01.02. AFFECTION FOR CHRIST
AFFECTION FOR CHRIST Its Awakening, Decline, and Revival 2 Corinthians 11:1-3 From ’The Paths of Life, and other Addresses’
Ministry by C. A. Coates, 19: 84-100 Affection for Christ: Its Awakening The subject which is before me tonight is that of affection for Christ, or the state of heart which the Spirit is here to produce in the saints, o and by which they answer to the present thoughts of Christ.
* I am afraid that when we speak of being here for Christ it is often the thought of our service or conduct that is prominent, o and therefore it is well to be reminded that there is something over which Christ is more jealous than He is over our conduct or our service.
* It is that "garden enclosed", that "spring shut up", that "fountain sealed", from which all others but Himself are excluded – the hidden spring of o those affections which alone satisfy His heart, or render conduct and service acceptable to Him. This is very strikingly expressed in the words which we have just read, where we see the object of the true evangelist.
* He is a man bent upon a present result for Christ.
* He is not anxious to have a number of converts whom he can count as his own; he is not thinking of himself, but of His Master; o he is wanting those whom he can present "as a chaste virgin to Christ".
* It is not that he loses sight of the eternal result, but the immediate object on which his heart is set, and for which he longs with intense fervency, is o a present result in a people whose affections are altogether for Christ.
* "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ". This is the great object before the heart of God at the present time – to have a people saved not only from judgment and the lake of fire, but from the world; o saved not only for heaven by-and-by, but for the heart of Christ now.
* The work of Christ on the cross has settled every question that sin raised between God and our souls, and the future is bright with the glory of God into which we shall be brought according to all the value of that work.
* But there is another thing, and that is the interval between the cross and the glory – an interval o marked so far as this world is concerned, by the dishonour and rejection of Christ.
* Satan cannot touch the value of the work of the cross, nor can he mar the perfection of the eternal glory, but the whole force of his power is put forth to hinder a present result for Christ.
* On the other hand, all the energy of the Holy Spirit is active to produce a present result for Christ.
* Every believer is looking to be to the satisfaction and joy of Christ in the eternal future; and surely none of us would like to say that we did not care whether we were to His satisfaction now or not, and yet, alas! practically it very often comes to this.
I think a verse from Jeremiah 2:1-37 may help us to see in an Old Testament type when the soul may be looked upon as espoused unto Christ. o "Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase".
* I have no doubt that these words refer to the time when the children of Israel were brought through the Red Sea.
* They were brought into the joy of complete deliverance from the power of the oppressor and from the land of judgement.
* Jehovah Himself became everything to them – their strength, their song, and their salvation; His victory and glory, and his thoughts and purposes, filled their hearts. o They were absorbed with Himself.
* Read the song, Exodus 15:1-27. It as all "Thou," "Thy," "Thee," "Thine"; if they speak of themselves it is as "Thy people". It was a wonderful moment.
* You may say that it did not last long. That is true; but think of the wonderful blessedness of it while it did last.
* It was what Jehovah could remember and speak of more than 800 years afterwards as "the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals".
Such a moment as that has come in the history of every soul who knows the salvation of God.
* Perhaps it was some time after you were converted; you may have been under the shelter of the blood for years before you came to it; o but there is a moment – never to be forgotten – when Christ risen comes before the soul, and the greatness of His victory, o and the share we have in it, and the wonderful purposes of God for us – all secured by that victory – take possession of the heart.
* We are brought to One who has been raised again for our justification, and through Him we find ourselves clear of the judgement land and the oppressor’s power.
* There is no sense of need in the soul that is in presence of Christ risen; there is a sense of boundless favour, o for the soul is conscious – though it might not know how to explain it – that we share in the victory as belonging to the One who has won it. o Through Him we have access into favour.
* But the soul who has come to this is not thinking so much of the favour or blessing as a thing in itself, o but as that which we have in connection with Him, and as belonging to Him.
* If I belong to Him, the more wonderful His victory and position, the more wonderful mine is but I think of it all as His.
* I do not think that we rightly get a sense of belonging to Him until we come to him as the risen One, but I believe o every heart that knows Him as risen from the dead has the consciousness, "I belong to Him".
* I believe Thomas had it when he said, "My Lord and My God".
* I am not speaking of knowing truths or doctrines at all, but of a consciousness in the soul that has really reached Christ risen. o I believe that to be the moment of the soul’s espousal unto Christ.
* There may be much to learn, but there is great affection for Christ.
* All the wealth and wisdom of Egypt would not have tempted back at that moment those who sang the song. "Israel was holiness unto Jehovah". No doubt there are many believers who have not reached a risen Christ simply because they have not had a Paul to "espouse" them to that "one Husband".
* They have not heard of His glorious victory, or of His new place as the risen One; they are struggling on in Egypt’s darkness and bondage; their lives are being wasted in worldly thoughts and upon worldly things, o and in may cases they do not know but that they are doing God’s service – going in for politics and temperance and so on – o trying to make Egypt better, instead of seeing that the whole scene is under the enemy’s power and the judgment of God.
* If believers knew that the whole system of the world was under the leadership of Satan and the judgement of God, they would he heartily glad to be clear of it all.
* But how few there are to proclaim that the world is a judged thing before God, and that o Christ and all the blessings of Christianity can only be found on the platform of resurrection.
* How few there are in christendom to-day who are really seeking to bring souls to a risen Christ – o to espouse them to one Husband that they may be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ.
I trust that many of you understand the blessedness of a moment when Christ is really known by the heart, outside everything here, in the infinite greatness of His won triumph, o and you are conscious that you share in it all because you belong to Him.
* I venture to say that at such a moment the offer of £1000 a year would have very little power to attract your heart.
* You had found a Person outside everything here, who was infinitely more to your heart than all the things of earth.
* You had stepped on to the shore of a new world, and found yourself supremely happy there, and the old world was totally eclipsed and superseded. o It was the kindness of your youth, and the love of your espousals.
* There was One whom, not having seen, you loved, and in whom, though you saw Him not, yet believing, you rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
* The vain things that had charmed you were forgotten, or only remembered with shame, o and you gladly accepted a part in the rejection of Christ here, because of the satisfaction you had found in Him on the other side.
* I trust many of you have known the reality of such a moment in your history.
* Now that is the true beginning of a Christian, and the Spirit of God is jealous over us that these affections should be maintained in freshness and fervency in our souls.
* It is thus – and only thus – that Christ has His true satisfaction in us, for if the day of espousal yields deep and holy joy to us, o it yields a deeper and a fuller joy to Him whose matchless love has drawn forth the responsive affection of our hearts.
* It is "the day of his espousals, the day of the gladness of his heart," Song of Solomon 3:11.