Portraits From The Past

Now, I guess, how many of you have heard of Robert Murray? And how many really, this is just like a name you're thinking, who's he then? Yeah. Well, he's, I mean, as as his name probably sounds to you, he's Scottish. He's Robert Murray Machine.

And he, he's probably best known to people for his bible reading plan. So there's certainly been people I know in our church. There was a group a few years back that tried to read through the bible in a year you do it by reading 4 chapters a day, and that gets you through the Bible once the New Testament twice and the book of Psalms twice. And it's a very good reading program to do. That was put together.

The whole idea of that came from Robert Murray. And, it's sort of characteristic really of what he was all about and I hope you'll see that as we go through tonight. Let me read to you a few quotes about McShane from people who knew him or biographers. They're at the top of your sheet there. A guy called Robert Kandlish wrote, and he obviously knew him.

He says, I cannot understand McShaney. Grace seems to be natural to him. That's quite a statement to make about someone's life, isn't while he's still living. And then Andrew Bonar, a close friend, actually, of his, said the impression left by Machaney was chiefly that there had been amongst us a man of peculiar holiness. This set of a man who never made it to his thirties.

That's quite a statement to make too, isn't it? And then Michael John another contemporary, few ministers have so greatly influenced their own and succeeding generations in so short a life. So what do we need to know about Robert Murray Shane? Well, first of all, He was born up in Edinburgh, and I need to just set the scene a little bit for you, about Edinburgh. The what was the world like?

Well, Scotland does whole, the whole country had only about 4000000 people in those days. So it's fairly fairly reduced from what it is today. And there was a dominating state church that basically was all over Scotland, the church of Scotland, and it was presbyterian. And, because it was a state church, it was funded and supported by the state. It's fairly obvious, really.

And therefore, the state had quite an quite an intensive sort of rule over it. They had a real say in what went on in the church. And that was a problem. You see, the choice of who got installed as the minister in the local parish church really was down to the land owner upon whom the church sat, which is quite corrupt, really. So depending on whether you had a good land owner or a dodgy land owner, you might have a really rubbish church or a really good church.

It's great got an evangelical land owner, but not so much if you don't. Now the 2 main camps in Scotland were the moderates and the evangelicals. There they are. And, the moderates really were the Liberals of their day, and they were holding most of the cards as really tends to happen, doesn't it? They had a much greater influence over the church.

On the other side, you had the evangelicals who were the Bible believing salvation by faith alone kind of Christians. The moderates, the moderate movement had its its foundations in a sort of legalistic influence that had set the tone in the Scottish Church since the turn of the nineteenth century. And the gospel in these churches have been diluted and have been paved over by sort of moral qualifications. It was a very moralistic teaching. You went to your service in a Scottish church in these days, you would get preached morality at you.

And the teaching focused on marks of a holy life. That's what you'd be hearing Sunday after Sunday. Grace is their understanding of grace in these churches. We're seen as being contingent on the person being penitent and fit to receive it. So are you worthy of grace?

That's the point, which kind of undoes the whole idea of grace really when you think about it. And Christ became preached then because of that understanding, Jesus became preached and the cross was preached. As an example, rather than being, Jesus as a substitute. I mean, that's trying to give it in very basic terms. Either Jesus is your substitute or is just an example for you to try and be as like as possible.

Now, that's actually right, isn't it? But you can't have that that 1 on its own. He's got to be your substitute, the 1 who takes your punishment for you. And there was a fascination in these churches with enlightened thought. So sermons became peppered with quotes from philosophers.

You you you came to get sort of philosophical ideas. There was a strong emphasis on virtue and reason preached in the church. I quote a historian and author, Vvanveilen, he says this, the majority of ministers were no longer interested in the fundamental truths of the Bible. Human talents were worshiped and virtuous and civilized conduct were glorified. That's the flavor of the church.

Little summary. And into this setting, Robert Murray was born in 18 13 in Edinburgh. And he was son of a well connected and respected lawyer, so a good family. And therefore, he grew up in a context of of wealth and of and they would, as would be expected, be a moral church going family. Little Robert was taken along to church, a very young age, but it was not to an evangelical church.

And so he grew up living the religion of a pharisee, really. That's how he would have put it. He was striving to live a good life, but was not interested in the foundation of a good life, which is Jesus Christ and faith in him. Now he comes across as you read his story as being a really intense boy. Now there are some biographies that you do that you know, fun and full of daring do kind of biographies, and they can be very, very exciting.

Robert Murray is a biography for people with a poetic He was he was an absolute poet through and through, and we'll see that in his preaching, we'll see it even in his journal entries just to himself. He's really a poetic soul. And, he attended Edinburgh high high school, followed by Edinburgh University to study classics and philosophy. That really, really with him. A very intense young man studying in the things that he really enjoyed, classics, philosophy.

And so I gather he was a good student and he worked with lots of enthusiasm in any subject that interested him. He was also though an extremely social character. He loved to go to parties. He loved to go to dances. He loved lots of frivolity as he would have put it.

And in his 2 years of university life, he he lived a life of he loved to play cards and go to dances and, and live what Hebrew said a fairly reckless kind of life. He wrote about his youth as a quote, their little poem that he wrote. This is later in life, looking back, he wrote a poem entitled response. He gives a good summary of what he thought his life was like back when he was a young man. Well, not much younger than when he died, but there we are.

So listen to what he says. He says, when the wild march of life I first began, tis not so long ago, my earliest plan was just precisely what you now advise to eat, drink, laugh, sleep wake, and thus grow wise. From morn till Eve, from Eve till Mary Morn, I kissed the rose nor thought about the thorn. Do you see what he's saying there? He kissed the rose, but didn't think about the thorns.

Now Robert hated idleness. He was a hard worker. He had an insatiable appetite to learn and to suck the marrow out of life. A very intense young man. He also had a great love for poetry and prose, and he wrote prolifically, and here's a quote about him from 1 of his biographies that say Valentine's Day was the opportunity par excellence for Robert to give expression to his lyrical effusions.

You can imagine he was quite a character. In 19 31, he became, a member, a full on member of the church of Scotland, a full religion of morality. No sense of sin, really. He would have said. No sense of guilt.

Just living his life. For fun and being as moral as he as he could, in a sort of an appearance, a surface of morality. But then change came. His life was shaken up by several things that happened in his family life. First of all, 1 of his brothers left for India.

That's a huge deal back in those days. This is a sort of trip away that you may never see the person again. Could be lost at see anything could happen. And so they never knew whether he they would see this this brother again. How long would they be parted?

And so he was, I guess, fairly put into a fair depression by that, sad about the loss of 1 brother. And then the same year, calamity hit. Robert's oldest brother, David, died. But David died a converted young man. He was converted.

And though we don't know for sure the exact circumstances of Robert's awakening and his conversion This event and these events of this year were massively instrumental in bringing him to Christ. Later, he wrote a letter to a young man and you can see it here. So have a look. You get an idea what his brother was like. It's on your sheet there.

He says, I had a kind brother as you have. He taught me many things. He gave me a bible and he tried to persuade me to read it. He tried to train me as a gardener trains an apple tree upon a wall, but it was all in vain. I thought myself far wiser than he, and would always take my own way.

Many's the time I remember I saw him reading the Bible or shutting self up to pray in his room while I would be dressing myself to go to a dance. Well, this dear friend and brother died and through his death made a greater impression on me than ever his life had done. Well, Robert marked the day of his brother's death every year. He was obviously very close to his brother and his brother's testimony was very precious to him. And it set Robert on the right path.

Now this family tragedy was the catalyst then that broke him out of his life of worldliness and parties. He decided he had to let that go. I guess the brevity of life, the unexpectedness of death just woke him up. And it drew him irresistible away from that life as well of moral obligation and morality in the church and into the arms of Christ for salvation. He was worried about death.

And he wrote a poem which describes his conversions. This is the best we get of his conversion. So the the the poem is very well known. It's him that's often sung in church is called Jehovah Sidkennu. The lord, our righteousness.

That's a reformed sentence right there, isn't it? Look at those first 3 verses. Let me read them to you. I once was a stranger to grace and to god. I knew not my danger.

Felt not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, Jehovah Tsikenu was nothing to me. When free grace awoke me, by light from on high, then legal fears shook me. I tremble to die. No refuge, no safety in self could I see?

Jehovah to Ken whom my savior must be. My terrors all vanished before the sweet name. My guilty fears vanished with boldness I came to drink at the fountain life giving and free. Jehovah Citykennu is all things to me. Wonderful testimony in There was a converted young man right there.

And it that poem describes the breaking through of grace into this young man's life. Somehow he discovered that that that the true gospel, didn't he? Of grace. And he had, first of all, a crushing realization of his desperate lost state. And then a realization that the answer to that lay not in himself or in morality or a righteousness that's based on works that he could do, but purely on the free righteousness that comes by faith in God.

And he realized that all he actually had was outward religion. And that inwardly, he was a cold pharisee, but now his heart was converted. And, there's, there's many entries in his diary that plot this conversion. You can sort of see the changing of his heart, and you've got a few on your on your, handout. But let me read a few here.

So he he writes from 19 32. Here we go. Let me just put some of these up. March March the tenth 19 32, I will never play cards again. That's a good entry from the journalists, isn't it?

Now you gotta remember that meant a huge amount to him. Please don't don't read into all of this legalism. Please don't read that in, and I hope you're gonna see this is not a life of legalistic righteousness. I want you to see that really clearly tonight. This is not legalism.

This is a big deal to him. These were things were stopping him from loving Christ, and so he cut them out. April the tenth, 18 32. I did not go to the dance. God was showing him that things which had allowed him to be that he'd that he'd allow become the focus of his life were in fact a hindrance to his walk with god.

That's what he was was being revealed to him, and so he cut out. November the twelfth 18 31, he writes reading Henry Martin's memoirs. Now, that was a recent missionary to India and Iran. Would I could imitate him? Giving up father, mother, country, house, health, all.

And then shortly afterwards, March the twentieth 18 32, reading the life of Jonathan Edwards. How feeble does my spark of Christianity appear besides such a sun? But even his was a borrowed light. And that same source is open to enlighten me. That's for you, Graeme.

Same source is open to enlighten me. And then, came his call to ministry. So transformed, Robert, entered the divinity college in Edinburgh and was under a theologian and preacher called Thomas Chamas, who's a biography in himself that you probably, well, might you might wanna read at some point. Charmas was a very godly man and deeply impressed a group of young men including Robert at the, at the Viniti College. He was a godly Christite man.

He was actually very influential in the, the, the reformation that happened lead man in the break with the church of Scotland only a few years later, where third of the clergy left the church to form the free church of Scotland. But Robert grew rapidly under the tutelage of Charmas, and he put great efforts into his studies really, really with a hunger to learn more. And he was advancing in his faith and he had a growing sense of god's call on his life, and also the weight. You really see it in his writings. The weight of the grace, he felt the weight of god's grace on in his life thus far.

In June, another entry in his diary, which is on your sheet, June the 20 second, he says, Truly. There was nothing in me that should have induced him to choose me. I was just like any other brand upon whom the fire was kindled, which shall burn forever. Used that as a, as an illustration his sermons very often that kind of language about brands in the fire. And this was characteristic of his life.

Bear in mind, Robert was only to live in another 8 years after this. That's that's all we've got really in the biography. I'm really milking it tonight to to fill an hour. Now from his diary during those last years as a student, you read things like this, August fifteenth 18 33. Am I redeeming time?

Oh, to make haste for eternity. Another entry, do everything in earnest. And then this lovely quote which if you're gonna take 1 home with you is brilliant. Never see the face of man until you've seen the face of god. A great quote to live by.

And he really lived by that. Now, I know, you know, a lot of this stuff does put us to shame, doesn't it? I mean, he is so he's so devoted even at a young age. But there's something there, isn't there that is a really instructive to us and highlight I think for us, just how slack sometimes and ill disciplined we are. And how actually, it's more that we're cold.

Isn't it? We don't have that warm love that he had for god. You know, we often would sort of say things like, you know, I definitely I'll get around having my quiet time No, but I'll have it in the evening, you know, before I go to bed. That would never have done for Robert. Alright, mate.

Would it? Because that that's a great way to look at life, isn't it? I don't wanna see the face of a man when I haven't seen the face of god yet. That's how he lived his life. Well, this intense young man left university in 18 35.

Now, he was, he was plagued by ill health, the whole of his life, what remained of it. He seemed to have been particularly weak physically, a weak chest subject to palpitations and his his heart seemed to be fairly weak. And, on graduation, he was assigned to this place, Robert and Donny Place. It was a, a parish somewhere near Sterling. There were 700 families in this parish.

The parish was, basically most homes were were pretty rough. The the working conditions of of laborers there were were horrific. There's no child labor laws in these days. The beginning of the industrial revolution, it's it's grim, really, factory laborers, steelworks with all the hazards involved that. And most people don't come to church, Robert discovers.

But but he feels responsible for them all. And so he starts visiting, and he, he this is 1 of the things he became famous for. Sometimes he visited up to 28 homes per day. And by visit, I mean, I don't know how he visited it in, but he would go he would go in, read a scripture with them. And pray with them.

And then he kept, intensely kept journals about every person he'd spoken to what he said to them and how they responded. So he was thorough, very, very thorough. And he's got 700 families on his patch, and he's going to see them all. And, he also started to preach and his passion in his preaching, and I guess also his his poetic soul again. Started to come to the fore and it marked him out as a as a as a terrific preacher, tender and loving, and yet with a very sharp edge.

When he preached. He was no doubt always aware of the reality of his own conversion and that sense of the weight of God's grace on him. He preached to bring an awareness the ruined and sinful state of his audience, but then always was so so urgent to hold out grace to them. And to warmly invite them, give the gospel invitation. And he became a greatly loved he was only an assistant minister in this place, but he was greatly loved by his people of the parish despite that short time.

And this his time there was actually cut short. He was I don't think he was even there for basically a year for barely a year. Before he got so sick he had to return home from that short placement. And whilst at home, the call came for him to go up to Dundee. And so he moved moved himself up to Dundee, and, he became the minister, the actual minister of a church called Saint Peters in Dundee.

Robert arrived in Dundee to find an industrial town for him, with about 53000 residents. It's a big, much bigger town. Lots of poverty. Lack of infrastructure so people are chucking all of their stuff out on the street. Lots of disease spreading everywhere.

And that's it's a it's a miserable existence, really, as as it's described. And people escape their misery as they did in most of the cities in drink. So 1 of the things that Robert comments about when he gets there is, on his patch, so he's got a chunk of that city that he needs to look after. On his patch, there are 11 bakeries to serve the people, and there are 108 pubs on his patch. And he says that there's an estimated quarter of working class income is spent on drink.

So a quarter of income on average is going straight out to to alcohol. And, he quotes, put the quotes up on the screen. You've got it on your you've got the longer quote on your. This is his first impressions of Dundee. You got it on your sheet there.

He says thunder, a city given to idolatry and hardness of heart. A godless town, a dead region where the surrounding mass of impenetrable hedonism cast its influence even on those who were Christians. So saying it's a it's an all pervasive sort of feel. It's a you know, maybe. Now Saint Peters was a newly built church for the area.

And it had only opened it stores a year or so earlier. The only embellishments in the church, terrific sort of reforms kind of style, was a pulpit in table. That's all there was in the church, but it could hold up to 1175 people. So that's a good seating but there were very few when he arrived that the building was empty. And so with 4000 homes in his, in his parish, in his patch.

Mc Shane feels responsible and starts to visit. What he did. He visits them. 1 home at a time. And he kept detailed charts again.

With records, and maps, recording every encounter, every passage he read, and what response he got. You can actually go and see those collections today. They're they've been sort of, compiled. And, he started a youth he looked at the needs of the area. He started a youth work, started holding, bible classes for teenagers on Tuesdays, regularly attended by by 250 people, young people.

He even started, daytime and evening schools specifically aimed at the girls working in the factories. And over there, he would he would read the Bible to them, he would do catechism sort of stuff with them and teach them Christian doctrine and theology. Every day, we're told he he rose at 6 30 AM every day spent the first 2 hours of the day in prayer and meditation. Then 8 30 to 10 was given to family worship and prayer in in the house he was in. And then he was off on his visits, visit visit visit visit.

Sundays, of course, were different. Sundays were special. He spent 6 hours during the day feasting on god's word and praying. It's a real dedicated man. 1 friend describes McCain's early morning routine saying this, it's on your sheet.

Thus, he used the early morning hours for the nourishment of his soul, not, however, with a view listen to this, with a view of laying up a stock of grace for the rest of the day, for manor will corrupt if laid by. But rather with the view of giving the eye the habit of looking upwards all the day and drawing down the leaves from reconciled continents. It's a different, it's a whole different approach, isn't it? He's not just, looking for a stock that will hold him through the day. But he's trying to train his eye to keep looking up throughout the day.

That's a different approach, isn't it? It's quite interesting, isn't it? The other thing that started to mark him out as you would expect was his preaching. His preaching while he was there. So he's praying constantly for those under his charge, but he's he's praying and he's preaching.

There's a couple of quotes here from, 1 of his biographies, saying it was this poetical talent that he had that in enhanced the warm tone of his sermons. There was pathos in it. There was winningness. There was fire. His greatest gift lay, not in the manner of his delivery, but in the simplicity with which he rendered the good news of salvation.

Everyone felt that Christ's messenger had come into their midst, a man who was filled with compassion for souls? Well, Mc Shane did not preach to please men. You could not accuse him that though he was warm and is engaging. And he certainly didn't preach a sort of the easy believism that that you get today or a morality Well, he knew from his own testimony that Christ's work and that faith were the only means whereby righteousness could be attained. Let me read you a few quotes from his preaching.

This is something actually that he wrote, I think, first of all. The more god opens your eyes, the more you will feel that you are lost in yourself. This is your disease. Now, for the remedy. Look to Christ, for the glorious son of god so loved lost souls he took on him a body and died for us, bore our curse and obeyed the law in our place.

Look to him and live. You need no preparation. You need no endeavors. You need no duties. You need no strivings.

You only need to look and live. Look at John's 17 verse 3. The way to be saved is to know god's heart and the heart of Jesus, to be awakened you need to know your own heart. Look at your own heart if you wish to know your lost condition. See the pollution that is there?

To be saved, you need to know the heart of God and of Christ. The 4 gospels are the narrative of the heart of Christ. They show his compassion to sinners and his glory work in their stead. Do you think he was reformed? He was very, very concerned also about genuine conversion He didn't wanna just sort of settle for someone just sort of praying the prayers, the the sinner's prayer or something like that or saying that they're a Christian.

Very worried about that whole idea of nominalism. Who can blame him in a church that's so, so messed up. He was away. He was aware also. He couldn't actually see into people's hearts, but didn't want to give anyone a sort of false security.

Therefore, he was careful always to test and probe. He loved to sit with people and talk with people and see what the state of their soul really was if they profess faith. And he would never seek to dis to disguise the disease or to hide the cure. Listen to this this little excerpt is on your sheet there. He right he says a young woman was with me tonight in deep distress.

She said, I have a wicked heart within me that would sink a world. McShane said. I am thankful to hear you complain of your wicked heart, dear friend. It is unsearchably wicked. There is not a sin committed on earth or in hell but has its spring and fountain in your breast and mind?

You are all sin, your nature is sin, your heart sin. Your past life is all sin. Your prayers are all sin. Oh that you would despair of being righteous in yourself. Then take the lord Jesus as your righteousness.

In him is no sin, and he stood for us and offers to be your shield your way to the father. You may be righteous in Christ with perfect righteousness. Not only did his preaching constantly can't contain that urgent appeal to the unconverted but they were also his his sermons were also filled with counsel and comfort for god's children. I want just a few excerpts to show some of that He had a terrific pastoral heart, and he wanted to build up the faith of those around him and support those that are young in their faith. This was from his council to young believers having first come to peace in Christ.

He writes no sooner has he found a sweet calm of a forgiven soul, then the young believer begins to know the bitter anxiety of a soul that fears to sin. He fears now, but he might go back to the world. Then the young believer begins to make a great many resolutions in his own strength. Legalistic sanctification is crouching at the door? How should such an insecure soldier When sins arise, when the world sets in like a flood, when temptations come suddenly upon you, lean back on the almighty spirit, and you are safe.

Consider a child learning to walk. While trying to take a few steps forward, he would threaten to fall at any moment. What does such a child do? Does it not yield itself up into its mother's arms. When it cannot go, it can sense to be carried.

And so do you feeble child of god? God has given you cleaving faith to cleave to Christ alone for righteousness, has given you the peace of the Isn't the only way to progress in sanctification to follow and hold fast to the lamb? What is often the fault? In the believer's life. It is because your eye is fixed anywhere, but on Christ.

Great advice, isn't it? Robert worked tirelessly amongst his parishioners, and crowds started to flock to hear him. And all the while he carried, you know, this this burden on him for their souls. And so he prayed and prayed for their versions. He prayed for revival to come to Scotland at the wind of the Holy Spirit would sweep through Dundee and through the nation.

Well, the long hours and the heavy burden finally took its toll on him as you can imagine. And, he started to pass out. At the start of 18 39, Robert had to return home to Edinburgh to recover. From his parents' home, He stayed in constant correspondence with his churches at Saint Peters, and he wrote many heartfelt letters to them. Sort of anxious that they not be leaning so much on him as their minister that they would have forgotten to lean on the lord.

So there's a flavor of his letters there. You know, you don't need me, you need the lord. On the January the eighteenth, he wrote to a friend, and listen to this. It's very interesting. Said, I sometimes think that a great blessing may come to my people in my absence.

Often, god does not bless us when we're in the midst our labors, lest we shall say, my hand and my eloquence has done it. He removes us into silence and then pours down a blessing so that there's no room to receive it so that all who see it will cry out. It is the lord. It's a great spirit that he had as a minister. And that actually, that quote was to prove quite prophetic.

Well, in 19 39, and we'll we'll get to this. This chapel just appeared on the screen rather strange. I'll talk about him in just a second. 19 39, Robert, who had long had a heart for the Jewish nation along with some friends from, from the the church. He decided along with some friends that, that actually they they said to him that his recovery might be helped by going to a warmer climate.

And so he and a group of friends decide they would go to the holy hand. Their their aim was to go and compile a report on the state of the Jewish nation because they were concerned about the conversion of the Jews. And so Robert along with 3 companions, went to make a long round trip through Palestine up through Asia, Eastern Europe, and then compile a report, when they got back. Now, the news of this did not go down very well at Saint Peters. But Robert appointed this man behind me as minister whilst he was absent.

A young graduate called William Burns. He's another 1 to look up and read the life story of, very fascinating. It became a missionary later as you can see in picture to China. Now much more could be said on this trip to the Holy Land, but that would, I think, would divert us where I really wanna go. And in some sense, I think it diverted Robert.

That's my opinion. Diverted him. But on his return, some interesting things happened. So Robert, first of all, became gravely ill, as they were try as they were back and they were coming through Smyrna. They had to stop for quite a long period of time, and he was near death, at that on that occasion.

However, he and his companions, he did recover and they did all make it home. But as they arrived in Hamburg for the last leg of the journey, back to the UK. Some good news came the other way. They heard some good news. Revival had come.

In their absence, ironically, But once he'd gone, you know, considering his quote earlier, there had been a great awakening in Scotland, and Dundee was 1 of the cities where it had certainly happened. So under the ministry of William Burns, the student who'd come in to just cover while the pastor was was away, revival had come. And the church was absolutely heaving when Robert arrived back. There was much we're told weeping and wailing of men and women and children as they fell under the conviction of their sin. And Robert as he arrived there knew he had his work cut out with this lot.

Without delay, what did he do? He commenced preaching and ministering to the people of Dundee. At 1 point, there were 39 prayer meetings going on in the course of the week, during this period. And 5 of those were attended and run entirely by children. That's quite fascinating, isn't it?

Now, don't laugh at that. I when I was, when I was in Tanzania, We had a group of sixth graders that used to run their own prayer meeting without any supervision, and it was it was absolutely humbling to see how well they did it. It was it's wonderful. Anyway, so 5 5 prayer meetings by children, 39 prayer meetings a week. Now, here's the question then.

With the character of Robert Murray, was he jealous of what burns, what a happened in his absence with Burns and Burns's success. Well, let me read to you a little quote from a letter that he wrote shortly after his arrival. It's on your sheet there. He says this. My dear brother.

I shall never be able to thank you for all your labors amongst the precious souls committed to me. And what is worse, I can never thank god fully for his kindness and grace, which every day hear to me more remarkable. He has answered prayer to me in all that has happened in a way which I have never told anyone lovely sort of letter to his friend. And, they did become friends, but Shane and Burns remained very close friends for for the years that passed afterwards. Well, Robert was in the word of 1 writer, not accustomed to laying hands on anyone hastily as you sort of saw earlier on in his life.

He wasn't gonna take it just on face value that people falling down on the ground and weeping under the conviction of the sins were actually genuinely converted. And so he commenced in Robert Murray Mc Shane style, the follow-up work on all of those who had been away in the revival. And it was still going on in Dundee. He noticed that some of them who had professed faith had returned to their own old ways. And he was looking for permanent fruit.

And so along with preaching, he once again devoted himself to work of after care. Started categorizing trying to teach people what they believed and trying to really find out what was going on in people's heads. And the fruit of this revival was really due largely in part, in large part to the seed that had been own in his own ministry before his departure. And I think, you know, we can recognize that. But the after care that he they've established people and grew people in their faith so that it wasn't just a sort of passing thing.

The fruit of it, was, was his hard work, really. And he kept a level head throughout the whole thing. He was overjoyed with the fruit that he saw around him, but he never ceased from steady ministry, ensuring that the seed continued to fall on good soil and was not sort of snatched away or strangled or or dried out by the sun. Now much more could be said about the arrival. Our time is short, and we're going to things up fairly rapidly now, I think.

Eventually, he handed over in the last little bit of his life. He handed over the ministry, some Peters, all that pastoral work, so that for the last, actually what turned out to only be really the last few months of his life, that he could become an itinerant evangelist. And so he traveled preaching the gospel for the last remaining months of his life. But in 18 43, he can Tifles. And in this exhausted state of never really stopping, he couldn't fight off the disease and died on the 20 fifth of March.

They say the whole city, not literally the whole city, but I think at least 7000 people tell out for his funeral. She's quite something in a city when you think of the description of the city. At the time, 7000 people turned out for his funeral. And he was buried in the churchyard at Saint Peters where you can visit his grave today. Shortly after that, his best friend Andrew Bonar wrote his memoir and remains telling the story of his life, which is quite something when you think of a man who never even reached the age of to.

And so many actually, many people have written biographies about him because his was a life that profoundly affected so so many people. Let me finish up with just looking at some lessons with that we can learn from the life of Robert Murray Shane. You might now was warning you earlier about the dangers of seeing this all as kind of the, you know, we hold up, Robert Murray, and we say, be like him. And we all then come away thinking, oh, I can't I can't do that. That is that is another kind of person from me.

It was a lovely wasn't it for him to see when it went because I I guess from that quote we read earlier that that's how he viewed Jonathan Edwards and he sort of thought, and then he suddenly realized it's the same file that burned in him is available to me. Now, what was distinctive really about Robert Murray saying. I don't think it was I've put some things up on the screen, but I don't think it was necessarily that he was just just a very disciplined bloke that just knew he had to get on with things and do it. I think really what's characteristic of him was not not a legalism, but a real love, a real love for god. He loved god so much.

It was so great for the grace he'd been given, and that was so real to him that it affected it affected his walk with him. You know, he didn't wanna see the face of man who's in of god, his top priority was god all the time. And it was out of love, not out of legalism that he wanted to give so much of his time in give his life and to do all of these different things. I think we've gotta get that. Don't come away from this thinking, legalistic thoughts about I must read my more.

No, that's not the point. You must love God more. Isn't that what he did? It it actually interests me if you look at these, These books. So these are some books that Don Carson did, which take you through the Robert Murray McShane reading plan.

And so, you know, in 1 year, you eat through the Bible. Book of Psalms and whatnot. But interesting, isn't it? Look at the name that Don Carson gave the 2 books for the love of God. Not for the sake of getting through the Bible and saying I the bible in a year.

No. For the love of God. And then I just realized, you know, the most recent biography of Mc Shane, this big fact home here vanvalent, constrained by his love. That that really does seem to be what the biographers pick up on. Here was a man who profoundly loved his god.

That's really what was distinctive about him. And I think that's the example that we want to follow. You know, the book of Hebrew tells us that I put that verse up there. From Hebrew 13. Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.

Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. He surely qualifies. Doesn't hear someone we should look at. Consider his way of life and imitate his faith. But he was a man who loved and trusted god.

Well, let me read to you a few little final quotes from your sheet. Here. He spent much time with god, and I love this little quote that he gave gave here. He says, If there were 10000 other ways of pardon, I would pass them all by and flee to Jesus. Christ held down his head for shame on account of my sin, so I might hold my heart up in peace on account his righteousness.

You that are in Christ prize him. You that are in doubt solve it by running to him. You that are out of him choose him now. That's what my roommate Shane wants to say to us, I think, isn't it? Run to him.

Love him. Well, he was a, he was a good man. He was a balanced man. Can I just make 1 last comment before we, before we finish up? And that is in such a short life, he did achieve quite a lot, didn't he?

But it's very interesting how he achieved it. And I think that's quite instructive to us too. Confronted with 4000 homes to visit. How did Murray McShane do it? He did it 1 at a time.

Sweet. Confronted with this great big book, the Bible, a big book to read. How did he do it? 1 chapter at a time? There's nothing special and remarkable about that.

There's just something small that achieves huge, doesn't it? It just gets things done. We get things up. And we live in a generation that just wants to do everything really quickly. At me.

Wanna achieve something big right now. But no, I think that 1 of the the practical lessons of Mc Shane's life is just doing a little bit every day consistently, and you will manage to do the bigger things. Of course, all fueled by the love of Well, I've spoken for plenty of time now, and it'd be really good on our tables now to just have a chat about some of those things that have struck you from that biography. And when you've done that and shared some of your thoughts with each other, to pray again and ask that god would help us to live that kind of a devoted life, simple gospel preaching life, a life that does the small things, just consist does them and allows for god to grow great things from those little efforts that we do. So let's spend some time doing that now.