Character of Jesus

Christ is the Choicest of the Choice

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 5 Comments

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. – Song of Songs 2:1

You notice, the Bridegroom says, “I am the rose.” Yes, but there were some particularly beautiful roses that grew in the valley of Sharon; “I am that rose,” said He. And there were some delightful lilies in (Israel); it is a land of lilies, there are so many of them that nobody knows which lily Christ meant, and it does not at all signify, for almost all lilies are wondrously beautiful. “But,” said He, “I am the lily of the valleys,” the choicest kind of lily that grew where the soil was fat and damp with the overflow of mountain streams. “I am the lily of the valleys:” that is to say, Christ is not only good, but He is the best; and He is not only the best, but He is the best of the best. He is a flower; ay, but He is a rose, that is the queen of flowers; ay, but then He is the best rose there is, He is the rose of Sharon. He is a Savior, and a great one; yea, the only Savior. He is a Husband; but what a Husband! Was there ever such a Bridegroom as Christ Jesus the Lord? He is the Head; but father Adam was a poor head compared with Him. He is inexpressibly, unutterably, indescribably lovely; I might as well leave off talking about Him, for I cannot hope to set Him forth as He deserves. If you could but see Him, I would leave off, for I am sure I should be only hanging a veil before Him with the choicest words that I could possibly use. Suppose you had a dear son, or husband, or friend, far away, and that I was a painter who could carry pictures in my mind’s eye, and then draw them to the very life. If I stood here, trying to paint your well-beloved friend, laying on my colors with all the skill I possessed, and doing my best to reproduce his features; suppose, while I was at work, that the door at the back was opened, and he came in, I should cry out, “Oh, stop, stop, stop! Let me put away my canvas, let me pack up my brushes and my paints. Here is the loved one himself; look at him! Look at him, not at my portrait of him!” And you would rise from your seat, and say, “It is he! It is he! You may talk as long as you like, dear sir, when he is away; but when he is himself here, your talk seems but mere chatter.” Well, I shall be quite content that you should think so, I shall be even glad if you do, provided that the reason shall be that you can say, “We have seen the Lord. He has manifested Himself to us as He does not unto the world.” “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” The best of the best, the fairest of the fair, the sweetest of the sweet, is Jesus Christ to you and to me if we are indeed His people. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2472.cfm

There is a Sweet Savor About the Lord Jesus Christ

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad. – Psalm 45:8

The Lord Jesus Christ is delightful in the savor which comes from Him to us. In Him is a delicious, varied, abiding fragrance which is very delightful to the spiritual nostril…There is a spiritual way of perceiving the savor of Christ; I cannot explain it to you, but there is an ineffable mysterious sweetness that proceeds from Him which touches the spiritual senses, and affords supreme delight; and as the body has its nose, and its tender nerves that can appreciate sweet odours, so the soul has its spiritual nostril by which, though Christ be at a distance, it yet can perceive the fragrant emanations that come from Him, and is delighted therewith.

What is there that comes from Christ, from day to day, but His truth, His Spirit, His influence, His promises, His doctrines, His words of cheer? All these have a heavenly sweetness, and make us, with the psalmist, say to our Lord, “All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made Thee glad.” Whenever these sweet odours are wafted down to us, they make us also glad; anything that has the savor of Christ in it is sweet to a Christian. If Christ has touched it, let me put it in my bosom, and keep it there as a sweet forget-me-not, until I see His face in glory. Ay, the very stones He sat on, the very mountains at which He looked, have become dear to us. We have no idolatrous or superstitious reverence for Palestine, or even for the garden in which He sweat great drops of blood; but for spiritual things with which He has to do, we have a never-ceasing reverence and affection. Everything that comes from Him is wondrous as the songs of the angels must have been to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and sweet to the taste as the manna that dropped from the skies around Israel’s desert camp. Yes, brethren and sisters, there is a sweet savor about the Lord Jesus Christ; do you all perceive it? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2472.cfm

All Over Glorious is My Lord

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance Leave a comment

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. – Hebrews 2:9

I do not think, brethren, that there is anything about Christ but what should make His people glad. There are dark truths concerning Him, such as His bearing our sin; but what a joy it is to us that He did bear it, and put it away for ever! It makes us weep to look at Jesus dying on the cross, but there is more real joy in the tears of repentance than there is in the smiles of worldly mirth. I would choose my heaven to be a heaven of everlasting weeping for sin, sooner than have a heaven -if such a heaven could be- consisting of perpetual laughing at the mirth of fools. There is more true pleasure in mourning before God than in dancing before the devil. Christ is, then, all beauty; even the dark parts in Him are light, and the bitter parts are sweet. He has only to be seen by you, and you must perceive that, whether it be His Godhead or His manhood, whether it be His priesthood, His royalty, or His prophetic office, whether it be on the cross or on the throne, whether it be on earth, or in heaven, or in the glory of His second coming, every way,

“All over glorious is my Lord,
Must be beloved, and yet ador’d;
His worth if all the nations knew
Sure the whole earth would love Him too.”

To you who look at Christ by faith, a sight of Him brings such peace, such rest, such hope, as no other sight can ever afford; it so sweetens everything, so entirely takes away the bitterness of life, and brings us to anticipate the glory of the life that is to come, that I am sure you say, “Yes, yes; the figure in the text is quite correct; there is a beauty in Jesus to the eye of faith, He is indeed red as the rose and white as the lily.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2472.cfm

The Exceeding Delightfulness of Our Lord

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 5 Comments

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. – Song of Songs 2:1

What is the use of roses and lilies? I know what the use of corn is; I must eat it, it is necessary to me for food. I know why barley and rye and all sorts of roots and fruits are created; they are the necessary food of man or beast. But what do we want with roses? What do we want with lilies? They are of no use at all except for joy and delight. With their sweet form, their charming color, and their delicious fragrance, we are comforted and pleased and delighted; but they are not necessaries of life. A man can live without roses; there are millions of people, I have no doubt, who live without possessing lilies of the valley. There are all too few roses and lilies in this smoky Babylon of ours; but, when we do get them, what are their uses? Why, they are things of beauty, if not “a joy for ever.” Jesus is all that and more; He is far more than “a thing of beauty,” and to all who trust Him He will be “a joy for ever.” To you who are Christ’s people, He is your bread, for you feed on Him, and He makes you live; you could not do without Him as the sustenance of your soul. He is the living water, and your soul would pine and perish of a burning thirst if you did not drink of Him. But that is not all that Jesus is to you; God has never intended to save His people on the scale of the workhouse, to give you just as much as you absolutely need, and nothing more. No, no, no; He means you to have joy as well as to have life, to look upon beauty as well as to be in safety, and to have not only a healthy atmosphere, but an atmosphere that is laden with the odour of sweet flowers. You are to find in Christ roses and lilies, as well as bread and water; you have not yet seen all His beauties, and you do not yet know all His excellence. The exceeding delightfulness of Christ is suggested to our mind by His declaration, “I am the rose, and I am the lily.” And He is in Himself the delight of men. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2472.cfm

He Wants Us to Partake of Him!

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises 4 Comments

The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. – John 7:46

I think that it is so sweet of Christ to praise Himself in order to show that He longs for us to come to Him. He declares Himself to be a fountain of living water; yet why is He a fountain but that we may come unto Him, and drink? He tells us, “I am the bread which came down from heaven;” but why does He speak of Himself as bread, whereof if a man eat, He shall never hunger? Why, because He wants us to partake of Him! You need not, therefore, be afraid that He will refuse you when you come to Him. If a man praises his wares, it is that he may sell them. If a doctor advertises his cures, it is that other sick folk may be induced to try his medicine; and when our Lord Jesus Christ praises Himself, it is a kind of holy advertisement by which He would tempt us to “come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” If He praises Himself, it is that we may fall in love with Him; and we need not be afraid to come and lay our poor hearts at His feet, and ask Him to accept us, for He would not have wooed us by unveiling His beauties if He had meant, after all, to trample on our hearts, and say, “I care nothing for such poor love as yours.”

I feel most grateful, then, that I have not at this time so much to praise my Master as to let Him speak His own praises, for “never man spake like this Man.” When He commends Himself, what would have been folly in others is wisdom in Him; and whereas we say to our fellow-man, “Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth,” I would say to Christ, “My Master, praise Thyself, for Thou alone canst do it as it ought to be done.” As for Thy poor servant, he would try to be the echo of Thy voice, and that will be infinitely better than anything he can say of himself. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2472.cfm

We May Take Him for Our Own

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit 2 Comments

“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys”…”My beloved is mine, and I am his…” – Song of Songs 1,16

Love at first sight has been begotten by the vision of a lovely countenance. Men and women, too, are struck with affection through the eye when they perceive some beauty which charms and pleases them; so, the Savior lifts the corner of the veil that conceals His glories, and lets us see some glimpse of His beauty, in order that He may win our hearts. There are some who seem to think that they can bully men to Christ; but that is a great mistake. It is very seldom that sinners can be driven to the Savior; His way is to draw them. He Himself said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die.” And the drawings of Christ are not, as it were, with a cart rope, but with silken bonds, ay, with invisible chains, for His beauty is of such a character that it creates love, His beauty is so attractive that it draws the heart. So, in infinite wisdom, our Lord Jesus Christ sets forth His own beauties that thereby He may win our hearts…Note, then, the condescension and also the wisdom which are perceptible in this self-commendation on the part of Christ: “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.”

Does Christ commend Himself to us? Does He say to us, for instance, “I am meek and lowly in heart”? What is His object in speaking thus but that we may take His yoke upon us, and may learn of Him, and that we may find rest unto our souls? And if He says, “I am the rose of Sharon,” what does He mean but that we may pluck Him, and take Him for our own? If He says, “I am the lily of the valleys,” why does He take the trouble to tell us that but because He wants us to take Him, and to have Him for our very own? I think that it is so sweet of Christ to praise Himself in order to show that He longs for us to come to Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2472.cfm

This is Stupendous Condescension

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father 2 Comments

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. – Song of Songs

Be it always remembered that human self-praise is evil because of the motive which underlies it. We praise ourselves, and, alas! that we should be so foolish as to do so, we do it out of pride; but when Christ praises Himself, He does it out of humility. “Oh!” say you, “how can you prove that to be true?” Why, thus; He praises Himself that He may win our love; but what condescension it is on His part that He should care about the love of such insignificant and undeserving persons as we are! It is a wonderful stoop that the Christ of God should speak about having a bride, and that He should come to seek His bride among the sons of men. If princes were to look for consorts among beggars, that would be after all but a small stoop, for God hath made of one blood all nations of men that dwell upon the face of the earth; but for Christ to forsake the thrones and glories of heaven, and the splendours of His Father’s courts above, to come down to win a well-beloved one here, and for her sake to take upon Himself her nature, and in her nature to bear the shame of death, even the death of the cross, this is stupendous condescension of which only God Himself is capable; and this praising of Himself is a part of that condescension, a necessary means of winning the love of the heart that He has chosen. So that this is a matchless instance, not of pride, but of humility, that those dear lips of the heavenly Bridegroom should have to speak to His own commendation, and that He should say, “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” O human lips, why are ye silent, so that Christ must speak about Himself? O human hearts, why are ye so hard that ye will never feel until Christ Himself shall address you? O human eyes, why are ye so blind that ye shall never see till Christ shows Himself in His own superlative light and loveliness? I think I need not defend my Master, though He used these sweet emblems to set forth Himself; for this is an instance, not of His pride, but of His humility. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2472.cfm