A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 1, 1873,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"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? If you know not, O you fairest among
women, go your way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed your
kids beside the shepherds' tents." Song of Solomon 1:7,8.
THE bride was most unhappy and ashamed because her personal beauty had
been sorely marred by the heat of the sun. The fairest among women had
become swarthy as a sunburn slave. Spiritually it is so full often with
a chosen soul. The Lord's Grace has made her fair to look upon, even as
the lily, but she has been so busy about earthly things that the sun of
worldliness has injured her beauty. The bride, with holy
shamefacedness, exclaims, "Look not upon me, for I am black, because
the sun has looked upon me." She dreads alike the curiosity, the
admiration, the pity and the scorn of men. She then turns herself,
alone, to her Beloved, whose gaze she knows to be so full of love that
her swarthiness will not cause her pain when most beneath His eyes.
This is one index of a gracious soul–that whereas the ungodly rush to
and fro and know not where to look for consolation, the believing heart
naturally flies to its beloved Savior, knowing that in Him is its only
rest. It would appear from the preceding verse that the bride was also
in trouble about a certain charge which had been given to her, which
burdened her, and in the discharge of which she had become negligent of
herself. She says, "They made me the keeper of the vineyards," and she
would wish to have kept them well, but she felt she had not done so,
and that, moreover, she had failed in a more immediate duty–"My own
vineyard have I not kept." Under this sense of double unworthiness and
failure, feeling her omissions and her commissions to be weighing her
down, she turned round to her Beloved and asked instruction at His
hands.
This was well. Had she not loved her Lord she would have shunned Him
when her comeliness was faded, but the instincts of her affectionate
heart suggested to her that He would not discard her because of her
imperfections. She was, moreover, wise to appeal to her Lord against
herself. Beloved, never let sin part you from Jesus. Under a sense of
sin, do not fly from Him. That were foolishness! Sin may drive you from
Sinai–it ought to draw you to Calvary. To the Fountain we should fly
with all the greater alacrity when we feel that we are foul. And to the
dear wounds of Jesus, where all our life and healing must come, we
should resort with the greater earnestness when we feel our soul to be
sick, even though we fear that sickness to be unto death.
The bride, in the present case, takes to Jesus her troubles, her
distress about herself and her confession concerning her work. She
brings before Him her double charge, the keeping of her own vineyard
and the keeping of the vineyards of others. I know that I shall be
speaking to many, this morning, who are busy in serving their Lord and
it may be that they feel great anxiety because they cannot keep their
own hearts near to Jesus–they do not feel themselves warm and lively
in the Divine service. They plod on, but they are very much in the
condition of those who are described as "faint, yet pursuing." When
Jesus is present, labor for Him is joy, but in His absence His servants
feel like workers underground, bereft of the light of the sun.
They cannot give up working for Jesus, they love Him too well for that,
but they pine to have His company while they are working for Him. And
like the young Prophets who went to the woods to cut down, every man, a
beam for their new house, they say to their Master, "Be content, we
pray You, and go with Your servants." Our most earnest desire is that
we may enjoy sweet communion with Jesus while we are actively engaged
in His cause. Indeed, Beloved, this is most important to all of us. I
do not know of any point which Christian workers need more often to
think upon than the subject of keeping their work and themselves near
to their Master.
Our text will help us to this under three heads. We have here, first, a
question asked–"Tell me, O You whom my soul loves, where You feed,
where You make Your flock to rest at noon?" Secondly, an argument
used–"Why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of Your
companions?" And, thirdly, we have an answer obtained–"If you know
not, O you fairest among women, go your way forth by the footsteps of
the flock, and feed your kids beside the shepherds'
tents."
I. Here is A QUESTION ASKED. Every word of the enquiry is worthy of our
careful meditation. You will observe, first, concerning it, that it is
asked in love. She calls Him to whom she speaks by the endearing title,
"O You whom my soul loves." Whatever she may feel herself to be, she
knows that she loves Him. She is black, and ashamed to have her face
gazed upon, but still she loves her Bridegroom. She has not kept her
own vineyard as she ought to have done, but still she loves Him. Of
that she is sure, and therefore boldly declares it. She loves Him as
she loves none other in all the world. He only can be called, "Him whom
my soul loves."
She knows none at all worthy to be compared with Him, none who can
rival Him. He is her bosom's Lord, sole prince and monarch of all her
affections. She feels, also, that she loves Him intensely–from her
inmost soul she loves Him. The life of her existence is bound up with
Him–if there is any force and power and vitality in her, it is but as
fuel to the great flame of her love which burns for Him, alone. Mark
well that it is not, "O You whom my soul believes in." That would be
true, but she has passed further. It is not, "O You whom my soul
honors." That is true, too, but she has passed beyond that stage. Nor
is it merely, "O You whom my soul trusts and obeys." She is doing that,
but she has reached something warmer, more tender, more full of fire
and enthusiasm, and it is, "O You whom my soul loves."
Now, Beloved, I trust many of us can speak so to Jesus. He is to us the
Well-Beloved, "the chief among a myriad." "His mouth is every
sweetness, yes, all of Him is loveliness," and our soul is wrapped up
in Him, our heart is altogether taken up with Him. We shall never serve
Him aright unless it is so. Before our Lord said to Peter, "Feed My
lambs," and "Feed My sheep," He put the question, "Simon, son of Jonah,
do you love Me?" And this He repeated three times, for until that
question is settled we are unfit for His service. So the bride, here,
having both herself and her little flock to care for, avows that she
loves the Spouse as if she felt that she would not dare to have a part
of His flock to look after if she did not love Him–as if she saw that
her right to be a shepherdess at all depended upon her love to her
Spouse. She could not expect His help in her work, much less His
fellowship in the work, unless there was first in her that
all-essential fitness of love to His Person.
The question, therefore, becomes instructive to us, because it is
addressed to Christ under a most endearing title. And I ask every
worker here to take care that he always does his work in a spirit of
love and always regards the Lord Jesus not as a taskmaster, not as one
who has given us work to do from which we would rather escape, but as
our dear Lord, whom to serve is bliss and for whom to die is gain. "O
You whom my soul loves," is the right name by which a worker for Jesus
should address his Lord. Now note that the question, as it is asked in
love, is also asked of Him. "Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where
You feed." She asked Him to tell her, as if she feared that none but
Himself would give her the correct answer–others might be mistaken,
but He could not be. She asked of Him because she was quite sure that
He would give her the kindest answer.
Others might be indifferent and might scarcely take the trouble to
reply, but if Jesus would tell her Himself, with His own lips, He would
mingle love with every word and so console as well as instruct her.
Perhaps she felt that nobody else could tell her as He could, for
others speak to the ear, but He speaks to the heart. Others speak with
lower degrees of influence–we hear their speech but are not moved. But
Jesus speaks and the Spirit goes with every word He utters and
therefore we hear to profit when He converses with us. I do not know
how it may be with you, my Brothers and Sisters, but I feel, this
morning, that if I could get half a word from Christ it would satisfy
my soul for many a day! I love to hear the Gospel and to read it, and
to preach it–but to hear it fresh from Himself, applied by the energy
of the Holy Spirit! O, this is refreshment! This is energy and power!
Therefore, Savior, when Your workers desire to know where You feed,
tell them Yourself. Speak to their hearts by Your own Spirit and let
them feel as though it were a new revelation to their inmost nature.
"Tell me, O You whom my soul loves." It is asked in love. It is asked
of Him.
Now, observe what the question is. She wishes to know how Jesus does
His work and where He does it. It appears, from the eighth verse, that
she, herself, has a flock of kids to tend. She is a shepherdess and
would feed her flock. Therefore her question, "Tell me where You feed?"
She desires those little ones of hers to obtain rest as well as food
and
she is troubled about them. Therefore she says, "Tell me where You make
Your flock to rest," for if she can see how Jesus does His work and
where He does it, and in what way, then she will be satisfied that she
is doing it in the right way, if she closely imitates Him and abides in
fellowship with Him.
The question seems to be just this: "Lord, tell me what are the Truths
with which You do feed Your people's souls. Tell me what are the
doctrines which make the strong ones weak and the sad ones glad. Tell
me what is that precious meat which You are known to give to hungry and
fainting spirits to revive them and keep them alive, for if You tell
me, then I will give my flock the same food. Tell me where the pasture
is where You feed Your sheep and straightway I will lead mine to the
same happy fields. Then tell me how You make Your people rest. What are
those promises which You apply to the consolation of their spirit so
that their cares and doubts and fears and agitations all subside?
You have sweet meadows where You make Your beloved flock lie calmly
down and slumber. Tell me where those meadows are that I may go and
fetch the flock committed to my charge–the mourners whom I ought to
comfort, the distressed ones whom I am bound to relieve, the desponding
whom I have endeavored to encourage–tell me, Lord, where You make Your
flock to lie down, for then, under Your help, I will go and make my
flock to lie there, too. It is for myself, but yet far more for others
that I ask the question, 'Tell me where You feed, where You make them
to rest at noon.' " I have no doubt that the bride did desire
information for herself and for her own good, and I believe Dr. Watts
had caught some of the spirit of the passage when he sang–
"Gladly would I feed among Your sheep, Among them rest, among them
sleep."
But it does not strike me that this is all the meaning of the passage
by a very long way. The bride says, "Tell me where You feed Your
flock," as if she would wish to feed with the flock. "Where You make
Your flock to rest," as if she wanted to rest there, too. But it
strikes me the very gist of the thing is this, that she wished to bring
her flock to feed where Christ's flock feeds and to lead her kids to
lie down where Christ's little lambs were reposing. She desired, in
fact, to do her work in His company. She wanted to mix up her flock
with the Lord's flock, her work with His work, and to feel that what
she was doing she was doing for Him. Yes, and with Him and through Him.
She had evidently met with a great many difficulties in what she had
tried to do. She wished to feed her flock of kids, but could not find
them pasture. Perhaps when she began her work as a shepherdess she
thought herself quite equal to the task, but now the same sun which had
bronzed her face had dried up the pasture, and so she says, "O You that
know all the pastures, tell me where You feed, for I cannot find grass
for my flock." And suffering herself from the noontide heat, she finds
her little flock suffering, too. And she enquires, "Where do You make
Your flock to rest at noon? Where are cool shadows of great rocks which
screen off the sultry rays when the sun is in its zenith and pours down
torrents of heat? For I cannot shade my poor flock and give them
comfort in their many trials and troubles. I wish I could. O Lord, tell
me the secret art of consolation, then will I try to console my own
charge by the same means."
We would know the groves of promises and the cool streams of peace,
that we may lead others into rest. If we can follow Jesus we can guide
others and so both we and they will find comfort and peace. That is the
meaning of the request before us. Note well that she said most
particularly, "Tell me." "O Master, do not merely tell Your sheep where
You feed, though they want to know, but tell me where You feed, for I
would gladly instruct others." She would desire to know many things,
but chiefly she says, "Tell me where You feed," for she wished to feed
others. We want practical knowledge, for our desire is to be helped to
bring others into rest–to be the means of speaking peace to the
consciences of others–as the Lord has spoken peace to ours.
Therefore the prayer is, "Tell me." "You are my Model, O Great
Shepherd. You are my Wisdom. If I am a shepherd to Your sheep, yet am I
also a sheep beneath Your Shepherdry, therefore teach me that I may
teach others." I do not know whether I make myself plain to you, but I
wish to put it very simply. I am preaching to myself perhaps a great
deal more than to you. I am preaching to my own heart. I feel I have to
come, Sunday after Sunday, and weekday after weekday, and tell you a
great many precious things about Christ, and sometimes I enjoy them
myself. And if nobody else gets blessed by them, I do, and I go home
and praise the Lord for it. But my daily fear is lest I should be a
handler of texts for you, and a preacher of good things for others, and
yet remain unprofited in my own heart.
My prayer is that the Lord Jesus will show me where He feeds His people
and let me feed with them, that I may conduct you to the pastures where
He is, and be with Him, myself, at the same time that I bring you to
Him. You Sunday
school teachers and Evangelists, and others–my dear, earnest comrades
for whom I thank God at every remembrance– I feel that the main point
you have to watch is that you do not lose your own spirituality while
trying to make others spiritual. The great point is to live near to
God. It would be a dreadful thing for you to be very busy about other
men's souls and neglect your own. Appeal to the Well-Beloved and
entreat Him to let you feed your flock where He is feeding His people.
Pray that He would let you sit at His feet, like Mary, even while you
are working in the house, like Martha.
Do not do less, but rather more, and ask to do it in such communion
with Him that your work shall be melted into His work and what you are
doing shall be really only His working in you and you rejoicing to pour
out to others what He pours into your own soul. God grant it may be so
with you all, my Brothers and Sisters.
II. Secondly, here is AN ARGUMENT USED. The bride says, "Why should I
be as one that turns aside by the flocks of Your companions?" If she
should lead her flock into distant meadows, far away from the place
where Jesus is feeding His flock, it would not be well. As a
shepherdess would naturally be rather dependent and would need to
associate herself for protection with others, suppose she should turn
aside with other shepherds and leave her Bridegroom–would it be right?
She speaks of it as a thing most abhorrent to her mind and well might
it be.
For, first, would it not look very unseemly that the bride should be
associating with others than the Bridegroom? They have each a
flock–there is He with His great flock–and here is she with her
little one. Shall they seek pastures far off from one another? Will
there not be talk about this? Will not onlookers say, "This is not
seemly. There must be some lack of love here, or else these two would
not be so divided"? Stress may be put, if you like, upon that little
word, "I." Why should I, your blood-bought spouse. I, betrothed unto
You, before the earth was, I, whom You have loved–why should I turn
after others and forget You?
Beloved, you had better put the emphasis in your own reading of it just
there. Why should /, whom the Lord has pardoned, whom the Lord has
loved, whom the Lord has favored so much. /, who have enjoyed
fellowship with Him for many years. /, who know that His love is better
than wine. /, who have aforetime been inebriated with His sweetness–
why should I turn aside? Let others do so if they will, but it would be
uncomely and unseemly for me. I pray You, Brothers and Sisters, try to
feel that–that for you to work apart from Christ would have a bad look
about it. That for your work to take you away from fellowship with
Jesus would have a very ugly appearance–it would not be among the
things that are honest and of good repute.
For the bride to feed her flock in other company would look like
unfaithfulness to her Husband. What? Shall the bride of Christ forsake
her Beloved? Shall she be unchaste towards her Lord? Yet it would seem
so if she makes companions of others and forgets her Beloved. Our
hearts may grow unchaste to Christ even while they are zealous in
Christian work. I dread very much the tendency to do Christ's work in a
cold, mechanical spirit. But above even that I tremble lest I should be
able to have warmth for Christ's work and yet should be cold towards
the Lord Himself. I fear that such a condition of heart is
possible–that we may burn great bonfires in the streets for public
display–and scarcely keep a live coal upon our hearth for Jesus to
warm His hands.
When we meet in the great assembly the good company helps to warm our
hearts and when we are working for the Lord with others they stimulate
us and cause us to put forth all our energy and strength. And then we
think, "Surely my heart is in a healthy condition towards God." But,
Beloved, such excitement may be a poor index of our real state. I love
that quiet, holy fire which will glow in the closet and flame forth in
the chamber when I am alone–and that is the point I am more fearful
about than anything else–both for myself and for you, lest we should
be doing Christ's work without Christ. Lest we should be having much to
do but not thinking much of Him. Lest we should be involved in much
serving yet forgetting Him.
Why, that would soon grow into making a Christ out of our own
service–an Antichrist out of our own labors! Beware of that! Love your
work, but love your Master more! Love your flock, but love the Great
Shepherd better, still, and always keep close to Him, for it will be a
token of unfaithfulness if you do not. And mark again, "Why should I be
as one that turns aside by the flocks of Your companions?" We may read
this as meaning, "Why should I be so unhappy as to have to work for You
and yet be out of communion with You?" It is a very unhappy thing to
lose fellowship with Jesus, and yet to have to go on with religious
exercises. If the wheels are taken off your chariot it is no great
matter if nobody wants to ride. But what if you are called upon to
drive on? When a man's foot is lame he may not so much regret it if he
can sit still, but if he is bound to run a race he is greatly to be
pitied.
It made the spouse doubly unhappy even to suppose that she, with her
flock to feed and herself needing feeding, too, should have to turn
aside by the flocks of others and miss the Presence of her Lord. In
fact the question seems to be put in this shape–"What reason is there
why I should leave my Lord? What apology could I make? What excuse
could I offer for doing so? Is there any reason why I should not abide
in constant fellowship with Him? Why should I be as one that turns
aside? Perhaps it may be said that others turn aside, but why should I
be as one of them? There may be excuses for such an act in others, but
there can be none for me. Your rich love, Your free love, Your
undeserved love, Your special love to me has bound me hand and
foot–how can I turn aside?
"There may be some professors who owe You little, but I, once the chief
of sinners owe you so much, how can I turn aside? There may be some
with whom You have dealt harshly who may turn aside. But You have been
so tender, so kind to me, how can I forget You? There may be some who
know but little of You, whose experience of You is so slender that
their turning aside is not to be wondered at. But how can I turn aside
when You have shown me Your love and revealed Your heart to me? Oh, by
the banqueting house where I have feasted with You. By the Hermonites
and the hill Mizar where You have manifested Your love. By the place
where deep called to deep and then mercy called to mercy. By those
mighty storms and sweeping hurricanes in which You were the shelter of
my head, by ten thousand thousand mercies past which have been my
blessed portion, why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks
of Your companions?"
Let me address the members of this Church and say to you, if all the
churches in Christendom were to go aside from the Gospel, why should
you? If in every other place the Gospel should be neglected and an
uncertain sound should be given forth. If Ritualism should swallow up
half the churches and Rationalism the rest, yet why should you turn
aside? You have been peculiarly a people of prayer. You have also
followed the Lord fully in doctrine and in ordinances and consequently
you have enjoyed the Divine Presence and have prospered beyond measure.
We have cast ourselves upon the Holy Spirit for strength and have not
relied upon human eloquence, music, or beauties of color, or
architecture.
Our only weapon has been the simple, plain, full Gospel and why should
we turn aside? Have we not been favored for these many years with
unexampled success? Has not the Lord added unto our numbers so
abundantly that we have not had room enough to receive them? Has He not
multiplied the people and increased the joy? Hold fast to your first
love and let no man take your crown! I thank God there are still
Churches, a few in England and yet more in Scotland, which hold fast
the doctrines of the Gospel and will not let them go. To them I would
say, why should you turn aside? Should not your history, both in its
troublous and its joyous chapters, teach you to hold fast the form of
sound words?
Above all, should we not try to live as a Church and individually,
also, in abiding fellowship with Jesus? For if we turn aside from Him
we shall rob the Truth of God of its aroma, yes, of its essential
fragrance. If we lose fellowship with Jesus we shall have the standard,
but where will be the standard-bearer? We may retain the candlestick,
but where shall be the light? We shall be shorn of our strength, our
joy, our comfort, our all, if we miss fellowship with Him! God grant,
therefore, that we may never be as those who turn aside.
III. Thirdly, we have here AN ANSWER GIVEN by the Bridegroom to His
Beloved. She asked Him where He fed, where He made His flock rest, and
He answered her. Observe carefully that this answer is given in
tenderness to her infirmity–not ignoring her ignorance, but dealing
very gently with it. "If you know not"–a hint that she ought to have
known, but such a hint as kind lovers give when they would forbear to
chide. Our Lord is very tender to our ignorance. There are many things
which we do not know, but ought to know. We are children when we should
be men and have to be spoken to as unto carnal–unto babes in Christ,
when we should have become fathers.
Is there one among us who can say, "I am not faulty in my knowledge"? I
am afraid the most of us must confess that if we had done the Lord's
will better we should have known His doctrine better. If we had lived
more closely to Him we should have known more of Him. Still, how very
gentle He rebuke us. The Lord forgives our ignorance and condescends to
instruct it. Note next that the answer is given in great love. He says,
"O you fairest among women." That is a blessed cordial for her
distress. She said, "I am black," but He says, "O you fairest among
women."
I would rather trust Christ's eyes than mine. If my eyes tell me I am
black I will weep, but if He assures me I am fair I will believe Him
and rejoice. Some saints are more apt to remember their sinfulness and
grieve over it, than to believe in their righteousness in Christ and
triumph in it. Remember, Beloved, it is quite as true today that you
are all fair and without spot as that you are black, because the sun
has looked upon you. It must be true, because Jesus says so. Let me
give you one of the sayings of the Bridegroom to His bride–"You are
all fair, My Love; there is no spot on you." "Ah, that is a figure,"
you say. Well, I will give you one that it not a figure.
The Lord Jesus, after He had washed His disciples' feet, said, "He that
is washed needs not except to wash his feet, for he is clean every
whit." And then He added, "And you are clean." If you desire an
Apostolic word to the same effect, let me give you this– "Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect?"–anything–any little thing
or any great thing! Jesus has washed His people so clean that there is
no spot, no wrinkle, nor any such thing upon them in the matter of
justification before God–
"In your Surety you are free,
His dear hands were pierced for you!
With His spotless vesture on, Holy as the Holy One."
How glorious is this! Jesus does not exaggerate when He thus commends
His Church. He speaks plain, sober Truth. "O you fairest among women,"
says He. My Soul, do you not feel love to Christ when you remember that
He thinks you beautiful? I cannot see anything in myself to love, but
He does, and calls me, "all fair."
I think it must be that He looks into our eyes and sees Himself, or
else this–that He knows what we are going to be and judges us on that
scale! As the artist, looking on the block of marble, sees in the stone
the statue which he means to fetch out of it with matchless skill, so
the Lord Jesus sees the perfect image of Himself in us, from which He
means to chip away the imperfections and the sins until we stand out in
all His splendor! But still it is gracious condescension which makes
Him say, "You are fairest among women," to one who mourned her own
sunburn countenance. The answer contains much sacred wisdom.
The bride is directed where to go that she may find her Beloved and
lead her flock to Him. "Go your way forth by the footprints of the
flock." If you will find Jesus, you will find Him in the way the holy
Prophets went, in the way of the Patriarchs and the way of the
Apostles. And if your desire is to find your flock and to make them lie
down–very well, go and feed them as other shepherds have
done–Christ's own shepherds whom He has sent in other days to feed His
chosen. I feel very glad, in speaking from this text, that the Lord
does not give to His bride in answer to her question some singular
directions of great difficulty, some novel prescriptions singular and
remarkable. Just as the Gospel, itself, is simple and homely, so is
this exhortation and direction for the renewal of communion. It is
easy, it is plain. You want to get to Jesus and you want to bring those
under your charge to Him? Very well, then, do not seek out a new road,
but simply go the way which all other saints have gone! If you want to
walk with Jesus, walk where other saints have walked. And if you want
to lead others into communion with Him, lead them by your example where
others have gone.
What is that? If you want to be with Jesus, go where Abraham went in
the path of separation. See how he lived as a pilgrim and a sojourner
with his God. If you would see Jesus, "Come you out from among them, be
you separate, touch not the unclean thing." You shall find Jesus when
you have left the world. If you would walk with Jesus, follow the path
of obedience. Saints have never had fellowship with Jesus when they
have disobeyed Him. Keep His statutes and observe His testimonies. Be
jealous over your conduct and character, for the path of obedience is
the path of communion. Be sure that you follow the ancient ways with
regard to the Christian ordinances–do not alter them, but keep to the
good old paths.
Stand and enquire what Apostles did, and do the same. Jesus will not
bless you in using fanciful ceremonies of human invention. Keep to
those which He commands, which His Spirits sanctions, which His
Apostles practiced. Above all, if you would walk with Jesus, continue
in the way of holiness and persevere in the way of Grace. Make the Lord
Jesus your Model and Example, and by treading where the footprints of
the flock are to be seen you will both save yourself and them that hear
you. You shall find Jesus and they shall find Jesus, too.
We might have supposed that the Lord would have said, "If you want to
lead your flock aright, array yourself in sumptuous apparel. Or go get
your music and fine anthems. By these fair things you will fascinate
the Savior into your sanctuaries." But it is not so. The incense which
will please the Lord Jesus is that of holy prayer and praise. And the
only rituals which are acceptable with Him are these–to visit the
fatherless and the widow, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
This is all He wants. Follow that and you shall go right and lead
others right.
Then the Spouse added, "Feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents."
Now, who are these shepherds? There are many in these days who set up
for shepherds, who feed their sheep in poisonous pastures. Keep away
from them! But there
are others whom it is safe to follow. Let me take you to the 12
principal shepherds who came after the great Shepherd of All. You want
to bless your children, to save their souls and have fellowship with
Christ in the doing of it–then teach them the Truths which the
Apostles taught. And what were they? Take Paul as an example. "I
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and Him
Crucified." That is feeding the kids beside the shepherds' tents–when
you teach your children Christ, much of Christ, all of Christ and
nothing else but Christ! Mind you, stick to that blessed subject.
And when you are teaching them Christ, teach them all about His life,
His death, His Resurrection. Teach them His Godhead and His Manhood.
You will never enjoy Christ's company if you doubt His Divinity. Take
care that you feed your flock upon the doctrine of the Atonement.
Christ will have no fellowship with a worker unless he represents Him
fairly and you cannot represent Christ truthfully unless you see the
ruddy hue of His atoning blood as well as the lily purity of His life.
"Feed your kids beside the shepherds' tents." Then will you teach them
the atoning Sacrifice, and Justification by faith, and imputed
righteousness, and union with the risen Head, and the coming of the
Great One, wherein we shall receive the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of the body from the grave.
I speak the truth and lie not when I say that if we want to teach a
congregation so as to bless them and keep in fellowship with Christ at
the same time, ourselves, we must be very particular to teach nothing
but the Truth of God– not a part of it, but all of it. Preach that
blessed doctrine of Election! Oh, the deeps of Divine love which are
contained in that blessed Truth of God! Do not shirk it, or keep it in
the background. You cannot expect Christ's Presence if you do. Teach
the doctrine of man's depravity. Lay the sinner low. God will not bless
a ministry which exalts men. Preach the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's
effectual calling, for if we do not magnify the Spirit of God we cannot
expect that He will make our work to stand.
Preach regeneration. Let it be seen how thorough the change is, that we
may glorify God's work. Preach the final perseverance of the saints.
Teach that the Lord is not changeable–casting away His people, loving
them today and hating them tomorrow. Preach, in fact, the Doctrines of
Grace as you find them in the Book. Feed them beside the shepherds'
tents. Yes, and feed the kids there–the little children. I begin to
feel more and more that it is a mistake to divide the children from the
congregation. I believe in special services for children, but I would
also have them worship with us. If our preaching does not teach
children, it lacks some element which it ought to possess. The kind of
preaching which is best of all for grown-up people is that in which
children, also, will take delight.
I like to see the congregation made up not all of the young, nor all of
the old, not all of the mature, nor all of the inexperienced, but some
of all sorts gathered together. If we are teaching children salvation
by works and grown-up people salvation by Grace, we are pulling down,
in the classroom, what we build up in the Church and that will never
do! Feed the kids with the same Gospel as the grown-up sheep, though
not exactly in the same terms. Let your language be appropriate to
them, but let it be the same Truth of God. God forbid that we should
have our Sunday schools the hotbeds of Arminianism, while our churches
are gardens of Calvinism! We shall soon have a division in the camp if
that is so. The same truth for all–and you cannot expect Christ to be
with you in feeding your little flocks unless you feed them where
Christ feeds us. Where does He feed us but where the Truth grows?
Oh, when I read some sermons, they remind me of a piece of common by
the roadside, after a hungry horde of sheep have devoured every green
thing! But when I read a solid Gospel sermon of the Puritans, it
reminds me of a field kept for hay which a farmer is, at last, obliged
to give up to the sheep. The grass has grown almost as high as
themselves and so they lie down in it, eating and resting. Give me the
Doctrines of Grace and I am in clover! If you have to feed others, take
them there! Do not conduct them to the starved pastures of modern
thought and culture. Preachers are starving God's people nowadays. Oh,
but they set out such beautiful China plates, such wonderful knives and
forks, such marvelous vases and damask tablecloths! But as for food,
the plates look as if they had been smeared with a feather, there is so
little on them.
The real Gospel teaching is little enough. They give us nothing to
learn, nothing to digest, nothing to feed upon. It is all slop and
nothing substantial. O for the good old corn of the kingdom! We need
that! And I am persuaded that when the Churches get back to the old
food again–when they begin to feed their flocks beside the shepherds'
tents and when, in practical living Christians, the saints get back to
the old Puritan method and follow, once again, the tracks of the sheep
and the sheep follow the tracks of Christ–then we shall get the Church
into fellowship with Jesus and Jesus will do
wonders in our midst! But to get that, each individual must aim at
winning it for himself–and if the Lord shall grant it to each one of
us–then it will be granted to the whole, and the good times which we
desire will certainly have come.
My Beloved, do you desire to work with Christ? Do you want to feel that
Jesus is at your right hand? Then go and work in His way. Teach what He
would have you teach, not what you would like to teach. Go and work for
Him as He would have you work, not as your prejudices might prescribe
to you. Be obedient. Follow the footsteps of the flock. Be diligent,
also, to keep hard by the shepherds' tents and the Lord bless you more
and more, you and your children, and His shall be the glory.
I have spoken only to God's people. I wish there had been time to speak
to the unconverted, too, but to them I can only say this–may God grant
you Grace to know the beauties of Jesus, for then you will love Him,
too. May He also show you the deformities of yourselves, for then you
will desire to be cleansed and made lovely in Christ. And remember, if
any one of you wants Christ, He wants you. And if you long for Him, He
longs for you. If you seek Him, He is seeking you. If you will now cry
to Him, He is already crying after you. "Whoever will, let him come and
take of the water of life freely." The Lord save you for His name's
sake. Amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Song of Solomon 1.
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Medicine For The Distracted