with God. When God doesn't have the +passion of the heart, our fellows don't have all they should properly have +from us; there is a lack. The common law may be kept, the pounds and yards +may weigh and measure off fully what is due them from us, but the uncommon +law, the love-law is not being kept. The warm spirit that should breathe +out through all our dealings is lacking. It's been checked by the check in +the upper movement. Only the spirit that flows freely up, ever flows +freely out. + +That young Indian aristocrat we spoke of elsewhere got a sight of _Jesus_. +That settled _things_ for him, including even such sacred things as human +loves. This young Jewish aristocrat couldn't get his eyes off of the +things. So many "thing"-slaves there are, so much "thing"-slavery. If only +there were the sight of _His_ face! His _face_; torn? yes; scarred? yes +again, but oh, the strength and light and love in it! + +Do you remember that other young Jewish, university-trained aristocrat? He +got a look, one good long look-in-the-face look of _that face_, one day, +on the road up to the northern Syrian capital. The light of it flooded his +face, and strangely affected him. He said "when I could not _see_ for the +glory of that light."[50] He couldn't see things for Him. The sight of Him +blurred out the things. The great need to-day is for a sight of _Him_. +Lord Jesus, if Thou wouldst show us Thy "hands and feet" again, and torn +face, even as in the upper room that resurrection evening,[51] for that's +what we are needing. And yet, Thou art doing just that, but the things so +hold our vision! And the Master's answer is the same as to the young Jew. +We need the decisive "go"; the incisive, inclusive "sell"; the privileged +"give"; the new-meaninged "come" into His presence. And then we may get +"in behind" Him, and follow close up in the "same road," with eyes for +naught but Himself. + + + +Outstanding Experiences. + + +I want to follow the Master's plan, and ask you to take a good look at His +"Follow Me" road. You remember that we have had one talk together about +the characteristics of our Lord Jesus' life. Now we want to talk a little +about _the experiences_ of His life. And I do not mean that we are to try +to imitate these experiences, or any of them. The meaning goes much deeper +than this, and yet it marks out a simpler road for our feet. I mean that +as we actually go along with this Master of ours, these experiences will +work out in our lives. + +As we let Him in as actual Lord, and get our ears trained for His quiet +voice, there will come to us some of the same things that come to Him. + +The same Spirit at work within us, and the same sort of a world at work +without, will so work against each other as to produce certain other +results, now as then. It is not to be an attempt at imitation; it's far +more. It is to be _obedience_ on our part, a real Presence within on His +part, and a bitter antagonism without on the world's part; rhythmic full +glad obedience, a sympathetic powerful real Presence, a tense and +intensifying subtle, relentless, but continually-being-thwarted +opposition. The key-note for us is simple, full obedience. + +There were certain great outstanding experiences in our Lord Jesus' life. +Let us briefly notice what these were and group them together. There was +_the Bethlehem Birth_. That was a thing altogether distinctive in itself. +It was a supernatural birth, the Spirit of God working along purely human +lines, in a new special way, for a special purpose. It was a rare blending +of God and man in the action of life. It was followed by _the Nazareth +Life_; that was a commonplace life, lived in a commonplace village, but +hallowed by the presence of the Father, and sweetened by the salt of +everything being done under that Father's loving eye. The Father's +presence accepted as a real thing became the fragrance of that commonplace +daily life. And this life covered most of those human years. + +Then our Lord turned from the hidden life of Nazareth to the public +ministry. At its beginning stands _the Jordan Baptism of Power_. In the +path of simple obedience He had gone to the Jordan, taken a place among +the crowds, and accepted John's baptism. And in this act of obedience, +there comes the gracious act of His Father's approval, the Holy Spirit +came down upon Him in gracious, almighty power. And from this moment He +was under the sway of the Spirit of Power. This was the special +preparation and fitting for all that was to follow. + +At once the Spirit driveth Him into the Wilderness. And for forty days He +goes through the great experience of _the Wilderness Temptation_. In +intensity and in prolonged action, it was the greatest experience thus far +in His life. He suffered, being tempted. It was a concentration of the +continuous temptation of the following years of action. But the Wilderness +spelled out two words, temptation _and_ victory; temptation such as had +never yet been brought, and met, and fought; victory beyond what the race +had known. Temptation came to have a new spelling for man, v-i-c-t-o-r-y. +It came to have a new spelling for the tempter, d-e-f-e-a-t. + +After His virtual rejection by the nation as its Messiah,[52] and the +imprisonment of him who stood nearest Him as Messiah,--John the Herald, +there followed _the Galilean Ministry_. For those brief years He was +utterly absorbed in personally meeting and ministering to the crying needs +of the crowds. Compassion for needy men became the ruling under-passion. +He was spent out in responding to the needs of men. It was not restricted +to Galilee, but that stands out as the chief scene of this tireless +unceasing service. The Galilean ministry meant a life spent in meeting +personally the needs of men. + +In the midst of that, made increasingly difficult by the ever-increasing +opposition, there came the experience of _the Transfiguration Mount_. It +comes at a decisive turning point, where He is beginning the higher +training of the Twelve for the tragic ending, so surprising and wholly +unexpected to them. For a brief moment the dazzling light within was +allowed to shine through the garments of His humanity. What was within +transfigured the outer, the human face and form. And the overwhelming +outshining light was evidence to those three men of the divine glory, the +more-than-human glory hidden away within this human man. + +Then within a week of the end came _the Gethsemane Agony._ That was the +lone, sore stress of spirit under the load of the sin of others. In +Gethsemane He went through in spirit what on the morrow He went through in +actual experience. Gethsemane was the beginning, the anticipation of +Calvary, so far as that could be anticipated. Anticipation here was +terrific; yet less terrific than the actual experience. + +And then came the climax, the overtopping experience of all for Him, as +for us, _the Calvary Cross._ There He died of His own free will. He died +for us. He died that we might not die. He took upon Himself what sin +brings to us, while the Father's face was hidden. So He freed us from the +slavery of sin, made a way for us back to real life, and so touched our +hearts by His love that we were willing to go back. + +And close upon the heels of that came _the burial in Joseph's tomb_. The +burial was the completion of the death. The tomb was the climax of the +cross. He was actually dead and buried. The corn of wheat had fallen down +into the ground and been covered up. There was nothing lacking to make +full and clear that Jesus had died. + +Then came the stupendous experience of _the Resurrection Morning_. Our +Lord Jesus yielded to death fully and wholly. Then He seized death by the +throat and strangled it. He put death to death. Then He quietly yielded to +the upward gravity of His sinless life and rose up. He lived the dependent +life even so far as yielding to death, and now the Father quietly brought +Him back again to life, to a new life. + +And after waiting a while on earth among men, long enough to make it quite +clear to His disciples that it was really Himself really back again, He +quietly yielded further to the upward gravity, and entered upon _the +Ascension Life_, up in the Father's presence. That life is one of +intercession. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.[53] He is our +pleading advocate at the Father's right hand.[54] Thirty years of the +Nazareth life, three and a half years of personal service, nineteen +hundred years, almost, of praying. What an acted-out lesson to us on +prayer, the big place it had and has with Him, the true proportion of +prayer to all else! + +These are the experiences of our Lord Jesus that stand out clear above +the mountain range of His life. It was all a high mountain range; these +are the great peaks jutting sharply up above the range. + + + +At the Loom. + + +Now these peaks, these outstanding experiences, as you look at them a bit, +seem to fall naturally into three groups. There were certain experiences +of power and of privilege, the Bethlehem Birth, the Jordan Baptism, the +Nazareth Life, and the Galilean Ministry. + +There were experiences of suffering and sacrifice, the Wilderness +Temptation, the Gethsemane Agony, the Calvary Death, and the Joseph's Tomb +of Burial. + +And then there were certain experiences of gladness and great glory, the +Transfiguration Mount, the Resurrection Morning, the Ascension Life, and, +we shall find a fourth here also, a future experience, the Kingdom Reign +and Glory. + +These outstanding events, while distinct in themselves, are also +representative of continual experiences. The Jordan Baptism stands not +only for that event, but for the power throughout those forty and two +months. The same sort of suffering that came in Gethsemane had run all +through His life, but is strongest in Gethsemane. So each of these +experiences is really like a peak resting upon the mountain range of +constant similar experience. And these three groups of experience +continuously intermingled, interlaced and interwoven, made up the pattern +of that wondrous life. + +Now these same experiences of His are also the great experiences that will +characterize the "Follow Me" life, for every one who will follow fully. It +will always remain true that these experiences were distinctive of Him. +They meant more to Him than they will or can mean to any other. But it is +also true that they will come to us in a degree that will mean everything +to us. + +I want to change the figure of speech here. I think it will help. This +invitation, "Follow Me," is the language of a road, the picture of one +walking behind another in a road. And that will remain in our minds as the +chief picture of this pleading call. But there's another bit of picture +talking that will help. That is the picture of a weaver's loom, with the +warp threads running lengthwise, the shuttle threads running crosswise, +and the cross beam (or batten) driving each shuttle thread into place in +the cloth with a sharp blow. + +These three groups of experiences are like so many hanks of threads in +the loom, in which the pattern of life is being woven. The experiences of +power and privilege are the warp threads running lengthwise of the loom, +into which the others are woven. These make up the foundation of the +fabric. + +The other two groups make up the shuttle threads, running crosswise, being +woven into the warp. The experiences of suffering and sacrifice are the +dark threads, the gray threads, sometimes quite black, and the red +threads, blood red. The experiences of gladness and glory are the bright +threads, yellow, golden, sunny threads. + +And the daily round of life, the decisions, the actual step after step in +living out the decisions, the patient steady pushing on, is the beam that +with sharp blow pushes each thread into its place in the fabric being +woven. + +As we allow the same Spirit that swayed our Lord's life to control us, He +will work out in us certain of these same experiences. And the enmity +aroused, and working against that Spirit's presence and control, will +bring certain other experiences. Our part will be simple obedience, +listening, looking, studying quietness so as to insure keener ears and +eyes--it's the quiet spirit that hears what He is saying--then obeying, +using all the strength of will, and all the grace at our disposal, simply +to hold steady and true, and to obey, no matter what threatens to come, or +what actually does come. This will be found to be like weaving. + +Probably you have often heard of how the weavers work in the famous +Gobelin tapestry factories in Paris. They know nothing of the beauty of +the pattern being woven. They work on the "wrong" side, the under side of +the web. They miss the inspiration of seeing the rare beauty they +themselves are making. All the weaver sees is the apparent tangle of many +coloured threads and thread ends, while he thrusts in his needles +according to the card of instructions. The more faithfully and skilfully +he can follow the directions the better a piece of weaving work is done. + +We simply obey. We use all the strength we have, and the skill we can +acquire, in obeying. We are not to depend on what we can see or feel for +inspiration, only on the Master Looms-man; on His word, written, and +spoken in our hearts, and on His answering peace within. Obedience is the +one key-note for all the music. Surrender is the first act of full +obedience. Obedience is the habitual surrender. Our part is to hear right +and do what He bids. + +Some day we shall be fairly swept off our feet by the beauty of the +pattern He has been weaving--_if_ we've let Him have His way at the loom. + + + + +2. The Main Road--Experiences of Power And Privilege + + + +The Bethlehem Birth. + + +There were four of these experiences in our Lord's life. At the very +beginning came _the Bethlehem Birth_. That meant for Him a birth out of +the usual course of nature, yet working within nature's usual processes. +It was something more-than-the-natural coming down into the natural. The +power of the Holy Spirit came upon the pure gentle maiden of Nazareth and +a new human life was begotten by Him within her, and in due course came to +the maturity of birth. This was a distinctive thing with Jesus. + +Now, in quite a different sense, but in a very real sense, there will be +for us, too, a Bethlehem Birth. The Holy Spirit will come in and begin a +new life within us. This is the only beginning of the "Follow Me" life for +any of us. There's a something on the Spirit's part before there can be a +beginning on my part. Yet that hardly tells the whole story. My part is +really first; I open the door for Him to come in. When I accept Jesus as +my Saviour, that's opening the door. The Spirit comes in and begins the +new life within me. And yet there's another first before that first act of +mine. He woos me with His patient, tender love. That is the first first. +Then I open the door: at once He comes in, and does the thing which only +He can do. So begins the "Follow Me" life. This is the real, the only +beginning. + +And yet there's more here of the practical sort than we have thought of, +most of us. It means that there is within us a life higher than the +natural life, and this higher life is to _be_ higher, it is to be the +_controlling_ life. It is to hold the upper hand over the natural life. +The control is to be from above. That is to say, the motives and desires +of the upper life are to be dominant in my daily round. It is the +Father-pleasing life as contrasted with the natural life, of which we +talked a while ago. Wherever the two come in conflict, the upper is to +rule. + +Now, I know this rather runs across the grain of a good deal of our +so-called Christian life. There are a good many people who, let us really +believe, have been "born again," to use the familiar phrase, yet they seem +to have stayed in the being-born stage, the infancy stage. That which was +"born again" in them seems not to have been developed. It has never been +allowed to grow. The under life has been given the upper hand, and the +upper life kept strictly down. The salt isn't salty. The common round of +life is seasoned wholly by the old seasoning. + +Our Lord's "Follow Me" becomes a radical, decisive thing at the very +start. It means that we will allow this new life of the Spirit to grow +into lusty vigour, and to become the controlling life So it will be the +chief thing. All the life shall be directed and controlled _from above._ +This is a result that will come of itself if we really follow. Obedience, +and back of that the quiet time on the knees with the Book, will give food +and air and growing space to this new life, and its growth will crowd down +the other. + + + +The Jordan Baptism of Power. + + +Then there was a _Jordan Baptism of Power_ in our Lord's life. This stood +at the beginning of His leadership, His life-work, His service among men. +As He came up out of the Jordan waters He stood waiting in prayer. He was +expecting something. His whole being was absorbed in the expectancy of +what had been promised.[55] And that expectancy was not disappointed. None +that wait on God shall be put to confusion by any disappointment.[56] The +blue above was rift through, the Holy Spirit as a gentle dove came, and +remained upon Him, and the Father's voice of pleased approval spoke to His +grateful, obedient heart. From that time the whole control of His life was +absolutely in the hands of the Holy Spirit. + +This does not mean an inert passivity on Jesus' part; it meant a strong, +intelligent yielding to the Holy Spirit. It does not mean that His natural +faculties of mind and will and heart were held down, not to be used. It +means that they were actively, studiously used in discerning the Holy +Spirit's leading, and in doing as He directed. And it means that so there +came a fulness of life, an increasing life, into His faculties, mind and +will and heart. Our Lord Jesus used all His powers in yielding to the +inspiration and direction and control of the Holy Spirit, keeping ever +open to His suggestion, and making that suggestion the law of His own +action. + +And the Spirit of Omnipotence, working with the gentleness of a dove, +breathed upon those yielded powers, and breathed through them, even as had +been planned with the first breathing of this sort, in Eden. So from the +Wilderness clear up to the last Olivet command to the disciples, +everything was done at the bidding, the direction of this Spirit. And so +the almighty power was breathed into every word and action and bit of +suffering. The one key-note of the Master's action was obedience; the +result was the flooding of the Spirit's omnipotence through His obedient +faculties and life. + +Now, _as we follow_, this same sort of experience will be ours. What a +tremendous thing to say! Yet the road was being beaten down for _our +feet_. The Son of Man was simply showing to His brother-men the road we +were all meant to go, showing it by going in it. All the power that came +into Jesus' life will come into ours, _if_ He is given His way. For the +Holy Spirit is not measured out, either to Him or to us,[57] but poured +out without stint.[58] As we follow we shall be led along behind the Man +going before. + +There will need to be instruction, for we're so new to this road. And +human teachers are sent by the Holy Spirit to help us understand, teachers +in print, and teachers in shoes. There will need to be the initial act of +full surrender to the Lord Jesus as Lord indeed, for most of us have been +going another way than this. There will need to be a house-cleaning time, +for we have let in so much of another sort. + +A soft, but very honest, searching light will come flooding in through the +sky-light windows. And as we instinctively go to our knees and faces +because of what that light brings to light, there will be a wondrous +cleansing, both by blood and by fire. Then will come a filling of our very +being by this wondrous Spirit of God. + +How shall we know this filling, do you ask? There will be a quiet, deep +peace, at times a great joy that sings, but ever the deep peace that +_holds_ you, a new hunger for the old Book, and a new soft light on its +pages. There will be an inner drawing to talk with God, and an intense +desire to please Him, to find out what He wants you to do, and then to do +it. + +There will come other things too, of a less pleasant sort, temptation +will come anew, and a sense--sometimes very acute--of sin, a feeling that +there's a something within you fighting you, the new you. There will be an +increased sensitiveness to sin, and an intense hatred of it. This is what +the filling means. These things will tell you that He, the Spirit, has +taken possession of what you surrendered, and that He is now at work +within. These are His finger-prints. + +Then there will be the outflowing side of this filling. A passion that all +men may know this compassionate God, will come as a fire burning in your +bones. Its flames will envelop and go through everything you are and have +and can do. But under all will be the passion for pleasing the Lord Jesus. +Obedience will become the chief thing, holding everything else in check, +obedience to Him, pleasing Him, doing His will. + +The Bethlehem Birth is the _beginning_ of a new, a supernatural life +within; _this_ will be the actual life itself, in full vigour and power. +That is the supernatural birth, this the supernatural life. That is, there +is at work within you, very quietly and simply, a power more than the +natural, working through the natural order, and sometimes upsetting what +we may have grown to think of as the natural order. This is the Jordan +Baptism of Power, the Holy Spirit taking charge, and you living a +Spirit-controlled life. There's a new sign hung out over your life, "this +life is being conducted under new management." You won't say it; it won't +be shouted out. It'll be louder yet. Your _life_ will be telling it +continually. + + + +Power Is in the Current. + + +The word to emphasize here is _control_. You will find new meanings, that +you had not thought of, gradually working out of it. If the Holy Spirit +had control of us as He had of--Philip, for instance. He picked Philip up +out of the midst of the Samaritan crowd, where he was the human centre of +things, and put him down away off here in the desert,--_strange +contrast!_--and with one lone traveller, greater contrast yet![59] If He +were free to pick you and me up like that, out of these surroundings, +congenial and pleasant, and set us down where we had no thought of going, +and never would have gone of our own choice, and we sing as we are picked +up, _and_ keep on singing where we find ourselves amidst the uncongenial +perhaps, the strange, the unprecedented and hard,--_if_ He were free to +control like that these days, there would be a present-day Pentecost +beside which the Acts-Pentecost was but the beginnings of the throbbings +of power. + +There are some peculiarities of this "Follow Me" road here. There comes a +strangely new sense of proportion. As you follow close up behind the Man +ahead, you will grow _smaller_, and He will grow _larger_. No, that's not +an accurate statement; you won't _grow_ any smaller, you will only find +out how small you are. He won't grow any larger, you will simply be +finding out, and then finding out more, how large He is. It'll seem +strange to most of us, finding out our real size, or lack of the size we +always supposed we were. But it will come with a great awing, +heart-subduing sense, to find how marvellous in size this great Man is; +and yet He is our brother, as well as so immensely more. + +You come to find out that power, that thing that used to be so much talked +about, and defined, and yet chiefly wondered about, that power is a matter +of position. The man close in behind the Lord Jesus doesn't need to be +concerned about power. In fact he isn't concerned about it, only concerned +with keeping close in touch. All the rest comes without our being +concerned. It comes from him, the Man ahead. There is far more power, the +very power of God, softly flowing and flooding its way in and through and +out, than you are ever conscious of. Others will know more of the power +than you. You are thinking about the Man ahead, keeping in touch, pleasing +Him. Obedience has become a new word to you. It's the music of keeping +step, keeping step with Him. + +Have you noticed how much the current of the stream will do for you if you +are out in a row-boat? All you need to do is to keep up enough motion to +hold the boat within the sweep of the current. Then your chief task is +_steering_. You're not concerned about power; only about the steering. +There's more power in the current than you can ever use. Your one concern +is to keep out of the shallows and sucking side-eddies, away from snag and +rock, and _in the current._ The power's in the current. Right steering +brings all that power to bear on your little boat. + +Now, power here is a matter of steering, so far as our part is concerned. +We steer to get into the current of our Lord Jesus' will, and, by His +grace, we use all our will power in _keeping_ in that current, and out of +the shallows and suction-eddies at the side. The Lord Jesus, once spit +upon and crucified, now seated "far above all rule, and authority, and +power, and dominion, and every name that is named," and _at work on earth +through His Holy Spirit_,--this Lord Jesus, _free to do as He +chooses_,--this is power. _He_ is power. + +Power is the Lord Jesus in action, and the action is always through some +man's life. We steer so as to keep in touch. He acts through the man in +touch. And the hungry, needy crowds know a something coming to them, with +irresistible grateful sweep. + + + +Living a Nazareth Life. + + +There was a third experience in this group. Our Lord Jesus lived _the +Nazareth Life_. In actual order of time this came before the baptism of +power. I have changed the order here, and named it third simply for the +practical help in the change. With the Lord Jesus, the whole of the life +was under the sway of the Holy Spirit from birth on, through the earliest +conscious years, and all the years. With us, in actual experience, we are +all free to confess that it has not been so from our Spirit-birth on. + +That baptism of power at Jordan was without doubt a baptism of power for +leadership and service. Service and leadership ever need the time of +special waiting on God, and the fresh anointing by the Holy Spirit's +touch, the fresh consciousness of Himself, as the only source of power in +the service and leadership. + +In our actual experience the Holy Spirit, coming in power, has had much to +do in changing our habits, ourselves, and our lives, as well as in our +service. There has been so much service that has not been backed up by the +life, that many have come to feel, and to feel very deeply, that the power +in service must have its roots in the human side, deep down in the daily +habit of life. With our Lord Jesus that Jordan experience made no +difference of this sort in His life. There was nothing needing to be +changed. That Nazareth life had been lived continuously under the control +of the Holy Spirit. + +Look a moment at that Nazareth life of His. It means simply a commonplace, +treadmill round of life lived under the hallowing touch of the Father's +presence. This was according to the original plan. It is God's presence +recognized that hallows what is common. It is the absence of His presence, +that is, the leaving of Him out, that makes common things common; that is, +it makes the familiar thing and round _seem_ and _feel_ common. It's the +unhallowed and unhallowing touch of the selfish, of sin, that makes things +seem common, in the sense of not being holy and sweet and pure and +refreshing. Sin makes things grow stale to you. Selfishness affects your +eye, the way things look to you. God's presence recognized keeps things +fresh. His touch upon us, ever afresh, makes us fresh. Everything we touch +and see is touched by a God-freshened hand, and seen through a +God-freshened eye. + +Now Jesus lived this commonplace round of life, and lived it under the +ever-freshening touch of His Father's presence. It isn't the thing you do, +nor the things that surround you, that make your life, but the spirit that +breathes out of you in the midst of the things. It's the _you_ in you that +makes the life, regardless of surroundings. The outer things are the +accidents, you, the spirit that breathes out of you,--this is the real +thing. + +Jesus _lived_ it. That is the tremendous fact that Nazareth stands for. +He lived what He taught, and He lived it first, and He lived it far more +deeply and really than it could be taught to others. This was the basis of +those few service years. Nazareth lies under the Galilean ministry. There +were thirty years under the three-and-a-half-years. And the thirty years +crop up into and out of the three-and-a-half. The life lived was the great +fact at work, as the Man went about doing good. The hidden life of +Nazareth lies open in the Galilean ministry. + +When you are reading the wonderful works among the needy throngs, you are +reading the biography of the Nazareth years, in their outer reach. The +life you live is the thing that tells! This is the meaning of the thirty +hidden years. The Father said, "My Son shall spend most of His years down +there _living_, just living a true, simple Eden life; living with Me in +the midst of home and carpenter shop and village." This is what the world +needs so much to be taught, how to live. And the teaching must be by +living, teaching by action. The message must be lived. + +If we men might live Jesus! That's what the world needs. At one of the +smaller meetings of the Edinburgh Conference, in 1910, a Christian +gentleman from India, native of that land, said, "We don't need more +Bibles in India." And then to this surprising statement, he added, "We +have enough Bibles. If the Christians in India would _live the Bible_, +India would be converted." And I thought, that will do for America, and +England, and for all the world. _Jesus lived it_. As a man in His +decisions and actions, His habits and daily round, He lived the truth. + +The story is told of a missionary in some part of Africa who had not had +much success in his work. He was in the habit of explaining some portion +of the New Testament to the people at His house. One day the portion +contained the words, "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that +would borrow of thee turn thou not away."[60] The people asked him if this +meant what it said. He told them that it did. One of them said he would +like to have the table, pointing to it; another asked for a chair, another +for the bed, and so on. The missionary was rather startled at such literal +taking of his teaching. He told them to come again on the morrow, and he +would give his answer. + +When they had gone, he and his wife had rather a heart-searching time +together. They felt they had not reached the hearts of the people yet. But +to do as they asked meant real sacrifice of a very personal sort. At last +with much prayer they decided to meet the people where they had opened the +way. And so the next day they gave their answer, and soon the house was +literally bare of all its furnishings. And that night they slept on the +floor, yet with a sweet peace in their hearts in the midst of this strange +experience. + +The next day the people came back, carrying the furniture. They had +really been testing these new-comers. "Now," they said, "we believe you. +You _live_ your Book. We want you to teach us." And with open hearts they +listened anew to the Gospel story, and many of them accepted Christ. + +The little incident reveals the unity of the race. Those Africans said +what England and America and all the world is saying, "_Live it_." Is your +religion _livable_? What the world needs to-day is _a Jesus lived_, not +simply taught, nor preached about, but lived in the power of the Holy +Spirit. How the fire, the holy fire, of that sort of thing would catch and +spread! Oh, yes, it might mean sleeping on the bare floor! That's what +living-it means, the actual life overriding any mere thing that stands in +the way. + + + +Live It. + + +I stood one day on the abrupt edge of a little hill in a Southern Japanese +city. There, in a great tree hanging out over the edge, had hung the bell +that called together the faithful retainers of the lord of the province, +when they were needed. There, nearly thirty years ago, a little band of +Japanese youth, of noble families, had gone out at break of day one +Sabbath morning, and solemnly covenanted to follow the Lord Jesus, and to +devote their lives to making Him known throughout their land. Boys still +in their tender teens most of them were. And that covenant was not +lightly made, for already the fires of persecution had been kindled, and +these fires burned fiercely but could not compete with the fire in their +hearts. And as one goes up and down the island empire of the Pacific +to-day, he can find traces of their lives cropping up everywhere, like +gold veins above the soil. + +And as I sought to trace the hidden springs of the power at work behind +all this, I found it was in the _life_ of one young man, a simple, holy +life burning with a passion for Jesus. In this life could be found the +kindling of the tender flames burning so hotly in these young hearts. He +was a young American officer engaged, by the feudal lord of the province, +to teach military tactics and English. He dared not teach Christianity; +that would have meant instant dismissal. So for two years he _lived_ the +message, so simply and lovingly that he won the love of his pupils. Then +they came Sundays to his house to hear him read the English Bible, because +they loved him. As he prayed the tears would run down his face, and they +laughed to think a _man_ would weep, but they came because they loved him. +He really _loved them into the Christian life_. I was reminded of the line +in Hezekiah's song of thanksgiving after his illness, "Thou hast loved my +soul up from the pit."[61] This young teacher _lived his pupils to the +Lord Jesus_. The latter part of his life was a sad one, but nothing can +change the record of those earlier years. + +I saw recently a news item telling how many million copies of the Bible +are being printed every year. The item slurringly remarked that the +statisticians didn't seem concerned yet with figuring up how many of them +were read. But, I thought, what these Bibles need is a new binding. This +Bible I carry is bound in the best sealskin, with kid-lining. It is +supposed to be the best binding for hard wear. But there's a much better +sort of leather than that for Bible binding; I mean _shoe leather_. The +people want the Bible bound in shoe leather. When we tread this Bible out +in our daily walk, when what we are becomes an illustrated copy of the +Bible, the greatest revival the earth has known will come. With utmost +reverence let me say that our Lord Jesus wants to come and walk around in +our shoes, and live inside our garments, and touch men through us. + +I remember something in my early Christian life that was a sore temptation +to me. There were some Christian leaders who had helped me greatly by +their preaching and writings. Then it chanced that I was thrown into +personal contact with them, now one, now another. And I had a sore +disappointment. It's hard to find that your idol has clay feet. It's +doubtless wrong to have idols. Yet youth is the time of such idol worship. +The disappointment was a very sore one. Then out of it I was led to see +that the Master never disappoints. And there was a drawing nearer to +Himself alone. + +And then a questioning arose: was some one perhaps looking at me? And a +burning desire came to be more in life than in speech, not only for the +sake of some one, perchance looking; but for the sake of that other One, +the Man with eyes of flame, His looking. I need hardly tell you that it +has been my blessed privilege to have had personal contact with leaders +whose fragrant lives are so much more than word or act. + +The Nazareth life means that the Lord Jesus lived His message, amid +commonplace surroundings, in the midst of what is called the dull monotony +of the daily round. That is, in the place where it is hardest to do it, He +lived every bit of what He taught. And as we follow, simply, obediently, +the Spirit will lead us along this same road. The same experience will +happen to us. Could there be a greater evidence of the power of this Holy +Spirit than to do such a thing with such as we know ourselves to be? Yet +He will, _if_ we let Him. A big "if" you say? But not too big to be taken +out of the way, out of His way. He will live out through us what He puts +into us, by and with our constant consent. + +This is the meaning of the Nazareth life. Our part is obedience, simple, +intelligent, strong obedience to Him. The result will be this same +experience, a Nazareth life of purity and power lived by the Spirit's +power. + +This was the thought in the mind of Horatius Bonar, as he wrote of the +unnamed woman who anointed our Lord's head, and of whom Jesus said that +what she had done should be told as a memorial of her, wherever the Gospel +should be preached. + + "Up and away like dew in the morning, + Soaring from earth to its home in the sun, + So let me steal away, gently and lovingly, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + My name and my place and my tomb all forgotten, + The brief race of time well and patiently run, + So let me pass away peacefully, silently, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + Gladly away from this toil would I hasten, + Up to the crown that for me has been won, + Unthought of by man in reward and in praises, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + Up and away like the odours of sunset + That sweeten the twilight as darkness comes on, + So be my life--a thing _felt_ but not noticed, + And I but remembered by what I have done. + + Yes, like the fragrance that wanders in freshness, + When the flowers that it comes from are closed up and gone, + So would I be to this world's weary dwellers, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + I need not be missed if my life has been bearing, + As the summer and autumn move silently on, + The bloom and the fruit and the seed of its season; + I still am remembered by what I have done. + + I need not be missed if another succeed me, + To reap down these fields that in spring + I have sown; + He who ploughed and who sowed is not missed by the reaper; + He is only remembered by what he has done. + + Not myself but the truth that in life I have spoken, + Not myself but the seed in life I have sown, + Shall pass on to ages--all about _me_ forgotten, + Save the truth I have spoken, the things + I have done. + + So let my living be, so be my dying, + So let my name be emblazoned, unknown,-- + Unraised and unmissed I shall still be remembered, + Yes,--but remembered by what I have done." + + + +The Galilean Ministry. + + +The fourth experience in this group was _the Galilean Ministry_. Our Lord +Jesus gave Himself up to helping those in need. He devoted Himself to +personal service among men. After John's imprisonment He withdrew to +Galilee and ministered to the needy. + +There were crowds of them. They were in sorest need of body and spirit. +And He gave Himself freely out to them in glad helpful service. He met +their need. He did whatever their condition called for. He ministered to +their bodily needs. He mingled among them freely as an older brother or +friend, holding their children on His knees while He talked with them over +their concerns and troubles. But He didn't stop there. Having won their +hearts, He met their deeper needs. He comforted their hearts, talked to +them one by one, drawing out their hearts, and speaking of the Father. + +And as the crowds thickened, He taught and preached to the multitudes. He +was a preacher, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. He was a teacher, +bit by bit, line upon line, patiently teaching and explaining to them +about the Father's love, and about the true life and how to live it. Three +words are used several times to characterize that Galilean ministry, +teaching and preaching and healing.[62] + +He warned against sin, patiently wooing erring men and women away from +their sin into lives of purity, and strengthening the young and earnest in +their purposes. The need of the crowd swept Him like a strong wind in the +young trees. He couldn't resist their plea. The presence of a man in need, +of either body or spirit, took hold of His heart. Over and over we are +told that He was "moved with compassion." What a life it was! What a heart +He had! + +Now our Lord Jesus calls us along this bit of the road. That is to say, +the Holy Spirit within us will make our hearts tender and compassionate, +even as our Lord Jesus was. The crowds always moved Him tremendously. He +couldn't stand the great dumb cry that the mere presence of a multitude +rang in His ears. The mere presence of some one in need, earnestly +seeking, played upon the strings of His heart. + +Does the crowd get hold of your heart as you elbow your way through them, +or look down into their faces? Is it just a crowd to you? Or is it a great +company of hungry hearts, half-starved lives, so needy for what only this +Lord Jesus can give? The dumb cry of the crowds, in crowds and one by one, +comes up in our ears to-day. Do you hear it? I say "dumb," for they don't +know themselves what it is they need. They feel the need. Restless and +chafing, they feel without knowing just what it is they lack and need. + +When the Spirit that swayed the Lord Jesus comes in, He mightily affects +your heart. You feel with something of our Lord's feeling. And you _must_ +help. You know that the one thing, the only thing, that can really +radically meet their need is this Saviour Jesus. You must do something to +get them really to know Him. And that something comes to be everything. +Service isn't a pastime; it's a passion. That "must" sends you out on glad +unheralded errands to help in any way you can, and in every way by which +the Jesus message can get to them. + +The "must" of His tender passion within keeps you steadily pushing ahead, +regardless of not being understood by some, nor your efforts appreciated +by others. The flame of that "must" takes hold of time and strength and +possessions. It becomes the delight of your life to minister to the needs +of men, even as He did. You see them through His eyes. You feel their need +through His heart. _And_--this is a great _and_--if you really follow as +simply and fully as He leads, you will find _the same power_ working out +through your effort as through His, though there will be immensely more of +it than you will know about. + +But--there's a "but" that needs to be put in here--the key-note will not +be service, but _obedience_. The need will not be the controlling thing. +It will move you tremendously; it will kindle a sweet fever in your heart, +a fever to help; it will take hold of your heart strings and play upon +them until you almost lose control. But it must not be allowed to control. +That belongs to Him alone. + +The key-note is not need, nor service to meet the need, but obedience. +There is a Lord to the harvest. His plans are worked carefully out. He +takes Philip away from the crowded meetings in Samaria to talk with one +man. It was doubtless a strategic move to touch lives in Africa, as well +as to meet this one man's need. He feels the need more than you ever do or +can. His ears are keener, His heart more tender. He is in command. You do +as He bids. So you help most in meeting the need. + +He Himself when down here left the crowds, when they were so great that +the towns were overwhelmed and they had to be taken out to the country +places. He would leave these crowds and go off quietly to get alone with +His Father.[63] All that tireless ministry was under the direction of +Another. He went off for close touch, and fresh consultation with His +Father. + + + +The Father's Image in the Common Crowd. + + +Have you ever wondered what there was in those common crowds to attract +our Lord Jesus? Perhaps if you have ever walked in those narrow crowded +alleys called streets, in China or Japan, you may have wondered, +sometimes. Tired, dirty, pinched faces, eyes vacantly staring, or else +fired with low passion, high-keyed voices bickering and jangling,--all +this crowds in and out on every hand. Dirt, disease, low passion, +selfishness, apparent absence of anything noble or refined, are all +tangled inextricably up with these in human form. + +And our Lord Jesus lived in an Oriental world. Is there any world quite +like it, except indeed it be the slums of our western world cities, +European and American? City slums seem to be our western point of contact +with the greater part of the eastern world. What was there to attract the +Lord Jesus to these crowds? Their need, you answer. Yes, no doubt, their +terrible need did move Him with compassion, to the hurting point. + +But was there more than this? Something He said one time has made me +think there was something more, a pathetic, tremendous more, that took +hold of His heart. Could it be that He saw some lingering trace of the +Father's face in these faces? His eyes were very keen. He had seeing eyes. +And these men have all been made in the Father's image. Has that image +ever been wholly lost?--terribly blurred and scarred by sin, yes; but +wholly lost? Do you think so? I think not. + +Those wondrous eyes of His looking into men's tired, pinched faces, +disfigured with passion or sorrow, or with sheer weariness of +existence--did He see something of the Father's face looking appealingly +up to be helped out of their sad plight? I wonder. Was it as though the +Father's face cried out to Him out of these poor beaten faces? I think so. +Do you remember that time when our Lord Jesus associated Himself so +closely with just such men and women, in talking of a coming day? He says +"inasmuch as ye did it to one of these My brethren, these least, ye did it +unto Me."[64] Listen to those words, "My brethren"! He is thinking of just +such crowds as He Himself ministered to, and as you find to-day in +Oriental city and in European and American slum. What is done for them is +done to Him. Their need is His need; their cry, His. It's Jesus coming to +us in these crowds. Their need is Jesus Himself appealing to us. And the +Jesus within us will answer with heart and life to this Jesus coming to +us in the pitiable need of the crowds. + +I do not mean to use that word "pitiable" chiefly in the bodily sense, +though there's so much of that. But it has a deeper meaning. Here is this +fair young face turned to yours in the social group, here this strong +young man needing nothing that money can buy, but yet very needy, both of +them. In their young, eager faces the hidden away image, the +not-yet-touched-into-new-life image of the Father looks out asking for +help, help out into growth amidst so much that holds back. Inasmuch as +your light, tactful touch is given here, it is done unto Jesus. Jesus is +helped into the life, the God-image crowded back within is helped to get +out into free expression. + +You may not be sent to some distant field as young Borden was. Your +personal place may be at home. But the crowd, the need, is everywhere; at +home, in the social circle, and among the men driven by the passion for +business and for pleasure, in this dangerously prosperous land of ours. +Need of body even here, and deeper need of spirit. Much more tact is +required, Spirit-born tact and patience and alertness, to touch and help +these. + +But the Spirit will guide. He has a passion for men in their need. He has +exquisite tact in touching men under all circumstances. He will take +command of your life here as elsewhere. He will lead you into a life of +personal service in helping men. And He will lead you _in_ that service. +This is the Galilean Ministry which will work out in your experience as +the Holy Spirit has control. This is a bit of the "Follow Me" roadway. + +These are the four experiences of power and privilege. They are as the +great underlying experiences of our Lord's career. The other experiences +grew up out of these. These were the warp threads in the loom of His life. +The others were woven into these. This is the main road that He trod. It +is the main road of this "Follow Me" journey. It is along this road, +between its beginning and end, that we shall run down into the valley-road +stretches, and run up to the stretches along the hilltops. + + + + +3. The Valleys--experiences of Suffering And Sacrifice + + + +The Never-absent Minor. + + +Here the road begins to drop down into the valleys. It runs sharply down, +and on, through some wild gulches and ravines thick with lurking danger, +with the upper-lights almost lost in the deep black darkness. It is +darkness that can be felt more than the Egyptian darkness ever was. It +proves to be the valley of the shadow of death, then--of death itself, +before the upward turn comes. + +The weaver we were speaking of finds some strange shuttle-threads to be +woven into the pattern, gray black, ugly black threads, and red threads +almost wet and sticky in their blood-like redness. + +Yet this is part of the road that was trodden, and that is still waiting +to be trodden by feet sturdy and bold enough to go on down into the +shadows, before the upward turn is reached again. And these threads will +work out a rare beauty in the pattern being woven. + +Is there perfect music without the underchording of the minor? Not to +human ears. For they are attuned to life as it has really come to be. And +the minor chord is in real life, never quite absent; and the minor chord +is in the true human heart, never wholly absent. And only the music with +the minor blended in is the real music of human life. Only it can play +upon the finest strings of the human heart. + +But this sort of thing, the getting of beauty out of ugly threads, the +getting of music where there is discord, the upward turn again of the +valley road, all this is a bit of the touch of God upon life, where the +hurt of sin has come in. Only the Lord Jesus can make music where sin had +brought in and wrought out such discord. Only He can change the weaving +into beauty, where the ugly slimy sin-threads have come in. He can lead up +again out of the depths, but only He. His blood, Himself, is the thing +added that makes music where no melody had ever been a possible thing; and +gives the weaver's threads the transforming touch that works beauty where +there was only the ugly; and pulls you up again to the higher levels. The +good never comes out of bad. It comes only by something radically +different coming in and overcoming the bad. + +In Seoul they showed us the great bell hung at the crossing of certain +chief streets there. And then they told us the bell's legend. In early +twilight times an artisan had made a great bell at the king's command, but +the tone of it was not pleasing to the royal ears. So a second one was +made, and a third, but neither was satisfactory. Then the king said that +if the man did not make a bell with pleasing tones his life should be +forfeited for his failure. This was very distressing for the poor +unfortunate bell-moulder. + +His daughter, a young girl in her teens, either had a vision, or felt +within herself that a sacrifice was the thing needful to give the bell its +true tone. And so she resolved to give herself to save her father, and +with rare fortitude one night she plunged into the great pot of molten +metal. And the tone of the bell was so sweet and musical that the king was +delighted. And the maker, instead of being killed, was highly honoured. So +ran the simple bit of Korean folklore. + +We ran across legends quite like it in other parts of the Orient. They all +seemed to point, with other similar evidence, to the feeling deep down in +human consciousness of the need of sacrifice. Is it a bit of an innate +instinct in our common human nature, that only through sacrifice can the +hurt of life be healed? However this be, it certainly is true, that the +touch of Him who gave His life clear out for men, that touch is the thing, +and the only thing, that can make music where there was only discord. It +is only His pierced hand upon weaver and web that touches ugly threads +into beauty as they are woven into the fabric of life. Only He can lead us +up out of the valley of death up to the road of life along the high +hilltops. + + + +The Wilderness. + + +You remember, there were four experiences of suffering and sacrifice in +our Lord Jesus' life. The first of these was _the Wilderness Temptation_. +That rough road He took led straight to and through a wilderness. He was +tempted. He was tempted like as we are. He was tempted more cunningly and +stormily than we ever have been. + +It was a pitched battle, planned for carefully, and fought with all the +desperateness of the Evil One at bay against overwhelming forces. It was +planned by the Holy Spirit, and fought out by our Lord in the Spirit's +strength. For forty full lone days it ran its terrific course. But our +Lord's line of defence never flinched. The Wilderness and Waterloo, those +two terrific matchings of strength, the one of the spirit, the other of +the physical, both were fought out on the same lines. Wellington's only +plan for that battle was to _stand_, to resist every attempt to break his +lines all that fateful day. The French did the attacking all day, until +Wellington's famous charge came at its close. + +Our Lord Jesus' only plan for the Wilderness battle was to _stand_, having +done all to stand, to resist every effort to move Him a hair's breadth +from His position. That battle brought Him great suffering; it took, and +it tested, all His strength of discernment, and decision, of determined +set persistence, and of dependent, deep-breathed praying. And through +these the gracious power of the Spirit worked, and so the victory, full +joyous victory, came. + +Now it comes as a surprise to some of us to find that the "Follow Me" road +leads straight to the same Wilderness. No, it is not just the same, none +of these experiences mean as much to us as they did to Him. They are +always less. But then they mean everything to us! We will be tempted. So +surely as one sets himself to follow the blessed Master, there's one thing +he can always count upon--temptation. Sooner or later it will come, +usually sooner and later. So the Evil One serves notice to contest our +allegiance to the new Master. + +The tempter sees to it that you are tempted. That belongs to his side of +the conflict. And quickly and skilfully, and with good heart he goes at +his task. Through the weak or evil impulses and desires within us, and +through every avenue without, those dearest to us, and every other, he +will begin and continue his cunning approaches. It is well to understand +this clearly, and so be ready. The closer you follow this Man ahead, the +more, and the more surely, will you be tempted. It is one of the things +you can count on--temptation. + +But, steady there, steady! the tempter can't go a step beyond attacking, +without your help. He can't make a single break in your lines from +without. The only knob to the door of your life is on the _inside_. +Temptation never gets in without help from within. I have said that the +Wilderness spelled two words for our Lord Jesus, temptation _and_ victory. +We may use His spelling if we will. A temptation is a chance for a +victory. Begin singing when temptation comes; out of it, resisted, comes a +new steadiness in step, and a new confidence in the victorious Man of the +Wilderness.[65] + +But let me tell you _how_ the victory comes. It comes through our Lord +Jesus. And it comes by His working _through your decision_ to resist to +the last ditch. + + + +"Lead Us Not." + + +The Lord Jesus gave us two special temptation prayers to make. The one is: +"Lead us not into temptation."[66] That petition has been a practical +puzzle to many of us, and the explanations not always quite clear. Would +God lead us into temptation? we instinctively ask. And the answer seems to +be both "yes" and "no." + +The "yes" means that character can come only through right choice. We must +decide what our attitude toward wrong shall be. It is only temptation +resisted that makes the beginnings of strength. Before temptation comes +there may be innocence but never virtue. Innocence resisting temptation +becomes virtue. The temptation is the intense fire in which the raw iron +of innocence changes into the toughened, tempered steel of virtue. It is +essential to character that it resist the wrong. It is choice that makes +character. The angels in the presence of God are continually choosing to +remain loyal to Him. Choice includes choosing not to choose the evil, to +refuse it. Adam was tempted; the temptation was bad, only bad; but it +could have been made an opportunity to rise up into newness of strength. +Job was led into temptation, and he failed when the fires grew in heat, +and touched him close enough; and then he learned new dependence on God +alone instead of on his own integrity. + +That's the "yes" side of the answer. We must decide what we will do with +evil. The presence of evil forces choice upon us. The one thing God longs +for is our choice, free and full choice. Freedom of choice is the image of +God in which every man is made. We are like Him in _power_, in the right +to choose; we become like Him in _character_ when we choose only the +right. God would lead us into opportunity for the choice on which +everything else hinges. The prayer says: "Lead us not into temptation." +The prayer becomes the choice. It reveals the decision of your heart. The +man who thoughtfully makes the prayer makes the choice. + +And with that goes the "no" side. Certainly God would not lead us into the +temptation to do wrong.[67] And so He has made a way--it's a new way since +our Lord Jesus was here--a way by which we can have the full opportunity +for choice, and yet be sure of always choosing the right, and so growing +into His image in character. To pray, "Lead us not into temptation," is +practically saying, "I will go as Thou leadest. Lead me. I am willing to +be led. I was not ever thus, nor _prayed_ that Thou shouldst lead me on. I +loved to choose and see my path, but now--but now, lead _Thou_ me on. Here +I am, willing to be led. I put out my hands for Thee to grasp and lead +where Thou wilt. I'll sing, 'Where He may Lead, I'll Follow." This is the +only safe road through the Wilderness. We yield wholly to His control. + +May I say reverently, this was the way our Lord entered and passed through +the Wilderness, wholly under the control of Another--the Holy Spirit. He +chose to yield to that control. The Spirit acted through His yielding +consent, and flooded in the power that brought the victory. Even He in His +purity needs so to do. How much more we in our absence of purity, and so +absence of strength. "Lead us not" means practically, that we get in +behind this victorious Lord Jesus. We refuse to go alone. + +The Wilderness spells only defeat for the man who goes alone. We must +yield wholly to this great lone Man who went before. We lean upon Him. We +trust Him as Saviour from the sin that temptation yielded to has already +brought. We will trust His lead wholly now as temptation comes. We will +stick close and be wholly pliant in His hands. This is the first +temptation prayer our Lord gives us. It means our utter surrender to His +leadership. + +Then there is a second prayer for temptation use: "Watch and pray that ye +_enter not_ into temptation."[68] This goes with the other. It is the +partner prayer. Be ever on the watch, and pray, that you may not _enter_ +into temptation. Guard prayerfully against acting independently of your +Leader. Watch against the temptation. Watch yourself lest you be inclined +to go off alone, to break away from His lead. For there will be only one +result then, defeat. These two prayers together show the way to turn +temptation into victory,--"lead not," "enter not." A temptation is a +chance for a victory if you never meet it alone, but always under the lead +of the great Victor of the Wilderness. + +Then it may help to put the thing in another way. There are two steps in +victory over temptation. The first is recognition. To recognize that the +thing coming for decision is a temptation to something wrong,--that's the +first step in victory. It pushes the temptation out into the open. You say +plainly, "This is something to be resisted." The second step as you set +yourself to resist is to plead the blood of the Lord Jesus. That means +pleading His victory over the tempter. That's the getting in behind Him +and depending wholly upon Him. + +"Follow Me" takes us into the Wilderness, and leads us into victory there. +There we will learn more about prayer, and music, and the Master, and get +new strength and courage on this stretch of the valley road. + + + +Gethsemane. + + +At the farther extreme of the service years, there came to the Lord Jesus +the other three of these dark experiences, all three close together. On +the night of the betrayal came _the Gethsemane Agony_. That was a very +full evening. Around the supper table they had gathered and talked, and +the Lord Jesus had made His last, tender but fruitless effort to touch +Judas' heart by touching his feet. There was the long quiet heart-talk in +the supper room after Judas had gone out, "and it was night" for poor +Judas.[69] + +Then the talk continued as they walked across the city within view of the +great brass vine on Herod's temple, so beautiful in the light of the full +moon. And then, as they walk through the narrow, shadowed streets, the +shadows come into the Lord Jesus' spirit and words.[70] Now they are +outside the wall of the city, out in the open, under the blue, and with +upturned face, the great pleading prayer is breathed out.[71] Now they are +across the Kidron, and now in among the shadows of the huge olive trees of +the garden called Gethsemane. + +It's quite dark and late. He leaves the disciples to rest under the +trees, and with the inner three He pushes a bit farther on. And now He +pushes on quite alone in the farther lone recesses of the woods. And now +the intensity of His spirit bends His body as He kneels, then is +prostrate. And the agony is upon Him. He is fighting out the battle of the +morrow. He is sinless, but on the morrow He is to get under the load of a +world's sin; no, it was yet more than that, He was to be Himself reckoned +and dealt with as sin itself. All the horror of that broke upon Him under +those trees, more intensely than it had yet. The brightness of the full +moon made the shadows of the trees very dark and black, but they seemed as +nothing to this awful inky black shadow of the sin load that would come, +no longer in shadow but actually, on the morrow. + +The agony of it is upon Him as He falls prostrate on the ground, under the +tense strain of spirit. Out of the struggle a bit of prayer reaches our +awed ears, "_If it be possible_ let this cup pass away from Me; yet not as +I will, but as Thou wilt." And so tense is the strain that an angel comes +to strengthen. With what reverent touch must he have given his help. Even +after that the great drops of bloody sweat came. But now a calmer mood +comes. The look full in the face of what was coming, the realizing more +clearly how the Father's plan must work out, these help to steady Him. +Again a bit of prayer is heard, "Since this cannot pass away; since only +so can Thy plan for the world be accomplished Thy--will--be--done." The +load of the world's sin almost broke His heart that dark night under the +olives. It actually did break His heart on the morrow. This is the meaning +of Gethsemane, intense suffering of spirit because of the sin of others. + +And at first thought you say, surely there can be no following for any of +us in this sore lonely experience of His. And there cannot. He was alone +there as on the morrow. None of us can go through what He went through +there. For, it was _for us_, and for our sin that He went through it. And +yet there _is_ a following, if different in degree and in depth of +meaning, yet a very real following. While Gethsemane stands a lone +experience for Jesus, yet there will be _a_ Gethsemane for him who follows +fully where He asks us to go. + +There will be a real suffering of spirit because of the sin of others. We +will see the world around us through those pure, seeing eyes of His. We +will _feel_ the ravages of sin in those we touch, with something of the +feeling of His heart. Close walking with Christ brings pain and it will +bring it more, and more acutely. We will see sin as He does, in part. We +will feel with our fellow-men toiling in its grip and snare as He did, in +part. There will be sore suffering of spirit. This is the Gethsemane +experience, and it will not grow less but more. + + "'O God,' I cried, 'why may I not forget? + These halt and hurt in life's hard battle + Throng me yet. + Am I their keeper? Only I? To bear + This constant burden of their grief and care? + Why must I suffer for the others' sin? + Would God my eyes had never opened been!' + + And the Thorn-crowned and Patient One + Replied, '_They thronged Me too. I too have seen_.' + + 'But, Lord, Thy other children go at will,' + I said, protesting still. + 'They go, unheeding. But these sick and sad, + These blind and orphan, yea and those that sin + Drag at my heart. For them I serve and groan. + Why is it? Let me rest, Lord. I _have_ tried--' + + He turned and looked at me: + '_But I have died_!' + + 'But, Lord, this ceaseless travail of my soul! + This stress! This often fruitless toil + These souls to win! + They are not mine. I brought not forth this host + Of needy creatures, struggling, tempest-tossed-- + They are not _mine_.' + + He looked at them--the look of One divine; + He turned and looked at me. '_But they are mine_!' + + 'O God, I said, 'I understand at last. + Forgive! And henceforth I will bond-slave be + To thy least, weakest, vilest ones; + I would not more be free.' + + He smiled and said, + '_It is to me_.'"[72] + +The word Gethsemane has not been used accurately sometimes. And it is not +good that it is so, for it keeps us from appreciating what the real +meaning is. In poetry and otherwise it has been used for some great +experience of sorrow in which the soul has struggled alone. But there are +two things in the Gethsemane experience that give it a meaning quite +different from such. The Gethsemane sorrow is on account of the sin of +others, _and_ it comes to us through our own consent, of our own action. +We need not go through the Gethsemane experience save as we make the +choice that comes to include this. It is only as we _choose_ to follow +fully, close up to His bleeding side, where the Lord Jesus is leading, +that this experience of pain will come. + +Moses knew what this meant. As he came from the presence of God in the +mount the sin of the people seemed so terrible, that the fear that +possibly it could not be forgiven unless he made some sacrifice sweeps +over him and came out as a great sob.[73] The sight of their sin brought +sorest pain to his spirit. Paul tells us there was a continual cutting of +a knife at his heart because of his racial kinsfolk, their sin, their +stubbornness in sin, the awful blight upon their lives.[74] There was +sore, lone, unspeakable pain of spirit because he felt so keenly the sin +of others. This is the Gethsemane experience. Have you felt something like +this as you have come in touch with the sin, the blighted lives, the +wreckage of lives among both poor and rich, lower class and better? You +will if you follow where He leads. + + + +Calvary. + + +Then came the morrow. _The experience of Calvary_ came hard on the heels +of Gethsemane. The pain of spirit became both pain of body and pain of +spirit, intensified clear beyond what the night before had anticipated. +How shall I trust myself to speak of that morrow, or you to listen? Yet, +let us hold still, and, for a great purpose, look at it again, if only for +a moment, that the meaning of it, the flame of it may take fresh hold, and +consume us anew. + +Gethsemane was followed by a sleepless night, while bitter hate brought +its utmost iniquity and persistence to hound this Man to death. Nine, of +the next morning, found Him hanging, nailed on the cross, crowned with the +cruel mocking thorn crown. From nine till three He hung, while the strange +darkness came down over all nature from noon till three, the blackness of +midnight shutting out the brightness of noon. The Father's presence was +withdrawn. This tells the bitterness of the cross for Jesus as does +nothing else. + +It was out of a breaking heart that the cry was wrung, "My God, My God, +why didst _Thou_ forsake Me?" When you can penetrate that darkness you may +be able to tell how really Jesus took our place, and suffered as sin for +us,--not before. Then with a great shout of victory He gave up His life. +His great heart broke. He died. He died literally of a broken heart. The +walls of that muscle were burst asunder by the terrific strain on His +spirit. + +_He died for us_. He who so easily held off the murderous mob with their +stones, now holds Himself to that cross,--_for us_. This is the Calvary +experience. It can be felt, but never explained fully; words fail. It can +be yielded to until our hearts are melted to sobs, but never fully told in +its tenderness and strength to others. It can bring us down on knees and +face at His feet as His love-slaves for ever,--so is its story best told +to others. That breaking heart breaks ours. That pierced side pierces +through all our stubborn resistance. That face haunts us. Its scars tell +of sin, ours. Its patient eyes tell of love, His. Was there ever such sin? +Was there ever such love? Was there ever such a meeting of sin and purity, +of love and hate, of God's best and Satan's worst? + +Surely there can be no following _here_! And, strange to say, the answer +is both a "no," with a double underscoring of emphasis, and a "yes," that +will come to have a like emphatic underlining. _No_, there can be no +following. Here, He is the Lone Man who went before. And He remains the +Lone Man in what He did, and in the extent of His suffering. There is only +one Calvary. There was only the One whose death could settle the sin score +for us men. It is only by His death for our sin that there is any way out +of our sore plight of sin, and sin's own result. There the Lord Jesus did +something that had to be done, for the Father's sake; there He broke the +slavery of our sin; there He broke our hearts by His love. There He stands +utterly alone in what He did. Calvary has no duplicate, nor ever can have. +That is the emphatic "no" side of the answer. There can be no following on +that road. + +And yet,--and yet, there can be. There is a "yes" side to the true, full +answer. There will be a Calvary experience for every one who really +follows. His was _the_ Calvary experience, ours is _a_ Calvary experience. +It does not mean what His meant for the world. But it enters into the +marrow of our very being, and means everything to us. It means that as I +really follow there will come to me experiences of sacrifice that will +take the very life of my life--_if_ I do not pull back, but persist on +following the beckoning hand. And it means too, that there will be in a +secondary, a minor sense, a redemptive value in my suffering. That +suffering will be a real thing in completing the work of some man's +redemption. + +Listen to Paul. He has been writing to the Corinthian Christians in much +detail, of the suffering he has been going through of both body and +spirit, and then he adds, "_so then death working in me worketh life in +you_."[75] The same thought underlies that wonderful bit of tender, +tactful pleading in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the same letter. +The same thing is put in a rather startling way in the epistle to the +Colossians,[76] "I ... fill up on my part, in my flesh, _that which is +lacking_ of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the +Church." + +This fits in with the thought in that word "began" in the beginning of the +book of Acts.[77] In a very real sense our Lord depends upon our faithful +following to supplement among men the great thing which only He could do. +Paul knew _a_ Calvary experience, and Peter and John, and so has, and +will, every one who follows the pierced hand that beckons. Ask Horace +Tracey Pitkin at Paotingfu if he understands this. And the China soil wet +with his blood gives answer, and so do the lives of those who were won to +Christ through such suffering throughout China. Ask David Livingstone away +in the inner heart of Africa, and those whom no man can number in every +nation, who have known this sort of thing by a bitter, sweet experience, +some by violence, some by the yet more difficult daily giving out of the +life in hidden away corners. + + + +The Underground Road. + + +And hard following this came _the Burial in Joseph's Tomb_. "Christ died +for our sins and ... He was buried."[78] "Joseph took the body, ... and +laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, and he +rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb."[79] "The chief priests and +the Pharisees ... went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, +the guard (of Roman soldiers) being with them."[80] + +Out of that sealed tomb comes with the emphasis of action, the emphasis of +death, this word, "except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, +it abideth by itself alone."[81] The only pathway of life is the +underground road. For our Lord, Joseph's tomb made the death clear beyond +doubt. The tomb was the climax of the death. He was dead and buried. For +him who follows it means this, _a burial clear out of sight in the soil of +the need of men's lives_. He who simply gets in behind and faithfully +follows will find himself actually being buried in the needs of men. And +only where there is such a burial can there come resurrection power into +the life. + +I remember a friend in Philadelphia, a young man who resigned an +influential position to go out as a missionary in India. And another +friend not at all in sympathy remarked sneeringly in my hearing, "He's +gone to bury himself in India." He spoke more aptly than he knew. The +years since have told what a blessed burial that was. For scores of lives +in Southern India have known the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus +through his service. + +Do you remember when the Greeks came to Philip with their great plea, +"Sir, we would see Jesus"?[82] Whether really from Greece, or +Greek-speaking people from elsewhere, or simply non-Jewish people, they +represented the outer, non-Jewish world coming to Jesus. The Jew door was +slammed violently in His face, but here was the great outer-world door +opening. And He had come to a world! But instantly, across the vision so +attractive to His eyes, there came another vision, never absent from His +spirit those last weeks, the vision black and forbidding, of _a cross_. +And He knew that only through this vision of a cross could the vision of a +world coming be realized. And out of the sore stress of spirit, that for a +few brief moments shook Him, came the quietly spoken, tense words, "Except +a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone." + +The road to Greece is not over the sea here to the west, not the overland +caravan route up north through Asia Minor; it is the road down through +Joseph's tomb. That was true for Him. It was by that road that He so +marvellously reached the Greeks and all the world. And this is true for +us. It is only by this road that we can reach out to the crowds with the +reach-in that touches heart and life. + +These are the four experiences of suffering and sacrifice. This is the +dip-down in the "Follow Me" road where it runs through a darkly shadowed +valley. These are the dark and red shuttle-threads being woven into the +web, by repeated sharp blows of the batten-beam. These are the minor +chords that, coming up through the strains of music, give a peculiar +sweetness to it. + + + +What Is Sacrifice? + + +Now you will note that the chief thing in all this is _sacrifice_. The +chief thing in all of our Lord's life, clear from Bethlehem to Calvary and +the tomb, was sacrifice. It runs ever throughout; it finds its tremendous +climax in the cross. And the word to put in here in quietest tone--the +quietest is tensest, and goes in deepest--the word is this: _Following +means sacrifice_. It means sacrifice as really for the follower as for the +Lone Man ahead. + +That word "sacrifice" has practically been dropped out of the dictionary +of the Christian Church of the western world. It has not been wholly lost. +There is much real sacrifice, no doubt, under the surface. But, in the +main, it is one of the lost words in our generation of the Church. We are +rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing that we cannot +provide by the lavish use of money; so we think. And the loss of that word +explains the loss from our working dictionaries of another word, _power_. +For the two words always go together. + +But please note what sacrifice means. For we may get confused in the use +of words, and like the Hebrews in Isaiah's day call things by the wrong +names.[83] Sacrifice does not merely mean suffering, though there may be +much suffering included in it. But there may be suffering where there is +no sacrifice. It does not mean privation, though there may be real painful +privation in it. But again there may be much privation and pain without +any element of sacrifice entering in. + +The heart of sacrifice is that it is voluntary, and that it really costs +you something. It is something that would not come to you unless you +decide to let it come. It is wholly within your power to keep it away, and +it brings with it real pain or cost of some kind. Sacrifice means doing +something, or doing without something, that so help may come to another, +even though it costs you some real personal suffering of spirit, or of +body, or both, or lack of what you should have and would enjoy. + +And please note that sacrifice is _not_ the key-note of the "Follow Me" +life. We are not to seek for sacrifice. Perhaps that is quite a needless +remark. We are not likely to seek for it. No one loves a cross any more +than did Peter, when he had the hardiness to rebuke his Master.[84] And +yet we remember those earnest souls in earlier times, who shut themselves +up behind monastic walls, and inflicted pain upon themselves by privation +and by bodily self-infliction. And we cannot help admiring their +earnestness and saintliness, even while we see how morbid was their +conception of life, and how completely they got the true order reversed. +And there can be found some here and there, among us to-day, with the same +idea. + +But the key-note of the true life is not sacrifice. It is obedience. +Sacrifice is something coming in the pathway of obedience. There come the +places and times where you cannot obey without making a sacrifice. +Obedience involves sacrifice. And the sacrifice may be of the very real, +cutting, hurting sort, personally. The whole instinct of one's being is +against it. This seems to be carrying things quite too far, we think. And +so the test is on. The sacrifice is not sought. It is shrunk from with all +the vigour of one's nature. Obedience means that you go steadily on, no +matter how it cuts, or how much it costs. + +And the motive under the obedience is usually the decisive thing. If that +motive be a personal passion for the Lord Jesus, then you only wait long +enough to be quite clear of His leading, of what He would have you do. And +then you go on, regardless of the personal loss or pain to yourself. The +key-note of the "Follow Me" music is obedience, simple, sane, poised, full +obedience. + + + +How Much It Cost God. + + +One day out in Illinois, while visiting a small church college, I was told +this story of one of the students. He had felt very deeply the need of the +foreign mission lands, and the plea being made for men to volunteer to go +out as missionaries. And after much thought and prayer he had decided to +volunteer. But he felt he must first get his mother's consent. So he wrote +of his purpose and asked if she were willing that he should go. In due +time the reply came back. It was a mother's letter to her son, full of a +mother's endearments. But the paper was marked with tear-stains. She gave +her consent. She said, "I'm glad my boy wants to go, and I'm glad to have +you go, but"--and here the writing was blurred with the teardrops that had +plainly fallen as she wrote--"_I never knew before how much it cost God to +give His Son_." + +There was the whole story of sacrifice as it came to that mother. There +was the sore need of the people in foreign lands for the Gospel of Christ. +That need had not been met. The need in its sore pressure had become an +emergency, largely an unappreciated emergency. The tragedy of an unmet +emergency had moved the son's heart to action, under the touch of the Holy +Spirit, and then it came to the mother's heart. The decision rested with +her. Her inner heart told her the Master's desire. She obeyed, with +exquisite pain in her heart over the separation, maybe separation for +life, from her son. The key-note is obedience, even though it may mean +cutting pain. + +The whole test of love and of life is in sacrifice yielded to as the need +may come. In God's first plan of life there is no sacrifice. God never +chooses sacrifice as His first choice for any one, not even for His Son. +But sin is here, an abnormal, foreign thing. Life is shot through and +through with its ugly markings. You can't go a foot's length down the +pathway of obedience without finding the keen edge of a knife, freshly +sharpened, held across the path with its cutting edge toward you, +challenging your advance, doing its utmost to hold you back. + +And only as the breast is bared to the cutting until a bit of your red +life stains the knife, only so can there be any of the power of God in, or +through, or out of, your life. But turn that sentence around, and smile in +your heart as you remember this, as you do push quietly on past the +cutting knife, and say never a word about the knife or the sharp pain--the +best folks never talk about their sacrifices, they are too intent on the +Man just ahead,--as a man so does, there come into his life a fire and a +fragrance that burns and breathes out wherever he goes. + +It is sin that makes sacrifice. Sin did the carpenter work on the cross, +our sin. Sin grew the thorns, and then served as weaver to make the +mocking, cutting crown--our sin, yours and mine. Love yields to the +sacrifice, His love for us, His love in us for the others. Sin is +everywhere. Its finger-print is in nature, and its scar on human life. And +sin's ravages make cruel need, and need intensified makes emergency, and +these involve sacrifice as we rise to meet need and emergency. + +And love is everywhere. That is, it would be, it will be, if it can find +human feet to carry it. It will be if our Lord may have His way. Sacrifice +is Love's healing shadow. Sacrifice is love giving the oil and wine of its +own life to bind up the wounds that sin has made. The "Follow Me" road is +marked red, so you trace His footprints who went ahead, and theirs who +follow. + + + +What Obedience Has Meant for Some. + + +But, no one can decide for another what obedience may mean for him. You +may not tell me, nor I you. It is intensely interesting to note what +obedience has meant to some. It led Paul to give up inheritance and family +prestige, social standing, fellowship in university circles, a home life +of scholarly quiet and research, and to be reproached and ostracized, to +be homeless having no certain abiding place, dependent on his own hands +for daily bread, as he went burning like a flame from end to end of the +Roman world. And at the end it meant a prison, and block and axe. + +I met a rare Christian nobleman in London, of an old, honoured family, of +whom a friend told me this. This nobleman had a large inheritance. Among +other things a certain estate. He felt led to place the estate on the +market, get the best possible return for it, and then with his shrewd +business sense, prayerfully to place the proceeds where he felt they would +help best the cause of Christ. And to a friend who expressed appreciation +and approval of such unusual action, he quietly said, "I want no praise +for this; if the poor Jew had to give one-tenth, surely a rich Christian +can do very much more." That was what obedience, at that point, meant to +him. + +I knew a Canadian woman who had been led to a higher level in her +Christian life. A friend put into her hands a bit of manuscript, to which +she had access, thinking it would help her in her new life. The manuscript +was read, and returned through the friend to its writer. He had intended +having it published with some others, if a publisher could be found +willing to accept it. Then he had felt that he would do nothing with it +until very clear leading came. He did not want to do anything, except as +he was led. If the Master wanted to use the writing, it was there if He +chose to give the word for its use. + +Sometime after as the woman was busy with her nursing work she was on +night duty, and had her quiet time in an interval of the night's round. As +she was reading her Bible and praying, she said, "A voice said to me very +quietly, 'Send Mr. Blank twenty-five dollars to publish ----'" [naming +the title of the article she had read]. Twenty-five dollars taken out of +her frugal savings would leave quite a hole. But the impression that came +with the message was unmistakable. And so the money was sent. And it was +received by the writer of the manuscript as the Master's answer for which +he had been waiting. And that was the beginning of some little books whose +messages have been graciously used to bring help to many lives. Her bit of +obedience was a link in the chain, and so a bit of her life is in the +printed messages the Master has been using. The tracing of red was on the +gold, and on the messages sent out. That was what obedience meant that +time to her. And obedience usually has its hardest time when its struggle +is over a bit of gold. + +A friend took us driving one day up in Scotland, and told this story as we +passed through a beautiful estate. A few generations back it belonged to +one who followed fully. And in response to the clear inner leading the +estate was sold, and the proceeds used in sending the message of a +crucified, risen Christ, out to the farther ends of the earth. + +It was at the same time that a like incident came personally to me of +another Scottish friend of our Lord Jesus. The beckoning call was so +distinct, and the answering need so clear in its echo, that he planned a +moderate annuity for the remainder of his life, and loosed out all the +rest of his wealth on the same sort of errand. I do not say you should do +something of this sort. And you may not tell me what I shall do. Only the +Master has that privilege. But we can urge each other to have trained +ears, and soft heart, and obedient will; ears for what the Master is +saying, a heart softened by the warmth of His, a will gladly obedient to +His slightest wish. + + + +Necessity--Luxury. + + +And our Lord Jesus speaks very distinctly, though so quietly. His meaning +is unmistakably plain to listening ears. He is quite apt to take you off +for a little walk and talk. What kind of a house do you live in? What +proportion of your income do you spend on yourself? What is in those +safety-deposit boxes? How much would it mean to Him if your signature at +the bottom of legal papers put some property at His disposal? Take a look +through your wardrobe; who and what controls there? No, I'm not talking +about money, nor about missions, only about a personal passion for the +Lord Jesus, and about the passion _in_ Him for His world. + +"But," you say to yourself, "there's danger of going to extremes here, is +there not?" Yes, there is; you are quite right. Extremes are bad, we +should be on our guard against them. There is nothing more desirable in +these days than sane, poised judgment, a sound mind. And be it keenly +marked that the man who is really swayed by the Holy Spirit is peculiarly +a sane, well-balanced man. That is one mark of the Spirit's presence. + +Yet there's more to be said. _Our Lord Jesus went to extremes_. He went to +a great extreme on the cross, did He not? Is there any extreme like that +of Gethsemane? and Calvary? It is because He went to such extremes, and +the West knows about it, that the West is so radically different from the +East, and that you and I are redeemed from the slavery of sin, with a +sweet peace in our hearts, and so much happiness in our lives. + +The distressing thing is that there is so much of going to extremes. Go +through the Christian homes of the western world to-day, and you find home +appointments, wardrobes, safety-deposit boxes, bank books, title deeds, +all spelling out one word, spelled in capital letters, EXTREMES. But that +key-note, named several times already, gives the only safe +way--_obedience_. We need to be on our guard, not so much lest we go to +extremes at either extreme, but that we _obey_ our Lord Jesus. That, and +that only, leads to the wise, well-balanced judgment and action. Obedience +to Him means true sanity. + +Where do you draw the deciding line between necessity and luxury? How do +you define those two words? What is necessity? And what is luxury? Simple +definitions help much in getting clear ideas. The dictionary says, a +necessity is something you must have. And a luxury, in its root meaning, +is an extravagance, something "wandering beyond the proper boundary." The +trouble is to know how to draw the line when it comes to one's own +affairs. There is such a big difference between what you want and what you +need. And often we don't want to go into such distinctions. They might +bother our consciences a bit. It seems difficult to keep one's poise in +such things. Some godly people go to extremes in not providing +sufficiently for real needs. Most of us go to the other extreme. Where +does the true dividing line come in? + +Well, I think you can say truly that _whatever keeps up and adds to your +strength_ can properly be called _a necessity_. All beyond that line is +luxury. It is the part of wisdom to provide carefully and well for +necessities. Luxury is _bad_, for it really saps our strength. It makes a +man less vigorous in every way. And yet more can be said. The question of +need comes in. Luxury is wrong because of the crying need of men for what +the money spent in luxury would bring to them. I think chiefly now of the +need of their lives for what can come only through a knowledge of Christ. +The bitter cry of the common people against Louis XVI, at the time of the +French Revolution, was that the royal family lived on the costliest +delicacies while many of the common people were actually starving. They +thought that was the chief crime to be expiated at the guillotine. + +What is necessary for one's strength moves on a sliding scale. As years +come, and the sort of work one does and his strength change, his needs +increase. What might at one time have been reckoned luxury is now a real +necessity for his best strength and work. _Whatever ministers to one's +strength is a necessity_. All above this becomes luxury, and so is both +hurtful to strength, and wrong in itself. + +A missionary returning to his home-land, on furlough, noted on his first +return home that what had been considered luxuries before he left, were +now reckoned necessities; on his second furlough he noted again that what +had been reckoned luxury on his first return was now counted necessity. +And each return home found this condition repeating itself. + +It reminded me of the experience of Sir John Franklin in one of his Arctic +explorations. His ship was hemmed in by an ice-field so that progress was +impossible. All he could do was to calculate his longitude and latitude, +and wait. The next day he was still hemmed in, and so far as he could see, +was exactly where he had been on the previous day. But on calculating +longitude and latitude again, he was surprised to find that the ship had +drifted several miles backward from the position of the previous day. + +It would be a sensible thing for us to make frequent calculations, and +find out where we are, and prayerfully steer a changed course if we've +been drifting. But we can't decide such questions for each other, and they +can't be decided by what another does. They can only be decided alone on +one's knees with the Master, with the Book, and perhaps a map of the world +at hand. We need both the Word of God, and a view of the world of God to +shape our judgment. No, it's not a question of money primarily, nor of +missions, only of personal loyalty to our Lord Jesus, and to the passion +of His heart. + + + +Grafted. + + +Have you noticed the significance of that word "abide" which our Lord used +on the night of His betrayal?[85] "Abide" means a grafting process; we +were branches in the vine, but we were broken off by sin. The only way to +abide in that vine is by being grafted in. "Abide" means grafted. But the +grafting process has two wounds. It means a knife used twice. It means a +wound in the vine-stock, and our Master flinched not there. It means +likewise a wound in the branch to be grafted in. Just as surely as the +knife must make the incision into the stock, it must also cut the end of +the branch before it can be grafted in. Our Master flinched not. How about +you and me when it comes to the knife, with its sharp cutting edge, and +slash and sting? + +Perhaps this explains why there's so little life, so little sap-flow, so +little fruit. If you follow along the narrow road your progress is sure +to be barred by a knife thrust out across the path. And the whole +instinct of our nature is to shrink from the knife. The sacrificial knife +becomes the pruning, the grafting knife. There can be no life without that +knife. Failure to obey cuts off the supply of life. + +I became greatly interested in a young man whom I met in Japan. He comes +of a noble, wealthy family. He attended a mission school to study English, +learned to read the Bible, became intensely interested, and then decided +to become a Christian. But his family was violently opposed, and pleaded +earnestly with him. He would in time be the head of his family, but if he +insisted now on being a Christian he would be disowned. He was to be +trained in the Imperial University, and could have chosen a public +national career including the probability of membership in the Imperial +diet, but he remained true to his decision. And he was disowned in +disgrace, cast adrift without a cent. Now he is devoting himself to +mission work in the city where I met him, working among the neediest and +lowest. I was told that the police gladly say that his mission has greater +power than they in preserving order in that worst quarter of the city. + +The night I stood by his side, speaking through his interpretation, a +Japanese policeman dragged up a couple of youths who had been giving +trouble, and pushed them in, saying, "Here's the place for you; now listen +to that." And I have never been in a simple service where the quiet +intense power of God was more marked. This is what obedience meant to him. +And this too is what abiding meant. He yielded to the grafting knife, and +the life of the vine-stock came flowing freely through, bearing abundant +fruit. + +A few years ago I read a simple story in "The Sunday-school Times" that +brought a lump in my throat. The writer told of a south-bound train +stopping at a station near Washington City. At the last moment, an old +negro with white hair came hurriedly forward and clambered on the last +coach as the train pulled out. He was very black, and very dusty, and +single occupants of seats looked apprehensive as he shuffled along looking +for a seat. But he did not offer to intrude, but stood at the end of the +car, looking with big wondering eyes down the car. He was evidently very +tired. Then a young man offered him space in his seat, for which he seemed +very grateful, and with child-like simplicity began talking. + +He was going back home "to Georgy"; had been up in Virginia for years with +the rare old slave loyalty serving his old master between times, while +earning his own way. Now his master was dead and he was going back down to +the old home state, "back to Georgy," and the words came softly, while his +hand tenderly patted the seat cushion. Clearly Georgia was the acme of +happiness and content for him. As the train boy came through, the young +man bought some sandwiches for the old negro. He was very grateful. Yes, +he _was_ hungry, and had walked several miles to get the train. He +couldn't spend money for "victuals"; "money's too skase fur buying things +on the road," he said, "I was 'lowin' ter fill up arter I done reach +Georgy." + +Then the conductor came in for tickets. The black man anxiously fumbled +through one pocket after another, and finally remembered that his ticket +was pinned to the lining of his hat. "Done tuk ebery cent I could scrape +up to get dat ticket," he said, "but dat's all right. I kin wuk, an' fo'ks +don' need money when dey's home." The conductor had passed on to the next +seat behind. There sat a shabbily dressed woman, with anxious, +frightened-looking face, the seat full of bundles and a pale-faced baby in +arms. + +"Tickets, please." + +The woman's face flushed red, and then grew white and set, as she said, "I +haven't any." + +"Have to get off then; save me the trouble of putting you off." + +The woman sprang up with terror in her big eyes, "Don't put me off; my +husband's dying; the doctor said he must go South; we've sold everything +left to send him; now he's dying; I must go to him. But I have no money, +don't put me off. My God--my God--if you--" Her plea poured out in +excited, jerky sentences. But the conductor could do nothing. He must obey +his instructions, or be discharged. The woman sank back sobbing, in the +seat. The conductor turned back to get the old negro's ticket. + +"I'se feared you'll have to put _me_ off, boss," he said humbly, "don't +expect a pore ole nigger like me to raise enuf fur a ticket." The +conductor harshly ordered him off the train at the next station, saying +there was some excuse for the poor woman, but none for him. The train +began to slow up for the station. The old negro quietly dropped his ticket +into the lap of the woman, saying, "Here's yo' ticket, missus. I do hopes +yo' find dat husban' o' yourn ain' so bad as yo'se afeared." And before +her dazed eyes could take in what he was doing, the old man had shuffled +out of the car, and as the train pulled on he was seen quietly plodding +along, still "bound for Georgy." + +And there was no mention of Christ in the story, but one who knows the old +typical slave class to which he belongs needs not to be told of the motive +down in his heart. That's what obedience, unanalyzed, undeliberated about, +meant to him. Have you ever worn the "Georgy" shoes? Have you ever tramped +to "Georgy"? If some of us might find out the old man's cobbler and get +some "Georgy" tramping shoes! The way of obedience is a way of sacrifice. + + + + +4. The Hilltops--Experiences of Gladness and Glory + + + +Valley Music. + + +There was a third group of experiences in our Lord Jesus' life. But it +will be good for us to remember that the third comes after the second. +There can be no third until there has been a second. It is impossible to +take first and third and omit the second. The third can come only after +the second. There can be experiences of gladness and glory only to him who +follows all the way. The hilltop experiences come after going down through +the valley. And there is no way of reaching the hills except through the +valley. + +But there is a hilltop roadway of exhilarating air and outlook for him who +has been through the valley. The valley is only part of the way. There are +heights, too, as well as depths. And if the depths have seemed very deep, +yet remember the valley depth tells how high the height is. The only way +up is down. And you go as high up as you have gone down, and then a bit +higher. For you started down from the level of the main road, and you go +up above the level. But you go up higher than you go down. The hilltops +are higher above the main road than the valley is below. The glory comes +to be more than the sacrifice. + +Sacrifice is only one-half of a chapter, the first half; there is a second +half, the musical half. There's a wondrous singing in the heart, even +while the knife is cutting, such as only he knows who goes this way. +There's a breeze from the hilltops that comes sweeping down through the +trees, while you are slowly picking your way along the rough, narrow +valley road. That breeze plays upon your inner strings and makes rare +Æolian melody. It is the breeze of God playing upon the heart-strings of +your soul. But _this_ music is heard only in _this_ valley road. Lovers of +music say there is nothing to compare with it. + +You remember the words, "who for the _joy_ that was set before Him."[86] +Ah, the joy! As the Master's feet slipped down into the dark shadows--the +shame, the cross, the tomb--there was something else under the pain He was +suffering. There was a low underchording of sweet minor music, the +rhythmic swinging of His will with His Father's. And that music still sang +as He slipped down quite out of sight under the cold waters of the river +at the bottom of the gorge. + + + +The Transfiguration Mount. + + +There were three of these glory experiences in our Lord's life, with a +fourth one yet to come. Midway in the last year came _the Transfiguration +Mount_. In a sore emergency, for the sake of the leaders of His little +band of disciples, the inner glory of His being was allowed to shine out +through His humanity. The glory of God shined out from within Him. The +usual fashion of His countenance was altered by the dazzling beauty-light +shining out through it. + +And this too will be true of those who follow truly. As we live with our +faces ever held open to Him, the glory of His face will be reflected in +ours, and we shall be changed more and more into His image.[87] I have +frequently told the story of the jurist who lived in our middle-west +country two generations ago, a confirmed but honest sceptic, and who was +converted by the _face_ of a fellow townsman. The sceptic became +thoroughly convinced that the thing in his neighbour's face which so +attracted him was his Christian faith, and it was this that led the +sceptic to accept Christ. Last year, I met out in the Orient a kinswoman +of the man with the convincing face. + +I remember distinctly one night, years ago, in northern Missouri, a young +woman waited at the close of a meeting with her friend. We talked and +prayed together and she made the great decision. I can remember looking +after the two as they went out, wondering to myself how much it meant to +her. I could not judge from her demeanour. But the next night they were +back again, and instantly I knew that it had meant much, everything, to +her. The transfiguring peace was upon her face. I would have called her +face plain the evening before. Now it was really beautiful in the sweet +clear light shining out of it. + +Two things stand out sharply in my memory of Ping Yang, in Korea. One is +the visit to the home of a Christian family, whose head was one of those +being held in prison in the famous conspiracy case. I still feel the +pathos of face and voice as the dear old mother, and the gentle wife, +asked so eagerly, "When will he be back?" + +The other, was the faces of certain of the women in the church service +there. I found myself time and again turning to look at their faces as I +was speaking. There was a sweet light that transfigured their worn faces, +and gave them a real beauty. It was the more striking against the +background of the faces one sees in those Oriental lands. + +The story has been told in various ways of the European artist sent to a +Salvation Army meeting to make a caricature. He was an infidel, with a +sinful life, an uneasy conscience, and a sore heart. But the faces he saw +there of those redeemed out of the depths of sin, convinced him that they +had what he needed, and what he afterwards got, at the same place as they, +the feet of Christ. One who has looked into the faces at some of the +Salvation Army meetings has no trouble believing the story. + +Now this is part of our Master's great plan for reaching His world. He +comes in to us, if we let Him. He changes us as we yield to Him. The +beauty of this wondrous One within shines out of face and eyes, and +touches those whom we touch. His presence transfigures when He is allowed +to dominate. We are changed from within. Though like Moses and Stephen we +will not wist of the transfiguration, only of the Great One whose presence +within it is that makes the change. We know the peace and music within; +others know more of the change in face and life. + + + +Resurrection Power--A Present Experience. + + +There is a second experience in this group. In sharpest contrast with +Jacob's tomb stands out _the Resurrection Morning_. Our Lord Jesus rose up +out of death. The strongest bars that death could make--and surely every +one of us has some sore experience of their strength in holding dear ones +from us--those strongest bars were snapped, as a woman breaks the cotton +thread in her sewing. + +Our Lord Jesus rose up again into life, and into a new, a higher, a +different sort of life. The personal identity was unchanged. His disciples +recognized His voice and face and form, as they talked and ate with Him. +But the limitations were gone. The control of spirit over body was +complete. + +And it is a bit of His gracious plan that we shall follow Him here, too. +When He returns in glory there will be a resurrection for those who have +followed Him. As He comes down on the clouds, the dead bodies of those who +have the warm vital touch with Him, that the word "believeth" stands for, +will be touched into a new life and be reunited with the spirits that had +lived in them. + +There will be a wondrous meeting in the air with Himself, and an equally +wondrous reunion in His presence of those bound to us and to Him by ties +of love. Our personal identity will be the same, loved ones instantly +recognizing loved ones. But the bodies will be of a new sort, free of all +the limitations and weaknesses of our earth life. And our Lord's return is +peculiarly precious because it is the time of this change and reunion. + +But there is yet more than this. This is something future. There is a +present meaning of the resurrection-life for us, to-day, if we'll accept +it, and live in the power of it. There _may_ be the resurrection life and +power coming into our bodies now. As the need comes, it is our privilege +to look up, and ask for, and experience resurrection power coming down +into our bodies, overcoming their weaknesses and diseased conditions. + +The subject of healing involves much more, for a full poised +understanding of the Scripture teaching, than can be satisfactorily talked +over in the brief limits here. But the great fact can be thus simply +stated, that there is full healing for our bodies by God's direct touch +upon them. But this means on our part living a real faith life, looking up +moment by moment, receiving from His hand constantly what is needed, and +using it wholly for Him. It is actually a living of the dependent life as +regards the bodily needs. + +Paul is clearly speaking of a present experience when he says, "If the +Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that +raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your dying +bodies by means of His Spirit that dwelleth in you."[88] But this +resurrection power coming in to affect our bodily conditions is frequently +in the midst of most difficult trying circumstances. It is as though a +subtle hindering power were tenaciously at work, and this were being +offset and overcome by the resurrection power. + +It was under just such circumstances that Paul writes these words: "We who +live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, _that the life +also_--the resurrection life--_of Jesus may be manifested in our dying +bodies_."[89] This as plainly means a present experience of power in our +bodies, overcoming weakness, disease, and the tendency to death. + +This is the present meaning of the resurrection for us. But it is possible +only for those who _will_ live the resurrection life of separation and of +union; separation from all that separates from the closest union of life +with our Lord Jesus. And it comes oftentimes through much conflict and +difficulty. This bit of the road is much contested. + + + +The Ascension Life--Power in Possession. + + +When our Lord Jesus had tarried long enough to make clear to His disciples +His actual bodily resurrection, He ascended to the Father's right hand, +and was seated there in the place of highest honour and power. So He began +living _the Ascension Life_. That means two things, it is the life of +fullest power in actual possession; _and_ that power is exercised through +prayer,[90] His, and then--ours. Through His intercession with the Father, +and through our intercession in Christ's Name, the power comes from the +Father through Christ to us, and so through us. + +Our Lord Jesus is eager to have us follow Him here also. Following this +time means, actually using the power that has been placed at our disposal. +It means receiving from His pierced hand all He has actually redeemed for +us by His precious blood. There is so much that is ours by right that we +do not take and use. Some do not take because they don't live where they +_can_ take. And some live where they can take, who yet do _not_ take. + +Since the Father thinks of us as risen with Christ and seated with Him in +the place of highest power, we should seek to live up there, by His +grace.[91] The ascension life for us means simply living the actual life +of power that has been made possible for us, and using that power through +prayer. + +It helps to remember here just how much may be included in that word +"prayer." One cannot be all the time on his knees, praying with his lips. +And it certainly was not meant that we _should_ be. Yet there can be +prayer "without ceasing." Prayer is an _act_, the kneeling, and giving +voice to the desires of our hearts. Then the act grows into a _habit_, as +this becomes one of the fixed things of our daily round. And the habit +full grown, becomes a _life_. All the life grows out of that bit of +kneeling-time, and all the life is carried to it. The hidden springs of +the life are here. + +And prayer becomes _a mental attitude_. You think of everything that comes +up, opportunity, difficulty, emergency, crisis, plannings,--you +instinctively come to think about each thing from the standpoint of the +kneeling-time. And so prayer grows to be _an atmosphere_. You live your +life in His presence to whom you kneel. He is always present. You come to +recognize His presence, which means that His presence dominates all your +life. He, this One whom you go to meet at the kneeling-time, He is +_always_ here with you, listening to the unspoken thoughts. By and by you +come instinctively to think your thoughts as in His presence. Your +longings, plannings, difficulties are held open before Him. Prayer becomes +the atmosphere you breathe. + +And so prayer comes to be a _person. You_ are the prayer. The Father +looking down comes to recognize you, by your very attitude of heart, as a +prayer, a continual, walking, living prayer, as you go quietly about your +simple, homely round. And the powers of evil, too, so recognize it. And +the Man at the Father's right hand recognizes in you one whom He has +redeemed, and who, by His grace, would be and do and have, in actual life, +all He has gotten for you. + +And through that six-fold continuous prayer, by the man who yields all, +and reaches out _for_ all that is now his, the power of God is being +continually loosened out among men, and the Father's plan being worked +out. So, our Lord's ascension life at the Father's right hand, finds its +echo in the ascension life being lived by His follower on the earth. + + + +The Coming Glory. + + +Then comes the glorious future experience, _the Kingdom Reign and Glory_. +Some day our Lord Jesus will rise up from His seat, and step again into +the direct action of the affairs of earth. Soon after that day He will +begin reigning over the earth as its King. The later pages of the Old +Testament are all aglow with the glory of that time. He shall reign from +the Mediterranean, at the centre of the earth, out to the farthest +sea-coast line, and from the Euphrates east and west to the most distant +ends of the earth.[92] + +And those who have followed Him during these trying days of His absence, +shall reign with Him over all the earth, and be sharers in His glory.[93] +He will give both grace and glory.[94] Grace is the beginning of glory, +and glory is the fulness of grace. It is all grace, free unmerited favour. + +Now I have grouped these experiences in this way to get a clear +understanding of them. But we must remember that they did not come in +groups in Christ's life, and they won't in ours. The red and yellow +threads, the dark and bright, are interwoven throughout the web, to make +the beauty of the pattern. The minor chords come up here and there through +the others, sometimes overcoming, sometimes yielding to, the joyous +notes. The road of life runs valley and hill, valley and hill, up and +down. + +There were great crises in Christ's life, and there may be, there quite +likely will be, crisis points in ours, but in the main the hard places +intersperse with the smooth going. The weaver sitting at his loom runs in +a dark shuttle-thread, and then a sharp blow of the beam puts it in place; +then a bright thread and a sharp blow of the beam, and so, slowly, +patiently, threads and blows follow each other till the design has been +worked out. + +Even so will it be in this "Follow Me" road. A glad, joyous experience may +be followed by the one that is bitter and that hurts; and that again, +perhaps, by something gladsome and cheery, while the daily round of life +plods slowly on, day after day, week in and out, as the calendar works its +steady way to the end, and then begins anew. + +But all the while there's the presence of the wondrous One, unseen by +outer eyes, but unmistakably real. And His presence gives peace. And +there's an unfailing, guiding hand, whose grasp steadies you as you push +along. + +This is the road. And yonder, just ahead, is the Lone Man, whose wondrous +face calls, and the reach of His pierced hand beckons. Let us take a +careful look at the road, and a long look at the Man, and then----. + + + + +Shall We Go? + + + +The Deeper Meaning of Friendship. + + +A friend in need is a friend indeed. Our Lord Jesus was our friend in our +need. It was a desperate need. It could not be worse. We had been badly +hurt by sin. The hurt was so bad that we could do nothing without help. +Our Lord Jesus came to our help. + +It was not easy for Him to be our friend. Friendship is sometimes very +costly. His reputation went, and then His life. But He never flinched. He +was thinking of us. Our need controlled Him. There were two controlling +words in our Lord Jesus' life--passion and compassion. He had a passion +for His Father. He had compassion for us. The two dovetailed perfectly. +The Father had an overwhelming compassion for us. The passion for the +Father in our Lord's heart included the throbbing, sobbing compassion for +us. The compassion was the manward expression of the passion for the +Father. + +It was this compassion that controlled Him those human years. It drove Him +hard along the road we've been looking at. He was driven into the +Wilderness, through the years of sacrificial service, out into the grove +of the olive trees, up the steep hill of Calvary, down into the depths of +Joseph's tomb. Step-by-step He pushed His way along, for He was thinking +of His Father and of us. The passion for the Father meant a compassion for +us. Things proved worse in realization as He came up close to them, as +they began to touch His very life. But He never wavered. He never +flinched, for He was thinking of us. He was our Friend, our Friend in our +desperate need. A friend in need is a friend indeed. It was by deeds that +He met our needs. + +But friendship is mutual. It has two sides, its enjoyments and its +obligations. That word "friendship" has two meanings. It means fellowship. +Two who are congenial in thought and aim and spirit can have sweet +fellowship together as they make exchange with each other of the deep +things of their spirits. This is one meaning, and a sweet, hallowed +meaning, too. Then there is the other. You are in some sore need. It is a +desperate emergency in your life, and out of the circle of your friends +one singles himself out, and comes to your aid. At real cost or sacrifice +to himself perhaps, he gives you that which meets and tides over your +emergency. + +This is the deeper, the rarer meaning of the word, rarer both in being +less frequent and in being very precious. Fellowship friends may be many; +emergency friends very, very few. And if circumstances so turn out that +this man who has so rarely proven himself your friend, is himself in some +emergency, and you are now in position to help him, as once he helped you, +you count it not only an obligation of the highest sort, but the rarest of +privileges. And with great joy you come to his help without stopping to +count the cost in the doubtful, questioning way. Friendship is mutual. + +Now this second, this deep, rare meaning, is the one we're using just now. +It comes to include the fellowship meaning, so enriching the emergency +friendship yet more. But the emphasis is on the emergency meaning of the +word friendship. Our Friend was a friend in this deepest, rarest way, in +the desperate emergency of our lives. + +And now this Friend of ours is in need, a need so great that it is an +emergency. And this seems a startling thing to say. You may think I'm +indulging some rhetorical figure of speech merely. He, the Lord Jesus, in +need! He is now seated at the Father's right hand in glory. He is "far +above all rule and authority and power and dominion." He is the sovereign +ruler of our world. How can it be said, with any soberness of practical +meaning, that He is in need, and in desperate need? Yet, let me repeat +very quietly, that it is even so. + +_He needs our co-operation._ He needs the human means through which to +work out His plans. The power of God has always flowed _through human +channels_. And His plans _have waited,_ have been delayed because He has +not always been able to find men willing to let Him use them as He will. +This is the only explanation of the long, weary waiting of the earth for +His promised Kingdom. This, only, explains centuries of delay in the +working out of His plans. The delay, the dark centuries, the +misery,--these have been no part of His plan, but dead set against His +plan. + + "The restless millions wait the Light, + Whose coming maketh all things new. + _Christ also waits_; but men are slow and late. + Have we done what we could? Have I? Have you?" + +Some unknown friend, on seeing the statue of General Gordon, as it stands +facing the great desert and the Soudan at Khartoum, made these lines: + + "The strings of camels come in single file, + Bearing their burdens o'er the desert sand: + Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile. + The needs of men are met on every hand, + But still I wait + For the messenger of God _who cometh late_. + + I see the clouds of dust rise in the plain, + The measured tread of troops falls on the ear; + The soldier comes the empire to maintain, + Bringing the pomp of war, the reign of fear, + But still I wait + The messenger of peace, _he cometh late_. + + They set me brooding o'er the desert drear, + Where broodeth darkness as the deepest night. + From many a mosque there comes the call to prayer; + I hear no voice that calls on _Christ_ for light. + But still I wait + For the messenger of Christ, _who cometh late."_[95] + + + +Following Wholly. + + +Our Friend is in need. The world's condition spells out the desperateness +of that need. The world's need is His need. It is His world. This world is +God's prodigal son. It is the passion of our Lord Jesus' heart to win His +world back, and save it. That passion has been revealed most, thus far, in +His going to the great extreme of dying. That passion is still +unsatisfied. Yonder He sits, with scarred face and form, _expecting_.[96] +Bending eagerly forward with longing eyes He is expecting. He is +expectantly waiting our response, expectantly waiting the day when things +will have ripened on the earth for the next step in the great plan. + +And down from the throne comes the same eager cry He used when amongst us +on earth, "Follow Me." This is the one call, with many variations, that +runs through the seven-fold message to His followers in the book of the +Revelation.[97] + +But He calls for real followers. He needs Calebs, who are willing, if +need be, to face a whole nation dead-bent on going the other way, and yet +who never flinch but insist on following fully. Caleb's following was so +unflinching, so against the current of his whole time, that it stands out +with the peculiar emphasis of a six-fold mention.[98] + +Those who follow "wholly" seem scarce sometimes. I was struck recently +with an utterance by a man prominent in business circles and in Christian +activity for years. He was speaking of how he had been active in a certain +form of Christian activity, and declared that it had never occasioned him +any loss, or been a detriment to him in his business. The words had a +strange, suspicious sound. The Master told those who would follow fully +that they might expect much loss and detriment. + +The Master was very careful to give the "if's" a prominent place. "If any +man would come after Me."[99] "If any man would serve Me let him follow +Me."[100] Those "if's" are the cautionary signals. They mean obstacles +needing to be considered before one decides. We must determine whether we +will take them away or not. Half-way following, part-way following, has +become very common in some of the other parts of the world, where we don't +live. I'll leave you to judge how it is in your own neighbourhood. + +I have seen people start down this "Follow Me" road with great enthusiasm +and real earnestness, singing as they go. Then the road begins to narrow a +bit. The thorn bushes on the side have grown so thick and rank that they +push over the sides of the road, and narrow it down. You can't go along +without the thorns scratching face and hands badly as you push through. + +And then you suddenly find a knife, a sharpedged knife, being held out +across the road, by an unseen hand back in the bushes. The cutting edge is +toward you. It is held firmly. It is clearly impossible to go on without a +clash with that knife. The real meaning of that "Follow Me" is beginning +to be seen now. Just ahead beyond the knife stands the Master, looking +longingly, beckoning earnestly, calling still. But that knife! It takes +your eyes, and the question is on in real earnest. + +And it is very grievous to say that some stop there. They pitch their +tents this side the knife. They may have had the courage to push through +the thorns, but this knife stops them. They're not honest enough to back +clear out of the road. So they hold meetings on the roadway, conferences +for the deepening of the Christian life, with earnest addresses, and +consecration meetings, and soft singing. And if perchance some one calls +attention to the Master standing ahead there, beyond the knife, +beckoning,--well, they sing louder and pray longer so as to ease their +consciences a bit, and deaden unpleasant sounds, but they make no move +toward striking tents and pushing on. + +And many coming up along the road are hindered. The crowds, the meetings, +the singing, the earnestness,--these take hold of them and keep them from +discerning that all this is an obstruction in the way. The Master's ahead +yonder, past that cutting knife. In a very clear voice that rises above +meetings and music, He calls, "If any man would serve Me, let him follow +Me, let him get _in behind Me_, and come _up close after Me_." He who +would serve, he who would help, must not stop here, but push on to where +the Master is beckoning,--yes, past the knife! + +But there are big crowds at the half-way place, this side the knife. And +there are still larger crowds looking on and sneering, sneering at those +whose following hasn't got much beyond the singing stage. The outside +crowd does love sincerity, and is very keen for the faults and flaws in +those who call themselves followers. + + + +The Tuning-Fork for the Best Music. + + +But some push on; they go forward; and as they reach the knife they grasp +it firmly by the blade. Yes, it cuts, and cuts deep. But they push on, on +after the Master. They turn the knife into a tuning-fork. Do you know +about this sort of thing? The steel in a knife can be used to make a +tuning-fork. The touch of obedience brings music out of sacrifice. + +This is the only tuning-fork that can give the true pitch for that +sweetest music we were speaking of a little while ago. This is a bit of +the power of obedience. It can change a challenging knife into an +instrument of music. This is a bit of the strategy of obedience, the fine +tactics of sacrifice. The tempter with the knife would hold us back. We +seize his knife from his grasp. He can never use that knife again. And we +use it to make sweet music to help the marching. What was meant to hold us +back now helps us forward. + +This is the tuning-fork the Master used. He would have us use it, too. But +each one must take it himself, out of the threatening hand that would hold +us back. As the call to follow comes we must go on, no matter what it +involves. No circumstance, no possible loss, no sacrifice, must hold us +back, for a moment, or a step, from following where our Friend calls; only +so can we be His friend. + +Shall we go on _all the way_? Or, shall we join the company at the +half-way stopping place? Well, _it's a matter of your eyes_, how you use +them. If the knife holds your eyes, you'll never get past it. That knife +is like the deadly serpent's glittering eye. If the cobra's eye can get +your eye, you are held fast in that awful, deadly fascination. + +If you'll _lift_ your eyes, to the Master's face!--ah, that's the one +thing, the only thing, that can _hold_ our eyes with gaze steadier than +any serpent eye. The face of Christ Jesus, torn by thorns, scarred by +thongs, but with the wondrous beauty light shining out, and those great +patient, pleading eyes! This it was that held that young Indian aristocrat +steady, while he sold all--bit by bit, of such precious things--sold all. + +This it was that held steady the young Jewish aristocrat, Paul. He never +forgot the light on that caravan road north, above the shining of the sun. +He never could forget it. It blinded him. He "could not see for the glory +of that light." Old ambitions blurred out. Old attachments faded, and then +faded clear out before the blaze of that light. Family ties, inheritance, +social prestige, reputation, old friendships, old honoured standards,--all +faded out in the light of Jesus' face on that northern road. + + + +How to Follow. + + +Shall we take a look at that face? a long look? Shall we go? Practically +going means three things, a _decision_, a _habit_ and a _purpose_; a +thoughtful, calculating decision, a daily unbroken habit, an unalterable +north-star sort of purpose. + +Go alone in some quiet corner where you can think things out. Look at what +it may mean for you to follow, so far as you know now. Most of it you +don't know, and won't know, can't know except as it works out in your +life. Take a long, quiet, thoughtful look at the road. Then take a longer, +quieter, steadier look at Him, Christ Jesus, once crucified for you, now +seated in glory with all power, and asking you to-day to be a channel for +His power. Then decide. Say, "Lord Jesus, I _will_ follow Thee. This is my +decision. By Thy help, I follow Thee, I'll follow Thee all the way." +That's the first step, the decision. + +As I entered the tent at Keswick one morning, a friend handed me these +lines, which came to her pen at the close of a previous meeting: + + "I will follow Thee, dear Master, + Though the road be rough and steep, + Thou wilt hold me lest I falter, + Thy strong hand must safely keep. + + Enter in, Lord, cleanse Thy temple, + Give the grace to put away + All that hinders, all that's doubtful, + O'er my life hold blessed sway. + + Use me, Master, for Thy glory, + Live out Thine own life through me, + That my life may tell the story, + And win others unto Thee. + + Keep me trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, + Walking closely by Thy side, + Keep me resting, sweetly resting, + As I in Thy love abide." + +Then plan your work and time so as to get a bit of time off alone every +day with the Book and with the Master. The chief thing is not to pray, +though you will pray. It is not for Bible study, though that will be there +too. The chief thing is to meet with the Lord Jesus Himself. He will come +to you through the Book. He will fit its messages into your questions and +perplexities. He Himself will come to meet with you when you so go to meet +with Him. You won't always _realize_ His presence, for you may sometimes +be tired. But you can _recognize_ His presence. You can cultivate the +habit of recognizing His presence. + +This is your bit of daily school-time, with the Book and the Master. It +will keep your spirit sweet, your heart hot, and your judgment sane and +poised. This is the second thing, the _habit._ It is the thing you cannot +get along without. It must go in daily. Without it things will tangle; +your heart will cool, your spirit sometimes take on an edge that isn't +good, your judgment get warped and twisted, and your will grow either +wabbly or stubborn. This second thing must be put in the daily round, and +kept in. It helps to hold you steady to the first thing. + +Then the third is the _purpose_ to be true to whatever the Master tells +you, to be true to Himself; never to fail _Him_. You may flinch within +your feelings. You probably will. Yet you need never flinch in action. +Follow the beckoning Figure just ahead in the road, regardless of thorny +bush or cutting knife. Keep your spirit sweet, your tongue gentle and +slow, your touch soft and even, your purpose as inflexible as wrought +steel, or as granite, as unmovable as the North Star. That's the third +thing, the purpose. + +And the three make the three-fold cord with which to tie you fast and hard +to the Lone Man ahead. He is less alone as we follow close up. The three +together help you understand the meaning of _obedience_. The decision is +the beginning of obedience; the habit teaches you _what_ you are to obey +and gives you strength to do it; the purpose is the actual obedience in +daily round, the holding true to what He has told you. + +Years ago, a young Jewess, of a wealthy family, that stood high in the +Jewry of New York, heard the call of the despised Nazarene. It came to her +with great, gentle power, and she decided that she must follow. Her father +was very angry, and threatened disinheritance if she so disgraced the +family. But she remained quietly, gently, inflexibly, true to her +decision. At last the father planned a social occasion at the home to +which large numbers were invited. And he said to his daughter, "You must +sing at this reception, and make this your disavowal of the Christian +faith." And she quietly said, "Father, I will sing." + +The evening came, the parlours were filled, the time came for her to sing, +and all listened eagerly, for they knew the beauty of her voice. With her +heart in both eyes and voice, she began singing: + + "Jesus, I my cross have taken, + All to leave and follow Thee; + Destitute, despised, forsaken, + Thou, from hence, my all shalt be. + + Perish every fond ambition, + All I've sought, and hoped, and known: + Yet how rich is my condition! + God and heaven are all my own." + +And she passed out into the night of disinheritance on earth, "into an +inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." This +was her decision. She had seen _His face!_ All else paled in its light. + +Shall we go, too? + + + + +Finger-Posts + + + +The Parable of the Finger-Posts. + + +Waiting is harder work than working. It takes more out of you. And it puts +more into you, too, of fine-grained, steady strength, if you can stand the +strain of it. And if, to the waiting is added perplexity, the pull upon +your strength is much greater. It is harder to hold steady, and not break. +And if the thing you've put your very life into seems at stake, that taxes +the wearing power of your strength to the utmost. + +Such a time, and just such a test, came to the little band of disciples +after the resurrection, and before the ascension. The story of it is told +in that added chapter of John's Gospel. You remember that last chapter is +one of the added touches. The Gospel is finished with the finish of the +twentieth chapter. Then John is led by the Spirit, to add something more. +That added chapter becomes to us like an acted parable, the parable of the +added touch. There is always the added touch, the extra touch of power, of +love, of answer to prayer. Our Lord has a way of giving more. The prayer +itself is answered, and then some added touch is given for full measure. +So it is in all His dealings, when He is allowed to have His own way. He +is the Lord of the added touch. He does exceeding abundantly above what we +ask, or think, or expect. + +These disciples were now to have one of these added touches. It was a time +of sore perplexity. The crucifixion had left them dazed, stupefied. It was +wholly unexpected. They were utterly at sea, with neither compass, nor +steering apparatus of any sort. That Saturday to them was one of the +longest, dreariest, heaviest days ever spent by any one. They had all +proven untrue to their dead Friend, save one. + +Then as unexpectedly came the resurrection. They're dazed again, this time +with joy. They haven't taken it in yet. To say that the two shocks, each +so radically different from the other, shook them tremendously, is stating +it very mildly. They don't know themselves. They haven't found their feet. +They haven't adjusted yet to their swiftly changing surroundings. They +don't know what next. They don't know what to do. + +So the old impulsive Simon in Peter proposed something. Simon, the +unsteady, was much in evidence those days. Peter the rock-man hadn't +arrived yet. This was Simon Peter's specialty, proposing something. He +said, "Well, I'm going fishing." And the others quickly said, "We'll go +along." The mere doing something would be a relief. But they caught +nothing. It was a poor night. The morning brought only heavy hearts with +light nets and boats. They had failed at following; now they were failing +even at their old specialty, fishing. Couldn't they do _any_thing? + +In the dim light of the breaking dawn there's some One standing on the +beach, a Stranger. He seems interested in them, and calls out familiarily, +"Have you caught anything?" And you feel the heaviness of their hearts +over something else in the shout "No." And the gentle voice calls out, +with a certain tone of quiet authority in it, "Throw over on the right +there, and you'll get some fish." And they cast the nets out again, +feeling a strong impulse to obey this kindly Stranger, without stopping to +think out why. + +And at once the ropes pull so hard that it takes all their strength to +hold them. It's John's quick insight that recognizes the Stranger. With +his heart in his throat, in awe-touched voice, he quietly says, "It's the +Lord." That's enough for Peter. He takes the shortest way to shore. He has +some things to talk over with the Master. And as the seven tired men +landed the fish, they found breakfast waiting on the sands. Who built that +fire? Who cooked that fish? Who was thinking about them and caring for +their personal needs, when they were so tired and hungry? And when +breakfast was finished, there's the quiet talk together, about love and +service, while the sun is climbing up in the east. It is addressed to +Peter, but it is meant, too, for those who were so fleet-footed a few +nights before. + +All this was the answer to their perplexity. They were willing and waiting +to follow, but they had failed so badly. They were not quite sure where +they stood. They had no finger-posts. Now the finger-posts were put up to +show the way. This fishing scene was an acted parable, the Parable of the +Finger-posts. + + + +The Lineage of Service. + + +Look at these finger-posts a little. There was the Lord Jesus. They didn't +recognize Him. But He was there. He had a plan. He took authoritative +command of their movements. He gave directions. They obeyed Him. Then came +the great haul of fish. Then came the quiet talk about love and service, +but with the emphasis on love. + +The love was the chief thing. The service was something growing out of +love. "Lovest thou Me?" Then thou mayest serve, thou hast the chiefest +qualification. Our Lord gave them the lineage of service that morning. +These are the generations of true service. A sight of Jesus begets love, a +tender, gentle, strong, passionate thing of rarest beauty that is +immortal, but must have the constant sight of its father's face for +vigorous life. And love at once begets obedience, which grows strong and +stout and skilled, as long as it stays in its father's presence. And +obedience begets service, untiring, glad, patient service. + +There are some outsiders that have come into this family, but they do not +have the fine traits of blood-kin. "Duty" is one of these. It serves +because it must. And at times it renders fine, high service. But its +service comes out of the will, rather than out of the heart. It is ruled +more by a sense of propriety, never by a passion of the heart. + +"Privilege" is near of kin to duty, and it is a high-born, fine-grained +thing. It serves because it is an honour to do so. It is enjoyable to be +so highly connected. But it constantly needs proper recognition and +appreciation of its work and skill. But these are really outsiders. They +have married in, and do not have the real family traits. The one word, and +the only one, that may properly be used for true service is that fine +word, "passion." True service is a thing of love, a thing of the heart, a +flame that pervades and permeates and envelops the whole life within and +without, a fire that consumes and controls. + +The Lord Jesus, His presence, His plan, His authoritative leadership, +their obedience, love thrice asked and given, service because of +love,--these are the finger-posts for these perplexed men. They can be put +into very simple shape for our guidance. Three finger-posts hung up will +include all of them,--_clear vision, a spirit of obedience, a heart of +tender love_. These are the three great essentials of all true, full +following. And there will not be, there cannot be, true full following +without all three of these. There may be much earnest, honest service, +much faithful plodding, and hard work, and much good done. But there's +always less than the best. There is less than should be. The best results +are not being got for the effort expended, except where these three are +blended. + +A clear vision means simply a clear understanding of things as they are, +and of what needs to be done, with all the facts in that belong in. A +spirit of obedience means not only an obedience in spirit, a spirited +obedience, but an obedience that fits into the spirit of the Leader and +His plans. And through these as a fine fragrance breathes a heart of +tender undiscourageable love. + + + +Not Quite In Is Outside. + + +These three things must be kept in poise. So the Master plans. This is the +parable of the fishing. There are many illustrations of one only of these, +or two, in action. And the bad or poor result that works out can be +plainly seen. The Holy Spirit with great plainness and faithfulness has +hung up cautionary signs along the road. + +There may be _clear vision without obedience._ That is, a clear +understanding of the Master's plan, but a failure to fit in. That will +mean a dimming vision. And if persisted in, it will mean spiritual +disaster. The great illustration of this is Judas. Judas had as clear a +vision, in all likelihood, as the others when he was chosen for +discipleship, and later for apostleship. There was the possibility of a +John in Judas, even as there was the possibility of a Judas in John. Both +are in every man. But Judas was not true to the vision he had. He wanted +to use the Master to further his own plans and advantage. And the vision +slowly blurred and dimmed, as the under nature was given the upper hand. +The Master's clear insight recognized the demon spirit that Judas had +allowed to come in, though Judas did not.[101] Then came the dastardly act +of betrayal. And Judas has been held up to universal scorn and +condemnation. + +But Judas isn't so lonely, if you think into the thing a bit. He only put +personal advantage above loyalty to the Lord Jesus. He simply preferred +his own plans to the Master's plans. That was all. And he tried to force +his own through, without suspecting how the thing would turn out, and how +tremendously much was involved. The great events being worked out have +thrown his contemptible act into the limelight of history. But the act +itself wasn't uncommon. Possibly you may know some one living quite near, +with some of this same sort of trait. + + +One of the saddest things in the record of Christian leadership is just +this, clear vision with a gradually lessening obedience, then a gradually +dimming vision, and that decrease of both increasing, as the slant down +increases. The old-time motions in public ministering continue, more or +less mechanically, but the power has long since passed away. And sadder +yet, like the strong man of old, these shorn men wist it not. One's lips +refuse to repeat the word "Judas" of them, even in the inner thoughts. Yet +these class themselves under the same description,--clear vision without +full obedience to it; personal plans and preferences put above loyalty to +the Master. + +A second illustration is that of King Saul. Clear vision, failure to obey, +forcing himself to wrong action to keep his popularity, rebellion, +stubbornness,--these are the simple successive steps in his story. And the +black night falls upon the utter spiritual disaster of his career, as he +lies prone on the earth before the witch. + +These two characters become formulas; they need only to be filled in with +other names to make accurate modern biography of some. + +There may be _clear vision with make-believe_ or _partial obedience_. It +hurts to speak of such a thing. The word "hypocrisy" is a very hard one to +get out at the lips. It should never be used except to help, and then +very, very sparingly, and only in humblest spirit, and with earnest, +secret prayer. Ananias and Sapphira quickly come to mind here. They wanted +_men_ to think them wholly surrendered, though they knew they were not. +That was all; not so unusual a thing, after all. There are sore +temptations here for many. The swiftness of the punishment that came does +not mean that their wrong was worse than that of others who do the same +thing. That modern religious lying of this sort is not as quickly judged +merely tells the marvellous _patience_ of God. + +There may be _clear vision and obedience without love._ This means a hard, +cold, stern righteousness. It is truth without grace. Nothing can be made +to seem more repulsive. One incident in Elijah's career furnishes the +illustration here. Let us say such a thing _very softly_ of such a mighty +man of God, and say it in fewest words, and only to help. He was a man of +marvellous faith, and prayer, and bold daring, in the midst of a very +crooked and perverse generation. Israel was at its very lowest moral ebb +thus far. + +Elijah had a clear understanding of what should be done to check the awful +impurity which was sweeping over the nation like a flood-tide. He was true +to his conviction in sending the four hundred priests of horribly +licentious worship to their death. But was he brokenhearted over them? Was +he utterly broken down with grief as he led them to the little running +brook of Kishon for the nation's sake? God touched the sore spot, when, +down at Horeb, the mount of thunder and fire, He spoke to this man of fire +and thunder in that exquisitely soft sound of gentle stillness. This was +a new revelation of God to this stern prophet of righteousness. + +There may be a sort of letter-obedience, a formal obedience to the vision +you have. In one's own estimation, there may seem to be a knowledge of +what is right, and a self-satisfied doing of it. There may be a +painstaking attention to the forms of obedience, and a self-righteous +content in doing the required things. Is this the underlying thought in +Peter's self-complacent remark, "Lo, _we_ have left all and followed +Thee.[102] We're so much better than this rich young ruler who couldn't +stand the test you put to him. _We----"?_ Poor, self-confident Peter! When +the fire test did come, and come so hot, how his "we" did crumble! + +"_Light Obeyed Increaseth Light_." + +There may be _obedience without clear vision._ That is, there may be a +doing of what is thought to be right, but without a clear understanding of +what is the right thing to do. This results in _fanaticism_. Moses killing +the Egyptian and hiding his body in the sand had no clear vision of God's +plan. He knew something was wrong, and that something needed to be done. +And so he proposed doing something. And the poor Egyptian who happened in +his way that day felt the weight of his zeal. It's a not uncommon way of +attempting to righten wrongs. He forgot that there is a God, and a plan, +and that he who does not work into the plan of God is hitting wrong. There +has been a lot of wreckage scattered along this beach. + +Saul persecuting the Christians is another illustration here. He is a sad, +striking example of conscientiousness without sufficient knowledge, of +earnestness without clear light. He was conscientiously doing the wrong +thing, as earnestly as he could, supposing it to be the right thing. John +wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up some people that didn't +fit in with their plans.[103] Earnest intensity without sufficient light +has kindled a good many fires of this sort. + +Sometimes this does not go as far as hurtful fanaticism, but leads to +blundering and confusion and delay. Abraham was acting without clear light +when he yielded to Sarah's plan of compromise for getting an heir.[104] A +bit of quiet holding of her suggestion before God for light would have +cleared his mind. The result was wholly bad,--a confusion in his own mind, +a mental cloudiness about God's plan and promise, an element of discord +introduced in the tribal life, and a delay of many years, apparently, +before the conditions were ripe for the coming of the heir of faith, on +God's own plan. + +Peter eating with his Gentile Christian brothers, and then refusing to eat +with them, when some Jewish Christians came down from Jerusalem, made +very bitter feeling in the Church at Antioch, for a time.[105] Paul's +clearer light helped. Time spent in waiting for clearer light is always +time wisely spent, even though we may seem slow. + +There may be _love without clear vision_. The love makes intense desire to +do something, but with no clear idea of what would best be done. Peter's +awkward sword-thrust was an attempt to help, because of real love in his +heart for his Master, now in personal danger. The Master's quiet healing +touch recognized the love, and also rebuked and corrected the hasty, +ill-advised action. But there's worse yet here, mean contemptible +cowardice. Peter actually denying his relation with his Friend and Master, +and making his denial seem more natural by the addition of the oaths that +the maid well knew no follower of this Jesus could have uttered--what mean +contemptible cowardice! But go gently there in using such hard words. He +was only afraid of being hurt. He merely wanted to save himself. That +isn't such an uncommon thing. Haven't you sometimes known something of +this sort--_among others?_ + +The cowardly nine, making a new record for fleet-footedness, down the +road, in the dark, were only doing the same thing in more cowardly, +less-spirited fashion. These men loved Jesus. No one may doubt that. But +there was no clear understanding of that night's doings, though the +Master had faithfully and plainly tried to tell them. Fear for their own +safety overcame the real love in their hearts for the Man they forsook +that dark night. + +_Clear vision and love without obedience_ is--impossible! Where there is +no obedience, or faulty obedience, either the vision has blurred or +dimmed, or the love is burning low. + +_Clear vision and loving obedience_ mean power, sweet, gentle, fragrant, +helpful power. It means a grateful crowd, and a pleased Master, who has +been able once again to reach the crowd. + +_Clear vision and love as a passion_, an intense passion, means +irresistible power. That is to say it means a perfect human medium through +which our Lord Jesus can act and manifest Himself. And this is the real +meaning of power, power to the full,--Jesus Christ in free action. John, +the fisherman, had a gradually but steadily clearing vision. He did not +understand fully. But he understood enough to know that there was more to +come which would clear things up. He could follow where He did not +understand. His love for the Man controlled, while his understanding was +clearing. He went in "_with_ Jesus" that awful night. I imagine he never +left His side. Can we ever be grateful enough that at least one of us was +true that night! + +There was the same danger as with the others, and it was made more acute +by His simple, open stand at his Friend's side. But love, with at least +some understanding, held him steady. He could understand that Jesus must +be doing the right thing, even though he could not understand the run of +events that centred about Jesus. + +The intensity that would call down fire, changed, under the influence of +the changing, clearing vision, into an intensity of love. It was a +mellower, gentler, evener, but not less intense flame. The disciple whom +Jesus loved became the disciple of love. Love and vision worked upon each +other from earliest times with him. Love made the vision clearer, the +clearing vision made the love stronger, till they worked together into a +perfect blend. + +Paul's unmistakable vision on the Damascus road brought a passion of love, +and an answering obedience, that swept him like a great flame. The +fire-marks of that flame could be found all over the Roman Empire. He made +mistakes doubtless, but these but made the trend of his whole life stand +out the more. Paul was a wonderful combination of brain and heart and +will, held in remarkable poise. The finest classic on love is from his +pen. John could love. Paul could love, and could tell about love. + +But a peculiar tenderness comes into one's heart as we remember that there +was just one Man who held these three in perfect poise. And let us not +forget that though He was more than man, yet it was a _man_, one of +ourselves, who so held these three in such fine balance. It was a human +poise, even as planned by the Father for the human life. The clear vision +early began coming to Him,[106] and it became clearer and fuller and +unmistakable until it had had its fulfilment. Obedience was the touchstone +of all His life, from Nazareth to Olivet. And who, like Him, had the heart +of tender love, the heart that was ever moved with compassion at sight of +need, the heart that broke at the last under the sore grief of its burden +of love? + + + +The Olivet Vision. + + +Shall we take a moment more to look at these three finger-posts a little +more closely? Just what is meant by _a clear vision?_ I could say at once +that it means a vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet that language has +sometimes been used in a vague sort of way. And some of us have taken it +in a vague indefinite way, and not thought into its practical meaning. +Clear vision here means an understanding of who Christ Jesus is, and what +He is, and what plans He has. Then it means that that understanding is so +clear that it becomes intense, intense to the point of being overwhelming. +That is, it becomes the _dominant_ thing that controls your thinking, and +affections, and actions,--your life. + +I think I may say correctly that the place for getting such a clear, full +vision of Christ Jesus is _Olivet_. Olivet is a good place to pitch your +tent for a little while, until your vision clears. Then you'll not stay +there, though you may return to keep the lines of your vision clear and +clean; you will be down in the valleys with the crowds. + +One day the Master led His disciples out to the Mount of Olives. It was +the last time they were together. And the group of men stand there +talking, the eleven grouped about the One. He is talking with them quietly +and earnestly. Then, to their utter amazement, His feet are off the +ground, He is rising upward in the air, then higher, and higher, until a +bit of cloud moves across, and they see Him no more. This is all you would +see at a distance. + +But let us come a bit nearer, and stand _with_ them, and listen, and +watch. Olivet is the last bit of earth to feel the presence of the +Master's feet. Off yonder to the west, down in the valley, you see a clump +of trees; that is Gethsemane, the place of the bloody sweat and the tense +agony of spirit. Across the valley, still looking west, lies the city, +outside whose wall is the little knoll called Calvary, where Jesus gave +His life out. Over here to the east and south lies little Bethany, which +speaks of His resurrection power. And a bit farther off are the bare wilds +sloping down,--that is the place of the sore temptation. Far away to the +north, up in the clouds, lies _the_ snow-clad mountain, beyond your outer +vision, yet coming now to your inner vision, where the God within shined +out through the Man. + +But while a quick glance takes all this in, your eyes are caught and held +by the Man in the midst. His presence embodies and intensifies all that +these places suggest. His face bears the impress of the Wilderness, and of +the Garden. The scars plainly there tell of Calvary, as no piece of +geography ever can. His mere presence tells unmistakably of the +resurrection. And you know who He is, and what. He made the world and +breathed His breath of life into man's nostrils. Later He came in amongst +us as one of ourselves. He was tempted like as we, suffered like as we +never suffered, gave His life for us, went down into death, _rose_ up +again out of death. This is the Jesus of Olivet. + +But the action of His face and pose are part of the sight. His eyes are +looking _outward_. The set of His face is out. His hands point out. And He +is talking; listen: He is talking about a _"world"_. And the outward turn +of face and eyes and pointing hand become the emphasis of that word, +"_world."_ He died for a world. He is thinking about a world. He has a +plan of action for a world. + +But another word gets your ear--"_ye."_ He is thinking about these +disciples, about His followers. He has a plan of action for them. And +these two plans, for the world, for their lives, these two are tied up +together. And a third word stands out--"_I_." "I am with you, I am in +command." And now three things stand out together, a world-plan, a plan +for the follower's life fitting into the world-plan, and in the +midst--Jesus, the Christ, my Saviour, my Lord. This is the Olivet vision. +This, the clear, full vision: of Jesus, crucified, risen, empowered; of +His world-plan; of His plan for my life as part of the world-plan. + +Olivet faces four ways. Backward, it points to the sympathy, the +humanness, the suffering, the cross, of Jesus. Upward, it looks to +Himself, now sitting above the clouds at the Father's right hand, "far +above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name +that is named," with "all things in subjection under His feet." Outward, +it reaches to the world He died for, and plans for, and is still brooding +over with more than a mother's love. Forward, it anticipates eagerly the +time when He will come back to finish up what He began, and we are to +continue. When He returns it will be to this same Olivet.[107] He picks up +the line of action exactly where He left it. Olivet is to know a second +pressure of those feet. + +This is the clear, full vision, the three-fold vision we need and must +have for true following: Himself, His world-plan, His plan for each one's +life. This means seeing things as they are. They fall into true +perspective. You see how disproportioned and grotesque the common +perspective of earth is. You see things through His eyes. His eyes take +out of yours the personal colouring, the colour blindness of personal +interest and advantage which so strangely and strongly affect all our +sight. + +We need frequent visits to Olivet's top, until constant looking at its +outlooking landscape, at Himself, fills and floods our eyes. We need the +quiet time alone with Himself and His Word, and some map-picture of His +world, as a habit, until these, Himself, and His word, and His world, are +burned into eyes and heart, until they fire as a sweet fever the whole +life. + + + +The Spirit of Obedience. + + +Out of the vision comes the _spirit of obedience_. We have spoken of the +act of obedience, and the habit of obedience, but deeper down is the +spirit of obedience, which lies under act and habit. I have used the +words, "spirit of obedience," rather than simply the word, "obedience," +because obedience sometimes stands for a bondage to rules, a slavery to +things. The obedience itself must be deeper than rule or outward thing. +The spirit of obedience sees into the spirit of the rule, and through the +outward thing, and floods it with a new spirit of life. This spirit of +obedience is the one finger-post found oftenest along this road. So only +can we be true to the vision. And obedience itself is not true obedience, +nor true to the vision, save as it is a love-obedience. Real obedience +breathes in the spirit of the One being obeyed. It breathes out the +love-spirit of him who obeys. + +The touchstone of the "Follow Me" life is not need, nor service, nor +sacrifice. The need is felt to the paining point. The service is given +joyously to the limit of strength. The sacrifice is yielded to to the +bleeding point. But these all come as they come, _through and out of +obedience._ Yet need _is_ the controlling thing, too, _but_ not the need +as _we_ see it, but as _He_ sees it, who sees all, and feels most deeply. +The need is best met, the service best given, the sacrifice most healing +in its power, as each grows out of obedience. + +_The standard of obedience_ is three-fold, the Word of God, the Spirit of +God, and one's own judgment and spirit-insight. These three are meant to +fit together. This is the natural result when things are, even measurably, +as they should be. When God is allowed to sway the life as He wishes, +these three fit and blend perfectly. The Word of God taken alone will lead +to superstitious regard for a book and to a cramped judgment and action. +To say that we are guided by the Spirit, without due regard for the Book +He has been the principal one in writing, leads to fanaticism, or at least +to ill-advised, unbalanced, unnatural opinions and action. + +Naturally one's own judgment and spirit-insight play a large part, for +they make the personal decision, they interpret both Word and Spirit to +us. It is through one's judgment and spirit-insight that the Holy Spirit +and the Word influence the decision and action. The great essential is the +habitual, quiet, broad, thoughtful study of God's Word, with the will and +life utterly yielded to the Holy Spirit. So one's spirit is trained to +understand, and one's judgment to form its conclusions. The Holy Spirit +makes us understand God's purpose as revealed in His Word, and fits this +into the need of practical life. Obedience, intelligent and full, depends +upon the quiet time alone with God over His Word. + +I want to add something more here. It is something startling. _There are +no break-downs in the path of obedience_. I say that very softly, as a +guilty sinner in the matter of break-downs. I remember that the record of +Christian service is like one continuous record of break-downs, broken +bodies, wrecked nerves, sometimes wrecked minds. And I am not saying it to +criticize any one, except it be myself. Out of a long personal experience +of constant going, unwise overwork, and serious break-downs, I am but +confessing my own sins, when I say there are no break-downs in the path of +obedience. Does that mean that there is much earnest service that we have +not been told to do? And the answer must be a very gentle, but very clear, +"Yes." + +But the Man in command has perfect knowledge of what you can do. And _He +never asks you to do anything beyond your strength_. Or, if He does need +you to meet some emergency beyond your strength, He gives the strength +required. He sends in a fresh supply of resurrection life to repair the +waste of your body, and then, too, He calls into use strength, resources, +talents, that you have not known you had. Now I know that if this be +taken seriously, it will lead some to a heart-searching time alone with +the Master. I am sure that if obedience alone is to be the key-note, it +will mean many a readjustment. And it will mean, too, a new flood stream +of power flowing through and out as the connecting parts are re-adjusted. + +There's a helpful literal reading of a verse in Hebrews.[108] "Now the God +of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great +Shepherd of the sheep, with the blood of an eternal covenant, _put you in +joint [with Himself]_ to do _His_ will in every good work, working in you +[or through you] that which is well-pleasing in His sight." Obedience puts +us in joint with Him, if we are out. It keeps us in joint; then the power +flows from Him, through that joint, out where our life touches. + +Obedience is really a music word. It is the rhythmic swinging together of +two wills, His and ours. Rhythm of action is power. Rhythm of colour is +beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. But it's really all music. For power is +music of action. Beauty is music to the eye. Rhythmic sound is music to +the ear and heart. If there might be more of this music, He and we in +perfect accord, how the crowds would be caught by its melody and come +eagerly to listen. + + + +The Heart of Love. + + +And out of the vision comes the heart of love. The sight of the Lord +Jesus' face begets love; and love begets obedience. But obedience never +can keep true away from its father. It is never true full obedience except +it have the throbbing heart of love in it. This is the unfailing mark. +It's so easy to fail here. Yet "love never faileth." The classical +Thirteenth of First Corinthians becomes an indictment. We know it better +in the Book than in life. "Love suffereth long, ... _envieth_ not ... is +not puffed up; doth not behave itself unbecomingly or inconsistently, +seeketh not even its own, is not provoked." Love "beareth" with "all +things" in the one loved, which it would gladly have different, "believeth +all" possibly good "things" of him, "hopeth" for "all" desirable "things" +in him, "endureth all things" in him that hurt and pain. "Love _never_ +faileth." In conversation one day with an unusually earnest worker in the +Orient, we were talking of these things. His work was beset by many sore +perplexities. "Ah," he said, "there is where I have failed. I have not had +the heart of love." And I thought how many of us could say the same thing. + +There are in the Bible three great illustrations of the heart of love. As +Moses came down from the presence of God, and found the people dancing +about the golden calf, he was hotly indignant. But as he goes back to +plead with God, the greatness of his love and grief comes out. In God's +presence their sin is seen to be so much greater. He cries, "Oh, this +people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now +if Thou wilt forgive their sin----" And a great sob breaks the sentence +abruptly off, and it is never finished. The possibility seems to come to +his mind, in this holy presence, that such sin, by these so greatly blest, +could not be forgiven. And that seems to him unbearable. "And if not," if +it cannot be forgiven, "_blot me_, I pray Thee, _out of Thy Book_; but +don't blot them out."[109] + +In the beginning of the great Jew section of Romans, Paul is speaking of +the intense pain of heart he had over the unbelief and stubbornness of his +racial kinsfolk. He says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my +heart. For I could wish _that I myself were accursed_ from Christ for my +brethren's sake, my kinsmen," that so they might not be accursed.[110] Yet +neither Moses nor Paul could so sacrifice himself for another's sin. "No +man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for +him."[111] But Jesus, the pure, sinless one, _was_ blotted out. He _was_ +made a curse. Moses and Paul would if they could. Jesus both could and +did. Was there ever such a heart of love! And that heart was greatest in +its action of love when it broke. + +A simple story has come to me, I cannot remember where, of a woman in +southern China in the province of Kwangtung. She had a serious illness and +was taken to a mission hospital in Canton for treatment. There for the +first time she heard of Christ, of His love and death. And that story +coming so new and fresh transformed her, as she opened her heart to the +Saviour. And a great peace came into her heart, and showed plainly in her +face. Then her thought began turning to her own village. Not a soul there +knew of this wondrous Saviour. If they but knew. But what could she do, +her illness was very serious. + +The next time the physician came by she asked him how long she would live +if she stayed there. He said that he did not know, but he thought about +six months. And how long if she left the hospital and returned home. He +didn't know; maybe three months. And after he had gone she quietly +announced that she was going home. And those about her were greatly +astonished. "Why," they said, "you'll lose half your life!" And the tears +came into her eyes, as a gentle smile overspread her poor worn face, and +she simply said, "Jesus gave His whole life for me; don't you think I'm +glad to give half mine for Him?" I don't know how long she lived. The +story didn't say, but it did tell that most of the people in her village +knew a long life, even an everlasting life, because of her simple telling +of the Gospel story. + +There were the three essentials, though never so thought of or analyzed +by her. She had the vision of Jesus Christ her Saviour, then of those who +had never heard of Him, and then of her own part in the plan of telling +them. The impulse to tell them was obeyed gladly. And the heart of love +counted not her life dear unto herself if only others might be told of +this wondrous Christ Jesus. + + + + +Fellow-Followers + + + +God's Problem. + + +God needs men. That is the tremendous fact that stands out in every +generation. There never has been a corner since Adam walked out of Eden +where that need was not thrust into some man's face, and thrust into God's +face. It is being thrust into our faces to-day as ever before, and as +never before. For the ends of the earth are come upon us, for the helping +touch of our hands, _or_ for the drag-back to be overcome by some one's +else helping touch. + +God is a needy God. That fact is spelled out by every page of this old +Book of His. And it is spelling itself out anew by the book of the life of +the race whose current chapter is being written by our generation. God's +wonderful plan for man lies at the root of His need. In His great +graciousness He made us in His own image. That is, He gave to us the right +of full free choice. He has never infringed upon that image, that right of +choice, by so much as a whispered breath or the moving of a hair. He gave +man the sovereignty of the earth and its life. And every move God has made +among men on earth has been through a man, and through his free consent. + +The tragedy of sin has intensified God's need tremendously. It has +intensified everything, man's misunderstanding and hatred of God, the love +of God's heart for man, and the distance between the two. It is constantly +intensifying pain, sorrow, man's need, and the blight upon nature. It +increases God's difficulty in working out His will of love for man. For it +makes it increasingly hard to get even Christian men to see things through +God's eyes, and gladly give themselves up to His purposes. + +Poor God! Such a needy God! Rich in power, in character, in the loving +worship of the upper world, in His love for all, rich beyond power of +human calculation; so poor in the response of men to the wooing of His +heart. So poor in the glad, intelligent co-operation of those who trust +Him for salvation in the next world, but are content with very little of +it in this. So needy in the lack of those who bring love and life, +intellect and wealth, and lay all at His feet. + +This has been God's problem, to respect the rights He has given man, and +yet work through him in carrying out His great plan of love. This is the +warp into which the whole of the Bible fabric is woven--the tragedy of +sin, of sin-hurt, sin-stubborned men, the patience of God in wooing men +back, and His exquisite tact and unlimited patience is always working +_through_ men's consent, and through human channels. + +To-day He comes to you and me, pleadingly asking us to help Him in His +passionate plan for His race. Some few have the gift of leadership. Most +of us are moulded to follow. He needs both leader and follower. He needs +the _life_. He needs the _love_. Through these, whether in prominent place +or shadowed, in leadership or in following along some well-beaten path, +through these--the _life_, the _love_, He works in His great simple plan +for overcoming the tragedy of sin. That plan includes the whole race. God +has no favourites among the nations. When the hour is ripe for an advance +step, a man is found ripened for leadership. This is the real final +explanation of certain great leaders. It was not the man himself alone, +but the coming together of the time, the man, and the plan; the time for +an advance step, the man who had yielded to God up to the ripening point, +the plan of God. And the decisive thing was the plan of God. + +President Finney used to insist very earnestly that revivals followed a +fixed law of action. When men would with all their hearts fit into the +great laws of grace, there would follow the gracious revival results even +as effect follows cause in nature; and without question he was wholly +right. In addition to this, however, there is a further fact to note, of +which Finney himself was a striking illustration. In God's broader plans +for the race when the time is ripe for an advance step, He has some man in +training for leadership in that hour, and so ripeness of time and of man +and of plan come together. But the chief factor at work is God Himself. + +This, and only this, explains fully certain great religious movements and +leaders. Such men in later centuries as Luther in Germany, Zwingli in +Switzerland, Calvin in France and Switzerland, Wesley and Whitefield in +England, and Finney in both America and England. Only this can +satisfactorily explain Moody's unusual career. He was a man of strong +native parts, of marked individuality, and of utter surrender to God. And +this combination would have brought great results under any circumstances, +but it does not explain the great movement in which he was the leader. It +was God's hour for an advance movement, the man so untrained in men's +schools, was slowly made ready in God's school, and man and hour and plan +fitted together. But the chief emphasis remains on the fact that it was +the time in God's gracious plan for an advance. And the nations of the +earth have been feeling the blessed impulse of that advance ever since. + +But the leaders are few; and what could they do without the great mass of +followers? God needs the faithful ones, unknown by name, hidden away in +quiet corners, each the centre of a group which is touching a larger +group, and so on, ever widening. Everything turns on this,--letting God +have the full use of us; living as though God were the realest thing in +this matter-of-fact, every-day world; going on the supposition that the +Bible is indeed His Word, and is a workable book for daily problems and +needs, the one workable book; making everything bend toward getting His +will done. When we get up into His presence, this will be found to have +been the one thing worth while. When the race story has been all told, the +biography of earth brought to its last page, this will be the one thing +that will stand out, and remain, that we let Him use us just as He would, +and that we have brought everything at our disposal to bear on doing His +will of love. + +He comes to you and me afresh to-day with His old-time winsome patience, +asking the use of us. He always thinks of us in two ways, for our own +sakes and for our help in reaching the others. Followers are messengers. +Some are special messengers in speech. But all are messengers in their +lives; that is, they are meant to be. This is our Lord's plan. He wants us +to _live_ the message. + +That old word "witness" has grown to mean three things, that you _know_ +something, that you _tell_ it, and that you tell it _with your life_. +Every time the word witness is used in the New Testament it stands for +some form of the word underneath from which our English word "martyr" +comes. We have come to associate that word "martyr" with the idea of +giving one's life in a violent way for the truth believed. This is the +meaning that has grown into the word. But the practical meaning of this +martyr-witness word goes a bit deeper yet than this. It is not merely +giving the life out in the crisis of dying, but that the whole life is +being given out in a continual martyrdom, that is, a continual witnessing. +These words, follower, messenger, witness, run together. In following we +are witnesses. We know something about this Man who goes before, a blessed +something that has entered into the marrow and joints of one's being. We +tell it. We tell it chiefly by living it. We are messengers. The whole +life is a message of what Christ Jesus has done for us, and is to us. + + + +A Confession of Faith in Wood and Nails. + + +Now, this is the thing--this _living it_--that God has always counted on +most. There are in the Bible most striking illustrations of lived or +_acted messages_. One man actually preached a sermon nearly fifteen months +long merely by the position of his body. You would call that a long +sermon, but it had the desired result, at least partly. The man got the +ears of the people. They were hardened sermon listeners. The talked +sermons had no effect. So they were given an acted sermon. + +I think it may help to look at a few of the old-time followers. The one +chief thing that marked these men was that they _lived the messages_. They +experienced the truth they stood for, sometimes to the extent of much +suffering. This _experience_ became part of the man's life. And this it +was that God used as His message. You cannot be a follower fully without +the thing taking your very life, and taking it to the feeling, +deep-feeling, point. + +One of the earliest of these followers was _Enoch_. His brief story is +like the first crocus of spring coming up through the cold snow, like a +pretty flower growing up out of the thin crack of earth between great +stones. There was such a contrast with the surroundings. It is in the +Fifth of Genesis, one of the most tiresome chapters in the whole Bible. +Its tiresome monotony is an evidence of its inspiration; for it is a +picture of life with God left out. There are five chapters in Enoch's +biography. He was born; with that he had nothing to do. Like his lineal +descendants and his neighbours he just "_lived"_ for a while, went through +the usual physical and mental and social motions of life, no more. Then a +babe came into his household, a fresh act of God, a fresh call of God, one +of God's loudest calls. This was the turning point. He must have heard and +answered that call, for a new life began. He "walked with God." This +became his chief trait. It stands in contrast with his former life. Before +he merely _lived_; now he was on a higher plane, he _walked with God_. The +final chapter,--"God took him." They two had a long walk one day along the +hilltops--or was it only a short walk?--and Enoch never came back. God +kept him. + +Now, in all this Enoch was God's messenger to the whole race. Jude speaks +of his prophesying or preaching. But the emphasis of this simple Genesis +biography is not on his preaching but on himself. That man walking about +in his simple daily touch of heart with God,--that was the message. It +wasn't an easy thing to do. The whole set of his time was against it. It +was an evil time; impurity and violence were its outstanding traits. +Enoch's life cut straight across the grain of his time. He was the leader +of the first racial family, the chief one in the direct line from Adam. +And he insisted on living habitually a simple, holy, pure life, walking +with God, never out of touch. _Following meant keeping in step with God, +never missing step_. + +And this was talked about. Every one knew it. He was doubtless felt to be +out of touch with his time. And he was, blessedly out of touch. It was +probably never harder to walk with God. But he did it. This is how he +helped God. This is what he was asked to do. God was speaking to the whole +race through this great man's simple habit of life. And He spoke still +louder when, one day, He took him away. Enoch's absence was the talk of +the race. "He was not _found_." Clearly they looked for him, looked +everywhere and discussed him and his peculiar manner of life, his strange +disappearance, and his freedom from death. + +So he met God's need. He became God's medium of communication to the +entire race, simply in what he was, and so it is that most of us may help +God. And if we will, He will be less needy, for He will speak through our +lives to all whom we touch. Following means walking with God. So we help +God in His need. + +And Enoch helped God to get _Noah_. The touch of Enoch is on his +great-grandson. Grace _is_ hereditary, when there's enough of it. Enoch +had the boldness to set a new standard. It was easier for Noah to reach up +toward it, when it was already set. Now, Noah was asked to do something +more. Enoch walked with God, the personal life was the one thing. Noah +walked with God, _and_ did something more. + +He was asked to believe something unusual. It was something that could be +believed only by accepting God's word against every other circumstance and +probability; that is, that a flood was coming to cover the whole earth, +and destroy the race. And he was asked further to put his belief into the +shape of an immense house-boat probably built where it wouldn't float +except such a flood did come. That huge boat was his confession of faith. +He acted his faith. It would be a costly thing, perhaps taking all Noah's +wealth, and taking some years to build. That belief was about the +unlikeliest thing imaginable from every natural standpoint, _with God left +out_. And God is _practically_ left out, except as a very last +questionable consideration, then, and ever since, and to-day. Probably +Noah was the butt of gossip and ridicule, quite possibly of scandal and +reproach, year after year, by the whole race; and he would feel it, and +feel it for his family's sake. That boat and its dreaming builder were the +standing joke of the time. He was regarded as a fool, a fanatic, a poor, +unbalanced enthusiast, building his gigantic boat on dry land! Perhaps +some regretted that he brought the cause of religion into reproach by +being such an extremist. + +Yet the only thing he did was to believe God's word, and to shape his +conduct accordingly. He simply did as God asked. He heard God correctly. +His ears were trained to hear. He did what God wanted, regardless of what +people thought. That was how he helped God in His need. The race was saved +through this fresh start, else it had burned out long ago. Following meant +a true life lived, _and faith in God expressed in wood and nails, and in +good money paid out_, while men met him coldly on the road, or jeered. + + + +Befriending God. + + +Long years afterward there was another man who helped God so decidedly +that he became known as "the friend of God." And the word "friend" is used +this time in the emergency sense. He did the thing God asked him to do, +and this helped God in a plan He was working out for the whole race. God +had to have a man. Abraham was willing to be the man. And in that he +became God's helpful friend. The thing God asked him to do seems very +simple, and yet it was a radical thing for this man to do. He was to leave +his father's family, and all his kinsfolk, and live _a separated life_, +both from them and from all others. It is almost impossible for the West +to realize how close and strong family ties are in the Orient. Separation +meant an unusual, sad break in holiest ties. God was trying a new step in +His fight against sin. He had separated the leader of sin from all +others.[112] He had removed all the race except a seed of good.[113] Both +of these plans had failed, through man's failure. Now a new, +farther-reaching plan is begun. A man is separated from all others, to +become the seed of a new nation, a _faith_ nation, which should be a +different people from others, embodying in themselves God's ideals for +all. + +Abraham is asked to become a separated man in a peculiar sense, separate +outwardly, separate in his worship of the true God, and separate in living +a _faith_ life. It was to be a life dependent wholly on God regardless of +outer circumstance or difficulty. There was a training time of twenty-five +years before Abraham was ready for the next step,--the bringing of the +next in line of this new faith stock. Separation, then still further +separation, an open stand for God in the land of strangers, then a series +of close personal tests, each entering into the marrow of his life,--this +was the training to get the man ready to be a _faith_ father to his son, +the next in line of a faith people. And the hardest test of all came +after the child of faith had grown to manhood. Then he became a child of +faith in his own experience, as well as in his father's. Following meant +separation. It meant believing God against the unlikeliest circumstances, +against nature itself, hoping in the midst of hopelessness. Everything +spelled out "hopelessness." God alone spelled out "hope." He took God +against everything else. It meant going to school to God, until he could +be used as God planned. And Abraham consented. He followed. He helped God +in His need. He befriended God; he became His friend in His need. + +But _every_ generation needs men. Each new step in the plan needs a new +man. In a sore crisis of that plan, long after, another man's name, +_Moses_, is known to us, _only_ because he singled himself out as being +willing to let God use him. In his unconscious training, the training of +circumstances into which it was natural to fit, he was peculiarly prepared +for the future task. Bred in Egypt as the son of the ruler's household, he +received the best school training of his day, with all the peculiar +advantages of his position in the royal family. + +Following meant more to Moses, in what he gave up of worldly advantage, +than to any other named in the Bible record. Egypt was the world empire of +that day. Moses was in the innermost imperial circles, and could easily +have become the dominant spirit of the court, if not the successor to the +Pharaoh's throne. But he heard the call. His mother helped train his ears. +He answered "Yes" to God, without knowing how much was involved. Following +meant giving up, then a long course of training in the university of the +desert, with the sheep and the stars and--God. It meant a repeated risking +of his life not only in his bold dealings with Pharaoh, but afterward with +the nation-mob, mob-nation, whose leader, and father and school-teacher, +and everything else, he had to be for forty years. And it meant much on +the other side, too. + + "Had Moses failed to go, had God + Granted his prayer, there would have been + For him no leadership to win; + No pillared fire; no magic rod, + No smiting of the sea; no tears + Ecstatic, shed on Sinai's steep; + No Nebo, with a God to keep + His burial; only forty years + Of desert, watching with his sheep." + + + +A Yet Deeper Meaning. + + +When we turn to the leaders of the latter years of the Kingdom time of +God's teacher-nation, the prophetic time, there is one thing that stands +out sharply in the men God used. It was this, a man's inner personal life +and experience were made use of to an unusual degree. It is as though the +sacred inner life were sacrificed. The holy privacies were laid bare to +the public gaze. The sweets of the inner holy of holies of the personal +life were given up. The people were so far God-hardened that only _acted_ +preaching, _lived_ messages, that took it out of one's very life, with +pain in the taking, had any effect. + +This is most markedly so in the case of _Hosea_, whose experience it seems +almost if not wholly impossible for us to take in.[114] It is true that +the Christianized West has conceptions of personal privacy to which the +East is a stranger. Yet, even so, the way in which these men were asked to +yield up their inner personal lives, must have been a most marked thing to +these Orientals. For God used it as the one thing apparently, the extreme +thing, to touch their hearts with His appeal. + +_Isaiah_ had just such peculiar experiences. The birth of a son is planned +for, and told of for the purpose of making more emphatic the message to +the dull ears and slow heart of the nation.[115] His two sons bore names +of strange meaning, as a means of teaching truths that were peculiarly +distasteful to the people. Isaiah takes one of these strangely named sons +as he goes to deliver a message to the king. And the son standing by his +father's side is a reminder in his name of a disagreeable truth.[116] A +little later the man is actually required to go about barefooted, and +without clothing sufficient for conventional respectability, and to +continue this for three years.[117] When we remember that he was not an +erratic extremist, but a sober-minded, fine-grained gentleman of +refinement and of a good family, it helps us to understand a little how +hard-hearted and stubborn were a people that could be appealed to only in +such a way. + +And it tells us, too, how utterly surrendered was the man who was willing +thus to give up his private personal life. How much easier to have been +simply an earnest, eloquent preacher, with his inner personal life lived +free from public gaze, a thing sacred to himself. Following meant the +giving up of the sacred private life to a strangely marked degree, for God +to use. + +Even more marked are the experiences that _Jeremiah_ was asked and +consented to go through. It would seem as though the repeated conspiracies +against his life, the repeated imprisonments in vile dungeons dangerous to +health and life, and the shame of being put in the public stocks before +the rabble, would have been much for God to ask, and for a man to give. +But there is something that goes much farther and deeper into the very +marrow of his life than these. He is bidden not to marry, not to have a +family life of his own.[118] And he obeyed. This was to be so only and +solely as a message to the people. A message couched in such startling +language they might listen to. Again we must remember the Oriental setting +to appreciate the significance of this. In the East the unit of society is +not the individual but the _family_. A man's marriage is planned for by +the family, as a means of building up the family. To be childless and +especially son-less was felt to be peculiarly unfortunate, almost +bordering on disgrace. + +This meant for Jeremiah not only the loss of personal joys and delights, +but that his line would be broken off from his father's family. He would +be without heir, or future, in the family history. So following meant +going yet deeper into the inner personal life, for the sake of God's plan. +This giant's strength is revealed in nothing more than in his tear-wet +laments over his people. And he gave all this strength to following. He +said "Yes" to God's need and request, though it must have taken his very +life to say it. + +But _Ezekiel_ was asked to do something even beyond this. He was the +messenger of God to the colony of Hebrew exiles in Assyria. His accounts +of the visions of God reveal a remarkable power of detailed description, +and a remarkably strong mentality. Strange to say, these people in +captivity are yet harder to reach than were their fathers in their native +land. Yet, not strange, for the human heart is the same when it won't open +to the purifying of the upper currents of air. Here the man himself +literally became the message. He actually lay upon his left side for +thirteen months and then on his right side for six weeks longer. + +During all that time he ate food that was particularly repugnant, and it +was carefully weighed out, and the water as carefully measured out for +his use. He had to rise, no doubt, for various reasons, but the bulk of +the time for nearly fifteen months he lay out where all could see him. His +fellow-exiles, I suppose, looked and wondered, laughed and gossiped +perhaps, and then as time wore on, they thought and thought more, and were +awed as they began slowly to take in the meaning of this strange message +of God. Thereafter Ezekiel was the leader, to whose house the leaders of +the colony came, and to whose words they intently listened. + +But there was a yet deeper meaning to following than we have found yet. It +is a meaning that awes one's heart into amazed silence. He was married. +His wife is spoken of very tenderly as "the desire of thine eyes." He was +told that she would be taken away out of his life. She would die. That was +the great thing. Then he was not to mourn outwardly for her; this was the +second thing. He was to be before the people as though the greatest sorrow +of his life had not happened. Is it any wonder the people came astonished +to know what this meant? The simple brevity with which he tells of the +occurrence takes hold of one's heart. "So I spake unto the people in the +morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was +commanded."[119] There was no questioning, no hesitancy of action, but a +simple, prompt obedience, even though his heart was breaking. This was +what God asked of him. God needed this in His dealings with these people +of His in whom His world-plan centred. How desperate must have been the +need that called for such an experience as this! Ezekiel said "Yes" even +to this. Surely there was here some of that Calvary meaning, of the +secondary sort, of which we have spoken together. Following meant not only +giving his personality and life, but now it meant giving what must have +been more than life itself. + + + + +Through Fire. + + +To _Daniel_ following meant something essentially different. He was not a +messenger to his own people, nor their leader. He was a messenger to the +great world-rulers of his time, through the visions he interpreted, and +through his unbending faithfulness and purity of life; The thing that +stands out largest is the life he lived, a life of simplicity in habit, of +purity and consistency, with an unwavering faith in God. God _could_ use +him to speak to the great emperors. So he helped God to get His message to +men so hard to reach through a human channel. + +Following meant a pure life. It was Daniel's insistence on being pure and +true that shut him up with the wild beasts. And it was through his +unflinching fidelity and persistence that God could send His message anew, +in the most public manner, out to all the millions of that great +world-empire. Following meant to a marked degree a pure life as the basis +of the service rendered. It proved to mean a lions' den, _and_ the power +of God overcoming the instincts of ravenous beasts. But clear beyond these +it meant that God could reach His world with His message to an unusual +extent. + +_Daniel's three companions_ helped God by means of a most thrilling +experience, a really terrible experience. God had been pleading with the +great Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel's message. Now He wants to speak again +in a way that will compel attention. He needs these three young men. They +consent to be His messengers. It meant going through a terrible ordeal. +They simply remained true in their personal devotion to God. This was the +thing God needed, and used. Everything of use to God roots down in the +life. The personal plea of the great king, and the prospect of a horrible +death fail alike to move them. They probably had quite resigned themselves +to the fate of being burned alive for the truth. But God had a different +purpose. He was thinking about this ruler with whom He dealt so personally +and unusually, time and again. + +The three men, walking quietly up and down in the seven-times heated +furnace in company with a glorious looking person "like a son of the +gods"--this was the message God wanted spoken to the ruler He was pleading +with. His strangely marvellous power, and His personal regard for His +faithful followers--this was what God was trying to say to Nebuchadnezzar. +He asked the use of these three young men. Their personal loyalty to +Himself even unto death--this was what He wanted. _Through_ this He +reached the heart of the man He was after. + +The experience of these men is an intensely interesting study. It was a +fearful ordeal that they went through. Yet it was wholly mental, and of +the spirit. They suffered no pain of body, nor inconvenience. The fire +only made them free, burned up the bonds that held them. It took great +strength of will, of decision, to stay steady through all the fearful +test. Yet _nothing happened to their bodies_ except to help them. God took +care of that. They gave Him what He asked. He gave them more than they +expected. They probably expected death and were willing. God had a deeper +plan He was working out. How glad they must have been that they followed +fully, that they didn't disappoint God. + +Following meant simply being true, even though the road led through a +furnace. God would attend to the furnace. Their part was simply to follow +where He led. And our God is needing just such acted messages to-day. He +is longing for just such opportunities to reveal His power and love, not +merely _to us_, but through us to His world. + +Let us take time for one more of these faithful followers. This time it is +a young woman. It is at the most critical juncture of God's plan, thus +far. He needed a woman whom He could use to bring His Son, and could use +further to mother that Son's early years. All unconsciously Mary of +Nazareth and of Bethlehem was fitting into His plan in her life, her +simple, pure, godly, personal life. We can understand that God wooed her +especially to such a life of heart devotion as a preparation for the after +part. And she said "Yes" to all His wooings, never suspecting what was to +come of it. You never know how much a simple "Yes" to God may mean, _or_ a +"No." You never know how much of service may grow out of the true life. +Yet all true service is something coming out of the life. + +Then the plan of God was made known to her,--the marvellous plan, yet so +simple to Him. And again she said a simple, awed "Yes." She waits only +long enough to ask the natural, woman's question as to method. There was +no questioning of God's power, what He could do, and would do. It came to +mean hurting suspicion, peculiarly hurting to as pure and gentle a soul as +she. Apparently this was unavoidable. It speaks volumes for her openness +of both mind and heart to God, that she instantly took in Gabriel's +meaning, and could take it in that such an unprecedented thing was +possible. It would have saved her the cruel suspicion if Joseph had been +told beforehand, but the whole probability is that he could not have taken +it in that such a thing was possible. + +Following meant the glad "Yes" to the early wooing up to a pure devoted +life. It meant saying a further "Yes" to the plan of God even though +something so unusual, and with it the misunderstanding and cruel +suspicion, on the one point most sensitive to a woman, and by the one +nearest her. But she said "Yes" both times. She let God have the use of +her life for His plan. That was all He asked. That is all He asks. But +that is what He asks. + +These are a few of the glorious company of followers, the goodly +fellowship of those who have helped God in His passionate plan for His +world, the noble army of willing ones. But the number is incomplete. The +plan is not yet fully worked out. The need is not yet wholly met. It was +never more urgent. To-day the insistent voice still comes as of old, +asking you and me to follow. + +And no one can tell how much _his_ following may mean to God in reaching +His world. + + + + +The Glory Of The Goal,--Face to Face + + + +"With You Always.". + + +Have you ever _seen Christ_? No, I don't mean have you been to some +uplifting convention, and been tremendously caught by some talented, +earnest speaker, and been swayed by the atmosphere of the hour and place, +and felt that all was not just as it should be with you; and then you +prayed more, and made some new resolves, or re-made some old ones, and +left off some things, and put on some things; I don't mean that, but +this--have you ever _seen Christ_? + +No, of course, you don't see Him with these outer eyes. Well, then just +what do I mean practically? _This_--has there come to you a real sense of +Himself? of His presence? of the tremendous plea His presence makes? and, +possibly, you don't know just how to answer. You say, "I'm not just sure," +or "How can I know?" Well, you'll never say it that way, nor ask that +question again after the experience has come. + +May I tell you a little bit about it? Yet, mark you, only "a little bit." +You can never _tell_ another one what it means to see _Him_. When once the +sight has come, every word you utter about it, or Him, seems so lame and +weak that you despair of ever being able to let out at your lips what has +gotten into you. But let me try, even if lamely, in the eager yearning +that it may help you know if, thus far, you have missed seeing _Him_, and +maybe--so much better--help you to _see_ Him. For until you have--well, +nothing, absolutely nothing, is worth while. + +When you see Him there comes such a sense of _His purity_ that, instantly, +you are down on your face in utter despair, because of your own self--your +impurity; your lack of purity; the sharp contrast between Him and you. You +feel that young Isaiah's outcry in the temple that morning is wholly +inadequate. "Unclean lips," is it? Why, the whole thing, from innermost +recesses clear through and out, is unclean. Then it dawns upon you that +this is really what Isaiah is feeling and trying to express in his "woe" +and "undone." + +And that vivid sense of contrast between Him and you never grows less, but +more acute and deeper. Even when you come to know Him better, and the +sweet peace comes with its untellable balm to your spirit, yet you are +always conscious of the contrast, and you know that _you_ are not pure; +only _He_ is; and all you can do is to keep under the cleansing stream of +His blood, very low down. + + "Never higher than His piercèd feet, + Never farther than His bleeding side." + +With that comes such a sense of _Himself_, of His--what word can tell +it?--His glory,--which means simply His character, what He is in +Himself--that again words can never tell out the sense of your own +littleness; no, that is not the word, your own _nothingness_. And now you +recall, with an inner shrinking, how well you have thought of yourself, +how much you have talked about yourself and your view of things, perhaps +in the language of a properly phrased humility. Now you are dumb. His +presence dumbs you. You begin to wonder at the strange self-confidence and +self-complacence that have been so common even in your holiest moments and +experiences. It seems, in this Presence, as though you could never open +your lips again--except to speak of _Him_. + +Then your eyes are drawn more intently to His person,--His face, His +wounds. The scars where the thorns tore His great, patient face; the +grief-whitened hair, draped above those deep, tender, unspeakable eyes; +that strangely rough place in the palm so lovingly outstretched; the +spear-scar, the nail-marks in those feet coming over to you,--these grip +you. Their meaning begins to come. There's cleansing; yes, blessed fact! +there's _cleansing_ from this horrid impurity whose stain you are so +conscious of. Yet, what it cost Him! What my impurity forced upon Him! +Yes, cleansed; blessed Jesus! What a relief to be cleansed! Yet I must +_stay_ under the stream; only so can the sense of relief be continual. +And I must stay down on my face at His feet. It is the only place for such +as I discover myself to be. Yet what grace to let me stay at His feet! + +Have you _seen Christ_? This is what begins to come when you have--His +purity, your contrasted lack; His glorious self, your own nothingness in +yourself; His suffering--the price of your cleansing. This is only a +beginning, yet a beginning that comes to be the continuous thing. + + + +Closer Acquaintance. + + +After a little, as you are sitting still in His presence, and have become +a bit quieter after that flush of first emotions at seeing Him, you begin +to be caught all anew with how _lovable_ He is. This takes great hold of +you. I overheard a once-drunken, now thoroughly changed man, up in +Scotland, as he was fairly pouring out his heart in prayer in his sweet, +broad Scotch,--"Once Thou didst have no form or comeliness to me, but +now"--and it seemed as if all the pent-up feelings within rushed at once +to flood-tide--"_now_ Thou art the chiefest among ten thousand, and the +One altogether lovely." And the high-water mark of the flood was touched +on "chiefest" and "altogether." + +That first look made you think mostly of your-self--an inner loathing. Now +you think of _Him_. He is so lovable, so true and tender, and patient and +pure; again your language gives out, and you feel better content just to +look without trying to use words. They're such poor things when it comes +to telling about Him. He is so much more than anything that can be said +about Him. His will is so wise and thoughtful and far-reaching and loving. +Strange how stupid you have been in insisting so strenuously and blindly +on having your own way. His plan, His thought about everything concerning +you, is _so_ superb. And He asks me to be His follower. What joy! What if +the way be a bit rough; it's following _Him_; that's enough. He calls me +to be His personal friend. I can hardly take it in,--His _friend_? Yes, +that's His own word. Well, let any thorns tear because of the narrowing of +the road; I'm His friend, man, do you hear? His _friend_,--do you get hold +of that word? What can any thorn thing do against that! + +"We" may go hand in hand now,--His is pierced; I feel the scar where our +hands touch. But we're together at last, _the_ thing He has been working +for. I can feel His presence. I can hear the low music of His voice +within. Thorns don't count here. Oh, yes, I _feel_ them; they haven't lost +their power to slash and sting,--but--with _Him_ so close +alongside!--Wondrous Christ, here I am at Thy feet, Thy glad slave +forever. I'm wholly Thine. It's my own choice. I'll never go any other way +by Thy grace. This is the second bit that comes, the glad surrender of +life to His mastery. Do you know about this? You will, when you've _seen +Christ_. + +Then you come to know, without being able to tell just how, that He is +not only _with_ you, but _within_ you. At first His presence may have +seemed as something outside yourself. You were looking away at some One +who was looking at you. And His look at you broke your heart, and made +your will, once so strangely strong in itself, now as strangely pliable to +His as only a strong will can be. But now He is living within you. You may +not be clear just how the change came. But you do know that there's a +something which you come to know is a some One, who is within. His +presence is peace past understanding, but not past appreciation. There's a +longing for His Word, a desire to talk with Him even when you don't want +to ask for something, a deep heart-cry for purity, a burning within to +please Him. These all seem to come from Him, and at the same time to be +satisfied by Himself, even while they remain and increase. + +And yet more, while this Presence within seems so quietly real and +exquisitely peace-bringing, there is still the outer presence, the One +whose presence it was at the first that brought all this change. Two +presences, one above, enthroned there; one within, enthroned there; yet +they seem the same, as though one personality with two presences had come +into your consciousness. There's the Lord Jesus above at the Father's +right hand; here's the Holy Spirit within at my right hand,[120] yet in +practical effect they are as one, while one's thought is always directed +to the Lord Jesus both within and above. + +The Presence within makes you think wholly of the Presence above, who yet +seems also to be within. You are getting a taste of the practical meaning +of the Trinity now, three that in effect are as one. But you are too much +taken up with the gladness of it to think about the metaphysics of it. +He--whether within, or above, or both--is so much more than words. The +experience is so much more than any explanation. You are not concerned +about the explanation so long as you can have the sweet experience. + + + +The Final Goal. + + +This is the third bit that comes when you've seen Christ, the gracious +indwelling of the Lord Jesus' other self, the Holy Spirit. But if you have +seen Him, you are probably not counting steps nor analyzing processes, but +just singing a bit of joyous praise to Him. + +Then there's _the outer turn; He_ does that. He draws you to Himself, and +yet at the same time sends you away--no, not _from_ Him--_for_ Him, out to +the others He hungers after, even as after you. Up, in, out,--so He draws +and directs, up to Himself, in by contrast to one's self with a holding +hard to Him while looking within, then a sending out to the others. He +kindles a fire, He is a fire, drawing, burning, cleansing, warming, then +driving you forth, and doing all at the same time. Wondrous fine, this +fire of love--of His heart--of Himself. The common word for this is +"service." The word doesn't matter much. Service is a good word. But the +thing that comes seems so much more than this word seems to contain. + +That hand that was pierced, which has been to you so tender and warm, and +in its clasp so expressive of this wondrous friendship--that hand now +leads you where you had not thought of going. _And you go_,--aghast almost +at first at the radical change in your carefully worked out plans, losing +your breath for a moment as you wonder what "they" _will_ think (though +"they" never will _understand_, unless--ah, yes, unless they see _Him_). +That hand reaches in where your life touches others, in the family, the +business circle, the social circle, and moulds you over anew in the old +relationships, not taking you away from them (though there may be some +partings), but making you a new presence in the midst of them. + +That hand reaches into your pocket, and your safety-deposit box, in among +the title papers and securities, and shakes off the dust and rust, and +sends them out on an errand after the others. That fire--Himself--draws +all into the smelting-pot. Its alchemy transmutes possessions into lives, +redeemed, sweetened, Jesus-touched, Christ-renewed lives, made like +Himself. And the sweet music of their new lives comes up into _His_ +gladdened ears, and a few of the strains come to cheer you. One may have +at first a strange feeling of bareness, for things that we've always clung +to as essential have gone out from us to others. But with the outgoing of +things has come an incoming of _Himself_, in greater abundance than we +dreamed possible. He, within, completely overbalances what He has sent out +from us into use. _He_--He is _everything_. + +The usual word for all this is "service," a blessed word. Yet service +seems to suggest your doing something for Him among others. This is quite +different. It is _His_ doing something _with_ you for others. The thing +itself is so much more than any word. Christ is so much more than anything +you say about Him. The truth is always less than Himself. But one never +understands how much that means till he has seen Christ. Have _you_ seen +Christ? Then others shall see Him, too, in you, and through you. + +This is the glory of the goal--face to face with Himself. It begins now. +It is a very real thing. This is a bit of the meaning of that mountain +beatitude, "the pure in heart ... shall _see God_." Yet only he who sees +understands what seeing means. The subtle intensity of God's presence +cannot be explained, only understood by the purified in heart. Only the +opened eyes see. + +But this is only a beginning. There will be the far greater glory of the +final goal, as we come into His immediate presence, literally face to +face. That may be when we are called away from the lower road up to the +higher reaches, above the clouds and the blue, the glory-reaches, up where +He now sits. It may be by that goal coming nearer, by Himself actually +coming on the clouds in great glory, for His own and for the next chapter +in His great world-plan. Then we shall be caught up into His presence. +Then we shall be fully like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. + +And we shall be sharers in His glory, in the Kingdom time of glad earth +service. But we shall be thinking only of Himself--face to face. + + + + +Footnotes + + +[1] John i. 1, 2, 14, 18; Colossians i. 15; II Corinthians iv. 4; +Philippians ii. 6; Hebrews i. 3. + +[2] John xv. 15; Psalm xxv. 14; Isaiah xli. 8; II Chronicles xx. 7; James +ii. 23. + +[3] Matthew iv. 4; where the emphatic word is "man," standing in contrast +with "Son of God" in verse 3. + +[4] Acts xvii. 28; Job xii. 10; Daniel v. 23 l.c.; Psalm cxxxix. 1-16. + +[5] Philippians ii. 6-8. + +[6] Romans xii. 19; Deuteronomy xxxii. 35; Psalm xciv. 1; Proverbs xx. 22; +I Peter ii. 23; I Corinthians xiii. 5, second clause. + +[7] John xi. 41, 42; xii. 27, 28; Luke x. 21. + +[8] Deuteronomy viii. 17, 18. + +[9] Matthew v. 3. + +[10] John viii. 28, 29. + +[11] Genesis i. 26-28. + +[12] 1 Philippians ii. 8; Hebrews v. 8; Romans v. 19 l.c.; John x. 18 l.c. + +[13] Hebrews ii. 18. + +[14] Hebrews xii. 29. + +[15] Romans iii. 26, latter half; free reading--"that He (God) might be +seen to be just and righteous in forgiving a man's sin when he trusted in +Jesus." + +[16] Eden: delight. + +[17] Genesis ii. 8-20. + +[18] Genesis iii. 8, 9 + +[19] Genesis iv.-vi. + +[20] Genesis vi. 6; Deuteronomy v. 29; Psalm lxxxi. 13; Isaiah xlviii. 18. + +[21] Mark xii. 1-8; II Chronicles xxxvi. 15, 16--These passages, and many +similar, while speaking directly of the one nation Israel, are giving a +picture of the heart of God toward all men, and His habit of action. +Israel itself was the messenger-nation, whose life was meant to be God's +message of love to all the race. + +[22] John i. 1-18, especially verses 1-5, 14. + +[23] John i. 14 f.c. + +[24] Matthew ii. 22, 23. + +[25] John i. 19-28. + +[26] E. C. Clephane. + +[27] Psalm xl. 8 f.c.; John iv. 34; Hebrews xii. 2. + +[28] Matthew xi. 28. + +[29] Matthew iv. 19, with Luke v. 1-11. + +[30] Matthew xi. 29, 30. + +[31] John xiii. 31-xvi. 33. + +[32] John xx. 21. + +[33] Matthew xxviii. 18-20. + +[34] John i. 35-42. + +[35] Matthew iv. 18-22, with Luke v. 1-11. + +[36] Matthew x. 1-5; Mark iii. 14-19; Luke vi. 12-17. + +[37] Matthew xvi. 13-28. + +[38] Matthew xvi. 24; Mark viii. 34; Luke ix. 23. + +[39] Matthew xxvi. 58. + +[40] John xxi. 15-19. + +[41] Acts v. 41. + +[42] I John. + +[43] Acts i, 1. + +[44] Luke xiv. 25-35. + +[45] Mark x. 17-22. + +[46] In "Other Sheep," by Harold Begbie. + +[47] Luke xiv. 25-35, with Matthew v. 13. + +[48] Luke xxi. 28. + +[49] Mark x. 17-22. + +[50] Acts xxii. 11, with ix. 1-9. + +[51] Luke xxiv. 40; John xx. 20. + +[52] John i. 19-28. + +[53] Romans viii. 34; Hebrews vii. 25. + +[54] I John ii. 1; Hebrews ix. 24. + +[55] Isaiah xi 2; lxi. 1, with Luke iv. 18-21. + +[56] Psalm xxv. 3 f.c. + +[57] John iii. 34 f.c. + +[58] Isaiah xliv. 3; John vii. 37-39. + +[59] Acts viii. 4-8, 26-40. + +[60] Matthew v. 42. + +[61] Isaiah xxxviii. 17, margin. + +[62] Matthew iv. 23; ix. 35. + +[63] Luke v. 15, 16. The language underneath here suggests a habitual +going aside to pray, as an offset to the work with the crowds. + +[64] Matthew xxv. 40. + +[65] James i. 2, 3. + +[66] Matthew vi. 13. + +[67] James i. 13. + +[68] Matthew xxvi. 41. + +[69] John xiii., xiv. + +[70] John xv., xvi. + +[71] John xvii. + +[72] Lucy Rider Meyer. + +[73] Exodus xxxii. 31, 32 + +[74] Romans ix. 1-3. + +[75] II Corinthians iv. 12. + +[76] Colossians i. 24. + +[77] I Corinthians xv. 3, 4. + +[78] Acts i. 1. + +[79] Matthew xxvii. 59, 60. + +[80] Matthew xxvii. 62, 66. + +[81] John xii. 24. + +[82] John xii. 20-32. + +[83] Isaiah v. 20. + +[84] Matthew xvi. 21-28. + +[85] John xv. + +[86] Hebrews xii. 2. + +[87] II Corinthians iii. 18. + +[88] Romans viii. 11. + +[89] II Corinthians iv. 11. "Dying" in these two passages does not mean +being in the process of dissolution, but that the body is subject to +death. + +[90] Ephesians i. 20, 21; Acts ii. 33; John xiv. 12, 13; Romans viii. +34; Hebrews vii. 25; ix. 24. + +[91] Colossians iii. I; Ephesians ii. 6. + +[92] Psalm xxii. 8, 9. + +[93] Revelation ii. 26, 27; v. 10; xx. 4. + +[94] Psalm lxxxiv. 11. + +[95] Anonymous, in "Egyptian Mission News," copied from S. M. Zwemer's +"Unoccupied Fields of the World." + +[96] Hebrews x. 12, 13. + +[97] Revelation ii., iii. + +[98] Numbers xiv. 24 xxxii. 12; Deuteronomy i. 36; Joshua xiv. 8, 9, 14. + +[99] Matthew xvi. 24. + +[100] John xii. 26. + +[101] John vi. 70. + +[102] Matthew xix. 27. + +[103] Luke ix. 51-54. + +[104] Genesis xvi. + +[105] Galatians ii 11-14. + +[106] Luke ii. 49. + +[107] Zechariah xiv. 4. + +[108] Hebrews xiii. 20, 21. + +[109] Exodus xxxii. 31, 32. + +[110] Romans ix. 1-3. + +[111] Psalm xlix. 7. + +[112] Genesis iv. 12-16. + +[113] Genesis vi. 17, 18. + +[114] Hosea i. 2-9; iii 1-3. + +[115] Isaiah vii. 3-17. + +[116] Isaiah viii. 1-3. + +[117] Isaiah xx. 1-4. + +[118] Jeremiah xvi. 1-4. + +[119] Ezekiel xxiv. 15-19. + +[120] Psalm xvi. 8. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Quiet Talks on Following the Christ, by +S. D. 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D. Gordon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Quiet Talks on Following the Christ + +Author: S. D. Gordon + +Release Date: June 1, 2006 [EBook #18486] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON FOLLOWING THE *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div id="tp"> + +<h1 class="title">Quiet Talks on Following the Christ</h1> + +<p class="byline">By</p> <h2 class="author">S. D. Gordon</h2> + + +<h4>Author of<br /> "<i>Quiet Talks On Power</i>,"<br /> "<i>Quiet Talks on Prayer</i>,"<br /> "<i>Quiet +Talks On Our Lord's Return</i>," etc.</h4> + +<h4>New York Chicago Toronto<br /> +Fleming H. Revell Company<br /> +London and Edinburgh</h4> +</div> + + +<div id="verso"> +<div class="copyright"><div class="line">Copyright, 1913, by</div> +<div class="line">Fleming H. Revell Company</div></div> + + +<div>New York: 158 Fifth Avenue</div> +<div>Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave.</div> +<div>Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W.</div> +<div>London: 21 Paternoster Square</div> +<div>Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street</div> +</div> + + +<div id="toc"> +<h2>Contents</h2> + + + +<p><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></p> +<ol> + <li><a href="#ch01">The Lone Man Who Went Before</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch02">The Long, Rough Road He Trod</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch03">The Pleading Call To Follow</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04">What Following Means</a> + <ol> + <li><a href="#ch04-1">A Look Ahead</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-2">The Main Road</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-3">The Valleys</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-4">The Hilltops</a></li> + </ol> + </li> + <li><a href="#ch05">Shall We Go?</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch06">Finger-Posts</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch07">Fellow-Followers</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch08">The Glory of the Goal,--face To Face</a></li> +</ol></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="introduction"> +<h2>Introduction</h2> + +<p>These talks have been given, in substance, at various gatherings in +Great Britain, Continental Europe, and parts of the Far East, during the +past four years. The simple directness of the spoken word has been +allowed to stand. Portions of chapters three, four, six, and eight have +appeared at various times in "The Sunday School Times."</p> + +<p>If any who read may find some practical help through the Master's +gracious touch upon these simple words, they are earnestly asked to add +their prayers that that same gracious touch may be felt by others +wherever these talks may go.</p> + +</div> + + + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch01"> +<h2>The Lone Man Who Went Before</h2> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>A Call to Friendship.</h4> + + +<p>One day I watched two young men, a Japanese and an American, pacing the +deck of a Japanese liner bound for San Francisco. Their heads were close +together and bent down, and they were talking earnestly. The Japanese was +saying, "Oh, yes, I believe all that as a theory, but is there <i>power</i> to +make a man <i>live</i> it?"</p> + +<p>He was an officer of the ship, one of the finest boats on the Pacific. The +American was a young fellow who had gone out to Japan as a government +teacher, and when his earnest sort of Christianity led to his dismissal he +remained, and still remains, as a volunteer missionary. With his rare gift +in personal touch he had won the young officer's confidence, and was +explaining what Christianity stood for, when the Japanese politely +interrupted him with his question about power. The tense eagerness of his +manner and voice let one see the hunger of his heart. He had high ideals +of life, but confessed that every time he was in port, the shore +temptations proved too much, and he always came back on board with a +feeling of bitter defeat. He had read about Christianity and believed it +good in theory. But he knew nothing of its power.</p> + +<p>Through his new American friend he came into personal touch with Christ, +then and there. And up to the day we docked he put in his spare time +bringing other Japanese to his friend's stateroom, and there more than one +of them knelt, and came into warm touch of heart with the Lord Jesus.</p> + +<p>Just so our Lord Jesus draws men, Oriental and Occidental alike. Just so +He drew men when He was down here. He had great drawing power. Men came +eagerly wherever they could find Him.</p> + +<p>He drew all sorts of men. He drew the Jews, to whom He belonged racially. +He drew the aggressive, domineering Romans, and the gentler cultured +Greeks. He drew the half-breed Samaritans, who were despised by both Jew +and foreigner, as not being either one thing or the other. The military +men and the civilians, the cultured and the unlettered, the official class +and those in private life, all alike felt the strong pull upon their +hearts of His presence.</p> + +<p>The pure of heart, like gentle Mary of Bethany, and the guileless +Nathanael, were drawn to Him. And the very opposite, those openly bad in +their life, couldn't resist His presence, and the call away from their +low, bad level, but eagerly took His hand and came up. Fisherfolk and +farmers, dwellers in the city and country, scholars and tradesmen, crude +and refined, richly clad and ragged,—all sorts contentedly rubbed elbows +and jostled each other in the crowds that came to listen, and stayed to +listen longer, and then went away to come back again for more.</p> + +<p>This was why He came—to draw men to Himself. Our Lord Jesus was the face +of God looking longingly into men's faces. And they couldn't withstand the +appeal of that gentle strong face. He was the voice of God talking into +men's ears; and the music of that low, quiet voice thrilled and thralled +their hearts. He was the hand of God, strong and warm, reaching down to +take men by the hand and give them a strong lift up and back to the old +Eden life. And, in time, as men put their hand in His, they came to feel +the little knotted place in the palm of that outstretched hand, and the +feel of it went strangely into their inmost being. He was the heart of +God, tender and true, beating rhythmically in time and tune with the human +heart. And the music had, and has, strange power of appeal to human +hearts, and power to sway human lives like a great wind in the trees.</p> + +<p>Our Lord Jesus was the person of God in human shape and human garb, come +down close, to draw us men back again to the old trysting place under the +Tree of Life. And in every generation, and every corner of the earth, +then, and ever since then, men of every colour and sort have come back, +and found how His presence eases the tug of life on many a steep roadway, +and more, much more.<sup><a href="#fn1">[1]</a></sup></p> + +<p>And our Lord Jesus drew men into personal friendship with Himself. He +didn't like the long range way of doing things. Keeping men at arm's +length never suited Him. He gave the inner heart touch, and He longed for +the touch of the innermost heart. He was our friend. He asked that we be +His friends, real friends of the rare sort, of which one's life has only a +few.</p> + +<p>And He asked, too, that all else that we brought to Him should be that +which grew out of this personal friendship. He gave and did all that He +did and gave, because He was our friend. He asked only for what grew out +of a real heart friendship with Himself. He longed to have us give all, +yet only what our hearts couldn't hold back. His friendship has one thing +peculiar to itself. He has no favourites, in our common thought of that +word, among the countless numbers who have come to be included in His +inner circle of friends. Yet He gives to each such a distinctive personal +touch of His own heart that you feel yourself to be on closest terms. He +is nearer and closer than any other, and your longing is to be as near and +close to Him in life as He is to you in His heart.<sup><a href="#fn2">[2]</a></sup></p> + +<p>Now, because we are His friends and He is our friend, He calls us to +follow Him. It is a privilege of friendship. He would share with you and +with me the things of His own heart and life. He wants to have us come +close up to Himself, and live close up. And the only way we can do it is +by giving a glad "Yes" to His invitation, and following so close that we +shall be up to Himself. Nothing less than this contents His longing.</p> + +<p>But there is more than friendship here. He has a plan of action in His +heart. It is a wide-reaching plan, clear beyond our idea of what +wide-reaching means. It is nothing less than a plan for the whole world, +the entire race, for winning it up to the old Eden life of purity and of +close walking with God. That plan is the passion of His great heart. He +has held nothing back—spared nothing—that it might be done. He is +thinking of that plan as He comes eagerly to you and me, now, all afresh, +and with His heart in His voice says "Follow Me." This is a bit of His +plan for me and for you—that we shall be partners with Him in His plan +for the world.</p> + +<p>And yet—and yet—this helping Him, this partnership, this working with +Him in His plan, is to be because of our friendship, His and mine, His and +yours. It is a more than friendship He is thinking of. But that more is +<i>through</i> the friendship. It grows out of the friendship. Only so does it +work out His real plan.</p> +</div> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Climbing the Hilltops.</h4> + + +<p>Now this "Follow Me" of His, if taken into one's life, and followed up, +will come to mean two things. There are two great things that stand +sharply out in our Lord Jesus' life down here, His <i>characteristics</i> and +His <i>experiences</i>. I mean what He was in Himself; and what He went +through, suffered, enjoyed, and accomplished; the Man Himself, and the +Man's experiences. These are the two things about which these simple talks +will be grouped. Our Lord Jesus wants us to follow that we may climb up +the hill as high as He did in these things.</p> + +<p>Following means climbing. A friend has told recently of a journey taken to +a certain village in New England from which, she had been told, a fine +view could be got of the White Mountains. On arrival it seemed that a low +hill completely shut out the view, to her intense disappointment. But her +companion, by and by, called from the top of the low hill and eagerly +beckoned her to come up. A bit of climbing quickly brought her to where +the magnificent beauty of the mountains broke upon her delighted eyes.</p> + +<p>Our Lord Jesus climbed the hilltops, both in His character and in His +experiences. He wants us to share those rare hilltops with Him. He has +gone away ahead of any other. He is the Lone Man in both character and +experiences. And in some of His experiences He will ever remain the lone +occupant of the hilltop. But He is eager for our companionship. He longs +for the personal touch. He wants us to have all He has got. He has blazed +a way through the thicket where there was no path before. He left the +plain marks on the trees as He went through, so we could surely find the +way. And now He eagerly beckons us to follow.</p> + +<p>But following means climbing. It's a hill road, sometimes down hill, +sometimes up hill. Which makes stiffer climbing? Usually the one you are +doing seems the harder. Sometimes the road is a dead level between hills. +And dead level walking—the monotonous dead-a-way, with no bracing air, no +inspiring outlook—is often much harder than down hill or up. And so it +too is climbing. Following means climbing. He climbed. He made the high +climb all alone. No other ever had the courage to climb so high as He. +It's easier since He has smoothed down the road with His own feet; yet it +isn't easy; still it is easier than not climbing; that is, when you reckon +the whole thing up—with <i>Him</i> in.</p> + +<p>Now He asks you and me to climb. He cannot climb for you. That is, I mean +He cannot do the climbing you ought to do. He has climbed for us, marked +out the hill path, and made it possible for us to climb up too. But the +after-climbing He cannot do for us. Each must do his own climbing. So +lungs grow deeper, and heart-action stronger, and cheeks clearer, and +muscles firmer. Step by step we must pull up, maybe through a fog, with no +view of beauty, no bracing air yet, only His strong beckoning hand.</p> + +<p>But those who reach up and get hold of hands with Him, and get up even to +some of the lower reaches of the climb, stand with full hearts and dumb +lips. They can't find words to tell the exhilaration of the climb, the +bracing air, the far outlook, and, yet more, the wondrous presence of the +Chief Climber, even though there's a bit of smarting of face and hands +where the thorny tanglewood tore a bit as you went by.</p> + +<p>Just now I want you to come with me for a bit of a look at the Lone Man, +who has gone before. I mean at the Man Himself. We want to take a look at +the characteristics of His life; what the Man was in His character.</p> + +<p>And please understand me here. Following does not mean that we are to try +to imitate these characteristics. No, it's something both simpler and +easier, and deeper and better than that. It means that, as we companion +with Him daily, these same traits will appear in us. It is not to be +imitation simply, good as that might seem, yet always bringing a sense of +failure, and that sense the thing you remember most. It is to be some One +living His life in you, coming in through the open door of your will. Your +part is opening up, and keeping open, listening and loving and obeying. +The touchstone of the "Follow Me" life is not imitation but following; not +copying but obeying; not struggle—though there will be struggle—but +companionship, a companionship which nothing is allowed to take the fine +edge off of.</p> + +<p>And please remember, too, the meaning for us sinful men of these +characteristics of His. With us character is a result of choice, and then +nearly always—or should I cut out that "nearly"? the earnest man in the +thick of the fight finds no "nearlys"—it's always with him—character is +always the result of a fight to keep to the choice decided upon.</p> + +<p>Now with greatest reverence for our Lord Jesus, let me say, <i>it was so +with Him</i>. He was as truly God as though not man. Yet He lived His +life,—He insisted on living His life, on the human level.<sup><a href="#fn3">[3]</a></sup> He was as +truly human as though not peculiarly divine. He had the enormous advantage +of a virgin birth, a divine fatherhood with a human motherhood. And, be it +said with utmost reverence, He needed that advantage for the terrific +conflict and the tremendous task of His life, such as no other has known. +But His character as a man—the thing we are to look at now—was a result +of choice, and choice insisted upon against terrible odds.</p> + +<p>This gives new meaning to His "Follow Me." He went the same sort of road +that we must go. He insisted on treading <i>our</i> road. It was not one made +easier for His specially prepared feet. It was the common earth road every +man must go, who will. And so the way He went we can go if we will, every +step of it. By His help working through our wills, we <i>can</i>, and, please +God, surely we will.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Dependent Life.</h4> + + +<p>There were <i>three traits in His character upward</i>, that is in His relation +with His Father. First of all He chose to live <i>the dependent life</i>. He +recognized that everything He was, and had, and could do, was received +from the Father, and could be at its true best only as the Father's direct +touch was upon it. This was the atmosphere in which all His human powers +would do their best. He had nothing of Himself, and could do nothing of +Himself. This is the plan the Father has made for human life and +effort.<sup><a href="#fn4">[4]</a></sup> Our Lord Jesus recognized this and lived it. Our common word +for this is humility. Humility is a matter of relationship. It means +keeping one's relationship with the Father clear and dominant. And this in +turn radically affects and controls our relationship with our fellows.</p> + +<p>There were three degrees or steps in the dependent life He chose to live. +There was the giving up part, then the accepting for Himself the plan of +human life, and then accepting it even to the extent of yielding to wrong +and shameful treatment, without attempting to assert His rights against +such treatment. These were the three steps in His humility. In Paul's +striking phrase, He "emptied out" of Himself all He had in glory with the +Father before coming to the earth; He decided to come to the human level +and live fully the human life of utter dependence; and He carried this to +the extent of being wholly dependent on the Father for righting the wrongs +done Him.<sup><a href="#fn5">[5]</a></sup></p> + +<p>This is God's plan for the human life. It is to be a dependent life. It +actually is a dependent life, utterly dependent upon Him. It is to be +lived so. Then only is the fragrance of it gotten. It is part of the +dependent life—the true human life—that we depend on the Father for +vindication when wronged, as for everything else.<sup><a href="#fn6">[6]</a></sup></p> + +<p>Our Lord Jesus chose to live this life. There was an entire absence of the +self-spirit, that is the self-assertive, the self-confident spirit. There +was a remarkable confidence in action, but it was confidence in His +Father's unfailing response to His requests or needs. This sense of utter +dependence was natural to Him; as indeed it is natural to man unhurt by +sin. And then He carefully cultivated it. As He came in contact with the +very opposite all around Him, He set Himself—indeed He had to set +Himself—to keeping this sense of dependence untainted, unhurt by His +surroundings.</p> + +<p>Now there were three things which naturally grew out of this dependent +life, or which naturally are part of it. One was, the sense of His Father, +and of His Father's presence. In a perfectly simple natural way, He was +always conscious of His Father's presence. Is this the meaning—one +meaning—of "blessed are the pure in heart for they shall <i>see God</i>"? And +then He doubtless set Himself to cultivate this, as an offset to what He +found around Him. He would quietly look up and speak to the Father in the +midst of a crowd.<sup><a href="#fn7">[7]</a></sup> This was the natural thing to do. He was more +conscious of the Father's presence than of the crowd pressing in to get +near. When He was speaking to the crowd He knew the Father too was +listening. He felt the Father watching as He helped the people. This was +the natural thing with Him, the presence of the Father.</p> + +<p>With this there went a second thing, the habit of getting alone to talk +things over with the Father. The common word for this is prayer. Without +doubt His whole outer life grew out of His inner secret talking things out +with the Father. Everything was passed in review here, first of all. This +naturally grew out of the consciousness of His Father's presence, and this +in turn increased that consciousness. So He was in the habit of looking at +everything through His Father's eyes.</p> + +<p>And with these two, there was plainly a third thing, a settled sense of +the power, the authority, of God's written Word. It was not simply that He +did not question it, but there was a deep-rooted sense grown down into +His very being that God was speaking in the Book, and that this revelation +of Himself and His will was <i>the thing</i> to govern absolutely one's life. +This points back to a study of the Book. Doubtless that Nazareth shop was +a study shop too. He quoted readily and freely from all portions of the +Old Testament Bible. He seemed saturated with both its language and its +spirit. The basis of such familiarity would be long, painstaking, +prayerful study.</p> + +<p>These three things naturally grew out of the dependent life He had +deliberately chosen to live and were a part of it. They were necessary to +it. These are the lungs and the heart of the dependent life.</p> + +<p>Now His "Follow Me" does not mean merely that we try to imitate Him in all +this. We will naturally long to do so. And He is the example we will ever +be eager to follow. But the meaning goes deeper than this. It means that +as we really come close up in the road behind Him this will come to be the +natural atmosphere of our lives. We let <i>Him</i> in, and His presence within, +yielded to and cultivated and obeyed, will work this sort of thing out in +our lives. We will come to recognize, and then to feel deep down in our +spirit, how dependent we are upon Him in everything. We will gradually +come to realize intensely that the dependent life is the true natural +life. It is God's plan. It reveals wondrously His love. It draws out +wondrously our love, and radically changes the whole spirit of the life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Poor—Except in Spirit.</h4> + + +<p>Now of course all this is in sharpest contrast to the common spirit of +life as men live, then and now. The spirit that dominates human life +everywhere is a spirit of independence. And this seems intensified in our +day to a terrific degree. There is, of course, a good independence in our +dealings with our fellows. But this is carried to the extreme of +independence of every one, even—say it softly—of God Himself. +Criticising God, ignoring Him, leaving Him severely out so far as we are +concerned,—this has become the commonplace. If for a moment He ignored +us, how quickly things would go to pieces! This has come to be the +dominant spirit of the whole race to a degree more marked than ever +before, if that be possible.</p> + +<p>It seems to come into life early. I have seen a little tot, whom I could +with no inconvenience have tucked under my arm, walking down the road, +head up in the air, breathing out an aggressive self-confidence, and +defiance of all around, worthy of one of the old-time kings. And I +recognized that he had simply absorbed the atmosphere in which his four +brief years had been lived.</p> + +<p>This has come to be the inbred spirit of mankind. Everywhere this proud, +self-assertive, self-sufficient, self-confident, self-aggressive spirit is +found, in varying degree. It is coupled sometimes with laughable +ignorance; sometimes with real learning and wisdom and culture. It is +emphasized sometimes the more by school training, and other such +advantages. But through all these accidental things it remains,—the +dominant human characteristic. The chief letter in man's alphabet is the +one next after h, spelled and written with a large capital. The yellow +fever—the fever for gold—so increasingly epidemic, is at heart a bit of +the same thing. The money gives power, and power gives a certain +independence of others, and then a certain compelling of others to be +dependent on the one who has the money and wields the power. Men +everywhere say just exactly what they are specially warned against saying, +"<i>my</i> power and the might of <i>my</i> hand hath gotten me this wealth." They +forget the words following this in the old Book of God. "But thou shalt +remember the Lord thy God, for it is <i>He</i> that giveth thee power to get +wealth."<sup><a href="#fn8">[8]</a></sup></p> + +<p>This seems to be the picture that underlies that phrase, "poor in spirit," +which the Master declared to be so blessed.<sup><a href="#fn9">[9]</a></sup> He is trying to woo men +away from the thing that is dominating those all around Him. I have +puzzled a good bit over the phrase to find out just what was in the +Master's mind. Emphasizing the word "spirit" seems to bring out the +meaning. The blessedness is not in being poor, but in a certain spirit +that may control a man. We are all poor in everything except spirit.</p> + +<p>The last degree of poverty is to be a pauper. Now, the simple truth is +that we are all—every last man of us—paupers in everything. We haven't a +thing we haven't got from some one else. We are beneficiaries to the last +degree, dependent on the bounty of Another. We are paupers in life itself. +Our life came to us in the first instance from the creative Hand, through +the action of others, and it is being sustained every moment by the same +Hand. We had nothing to do with its coming, and, while we influence our +life by living in accord with certain physical laws, still the life itself +is all the time being supplied to us directly by the same unseen Hand.</p> + +<p>We are paupers in ability, in virtue, in character, in fact in everything. +We own nothing; we only hold it in trust. We have nothing except what some +One else is supplying. What we call our ability, our genius, and so on, +comes by the creative breath breathing afresh upon and through what the +patient creative Hand has supplied and is sustaining. We are paupers, +without a rag to our bones, or a copper in the pocket we haven't got, not +having a rag to our bones; paupers in everything except——.</p> + +<p>There is an exception. It is both pitiable and laughable. We are +enormously rich in <i>spirit</i>, in our imagination, in our thought of +ourselves. Blessed are they who are as poor in spirit as they actually are +in everything else. They recognize that they are wholly dependent on some +One else, and so they live the dependent life, with its blessed closeness +of touch with the gracious Provider. In certain institutions are placed +those who imagine themselves to be in high social and official rank, and +in possessions what they are not, who imagine it to such a degree that it +is best that they be kept apart from others. It would seem like an extreme +thing to say that these people are spirit-mirrors in which we may partly +see ourselves. Yet it would be saying the truth. How laughable, if it were +not so overwhelmingly pitiful, must men look to God,—without a stitch to +their backs except what He has given, without a copper in their pockets +except what has been borrowed from His bank, yet strutting up and down the +street of life, heads held high in air, as though they owned the universe, +and—if it did not sound blasphemous I could add the rest of the fact—and +were doing Him a favour by running His world so skilfully! And it grieves +one to the heart to note that this seems to be about as true within Church +circles as without. The difference between is ever growing smaller to the +disappearing point.</p> + +<p>It was into such an atmosphere, never intenser than in Palestine and +Jerusalem nineteen centuries ago, that the man Christ Jesus came. And He +had the moral daring to begin living a dependent life, the true human +life, looking up gratefully to the Father's hand for everything. Was it +any wonder His presence caused such a disturbance in the moral atmosphere +of the world! He insisted, with the strange insistence of gentleness, on +living such a life, through all the extremes that the hating world-spirit +could contrive against Him. Out of such a life comes His "Follow Me." And +in this He is simply calling us back to the original human life as planned +by God.</p> + +<p>Now, of course, in that first step, that great "emptying out" step, there +can be no following. There He is the Lone Man, unapproachable in the moral +splendour of His solitude. But from the time when He came in amongst us as +Jesus, our Brother, the typical Son of man, He was marking out afresh the +original road for our feet. This was the foundation trait in His +character. He lived the dependent life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>A Father-pleasing Life.</h4> + + +<p>The second trait in His upward relation was this—He chose to live <i>a +Father-pleasing life</i>. I use those words because He used them.<sup><a href="#fn10">[10]</a></sup> I might +say "consecrated" or "dedicated" or "surrendered" or other like words. And +these are good words, but in common use we have largely lost their +meaning. They are used unthinkingly for something less—much less—than +they mean. Perhaps if we use the phrase He used we may be able to get back +to the thing He meant, and did.</p> + +<p>There are three possible lives open to every man's choice: a bad life, in +which selfishness or passion or both, either refined or coarse, rule; a +good, true, natural life; and a Father-pleasing life. By a good, true, +natural life I mean, just now, a really Christian life in all that that +means, but lived as if there were no emergency in the world to change +one's habit of life.</p> + +<p>You know an emergency coming into a man's life makes radical changes. You +go to bed tonight and ordinarily will sleep out your eight hours in +comfort and quiet. If a fire break out in the house, you are up in the +middle of the night, hurrying around, only partly clad, carrying out +valuables, or helping turn on water, or something of this sort. Your +natural arrangements for the night are all broken up by the fire. An +emergency may make radical changes in one's life for a little time, +sometimes for the whole life. Financial reverses may change the whole +habit of one's life.</p> + +<p>Here's a man who has a well-assured, good-sized income from his business, +or his inheritance, or both. He lives in a luxuriously appointed home, +with many fine pictures and works of art and curios which it is enjoyable +to have. He has a choice library including some fine costly old prints and +editions, and enjoys adding rare books on subjects in which he is +specially interested. He belongs to some literary and social and athletic +clubs. He has an interesting family growing up around him whose education +is being carefully looked after. He is an earnest Bible-loving Christian, +faithful in church attendance and church duties, pure in life, and saintly +in character. He gives liberally to church and benevolent objects, +including foreign missions, which have become a part of the church system +into which he fits. And he goes an even, contented round of life, home, +church, club, recreation and so on, year in and out, holding and using the +great bulk of his money for himself. I think of that as one illustration +of the good, true, natural life.</p> + +<p>Now, the Father-pleasing life is radically different in certain things. +Ordinarily the two would be identical. The true natural life as originally +planned for us would be the life pleasing to the Father. But something, +not a part of God's plan, has broken into life, a terrible something, +worse than a fire in the night, or a financial panic that sweeps away your +all. Sin has wrought fearful havoc; it has made an awful emergency, and +this emergency has affected the life and character of all the race, in a +bad way, terribly, awfully, beyond words to tell, or imagination to +depict. The whole earth is in the grip of a desperate moral emergency.</p> + +<p>And naturally enough this emergency affects the life of any one concerned +with this earth. It has affected God's life, and God's plans, +tremendously. It has broken His heart with grief, and radically changed +His plans for His own life. He has made a plan for winning His world away +from its rebellion, its sin, back again to purity and close touch with +Himself. That plan centred around His Son, and He spared not His own Son, +but gave Him up.</p> + +<p>And that emergency, and that plan of the Father's because of the +emergency, have affected our Lord Jesus' life on the earth. The whole plan +of His human life was radically revolutionized by it. The emergency, the +Father's plan, gripped Him. He turned away from the true, good, natural +life which it would have been proper for Him as a man to have lived, and +He lived another sort of life. It was an emergency life, a life fitted to +His Father's plan, and so the Father-pleasing life.</p> + +<p>He became a homeless man, with all that that means. Would any man have +enjoyed home-life with all the rare home-joys, the sweetest of all natural +joys, so much as He? And then the larger circle of congenial friends, the +enjoyment of music, of exquisite art, the reverent study of the great +questions of life, of the wonders of nature whose powers it was given man +to study and cultivate and develop,<sup><a href="#fn11">[11]</a></sup>—it is surely no irreverence to +think of Him both enjoying and gracing such a life, for such was the +original plan of human life as thought out by a gracious Creator.</p> + +<p>Instead, He had not where to lay His head, though so wearied with +ceaseless toil. He fairly burned His life out those few years, early and +late, ministering to the emergency-stricken crowds, healing their sick, +feeding their hunger, raising their dead, comforting broken hearts, +winning back sin-stained men and women, teaching the ignorant neglected +multitudes, preaching the Father's yearning love, searching out the +straying, ceaselessly travelling up and down, without leisure enough to +sleep or to eat oftentimes, and all this despite the efforts of His +kinsfolk to restrain His burning intensity.</p> + +<p>This is what I mean by a Father-pleasing life. It was truly the +consecrated life, consecrated to His Father's emergency plan for His +world. It was the surrendered life, wholly given up to the one passionate +plan of His Father's broken heart for His earth family.</p> + +<p>Now, His "Follow Me" does not mean imitation. It does not mean a restless, +aggressive hurrying here and there in meetings and Christian service. It +means that there will be a getting so close that the sweet fever of His +heart shall be caught by ours. The world-vision of His eyes shall flood +ours. The passion of the Father's heart shall become the passion of our +hearts. And we shall be controlled in all our lives, our holdings, our +habits, <i>by what He tells us</i>. It does not mean that we will seek to be +homeless as Jesus was, though it may possibly turn out to mean for some of +us that we shall be homeless even as He.</p> + +<p>But it means that we shall find out <i>the Father's plan for our lives</i>. +And when it has become clear, we will set to music pitched in the joyous +major our Lord's own words, "I do always the things that are pleasing to +Him." And then we will set our lives to that joyous music with its rare +undertone of the exquisite minor. It may mean Africa for you, or China for +this other one. It may mean a plainer home at home, a simpler wardrobe, a +more careful use of money. It may mean a new dominant note in your +preaching, and all the personal influence of your life. It may possibly +mean what will seem like yet more radical changes. It certainly will mean +a deepening peace within, a closer touch of fellowship with the Lord +Jesus, a wholly new conception of the meaning of prayer, and a radically +new experience of the power of God in our own bodies and lives, and in our +touch with others. It will mean that the music of His will and ours +swinging rhythmically together in all things shall sweep our lives even as +the strong wind the young saplings.</p> + +<p>This was the second trait in our Lord Jesus' character upward, He lived +the Father-pleasing life. To some it will seem like a further step—a +fourth step—downward in His humility. And it was. The way up is down. The +down slant is the beginning of the hilltop road. Going down is the way up; +downward in the crowd's estimation; upward into closer touch of +sympathetic life with God, and in reaching the true ideal of life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Obedient Life.</h4> + + +<p>The third trait of our Lord Jesus' character upward, in relation with His +Father, was that He lived <i>the obedient life</i>. This is really emphasizing +what has just been said. But it is putting the emphasis on the daily habit +of His life, rather than on the underneath motive. This was the daily +spelling out of the first two traits. Obedience became the touchstone by +which everything was tested.</p> + +<p>The touchstone was not men's needs, deeply as that took hold of His heart, +and shaped so much His life. It was not the thought of service, though +never was a life so filled with eager glad service. The touchstone was not +natural liking or choice, the proper instinctive reach out of His true +human nature, though this would be strong in Him, the typical Son of Man. +This would not be repressed as an unholy or wrong thing. It would only be +given second place, or left out, as it might run across the grain of the +great life-passion. With a fresh touch of awe it may truly be said: He did +not come down to earth primarily to die, though He knew beforehand that +this would stand out as the great one thing. The death was an item in the +obedience. He came down to do His Father's will. The path of obedience led +straight to the hill of the cross, and He trod that path regardless of +where it led. Obedience was the one touchstone of His life.<sup><a href="#fn12">[12]</a></sup> And it +will be the one touchstone of His true follower's life. We shall run +across this same vein of bright yellow gold, again and again, as we work +on through this "Follow Me" mine. These were the three traits of our Lord +Jesus' character upward, toward His Father. They were not different +because of the emergency of sin He found in the world. They would have +marked His life just as fully had there been no sin. But the presence of +sin caused them to change radically the whole course of the life He +actually lived.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Sinless by Choice.</h4> + + +<p>Then there were <i>two traits of character inward</i>, in Himself. One was His +<i>purity</i>. There was the absence of everything that should not be in Him. +This is the negative side, though no part of His character called for more +intense positiveness. Purity means sinlessness. He was sinless. But we +must quickly remember what this means, or else there may seem to be no +following for us, only a wistful gazing where we cannot go. It does not +mean simply this, that through His peculiar birthright there was freedom +from all taint of sin.</p> + +<p>It means more than this. Sinlessness was a matter of choice with Him, and +of choice insisted upon. And, be it said reverently, no man ever had a +stiffer fight to keep true to his purpose than He. He was tempted in all +points like as we are. He was tempted more than we. The tempter did his +best and worst; he mustered all his cunning and driving power against this +Lone Man. And the temptations were real. I am not concerned over the +merely academical questions of the schoolmen here. The practical side is +the intense side that takes all one's strength and thought. Practically, +that our Lord Jesus was really tempted, means that He could have yielded +had He so chosen. That He did not meant real struggle on His part. Not, of +course, that He ever wanted to yield to what was wrong, but temptation was +never so subtle, and doing the right never made so difficult as for Him. +He suffered in being tempted.<sup><a href="#fn13">[13]</a></sup> His sinlessness meant a decision, then +many a time a moist brow, a clenched hand, and set jaw, a sore stress of +spirit, and deep-breathed continual prayer whose intensity down in His +heart could never be fully expressed at the lips. The temptation to fail +to obey, simply not to obey, when obeying meant going through a sore +experience was never brought so deftly, so subtly, so repeatedly and +insistently to any as to Him. Resisting not only meant the decision, but +the strength of resistance against terrific strength of repeated +insistence.</p> + +<p>How wondrously human this God-man was in His temptations, in His set +refusals, and even more, how human in keeping free from sin. For sin is +not human, letting sin in would have been a going down from the human +level. This is the practical meaning of His sinlessness—choice, choice +insisted upon, fighting, continual prayer, the Father's help, such as any +man may have—not more.</p> + +<p>This helps us to see how intensely practical His "Follow Me" becomes. It +is not only that we will want to fight against the incoming of sin because +we feel we ought to. But as we get close to Him and breathe in His spirit, +there will come an inbred dislike, an intense inner loathing of sin, +however refined it may be in its approach. There will be a continual +coming for cleansing in the only fluid that can remove sin—His precious +blood, and in the only flame that can burn it out—the fire of the Holy +Spirit.<sup><a href="#fn14">[14]</a></sup> There will be a hardening of the set purpose to be free of +sin. We can be sinless in <i>purpose</i>. There can be a growing sinlessness in +actual life. And yet all experience goes to show that the nearer we +actually walk with God the more we shall be conscious of the need of +cleansing, the more we will talk about our Lord Jesus, and the less and +still less about our attainments.</p> + +<p>The second inward trait in our Lord Jesus was the other side of this—His +positive <i>goodness</i>. I mean the presence in Him of all that should be +there. This is the exact reverse or complement of the purity. It is the +other half that must go with that to make a perfect character. I like to +use the word "holiness" in the sense of whole-ness. He had and developed a +whole life. It was fully rounded out. There was nothing lacking that +should be there, even as there was nothing present that should not have +been there.</p> + +<p>There is among us a good bit of negative goodness of character. We point +with pride to what we don't do of that which is bad or not good. But this +is a very one-sided sort of thing. Purity and goodness together—purity +and holiness, wholeness—made the perfect, completed character of our +Lord. And it was so wholly through His choice, His own action, with His +Father's gracious help working through His choice. And the blessed +contagion of the Leader's presence will make an intense longing within to +follow Him here too.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>A Fellow-Feeling.</h4> + + +<p>Then there were <i>two outward traits of character</i>, that is in His +relations with His fellow-men, of Nazareth, of Israel, and of all the +race. He had <i>sympathy</i> with men; a rare, altogether exceptional sympathy. +<i>He felt with men</i> in all their feelings and needs and circumstances. His +fine spirit reached into men's inner spirit, and felt their hunger and +pain and longings and joys, felt them even as they did, and the arms of +His spirit went around them to help. And they felt it. They felt that He +really understood and felt with them. And so sincere and brotherly was His +fellow-feeling that they gladly welcomed it as from one really of +themselves. To men, this Man, so lone in certain traits and experiences, +was their brother, not only in His feeling with them, but in their feeling +toward Him.</p> + +<p>There's something peculiar in that word sympathy. It's a warm word. It has +a soft cushion to it. It is a help word. There's something in it that +makes you think of a warm strong hand helping, of a soft padding +cushioning the sharp edges where they touch your flesh. It makes you think +of a tender, fine spirit breathing in and through your own spirit, even as +the soft south wind in the spring warms you, and the bracing mountain wind +in the summer brings you new life.</p> + +<p>Our Lord Jesus had this great trait of sympathy with His fellows. He +<i>could</i> have it, for He had been through all their experiences. He knew +the commonplace round of daily life so common to all the race. Nazareth +taught Him that, through thirty of His thirty-three years,—ten-elevenths +of His life. He knew temptation, cunning, subtle, stormy, persistent. He +knew the inner longings of a nature awakening, and yet what it meant to be +held down by outer circumstances. He knew the sharp test of waiting, long +waiting. He knew hunger and bodily weariness, and the pinch of scanty +funds. He was homeless at a time when a home would have been most +grateful. He knew what it meant to have the life-plan broken, and +something else, a bitter something else thrust in its place.</p> + +<p>And he knew, too, the sweets of human life, of human love, of the +helpfulness of others' sympathy, of the Father's pleased smile, of the +Holy Spirit's indwelling, of the wondrous inner peace that follows +obedience in hard places, of the joys of service, of the delight of being +able to sympathize. His experience ran through the whole diapason of human +feelings, and so He can find a key-note in every one of its tones for the +sweet rich symphony of sympathy.</p> + +<p>There is again an exception to be noted here. There could be no +fellow-feeling in choosing wrong, or in yielding to the low or base or +selfish. He is the Lone Man there. Does this make all the stronger His +sympathy with us in our upper reach out of such things? Surely it does. +The exception makes it stand out more sharply that our Lord Jesus felt our +feelings. Wherever you are, however tight the corner, or narrow the road, +or lonely the way, or keen the suffering, you can always stop and say: "He +was here. He was here <i>first</i>, and <i>most</i>. He understands." As you kneel +and look up, you can remember that there's a Man on the throne, a +fellow-man, with a human heart like mine, and like yours. He understands. +He feels. With utmost reverence let it be said, there's more of God since +our Lord Jesus went back. Human experience has been taken up into the +person of God.</p> + +<p>And let me remind you again, that the "Follow Me" here will mean nothing +less than fellowship in the sufferings of our fellows, fellowship to the +point of radically affecting our lives. Sympathy will go deeper than a +sense of pity for those less fortunate, and a giving to them a warm hand +and a good lift up. The poor woman, living in a slum district, being +visited by a mission visitor, spoke for the universal human heart when she +said earnestly, "We don't want <i>things</i>; we want <i>love</i>." As we get up +close to our Lord Jesus there will come the indwelling in us of the spirit +that controlled Him. We will see through His eyes, we will feel with His +heart, our hands will reach out to grasp other human hands with the +impulse of His touch upon them. We shall know the exquisite pain of real +sympathy with men in need, and the great joy of sharing and making lighter +their load.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>When You Don't Have To.</h4> + + +<p>The second outward trait of our Lord Jesus' character was <i>sacrifice</i>. +This is not something different from what has been said; it is only going +a step further, indeed going the last step that He could go, in both His +sympathy with men and His obedience to His Father. It helps to remember +what sacrifice means; not suffering merely, though it includes suffering; +not privation simply, though it may include this, too. There is much +suffering and privation where there is no sacrifice. Sacrifice means doing +something to help some one else when it takes some of your life-blood, and +when you don't have to, except the have-to of love.</p> + +<p>Sacrifice was so woven into the very fabric of Jesus' life that wherever +you cut in some of the red threads stick out. It was the never-absent +undertone of His life, from earliest years until the tragic close. But the +undertone rose higher and grew stronger until at the last it became the +dominant, the only tone to be heard. He gave His life out on the cross +that so men might be saved from the terrible result of their sin, when He +didn't have to, except the have-to of His great heart.</p> + +<p>I have spoken of sacrifice as one of the two outward, manward traits of +His character. But the truth is His Calvary sacrifice faced three ways: +upward, inward and outward. It faced toward the Father, for it was +carrying out the Father's plan, and that lets us see not only the Father's +love, but His estimate, as the world's administrator of justice, of the +horribleness of the sin which He was so freely forgiving.<sup><a href="#fn15">[15]</a></sup> It faced in +toward Himself, for it was the purity and perfection of the life poured +out that gave the peculiar meaning to His death, and it was His +sympathetic love that led Him up that steep hill. It faced outward, for +the love of it was meant to break men's hearts and bend their stubborn +wills, and so it did and has.</p> + +<p>His sympathy—love suffering—came to have a new meaning as He went to the +last extreme in His suffering. Sympathy is sometimes spoken of as putting +yourself in the other's place so as to help him better. Our Lord Jesus did +this. He did it as none other did, or could. He actually put Himself in +our place on the cross. He experienced what would have come to us had He +not taken our place. He suffered the suffering that belongs to us because +of our sin. He felt the feelings that came through sin working out to its +bitter end. Indeed He went beyond our own feelings here. For because He +consented to suffer as a guilty sinner, we, who trust His precious blood, +are spared that awful experience.</p> + +<p>Calvary was sympathy to the extreme of sacrifice. But both words, +"sympathy" and "sacrifice," get new depths of meaning at Calvary. This red +shuttle thread of sacrifice will appear again and again in the fabric +which His "Follow Me" weaves out for us. What a character He calls us to! +What strength of friendship to insist on our coming up close to Himself! +Is it possible? Surely not. He is so far beyond us. Yet there is a way, +only one, the way of the dependent life, depending on Him to reproduce His +own likeness in us. And our giving Him a free hand in doing it.</p> + +<p>There is one word that could be used to cover all of this, if we only +knew its full, rich, sweet meaning. That is the little understood, the +much misunderstood, much belittled-in-use word, "love." All that has been +said of the character of our Lord Jesus can be found inside that +four-lettered word. Each trait spoken of is but a fresh spelling of love, +some one side of it. Love planned the dependent life, and only love can +live it truly. Love longs to please love, regardless of any sacrifice +involved. Obedience is the active rhythm of love on the street of life. +Purity is the inner heart of love; and the fully rounded character is the +maturity of love. Sympathy is the heart of love beating in perfect rhythm +with your own, and sacrifice is love giving its very life gladly out to +save yours. Some day we shall know how much is meant by the sentence, "God +is love."</p> + +<p>A little child of a Christian home came one day to his mother, asking what +it meant to "believe on the Lord Jesus." She thought a moment how to make +the answer simple to the child, and then said, "It means thinking about +Him, and loving Him." Sometime after, the little fellow was noticed +sitting very quietly, apparently much absorbed in thought, and his mother +said, "What are you doing, my son?" With child-like simplicity he said in +a quiet tone, "I'm believing on the Lord Jesus." And a warm flush of +feeling came to the mother's heart as she realized the practical tender +meaning to her son, of the word "believing."</p> + +<p>May we be great enough to be as little children while I adapt that +mother's language here: Following our Lord Jesus is thinking about Him and +loving Him. As we come to know the meaning of love we shall find that +following is loving. The "Follow Me" life is the love life. But we must +learn the meaning of love before that sentence will grip us.</p> + +<p>The closer we follow Him the closer we will come to knowing what love is. +The nearer we get to Him the nearer we get to its meaning. We will know it +as we know Him. When we come into His presence, face to face, its simple +full meaning will flash upon us with a great simple surprise.</p> + +<p>Let us follow on to know it, that we may know Him. Let us live it and so +we shall live Him. And in so living we shall know it and Him; we shall +know love, and Jesus, and God.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch02"> +<h2>The Long, Rough Road He Trod</h2> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Book's Story.</h4> + + +<p>It wasn't always a rough road, of course. But as you look at it from end +to end, the roughness of it is what takes your eye most, and takes great +hold of your heart. The smooth places here and there make you feel that it +was a rough road. And yet, rough though it really was, the roughness was +eased by the love in the heart of the Man that trod it; though not eased +for the soles of His feet, nor for hands and face. For there was thorny +roughness at the sides as He pushed through, as well as steep roughness +under foot.</p> + +<p>And it may not seem so long at first. But the longer you look, the sharper +your eyes get to see how great was the distance He had to come, from where +He was, down to where we were.</p> + +<p>Let me take a little sea room, and go back a bit so we can see the full +length, and the real roughness, of the road He came. And lest some of you +may think that the telling of the first part of it has the sound of a +fairy tale, let me tell you that it is simply the story of what actually +took place, as told in the pages of this old Book of God. It will be a +help if you will keep your copy of the Bible at hand, and turn +thoughtfully to its pages now and then as we talk.</p> + +<p>There is a rare simplicity in the way in which the story of the Bible is +told. And it helps to remember that the Bible is never concerned with +chronology, nor with scientific process but only with giving pictures of +moral or spiritual conditions among men as seen from above. And chiefly it +is concerned with giving a picture of God, in His power and patience and +gentleness, and in His great justice and right in dealing with everybody. +Yet the picture and the language never clash with the facts of nature and +of life as dug out by student or scientist.</p> + +<p>It is a great help in talking about these things of God, and of human +life, not to have any theories to fit and press things into, but simply to +take the Book's story, and to tell it over again in the language of our +generation. It simplifies things quite a bit not to try to fit God into +your philosophy, but to accept His own story of life. It not only greatly +simplifies one's outlook, it gives you such sure footing, such steadiness. +Any other footing may go out from under your feet any time. But the old +Book of God "standeth sure," never more sure than to-day when it was never +more riddled at, and mined under. But neither bullets nor mining have +affected the Book itself. The only harm has been in the kick-back of the +firing, upon those standing close by.</p> + +<p>I am frank to confess my own ignorance of the great truths we are talking +over here, save for the Bible itself, and the response to it within my own +spirit, and the further response to it in human life all over the earth +to-day West and East. Human life is a faithful mirror, accurately +reflecting to-day just the conditions found in this old Book. No book so +faithfully and accurately describes the workings and feelings of the human +mind and heart of to-day in our western world, and in all the world, as +this Book, written so long ago in the language of the East. Its finger +still gives accurately the pulse beat of the race. And it helps, too, to +tell the story in the simple way in which this Book itself does, as a +story.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>God on a Wooing Errand.</h4> + + +<p>God and man used to live together in a garden. It was a most wonderful +garden, full of trees and flowers and fruit, of singing birds with rare +feathers and songs, of beasts that had never yet learned fear, nor to make +others feel it, and a beautiful river of living water. The name given it +indicates that it was a most delightful spot.<sup><a href="#fn16">[16]</a></sup> God and man used to live +together in this garden. They talked and walked and worked together. Man +helped God in putting the finishing touches on His work of creation. It +was the first school, with God Himself as teacher.<sup><a href="#fn17">[17]</a></sup> God and man used to +have a trysting time under the trees in the twilight. But one evening when +God came for the usual bit of fellowship the man was not there. God was +there.<sup><a href="#fn18">[18]</a></sup> He had not gone away, and He has never gone away. Man had gone +away, and God was left lonely standing under the tree of life.</p> + +<p>A friend, in whose home we were, told of her little daughter's remark one +day. The mother had been teaching her that there is only one God. The +child seemed surprised and on being told again, said in her childlike +simplicity, "I think He must be very lonesome." Well, the child was right +in the word used. God is lonesome, though for an utterly different reason +than was in the child's mind. God was lonesome that day, left standing +alone under the trees of the garden. He is lonesome for fellowship with +every one who stays away from Himself. That homely human word may well +express to us the longing of His heart.</p> + +<p>Man went away from God that day, then he wandered farther away, then he +lost his way back, then he didn't want to come back. And away from God his +ideas about God got badly confused. His eyes grew blind to God's pleading +face, his ears dull and then deaf to God's voice. His will got badly +warped and bent out of shape morally, and his life sadly hurt by the sin +he had let in.<sup><a href="#fn19">[19]</a></sup></p> + +<p>And all this was very hard on God.<sup><a href="#fn20">[20]</a></sup> It <i>grieved</i> Him at His heart. He +sent many messengers, one after another, through long years, but they were +treated as badly as they could be.<sup><a href="#fn21">[21]</a></sup> And at last God said to Himself, +"What more can I do? This is what I will do. I'll go down Myself and live +among them, and woo them back Myself." And so it was done. One day He +wrapped about Himself the garb of our humanity, and came in amongst us as +one of ourselves.<sup><a href="#fn22">[22]</a></sup> And He became known amongst us as Jesus. He had +spoken the world into being; now, in John's simple homely language, He +pitched His tent amongst our tents as our near neighbour and kinsman.<sup><a href="#fn23">[23]</a></sup> +Our Lord Jesus was the face of God looking into ours, the voice of God +speaking into the ears of our hearts, the hand of God reached down to make +a way back and then lead us along the way back again, the heart of God +coming in touch to warm ours and make us willing to go back.</p> + +<p>It was a long road He came, as long as the distance we had gone away from +Him. And no measuring stick has yet been whittled out that can tell that +distance. We want to look a bit at the last lap of the road, the +earth-lap. It runs from the Bethlehem plain where He came in, to the +Olivet hilltop where He slipped away again up and back, for a time, until +things are ready for the next step in His plan.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Rough Places.</h4> + + +<p>The bit of earth-road began to get pretty rough before He had quite gotten +here. The pure gentle virgin-mother was under cruelly hurting suspicion on +the point about which a woman is properly most sensitive, and that too by +the one who was nearest to her. I've wondered why Joseph, too, was not +told of the plan of God when Mary was, and so she be spared this sore +suspicion. I think it was because he simply <i>could</i> not have taken it in +beforehand, though he rose so nobly when he was told. Her experience was +unavoidable, humanly speaking.</p> + +<p>That hastily improvised cradle was in rather a rough spot for both mother +and babe. The hasty fleeing for several days and nights to Egypt, with +those heart-rending cries of the grief-stricken mothers of Bethlehem +haunting their ears, the cautious return, and then apparently the change +of plans from a home in historic Bethlehem to the much less favoured +village of Nazareth,—it was all a pretty rough beginning on a very rough +road. It was a sort of prophetic beginning. There proved to be +blood-shedding at both ends, and each time innocent blood, too.</p> + +<p>The word Nazareth has become a high fence hiding from view thirty of the +thirty-three years. Was this the dead-level, monotonous stretch of the +road, from the time of the early teens on to the full maturity of thirty? +Yet it proved later to have a dangerously rough place on the precipice +side of the town. It seems rather clear that Joseph and Mary would have +much preferred some other place, their own family town, cultured +Bethlehem, for rearing this child committed to their care. But the serious +danger involved decided the choice of the less desirable town for their +home.<sup><a href="#fn24">[24]</a></sup></p> + +<p>But the roughest part began when our Lord Jesus turned His feet from the +shaded seclusion of Nazareth, and turned into the open road. At once came +the Wilderness, the place of terrific temptation, and of intense spirit +conflict. The fact of temptation was intensified by the length of it. +Forty long days the lone struggle lasted. The time test is the hardest +test. The greatest strength is the strength that wears, doesn't wear out. +That Wilderness had stood for sin's worst scar on the earth's surface. +Since then it has stood for the most terrific and lengthened-out +siege-attack by the Evil One upon a human being. Satan himself came and +rallied all the power of cunning and persistence at his command. He did +his damnable worst and best.</p> + +<p>In an art gallery at Moscow is a painting by a Russian artist of "Christ +in the Wilderness," which reverently and with simple dramatic power brings +to you the intense humanity of our Lord, and how tremendously real to Him +the temptation was. This helps to intensify to us the meaning of the +Wilderness. It stands for victory, by a man, in the power of the Spirit, +over the worst temptation that can come.</p> + +<p>Then follows a long stretch of rough road with certain places sharply +marked out to our eyes. The rejection by the Jewish leaders began at once. +It ran through three stages, the silent contemptuous rejection, the active +aggressive rejection, then the hardened, murderous rejection running up to +the terrible climax of the cross.</p> + +<p>The contemptuous rejection of the Baptist's claim for his Master, by the +official commission sent down to inquire,<sup><a href="#fn25">[25]</a></sup> was followed by the more +aggressive, as they began to realize the power of this man they had to +deal with. John's imprisonment revealed an intensifying danger, and the +need of withdrawing to some less dangerous place.</p> + +<p>Our Lord's change to Galilee, and to preaching and working among the +masses, was followed by a persistent campaign on the part of the +Southerners of nagging, harrying warfare against Him throughout Galilee. +It grew in bitterness and intensity, with John's death as a further +turning point to yet intenser bitterness. The visits to Jerusalem were +accompanied by fiercer attacks, venomous discussions, and frenzied +attempts at personal violence. This grew into the third stage of +rejection, the cool, hardened plotting of His death. The last weeks +things head up at a tremendous rate; our Lord appears to be the one calm, +steady man, even in His terrific denunciation of them, held even and +steady in the grip of a clear, strong purpose, as He pushed His way +unwaveringly onward. Then came the terrible climax,—the cross. The worst +venomous spittle of the serpent's poison sac spat out there. It was the +climax of hate, and the climax of His unspeakable love.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>When Your Heart's Tuned to the Music.</h4> + + +<p>Surely it was a long, rough road. Its length was not measured by miles, +nor years, but by the experiences of this Lone Man. So measured it becomes +the longest road ever trod, from purity's heights to sin's depths; from +love's mountain top to hate's deepest gulf. It makes a new record for +roughness. For no one has ever suffered what our Lord Jesus did; and no +one's suffering ever had the value and meaning for another that His had +and has for all men and for us. Not one of us to-day realizes how He +suffered, nor the intensity of meaning that suffering actually has for all +the race, and for those of us who accept it for ourselves.</p> + +<p>It was a rough, long road, and He knew ahead that it would be. He saw +dimly ahead, then more sharply outlined as He drew on, those crossed logs +in the road, growing bigger and darker and more forbidding as He pushed +on. But He could not be stopped by that, for He was thinking about us, +and about His Father. He pushed steadily on, past crossed logs all +overgrown and tangled with thorn bushes and poison ivy vines, bearing the +marks of logs and thorns and poison ivy, but He went through to the end of +the road, He reached His world; He reached <i>our hearts</i>. And now He is +longing to reach through our hearts to the hearts of the others.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "But none of the ransomed ever knew</div> +<div class="line"> How deep were the waters crossed;</div> +<div class="line"> Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through,</div> +<div class="line"> 'Ere He found His sheep that were lost.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> 'Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way</div> +<div class="line"> That mark out the mountain's track?'</div> +<div class="line"> 'They were shed for one who had gone astray</div> +<div class="line"> Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> But all through the mountains, thunder-riven,</div> +<div class="line"> And up from the rocky steep,</div> +<div class="line"> There arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven,</div> +<div class="line"> 'Rejoice! I have found my sheep.'"<sup><a href="#fn26">[26]</a></sup></div></div> +</blockquote> + +<p>But there was something more on that road. Do you know how the wind blows +through the trees on the steep mountain side, and will make music in your +heart, <i>if your heart is tuned to its music</i>, even while you are pushing +your way through thorny tanglewood and undergrowth? Do you know how, as +you go down the deep mountain ravines, with the wild rushing torrent far +below, where a single misstep would mean so much, how the breeze playing +through the leaves makes sweetest melody, <i>if your heart's tuned to it?</i></p> + +<p>Well, this great Lone Man had a heart tuned for the music of this road. +The strong wind of His Father's love blew down through the wild mountains +into His face, and made sweetest music, and His ear was in tune and heard +it. He had a tuning-fork that gave Him the true pitch for the rarest +music, while His feet travelled cautiously the deep wilderness ravines, +and boldly climbed through the thorny undergrowth of that steep hill just +outside the city wall. Obedience is the rhythm of two wills, that blends +their action into rarest harmony. Some of us need to use His +tuning-fork,<sup><a href="#fn27">[27]</a></sup> so as to enjoy the music of the road.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch03"> +<h2>The Pleading Call To Follow</h2> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Hungry for the Human Touch.</h4> + + +<p>God hungers for the human touch. There's an inner hesitancy in saying +this, and in hearing it. We feel it can hardly be so, even though our +inner hearts would wish it were so.</p> + +<p>We know that we men hunger for the human touch, the strongest of us. And +in our hour of sore need we know that our inner hearts look up, and wish +we could have a really close touch with God. Well, this is a bit of the +image of God in us. We were made so, like Himself. In seeing ourselves +here, we are getting a closer look at the heart of God. He longs for the +human touch. When He made us He breathed into our nostrils the breath of +His own life. And this is not simply a bit of the first Genesis chapter. +It is a bit of every human life. There's the breath of God in every new +life born into the world. He gives a bit of Himself. We are not complete +creatively until part of Himself has come to be part of us.</p> + +<p>And Jesus' coming was but the same thing put in yet more intense, close, +appealing shape to us. He came to get us in touch again after the break +of sin. He gave His blood that we might have life again after the +sin-break had broken off our life, and commenced to dry it up. This was an +even closer touch. The breath of God came in Eden to breathe in our lungs. +The blood of His Son came on Calvary to give life-action to our hearts. +Could there be anything to make clearer His hunger for the human touch?</p> + +<p>The Holy Spirit's presence spells out the same thing once more. There has +been every sort of thing to induce Him to go away. He has been ignored, +left out of all reckoning, and talked against. Yet with a patience beyond +what that word means to us, He has remained creatively in every man as the +very breath of his life. And He comes and remains the very breath of the +spirit life in those who yield to His pleading call.</p> + +<p>Jesus was God coming after us. We had gone away. He came to woo us back +into close touch again. He came to the nation of Israel, that through it +He might reach out to all men. When He comes again it will be again to use +Israel as His messenger, while He Himself will be present on the earth in +a new way to woo men to Himself. When that nation's leaders rejected +John's announcement, and so rejected our Lord Jesus, He began to appeal to +individual men, while waiting for the nation. And the work with +individuals was also His call to the nation.</p> + +<p>So the chief thing He did was to call men. His presence was a call, and +the crowds flocked to Him wherever He went. His life of purity and +sympathy was felt as an earnest call and responded to eagerly. His doings +were a very intense call. Every healed man and woman, every one set free +of demon influence, every one of the fed multitudes, felt called to this +man who had helped him so. His teaching was a continual call, and His +preaching. But above all else stood out the personal call He gave men. For +our Lord Jesus was not content to deal with the crowds simply; He dealt +with men one by one in intimate heart touch.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Called to Go.</h4> + + +<p>There are a number of invitations He used in calling men. It was as though +in His eagerness He used every sort that might go home. And yet there was +more than this; these invitations are like successive steps up into the +life He wanted them to have. He said, "Come unto Me."<sup><a href="#fn28">[28]</a></sup> This was always +the first, and still remains first. It led, and it leads, into rest of +heart and life, peace with God. He quickly followed it with "Come ye after +Me."<sup><a href="#fn29">[29]</a></sup> They must come to Him before they could come after Him. This was +found to mean discipleship, learning the road. He would "make" them like +Himself in going after others. He said, "take My yoke upon you."<sup><a href="#fn30">[30]</a></sup>This +meant a bending down to get into the yoke, a surrender of will and heart +to Himself, and then partnership, fellowship side-by-side with Himself.</p> + +<p>Then He spoke another word to the innermost circle, on the night in which +He was betrayed. He had a long talk that evening with the eleven around +the supper table, and walking down to the grove of olives at the Brook of +the Cedars.<sup><a href="#fn31">[31]</a></sup> Several times that evening He used this new word, "abide," +"abide in Me." That means staying with Him, not leaving, living +continuously with Him. It means a continued separation from anything that +would separate from Him. And then it means a fulness of life coming from +Himself into us as we draw all our life from Himself, a rich ripeness, a +rounded maturity, a depth of life, and these always becoming +more,—richer, rounder, deeper.</p> + +<p>Then after the awful days of the cross were past, on the evening of the +resurrection day, in the upper room with ten of the inner disciples, He +practically said, "You be Myself"; "as the Father sent Me, even so send I +you"<sup><a href="#fn32">[32]</a></sup>; "You be I." I wonder if any one of us has ever been taken or +mistaken for the Lord Jesus. We would never know it, of course. But He +meant it to be so.</p> + +<p>A Scottish lady missionary in India tells of a Bible class of girls which +she had. She was teaching them about the life and character of the</p> + +<p>Lord Jesus. One day a new girl came in, fresh from the heathenism in +which she grew up, knowing nothing of the Gospel. She listened, and then +became quite intense and excited in her childish way, as she heard them +talking about some One, how good He was, how gentle, how He was always +teaching and helping the people around Him. At last she could restrain her +eagerness no longer, but blurted out, "I know that man; he lives near us." +It was found that she did not know about Christ, but supposed they were +speaking of a very earnest native Christian man living in her +neighbourhood. She had mistaken her neighbour for Jesus. How glad that man +must have been if he ever knew. This was a part of our Lord's plan.</p> + +<p>And at the very end, these successive invitations took the shape of a +command, which was both a permission and an order,—"Go ye."<sup><a href="#fn33">[33]</a></sup> Men who +had taken to heart, one after another, these invitations were ready for +the command. They would be eager for it. The invitations were the Master's +preparation for the command. He could trust such men to go, and to keep +steady and true as they went, in the power He gave them. There is one word +that you find in all these invitations—"Me." They all centre about the +Lord Jesus. He is the centre of gravity drawing every one, in ever growing +nearness and meaning, to Himself. It is only when we have been drawn into +closest touch with Him that we are qualified to "go" to others. It's only +Himself in us, only as much of Himself as is in us, that will be helpful +to any one else, or will make any one else willing to break with his old +way. He is the only magnet to draw men away from the old life up to +Himself.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>"Follow Me."</h4> + + +<p>But there's one other invitation which belongs in this list. It proves to +be the greatest of them all, because you come to find it includes all +these others. It's His "Follow Me." It seems at first glance to be the +same as that "Come after Me." But it is the word He repeated again and +again, under different circumstances, with added explanations, to the same +men, until you feel that He meant it to stand out as the great invitation +to His disciples. It seems to mean different things at different times. +That is to say, it grew in its significance. It came to mean more than it +had seemed to.</p> + +<p>Peter is a good illustration here. The word really came to him five times, +with a different, an added, meaning each time. His first following meant +acquaintance.<sup><a href="#fn34">[34]</a></sup> John the Herald had sent his disciples, John and Andrew, +along after Jesus as He was walking one day on the Jordan river road. They +followed Jesus to their first acquaintance in a two hours' talk, which +quite satisfied their hearts as to who He was. John never forgot that +first following. Every detail of it stands out in his memory when long +years after he began to write his story of the Master. Andrew went at once +to hunt up Peter, and brought him face-to-face with his newly found Friend +and Master. That interview settled things for Peter. Andrew's following +now included his. Following meant the beginning of the personal friendship +which was to mean so much for both of them.</p> + +<p>It was about a year after, that "Follow Me" had a new meaning to Peter and +some others.<sup><a href="#fn35">[35]</a></sup> The invitation was an illustrated one this time, +illustrated by a living picture of just what it meant. It was one morning +by the Lake of Galilee. Peter and his partners had had a poor night's +fishing, and were out on shore washing their nets. The Master had come +along, with a great crowd pressing in to get closer and hear better. There +was danger of the crowd pushing the Master into the water. The Master +borrowed Peter's boat for a pulpit. Peter sat facing the crowd while the +Master talked to them.</p> + +<p>Was that the first time the spell of a crowd began to get its subtle +heart-hold on Peter as he looked into their hungry eyes? Who can withstand +the great appeal of the crowd's eyes? Not our Lord, nor any that have +caught His spirit. Then the great draught of fishes, after the fishless +night, made Peter feel the Master's power. Fishes would make him feel it, +being a fisherman, as nothing else would. The sense of Jesus' power, and +with it a sense of purity—interesting how the power made him feel the +purity—this brought him to his knees at our Lord's feet with the +confession of his own sinfulness.</p> + +<p>Peter was greatly moved that morning, greatly shaken. A new experience of +tremendous power had come to him. And out of it came a new life, a radical +change as he left the old occupation, fishing, boats, father, means of +livelihood, and entered upon the new life. "Follow Me" meant a radical +change of life, constant companionship with Jesus, sharing His life, going +to school, getting ready for leadership and service; yes, and for +suffering too. He entered the Master's itinerant training school that +morning. A man needs a sight of the Lord Jesus' power, a <i>feel</i> of it, +before he is fit to serve, or even to go to school to get ready for +service.</p> + +<p>It was some months after this that another meaning grew into the words +"Follow Me," and grew out of them. The words are not spoken this time, but +acted. Out of the group of disciples that He had gathered about Him our +Lord prayerfully chose out Peter with the others to be sent out as His +messenger to others.<sup><a href="#fn36">[36]</a></sup>Part of the schooling was over; now a new part, a +new term of school, was to begin. He gave them a special talk that +morning, and sent them out to teach and heal and do for the crowds what +He had been doing.</p> + +<p>He called them Apostles, Sent-ones, Missionaries. "Follow Me" now meant +going to others. It meant more—<i>power</i>, power to do for men all the +Master Himself had done. First, power felt that early morning by the lake, +now power given. That was a great advance in training. Power had to be +felt before it could be given, and has to be felt before it can be used. +Only as the power takes hold of our inner hearts to the feeling point, +will it ever take hold of others. And no life is changed through our +service till power takes hold of us to <i>the feeling point</i>.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Deeper Meaning.</h4> + + +<p>But there was a special session of the "Follow Me" school one day, a very +serious session.<sup><a href="#fn37">[37]</a></sup>They had to be shown the red threads in the weave of +the word. The words had to be held under the knife, so they could look +into the cut, and see the deeper meaning. "Follow Me" had to take deeper +hold of them yet, if His power was to get the deeper hold of them, and, by +and by, get hold of the needy crowds. The very setting of the words gives +the new meaning to them. John had felt the keen edge of Herod's axe blade, +and was now in the upper presence. They were up in the far northern part +because of the growing danger threatening Him by the leaders.</p> + +<p>It is the turning point where our Lord Jesus begins to tell them that He +was to suffer. Their ears <i>could</i> not take in the words. Their dazed eyes +show that they think they could not have heard aright,—He to <i>suffer!</i> +What could this mean? They hadn't figured on this when they left the nets +and boats to follow. There had been a rosy glamour filling impulsive +Peter's self-confident sky. Now this black storm cloud! Then to Peter's +foolhardy daring came words spoken with a new intense quietness that made +the words quiver: "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself +and take up his cross daily and 'Follow Me.'"<sup><a href="#fn38">[38]</a></sup></p> + +<p>This was startling to a terrific degree. Here was a new, strange, +perplexing combination—"deny himself," and "cross," coupled with His +"Follow Me." What could He mean? This was surely some of His intensely +figurative language again, they think. Yes, it surely was; and it stood +for a yet intenser experience. "Follow Me" means sacrifice. It means a +going down as well as a going up. And it proves to mean that one can go up +in power and service, only as far as he has gone down in the obedience +that includes sacrifice. Did Peter take in the meaning that day? I think +not. Actions speak louder than words.</p> + +<p>That betrayal night a few short months after, when the actual cross was +almost in actual sight, he "followed Him afar off."<sup><a href="#fn39">[39]</a></sup> Without knowing +it, that was as far as he had ever really followed thus far. He wanted to +keep as "far off" from that cross as possible. He always had. He baulked +at its first mention, baulked tremendously. Yet he "followed." Poor Peter! +he was in a terrible strait betwixt two, this wondrous Master whom he +really loved, and this threatening cross of nails and thongs and thorns. +It was a stiff struggle between heart and flesh; between the longing of +his love and the shrinking from pain and hardship and shame. And Peter's +kinsfolk are still having the same struggle. A great many stop here. This +is going <i>too</i> far! They prefer staying by the easier "Follow Me's," and +forgetting this one. Yes, and go on living powerless lives, and engaging +in powerless service, when the crowds were never so needy.</p> + +<p>Peter didn't follow this time. The road was too rough. He stumbled and +fell badly. Badly? Still no worse than many others. When he got up he was +still facing the same way. You can always tell a man's mettle by the way +he faces as he gets up after a bad fall.</p> + +<p>Six months or so after there came another "Follow Me," to Peter. No, it +wasn't another; it was the same one, the one he hadn't accepted. Peter was +to have another opportunity at the same place where he fell so badly. How +patient our Lord Jesus was—and is.</p> + +<p>It was one morning just after breakfast—a rare breakfast—on the edge of +the lake, after as poor a night's fishing as that other time.<sup><a href="#fn40">[40]</a></sup> Again +the touch of power revealed the Master's presence. Again Peter had a +special word with the Master while the others are hauling in the fish. Now +breakfast's over and the seven are grouped about the One, listening. The +Lord's quiet skilled hand touches the heart meaning of "Follow Me." Its +real meaning is a love meaning. Do you love? Then "Follow Me." Then you +<i>must</i> follow, your love draws you after, even though the path be rough +and broken. This is the same "Follow Me" that Peter baulked at so badly +months before. Its meaning had not changed. It would mean a death, Peter +is plainly told. But now Peter baulks no longer. The Master's great love +had taught Him how really to love. And now not even a cross for himself +would or could keep him from following close up to such a Master.</p> + +<p>Here is the meaning of "Follow Me" as it worked out in Peter's +experience—acquaintance, a new life, schooling, service, a sight of +sacrifice, and a baulking, then—a sight of Jesus on the cross, and then a +willingness to go on even though it meant the sorest sacrifice. This is an +etching of the road Peter actually went, an etching in black and white, +with the black very black. Is it a picture of your road? But perhaps you +have never filled out the last part—still back at that baulking place. In +the thick of our present life, in the noise and din of the street of +modern life, comes as of old the quiet, clear, insistent call "Follow Me."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Getting in Behind.</h4> + + +<p>But, some one says, how can we really follow this Lone Man, our Lord Jesus +Christ? He was so pure in His life, stainless in motive, and unstained in +character. And we—well, the nearer we get to Him the more instinctively +we find Peter's lakeshore cry starting up within, "I am a sinful man." His +very presence makes us feel the sin, the sin-instinct, the old selfish +something within. How can we really follow? And the answer that comes is a +real answer. It answers the inner heart-cry.</p> + +<p>It is this: we begin where He ended. The cross was the end of His life. It +must be the beginning of ours. It was the climax of His obedience. All the +lines of His life come together at the cross. It is the beginning for us. +All the lines of our lives, the lines of purity, of character, of service, +of power, run back to the one starting point. And we come to find—some of +us pretty slowly—that it is only the lines that do start there that lead +to anything worth while. The starting point for the true life, and for +real service is very clear. And if any of us have made a false start, it +will be a tremendous saving to drop things and go back and get the true +start. "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth from all sin"—this is the +only point from which to start the "Follow Me" life. "Follow Me" does not +mean imitation. It means reincarnation. It's some One coming to re-live +His life in us. He died that His life might be loosed out to be relived in +us.</p> + +<p>I have already spoken of this as being a call to friendship. All the rest +that comes is meant to be what naturally grows out of this friendship. +Peter never forgot his last "Follow Me" call. "Lovest thou Me?" Then thou +mayest follow. This greatly sweetens all the rest. It's all for Him!--our +friend. Out of this personal relation comes service, power in service, +suffering because of opposition to Him whom we serve, and joy because we +may suffer on His account.<sup><a href="#fn41">[41]</a></sup></p> + +<p>Matthew became His friend that day down at the little customs-shed at the +Capernaum water edge. And out of that friendship grew our first gospel. +John lived very close, and out of his intimacy came the gospel that +reveals to us most the inner heart of our Lord, and His own intimacy of +relation with the Father. And out of that friendship came, too, not only +John's wonderful little "abiding" epistle,<sup><a href="#fn42">[42]</a></sup> but the Revelation book, +which gives us an inkling of the coming in of the Kingdom time that lies +so near to our Lord's heart. Out of such intimacy of touch grew Stephen's +ringing address before the Jewish council, and—his stormy, stony exit, +out and up into his Master's presence.</p> + +<p>And time would fail me to tell of those in every corner of the earth, and +every generation since our Lord was here, who have served and suffered +because they loved Him and followed. Hidden away in the rocks and caves of +France from the fires of persecution, the Huguenots sang their favourite +hymn:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "I have a friend so precious,</div> +<div class="line"> So very dear to me,</div> +<div class="line"> He loves me with such tender love,</div> +<div class="line"> He loves so faithfully.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> I could not live apart from Him,</div> +<div class="line"> I love to feel Him nigh,</div> +<div class="line"> And so we dwell together,</div> +<div class="line"> My Lord and I."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>When I was in China a year ago, my heart caught some of the distant echoes +of that sort of singing, by Chinese Christians, in the midst of the fiery +persecutions of the Boxer time. And I heard the same sad, glad undertone +last year out in Corea, in the homes we visited, whose loved ones were +behind prison bars for their Friend's sake.</p> + +<p>One of the latest chapters of this friendship's outcome is only just +closed in the story of that quiet, young friend of the Lord Jesus, William +Whiting Borden, who sat down a little while ago, and so placed the wealth +left him that the world might learn of his Friend, and then went out and +laid down his life in Egypt in this same passion of friendship. So the +earth's sod in every corner has known the fertilizing of such friendship +blood, and shall some day know a wondrous harvest under our great Friend's +own gleaning.</p> + +<p>And this is why He asks us to follow. He needs our help. Our Lord Jesus +gave His precious life blood to redeem the world, to set it free from its +sin-slavery. But there are two parts to that redemption, His and ours. +These two parts are strikingly brought out by a single word in the +beginning of the book of Acts,<sup><a href="#fn43">[43]</a></sup> the word "began." Luke says that what +he has been writing in his Gospel of the life and death of Jesus was only +a <i>beginning</i>. This was what "He <i>began</i> both to do and to teach." It is +usually explained that what our Lord Jesus began in the Gospels, the Holy +Spirit continued to <i>do</i> in the Acts, and to <i>teach</i> in the Epistles. And +this is no doubt true. But there is still more here. The Holy Spirit +continued and continues through men what He began through Jesus. There is +a second part to the work of redemption, our part, the Holy Spirit working +through us. There had to be a first part; that was the great part. There +could be no second without a first. That first part was done when our Lord +Jesus was hurt to death for us. That is the great first part. Yet in doing +that He had but begun something. He touched Palestine. We are to cover the +earth. He touched one nation; we are to go to all nations. We are to +continue what He began. The work of redemption was finished on the cross +so far as He was concerned; but not yet finished so far as its being taken +to "all the world" was concerned. He needs us. This is why He asks us to +follow. He needs our co-operation.</p> + +<p>The second great factor in carrying out what He began is—how shall I put +it? Shall I say, men and the Holy Spirit? You say, "No, change that, say +the Holy Spirit and men. Put the Spirit first." Well, the order of these +two depends on where you are standing. If you are standing at the Father's +right hand, you say "the Holy Spirit and men." For the power is all in the +Holy Spirit. He is the power. There can be nothing done without Him. +Whatever is done in which He is not dominant amounts to nothing. How I +wish we men might have that tremendous fact grip us in these days when the +whole emphasis is on organization.</p> + +<p>But, very reverently let me say this, and I say it thus plainly that we +may know how much our Lord Jesus is depending on us, how really He needs +us,—this, that since we are on the earth, in the place of human action, +where the fighting is to be done, it is accurate to say with utmost +reverence, "<i>men</i> and the Holy Spirit." For mark keenly, the initiative is +in human hands. God's action has always waited on human action. The power +is only in the Holy Spirit. The most astute and strong leadership amounts +to nothing without Him flooding it with His presence. But the power needs +a channel. The Spirit needs men strongly pliant to His will. The great +world-plan waits, and always has waited, for willing men. And so our great +Friend asks us to follow because He really needs us in His plan.</p> + +<p>Have you ever noticed the picture in the word "follow"? You remember that +the earliest language was picture language. And it is a great help +sometimes to dig down under a word and get the picture. Here, it is a man +standing on a roadway, earnestly beckoning, and pointing to the road he is +in. The Old Testament word means literally "same road." The very word the +Master Himself used means "in behind."</p> + +<p>To-night this wondrous Lord Jesus stands just ahead. His face still shows +where the thorns cut and the thongs tore. But there is a marvellous +tenderness and pleading in those great patient eyes. His hand is reached +out beckoning, and you cannot miss the hole in the palm of it. The hand +points to the road He trod for us. And His voice calls pleadingly, "Take +this same road; get in behind. I need your help with My world."</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Selling All.</h4> + + +<p>And yet—and yet——. Do you remember one time our Lord turned to the +crowds that were following and told them it would be better to count up +the cost before deciding to be His disciples?<sup><a href="#fn44">[44]</a></sup> He feared if they didn't +there would be "mocking" by outsiders because His followers' lives didn't +square with their profession. His fear seems to have been well founded. +There seems to be quite a bit of that sort of mocking. It's better to +count the cost, to know what following really means. A Salvation Army +officer in Calcutta tells about a young handsome Hindu of an aristocratic +family. One day he came in, drew out a New Testament, and asked the +meaning of the words, "sell whatsoever thou hast," in the story of the +rich young ruler.<sup><a href="#fn45">[45]</a></sup> The Salvationist told him it meant that if a man's +possessions stood in the way of his becoming a Christian he must be +willing, if need be, to dispose of them for the needy. To his surprise the +young man quietly said, "I fear you don't understand."</p> + +<p>"Do you want to be a Christian?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I'm not willing to sell all that I possess."</p> + +<p>After a little more talk the young Indian left. Sometime after he appeared +at one of the Salvation Army meetings, and when the opportunity was given +for those who would accept Christ to kneel at the altar, at once he +started forward. But instantly a storm broke out in the crowded meeting. A +group of men rushed forward, shouting angrily, seized the young man and +bore him bodily out while the crowd watched in terror. A few weeks later +the young man turned up again, asking to be taken in and quietly saying, +"I have begun to sell all."</p> + +<p>Then his story came out. A Bible had come into his hands; the character +and call of the Lord Jesus made a great appeal to him. He was haunted by +the words, "sell whatsoever thou hast." He felt he knew what it meant for +him. His family heard of his interest in Christianity. They belonged to +the highest class, were wealthy and officially connected with the heathen +temple-worship. They did their best to dissuade him, then finding that +useless, they kept watch, and had him forcibly taken from the meeting +where he was about to openly confess Christ. The entreaties of his father +and mother shook him greatly but failed to change his decision. He had +been imprisoned, chained hand and foot, and scantily fed, but all to no +purpose. Then he managed to escape and came to the one Christian place he +knew, the Salvation Army, and asked to be taken in.</p> + +<p>After about two weeks he disappeared as abruptly as he came. Then one day +he came back, and told his Salvation friend that he had been carried to +Benares, their holy city, and forced to bathe in the Ganges. "But," he +said, "as I stood in the water of the Ganges, I said, 'Lord Jesus, wash me +in Thy precious blood,' and when I was forced to bow to idols, I bowed my +soul to the eternal Father and said, 'Thou art God alone.'" His mother had +implored him on her knees not to disgrace them; his tutor, whom he loved +dearly, and his brothers had joined the father in their plea not to bring +such shame on the family. "Well," the Salvationist said, "now, you know +the meaning of 'sell whatsoever thou hast'" "Not yet," he said, "but I +have sold nearly all."</p> + +<p>Again he came back and said quietly, "<i>I have sold all</i>." He appeared +deeply grief-stricken, and yet there was a light shining in his eye. In +answer to questions he said, "I have not only ceased to be a Brahmin, I +have ceased to be a human being. I am not only an outcast, I am dead. I +have neither father, mother, brothers, nor sisters. I have been burned in +effigy, and the ashes buried. It was not the effigy they burned; it was I. +My father would not recognize me now if he met me on the street, nor would +my mother. I am dead. I have been buried. It is the end. I have sold +all."<sup><a href="#fn46">[46]</a></sup> He had counted the cost. Then though it meant so much, he +followed. The rich young Jew to whom the words were first spoken, saw +<i>things</i> bigger than Jesus; the rich young Hindu saw Jesus bigger. Each +held to what he prized most, and let the other go. Would it not be better +if we were to count the cost, and then <i>deliberately</i> decide? and if it be +to follow, then follow <i>all the way?</i> I want to talk a little later about +what it means to follow. I hope this will help us a little in our +calculations, in counting the cost before starting in to follow fully.</p> + +<p>And yet, and yet, may the vision of the Lone Man in the road, beckoning, +flood our eyes while we count the cost, even as with the young Hindu.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch04"> +<h2>What Following Means</h2> + +<ol> + <li><a href="#ch04-1">A Look Ahead.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-2">The Main Road.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-3">The Valleys.</a></li> + <li><a href="#ch04-4">The Hilltops.</a></li> +</ol> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-1"> +<h3>1. A Look Ahead</h3> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Saltless Salt.</h4> + + +<p>The Lord Jesus never tried to make things look easier than they are. He +wanted you to see the road just as it is, and asked you to look at it +carefully. He knew this was the only right way to do. He knew that so the +sinews would be grown in character that would stand the tests coming, and +only so.</p> + +<p>It was never His plan to increase the numbers by cutting down the +doorsills so men could get in more easily. That was a later arrangement. +He was never concerned for numbers, but for right and truth. A man walking +alone down the middle of the one true path was more to Him, immensely +more, than a great crowd wabbling along on the edge, half out, half in, +neither in nor out, and so really out but not knowing it. If they were +really out and knew it, it would be better, for they could see more +distinctly the path they were not in, its straightness and attractiveness.</p> + +<p>This sort of thing grew more marked with our Lord Jesus as the end drew +on, the tragic end. The crowds thickened about Him those last months. They +liked good bread, and plenty of it, and healed bodies, pain gone. And He +liked to give them these. He helped just as far as they would let Him. But +He wanted to give them more. He knew this other was only temporary. He was +more concerned about healing the spirit of its disease, and giving the +more abundant life. And full well He knew that only the knife could help +many. And the knife had to be freshly sharpened, and used with strong +decisive hand, if healing and life were to come.</p> + +<p>And men haven't changed, nor the diseases that hurt their life, nor the +Master, nor the tender love of His heart. But there's more than knife; +there's fulness of life following. He would have us get the life even +though it means the knife. Most times—every time, shall I say?—the life +comes only through the knife. Yet when the life has come, with its great +tireless strength, and its deep breathing, and sheer delight of living, +you are grateful for the knife that led the way to such life.</p> + +<p>One day our Lord entered a vigorous protest against the wrong sort of +salt,<sup><a href="#fn47">[47]</a></sup> saltless salt, the sort that seemed to be salt, and you used it +and depended on it, and then found how unsalty it was, for the thing you +depended on it to preserve, had gone bad. The great need is for salty +salt. There still seems to be a great lot of this saltless salt in use. +It's labelled salt, and so it's used as salt, but it befools you. The +saltiness has been lost out, and the man using it wakes up to find out +how great is the loss, loss of what he thought he had salted, and loss of +time, character and time, the character of that salted with saltless salt, +and the time spent.</p> + +<p>It would be an immense clearing of the religious situation to-day on both +sides of the Atlantic, if the saltless salt could be got rid of, either by +removing the unsaltiness in it—though that seems a hopeless task, it's so +unsalty, and there is so much of it, and such a large proportion of it, +and it's so well content with being just as unsalty as it is. <i>Or</i>, the +only other thing is put very simply and vigorously by the Lord in a short +intense sentence, "Cast it out." Out with it. And lots of it <i>is out</i> so +far as preservative usefulness is concerned.</p> + +<p>And yet with wondrous patience He puts up with a great deal of salt that +seems to have nearly reached the utterly saltless stage, hoping to get rid +of the unsaltiness, and then to give it a new saltiness. For, be it keenly +marked, when the saltiness has quite gone out of the salt, when the +preservative quality has quite gone out from that body of people which He +has placed in the world as its moral preservative,—then look out. Aye, +"look up,"<sup><a href="#fn48">[48]</a></sup> for that's the only direction from which any help can +relieve the desperateness of the situation. And "lift up your heads," for +then comes a new preservative to the rotting earth-life. But some of us +will smell the smell of the decay before the new salt begins to work. </p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Thing in Us That Wants Things.</h4> + + +<p>It was along toward that tragic end, when the tension was tightening up to +the snapping point, the bitter hatred of the leaders yet more bitter, the +crowds yet denser, the terms of discipleship yet more plainly put with +loving, faithful plainness, that a characteristic incident happened.<sup><a href="#fn49">[49]</a></sup> A +young man of gentle blood and breeding, and influential position, came +eagerly, courteously elbowing his way through the crowd that gathered +thick about. Our Lord had just risen from where He had been sitting +teaching, when this young man, in his eagerness, came running to Him. With +deep reverence of spirit he knelt down in the road, and began asking about +the true life, the secret of living it. Our Lord begins talking about +being true in all his dealings with his fellow-men. The young man +earnestly assured Him that he had paid great attention to this, and felt +that there was nothing lacking in him on this score. The utter sincerity +and earnestness of his spirit was so clear that the Master's love was +drawn out to him. And He showed His love in a way characteristic of Him in +dealing with those who want to go to the whole length of the true road. +That is, He talked very plainly to him. There were four things to do +beforehand, He said, four starting steps into this life he was so eager +to enter. Four words tell the four steps: "go," "sell," "give," and +"come."</p> + +<p>"Go" meant the decisive starting in on this way; "sell" meant putting +everything into the Father's hand for His disposal as <i>He</i> alone might +choose. "Give" meant using everything, everything you are, and have, and +can influence, as <i>He</i> bids you. "Come" meant this new man, this decisive, +emptied, now trusted man, trusted as a trustee, coming into a new personal +relation with the Lord Jesus.</p> + +<p>The first three things were important because they revealed the man. But +<i>the</i> thing was that the man, this new-emptied and now God-trusted man, +should come into personal touch with the Lord Jesus. The things he had and +held on to came in between. When they no longer came in to separate, then, +and only then, was he ready to get "in behind" and "follow" along the +"same road." For this is the friendship road. Only friends are allowed +here, inner friends, those who come in by that gateway. There must be the +personal touch. Things that stand in the way of that must be straightened +out.</p> + +<p>It was rather a startling answer. The young man was startled tremendously. +The way to come in is first to go out. The way to get is first to give. +The way to buy what you want is to sell what you have. That is to say, the +way for this young man to get what he was so eager for was to get rid of +what he already had. And yet it wasn't getting rid of the things the +Master was thinking about, but getting rid of the thing in him that +wanted the things, getting rid of their hold upon him. Our Lord Jesus +wanted, and wants, free men, emptied men. He wants the strength in the man +that the emptying and selling process gives. This is the laboratory where +the unsaltiness is being burned out, and the new salty saltiness being +generated, put in.</p> + +<p>This young fellow couldn't stand the test. So many can't. No, I'm getting +the words wrong. He wouldn't stand it; so many won't. The slavery of +<i>things</i> was too much. The thing in him that wanted the things was +stronger than the thing that wanted the true life. He was too weak to make +that "go" decision. He belonged to the weakly fellowship of the saltless +ones. They are not wholly saltless, but that's the chief thing that marks +them. It's a long-lived fellowship, continuing to this day, with a large +membership in good and regular standing.</p> + +<p>I think the real trouble with this fine-grained lovable young man was in +his eyes, the way they looked, what they saw. It was a matter of seeing +things in true perspective. He didn't get a good look at the Man he asked +his question of. He was looking so intently at the <i>things</i> that he +couldn't get the use of his eyes for a good look at the Man. This is a +very common eye-trouble. He was all right outward, toward his fellows, but +he wasn't all right upward toward the Father.</p> + +<p>And yet even that statement must be changed. For a man cannot be right +with his fellows who is not right with God. When God doesn't have the +passion of the heart, our fellows don't have all they should properly have +from us; there is a lack. The common law may be kept, the pounds and yards +may weigh and measure off fully what is due them from us, but the uncommon +law, the love-law is not being kept. The warm spirit that should breathe +out through all our dealings is lacking. It's been checked by the check in +the upper movement. Only the spirit that flows freely up, ever flows +freely out.</p> + +<p>That young Indian aristocrat we spoke of elsewhere got a sight of <i>Jesus</i>. +That settled <i>things</i> for him, including even such sacred things as human +loves. This young Jewish aristocrat couldn't get his eyes off of the +things. So many "thing"-slaves there are, so much "thing"-slavery. If only +there were the sight of <i>His</i> face! His <i>face</i>; torn? yes; scarred? yes +again, but oh, the strength and light and love in it!</p> + +<p>Do you remember that other young Jewish, university-trained aristocrat? He +got a look, one good long look-in-the-face look of <i>that face</i>, one day, +on the road up to the northern Syrian capital. The light of it flooded his +face, and strangely affected him. He said "when I could not <i>see</i> for the +glory of that light."<sup><a href="#fn50">[50]</a></sup> He couldn't see things for Him. The sight of Him +blurred out the things. The great need to-day is for a sight of <i>Him</i>. +Lord Jesus, if Thou wouldst show us Thy "hands and feet" again, and torn +face, even as in the upper room that resurrection evening,<sup><a href="#fn51">[51]</a></sup> for that's +what we are needing. And yet, Thou art doing just that, but the things so +hold our vision! And the Master's answer is the same as to the young Jew. +We need the decisive "go"; the incisive, inclusive "sell"; the privileged +"give"; the new-meaninged "come" into His presence. And then we may get +"in behind" Him, and follow close up in the "same road," with eyes for +naught but Himself.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Outstanding Experiences.</h4> + + +<p>I want to follow the Master's plan, and ask you to take a good look at His +"Follow Me" road. You remember that we have had one talk together about +the characteristics of our Lord Jesus' life. Now we want to talk a little +about <i>the experiences</i> of His life. And I do not mean that we are to try +to imitate these experiences, or any of them. The meaning goes much deeper +than this, and yet it marks out a simpler road for our feet. I mean that +as we actually go along with this Master of ours, these experiences will +work out in our lives.</p> + +<p>As we let Him in as actual Lord, and get our ears trained for His quiet +voice, there will come to us some of the same things that come to Him.</p> + +<p>The same Spirit at work within us, and the same sort of a world at work +without, will so work against each other as to produce certain other +results, now as then. It is not to be an attempt at imitation; it's far +more. It is to be <i>obedience</i> on our part, a real Presence within on His +part, and a bitter antagonism without on the world's part; rhythmic full +glad obedience, a sympathetic powerful real Presence, a tense and +intensifying subtle, relentless, but continually-being-thwarted +opposition. The key-note for us is simple, full obedience.</p> + +<p>There were certain great outstanding experiences in our Lord Jesus' life. +Let us briefly notice what these were and group them together. There was +<i>the Bethlehem Birth</i>. That was a thing altogether distinctive in itself. +It was a supernatural birth, the Spirit of God working along purely human +lines, in a new special way, for a special purpose. It was a rare blending +of God and man in the action of life. It was followed by <i>the Nazareth +Life</i>; that was a commonplace life, lived in a commonplace village, but +hallowed by the presence of the Father, and sweetened by the salt of +everything being done under that Father's loving eye. The Father's +presence accepted as a real thing became the fragrance of that commonplace +daily life. And this life covered most of those human years.</p> + +<p>Then our Lord turned from the hidden life of Nazareth to the public +ministry. At its beginning stands <i>the Jordan Baptism of Power</i>. In the +path of simple obedience He had gone to the Jordan, taken a place among +the crowds, and accepted John's baptism. And in this act of obedience, +there comes the gracious act of His Father's approval, the Holy Spirit +came down upon Him in gracious, almighty power. And from this moment He +was under the sway of the Spirit of Power. This was the special +preparation and fitting for all that was to follow.</p> + +<p>At once the Spirit driveth Him into the Wilderness. And for forty days He +goes through the great experience of <i>the Wilderness Temptation</i>. In +intensity and in prolonged action, it was the greatest experience thus far +in His life. He suffered, being tempted. It was a concentration of the +continuous temptation of the following years of action. But the Wilderness +spelled out two words, temptation <i>and</i> victory; temptation such as had +never yet been brought, and met, and fought; victory beyond what the race +had known. Temptation came to have a new spelling for man, v-i-c-t-o-r-y. +It came to have a new spelling for the tempter, d-e-f-e-a-t.</p> + +<p>After His virtual rejection by the nation as its Messiah,<sup><a href="#fn52">[52]</a></sup> and the +imprisonment of him who stood nearest Him as Messiah,—John the Herald, +there followed <i>the Galilean Ministry</i>. For those brief years He was +utterly absorbed in personally meeting and ministering to the crying needs +of the crowds. Compassion for needy men became the ruling under-passion. +He was spent out in responding to the needs of men. It was not restricted +to Galilee, but that stands out as the chief scene of this tireless +unceasing service. The Galilean ministry meant a life spent in meeting +personally the needs of men.</p> + +<p>In the midst of that, made increasingly difficult by the ever-increasing +opposition, there came the experience of <i>the Transfiguration Mount</i>. It +comes at a decisive turning point, where He is beginning the higher +training of the Twelve for the tragic ending, so surprising and wholly +unexpected to them. For a brief moment the dazzling light within was +allowed to shine through the garments of His humanity. What was within +transfigured the outer, the human face and form. And the overwhelming +outshining light was evidence to those three men of the divine glory, the +more-than-human glory hidden away within this human man.</p> + +<p>Then within a week of the end came <i>the Gethsemane Agony.</i> That was the +lone, sore stress of spirit under the load of the sin of others. In +Gethsemane He went through in spirit what on the morrow He went through in +actual experience. Gethsemane was the beginning, the anticipation of +Calvary, so far as that could be anticipated. Anticipation here was +terrific; yet less terrific than the actual experience.</p> + +<p>And then came the climax, the overtopping experience of all for Him, as +for us, <i>the Calvary Cross.</i> There He died of His own free will. He died +for us. He died that we might not die. He took upon Himself what sin +brings to us, while the Father's face was hidden. So He freed us from the +slavery of sin, made a way for us back to real life, and so touched our +hearts by His love that we were willing to go back.</p> + +<p>And close upon the heels of that came <i>the burial in Joseph's tomb</i>. The +burial was the completion of the death. The tomb was the climax of the +cross. He was actually dead and buried. The corn of wheat had fallen down +into the ground and been covered up. There was nothing lacking to make +full and clear that Jesus had died.</p> + +<p>Then came the stupendous experience of <i>the Resurrection Morning</i>. Our +Lord Jesus yielded to death fully and wholly. Then He seized death by the +throat and strangled it. He put death to death. Then He quietly yielded to +the upward gravity of His sinless life and rose up. He lived the dependent +life even so far as yielding to death, and now the Father quietly brought +Him back again to life, to a new life.</p> + +<p>And after waiting a while on earth among men, long enough to make it quite +clear to His disciples that it was really Himself really back again, He +quietly yielded further to the upward gravity, and entered upon <i>the +Ascension Life</i>, up in the Father's presence. That life is one of +intercession. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.<sup><a href="#fn53">[53]</a></sup> He is our +pleading advocate at the Father's right hand.<sup><a href="#fn54">[54]</a></sup> Thirty years of the +Nazareth life, three and a half years of personal service, nineteen +hundred years, almost, of praying. What an acted-out lesson to us on +prayer, the big place it had and has with Him, the true proportion of +prayer to all else!</p> + +<p>These are the experiences of our Lord Jesus that stand out clear above +the mountain range of His life. It was all a high mountain range; these +are the great peaks jutting sharply up above the range.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>At the Loom.</h4> + + +<p>Now these peaks, these outstanding experiences, as you look at them a bit, +seem to fall naturally into three groups. There were certain experiences +of power and of privilege, the Bethlehem Birth, the Jordan Baptism, the +Nazareth Life, and the Galilean Ministry.</p> + +<p>There were experiences of suffering and sacrifice, the Wilderness +Temptation, the Gethsemane Agony, the Calvary Death, and the Joseph's Tomb +of Burial.</p> + +<p>And then there were certain experiences of gladness and great glory, the +Transfiguration Mount, the Resurrection Morning, the Ascension Life, and, +we shall find a fourth here also, a future experience, the Kingdom Reign +and Glory.</p> + +<p>These outstanding events, while distinct in themselves, are also +representative of continual experiences. The Jordan Baptism stands not +only for that event, but for the power throughout those forty and two +months. The same sort of suffering that came in Gethsemane had run all +through His life, but is strongest in Gethsemane. So each of these +experiences is really like a peak resting upon the mountain range of +constant similar experience. And these three groups of experience +continuously intermingled, interlaced and interwoven, made up the pattern +of that wondrous life.</p> + +<p>Now these same experiences of His are also the great experiences that will +characterize the "Follow Me" life, for every one who will follow fully. It +will always remain true that these experiences were distinctive of Him. +They meant more to Him than they will or can mean to any other. But it is +also true that they will come to us in a degree that will mean everything +to us.</p> + +<p>I want to change the figure of speech here. I think it will help. This +invitation, "Follow Me," is the language of a road, the picture of one +walking behind another in a road. And that will remain in our minds as the +chief picture of this pleading call. But there's another bit of picture +talking that will help. That is the picture of a weaver's loom, with the +warp threads running lengthwise, the shuttle threads running crosswise, +and the cross beam (or batten) driving each shuttle thread into place in +the cloth with a sharp blow.</p> + +<p>These three groups of experiences are like so many hanks of threads in +the loom, in which the pattern of life is being woven. The experiences of +power and privilege are the warp threads running lengthwise of the loom, +into which the others are woven. These make up the foundation of the +fabric.</p> + +<p>The other two groups make up the shuttle threads, running crosswise, being +woven into the warp. The experiences of suffering and sacrifice are the +dark threads, the gray threads, sometimes quite black, and the red +threads, blood red. The experiences of gladness and glory are the bright +threads, yellow, golden, sunny threads.</p> + +<p>And the daily round of life, the decisions, the actual step after step in +living out the decisions, the patient steady pushing on, is the beam that +with sharp blow pushes each thread into its place in the fabric being +woven.</p> + +<p>As we allow the same Spirit that swayed our Lord's life to control us, He +will work out in us certain of these same experiences. And the enmity +aroused, and working against that Spirit's presence and control, will +bring certain other experiences. Our part will be simple obedience, +listening, looking, studying quietness so as to insure keener ears and +eyes—it's the quiet spirit that hears what He is saying—then obeying, +using all the strength of will, and all the grace at our disposal, simply +to hold steady and true, and to obey, no matter what threatens to come, or +what actually does come. This will be found to be like weaving.</p> + +<p>Probably you have often heard of how the weavers work in the famous +Gobelin tapestry factories in Paris. They know nothing of the beauty of +the pattern being woven. They work on the "wrong" side, the under side of +the web. They miss the inspiration of seeing the rare beauty they +themselves are making. All the weaver sees is the apparent tangle of many +coloured threads and thread ends, while he thrusts in his needles +according to the card of instructions. The more faithfully and skilfully +he can follow the directions the better a piece of weaving work is done.</p> + +<p>We simply obey. We use all the strength we have, and the skill we can +acquire, in obeying. We are not to depend on what we can see or feel for +inspiration, only on the Master Looms-man; on His word, written, and +spoken in our hearts, and on His answering peace within. Obedience is the +one key-note for all the music. Surrender is the first act of full +obedience. Obedience is the habitual surrender. Our part is to hear right +and do what He bids.</p> + +<p>Some day we shall be fairly swept off our feet by the beauty of the +pattern He has been weaving—<i>if</i> we've let Him have His way at the loom.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-2"> +<h3>2. The Main Road—Experiences of Power And Privilege</h3> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Bethlehem Birth.</h4> + + +<p>There were four of these experiences in our Lord's life. At the very +beginning came <i>the Bethlehem Birth</i>. That meant for Him a birth out of +the usual course of nature, yet working within nature's usual processes. +It was something more-than-the-natural coming down into the natural. The +power of the Holy Spirit came upon the pure gentle maiden of Nazareth and +a new human life was begotten by Him within her, and in due course came to +the maturity of birth. This was a distinctive thing with Jesus.</p> + +<p>Now, in quite a different sense, but in a very real sense, there will be +for us, too, a Bethlehem Birth. The Holy Spirit will come in and begin a +new life within us. This is the only beginning of the "Follow Me" life for +any of us. There's a something on the Spirit's part before there can be a +beginning on my part. Yet that hardly tells the whole story. My part is +really first; I open the door for Him to come in. When I accept Jesus as +my Saviour, that's opening the door. The Spirit comes in and begins the +new life within me. And yet there's another first before that first act of +mine. He woos me with His patient, tender love. That is the first first. +Then I open the door: at once He comes in, and does the thing which only +He can do. So begins the "Follow Me" life. This is the real, the only +beginning.</p> + +<p>And yet there's more here of the practical sort than we have thought of, +most of us. It means that there is within us a life higher than the +natural life, and this higher life is to <i>be</i> higher, it is to be the +<i>controlling</i> life. It is to hold the upper hand over the natural life. +The control is to be from above. That is to say, the motives and desires +of the upper life are to be dominant in my daily round. It is the +Father-pleasing life as contrasted with the natural life, of which we +talked a while ago. Wherever the two come in conflict, the upper is to +rule.</p> + +<p>Now, I know this rather runs across the grain of a good deal of our +so-called Christian life. There are a good many people who, let us really +believe, have been "born again," to use the familiar phrase, yet they seem +to have stayed in the being-born stage, the infancy stage. That which was +"born again" in them seems not to have been developed. It has never been +allowed to grow. The under life has been given the upper hand, and the +upper life kept strictly down. The salt isn't salty. The common round of +life is seasoned wholly by the old seasoning.</p> + +<p>Our Lord's "Follow Me" becomes a radical, decisive thing at the very +start. It means that we will allow this new life of the Spirit to grow +into lusty vigour, and to become the controlling life So it will be the +chief thing. All the life shall be directed and controlled <i>from above.</i> +This is a result that will come of itself if we really follow. Obedience, +and back of that the quiet time on the knees with the Book, will give food +and air and growing space to this new life, and its growth will crowd down +the other.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Jordan Baptism of Power.</h4> + + +<p>Then there was a <i>Jordan Baptism of Power</i> in our Lord's life. This stood +at the beginning of His leadership, His life-work, His service among men. +As He came up out of the Jordan waters He stood waiting in prayer. He was +expecting something. His whole being was absorbed in the expectancy of +what had been promised.<sup><a href="#fn55">[55]</a></sup> And that expectancy was not disappointed. None +that wait on God shall be put to confusion by any disappointment.<sup><a href="#fn56">[56]</a></sup> The +blue above was rift through, the Holy Spirit as a gentle dove came, and +remained upon Him, and the Father's voice of pleased approval spoke to His +grateful, obedient heart. From that time the whole control of His life was +absolutely in the hands of the Holy Spirit.</p> + +<p>This does not mean an inert passivity on Jesus' part; it meant a strong, +intelligent yielding to the Holy Spirit. It does not mean that His natural +faculties of mind and will and heart were held down, not to be used. It +means that they were actively, studiously used in discerning the Holy +Spirit's leading, and in doing as He directed. And it means that so there +came a fulness of life, an increasing life, into His faculties, mind and +will and heart. Our Lord Jesus used all His powers in yielding to the +inspiration and direction and control of the Holy Spirit, keeping ever +open to His suggestion, and making that suggestion the law of His own +action.</p> + +<p>And the Spirit of Omnipotence, working with the gentleness of a dove, +breathed upon those yielded powers, and breathed through them, even as had +been planned with the first breathing of this sort, in Eden. So from the +Wilderness clear up to the last Olivet command to the disciples, +everything was done at the bidding, the direction of this Spirit. And so +the almighty power was breathed into every word and action and bit of +suffering. The one key-note of the Master's action was obedience; the +result was the flooding of the Spirit's omnipotence through His obedient +faculties and life.</p> + +<p>Now, <i>as we follow</i>, this same sort of experience will be ours. What a +tremendous thing to say! Yet the road was being beaten down for <i>our +feet</i>. The Son of Man was simply showing to His brother-men the road we +were all meant to go, showing it by going in it. All the power that came +into Jesus' life will come into ours, <i>if</i> He is given His way. For the +Holy Spirit is not measured out, either to Him or to us,<sup><a href="#fn57">[57]</a></sup> but poured +out without stint.<sup><a href="#fn58">[58]</a></sup> As we follow we shall be led along behind the Man +going before.</p> + +<p>There will need to be instruction, for we're so new to this road. And +human teachers are sent by the Holy Spirit to help us understand, teachers +in print, and teachers in shoes. There will need to be the initial act of +full surrender to the Lord Jesus as Lord indeed, for most of us have been +going another way than this. There will need to be a house-cleaning time, +for we have let in so much of another sort.</p> + +<p>A soft, but very honest, searching light will come flooding in through the +sky-light windows. And as we instinctively go to our knees and faces +because of what that light brings to light, there will be a wondrous +cleansing, both by blood and by fire. Then will come a filling of our very +being by this wondrous Spirit of God.</p> + +<p>How shall we know this filling, do you ask? There will be a quiet, deep +peace, at times a great joy that sings, but ever the deep peace that +<i>holds</i> you, a new hunger for the old Book, and a new soft light on its +pages. There will be an inner drawing to talk with God, and an intense +desire to please Him, to find out what He wants you to do, and then to do +it.</p> + +<p>There will come other things too, of a less pleasant sort, temptation +will come anew, and a sense—sometimes very acute—of sin, a feeling that +there's a something within you fighting you, the new you. There will be an +increased sensitiveness to sin, and an intense hatred of it. This is what +the filling means. These things will tell you that He, the Spirit, has +taken possession of what you surrendered, and that He is now at work +within. These are His finger-prints.</p> + +<p>Then there will be the outflowing side of this filling. A passion that all +men may know this compassionate God, will come as a fire burning in your +bones. Its flames will envelop and go through everything you are and have +and can do. But under all will be the passion for pleasing the Lord Jesus. +Obedience will become the chief thing, holding everything else in check, +obedience to Him, pleasing Him, doing His will.</p> + +<p>The Bethlehem Birth is the <i>beginning</i> of a new, a supernatural life +within; <i>this</i> will be the actual life itself, in full vigour and power. +That is the supernatural birth, this the supernatural life. That is, there +is at work within you, very quietly and simply, a power more than the +natural, working through the natural order, and sometimes upsetting what +we may have grown to think of as the natural order. This is the Jordan +Baptism of Power, the Holy Spirit taking charge, and you living a +Spirit-controlled life. There's a new sign hung out over your life, "this +life is being conducted under new management." You won't say it; it won't +be shouted out. It'll be louder yet. Your <i>life</i> will be telling it +continually.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Power Is in the Current.</h4> + + +<p>The word to emphasize here is <i>control</i>. You will find new meanings, that +you had not thought of, gradually working out of it. If the Holy Spirit +had control of us as He had of—Philip, for instance. He picked Philip up +out of the midst of the Samaritan crowd, where he was the human centre of +things, and put him down away off here in the desert,—<i>strange +contrast!</i>—and with one lone traveller, greater contrast yet!<sup><a href="#fn59">[59]</a></sup> If He +were free to pick you and me up like that, out of these surroundings, +congenial and pleasant, and set us down where we had no thought of going, +and never would have gone of our own choice, and we sing as we are picked +up, <i>and</i> keep on singing where we find ourselves amidst the uncongenial +perhaps, the strange, the unprecedented and hard,—<i>if</i> He were free to +control like that these days, there would be a present-day Pentecost +beside which the Acts-Pentecost was but the beginnings of the throbbings +of power.</p> + +<p>There are some peculiarities of this "Follow Me" road here. There comes a +strangely new sense of proportion. As you follow close up behind the Man +ahead, you will grow <i>smaller</i>, and He will grow <i>larger</i>. No, that's not +an accurate statement; you won't <i>grow</i> any smaller, you will only find +out how small you are. He won't grow any larger, you will simply be +finding out, and then finding out more, how large He is. It'll seem +strange to most of us, finding out our real size, or lack of the size we +always supposed we were. But it will come with a great awing, +heart-subduing sense, to find how marvellous in size this great Man is; +and yet He is our brother, as well as so immensely more.</p> + +<p>You come to find out that power, that thing that used to be so much talked +about, and defined, and yet chiefly wondered about, that power is a matter +of position. The man close in behind the Lord Jesus doesn't need to be +concerned about power. In fact he isn't concerned about it, only concerned +with keeping close in touch. All the rest comes without our being +concerned. It comes from him, the Man ahead. There is far more power, the +very power of God, softly flowing and flooding its way in and through and +out, than you are ever conscious of. Others will know more of the power +than you. You are thinking about the Man ahead, keeping in touch, pleasing +Him. Obedience has become a new word to you. It's the music of keeping +step, keeping step with Him.</p> + +<p>Have you noticed how much the current of the stream will do for you if you +are out in a row-boat? All you need to do is to keep up enough motion to +hold the boat within the sweep of the current. Then your chief task is +<i>steering</i>. You're not concerned about power; only about the steering. +There's more power in the current than you can ever use. Your one concern +is to keep out of the shallows and sucking side-eddies, away from snag and +rock, and <i>in the current.</i> The power's in the current. Right steering +brings all that power to bear on your little boat.</p> + +<p>Now, power here is a matter of steering, so far as our part is concerned. +We steer to get into the current of our Lord Jesus' will, and, by His +grace, we use all our will power in <i>keeping</i> in that current, and out of +the shallows and suction-eddies at the side. The Lord Jesus, once spit +upon and crucified, now seated "far above all rule, and authority, and +power, and dominion, and every name that is named," and <i>at work on earth +through His Holy Spirit</i>,—this Lord Jesus, <i>free to do as He +chooses</i>,—this is power. <i>He</i> is power.</p> + +<p>Power is the Lord Jesus in action, and the action is always through some +man's life. We steer so as to keep in touch. He acts through the man in +touch. And the hungry, needy crowds know a something coming to them, with +irresistible grateful sweep.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Living a Nazareth Life.</h4> + + +<p>There was a third experience in this group. Our Lord Jesus lived <i>the +Nazareth Life</i>. In actual order of time this came before the baptism of +power. I have changed the order here, and named it third simply for the +practical help in the change. With the Lord Jesus, the whole of the life +was under the sway of the Holy Spirit from birth on, through the earliest +conscious years, and all the years. With us, in actual experience, we are +all free to confess that it has not been so from our Spirit-birth on.</p> + +<p>That baptism of power at Jordan was without doubt a baptism of power for +leadership and service. Service and leadership ever need the time of +special waiting on God, and the fresh anointing by the Holy Spirit's +touch, the fresh consciousness of Himself, as the only source of power in +the service and leadership.</p> + +<p>In our actual experience the Holy Spirit, coming in power, has had much to +do in changing our habits, ourselves, and our lives, as well as in our +service. There has been so much service that has not been backed up by the +life, that many have come to feel, and to feel very deeply, that the power +in service must have its roots in the human side, deep down in the daily +habit of life. With our Lord Jesus that Jordan experience made no +difference of this sort in His life. There was nothing needing to be +changed. That Nazareth life had been lived continuously under the control +of the Holy Spirit.</p> + +<p>Look a moment at that Nazareth life of His. It means simply a commonplace, +treadmill round of life lived under the hallowing touch of the Father's +presence. This was according to the original plan. It is God's presence +recognized that hallows what is common. It is the absence of His presence, +that is, the leaving of Him out, that makes common things common; that is, +it makes the familiar thing and round <i>seem</i> and <i>feel</i> common. It's the +unhallowed and unhallowing touch of the selfish, of sin, that makes things +seem common, in the sense of not being holy and sweet and pure and +refreshing. Sin makes things grow stale to you. Selfishness affects your +eye, the way things look to you. God's presence recognized keeps things +fresh. His touch upon us, ever afresh, makes us fresh. Everything we touch +and see is touched by a God-freshened hand, and seen through a +God-freshened eye.</p> + +<p>Now Jesus lived this commonplace round of life, and lived it under the +ever-freshening touch of His Father's presence. It isn't the thing you do, +nor the things that surround you, that make your life, but the spirit that +breathes out of you in the midst of the things. It's the <i>you</i> in you that +makes the life, regardless of surroundings. The outer things are the +accidents, you, the spirit that breathes out of you,—this is the real +thing.</p> + +<p>Jesus <i>lived</i> it. That is the tremendous fact that Nazareth stands for. +He lived what He taught, and He lived it first, and He lived it far more +deeply and really than it could be taught to others. This was the basis of +those few service years. Nazareth lies under the Galilean ministry. There +were thirty years under the three-and-a-half-years. And the thirty years +crop up into and out of the three-and-a-half. The life lived was the great +fact at work, as the Man went about doing good. The hidden life of +Nazareth lies open in the Galilean ministry.</p> + +<p>When you are reading the wonderful works among the needy throngs, you are +reading the biography of the Nazareth years, in their outer reach. The +life you live is the thing that tells! This is the meaning of the thirty +hidden years. The Father said, "My Son shall spend most of His years down +there <i>living</i>, just living a true, simple Eden life; living with Me in +the midst of home and carpenter shop and village." This is what the world +needs so much to be taught, how to live. And the teaching must be by +living, teaching by action. The message must be lived.</p> + +<p>If we men might live Jesus! That's what the world needs. At one of the +smaller meetings of the Edinburgh Conference, in 1910, a Christian +gentleman from India, native of that land, said, "We don't need more +Bibles in India." And then to this surprising statement, he added, "We +have enough Bibles. If the Christians in India would <i>live the Bible</i>, +India would be converted." And I thought, that will do for America, and +England, and for all the world. <i>Jesus lived it</i>. As a man in His +decisions and actions, His habits and daily round, He lived the truth.</p> + +<p>The story is told of a missionary in some part of Africa who had not had +much success in his work. He was in the habit of explaining some portion +of the New Testament to the people at His house. One day the portion +contained the words, "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that +would borrow of thee turn thou not away."<sup><a href="#fn60">[60]</a></sup> The people asked him if this +meant what it said. He told them that it did. One of them said he would +like to have the table, pointing to it; another asked for a chair, another +for the bed, and so on. The missionary was rather startled at such literal +taking of his teaching. He told them to come again on the morrow, and he +would give his answer.</p> + +<p>When they had gone, he and his wife had rather a heart-searching time +together. They felt they had not reached the hearts of the people yet. But +to do as they asked meant real sacrifice of a very personal sort. At last +with much prayer they decided to meet the people where they had opened the +way. And so the next day they gave their answer, and soon the house was +literally bare of all its furnishings. And that night they slept on the +floor, yet with a sweet peace in their hearts in the midst of this strange +experience.</p> + +<p>The next day the people came back, carrying the furniture. They had +really been testing these new-comers. "Now," they said, "we believe you. +You <i>live</i> your Book. We want you to teach us." And with open hearts they +listened anew to the Gospel story, and many of them accepted Christ.</p> + +<p>The little incident reveals the unity of the race. Those Africans said +what England and America and all the world is saying, "<i>Live it</i>." Is your +religion <i>livable</i>? What the world needs to-day is <i>a Jesus lived</i>, not +simply taught, nor preached about, but lived in the power of the Holy +Spirit. How the fire, the holy fire, of that sort of thing would catch and +spread! Oh, yes, it might mean sleeping on the bare floor! That's what +living-it means, the actual life overriding any mere thing that stands in +the way.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Live It.</h4> + + +<p>I stood one day on the abrupt edge of a little hill in a Southern Japanese +city. There, in a great tree hanging out over the edge, had hung the bell +that called together the faithful retainers of the lord of the province, +when they were needed. There, nearly thirty years ago, a little band of +Japanese youth, of noble families, had gone out at break of day one +Sabbath morning, and solemnly covenanted to follow the Lord Jesus, and to +devote their lives to making Him known throughout their land. Boys still +in their tender teens most of them were. And that covenant was not +lightly made, for already the fires of persecution had been kindled, and +these fires burned fiercely but could not compete with the fire in their +hearts. And as one goes up and down the island empire of the Pacific +to-day, he can find traces of their lives cropping up everywhere, like +gold veins above the soil.</p> + +<p>And as I sought to trace the hidden springs of the power at work behind +all this, I found it was in the <i>life</i> of one young man, a simple, holy +life burning with a passion for Jesus. In this life could be found the +kindling of the tender flames burning so hotly in these young hearts. He +was a young American officer engaged, by the feudal lord of the province, +to teach military tactics and English. He dared not teach Christianity; +that would have meant instant dismissal. So for two years he <i>lived</i> the +message, so simply and lovingly that he won the love of his pupils. Then +they came Sundays to his house to hear him read the English Bible, because +they loved him. As he prayed the tears would run down his face, and they +laughed to think a <i>man</i> would weep, but they came because they loved him. +He really <i>loved them into the Christian life</i>. I was reminded of the line +in Hezekiah's song of thanksgiving after his illness, "Thou hast loved my +soul up from the pit."<sup><a href="#fn61">[61]</a></sup> This young teacher <i>lived his pupils to the +Lord Jesus</i>. The latter part of his life was a sad one, but nothing can +change the record of those earlier years.</p> + +<p>I saw recently a news item telling how many million copies of the Bible +are being printed every year. The item slurringly remarked that the +statisticians didn't seem concerned yet with figuring up how many of them +were read. But, I thought, what these Bibles need is a new binding. This +Bible I carry is bound in the best sealskin, with kid-lining. It is +supposed to be the best binding for hard wear. But there's a much better +sort of leather than that for Bible binding; I mean <i>shoe leather</i>. The +people want the Bible bound in shoe leather. When we tread this Bible out +in our daily walk, when what we are becomes an illustrated copy of the +Bible, the greatest revival the earth has known will come. With utmost +reverence let me say that our Lord Jesus wants to come and walk around in +our shoes, and live inside our garments, and touch men through us.</p> + +<p>I remember something in my early Christian life that was a sore temptation +to me. There were some Christian leaders who had helped me greatly by +their preaching and writings. Then it chanced that I was thrown into +personal contact with them, now one, now another. And I had a sore +disappointment. It's hard to find that your idol has clay feet. It's +doubtless wrong to have idols. Yet youth is the time of such idol worship. +The disappointment was a very sore one. Then out of it I was led to see +that the Master never disappoints. And there was a drawing nearer to +Himself alone.</p> + +<p>And then a questioning arose: was some one perhaps looking at me? And a +burning desire came to be more in life than in speech, not only for the +sake of some one, perchance looking; but for the sake of that other One, +the Man with eyes of flame, His looking. I need hardly tell you that it +has been my blessed privilege to have had personal contact with leaders +whose fragrant lives are so much more than word or act.</p> + +<p>The Nazareth life means that the Lord Jesus lived His message, amid +commonplace surroundings, in the midst of what is called the dull monotony +of the daily round. That is, in the place where it is hardest to do it, He +lived every bit of what He taught. And as we follow, simply, obediently, +the Spirit will lead us along this same road. The same experience will +happen to us. Could there be a greater evidence of the power of this Holy +Spirit than to do such a thing with such as we know ourselves to be? Yet +He will, <i>if</i> we let Him. A big "if" you say? But not too big to be taken +out of the way, out of His way. He will live out through us what He puts +into us, by and with our constant consent.</p> + +<p>This is the meaning of the Nazareth life. Our part is obedience, simple, +intelligent, strong obedience to Him. The result will be this same +experience, a Nazareth life of purity and power lived by the Spirit's +power.</p> + +<p>This was the thought in the mind of Horatius Bonar, as he wrote of the +unnamed woman who anointed our Lord's head, and of whom Jesus said that +what she had done should be told as a memorial of her, wherever the Gospel +should be preached.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Up and away like dew in the morning,</div> +<div class="line"> Soaring from earth to its home in the sun,</div> +<div class="line"> So let me steal away, gently and lovingly,</div> +<div class="line"> Only remembered by what I have done.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> My name and my place and my tomb all forgotten,</div> +<div class="line"> The brief race of time well and patiently run,</div> +<div class="line"> So let me pass away peacefully, silently,</div> +<div class="line"> Only remembered by what I have done.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> Gladly away from this toil would I hasten,</div> +<div class="line"> Up to the crown that for me has been won,</div> +<div class="line"> Unthought of by man in reward and in praises,</div> +<div class="line"> Only remembered by what I have done.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> Up and away like the odours of sunset</div> +<div class="line"> That sweeten the twilight as darkness comes on,</div> +<div class="line"> So be my life—a thing <i>felt</i> but not noticed,</div> +<div class="line"> And I but remembered by what I have done.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> Yes, like the fragrance that wanders in freshness,</div> +<div class="line"> When the flowers that it comes from are closed up and gone,</div> +<div class="line"> So would I be to this world's weary dwellers,</div> +<div class="line"> Only remembered by what I have done.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> I need not be missed if my life has been bearing,</div> +<div class="line"> As the summer and autumn move silently on,</div> +<div class="line"> The bloom and the fruit and the seed of its season;</div> +<div class="line"> I still am remembered by what I have done.</div></div> + +<div class='stanza'><div class="line"> I need not be missed if another succeed me,</div> +<div class="line"> To reap down these fields that in spring</div> +<div class="line"> I have sown;</div> +<div class="line"> He who ploughed and who sowed is not missed by the reaper;</div> +<div class="line"> He is only remembered by what he has done.</div></div> + +<div class='stanza'><div class="line"> Not myself but the truth that in life I have spoken,</div> +<div class="line"> Not myself but the seed in life I have sown,</div> +<div class="line"> Shall pass on to ages—all about <i>me</i> forgotten,</div> +<div class="line"> Save the truth I have spoken, the things</div> +<div class="line"> I have done.</div></div> + +<div class='stanza'><div class="line"> So let my living be, so be my dying,</div> +<div class="line"> So let my name be emblazoned, unknown,—</div> +<div class="line"> Unraised and unmissed I shall still be remembered,</div> +<div class="line"> Yes,—but remembered by what I have done."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Galilean Ministry.</h4> + + +<p>The fourth experience in this group was <i>the Galilean Ministry</i>. Our Lord +Jesus gave Himself up to helping those in need. He devoted Himself to +personal service among men. After John's imprisonment He withdrew to +Galilee and ministered to the needy.</p> + +<p>There were crowds of them. They were in sorest need of body and spirit. +And He gave Himself freely out to them in glad helpful service. He met +their need. He did whatever their condition called for. He ministered to +their bodily needs. He mingled among them freely as an older brother or +friend, holding their children on His knees while He talked with them over +their concerns and troubles. But He didn't stop there. Having won their +hearts, He met their deeper needs. He comforted their hearts, talked to +them one by one, drawing out their hearts, and speaking of the Father.</p> + +<p>And as the crowds thickened, He taught and preached to the multitudes. He +was a preacher, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. He was a teacher, +bit by bit, line upon line, patiently teaching and explaining to them +about the Father's love, and about the true life and how to live it. Three +words are used several times to characterize that Galilean ministry, +teaching and preaching and healing.<sup><a href="#fn62">[62]</a></sup></p> + +<p>He warned against sin, patiently wooing erring men and women away from +their sin into lives of purity, and strengthening the young and earnest in +their purposes. The need of the crowd swept Him like a strong wind in the +young trees. He couldn't resist their plea. The presence of a man in need, +of either body or spirit, took hold of His heart. Over and over we are +told that He was "moved with compassion." What a life it was! What a heart +He had!</p> + +<p>Now our Lord Jesus calls us along this bit of the road. That is to say, +the Holy Spirit within us will make our hearts tender and compassionate, +even as our Lord Jesus was. The crowds always moved Him tremendously. He +couldn't stand the great dumb cry that the mere presence of a multitude +rang in His ears. The mere presence of some one in need, earnestly +seeking, played upon the strings of His heart.</p> + +<p>Does the crowd get hold of your heart as you elbow your way through them, +or look down into their faces? Is it just a crowd to you? Or is it a great +company of hungry hearts, half-starved lives, so needy for what only this +Lord Jesus can give? The dumb cry of the crowds, in crowds and one by one, +comes up in our ears to-day. Do you hear it? I say "dumb," for they don't +know themselves what it is they need. They feel the need. Restless and +chafing, they feel without knowing just what it is they lack and need.</p> + +<p>When the Spirit that swayed the Lord Jesus comes in, He mightily affects +your heart. You feel with something of our Lord's feeling. And you <i>must</i> +help. You know that the one thing, the only thing, that can really +radically meet their need is this Saviour Jesus. You must do something to +get them really to know Him. And that something comes to be everything. +Service isn't a pastime; it's a passion. That "must" sends you out on glad +unheralded errands to help in any way you can, and in every way by which +the Jesus message can get to them.</p> + +<p>The "must" of His tender passion within keeps you steadily pushing ahead, +regardless of not being understood by some, nor your efforts appreciated +by others. The flame of that "must" takes hold of time and strength and +possessions. It becomes the delight of your life to minister to the needs +of men, even as He did. You see them through His eyes. You feel their need +through His heart. <i>And</i>—this is a great <i>and</i>—if you really follow as +simply and fully as He leads, you will find <i>the same power</i> working out +through your effort as through His, though there will be immensely more of +it than you will know about.</p> + +<p>But—there's a "but" that needs to be put in here—the key-note will not +be service, but <i>obedience</i>. The need will not be the controlling thing. +It will move you tremendously; it will kindle a sweet fever in your heart, +a fever to help; it will take hold of your heart strings and play upon +them until you almost lose control. But it must not be allowed to control. +That belongs to Him alone.</p> + +<p>The key-note is not need, nor service to meet the need, but obedience. +There is a Lord to the harvest. His plans are worked carefully out. He +takes Philip away from the crowded meetings in Samaria to talk with one +man. It was doubtless a strategic move to touch lives in Africa, as well +as to meet this one man's need. He feels the need more than you ever do or +can. His ears are keener, His heart more tender. He is in command. You do +as He bids. So you help most in meeting the need.</p> + +<p>He Himself when down here left the crowds, when they were so great that +the towns were overwhelmed and they had to be taken out to the country +places. He would leave these crowds and go off quietly to get alone with +His Father.<sup><a href="#fn63">[63]</a></sup> All that tireless ministry was under the direction of +Another. He went off for close touch, and fresh consultation with His +Father.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Father's Image in the Common Crowd.</h4> + + +<p>Have you ever wondered what there was in those common crowds to attract +our Lord Jesus? Perhaps if you have ever walked in those narrow crowded +alleys called streets, in China or Japan, you may have wondered, +sometimes. Tired, dirty, pinched faces, eyes vacantly staring, or else +fired with low passion, high-keyed voices bickering and jangling,—all +this crowds in and out on every hand. Dirt, disease, low passion, +selfishness, apparent absence of anything noble or refined, are all +tangled inextricably up with these in human form.</p> + +<p>And our Lord Jesus lived in an Oriental world. Is there any world quite +like it, except indeed it be the slums of our western world cities, +European and American? City slums seem to be our western point of contact +with the greater part of the eastern world. What was there to attract the +Lord Jesus to these crowds? Their need, you answer. Yes, no doubt, their +terrible need did move Him with compassion, to the hurting point.</p> + +<p>But was there more than this? Something He said one time has made me +think there was something more, a pathetic, tremendous more, that took +hold of His heart. Could it be that He saw some lingering trace of the +Father's face in these faces? His eyes were very keen. He had seeing eyes. +And these men have all been made in the Father's image. Has that image +ever been wholly lost?—terribly blurred and scarred by sin, yes; but +wholly lost? Do you think so? I think not.</p> + +<p>Those wondrous eyes of His looking into men's tired, pinched faces, +disfigured with passion or sorrow, or with sheer weariness of +existence—did He see something of the Father's face looking appealingly +up to be helped out of their sad plight? I wonder. Was it as though the +Father's face cried out to Him out of these poor beaten faces? I think so. +Do you remember that time when our Lord Jesus associated Himself so +closely with just such men and women, in talking of a coming day? He says +"inasmuch as ye did it to one of these My brethren, these least, ye did it +unto Me."<sup><a href="#fn64">[64]</a></sup> Listen to those words, "My brethren"! He is thinking of just +such crowds as He Himself ministered to, and as you find to-day in +Oriental city and in European and American slum. What is done for them is +done to Him. Their need is His need; their cry, His. It's Jesus coming to +us in these crowds. Their need is Jesus Himself appealing to us. And the +Jesus within us will answer with heart and life to this Jesus coming to +us in the pitiable need of the crowds.</p> + +<p>I do not mean to use that word "pitiable" chiefly in the bodily sense, +though there's so much of that. But it has a deeper meaning. Here is this +fair young face turned to yours in the social group, here this strong +young man needing nothing that money can buy, but yet very needy, both of +them. In their young, eager faces the hidden away image, the +not-yet-touched-into-new-life image of the Father looks out asking for +help, help out into growth amidst so much that holds back. Inasmuch as +your light, tactful touch is given here, it is done unto Jesus. Jesus is +helped into the life, the God-image crowded back within is helped to get +out into free expression.</p> + +<p>You may not be sent to some distant field as young Borden was. Your +personal place may be at home. But the crowd, the need, is everywhere; at +home, in the social circle, and among the men driven by the passion for +business and for pleasure, in this dangerously prosperous land of ours. +Need of body even here, and deeper need of spirit. Much more tact is +required, Spirit-born tact and patience and alertness, to touch and help +these.</p> + +<p>But the Spirit will guide. He has a passion for men in their need. He has +exquisite tact in touching men under all circumstances. He will take +command of your life here as elsewhere. He will lead you into a life of +personal service in helping men. And He will lead you <i>in</i> that service. +This is the Galilean Ministry which will work out in your experience as +the Holy Spirit has control. This is a bit of the "Follow Me" roadway.</p> + +<p>These are the four experiences of power and privilege. They are as the +great underlying experiences of our Lord's career. The other experiences +grew up out of these. These were the warp threads in the loom of His life. +The others were woven into these. This is the main road that He trod. It +is the main road of this "Follow Me" journey. It is along this road, +between its beginning and end, that we shall run down into the valley-road +stretches, and run up to the stretches along the hilltops.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-3"> +<h3>3. The Valleys—experiences of Suffering And Sacrifice</h3> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Never-absent Minor.</h4> + + +<p>Here the road begins to drop down into the valleys. It runs sharply down, +and on, through some wild gulches and ravines thick with lurking danger, +with the upper-lights almost lost in the deep black darkness. It is +darkness that can be felt more than the Egyptian darkness ever was. It +proves to be the valley of the shadow of death, then—of death itself, +before the upward turn comes.</p> + +<p>The weaver we were speaking of finds some strange shuttle-threads to be +woven into the pattern, gray black, ugly black threads, and red threads +almost wet and sticky in their blood-like redness.</p> + +<p>Yet this is part of the road that was trodden, and that is still waiting +to be trodden by feet sturdy and bold enough to go on down into the +shadows, before the upward turn is reached again. And these threads will +work out a rare beauty in the pattern being woven.</p> + +<p>Is there perfect music without the underchording of the minor? Not to +human ears. For they are attuned to life as it has really come to be. And +the minor chord is in real life, never quite absent; and the minor chord +is in the true human heart, never wholly absent. And only the music with +the minor blended in is the real music of human life. Only it can play +upon the finest strings of the human heart.</p> + +<p>But this sort of thing, the getting of beauty out of ugly threads, the +getting of music where there is discord, the upward turn again of the +valley road, all this is a bit of the touch of God upon life, where the +hurt of sin has come in. Only the Lord Jesus can make music where sin had +brought in and wrought out such discord. Only He can change the weaving +into beauty, where the ugly slimy sin-threads have come in. He can lead up +again out of the depths, but only He. His blood, Himself, is the thing +added that makes music where no melody had ever been a possible thing; and +gives the weaver's threads the transforming touch that works beauty where +there was only the ugly; and pulls you up again to the higher levels. The +good never comes out of bad. It comes only by something radically +different coming in and overcoming the bad.</p> + +<p>In Seoul they showed us the great bell hung at the crossing of certain +chief streets there. And then they told us the bell's legend. In early +twilight times an artisan had made a great bell at the king's command, but +the tone of it was not pleasing to the royal ears. So a second one was +made, and a third, but neither was satisfactory. Then the king said that +if the man did not make a bell with pleasing tones his life should be +forfeited for his failure. This was very distressing for the poor +unfortunate bell-moulder.</p> + +<p>His daughter, a young girl in her teens, either had a vision, or felt +within herself that a sacrifice was the thing needful to give the bell its +true tone. And so she resolved to give herself to save her father, and +with rare fortitude one night she plunged into the great pot of molten +metal. And the tone of the bell was so sweet and musical that the king was +delighted. And the maker, instead of being killed, was highly honoured. So +ran the simple bit of Korean folklore.</p> + +<p>We ran across legends quite like it in other parts of the Orient. They all +seemed to point, with other similar evidence, to the feeling deep down in +human consciousness of the need of sacrifice. Is it a bit of an innate +instinct in our common human nature, that only through sacrifice can the +hurt of life be healed? However this be, it certainly is true, that the +touch of Him who gave His life clear out for men, that touch is the thing, +and the only thing, that can make music where there was only discord. It +is only His pierced hand upon weaver and web that touches ugly threads +into beauty as they are woven into the fabric of life. Only He can lead us +up out of the valley of death up to the road of life along the high +hilltops.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Wilderness.</h4> + + +<p>You remember, there were four experiences of suffering and sacrifice in +our Lord Jesus' life. The first of these was <i>the Wilderness Temptation</i>. +That rough road He took led straight to and through a wilderness. He was +tempted. He was tempted like as we are. He was tempted more cunningly and +stormily than we ever have been.</p> + +<p>It was a pitched battle, planned for carefully, and fought with all the +desperateness of the Evil One at bay against overwhelming forces. It was +planned by the Holy Spirit, and fought out by our Lord in the Spirit's +strength. For forty full lone days it ran its terrific course. But our +Lord's line of defence never flinched. The Wilderness and Waterloo, those +two terrific matchings of strength, the one of the spirit, the other of +the physical, both were fought out on the same lines. Wellington's only +plan for that battle was to <i>stand</i>, to resist every attempt to break his +lines all that fateful day. The French did the attacking all day, until +Wellington's famous charge came at its close.</p> + +<p>Our Lord Jesus' only plan for the Wilderness battle was to <i>stand</i>, having +done all to stand, to resist every effort to move Him a hair's breadth +from His position. That battle brought Him great suffering; it took, and +it tested, all His strength of discernment, and decision, of determined +set persistence, and of dependent, deep-breathed praying. And through +these the gracious power of the Spirit worked, and so the victory, full +joyous victory, came.</p> + +<p>Now it comes as a surprise to some of us to find that the "Follow Me" road +leads straight to the same Wilderness. No, it is not just the same, none +of these experiences mean as much to us as they did to Him. They are +always less. But then they mean everything to us! We will be tempted. So +surely as one sets himself to follow the blessed Master, there's one thing +he can always count upon—temptation. Sooner or later it will come, +usually sooner and later. So the Evil One serves notice to contest our +allegiance to the new Master.</p> + +<p>The tempter sees to it that you are tempted. That belongs to his side of +the conflict. And quickly and skilfully, and with good heart he goes at +his task. Through the weak or evil impulses and desires within us, and +through every avenue without, those dearest to us, and every other, he +will begin and continue his cunning approaches. It is well to understand +this clearly, and so be ready. The closer you follow this Man ahead, the +more, and the more surely, will you be tempted. It is one of the things +you can count on—temptation.</p> + +<p>But, steady there, steady! the tempter can't go a step beyond attacking, +without your help. He can't make a single break in your lines from +without. The only knob to the door of your life is on the <i>inside</i>. +Temptation never gets in without help from within. I have said that the +Wilderness spelled two words for our Lord Jesus, temptation <i>and</i> victory. +We may use His spelling if we will. A temptation is a chance for a +victory. Begin singing when temptation comes; out of it, resisted, comes a +new steadiness in step, and a new confidence in the victorious Man of the +Wilderness.<sup><a href="#fn65">[65]</a></sup></p> + +<p>But let me tell you <i>how</i> the victory comes. It comes through our Lord +Jesus. And it comes by His working <i>through your decision</i> to resist to +the last ditch.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>"Lead Us Not."</h4> + + +<p>The Lord Jesus gave us two special temptation prayers to make. The one is: +"Lead us not into temptation."<sup><a href="#fn66">[66]</a></sup> That petition has been a practical +puzzle to many of us, and the explanations not always quite clear. Would +God lead us into temptation? we instinctively ask. And the answer seems to +be both "yes" and "no."</p> + +<p>The "yes" means that character can come only through right choice. We must +decide what our attitude toward wrong shall be. It is only temptation +resisted that makes the beginnings of strength. Before temptation comes +there may be innocence but never virtue. Innocence resisting temptation +becomes virtue. The temptation is the intense fire in which the raw iron +of innocence changes into the toughened, tempered steel of virtue. It is +essential to character that it resist the wrong. It is choice that makes +character. The angels in the presence of God are continually choosing to +remain loyal to Him. Choice includes choosing not to choose the evil, to +refuse it. Adam was tempted; the temptation was bad, only bad; but it +could have been made an opportunity to rise up into newness of strength. +Job was led into temptation, and he failed when the fires grew in heat, +and touched him close enough; and then he learned new dependence on God +alone instead of on his own integrity.</p> + +<p>That's the "yes" side of the answer. We must decide what we will do with +evil. The presence of evil forces choice upon us. The one thing God longs +for is our choice, free and full choice. Freedom of choice is the image of +God in which every man is made. We are like Him in <i>power</i>, in the right +to choose; we become like Him in <i>character</i> when we choose only the +right. God would lead us into opportunity for the choice on which +everything else hinges. The prayer says: "Lead us not into temptation." +The prayer becomes the choice. It reveals the decision of your heart. The +man who thoughtfully makes the prayer makes the choice.</p> + +<p>And with that goes the "no" side. Certainly God would not lead us into the +temptation to do wrong.<sup><a href="#fn67">[67]</a></sup> And so He has made a way—it's a new way since +our Lord Jesus was here—a way by which we can have the full opportunity +for choice, and yet be sure of always choosing the right, and so growing +into His image in character. To pray, "Lead us not into temptation," is +practically saying, "I will go as Thou leadest. Lead me. I am willing to +be led. I was not ever thus, nor <i>prayed</i> that Thou shouldst lead me on. I +loved to choose and see my path, but now—but now, lead <i>Thou</i> me on. Here +I am, willing to be led. I put out my hands for Thee to grasp and lead +where Thou wilt. I'll sing, 'Where He may Lead, I'll Follow." This is the +only safe road through the Wilderness. We yield wholly to His control.</p> + +<p>May I say reverently, this was the way our Lord entered and passed through +the Wilderness, wholly under the control of Another—the Holy Spirit. He +chose to yield to that control. The Spirit acted through His yielding +consent, and flooded in the power that brought the victory. Even He in His +purity needs so to do. How much more we in our absence of purity, and so +absence of strength. "Lead us not" means practically, that we get in +behind this victorious Lord Jesus. We refuse to go alone.</p> + +<p>The Wilderness spells only defeat for the man who goes alone. We must +yield wholly to this great lone Man who went before. We lean upon Him. We +trust Him as Saviour from the sin that temptation yielded to has already +brought. We will trust His lead wholly now as temptation comes. We will +stick close and be wholly pliant in His hands. This is the first +temptation prayer our Lord gives us. It means our utter surrender to His +leadership.</p> + +<p>Then there is a second prayer for temptation use: "Watch and pray that ye +<i>enter not</i> into temptation."<sup><a href="#fn68">[68]</a></sup> This goes with the other. It is the +partner prayer. Be ever on the watch, and pray, that you may not <i>enter</i> +into temptation. Guard prayerfully against acting independently of your +Leader. Watch against the temptation. Watch yourself lest you be inclined +to go off alone, to break away from His lead. For there will be only one +result then, defeat. These two prayers together show the way to turn +temptation into victory,—"lead not," "enter not." A temptation is a +chance for a victory if you never meet it alone, but always under the lead +of the great Victor of the Wilderness.</p> + +<p>Then it may help to put the thing in another way. There are two steps in +victory over temptation. The first is recognition. To recognize that the +thing coming for decision is a temptation to something wrong,—that's the +first step in victory. It pushes the temptation out into the open. You say +plainly, "This is something to be resisted." The second step as you set +yourself to resist is to plead the blood of the Lord Jesus. That means +pleading His victory over the tempter. That's the getting in behind Him +and depending wholly upon Him.</p> + +<p>"Follow Me" takes us into the Wilderness, and leads us into victory there. +There we will learn more about prayer, and music, and the Master, and get +new strength and courage on this stretch of the valley road.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Gethsemane.</h4> + + +<p>At the farther extreme of the service years, there came to the Lord Jesus +the other three of these dark experiences, all three close together. On +the night of the betrayal came <i>the Gethsemane Agony</i>. That was a very +full evening. Around the supper table they had gathered and talked, and +the Lord Jesus had made His last, tender but fruitless effort to touch +Judas' heart by touching his feet. There was the long quiet heart-talk in +the supper room after Judas had gone out, "and it was night" for poor +Judas.<sup><a href="#fn69">[69]</a></sup></p> + +<p>Then the talk continued as they walked across the city within view of the +great brass vine on Herod's temple, so beautiful in the light of the full +moon. And then, as they walk through the narrow, shadowed streets, the +shadows come into the Lord Jesus' spirit and words.<sup><a href="#fn70">[70]</a></sup> Now they are +outside the wall of the city, out in the open, under the blue, and with +upturned face, the great pleading prayer is breathed out.<sup><a href="#fn71">[71]</a></sup> Now they are +across the Kidron, and now in among the shadows of the huge olive trees of +the garden called Gethsemane.</p> + +<p>It's quite dark and late. He leaves the disciples to rest under the +trees, and with the inner three He pushes a bit farther on. And now He +pushes on quite alone in the farther lone recesses of the woods. And now +the intensity of His spirit bends His body as He kneels, then is +prostrate. And the agony is upon Him. He is fighting out the battle of the +morrow. He is sinless, but on the morrow He is to get under the load of a +world's sin; no, it was yet more than that, He was to be Himself reckoned +and dealt with as sin itself. All the horror of that broke upon Him under +those trees, more intensely than it had yet. The brightness of the full +moon made the shadows of the trees very dark and black, but they seemed as +nothing to this awful inky black shadow of the sin load that would come, +no longer in shadow but actually, on the morrow.</p> + +<p>The agony of it is upon Him as He falls prostrate on the ground, under the +tense strain of spirit. Out of the struggle a bit of prayer reaches our +awed ears, "<i>If it be possible</i> let this cup pass away from Me; yet not as +I will, but as Thou wilt." And so tense is the strain that an angel comes +to strengthen. With what reverent touch must he have given his help. Even +after that the great drops of bloody sweat came. But now a calmer mood +comes. The look full in the face of what was coming, the realizing more +clearly how the Father's plan must work out, these help to steady Him. +Again a bit of prayer is heard, "Since this cannot pass away; since only +so can Thy plan for the world be accomplished Thy—will—be—done." The +load of the world's sin almost broke His heart that dark night under the +olives. It actually did break His heart on the morrow. This is the meaning +of Gethsemane, intense suffering of spirit because of the sin of others.</p> + +<p>And at first thought you say, surely there can be no following for any of +us in this sore lonely experience of His. And there cannot. He was alone +there as on the morrow. None of us can go through what He went through +there. For, it was <i>for us</i>, and for our sin that He went through it. And +yet there <i>is</i> a following, if different in degree and in depth of +meaning, yet a very real following. While Gethsemane stands a lone +experience for Jesus, yet there will be <i>a</i> Gethsemane for him who follows +fully where He asks us to go.</p> + +<p>There will be a real suffering of spirit because of the sin of others. We +will see the world around us through those pure, seeing eyes of His. We +will <i>feel</i> the ravages of sin in those we touch, with something of the +feeling of His heart. Close walking with Christ brings pain and it will +bring it more, and more acutely. We will see sin as He does, in part. We +will feel with our fellow-men toiling in its grip and snare as He did, in +part. There will be sore suffering of spirit. This is the Gethsemane +experience, and it will not grow less but more.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "'O God,' I cried, 'why may I not forget?</div> +<div class="line"> These halt and hurt in life's hard battle</div> +<div class="line"> Throng me yet.</div> +<div class="line"> Am I their keeper? Only I? To bear</div> +<div class="line"> This constant burden of their grief and care?</div> +<div class="line"> Why must I suffer for the others' sin?</div> +<div class="line"> Would God my eyes had never opened been!'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="stanza"><div class="line"> And the Thorn-crowned and Patient One</div> +<div class="line"> Replied, '<i>They thronged Me too. I too have seen</i>.'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> 'But, Lord, Thy other children go at will,'</div> +<div class="line"> I said, protesting still.</div> +<div class="line"> 'They go, unheeding. But these sick and sad,</div> +<div class="line"> These blind and orphan, yea and those that sin</div> +<div class="line"> Drag at my heart. For them I serve and groan.</div> +<div class="line"> Why is it? Let me rest, Lord. I <i>have</i> tried—'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> He turned and looked at me:</div> +<div class="line"> '<i>But I have died</i>!'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> 'But, Lord, this ceaseless travail of my soul!</div> +<div class="line"> This stress! This often fruitless toil</div> +<div class="line"> These souls to win!</div> +<div class="line"> They are not mine. I brought not forth this host</div> +<div class="line"> Of needy creatures, struggling, tempest-tossed—</div> +<div class="line"> They are not <i>mine</i>.'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> He looked at them—the look of One divine;</div> +<div class="line"> He turned and looked at me. '<i>But they are mine</i>!'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> 'O God, I said, 'I understand at last.</div> +<div class="line"> Forgive! And henceforth I will bond-slave be</div> +<div class="line"> To thy least, weakest, vilest ones;</div> +<div class="line"> I would not more be free.'</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> He smiled and said,</div> +<div class="line"> '<i>It is to me</i>.'"<sup><a href="#fn72">[72]</a></sup></div></div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>The word Gethsemane has not been used accurately sometimes. And it is not +good that it is so, for it keeps us from appreciating what the real +meaning is. In poetry and otherwise it has been used for some great +experience of sorrow in which the soul has struggled alone. But there are +two things in the Gethsemane experience that give it a meaning quite +different from such. The Gethsemane sorrow is on account of the sin of +others, <i>and</i> it comes to us through our own consent, of our own action. +We need not go through the Gethsemane experience save as we make the +choice that comes to include this. It is only as we <i>choose</i> to follow +fully, close up to His bleeding side, where the Lord Jesus is leading, +that this experience of pain will come.</p> + +<p>Moses knew what this meant. As he came from the presence of God in the +mount the sin of the people seemed so terrible, that the fear that +possibly it could not be forgiven unless he made some sacrifice sweeps +over him and came out as a great sob.<sup><a href="#fn73">[73]</a></sup> The sight of their sin brought +sorest pain to his spirit. Paul tells us there was a continual cutting of +a knife at his heart because of his racial kinsfolk, their sin, their +stubbornness in sin, the awful blight upon their lives.<sup><a href="#fn74">[74]</a></sup> There was +sore, lone, unspeakable pain of spirit because he felt so keenly the sin +of others. This is the Gethsemane experience. Have you felt something like +this as you have come in touch with the sin, the blighted lives, the +wreckage of lives among both poor and rich, lower class and better? You +will if you follow where He leads.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Calvary.</h4> + + +<p>Then came the morrow. <i>The experience of Calvary</i> came hard on the heels +of Gethsemane. The pain of spirit became both pain of body and pain of +spirit, intensified clear beyond what the night before had anticipated. +How shall I trust myself to speak of that morrow, or you to listen? Yet, +let us hold still, and, for a great purpose, look at it again, if only for +a moment, that the meaning of it, the flame of it may take fresh hold, and +consume us anew.</p> + +<p>Gethsemane was followed by a sleepless night, while bitter hate brought +its utmost iniquity and persistence to hound this Man to death. Nine, of +the next morning, found Him hanging, nailed on the cross, crowned with the +cruel mocking thorn crown. From nine till three He hung, while the strange +darkness came down over all nature from noon till three, the blackness of +midnight shutting out the brightness of noon. The Father's presence was +withdrawn. This tells the bitterness of the cross for Jesus as does +nothing else.</p> + +<p>It was out of a breaking heart that the cry was wrung, "My God, My God, +why didst <i>Thou</i> forsake Me?" When you can penetrate that darkness you may +be able to tell how really Jesus took our place, and suffered as sin for +us,—not before. Then with a great shout of victory He gave up His life. +His great heart broke. He died. He died literally of a broken heart. The +walls of that muscle were burst asunder by the terrific strain on His +spirit.</p> + +<p><i>He died for us</i>. He who so easily held off the murderous mob with their +stones, now holds Himself to that cross,—<i>for us</i>. This is the Calvary +experience. It can be felt, but never explained fully; words fail. It can +be yielded to until our hearts are melted to sobs, but never fully told in +its tenderness and strength to others. It can bring us down on knees and +face at His feet as His love-slaves for ever,—so is its story best told +to others. That breaking heart breaks ours. That pierced side pierces +through all our stubborn resistance. That face haunts us. Its scars tell +of sin, ours. Its patient eyes tell of love, His. Was there ever such sin? +Was there ever such love? Was there ever such a meeting of sin and purity, +of love and hate, of God's best and Satan's worst?</p> + +<p>Surely there can be no following <i>here</i>! And, strange to say, the answer +is both a "no," with a double underscoring of emphasis, and a "yes," that +will come to have a like emphatic underlining. <i>No</i>, there can be no +following. Here, He is the Lone Man who went before. And He remains the +Lone Man in what He did, and in the extent of His suffering. There is only +one Calvary. There was only the One whose death could settle the sin score +for us men. It is only by His death for our sin that there is any way out +of our sore plight of sin, and sin's own result. There the Lord Jesus did +something that had to be done, for the Father's sake; there He broke the +slavery of our sin; there He broke our hearts by His love. There He stands +utterly alone in what He did. Calvary has no duplicate, nor ever can have. +That is the emphatic "no" side of the answer. There can be no following on +that road.</p> + +<p>And yet,—and yet, there can be. There is a "yes" side to the true, full +answer. There will be a Calvary experience for every one who really +follows. His was <i>the</i> Calvary experience, ours is <i>a</i> Calvary experience. +It does not mean what His meant for the world. But it enters into the +marrow of our very being, and means everything to us. It means that as I +really follow there will come to me experiences of sacrifice that will +take the very life of my life—<i>if</i> I do not pull back, but persist on +following the beckoning hand. And it means too, that there will be in a +secondary, a minor sense, a redemptive value in my suffering. That +suffering will be a real thing in completing the work of some man's +redemption.</p> + +<p>Listen to Paul. He has been writing to the Corinthian Christians in much +detail, of the suffering he has been going through of both body and +spirit, and then he adds, "<i>so then death working in me worketh life in +you</i>."<sup><a href="#fn75">[75]</a></sup> The same thought underlies that wonderful bit of tender, +tactful pleading in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the same letter. +The same thing is put in a rather startling way in the epistle to the +Colossians,<sup><a href="#fn76">[76]</a></sup> "I ... fill up on my part, in my flesh, <i>that which is +lacking</i> of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the +Church."</p> + +<p>This fits in with the thought in that word "began" in the beginning of the +book of Acts.<sup><a href="#fn77">[77]</a></sup> In a very real sense our Lord depends upon our faithful +following to supplement among men the great thing which only He could do. +Paul knew <i>a</i> Calvary experience, and Peter and John, and so has, and +will, every one who follows the pierced hand that beckons. Ask Horace +Tracey Pitkin at Paotingfu if he understands this. And the China soil wet +with his blood gives answer, and so do the lives of those who were won to +Christ through such suffering throughout China. Ask David Livingstone away +in the inner heart of Africa, and those whom no man can number in every +nation, who have known this sort of thing by a bitter, sweet experience, +some by violence, some by the yet more difficult daily giving out of the +life in hidden away corners.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Underground Road.</h4> + + +<p>And hard following this came <i>the Burial in Joseph's Tomb</i>. "Christ died +for our sins and ... He was buried."<sup><a href="#fn78">[78]</a></sup> "Joseph took the body, ... and +laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, and he +rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb."<sup><a href="#fn79">[79]</a></sup> "The chief priests and +the Pharisees ... went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, +the guard (of Roman soldiers) being with them."<sup><a href="#fn80">[80]</a></sup></p> + +<p>Out of that sealed tomb comes with the emphasis of action, the emphasis of +death, this word, "except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, +it abideth by itself alone."<sup><a href="#fn81">[81]</a></sup> The only pathway of life is the +underground road. For our Lord, Joseph's tomb made the death clear beyond +doubt. The tomb was the climax of the death. He was dead and buried. For +him who follows it means this, <i>a burial clear out of sight in the soil of +the need of men's lives</i>. He who simply gets in behind and faithfully +follows will find himself actually being buried in the needs of men. And +only where there is such a burial can there come resurrection power into +the life.</p> + +<p>I remember a friend in Philadelphia, a young man who resigned an +influential position to go out as a missionary in India. And another +friend not at all in sympathy remarked sneeringly in my hearing, "He's +gone to bury himself in India." He spoke more aptly than he knew. The +years since have told what a blessed burial that was. For scores of lives +in Southern India have known the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus +through his service.</p> + +<p>Do you remember when the Greeks came to Philip with their great plea, +"Sir, we would see Jesus"?<sup><a href="#fn82">[82]</a></sup> Whether really from Greece, or +Greek-speaking people from elsewhere, or simply non-Jewish people, they +represented the outer, non-Jewish world coming to Jesus. The Jew door was +slammed violently in His face, but here was the great outer-world door +opening. And He had come to a world! But instantly, across the vision so +attractive to His eyes, there came another vision, never absent from His +spirit those last weeks, the vision black and forbidding, of <i>a cross</i>. +And He knew that only through this vision of a cross could the vision of a +world coming be realized. And out of the sore stress of spirit, that for a +few brief moments shook Him, came the quietly spoken, tense words, "Except +a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone."</p> + +<p>The road to Greece is not over the sea here to the west, not the overland +caravan route up north through Asia Minor; it is the road down through +Joseph's tomb. That was true for Him. It was by that road that He so +marvellously reached the Greeks and all the world. And this is true for +us. It is only by this road that we can reach out to the crowds with the +reach-in that touches heart and life.</p> + +<p>These are the four experiences of suffering and sacrifice. This is the +dip-down in the "Follow Me" road where it runs through a darkly shadowed +valley. These are the dark and red shuttle-threads being woven into the +web, by repeated sharp blows of the batten-beam. These are the minor +chords that, coming up through the strains of music, give a peculiar +sweetness to it.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>What Is Sacrifice?</h4> + + +<p>Now you will note that the chief thing in all this is <i>sacrifice</i>. The +chief thing in all of our Lord's life, clear from Bethlehem to Calvary and +the tomb, was sacrifice. It runs ever throughout; it finds its tremendous +climax in the cross. And the word to put in here in quietest tone—the +quietest is tensest, and goes in deepest—the word is this: <i>Following +means sacrifice</i>. It means sacrifice as really for the follower as for the +Lone Man ahead.</p> + +<p>That word "sacrifice" has practically been dropped out of the dictionary +of the Christian Church of the western world. It has not been wholly lost. +There is much real sacrifice, no doubt, under the surface. But, in the +main, it is one of the lost words in our generation of the Church. We are +rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing that we cannot +provide by the lavish use of money; so we think. And the loss of that word +explains the loss from our working dictionaries of another word, <i>power</i>. +For the two words always go together.</p> + +<p>But please note what sacrifice means. For we may get confused in the use +of words, and like the Hebrews in Isaiah's day call things by the wrong +names.<sup><a href="#fn83">[83]</a></sup> Sacrifice does not merely mean suffering, though there may be +much suffering included in it. But there may be suffering where there is +no sacrifice. It does not mean privation, though there may be real painful +privation in it. But again there may be much privation and pain without +any element of sacrifice entering in.</p> + +<p>The heart of sacrifice is that it is voluntary, and that it really costs +you something. It is something that would not come to you unless you +decide to let it come. It is wholly within your power to keep it away, and +it brings with it real pain or cost of some kind. Sacrifice means doing +something, or doing without something, that so help may come to another, +even though it costs you some real personal suffering of spirit, or of +body, or both, or lack of what you should have and would enjoy.</p> + +<p>And please note that sacrifice is <i>not</i> the key-note of the "Follow Me" +life. We are not to seek for sacrifice. Perhaps that is quite a needless +remark. We are not likely to seek for it. No one loves a cross any more +than did Peter, when he had the hardiness to rebuke his Master.<sup><a href="#fn84">[84]</a></sup> And +yet we remember those earnest souls in earlier times, who shut themselves +up behind monastic walls, and inflicted pain upon themselves by privation +and by bodily self-infliction. And we cannot help admiring their +earnestness and saintliness, even while we see how morbid was their +conception of life, and how completely they got the true order reversed. +And there can be found some here and there, among us to-day, with the same +idea.</p> + +<p>But the key-note of the true life is not sacrifice. It is obedience. +Sacrifice is something coming in the pathway of obedience. There come the +places and times where you cannot obey without making a sacrifice. +Obedience involves sacrifice. And the sacrifice may be of the very real, +cutting, hurting sort, personally. The whole instinct of one's being is +against it. This seems to be carrying things quite too far, we think. And +so the test is on. The sacrifice is not sought. It is shrunk from with all +the vigour of one's nature. Obedience means that you go steadily on, no +matter how it cuts, or how much it costs.</p> + +<p>And the motive under the obedience is usually the decisive thing. If that +motive be a personal passion for the Lord Jesus, then you only wait long +enough to be quite clear of His leading, of what He would have you do. And +then you go on, regardless of the personal loss or pain to yourself. The +key-note of the "Follow Me" music is obedience, simple, sane, poised, full +obedience.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>How Much It Cost God.</h4> + + +<p>One day out in Illinois, while visiting a small church college, I was told +this story of one of the students. He had felt very deeply the need of the +foreign mission lands, and the plea being made for men to volunteer to go +out as missionaries. And after much thought and prayer he had decided to +volunteer. But he felt he must first get his mother's consent. So he wrote +of his purpose and asked if she were willing that he should go. In due +time the reply came back. It was a mother's letter to her son, full of a +mother's endearments. But the paper was marked with tear-stains. She gave +her consent. She said, "I'm glad my boy wants to go, and I'm glad to have +you go, but"—and here the writing was blurred with the teardrops that had +plainly fallen as she wrote—"<i>I never knew before how much it cost God to +give His Son</i>."</p> + +<p>There was the whole story of sacrifice as it came to that mother. There +was the sore need of the people in foreign lands for the Gospel of Christ. +That need had not been met. The need in its sore pressure had become an +emergency, largely an unappreciated emergency. The tragedy of an unmet +emergency had moved the son's heart to action, under the touch of the Holy +Spirit, and then it came to the mother's heart. The decision rested with +her. Her inner heart told her the Master's desire. She obeyed, with +exquisite pain in her heart over the separation, maybe separation for +life, from her son. The key-note is obedience, even though it may mean +cutting pain.</p> + +<p>The whole test of love and of life is in sacrifice yielded to as the need +may come. In God's first plan of life there is no sacrifice. God never +chooses sacrifice as His first choice for any one, not even for His Son. +But sin is here, an abnormal, foreign thing. Life is shot through and +through with its ugly markings. You can't go a foot's length down the +pathway of obedience without finding the keen edge of a knife, freshly +sharpened, held across the path with its cutting edge toward you, +challenging your advance, doing its utmost to hold you back.</p> + +<p>And only as the breast is bared to the cutting until a bit of your red +life stains the knife, only so can there be any of the power of God in, or +through, or out of, your life. But turn that sentence around, and smile in +your heart as you remember this, as you do push quietly on past the +cutting knife, and say never a word about the knife or the sharp pain—the +best folks never talk about their sacrifices, they are too intent on the +Man just ahead,—as a man so does, there come into his life a fire and a +fragrance that burns and breathes out wherever he goes.</p> + +<p>It is sin that makes sacrifice. Sin did the carpenter work on the cross, +our sin. Sin grew the thorns, and then served as weaver to make the +mocking, cutting crown—our sin, yours and mine. Love yields to the +sacrifice, His love for us, His love in us for the others. Sin is +everywhere. Its finger-print is in nature, and its scar on human life. And +sin's ravages make cruel need, and need intensified makes emergency, and +these involve sacrifice as we rise to meet need and emergency.</p> + +<p>And love is everywhere. That is, it would be, it will be, if it can find +human feet to carry it. It will be if our Lord may have His way. Sacrifice +is Love's healing shadow. Sacrifice is love giving the oil and wine of its +own life to bind up the wounds that sin has made. The "Follow Me" road is +marked red, so you trace His footprints who went ahead, and theirs who +follow.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>What Obedience Has Meant for Some.</h4> + + +<p>But, no one can decide for another what obedience may mean for him. You +may not tell me, nor I you. It is intensely interesting to note what +obedience has meant to some. It led Paul to give up inheritance and family +prestige, social standing, fellowship in university circles, a home life +of scholarly quiet and research, and to be reproached and ostracized, to +be homeless having no certain abiding place, dependent on his own hands +for daily bread, as he went burning like a flame from end to end of the +Roman world. And at the end it meant a prison, and block and axe.</p> + +<p>I met a rare Christian nobleman in London, of an old, honoured family, of +whom a friend told me this. This nobleman had a large inheritance. Among +other things a certain estate. He felt led to place the estate on the +market, get the best possible return for it, and then with his shrewd +business sense, prayerfully to place the proceeds where he felt they would +help best the cause of Christ. And to a friend who expressed appreciation +and approval of such unusual action, he quietly said, "I want no praise +for this; if the poor Jew had to give one-tenth, surely a rich Christian +can do very much more." That was what obedience, at that point, meant to +him.</p> + +<p>I knew a Canadian woman who had been led to a higher level in her +Christian life. A friend put into her hands a bit of manuscript, to which +she had access, thinking it would help her in her new life. The manuscript +was read, and returned through the friend to its writer. He had intended +having it published with some others, if a publisher could be found +willing to accept it. Then he had felt that he would do nothing with it +until very clear leading came. He did not want to do anything, except as +he was led. If the Master wanted to use the writing, it was there if He +chose to give the word for its use.</p> + +<p>Sometime after as the woman was busy with her nursing work she was on +night duty, and had her quiet time in an interval of the night's round. As +she was reading her Bible and praying, she said, "A voice said to me very +quietly, 'Send Mr. Blank twenty-five dollars to publish ——'" [naming +the title of the article she had read]. Twenty-five dollars taken out of +her frugal savings would leave quite a hole. But the impression that came +with the message was unmistakable. And so the money was sent. And it was +received by the writer of the manuscript as the Master's answer for which +he had been waiting. And that was the beginning of some little books whose +messages have been graciously used to bring help to many lives. Her bit of +obedience was a link in the chain, and so a bit of her life is in the +printed messages the Master has been using. The tracing of red was on the +gold, and on the messages sent out. That was what obedience meant that +time to her. And obedience usually has its hardest time when its struggle +is over a bit of gold.</p> + +<p>A friend took us driving one day up in Scotland, and told this story as we +passed through a beautiful estate. A few generations back it belonged to +one who followed fully. And in response to the clear inner leading the +estate was sold, and the proceeds used in sending the message of a +crucified, risen Christ, out to the farther ends of the earth.</p> + +<p>It was at the same time that a like incident came personally to me of +another Scottish friend of our Lord Jesus. The beckoning call was so +distinct, and the answering need so clear in its echo, that he planned a +moderate annuity for the remainder of his life, and loosed out all the +rest of his wealth on the same sort of errand. I do not say you should do +something of this sort. And you may not tell me what I shall do. Only the +Master has that privilege. But we can urge each other to have trained +ears, and soft heart, and obedient will; ears for what the Master is +saying, a heart softened by the warmth of His, a will gladly obedient to +His slightest wish.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Necessity—Luxury.</h4> + + +<p>And our Lord Jesus speaks very distinctly, though so quietly. His meaning +is unmistakably plain to listening ears. He is quite apt to take you off +for a little walk and talk. What kind of a house do you live in? What +proportion of your income do you spend on yourself? What is in those +safety-deposit boxes? How much would it mean to Him if your signature at +the bottom of legal papers put some property at His disposal? Take a look +through your wardrobe; who and what controls there? No, I'm not talking +about money, nor about missions, only about a personal passion for the +Lord Jesus, and about the passion <i>in</i> Him for His world.</p> + +<p>"But," you say to yourself, "there's danger of going to extremes here, is +there not?" Yes, there is; you are quite right. Extremes are bad, we +should be on our guard against them. There is nothing more desirable in +these days than sane, poised judgment, a sound mind. And be it keenly +marked that the man who is really swayed by the Holy Spirit is peculiarly +a sane, well-balanced man. That is one mark of the Spirit's presence.</p> + +<p>Yet there's more to be said. <i>Our Lord Jesus went to extremes</i>. He went to +a great extreme on the cross, did He not? Is there any extreme like that +of Gethsemane? and Calvary? It is because He went to such extremes, and +the West knows about it, that the West is so radically different from the +East, and that you and I are redeemed from the slavery of sin, with a +sweet peace in our hearts, and so much happiness in our lives.</p> + +<p>The distressing thing is that there is so much of going to extremes. Go +through the Christian homes of the western world to-day, and you find home +appointments, wardrobes, safety-deposit boxes, bank books, title deeds, +all spelling out one word, spelled in capital letters, EXTREMES. But that +key-note, named several times already, gives the only safe +way—<i>obedience</i>. We need to be on our guard, not so much lest we go to +extremes at either extreme, but that we <i>obey</i> our Lord Jesus. That, and +that only, leads to the wise, well-balanced judgment and action. Obedience +to Him means true sanity.</p> + +<p>Where do you draw the deciding line between necessity and luxury? How do +you define those two words? What is necessity? And what is luxury? Simple +definitions help much in getting clear ideas. The dictionary says, a +necessity is something you must have. And a luxury, in its root meaning, +is an extravagance, something "wandering beyond the proper boundary." The +trouble is to know how to draw the line when it comes to one's own +affairs. There is such a big difference between what you want and what you +need. And often we don't want to go into such distinctions. They might +bother our consciences a bit. It seems difficult to keep one's poise in +such things. Some godly people go to extremes in not providing +sufficiently for real needs. Most of us go to the other extreme. Where +does the true dividing line come in?</p> + +<p>Well, I think you can say truly that <i>whatever keeps up and adds to your +strength</i> can properly be called <i>a necessity</i>. All beyond that line is +luxury. It is the part of wisdom to provide carefully and well for +necessities. Luxury is <i>bad</i>, for it really saps our strength. It makes a +man less vigorous in every way. And yet more can be said. The question of +need comes in. Luxury is wrong because of the crying need of men for what +the money spent in luxury would bring to them. I think chiefly now of the +need of their lives for what can come only through a knowledge of Christ. +The bitter cry of the common people against Louis XVI, at the time of the +French Revolution, was that the royal family lived on the costliest +delicacies while many of the common people were actually starving. They +thought that was the chief crime to be expiated at the guillotine.</p> + +<p>What is necessary for one's strength moves on a sliding scale. As years +come, and the sort of work one does and his strength change, his needs +increase. What might at one time have been reckoned luxury is now a real +necessity for his best strength and work. <i>Whatever ministers to one's +strength is a necessity</i>. All above this becomes luxury, and so is both +hurtful to strength, and wrong in itself.</p> + +<p>A missionary returning to his home-land, on furlough, noted on his first +return home that what had been considered luxuries before he left, were +now reckoned necessities; on his second furlough he noted again that what +had been reckoned luxury on his first return was now counted necessity. +And each return home found this condition repeating itself.</p> + +<p>It reminded me of the experience of Sir John Franklin in one of his Arctic +explorations. His ship was hemmed in by an ice-field so that progress was +impossible. All he could do was to calculate his longitude and latitude, +and wait. The next day he was still hemmed in, and so far as he could see, +was exactly where he had been on the previous day. But on calculating +longitude and latitude again, he was surprised to find that the ship had +drifted several miles backward from the position of the previous day.</p> + +<p>It would be a sensible thing for us to make frequent calculations, and +find out where we are, and prayerfully steer a changed course if we've +been drifting. But we can't decide such questions for each other, and they +can't be decided by what another does. They can only be decided alone on +one's knees with the Master, with the Book, and perhaps a map of the world +at hand. We need both the Word of God, and a view of the world of God to +shape our judgment. No, it's not a question of money primarily, nor of +missions, only of personal loyalty to our Lord Jesus, and to the passion +of His heart.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Grafted.</h4> + + +<p>Have you noticed the significance of that word "abide" which our Lord used +on the night of His betrayal?<sup><a href="#fn85">[85]</a></sup> "Abide" means a grafting process; we +were branches in the vine, but we were broken off by sin. The only way to +abide in that vine is by being grafted in. "Abide" means grafted. But the +grafting process has two wounds. It means a knife used twice. It means a +wound in the vine-stock, and our Master flinched not there. It means +likewise a wound in the branch to be grafted in. Just as surely as the +knife must make the incision into the stock, it must also cut the end of +the branch before it can be grafted in. Our Master flinched not. How about +you and me when it comes to the knife, with its sharp cutting edge, and +slash and sting?</p> + +<p>Perhaps this explains why there's so little life, so little sap-flow, so +little fruit. If you follow along the narrow road your progress is sure +to be barred by a knife thrust out across the path. And the whole +instinct of our nature is to shrink from the knife. The sacrificial knife +becomes the pruning, the grafting knife. There can be no life without that +knife. Failure to obey cuts off the supply of life.</p> + +<p>I became greatly interested in a young man whom I met in Japan. He comes +of a noble, wealthy family. He attended a mission school to study English, +learned to read the Bible, became intensely interested, and then decided +to become a Christian. But his family was violently opposed, and pleaded +earnestly with him. He would in time be the head of his family, but if he +insisted now on being a Christian he would be disowned. He was to be +trained in the Imperial University, and could have chosen a public +national career including the probability of membership in the Imperial +diet, but he remained true to his decision. And he was disowned in +disgrace, cast adrift without a cent. Now he is devoting himself to +mission work in the city where I met him, working among the neediest and +lowest. I was told that the police gladly say that his mission has greater +power than they in preserving order in that worst quarter of the city.</p> + +<p>The night I stood by his side, speaking through his interpretation, a +Japanese policeman dragged up a couple of youths who had been giving +trouble, and pushed them in, saying, "Here's the place for you; now listen +to that." And I have never been in a simple service where the quiet +intense power of God was more marked. This is what obedience meant to him. +And this too is what abiding meant. He yielded to the grafting knife, and +the life of the vine-stock came flowing freely through, bearing abundant +fruit.</p> + +<p>A few years ago I read a simple story in "The Sunday-school Times" that +brought a lump in my throat. The writer told of a south-bound train +stopping at a station near Washington City. At the last moment, an old +negro with white hair came hurriedly forward and clambered on the last +coach as the train pulled out. He was very black, and very dusty, and +single occupants of seats looked apprehensive as he shuffled along looking +for a seat. But he did not offer to intrude, but stood at the end of the +car, looking with big wondering eyes down the car. He was evidently very +tired. Then a young man offered him space in his seat, for which he seemed +very grateful, and with child-like simplicity began talking.</p> + +<p>He was going back home "to Georgy"; had been up in Virginia for years with +the rare old slave loyalty serving his old master between times, while +earning his own way. Now his master was dead and he was going back down to +the old home state, "back to Georgy," and the words came softly, while his +hand tenderly patted the seat cushion. Clearly Georgia was the acme of +happiness and content for him. As the train boy came through, the young +man bought some sandwiches for the old negro. He was very grateful. Yes, +he <i>was</i> hungry, and had walked several miles to get the train. He +couldn't spend money for "victuals"; "money's too skase fur buying things +on the road," he said, "I was 'lowin' ter fill up arter I done reach +Georgy."</p> + +<p>Then the conductor came in for tickets. The black man anxiously fumbled +through one pocket after another, and finally remembered that his ticket +was pinned to the lining of his hat. "Done tuk ebery cent I could scrape +up to get dat ticket," he said, "but dat's all right. I kin wuk, an' fo'ks +don' need money when dey's home." The conductor had passed on to the next +seat behind. There sat a shabbily dressed woman, with anxious, +frightened-looking face, the seat full of bundles and a pale-faced baby in +arms.</p> + +<p>"Tickets, please."</p> + +<p>The woman's face flushed red, and then grew white and set, as she said, "I +haven't any."</p> + +<p>"Have to get off then; save me the trouble of putting you off."</p> + +<p>The woman sprang up with terror in her big eyes, "Don't put me off; my +husband's dying; the doctor said he must go South; we've sold everything +left to send him; now he's dying; I must go to him. But I have no money, +don't put me off. My God—my God—if you—" Her plea poured out in +excited, jerky sentences. But the conductor could do nothing. He must obey +his instructions, or be discharged. The woman sank back sobbing, in the +seat. The conductor turned back to get the old negro's ticket.</p> + +<p>"I'se feared you'll have to put <i>me</i> off, boss," he said humbly, "don't +expect a pore ole nigger like me to raise enuf fur a ticket." The +conductor harshly ordered him off the train at the next station, saying +there was some excuse for the poor woman, but none for him. The train +began to slow up for the station. The old negro quietly dropped his ticket +into the lap of the woman, saying, "Here's yo' ticket, missus. I do hopes +yo' find dat husban' o' yourn ain' so bad as yo'se afeared." And before +her dazed eyes could take in what he was doing, the old man had shuffled +out of the car, and as the train pulled on he was seen quietly plodding +along, still "bound for Georgy."</p> + +<p>And there was no mention of Christ in the story, but one who knows the old +typical slave class to which he belongs needs not to be told of the motive +down in his heart. That's what obedience, unanalyzed, undeliberated about, +meant to him. Have you ever worn the "Georgy" shoes? Have you ever tramped +to "Georgy"? If some of us might find out the old man's cobbler and get +some "Georgy" tramping shoes! The way of obedience is a way of sacrifice.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="sec" id="ch04-4"> +<h3>4. The Hilltops—Experiences of Gladness and Glory</h3> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Valley Music.</h4> + + +<p>There was a third group of experiences in our Lord Jesus' life. But it +will be good for us to remember that the third comes after the second. +There can be no third until there has been a second. It is impossible to +take first and third and omit the second. The third can come only after +the second. There can be experiences of gladness and glory only to him who +follows all the way. The hilltop experiences come after going down through +the valley. And there is no way of reaching the hills except through the +valley.</p> + +<p>But there is a hilltop roadway of exhilarating air and outlook for him who +has been through the valley. The valley is only part of the way. There are +heights, too, as well as depths. And if the depths have seemed very deep, +yet remember the valley depth tells how high the height is. The only way +up is down. And you go as high up as you have gone down, and then a bit +higher. For you started down from the level of the main road, and you go +up above the level. But you go up higher than you go down. The hilltops +are higher above the main road than the valley is below. The glory comes +to be more than the sacrifice.</p> + +<p>Sacrifice is only one-half of a chapter, the first half; there is a second +half, the musical half. There's a wondrous singing in the heart, even +while the knife is cutting, such as only he knows who goes this way. +There's a breeze from the hilltops that comes sweeping down through the +trees, while you are slowly picking your way along the rough, narrow +valley road. That breeze plays upon your inner strings and makes rare +Æolian melody. It is the breeze of God playing upon the heart-strings of +your soul. But <i>this</i> music is heard only in <i>this</i> valley road. Lovers of +music say there is nothing to compare with it.</p> + +<p>You remember the words, "who for the <i>joy</i> that was set before Him."<sup><a href="#fn86">[86]</a></sup> +Ah, the joy! As the Master's feet slipped down into the dark shadows—the +shame, the cross, the tomb—there was something else under the pain He was +suffering. There was a low underchording of sweet minor music, the +rhythmic swinging of His will with His Father's. And that music still sang +as He slipped down quite out of sight under the cold waters of the river +at the bottom of the gorge.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Transfiguration Mount.</h4> + + +<p>There were three of these glory experiences in our Lord's life, with a +fourth one yet to come. Midway in the last year came <i>the Transfiguration +Mount</i>. In a sore emergency, for the sake of the leaders of His little +band of disciples, the inner glory of His being was allowed to shine out +through His humanity. The glory of God shined out from within Him. The +usual fashion of His countenance was altered by the dazzling beauty-light +shining out through it.</p> + +<p>And this too will be true of those who follow truly. As we live with our +faces ever held open to Him, the glory of His face will be reflected in +ours, and we shall be changed more and more into His image.<sup><a href="#fn87">[87]</a></sup> I have +frequently told the story of the jurist who lived in our middle-west +country two generations ago, a confirmed but honest sceptic, and who was +converted by the <i>face</i> of a fellow townsman. The sceptic became +thoroughly convinced that the thing in his neighbour's face which so +attracted him was his Christian faith, and it was this that led the +sceptic to accept Christ. Last year, I met out in the Orient a kinswoman +of the man with the convincing face.</p> + +<p>I remember distinctly one night, years ago, in northern Missouri, a young +woman waited at the close of a meeting with her friend. We talked and +prayed together and she made the great decision. I can remember looking +after the two as they went out, wondering to myself how much it meant to +her. I could not judge from her demeanour. But the next night they were +back again, and instantly I knew that it had meant much, everything, to +her. The transfiguring peace was upon her face. I would have called her +face plain the evening before. Now it was really beautiful in the sweet +clear light shining out of it.</p> + +<p>Two things stand out sharply in my memory of Ping Yang, in Korea. One is +the visit to the home of a Christian family, whose head was one of those +being held in prison in the famous conspiracy case. I still feel the +pathos of face and voice as the dear old mother, and the gentle wife, +asked so eagerly, "When will he be back?"</p> + +<p>The other, was the faces of certain of the women in the church service +there. I found myself time and again turning to look at their faces as I +was speaking. There was a sweet light that transfigured their worn faces, +and gave them a real beauty. It was the more striking against the +background of the faces one sees in those Oriental lands.</p> + +<p>The story has been told in various ways of the European artist sent to a +Salvation Army meeting to make a caricature. He was an infidel, with a +sinful life, an uneasy conscience, and a sore heart. But the faces he saw +there of those redeemed out of the depths of sin, convinced him that they +had what he needed, and what he afterwards got, at the same place as they, +the feet of Christ. One who has looked into the faces at some of the +Salvation Army meetings has no trouble believing the story.</p> + +<p>Now this is part of our Master's great plan for reaching His world. He +comes in to us, if we let Him. He changes us as we yield to Him. The +beauty of this wondrous One within shines out of face and eyes, and +touches those whom we touch. His presence transfigures when He is allowed +to dominate. We are changed from within. Though like Moses and Stephen we +will not wist of the transfiguration, only of the Great One whose presence +within it is that makes the change. We know the peace and music within; +others know more of the change in face and life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Resurrection Power—A Present Experience.</h4> + + +<p>There is a second experience in this group. In sharpest contrast with +Jacob's tomb stands out <i>the Resurrection Morning</i>. Our Lord Jesus rose up +out of death. The strongest bars that death could make—and surely every +one of us has some sore experience of their strength in holding dear ones +from us—those strongest bars were snapped, as a woman breaks the cotton +thread in her sewing.</p> + +<p>Our Lord Jesus rose up again into life, and into a new, a higher, a +different sort of life. The personal identity was unchanged. His disciples +recognized His voice and face and form, as they talked and ate with Him. +But the limitations were gone. The control of spirit over body was +complete.</p> + +<p>And it is a bit of His gracious plan that we shall follow Him here, too. +When He returns in glory there will be a resurrection for those who have +followed Him. As He comes down on the clouds, the dead bodies of those who +have the warm vital touch with Him, that the word "believeth" stands for, +will be touched into a new life and be reunited with the spirits that had +lived in them.</p> + +<p>There will be a wondrous meeting in the air with Himself, and an equally +wondrous reunion in His presence of those bound to us and to Him by ties +of love. Our personal identity will be the same, loved ones instantly +recognizing loved ones. But the bodies will be of a new sort, free of all +the limitations and weaknesses of our earth life. And our Lord's return is +peculiarly precious because it is the time of this change and reunion.</p> + +<p>But there is yet more than this. This is something future. There is a +present meaning of the resurrection-life for us, to-day, if we'll accept +it, and live in the power of it. There <i>may</i> be the resurrection life and +power coming into our bodies now. As the need comes, it is our privilege +to look up, and ask for, and experience resurrection power coming down +into our bodies, overcoming their weaknesses and diseased conditions.</p> + +<p>The subject of healing involves much more, for a full poised +understanding of the Scripture teaching, than can be satisfactorily talked +over in the brief limits here. But the great fact can be thus simply +stated, that there is full healing for our bodies by God's direct touch +upon them. But this means on our part living a real faith life, looking up +moment by moment, receiving from His hand constantly what is needed, and +using it wholly for Him. It is actually a living of the dependent life as +regards the bodily needs.</p> + +<p>Paul is clearly speaking of a present experience when he says, "If the +Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that +raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your dying +bodies by means of His Spirit that dwelleth in you."<sup><a href="#fn88">[88]</a></sup> But this +resurrection power coming in to affect our bodily conditions is frequently +in the midst of most difficult trying circumstances. It is as though a +subtle hindering power were tenaciously at work, and this were being +offset and overcome by the resurrection power.</p> + +<p>It was under just such circumstances that Paul writes these words: "We who +live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, <i>that the life +also</i>—the resurrection life—<i>of Jesus may be manifested in our dying +bodies</i>."<sup><a href="#fn89">[89]</a></sup> This as plainly means a present experience of power in our +bodies, overcoming weakness, disease, and the tendency to death.</p> + +<p>This is the present meaning of the resurrection for us. But it is possible +only for those who <i>will</i> live the resurrection life of separation and of +union; separation from all that separates from the closest union of life +with our Lord Jesus. And it comes oftentimes through much conflict and +difficulty. This bit of the road is much contested.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Ascension Life—Power in Possession.</h4> + + +<p>When our Lord Jesus had tarried long enough to make clear to His disciples +His actual bodily resurrection, He ascended to the Father's right hand, +and was seated there in the place of highest honour and power. So He began +living <i>the Ascension Life</i>. That means two things, it is the life of +fullest power in actual possession; <i>and</i> that power is exercised through +prayer,<sup><a href="#fn90">[90]</a></sup> His, and then—ours. Through His intercession with the Father, +and through our intercession in Christ's Name, the power comes from the +Father through Christ to us, and so through us.</p> + +<p>Our Lord Jesus is eager to have us follow Him here also. Following this +time means, actually using the power that has been placed at our disposal. +It means receiving from His pierced hand all He has actually redeemed for +us by His precious blood. There is so much that is ours by right that we +do not take and use. Some do not take because they don't live where they +<i>can</i> take. And some live where they can take, who yet do <i>not</i> take.</p> + +<p>Since the Father thinks of us as risen with Christ and seated with Him in +the place of highest power, we should seek to live up there, by His +grace.<sup><a href="#fn91">[91]</a></sup> The ascension life for us means simply living the actual life +of power that has been made possible for us, and using that power through +prayer.</p> + +<p>It helps to remember here just how much may be included in that word +"prayer." One cannot be all the time on his knees, praying with his lips. +And it certainly was not meant that we <i>should</i> be. Yet there can be +prayer "without ceasing." Prayer is an <i>act</i>, the kneeling, and giving +voice to the desires of our hearts. Then the act grows into a <i>habit</i>, as +this becomes one of the fixed things of our daily round. And the habit +full grown, becomes a <i>life</i>. All the life grows out of that bit of +kneeling-time, and all the life is carried to it. The hidden springs of +the life are here.</p> + +<p>And prayer becomes <i>a mental attitude</i>. You think of everything that comes +up, opportunity, difficulty, emergency, crisis, plannings,—you +instinctively come to think about each thing from the standpoint of the +kneeling-time. And so prayer grows to be <i>an atmosphere</i>. You live your +life in His presence to whom you kneel. He is always present. You come to +recognize His presence, which means that His presence dominates all your +life. He, this One whom you go to meet at the kneeling-time, He is +<i>always</i> here with you, listening to the unspoken thoughts. By and by you +come instinctively to think your thoughts as in His presence. Your +longings, plannings, difficulties are held open before Him. Prayer becomes +the atmosphere you breathe.</p> + +<p>And so prayer comes to be a <i>person. You</i> are the prayer. The Father +looking down comes to recognize you, by your very attitude of heart, as a +prayer, a continual, walking, living prayer, as you go quietly about your +simple, homely round. And the powers of evil, too, so recognize it. And +the Man at the Father's right hand recognizes in you one whom He has +redeemed, and who, by His grace, would be and do and have, in actual life, +all He has gotten for you.</p> + +<p>And through that six-fold continuous prayer, by the man who yields all, +and reaches out <i>for</i> all that is now his, the power of God is being +continually loosened out among men, and the Father's plan being worked +out. So, our Lord's ascension life at the Father's right hand, finds its +echo in the ascension life being lived by His follower on the earth.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Coming Glory.</h4> + + +<p>Then comes the glorious future experience, <i>the Kingdom Reign and Glory</i>. +Some day our Lord Jesus will rise up from His seat, and step again into +the direct action of the affairs of earth. Soon after that day He will +begin reigning over the earth as its King. The later pages of the Old +Testament are all aglow with the glory of that time. He shall reign from +the Mediterranean, at the centre of the earth, out to the farthest +sea-coast line, and from the Euphrates east and west to the most distant +ends of the earth.<sup><a href="#fn92">[92]</a></sup></p> + +<p>And those who have followed Him during these trying days of His absence, +shall reign with Him over all the earth, and be sharers in His glory.<sup><a href="#fn93">[93]</a></sup> +He will give both grace and glory.<sup><a href="#fn94">[94]</a></sup> Grace is the beginning of glory, +and glory is the fulness of grace. It is all grace, free unmerited favour.</p> + +<p>Now I have grouped these experiences in this way to get a clear +understanding of them. But we must remember that they did not come in +groups in Christ's life, and they won't in ours. The red and yellow +threads, the dark and bright, are interwoven throughout the web, to make +the beauty of the pattern. The minor chords come up here and there through +the others, sometimes overcoming, sometimes yielding to, the joyous +notes. The road of life runs valley and hill, valley and hill, up and +down.</p> + +<p>There were great crises in Christ's life, and there may be, there quite +likely will be, crisis points in ours, but in the main the hard places +intersperse with the smooth going. The weaver sitting at his loom runs in +a dark shuttle-thread, and then a sharp blow of the beam puts it in place; +then a bright thread and a sharp blow of the beam, and so, slowly, +patiently, threads and blows follow each other till the design has been +worked out.</p> + +<p>Even so will it be in this "Follow Me" road. A glad, joyous experience may +be followed by the one that is bitter and that hurts; and that again, +perhaps, by something gladsome and cheery, while the daily round of life +plods slowly on, day after day, week in and out, as the calendar works its +steady way to the end, and then begins anew.</p> + +<p>But all the while there's the presence of the wondrous One, unseen by +outer eyes, but unmistakably real. And His presence gives peace. And +there's an unfailing, guiding hand, whose grasp steadies you as you push +along.</p> + +<p>This is the road. And yonder, just ahead, is the Lone Man, whose wondrous +face calls, and the reach of His pierced hand beckons. Let us take a +careful look at the road, and a long look at the Man, and then——.</p> +</div></div></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch05"> +<h2>Shall We Go?</h2> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Deeper Meaning of Friendship.</h4> + + +<p>A friend in need is a friend indeed. Our Lord Jesus was our friend in our +need. It was a desperate need. It could not be worse. We had been badly +hurt by sin. The hurt was so bad that we could do nothing without help. +Our Lord Jesus came to our help.</p> + +<p>It was not easy for Him to be our friend. Friendship is sometimes very +costly. His reputation went, and then His life. But He never flinched. He +was thinking of us. Our need controlled Him. There were two controlling +words in our Lord Jesus' life—passion and compassion. He had a passion +for His Father. He had compassion for us. The two dovetailed perfectly. +The Father had an overwhelming compassion for us. The passion for the +Father in our Lord's heart included the throbbing, sobbing compassion for +us. The compassion was the manward expression of the passion for the +Father.</p> + +<p>It was this compassion that controlled Him those human years. It drove Him +hard along the road we've been looking at. He was driven into the +Wilderness, through the years of sacrificial service, out into the grove +of the olive trees, up the steep hill of Calvary, down into the depths of +Joseph's tomb. Step-by-step He pushed His way along, for He was thinking +of His Father and of us. The passion for the Father meant a compassion for +us. Things proved worse in realization as He came up close to them, as +they began to touch His very life. But He never wavered. He never +flinched, for He was thinking of us. He was our Friend, our Friend in our +desperate need. A friend in need is a friend indeed. It was by deeds that +He met our needs.</p> + +<p>But friendship is mutual. It has two sides, its enjoyments and its +obligations. That word "friendship" has two meanings. It means fellowship. +Two who are congenial in thought and aim and spirit can have sweet +fellowship together as they make exchange with each other of the deep +things of their spirits. This is one meaning, and a sweet, hallowed +meaning, too. Then there is the other. You are in some sore need. It is a +desperate emergency in your life, and out of the circle of your friends +one singles himself out, and comes to your aid. At real cost or sacrifice +to himself perhaps, he gives you that which meets and tides over your +emergency.</p> + +<p>This is the deeper, the rarer meaning of the word, rarer both in being +less frequent and in being very precious. Fellowship friends may be many; +emergency friends very, very few. And if circumstances so turn out that +this man who has so rarely proven himself your friend, is himself in some +emergency, and you are now in position to help him, as once he helped you, +you count it not only an obligation of the highest sort, but the rarest of +privileges. And with great joy you come to his help without stopping to +count the cost in the doubtful, questioning way. Friendship is mutual.</p> + +<p>Now this second, this deep, rare meaning, is the one we're using just now. +It comes to include the fellowship meaning, so enriching the emergency +friendship yet more. But the emphasis is on the emergency meaning of the +word friendship. Our Friend was a friend in this deepest, rarest way, in +the desperate emergency of our lives.</p> + +<p>And now this Friend of ours is in need, a need so great that it is an +emergency. And this seems a startling thing to say. You may think I'm +indulging some rhetorical figure of speech merely. He, the Lord Jesus, in +need! He is now seated at the Father's right hand in glory. He is "far +above all rule and authority and power and dominion." He is the sovereign +ruler of our world. How can it be said, with any soberness of practical +meaning, that He is in need, and in desperate need? Yet, let me repeat +very quietly, that it is even so.</p> + +<p><i>He needs our co-operation.</i> He needs the human means through which to +work out His plans. The power of God has always flowed <i>through human +channels</i>. And His plans <i>have waited,</i> have been delayed because He has +not always been able to find men willing to let Him use them as He will. +This is the only explanation of the long, weary waiting of the earth for +His promised Kingdom. This, only, explains centuries of delay in the +working out of His plans. The delay, the dark centuries, the +misery,—these have been no part of His plan, but dead set against His +plan.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "The restless millions wait the Light,</div> +<div class="line"> Whose coming maketh all things new.</div> +<div class="line"> <i>Christ also waits</i>; but men are slow and late.</div> +<div class="line"> Have we done what we could? Have I? Have you?"</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Some unknown friend, on seeing the statue of General Gordon, as it stands +facing the great desert and the Soudan at Khartoum, made these lines:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "The strings of camels come in single file,</div> +<div class="line"> Bearing their burdens o'er the desert sand:</div> +<div class="line"> Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile.</div> +<div class="line"> The needs of men are met on every hand,</div> +<div class="line"> But still I wait</div> +<div class="line"> For the messenger of God <i>who cometh late</i>.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> I see the clouds of dust rise in the plain,</div> +<div class="line"> The measured tread of troops falls on the ear;</div> +<div class="line"> The soldier comes the empire to maintain,</div> +<div class="line"> Bringing the pomp of war, the reign of fear,</div> +<div class="line"> But still I wait</div> +<div class="line"> The messenger of peace, <i>he cometh late</i>.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> They set me brooding o'er the desert drear,</div> +<div class="line"> Where broodeth darkness as the deepest night.</div> +<div class="line"> From many a mosque there comes the call to prayer;</div> +<div class="line"> I hear no voice that calls on <i>Christ</i> for light.</div> +<div class="line"> But still I wait</div> +<div class="line"> For the messenger of Christ, <i>who cometh late."</i><sup><a href="#fn95">[95]</a></sup></div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Following Wholly.</h4> + + +<p>Our Friend is in need. The world's condition spells out the desperateness +of that need. The world's need is His need. It is His world. This world is +God's prodigal son. It is the passion of our Lord Jesus' heart to win His +world back, and save it. That passion has been revealed most, thus far, in +His going to the great extreme of dying. That passion is still +unsatisfied. Yonder He sits, with scarred face and form, <i>expecting</i>.<sup><a href="#fn96">[96]</a></sup> +Bending eagerly forward with longing eyes He is expecting. He is +expectantly waiting our response, expectantly waiting the day when things +will have ripened on the earth for the next step in the great plan.</p> + +<p>And down from the throne comes the same eager cry He used when amongst us +on earth, "Follow Me." This is the one call, with many variations, that +runs through the seven-fold message to His followers in the book of the +Revelation.<sup><a href="#fn97">[97]</a></sup></p> + +<p>But He calls for real followers. He needs Calebs, who are willing, if +need be, to face a whole nation dead-bent on going the other way, and yet +who never flinch but insist on following fully. Caleb's following was so +unflinching, so against the current of his whole time, that it stands out +with the peculiar emphasis of a six-fold mention.<sup><a href="#fn98">[98]</a></sup></p> + +<p>Those who follow "wholly" seem scarce sometimes. I was struck recently +with an utterance by a man prominent in business circles and in Christian +activity for years. He was speaking of how he had been active in a certain +form of Christian activity, and declared that it had never occasioned him +any loss, or been a detriment to him in his business. The words had a +strange, suspicious sound. The Master told those who would follow fully +that they might expect much loss and detriment.</p> + +<p>The Master was very careful to give the "if's" a prominent place. "If any +man would come after Me."<sup><a href="#fn99">[99]</a></sup> "If any man would serve Me let him follow +Me."<sup><a href="#fn100">[100]</a></sup> Those "if's" are the cautionary signals. They mean obstacles +needing to be considered before one decides. We must determine whether we +will take them away or not. Half-way following, part-way following, has +become very common in some of the other parts of the world, where we don't +live. I'll leave you to judge how it is in your own neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>I have seen people start down this "Follow Me" road with great enthusiasm +and real earnestness, singing as they go. Then the road begins to narrow a +bit. The thorn bushes on the side have grown so thick and rank that they +push over the sides of the road, and narrow it down. You can't go along +without the thorns scratching face and hands badly as you push through.</p> + +<p>And then you suddenly find a knife, a sharpedged knife, being held out +across the road, by an unseen hand back in the bushes. The cutting edge is +toward you. It is held firmly. It is clearly impossible to go on without a +clash with that knife. The real meaning of that "Follow Me" is beginning +to be seen now. Just ahead beyond the knife stands the Master, looking +longingly, beckoning earnestly, calling still. But that knife! It takes +your eyes, and the question is on in real earnest.</p> + +<p>And it is very grievous to say that some stop there. They pitch their +tents this side the knife. They may have had the courage to push through +the thorns, but this knife stops them. They're not honest enough to back +clear out of the road. So they hold meetings on the roadway, conferences +for the deepening of the Christian life, with earnest addresses, and +consecration meetings, and soft singing. And if perchance some one calls +attention to the Master standing ahead there, beyond the knife, +beckoning,—well, they sing louder and pray longer so as to ease their +consciences a bit, and deaden unpleasant sounds, but they make no move +toward striking tents and pushing on.</p> + +<p>And many coming up along the road are hindered. The crowds, the meetings, +the singing, the earnestness,—these take hold of them and keep them from +discerning that all this is an obstruction in the way. The Master's ahead +yonder, past that cutting knife. In a very clear voice that rises above +meetings and music, He calls, "If any man would serve Me, let him follow +Me, let him get <i>in behind Me</i>, and come <i>up close after Me</i>." He who +would serve, he who would help, must not stop here, but push on to where +the Master is beckoning,—yes, past the knife!</p> + +<p>But there are big crowds at the half-way place, this side the knife. And +there are still larger crowds looking on and sneering, sneering at those +whose following hasn't got much beyond the singing stage. The outside +crowd does love sincerity, and is very keen for the faults and flaws in +those who call themselves followers.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Tuning-Fork for the Best Music.</h4> + + +<p>But some push on; they go forward; and as they reach the knife they grasp +it firmly by the blade. Yes, it cuts, and cuts deep. But they push on, on +after the Master. They turn the knife into a tuning-fork. Do you know +about this sort of thing? The steel in a knife can be used to make a +tuning-fork. The touch of obedience brings music out of sacrifice.</p> + +<p>This is the only tuning-fork that can give the true pitch for that +sweetest music we were speaking of a little while ago. This is a bit of +the power of obedience. It can change a challenging knife into an +instrument of music. This is a bit of the strategy of obedience, the fine +tactics of sacrifice. The tempter with the knife would hold us back. We +seize his knife from his grasp. He can never use that knife again. And we +use it to make sweet music to help the marching. What was meant to hold us +back now helps us forward.</p> + +<p>This is the tuning-fork the Master used. He would have us use it, too. But +each one must take it himself, out of the threatening hand that would hold +us back. As the call to follow comes we must go on, no matter what it +involves. No circumstance, no possible loss, no sacrifice, must hold us +back, for a moment, or a step, from following where our Friend calls; only +so can we be His friend.</p> + +<p>Shall we go on <i>all the way</i>? Or, shall we join the company at the +half-way stopping place? Well, <i>it's a matter of your eyes</i>, how you use +them. If the knife holds your eyes, you'll never get past it. That knife +is like the deadly serpent's glittering eye. If the cobra's eye can get +your eye, you are held fast in that awful, deadly fascination.</p> + +<p>If you'll <i>lift</i> your eyes, to the Master's face!--ah, that's the one +thing, the only thing, that can <i>hold</i> our eyes with gaze steadier than +any serpent eye. The face of Christ Jesus, torn by thorns, scarred by +thongs, but with the wondrous beauty light shining out, and those great +patient, pleading eyes! This it was that held that young Indian aristocrat +steady, while he sold all—bit by bit, of such precious things—sold all.</p> + +<p>This it was that held steady the young Jewish aristocrat, Paul. He never +forgot the light on that caravan road north, above the shining of the sun. +He never could forget it. It blinded him. He "could not see for the glory +of that light." Old ambitions blurred out. Old attachments faded, and then +faded clear out before the blaze of that light. Family ties, inheritance, +social prestige, reputation, old friendships, old honoured standards,—all +faded out in the light of Jesus' face on that northern road.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>How to Follow.</h4> + + +<p>Shall we take a look at that face? a long look? Shall we go? Practically +going means three things, a <i>decision</i>, a <i>habit</i> and a <i>purpose</i>; a +thoughtful, calculating decision, a daily unbroken habit, an unalterable +north-star sort of purpose.</p> + +<p>Go alone in some quiet corner where you can think things out. Look at what +it may mean for you to follow, so far as you know now. Most of it you +don't know, and won't know, can't know except as it works out in your +life. Take a long, quiet, thoughtful look at the road. Then take a longer, +quieter, steadier look at Him, Christ Jesus, once crucified for you, now +seated in glory with all power, and asking you to-day to be a channel for +His power. Then decide. Say, "Lord Jesus, I <i>will</i> follow Thee. This is my +decision. By Thy help, I follow Thee, I'll follow Thee all the way." +That's the first step, the decision.</p> + +<p>As I entered the tent at Keswick one morning, a friend handed me these +lines, which came to her pen at the close of a previous meeting:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "I will follow Thee, dear Master,</div> +<div class="line"> Though the road be rough and steep,</div> +<div class="line"> Thou wilt hold me lest I falter,</div> +<div class="line"> Thy strong hand must safely keep.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> Enter in, Lord, cleanse Thy temple,</div> +<div class="line"> Give the grace to put away</div> +<div class="line"> All that hinders, all that's doubtful,</div> +<div class="line"> O'er my life hold blessed sway.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> Use me, Master, for Thy glory,</div> +<div class="line"> Live out Thine own life through me,</div> +<div class="line"> That my life may tell the story,</div> +<div class="line"> And win others unto Thee.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> Keep me trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,</div> +<div class="line"> Walking closely by Thy side,</div> +<div class="line"> Keep me resting, sweetly resting,</div> +<div class="line"> As I in Thy love abide."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>Then plan your work and time so as to get a bit of time off alone every +day with the Book and with the Master. The chief thing is not to pray, +though you will pray. It is not for Bible study, though that will be there +too. The chief thing is to meet with the Lord Jesus Himself. He will come +to you through the Book. He will fit its messages into your questions and +perplexities. He Himself will come to meet with you when you so go to meet +with Him. You won't always <i>realize</i> His presence, for you may sometimes +be tired. But you can <i>recognize</i> His presence. You can cultivate the +habit of recognizing His presence.</p> + +<p>This is your bit of daily school-time, with the Book and the Master. It +will keep your spirit sweet, your heart hot, and your judgment sane and +poised. This is the second thing, the <i>habit.</i> It is the thing you cannot +get along without. It must go in daily. Without it things will tangle; +your heart will cool, your spirit sometimes take on an edge that isn't +good, your judgment get warped and twisted, and your will grow either +wabbly or stubborn. This second thing must be put in the daily round, and +kept in. It helps to hold you steady to the first thing.</p> + +<p>Then the third is the <i>purpose</i> to be true to whatever the Master tells +you, to be true to Himself; never to fail <i>Him</i>. You may flinch within +your feelings. You probably will. Yet you need never flinch in action. +Follow the beckoning Figure just ahead in the road, regardless of thorny +bush or cutting knife. Keep your spirit sweet, your tongue gentle and +slow, your touch soft and even, your purpose as inflexible as wrought +steel, or as granite, as unmovable as the North Star. That's the third +thing, the purpose.</p> + +<p>And the three make the three-fold cord with which to tie you fast and hard +to the Lone Man ahead. He is less alone as we follow close up. The three +together help you understand the meaning of <i>obedience</i>. The decision is +the beginning of obedience; the habit teaches you <i>what</i> you are to obey +and gives you strength to do it; the purpose is the actual obedience in +daily round, the holding true to what He has told you.</p> + +<p>Years ago, a young Jewess, of a wealthy family, that stood high in the +Jewry of New York, heard the call of the despised Nazarene. It came to her +with great, gentle power, and she decided that she must follow. Her father +was very angry, and threatened disinheritance if she so disgraced the +family. But she remained quietly, gently, inflexibly, true to her +decision. At last the father planned a social occasion at the home to +which large numbers were invited. And he said to his daughter, "You must +sing at this reception, and make this your disavowal of the Christian +faith." And she quietly said, "Father, I will sing."</p> + +<p>The evening came, the parlours were filled, the time came for her to sing, +and all listened eagerly, for they knew the beauty of her voice. With her +heart in both eyes and voice, she began singing:</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Jesus, I my cross have taken,</div> +<div class="line"> All to leave and follow Thee;</div> +<div class="line"> Destitute, despised, forsaken,</div> +<div class="line"> Thou, from hence, my all shalt be.</div></div> + +<div class="stanza"><div class="line"> Perish every fond ambition,</div> +<div class="line"> All I've sought, and hoped, and known:</div> +<div class="line"> Yet how rich is my condition!</div> +<div class="line"> God and heaven are all my own."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>And she passed out into the night of disinheritance on earth, "into an +inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." This +was her decision. She had seen <i>His face!</i> All else paled in its light.</p> + +<p>Shall we go, too?</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch06"> +<h2>Finger-Posts</h2> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Parable of the Finger-Posts.</h4> + + +<p>Waiting is harder work than working. It takes more out of you. And it puts +more into you, too, of fine-grained, steady strength, if you can stand the +strain of it. And if, to the waiting is added perplexity, the pull upon +your strength is much greater. It is harder to hold steady, and not break. +And if the thing you've put your very life into seems at stake, that taxes +the wearing power of your strength to the utmost.</p> + +<p>Such a time, and just such a test, came to the little band of disciples +after the resurrection, and before the ascension. The story of it is told +in that added chapter of John's Gospel. You remember that last chapter is +one of the added touches. The Gospel is finished with the finish of the +twentieth chapter. Then John is led by the Spirit, to add something more. +That added chapter becomes to us like an acted parable, the parable of the +added touch. There is always the added touch, the extra touch of power, of +love, of answer to prayer. Our Lord has a way of giving more. The prayer +itself is answered, and then some added touch is given for full measure. +So it is in all His dealings, when He is allowed to have His own way. He +is the Lord of the added touch. He does exceeding abundantly above what we +ask, or think, or expect.</p> + +<p>These disciples were now to have one of these added touches. It was a time +of sore perplexity. The crucifixion had left them dazed, stupefied. It was +wholly unexpected. They were utterly at sea, with neither compass, nor +steering apparatus of any sort. That Saturday to them was one of the +longest, dreariest, heaviest days ever spent by any one. They had all +proven untrue to their dead Friend, save one.</p> + +<p>Then as unexpectedly came the resurrection. They're dazed again, this time +with joy. They haven't taken it in yet. To say that the two shocks, each +so radically different from the other, shook them tremendously, is stating +it very mildly. They don't know themselves. They haven't found their feet. +They haven't adjusted yet to their swiftly changing surroundings. They +don't know what next. They don't know what to do.</p> + +<p>So the old impulsive Simon in Peter proposed something. Simon, the +unsteady, was much in evidence those days. Peter the rock-man hadn't +arrived yet. This was Simon Peter's specialty, proposing something. He +said, "Well, I'm going fishing." And the others quickly said, "We'll go +along." The mere doing something would be a relief. But they caught +nothing. It was a poor night. The morning brought only heavy hearts with +light nets and boats. They had failed at following; now they were failing +even at their old specialty, fishing. Couldn't they do <i>any</i>thing?</p> + +<p>In the dim light of the breaking dawn there's some One standing on the +beach, a Stranger. He seems interested in them, and calls out familiarily, +"Have you caught anything?" And you feel the heaviness of their hearts +over something else in the shout "No." And the gentle voice calls out, +with a certain tone of quiet authority in it, "Throw over on the right +there, and you'll get some fish." And they cast the nets out again, +feeling a strong impulse to obey this kindly Stranger, without stopping to +think out why.</p> + +<p>And at once the ropes pull so hard that it takes all their strength to +hold them. It's John's quick insight that recognizes the Stranger. With +his heart in his throat, in awe-touched voice, he quietly says, "It's the +Lord." That's enough for Peter. He takes the shortest way to shore. He has +some things to talk over with the Master. And as the seven tired men +landed the fish, they found breakfast waiting on the sands. Who built that +fire? Who cooked that fish? Who was thinking about them and caring for +their personal needs, when they were so tired and hungry? And when +breakfast was finished, there's the quiet talk together, about love and +service, while the sun is climbing up in the east. It is addressed to +Peter, but it is meant, too, for those who were so fleet-footed a few +nights before.</p> + +<p>All this was the answer to their perplexity. They were willing and waiting +to follow, but they had failed so badly. They were not quite sure where +they stood. They had no finger-posts. Now the finger-posts were put up to +show the way. This fishing scene was an acted parable, the Parable of the +Finger-posts.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Lineage of Service.</h4> + + +<p>Look at these finger-posts a little. There was the Lord Jesus. They didn't +recognize Him. But He was there. He had a plan. He took authoritative +command of their movements. He gave directions. They obeyed Him. Then came +the great haul of fish. Then came the quiet talk about love and service, +but with the emphasis on love.</p> + +<p>The love was the chief thing. The service was something growing out of +love. "Lovest thou Me?" Then thou mayest serve, thou hast the chiefest +qualification. Our Lord gave them the lineage of service that morning. +These are the generations of true service. A sight of Jesus begets love, a +tender, gentle, strong, passionate thing of rarest beauty that is +immortal, but must have the constant sight of its father's face for +vigorous life. And love at once begets obedience, which grows strong and +stout and skilled, as long as it stays in its father's presence. And +obedience begets service, untiring, glad, patient service.</p> + +<p>There are some outsiders that have come into this family, but they do not +have the fine traits of blood-kin. "Duty" is one of these. It serves +because it must. And at times it renders fine, high service. But its +service comes out of the will, rather than out of the heart. It is ruled +more by a sense of propriety, never by a passion of the heart.</p> + +<p>"Privilege" is near of kin to duty, and it is a high-born, fine-grained +thing. It serves because it is an honour to do so. It is enjoyable to be +so highly connected. But it constantly needs proper recognition and +appreciation of its work and skill. But these are really outsiders. They +have married in, and do not have the real family traits. The one word, and +the only one, that may properly be used for true service is that fine +word, "passion." True service is a thing of love, a thing of the heart, a +flame that pervades and permeates and envelops the whole life within and +without, a fire that consumes and controls.</p> + +<p>The Lord Jesus, His presence, His plan, His authoritative leadership, +their obedience, love thrice asked and given, service because of +love,—these are the finger-posts for these perplexed men. They can be put +into very simple shape for our guidance. Three finger-posts hung up will +include all of them,—<i>clear vision, a spirit of obedience, a heart of +tender love</i>. These are the three great essentials of all true, full +following. And there will not be, there cannot be, true full following +without all three of these. There may be much earnest, honest service, +much faithful plodding, and hard work, and much good done. But there's +always less than the best. There is less than should be. The best results +are not being got for the effort expended, except where these three are +blended.</p> + +<p>A clear vision means simply a clear understanding of things as they are, +and of what needs to be done, with all the facts in that belong in. A +spirit of obedience means not only an obedience in spirit, a spirited +obedience, but an obedience that fits into the spirit of the Leader and +His plans. And through these as a fine fragrance breathes a heart of +tender undiscourageable love.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Not Quite In Is Outside.</h4> + + +<p>These three things must be kept in poise. So the Master plans. This is the +parable of the fishing. There are many illustrations of one only of these, +or two, in action. And the bad or poor result that works out can be +plainly seen. The Holy Spirit with great plainness and faithfulness has +hung up cautionary signs along the road.</p> + +<p>There may be <i>clear vision without obedience.</i> That is, a clear +understanding of the Master's plan, but a failure to fit in. That will +mean a dimming vision. And if persisted in, it will mean spiritual +disaster. The great illustration of this is Judas. Judas had as clear a +vision, in all likelihood, as the others when he was chosen for +discipleship, and later for apostleship. There was the possibility of a +John in Judas, even as there was the possibility of a Judas in John. Both +are in every man. But Judas was not true to the vision he had. He wanted +to use the Master to further his own plans and advantage. And the vision +slowly blurred and dimmed, as the under nature was given the upper hand. +The Master's clear insight recognized the demon spirit that Judas had +allowed to come in, though Judas did not.<sup><a href="#fn101">[101]</a></sup> Then came the dastardly act +of betrayal. And Judas has been held up to universal scorn and +condemnation.</p> + +<p>But Judas isn't so lonely, if you think into the thing a bit. He only put +personal advantage above loyalty to the Lord Jesus. He simply preferred +his own plans to the Master's plans. That was all. And he tried to force +his own through, without suspecting how the thing would turn out, and how +tremendously much was involved. The great events being worked out have +thrown his contemptible act into the limelight of history. But the act +itself wasn't uncommon. Possibly you may know some one living quite near, +with some of this same sort of trait.</p> + + +<p>One of the saddest things in the record of Christian leadership is just +this, clear vision with a gradually lessening obedience, then a gradually +dimming vision, and that decrease of both increasing, as the slant down +increases. The old-time motions in public ministering continue, more or +less mechanically, but the power has long since passed away. And sadder +yet, like the strong man of old, these shorn men wist it not. One's lips +refuse to repeat the word "Judas" of them, even in the inner thoughts. Yet +these class themselves under the same description,—clear vision without +full obedience to it; personal plans and preferences put above loyalty to +the Master.</p> + +<p>A second illustration is that of King Saul. Clear vision, failure to obey, +forcing himself to wrong action to keep his popularity, rebellion, +stubbornness,—these are the simple successive steps in his story. And the +black night falls upon the utter spiritual disaster of his career, as he +lies prone on the earth before the witch.</p> + +<p>These two characters become formulas; they need only to be filled in with +other names to make accurate modern biography of some.</p> + +<p>There may be <i>clear vision with make-believe</i> or <i>partial obedience</i>. It +hurts to speak of such a thing. The word "hypocrisy" is a very hard one to +get out at the lips. It should never be used except to help, and then +very, very sparingly, and only in humblest spirit, and with earnest, +secret prayer. Ananias and Sapphira quickly come to mind here. They wanted +<i>men</i> to think them wholly surrendered, though they knew they were not. +That was all; not so unusual a thing, after all. There are sore +temptations here for many. The swiftness of the punishment that came does +not mean that their wrong was worse than that of others who do the same +thing. That modern religious lying of this sort is not as quickly judged +merely tells the marvellous <i>patience</i> of God.</p> + +<p>There may be <i>clear vision and obedience without love.</i> This means a hard, +cold, stern righteousness. It is truth without grace. Nothing can be made +to seem more repulsive. One incident in Elijah's career furnishes the +illustration here. Let us say such a thing <i>very softly</i> of such a mighty +man of God, and say it in fewest words, and only to help. He was a man of +marvellous faith, and prayer, and bold daring, in the midst of a very +crooked and perverse generation. Israel was at its very lowest moral ebb +thus far.</p> + +<p>Elijah had a clear understanding of what should be done to check the awful +impurity which was sweeping over the nation like a flood-tide. He was true +to his conviction in sending the four hundred priests of horribly +licentious worship to their death. But was he brokenhearted over them? Was +he utterly broken down with grief as he led them to the little running +brook of Kishon for the nation's sake? God touched the sore spot, when, +down at Horeb, the mount of thunder and fire, He spoke to this man of fire +and thunder in that exquisitely soft sound of gentle stillness. This was +a new revelation of God to this stern prophet of righteousness.</p> + +<p>There may be a sort of letter-obedience, a formal obedience to the vision +you have. In one's own estimation, there may seem to be a knowledge of +what is right, and a self-satisfied doing of it. There may be a +painstaking attention to the forms of obedience, and a self-righteous +content in doing the required things. Is this the underlying thought in +Peter's self-complacent remark, "Lo, <i>we</i> have left all and followed +Thee.<sup><a href="#fn102">[102]</a></sup> We're so much better than this rich young ruler who couldn't +stand the test you put to him. <i>We——"?</i> Poor, self-confident Peter! When +the fire test did come, and come so hot, how his "we" did crumble!</p> + +<p>"<i>Light Obeyed Increaseth Light</i>."</p> + +<p>There may be <i>obedience without clear vision.</i> That is, there may be a +doing of what is thought to be right, but without a clear understanding of +what is the right thing to do. This results in <i>fanaticism</i>. Moses killing +the Egyptian and hiding his body in the sand had no clear vision of God's +plan. He knew something was wrong, and that something needed to be done. +And so he proposed doing something. And the poor Egyptian who happened in +his way that day felt the weight of his zeal. It's a not uncommon way of +attempting to righten wrongs. He forgot that there is a God, and a plan, +and that he who does not work into the plan of God is hitting wrong. There +has been a lot of wreckage scattered along this beach.</p> + +<p>Saul persecuting the Christians is another illustration here. He is a sad, +striking example of conscientiousness without sufficient knowledge, of +earnestness without clear light. He was conscientiously doing the wrong +thing, as earnestly as he could, supposing it to be the right thing. John +wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up some people that didn't +fit in with their plans.<sup><a href="#fn103">[103]</a></sup> Earnest intensity without sufficient light +has kindled a good many fires of this sort.</p> + +<p>Sometimes this does not go as far as hurtful fanaticism, but leads to +blundering and confusion and delay. Abraham was acting without clear light +when he yielded to Sarah's plan of compromise for getting an heir.<sup><a href="#fn104">[104]</a></sup> A +bit of quiet holding of her suggestion before God for light would have +cleared his mind. The result was wholly bad,—a confusion in his own mind, +a mental cloudiness about God's plan and promise, an element of discord +introduced in the tribal life, and a delay of many years, apparently, +before the conditions were ripe for the coming of the heir of faith, on +God's own plan.</p> + +<p>Peter eating with his Gentile Christian brothers, and then refusing to eat +with them, when some Jewish Christians came down from Jerusalem, made +very bitter feeling in the Church at Antioch, for a time.<sup><a href="#fn105">[105]</a></sup> Paul's +clearer light helped. Time spent in waiting for clearer light is always +time wisely spent, even though we may seem slow.</p> + +<p>There may be <i>love without clear vision</i>. The love makes intense desire to +do something, but with no clear idea of what would best be done. Peter's +awkward sword-thrust was an attempt to help, because of real love in his +heart for his Master, now in personal danger. The Master's quiet healing +touch recognized the love, and also rebuked and corrected the hasty, +ill-advised action. But there's worse yet here, mean contemptible +cowardice. Peter actually denying his relation with his Friend and Master, +and making his denial seem more natural by the addition of the oaths that +the maid well knew no follower of this Jesus could have uttered—what mean +contemptible cowardice! But go gently there in using such hard words. He +was only afraid of being hurt. He merely wanted to save himself. That +isn't such an uncommon thing. Haven't you sometimes known something of +this sort—<i>among others?</i></p> + +<p>The cowardly nine, making a new record for fleet-footedness, down the +road, in the dark, were only doing the same thing in more cowardly, +less-spirited fashion. These men loved Jesus. No one may doubt that. But +there was no clear understanding of that night's doings, though the +Master had faithfully and plainly tried to tell them. Fear for their own +safety overcame the real love in their hearts for the Man they forsook +that dark night.</p> + +<p><i>Clear vision and love without obedience</i> is—impossible! Where there is +no obedience, or faulty obedience, either the vision has blurred or +dimmed, or the love is burning low.</p> + +<p><i>Clear vision and loving obedience</i> mean power, sweet, gentle, fragrant, +helpful power. It means a grateful crowd, and a pleased Master, who has +been able once again to reach the crowd.</p> + +<p><i>Clear vision and love as a passion</i>, an intense passion, means +irresistible power. That is to say it means a perfect human medium through +which our Lord Jesus can act and manifest Himself. And this is the real +meaning of power, power to the full,—Jesus Christ in free action. John, +the fisherman, had a gradually but steadily clearing vision. He did not +understand fully. But he understood enough to know that there was more to +come which would clear things up. He could follow where He did not +understand. His love for the Man controlled, while his understanding was +clearing. He went in "<i>with</i> Jesus" that awful night. I imagine he never +left His side. Can we ever be grateful enough that at least one of us was +true that night!</p> + +<p>There was the same danger as with the others, and it was made more acute +by His simple, open stand at his Friend's side. But love, with at least +some understanding, held him steady. He could understand that Jesus must +be doing the right thing, even though he could not understand the run of +events that centred about Jesus.</p> + +<p>The intensity that would call down fire, changed, under the influence of +the changing, clearing vision, into an intensity of love. It was a +mellower, gentler, evener, but not less intense flame. The disciple whom +Jesus loved became the disciple of love. Love and vision worked upon each +other from earliest times with him. Love made the vision clearer, the +clearing vision made the love stronger, till they worked together into a +perfect blend.</p> + +<p>Paul's unmistakable vision on the Damascus road brought a passion of love, +and an answering obedience, that swept him like a great flame. The +fire-marks of that flame could be found all over the Roman Empire. He made +mistakes doubtless, but these but made the trend of his whole life stand +out the more. Paul was a wonderful combination of brain and heart and +will, held in remarkable poise. The finest classic on love is from his +pen. John could love. Paul could love, and could tell about love.</p> + +<p>But a peculiar tenderness comes into one's heart as we remember that there +was just one Man who held these three in perfect poise. And let us not +forget that though He was more than man, yet it was a <i>man</i>, one of +ourselves, who so held these three in such fine balance. It was a human +poise, even as planned by the Father for the human life. The clear vision +early began coming to Him,<sup><a href="#fn106">[106]</a></sup> and it became clearer and fuller and +unmistakable until it had had its fulfilment. Obedience was the touchstone +of all His life, from Nazareth to Olivet. And who, like Him, had the heart +of tender love, the heart that was ever moved with compassion at sight of +need, the heart that broke at the last under the sore grief of its burden +of love?</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Olivet Vision.</h4> + + +<p>Shall we take a moment more to look at these three finger-posts a little +more closely? Just what is meant by <i>a clear vision?</i> I could say at once +that it means a vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet that language has +sometimes been used in a vague sort of way. And some of us have taken it +in a vague indefinite way, and not thought into its practical meaning. +Clear vision here means an understanding of who Christ Jesus is, and what +He is, and what plans He has. Then it means that that understanding is so +clear that it becomes intense, intense to the point of being overwhelming. +That is, it becomes the <i>dominant</i> thing that controls your thinking, and +affections, and actions,—your life.</p> + +<p>I think I may say correctly that the place for getting such a clear, full +vision of Christ Jesus is <i>Olivet</i>. Olivet is a good place to pitch your +tent for a little while, until your vision clears. Then you'll not stay +there, though you may return to keep the lines of your vision clear and +clean; you will be down in the valleys with the crowds.</p> + +<p>One day the Master led His disciples out to the Mount of Olives. It was +the last time they were together. And the group of men stand there +talking, the eleven grouped about the One. He is talking with them quietly +and earnestly. Then, to their utter amazement, His feet are off the +ground, He is rising upward in the air, then higher, and higher, until a +bit of cloud moves across, and they see Him no more. This is all you would +see at a distance.</p> + +<p>But let us come a bit nearer, and stand <i>with</i> them, and listen, and +watch. Olivet is the last bit of earth to feel the presence of the +Master's feet. Off yonder to the west, down in the valley, you see a clump +of trees; that is Gethsemane, the place of the bloody sweat and the tense +agony of spirit. Across the valley, still looking west, lies the city, +outside whose wall is the little knoll called Calvary, where Jesus gave +His life out. Over here to the east and south lies little Bethany, which +speaks of His resurrection power. And a bit farther off are the bare wilds +sloping down,—that is the place of the sore temptation. Far away to the +north, up in the clouds, lies <i>the</i> snow-clad mountain, beyond your outer +vision, yet coming now to your inner vision, where the God within shined +out through the Man.</p> + +<p>But while a quick glance takes all this in, your eyes are caught and held +by the Man in the midst. His presence embodies and intensifies all that +these places suggest. His face bears the impress of the Wilderness, and of +the Garden. The scars plainly there tell of Calvary, as no piece of +geography ever can. His mere presence tells unmistakably of the +resurrection. And you know who He is, and what. He made the world and +breathed His breath of life into man's nostrils. Later He came in amongst +us as one of ourselves. He was tempted like as we, suffered like as we +never suffered, gave His life for us, went down into death, <i>rose</i> up +again out of death. This is the Jesus of Olivet.</p> + +<p>But the action of His face and pose are part of the sight. His eyes are +looking <i>outward</i>. The set of His face is out. His hands point out. And He +is talking; listen: He is talking about a <i>"world"</i>. And the outward turn +of face and eyes and pointing hand become the emphasis of that word, +"<i>world."</i> He died for a world. He is thinking about a world. He has a +plan of action for a world.</p> + +<p>But another word gets your ear—"<i>ye."</i> He is thinking about these +disciples, about His followers. He has a plan of action for them. And +these two plans, for the world, for their lives, these two are tied up +together. And a third word stands out—"<i>I</i>." "I am with you, I am in +command." And now three things stand out together, a world-plan, a plan +for the follower's life fitting into the world-plan, and in the +midst—Jesus, the Christ, my Saviour, my Lord. This is the Olivet vision. +This, the clear, full vision: of Jesus, crucified, risen, empowered; of +His world-plan; of His plan for my life as part of the world-plan.</p> + +<p>Olivet faces four ways. Backward, it points to the sympathy, the +humanness, the suffering, the cross, of Jesus. Upward, it looks to +Himself, now sitting above the clouds at the Father's right hand, "far +above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name +that is named," with "all things in subjection under His feet." Outward, +it reaches to the world He died for, and plans for, and is still brooding +over with more than a mother's love. Forward, it anticipates eagerly the +time when He will come back to finish up what He began, and we are to +continue. When He returns it will be to this same Olivet.<sup><a href="#fn107">[107]</a></sup> He picks up +the line of action exactly where He left it. Olivet is to know a second +pressure of those feet.</p> + +<p>This is the clear, full vision, the three-fold vision we need and must +have for true following: Himself, His world-plan, His plan for each one's +life. This means seeing things as they are. They fall into true +perspective. You see how disproportioned and grotesque the common +perspective of earth is. You see things through His eyes. His eyes take +out of yours the personal colouring, the colour blindness of personal +interest and advantage which so strangely and strongly affect all our +sight.</p> + +<p>We need frequent visits to Olivet's top, until constant looking at its +outlooking landscape, at Himself, fills and floods our eyes. We need the +quiet time alone with Himself and His Word, and some map-picture of His +world, as a habit, until these, Himself, and His word, and His world, are +burned into eyes and heart, until they fire as a sweet fever the whole +life.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Spirit of Obedience.</h4> + + +<p>Out of the vision comes the <i>spirit of obedience</i>. We have spoken of the +act of obedience, and the habit of obedience, but deeper down is the +spirit of obedience, which lies under act and habit. I have used the +words, "spirit of obedience," rather than simply the word, "obedience," +because obedience sometimes stands for a bondage to rules, a slavery to +things. The obedience itself must be deeper than rule or outward thing. +The spirit of obedience sees into the spirit of the rule, and through the +outward thing, and floods it with a new spirit of life. This spirit of +obedience is the one finger-post found oftenest along this road. So only +can we be true to the vision. And obedience itself is not true obedience, +nor true to the vision, save as it is a love-obedience. Real obedience +breathes in the spirit of the One being obeyed. It breathes out the +love-spirit of him who obeys.</p> + +<p>The touchstone of the "Follow Me" life is not need, nor service, nor +sacrifice. The need is felt to the paining point. The service is given +joyously to the limit of strength. The sacrifice is yielded to to the +bleeding point. But these all come as they come, <i>through and out of +obedience.</i> Yet need <i>is</i> the controlling thing, too, <i>but</i> not the need +as <i>we</i> see it, but as <i>He</i> sees it, who sees all, and feels most deeply. +The need is best met, the service best given, the sacrifice most healing +in its power, as each grows out of obedience.</p> + +<p><i>The standard of obedience</i> is three-fold, the Word of God, the Spirit of +God, and one's own judgment and spirit-insight. These three are meant to +fit together. This is the natural result when things are, even measurably, +as they should be. When God is allowed to sway the life as He wishes, +these three fit and blend perfectly. The Word of God taken alone will lead +to superstitious regard for a book and to a cramped judgment and action. +To say that we are guided by the Spirit, without due regard for the Book +He has been the principal one in writing, leads to fanaticism, or at least +to ill-advised, unbalanced, unnatural opinions and action.</p> + +<p>Naturally one's own judgment and spirit-insight play a large part, for +they make the personal decision, they interpret both Word and Spirit to +us. It is through one's judgment and spirit-insight that the Holy Spirit +and the Word influence the decision and action. The great essential is the +habitual, quiet, broad, thoughtful study of God's Word, with the will and +life utterly yielded to the Holy Spirit. So one's spirit is trained to +understand, and one's judgment to form its conclusions. The Holy Spirit +makes us understand God's purpose as revealed in His Word, and fits this +into the need of practical life. Obedience, intelligent and full, depends +upon the quiet time alone with God over His Word.</p> + +<p>I want to add something more here. It is something startling. <i>There are +no break-downs in the path of obedience</i>. I say that very softly, as a +guilty sinner in the matter of break-downs. I remember that the record of +Christian service is like one continuous record of break-downs, broken +bodies, wrecked nerves, sometimes wrecked minds. And I am not saying it to +criticize any one, except it be myself. Out of a long personal experience +of constant going, unwise overwork, and serious break-downs, I am but +confessing my own sins, when I say there are no break-downs in the path of +obedience. Does that mean that there is much earnest service that we have +not been told to do? And the answer must be a very gentle, but very clear, +"Yes."</p> + +<p>But the Man in command has perfect knowledge of what you can do. And <i>He +never asks you to do anything beyond your strength</i>. Or, if He does need +you to meet some emergency beyond your strength, He gives the strength +required. He sends in a fresh supply of resurrection life to repair the +waste of your body, and then, too, He calls into use strength, resources, +talents, that you have not known you had. Now I know that if this be +taken seriously, it will lead some to a heart-searching time alone with +the Master. I am sure that if obedience alone is to be the key-note, it +will mean many a readjustment. And it will mean, too, a new flood stream +of power flowing through and out as the connecting parts are re-adjusted.</p> + +<p>There's a helpful literal reading of a verse in Hebrews.<sup><a href="#fn108">[108]</a></sup> "Now the God +of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great +Shepherd of the sheep, with the blood of an eternal covenant, <i>put you in +joint [with Himself]</i> to do <i>His</i> will in every good work, working in you +[or through you] that which is well-pleasing in His sight." Obedience puts +us in joint with Him, if we are out. It keeps us in joint; then the power +flows from Him, through that joint, out where our life touches.</p> + +<p>Obedience is really a music word. It is the rhythmic swinging together of +two wills, His and ours. Rhythm of action is power. Rhythm of colour is +beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. But it's really all music. For power is +music of action. Beauty is music to the eye. Rhythmic sound is music to +the ear and heart. If there might be more of this music, He and we in +perfect accord, how the crowds would be caught by its melody and come +eagerly to listen. </p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Heart of Love.</h4> + + +<p>And out of the vision comes the heart of love. The sight of the Lord +Jesus' face begets love; and love begets obedience. But obedience never +can keep true away from its father. It is never true full obedience except +it have the throbbing heart of love in it. This is the unfailing mark. +It's so easy to fail here. Yet "love never faileth." The classical +Thirteenth of First Corinthians becomes an indictment. We know it better +in the Book than in life. "Love suffereth long, ... <i>envieth</i> not ... is +not puffed up; doth not behave itself unbecomingly or inconsistently, +seeketh not even its own, is not provoked." Love "beareth" with "all +things" in the one loved, which it would gladly have different, "believeth +all" possibly good "things" of him, "hopeth" for "all" desirable "things" +in him, "endureth all things" in him that hurt and pain. "Love <i>never</i> +faileth." In conversation one day with an unusually earnest worker in the +Orient, we were talking of these things. His work was beset by many sore +perplexities. "Ah," he said, "there is where I have failed. I have not had +the heart of love." And I thought how many of us could say the same thing.</p> + +<p>There are in the Bible three great illustrations of the heart of love. As +Moses came down from the presence of God, and found the people dancing +about the golden calf, he was hotly indignant. But as he goes back to +plead with God, the greatness of his love and grief comes out. In God's +presence their sin is seen to be so much greater. He cries, "Oh, this +people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now +if Thou wilt forgive their sin——" And a great sob breaks the sentence +abruptly off, and it is never finished. The possibility seems to come to +his mind, in this holy presence, that such sin, by these so greatly blest, +could not be forgiven. And that seems to him unbearable. "And if not," if +it cannot be forgiven, "<i>blot me</i>, I pray Thee, <i>out of Thy Book</i>; but +don't blot them out."<sup><a href="#fn109">[109]</a></sup></p> + +<p>In the beginning of the great Jew section of Romans, Paul is speaking of +the intense pain of heart he had over the unbelief and stubbornness of his +racial kinsfolk. He says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my +heart. For I could wish <i>that I myself were accursed</i> from Christ for my +brethren's sake, my kinsmen," that so they might not be accursed.<sup><a href="#fn110">[110]</a></sup> Yet +neither Moses nor Paul could so sacrifice himself for another's sin. "No +man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for +him."<sup><a href="#fn111">[111]</a></sup> But Jesus, the pure, sinless one, <i>was</i> blotted out. He <i>was</i> +made a curse. Moses and Paul would if they could. Jesus both could and +did. Was there ever such a heart of love! And that heart was greatest in +its action of love when it broke.</p> + +<p>A simple story has come to me, I cannot remember where, of a woman in +southern China in the province of Kwangtung. She had a serious illness and +was taken to a mission hospital in Canton for treatment. There for the +first time she heard of Christ, of His love and death. And that story +coming so new and fresh transformed her, as she opened her heart to the +Saviour. And a great peace came into her heart, and showed plainly in her +face. Then her thought began turning to her own village. Not a soul there +knew of this wondrous Saviour. If they but knew. But what could she do, +her illness was very serious.</p> + +<p>The next time the physician came by she asked him how long she would live +if she stayed there. He said that he did not know, but he thought about +six months. And how long if she left the hospital and returned home. He +didn't know; maybe three months. And after he had gone she quietly +announced that she was going home. And those about her were greatly +astonished. "Why," they said, "you'll lose half your life!" And the tears +came into her eyes, as a gentle smile overspread her poor worn face, and +she simply said, "Jesus gave His whole life for me; don't you think I'm +glad to give half mine for Him?" I don't know how long she lived. The +story didn't say, but it did tell that most of the people in her village +knew a long life, even an everlasting life, because of her simple telling +of the Gospel story.</p> + +<p>There were the three essentials, though never so thought of or analyzed +by her. She had the vision of Jesus Christ her Saviour, then of those who +had never heard of Him, and then of her own part in the plan of telling +them. The impulse to tell them was obeyed gladly. And the heart of love +counted not her life dear unto herself if only others might be told of +this wondrous Christ Jesus.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch07"> +<h2>Fellow-Followers</h2> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>God's Problem.</h4> + + +<p>God needs men. That is the tremendous fact that stands out in every +generation. There never has been a corner since Adam walked out of Eden +where that need was not thrust into some man's face, and thrust into God's +face. It is being thrust into our faces to-day as ever before, and as +never before. For the ends of the earth are come upon us, for the helping +touch of our hands, <i>or</i> for the drag-back to be overcome by some one's +else helping touch.</p> + +<p>God is a needy God. That fact is spelled out by every page of this old +Book of His. And it is spelling itself out anew by the book of the life of +the race whose current chapter is being written by our generation. God's +wonderful plan for man lies at the root of His need. In His great +graciousness He made us in His own image. That is, He gave to us the right +of full free choice. He has never infringed upon that image, that right of +choice, by so much as a whispered breath or the moving of a hair. He gave +man the sovereignty of the earth and its life. And every move God has made +among men on earth has been through a man, and through his free consent.</p> + +<p>The tragedy of sin has intensified God's need tremendously. It has +intensified everything, man's misunderstanding and hatred of God, the love +of God's heart for man, and the distance between the two. It is constantly +intensifying pain, sorrow, man's need, and the blight upon nature. It +increases God's difficulty in working out His will of love for man. For it +makes it increasingly hard to get even Christian men to see things through +God's eyes, and gladly give themselves up to His purposes.</p> + +<p>Poor God! Such a needy God! Rich in power, in character, in the loving +worship of the upper world, in His love for all, rich beyond power of +human calculation; so poor in the response of men to the wooing of His +heart. So poor in the glad, intelligent co-operation of those who trust +Him for salvation in the next world, but are content with very little of +it in this. So needy in the lack of those who bring love and life, +intellect and wealth, and lay all at His feet.</p> + +<p>This has been God's problem, to respect the rights He has given man, and +yet work through him in carrying out His great plan of love. This is the +warp into which the whole of the Bible fabric is woven—the tragedy of +sin, of sin-hurt, sin-stubborned men, the patience of God in wooing men +back, and His exquisite tact and unlimited patience is always working +<i>through</i> men's consent, and through human channels.</p> + +<p>To-day He comes to you and me, pleadingly asking us to help Him in His +passionate plan for His race. Some few have the gift of leadership. Most +of us are moulded to follow. He needs both leader and follower. He needs +the <i>life</i>. He needs the <i>love</i>. Through these, whether in prominent place +or shadowed, in leadership or in following along some well-beaten path, +through these—the <i>life</i>, the <i>love</i>, He works in His great simple plan +for overcoming the tragedy of sin. That plan includes the whole race. God +has no favourites among the nations. When the hour is ripe for an advance +step, a man is found ripened for leadership. This is the real final +explanation of certain great leaders. It was not the man himself alone, +but the coming together of the time, the man, and the plan; the time for +an advance step, the man who had yielded to God up to the ripening point, +the plan of God. And the decisive thing was the plan of God.</p> + +<p>President Finney used to insist very earnestly that revivals followed a +fixed law of action. When men would with all their hearts fit into the +great laws of grace, there would follow the gracious revival results even +as effect follows cause in nature; and without question he was wholly +right. In addition to this, however, there is a further fact to note, of +which Finney himself was a striking illustration. In God's broader plans +for the race when the time is ripe for an advance step, He has some man in +training for leadership in that hour, and so ripeness of time and of man +and of plan come together. But the chief factor at work is God Himself.</p> + +<p>This, and only this, explains fully certain great religious movements and +leaders. Such men in later centuries as Luther in Germany, Zwingli in +Switzerland, Calvin in France and Switzerland, Wesley and Whitefield in +England, and Finney in both America and England. Only this can +satisfactorily explain Moody's unusual career. He was a man of strong +native parts, of marked individuality, and of utter surrender to God. And +this combination would have brought great results under any circumstances, +but it does not explain the great movement in which he was the leader. It +was God's hour for an advance movement, the man so untrained in men's +schools, was slowly made ready in God's school, and man and hour and plan +fitted together. But the chief emphasis remains on the fact that it was +the time in God's gracious plan for an advance. And the nations of the +earth have been feeling the blessed impulse of that advance ever since.</p> + +<p>But the leaders are few; and what could they do without the great mass of +followers? God needs the faithful ones, unknown by name, hidden away in +quiet corners, each the centre of a group which is touching a larger +group, and so on, ever widening. Everything turns on this,—letting God +have the full use of us; living as though God were the realest thing in +this matter-of-fact, every-day world; going on the supposition that the +Bible is indeed His Word, and is a workable book for daily problems and +needs, the one workable book; making everything bend toward getting His +will done. When we get up into His presence, this will be found to have +been the one thing worth while. When the race story has been all told, the +biography of earth brought to its last page, this will be the one thing +that will stand out, and remain, that we let Him use us just as He would, +and that we have brought everything at our disposal to bear on doing His +will of love.</p> + +<p>He comes to you and me afresh to-day with His old-time winsome patience, +asking the use of us. He always thinks of us in two ways, for our own +sakes and for our help in reaching the others. Followers are messengers. +Some are special messengers in speech. But all are messengers in their +lives; that is, they are meant to be. This is our Lord's plan. He wants us +to <i>live</i> the message.</p> + +<p>That old word "witness" has grown to mean three things, that you <i>know</i> +something, that you <i>tell</i> it, and that you tell it <i>with your life</i>. +Every time the word witness is used in the New Testament it stands for +some form of the word underneath from which our English word "martyr" +comes. We have come to associate that word "martyr" with the idea of +giving one's life in a violent way for the truth believed. This is the +meaning that has grown into the word. But the practical meaning of this +martyr-witness word goes a bit deeper yet than this. It is not merely +giving the life out in the crisis of dying, but that the whole life is +being given out in a continual martyrdom, that is, a continual witnessing. +These words, follower, messenger, witness, run together. In following we +are witnesses. We know something about this Man who goes before, a blessed +something that has entered into the marrow and joints of one's being. We +tell it. We tell it chiefly by living it. We are messengers. The whole +life is a message of what Christ Jesus has done for us, and is to us.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>A Confession of Faith in Wood and Nails.</h4> + + +<p>Now, this is the thing—this <i>living it</i>—that God has always counted on +most. There are in the Bible most striking illustrations of lived or +<i>acted messages</i>. One man actually preached a sermon nearly fifteen months +long merely by the position of his body. You would call that a long +sermon, but it had the desired result, at least partly. The man got the +ears of the people. They were hardened sermon listeners. The talked +sermons had no effect. So they were given an acted sermon.</p> + +<p>I think it may help to look at a few of the old-time followers. The one +chief thing that marked these men was that they <i>lived the messages</i>. They +experienced the truth they stood for, sometimes to the extent of much +suffering. This <i>experience</i> became part of the man's life. And this it +was that God used as His message. You cannot be a follower fully without +the thing taking your very life, and taking it to the feeling, +deep-feeling, point.</p> + +<p>One of the earliest of these followers was <i>Enoch</i>. His brief story is +like the first crocus of spring coming up through the cold snow, like a +pretty flower growing up out of the thin crack of earth between great +stones. There was such a contrast with the surroundings. It is in the +Fifth of Genesis, one of the most tiresome chapters in the whole Bible. +Its tiresome monotony is an evidence of its inspiration; for it is a +picture of life with God left out. There are five chapters in Enoch's +biography. He was born; with that he had nothing to do. Like his lineal +descendants and his neighbours he just "<i>lived"</i> for a while, went through +the usual physical and mental and social motions of life, no more. Then a +babe came into his household, a fresh act of God, a fresh call of God, one +of God's loudest calls. This was the turning point. He must have heard and +answered that call, for a new life began. He "walked with God." This +became his chief trait. It stands in contrast with his former life. Before +he merely <i>lived</i>; now he was on a higher plane, he <i>walked with God</i>. The +final chapter,—"God took him." They two had a long walk one day along the +hilltops—or was it only a short walk?—and Enoch never came back. God +kept him.</p> + +<p>Now, in all this Enoch was God's messenger to the whole race. Jude speaks +of his prophesying or preaching. But the emphasis of this simple Genesis +biography is not on his preaching but on himself. That man walking about +in his simple daily touch of heart with God,—that was the message. It +wasn't an easy thing to do. The whole set of his time was against it. It +was an evil time; impurity and violence were its outstanding traits. +Enoch's life cut straight across the grain of his time. He was the leader +of the first racial family, the chief one in the direct line from Adam. +And he insisted on living habitually a simple, holy, pure life, walking +with God, never out of touch. <i>Following meant keeping in step with God, +never missing step</i>.</p> + +<p>And this was talked about. Every one knew it. He was doubtless felt to be +out of touch with his time. And he was, blessedly out of touch. It was +probably never harder to walk with God. But he did it. This is how he +helped God. This is what he was asked to do. God was speaking to the whole +race through this great man's simple habit of life. And He spoke still +louder when, one day, He took him away. Enoch's absence was the talk of +the race. "He was not <i>found</i>." Clearly they looked for him, looked +everywhere and discussed him and his peculiar manner of life, his strange +disappearance, and his freedom from death.</p> + +<p>So he met God's need. He became God's medium of communication to the +entire race, simply in what he was, and so it is that most of us may help +God. And if we will, He will be less needy, for He will speak through our +lives to all whom we touch. Following means walking with God. So we help +God in His need.</p> + +<p>And Enoch helped God to get <i>Noah</i>. The touch of Enoch is on his +great-grandson. Grace <i>is</i> hereditary, when there's enough of it. Enoch +had the boldness to set a new standard. It was easier for Noah to reach up +toward it, when it was already set. Now, Noah was asked to do something +more. Enoch walked with God, the personal life was the one thing. Noah +walked with God, <i>and</i> did something more.</p> + +<p>He was asked to believe something unusual. It was something that could be +believed only by accepting God's word against every other circumstance and +probability; that is, that a flood was coming to cover the whole earth, +and destroy the race. And he was asked further to put his belief into the +shape of an immense house-boat probably built where it wouldn't float +except such a flood did come. That huge boat was his confession of faith. +He acted his faith. It would be a costly thing, perhaps taking all Noah's +wealth, and taking some years to build. That belief was about the +unlikeliest thing imaginable from every natural standpoint, <i>with God left +out</i>. And God is <i>practically</i> left out, except as a very last +questionable consideration, then, and ever since, and to-day. Probably +Noah was the butt of gossip and ridicule, quite possibly of scandal and +reproach, year after year, by the whole race; and he would feel it, and +feel it for his family's sake. That boat and its dreaming builder were the +standing joke of the time. He was regarded as a fool, a fanatic, a poor, +unbalanced enthusiast, building his gigantic boat on dry land! Perhaps +some regretted that he brought the cause of religion into reproach by +being such an extremist.</p> + +<p>Yet the only thing he did was to believe God's word, and to shape his +conduct accordingly. He simply did as God asked. He heard God correctly. +His ears were trained to hear. He did what God wanted, regardless of what +people thought. That was how he helped God in His need. The race was saved +through this fresh start, else it had burned out long ago. Following meant +a true life lived, <i>and faith in God expressed in wood and nails, and in +good money paid out</i>, while men met him coldly on the road, or jeered.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Befriending God.</h4> + + +<p>Long years afterward there was another man who helped God so decidedly +that he became known as "the friend of God." And the word "friend" is used +this time in the emergency sense. He did the thing God asked him to do, +and this helped God in a plan He was working out for the whole race. God +had to have a man. Abraham was willing to be the man. And in that he +became God's helpful friend. The thing God asked him to do seems very +simple, and yet it was a radical thing for this man to do. He was to leave +his father's family, and all his kinsfolk, and live <i>a separated life</i>, +both from them and from all others. It is almost impossible for the West +to realize how close and strong family ties are in the Orient. Separation +meant an unusual, sad break in holiest ties. God was trying a new step in +His fight against sin. He had separated the leader of sin from all +others.<sup><a href="#fn112">[112]</a></sup> He had removed all the race except a seed of good.<sup><a href="#fn113">[113]</a></sup> Both +of these plans had failed, through man's failure. Now a new, +farther-reaching plan is begun. A man is separated from all others, to +become the seed of a new nation, a <i>faith</i> nation, which should be a +different people from others, embodying in themselves God's ideals for +all.</p> + +<p>Abraham is asked to become a separated man in a peculiar sense, separate +outwardly, separate in his worship of the true God, and separate in living +a <i>faith</i> life. It was to be a life dependent wholly on God regardless of +outer circumstance or difficulty. There was a training time of twenty-five +years before Abraham was ready for the next step,—the bringing of the +next in line of this new faith stock. Separation, then still further +separation, an open stand for God in the land of strangers, then a series +of close personal tests, each entering into the marrow of his life,—this +was the training to get the man ready to be a <i>faith</i> father to his son, +the next in line of a faith people. And the hardest test of all came +after the child of faith had grown to manhood. Then he became a child of +faith in his own experience, as well as in his father's. Following meant +separation. It meant believing God against the unlikeliest circumstances, +against nature itself, hoping in the midst of hopelessness. Everything +spelled out "hopelessness." God alone spelled out "hope." He took God +against everything else. It meant going to school to God, until he could +be used as God planned. And Abraham consented. He followed. He helped God +in His need. He befriended God; he became His friend in His need.</p> + +<p>But <i>every</i> generation needs men. Each new step in the plan needs a new +man. In a sore crisis of that plan, long after, another man's name, +<i>Moses</i>, is known to us, <i>only</i> because he singled himself out as being +willing to let God use him. In his unconscious training, the training of +circumstances into which it was natural to fit, he was peculiarly prepared +for the future task. Bred in Egypt as the son of the ruler's household, he +received the best school training of his day, with all the peculiar +advantages of his position in the royal family.</p> + +<p>Following meant more to Moses, in what he gave up of worldly advantage, +than to any other named in the Bible record. Egypt was the world empire of +that day. Moses was in the innermost imperial circles, and could easily +have become the dominant spirit of the court, if not the successor to the +Pharaoh's throne. But he heard the call. His mother helped train his ears. +He answered "Yes" to God, without knowing how much was involved. Following +meant giving up, then a long course of training in the university of the +desert, with the sheep and the stars and—God. It meant a repeated risking +of his life not only in his bold dealings with Pharaoh, but afterward with +the nation-mob, mob-nation, whose leader, and father and school-teacher, +and everything else, he had to be for forty years. And it meant much on +the other side, too.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Had Moses failed to go, had God</div> +<div class="line"> Granted his prayer, there would have been</div> +<div class="line"> For him no leadership to win;</div> +<div class="line"> No pillared fire; no magic rod,</div> +<div class="line"> No smiting of the sea; no tears</div> +<div class="line"> Ecstatic, shed on Sinai's steep;</div> +<div class="line"> No Nebo, with a God to keep</div> +<div class="line"> His burial; only forty years</div> +<div class="line"> Of desert, watching with his sheep."</div> +</div></blockquote> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>A Yet Deeper Meaning.</h4> + + +<p>When we turn to the leaders of the latter years of the Kingdom time of +God's teacher-nation, the prophetic time, there is one thing that stands +out sharply in the men God used. It was this, a man's inner personal life +and experience were made use of to an unusual degree. It is as though the +sacred inner life were sacrificed. The holy privacies were laid bare to +the public gaze. The sweets of the inner holy of holies of the personal +life were given up. The people were so far God-hardened that only <i>acted</i> +preaching, <i>lived</i> messages, that took it out of one's very life, with +pain in the taking, had any effect.</p> + +<p>This is most markedly so in the case of <i>Hosea</i>, whose experience it seems +almost if not wholly impossible for us to take in.<sup><a href="#fn114">[114]</a></sup> It is true that +the Christianized West has conceptions of personal privacy to which the +East is a stranger. Yet, even so, the way in which these men were asked to +yield up their inner personal lives, must have been a most marked thing to +these Orientals. For God used it as the one thing apparently, the extreme +thing, to touch their hearts with His appeal.</p> + +<p><i>Isaiah</i> had just such peculiar experiences. The birth of a son is planned +for, and told of for the purpose of making more emphatic the message to +the dull ears and slow heart of the nation.<sup><a href="#fn115">[115]</a></sup> His two sons bore names +of strange meaning, as a means of teaching truths that were peculiarly +distasteful to the people. Isaiah takes one of these strangely named sons +as he goes to deliver a message to the king. And the son standing by his +father's side is a reminder in his name of a disagreeable truth.<sup><a href="#fn116">[116]</a></sup> A +little later the man is actually required to go about barefooted, and +without clothing sufficient for conventional respectability, and to +continue this for three years.<sup><a href="#fn117">[117]</a></sup> When we remember that he was not an +erratic extremist, but a sober-minded, fine-grained gentleman of +refinement and of a good family, it helps us to understand a little how +hard-hearted and stubborn were a people that could be appealed to only in +such a way.</p> + +<p>And it tells us, too, how utterly surrendered was the man who was willing +thus to give up his private personal life. How much easier to have been +simply an earnest, eloquent preacher, with his inner personal life lived +free from public gaze, a thing sacred to himself. Following meant the +giving up of the sacred private life to a strangely marked degree, for God +to use.</p> + +<p>Even more marked are the experiences that <i>Jeremiah</i> was asked and +consented to go through. It would seem as though the repeated conspiracies +against his life, the repeated imprisonments in vile dungeons dangerous to +health and life, and the shame of being put in the public stocks before +the rabble, would have been much for God to ask, and for a man to give. +But there is something that goes much farther and deeper into the very +marrow of his life than these. He is bidden not to marry, not to have a +family life of his own.<sup><a href="#fn118">[118]</a></sup> And he obeyed. This was to be so only and +solely as a message to the people. A message couched in such startling +language they might listen to. Again we must remember the Oriental setting +to appreciate the significance of this. In the East the unit of society is +not the individual but the <i>family</i>. A man's marriage is planned for by +the family, as a means of building up the family. To be childless and +especially son-less was felt to be peculiarly unfortunate, almost +bordering on disgrace.</p> + +<p>This meant for Jeremiah not only the loss of personal joys and delights, +but that his line would be broken off from his father's family. He would +be without heir, or future, in the family history. So following meant +going yet deeper into the inner personal life, for the sake of God's plan. +This giant's strength is revealed in nothing more than in his tear-wet +laments over his people. And he gave all this strength to following. He +said "Yes" to God's need and request, though it must have taken his very +life to say it.</p> + +<p>But <i>Ezekiel</i> was asked to do something even beyond this. He was the +messenger of God to the colony of Hebrew exiles in Assyria. His accounts +of the visions of God reveal a remarkable power of detailed description, +and a remarkably strong mentality. Strange to say, these people in +captivity are yet harder to reach than were their fathers in their native +land. Yet, not strange, for the human heart is the same when it won't open +to the purifying of the upper currents of air. Here the man himself +literally became the message. He actually lay upon his left side for +thirteen months and then on his right side for six weeks longer.</p> + +<p>During all that time he ate food that was particularly repugnant, and it +was carefully weighed out, and the water as carefully measured out for +his use. He had to rise, no doubt, for various reasons, but the bulk of +the time for nearly fifteen months he lay out where all could see him. His +fellow-exiles, I suppose, looked and wondered, laughed and gossiped +perhaps, and then as time wore on, they thought and thought more, and were +awed as they began slowly to take in the meaning of this strange message +of God. Thereafter Ezekiel was the leader, to whose house the leaders of +the colony came, and to whose words they intently listened.</p> + +<p>But there was a yet deeper meaning to following than we have found yet. It +is a meaning that awes one's heart into amazed silence. He was married. +His wife is spoken of very tenderly as "the desire of thine eyes." He was +told that she would be taken away out of his life. She would die. That was +the great thing. Then he was not to mourn outwardly for her; this was the +second thing. He was to be before the people as though the greatest sorrow +of his life had not happened. Is it any wonder the people came astonished +to know what this meant? The simple brevity with which he tells of the +occurrence takes hold of one's heart. "So I spake unto the people in the +morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was +commanded."<sup><a href="#fn119">[119]</a></sup> There was no questioning, no hesitancy of action, but a +simple, prompt obedience, even though his heart was breaking. This was +what God asked of him. God needed this in His dealings with these people +of His in whom His world-plan centred. How desperate must have been the +need that called for such an experience as this! Ezekiel said "Yes" even +to this. Surely there was here some of that Calvary meaning, of the +secondary sort, of which we have spoken together. Following meant not only +giving his personality and life, but now it meant giving what must have +been more than life itself.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Through Fire.</h4> + + +<p>To <i>Daniel</i> following meant something essentially different. He was not a +messenger to his own people, nor their leader. He was a messenger to the +great world-rulers of his time, through the visions he interpreted, and +through his unbending faithfulness and purity of life; The thing that +stands out largest is the life he lived, a life of simplicity in habit, of +purity and consistency, with an unwavering faith in God. God <i>could</i> use +him to speak to the great emperors. So he helped God to get His message to +men so hard to reach through a human channel.</p> + +<p>Following meant a pure life. It was Daniel's insistence on being pure and +true that shut him up with the wild beasts. And it was through his +unflinching fidelity and persistence that God could send His message anew, +in the most public manner, out to all the millions of that great +world-empire. Following meant to a marked degree a pure life as the basis +of the service rendered. It proved to mean a lions' den, <i>and</i> the power +of God overcoming the instincts of ravenous beasts. But clear beyond these +it meant that God could reach His world with His message to an unusual +extent.</p> + +<p><i>Daniel's three companions</i> helped God by means of a most thrilling +experience, a really terrible experience. God had been pleading with the +great Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel's message. Now He wants to speak again +in a way that will compel attention. He needs these three young men. They +consent to be His messengers. It meant going through a terrible ordeal. +They simply remained true in their personal devotion to God. This was the +thing God needed, and used. Everything of use to God roots down in the +life. The personal plea of the great king, and the prospect of a horrible +death fail alike to move them. They probably had quite resigned themselves +to the fate of being burned alive for the truth. But God had a different +purpose. He was thinking about this ruler with whom He dealt so personally +and unusually, time and again.</p> + +<p>The three men, walking quietly up and down in the seven-times heated +furnace in company with a glorious looking person "like a son of the +gods"—this was the message God wanted spoken to the ruler He was pleading +with. His strangely marvellous power, and His personal regard for His +faithful followers—this was what God was trying to say to Nebuchadnezzar. +He asked the use of these three young men. Their personal loyalty to +Himself even unto death—this was what He wanted. <i>Through</i> this He +reached the heart of the man He was after.</p> + +<p>The experience of these men is an intensely interesting study. It was a +fearful ordeal that they went through. Yet it was wholly mental, and of +the spirit. They suffered no pain of body, nor inconvenience. The fire +only made them free, burned up the bonds that held them. It took great +strength of will, of decision, to stay steady through all the fearful +test. Yet <i>nothing happened to their bodies</i> except to help them. God took +care of that. They gave Him what He asked. He gave them more than they +expected. They probably expected death and were willing. God had a deeper +plan He was working out. How glad they must have been that they followed +fully, that they didn't disappoint God.</p> + +<p>Following meant simply being true, even though the road led through a +furnace. God would attend to the furnace. Their part was simply to follow +where He led. And our God is needing just such acted messages to-day. He +is longing for just such opportunities to reveal His power and love, not +merely <i>to us</i>, but through us to His world.</p> + +<p>Let us take time for one more of these faithful followers. This time it is +a young woman. It is at the most critical juncture of God's plan, thus +far. He needed a woman whom He could use to bring His Son, and could use +further to mother that Son's early years. All unconsciously Mary of +Nazareth and of Bethlehem was fitting into His plan in her life, her +simple, pure, godly, personal life. We can understand that God wooed her +especially to such a life of heart devotion as a preparation for the after +part. And she said "Yes" to all His wooings, never suspecting what was to +come of it. You never know how much a simple "Yes" to God may mean, <i>or</i> a +"No." You never know how much of service may grow out of the true life. +Yet all true service is something coming out of the life.</p> + +<p>Then the plan of God was made known to her,—the marvellous plan, yet so +simple to Him. And again she said a simple, awed "Yes." She waits only +long enough to ask the natural, woman's question as to method. There was +no questioning of God's power, what He could do, and would do. It came to +mean hurting suspicion, peculiarly hurting to as pure and gentle a soul as +she. Apparently this was unavoidable. It speaks volumes for her openness +of both mind and heart to God, that she instantly took in Gabriel's +meaning, and could take it in that such an unprecedented thing was +possible. It would have saved her the cruel suspicion if Joseph had been +told beforehand, but the whole probability is that he could not have taken +it in that such a thing was possible.</p> + +<p>Following meant the glad "Yes" to the early wooing up to a pure devoted +life. It meant saying a further "Yes" to the plan of God even though +something so unusual, and with it the misunderstanding and cruel +suspicion, on the one point most sensitive to a woman, and by the one +nearest her. But she said "Yes" both times. She let God have the use of +her life for His plan. That was all He asked. That is all He asks. But +that is what He asks.</p> + +<p>These are a few of the glorious company of followers, the goodly +fellowship of those who have helped God in His passionate plan for His +world, the noble army of willing ones. But the number is incomplete. The +plan is not yet fully worked out. The need is not yet wholly met. It was +never more urgent. To-day the insistent voice still comes as of old, +asking you and me to follow.</p> + +<p>And no one can tell how much <i>his</i> following may mean to God in reaching +His world.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div class="chapter" id="ch08"> +<h2>The Glory Of The Goal,—Face to Face</h2> + + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>"With You Always.".</h4> + + +<p>Have you ever <i>seen Christ</i>? No, I don't mean have you been to some +uplifting convention, and been tremendously caught by some talented, +earnest speaker, and been swayed by the atmosphere of the hour and place, +and felt that all was not just as it should be with you; and then you +prayed more, and made some new resolves, or re-made some old ones, and +left off some things, and put on some things; I don't mean that, but +this—have you ever <i>seen Christ</i>?</p> + +<p>No, of course, you don't see Him with these outer eyes. Well, then just +what do I mean practically? <i>This</i>—has there come to you a real sense of +Himself? of His presence? of the tremendous plea His presence makes? and, +possibly, you don't know just how to answer. You say, "I'm not just sure," +or "How can I know?" Well, you'll never say it that way, nor ask that +question again after the experience has come.</p> + +<p>May I tell you a little bit about it? Yet, mark you, only "a little bit." +You can never <i>tell</i> another one what it means to see <i>Him</i>. When once the +sight has come, every word you utter about it, or Him, seems so lame and +weak that you despair of ever being able to let out at your lips what has +gotten into you. But let me try, even if lamely, in the eager yearning +that it may help you know if, thus far, you have missed seeing <i>Him</i>, and +maybe—so much better—help you to <i>see</i> Him. For until you have—well, +nothing, absolutely nothing, is worth while.</p> + +<p>When you see Him there comes such a sense of <i>His purity</i> that, instantly, +you are down on your face in utter despair, because of your own self—your +impurity; your lack of purity; the sharp contrast between Him and you. You +feel that young Isaiah's outcry in the temple that morning is wholly +inadequate. "Unclean lips," is it? Why, the whole thing, from innermost +recesses clear through and out, is unclean. Then it dawns upon you that +this is really what Isaiah is feeling and trying to express in his "woe" +and "undone."</p> + +<p>And that vivid sense of contrast between Him and you never grows less, but +more acute and deeper. Even when you come to know Him better, and the +sweet peace comes with its untellable balm to your spirit, yet you are +always conscious of the contrast, and you know that <i>you</i> are not pure; +only <i>He</i> is; and all you can do is to keep under the cleansing stream of +His blood, very low down.</p> + +<blockquote class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> +<div class="line"> "Never higher than His piercèd feet,</div> +<div class="line"> Never farther than His bleeding side."</div> +</div></blockquote> + +<p>With that comes such a sense of <i>Himself</i>, of His—what word can tell +it?—His glory,—which means simply His character, what He is in +Himself—that again words can never tell out the sense of your own +littleness; no, that is not the word, your own <i>nothingness</i>. And now you +recall, with an inner shrinking, how well you have thought of yourself, +how much you have talked about yourself and your view of things, perhaps +in the language of a properly phrased humility. Now you are dumb. His +presence dumbs you. You begin to wonder at the strange self-confidence and +self-complacence that have been so common even in your holiest moments and +experiences. It seems, in this Presence, as though you could never open +your lips again—except to speak of <i>Him</i>.</p> + +<p>Then your eyes are drawn more intently to His person,—His face, His +wounds. The scars where the thorns tore His great, patient face; the +grief-whitened hair, draped above those deep, tender, unspeakable eyes; +that strangely rough place in the palm so lovingly outstretched; the +spear-scar, the nail-marks in those feet coming over to you,—these grip +you. Their meaning begins to come. There's cleansing; yes, blessed fact! +there's <i>cleansing</i> from this horrid impurity whose stain you are so +conscious of. Yet, what it cost Him! What my impurity forced upon Him! +Yes, cleansed; blessed Jesus! What a relief to be cleansed! Yet I must +<i>stay</i> under the stream; only so can the sense of relief be continual. +And I must stay down on my face at His feet. It is the only place for such +as I discover myself to be. Yet what grace to let me stay at His feet!</p> + +<p>Have you <i>seen Christ</i>? This is what begins to come when you have—His +purity, your contrasted lack; His glorious self, your own nothingness in +yourself; His suffering—the price of your cleansing. This is only a +beginning, yet a beginning that comes to be the continuous thing.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>Closer Acquaintance.</h4> + + +<p>After a little, as you are sitting still in His presence, and have become +a bit quieter after that flush of first emotions at seeing Him, you begin +to be caught all anew with how <i>lovable</i> He is. This takes great hold of +you. I overheard a once-drunken, now thoroughly changed man, up in +Scotland, as he was fairly pouring out his heart in prayer in his sweet, +broad Scotch,—"Once Thou didst have no form or comeliness to me, but +now"—and it seemed as if all the pent-up feelings within rushed at once +to flood-tide—"<i>now</i> Thou art the chiefest among ten thousand, and the +One altogether lovely." And the high-water mark of the flood was touched +on "chiefest" and "altogether."</p> + +<p>That first look made you think mostly of your-self—an inner loathing. Now +you think of <i>Him</i>. He is so lovable, so true and tender, and patient and +pure; again your language gives out, and you feel better content just to +look without trying to use words. They're such poor things when it comes +to telling about Him. He is so much more than anything that can be said +about Him. His will is so wise and thoughtful and far-reaching and loving. +Strange how stupid you have been in insisting so strenuously and blindly +on having your own way. His plan, His thought about everything concerning +you, is <i>so</i> superb. And He asks me to be His follower. What joy! What if +the way be a bit rough; it's following <i>Him</i>; that's enough. He calls me +to be His personal friend. I can hardly take it in,—His <i>friend</i>? Yes, +that's His own word. Well, let any thorns tear because of the narrowing of +the road; I'm His friend, man, do you hear? His <i>friend</i>,—do you get hold +of that word? What can any thorn thing do against that!</p> + +<p>"We" may go hand in hand now,—His is pierced; I feel the scar where our +hands touch. But we're together at last, <i>the</i> thing He has been working +for. I can feel His presence. I can hear the low music of His voice +within. Thorns don't count here. Oh, yes, I <i>feel</i> them; they haven't lost +their power to slash and sting,—but—with <i>Him</i> so close +alongside!--Wondrous Christ, here I am at Thy feet, Thy glad slave +forever. I'm wholly Thine. It's my own choice. I'll never go any other way +by Thy grace. This is the second bit that comes, the glad surrender of +life to His mastery. Do you know about this? You will, when you've <i>seen +Christ</i>.</p> + +<p>Then you come to know, without being able to tell just how, that He is +not only <i>with</i> you, but <i>within</i> you. At first His presence may have +seemed as something outside yourself. You were looking away at some One +who was looking at you. And His look at you broke your heart, and made +your will, once so strangely strong in itself, now as strangely pliable to +His as only a strong will can be. But now He is living within you. You may +not be clear just how the change came. But you do know that there's a +something which you come to know is a some One, who is within. His +presence is peace past understanding, but not past appreciation. There's a +longing for His Word, a desire to talk with Him even when you don't want +to ask for something, a deep heart-cry for purity, a burning within to +please Him. These all seem to come from Him, and at the same time to be +satisfied by Himself, even while they remain and increase.</p> + +<p>And yet more, while this Presence within seems so quietly real and +exquisitely peace-bringing, there is still the outer presence, the One +whose presence it was at the first that brought all this change. Two +presences, one above, enthroned there; one within, enthroned there; yet +they seem the same, as though one personality with two presences had come +into your consciousness. There's the Lord Jesus above at the Father's +right hand; here's the Holy Spirit within at my right hand,<sup><a href="#fn120">[120]</a></sup> yet in +practical effect they are as one, while one's thought is always directed +to the Lord Jesus both within and above.</p> + +<p>The Presence within makes you think wholly of the Presence above, who yet +seems also to be within. You are getting a taste of the practical meaning +of the Trinity now, three that in effect are as one. But you are too much +taken up with the gladness of it to think about the metaphysics of it. +He—whether within, or above, or both—is so much more than words. The +experience is so much more than any explanation. You are not concerned +about the explanation so long as you can have the sweet experience.</p> +</div> + +<div class="sec"> +<h4>The Final Goal.</h4> + + +<p>This is the third bit that comes when you've seen Christ, the gracious +indwelling of the Lord Jesus' other self, the Holy Spirit. But if you have +seen Him, you are probably not counting steps nor analyzing processes, but +just singing a bit of joyous praise to Him.</p> + +<p>Then there's <i>the outer turn; He</i> does that. He draws you to Himself, and +yet at the same time sends you away—no, not <i>from</i> Him—<i>for</i> Him, out to +the others He hungers after, even as after you. Up, in, out,—so He draws +and directs, up to Himself, in by contrast to one's self with a holding +hard to Him while looking within, then a sending out to the others. He +kindles a fire, He is a fire, drawing, burning, cleansing, warming, then +driving you forth, and doing all at the same time. Wondrous fine, this +fire of love—of His heart—of Himself. The common word for this is +"service." The word doesn't matter much. Service is a good word. But the +thing that comes seems so much more than this word seems to contain.</p> + +<p>That hand that was pierced, which has been to you so tender and warm, and +in its clasp so expressive of this wondrous friendship—that hand now +leads you where you had not thought of going. <i>And you go</i>,—aghast almost +at first at the radical change in your carefully worked out plans, losing +your breath for a moment as you wonder what "they" <i>will</i> think (though +"they" never will <i>understand</i>, unless—ah, yes, unless they see <i>Him</i>). +That hand reaches in where your life touches others, in the family, the +business circle, the social circle, and moulds you over anew in the old +relationships, not taking you away from them (though there may be some +partings), but making you a new presence in the midst of them.</p> + +<p>That hand reaches into your pocket, and your safety-deposit box, in among +the title papers and securities, and shakes off the dust and rust, and +sends them out on an errand after the others. That fire—Himself—draws +all into the smelting-pot. Its alchemy transmutes possessions into lives, +redeemed, sweetened, Jesus-touched, Christ-renewed lives, made like +Himself. And the sweet music of their new lives comes up into <i>His</i> +gladdened ears, and a few of the strains come to cheer you. One may have +at first a strange feeling of bareness, for things that we've always clung +to as essential have gone out from us to others. But with the outgoing of +things has come an incoming of <i>Himself</i>, in greater abundance than we +dreamed possible. He, within, completely overbalances what He has sent out +from us into use. <i>He</i>—He is <i>everything</i>.</p> + +<p>The usual word for all this is "service," a blessed word. Yet service +seems to suggest your doing something for Him among others. This is quite +different. It is <i>His</i> doing something <i>with</i> you for others. The thing +itself is so much more than any word. Christ is so much more than anything +you say about Him. The truth is always less than Himself. But one never +understands how much that means till he has seen Christ. Have <i>you</i> seen +Christ? Then others shall see Him, too, in you, and through you.</p> + +<p>This is the glory of the goal—face to face with Himself. It begins now. +It is a very real thing. This is a bit of the meaning of that mountain +beatitude, "the pure in heart ... shall <i>see God</i>." Yet only he who sees +understands what seeing means. The subtle intensity of God's presence +cannot be explained, only understood by the purified in heart. Only the +opened eyes see.</p> + +<p>But this is only a beginning. There will be the far greater glory of the +final goal, as we come into His immediate presence, literally face to +face. That may be when we are called away from the lower road up to the +higher reaches, above the clouds and the blue, the glory-reaches, up where +He now sits. It may be by that goal coming nearer, by Himself actually +coming on the clouds in great glory, for His own and for the next chapter +in His great world-plan. Then we shall be caught up into His presence. +Then we shall be fully like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.</p> + +<p>And we shall be sharers in His glory, in the Kingdom time of glad earth +service. But we shall be thinking only of Himself—face to face.</p> +</div></div> + + +<div id="footnotes"> +<h2>Footnotes</h2> + + +<p id="fn1">1. John i. 1, 2, 14, 18; Colossians i. 15; II Corinthians iv. 4; +Philippians ii. 6; Hebrews i. 3.</p> + +<p id="fn2">2. John xv. 15; Psalm xxv. 14; Isaiah xli. 8; II Chronicles xx. 7; James +ii. 23.</p> + +<p id="fn3">3. Matthew iv. 4; where the emphatic word is "man," standing in contrast +with "Son of God" in verse 3.</p> + +<p id="fn4">4. Acts xvii. 28; Job xii. 10; Daniel v. 23 l.c.; Psalm cxxxix. 1-16.</p> + +<p id="fn5">5. Philippians ii. 6-8.</p> + +<p id="fn6">6. Romans xii. 19; Deuteronomy xxxii. 35; Psalm xciv. 1; Proverbs xx. 22; +I Peter ii. 23; I Corinthians xiii. 5, second clause.</p> + +<p id="fn7">7. John xi. 41, 42; xii. 27, 28; Luke x. 21.</p> + +<p id="fn8">8. Deuteronomy viii. 17, 18.</p> + +<p id="fn9">9. Matthew v. 3.</p> + +<p id="fn10">10. John viii. 28, 29.</p> + +<p id="fn11">11. Genesis i. 26-28.</p> + +<p id="fn12">12. 1 Philippians ii. 8; Hebrews v. 8; Romans v. 19 l.c.; John x. 18 l.c.</p> + +<p id="fn13">13. Hebrews ii. 18.</p> + +<p id="fn14">14. Hebrews xii. 29.</p> + +<p id="fn15">15. Romans iii. 26, latter half; free reading—"that He (God) might be +seen to be just and righteous in forgiving a man's sin when he trusted in +Jesus."</p> + +<p id="fn16">16. Eden: delight.</p> + +<p id="fn17">17. Genesis ii. 8-20.</p> + +<p id="fn18">18. Genesis iii. 8, 9</p> + +<p id="fn19">19. Genesis iv.-vi.</p> + +<p id="fn20">20. Genesis vi. 6; Deuteronomy v. 29; Psalm lxxxi. 13; Isaiah xlviii. 18.</p> + +<p id="fn21">21. Mark xii. 1-8; II Chronicles xxxvi. 15, 16—These passages, and many +similar, while speaking directly of the one nation Israel, are giving a +picture of the heart of God toward all men, and His habit of action. +Israel itself was the messenger-nation, whose life was meant to be God's +message of love to all the race.</p> + +<p id="fn22">22. John i. 1-18, especially verses 1-5, 14.</p> + +<p id="fn23">23. John i. 14 f.c.</p> + +<p id="fn24">24. Matthew ii. 22, 23.</p> + +<p id="fn25">25. John i. 19-28.</p> + +<p id="fn26">26. E. C. Clephane.</p> + +<p id="fn27">27. Psalm xl. 8 f.c.; John iv. 34; Hebrews xii. 2.</p> + +<p id="fn28">28. Matthew xi. 28.</p> + +<p id="fn29">29. Matthew iv. 19, with Luke v. 1-11.</p> + +<p id="fn30">30. Matthew xi. 29, 30.</p> + +<p id="fn31">31. John xiii. 31-xvi. 33.</p> + +<p id="fn32">32. John xx. 21.</p> + +<p id="fn33">33. Matthew xxviii. 18-20.</p> + +<p id="fn34">34. John i. 35-42.</p> + +<p id="fn35">35. Matthew iv. 18-22, with Luke v. 1-11.</p> + +<p id="fn36">36. Matthew x. 1-5; Mark iii. 14-19; Luke vi. 12-17.</p> + +<p id="fn37">37. Matthew xvi. 13-28.</p> + +<p id="fn38">38. Matthew xvi. 24; Mark viii. 34; Luke ix. 23.</p> + +<p id="fn39">39. Matthew xxvi. 58.</p> + +<p id="fn40">40. John xxi. 15-19.</p> + +<p id="fn41">41. Acts v. 41.</p> + +<p id="fn42">42. I John.</p> + +<p id="fn43">43. Acts i, 1.</p> + +<p id="fn44">44. Luke xiv. 25-35.</p> + +<p id="fn45">45. Mark x. 17-22.</p> + +<p id="fn46">46. In "Other Sheep," by Harold Begbie.</p> + +<p id="fn47">47. Luke xiv. 25-35, with Matthew v. 13.</p> + +<p id="fn48">48. Luke xxi. 28.</p> + +<p id="fn49">49. Mark x. 17-22.</p> + +<p id="fn50">50. Acts xxii. 11, with ix. 1-9.</p> + +<p id="fn51">51. Luke xxiv. 40; John xx. 20.</p> + +<p id="fn52">52. John i. 19-28.</p> + +<p id="fn53">53. Romans viii. 34; Hebrews vii. 25.</p> + +<p id="fn54">54. I John ii. 1; Hebrews ix. 24.</p> + +<p id="fn55">55. Isaiah xi 2; lxi. 1, with Luke iv. 18-21.</p> + +<p id="fn56">56. Psalm xxv. 3 f.c.</p> + +<p id="fn57">57. John iii. 34 f.c.</p> + +<p id="fn58">58. Isaiah xliv. 3; John vii. 37-39.</p> + +<p id="fn59">59. Acts viii. 4-8, 26-40.</p> + +<p id="fn60">60. Matthew v. 42.</p> + +<p id="fn61">61. Isaiah xxxviii. 17, margin.</p> + +<p id="fn62">62. Matthew iv. 23; ix. 35.</p> + +<p id="fn63">63. Luke v. 15, 16. The language underneath here suggests a habitual +going aside to pray, as an offset to the work with the crowds.</p> + +<p id="fn64">64. Matthew xxv. 40.</p> + +<p id="fn65">65. James i. 2, 3.</p> + +<p id="fn66">66. Matthew vi. 13.</p> + +<p id="fn67">67. James i. 13.</p> + +<p id="fn68">68. Matthew xxvi. 41.</p> + +<p id="fn69">69. John xiii., xiv.</p> + +<p id="fn70">70. John xv., xvi.</p> + +<p id="fn71">71. John xvii.</p> + +<p id="fn72">72. Lucy Rider Meyer.</p> + +<p id="fn73">73. Exodus xxxii. 31, 32</p> + +<p id="fn74">74. Romans ix. 1-3.</p> + +<p id="fn75">75. II Corinthians iv. 12.</p> + +<p id="fn76">76. Colossians i. 24.</p> + +<p id="fn77">77. I Corinthians xv. 3, 4.</p> + +<p id="fn78">78. Acts i. 1.</p> + +<p id="fn79">79. Matthew xxvii. 59, 60.</p> + +<p id="fn80">80. Matthew xxvii. 62, 66.</p> + +<p id="fn81">81. John xii. 24.</p> + +<p id="fn82">82. John xii. 20-32.</p> + +<p id="fn83">83. Isaiah v. 20.</p> + +<p id="fn84">84. Matthew xvi. 21-28.</p> + +<p id="fn85">85. John xv.</p> + +<p id="fn86">86. Hebrews xii. 2.</p> + +<p id="fn87">87. II Corinthians iii. 18.</p> + +<p id="fn88">88. Romans viii. 11.</p> + +<p id="fn89">89. II Corinthians iv. 11. "Dying" in these two passages does not mean +being in the process of dissolution, but that the body is subject to +death.</p> + +<p id="fn90">90. Ephesians i. <i>20, 21</i>; Acts ii. 33; John xiv. 12, 13; Romans viii. +34; Hebrews vii. 25; ix. 24.</p> + +<p id="fn91">91. Colossians iii. I; Ephesians ii. 6.</p> + +<p id="fn92">92. Psalm xxii. 8, 9.</p> + +<p id="fn93">93. Revelation ii. 26, 27; v. 10; xx. 4.</p> + +<p id="fn94">94. Psalm lxxxiv. 11.</p> + +<p id="fn95">95. Anonymous, in "Egyptian Mission News," copied from S. M. Zwemer's +"Unoccupied Fields of the World."</p> + +<p id="fn96">96. Hebrews x. 12, 13.</p> + +<p id="fn97">97. Revelation ii., iii.</p> + +<p id="fn98">98. Numbers xiv. 24 xxxii. 12; Deuteronomy i. 36; Joshua xiv. 8, 9, 14.</p> + +<p id="fn99">99. Matthew xvi. 24.</p> + +<p id="fn100">100. John xii. 26.</p> + +<p id="fn101">101. John vi. 70.</p> + +<p id="fn102">102. Matthew xix. 27.</p> + +<p id="fn103">103. Luke ix. 51-54.</p> + +<p id="fn104">104. Genesis xvi.</p> + +<p id="fn105">105. Galatians ii 11-14.</p> + +<p id="fn106">106. Luke ii. 49.</p> + +<p id="fn107">107. Zechariah xiv. 4.</p> + +<p id="fn108">108. Hebrews xiii. 20, 21.</p> + +<p id="fn109">109. Exodus xxxii. 31, 32.</p> + +<p id="fn110">110. Romans ix. 1-3.</p> + +<p id="fn111">111. Psalm xlix. 7.</p> + +<p id="fn112">112. Genesis iv. 12-16.</p> + +<p id="fn113">113. Genesis vi. 17, 18.</p> + +<p id="fn114">114. Hosea i. 2-9; iii 1-3.</p> + +<p id="fn115">115. Isaiah vii. 3-17.</p> + +<p id="fn116">116. Isaiah viii. 1-3.</p> + +<p id="fn117">117. Isaiah xx. 1-4.</p> + +<p id="fn118">118. Jeremiah xvi. 1-4.</p> + +<p id="fn119">119. Ezekiel xxiv. 15-19.</p> + +<p id="fn120">120. Psalm xvi. 8.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Quiet Talks on Following the Christ, by +S. D. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Quiet Talks on Following the Christ + +Author: S. D. Gordon + +Release Date: June 1, 2006 [EBook #18486] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUIET TALKS ON FOLLOWING THE *** + + + + +Produced by Curtis Weyant and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Quiet Talks on Following the Christ + +By S. D. Gordon + +Author of "_Quiet Talks On Power_," "_Quiet Talks on Prayer_," "_Quiet +Talks On Our Lord's Return_," etc. + +New York Chicago Toronto +Fleming H. Revell Company +London and Edinburgh + + + + +Copyright, 1913, by +Fleming H. Revell Company + + +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue +Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. +Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. +London: 21 Paternoster Square +Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street + + + + +Contents + + + +Introduction + + I. The Lone Man Who Went Before + II. The Long, Rough Road He Trod + III. The Pleading Call To Follow + IV. What Following Means + 1. A Look Ahead + 2. The Main Road + 3. The Valleys + 4. The Hilltops + V. Shall We Go? + VI. Finger-Posts + VII. Fellow-Followers +VIII. The Glory of the Goal,--face To Face + + + + +Introduction + + +These talks have been given, in substance, at various gatherings in +Great Britain, Continental Europe, and parts of the Far East, during the +past four years. The simple directness of the spoken word has been +allowed to stand. Portions of chapters three, four, six, and eight have +appeared at various times in "The Sunday School Times." + +If any who read may find some practical help through the Master's +gracious touch upon these simple words, they are earnestly asked to add +their prayers that that same gracious touch may be felt by others +wherever these talks may go. + + + + +The Lone Man Who Went Before + + + +A Call to Friendship. + + +One day I watched two young men, a Japanese and an American, pacing the +deck of a Japanese liner bound for San Francisco. Their heads were close +together and bent down, and they were talking earnestly. The Japanese was +saying, "Oh, yes, I believe all that as a theory, but is there _power_ to +make a man _live_ it?" + +He was an officer of the ship, one of the finest boats on the Pacific. The +American was a young fellow who had gone out to Japan as a government +teacher, and when his earnest sort of Christianity led to his dismissal he +remained, and still remains, as a volunteer missionary. With his rare gift +in personal touch he had won the young officer's confidence, and was +explaining what Christianity stood for, when the Japanese politely +interrupted him with his question about power. The tense eagerness of his +manner and voice let one see the hunger of his heart. He had high ideals +of life, but confessed that every time he was in port, the shore +temptations proved too much, and he always came back on board with a +feeling of bitter defeat. He had read about Christianity and believed it +good in theory. But he knew nothing of its power. + +Through his new American friend he came into personal touch with Christ, +then and there. And up to the day we docked he put in his spare time +bringing other Japanese to his friend's stateroom, and there more than one +of them knelt, and came into warm touch of heart with the Lord Jesus. + +Just so our Lord Jesus draws men, Oriental and Occidental alike. Just so +He drew men when He was down here. He had great drawing power. Men came +eagerly wherever they could find Him. + +He drew all sorts of men. He drew the Jews, to whom He belonged racially. +He drew the aggressive, domineering Romans, and the gentler cultured +Greeks. He drew the half-breed Samaritans, who were despised by both Jew +and foreigner, as not being either one thing or the other. The military +men and the civilians, the cultured and the unlettered, the official class +and those in private life, all alike felt the strong pull upon their +hearts of His presence. + +The pure of heart, like gentle Mary of Bethany, and the guileless +Nathanael, were drawn to Him. And the very opposite, those openly bad in +their life, couldn't resist His presence, and the call away from their +low, bad level, but eagerly took His hand and came up. Fisherfolk and +farmers, dwellers in the city and country, scholars and tradesmen, crude +and refined, richly clad and ragged,--all sorts contentedly rubbed elbows +and jostled each other in the crowds that came to listen, and stayed to +listen longer, and then went away to come back again for more. + +This was why He came--to draw men to Himself. Our Lord Jesus was the face +of God looking longingly into men's faces. And they couldn't withstand the +appeal of that gentle strong face. He was the voice of God talking into +men's ears; and the music of that low, quiet voice thrilled and thralled +their hearts. He was the hand of God, strong and warm, reaching down to +take men by the hand and give them a strong lift up and back to the old +Eden life. And, in time, as men put their hand in His, they came to feel +the little knotted place in the palm of that outstretched hand, and the +feel of it went strangely into their inmost being. He was the heart of +God, tender and true, beating rhythmically in time and tune with the human +heart. And the music had, and has, strange power of appeal to human +hearts, and power to sway human lives like a great wind in the trees. + +Our Lord Jesus was the person of God in human shape and human garb, come +down close, to draw us men back again to the old trysting place under the +Tree of Life. And in every generation, and every corner of the earth, +then, and ever since then, men of every colour and sort have come back, +and found how His presence eases the tug of life on many a steep roadway, +and more, much more.[1] + +And our Lord Jesus drew men into personal friendship with Himself. He +didn't like the long range way of doing things. Keeping men at arm's +length never suited Him. He gave the inner heart touch, and He longed for +the touch of the innermost heart. He was our friend. He asked that we be +His friends, real friends of the rare sort, of which one's life has only a +few. + +And He asked, too, that all else that we brought to Him should be that +which grew out of this personal friendship. He gave and did all that He +did and gave, because He was our friend. He asked only for what grew out +of a real heart friendship with Himself. He longed to have us give all, +yet only what our hearts couldn't hold back. His friendship has one thing +peculiar to itself. He has no favourites, in our common thought of that +word, among the countless numbers who have come to be included in His +inner circle of friends. Yet He gives to each such a distinctive personal +touch of His own heart that you feel yourself to be on closest terms. He +is nearer and closer than any other, and your longing is to be as near and +close to Him in life as He is to you in His heart.[2] + +Now, because we are His friends and He is our friend, He calls us to +follow Him. It is a privilege of friendship. He would share with you and +with me the things of His own heart and life. He wants to have us come +close up to Himself, and live close up. And the only way we can do it is +by giving a glad "Yes" to His invitation, and following so close that we +shall be up to Himself. Nothing less than this contents His longing. + +But there is more than friendship here. He has a plan of action in His +heart. It is a wide-reaching plan, clear beyond our idea of what +wide-reaching means. It is nothing less than a plan for the whole world, +the entire race, for winning it up to the old Eden life of purity and of +close walking with God. That plan is the passion of His great heart. He +has held nothing back--spared nothing--that it might be done. He is +thinking of that plan as He comes eagerly to you and me, now, all afresh, +and with His heart in His voice says "Follow Me." This is a bit of His +plan for me and for you--that we shall be partners with Him in His plan +for the world. + +And yet--and yet--this helping Him, this partnership, this working with +Him in His plan, is to be because of our friendship, His and mine, His and +yours. It is a more than friendship He is thinking of. But that more is +_through_ the friendship. It grows out of the friendship. Only so does it +work out His real plan. + + + +Climbing the Hilltops. + + +Now this "Follow Me" of His, if taken into one's life, and followed up, +will come to mean two things. There are two great things that stand +sharply out in our Lord Jesus' life down here, His _characteristics_ and +His _experiences_. I mean what He was in Himself; and what He went +through, suffered, enjoyed, and accomplished; the Man Himself, and the +Man's experiences. These are the two things about which these simple talks +will be grouped. Our Lord Jesus wants us to follow that we may climb up +the hill as high as He did in these things. + +Following means climbing. A friend has told recently of a journey taken to +a certain village in New England from which, she had been told, a fine +view could be got of the White Mountains. On arrival it seemed that a low +hill completely shut out the view, to her intense disappointment. But her +companion, by and by, called from the top of the low hill and eagerly +beckoned her to come up. A bit of climbing quickly brought her to where +the magnificent beauty of the mountains broke upon her delighted eyes. + +Our Lord Jesus climbed the hilltops, both in His character and in His +experiences. He wants us to share those rare hilltops with Him. He has +gone away ahead of any other. He is the Lone Man in both character and +experiences. And in some of His experiences He will ever remain the lone +occupant of the hilltop. But He is eager for our companionship. He longs +for the personal touch. He wants us to have all He has got. He has blazed +a way through the thicket where there was no path before. He left the +plain marks on the trees as He went through, so we could surely find the +way. And now He eagerly beckons us to follow. + +But following means climbing. It's a hill road, sometimes down hill, +sometimes up hill. Which makes stiffer climbing? Usually the one you are +doing seems the harder. Sometimes the road is a dead level between hills. +And dead level walking--the monotonous dead-a-way, with no bracing air, no +inspiring outlook--is often much harder than down hill or up. And so it +too is climbing. Following means climbing. He climbed. He made the high +climb all alone. No other ever had the courage to climb so high as He. +It's easier since He has smoothed down the road with His own feet; yet it +isn't easy; still it is easier than not climbing; that is, when you reckon +the whole thing up--with _Him_ in. + +Now He asks you and me to climb. He cannot climb for you. That is, I mean +He cannot do the climbing you ought to do. He has climbed for us, marked +out the hill path, and made it possible for us to climb up too. But the +after-climbing He cannot do for us. Each must do his own climbing. So +lungs grow deeper, and heart-action stronger, and cheeks clearer, and +muscles firmer. Step by step we must pull up, maybe through a fog, with no +view of beauty, no bracing air yet, only His strong beckoning hand. + +But those who reach up and get hold of hands with Him, and get up even to +some of the lower reaches of the climb, stand with full hearts and dumb +lips. They can't find words to tell the exhilaration of the climb, the +bracing air, the far outlook, and, yet more, the wondrous presence of the +Chief Climber, even though there's a bit of smarting of face and hands +where the thorny tanglewood tore a bit as you went by. + +Just now I want you to come with me for a bit of a look at the Lone Man, +who has gone before. I mean at the Man Himself. We want to take a look at +the characteristics of His life; what the Man was in His character. + +And please understand me here. Following does not mean that we are to try +to imitate these characteristics. No, it's something both simpler and +easier, and deeper and better than that. It means that, as we companion +with Him daily, these same traits will appear in us. It is not to be +imitation simply, good as that might seem, yet always bringing a sense of +failure, and that sense the thing you remember most. It is to be some One +living His life in you, coming in through the open door of your will. Your +part is opening up, and keeping open, listening and loving and obeying. +The touchstone of the "Follow Me" life is not imitation but following; not +copying but obeying; not struggle--though there will be struggle--but +companionship, a companionship which nothing is allowed to take the fine +edge off of. + +And please remember, too, the meaning for us sinful men of these +characteristics of His. With us character is a result of choice, and then +nearly always--or should I cut out that "nearly"? the earnest man in the +thick of the fight finds no "nearlys"--it's always with him--character is +always the result of a fight to keep to the choice decided upon. + +Now with greatest reverence for our Lord Jesus, let me say, _it was so +with Him_. He was as truly God as though not man. Yet He lived His +life,--He insisted on living His life, on the human level.[3] He was as +truly human as though not peculiarly divine. He had the enormous advantage +of a virgin birth, a divine fatherhood with a human motherhood. And, be it +said with utmost reverence, He needed that advantage for the terrific +conflict and the tremendous task of His life, such as no other has known. +But His character as a man--the thing we are to look at now--was a result +of choice, and choice insisted upon against terrible odds. + +This gives new meaning to His "Follow Me." He went the same sort of road +that we must go. He insisted on treading _our_ road. It was not one made +easier for His specially prepared feet. It was the common earth road every +man must go, who will. And so the way He went we can go if we will, every +step of it. By His help working through our wills, we _can_, and, please +God, surely we will. + + + +The Dependent Life. + + +There were _three traits in His character upward_, that is in His relation +with His Father. First of all He chose to live _the dependent life_. He +recognized that everything He was, and had, and could do, was received +from the Father, and could be at its true best only as the Father's direct +touch was upon it. This was the atmosphere in which all His human powers +would do their best. He had nothing of Himself, and could do nothing of +Himself. This is the plan the Father has made for human life and +effort.[4] Our Lord Jesus recognized this and lived it. Our common word +for this is humility. Humility is a matter of relationship. It means +keeping one's relationship with the Father clear and dominant. And this in +turn radically affects and controls our relationship with our fellows. + +There were three degrees or steps in the dependent life He chose to live. +There was the giving up part, then the accepting for Himself the plan of +human life, and then accepting it even to the extent of yielding to wrong +and shameful treatment, without attempting to assert His rights against +such treatment. These were the three steps in His humility. In Paul's +striking phrase, He "emptied out" of Himself all He had in glory with the +Father before coming to the earth; He decided to come to the human level +and live fully the human life of utter dependence; and He carried this to +the extent of being wholly dependent on the Father for righting the wrongs +done Him.[5] + +This is God's plan for the human life. It is to be a dependent life. It +actually is a dependent life, utterly dependent upon Him. It is to be +lived so. Then only is the fragrance of it gotten. It is part of the +dependent life--the true human life--that we depend on the Father for +vindication when wronged, as for everything else.[6] + +Our Lord Jesus chose to live this life. There was an entire absence of the +self-spirit, that is the self-assertive, the self-confident spirit. There +was a remarkable confidence in action, but it was confidence in His +Father's unfailing response to His requests or needs. This sense of utter +dependence was natural to Him; as indeed it is natural to man unhurt by +sin. And then He carefully cultivated it. As He came in contact with the +very opposite all around Him, He set Himself--indeed He had to set +Himself--to keeping this sense of dependence untainted, unhurt by His +surroundings. + +Now there were three things which naturally grew out of this dependent +life, or which naturally are part of it. One was, the sense of His Father, +and of His Father's presence. In a perfectly simple natural way, He was +always conscious of His Father's presence. Is this the meaning--one +meaning--of "blessed are the pure in heart for they shall _see God_"? And +then He doubtless set Himself to cultivate this, as an offset to what He +found around Him. He would quietly look up and speak to the Father in the +midst of a crowd.[7] This was the natural thing to do. He was more +conscious of the Father's presence than of the crowd pressing in to get +near. When He was speaking to the crowd He knew the Father too was +listening. He felt the Father watching as He helped the people. This was +the natural thing with Him, the presence of the Father. + +With this there went a second thing, the habit of getting alone to talk +things over with the Father. The common word for this is prayer. Without +doubt His whole outer life grew out of His inner secret talking things out +with the Father. Everything was passed in review here, first of all. This +naturally grew out of the consciousness of His Father's presence, and this +in turn increased that consciousness. So He was in the habit of looking at +everything through His Father's eyes. + +And with these two, there was plainly a third thing, a settled sense of +the power, the authority, of God's written Word. It was not simply that He +did not question it, but there was a deep-rooted sense grown down into +His very being that God was speaking in the Book, and that this revelation +of Himself and His will was _the thing_ to govern absolutely one's life. +This points back to a study of the Book. Doubtless that Nazareth shop was +a study shop too. He quoted readily and freely from all portions of the +Old Testament Bible. He seemed saturated with both its language and its +spirit. The basis of such familiarity would be long, painstaking, +prayerful study. + +These three things naturally grew out of the dependent life He had +deliberately chosen to live and were a part of it. They were necessary to +it. These are the lungs and the heart of the dependent life. + +Now His "Follow Me" does not mean merely that we try to imitate Him in all +this. We will naturally long to do so. And He is the example we will ever +be eager to follow. But the meaning goes deeper than this. It means that +as we really come close up in the road behind Him this will come to be the +natural atmosphere of our lives. We let _Him_ in, and His presence within, +yielded to and cultivated and obeyed, will work this sort of thing out in +our lives. We will come to recognize, and then to feel deep down in our +spirit, how dependent we are upon Him in everything. We will gradually +come to realize intensely that the dependent life is the true natural +life. It is God's plan. It reveals wondrously His love. It draws out +wondrously our love, and radically changes the whole spirit of the life. + + + +Poor--Except in Spirit. + + +Now of course all this is in sharpest contrast to the common spirit of +life as men live, then and now. The spirit that dominates human life +everywhere is a spirit of independence. And this seems intensified in our +day to a terrific degree. There is, of course, a good independence in our +dealings with our fellows. But this is carried to the extreme of +independence of every one, even--say it softly--of God Himself. +Criticising God, ignoring Him, leaving Him severely out so far as we are +concerned,--this has become the commonplace. If for a moment He ignored +us, how quickly things would go to pieces! This has come to be the +dominant spirit of the whole race to a degree more marked than ever +before, if that be possible. + +It seems to come into life early. I have seen a little tot, whom I could +with no inconvenience have tucked under my arm, walking down the road, +head up in the air, breathing out an aggressive self-confidence, and +defiance of all around, worthy of one of the old-time kings. And I +recognized that he had simply absorbed the atmosphere in which his four +brief years had been lived. + +This has come to be the inbred spirit of mankind. Everywhere this proud, +self-assertive, self-sufficient, self-confident, self-aggressive spirit is +found, in varying degree. It is coupled sometimes with laughable +ignorance; sometimes with real learning and wisdom and culture. It is +emphasized sometimes the more by school training, and other such +advantages. But through all these accidental things it remains,--the +dominant human characteristic. The chief letter in man's alphabet is the +one next after h, spelled and written with a large capital. The yellow +fever--the fever for gold--so increasingly epidemic, is at heart a bit of +the same thing. The money gives power, and power gives a certain +independence of others, and then a certain compelling of others to be +dependent on the one who has the money and wields the power. Men +everywhere say just exactly what they are specially warned against saying, +"_my_ power and the might of _my_ hand hath gotten me this wealth." They +forget the words following this in the old Book of God. "But thou shalt +remember the Lord thy God, for it is _He_ that giveth thee power to get +wealth."[8] + +This seems to be the picture that underlies that phrase, "poor in spirit," +which the Master declared to be so blessed.[9] He is trying to woo men +away from the thing that is dominating those all around Him. I have +puzzled a good bit over the phrase to find out just what was in the +Master's mind. Emphasizing the word "spirit" seems to bring out the +meaning. The blessedness is not in being poor, but in a certain spirit +that may control a man. We are all poor in everything except spirit. + +The last degree of poverty is to be a pauper. Now, the simple truth is +that we are all--every last man of us--paupers in everything. We haven't a +thing we haven't got from some one else. We are beneficiaries to the last +degree, dependent on the bounty of Another. We are paupers in life itself. +Our life came to us in the first instance from the creative Hand, through +the action of others, and it is being sustained every moment by the same +Hand. We had nothing to do with its coming, and, while we influence our +life by living in accord with certain physical laws, still the life itself +is all the time being supplied to us directly by the same unseen Hand. + +We are paupers in ability, in virtue, in character, in fact in everything. +We own nothing; we only hold it in trust. We have nothing except what some +One else is supplying. What we call our ability, our genius, and so on, +comes by the creative breath breathing afresh upon and through what the +patient creative Hand has supplied and is sustaining. We are paupers, +without a rag to our bones, or a copper in the pocket we haven't got, not +having a rag to our bones; paupers in everything except----. + +There is an exception. It is both pitiable and laughable. We are +enormously rich in _spirit_, in our imagination, in our thought of +ourselves. Blessed are they who are as poor in spirit as they actually are +in everything else. They recognize that they are wholly dependent on some +One else, and so they live the dependent life, with its blessed closeness +of touch with the gracious Provider. In certain institutions are placed +those who imagine themselves to be in high social and official rank, and +in possessions what they are not, who imagine it to such a degree that it +is best that they be kept apart from others. It would seem like an extreme +thing to say that these people are spirit-mirrors in which we may partly +see ourselves. Yet it would be saying the truth. How laughable, if it were +not so overwhelmingly pitiful, must men look to God,--without a stitch to +their backs except what He has given, without a copper in their pockets +except what has been borrowed from His bank, yet strutting up and down the +street of life, heads held high in air, as though they owned the universe, +and--if it did not sound blasphemous I could add the rest of the fact--and +were doing Him a favour by running His world so skilfully! And it grieves +one to the heart to note that this seems to be about as true within Church +circles as without. The difference between is ever growing smaller to the +disappearing point. + +It was into such an atmosphere, never intenser than in Palestine and +Jerusalem nineteen centuries ago, that the man Christ Jesus came. And He +had the moral daring to begin living a dependent life, the true human +life, looking up gratefully to the Father's hand for everything. Was it +any wonder His presence caused such a disturbance in the moral atmosphere +of the world! He insisted, with the strange insistence of gentleness, on +living such a life, through all the extremes that the hating world-spirit +could contrive against Him. Out of such a life comes His "Follow Me." And +in this He is simply calling us back to the original human life as planned +by God. + +Now, of course, in that first step, that great "emptying out" step, there +can be no following. There He is the Lone Man, unapproachable in the moral +splendour of His solitude. But from the time when He came in amongst us as +Jesus, our Brother, the typical Son of man, He was marking out afresh the +original road for our feet. This was the foundation trait in His +character. He lived the dependent life. + + + +A Father-pleasing Life. + + +The second trait in His upward relation was this--He chose to live _a +Father-pleasing life_. I use those words because He used them.[10] I might +say "consecrated" or "dedicated" or "surrendered" or other like words. And +these are good words, but in common use we have largely lost their +meaning. They are used unthinkingly for something less--much less--than +they mean. Perhaps if we use the phrase He used we may be able to get back +to the thing He meant, and did. + +There are three possible lives open to every man's choice: a bad life, in +which selfishness or passion or both, either refined or coarse, rule; a +good, true, natural life; and a Father-pleasing life. By a good, true, +natural life I mean, just now, a really Christian life in all that that +means, but lived as if there were no emergency in the world to change +one's habit of life. + +You know an emergency coming into a man's life makes radical changes. You +go to bed tonight and ordinarily will sleep out your eight hours in +comfort and quiet. If a fire break out in the house, you are up in the +middle of the night, hurrying around, only partly clad, carrying out +valuables, or helping turn on water, or something of this sort. Your +natural arrangements for the night are all broken up by the fire. An +emergency may make radical changes in one's life for a little time, +sometimes for the whole life. Financial reverses may change the whole +habit of one's life. + +Here's a man who has a well-assured, good-sized income from his business, +or his inheritance, or both. He lives in a luxuriously appointed home, +with many fine pictures and works of art and curios which it is enjoyable +to have. He has a choice library including some fine costly old prints and +editions, and enjoys adding rare books on subjects in which he is +specially interested. He belongs to some literary and social and athletic +clubs. He has an interesting family growing up around him whose education +is being carefully looked after. He is an earnest Bible-loving Christian, +faithful in church attendance and church duties, pure in life, and saintly +in character. He gives liberally to church and benevolent objects, +including foreign missions, which have become a part of the church system +into which he fits. And he goes an even, contented round of life, home, +church, club, recreation and so on, year in and out, holding and using the +great bulk of his money for himself. I think of that as one illustration +of the good, true, natural life. + +Now, the Father-pleasing life is radically different in certain things. +Ordinarily the two would be identical. The true natural life as originally +planned for us would be the life pleasing to the Father. But something, +not a part of God's plan, has broken into life, a terrible something, +worse than a fire in the night, or a financial panic that sweeps away your +all. Sin has wrought fearful havoc; it has made an awful emergency, and +this emergency has affected the life and character of all the race, in a +bad way, terribly, awfully, beyond words to tell, or imagination to +depict. The whole earth is in the grip of a desperate moral emergency. + +And naturally enough this emergency affects the life of any one concerned +with this earth. It has affected God's life, and God's plans, +tremendously. It has broken His heart with grief, and radically changed +His plans for His own life. He has made a plan for winning His world away +from its rebellion, its sin, back again to purity and close touch with +Himself. That plan centred around His Son, and He spared not His own Son, +but gave Him up. + +And that emergency, and that plan of the Father's because of the +emergency, have affected our Lord Jesus' life on the earth. The whole plan +of His human life was radically revolutionized by it. The emergency, the +Father's plan, gripped Him. He turned away from the true, good, natural +life which it would have been proper for Him as a man to have lived, and +He lived another sort of life. It was an emergency life, a life fitted to +His Father's plan, and so the Father-pleasing life. + +He became a homeless man, with all that that means. Would any man have +enjoyed home-life with all the rare home-joys, the sweetest of all natural +joys, so much as He? And then the larger circle of congenial friends, the +enjoyment of music, of exquisite art, the reverent study of the great +questions of life, of the wonders of nature whose powers it was given man +to study and cultivate and develop,[11]--it is surely no irreverence to +think of Him both enjoying and gracing such a life, for such was the +original plan of human life as thought out by a gracious Creator. + +Instead, He had not where to lay His head, though so wearied with +ceaseless toil. He fairly burned His life out those few years, early and +late, ministering to the emergency-stricken crowds, healing their sick, +feeding their hunger, raising their dead, comforting broken hearts, +winning back sin-stained men and women, teaching the ignorant neglected +multitudes, preaching the Father's yearning love, searching out the +straying, ceaselessly travelling up and down, without leisure enough to +sleep or to eat oftentimes, and all this despite the efforts of His +kinsfolk to restrain His burning intensity. + +This is what I mean by a Father-pleasing life. It was truly the +consecrated life, consecrated to His Father's emergency plan for His +world. It was the surrendered life, wholly given up to the one passionate +plan of His Father's broken heart for His earth family. + +Now, His "Follow Me" does not mean imitation. It does not mean a restless, +aggressive hurrying here and there in meetings and Christian service. It +means that there will be a getting so close that the sweet fever of His +heart shall be caught by ours. The world-vision of His eyes shall flood +ours. The passion of the Father's heart shall become the passion of our +hearts. And we shall be controlled in all our lives, our holdings, our +habits, _by what He tells us_. It does not mean that we will seek to be +homeless as Jesus was, though it may possibly turn out to mean for some of +us that we shall be homeless even as He. + +But it means that we shall find out _the Father's plan for our lives_. +And when it has become clear, we will set to music pitched in the joyous +major our Lord's own words, "I do always the things that are pleasing to +Him." And then we will set our lives to that joyous music with its rare +undertone of the exquisite minor. It may mean Africa for you, or China for +this other one. It may mean a plainer home at home, a simpler wardrobe, a +more careful use of money. It may mean a new dominant note in your +preaching, and all the personal influence of your life. It may possibly +mean what will seem like yet more radical changes. It certainly will mean +a deepening peace within, a closer touch of fellowship with the Lord +Jesus, a wholly new conception of the meaning of prayer, and a radically +new experience of the power of God in our own bodies and lives, and in our +touch with others. It will mean that the music of His will and ours +swinging rhythmically together in all things shall sweep our lives even as +the strong wind the young saplings. + +This was the second trait in our Lord Jesus' character upward, He lived +the Father-pleasing life. To some it will seem like a further step--a +fourth step--downward in His humility. And it was. The way up is down. The +down slant is the beginning of the hilltop road. Going down is the way up; +downward in the crowd's estimation; upward into closer touch of +sympathetic life with God, and in reaching the true ideal of life. + + + +The Obedient Life. + + +The third trait of our Lord Jesus' character upward, in relation with His +Father, was that He lived _the obedient life_. This is really emphasizing +what has just been said. But it is putting the emphasis on the daily habit +of His life, rather than on the underneath motive. This was the daily +spelling out of the first two traits. Obedience became the touchstone by +which everything was tested. + +The touchstone was not men's needs, deeply as that took hold of His heart, +and shaped so much His life. It was not the thought of service, though +never was a life so filled with eager glad service. The touchstone was not +natural liking or choice, the proper instinctive reach out of His true +human nature, though this would be strong in Him, the typical Son of Man. +This would not be repressed as an unholy or wrong thing. It would only be +given second place, or left out, as it might run across the grain of the +great life-passion. With a fresh touch of awe it may truly be said: He did +not come down to earth primarily to die, though He knew beforehand that +this would stand out as the great one thing. The death was an item in the +obedience. He came down to do His Father's will. The path of obedience led +straight to the hill of the cross, and He trod that path regardless of +where it led. Obedience was the one touchstone of His life.[12] And it +will be the one touchstone of His true follower's life. We shall run +across this same vein of bright yellow gold, again and again, as we work +on through this "Follow Me" mine. These were the three traits of our Lord +Jesus' character upward, toward His Father. They were not different +because of the emergency of sin He found in the world. They would have +marked His life just as fully had there been no sin. But the presence of +sin caused them to change radically the whole course of the life He +actually lived. + + + +Sinless by Choice. + + +Then there were _two traits of character inward_, in Himself. One was His +_purity_. There was the absence of everything that should not be in Him. +This is the negative side, though no part of His character called for more +intense positiveness. Purity means sinlessness. He was sinless. But we +must quickly remember what this means, or else there may seem to be no +following for us, only a wistful gazing where we cannot go. It does not +mean simply this, that through His peculiar birthright there was freedom +from all taint of sin. + +It means more than this. Sinlessness was a matter of choice with Him, and +of choice insisted upon. And, be it said reverently, no man ever had a +stiffer fight to keep true to his purpose than He. He was tempted in all +points like as we are. He was tempted more than we. The tempter did his +best and worst; he mustered all his cunning and driving power against this +Lone Man. And the temptations were real. I am not concerned over the +merely academical questions of the schoolmen here. The practical side is +the intense side that takes all one's strength and thought. Practically, +that our Lord Jesus was really tempted, means that He could have yielded +had He so chosen. That He did not meant real struggle on His part. Not, of +course, that He ever wanted to yield to what was wrong, but temptation was +never so subtle, and doing the right never made so difficult as for Him. +He suffered in being tempted.[13] His sinlessness meant a decision, then +many a time a moist brow, a clenched hand, and set jaw, a sore stress of +spirit, and deep-breathed continual prayer whose intensity down in His +heart could never be fully expressed at the lips. The temptation to fail +to obey, simply not to obey, when obeying meant going through a sore +experience was never brought so deftly, so subtly, so repeatedly and +insistently to any as to Him. Resisting not only meant the decision, but +the strength of resistance against terrific strength of repeated +insistence. + +How wondrously human this God-man was in His temptations, in His set +refusals, and even more, how human in keeping free from sin. For sin is +not human, letting sin in would have been a going down from the human +level. This is the practical meaning of His sinlessness--choice, choice +insisted upon, fighting, continual prayer, the Father's help, such as any +man may have--not more. + +This helps us to see how intensely practical His "Follow Me" becomes. It +is not only that we will want to fight against the incoming of sin because +we feel we ought to. But as we get close to Him and breathe in His spirit, +there will come an inbred dislike, an intense inner loathing of sin, +however refined it may be in its approach. There will be a continual +coming for cleansing in the only fluid that can remove sin--His precious +blood, and in the only flame that can burn it out--the fire of the Holy +Spirit.[14] There will be a hardening of the set purpose to be free of +sin. We can be sinless in _purpose_. There can be a growing sinlessness in +actual life. And yet all experience goes to show that the nearer we +actually walk with God the more we shall be conscious of the need of +cleansing, the more we will talk about our Lord Jesus, and the less and +still less about our attainments. + +The second inward trait in our Lord Jesus was the other side of this--His +positive _goodness_. I mean the presence in Him of all that should be +there. This is the exact reverse or complement of the purity. It is the +other half that must go with that to make a perfect character. I like to +use the word "holiness" in the sense of whole-ness. He had and developed a +whole life. It was fully rounded out. There was nothing lacking that +should be there, even as there was nothing present that should not have +been there. + +There is among us a good bit of negative goodness of character. We point +with pride to what we don't do of that which is bad or not good. But this +is a very one-sided sort of thing. Purity and goodness together--purity +and holiness, wholeness--made the perfect, completed character of our +Lord. And it was so wholly through His choice, His own action, with His +Father's gracious help working through His choice. And the blessed +contagion of the Leader's presence will make an intense longing within to +follow Him here too. + + + +A Fellow-Feeling. + + +Then there were _two outward traits of character_, that is in His +relations with His fellow-men, of Nazareth, of Israel, and of all the +race. He had _sympathy_ with men; a rare, altogether exceptional sympathy. +_He felt with men_ in all their feelings and needs and circumstances. His +fine spirit reached into men's inner spirit, and felt their hunger and +pain and longings and joys, felt them even as they did, and the arms of +His spirit went around them to help. And they felt it. They felt that He +really understood and felt with them. And so sincere and brotherly was His +fellow-feeling that they gladly welcomed it as from one really of +themselves. To men, this Man, so lone in certain traits and experiences, +was their brother, not only in His feeling with them, but in their feeling +toward Him. + +There's something peculiar in that word sympathy. It's a warm word. It has +a soft cushion to it. It is a help word. There's something in it that +makes you think of a warm strong hand helping, of a soft padding +cushioning the sharp edges where they touch your flesh. It makes you think +of a tender, fine spirit breathing in and through your own spirit, even as +the soft south wind in the spring warms you, and the bracing mountain wind +in the summer brings you new life. + +Our Lord Jesus had this great trait of sympathy with His fellows. He +_could_ have it, for He had been through all their experiences. He knew +the commonplace round of daily life so common to all the race. Nazareth +taught Him that, through thirty of His thirty-three years,--ten-elevenths +of His life. He knew temptation, cunning, subtle, stormy, persistent. He +knew the inner longings of a nature awakening, and yet what it meant to be +held down by outer circumstances. He knew the sharp test of waiting, long +waiting. He knew hunger and bodily weariness, and the pinch of scanty +funds. He was homeless at a time when a home would have been most +grateful. He knew what it meant to have the life-plan broken, and +something else, a bitter something else thrust in its place. + +And he knew, too, the sweets of human life, of human love, of the +helpfulness of others' sympathy, of the Father's pleased smile, of the +Holy Spirit's indwelling, of the wondrous inner peace that follows +obedience in hard places, of the joys of service, of the delight of being +able to sympathize. His experience ran through the whole diapason of human +feelings, and so He can find a key-note in every one of its tones for the +sweet rich symphony of sympathy. + +There is again an exception to be noted here. There could be no +fellow-feeling in choosing wrong, or in yielding to the low or base or +selfish. He is the Lone Man there. Does this make all the stronger His +sympathy with us in our upper reach out of such things? Surely it does. +The exception makes it stand out more sharply that our Lord Jesus felt our +feelings. Wherever you are, however tight the corner, or narrow the road, +or lonely the way, or keen the suffering, you can always stop and say: "He +was here. He was here _first_, and _most_. He understands." As you kneel +and look up, you can remember that there's a Man on the throne, a +fellow-man, with a human heart like mine, and like yours. He understands. +He feels. With utmost reverence let it be said, there's more of God since +our Lord Jesus went back. Human experience has been taken up into the +person of God. + +And let me remind you again, that the "Follow Me" here will mean nothing +less than fellowship in the sufferings of our fellows, fellowship to the +point of radically affecting our lives. Sympathy will go deeper than a +sense of pity for those less fortunate, and a giving to them a warm hand +and a good lift up. The poor woman, living in a slum district, being +visited by a mission visitor, spoke for the universal human heart when she +said earnestly, "We don't want _things_; we want _love_." As we get up +close to our Lord Jesus there will come the indwelling in us of the spirit +that controlled Him. We will see through His eyes, we will feel with His +heart, our hands will reach out to grasp other human hands with the +impulse of His touch upon them. We shall know the exquisite pain of real +sympathy with men in need, and the great joy of sharing and making lighter +their load. + + + +When You Don't Have To. + + +The second outward trait of our Lord Jesus' character was _sacrifice_. +This is not something different from what has been said; it is only going +a step further, indeed going the last step that He could go, in both His +sympathy with men and His obedience to His Father. It helps to remember +what sacrifice means; not suffering merely, though it includes suffering; +not privation simply, though it may include this, too. There is much +suffering and privation where there is no sacrifice. Sacrifice means doing +something to help some one else when it takes some of your life-blood, and +when you don't have to, except the have-to of love. + +Sacrifice was so woven into the very fabric of Jesus' life that wherever +you cut in some of the red threads stick out. It was the never-absent +undertone of His life, from earliest years until the tragic close. But the +undertone rose higher and grew stronger until at the last it became the +dominant, the only tone to be heard. He gave His life out on the cross +that so men might be saved from the terrible result of their sin, when He +didn't have to, except the have-to of His great heart. + +I have spoken of sacrifice as one of the two outward, manward traits of +His character. But the truth is His Calvary sacrifice faced three ways: +upward, inward and outward. It faced toward the Father, for it was +carrying out the Father's plan, and that lets us see not only the Father's +love, but His estimate, as the world's administrator of justice, of the +horribleness of the sin which He was so freely forgiving.[15] It faced in +toward Himself, for it was the purity and perfection of the life poured +out that gave the peculiar meaning to His death, and it was His +sympathetic love that led Him up that steep hill. It faced outward, for +the love of it was meant to break men's hearts and bend their stubborn +wills, and so it did and has. + +His sympathy--love suffering--came to have a new meaning as He went to the +last extreme in His suffering. Sympathy is sometimes spoken of as putting +yourself in the other's place so as to help him better. Our Lord Jesus did +this. He did it as none other did, or could. He actually put Himself in +our place on the cross. He experienced what would have come to us had He +not taken our place. He suffered the suffering that belongs to us because +of our sin. He felt the feelings that came through sin working out to its +bitter end. Indeed He went beyond our own feelings here. For because He +consented to suffer as a guilty sinner, we, who trust His precious blood, +are spared that awful experience. + +Calvary was sympathy to the extreme of sacrifice. But both words, +"sympathy" and "sacrifice," get new depths of meaning at Calvary. This red +shuttle thread of sacrifice will appear again and again in the fabric +which His "Follow Me" weaves out for us. What a character He calls us to! +What strength of friendship to insist on our coming up close to Himself! +Is it possible? Surely not. He is so far beyond us. Yet there is a way, +only one, the way of the dependent life, depending on Him to reproduce His +own likeness in us. And our giving Him a free hand in doing it. + +There is one word that could be used to cover all of this, if we only +knew its full, rich, sweet meaning. That is the little understood, the +much misunderstood, much belittled-in-use word, "love." All that has been +said of the character of our Lord Jesus can be found inside that +four-lettered word. Each trait spoken of is but a fresh spelling of love, +some one side of it. Love planned the dependent life, and only love can +live it truly. Love longs to please love, regardless of any sacrifice +involved. Obedience is the active rhythm of love on the street of life. +Purity is the inner heart of love; and the fully rounded character is the +maturity of love. Sympathy is the heart of love beating in perfect rhythm +with your own, and sacrifice is love giving its very life gladly out to +save yours. Some day we shall know how much is meant by the sentence, "God +is love." + +A little child of a Christian home came one day to his mother, asking what +it meant to "believe on the Lord Jesus." She thought a moment how to make +the answer simple to the child, and then said, "It means thinking about +Him, and loving Him." Sometime after, the little fellow was noticed +sitting very quietly, apparently much absorbed in thought, and his mother +said, "What are you doing, my son?" With child-like simplicity he said in +a quiet tone, "I'm believing on the Lord Jesus." And a warm flush of +feeling came to the mother's heart as she realized the practical tender +meaning to her son, of the word "believing." + +May we be great enough to be as little children while I adapt that +mother's language here: Following our Lord Jesus is thinking about Him and +loving Him. As we come to know the meaning of love we shall find that +following is loving. The "Follow Me" life is the love life. But we must +learn the meaning of love before that sentence will grip us. + +The closer we follow Him the closer we will come to knowing what love is. +The nearer we get to Him the nearer we get to its meaning. We will know it +as we know Him. When we come into His presence, face to face, its simple +full meaning will flash upon us with a great simple surprise. + +Let us follow on to know it, that we may know Him. Let us live it and so +we shall live Him. And in so living we shall know it and Him; we shall +know love, and Jesus, and God. + + + + +The Long, Rough Road He Trod + + + +The Book's Story. + + +It wasn't always a rough road, of course. But as you look at it from end +to end, the roughness of it is what takes your eye most, and takes great +hold of your heart. The smooth places here and there make you feel that it +was a rough road. And yet, rough though it really was, the roughness was +eased by the love in the heart of the Man that trod it; though not eased +for the soles of His feet, nor for hands and face. For there was thorny +roughness at the sides as He pushed through, as well as steep roughness +under foot. + +And it may not seem so long at first. But the longer you look, the sharper +your eyes get to see how great was the distance He had to come, from where +He was, down to where we were. + +Let me take a little sea room, and go back a bit so we can see the full +length, and the real roughness, of the road He came. And lest some of you +may think that the telling of the first part of it has the sound of a +fairy tale, let me tell you that it is simply the story of what actually +took place, as told in the pages of this old Book of God. It will be a +help if you will keep your copy of the Bible at hand, and turn +thoughtfully to its pages now and then as we talk. + +There is a rare simplicity in the way in which the story of the Bible is +told. And it helps to remember that the Bible is never concerned with +chronology, nor with scientific process but only with giving pictures of +moral or spiritual conditions among men as seen from above. And chiefly it +is concerned with giving a picture of God, in His power and patience and +gentleness, and in His great justice and right in dealing with everybody. +Yet the picture and the language never clash with the facts of nature and +of life as dug out by student or scientist. + +It is a great help in talking about these things of God, and of human +life, not to have any theories to fit and press things into, but simply to +take the Book's story, and to tell it over again in the language of our +generation. It simplifies things quite a bit not to try to fit God into +your philosophy, but to accept His own story of life. It not only greatly +simplifies one's outlook, it gives you such sure footing, such steadiness. +Any other footing may go out from under your feet any time. But the old +Book of God "standeth sure," never more sure than to-day when it was never +more riddled at, and mined under. But neither bullets nor mining have +affected the Book itself. The only harm has been in the kick-back of the +firing, upon those standing close by. + +I am frank to confess my own ignorance of the great truths we are talking +over here, save for the Bible itself, and the response to it within my own +spirit, and the further response to it in human life all over the earth +to-day West and East. Human life is a faithful mirror, accurately +reflecting to-day just the conditions found in this old Book. No book so +faithfully and accurately describes the workings and feelings of the human +mind and heart of to-day in our western world, and in all the world, as +this Book, written so long ago in the language of the East. Its finger +still gives accurately the pulse beat of the race. And it helps, too, to +tell the story in the simple way in which this Book itself does, as a +story. + + + +God on a Wooing Errand. + + +God and man used to live together in a garden. It was a most wonderful +garden, full of trees and flowers and fruit, of singing birds with rare +feathers and songs, of beasts that had never yet learned fear, nor to make +others feel it, and a beautiful river of living water. The name given it +indicates that it was a most delightful spot.[16] God and man used to live +together in this garden. They talked and walked and worked together. Man +helped God in putting the finishing touches on His work of creation. It +was the first school, with God Himself as teacher.[17] God and man used to +have a trysting time under the trees in the twilight. But one evening when +God came for the usual bit of fellowship the man was not there. God was +there.[18] He had not gone away, and He has never gone away. Man had gone +away, and God was left lonely standing under the tree of life. + +A friend, in whose home we were, told of her little daughter's remark one +day. The mother had been teaching her that there is only one God. The +child seemed surprised and on being told again, said in her childlike +simplicity, "I think He must be very lonesome." Well, the child was right +in the word used. God is lonesome, though for an utterly different reason +than was in the child's mind. God was lonesome that day, left standing +alone under the trees of the garden. He is lonesome for fellowship with +every one who stays away from Himself. That homely human word may well +express to us the longing of His heart. + +Man went away from God that day, then he wandered farther away, then he +lost his way back, then he didn't want to come back. And away from God his +ideas about God got badly confused. His eyes grew blind to God's pleading +face, his ears dull and then deaf to God's voice. His will got badly +warped and bent out of shape morally, and his life sadly hurt by the sin +he had let in.[19] + +And all this was very hard on God.[20] It _grieved_ Him at His heart. He +sent many messengers, one after another, through long years, but they were +treated as badly as they could be.[21] And at last God said to Himself, +"What more can I do? This is what I will do. I'll go down Myself and live +among them, and woo them back Myself." And so it was done. One day He +wrapped about Himself the garb of our humanity, and came in amongst us as +one of ourselves.[22] And He became known amongst us as Jesus. He had +spoken the world into being; now, in John's simple homely language, He +pitched His tent amongst our tents as our near neighbour and kinsman.[23] +Our Lord Jesus was the face of God looking into ours, the voice of God +speaking into the ears of our hearts, the hand of God reached down to make +a way back and then lead us along the way back again, the heart of God +coming in touch to warm ours and make us willing to go back. + +It was a long road He came, as long as the distance we had gone away from +Him. And no measuring stick has yet been whittled out that can tell that +distance. We want to look a bit at the last lap of the road, the +earth-lap. It runs from the Bethlehem plain where He came in, to the +Olivet hilltop where He slipped away again up and back, for a time, until +things are ready for the next step in His plan. + + + +The Rough Places. + + +The bit of earth-road began to get pretty rough before He had quite gotten +here. The pure gentle virgin-mother was under cruelly hurting suspicion on +the point about which a woman is properly most sensitive, and that too by +the one who was nearest to her. I've wondered why Joseph, too, was not +told of the plan of God when Mary was, and so she be spared this sore +suspicion. I think it was because he simply _could_ not have taken it in +beforehand, though he rose so nobly when he was told. Her experience was +unavoidable, humanly speaking. + +That hastily improvised cradle was in rather a rough spot for both mother +and babe. The hasty fleeing for several days and nights to Egypt, with +those heart-rending cries of the grief-stricken mothers of Bethlehem +haunting their ears, the cautious return, and then apparently the change +of plans from a home in historic Bethlehem to the much less favoured +village of Nazareth,--it was all a pretty rough beginning on a very rough +road. It was a sort of prophetic beginning. There proved to be +blood-shedding at both ends, and each time innocent blood, too. + +The word Nazareth has become a high fence hiding from view thirty of the +thirty-three years. Was this the dead-level, monotonous stretch of the +road, from the time of the early teens on to the full maturity of thirty? +Yet it proved later to have a dangerously rough place on the precipice +side of the town. It seems rather clear that Joseph and Mary would have +much preferred some other place, their own family town, cultured +Bethlehem, for rearing this child committed to their care. But the serious +danger involved decided the choice of the less desirable town for their +home.[24] + +But the roughest part began when our Lord Jesus turned His feet from the +shaded seclusion of Nazareth, and turned into the open road. At once came +the Wilderness, the place of terrific temptation, and of intense spirit +conflict. The fact of temptation was intensified by the length of it. +Forty long days the lone struggle lasted. The time test is the hardest +test. The greatest strength is the strength that wears, doesn't wear out. +That Wilderness had stood for sin's worst scar on the earth's surface. +Since then it has stood for the most terrific and lengthened-out +siege-attack by the Evil One upon a human being. Satan himself came and +rallied all the power of cunning and persistence at his command. He did +his damnable worst and best. + +In an art gallery at Moscow is a painting by a Russian artist of "Christ +in the Wilderness," which reverently and with simple dramatic power brings +to you the intense humanity of our Lord, and how tremendously real to Him +the temptation was. This helps to intensify to us the meaning of the +Wilderness. It stands for victory, by a man, in the power of the Spirit, +over the worst temptation that can come. + +Then follows a long stretch of rough road with certain places sharply +marked out to our eyes. The rejection by the Jewish leaders began at once. +It ran through three stages, the silent contemptuous rejection, the active +aggressive rejection, then the hardened, murderous rejection running up to +the terrible climax of the cross. + +The contemptuous rejection of the Baptist's claim for his Master, by the +official commission sent down to inquire,[25] was followed by the more +aggressive, as they began to realize the power of this man they had to +deal with. John's imprisonment revealed an intensifying danger, and the +need of withdrawing to some less dangerous place. + +Our Lord's change to Galilee, and to preaching and working among the +masses, was followed by a persistent campaign on the part of the +Southerners of nagging, harrying warfare against Him throughout Galilee. +It grew in bitterness and intensity, with John's death as a further +turning point to yet intenser bitterness. The visits to Jerusalem were +accompanied by fiercer attacks, venomous discussions, and frenzied +attempts at personal violence. This grew into the third stage of +rejection, the cool, hardened plotting of His death. The last weeks +things head up at a tremendous rate; our Lord appears to be the one calm, +steady man, even in His terrific denunciation of them, held even and +steady in the grip of a clear, strong purpose, as He pushed His way +unwaveringly onward. Then came the terrible climax,--the cross. The worst +venomous spittle of the serpent's poison sac spat out there. It was the +climax of hate, and the climax of His unspeakable love. + + + +When Your Heart's Tuned to the Music. + + +Surely it was a long, rough road. Its length was not measured by miles, +nor years, but by the experiences of this Lone Man. So measured it becomes +the longest road ever trod, from purity's heights to sin's depths; from +love's mountain top to hate's deepest gulf. It makes a new record for +roughness. For no one has ever suffered what our Lord Jesus did; and no +one's suffering ever had the value and meaning for another that His had +and has for all men and for us. Not one of us to-day realizes how He +suffered, nor the intensity of meaning that suffering actually has for all +the race, and for those of us who accept it for ourselves. + +It was a rough, long road, and He knew ahead that it would be. He saw +dimly ahead, then more sharply outlined as He drew on, those crossed logs +in the road, growing bigger and darker and more forbidding as He pushed +on. But He could not be stopped by that, for He was thinking about us, +and about His Father. He pushed steadily on, past crossed logs all +overgrown and tangled with thorn bushes and poison ivy vines, bearing the +marks of logs and thorns and poison ivy, but He went through to the end of +the road, He reached His world; He reached _our hearts_. And now He is +longing to reach through our hearts to the hearts of the others. + + "But none of the ransomed ever knew + How deep were the waters crossed; + Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through, + 'Ere He found His sheep that were lost. + + 'Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way + That mark out the mountain's track?' + 'They were shed for one who had gone astray + Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.' + + But all through the mountains, thunder-riven, + And up from the rocky steep, + There arose a glad cry to the gate of heaven, + 'Rejoice! I have found my sheep.'"[26] + +But there was something more on that road. Do you know how the wind blows +through the trees on the steep mountain side, and will make music in your +heart, _if your heart is tuned to its music_, even while you are pushing +your way through thorny tanglewood and undergrowth? Do you know how, as +you go down the deep mountain ravines, with the wild rushing torrent far +below, where a single misstep would mean so much, how the breeze playing +through the leaves makes sweetest melody, _if your heart's tuned to it?_ + +Well, this great Lone Man had a heart tuned for the music of this road. +The strong wind of His Father's love blew down through the wild mountains +into His face, and made sweetest music, and His ear was in tune and heard +it. He had a tuning-fork that gave Him the true pitch for the rarest +music, while His feet travelled cautiously the deep wilderness ravines, +and boldly climbed through the thorny undergrowth of that steep hill just +outside the city wall. Obedience is the rhythm of two wills, that blends +their action into rarest harmony. Some of us need to use His +tuning-fork,[27] so as to enjoy the music of the road. + + + +The Pleading Call To Follow + + + +Hungry for the Human Touch. + + +God hungers for the human touch. There's an inner hesitancy in saying +this, and in hearing it. We feel it can hardly be so, even though our +inner hearts would wish it were so. + +We know that we men hunger for the human touch, the strongest of us. And +in our hour of sore need we know that our inner hearts look up, and wish +we could have a really close touch with God. Well, this is a bit of the +image of God in us. We were made so, like Himself. In seeing ourselves +here, we are getting a closer look at the heart of God. He longs for the +human touch. When He made us He breathed into our nostrils the breath of +His own life. And this is not simply a bit of the first Genesis chapter. +It is a bit of every human life. There's the breath of God in every new +life born into the world. He gives a bit of Himself. We are not complete +creatively until part of Himself has come to be part of us. + +And Jesus' coming was but the same thing put in yet more intense, close, +appealing shape to us. He came to get us in touch again after the break +of sin. He gave His blood that we might have life again after the +sin-break had broken off our life, and commenced to dry it up. This was an +even closer touch. The breath of God came in Eden to breathe in our lungs. +The blood of His Son came on Calvary to give life-action to our hearts. +Could there be anything to make clearer His hunger for the human touch? + +The Holy Spirit's presence spells out the same thing once more. There has +been every sort of thing to induce Him to go away. He has been ignored, +left out of all reckoning, and talked against. Yet with a patience beyond +what that word means to us, He has remained creatively in every man as the +very breath of his life. And He comes and remains the very breath of the +spirit life in those who yield to His pleading call. + +Jesus was God coming after us. We had gone away. He came to woo us back +into close touch again. He came to the nation of Israel, that through it +He might reach out to all men. When He comes again it will be again to use +Israel as His messenger, while He Himself will be present on the earth in +a new way to woo men to Himself. When that nation's leaders rejected +John's announcement, and so rejected our Lord Jesus, He began to appeal to +individual men, while waiting for the nation. And the work with +individuals was also His call to the nation. + +So the chief thing He did was to call men. His presence was a call, and +the crowds flocked to Him wherever He went. His life of purity and +sympathy was felt as an earnest call and responded to eagerly. His doings +were a very intense call. Every healed man and woman, every one set free +of demon influence, every one of the fed multitudes, felt called to this +man who had helped him so. His teaching was a continual call, and His +preaching. But above all else stood out the personal call He gave men. For +our Lord Jesus was not content to deal with the crowds simply; He dealt +with men one by one in intimate heart touch. + + + +Called to Go. + + +There are a number of invitations He used in calling men. It was as though +in His eagerness He used every sort that might go home. And yet there was +more than this; these invitations are like successive steps up into the +life He wanted them to have. He said, "Come unto Me."[28] This was always +the first, and still remains first. It led, and it leads, into rest of +heart and life, peace with God. He quickly followed it with "Come ye after +Me."[29] They must come to Him before they could come after Him. This was +found to mean discipleship, learning the road. He would "make" them like +Himself in going after others. He said, "take My yoke upon you."[30]This +meant a bending down to get into the yoke, a surrender of will and heart +to Himself, and then partnership, fellowship side-by-side with Himself. + +Then He spoke another word to the innermost circle, on the night in which +He was betrayed. He had a long talk that evening with the eleven around +the supper table, and walking down to the grove of olives at the Brook of +the Cedars.[31] Several times that evening He used this new word, "abide," +"abide in Me." That means staying with Him, not leaving, living +continuously with Him. It means a continued separation from anything that +would separate from Him. And then it means a fulness of life coming from +Himself into us as we draw all our life from Himself, a rich ripeness, a +rounded maturity, a depth of life, and these always becoming +more,--richer, rounder, deeper. + +Then after the awful days of the cross were past, on the evening of the +resurrection day, in the upper room with ten of the inner disciples, He +practically said, "You be Myself"; "as the Father sent Me, even so send I +you"[32]; "You be I." I wonder if any one of us has ever been taken or +mistaken for the Lord Jesus. We would never know it, of course. But He +meant it to be so. + +A Scottish lady missionary in India tells of a Bible class of girls which +she had. She was teaching them about the life and character of the +Lord Jesus. One day a new girl came in, fresh from the heathenism in +which she grew up, knowing nothing of the Gospel. She listened, and then +became quite intense and excited in her childish way, as she heard them +talking about some One, how good He was, how gentle, how He was always +teaching and helping the people around Him. At last she could restrain her +eagerness no longer, but blurted out, "I know that man; he lives near us." +It was found that she did not know about Christ, but supposed they were +speaking of a very earnest native Christian man living in her +neighbourhood. She had mistaken her neighbour for Jesus. How glad that man +must have been if he ever knew. This was a part of our Lord's plan. + +And at the very end, these successive invitations took the shape of a +command, which was both a permission and an order,--"Go ye."[33] Men who +had taken to heart, one after another, these invitations were ready for +the command. They would be eager for it. The invitations were the Master's +preparation for the command. He could trust such men to go, and to keep +steady and true as they went, in the power He gave them. There is one word +that you find in all these invitations--"Me." They all centre about the +Lord Jesus. He is the centre of gravity drawing every one, in ever growing +nearness and meaning, to Himself. It is only when we have been drawn into +closest touch with Him that we are qualified to "go" to others. It's only +Himself in us, only as much of Himself as is in us, that will be helpful +to any one else, or will make any one else willing to break with his old +way. He is the only magnet to draw men away from the old life up to +Himself. + + + +"Follow Me." + + +But there's one other invitation which belongs in this list. It proves to +be the greatest of them all, because you come to find it includes all +these others. It's His "Follow Me." It seems at first glance to be the +same as that "Come after Me." But it is the word He repeated again and +again, under different circumstances, with added explanations, to the same +men, until you feel that He meant it to stand out as the great invitation +to His disciples. It seems to mean different things at different times. +That is to say, it grew in its significance. It came to mean more than it +had seemed to. + +Peter is a good illustration here. The word really came to him five times, +with a different, an added, meaning each time. His first following meant +acquaintance.[34] John the Herald had sent his disciples, John and Andrew, +along after Jesus as He was walking one day on the Jordan river road. They +followed Jesus to their first acquaintance in a two hours' talk, which +quite satisfied their hearts as to who He was. John never forgot that +first following. Every detail of it stands out in his memory when long +years after he began to write his story of the Master. Andrew went at once +to hunt up Peter, and brought him face-to-face with his newly found Friend +and Master. That interview settled things for Peter. Andrew's following +now included his. Following meant the beginning of the personal friendship +which was to mean so much for both of them. + +It was about a year after, that "Follow Me" had a new meaning to Peter and +some others.[35] The invitation was an illustrated one this time, +illustrated by a living picture of just what it meant. It was one morning +by the Lake of Galilee. Peter and his partners had had a poor night's +fishing, and were out on shore washing their nets. The Master had come +along, with a great crowd pressing in to get closer and hear better. There +was danger of the crowd pushing the Master into the water. The Master +borrowed Peter's boat for a pulpit. Peter sat facing the crowd while the +Master talked to them. + +Was that the first time the spell of a crowd began to get its subtle +heart-hold on Peter as he looked into their hungry eyes? Who can withstand +the great appeal of the crowd's eyes? Not our Lord, nor any that have +caught His spirit. Then the great draught of fishes, after the fishless +night, made Peter feel the Master's power. Fishes would make him feel it, +being a fisherman, as nothing else would. The sense of Jesus' power, and +with it a sense of purity--interesting how the power made him feel the +purity--this brought him to his knees at our Lord's feet with the +confession of his own sinfulness. + +Peter was greatly moved that morning, greatly shaken. A new experience of +tremendous power had come to him. And out of it came a new life, a radical +change as he left the old occupation, fishing, boats, father, means of +livelihood, and entered upon the new life. "Follow Me" meant a radical +change of life, constant companionship with Jesus, sharing His life, going +to school, getting ready for leadership and service; yes, and for +suffering too. He entered the Master's itinerant training school that +morning. A man needs a sight of the Lord Jesus' power, a _feel_ of it, +before he is fit to serve, or even to go to school to get ready for +service. + +It was some months after this that another meaning grew into the words +"Follow Me," and grew out of them. The words are not spoken this time, but +acted. Out of the group of disciples that He had gathered about Him our +Lord prayerfully chose out Peter with the others to be sent out as His +messenger to others.[36]Part of the schooling was over; now a new part, a +new term of school, was to begin. He gave them a special talk that +morning, and sent them out to teach and heal and do for the crowds what +He had been doing. + +He called them Apostles, Sent-ones, Missionaries. "Follow Me" now meant +going to others. It meant more--_power_, power to do for men all the +Master Himself had done. First, power felt that early morning by the lake, +now power given. That was a great advance in training. Power had to be +felt before it could be given, and has to be felt before it can be used. +Only as the power takes hold of our inner hearts to the feeling point, +will it ever take hold of others. And no life is changed through our +service till power takes hold of us to _the feeling point_. + + + +The Deeper Meaning. + + +But there was a special session of the "Follow Me" school one day, a very +serious session.[37]They had to be shown the red threads in the weave of +the word. The words had to be held under the knife, so they could look +into the cut, and see the deeper meaning. "Follow Me" had to take deeper +hold of them yet, if His power was to get the deeper hold of them, and, by +and by, get hold of the needy crowds. The very setting of the words gives +the new meaning to them. John had felt the keen edge of Herod's axe blade, +and was now in the upper presence. They were up in the far northern part +because of the growing danger threatening Him by the leaders. + +It is the turning point where our Lord Jesus begins to tell them that He +was to suffer. Their ears _could_ not take in the words. Their dazed eyes +show that they think they could not have heard aright,--He to _suffer!_ +What could this mean? They hadn't figured on this when they left the nets +and boats to follow. There had been a rosy glamour filling impulsive +Peter's self-confident sky. Now this black storm cloud! Then to Peter's +foolhardy daring came words spoken with a new intense quietness that made +the words quiver: "If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself +and take up his cross daily and 'Follow Me.'"[38] + +This was startling to a terrific degree. Here was a new, strange, +perplexing combination--"deny himself," and "cross," coupled with His +"Follow Me." What could He mean? This was surely some of His intensely +figurative language again, they think. Yes, it surely was; and it stood +for a yet intenser experience. "Follow Me" means sacrifice. It means a +going down as well as a going up. And it proves to mean that one can go up +in power and service, only as far as he has gone down in the obedience +that includes sacrifice. Did Peter take in the meaning that day? I think +not. Actions speak louder than words. + +That betrayal night a few short months after, when the actual cross was +almost in actual sight, he "followed Him afar off."[39] Without knowing +it, that was as far as he had ever really followed thus far. He wanted to +keep as "far off" from that cross as possible. He always had. He baulked +at its first mention, baulked tremendously. Yet he "followed." Poor Peter! +he was in a terrible strait betwixt two, this wondrous Master whom he +really loved, and this threatening cross of nails and thongs and thorns. +It was a stiff struggle between heart and flesh; between the longing of +his love and the shrinking from pain and hardship and shame. And Peter's +kinsfolk are still having the same struggle. A great many stop here. This +is going _too_ far! They prefer staying by the easier "Follow Me's," and +forgetting this one. Yes, and go on living powerless lives, and engaging +in powerless service, when the crowds were never so needy. + +Peter didn't follow this time. The road was too rough. He stumbled and +fell badly. Badly? Still no worse than many others. When he got up he was +still facing the same way. You can always tell a man's mettle by the way +he faces as he gets up after a bad fall. + +Six months or so after there came another "Follow Me," to Peter. No, it +wasn't another; it was the same one, the one he hadn't accepted. Peter was +to have another opportunity at the same place where he fell so badly. How +patient our Lord Jesus was--and is. + +It was one morning just after breakfast--a rare breakfast--on the edge of +the lake, after as poor a night's fishing as that other time.[40] Again +the touch of power revealed the Master's presence. Again Peter had a +special word with the Master while the others are hauling in the fish. Now +breakfast's over and the seven are grouped about the One, listening. The +Lord's quiet skilled hand touches the heart meaning of "Follow Me." Its +real meaning is a love meaning. Do you love? Then "Follow Me." Then you +_must_ follow, your love draws you after, even though the path be rough +and broken. This is the same "Follow Me" that Peter baulked at so badly +months before. Its meaning had not changed. It would mean a death, Peter +is plainly told. But now Peter baulks no longer. The Master's great love +had taught Him how really to love. And now not even a cross for himself +would or could keep him from following close up to such a Master. + +Here is the meaning of "Follow Me" as it worked out in Peter's +experience--acquaintance, a new life, schooling, service, a sight of +sacrifice, and a baulking, then--a sight of Jesus on the cross, and then a +willingness to go on even though it meant the sorest sacrifice. This is an +etching of the road Peter actually went, an etching in black and white, +with the black very black. Is it a picture of your road? But perhaps you +have never filled out the last part--still back at that baulking place. In +the thick of our present life, in the noise and din of the street of +modern life, comes as of old the quiet, clear, insistent call "Follow Me." + + + +Getting in Behind. + + +But, some one says, how can we really follow this Lone Man, our Lord Jesus +Christ? He was so pure in His life, stainless in motive, and unstained in +character. And we--well, the nearer we get to Him the more instinctively +we find Peter's lakeshore cry starting up within, "I am a sinful man." His +very presence makes us feel the sin, the sin-instinct, the old selfish +something within. How can we really follow? And the answer that comes is a +real answer. It answers the inner heart-cry. + +It is this: we begin where He ended. The cross was the end of His life. It +must be the beginning of ours. It was the climax of His obedience. All the +lines of His life come together at the cross. It is the beginning for us. +All the lines of our lives, the lines of purity, of character, of service, +of power, run back to the one starting point. And we come to find--some of +us pretty slowly--that it is only the lines that do start there that lead +to anything worth while. The starting point for the true life, and for +real service is very clear. And if any of us have made a false start, it +will be a tremendous saving to drop things and go back and get the true +start. "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth from all sin"--this is the +only point from which to start the "Follow Me" life. "Follow Me" does not +mean imitation. It means reincarnation. It's some One coming to re-live +His life in us. He died that His life might be loosed out to be relived in +us. + +I have already spoken of this as being a call to friendship. All the rest +that comes is meant to be what naturally grows out of this friendship. +Peter never forgot his last "Follow Me" call. "Lovest thou Me?" Then thou +mayest follow. This greatly sweetens all the rest. It's all for Him!--our +friend. Out of this personal relation comes service, power in service, +suffering because of opposition to Him whom we serve, and joy because we +may suffer on His account.[41] + +Matthew became His friend that day down at the little customs-shed at the +Capernaum water edge. And out of that friendship grew our first gospel. +John lived very close, and out of his intimacy came the gospel that +reveals to us most the inner heart of our Lord, and His own intimacy of +relation with the Father. And out of that friendship came, too, not only +John's wonderful little "abiding" epistle,[42] but the Revelation book, +which gives us an inkling of the coming in of the Kingdom time that lies +so near to our Lord's heart. Out of such intimacy of touch grew Stephen's +ringing address before the Jewish council, and--his stormy, stony exit, +out and up into his Master's presence. + +And time would fail me to tell of those in every corner of the earth, and +every generation since our Lord was here, who have served and suffered +because they loved Him and followed. Hidden away in the rocks and caves of +France from the fires of persecution, the Huguenots sang their favourite +hymn: + + "I have a friend so precious, + So very dear to me, + He loves me with such tender love, + He loves so faithfully. + + I could not live apart from Him, + I love to feel Him nigh, + And so we dwell together, + My Lord and I." + +When I was in China a year ago, my heart caught some of the distant echoes +of that sort of singing, by Chinese Christians, in the midst of the fiery +persecutions of the Boxer time. And I heard the same sad, glad undertone +last year out in Corea, in the homes we visited, whose loved ones were +behind prison bars for their Friend's sake. + +One of the latest chapters of this friendship's outcome is only just +closed in the story of that quiet, young friend of the Lord Jesus, William +Whiting Borden, who sat down a little while ago, and so placed the wealth +left him that the world might learn of his Friend, and then went out and +laid down his life in Egypt in this same passion of friendship. So the +earth's sod in every corner has known the fertilizing of such friendship +blood, and shall some day know a wondrous harvest under our great Friend's +own gleaning. + +And this is why He asks us to follow. He needs our help. Our Lord Jesus +gave His precious life blood to redeem the world, to set it free from its +sin-slavery. But there are two parts to that redemption, His and ours. +These two parts are strikingly brought out by a single word in the +beginning of the book of Acts,[43] the word "began." Luke says that what +he has been writing in his Gospel of the life and death of Jesus was only +a _beginning_. This was what "He _began_ both to do and to teach." It is +usually explained that what our Lord Jesus began in the Gospels, the Holy +Spirit continued to _do_ in the Acts, and to _teach_ in the Epistles. And +this is no doubt true. But there is still more here. The Holy Spirit +continued and continues through men what He began through Jesus. There is +a second part to the work of redemption, our part, the Holy Spirit working +through us. There had to be a first part; that was the great part. There +could be no second without a first. That first part was done when our Lord +Jesus was hurt to death for us. That is the great first part. Yet in doing +that He had but begun something. He touched Palestine. We are to cover the +earth. He touched one nation; we are to go to all nations. We are to +continue what He began. The work of redemption was finished on the cross +so far as He was concerned; but not yet finished so far as its being taken +to "all the world" was concerned. He needs us. This is why He asks us to +follow. He needs our co-operation. + +The second great factor in carrying out what He began is--how shall I put +it? Shall I say, men and the Holy Spirit? You say, "No, change that, say +the Holy Spirit and men. Put the Spirit first." Well, the order of these +two depends on where you are standing. If you are standing at the Father's +right hand, you say "the Holy Spirit and men." For the power is all in the +Holy Spirit. He is the power. There can be nothing done without Him. +Whatever is done in which He is not dominant amounts to nothing. How I +wish we men might have that tremendous fact grip us in these days when the +whole emphasis is on organization. + +But, very reverently let me say this, and I say it thus plainly that we +may know how much our Lord Jesus is depending on us, how really He needs +us,--this, that since we are on the earth, in the place of human action, +where the fighting is to be done, it is accurate to say with utmost +reverence, "_men_ and the Holy Spirit." For mark keenly, the initiative is +in human hands. God's action has always waited on human action. The power +is only in the Holy Spirit. The most astute and strong leadership amounts +to nothing without Him flooding it with His presence. But the power needs +a channel. The Spirit needs men strongly pliant to His will. The great +world-plan waits, and always has waited, for willing men. And so our great +Friend asks us to follow because He really needs us in His plan. + +Have you ever noticed the picture in the word "follow"? You remember that +the earliest language was picture language. And it is a great help +sometimes to dig down under a word and get the picture. Here, it is a man +standing on a roadway, earnestly beckoning, and pointing to the road he is +in. The Old Testament word means literally "same road." The very word the +Master Himself used means "in behind." + +To-night this wondrous Lord Jesus stands just ahead. His face still shows +where the thorns cut and the thongs tore. But there is a marvellous +tenderness and pleading in those great patient eyes. His hand is reached +out beckoning, and you cannot miss the hole in the palm of it. The hand +points to the road He trod for us. And His voice calls pleadingly, "Take +this same road; get in behind. I need your help with My world." + + + +Selling All. + + +And yet--and yet----. Do you remember one time our Lord turned to the +crowds that were following and told them it would be better to count up +the cost before deciding to be His disciples?[44] He feared if they didn't +there would be "mocking" by outsiders because His followers' lives didn't +square with their profession. His fear seems to have been well founded. +There seems to be quite a bit of that sort of mocking. It's better to +count the cost, to know what following really means. A Salvation Army +officer in Calcutta tells about a young handsome Hindu of an aristocratic +family. One day he came in, drew out a New Testament, and asked the +meaning of the words, "sell whatsoever thou hast," in the story of the +rich young ruler.[45] The Salvationist told him it meant that if a man's +possessions stood in the way of his becoming a Christian he must be +willing, if need be, to dispose of them for the needy. To his surprise the +young man quietly said, "I fear you don't understand." + +"Do you want to be a Christian?" + +"Yes, but I'm not willing to sell all that I possess." + +After a little more talk the young Indian left. Sometime after he appeared +at one of the Salvation Army meetings, and when the opportunity was given +for those who would accept Christ to kneel at the altar, at once he +started forward. But instantly a storm broke out in the crowded meeting. A +group of men rushed forward, shouting angrily, seized the young man and +bore him bodily out while the crowd watched in terror. A few weeks later +the young man turned up again, asking to be taken in and quietly saying, +"I have begun to sell all." + +Then his story came out. A Bible had come into his hands; the character +and call of the Lord Jesus made a great appeal to him. He was haunted by +the words, "sell whatsoever thou hast." He felt he knew what it meant for +him. His family heard of his interest in Christianity. They belonged to +the highest class, were wealthy and officially connected with the heathen +temple-worship. They did their best to dissuade him, then finding that +useless, they kept watch, and had him forcibly taken from the meeting +where he was about to openly confess Christ. The entreaties of his father +and mother shook him greatly but failed to change his decision. He had +been imprisoned, chained hand and foot, and scantily fed, but all to no +purpose. Then he managed to escape and came to the one Christian place he +knew, the Salvation Army, and asked to be taken in. + +After about two weeks he disappeared as abruptly as he came. Then one day +he came back, and told his Salvation friend that he had been carried to +Benares, their holy city, and forced to bathe in the Ganges. "But," he +said, "as I stood in the water of the Ganges, I said, 'Lord Jesus, wash me +in Thy precious blood,' and when I was forced to bow to idols, I bowed my +soul to the eternal Father and said, 'Thou art God alone.'" His mother had +implored him on her knees not to disgrace them; his tutor, whom he loved +dearly, and his brothers had joined the father in their plea not to bring +such shame on the family. "Well," the Salvationist said, "now, you know +the meaning of 'sell whatsoever thou hast'" "Not yet," he said, "but I +have sold nearly all." + +Again he came back and said quietly, "_I have sold all_." He appeared +deeply grief-stricken, and yet there was a light shining in his eye. In +answer to questions he said, "I have not only ceased to be a Brahmin, I +have ceased to be a human being. I am not only an outcast, I am dead. I +have neither father, mother, brothers, nor sisters. I have been burned in +effigy, and the ashes buried. It was not the effigy they burned; it was I. +My father would not recognize me now if he met me on the street, nor would +my mother. I am dead. I have been buried. It is the end. I have sold +all."[46] He had counted the cost. Then though it meant so much, he +followed. The rich young Jew to whom the words were first spoken, saw +_things_ bigger than Jesus; the rich young Hindu saw Jesus bigger. Each +held to what he prized most, and let the other go. Would it not be better +if we were to count the cost, and then _deliberately_ decide? and if it be +to follow, then follow _all the way?_ I want to talk a little later about +what it means to follow. I hope this will help us a little in our +calculations, in counting the cost before starting in to follow fully. + +And yet, and yet, may the vision of the Lone Man in the road, beckoning, +flood our eyes while we count the cost, even as with the young Hindu. + + + + +What Following Means + + +1. A Look Ahead. +2. The Main Road. +3. The Valleys. +4. The Hilltops. + + + + +1. A Look Ahead + + + +Saltless Salt. + + +The Lord Jesus never tried to make things look easier than they are. He +wanted you to see the road just as it is, and asked you to look at it +carefully. He knew this was the only right way to do. He knew that so the +sinews would be grown in character that would stand the tests coming, and +only so. + +It was never His plan to increase the numbers by cutting down the +doorsills so men could get in more easily. That was a later arrangement. +He was never concerned for numbers, but for right and truth. A man walking +alone down the middle of the one true path was more to Him, immensely +more, than a great crowd wabbling along on the edge, half out, half in, +neither in nor out, and so really out but not knowing it. If they were +really out and knew it, it would be better, for they could see more +distinctly the path they were not in, its straightness and attractiveness. + +This sort of thing grew more marked with our Lord Jesus as the end drew +on, the tragic end. The crowds thickened about Him those last months. They +liked good bread, and plenty of it, and healed bodies, pain gone. And He +liked to give them these. He helped just as far as they would let Him. But +He wanted to give them more. He knew this other was only temporary. He was +more concerned about healing the spirit of its disease, and giving the +more abundant life. And full well He knew that only the knife could help +many. And the knife had to be freshly sharpened, and used with strong +decisive hand, if healing and life were to come. + +And men haven't changed, nor the diseases that hurt their life, nor the +Master, nor the tender love of His heart. But there's more than knife; +there's fulness of life following. He would have us get the life even +though it means the knife. Most times--every time, shall I say?--the life +comes only through the knife. Yet when the life has come, with its great +tireless strength, and its deep breathing, and sheer delight of living, +you are grateful for the knife that led the way to such life. + +One day our Lord entered a vigorous protest against the wrong sort of +salt,[47] saltless salt, the sort that seemed to be salt, and you used it +and depended on it, and then found how unsalty it was, for the thing you +depended on it to preserve, had gone bad. The great need is for salty +salt. There still seems to be a great lot of this saltless salt in use. +It's labelled salt, and so it's used as salt, but it befools you. The +saltiness has been lost out, and the man using it wakes up to find out +how great is the loss, loss of what he thought he had salted, and loss of +time, character and time, the character of that salted with saltless salt, +and the time spent. + +It would be an immense clearing of the religious situation to-day on both +sides of the Atlantic, if the saltless salt could be got rid of, either by +removing the unsaltiness in it--though that seems a hopeless task, it's so +unsalty, and there is so much of it, and such a large proportion of it, +and it's so well content with being just as unsalty as it is. _Or_, the +only other thing is put very simply and vigorously by the Lord in a short +intense sentence, "Cast it out." Out with it. And lots of it _is out_ so +far as preservative usefulness is concerned. + +And yet with wondrous patience He puts up with a great deal of salt that +seems to have nearly reached the utterly saltless stage, hoping to get rid +of the unsaltiness, and then to give it a new saltiness. For, be it keenly +marked, when the saltiness has quite gone out of the salt, when the +preservative quality has quite gone out from that body of people which He +has placed in the world as its moral preservative,--then look out. Aye, +"look up,"[48] for that's the only direction from which any help can +relieve the desperateness of the situation. And "lift up your heads," for +then comes a new preservative to the rotting earth-life. But some of us +will smell the smell of the decay before the new salt begins to work. + + + +The Thing in Us That Wants Things. + + +It was along toward that tragic end, when the tension was tightening up to +the snapping point, the bitter hatred of the leaders yet more bitter, the +crowds yet denser, the terms of discipleship yet more plainly put with +loving, faithful plainness, that a characteristic incident happened.[49] A +young man of gentle blood and breeding, and influential position, came +eagerly, courteously elbowing his way through the crowd that gathered +thick about. Our Lord had just risen from where He had been sitting +teaching, when this young man, in his eagerness, came running to Him. With +deep reverence of spirit he knelt down in the road, and began asking about +the true life, the secret of living it. Our Lord begins talking about +being true in all his dealings with his fellow-men. The young man +earnestly assured Him that he had paid great attention to this, and felt +that there was nothing lacking in him on this score. The utter sincerity +and earnestness of his spirit was so clear that the Master's love was +drawn out to him. And He showed His love in a way characteristic of Him in +dealing with those who want to go to the whole length of the true road. +That is, He talked very plainly to him. There were four things to do +beforehand, He said, four starting steps into this life he was so eager +to enter. Four words tell the four steps: "go," "sell," "give," and +"come." + +"Go" meant the decisive starting in on this way; "sell" meant putting +everything into the Father's hand for His disposal as _He_ alone might +choose. "Give" meant using everything, everything you are, and have, and +can influence, as _He_ bids you. "Come" meant this new man, this decisive, +emptied, now trusted man, trusted as a trustee, coming into a new personal +relation with the Lord Jesus. + +The first three things were important because they revealed the man. But +_the_ thing was that the man, this new-emptied and now God-trusted man, +should come into personal touch with the Lord Jesus. The things he had and +held on to came in between. When they no longer came in to separate, then, +and only then, was he ready to get "in behind" and "follow" along the +"same road." For this is the friendship road. Only friends are allowed +here, inner friends, those who come in by that gateway. There must be the +personal touch. Things that stand in the way of that must be straightened +out. + +It was rather a startling answer. The young man was startled tremendously. +The way to come in is first to go out. The way to get is first to give. +The way to buy what you want is to sell what you have. That is to say, the +way for this young man to get what he was so eager for was to get rid of +what he already had. And yet it wasn't getting rid of the things the +Master was thinking about, but getting rid of the thing in him that +wanted the things, getting rid of their hold upon him. Our Lord Jesus +wanted, and wants, free men, emptied men. He wants the strength in the man +that the emptying and selling process gives. This is the laboratory where +the unsaltiness is being burned out, and the new salty saltiness being +generated, put in. + +This young fellow couldn't stand the test. So many can't. No, I'm getting +the words wrong. He wouldn't stand it; so many won't. The slavery of +_things_ was too much. The thing in him that wanted the things was +stronger than the thing that wanted the true life. He was too weak to make +that "go" decision. He belonged to the weakly fellowship of the saltless +ones. They are not wholly saltless, but that's the chief thing that marks +them. It's a long-lived fellowship, continuing to this day, with a large +membership in good and regular standing. + +I think the real trouble with this fine-grained lovable young man was in +his eyes, the way they looked, what they saw. It was a matter of seeing +things in true perspective. He didn't get a good look at the Man he asked +his question of. He was looking so intently at the _things_ that he +couldn't get the use of his eyes for a good look at the Man. This is a +very common eye-trouble. He was all right outward, toward his fellows, but +he wasn't all right upward toward the Father. + +And yet even that statement must be changed. For a man cannot be right +with his fellows who is not right with God. When God doesn't have the +passion of the heart, our fellows don't have all they should properly have +from us; there is a lack. The common law may be kept, the pounds and yards +may weigh and measure off fully what is due them from us, but the uncommon +law, the love-law is not being kept. The warm spirit that should breathe +out through all our dealings is lacking. It's been checked by the check in +the upper movement. Only the spirit that flows freely up, ever flows +freely out. + +That young Indian aristocrat we spoke of elsewhere got a sight of _Jesus_. +That settled _things_ for him, including even such sacred things as human +loves. This young Jewish aristocrat couldn't get his eyes off of the +things. So many "thing"-slaves there are, so much "thing"-slavery. If only +there were the sight of _His_ face! His _face_; torn? yes; scarred? yes +again, but oh, the strength and light and love in it! + +Do you remember that other young Jewish, university-trained aristocrat? He +got a look, one good long look-in-the-face look of _that face_, one day, +on the road up to the northern Syrian capital. The light of it flooded his +face, and strangely affected him. He said "when I could not _see_ for the +glory of that light."[50] He couldn't see things for Him. The sight of Him +blurred out the things. The great need to-day is for a sight of _Him_. +Lord Jesus, if Thou wouldst show us Thy "hands and feet" again, and torn +face, even as in the upper room that resurrection evening,[51] for that's +what we are needing. And yet, Thou art doing just that, but the things so +hold our vision! And the Master's answer is the same as to the young Jew. +We need the decisive "go"; the incisive, inclusive "sell"; the privileged +"give"; the new-meaninged "come" into His presence. And then we may get +"in behind" Him, and follow close up in the "same road," with eyes for +naught but Himself. + + + +Outstanding Experiences. + + +I want to follow the Master's plan, and ask you to take a good look at His +"Follow Me" road. You remember that we have had one talk together about +the characteristics of our Lord Jesus' life. Now we want to talk a little +about _the experiences_ of His life. And I do not mean that we are to try +to imitate these experiences, or any of them. The meaning goes much deeper +than this, and yet it marks out a simpler road for our feet. I mean that +as we actually go along with this Master of ours, these experiences will +work out in our lives. + +As we let Him in as actual Lord, and get our ears trained for His quiet +voice, there will come to us some of the same things that come to Him. + +The same Spirit at work within us, and the same sort of a world at work +without, will so work against each other as to produce certain other +results, now as then. It is not to be an attempt at imitation; it's far +more. It is to be _obedience_ on our part, a real Presence within on His +part, and a bitter antagonism without on the world's part; rhythmic full +glad obedience, a sympathetic powerful real Presence, a tense and +intensifying subtle, relentless, but continually-being-thwarted +opposition. The key-note for us is simple, full obedience. + +There were certain great outstanding experiences in our Lord Jesus' life. +Let us briefly notice what these were and group them together. There was +_the Bethlehem Birth_. That was a thing altogether distinctive in itself. +It was a supernatural birth, the Spirit of God working along purely human +lines, in a new special way, for a special purpose. It was a rare blending +of God and man in the action of life. It was followed by _the Nazareth +Life_; that was a commonplace life, lived in a commonplace village, but +hallowed by the presence of the Father, and sweetened by the salt of +everything being done under that Father's loving eye. The Father's +presence accepted as a real thing became the fragrance of that commonplace +daily life. And this life covered most of those human years. + +Then our Lord turned from the hidden life of Nazareth to the public +ministry. At its beginning stands _the Jordan Baptism of Power_. In the +path of simple obedience He had gone to the Jordan, taken a place among +the crowds, and accepted John's baptism. And in this act of obedience, +there comes the gracious act of His Father's approval, the Holy Spirit +came down upon Him in gracious, almighty power. And from this moment He +was under the sway of the Spirit of Power. This was the special +preparation and fitting for all that was to follow. + +At once the Spirit driveth Him into the Wilderness. And for forty days He +goes through the great experience of _the Wilderness Temptation_. In +intensity and in prolonged action, it was the greatest experience thus far +in His life. He suffered, being tempted. It was a concentration of the +continuous temptation of the following years of action. But the Wilderness +spelled out two words, temptation _and_ victory; temptation such as had +never yet been brought, and met, and fought; victory beyond what the race +had known. Temptation came to have a new spelling for man, v-i-c-t-o-r-y. +It came to have a new spelling for the tempter, d-e-f-e-a-t. + +After His virtual rejection by the nation as its Messiah,[52] and the +imprisonment of him who stood nearest Him as Messiah,--John the Herald, +there followed _the Galilean Ministry_. For those brief years He was +utterly absorbed in personally meeting and ministering to the crying needs +of the crowds. Compassion for needy men became the ruling under-passion. +He was spent out in responding to the needs of men. It was not restricted +to Galilee, but that stands out as the chief scene of this tireless +unceasing service. The Galilean ministry meant a life spent in meeting +personally the needs of men. + +In the midst of that, made increasingly difficult by the ever-increasing +opposition, there came the experience of _the Transfiguration Mount_. It +comes at a decisive turning point, where He is beginning the higher +training of the Twelve for the tragic ending, so surprising and wholly +unexpected to them. For a brief moment the dazzling light within was +allowed to shine through the garments of His humanity. What was within +transfigured the outer, the human face and form. And the overwhelming +outshining light was evidence to those three men of the divine glory, the +more-than-human glory hidden away within this human man. + +Then within a week of the end came _the Gethsemane Agony._ That was the +lone, sore stress of spirit under the load of the sin of others. In +Gethsemane He went through in spirit what on the morrow He went through in +actual experience. Gethsemane was the beginning, the anticipation of +Calvary, so far as that could be anticipated. Anticipation here was +terrific; yet less terrific than the actual experience. + +And then came the climax, the overtopping experience of all for Him, as +for us, _the Calvary Cross._ There He died of His own free will. He died +for us. He died that we might not die. He took upon Himself what sin +brings to us, while the Father's face was hidden. So He freed us from the +slavery of sin, made a way for us back to real life, and so touched our +hearts by His love that we were willing to go back. + +And close upon the heels of that came _the burial in Joseph's tomb_. The +burial was the completion of the death. The tomb was the climax of the +cross. He was actually dead and buried. The corn of wheat had fallen down +into the ground and been covered up. There was nothing lacking to make +full and clear that Jesus had died. + +Then came the stupendous experience of _the Resurrection Morning_. Our +Lord Jesus yielded to death fully and wholly. Then He seized death by the +throat and strangled it. He put death to death. Then He quietly yielded to +the upward gravity of His sinless life and rose up. He lived the dependent +life even so far as yielding to death, and now the Father quietly brought +Him back again to life, to a new life. + +And after waiting a while on earth among men, long enough to make it quite +clear to His disciples that it was really Himself really back again, He +quietly yielded further to the upward gravity, and entered upon _the +Ascension Life_, up in the Father's presence. That life is one of +intercession. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.[53] He is our +pleading advocate at the Father's right hand.[54] Thirty years of the +Nazareth life, three and a half years of personal service, nineteen +hundred years, almost, of praying. What an acted-out lesson to us on +prayer, the big place it had and has with Him, the true proportion of +prayer to all else! + +These are the experiences of our Lord Jesus that stand out clear above +the mountain range of His life. It was all a high mountain range; these +are the great peaks jutting sharply up above the range. + + + +At the Loom. + + +Now these peaks, these outstanding experiences, as you look at them a bit, +seem to fall naturally into three groups. There were certain experiences +of power and of privilege, the Bethlehem Birth, the Jordan Baptism, the +Nazareth Life, and the Galilean Ministry. + +There were experiences of suffering and sacrifice, the Wilderness +Temptation, the Gethsemane Agony, the Calvary Death, and the Joseph's Tomb +of Burial. + +And then there were certain experiences of gladness and great glory, the +Transfiguration Mount, the Resurrection Morning, the Ascension Life, and, +we shall find a fourth here also, a future experience, the Kingdom Reign +and Glory. + +These outstanding events, while distinct in themselves, are also +representative of continual experiences. The Jordan Baptism stands not +only for that event, but for the power throughout those forty and two +months. The same sort of suffering that came in Gethsemane had run all +through His life, but is strongest in Gethsemane. So each of these +experiences is really like a peak resting upon the mountain range of +constant similar experience. And these three groups of experience +continuously intermingled, interlaced and interwoven, made up the pattern +of that wondrous life. + +Now these same experiences of His are also the great experiences that will +characterize the "Follow Me" life, for every one who will follow fully. It +will always remain true that these experiences were distinctive of Him. +They meant more to Him than they will or can mean to any other. But it is +also true that they will come to us in a degree that will mean everything +to us. + +I want to change the figure of speech here. I think it will help. This +invitation, "Follow Me," is the language of a road, the picture of one +walking behind another in a road. And that will remain in our minds as the +chief picture of this pleading call. But there's another bit of picture +talking that will help. That is the picture of a weaver's loom, with the +warp threads running lengthwise, the shuttle threads running crosswise, +and the cross beam (or batten) driving each shuttle thread into place in +the cloth with a sharp blow. + +These three groups of experiences are like so many hanks of threads in +the loom, in which the pattern of life is being woven. The experiences of +power and privilege are the warp threads running lengthwise of the loom, +into which the others are woven. These make up the foundation of the +fabric. + +The other two groups make up the shuttle threads, running crosswise, being +woven into the warp. The experiences of suffering and sacrifice are the +dark threads, the gray threads, sometimes quite black, and the red +threads, blood red. The experiences of gladness and glory are the bright +threads, yellow, golden, sunny threads. + +And the daily round of life, the decisions, the actual step after step in +living out the decisions, the patient steady pushing on, is the beam that +with sharp blow pushes each thread into its place in the fabric being +woven. + +As we allow the same Spirit that swayed our Lord's life to control us, He +will work out in us certain of these same experiences. And the enmity +aroused, and working against that Spirit's presence and control, will +bring certain other experiences. Our part will be simple obedience, +listening, looking, studying quietness so as to insure keener ears and +eyes--it's the quiet spirit that hears what He is saying--then obeying, +using all the strength of will, and all the grace at our disposal, simply +to hold steady and true, and to obey, no matter what threatens to come, or +what actually does come. This will be found to be like weaving. + +Probably you have often heard of how the weavers work in the famous +Gobelin tapestry factories in Paris. They know nothing of the beauty of +the pattern being woven. They work on the "wrong" side, the under side of +the web. They miss the inspiration of seeing the rare beauty they +themselves are making. All the weaver sees is the apparent tangle of many +coloured threads and thread ends, while he thrusts in his needles +according to the card of instructions. The more faithfully and skilfully +he can follow the directions the better a piece of weaving work is done. + +We simply obey. We use all the strength we have, and the skill we can +acquire, in obeying. We are not to depend on what we can see or feel for +inspiration, only on the Master Looms-man; on His word, written, and +spoken in our hearts, and on His answering peace within. Obedience is the +one key-note for all the music. Surrender is the first act of full +obedience. Obedience is the habitual surrender. Our part is to hear right +and do what He bids. + +Some day we shall be fairly swept off our feet by the beauty of the +pattern He has been weaving--_if_ we've let Him have His way at the loom. + + + + +2. The Main Road--Experiences of Power And Privilege + + + +The Bethlehem Birth. + + +There were four of these experiences in our Lord's life. At the very +beginning came _the Bethlehem Birth_. That meant for Him a birth out of +the usual course of nature, yet working within nature's usual processes. +It was something more-than-the-natural coming down into the natural. The +power of the Holy Spirit came upon the pure gentle maiden of Nazareth and +a new human life was begotten by Him within her, and in due course came to +the maturity of birth. This was a distinctive thing with Jesus. + +Now, in quite a different sense, but in a very real sense, there will be +for us, too, a Bethlehem Birth. The Holy Spirit will come in and begin a +new life within us. This is the only beginning of the "Follow Me" life for +any of us. There's a something on the Spirit's part before there can be a +beginning on my part. Yet that hardly tells the whole story. My part is +really first; I open the door for Him to come in. When I accept Jesus as +my Saviour, that's opening the door. The Spirit comes in and begins the +new life within me. And yet there's another first before that first act of +mine. He woos me with His patient, tender love. That is the first first. +Then I open the door: at once He comes in, and does the thing which only +He can do. So begins the "Follow Me" life. This is the real, the only +beginning. + +And yet there's more here of the practical sort than we have thought of, +most of us. It means that there is within us a life higher than the +natural life, and this higher life is to _be_ higher, it is to be the +_controlling_ life. It is to hold the upper hand over the natural life. +The control is to be from above. That is to say, the motives and desires +of the upper life are to be dominant in my daily round. It is the +Father-pleasing life as contrasted with the natural life, of which we +talked a while ago. Wherever the two come in conflict, the upper is to +rule. + +Now, I know this rather runs across the grain of a good deal of our +so-called Christian life. There are a good many people who, let us really +believe, have been "born again," to use the familiar phrase, yet they seem +to have stayed in the being-born stage, the infancy stage. That which was +"born again" in them seems not to have been developed. It has never been +allowed to grow. The under life has been given the upper hand, and the +upper life kept strictly down. The salt isn't salty. The common round of +life is seasoned wholly by the old seasoning. + +Our Lord's "Follow Me" becomes a radical, decisive thing at the very +start. It means that we will allow this new life of the Spirit to grow +into lusty vigour, and to become the controlling life So it will be the +chief thing. All the life shall be directed and controlled _from above._ +This is a result that will come of itself if we really follow. Obedience, +and back of that the quiet time on the knees with the Book, will give food +and air and growing space to this new life, and its growth will crowd down +the other. + + + +The Jordan Baptism of Power. + + +Then there was a _Jordan Baptism of Power_ in our Lord's life. This stood +at the beginning of His leadership, His life-work, His service among men. +As He came up out of the Jordan waters He stood waiting in prayer. He was +expecting something. His whole being was absorbed in the expectancy of +what had been promised.[55] And that expectancy was not disappointed. None +that wait on God shall be put to confusion by any disappointment.[56] The +blue above was rift through, the Holy Spirit as a gentle dove came, and +remained upon Him, and the Father's voice of pleased approval spoke to His +grateful, obedient heart. From that time the whole control of His life was +absolutely in the hands of the Holy Spirit. + +This does not mean an inert passivity on Jesus' part; it meant a strong, +intelligent yielding to the Holy Spirit. It does not mean that His natural +faculties of mind and will and heart were held down, not to be used. It +means that they were actively, studiously used in discerning the Holy +Spirit's leading, and in doing as He directed. And it means that so there +came a fulness of life, an increasing life, into His faculties, mind and +will and heart. Our Lord Jesus used all His powers in yielding to the +inspiration and direction and control of the Holy Spirit, keeping ever +open to His suggestion, and making that suggestion the law of His own +action. + +And the Spirit of Omnipotence, working with the gentleness of a dove, +breathed upon those yielded powers, and breathed through them, even as had +been planned with the first breathing of this sort, in Eden. So from the +Wilderness clear up to the last Olivet command to the disciples, +everything was done at the bidding, the direction of this Spirit. And so +the almighty power was breathed into every word and action and bit of +suffering. The one key-note of the Master's action was obedience; the +result was the flooding of the Spirit's omnipotence through His obedient +faculties and life. + +Now, _as we follow_, this same sort of experience will be ours. What a +tremendous thing to say! Yet the road was being beaten down for _our +feet_. The Son of Man was simply showing to His brother-men the road we +were all meant to go, showing it by going in it. All the power that came +into Jesus' life will come into ours, _if_ He is given His way. For the +Holy Spirit is not measured out, either to Him or to us,[57] but poured +out without stint.[58] As we follow we shall be led along behind the Man +going before. + +There will need to be instruction, for we're so new to this road. And +human teachers are sent by the Holy Spirit to help us understand, teachers +in print, and teachers in shoes. There will need to be the initial act of +full surrender to the Lord Jesus as Lord indeed, for most of us have been +going another way than this. There will need to be a house-cleaning time, +for we have let in so much of another sort. + +A soft, but very honest, searching light will come flooding in through the +sky-light windows. And as we instinctively go to our knees and faces +because of what that light brings to light, there will be a wondrous +cleansing, both by blood and by fire. Then will come a filling of our very +being by this wondrous Spirit of God. + +How shall we know this filling, do you ask? There will be a quiet, deep +peace, at times a great joy that sings, but ever the deep peace that +_holds_ you, a new hunger for the old Book, and a new soft light on its +pages. There will be an inner drawing to talk with God, and an intense +desire to please Him, to find out what He wants you to do, and then to do +it. + +There will come other things too, of a less pleasant sort, temptation +will come anew, and a sense--sometimes very acute--of sin, a feeling that +there's a something within you fighting you, the new you. There will be an +increased sensitiveness to sin, and an intense hatred of it. This is what +the filling means. These things will tell you that He, the Spirit, has +taken possession of what you surrendered, and that He is now at work +within. These are His finger-prints. + +Then there will be the outflowing side of this filling. A passion that all +men may know this compassionate God, will come as a fire burning in your +bones. Its flames will envelop and go through everything you are and have +and can do. But under all will be the passion for pleasing the Lord Jesus. +Obedience will become the chief thing, holding everything else in check, +obedience to Him, pleasing Him, doing His will. + +The Bethlehem Birth is the _beginning_ of a new, a supernatural life +within; _this_ will be the actual life itself, in full vigour and power. +That is the supernatural birth, this the supernatural life. That is, there +is at work within you, very quietly and simply, a power more than the +natural, working through the natural order, and sometimes upsetting what +we may have grown to think of as the natural order. This is the Jordan +Baptism of Power, the Holy Spirit taking charge, and you living a +Spirit-controlled life. There's a new sign hung out over your life, "this +life is being conducted under new management." You won't say it; it won't +be shouted out. It'll be louder yet. Your _life_ will be telling it +continually. + + + +Power Is in the Current. + + +The word to emphasize here is _control_. You will find new meanings, that +you had not thought of, gradually working out of it. If the Holy Spirit +had control of us as He had of--Philip, for instance. He picked Philip up +out of the midst of the Samaritan crowd, where he was the human centre of +things, and put him down away off here in the desert,--_strange +contrast!_--and with one lone traveller, greater contrast yet![59] If He +were free to pick you and me up like that, out of these surroundings, +congenial and pleasant, and set us down where we had no thought of going, +and never would have gone of our own choice, and we sing as we are picked +up, _and_ keep on singing where we find ourselves amidst the uncongenial +perhaps, the strange, the unprecedented and hard,--_if_ He were free to +control like that these days, there would be a present-day Pentecost +beside which the Acts-Pentecost was but the beginnings of the throbbings +of power. + +There are some peculiarities of this "Follow Me" road here. There comes a +strangely new sense of proportion. As you follow close up behind the Man +ahead, you will grow _smaller_, and He will grow _larger_. No, that's not +an accurate statement; you won't _grow_ any smaller, you will only find +out how small you are. He won't grow any larger, you will simply be +finding out, and then finding out more, how large He is. It'll seem +strange to most of us, finding out our real size, or lack of the size we +always supposed we were. But it will come with a great awing, +heart-subduing sense, to find how marvellous in size this great Man is; +and yet He is our brother, as well as so immensely more. + +You come to find out that power, that thing that used to be so much talked +about, and defined, and yet chiefly wondered about, that power is a matter +of position. The man close in behind the Lord Jesus doesn't need to be +concerned about power. In fact he isn't concerned about it, only concerned +with keeping close in touch. All the rest comes without our being +concerned. It comes from him, the Man ahead. There is far more power, the +very power of God, softly flowing and flooding its way in and through and +out, than you are ever conscious of. Others will know more of the power +than you. You are thinking about the Man ahead, keeping in touch, pleasing +Him. Obedience has become a new word to you. It's the music of keeping +step, keeping step with Him. + +Have you noticed how much the current of the stream will do for you if you +are out in a row-boat? All you need to do is to keep up enough motion to +hold the boat within the sweep of the current. Then your chief task is +_steering_. You're not concerned about power; only about the steering. +There's more power in the current than you can ever use. Your one concern +is to keep out of the shallows and sucking side-eddies, away from snag and +rock, and _in the current._ The power's in the current. Right steering +brings all that power to bear on your little boat. + +Now, power here is a matter of steering, so far as our part is concerned. +We steer to get into the current of our Lord Jesus' will, and, by His +grace, we use all our will power in _keeping_ in that current, and out of +the shallows and suction-eddies at the side. The Lord Jesus, once spit +upon and crucified, now seated "far above all rule, and authority, and +power, and dominion, and every name that is named," and _at work on earth +through His Holy Spirit_,--this Lord Jesus, _free to do as He +chooses_,--this is power. _He_ is power. + +Power is the Lord Jesus in action, and the action is always through some +man's life. We steer so as to keep in touch. He acts through the man in +touch. And the hungry, needy crowds know a something coming to them, with +irresistible grateful sweep. + + + +Living a Nazareth Life. + + +There was a third experience in this group. Our Lord Jesus lived _the +Nazareth Life_. In actual order of time this came before the baptism of +power. I have changed the order here, and named it third simply for the +practical help in the change. With the Lord Jesus, the whole of the life +was under the sway of the Holy Spirit from birth on, through the earliest +conscious years, and all the years. With us, in actual experience, we are +all free to confess that it has not been so from our Spirit-birth on. + +That baptism of power at Jordan was without doubt a baptism of power for +leadership and service. Service and leadership ever need the time of +special waiting on God, and the fresh anointing by the Holy Spirit's +touch, the fresh consciousness of Himself, as the only source of power in +the service and leadership. + +In our actual experience the Holy Spirit, coming in power, has had much to +do in changing our habits, ourselves, and our lives, as well as in our +service. There has been so much service that has not been backed up by the +life, that many have come to feel, and to feel very deeply, that the power +in service must have its roots in the human side, deep down in the daily +habit of life. With our Lord Jesus that Jordan experience made no +difference of this sort in His life. There was nothing needing to be +changed. That Nazareth life had been lived continuously under the control +of the Holy Spirit. + +Look a moment at that Nazareth life of His. It means simply a commonplace, +treadmill round of life lived under the hallowing touch of the Father's +presence. This was according to the original plan. It is God's presence +recognized that hallows what is common. It is the absence of His presence, +that is, the leaving of Him out, that makes common things common; that is, +it makes the familiar thing and round _seem_ and _feel_ common. It's the +unhallowed and unhallowing touch of the selfish, of sin, that makes things +seem common, in the sense of not being holy and sweet and pure and +refreshing. Sin makes things grow stale to you. Selfishness affects your +eye, the way things look to you. God's presence recognized keeps things +fresh. His touch upon us, ever afresh, makes us fresh. Everything we touch +and see is touched by a God-freshened hand, and seen through a +God-freshened eye. + +Now Jesus lived this commonplace round of life, and lived it under the +ever-freshening touch of His Father's presence. It isn't the thing you do, +nor the things that surround you, that make your life, but the spirit that +breathes out of you in the midst of the things. It's the _you_ in you that +makes the life, regardless of surroundings. The outer things are the +accidents, you, the spirit that breathes out of you,--this is the real +thing. + +Jesus _lived_ it. That is the tremendous fact that Nazareth stands for. +He lived what He taught, and He lived it first, and He lived it far more +deeply and really than it could be taught to others. This was the basis of +those few service years. Nazareth lies under the Galilean ministry. There +were thirty years under the three-and-a-half-years. And the thirty years +crop up into and out of the three-and-a-half. The life lived was the great +fact at work, as the Man went about doing good. The hidden life of +Nazareth lies open in the Galilean ministry. + +When you are reading the wonderful works among the needy throngs, you are +reading the biography of the Nazareth years, in their outer reach. The +life you live is the thing that tells! This is the meaning of the thirty +hidden years. The Father said, "My Son shall spend most of His years down +there _living_, just living a true, simple Eden life; living with Me in +the midst of home and carpenter shop and village." This is what the world +needs so much to be taught, how to live. And the teaching must be by +living, teaching by action. The message must be lived. + +If we men might live Jesus! That's what the world needs. At one of the +smaller meetings of the Edinburgh Conference, in 1910, a Christian +gentleman from India, native of that land, said, "We don't need more +Bibles in India." And then to this surprising statement, he added, "We +have enough Bibles. If the Christians in India would _live the Bible_, +India would be converted." And I thought, that will do for America, and +England, and for all the world. _Jesus lived it_. As a man in His +decisions and actions, His habits and daily round, He lived the truth. + +The story is told of a missionary in some part of Africa who had not had +much success in his work. He was in the habit of explaining some portion +of the New Testament to the people at His house. One day the portion +contained the words, "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that +would borrow of thee turn thou not away."[60] The people asked him if this +meant what it said. He told them that it did. One of them said he would +like to have the table, pointing to it; another asked for a chair, another +for the bed, and so on. The missionary was rather startled at such literal +taking of his teaching. He told them to come again on the morrow, and he +would give his answer. + +When they had gone, he and his wife had rather a heart-searching time +together. They felt they had not reached the hearts of the people yet. But +to do as they asked meant real sacrifice of a very personal sort. At last +with much prayer they decided to meet the people where they had opened the +way. And so the next day they gave their answer, and soon the house was +literally bare of all its furnishings. And that night they slept on the +floor, yet with a sweet peace in their hearts in the midst of this strange +experience. + +The next day the people came back, carrying the furniture. They had +really been testing these new-comers. "Now," they said, "we believe you. +You _live_ your Book. We want you to teach us." And with open hearts they +listened anew to the Gospel story, and many of them accepted Christ. + +The little incident reveals the unity of the race. Those Africans said +what England and America and all the world is saying, "_Live it_." Is your +religion _livable_? What the world needs to-day is _a Jesus lived_, not +simply taught, nor preached about, but lived in the power of the Holy +Spirit. How the fire, the holy fire, of that sort of thing would catch and +spread! Oh, yes, it might mean sleeping on the bare floor! That's what +living-it means, the actual life overriding any mere thing that stands in +the way. + + + +Live It. + + +I stood one day on the abrupt edge of a little hill in a Southern Japanese +city. There, in a great tree hanging out over the edge, had hung the bell +that called together the faithful retainers of the lord of the province, +when they were needed. There, nearly thirty years ago, a little band of +Japanese youth, of noble families, had gone out at break of day one +Sabbath morning, and solemnly covenanted to follow the Lord Jesus, and to +devote their lives to making Him known throughout their land. Boys still +in their tender teens most of them were. And that covenant was not +lightly made, for already the fires of persecution had been kindled, and +these fires burned fiercely but could not compete with the fire in their +hearts. And as one goes up and down the island empire of the Pacific +to-day, he can find traces of their lives cropping up everywhere, like +gold veins above the soil. + +And as I sought to trace the hidden springs of the power at work behind +all this, I found it was in the _life_ of one young man, a simple, holy +life burning with a passion for Jesus. In this life could be found the +kindling of the tender flames burning so hotly in these young hearts. He +was a young American officer engaged, by the feudal lord of the province, +to teach military tactics and English. He dared not teach Christianity; +that would have meant instant dismissal. So for two years he _lived_ the +message, so simply and lovingly that he won the love of his pupils. Then +they came Sundays to his house to hear him read the English Bible, because +they loved him. As he prayed the tears would run down his face, and they +laughed to think a _man_ would weep, but they came because they loved him. +He really _loved them into the Christian life_. I was reminded of the line +in Hezekiah's song of thanksgiving after his illness, "Thou hast loved my +soul up from the pit."[61] This young teacher _lived his pupils to the +Lord Jesus_. The latter part of his life was a sad one, but nothing can +change the record of those earlier years. + +I saw recently a news item telling how many million copies of the Bible +are being printed every year. The item slurringly remarked that the +statisticians didn't seem concerned yet with figuring up how many of them +were read. But, I thought, what these Bibles need is a new binding. This +Bible I carry is bound in the best sealskin, with kid-lining. It is +supposed to be the best binding for hard wear. But there's a much better +sort of leather than that for Bible binding; I mean _shoe leather_. The +people want the Bible bound in shoe leather. When we tread this Bible out +in our daily walk, when what we are becomes an illustrated copy of the +Bible, the greatest revival the earth has known will come. With utmost +reverence let me say that our Lord Jesus wants to come and walk around in +our shoes, and live inside our garments, and touch men through us. + +I remember something in my early Christian life that was a sore temptation +to me. There were some Christian leaders who had helped me greatly by +their preaching and writings. Then it chanced that I was thrown into +personal contact with them, now one, now another. And I had a sore +disappointment. It's hard to find that your idol has clay feet. It's +doubtless wrong to have idols. Yet youth is the time of such idol worship. +The disappointment was a very sore one. Then out of it I was led to see +that the Master never disappoints. And there was a drawing nearer to +Himself alone. + +And then a questioning arose: was some one perhaps looking at me? And a +burning desire came to be more in life than in speech, not only for the +sake of some one, perchance looking; but for the sake of that other One, +the Man with eyes of flame, His looking. I need hardly tell you that it +has been my blessed privilege to have had personal contact with leaders +whose fragrant lives are so much more than word or act. + +The Nazareth life means that the Lord Jesus lived His message, amid +commonplace surroundings, in the midst of what is called the dull monotony +of the daily round. That is, in the place where it is hardest to do it, He +lived every bit of what He taught. And as we follow, simply, obediently, +the Spirit will lead us along this same road. The same experience will +happen to us. Could there be a greater evidence of the power of this Holy +Spirit than to do such a thing with such as we know ourselves to be? Yet +He will, _if_ we let Him. A big "if" you say? But not too big to be taken +out of the way, out of His way. He will live out through us what He puts +into us, by and with our constant consent. + +This is the meaning of the Nazareth life. Our part is obedience, simple, +intelligent, strong obedience to Him. The result will be this same +experience, a Nazareth life of purity and power lived by the Spirit's +power. + +This was the thought in the mind of Horatius Bonar, as he wrote of the +unnamed woman who anointed our Lord's head, and of whom Jesus said that +what she had done should be told as a memorial of her, wherever the Gospel +should be preached. + + "Up and away like dew in the morning, + Soaring from earth to its home in the sun, + So let me steal away, gently and lovingly, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + My name and my place and my tomb all forgotten, + The brief race of time well and patiently run, + So let me pass away peacefully, silently, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + Gladly away from this toil would I hasten, + Up to the crown that for me has been won, + Unthought of by man in reward and in praises, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + Up and away like the odours of sunset + That sweeten the twilight as darkness comes on, + So be my life--a thing _felt_ but not noticed, + And I but remembered by what I have done. + + Yes, like the fragrance that wanders in freshness, + When the flowers that it comes from are closed up and gone, + So would I be to this world's weary dwellers, + Only remembered by what I have done. + + I need not be missed if my life has been bearing, + As the summer and autumn move silently on, + The bloom and the fruit and the seed of its season; + I still am remembered by what I have done. + + I need not be missed if another succeed me, + To reap down these fields that in spring + I have sown; + He who ploughed and who sowed is not missed by the reaper; + He is only remembered by what he has done. + + Not myself but the truth that in life I have spoken, + Not myself but the seed in life I have sown, + Shall pass on to ages--all about _me_ forgotten, + Save the truth I have spoken, the things + I have done. + + So let my living be, so be my dying, + So let my name be emblazoned, unknown,-- + Unraised and unmissed I shall still be remembered, + Yes,--but remembered by what I have done." + + + +The Galilean Ministry. + + +The fourth experience in this group was _the Galilean Ministry_. Our Lord +Jesus gave Himself up to helping those in need. He devoted Himself to +personal service among men. After John's imprisonment He withdrew to +Galilee and ministered to the needy. + +There were crowds of them. They were in sorest need of body and spirit. +And He gave Himself freely out to them in glad helpful service. He met +their need. He did whatever their condition called for. He ministered to +their bodily needs. He mingled among them freely as an older brother or +friend, holding their children on His knees while He talked with them over +their concerns and troubles. But He didn't stop there. Having won their +hearts, He met their deeper needs. He comforted their hearts, talked to +them one by one, drawing out their hearts, and speaking of the Father. + +And as the crowds thickened, He taught and preached to the multitudes. He +was a preacher, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. He was a teacher, +bit by bit, line upon line, patiently teaching and explaining to them +about the Father's love, and about the true life and how to live it. Three +words are used several times to characterize that Galilean ministry, +teaching and preaching and healing.[62] + +He warned against sin, patiently wooing erring men and women away from +their sin into lives of purity, and strengthening the young and earnest in +their purposes. The need of the crowd swept Him like a strong wind in the +young trees. He couldn't resist their plea. The presence of a man in need, +of either body or spirit, took hold of His heart. Over and over we are +told that He was "moved with compassion." What a life it was! What a heart +He had! + +Now our Lord Jesus calls us along this bit of the road. That is to say, +the Holy Spirit within us will make our hearts tender and compassionate, +even as our Lord Jesus was. The crowds always moved Him tremendously. He +couldn't stand the great dumb cry that the mere presence of a multitude +rang in His ears. The mere presence of some one in need, earnestly +seeking, played upon the strings of His heart. + +Does the crowd get hold of your heart as you elbow your way through them, +or look down into their faces? Is it just a crowd to you? Or is it a great +company of hungry hearts, half-starved lives, so needy for what only this +Lord Jesus can give? The dumb cry of the crowds, in crowds and one by one, +comes up in our ears to-day. Do you hear it? I say "dumb," for they don't +know themselves what it is they need. They feel the need. Restless and +chafing, they feel without knowing just what it is they lack and need. + +When the Spirit that swayed the Lord Jesus comes in, He mightily affects +your heart. You feel with something of our Lord's feeling. And you _must_ +help. You know that the one thing, the only thing, that can really +radically meet their need is this Saviour Jesus. You must do something to +get them really to know Him. And that something comes to be everything. +Service isn't a pastime; it's a passion. That "must" sends you out on glad +unheralded errands to help in any way you can, and in every way by which +the Jesus message can get to them. + +The "must" of His tender passion within keeps you steadily pushing ahead, +regardless of not being understood by some, nor your efforts appreciated +by others. The flame of that "must" takes hold of time and strength and +possessions. It becomes the delight of your life to minister to the needs +of men, even as He did. You see them through His eyes. You feel their need +through His heart. _And_--this is a great _and_--if you really follow as +simply and fully as He leads, you will find _the same power_ working out +through your effort as through His, though there will be immensely more of +it than you will know about. + +But--there's a "but" that needs to be put in here--the key-note will not +be service, but _obedience_. The need will not be the controlling thing. +It will move you tremendously; it will kindle a sweet fever in your heart, +a fever to help; it will take hold of your heart strings and play upon +them until you almost lose control. But it must not be allowed to control. +That belongs to Him alone. + +The key-note is not need, nor service to meet the need, but obedience. +There is a Lord to the harvest. His plans are worked carefully out. He +takes Philip away from the crowded meetings in Samaria to talk with one +man. It was doubtless a strategic move to touch lives in Africa, as well +as to meet this one man's need. He feels the need more than you ever do or +can. His ears are keener, His heart more tender. He is in command. You do +as He bids. So you help most in meeting the need. + +He Himself when down here left the crowds, when they were so great that +the towns were overwhelmed and they had to be taken out to the country +places. He would leave these crowds and go off quietly to get alone with +His Father.[63] All that tireless ministry was under the direction of +Another. He went off for close touch, and fresh consultation with His +Father. + + + +The Father's Image in the Common Crowd. + + +Have you ever wondered what there was in those common crowds to attract +our Lord Jesus? Perhaps if you have ever walked in those narrow crowded +alleys called streets, in China or Japan, you may have wondered, +sometimes. Tired, dirty, pinched faces, eyes vacantly staring, or else +fired with low passion, high-keyed voices bickering and jangling,--all +this crowds in and out on every hand. Dirt, disease, low passion, +selfishness, apparent absence of anything noble or refined, are all +tangled inextricably up with these in human form. + +And our Lord Jesus lived in an Oriental world. Is there any world quite +like it, except indeed it be the slums of our western world cities, +European and American? City slums seem to be our western point of contact +with the greater part of the eastern world. What was there to attract the +Lord Jesus to these crowds? Their need, you answer. Yes, no doubt, their +terrible need did move Him with compassion, to the hurting point. + +But was there more than this? Something He said one time has made me +think there was something more, a pathetic, tremendous more, that took +hold of His heart. Could it be that He saw some lingering trace of the +Father's face in these faces? His eyes were very keen. He had seeing eyes. +And these men have all been made in the Father's image. Has that image +ever been wholly lost?--terribly blurred and scarred by sin, yes; but +wholly lost? Do you think so? I think not. + +Those wondrous eyes of His looking into men's tired, pinched faces, +disfigured with passion or sorrow, or with sheer weariness of +existence--did He see something of the Father's face looking appealingly +up to be helped out of their sad plight? I wonder. Was it as though the +Father's face cried out to Him out of these poor beaten faces? I think so. +Do you remember that time when our Lord Jesus associated Himself so +closely with just such men and women, in talking of a coming day? He says +"inasmuch as ye did it to one of these My brethren, these least, ye did it +unto Me."[64] Listen to those words, "My brethren"! He is thinking of just +such crowds as He Himself ministered to, and as you find to-day in +Oriental city and in European and American slum. What is done for them is +done to Him. Their need is His need; their cry, His. It's Jesus coming to +us in these crowds. Their need is Jesus Himself appealing to us. And the +Jesus within us will answer with heart and life to this Jesus coming to +us in the pitiable need of the crowds. + +I do not mean to use that word "pitiable" chiefly in the bodily sense, +though there's so much of that. But it has a deeper meaning. Here is this +fair young face turned to yours in the social group, here this strong +young man needing nothing that money can buy, but yet very needy, both of +them. In their young, eager faces the hidden away image, the +not-yet-touched-into-new-life image of the Father looks out asking for +help, help out into growth amidst so much that holds back. Inasmuch as +your light, tactful touch is given here, it is done unto Jesus. Jesus is +helped into the life, the God-image crowded back within is helped to get +out into free expression. + +You may not be sent to some distant field as young Borden was. Your +personal place may be at home. But the crowd, the need, is everywhere; at +home, in the social circle, and among the men driven by the passion for +business and for pleasure, in this dangerously prosperous land of ours. +Need of body even here, and deeper need of spirit. Much more tact is +required, Spirit-born tact and patience and alertness, to touch and help +these. + +But the Spirit will guide. He has a passion for men in their need. He has +exquisite tact in touching men under all circumstances. He will take +command of your life here as elsewhere. He will lead you into a life of +personal service in helping men. And He will lead you _in_ that service. +This is the Galilean Ministry which will work out in your experience as +the Holy Spirit has control. This is a bit of the "Follow Me" roadway. + +These are the four experiences of power and privilege. They are as the +great underlying experiences of our Lord's career. The other experiences +grew up out of these. These were the warp threads in the loom of His life. +The others were woven into these. This is the main road that He trod. It +is the main road of this "Follow Me" journey. It is along this road, +between its beginning and end, that we shall run down into the valley-road +stretches, and run up to the stretches along the hilltops. + + + + +3. The Valleys--experiences of Suffering And Sacrifice + + + +The Never-absent Minor. + + +Here the road begins to drop down into the valleys. It runs sharply down, +and on, through some wild gulches and ravines thick with lurking danger, +with the upper-lights almost lost in the deep black darkness. It is +darkness that can be felt more than the Egyptian darkness ever was. It +proves to be the valley of the shadow of death, then--of death itself, +before the upward turn comes. + +The weaver we were speaking of finds some strange shuttle-threads to be +woven into the pattern, gray black, ugly black threads, and red threads +almost wet and sticky in their blood-like redness. + +Yet this is part of the road that was trodden, and that is still waiting +to be trodden by feet sturdy and bold enough to go on down into the +shadows, before the upward turn is reached again. And these threads will +work out a rare beauty in the pattern being woven. + +Is there perfect music without the underchording of the minor? Not to +human ears. For they are attuned to life as it has really come to be. And +the minor chord is in real life, never quite absent; and the minor chord +is in the true human heart, never wholly absent. And only the music with +the minor blended in is the real music of human life. Only it can play +upon the finest strings of the human heart. + +But this sort of thing, the getting of beauty out of ugly threads, the +getting of music where there is discord, the upward turn again of the +valley road, all this is a bit of the touch of God upon life, where the +hurt of sin has come in. Only the Lord Jesus can make music where sin had +brought in and wrought out such discord. Only He can change the weaving +into beauty, where the ugly slimy sin-threads have come in. He can lead up +again out of the depths, but only He. His blood, Himself, is the thing +added that makes music where no melody had ever been a possible thing; and +gives the weaver's threads the transforming touch that works beauty where +there was only the ugly; and pulls you up again to the higher levels. The +good never comes out of bad. It comes only by something radically +different coming in and overcoming the bad. + +In Seoul they showed us the great bell hung at the crossing of certain +chief streets there. And then they told us the bell's legend. In early +twilight times an artisan had made a great bell at the king's command, but +the tone of it was not pleasing to the royal ears. So a second one was +made, and a third, but neither was satisfactory. Then the king said that +if the man did not make a bell with pleasing tones his life should be +forfeited for his failure. This was very distressing for the poor +unfortunate bell-moulder. + +His daughter, a young girl in her teens, either had a vision, or felt +within herself that a sacrifice was the thing needful to give the bell its +true tone. And so she resolved to give herself to save her father, and +with rare fortitude one night she plunged into the great pot of molten +metal. And the tone of the bell was so sweet and musical that the king was +delighted. And the maker, instead of being killed, was highly honoured. So +ran the simple bit of Korean folklore. + +We ran across legends quite like it in other parts of the Orient. They all +seemed to point, with other similar evidence, to the feeling deep down in +human consciousness of the need of sacrifice. Is it a bit of an innate +instinct in our common human nature, that only through sacrifice can the +hurt of life be healed? However this be, it certainly is true, that the +touch of Him who gave His life clear out for men, that touch is the thing, +and the only thing, that can make music where there was only discord. It +is only His pierced hand upon weaver and web that touches ugly threads +into beauty as they are woven into the fabric of life. Only He can lead us +up out of the valley of death up to the road of life along the high +hilltops. + + + +The Wilderness. + + +You remember, there were four experiences of suffering and sacrifice in +our Lord Jesus' life. The first of these was _the Wilderness Temptation_. +That rough road He took led straight to and through a wilderness. He was +tempted. He was tempted like as we are. He was tempted more cunningly and +stormily than we ever have been. + +It was a pitched battle, planned for carefully, and fought with all the +desperateness of the Evil One at bay against overwhelming forces. It was +planned by the Holy Spirit, and fought out by our Lord in the Spirit's +strength. For forty full lone days it ran its terrific course. But our +Lord's line of defence never flinched. The Wilderness and Waterloo, those +two terrific matchings of strength, the one of the spirit, the other of +the physical, both were fought out on the same lines. Wellington's only +plan for that battle was to _stand_, to resist every attempt to break his +lines all that fateful day. The French did the attacking all day, until +Wellington's famous charge came at its close. + +Our Lord Jesus' only plan for the Wilderness battle was to _stand_, having +done all to stand, to resist every effort to move Him a hair's breadth +from His position. That battle brought Him great suffering; it took, and +it tested, all His strength of discernment, and decision, of determined +set persistence, and of dependent, deep-breathed praying. And through +these the gracious power of the Spirit worked, and so the victory, full +joyous victory, came. + +Now it comes as a surprise to some of us to find that the "Follow Me" road +leads straight to the same Wilderness. No, it is not just the same, none +of these experiences mean as much to us as they did to Him. They are +always less. But then they mean everything to us! We will be tempted. So +surely as one sets himself to follow the blessed Master, there's one thing +he can always count upon--temptation. Sooner or later it will come, +usually sooner and later. So the Evil One serves notice to contest our +allegiance to the new Master. + +The tempter sees to it that you are tempted. That belongs to his side of +the conflict. And quickly and skilfully, and with good heart he goes at +his task. Through the weak or evil impulses and desires within us, and +through every avenue without, those dearest to us, and every other, he +will begin and continue his cunning approaches. It is well to understand +this clearly, and so be ready. The closer you follow this Man ahead, the +more, and the more surely, will you be tempted. It is one of the things +you can count on--temptation. + +But, steady there, steady! the tempter can't go a step beyond attacking, +without your help. He can't make a single break in your lines from +without. The only knob to the door of your life is on the _inside_. +Temptation never gets in without help from within. I have said that the +Wilderness spelled two words for our Lord Jesus, temptation _and_ victory. +We may use His spelling if we will. A temptation is a chance for a +victory. Begin singing when temptation comes; out of it, resisted, comes a +new steadiness in step, and a new confidence in the victorious Man of the +Wilderness.[65] + +But let me tell you _how_ the victory comes. It comes through our Lord +Jesus. And it comes by His working _through your decision_ to resist to +the last ditch. + + + +"Lead Us Not." + + +The Lord Jesus gave us two special temptation prayers to make. The one is: +"Lead us not into temptation."[66] That petition has been a practical +puzzle to many of us, and the explanations not always quite clear. Would +God lead us into temptation? we instinctively ask. And the answer seems to +be both "yes" and "no." + +The "yes" means that character can come only through right choice. We must +decide what our attitude toward wrong shall be. It is only temptation +resisted that makes the beginnings of strength. Before temptation comes +there may be innocence but never virtue. Innocence resisting temptation +becomes virtue. The temptation is the intense fire in which the raw iron +of innocence changes into the toughened, tempered steel of virtue. It is +essential to character that it resist the wrong. It is choice that makes +character. The angels in the presence of God are continually choosing to +remain loyal to Him. Choice includes choosing not to choose the evil, to +refuse it. Adam was tempted; the temptation was bad, only bad; but it +could have been made an opportunity to rise up into newness of strength. +Job was led into temptation, and he failed when the fires grew in heat, +and touched him close enough; and then he learned new dependence on God +alone instead of on his own integrity. + +That's the "yes" side of the answer. We must decide what we will do with +evil. The presence of evil forces choice upon us. The one thing God longs +for is our choice, free and full choice. Freedom of choice is the image of +God in which every man is made. We are like Him in _power_, in the right +to choose; we become like Him in _character_ when we choose only the +right. God would lead us into opportunity for the choice on which +everything else hinges. The prayer says: "Lead us not into temptation." +The prayer becomes the choice. It reveals the decision of your heart. The +man who thoughtfully makes the prayer makes the choice. + +And with that goes the "no" side. Certainly God would not lead us into the +temptation to do wrong.[67] And so He has made a way--it's a new way since +our Lord Jesus was here--a way by which we can have the full opportunity +for choice, and yet be sure of always choosing the right, and so growing +into His image in character. To pray, "Lead us not into temptation," is +practically saying, "I will go as Thou leadest. Lead me. I am willing to +be led. I was not ever thus, nor _prayed_ that Thou shouldst lead me on. I +loved to choose and see my path, but now--but now, lead _Thou_ me on. Here +I am, willing to be led. I put out my hands for Thee to grasp and lead +where Thou wilt. I'll sing, 'Where He may Lead, I'll Follow." This is the +only safe road through the Wilderness. We yield wholly to His control. + +May I say reverently, this was the way our Lord entered and passed through +the Wilderness, wholly under the control of Another--the Holy Spirit. He +chose to yield to that control. The Spirit acted through His yielding +consent, and flooded in the power that brought the victory. Even He in His +purity needs so to do. How much more we in our absence of purity, and so +absence of strength. "Lead us not" means practically, that we get in +behind this victorious Lord Jesus. We refuse to go alone. + +The Wilderness spells only defeat for the man who goes alone. We must +yield wholly to this great lone Man who went before. We lean upon Him. We +trust Him as Saviour from the sin that temptation yielded to has already +brought. We will trust His lead wholly now as temptation comes. We will +stick close and be wholly pliant in His hands. This is the first +temptation prayer our Lord gives us. It means our utter surrender to His +leadership. + +Then there is a second prayer for temptation use: "Watch and pray that ye +_enter not_ into temptation."[68] This goes with the other. It is the +partner prayer. Be ever on the watch, and pray, that you may not _enter_ +into temptation. Guard prayerfully against acting independently of your +Leader. Watch against the temptation. Watch yourself lest you be inclined +to go off alone, to break away from His lead. For there will be only one +result then, defeat. These two prayers together show the way to turn +temptation into victory,--"lead not," "enter not." A temptation is a +chance for a victory if you never meet it alone, but always under the lead +of the great Victor of the Wilderness. + +Then it may help to put the thing in another way. There are two steps in +victory over temptation. The first is recognition. To recognize that the +thing coming for decision is a temptation to something wrong,--that's the +first step in victory. It pushes the temptation out into the open. You say +plainly, "This is something to be resisted." The second step as you set +yourself to resist is to plead the blood of the Lord Jesus. That means +pleading His victory over the tempter. That's the getting in behind Him +and depending wholly upon Him. + +"Follow Me" takes us into the Wilderness, and leads us into victory there. +There we will learn more about prayer, and music, and the Master, and get +new strength and courage on this stretch of the valley road. + + + +Gethsemane. + + +At the farther extreme of the service years, there came to the Lord Jesus +the other three of these dark experiences, all three close together. On +the night of the betrayal came _the Gethsemane Agony_. That was a very +full evening. Around the supper table they had gathered and talked, and +the Lord Jesus had made His last, tender but fruitless effort to touch +Judas' heart by touching his feet. There was the long quiet heart-talk in +the supper room after Judas had gone out, "and it was night" for poor +Judas.[69] + +Then the talk continued as they walked across the city within view of the +great brass vine on Herod's temple, so beautiful in the light of the full +moon. And then, as they walk through the narrow, shadowed streets, the +shadows come into the Lord Jesus' spirit and words.[70] Now they are +outside the wall of the city, out in the open, under the blue, and with +upturned face, the great pleading prayer is breathed out.[71] Now they are +across the Kidron, and now in among the shadows of the huge olive trees of +the garden called Gethsemane. + +It's quite dark and late. He leaves the disciples to rest under the +trees, and with the inner three He pushes a bit farther on. And now He +pushes on quite alone in the farther lone recesses of the woods. And now +the intensity of His spirit bends His body as He kneels, then is +prostrate. And the agony is upon Him. He is fighting out the battle of the +morrow. He is sinless, but on the morrow He is to get under the load of a +world's sin; no, it was yet more than that, He was to be Himself reckoned +and dealt with as sin itself. All the horror of that broke upon Him under +those trees, more intensely than it had yet. The brightness of the full +moon made the shadows of the trees very dark and black, but they seemed as +nothing to this awful inky black shadow of the sin load that would come, +no longer in shadow but actually, on the morrow. + +The agony of it is upon Him as He falls prostrate on the ground, under the +tense strain of spirit. Out of the struggle a bit of prayer reaches our +awed ears, "_If it be possible_ let this cup pass away from Me; yet not as +I will, but as Thou wilt." And so tense is the strain that an angel comes +to strengthen. With what reverent touch must he have given his help. Even +after that the great drops of bloody sweat came. But now a calmer mood +comes. The look full in the face of what was coming, the realizing more +clearly how the Father's plan must work out, these help to steady Him. +Again a bit of prayer is heard, "Since this cannot pass away; since only +so can Thy plan for the world be accomplished Thy--will--be--done." The +load of the world's sin almost broke His heart that dark night under the +olives. It actually did break His heart on the morrow. This is the meaning +of Gethsemane, intense suffering of spirit because of the sin of others. + +And at first thought you say, surely there can be no following for any of +us in this sore lonely experience of His. And there cannot. He was alone +there as on the morrow. None of us can go through what He went through +there. For, it was _for us_, and for our sin that He went through it. And +yet there _is_ a following, if different in degree and in depth of +meaning, yet a very real following. While Gethsemane stands a lone +experience for Jesus, yet there will be _a_ Gethsemane for him who follows +fully where He asks us to go. + +There will be a real suffering of spirit because of the sin of others. We +will see the world around us through those pure, seeing eyes of His. We +will _feel_ the ravages of sin in those we touch, with something of the +feeling of His heart. Close walking with Christ brings pain and it will +bring it more, and more acutely. We will see sin as He does, in part. We +will feel with our fellow-men toiling in its grip and snare as He did, in +part. There will be sore suffering of spirit. This is the Gethsemane +experience, and it will not grow less but more. + + "'O God,' I cried, 'why may I not forget? + These halt and hurt in life's hard battle + Throng me yet. + Am I their keeper? Only I? To bear + This constant burden of their grief and care? + Why must I suffer for the others' sin? + Would God my eyes had never opened been!' + + And the Thorn-crowned and Patient One + Replied, '_They thronged Me too. I too have seen_.' + + 'But, Lord, Thy other children go at will,' + I said, protesting still. + 'They go, unheeding. But these sick and sad, + These blind and orphan, yea and those that sin + Drag at my heart. For them I serve and groan. + Why is it? Let me rest, Lord. I _have_ tried--' + + He turned and looked at me: + '_But I have died_!' + + 'But, Lord, this ceaseless travail of my soul! + This stress! This often fruitless toil + These souls to win! + They are not mine. I brought not forth this host + Of needy creatures, struggling, tempest-tossed-- + They are not _mine_.' + + He looked at them--the look of One divine; + He turned and looked at me. '_But they are mine_!' + + 'O God, I said, 'I understand at last. + Forgive! And henceforth I will bond-slave be + To thy least, weakest, vilest ones; + I would not more be free.' + + He smiled and said, + '_It is to me_.'"[72] + +The word Gethsemane has not been used accurately sometimes. And it is not +good that it is so, for it keeps us from appreciating what the real +meaning is. In poetry and otherwise it has been used for some great +experience of sorrow in which the soul has struggled alone. But there are +two things in the Gethsemane experience that give it a meaning quite +different from such. The Gethsemane sorrow is on account of the sin of +others, _and_ it comes to us through our own consent, of our own action. +We need not go through the Gethsemane experience save as we make the +choice that comes to include this. It is only as we _choose_ to follow +fully, close up to His bleeding side, where the Lord Jesus is leading, +that this experience of pain will come. + +Moses knew what this meant. As he came from the presence of God in the +mount the sin of the people seemed so terrible, that the fear that +possibly it could not be forgiven unless he made some sacrifice sweeps +over him and came out as a great sob.[73] The sight of their sin brought +sorest pain to his spirit. Paul tells us there was a continual cutting of +a knife at his heart because of his racial kinsfolk, their sin, their +stubbornness in sin, the awful blight upon their lives.[74] There was +sore, lone, unspeakable pain of spirit because he felt so keenly the sin +of others. This is the Gethsemane experience. Have you felt something like +this as you have come in touch with the sin, the blighted lives, the +wreckage of lives among both poor and rich, lower class and better? You +will if you follow where He leads. + + + +Calvary. + + +Then came the morrow. _The experience of Calvary_ came hard on the heels +of Gethsemane. The pain of spirit became both pain of body and pain of +spirit, intensified clear beyond what the night before had anticipated. +How shall I trust myself to speak of that morrow, or you to listen? Yet, +let us hold still, and, for a great purpose, look at it again, if only for +a moment, that the meaning of it, the flame of it may take fresh hold, and +consume us anew. + +Gethsemane was followed by a sleepless night, while bitter hate brought +its utmost iniquity and persistence to hound this Man to death. Nine, of +the next morning, found Him hanging, nailed on the cross, crowned with the +cruel mocking thorn crown. From nine till three He hung, while the strange +darkness came down over all nature from noon till three, the blackness of +midnight shutting out the brightness of noon. The Father's presence was +withdrawn. This tells the bitterness of the cross for Jesus as does +nothing else. + +It was out of a breaking heart that the cry was wrung, "My God, My God, +why didst _Thou_ forsake Me?" When you can penetrate that darkness you may +be able to tell how really Jesus took our place, and suffered as sin for +us,--not before. Then with a great shout of victory He gave up His life. +His great heart broke. He died. He died literally of a broken heart. The +walls of that muscle were burst asunder by the terrific strain on His +spirit. + +_He died for us_. He who so easily held off the murderous mob with their +stones, now holds Himself to that cross,--_for us_. This is the Calvary +experience. It can be felt, but never explained fully; words fail. It can +be yielded to until our hearts are melted to sobs, but never fully told in +its tenderness and strength to others. It can bring us down on knees and +face at His feet as His love-slaves for ever,--so is its story best told +to others. That breaking heart breaks ours. That pierced side pierces +through all our stubborn resistance. That face haunts us. Its scars tell +of sin, ours. Its patient eyes tell of love, His. Was there ever such sin? +Was there ever such love? Was there ever such a meeting of sin and purity, +of love and hate, of God's best and Satan's worst? + +Surely there can be no following _here_! And, strange to say, the answer +is both a "no," with a double underscoring of emphasis, and a "yes," that +will come to have a like emphatic underlining. _No_, there can be no +following. Here, He is the Lone Man who went before. And He remains the +Lone Man in what He did, and in the extent of His suffering. There is only +one Calvary. There was only the One whose death could settle the sin score +for us men. It is only by His death for our sin that there is any way out +of our sore plight of sin, and sin's own result. There the Lord Jesus did +something that had to be done, for the Father's sake; there He broke the +slavery of our sin; there He broke our hearts by His love. There He stands +utterly alone in what He did. Calvary has no duplicate, nor ever can have. +That is the emphatic "no" side of the answer. There can be no following on +that road. + +And yet,--and yet, there can be. There is a "yes" side to the true, full +answer. There will be a Calvary experience for every one who really +follows. His was _the_ Calvary experience, ours is _a_ Calvary experience. +It does not mean what His meant for the world. But it enters into the +marrow of our very being, and means everything to us. It means that as I +really follow there will come to me experiences of sacrifice that will +take the very life of my life--_if_ I do not pull back, but persist on +following the beckoning hand. And it means too, that there will be in a +secondary, a minor sense, a redemptive value in my suffering. That +suffering will be a real thing in completing the work of some man's +redemption. + +Listen to Paul. He has been writing to the Corinthian Christians in much +detail, of the suffering he has been going through of both body and +spirit, and then he adds, "_so then death working in me worketh life in +you_."[75] The same thought underlies that wonderful bit of tender, +tactful pleading in the eleventh and twelfth chapters of the same letter. +The same thing is put in a rather startling way in the epistle to the +Colossians,[76] "I ... fill up on my part, in my flesh, _that which is +lacking_ of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the +Church." + +This fits in with the thought in that word "began" in the beginning of the +book of Acts.[77] In a very real sense our Lord depends upon our faithful +following to supplement among men the great thing which only He could do. +Paul knew _a_ Calvary experience, and Peter and John, and so has, and +will, every one who follows the pierced hand that beckons. Ask Horace +Tracey Pitkin at Paotingfu if he understands this. And the China soil wet +with his blood gives answer, and so do the lives of those who were won to +Christ through such suffering throughout China. Ask David Livingstone away +in the inner heart of Africa, and those whom no man can number in every +nation, who have known this sort of thing by a bitter, sweet experience, +some by violence, some by the yet more difficult daily giving out of the +life in hidden away corners. + + + +The Underground Road. + + +And hard following this came _the Burial in Joseph's Tomb_. "Christ died +for our sins and ... He was buried."[78] "Joseph took the body, ... and +laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, and he +rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb."[79] "The chief priests and +the Pharisees ... went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, +the guard (of Roman soldiers) being with them."[80] + +Out of that sealed tomb comes with the emphasis of action, the emphasis of +death, this word, "except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, +it abideth by itself alone."[81] The only pathway of life is the +underground road. For our Lord, Joseph's tomb made the death clear beyond +doubt. The tomb was the climax of the death. He was dead and buried. For +him who follows it means this, _a burial clear out of sight in the soil of +the need of men's lives_. He who simply gets in behind and faithfully +follows will find himself actually being buried in the needs of men. And +only where there is such a burial can there come resurrection power into +the life. + +I remember a friend in Philadelphia, a young man who resigned an +influential position to go out as a missionary in India. And another +friend not at all in sympathy remarked sneeringly in my hearing, "He's +gone to bury himself in India." He spoke more aptly than he knew. The +years since have told what a blessed burial that was. For scores of lives +in Southern India have known the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus +through his service. + +Do you remember when the Greeks came to Philip with their great plea, +"Sir, we would see Jesus"?[82] Whether really from Greece, or +Greek-speaking people from elsewhere, or simply non-Jewish people, they +represented the outer, non-Jewish world coming to Jesus. The Jew door was +slammed violently in His face, but here was the great outer-world door +opening. And He had come to a world! But instantly, across the vision so +attractive to His eyes, there came another vision, never absent from His +spirit those last weeks, the vision black and forbidding, of _a cross_. +And He knew that only through this vision of a cross could the vision of a +world coming be realized. And out of the sore stress of spirit, that for a +few brief moments shook Him, came the quietly spoken, tense words, "Except +a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone." + +The road to Greece is not over the sea here to the west, not the overland +caravan route up north through Asia Minor; it is the road down through +Joseph's tomb. That was true for Him. It was by that road that He so +marvellously reached the Greeks and all the world. And this is true for +us. It is only by this road that we can reach out to the crowds with the +reach-in that touches heart and life. + +These are the four experiences of suffering and sacrifice. This is the +dip-down in the "Follow Me" road where it runs through a darkly shadowed +valley. These are the dark and red shuttle-threads being woven into the +web, by repeated sharp blows of the batten-beam. These are the minor +chords that, coming up through the strains of music, give a peculiar +sweetness to it. + + + +What Is Sacrifice? + + +Now you will note that the chief thing in all this is _sacrifice_. The +chief thing in all of our Lord's life, clear from Bethlehem to Calvary and +the tomb, was sacrifice. It runs ever throughout; it finds its tremendous +climax in the cross. And the word to put in here in quietest tone--the +quietest is tensest, and goes in deepest--the word is this: _Following +means sacrifice_. It means sacrifice as really for the follower as for the +Lone Man ahead. + +That word "sacrifice" has practically been dropped out of the dictionary +of the Christian Church of the western world. It has not been wholly lost. +There is much real sacrifice, no doubt, under the surface. But, in the +main, it is one of the lost words in our generation of the Church. We are +rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing that we cannot +provide by the lavish use of money; so we think. And the loss of that word +explains the loss from our working dictionaries of another word, _power_. +For the two words always go together. + +But please note what sacrifice means. For we may get confused in the use +of words, and like the Hebrews in Isaiah's day call things by the wrong +names.[83] Sacrifice does not merely mean suffering, though there may be +much suffering included in it. But there may be suffering where there is +no sacrifice. It does not mean privation, though there may be real painful +privation in it. But again there may be much privation and pain without +any element of sacrifice entering in. + +The heart of sacrifice is that it is voluntary, and that it really costs +you something. It is something that would not come to you unless you +decide to let it come. It is wholly within your power to keep it away, and +it brings with it real pain or cost of some kind. Sacrifice means doing +something, or doing without something, that so help may come to another, +even though it costs you some real personal suffering of spirit, or of +body, or both, or lack of what you should have and would enjoy. + +And please note that sacrifice is _not_ the key-note of the "Follow Me" +life. We are not to seek for sacrifice. Perhaps that is quite a needless +remark. We are not likely to seek for it. No one loves a cross any more +than did Peter, when he had the hardiness to rebuke his Master.[84] And +yet we remember those earnest souls in earlier times, who shut themselves +up behind monastic walls, and inflicted pain upon themselves by privation +and by bodily self-infliction. And we cannot help admiring their +earnestness and saintliness, even while we see how morbid was their +conception of life, and how completely they got the true order reversed. +And there can be found some here and there, among us to-day, with the same +idea. + +But the key-note of the true life is not sacrifice. It is obedience. +Sacrifice is something coming in the pathway of obedience. There come the +places and times where you cannot obey without making a sacrifice. +Obedience involves sacrifice. And the sacrifice may be of the very real, +cutting, hurting sort, personally. The whole instinct of one's being is +against it. This seems to be carrying things quite too far, we think. And +so the test is on. The sacrifice is not sought. It is shrunk from with all +the vigour of one's nature. Obedience means that you go steadily on, no +matter how it cuts, or how much it costs. + +And the motive under the obedience is usually the decisive thing. If that +motive be a personal passion for the Lord Jesus, then you only wait long +enough to be quite clear of His leading, of what He would have you do. And +then you go on, regardless of the personal loss or pain to yourself. The +key-note of the "Follow Me" music is obedience, simple, sane, poised, full +obedience. + + + +How Much It Cost God. + + +One day out in Illinois, while visiting a small church college, I was told +this story of one of the students. He had felt very deeply the need of the +foreign mission lands, and the plea being made for men to volunteer to go +out as missionaries. And after much thought and prayer he had decided to +volunteer. But he felt he must first get his mother's consent. So he wrote +of his purpose and asked if she were willing that he should go. In due +time the reply came back. It was a mother's letter to her son, full of a +mother's endearments. But the paper was marked with tear-stains. She gave +her consent. She said, "I'm glad my boy wants to go, and I'm glad to have +you go, but"--and here the writing was blurred with the teardrops that had +plainly fallen as she wrote--"_I never knew before how much it cost God to +give His Son_." + +There was the whole story of sacrifice as it came to that mother. There +was the sore need of the people in foreign lands for the Gospel of Christ. +That need had not been met. The need in its sore pressure had become an +emergency, largely an unappreciated emergency. The tragedy of an unmet +emergency had moved the son's heart to action, under the touch of the Holy +Spirit, and then it came to the mother's heart. The decision rested with +her. Her inner heart told her the Master's desire. She obeyed, with +exquisite pain in her heart over the separation, maybe separation for +life, from her son. The key-note is obedience, even though it may mean +cutting pain. + +The whole test of love and of life is in sacrifice yielded to as the need +may come. In God's first plan of life there is no sacrifice. God never +chooses sacrifice as His first choice for any one, not even for His Son. +But sin is here, an abnormal, foreign thing. Life is shot through and +through with its ugly markings. You can't go a foot's length down the +pathway of obedience without finding the keen edge of a knife, freshly +sharpened, held across the path with its cutting edge toward you, +challenging your advance, doing its utmost to hold you back. + +And only as the breast is bared to the cutting until a bit of your red +life stains the knife, only so can there be any of the power of God in, or +through, or out of, your life. But turn that sentence around, and smile in +your heart as you remember this, as you do push quietly on past the +cutting knife, and say never a word about the knife or the sharp pain--the +best folks never talk about their sacrifices, they are too intent on the +Man just ahead,--as a man so does, there come into his life a fire and a +fragrance that burns and breathes out wherever he goes. + +It is sin that makes sacrifice. Sin did the carpenter work on the cross, +our sin. Sin grew the thorns, and then served as weaver to make the +mocking, cutting crown--our sin, yours and mine. Love yields to the +sacrifice, His love for us, His love in us for the others. Sin is +everywhere. Its finger-print is in nature, and its scar on human life. And +sin's ravages make cruel need, and need intensified makes emergency, and +these involve sacrifice as we rise to meet need and emergency. + +And love is everywhere. That is, it would be, it will be, if it can find +human feet to carry it. It will be if our Lord may have His way. Sacrifice +is Love's healing shadow. Sacrifice is love giving the oil and wine of its +own life to bind up the wounds that sin has made. The "Follow Me" road is +marked red, so you trace His footprints who went ahead, and theirs who +follow. + + + +What Obedience Has Meant for Some. + + +But, no one can decide for another what obedience may mean for him. You +may not tell me, nor I you. It is intensely interesting to note what +obedience has meant to some. It led Paul to give up inheritance and family +prestige, social standing, fellowship in university circles, a home life +of scholarly quiet and research, and to be reproached and ostracized, to +be homeless having no certain abiding place, dependent on his own hands +for daily bread, as he went burning like a flame from end to end of the +Roman world. And at the end it meant a prison, and block and axe. + +I met a rare Christian nobleman in London, of an old, honoured family, of +whom a friend told me this. This nobleman had a large inheritance. Among +other things a certain estate. He felt led to place the estate on the +market, get the best possible return for it, and then with his shrewd +business sense, prayerfully to place the proceeds where he felt they would +help best the cause of Christ. And to a friend who expressed appreciation +and approval of such unusual action, he quietly said, "I want no praise +for this; if the poor Jew had to give one-tenth, surely a rich Christian +can do very much more." That was what obedience, at that point, meant to +him. + +I knew a Canadian woman who had been led to a higher level in her +Christian life. A friend put into her hands a bit of manuscript, to which +she had access, thinking it would help her in her new life. The manuscript +was read, and returned through the friend to its writer. He had intended +having it published with some others, if a publisher could be found +willing to accept it. Then he had felt that he would do nothing with it +until very clear leading came. He did not want to do anything, except as +he was led. If the Master wanted to use the writing, it was there if He +chose to give the word for its use. + +Sometime after as the woman was busy with her nursing work she was on +night duty, and had her quiet time in an interval of the night's round. As +she was reading her Bible and praying, she said, "A voice said to me very +quietly, 'Send Mr. Blank twenty-five dollars to publish ----'" [naming +the title of the article she had read]. Twenty-five dollars taken out of +her frugal savings would leave quite a hole. But the impression that came +with the message was unmistakable. And so the money was sent. And it was +received by the writer of the manuscript as the Master's answer for which +he had been waiting. And that was the beginning of some little books whose +messages have been graciously used to bring help to many lives. Her bit of +obedience was a link in the chain, and so a bit of her life is in the +printed messages the Master has been using. The tracing of red was on the +gold, and on the messages sent out. That was what obedience meant that +time to her. And obedience usually has its hardest time when its struggle +is over a bit of gold. + +A friend took us driving one day up in Scotland, and told this story as we +passed through a beautiful estate. A few generations back it belonged to +one who followed fully. And in response to the clear inner leading the +estate was sold, and the proceeds used in sending the message of a +crucified, risen Christ, out to the farther ends of the earth. + +It was at the same time that a like incident came personally to me of +another Scottish friend of our Lord Jesus. The beckoning call was so +distinct, and the answering need so clear in its echo, that he planned a +moderate annuity for the remainder of his life, and loosed out all the +rest of his wealth on the same sort of errand. I do not say you should do +something of this sort. And you may not tell me what I shall do. Only the +Master has that privilege. But we can urge each other to have trained +ears, and soft heart, and obedient will; ears for what the Master is +saying, a heart softened by the warmth of His, a will gladly obedient to +His slightest wish. + + + +Necessity--Luxury. + + +And our Lord Jesus speaks very distinctly, though so quietly. His meaning +is unmistakably plain to listening ears. He is quite apt to take you off +for a little walk and talk. What kind of a house do you live in? What +proportion of your income do you spend on yourself? What is in those +safety-deposit boxes? How much would it mean to Him if your signature at +the bottom of legal papers put some property at His disposal? Take a look +through your wardrobe; who and what controls there? No, I'm not talking +about money, nor about missions, only about a personal passion for the +Lord Jesus, and about the passion _in_ Him for His world. + +"But," you say to yourself, "there's danger of going to extremes here, is +there not?" Yes, there is; you are quite right. Extremes are bad, we +should be on our guard against them. There is nothing more desirable in +these days than sane, poised judgment, a sound mind. And be it keenly +marked that the man who is really swayed by the Holy Spirit is peculiarly +a sane, well-balanced man. That is one mark of the Spirit's presence. + +Yet there's more to be said. _Our Lord Jesus went to extremes_. He went to +a great extreme on the cross, did He not? Is there any extreme like that +of Gethsemane? and Calvary? It is because He went to such extremes, and +the West knows about it, that the West is so radically different from the +East, and that you and I are redeemed from the slavery of sin, with a +sweet peace in our hearts, and so much happiness in our lives. + +The distressing thing is that there is so much of going to extremes. Go +through the Christian homes of the western world to-day, and you find home +appointments, wardrobes, safety-deposit boxes, bank books, title deeds, +all spelling out one word, spelled in capital letters, EXTREMES. But that +key-note, named several times already, gives the only safe +way--_obedience_. We need to be on our guard, not so much lest we go to +extremes at either extreme, but that we _obey_ our Lord Jesus. That, and +that only, leads to the wise, well-balanced judgment and action. Obedience +to Him means true sanity. + +Where do you draw the deciding line between necessity and luxury? How do +you define those two words? What is necessity? And what is luxury? Simple +definitions help much in getting clear ideas. The dictionary says, a +necessity is something you must have. And a luxury, in its root meaning, +is an extravagance, something "wandering beyond the proper boundary." The +trouble is to know how to draw the line when it comes to one's own +affairs. There is such a big difference between what you want and what you +need. And often we don't want to go into such distinctions. They might +bother our consciences a bit. It seems difficult to keep one's poise in +such things. Some godly people go to extremes in not providing +sufficiently for real needs. Most of us go to the other extreme. Where +does the true dividing line come in? + +Well, I think you can say truly that _whatever keeps up and adds to your +strength_ can properly be called _a necessity_. All beyond that line is +luxury. It is the part of wisdom to provide carefully and well for +necessities. Luxury is _bad_, for it really saps our strength. It makes a +man less vigorous in every way. And yet more can be said. The question of +need comes in. Luxury is wrong because of the crying need of men for what +the money spent in luxury would bring to them. I think chiefly now of the +need of their lives for what can come only through a knowledge of Christ. +The bitter cry of the common people against Louis XVI, at the time of the +French Revolution, was that the royal family lived on the costliest +delicacies while many of the common people were actually starving. They +thought that was the chief crime to be expiated at the guillotine. + +What is necessary for one's strength moves on a sliding scale. As years +come, and the sort of work one does and his strength change, his needs +increase. What might at one time have been reckoned luxury is now a real +necessity for his best strength and work. _Whatever ministers to one's +strength is a necessity_. All above this becomes luxury, and so is both +hurtful to strength, and wrong in itself. + +A missionary returning to his home-land, on furlough, noted on his first +return home that what had been considered luxuries before he left, were +now reckoned necessities; on his second furlough he noted again that what +had been reckoned luxury on his first return was now counted necessity. +And each return home found this condition repeating itself. + +It reminded me of the experience of Sir John Franklin in one of his Arctic +explorations. His ship was hemmed in by an ice-field so that progress was +impossible. All he could do was to calculate his longitude and latitude, +and wait. The next day he was still hemmed in, and so far as he could see, +was exactly where he had been on the previous day. But on calculating +longitude and latitude again, he was surprised to find that the ship had +drifted several miles backward from the position of the previous day. + +It would be a sensible thing for us to make frequent calculations, and +find out where we are, and prayerfully steer a changed course if we've +been drifting. But we can't decide such questions for each other, and they +can't be decided by what another does. They can only be decided alone on +one's knees with the Master, with the Book, and perhaps a map of the world +at hand. We need both the Word of God, and a view of the world of God to +shape our judgment. No, it's not a question of money primarily, nor of +missions, only of personal loyalty to our Lord Jesus, and to the passion +of His heart. + + + +Grafted. + + +Have you noticed the significance of that word "abide" which our Lord used +on the night of His betrayal?[85] "Abide" means a grafting process; we +were branches in the vine, but we were broken off by sin. The only way to +abide in that vine is by being grafted in. "Abide" means grafted. But the +grafting process has two wounds. It means a knife used twice. It means a +wound in the vine-stock, and our Master flinched not there. It means +likewise a wound in the branch to be grafted in. Just as surely as the +knife must make the incision into the stock, it must also cut the end of +the branch before it can be grafted in. Our Master flinched not. How about +you and me when it comes to the knife, with its sharp cutting edge, and +slash and sting? + +Perhaps this explains why there's so little life, so little sap-flow, so +little fruit. If you follow along the narrow road your progress is sure +to be barred by a knife thrust out across the path. And the whole +instinct of our nature is to shrink from the knife. The sacrificial knife +becomes the pruning, the grafting knife. There can be no life without that +knife. Failure to obey cuts off the supply of life. + +I became greatly interested in a young man whom I met in Japan. He comes +of a noble, wealthy family. He attended a mission school to study English, +learned to read the Bible, became intensely interested, and then decided +to become a Christian. But his family was violently opposed, and pleaded +earnestly with him. He would in time be the head of his family, but if he +insisted now on being a Christian he would be disowned. He was to be +trained in the Imperial University, and could have chosen a public +national career including the probability of membership in the Imperial +diet, but he remained true to his decision. And he was disowned in +disgrace, cast adrift without a cent. Now he is devoting himself to +mission work in the city where I met him, working among the neediest and +lowest. I was told that the police gladly say that his mission has greater +power than they in preserving order in that worst quarter of the city. + +The night I stood by his side, speaking through his interpretation, a +Japanese policeman dragged up a couple of youths who had been giving +trouble, and pushed them in, saying, "Here's the place for you; now listen +to that." And I have never been in a simple service where the quiet +intense power of God was more marked. This is what obedience meant to him. +And this too is what abiding meant. He yielded to the grafting knife, and +the life of the vine-stock came flowing freely through, bearing abundant +fruit. + +A few years ago I read a simple story in "The Sunday-school Times" that +brought a lump in my throat. The writer told of a south-bound train +stopping at a station near Washington City. At the last moment, an old +negro with white hair came hurriedly forward and clambered on the last +coach as the train pulled out. He was very black, and very dusty, and +single occupants of seats looked apprehensive as he shuffled along looking +for a seat. But he did not offer to intrude, but stood at the end of the +car, looking with big wondering eyes down the car. He was evidently very +tired. Then a young man offered him space in his seat, for which he seemed +very grateful, and with child-like simplicity began talking. + +He was going back home "to Georgy"; had been up in Virginia for years with +the rare old slave loyalty serving his old master between times, while +earning his own way. Now his master was dead and he was going back down to +the old home state, "back to Georgy," and the words came softly, while his +hand tenderly patted the seat cushion. Clearly Georgia was the acme of +happiness and content for him. As the train boy came through, the young +man bought some sandwiches for the old negro. He was very grateful. Yes, +he _was_ hungry, and had walked several miles to get the train. He +couldn't spend money for "victuals"; "money's too skase fur buying things +on the road," he said, "I was 'lowin' ter fill up arter I done reach +Georgy." + +Then the conductor came in for tickets. The black man anxiously fumbled +through one pocket after another, and finally remembered that his ticket +was pinned to the lining of his hat. "Done tuk ebery cent I could scrape +up to get dat ticket," he said, "but dat's all right. I kin wuk, an' fo'ks +don' need money when dey's home." The conductor had passed on to the next +seat behind. There sat a shabbily dressed woman, with anxious, +frightened-looking face, the seat full of bundles and a pale-faced baby in +arms. + +"Tickets, please." + +The woman's face flushed red, and then grew white and set, as she said, "I +haven't any." + +"Have to get off then; save me the trouble of putting you off." + +The woman sprang up with terror in her big eyes, "Don't put me off; my +husband's dying; the doctor said he must go South; we've sold everything +left to send him; now he's dying; I must go to him. But I have no money, +don't put me off. My God--my God--if you--" Her plea poured out in +excited, jerky sentences. But the conductor could do nothing. He must obey +his instructions, or be discharged. The woman sank back sobbing, in the +seat. The conductor turned back to get the old negro's ticket. + +"I'se feared you'll have to put _me_ off, boss," he said humbly, "don't +expect a pore ole nigger like me to raise enuf fur a ticket." The +conductor harshly ordered him off the train at the next station, saying +there was some excuse for the poor woman, but none for him. The train +began to slow up for the station. The old negro quietly dropped his ticket +into the lap of the woman, saying, "Here's yo' ticket, missus. I do hopes +yo' find dat husban' o' yourn ain' so bad as yo'se afeared." And before +her dazed eyes could take in what he was doing, the old man had shuffled +out of the car, and as the train pulled on he was seen quietly plodding +along, still "bound for Georgy." + +And there was no mention of Christ in the story, but one who knows the old +typical slave class to which he belongs needs not to be told of the motive +down in his heart. That's what obedience, unanalyzed, undeliberated about, +meant to him. Have you ever worn the "Georgy" shoes? Have you ever tramped +to "Georgy"? If some of us might find out the old man's cobbler and get +some "Georgy" tramping shoes! The way of obedience is a way of sacrifice. + + + + +4. The Hilltops--Experiences of Gladness and Glory + + + +Valley Music. + + +There was a third group of experiences in our Lord Jesus' life. But it +will be good for us to remember that the third comes after the second. +There can be no third until there has been a second. It is impossible to +take first and third and omit the second. The third can come only after +the second. There can be experiences of gladness and glory only to him who +follows all the way. The hilltop experiences come after going down through +the valley. And there is no way of reaching the hills except through the +valley. + +But there is a hilltop roadway of exhilarating air and outlook for him who +has been through the valley. The valley is only part of the way. There are +heights, too, as well as depths. And if the depths have seemed very deep, +yet remember the valley depth tells how high the height is. The only way +up is down. And you go as high up as you have gone down, and then a bit +higher. For you started down from the level of the main road, and you go +up above the level. But you go up higher than you go down. The hilltops +are higher above the main road than the valley is below. The glory comes +to be more than the sacrifice. + +Sacrifice is only one-half of a chapter, the first half; there is a second +half, the musical half. There's a wondrous singing in the heart, even +while the knife is cutting, such as only he knows who goes this way. +There's a breeze from the hilltops that comes sweeping down through the +trees, while you are slowly picking your way along the rough, narrow +valley road. That breeze plays upon your inner strings and makes rare +AEolian melody. It is the breeze of God playing upon the heart-strings of +your soul. But _this_ music is heard only in _this_ valley road. Lovers of +music say there is nothing to compare with it. + +You remember the words, "who for the _joy_ that was set before Him."[86] +Ah, the joy! As the Master's feet slipped down into the dark shadows--the +shame, the cross, the tomb--there was something else under the pain He was +suffering. There was a low underchording of sweet minor music, the +rhythmic swinging of His will with His Father's. And that music still sang +as He slipped down quite out of sight under the cold waters of the river +at the bottom of the gorge. + + + +The Transfiguration Mount. + + +There were three of these glory experiences in our Lord's life, with a +fourth one yet to come. Midway in the last year came _the Transfiguration +Mount_. In a sore emergency, for the sake of the leaders of His little +band of disciples, the inner glory of His being was allowed to shine out +through His humanity. The glory of God shined out from within Him. The +usual fashion of His countenance was altered by the dazzling beauty-light +shining out through it. + +And this too will be true of those who follow truly. As we live with our +faces ever held open to Him, the glory of His face will be reflected in +ours, and we shall be changed more and more into His image.[87] I have +frequently told the story of the jurist who lived in our middle-west +country two generations ago, a confirmed but honest sceptic, and who was +converted by the _face_ of a fellow townsman. The sceptic became +thoroughly convinced that the thing in his neighbour's face which so +attracted him was his Christian faith, and it was this that led the +sceptic to accept Christ. Last year, I met out in the Orient a kinswoman +of the man with the convincing face. + +I remember distinctly one night, years ago, in northern Missouri, a young +woman waited at the close of a meeting with her friend. We talked and +prayed together and she made the great decision. I can remember looking +after the two as they went out, wondering to myself how much it meant to +her. I could not judge from her demeanour. But the next night they were +back again, and instantly I knew that it had meant much, everything, to +her. The transfiguring peace was upon her face. I would have called her +face plain the evening before. Now it was really beautiful in the sweet +clear light shining out of it. + +Two things stand out sharply in my memory of Ping Yang, in Korea. One is +the visit to the home of a Christian family, whose head was one of those +being held in prison in the famous conspiracy case. I still feel the +pathos of face and voice as the dear old mother, and the gentle wife, +asked so eagerly, "When will he be back?" + +The other, was the faces of certain of the women in the church service +there. I found myself time and again turning to look at their faces as I +was speaking. There was a sweet light that transfigured their worn faces, +and gave them a real beauty. It was the more striking against the +background of the faces one sees in those Oriental lands. + +The story has been told in various ways of the European artist sent to a +Salvation Army meeting to make a caricature. He was an infidel, with a +sinful life, an uneasy conscience, and a sore heart. But the faces he saw +there of those redeemed out of the depths of sin, convinced him that they +had what he needed, and what he afterwards got, at the same place as they, +the feet of Christ. One who has looked into the faces at some of the +Salvation Army meetings has no trouble believing the story. + +Now this is part of our Master's great plan for reaching His world. He +comes in to us, if we let Him. He changes us as we yield to Him. The +beauty of this wondrous One within shines out of face and eyes, and +touches those whom we touch. His presence transfigures when He is allowed +to dominate. We are changed from within. Though like Moses and Stephen we +will not wist of the transfiguration, only of the Great One whose presence +within it is that makes the change. We know the peace and music within; +others know more of the change in face and life. + + + +Resurrection Power--A Present Experience. + + +There is a second experience in this group. In sharpest contrast with +Jacob's tomb stands out _the Resurrection Morning_. Our Lord Jesus rose up +out of death. The strongest bars that death could make--and surely every +one of us has some sore experience of their strength in holding dear ones +from us--those strongest bars were snapped, as a woman breaks the cotton +thread in her sewing. + +Our Lord Jesus rose up again into life, and into a new, a higher, a +different sort of life. The personal identity was unchanged. His disciples +recognized His voice and face and form, as they talked and ate with Him. +But the limitations were gone. The control of spirit over body was +complete. + +And it is a bit of His gracious plan that we shall follow Him here, too. +When He returns in glory there will be a resurrection for those who have +followed Him. As He comes down on the clouds, the dead bodies of those who +have the warm vital touch with Him, that the word "believeth" stands for, +will be touched into a new life and be reunited with the spirits that had +lived in them. + +There will be a wondrous meeting in the air with Himself, and an equally +wondrous reunion in His presence of those bound to us and to Him by ties +of love. Our personal identity will be the same, loved ones instantly +recognizing loved ones. But the bodies will be of a new sort, free of all +the limitations and weaknesses of our earth life. And our Lord's return is +peculiarly precious because it is the time of this change and reunion. + +But there is yet more than this. This is something future. There is a +present meaning of the resurrection-life for us, to-day, if we'll accept +it, and live in the power of it. There _may_ be the resurrection life and +power coming into our bodies now. As the need comes, it is our privilege +to look up, and ask for, and experience resurrection power coming down +into our bodies, overcoming their weaknesses and diseased conditions. + +The subject of healing involves much more, for a full poised +understanding of the Scripture teaching, than can be satisfactorily talked +over in the brief limits here. But the great fact can be thus simply +stated, that there is full healing for our bodies by God's direct touch +upon them. But this means on our part living a real faith life, looking up +moment by moment, receiving from His hand constantly what is needed, and +using it wholly for Him. It is actually a living of the dependent life as +regards the bodily needs. + +Paul is clearly speaking of a present experience when he says, "If the +Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that +raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your dying +bodies by means of His Spirit that dwelleth in you."[88] But this +resurrection power coming in to affect our bodily conditions is frequently +in the midst of most difficult trying circumstances. It is as though a +subtle hindering power were tenaciously at work, and this were being +offset and overcome by the resurrection power. + +It was under just such circumstances that Paul writes these words: "We who +live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, _that the life +also_--the resurrection life--_of Jesus may be manifested in our dying +bodies_."[89] This as plainly means a present experience of power in our +bodies, overcoming weakness, disease, and the tendency to death. + +This is the present meaning of the resurrection for us. But it is possible +only for those who _will_ live the resurrection life of separation and of +union; separation from all that separates from the closest union of life +with our Lord Jesus. And it comes oftentimes through much conflict and +difficulty. This bit of the road is much contested. + + + +The Ascension Life--Power in Possession. + + +When our Lord Jesus had tarried long enough to make clear to His disciples +His actual bodily resurrection, He ascended to the Father's right hand, +and was seated there in the place of highest honour and power. So He began +living _the Ascension Life_. That means two things, it is the life of +fullest power in actual possession; _and_ that power is exercised through +prayer,[90] His, and then--ours. Through His intercession with the Father, +and through our intercession in Christ's Name, the power comes from the +Father through Christ to us, and so through us. + +Our Lord Jesus is eager to have us follow Him here also. Following this +time means, actually using the power that has been placed at our disposal. +It means receiving from His pierced hand all He has actually redeemed for +us by His precious blood. There is so much that is ours by right that we +do not take and use. Some do not take because they don't live where they +_can_ take. And some live where they can take, who yet do _not_ take. + +Since the Father thinks of us as risen with Christ and seated with Him in +the place of highest power, we should seek to live up there, by His +grace.[91] The ascension life for us means simply living the actual life +of power that has been made possible for us, and using that power through +prayer. + +It helps to remember here just how much may be included in that word +"prayer." One cannot be all the time on his knees, praying with his lips. +And it certainly was not meant that we _should_ be. Yet there can be +prayer "without ceasing." Prayer is an _act_, the kneeling, and giving +voice to the desires of our hearts. Then the act grows into a _habit_, as +this becomes one of the fixed things of our daily round. And the habit +full grown, becomes a _life_. All the life grows out of that bit of +kneeling-time, and all the life is carried to it. The hidden springs of +the life are here. + +And prayer becomes _a mental attitude_. You think of everything that comes +up, opportunity, difficulty, emergency, crisis, plannings,--you +instinctively come to think about each thing from the standpoint of the +kneeling-time. And so prayer grows to be _an atmosphere_. You live your +life in His presence to whom you kneel. He is always present. You come to +recognize His presence, which means that His presence dominates all your +life. He, this One whom you go to meet at the kneeling-time, He is +_always_ here with you, listening to the unspoken thoughts. By and by you +come instinctively to think your thoughts as in His presence. Your +longings, plannings, difficulties are held open before Him. Prayer becomes +the atmosphere you breathe. + +And so prayer comes to be a _person. You_ are the prayer. The Father +looking down comes to recognize you, by your very attitude of heart, as a +prayer, a continual, walking, living prayer, as you go quietly about your +simple, homely round. And the powers of evil, too, so recognize it. And +the Man at the Father's right hand recognizes in you one whom He has +redeemed, and who, by His grace, would be and do and have, in actual life, +all He has gotten for you. + +And through that six-fold continuous prayer, by the man who yields all, +and reaches out _for_ all that is now his, the power of God is being +continually loosened out among men, and the Father's plan being worked +out. So, our Lord's ascension life at the Father's right hand, finds its +echo in the ascension life being lived by His follower on the earth. + + + +The Coming Glory. + + +Then comes the glorious future experience, _the Kingdom Reign and Glory_. +Some day our Lord Jesus will rise up from His seat, and step again into +the direct action of the affairs of earth. Soon after that day He will +begin reigning over the earth as its King. The later pages of the Old +Testament are all aglow with the glory of that time. He shall reign from +the Mediterranean, at the centre of the earth, out to the farthest +sea-coast line, and from the Euphrates east and west to the most distant +ends of the earth.[92] + +And those who have followed Him during these trying days of His absence, +shall reign with Him over all the earth, and be sharers in His glory.[93] +He will give both grace and glory.[94] Grace is the beginning of glory, +and glory is the fulness of grace. It is all grace, free unmerited favour. + +Now I have grouped these experiences in this way to get a clear +understanding of them. But we must remember that they did not come in +groups in Christ's life, and they won't in ours. The red and yellow +threads, the dark and bright, are interwoven throughout the web, to make +the beauty of the pattern. The minor chords come up here and there through +the others, sometimes overcoming, sometimes yielding to, the joyous +notes. The road of life runs valley and hill, valley and hill, up and +down. + +There were great crises in Christ's life, and there may be, there quite +likely will be, crisis points in ours, but in the main the hard places +intersperse with the smooth going. The weaver sitting at his loom runs in +a dark shuttle-thread, and then a sharp blow of the beam puts it in place; +then a bright thread and a sharp blow of the beam, and so, slowly, +patiently, threads and blows follow each other till the design has been +worked out. + +Even so will it be in this "Follow Me" road. A glad, joyous experience may +be followed by the one that is bitter and that hurts; and that again, +perhaps, by something gladsome and cheery, while the daily round of life +plods slowly on, day after day, week in and out, as the calendar works its +steady way to the end, and then begins anew. + +But all the while there's the presence of the wondrous One, unseen by +outer eyes, but unmistakably real. And His presence gives peace. And +there's an unfailing, guiding hand, whose grasp steadies you as you push +along. + +This is the road. And yonder, just ahead, is the Lone Man, whose wondrous +face calls, and the reach of His pierced hand beckons. Let us take a +careful look at the road, and a long look at the Man, and then----. + + + + +Shall We Go? + + + +The Deeper Meaning of Friendship. + + +A friend in need is a friend indeed. Our Lord Jesus was our friend in our +need. It was a desperate need. It could not be worse. We had been badly +hurt by sin. The hurt was so bad that we could do nothing without help. +Our Lord Jesus came to our help. + +It was not easy for Him to be our friend. Friendship is sometimes very +costly. His reputation went, and then His life. But He never flinched. He +was thinking of us. Our need controlled Him. There were two controlling +words in our Lord Jesus' life--passion and compassion. He had a passion +for His Father. He had compassion for us. The two dovetailed perfectly. +The Father had an overwhelming compassion for us. The passion for the +Father in our Lord's heart included the throbbing, sobbing compassion for +us. The compassion was the manward expression of the passion for the +Father. + +It was this compassion that controlled Him those human years. It drove Him +hard along the road we've been looking at. He was driven into the +Wilderness, through the years of sacrificial service, out into the grove +of the olive trees, up the steep hill of Calvary, down into the depths of +Joseph's tomb. Step-by-step He pushed His way along, for He was thinking +of His Father and of us. The passion for the Father meant a compassion for +us. Things proved worse in realization as He came up close to them, as +they began to touch His very life. But He never wavered. He never +flinched, for He was thinking of us. He was our Friend, our Friend in our +desperate need. A friend in need is a friend indeed. It was by deeds that +He met our needs. + +But friendship is mutual. It has two sides, its enjoyments and its +obligations. That word "friendship" has two meanings. It means fellowship. +Two who are congenial in thought and aim and spirit can have sweet +fellowship together as they make exchange with each other of the deep +things of their spirits. This is one meaning, and a sweet, hallowed +meaning, too. Then there is the other. You are in some sore need. It is a +desperate emergency in your life, and out of the circle of your friends +one singles himself out, and comes to your aid. At real cost or sacrifice +to himself perhaps, he gives you that which meets and tides over your +emergency. + +This is the deeper, the rarer meaning of the word, rarer both in being +less frequent and in being very precious. Fellowship friends may be many; +emergency friends very, very few. And if circumstances so turn out that +this man who has so rarely proven himself your friend, is himself in some +emergency, and you are now in position to help him, as once he helped you, +you count it not only an obligation of the highest sort, but the rarest of +privileges. And with great joy you come to his help without stopping to +count the cost in the doubtful, questioning way. Friendship is mutual. + +Now this second, this deep, rare meaning, is the one we're using just now. +It comes to include the fellowship meaning, so enriching the emergency +friendship yet more. But the emphasis is on the emergency meaning of the +word friendship. Our Friend was a friend in this deepest, rarest way, in +the desperate emergency of our lives. + +And now this Friend of ours is in need, a need so great that it is an +emergency. And this seems a startling thing to say. You may think I'm +indulging some rhetorical figure of speech merely. He, the Lord Jesus, in +need! He is now seated at the Father's right hand in glory. He is "far +above all rule and authority and power and dominion." He is the sovereign +ruler of our world. How can it be said, with any soberness of practical +meaning, that He is in need, and in desperate need? Yet, let me repeat +very quietly, that it is even so. + +_He needs our co-operation._ He needs the human means through which to +work out His plans. The power of God has always flowed _through human +channels_. And His plans _have waited,_ have been delayed because He has +not always been able to find men willing to let Him use them as He will. +This is the only explanation of the long, weary waiting of the earth for +His promised Kingdom. This, only, explains centuries of delay in the +working out of His plans. The delay, the dark centuries, the +misery,--these have been no part of His plan, but dead set against His +plan. + + "The restless millions wait the Light, + Whose coming maketh all things new. + _Christ also waits_; but men are slow and late. + Have we done what we could? Have I? Have you?" + +Some unknown friend, on seeing the statue of General Gordon, as it stands +facing the great desert and the Soudan at Khartoum, made these lines: + + "The strings of camels come in single file, + Bearing their burdens o'er the desert sand: + Swiftly the boats go plying on the Nile. + The needs of men are met on every hand, + But still I wait + For the messenger of God _who cometh late_. + + I see the clouds of dust rise in the plain, + The measured tread of troops falls on the ear; + The soldier comes the empire to maintain, + Bringing the pomp of war, the reign of fear, + But still I wait + The messenger of peace, _he cometh late_. + + They set me brooding o'er the desert drear, + Where broodeth darkness as the deepest night. + From many a mosque there comes the call to prayer; + I hear no voice that calls on _Christ_ for light. + But still I wait + For the messenger of Christ, _who cometh late."_[95] + + + +Following Wholly. + + +Our Friend is in need. The world's condition spells out the desperateness +of that need. The world's need is His need. It is His world. This world is +God's prodigal son. It is the passion of our Lord Jesus' heart to win His +world back, and save it. That passion has been revealed most, thus far, in +His going to the great extreme of dying. That passion is still +unsatisfied. Yonder He sits, with scarred face and form, _expecting_.[96] +Bending eagerly forward with longing eyes He is expecting. He is +expectantly waiting our response, expectantly waiting the day when things +will have ripened on the earth for the next step in the great plan. + +And down from the throne comes the same eager cry He used when amongst us +on earth, "Follow Me." This is the one call, with many variations, that +runs through the seven-fold message to His followers in the book of the +Revelation.[97] + +But He calls for real followers. He needs Calebs, who are willing, if +need be, to face a whole nation dead-bent on going the other way, and yet +who never flinch but insist on following fully. Caleb's following was so +unflinching, so against the current of his whole time, that it stands out +with the peculiar emphasis of a six-fold mention.[98] + +Those who follow "wholly" seem scarce sometimes. I was struck recently +with an utterance by a man prominent in business circles and in Christian +activity for years. He was speaking of how he had been active in a certain +form of Christian activity, and declared that it had never occasioned him +any loss, or been a detriment to him in his business. The words had a +strange, suspicious sound. The Master told those who would follow fully +that they might expect much loss and detriment. + +The Master was very careful to give the "if's" a prominent place. "If any +man would come after Me."[99] "If any man would serve Me let him follow +Me."[100] Those "if's" are the cautionary signals. They mean obstacles +needing to be considered before one decides. We must determine whether we +will take them away or not. Half-way following, part-way following, has +become very common in some of the other parts of the world, where we don't +live. I'll leave you to judge how it is in your own neighbourhood. + +I have seen people start down this "Follow Me" road with great enthusiasm +and real earnestness, singing as they go. Then the road begins to narrow a +bit. The thorn bushes on the side have grown so thick and rank that they +push over the sides of the road, and narrow it down. You can't go along +without the thorns scratching face and hands badly as you push through. + +And then you suddenly find a knife, a sharpedged knife, being held out +across the road, by an unseen hand back in the bushes. The cutting edge is +toward you. It is held firmly. It is clearly impossible to go on without a +clash with that knife. The real meaning of that "Follow Me" is beginning +to be seen now. Just ahead beyond the knife stands the Master, looking +longingly, beckoning earnestly, calling still. But that knife! It takes +your eyes, and the question is on in real earnest. + +And it is very grievous to say that some stop there. They pitch their +tents this side the knife. They may have had the courage to push through +the thorns, but this knife stops them. They're not honest enough to back +clear out of the road. So they hold meetings on the roadway, conferences +for the deepening of the Christian life, with earnest addresses, and +consecration meetings, and soft singing. And if perchance some one calls +attention to the Master standing ahead there, beyond the knife, +beckoning,--well, they sing louder and pray longer so as to ease their +consciences a bit, and deaden unpleasant sounds, but they make no move +toward striking tents and pushing on. + +And many coming up along the road are hindered. The crowds, the meetings, +the singing, the earnestness,--these take hold of them and keep them from +discerning that all this is an obstruction in the way. The Master's ahead +yonder, past that cutting knife. In a very clear voice that rises above +meetings and music, He calls, "If any man would serve Me, let him follow +Me, let him get _in behind Me_, and come _up close after Me_." He who +would serve, he who would help, must not stop here, but push on to where +the Master is beckoning,--yes, past the knife! + +But there are big crowds at the half-way place, this side the knife. And +there are still larger crowds looking on and sneering, sneering at those +whose following hasn't got much beyond the singing stage. The outside +crowd does love sincerity, and is very keen for the faults and flaws in +those who call themselves followers. + + + +The Tuning-Fork for the Best Music. + + +But some push on; they go forward; and as they reach the knife they grasp +it firmly by the blade. Yes, it cuts, and cuts deep. But they push on, on +after the Master. They turn the knife into a tuning-fork. Do you know +about this sort of thing? The steel in a knife can be used to make a +tuning-fork. The touch of obedience brings music out of sacrifice. + +This is the only tuning-fork that can give the true pitch for that +sweetest music we were speaking of a little while ago. This is a bit of +the power of obedience. It can change a challenging knife into an +instrument of music. This is a bit of the strategy of obedience, the fine +tactics of sacrifice. The tempter with the knife would hold us back. We +seize his knife from his grasp. He can never use that knife again. And we +use it to make sweet music to help the marching. What was meant to hold us +back now helps us forward. + +This is the tuning-fork the Master used. He would have us use it, too. But +each one must take it himself, out of the threatening hand that would hold +us back. As the call to follow comes we must go on, no matter what it +involves. No circumstance, no possible loss, no sacrifice, must hold us +back, for a moment, or a step, from following where our Friend calls; only +so can we be His friend. + +Shall we go on _all the way_? Or, shall we join the company at the +half-way stopping place? Well, _it's a matter of your eyes_, how you use +them. If the knife holds your eyes, you'll never get past it. That knife +is like the deadly serpent's glittering eye. If the cobra's eye can get +your eye, you are held fast in that awful, deadly fascination. + +If you'll _lift_ your eyes, to the Master's face!--ah, that's the one +thing, the only thing, that can _hold_ our eyes with gaze steadier than +any serpent eye. The face of Christ Jesus, torn by thorns, scarred by +thongs, but with the wondrous beauty light shining out, and those great +patient, pleading eyes! This it was that held that young Indian aristocrat +steady, while he sold all--bit by bit, of such precious things--sold all. + +This it was that held steady the young Jewish aristocrat, Paul. He never +forgot the light on that caravan road north, above the shining of the sun. +He never could forget it. It blinded him. He "could not see for the glory +of that light." Old ambitions blurred out. Old attachments faded, and then +faded clear out before the blaze of that light. Family ties, inheritance, +social prestige, reputation, old friendships, old honoured standards,--all +faded out in the light of Jesus' face on that northern road. + + + +How to Follow. + + +Shall we take a look at that face? a long look? Shall we go? Practically +going means three things, a _decision_, a _habit_ and a _purpose_; a +thoughtful, calculating decision, a daily unbroken habit, an unalterable +north-star sort of purpose. + +Go alone in some quiet corner where you can think things out. Look at what +it may mean for you to follow, so far as you know now. Most of it you +don't know, and won't know, can't know except as it works out in your +life. Take a long, quiet, thoughtful look at the road. Then take a longer, +quieter, steadier look at Him, Christ Jesus, once crucified for you, now +seated in glory with all power, and asking you to-day to be a channel for +His power. Then decide. Say, "Lord Jesus, I _will_ follow Thee. This is my +decision. By Thy help, I follow Thee, I'll follow Thee all the way." +That's the first step, the decision. + +As I entered the tent at Keswick one morning, a friend handed me these +lines, which came to her pen at the close of a previous meeting: + + "I will follow Thee, dear Master, + Though the road be rough and steep, + Thou wilt hold me lest I falter, + Thy strong hand must safely keep. + + Enter in, Lord, cleanse Thy temple, + Give the grace to put away + All that hinders, all that's doubtful, + O'er my life hold blessed sway. + + Use me, Master, for Thy glory, + Live out Thine own life through me, + That my life may tell the story, + And win others unto Thee. + + Keep me trusting Thee, Lord Jesus, + Walking closely by Thy side, + Keep me resting, sweetly resting, + As I in Thy love abide." + +Then plan your work and time so as to get a bit of time off alone every +day with the Book and with the Master. The chief thing is not to pray, +though you will pray. It is not for Bible study, though that will be there +too. The chief thing is to meet with the Lord Jesus Himself. He will come +to you through the Book. He will fit its messages into your questions and +perplexities. He Himself will come to meet with you when you so go to meet +with Him. You won't always _realize_ His presence, for you may sometimes +be tired. But you can _recognize_ His presence. You can cultivate the +habit of recognizing His presence. + +This is your bit of daily school-time, with the Book and the Master. It +will keep your spirit sweet, your heart hot, and your judgment sane and +poised. This is the second thing, the _habit._ It is the thing you cannot +get along without. It must go in daily. Without it things will tangle; +your heart will cool, your spirit sometimes take on an edge that isn't +good, your judgment get warped and twisted, and your will grow either +wabbly or stubborn. This second thing must be put in the daily round, and +kept in. It helps to hold you steady to the first thing. + +Then the third is the _purpose_ to be true to whatever the Master tells +you, to be true to Himself; never to fail _Him_. You may flinch within +your feelings. You probably will. Yet you need never flinch in action. +Follow the beckoning Figure just ahead in the road, regardless of thorny +bush or cutting knife. Keep your spirit sweet, your tongue gentle and +slow, your touch soft and even, your purpose as inflexible as wrought +steel, or as granite, as unmovable as the North Star. That's the third +thing, the purpose. + +And the three make the three-fold cord with which to tie you fast and hard +to the Lone Man ahead. He is less alone as we follow close up. The three +together help you understand the meaning of _obedience_. The decision is +the beginning of obedience; the habit teaches you _what_ you are to obey +and gives you strength to do it; the purpose is the actual obedience in +daily round, the holding true to what He has told you. + +Years ago, a young Jewess, of a wealthy family, that stood high in the +Jewry of New York, heard the call of the despised Nazarene. It came to her +with great, gentle power, and she decided that she must follow. Her father +was very angry, and threatened disinheritance if she so disgraced the +family. But she remained quietly, gently, inflexibly, true to her +decision. At last the father planned a social occasion at the home to +which large numbers were invited. And he said to his daughter, "You must +sing at this reception, and make this your disavowal of the Christian +faith." And she quietly said, "Father, I will sing." + +The evening came, the parlours were filled, the time came for her to sing, +and all listened eagerly, for they knew the beauty of her voice. With her +heart in both eyes and voice, she began singing: + + "Jesus, I my cross have taken, + All to leave and follow Thee; + Destitute, despised, forsaken, + Thou, from hence, my all shalt be. + + Perish every fond ambition, + All I've sought, and hoped, and known: + Yet how rich is my condition! + God and heaven are all my own." + +And she passed out into the night of disinheritance on earth, "into an +inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away." This +was her decision. She had seen _His face!_ All else paled in its light. + +Shall we go, too? + + + + +Finger-Posts + + + +The Parable of the Finger-Posts. + + +Waiting is harder work than working. It takes more out of you. And it puts +more into you, too, of fine-grained, steady strength, if you can stand the +strain of it. And if, to the waiting is added perplexity, the pull upon +your strength is much greater. It is harder to hold steady, and not break. +And if the thing you've put your very life into seems at stake, that taxes +the wearing power of your strength to the utmost. + +Such a time, and just such a test, came to the little band of disciples +after the resurrection, and before the ascension. The story of it is told +in that added chapter of John's Gospel. You remember that last chapter is +one of the added touches. The Gospel is finished with the finish of the +twentieth chapter. Then John is led by the Spirit, to add something more. +That added chapter becomes to us like an acted parable, the parable of the +added touch. There is always the added touch, the extra touch of power, of +love, of answer to prayer. Our Lord has a way of giving more. The prayer +itself is answered, and then some added touch is given for full measure. +So it is in all His dealings, when He is allowed to have His own way. He +is the Lord of the added touch. He does exceeding abundantly above what we +ask, or think, or expect. + +These disciples were now to have one of these added touches. It was a time +of sore perplexity. The crucifixion had left them dazed, stupefied. It was +wholly unexpected. They were utterly at sea, with neither compass, nor +steering apparatus of any sort. That Saturday to them was one of the +longest, dreariest, heaviest days ever spent by any one. They had all +proven untrue to their dead Friend, save one. + +Then as unexpectedly came the resurrection. They're dazed again, this time +with joy. They haven't taken it in yet. To say that the two shocks, each +so radically different from the other, shook them tremendously, is stating +it very mildly. They don't know themselves. They haven't found their feet. +They haven't adjusted yet to their swiftly changing surroundings. They +don't know what next. They don't know what to do. + +So the old impulsive Simon in Peter proposed something. Simon, the +unsteady, was much in evidence those days. Peter the rock-man hadn't +arrived yet. This was Simon Peter's specialty, proposing something. He +said, "Well, I'm going fishing." And the others quickly said, "We'll go +along." The mere doing something would be a relief. But they caught +nothing. It was a poor night. The morning brought only heavy hearts with +light nets and boats. They had failed at following; now they were failing +even at their old specialty, fishing. Couldn't they do _any_thing? + +In the dim light of the breaking dawn there's some One standing on the +beach, a Stranger. He seems interested in them, and calls out familiarily, +"Have you caught anything?" And you feel the heaviness of their hearts +over something else in the shout "No." And the gentle voice calls out, +with a certain tone of quiet authority in it, "Throw over on the right +there, and you'll get some fish." And they cast the nets out again, +feeling a strong impulse to obey this kindly Stranger, without stopping to +think out why. + +And at once the ropes pull so hard that it takes all their strength to +hold them. It's John's quick insight that recognizes the Stranger. With +his heart in his throat, in awe-touched voice, he quietly says, "It's the +Lord." That's enough for Peter. He takes the shortest way to shore. He has +some things to talk over with the Master. And as the seven tired men +landed the fish, they found breakfast waiting on the sands. Who built that +fire? Who cooked that fish? Who was thinking about them and caring for +their personal needs, when they were so tired and hungry? And when +breakfast was finished, there's the quiet talk together, about love and +service, while the sun is climbing up in the east. It is addressed to +Peter, but it is meant, too, for those who were so fleet-footed a few +nights before. + +All this was the answer to their perplexity. They were willing and waiting +to follow, but they had failed so badly. They were not quite sure where +they stood. They had no finger-posts. Now the finger-posts were put up to +show the way. This fishing scene was an acted parable, the Parable of the +Finger-posts. + + + +The Lineage of Service. + + +Look at these finger-posts a little. There was the Lord Jesus. They didn't +recognize Him. But He was there. He had a plan. He took authoritative +command of their movements. He gave directions. They obeyed Him. Then came +the great haul of fish. Then came the quiet talk about love and service, +but with the emphasis on love. + +The love was the chief thing. The service was something growing out of +love. "Lovest thou Me?" Then thou mayest serve, thou hast the chiefest +qualification. Our Lord gave them the lineage of service that morning. +These are the generations of true service. A sight of Jesus begets love, a +tender, gentle, strong, passionate thing of rarest beauty that is +immortal, but must have the constant sight of its father's face for +vigorous life. And love at once begets obedience, which grows strong and +stout and skilled, as long as it stays in its father's presence. And +obedience begets service, untiring, glad, patient service. + +There are some outsiders that have come into this family, but they do not +have the fine traits of blood-kin. "Duty" is one of these. It serves +because it must. And at times it renders fine, high service. But its +service comes out of the will, rather than out of the heart. It is ruled +more by a sense of propriety, never by a passion of the heart. + +"Privilege" is near of kin to duty, and it is a high-born, fine-grained +thing. It serves because it is an honour to do so. It is enjoyable to be +so highly connected. But it constantly needs proper recognition and +appreciation of its work and skill. But these are really outsiders. They +have married in, and do not have the real family traits. The one word, and +the only one, that may properly be used for true service is that fine +word, "passion." True service is a thing of love, a thing of the heart, a +flame that pervades and permeates and envelops the whole life within and +without, a fire that consumes and controls. + +The Lord Jesus, His presence, His plan, His authoritative leadership, +their obedience, love thrice asked and given, service because of +love,--these are the finger-posts for these perplexed men. They can be put +into very simple shape for our guidance. Three finger-posts hung up will +include all of them,--_clear vision, a spirit of obedience, a heart of +tender love_. These are the three great essentials of all true, full +following. And there will not be, there cannot be, true full following +without all three of these. There may be much earnest, honest service, +much faithful plodding, and hard work, and much good done. But there's +always less than the best. There is less than should be. The best results +are not being got for the effort expended, except where these three are +blended. + +A clear vision means simply a clear understanding of things as they are, +and of what needs to be done, with all the facts in that belong in. A +spirit of obedience means not only an obedience in spirit, a spirited +obedience, but an obedience that fits into the spirit of the Leader and +His plans. And through these as a fine fragrance breathes a heart of +tender undiscourageable love. + + + +Not Quite In Is Outside. + + +These three things must be kept in poise. So the Master plans. This is the +parable of the fishing. There are many illustrations of one only of these, +or two, in action. And the bad or poor result that works out can be +plainly seen. The Holy Spirit with great plainness and faithfulness has +hung up cautionary signs along the road. + +There may be _clear vision without obedience._ That is, a clear +understanding of the Master's plan, but a failure to fit in. That will +mean a dimming vision. And if persisted in, it will mean spiritual +disaster. The great illustration of this is Judas. Judas had as clear a +vision, in all likelihood, as the others when he was chosen for +discipleship, and later for apostleship. There was the possibility of a +John in Judas, even as there was the possibility of a Judas in John. Both +are in every man. But Judas was not true to the vision he had. He wanted +to use the Master to further his own plans and advantage. And the vision +slowly blurred and dimmed, as the under nature was given the upper hand. +The Master's clear insight recognized the demon spirit that Judas had +allowed to come in, though Judas did not.[101] Then came the dastardly act +of betrayal. And Judas has been held up to universal scorn and +condemnation. + +But Judas isn't so lonely, if you think into the thing a bit. He only put +personal advantage above loyalty to the Lord Jesus. He simply preferred +his own plans to the Master's plans. That was all. And he tried to force +his own through, without suspecting how the thing would turn out, and how +tremendously much was involved. The great events being worked out have +thrown his contemptible act into the limelight of history. But the act +itself wasn't uncommon. Possibly you may know some one living quite near, +with some of this same sort of trait. + + +One of the saddest things in the record of Christian leadership is just +this, clear vision with a gradually lessening obedience, then a gradually +dimming vision, and that decrease of both increasing, as the slant down +increases. The old-time motions in public ministering continue, more or +less mechanically, but the power has long since passed away. And sadder +yet, like the strong man of old, these shorn men wist it not. One's lips +refuse to repeat the word "Judas" of them, even in the inner thoughts. Yet +these class themselves under the same description,--clear vision without +full obedience to it; personal plans and preferences put above loyalty to +the Master. + +A second illustration is that of King Saul. Clear vision, failure to obey, +forcing himself to wrong action to keep his popularity, rebellion, +stubbornness,--these are the simple successive steps in his story. And the +black night falls upon the utter spiritual disaster of his career, as he +lies prone on the earth before the witch. + +These two characters become formulas; they need only to be filled in with +other names to make accurate modern biography of some. + +There may be _clear vision with make-believe_ or _partial obedience_. It +hurts to speak of such a thing. The word "hypocrisy" is a very hard one to +get out at the lips. It should never be used except to help, and then +very, very sparingly, and only in humblest spirit, and with earnest, +secret prayer. Ananias and Sapphira quickly come to mind here. They wanted +_men_ to think them wholly surrendered, though they knew they were not. +That was all; not so unusual a thing, after all. There are sore +temptations here for many. The swiftness of the punishment that came does +not mean that their wrong was worse than that of others who do the same +thing. That modern religious lying of this sort is not as quickly judged +merely tells the marvellous _patience_ of God. + +There may be _clear vision and obedience without love._ This means a hard, +cold, stern righteousness. It is truth without grace. Nothing can be made +to seem more repulsive. One incident in Elijah's career furnishes the +illustration here. Let us say such a thing _very softly_ of such a mighty +man of God, and say it in fewest words, and only to help. He was a man of +marvellous faith, and prayer, and bold daring, in the midst of a very +crooked and perverse generation. Israel was at its very lowest moral ebb +thus far. + +Elijah had a clear understanding of what should be done to check the awful +impurity which was sweeping over the nation like a flood-tide. He was true +to his conviction in sending the four hundred priests of horribly +licentious worship to their death. But was he brokenhearted over them? Was +he utterly broken down with grief as he led them to the little running +brook of Kishon for the nation's sake? God touched the sore spot, when, +down at Horeb, the mount of thunder and fire, He spoke to this man of fire +and thunder in that exquisitely soft sound of gentle stillness. This was +a new revelation of God to this stern prophet of righteousness. + +There may be a sort of letter-obedience, a formal obedience to the vision +you have. In one's own estimation, there may seem to be a knowledge of +what is right, and a self-satisfied doing of it. There may be a +painstaking attention to the forms of obedience, and a self-righteous +content in doing the required things. Is this the underlying thought in +Peter's self-complacent remark, "Lo, _we_ have left all and followed +Thee.[102] We're so much better than this rich young ruler who couldn't +stand the test you put to him. _We----"?_ Poor, self-confident Peter! When +the fire test did come, and come so hot, how his "we" did crumble! + +"_Light Obeyed Increaseth Light_." + +There may be _obedience without clear vision._ That is, there may be a +doing of what is thought to be right, but without a clear understanding of +what is the right thing to do. This results in _fanaticism_. Moses killing +the Egyptian and hiding his body in the sand had no clear vision of God's +plan. He knew something was wrong, and that something needed to be done. +And so he proposed doing something. And the poor Egyptian who happened in +his way that day felt the weight of his zeal. It's a not uncommon way of +attempting to righten wrongs. He forgot that there is a God, and a plan, +and that he who does not work into the plan of God is hitting wrong. There +has been a lot of wreckage scattered along this beach. + +Saul persecuting the Christians is another illustration here. He is a sad, +striking example of conscientiousness without sufficient knowledge, of +earnestness without clear light. He was conscientiously doing the wrong +thing, as earnestly as he could, supposing it to be the right thing. John +wanted to call down fire from heaven and burn up some people that didn't +fit in with their plans.[103] Earnest intensity without sufficient light +has kindled a good many fires of this sort. + +Sometimes this does not go as far as hurtful fanaticism, but leads to +blundering and confusion and delay. Abraham was acting without clear light +when he yielded to Sarah's plan of compromise for getting an heir.[104] A +bit of quiet holding of her suggestion before God for light would have +cleared his mind. The result was wholly bad,--a confusion in his own mind, +a mental cloudiness about God's plan and promise, an element of discord +introduced in the tribal life, and a delay of many years, apparently, +before the conditions were ripe for the coming of the heir of faith, on +God's own plan. + +Peter eating with his Gentile Christian brothers, and then refusing to eat +with them, when some Jewish Christians came down from Jerusalem, made +very bitter feeling in the Church at Antioch, for a time.[105] Paul's +clearer light helped. Time spent in waiting for clearer light is always +time wisely spent, even though we may seem slow. + +There may be _love without clear vision_. The love makes intense desire to +do something, but with no clear idea of what would best be done. Peter's +awkward sword-thrust was an attempt to help, because of real love in his +heart for his Master, now in personal danger. The Master's quiet healing +touch recognized the love, and also rebuked and corrected the hasty, +ill-advised action. But there's worse yet here, mean contemptible +cowardice. Peter actually denying his relation with his Friend and Master, +and making his denial seem more natural by the addition of the oaths that +the maid well knew no follower of this Jesus could have uttered--what mean +contemptible cowardice! But go gently there in using such hard words. He +was only afraid of being hurt. He merely wanted to save himself. That +isn't such an uncommon thing. Haven't you sometimes known something of +this sort--_among others?_ + +The cowardly nine, making a new record for fleet-footedness, down the +road, in the dark, were only doing the same thing in more cowardly, +less-spirited fashion. These men loved Jesus. No one may doubt that. But +there was no clear understanding of that night's doings, though the +Master had faithfully and plainly tried to tell them. Fear for their own +safety overcame the real love in their hearts for the Man they forsook +that dark night. + +_Clear vision and love without obedience_ is--impossible! Where there is +no obedience, or faulty obedience, either the vision has blurred or +dimmed, or the love is burning low. + +_Clear vision and loving obedience_ mean power, sweet, gentle, fragrant, +helpful power. It means a grateful crowd, and a pleased Master, who has +been able once again to reach the crowd. + +_Clear vision and love as a passion_, an intense passion, means +irresistible power. That is to say it means a perfect human medium through +which our Lord Jesus can act and manifest Himself. And this is the real +meaning of power, power to the full,--Jesus Christ in free action. John, +the fisherman, had a gradually but steadily clearing vision. He did not +understand fully. But he understood enough to know that there was more to +come which would clear things up. He could follow where He did not +understand. His love for the Man controlled, while his understanding was +clearing. He went in "_with_ Jesus" that awful night. I imagine he never +left His side. Can we ever be grateful enough that at least one of us was +true that night! + +There was the same danger as with the others, and it was made more acute +by His simple, open stand at his Friend's side. But love, with at least +some understanding, held him steady. He could understand that Jesus must +be doing the right thing, even though he could not understand the run of +events that centred about Jesus. + +The intensity that would call down fire, changed, under the influence of +the changing, clearing vision, into an intensity of love. It was a +mellower, gentler, evener, but not less intense flame. The disciple whom +Jesus loved became the disciple of love. Love and vision worked upon each +other from earliest times with him. Love made the vision clearer, the +clearing vision made the love stronger, till they worked together into a +perfect blend. + +Paul's unmistakable vision on the Damascus road brought a passion of love, +and an answering obedience, that swept him like a great flame. The +fire-marks of that flame could be found all over the Roman Empire. He made +mistakes doubtless, but these but made the trend of his whole life stand +out the more. Paul was a wonderful combination of brain and heart and +will, held in remarkable poise. The finest classic on love is from his +pen. John could love. Paul could love, and could tell about love. + +But a peculiar tenderness comes into one's heart as we remember that there +was just one Man who held these three in perfect poise. And let us not +forget that though He was more than man, yet it was a _man_, one of +ourselves, who so held these three in such fine balance. It was a human +poise, even as planned by the Father for the human life. The clear vision +early began coming to Him,[106] and it became clearer and fuller and +unmistakable until it had had its fulfilment. Obedience was the touchstone +of all His life, from Nazareth to Olivet. And who, like Him, had the heart +of tender love, the heart that was ever moved with compassion at sight of +need, the heart that broke at the last under the sore grief of its burden +of love? + + + +The Olivet Vision. + + +Shall we take a moment more to look at these three finger-posts a little +more closely? Just what is meant by _a clear vision?_ I could say at once +that it means a vision of our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet that language has +sometimes been used in a vague sort of way. And some of us have taken it +in a vague indefinite way, and not thought into its practical meaning. +Clear vision here means an understanding of who Christ Jesus is, and what +He is, and what plans He has. Then it means that that understanding is so +clear that it becomes intense, intense to the point of being overwhelming. +That is, it becomes the _dominant_ thing that controls your thinking, and +affections, and actions,--your life. + +I think I may say correctly that the place for getting such a clear, full +vision of Christ Jesus is _Olivet_. Olivet is a good place to pitch your +tent for a little while, until your vision clears. Then you'll not stay +there, though you may return to keep the lines of your vision clear and +clean; you will be down in the valleys with the crowds. + +One day the Master led His disciples out to the Mount of Olives. It was +the last time they were together. And the group of men stand there +talking, the eleven grouped about the One. He is talking with them quietly +and earnestly. Then, to their utter amazement, His feet are off the +ground, He is rising upward in the air, then higher, and higher, until a +bit of cloud moves across, and they see Him no more. This is all you would +see at a distance. + +But let us come a bit nearer, and stand _with_ them, and listen, and +watch. Olivet is the last bit of earth to feel the presence of the +Master's feet. Off yonder to the west, down in the valley, you see a clump +of trees; that is Gethsemane, the place of the bloody sweat and the tense +agony of spirit. Across the valley, still looking west, lies the city, +outside whose wall is the little knoll called Calvary, where Jesus gave +His life out. Over here to the east and south lies little Bethany, which +speaks of His resurrection power. And a bit farther off are the bare wilds +sloping down,--that is the place of the sore temptation. Far away to the +north, up in the clouds, lies _the_ snow-clad mountain, beyond your outer +vision, yet coming now to your inner vision, where the God within shined +out through the Man. + +But while a quick glance takes all this in, your eyes are caught and held +by the Man in the midst. His presence embodies and intensifies all that +these places suggest. His face bears the impress of the Wilderness, and of +the Garden. The scars plainly there tell of Calvary, as no piece of +geography ever can. His mere presence tells unmistakably of the +resurrection. And you know who He is, and what. He made the world and +breathed His breath of life into man's nostrils. Later He came in amongst +us as one of ourselves. He was tempted like as we, suffered like as we +never suffered, gave His life for us, went down into death, _rose_ up +again out of death. This is the Jesus of Olivet. + +But the action of His face and pose are part of the sight. His eyes are +looking _outward_. The set of His face is out. His hands point out. And He +is talking; listen: He is talking about a _"world"_. And the outward turn +of face and eyes and pointing hand become the emphasis of that word, +"_world."_ He died for a world. He is thinking about a world. He has a +plan of action for a world. + +But another word gets your ear--"_ye."_ He is thinking about these +disciples, about His followers. He has a plan of action for them. And +these two plans, for the world, for their lives, these two are tied up +together. And a third word stands out--"_I_." "I am with you, I am in +command." And now three things stand out together, a world-plan, a plan +for the follower's life fitting into the world-plan, and in the +midst--Jesus, the Christ, my Saviour, my Lord. This is the Olivet vision. +This, the clear, full vision: of Jesus, crucified, risen, empowered; of +His world-plan; of His plan for my life as part of the world-plan. + +Olivet faces four ways. Backward, it points to the sympathy, the +humanness, the suffering, the cross, of Jesus. Upward, it looks to +Himself, now sitting above the clouds at the Father's right hand, "far +above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name +that is named," with "all things in subjection under His feet." Outward, +it reaches to the world He died for, and plans for, and is still brooding +over with more than a mother's love. Forward, it anticipates eagerly the +time when He will come back to finish up what He began, and we are to +continue. When He returns it will be to this same Olivet.[107] He picks up +the line of action exactly where He left it. Olivet is to know a second +pressure of those feet. + +This is the clear, full vision, the three-fold vision we need and must +have for true following: Himself, His world-plan, His plan for each one's +life. This means seeing things as they are. They fall into true +perspective. You see how disproportioned and grotesque the common +perspective of earth is. You see things through His eyes. His eyes take +out of yours the personal colouring, the colour blindness of personal +interest and advantage which so strangely and strongly affect all our +sight. + +We need frequent visits to Olivet's top, until constant looking at its +outlooking landscape, at Himself, fills and floods our eyes. We need the +quiet time alone with Himself and His Word, and some map-picture of His +world, as a habit, until these, Himself, and His word, and His world, are +burned into eyes and heart, until they fire as a sweet fever the whole +life. + + + +The Spirit of Obedience. + + +Out of the vision comes the _spirit of obedience_. We have spoken of the +act of obedience, and the habit of obedience, but deeper down is the +spirit of obedience, which lies under act and habit. I have used the +words, "spirit of obedience," rather than simply the word, "obedience," +because obedience sometimes stands for a bondage to rules, a slavery to +things. The obedience itself must be deeper than rule or outward thing. +The spirit of obedience sees into the spirit of the rule, and through the +outward thing, and floods it with a new spirit of life. This spirit of +obedience is the one finger-post found oftenest along this road. So only +can we be true to the vision. And obedience itself is not true obedience, +nor true to the vision, save as it is a love-obedience. Real obedience +breathes in the spirit of the One being obeyed. It breathes out the +love-spirit of him who obeys. + +The touchstone of the "Follow Me" life is not need, nor service, nor +sacrifice. The need is felt to the paining point. The service is given +joyously to the limit of strength. The sacrifice is yielded to to the +bleeding point. But these all come as they come, _through and out of +obedience._ Yet need _is_ the controlling thing, too, _but_ not the need +as _we_ see it, but as _He_ sees it, who sees all, and feels most deeply. +The need is best met, the service best given, the sacrifice most healing +in its power, as each grows out of obedience. + +_The standard of obedience_ is three-fold, the Word of God, the Spirit of +God, and one's own judgment and spirit-insight. These three are meant to +fit together. This is the natural result when things are, even measurably, +as they should be. When God is allowed to sway the life as He wishes, +these three fit and blend perfectly. The Word of God taken alone will lead +to superstitious regard for a book and to a cramped judgment and action. +To say that we are guided by the Spirit, without due regard for the Book +He has been the principal one in writing, leads to fanaticism, or at least +to ill-advised, unbalanced, unnatural opinions and action. + +Naturally one's own judgment and spirit-insight play a large part, for +they make the personal decision, they interpret both Word and Spirit to +us. It is through one's judgment and spirit-insight that the Holy Spirit +and the Word influence the decision and action. The great essential is the +habitual, quiet, broad, thoughtful study of God's Word, with the will and +life utterly yielded to the Holy Spirit. So one's spirit is trained to +understand, and one's judgment to form its conclusions. The Holy Spirit +makes us understand God's purpose as revealed in His Word, and fits this +into the need of practical life. Obedience, intelligent and full, depends +upon the quiet time alone with God over His Word. + +I want to add something more here. It is something startling. _There are +no break-downs in the path of obedience_. I say that very softly, as a +guilty sinner in the matter of break-downs. I remember that the record of +Christian service is like one continuous record of break-downs, broken +bodies, wrecked nerves, sometimes wrecked minds. And I am not saying it to +criticize any one, except it be myself. Out of a long personal experience +of constant going, unwise overwork, and serious break-downs, I am but +confessing my own sins, when I say there are no break-downs in the path of +obedience. Does that mean that there is much earnest service that we have +not been told to do? And the answer must be a very gentle, but very clear, +"Yes." + +But the Man in command has perfect knowledge of what you can do. And _He +never asks you to do anything beyond your strength_. Or, if He does need +you to meet some emergency beyond your strength, He gives the strength +required. He sends in a fresh supply of resurrection life to repair the +waste of your body, and then, too, He calls into use strength, resources, +talents, that you have not known you had. Now I know that if this be +taken seriously, it will lead some to a heart-searching time alone with +the Master. I am sure that if obedience alone is to be the key-note, it +will mean many a readjustment. And it will mean, too, a new flood stream +of power flowing through and out as the connecting parts are re-adjusted. + +There's a helpful literal reading of a verse in Hebrews.[108] "Now the God +of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great +Shepherd of the sheep, with the blood of an eternal covenant, _put you in +joint [with Himself]_ to do _His_ will in every good work, working in you +[or through you] that which is well-pleasing in His sight." Obedience puts +us in joint with Him, if we are out. It keeps us in joint; then the power +flows from Him, through that joint, out where our life touches. + +Obedience is really a music word. It is the rhythmic swinging together of +two wills, His and ours. Rhythm of action is power. Rhythm of colour is +beauty. Rhythm of sound is music. But it's really all music. For power is +music of action. Beauty is music to the eye. Rhythmic sound is music to +the ear and heart. If there might be more of this music, He and we in +perfect accord, how the crowds would be caught by its melody and come +eagerly to listen. + + + +The Heart of Love. + + +And out of the vision comes the heart of love. The sight of the Lord +Jesus' face begets love; and love begets obedience. But obedience never +can keep true away from its father. It is never true full obedience except +it have the throbbing heart of love in it. This is the unfailing mark. +It's so easy to fail here. Yet "love never faileth." The classical +Thirteenth of First Corinthians becomes an indictment. We know it better +in the Book than in life. "Love suffereth long, ... _envieth_ not ... is +not puffed up; doth not behave itself unbecomingly or inconsistently, +seeketh not even its own, is not provoked." Love "beareth" with "all +things" in the one loved, which it would gladly have different, "believeth +all" possibly good "things" of him, "hopeth" for "all" desirable "things" +in him, "endureth all things" in him that hurt and pain. "Love _never_ +faileth." In conversation one day with an unusually earnest worker in the +Orient, we were talking of these things. His work was beset by many sore +perplexities. "Ah," he said, "there is where I have failed. I have not had +the heart of love." And I thought how many of us could say the same thing. + +There are in the Bible three great illustrations of the heart of love. As +Moses came down from the presence of God, and found the people dancing +about the golden calf, he was hotly indignant. But as he goes back to +plead with God, the greatness of his love and grief comes out. In God's +presence their sin is seen to be so much greater. He cries, "Oh, this +people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now +if Thou wilt forgive their sin----" And a great sob breaks the sentence +abruptly off, and it is never finished. The possibility seems to come to +his mind, in this holy presence, that such sin, by these so greatly blest, +could not be forgiven. And that seems to him unbearable. "And if not," if +it cannot be forgiven, "_blot me_, I pray Thee, _out of Thy Book_; but +don't blot them out."[109] + +In the beginning of the great Jew section of Romans, Paul is speaking of +the intense pain of heart he had over the unbelief and stubbornness of his +racial kinsfolk. He says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my +heart. For I could wish _that I myself were accursed_ from Christ for my +brethren's sake, my kinsmen," that so they might not be accursed.[110] Yet +neither Moses nor Paul could so sacrifice himself for another's sin. "No +man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for +him."[111] But Jesus, the pure, sinless one, _was_ blotted out. He _was_ +made a curse. Moses and Paul would if they could. Jesus both could and +did. Was there ever such a heart of love! And that heart was greatest in +its action of love when it broke. + +A simple story has come to me, I cannot remember where, of a woman in +southern China in the province of Kwangtung. She had a serious illness and +was taken to a mission hospital in Canton for treatment. There for the +first time she heard of Christ, of His love and death. And that story +coming so new and fresh transformed her, as she opened her heart to the +Saviour. And a great peace came into her heart, and showed plainly in her +face. Then her thought began turning to her own village. Not a soul there +knew of this wondrous Saviour. If they but knew. But what could she do, +her illness was very serious. + +The next time the physician came by she asked him how long she would live +if she stayed there. He said that he did not know, but he thought about +six months. And how long if she left the hospital and returned home. He +didn't know; maybe three months. And after he had gone she quietly +announced that she was going home. And those about her were greatly +astonished. "Why," they said, "you'll lose half your life!" And the tears +came into her eyes, as a gentle smile overspread her poor worn face, and +she simply said, "Jesus gave His whole life for me; don't you think I'm +glad to give half mine for Him?" I don't know how long she lived. The +story didn't say, but it did tell that most of the people in her village +knew a long life, even an everlasting life, because of her simple telling +of the Gospel story. + +There were the three essentials, though never so thought of or analyzed +by her. She had the vision of Jesus Christ her Saviour, then of those who +had never heard of Him, and then of her own part in the plan of telling +them. The impulse to tell them was obeyed gladly. And the heart of love +counted not her life dear unto herself if only others might be told of +this wondrous Christ Jesus. + + + + +Fellow-Followers + + + +God's Problem. + + +God needs men. That is the tremendous fact that stands out in every +generation. There never has been a corner since Adam walked out of Eden +where that need was not thrust into some man's face, and thrust into God's +face. It is being thrust into our faces to-day as ever before, and as +never before. For the ends of the earth are come upon us, for the helping +touch of our hands, _or_ for the drag-back to be overcome by some one's +else helping touch. + +God is a needy God. That fact is spelled out by every page of this old +Book of His. And it is spelling itself out anew by the book of the life of +the race whose current chapter is being written by our generation. God's +wonderful plan for man lies at the root of His need. In His great +graciousness He made us in His own image. That is, He gave to us the right +of full free choice. He has never infringed upon that image, that right of +choice, by so much as a whispered breath or the moving of a hair. He gave +man the sovereignty of the earth and its life. And every move God has made +among men on earth has been through a man, and through his free consent. + +The tragedy of sin has intensified God's need tremendously. It has +intensified everything, man's misunderstanding and hatred of God, the love +of God's heart for man, and the distance between the two. It is constantly +intensifying pain, sorrow, man's need, and the blight upon nature. It +increases God's difficulty in working out His will of love for man. For it +makes it increasingly hard to get even Christian men to see things through +God's eyes, and gladly give themselves up to His purposes. + +Poor God! Such a needy God! Rich in power, in character, in the loving +worship of the upper world, in His love for all, rich beyond power of +human calculation; so poor in the response of men to the wooing of His +heart. So poor in the glad, intelligent co-operation of those who trust +Him for salvation in the next world, but are content with very little of +it in this. So needy in the lack of those who bring love and life, +intellect and wealth, and lay all at His feet. + +This has been God's problem, to respect the rights He has given man, and +yet work through him in carrying out His great plan of love. This is the +warp into which the whole of the Bible fabric is woven--the tragedy of +sin, of sin-hurt, sin-stubborned men, the patience of God in wooing men +back, and His exquisite tact and unlimited patience is always working +_through_ men's consent, and through human channels. + +To-day He comes to you and me, pleadingly asking us to help Him in His +passionate plan for His race. Some few have the gift of leadership. Most +of us are moulded to follow. He needs both leader and follower. He needs +the _life_. He needs the _love_. Through these, whether in prominent place +or shadowed, in leadership or in following along some well-beaten path, +through these--the _life_, the _love_, He works in His great simple plan +for overcoming the tragedy of sin. That plan includes the whole race. God +has no favourites among the nations. When the hour is ripe for an advance +step, a man is found ripened for leadership. This is the real final +explanation of certain great leaders. It was not the man himself alone, +but the coming together of the time, the man, and the plan; the time for +an advance step, the man who had yielded to God up to the ripening point, +the plan of God. And the decisive thing was the plan of God. + +President Finney used to insist very earnestly that revivals followed a +fixed law of action. When men would with all their hearts fit into the +great laws of grace, there would follow the gracious revival results even +as effect follows cause in nature; and without question he was wholly +right. In addition to this, however, there is a further fact to note, of +which Finney himself was a striking illustration. In God's broader plans +for the race when the time is ripe for an advance step, He has some man in +training for leadership in that hour, and so ripeness of time and of man +and of plan come together. But the chief factor at work is God Himself. + +This, and only this, explains fully certain great religious movements and +leaders. Such men in later centuries as Luther in Germany, Zwingli in +Switzerland, Calvin in France and Switzerland, Wesley and Whitefield in +England, and Finney in both America and England. Only this can +satisfactorily explain Moody's unusual career. He was a man of strong +native parts, of marked individuality, and of utter surrender to God. And +this combination would have brought great results under any circumstances, +but it does not explain the great movement in which he was the leader. It +was God's hour for an advance movement, the man so untrained in men's +schools, was slowly made ready in God's school, and man and hour and plan +fitted together. But the chief emphasis remains on the fact that it was +the time in God's gracious plan for an advance. And the nations of the +earth have been feeling the blessed impulse of that advance ever since. + +But the leaders are few; and what could they do without the great mass of +followers? God needs the faithful ones, unknown by name, hidden away in +quiet corners, each the centre of a group which is touching a larger +group, and so on, ever widening. Everything turns on this,--letting God +have the full use of us; living as though God were the realest thing in +this matter-of-fact, every-day world; going on the supposition that the +Bible is indeed His Word, and is a workable book for daily problems and +needs, the one workable book; making everything bend toward getting His +will done. When we get up into His presence, this will be found to have +been the one thing worth while. When the race story has been all told, the +biography of earth brought to its last page, this will be the one thing +that will stand out, and remain, that we let Him use us just as He would, +and that we have brought everything at our disposal to bear on doing His +will of love. + +He comes to you and me afresh to-day with His old-time winsome patience, +asking the use of us. He always thinks of us in two ways, for our own +sakes and for our help in reaching the others. Followers are messengers. +Some are special messengers in speech. But all are messengers in their +lives; that is, they are meant to be. This is our Lord's plan. He wants us +to _live_ the message. + +That old word "witness" has grown to mean three things, that you _know_ +something, that you _tell_ it, and that you tell it _with your life_. +Every time the word witness is used in the New Testament it stands for +some form of the word underneath from which our English word "martyr" +comes. We have come to associate that word "martyr" with the idea of +giving one's life in a violent way for the truth believed. This is the +meaning that has grown into the word. But the practical meaning of this +martyr-witness word goes a bit deeper yet than this. It is not merely +giving the life out in the crisis of dying, but that the whole life is +being given out in a continual martyrdom, that is, a continual witnessing. +These words, follower, messenger, witness, run together. In following we +are witnesses. We know something about this Man who goes before, a blessed +something that has entered into the marrow and joints of one's being. We +tell it. We tell it chiefly by living it. We are messengers. The whole +life is a message of what Christ Jesus has done for us, and is to us. + + + +A Confession of Faith in Wood and Nails. + + +Now, this is the thing--this _living it_--that God has always counted on +most. There are in the Bible most striking illustrations of lived or +_acted messages_. One man actually preached a sermon nearly fifteen months +long merely by the position of his body. You would call that a long +sermon, but it had the desired result, at least partly. The man got the +ears of the people. They were hardened sermon listeners. The talked +sermons had no effect. So they were given an acted sermon. + +I think it may help to look at a few of the old-time followers. The one +chief thing that marked these men was that they _lived the messages_. They +experienced the truth they stood for, sometimes to the extent of much +suffering. This _experience_ became part of the man's life. And this it +was that God used as His message. You cannot be a follower fully without +the thing taking your very life, and taking it to the feeling, +deep-feeling, point. + +One of the earliest of these followers was _Enoch_. His brief story is +like the first crocus of spring coming up through the cold snow, like a +pretty flower growing up out of the thin crack of earth between great +stones. There was such a contrast with the surroundings. It is in the +Fifth of Genesis, one of the most tiresome chapters in the whole Bible. +Its tiresome monotony is an evidence of its inspiration; for it is a +picture of life with God left out. There are five chapters in Enoch's +biography. He was born; with that he had nothing to do. Like his lineal +descendants and his neighbours he just "_lived"_ for a while, went through +the usual physical and mental and social motions of life, no more. Then a +babe came into his household, a fresh act of God, a fresh call of God, one +of God's loudest calls. This was the turning point. He must have heard and +answered that call, for a new life began. He "walked with God." This +became his chief trait. It stands in contrast with his former life. Before +he merely _lived_; now he was on a higher plane, he _walked with God_. The +final chapter,--"God took him." They two had a long walk one day along the +hilltops--or was it only a short walk?--and Enoch never came back. God +kept him. + +Now, in all this Enoch was God's messenger to the whole race. Jude speaks +of his prophesying or preaching. But the emphasis of this simple Genesis +biography is not on his preaching but on himself. That man walking about +in his simple daily touch of heart with God,--that was the message. It +wasn't an easy thing to do. The whole set of his time was against it. It +was an evil time; impurity and violence were its outstanding traits. +Enoch's life cut straight across the grain of his time. He was the leader +of the first racial family, the chief one in the direct line from Adam. +And he insisted on living habitually a simple, holy, pure life, walking +with God, never out of touch. _Following meant keeping in step with God, +never missing step_. + +And this was talked about. Every one knew it. He was doubtless felt to be +out of touch with his time. And he was, blessedly out of touch. It was +probably never harder to walk with God. But he did it. This is how he +helped God. This is what he was asked to do. God was speaking to the whole +race through this great man's simple habit of life. And He spoke still +louder when, one day, He took him away. Enoch's absence was the talk of +the race. "He was not _found_." Clearly they looked for him, looked +everywhere and discussed him and his peculiar manner of life, his strange +disappearance, and his freedom from death. + +So he met God's need. He became God's medium of communication to the +entire race, simply in what he was, and so it is that most of us may help +God. And if we will, He will be less needy, for He will speak through our +lives to all whom we touch. Following means walking with God. So we help +God in His need. + +And Enoch helped God to get _Noah_. The touch of Enoch is on his +great-grandson. Grace _is_ hereditary, when there's enough of it. Enoch +had the boldness to set a new standard. It was easier for Noah to reach up +toward it, when it was already set. Now, Noah was asked to do something +more. Enoch walked with God, the personal life was the one thing. Noah +walked with God, _and_ did something more. + +He was asked to believe something unusual. It was something that could be +believed only by accepting God's word against every other circumstance and +probability; that is, that a flood was coming to cover the whole earth, +and destroy the race. And he was asked further to put his belief into the +shape of an immense house-boat probably built where it wouldn't float +except such a flood did come. That huge boat was his confession of faith. +He acted his faith. It would be a costly thing, perhaps taking all Noah's +wealth, and taking some years to build. That belief was about the +unlikeliest thing imaginable from every natural standpoint, _with God left +out_. And God is _practically_ left out, except as a very last +questionable consideration, then, and ever since, and to-day. Probably +Noah was the butt of gossip and ridicule, quite possibly of scandal and +reproach, year after year, by the whole race; and he would feel it, and +feel it for his family's sake. That boat and its dreaming builder were the +standing joke of the time. He was regarded as a fool, a fanatic, a poor, +unbalanced enthusiast, building his gigantic boat on dry land! Perhaps +some regretted that he brought the cause of religion into reproach by +being such an extremist. + +Yet the only thing he did was to believe God's word, and to shape his +conduct accordingly. He simply did as God asked. He heard God correctly. +His ears were trained to hear. He did what God wanted, regardless of what +people thought. That was how he helped God in His need. The race was saved +through this fresh start, else it had burned out long ago. Following meant +a true life lived, _and faith in God expressed in wood and nails, and in +good money paid out_, while men met him coldly on the road, or jeered. + + + +Befriending God. + + +Long years afterward there was another man who helped God so decidedly +that he became known as "the friend of God." And the word "friend" is used +this time in the emergency sense. He did the thing God asked him to do, +and this helped God in a plan He was working out for the whole race. God +had to have a man. Abraham was willing to be the man. And in that he +became God's helpful friend. The thing God asked him to do seems very +simple, and yet it was a radical thing for this man to do. He was to leave +his father's family, and all his kinsfolk, and live _a separated life_, +both from them and from all others. It is almost impossible for the West +to realize how close and strong family ties are in the Orient. Separation +meant an unusual, sad break in holiest ties. God was trying a new step in +His fight against sin. He had separated the leader of sin from all +others.[112] He had removed all the race except a seed of good.[113] Both +of these plans had failed, through man's failure. Now a new, +farther-reaching plan is begun. A man is separated from all others, to +become the seed of a new nation, a _faith_ nation, which should be a +different people from others, embodying in themselves God's ideals for +all. + +Abraham is asked to become a separated man in a peculiar sense, separate +outwardly, separate in his worship of the true God, and separate in living +a _faith_ life. It was to be a life dependent wholly on God regardless of +outer circumstance or difficulty. There was a training time of twenty-five +years before Abraham was ready for the next step,--the bringing of the +next in line of this new faith stock. Separation, then still further +separation, an open stand for God in the land of strangers, then a series +of close personal tests, each entering into the marrow of his life,--this +was the training to get the man ready to be a _faith_ father to his son, +the next in line of a faith people. And the hardest test of all came +after the child of faith had grown to manhood. Then he became a child of +faith in his own experience, as well as in his father's. Following meant +separation. It meant believing God against the unlikeliest circumstances, +against nature itself, hoping in the midst of hopelessness. Everything +spelled out "hopelessness." God alone spelled out "hope." He took God +against everything else. It meant going to school to God, until he could +be used as God planned. And Abraham consented. He followed. He helped God +in His need. He befriended God; he became His friend in His need. + +But _every_ generation needs men. Each new step in the plan needs a new +man. In a sore crisis of that plan, long after, another man's name, +_Moses_, is known to us, _only_ because he singled himself out as being +willing to let God use him. In his unconscious training, the training of +circumstances into which it was natural to fit, he was peculiarly prepared +for the future task. Bred in Egypt as the son of the ruler's household, he +received the best school training of his day, with all the peculiar +advantages of his position in the royal family. + +Following meant more to Moses, in what he gave up of worldly advantage, +than to any other named in the Bible record. Egypt was the world empire of +that day. Moses was in the innermost imperial circles, and could easily +have become the dominant spirit of the court, if not the successor to the +Pharaoh's throne. But he heard the call. His mother helped train his ears. +He answered "Yes" to God, without knowing how much was involved. Following +meant giving up, then a long course of training in the university of the +desert, with the sheep and the stars and--God. It meant a repeated risking +of his life not only in his bold dealings with Pharaoh, but afterward with +the nation-mob, mob-nation, whose leader, and father and school-teacher, +and everything else, he had to be for forty years. And it meant much on +the other side, too. + + "Had Moses failed to go, had God + Granted his prayer, there would have been + For him no leadership to win; + No pillared fire; no magic rod, + No smiting of the sea; no tears + Ecstatic, shed on Sinai's steep; + No Nebo, with a God to keep + His burial; only forty years + Of desert, watching with his sheep." + + + +A Yet Deeper Meaning. + + +When we turn to the leaders of the latter years of the Kingdom time of +God's teacher-nation, the prophetic time, there is one thing that stands +out sharply in the men God used. It was this, a man's inner personal life +and experience were made use of to an unusual degree. It is as though the +sacred inner life were sacrificed. The holy privacies were laid bare to +the public gaze. The sweets of the inner holy of holies of the personal +life were given up. The people were so far God-hardened that only _acted_ +preaching, _lived_ messages, that took it out of one's very life, with +pain in the taking, had any effect. + +This is most markedly so in the case of _Hosea_, whose experience it seems +almost if not wholly impossible for us to take in.[114] It is true that +the Christianized West has conceptions of personal privacy to which the +East is a stranger. Yet, even so, the way in which these men were asked to +yield up their inner personal lives, must have been a most marked thing to +these Orientals. For God used it as the one thing apparently, the extreme +thing, to touch their hearts with His appeal. + +_Isaiah_ had just such peculiar experiences. The birth of a son is planned +for, and told of for the purpose of making more emphatic the message to +the dull ears and slow heart of the nation.[115] His two sons bore names +of strange meaning, as a means of teaching truths that were peculiarly +distasteful to the people. Isaiah takes one of these strangely named sons +as he goes to deliver a message to the king. And the son standing by his +father's side is a reminder in his name of a disagreeable truth.[116] A +little later the man is actually required to go about barefooted, and +without clothing sufficient for conventional respectability, and to +continue this for three years.[117] When we remember that he was not an +erratic extremist, but a sober-minded, fine-grained gentleman of +refinement and of a good family, it helps us to understand a little how +hard-hearted and stubborn were a people that could be appealed to only in +such a way. + +And it tells us, too, how utterly surrendered was the man who was willing +thus to give up his private personal life. How much easier to have been +simply an earnest, eloquent preacher, with his inner personal life lived +free from public gaze, a thing sacred to himself. Following meant the +giving up of the sacred private life to a strangely marked degree, for God +to use. + +Even more marked are the experiences that _Jeremiah_ was asked and +consented to go through. It would seem as though the repeated conspiracies +against his life, the repeated imprisonments in vile dungeons dangerous to +health and life, and the shame of being put in the public stocks before +the rabble, would have been much for God to ask, and for a man to give. +But there is something that goes much farther and deeper into the very +marrow of his life than these. He is bidden not to marry, not to have a +family life of his own.[118] And he obeyed. This was to be so only and +solely as a message to the people. A message couched in such startling +language they might listen to. Again we must remember the Oriental setting +to appreciate the significance of this. In the East the unit of society is +not the individual but the _family_. A man's marriage is planned for by +the family, as a means of building up the family. To be childless and +especially son-less was felt to be peculiarly unfortunate, almost +bordering on disgrace. + +This meant for Jeremiah not only the loss of personal joys and delights, +but that his line would be broken off from his father's family. He would +be without heir, or future, in the family history. So following meant +going yet deeper into the inner personal life, for the sake of God's plan. +This giant's strength is revealed in nothing more than in his tear-wet +laments over his people. And he gave all this strength to following. He +said "Yes" to God's need and request, though it must have taken his very +life to say it. + +But _Ezekiel_ was asked to do something even beyond this. He was the +messenger of God to the colony of Hebrew exiles in Assyria. His accounts +of the visions of God reveal a remarkable power of detailed description, +and a remarkably strong mentality. Strange to say, these people in +captivity are yet harder to reach than were their fathers in their native +land. Yet, not strange, for the human heart is the same when it won't open +to the purifying of the upper currents of air. Here the man himself +literally became the message. He actually lay upon his left side for +thirteen months and then on his right side for six weeks longer. + +During all that time he ate food that was particularly repugnant, and it +was carefully weighed out, and the water as carefully measured out for +his use. He had to rise, no doubt, for various reasons, but the bulk of +the time for nearly fifteen months he lay out where all could see him. His +fellow-exiles, I suppose, looked and wondered, laughed and gossiped +perhaps, and then as time wore on, they thought and thought more, and were +awed as they began slowly to take in the meaning of this strange message +of God. Thereafter Ezekiel was the leader, to whose house the leaders of +the colony came, and to whose words they intently listened. + +But there was a yet deeper meaning to following than we have found yet. It +is a meaning that awes one's heart into amazed silence. He was married. +His wife is spoken of very tenderly as "the desire of thine eyes." He was +told that she would be taken away out of his life. She would die. That was +the great thing. Then he was not to mourn outwardly for her; this was the +second thing. He was to be before the people as though the greatest sorrow +of his life had not happened. Is it any wonder the people came astonished +to know what this meant? The simple brevity with which he tells of the +occurrence takes hold of one's heart. "So I spake unto the people in the +morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was +commanded."[119] There was no questioning, no hesitancy of action, but a +simple, prompt obedience, even though his heart was breaking. This was +what God asked of him. God needed this in His dealings with these people +of His in whom His world-plan centred. How desperate must have been the +need that called for such an experience as this! Ezekiel said "Yes" even +to this. Surely there was here some of that Calvary meaning, of the +secondary sort, of which we have spoken together. Following meant not only +giving his personality and life, but now it meant giving what must have +been more than life itself. + + + + +Through Fire. + + +To _Daniel_ following meant something essentially different. He was not a +messenger to his own people, nor their leader. He was a messenger to the +great world-rulers of his time, through the visions he interpreted, and +through his unbending faithfulness and purity of life; The thing that +stands out largest is the life he lived, a life of simplicity in habit, of +purity and consistency, with an unwavering faith in God. God _could_ use +him to speak to the great emperors. So he helped God to get His message to +men so hard to reach through a human channel. + +Following meant a pure life. It was Daniel's insistence on being pure and +true that shut him up with the wild beasts. And it was through his +unflinching fidelity and persistence that God could send His message anew, +in the most public manner, out to all the millions of that great +world-empire. Following meant to a marked degree a pure life as the basis +of the service rendered. It proved to mean a lions' den, _and_ the power +of God overcoming the instincts of ravenous beasts. But clear beyond these +it meant that God could reach His world with His message to an unusual +extent. + +_Daniel's three companions_ helped God by means of a most thrilling +experience, a really terrible experience. God had been pleading with the +great Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel's message. Now He wants to speak again +in a way that will compel attention. He needs these three young men. They +consent to be His messengers. It meant going through a terrible ordeal. +They simply remained true in their personal devotion to God. This was the +thing God needed, and used. Everything of use to God roots down in the +life. The personal plea of the great king, and the prospect of a horrible +death fail alike to move them. They probably had quite resigned themselves +to the fate of being burned alive for the truth. But God had a different +purpose. He was thinking about this ruler with whom He dealt so personally +and unusually, time and again. + +The three men, walking quietly up and down in the seven-times heated +furnace in company with a glorious looking person "like a son of the +gods"--this was the message God wanted spoken to the ruler He was pleading +with. His strangely marvellous power, and His personal regard for His +faithful followers--this was what God was trying to say to Nebuchadnezzar. +He asked the use of these three young men. Their personal loyalty to +Himself even unto death--this was what He wanted. _Through_ this He +reached the heart of the man He was after. + +The experience of these men is an intensely interesting study. It was a +fearful ordeal that they went through. Yet it was wholly mental, and of +the spirit. They suffered no pain of body, nor inconvenience. The fire +only made them free, burned up the bonds that held them. It took great +strength of will, of decision, to stay steady through all the fearful +test. Yet _nothing happened to their bodies_ except to help them. God took +care of that. They gave Him what He asked. He gave them more than they +expected. They probably expected death and were willing. God had a deeper +plan He was working out. How glad they must have been that they followed +fully, that they didn't disappoint God. + +Following meant simply being true, even though the road led through a +furnace. God would attend to the furnace. Their part was simply to follow +where He led. And our God is needing just such acted messages to-day. He +is longing for just such opportunities to reveal His power and love, not +merely _to us_, but through us to His world. + +Let us take time for one more of these faithful followers. This time it is +a young woman. It is at the most critical juncture of God's plan, thus +far. He needed a woman whom He could use to bring His Son, and could use +further to mother that Son's early years. All unconsciously Mary of +Nazareth and of Bethlehem was fitting into His plan in her life, her +simple, pure, godly, personal life. We can understand that God wooed her +especially to such a life of heart devotion as a preparation for the after +part. And she said "Yes" to all His wooings, never suspecting what was to +come of it. You never know how much a simple "Yes" to God may mean, _or_ a +"No." You never know how much of service may grow out of the true life. +Yet all true service is something coming out of the life. + +Then the plan of God was made known to her,--the marvellous plan, yet so +simple to Him. And again she said a simple, awed "Yes." She waits only +long enough to ask the natural, woman's question as to method. There was +no questioning of God's power, what He could do, and would do. It came to +mean hurting suspicion, peculiarly hurting to as pure and gentle a soul as +she. Apparently this was unavoidable. It speaks volumes for her openness +of both mind and heart to God, that she instantly took in Gabriel's +meaning, and could take it in that such an unprecedented thing was +possible. It would have saved her the cruel suspicion if Joseph had been +told beforehand, but the whole probability is that he could not have taken +it in that such a thing was possible. + +Following meant the glad "Yes" to the early wooing up to a pure devoted +life. It meant saying a further "Yes" to the plan of God even though +something so unusual, and with it the misunderstanding and cruel +suspicion, on the one point most sensitive to a woman, and by the one +nearest her. But she said "Yes" both times. She let God have the use of +her life for His plan. That was all He asked. That is all He asks. But +that is what He asks. + +These are a few of the glorious company of followers, the goodly +fellowship of those who have helped God in His passionate plan for His +world, the noble army of willing ones. But the number is incomplete. The +plan is not yet fully worked out. The need is not yet wholly met. It was +never more urgent. To-day the insistent voice still comes as of old, +asking you and me to follow. + +And no one can tell how much _his_ following may mean to God in reaching +His world. + + + + +The Glory Of The Goal,--Face to Face + + + +"With You Always.". + + +Have you ever _seen Christ_? No, I don't mean have you been to some +uplifting convention, and been tremendously caught by some talented, +earnest speaker, and been swayed by the atmosphere of the hour and place, +and felt that all was not just as it should be with you; and then you +prayed more, and made some new resolves, or re-made some old ones, and +left off some things, and put on some things; I don't mean that, but +this--have you ever _seen Christ_? + +No, of course, you don't see Him with these outer eyes. Well, then just +what do I mean practically? _This_--has there come to you a real sense of +Himself? of His presence? of the tremendous plea His presence makes? and, +possibly, you don't know just how to answer. You say, "I'm not just sure," +or "How can I know?" Well, you'll never say it that way, nor ask that +question again after the experience has come. + +May I tell you a little bit about it? Yet, mark you, only "a little bit." +You can never _tell_ another one what it means to see _Him_. When once the +sight has come, every word you utter about it, or Him, seems so lame and +weak that you despair of ever being able to let out at your lips what has +gotten into you. But let me try, even if lamely, in the eager yearning +that it may help you know if, thus far, you have missed seeing _Him_, and +maybe--so much better--help you to _see_ Him. For until you have--well, +nothing, absolutely nothing, is worth while. + +When you see Him there comes such a sense of _His purity_ that, instantly, +you are down on your face in utter despair, because of your own self--your +impurity; your lack of purity; the sharp contrast between Him and you. You +feel that young Isaiah's outcry in the temple that morning is wholly +inadequate. "Unclean lips," is it? Why, the whole thing, from innermost +recesses clear through and out, is unclean. Then it dawns upon you that +this is really what Isaiah is feeling and trying to express in his "woe" +and "undone." + +And that vivid sense of contrast between Him and you never grows less, but +more acute and deeper. Even when you come to know Him better, and the +sweet peace comes with its untellable balm to your spirit, yet you are +always conscious of the contrast, and you know that _you_ are not pure; +only _He_ is; and all you can do is to keep under the cleansing stream of +His blood, very low down. + + "Never higher than His pierced feet, + Never farther than His bleeding side." + +With that comes such a sense of _Himself_, of His--what word can tell +it?--His glory,--which means simply His character, what He is in +Himself--that again words can never tell out the sense of your own +littleness; no, that is not the word, your own _nothingness_. And now you +recall, with an inner shrinking, how well you have thought of yourself, +how much you have talked about yourself and your view of things, perhaps +in the language of a properly phrased humility. Now you are dumb. His +presence dumbs you. You begin to wonder at the strange self-confidence and +self-complacence that have been so common even in your holiest moments and +experiences. It seems, in this Presence, as though you could never open +your lips again--except to speak of _Him_. + +Then your eyes are drawn more intently to His person,--His face, His +wounds. The scars where the thorns tore His great, patient face; the +grief-whitened hair, draped above those deep, tender, unspeakable eyes; +that strangely rough place in the palm so lovingly outstretched; the +spear-scar, the nail-marks in those feet coming over to you,--these grip +you. Their meaning begins to come. There's cleansing; yes, blessed fact! +there's _cleansing_ from this horrid impurity whose stain you are so +conscious of. Yet, what it cost Him! What my impurity forced upon Him! +Yes, cleansed; blessed Jesus! What a relief to be cleansed! Yet I must +_stay_ under the stream; only so can the sense of relief be continual. +And I must stay down on my face at His feet. It is the only place for such +as I discover myself to be. Yet what grace to let me stay at His feet! + +Have you _seen Christ_? This is what begins to come when you have--His +purity, your contrasted lack; His glorious self, your own nothingness in +yourself; His suffering--the price of your cleansing. This is only a +beginning, yet a beginning that comes to be the continuous thing. + + + +Closer Acquaintance. + + +After a little, as you are sitting still in His presence, and have become +a bit quieter after that flush of first emotions at seeing Him, you begin +to be caught all anew with how _lovable_ He is. This takes great hold of +you. I overheard a once-drunken, now thoroughly changed man, up in +Scotland, as he was fairly pouring out his heart in prayer in his sweet, +broad Scotch,--"Once Thou didst have no form or comeliness to me, but +now"--and it seemed as if all the pent-up feelings within rushed at once +to flood-tide--"_now_ Thou art the chiefest among ten thousand, and the +One altogether lovely." And the high-water mark of the flood was touched +on "chiefest" and "altogether." + +That first look made you think mostly of your-self--an inner loathing. Now +you think of _Him_. He is so lovable, so true and tender, and patient and +pure; again your language gives out, and you feel better content just to +look without trying to use words. They're such poor things when it comes +to telling about Him. He is so much more than anything that can be said +about Him. His will is so wise and thoughtful and far-reaching and loving. +Strange how stupid you have been in insisting so strenuously and blindly +on having your own way. His plan, His thought about everything concerning +you, is _so_ superb. And He asks me to be His follower. What joy! What if +the way be a bit rough; it's following _Him_; that's enough. He calls me +to be His personal friend. I can hardly take it in,--His _friend_? Yes, +that's His own word. Well, let any thorns tear because of the narrowing of +the road; I'm His friend, man, do you hear? His _friend_,--do you get hold +of that word? What can any thorn thing do against that! + +"We" may go hand in hand now,--His is pierced; I feel the scar where our +hands touch. But we're together at last, _the_ thing He has been working +for. I can feel His presence. I can hear the low music of His voice +within. Thorns don't count here. Oh, yes, I _feel_ them; they haven't lost +their power to slash and sting,--but--with _Him_ so close +alongside!--Wondrous Christ, here I am at Thy feet, Thy glad slave +forever. I'm wholly Thine. It's my own choice. I'll never go any other way +by Thy grace. This is the second bit that comes, the glad surrender of +life to His mastery. Do you know about this? You will, when you've _seen +Christ_. + +Then you come to know, without being able to tell just how, that He is +not only _with_ you, but _within_ you. At first His presence may have +seemed as something outside yourself. You were looking away at some One +who was looking at you. And His look at you broke your heart, and made +your will, once so strangely strong in itself, now as strangely pliable to +His as only a strong will can be. But now He is living within you. You may +not be clear just how the change came. But you do know that there's a +something which you come to know is a some One, who is within. His +presence is peace past understanding, but not past appreciation. There's a +longing for His Word, a desire to talk with Him even when you don't want +to ask for something, a deep heart-cry for purity, a burning within to +please Him. These all seem to come from Him, and at the same time to be +satisfied by Himself, even while they remain and increase. + +And yet more, while this Presence within seems so quietly real and +exquisitely peace-bringing, there is still the outer presence, the One +whose presence it was at the first that brought all this change. Two +presences, one above, enthroned there; one within, enthroned there; yet +they seem the same, as though one personality with two presences had come +into your consciousness. There's the Lord Jesus above at the Father's +right hand; here's the Holy Spirit within at my right hand,[120] yet in +practical effect they are as one, while one's thought is always directed +to the Lord Jesus both within and above. + +The Presence within makes you think wholly of the Presence above, who yet +seems also to be within. You are getting a taste of the practical meaning +of the Trinity now, three that in effect are as one. But you are too much +taken up with the gladness of it to think about the metaphysics of it. +He--whether within, or above, or both--is so much more than words. The +experience is so much more than any explanation. You are not concerned +about the explanation so long as you can have the sweet experience. + + + +The Final Goal. + + +This is the third bit that comes when you've seen Christ, the gracious +indwelling of the Lord Jesus' other self, the Holy Spirit. But if you have +seen Him, you are probably not counting steps nor analyzing processes, but +just singing a bit of joyous praise to Him. + +Then there's _the outer turn; He_ does that. He draws you to Himself, and +yet at the same time sends you away--no, not _from_ Him--_for_ Him, out to +the others He hungers after, even as after you. Up, in, out,--so He draws +and directs, up to Himself, in by contrast to one's self with a holding +hard to Him while looking within, then a sending out to the others. He +kindles a fire, He is a fire, drawing, burning, cleansing, warming, then +driving you forth, and doing all at the same time. Wondrous fine, this +fire of love--of His heart--of Himself. The common word for this is +"service." The word doesn't matter much. Service is a good word. But the +thing that comes seems so much more than this word seems to contain. + +That hand that was pierced, which has been to you so tender and warm, and +in its clasp so expressive of this wondrous friendship--that hand now +leads you where you had not thought of going. _And you go_,--aghast almost +at first at the radical change in your carefully worked out plans, losing +your breath for a moment as you wonder what "they" _will_ think (though +"they" never will _understand_, unless--ah, yes, unless they see _Him_). +That hand reaches in where your life touches others, in the family, the +business circle, the social circle, and moulds you over anew in the old +relationships, not taking you away from them (though there may be some +partings), but making you a new presence in the midst of them. + +That hand reaches into your pocket, and your safety-deposit box, in among +the title papers and securities, and shakes off the dust and rust, and +sends them out on an errand after the others. That fire--Himself--draws +all into the smelting-pot. Its alchemy transmutes possessions into lives, +redeemed, sweetened, Jesus-touched, Christ-renewed lives, made like +Himself. And the sweet music of their new lives comes up into _His_ +gladdened ears, and a few of the strains come to cheer you. One may have +at first a strange feeling of bareness, for things that we've always clung +to as essential have gone out from us to others. But with the outgoing of +things has come an incoming of _Himself_, in greater abundance than we +dreamed possible. He, within, completely overbalances what He has sent out +from us into use. _He_--He is _everything_. + +The usual word for all this is "service," a blessed word. Yet service +seems to suggest your doing something for Him among others. This is quite +different. It is _His_ doing something _with_ you for others. The thing +itself is so much more than any word. Christ is so much more than anything +you say about Him. The truth is always less than Himself. But one never +understands how much that means till he has seen Christ. Have _you_ seen +Christ? Then others shall see Him, too, in you, and through you. + +This is the glory of the goal--face to face with Himself. It begins now. +It is a very real thing. This is a bit of the meaning of that mountain +beatitude, "the pure in heart ... shall _see God_." Yet only he who sees +understands what seeing means. The subtle intensity of God's presence +cannot be explained, only understood by the purified in heart. Only the +opened eyes see. + +But this is only a beginning. There will be the far greater glory of the +final goal, as we come into His immediate presence, literally face to +face. That may be when we are called away from the lower road up to the +higher reaches, above the clouds and the blue, the glory-reaches, up where +He now sits. It may be by that goal coming nearer, by Himself actually +coming on the clouds in great glory, for His own and for the next chapter +in His great world-plan. Then we shall be caught up into His presence. +Then we shall be fully like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. + +And we shall be sharers in His glory, in the Kingdom time of glad earth +service. But we shall be thinking only of Himself--face to face. + + + + +Footnotes + + +[1] John i. 1, 2, 14, 18; Colossians i. 15; II Corinthians iv. 4; +Philippians ii. 6; Hebrews i. 3. + +[2] John xv. 15; Psalm xxv. 14; Isaiah xli. 8; II Chronicles xx. 7; James +ii. 23. + +[3] Matthew iv. 4; where the emphatic word is "man," standing in contrast +with "Son of God" in verse 3. + +[4] Acts xvii. 28; Job xii. 10; Daniel v. 23 l.c.; Psalm cxxxix. 1-16. + +[5] Philippians ii. 6-8. + +[6] Romans xii. 19; Deuteronomy xxxii. 35; Psalm xciv. 1; Proverbs xx. 22; +I Peter ii. 23; I Corinthians xiii. 5, second clause. + +[7] John xi. 41, 42; xii. 27, 28; Luke x. 21. + +[8] Deuteronomy viii. 17, 18. + +[9] Matthew v. 3. + +[10] John viii. 28, 29. + +[11] Genesis i. 26-28. + +[12] 1 Philippians ii. 8; Hebrews v. 8; Romans v. 19 l.c.; John x. 18 l.c. + +[13] Hebrews ii. 18. + +[14] Hebrews xii. 29. + +[15] Romans iii. 26, latter half; free reading--"that He (God) might be +seen to be just and righteous in forgiving a man's sin when he trusted in +Jesus." + +[16] Eden: delight. + +[17] Genesis ii. 8-20. + +[18] Genesis iii. 8, 9 + +[19] Genesis iv.-vi. + +[20] Genesis vi. 6; Deuteronomy v. 29; Psalm lxxxi. 13; Isaiah xlviii. 18. + +[21] Mark xii. 1-8; II Chronicles xxxvi. 15, 16--These passages, and many +similar, while speaking directly of the one nation Israel, are giving a +picture of the heart of God toward all men, and His habit of action. +Israel itself was the messenger-nation, whose life was meant to be God's +message of love to all the race. + +[22] John i. 1-18, especially verses 1-5, 14. + +[23] John i. 14 f.c. + +[24] Matthew ii. 22, 23. + +[25] John i. 19-28. + +[26] E. C. Clephane. + +[27] Psalm xl. 8 f.c.; John iv. 34; Hebrews xii. 2. + +[28] Matthew xi. 28. + +[29] Matthew iv. 19, with Luke v. 1-11. + +[30] Matthew xi. 29, 30. + +[31] John xiii. 31-xvi. 33. + +[32] John xx. 21. + +[33] Matthew xxviii. 18-20. + +[34] John i. 35-42. + +[35] Matthew iv. 18-22, with Luke v. 1-11. + +[36] Matthew x. 1-5; Mark iii. 14-19; Luke vi. 12-17. + +[37] Matthew xvi. 13-28. + +[38] Matthew xvi. 24; Mark viii. 34; Luke ix. 23. + +[39] Matthew xxvi. 58. + +[40] John xxi. 15-19. + +[41] Acts v. 41. + +[42] I John. + +[43] Acts i, 1. + +[44] Luke xiv. 25-35. + +[45] Mark x. 17-22. + +[46] In "Other Sheep," by Harold Begbie. + +[47] Luke xiv. 25-35, with Matthew v. 13. + +[48] Luke xxi. 28. + +[49] Mark x. 17-22. + +[50] Acts xxii. 11, with ix. 1-9. + +[51] Luke xxiv. 40; John xx. 20. + +[52] John i. 19-28. + +[53] Romans viii. 34; Hebrews vii. 25. + +[54] I John ii. 1; Hebrews ix. 24. + +[55] Isaiah xi 2; lxi. 1, with Luke iv. 18-21. + +[56] Psalm xxv. 3 f.c. + +[57] John iii. 34 f.c. + +[58] Isaiah xliv. 3; John vii. 37-39. + +[59] Acts viii. 4-8, 26-40. + +[60] Matthew v. 42. + +[61] Isaiah xxxviii. 17, margin. + +[62] Matthew iv. 23; ix. 35. + +[63] Luke v. 15, 16. The language underneath here suggests a habitual +going aside to pray, as an offset to the work with the crowds. + +[64] Matthew xxv. 40. + +[65] James i. 2, 3. + +[66] Matthew vi. 13. + +[67] James i. 13. + +[68] Matthew xxvi. 41. + +[69] John xiii., xiv. + +[70] John xv., xvi. + +[71] John xvii. + +[72] Lucy Rider Meyer. + +[73] Exodus xxxii. 31, 32 + +[74] Romans ix. 1-3. + +[75] II Corinthians iv. 12. + +[76] Colossians i. 24. + +[77] I Corinthians xv. 3, 4. + +[78] Acts i. 1. + +[79] Matthew xxvii. 59, 60. + +[80] Matthew xxvii. 62, 66. + +[81] John xii. 24. + +[82] John xii. 20-32. + +[83] Isaiah v. 20. + +[84] Matthew xvi. 21-28. + +[85] John xv. + +[86] Hebrews xii. 2. + +[87] II Corinthians iii. 18. + +[88] Romans viii. 11. + +[89] II Corinthians iv. 11. "Dying" in these two passages does not mean +being in the process of dissolution, but that the body is subject to +death. + +[90] Ephesians i. 20, 21; Acts ii. 33; John xiv. 12, 13; Romans viii. +34; Hebrews vii. 25; ix. 24. + +[91] Colossians iii. I; Ephesians ii. 6. + +[92] Psalm xxii. 8, 9. + +[93] Revelation ii. 26, 27; v. 10; xx. 4. + +[94] Psalm lxxxiv. 11. + +[95] Anonymous, in "Egyptian Mission News," copied from S. M. Zwemer's +"Unoccupied Fields of the World." + +[96] Hebrews x. 12, 13. + +[97] Revelation ii., iii. + +[98] Numbers xiv. 24 xxxii. 12; Deuteronomy i. 36; Joshua xiv. 8, 9, 14. + +[99] Matthew xvi. 24. + +[100] John xii. 26. + +[101] John vi. 70. + +[102] Matthew xix. 27. + +[103] Luke ix. 51-54. + +[104] Genesis xvi. + +[105] Galatians ii 11-14. + +[106] Luke ii. 49. + +[107] Zechariah xiv. 4. + +[108] Hebrews xiii. 20, 21. + +[109] Exodus xxxii. 31, 32. + +[110] Romans ix. 1-3. + +[111] Psalm xlix. 7. + +[112] Genesis iv. 12-16. + +[113] Genesis vi. 17, 18. + +[114] Hosea i. 2-9; iii 1-3. + +[115] Isaiah vii. 3-17. + +[116] Isaiah viii. 1-3. + +[117] Isaiah xx. 1-4. + +[118] Jeremiah xvi. 1-4. + +[119] Ezekiel xxiv. 15-19. + +[120] Psalm xvi. 8. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Quiet Talks on Following the Christ, by +S. D. 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