“If any man serve me, let him follow me ; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” — John 12:26
Such who thus serve Christ, by following him, shall have great honour at the last.
We will suppose that the Prince of Wales is wrecked on a certain voyage, and is cast on shore with only one companion. The prince falls into the hands of barbarians, and there is an opportunity for his companion to escape; but he says, “No, my prince, I will stay with you to the last, and if we die, we will die together.”
The prince is thrown into a dungeon; his companion is in the prison with him, and serves him and waits upon him. He is sick— it is a contagious fever— his companion nurses him— puts the cooling liquid to his mouth— and waits on him with a mother’s care. He recovers a little; the fond attendant carries the young prince, as he is getting better into the open air, and tends him as a mother would her child. They are subject to deep poverty— they share their last crust together; they are hooted at as they go through the streets, and they are hooted at together.
At last, by some turn in Providence, it is discovered where the prince is, and he is brought home. Who is the man that the queen will delight to honour? “Make way for this man; he was with my son in prison— he was with my son when he was near death — he nursed him— he suffered with him— he was reproached for him.” I fancy she would look with greater affection upon the poor servant than upon the greatest statesman; and I think that as long as she lived she would remember him above all the rest, for she would say, “He was with my son in all his sorrow and affliction, and I will honour him above all the mighty ones in the land.”
And now dear brothers and sisters, if you and I shall be with Christ, the King’s Son, if we shall suffer with him, and be reproached with him, if we shall follow him anywhere and everywhere, making no choice about the way, whether it shall be rough or smooth, whether it shall be green sward or miry bog— if we can go with him to prison and to death, if such times come, then we shall be the men whom heaven’s king delighteth to honour. “Make room for him, ye angels! Make room ye cherubim and seraphim! Stand back ye peers of heaven’s realm! Here comes the man; he was poor, mean, and afflicted; but he was with my Son, and was like my Son. Come hither, man! There, take thy crown, and sit with my Son in his glory, for thou wast with my Son in his shame!” Oh that the Holy Ghost would teach us how to follow Jesus, and enable us to tread in his steps.
I conclude by again putting this important question— Are you with Christ to-day? Have you put your hand into Christ’s hand to be Christ’s for ever? My hearers, the speaker wants to make this question ring in your ears— Are you with Christ to-day? For he that is not with him is against him, and he that followeth not with him scattereth abroad
Dost thou trust Christ? Oh, sinner, if thou dost not I beseech thee trust him now, and thou art saved. If thou hast trusted Christ is it the true trust? for if it be it will make thee follow him, and thou wilt be obedient to his every wish and word. Faith, such as the Holy Spirit gives, always leads to obedience. Is it so? Is it so? If not, humble thyself before God. Believe thou in him who is the only foundation upon which a sinner’s hope can be built. Take up thy cross daily, and through evil report and through good report follow thou the Master even to the end, and the Lord God, the God of heaven and earth, the fountain of honour, shall glorify thee when Christ cometh in his kingdom.
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