The Character of A True Christian # 3

The Character of A True Christian # 3

4. I must go on to the fourth and last mark of a true believer. "My sheep," says the text in John, "hear my voice and follow me." To follow Christ, that is the grand mark of Christians. No man shall ever say of them, they profess and do not practice, they say and do nothing for their Master's sake; they must not only hear their Master's voice - but follow Him. To follow Christ is to place implicit trust in Him as our Redeemer, Saviour, Prophet, Priest, King, Leader, Commander and Shepherd; and to walk in His ways, straightforwards. It is to take up our cross and subscribe our name among His people, to look to the Lamb as our Guide and follow Him wherever He goes. We are not to follow our own devices and trust in ourselves for salvation; we are not to follow that vain shadow of a hope, our own doings and performances - but we are to fix our eyes and hearts on Christ; on Him we are to rest our faith for free and full forgiveness, to Him we are to pray for grace to help in time of need, after Him we are to walk. The way may be narrow and steep, we must press forward, not turning to the right hand or the left; the way may be dark, we must keep on - there will be light enough in heaven.

Such is the character which the text gives of true Christians. They are compared to sheep; they are called Christ's property; they hear His voice, and they follow Him. I therefore purpose, if the Lord will, to speak to you about the other branch of the text - the privileges of Christians. By God's blessing you shall then hear what their Saviour is to His people.

I told you this was a text for self-inquiry; and I press upon each of you now; I call upon you, O man or woman, to ask that little question, "Am I a sheep of Christ's flock - or am I not? Do I hear His voice or do I not? Do I follow Him or do I not? Does not your Redeemer and your Judge say plainly, "This is the character of my people? Does He not give you the most certain marks by which to try your state? and if you cannot see yourself with these marks, where and what are your claims to eternal life? Without them you are, for the present, no better than a lost soul. Do you not know there are only to be two sorts of characters before the judgment seat - sheep on the right hand in honor, and goats on the left hand in disgrace? There are only two classes of people upon earth - men who hear Christ and follow Him and are in a way to be saved; and men who neither hear nor follow Him and are in a way to be lost? And which flock do you belong to? There is no middle ground. Examine yourself and be wise. "Oh," says the world, "we shall do very well without minding Christ; it was not meant for us." And who was it meant for, then?

But again, does the world follow Christ? Who will stand up and say Yes to that? No, indeed! Christ's ways and Christ's example, holiness and love and meekness and temperance and self-denial, are the exceptions - the rare, scarce things in the world; and the things most frequent are anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, hatred, variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revelings, wantonness, prayer-neglecting, church-forgetting, worldliness, and the like. "Oh, never mind," says the world; "we shall do very well without being so strict." Very well in the devil's opinion, who would love to ruin every living soul - but not very well in God's. No; indeed the world will neither follow Christ nor hear Christ, anything else sooner - and yet remember it is the character of those who are to have eternal life that they hear Christ's voice and follow Him. Sinner, remember, today I have told you.

And think not, O man, to put me off by saying, "At this rate very few will be saved." You say very truly, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself foretold it. But let me tell you a secret: Why is it so few are likely to be saved? God would have all men brought unto the knowledge of the truth: who do so many, so very many, come short and take the broad way which leads to destruction? Simply because they will not believe what God has told them in His Word; simply because they will have it God will not stand to what He has written in His Bible; they will imagine heaven is to be entered without being Christ's sheep - will have their own way and not God's.

Remember, then, this day, I tell you, that God is willing to receive you if you will only turn to Him: if you will only resolve to think for yourself and never mind the world, if you will only hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him, if you will only be in earnest and come unto Him for forgiveness and His Holy Spirit, He shall grant you your heart's desire, and you shall never perish but have eternal life. But whether you will hear or whether you will forbear, Christ and only Christ is the way, the truth and the life - and whatever the world may tell you, no man shall ever come unto the Father but by Christ.

~J. C. Ryle~

(The End)