TWO LOVING INVITATIONS.
by
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“Come and see.” — John 1:39.
“Come and dine.” — John 21:12.
THE one text is in the beginning, and the other at the end
of John’s gospel.
There is a mystery here. Here is typified a growth which it
were well for us
to
understand. “Come and see,” is for babes in grace: “Come and dine,” is
for
strong men in Christ Jesus. We must notice the order. “Come and see,”
is
the beginning of spiritual life, as it is the beginning of this gospel. “Come
and
dine,” is a high after-privilege of the spiritual life, and a blessed result
of
it. “Come and see,” this is the gospel’s cry to those outside its pale; it
has
nothing to conceal, it wears no mask, it has no most holy place into
which entrance is forbidden; it has a “sanctum sanctorum,” but
the way
into it is open. Open and above-board in all its
doings, the Truth as it is in
Jesus bares its bosom secrets, and cries to every
passer-by, “Come and
see.”
The seals of the book are broken, the darkness is rolled away, the
vision is open, and with clarion note the invitation is issued
“Come and
see.”
Romanism may conceal its worship under the Latin tongue; difficult
phraseology and polished periods may hide from the multitude the
teaching
of
professed Protestants, but the true preacher of Christ declares, “I
determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him
crucified; and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words of
man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
The
shutters of every window are turned back, the keys put into every
lock, and
every door is thrown wide open. Investigation is courted upon
every point;
the
gospel stands at her door, and says, “Come in hither, come and see.”
You have this short sentence, “Come and see,” as, first of
all, an
encouragement to enquirers. Many of you are like John’s disciples; they
had
heard John preach, and they believed his Word, and when they saw
Christ to whom John pointed, they followed him, but not
knowing him,
they followed him with a question upon the tip of their tongues; “Master,
where dwellest thou?” He said, “Come
and see.” You also are anxious
to
know Christ. You have heard his word preached by some of his
witnesses, and you want to know him personally for yourselves. You
have
a
pressing question to put to-night, and Jesus encourages you to ask, nay.
to
come, and get your own answer with your own eye. “Come,” saith
he,
“Come and see.”
There are three ways, I think, by which persons are to
“Come and see.”
One is by observation. We ought to give attention to the
teaching of the
gospel, to weigh it and prove it, if it he found false, to cast
it away with
decision; but if it be found worthy of our attention, to hold it
fast, and
never let it go. Many persons are careless; they will consider
the last new
novel, or they have been clamoring to get the “Life of Julius
Caesar,” to
see
what the Emperor of the French can have to say upon that subject; but
concerning Christ crucified they have no curiosity. They frequent
their
place of worship without feeling enough interest in the affair
to ask
themselves why they go. They do not expect to understand what they
hear,
or
if they understand it, they care not whether the thing be true or not; it is
nothing to them that Jesus should die. Now, surely, a theme which
involves
eternal consequences, a matter which deals with my immortal
spirit, ought
not
to be put into the background, and left to careless inadvertence. I
ought, at least, to give it something like the consideration
which it claims at
my
hands. But some look at it through coloured
spectacles. They are
prejudiced against the gospel; they do observe it, they say, but
their
observation is tinctured by themselves, and by their own character.
Some
persons make up their minds as to what the gospel ought to be
before they
try
to find out what it is. They do not come to the Bible, nor
to the hearing
of
the Word in order to discover what truth is; but they sit down, and
dream, and fashion in their own minds just such a sort of
concoction as
they imagine gospel truth should be, and everything which is contrary to
this they will kick against, like the foolish ox which kicks against the
goad.
It would be no use for me, in astronomy, to make an
hypothesis, and then
go
out with a telescope, and say, “That star ought not to he where it is.
According to my theory, Jupiter ought not to have moved as
he has
moved, and therefore I do not believe in Jupiter, nor in the
stars, for I do
not
like their goings on.” Who but madmen talk thus. I
must always shape
my
views to facts, and regarding the Bible as the great storehouse of facts,
I must take care that I go to it with a candid and unbiased
judgment. May
God help me so to do. To find out what truth is, “Come and
see,” but ask
God to open your eyes that you may behold the wondrous
things which are
written in his law.
Does any one enquire how he can come and see in the matter of
observation? We invite you, dear friends, to a diligent reading of How
Scripture, as one means of seeing. The worst-read hook in
Bible. People read a verse of it, or
half a chapter in the morning, and think
they understand it. Suppose any one were to read a poet in that way. Let
the
world’s favored poet, Shakspeare, be treated in such
a style as that, and
what man could ever appreciate his beauties? If you get a poet, say
Cowper, you read “The Task” through. You do not think of
snatching a
line or two here and there; if you did, you would be like the Greek pedant,
who
carried a brick about as a specimen of a house which he had for sale.
If you read Young’s “Night Thoughts,” it is true that there
almost every
line is noteworthy, and is as finished as a distinct proposition; but still
he
who
would appreciate the beauties of Young must read the “Night
Thoughts” through, or, at least, read a book at a time. Yet
there are
thousands of you who never did read one of the gospels through,
never
read one of the epistles through with a studious mind, desiring to catch the
drift, and to understand the sense; and do you dream you will
ever know
what the Bible teaches by just recalling a portion here, and a portion
there?
Impossible! Absurd! If you have any care to “Come and see,”
read the
Bible in a common-sense way, and sit down with the
determination that, as
far
as the human mind can find out what God means, you will know what
he
has revealed concerning his Son. I am not afraid of what the
consequences will be, if you do that. If, moreover, you seek the aid of
the
Divine Spirit, your search cannot be in vain. You shall see
Jesus, and
rejoice in his great salvation.
Then, next, I earnestly desire you to hear the gospel as
well as read it, only
take care that what you hear is the gospel. It is very easy to find divines
of
flowery speech, and flowing tongue, from whom, in a course of
seven
years, you would probably learn nothing whatever of the
doctrines of the
covenant of grace. It has been said, that if you were to hear a
lecturer on
geology or astronomy deliver some twelve or thirteen lectures, you
would
he
able to pick up a pretty clear idea of the system of geology or
astronomy, which the lecturer meant to teach; but I avow and
protest, and
will prove it by sermons printed by sundry authors, that you might hear
thirteen thousand sermons of some men without knowing what system
of
Divinity they taught, if, indeed, they have any system of
Divinity at all.
What do you go to God’s house for? Is it to have your ears
tickled? Do
you
go to the place of worship that you may admire the eloquence of man?
Go to your theater or your senate if this be your errand;
such places are the
legitimate arena for display; but come not to God’s house for that.
There
we
should resort to learn to pray, we should come that we may, in the
words of our text, “see;” see ourselves, and better still, see
the Lord Jesus.
This should be the first enquiry as we go up the steps into
the place of
meeting; “Sirs, we would see Jesus;” and if Jesus is not to be
seen there, no
matter how brilliant the display of fireworks with which the
sermonizer
may
indulge you; that is not the proper place in which to spend the
precious hours of the Sabbath day. We would see Jesus, we would
know
what we must do to be saved. Observe then, observe carefully, keep your
eyes open, not only to the world of nature, but to the Book of God, and
the
lives of his people, and thus “Come and see.”
Truly, enquirer, there is a better way of coming and
seeing, and that is by
believing. If thou canst at once believe God’s Word, thou shalt see far
better than if thou art merely a seeker, and, surely, the
revelation of God in
Christ, may well demand thine implicit
faith. See how true others have
found it. If the proposition be, can Christ forgive sin? bear what others say
who
can sing of pardon bought with blood, and of promises applied to
their souls with power breathing peace and pardon to their
hearts, Do you
remember your mother? Do you recollect the glitter of her eye in death’s
dark hour? Do you remember how she bore her dying testimony, that all
that God had said concerning Christ was true, that he was able to save to
the
uttermost them that come unto God by him? She was no woman given
to
deception. If I remember rightly, you can say of her that she was a
common-sense, shrewd woman, not easily to he deceived, and yet in that
last article of death, when every sham comes crumbling down, and all that
is
mere paint and tinsel is broken and dashed away, she found the solidity
of
her hopes, and rejoiced therein. You have other friends. In business they
are
not second-rate men; with regard to matters of common sense you
would trust them as well as any that you know; they are not
hot-headed
and
enthusiastic, likely to be carried away by a multitude, after some
harebrained prophet; and yet steadily and solemnly they tell you that
Christ
has
given them new hearts, and right spirits, that he has changed their lives,
that he has given them a peace and a joy they never knew before. They tell
you
that they have answers to prayer, that whenever they spread their case
before God, their heavenly Father hears them, and sends them
speedy
relief; they tell you that they find in religion a spring of
moral action, such
as
was never found in the mere precepts and teachings of law and
conscience. Now believe these men. If they were the worst men in the
neighborhood, if they were the felons and rogues of trade, I would
recommend you not to believe them, but since they are the best in
the
world, and rank high in your esteem, at least trust them so far
as to come
yourself to a candid observation of these things, and believe that
at least
there is some truth in them. I would to God, dear friends, that you would
believe these things to be true concerning Christ’s ability to
save, because
you
have Cod’s Word for it, and if you ask me how I know it is God’s
Word, I can take you in vision to
palaces, the winged bulls and lions buried in the rubbish, all
which tell us
that that Book which spoke of them, when they were not discovered, must
have a high antiquity, and the volume which, written in the times of their
glory, yet told of their tremendous fall, must have had an
inspiration in it,
not
belonging to common books. The best proof of this inspiration is,
perhaps, to he found in this, that we know that God wrote another
book,
the
book of nature, and that as the two works of one author are quite sure
to
exhibit some common points in which you may find out the author’s
idioms, so every student of nature and revelation has been able
to say that
the
two volumes bear marks of the same writer, and the more they have
studied both books, the more they have said, “We find the
self-same God
in
the one as in the other.” The God of nature is kind and good, so is the
God of revelation. The God of nature is the terrible God of the avalanche
and
thunderbolt, the tempest and the whirlwind, and the God of this book
is
terrible out of his holy place when he comes to judge the sons of men.
We find that the very same imprimatur to which is set upon
the book of
nature, is also stamped upon the book of God. We should be glad
therefore
if
you could believe this, and believing this you would soon “come and
see;”
for mark you, the best way of knowing about Christ is to try him, to
experience him, and since you want to know if he can forgive sins,
trust
him
to forgive yours. You want to know if he can change the human heart;
trust him to change yours. You long to know if there be a peace
that
passeth all understanding, which will still the throbs of your
guilty heart;
try
him and see. You pant to learn if there be a joy which can gild your
darkest hours with sunlight, and make the dreary passage through
the
shades of death to be full of life and hope; try him and see. We
are not
afraid to stake all upon the trial. I will cheerfully be bondsman
for my Lord
and
Master. If there can be a soul that doth sincerely trust him, that shall
not
find even in this life salvation, and in the world to come eternal joy,
then I am content to be deceived, or content to suffer the deceiver’s doom.
Beloved, if we only promised you something to be had in the
next world,
you
could not make the test at once; but that
which we hold out to you is
present salvation. It is
not some future joy merely, but present joy. Oh, if
you
trust Jesus Christ, you shall “Come and see” that sin is mastered as
well as pardoned, that the guilty conscience is pacified for ever, and that
your joy and peace can begin this side the grave. Enquirer, “Come and
see.”
Oh, pass not by; neglect not the exhibition of divine love and grace;
but
“Come,” oh, “come and see.” May the Holy Spirit bring you for his
name’s sake.
Very hurriedly let me notice the next point. I think this
invitation may be
well addressed to every beginner in the
enquirer. We ought not to be satisfied with merely being saved. As
soon as
ever we are saved, as we are the moment we believe in Christ, our next
business is to learn more of Christ. You want to know the
doctrines, dear
friends. It is well to be thoroughly established in the faith.
“Come and see:”
search the Scriptures; see what God has revealed, and be
established in his
divine truth. Every precept as well as every doctrine cries to
yell, “Come
and
see.” Every promise says, “Come and see,” do not run short of
promises. It is bad when a man is out of money; and the Christian
when he
is
without a promise in his hand, is somewhat like a person without ready
money in his purse. Study the promises. “Come and see.” As to
experience,
too,
the Lord says, “Come and see.” Do not talk of Tabor’s height, as
though you could never climb it, From the top of it there comes a
voice, “
Come and see.” Do not speak of Pisgah, as though your feet
might never
tread its consecrated summit. The voice saith,
“Come and see.” If there be
any
point of communion, or height of fellowship as yet unreached
by you,
there peals forth from its excellent glory the endearing
exhortation, “Come
and
see.” No bound is set about the mount of God; no fiery wall conceals
the
secret of the Eternal. “The Spirit of the Lord is with them that fear him;
he
will show them his covenant;” for all revelation cries with one voice,
“Come and see.”
Methinks, this is the cry of the
gospel to every sinner, “Come and see.”
Perhaps it is easier to use the eye than any other organ
except the ear. This
I know, it is more pleasing to use
the eye than the ear. You can keep a set
of
children as happy as the birds of the air, with a picture book, when they
would probably go to sleep if you were to talk to them. The eye
has the
greatest power of conferring pleasure. Whether it conveys truth to
the
heart more rapidly than the ear does, I cannot say. At any rate,
it does so
most pleasingly, and for this reason among others Christ bids us to use the
eye.
He hangs upon his cross before you, and cries, “Come and see;” and
he
adds this promise, “Look unto me, and he ye saved, all ye ends of the
earth.”
What is there to see? God made flesh. He that made the
heavens, veiling
himself in manhood. Is not this something? God came down to thee,
poor
sinner, that he might take thee up to himself. What is there to
see? There is
the
Son of God bleeding for human sin. His griefs are
such that no tongue
can
tell them, and no pen can write them; but they are not for himself, for
in
him is no sin. “Come and see,” for if you see the griefs
of Jesus, and take
them to he your trust, you shall he saved. “ Come
and see.” Do you ask
what there is to see? This same Jesus rises from the tomb. He could not
have risen if he had not been God, or if he had not completed the great
work of his people’s redemption. He ascends; the clouds receive him; up
there in heaven he stands pleading for sinners, pleading for us,
and “he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he
ever liveth to make intercession for them.” “Come and
see.” “Come and
see.”
I am often asked, “Sir, how can I get faith?” I believe
that faith comes from
Christ, and is his gift to sinners. Sit down in your
chamber to-night when
you
get home, you that want to believe, and just think over this,-God made
flesh! If you will think of that, I pray the Holy Ghost visit
you, and then the
thought will strike you: “That is wonderful! Who could have
dreamed of
it?
God suffering instead of man, that the justice of God might he fully
satisfied, and the mercy of God might have full scope!” While you are
thinking of this wonder, and picturing the wounds, and looking to
the
blood, and thinking that you almost hear the droppings of the
blood upon
the
Mount of Calvary, methinks you will, you scarce know how, find
yourself ready to sing-
“I
do believe-I will believe
That
Jesus died for me;
And
on the cross He shed His blood
From sin to set me free.”
You cannot make yourself believe. Faith is the gift of God,
and the work of
the
Holy Spirit, but it comes through hearing, and hearing is principally
blessed to the working of faith, because it gives you a sight of
Christ in
meditation, and, as some say, “seeing is believing.” Certainly such a
sight
as
hearing gives is often made the channel by which the soul believes in
Christ. “Come and see,” Oh thou wordling. Turn thine eyes
hither, and see
the
Savior die. Mayhap the spectacle will cool your hot blood, and drive
away your fever of worldliness and care. Oh! ye
giddy, careless men and
women, look hither, and see your Redeemer bleed; possibly you
may he
sobered by the sight. Oh young men and maidens, in your early
youth,
since ye may soon feel the arrows of death, look here, and make
your
immortality secure. Ye grey-headed ones who
have lost your vigor, and
spent your strength in sin, yet may the Holy Ghost bring you:
“Come and
see.”
Oh, that there is mercy yet, “Come and see.” The great sight is not
withdrawn: it is no dissolving view that melts away: it is no
burning bush
from which you are bidden to keep off by the words, “Draw not nigh
hither;” but here, over the cross, hangs the motto, and from the
mount of
“There
is life in a look at the Crucified One;
There
is life at this moment for thee.”
II. The
second text is, “COME AND DINE.” That is better; that is closer,
nearer, dearer, more substantial than “Come and see:” that may he
done at
a
distance, though “come” seems to invite us to make the distance less.
But, “Come and dine”-that implies the same table, the same
meat; ay, and
sometimes it means to sit side by side, and lean our head upon the
Savior’s
bosom. Here is nearness familiar and domestic-”Come and dine.”
Understand that while we nine sinners faith brings us into
a justified state
by
simply looking to Christ, though the soul has had no enjoyment of him;
but
after believing, faith then assists us really to enjoy Christ. I know some
of
you are wishing and expecting to enjoy Christ first, and believe him
afterwards. I would correct your error. You must take God’s mercies
in
their order and season; and you will not find “Come and dine” in
the first
chapter of John-there it is, “Come and see.” Believe Jesus first., and you
shall feed on him afterwards. Certain of you seem to me to be
content to
believe Christ, and to say, “I am safe,” without wishing to know
the
blessed enjoyment which is to be found in him. It should not he
so. You are
not
to he content with the first chapter of John; but go on to the last, and
he
not satisfied so long as there is a “yet” beyond. If you have seen Christ;
if
you have touched Christ; if you have put your finger into the print of the
nails, he not satisfied till you know the meaning of the text,
“Except a man
eat
my flesh and drink my blood, there is no life in him.” “Come and dine,”
then, implies greater enjoyment than “Come and see.” “Come and see”
gives peace, but “Come and dine” gives ecstasy, rapture-what
shall I call
it?
It gives heaven on earth, for it gives Christ. “Come amid dine” must he
experimentally understood before you can read the Book of Solomon’s
Song within profit. “Come and see” can read the evangelists; “Come and
see”
can read many of the epistles; “Come and see” may wander
delightfully through the Book of Psalms; “Come and see” may enrich
itself
with Proverbs; but the tree of life, which is in the midst of the
garden-that
is,
the Book of Canticles-is not to he eaten of except by those who have
heard the Master say, “Come and dine.” I would to God that all
the Lord’s
people were not merely delivered from the chains of sin and
washed in the
Savior’s blood, but brought into the banqueting-house,
where waves the
banner of redeeming love. There is more enjoyment, then, in the
one than
in
the other, and there is also more nearness. When I first believed in Christ
I felt a distance between myself and him, and the only
nearness that I could
get
to was to lay my hand upon his head and confess my sin; but I hope
some of us, after a few years of believing, know what it is to sit at his
feet
with Mary, to lean upon his bosom with John — ay, and to say with the
spouse, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for his
love is better
than wine.” O beloved, there is a nearness to Christ which the worldling
can
only laugh at if he should hear us talk of it. Read “Rutherford’s
Letters,” and you get glimpse of what it is to dine with Christ.
Turn to
“Hawker’s Morning and Evening Portions;” or even, if you
will, wander
amidst the quaint rhymes and sweet poetry of dear George Herbert:
there
you
have “Come and dine” carried out in sweetest poesy. Olin, to get so
close to Christ, that you can sing with a modern hymn-writer-
“So
near, so very near to God,
I
cannot nearer be;
For
in the person of His Son
I
am as near as He!
So
dear, so very dear to God,
I
cannot dearer be;
The
love wherewith He loves His Son
Such
is His love to me!”
This is a high attainment, but rest not satisfied till you
have gained it. Yet,
once more, “Come and dine” gives us a vision of union with Jesus, because
the
only meat that we can eat when we dine with Christ is himself. We do
not
provide the supper. When he dined on that occasion with his disciples,
Peter dragged a net full of fishes out of the sea; but when
they came on
shore they found a fire ready kindled, and fish laid thereon, so
that the fish
they ate did not come out of that sea by their net, at any rate. Christ
found
the
fish and lit the fire and found the bread, and then said, “Come and
dine.” Ah! and the fire that warms our heart when
we have fellowship with
him
comes from himself, and the fish that we eat is his own, and the wine
that we drink flows from his own heart. Oh, what union is this! It is a
depth
that reason cannot fathom, that we eat the flesh and drink the blood of
Christ. Here we stand and look, and look, and look, and
though the water
is
clear as crystal, like the sea of glass before the throne of God, yet to the
bottom of it angelic ken can never reach. One with Jesus- by
eternal union
one.
What does this mean, believer?
“One
when he died; one when he rose;
One
when he triumphed o’er his foes;
One
when in heaven he took his seat,
And
angels sang of Hell’s defeat.”
Canst thou comprehend it?
“This
covenant stands secure,
Though
earth’s old columns bow;
The
strong, the feeble, and the weak
Are
one in Jesus now.”
“Oh,
sacred union, firm and strong,
How
great the grace, how sweet the song,
That
worms of earth should ever he
One with incarnate Deity!”
And yet it is so; and he that has listened to the Savior’s voice,
“Come and
dine,” knows it to he so, and rejoices therein. In this also you find an
invitation to enjoy fellowship with the saints. You are not to eat
your morsel
alone but in company. We sit down in heaven with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, at
the
marriage supper of the Lamb, and no small part of the hereafter bliss is
connected
with the fellowship which exists amongst the saints in glory. So also with
our present
feasting on the fat things full of marrow which Christ spreads
before his chosen ones.
We enjoy the company as well as the feast, and find our
happiness augmented
by
the society of kindred minds. The Supper of the Lord is the table of
communion, not only with the Master, but also with all who love him
in
sincerity and truth. One of the surest ways of introducing discord
into the
midst of a Church is for the minister to starve the people.
Hungry men are
sure to be quarrelsome, and, on the contrary, to unite a flock in closest
bonds of love, let the minister say, “Come and dine;” and then put
before
them the finest of time wheat, honey out of the rock, and wine upon the
lees well refined. If you would have sweetest fellowship with each other,
live on Christ, enter into the banquetting house,
sit beneath the banner of
love, and you will find that sacred commingling of spirit with spirit which
will prove that you are one in Christ Jesus. Christians may differ on a
variety of points, they may not see eye to eye on this thing and
on that, but
they have all one spiritual appetite, and if we cannot all feel alike, we
can
all
feed alike on the bread of life sent down from heaven. Get nearer to
Christ and eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, and you
will find yourself
linked more and more in spirit to all who are like yourself,
supported by the
same heavenly manna. We do not expect to see all Christians agreeing, but
we
are sure that one of the most likely plans for cultivating a brotherly
spirit is to listen to Christ’s words, “Come and dine.”
We see in these words the source of strength for every
Christian. To look
at
Christ is to live, but for strength to serve him you must come and dine.
When our Lord had raised the daughter of Jairus, he commanded them to
give her meat so that she might be strengthened; and so he says to all of
us,
“Come and dine.” We as need much food for the soul as for
the body, and
unless we eat we shall be fainting by the way. Are there not many
Christians who allow themselves to suffer a great deal of
unnecessary
weakness on account of neglecting this precept of the Master? I
hold that
we
are bound to lift up the feeble knees and drooping hands, and in order
to
do this, we must live by faith on time Son of God, and listen to his voice
as
he says, “Eat., oh my friends, yea, drink oh my beloved.” If you want to
be
as Mr. Feeblemind, I can give you the receipt. Take
only a small
modicum of spiritual food morning and night in your closets;
neglect family
prayer; never attend a prayer. meeting;
on no account speak about religious
matters during time week, go late to the house of God, and fall
asleep
when you get there; as soon as you leave the place of worship talk about
the
weather. Confine yourself to these rules for a few weeks, and you will
very soon he reduced low enough to allow Satan to attack you with every
chance of giving you a severe and dangerous fall. Doctors tell us
that nowa-
days the classes of disease most prevalent are those which indicate a low
condition of the vital forces; and I think that we are suffering in
the Church
from the same sort of maladies. You never hear of any one who is too
zealous, too rash in venturing himself for Christ. There was a
time when
the
Church had to censure her young converts because they courted
persecution and invited martyrdom, now we need to stir up the Church
and
to
urge on our people to more self-sacrifice for the cause of Christ. You
need never fear that any one will kill himself with over work; we must
rather lament that there seems so little exuberance of spirit and
vital force
amongst Christians. We none of us need to put ourselves on low
diet; on
the
contrary, we ought to accumulate strength and urge every power to its
full dimension in the Master’s service. For this purpose, “Come and dine.”
All your strength depends upon union with Christ. Away from
him you
must wither as a branch severed from the vine. Feeding on him, you will be
like the branch which is drinking up the sap from the parent stem; you will
he
strong enough to bring forth fruit, and fill your post among the other
members of the one great band of Christians.
We can see, moreover, in these words, the foundation of the
Christian’s
growth and progress in spiritual things. To see Christ is to
begin the
Christian’s life, but to grow in grace we must “Come and
dine.” The early
history of the first disciples is by no means satisfactory. They
were
evidently only babes in spiritual things. How little they seemed to
comprehend the Savior’s mission; he likes to say, “Have I been so
long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me Philip?” They
misunderstood the nature of his kingdom, and were continually displaying
a
carnal and selfish spirit. It is evident that the early dawn of
spiritual life is
all
they had then received. They had seen Jesus, they loved him and
followed him even unto trial and disgrace, but yet they were far
from
possessing the spirit of Christ. Now after they had reached this
stage of
living on Christ they became new men. It is no longer more sight,
but an
inward appropriation of Christ Jesus by faith, and the
consequences are
manifest; they are seen developing themselves under the blessed
outpouring of the Holy Ghost into workmen that needed not to he
ashamed. They endured hardness as good soldiers of the cross. They
fought a good fight, and they finished their course with joy. A
higher order
of
life is clearly theirs. they have risen in the scale
of spiritual existence. A
clearer light shines around them, and they have manifestly grown
in grace,
and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Beloved, we
long for your edification, we covet for you the best gifts, and therefore we
say,
“Come and dine.” Many Christians remain stunted and dwarfed in
spiritual things, so as to present the same appearance year after
year. No
upspringing of thought and feeling is manifest in them They exist but
do
not
grow. The reason is evident, they are not taking of Christ, and they
neglect to appropriate to themselves the blessing which he is
waiting to
bestow. Why should you rest content with being in the tender
green blade,
when you can go on and reach the ear and eventually the full corn in the
ear?
I would that all God’s servants were more in earnest to develope
that
good thing which has been implanted in them by the Holy Ghost. It is all
very well to keep other men’s vineyards, but you must not neglect your
own.
Why should it ever he winter time in our hearts. We must have our
seed time, it is true, but oh for a spring time-yea, a summer season, which
shall give promise of an early harvest. Now, if you would ripen
in grace
you
must live near Christ-in his presence-basking in the sunshine of his
smiles. You must hold sweet communion with him. You must leave
the
distant view of his face and come near, as did John, and pillow
your head
on
his breast. Then you will find yourself advancing in holiness, in love, in
faith, in hope-yea, in every godly gift. What a joy it is to see
men daily
living on Christ.
You may watch them grow as you have watched the flowers and
trees in
the
gardens expanding under the genial showers and sunshine of the last
few
weeks. It robs a deathbed of its terrors to see the aged Christian
rapidly preparing for glory, but I would rather the man grew
before he was
about to he taken from us, so that we might be the better for
his expanded.
graces, and enjoy his beauty of holiness a few years here on
earth. We do
not
grudge the saints in glory anything, but it would be a mercy to us if
Christians would try and get as much of perfection and
maturity as possible
a
few years sooner, so as to gladden our eyes with some bright blossoms,
as
well as the sombre green blades. It is all very well
the fresh verdure in
early spring, but I like also the russet hues of autumn, and the
rich clusters
of
the vintage, with the songs of the reaper and the shout of “harvest
home.” The golden grain is a goodly and pleasant thing to see, as the field
waves in the autumn breeze. So, also, I like to mark maturity in
Christ’s
fields, as well as in the earthly ones. It is a glorious sight,
an experienced
saint; a man who has been much with Jesus, and learned of him;
who has
caught the Master’s spirit, and reflects it brightly to all
around.
As the sun rises first on mountain-tops and gilds them with
his light, and
presents one of the most charming sights to the eye of the
traveler, so is it
one
of the most delightful contemplations in the world to mark the glow of
the
Spirit’s light on time head of some saint, who has risen up in spiritual
stature, like Saul, above his fellows, till, like some mighty alp,
snowcapped,
he
reflects first of all the beams of the Sun of righteousness, and
bears the sheen of his effulgence high aloft for all to see, and
seeing it, to
glorify his father which is in heaven. That you may thus grow in
grace,
listen to the Master’s voice-”Come and dine.”
We notice one more thought, and then must conclude.
Here is preparation for service. “Come and dine,” says the
Master; but
before time feast is concluded, he says to Peter, “Feed my
lambs;” and
again, “Feed my sheep;” further adding, “ Follow me.” All time
strength
supplied by Christ is for service, and for use in his vineyard.
When the
prophet Elijah found the cake baked on the coals, and the cruise
of water
placed at his head, as he lay under the juniper tree, he had a
commission to
go
forty days and forty nights in the strength of it, journeying towards
Home, the mount of God. So also with us; we eat so as to be able to
expend our strength in the Master’s service. We come to the passover, and
eat
of our paschal lamb with loins girt, and with our staff in our hand, so as
to
start off at once when we have satisfied our spirits. Some Christians are
for
living on Christ, but are not so anxious to live for Christ. Now I rejoice
to
know that I can spend and be spent for the Lord, and I find in that labor
for
Christ that “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” I never feel so
like to the Master as when I go about trying to do good. Heaven is the
place where saints feast most and work most. They sit down at
the table of
our
Lord, and they serve him day and night in his temple. They eat of
heavenly food and render perfect service. Now, earth should be a
preparation for heaven; come and dine, and then go and labor. Freely
ye
receive, freely give; gather up all the fragments of your feast,
and go and
canny it to Lazarus at the gate; yea, rather carry the loaves
and fishes to
others, as did the disciples, when the Lord had multiplied their
little store,
to
satisfy the thousands who were famishing for want of food. We have yet
to
learn more concerning the design of our Lord in giving us his grace. We
are
not to hold the precious grains of truth like a mummy does the wheat,
for
ages, without giving it a chance of growing. No, feed yourself, and then
go
forth and bid others come and eat and drink; go out into the highways
and
hedges, and compel them to come in, that there may he many more
rejoicing with you in the light and life of Christ. Why does the
Lord send
down the rain upon the thirsty earth, and give the sunshine and the genial
refreshing breeze? Is it not that these may all help the fruits of
the earth to
yield food for man and beast? Even so the Lord calls us in to
enjoyment
and
feasting, that we may afterwards go out to labor and service. My dear
hearers, I ever seek to see you fruitful in all good works, to do
his will who
provides for us all things richly to enjoy. You are aware that
herein is our
Father glorified; if we bring forth much fruit, so shall we
he his disciples.
Eat, then; spare not; you are welcome to as much as you can
consume, but
when you have eaten the fat, and drunk of the sweet, go and tell of it to
sinners round, that the starving may come and find “wine and milk,
without
money and without price.” You are to preach the gospel to every
creature
proclaim the good news of water from the rock Christ Jesus, which
flows
in
the midst of the world’s wilderness, so that all may drink and live. Tell
of
the finest of the wheat on which you have feasted. Bid the prodigal leave
the
husks which the swine do eat and return to the father’s house, there to
eat
of the fatted calf, and feast at the parental board. Tell them there is
room in the Savior’s heart, and never cease till you can no longer speak,
proclaiming his matchless love and power, and his willingness to say
to all,
“Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I
will give you
rest.” “Come and dine.”
I send you away, however, wishing to make the first part of
the sermon the
more telling to most of you-” Come and see.” You are black, but blackness
does not blind the eye. Your righteousness is nothing better than filthy
rags, but the most ragged beggar may look. Our queer old proverb says,
“A cat may look at a king,” and the blackest sinner out of
hell may look at
Christ and though he had sin well nigh as devilish as that
of Lucifer, yet,
looking to Christ, all manner of sin and of iniquity shall be
forgiven him.
Look, sinner-look! May the Holy Spirit now open that eye of
thine, and
turn it to the Savior’s cross, and make thee live! May the best of heaven’s
blessings be yours to-night and in eternity! Amen and Amen
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