Song of Solomon, chapter 5. I'd like to deal this evening
really with verses 5 through 8, and I As I've read these passages of
Scripture and considered them, I think that I can truthfully
say that I know something about what it's talking about. I've
heard it said that you can only preach truly something that you've experienced. And I know that there's much
that we experience by faith. But then those things that we
truly experience in this life, you know a little bit about what
you're talking about. There's always the presence of what I will speak
of as slackness on the part of every believer. Listen, fools make a mock of
sin while the godly soul groans truly under its burden. And the
sorrow that they feel That is a believer. But what he perceives
within is truly evidence of life, true spiritual life. The Lord
himself had said back in the first verse of the fifth chapter,
ìI am come into my garden.î He had gathered his myrrh, the Scripture
said, my spice or his spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink
abundantly. O beloved," the bride said back
to him, he had enjoyed the fruit of his
own production within the heart of his own. That is what he said.
I have enjoyed that, that which I produced within you, my people. I have visited you." And the
mysterious and wonderful truth concerning the presence of Almighty
God, he said, ìLo, I am with you always, even to the end of
the age.î He said, ìI enjoy I feast on that which I have produced."
The fruit of the Spirit of God is good fruit, not anything that
we have produced. Even though in the revelation
of His mercy to His people, they detect something of laziness. You know it's there. Any person
that says, I don't see any slothfulness or laziness within me, is deceived. Because Paul expressed
exactly the heart of a believer when he said, I see in me That
is, in my flesh there dwells no good thing. I know it is there.
Every believer detects that. She said, I sleep, but my heart
waketh. There is the common sin, presence
of sin, of spiritual floundering, but there is a hopeful admission. I am awake. A believer knows. My heart waketh, she said. The believer knows something
of exactly what is expressed here in verse 2. Even in the
midst of the neglect of divine instruction, and we sit right
here, right now, and I am convinced there are believers in this place,
and every one of them would say, I see, I know what you're talking
about. I know it. I hear this Word and I know I
enter into it. I know I do. I know I believe
what you're saying. I know that I believe what the
Spirit of God is revealing here. But I know that there is, no
matter how hard or how much I can feel within my spiritual understanding,
a desire after Him. I know that it's just like a
dream that I somehow... I know I've dreamed before that
I'd be running, and I just couldn't run. Something would be after
me. I just couldn't get going fast enough. I sleep, but my
heart's awake. I know it is. He hears the voice. of the Master
is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me,
my sister, my love." That's how He describes her. And she's aware
of it. The believer hears the preaching
of the Gospel. They know it's the voice of Christ.
She hears it in her own admission of herself in a dreamy condition. We hear of the everlasting covenant
of grace how Almighty God from the foundation of the world set
His affection on His people and entered into a covenant with
Himself on their behalf and in Christ with them. And He said,
I'll write My law on your heart. I'll be your God. You'll be My
people. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. And we
hear that. And we know that it's indescribably
wonderful. But if we're honest about it,
we'll admit it's not to me, because I see through a glass darkly,
as I wish it would be wonderful to me. I wish that I could see
it and behold it as I shall behold Him, foolishly as He knocks Even
in her heart, verse 3, I put off my coat. How shall I put
it on? There is the attempt of every
believer. Somehow in our foolishness and
our frailness in the presence of sin, we somehow excuse ourselves
We excuse ourselves even as we sit right here and say, well,
but I am but a sinner. I can't. But on the other hand,
we hate that. We excuse ourselves and hate
that we excuse ourselves. I'll put my coat off. We have, in ourselves, seemed
to tell ourselves that it's a small thing to find reason for coolness
toward Him. It's inexcusable. And we still
do it. Turn with me to Revelation 2. The Lord was speaking through
the Apostle John. Revelation 2. Unto the angel of the church
at Ephesus. Now listen to this. Let me tell
you, without going into a lot, I don't want to spend all of
my time I want to stay pretty close. I'm thinking about something
else, and there I go. I'll stick to my notes. The church
at Ephesus. This was the church. You remember
we looked at this a few weeks ago. That was the center of idolatry. The temple of Diana was there. This was the center of heathenistic
worship at that time. I mean, this was it. This was
sin city. The Lord sent a man there and
raised up a church in Ephesus, Paul the Apostle. And Paul, that
group of people right there, the church at Ephesus, Paul wrote
a letter to them. And through that letter, we have
recorded in these Scriptures the book of Ephesians. And through
that letter, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, have revealed
to us indescribable truth, the blessedness of eternal election,
predestination, adoption. You go back and read the book
of Ephesians and you see how Almighty God has loved us with
a love that is everlasting. And what He revealed to us, that
church was a blessed church. It was in the midst of a heathenistic
society, but God had a people there. And He blessed them and
kept them and raised them up there. And for a while they remained,
but as we considered, now that church is gone after all that
was there. But it was this church, to the
book of Ephesians, unto the angel of the church at Ephesus, write
these things, saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right
hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He is saying that I'm the one
that holds the pastors. Go back and read that in chapter
1, who the stars were, who the seven golden candlesticks were.
Those are the churches. He said, I know thy works, and
thy labor, and thy patience, how thou canst not bear them
which are evil. Thou hast tried them which say
they're apostles. They're not. Thou hast found
them to be liars, thou hast borne, thou hast patience for my name's
sake, hast labored and hast not fainted. Nevertheless, I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love."
This bride back in Solomon, Song of Solomon 5, that's what's being
described. When the Lord knocked, she heard
Him. She knew it was Him. gave excuses
for it. I've taken my coat off. And the
Scripture reveals that the Lord saw even in that church in Ephesus
where He said, I know your works. I know. I know what you've done.
Those false professors, you called them for what they were. They
were liars. You've done it. But there was
something that was detected by the Spirit of God that the pastors
didn't detect and other believers didn't detect, but God saw it.
there was a leaving. You've left your first love. What is that? What is it? Well, obviously, I know it's
not this. I know it's not for a believer
to leave or to forsake completely that which he always, since he
heard the truth, by faith, it is not to forsake or to stop
loving the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that. I'm convinced of
that. It is not taking that which He's
loved, Christ Himself, and not to love Him anymore. Because
true love for the Lord Jesus Christ can never be quenched. You weren't the source of it.
He was. He gave you a new heart. He wrote
His law on your heart. He keeps you, not you yourself. So, leaving your first love. Turn with me to Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32, verse 37. Jeremiah 32, 37. Thou hast left
thy first love. It's not talking about a believer
who wants to love Christ, then ceased to love Him. It's not
talking about that. Jeremiah 32, verse 37, Behold,
I will gather them out of all countries, whether I have driven
them in mine anger, in my fury, in great wrath, I will bring
them again unto this place. I will cause them to dwell safely,
and they shall be My people. I will be their God, and I will
give them one heart and one way that they may fear Me forever,
for the good of them and of their children after them, and I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put My fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from Me." They will not. They will not. Leaving a man's
first love is not to once love Christ and then to not love Him
anymore. This leaving is not usually a
one-time climactic event. It's like the only thing that
I can liken it to, that I can understand it, is like a man
that is going to sleep. A man may be asleep. The bride
says, I sleep. My heart's awake. I may sleep,
but I'm not dead. But as I'm going to sleep, I'm
kind of drifting off here. And I feel myself in a sleepy
atmosphere, a gradual decline because of the presence of sin
that attempts, the presence of sin, to suffocate me spiritually. Now let me tell you, we're in
a battle. And we take this thing way too
lightly. We think too lightly. We think
too lightly of Christ. Neal, that's what you and I have
talked about. We think too lightly of this thing of sin. We think,
this is not a big deal. This is not something that's
that big a deal. No big deal. What is the source? Where is it that a man leaves
his first love? This is what's happening to the
bride. She said, I put my coat off.
How can I put it back on? I've washed my feet. How can
I defile them? She's talking to Him, the One
that she truly loves. What happens? What truthfully
happens? And I think if we think about
these things, if we're honest about it, we'll admit it. Number
one, it's a willful neglect of sweet communion with the Lord
Jesus Christ in prayer, in reading the Scriptures, and in hearing
the Gospel. Now that's just the truth. You
know we're all like that. I mean, I think to myself, how
much time do I truthfully spend in the Word of God? How much? I mean, some of you might say,
well, yeah, you're the pastor. You're supposed to be in there.
I'll tell you this, unto whom much is given, much is required. The time that I have, if I was
honest about it, how much time do I actually spend in the amount
of time that I have? How much time do I truthfully
spend in prayer? Truthfully, just setting aside.
I can sit down and watch a football game and I'm just honest with
you. And I just don't tire of it.
I love it. I sit down and watch a history
channel. And I love it. I love it. But I'm telling you,
honestly, it's a struggle for me to pray. Someone says, well, that just
sounds like a lot of works. Well, I'll tell you this. Neglect
of the Lord Jesus Christ in sweet communion I understand it's the
presence of sin. Secondly, the love of this world.
Few people, truthfully, greatly increase in riches, in things
and mess and stuff, and in grace at the same time. One of them
is going to have to take a precedent over the other. Now, one of them
is going to have to be, you know, I'm just going to have to make
up my mind which one is greater for me. Which one do I desire? And don't think that it's not
a struggle for me or for anybody else in here. I mean, there are
things that I, you know, had go through my mind that I might,
hmm, maybe I could attempt to do something like that. Maybe
I could spend a little bit more time. You know, but really, what's
going to suffer when it comes right down to it? Maybe I don't
need to spend, you know, 60 hours here. Maybe 20. would be okay. But what's going to suffer? I'll
tell you what's going to suffer first. Me. Me. Me. Losing, leaving my first
love. Not forsaking Him completely. The thing is, we're not sensitive
enough to really the hazards of the cares of this world and
the deceitfulness of riches. And thirdly, our tendency towards
self-confidence and self-righteousness. I'm a believer. I'm alright,
and I'm there, and I'm okay, and it doesn't really matter.
And I convince myself. I convince myself. I know the
Gospel. I've heard the preaching of it.
I understand everything that's said. And slowly, I find myself
kind of just finding a little bit too Too much self-confidence. I'm just leaving your first love. That keenness. I mean, the awareness. Someone would say, you know,
that's weird to be able to just all the time, all the time, all
the time seeking after Him. I can't do that all the time.
Well, I'll tell you this, I find myself doing it not nearly enough
and convincing myself that it's fine. I'm alright. But mercy
that would not leave the bride to herself was shown to her,
my beloved, after she had given him that foolish excuse. Verse 4, he put his hand by the
hole of the door, and my bowels, my heart, that's what that means,
was moved for him. The mighty God is not shut out
for his purpose to enter. He knows how to move the heart
of His own toward Himself by His providence, by the revelation
of Himself, by the chastening hand of His grace. Whatever He
is pleased to do to stir our heart, He knows just exactly
what is for our good and for His glory. Here we are willing
in the day of His power. I'll tell you, I think that starting
in verse 5, this is where I can truthfully say, and I believe
that I am speaking truthfully here. I don't think I'm speaking
foolishly. I think I do understand something
of this. I'm convinced that every believer
knows in part Like all of us know in part. We don't know anything
fully. We don't even know the depth
of our own rebellion. We think we do. We don't. If
we knew the depth of our rebellion, we couldn't even live with ourselves
because we're so accustomed to sin, being in sin right here,
and thinking disrespectfully, we think this is normal. after he put his hand in the
hole of the door. She said, I rose up to open to
my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with
sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. Here we
behold a recovered sleeper." Now this is like old Jonah that
was in the belly of that ship. He had gone down there and gone
to sleep. But there was a man that God told to go to Nineveh.
And he bought him a ticket to go to Tarsus. He went down to
Joppa and was going to go to Tarsus. And he got into this
boat and it was in the midst of a great storm. And he was in the bottom of that
boat asleep and the shipmaster, a picture of the Spirit of God,
came to him and said, Wake up, old sleeper. What are you doing? Wake up. It says here that she
rose up to open, arose up to open to My Beloved. The evidence
of spiritual life is that there is a heart that moves toward
Christ. It does. There is an advance
spiritually that is truly detected within the believer. They know.
They know. It's more than just a insignificant
set of messages. It's more than hearing about
a historical figure called Jesus the Christ. He's real. He's an
ever-present Lord. An interactive Lord. He's alive. They know He's alive.
And He's known by those even that admit and see the sleepiness
of their attitude. Their attitude? It's toward Him. She said, I rose up. I knew. I knew. I knew it was Him. And
I knew it's my rebellion. I knew it was. I know it was. There's no sense in anybody in
this room coming to that point and saying, well, let's start
confessing our sins. I don't want you to know the
depth of my rebellion. I don't want you to. You know, empty out all my garbage,
you know. I don't want to tell you. Suffice
it to say that I know somewhat of my rebellion. I know something
of it. She got up. She said, I rose
up to open to my Beloved. And my hands dropped with myrrh. Going back to that verse, he
said, I've gathered my myrrh with that. That was His fruit.
That was His grace. That was His mercy. I gathered. My hands dropped. She said, I
knew something. Grace was upon me, is what she
said. I knew something. I knew that
He had been gracious to me. I know that His fruit had been
produced. I can truthfully say, Paul said,
I know whom I believe. I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him. The same One that said,
O wretched man, that I am. A believer is just always in
a battle. He's always fighting. He just
never can just truthfully settle down and say, this is where I
want to stay, right here. He sees himself and then he sees
himself. And he sees himself and sees
himself. That myrrh. That grace. She said, I got up to open to
my beloved. And my hands dropped with myrrh,
and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the
lock." What is that? The handles of the lock. He knocked
on the door. She gave him an excuse. She knew
this lock, the handles of this lock right here, is that point
of a fence. And she knew what it was. We
usually do. Oh, I admit there's depths of
rebellion and sin that we're unaware of. I know that. I'm
not so foolish as to say that we know all of it. But by and
large, a believer knows where that point of rebellion is. And it's there that reconciliation
is wrought by the Spirit of God, by the power of God. That's where
he meets His people. That's where He meets them. They
know. They know. She said, I reached for the handles
of the lock, whereby she foolishly attempted to isolate herself.
Did she really think she was going to lock Him out? Did she
really think? I mean, foolishly, stupidly,
I rose up and I reached for the handles of the lock. And she
said, I opened to My Beloved, that is, She said, I opened my
understanding that He had given me. I opened my love toward Him. I opened to Him. He caused me
to open, but I opened. But my Beloved had withdrawn
Himself and was gone. And my soul failed when He spake. I sought Him, but I couldn't
find Him. I called Him, but He gave me
no answer. Now friends, I cannot be truthful enough right
here. I don't know how to be any more
truthful than I'm going to be right now. But I will tell you
for myself, and I'm just speaking for myself, but the painful but
gracious discovery of His amazingly gracious reconciliation
to me is one that is truthfully known. Fellowship, lightly esteemed,
is made to be especially desired when it's apparently lost. I've
mentioned this before, but I'm telling you for a believer, there
is nothing, there is nothing, there is nothing that is more
painful to a believer. There is nothing that is more
painful to a believer than the apparent withdrawal of his blessing. I told you, Maurice Montgomery
told me one time, he said, Marvin, he said, God will at times put
a man or a woman, one of His own, out on a limb and make them
believe that He is going to leave them there. And I am telling
you there is more learning that is done in the apparent withdrawal
of the Spirit of God. There is no trial. There's no trial. I'll be the
first to admit that there's many trials I don't know anything
about, but there's some I do. I know some. I know something
about what it is. I know something about pain. I know something about loss.
I know something about it. I've been there. But I'm telling
you that there's no pain, that there's no suffering, that there's
no trial like the apparent withdrawal of the Spirit of God as He's
teaching His people what it is to behold something of their
rebellion. Almighty God knows exactly how to draw His
people to Himself. He places His hand in the door,
and the evident departure of Christ for a season is known. His people know it. They know
it. It doesn't mean that He's left
His covenant mercies toward them, having loved His own. The Scripture
says He loved them to the end. But there is a hiding, and this
is by the infinite wisdom of Almighty God. There is a hiding
of His countenance and an obvious suspension of the influence of
His Holy Spirit. If He withdraws His presence,
my soul can have no joy, no comfort with the rest of His people if
I cannot have the assurance of His presence. I am miserable. Turn to Psalm 51. Now this is
written by a man who the Scripture reveals was a man after God's
own heart. The Lord loved this man, King
David. Psalm 51, verse 11. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Do you think that David
was talking about eternally? Now, he knew better than that.
He knew. He knew that. He knew that God
would not remove eternally His presence. David was saying, don't
leave me, apparently. Don't leave me to myself. Look
at Psalm 143, verse 7. Verse 143, verse 7. Hear me speedily, O Lord. My
spirit faileth. Hide not Thy face from me, lest
I be like unto them that go down into the pit." That's the way
I feel. I feel utterly, hopelessly alone
by myself. The believer longs after Him. Now, I know that an unbeliever
is angry with God. He's angry with Him. I thought
on this the other day. You know what an unbeliever is,
Matt? You know the Scripture says,
describes an unbeliever as one that hates God. Do you know what
an unbeliever hates about God? He hates the way God does things.
That's what he hates. He hates God's sovereignty. He
hates it. But an unbeliever is not like
one that hungers and thirsts. He doesn't know anything about
it. He despises it. That believer right there longs
after the presence of Christ. My beloved had withdrawn himself
and was gone, and my soul failed within me. You think she was
just making those words up? She knew. She hungered. Foolishly, the bride gave excuses
for her slothfulness. She mournfully remembers her
guilt. The Lord knows how to bring His
people to Himself. He knows how. And then the pain
of her correction. Verse 7 says, The watchmen that
went about the city found me. They smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. Were
they being mean to her? Is that what they were saying?
I mean, she was out. She was out and she looked for
Him. This is heartfully speaking. A believer can be sitting right
here in a congregation hearing the gospel preached and be described
right here as being out. What was going on here? Here
we behold the pain of correction. I told you before, my children
were growing up. Only one thing, you parents,
let me give you a little word of advice, you know, when your
children are growing up, you know, don't think that those
kids, that you can reason with children. You don't reason. They
understand one thing. Discipline. One thing. The Scriptures that
you spare the rod, you'll spoil the child. You know? It wasn't
fun for me to spank my children. I didn't like that. I did not
like to do that. But I knew. I knew. Disobedience. If you lie to me,
I'm going to get you. You disobey me, I'm going to
get you. Disobedience. And here was the pain of that
chastisement. Proverbs 27.6. The watchmen that
went about the city found me. They smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. What
were they doing to her? I'll tell you exactly what they
were doing. They were being truthful with her. Truthful. Proverbs
27.6. Turn to that. Proverbs 27.6. are the wounds of a friend, but
the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Faithful. Faithful are the wounds
of a friend. She said, the watchmen that were
about to see me, they smoked me, they wounded me, but they
were faithful. They were honest with her. Look
at Psalm 141. Psalm 141, verse 5. I know that modern day religion
talks about, you know, don't say anything to hurt anybody's
feelings. Let me tell you something. A believer wants you to be truthful
with them. Be truthful. You tell me what
Almighty God has got to say. Psalm 141, verse 5, let the righteous
spite me. It shall be kindness. And let
him reprove me. It will be an excellent oil which
shall not break my head, forget my prayer, also shall be in their
calamities." Let the righteous be honest with me. I told you
what Gabe told me that day. He said, Dad, the greatest thing
you ever did for me is with me. Ecclesiastes 7.5, just one book
back from Song of Solomon. It's better to hear the rebuke
of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. Be honest
with me. Tell me what the Word of God... Tell me the truth. If God Almighty
has said that in my heart I hide rebellion, be honest with me.
You know it's so. A believer knows it's so. And
then one more. Look at Proverbs 9.8. Proverbs
9.8. She said, I went through and
the watchers, they wounded me. They smoked me. They were honest
with her. Proverbs 9.8. Reprove not a scorner lest he
hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and what? He'll love you. He'll tell you,
you know what? I appreciate you being a friend
to me. I appreciate you telling me the truth. Just be honest
with me. It's painful to the bride because
of who she is. You know the thing that just
slays a person more than anything else? It's when you hurt somebody
you love. Now, if you don't care about
them, you just slough it off. But I'm talking about if it's
somebody you love. You know? Daryl, you heard Joyce's feelings.
It hurts. It hurts. It's painful. Because she sees her attitude
toward Him. The watchman are God's servants,
responsible to God alone and responsible to be honest and
truthful concerning His Word to His sheep. Comfort the sheep. How do you comfort the sheep?
Be honest with them. Tell them what the Word of God.
Love is to be truthful. No greater love can anyone show
another than to relate to Him God's Word. Just be honest with
Him. True preachers are sharp in speech. They're not mean.
I'm not saying they're mean. They're not mean. The Word of
God is sharp. It's a two-edged sword. The veil,
she said. These watchmen. Went about the
city. They smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the wall, they took away my veil. What
veil? The veil of her excuses. And
rebellion must surely be exposed. That's what Isaiah 58, verse
1 says. I'm going to remove your hiding. I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty.
Oh, yeah, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. And then she says,
and we'll look at this in close, I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love."
The broken heart plea. Now, these daughters of Jerusalem,
there have been quite a few references to the daughters of Jerusalem
in this book. Many of the writers that I have
read, I would read some of the commentaries, read different
thoughts on what, and almost without exception, they always
refer to these daughters of Jerusalem as being young believers. The only question that I've got
with that is this. How can the bride, and that's
speaking of the bride collectively, the bride. How can she be talking
to the daughters of Jerusalem and somehow they're young believers? Why wouldn't they be part of
the bride? There's something that is not right about that
explanation. The daughters of Jerusalem are
always spoken to by the bride, or they're speaking to the bride,
or it's the Lord saying to the daughters of Jerusalem. It's
always a separate entity. Something's wrong. I can't say,
now I'm talking to the bride, and then the friends of the bride. If we're believers, we're the
bride. So the daughters of Jerusalem, who are they? I truthfully believe,
and I'm willing to admit that I cannot speak with certainty
on everything, but based upon what I think, after having read
and looked I asked the Lord for some revelation on it. I was
doing that this afternoon. I said, Lord, I ask You, would
You tell me? And I'll say it like this. I
think that this is the case. I think that the daughters of
Jerusalem are nominal professors. That means in name only. Name
only. Because the bride is speaking
to her. If the bride is speaking to the
daughters of Jerusalem, then the bride is speaking to someone
that is not the bride. But here we see the cry of the
true believer brought to her intense concern for Christ's
presence. One that is brought to see herself
in distress and cries for help. Now that's obvious. She says,
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find My Beloved,
and where it says that you tell Him, that actually is a question. She says to this, what will you
tell Him? It's what she's actually saying
there. What will you tell Him? That I'm sick of love? The believer cries out, the Scripture
says, to some, these daughters of Jerusalem, which I think to
be more than likely part of the ten virgins, very possibly. The kingdom of heaven that Brother
Darrell read. The kingdom of heaven is going to be like ten
virgins, five wise and five foolish. And they intermingled. They all
had lamps. The foolish didn't have oil,
you know, The wise spoke to them and they
backed forth. There was interaction there.
It could be wheat and tares. I don't know who the elect are.
I don't know. But in the distress, the bride,
having in her heart, knowing that she could not detect His
presence, she asked those that she was familiar with, That's what she was asking. If
you find Him, would you tell Him, I'm sick of love? My heart
groans. Psalm 51-12 says, Restore unto
me the joy of Thy salvation. Thy salvation. I'm sick of love. I groan in darkness and desertion. In the feeling of seemingly darkness. And those of you that have been
in the valley of the shadow of the death, and you felt the pain
and the hurt, and you've seen something of yourself, you'll
cry out just like Mary did at that tomb. She turned and she
saw the Lord Jesus. She thought He was the gardener,
you know. You let a mother be at a crowd. One time I remember, Hannah was
little, three, four years old, you know, she was there. She
was there. We were at a theme park and she
was there. I was constantly counting heads,
you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1,
2, 3, 1. One of them's gone. One of them's gone. Do you know where my little girl
is? Do you know where she is?" She
cried out. In her distress, she cried out.
I don't know exactly who the daughters of Jerusalem are, whether
they are the nominal professors that I believe they are, but
I can tell you this, in the bride's distress, this is the message
that is set forth right here. She is looking for Him. She is
longing after Him. Confusion at times seems to dominate. What will you tell him? She seems
to hardly know how to express herself. She misses him. She misses him. A believer awakened
to their rebellion cannot rest until they know something of
the peace of his pardoning mercy and renewing grace. And cold,
lifeless prayer is not found here. She's desperate. She's
looking for Him. She's longing after Him. Lord,
I'm sorry. You take old Peter. I think about
that illustration, I mean illustration of Scripture. The Lord told Peter,
He said, you're going to deny Me three times. Before that rooster
crows twice, you'll deny Me three times. Not going to happen. Not going to happen. Not me. And that third time that Peter
denied him, and he heard that rooster crow, and the Scripture
says he turned, and as they were taking the Lord away, the Lord
looked at him. Let me ask you this. What do you think Peter felt?
You don't have any idea. I don't either. But I'm telling
you, I guarantee you that was a long night. And he was desperate. And he told him, you know where
he's at. How many people do you think
he might have asked that night, you know where they've taken
him? I saw those soldiers, you know. In his heart at least,
I guarantee you, he felt the pain of this. These daughters
of Jerusalem, I don't know exactly who they were, but I can tell
you this, the desperation of the bride that was longing after
him and hungering, if you find him, would you tell him, My heart's
breaking for him. My heart breaks for him.