Man's Scorn and God's Succor
(No. 3373)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1913.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S DAY EVENING, MAY
12, 1867.
"My friends scorn me; but my eyes pour out tears unto God." Job 16:20.
WE know that Job's sorrows were recorded, not for his honor, but for
our profit. We are told to consider the patience of Job and truly we
might often be sustained, cheered and comforted if we would but look
upon that Patriarch in the depths of his grief. We are "born to sorrow"
and if our cup is not embittered with it tonight, we must not expect to
be long without a taste of the gall in our mouths.
There is one particular sorrow, however, which appertains to the early
days of our spiritual life, concerning which I intend to speak tonight.
It is the sorrow caused by the scorning of us by our friends. This
becomes a very little sorrow to us in later days, but at the first it
is a "trial of cruel mocking," and a very severe one. I suppose the
advanced Christian at last can even come to "rejoice in tribulations"
of this sort–he counts it to be an honor–he rejoices and is
exceedingly glad when men say all manner of evil against him falsely
for Christ's name's sake. But at the first there is nothing, perhaps,
more staggering to the young Christian than to find that his "worst
foes" are they of his own household and that they who should have
cherished and nurtured in him the piety which is so excellent a flower,
do their cruel worst to nip it in the bud!
Without further preface, therefore, we shall try, as the Holy Spirit
shall teach and help us, to speak to you upon a very common trial, '
'My friends scorn me." And then, yet again, meditate on a remarkable
resort and exercise, ' 'But my eyes pour out tears unto God." First,
then, let us think upon– I. A VERY COMMON TRIAL.
"My friends scorn me." What is it they do? They scorn me. I shall apply
the text tonight to scorn on account of religion. It is lately, my dear
young friends–I address myself particularly to you–it is lately that
you have been impressed. It is lately that you have considered your
ways. There has been an evident alteration in you. You have become of a
serious cast of mind. You are now a seeker–you desire salvation. For
this reason your friends scorn you. Perhaps they say that you are so
miserable that they cannot bear your company. Probably the remark is
correct and you feel it to be so, but they do not know that this misery
of yours will end in perfect joy. They do not comprehend this rough
plowing of your soul, which is preparatory to the joyful harvest. They
do not understand that the good Physician often uses the lancet and
opens wide the wound before He comes with His downy fingers to close it
and to heal it. You are miserable and you might expect them, therefore,
to be the more gentle with you and to help your faith as much as
possible, but instead of that, they continually tell you that your
company is altogether unbearable–and so they scorn you. Meanwhile,
they also insinuate that the attention which you are now paying to
religious matters is with a sinister motive and design. They say that
you are a hypocrite! They cannot understand that there can be such a
thing as religious sincerity. To them it is all hypocrisy. They suppose
that all those who seek to live godly lives in Christ Jesus are merely
making a pretense with a view to some personal advantage. Do not be
surprised if they insinuate that you "cant," if they mimic any tone
that may be peculiar to you–if in any and every way possible they
throw in your face the insinuation that you are false and hypocritical.
And, perhaps, they also twit you with your faults, which are, alas, too
many–and are near the surface–and so very easily visible to them.
The old proverb says, "It is easy enough to find a stick with which to
beat a dog," and it is very easy for our friends with whom we live to
rake up some fault of ours, to exaggerate it, and then to strike us as
hard as they can with it! Very
difficult, indeed, would it be for us to live so as to give them no
such opportunity. Even when most careful, our very carefulness is
sneered at as sanctimoniousness! And if we are particular, then we are
severe, rigid, and, worst of all, "Puritanical."
So that, do what we will, we must expect to have faults laid at our
door. This is hard to bear. Your friends, in this respect, scorn you.
And all the while they also tell you that, make what pretences you may,
it is not at all likely that any good will come out of your religion.
It is, they say, an old wives' fable and a cunning story. They have
never proved the power of it in their own souls–they know no better
and, therefore, they tell you to eat, drink, and be merry–fools as
they are to think that this poor flesh and blood ought to have the
first care before the soul that is born for better things! Fools, I
say, as they are, to think that it ever can be wisdom to live for this
little span of time and to forget eternity, which knows no end! Yet
they will tell you to live while you live, that a bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush, to snatch the present joy. They say, "Let us eat
and drink, for tomorrow we die and leave the spirit-world and the land
that is to be revealed to those speculative minds who may care for such
things!" And so, with a hoarse laugh, they would dismiss religion from
you, or persuade you, if possible, to forget it. But, my dear Friends,
you cannot forget it, for if God is dealing with you! His arrows stick
fast in the soul. When the Spirit of God comes to deal with a man, if
all the devils in Hell and all the sinners on earth should laugh around
him all day long, it would only drive the shafts deeper into his soul!
He who has never felt the power of the world to come is easily driven
out of his profession, but he who has once been plowed and harrowed by
the mighty Plowman of Conviction can never forget it! I recollect when
my sins lay heavy upon me. I would not have been ashamed to have stood
up before a parliament of kings and said that I knew sin to be
exceedingly sinful, and that I thought that the sentence of my
condemnation had gone forth from God. Yet, as to having any Scriptural
thoughts, they were squeezed out of me by the rough hand of my
conscience. I knew that sin was evil before God and that sin would
destroy my soul. How could I doubt it when the hot sweat of horror
stood on my brow at the thought of my past life? Doubts then soon fled
to the winds! Ah, if God is so dealing with you, sore as the trial is,
of being mocked by unbelieving friends, you will bear it and will come
out of the ordeal none the worse! But still, meanwhile, I remind you
that Job himself had to say, "My friends scorn me."
Who are these people who scorn you? They are your friends and that
makes it the harder to bear. Caesar said, "Et tu Brute?"–"And you,
Brutus? Do you stab?" So, too, one of our Lord's sharpest griefs was,
"He that eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me." It is
hard for a young Christian to be persecuted by the father to whose
judgment he has always looked up with respect. Harder still is it for a
Christian woman to find the partner of her bosom steeled against her
for the Truth of God's sake. Oh, how they can get at our hearts, these
husbands and these wives of ours–and if they happen to be enemies of
Christ, what wounds they can make! "My friends scorn me." You would not
mind if it were merely the workpeople in the shop. You could escape
from them, but you cannot escape from your own family. You would not
mind it if the ribald herds around you mocked and taunted you, but some
of your friends are people of excellent character in all points but
one! One thing they lack, but the other things they have in such a
degree that you almost blush to think that they excel you–and then it
is very difficult to have a jeer from such. You had hoped that they
would sympathize with you, instruct you and encourage you–but the very
people to whom you looked for assistance have turned against you! One
thing let me say–if those who have thus scorned you are merely
"friends," and are not related to you, they prove that they are nottrue
friends–part from their company, I pray you!
But if they are those with whom Providence has united you with such
bonds, that you must look upon it as being a part of the cross which
you have to carry, well, then, you must take up that cross daily, even
though it is a heavy and painful one, that you may follow your Lord and
Master, Jesus Christ! When the three holy children were cast into the
furnace, it was at least out of doors and away from their dwelling. And
but for God's rescue it would have destroyed them. But to have a
furnace indoors and to have it always blazing–to go home every night
into that furnace and to feel each day that the coals are heaped upon
you, and still to hold on and refuse to bow the knee to evil, but still
remain the true servant of Jesus Christ–oh, the ordeal is terribly
severe! Job said that his enemies scorned him and why should you be
allowed to escape, or expect to come off better than Job? I do trust
that this will be in the nature of a good thing for you. It will make
you feel less dependent upon an arm of flesh. It will drive you to God
and I am sure that those make the strongest Christians who have to come
out most distinctly and separately from their fellows. It is the very
best enjoyment. The Covenanters tell us in their lives that the
happiest seasons they ever had were among the bogs, swamps, mountains
and the brown heath of Scotland when Claverhouse's dragoons were after
them! Then Christ seemed doubly precious to them, when the world had
cast them out on the heath. Oh, there is no talk with Christ so sweet
as that which He gives His people when they walk up the bleak side of
the hill with Him, with the snow blowing in their teeth! Then He covers
them with the mantle of His love and lets His soul out in springs of
love, comfort and delight to them! Some of you who do not have
persecution might almost wish to have it that you might know those dear
delights, those intimate communing which Christ gives to His people in
the day of battle and in the time of torment! Your friends may scorn
you, but "there is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother." Come to
Him and He will not scorn you, but will be your great Comforter!
Your friends scorn you, but why do they do so? They do it you know not
why. If it is on account of religion, I think I know the philosophy of
it. They scorn you because you are different from them. I saw a canary
light on the roof of a house opposite to a window where I was
standing–and in almost a second afterwards some 30 or 40 sparrows
surrounded it and began pecking away at it–and the reason was very
obvious. It was of a different color from themselves. If it had been a
sparrow, of their own dark, smoky, dusty hue, they would have let it
alone. But here was a golden-winged stranger from the sunny isles and
they must persecute it! And so, if you are a bird of paradise, you will
find that word of the Prophet to be true, "My heritage is unto me as a
speckled bird–the birds round about are against her." So you will find
the birds round about you–the ravens, hawks and vultures–against you.
You are not understood, you know. If you are a true Christian, you
cannot be understood! The greatest puzzle to a worldly man is a
Christian! He is moved by motives which the worldling cannot
understand. He is influenced by fears and hopes to which the worldling
is a total stranger. They did not know your Lord–why should they know
you? They crucified the Lord of Glory, not understanding that He was
God, and so "it does not yet appear" what you are, nor does the world
value you at your proper worth. Do not be astonished at it–it is
partly malice and partly ignorance that leads men to scorn you! If, my
dear Friend, you are a thorough-going Christian, you must not expect to
escape scorn! Your life is a standing protest against the lives of
others! You fear God, and they do not. You cannot live as they live.
You cannot talk as they talk and when they note even your silence, it
becomes provoking to them! If the world could have its way, it would
not have a Christian living in it. "No," the worldlings would say,
"That man is a living provocation to our conscience–he thrusts thorns
into our pillows and will not let us rest." I am thankful if this is
the case with you. And if so, it accounts for very much of the scorning
which your friends pour upon you. I will not dwell upon the subject,
however. You will have to find out the reason probably in your later
experience.
But now, what is the best thing for you to do if your friends scorn
you? Well, do not defend yourself! Do not get bad-tempered about it. Do
not answer them. The best reply is, in most cases, complete silence.
Only speak when you are quite sure that it is better to speak than to
hold your tongue. Never give scorn for scorning. Remember that a
worldly man may resist evil if he will, but Christ says to his friends,
"I say unto you, resist not evil, and when you are smitten on one
check, turn the other also." I know that many of those good old
non-resistance texts are looked upon as being quite out-of-date–as
part of the Bible that is not to be preached. Well, when I get
information from the skies that the text is to be covered over or
silenced, I will say nothing about it–but as long as I find it there,
I must say to you that that which men of the world call "pluck" and
"fine spirit" very often comes only from the devil! Why are there
fights and wars? They come from your own lusts. The Christian's only
answer to the persecutor is the answer of the anvil to the blows of the
hammer. He bears them, bears, bears them and breaks the hammer by
bearing them! This is how the Christian Church triumphs. She has never
made a good hand at carnal weapons. It was an ill-day for our Puritan
sires when they took up arms. It did religion no good in this land, but
I believe, threw it back for a long time. It is for the Christian
Church to suffer and to suffer on in confidence and in faith, and to
make the world see that the anvil will outlast a thousand sets of
hammers and will triumph when they are all broken to dust! You, dear
Friends, especially will find it to be your wisest, as well as the most
Christian course, to bear everything that is put upon you and to make
no return except by being more kind and more generous than ever towards
those who are most unkind to you!
Let me say, however, take care that you do not give any cause of
offense. It is very easy for a man to make a martyr of himself when it
is not his religion, but his particular way of holding it that brings
on the martyrdom. Some people, really, are so ferocious in their
convictions, so grim in their conscientiousness and so continually
obtrusive that if they are persecuted, it is their mannerthat is
persecuted and not the Gospel which they profess to hold! Do not give
people an opportunity of opening their mouths against you, but pray God
to make you very wise, so that, as in Daniel's case, they may find
nothing against you, save only touching the Lord God whom you worship.
And then, that being done, if you are still scorned by your friends,
look upon it as coming from God's hands and that will very much soften
it. Ask the Lord what is His purpose in it, what lessons He has to
teach you. It may be it is to keep your pride down, or to strengthen
you for some future conflicts or labors in His cause. And when you have
waited upon Him for direction, rejoice and be exceedingly glad that you
are permitted to suffer at all for Christ's sake and so in patience you
shall possess your souls. Walk uprightly before God, live as Christ
lived and, my dear Friend, the day will come when you shall have
outlived all this enmity and when those who now mock you will respect
you. "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to
be at peace with him." At such a time, it may be some will be won by
your gentleness and your holy conversation to become Christians, too,
and what a joy that will be to you!
Now, I know that what I have been saying does not belong to a great
many of you. But still, I must sometimes take texts which will apply to
these special cases, especially as just now there are many who have
been saved at the Agricultural Hall, and here, and elsewhere, and to
whom the struggle for conscience' sake is quite a new thing. And a word
or two by way of comfort to them I am sure you will not grudge. And now
we shall turn to the second part of the sermon, and we find the
Patriarch engaged in–
II. A REMARKABLE RESORT AND EXERCISE.
His friends were scorning him, but he did not answer them. He had a
sharp word or two, certainly, but still, the direction of his mind and
the bent of his spirit went another way. He thought of God and forgot
them. Herein is wisdom. When you are perplexed with a trouble, when you
are mortified by some wicked person, do not let that thing always fret
you. Have you ever noticed how you may torment yourselves with some
little thing if you like? There is a fly in the room and that fly may
be almost as much a trouble to you as though it were an eagle if you
let its buzz be always in your ears. And if you keep on thinking about
that buzzing fly, you can magnify it into a big dragon with wings. But
if you forget it, and go on with your writing or your needlework, the
fly may buzz away 50 times as much, but it will not trouble you! It is
a very blessed thing, when, having a care which you cannot get over,
you take it to God in prayer and so get over it. I will tell you what I
have sometimes done with some of my difficulties. I have turned them
over–I have looked at them in all shapes and ways–I have considered
every way of getting over them. I have been vexed, troubled and
distressed for the time, and at last I have come to feel, "Well now, I
cannot do anything with this. It is a hard shell–I cannot crack it.
But I have frequently been enabled by Grace to deliberately take that
matter and put it upon the shelf and say, "By God's Grace I will never
think about that again as long as I live–I have done the best I could
with it, Lord, and if it does not get right, that is now Your business
and not mine–I will be done with it forever." Sometimes you will find
that the trouble will get right as soon as you leave it alone. It is
just your meddling with it that makes the difficulty. You do not see
that at the time, but as soon as you just get out of the way, the whole
thing becomes right at once! God's wheels of Providence grind much more
accurately than any of the wheels of our mental calculations. And when
we are altogether out of joint, then it is that God comes in and shows
us what His wisdom and power can do. Leave, then, the scorning friends,
and betake yourselves to your God!
It is a very great mercy, let me say, that we may go to God when we are
cast out by our friends–that if there are no other ears that will
listen, God's ears will always listen–and that if in all the earth
there should not remain a sympathizing heart, there is the heart of the
Man, Christ Jesus, still to be appealed to! And we shall never appeal
to the sympathies of the Son of God in vain. Oh, my Brothers and
Sisters, when every other door is shut, the door of God's Grace is
always open! Let all other ports be blocked, your vessel can always run
into that one harbor which all the devils in Hell cannot close–the
harbor of infinite love and unfailing care. "Trust you in the Lord
forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." In your
darkest seasons, your very worst times–fly to your God and He will
deliver you!
It seems from the text, however, that all Job could do was to pour out
from his eyes a flood of tears. The word, "tears," is not in the
original Hebrew, but it is put into the translation, as it is supposed
to give simpler sense to our ears. His "eyes poured out," however, by
which he meant that he did not so much pour out tears as his very
heart, itself. As that grand old expositor, Joseph Caryl, says, "Job's
heart was hot within him and the steam of his fierce trouble distilled
itself in drops of tears which fell upon the ground." It was Job's
inmost soul that he poured out before God. Now, there are many kinds of
tears, but the best kind are those described in the text, "Tears unto
God." What a capital sermon somebody might make out of that! "Tears
unto God"! Tears not poured out to men, nor unto the earth, nor unto
myself,
but unto God! Tears put into His bottle. Libations poured at the foot
of His altar. Tears wept for God–for God to see, for God to hear, for
God to think upon–for God to accept. Not tears for tears' sake, but
tears like those of the penitent, tears in the privacy of one's
loneliness, tears only unto God! I hope, dear Friends, there are some
among us who know the meaning of these tears. Some of you, I trust, are
even now pouring forth the tears of repentance. Oh, those are blessed
tears, tears of repentance that are tears unto God! It sometimes falls
to my lot to have to talk to people about their sins. Sometimes they
wish that I should do so and when I have tried to set their sins in
their true light, tears have come. There have been tears because the
offense has damaged the young man's character. Tears because it injured
the young man's friends. Tears because a mother was grieved. Well now,
when I have seen all these tears, I have been glad of them, such as
they were, but they are not all the tears that we need. If you can only
get one tear because the sin grieved God, it is worth a whole bottleful
of the other tears! To see sin in the light of God's Countenance is to
truly see it. David hit the nail on the head when he said, "Against
You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight." My
dear Hearer, you may be very sorry that you did wrong because it
brought you into trouble. You may be very sorry, indeed, because you
cannot take the position in life which you once occupied–but that is
not a repentance that can serve you before God! But if you are sorry to
think that you have grieved God. If, like the prodigal, you say,
"Father, I have sinned against Heaven and in Your sight"–these are
tears unto God and are such as He receives!
The next kind of tears unto God are the tears of desire. I wish these
were more frequent. Those are the prayers that prevail with God which
are well salted with tears. I am afraid that the most of us do not pray
as we should, but if we want to prevail, like Jacob, we must remember
that Jacob wrestled with the Angel and then he prevailed. Weeping,
which reveals the soul's wrestling, will often do what nothing else can
in bringing us great benedictions.
We have all felt the power of tears over our own feelings and
affections, but the power of tears over God, who shall describe it? The
blood of Jesus secures all He wills, and when our tears look towards
and plead the blood of Jesus, then those tears cannot be refused.
My dear Hearer, if you cannot get peace, do not cease praying until you
have obtained it. If you long for your sins to be pardoned and have
been praying a long time for this–it may be for weeks or months–pray
again tonight and do not give up praying until you know you have
prevailed with God. Can you bear to perish? Can you endure to be cast
away? If you cannot, then be importunate! Lay hold upon the horns of
the altar and let this be your vow, "I will not let You go, except You
bless me." Then, when it comes to tears, you will get it. When it comes
to your very soul being poured out before God, then shall God say unto
you, "Your sins are forgiven you. Go in peace."
Once more. These tears may be tears shed on behalf of others. We would
prevail for the salvation of others if we thought more of their cases
when on our knees, and worked our souls more thoroughly into tempests
of sacred and holy passion on their behalf. We cannot expect to see our
children saved unless we can weep over them. We must not expect to see
our congregations blessed unless our soul bleeds for that congregation.
And when I say, "tears," I do not mean those drops from only the eyes,
for some of us could not cry if our souls depended on it, and yet we
may, though we let fall no watery tears, shed some of the best
tears–tears dropping like sweet-smelling myrrh upon the altar of the
all-seeing God! Oh, we must get to feel that we cannot let men die! We
must get to feel as if we should die ourselves if they were lost! We
must feel so desperately in earnest about it that we cannot sleep, nor
go our way in peace unless such-and-such persons be turned unto God and
find peace in Jesus! If this is our spirit, we shall have our desire
and we shall see our beloved ones saved.
Thus, then, it seems that Job, instead of dealing with his enemies,
spent his time in dealing with his God, and as words failed him, he
took himself to the more potent rhetoric of tears and so melted his way
into God's heart, resting by faith upon the merits of the Redeemer who
was yet to come! Do the same, my dear Friends, and God will give you
the blessing you need!
But some of you say, "I would never think of weeping before God! I have
no dealings with God." No, but He will have dealings with you. If you
should not now repent of your sins, you shall repent some day, but that
shall be when repentance is too late! Tears of repentance here on earth
are signs of Divine Grace, but tears of sorrow in Hell are only signs
of bitter and destroying remorse! "There shall be weeping, and wailing,
and gnashing of teeth." Oh, may God the Holy Spirit convict us of sin
here and now, while there is a hope of mercy, that we may fly to Jesus'
wounds, be washed in His blood and be saved–for if not, rest assured
that we shall be convicted of sin one day when sin can never be
pardoned, but the undying worm of self-accusing shall gnaw at our
consciences forever, and forever and forever! Ah, my dear Hearer, do
not boast because you cannot repent! Do not play the fool after that
fashion, but rather ask God to break your heart of sin and so help you
to repent! A tender conscience is such a blessing that you may well
bemoan yourselves until God bestows it. Remember, however, that Jesus
Christ can give a tender heart. It is one of the blessings of the
Covenant of which He is the Surety. "A new heart also will I give them,
and a right spirit will I put within them. I will take away the stony
heart and give them a heart of flesh." Plead that Covenant promise! And
if you plead it now, believing in Jesus and trusting in Him, you shall
get that new heart! You shall get a heart that can weep before God and
so you shall be accepted through the righteousness of Jesus and your
tears and your supplications shall prevail!
I may never speak to some of you again, but oh, I should like to leave
that thought with you that to suffer for Christ is honor and that to
weep before the Lord is the truest pleasure! But if you have despised
in your heart those that are persecuted, remember that day when Christ
shall come, and all His holy angels with Him! If you laugh at
Christians now, you will no longer laugh, but lament then! Your song
then–or rather wail–shall be very different from the one you sing
now. Oh, may you now, while yet life lasts, and the day of mercy is not
over, seek Jesus, cast in your lot with His people, take up His Cross,
that by-and-by you may wear His crown, suffering now–if necessary–in
sharing His reproach and shame, that then you may be delighted with His
Glory!
The Lord Himself grant it to everyone of you! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM22:1-22; SONG OF SOLOMON
1:1-7,2:1-7.
PSALM22.
Stand and look up at Christ upon the Cross and look upon these words as
His. He Himself is the best exposition of this wondrous Psalm.
Verses 1, 2. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so
far from helping Me, and from the words of My roaring? O My God, I cry
in the daytime, but You hear not; and in the night season, and am not
silent. Gethsemane!–there is the key–a prayer unanswered at that
time–"If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." It was not
possible. He must drink it. "In the night season I am not silent."
3. But You are holy, O You that inhabit thepraises ofIsrael. No hard
thoughts of God, even when He was forsaken. A forsaken Christ still
clings to the Father and ascribes perfect holiness to Him.
4-6. Our fathers trusted in You: they trusted, and You did deliver
them. They cried unto You, and were delivered: they trusted in You, and
were not confounded. But I am a worm, and not a man: a reproach of men,
and despised of the people.How low did Christ descend for our sakes not
only as low as man, but still lower! Never was godly man forsaken of
God, and yet Jesus was–so He is lower than we are while He hangs upon
the tree "a reproach of men, and despised of the people."
7, 8. All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn: they shoot out the lip,
they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that He would
deliver Him, let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him. Was not
this just what they said at the Cross? Ah, little did they know that He
saved others–Himself He could not save, because a matchless love held
His hands there, as with diamond rivets.
9, 10. But You are He that took Me out of the womb: You did make Me
hope when I was upon My mother's breasts. I was cast upon You from the
womb: You are My God from My mother's belly. He remembers His wonderful
birth. He was God's, indeed, from the very first.
11. Be not far from Me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
They have all gone. Peter and all the rest have fled. There is none to
help. And there stand the Scribes and Pharisees and the great men of
the nation.
12-14. Many bulls have compassed Me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset
Me round. They gaped upon Me with their mouths, as a ravening and a
roaring lion. I am poured out like water All dissolved–nothing could
hold together– quite spent and gone.
14. And all My bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax. He felt
the inward sinking fever brought on Him by the wounds He had upon the
Cross. "My heart is like wax."
14-16. It is melted in the midst of My body. My strength is dried up
like a potsherd: and My tongue cleaves to My jaws: and You have brought
Me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed Me. There they
are–the cruel multitude–thrusting out the tongue and hooting at Him.
"For dogs have compassed Me."
16. The assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. The hind of the morning
is now surrounded by the dogs. He cannot escape.
16, 17. They pierced My hands and My feet. I may count all My bones:
they look and stare upon Me. Horrible, to the tender, modest soul of
Jesus, were those vile stares of the ribald multitude as they gazed
upon Him.
18-22. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.
But be not You far from Me, O LORD: O My Strength, hasten You to help
Me. Deliver My soul from the sword; My darling from the power of the
dog. Save Me from the lion's mouth: for You have heard Me from the
horns of the unicorns. I will declare Your name unto My brethren: in
the midst of the congregation will I praise You. The sun that was
darkened, now shines again. The Savior's griefs are over. A calm is
spread over His mind. He is about to say, "It is finished!" and His
heart is comforted. We leave that passage there.
SONG OF SOLOMON 1.
Now, concerning our love to Him, let us read a few verses of the Song
of Solomon, first Chapter. You have been introduced to the Beloved, red
with His own blood, but never so lovely as in His passion.
Verses 1, 2. The song of songs, which is Solomon's. Let Him kiss me
with the kisses ofHis mouth. No name. Is any name needed? What name is
good enough for Him, our best Beloved? He plunges into the subject
through excess of love! He forgets the name. "Let Him kiss me with the
kisses of His mouth."
2, 3. For Your love is better than wine. Because of the savor of Your
good ointments Your name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the
virgins love You. There is such a sweetness in the name. It is not like
a box of ointment shut up, but like a sweet perfume that fills the
room. For the merits of Jesus are so sweet that they perfume Heaven
itself! It was not on Calvary alone that that sweet ointment was
known–it was known in the Seventh Heaven!
4. Draw me, we will run after You.We want to get near to Christ, but we
cannot. "Draw me," we cry, "we will run after You."
4. The king has brought me into His chambers: we wiil be glad and
rejoice in You, we will remember Your love more than wine: the upright
love You. The wine shall help us to remember Him tonight when we come
to His Table, but we will remember Him more than wine.
5. I am black, but comely, O you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents
of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. A strange contrast is a Believer.
He is black in himself, but he is comely in Christ. In himself he is
foul as the smoke-dried tents of Kedar–but in his Lord he is as comely
and rich as the curtains of Solomon!
6. 7. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun has looked
upon me. My mother's children were angry with me: they made me the
keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have I not kept. Tell me,
O You whom my soul loves, where You feed, where You make Your flock to
rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks
of Your companions? A few verses of the next Chapter.
CHAPTER 2
Song of Solomon 2:1. I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the
valleys. So He is, and much more than that–
"Nature, to make His beauties known, Must mingle colors quite unknown."
So rich is He–rose and lily both in one–
"White is His soul, from blemish free, Red with the blood He shed for
Me."
2. As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.His
Church stands out like a fair lily in a thorn-brake–separate and
distinct–often suffering, standing where she does not wish to be, but
all the lovelier by contrast. But if Christ praises His Church, she
praises Him again.
3, 4. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved
among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His
fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and
His banner over me was love.So full of joy is she that she can bear it
no longer. She seems ready to faint with bliss!
5-7. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for Iam love sick.
His left handis under my head, andHis right hand does embrace me. I
charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem–By every lovely, timid,
tender, chaste thing–
7. By the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that you stir not up,
nor awake my love, till He please. If I have fellowship with Him–if I
am near His Cross–if I am drinking in His love, oh, do not hinder me!
Do not call me away! Do not break the spell, but let me go on with this
blessed daydream, which is truer than reality, itself, till I see Him
face to face, when the day breaks and the shadows flee away!