Thank you all for them songs. It's amazing how when God blesses
a song or a message, how it stirs our hearts. And he enables us
to worship. He said, those that worship me
must worship me in spirit and in truth. If you would, Open
your Bible to the book of the Song of Solomon, chapter five. I appreciate the invitation to
come and speak. I've been looking forward to
this for several weeks now. I pray the Lord would be pleased
to speak to our hearts. Song of Solomon, chapter five. What a beautiful love story of
Solomon and the Shulamite, but it's a whole lot more than that.
It's a picture of Christ and his love for his bride. He gave
his life to put away her sin. He bought her, he purchased her,
he redeemed her, and she's his. and he will never let her go. Here in this text, we begin reading
in verse 2 of Song of Solomon, chapter 5. This is the bride
speaking, I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my
beloved that knocketh. And he's saying, open to me,
my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, for my head is
filled with you and my locks with the drops of the night.
She responds, I have put off my coat. How shall I put it on? I washed my feet. How shall I
defile them? My beloved put in his hand by
the hole of the door. My bowels were moved for him.
I rose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped, dropped
with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the
handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my
beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul failed
when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen
that went about the city found me, they smoked me, they wounded
me, and the keepers of the wall took away my veil from me. And
she said, I charge you, oh daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my
beloved, that you tell him that I'm sick of love. She's saying
I'm lovesick. Tonight I've entitled the message
Indifference. This is a very sobering text.
You may be right in the middle of this text tonight, or you
may not be. But I can say this. One day,
if you're a child of God, you will be. We all go through these
things in our lives for a reason. For a reason. And here, the bride,
she says, I sleep. But my heart waketh."
You say, well, that's just a common everyday thing to sleep. This
is not talking about just physical sleep. This is talking about
spiritual sleep. You remember the five wise and
five foolish virgins? They all slumbered and slept. What did Peter do in the garden?
The Lord says, watch with me. Could you not watch with me one
hour? And he went to sleep. He went to sleep. When we go
to sleep, we become comfortable. Everything has to get quiet.
And when we want to find a place to lay down in carnal ease, and
she said, I sleep, but my heart waketh. What she is saying is
that here we see a description of a soul in a state of coldness
and indifference. This describes the child of God,
that one that is lukewarm about the things of God. If God ever leaves us alone,
just for a little bit, just like he did her, it is untelling what
we would do. Untelling. We are saved by grace
through faith. That and all of yourself, it
is the gift of God. He has delivered us from so great
a death. He is delivering us and he shall
deliver us. We're going to see she couldn't
deliver herself. She had no desire to deliver herself, but he did. We don't see that she made any
movement toward him. She was content with the externals
of religion. She was content with just going
through the motions. She was content. We don't see anything that she
wanted to change the situation. I can see her, she comes home,
she washes her feet, she lays down her coat, and you know what's
on her mind? Laying down and going to sleep
in her carnal ease. That's what's on her mind. The Bible says it's high time
to awake out of sleep, for our salvation is nearer than when
we first believed. I've seen some of you on, it's
been years since I saw some of you. There's been a whole lot
of water under the bridge, but our salvation is nearer than
when we first believed. It's high time to awake out of
sleep. But this is not a sleep of death
like lost men. In Psalms 13 verse 5, consider
and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes. He's praying
to God, asking him. He said, lighten mine eyes lest
I sleep the sleep of death. Men are sleeping, have no clue
about what's going on in the world spiritually, and they're
just asleep. And they will die that way, asleep,
asleep. If you think about it, when you
see somebody asleep, they almost look like they're dead. Unless
you see their chest moving, you go, well, are they asleep or
are they dead? If you'd have looked at the wise
and the foolish virgins, you couldn't have picked out which
one was the wise one and which one was the foolish one. They
looked that close. And here you go, is this describing
in these verses, is this describing a believer? Well, sure it is. He tells things exactly as they
are. Exactly as they are. We may indulge ourself as she
did in our carnal ways and security. Our hearts become cold, drowsy. and indifferent to the things
of God. Religion becomes a routine. We
just go through the motions. Devotion is lifeless. We say
we're going to read our devotions. We pick up Spurgeon or someone.
We're going to set aside a particular time to have devotion, maybe
in the morning and in the evening. And now all we are is going through
the motions. Service is a drudgery. Worship is formal. And Zeal is
gone. I've been right there exactly
where she is. Exactly. And you get to the place where
you're content. You try to seek God inside, kid,
the heavens, I think it was David said, the heavens are as brass.
Where's he at? Where's he at? But notice this,
she said, I sleep, but my heart wakes. The Lord neither slumbers nor
sleeps, and the new heart of a believer never slumbers nor
sleeps. It never does. Here we see the
two natures. The one, the old man always sleeps,
always cold to the things of God, not interested in the things
of God. But then that new heart says,
my heart waketh. Oh, the new man. This is an encouraging
sign. She knew she slept. She said,
I sleep. She admits it. But there's something inside.
that's awake and never slumbers and never sleeps. We have life within and we struggle
to stay awake. Let me just be honest. I saw
times I'd try to get up in the morning, try to read just a little
bit. I guarantee you I could have sat down and read anything
on my phone, read the news or whatever and stayed awake. And
go in there and sit down and it doesn't seem like but in a
few minutes, now this just might be me, I'm going, why am I so
sleepy? I just read a paragraph and I
can't tell you one thing the paragraph said. You know what,
that's bothering. I go, what's wrong? I don't want
it this way. My heart weakens. but I can't
control those things. Why do you think Peter, James,
and John went to sleep? Robert Hawker said he thought
it was satanic. He said, could you not watch
with me one hour? He's praying and they can probably
hear him praying. Oh, we're just gonna go to sleep.
Could you not watch with me one hour? Here's what the Apostle
Paul said in Romans 7. Let me say this before I read
the scripture. We'll begin reading in verse 18. I remember years
ago when we played religion, people said, this text right
here is talking about a carnal Christian. I wish somebody would
find to me what that is. He's just carnal. This man who
wrote this under the inspiration of God, he had probably been
converted 25 years. 25 years, you're old man, I don't
care how long you've been converted, it's not changed one bit. It's
not improved, it's not getting any better. Here's what he said,
I know that in me, that is in my flesh. dwelleth no good thing,
for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which
is good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that
I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present
with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. There's a new man that's awake.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. Oh, wretched man that I am."
They don't like to use terms like wretched in new songs. They
said, you don't need to talk that way. Paul said, he didn't
say, oh, wretched man that I used to be. He said, oh, wretched
man that I am. One place he said, I'm less than
all the apostles. Then secondly, he said, I'm less
than the least of all saints. And then he gets even lower than
that. He said, I'm the chief of sinners. Chief of sinners. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, myself,
serve the law of God with the flesh, the law of sin. She said,
I sleep, but my heart waketh. Can you
imagine I can see her laying on the bed, the bed of ease?
Maybe thinking about the things of the day, or what she's going
to do tomorrow, you know. Probably not even thinking about
eternal things, and all of a sudden, there's a knock on the door.
I could hear someone wonder who that is. Wonder who that is at
this time of night. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh. It's when he speaks. The sheep
hear his voice. She knows who it is. She knows who it is at the other
side of the door. And here's what he's saying. Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my undefiled. My head is filled with dew and
my locks with the drops of the night. Even though she was so indifferent
to him, he was not indifferent toward her. She still knew his voice. She knew his voice. Our Lord knocks, and you know
what he says? Open to me. Now he could have kicked the
door open. He could have knocked it off its hinges. But he didn't. He said, open to me. Let me tell you a little secret.
He will not stay where he's not wanted. He won't come in where
he's not wanted. Notice how he moved with grace
upon her. He said, open to me, my love,
my dove, my undefiled. In Revelation 3.20, everyone
uses this, you know, people have made pictures and it's a picture
of the light of the world standing there with a lantern in his hand
and he's standing there knocking on the door and they say he can't
come in because there's no doorknob on the outside of the door, the
doorknob's on the inside. This is not talking about him
knocking on the door of a lost man. He's knocking on the door
of one that's his child and knows his voice. It says, behold I
stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, He
may be knocking at your heart tonight. If you hear his voice,
or hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and we'll
sup with him, and he with me. He's sovereign over all things,
but you know what? He wants to make you willing,
and he will. Does any man hear my voice? Now just imagine, our Lord standing
at the door, outside the door of his church, the door is shut
against him, but thanks being to God, he will not be turned
away. If we are his, if you are his,
he won't take no for an answer. He's calling. And he said, open to me. How does he knock? He knocks
by providence. He knocks by conviction, he knocks. And you hear him, you can't explain
it, but you hear him and he speaks. He speaks through those things. You know what we do? We shut
the door. And we lock the door. But our Lord won't leave his
people alone. Thank God he won't. Those that he loves, he rebukes
and chastens. He knocks to awaken us. As I've
already mentioned, Peter, he went to sleep there in the garden.
And they come to arrest our Lord. Can you imagine what's going
on in his mind? They never really grasp the fact
that he must suffer and die. And here they see him take him.
And he said, if you've come to get me, you've got to let these
go. And Peter's going, what's going on? Surely he won't let
them take his life. And he follows afar off. And
he comes, and people are standing there. It's cold. And he warms
himself by the enemy fire with a bunch of enemies. And they
said, You're one of his disciples. Your speech gives you away. You
got a Galilean accent. Oh, no, no, no, I don't know
him. Then another one come and said, yes, you were with him.
No, I don't know him. But the Lord told him, he said, before
the cock crows twice, you're going to deny me three times.
And it's like Peter's asleep. He's like he's sleepwalking.
And then when somebody finally asked him, said, yeah, you're
one of his disciples. I saw you in the garden with
him. No, I don't know him. Been to curse and to swear. You
know what, how did the Lord wake him up? The rooster crows. The Lord told him, he said, it's
going to crow. And Peter, you know, you think all the times
that he denied him, it never bothered him. But now that the
rooster crows, what am I doing? And here's how another way our
Lord woke him up is he turned and looked at him. and never
said a word. It broke his heart. And you know
what it said? He went out and he wept bitterly. That heart was so cold, so indifferent,
and he awakened that heart. Our Lord asked for entrance who
had the right to demand the door to be opened. He could have easily
knocked down the door, but he didn't. Like I said, he will only come
where he's wanted. Notice how he addresses this
woman. He knocks at the door, saying
open to me, and he says he calls her my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled. Even though she's in this condition,
she's still undefiled by his grace. For my head is filled
with the dew and my locks with the drop of the night." You imagine his hair is wet.
His hair is black as a raven, eternally young. But he says,
my hair is wet with the dew of the night. What he's reminding
her of is everything he went through to redeem her and to
set her free. And he's standing there, calling
her by these names, and she still don't open the door. She still
don't get up out of bed. You know what she does? She begins to make excuses. Verse three. He said, open to
me. She said, I put off my coat.
I put it, and how shall I put it on? I've washed my feet. How
shall I defile them? How ungrateful by nature we are. She knew who it was standing
at the door. He called her, but she made excuses. And we have a lot of excuses.
You know what she didn't want to do? She didn't want to be
troubled. I want to do what I want to right now. I put off my coat. I've laid
aside the things of Christ so that I can indulge myself in
carnal ease. Listen to this in the book of
Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the one that God sent for them to build
the walls around Jerusalem. Those walls were so large, but
it only took less than six weeks, 52 days to build those walls.
You go why they had a mind to work. But here's what Nehemiah
said. near my 423, so neither I, nor
my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which
followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saying that every
one of them put them off for washing." What they said, they
slept in their clothes. They were not indifferent. Not
indifferent. She said, how shall I put it
on? I've washed my feet. You know, in those days, People
either went barefooted or wore sandals. Remember our Lord washing
the disciples' feet? She said, I've washed my feet. I don't want to have to get up
out of bed and defile my feet. Is she really speaking this way?
Is she really speaking to this as her beloved? And she knows
who he is. Verse four. He could have left. You know
what we would have done? We would have left. We would
have said that good for nothing thing. She don't appreciate a
thing I've done and walked away. But he didn't. And I'm glad he
won't. He knows and only he can. He's the only one that can stir
your heart. We sung that song today. We sing
it a whole lot. because people in religion have
just crucified it. Revive us again, fill each heart
with a new mate, soul be rekindled with fire from above. What will
kindle her heart? I tell you what, grace. He said,
she said, my beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door
and my bowels were moved for him. He's not gonna leave her
where she's at. He's not gonna leave her in that
bed. He's going to make her willing
to get up and come to the door and open the door. And she did. Is this the same person? What we see here is our Lord's
effectual grace. He knocks and all his calls to
her seem to have no effect. But he will not leave her here. He reaches in his hand, his hand
of mercy and grace, and he reaches in through the hole of the door.
Some said that through that hole there was a key that locked the
door. And you know what? The master has the key to your
heart. He knows just exactly what to
use to unlock it. He opened up Lydia's heart. He
opened it up. And you know what he did? He
just reached in with his hand, and then he withdrew it. It said, my beloved put his hand by the
hole of the door and my bowels were moved for him. He touched
her heart. It says her bowels were moved
for him. How could I have treated him
that way? What in the world was I thinking? After all he's done for me and
I would treat him that way? Verse five, I rose up. She gets up now. She's not worried
about getting her feet dirty now. She's not worried about
putting on her coat. She's not worried about those
things. It just doesn't matter. She wants to see him. She wants
to see him. And when she reaches to open
the door, my hand dropped with murder. Myrrh in the scriptures
speak of grace. I could see her hand as she grabs
it and she says, what is that? Her hand is dripping with his
grace that he left on that door for her. Psalms 45a, all thy garments
smell of myrrh, and aloes and callous have they every palaces
whereby they have made thee glad. He left a token of his grace.
He could have opened the door himself, but he didn't. She gets
up, walks over, probably maybe half asleep, and she reaches
to the door. And you know what she's reminded
of? She's reminded of His grace. You want to stir your heart when
God reminds you of His grace? You were not looking for Him.
He came looking for you. And He still comes looking for
you. He won't leave you right there. And she opened the door. Opened to my beloved. I want
you to see this. Now imagine her going to the
door. Now he'll be there when I get there. He'll be standing
on the other side of the door. He'll be there. And she opens
the door and pulls it open and he's gone. You imagine what she thinks. Where's he at? Her bowels were
moved for him. I opened to my beloved, but my
beloved had withdrawn himself. He was gone. My soul failed when
he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. Have you ever
been there? I see, I sought him, but I can't find him. You find
him where he may be found. Today is the day of salvation.
If you seek me with all your heart, you'll find me. She's
probably still, you know, like I said, probably half awake and
she just assumes. She takes it, she thought he
would be there. It reminds me of an example there
in the scriptures. When our Lord was 12 years old
and Mary and Joseph had gone to Jerusalem because it was the
time of the sacrifice of the Passover and all males were required
to go. So they probably had a large
group of people and they go down to Jerusalem. And they go through
the act of Passover, worshiping God, and they pack everything
up and start back home. They've gone a day journey, a
whole day's journey, and Mary looks over at Joseph and says,
where's Jesus at? Well, I supposed he was with
you. I thought he was with us. You mean you go a whole day and
think he's there and he's not? You know what they had to do?
Let's go back where we was at. And they go in there in the temple,
and there he sits. And he said, do you not know
what I should be about my father's business? But the thing is, she
thought, yeah, he'll just be there, you know. He's not. He's not. He's gone. My soul failed when he spake.
I sought him. But I could not find him. He gave me no answer. Lord, please
speak. Please speak to our hearts. Draw
our hearts after you. See, and all this is for a reason.
You know what she's doing? She didn't
think anything, but she didn't get up and then when she went
to the door and he's gone, she didn't go back and lay down. I got to find him. I know he
was just right here. I'm going to find him. I've got
to find him. Nothing else matters but finding
him. Nothing else matters. Nothing
else. Verse 7, it says, the watchman
that went about the city found me. They smoked me. Wounded me,
the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. Let me
go back and read you something from verse six, I'm sorry. I
got this from John Gill. You imagine this woman, she's
looking for her Lord. He said, a sad disappointment.
She expected to have seen him. and been received into his arms
and embraced in his bosom. But instead of that, he was gone,
out of sight, out of hearing. The withdrawing was to chase
her for her former condition, and to show her more the evil
of her sin, and his resentment of it, and to try the truth and
strength of her grace to inflame her love the more. to shaping
her desires after his presence, to prize it more than when she
had it, and to be careful not to lose it. She feared, and she
feared, he may never return again. You just think about that. That's
horrifying, that's terrifying to think for a child of God.
He may never speak to me again. He's gone, shows her haste in
speaking. The confusion she was in, the
strength of her passion, the greatness of her disappointment
and sorrow. It was as if she was represented,
wringing her hands, saying he's gone, he's gone, he's gone. And her heart broke. And verse 7, as I read, she went
out into the streets. And the watchmen found her. The
ones on the watchmen, they took away her veil. And they took
away her veil and they said, you're just one of them old lewd
women. You're not supposed to be out here in the street at
this time of night. That's how they judged her. That's
what they assumed. Reminds me of how Hannah was
misinterpreted. And it said, and Eli said unto
Hannah, how long will you be drunken? You're a drunken woman.
Put away thy wine from me. He said he saw her mouth move,
but she didn't say any words. He assumed she was drunk, just
like those preachers assumed that this woman was lost and
just a vile woman. No, she's not. She's a believer.
But see how they assume things? We're all guilty of doing that.
If we didn't read in what it says about Lot in the New Testament,
you know what we would all come up with? He's a lost man. No,
he wasn't. He was a righteous man who vexed
his righteous soul from day to day. See how we misjudge? We even preachers, grace preachers,
see people, oh, we misjudge them. I knew there was nothing to their
profession anyway. And that's what she says. She
said, they took away my veil. Took away my veil from me. I
have nothing to hide, no way to hide. I can't prove to them. They wouldn't believe me. They
wouldn't believe me. In verse eight, she said, I charge
you. She's looking for some assistance. Oh, daughters of Jerusalem, if
you find my beloved, would you tell him something for me? Would you tell him I'm lovesick? If you see him, if you find him,
you tell him that I am sick of love. If you would find him, if you
find him for me, would you just tell him Mike Walker needs to
hear his voice. You tell him. I miss him. I need him. I want to show you something. In verses 9 down through verse
15, they ask her a question. What makes your beloved so special? Why are you out here looking
for him? Everybody's got a beloved. Everybody's
got something that they admire. What makes him so special? And even though her heart is
so cold, she describes him. His hair is black as a raven.
And you know what she says? His mouth is most sweet. He's altogether lovely. It says
in verse 16, his mouth is most sweet, he's altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Could this be the
same woman that we read about there in the first of the chapter?
I wake, I sleep, but my heart waketh. Only a few moments earlier,
she wouldn't even get up out of bed. Now she's longing for
him. No matter how cold we get. Now
listen to me. He will not. I will never, no
never, no never forsake. To a sinner, that's pretty good
news. To a sinner that's laying on the bed making excuses for
everything in the world. And he comes knocking to get
you to seek him. And you know what? She did. And
eventually she found him, and it said that she throwed her
arms around him and said, I can't turn him loose. I can't let him go. I hope that's
been a help. Amen.