So tonight we're going to be talking about Robert Murray McShane. ! Title of the talk is A Soul Aimed at Christ. ! A Soul Aimed at Christ. If you want to follow along, I posted the outline on Basecamp. So you can follow along, but you don't have to. So it's A Soul Aimed at Christ, subtitle, God's Grace in the Life of Robert Murray McShane.
And that's what I want to highlight, is God's grace. And it's the same God that McShane got saved by, that saved McShane, and that captivated McShane, and that McShane lived for. It's the same God, yesterday, today, forever. So, our hearts, as we earnestly, as we, our soul thirsts for God, our flesh faints for God, as in a dry and weary land, same God.
And I want to start out by reading a hymn that he wrote. So it says, When free grace awoke me by light from on high, then legal fear shook me. I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self could I see. Jehovah, Sidkenu, my Savior must be. My tears all vanished before the sweet name. My guilty fears banished with boldness I came. To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free. Jehovah, Sidkenu, is all things to me. So that's a sample of McShane's writing.
Let me give some personal comments, and then we'll get into this. Just so you know, Jehovah, Sidkenu means the Lord, our righteousness. McShane was a devoted, free, grace Calvinist, and he celebrated the Lord is our righteousness. The Lord is our righteousness.
So some personal comments. I learned about McShane through John Piper, first and foremost. So I listened to his biographical sketch on Desiring God. So if this wets your taste for McShane, listen to Piper's biography. It'll be better and wonderful. But I think you'll benefit from this one as well.
And then some memorable quotes from that one. He quotes McShane, saying, My personal holiness is the greatest need of my people. He also said, When a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more. And he also said, For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ. That just our salvation in Christ should weigh on us so much more than anything else in our lives, including our own sin. I just think it's glorious.
6 · The pastor shares his further discovery of M'Cheyne through Brian Hedges's book 'Watchfulness,' received at his ordination
So that's what I got from Piper. And then, I read this book, so back in July, when I was ordained, Greg Dernberger gave me this book called Watchfulness, which I've read with Jesse, and read it myself, and just loved it. And he's quoted all up and down in this book. This guy, Brian Hedges, writes this book. So it's Watchfulness. Highly recommend. If anyone has any interest in it, you want to borrow it, you can psychoanalyze me by looking at my underlines.
7 · Identifies Jordan Stone's 'A Holy Minister' as the sermon's primary source material, establishing transparency about sources and grounding the sermon's content in a reputable biography
And then, at the Regional Assembly of Elders, this past year, Dernberger gave us this, which is called A Holy Minister, which is just a pure biography of McShane. And it's going to really serve as the foundational document for tonight. This is where I'm going to pull most of the material, and most of my knowledge from McShane comes from this book.
8 · Articulates the pastor's personal motivation for preaching on M'Cheyne—he found M'Cheyne's life instructive and inspiring
So, I found McShane's example to be instructive, and inspiring, and so encouraging, that I figured I wanted to share it with you. I feel like, in McShane, like just as we're all brothers in Christ, and we fellowship together, I feel like McShane's like a brother. And obviously, he's in heaven, he's in glory, he's alive, but he's just a brother that I want to introduce you guys too. So that's what we're going to do tonight.
9 · The pastor polls the congregation's familiarity with M'Cheyne, inviting participation and gauging baseline knowledge before proceeding with the biographical content
So, have any of you heard of McShane before? A little bit? And then, yeah, Hank, anything you know about McShane?
10 · Acknowledges congregation input (Hank's knowledge that M'Cheyne died at 29 and had a heart for Jewish people) and confirms these facts will be addressed in the sermon
Yeah. Died at 29, so it doesn't make it to 30. Yeah, we're going to talk about that. Real heart for the Jewish people. Yeah, so McShane dies at 29, goes and preaches in Palestine, called Palestine at the time, right? A real heart for the Jewish people. So, we'll talk about that. But, so, that's a good segue. Thank you, Hank.
11 · Establishes basic biographical facts (birth and death dates, location) and situates M'Cheyne in historical context: post-revolutionary Europe with Enlightenment influence but also a rising missionary and piety movement in Scotland
So, some basic facts. McShane was born in May, was born May 21st, 1813, so his birthday was about a week ago. He passes in March 25th, 1843. 1843. So, think of the context. In, he's, he was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in Europe, just think of what's going on in Europe at the time, and just in the world at the time, all the revolutions. The American Revolution is somewhat fresh. the French Revolution, with the Enlightenment, but there's also, a real interest at this time, in Europe, and in Scotland, on piety, and a devotion to God, and a missionary movement, which is, which is pretty neat. It's pretty amazing.
12 · Describes M'Cheyne's father Adam: a high-profile lawyer, wealthy, direct in personality, disciplined, and the home's clear authority
So, that's what he's born into. He's born into a family. His dad, Adam, is a high-profile lawyer, in Scotland. His family's wealthy, socially important. He has a very direct personality, which I can't relate to in any way. He was disciplined, work ethic. He was the home's clear authority. So, he led his home. He led his home. He also partnered with his wife really well, and we'll talk about that. And he taught his children, to cherish hard work, and learning. Hard work, and learning. So, that was Adam.
13 · Describes M'Cheyne's mother Lockhart: full of life and warmth, a tenderizing influence on her husband, teaching self-control and studiousness alongside adventurousness
Then you've got Lockhart, his mom, who, she made the house full of life, and warmth. So, you've got the dad, who's direct, and disciplined, and teaching about hard work, and learning. Then you've got the mom, who's full of life, and warmth. And she was a real tenderizing influence, on Adam, on his dad. And she cherished, her children. And she was, she taught them to be self-controlled, and studious, but also adventurous. And we're going to see that McShane is, a bit of a, compilation of a variety, of different characteristics, which is kind of cool. We'll see that he's not just one, like one way, but he's a variety of different, mutually, beneficial characteristics, which is cool. So she taught him, to attend to his school work, but also to play, and have fun.
14 · Describes M'Cheyne's siblings: one died in infancy, another became a lawyer, one a homemaker who cared for Robert, and one a surgeon
So he had four siblings, Robert had four siblings, one of which died, within four months of birth. So he lost, a young sibling, pretty early on. The other one turned out to be, another, pretty high profile lawyer, within Scotland. And then, one turned out to be a homemaker, who really took care of, McShane, at times. And then once you're not, to be a surgeon. So, pretty, productive, like, just intelligent, hardworking, socially mobile family.
15 · Details M'Cheyne's youth: strong education, intelligence (memorizing Greek for fun), popularity, teachability, physical attractiveness, inventiveness, and love of friendship
And in McShane's youth, as you'd guess, he got a strong education, the guy was smart, he memorized the Greek alphabet for fun. He just, he just did that for fun, when he was young. He was also popular, in his class. He was known for being teachable, and capable. He was attractive, he was tall and slender, and he would really, he was very inventive, and he enjoyed friends. That would be a theme, we'll talk about throughout the night, is that he enjoyed, making friends, and keeping close friendships, throughout his life. He also enjoyed athletics, and he enjoyed poetry, and he enjoyed sketching. So he was just this diverse, well-rounded person.
16 · Highlights M'Cheyne's contrasting traits: competitive yet kind, firm yet patient, artistic yet organized
He was ambitious, and winsome, and he, like I said, he had some contrasting traits. Like, he was competitive, but he was also kind. He was firm, but patient, he was artistic, and organized. Which I think is, it's hard to be, all these things, but it's just, a unique guy, that God just gifted. This is in his youth.
17 · Quotes M'Cheyne's own reflection on his youth as joyful and unmarred ('unmixed with alloy')
And what he wrote about his youth, he said, when tears that we shed, were tears of joy, and the pleasures of home, were unmixed with alloy. He just really enjoyed his, his youth, his childhood. And I think it's a mix of both parents, the influence of both parents.
18 · Narrates M'Cheyne's conversion: his eldest brother David died, and David's godly death made a profound impression on Robert, prompting him to seek Christ
So, yeah. Then, McShane was converted, fairly young. His eldest brother, David, passes away. So David gets, gets sick, and dies. And the way David died, David loved the Lord, followed the Lord, and really, like Psalm 63, would have been really, apropos for David. And so, when Robert saw him die, which was a great impression on Robert, and so Robert began to seek Christ, as his brother David, as his brother David passed.
19 · Describes M'Cheyne's early spiritual formation after conversion: lacking pastoral oversight, he turned to books, particularly 'The Sum of Saving Knowledge' (appended to the Westminster Confession), which grounded him in the gospel
And so, Robert, gets converted, God saves him, but at first, he doesn't really have a minister overseeing him, so he turns to books. So, one book, it's called, The Sum of Saving Knowledge, which is appended to the Westminster Confession. It just explained the gospel really well to him, and rooted him really well into, just the love of God, the love of the Lord, in the truth of the gospel.
20 · Details M'Cheyne's early Christian disciplines after conversion: involvement in Sabbath school, diligent Bible reading (including his famous Bible reading plan), church attendance, and journal-keeping
And he threw himself, into Christian service, got involved with the Sabbath school, diligently read the Bible, and that will be a theme throughout his life, if you've heard of the McShane Bible reading plan. I was talking with Cale about that, earlier. It's a Bible in a year plan, and it just, it gets you through the Bible. So McShane created this plan, so if you Google it or whatever, you can see that. But he loved, he diligently read the Bible, he attended church, and he kept a detailed journal, which would be helpful for, guys writing books about him.
21 · Describes M'Cheyne's theological training at Divinity Hall in Scotland under influential professors like Thomas Chalmers
And then, he got trained, he felt a quick call to ministry, after his conversion. He was very ambitious for ministry, and so he started attending the Divinity Hall, in Scotland, to study for ministry, and he had some highly influential professors, in his development, Thomas Chalmers being one of them. If you've ever heard of Thomas Chalmers, he was a Scottish minister, wrote a variety of things. But the three big influences, in his teaching, theology, theology, Hebrew, and church history. Theology, Hebrew, and church history, which, we'll see, he was theologically driven, very sharp. He also had a heart for the Jewish people, and maybe that's tied to his love for Hebrew. And then, church history, he was grounded, not so much in just his day, but he saw that God has got history. And he, I think, learned from and benefited from other guys throughout history, that I think inspired him in the way that were inspired by McShane.
22 · Notes M'Cheyne's close friendships formed during training, especially with Andrew Bonar (his future biographer)
So, 1835, oh, sorry, before that, he made wonderful friendships in his theological training. So, Andrew Bonar, who will later put together his memoir, wonderful friend throughout his life. He was licensed to minister in 1835, he's 22 years old, so imagine being a pastor at 22, it's kind of like, that's like your dad. I mean, that's, that's young, but, some guys can just do it. Total respect.
23 · Summarizes M'Cheyne's ministry roles: pastor, missionary to Palestine (due to his heart for Jewish people, whom he called 'God's peculiar people'), and itinerant preacher focused on revival
So, he's 22, he starts to minister, throughout his service in his life, he serves as a pastor, as we talked about, he was a missionary to Palestine, Israel. He had a great heart for the Jewish people, which he called God's peculiar people. So, he thought that the Jewish people had a peculiar, God had a peculiar plan for the Jewish people. And at the end of his life, he serves as an itinerant preacher, because he had a real heart for revival. He really wanted to see, many people awakened. I think he was influenced by Edwards, and the Great Awakening. He really wanted to see people awakened, to God, and his glory, and his goodness.
24 · Concludes the biographical overview: M'Cheyne contracted typhus in 1843 while itinerant preaching and died at 29
In, what was it, 1843, he contracts typhus fever, as he's preaching itinerantly, and, and he dies, at 29. And, that's McShane's life. It's not super long. But, I want to dig into, why we're talking about this guy. Because there's, there's so much, to McShane, and his love for the Lord, and what the Lord did in him.
25 · Signals a transition from biography to thematic exposition by introducing M'Cheyne's church monument inscription as a summary of his life's character
So, let me read, the church monument, that was written about him. This is on his, like the church monument, that's dedicated to him.
26 · Reads M'Cheyne's church monument inscription, which summarizes his character as walking closely with God, exemplifying believers in every way, laboring day and night for souls, and being honored to draw many to Christ
It says, walking closely, with God. An example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. He ceased, no, day and night, to labor, and watch for souls, and was honored, by his Lord, to draw many wanders, out of darkness, into the path, of life. And, I think that church monument, what's written on there, was like symbolic, of McShane's life.
27 · Introduces the sermon's five-point structure derived from Jordan Stone's book
And, a number of lessons, I want to tease out, that came pretty much, from the Holy Minister book, by Jordan Stone. So, we got five, and then I'll summarize. First, McShane was, he aimed, for his life, to know Christ. So, theologically, he had great, theological acumen, and learning. He loved Christ. He aimed, for his heart, to love Christ. So, he had personal affection, and holiness. He sought, to grow in Christ. So, he utilized, the means of grace, to do that. He aimed, to share Christ. So, he had missionary, and evangelistic zeal. And, he aimed, to rest in Christ. He pushed, for people, to enjoy the Sabbath, and rest, on the Sabbath.
28 · Restates the sermon's main thesis—M'Cheyne was a man whose entire being was aimed at Christ—and signals that the five points will be covered with varying levels of detail
So, well, we'll, we'll go through those five points. Some of them will take longer, some of them will blaze through real quick. But, we want to start out. My main thesis, is that McShane was a man, whose life, and heart, and soul, was aimed, at Christ. Aimed, at Christ.
29 · Introduces the first main point—M'Cheyne aimed to know Christ intellectually through theology—framing this as a matter of the mind
So, first of all, he made it his aim, to know Christ. So, his mind. So, theology. theology.
30 · Identifies the two theological roots grounding M'Cheyne's intellectual life: covenant theology and Calvinism
And, he was centered on two, roots of belief, covenant theology, and Calvinism.
31 · Defines covenant theology by listing the major biblical covenants (Noah, Abraham, Moses, God's covenant with Jesus) and explaining that M'Cheyne saw all of them as expressions of God's grace
So, you guys, heard of covenant theology? At all? Yeah. So, you think about the covenants. He loved, the covenants, covenants with Noah, covenant with Abraham, covenant with Moses, God's covenant with, God the Father's covenant with Jesus. And, in the covenants, he saw that, life, and salvation, is just all of grace. He just loved, free grace.
32 · Elaborates on M'Cheyne's understanding of each covenant as gracious: Noah (God's promise not to destroy the world), Abraham (blessing to all nations), Moses (Israel's rescue from Egypt and sacrificial system pointing to Christ), and God's covenant with Jesus (salvation through Christ)
And, he saw that, God's covenant with Noah, was a covenant, of grace, ultimately. That God would never destroy the world again, through, water. And, that God be blessed through, Noah's line. Covenant of grace. Abraham, that all, all the nations of the world, will be blessed. Abraham's offspring. Moses, he saw as a covenant of grace, of the covenant in Sinai. That, God had rescued Israel, from Egypt. And, it wasn't a covenant, of works, it was a covenant, of grace. There was, animal sacrifice, constantly pointing to a, a savior that would come. And, ultimately, God's covenant, covenant with Jesus, that, God would save the world, through Christ. So, he loved the covenants, and he, he believed that salvation, was all grace.
33 · Transitions to M'Cheyne's Calvinism with a light aside about 'cage-stage Calvinists,' acknowledging the stereotype while affirming M'Cheyne's genuine love for Reformed theology
He also loved, Calvinism. Which, you don't always think about like, you know, like, a cage-stage Calvinist, is like, you know, like, someone that like, loves Calvinism. But, he loved it.
34 · Describes M'Cheyne's passionate belief in God's sovereignty in salvation, quoting his notebooks to show he emphasized that only God's sovereign grace brings people into the covenant
He believed passionately, in God's sovereignty. He said, a sovereign, almighty Jehovah, must bring you into the covenant, or you will be left undone. He put a huge focus of, God's sovereignty, in his notebooks. He said, salvation is only by the free grace of God, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So, he really believed, in God's sovereignty, in salvation.
35 · Describes M'Cheyne's belief in human depravity, rooted in his awareness of his own spiritual pride and selfish ambition
He was a big believer, in human depravity. He knew, and lamented the depth, of his own sin. I think he, he really believed, in human depravity, because he knew, his own spiritual pride. And he knew, his own selfish ambition. He laments it. He's like, God, like, I preach, I preach, well today, but I don't want to do it for myself, I want to do it for you, and I want to do it for, your people. So, he, he gets very personal, in his journals, and talks about that. So, he, he knows his own depravity.
36 · Transitions from depravity to Christology, setting up the contrast between human sin and Christ's beauty
So, he believed in human depravity. He believed in, in Jesus' beauty, the Son's beauty.
37 · Describes M'Cheyne's Christology: Christ's desire to save sinners astonished him
Nothing astonished McShane, as much as Christ's desire, to save sinners. God's grace in Christ, was entrancing, ravishing, overwhelming, to him. Just the fact that his name, was written in the book of life, that he was saved, was just, glorious to him. He says, this is the chief object of the Bible, to show you the work, the beauty, the glory, the excellency, of this high priest. And he believed that beholding the beauty of Christ, was the ordinary way, that God drew sinners, to himself. That by seeing the beauty, and the glory, and the goodness of Christ, remember, take ten looks at Christ, everyone, look at yourself. He really believed that that was the way, that sinners were drawn to God. If we're just focused on our own sin, yes, we want to be convicted of it, yes, we want to be grieved by it. But we also, want to be so much more, aware of God's grace, and God's glory, and God's goodness.
38 · Describes M'Cheyne's pneumatology: he believed the Spirit's work is absolutely necessary for conversion—preachers don't save, the Spirit does
So, he really believed that. He also, really believed in the spirit's efficacy, that, if someone was going to be saved, it was a work of God. It was a work of the spirit. It was, the spirit is totally needed for conversion, and if anyone's going to stand up in a pulpit, and anyone's going to come to Christ, it's not because of the preacher, it's because the spirit drew him. He said, the Holy Spirit, is the greatest of all privileges of a Christian. The greatest, he said, of all privileges of a Christian. It is sweet, to get the love of Christ, but I'll tell you what is equally as sweet, that is to receive, the spirit of Christ. That's equally, it's equally as sweet, to know the love of Christ, but then to have, the love of Christ, communicated to you through the spirit, and, and we talked about it on Sunday, God is not just with us, but God's in us, through the spirit. He believes in that.
39 · Concludes the section on M'Cheyne's theology and transitions to the second main point—his aim to love Christ through personal devotion, piety, and holiness
So, that's his theology. That's McShane's theology. Now, he also made it his aim to love Christ, so he put a very high value, on personal devotion, piety, and holiness.
40 · Defines M'Cheyne's understanding of holiness: an all-consuming passion for Christ that produces likeness to Him in thinking, feeling, reacting, and loving
And he defined true holiness, as an all-consuming passion, for Christ. A person who grows in holiness, will increasingly think like Christ, feel like Christ, react like Christ, and love like Christ. Entire likeness to Christ, devotion, and the whole man, is the aim of biblical piety. So, we don't just, seek after holiness, for the sake of holiness, or to jump through some hoops. We do it to get more of Christ. We do it because we love Christ.
41 · Introduces three sub-themes under M'Cheyne's teaching on holiness: its necessity, its power source, and the crucible (suffering) that produces it
So, we saw a pursuit of a holy life, as the highest form of love, for Jesus. He taught about the necessity of holiness, the power of holiness, and the crucible of holiness. So, I'll go into those briefly. It was the necessity, the power for holiness, and the crucible of holiness.
42 · Explains M'Cheyne's view of the necessity of holiness: he believed lack of devotional discipline (especially Bible reading) suggests lack of desire for Christ and possibly lack of conversion
So, a necessity for holiness. McShane believed that, he believed in a pursuit of holiness, especially in personal devotions, through reading the Bible. And he felt that a lack of devotional discipline, suggested a lack of desire for Christ. That if you don't have any savoring of the word, as you read the word, or if you don't spend any time in the word, or any communion with the Lord, that would really concern him. He would be concerned that it could be reflective, could be reflective of a lack of conversion. That if you don't relish spending time with Christ, at least when you do, that that could be reflective.
43 · M'Cheyne placed high value on personal devotion, telling pastors their sermons last an hour but their lives preach all week—holiness is the foundation of usefulness
So, he would put a very high premium, on personal devotion. He said, oh, study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this. Your sermon, so talking to pastors, he would say, your sermon on Sabbath, lasts but an hour or two. Your life, preaches all the week. And he said, I earnestly long for more grace, and personal holiness, and more usefulness. This is a guy that people thought, they're living an exemplary life. And he was, I want more.
44 · Uses a personal analogy to illustrate M'Cheyne's spiritual appetite: just as tasting sugar creates craving for more sugar, tasting Christ's sweetness created in M'Cheyne an insatiable desire for more of Christ
He was content in Christ, grateful for Christ. But he had this taste. It's like, I don't know, you guys, like, I get a taste, like, I get, I'd eat some, some drinks, some soda, and maybe have some barbecue sauce. There goes my diet. I just had some sugar. Now I just want sugar, sugar, sugar. Like, Christ was sweet to this guy. And he just wanted more of him.
45 · Connects the necessity of holiness to its power source: the Holy Spirit
And he felt that personal holiness was a way to experience more of Christ, and then usefulness for Christ. Because that was a necessity of holiness. The power for holiness, where he talked about this, the Holy Spirit. Our union with Christ provided the power for holiness. Only the exalted Christ, indwelling in his people by the Spirit through faith, can empower holiness. We can't live a holy life apart from God's grace. And he taught that. He taught that we need the Spirit. We need to pray for the Spirit. We need to depend upon the Spirit. Then we need to act in confidence in the Spirit to cultivate holiness.
46 · Introduces suffering as the 'crucible of holiness' using Jordan Stone's paraphrase: suffering is the sandpaper God uses to increase holiness' shine
And then he taught about the crucible of holiness, which is, you can guess, suffering. The crucible for holiness was suffering. And Jordan Stone kind of paraphrased him, Shane, in his book, and he says, suffering is the sandpaper that God uses to increase the shine of holiness. holiness.
47 · Applies the 'suffering as sandpaper' metaphor directly to the congregation: whatever suffering they're experiencing, God is using it to increase holiness—as they seek and draw near to Him through it
So, if you've got anything going on tonight, and you're wondering, like, what is God up to? Probably up to, like, a million different things in your life. You've got some suffering going on. A million different things. But one, is he's just rubbing. Just sandpaper. Rubbing. Increase the shine of holiness in your life. as you seek the Lord and you draw near to the Lord through it.
48 · Transitions to the third main point—M'Cheyne's aim to grow in Christ—and summarizes the means of grace he practiced: Bible reading, sacraments, community, and prayer
Alright. McShane, that's a good segue, McShane also made it his aim to grow in Christ. And, how do you grow in Christ? You guys probably guessed it. Read the Bible. Take the sacraments. Live in community. And pray. Not super complicated. At least to McShane. And I think if you read the Bible, I don't think it's that, it's not super complicated.
49 · Highlights prayer as M'Cheyne's most emphasized means of grace
And, I'm going to highlight prayer because he was, he had such a prayer life. He said he believed in, Jordan Stone says, he believed and taught that prayer is the Christian's noblest and most fruitful employment.
50 · Emphasizes the priority of Bible reading and especially prayer in Christian growth
So, read the Bible and pray. Pray, pray, pray, pray. Sometimes, it can feel like we're just talking to the sky, but surely we're not. God is always listening. And God is always inclined to hear us in Christ and desire us to answer our prayers. And sometimes he answers them quick. Sometimes he takes decades for an eternity. But he will, he will respond to our prayers yes or no in some way.
51 · Concludes the section on growing in Christ and transitions to the fourth main point—M'Cheyne's aim to preach Christ
And so, McShane really made it his aim to pray and grow in Christ through prayer as well as the Bible, sacraments, and Christian friendship, Christian fellowship, community. All right, McShane also made it his aim to preach Christ. To preach Christ. There's a whole chapter in this book on his approach to preaching. But in summary, I love this quote. So hear this one.
52 · Quotes Jordan Stone's description of M'Cheyne's preaching: he came to the pulpit as a man grabbed by the text, with truth as fire in his heart and the Savior as light in his soul
He emerged on the Lord's day as a man whom the text had grabbed. The truth was a fire in his heart. The Savior was the light of his soul and he preached accordingly. I was reading another book. It was talking about how when you get up to preach, the greatest thing that you could do for people is just be someone who has spent time with the Lord and has communed with God and has felt God and experienced God and thought of God and has been grabbed by the text. So that was McShane by God's grace.
53 · Transitions to discussing M'Cheyne's evangelistic ministry beyond the pulpit, noting his house-to-house visitation and special love for evangelizing children
And then McShane also made it as an aim to share Christ. So he would go from house to house and do house visitations within his pastory. He loved to tell kids about the gospel. He loved to evangelize children and tell kids about the gospel.
54 · Details M'Cheyne's evangelistic convictions: belief in revival (mass conversions), 'church extension' (church planting by growing churches to a certain size then sending people out), and awakening people to Christ's glory
He believed wholeheartedly in revival. So he wanted to see mass amounts of people and he believed that mass amounts of people could come to know Christ and be awakened to the glory and beauty of Christ and salvation of Christ. Like we do, he believed in something called church extension, which is really just church planting. He loved to see churches grow to a certain amount and then take some people, put them somewhere else and let them grow too and just extend churches. Church extension.
55 · Summarizes M'Cheyne's missionary work to Palestine with Andrew Bonar, preaching to Jewish people in hopes of their conversion, demonstrating his commitment to global evangelization
And as we talked about, he believed in local and global evangelization, missions, essentially. So he went to Palestine at one point, I believe with Bonar, and preached to the Jewish people in Palestine in the hopes that they would convert. So.
56 · Introduces the fifth and final main point—M'Cheyne's aim to rest in Christ through passionate Sabbath observance and communion with God
All right. Last major point and then we'll get into our summary. McShane made it his aim to rest in Christ. McShane was a passionate believer in communing with and enjoying Christ in the Sabbath. In the Sabbath.
57 · Quotes M'Cheyne's view of the Sabbath as 'Christ's drifting time'—a day of communion and love between Christ and His church
He said, the Sabbath is Christ's drifting time, just a time of communion and showing his love with his church. If you love him, you will count every moment of it precious. You will rise early and stay up late, sit up late to have a long day with Christ. like, I think about getting up early so I can get to work and then staying up late, you know, like doing work or whatever. McShane was like, no, no, no. Love the Sabbath. Enjoy the Sabbath. Have a long day with Christ on Sunday. I just think it's unique and inspiring.
58 · Transitions from the five main points to a seven-point summary of lessons drawn from M'Cheyne's life
So, all right, to sum it up, I've got seven major lessons just to sum it real quick.
59 · First summary lesson: M'Cheyne would urge believers to love Christ with deep, great affection
Number one, McShane, if McShane were here, what would he say? He would say, love Christ. McShane fostered and taught to have a deep, great affection for the person of Christ.
60 · Second summary lesson: M'Cheyne would urge prioritizing prayer as the channel of God's power, expressing dependence on and confidence in God
He would say, make it a priority to pray. All power came through prayer, which he expressed his humble dependence on and confidence in God. Make it a priority to pray.
61 · Third summary lesson: pursue personal holiness
Pursue personal holiness. We will seek likeness to Christ if we love Christ. And if we're born again and we got Christ's spirit within us, there is something in us that loves Christ and wants to be holy like Christ. It's there. Sometimes we've got to read a psalm or two to remind ourselves in the morning or at night or whenever. But in all of us that profess Christ, it's in there. So, pursue personal holiness.
62 · Fourth summary lesson: embrace sincerity
Embrace the power of sincerity. We haven't talked about this yet, but the book talks pretty deeply about how sincere McShane was. He was all about not putting on formality or a face of holiness and to truly love Christ and show openly that love to others. And that, that's, he especially did that in his preaching where he just felt like if you just preach with an open heart and you show your sincerity of love for Christ, people will resonate with that, will connect with that if they have the spirit in them. Or if they don't, they will yearn for it. to embrace the power of sincerity,
63 · Fifth summary lesson: value friendship
value friendship, which I think we do. We wouldn't be here on a Wednesday night if we didn't value friendship with other guys. So, Andrew Bonar, they met at Divinity Hall in Enneberg. They studied for ministry together. They were like brothers throughout their lives. They loved each other as brothers. and if you want a primary source document, a McShane primary source document, Bonar's memoir would be the place to go. If you want to actually read McShane's writings, his journals, that's where he, that's where he could go. And that was published after McShane's death.
64 · Sixth summary lesson: long for revival
Six, long for revival. If McShane were here, he would say, long for revival. We'll deeply desire and pray for awakening. Awakening in our congregation here at Providence. May we be awakened more and more every day to how glorious God is and how great God is and the salvation and the fact that we're saved because of Christ. May we just grow and be amazed at that and how that will overflow and just seep out of our lives and to greatly long for the Spirit's outpouring because like we talked about, that will not happen without the Spirit. We need to pray for the Spirit to do that.
65 · Seventh summary lesson: be aware of the gravity of eternity
And then, the seventh thing I think McShane would say to us would be, be aware of the gravity of eternity. Be aware of the gravity of eternity.
66 · Elaborates on the gravity of eternity using Jordan Stone's description of M'Cheyne as 'a dying man ministering to dying men
Jordan Stone writes, McShane was a dying man ministering to dying men. So, I wrote, may we learn from his example and grow in our faithfulness. May we learn from his example and grow in our faithfulness. He saw that life's a vapor. And he was, I don't know if he, if he sensed that he would die at 29 and before he got typhus, but he just burned for Christ. And he just saw, like, life is short. Eternity is long and God's glorious. We should live that way.
67 · Begins the sermon's closing section with gratitude for God's saving work in M'Cheyne, framing M'Cheyne as a trophy of grace
So, all right, some final thoughts. I'm grateful that the Lord saved a sinner like McShane. I think God did, clearly, I think, I think God did a wonderful work in this guy and through him,
68 · Pastoral warning against idolizing M'Cheyne
I'd be aware that we would idolize him. At first, I said we shouldn't saint him, you know, like, saint in quotation marks. I changed it to idolize because, like, he is a saint because saint is just someone who's called. We are all, if we're born again, we are all saints. We're called to be in Christ's body. So, I took out that word. I just said idolize. We shouldn't idolize him. He was an ordinary guy. He was an extraordinary God who blessed him just extraordinarily with the spirit, with insight, with a family upbringing that inclined him to study hard. And even if you don't have that family upbringing, like, it's a choice and we're free to choose to pursue God the way McShane did. So, he was an ordinary guy with his own struggles we talked about, spiritual pride, we talked about, selfish ambition. So, he struggled with that kind of stuff. He was a sinner that was totally aware of his total depravity, totally aware, ten looks at Christ or one look at himself. He needed to be reminded that Christ is his righteousness.
69 · Concludes by urging the congregation to learn from M'Cheyne as a trophy of grace who now worships Christ in heaven with fuller sight than believers on earth
And, let's learn from this guy, be inspired by the trophy of the Lord's grace that he was and is. he's worshipping the Savior now in heaven with Christ. But he's alive more than we are because he can see Christ right now. So, let's be grateful for him, let's learn from him. So, I'm going to close the way I opened and then I want to discuss, I want to hear from you guys what resonated with you guys, what to talk about to you guys. So, the hymn from the beginning. When free grace awoke me by light from on high, then legal fears shook me. I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in self could I see. Jehovah Sidkenu my Savior must be. My terror is all vanished before the sweet name. My guilty fear is banished. With boldness I came to drink at the fountain, life-giving and free. Jehovah Sidkenu is all things to me.
70 · Closing prayer invoking Psalm 63 to express the congregation's thirst for God
So, let me pray and then we'll talk about this. Dear God, Psalm 63 says, you are our God. Lord, we earnestly seek you, our souls thirst for you, our flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Father, Lord, we confess, I confess that I don't live my life as greatly in the glory of who you are and what you've done for me. Lord, I thank you. Thank you that it doesn't count on me or my righteousness. Thank you, Jehovah Sidkenu, that you are all things in salvation and in life to me and to us. So, I just pray that you would awaken in us more and more every day freshly your greatness and your glory and your salvation help us to take ten looks at you for every one look at ourselves and would that just seep out of us as we go throughout our days. So, we thank you for this time. Pray you bless us now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.