Lame Sheep
(No. 2854)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1903.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be
dislocated, but rather be healed." Hebrews 12:13.
THERE are some Believers with strong and vigorous faith. Soaring high,
they can mount up with wings as eagles. Fleet of foot, they can run and
not be weary, or, with steady progress, they can walk and not faint.
But all are not so highly privileged. I suppose there is seldom a
family which has no sickly member. However hale and hearty most of the
sons and daughters may be, there is likely to be some weak one among
them. So it certainly is in the spiritual household and it will be,
therefore, my business, just now, to look after the weak ones. I trust
that the word which I shall be enabled to speak may lead their
companions to look after them and may God grant that by these means,
many troubled ones may be conducted into peace and safety!
I. IN GOD'S FLOCK, THERE ARE ALWAYS SOME LAME SHEEP. Some of these
people of God, who are compared to lame sheep, seem to have been so
from their birth Their lameness is in their constitution. Do you not
know some friends of yours who naturally incline to despondency? They
always look at the dark side of everything and if there is no dark side
at all, they have a very fine imagination–so they very soon conjure up
some difficulty or trouble. They appear to have been born with a
propensity to read black-letter literature and nothing else.
Illuminated writings are not for them–they cannot bear the fine colors
which delight our eyes–they like the dark points. If they turn to the
Bible, they seem naturally to fall upon the threats, or if they read
the promises, they shake their heads and say, "Ah, these are not for
us!" They make heavy troubles out of the common cares of life and it is
only carrying out the same spirit which causes them to grieve and fret
over the whole course of their Christian pilgrimage. For them, the road
is always rugged, the pastures unsavory and the waters turbid. You will
find such unhappy souls in all our Churches–people who seem from their
very conformation to be lame as to their faith–timorous, trembling and
full of doubts and fears.
Besides, have you never noticed a constitutional tendency in some
professors to stumble and get lame? If there is a slough, they will
fall into it. If there is a thicket, they will get entangled by it. If
there is an error, they will run into it. We trust they are good people
and they do believe in Jesus, but, somehow or other, they do not see
things clearly. Men to them are like walking trees. Such persons go off
at a tangent if anybody makes noise enough to attract their attention.
"Lo, here!" and "lo, there!" are cries at the sound of which they go
off directly. Let some Divine discover a novel doctrine and they are on
the new track at once, never thinking where it will lead them. Let a
would-be philosopher suggest some fresh theory which clashes with the
Word of God and the things of the Spirit–and their eager appetite is
whetted and they will leave the old fields of Truth to wander in the
barren wastes of science falsely so-called!
When you go to market, if you are a sensible person, you do not turn
aside from all the good wares and fair merchandise to waste your time
and your money over the quack vendor of nostrums that he advertises
with large pictures and loud talk. Your common sense directs you to
seek wholesome food and useful articles, but there are credulous people
ready to be caught with any bait. So, too, there are no lack of
simpletons in all our congregations–good, thoughtless people, lame and
limping in all their walk, troubled with skepticism and plagued with
curiosity–unstable as water, they shall not excel.
Can you not detect, too, some who are lame in point of character? They
seem to have been so from their very birth. There is a something about
their gait that is unsteady. As you look at them, you are ready to say,
"Yes, good people they
may be but they are of a strange sort." We hope they are sincere, but
they are like Mephibosheth, who was dropped by his nurse, and was lame
in both his feet. If they walk at all, it is a dreadful hobble. They do
their best and we cannot condemn them, but there is an awkwardness
about their whole deportment. They are lame sheep at the best. With
some, it is a cross temper. With others, it is a general moroseness
which it does not seem as if the Grace of God itself would ever cure in
them, or it may be a natural indolence oppresses them. Or it is quite
possible that habitual impatience harasses them. Now, the Grace of God
should eradicate these vices–it can and will if you yield to its
influence, for the Grace of God, which brings salvation, teaches us to
deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts. With some of us, the conquest
over such evil propensities has been already gained. Still, there are
among us those sheep that are lame in this particular respect–they
are, if I may say so, constitutionally unsound from their very first
entrance into the fold!
Moreover, they betray their lameness when there is anythingyou give
them to do. If they are Sunday school teachers, they cannot walk
regularly or keep step with their fellows, or they fail to help the
young scholar on. Ask them to visit in any district–the steps they
take are marked by indiscretion. Appoint them to preach at any of your
stations–their speech is not straightforward–they go over the most
plain ground of Gospel statement with a lack of consistency, like the
walk of a man whose legs are not equal. Whatever they attempt, they do
it just as a lame man would go on an errand. They are slow in their
movements and slovenly in their performances. Aptly are they compared
to lame sheep. Well, you know such people. I wonder whether you are one
yourself? At least there are some such about, lame from their birth.
Other sheep of Christ's flock are halt and lame because they have been
ill fed. Bad food is the cause of a thousand disorders. Many a sickly
man, instead of being dosed with drugs, needs to be nourished with
wholesome meat. Had he something better to feed upon, he might conquer
his diseases. Sheep cannot thrive well on bad food. It is true that
many really good Christians have been badly fed. The preaching they
have heard has, perhaps, been altogether false doctrine. The poor souls
have sat and listened to moral essays, maudlin sentiments, or manifold
subtleties that could not nourish their faith, or invigorate their
spiritual constitution. If they sometimes suspected that it was not all
right, they did not like to desert the place they had long been known
to attend, or to forsake the minister they had long been known to hear.
They are afraid of being thought too critical, so they have gone on
with ill fare to the prejudice of their health and strength, their
comfort and usefulness. It is more than probable that poisonous
doctrine has got into their constitution and done them real mischief,
hence they are lame.
In hundreds, not to say thousands, of cases that I know, Christians are
lame through a kind of hazy teaching in which if there is not anything
positively bad, there is nothing positively good. I have read the
remark that if you were to hear 13 lectures on geology from any decent
lecturer, you would probably get a pretty clear idea of his system, but
that you might hear 1,300 sermons from many a minister without knowing
what he believes! There is a systematic habit, nowadays, of keeping
back the positive doctrines and the essential Truths of the Gospel–or
of referring to them so vaguely that the sound of words gives no clue
to the sense. The whole atmosphere is so full of fog that people cannot
see where they are! The preacher may appear to be profoundly deep, but
he is not clear. He stirs the mud and makes himself and his subject,
alike, obscure. Or, perhaps, he is so superficial that he does not
touch upon those Truths which lie at the foundation of the blessed hope
of eternal life. Those that sit under such a ministry need not wonder
how it is that they do not grow in Grace!
Yes, and how much ministry there is that has nothing but chaff in it!
What else can we say of those exquisite preparations for the pulpit in
which cuttings from the reviewers, tidbits from the poets and choice
scraps from Scripture writers are woven together with a fine overture
to begin and a flowing peroration to finish? What can we say of it but
chaff, chaff, without a grain of pure wheat from first to last? I would
like to chain eloquence down to a post–there let it be bound forever
in the land of forgetfulness, never again let it lift its brazen face
in this world! Aiming at oratory, cultivating rhetoric, the Gospel,
which eschews the words of man's wisdom and demands great plainness of
speech, has been disparaged and displaced. We shall not get back a
strong race of Christians till we get back such a sturdy band of
outspoken men as dare their reputation, if not their lives, upon the
unvarnished testimony they give to the Truth they know, the Truth as it
is in Jesus, the Truth as it burns in their own hearts and fires their
tongues, the Truth as it commends itself to every man's conscience in
the sight of God! But, undoubtedly, there are thousands of Christians
at this good hour who are lame for life through unqualified, unhallowed
teaching!
God save us from its hateful witcheries and its baneful influences! If
we are called to preach, let us preach, but let us know what we have to
say and let us say it as though we meant it–or forever hold our
tongues! There are some preachers who seem to speak as if they meant to
say nothing and they succeed to their heart's content, if that is their
intention! Nothing comes of it. The children of God, trained under
their auspices, do not know whether God has an elect people or not,
whether the saints will persevere, or whether they will fall away and
perish. They do not know whether Christ redeemed everybody, or
somebody. They have no clear notion whatever of the things which make
for their peace. May we be preserved from all willful ignorance and
woeful infatuation! May God supply us constantly with strong meat and
sound health to digest it!
Full many of the Lord's sheep are lame because they have been worried.
Sheep often get worried by a dog and so they get lamed. It may be that
I am addressing some poor child of God who has been beset and
frightfully tormented by Satan, the accuser of the brethren. Oh, what
trouble and what terror he can inflict upon us! He can suggest the most
infernal insinuations. He can inject into our minds such blasphemous
thoughts as make us stagger and reel. He can make us breathe, as it
were, the very atmosphere of the infernal Lake of Fire! Those who have
passed through this bitter experience will know how they carry the
marks of a conflict with Satan upon them, after they have once been
assailed by him–wounds and scars that they will bear upon them to
their grave. He is such a cruel adversary that even when we overcome
him, our strength is impaired by the battle. The fatigues and perils of
our pilgrimage are light in comparison with our temptations. We had
better go a thousand miles over hedge and ditch than have to stand foot
to foot with that dread adversary of souls for an hour! Full many a
child of God has been lamed in that fray.
Others, too, have been harassed by persecutors. Many a poor woman has
lost her cheerful spirits through a harsh, ungodly husband who has
excited her fears, or vexed her with sneers. And not a few dear young
children have been broken down for life through the hard treatment they
have had, for conscience' sake, to endure at home. True, there may be
instances in which sufferers of this sort, out of weakness have been
made strong, but, for the most part, when from day to day, from hour to
hour, one is insulted and assaulted, the trial is heavier than any
ordinary fortitude can bear, insomuch that those who have encountered
it have gone halting like lame sheep all their days.
Some precious saints I have known have grown lame through a rough and
weary way, just as sheep can be lamed if they are driven too fast, or
too far, or over too stony a ground. To what an excess of trouble some
children of God have been exposed! The Lord has graciously helped them
through all their adversities. Still, the trouble they have had to
endure has told upon their hearts. They seem as if they never could
quite recover from the sudden shock, or the protracted anxiety that has
once impaired their strength, wrinkled their face and dried up their
moisture. If they had more Grace, no doubt they would recover their
health and renew their youth, but there are some gentle spirits which,
when once crushed, are unable to rally and, therefore, they remain
lame.
Perhaps still more are lamed through the rough road of controversy. If
you are a child of God and you know your bearings, always keep as much
as you can out of the jingle-jangle of controversy. Little good ever
comes of your subtle disputes, but they do gender much strife. Do you
tell me that we are told to "prove all things"? Yes, so we are–and it
is well to give heed to the admonition–but we are also told to "hold
fast that which is good," and we must not forget the latter half of the
precept. Some people seem to think that in order to prove all things,
they have to analyze and define every particular and every particle
with scrupulous nicety. To prove the quality of the meat that is
brought to your table, there is no occasion for you to eat the whole
roast. A small sample will enable you to pronounce a sound opinion.
Apply the same rule to books and it will save you a world of trouble.
They may dish up old dogmas, or they may throw off new theories. They
may contain the reveries of the thoughtful, or the ramblings of the
idler. They may be conceived with a purpose, or composed for a price.
In any case, you must have a voracious appetite if you would read them
all through!
But it is quite unnecessary. Take the paper knife and just cut open a
page in the center. One tasting will generally suffice for a fair
testing. You can see, within a little, what tack their authors take. If
they accord not with the Word of God, away with them! You have proved
them quite enough. You will get little reward for your pains if you
worry your poor mind to solve afresh the points which are settled among
us. We have believed and rejoiced in the Truth of God these many years.
Yes, believed on conclusive evidence where we once stood in doubt!
Rejoiced with unspeakable joy where we once looked with dreary
misgiving! What more can you require? But many have been lamed through
choosing rough
places, adventuring among thorns and briers and leaving the beaten
tracks without experience enough to avoid injury to themselves, or
skill enough to clear a path in which others may safely follow.
Full many of the Lord's sheep have become lame through negligence,
faintness and the gradual declension of spiritual health. They have
backslidden. They have been remiss in prayer, omitted reading the Word
and forsaken communion with God–so it is no marvel that their walk
betrays their weakness. A bad cold is the parent of many ailments.
Beware of catching a chill in religion! Lameness is not infrequently
the result of a fall. A broken bone, or a compound fracture, or a
serious dislocation of the joints is not easily healed. Those who have
such injuries can tell you how helpless it makes them–how long it is
before they can walk without crutches and how often a change of weather
will remind them, by ache and twinge–that cures leave scars behind!
Certainly it is so with any man who has fallen into gross sin after
making a profession of faith in Christ. However fully he may be
restored by Divine Grace, he will feel its effects as long as he lives.
II. There are, and I suppose we may expect there always will be, lame
ones in God's flock, so I proceed to show that
THE REST OF THE FLOCK SHOULD SEEK THEIR HEALING. "Make straight paths
for your feet, so that what is
lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed."
Some Christian people seem to be so inconsiderate, and unsympathetic
that they treat all the lame of the flock with harshness. You may be
strong and vigorous in your physical constitution, strangers to
nervousness and depression of spirits. Be thankful, then, but do not be
presumptuous! Despise not those who suffer from infirmities that have
never come upon you! Your turn may come before long. You are yet in the
body and exempt from no ailment to which your fellow creatures are
prone. I have known hectoring spirits whose contumely it was hard to
quiet, so did they jeer at the weaklings and, presently, their own
complaints have been hard to pacify, so they did moan over their own
grievances. The more arrogant they have been when all was well with
them, the more crestfallen and desponding have they been in their gloom
when things have gone ill with them. Those often who crow most, croak
worst! There is a passage in the 34th Chapter of Ezekiel which I should
recommend every strong, rough man to read and diligently
consider–"Thus said the Lord God unto them: Behold, I, even I, will
judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because you
have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased
with your horns till you have scattered them abroad; therefore will I
save My flock and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge
between cattle and cattle."
Jehovah is our Shepherd, and He is very tender of His little lambs and
His weak sheep–and if we are not tender of them, too, we shall soon be
made to smart for our hard-heartedness! It sometimes happens that those
persons who have seldom or never had an illness in their lives, feel
little sympathy for those who have to bear much pain and sickness.
Others, who have never suffered from poverty, themselves, will
sometimes shut up their heart of compassion against those who are in
dire circumstances. Or if they dole out a charity, they will too often
spoil a good deed with a harsh word. "You that are strong ought to bear
the infirmities of the weak." And if that is too much to expect of you,
the least that I can ask is that you will bear with them! I do beseech
you, by the gentleness of Christ, that you tread lightly in the sick
chamber and speak softly to such as are crushed by adversity. There are
diseases that provoke irritability. Peevishness, or despondency may be
a symptom of the particular ailment that prostrates one's energies and
weakens one's entire being.
Do not be censorious–that would be cruel. Let those of you who are
blessed with health and walk in the sunshine, be considerate of your
Brothers and Sisters who are blighted with a malady they cannot shake
off, or enveloped in a cloud that darkens all their prospects. Do learn
to make another's case your own. Be kind. Let every tone of your voice,
every gesture of your limbs, every look of your face show the kindness
of your heart. God will surely requite it. He watches His children in
the furnace. If you grieve them in their trouble, He will vex you in
His sore displeasure. And there are spiritual ailments which, like
bodily ones, require tender care and gentle treatment. Do not aggravate
the sorrows of those who are harassed with doubts, tempted with evils
and distracted with anxious cares. Their tale may appear simple enough
to you, but it is very serious to them. What troubles them might not
give you an instant's concern. Pass it not over, therefore, as
nonsense. Your Lord and Master knew how to condescend to men of low
estate and His condescension was always pure, never arrogant. He is far
more gentle than the most tender among us. Oh, how desirable to learn
His way!
Do you ask, then, what He says we are to do for these lame ones?
Evidently, we ought to comfort them. "Lift up the hands which hang
down, and the feeble knees." Cheer the heart when the limbs are weak.
Tell the doubting that God is faithful. Tell those that feel the burden
of sin that it was for sin-
ners Christ died. Tell the backsliders that God never does cast away
His people. Tell the desponding that the Lord delights in mercy. Tell
the distracted that the Lord does devise means to bring back His
banished. Covet the character of Barnabas. He was a son of consolation.
Study the sacred art of speaking a word in season. Apprentice yourself
to the Comforter. Acquaint yourself with the sacred art of comforting
the sad. Let your own troubles and trials qualify you to sympathize and
succor. You will be of great value in the Church of God if you acquire
the art of compassion and are able to help those that are bowed down.
But will you please give heed to the special instruction? We are to
make straight paths because of lame people. You cannot heal the man's
bad foot, but you can pick up all the stones from the path that he has
to pass over! You cannot give him a new leg, but you can make the road
as smooth as possible. Let there be no unnecessary stumbling-blocks to
cause him pain. Do you ask me how you can observe this precept? If you
have to preach the Gospel, preach it plainly. Poor sinners are dull
enough of understanding–they can puzzle themselves without your
puzzling them. Had you to feed a child, it would be folly to put a
quarter-loaf down before it and account your duty done. Nor will it
profit the mass of the people to preach the Gospel to them in the
abstract, giving them a great lump of Truth to digest as best they can.
No, but you should divide a child's bread into small pieces–crumble it
up and then pour the milk on it, that he may be able to feed on it. So
must we cater for God's tried and troubled people. We must speak
simply, use homely illustrations and quote precious promises. What
though somebody may be offended? Well, let him take offense! We need
not be particular to pacify any of those critical people and God forbid
that we should offend any of His little ones, for He is jealous of
them! If one feeble soul gets a hold of the Truth through its being
made plain to him, he will be grateful to you and nor is "God
unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love."
Would you make straight paths? Then, take care that your teaching is
always according to the Bible. Many lame people have been injured by a
mixture of heathen philosophy and Christian doctrine. What is it that
leads to the spread of Popery in this country? Where does this dogma of
baptismal regeneration come from? Had every minister preached that
Believers, only, ought to be baptized, there would have been no pretext
for infant sprinkling and certainly no baptismal regeneration! If you
go a little to the right, or a little to the left and so diverge from
the high road, you do not know where it will take you. Have you ever
tried that in a Surrey lane? Perhaps you have been beguiled by some
pleasant-looking path to leave the main road, fully expecting to come
back into it again a little further on, not for a moment supposing that
you had changed your course altogether till you have found yourself two
or three miles off the place that you wanted to get to! It is better
for you always to keep to the Scriptures, Friends, for if you go a
little away from them, you do not know where you may wander and, in
teaching others, you may lead them astray! Errors that seem slight and
frivolous at first, become sad and serious in a little while. A little
deviation from the Word of God will presently lead to a total dissent
from its teaching! Heaven only knows how far you may go astray when you
once begin to turn your feet aside. Make straight paths for your feet,
then, because there are lame ones that otherwise may not be healed.
And in all our walk and conversation, let us make straight paths for
our feet as those who aim at holiness of life. Unholy Christians are
the plague of the Church. They are spots in our feasts of charity. Like
hidden rocks, they are the terror of navigators. It is hard to steer
clear of them and there is no telling what wrecks they may cause. The
inconsistencies of professors spread dismay among weak, desponding
Believers. It is not merely the mischief you will do to yourself,
Church member, if you grow wanton and worldly, or the grief you will
bring to the stronger Brothers and Sisters, but it is the pain and
peril to which you will expose the young, the weak–the tender ones of
the flock! That poor little girl in yonder cottage will have your
character thrown in her teeth! That poor struggling woman, whose
godless husband she has sought to reclaim, will be sure to hear his
cruel taunt, "Ah, there is one of your crew! That is how they live!"
The unclean life of anyone who happens to stand in an eminent place
does damage which is impossible for us to estimate. The jeer does not
alight only upon the transgressor, but upon the whole company of God's
people with whom he was associated! They all have to bear the taunt and
feel the smart. Many a lame one is thus staggered. Were he a strong
Christian, of course he would say to himself, "Well, there was a Judas
among the Apostles and there will be false professors among ourselves,
so we must not pin our creed to any creature in the world." The less
confidence he could repose in the disciples, the more closely he would
cleave to the Lord. But timid, trembling Christians are put out of
countenance, and out of heart, too, by the delinquencies of those they
were known to look up to! They say, "If a Christian acts like this, can
there be anything in Christianity worth seeking for and living for,
after all?" So that what is lame is dislocated.
Oh, do walk carefully! When you try to teach others, do make your walk
an example to those you wish to teach. I would say especially this to
myself. Let your life be so pure that it excites no suspicion! Let your
conduct be so upright that it needs no explanation or apology! Let your
character speak for itself, a light that shines, an example that you
need not be ashamed of, yourself, and such as others may wish to
emulate! And beware, I pray you, of any secret sin, of any evil habits
such as you would only tolerate when screened from observation, for, as
sure as you live, if you are a child of God, it will come out, one of
these days, to your shame.
The openly profane may enjoy a measure of impunity, but the professed
follower of Christ can never play the hypocrite without provoking
speedy retribution. Ah, David thought he had hidden his sin with
Bathsheba, did he not? When he had arranged Uriah's death, he seemed to
have imagined that nobody would ever know anything about it. But how
soon it was discovered and that, too, without its being divulged by
anyone who connived at his guilt! The Lord saw it, and He would not
hide it. Never let a child of God think that his Heavenly Father will
overlook his willful misdeeds. There is no special Providence to shield
you from eating the fruit of your own ways. "Be sure your sin will find
you out." "Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may
not be dislocated."
Once more let me admonish you. Do not be negligent when your Lord is so
vigilant. Do not even be careless when you see Him so cautious. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, evidently cares for
the lame ones. The charge He gives is a proof of the concern He feels.
He bids us to be considerate of them, because He, Himself, takes a warm
interest in their welfare.
III. WHAT SHALL I NOW SAY TO YOU WHO FEEL YOUR OWN WEAKNESS AND
INFIRMITY?
You lame ones who cannot walk without limping, I know how you complain.
"Ah," you say, "I am no credit to Christianity. Though, in all
sincerity, I do believe in Jesus, yet, alas, I can scarcely think I am
one of His true disciples, called, and chosen, and faithful! I fear
that, after all, He will disown me." Ah, Beloved, He never will! If you
really are trusting to Him and hanging upon Him, or even touching the
hem of His garment, He cannot and He will not leave or forsake you!
True, it would be likely enough if His ways were like our ways, and it
will cause Him no little care to get you safely home. When Mr.
Great-Heart went with Miss Much-Afraid and Mr. Feeble-Mind on the road
to the Celestial City, he had his hands full. He says of poor Mr.
Feeble-Mind, that when he came to the lions, he said, "Oh, the lions
will have me!" And he was afraid of the giants and afraid of everything
on the road. It caused Great-Heart much trouble to get him on the road.
It is so with you. Well, you must know that you are very troublesome
and hard to manage. But then, our Lord Jesus is very patient. He does
not mind taking trouble. He has laid down His life for you and He is
prepared to exercise all His Divine power and wisdom to bring you home
to His Father's House. If He were to desert you, there would be no eye
to pity, no hand to lead you–but there is no fear of His changing the
purpose of His heart. Having loved His own, He loves them to the end. I
have heard say–I do not know how true it is–that when one of her
family is a little weak-headed, the mother is sure to love that one
best and show it the most attention. Her most tender thoughts will
always turn towards her helpless babe. And her keenest anxieties will
hover over the child who is ill. She may forget, for a while, the
strong and the hale, but those who need her succor most are quite
certain to be never out of her mind. Be of good cheer, then–"As one
whom his mother comforts," so will the Lord comfort you! "Like as a
father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him."
You may say, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." You may
gratefully sing, "He shall gather the lambs with His arms and carry
them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." In
the Divine economy, the more care you require, the more care you shall
have. Besides, you know somewhat of our blessed Redeemer's Covenant
engagements. Did our Lord Jesus Christ fail to bring His weak ones
home, it would be much to His dishonor. "Those that You gave Me I have
kept," He says, "and none of them is lost but the son of perdition,
that the Scripture might be fulfilled." So Satan only had his own. How
the wolf would howl over one sheep branded with the Savior's name were
he to fall a prey to his teeth! What malignant hilarity and derision
there would be among the infernal spirits if the Good Shepherd failed
to bring home one lost sheep whom He had rescued! The joy among the
angels of God, they would say, was premature. The Son of Man, they
would say, had sought, found, but failed to save the lost. Then the
weaker the victim, the keener would the satire be. Ribald lips might
shout forth the taunt, "He saved the healthy–the lame He could not
save."
It would thus be more discredit to Christ to lose a weak one than a
strong one, or for one lame sheep to be lost than if some of the
healthier of them should perish–but there is no danger of such a
calamity! The oversight of the Shepherd secures the safety of all the
flock. They are all numbered and each one in particular is known to
Him. Our Lord is a Shepherd who loves His sheep so well that were one
of them taken and held between the jaws of a lion, He would run to the
rescue and kill the lion as David did of old. He would slay the lion
and the bear to get His poor little one saved from the teeth of the
devourer. You shall not die, but live! "Oh," you say, "but I cannot
preserve myself." No, you cannot! And in your weakness lies your great
strength! Jesus Christ will be sure to cover you with His power, so
that when you are utterly defenseless, you shall be most efficiently
defended. "Ah," says another, "I have had a weary life of it to now."
Yes, but you have brighter days to come! Some of God's children, after
living in the joyous sunlight all their lives, as they draw near the
closing scene, have felt much darkness and depression of spirits. This
in no degree imperils their security– they will wake up all right in
the morning. But, then, others of God's children have passed most of
their days under a cloud till the gloom seemed to settle on their
visage and obscure even the radiance of their hope. And yet, when the
hour of their departure was at hand, the mists and fogs have all
dispersed, light has streamed into their souls and their sweet peace
and sacred joy have been like an overflowing tide! The very ones that
went limping and mourning, while they were on their pilgrimage, have
played the man and displayed the faith of Christians most wondrously
when the trial that they dreaded all their life overtook them! Just as
Ready-to-Halt left his crutches behind, they have begun to sing and
rejoice when they were departing! Like clear shining after rain, like a
brilliant sunset after a stormy day, at eventide it was light with them
and, I think, it will be so with many of you.
There are some flowers that must be grown in the shade. I believe God
made and adapted them to flourish most in shady spots. Some ferns never
thrive so well as in some little corner of the brook where the damp
continually washes them. Perhaps you are one of those flowers or ferns,
planted in a soil that suits your growth. Well, if it is so, murmur not
at your lot! The gloom that hovers over you may help the peace of your
heart. I have known women, pure and pious, for whom the sunny scenes of
life have had no charms. But their bright faces, their beaming eyes and
their benevolent hearts have shone with a beautiful brilliance as they
have flitted about like angels in the chambers of the sick in the wards
of the hospital, or among the couches of the wounded and the dying.
Consider Him who was the Man of Sorrows, but whose spirit was not
crushed. In the midst of dire distress, He said to His disciples, "Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." And, Beloved, do
not be unmindful of the comfort you may derive under any affliction
when you trace it to the will of God. If you suffer as an evil-doer–if
it is your own fault–the scourge that chastens you will invite no pity
and the conscience that reproaches you will aggravate your pain. If, on
the other hand, you can trace the hand of the Lord in a cross or a
calamity, your course is soon clear. It would be folly to repine–your
wisdom is to resign yourself entirely to His will. Bear it patiently
and God will reward you plenteously. When you would rather glorify the
Lord than gratify yourself, your prayer shall come up before Him
acceptably and the answer shall come down speedily.
It is not for me to say what particular purpose there may be in the
personal afflictions that any of the sons and daughters of our Heavenly
Father are called to bear, but I cannot help observing that the
peaceable fruits of righteousness, which these tried ones put forth,
are very sweet and luscious. Let me appeal to your own selves. Have you
not often proved the Truth of those words of the Psalmist, "You have
known my soul in adversities"? And is it not so that the notice which
the Lord has taken of you, and the care He has exercised over you, have
made you love Him more tenderly than you ever did before? You could say
with David, "Your right hand has held me up and Your gentleness has
made me great." Oh, what prayer you have poured out when His chastening
was upon you! Such prayer is sweet to the Lord Jesus Christ. I marvel
not that He lets you suffer so much when your suffering yields such
rich perfume! Well, dear Friends, when we get so choice a compensation,
now–what shall we receive hereafter? Surely, in the ages to come, the
lowliest of worshippers shall sing the loudest–
"While Heaven's resounding mansions ring With shouts of Sovereign
Grace." Their soprano notes shall rise above the angels' harps and the
full tide of human voices with a distinctness like this, "MY soul does
magnify the Lord, and MY spirit does rejoice in God my Savior!" The
personal tribute of extraordinary love and gratitude shall thrill out
its solo and then blend with the general chorus!
And now, to close, let us read our text again. "Therefore lift up the
hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths
for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather
be healed'" See to it that you are not negligent of this ministry of
love! Remember how high a reputation Job got in his day for the care he
bestowed on those who were frail and infirm? Eliphaz the Temanite said
of him, "Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened
the weak hands. Your words have upheld him that was falling, and you
have strengthened the feeble hands." And do not forget the reproof
which the Lord gave to the shepherds of Israel–"The diseased have you
not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither
have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again
that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was
lost." Above all, consider the example of our Lord Jesus. His eyes were
always quick to spy out the lame, the blind, the crippled–and His
hands were always stretched out immediately for their relief. "He went
about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for
God was with Him." And if you and I, Beloved, walk with God, and God is
with us, our godliness will show itself in the pity we feel and the
kindness we show to the feeble and the faulty, the cross-grained and
the crippled.
The Lord bless these counsels to the strong and these cordials to the
weak–and may we all come to that blessed land where "the inhabitant
shall not say, I am sick. The people that dwell therein shall be
forgiven their iniquity"! Amen.