These disciples had been with him, and had been taught by him, that they might teach in his name. Every child of God, according to the capacity of grace which God has given to him, should hear this voice of the Lord calling him and sending him forth to labour- “Behold, I send you forth.” They had other callings, for some of them were fishermen but their great calling was this - “Behold, I send you forth.” The call of the Lord over-rides all other vocations. First, let us consider THEIR PROMINENT VOCATION. First, their prominent vocation- “Behold, I send you forth ” secondly, their imminent peril- “as sheep in the midst of wolves” thirdly, their eminent authority- “Behold, I send you forth” and, lastly, their permanent instructions- “Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” We may see in the text four things concerning the people of God. They are all of them more or less as sheep in the midst of wolves, and to them all is the advice given, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Let us hear for ourselves as though the Lord Jesus spoke to us each individually. Though primarily addressed to the apostles, it seems to me that our text relates in its measure to all who have any talent or ability for spreading the gospel, and indeed to all the saints so far as they are true to their calling as the children of God. May the Spirit of all grace work in us according to his divine power, and perfect in us the will of the Lord. I may truly say of this text, he that doeth its bidding shall understand its doctrine: he who followeth its precept shall best know its meaning. With these three wonders outside the text, lying, as it were, upon the very surface, we shall enter into a fuller consideration of it with great expectations but if we do so we shall be disappointed if we expect to learn anything very extraordinary unless we are prepared to practise what we learn. Grace knows how to blend the most gentle with the most subtle to take away from prudence the base element which makes it into cunning, and, by mingling innocence with it, produce a sacred prudence most valuable for all walks of life. Creatures which are capable of cross-breeding must have some sort of kinship but here is a reptile of the dust united with a bird of the air - “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Grace knows how to pick the good out of the evil, the jewel out of the oyster shell, the diamond from the dunghill, the sagacity from the serpent and by a divine chemistry it leaves the good which it takes out of the foul place as good as though it had never been there. It is a novel sight, such as nature can never show, but grace is full of marvels.Įqually extraordinary is the singular mixture, never yet seen by human eye amongst beasts and birds- a mixture of the serpent with the dove in one person. But lo! here you see sheep sent forth among the wolves, as if they were the attacking party, and were bent upon putting down their terrible enemies. The wolf leaps into the midst of a flock and rends and tears on every side it matters not how many the sheep may be, for one wolf is more than a match for a thousand sheep. The next remarkable thing is “sheep in the midst of wolves,” because according to the order of nature such a thing is never seen, but, on the other hand, it has been reckoned a great calamity that in some lands wolves are too often seen in the midst of sheep. Be astonished, but be not unbelieving- stand still awhile and study the reason. How strange it seems to poor carnal sense. First, here is a tender and loving Shepherd sending his sheep into the most dangerous position- “I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.” It is the part of a shepherd to protect his sheep from the wolves, not to send them into the very midst of those ravenous beasts and yet here is the Good Shepherd, “that Great Shepherd of the sheep,” actually undertaking and carrying out this extraordinary experiment of conducting his sheep into the very midst of wolves. WELL may the text begin with a “Behold,” for it contains some special wonders, such as can be seen nowhere else. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”- Matthew x.16.
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