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is characteristic of a faithful shepherd that he suffers hardships, and risks his life for the sheep. Jacob said to Laban, "Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes." David, when a lion and a bear took a lamb out of the flock, followed after them and slew them, and delivered the lamb out of their mouth. Paul was a faithful under-shepherd, and he writes: "Being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." But Christ loves us with a divine love, and He has actually died in our behalf. There is immense significance in those words, "I am the good Shepherd; the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep." In olden times the sheep were slain in sacrifice; but now the Shepherd takes their place. David, when he sinned, and the people were suffering for his sake, said, "Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand, I pray Thee, be against me, and against my father's house." Not so with the good Shepherd; He is the innocent victim. We deserve punishment, but He suffers in our stead. Observe, too, how freely

He offered Himself: "I lay down my life;" "I lay it down of myself." See the glory of our Redeemer! What love was this! Wonderful words! "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly."

A Rock.

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VI.

A ROCK.

"And that rock was Christ." - I COR. X. 4.

PALESTINE was a mountainous country, and

had many rocks, which served as natural defences. It is not strange that the term rock should have been used frequently by the sacred writers. David and Isaiah have much to say of God under the image of a rock.

Most appropriate is this figure in its application to Christ.

1. He is the Rock on which the Church is built. Long before His advent prophecy announced: "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation." "The stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone of the corner." This language Jesus quoted as referring to Himself, asking the Jews if they had never read it. Peter and Paul make a like reference to it. Believers are spoken of as "built upon the foundation of the

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