The Feast of the Lord
A Sermon
(No. 226)
Delivered on Sabbath Evening, November 28th, 1858, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"The governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him,
every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have
well drunk, then that which is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine
until now."–John 2:9-10.
I HAD EXHAUSTED my time this morning by describing the feast of
Satan–how at the four tables, whereat did sit the profligate, the
self-righteous, the worldly, and the secretly sinful, the course of
Satan, was always on this wise,–first, the good wine, and when men had
well drunken, that which was worse. His feast diminished in its value
as it proceeded, and went from the bright crackling of the thorn under
the pot to the blackness of darkness for ever. I had then in my second
point to show, that the rule of Christ's banquet is just the very
reverse–that Christ doth always give the best wine last–that he doth
save the good things until the end of the feast; nay, that sometimes
the first cups at the table of Christ are full of wormwood and gall,
and are exceeding bitter, but that if we tarry at the feast, they will
grow sweeter, and sweeter, and sweeter, until at last, when we shall
come into the land Beulah, and especially when we shall enter into the
city of our God, we shall be compelled to say, "Thou hast kept the good
wine until now."
Now, my dear friends, this is a great fact, that Christ's feast
increaseth in sweetness. When first the lord Jesus Christ proclaimed a
feast for the sons of men, the first cup he set upon the table was but
a very little one, and it had in it but few words of consolation. You
remember the inscription upon that ancient vessel, the first cup of
consolation that was ever held to the sons of men–"The seed of the
woman shall bruise the serpent's head." There was to them but little
sweetness there: much to us, because we can understand it better, and
some to them, because God's Spirit might help them to understand it,
but still in the revelation of it there seemed but little promise. As
the world went on, there were greater cups of precious wine brought
forth, whereof patriarchs and ancient saints did drink; but beloved,
all the wine they ever had under the Old Testament dispensation was far
behind that of which we drink. He that is least in the kingdom of
heaven is more highly favoured than he who is chief under the Old
Testament dispensation. Our fathers did eat manna, but we do eat the
bread that came down from heaven; they did drink of water in the
wilderness, but we drink of that living water whereof if a man drink he
shall never thirst. It is true they had much sweetness; the cups of the
ancient tabernacle had precious wine in them; there was in the outward
symbol the sign and the shadow, much that was delightful to the faith
of the true believer; but we must remember that we are drinking to-day
of that wine which prophets and kings desired to drink of, but died
without a taste thereof. They guessed its sweetness; they could by
faith foresee what it would be; but lo! we are allowed to sit at the
table and quaff full draughts of wines on the lees well refined, which
God hath given to us in this mountain wherein he hath made a feast of
fat things for all people.
But, beloved, the text still stands true of us–there is better wine to
come. We are in our privileges superior to patriarchs, and kings, and
prophets. God has given us a brighter and a clearer day than they had;
theirs was but the twilight of the morning, compared with the noon-day
which we enjoy. But think not that we are come to the best wine yet.
There are more noble banquets for God's church; and who knoweth how
long, ere the best of the precious wine shall be broached? Know ye not
that the King of Heaven is coming again upon this earth; Jesus Christ,
who came once and broached his heart for us on Calvary, is coming
again, to flood the earth with glory. He came once with a sin-offering
in his hand: behold, he comes no more with a sin-offering, but with the
cup of salvation and of thanksgiving, to call upon the name of the Lord
and joyously to take unto himself the throne of his father David. You
and I, if we be alive and remain, shall yet set that cup to our lips;
and if we die, we have this privilege, this happy consolation, that we
shall not be behind hand, for "the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible," and we shall drink of that millennial
wine which Christ our Saviour hath reserved to the last. Saints! ye
cannot tell what golden goblets those are of which ye shall drink in
the thousand years of the Redeemer's triumph. Ye cannot tell what wine,
sparkling and red, that shall be, which shall come from the vintage of
the hills of glory, when he whose garments are red with treading the
wine-press, shall descend in the great day and stand upon the earth.
Why, the very thought of this cheered Job. "I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God." Let this rejoice and cheer thee, Christian, that the good
wine is kept even unto that time.
And now, having shown that this is the rule of Christ in the great
dispensation which he uses to all his Church, I shall come to the
subject of this evening, which is this: First, The fact that the
believer shall find that Christ keeps for him the best wine till the
last; secondly, The reason of Christ for so doing; and thirdly, The
lesson which we ought to learn therefrom.
I. First, THE FACT THAT CHRIST KEEPS HIS GOOD WINE TILL THE LAST. I was
thinking as I rode here how very true this is of some of God's people.
Why there are some of God's best beloved who have their names upon the
breastplate of the great high priest, who are purchased with his blood,
and are very dear to his soul, who have not known from their youth up
what it is to get out of the depths of poverty. They have to live from
hand to mouth, not knowing one day whence another meal shall come. How
many more there are of God's people that are lying on beds of
affliction. Some of the most precious of God's diamonds are lying on
the dunghill of disease. Ye may go and climb to many a chamber where ye
shall see the victims of all kinds of diseases, loathsome, protracted,
and painful, and ye shall see God's dear ones languishing out a dying
life. I might point you to others of God's servants, whose days are
spent in toil. There is needed for the human body, and especially for
the soul, a little rest and a little of the food of knowledge; but
these have had so little instruction that they cannot get mental food
ready for themselves; if they read they can scarce understand, and they
have hard bondage in this life, which maketh their life bitter and
hindereth them from knowledge. They have to work from morning to night,
with scarce a moment's rest. Oh, beloved, will it not be true of them,
when death shall give them their discharge, when they shall leave this
world, which has been to them, with an emphasis, a vale of tears? Will
not they have to say: "Thou hast kept the good wine until now?" Oh,
what a change for her who has come limping along these many Sabbath
days to the sanctuary! for there, she shall go no more up to the Lord's
house limping and lame, but the "lame man shall leap like the hart,"
and like Miriam, she shall dance with the daughters of Israel. Ah, ye
may have had to suffer sickness and sorrow and pain, blindness and
deafness, and a thousand of this world's ills: what a change for you,
when you find them all gone! No racking pains, no pining want, no
anxious care. Ye shall not have to cry for the sunlight to penetrate
your abodes, or weep because your sight is failing through incessant
labour with that murderous needle; but ye shall see the light of God,
brighter than the light of the sun, and ye shall rejoice in the beams
that proceed from his countenance. Ye shall have no more infirmities;
immortality shall have covered and swallowed them up; that which was
sown in weakness shall be raised in power; that which was sown
disordered, full of pain and sorrow, and disjointed and full of agony,
shall be raised full of delectable delights, no wore capable of
anguish, but quivering with joy and bliss unspeakable. Ye shall no more
be poor; ye shall be rich, richer than the miser's dream. Ye shall no
more have to labour; there shall ye rest upon your beds, each one of
you walking in your uprightness. Ye shall no more suffer from neglect
and scorn and ignominy and persecution; ye shall be glorified with
Christ, in the day when he shall come to be admired of them that love
him. What a change for such! The best wine indeed is kept to the last,
in their case, for they have never had any good wine here, to the eyes
of men, though secretly they have had many a drink from the bottle of
Jesus. He has often put his cordial cup to their lips. They have been
like the ewe lamb that belonged to the man in Nathan's parable: they
have drunk out of Christ's own cup on the earth, but still even sweeter
than that cup shall he the draught which they shall receive at the
last.
But, my dear friends, although I put these first, as especially feeling
the change, because we can see the difference, yet will it be true of
the most favoured of God's children, all of them shall say, "The best
wine is kept till now." Of all the men whom I might envy, I think I
should first of all envy the apostle Paul. What a man! How highly
favoured! how greatly gifted! how much blessed! Ah, Paul, thou couldst
talk of revelations and of visions from on high. He heard things which
it was unlawful for a man to utter, and he saw that which few eyes have
ever seen. He was caught up into the third heaven. What draughts of joy
the apostle Paul must have had! what lookings into the deep things of
God! what soarings into the heights of heaven! Perhaps there was never
a man who was more favoured of God; to have his mind expanded, and then
to have it filled full with the wisdom and the revelation of the
knowledge of the Most High. But ask the apostle Paul whether he
believes there is anything better to come, and he tells you, "Now we
see through a glass darkly, but then shall we see face to face; now we
know in part, hut then shall we know even as we are known." He was
evidently expecting something more than he had received; and, beloved,
he was not disappointed. There was a heaven as much above all the
enjoyments of Paul, as the enjoyments of Paul were above the
depressions of his spirit, when he said, "O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?" There are children of
God who have all that they can need of this world's goods; they seem to
be free from earthly care, and they have faith enough to trust their
God with regard to the future. Their faith is firm and strong; they
have much love to the Redeemer; they are engaged in some delightful
work, and the Holy Spirit attends that work with great success. Their
days follow steadily one after another, like the waves of the still
calm sea. God is with them, and they are greatly blessed; they spread
out their roots by the river, their leaf also doth not wither, and
whatsoever they do, it prospereth; whichever way they turn their hand
the Lord their God is with them, in whatsoever land they put their feet
they are like Joshua, that land is given to them to be an inheritance
to them for ever. But, beloved, even these shall see greater things
than they have as yet heheld. High as their Master has taken them into
the house of banqueting, lofty though the room be in which they now
feast, the Master shall say to them, "Come up higher." They shall know
more, enjoy more, feel more, do more, possess more. They shall be
nearer to Christ ; they shall have richer enjoyments and sweeter
employments than they have had; and they shall feel that their Master
hath kept his good wine even until now.
Entering into particulars for a moment, very briefly, I must just
observe, that there are many aspects under which we may regard the
heavenly state, and in each of these we shall have to say, that Christ
hath kept the good wine until then. Here on earth the believer enters
into rest by faith; the Christian enjoys rest even in the wilderness;
the promise is fulfilled. "They shall dwell safely in the wilderness,
and sleep in the woods." God giveth to his beloved sleep; there is a
peace that passeth all understanding, which we may enjoy even in this
land of turmoil, strife, and alarms,–a peace which the worldling
knoweth not of, nor can he guess it.
"A holy calm within the heart,
The pledge of glorious rest.
Which for the church of God remains,
The end of cares, the end of pains."
But beloved, drink as we may of the cup of peace, the good wine is kept
until a future time. The peace we drink to-day is dashed with some
drops of bitter. There are disturbing thoughts; the cares of this world
will come, doubts will arise; live as we may in this world, we must
have disquietudes; thorns in the flesh must come. But oh! the "rest
that remaineth for the people of God." What good wine shall that be!
God hath a sun without a spot, a sky without a cloud, a day without a
night, a sea without a wave, a world without a tear. Happy are they
who, having passed through this world, have entered into rest, and
ceased from their own works, as God did from his, bathing their weary
souls in seas of heavenly rest.
View heaven under another aspect. It is a place of holy company. In
this world we have had some good wine of sweet company. We can tell of
many of the precious sons of Zion with whom we have taken sweet
counsel; blessed be the Lord; the righteous have not all failed from
among men. Some of you can remember golden names that were very dear to
you in the days of your youth–of men and women with whom you used to
go up to God's house and take sweet counsel. Ah, what words used to
drop from their lips, and what sweet balm you had in the days of your
sorrow when they comforted and consoled you: and you have friends still
left, to whom you look up with some degree of reverence, while they
look upon you with intense affection. There are some men that are
comforters to your soul, and when you talk to them you feel that their
heart answers to your heart, and that you can enjoy union and communion
with them. But beloved, the good wine is kept till the last. All the
fellowship with the saints that we have had here, is as nothing
compared with what we are to enjoy in the world to come. How sweet it
is for us to recollect, that in heaven we shall be in the company of
the best men, the noblest men, the most mighty men, the most honourable
and the most renowned. We shall sit with Moses, and talk with him of
all his life of wonders; we shall walk with Joseph, and we shall hear
from him of the grace that kept him in his hour of peril; I doubt not
you and I shall have the privilege of sitting by the side of David, and
hearing him recount the perils and the deliverances through which he
passed. The saints of heaven make but one communion, they are not
divided into separate classes; we shall be allowed to walk through all
the glorious ranks, and hold fellowship with all of them; nor need we
doubt but that we shall be able to know them all. There are many
reasons which I could not now enumerate, for it would occupy me too
much time, that seem to my mind to settle the point, that in heaven we
shall know even as we are known, and shall perfectly know each other;
and that indeed, makes us long to be there. "The general assembly and
church of the first-born, whose names are written in haven." Oh, to get
away from this poor church here, that is full of strifes and divisions,
and bickerings and jealousies and animosities–to get away from the
society of men that are full of infirmities, although they have much
grace, and to get into a place where there shall be no infirmities in
those with whom we talk–no hasty tempers,–where we cannot possibly
strike a chord that would make a jarring note–when it shall not be in
our power to raise among those holy birds of Paradise a cause of
strife–when we shall walk in the midst of them all, and see love
beaming from every eye, and feel that deep affection is seated in every
heart. Oh! that will be the best wine. Are you not longing to drink of
it?–to enter into that great church fellowship, and attend those
glorious church meetings,
"Where all the chosen race
Shall meet around the throne,
To bless the conduct of his grace,
And make his wonders known."
Again, look at heaven, if you will, in the point of knowledge. We know
very much on earth that makes us happy; Jesus Christ hath taught us
many things that give us joy and gladness. It is a world of ignorance,
but still through grace we have entered into the school of the gospel,
and we have learned some sweet truths. It is true we are very much like
the boy who is beginning to write. We had to make many ugly pothooks
and hangers, and we have not yet learned to write the sweet running
hand of joy; but nevertheless, the Lord has taught us some great truths
to fill our heart with joy;–the great doctrine of election, the
knowledge of our redemption, the fact of our security in Christ; these
great but simple doctrines have filled our hearts with bliss. But,
brethren, the best wine is kept till the last, when the Lord Jesus
Christ shall take the book and break the seals thereof, and permit us
to read it all, then shall we rejoice indeed, for the best wine will be
at our lips. There are old casks of knowledge that contain the richest
wine, and Christ shall stave them in, and we shall drink of them to the
full. It is not fit that we should know all things now,–we could not
bear many things, and therefore Christ keeps them back; but
"There shall you see and hear and know
All you desired or wished below,
And every power find sweet employ
In that eternal world of joy."
You may, if you please, look at heaven in another sense–as a place of
manifestations and of joys. Now this world is a place of manifestations
to the believer. Shall I venture for a moment, or even for a second, to
talk of manifestations of himself which Christ is pleased to afford to
his poor children on earth? No, beloved, your own experience shall
supply my lack. I will only say that there are times when the Lord
Jesus saith unto his beloved, "Come, my beloved, let us go forth into
the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the
vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape
appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my
loves." But, what must be the fellowship of heaven? I fail to-night in
attempting to talk to you of the best wine, for this simple reason–I
believe there are very few men that can preach of heaven so as to
interest you much, for you feel that all we can say is so far behind
the reality, that we might as well have let it alone. Baxter might
write a Saint's Rest, but I am no Baxter–would God I were! The day may
come perhaps, when I may talk more copiously of these blessings; but at
present, in my own soul, when I begin to talk of the communion of
heaven, I seem overcome, I cannot imagine it; for the next thought that
always succeeds my first attempt to think of it, is a thought of
overwhelming gratitude, coupled with a kind of fear that this is too
good for such an unworthy worm as I. It was a privilege for John to put
his head on the Master's bosom, but that is nothing compared with the
privilege of lying in his embrace forever. Oh! we must wait until we
get there, and as one of old said, "In five minutes you shall know more
of heaven than I could tell you in all my life." It needs but that we
should see our Lord, that we should fly into his arms, that we should
feel his embrace, that we should fall at his feet, and, was I about to
say, weep for joy? No, that were impossible, but lie there, as it were
dissolved away in ecstacy–to feel that we at least have arrived in
that dear place which he hath spoken to us of when he said: "Let not
your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me; in my
Father's house there are many mansions; if it were not so I would have
told you; I go to prepare a place for you." Truly he hath kept the best
wine until the last.
II. And now, WHAT IS OUR LORD'S REASON FOR DOING THIS? That was the
second point. Very briefly.
The Lord might have given us the best wine first, but he will not act
as the devil doth; he will always make a broad distinction between his
dealings and the dealings of Satan.
Again, he will not give us the best wine first, because that is not his
good pleasure. "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom." That is the only reason why you will
get it at all; and the reason why you do not receive it now is because
it is not your Father's good pleasure that you should have it just yet.
Again; your Father doth not give you the good wine now, because he is
giving you an appetite for it. At the old feasts of the Romans men used
to drink bitter things, and all kinds of singular and noxious mixtures,
to make them thirsty. Now, in this world, God is, as it were, making
his children thirsty, that they may take deeper draughts of heaven. I
cannot think that heaven would be so sweet to me if I had not first to
dwell on earth. Who knoweth best the sweet of rest? Is it not the
labourer? Who understandeth best the joy of peace? Is it not the man
who hath dwelt in the land of war? Who knoweth most the sweetness of
joy? Is it not the man who hath passed through a world of sorrow? Ye
are having your appetites sharpened by these trials; ye are being made
ready to receive the fulness of joy that is in the presence of God for
ever.
Again, the Lord hath this also in view. He is making you fit for the
best wine, that he may be glorified by the trial of your faith. If it
were in my power to go to heaven to-night, and I could enter there, yet
if I should have a suspicion that there was more to do or more to
suffer here, I would infinitely prefer to wait my Father's time;
because, methinks, in heaven we shall bless God for all we have
suffered. When it is all over, how sweet it will be to talk of it! When
you and I shall meet each other in the streets of heaven–and there be
some of you that have had but few trials, but few doubtings and
fearings, and tribulations and conflicts,–you will talk of how God
delivered you; but you will not be able to talk as some of the tried
saints will. Ah! what sweet stories some of them will tell! I should
like to go by the side of Jonah, and hear how he went down to the
bottom of the mountains, and how he thought the earth with her bars was
about him for ever. And Jeremiah,–I often think what a deal we shall
get out of Jeremiah in eternity,–what he will have to tell, who took
such plunges into the sea of sorrow! And David, too, the sweet
Psalmist, so full of experience, he will never have done talking of
what the Lord has done for him! And I think you and I, when we get to
heaven, will have enough to think of. As a poor woman once said, when
she was in great doubt and fear whether she should be saved at all; she
said in her prayer, "Lord, if thou wilt save me, only one thing I can
promise thee. If thou wilt take me to heaven thou shalt never hear the
last of it, for I will praise thee while immortality lasts, and I will
tell the angels thou savedst ME." And this is the constant burden of
heaven. They are each one wondering that he is there. Beloved, if we
did not have to pass through these trials and troubles, and these soul
conflicts, and such like, we should have very little to talk about in
heaven. I have no doubt that the babes in paradise are as happy as the
rest, but I do not wish to be a babe in paradise. I bless God I did not
go to heaven when an infant: I shall have the more to praise God for,
when I shall look back through a life of mercies, a life of trials, and
yet a life of sustaining grace. There will be a louder song, because
the deeper have been our troubles. These, I think, are some of God's
reasons.
III. And now, dear brethren and sisters, what shall I say about the
LESSON WE ARE TO LEARN FROM THIS FACT of Christ keeping the best wine
until now? Going home the other night I noticed the difference between
the horse's pace in coming here and going home, and I thought to
myself, "Ah! the horse goes well, because he is going home;" and the
thought struck me, "How well a Christian ought to go, cause he is going
home." You know, if we were going from home, every rough stone in the
road might check us, and we might need a good deal of whip to make us
go. But it is going home. Bless God, every step we take is going home.
It may be knee-deep in trouble, but it is all on the road; we may be
ancle-deep in fear, but it is going home; I may stumble, but I always
stumble homewards. All my afflictions and griefs, when they cast me
down, but cast me onwards towards heaven. The mariner does not mind the
waves, if every wave sends him nearer his haven, and he does not care
how loudly howl the winds, if they only blow him nearer port. That is
the Christian's happy lot: he is going homeward. Let that cheer thee,
Christian, and make thee travel on joyfully, not needing the whip to
urge thee to duty, but always going on with alacrity through duty and
through trial, because thou art going homeward.
Again: if we have the best things to come dear friends, do not let us
be discontented. Let us put up with a few of the bad things now, for
they only seem to be so. A traveller who is on a journey in a hurry, if
he has to stay for a night at an inn, he may grumble a little at the
want of accommodation, but he does not say very much, because he is off
to-morrow, he is only stopping a short time at the inn; he says, "I
shall get home to-morrow night," and then he thinks of the joys of
home, and does not care about the discomforts of his hard journey. You
and I are travellers. It will soon be over. We may have had but a very
few shillings a week compared with our neighbour, but we shall be equal
with him when we get there. He may have had a large house, with a great
many rooms, while we had, it may be only one upper room; ah! we shall
have as large a mansion as he in Paradise. We shall soon be at the
journey's end, and then the road will not signify, long as we have got
there. Come! let us put up with these few inconveniences on the road,
for the best wine is coming; let us pour away all the vinegar of
murmuring, for the best wine shall come.
Once more; if the Christian has the best wine to come, why should he
envy the worldling? David did; he was discontented when he saw the
prosperity of the wicked, and you and I are often tempted to do it; but
you know what we ought to say when we see the wicked prosper, when we
see them happy, and full of delights of sinful pleasure. We ought to
say, "Ah! my good wine is to come; I can bear that you should have your
turn; my turn will tome afterwards; I can be put off with these things,
and lie with Lazarus at the gate, while the dogs lick my sores; my turn
is to come, when the angels shall carry me into Abraham's bosom, and
your turn is to come too, when in hell you lift up your eyes, being in
torments.
Christian, what more shall I say to thee?–though there be a thousand
lessons to learn from this, that the best wine is kept to the last.
"Take heed to thyself, that thou also keepest thy good wine until the
last. The further thou goest on the road, seek to bring to thy Saviour
the more acceptable sacrifice. Thou hadst little faith years ago: man!
bring out the good wine now! Seek to have more faith. Thy Master is
better to thee every day, and thou shalt see him to he the best of all
Masters and friends. Seek to be better to thy Master every day; be more
generous to his cause, more active to labour for him, more kind to his
people, more diligent in prayer; and take heed that as thou growest in
years thow growest in grace, so that when thou comest at last to the
river Jordan, and the Master shall give thee the best wine, thou mayest
also give to him the best wine, and praise him most loudly when the
battle shall just be over, and when the whirlwind is dying away into
the everlasting peace of paradise."
And now, dear friends, I am conscious that I have totally failed in
endeavouring to bring forth this good wine; but it is written that God
hath revealed it unto us by his Spirit, but that ear hath not heard it.
Now, if I had told it to you to-night your ear would have heard it, and
the text would not have been true; and as I have unwittingly proved the
truth of this Scripture, I cannot be very sorry at having helped to
witness the truth of my Master's word. Only this I say,–the nearer you
live to Christ the nearer you will be to heaven, for if there is one
place next door to Pisgah it is Calvary. It may seem strange, but if
you live much on Calvary you live very near Nebo; for although Moses
may have seen Canaan from Nebo, I have never seen heaven anywhere but
close to Calvary. When I have seen my Saviour crucified, then I have
seen him glorified; when I have read my name written in his blood, then
I have seen afterwards my mansion which he has prepared for me. When I
have seen my sins washed away, then I have seen the white robe that I
am to wear for ever. Live near to the Saviour, man, and you shall not
be very far off heaven. Recollect, after all, it is not far to heaven.
It is only one gentle sigh, and we are there. We talk of it as a land
very far off, but close it is, and who knows but that the spirits of
the just are here to-night? Heaven is close to us; we cannot tell where
it is, but this we know, that it is not a far off land. It is so near,
that, swifter than thought, we shall be there, emancipated from our
care and woe, and blessed for ever.