NO. 2478<\/b><\/p>\n
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD\u2019S-DAY, AUGUST 16TH, 1896,<\/b><\/p>\n
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,<\/i><\/p>\n
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON,<\/b><\/p>\n
ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 1ST, 1869.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.\u201d \u2014 Song of Solomon 5:10.<\/i><\/p>\n
THE spouse in this verse styles her Lord, \u201cmy Beloved,\u201d from which it is easy for us to gather that it is of the utmost importance that our heart\u2019s affection should be really and truly set upon Christ Jesus, our Lord. We must trust him, and we must love him. Christ on the cross saves us when he becomes to us Christ in the heart. It is of small service for us to know of Christ if we do not really trust and love him. It will be of little avail for us to talk of him unless our heart be really welded and knit to him. Let us, therefore, dear friends, commence this evening\u2019s meditation with a solemn enquiry made by each one for himself or herself, \u201cCan I call the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified on Calvary, but who now reigns at the right hand of the Father, can I truly call him, \u2019my Beloved\u2019?\u201d There may be a question raised in your soul by a natural anxiety lest you should presume, but be not content until you have solemnly and seriously searched your hearts, to know whether in very deed and truth an ardent affection burns within your spirit towards the Lord Jesus. It were better for you that you had never been born than that you should live and die without love to Christ. Remember that startling sentence of the apostle Paul, which is so solemn that I can scarcely quote it without tears, \u201cIf any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha,\u201d that is, let him be accursed at the coming of the Lord. It will be so with you, dear friends; however shining your moral attributes may have been, however you may have carved your name upon the rook of history, you must go down to endless misery and shame unless your heart has in it a vital sense of true religion, a sincere love to the crucified Christ of Calvary.<\/p>\n
If this important personal enquiry has had its due weight upon our minds, it may lead us to another consideration, namely, that it is a blessed thing, if we do love Christ, to be able to speak about our affection for him as a matter of course, and a matter of fact; not as a thing that hangs trembling in the balance, but as an ascertained truth and certainty. The spouse does not speak of \u201cHim whom I hope to love by-and-by,\u201d or of \u201cHim whom I trust I shall one day know, \u201cbut she calls him, without question or qualification, \u201cmy Beloved.\u201d She is quite sure about this blessed relationship; she raises no doubts and she has no fears concerning it. I do not say that, if any man has a doubt about his love to Christ, he need therefore necessarily condemn himself; but I do say that he must never be content to continue in such a state. Perhaps, they who love the Master best are the very people who will be the most likely to have such a high opinion of the love which he deserves, that they will often chide themselves that they do not love him at all, when they see how little their love is compared with that perfection of affection which he deserves. We must not affirm that the question of anxiety is sinful; it is painful, and anxiety, if it be not divinely removed, will become sinful, but the anxiety is not so in itself. Yet, beloved, I beseech you to press on beyond this stage of your pilgrim journey. Do not be content to live on hopes, and fears, and peradventures, and surmises. You would not like to think that perhaps you loved your child, or your husband, or your friend. You would not care to say, \u201cI hope I love virtue, I hope I love honesty;\u201d but it is a baser thing still for us to allow a question to exist as to whether we love him who is dearer than our own kindred, and who is better than any one moral excellence, seeing that he is the combination of all excellences. O beloved, seek to reach the blessed heights of full assurance, that each one of you may be able to say of Christ, \u201cThis is my Beloved, and this is my Friend; I would as soon doubt my own existence as doubt the love that burns within my heart towards him who has bought me with his precious blood.\u201d Sing, as we have often done, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cMy Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine,
For thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, \u2019tis now.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
If we have reached that stage in our journey heavenwards, it will be well if we go on a step further. Loving our Lord and Savior in our heart, and being assured of that love in our inmost conscience after earnest heart-searching, it will be well if we have the courage never to hesitate in the avowal of that love. Our love to Christ is so sacred a passion that it is not to be talked of in all companies. We must not cast our pearls before swine; but, on the other hand, it is so ennobling a passion that we need never blush to own it in any company. If we ever are ashamed of loving Christ, we have good reason to be ashamed of such shameful shame. When you have heard his dear name reviled, did you ever start for fear lest you should be called upon to share his reproach? Did you ever sit silent when you ought to have spoken because Christ was being blasphemed? Did you ever try to make it out to yourself that it was a prudent retirement that shunned the conflict when, in very truth, it was a hateful cowardice that turned its back upon the Crucified in the hour of his need? I fear that the charge might be brought against the most of us; if so, let us humbly confess it on our knees alone, and blush before the presence of our blessed Master. Remember what we sang just now, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cJesus I and shall it ever be?
A mortal man ashamed of thee!
Ashamed of thee, whom angels praise,
Whose glories shine thro\u2019 endless days.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cAshamed of Jesus! sooner far
Let evening blush to own a star;
He sheds the beams of light divine
O\u2019er this benighted soul of mine.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cAshamed of Jesus! just as soon
Let midnight be ashamed of noon:
\u2019Tis midnight with my soul, till he,
Bright Morning Star, bid darkness flee.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cAshamed of Jesus! that dear Friend
On whom my hopes of heaven depend!
No; when I blush, be this my shame,
That I no more revere his name.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
What can there be to be ashamed of in loving him whom angels love, whom God loves, whom all holy spirits love? What! not love him? If he were not in himself God, yet has he been so good to me that I must love him. It is an old proverb that we must speak of friends as we find them, and praise the bridge that carries us over the stream; and here is one in whom we have found such goodness, such kindness, such gentleness, and such disinterested affection, one who has done such wonders for us that if we do not love him, and boldly declare that we love him, we have good reason to be ashamed of ourselves, and to hide our heads in confusion for ever and ever. Young people, you who have lately come to love Christ, do not begin as some of your fathers did, in that half-hearted fashion which has continued with them until this day. Alas! there are some professing Christians who have grown grey, and yet have scarcely ever dared to speak the name of Christ in company. Yes, some of them have even been ashamed up to this moment to be baptized and to come to the Lord\u2019s table. They say that they love Christ, and I hope they do; yet up to this hour, baptism has been a cross too heavy for them to bear, and the Lord\u2019s supper has seemed to them to be an ordeal instead of a means of blessing. Play the man, young Christian; be not ashamed to avow your Lord! If ever there was unfurled in this world a banner which deserved the utmost allegiance of human hearts, it is the blood-stained banner of the cross; and if ever there was a Leader who deserved that men should speak his praises, not \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cWith \u2019bated breath, and whisp\u2019ring humbleness,\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
but with manly enthusiasm, that Leader is the Christ of God, who loved you, and gave himself for you. Yes, utter it in the face of a scoffing world, stand to it in the teeth of a ribald infidel generation, declare it before the crowd of gainsayers who will mock you to scorn as you pronounce it, \u201cThis is my Beloved, \u2014 the Christ that died, the Christ that ever liveth at the right hand of God, \u2014 this is my Beloved, and I am not ashamed to avow him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suppose that we have come as far as this, \u2014 and I believe that many of us have come so far, \u2014 it will be our bounden duty to go a step further. Loving Jesus, knowing that we love him, and boldly confessing our love to him, let us, next, so study his person and his character that we shall be able to give a reason for the love that is in us to any who make the enquiry, \u201cWhat is thy Beloved more than another beloved?\u201d You observe that the spouse not only calls him, \u201cmy Beloved,\u201d but she describes the complexion of his countenance, and the details relating to his whole person; she hath a word of praise for all his features and all his members. She knows him so well that she speaks of him with a tongue like the pen of a ready writer. So, beloved, let us study Christ as we come again to this communion table. You who love and fear him, neglect not your Bibles; neglect not that fellowship which, like the light of a candle, shines upon the page of the Bible. Some of you are studying earthly sciences, perhaps you give your minds to the classics, or you delight to master the mysteries of mathematics; but oh! take care that this most excellent science, the science of Christ crucified, is not made to take a second place with you. Always put this science first; try to understand the glory of your Lord\u2019s person, without beginning of days or end of years; search into the purity of his character in all that he was here below from his birth to his death. Be conversant with Christ in all his sacred offices; think much of his precious blood, and of all the holy mysteries that cluster around his cross. Trace him from Bethlehem to Gabbatha, and then from Gabbatha follow him in his resurrection and ascension along the star-bespangled way up to the throne of his glory, and let your soul hopefully linger in the full belief of his second coming, and in all the glory that shall surely follow the day of his august appearing. Study Christ, study Christ, so as to be able to tell others of him, and be not slow to communicate to those of an enquiring mind that which you have yourself heard, and seen, and handled, of the Word of life, for so the spouse doth in the chapter before us.<\/p>\n
This much must suffice by way of introduction, or rather, by way of practical exhortation to such of you as are enlisted beneath Christ\u2019s royal banner of love.<\/p>\n
Now let us proceed to consider the general description of the Bridegroom given by his spouse in this verse. First, she saith, \u201cmy Beloved is white and ruddy.\u201d These words set forth his charming complexion<\/i>. Secondly, the spouse calls her Beloved \u201cthe chiefest among ten thousand,\u201d and so she describes his personal precedence<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
I. <\/b>First, then, the spouse saith, \u201cmy Beloved is white and ruddy,\u201d and so she sets His Charming Complexion.<\/p>\n
It seems to me that the spouse intends by these words to call attention to two chief characteristics of her Lord\u2019s most blessed person. Had not Solomon often seen the snow-white lambs, \u2014 the emblems of purity, \u2014 brought up to the temple to be offered in sacrifice? \u201cSo,\u201d said he, \u201cmy Beloved is white.\u201d Had he not also seen the uplifted knife in the priest\u2019s hand, and then seen the ruby stream as it flowed down at the foot of the altar till the white lamb was stained crimson in its own blood? So he puts the two together, the white, the immaculate purity, the red, the sacrificial blood-shedding; and these two things, whether they are meant in the text or not, are certainly the two essentials of the Christian faith concerning the person of Christ; and he is no Christian, and, indeed, cannot be a Christian, who hath not well learned and joyously received the two truths which the white and the red here set forth.<\/p>\n
Our Lord is, first of all, in himself white; that is, he has immaculate perfection of character<\/i>. As God, in him is light, and no darkness at all; perfect purity, without a trace of sin. He is very God of very God, the Holy One of Israel. In his Godhead, Jesus Christ is perfection itself. As to his manhood, the term whiteness well describes him who was born without natural corruption, or taint of hereditary depravity, \u2014 \u201dthat holy thing,\u201d the Christ of God, who became incarnate, yet without sin. Doth not this word \u201cwhite\u201d describe him also in his actual life? There was never any sin in Christ. You may challenge every word of his, and you shall find it pure; you may thrust it into the furnace heated seven times hotter than it is wont to be heated, yet shall it come forth as it went in, for no dross shall be found in it. As to Christ\u2019s actions, they are matchless and perfect in every respect; the two great objects of his life were the glory of God and the good of man. So pure, indeed, is the character of Christ, that even those who have hated his religion, and have read the writings of the four Evangelists with no design but to find some ground for cavilling, have nevertheless been cowed before the majesty of the perfect life of Christ. In fact, it is to-day as it was of old, when the officers were sent to take him prisoner; they went back without him, for they said, \u201cNever man spake like this Man.\u201d There is no spot in him; he is the Lamb of God without blemish, the perfect Christ, and hence it is that we love him. We love those who possess true excellence, and therefore we must love Christ, for he has every excellence in perfection. If there were no atonement, if we did not regard our Lord Jesus BB our Savior, yet still every true heart ought to love him, and to be won to him. There are such charms in his character that, if our souls were not besotted by the love of sin, we must worship and adore this glorious Son of God, who is the brightness of the Father\u2019s glory, and the express image of his person. He is so white and pure that we ought to love him.<\/p>\n
But, next, we come to the blood-shedding, the sacrificial character of Christ<\/i>. Alas! that this glorious doctrine of the atoning sacrifice should ever be cast into the background, as it so often is, for the bloodshedding of Christ is the very essence of Christianity. In the fullness of time, Jesus Christ, born of a woman, came into this world as the Substitute for sinners. The vengeance of God against sin was poured out upon him; he suffered death that those who trust him might not die; the Lamb of God was slain in their room, and place, and stead, that he might render satisfaction to the injured honor sad broken law of God. This is the chief reason, after all, why Christ\u2019s people love him, because, in his precious blood they see the pardon of all their sins, they see the lifting of themselves up into the life of God, they see the open way of access unto the Father, they see the gates of heaven opened to all believers. Beloved, there are some in these days who cry up the glorified Christ, and I will cry him up with them, nor shall they find a word too strong for his praise; yet they would have men trust in the glorified Christ, they preach the doctrine of the second advent as though it were the chief teaching of Holy Scripture, and they seem to look to the second coming of Christ rather than to the first; but let Paul\u2019s words be always our motto, \u201cWe preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.\u201d With that same apostle let us cry, \u201cGod forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d His throne is glorious, and his glory shall speak for itself; but the despised and crucified Christ is the source of the sinner\u2019s salvation, and this truth is ever to be preached and held up as the first and cardinal doctrine of our holy faith.<\/p>\n
Brethren, let us thus look at Jesus, \u201cwhite\u201d in his spotless innocence, \u201cruddy\u201d in his sacrificial suffering. Let us view him as the one sinless Being, and also as the chief of martyrs, the One in whom was no sin, yet upon whom the Lord did cause to meet the iniquity of all his people, with all the suffering it deserved, and all the vengeance and wrath of Almighty God that were rightly due to the transgressors. I must not detain you longer upon this part of the subject, but I cannot pass from it without asking the question, \u2014 Do we all love this precious One in whom there is all excellence, and in whom there is also this matchless suffering, this sin-atoning grief? Oh! if thy heart be truly set on Christ, thou hast a portion so rich that thou needest not envy even the angels, for \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cNever did angels taste above,
Redeeming grace and dying love.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
If this is thy lot, thou art happy, thrice happy, though poor, and sick, and unknown. If Christ be indeed thy Beloved, thou art married to One who is the equal of the Eternal God. If thy heart embraceth Christ, and Christ be really thine, thou hast more than the world can ever compass, thou hast more than heaven itself could give if Christ were withdrawn from its courts of glory. Be thou happy, then, be thou joyous in thy Lord, let thy heart go up to him, and rest thou in him; and when thou comest to the communion table, let it be with thine eye and thine heart fixed on thy Beloved, who is \u201cwhite and ruddy.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, my dear hearer, if thou hast not Christ, oh! how I wish thou hadst him, and thou mayest have him this very night. Many of you are strangers to me. At this time of the year, when so many of our regular hearers take their vacation at the sea-side, or in the country, there is room for more strangers. Well, dear friends, we are strangers to one another, but I hope many of you are not strangers to the Master; or if you are, possibly the Lord brought you here that you might meet with him, and that he might meet with you. It would be a blessed Sabbath indeed to your soul if now you could say, \u201cThis perfect Man, I must love him; this suffering Substitute, I must trust him. God has laid him in Zion as a foundation and a chief cornerstone; I will come, and build all my hopes for time and for eternity upon him and his great atoning sacrifice.\u201d Thou art black, poor sinner, but then he is white; and his white shall stand in the place of thy black. Thou art black, but then he is ruddy, and his crimson blood shall wash away every speck and stain of thy sin. All thou hast to do is simply to look to him by faith, for there is life in a look at him. Only trust him, trembler; only trust him, guilty sinner; only trust him, and that simple trust shall bring thee life, health, perfection, heaven, God himself. God grant that so it may be!<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n
II. <\/b>Now passing on to the remaining words of the text, notice that the spouse saith of her Beloved that he is \u201cthe chiefest among ten thousand.\u201d These words set forth His Personal Precedence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chiefest among ten thousand.\u201d Is it not incorrect to say, \u201cthe chiefest\u201d? I care not if it is; and I would not like to see the word altered into \u201cchief.\u201d Human words at best are such poor things that they stagger under the mighty burden of the perfections of Christ. We seem to need some of those huge pillars and pedestals that we sometimes see outside massive piles of architecture, that we may bear up the ponderous truth of our text; we must have such words as \u201cchiefest\u201d, for common language does not suffice in such a case as this. I suppose that, in heaven, they have done with our poor imperfect speech, and know how to speak of Christ as he deserves. Anyhow, we believe with good John Berridge, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cLiving tongues are dumb at best,
We must die to speak of Christ.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
He is the chiefest among ten thousand, and it so happens that this word \u201cchiefest\u201d may mean any one of three or four things. First, take it as it stands, \u2014 \u201dChiefest\u201d \u2014 that is to say, Christ is higher, better, lovelier, more excellent, than any who are round about him<\/i>. If you shall bring ten thousand angels, he is the chiefest Angel, the Messenger of the covenant. If you shall bring ten thousand friends, he is the chiefest Friend, the \u201cFriend that sticketh closer than a brother.\u201d If you shall bring ten thousand physicians, he is the best Physician, for he healeth all diseases. If you find ten thousand shepherds, he is the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd. If you find one, two, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, all excellent, they must all give way when he appeareth, as the stars are forgotten when the soul ariseth in his strength. Christ is the chiefest, the best, the highest of all beings; whatever excellences there may be in others, they are all eclipsed by the surpassing excellences that are found in him.<\/p>\n
Christ is the chiefest among ten thousand; that is to say, he is the Head, the Ruler, the Prince, the King, the Lord over all<\/i>. There he standeth, with his feet like most fine gold, and all around him are the chariots of God that are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels, and there is not one who lifts his head as high even as his Lord\u2019s feet, and amongst all the cherubic and seraphic host there is not one who would not count it his highest heaven to fly at Christ\u2019s command to the meanest cottage, or even to a dunghill whereon Lazarus doth lie with the dogs licking his sores. Christ is King of all the angels, and here below, too, there are ten thousand forces and powers continually at work, for God hath his hosts and armaments on earth as well as in heaven; but Christ is Lord High Admiral of all the seas, the great Commander-in-chief of all the battalions, the mighty King who ruleth over all; and when he cometh into his Church, we know that he is Chief there. Who dareth look at him, and claim equality with him? I tremble at the thought of that dreadful blasphemy which might well have condemned England to the lowest hell for daring to call an earthly monarch \u201cthe head of the Church.\u201d It cannot be, it is sheer impiety, for man or angel ever to dare to steal that title of Christ. He alone is King in the midst of Zion, he is the one and only Head of the Church. It was a brave deed of Cameron and his comrades to lift up their voices against this infamy when first it sought to spread itself in Scotland; and it is ill on our part that we have not lifted up our voices more loudly against it in this our land. A man or a woman, head of the Church? No, never! Let Christ, and Christ alone, wear the crown he bought with his own blood; he alone is King, and let him ever be so proclaimed and acknowledged. In matters of religion, we want not Caesar\u2019s favor, and we fear not Caesar\u2019s frown. Christ is the one Head of his Church, and his true Church is free both from the control and the patronage of the State, and so she shall be wherever true hearts beat loyally to Christ, and wherever true lips speak his praises He is \u201cthe chiefest among ten thousand.\u201d If there be ten thousand bishops, he is the Bishop of souls. If there be ten thousand fathers, he is \u201cthe Everlasting Father.\u201d If there be ten thousand teachers, yet shall they not be called Rabbis, for One is our Teacher and Rabbi, even Christ, and at his feet the reverent Church adoringly doth bow, hailing him, and him alone, as Head and Master, \u201cthe chiefest among ten thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Septuagint, the text has another meaning. Our Lord in Scripture is called the chosen One, the effect of God. As the psalmist puts it, speaking by prophecy, \u201cI have exalted One chosen out of the people.\u201d Christ is chosen out of ten thousand, as the Mediator to stand between God and men. Whoever else might have been employed by God for this service, \u2014 and we are not able to think of any other, \u2014 yet first of all was Christ chosen of God; and to-day we may call him the chosen One because he is the chosen of his Church. If the question were put to us, and a poll were demanded upon it, \u2014 \u201cOf all the Church of Christ, who shall be Head and Lord? Who shall be Master? Who shall be Teacher? Who shall be the Beloved?\u201d \u2014 would not all of us hold up our hands for him, \u2014 yea, hands and hearts as well, and we would even lay down our heads on the block if it were necessary to secure his election. Every one of us would, with a burst of acclamation, unconstrained except by his own charms, elect him to be the Head and Lord in the midst of Zion. I put to thee, dear hearer, a more personal question, \u2014 Hast thou chosen him? If not, wilt thou by his grace put thy hand on thy heart now, and say, \u201cNow have I chosen him because he has first chosen me\u201d? I pray thee at once to make choice of him; for if thou dost, thou wilt never repent of it. I have stood by a great many death-beds; but there is one scene I never saw, and never expect to see, and that is a child of God repenting that he ever loved Christ Jesus say you be able to say what we have often sung! \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Tis done! the great transaction\u2019s done;
I am my Lord\u2019s, and he is mine;
He drew me, and I followed on,
Charm\u2019d to confess the voice divine.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cHigh heaven, that heard the solemn vow,
That vow renew\u2019d shall daily hear;
Till in life\u2019s latest hour I bow,
And bless in death a bond so dear.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
May Christ be the chosen of your heart! God grant that no soul here may refuse admission to the Prince of Peace!<\/p>\n
Lastly, according to the margin of our Bible, the text bears this meaning, and probably should be thus read, \u201cHe is the Standard-bearer among ten thousand<\/i>.\u201d The \u201cten thousand\u201d we may consider to be the warriors of God, enlisted to fight his battles against error and sin. Who is the Standard-bearer of God\u2019s militant host below? The only answer is that \u201cChrist is the Standard-bearer among ten thousand.\u201d For a standard-bearer, there was need of a select man, with good strong arms, who could firmly grasp the pole that held aloft the standard, \u2014 a man resolute of heart, who, having once taken charge of the flag, would sooner die than loose his hold of the colors. It needed for a standard-bearer one who was courageous, one who would not be alarmed by the din and strife of battle, and turn his back, but who would go at the head of the host, carrying the banner into the very thick of the fray, to lead on the militant band till they had put all their foes to the rout. The standard-bearer should be a stronger man than all the rest of the host, for \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the standard-bearer fall,
As fall full well he may,\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
what mischief would come to the host, and what confusion to this hearts of all the warriors! Now, our Lord Jesus Christ has come into this world, and set up a standard because of the truth, and well does he handle it, firmly doth he grasp it. When on the cross, the battle thickened round him; all the hosts of hell and all the bands of cruel ones on earth sought to smite him, and to seize the standard, too, but he bore it still aloft through all the dreadful fray; and this day, though he is now in heaven, yet by his blessed Spirit that standard is still unfurled to the breeze. In the order of his providence, it seems to me that Christ is always bearing that standard a little farther and a little farther on, and if Christians would but keep nearer to Christ, and be more like him, the victories of his Church would be daily fresh and new. We should soon see this world conquered for Christ if we kept step with the Divine Standard-bearer. He is bearing that standard in front of some of you into that alley at the back of the house where you live; dare you follow him, and go and win some spoil for him? Christ\u2019s banner is uplifted in many parts of London to-night; dare you follow it? Dare you stand in the streets, and in the by-ways, to tell of heaven\u2019s accomplished salvation, and of Christ\u2019s finished work that saves from death and hell? The nations of the earth want the gospel, Christ is opening the gates of brass to our missionaries, are there no young men here who will follow Christ\u2019s banner as it gleams afar? Have I no young John Williams here? Is there no young man here who will be a Robert Moffat or a William Knibb? There is the Standard-bearer; Christ is not in the background; oh! wherefore should we be so slow to follow him? We are not straitened in him, but in ourselves. God give us to be worthy followers of so glorious a Standard-bearer as Christ Jesus our Lord!<\/p>\n
Lift up your eyes to heaven, and see him there bearing the standard at the right hand of God, and the troops are marshalling, and the bugle soundeth for some of us. Grey-heads, are you ready? Young men and maidens, are you ready? If the trumpet sounds in your ears to-night, are you ready to rally round that standard, and to sing the praises of him who has called you? He is coming soon, and then, when the Standard-bearer is here, shall we have a share in his triumph? Shall we rise to shame and confusion of face, or shall we rise to participate in the splendor of his universal reign? God grant that we may all love and trust the Divine Standard-bearer, and that we may all be found among his faithful soldiers for evermore! The Lord be with you, beloved, for his dear Son\u2019s sake! Amen.<\/p>\n
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON.<\/p>\n
ISAIAH 61.<\/b><\/p>\n
Verse 1. The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,<\/i><\/p>\n
You know who it is that speaks these words, our Lord Jesus himself.<\/p>\n
1, 2. Because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;<\/i><\/p>\n
The Divine Messiah comes to usher in the true jubilee, the blessed day in which the poor shall have the gospel preached unto them, and in which the broken-hearted shall find their brokenness healed. He comes to bring the captive ones back from the Babylon of sin, and to deliver from prison in those who, because of their trangressions, are bound with fetters; in a word, he comes to proclaim that now is the accepted time, now is the day of grace, now is the year of jubilee. As for the adversaries of his people, unto them it shall be \u201cthe day of vengeance of our God,\u201d for the Lord will deal out to them, measure for measure, as they have dealt unto his oppressed and persecuted people.<\/p>\n
3. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty \u2014 <\/i><\/p>\n
Or, \u201ca coronet\u201d \u2014 <\/p>\n
3. For ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.<\/i><\/p>\n
When Jesus comes, he brings all things with him, for he is all things to his people, and they find their all in him. There is no sorrow at his coming to those who receive him; it is gladness, gladness repeated, and gladness multiplied. Not only doth joy come in one form, but in many, as the verses of this chapter so sweetly remind us, and that which comes is permanent, making those that receive it to be like long-standing trees, for they shall outlive their sorrows, and prove that they were planted of God for his own glory.<\/p>\n
4. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.<\/i><\/p>\n
Truly, God\u2019s living Church to-day shall do all this. The Jewish Church became a waste, and God\u2019s glory seemed to be trodden under the foot of his foes; but the true children of the promise, they who are counted for the seed, even as many as believe, who are thus the seed of believing Abraham, shall build up all these wastes, and happy shall they be in such joyous service.<\/p>\n
5, 6. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.<\/i><\/p>\n
Because of the sin of his people, the aliens and the foreigners trample upon them; but if you and I are truly of the holy seed, having living faith in Christ, we shall look upon the whole race of men as enduring all their care and toil on our behalf. They shall be our ploughmen and our vinedressers; but we shall be the ministers of God, the priests of the Lord, making use of every new invention, \u2014 traveling by steam, speaking by telephone, \u2014 using everything for God\u2019s glory, letting men invent all they can, and we ourselves turning all things to account for the honor and glory of our God. I know that there is another fulfillment of this test for God\u2019s ancient people, but this also is a fulfillment of it to us who are his spiritual people, his real children, born according to the promise.<\/p>\n
7. For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion:<\/i><\/p>\n
That is a sweet state of heart for any of us to be in, \u2014 to rejoice in our portion. Oh, what a wonderful portion we have to rejoice in! How blessed is the lot of God\u2019s chosen people! However small a part of our portion may be visible to the eye here below, yet we can sing, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cAll things are ours; the gift of God,
The purchase of a Savior\u2019s blood;
While the good Spirit shows us how
To use and to improve them too.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Instead of confusion such as once was the lot of the righteous, \u201cthey shall rejoice in their portion;\u201d<\/p>\n
7. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.<\/i><\/p>\n
Here is another choice expression: \u201ceverlasting joy.\u201d Theirs is not a transient joy, like the mirth of fools, which is as the crackling of thorns under a pot, but \u201ceverlasting joy shall be unto them.\u201d<\/p>\n
8. For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.<\/i><\/p>\n
That is why they have everlasting joy. There would be no everlasting joy if it were not for the everlasting covenant. Those gentlemen who want to cut that word \u201ceverlasting\u201d out of our Bibles will find that it will be a very long while before we shall agree to be despoiled of it; nay, we shall never consent to give it up. We shall always rejoice that we have God\u2019s everlasting love, and an everlasting covenant, and therefore that we shall have everlasting joy.<\/p>\n
9. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles,<\/i><\/p>\n
They shall be discerned and distinguished. Just as surely as you may know a Jew anywhere in the world to-day, so shall men know the people of God. Though they wear no peculiar garb, yet their speech shall betray them. There shall be a something about them which shall bear testimony to the fact that \u201cthey are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.\u201d \u201cTheir seed shall be known among the Gentiles,\u201d \u2014 <\/p>\n
9, 10. And their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice \u2014 <\/i><\/p>\n
Not a little, for he is a great God, so \u201cI will greatly rejoice\u201d in him. \u201cThe Lord hath done great things for us,\u201d let us therefore greatly rejoice in him. \u201cI will greatly rejoice\u201d \u2014 <\/p>\n
10. In the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God;<\/i><\/p>\n
Not only shall my lips be full of joy, but my inmost nature, the very essence of my being, \u201cmy soul shall be joyful in my God.\u201d \u201cIn my God.\u201d That is a stage higher than saying, \u201cI will greatly rejoice in the Lord.\u201d We do greatly rejoice in the Lord, but our very soul is joyful when we can each one call him, \u201cmy God.\u201d That is a possession that the richest among you may well envy if you have it not.<\/p>\n
10. For he hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.<\/i><\/p>\n
The loveliest sight in the world is one of God\u2019s people. We sometimes sing, and sadly sing, concerning this earth, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cWhere every prospect pleases,
And only man is vile.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
But there is another side to that picture, for when the \u201cman\u201d is a true child of God, we can say, \u2014 <\/p>\n
\u201cThough every prospect pleases,
Yet man outshines them all.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
Well did the psalmist sing, \u201cThou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor.\u201d Angels do homage to the renewed man; for the promise is, \u201cThey shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.\u201d You who are children of God need not wish to change places even with au archangel, for you are brother to him who sits upon the throne of God; you wear a nature that is akin to that of the Only-begotten, indeed, it is the self-same nature as his. Glory, then, in this great truth, that you are covered with the robe of righteousness, decked with ornaments, like a bridegroom, and adorned with jewels, like a bride.<\/p>\n
11. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.<\/i><\/p>\n
They are sown in the earth at present; but, as the seeds come up in the springtime beneath the genial showers and the shining of the sun, so righteousness and praise shall in due time come up in a golden harvest on every hill and valley of this poor sinful world. Hasten it, O Lord, hastes it in thine own good time! Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NO. 2478 A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD\u2019S-DAY, AUGUST 16TH, 1896, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD\u2019S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 1ST, 1869. \u201cMy beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.\u201d \u2014 Song of Solomon 5:10. THE spouse in this verse styles her Lord, \u201cmy Beloved,\u201d from … Continue reading “CHRIST\u2019S PERFECTION AND PRECEDENCE.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}