The Pleasant Fruits of the Church

Sherry Christian Life Leave a comment

The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. – Song of Songs 7:13

The Church of God has, in herself, through the rich love of her Husband, all manner of pleasant fruits. There are all manner of pleasant fruits among us. One has one, another has another and, in some hearts, there are many fruits united. A church of God, if well cultivated, is rich in multiform displays of the fruit of the Spirit of God. Some of these fruits are new, and oh, how full of savor they are! Our new converts, thank God for them—what a freshness and power there is about their love! Certain moldy old professors have lost their taste all together—they have passed beyond the time in which they were sweet—they have gotten into the sleepy pear state and are getting rotten. They are chips in the porridge—the taste has gone out of them—if they ever had any. Alas, some have acquired a nauseous flavor, they are very naughty figs, indeed! The new fruits may be sharp and have more pungency than mellowness about them, but for all that they are choice to the Lord Jesus whose soul desires the first ripe fruits. I thank God for youthful zeal! It might, with advantage, have a little more knowledge mingled with it, yet the zeal is good and the fervent is good. May we never be without new-born souls! Then there are old fruits, the experience of believers who are ripening for Heaven—the well-developed confidence which has been tried in a thousand battles and the faith which has braved a lifetime of difficulties. These old fruits—the deep love of the matron to Christ, the firm assurance of the veteran believer—there is a mellowness about them which the Lord delights in! All these choice things ought to be laid up. Every good thing in a church is meant to be stored up, not to be despised and forgotten! And the point of all is that all in the Church ought to be laid up for our Beloved. And now is the time when I earnestly ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, yes, by each sacred token of the love you bear your Master, that each one of you should bring forth his pleasant fruits whether they are new or whether they are old. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

Labor for the Lord

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

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: there will I give thee my loves. – Song of Songs 7:12

 The Church takes notice of all enquiries. “Let us see whether the pomegranates bud forth.” If a Church is alive there will always be many to observe where the first tear of repentance is glistening. Watch them, Brothers and Sisters! Those of you who occupy your seats and do not go afield can do the cause great service by watching at home. Around you there are unconverted persons. O my brethren, words fail me to set before you the ways in which you may show your love to Jesus in the Church itself, but I am certain that there is no need for me to speak. Love, herself, will teach you! Mothers somehow bring up their children, though there are no colleges for mothers! Love, with its instincts makes them wise and so will Christians with their love to Jesus become wise to serve. I do believe the less rule and human direction there is in the Church, the better. I do not need to say, “Brother, do this, and do that.” If you love Christ, you will know what to do better than anybody else can tell you. You will find your own places—the Lord will lead you to them. I might put a square man into a round hole if I had the placing of you but love always puts the man into the right position. It tells him what suits his qualifications, and it puts him to his work. And what is more, it keeps him to it! I shall measure your love to Jesus and measure my own, not by the way in which we can talk, or the way in which we can criticize other workers, but by the way in which we shall henceforth labor for the Lord! Jesus is your Master! No one else has bought you! No one else has died for you! No one else will receive you until His fond embrace at the last! No one else is preparing Heaven for you! No one else can say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” Serve Him, then, with both your hands, with all your heart, with every drop of blood in your veins and every breath in your lungs! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

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

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

Sherry sermon Leave a comment

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

“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