Turn with me to Song of Solomon, chapter 5. I'd like to look at
one verse, verse 9, Song of Solomon 5, 9. has been brought to an indescribably
blessed place. She has had the blessed sound of His knock
upon her enlightened heart. She heard when he knocked back in verse
2. She heard him say to her in her heart. And as I was sitting, waiting,
listening to Brother Scott and thinking on what I was about
to preach, I began to think on how wonderful these things are
to be able to honestly perceive that the Lord does knock. He does speak to the hearts of
His people. And while I was sitting there,
I was thinking, you know, this is one of the
most amazing things I'm sitting here truthfully believing in
my heart. I believe I believe this. I think
I do. That He's God Almighty. I believe I believe that, Carl.
I think I do. And I know that He speaks to
His people. I know He does because He says
He does. Bride says to him, she gives
him this frivolous excuse in verse 3, taking my coat off,
wash my feet. And I think, I'm just so, you
know, I'm always finding myself with that kind of attitude. I just, I know, I know I do. And I hate that. I truly do. I hate that. I hate when I find
myself in these times of complacency. And I know and I'm convinced,
verse 4, He knows how to put His hand by the hole of the door. He knows how to open. He doesn't
have to. He knocks. He knows exactly what
He is doing. He listens to the excuse of my
law of sin that dwells within me. Because He won't let me go,
He puts His hand. There have been times, verse
5, I truthfully believe that He has stirred my heart to get
up. still could feel the stupidity
of my heart of complacency. And I truthfully believe that
I do have that longing after him, an admittance of placing
my hand on the handles of the lock where I am quite aware of
some of the things of which I rebelled. I think I can enter into verse
6 to say that upon Him revealing Himself that I, by God's grace,
opened to my Beloved because He made me open to Him. I find that my Beloved had withdrawn
Himself. It was gone. And truly, my heart
fails. And even now, I truthfully believe
I can say the pains of those times
you call and he doesn't answer. In the eighth verse, the daughters
of Jerusalem were spoken to. And the bride asked her, if you
find my beloved, that you tell him, or actually,
what will you tell him? I'm sick of love. I'm lovesick. Now, you know, I believe that
there really are some here that can enter into this. I believe
that. And the daughters of Jerusalem
come back with a question in verse 9 that I am telling you,
I think will just strike the believer's heart with conviction. It does mine. The daughters ask
the bride, 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?" We are going to be taught some
things. A believer is in a constant state
of learning. And I'll tell you one of the
hardest things that I think that it is to learn. It is for me. is to be taught to wait on the
Lord. Wait. Psalm 27, verse 14 says
this, Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. And He shall
strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Wait. Now, the reason that I
think that the verse 9 is so convicting. What is thy beloved? When you just read it, you think,
well, there's not much to that question. You know, what is thy
beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest among women, what
is he to you? Is what she's asking. And you
think, oh, that's an easy question to answer. You know, just bear
with me for one second. Let's look at it. What is truthfully
being asked, what or who is He to you? Above everything else,
who is He to you? It's a lie. It's a lie that we
tell ourselves. It's a lie that others tell us.
It's a lie that it is within the power of the child of God
to hold intimate reunion not reunion, communion, I'm sorry,
that it is a lie that a believer has the power to hold intimate
communion with the Lord Jesus Christ at any time. Now, if you
think that you can, you're fooled. If you think that you have within
your power the ability to hold intimate and loving communion
with Him. I'm talking about being able
to fellowship with Him. I mean seriously. I'm not kidding.
I'm talking about seriously holding fellowship with Him. Turn with
me to Job 29. Job 29. What I said was, you
do not have the power to hold intimate communion. Job 29 verse
2 and 3, ìO, that I were as in months
past, as in the days when God preserved me, when His candle shined upon my head, His lamp
the brightness of His revelation, the glory of Himself. When His candle shined upon my
head and when by His light I walk through darkness. Look at chapter
23. Turn back to 23. Job 23. Oh, that I knew where I might
find Him, that I might come even to His seat. Look at verse 8.
Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but
I cannot perceive Him. On the left hand, where He doth
work, but I cannot behold Him. He hideth Himself on the right
hand, that I cannot see Him. But He knoweth, verse 10, the
way that I take when He hath tried me. I shall come forth
as gold. You know, that is a That's a
blessed promise. I know. I know. I know that He's
there. Oh, there's times that I just
cannot find Him. I can't perceive Him. There's
times that I would desire Him. The Lord causes His people to
wait to prove the genuineness of His work that is within, the
reality of the operation of His grace. I listen to folks and
you perceive very quickly. It seems as though that some
try to give the impression that they are so continually in tune
with the Spirit of God that there is not a moment that they are
ever out of sync, out of communion with Him. And I just don't find
that recorded in the Scriptures. I just don't. The Lord is going
to reveal Himself to His people. And He's going to teach them.
But I'm telling you, His ability and His way of teaching is such
that He knows exactly how to draw His people to Himself. Wait on Him. What does the people
of God wait for? She waits knowing that nothing
can happen until He's pleased to manifest Himself. She knows
that. She's convinced of that. I'm
telling you, if you want to know how refreshing it is to hear
the gospel of free grace, the gospel of Christ, You let the
Lord put you in a position to where you have no hunger. A man, a woman that goes through
this life with no hunger and no thirst after Christ doesn't
know Him. I'm telling you, I'm just going
to be flat honest with you. Blessed is the man that hungers
and thirsts after righteousness. And God's people, they hunger. And they thirst. This bride was
hungering after Him. She thirsted after Him. Do you
know where He is? Don't tell me about somebody
that's trying to wait on me to do something for them. I don't
want to hear it. I'm just not going to hear it. But you tell
me about the sovereign God who knows how to reveal Himself to
me and reveal the blessedness of His person and His glory.
He's not one who is at the beck and call of a puny man, but He's
the mighty God whose audience is granted in proportion to divine
wisdom and grace. That's how He knows. People of God, I love their audience. I love to be around them. I love to talk to them. I like
to listen to them. I like to hear them. some things
that I can truthfully enter in with. I love their audience.
A believer longs after the audience of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
bride waits by strength given from above to not quit. She waits on that. She knows,
Lord, don't leave me to myself. She knows that He won't leave
her to Himself. She knows that and she asks anyway
because she feels the pain. And she knows the reason that
she's like that. She knows the reason is because
of the law of sin that dwells in her. It's there. And she knows
it's there. And she hates it. She waits courageously
in the face of opposition that would destroy her if possible. And she waits to be allowed to
tell Him afresh, I'm wounded with love. She waits on that.
She knows that He hears the cry of her heart, the longing of
her passion, and is convinced that He ever holds her secure. She knows that, but realizes
still that His face, lovingly, graciously hidden from her, is
for her good and for His glory. She knows that she's been hedged
about. She knows that she can't get out. When she cries and shouts,
He shuts out her prayer. That's Lamentations 3.7. She
knows that. It's like the Syrophoenician
woman that besought the Lord Jesus Christ to cast forth the
devil out of her daughter. And at first, He answered her,
the Scripture says, not a word. He didn't say anything to her.
But irresistible grace drew her heart to Him, and He granted
her plea. He caused her to keep Ashton
and brought honor to Himself. But if we would consider the
heart of why does the Lord God of heaven lovingly draw Himself
into the shadow of our sight That is where we don't behold.
That's what Job said. I just looked. I just couldn't find him. Why
does he remove himself from the eye of his people? Someone say,
well, the Lord always wants everybody to see Him. Always wants. Well,
according to His Word, He doesn't. He doesn't do it. I know this
out of meanness or evilness. I know that. But right, He does
that which is good. Why? Why are there times? And
it may be to you just for a moment, but it may be days, it may be
months, it may be, I can tell you from experience, it could
be years. And I'm telling you, there's
nothing that is more refreshing than the cool drink of His presence. when He by His mercy reveals
Himself. This is the God of the Bible. The reason He does this, it would
be to grant us at least in part an answer to the question that
was asked in verse 9. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? O thou fairest among women. Or,
as I said a moment ago, what is there in Christ that makes
Him more beloved than anything else? This question is more searching
than I think and you think. This is the question. Is there
anything else in this life that usurps the heart away from Him? I thought about that. I thought
for a while on that. That is a question that you would
think would just be so easily answered, so easily. Oh, I know
that. I love the Lord. Really? Really? I know you do, you that
know Him. I know you do. But I got to thinking
about this. How evil is the law of sin that
dwells within us. Let me tell you how evil it is,
and when I get through telling you everything I can in the next
45 seconds on this little point right here, I still will not
have touched it. I began to think, what is there that steals away
moments of my consideration of Him? The simplest things in the
world that you would think mean nothing. I like to wear blue jeans every
day. I like to wear them. They are
comfortable to me. I like them better than other types. Well,
Sundays and Wednesdays I will plan to wear something different.
I like blue jeans though. It is just a simple thought,
but I prefer and I will think upon because I think they make
me feel better. I like shirts. I like nice shirts. I'll go to Penny's and I'll pick
out a color shirt that I think looks good or would look better
on me. So therefore, I'm really thinking
of myself. It comes right down to it. You know, I prefer, I
like to drive that vehicle. I've just, I like that and I've
looked at it and I like that one. That's the one I like to
drive. I like steak. I like meat. I'd rather have meat than something
else. I prefer that. And I'll think
on that. You say, yeah, but I realize,
but you're making this thing way too straight, way too narrow,
way too, you know, we would try to excuse ourselves and say that's
just too narrow a way of thinking to occupy every desire of my
heart. You're getting this thing down
to what you eat and what you drink and what you wear and what
you drive and where you live. You're making everything else...
Let me ask you something. Do you realize that only the body of this flesh, the only
thing that separates us from that attitude of having nothing
else between my thoughts and Him. The only thing that separates
us is this body that I am in, the law of sin that dwells within
me. Everything, everything that I think about, everything else
that I think about except Him is in itself an item because
I dwell on it and I look to it It doesn't have to be a little
gold image. It's whatever else. It's whatever sets my affection
on that for the moment. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? What is it about anything else
that is above Him? Everything else that I think.
My mind is so consumed with everything else and my thoughts of Him are
so slight and so compared to everything else, to my own disgust
of myself, are so short, so small. Can it be that the Lord would
lovingly draw away His presence to cause me to behold how empty
the toys of this world really are, how insignificant? Why would He withdraw Himself
because He'll cause me then to look for Him. Where if He didn't,
I just wouldn't do it. 1 John 5, 20 and 21 says,
Know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. And we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves
from idols. Oh, I've thought about that.
Oh, I do that. Don't worry about me. No idols
here. Oh, really? Obviously, no man can keep himself
from the idols of this world. Those things that are present
in every one of us. Not one thing that I have or
you have that possess, not one moment of your time that is spent
in anything else other than beholding and longing after and seeking
after Him. Everything else is an idol. I
like that. I'm going to spend my time. I'm
going to spend my money. I'm going to spend... What is thy beloved more? What
is He more than any other beloved to you? These things that draw
away our thoughts from Him, oh my, truly, as the Lord teaches
His people, they behold the fallacy of this life. And they see the
cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other
things are those things that choke the Word. That's what the
Scripture said concerning Him. But so what? They just choke.
You that know Him, you know I'm telling you the truth. I'm telling
myself the truth. I know this is true. I'm not talking to you.
I'm talking to us. While we see ourselves going
after all of these things, we realize and have to be honest,
He does well to withdraw Himself from me, cause me. 1 John 2.15 says, little children,
love not the world. And I think to myself, oh, I
don't do that. And I think, yes, I do. Yes,
I do. Love not the world. I do love the world. What is
my Beloved? More than another Beloved. What
is He? Is there anyone or anything that
I can say save of Him? He is my Savior. He is my Redeemer. He is my Prophet. He has spoken
to me from God. He is my Priest. He intercedes
for me. He is my King. He is my Friend.
I know that only the Spirit of God can teach me this blessed
truth. I truly desire to love not the
world. Neither of the things. I desire
not to do that. And I see myself doing the very
thing. That's what Paul says. The things that I would not do.
Those things. That's what I do. And the things
that I would, longing after, seeking after, searching after
Him, those things I don't do as I
ought. He is all that my soul needs. I know that. He's God's salvation. The time that we spend here for
a moment will not exhaust His beauty. He is Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, the end of the law, for righteousness
to all that believe. If I could grasp hold of that
by faith, I see it. I see it. If I could believe
it as I desire to believe it, By God's grace I shall. 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? Who is he to you? He is the Lord. He dealt well
with me. to draw Himself away lovingly,
to cause me to hunger after Him and to see what I am within myself,
a sinner in need of Him. That is what Brother Scott was
talking about. I need Him. If God Almighty reveals that
to you, He will be altogether lovely to you. he'll be altogether
lovely to me. If he doesn't, he'll be nothing
more than just another object that I can consider. But if he
is truly beloved to me, I hate myself for not thinking and looking
and speaking to him as I ought.