Song of Solomon chapter 3. Our passage begins this morning
with an experience that is familiar to a believer. It's an awareness of our need
to commune with the Lord. A believer wants to commune with
God. The bride says, by night on my
bed, I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found
him not. Now, there's something amazingly
mysterious about this. Every believer knows that there's
times in the actual night, that which is opposite the day, when
there's an awareness, there's a communication with God. And it's real. I've said before, Sometimes I
wonder. I don't know. I don't know if
I'm awake. I guess I am. But I know, I know
that there's an awareness. It's in those night seasons.
Those night... But also, hold your place and
turn over to Psalm 77. Psalm 77 verse 2. David was moved
by the Spirit of God to say something about this. And this night means
more than just the night time, that dark time of the day. David said in Psalm 77 too, in
the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My sore, my hand ran
in the night and ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted.
He's saying something. It means there are times when
we do commune with the Lord in the night time. I know that.
But then also it refers to that time of affliction, that night
season when you don't really know what the Lord is doing. You know He knows obviously.
He knows what He's doing. But a believer in the day of
his affliction, David said, the day of my affliction, that's
night to me. Why? Because you don't know how the
dark is. You can't see. You can't see good. You don't
know. You don't know what's going on. Now seeking the Lord, though,
Shulamite said in the night on my bed, I sought Him whom my
soul loved. And seeking God is something
that the natural man, the carnal mind, the unregenerate, he doesn't
know anything about this. What I'm talking about right
here, those that don't know the Lord, they're listening, you're
hearing what I'm saying, but you don't know by experience
what I'm talking about. The scripture says in Romans
3.11, speaking of men that don't seek God, there's none that understand
it, there's none that is in their unregenerate state that seeketh
after God. Man is a fallen creature. He's
corrupt from head to toe and he doesn't possess a heart to
seek the Lord. He has no interest in approaching
God. He doesn't want to come as an
empty-handed beggar that needs a Savior, but a believer does.
He wants to. And he does so. That's what Shulamite
said, I sought the Lord. A believer wants to do this.
I want to hear from him. I want to know what he's... Psalm 27, eight says, when thou
saidest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Lord, I
will seek thee. I will, I want to. So the bride
sought, that is sought out to worship, beg after. She sought the Lord and did so
according to His command. Seek ye the Lord. That's what
Isaiah 556 says. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. So she sought Him. And those that seek the Lord,
that long after Him, hunger after Him, thirst after Him, they know
that He will answer. The Lord said in Matthew 7, 7,
ask, and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. But when the bride here in Song
of Solomon sought the Lord, she said, I couldn't find him. I couldn't find him. Now, I know
he's there. I know he's there. He told us numerous times. He
said, I will never leave you. I'll never forsake you. But why
couldn't she find Him? Because her eyes were holding. He didn't appear to exist. He was there. He was there. A
believer is one that continually continues to seek. Seek the Lord. He's the life
of the bride and they long for His presence and they just want
to know. They want to know. Lord, I'm
asking you, I'm seeking you because I want to, in every facet of
my life, a believer weighs the Lord's will, the Lord's presence,
the Lord's direction in everything they do. There's nothing that
they discount Him. You just don't do it. You can't
do it. They don't want to do it. They
know, you're my Savior, my Justifier, my Redeemer, my Prophet, my King,
my Husband, my Friend, Sovereign. But here, the Spirit of God is
again, He's careful to teach us something about ourselves. The night I sought the Lord,
in the night. Now, here's the amazing thing.
Look at Song of Solomon, back in chapter 2, 16-17. My beloved is mine, and I'm his.
He feedeth among the lilies until the day break and the shadows
flee away. Turn, my beloved, and be thou
like a roe or a young heart upon the mountains of Bether. A believer
knows and loves the one she knows as her Lord and Savior. And she
knows that He knows her in mercy, compassion. And He knows that
He's going to direct her. He knows that. The believer knows
that. But for reasons known only to
the Lord, the Lord was pleased to withdraw Himself from her. There's times when the Lord wisely
and mercifully hides Himself from His people because of inconsistencies
known only to the Lord. Why would the Lord withhold His
presence, His awareness? Why? Somebody says, well, because
of sin. Okay, alright. But it may be
for reasons that the Lord knows and even something that will
steer her, direct her. We don't know why. We don't know. Listen to Ezekiel 39, 22, 23.
So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their
God from that day forward. And the heathen shall know that
the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity
because they transgressed against me. Therefore, hid I my face
from them and gave them into the hand of their enemies. So
fell they all by the sword. Whatever reason, whatever the
reason is, I don't know. Why would the Lord withhold?
Somebody said, well, I've been praying about something for months,
for weeks, or years. I don't know. But for whatever the reason,
she sought the Lord and obviously there was a problem. There was
a problem and maybe she didn't even perceive it. But the Lord
did, and he would have her made aware. He is going to create
a need in her to seek him in a way of desperation. This is the night of every believer. That trial, they feel the absence
of his smile and his closeness. Somebody said, well, I don't
know how you can do it. Well, I can tell you for a fact, God's people
know it. They know, they know. Look right there, Song of Solomon,
probably by the page where it is on my Bible, Song of Solomon
5, verses 2 to 8. Shulamite says, I sleep, my heart
waketh. A believer knows that they know
him. But oh, there's just times of There's, I'll just, let me just
share myself, my heart with you. There's times that I will be
trying to study, trying to seek God, trying to get a message,
Kevin. I'm just, I'm doing all I know to do. And I've been here
all day, all day, all day. And Dick, I'll go home and I'm
just so dry. It's just, you know, I'm thinking, I, you know, do I even know him? Really, do I even know him? Do I truly believe what I'm preaching? Why? You know, this is what I
believe. I wrote this down right here,
that song by John Newton. I honestly believe that, I heard
that John Newton, I think he's John Newton, was one of the most
depressed people that they ever knew. This is after he was converted.
Just so depressed and he wrote this song. We sing this all the
time. I want to read it to you. To disappoint I long to know.
Oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? If I love,
why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure could they be worse
who have never heard his name. Could my heart so hard remain,
prayer a task and burden proved, every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Savior's love? When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I
deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin's
mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will,
and I find my sin a grief and thrall, that is, something that
grips me and holds me. Should I grieve for what I feel
if I did not love it all? Could I joy his saints to meet
and choose the ways I once abhorred and find at times the promise
sweet if I did not love the Lord? Lord, decide the doubtful case,
thou who art thy people's son. Shine upon thy work of grace
if it be indeed begun. And let me love thee more and
more. If I love at all, I pray. And if I have not loved before,
help me to begin today. Now, let me ask you something.
Have you ever felt the experience of just dryness and just, you know, you just, Lord help
me. I'm just, Lord, please don't,
please don't leave me to myself. John Newton penned the universal
experience of those that have come to know something of the
Lord and therefore something of themselves. But I found a poem where somebody
wrote this poem in answer to John Newton. I never knew it
existed. I just found it. I was looking
at that poem by John Newton and there was a poem found and I
don't know the author. But it was in response to John
Newton's poem, Tis a Point I Long to Know. And I want to read that
to you. It says, what is this point you long to know? Methinks
I hear you say, tis this. I want to know I'm born of God,
an heir of everlasting bliss. If this is the point you long
to know, The point is settled in my view, for if you want to
love your God, it proves that He did first love you. I want
to know Christ died for me. I want to feel the seal within. I want to know Christ's precious
blood was shed to wash away my sin. I want a mind more firmly
fixed on Christ, my everlasting head. I want to feel my soul
alive and not so barren and so dead. I want more faith, a stronger
faith. I want to feel its power within.
I want to feel more love to God. I want to feel less love to sin.
I want to live above the world and count it all but trash and
toys. I want more tokens of God's grace
and foretaste of eternal joys. I know not what I want. I want
that real special good, yet all my wants are summed up here.
I want to love. I want my God. Is this the point
you long to know? The dead can neither feel nor
see. It is the slave that's bound in chains and knows the worth
of liberty. So where a want like this is
found, I think I may be bold to say that God has fixed within
thy heart what hell can never take away. However small thy
grace appears, there's plenty in thy living head. These wants
you feel, my Christian friend, were never found amongst the
dead. Isn't that true? If God's given a man, a woman,
a heart, to long after Him, even in the midst of what Shulmite
felt right here. She sought the Lord. And I couldn't
find Him. And I know that what He was doing
was wise, kind, compassionate. And I know that these seasons
of the night are painful, but they actually prove the believer's
life. They prove him to be in Christ. And it's the Lord's compassions
that these times come. Because if the Lord would not
stir us to seek Him. Now let me ask you something,
be honest about it. Would we? If everything's great,
everything's fine, everything's wonderful. But I tell you when
you need Him. When you need Him. So the bride sought because she
loved Him. She said, I sought Him whom my
soul loveth. The carnal heart may pretend
to love the true and living God, but truthfully, only a believer
loves Him. An unbeliever loves the little
G-God of his imagination. That little G-God that is born
from an evil heart. It's just itself. It's all it
is. It's just me. But you speak of
Him who is the love of God's sheep, and they'll tell you,
He's my life. He's my Lord, He's my hope, He's
my King, He's my Savior, my Redeemer. So how did she seek Him? Well,
look at verse 2. I will rise now and go about the city and the
streets and the broad ways. I will seek Him whom my soul
loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. How did she seek Him? Well, she
sought Him diligently. She taught him right now because
the sense of being estranged from him, estranged, it was intolerable. The believer is not at rest when
they are struggling. I know that this sensitivity
to him and hiding himself. I know that's strange to an unbeliever,
but there's an attitude in a believer that's this way. They just won't
let it ride. They're not going to say, well,
the Lord will reveal Himself when He's pleased to you. Well,
that's true. That's absolutely true. But I'm
telling you, there is a hunger. There's a desperation to seek
Him. Seek after Him. Let me ask you
this, for our spouses, for our parents, those that we love,
when there seems to be a separation or something like that, can you
just let it go? Do you? There's something wrong. Not people that love each other.
And Shulight says, I'm going to get up right now. I'm seeking
Him and I'm going to go and what she did, she went about the city
in the streets and the scripture talks about a believer that seeks
after the Lord. Psalm 119, with my whole heart,
sincere heart. Have I sought Thee? Oh, let me
not wander from my commandments. She goes about the city in the
streets. Now that word city, this is where
it just really helps me look these words up. Somebody said,
well, I know what city is. I don't have to look that up.
Well, I would advise you, you know, you really will be good,
profitable. Look, if you want to look something
up, you're reading the scripture and you're wondering about it,
get you a concorder, look it up. City, right here, the word
city. Here's what it means. A place
guarded by a watch. A place guarded by a watch. That right there, I can very
well see the reference to the assembly of God's people. Here's
a city. Here's a heavenly Jerusalem. Here's the people, the church
of God. But look at this assembly right
here. Is this not a place guarded? Is this not a place hedged about?
Protected? Kept? Is it not? In the broad
ways of the street. Now this is not the entering
in by the straight gate, don't go in by the broad way. This
right here means where the openness is. Do we not preach the gospel
openly, freely, declaring salvation in Christ alone. Do we not, I
mean, we're not, you know, somebody said, well, they accuse, as I
tell you this, they accuse preachers of the gospel of being so narrow.
Well, you're just only preaching. You just say that there's only
a few. Well, we say that there's a remnant according to the election
of grace because that's what God said. Well, we're instructed,
I preach to everybody. I tell everybody. People say,
you don't believe in whosoever will. I say, yes, I do too. Whosoever
will, let him come. I know who the whosoever wills
are going to come. All that the Father has given
the Son. That's who's coming. But I don't know who they are.
So what I do is I'll tell everybody here, listen to me. The Lord
commandeth all men, all women to repent. Cast yourself upon
the mercy of God. I'm telling everybody here. I'm
not restricting anybody. I'll tell you this, God's going
to do what He's going to do. And so I'm going to preach what
He's commanded me to preach. So Shulmite got up and she said,
I'm going to get up right now and I'm going to go into the
city in the streets and I'm going to go into the place where the
Lord has revealed He's going to be. I would tell you this,
if somebody was seeking the Lord, and God's given my heart truly,
I want to know something about God. You know where I'd go? I'd
go And if I do come, I'd come somewhere where the truth of
the gospel was being preached. And here again, you've got to
be led there. If the Lord's given you a heart to come, I mean,
you're not going to get around salvations of the Lord. I can
tell you that right now. You can sit here and argue all
you want to, but salvations of the Lord. But let me tell you
where I want to go somewhere where somebody's going to pick
up a Bible, and they're going to tell me about God Almighty
who is God. And they're going to tell me
who man is. And they're not going to elevate man. I can tell you
that right now. They're not going to tell me about man's got a
free will, when I know he doesn't. They're going to tell me about
God Almighty who is elected a people. They're going to tell me about
the Lord who's sovereign. They're going to tell me about
God. So that's what Shulamite did. I'm going to go into the
city, into the guarded place. I'm gonna go somewhere where
the Lord has said where two or three are gathered together in
my name, I am in the midst of you. I'm just so thankful to
be here. I mean, it's just, this is wonderful. To be somewhere, I wouldn't trade
this for anything. Somebody said, well, if you wanna
go over here and pastor this over here, they got, you know,
3,000 people, I wouldn't trade this for whatever. Why? Because I'm convinced, this is
where God raised up the gospel. I taught some people, called
His people out of darkness. So she said, I got up, I'll rise
and go about the city and the streets and Broadway. I'll seek
Him whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. The watchman, verse 3. Now the
Lord is going to cause you to focus in on some preachers. The
watchman that go about the city found me. to whom I said, saw
ye Him whom my soul loveth. Now here's the evidence of the
Lord working within the heart of the bride. He hasn't left
her. He's promised that He's not going to do that, but her
eyes are held, they're holding, and she can't perceive Him, and
she's doing everything she knows to do. He's doing this to cause
her to know more of His value and prize His presence, and that's
what He's doing. She just, you know, so she inquires
of those who preach the gospel. Goes to a preacher, goes to a
watchman, the watchman himself, the preachers that God raised
up. Those who are upon the walls, I hear what Isaiah 62.6 says,
upon the walls of the city of spiritual Jerusalem, those who
never hold their peace, day or night, Those who make mention
of the Lord and keep not silence. That's what God's preachers do.
They're just not going to hush. They're not going to hush. Jeremiah
said one time, I quit. I quit. I'm done. But his word was in me like fire
in my bones that I couldn't contain. I had to. The scripture says
these watchmen found me. Now, the sense is that they preaching
the gospel. They spoke. In the hearing of
the gospel, she heard of her case, is what it was. She heard
of her need of hungering and thirsting after Him. These preachers,
though sin of the Lord, she went to see, you know, but they still
can't give that personal comfort. You that are struggling, which
you all do, I'm gonna tell you something, I can tell you what
God has to say, but I cannot make the Lord reveal himself
to you. I can tell you that he will,
I can tell you that he'll not leave you, he'll not forsake
you, but I don't have the power, and they didn't either. She said,
the watchman that go about the city found me, to whom I said,
saw ye him whom I sold. But we don't have that power.
We don't have that ability. But obviously, being encouraged,
he asked, you know, saw ye him whom my soul loveth? And look
what happens in verse four. Oh, by the grace of God, it was
but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my
soul loveth. I held him, would not let him
go till I brought him into my mother's house, into the chamber
of her that conceived me. Now, didn't that sound familiar? I held him and I would not let
him go. Who did that? Jacob. Remember
that? Jacob wrestled with the man,
the Lord himself, wrestled all night. The day was starting to
break. The man, the Lord himself, said
to Jacob, let me go. Jacob said, no, no, no, no, not
unless you bless me. Not unless you bless me. And
he gave him the greatest blessing. What's your name? He said, my
name's Jacob. I'm a liar. I'm a cheat. I'm a thief. That's what I am. The Lord said, no more. No. Your name's Israel. You're a
prince with God. What a blessing. Almighty God
revealed to the Jacobs in themselves. Still that old Jacob nature,
still there. No, your name is Israel. She found something that actually
was promised by God. Jeremiah 29, 13, you shall seek
me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. But the Lord's gonna have to
make his people seek him. Leave them to himself and they
won't. Oh, how painful, but how rewarding
it is. She said, she sought him, she
found him, and I brought him, she said, to my mother's house. What does
that mean? Well, turn over to Galatians
4. Galatians 4, I'm going to show
you what it means. I brought him to my mother's house. Galatians
chapter 4. All I've got to do is figure
out who is the mother that's being spoken of here. Galatians
4, 22-26. For it is written that Abraham
had two sons, one of a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh. But he
of the free woman, this is Hagar and Sarah, you know who he's
talking about, was by promise. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, you know, do and live, by the
law, Christ done in Christ. These are the two covenants,
the one after Mount Sinai, with gender it to bondage, which is
Hagar. This Hagar is Mount Sinai in
Arabia, and answer it to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage
with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
is free, which is the mother of us all. I'm going to try to
sum this up in this statement and we'll understand what Shulamite
was talking about. I found him, I held him, I would
not let him go until I brought him into my mother's house. Here,
the mother of us all. This is spiritual language, which
is wonderful, but the mother of us all. is that description
in the scriptures of that covenant of God's grace in Christ. We're
not born of bondage. We're not born of the bond woman. We're not born into God's fellowship,
assembly, by works. That's what I'm saying. But by
the grace of God, the Lord has called us out of darkness by
promise, by faith, by grace. And He's given us life in Christ,
and a believer knows that. And a believer says, that's what
Shulamite's talking about, I found Him whom my soul loveth, I held
Him and I would not let Him go till I brought Him into my mother's
house. I'm gonna rest and fellowship with Him who is my promised Savior. I'm gonna rest in Him, I'm gonna
find rest and comfort and peace and joy in the sovereign grace
of God. and not in Sinai, not in works,
not in works, not in self-righteousness. I'm going to find rest and hold
Him and stay where He is in the God that saves His people by
grace. And then lastly in verse 5, The
bride sets forth a guard against all those that would seek to
disturb the sweetness of her fellowship and peace in him.
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose and by
the hinds of the field, that you stir not up nor awake my
love till he come. I assure you, I earnestly request."
Now, these daughters of Jerusalem, who's she talking about? Now,
this is the bride. This is the bride and she's talking
to somebody. She's talking to the daughters
of Jerusalem. And I'm convinced that these
daughters of Jerusalem, the Lord has promised in the midst of
every assembly there will always be tares among the wheat. He's promised that. Now that's
just the way it is. There's always tares among the
wheat. Always. There must be There must be those
tares among the wheat, so that those which are approved may
be made manifest. Now the Lord always said, you
know, He sowed the good seed, and one came that night and sowed
tares, and the servants of the Lord said, you want to go out
there and jerk the tares up? He said, no, you leave them alone, just
leave them alone. Let them grow together. I'll separate them.
He says, you'll start tearing up tares. You may be taking up
wheat. You don't know who they are. But they're there. They're
always there. And so she's talking to somebody.
The bride is talking to somebody. But let me show you. I've done
this before. Just hold your place. A couple of verses and I'll be
done. Look back at Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 1. I've heard
people say, well these, now these, the daughters of Jerusalem are
just young believers. They're just immature believers.
If they're young believers or they're immature believers, then
they are in the bride. The bride is talking to somebody
else. Look at Song of Solomon two,
verse one and two. I am the rose of Sharon and the
lily among the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so
is my love among the daughters. That's pretty plain to me. As
the lily is among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. But one other verse. Look at
Song of Solomon 5 verse 8-10. Now, the bride is still talking
to the daughters of Jerusalem. But listen to this conversation.
Song of Solomon 5 verse 8-10. I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem. Now who's talking? The bride. If you find my Beloved, who is
she talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. If you
find my Beloved that you tell Him that I am sick of love. And then the daughters of Jerusalem
to whom the bride just spoke answered her. And the daughters
said in verse 9, What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved?
O thou fairest among women. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved that thou dost so charge us? Here's what she's
saying. The Lord that you say you love. What is He above all these other,
you know, beloveds that these other people... And Shulamite
answers in verse 10, My beloved is white. He's pure. Ruddy. the chieftess among 10,000. Whenever someone comes up to
a believer and says, this God that you say you serve, this
sovereign God, this electing God, who is he above the God
that those people over there preach? What's the difference
in him and them? Those that ask that question, there's a problem.
Believers don't ask that kind of question. Paul said, I know
in whom I have belief, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep
that which I've committed against him. So Shulamite back in our
text, and I'll close right here. She said, I assure you, O you
daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose and by the hinds, that you
stir not up nor awake my love till he please. Those that have
tasted that the Lord is good long for fellowship with Him.
I tell you what, they're on guard against that which would disturb
that fellowship. They're watchful. They're watchful. On guard against themselves being
the means of that disturbance. I don't want to have that. I
pray that the Lord be pleased to reveal Himself. I pray that
this was a help. To us, we struggle. We struggle. Sometimes we don't know. We don't
know what the Lord's doing. We don't know. You can't find
Him. What do you do? You just seek
Him. Just keep seeking. Just keep asking. He said, you
keep asking. You keep knocking. He said, I'm
going to answer. In His time, He's going to answer.
We don't give up. Believers, they don't quit. They
don't leave. I pray God bless this to His glory and our good.
Amen. Okay, Gary.