He lived His life down here as a son of man. Think of
His power over temptation, not alone at the outset in the fierce
wilderness struggle, but through those succeeding years of intense
conflict; His power over Satan, over man-possessing demons, over
disease; His power in dealing with the subtle schoolmen trying their
best to trip Him up, as well as over His more violent enemies who would
have dashed Him over yon Nazareth precipice, or later stoned the life
out of His body in Jerusalem. Recall the power of His rare
unselfishness; His combined plainness and tenderness of speech in
dealing with men; His unfailing love to all classes; His power as a soul
winner, as a man of prayer, as a popular preacher, lovingly wooing men
while unsparingly rebuking their sins. _There_ is the suggestion of
Jesus' standard of power. Would you go _after Him_? You may. For as the
Father sent Him even so sends He us, to do the same work and live the
same life.

But wait a moment before answering that question. There is another side
in His life to that "come-after-me." Opposites brought into contact
produce a violent disturbance. Such a life as that of Jesus, down in the
atmosphere of this world will of necessity provoke bitter enmities, both
then and now. Listen. He was criticized and slandered. They said He was
peculiar and fanatical. His friends thought Him "beside Himself," swept
off His feet by excessive, hot-headed enthusiasm. They "laughed Him to
scorn," and reviled Him. They picked His words, and nagged His kindliest
acts, and dogged His steps. Repeated attempts were made upon His life,
both at Nazareth and by stoning at Jerusalem. A determined conspiracy
against His life was planned by the Jerusalem officials six months
before the end actually came. He was practically a fugitive for those
months. At the last He was arrested and mocked and _spit_ upon, struck
with open hand and clenched fist, derisively crowned with thorns, and
finally killed--a cruel, lingering, tortured death.

"If any man would _come after Me_." Plainly this language of Jesus put
back into its original setting begins to assume a new significance.

A Fixed Purpose.

But look at these words a little more closely. "_If_"--it is an open
question, this matter of following Jesus. It is kept open by many people
who want to be known as christian, but who hesitate over what a plain
understanding of Jesus' words may involve. Some of us may be disposed to
shrink back fro