Our Care of Christ’s Vine

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

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear… – Song of Songs 7:12

Nearer the palace there were vineyards, and the spouse said, “Let us get up early to the vineyards.” Note, then, that the Church does her work at home as well as abroad. When she loves her Lord she works with zeal and she gets up early. All men in Holy Scripture who loved God much rose early to worship Him. We never read of one saint engaged upon sacred service who rose late. Abraham rose early. David rose early. Job rose early and so did they all…Notice God’s people, when they are awake, first look well to the Church. “Let us see if the vine flourishes.” The Church is Christ’s vine. Let us take stock of it. Beloved, we ought to be, each one of us, in a measure, pastors of the Church. Each must look after his brother and thus you must be pastors of one another. Watch over one another, pray for one another. How wonderful is the power of prayer! We do not know what blessings come from our prayers. Ten thousand darts might long ago have pierced the Lord’s elect were it not that the prayers of the saints are a shield over their heads, defending the sacramental host from harm.

Then the Church looks after the little ones. “Let us see if the vine flourishes, whether the tender grape appear.” No earnest Church forgets the children of her Sunday school and every other agency for the young will be sure to be well minded. An active Church seeks to bring Jesus among the children to see if the tender grapes appear. She pays her visits and performs her services, but always in His dear company. Helpers in the Sunday school and workers for Christ, I salute you! The Lord be with you. The Lord give you to see many tender grapes appearing and may this Church have joy of you as hundreds shall be converted to God by your instrumentality! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm

If You Would Know Your Beloved Fully

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

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth… – Song of Songs 7:11,12

When I have met with a poor soul who has rejected the Lord, I have felt my heart breaking over him like the heart of Christ over obstinate Jerusalem. When I have seen the tears flowing from a penitent’s eyes who could not, as yet, find the Savior, I have felt sympathy with Jesus when He has looked upon the like and had compassion upon them! And when I have seen the glow of joy when the sun of Christ’s countenance has shone at last upon the troubled heart, I have entered into the joy of the Lord when He rejoices over one sinner that repents!

Laziness never yet had communion with Christ. Those who walk with Christ must walk swiftly. Jesus is no idler or loiterer—He is about His Father’s business—and you must march with quick step if you would keep pace with Him. As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, are sluggards to active persons. Those who have much to do have no fellowship with gossips who drop in to while away the hours with chat. Jesus has no fellowship with you who care not for souls that are perishing. He is incessantly active, and so must you be if you would know His love. There is a fierce furnace heat beating upon everything today—men are toiling hard to hold their own—and Jesus must not be served by slothful hearts. I am sure that I err not from His mind, when I say to you, Beloved, if you would know the Beloved fully you must get up early and go afield with Him to work with Him. Your joy shall be in spending and being spent for Him. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm

“My Beloved, let us go.”

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

And He said unto them, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” – Mark 16:15

“Go you into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” There stand the orders! And when our largest enterprises shall have been fulfilled, we shall not have exceeded them. There is no exclusion put upon any tribe or clan. No classes are laid under ban, no individuals are exempted. Therefore, Church of Christ, by the love you bear to your crucified Master, by His wounds and death for you and by His living love to you, seek out the lost and gather together the outcasts! You fishers of men, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught! You sowers of holy seed, go abroad, and sow the untrodden wastes! You consecrated builders, break away from old foundations and lay fresh groundwork for a larger temple for your God and King!

Brothers and Sisters, if you serve the Lord Christ in breaking up fresh ground you may have to meet difficulties and make sacrifices, but they will be as nothing to you—you will welcome them for His dear sake! Am I stirring no hearts now? Has my finger touched no responsive strings? …Some Brother, some Sister —I know not to whom the prophetic word is coming—who is saying, “Lord, I am Your spouse. I will go forth with You into the field and I will lodge with You in the villages if there I may but glorify Your name.” …For our Master’s sake and in His strength and company we must compass sea and land for His redeemed ones! Only, if any of you go, do not try to go alone. Stop until you breathe the prayer, “My Beloved, let us go.” You go in vain when you go not with the Master, but when you have secured His company, then go and welcome, for you “shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bringing your sheaves with you.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm

The Great Jail, and How to Get Out of It

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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.

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“What more can I do for Him?”

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

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field… – Song of Songs 7:11

“Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field.” A loving Church spontaneously puts herself upon widened service. She has a large heart towards her Lord and longs to see Him reign over all mankind. She does not wait to hear, again and again, the Macedonian’s cry, “Come over and help us,” but she is prompt in mission enterprise. She does not tarry till she is forced by persecution to go abroad everywhere preaching the Word, but she sends forth her champions far and wide. As sure as ever she loves her Lord she asks herself the question, “What more can I do for Him?”

When she looks over the plot of ground which she has been tilling, she says, “It is not large enough! The harvest I can get out of this will not suffice me for my dear Lord.” And she says to Him, “Let me go to the regions beyond to break up the fallow ground and cause the wilderness to blossom.” Now, beloved members of this Church, do you not feel some such desire? It is upon my heart that we should be undertaking larger things for Christ. Keep up the old agencies by all manner of means—quicken them, strengthen them! But does not love suggest that as increasing years add increasing indebtedness to Christ—as we are always receiving fresh mercies, so we should make new and larger returns to our best Friend? If by us, as a Church, nothing new may be ventured, yet cannot each individual have his own plan and branch out afresh?…Enquire of Him (whom) you love and if your hearts are with Him, it will not be long before you will discover what He would have you do. The spouse, when she said, “Let us go forth into the field,” knew that the proposal would please her Lord for the nature of Christ is a large and loving one, and, therefore, He would bless the far-off ones. His is no narrow heart! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm

A United Operation

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

Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards… – Song of Songs 7:11,12

Consider once more that the love which is the great motive to Christian action is a love which looks to Jesus for united operation. It is, “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us get up early to the vineyard.”…All is well when the Redeemer leads the way. Be not afraid, beloved, for you go in good Company. Who among us will be afraid to do anything or go anywhere if Jesus says, “I will go with you”? Such was the prayer the spouse put up, and doubtless she was led to pray for that which God will grant. Let us pray with her as she prayed. Come, Savior, come up with us to whatever we attempt for You! If there are any brethren here who are working away for You in dark places in London, dear Savior carry the lantern with them—be their Light! If they are digging for You and quarrying amidst granite rocks which refuse to yield to their strokes, come Almighty One and wield Your hammer and straightway the stones shall be broken! Come with us, Lord! This is the fellowship we desire of You—the fellowship of labor and of soul-winning. We would not only sit at Your feet to learn, but we would take up our cross and follow You! We would go with You where ever You go! We would fight, or labor, or suffer, or live, or die at Your bidding! Be this the fellowship You shall bestow upon us!

As a Church constituting a part of the Master’s field, we have had, for years, one continued harvest but still never such an one as has satisfied our spirits, for our idea of our King is such that the largest increase to His Church would not content us—we should still feel that our Lord Jesus deserved far more! As He has not yet seen of the travail of His soul so as to be satisfied, so neither are we, His servants, content on His behalf, but we long, and cry, and pray for a larger harvest as His reward for the dread sowings in bloody sweat and streams of vital blood of Gethsemane and Golgotha! I would urge you all to sharpen your sickles and with good hope and prayerful confidence prepare for the appointed weeks of our harvest! May God, by His Holy Spirit, inspire you with zeal for the work which awaits you and give you to walk in fellowship with Jesus in all that you do. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm

Our Love to Jesus

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

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field… – Song of Songs 7:10,11

If we have abounding love to Jesus we can prosper under disadvantages, but if we have it not, we have lost the great secret of success. Love to Jesus teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight. It sets us side by side with the conquering Immanuel and makes us share His victories. It yokes us with the strong Son of God and so makes our infirmities to be but opportunities for the display of His power. This love leads the Church to hold all things in joint possession with Christ…Love will not stand to have divided properties. Such was the love of Jesus that He gave all that He had to us. He could not bear to have anything, not even His Throne itself, that should be altogether to Himself. He stripped Himself to His last rag to clothe us and then gave us His breath to be our life, His blood to be our health!

I like to think, in Church matters especially, that we are all Christ’s—that if we have any ability, it is Christ’s ability—to be laid at His feet. If we have any substance, it is Christ’s money—to be used in spreading His Church. Our Sunday school is Christ’s nursery, and the little ones are Christ’s lambs. Our work out of doors in preaching at the corners of the streets is Christ’s mission—it is His trumpet that is blown when the Gospel is preached! Every form of agency is not ours—it is Christ’s. Or if ours, it is only because it is His. Oh, to have more and more all things common with our Lord, and no longer to speak of mine or yours! Beloved, we are joint heirs with Him! All that we have is His and all that He has is ours! When the Church believes and acts upon this, the hour of her success is close at hand. We would not now and then look through the windows of agate and behold the King in His beauty, but we would continue “looking unto Jesus.” We would have His praise continually in our mouths and His love burning like the quenchless altar fire of the temple forever within our hearts. This is the one thing necessary to promote and sustain a revival in (the) Church. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1066.cfm