Song of Solomon, Chapter 2. Song of Solomon, Chapter 2. I'm
going to start in Chapter 2, last couple of verses, and then
we'll go into Chapter 3. This blessed book is spiritual
language concerning the love. between the Lord Jesus Christ
and His bride. It's the language of Christ to
His bride and her language back to Him. The scripture says in Song of
Solomon chapter 2 in verse 16, the bride is speaking here and
she says, my beloved, is mine, and I am his. He feedeth among
the lilies." The bride and all who are members of his bride
have experienced in heart the love of the Lord for her. He saved her. He's kept her. He's taught her. And she loves
him because he first loved her. And she declares, by faith, every
member, every part of Christ's bride, every believer, this is
what you say, my beloved is mine. Oh, what a confession of love.
He's mine. He's my one beloved. Given me to be my priest. He's my priest. He's my head. He's my savior. He's my husband. He's my surety. My beloved is
mine and I am his. I'm his. The Father gave me to
Him. I'm His. He bought me by His
own precious blood. And I'm His by willing consent. Lord, I come. You said, come
unto me. Lord, I come. I come right now. I just want to be where You are. That's what I want. My beloved's mine, and I'm his,
and we're each other's. And he feedeth among the lilies. The lilies. Who are the lilies?
It's his people. Look at chapter 2, verse 2. As the lily among thorns, so
is my love among the daughters. I'll tell you right now, the
daughters. in the Song of Solomon are tares. They're professors
of Christ that don't know Him. We went through this book and
I could show you verse after verse after verse, because if
the bride is talking to somebody, then she's not talking to herself.
She's talking to somebody else. When he's talking about my beloved
Christ, his bride, That's his bride, that's his whole bride.
Well if she's talking to somebody else, well then that's not her.
As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters. There's tears among the wheat
always, but she's still the wheat. She's my beloved. He feedeth
among the lilies. The Lord, when it says, He feedeth,
He's doing the feeding. It's not Him eating. He's the
bread of life. He's the bread of heaven. He
does the feeding and He feeds His people. Let me tell you what
He's doing right now, Fred, among the lilies, right now. As we
sit here and we listen to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him glorified and honored and exalted and highly lifted
up. You know what He's doing? He's
feeding. He said, eat of me. Come unto
me. He that eateth of my flesh and
drinks my blood. He that by faith feeds upon my
life and death is your only hope. Me. That's feeding the sheep. God's sheep feed. We're sheep
of His pasture and we're sitting here and we're feeding. He feedeth
among the lilies. He feeds her with Himself. He
feeds her by His Word and she grows. And how long, Lord? How long shall you do that? How long shall you feed? How long will my beloved be mine
and how long will he Well, look at verse 17. Until the day break,
the shadows flee away. Turn, my beloved, and be thou
like a roe or a young heart upon the mountain of Bether. Until
the day breaks. How long are we going to have
to feed by faith? Until the day break. The day
of Christ's second coming. The day itself. The day of the
Lord. until the day break, the last
and glorious day when Christ, the Son of Righteousness shall
appear and chase away not only all the shadows of the ceremonial
law that still plague a believer trying to somehow think he can,
the forms and types and pictures, but all the shadows and the darkness
of sin's presence. How long do we need to feed upon
Him by faith until He comes back? What does she say to Him? Until
the day break and the shadows flee away, turn, surround. That's what it means. Surround.
Border me on every side. Be like a row or a young heart. Be strong unto me. Keep me Lord, keep me by your
grace and your power upon the mountains of Bithyr. Bithyr was
a mountain range I found out that separated Judea. It was separated Bithyr, this
mountain range. In fact, if you look, you may
have a marginal reading there in your Bible. If you see Bithyr,
it means of division. This division, that was a mountain
range. It was separated from Judea by
the Jordan River. But it was that mountain range
right there that separated that division. But speaking spiritually
right now, there is a division right now between the Bride of
Christ and the Lord Himself in this sense. She's saying, you
that are mine, you that feed me, are strong in time, surround
me and keep me during this time of separation. There was a time
when the Lord Jesus Christ physically walked on this earth. His disciples
saw him, they touched him, they heard his voice, but he ascended
into heaven. And right now, in bodily form,
The God-man mediator is in the heavens. Now, we have this blessed
truth. His spirit, His spirit is ever
with us. He's always, He said, I'll never
leave you. I will never forsake you. But
there is a division right now between us. He's coming back.
And we're going to see Him as He is. But I'll tell you what
she's doing right now, in this time, where she's saying, Lord,
surround me, keep me right now. We know Him. We seek Him. We
come unto Him. We continuously call upon Him
and seek Him whom we love. But I tell you this, there's
coming a time when we're going to behold Him again. But during
this time, Lord, keep me. Lord, help me. Lord, during this
time of your physical separation, he lives within the hearts of
his people by his Holy Spirit, and I'm so thankful. He's not
left us to ourselves. No. But I'm telling you, we're
going to see him, and when we see him, we're going to be made
like him. Our spirits are going to be united
with our bodies again. We've been studying that in 1
Corinthians. We're going to be reunited with our bodies together
with the Lord in the air and forever in a new and changed
body, we're going to be with him physically, actually with
him, with him, see him, be like him and know him as we're known. Boy, there's a great mystery.
Keep me. She is so assured of her beloved
and her oneness with I'm His, He's mine. Oh, He feeds me, keeps
me. Lord, keep me during this time
of division. Keep me during this time of separation.
She never moves away. She's kept. But there's something
that happens here, though she never moves away from seeking
Him. Not God's people, because she's
kept. She has all things in Him, and she knows it, but she still
comes to Him as a beggar. She's the bride, accepted in
the Beloved. And she keeps coming to Him empty-handed,
coming to the Sovereign who loves her and gave Himself for her.
Oh, that blessed fellowship. But something happens in this
next verse. We behold the blessedness of
that communion and fellowship with the Lord, but there's a
truth that we need to be freshly taught. And I pray that this
is a help to all of us. We need this. We need this. We
need to be taught afresh, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And he scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If we be without chastisement
it's because we're not his. He loves all his people and he
chastens all his people. Look at verse 1 of chapter 3. By night on my bed I sought him
whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. Now, let me tell you what the
bride is doing right here. She is seeking the Lord. She's
truly seeking the Lord. She's seeking the one, she said,
that her soul loves. I sought him. I sought him on my bed. I sought
him in private prayer. I cried unto the Lord. And God's
people always do. But something has happened. She
said, I sought the one that my soul loveth. I love him. I love him. And he loves me. But I couldn't find it. I couldn't find it. The Lord has done something and
He does this to God's people. Now listen to what I'm saying. There are times when the Lord
is pleased for His glory and our good to withdraw Himself. And He's
done that which is right. I'm going to show you this. I'm
going to show you in Scripture that this is right. This is how
God often deals with His people. There's some things in all of
us that we're not aware. There's some things in all of
us because of the presence of sin of which we're not even aware. But the Lord knows. He knows. He knows us, we don't know ourselves.
Believe me, we don't know ourselves. We don't know the capability
of ourselves but for the grace of God. But He's withdrawn Himself
and it's for our good and His glory that we might know more
earnestly His value and prize Him more intently. To prize His
presence. I am the world's worst For not
appreciating, I don't appreciate what we have right here. Not as I ought to. And I think
every believer is going to admit the same thing. How much do we
truly prize the presence of Christ? Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, I'm in the midst of you. Now just be honest
with yourself, don't raise your hands. How many truly, truly
appreciate that as we ought? Really. Now let's just be honest.
How much are we so taken up with His praise? He's right here.
How much do we really prize that? How much do we really prize?
Do you realize we have the privilege to come together and hear the
gospel three times a week? How much do we truly prize that?
or let other things take it away. How much? Really,
really. Let's just be honest about it.
I sought on my bed at night, I tell you, when the Lord is
pleased to withdraw Himself. And someone say, well, what does
that mean? If you know Him, you know exactly what it means. It's night to you. If the Lord
withholds the blessing to your heart of His presence, it's night
to you. She's sensitive of His departure. And she determines to seek Him. By night on my bed, I sought
Him. She wasn't playing. She meant
it. She meant it. I sought Him whom
my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him
not. Then she said this. Okay, that's
in private prayer. On her bed, in her heart. Well, what'd she do? He said
in verse 2, I will arise now and I will go about the city
and the streets and the broad ways and will seek him whom my
soul loveth. I sought him but I found him
not. Seeking the Lord in the dark
and trying seasons of affliction and adversity. Seeking the Lord in those times
of trial. It was dark to her. She didn't
know what was going on. She didn't know. I mean, you
just, you know, I don't know. I mean, the ways of the Lord
are beyond us. We don't know. But I can tell
you this. You just find yourself in adversity. I'm talking about, again, well,
I keep thinking of a doctor. I'll just go ahead and tell you.
You let a doctor tell you. You have terminal cancer. You've got 15 months to live. And all of a sudden, you're trying
to get the mind of the Lord why these things are happening. We're
going to struggle with our flesh. We're going to struggle with
it. Somebody says, well, I believe God. Well, we all do. God's people do. But I'm telling
you, you still struggle with it, trying to find out. Why would
the Lord do this? Why, why, why, why? We're all
prone to doubting. She couldn't find him, couldn't
find him. Whatever she was going through, something was going
on. She said, I'm going to get up. I'm going to seek him. She left her closet and she said,
I'm going to go and I'm going to go out and I'll rise in the
streets. Now I will rise now and go about
the city. Now let me tell you what that
word means right there. The city. Here's what it means.
The place of encampment or a place guarded by a watch. You know
where she went? Right here. Where would you naturally think
that you'd find the Lord? Where does a believer, this is
a believer, where do you naturally think you'll find him? Right here. I gotta eat. I gotta eat today. I gotta eat
again. I can't get by on just eating
once a day. I'm gonna rise and I'm gonna
go into the streets and in the broad ways, in the public ordinances
of true and sincere worship, assembling together with God's
people in the place of God's choosing and hearing the Word
of God being read and seeing the praises of His grace and
His mercy and fellowshipping together. I've got to be with
you. I've got to be with you. I can't be separated from my
wife. I go somewhere to preach and
I, you know, I forget what shirt to put on. I've been doing this
for a long time. Surely I can, no. I gotta be, I wanna be with her.
I wanna be where she is, I wanna be, God's people wanna be with
God's people. You write that down. God's people,
they're sheep, they assemble themselves. What shall you do?
I'm going to get up and I'm going to go where God has said He's
pleased to manifest Himself. That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go in the city, the streets, I'm going to seek
Him who my soul loveth. She said I sought Him. But I found Him not. Listen,
the bride is not doing anything knowingly, contrary to that which
was the right thing to do. Is it right to seek the Lord
on your bed? Is it right to assemble yourselves
with God's people, in fellowship with God's people, praying together
and singing together and worshiping together? Is it right to do?
Yes, yes, yes, yes. She said, I did everything I
knew to do. I didn't find him. I couldn't
find him. I could not find him. He said in verse 3, the watchman
that go about the city found me. To whom I said, saw ye him
whom my soul loveth. The watchman. Who are they? They're God's preachers. That's
who they are. They're watchmen. The watchmen,
the ministers. And the scripture says that the
ministers, those watchmen, found her. The Lord sent them to her,
caused them to cross her path, that they might be the means
of comfort. God sent them. God sent them.
Jeremiah 3.15, I'll give you pastors according to mine heart.
They'll feed you with knowledge and understanding. And the bride
has been seeking the one whom she loves, seeking Him everywhere. She knew. Let me ask you something. If you're going through trial
and tribulation, you don't know why these things are falling
out the way they are. My family situation, My husband, my wife and I were
going through some trials. Where else are you going to seek
the Lord? But asking the Lord privately,
coming together with God's people and hearing the preaching of
the Gospel. Let me ask you this, where else are you going to go? And if the Lord is not pleased
to reveal to you, why? You can't find Him. She said, watchmen, they found
me. I want to tell you something. Finding
the Lord in rest, that message that I just preached, you come
unto me, I'll give you rest. Rest. What did she want? Rest. I've got to settle down here.
I've got to settle down. I've got to. But I'll tell you
this, my friend, it's not automatic. You think, well I'll just A-B-C
and then he'll D-E-F and we'll all be happy. No, not necessarily. It's not
automatic. It's right to seek the Lord.
I would advise all of us, seek the Lord before you do anything
else in the day. And before you go to sleep, seek
the Lord. Seek the Lord. Seek Him. finding
the Lord. It's not accomplished in the
power or the ability of the sinner. We do all we know to do, but
I tell you, until the Lord is pleased to manifest Himself to
us and settle us down, it's the most glorious thing
to watch a believer die. To watch a believer die. Now this is the last of this
life. We're going to die. But to watch
a believer, to see the reaction of the natural
inclinations of the heart when you first find out something.
I told you this, Scott told me the first time when they found
a malignant tumor. In my bladder, he said, the worst
part of it is when you first hear it. I said, thanks, Scott. You watch a believer as they
go through trials and tribulations, and you watch them at the end.
You watch how they die. You watch a believer. They're
looking for rest, and God only going to give them rest. But
he's going to give them rest. You come unto me. All you that
labor heavily, I'm going to give you rest. I'm going to give you
rest. She wanted some rest. Scripture
says in John 3.27, a man can receive, that is taken to himself,
nothing except it be given him from heaven. The bride honorably,
faithfully, diligently sought Him whom her soul loveth. She did it in private prayer
and public worship and still the Lord was not pleased to reveal
Himself. Until He caused her path to cross
with some watchmen who were the God-ordained means of a blessing
and they were asked something. She
said, saw ye him whom my soul loveth? Here's what she asked
him. Can you tell me where I can find
him? That's what every believer asks
in their heart when they sit and hear the gospel preached.
Can you tell me again, tell me one more time, how I can find
him? How I can know him? Tell me again
how He's put away. Tell me again the comfort that
I have that's only in Christ. You tell me again. Oh, the blessing
of being able to answer that question. If somebody were to
come to you, you'd tell yourself, what do I do? What do I do? I tell you, I was reminded of
what John the Baptist did. What do you tell somebody? Here's
what it said, John 1, 29. Behold, the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. Someone would say, do you mean
that's it? If that scripture is blessed
to my heart and your heart by the Spirit of God, to behold
Him, behold Him as God's mercy, God's salvation. God's Lamb,
you behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of all of
His people, the world, Jews, Gentiles, all of them. He's got
a people. You behold Him, behold Him by
faith. If God ever teaches me that,
I'd settle down. What do you do? Tell me, how
can I find Him? Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away. And obviously they answered.
They answered her. Whatever she asked, they answered
her. Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? I've been seeking him. I can't find him. I've sought
him in prayer. I've sought him in the services.
I've tried to. But listen, listen, listen. There's
something that we may... I said something a while ago.
I said it's not automatic. Peace, comfort, finding the Lord,
resting in the Lord is not automatic. We seek the Lord in our closet.
That is the means by which the Lord is pleased to communicate. We seek the Lord in worship right
here. That is the means. We enter in
our closet, but we don't seek the closet. Well, I've said my
prayers. Well, I prayed today. I didn't
have as much time as I wanted to, but I did it, you know, while
I was getting ready. I was getting ready for work,
you know. Well, that's wonderful. That's
wonderful. And if that's the way that you're able to do it,
I'm so glad. I'm so glad. But I'm going to tell you something.
It is the means. We assemble ourselves together
and worship. But I'll tell you this. We don't
trust that we showed up for church. This is not an obligation that
we have to show up. Well, I'm obligated to come.
Well, I showed up. I just showed up. So, what does
that mean? I want to tell you something.
We don't look to the means. Any of us can go through the
motions. There's many that's gone through the motions. Those exercises they've left
just as empty. We seek the Lord, and we're promised
to find Him when moved by God's Spirit. We seek Him, and God
blesses it. He blesses it. We call on Him. We ask Him for
mercy. We ask Him. He may be pleased
at that moment. But if He doesn't, what do we
do? We still call. We still wait.
Lord, if You don't bless, I'm not going to be blessed. You're gonna think, I was blessed
today because I said my prayers, I came to church. But what if
God didn't bless it? She did that. But the scripture
says, but after she went and crossed paths with these ministers,
these watchmen, look at verse four. It was but a little that
I passed from them, but oh, the blessed words we're about to
read. But I found him whom my soul
loveth. I held him. I would not let him
go until I had brought him into my mother's house and into the
chamber of her that conceived me. I'm telling you something
happened to Shulamite that only the Lord knew how to produce. Was she unappreciative? We are
too. Was she you know, not thankful
for the assembling of the saints together, we're not either. But is God obligated to bless
us because we went through the means? He knows how to draw his
people to himself. He knows how to withhold himself.
The scripture says, though she'd gone through all of those things,
the scripture says in Jeremiah 29, 13, you shall seek me, Find
me when you search for me with a sincere heart. And only the
Lord knows how to make this heart sincere. He knows. He knows how. Yeah, he knows how. Oh, this
amazing truth. She said, it was but a little
while I passed from them, and I found him whom my soul loveth. What happened? He revealed himself to her. in
a way that only the Lord can. And that's as far as I can explain
it. Only the Lord. I want you to look at Luke 24.
You talk about, to me, a perfect verse of Scripture for an example.
Luke 24, verses 13 to 16. Why could she not see Him? Why could she not find Him? She
was doing what she thought was the right thing to do. It was
the right thing to do. And she couldn't find Him. Why? Why? Verse 13, Luke 24, And behold,
two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which
was from Jerusalem, about three score furlongs. And they talked
together of all these things which had happened And it came
to pass that while they communed together in reason, Jesus Himself
drew near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that
they should not know Him. And He was right there. He was
right there. And they couldn't see Him. Why? Because He was pleased to withhold
their knowledge of who he was. He was pleased to do that. Why? Because it pleased him to do
so. And they started talking and they had a conversation.
He said, these things that you're talking about, what are you talking about? Obviously,
you're a stranger in town. We're talking about Jesus of
Nazareth, the one that we truly, we thought, was the Messiah. We thought that He was God's
sent. We thought that He was God's
Lamb. We thought that. Three days ago, they crucified
Him. Old fools and slow of heart to
believe all things that Scriptures had said, prophesied. They couldn't find him. But the
scripture says something happened. Look over in verse 30 of Luke
24. He pretended like he was going to go and keep going. They
constrained him to come in and he started, you know, sitting
down and the scripture says that he broke bread with them. And
look at verse 30 to 31. It came to pass, as he sat at
meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and break it,
and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew
Him. And He vanished out of their
sight. And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within
us? While He talked with us by the
way, and while He opened to us the scriptures. They were like
Shulamite. They couldn't find Him. They
didn't know where He was. He was crucified three days ago. We thought He was it. Their eyes
were holding. Oh, but when God was pleased
to open their eyes, like He did the brides. Back here in Song
of Solomon, chapter 3. It was but a little while I passed
from them, but I found Him. And they did too. They found
him, whom my soul loved. I held him. I wouldn't let him
go until I brought him into my mother's house, into the chamber
of her that conceived me. What did she do? She went back.
That is talking about the church, the brides, where the Lord was
pleased to save her. She went back and did the same
things that she had done before, Pat. She went back and met in
her closet again. She met with God's people again,
just like she'd done before. But there was a big difference
this time. God blessed it to her. He caused her to see Him. There's a big difference in hearing
it with this and hearing it right now. I saw Him. Then, then He was
prized. Then He was precious to her.
Before, and He knew, the Lord knew how to do that. He knows
how to. And every time we go through
something like this, It's for our good. I held him. I would not let him go. It's like Jacob wrestling with
a man. Let me go. No. Not unless you
bless me. And here's what she said to the
daughters of Jerusalem. I charge you, verse 5, O daughters
of Jerusalem. Now remember, who's saying this? The bride. And she's talking
to somebody. She's talking about those thorns.
You know, as the lily among the thorns, so is my beloved among
the daughters. And she says, to the world, to
the tares. She said, I charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that
you stir not up nor awake my love till He please. Here, she
reveals her joy and thankfulness because of His presence and declares
her jealousy against anyone or anything that would disturb her
spiritual communion with her Lord. I charge you. Oh, it's a blessing. to be able
to fellowship and commune with God's people. Oh, but it's infinitely
more blessed when He takes that time of prayer, He takes the
hearing of the gospel. And God's people, they hear it.
The Spirit of God reveals it to them. And Christ reveals Himself. That's what it is to find the
Lord. It's when He blesses it to our
heart. fall upon us, it shouldn't be
this way. But I'm telling you, a believer
can sit and hear the glorious gospel of God's grace preached
and proclaimed, and but for the grace of God, it'll be this because
of the presence of sin. Well, I've heard that before.
I know. I know. But Lord, if you bless
it, our hearts will then and only then burned within us. Only then, I'm so made to remember,
there's times, every believer knows what I'm talking about.
There's times where you'll read a scripture, or God will cause
something to come to your heart, and it just so overwhelms you.
You'll just, I mean, you're just brought to tears. It's so precious,
it's so precious. You know, I'm thinking, I want
that. I want that. Why? Why can I not
read the scriptures every time, and that happened? Why? Oh, wretched
man that I am. Lord, bless the word to my heart. Lord, keep me from myself. Lord, bless the time of prayer. Lord, Holy Spirit, order my thoughts. Lord Jesus, would you take what
I say and present it to the Father in what I should have said? In
the spirit I should have said it. Would you present my prayer? in the blessing of your essence
and your glory to the Father. And Father, will you accept it
for Christ's sake on my behalf? Amen.