FOLLOWING JESUS

K. L. Clark

John 1: 35–41; 10: 3–5; 12: 26; 19: 25–27; 21: 19 (from “And having ...”)–22

It is in mind, beloved brethren, to say a word as to following Jesus. It should be something that is attractive to every one of us, to be a follower of Jesus. Indeed it is a very great privilege to be a follower of Jesus here in a world where there is so much sorrow and departure, so much giving up of God. Yet in the midst of that you and I can be here as persons who are following Him. It is not to be something that is historical with us, something we did once and are not doing now, it is to be a current exercise with us day by day, moment by moment, to be following Jesus. Every one of us could be included in that from the youngest to the oldest, every one of us can be a follower of Jesus. I suppose by profession we are all that, but I trust that as we are together we may have some fresh desire implanted in our souls really to follow unreservedly in loyalty to our blessed Saviour. We sang in our hymn—

‘Saviour, we long to follow Thee,

Do Thou our hearts prepare

To count all else, whate’er it be,

Unworthy of our care’. (Hymn 278)

Caleb is a man of whom it is recorded five times that he wholly followed Jehovah. The Lord is not wanting half-heartedness, He wants our full, complete committal to the pathway of following Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. How worthy of it He is! Oh, do not let us be half-hearted in relation to this all-important matter of following Jesus, following the Lamb!

I have been thinking a good deal of Ruth, too, she said, “Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge—thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried”, Ruth 1: 16. That is a committal to the pathway of following. It says that when Naomi saw that she was “stedfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her”. Is our committal like that? The brethren will pardon me for referring to my own experience; that is the scripture that came into our minds when we were received into fellowship some six months ago; we read it together as a family. I suppose, we all feel very much our own short-comings and failures, they come home to us constantly, but still the standard is there and I believe that at a time like this we may be freshly inspired, something wrought in our souls that is going to cause us to have fresh desires to follow Jesus.

In John 1 it is John the baptist speaking. A great man was John the baptist. The Lord Jesus said there was not a greater born of women than he, and he had a tremendous message on his lips, “Behold the Lamb of God”. Think of the thousands and thousands of lambs that had been slain down through the history of the Old Testament, every one of them, pointing on to the Lamb of God. Here was Jesus, and John speaks of Him to these two disciples

as the Lamb of God. It is as if he brought forward all the Old Testament types and shadows and centred them in this glorious Person. Jesus. Everything was centred in that Man; what a Man He is! May He fill your heart!

Well, the result of it was that these two men were attracted to the Lord Jesus; they were attached to Him. It is a tremendous thing to be attached to the Lord Jesus. May our time together today have the result that someone is going to be attracted to the Lord Jesus. And what does it say? They followed Jesus. What a result! What a glorious result! All true ministry leads to Christ; every true minister points to Christ, and as Mr. B. M. Deck said recently, if he does not he is not a minister. Here was John, great man that he was; was he trying to attract these persons to himself? They had been following him, but now they followed Jesus. Oh that we might find ourselves in that pathway today in a fuller way than we have been hitherto, following Jesus. Is He not worthy of our following Him when we think of what He has done for us? Think of Him going to the cross and shedding His blood; think of the untold sufferings, the anguish of Calvary borne alone by Jesus. Does that not inspire you to want to follow such a glorious Man? Well, John’s mission was that he was directing souls to Christ. We would love to do that today, to direct you to Christ. Far be the thought that we should direct you to any other man; that would leave you with an empty heart; but let us be directed to Christ. That is what John did, he directed these two to Christ, and it says they “followed Jesus”. “But Jesus having turned, and seeing them following, says to them. What seek ye?” Well, the Lord is entitled to ask questions and He will do it. They said, “Teacher, where abidest thou?” There has never yet been a seeker who sought Him in vain. If you have any queries just

lay them at the feet of Jesus and you will not be disappointed. If you have some questions to ask, ask them in the presence of Jesus; He will answer them as you are in this pathway of following.

Finally we see that Andrew goes and finds his brother, and he leads him to Jesus. That is what .you can do when you are in the pathway of following. Jesus; how much can result from your service. John was not trying in any sense to draw attention to himself, and none of us would, I trust. It has been said that the greatest service a man can render is to lead a soul to Jesus. Well, Andrew, the historians tell us, suffered a fearful death because he followed Jesus to the end, and all through his sufferings he was preaching about Jesus and the love of God.

How far are we prepared to go in following our blessed Saviour? Well, thank God for the governments of this land and many other lands where restrictions against the name of Jesus are not imposed. Let us pray for governments, and thank God for them and the conditions under which we can meet as we are today, but let us at all cost be prepared to follow Jesus in love and in full, unreserved committal, such as we see in this first instance.

In John 10 we have a touch as to how the Lord Jesus would lead us to the flock. He will never expect you to tread the path alone. He wants us to be with the flock. What a place it is! He is speaking in chapter 10 of His own collectively. The first nine chapters of John are pretty much, taken up with individuals, but when we get to chapter 10 we have the flock. It is a fine place to find yourself among the flock; the Shepherd would ever lead you there. He will always lead you to the flock; to the place of salvation, to the place of protection. Oh do not be a stray sheep! It is a sad thing to be a straying sheep; it is always a dangerous sign if you see a sheep out on

his own; something is wrong, something is needing attention. You stay with the flock; there is salvation there, there is safety there. Whatever may beset you, do not move away from the flock; there is tender grass there, there are green pastures there, there are still waters there, everything that you need for your comfort, consolation and enjoyment. So I would just encourage you not only to follow the Lord Jesus because your affections are centred on that glorious Man, but to follow Him with the flock. It is a great thing to find your part in the assembly, livingly, vitally. Do not be in isolation, do not be out on your own, but stay with the flock; stay in the place where there is food and plenty, where there is everything for your enjoyment.

In John 12 it is following in service; you could not divorce the two thoughts of following and service. If you are ever going to serve the Lord it must be as following Him. He says, “If any one serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant”. It is a fine thing to be following the Lord Jesus in service; there is nothing I covet more than to be a vessel serviceable to the Master prepared for every good work, and that is open to every one of us. It is still the same Man we are following whom we read about in the first chapter, still the Lamb of God, but you are following Him as His servant. Do not be discouraged if you are young; do not be discouraged if you feel there is not much you can do; there is something for everyone to do, and no one else can do, the portion that is assigned to you. If there is something for you to do, do it with your might, do it to the glory of God. In Matthew 25 the Lord is speaking of various services and says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me” (Matthew 25: 40). He would say that to us, I am sure He would; so there is

something for every one of us to do, and let us commit ourselves to the pathway of service.

Not to do anything in any sense that is going to give us glory, far be the thought, to Him be the glory, but let us serve as under Him, as following Him.

Then he says, “And if any one serve me, him shall the Father honour”. What a dignity will be bestowed upon you if you are committed to that pathway of service as following Jesus; the Father will honour you. Could you think of a greater dignity to be bestowed upon you than the honour of the Father? Well, the Lord Jesus says He will do it. Commit yourself to following in service; it may be just a cup of cold water in the Lord’s name, but do it, and do it to His glory. You will get a joy, an inward joy, a triumphant joy in your soul, that only the Spirit of God could impart, as you commit yourself to that path of service as related to following Jesus.

Then in John 19 we come to the cross; surely that would move every heart here as we think of the Lord Jesus going to the cross. There are but a handful following. It is interesting that early in the pathway of the Lord Jesus it is recorded that there were great crowds following Him, the gospel writers speak of it. Here you are at the end of His pathway, at the cross; it is only a verse or two further down where He cried, “It is finished”, and there are just a few loyal persons following Him in reproach. Are we prepared for reproach? Are we? I can speak for myself anyway, that I shun it pretty often. It is recorded of Moses that he esteemed the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Let us be prepared to go forth to Him without the camp bearing His reproach. It will bring you into reproach as you are with Jesus, as you follow Him; do not think you can avoid it; but you will get a joy, you will get a compensation in your soul, that nothing can ever take from you.

So here at the darkest hour were these few persons following Jesus. It is like our day, I think, just a few. There has been a time of big numbers, but now we are just a few. Can we follow as recovered persons? Can we follow the blessed Saviour in His reproach whatever it may be? Of course, when He was forsaken of God—none could follow there. As the hymn-writer said—

‘None could follow there, blest Saviour,

When Thou didst for sins atone;

For those suff’rings, deep, unfathomed,

Were, Lord Jesus, Thine alone!’ (Hymn 298)

He bore them alone, but here, at this point, there are those standing at the cross and they were a comfort to His heart. And if you are prepared to stand for Christ, if you are prepared to stand as a true follower, as a true disciple, you will be a comfort to His heart, and you too will have your heart filled with comfort.

In John 21 the Lord has been into death and is out of it, a glorious risen Man who has broken the power of death. He is about to be, as we sing, ‘Received in glory bright up there’; but here He has a little word with Peter. Peter had made claims, and who of us has not? He said he would follow the Lord to death, to prison; he found he was quite incapable of doing it. Do not let us claim anything, let us move as followers, just following Jesus. But now as recovered, humbled no doubt through his experience, but recovered, what is the Lord telling him to do?

He is saying, You follow Me. It would be, I suppose, in the sphere of testimony, to follow in the testimony. Well, the enemy is out to spoil everything. We are right in the time of the finish, beloved brethren, I am sure of that. The Lord Jesus is about to come, we are about to hear that mighty shout of triumph when the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we the living who remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord (see 1 Thessalonians 4: 16, 17). We were reminded locally recently that all our comings together should ring with the rapture; it is near, it is right on us, beloved brethren, but there is a little bit for us still to do. There is a path of following to pursue and I think the Lord Jesus would say to every heart here today, Follow thou Me.

May we be committed in testimony to follow the Lord in the little time that remains. If the enemy can spoil the finish he would do it; he cannot touch the work of redemption, nor can he touch the Man in the glory, but what he can touch is Christ in testimony down here, and if he can spoil that in you or in me he will do it, make no mistake. You just resist the devil and he will flee from you; that is the word I am sure, resist the devil and he will flee from you; but he is seeking to make all sorts of inroads to turn you aside right at the termination of the pathway that is leading to glory. It is a pathway of suffering, but it is leading to the glory. So the Lord would just be saying to you and to me, Follow thou Me—what an appeal! May we just be softened by it. May we be prepared to follow in the path whatever it may be, to follow as attached to the Lord Jesus, attracted to Him; to follow along with the flock; to follow in service; to follow in reproach; to follow in testimony. Let us be followers of Jesus. Let it be known by all that that is what we are characteristically; we are followers of Jesus, and nothing is going to turn us aside from the path of loyalty, following our blessed Saviour. We are going to go all the way home following Him. Well, I think I

have said all I have to say, and if anything has been said that God can bless may it please Him to do it for His name’s sake.

Address at Melbourne
15 January 1983