From Studies in the Scriptures Publication: June, 1939
"For ye were as sheep going astray, are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls" (1 Peter 2:25). How distinctly this shows that those sinners who trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation were already His sheep, when as yet they had not been brought to know their need of the great salvation accomplished for them by their "Good Shepherd." "Ye are now returned unto the Shepherd": how distinctly this shows the sure results of grace, through the quickening work of the Holy Spirit. As the result of that work, the Lord Jesus possesses the chief attraction for them. "My sheep hear My voice. . .and they follow Me." They now seek no other place of refuge, no other Guide but Himself. They may possess but little comfort. They have but a very faint assurance of their interest in His love. Great may be the depths of inbred evil over which they have to mourn; yet withal they can truly say that their eyes are toward Him and the desire of their hearts is after Him. The sure evidence this, that His eyes were previously towards them, and His desire first after them, and that His voice has effectually called them to Himself.
"Them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice." How emphatic! How certain is the Shepherd's language! How complete are the arrangements of the Everlasting Covenant! How irresistible are the workings of sovereign electing grace! So is it always. He begins the work in the soul of His beloved; and it is He who carries on that work unto the end. Both the beginning and the end shall evermore be to the glory of His matchless, free, and unmerited grace.--Thomas Moore.
There are two points in the above quotation, most blessed and important, yet little understood today, which perhaps call for a brief amplification. First, the fact that those who savingly believe in Christ are His "sheep" before ever they turn unto Him, for it is to be duly noted that 1 Peter 2:25 is not treating of the recovery of backslidden Christians, but of their first coming to the Saviour. As our Lord so plainly declared, "Other sheep I have (not "shall have") . . . them also I must bring" (John 10:16). They belonged to Him from all eternity. They were His by the Father's election and by His gift of them to His Son. But, it may be objected, these sheep are said to "return" to Christ, so they must previously have been in the fold. The answer is simple: Christ's sheep went astray from Him when they fell in Adam, their natural head, and consequently they were born in sin.
Second, the voice of the verb. It is not "ye have returned unto the Shepherd," but "are now returned." This denotes they were completely passive therein. The work of regeneration is entirely Divine, and nothing of man enters into it. It is wrought in us, and not done by us. The active follows the passive, as the results of life follow the bestowment of life. Our coming to Christ is the consequence of His having drawn us. It is a sovereign act of Divine power which brings us from death unto life, in which we are completely passive.--A.W.P.
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A.W. Pink (1886 - 1952)
Studied at Moodly Bible Institute and pastored some churches in America. He was not very accepted in his congregations which finally made him move back to England to be involved in writing ministry full-time till his death.He was strictly calvinist in this thinking but many of his writings also reflect balance and openness to other views of doctrine. Especially his teachings on antichrist and end-times were promoted well during his life. He wrote over 40 books and many pamphlets including he distributed titled: "Studies in the Scriptures."
Arthur Walkington Pink was a Christian evangelist and Biblical scholar known for his staunchly Calvinist and Puritan-like teachings.
Pink was born in Nottingham, England on April 1, 1886 and became a Christian in 1908, at the age of 22. Though born to Christian parents, prior to conversion he migrated into a Theosophical society (an occult gnostic group popular in England during that time), and quickly rose in prominence within their ranks. His conversion came from his father's patient admonitions from Scripture. It was the verse, Proverbs 14:12, 'there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death,' which particularly struck his heart and compelled him to renounce Theosophy and follow Jesus.
Desiring to grow in knowledge of the Bible, Pink immigrated to the United States to study at Moody Bible Institute. In 1916 he married Vera E. Russell (January 8, 1893 - July 17, 1962), who was from Kentucky. However, he left after just two months for Colorado, then California, then Britain. From 1925 to 1928 he served in Australia, including as pastor of two congregations from 1926 to 1928, when he returned to England, and to the United States the following year. He eventually pastored churches in Colorado, California, Kentucky, and South Carolina.
Converted in 1908 at the age of 22, Arthur Pink left England in 1910 to Study and Moody Bible Institue in Chicago, Illinois. He left after two months and pastored a church in Silverton, Colorado. He had short term pastorates in California, Kentuck and South Carolina.
His first major work, Divine Inspiration Of The Bible, was published in 1917, followed by The Sovereignty Of God, in 1918 which sold less than 2000 copies. He edited the magazine, Studies In The Scriptures, from 1922-1923, in which much of his published works appeared, but circulation was poor, never more than 1000 subscribers.
He spent three years preaching in Australia and returned to England in 1928 for a year. Returning to the United States he spent eight years in itinerant ministry. He returned to England for the last years of his life, living an isolated life.
Pink is famous for his writings, which had the most effect after his death, but his personal ministry as a pastor was largely a failure.