Christ's Estimate of His People

Spurgeon takes Christ's words to his bride in Song of Solomon 4:10-11 as a genuine expression of how Jesus actually estimates his people — their love is to him better than wine (a luxury and a refreshment), their graces smell sweeter than all spices, their words drop like honeycomb, the thoughts they never quite manage to speak lie under their tongue like honey and milk, and their daily actions smell to him like the cedars of Lebanon — and he argues this is not flattery but Christ's sincere valuation, which he set so high that even during his agony on the cross it was the thought of his people's love that cheered him. He is at pains to show that Christ does not estimate these things by their strength but by their sincerity, so the believer's feeble prayers, cold faith, stumbling words, and humble daily work are all precious to him — and he delights especially in the thought that even unspoken groans, unformed meditations, and the things too good to quite come out in words, are all observed and treasured. He closes with a practical application: since Christ so values the common actions of servants, tradespeople, and shopkeepers done honestly and conscientiously as much as sermons preached from pulpits, every believer can serve him all day long in any calling — and rather than producing pride, this knowledge of Christ's approval should overwhelm the soul with humility and drive it to love him more, pray more richly, and live more holily in grateful response.Sermon delivered by Charles Spurgeon on January 23rd, 1859.