A Refreshing Canticle
(No. 2794)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 31, 1902.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON A LORD'S-DAY EVENING, IN THE
WINTER OF 1860.
"We will remember Your love more than wine." Solomon's Song 1:4.
THE Hebrew word for, "love," here is in the plural–"We will remember
Your loves." Think not, however, that the love of Jesus is divided, but
know that it has different channels of manifestation. All the
affections that Christ has, He bestows upon His Church and these are so
varied that they may well be called, "loves," rather than, "love." The
Septua-gint translation is, "We will remember Your breasts." Bossuet,
and many of the Romanist expositors who have brought much sanctity of
thought and fervent appreciation of heart to bear upon this superlative
Song, dilate very sweetly upon the word, "breasts," as it appears in
the Latin Vulgate. I am disposed to be content with our own Version,
with the alteration of one letter–"We will remember Your lovesmore
than wine." By this expression we must understand, of course, all the
love of Jesus, from the beginning even to the end, or, rather, to that
eternity which has no end. We will remember those acts of love of which
we have heard with our ears and our fathers have declared unto us. It
has been told us by Inspired Prophets, and God has revealed it to us in
His Word, by His Spirit, that Jesus Christ loved us from before the
foundation of the world. We believe that His love is no passion of
modern date–no mere spasm of pity. It is ancient as His Glory which He
had with the Father before the world was–it is one of the things of
eternity. This Divine Love is not a spring that welled up only a few
days ago, but it is an everlasting fountain which has never ceased to
flow!
We will remember, O Jesus, that love of Yours which was displayed in
the council chamber of eternity, when You did, on our behalf, interpose
as the Daysman and Mediator–when You did strike hands with Your Father
and become our Surety and take us as Your betrothed! We will remember
that love which moved You to undertake a work so burdensome to
accomplish, an enterprise which none but Yourself could ever have
achieved! We will remember the love which suggested the Sacrifice of
Yourself. The love which, until the fullness of time, mused over that
Sacrifice and longed for the hour of which, in the volume of the Book
it was written of You, "Lo, I come." We will remember Your love, O
Jesus, as it was manifested to us in Your holy life, from the manger of
Bethlehem to the garden of Gethsemane! We will track You from the
cradle to the grave, for every word and every deed of Yours was love.
You, wherever You did walk, did scatter loving kindnesses with both
Your hands. As it is said of Your Father, "God is Love," so, surely,
You are Love, O Jesus! The fullness of the Godhead dwells in You! The
essence of love, nothing else but love, is Your Incarnate Person.
And especially, O Jesus, will we remember Your love to us upon the
Cross! We will view You as You come from the garden of Your agony and
from the hall of Your flagellation. We will gaze upon You with Your
hands and Your feet nailed to the accursed tree. We will watch You when
You could, if You had willed it, have saved Yourself, but when You did,
nevertheless, give up Your strength and bow Yourself downward to the
grave that You might lift us up to Heaven. We will remember Your love
which You did manifest through Your poor, bleeding hands and feet and
side. We will remember this love of Yours till it invigorates and
cheers us "more than wine"–the love of which we have heard, which You
have exercised since Your death–the love of Your Resurrection, the
love which prompts You to continually intercede before Your Father's
Throne, that burning lamp of Love which will never let You hold Your
peace until Your chosen ones are all safely housed, Zion is glorified
and the spiritual Jerusalem is settled on her everlasting foundations
of light and love in Heaven! We will remember all Your love, from its
beginning in the eternal past to the eternity that is to
come–no, we will try to project our thoughts and imagination–and so
to remember that as long as eternity shall continue, even forever and
forevermore, so long shall Your love exist in all its Glory,
undiminished in its luster or its force! "We will remember Your love
more than wine.
Nor is this all the love we have to remember. Though we ought to
recollect what we have heard and what we have been taught, I think the
spouse means more than this. "We will remember Your loves"–not only
what we have been told, but what we have felt Come, dear Hearers, let
each one of you speak for yourselves, or, rather, you think of this for
yourselves and let me speak of it for you. I will remember Your love, O
Jesus–Your love to me when I was a stranger, wandering far from God.
The love which restrained me from committing deadly sin and withheld my
hands from self-destruction! I will remember the love which tracked me
in my course–
"WhenSatan's blind slave, I sported with death." I will remember the
love which held back the axe when Justice said, "Cut it down; why
cumbers it the ground?" I will remember the love that took me into the
wilderness and stripped me, there, of all my self-righteousness–and
made me feel my weight of guilt and the burden of my iniquity.
Specially will I remember the love which said to me, "Come unto Me, and
I will give you rest." I cannot forget that matchless love which, in a
moment, washed my sins away and made my spotted soul white as the
driven snow! Can you forget, my Brothers and Sisters, that happiest of
days when Jesus first whispered to you, "I am yours and you are Mine"?
I can never forget the transporting hour when He spoke thus to me! It
is as fresh in my memory right now as if it had only happened this
afternoon! I could sing of it if it were right to stop a sermon for a
sonnet–I could sing of that love, passing all measure, which took my
soul and washed it in the precious blood of Jesus and then clothed it
in the spotless robe of His righteousness! O Love Divine, You excel all
other loves, that You could deal with such a rebellious, traitorous
worm and make that worm an heir of Heaven!
But we have more love than this to remember–all the love that we have
felt since then. I will remember the valley of Baca and the Hill Mizar.
Nor shall my soul forget those chambers of fellowship where You have
unveiled Yourself to me. If Moses had his cleft in the rock where he
could see the back parts of his God, we also have had our clefts in the
rock where we have seen the full splendors of the Godhead in the Person
of Christ! Did David remember the tracks of the wild goat where he was
hunted on the mountains–the cave of Adullam, the land of Jordan and of
the Hermonites? We, too, can remember spots equally dear to these in
blessedness. "The Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yes, I have
loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness I
have drawn you." Christian, can you not recollect the sweet exchanges
there have been between yourself and your Lord when you have left your
griefs at His feet and left with a song? Can you not remember some
happy seasons when you went to Him empty, and came away full? Is your
heart heavy just now? It has not always been so. There have been times
when, like David, you could dance before the Lord! Times of holy
merriment when, like Miriam, you could strike your timbrel and say to
those around you, "Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously."
There have been times when Jesus and you have not been strangers to one
another, for He has linked His arms in yours and walked along with you!
And there have been other times when your head has been upon His bosom
and you could feel His heart beating with warm love to you.
Thus, then, in the summary of Christ's loves, which I will now humbly
endeavor to pass in review, it will be necessary for me to mention not
only the love we have heard about, but the love we have felt and
enjoyed. Do not suppose, dear Brothers and Sisters, that I am able to
refresh your memories upon this sacred subject. It is the Holy Spirit's
work to assist you in that matter! But I do trust that the resolution
contained in our text will be formed in the heart of everyone of
you–"We will remember Your loves more than wine"–and that you will
have the Grace to carry out that resolution. ' I. Here then, Beloved,
we have A RESOLUTION POSITIVELY EXPRESSED–"We wllremember Your love."
Why does the spouse speak so positively? Because she is Inspired–she
is not like Simon Peter when he said, "Although all shall be offended,
yet will not I." She is speaking the Truth of God, for she will not
forget the love of her Lord. Why is that? For one very good
reason–because she cannot. If the Church could forget Christ's love to
her, she would do so. She is such a forgetful wife that all her
Husband's affections would be lost upon her, were it possible. But that
cannot be–there is something about the love of Christ that makes it
adhere to those upon whom it is bestowed– we cannot forget it. It
enters into the heart like wine that seasons the cask, and the scent
thereof abides. It pervades the soul. It permeates every faculty. It
brings the secret thoughts into obedience to Christ. It flows through
every vein of
hope and fear, passion and desire. So the spouse could truthfully say
to her Lord, "We will remember Your love." The virtue was not in her
own constancy, but in the tenacity of His affection–therefore she
could not help remembering it!
What is there, in the love of Christ, that will compel us to remember
it? The things that we recollect best are of certain kinds.
Some that we remember best have been sublime things. When we have
stood, for the first time, where we could see a lofty mountain whose
snowy summit pierced the thick ebon clouds, we have said, "We shall
never forget this sight." When Humboldt, the great traveler, had his
first view of the vast prairies of North America, he declared that he
could never forget the sensations of that moment. I can imagine how Dr.
Livingstone, when he first came in sight of the magnificent falls which
he discovered, might well say, "To my dying day, I shall hear the
rushing of that tremendous stream of water." I can myself remember an
unusually violent thunderstorm, when the lightning flew across the
heavens, flash after flash, without a moment's pause, as though a
thousand suns were dashing through the sky. I recollect the
consternation of men and women when a neighboring house was struck by
the lightning and burnt with a terrific blaze which could scarcely be
seen by reason of the brightness of the lightning. My recollection of
that terrible scene will never depart from me! The sublimity of what we
have seen often causes us to remember it. So is it with the love of
Christ. How it towers to Heaven! And mark how brightness succeeds
brightness, how flash follows after flash of unspeakable love and full
of glory! There is no pause, no interval of darkness or blackness, no
chasm of forgetfulness. Its sublimity compels us to remember its
manifestation.
Again, we are pretty sure to remember unusual things. If we were asked
whether we remembered that the sun had risen, we might say, "It is not
a matter of memory at all. I feel certain that it did, though I did not
see it." But if we are asked if we ever saw an eclipse, "Oh, yes!" we
reply, "we recollect that! We remember watching it and how disappointed
we were because it was not as dark as we expected it to be." Many
people do not notice the stars much, but who forgets a comet? Everybody
recollects that phenomenon of Nature because it is unusual. When we see
something strange, uncommon, out of the ordinary, the memory at once
fixes upon it and holds it fast. So is it with the love of Christ. It
is such an extraordinary thing, such a marvelous thing that the like
was never known! Ransack history and you cannot find its parallel.
There is but one love that is like it–that is the love of the Father
to His only-begotten Son. Besides this, there is nothing to which we
can compare the love of Christ to His people. That constellation of the
Cross is the most marvelous that is to be seen in the spiritual sky!
The eyes, once spellbound by its charms, must retain its undying
admiration because it is the greatest wonder of wonders and miracle of
miracles which the universe ever saw!
Sometimes, too, things which are not important in themselves are fixed
on the memory because of certain circums-tanceswhich happen in
association with them. The country people often say, if you ask them
whether they recollect such-and-such a year, "Ah, Master! It was the
year of the hard frost, wasn't it?" Another time they will say, "Why,
yes! That was the year when the blight fell upon our gardens and all
our potatoes were of no use–and we were nearly starved that winter."
Circumstances help to make us remember facts. If something particular
in politics should happen on our birthday, or our wedding day, or on
some other notable occasion, we would say, "Oh, yes! I remember
that–it happened the day I was married, or the day So-and-So was
buried." Now, we can never forget the love of Christ because the
circumstances were so peculiar when, for the first time, we knew
anything at all about it! We were plunged in sin and ruin! We were
adrift on the great sea of sin! We had no hope, we were ready to sink
and no shore was near–but Jesus came and saved us! We can never forget
those circumstances–with some of us, they were truly awful, beyond all
description. Therefore we cannot forget the time when Jesus' love first
dawned upon our minds.
I think, my dear Friends, I might give you 20 reasons why it would be
impossible for the children of God to forget the love of Christ to
them, but above and beyond every other reason is this one, Christ will
not let His people forget His love. If, at any time, He finds them
forgetful, He will come to them and refresh their memories. If all the
love they have ever enjoyed should be forgotten by them, He will give
them some fresh manifestations of love. "Have you forgotten My Cross?"
He asks, "then I will cause you to remember it afresh, for at My Table
I will manifest Myself to you as I have not done of late. Do you forget
what I did for you in the council chamber of eternity? Then I will
remind you of it, for you still need a Counselor and I will come to
your relief just when you are at your wits' end–and I will give you
wisdom. Have you forgotten that I called you to Myself when you were a
stranger? I will bring you back from your wanderings and then you will
remember Me again." Mothers do not let their children forget them if
they can help it. If the boy has
gone to Australia and he does not write home, his mother writes to him,
"Has my John forgotten his mother?" Then there comes back a sweet
epistle which lets the mother know that the gentle hint she gave him
was not lost. So is it with Christ–He often says to one of His
forgetful children, "What? Is your heart cold to Him who loved you so
much that He could not live in Heaven without you, but must come to
earth, go out into the wilderness, up to the Cross and down to the
grave in order to find you?" You can be sure that He will have our
hearts! Prone to wander, He knows that they are, and we feel it
ourselves, but He will have them. Oh, that He would drive the nail of
the Cross right through your heart, that it might be forever fastened
there! Painful might the process be–some sharp affliction might tear
your flesh–yet, if that would bring you near your Lord and keep you
near Him, you might thank Him even for the affliction and love Him all
the more because of it!
II. Now let us advance another step and look at THE COMPARATIVE
RESOLUTION–"We will remember Your love more than wine"
Why is "wine" mentioned here? I take it to be used here as a figure.
The fruit of the vine represents the chief of earthly luxuries. "I will
remember Your love more than the choicest or most exhilarating comforts
which this world can give me." We have many things which we might
compare to wine, in the good and in the bad sense, too–good, because
they cheer, comfort and invigorate–bad, because when we rely upon
them, they intoxicate, they overthrow and cast down to the ground. We
very readily remember the good things of earth for a season. When
creature comforts abound with us and we have happy and merry days, we
remember them. And when nights of darkness come upon us, we remember
the days of our brightness and we talk of them. It is so with the widow
bereaved of her husband–she remembers the days of her happiness, when
the partner of her joys was with her. She recollects his affectionate
words and his sweet deeds of love. In the case of the mother bereaved
of her child, she recalls the love that child had to her and the solace
it was to her when her little one slept on her bosom. Have you become
poor? Then the "wine" that you remember is the wealth you once
possessed–you remember how you had no need to tramp over weary miles
and to shiver in the wintry cold. Now that your pain has come, you
remember your former joy and it makes your present pain all the more
painful. This, "wine," may be to a minister, the joy of being
successful–and there may come to him days when his chapel will be
half-empty and then he will look back, with regret, upon the joys he
once possessed. The spouse says, "We will remember Your love more than
all earthly comforts." She cannot help doing so. If she could, she
would remember the worldrather than Heaven! She would have a
remembrance of creature comforts and she would be forgetful of her
Lord.
The fact is, the impression which the love of Christ makes on the true
Believer is far greater and deeperthan the impression which is made by
anything earthly. Mere mortal joys write their record on the sand and
their memory is soon erased, but Christ's love is like an inscription
cut deeply into marble–the remembrance of it is deeply engraved in our
hearts. The joy of the creature is something like a lithograph cut
lightly on the stone–when the stone is cleaned, the picture is gone.
But the love of Christ is like the steel engraving–it is deeply cut
and cannot be easily erased. Earthly joys tread with light feet and
leave but a faint impression–but the love of Christ treads into the
very core of our soul at every footstep and, therefore it is that we
remember it better than we remember any earthly pleasure!
Earthly comforts, too, like wine, leave but a mingled impression. In
the cup of joy there is a dash of sorrow. There is nothing we have here
below which is not somewhat tainted with grief. Solomon has warned us
against the sparkling wine–"Look not upon the wine when it is red,
when it gives his color in the cup, when it moves itself aright. At the
last it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder." Even
friendship, the very cream ofjoy, trembles on the confines of
disappointment, as it is written, "Cursed be the man that trusts in
man, and makes flesh his arm." But in Christ's love there is nothing
for you to ever regret. When you have enjoyed it to the fullest, you
cannot say that there has been any bitterness in it. When you have come
forth from the secret chamber of communion with your Lord, you have
realized the purity of His love–there has been nothing to qualify your
enjoyment of it. When you have been to a party of your friends, you
have said, "I have been very happy, but–I could not enjoy myself there
six days in a week." But when you have been with Christ, you have felt
that you could enjoy yourself in that way to all eternity! You could
not have too much of such fellowship, for there was nothing in it to
mar your happiness. True, there is the remembrance of your sin, but
that is so sweetly covered by your Lord's forgiveness and graciousness
that His love is, indeed, better than wine! It has had all the good
effects of wine, but none of its ill results.
Equally true is it that the remembrance of earth's comforts, of which
wine is the type, must be but transient. If the sinner could live many
days and have much wealth, would he remember it when he entered the
unseen world? Ah, he might remember it, but it would be with awful
sighs and sobs! You know how Abraham spoke, across the great gulf, to
the rich man in Hell, "Son, remember that you in your lifetime received
your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is
comforted and you are tormented." But we can say of the love of Christ,
that it is better than wine, for we shall rejoice to remember it in
eternity–
"There, on a green and flowery mount,
Our weary souls shall sit
And with transporting joys recount." What shall we recount? Dr. Watts
says–
"The labors of our feet,"
but I do not think so. I believe we shall recount the labors of Him who
lived and died for us! That is what we shall talk of in Heaven–I am
sure that this is the theme of all the music and songs of Paradise–
"Jesus, the Lord, their harps employ,
Jesus, my Love, they sing!
Jesus, the life of all our joy
Sounds sweet from every string." Do you not see, then, why this
comparison is made in our text? We remember Christ's love more than the
best earthly comforts because they make but a feeble impression, a
mingled impression, a marred impression and their impression, at best,
is but transient. But the love of Christ is remembered as something
that is better than wine. I have to hurry over these different points,
but if you enjoy hearing about this subject as much as I delight in
preaching upon it, you would not mind listening to me all night long!
And I should not mind preaching right through the night. Surely, this
is a theme that sets one's tongue at a happy liberty. "My tongue is the
pen of a ready writer" if I can but feel the love of Christ shed abroad
in my heart!
III. Now, thirdly, I am to speak of THE PRACTICAL EFFECTS OF
REMEMBERING CHRIST'S LOVE. If we remember the love of Christ to us, the
first practical effect will be that we shall love Him. Can I remember
Your love to me, O my sweet Lord, and not love You in return? Surely,
Dr. Watts was right when he wrote–
"Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all Your quickening powers!
Come, shed abroad a Savior's love,
And that shall kindle ours."
True is it, O Jesus, that there is no light of love in our hearts
except the light of Your love! It is the holy fire from Your altar that
must kindle the incense in the censer of our hearts. There is no living
water to be drawn out of these dry wells! You, O Jesus, must supply
them from the bubbling spring in Your own heart! When my heart is
conscious of Your love, it loves You in return.
Another practical effect of remembering Christ's love will be love to
the brethren. When we remember Christ's love as we ought, we shall not
meet one of Christ's brethren without falling in love with him
directly. Christ has some very poor brethren and some very unhandsome
ones. David sent to enquire whether there were any left of the house of
Saul to whom he might show kindness for Jonathan's sake. Ziba told him
that Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth who was lame in his feet.
What did David do when he heard this? Did he say, "I will have nothing
to do with him–I do not want a lame fellow stumbling about my palace"?
Oh, no–he might be lame in his feet, but he was Jonathan's son–so
David sent for him and said to him, "You shall eat bread at my table
continually." Did you ever know one of Christ's beloved who was lame in
his feet? There is a little lameness, somewhere or other, about all of
them–and if we only love those saints who are very holy, it will seem
as if we only loved them for their own sakes. But if we love Christ's
deformed and crippled children, that looks like loving them for His
sake! And, I think, if you could remember what a clumsy child you were,
yourself, you would not look with such disdain upon any of God's other
children!
Ministers have much to bear in connection with some of their people.
One man's judgment is so keen that you are always afraid of saying
something amiss in his presence. Another man's temper is so hot that
you cannot meddle with him for fear you should provoke a quarrel.
Another man is so worldly that although he has the Grace of God in his
heart, it
seems to be only like a spark in damp tinder. Christ has many very
unseemly children–yet if we can but see that they are Christ's–if
they have only a little likeness to Him, we love them directly for His
sake and are willing to do what we can for them out of love to Him! The
remembrance of the love of Christ to us will, I repeat, always kindle
in us a love towards all the brethren!
The next effect will be, holy practice. When we remember the love of
Christ to us, we shall hate sin. Feeling that He has bought us with His
precious blood, we shall abhor the very name of iniquity. When Satan
tempts us, we shall, each one, say, "Get you gone, for I will have
nothing to do with you–I remember Christ's love to me." Have you ever
heard the story of the Indian woman who, when she was enticed by some
great chief who wished to lead her astray, made to him this noble
answer, "I know no one in the world to be beautiful or attractive but
my husband"? So will the Believer say, when he is tempted, "I know of
nothing that is good but Christ. I know of no one who is so fair as He
is. So be gone, black Satan–my heart is given wholly to Christ and I
will have nothing to do with you."
Another effect of remembering the love of Christ will be repose of
heart in time of trouble. When we have, for a while, lost the light of
God's Countenance. When we are like the Apostle in that great storm at
sea and are in a place where two seas meet and our vessel is already
broken by the violence of the waves. When darkness increases our fears,
or daylight reveals fresh dangers, then is it especially sweet to
remember the love of our Lord! In such a time as that, the tried
Believer can say, "He did love me once and His love never changes.
Though I cannot now see the light of His Countenance, I know that He is
still the same as He always was. I remember the garden of delights
where He revealed His love to me and the banqueting house where He gave
me such choice fare–and I feel persuaded that He has not forgotten His
poor spouse, but that He will come to her, again, and once more lift
her out of the mire, set her feet upon a rock, put a new song into her
mouth and establish her goings."
A constant remembrance of Christ's love to us will make us always
cheerful, dutiful, holy! Dear Lord, grant us this gift, for if You will
enable us to remember Your love more than wine, You will give us all
good things in one! Let Your good Spirit but keep us up to this good
resolution and we shall be both holy and happy, honoring You and
rejoicing in
You!
IV. Lastly, I would put before you A FEW PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS AS TO
PRESERVING A DEEPER
AND MORE SINCERE REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE.
The old Puritan divines frequently compared their hearers to the
Egyptian dog that ran to the Nile and drank and then ran away. They
came up to the meeting house and heard the minister, took a little sip
of the Gospel, which sufficed them, and then they were off! One
preacher said that he wished they were like the fishes–not come and
lap at the stream, as the dog did, but swim in it and live in it! There
are too many, in this age, who are content with hearing a little of
Christ's love–a sip by the way is all that they seem to need. But it
would be far better if you could come up to Rutherford's ideal–"I
would have my soul sunk over its masthead in a sea of love to Christ. I
would be sunk 50 fathoms deep in the mighty shoreless ocean of His love
so that there might be nothing left of me, and that I might be
swallowed up in love to Christ–and in Christ's love to me."
I expect, dear Brothers and Sisters, that your complaint is that you
cannot remember good things as you would. I know very well how you
feel. You hear a sermon and become, for a while, absorbed in holy
meditation–but you have to return to your shop early tomorrow morning
and you only left it as late as twelve o'clock on Saturday night. There
are six days for the world and only one for Heaven! It is no wonder
that you find the sermon so difficult to remember. You remind me of a
person going out into a garden on a dark night, carrying a lighted
candle. If the wind should blow, there is such a careful shielding of
the light with the hand, lest it should be blown out. In like manner,
it is but a feeble light that you bear away from the public ministry
and there are ten thousand winds blowing around you, and trying to put
it out! You must, indeed, be careful to keep it alight all the week in
your memory. Let me give you a little practical advice as to how you
may keep constantly in your mind a remembrance of Jesus Christ's love.
One of the first things I would recommend to you is frequent
meditation. See if you cannot more often get a quarter of an hour all
alone, that you may sit down and turn over and over again the love of
Christ to you. Remember that souls grow more by meditation than by
anything else. The cattle go round the fields and eat the grass–that
is like hearing the Word. But, afterwards, they lie down in a quiet
corner and chew the cud–that is like meditating upon what we have
heard. Get a quarter of an hour, if you can, to masticate and digest
the Word of God. "A quarter of an hour!" says some-
one, "why, I could not get five minutes!" I would not be hard with you,
dear Brother, but I think you could. Days can sometimes be pulled out
either at one end or at the other. If you cannot lengthen the day at
the night end, cannot you pull it out at the morning end? Is there not
a possibility of a little saving of time at some hour during the day?
You will do none the less work for allowing time for meditation and
prayer. Our old proverb says, "Prayer and provender hinder no man's
journey," and I believe that prayer and meditation hinder no man's
work! Try to get a little time to think about your soul. What? So much
time to be occupied with this dusty, sinful world, and so little time
to be devoted to that which relates to Heaven? So much time to be
employed concerning meat, drink and clothes, and so little time to be
given to thoughts of our precious Savior and all His loveliness? Get a
little time alone, Beloved, for that will help to keep you right. You
would not forget your Master's love nearly as much as you do if you
would secure more time for meditation upon it.
Another means of remembering Christ's love is this. Take care that you
are not content with what you knew of Christ's love yesterday. You need
to know a little more about it today and you ought to know still more
about it tomorrow. Some Christians do not commune with their Lord
nearly as often as they ought. I wonder how they manage to live on in
such a fashion. They get a little manna once a month and they try to
live on that until another month comes round. They meet with their
Savior, perhaps, at the Communion Table–and not always then–and they
are content to live from day to day without having fellowship with Him.
Be not you one of that order of Christians! Seek for daily–no, more
than that–constantcommunion with the Lord Jesus Christ! You are to
pray for daily bread–then, surely, He who bade you do that must mean
that you should seek to be fed daily with Himself, who is the Bread of
Heaven! I do not like to hear people talk about what they knew of Jesus
five or six years ago unless they can also tell something of what they
know of Him now! What would you think of a wife who said, "My husband
spoke kindly to me some years ago and I saw him five years ago, but I
have not seen him since"? You would say, "How can the woman live, if
she is a loving wife, without seeing her husband? Is he in the same
house with her and yet has he not spoken to her all that while?"
The Lord Jesus is always near to you and do you mean to say that you
can live without fellowship with Him? Yes, you can, for some of you do!
But I pray you not to live so any longer, for it is a poor, starving
way of dragging on a miserable existence! You have just enough religion
to make you wretched! You have not enough to make you happy–get a
great deal more of it! Drink deeply at the heavenly spring of
fellowship. If you learn a little more about Christ every day, you will
not be likely to forget what you already know of Him.
Then, again, as another way of keeping in your heart what you do
know–take care, when you have a sense of Christ's love, that you let
it go down deeply. If there were a nail so placed that it would slacken
its hold a little every day for six days–if I had the opportunity of
driving it in the first day–I would try to drive it in right up to the
head and to clinch it. So, if you have not much time for fellowship and
communion with Christ–if you have only a short season for meditation,
try to drive the nail well home. Do not be content with merely thinking
about Christ–seek to see Him before your eyes as manifestly crucified.
See Him as He groans in the Garden and do not be content unless you can
groan with Him. See Him as He hangs upon the Cross and do not rest
satisfied until you can feel that you are crucified with Him. Realize
your fellowship with Him as He rises from the tomb, for this will help
very much to keep you right.
I have heard the story of a man who was passing by a house where a poor
idiot lad, with a piece of sandpaper, was scouring away at a brass
plate. The man asked what he was doing and he replied, "I am trying to
scour the name out." "Ah," said the other, "You may scour away as long
as you like, but you will never be able to do that." And so, I think I
see the devil scouring away at some of you, trying to get the name of
Jesus out of your heart. Scour away, Satan, if you like, but you will
never get it out, for it is too deeply cut! If Christ's name is
engraved upon your heart, Satan may try to get it out, but he will
never succeed in doing so! It shall never be obliterated, but shall
shine all the more brightly for his attempts to remove it!
Let me add one more direction. When any of you meet together, it is
always a good thing to make Christ the theme of your conversation. Oh,
what a deal of idle gossip there is, even on Sundays! Many people do
not go out on Sunday afternoon, so they must talk about something. They
do not like to talk about their trade– they fancy that would be too
secular. They do not like to talk about strictly sacred things–they
think that might appear hypocritical. So they begin, "Have you ever
heard So-and-So preach?" "Yes, I did once." "Did you like him?" So,
from one, they go on to others– and ministers and their sermons become
the bones that they pick on Sunday afternoons! They feel that they must
have
some theme for their conversation not quite sacred, nor wholly secular.
I would advise you to talk more about the Lord Jesus Christ than you
have been–you will be less likely to forget His love if you are often
talking of Him. Let the music of His name ring in your ears all the day
long–and if you would have it ring in your ears, it must ring from
your tongue! Whenever you have the opportunity, tell out the marvelous
story of His great love to you and so will your own memory be refreshed
and others, listening to your testimony, will also get a large and, it
may be, an everlasting blessing!
May God now grant to you, my dear Hearers, that you may retain a sense
of Christ's love to you if you have ever enjoyed it! If you never have,
may God now give it to you! If you have never come to Christ, come to
Him now! Remember that Jesus loves sinners. Those who are now farthest
from Him, when they once return to Him, shall know that He loves them.
If you, "take with you words," and come to Him, groaning and sighing,
He will not cast you out. He stands now with open arms and freely
invites you! Come to Him, I beseech you. As His ambassador, I entreat
you to come. If you do so, He will fold you to His bosom. All that the
heirs of Heaven can have, you shall have! All that the glorified saints
are now enjoying shall yet be your privilege, also! You shall one day
walk with Christ in white, and see His face, and be with Him in
Paradise and be blessed throughout eternity! May God grant us His
Grace, now, that our text may become the cheerful sonnet of our
experience–"We will remember Your love more than wine."