The Scripture says, By night
on my bed I sought Him, whom my soul loveth. I sought Him,
but I found Him not. The title of the message is,
Christ sought, found, and hailed. Sought, found, and hailed. There
has been a notable change here in the circumstances of the bride. that went before in this Song
of Solomon. In the previous chapter, the
bride enjoys the sweet presence and fellowship with the bridegroom. She clearly hears His voice.
She hears Him leap. She sees Him leaping over mountains
and hills and showing Himself in His tender love and His watchful
eye through the lattice. Look at this in verse 8 of the
previous chapter. Listen, she said, "...the voice
of my Beloved. Behold, He cometh leaping on
the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My Beloved is like
a roe or a young heart, Behold, he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. I'm going to take this time,
I know that you know this, but in case someone who's listening
doesn't, this book is a picture of Christ and His church. I engaged
in listening this morning. I don't often do listening to
someone on the radio and he began in Song of Solomon. So it piqued
my interest and I began to listen. He spoke nothing of Christ and
his church. He saw this clearly as a book
of carnal lust and sensuality and nothing else. And if that's
all you see in this book, you'll get nothing out of it. But this
is truly a picture of Jesus Christ, who is the Bridegroom, and His
church, His elect, which is the Bride, the Shulamite. And so
when the Bride here says, I heard His voice, she's speaking of
the voice of Christ. She hears His voice clearly.
She sees Him leaping over the mountains of her troubles. Isn't
that how He appears to us when He's near? When He's near to
our hearts, our troubles, our sins, He leaps over them and
comes to us. This picture of the sweetest
times of refreshing and joy of every believer in Christ, as
when they are able to feel His presence. There's nothing greater
in this world, there's nothing more thrilling to my soul, more
enlightening and more joyful than the presence of Jesus Christ. When I can feel Him so near,
as though I could reach out and touch Him, as though I hear His
voice, Speaking to my heart. There's no greater time in this
world than to be in the presence of Jesus Christ not for the believer
There's no greater joy for the Saints than to hear the Savior's
voice speak to our hearts His word when it comes in says to
us as he tells him in verse Verse 10. He said my beloved spake
and he said to me rise up my love My fair one, and come away,
for, lo, the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone. What is this but the loving call
that testifies of His great and infinite love for us, and that
He has made Christ all our righteousness before God? We see we were like
the Shulamite by nature. We were black. We were black,
full of foul stench of sin. But He has by His faithfulness
and obedience to God provided for us a righteousness, even
the righteousness of God. Behold that Christ has honored
the law, established righteousness for us, And now He has removed the rags
of our sin and clothed us in it. Wrapped us up in His righteousness. Behold, the winter is past. The rain is gone. giving you
my righteousness. And there's nothing like that
when that is made real to us. When that is made real to the
believer's heart, we are thrilled. Thrilled to know we are made
righteous. The winter's past, the rain is
gone, the cold justice of God that once seemed to pursue us
has now been lifted. The thunder of God's justice
and wrath against our sins is forever past because Jesus Christ
himself in love for us bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And upon that rugged cross, our
Savior's blood poured out for our sins. He suffered the just
for the unjust that he might bring us to God. And His blood
has forever, forever, forever removed all, all, all of our
sins. And there is nothing more precious
when that flood of that comes into the soul of the believer
and we realize it. It's not that we just hear it.
It's not that we just lip it. It's that we know it to be so. And when He is near, we know
it to be so. We have blessed assurance. Blessed
assurance, Christ is satisfied the justice of God. He shall
see the travail of his soul and be what? Satisfied. Satisfied. When the Holy Spirit
comes in power, notice what happens. The flowers appear on the earth. Verse 12. In the time of singing
of the birds has come. The voice of the turtle dove
is heard in our land. The fig tree put forth her green
figs and the vines with her tender grape give good smell. When the Holy Spirit comes in
power to us, it is a time of singing. It is a time of rejoicing
when the truths of God's Word are made effectual and we realize
it and we know it. There is nothing in this life
greater to the soul that is quickened from death to life. There's nothing
more joyous than to see one come to life. Is that not joyful? Is it not joyful to see those
who are under the conviction of sin come to life? There's
joy there. I like that. Jesus said, there's
nothing greater than this. Then when one seed of the Word
is planted into good ground, and the sinner in faith and repentance
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and turn by faith to Him alone. Jesus said, I say unto you, there
shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, rather
than ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance. You want
to know what heaven rejoices in? Sinners saved by grace. You want to know what believers
rejoice in? Sinners saved by grace. Because
we are one. We are a sinner that has been
saved by grace. And we long to see sinners saved
by grace. This is our heart. And when He
is near, this is so refreshing to us. It's like the smell of
a fresh garden on the summer breeze that comes in. All of
the choice fruits render their smells when a sinner is saved
by grace. The world rejoices in numbers
of people, regardless of their spiritual condition, but true
joy is in those lost sheep that are sought by the shepherd and
found. There is nothing greater to the
believer than to know sinners saved by grace. I love you because
you're a sinner saved by grace. You're just like me. We're the
same. We're the same. And I rejoice
with you. And when He is with us, is there
any greater joy? There is no greater joy in this
world than Him to be with us. I'll ask you this, have you ever
been a lost sinner? vile and unrighteous before God? Have you ever known the blackness
of your own soul? Has the Lord Jesus Christ come
to your heart, leaping over your sins, conquering them by His
precious blood? Have you ever felt the winter
of God's justice melt away into the spring of His love? Have
you ever felt that in your heart? There is nothing like it. Nothing. Has the spirit come in power
to give you the fruit of his grace, which first fruit is faith
and repentance from dead works? This then is the voice of every
sinner saved by grace that says this in verse 16, my beloved
is mine and I am his. What confidence did she have?
Boy, I tell you, she had great confidence, didn't she? She said,
my beloved belongs to me and I belong to him. This is a time
of great assurance, great assurance. How sweet the thought that Jesus
is mine, is mine. That he who is God blessed forever
belongs to me. I'd never say such a thing if
the Scripture did not give me warrant to say it. He belongs
to me. He's mine. He's mine. He is the cleft of the rock that
shelters me from God's wrath. And from which cleft I know God's
and hear God's voice and shall not die. Isn't that something? We are able to understand and
know and hear from God and not die only because He is mine. And because I have been put in
union with Him by the Father from before the foundation of
the world, because I was in Him when He pleased God, when He
satisfied God, when He ascended to God, so did we. who are in Him. He's so much
mine that I am in union with Him. Do you understand, believer,
that for God to reject you, He would have to reject His own
Son? And that just ain't gonna happen.
That just ain't gonna happen. God cannot, the Scripture says,
deny Himself. He cannot deny you because He
cannot deny Himself. He's mine, and I'm His. For the Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, Paul says, that we are the children
of God. And if children, then what? Heirs
of God. Do you realize that the will,
the last will and testament of our Lord Jesus Christ is that
you should receive God as your portion? I know that many of you may have
been involved in a will. You've had someone die and they
leave you something. Jesus Christ has left you God. That's what you get. God said,
I am thy exceeding great reward. What more do you need? If you have God, you have everything. And I am an heir of God, joint
heir with Christ. Consider the weight of this truth.
All you who are in Christ, being adopted from God from eternity,
being bought by the precious blood, called by the Spirit of
God, are heirs of God. Therefore, we love God. God is
my portion. If God is your portion, you love
God. That's just so. If God is your portion, you will
run to Him, you will serve Him, you will hold Him, you will keep
to Him, and you will forsake all else and cleave to Christ.
That's what you'll do if you're His. Therefore, we love God. And why
is it that we love God and others don't? Because He first loved
us. He first loved us. He loved us
before the world was. He loved us with an eternal love. He loved us even unto the death
of the cross. He loved us with an infinite
higher and greater love than we could possibly imagine, and
yet we do love Him. I do love Him. I know that my
love is not what it should be, but I do love Him. I tell you,
when He asked me, Lovest thou me? I become ashamed. I do. Do you love me more than these? You know I love you, Lord. Yeah,
but I'm going to ask you again. Do you love me? Yes, Lord, I love you. Well,
I'm going to ask you again. Do you really love me? Yes. I love Thee. We, in our text, see these times
of great assurance in the presence of our God. We hear His voice. We see Him by faith. And we constantly
long to abide in His presence. But this is not always our experience,
is it? Is this always your experience
to be on the mountain? No. And neither is the bridegroom. So God gives us this in verse
1 of our text. He says, By night on my bed I
sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. Now we know this, and are sure
of this, that Jesus said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. And we know this. As believers
in Christ, we are always constantly looking to this. We know that
He will never leave us because the Holy Spirit takes up residence
in this body. You this morning have a mortal
body. And the Spirit of the living
God dwells in our mortal body. He will never leave us nor forsake
us. But this promise excludes all
concerning our feelings. Because many times we know that
He won't leave us, but we don't always feel that He's near us. This is what is called a night
season. A dark time. when Jesus hides
his face from us. By night on my bed I sought him
whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not. This
truly is a dark time for every child of God when we cannot see
his face even because our faith is weak. We cannot feel His presence in
prayer, nor can we hear His sweet voice as we study the Word of
God. How many times have you taken
this book, and you've laid down, and you've read this book, and
you've sought answers, and you've not heard a voice? You've not
heard anything. They become words on the page. At times I read these words and
they all mesh together and I get nothing. There are times I spend in prayer
seeking Him only to have my mind stray this and stray over here
and go over here and not be able to focus on my Master, on my
Savior, whom my soul loveth. I love Him, but I can't feel
Him. Oh, the dark and solemn times. of these night seasons, sometimes
it's not due to any besetting sin. It may not be because of
sin that the Lord departs from us, as in our text. In this,
there was no transition. She enjoyed His presence, and
then, for no reason, He hides His face. No seeming obvious
reason why He hides His face. The bride was the day before
rejoicing. How many times have we rejoiced,
felt his presence, and then immediately night season comes. There was
no gradual, there was no time of degrading, it was just he
was gone. I could not feel him anymore.
I could not see Him by faith. My faith was weak. But there
are other times, because of our sin, He leaves us. If you go
over to chapter 5, you see the same thing happening, but for
a different reason. In chapter 5, it's because the
bride neglected Him. He stands at the door and knocks,
says, open my love. And she says, oh, I've put off
my shoes. Oh, I can't get up. Oh, it's
too much trouble. Oh, I'm having, you know what?
Come back when it's convenient. And he says, okay. But before he goes, I love this,
he puts his hand to the hole of the door. He puts his hand
to the heart of his children, and the fragrance comes in. The
smell of his scent comes into the room, and her bowels are
moved within her, and she springs up at once, and she opens the
door, but he's gone. Other times, it may not be because
of anything, but other times, and I say most of the time, it
is my neglect. Most of the time, he is gone
and hides his face because of our neglect. But either way, it's a night season. Either way,
it still hurts, and you feel empty. This is the most fearful and
troubled time for a believer in our lives. You can take any
physical pain or sickness and measure it up to this, and there's
no comparison. This hurts the worst. Now, a false professor, someone
who doesn't truly believe in Jesus Christ, really has no trouble
at all. They have no trouble with this
matter. In Jeremiah 48, it talks of Moab, which is a picture of
the false believer. It says, Moab was at ease from
his youth. In other words, he has no trouble.
He's not poured from vessel to vessel. He is without trouble. A lost man is always at ease
regarding his spiritual matters. They're not troubled about their
condition before God, and they have no need of the presence
of Christ. But this will not suffice for one who is Christ.
This never holds up for one who is truly the bride of the Beloved,
one who is betrothed to Christ. In these times when He hides
His face, our hearts are troubled, and we must rise up and find
Him. We must. That's what the bride
does in our text. She says this in verse two, I
will rise when? Now. There's no time like now. If you don't feel his presence,
you should get up now. Shake off the dust and find him. If you are without His presence
now, you should say with the bridegroom, I will rise now and
go about the city. In the streets, in the broadways,
I will seek Him whom my soul loveth. If you love Him, you
always desire to be with Him. And if you are without Him, you
must have Him. I must have Him. I must. Are you without the presence
of Christ and let us rise now. May God the Holy Spirit put his
hand to the whole of our heart so he moves us to forsake all. Forsake your ease and find Christ. If you think this way, you're
going to be in big trouble. If you think worshiping God is
always going to be easy, you're in trouble. It's always going to cost you
something. I promise, it will. I know many
times we say this, well, if everything works out okay, then I'll come,
or I'll worship, or then I'll... You know, when everything...
If God wants me to be there, then He'll just move all of these
troubles. What a foolish thought. Who do you think put the troubles
in your way to begin with? Your God. Is He not sovereign? Did He not put them there? The
reason you will not rise is because of your sin. Then you're in chapter
5. You're there laying down in the
bed. You will not come because you
love your ease more than you love Christ. Oh, but when He puts His hand
to the whole of our hearts, we will. And these streets and broadways
in our text, when she says, I will seek Him in the streets and in
the broadways, what does she mean? Those streets and broadways
are those things used of God, those means that God has ordained
by which we find Him. Public worship. Where did you
find Him first? Where did you find Him? Where
did you hear of Him? Scripture tells us, Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how
shall they believe on Him in whom they have not what? Heard. And how shall they hear without
who? A preacher. And how shall they preach except
they be sent? You see, God sends preachers
to preach the gospel, to hear of Christ, and then we believe.
This is where we first met Him. We first met Him in the assembly
of the saints. And yet you expect to find Him
somewhere else? This is where He said He would
be. Consider this. The church still remains in this
world so that the saints should assemble ourselves together for
the encouragement of each other. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one
another. Exhorting one another. Behold the streets that is called
the assembly of the saints. You want to find Christ? Maybe
you should go to that street, the assembly of the saints. See that the faithful church
attendance is not just for you. Isn't that right? If we come but we don't, usually
it's because of who? us. Well, I go because of me
or I don't go because of me. Why are you so hung up on you? What about me? What about them? If you neglect the feeding of
your own soul and the comfort of your own soul, notice this,
you also neglect your brethren. You do. You neglect their encouragement. You neglect to encourage them
when you don't come. That's just so. Also, if we are
seeking the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, would it not be
wise to be where He said He would be? If you want to find Him,
is it not wise to be where He is? Now, I know His body is in
heaven, but He has promised us that where two or three are gathered
together in My name, there I am in the midst of them. Notice
where she said she found Him before. He says this in verse
1. He says, I am the rose of Sharon
and the lily of the valleys. And here's you as a lily among
thorns. He's the rose of Sharon. You're
the lily. Just a second. She said she found
him feeding among the lilies. He is the rose of Sharon, but
He feeds among the lilies. There it is in verse 16. My beloved
is mine, and I am His. He feedeth where? Among the lilies. Among you, that's where He feeds.
That's where He is, among His people. I encourage you, children
of God, do not neglect to call and visit one another. Do not
neglect each other. Do not neglect to encourage one
another. Don't let yourself get fooled
by this notion you're going to disturb someone if you call them
and visit with your other believing friends. No, you encourage me. When I
hear your voice, you don't know how much that means to me. But what is the most important
part of public worship? It is the preaching of the gospel.
In verse 3, look at this. Notice who she ran into. The
watchman that goeth about the city. If you're ever going to
seek Christ, you're always going to run into a watchman, a preacher. Someone who is sent to watch
over you. Someone who is sent to stand
on the walls of God's Word and sound forth the trumpet both
of warning and of jubilation. That's what the gospel preaching
is. Over in Isaiah 62 and verse 6,
it says this, I have set my watchman upon thy walls, O Jerusalem,
which shall never hold their peace, day nor night, ye that
make mention of the Lord keep not silent. All of God's preachers
are to be valiant, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given
to hospitality, and apt to teach. I love this what God said to
Ezekiel when he called him to preach. He said, you go preach
whether they hear or they don't. You eat my word and you speak
my word. You see, I'm going to be here
no matter if people hear or don't. That's not for me. That doesn't
determine my mission, whether people hear or don't. My mission
is determined completely by the command of Jesus. Now, I'm encouraged
when people hear, but I tell you, that is not a litmus test
if I should preach or not. I should preach because I'm sent.
I should preach and not hold my peace. Preachers, we are to
eat the Word of God, labor over it, pour our hearts over it in
prayer. That's my responsibility. That's
my labor. That's what God's called me to
do. Your responsibility is to hear it. Eat it. Enjoy it. It is for your nourishment. Whether it be rebuke, or rather
it reprove you, or rather it exhorts you. Whatever this Word
does for you, Isn't that what happens? She
comes to the watchman and she asks, have you seen my love?
Have you seen him? I tell you, yes, I've seen him. I've seen him. And what do I
do? All I'm going to do is remind
you what he looks like. That's what I'm going to do.
I want to remind you what he looks like. I'm going to tell
you, yes, I've seen your love because he's my love. I see Him who was ordained from
eternity to be my righteousness. I see Him who has forever put
away my sin. I see my Beloved who sits upon
the throne of God, ever living to make intercession for us.
I see Him who called us to faith in Him, hope in Him, love in
Him, who is our first love. I see Him. Do you behold Him? This is the job of the watchman
to preach the gospel to you. Oh, beloved, see that your beloved, he is hiding his face from you
for a particular reason. Don't you want to know why he's
hiding his face? Isn't that the question? Isn't that the first
question of our hearts when he's gone? Why? Why have you hid your
face? This is the reason. To draw you
closer. That's why. To draw you closer. Behold you who desire assurance. He did not hide His face from
us. If He did not hide His face from
us, we surely would trust our feelings, wouldn't we? We would
be wrapped up in our feelings of His presence and then we would
begin to trust in the feeling of His presence rather than trusting
Him personally. Isn't that what happens when
your feelings are gone? You become in despair. Why? Because
you put too much trust in your feelings. He has to draw you
closer to Him by taking away all of these vain trusts, all
of these other things. The affliction of our bodies
is great, but is not the hottest fire when He hides His face? You see, He uses the furnaces
of our affliction to cause us to utterly depend upon Him. utterly, completely depend upon
Him. He kicks out from underneath
us every crutch that we would lean on. Why? Because it would
break and you would fall. He does it because He cares for
you and He desires for you to see Him as He is, your only salvation,
your only hope, your only love. That's what He desires. Let me ask you this, believer,
what would you do to have assurance? You say, I'd do anything. Let me ask you, would you do
nothing? Because if you want assurance,
that's exactly what you have to do, nothing. Rest in Christ. Fall out completely into His
arms, and you will find the greatest assurance. It is like the bride
when she says in verse 6 of chapter 2, His left hand was under my
head, and His right hand doth embrace me. You see, He holds
us with both hands. Both hands. Would you just sit still and
look to Christ? Man, you're in the right place.
May God stir your heart to seek Him now. And when you found Him,
how do you have that assurance of His presence? Trust Him. Trust Him completely. And lastly,
What will you do when you find him? Look what the bridegroom
did. It was but a little that I passed
from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. And notice what
she did. I held him and would not let
him go. O believer, when you find him,
Wrap both arms around and never let him go. This word hailed. It is a sense of wrapping both
arms. O believer, as we are made to
see our beloved Christ, wrap both arms of faith around Him
with all your soul, with all your life. Lay on Him. as all
your hope both of this life and the next. Lay all your troubles
of this life, that's one arm, and all of your troubles for
eternity, that's the other arm, and wrap them all up in Him.
That's it. Cast all your cares on Him. He
careth for you. Are you so wounded by sin and
so fallen to his feet that you can't hold his breast? Then do
what Jacob did. Cling to his feet. If you can't
make his chest, cling to his feet. Whatever portion you can
grab onto, hang on with all your soul. Hang on to him. Cling to him. I would cling to
his feet, suing for mercy, recognizing that if he cast me into hell,
I'd just get what I deserve. But I'm persuaded of better things
when I wrap my arms around him. I'm persuaded of better things.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. How does one come to
Christ? The same way we first came to
him. It centers in need of mercy. When you find him, you come that
way. And you hang on. The kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.
I must have him. Or I die. I must have him. A true believer never stops coming
to Christ in such humility and seeking forgiveness of sins.
Believers, we are clearly instructed that here, what to expect in
this world. We are always in this life have
a mixture of joy and sorrow, winter and summer. Times when
we can see Him clearly, and times of night seasons, but whatever
your season, find him, hold him, and you will
have great assurance. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. But our night seasons, we sing
this song, how tedious and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer
I see. Sweet birds, sweet prospects,
sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. Therefore, in
such times, believers seek his promises and find him where he
says he will be found." Where did he say he would be found? Among his people. Through the
preaching of his words. If you would find him, that's
where he'll be. May God add the blessing to this
word.