A Sermon Delivered On Sunday Morning, August 19, 1877, By C. H. Spurgeon, At The Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.  

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves: be therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. [Mt 10:16]

1. Well may the text begin with a “Behold,” for it contains some special wonders, such as can be seen nowhere else. First, here is a tender and loving Shepherd sending his sheep into the most dangerous position — “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” It is the duty 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. How strange it seems to poor carnal sense. Be astonished, but do not be unbelieving — stand still for a while and study the reason.

2. 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 thought a great calamity that in some lands wolves are too often seen in the midst of sheep. The wolf leaps into the midst of a flock and rends and tears on every side; it does not matter how many the sheep may be, for one wolf is more than a match for a thousand sheep. But lo! here you see sheep sent out among the wolves, as if they were the attacking party, and were intent on putting down their terrible enemies. It is a novel sight, such as nature can never show, but grace is full of marvels.

3. Equally extraordinary is the exceptional mixture, never yet seen by human eye among beasts and birds — a mixture of the serpent with the dove in one person. What a strange blending. Creatures which are capable of crossbreeding must have some kind of kinship; but here is a reptile of the dust united with a bird of the air — “Be therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Grace knows how to pick the good out of the evil, the pearl 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. 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, produces a sacred prudence most valuable for all walks of life.

4. 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. I may truly say of this text, he who does what it requests shall understand its doctrine; he who follows its precept shall best know its meaning. May the Spirit of all grace work in us according to his divine power, and perfect in us the will of the Lord.

5. 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 as far as they are true to their calling as the children of God. All of them are more or less as sheep in the midst of wolves, and to everyone of them is the advice given, “Be therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Let us hear for ourselves as though the Lord Jesus spoke to us each individually.

6. We may see in the text four things concerning the people of God. First, their prominent vocation — “Behold, I send you out”; secondly, their imminent peril — “as sheep in the midst of wolves”; thirdly, their eminent authority — “Behold, I send you out”; and, lastly, their permanent instructions — “Be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

7. I. First, let us consider THEIR PROMINENT VOCATION. They had other callings, for some of them were fishermen; but their great calling was this — “Behold, I send you out.” The call of the Lord overrides all other vocations. 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 out to labour — “Behold, I send you out.”

8. These disciples had been with him, and had been taught by him, so that they might teach in his name. They had for some little time been his disciples or learners, and now he calls them apart from the rest, and says, “I send you out to teach and to make disciples.” The mode of operation in the kingdom of God is, first make disciples, baptize them, teach them whatever the Lord has commanded, and then let them go out and do the same with others. When one light is kindled other candles are lit from it. Drops of heavenly water are flashed aloft and scattered all around like dew upon the face of the earth, and behold each one creates a spring, where it falls, and thus the desert is made to rejoice and blossom as the rose. Do not try to teach until the Lord Jesus has first taught you; do not pretend to instruct until you have been instructed. Sit at Christ’s feet before you speak in Christ’s name, but when once you are instructed do not fail to become teachers. The lessons of your Lord will be impressed upon your own minds all the more forcibly and indelibly when you have earnestly shared them with your fellow men. First be taught, but afterwards do not fail to teach. Do not hoard up the treasure of divine knowledge, for there is no stint in it; do not eat the honey of redeeming love by yourself, for there is enough and to spare. Do not feed upon the bread of heaven with selfish greed, as though there were a famine in the land and you needed to save each crumb for yourself, but break your bread among the hungry crowd all around you, and it shall multiply in your hand. Christ has called you so that you may afterwards go out and call others to his sacred feast of grace.

9. Our Lord called them not only to teach those who came in their way, but to go after the lost sheep. “Behold,” he says, “I send you out.” Some people will hardly teach those who come immediately to their doors. Living under your own roof, with some of you, there are neglected souls. Even in some professedly Christian families there are sons and daughters who are not being trained for holiness nor taught in the way of everlasting life. This is sad to the nth degree. Friend, do you fail there? Let conscience be awake to judge. Your Master supposes that you have fulfilled home duties, and then he calls you out to attempt something more. “Go your ways,” he says, for “I send you out.” You have been sitting and hearing the gospel, leave your seats at times and go out to bring others to the faith. You have the power of the word upon your hearts, now go and show its power upon your lips by speaking to others, however few or many. Go out yourselves as sowers, and scatter the seed your Lord has given to you for that purpose. Go where providence guides you, to the Sunday School class to teach, to the street corner to preach, to the remote village or hamlet to bear witness for Christ, or to the densely crowded city slums to lift up the banner of Christ; but go your way somewhere. Do not sit down in idleness and fold your arms in indifference to the world’s woes. Behold, your compassionate Lord sends you, therefore go gladly anywhere, everywhere, — where his wisdom appoints the way — where your business gives you opportunity, or your travelling gives you occasion. “I send you out,” he says.

10. He sent them out, we are told, to work miracles as well as to preach. Now, he has not given us this power, neither do we desire it; it is more to God’s glory that the world should be conquered by the force of truth than by the blaze of miracles. The miracles were the great bell of the universe which was rung in order to call the attention of all men all over the world to the fact that the gospel feast was spread; we do not need the bell now, for the thousands who have feasted to the full are the best announcers of the banquet. Those of us who have fed upon Christ and his salvation will make the matter known wherever we go, and no further announcement by miracle will be required, except only the standing miracle of the indwelling Spirit.

11. Now we have the great advantages of rapid travelling and of the printing-press, so that we do not need the gift of tongues now, since men can so much more readily learn a foreign language than they could before, and so much more quickly travel to the place. For the moral and spiritual forces of truth to work by themselves, apart from any physical revelation, is more to the glory of the truth, and the Christ of the truth, than if we were all miracle workers, and could destroy our opponents. Yet still, though we work no miracles in the physical world, we work them in the moral and spiritual world, indeed, and the same miracles too; for, behold, he has sent us out to heal the sick, as the evangelist has it in the eighth verse of the chapter before us. Those who are depressed in spirit, faint and feeble, broken-hearted and desponding, bruised and mangled by the assaults of the great enemy, — we are to go out and pour in the oil and wine of the gospel, apply the heavenly plaster of the promise, and bind up with sacred liniment of consoling doctrine, and everywhere bring before sin-sick sinners the matchless medicine of the precious blood of Christ. For every spiritual disease the gospel is the sure remedy, and we are to carry it to every land. “Heal the sick.” We also do this. Such sicknesses as laugh at the physician, and cannot be touched by mortal skill, are healed by the servants of him who came himself to bear human sicknesses so that he might bear them away. Go out, you servants of God, with a better balm than that of Gilead; do not sit still in idleness while bleeding hearts and sickening souls are all around you. Men are perishing; go out to heal them.

12. You are also to “cleanse the lepers.” There is a leprosy abroad in the world which takes different forms in different ages, but is the same both in its cause and effect. In our land we see on all sides the foul leprosy of drunkenness, that brutish disease which degrades and destroys men’s souls; there is the leprosy of superstition, which eats into the understanding and makes a man a fool; and, alas, there is the white leprosy of scepticism, which like an inward fire consumes the very heart. Sin is this leprosy, and our business is, as God shall help us, by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make these lepers clean. It is to be done. It is done by us now in our Lord’s name. He who works in us mightily will cause the Word to be mighty for this purpose also, that the leprosy may depart from men and that they may come into the congregation of the Lord.

13. He also asks us to raise the dead, which seems the hardest work of all; but since the others are impossible for us apart from him, this is no more difficult than the rest. We are to “raise the dead.” Our gospel begins with men where they are by nature, and does not wait until they come partway. We go out to preach to those who are careless and insensitive, to those who have no feeling whatever, and have gone the furthermost from any tenderness of heart with regard to their own sin or love for God. Go with the gospel to the sepulchre of vice and preach to the dead in sin. Beloved, the gospel has a quickening power and Jesus who is the resurrection and the life sends you out, so that by his word in your mouths dead souls may be raised. No one is too stolid to be aroused, or too hardened to be renewed.

14. And then he adds, “Cast out demons.” He gave this commission to his disciples, and in a spiritual sense to us too. The devil and his demons reign over the hearts of men, subjecting them to sin and unbelief. Behold they claim this world as their dominion, but it is not so, they are usurpers, for the earth is the Lord’s and its fulness. Go with the truth and cast out the demon of error; go with the glad tidings of joy and cast out the demon of despair; go with the message of peace and cast out the demon of war; go with the word of holiness and cast out the demons of iniquity; go with the gospel of liberty and cast out the demons of tyranny. These blessed deeds can be done and shall be done, God being with you, and for this purpose he tells you to go in his name, for he will gird you with his strength.

15. Now, when I say that every Christian according to his ability is called to do this, I mean precisely what I say. I mean that Christian men nowadays while they should be attached to the church to which they belong, and the more intense that attachment the better for a thousand reasons, yet they should not regard the church as being a peaceful dormitory where they are all to sleep, but a common barracks where they are all to be trained, and out of which they are to issue and carry on the sacred crusade for Christ. We are not to be frozen together with the compactness of a mass of ice, through mere agreement of creed, but welded together like bars of iron by the fire of a common purpose and a common zeal. If we are what we should be, we shall be continually going out on the right hand and on the left; each man, each woman, according to the calling that God has given to us; we shall be seeking to extend the Redeemer’s kingdom in all directions. My dear brethren, you are arrows in the quiver, how gladly would I see you shot out upon the enemy from the bow of the Lord. Many of you are as battle-axes and weapons of war hanging on the wall. Oh that you may be taken down and used by the Lord in his glorious fight. Lo, on the walls of Zion hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men; but the great need of the age is that these weapons be removed from their resting and rusting, and carried into the thick of the fray. May the Lord send you out, oh you who have been saved under my ministry! May he hurl you out with divine power, like a mighty hail against his adversaries. May each man among you be eager to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints and to save souls from going down into the pit. Here, then, is your permanent vocation, try to practise it.

16. II. Secondly, we shall consider THEIR IMMINENT PERIL. “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves”; that is to say, the task is one of great danger and difficulty.

17. Our divine enterprise is no child’s play. The work has its charms; it looks very pretty upon paper and sounds well when eloquently described. At missionary meetings and revival services it stirs your blood to hear of what is to be done, and you resolve to rush to do it at once; but while we would not discourage the ardour of one eager recruit, we would have him count the cost and know what the warfare is. Enlist by all means, but stop for a moment, and know what you are doing, lest you quit the field as hurriedly as you entered it, and bring disgrace both on yourselves and the cause. Old soldiers who know the smell of gunpowder, do not talk so lightly about a battle as the raw recruits may do; they remember the blood and fire and vapour of smoke, and, although they are not timid, they are very serious. Come those of you who have never thought about it, and look upon what will dishearten every man who is a coward, and test the brave concerning whether their courage is that of nature or of grace.

18. You are to go out as sheep among wolves, that is to say, you have to go among those who will not in any way sympathise with your efforts. Sometimes we go among amiable, quiet, almost persuaded people, and it is somewhat pleasant work, though even there it is very discouraging, for those who are not far from the kingdom are often the hardest to be won. Those close to the kingdom are a difficult kind of people to deal with, and for real success one may as well go among the decidedly ungodly at once. If you discharge your souls and behave zealously before God, you will have to deal with people who do not share your feelings or agree with your intentions. The bleating sheep finds no harmony in the bark or howl of the wolf; the two are very different animals, and by no means agree. You do not suppose that you are going to be received with open arms by everyone, do you? And if you become a preacher of the gospel you do not imagine that you are going to please people, do you? The time may come when perhaps the wolves will find it most for their own comfort not to howl quite so loudly, but my own experience goes to show that they howl pretty loudly when you first come among them, and they keep up the hideous concert year after year, until at last they somewhat weary of their useless noise. The world behaves like a ravenous wolf if any man is in double earnest for the kingdom of Christ. Well, you must bear with it. What kind of sympathy can a lamb expect from wolves? If he expected any would he not be disappointed? Do not be disappointed, for you know your surroundings, and you know your mission. When our Saviour used similar words to the seventy, he did not call them sheep, but lambs, [Lu 10:3] for they were not as far advanced as the twelve, yet he still sent them into the same trying circumstances, and they returned in peace. Even the weak ones among us should therefore be of good courage and be ready to face opposition and ridicule.

19. Sheep in the midst of wolves are among those who would rend, tear, and devour them. Luther used to say, “Cain will go on killing Abel to the world’s end, if he can, and so he will until that millennial day when the wolf shall lie down with the lamb.” The disposition and nature of the wolves cause them to be opposed to the sheep, and it is the nature of the world to hate the children of God. All along through history you see the two seeds in contention; if there is Abel there is Cain who kills him; if there is Noah, you see an ungodly world all around him; if there is an Isaac, so there also is an Ishmael who will mock him; and if there is a Jacob there is an Esau who seeks to kill him. There cannot be an Israel without Pharaoh, or Amalek, or Edom, or Babylon to oppose. David must be hunted by Saul, and the Son of David by Herod. There is an enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, and that enmity will always remain. The ungodly roar upon the righteous, and seek to bring cruel accusations against them, even as against their Lord. No matter how pure the lives of the godly, the wicked will slander them; no matter how kind their actions, they will render evil in return; no matter how plain and honest their behaviour, they will suspect them; and no matter how selfless in their motives, they will be sure to attribute to them the very lowliest of intentions, for the wolf comes to kill and to devour, and he will do it to the best of his ability. Ah, how red are his fangs in times of persecution. How the wolf raged and raved over our country in the days of Mary and Charles the Second, and afterwards when, first as a Protestant, and next as a Puritan, the godly were devoured, and he who followed his conscience was made to suffer bitterly. Scotland can tell how the wolf’s fangs were wet with the blood of her covenanting sons; and if it were not for God’s own strong hand protecting them the wolves would be tearing the sheep to this day in our own land.

20. Again, they were to go like sheep among wolves, among a people who would hinder their endeavours; for their business was to seek the lost sheep, and the wolves would not help them in that, on the contrary, the wolves themselves desire to seize upon the lost sheep as their prey. You must expect, if you are faithful to Christ and exert zealous efforts, that there will be others who will exert all their strength and cunning to oppose you. It is often an awful game that we have to play for a man’s soul. Each move we make is countered by the devil, and unless God directs us we shall lose the man. If we draw him to the prayer meeting, another takes him to the theatre; if we set before him the truth, another puzzles him with scepticism; if we persuade him, others entice him in the wrong direction; the cunning of our foe is something terrible. We go out to hunt for precious souls, but there are others who in another sense hunt for the precious life. The streets at night are full of those whom Satan hires so that he may use them as his decoys, and the vicious literature scattered abroad so plentifully, are other forms of the nets of Satan, the great fowler, who catches the sons of men in his snares. If we are not earnest the devil is: he never sleeps; he lost his eyelids long ago. We may slumber if we dare, but the powers of evil will never suspend their activities; day and night the deadly work goes on, and the wolves howl over their prey. Therefore we go out like sheep, not among the images of wolves, but in the midst of real active wolves, that are doing all they possibly can to destroy those sheep who are as yet lost, but whom Christ has nevertheless purchased with his precious blood.

21. We are to go out like sheep among wolves in this sense, that we are quite powerless against them. What can a sheep do if a wolf attacks it? It has no strength to resist; and so those seventy disciples of Christ, if the Jews had hunted them down, must have gone to prison and to death, for they could not fight. “My kingdom,” said our Lord, “is not from this world, otherwise my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews.” All through the history of the church when the wolves actually attack the sheep they make no active resistance, but as the flock of slaughter they suffer and die. I know there was a time in history when the sheep began fighting, but it was not their Master’s intention that they should; he orders us to put up our sword into its scabbard. Our place is to bear and bear and bear continually, as he did. He says, “If a man strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Fighting sheep are strange animals, and fighting Christians are self-evident contradictions. They have forsaken the Master’s way; they have gone off from the platform where he stands whenever it comes to the carnal weapon. It is still our responsibility to submit, and to be the anvil which bears the blows, but outlasts all the hammers. After all, the wolves have had the worst of it by far; the sheep are multiplied and the wolves grow fewer and fewer. As a matter of fact the sheep have lived in this country to see the last of the wolves, and they will do so in other lands. The wild dogs of Australia are very fierce against the sheep, but the sheep will surely in the end live, and the wild dog will die. Everywhere it is so. They are weak in themselves, and yet they conquer the strong. “Ah,” you say, “it is the shepherd who gives them this victory.” Precisely so, and here our strength also lies, even in “that great Shepherd of the sheep.” Though called to become doormats so that men may walk over us, by this endurance we conquer; in suffering we are invincible, and still we always conquer under this sign — the cross of self-denial and self-sacrifice leads the way. “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,” not rendering railing for railing, but on the contrary blessing; being provoked, you return gentleness; and being persecuted, you pray for your enemies. “Ah,” one says, “I do not like the look of such a mode of warfare.” I thought you would not and you may go your way. As notice was given of old in the camp of Israel that he who had recently married a wife, or built a house, or was fainthearted, might go home, so do we say, — To your beds, you cowards! if you cannot undertake this for your Master, he does not need to have his host encumbered by your presence. Our Master calls out men to whom he gives grace, so that they may be strong to endure even to the end. The Spirit of the Lord gives patience and forbearance to those who in true faith seek to be like their suffering Lord.

22. Brethren, it is trying work for the sheep to go out among wolves, but it has to be done. Picture it in your mind’s eye. The timid sheep trembles at it. The wolves are rough, unmannerly, coarse minded, irritating, annoying; the poor sheep does not feel at home in such company. He sees every now and then the white teeth glittering within the wolf’s mouth, and he is ill at ease. The sheep wishes he were back again in the quiet fold among his happy brethren; but the Shepherd knows what he is doing, and it is the duty of the sheep to obey, and to go into the midst of the wolves if his Shepherd asks him to.

23. It is very testing too, because if a man is not truly one of God’s own he will not obey so trying a command, but will neglect duty and seek comfort. It will try even you who are most sincere. You think you have much patience; get among the wolves and see how much is left. You imagine that you could put up with a great deal of annoyance; let it come upon you and you will see how it torments you. When it comes to the loss of your good name, to downright lying and slander against the most tender part of your character, when it comes to bitter sneers and sarcasms, and words which eat like acid into the flesh and burn like coals of fire flung into the heart, it is not easy then to maintain the love which hopes all things and endures all things. Grace alone makes believers press forward in their work of love, seeking with gentleness to win souls. Oh to say, — though the wicked man curses me, and foams at the mouth with rage, I will still seek his welfare. This is the victory of faith, but the battle will test all your graces, and make you see that all is not gold which glitters. You will soon see whether the Spirit of God is in you or not, for patient love is not natural, but supernatural, and only he who is filled with the supernatural indwelling of the Holy Spirit will be able to live as a sheep among wolves.

24. If you can accomplish this work it will be very teaching to you. You will never know why Christ wept over Jerusalem until you get among the Jerusalemites, and painfully feel the cruel wrongs which make men weep because they love. You cannot understand the Saviour’s death throes, the bloody sweat, the heaviness even to death, and the broken heart, unless you go like a sheep into the midst of wolves; then you will be where Jesus was and you will have fellowship with him. Practical learning is best — books cannot teach us fellowship with our Lord, but when we start to do Christly work then we begin to mourn the evil which he lamented and prize the remedy which he supplied. Thus we gather knowledge, and are ourselves all the better for our labour for others.

25. III. Let us now look at God’s servants sent out, and notice THEIR EMINENT AUTHORITY, “Behold I send you out.”

26. What a grand expression! It could be used by no mere man. He who spoke like this is divine. Brothers and sisters, our commission justifies us in what we do. For a sheep to go into the midst of wolves of its own accord would be a foolish courting of peril, but when the great Shepherd says, “I send you,” it would be a grievous fault to linger. Who is this who says “I send you?” First, it is “The Lord of the harvest.” Did you notice while we were reading in the tenth chapter of Luke, how the two verses ran on, “Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send out labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you.” The same connection is here, only there is a little parenthesis; read the last verse of the ninth chapter of Matthew, and you will see that it is the same. It is the Lord of the harvest to whom we pray, who actually sends us out in answer to our own prayers. He is the Master of all worlds, and the owner of the souls of men. He puts his sickle into your hand and tells you to go out and reap the golden grain which is the reward of the travail of his soul. “I send you,” — the Lord of the harvest. Armed with this authority, who shall daunt you? Go even to the gates of hell if Jesus commands you to.

27. Next, “I send you” — I who prize you, for you are my sheep, I who love you, for I bought you with my blood; I, who would not expose you to a needless danger, I who know by my infinite wisdom that I am doing a wise and a kind thing, I send you, you my sheep, my dear sheep, for whom I laid down my life, — I send you into the midst of wolves, therefore you may safely go, for I who love you send you there. Lord, we ask no questions, but we go at once.

28. “I send you,” that is, I who have gone on the same errand myself. Did he not come into the world like a sheep in the midst of wolves? Remember with what patience he endured, and with what glory he triumphed; remember his poverty and shame and death; remember how like a sheep before her shearers he was dumb, he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is taken to the slaughter. He does not tell you to go where he has not gone himself. It is dangerous, but then he has passed through the danger, endured it, and triumphed in it.

29. “I send you” — notice that, — I who overcame in the very character in which I send you. Have you not read in the book of the Revelation, “The Lamb shall overcome them”; and again, “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb”; and do you not know that heaven’s high songs go up to him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever? The Lamb in the midst of wolves has conquered the wolves, and is Lord of all; and so he in effect says, “You are my lambs; therefore go out, as I did; endure, as I did; conquer, as I did; and you shall sit on my throne, and the Lamb shall lead you to the living fountains of water.”

30. IV. We close by noticing THEIR PERMANENT INSTRUCTIONS.

31. You have a tough task before you, to act as sheep among wolves. Your Lord does not leave you without guidance in the form of plain precept. What are you to do, then? Be bold as lions? Yes, but that is not the principal thing. Be swift as eagles? Yes, by all means, but that is not the main requirement. For everyday life, for the wear and tear of this great battle, there are two grand prerequisites; the first is prudence, — be wise as serpents; and the next thing is innocence, — be harmless as doves.

32. First, be prudent and wise as a serpent. Do not imitate a serpent in any other respect except in this only. Never let the devil enter into you as he did into the serpent, nor become grovelling and cunning. But, still, the serpent is an extremely wise creature, and it needed to be, for it lives in a world where it is hated by a deadly foe. It is natural for man to hate the whole serpent tribe. The very first thing you do if you see a viper is to look for a stick to kill it. Everyone is the enemy of serpents, and if they are to exist at all they must be very wary: in this you are to copy them. What does a serpent do to preserve itself? What is it which proves its wisdom? First, it gets out of the way of man as much as it can. Our Lord meant this, for immediately after our text he says, “But beware of men.” It is well to get out of the company of ungodly men, and let them see that their habits and modes of conduct are not ours. Seek to benefit them, but do not seek their company. Their wolfish propensities are most seen in their leisure time, in their drinking and revelling, therefore keep far from these. You have no business in their wild parties, their frivolous assemblies, their drinking bouts and places of lascivious song. Do not accept their invitations when you know that they will be under no restraint; do not linger near them when they are talking lewdly or profanely; your departure will be your most telling protest. You must be with them in your business — indeed, you are sent to them, but while you are with them you must not be like them; and you should discreetly avoid them when you know that you can do no good. You younger ones should get out of the way of old blasphemers and scoffers as much as you ever can, for they delight to worry the lambs. Do not attempt to answer them, but keep out of their way.

33. Do not court quarrelling and controversy, but avoid all disPutin g upon the gospel. Your workmates will chafe you, and no doubt you will receive many opprobrious epithets, but neither provoke this treatment nor resent it in any way. Do not cast pearls before swine, and do not introduce religion at unseasonable times; hold your principles very firmly, but when you know a man will only blaspheme if he hears you name the name of Jesus, do not give him the occasion. Stand up for Jesus when the time is fitting, but do not exercise zeal without knowledge. When a man is half drunk, or in a passion, leave him to himself, and thus escape many a brawl. At another opportunity, when the occasion is more favourable, then endeavour to instruct and persuade, but not when failure is certain. Be very prudent, and hold your peace when silence is better than speech.

34. How else does the serpent act? It glides along very quietly. It can hiss, but it does not very often do so. As it glides along it neither sings, nor roars, nor barks; it does not court observation; it slips off quietly, gracefully, swiftly, and without noise. Now, do not seek after great publicity. There may be times when it may be well to ring the great bell. If you can get multitudes of people together to hear the gospel by all means ring the bell as loudly as you can; but as far as you are personally concerned do not make a fuss, do not blazon abroad what you are going to do; do not call upon everyone, saying, “Come, see my zeal for the Lord of hosts.” Glide along through a useful life as quietly as the serpent which does what he finds to do and says nothing, dreading rather than courting the eye of man. Unobtrusive earnestness, quiet, simple-minded resolution to achieve your purpose, whether men will bear or whether they will forbear, whether they will praise, or whether they will criticise, — this is your wisdom.

35. Then, again, the serpent is famous for finding his way where no other creature could enter; any little crack, any tiny opening, will be sufficient for his purpose. His form is adapted to progress among obstacles. You may block the way to other creatures, but he will wriggle in somehow. So it should be with us. If we cannot get at men’s hearts one way we must try another. If you cannot induce them to read the gospel, get them to hear it; if you cannot induce them to hear a sermon, drop a verse into their ears; if a tract is refused, put a word in edgeways for your Lord and Master. There is a way into everyone’s heart if you know how to find it; be wise as serpents and discover it. Though it seems very difficult to reach some minds, yet with holy perseverance and serpentine adroitness continue the attempt, and you will succeed. There is a weak point in the strongest man’s mind, where his opposition can be wounded. Even Leviathan that laughs at the spear has a tender place where the spear’s point may strike him; and so the most ungodly, wicked, blaspheming, profane infidel has some point where you may reach his better feelings if you only search for it. Be wise as serpents in this respect.

36. But then you are to add to this, which might otherwise degenerate into cunning, the innocence of the dove. The Greek for harmless is “without horn.” The dove is without horn, hoof, fang, or other means of defence. You are to have positively no weapon: like the dove, you are to be defenceless. It seems an extraordinary thing to send doves flying at eagles, and lambs at war with wolves, but this is what the Lord has done. This defencelessness, however, which looks like our weakness, is our real strength. Our being harmless appears to predict certain destruction, but it is to be the means of certain victory. You are to be gentle, and easily entreated; you are not to fly into a passion because you are opposed, nor to be angry because you are reviled. You are to endure opposition and slander with tenderness and gentleness, as a dove bears all things. You are not to be driven into any sin by opposition. The dove is pure; it loves to be by the rivers of waters, in the quiet and clean places. So never be driven to sinful word or deed, but do good towards all men, and glorify God in all things, by being both gentle and pure as a dove. And just as the dove is very simple and is altogether artless and unworldly, so let your strength and your wisdom lie in your artless truthfulness and childlike dependence upon God. See how Christ explains his own utterance a little further down. “Harmless as doves,” then he adds, “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak.” Be like a dove, confident because it is fearless, gentle, artless, simple, and restful. Do no ill, and fear no one. You Christian people, if you are going to defend the gospel, need not study oratory, or become expert in pleadings such as are used at law. Tell the truth and baffle the devil. Truth is the most powerful weapon and the most subtle policy. I believe that even in affairs of state truth is wisdom. No diplomatic agent would so confound those involved in intrigue as a man who would tell the truth. They would conclude that what he said was a lie, because they are accustomed to regard everything as having another meaning. An ambassador was formerly said to be a gentleman who is sent abroad to lie for the good of his country; but I hope it is not so now. If straightforward truth should ever become the policy of any country it would be invincible in council; if in politics a man were to throw away all arts and tricks, and adhere only to principle, he must gain respect. The greatest art in all the world is to fling all art away, and the grandest policy is to have no policy, but honest dealing. The bravest thing that can ever be done, and the most noble, is to be artless and harmless as a dove. There, then, is the policy of your warfare, — be prudent, but be innocent and simple-minded. Oh, the power of truthfulness! Do not believe that men are strong in proportion as they are artful. By no manner of means. Do not believe that they are strong in proportion as they can clench a fist. No, the power of a Christian must lie in his holy heart, and in his earnest tongue, and in his look of love. By this he shall vanquish, but by nothing else.

37. The conclusion of my sermon is this. Does it come home to you, brothers and sisters? Do you hear the Lord sending you out to work? Then, I entreat you, go out. Suppose I make that one sentence my last word, — go out. You may have heard of the Scottish officer who had his men drawn up for the battle, and felt bound to make them a speech, and so he pointed to the enemy, and said, “There they are, lads; if you do not kill them, they will kill you.” My word is the same: there are the enemies of all righteousness, the enemies of Christ, the enemies of the good of men, the enemies of progress: if you do not overthrow them by proclaiming the gospel to all according to your ability, they will overthrow you. Which is it to be? By the grace of the Eternal and the omnipotence of him who bled for us, we will conquer even by his cross in his own way. Only let his Holy Spirit rest upon us. Amen.

[Portion Of Scripture Read Before Sermon — Lu 10:1-23]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “Holy Spirit — Pentecost” 449]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Courage and Confidence — Our Victorious Lord” 679]
[See Spurgeon_Hymnal “The Christian, Courage and Confidence — Holy Fortitude” 671]
 

Holy Spirit
449 — Pentecost
1 Great was the day, the joy was great,
   When the divine disciples met;
   Whilst on their heads the Spirit came,
   And sat like tongues of cloven flame.
2 What gifts, what miracles he gave!
   And power to kill, and power to save!
   Furnish’d their tongues with wondrous words,
   Instead of shields, and spears and swords.
3 Thus arm’d, he sent the champions forth,
   From east to west, from south to north;
   “Go, and assert your Saviour’s cause;
   Go, spread the mystery of his cross.”
4 These weapons of the holy war,
   Of what almighty force they are,
   To make our stubborn passions bow,
   And lay the proudest rebel low!
5 Nations, the learned and the rude,
   Are by these heavenly arms subdued;
   While Satan rages at his loss,
   And hates the doctrine of the cross.
6 Great King of Grace, my heart subdue,
   I would be led in triumph too,
   A willing captive to my Lord,
   And sing the victories of his word.
                           Isaac Watts, 1709.
 

The Christian, Courage and Confidence
679 — Our Victorious Lord
1 Jesus’ tremendous name
      Puts all our foes to flight:
   Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb,
      A Lion is in fight.
2 By all hell’s host withstood;
      We all hell’s o’erthrow;
   And conquering them, through Jesus’ blood
      We still to conquer go.
3 Our Captain leads us on;
      He beckons from the skies,
   And reaches out a starry crown,
      And bids us take the prize:
4 “Be faithful unto death;
      Partake my victory;
   And thou shalt wear this glorious wreath,
      And thou shalt reign with me.”
                        Charles Wesley, 1749.
 

The Christian, Courage and Confidence
671 — Holy Fortitude
1 Am I a soldier of the cross,
      A follower of the Lamb?
   And shall I fear to won his cause,
      Or blush to speak his name?
2 Must I be carried to the skies
      On flowery beds of ease?
   While others fought to win the prize,
      And sail’d through bloody seas?
3 Are there no foes for me to face?
      Must I not stem the flood?
   Is this vile world a friend to grace,
      To help me on to God?
4 Sure I must fight if I would reign;
      Increase my courage, Lord!
   I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
      Supported by thy word.
                        Isaac Watts, 1721.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2014/01/29/sheep-among-wolves