Song of Solomon, chapter 5. Before I read that first verse,
I'm sitting here just talking to you. I heard Brother Scott
say one time, and I think he said it like this, he said, and
I'm not preaching to you, I'm telling you the truth now. I'm looking at verses 2 through
about 4 or 5, and there's a thought, one thought in verses 2 through
5, and I'm really reading on that and want to get into that,
but I'm just afraid that if I get to that point, I'll probably
go over. So I'm going to try to just Stay
with verse 1, and Lord willing, next time we'll get into those
verses. There's just a real blessing,
and I don't want to skimp over it. The last time we looked at
Song of Solomon, in the 16th verse of the 4th chapter, it
was the Lord Himself that said, O north wind, those winds of
His mercy and grace in chastisement, winds that are to us cold, the
night seasons, but these chastenings that are for us so needful, given
at the hand of Him who is altogether wise and knows just exactly how
to measure out or meet out just perfectly what is needful for
us. Some of us here tonight are going
through some times of trouble, and these troubles are for a
while. I know they are hard. Paul the
Apostle says that these light afflictions, which are but for
a moment, well, to us, as times that we struggle, ask, you know,
Lord, teach me how to look and consider this to be a light affliction. It doesn't appear as though.
But the Lord says, Awake, open your eyes, O north wind, and
come thou south. With the cold, chilling wind
of His chastening hand comes also the warm wind of consolation,
of His Word, of His teaching, of His blessing. Blow upon My
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. There are fruit. to be produced by the Spirit
of God that is only produced. And I know so little of this. I read that and I see and know
something about, a little bit, about troubles and trials. But really, when I think about
it, I really don't. I don't. But I do know this,
I know that with His merciful hand of chastisement. It's good, David said, that I've
been afflicted. Good for me. These things that
are good for me, the Lord says, blow upon My garden. Why? That the spices thereof may flow
out. That's how He's going to perfect
us in this life. Let My Beloved, then the bride
says, come into His garden. and eat His pleasant fruits."
The bride having asked that in that last verse of the fourth
chapter, desiring the presence of her Lord, she longs for Him. And this is the evidence of her
life in Him. Now, I know, I was thinking as
Brother Scott was reading a moment ago when Paul The Apostle said,
that I may know Him. And I thought, as I rehearsed
those words again in my mind, that I may know Him. And I thought,
oh, that I might truly grasp hold of that. That God the Spirit
might teach me that I may know Him. Not the doctrine of Him. I know something. about five
points that we call of Calvinism. And these doctrines of grace
that are rightfully defended, they set forth scripturally that
which is so. But I think about what I heard
one say one time about a man could be straight as a gun barrel
and just as empty, that I might know him truthfully, in word
only. Not just that I can quote some
things, but that I might truly, Jeff, enter into that. That I
might know Him. She says, let My Beloved come
into His garden just at this moment. If He might give me a
heart to truthfully desire that. Come unto this God. Blow upon
me, Lord, truthfully. Do with me, Lord, as You will. Lord, put me where You will. Do with me that which brings
honor to You. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
prayed. When He said to the Father in the 17th chapter of John,
He said, Glorify Me. Glorify Me that I may glorify
Thee. with the glory that I had with
Thee before the world was. Glorify Me." He was getting ready
to go to the cross. For this purpose, He came. He
was the Redeemer, the Substitute, the Surety. That's why He came. And He asked the Lord, Lord,
glorify Me. Do what You will. Do what You
must. Do that for which I have come.
You glorify Me that I may glorify Thee." The bride, truthfully,
though she does say it in herself, she says it with such faintness,
but truly the bride does say, Lord, You come and blow upon
me. Lord, teach me. Do with me. It's Him that she longs for.
He promised in John 6, verse 37, He says, "...Him that cometh
to Me, I will in no wise cast him out." And here we see His
response to the request that He put within the heart of His
bride. She said, let My beloved come
into His garden, eat His pleasant fruits. In that first verse,
He said, I am come into My garden, My sister, My spouse, I am come."
These are the words that the believer longs to hear. She does. She longs to hear those
words whispered into the ear of her heart by the Spirit of
God in that still, small voice that the Spirit of God would
grant unto her, truthfully, the realization of His presence.
I'm talking about truthfully. Not in word, as I said a moment
ago. Not in word only. I know how easy it is to say,
well, we're two or three gathering in His name. I am in the midst
of you. You know? And it means nothing. But I'm
talking about with a heart made sensitive. Lord, I'm coming to
You, God. We have His Word of assurance. It is His presence that settles
the bride. Think for a moment. He truly
being here. He truly being in our presence. That's a comforting thought.
That the Lord of all glory, God Almighty, omnipresent. I know He's omnipresent. He said
I'm omnipresent. He's omnipotent. Omniscient. There's no place that He's not.
David said, if I make my bed in hell, He's there. If I ascend
into the heavens, He's there. But to stop and think that Almighty
God would come on a Wednesday night and come to the services
at Katie Baptist Church. That's not far-fetched. He said,
we're two or three, I'm in the midst of you. that He would come
to the services. He'd come. Isn't it a comfort
knowing His Word? And He's pleased to tell us that
He's in our presence. I am come. His words are not
frivolous. I'm coming to my garden. He comes,
I know, inwardly to each individual Believer. But, he said, I am
in the midst of you. There is something about the
assembling together of God's saints. I'll be traveling. You're traveling. I like to pop
in a tape and listen to it. I enjoy hearing it. I try to
listen. But you know there's no substitute
for coming together with believers. But knowing that He's here, He
comes inwardly. He comes collectively. And I
know that we can easily forget that very thought. But to be
able to remember He who has come into His garden, who finds great
pleasure in her. She's His church. I have come
into my garden. That's my garden. That's mine. It belongs to me. She is His
garden, number one, by the gift from His Father. Everlastingly, just think on
this for a second. Everlastingly, there is no time
in which Almighty God has not been. The eternal God. The eternal God that has eternally,
everlastingly loved His people. She has always been His delight. As He has always been the delight
of the Father, He said, I was ever before Him. There's never
been a moment, I don't even know how to express it, When I say
moment and time and this, I'm at a loss for words because God
Almighty who is eternal, He's the eternal surety. If He's the
eternal surety, then He's always been eternally the surety for
someone. Never been a time. He's always
possessed the bride. He has always had her betrothed
to Him. He's always had her within Himself. The Father has always looked
upon them in pleasure in the Lord Jesus Christ. She's His
by the gift of the Father. She's His by creation. All souls are Mine, saith the
Lord. All souls are Mine. He made us. Where He is, He's the potter,
we're the clay. He took us and made us according
to His good pleasure, created in Christ Jesus. And where He
is by purchase, Acts 2.28 says, feed the church which He purchased
with His own blood. He said, this is My garden, precious
garden. I cannot begin to even realize
the depth of the mercy of Almighty God as I look out and behold
and am convinced that there are some God's sheep here, that are
here in this place that He has set His affection on. My garden. Love that garden. Come into my
garden. And he said, I have come into
my garden, my sister, my spouse. He said, I've gathered my myrrh
with my spice. She prayed before. I mean, he
had prayed, told the wind blow upon my garden that the spices
may flow out. And then in the first verse,
he said, I've gathered my myrrh with my spice. I've eaten my
honeycomb with my honey. I've drunk my wine with my milk. that is produced by the Spirit
of God, by the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit Himself, the Holy
Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. We looked at last time love,
joy, and peace toward God. That's the fruit of the Spirit.
Love toward God, joy in the Holy Ghost, peace with God having
been reconciled by the Lord Jesus long-suffering gentleness and
goodness toward others, and faith and meekness and temperance within
ourselves. That's the fruit of God's Spirit. And as He comes in, He Himself,
He says, I feast on that. I enjoy that. I've gathered,
that's my myrrh. That's my spice. I have eaten
my honeycomb with my honey. The words of our Lord, He says,
I feast, I enjoy that which I have produced within you. He said,
without me you'd do nothing. You can't produce those things.
A man by nature can't produce love and joy and peace and long-suffering
and meekness. He can't. God Almighty, He says,
I come. They are to Me the spices. And having honored Him first,
the bride asking Him, beseeching Him, Come, come. Come into Your
garden. Eat Your pleasant fruits. The
bride says to Him, Lord, in the only way that I know how to say
it, You say it. You feast. You enjoy. You gather
the love and the joy and the peace that You produced in me. You see in me that which You've
done and You rejoice in that. Lord, come to me. Lord, embrace me. Lord, teach
me." And Him, having come and gathered, having eaten of His
honeycomb, drunk His wine with His milk, having honored Him
first. You notice He's the one that
is to be honored first. He ate first. He having eaten
of the fruits of His Spirit, then He says after that, then
He says, Oh, friends, drink. Yea, drink abundantly. Oh, beloved,
He's the Master. He's the One that's honored first.
He's the One that feasts first. We are the servants. He's the
Lord. He has the right. He's made us. We are what we are by God's grace. And He enjoys In us, which He's
done, eat, O friends, and drink abundantly. In your margin there,
you may notice the word, yea. It says, eat, O friends, drink,
yea, or be drunken with loves. Be drunk with loves. We are able to feast. where He
is honored first. That's what's being said. You
let Him eat first. Let Him be honored first. He's
the Lord. We are not here to honor each
other first, to cater to each other first. We're here for Him.
But in the honoring of Him, He says to us, now you eat. You've
finished. We're friends. Let My Beloved
come. He says, I've come. He said,
I've eaten. He said, now you eat. You partake,
O friends. We are friends who were once
enemies. Colossians 1.21, And you that
were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
In his sight, he said, you are my friends. He said, I call you
my friends. You are my friends. I had an uncle tell me years
ago, he said, if you come to the end of your life, and he
said, you count on one hand, he said, how many true friends? You know, he said, you have been
a blessed man. You know, I think I have got more than that. I
really do. I may be fooled, facetious or
not facetious, but fooled. I don't think so. But I tell
you this, here's one friend that sticks closer than a brother.
My brother disappoints me, not him. He said, I'll never leave
you. You're my friend. He said, a
friend, no greater love hath any man than this that lay down
his life for his friend. He said, you're my friend. Eat. Oh, friends. And not only are
we His friends, He said, you're beloved. Beloved. Born of God Almighty. Particular objects of His electing,
redeeming, and preserving grace. Beloved of the Lord. I think
about one verse just keeps coming back to me. We're bound to give
thanks to You, beloved, beloved to the Lord. God Almighty has
set His love on you. The Lord has set His love. One
of these days, by God's grace, that thought right there is going
to truly, heartfully mean something to me. And I'll know it. In that day, when it be my time
to leave this body to hear Him say, ìYouíre my friend. Come, friend, beloved of the
Lord.î And I will in that day, by Godís grace, say, ìOh, but
for Godís grace, where would I be?î Beloved, eat and drink. Eat of His flesh and drink His
blood. Spiritually, partake of Him by
faith. Feast upon Him. Right now, God's
sheep, the believers, they feast on Him. And as they feast, they're
saying, Lord, cause me to feast afresh. Cause me to feast again. Cause me to feast! Let me feast
on you. Let me eat of you. Let me truly
taste of you. Taste of the Lord and see that
He is good. Teach me that." Then he says,
eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly. Abundantly. I looked that word up. You know
what it means? Become tipsy. That's the exact
interpretation. Become tipsy. He says, I've drunk my wine with
my milk. I've drunk my wine, that which
gives me pleasure. He says, now you eat, O friends,
and you drink. He says, I've drunk of my wine,
the wine of the Spirit. God teaches us. He says, now
you drink abundantly. Drink abundantly, O Beloved. Become tipsy. Be not drunk with
wine, Ephesians 5, verse 18 says, wherein is excess, but be filled
with the Spirit. Drink the rich wine of My love
until your heart is drunk with My love for you. that, Lord,
that You would teach me that. Lord, as You have made me what
I am, taught me, revealed Yourself to me, having given me a heart
to say, Lord, would You come into Your garden and eat of Your
pleasant fruits? And to have Him say, I am come.
I am. I am come. I'm coming to My garden,
my sister, my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh with my
spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I've drunk my wine with my milk.
Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly. O Beloved, may He
say to us tonight, and may we hear Him by faith and by God's
grace as He says, drink abundantly, eat abundantly, feast on, eat
of He said, I'm the bread. My flesh is meat indeed. My blood is drink indeed. Eat of me.