A Sermon by Rev. John Colquhoun, Glendale, Skye

(Continued from Page 102.)

II.—I now come to notice a little concerning the One sought after.

1. The One sought after, in our text, can be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the glorious and ever adorable Trinity, and the only Saviour to whom sinners can look. The condition of the seeker and the work which the Holy Spirit did in the soul, in planting love there, points in the direction of a Saviour who is above all; One of whom it is true that none in heaven or on earth can be compared to Him. “For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?” He is the Creator of all things, for He is the Word who was with God in the beginning, who is God, by whom all things were made, “and without Him was not anything made that was made.”

2. He has infinite treasures to bestow upon His bride, the Church. The bride needs to be sustained in temporal things. All the Lord’s people are “of like passions” with the rest of Adam’s race. They need, while in this life, food, clothing, and shelter, and He whom their soul loves is able, out of His treasures, to provide them with these necessaries, for He has no lack. “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” Their bread and their water is made sure for them. The Psalmist saw this so amply fulfilled that he said, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

There are the infinite treasures of His grace, and that aspect of His treasures is, by the Apostle, closely connected with His humiliation and death. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be made rich.” They are richly supplied out of the treasures of His grace in their afflictions, temptations, doubts and fears, for when they are sorely pressed, He assures them, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Out of these treasures they are supplied, not only with grace to bear trials, but with grace to perform duties which they could not perform in their own strength, yea, which would be a great sin on their part to attempt to perform them in their own strength. In short, He gives grace to live and grace to die also.

As His treasures are inexhaustible they are not only to be drawn out of in this world, but they are also for eternity, for the Psalmist says, “The Lord will give grace and glory.” We read of the white-robed throng who are before the Throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple, that, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” After millions of years of this experience, calculating after the manner of men, these treasures will be as full as when Abel began to draw out of them.

1. He is spoken of as the “Beloved,” and in this respect, He is, first of all, the beloved of the Father. He Himself reveals this with respect to the eternal ages before this universe was created, for He says, “And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him” (Prov. viii. 30). The Eternal Father gave ample proof of this love in entrusting to Him the work by which God was to be glorified in the salvation of sinners. No one was qualified to do this great work but He who was eternally the Father’s delight, and, as if to give a proof of this which would appeal to the senses of sinners, He, in infinite love to His Son, and, in infinite condescension to sinners, twice testified by an audible voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

He is the beloved of angels. We read of Him that He “is gone up into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being subject unto him” (I. Peter iii, 22). With respect to the angels, the Eternal Father, in bringing His first begotten into the world, gave the command, “And let all the angels of God worship him” (Heb. i. 6). The worship and service of the angels is rendered to Him in love. Their very nature, as holy angels, and the clear view which they have of the transcendent glory of His Person, and the exalted dignity which belongs to Him as God over all, blessed for ever, causes them to give their service and worship in love, realising the high honour which is put on them in being called to worship and to serve Him. He is the beloved of the saints in heaven. They feel that they are, in a particular manner, called upon to love Him. They know what they were as sinners, who had been slaves of Satan, hateful and hating one another, polluted by sin, and so low that nothing short of infinite love and infinite power could help them. The remembrance of that condition and what was done to them, causes the love of God which is shed abroad in all the faculties of their souls to break forth in a song of adoration. “Blessing and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” This is part of the new song of love which they will be singing and of which they will never grow tired.

Further, He is the beloved of the saints on earth. They have many imperfections and many blemishes which are a source of grief to themselves. Each of them sees others far ahead of themselves, and, while desiring to go nowhere but to Christ, they are amazed at the manifestations of His favour to them. Under these circumstances they are ready to adopt the language of Ruth the Moabitess to Boaz: “Let me find favour in thy sight my lord; for thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thy handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thy handmaidens” (Ruth ii. 13). Uncomely, as they find themselves to be, yet they are a people who have a hope, and that hope is entertained through the revelation that has been given them of Christ as a risen Saviour. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (I. Peter i. 3, 4).

1. The One whom the living soul seeks is the Redeemer. O friends, what sweetness is in the word “Redeemer.” Those who desire after Him realised that they had been in the prison house of God’s Justice, and utterly unable to help themselves. They were bankrupts in a spiritual sense, altogether unable to meet with their liabilities. The thought “How could God continue to be a just God and set free such as I am?” bound the sinner down as with fetters of brass and iron. Inflexible Justice demanding the last farthing; the Law, in its holiness, cursing the sinner with a curse which, for all that the sinner could do, was to be eternal. In the light of this the awakened sinner could see nothing but hell yawning for its prey, until the Holy Spirit revealed Christ in His Priestly office, offering up a Sacrifice which atoned for sin, satisfied the demands of Justice, and magnified the Law and made it honourable, redeeming them that were under the Law, that they might receive the adoption of sons, but, at what a price. ‘Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot’ (I. Peter i. 18, 19).

2. This Person, so desired by the living soul, is also brought before us under the character of a Mediator, and the Apostle tells us that “a mediator is not a mediator of one.” He is the Mediator between God and man and the “daysman” who is able to put His hand upon us both. God, as an absolute God, is a “consuming fire” and none with unclean hands and impure heart can approach Him. The children of Israel, at the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, realised their need of a mediator between this holy God and themselves when they approached Moses, saying, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exod. xx. 19). The Lord has in infinite condescension appointed as a Mediator for us, not a creature who would have to say with Moses, “I exceedingly fear and quake,” but His only begotten Son who alone can approach Him on behalf of sinners.

3. This Beloved, whom the gracious soul seeks, is the sinner’s friend. In the days of His flesh His enemies thought of Him as “the friend of publicans and sinners,” but, though this was spoken and thought in enmity, yet it is a glorious truth. It is sinners whom He came to seek and to save; it is sinners, saved by grace, who follow Him in this world through good report and through evil report, and it is sinners, called, justified, and sanctified who will sup with Him throughout eternity in His kingdom. As their Friend He has promised that He will never leave them nor forsake them. In all their wanderings His presence shall go with them, and when they come to the dark valley of the shadow of death, they shall fear no evil, for He shall be with them and His rod and staff shall comfort them, and He shall be before them on the other side of the bridgeless river to welcome them. Truly He is the Friend that sticketh closer than any brother.

4. Standing in these gracious relationships to them is it surprising that there is none whom they can compare to Him? It is through Him that they worship God, and in His name all their prayers are presented; it is by believing in Him that they have life through His Name; it is through Him that they have peace with God; God’s gift of eternal life is through Jesus Christ; God’s kindness is shown to us through Jesus Christ; it is through the veil of His flesh that we have boldness to enter into the holiest, “by a new and a living way, which he hath consecrated for us”; in short, it is “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

III.—The third thing which we were to consider is, Where can this Person be found?

1. He can never be found on the bed of sloth. The Church in verse 1 says, “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth; I sought him but I found him not.” She had a bitter experience of the Lord’s absence, and the Lord’s people know that when their Beloved withdraws Himself the fault is with themselves. How often have they to complain of the poor entertainment they give Him, and when He is willing to give them His fellowship, they put Him away with such trifling excuses as “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” (Song v. 3). They profess that Christ is their Beloved but their love of carnal ease will not allow them to forego their comforts, even the smallest of them, in order to give Him the entertainment which rightly belongs to Him. Part of the lesson which a gracious soul must learn is that Christ will not give His fellowship under such conditions.

2. Christ is not found “in the city, in the streets, and in the broad ways,” or in other words, He is not to be found among the world which may have a profession of religion. Very often a true child of God will experience a disappointment in this connection, especially when men of the world, who make a profession of religion, are orderly in their walk and conversation. It is when one begins to seek Christ among them that one learns that their ways and thoughts are broader than the Word of God allows. They know not the way of true peace, and their aim is not the glory of God, but their own glory. They worship and serve “the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.”

3. The Church, in her extremity, approached “the watchmen that go about the city,” and we can understand from verse 4 that she was disappointed there also. While there are many watchmen who go about under that name, and who are in reality dumb dogs that cannot bark, those in the context may have been real watchmen who had a concern for souls. Very often there is a real danger of the services of such watchmen being lost even on gracious souls, as, for instance, when a soul is being fed and nursed by a gospel minister, and that soul begins to look more than he should to the minister. In such cases the servant has become so great in the eyes of the soul that he is not able to see beyond him to the Master. God’s people should be on their guard in such cases for fear that they might spoil the usefulness of a true minister of the Gospel as far as feeding their own souls is concerned.

4. “It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth” (v. 4). The enquiring soul finds Christ in His Word. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are full of Christ. Early in the history of mankind, after the Fall of man, we meet with Him in His Word as “the Seed of the woman,” who was to bruise the head of the serpent, and, throughout the Scriptures to the end of Revelation, He is presented to our view, yet we see Him not until He is pleased to reveal Himself, but when He does reveal Himself, He brings light and warmth and liberty and life so that “then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” He speaks in that word to the case of one mourning an absent Lord, and says, “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God.” He calms the stormy sea upon which such a one may be embarked, and says, “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.”

5. He is found in the public and private means of grace. Those that seek Christ are a people who are not strangers to the private means of grace. They pray and search God’s Word in secret, and often in connection with these exercises have to confess that they had joy “as one that findeth great spoil.” He at times does come very near to His own in secret duties, and draws them near to Him so that they have to say, “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.” When such come to the public means their hearts are attuned to receive Christ for they come there with the desire of the Psalmist, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” They also meet with Him in the Sacraments. In the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper they partake of the symbols of His broken body and shed blood, and, on many an occasion, some weary child of God, conscious of how they caused their Lord to hide His face from them, came to His Table, over the belly of all their difficulties, looking alone to Him as their only hope, and found that He had not forsaken them utterly, but that “the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.”

6. He is to be found also where they least look for Him and where they least expect to find Him, even in their own hearts. What, a child of God may say, can Christ be found behind the filthy dunghill that is in my heart? Yes, child of God, there is a new heart, the creation of the Holy Spirit, behind that desperately wicked heart which is such a source of trouble to you. True, it is not easily discerned because it will take you more than all your time to keep an eye on the wicked old heart, but, nevertheless, did the enquiry, “Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? proceed from the old heart or from the new?” Verily, it did not come from the old, because, being desperately wicked, it hates Christ and holiness, and would put Christ out of existence if it could. It must therefore come from the new heart, and, therefore, that enquiry is so much of Christ in your soul. There is an admission there of love to Christ and of a desire after Him, and none will perish who have that desire. “The humble shall see this, and be glad; and your heart shall live that seek God.”