The Church's Love to Her Loving Lord

Next Part The Church's Love to Her Loving Lord 2

"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?" Song of Solomon 1:7.

OUTLINE

I. The Title- "O you whom my soul loves."

1. the cause of that love

a. the efficient cause

b. the rational causes

2. the effect of that love

a. consecration

b. obedience

II. The Desire of the Church after Christ Jesus Our Lord

III. The Argument Used by the Church

We shall need to lift up our hearts to God and ask to be quickened in grace, or the precious truths in our text will not prove to us "as honey out of the rock," nor the "feast of fat things, of wine and marrow, of wine on the lees well refined." We cannot appreciate the spirituality of this book, unless God's Spirit shall help us. Many read these words and only see a proof of the imaginative power of an eastern mind. Some read to scoff and blaspheme, and others, even good people, neglect to read this book altogether, being unable to drink in its spirit because of their lack of that higher life of communion with the Beloved, which is here so beautifully laid open to our view. Now I am persuaded better things of you beloved. I am sure that you believe that every word of God is precious, and most certainly we say of this book, "it is more to he desired than gold, yes than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, or the droppings of the honeycomb." This book of the Canticles is most precious to us, it is the inner court of the temple of truth. It seems to us to belong to the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High. We see our Savior's face in almost every page of the Bible, but here we see his heart and feel his love to us. We shall hope this morning to speak of our own experience, as well as of the Church who is here speaking. You will perceive that she begins with a title, she expresses a desire, she enforces it with an argument: "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?"

I. We commence with the TITLE: "O you whom my soul loves." It is well to be able to call the Lord Jesus Christ by this name without an "if," or a "but." A very large proportion of Christian people can only say of Christ that they hope they love him; they trust they love him; but this is a very poor and shallow experience which is content to stay here. It seems to me that no one ought to give any rest to his spirit until he feels quite sure about a matter of such vital importance. We are not content to have a hope of the love of our parents, or of our spouse, or of our children; we feel we must be certain there; and we ought not to be satisfied with a hope that Christ loves us, and with a bare trust that we love him. The old saints did not generally speak with buts, and ifs, and hopes, and trusts, but they spoke positively and plainly. "I know whom I have believed," says Paul. "I know that my Redeemer lives," says Job. "He whom my soul loves," says Solomon, in the song as we have it here. Learn, dear friends, to get that positive knowledge of your love to Jesus, and do not be satisfied until you can talk about your interest in him as a reality, which you have made infallibly sure by having received the witness of the Holy Spirit, and his seal upon your soul by faith, that you are born of God, and belong to Christ.

Speaking then of this title which rings the great bell of love to Jesus, let us notice first the cause, and secondly the effect of that love. If we can look into the face of him who once sweat great drops of blood, and call him, "O you whom my soul loves," it is interesting to consider what is the cause of our love. And here our reply is very quick.

The efficient cause of our love is the Holy Spirit of God. We should never have had a spark of love to Jesus if it had not been bestowed upon us by the divine worker. Well said John, "Love is of God." Certainly it is so. Our love to Christ is one beam from himself, the Sun. Certainly a man can no more naturally love Christ than a horse can fly. I grant you there is no physical disability, but there is a moral and spiritual disability which effectually disqualifies him from the high and lofty emotion of love to Jesus. Into that dead corpse the living spirit must be breathed; for those who are dead in trespasses and sins cannot love Christ. That heart of stone must be transformed into a heart of flesh, for stones may be hurled at the Savior, but they can never love him. That lion must become a lamb, or it can never claim Christ as its Shepherd. That raven must he turned into a dove, or it will never fly to Christ as its ark. "Except a man he born again," we may say, he cannot see this precious sparkling jewel of the kingdom of God- love to Christ. Search yourselves then, brethren, do you love him or not, for if you love him, you have been born again; and if you do not love him, then you are still in darkness, and are not his. "Can you pronounce his charming name, His acts of kindness tell; And while you dwell upon the theme, No sweet emotion feel?" I think some of us would have to answer- "A very wretch, Lord, I should prove, Had I no love to you; Sooner than not my Savior love, Oh, may I cease to be!" This, then, is the efficient cause- the Holy Spirit.

The rational cause, the logical reason why we love Jesus lies in himself- in his looks, in his present working, and in his person, besides many other little founts, which all tend to swell the river- the growing, deepening river of our love to him.

Why do we love Jesus? We have the best of answers- because he first loved us. Hearken, you strangers who inquire why we should love the Savior so. We will give you such reasons that we will satisfy you and set your mouths watering to be partakers of the same reasons, that you may come to love him too. Why do we love him? Because before ever this round earth was fashioned between the palms of the great Creator- before he had painted the rainbow, or hung out the lights of the sun and moon, Christ's delights were with us. He foresaw us through the glass of his prescience; he knew what we should be- looked into the book in which all his "members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there were none of them;" and as he looked upon us, the glance was love. He delighted to sit upon the throne of glory, and to remember his dear ones who were yet to be born. It was the great prospect which his mighty and infinite Spirit had- a joy that was set before him, that he should see a multitude that no man could number who should be his beloved forever. "Loved of my Christ, for him again, With love intense I'll burn; Chosen of You before time began, I choose You in return."

Oh, could you know that Jesus had loved you from before all worlds, you must love him. At least you will grant there cannot be a better reason for love than love. Love demands; no, it does not demand- it takes by almighty force, by irresistible energy, that heart captive upon whom it thus sets itself.

This Jesus loved us for no reason whatever in ourselves. We were black as the tents of Kedar; we had much deformity but no beauty, and yet he loved us; and our deformity was of such a kind that it might meritoriously have made him hate us. We kicked against him and despised him. Our language naturally was, "We will not have this man to reign over us," and when we heard of his loving us, we sneered at it. He was despised and rejected of men; we hid as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. We thought his love an empty tale, a paltry trifle, and yet he loved us. No, we were his enemies. We slew him; we confess with sorrow that we were the murderers of the Prince of Life and Glory. Our hands were stained with his gore and our garments dyed with his blood, and yet he saw all this and loved us still.

Shall we not love him? Surely our heart is harder than adamant, because we do not love him more. But it were hell-hardened steel if it did not love at all. Our Savior so loved us that he stripped himself of his robes of radiance. Listen, you children of God, it is the old story over again, but it is always new to you. He stripped himself of his bright array, laid aside his scepter and his crown, and became an infant in Bethlehem's manger among the horned oxen. Thirty years of poverty and shame the King of heaven spent among the sons of men, and all out of love to us. Jesus the heavenly lover, panting to redeem his people, was content to abide here without a place whereon to rest his head, that he might rescue you. See him yonder in the garden in his agony, his soul exceeding sorrowful even unto death; his forehead, no his head, his hair, his garments- red with the bloody sweat. See him giving his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to those who pluck off the hair. See him as he hides not his face from shame and spitting, dumb like a sheep before her shearers; and like a lamb that is brought to the slaughter, so he opened not his mouth, but patiently bore it all on our behalf. See him with the cross upon his mangled shoulders, staggering through Jerusalem's streets, unwept, unpitied, except by poor feeble women! See him, you that love him, and love him more as he stretches out his hands to the nail, and gives his feet to the iron. See him, as with power to deliver himself he is made captive. Behold him as they lift up the cross with him upon it and dash it down into its place and dislocate his bones. Hear that cry, "I am poured out like water: all my bones are out of joint, You have brought me into the dust of death."

Stand, if you can, and view that face so full of dolor. Look until a sword shall go through your own heart as it went through his virgin mother's very soul. Oh, see him as he thirsts and has that thirst mocked with vinegar. Hear him as he prays and has that prayer parodied, "He cries for Elijah, let Elijah come and take him down." See him, as they who love him come and kiss his feet and bathe them with their tears. Will you not love him who did all that friend could do for friend; who gave his life for us? Beloved, here are a thousand crimson cords that tie us to the Savior, and I hope we feel their constraining power. It is his vast love, the old eternal bond, the love which redeemed, which suffered in our stead, the love which pleaded our cause before the eternal throne: it is this which we give as a sufficient reason why we should love the Savior, if needs be, even unto death.

Moreover, we have another reason. I trust many here can say that they love the Savior because of his present dealings towards them. What has he not done for us this very day? Some of you came here this morning heavy and you went away rejoicing; perhaps you have had answers to prayer this very week. You have passed through the furnace and not a smell of fire has passed upon you. You have had many sins this week, but you have felt the efficacy of his blood again and again. Some of us have known what it is during the past six days to have the ravishing delights of private communion with him. He has made us glad; our spirits have leaped for very joy, for he has turned again the captivity of our soul. You have drunk of him as of "the brook by the way," and you have therefore lifted up your head. Beloved, if there were nothing else which Christ had done for my soul, that which I have tasted and handled of him within the last few months would make me love him forever, and I know that you can say the same.

Nor is this all. We love the Savior because of the excellency of his person. We are not blind to excellence anywhere, but still we can see no excellence like his. "Jesus you fairest, dearest one, What beauties you adorn Far brighter than the noonday sun, Or star that gilds the morn. Here let me fix my wandering eyes, And all your glories trace; Until, in the world of endless joys, I rise to your embrace."

When Tigranes and his wife were both taken prisoners by Cyrus, Cyrus turning to Tigranes said, "What will you give for the liberation of your wife?" and the King answered, "I love my wife so that I would cheerfully give up my life if she might be delivered from servitude;" whereupon Cyrus said, "That if there was such love as that between them they might both go free." So when they were away and many were talking about the beauty and generosity of Cyrus, and especially about the beauty of his person, Tigranes, turning to his wife, asked her what she thought of Cyrus, and she answered that she saw nothing anywhere but in the face of the man who had said that he would die if she might only he released from servitude. "The beauty of that man," she said, "makes me forget all others." And verily we would say the same of Jesus. We would not decry the angels, nor think ill of the saints, but the beauties of that man who gave his life for us are so great that they have eclipsed all others, and our soul only wishes to see him and not another; for, as the stars hide their heads in the presence of the sun, so may you all be gone, you delights, you excellencies, when Christ Jesus, the chief delight, the chief excellency, makes his appearance. Dr. Watts says, "His worth, if all the nations knew, Sure the whole earth would love him too."

And so it seems to us. Could you see him, you must love him. It was said of Henry VIII., that if all the portraits of tyrants, and murderers, and thieves were out of existence, they might all be painted from the one face of Henry VII.; and turning that round another way, we will say, that if all the excellencies, beauties, and perfections of the human race were blotted out, they might all he painted again from the face of the Lord Jesus "All over glorious is my Lord; Must be beloved, and yet adored."

These are some of the reasons why our heart loves Jesus. Before I leave those reasons, I should like to put a few questions round among this great crowd. O friends, would you not love Jesus if you knew something of this love as shed abroad in your hearts- something of this love as being yours? Now, remember, there is a very great promise that Christ has made, and it is this, "Him that comes to me I will ill no wise cast out." Now what does that refer to? Why to any "him" in all the world, that comes to Christ. Whoever you may be, if you come to Jesus- and you know that means just trusting him, leaning upon him- if you come to him, he will not cast you out; and when he has received you to his bosom, you will then know (but you cannot know until then) how much he loves you, and then, methinks you will say with us, "Yes, his name is- You whom my soul loves."

I shall now for a short time speak on the effects of this love, as we have dwelt on the cause of it. When a man has true love to Christ, it is sure to lead him to dedication. There is a natural desire to give something to the person whom we love, and true love to Jesus compels us to give ourselves to him. One of the earliest acts of the Christian's life is to take ourselves, and lay body, soul, and spirit upon the altar of consecration, saying, "Here I am; I give myself to you." When the pupils of Socrates had nearly all of them given him a present, there was one of the best scholars who was extremely poor, and he said to Socrates, "I have none of these things which the others have presented to you; but, O Socrates, I give you myself;" whereupon Socrates said it was the best present he had had that day. "My son, give me your heart"-this is what Jesus asks for. If you love him, you must give him this.

True love next shows itself in obedience. If I love Jesus, I shall do as he bids me. He is my husband, my Lord- I call him "Master." "If you love me," says he, "keep my commandments." This is his chosen proof of my love, and I am sure, if I love him, I shall keep his commandments. And yet there are some who profess to love Christ who very seldom think of keeping some of his commandments. "This do you in remembrance of me," Christ says, and yet some of you never come to his table. May I gently ask you, how you make this disobedience consort with genuine affection for him? "If you love me, keep my commandments." "IT IS love that makes our willing feet In swift obedience move." We can do anything for those we love, and, if we love Jesus, no burden will be heavy, no difficulty will be great: we should rather wish to do more than he asks of us, and only desire that he were a little more exacting that we might have a better opportunity of showing forth our affection.

True love, again, is always considerate and afraid lest it should give offense. It walks very daintily. If I love Jesus, I shall watch my eye, my heart, my tongue, my hand, being so fearful lest I should wake my beloved, or make him stir until he please; and I shall be sure not to take in those bad guests, those ill-favored guests of pride and sloth, and love of the world. I shall tell them to be packing, for I have a dear one within who will not tarry long if he sees me giving sideling glances to these wicked ones. My heart shall be wholly his. He shall sit at the head of the table, he shall have the best dish thereon, no, I will send all others away that I may have him all to myself, and that he may have my whole heart, all that I am, and all that I have.

Again, true love to Christ will make us very jealous of his honor. As Queen Eleanor went down upon her knees to suck the poison from her husband's wound, so we shall put our lips to the wound of Christ when he has been stabbed with the dagger of calumny, or inconsistency, being willing sooner to take the poison ourselves, and to he ourselves diseased and despised than that his name, or his cross should suffer ill. Oh, what does it matters what becomes of us, if the King reigns? I will go home to my bed, and die in peace, if the King sits on the throne. Let me see King David once again installed in Zion's sacred halls; and my soul, in poverty and shame, shall still rejoice if the banished King Jesus shall once again come back, and have his own, and take his scepter, and wear his crown.

Beloved, I trust we can say we would not mind if Christ would make a mat of us, if he would wipe his Church's filthy sandals on us, if we might but help to make her pure; we would hold the stirrup for him to mount any day, ay, and he his horsing-block that he might mount his glorious charger, and ride forth conquering and to conquer. Say, what does it matters what we are, or where we are, if the King have his own?

If we love Christ, again, we shall be desiring to promote his cause, and we shall be desiring to promote it ourselves. We shall wish to see the strength of the mighty turned at the gate, that King Jesus may return triumphant; we shall not wish to sit still while our brethren go to war, but we shall want to take our portion in the fray, that like soldiers that love their monarch, we may prove by our wounds and by our sufferings that our love is real. The apostle says, "Let us not love in word only but in deed and in truth." Actions speak louder than words, and we shall always he anxious to tell our love in deeds as well as by our lips. The true disciple asks continually, "Lord what will you have me to do?" He esteems it his highest honor to serve the Lord. "I would rather he a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness." "There's not a lamb in all the flock, I would disdain to feed; There's not a foe before whose face I fear your cause to plead.

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