The Spurgeon Series 1857 & 1858. Charles H. Spurgeon

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СКАЧАТЬ light, still may he trust in the Lord, and rest upon his God; — but to be certain at all times that we love the Lord is quite another matter; about this we have need continually to question ourselves, and most scrupulously to examine both the nature and the extent of our evidences.

      11. II. And now I come to the second thing, which is A DISCREET ANSWER. “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” Simon gave a very good answer. Jesus asked him, in the first place, whether he loved him better than others. Simon would not say that: he had once been a little proud — more than a little — and thought he was better than the other disciples. But this time he evaded that question; he would not say that he loved better than others. And I am sure there is no loving heart that will think it loves even better than the least of God’s children. I believe the higher a man is in grace, the lower he will be in his own esteem; and he will be the last person to claim any supremacy over others in the divine grace of love to Jesus. But notice how Simon Peter answered: he did not answer as to the quantity but according to the quality of his love. He would affirm that he loved Christ, but not that he loved Christ better than others. “Lord, I cannot say how much I love you; but you know all things; you know that I do love you. As far I can affirm: as to the quantity of my love, I cannot say much about it.”

      12. But just notice, again, the discreet manner in which Peter answered. Some of us, if we had been asked that question, would have answered foolishly. We would have said, “Lord, I have preached for you so many times this week; Lord, I have distributed of my substance to the poor this week. Blessed be your name, you have given me grace to walk humbly, faithfully, and honestly; and therefore, Lord, I think I can say, ‘I love you.’ ” We would have brought forward our good works before our Master, as being the evidences of our love; we would have said, “Lord, you have seen me during this week; as Nehemiah did of old. Do not forget my good works. Oh Lord, I thank you; I know they are your gifts, but I think they are proofs of my love.” That would have been a very good answer if we had been questioned by our fellow man, and he had said, “You do not always love your Saviour”; but it would be foolish for us to tell the Master that. Peter’s answer was wise; “Lord, you know that I love you.” You know the Master might have said to Peter, had he appealed to his works, “Yes, you may preach, and yet not love me; you may pray, after a fashion, and yet not love me; you may do all these works, and yet have no love for me. I did not ask you what are the evidences of your love, I asked you the fact of it.” Very likely all my dear friends here would not have answered in the fashion I have supposed; but they would have said, “Love you Lord? Why, my heart is all on fire towards you; I feel as if I could go to prison and to death for you! Sometimes, when I think of you, my heart is ravished with bliss; and when you are absent, oh Lord, I moan and cry like a dove that has lost its mate. Yes, I feel I love you, oh my Christ.” But that would have been very foolish, because although we may often rejoice in our own feelings — they are joyful things — it would not do to plead them with our Lord, for he might answer, “Ah! you feel joyful at the mention of my name. So, no doubt, has many a deluded one, because he had a fictitious faith, and a fancied hope in Christ; therefore the name of Christ seemed to gladden him. You says, ‘I have felt dull when you have been absent.’ That might have been accounted for from natural circumstances; you had a headache, perhaps, or some other ailment. ‘But,’ you say, ‘I felt so happy when he was present that I thought I could die.’ ” Ah! in such a manner Peter had spoken many a time before; but a sorry mess he made of it when he trusted his feelings; for he would have sunk into the sea except for Christ; and eternally damned his soul, if it had not been for his grace, when, with cursing and swearing he thrice denied his Lord. But no, Peter was wise; he did not bring forward his thoughts and feelings, nor did he bring his evidences: though they were good in themselves, he did not bring them before Christ. But, as though he shall say, “Lord, I appeal to your omnipotence. I am not going to tell you that the volume of my heart must contain such-and-such matter, because there is such-and-such a mark on its cover; for, Lord, you can read inside of it; and, therefore I need not tell you what the title is, nor read over to you the index of the content; Lord, you know that I love you.”

      13. Now, could we, this morning, dear friends, give such an answer as that to the question? If Christ should come here, if he were now to walk down these aisles, and along the pews, could we appeal to his own divine Omniscience, his infallible knowledge of our hearts, that we all love him? There is a test point between a hypocrite and a real Christian. If you are a hypocrite, you might say, “Lord, my minister knows that I love you; Lord, the deacons know that I love you; they think I do, for they have given me a ticket; the members think I love you; for they see me sitting at your table; my friends think I love you, for they often hear me talk about you.” But you could not say, “Lord, you know that I love you”; your own heart is witness that your secret works betray your confession, for you are without prayer in secret; and you can preach a twenty minutes’ prayer in public. You are niggardly and parsimonious in giving to the cause of Christ; but you can sport your name to be seen. You are an angry, petulant creature; but when you come to the house of God, you have a pious whine, and talk like a fanatically religious hypocrite, as if you were a very gentlemanly man, and never seemed angry. You can take your Maker’s name in vain; but if you hear another do it you would be very hard on him. You pretend to be very pious, and yet if men knew of that widow’s house that is sticking in your throat, and of that orphan’s patrimony which you have taken from him, you would stop trumpeting your good deeds. Your own heart tells you that you are a liar before God. But you, oh sincere Christian, you can welcome your Lord’s question, and answer it with holy fear and gracious confidence. Yes, you may welcome the question. Such a question was never put to Judas. The Lord loved Peter so much that he was jealous over him, or he never would have thus challenged his affection. And in this way he often appeals to the affections of those whom he dearly loves. The response likewise is recorded for you, “Lord, you know all things.” Can you not look up, though scorned by men, though even rejected by your minister, though kept back by the deacons, and looked down upon by some — can you not look up, and say, “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you?” Do not do it in brag and bravado; but if you can do it sincerely, be happy, bless God that he has given you a sincere love for the Saviour, and ask him to increase it from a spark to a flame, and from a grain to a mountain. “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

      14. III. And now here is a DEMONSTRATION REQUIRED — “Feed my lambs: feed my sheep.” That was Peter’s demonstration. It is not necessary that it should be our way of showing our love. There are different ways for different disciples. There are some who are not qualified to feed lambs, for they are only little lambs themselves. There are some that could not feed sheep, for they cannot at present see afar off; they are weak in the faith, and not qualified to teach at all. They have other means, however, of showing their love to the Saviour. Let us offer a few words upon this matter.

      15. “Do you love me?” Then one of the best evidences you can give is to feed my lambs. Have I two or three little children that love and fear my name? If you want to do a deed, which shall show that you are a true lover, and not a proud pretender; go and feed them. Are there a few little ones whom I have purchased with my blood in an infant class? Do you want to do something which shall be evidence that you are indeed mine? Then sit not down with the elders, dispute not in the temple; I did that myself; but go, and sit down with the young orphans, and teach them the way to the kingdom. “Feed my lambs.” Dearly beloved, I have been of late perplexing myself with one thought: that our church government is not scriptural. It is scriptural as far as it goes; but it is not according to the whole of Scripture; neither do we practise many excellent things that ought to be practised in our churches. We have received into our midst a large number of young people; in the ancient churches there was what was called the catechism class — I believe there ought to be such a class now. The Sunday School, I believe, is in the Scripture; and I think there ought to be on the Sunday afternoon, a class of the young people of this church, who are members already, to be taught by some of the older members. Nowadays, when we get the lambs, we just turn them adrift in the meadow, and there we leave them. There are more than a hundred young people in this church СКАЧАТЬ