John 10:3-5 To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.… We should not feel satisfied, however, to limit the import of the Saviour's words to the scribes and Pharisees merely. They were but the tools by which the great enemy carried on his work — the weapons wielded in unhallowed warfare by the prince of the power of the air. He was the hidden agent, the powerful adversary, the thief, whose unhallowed design was to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. The words before us are descriptive of the diverse modes of the tempter's operations. By the expression "to steal" we may understand those vague and covert schemes of the enemy which constitute that cunning craftiness whereby he lieth in wait to deceive. "To kill" implies a bolder game, a mailed and formidable combatant, an open declaration, a war, that sort of attack which he may be supposed to employ when he comes under the similitude of a roaring lion. "To destroy" signifies a labour, a plotting, a refinement of ingenuity and torture, the weaving of some subtle net in whose meshes to entangle and betray — that sort of attack which he may be supposed to employ when he comes under the similitude of an angel of light. Such is the constant purpose of the adversary, of the thief — his purpose, however interrupted; his purpose, however discouraged; and it is in direct and impressive contrast to this, and not in the comparatively contemptible operations of the tools of his power, that the Saviour brings out so forcibly the design of his own manifestation — "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." We may notice, in the exposition of this subject to you, the source, the worthiness, and the measure of this promised life. I. And in the first place, let us endeavour to comprehend the SOURCE OF THIS LIFE. "I am come that they might have life." There are prerogatives in the power of kings, you know, which are never delegated to inferior authority. The monarch has his regalia, which it were treason for anyone else to wear. Life is the gift of God — always the gift of God. This is a part of the prerogative which He has never communicated — that act of His royalty which has never been usurped by another. Man, to be sure, has done his utmost to create. The sculptor has chiselled upon the shapeless marble the features of the human face, and proportion has been observed, and attitude has been successful, and a gazing multitude has been loud in admiration of the artist's skill; but though the eye reposed in beauty, no sparkle flashed from it; though the cheek was well rounded and symmetrical, it had no mantling blush; though the lips were true to nature, they could not speak the thrill of the soul. 1. Life, then, is always the gift of God. If we speak of natural life, for example, it is the gift of God. 2. If we speak of intellectual life, again, that also is the gift of God. 3. If we speak of spiritual life, again, that also is the gift of God. II. I have deemed these observations necessary in order to guard us against misapprehension or mistake. I come, in the second place, to notice, brethren, the WORTHINESS OF THIS PROMISED LIFE. God's gifts must be like Himself. Himself perfect, He has made everything perfect in its kind. 1. In the first place, then, the Spirit is revealed to us as the Enlightener, and we may gather, therefore, that this life is comprehensive f knowledge — "For this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." 2. Then, secondly, the Spirit is revealed in us as the Sanctifier; and we may gather, therefore, that this life is comprehensive of holiness. "To be spiritually-minded is life." 3. Then, again, the Spirit is revealed to us as the Comforter; and we may gather, therefore, that this life is comprehensive of happiness — "for it is not a vain thing for you, because it is your life." God is love, and love is happiness. 4. Then, again, this Spirit is revealed to us as the Living Spirit. We may gather, therefore, that this life is comprehensive of immortality. You know, brethren, that death is not an original arrangement of the universe. It was an ordained penalty in case of transgression. Nothing that God ever made in the beginning shall be found wanting in the end; but death came in after, and it shall go out before. III. I have not time to dwell largely upon the MEASURE OF THE PROMISED LIFE — more abundantly. I will just give you one or two thoughts. "More abundantly." That implies comparison. More abundantly than something else. More abundantly than what? Well, first more abundantly than the life of Paradise — that is a wonderful thing to think about — the glorious life — the life in Paradise. Each leaf spoke there of the loveliness of nature; every sound breathed heavenly melody, and every breath was imbued with fragrance, and angels ministered in those sweet solitudes, and the voice of the Lord came down in delicious companionship at the close of the day. It was a glorious thing to live in Paradise, to be amongst the favoured ones of the Creator. Ah, but Christ is come "that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly." "In Christ the sons of Adam boast More blessings than their fathers lost." More abundantly than what? More abundantly than under the Levitical dispensation. That was a noble life. It was a grand thing to think that they had the oracles Divine, that the Urim and Thummin always flashed on the breastplate of the high priest; that any man could at any time tell, by going to the oracles, whether he was in condemnation or in acceptance. And it was a glorious scene that on the day of atonement, when all the gathered multitudes of Israel went up to the Temple of Jerusalem, and the high priest came out in solemn garments, and confessed the sins of the people, and then went into the holy place, and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat, and then came out richly robed, and with uplifted hands pronounced the benediction on all that heard him, and when every man of that great multitude went to his home at night a justified and forgiven man. It was a glorious life that, but "that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth." "He is come that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly" than that. More abundantly than what? Why, more abundantly than we could ever have imagined. And that, in some sort, is the most wonderful of all. We have various messengers at command. The eye beareth witness of wonders, but these transcend them by far; the ear hath the winds at its command — many a marvellous strain they waft on their wings — but the winds do not bear a story like this. Brethren, there is a phrase which we sometimes use — I don't know that I ever felt its peculiar significance so much as I feel it tonight, especially in connection with the subject I have feebly endeavoured to bring before you. It is this: "I stand between the living and the dead!" Literally it is true. I stand between the living and the dead. To which do you belong? Those are living who have come to Christ, and are resting upon Him. Those are dead who are yet in a state of nature, or who have fled for refuge to any refuge of lies. I stand between the living and the dead. The living and the dead! Some of you are living perhaps. Are you? You hardly know, you say. Your only evidence of life is that you are conscious of your deadness. Well, there is life there, and that is more than a dead man can say. Consciousness of deadness is itself a sign of life. Oh, I do rejoice that I can come to you tonight with the publication of life. I can stand upon the sepulchre and roll the stone away, and in the name of my Master exclaim: "He that believeth in Jesus, even though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth in Jesus shall never die." Don't kill yourselves. You will do it if you die. God will not kill you. He has never decreed the murder of any creature He has made. Ministers will not kill you; they would fain have you live. They sound warnings in your ears, that you may live. But lo! a terrible scene rises up before me. I fancy myself somewhere, it may be in the country parts of this beautiful island of ours. We will put the scene where I have sometimes seen it, at the corner of four green lanes. There is something there, although everything in the external aspect seems to smile — there is something there that makes the peasant whistle as he goes by, or pass it with bated breath, and the children don't choose that place to play in; everything about it seems haunted with strange and nameless horror; and if you ask about it, some peasant lowers his voice into a whisper, as he says, "It is the grave of a suicide." An unhonoured sod just thrown up, nameless and unknown, at the corner of four crossroads, at midnight — the grave of one who put himself out of life, and beyond the rites of Christian burial — the grave of a suicide. Oh, brethren, it is a fearful thing, but I must pursue the analogy. If any of you, after repeated admonitions and warnings, should perish, you have struck the suicide's blow upon your own souls, and wherever your nameless grave may be, angels who delight to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation, looking at the place where your ashes may repose, will have to say, "It is the grave of a suicide — of one who is self-murdered, and spiritually dead — of one who has driven the dagger of perdition into his own soul." Oh, don't do that; I beseech you don't do that. Live, live! That one word is the gospel, because Christ has promised life, and the Spirit is waiting to impart it. (W. M. Punshon.) Parallel Verses KJV: To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. |
    |