Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Verse 1. Verily, verily, I say unto you. Now we may be absolutely certain that there is something of the utmost importance wherever Christ uses the solemn phrase, "Verily, verily"—the same word is, "Amen, amen" and it has been well observed that if it were not for Christ's, "Amens," our "Amens" would be of little value. It is because He who is the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, pleads in Heaven that our, "Amens," are accepted there. If, dear Friends, Christ pays an earnest attention to our, "Amens," how much more ought we to attend to His, especially when He doubles them—"Amen, amen, I say unto you."

1-3. He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. Here the people of God are compared to sheep. Their harmless-ness and gentle character, their feebleness and quiet in the fold, their profitable uses, their defenseless state—requiring someone to always watch over them—the patience with which they are led to the shearer or to the slaughter and the constancy with which they are associated with sacrifice—render sheep a most excellent symbol of the people of God! Doubtless the fold is the Church and within this fold all the saints of God are gathered, not always in the visible, but always in the invisible and indivisible Church of Christ. None may set up to be shepherds of this fold except those who come in a proper and fitting way—and that is not by a pretended Apostolic descent, that is, not by a commission which they have received from their own assumption, but by a commission direct from Christ—coming in through Him as by the Door. The great true Shepherd, the antitype of all shepherds, is Christ, Himself. To Him the porter opens. All the prophecies, which, like porters, kept the gates, opened at once to Christ! All godly hearts, which, like the porters of the gate, were watching for the coming of the true Shepherd, opened at once to Jesus! Whether it were Anna or Simeon, they at once confessed Him. The sheep hear His voice and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.

We are told by Eastern travelers that in the large district folds into which the sheep herders put their different flocks, while they are all assembled in one common flock, the shepherd of any one flock has but to make his appearance and begin to speak and his sheep at once recognize him. Though another person should dress up in his garments, they would take no notice of him—they know their shepherd by his voice.

4. And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. The genius of the Law is driving—the spirit of the Gospel is leading! And the joyful imitation follows.

5. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. Heretics attract their companies, but the faithful followers of Christ never go after them. They cleave to the Truth of God, which is the voice of Christ—and they will not be persuaded by the most marvelous lying wonders, nor by the greatest arrogance, to depart from Him who is their All!

6-8. This parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which He spoke unto them. Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before Me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. They made loud professions of being the true Messiah, and some of them gathered great multitudes and rebelled against the Roman power, but the true sheep who waited for the true Shepherd did not hear them!

9-14. I am the door: by Me if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes not but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep. The hireling flees, because he is an hireling, and cares not for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known by My own. This Good Shepherd proves Himself to be so by His actions. Remember, Brothers and Sisters, how carefully He watches His sheep from the tower of the flock, not one of them ever being absent from His eyes for a single moment! How graciously He guides those sheep, leading them always by a right way that He may bring them to safety at the last. How plentifully does He pasture His flock, making them to lie down in green pastures beside the still waters. And oh, how gloriously does He defend His flock, dashing into the thickest of their foes, snatching the lamb out of the jaws of the lion and out of the paws of the bear! And we must not conclude this list of His deeds without remembering how readily He has bought that flock, and how well He has washed that flock in blood flowing from His own veins, that He might present them all at the last, not one of them being lacking, nor one of them impure, but each of them like sheep that come up fresh from the washing! "I know My sheep." It is not as if salvation was left to haphazard. He knew them before they were created! Having foreordained, He did foreknow. He knew them when they did not know themselves—when they were wallowing in the mire like swine, He still knew them! He knows them now—unknown to fame, unregistered, perhaps, in the books of the visible Church—"I know My sheep wherever they may be." Then notice the next sentence, for this is the practical way by which you may judge whether you are His or not—"I am known of My own." They know Him as their only hope and trust. They know the sweetness of fellowship with Him. They know the power of His arm, the efficacy of His blood, the faithfulness of His heart. They know the pre-ciousness of His Cross and the glory of His crown.

15-16. As the Father knows Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. No recognition of free-will here. Christ speaks as one who has the hearts of men in His control. He knows who are His that as yet are not called. He does not say He hopes they will yield to hear His voice, but they shall. Oh, Irresistible Grace, what can stand against you? The blood-bought shall all be blood-washed; the foreordained and foreknown shall yet know Him who has saved them by His blood. In this we ought constantly to rejoice. The feebleness of the minister is no barrier to the carrying out of God's purpose, nor is the hardness of the human heart any impediment to the completion of the Divine Decree. "Them also must I bring." There is a heavenly necessity that all the chosen should be saved.

17, 26. Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from Me, but Ilay it down ofMyself Ihave power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have Ireceived ofMy Father There was a division, therefore, again among the Jews for these sayings. Andmany of them said, He has a devil andis mad, why hearyou Him? Others said, These are not the words ofhim that has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? And it was at Jerusalem the Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the Temple on Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about Him, and said unto Him, How long do You make us to doubt?Ifyou are the Christ, tell usplainly. Jesus answered them, I toldyou, andyou believednot: the work that Ido in My Father's name, they bear witness ofMe. But you believe not, because you are not ofMy sheep, as I said unto you. Believing does not make them sheep, but being sheep by Divine Election proves them to be such.

27-30. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And Igive unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out ofMy hand. My Father, which gave them to Me, is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out ofMy Father's hand. I and my Father are One. Happy are they, then, who have received the character of sheep, for thus they prove themselves to be the chosen of God! And in the hand of Christ, and in His Father's grasp, they are eternally secure—

Hebrews 1. In this Chapter our Savior's glorious Person is very plainly set before us. And it is made the ground of our faith and a reason why we should give the more earnest heed to His words, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Verses 1:1, 2. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the Prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. The best last is always God's rule. "You have kept the best wine until now." Prophets are a very blessed means of communication, but how much more sure, how much more condescending is it for God to speak to us by His Son!

2, 3. Whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His Glory, and the express Image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He Had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. You see, dear Friends, how glorious was His original—the "express Image" of His Father's Person. How lowly did He become to purge away our sins and that by Himself, too, using His own body to be the means, by His sufferings, of taking away our guilt! Not by proxy did He serve us, but by Himself. Oh, this is wondrous love! And then see the Glory which followed after the shame. He has now ascended up on high and sits down at the right hand of God's great Majesty. Follow Him, Believer, follow Him with the eyes of your faith! Let your soul lovingly track Him in His upward march, and as you see Him, say—"He is my Lord and my God," and know that all that He did and all that He is, He is—and He did for you!

4, 5. Being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any time, You are My Son, this day have I begotten You? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? They are servants, but they are not sons! They are created, but they are not begotten! You see what He says to the Son—"I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son.

6-8. And again, when He brings in the Only-Begotten into the world, He says, And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He says, Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire? But unto the Son He says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. So you perceive that Christ is no created angel! He is sometimes compared to an angel. He is sometimes called the Angel of the Covenant, but He is not a created angel. He is higher in nature, higher in rank, higher in intellect and higher in power than they. He is nothing less than very God of very God! The very Man who suffered on Calvary—

"This is the Man, the exalted Man, Whom we unseen adore."

9. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness, above Your fellows. As Man, Christ claims all men as His fellows, but as God, He counts it no robbery to be thought equal to God. As Man, He is most truly Man, and only superior to man by reason of the purity of His birth and the perfection of His Nature, and the exaltation of His Manhood by God. As God, He is nothing less than God, though He took upon Himself the nature of men.

10-12. And, You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of Your hands: they shall perish; but You remain, and they all shall grow old as does a garment; and as a vesture shall You fold them up, and they shall be changed: but You are the same, and Your years shall not fail Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever!

13, 14. But to which of the angels saidHe at any time, Sit at My right hand, untilImake Your enemies Your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?