The Messages of Our Lord’s Love

The Messages of Our Lord's Love

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 5, 1888.

"Go your way, tell His disciples and Peter that He goes beforeyou into
Galilee: there shall you see Him, as He said unto you." Mark 16:7.

SEE, Brethren! Jesus delights to meet His people. He is no sooner risen
from the dead than He sends a message by an angel to say that He will
meet His disciples. His delight is in them. He loves them with a very
tender love and He is happiest when He is in their midst. Do not think
that you will have to entreat and persuade your Lord to come to you. He
delights in near and dear fellowship. The heavenly Bridegroom finds
solace in your company if you are indeed espoused to Him. Oh, that you
were more anxious to be with Him!

Our Lord knows that to His true people the greatest joy they ever have
is for Him to meet them. The disciples were at their saddest. Their
Lord, as they thought, was dead. They had just passed the dreariest
Sabbath of their lives, for He was in the tomb. And now, to comfort
them, He sends no message but this–that He will meet them. He knew
that there would be magic in that news to cheer their aching hearts. He
would meet them–that would be all-sufficient consolation–"Go into
Galilee. There shall you see Him."

If all the sorrows of God's people could be poured out in one vast
pile, what a mountain they would make! How varied our distresses! How
diverse our depressions! But, Beloved, if Jesus will meet us, all the
sadness will fly away and all the sorrow will grow light. Only give us
His company and we have all things. You know what I mean, many of you.
Our Lord has made our hearts to leap for joy in sorrowful times. When
we have been filled with physical pain, His company has made us forget
the body's weakness.

And when we have newly come from the grave and our heart has been ready
to break through bereavement, the sight of the Savior has sweetened our
bitter cup. In His Presence we have felt resigned to the great Father's
will and content to say, "It is the Lord: let Him do what seems Him
good." Until the day break and the shadows flee away forever we want
nothing but our Well-Beloved's company. "Abide with me! Abide with
me!"–this is our one prayer. And if we have that fulfilled, all other
desires may wait their turn.

My subject is chosen with a view to our coming, as we always do on the
first day of the week, to this table of communion. I want every child
of God here to seek after, no, to gain full fellowship with Christ. I
long to enjoy it myself that I may preach a Savior in whose Presence I
live. I long for you to enjoy it–that you may hear not my voice–but
His voice, which is sweeter than the music of angels' harps. Oh, that
those who do not know our Lord may now come, by His Grace, hungering
after His surpassing sweetness! He is willing to come to you. A prayer
will find Him. A tear will draw Him. A look of faith will hold Him
fast. Cast yourself on Jesus and His open arms will joyously receive
you.

But now to the text. I shall take it just as it stands and make five
observations upon it.

I. The first is–JESUS, THAT HE MAY MEET HIS PEOPLE, ISSUES INVITATIONS
AND THE INVITATIONS ARE VERY GRACIOUS–"Go, tell His disciples and
Peter." "Tell His disciples." The invitation is most gracious as
directed to them–for "they all forsook Him and fled." On that night,
that doleful night when He most needed company, they slept. And when He
was taken off to the hall of Caiaphas, they fled–yes, every one of
them. There was not a steadfast spirit among them. They all fled.
"Shame on them!" you say? Yes, but Jesus was not ashamed of them. For
in one of the first speeches of His glorious life on earth He specially
mentions them.

"Tell My disciples"–not picking and choosing here and there a heart
more faithful than the rest but mentioning the whole cowardly company,
He says, "Tell My disciples." Brethren, disciples of Christ, Jesus
would meet us now. Let us hasten to His Presence. Not one among us
dares plume himself upon his fidelity. We have all at times played the
coward. We may each one of us hide our faces when we think of our
Lord's most faithful love to us. We have never acted towards

Him according to His deserts. If He had banished us–if He had said, "I
will no more acknowledge this dastardly company," we could not have
wondered.

But He invites us all, all who are His disciples–invites us to
Himself. Will you stay away? Will any of you be satisfied without
beholding that dear Countenance, more marred than that of any man and
yet more lovely than the face of angels? Come, all who follow Him, for
He bids you come. Hear the address of the message–"Tell My disciples."

But the bounty and beauty of His Grace lay in this–that one had been
worse than the rest and, therefore, for him there is a special finger
to beckon him, a special word to call him–"Tell my disciples AND
PETER." He that denied his Lord–he that cursed as he denied, he who,
after boisterous self-confidence, trembled at the jest of a maid–is he
to be called? Yes, "Tell My disciples and Peter." If any of you have
behaved worse to your Master than others, you are peculiarly called to
come to Him now. You have grieved Him and you have been grieving
because you have grieved Him. You have been brought to repentance after
having slid away from Him and now He seals your pardon by inviting you
to Himself.

He bids you not to stand in the background but to come in with the rest
and commune with Him. Peter, where are you? The crowing of the cock is
still in your ears and the tear is still in your eyes–yet come and
welcome–for you love Him. He knows you do. You are grieved that a
doubt should be put upon your love. Come, He has forgiven you. He has
given you tokens of it in your broken heart and tearful eye. Come,
Peter! Come, if nobody else should come. Jesus Christ invites you by
name before any other. In this place may be Believers who have acted
strangely and have even forsaken the Lord and they are now bemoaning
themselves. Go on with your holy sorrow but come to your Lord. Be not
content till you have seen Him, till you have laid hold upon Him by a
fresh grip of faith and till you can say, "My Beloved is mine and I am
His."

Most tender, then, are the invitations which Jesus issues. Part of the
tenderness now lies in the lips which deliver the message on the Lord's
behalf. The women said–Jesus has said to us, by an angel, He will go
before us into Galilee and there shall you see Him. I am always
thankful that God has committed the ministry of the Word not to angels
but to us poor men. As I told you a little while ago, you may grow
tired of me and my stammering. But yet they are more suitable for you
than nobler strains might be. I have no doubt that if you had an angel
to preach to you there would be a very great crowd and for a time you
would say, "It is wonderful."

But it would be so cold from lack of human sympathy that you would soon
weary of the lofty style. An angel would try to be kind–as became his
heavenly nature–but he would not be kin and you must necessarily miss
the kindness which comes of kinship. I speak to you as bone of your
bone and flesh of your flesh–I speak to you as Teacher, for I am a
teacher. I speak to you as a disciple, for I am a disciple and I dare
not think myself greater than the least of you. Let us come hand in
hand to our dear Savior and all together let us pray Him to manifest
Himself to us as He does not unto the world. This, then, is my first
point–His invitations are gracious.

II. Secondly, we see in our text that JESUS KEEPS HIS PROMISE. "I will
go before you into Galilee." If you turn to Mark 14:27, 28, you will
see that He told them before He died, "All you shall be offended
because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd
and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go
before you into Galilee." He will be where He says He will be. Jesus
never breaks a promise. It is a great vexation, especially to us who
are very busy, when somebody says, "will you meet me at such-and-such a
place?" "Yes, at what hour?" The hour is appointed. We are there. Thank
God we never were a half minute behind time when it was possible to be
punctual.

But punctuality is a lesson which very few persons as yet have learned.
We wait and wait wearily and perhaps we leave the place to let our
dilatory friends know that if they are in eternity we are in time and
cannot afford to lose any of it. Many people make an engagement and
break it–as if it were just nothing at all to be guilty of a practical
lie. It is not so with Jesus–He says, "I will go before you into
Galilee." And into Galilee He will go. When He promises to meet His
people He will meet with them without fail and without delay.

Let us dwell on this appointment for a minute. Why did our Lord say
that He would go to Galilee? Was it because it was His old haunt and
being risen from the dead, He desired to go back to the spot where He
had been accustomed to be–to the lake and to the hillside? Surely
there is something in that. It was their old haunt, too–they were
fishermen on that lake and He would take them back to the place where a
thousand memories would be awakened by their voices, like echoes which
lie asleep among the hills. Besides it would provide witnesses to His
identity, for the Galileans knew

Him well–since there He had been brought up. He would go where He was
known and show Himself in His former places of resort.

Perhaps, too, it was because the place was despised. He has risen and
He will go to Galilee. He is not ashamed to be called the Galilean and
the Nazarene. The Risen One does not go to the halls of princes but to
the villages of peasants and fishermen. There was no pride in
Jesus–not even the smell of that fire had passed upon Him. He was ever
meek and lowly in heart. Did he not also go to Galilee because it was
some little distance from Jerusalem so that those who would meet Him
might have a little trouble getting there? Our Beloved would be sought
after. A journey after Him will endear His society.

He will not meet you at Jerusalem, perhaps–at least, not the whole
company of you. But He will show Himself by the sea in distant Galilee.
Do you think He went to Galilee because it was "Galilee of the
Gentiles"–that He might get as near to us Gentiles as His mission
allowed? He was sent as a Preacher only to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. But He traveled to the very edge of His diocese to get as
near to the Gentiles (I mean to ourselves) as He could. Oh, happy word
for us aliens!–"I will go before you into Galilee." So He said. And
when He left the tomb, He kept His Word.

Now, Beloved, we have His Word for it that He will come and meet us
where we are met together. "Where two or three are gathered together in
My name, there am I in the midst of them." And does He not keep His
Word? How many times in our assemblies, great and small, have we said,
"The Lord was there!" How frequently have we forgotten preacher and
fellow worshippers, feeling ourselves in the Presence of a Greater than
mortal man! Our eyes of faith have seen the King in His beauty,
revealing His love to us. Oh, yes! He keeps His promise. He comes to
His people and He never disappoints them. I think this is particularly
true of the table of communion.

How often He has met us here! I am compelled to repeat my personal
testimony. I have never omitted being at the Lord's Table on any
Sabbath of my life for many years past, except when I have been ill, or
unable to attend. And I am therefore able to answer the question–does
not frequency diminish the solemnity of the ordinance? I have not found
it so. But instead it grows upon me. That broken bread, that poured out
wine, the emblems of His flesh and blood–these bring Him very near. It
seems as if sense lent aid to faith. And through these two windows of
agates and gate of carbuncle, we come very near to our Lord.

What have we here but Himself under instructive emblems? What do we do
here but remember Him? What is our business here but to show His death
until He comes? And so, though we may not have seen Him in converse by
the way– for our eyes have been dimmed–yet we have seen Him in the
breaking of bread. May it be always so! May we prove that Jesus keeps
His pledge. He will be with us even now. Suppose Jesus had said that He
would come into this place tonight in literal flesh and blood–you
would be all sitting in expectation and saying to each other–"When
will He come?"

The preacher would be waiting to drop back, or fall upon his knees in
adoration, while His Master stood in the front. You will not see Him
so. But may your faith, which is much better than eyesight, realize Him
as the present Christ near to each one of you. If He were here in the
flesh, He might stand here and then He might be near to me but far off
from my friends yonder. But coming in spirit He can be equally near to
us all and speak to each one of us personally–as though each one were
the only person present

III. My third observation is, JESUS IS ALWAYS FIRST AT EVERY APPOINTED
MEETING. So runs the text– "He goes before you into Galilee." Remember
that promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I"–not "there will I be." Jesus is there before His disciples
reach the place. The first to reach the house is He who is first in the
house. We come to Him–it is not that we meet and then He comes to us.
But He goes before us and we gather to Him.

Does it not teach us that He is the Shepherd? He said, "Smite the
Shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after I am risen, I will
go before you into Galilee." He would take up the shepherd's place
again and go before the flock. And the sheep would take up the position
of the flock again–no longer scattered but following at the Shepherd's
heel. Great Master, come tonight–call Your sheep to Yourself! Speak to
us, look upon us–and we will arise and follow You.

Is He not first, next, because He is the center? We gather to Him. You
must choose a center before you can mark the circumference. When Israel
traveled through the wilderness, the first place to pitch upon for an
encampment was the place where the tabernacle and the ark should rest
and then the tents were set around it. Jesus is our Center. He must
therefore be first and we rejoice to hear Him say, "I will go before
you into Galilee." He will take the first place and we

will cluster about Him as bees around their queen. Do you always gather
to the name of Christ, Beloved? If you gather to the name of any
minister, or any sect, you gather amiss. Our gatherings must be unto
the Lord Jesus–He must be the center and He alone. Let us take note of
that.

Next, He goes before us naturally–because He is the Host. If there is
to be a feast, the first person to be there is the one who provides
it–the master or mistress who sits at the head of the table. It would
never do for the guests to be there first and then for the master to
come hurrying home, crying, "Excuse me–I quite forgot that you were to
be here at six o'clock!" Oh no, the host must be first! When Jesus bids
us come to Him and says He will sup with us and we with Him, He will be
sure to be first, so as to prepare the feast. He goes before us into
Galilee.

But surely, the reason why He is first is this–that He is more ready
for us than we are for Him. It takes us time to get ready for
communion, to dress our souls and collect our thoughts. Are you all
ready for the Lord's Supper tonight? Some of you, perhaps, have come
carelessly here and yet you are members of the Church and mean to stay
for the Supper. Beloved, try to come with a prepared heart–for the
communion will be to you very much what you make it. And if your
thoughts and desires are not right, what can the outward emblems be to
you? On our Lord's part all things are ready and He waits to receive
you and to bless you. Therefore He is first at the appointed meeting
place.

I may also add that He is much more eager to have fellowship with you
than you are to have fellowship with Him. It is a strange thing that it
should be so but so it is. He, the great Lover of our souls, burns with
a passionate desire to press His people to His heart. And we–the
objects of such a matchless love–stand back and reward the ardor of
His affection with lukewarmness. It must not be so on this occasion. I
have said to my Lord, "Let me either feast upon You or hunger after
You." I pray that you may have such a burning thirst for Jesus at this
hour that you must drink of His cup or pine with thirst for Him.

IV. The fourth observation is this–THE LORD JESUS REVEALS HIMSELF TO
HIS PEOPLE. How does the

text run? "He goes before you into Galilee. There shall you see Him."
The main object is to see Him. He will go to Galilee on purpose that He
may reveal Himself to them. My dear Brethren, this is what they needed
beyond all else. Their sorrow was because they thought Him dead. Their
joy would be because they saw Him alive.

Their griefs were multiform but this one consolation would end them
all. If they could but see Jesus they would look their fears away. What
have you come here for tonight, children of God? I trust that you can
answer, "Sir, we would see Jesus." If our Master will come and we shall
feel His Presence, it will not matter how feebly I speak, or how poor
the service may be in itself. You will say, "It was good to be there,
for the Lord drew near to us in all the glory of His love." His
Presence is what you want. And this is what He readily gives. Jesus is
very familiar with His people.

Some worship a Savior who sits enthroned above in the stately dignity
of indifference. But our Lord is not so. Though reigning in Heaven, He
is still conversant with His people below. He is a Brother born for
adversity. Spiritually He communes with us. Do you know what the
company of Christ is? Are you altogether taken up with doctrines about
Him, or with ceremonies that concern Him? If so, yours is a poor life.
The joy of the inner life is to know and to speak with and to dwell
with the Lord Jesus. Do you understand this? I charge you–be not
satisfied till you come to personal and intimate fellowship with your
Lord. Short of this, you are short of the privilege which He sees you
need–for this is His great promise, "There shall you see Me."

What is more, this sight of Him is what our Lord effectually bestows.
Jesus not only exhibits Himself but He opens our eyes that we may enjoy
the sight. "There shall you see Me." He may be manifest and yet blind
eyes will not see Him. Blessed Master, come and take the scales away
and make our hearts capable of spiritual perception! It is not
everybody that can see God and yet God is everywhere. The eye must
first be cleansed. Jesus says, "There shall you see Me." And He knows
how to open our eyes so that we do see Him. Our Lord can make this to
be the absorbing occupation of His people. "He goes before you into
Galilee"–and what then? "There shall you see Him."

Why, they went fishing, did they not? Yes but they were called off from
that. "There shall you see Him." They took a great haul of fish, did
they not? Yes, yes, yes. But that was a mere incident–the grand fact
was that they saw Him. I pray the Lord to make the one occupation of
our lives the SEEING of HIM. May all the lower lights grow dim. Where
are the stars at midday? They are all in their places but you only see
the sun. Where are a thousand things when Christ appears? They are all
where they should be but you only see Him. May the Lord cause all other
loves to vanish and Himself, alone, to fill our hearts–so that it may
be true of us, "There shall you see Him"!

I have thus far proceeded, crying to the Holy Spirit for help and now
comes the fifth observation, with which we close.

V. OUR LORD REMEMBERS HIS OWN PROMISES. It was before He died that He
said He would go before them into Galilee and now that He has risen
from the dead, He says, by the mouth of His angel, "There shall you see
Him, as He said unto you." The rule of Christ's action is His own Word.
What He has said He will perform. You and I forget His promises but He
never does. "As He said unto you" is the remembrance of all that He has
spoken. Why does our Lord remember and repeat what He has so graciously
spoken? He does so because He spoke with foresight and forethought and
care.

We make promises and forget them because we did not consider well the
matter before we spoke. But if we have thought, calculated, weighed,
estimated, and come to a deliberate resolve before we speak–then we
earnestly remember what we resolved upon. No promise of our Lord Jesus
has been spoken in haste to be repented of afterwards. Infinite wisdom
directs infinite love. And when infinite love takes the pen to write a
promise, infallible wisdom dictates every syllable.

Jesus does not forget, because He spoke the promise with His whole
heart. It is not every tongue that represents a heart at all. But even
though true people, we say many things which we mean but there is no
depth of feeling, no potent emotion, no stirring of the heart's center.
Our Lord, when He said, "You shall be scattered. But after that I am
risen, I will go before you into Galilee," spoke with a heavy heart,
with many a melting sigh. And His whole soul went with the promise
which closed the mournful scene. He has purchased what He
promised–purchased it with His blood–and therefore He speaks most
solemnly and with His whole heart. There is no trifling on Christ's
part with one to whom He makes a promise–and therefore He never
forgets.

And once more–His honor is bound up with every promise. If He had said
that He would go to Galilee and He had not gone, His disciples would
have felt that He had made a mistake, or that He had failed. Brethren,
if Christ's promises were to fail, what should we think of them? But He
will never jeopardize His faithfulness and veracity–

"As well might He His being quit, As break His promise or forget." Let
the words of man be blown away like the chaff. But the words of Jesus
must stand–for He will not tarnish His Truth–which is one of the
choicest of His crown jewels.

I want you to turn over this thought in your quietude. Jesus remembers
all that He has spoken. Let not our hearts forget. Go to Him with His
Covenant bonds and gracious promises–He will recognize His own
signature. He will honor His own promises to the utmost and none that
trust in Him shall complain of His having exaggerated.

I have done when I have said just this–I am very anxious that at this
time we should come into real fellowship with Christ at the table.
Jesus, You have made us hunger after You–will You not feed us? You
have made us thirst after You–will You not supply that thirst? Do You
think that our Beloved means to tantalize us? Our hunger is such that
it would break through stone walls–shall we find His heart hard as a
stone wall? No. He will clear the way and we on our part will burst
through all obstacles to come to Him.

"But," says one, "how can I come to Him? Poor unknown, unworthy one
that I am?" Such were the disciples at the lake. They were
fishermen–and when He came to them they had been toiling all night.
Are you working for Him? Then He will come to you. Expect Him now.
"Ah," says one, "I have been working without success"–you are a poor
minister whose congregation is falling off, whose Church is not
increased by conversions–you have toiled all the night and taken
nothing. Or you are a Sunday school teacher who cannot see her girls
converted. Or a Brother who mourns that his boys are not coming to
Christ.

Well I see who you are. You are just the sort of people that Jesus came
to–for they had toiled all night in vain. Are you hungry? Jesus cries,
"Children, have you any meat?" He comes to you and enquires about your
hunger–while on the shore He has a fire of coals and fish and bread
laid thereon. "Come and dine," says He. The table is spread. Come to
Himself! He is your food, your hope, your joy, your Heaven. Come to
Him–give Him no rest till He reveals Himself to you and you know for
sure that it is your Lord who embraces you. So may He do, to each of us
just now, for His sweet love's sake! Amen.