Fickle Followers

Fickle Followers

(No. 2273)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1892.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH
27, 1890.

"And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said
unto Him, Lord, I will follow You wherever You go. And Jesus said unto
him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of
Man has not where to lay His head. And He said unto another, FollowMe.
But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said
unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go you and preach the
Kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow You; but let
me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus
said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking
back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." Luke 9:57-62.

SOMETIMES nobody appeared to come to Christ. He preached, but no
followers appeared as the result of His preaching. At another time, we
see that many came and desired to be numbered with His disciples, but
they were not all of the right kind. Luke has collected here three
instances which I think are typical of many more of those who seemed to
be true followers of Jesus, who, nevertheless, did not continue with
Him and were not really converts. I think that these three are put
together, here, for the comfort of those of us who preach the
Gospel–that when we are disappointed, we may perceive that we are not
worse off than our Master was–and that, when we think that we have
brought men to conversion and find, after all, that they are not
converted, we may not give up the work or be discouraged, but may say
to ourselves, "It was always so. It was so with the Prince of
Preachers. May we not reasonably expect that it will be so with us,
also?"

Our Savior never refused anybody who came to Him and who ought to have
been accepted by Him. His own words were, "Him that comes to Me, I will
in no wise cast out." That is a true description of His dealing with
men at all times. If they do but come sincerely and truly, He always
welcomes them. On the other hand, He did not shovel them in
indis-criminately–He did not gather them to Himself wholesale. He did
not go about, as it were, soliciting their patronage, willing to take
in anybody so long as he could swell the number of His followers. Oh,
no! We have good evidence here that He knew how to shut the door as
well as to open it. He knew as well how to warn the pretentious as to
accept the penitent. He was ready for the sincere with open heart and
open hands–but He was faithful to those who were self-deceived, or
those who, through ignorance, professed what was not really true. Now,
we ought to be the same, dear Friends. We should always be anxious to
receive all who will come to Christ. At the same time, we must exercise
judgment and not put down everybody as converted simply because he says
that he is, but we must judge, watch, try and test–lest we help
self-deception–and come to be the servants of Satan by bolstering up
the delusions of mistaken men and women!

One thing I do not like about these three people of whom I am going to
speak to you tonight, and that is, that in the case of no one of them
does there appear to be any sense of sin. There is nothing said about
repentance, or about their feeling their deep need of a Savior. They
are like many we know. With no tears in their eyes, strangers to a
broken heart, they become religious mainly of themselves, and they
become irreligious of themselves. What they gained themselves they lost
themselves. But, where there is really a deep plowing work done, when
the seed comes up, it lives. Where the foundation is dug deep, when the
house is built, it stands. When there is stripping, there is afterwards
real clothing. When there is a probing of the wound, the healing is a
true healing and not a pretense. I regret, therefore, that there should
be so many persons outside of my text who have not any repentance. They
seem to jump into their religion as men do into their

morning bath, and then jump out again just as quickly, converted by the
dozen, and unconverted, one by one, till the dozen has melted away–not
really converted–otherwise they would never be unconverted again!

I believe that we are going to have a great many converts. We are
praying over them and praying for them–and we need to know what sort
of men and women they ought to be. We need to know how to deal wisely
with them in the name of our loving, tender, but faithful Savior. We
shall learn from His treatment of those who came to Him, how we should
deal with those that come to us.

Now, first, there are some would-be followers of Christ who do not
consider, as in the first case. Secondly, there are some would-be
followers of Christ who do not put Christ first, as in the second case.
And, thirdly, there are some would-be followers of Christ who still
hanker after the world–and want to have Christ and the world, too.
Neither of these three sets of followers will ever prove a comfort to
us or a glory to God.

I. First, THERE ARE SOME WOULD-BE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST WHO DO NOT
CONSIDER. The first man, and he was a scribe, too, said, "Lord, I will
follow You wherever You go." What that might mean–what that might
involve–he did not ask and, therefore, did not know. He was sincere as
far as he knew–but then he did not know much. Had he known more, he
would have said less.

Like our Lord, we meet with many persons who are great at resolving! "I
will. That I will. Solemnly, I declare that I will." They are willing
to make that declaration as publicly as you like–and stand up, or fall
down–or do anything else to declare that they have resolved. I
frequently hear persons exhorted to give their hearts to Christ, which
is a very proper exhortation. But that is not the Gospel! Salvation
comes from something that Christ gives you, not something that you give
to Christ! The giving of your heart to Christ follows after the
receiving from Christ of eternal life by faith. It is easy to work our
friends up so that they say, "We will give our hearts to Christ," but
they may never do it, after all. If, with broken heart and contrite
sigh, they had confessed their guilt and had penitently cried, "God be
merciful to me a sinner," they might not have looked quite so well, but
there would have been more hope for them. We cannot come to Christ
unless Christ comes to us and gives us a broken heart and a contrite
spirit! If there is no repentance, depend upon it that that faith which
we think we have is not the faith that will save us! Give me Faith with
tears in her eyes–I know her to be the true child of God. The faith
that makes me feel my ruin, confess my sin and lay hold of eternal life
because otherwise my merits will bring me to eternal death–this is the
faith which saves! But some people are very great at resolving rather
than repenting and believing.

These people show, generally, very great confidence in themselves. This
man said, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." There is no
prayer, "Lord, help me to follow You," "Hold You me up, and I shall be
safe," "Leave me not, or I shall wander from You." No, it is just
this–"I have made up my mind to this, and I am a strong-minded person,
and able to carry out what I determine. Lord, I will follow You
wherever You go." That is our duty, but that duty we shall never attain
apart from Divine help. "He that trusts in his own heart is"–what? A
convert? No, "a fool." And "a fool" is another name for a sinner. Go,
write on water, and return tomorrow to read the phase you have
inscribed! And when you have done that, trust your own determinations!
Go and say that you will pluck the moon out of her orbit, or stop the
sun in his blaze at mid-day! And when you have done these things, then
can you so control yourself as to be always faithful to your Lord
without His help. I would have you deal far more in confession than in
resolving. Much more in believing than in bearing testimony to anything
you have done, yourself, or hope to do, yourself, or resolve to do,
yourself! This first man is very big–he talks great swelling words and
he feels that he can do what he says and, in the simplicity of his
ignorant heart, he says–"Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."

Do you not think that, perhaps, there was at the back of that
declaration, some secret idea that he would be a gainer by it? May not
this man have thought that Jesus Christ had come to set up a temporal
kingdom and that, by following Him, he would get a high place in that
new kingdom? If even Christ's at His left, I cannot wonder if this
half-disciple had some idea that he was going to be a great deal better
off as to carnal things for being a follower of Christ!

Now, it may be that some here imagine that the Christian life is all
pleasure and joy, that there will be no persecution to endure, no
affliction to bear. It may be that you have imagined that the way to
Heaven is by a grass path, rolled, every inch of it, and that when you
say, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go," you mean that you will
follow Him through Jerusalem when everybody waves the palm branches and
casts his garment in the way. Do you know anything about Gethsemane and
the bloody sweat? About Gabbatha, and the cry, "Crucify Him!"? And
about Golgotha, that

scene of deadly woe? Will you follow Him there when the many turn
aside? Will you witness there that He, alone, has the Living Word? You
think it shall be all king's weather with you if you go with Christ?
Know you not that Christ leads us where the fiercest winds blow and
where the stormy blast pitilessly hurls the sleet into our faces, and
where we must perish if we live on earthly comforts? The people of God
are a tried people–but many fancy that it cannot be so–and so they
say, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go."

Now, notice that Christ undeceived this man in a very amazing way by
telling him, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head." He told that scribe
that if he became His follower, he must share with Him, for the
disciple is not above his Lord, nor the servant above his Master. What
will you have to share if you follow Christ? You will have to follow a
friendless Man without a home and often with no one to understand Him!
If you take Him to be your Leader, you will have to travel over a rough
road. Oh, may none of you ever profess Christianity for the sake of
what you can get! I can assure you that, in these days, those who
follow Christ for loaves and fishes will find the loaves very small and
the fishes very full of bones!

The Savior meant this scribe to know, also, that, if he followed Him,
not only would he gain no wealth by it, but he would get very little
kindness as the result of it, for our Savior had no home of His own.
There were kind friends, like those at Bethany, who often entertained
Him, yet there were nights when the fox went to his lair, and the crow
went to the woods, but the Savior had to tarry till His head was wet
with dew, and His locks with the drops of the night, for no man gave
Him shelter. Christ says to this scribe, "You will be treated like
that. You will lose many of your friends and those who are of your own
household will become your enemies. Those who now admire you will abhor
you–and those who now call you a fine fellow and are pleased to
entertain you–will shut the door in your face! That is what you have
to expect." When this man heard that, his enthusiasm, I suppose, cooled
down. He was like Mr. Pliable, when he tumbled into the Slough of
Despond. He said the Celestial City might be a very fine place, but, if
the way to it was so bad as that, anybody might have that city for
himself–he should not go plodding through miry ways in order to get to
it! Many a man, when he has found that there is a Cross as well as a
crown, has foregone the crown because he could not bear the Cross.

Does anyone here say, "That was rather a hard method of our Lord, to
tell this hopeful person that, and so discourage him"? Ah, dear Friend,
it was a very safe and proper method. Our Lord wants not to gather to
His army those who cannot be soldiers. If we cannot endure what lies
before us, it is honestly better for us to turn back than to pretend to
go forward. If we enlist a man who is not sincere at the first, we are
doing him a serious injury. We are doing ourselves an injury–we are
doing the whole cause of Christ a solemn injury before the eyes of
men–for all they that go back, like dogs to their vomit, bring
disgrace upon the good cause. All those who say that they are Christ's
and then go and live ungodly lives, stain the name of Christ! They do
more injury through having made a profession than they would have been
capable of doing if they had never made that profession.

Now, as the Church hastily counts up her numbers and says, "So many
were converted," the world has another register and counts up the
apostates, the backsliders, the wanderers! And it is a serious blow
struck at the Crown and the Glory of Christ when the world can say,
"Such-and-such a man bore Christ's name, but he acted like a servant of
the devil." Hence our Lord was wise, as the great heart-searching
Savior, to let this man know the worst side of religion, so that, if he
did take up with it, he might know what the cost of it would be. And so
would I say to everyone here–we want you to come, we want you to join
the army of Christ, we want you to be followers of the Redeemer–but
not unless you will first count the cost! We beg you not to take the
name of Christ upon you unless you are truly His in your very soul!

Do not dare to be added to the Church of God, unless heart, soul, and
spirit–your whole nature goes with your profession–and you become
truly and really a follower of Christ. The enthusiastic often comfort a
preacher, but they as often delude him. Let him be on his guard and try
well, with searching Truths of God and with the untiring preaching of
the whole Gospel to those who come to him, lest the great heap on the
threshing floor should suddenly prove to be nothing but chaff, when
God's great fan comes to blow upon it! We must keep the fan of the
Gospel going, that the chaff may be divided from the wheat, for God
would have us separate between the precious and the vile–and then
shall we be as His mouth.

II. Now, secondly, THERE ARE SOME WOULD-BE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST WHO DO
NOT PUT CHRIST

FIRST.

The second case mentioned in this chapter is different from the
first–"And He said unto another, Follow Me." This man was not a
volunteer. The first man was–and he broke down in his preliminary
examination. This man was, so to speak, a pressed man, impressed by the
command of Christ, "Follow Me," and he broke down, too. Every true
volunteer into the army of Christ is a pressed man. The Grace of God
has pressed him in, but everyone who is impressed into the army of
Christ is also a volunteer, for he is made willing in the day of God's
power, so that, in the Kingdom of Christ, the pressed man and the
volunteer are the same.

Still, there is a difference in this case. This man had a distinct
command from the Lord–"Follow Me." That is a very solemn thing, to
have a command from the Lord coming to the heart–and then to repel it!
I would have you very cautious when you hear the Word of God preached,
or when you read it. If, at any time, it comes to you with unusual
power–if it seems to arrest you, to lay an iron hand upon your
shoulder–if you feel it difficult to get away from it, I pray you, do
not try to get away from it, for, if you do, you will add very greatly
to your guilt. When Jesus, Himself, seems to say to you, "Follow Me,"
be not deaf to the Divine message! Close not your ears to the heavenly
command! Have not some of you sat in these seats, sometimes, and felt
that if you could but get home, if you could but be spared to get to
your little chamber to bow your knees in prayer, you would be very
different from what you had ever been, for a voice which seemed more
than human was calling to you, and you could not but hear it? I beseech
you, never trifle with such a message as that! O my Hearers, never
trifle with the Truth of God at all, but especially with a Truth of God
that has a voice which you are compelled to hear, for, if you do, it
will go hard with you. This man was called by Christ, who said to him,
"Follow Me."

The excuse which he made seemed very natural. "He said, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father." To bury his father might be a duty of
nature, but to put that first–"Suffer me first"–indicated where his
heart was. He was willing to be a Christian–that is to say, a
Christian and something else–but the something else must be written in
large capitals, and then, at the bottom, in very small type, "and a
Christian.'' Do you not know a great many people of that sort?
Philosophical and Christian, but the Christian is quite the secondary
consideration. They are like the man whose child was asked, "Is your
father a Christian?" and who replied, "He is a Christian, I think. But
he has not worked much at it lately." There are many Christians of that
sort nowadays. They work at their own business and they do a little,
now and then, between whiles, in Christianity.

You are no Christian unless you put Christ first! He will not come into
your heart to sit in the worst chair in the house! He will not come
into your soul to be lodged in the attic! He must have the best room
and the best seat in the room–He must be first–and not even father
and mother may come before the Lord Jesus Christ! A young man says,
"Yes, I must first become a journeyman or a master. I must first be
married. I must see to the main chance." Oh, the world is your main
chance, is it? Then you are no follower of Christ! If Christ is not
first with you, Christ is nothing to you. You cannot have Him to play
with–you must surrender your whole life to Him and make Him the first
and last object of your life's ambition, if you have Him at all.

But with regard to what this man said about burying his father, if
there were some force in it to our ears, the Savior who knew everything
saw that there was no force in it, for He said, "There are other people
to bury your father; but I have called upon you to come and follow Me
now. Nobody else can do that for you, but the burial of your father can
be done by others whom I have never called, and who know nothing about
the Divine Life. Let the dead bury their dead." You would be surprised
if I were to read you the letters which I receive about different
things which the writers say I ought to do and could do. Of course I
ought to take a side in politics and appear at the next political
meeting. Of course, I shall not, because there are plenty of dead
people to bury dead politics–and they may go and do it! My business is
to preach the Gospel. Someone then says, "You should take up social
questions." There are plenty of dead people to handle social
questions–let them handle them if they like the work–my business is
to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Then it is said, "You ought to provide amusements for the people."
Ought I? There are plenty of fools to do that without my going into
competition with them! My business is to preach the Gospel. When a man
is once called by Christ he may say of a great many things, "Well, they
are very proper. Very proper, indeed, for others to attend to. Dead
people need burying and ought to be buried. It is a pity that there
should be any difficulty about their being buried, but there

are enough dead people to bury them. There are not enough living ones
to preach the Gospel–there are not enough to follow Christ." "Follow
Me," said Christ, "I must be first, and as for these other things,
there are other people who can properly attend to them. It is more in
their line. The dead know where the graves are. The dead know all about
funerals. Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead."

After all, if he had gone home to bury his father, it would have
involved so much loss of time to him. As a follower of Christ, during
that time he would not have been attending to his work. If he could
have gone home to the funeral and preached Christ to the mourners, it
would have been all in his day's work. But as he would not have done so
and did not think of doing so, he was only going simply to pay his debt
of courtesy. He was losing so much time that ought to be given to his
Master. And here was the worst result of this request–it produced
unsound discipleship. Oh, what a mass we have of very questionable
discipleship towards Christ–where somebody or something is put before
Christ!

If you judge the man's life as it really is, you will find there is
something that has a higher place in it than love to Christ. Judge him
by his conversation–is Christ first? There is a deeper emotion in his
heart caused by politics, it may be, than by religion. I know some of
our Brothers and Sisters–I have no doubt they are most respectable
people–but if there is a meeting upon some political question, they
are all excitement! They shout, "Hurrah!" They nearly rave and act as
if they ought to have a strait waistcoat on! But go to the Prayer
Meeting and you will find that there they are as dull as death! When
there is anything to be done for Christ, you cannot stir them–they
seem to have gone into a soporific condition.

May God save us from that state of heart and life! If Christ is not
first, He ought to be, and if we do not make Him first, above all other
things put together, we do not know Him at all. You are no Christian if
you are not altogether a Christian. If every part of you is not
consecrated to Christ, I fear that no part of you is consecrated to
Him! At all events, this faulty discipleship will never produce much
fruit, or bring much glory to God. With this second class of would-be
disciples, our Master was troubled, and so are we.

III. Now, thirdly, THERE ARE SOME WOULD-BE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST WHO
STILL HANKER AFTER

THE WORLD. "And another also said, Lord, I will follow You." He is
another volunteer–"but let me first." Something must be done first by
him, too. There would have been no hurt in what he said if he had not
put in that word "first." "Let me first go bid them farewell, which are
at home at my house." Well, now, the objection to this was that he did
not intend to come right straight out from the world. He did not mean
to come out then and there for Christ–but he must first go home and
bid them farewell.

We know, first, that this was a very dangerous procedure, because the
probability was that when he went home to bid them farewell, they would
get to crying over him, so that it would take a month to say farewell.
And then he would have to say farewell again and, perhaps, keep on
saying it all the rest of his life! No man leaves sin little by little.
No, there is nothing that will do as an escape from sin but total
abstinence from it–to have done with it–and cut the connection
altogether, by God's Grace, and that without taking a farewell of it. O
young man, when you are thinking of leaving the world, be afraid of
those farewells! They have been the ruin of hundreds of hopeful people.
They have been almost persuaded, but they have gone to their old
companions just to give them the last kiss and the last shake of the
hand–and we have not seen anything more of them! It is a dangerous
operation–this trying to part with the world by degrees– gently, in a
courteous way, little by little. You will never do it! No man becomes a
follower of Christ in that mode. No, like Paul on the way to Damascus,
turn at once from being an enemy into a friend of Christ and cry
directly, "Who are You, Lord?" and, "What will You have me to do?" Only
this is true conversion.

Next, I do not know that this young man was wrong in his proposition to
go home, but, he was going for the wrong purpose. You notice that his
objective was to "bid farewell" to all his friends. Suppose he had
said, "Master, I will follow You, and to prove how I will follow You, I
will go home and fetch my wife. I will go home and bring my children. I
will go home and talk to my brother. I will go home and, in Your name
and by Your power, I will bring my cousin to You"? But, no–he says
that he is going to bid them "good-bye"–so he is not going with the
heroic motive of winning them to Christ, like Matthew, when he called
his old companions together–and Christ sat at the table and preached
the Gospel to them. That was a grand bidding "good-bye" to the world!
But this young man is simply going to bid them all farewell. Beloved,
if you go to your old companions, go and tell them what the Lord has
done for you!

It was a manifestation of indecision. He would follow Christ, but,
well, that home of his, all those dear faces at home. Our Lord would
not have forbidden his seeing them again at another time, but now,
first, he asks to go and see them first, as if they would not be there
another week, or another month! He must go there first. So we find
plenty of people who are thus undecided. They would like to go to
Heaven by that broad road along which the multitude of men are going
down to Hell. "Yes, write my name in the Church rolls, but I shall keep
it on the books of the club where I go and do a little bit of gambling,
also. At any rate, just for a time. I must keep to my old companions
for a while. I will be a Christian one of these days, but just now I
have, well, the fact is, I have an engagement–I promised, and I must
keep my promise." Oh, there is no hope of men while they are like this,
swinging between the two states! They must take the grand decisive step
and say, "Now I have cut the cable that bound me to the world. I have
done with these dangerous shores. I have put out to the broad deep sea
of consecration to God, never to come back to these rocks again."

This man's request showed a need of appreciation of Christ. Do you not
think so? Why, if Jesus said to any one of us who are in our right
minds, "Follow Me," should we not think it our highest honor, our
greatest delight to be His followers? Yes, let Him lead us over the
ground where we see His blood-stained footprints and we will glory in
following Him wherever He goes! Oh, when we start back, and must have a
little more sin, and a little more of the pleasures of worldly company,
and a little more going out with others where we ought not to go, it
shows that the root of the matter is not in us and we are not really
brought to the Lord!

And, finally, it showed great unfitness for the holy work, for the
Master said, "No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking
back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." When the plowman starts with his
plow, he keeps his eyes right in front, looking straight ahead. If his
heart is not in his work, every now and then, when he ought to be
driving one way, he looks the other, and so he makes his plow boggle
and get out of the rut. On he goes a little way and then looks back. He
plows another bit and again looks back. He is a fine plowman! He will
never win the gold medal in a plowing contest, I am sure! He is not fit
to follow the plow at all–he is not up to his work. The plowman who is
always looking here and there and everywhere, instead of looking
straight ahead, is a most faulty plowman.

Now, we need for Christ, tonight, and every day and every night, men
and women who will say, "I am for Christ, for Him to live, for Him to
labor, for Him to suffer, for Him, if need be, to die! Straight ahead,
turning neither to the right hand for this, that I may gain, nor to the
left hand for fear of what I may lose, but straight ahead, by that
Divine Grace which has come into my soul and made me feel that Christ
is all my salvation, and all my desire–straight ahead I plow towards
the end of the field." God grant us to have many such converts! They
only come by a simple faith in Christ, by having done with self, by
having laid aside self-righteousness and sin, and coming straight away
to Him who alone can make sinful men to be His true disciples.

If there is anything in this discourse that belongs to any of you, will
you kindly take it home? If you do not like it, take it home all the
more! And if you even get angry at the Truth of God that I have
proclaimed and think that it is very personal, then hug it closely to
you because it must be meant for you! That truth which pleases us is
often stolen, but that Truth of God which grieves us is our own
property! We had better keep it until it has grieved out of us the sin
which makes us grieved at it! I do not ask you to put on any cap that
does not fit you. But, if there is one that does fit, wear it, and go
with it before the Throne of Grace and cry to God to set the wrong
right.

May God bless these words of mine to the warning of many, for Jesus
Christ's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON LUKE937-62.

Our Lord had been on the mountain and had been transfigured. When He
came down, the first person that He met was the devil, with whom He had
to come in contact. Whenever you or I get up on the mountaintop and
have a very happy and delightful experience, we may expect to be in a
battle before long. Our joy is, however, a preparation for the
conflict–it nerves our spirit and makes us strong to meet the great
enemy of our souls.

Verses 37-40. And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were
come down from the hill, much people met Him. And, behold, a man of the
company cried out saying, Master, I beseech You, look upon my son: for
he is my only child. And,

lo, a spirit takes him, and he suddenly cries out; and it tears him
that he foams again, and bruising him hardly departs from him. And I
besought Your disciples to cast him out; and they could not. There they
were, all baffled and defeated–and their enemies were looking at them
with many a grin of contempt and scorn. Now comes the conquering
Captain. He will turn the tide of battle when His troops are flying
before the enemy! He comes and with a word He gathers them together
again.

41. And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how
long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring your son here. If you
have been praying for some dear one and the devil is not cast out, but
the one for whom you have pleaded seems to be worse, rather than
better–notwithstanding all your prayers and all your efforts–hear the
Master, Himself, saying to you, tonight, as He said to the father of
this child, "Bring your son here."

42. And as he was yet coming, the devil threw him down and convulsed
him. This is Satan's usual way. Whenever he is about to be cast out of
anyone, he grows angry. And if he cannot destroy, he will worry, just
as a bad tenant will do injury to the house if he cannot any longer
keep possession of it. "As he was yet a coming, the devil threw him
down, and convulsed him." Perhaps I speak to some, tonight, who are
coming to Christ and yet have worse fears than ever. They are more
troubled than ever they were before. Well, you are like this poor
child–"As he was yet coming, the devil threw him down, and convulsed
him." It was, however, the devil's last throw.

42. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and
delivered him again to his father. How well it is done! How perfectly
it is done, how easily it is done, how quickly it is done when Christ
comes on the scene! Let us pray distinctly, tonight, for those who have
been our failures up to now. They will not be Christ's failures if in
prayer and by faith we bring them to Him.

43. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they
were amazed, many of them did not believe! It is one thing to be
astonished. It is another thing to be humbled and to be led to simple
faith in Christ. Never be content with any emotion but that which leads
you to believe in Jesus for yourself.

43, 44. But while they wondered, everyone, at all things which Jesus
did, He said unto His disciples, Let these sayings sink down into your
ears: for the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. Just
after the Transfiguration. Just after He had cast out the devil, He
tells His disciples that "the Son of Man shall be delivered into the
hands of men." The shadow of the Cross fell upon Christ long before the
substance of the Cross was on His shoulder. He never forgot that the
day would come when He must lay down His life as a ransom for many. And
He never started back from it, either–

"This was compassion like a God,

That when the Savior knew

The price of pardon was His blood,

His pity ne'er withdrew."

45. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that
they perceived it not: and they feared to ask Him of that saying. They
were not as yet spiritual enough to spy out His meaning. And when they
had even a faint glimmering of it, it made them feel so sad, so cast
down, that they did not dare to go and ask Him to explain it fully. Do
you not think that you and I may have, tonight, something pressing upon
us that would all vanish if we but took it to Jesus? And yet we fear to
ask Him! Let us drive away that fear and be familiar with our Lord, and
tell Him everything that vexes our spirit.

46. Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be
greatest. Sad, sad, sad, a hundred times sad! When He was talking of
His death and of His being delivered into the hands of wicked men, His
disciples were disputing as to who should be the greatest! Ah, Brothers
and Sisters, we may be guilty of quite as great an inconsistency! If,
after Christ's death for us on the Cross, and after He has given up
everything for us, and has washed us in His heart's blood– if we begin
to want to be great and famous in the eyes of men, what wretches we
are! May God deliver us from all ambition, from every kind of
self-seeking and from any measure of pride! Otherwise, we are
inconsistent in pretending to follow such a Master as the Lord Jesus.

47. 48. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child,
and set him by Him, and said unto them, Whoever shall receive this
child in My name receives Me: and whoever shall receive Me, receives
Him that sent Me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be
great. The way to rise in the ranks of Christ is to go down. Be willing
to do the meanest thing and you are growing in Christ's esteem. When
you are great, you are little. When you are nothing, then are you
great. The Lord take away from us the black drops of pride that make us
stand up on our dignity and think we must be

somebody! Somebody? God will not use you as long as you are somebody!
But when you are nobody, then will God greatly magnify you and use you
in His Church.

49. And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils
in Your name; and we forbad him, because he follows not with us. This
man who was casting out demons was a Dissenter–he was not with the
regular Church. He was doing good, but still, what right had he to do
it? John said, "He follows not with us." He was outside the pale! And
even John, with all his loving disposition, felt that he must blow that
candle out! He had no right to shine in anything but the regular,
orthodox candlestick. "We forbad him, because he follows not with us."

50. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against
us is for us. Jesus also said that no man could do a miracle in His
name and then lightly go and speak evil of Him, so that it was for the
good of the cause to let the irregular practitioner go on with his
business. Besides, if anybody can cast a devil out, by all means let
him do it, for there is none too much of the power of casting out
devils! And, remember, that these gentlemen who found fault could not
cast the devil out themselves. They had been beaten in this very task
and yet, when somebody else did it in the power of God, they began to
complain and forbid them! That is surely being like the dog in the
manger. God save us from falling into that spirit!

51. And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be
received up. Is not that a wonderful expression? Christ is to die and
to be buried. Ah, but this word comprehends everything, "that He should
be received up." Think not of the gloom of death, especially concerning
your dear friends who have lately fallen asleep. Think of their being
received up! They did seem to go down–they went as low as the grave
but they could not go any lower! Thank God for His abounding mercy in
receiving them up.

51. He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. To go where He must
He scourged, spit upon and crucified–"He steadfastly set His face to
go to Jerusalem."

52, 53. And sent messengers before His face: and they went, and entered
into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him. And they did
not receive Him, because His face was as though He would go to
Jerusalem. He used to be welcomed in Samaria, but now the evil spirit
has come to the front again–"They did not receive Him, because His
face was as though He would go to Jerusalem," and they wished nobody to
go up to the feast at Jerusalem, but desired all to stop and worship
God with them on Mount Gerizim. So they would not receive Him.

54, 55. And when His disciples, James and John, saw this, they said,
Lord, will you that we command fire to come down from Heaven and
consume them, even as Elijah did? But He turned and rebuked them, and
said, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. When you read the
Old Testament, you will remember that the spirit of the Old Testament
was in accordance with the Law of Moses. But you are not under the Law
but under Grace, and the Spirit of Christ is another spirit, not the
spirit of judgment, bringing down fire from Heaven, but the Spirit of
mercy, bringing life and blessing from above!

56. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save
them. And they went to another village. That was all Christ did by way
of punishment of these Samaritans–He "went to another village." Yet,
gentle as was this treatment, it was really a very severe
punishment–such a punishment as will fall on all of you who reject
Christ. If you will not receive Him, He will go to somebody else! If
you will not hear Him, somebody else will. And if, when you hear Him,
you will not accept Him, it may be that you will not hear Him many more
times–the Word of God may never again be spoken with any power to
you–Christ will go to somebody else.

57-62. And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain
man said unto Him, Lord, I will follow You wherever You go. And Jesus
said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but
the Son of Man has not where to lay His head. And He said unto another,
Follow Me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go you and
preach the Kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow
You; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my
house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the
plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"^5, 636, 667.