Other Sheep and One Flock

Other Sheep and One Flock

(No. 1713)

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MARCH 25, 1883,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And other sheep I ha ve which are not of this fold; them also I must
bring, and they shall hear My voice and they shall be one fold and one
shepherd (or more correctly one flock; one shepherd)." John 10:16.

THIS verse is guarded before and behind by two notable statements.
Before it we hear the Master say, "I lay down My life for the sheep,"
and immediately after it we meet with another grand sentence, "I lay
down My life, that I might take it again." The first statement, "I lay
down My life for the sheep" is the sheet anchor of our confidence when
storms assail the vessel of the Church. The Lord Jesus has, by His
death, proved His love to His people and His determination to save them
is made clear by His laying down His life for them. Therefore doubt and
fear should be banished and the very name of despair should be unknown
among the Israel of God! Now are we sure of the love of the Son of God
to His chosen flock, for we have an Infallible proof of it in the
laying down of His life for them.

Now, also, are we absolutely certain that Christ's purpose is
perpetual–it cannot alter. The Lord Jesus has committed Himself to
that purpose beyond recall, for the price is paid and the deed is done
by which the purpose is to be effected. Beyond this we are hereby
assured beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Divine purpose will be
carried out, for it cannot be that Christ should die in vain. We think
it a kind of blasphemy to suppose that His blood should be spilt for
nothing. Whatever was proposed to be accomplished by the laying down of
the life of the Son of God, we feel absolutely certain that it will be
fully performed in the teeth of all adversaries, for we are not, now,
speaking of man's design, but of the purpose of God to which He devoted
the heart's blood of His only-begotten Son!

We both patiently hope and quietly wait to see the salvation of God and
the performance of all His designs of love, for that death upon the
Cross is a cause which will surely produce its effect. Christ did not
die at a gamble. The supposition of a Savior disappointed in the
results of His blood-shedding is not to be tolerated for a moment! In
darkest times that glorious Cross flames with light! No evil event can
prevent its efficacy. Still in that sign we conquer! If Jesus has laid
down His life for the sheep, then all is well. Rest assured of the
Father's love to those sheep! Rest assured of the immutability of the
Divine purpose concerning them and rest assured of its ultimate
achievement! It must not, shall not be that God's own Son shall lay
down His life in vain! Though Heaven and earth should pass away, the
precious heart's blood of the Son of God shall accomplish the end for
which it was so freely poured forth. Jesus says, "I lay down My life
for the sheep," therefore the sheep must live who have been redeemed at
such a price as this and the Shepherd in them shall see of the travail
of His soul and shall be satisfied!

So far we are cheered by the vanguard which marches in advance of our
text. But as if the poor, timid people of God would, nevertheless, at
times fancy that the purpose of Christ would not be achieved, behold,
in the rear another sentence, "I lay down My life that I might take it
again." He that died and so redeemed His people by price, lives that He
may, Himself, personally see that they are also redeemed by power! If a
man dies to achieve a purpose, you feel sure that his very soul must
have been in it. But if that man should rise again from the dead and
still pursue his purpose, you would see how resolutely he was set on
his design. If he rose with greater power, clothed with higher rank and
elevated to a more eminent position–and if he still pursued his great
objective, you would, then, be more than certain of his never-ending
determination to perform his design.

In the risen life of Jesus, assurance is made doubly sure–now are we
sure that His design must be carried out, nothing can hinder it! We
dare not dream that the Son of God can be disappointed of the objective
for which He died and for which He lives again! If Jesus died for a
purpose, He will accomplish it. If Jesus rose for a purpose, He will
accomplish it. If Jesus lives forever for a purpose, He will accomplish
it. To me this conclusion seems to be past question–and if it is
so–it puts the destiny of the sheep beyond all hazard. Did not Paul
argue much in the same way when he said, "For if,

when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His
Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life"?

If any of you have been cast down by reason of present difficulties,
let these two grand texts sound their silver trumpets in your ears! If
you have been looking forth from the windows and the outlook has seemed
to be exceedingly dark, take courage, I pray you, from what your Lord
has done! His death and Resurrection are prophetic of good things to
come! You dare not think that Christ will miss the objective of His
death–you dare not think that He will miss the purpose of His
glory-life! Why, then, are you cast down? His will shall be done on
earth as it is in Heaven, as surely as He came from Heaven to earth and
has returned from earth to Heaven! His purpose shall be carried out as
surely as He died and lives again!

Is not this the secret reason why, when the Lord appeared to His
sorrowing servant John, He said to him, "I am He that lives and was
dead and am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of death and of
Hell"? Is not the dying and then living Shepherd the safety and the
glory of the flock? Well, then, comfort one another with these words of
your Lord, "I lay down My life for the sheep." "I lay down My life,
that I might take it again."

I. There are four things in the text, itself, which deserve your
attention, for they are full of consolation to minds troubled by the
evil of those perilous times. The first is this–OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
HAD A PEOPLE UNDER THE WORST CIRCUMSTANCES. When He speaks of "other
sheep," it is implied that He had certain sheep at the time. And when
He says, "other sheep have I which are not of this fold," it is
manifest that even then, the Good Shepherd had a fold! The times were
grievously dark and evil, but a few true hearts clustered about the
Savior and, by His Divine power, were protected as in a "fold."

It has been supposed that our Lord, here, alludes to the Jews as, "this
fold," but the Jews, as such, were never Christ's fold. He could not
have meant to call the Jews around Him, His fold, for a little farther
on He exclaims, "You believe not because you are not of My sheep, as I
said unto you." His fold was that little handful of disciples whom, by
His personal ministry, He had gathered, and who stood folded, as it
were, about their Good Shepherd. They might be sneered at as a little
company, but He says to His enemies who are standing outside the fold
foaming with wrath, "Other sheep I have that are not of this little
fold: these you cannot see, but I have them, none the less, for that
these, I must, in due time, lead, and then there shall be one flock and
one Shepherd." See, then, that the Lord Jesus had a people in the worst
times!

Doubtless these days are exceedingly dangerous and I have certain
Brethren round me who never allow me to forget it, for they play well
in the minor key and dwell most judiciously upon the necessary topic of
the general declension of the Church and the growing depravity of the
world! I would not stop them from their faithful warnings, although I
can assure them that, with slight variations, I have heard the same
tune for years! Many a time have they afflicted me, from my youth up,
and it has been good for me. I remember hearing some 30 years ago that
we lived in awful times and, as nearly as I can recollect, the times
have been awful ever since and I suppose they always will be! The
watchmen of the night see everything except the coming of the morning.
Our pilots perceive dangers ahead and steer with caution. Perhaps this
is as it should be. At any rate, it is better than sleeping in a fool's
paradise!

Be this as it may, it is clear that the days of our Lord Jesus Christ
were emphatically terrible times. No age can be worse than that age
which literally crucified the Son of God, crying, "Away with Him! Away
with Him!" Whether the present days are better than those, I will not
determine, but they cannot be worse. The day of our Lord's first advent
was the culmination and the crisis of the world's career of sin–and
yet the Good Shepherd had a fold among men in the midnight of history!
There was a sad lack of vital godliness in those days. A few godly ones
watched for the coming of the Messiah, but they were very few, such as
good old Simeon and Anna. A small remnant sighed and cried for the
abounding sin of the nation, but the salt was almost gone. Israel was
becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah!

The choice band of mourners in Zion had not quite died out, but their
number was so few that a child might write the number down. Speaking
generally, when the Savior came to His own, His own received Him not.
The mass of professing people in that day was rotten throughout! The
life of God was gone–it could not dwell with the Pharisees nor the
Sadducees, nor any of the sects of the times, for they were altogether
gone out of the way. The Lord looked and there was no man to help or to
uphold His righteous cause–those who professed to be its champions had
altogether become un-

profitable. As for the religious teachers, their mouth had become an
open sepulcher and the poison of asps was under their tongues. And yet
the Lord had a people in Judea even then!

On earth there was still a fold for sheep whom He had chosen who knew
the Shepherd's voice and gathered to His call and followed Him
faithfully. But it was a time when will-worship abounded. Men had given
up worshipping God according to the Scriptures. They worshipped
according to their own fancies. Then you might hear a trumpet at every
corner of the street, for Pharisees were distributing their alms! You
could see fathers and mothers neglected, families broken up because the
scribes had taught the people that if they said, "Corban," they were
free from all obligation to help father or mother. They taught for
doctrines, the commandments of men–the Commandments of God were laid
aside. To wear broad-bordered garments and phylacteries was exalted
into a matter of first importance, while to lie and cheat were mere
trifles. To eat with unwashed hands was thought to be a crime, but to
devour widow's houses was a thing which, to the most self-righteous
Pharisee, caused no qualm of conscience. The land was filled with
will-worship and that is one great and growing hindrance nowadays! But
for all that, Christ had a fold of His own and there were those who
knew His voice–and these, following at His heels–were enabled to go
in and out and find pasture.

It was a day when there was the most fierce opposition to the real
Truths of God. Our Lord Jesus could hardly open His mouth but they took
up stones to stone Him! It was said that He had a devil and was mad;
that He was a "gluttonous Man and a winebibber, the friend of publicans
and sinners." The rage of men against Christ was, then, boiling at its
greatest heat, till at last they took Him and nailed Him to the Cross
because they could not endure that He should live among them. And yet
He had His own in those dreadful times! Even then He had His chosen
company for whom He laid down His life, of whom He said to the Father,
"Yours they were and You gave them to Me; and they have kept Your
Word." To those He spoke, saying, "You are they that have continued
with Me in My temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My
Father has appointed unto Me."

Why, Beloved, I gather that though, at this time, there is a sad
decline in vital godliness, and though will-worship sweeps over the
land with its tumultuous waves; and though opposition to the pure Truth
of Christ is more fierce than ever; nevertheless, even at this present
time, there is a remnant according to the election of Grace! Even today
the answer of God to the complaining Prophet is, "Yet have I left Me
seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed unto
Baal." Why, my Brothers and Sisters, in confidence you possess your
souls!

Now, it is to be noticed that this little company of Christ's people He
calls a "fold." Afterwards they were to be a "flock," but while His
bodily Presence was with them, they were pre-eminently a "fold." They
were few in number, all of one race, mostly in one place and so compact
that they could fitly be said to be a fold. One glance of the
Shepherd's bodily eyes saw them all. Happily, also, they were so
thoroughly distinct from the rest of the world that they were eminently
and evidently folded. Our Lord said of them, "You are not of the world,
even as I am not of the world." He had shut them in to Himself and shut
the world out. Within this blessed seclusion they were perfectly safe,
so that their Lord said to the Father, "While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in Your name: those that You gave Me, I have kept
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture
might be fulfilled."

Whatever their mistakes and faults, and they were many, yet they did
not conform themselves to the generation among which they dwelt–they
were kept apart as in a fold while Jesus was with them. In that fold
they were protected from all ill weathers, from the wolf and the thief.
The Lord's Presence with them was like a wall of fire round about
them–they had only to run to Him and He answered all their adversaries
and defended them from reproach. Like another David, the Lord Jesus
guarded His flock from all the ravenous lions that sought to devour
them. True, even in that little fold there were goats, for He, Himself,
said, "I have chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil." Even then,
they were not absolutely pure, but they were wonderfully so–and they
were marvelously separated from the world, preserved from false
doctrine and kept from dividing and scattering.

Within that fold they were being strengthened for the future following
of their great Shepherd. They were learning a thousand things which
would be useful to them when, afterwards, He sent them forth as lambs
among wolves, so that they would be "wise as serpents and harmless as
doves" because of what they had learned of their Lord. Thus you see
that in the worst times the Lord had a Church! I might almost say the
best Church! May I not call it so? For that Apostolic Church, upon
which the Holy Spirit descended, was not a whit behind the Church of
any era that succeeded it! It was the

choice flock of all the flocks of the ages, even that feeble company of
which Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom."

Yet you see one thing is not able here, that when Jesus had thus shut
them all in, He would not allow them to become exclusive and glide into
a state of selfish satisfaction. No, He opens wide the door of the
sheepfold and cries to them, "Other sheep I have." Thus He checks a
tendency so common in the Church to be forgetful of those outside the
fold and to make one's own personal salvation the sum and substance of
religion! I do not think it wrong to sing–

"We are a garden walled around,

Chosen and made peculiar ground.

A little spot, enclosed by Grace

Out of the world's wide wilderness." On the contrary, I judge that the
verse is true and sweet, and ought to be sung. But then there are other
truths besides this one. To us, also, the Shepherd opens the door of
the enclosed garden and says, "The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the
rose." The fold is our abode, but it is not our sole sphere of action,
for we are to go forth from it into all the world seeking our Brothers
and Sisters!

Seeing that our Lord has other sheep which are not of this fold, and
these are to be found by Him through His faithful people, let us awaken
ourselves to the holy enterprise–

"O, come, let us go and find them!

In the paths of death they roam.

At the close of the day

It will be sweet to say,

'I have brought some lost one home.'" Beloved, I shall leave this point
when I have said to you–never despair! The Lord of Hosts is with His
people! They may be few and poor, but they are Christ's and that makes
them precious. A common sheepfold is not a thing of glory and
beauty–four rough walls compose it and it is but a hovel for
sheep–even so, the Church may appear mean and base in men's eyes, but
then it is the sheepfold of our Shepherd-King and the sheep belong to
the Lord God Almighty! There is a glory about this which angels do not
fail to see! Here is human weakness and also Divine power!

We do not, I fear, estimate the strength of the Church aright. I read
of three Brothers who had to carry on a college when funds were running
short. One of them complained that they had no helpers and could not
hope to succeed. But another, who had more faith, said to his Brother,
"Do you ask what we can do? Do you say that we are so few? I do not see
that we are few, for we are a thousand at the least." "A thousand of
us," said the other, "how is that?" "Why," replied the first, "I am a
cipher, you are a cipher and our Brother is a cipher–so we have three
nothings to begin with. Then I am sure the Lord Jesus is ONE–put Him
down before the three ciphers and we have a thousand, directly." Was
not this bravely spoken? What power we have when we do but set the
great ONE in the front!

You are nothing, Brother. You are nothing, Sister. I am nothing–we are
all nothing when we are put together without our Lord! But, oh, if He
stands in front of us, then we are thousands! And again, it is true on
earth as in Heaven– the chariots of the Lord are 20,000, even
thousands of messengers–the Lord is among them as in the Holy Place.
Why, my Friends, be not cast down at any time, but say to
yourselves–We are not even, now, come to so dark a night as once fell
on this world. We are not, at this painful moment, in such a desperate
condition as the Church of Christ was in His own day!

And if the Lord is spiritually in the midst of us, we need not fear
though the earth is removed and the mountains are carried into the
midst of the sea, for there is a city which abides forever, and there
is a river, the streams of which shall, forever, make her glad! God is
in the midst of her and she shall not be moved! God shall help her and
that right early. Why, my fellow Believers, be strong and of good
courage!

II. But now, secondly, it is clear, for the text teaches it in so many
words, that OUR LORD HAS OTHER SHEEP NOT YET KNOWN TO US. He says,
"Other sheep I have." I want you to notice that strong expression,
"Other sheep I have"–not, "I shall have," but, "I have other sheep."
Many of these sheep were not even in the thoughts of the Apostles. I do
not think it had crossed the mind of Peter, James, or John that their
Lord had any sheep in this poor savage island, then scarcely regarded
as being within the borders of the earth. I do not suppose the
Apostles, at that time, even dreamed that their Lord Jesus had sheep in
Rome.

No, their most liberal notion was that the Hebrew nation might be
converted and the scattered of the seed of Abraham gathered together in
one. Our Shepherd-King has greater thoughts than the most large-hearted
of His servants. He delights to enlarge the area of our love. "Other
sheep have I." You do not know them, but the Shepherd does. Unknown to
ministers, unknown to the warmest-hearted Christians, there are many in
the world whom Jesus claims for His own through the Covenant of Grace.
Who are these? Well, these "other sheep" were, first, His chosen, for
He has a people whom He has chosen out of the world and ordained unto
eternal life. "You have not chosen Me," He said, "but I have chosen
you"–there is a people upon whom His sovereignty has fixed its loving
choice from before the foundation of the world! And of these elect
ones, He says, "I have them."

His election of them is the basis of His property in them. These are,
also, those whom His Father gave Him, of whom He says in another place,
"All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me." And again, "Of those
whom You have given Me I have lost none." His Father's eternal donation
of them seals His title to them! These are the people for whom He
peculiarly and especially laid down His life that they might be the
redeemed of the Lord. "Christ loved His Church and gave Himself for
it." These are they that are redeemed from among men, of whom we read,
"You are not your own, you are bought with a price."

The Lord Jesus laid down His life for His sheep–He tells us so,
Himself, and none can question His own statement. These are those of
whom Jesus says, "I have them." For these He entered into suretyship
engagements, even as Jacob undertook the flock of Laban and watched day
and night that he should not lose them. And if one had been lost, he
would have had to make it good. These sheep represent a people for whom
Christ has entered into suretyship engagements with His Father that He
will deliver each one of them safely at the last day of account, not
one of them being absent when the sheep shall pass, again, under the
hand of Him that counts them as they will at the last great day. "Other
sheep I have," says Christ. How wonderful that He should say, "I have
them," though as yet they were far off by wicked works. What was their
state? They were a people without shepherd, without fold, without
pasture, lost on the mountains, wandering in the woods, lying down to
die, ready to be devoured by the wolf–yet Jesus says, "Other sheep I
have, which are not of this fold."

They were sheep that had wandered exceedingly far, even into the most
shameful iniquity–and yet He says, "I have them." Bad as this world
is, today, it must have been far worse in the cruel Roman age as to
open vices and unmentionable abominations. And yet these wanderers were
the sheep of Christ and, in due time, they were delivered from their
sins and fetched away from all the superstition, idolatry and
filthiness into which they had wandered! They were Christ's even while
they were afar off–He had chosen them, the Father had given them to
Him, He had bought them–and He determined to have them. No, He says,
"I have them"–and He calls them His own even while they are
transgressing and running headlong to destruction!

It seems to me that these were as well known to Christ as those that
were in His fold. I think I see Him, the Divine Man, standing there
confronting His adversaries. And when He has cast His glance upon His
foes, I see His eyes going to and fro throughout the whole earth to
gaze upon a sight far more pleasant to Him. While He speaks, His eyes
flash with joyous fire as they light upon thousands out of every
kindred and people and tongue! And as He quotes, to Himself, the words
of the 22nd Psalm–"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn
unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before
You. For the kingdom is the Lord's and He is the Governor among the
nations. A seed shall serve Him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for
a generation"–He spies out the myriads that are His and He rejoices
before His scornful foes as He sees His growing kingdom which they are
powerless to overthrow!

Proud, self-righteous men may blindly refuse the leadership of the
Lord's anointed Shepherd, but He shall not be without a flock to be His
honor and reward! Did not the Lord, at that time, rejoice in His inmost
heart and soliloquize within Himself thus–"Though Israel is not
gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and My God
shall be My strength"? This led Him to say, "Other sheep I have." In
this there is great comfort for God's people who love the souls of
their fellow men. The Lord has a people in London and He knows them. "I
have much people in this city," was said to the Apostle when, as yet,
nobody was converted there! "I have them," says Christ though as yet
they had not sought Him.

Our Lord Jesus has an elect redeemed people all over the world at this
time, though as yet they are not called by Grace. I know not where they
are, nor where they are not–but for certain He has them somewhere
since it still stands

true–"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold." This is a part
of our authority for going out to find the lost sheep, for we, Brothers
and Sisters, have a right to go anywhere to enquire about our Master's
sheep. I have no business to go hunting after other people's sheep. But
if they are my Master's sheep, who shall stop me over hill or dale
enquiring, "Have you seen my Master's sheep?" If any say, "You intrude
in this land," let the answer be, "We are after our Master's sheep
which have strayed here! Excuse our pushing further than politeness
might allow, but we are in haste to find a lost sheep."

This is your excuse for going into a house where you are not wanted, to
try and leave your tracts and speak a word for Christ! Say, "I think my
Master has one of His sheep here and I have come after it." You have
received a search-warrant from the King of Kings and, therefore, you
have a right to enter and search after your Lord's stolen property! If
men belonged to the devil, we would not rob the enemy, himself, but
they do not belong to him! He neither made them nor bought them and,
therefore, we seize them in the King's name whenever we can lay hands
on them. I doubt not but what there are some here, this morning, who
neither know nor love the Savior as yet, who, nevertheless, belong to
the Redeemer–and He will yet bring them to Himself and to His flock.
Therefore it is that we preach with confidence!

I do not come into this pulpit hoping that, perhaps, somebody will, of
His own free will, return to Christ–that may be so or not–but my hope
lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of
them and say, "You are Mine and you shall be Mine. I claim you for
Myself." My hope arises from the freeness of Grace–not from the
freedom of the will! A poor haul of fish will any Gospel fisherman make
if he takes none but those who are eager to leap into the net! Oh, for
an hour of Jesus among this crowd! Oh, for five minutes of the great
Shepherd's handiwork! When the good Shepherd overtakes His lost sheep,
He has not much to say to it.

According to the parable, He says nothing. But He lays hold of it, lays
it on His shoulders and carries it home–and that is what I want the
Lord to do, this morning, with some of you whose will is all the other
way, whose wishes and desires are all contrary to Him. I want Him to
come with sacred violence and mighty love to restore you to your Father
and your God! Not that you will be saved against your will, but your
consent will be sweetly gained. Oh, that the Lord Jesus would take you
in hand and never let you go again! May He sweetly say to you, "Yes, I
have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn you."

III. Our third head contains in it much delight. Our LORD MUST BRING OR
LEAD THOSE OTHER SHEEP.

"Them also I must bring"–read it, and it will be more accurate–"them
also I must lead." Christ must be at the head of these other sheep and
they must follow His lead–"them also I must lead, and they shall hear
My voice," Those who belong to Christ, secretly, must be openly led to
follow Him. First, it is Christ that has to do it, even as He has done
it up to now. The text says, "Them also I must bring," and this
language implies that those who have already come, He has brought. All
that were in the fold, Christ had brought there–and all that are to be
in the fold–He must lead there.

All of us who are saved have been saved by the mighty power of God in
Christ Jesus. Is it not so? Is there anyone among us that came to Jesus
without Jesus first coming to Him? Surely, no! Without exception, we
all admit that it was His love that sought us out and brought us to be
the sheep of His pasture. Now, as the Lord Jesus has done this for us,
He must do it for others, for they will never come unless He fetches
them. Here comes in that emphatic, imperious, "must." The proverb is
that, "must," is for the king–and the king may say, "must," to all of
us. But did you ever hear of a "must" that bound the king, himself, and
constrained him?

Kings generally do not care to have it said to them, you "must," but
there is a King, the likes of which King there never was nor shall be
for glory and for dominion–and yet He is bound by a "must"–the Prince
Immanuel says, "Them also I must bring." Whenever Jesus says, "must,"
something comes of it! Who can resist the Omnipotent "must"? Clear out,
devils! Clear out, wicked men! Flee, darkness! Die, O death! If Jesus
says, "must," we know what is going to happen–difficulties vanish,
impossibilities are achieved! Glory, glory, the Lord shall get the
victory! Jesus says of His chosen, His redeemed, His espoused, His
covenanted ones, "Them also I must bring" and, therefore, it must be
done!

Furthermore, He tells us how He must do it. He says, "They shall hear
My voice." So that our Lord is going to save people, still, by the
Gospel! I do not look for any other means of converting men beyond the
simple preaching of the Gospel and the opening of men's ears to hear
it–"They shall hear My voice." The old methods are to be followed to
the end of the chapter. Our standing orders are–"Go you into all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature." We are not commissioned
to do anything else but continue to preach the Gospel, the same Gospel
which saved us and which was

delivered to us at the beginning! We know of no alterations,
enlargements, or amendments to the Gospel! We obey and follow one
Voice, not many voices. One Gospel of salvation is to be proclaimed
everywhere! And no other work is in our commission.

Then it is added, "They shall hear My voice." It is promised that they
shall first lend an attentive ear and then that they shall yield a
willing heart to the voice of Divine love and follow Jesus where He
leads! "What then?" Asks one. "Suppose I speak in Christ's name and
they will not hear?" "Do not suppose what cannot be! The Scripture says
of the chosen sheep–"they shall hear My voice." The rest remain in
their blindness, but the redeemed will hear and see! Do not again say,
"Suppose they will not!" You must not suppose anything that is contrary
to what Jesus promises when He says, "They shall hear My voice." The
graceless may stop up their ears if they will–and perish with Christ's
voice as a witness against them–but His own redeemed shall hear the
heavenly voice and obey it! There is no resisting this Divine
necessity! Jesus says–"I must bring them, and they shall hear My
voice."

It was with this that Paul turned to the Gentiles and said to the Jews,
"Be it known, therefore, unto you, that the salvation of God is sent
unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it." He had no fear about the
reception the Word of God would meet with–neither ought we to
entertain any, since Christ has a people who must be led–and shall
hear the voice of the Bishop and Shepherd of souls! We have heard it
said that, "If Christ must have His people, what is the good of
preaching?" What would be the good of preaching if it were otherwise?
Why, dear Sir, this fact is one great reason why we preach! That which
you suppose to be a motive for inaction is the strongest motive for
energetic action! Because the Lord has a people that must be saved, we
feel an imperious necessity laid upon us to join with Him in bringing
this people to Himself. They must come and we must fetch them!
Christian Brothers, do you not feel that you must help in compelling
them to come to the wedding feast? Is it not laid upon you that you
must go after lost souls, that you must speak to them, seeing that you
must have a hand in bringing these blood-bought ones to Christ by His
Holy Spirit?

And again, are there not some in this place who feel a necessity laid
upon them, also, that they must come? Do I not hear some of you saying,
"I have stood out a long while, but I must come. I have resisted Divine
Grace long enough. And now Christ has laid His hands on me–I must
come"? How I wish that a heavenly, "must," a blessed necessity of
Omnipotent decree may overshadow you and bear you as a sheep to the
fold! Oh that you may now yield yourselves unto God because the love of
Christ constrains you! Submit yourselves unto God! Acknowledge the
supreme authority of His Grace which shall lead every thought into
captivity, that from this day on Christ may reign in your hearts and
put every enemy under His feet!

He says, "Him that comes to Me I will in nowise cast out." "I will
trust Him," says one. "I feel I must." Just so and that trust is a mark
of your election of God, for, "He that believes in Him has everlasting
life." "Whom He did predestinate, them He also called." If He is
calling you, it is because He did predestinate you–and you may rest
quite sure of it–and yield to Him with holy joy and delight! As for
me, I feel so happy in preaching the Gospel because I am not fishing
with a, "chance," or a, "perhaps," that some may come. The Lord knows
them that are His and they will come! Every congregation is, in this
sense, a picked assembly.

I felt, this morning, when I came here, that there were so many Friends
out in the country for the holidays that we should very likely have a
thin house. I rejoice that I was altogether wrong in my reckoning, but
even then I thought, God has a people that He will bring whom He means
to bless. Here they are! And now, while standing here, I know that
God's Word "shall not return to Him void, but it shall accomplish that
which He pleases, and shall prosper in the thing to which He has sent
it."

IV. But now, lastly, OUR LORD GUARANTEES THE UNITY OF HIS CHURCH. "Them
also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd." We hear a great deal about the unity of the
Church and notions upon this subject are rather wild. We are to have
the Roman and the Greek and the Anglican Church all joined together in
one–if they were so, the result would not be worth two-pence–and much
evil would come of it! God has, I doubt not, a chosen people among all
these three great corporations, but the union of such questionable
organizations would be a dire omen of mischief to the world!

The dark ages and a worse Popedom than ever would soon be upon us! The
more those three quarrel with each other, the better for truth and
righteousness! I should like to see the Anglican Church standing at
drawn daggers with the Ro-man–and coming into a more and more open
opposition to its superstitions. I would to God that the national
Church

would, in all things, be delivered from the Pope of Rome and his
Anti-Christian enormities! Truly, this has been carried out as a matter
of fact–there never was but one Shepherd of the sheep yet–even Christ
Jesus! And there never was but one flock of God yet, and there never
will be! There is one spiritual Church of God–there never were two!
All the visible Churches, up and down the world contain within
themselves parts of the one Church of Jesus Christ, but there were
never two bodies of Christ and there cannot be!

There is one Church and there is one Head of the Church! The motto of
Christianity is–one flock and one Shepherd. As a matter of experience
this is carried out in Believers. I do not care who the man is, if he
is a truly spiritually-minded man, he is one with all other
spiritually-minded men. Those people in any visible Church who have no
Grace are usually the greatest sticklers for every point of difference
and every particle of rite and form. Nominal professors are soon at
war. Quickened Believers follow after peace! Of course, when a man has
nothing else but the outside, he fights for it tooth and nail. But a
man who loves the Lord and lives near Him, perceives the inner life in
others and has fellowship with them! That inner life is one in all the
quickened family and compels them to be one in heart.

Set two Brothers at prayer, the one a Calvinist and the other an
Arminian, and they pray alike! Get a real work of the Spirit in a
district and see how Baptists and Paedo-Baptists pull together! Tell of
your inward experience and speak of the Spirit's work in the soul, and
see how we are all moved thereby! Here is a Brother, a member of the
Society of Friends, and he likes silent worship. And here is another
who enjoys hearty singing! But when they get near to God, they do not
quarrel over this, but agree to differ–the one says, "The Lord be with
you in your holy silence"–and the other prays that the Lord may accept
his brother's Psalm. All who are one with Christ have a certain family
feeling, a higher form of clannishness and they cannot shake it off.

I have found myself reading a gracious book which has drawn me near to
God. And though I have known that it was written by a man with whose
opinions I had little agreement, I have not, therefore, refused to be
edified by him in points which are unquestionably revealed. No, but I
have blessed the Lord that, within all his blunders, he knew so much of
the precious, vital Truth of God and lived so near his Lord! What
Protestant can refuse to love the holy Bernard? Was there ever a more
consecrated servant of God or a dearer lover of Christ than he? Yet he
was most sorrowfully in bondage to the superstitions of his age and of
the Roman Church! Are you not all one with him who sang–

"Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills my breast But
sweeter, far, Your face to see, And in Your Presence rest"?

The external Church is necessary, but it is not the one and indivisible
Church of Christ. Jesus, as the Life, binds His Church together, and
that Life flows through all the regenerate, even as the blood flows
through all the veins of the body. Drop the external and look by faith
into the spiritual realm, and you will see one flock and one Shepherd.
The practical lesson is, let us belong to that one flock! How are they
known? Answer–they are a hearing flock–they hear the Lord and follow
His lead. Be you one of those who listen to Christ's voice–and to none
besides. Keep to the one Shepherd! How do you know Him? It is Jesus–in
His feet and hands are nail-prints–and His side bears the scar. He it
is who leads the one only flock!

Follow Jesus and you are right. Follow Him everywhere and you are
happy. The best way to promote the unity of the Church is for all the
sheep to follow the Shepherd. If they all follow the Shepherd, they
will all keep together. Let us go forth and try and do that–and let us
long for that happy day when all disputed points shall be settled by
all obeying the Lord. Compromises would only mean an agreement to
disobey the Lord! Let no man yield a principle under pretense of
charity–it is not charity to call any Truth of God a lie! We must
follow Jesus fully and we shall come together. First pure, then
peaceable, is the rule.

Oh, when shall the triple banner again float over all–"One Lord, one
Faith, one Baptism!"? Oh God, the Holy Spirit, forgive us our errors
and bring us to Your Truth! Oh God, the Son, forgive us our need of
holiness and renew us in Your own image! Oh God the Father, forgive us
our lack of love and melt us into one family! To the one God be glory
in the one Church forever and ever! Amen.