Continue in Communion with Christ

Sherry Christian Life Leave a comment

…I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go… – Song of Songs 3:4

…in their affliction they will seek Me early. – Hosea 5:15

“I found Him whom my soul loveth; I held Him, and I would not let Him go.” From this I learn that in order to be of great use to the church of God, it is needful for those who commune with Christ to continue in that communion. How comparatively easy it is to climb to the top of Pisgah! It needs but a little effort; many bold and gracious spirits are fully equal to it. But to keep there, to abide in that mountain, this is the difficulty. To come to Christ, and to sit down at His feet, is a simple thing enough for believers, and many of us have attained to it; but to sit day after day at the Master’s feet is quite another matter. Oh, could I always be as I sometimes am! Could I not only rise above but remain there! But, alas, our spiritual nature is too much like this weather-it is balmy to-day; one would think that spring or summer had come; but, perhaps, to-night we may be chilled with frost and tomorrow drenched with rain. Ah, how fickle are our spirits. We are walking with Christ, rejoicing, leaping for joy; and anon the cold frosts of worldliness come over us, and we depart from Him. You will never be strong to impart great blessings to others till you cease to wander and learn the meaning of that text: “Abide in Me.” Note well, it is not “Look at Me;” nor “Come near to Me, and then go away from Me,” but “Abide in Me.” The branch does not leave the vine and then leap back again to the stock; you never saw a living branch of the vine roaming into the corners of the vineyard or rambling over the wall; it abides in connection with the parent stem at all times, and even so should it be with the Christian…If you are willing to lose Christ’s company He is never intrusive, He will go away from you, and leave you till you know His value and begin to pine for Him. “I will go,” says He, “and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early.” He will go unless you hold Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

Honour for Honour

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You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

Oh, for more Enochs…

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises 1 Comment

I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not…It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. – Song of Songs 3:2,4

We must search to the very utmost till we find our Beloved. The Christian must leave no stone unturned till he gets back his fellowship with Christ. If any sin obstructs the way, it must be rigorously given up; if there be any neglected duty, it must be earnestly discharged; if there be any higher walk of grace, which is necessary to continuous fellowship, we must ascend it, fearing no hill of difficulty. We must not say, “there is a lion in the way”-if there be lions we must slay them; if the way be rough, we must tread it; we must go on hands and knees if we cannot run; but we must reach to fellowship with Jesus; we must have Christ or pine till we do. Sacrifices we must make and penalties we must endure, but to Christ we must come, for we are feeble when we are absent from Him, and quite incapable of rendering any great service to the church, till once for all we can say, “I found Him, I held Him, and I would not let Him go.” O dear brethren and sisters, I know there are some of you who can enter into what I mean; but I would to God there were many more to whom the first thought of life was Christ Jesus. Oh, for more Enochs, men who walk with God, whose habitual spirit is that of close communion with Jesus, meditating upon Him, yea, more than that, sympathizing with Him, drinking into His spirit, changed into His likeness, living over again His life, because He is in them the monarch of their souls. O that we had a chosen band of elect spirits of this race, for surely the whole church would be revived through their influence; God, even our own God, would bless us; and we should see bright, halcyon days dawning for the Bride of Christ. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

We Thirst After Fellowship with Thee, Our Savior

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation Leave a comment

The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? – Song of Songs 3:3

In seeking our Lord, we must use all ministries. The spouse enquired of the watchmen. We are not to despise God’s servants, for He is usually pleased to bless us through them, and it would be ungrateful both to Him and to them to pass them by as useless. But, while we use the ministries, we must go beyond them. The spouse did not find her Lord through the watchmen; but she says, “it was but a little that I passed from them, that I found him whom my soul loveth.” I charge you, my dear hearers, never rest content with listening to me. Do not imagine that hearing the truth preached simply and earnestly will of itself be a blessing to your souls. Far, far beyond the servant, pass to the Master. Be this the longing of each heart, each Sabbath-day, “Lord, give me fellowship with Thyself.” True, we are led to see Jesus sometimes, and I hope often, through listening to the truth proclaimed, but, O Lord, it is no outer court worship that will satisfy us we want to come into the Holy of Holies and stand at the mercy-seat itself. It is not seeing Thee afar off and hearing about Thee that will content our spirits, we must draw nigh unto Thee and behold Thee as the world cannot. Like Simeon, we must take Thee into our arms, or we cannot say that we have seen God’s salvation: like John, we must lean our heads upon the bosom, or we cannot rest. Thine apostles are well enough, Thy prophets well enough, Thy evangelists well enough; but oh, we feel constrained to go beyond them all, for we thirst after fellowship with Thee, our Savior. Those who feel thus will bless the church, but only such. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

Him Whom My Soul Loveth

Sherry Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises Leave a comment

…but I found him whom my soul loveth… – Song of Songs 3:4

The words are very strong, “Him whom my soul loveth;” as if though the spouse might love the daughters of Jerusalem, might love the watchmen of the city, might love them all in their place, yet her soul’s love, the essence of her love, her deepest, fondest, purest, and most real love, was all for Him. Are there not such hearts here, virgin minds in whom Christ is first, last, midst, chief, and all in all? Oh, if there be, ye are the men, ye are the women, who, finding your Beloved, can bring Him into the church. May God multiply your number and may each of you have compassion on the languishing church of this chill age, and labor to restore to her the glory which has faded from her brow. Pray ye for Laodicea in her lukewarmness, and Sardis in her spiritual death; but you will only prevail in proportion as your inmost soul loves the Redeemer and abides in His love.

These ardent lovers of Jesus must diligently seek Him...We must enjoy the perpetual fellowship of Jesus. We who love Him in our souls cannot rest until we know that He is with us. I fear that with some of us our sins have grieved Him, and He has betaken Himself to the far-off “mountains of myrrh and hills of frankincense.” It may be our lax living, our neglect of prayer, or some other fault, has taken from us the light of His countenance. Let us resolve that there shall be no rest unto our souls until once again He has returned unto us in the fullness of His manifested love, to abide in our hearts. Seek Him, brother, seek Him, sister. He is not far from any of you but do seek Him with an intense longing for Him, for until thou dost thou art not the man to bring Him into the assembly of the brethren. Labor to bring Jesus into the chambers of the church, but first be sure that thou hast Him thyself, or thy zeal will be hypocrisy. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

It Must be Soul-Love

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

It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth… – Song 0f Songs 3:4

How can we bring into the chamber of the church Him whom we have not yet met with ourselves? How can we communicate grace to others instrumentally, unless first of all, we have received Him into our own hearts? I am not now about to speak of the need of conversion; we all know that no spiritual act can be performed until we become spiritual men; but I am now speaking about something higher than bare conversion. If we would bless the church, we must ourselves occupy a higher platform than that of being merely saved; we must be believers, walking in fellowship with Christ, and having, in that respect, found Him whom our soul loveth. There are many believers who have only just enough grace to enable us to hope that they are alive; they have no strength with which to work for God’s cause, they have not an arm to lend to the help of others, neither can they even see that which would comfort others, for they are blind, and cannot see afar off, they want all their sight, and all their strength, for themselves. Those who are to bring the Well-Beloved into our mother’s house, must be of another kind. They must get beyond the feebleness, which is full of doubting and fearing, into the assurance which grasps the Savior, and the fellowship which lives in daily communion with Him… “Brother, if thou wouldst bring Christ into the church which thou lovest, then, first of all, thine inmost soul must so love Christ, that thou canst not live without His company. This must be thy cry: “Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?” and this must be the goal of thine aspirations: “I have found Him whom my soul loveth.” It must not be talk, it must be soul-love; it must not be a profession of affection for Jesus, but the inmost bowels of our being must be moved by His name. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm

Endow us, O God, with the Holy Ghost

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. – John 14:26

Let the Spirit of God be in the church, then there is power given to all her ministries; whether they be ministries of public testimony in the preaching of the word, or ministries of holy love amongst the brethren, or ministries of individual earnestness to the outside world, they will all be clothed with energy, in the fullness of the power of the Lord Jesus. Then her ordinances become truly profitable, then baptism is burial with the Lord, and the sacred supper is a feast of love; then the communion of the brethren in their solemn prayer and praise becomes deep and joyful, and their whole life and walk are bright with the glow of heaven. In the presence of the Lord the graces of the saints are developed; the church grows rich in all spiritual gifts; her warfare becomes victorious, and her continual worship sweet as the incense of the golden censor. What the moon is to the night, or the sun to the day, or the Nile to Egypt, or the dew to the tender herb, or the soul to the human frame, that is the presence of Jesus to His church. Give us the Spirit of God and we will ask no endowments from the State, nor sigh for the prestige of princely patronage. Endow us, O God, with the Holy Ghost, and we have all we need. The poverty of the members, their want of learning, their want of rank, all these shall be as nothing. The Holy Ghost can make amends for all deficiencies and clothe His poor and obscure people with an energy at which the world shall tremble. This made the apostolic church mighty; she had the Holy Ghost outpoured upon her.~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1035.cfm