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Marvin Stalnaker

The Bride's Request

Song of Solomon 1:4
Marvin Stalnaker October, 29 2023 Video & Audio
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The sermon titled "The Bride's Request" by Marvin Stalnaker focuses on the relational dynamic between Christ and His church, metaphorically depicted as a bride longing for her beloved. Stalnaker emphasizes the concept of divine drawing, arguing that the bride's plea "draw me" in Song of Solomon 1:4 illustrates the need for God's initiating grace in both regeneration and continued communion. He references John 6:44 to assert human inability to come to Christ without the Father’s prior drawing, thereby aligning the bride's request with Reformed doctrines of total depravity and irresistible grace. Stalnaker also leverages examples from Genesis 37, Matthew 4, and Matthew 11 to illustrate how Christ actively calls His followers, leading to their willing obedience. The significance of this doctrine is highlighted as it reassures believers of God's sovereign initiative in their spiritual lives, fostering intimacy with Christ and reinforcing the covenant relationship established through grace.

Key Quotes

“This is the speech of regeneration… one that knows him.”

“Draw me, Lord, if you draw me, if you lovingly impale me to come…”

“We are not left to the impotent will of our decision, our choice.”

“He knows how to draw. Here's what the bride says, draw me.”

Sermon Transcript

Auto-generated transcript • May contain errors

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All right, I want you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Song of Solomon.
Song of Solomon. If you find Isaiah, just go back
one. Song of Solomon. I'd like to look at Song of Solomon
one. I'm gonna look at one verse. Verse four. Now this precious
book, this book written by, penned by Solomon,
reveals the precious, glorious relationship between the Lord
Jesus Christ and His bride. It's a relationship that is eternal. It's a relationship that has
been made manifest in and to the vessels of God's mercy in
time. It's always been. The Lord teaches
us, teaches His people concerning that relationship. It's a union
that is expressed with the speech of love. It's the speech of God. because the scripture says God
is love. Now, let's look at verse four,
and this is the voice, this is the heart of the bride. She says, verse four, draw me,
draw me. Now, for one to say that with
a new heart, draw me, this is, This is the speech of regeneration. This is the speech that comes
from the heart of the bride that knows him. This is life eternal
that they might know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ
whom thou has sent. This is the speech of one that
loves him. We love him. because He first
loved us. And this is the speech of one
that has already come to Him. Drawn by the Spirit of God, she
comes by faith. But this is the speech of the
bride that realizes her need to pray for His drawing mercy. One that recognizes her need
of being close to Him. She knows that the Lord must
draw her because of herself. She won't come. She can't come. You mean even after regeneration? The Lord said, without me, you
can do nothing. Nothing. And who was he talking
to? He talked to his disciples, he
talked to his people. So she says, draw me, now to
understand what that word means, I want you to hold your place.
Turn back to Genesis 27, Genesis 37. Ward Willem will be in this
passage of scripture here probably Wednesday. Genesis 37, look at
verse 28. Now this is when Joseph has been
taken by his brothers, Because they hated him, because of Jacob,
his daddy's love for him. And they wanted to kill him.
But Reuben, their brother, said, no, no, no, let's don't kill
him. So they put him in a pit. They put him in a pit. And he
couldn't get out. Look at Genesis 37, 28. This
is how he got out. Genesis 37, 28. Then there passed
by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted up Joseph
out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces
of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt. Now, you see that
word, they drew him out? Why wouldn't he get out? Why
didn't he just crawl out? He couldn't get out. He was in
a pit. He couldn't get out. They had to draw him out. They
drew him out. That same word. That's the same
word. So the bride is saying to the
Lord back in Song of Solomon, draw me. Draw me. The Lord Jesus declared man's
inability in John 6, 44. can come to me except the father
which has sent me draw him. Draw, that is with an inward
power to impel, to draw him. The sheep believe him. And they know that except the
father had drawn them first in regenerating grace, they would
not come. Likewise, again, I'm saying,
like I said a moment ago, Every continual coming to Christ, drawing,
the Lord must draw us. Let me prove that to you. Hold
your place there. Just turn over a couple of pages.
Song of Solomon 5. Song of Solomon 5. Look at verses
2 to 4. Here's the Lord speaking to his
bride. Verse 1, he said, I've come into
my garden, my sister, my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh with my
spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my
wine with my milk. Eat, old friends, drink, yea,
drink abundantly. Oh, beloved, he just told her,
drink, enjoy. Enjoy that which I've done for
you. Enjoy. And the bride says, I
sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, 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 knows it's the voice of her
beloved. She hears it. She knows it. But that sleep that she's talking
about, that drowsiness, she sees the inward dwelling of sin. I sleep. My heart's awake. It's my beloved speaking to me.
Now listen to her excuse. I've put off my coat. How shall
I put it on? I've washed my feet. How shall
I defile them? Now, you know, I've, listen,
I'm down for the evening. Listen, I've had a long day.
I'm tired. I just, I have stuff to do. I
just can't, no. Really, this is just a little
bit too much for me right now. If it's okay with you, I don't,
I don't think I can, I don't think I can do that. I've just
got things and mess and stuff. What does he do? Look at verse
four. My beloved put in his hand by
the hole of the door and my bowels, my heart, were moved for him. Now, that he put his hand, I've read
so much on that, trying to figure out, and really nobody, Neil,
really has a real good explanation of exactly, they knew it had
something to do with the locking, the mechanism of opening the
door. But let me say this, when God's
pleased to draw, he knows how to put his hand in the hole of
the door. and calls the bowels, the heart of his bride to long
after him. He knows how. When he calls,
that old flesh that rebels against him, I'm just, I just, I just
got too much going on right now. He knows how to draw. Here's
what the bride says, draw, draw me, draw me. Why? Because I'm prone to wonder.
Song says, Lord, I feel it. I know exactly what it is. But
Lord, if you don't draw me, I won't come. I won't come. We like to believe that, you
know, we've got that ability now. Well, I've been regenerated
by the grace of God, and I can approach the Lord whenever, whenever. Well, I'm telling you, that's
just a little bit too high. You're just thinking a little
bit too much of yourself. Listen, the scripture says, for
it is God Philippians 2.13, which worketh in you, both to will
and do of his good pleasure. You think you've got the ability
to, with consistency, to do what you want to do, when you want
to do it. I'm telling you, that's pride.
That's pride. That's pride. I can do this. I can do this
right here. But you know, if I start doing
this right here just any time, You're going to think, you know
what, I think Marvin's kind of losing it. You know what caused
me to do that? My brain said, Marvin, I'm going
to let you use an illustration just to prove this. The brain
tells the whole body what to do, when to do it, how to do
it, how to use consistency in that. And the head, the Lord
Jesus Christ, speaks to his body. and he moves her, and the bride
knows that. And she says, draw me, draw me,
draw me unto yourself. Look back in Psalm 1, verse 4,
draw me, and let's look at this next part, we will run after
thee. Now here, she's speaking according
to his precious promise that his people will be willing win
in the day of His power. How comforting to know that we're
not left to the impotent will of our decision, our choice. We hear the word of authority
from the mouth of God Almighty and we believe Him. All that
the Father giveth me, come to me. Aren't we glad when we hear the
promises of the Lord when he says, I will and you shall. I will and you shall. Hold your
place, turn back to Exodus 6, Exodus chapter 6. Exodus 6, look
at verse 7. Now you listen to this, I think
I think of the fallacy of men today declaring that people got
a free will, they got a free will. Well, let's just let the Spirit
of God tell us what God's going to do. Exodus chapter 6, verse
7, and I will take you to me for a and I will be to you a
God. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens
of the Egyptians. Now let me ask you something.
Who's in control? God or us? Brother Scott, you
say, who's running this show anyway? who is running this show. So the word of the Lord, which
shall never pass away, declares, I will, and you shall. And we say, according to his
word, Lord, you shall, and we will, we will. So the bride declares
back in Psalm 1-4, Draw me. Lord, if you draw me, if you
lovingly impale me to come, if you take me like they took Joseph
out of that pit, he couldn't get out. Draw him out. Lord, if you draw me, we, all
of us, all that are recipients of the grace of God, we will
run after thee. His quickening, turn to Matthew
4. His quickening power moves His
people. He moves them. Matthew 4, verse
18. And Jesus, walking by the sea
of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew
his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And He saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers
of men. And they straightway left their
nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he
saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John
his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.
And he called them, and they immediately left the ship, and
their father, and followed him. He called them, and Scripture
says straightway. I looked up the definition. Immediately. Immediately. Look at Matthew
9, 9. Matthew 9, 9. Matthew 9, 9, and as Jesus passed
forth from thence, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the
receipt of custom, and he saith unto him, follow me. And he arose
and followed him. I love that. No questions asked. Follow me. He got up. He got
up. I'm telling you, When authority,
when God speaks, when authority, he who ruleth in the army of
heaven among the inhabitants of the earth, who doeth as he
will, with whom he will, when he will, how he will. They move,
they move, they move. The Spirit moved the bride, we
say back in Psalm 1, 4. The king has brought me into
his chambers. The king has caused me to come. He brought me, caused me to come
into his chambers. That is his dwelling place. It means the private, the abode. Where is that? I don't know. But I can tell you wherever it
is, that's where he speaks. intimately with his people. It's that place where the king
of king and Lord of lords, he who rules, are drawn by him into
his presence intimately. Now I'm telling you, I got to
think, when I was going over my notes this morning, I thought
about this. I thought, you know, there is something special when
we meet together like this. There is, again, There's nothing
more precious in this world, humanly speaking, spiritually
speaking, than the assembling of God's people. There's nothing
more important. There's nothing more important.
Whatever you think is more important than this, you're wrong. This
is it, right here. Because this assembly is the
bride of Christ meeting with Him. Two or three gathered together
in my name, I am in the midst of you. I'm in the midst. Now,
I'm preaching and you're hearing it. Here, a creature of dust.
Preaching to creatures of dust. But this word that goes forth,
this is not my word, this is His word. And as that word goes
forth, the Spirit of God who blesses the preaching of the
gospel only to the salvation of His elect, Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of it. This is the power of God. Does God save His people under
a lie? No, no, no. He saves them under the preaching
of the gospel of Christ. But there is an intimacy that
is taking place right here. I'm convinced of that. God is
speaking individually to his people. And the bride confesses
that. She says back, she said, the
king has brought me into his kingdom. chambers. He brings
his people into that place of sweet communion. I don't know
what's being said, but I guarantee it. You hear the word of God
and your mind just muses on it. and you're thinking on it, and
you're contemplating it, and you contemplate what the Lord's
done for you and how thankful you are. I don't know, I don't
know how he speaks, but he speaks. My sheep hear my voice. And you hear it, you that know
him, you hear it. So he comes in into this place
of intimacy. How many of them, how many of
them share that place of intimacy? all that the Father's chosen
and the Son's redeemed and the Spirit of God is regenerated.
And they come together and He teaches them of the spiritual
blessings toward them in Himself according to the covenant mercy
of God. Daniel was brought before King
Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream.
Nobody, you know, all the Gaudians and the soothsayers and the interpreters,
you know, they couldn't figure it out. They said, you tell us,
you know, they said, okay, King, you tell us what you dreamed
of. He said, no, you tell me what I dreamed. You tell me what
I dreamed. And you tell me the interpretation
of it, or I'm going to kill you. Well, they said, nobody can do
that. Nobody can do that. You have to tell us. He said,
no. You tell me what I dreamed. They called Daniel. They said
there's one called Daniel. And Daniel came before the king
and I wrote this down, Daniel 228. There's a God in heaven
that revealeth secrets. Who is a God like unto thee?
He hath brought me into his chambers. That precious communication between
the king and his bride. He is talking to the one that
he has eternally loved. And he speaks to her because
God has determined that he's going to tell her, hold your
place and turn over to Matthew 11, Matthew 11. The Lord had
reprimanded some people where he had done some mighty works
Mighty works, and he told them in Matthew 11. Matthew 11 verse 20, then began
he to upbraid the cities, wherein most of his mighty works were
done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! If the mighty works which were
done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, This is God speaking. It shall
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven,
shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which
had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have
remained until this day. But I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for thee. At that time Jesus answered.
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my father, and no man knoweth a son but the father. Neither
knoweth any man the father save the son, and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. The bride says back in Song of
Solomon 1.4, she says, the king has brought
me into his chambers and we will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will be glad, we will be glad. Lord, you've revealed, you've
revealed the secrets of your precious covenant grace. And Lord, that which you've been
pleased to do in revealing it us, giving us a heart to hear
your voice, we will be glad. We will rejoice, glad and rejoice. Two different words. There's
two different words that mean basically the same thing, same
sense, same meaning. Double joy. We will be glad. We will remember thy love more
than wine. We will remember your love more
than the temporal the pleasures of this world. The Lord's not
gonna let His people forget. He's not gonna let them forget
of His love for them. Yet we're frail creatures of
dust. As I said before, we're so prone
to forget, to wander, but He's gonna visit us. He's gonna visit
us in the best way, the way He sees fit, and he's gonna give
us a fresh recollection of his word. When we find ourselves
slothful, slothful, slothful because of indwelling sin, again,
like I said before, he knows how to call us. He knows how
to draw us. He knows how to put his hand in the hole of the door.
He'd stir us up to remembrance that we might contemplate again
that everlasting mercy and compassion that we've talked about through
the preaching of the gospel. We'll hear his voice. He'll bring
back to our memory the surety of his love, the surety of everlasting
life, the surety of him putting away our sins by his shed blood
at Calvary and the wonder of the robe of righteousness in
which we've been clothed. He who has done all will not
permit us to forget. So therefore, the bride declares
the upright, the upright, the even, the straight, the sincere
love thee. The margin says they love thee
uprightly. Peter, lovest thou me more than
these. Peter said after three times,
he said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. You
know I do. God's people, they love the Lord. They love him because he first
loved them. He's given them a love for him. They love him. But he's
going to remind them. He's going to remind them. He's
going to draw them. The bride wants that. Draw me. Draw me.
We'll run after you. All right. Let's take a few minutes
break and we'll come right back. We're going to look at the next
verse.
Marvin Stalnaker
About Marvin Stalnaker
Marvin Stalnaker is pastor of Katy Baptist Church of Fairmont, WV. He can be contacted by mail at P.O. Box 185, Farmington, WV 26571, by church telephone: (681) 758-4021 by cell phone: (615) 405-7069 or by email at marvindstalnaker@gmail.com.
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