His Love for Souls

‘*Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.’’ — Acts 2:36. y ‘“¥or the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.’’ — Luke 19:10. ‘¢And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when His friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on Him: for they said, He is beside Himself,’?’ — Mark 3:20, 21. ¢And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’’ — Luke 15:6.

“*O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!’?’ — Matt. 23:27.

‘*He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked.’’ — 1 John 2:6.

For three Sundays we have been studying, under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the picture God has given in His Own Word, the Bible, of the real Christ, the Christ He Himself has appointed, the Christ of actual historic fact, as distinguished from the Christ of man’s own manufacture, the Christ of man’s fancy and imagination and dreams, the Christ of Christian Science, Theosophy, Unitarianism, Spiritualism and other

63 forms of religious or irreligious fiction. We have thus far studied three features of that picture: First, the Holiness of the real Christ; second, his love to God the Father; third, his love to men. To-day we study the fourth feature of that divinely drawn picture, ‘‘The Love of Jesus Christ for Souls.’’ I have six texts:

Acts 2:36: ‘‘Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Hvm both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye cructfied.”’

Luke 19:10: ‘‘For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.’’

Mark 3:20, 21: ‘‘ And the multitude cometh together agam, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when His friends heard tt, they went out to lay hold on Him: for they said, He ts beside Himself.’’

Luke 15:6: ‘‘And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saymg unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’’

Matt. 23:37: ‘O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a@ hen gathereth her chickens under her wmgs, and ye would not!’’

I John 2:6: ‘‘He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk even as He walked.’’

We shall study the Bible together to discover how the love of Jesus Christ for souls is seen, with the hope that this study will awaken in us the same love for souls. Oh, how I wish it would; how much it would mean for this city, how much it would mean for this whole country, how much it would mean for the world: for this audience has come from all parts of the world, and you are going to all parts of the world.

I. In the Purpose for Which He Came Into the W orld

In the first place, the love of Jesus Christ for souls is seen ™ the purpose for which He came mto this world. He Himself declares that purpose in Luke 19:10: ‘‘For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.’’ Seeking and saving the lost was the one great object of the earthly mission of the Son of God. He came into this world not to receive honor nor to accumulate wealth nor to gain a kingdom. He left behind greater glories than this world contained. He came for just one purpose — to seek out and save the lost. Lost men were of more value and preciousness in His sight than all earth’s wealth and glory. Yes, than all the wealth and glory of the wonderful Heaven He left behind. Indeed in His sight a single soul was of priceless value. The whole material universe had not the value in His sight of a single soul, not merely the soul of some one great or wise or good, but the soul of the most insignificant person; the soul of the most foolish and unlearned, the soul of the vilest and the worst, not only the soul of the philosopher or the saint, but the soul of the savage and outcast. Hach soul has this value in His sight.

Years ago one Sunday night I was walking up the Waterloo Road in London. The street was a blaze of light. The public houses were in full blast. Stages were rolling in crowded with men and women, many of whom were drunk. I came to a dark place in the road. I saw a donkey cart backed up against the curb. T’wo young men were casting what looked like a filthy, stuffed bag into the donkey cart. I stepped nearer to see just what they were throwing into the cart. It was a woman, drunken, besotted, unconscious with drink, a woman perhaps fifty years of age, seemingly their mother. I shrank back in horror and disgust, and then the thought came to me, ‘‘God loves that woman as truly as He loves you.’’ Not only is that true, but it is also true — that in the sight of Jesus Christ, the soul of a poor, disgusting, besotted, degraded creature like that is of more value than all the priceless gems of earth. He ‘‘came to seek and to save the lost.’’

Some years later, going through the streets of Benares, India, I saw a fakir, a so-called ‘‘holy’’ man, in a cage, almost naked, sitting before a fire, at which he was looking steadily, trying never to even wink his eyes or notice the people gazing at him, his hair and his body covered with ashes, a perfect representative of the Buddhistie conception of holiness and blessedness. It was a more nauseating sight than the degraded, drunken woman in London, and again, as I turned away in disgust, the thought came to me, ‘‘God loves that poor, wretched being, blinded and sunken through the influence of Buddhism.’’ Yes, that is true, but it is also true that the soul of that poor, misguided, benighted, degraded Buddhist fakir was of more value in the sight of Jesus Christ, and of those who see as Jesus Christ sees, than all the wealth and splendor of this world. It was that He might seek out and save such, seek and save the lost, that Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word of God, left heaven and all its glory and came down to earth with all its pain and agony and shame. It was to seek and to save the lost that He ““though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor that we through His poverty might become rich.’’ (2 Cor. 8:9.) It was to seek and to save the lost that He, ‘‘eaxisting in the form of God, counted not the bemg on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made wm the likeness of men; and bemg found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.’’ (Phil. 2:6-8.) Have we that love for souls that we would be willing to give up the highest place of earth’s honor and take the lowliest place, the place of misunderstanding and rejection and shame and spitting and suffering and death that we might find more of the lost and utterly degraded, the degenerate, and save them by leading them to know our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

IT. By Hts Ever Being on the Watch for Opportunities to Save Perishing Souls

In the second place, we see the love of Jesus Christ for souls in His ever being on the watch for opportunities to save perishing souls. We have a striking illustration of this in the fourth chapter of John. You know the story. Jesus came to Jacob’s well at six o’clock in the evening after a long day’s journey. He was hungry and tired, His disciples went into the city to obtain food, but He was too tired to go with them; and as He sat there on the well, lifting His eyes, He saw a Woman who was an outcast coming toward Him. Immediately He forgets His hunger and His weariness. It was an opportunity such as He ever longed for and watched for, an opportunity to tell a lost one the way of Life, and the moment she came within speaking distance He opened a conversation with her by asking her for a drink of water, not so much that His own thirst may be quenched as to gain an opening to tell her of the way of Life and the Living Water, of which if one drinks he shall never thirst.

We have another illustration in the ninth chapter of John where Jesus goes and finds the blind man whom He had healed but whom the Jews had east out of the synagogue, and says unto him, “*Dost thou believe on the Son of God?’’ and then reveals Himself to him as the Son of God. (John 9:35.)

We see still another illustration in the second chapter of Mark where the determined four bring their palsied friend to Jesus for healing’ and who, when they could not get through the door, went up on the roof, broke open the tiles and let their needy friend down right before Jesus. Instantly Jesus sees not only a palsied body to be healed, but a lost soul to be saved) and before He tells him to arise and take up his bed and walk, He says to him, ‘‘S’on, thy sms are forgiven thee.”’ (Mark 2:4, 5.) Stalker well says in his ‘‘Imago Christi,’’ that Jesus Christ ‘‘made use of His miracles as- stepping stones to reach the soul.’’ So ought we to use every act of kindness that God gives us an opportunity to perform for others as an opening for reaching the soul of the one for whom we perform it. But we should also ever be on the alert for opportunities to save the lost.

Sometime ago, there went up and down the Eastern part of this country a quaint man of God, a man on fire with a passion for the salvation of the lost, Rufus Smith. I first met him when he was an old man. It was my privilege once to travel with him from Washington to Atlanta. At every station he would step out of the train and talk to the men on the platform. He afterward came to visit me in Minneapolis. He was threatened with pneumonia but insisted on coming to the mission and speaking. After the mission meeting was over some one spoke to him of the ilumination of the principal business street in Minneapolis. It was only a few blocks away and he insisted on going to see it. He would listen to no expostulation or protest. He was well wrapped up in a heavy overcoat. When we reached Nicollet Avenue there was a blaze of light from the electric arches, and he saw a great crowd surging down the sidewalk and filling the roadway. He became very much excited. He turned to me and said: ‘‘I ean’t stand this, I must preach.’’ He tore off his overcoat and handing it to me, stepped out into the middle of the street and lifting his voice said: ‘‘Friends, I never saw anything like this, I am from Missourl. We never have anything like this down there. This is wonderful.’? The crowd stopped and gathered around him; they thought he was some greenhorn from the country, and that there was some fun brewing. His voice rang out again, ‘‘T never saw anything like this. This is wonderful.’? He stopped a moment and then said with intense earnestness, ‘‘But this is nothing to what soon shall be; ‘they that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever.

and ever’ ’’ (Daniel 12:3), and then he poured out his soul in a gospel message.

III. By His Going After Lost Souls

In the third place, Jesus Christ’s love for souls is seen in His gowmg after lost souls. We see this beautifully set forth by our Lord Himself in Luke 15:4: ‘‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find 1t?’’ This is a part of the parable of the Lost Sheep. There are three parables concerning the Lost in the fifteenth chapter of Luke; the parable of the Lost Sheep, the parable of the Lost Coin and the parable of the Lost Son. The parable of the Lost Sheep sets forth the love of Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd, for the lost; the parable of the Lost Coin sets forth the love of the Holy Spirit for the lost, and the parable of the Lost Son, sets forth the Love of God the Father for the lost. But this morning we are concerned only with the parable of the Lost Sheep and the love of Christ for the lost as therein set forth. This parable tells us that the Incarnate Son of God goes after the lost sheep ‘‘until He find 1t.’’ There is a wealth of meaning in these words which we cannot stop to fully explain this morning. Jesus Christ went after lost souls. He not only watched for and welcomed opportunities when they came

His way, He sought opportunities. He not only received the lost when they came to Him, He went after them. A true love for souls will always reveal itself in our going-out in search of them. Are you going out and seeking after the lost? Most of us think we are doing pretty well (and indeed we are doing better than the average professing Christian) when we deal with the lost when they come to Church, when they come to us. But Jesus Christ went after them. Shall not we?

Some years ago in Chicago, a young woman attending the Moody Church, took a block in a section of the city called ‘‘Little Hell’’ with the resolution that she would call in every house and tenement, front and rear, in that block and seek to lead all the lost ones she found to Christ. One day she rapped at a door and a hoarse voice said ‘‘Come in.’’? She entered. The room was very bare and lying on a wretched bed in an aleove off the room was a man dying with quick consumption. She stepped to his side and said, ‘‘ Are you a Christian? ‘‘No,’’ he savagely replied, ‘‘I am an infidel.’’ She said nothing more then about Christianity, but spoke a few kind words and left. The next day she took him a pot of jelly; the next, a pot of jam; the next day some other delicacy. She kept this up for a month. Then one Sunday afternoon she came to me at the close of my Bible Class and said, ‘‘Mr. Torrey, there is a man dying down on Townsend Street and he is an infidel. I do not think he has long to live. I know you are busy and wish to go home to prepare for your evening service, but won’t you come and say a few words to him before he dies?’’ I hurried with her to this wretched tenement. She took me in and after introducing me, slipped away. I sat down by the dying man’s bed and asked if I could read the Scriptures to him. He said I might. I read him some passages that tell of the love of God for the sinner. Then I read him passages that told how the Lord Jesus Christ had died on the cross of Calvary for our sins and how all our sins had been laid upon Him. Then I read John 3:16, telling not only of the love of God but also how all that anybody wanting to be saved had to do is simply to believe on the Son of God. Then I asked him if I might pray with him. He said I could. I knelt down beside that wretched bed and asked God to open that dying infidel’s eyes to see that not only there was a God but that God loved him and that because Jesus Christ, the son of God, died for him, all he had to do to find forgiveness for his sins and to be saved was to believe on the Christ who had died for him and had risen again. Then I asked God that He would lead this man to faith in Christ and as I finished my prayer, he said ‘‘Amen.’’ Then as best I could I began to sing as [I still knelt there:

‘*Just as I am! without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
‘And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God! I come! I come!

I sang on verse after verse and when I reached the last verse the dying man joined in with me. Hividently he had heard the hymn sometime in his childhood at church or Sunday school and it still remained in his mind, and word for word he sang with me,

‘‘Just as I am! Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve,
Because Thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God! I come! I come!

I looked up and said, ‘‘Did you really come?’’ and he said ‘‘I did.’’ I arose and explained to him more fully from the Scripture the way of Life and left him rejoicing in Christ. That very night he passed into eternity, a saved man; saved because a humble woman walked in the footsteps of her Master and went out to seek and save the lost.

IV. In His Finding His Joy and Satisfaction m Saving Lost Souls

In the fourth place, we see the love of Jesus Christ for souls m that He found His joy and satisfaction in saving lost souls. We have a striking illustration of this in the chapter to which I have already referred, the fourth chapter of — John. You recall the early part of the story which I have already told you. As He talked with the woman who was an outcast, His disciples returned from the city bringing food. They were greatly surprised to find Him talking with a woman but said nothing until the woman left. Then they offered Him food and said unto Him, ‘“Rabbi, eat,’’ to which He replied, “‘Z have meat to eat that ye know not.’’ The disciples turned to one another and said, ‘‘Hath any man brought Him ought to eat?’’ Then Jesus said unto them, ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to accomplish His work.’’ In other words, in this work of saving souls, He forgot weariness, hunger, thirst. In it he found joy for his soul and even refreshment for His body. Is it so with you? Is saving souls your very food and drink?

On another occasion He was so taken up with the work that He had no time to ‘‘so much as eat bread’’ and when His friends heard of it ‘‘they went out to lay hold on Hum; for they said, He as beside Himself.’’ (Mark 3:20, 21.) In this we see that Jesus so lost Himself in His work of saving souls that He neglected the ordinary needs of His body in its prosecution, until His friends thought He was insane.

We have another striking illustration of this in the ninth chapter of Luke. He had just heard of the death of John the Baptist and his heart was sore over the loss of His cousin and friend, and the apostles had just returned from a missionary tour and had ‘‘declared unto Him all the things they had done.’’ He took them aside into a secluded place for rest. But the multitudes saw Him going and followed Him and His rest had to be given up and now comes the striking thing. It comes out in the R. V. of Luke 9:11 where we read: ‘‘He welcomed them, and spake to them of the kingdom of God.’’ What was rest to Him? Here was an op-. portunity to save souls, and as much as He needed a time of rest, to Him there was greater joy and satisfaction in saving the lost than im any recreation and rest he could find.

V. In His Rejoicing with Great Joy Over Lost Souls Found

In the fifth place, the love of Jesus Christ for souls 1s seen m His rejoicing urth great joy over lost souls found. This comes out in the parable already referred to, Luke 15:5-7. Let me quote His own exact words, ‘‘When He hath found tt, (2. e., the lost sheep) He layeth it on his shoulders, rejyowing. And when He cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that even so there shall be joy mm heaven over one sumer that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance.’’ (Luke 15:5-7.) As a shepherd rejoices over his lost sheep when he finds it; as the woman rejoices over the coin lost from her marriage necklace when it is found again; as the gold-hunter rejoices over the great nugget of gold that he takes out of the earth; as the merchantman seeking goodly pearls rejoices over the one pearl of great price that he finds — so and infinitely more our Lord Jesus rejoices over a lost soul found. Oh, how cold and little interested most of us are when we deal with a soul; and if perchance we succeed in leading him to accept Christ, how listless and indifferent we are about it. If. you should find a diamond worth $1,000 you would be so excited and so glad you could hardly sleep that night. But you find and win a soul for Christ and it will awaken scarcely a ripple of enthusiasm. Not so with our Lord Jesus. When He found one lost sheep, ‘‘He layeth wt on His shoulders, rejoicing. And when He cometh home, He calleth together His friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.”’

VI. In His Great Grief Over Souls That ee to Be Saved

In the sixth place, the love of Jesus Christ for souls 1s seen in the fact that He grieved with great grief over lost souls that refused to be saved. This comes out in many an action and many an utterance of our Lord. Take, for example, John 9:40: ‘‘Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.’’ To appreciate these words of our Lord we need to bring before our minds the circumstances under which the words were spoken and the tone, the look and the gesture with which Jesus uttered them. The Lord Jesus came into this world, as we have seen, to save men, to bring life to them. He went up and down His land offering this life to men asa free gift. He was soon to die a death of agony and disgrace and most awful shame to make this Life possible to them. He offered this Life freely to all who would come to Him, but the great mass of men of that day, like the great mass of men to-day, would not come. They would gather in enormous erowds to see His miracles and to obtain healing for their bodies and to listen to His words, but to Himself they would not really come and one — day, surrounded by a great crowd of these miracle-seekers and curiosity-mongers, He stretched out His yearning arms toward them and cried, yes, I think He almost sobbed it out, ‘‘Ye will not come to me that ye might have life.’’ Oh, I wish I could reproduce the look, the tone, the gesture with which he uttered these words; the look of tenderest compassion, the tone of sorrowing, heart-breaking love, the gesture of infinite yearning. We have another illustration of the same thing in Matt. 23:27 where, as He looked out upon Jerusalem, He moaned: ‘‘O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kileth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto thee: how often would

I have gathered thy children together, even as hen gathereth her chickens under her wmgs, and ye would not!’’ No woman ever grieved over her stolen jewels, no mother ever grieved over a lost child as Jesus grieved over lost men who refused to be saved. No words can picture the agony that shot through the heart of Jesus Christ when men refused to come to Him that they might have life. Are we like Him in this? Do we do everything in our power to bring men and women to a decision for Christ and if they ‘‘will not come’’ do our hearts break over them in yearning and pity and love, or are we peeved and indignant that they will not yield to our skillful persuasion. Oh, if we had a love for souls like this there would be many won. I know some who have such a love and they are constantly winning souls.

The story has often been told, but it bears repeating, of the old deacon who had a great burden for an infidel blacksmith in his village. The deacon for months studied up all the infidel arguments and the replies to them given in books of Christian Evidences. Then he called on the blacksmith in his shop and engaged him in conversation, but the blacksmith was still more than a match for the deacon and in a very few minutes had the deacon silenced. Then the deacon broke into tears and said, ‘‘ All I can say is, I have a deep spiritual concern for your soul.’’ The deacon went home and said to his wife, ‘‘Wife, I am only a botch on God’s work. I have been studying for months all the infidel arguments and answers to them and thought I had them all mastered and went down to the blacksmith, but he whipped me to a standstill in only a few moments. [ am only a botch on God’s work.’’ Then he went to his room alone, just off the porch and, kneeling down, he said, ‘‘Oh God, I am only a botch on Thy work. I have been studying for months to meet the arguments of the blacksmith and I went to talk with him but he put me to silence. O, God, thou knowest I have a love for the blacksmith’s soul, but I am only a botch on Thy work.’’ But no sooner had the deacon left the blacksmith’s shop than the blacksmith stood in deep thought and then went into his house and said to his wife, ‘‘ Wife, I thought I knew all the arguments for Christianity, but the deacon used an argument this morning I never heard before. He said he had a ‘deep spiritual concern’ for my soul. What does he mean?’’ The wife was a canny woman and replied, ‘‘You better go ask him.’’ The blacksmith hung up his apron and went a shorter cut to the deacon’s house and came up on the porch just as the déacon was praying and he heard the deacon’s voice coming: through the shutter, ‘‘O, God, Thou knowest I am only a botch on Thy work.’’ The blacksmith pushed the door open and said, ‘‘ Deacon, you are no botch on God’s work. You have used an areu- - ment I never heard before. You said you had a ‘deep spiritual concern’ for my soul and I have come over to have you pray for me.’’ Ob, that we all of us had a deep spiritual concern for the souls of lost men and women. Oh, that we had a love like that of our Lord for the lost so that we would grieve with great grief over lost souls that refused to be saved.

VII. In His Gladly Laying His life Down to Save Souls

In the seventh place, the love of Jesus Christ for souls 1s seen m the fact that He gladly laid down His life to save souls. This fact comes out again and again. For example, take John 10:11, where Jesus Christ Himself says: ‘‘I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down His life for His Sheep.’’ It comes out again in Matt. 20:28, where He says: ‘“‘The Son of man came not to be mumstered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.’’ Here is the crowning proof of our Lord’s consuming passion for the salvation of the lost, He laid down His life to save the lost, laid it down gladly. There was but one way in which sinners could be saved and that was by an atonement being made by One who could make a sufficient atonement. Without the sacrificed life of a fit person, ‘‘without the shedding of blood,’’ there could be no remission of sins: and the Incarnate Son of God, the Eternal God become man, was the only person of all the universe who, by reason of His two-fold nature, human and divine, and His absolutely sinless character, could make that atonement and He said, ‘‘I will make it; I will pay: the price of man’s salvation. I will give up my life as a substitute sacrifice for him. I will make propitiation by the shedding of my blood.’’ Even here we should follow in His steps. ‘‘He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself so to walk even as He walked.’’ Not that we can make atonement. There is no need of that. An absolutely perfect and sufficient atonement has already been made. But it is often needful that the saved lay down their lives for the salvation of the lost. Are you ready to lay down your life for perishing men? Are you willing, if need be, to sacrifice your life that the vile outcast, the lost thousands who are in the foul degradation of blackest heathenism, may live, may be saved? Are you ready to face the cholera in China, the plague in India, the black water fever in Africa in order to reach and save the thousands of the lost who live in the pestilential parts of the earth, Oh, that is what we need to-day, men and women who are willing to follow Christ in His love for souls and to go forth and lay down their lives that others may live eternally. Raising untold millions by the Interchurch World Movement, or any other Movement, will avail nothing unless men and women are forthcoming who really have the spirit of Christ, the love for souls Christ had, who because of their love for lost souls are willing to lay down their lives to save others.