Love's Vigilance Rewarded 2

If you can in truth say that, I hope there will come with it this one other thing, namely, an exceeding great joy. I cannot speak to you as I would wish; my words cannot express the joy of heart which I feel in knowing that I have found him, that he is with me, and that he has loved me with an everlasting love. I shall never understand, even in heaven, why the Lord Jesus should ever have loved me. I can say to Jesus what David said in his lamentation over Jonathan, "Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." There is no love like it, and why was it fixed upon me? Have you never felt that you could go in, like David, and sit before the Lord, and say, "Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that you hast brought me hitherto?"

Yet wonderful as it is, it is true; Jesus loves you, loves you now at this very moment. Do you not rejoice in it? I assure you that, in the least drop of the love of Christ when it is consciously realized, there is more sweetness than there would be in all heaven without it. Talk of bursting barns, overflowing wine-vats, and riches treasured up; these give but a poor solace to the heart. But the love of Jesus, this is another word for heaven; and it is a marvel that even while we are here below we should be permitted to enjoy a bliss beyond what the angels know, for --

"Never did angels taste above

Redeeming grace and dying love,"

but that joy is ours if we can truly say, "I have found him."

If you have come as far as that, -- and if you have not, may God help you to this point right speedily, -- come to the table of your Lord. You are indeed his children, so you have a right to come. Hear the King's invitation, "Eat, O friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved." These joys are not merely for some of the Lord's people but for all his saints; then, stand not back, but come and feast on the rich provision of love divine.

Now we come to the second step. The spouse says, "I HELD him." This is a deeper experience than the former one; "I held him," means more than "I found him." Sometimes, Jesus comes to his children and manifests himself very sweetly to them; but they behave to him in an improper manner, and soon he is gone. I have known him reveal himself to his people most delightfully, but they have grown cold, and wayward, and foolish, and he has been obliged to go away from them. When you get to the top of the mountain, it needs great grace to keep there. I do not find it difficult to get into communion with Christ, but I confess that I do not find it so easy to maintain that communion. So that, if you have found him, do as the spouse says that she did, "I held him."

How are we to hold Christ?

Well, first, let us hold him by "our heart's resolve". If now we have him near us, let us lovingly look him in the face, and say, "My Lord, my sweet, blessed Lord, how can I let you go? My all in all, my heart's Lord and King, how can I let you go? Abide with me, go not from me." Hold him by your love's resolve, and it shall be as chains of gold to fasten him to you. Say to him, "My Lord, will you go away from me? See how happy you have made me; a glimpse of your love has made me so blest that I do not envy the angels before your throne; will you take that joy away from me by taking yourself away? Why did you give me a taste of your love if you do not mean to give me more? This little has but made me lose desire for all other things; you hast spoiled me now for all my former joy. O tarry with me, my Master, else am I unhappy indeed!" Further say to him, "Lord, if you go, your chosen one will be unsafe. There is a wolf prowling about; what will your poor lamb do without you, O mighty Shepherd? There are cruel adversaries all around seeking my hurt; how can I live without you? Will you deliver your turtle-dove over to the cruel fowler who seeks to slay her? Be that far from you, O Lord! Therefore, abide with me." Tell him how you will sorrow if he goes away.

"Tis paradise if you are here,
If you depart, tis hell."

"Nothing can revive my spirit if you are gone from me. Oh, stay with me, stay with me, I beseech you, most blessed Lord!"

As long as you can find arguments for his staying, Christ does not want to go from you. His delights are with the sons of men, and he is happy in the society of those whom he has purchased with his precious blood. Keep on giving your reasons why he should remain with you, and so hold him; be bold enough even to say to him, "I will not let you go." Get you to Jacob's boldness when he said to the Angel of the covenant, "I will not let you go except you bless me;" but go even beyond that, do not put in any "except" at all, but say, "I will not let you go, for I cannot be blest if you are gone from me."

Further, brethren, hold him by "making him your all in all". He will never go away if you treat him as he should be treated. Yield up everything to him, be obedient to him, be willing to suffer for him, grieve not His Holy Spirit, crown him, extol him, magnify him, keep on singing his praises, for in this way, you will hold him. Renounce all else for him; for he sees that you truly love him when you count all things but dross for his dear sake.

He says, "I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals, when you went after me in the wilderness." Those were the days when some of you could brook a father's frown for the sake of Christ's love, when you could have given up your situation and all your prospects in life to follow Jesus, it was then that he delighted in you; and in proportion as you break your idols, put away your sins, and keep your heart chaste and pure for him alone, you shall abide in his love.

Yes, and you shall get deeper and deeper into it till what was a stream up to your ankles shall soon be breast-deep, and, by-and-by, shall be waters to swim in. Christ and you cannot fully agree unless you walk as he would have you walk, in careful holiness and earnest service for him. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" And is there anything in this vile world that is fit to stand in rivalry with him? Is there any gain, is there any joy, is there any beauty, that can be compared with his gain, his joy, his beauty? Let each of us cry, "Christ for me. Go, harlot-world; come not near even the outside of my door. Go away, for my heart is with my Lord, and he is my soul's chief treasure." If you will talk like that, you will hold him fast till you have your heart's desire, and bring him to your mother's house.

Hold him, too, by a "simple faith". That is a wonderful hold-fast. Say to him, "My Lord, I have found you now, and I rejoice in you; but still, if you hide your face from me, I will still believe in you. If I never see a smile from you again till I see you on your throne, yet will I not doubt you, for my heart is fixed, not so much upon the realization of your presence, as upon yourself, and your finished work. Though you slay me, yet will I trust in you."

Ah! then he will not go away from you; you can hold him in that way; but if you begin to put your trust in enjoyments of his presence instead of in himself alone, it may be that he will take himself away from you in order to bring you back to your old moorings, so that, as a sinner, you may trust the sinner's Savior, and trust in him alone.

One word more before we leave this point. The only way to hold Christ is "to hold him by his own power". I smiled to myself as I read my text, and tried to make it all my own: "I held him, and would not let him go." I thought to myself, the spouse said of her Bridegroom that she would not let him go; and shall I ever say to my Lord that I will not let him go? He is the King of kings, the omnipotent Jehovah; can I hold him? He is the mighty God, and yet a poor puny worm like myself says, "I would not let him go." Can it be really so? Well, the Holy Spirit says that it is, for he guided the pen of the writer of this Song when he wrote, "I held him, and would not let him go."

Think of poor Jacob, who, when the angel did but touch him, felt his sinews shrink directly, yet he said, "I will not let you go." And I, a poor trembling creature, may hold the Omnipotent himself, and say to him, "I will not let you go." How is that wonder to be accomplished? I will tell you-- If Omnipotence helps you to hold Omnipotence, why, then, the deed is done! If Christ, and not you alone, holds Christ, then Christ is held indeed, for shall he vanquish his own self? No, Master, you could slay death, and break the old serpent's head, but you can not conquer your own self; and if you are in me, I can hold you, for it is not I, but Christ in me, that holds Christ, and will not let him go. This is the power which enables us, with the apostle, to say, "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The next step is described in the words "I BROUGHT him." With this we finish: "I brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me." And where, I ask you, beloved, is our mother's house? I do not believe in any reverence for mere material buildings; but I have great reverence for the true Church of the Living God. The Church is the house of God, and the mother of our souls. It was under the ministry of the Word that most of us were born to God, it was in the assembly of the saints that we heard the message which first of all quickened us into newness of life, and we may well be content to call the Church of Christ our mother, since our elder Brother -- you know his name, -- when one said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brethren stand outside, desiring to speak with you," pointing to his disciples answered, "Behold, my mother, and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." Surely, where Jesus chooses to call the assembly of the faithful by the sacred name of mother, we may rightly do the same.

And we love the Church, which is our mother. I do hope that all the members of this church love the whole Church of God, and also have a special affection for that particular part of it in which they were born for God. It would be unnatural -- and grace is never 'un'natural, though it is 'super'natural, -- it would be unnatural not to love the place where we were born into the heavenly family. I do not know, and never shall know on earth the man who was the means of my conversion, I may know him when I get to heaven; but if he is still living anywhere in this world, God bless him! And I know that many of you would say the same of the outward instrumentality which was used as the means of blessing to you; and you will say the same, will you not, of all the brotherhood of which some of us are but the spokesmen and representatives? We love the Church of God. Well, then, whenever we find our Beloved, we have to hold him, and not let him go, and then to bring him down to the house of our mother, and to the chamber of her that conceived us.

How can you bring Christ to his Church?

Partly, you can bring him "by your spirit". There is a wonderful power about a man's spirit, even though he does not speak a word. Silent worshippers can contribute very greatly to the communion of saints. I know some brethren-- I will not say that any of them are here now-- but I have known some brethren whose very faces dispirit and discourage one, whose every movement seems to make one feel anything but spiritual. But I know others of whom I can truly say that it is always pleasant to me to get a shake of their hands, and to have a look from their eyes. I know that they have been with Jesus, for there is the very air of saintliness about them; I do not mean sanctimoniousness, that is a very different thing. In the old pictures, the painters used to put a halo round the head of a saint, -- a most absurd idea; but I do believe that there is a real spiritual halo continually surrounding the man who walks with God.

If you, dear friend, have really found Christ, and bring him with you into the assembly, you will not be the man who will criticize, and find fault, and quarrel with your neighbor because he does not give you enough room in the pew. You will not be the person to pick holes in other people's coats; but you will be very considerate of others. As for yourself, anything will do for you, and anywhere will do for you, for you have seen the Beloved. You want other people to get as much good as they can; you are no longer selfish; how can you be, when you have found him whom your soul loves?

And now your poor brother need not be very choice in the selection of his words; if he will only talk about Jesus, you will be quite satisfied; if his accents should be a little broken, you will not mind that. So long as you feel that he wishes to extol your Lord, that will be enough for you. So, in this manner, you will in spirit bring the Beloved to your mother's house, to the chamber of her that conceived you.

But, dear friend, it will also be a happy thing if you are able to "talk about your Lord", for then you can bring him to the Church with your words. Those of us who are called to preach the Word have often to cry unto the Lord to help us to bring Christ into the assembly by our words-- though, indeed, the words of any human language are but a poor conveyance for the Christ of God. Oh, let the King, my blessed Master, ride in the chariot of angelic song, and not in the lumbering wagon of my poor sermons! I long to see him flying on the wings of the wind, and not in the car of my feeble language; yet has he come to you many a time that way, and you have been glad. Let him come as he will, if he will but come, it is our delight to bring him into our mother's house, into the chamber of her that conceived us. Therefore, dear friends, each one of you in turn, as you are able, talk to your brother and to your sister, and say, "I have found him whom my soul loves."

You know that when Samson killed the lion, he said nothing about it; it would have been a great feat for anyone else to boast of, but Samson could kill a lion any day, so he did not think much of doing that; but when he afterwards found a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion, he took some of it and began to eat, and carried a portion of it to his father and mother. So, if ever you find sweetness and preciousness in Christ, the true strong One, be sure that you carry a handful of the honey to your friends, and give portions to those for whom otherwise nothing might be prepared. Thus hold Christ fast, and bring him to your mother's house by your spirit and by your words.

But if, alas! you feel that you cannot speak for Christ, then, beloved, bring him "by your prayers". Do pray, especially at these communion seasons, that the King himself will come near, and feast his saints today. Ask him not only to bless you, but to bless all his saints, for you are persuaded that they all love him better than you do, and that they all want him as much as you do, and that they will all praise him even more than you do, if he will but come and manifest himself to them. In this way, each one of you, as you come to the house of prayer, and to the place of fellowship, will be a real accession to our spiritual force, and we shall seem to get nearer and nearer to our Master as the house fills with loving worshipers who have found him, and held him, and brought him here. Now may we find all this to be especially true as we gather around the table!

The Lord be with you all, for his dear name's sake! Amen.

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