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Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
his side, expecting him to give them the food they longed
for, and the love which day by day he lavished upon them.

This is a picture of the Eastern shepherd. He loves his

sheep, as I told you; he calls them by name; he leads them
out to green pastures.

If enemies come, he is ready to give his life to protect

them!

If, in his absence, a hired man has to take care of them,

the hireling runs away if he hears the roar of the wild beast,
or sees a sudden storm coming up!

But the shepherd thinks first of his sheep. He leads

them into a place of safety to escape the storm; he defends
them against the wild beast with his own hand, and his own
life!

Jesus is the Good Shepherd—all these good things of

which I have told you belong to Him in fullness.

He calls His own sheep by name! He says to each one of

you, however young you may be, your own, own name!

He calls you in loving, tender tones. He says, "Come to

Me, and I will give you rest." He says to every one who will
have Him as his Saviour, "I have called thee by thy name,
thou art Mine."

In the old days, when there was a High Priest, he had a

breastplate on which was engraved the names of the twelve
tribes of the Children of Israel, and we are told in the
fifteenth of Exodus that "they shall be upon Aaron's heart
when he goeth in before the Lord."
 This is such a sweet thought: that our names, if we love
Him, are on the heart of Jesus, in the glory!

But there is another story that Jesus tells us about the

sheep.

We have been thinking about the happy flock who are

with the shepherd, feeding in green pastures, lying down by
still waters, preserved from enemies, taken to the safe fold
at night.

But our Lord tells us this story of one, out of the

hundred sheep that the Eastern shepherd has, who had
wandered away!

Perhaps he had thought there were fairer pastures than

those which the shepherd had brought him to? Perhaps he
thought that the waters in another field were more
sparkling than those still ones where the shepherd had so
gently led them?

Whatever was the reason, one of these sheep wandered

away. At first, perhaps, only a little way off just behind a
rock, or round the other side of a wood. But the farther off
he went, the easier it became to wander away!

At length came the dark night, and as the shepherd

counted his hundred sheep into the fold, he found one was
lost!

Lost? The shepherd would not lose his sheep for

anything!

He left his ninety-nine in the fold, and hurried away into

the wilderness to find the one which was lost.
 Through the darkness of night; through the tangles and
the briars; through the deep waters of the rushing stream,
on he passed; and as he went, he repeated to himself
words which seemed to dwell in his very heart—"until I find
it"!

On he went, weary and worn, till at last in the silence of

the deep night he heard a faint cry!

Then the shepherd called, and stood listening for the

answer. And again came that faint cry, and the shepherd
knew that somewhere near him, in the darkness, his lost
sheep was lonely, helpless, and hopeless.

Then the shepherd's arms were stretched out to reach

him, caught in the briars at the edge of an awful precipice.
He leaned down over the abyss and stretched out his
hands, and, regardless of the tearing thorns, he grasped his
sheep, he disentangled the briars, and lifted it into safety.

But the sheep was so weary and faint that he could not
walk, so the tender shepherd put him on to his shoulders,
and brought him home rejoicing!

And then the shepherd called his friends together,

saying:

"Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was

lost!"

And Jesus, our Good Shepherd, says: "I say unto you,
that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that
repenteth!"
 XVIII. The Door of the Sheep

The Lord Jesus calls Himself by many wonderful and

tender names in the New Testament. These are some of
them.

He says, "I am the Bread of Life."

He says, "I am the Light of the World."

He says, "I am the Good Shepherd."

He says, "I am the Door of the Sheep."

Perhaps this last name of Jesus is a little difficult for you

to understand; but I am told that those who have visited
Palestine have seen the shepherd acting as the real door of
the sheep!

When night comes on, the Eastern shepherd gathers his

sheep from the mountains where they have been feeding,
and he leads them to a safe place, called the fold, where
perhaps, shut in by rocks, or by walls, or by the sides of
some steep hill with the broken rocks around as a
protection, he brings them to a spot where they may rest
without fear.

Then, having counted them in, and having found that all
are there, he places himself across the doorway, and bids
his dear flock lie down, because while he is there as their
door, no harm can come to them.

This is a little picture of how it is Jesus, the Good

Shepherd, can call Himself the Door of the Sheep.

I think He wanted His people—His sheep and His lambs

—to understand that if He is the Door, that is their safety.

If they have entered by Him; if they have come to Him

to be saved, and washed and made His own sheep, then
they have entered by the door into the sheepfold, and are
safe within it!

Jesus says, no man shall pluck them out of His hands.

Satan may try to get in and snatch the sheep or the

lambs, but if Jesus is their own Shepherd and Saviour, if
they are truly His sheep and lambs, then they need fear no
evil, for He says, "Because I live, ye shall live also."
HE LEADS THEM TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.

THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP

Jesus is our Shepherd,

Wiping every tear;
Folded in His bosom,
What have we to fear?
Only let us follow
Whither He doth lead,
 To the thirsty desert,
Or the dewy mead.

Jesus is our Shepherd:

For the sheep He bled;
Every lamb is sprinkled
With the blood He shed;
Then on each He setteth
His own secret sign;
"They that have My Spirit,
These," saith He, "are Mine."

Jesus is our Shepherd:

Guarded by His arm,
Though the wolves may raven,
None can do us harm;
When we tread death's valley,
Dark with fearful gloom,
We will fear no evil,
Victors o'er the tomb.

XIX. "In My Father's House are Many

Mansions"

The very last evening that our dear Lord was on earth
before His death, He and His twelve disciples were gathered
together in that upper room to eat the Passover.
 On the morrow he was to die! But though He had told
the disciples very often of His death, they had failed to
believe it.

Peter had said "That be far from Thee, Lord!" and had,
like the other disciples, dismissed the fear from his
thoughts.

It had only been a few days before this Passover night

that Mary, the sister of Lazarus, had poured the sweet-
smelling spikenard ointment on our Lord's Head at the
supper table; and He, knowing all things that were coming
to pass, said she had anointed His Body for His burial. But
still, the listening disciples paid no heed.

But now the last evening had come.

The Passover supper was over, and Judas had left them
and gone out into the darkness. If no one else expected the
death of the Lord of Glory, Judas knew in his heart that he
had sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, and that the
Jews would surely kill Him!

But Judas was gone out; and now our Lord turned to
the eleven who were left, and began to comfort them, with
words of strength and hope.

He had just told His over-confident disciple, Peter, that

before the cock should crow in the morning he would thrice
deny Him! And all the disciples were full of dismay at such a
possibility.

So our Lord's first words, in His talk with His own, we

read in the 14th of St. John's Gospel; and they come as a
wonderful comfort to all sorrowing and fainting ones, from
that holy hour down to this time which seems so hard to us!
He said these words to His eleven disciples and to all who
love Him: "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in
God, believe also in Me."

And then, because of the coming trials which He knew

His disciples would have soon to pass through, He gives
them the wonderful promise, which has comforted
thousands and thousands of weary hearts since then: "In
My Father's House are many Mansions; if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."

He seems in these words to say something like this:

"My Father's House" is safely Above, where no storms can
touch its security. It is an Everlasting abode—one that will
not pass away with the ravages of time, or the thunders of
war. It is an Everlasting Home; and I go to get it ready for
each one of you.

And then He points them on to another great thought—

He says: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will

come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also!"

So He bids us to look forward in the trials and sorrows

which will come to all of us, as we pass through life to the
Father's Everlasting Home—to His being there to get ready
that Home for all who love Him—and then He promises to
come back and fetch His people, and take them to be for
ever with Himself!

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who had sat close
to his Lord, and had leant on His breast, heard all these
heart-cheering words, as Jesus uttered them. But little did
he know, then, that he would be chosen to write all these
lovely words down in his Gospel; nor that by and by he
should be a prisoner for years in the rocky Isle of Patmos,
and see glorious visions of "the Father's House, and the
many Mansions."

There, in the loneliness and solitude, the glorified

Saviour came to His loved disciple and said to him these
wonderful words:

"I am the First, and the Last, and behold I am

alive for Evermore."

He told John that many sorrows and difficulties would

beset His followers, but that those who overcome shall sit
down with Him on His Throne, even as He had overcome
and is seated with His Father on His Throne.

By and by, near the end of these wonderful Revelations,

John was allowed to have a glimpse into Heaven itself, and
he saw a vision of the many mansions which Jesus is
preparing for us!

Here are the words—

"And I John saw the Holy City . . . and I saw no temple

therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the
temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of
the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it,
and the Lamb is the light thereof."

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away.
 "And He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make
all things new.' And He said unto me, 'Write: for these
words are true and faithful.'"

More than six hundred years before these visions to

John in Patmos, the Prophet Isaiah wrote—

"For since the beginning of the world, men have not

heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen,
O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that
waiteth for Him."

And our Lord Jesus, in the Revelation, says to every one

who reads these words—

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear

My Voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will
sup with him, and he with Me."

The entrance to that Everlasting Home is in listening to

this loving Voice of Jesus Christ now, and by opening the
door of our hearts, to let Him in!

Jesus says: "I am the Door; by ME if any man enter in,

he shall be saved."
 MANY MANSIONS.

XX. The Parable of the Two Builders

The Lord Jesus taught the people numbers of lessons

about Himself, or His Heavenly Father, or about the
Kingdom of Heaven, by drawing word-pictures: and we can
learn the deepest truths that concern ourselves by reading
them and thinking about them.

One of these that I am very fond of is a picture of two

builders, and what became of the results of their building.

The first man was a wise man. He looked about him to

find a sure and suitable foundation, and he built his house
on a firm rock.

By and by bad weather came, and the rain poured down

and the floods came and beat upon the house, but it stood
firm, for it was founded upon a rock.

Our Lord Himself not only gives us the picture, but He

gives us the explanation of this story first of all.

He says: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine,

and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which
built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that
house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

"And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and

doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which
built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that
house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

Here were two men: they had heard that it was a wise
thing to have a house to live in, and they both decided that
they would begin at once to build.

The wise man thought it all over, and considered what

ground would be suitable, what foundation would outlive
the storms, and he decided it must be upon a rock, which
stood high above the rivers, and was strong and enduring.

But the other man was careless. There was, perhaps, a

pleasant spot nearer to him. The materials with which to
build were easily carried to that spot, the sunshine flooded
the landscape, and all looked fair and beautiful. So he
hastened to build upon the sandy foundation, and soon his
house was finished and he took possession.

But in that country there were frequently sudden violent

storms; and one day such a storm overtook the two houses.
The rain came in torrents, the winds blew, and they beat
upon those two houses.

And because the foundation was unstable the house

upon the sand began to slip and shake, and by and by
cracked open, and fell to pieces, and lay in a ruin beneath
the rushing flood.

And the house on the rock? Calm amidst the storm it

stood firm. The rain came, and the wind blew and the floods
rose, but it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock!

Do you want to know how this story affects our lives?

Do you want to answer that question which perhaps

rises up in the depths of your own heart: What am I
building up out of my life? And what foundation am I
building upon?

There is a verse which tells us very distinctly the answer

to that question, if we are asking it in our hearts—

"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,

which is Jesus Christ."
 If we come to Him, ask Him to take us just as we are—
weak, sinful, unworthy—He will stretch forth His hand and
grasp us, and "set our feet upon a Rock and establish our
goings."

When once we have come to Christ for pardon, our feet

are on the Rock: and then we can begin to build.

You ask what is building?

To do each day what will please Jesus. As He says when

He begins this story of the Two Builders: "To hear these
sayings of His and to do them," is the sure way of having a
building that will last when the storms of life overtake us.

If you watch the people who bear trouble the best, who
are patient in trial, hopeful in adversity, brave in difficulty,
triumphant in death, you will find that it is they who have
built on the Rock Jesus Christ, and have found that there is
security and peace there.

And then about the house on the sand?

Oh, what desolation to find that what you thought was

all pleasant and bright will not last, but the insecure
foundation melts away, and the hopes founded upon it fall
to pieces.

If you have even a misgiving that you are not on the

true Foundation, give up your earthly plans and make a
fresh start.

The Arms of love and mercy are ready to embrace you,

and one of those wonderful sayings of Jesus is: "Him that
cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out."
 "The Foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal:
The Lord knoweth them that are His."

XXI. The Labourers in the Harvest

In the Bible we have many vivid pictures in which God

would teach us, by earthly things, concerning His heavenly
things.

This Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard is one of

these pictures. We have the account of it in the 20th
chapter of Matthew.

There was an Eastern householder. He had great

estates, and fields and vineyards, stretching far up on the
hillsides, and kept with great care by his vine-dressers. By
and by the grapes were ready for picking and the
householder went out early in the morning to hire the
labourers for his vineyard.

In those days there was a certain coin which was

considered fair pay for a day's wages.

Some of you who read the story in the Bible may say,
"A penny for a day's work!" But this is only because the
money then was of such a different value from what it is
now; and a Roman penny was worth nearly eight times
what our penny is now, and was at that time the usual hire
for a day's work.

So the lord of the vineyard went out early to engage the

men to get in his harvest; and when he had agreed with
them for a certain sum, he sent them into his vineyard.

By and by, about nine o'clock in the morning, he went

out again; and seeing others standing idle in the market-
place, he said to them: "Go ye also into the vineyard, and
whatever is right I will give you."

So they went their way, and entered the vineyard.

Then came twelve o'clock, and then three o'clock; and

still the householder wanted more men to labour in his
vineyard. As our Lord had said in another place, "The
Harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few."

At length, at the last hour before sundown, the

householder went out once more, and found others
standing idle, and he said to them: "Why are you standing
here idle all the day?"

And they answered him: "Because no one has hired us."

So the householder said to them: "Go ye also into the

vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that ye shall receive."

And soon the short Eastern twilight came, and then, as

a poet says: "The sun sinks, the stars rush out," and the
day was over!

Then the lord of the vineyard said to his steward: "Call

the labourers and give them their hire, beginning from the
last ones even to the first."
 So the last men came, who had worked only one hour,
and they were each given the Roman penny.

But when the first ones, who were hired early in the
morning, were given their money, they supposed that they
should have received more for their long day's work. But
they each received the Roman penny.

THEY BEGAN MURMURING AGAINST THE GOOD MAN OF THE

HOUSE.
 Then they began murmuring against the good man of
the house, saying: "These last have only worked one hour,
and thou hast made them equal to us, who have borne the
burden and heat of the day!"

But the lord of the vineyard explained to them that he

had given each man what he had agreed upon; and that he
had done them no wrong; for he said he had a right to do
what he willed with his own money.

Now there are several things to learn from this picture

story, and as I go along I think you will see them for
yourselves.

The vineyard belongs to the Lord God.

The vines here represent the people in the world whom

the Lord wants to store in His beautiful garner, the Heavenly
Home, by and by.

The labourers are God's own people, whom He calls to

bring those precious grapes into the garner.

God calls each one of us who loves Him to be a labourer

in His Kingdom.

To one, who is perhaps strong and able, He gives work

that will last him the whole long day of a long life!

Of another, He asks half a lifetime—of another, a

quarter of a lifetime; or only one short hour perhaps!
 To each one, when the day is ended, the Lord will give
His own reward. If the worker has been faithful in what has
been given him to do, the Lord of the Harvest will say: "Well
done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy
Lord."

Little children can work for this Heavenly Lord. They can
do little kindnesses for Christ's sake; they can try to be like
Jesus. They can listen for God's commands like little
Samuel, and obey Him when He speaks to them.

These may be like the one hour servants, but they will
get their full rewards!

Some of the servants of the Lord of the Harvest have

very hard and toilsome work to do. He has given them that
to do, and He will surely give them their pay!

What is that pay? Not a Roman penny; not any earthly

coins or rewards; but they are promised that if they are
wise, and turn many to righteousness, they shall shine as
the stars for ever and ever!

Does not this encourage us to do what we can to tell

others of the love of Jesus Who died on the Cross that we
might be saved?

We can all pray that God will call us to work for Him;
and surely, if He does call and we listen to His Voice, He will
teach us how to bring many to righteousness, and earn "the
crown of glory that fadeth not away!"