© Copyright 2003 by Tony Capoccia. This updated file may be freely copied,
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All rights reserved.
Verses quoted, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW
INTERNATIONAL VERSION
©1978 by the New York Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible
Publishers.
“Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband.”
[Jeremiah 3:14]
These are delicate words—a good medicine for a
troubled conscience. Such remarkable comfort is intended to encourage the soul,
and put the brightest hope on all of its prospects. The person to whom it is
addressed has an eminently happy position. My dear believer in Christ, tonight
Satan will be very busy with you. He will say, “What right do you have to
believe that God is married to you?” He will remind you of your imperfections,
and of the coldness of your love, and perhaps of the backsliding state of your
heart. He will say, “Why, with all this about you, can you be presumptuous
enough to claim union with the Son of God? Can you venture to hope that there
will be any marriage between you and the holy One?” He will speak to you as
though he were an advocate for holiness, that it is not possible that someone
like you could really be a partaker of so choice and special a privilege as
being married to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let this suffice for an answer to all
such suggestions: the text is found addressed, not to Christians in a
flourishing state of heart, not to believers on the Mount of Transfiguration
with Christ, not to a spouse that is completely pure and lovely, and sitting
under the banner of love, feasting with her lord; but it is addressed to those
who are called “faithless people.” God speaks to his church in her lowest and
most wretched condition, and though he does not fail to rebuke her sin, to
express grief over it, and to make her grieve over it too, yet still in such a
condition he says to her, “I am your husband.” Oh! it is pure grace that Jesus
should be married to any of us, but it is grace at its highest pitch, it is the
ocean of grace at its flood-tide, that he should speak in this way of “faithless
people.” That he should speak words of love to any of the fallen race of Adam is
very strange and wonderful; but that he should select those who have behaved
treacherously to him, who have turned their backs to him and not their faces,
who have been unfaithful to him, although, nevertheless, his own, and say to
them, “I am your husband;” this is loving-kindness beyond anything we could want
or imagine. Listen, heaven above, and admire, earth below, let every
understanding heart break forth into singing, yes, let every humble mind bless
and praise the condescension of the Most High! Cheer up you poor weak hearts.
Here is sweet encouragement for some of you who are depressed, discontent, and
all alone, to draw living waters out of this well. Don’t let the noise of the
enemy keep you back from this refreshing well. Don’t be afraid lest you should
be cursed while you are anticipating the blessing. If you trust only in Jesus,
if you long for the once humbled, now exalted Lord, come with holy boldness to
the text, and whatever comfort there is here, receive it and rejoice in it.
To this end let us carefully consider the relationship, which is here spoken
of, and diligently question how much we are actually acquainted with it.
I. IN CONSIDERING THE RELATIONSHIP WHICH IS HERE SPOKEN OF, you will observe
that the relationship of marriage, though very much like family, is not one of
birth.
1. Marriage is not a relationship by blood or by a common ancestor.
It is contracted between two persons who may, during the early part of their
lives, have been entire strangers to one another; they may scarcely have looked
at each other in the face, except during the few months that preceded their
wedding. The families may have had no previous acquaintance; they may have lived
on the opposites sides of the earth. One may have been rich, and in possession
of vast domains, and the other may have been poor, barely able to make ends
meet. Genealogies don’t regulate it: differences don’t hinder it. The connection
is not of natural birth but of voluntary contract or covenant. Such is the
relationship, which exists between the believer and his God. Whatever relation
there was originally between God and man, it was stamped out and extinguished by
the fall. We were aliens, strangers, and foreigners, far off from God because of
our wicked works. We therefore had no relation to the Most High; we were
banished from his presence as traitors to his throne, as condemned criminals who
had revolted against his power. There could be no communion between our souls
and God. He is light and we are darkness. He is holiness and we are sin. He is
heaven, and we are far more analogous to hell. In him there is consummate
greatness, and we are puny insignificance. He fills the entire universe with his
strength, and as for us, we are the creatures of a day, who know nothing, and
who are easily crushed like the moth. The gulf between God and a sinner is
something terrible to contemplate. There is a vast difference between God and
the creature even when the creature is pure, but between God and the fallen
creature—oh! who is he that can measure the infinite distance? There was only
one way of ever bridging so terrible a chasm and that only by the person and
passion of the Lord Jesus Christ? How could we have ever perceived the infinite
design, unless it had been revealed to us as an accomplished fact, by which he
has reconciled us and brought us into communion with himself, that we should be
married to him?
Now, My dear Christian, just contemplate what you were, and the degraded family
to which you belonged, that you may magnify the riches of his grace who chose
you for his wife even while you were still a wicked sinner, and has so obligated
himself with all the pledges of a husband that he said, “I am your husband.”
What were you? It is a evil catalog of wicked sinners which the apostle gives in
the first epistle to the Corinthians (6:9-11), I refrain from reciting the
filthy vices—at the end of which he says, “But you were washed, you were
sanctified.” In those crimes he enumerates, many of us had a share, no, all of
us! What was our father? What was our aim? What was our practice? What were our
desires? What were our tendencies? They were earthly, downward, hell-ward. We
were at a distance from God, and we loved that distance. But the Lord Jesus took
our nature upon himself: upon him God laid the iniquity of all his people. And
why did he do this? Not merely to save us from the wrath to come, but that we,
being lifted up out of our degradation by virtue of his atonement, and being
sanctified and made right by the power of the Spirit, should have a relationship
established between us and God which was not formed by nature, but which has
been achieved and consummated by astounding grace. Let us give thanks to the
Lord this night, as we remember the pit where we were pulled up from, and call
to mind the fact that now we are united to him in ties of blood and bonds of
love.
2. The union of marriage is the result of choice.
Any exceptions to this rule that might be pleaded are invalid, because they
arise from folly and transgression: there ought to be no exception. It is
scarcely a true marriage at all where there has not been a choice on each side.
But certainly if the Lord our God is married to us, and we are married to God,
the choice is mutual. The first choice is with God. That choice was made, we
believe, before the creation of the universe. God never began to love his
people. It was impossible for the spiritual mind to entertain so unworthy a
thought. He saw them in the telescope of his decrees; he saw them in the future,
with his eye of foresight, in the mass of humanity, completely fallen and
doomed; but yet he looked at them, and pitied and loved them, elected them and
set them apart. “They will be mine,” said the Lord. At this point we are all in
agreement; and we ought to be all in agreement on the second point, namely, that
we also have chosen our God. Brothers and sisters, no one is saved against their
will. If any one could say that they were saved against their will, it would be
proof that they were not saved at all; for reluctance or indifference reveals
hostility in their heart. If the will is still set against God, then it is proof
that the whole person is still hostile against the Lord. In our natural state we
did not choose God: in our natural state we kicked against his law, and turned
away from his authority. But is it not written, “My people will be willing in
the day of my power”? [Psalm 110:3, KJV] Don’t you understand how, without any
violation of your freewill, God has used divine arguments and motives so as to
influence your understanding? Through our understanding our will is convinced,
and our souls are suddenly drawn without hesitation. It is then that we throw
down the weapons of our rebellion, and humble ourselves at the footstool of the
Most High; and we freely choose that which we once wickedly abhorred. Don’t you,
Christian, at this very hour, choose Christ with all your heart to be your Lord
and Savior? If it could be put to you over again to make a choice whether you
would love the world or love Christ, wouldn’t you say, “Oh! my Beloved is better
to me than ten thousand worlds! He captures all my love, captivates all my
passion: I freely and completely give myself up to him; he bought me with a
great price; he won me with his great love; he captivated me with his
indescribable charms, so I completely give myself up to him”? This is a mutual
choice. Oh, I wish that some of our friends would refrain from making such a
strong stand against the doctrine of God choosing us. If they will only read the
Scriptures with an unbiased mind, I am quite sure they will find it there. It
always seems incomprehensible to me that those who so boldly claim freewill for
man, should not also allow some freewill to God. I suppose, no one would not
like to be married to someone whom they had not chosen, and why shouldn’t Jesus
Christ have the right to choose his own bride? Why shouldn’t he put his love
where he wants, and have the right to exercise, according to his own sovereign
mind, that bestowment of his heart and hand which no one could by any means
deserve? Know this for sure, that Jesus will have his own choice whether we
doubt the doctrine or not; for he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy,
and he will have compassion on whom he will have compassion. At the same time, I
wish that those friends who believe this truth, would receive the other, which
is just as much true. We do choose Christ in return, and that without any
violation of our freewill. Some people cannot see two truths at the same time;
they cannot understand that God has made all truth to be double. Truth is many
sided. While divine predestination is true, human responsibility is also true;
while it is true that Christ chooses us, it is also true that the unregenerate
mind will not choose him: Jesus said, “You refuse to come to me to have life.”
[John 5:40] This is the sin and the condemnation of man, that “Light has come
into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were
evil” [John 3:19] Settle it, however, in your minds, that when God says, “I am
your husband,” it implies that there is a blessed choice on both sides; and thus
it is a true marriage.
3. Our third reflection is, that marriage is cemented by mutual love.
Where there is a lack of this mutual affection, it does not deserve the name of
marriage. The pain and anguish of such a relationship would be a heavy load for
either heart to bear; but where there is true and genuine love; it is the
sweetest and happiest mode of living. It is one of the blessings of paradise,
which has been preserved for us after the fall. Without love, wedded life must
be like experiencing some of the very pains of hell on earth. In the solemn
contract, which has brought our souls this night to God, the marriage is
sustained, cemented, strengthened, and made enjoyable by mutual love. Need I
talk to you of the love of God? It is a theme we are scarcely competent to talk
of. You need to sit down and weep about it for the very joy of it, joy which
fills the heart, and makes the eyes overflow, but almost chains the tongue, for
it is a deep, profound, and inexpressible joy. “He loved me, and gave himself
for me.” “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us” [1 John 3:1]. “As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you” [John 15:9]. Oh, the love of
God—it would surpass the powers of an angel to declare it. Surely, it will be
the blessed employment of eternity's long ages for us to comprehend the love of
God; and, perhaps, when billions of years have rolled over our happy souls, we
will still be as much struck with wonder with it as we were at first. The marvel
does not diminish as we examine it: familiarity cannot make it common. The
nearer we approach God’s love, the deeper will be our wonder, amazement, and
awe. It will be as great a surprise that God would love such cold, such
faithless, such unworthy creatures as ourselves, at the end of ten thousand
years as it was at first, perhaps even more so. The more thoroughly we come to
know ourselves, the more fully we will understand the goodness and holiness of
the Lord; thus will our wonder grow and expand. Even in heaven, we will be lost
in surprise and admiration at the love of God to us. The rapture will augment
the reverence we feel.
But dear brothers and sisters, I trust we will also love him in return! Do you
ever feel one soft affection rising after another as you ponder the Christ of
God? When you sometimes listen to a sermon in which the Savior's dear love to
you is described, don’t you suddenly feel that a tear wets your cheek? Doesn’t
your heart swell sometimes, as if it were unable to hold your emotions? Isn’t
there “an inexpressible and glorious joy,” that comes over you? Can’t you say—
“Jesus, I love your charming name,
It is music to my ear;
Happily would I sound it out so loud
That earth and heaven should hear”?
I hope you don’t need to sing tonight—
“It is a point I long to know.”
but, I trust, that in the solemn silence of your
souls you can say, “You know that I love you;” be grieved that the question
should be asked, but still be ready to answer, with Peter, “Lord, you know all
things, you know that I love you.”
Now, it is impossible for you to love God without the strong conclusive evidence
that God loves you. I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts,
and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved
Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. “Oh!” I said, “that is a doubt
that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of
this, that the heart is so naturally corrupt, that love to God could never get
there without God first putting it there.” You may rest quite certain, that if
you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God's love to
you, and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you. You may
conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God. There
never was any difficulty on his part. It always was on your part, and now that
the difficulty is gone from you there is no more difficulty left. O let our
hearts rejoice and be filled with great delight, because the Savior has loved us
and given himself for us. So let us realize the truth of the text, “I am your
husband.”
4. My fourth observation is, that this marriage necessitates certain mutual
responsibilities.
I cannot say “duties,” for the word seems out of place on either side. How can I
speak of the great God making pledges of faithfulness? and yet with reverence,
let me say it just that way, for in any vocabulary I can hardly find words to
declare it. When God becomes a husband, he undertakes to do a husband's part.
When he says, “Your Creator is your husband,” you may rest assured that he does
not take up the relationship without assuming (well, I must say it) all the
responsibilities which belong to a husband. God’s part is to nourish, to
cherish, to shield, to protect, and to bless those with whom he condescends, in
infinite mercy, to enter into the union of marriage. When the Lord Jesus Christ
became the husband of his church, he felt that he had an obligation and
commitment to us, and inasmuch as there were debts incurred, he paid them.
“Yes, said the Son, with her I'll go,
Through all the depths of sin and woe;
And on the cross will even dare
The bitter pains of death to bear.”
He never shrunk back from doing any of those
loving works which belong to the husband of his chosen spouse. He exalted the
word “husband,” and made it to be more full of meaning than it ever had been
before, so that the apostle could see it glittering in a new light, and could
say, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself for her.” Oh, yes! dear friends, there is a responsibility arising out
of this relationship, and Jesus Christ has not turn away from it; you know he
hasn’t.
And now, what about our side? The wife has to reverence her husband, and to be
subject to him in all things. That is precisely our position towards him who has
married us. Let his will be our will. Let his wish be our law. Let us never need
to be flogged into service, but let us say—“It is love that makes our willing
feet move in swift obedience.”
O Christian, if the Master condescends to say, “I am your husband,” you will
never need to ask, “What is my duty?” but you will say, “What can I do for him?”
The loving wife does not say, “What is my duty?” and stand coldly questioning
how far she should go, and how little she may do, but all that she can do for
him who is her husband she will do, and everything that she can think of, every
thing she can devote herself to, in striving to please him in all things she
will most certainly do and perform. And you and I will do the same if we have
realized our union with Christ. O beloved, don’t grow sentimental and waste your
energies in foolish dreams as some have done. Consider the wife—where the family
is large, the work is heavy, and the responsibility great. I must remind you, as
time permits, of the words of King Lemuel, and the oracle his mother taught him.
Bear with me at least while I caution you listen to a mother’s wisdom to her
son, that the heart of your husband may safely trust in you. Be careful to
provide food for your family. Grab the spindle with your fingers; don’t stop
being diligent; don’t eat the bread of idleness. Open your arms to the poor and
extend your hands to the needy. Speak with wisdom, and be sure that faithful
instruction is on your tongue.” And also be sure that you yourself, in regard to
all the duties of your situation, are fulfilling your obligations to your Lord.
Jesus has shown us how much he loved us by His matchless deeds on our behalf,
therefore let us impress our song of love to him on the hearts of some tender
young child who are committed to our care. O that the life I now live in the
flesh, by faith in the Son of God, might become a poem, and a grateful response
to him that loved me, and gave himself for me. I hope we now understand that
when God says, “I am your husband,” it requires mutual responsibilities.
5. Fifthly, it also involves mutual intimacy.
How will we call that a marriage where the husband and wife are still two
persons, maintaining individuality as if it were a conscientious condition of
the contract? That is utterly foreign to the divine idea of marriage. In a true
marriage, the husband and wife become one. Therefore their joys and their cares,
their hopes and their labors, their sorrows and their pleasures, rise and blend
together in one stream. Brothers and sisters, the Lord our God has said that he,
“…confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them” [Psalm
25:14]. “Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to
show yourself to us and not to the world?” [John 14:22]. This is an example of
the intimate and private relationship, because there is a union between Christ
and his people, which there is not between Christ and the world. How joyful do
the words sound—they have a melodious ring to them—“I no longer call you
servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have
called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made
known to you.” [John 15:15]. Christ keeps nothing back from you, his spouse.
Remember another word of his: “If it were not so, I would have told you.” Oh,
how delightful! He says, “I go to prepare a place for you.” He tells them that
he is going to prepare a place for them, and then he says, “If it were not so, I
would have told you—I keep no secrets back from you; you are close to me, my
flesh and my bones. I left my Father's house in glory, that I might become one
with you, and show myself to you, and I keep nothing back from you, but reveal
my very heart and my very soul to you.”
Now, Christian, think of this: your relationship to Christ is that of a spouse,
and you must pour out your very heart to Christ. No, don’t go and pour out your
heart to your neighbors, nor your friends, for, somehow or other, the most
sympathizing heart cannot understand or share all of our heartaches. There are
sorrows, which the stranger cannot help us with; but there never was a heartache
or pain which Christ could not help us to overcome. Make a confidant of the Lord
Jesus—tell him everything. You are married to him: play the part of a wife who
keeps no secrets back, no trials back, no joys back; tell them all to him.
I was in a house yesterday where there was a little child, and it was said to
me, “He is such a funny child.” I asked in what way, and the mother said, “Well,
if he falls down and hurts himself in the kitchen, he will always go upstairs
crying and tell somebody, and then he comes down and says, “I told somebody;”
and if he is upstairs he goes downstairs and tells somebody, and when he comes
back it is always, “I told somebody,” and he doesn’t cry any more, Ah! well, I
thought, we must tell somebody: it is human nature to want to have sympathy, but
if we would always go to Jesus, and tell him everything, and leave it there, we
would often dismiss the burden, and be refreshed with a grateful song. Let us do
so, and go with all our joys and all our troubles to Jesus, who says, “I am your
husband.” I know the devil will say, “Why, you must not tell the Lord your
present trouble: it is too little, and besides, you know you did wrong, and
brought it upon yourself.” Well, I ask you, wouldn’t you tell your husband,
wouldn’t you? and will you not tell your Lord? You couldn’t tell a master or a
stranger, but you can tell a husband. Oh! Feel free to call Christ, “My man, my
husband,” and put that confidence in him which a wife is expected to place in a
husband who dearly loves her.
6. We must now go on to a sixth point. This marriage implies fellowship in
all its relations.
Whatever a husband possesses becomes his wife's. She cannot be poor if he be
rich; and what little she has, whatever it may be, belongs to him. If she is in
debt, her debts become his. When Jesus Christ called out his people, he gave
them all he had. There is nothing which Christ has which he has not given to us.
It is noteworthy that he has given his church his own name! “Where?” you say.
Well, there are two passages in Jeremiah that most remarkably illustrate this
(chap. 23:6, and chap. 33:16). In the one it says, “This is the name by which he
will be called,” and in the other, “This is the name by which she will be
called” [KJV]. In both, the name is identical. “The Lord our Righteousness.”
What “She will be called”? Yes, as though he said, “She will take my name, and
with the name, of course, the entire open acknowledgment of his interest in her
and her interest in him. As such she is partaker of all his glory: if he is a
king, she is a queen; if he is in heaven, then so are we, for “God raised us up
with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms;” [Ephesians 2:6] if
he is heavenly, she also will bear the image of the heavenly; if he is immortal,
so will she be; and if he is at the right hand of the Father, so will she be
also highly exalted with him.
Now, it is saying but very little when I add, that, therefore, whatever we have,
belongs to him—oh! it is so little, so very little, and one wishes it were more.
I have sometimes thought, “O that Christ were not so glorious as he is.” It was
a half-wicked wish, but I meant it in the right way, that I might help to
glorify him. O that he were still poor, that one might invite him to a feast! O
that he were still in this world, that one could break the alabaster jar of
expensive perfume and pour it on his head! But you are so great, most blessed
Master, that we can do nothing to increase your greatness! You are so elevated,
that we cannot exalt you! You are so happy, that we cannot bless you! Yet, what
am I saying? It is all a mistake! He is still here. He calls every one of his
people “Members of his body;” and if you wish to enrich him, help the poor; if
you want to feed him, feed the hungry. Those that clothe the naked, put clothing
on the Lord himself. Jesus said, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did for me” [Matthew 25:40].
7. A seventh observation, and then I will refrain from dwelling any longer on
this point. The very crown of marriage is mutual delight and contentment.
The wife of a Persian nobleman, having gone to a feast, which was given by King
Darius, was asked by her husband whether she thought that Darius was the finest
man in the world. No, she said, she did not think so; she never saw any one in
the world who was comparable to her husband. And doubtless that is just the
opinion which a husband forms of his wife and a wife of her husband where the
marriage is as it should be. Now, certainly Christ has a very high opinion of
us. I remember meditating on a passage in the Song of Solomon, looking at it and
wondering how it could be true—believing it, and yet not being able to
comprehend it—where Christ says, “All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no
flaw in you!” [Song of Solomon 4:7] Oh, what eyes he must have! We say that love
is blind; but that cannot be true in the case of Christ, for he sees all things.
Why, this is how it is: he sees himself in us. He does not see us as we are, but
in his infinite grace he sees us as we are to become, as we sing:
“Not as she stood in Adam's fall,
When sin and ruin covered all;
But as she'll stand another day,
Brighter than sun's brightest ray.”
The sculptor says he can see a bust in a block of marble, and that all he has to do is to chip away the extra marble, and let the bust appear. So Christ can see a perfect being in every one of us, if we are his people; and what he does with us each day is to continue to remove our many imperfections, making us to become more like him. He can see us as we will one day be before the throne of God in heaven, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. His delights are with men and women who belong to him. He loves to hear our praise, and to listen to our prayers. The songs of his people are his sweet perfume, and communion with his people is like beds of spices, and beds of lilies. And as for us, who are his people, I am sure we can say that there is no delight, which can equal communion with Christ. We have tried other delights—shame on us!—we have tried some of them, but after having done so, we find that there is nothing like our Lord, “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless!” [Ecclesiastes 1:2]; but when we come to Christ, we find nothing meaningless there, but can say:—
“Where can such sweetness be
As I have tasted in your love,
As I have found in thee?”
The Christian's heart is like Noah's dove: it flies over the wide waste, and cannot rest its foot until it comes back to Christ. He is the true Noah, who puts out his hand and takes in the weary, trembling dove, and gives it rest. There is no peace in the whole world except with Christ.
“There's no such thing as pleasure here,
My Jesus is my all;
As He shines or disappears,
My pleasures rise or fall.”
We have so far only skimmed the surface of this
delightful word, “I am your husband,” but we must move on to our next point.
II. HOW MUCH DO YOU AND I TRULY UNDERSTAND THIS?
I am afraid some of you think that I am half crazy tonight. You are saying,
“Well, I don’t comprehend this; what is this man talking about? God married to
us! Christ married to us! I don’t understand it!” God have mercy on you, my poor
listener, and bring you to know it! But let me tell you, if you could come to
understand it, then you would discover a secret here that would make you a
thousand times more happy than all the joys of the world can ever make you. You
remind me of the chicken in the fable, who found a diamond on the dunghill, and
as he turned it over, he said, “I would rather have found a grain of barley.” He
acted according to his nature. And so it is with you. This precious pearl of
union to God will seem to be nothing to you: a little worldly pleasure will be
more to your liking. One could weep to think there should be such ignorance of
true joy and true delight! Oh! blind eyes, that cannot see beauty in the Savior!
Oh! stone-cold hearts, that can see no loveliness in him! Jesus! they are
obsessed, they are insane, who cannot love you! It is a strange foolishness of
men and women to think that they can do without you, that they can see any light
apart from you, you the bright Sun of Righteousness, or anything like your
beauty in all the gardens of the world apart from you, you the Rose of Sharon,
you the Lily of the Valley! O that they knew you!
Do I address any one here tonight, who, while they pretend to be religious
people, have no real allegiance to the Lord? There are many like that, and we
occasionally meet with them here. They cannot satisfy their conscience without
some show of religion, so they join with us as listeners and spectators in the
solemn assembly; but they never unite with the church, because they have not
dedicated their hearts to Christ. Ask them the reason, and their answer sounds
pure, and yet in truth it is anything but innocent. You tell us that you are
afraid to become a true Christian because you would not walk consistently?
Wouldn’t it be more truthful to admit that your relationship with the world,
your love of money, your ordinary pastimes, and your occasional partying,
harmless as you try to persuade yourselves they are now, if viewed in the light
of marriage to Christ, would be accounted as very shameful? So far as the
principles of Christianity are concerned, you endorse them with your private
creed, and you are “Protestant” enough to prefer the most evangelical doctrines;
but your reluctance to make a true commitment to Christ is a clear index to a
most fatal flaw in your character. You might admit that God is supreme, but not
the exclusive Lord of your heart. You would give the Lord's altar more honor
than any other altar, but still you would not remove the high places which
desecrate the land. Your opinion is that there is no god in all the earth but
the God of Israel, yet your practice is to bow down to the god of this world.
You wish to have all the promises of God bestowed on you, but you decidedly
object to make any vows to him. It is to people like you that these delicate
appeals are most distasteful, “Return, faithless people, for I am your husband.”
Nothing in your experience responds to this. You stand aloof as if you were
offended. I must warn you, therefore, that God can be your God only in these
bonds of covenant union.
But, Christian, now I speak to you. Surely you know something about this, that
God is married to you? If you do, can’t you say with me, “Yes, and he has been a
very faithful husband to me”? Now, there are none of you who can object to that!
Thus far he has been very faithful to you, and what have you been to him? How
kind and tender has he been; how faithful, how generous, how sympathizing! In
your every affliction he has been afflicted, and the angel of his presence has
saved you. Just when you had reached your limits of endurance he has come to
your aid. He has carried you through every difficulty, even until now. Oh! you
can speak well of him, can’t you? And as for his love, Christian, as for his
love, what do you think of that? Is it not heaven on earth to you? Don’t you
think it to be—
“Heaven above
To see his face, to taste his love”?
Well, then, speak well of him, speak well of him!
Make this world hear his praise! Ring that silver bell in the deaf ears of this
generation! Make them know that your Beloved is the fairest of the fair and
compel them to ask, “How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of
women?” [Song of Solomon 5:9]
Again, for those of you who do not know him, I would like to ask you this
question, and you need to answer it. Do you want to be married to Christ? Do you
wish to have him? Oh! then, there will be no difficulties in the way of the
match. If your heart goes after Christ, he will have you. If, when you get home
tonight and kneel down next to your bed, you say to him, “Dear Savior, here is
my heart, take it, wash it, save me,” he will hear you. Whoever you may be, he
will not refuse you. Oh he seeks you, he seeks you! And when you seek him, that
is a sure sign that he has found you. Though you may not have found him, yet he
has already found you. The wedding-ring is ready. Faith is the golden ring,
which is the token of the marriage bond. Trust the Savior! Trust him! Give up
trusting in your good works. Give up depending on your merits. Take his works,
his merits, and rest alone in him, for today he says to you, “I will make you my
wife forever; showing you righteousness and justice, love and compassion. I will
be faithful to you, and you will acknowledge me as LORD” [Hosea 2:19-20] Oh, may
the Lord Jesus do that to every one of you, and may Christ's name be glorified
forever. Amen.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Spurgeon Collection" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
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Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986