“They Forsook all + Followed Him” Luke 5:11 (Preached on March 7, 1897)

Luke 5:11. "They forsook all, & followed Him." To follow Christ! Why, this is the whole of religion - of whatever in it is of the nature of duty, or whatever is of the nature of privilege. [They forsook.] [And when He - our King-] [asks us to follow Him - puts Himself at] [our head, and says, Come - no wonder, if] [we know what our true interest is-or our] [true glory - that we forsake all for such a] [Leader.] To follow Xt is, of course, to follow Him close, and wherever He shall lead- through lowly paths, through ways of obscurity it may be, as well as of trial and toil, of danger, possibly [sacrifice] of death; and, if to heaven at last, to get these footsore. 2 -i.e. he had no question as to [their[ to the historic truthfulness of their statements. | When, however we read of a faith which "works by love," [here is] we read of an exercise of soul which carries the heart with it as well as the head. | We perceive the operation of a power that involves the element of trust. | 2. Such a faith We see [that] [an] the apostle who exclaimed: "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him." | We see [Job] [a] the patriarch who cried: "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." | We see myriads of Christians, men and women, who have [committed themselves] submitted to [the] a Savior whom no bribe could induce them to deny. | We see Stephen patiently going to his martyrdom: Paul resolutely urging his Master's cause over half a world: Luther, heroically contending through years of struggle 6 [It is the brightness of the past] [recollection of what is [taking] Sacred and [detaming] savory] [to our thoughts. | God [forgets nothing, of course] actually forgets, of course] [[and forgets] no individual [person] member of the human family, whoever he is,] [or whatever his character. | All [men] of them move across] [the vast page of His mind in a light and with] [a distinctness which express them to His view at every] [point whether of their inner or their outer life.] [He who watches a sparrow's [flight] gyrations must note] [a soul's goings. | ut there are souls and souls:] [and, although He prizes them all, and, up to a certain point, loves them all,] [yet [Some] some are esteemed worthier of His regard than others] [-those for instance who prize and love Him in] [return;- those upon whom His own likeness has again] [been enstamped, and who give back to [Xt] [His]] [His eye flashes of the same glory which they have received] [from Him;- those who have found a] [place within the inner circle of His immediate family] [7] 7 But, without going further into the history of [those] these men, [who, whatever was their guilt in forsaking Christ] [as they did, soon afterwards more than atoned for this] [by [winning names] achieving conquests the most [honored] [honorable] honoring to his cause,] -- I turn from them to ask, why is it that, even now, when that would seem to be no excuse for misconceiving the character of [this] [our Lord's] the great kingdom, there are [many] those of whom in a very important sense it must be said: "they [forsook] [too,] have forsaken Him," after they too had [openly and solemnly] seriously declared their purpose [he] to follow Him: | It is not often - I know - that a person [the case] [that men] [is] can be pointed out, who, having [once shown] preferred [zeal] [activity] [in the great] the heavenly master's service, has, by-and-by, gone back from it, [by loudly proclaiming] in [acts] [words of] some lovely proclamation of the fact - telling everybody, in so many words, "[we] I have had enough of it!" | [But, you are all aware of] [the possibility of [a man] a man's being, by very appearance, on the] 8 [in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others."] [And who were these? Why, His own disciples. They had] [begun - some of them, i.e. - to plume themselves upon their] [superior goodness because of their relation to Xt., and to] [look down upon such as were less favored: even, at times, had, you remember, guarded with one another for the pre-eminence] [-each being urgent to advance himself as the [standout] [guage] [for all the [residue] rest. | So, for their sake, he painted the] [portrait of this overbearing Pharisee; [and] to warn them] [that, although they were, no longer, any of them, Pharisees] [in fact, they were in danger of becoming Pharisees in] [[Spirit] feeling that the change from the Church of Moses] [to the Church of Jesus [was] did not suffice to change] [the human heart, which would [evermore be liable] always sway] [[to precisely] to the same tendencies - and that accordingly, self-righteous pride was] [as likely to lift its hateful head amid the rising splendors] 9 [support or his rescue, and that he would not have long to wait. | Nor had he] [long to wait, for, at the beginning of the psalm of which] [the words I have just recited constitute the close, he [anticipates] seems] [whilst in the very act of penning it all, to the already cheered] [by the [touch] uplifting hand of his relieving Lord: "He [h] brought me up] [out of an horrible pit, out of the miry day, [a] set my feet] [upon a rock, and established my goings: He hath put a new] [song in my mouth." (The clouds are cleaned away from] [his soul, and he has nothing more to fear or to want.) God is [with] thinking] [of him; and [amid whatever dangers] knowing this, he is, despite, whatsoever troubles may still [outwardly] threaten] [from without, [he is now] in the sweet experience of that profound inward rest which] [utterly [disc??s] [them] his troubles, every one. || It is reasonable to infer that No one can, be in distressing need who] [can gratefully say, "get thee Lord thinketh upon me" -- can say this] [in the sense of the Psalmist. | It is, indeed, a very] [bold figure of speech to describe God as thinking. [To]] [[think supposes this word meant] To think, as the word is commonly] 9 3/4 And, is this not this consideration the pure important, when you come to reflect - as sometimes you must - that it is not all who [were] are close to your hearts in this life with whom you are sure to sit down in the life to come? Is it is not a sad truth that some for whom you would [now be] have been willing to die, could your death have availed for their eternal welfare, do themselves leaving no bright hope that the separation which took place at the grave was to be only temporary? How anxiously, how earnestly, ought Christians to strive for the salvation of their relatives - that that separation may not be forevermore;-- but if, after all, it must be so, then leave it with God to [God will] take care of [you!] [them] his disappointed children - for it is His hand which knows how to dry the tears [even] [of] [when] even of lonely love. X [*And those tears which God's hand as to wipe away any.*] [*be more that are shut when loved ones are missed in heaven.*] What, however, was their "[moods] way of getting [these] yonder, who do fill that peace which is the believers final home? A question of large importance to us who still have the hope of becoming a sharer of their joys. It would seem that a very surprising change 11 1/2 [It is not probable, [?], that He will forget any] [of these upon whom He counts in view of] [the splendors with which He is then to exhibit] [the wonders of His Kingly beauty. | You may] [not indeed be a diamond, to be placed in the front] [of His crown. | You may even be one of those] [smaller [pearls] gems which, where all is so magnificent,] [[might wish to] shall find a setting only in the shoelatchet] [of your Lord. | But you are not] [forgotten, be your value even so [so] low, and] [be your importance ever so little; for somewhere] [about the person of Him you adore] [you will [give] communicate a lustre which] [perhaps no [other] one of your companions could] [impart.] Now think it a straining of the [?] to speak thus of persons [as in the] as so many "Jewels" of adornment. 17 [Ah my friends, we are all this day in perplexity and in darkness] [-[hardly] not knowing what is before us - and well nigh ready to dispute] [with God as to the wisdom of His providence or the graciousness] [of His love. But today's text comes to our relief by opening] [a window in heaven through which [these] He looks down [upon] to] [[us] behold our saddened estate - and if He is thinking upon] [us as undoubtedly He is, every crooked path shall be] [made straight and every overcasted heart shall be] [made serene. Vain is the help of man - but our helper] [is the Lord God of our salvation!] ["Let but my fainting heart be blest] [with Thy sweet Spirit for its guest;] [My God, to thee I leave the rest] ["Thy will be done.""] 1st Ch. Richmond, Mar 7.97 18 Think, then, on this passage of the inspired word. | And think on it as Paul did - as containing a list of absolute certainties, - for your encouragement and comfort as doubtless it was for his: certainties which never can be truthfully gainsayed, and which ever Xn. is at liberty to take for granted, and to act accordingly. Yes - all things - literally all things - are yours - for ye are Xts - and He has [given] made them over to each of His followers by virtues of their oneness with Him: made them over to you as He has made Himself over I need not now ask: what things are yours You who [are] are not Xt's, and [whom] whose Xt is not - you have nothing, except your [sins] unforgiven sins, that you are free to keep when all else is gone! But yet you, too, may have the believer's all things, if only you will take [up] to [?] the believer's character, and [wear] adopt the believer's name, and wear the believer's crown!