But my object to-day is not so much to dwell on the meeting, as to study the character of the sealed servants of our God. We all desire, I trust, to be amongst them on the meeting day, and I see not, for my own part, how any wise man can rest till he has a well grounded hope given him by God, that he is one of the number now. It is most important then that we study well their character, and may God grant that the seal may be on our foreheads during our struggle upon earth, and the Father’s name clearly seen there when the Lord comes to take the kingdom!
The character is given in the four descriptions of these two verses, and I have been led to them now, because they seem to give so faithful and true a portrait of our beloved and honoured friend—may I not say of the three dear brothers, for in Christian character they were one?
I. In the 1st clause there is some difficulty, because it seems at first sight to disparage the holy tie of matrimony—that sacred union which is a Scriptural type of the mystical oneness which is between Christ and His Church. But I am persuaded this is not the meaning of it. The whole of the Book of Revelation is full of symbol; and alliance with sin, worldliness, and popery is described in it, as in other Scriptures, under the figure of spiritual fornication. Thus the Church, the Bride of the Lord, is to be kept free from all such alliances and presented at last as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I will not dwell on this point any further than to remark how wonderfully it was illustrated in the case of our friend. There was no such thing as unhallowed alliance in his conduct; no pandering to the world; no dallying with popery; no attempt to win his objects by unfaithful compromises; no mixing up with that which he disapproved. He held on his way as one that was set apart unto God, as one betrothed wholly to the Lord. There was a wonderful consistency about his whole character, and he uniformly acted on the Apostolic maxim, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.” He delighted in his fellowship with God, and he could have no alliance with anything contrary to God’s will.
II. But, whatever we may think of the first description, there can be no doubt about the second. “These are they that follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth.” There is no symbolical language here, but a plain, clear, unmistakeable, description of Christian character. Our Lord describes his own sheep by this invariable test, “They follow me.” “I know them (He says) and they follow me.” He knows them. He knows each one by name, by disposition, by circumstance; knows who we are, where we are, what we are; knows all our wants, our cares, our joys, our sorrows, our temptations; and if we be His, we follow Him, seeking to know His will, watching for His beckoning hand, listening for His directing voice, and tracing His sacred footsteps.
But this text goes a step further than the words of our Lord, for it adds the words “whithersoever he goeth,” shewing that there is no reserve and no qualification. Wherever the Lord leads the way, there the sealed servants are prepared to follow. They do not want to pick and choose for themselves, or merely to follow in pleasant paths; still less do they wish to be led by the leaders of the world, or guided by the motives of the world. To follow the Lord Jesus Christ is the great object of their life, to walk in His steps, to do His will, and to live to His glory. Now, perhaps, some might be disposed to say “Have you ever known any one that has thus followed Christ? Can you point to an example of such a character?” And, I believe I may safely say that I can. I point to our honoured friend (I might add, to all the brothers) and say, “These are they that followed the Lamb, whithersoever He led the way.” I am not afraid of appealing to all that knew him, to all that were connected with him as servants in his house, or as dependants on his estate, to all that were acquainted with him as a magistrate and country gentleman, to all that observed him in that most difficult and testing place of character the House of Commons; I can appeal to all, and I am sure that when you look back on all your intercourse with him you must admit that you never found bye ends governing the character; but you saw a man who, with a single and simple aim desired in everything, without reserve, to follow Christ. This was the secret of his whole life. Many look back on his gentleness and kind affections, many on his princely liberality so often and so generously helping in secret those whose wants were known only to himself, many on his holy fidelity to the truth of God; but all sprang from one principle, and that was “Follow me.” Whatever he had to do as a father, as a master, as a friend, as steward of an ample fortune, as a trustee for Church patronage, or as a member of Parliament, there was one single end before him, and that was to follow Christ. He could truly say as Standfast did in “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of, and wherever I have seen the print of His shoe in the earth, there have I coveted to set my foot too.” And this I believe to be the secret of his perfectly peaceful end. He had not lived for the world, so he was not disturbed when called to leave it. During life he had walked with God, so in death he was not afraid of meeting Him. For nearly fifty years he had followed the Lamb, and no wonder that there was not a shadow of fear when the message of love was sent to call him through the veil to see that Saviour face to face. And so, dear brethren, I am persuaded it must be with us. If we would die as he did, in perfect peace, we should seek to follow Christ as he did, whithersoever He goeth. God forbid that I should lead any one to suppose that peace either in living or dying is from any source but the free gift of God’s grace; but as one that has witnessed hundreds of Christian death-beds, I bear my testimony that, as a general rule, inconsistent Christians very frequently have anxious death-beds: while, on the other hand, those who have walked nearest to the Lord in their life are the people who have found Him nearest to them in their death; and those who, like our dear friend, have set the Lord always before them, find, as he did, the Psalmist’s words invariably true “Because he is on my right hand I shall never be moved.”
Are we to suppose, then, that our dear and honoured friend saved his soul by his consistency in following the Lord? God forbid! I venture to say that there is nothing from which his whole soul would have recoiled more than from any such a thought, for he knew well enough that he could never save his soul by following Christ nor by any other act of his own. He never had the slightest hope of doing so, for he knew too much of the deep corruption of his own sinful heart. But to redemption and redemption alone he owed his life, as he said himself in his last illness “Even if I could say I have walked in my integrity nothing but free redemption saved me.”
“I’m a poor sinner, and nothing at all
But Jesus Christ is my all in all.”
The salvation came first, and faithful following was the fruit of it. No one will ever really follow Christ, till he is first saved through His free grace. Thus in the text all is traced to Redeeming love, for observe the next clause:—
III. “These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb.”
Now let us carefully observe the language of this text. It clearly traces everything to atonement. They were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. “Not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.” There is no explanation of such language except by atonement through the blood of the Lord Jesus, or the substitution, or vicarious sacrifice of the love of God. If any meaning is to be attached to words, it is impossible to believe that our Lord’s death was nothing more than a noble example of devoted self sacrifice. It must have been the satisfaction of the law of God by the actual infliction on the Lord Jesus Christ of the whole penalty due to sin. So the great fact that our sin has been already fully punished in his person is the one fact on which we rest for present and everlasting acceptance with God. But there is more than that taught here, for redemption goes far beyond atonement, and includes the actual deliverance which is the result of that atonement, when applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit. It is not merely the payment of the ransom, but the liberation of the ransomed slave. Thus the sealed servants are said to have been “redeemed from among men.” Not merely was an atonement made for them, but, through the power of that atonement, they were delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the glorious liberty of the children of God. An atonement was made on their behalf; but that was not all, for it was applied to their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and the result was that they were saved and separated unto God. Thus they became first-fruits to God and the Lamb. The first-fruits are a small portion set apart unto God, the remainder being left in the possession of the original owner. So, God’s people are separated and dedicated at the first-fruits onto Him, while the mass of men remain under the power of the god of this world. They are mixed up with other men in all the relationships of life; but in the midst of all they are distinct, for God has redeemed them, and put His seal on them, thereby to mark them as his own. Oh! holy calling of the child of God. Oh! sacred privilege, to be thus set apart unto the Lamb! How is it that any one thus sealed can be ashamed of it? How is it that any child of God can shrink from the confession of it? Of one thing I am sure, and that is, our dear friend did not. He was not ashamed of being a marked man for Christ! God had called him. God had saved him. God had settled him! God had placed him among the first-fruits of the harvest, and he was not ashamed of it. But, when we look at the character, let us never forget the ground work of all. I said a short time ago that the secret of his consistency was that he followed Christ; but there was a deeper secret still. There was the secret that lay at the foundation of his following Christ, and that was redemption. His own language was, “Oh, to grace how great a debtor. It was free redemption then, and is so now. Wonderful! It is so wonderful, such a poor sinner saved and loved!” He was one redeemed, delivered, set free, brought out, and for ever accepted through the blood-shedding of the Son of God. And so, brethren, must we be, if we are among the first-fruits unto God. Nothing, nothing, nothing but the atoning blood can ever blot out your guilt. As long as you are a stranger to atonement, so long you are a stranger to God. If any man ever felt this, it was our friend, our father I would rather say. He was a happy man, because he was an accepted man. “Happy, quite happy,” he said, “but only in Christ, not by works of righteousness which I have done, but saved by the mercy of God in Christ. Such a great and blessed salvation—so glorious to the Giver, so gracious to the receiver.” God had made atonement for him through the precious blood of the Son of His love, and called him out to enjoy a fellowship with Himself. So now, if you desire to walk with God during life, and meet Him in peace when He summons you; or to welcome the Lord Jesus with joy, should he come before you die; remember, and let your affectionate recollections of our dear friend stamp it for ever on your memory, that you must first know what it is to be reconciled to God through the blood of atonement before you can live near to Him, or be found among the first-fruits of His kingdom. Our Lord’s own words are decisive on this point, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”