I showed a picture of Robert Murray McShane. Hopefully you caught that. And let's hear the story now. All right. So as Robert Murray McShane was dying at the young age of 30, he said, I know Jesus Christ better than any man in the world. He had left such a deep impression of godliness through his life that it influenced many generations to come. His biography, written by his prayer partner and close coworker, Dr. Andrew Bonar, was republished hundreds of times across Great Britain and the United States within the first 25 years after its initial publication. One lady in the Highlands of Scotland was born again directly through reading this biography. A preacher in the Church of England read portions of the biography on several Sundays in succession as his sermons. As a result, many members of his church, who were quite backslidden or not even born again, received a spiritual awakening. One man in America whose life was transformed after reading the biography, traveled across the Atlantic and spent his first Sunday in Scotland in St. Peter's Church in Dundee, just to be in the same building where young McShane had preached. Robert was born in the city of Edinburgh in Scotland on May 21st, 1813. He was an exceptionally brilliant young boy. At the age of four, he could recite the Greek alphabet. not the English alphabet, the Greek alphabet. He entered high school at the age of nine and the University of Edinburgh at the age of 14. He was a brilliant student in university, well known for his poetic talent. He composed a poem called On the Covenanters, which won him a prize because of its high literary quality. He also loved gymnastics. And some think that this is probably contributed to his early death. And here's why. A preacher friend of his was visiting him one morning, and after breakfast, they took a walk in the garden. There were two upright poles with a horizontal bar across them. You noticed that right as you walked in the door too, I'm sure. And these were so tempting to Robert, as they were for you kids, that he did a series of athletic flips on them. And as he was spinning, urged his friend to join him on the crossbar. His friend was just about to do so when the bar on which Robert was hanging snapped. Robert fell to the ground and for several days remained in a state of shock. After this incident, he never regained the physical energy he had previously because his body was so broken. Even though he lived a moral life during his first two years at university, Robert was very drawn to worldly pleasures, especially dancing. His brother David, who was older to him by about eight or nine years, took a fatherly care for him and would often plead with him not to spend so much time partying. Even later on in life, Robert could never forget the distressed look on David's face as Robert ignored his pleas every night and would stay out partying until the early hours of the morning. Then David McShane passed away at the age of 26. This grief had an important influence on Robert. He wrote some years later, five years ago today, my dear brother David died and my heart knew true grief for the first time. In reality, it was all for good. Let me be quiet Lord, because you did it. And it was good for me that I was afflicted by this. I don't know of anyone who has abused your grace as much as I did. And yet Lord, what mountains you climbed over to reach me. No one has ever been more blessed than me." Before he died, David had tried to turn Robert's heart toward a life of service to God. When Robert finally understood and accepted God's plan of salvation, he knew he had only one calling in life, and that was to point the lost to the Savior. So the year David died, Robert joined the seminary where he studied under Dr. Thomas Chalmers. Here's what Robert wrote in his diary, June 25th, 1832. So Robert's about 19 years old now. How easy it is to waste hours in the emptiest babblings like the world. Yet, how can someone chosen to be a fellow worker with God do this? Aren't we messengers of His Son, evangelists? We are set apart to the work, chosen out of the chosen, the very pick of the flock as it were, to shine as the stars forever and ever. O Lord God, I am a little child. Please send an angel with a live coal from off the altar and touch my unclean lips and put a tongue within my dry mouth so that I shall say with Isaiah, here am I, send me. He goes on to write, this past year God has been preparing me for the ministry. I bless him for that. He has helped me to give up the shame I used to feel to be known as a follower of Jesus and to be on his side, especially before specific friends of mine. I bless him for that. He has taken away from me friends who might have been a temptation or a stumbling block to me. I bless him for that. Isn't that amazing that the young age of 19 when a lot of people are craving friends, wanting companionship, he saw that his calling was superior. And when God took away certain friends from him, he saw it as a blessing. He has taken away from me friends who might have been a temptation or a stumbling block to me. I bless Him for that. He has introduced me to one Christian friend and brought deep fellowship with another. I bless Him for that. So God replaced His worldly friends with friends who would encourage Him and help Him draw closer to Christ. Because He saw at that young age that He was here on this earth for a purpose greater than just something earthly. Before Robert was converted, he received a deep conviction of sin. Besides the effect that his brother's death had on him, he was influenced deeply by the article, The Sum of Saving Knowledge, which was an appendix to the larger work called Confession of Faith. This brought about, as he put it, a saving change in him. One year later he reflected on this and wrote, what a pile of corruption I have been. What a large part of my life I have spent in the world completely without God, wasting time on the perishing things around me. Because I have such a sentimental temperament, even now my spirituality seems to be tainted by these colors of earth. My educational views and the fear of man have restrained me from openly gross sin. And yet ungodliness has reigned within me. It has often broken through all constraints and come out in the shape of lust and anger, mad ambitions and unholy words. Even though my sin was always refined, yet how subtle and awfully prevalent it was. It was only Your hand, Father, that could awaken me from the death in which I was so content. I would have gladly escaped from the Good Shepherd, Jesus, who sought me as I strayed, but He took me up in His arms and carried me back. Yet He took me not because of anything in me, I come to Christ, not despite being a sinner, but just because I am a sinner. Isn't that a wonderful statement? I come to Christ, not despite being a sinner, but because I am a sinner. And in fact, the worst, he says, may not even a shadow of praise or merit ever be given to me, but let all the glory be given to your most holy name. Robert and a group of fellow seminary students formed a society whose objective was to devote several hours a week to visiting the poor and needy in the area. In order to do this, they often had to give up recreation and sports. Robert writes as follows about the effect that one such visit to the poor and needy had on him. He writes, I accompanied AB, which is an unnamed person, in one of his rounds through some of the most miserable houses I have ever seen. I have never even imagined such scenes. How have I not even been aware of such poverty in my hometown? I've passed their doors thousands of times and have even admired the huge black piles of buildings with their lofty chimneys breaking the sun's rays. Why have I never bothered to go inside? How could the love of God possibly dwell in me? How eagerly we are received by even the poorest and most detestable when we show them Christian compassion. How many masses of human beings are huddled together in those houses, never visited by any friend or preacher? It's as if written on their foreheads are the words, no man cares for our souls. Wake up, my soul. Why should I give more hours and days to the empty world when there is such a world of misery at my very door? Lord put your own strength in me, confirm every good resolution, forgive my past long life of uselessness and foolishness. This insight into the sufferings of those in his own locality led Robert to devote more time to visiting them, distributing Christian literature among them and teaching in Sunday Bible studies. As he near the end of his college course and would soon be licensed as a preacher, Robert was in a prayerful state and spent long hours studying the word of God. He still was diligent in his earthly studies, which he realized years later would come in handy in practical service of Christ. To younger students in his college whom he knew, he wrote words of wisdom about their attitude in regard to worldly knowledge. He says, make sure you pay attention to your studies. Look at how practical his advice is. Remember that to a large extent, you are now during these years of school, forming the character of your future ministry. I wanna say that again. Remember that to a large extent, while you are in school, you are forming the character of your future ministry. That means God is using this time when you're in school to prepare you. for the future ministry. That's very good for your children to remember. If you develop lazy or sleepy habits in studying now, you will remain that way. Do everything in its own time. Do everything seriously. If it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. Above all, always remain in the presence of God. Never see the face of man until you have seen his face who is our life, our all. This is perhaps my favorite sentence in the story. Remember, pay close attention children and adults. Never see the face of man until you have seen his face who is our life, our all. Think about never, don't go to a meeting, don't even look at anything else or anybody else here on this earth until you've seen God's face because He's our life, He is our all. Pray for others, pray for your school teachers, pray for your fellow students. But he says, beware of being too taken up with the classical studies. It is dangerous indeed and you need to be well grounded in the scriptures to counteract it. The classical studies is those studies that teach you about the worldly things and worldly philosophies and things like that. Yes, we should know them but only like chemists handling poisons to discover their qualities by ensuring that we are never infected by them. So whenever you study something in the world, something that teaches you about history of the world or other things about worldly philosophies, Teach them just so you know about them because you might have to study that in school but never allowing it to infect your soul. Pray that the Holy Spirit will not only make you holy and full of faith but also wise in your studies. It's a wonderful prayer, children to pray. Pray that the Holy Spirit, because remember he's writing this to students, to school students and college students. Pray that the Holy Spirit will not only make you holy and full of faith, but also wise in your studies. A ray of God's light in the soul sometimes clears up a mathematical problem wonderfully. Listen to that carefully again. A ray of God's light in the soul sometimes clears up a math problem wonderfully. The smile of God calms the spirit and the hand of Jesus holds up the fainting head. His Holy Spirit strengthens our attitudes so that even earthly studies go on a million times more easily and comfortably. That's Robert's way of saying, listen, if you honour God, you put Him first in your life, He will help you even in your studies. He'll give you grace. good advice. Robert Murray McShane began preaching in July 1835. He preached in many different church meetings until the next November when he and an assistant were assigned to alternately preach in two churches in which together around 6,000 people gathered between the two churches. Pretty big churches. His preaching was always preceded by the preparation of his own soul. Before each sermon, he would spend the morning hours in calm, private devotion. Most of this was done in secret and no one knows about them, but often the pleasant sound of him singing songs would come forth from his room in the early hours of the morning. One of his servants once said, Oh, I used to love to hear Mr. McShane singing during his prayer time in the morning. It was as if he would never give up. He had so much to say to the Lord. Because he really wanted a greater knowledge of God, Robert spent much time absorbing the word of God into his soul. Another very good sentence to remember. Let me say it again. Because he really wanted a greater knowledge of God, he spent much time absorbing the word of God into his soul. And if you don't absorb God's word into your soul, you'll never really know God. God has given us the Bible, as a way for us to know Him. So if you really want to know God more deeply, spend much time absorbing the Word of God into your soul. Here's what he wrote about the importance of this to a friend. A person who limits his gaze to the fruitful fields and well-cultivated gardens is not a thorough student of the world. In other words, if you're trying to study the world physically, if you just go to the fruitful fields and well-cultivated gardens, That's not being a thorough student of the earth. He would have no true idea about what the earth is really like unless he stands upon the rocks of our mountains and sees the only moors and mosses of our barren lands. In the same way, it is a lazy student of the Bible who does not want to know every single word that God has inspired. who is not eager to examine even to the most emptying seeming chapters of God's Word, to collect the good that God intended in them. So what's he saying here? He's saying that if you want to study the whole world, you go even to the lonely places, the desolate places, the wildernesses, the empty places, the barren places. That's a picture of the whole world. And he's using that as an example of studying God's word. Because if you really spend time reading God's word, sometimes you come to a place, a passage that just seems boring or heavy. and you can't seem to get much out of it. And yet what he's saying here is, you're a lazy student unless you want to know every single word that God has inspired. And if God says in his word that all scripture is inspired, including books like Leviticus and First Chronicles, the first few chapters and Numbers and Exodus and whatever it might be, those books that seem a little heavy, God wants to show himself to us even through those books. So if you're not eager to examine even the most empty seeming chapters of God's word to collect the good that God has intended in them, then you're a lazy student. You won't really get to know God. And you're a lazy student if you don't strive to understand all the bloody battles which are detailed in order to find bread out of the eater and honey out of the lion. Anybody remember that phrase? Who said it? Yeah, you got some good Bible scholars here. Samson said it, bread has come out of the eater and honey out of the lion. Now this was a dead lion. I've never heard that analogy used to describe the word of God. It was a dead lion and most people would go far away from it yet Samson got honey out of it and bread out of it and McShane uses that. That's from Judges 14 verse 14. Samson uses that to say even out of that which seems empty you can get something rich. So remember that. That really helped me brothers and sisters and children that even that when I look when I come to a passage of God's word that seems heavy I know that there's something that God has put there in it for me. So He said to one friend, when you write, tell me the meaning of scripture. To another he exclaimed, one gem from that ocean of God's word is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams. If you get one gem from the ocean of God's word, that's worth more than all the pebbles of earthly streams. Through all his preaching, McShane had an eager quest, eager passion for the souls of men. One Sunday evening on his way home from a long, tiring day of meetings, Someone told him about two gypsy families who were encamped a short distance away. Without thinking of his own comfort and how tired he was, he went and found them. And sitting around their wood fire with them, he read to them the parable of the lost sheep from Luke 15, explaining it in a simple way. After praying with them, he said goodnight to them, leaving them in awe and thankful for his interest in them. After less than a year's labor in the dual parish of Larbert and Dunipace, I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly, he was invited to lead the new St. Peter's Church in Dundee. As his responsibilities increased, he would gather with several other preacher friends each Saturday morning for fasting and prayer that God's blessing would rest on their work. McShane never missed one of these meetings. From the time he began his ministry in November 1837, those who intimately knew him noticed a marked growth in grace. He began holding weekly prayer meetings in St. Peter's. He would start with a verse of scripture, and after prayer, he would lead them in Bible study for about 20 minutes, and after that, he would read accounts of various revivals, adding comments of his own. I took comfort in that, that he did something similar to what we do, where we read accounts of how God moved in the lives of different people. One evening a week, they would focus on the youth of the church, and by his encouragement, Sunday schools for children were established throughout the church. Since he recognized how much of an influence the Sunday school teachers have on the young people, He demanded high requirements of them. He had a high standard for the Sunday school teachers. Look at what he wrote. The Sunday school teachers must be able to help the young people read the Bible fluently and know the doctrines that we preach well. They should be able to also teach the youth to sing the praises of God with feeling and in tune. But above all, they should be godly, not in name only, but in deed and in truth, ones whose hearts have been touched by the Spirit of God, and one who can love the souls of little children. Any teacher who lacks this last qualification, that is, to love the souls of the little children, I think will be a curse rather than a blessing. a center of blasting and coldness and death, instead of center from which light and warmth and heavenly influence should come forth. Robert McShane considered the souls of children precious beyond comparison and wrote tracts and hymns for them. Oh, that people would have a heart to work among children, he once exclaimed. I love this. You know, Robert Murray McShane, you've probably heard his name before if you've done reading. He is a tremendously respected preacher and author and yet he had a real burden for children. Shows that he was truly Christ-like. Oh, that people would have a heart to work among children, he once exclaimed. He once sent a birthday gift to a small boy. Can you imagine this well-known preacher and he, large church, and he sends a birthday gift to a small boy in his church, and he wrote the following lines on a sheet of paper with it, a little poem. Peace be to thee, gentle boy. Many years of health and joy. Love your Bible more than play. Grow in wisdom every day. Like the lark on hovering wing, early rise and mount and sing. Like the dove that found no rest till it flew to Noah's breast, rest not in this world of sin till the Savior take thee in. I think if I had received that as a young boy from Shane, I would have treasured it all my life. Wonderful words. Whenever Robert stood in the pulpit to preach, a spirit of awe and reverence clothed him. One of his church members said, before he even opened his lifts, as he walked up to the pulpit, there was something about him that deeply affected me. Every sermon had Christ as its center. Once after speaking from Revelation 1 verse 15, Robert said, it is amazing how sweet and precious it is to preach directly about Christ compared with all other subjects of preaching. At the beginning of his ministry, he would write down all of his sermons word for word and recite them from memory. One morning while writing to the church meeting, his sermon notes accidentally slipped from his hand and he didn't notice until it was too late. He was forced to preach his message without notes. But the freedom he experienced surprised him. From then on, even though he prepared his sermons with great care, he delivered them more spontaneously. People remembered his affectionate appeals in his messages. Even when he strongly preached against sin, there was an element of compassion coming from the fact that he felt that he was the greatest of sinners and had been saved only by the mercy of God. One fellow preacher once told him that he had preached the previous Sunday on the text. So this preacher told him, hey, Mr. McShane, I preached last Sunday on this text. The wicked shall be turned into hell. McShane quickly asked him, were you able to preach it with tenderness? His loving interest and faithfulness to help the lost outside of the church buildings was as effective as his preaching from the pulpit to win people to Christ. Whether he was walking or writing, he used every opportunity to hand anyone a useful tract. If he spent a night at a hotel, he would pray especially for that building and the other people staying in it. Even if he took a short rest from ministry, his hobbies during any free time were still some other form of glorifying God. His beautiful hymn, I am a debtor, was written in May 1837 during one such period of relaxation. As he became more well known, many wealthier churches invited him to come and serve there. but McShane refused them saying, my master has placed me here in Dundee with his own hand and I never will directly or indirectly seek to be removed. He who paid his taxes because they were offering him more money and he could have had a more comfortable life and been richer. And here's a wonderful line he says, he who paid his taxes from a fish's mouth will supply all my needs. Good line to remember if you're ever wondering how God will provide. He who paid his taxes from a fish's mouth will supply all my needs. God will make the wilderness of chimney tops here in Dundee to be green and beautiful like the garden of the Lord. He started to show symptoms of heart disease, which forced him to take temporary rest. He saw this as a mercy from the hand of his heavenly father, as seen in this that he wrote to a friend. He writes, I hope this affliction will be blessed to me. I always feel much need of God's afflicting hand. Powerful statement there. I always feel a great need of God's afflicting hand. not God's blessing hand, God's afflicting hand. Look at what he says, in the world of active labor, there is so little time for watching and crying out desperately to God and seeking grace to fight against the sins that tempt those of us who are in ministry. So I always feel that it is a blessed thing when the Savior takes me aside from the crowd as he took the blind man out of the town and removes the veil and clears away obscuring mists. And by his word and spirit leads us to a deeper peace and a holier walk. And he does this often through our times of suffering. He uses the example of when he took that blind man away from the crowd outside the city and then revealed to him that he was the Christ. And McShane talks about how these times of suffering and where he's afflicted, where he's away and in secret, maybe on a sickbed, are those times when the Savior is trying to reveal more of himself to him. He had tremendous revelation. Ah, there is nothing like a calm look into the eternal world to teach us the emptiness of human praise the sinfulness of self-seeking and vainglory, to teach us the preciousness of Christ, who is called the tried stone, the tested stone. Isaiah 28, verse 16. At this time, someone suggested to him that he should visit the land of Israel to study how best to draw the Jewish people to see Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Medical friends also encouraged him to make the trip, thinking that the journey would also help restore his health, because the climate there was better. He traveled with three older preachers, and all throughout Scotland, Christians hoped that this trip would result in the church reaching out her hand to the Jews like they were doing to the Gentiles. William Burns, a preacher who was two years younger than McShane, had been praying and laboring for revival and souls were being saved by his efforts. He agreed to fill in preaching at St. Peter's during Robert's absence. McShane wrote this to Burns before he departed from Scotland. His advice to the preacher who was going to take his place in the church there, very, very good advice. Listen carefully, please. Keep in close communion with God. Study likeness to Christ in all things. Read the Bible for your own growth first, then for your people. Explain the truth carefully and in detail. It is through the truth itself that souls will be sanctified, not through essays about the truth. worth mentioning again he says it is through the truth itself that souls will be sanctified not preaching some essay about the truth be easily accessible to the people be ready to teach and may the Lord teach you and bless you in all you do and say you will not you won't find many companions So be all the more with God. It's excellent advice for anybody, especially for us teachers, elders, those who share God's word, but all of us in every kind of ministry, when you make yourself available to serve God, you'll find that this is so important, very important advice. Be easily accessible, be ready to teach. May the Lord himself teach you and bless you. And remember, you may not have many friends, so you must be all the more with God. On the long journey, McShane's health was often very poor and he wondered if he would ever make it back to Scotland. Still, that did not affect his vital prayer life. And even in times of great weakness, his spirit was moved to pray for a revival among his church back home in Dundee. So even though he was being used by God there, traveling in Israel, his burden was for the home church back there in Dundee. And here's what he wrote, everything I see and every day I study my Bible, make me pray more that God would begin and carry on a deep, pure, widespread and permanent work of his in Scotland. if it isn't deep and pure. So listen to what he says, a deep, pure, deep and pure work, a widespread work and a permanent work in Scotland. And he says, if it isn't deep and pure, it will only end in confusion. the Holy Spirit of God will be grieved away by the irregularities and inconsistencies. Then Christ will not get glory and the country generally will be hardened and they will reproach the name of Christ. That's why the work must be deep and pure because otherwise the Holy Spirit will pull back, you'll be grieved and eventually Christ won't get the glory and the country will reproach the name of Christ. If it isn't widespread, our God will not get a large crown out of this generation. If it isn't permanent, that will prove that it was impure, and it will turn all our hopes into shame. I am more wary of Satan and his tactics than I used to be. So the more he became aware of how Satan works, he had a burden that the work should be deep and pure, should be widespread, and should be permanent. It's a good thing for us to take to heart at RLCF. Let's pray that the work God does, it doesn't have to be quick and fast growing and exciting or popular. It has to be deep and pure. It has to be widespread. That means God must slowly increase our influence and it must be permanent. The work that God does through us must remain for all eternity. My conviction, he goes on to write, has also deepened that if we are to be instruments in such a work, we must be purified from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. If we are to be instruments of such a work, if God is going to use us in such a work, we must be purified from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Oh, cry for personal holiness and constant nearness to God by the blood of the Lamb. Rest in His beams, lie back in the arms of love, be filled with His Spirit, or all your work in the ministry will only come to confusion. During his absence, McShane wrote ten letters to his flock back in Dundee, in all of which he exhorted them to be holy, to be blessed and a blessing. In one of them he wrote, The walls of my room can tell you how often I wake up in the middle of the night to entreat the Lord for you all. I love this. There he was being used by the Lord but he'd wake up in the middle of the night and his burden was for his home church back in Dundee. I can truly say with John that I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. That's from third John verse four. This is true even though many of you were in Christ before me and were living branches of the true vine before I was sent into the vineyard. It happened that one day while he was earnestly praying on their behalf, while he was praying on their behalf far away from them in another country, The Spirit of God descended upon the hearts of the members of St. Peter's in Scotland. The revival was later described as a pent-up flood breaking forth. That means the flood was just building and building and building and building and finally it broke through. Tears were streaming from the eyes of many and some fell on the ground groaning, weeping and crying for mercy. From that evening onwards the church held meetings every day for many weeks. Meanwhile, McShane is still far away and he's perhaps the main reason why the revival has finally come. From that evening onwards, the church held meetings every day for many weeks. The extraordinary move of God called for extraordinary meetings. The whole town was moved. Many believers doubted. The ungodly were full of anger, but the word of God spread mightily. When McShane finally returned home to his church, he learned that during his absence and through the ministry of another preacher, hundreds had been moved by the Holy Spirit. Robert was the one who had given so much time and energy to pray for revival and the sovereign God had given someone else the privilege of seeing the answer to these prayers. Yet Robert was so taken up with the glory of God that his heart was genuinely filled with joy seeing every seat in the church building occupied and that the majority of the church members were genuinely concerned about their souls. Isn't that amazing that he who had prayed and labored and labored and preached to this church and hadn't seen God move came back and saw a revival happen in his absence. This is what it means to have a heart for God and for his body. An interesting incident took place about this time which shows the power of influence coming from McShane's life. While he was visiting some friends, three worldly young cousins of his joined the group. They were three sisters, and they wanted nothing to do with Christianity. And so they jokingly teased him and invited him to try to influence them for Christ. But young Robert, a true, and remember, he's only in his late 20s now, a young, a true Christian gentleman with the radiance of Christ in him shining from his face was unaffected by their mocking. As Robert was conducting a family prayer time in the home one evening, the cousin who had mocked him the most, these were his own cousins, The cousin who had mocked him the most suddenly broke out into uncontrollable sobbing and confessed that she needed Christ to save her. Her two sisters were also affected in the same way and soon all three of them were converted and went on to magnify the power of the gospel for years to come. In March 1843, McShane's body, which had always been quite weak, gave in to the typhus fever which had been spreading at that time. Even when he was in his most delirious state because of the fever, his heart's great passion shone brightly as he exclaimed from his bed, as if preaching to a congregation, you must make up in time or you will wake up in everlasting torment to your eternal despair. Here he was on his deathbed and as if preaching to just a few people around him and he exclaims as if preaching in a church, you must wake up in time or you will wake up in everlasting torment to your eternal despair. Then he lifted up his hands in prayer and exclaimed, this church Lord, this people, this whole place, save them. Ten days later, on March 25th, 1843, Robert Murray McShane's Christian warfare on earth came to an end. Amen. Amazing testimony of a man who lived for God and lived with such abandon, not seeking any glory or reputation for himself, not seeking even to see the fruit of his labors, but that God's name would be glorified and that souls would be saved. Amen.