As the Lord may graciously help
me, I'll turn your prayerful attention to the Song of Solomon
and Chapter 2, and read in for a text, verses 10 to 13. Though as the Lord helps, I do
want to carry on looking at this whole chapter. Song of Solomon,
Chapter 2, and verse 10 to 13. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the
rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time
of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is
heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her
green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good
smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verses
10 to 13. We spoke this morning of that
relationship that there is between the Lord Jesus Christ and his
people, the church, as is pictured in that Christian marriage between
a man and a lady in love in the Lord. There's a picture here
of that love that Christ has to his church and it shows here
that the motivation of the true Christian is love. It's a very
important thing. It's not, I have to do this to
gain the acceptance. It's I love to do it because
it's the one I love. And this is a great motive in
the Christian life, that it is motivated by love, not by works
or so. But love, of course, does work.
But it's the motive is love, not works, as it were. Well here
we have, we mentioned that in the Christian life there's times
of nearness to God, but there's other times when we feel further
away. And this is the true experience
of God's people. It's not just one constant level.
There's times of sorrow, and there's times of joy, there's
times of fellowship, and there's times when we feel his absence.
And that's clear, it comes across in the Song of Solomon. There's
times when there is that fellowship, and there's times when there's
that there was far offness. We have that with the disciples
in that what we read in Luke's gospel. There was times when
they were they felt they didn't know the Lord and they didn't
know what was going on. And there was other times when
he visited them and they had a real blessing. Well, here we
have the bride. The church, if you like, is is
somewhat distant. from her savior. But then in
verse 8 we have, we mentioned this morning, the voice of my
beloved. She hears the voice and then there's this picture
of him coming leaping over the mountains, skipping over the
hills, over all the impossibilities, over all the difficulties, that
he has brought us back to God and overcome all the impossibilities
in the gospel. And then there's that, he showeth
himself through the windows, and he revealed himself, didn't
he, to those disciples. He hid his identity. He was right
next to them. But he then spoke of all those
things that were accomplished at Calvary, and how that this
was exactly what the Messiah should do in their hearts, burnt
within them. They had communion. Well, we come then to verse 10,
my beloved spake and said, rise up my love, my fair one and come
away. So here we have the wonderful
truth of the fact that that God loves his people and he delights
to have communion with them. Yes, we we can understand that
we would love to have communion with him. when we're in our right
mind, but actually it's clear from scripture that he also delights
to have communion with them. And this is a wonderful thought.
It's something that we need to think about and to realize and
to let it sink in how precious he sees us. And this gives us
a sense of a value that God cares for us
and he loves us and he will not let us go and therefore there's
a sense of being in his hand and in a safety, the safety of
love. Well rise up my love, my fair
one and come away. We spoke about that coming away
from making this our rest, coming away to have fellowship with
the Saviour, fellowship with Him. This is what he's asking
for. But then he goes on to a whole list of things, reasons why this
should be the case. And that's what we have in verses
11, 12 and 13, reasons why this should be the case. And again,
the Bible is very pictorial. Here it pictures the seasons,
the seasons. It's something we're very familiar
with. In the summer, it might be 30 degrees, 35 degrees at
times. In the winter, it might be minus
five. Very different temperatures between
summer and winter. A very different outlook, very
different clothing, amounts of clothing you need to wear in
the summer or the winter. Very different things that we know.
Well, here, it's picturing the difference between the winter
and the spring. Arise, my fair one, and come
away, for lo, the winter is past. See, Satan is ever the one that
would love to keep God's people in despair and far off from him. In my Christian experience, the
Lord blessed me I was able to join the church and for a little
while went on, and then I came into a period of darkness. You see, in the wintertime, if
you look at the deciduous trees, there's no leaves on them. Really,
to the untrained eye, the trees look dead. The bulbs, the daffodils,
and all those things where they're hidden under the ground, you
can't see that they're even there. It's cold, it's often quite wet,
it doesn't seem a lot of life going on. Seems much deadness,
you see. And Satan, when we come into
that time of darkness, of that winter time, we can feel that,
well, the graces are not being in operation. We can't see so
much evidence that we're the child of God. And you see Satan
would say, well, that's how you're going to be the rest of your
life. You see, you've had this blip when you came into the church,
and then from now on it's downhill. There's no blessings after that.
Well, you see, it was under the preaching of my brother, actually,
here, I think. From the Song of Solomon, he
was speaking of the fact that there was a springtime, the seasons
of the soul. My soul leapt. I suddenly realized
that, yes, I was in the winter, but there was a prospect of the
spring. And what a difference the spring is from the winter.
You see in here we have a lovely description of the spring and
what a change it is. And what's the difference between
the spring and the winter? It's all to do with the angle
of the earth to the sun. The amount of incoming solar
radiation as it were from the sun. It's all to do with what
makes a difference between the winter and the spring and the
summer and so on. It's all to do with the sun. And so is it
with the soul. It's all to do with that sun
of righteousness arising with healing in its wings. We have
the wintertime and then we have the other seasons as well. But
you see, this is lovely to behold. And this may be a comfort for
some here. Perhaps you're in a wintertime. Perhaps you can't
see your graces. You can't see the joy and the
other things that we come on to as it speaks about the spring. You can't see those things. But
you see here, the command is my beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up, my love. my fair one and come away. Don't
stay where you are. There's the springtime. There's
a springtime in the soul and it's the seasons in our natural
and we're aware that obviously you don't get all upset because
your daffodils haven't come up in December. They don't do that.
But you see there's a time when the sun of righteousness shines
with healing in his wings and then all the difference. You
think of the difference between the winter and the spring. There's
such a difference naturally in England. For lo, the winter is
past. The voice of my beloved has spoken,
you see. The winter is past and the rain
is over and gone. I was looking up just on a website
regarding flowers and bulbs as they're in the ground. And what
are they doing there under the ground in the wintertime? Well
it said they are. Although they look, there's no
leaves being produced, there's no flowers being produced, but
they are busy making their roots go deeper down, ever growing
their roots. And you see when we come in the
wintertimes, it doesn't seem a lot going on. It seems a lot
of coldness and barrenness. And yet it's that root going
down deep into that source of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
you see, as the sun of righteousness shines with healing his wings,
then you see there's a change. The flowers appear on the earth. You see, it's springtime. We
think of springtime flowers. And flowers have a beauty both
in their visual, they're lovely to look at, but also they have
that fragrance, don't they? There's a fragrance with them.
We think of the flowers that appear as the Christian graces. You see, that humility. When
we're in the barren wintertime, we can be cold and hard and unloving
and uncaring, seeking our own, not to have a good charitable
spirit to others, all the manifestations of the flesh. But you see, arise
my love, my fair one, and come away. The flowers appear on the
earth, the flowers. Those graces, that grace of humility,
how beautiful it is. When each can esteem other better
than themselves to be. That charity of love, that love
one toward the other, love for the brethren, love for the people
of God, love for souls. And that love seeketh not its
own, not a self-promoting love, but a self-effacing love, a love
of Christ. That cleanness of mind, not always
dwelling on those things which are wrong and evil, but thinketh
no evil. We have such a description of
what love is in 1 Corinthians 13, it goes through
the beauty of love and all the aspects that it's not jealous,
think it's no evil, rejoice in the truth and so many things. The flowers appear on the earth,
what a blessing it is and how beautiful when the flowers come
and how beautiful when that is manifest in the Christian's life.
Instead of that bitterness and coldness and jealousy and hatred
and doing everything with, have I got to do it, with running
in the ways of his commandments, delighting in his will, realizing
that God is to be served, the flowers appear on the earth.
And then we have another description of spring, the time of the singing
of birds has come. We associate the beautiful choruses
of the birds and it shows how foolish this idea of evolution
is. There's no purpose in one sense in the singing of the birds,
from a benefit for the birds point of view so much, but it's
to praise God. And it's a beautiful illustration
of how God has made that beauty in nature. And the whole creation,
we sang about that this morning actually, the whole creation
praises God and it does. Apart from the pinnacle of creation,
which is man, made in God's image, that's been defaced in the fall.
Human beings do not glorify God in and of themselves. But the
time of the singing of birds has come when God has opened
our mouths and put a new song in our mouths, even praise unto
our God. You see, we can In the wintertime,
there's more silence, you see, there's not so much of the singing.
But when the spring comes, then there is that singing to God's
praise. And we praise God from whom all
blessings flow. We have that praise to God and
we can praise him for all that he has done and all that he is
doing. flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing
of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle, that's a turtle
dove, is heard in our land. Now the turtle dove has a mournful
call. And so yes, there is to be that
singing in praise, but also there is of course, we read in the
Beatitudes, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted. Yes, you see, and later on it
talks about he delights to hear our voice. He delights to hear
his people mourning over sin and mourning after him. Both
the joys and the sorrows, but communication. The birds are
coming and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. And then
in verse 13, we have another aspect of the spring. The fig tree put forth her green
figs and the vines with a tender grape give a good smell. So here
we have fruitfulness. So as that sun of righteousness
shines and we come into the springtime then there's fruitfulness, there's
fruit bearing. You see the trees don't bring,
you don't get apple, you don't pick apples in January, do you? You don't pick, they aren't growing
that time of the year, but you see There's a time when they
start to grow. And then there's the bringing
forth of the fruit. fruit and of course in the things
of God so much is by their fruit shall you know them. This is
so important in the Christian life that we bear much fruit.
Herein is my father glorified that ye bear much fruit. You see in the Philippians, Philippians
chapter 4, Paul is writing to the Philippians because they
have sacrificially given to him when no other church communicated
with him. If you look at this in in Philippians 4 verse 15. We read now you Philippians know
also that in the beginning of the gospel when I departed from
Macedonia no church communicated with me as concerning giving
and receiving but ye only. For even in Thessalonica you
sent once and again unto my necessity not because I desire a gift but
I desire fruit that they may abound to your account. You see,
as we give, and we have a collection today for the distribution fund,
and as we give to many needy causes and to the work of God
throughout the earth, there is a giving, you see, a sacrificial
giving. And you see, naturally, you think,
well, if you give, then you've got less yourself. Look in verse
18, but I have all and abound, I am full, having received of
the paprodices the things which were sent from you. Look at how
Paul describes this gift, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable well pleasing to God. This is how he describes this
gift, this fruit that was coming from the Philippians to Paul. And he delighted more in the
fact not that he received it, because we read it's more blessed
to give than receive, he delighted more that they had given because
that was an evidence that they were fruit bearing. And as we
give you see what is an evidence that we have that we have produce
that fruit, that there is that desire to help one another with
those practical things as well as spiritual things. And you
might say, and that's when we come to that very well-known
verse, but my God shall supply all your need. You see, they
had sacrificially given, and so they were out of pocket, if
you like. They had given sacrificially. And yet, Paul then gives a wonderful
promise, but my God, but, You see, you think you're going to
be poor because you've given. But my God shall supply all your
need. I can supply you back. Yes, you
help others as you can, as you have that opportunity. I can
make sure you've got enough. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The fig tree putteth forth her
green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good
smell. Of course, we do have that precious list in Galatians
chapter 5. I can just put my hand on it. Galatians 5 verse 22, we have
that list of the fruit of the Spirit is love. Love to one another,
joy. You see, if somebody's always
miserable, it's not to God's glory, it's a joy. The joy of
the Lord is your strength. Peace, not always squabbling. Long-suffering, to those that
oppose themselves, those that are out of the way, those that
are their own worst enemy, long-suffering. Gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance, that self-control. Gainst such there is that knoweth."
This is the fruit of the Spirit. The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of the singing of birds is come, the voice of the turtle
is heard in our land, the fig tree put it forth, the green
figs, the vines with the tender grape give a good smell, that
aroma, that savour you see. And then he comes back in the
end of verse 13 really to say the same thing as he started
with. Now he's given all the reasons. Arise, my love, my fair
one, and come away. He wants that communion with
his beloved. And this is a great blessing
for us to grasp this, arise. Don't stay where you are. He
calls her my love, the one he loves. God, Christ loved the
church, gave himself for it, my fair one. We can only see
that elsewhere it says, there is no spot in thee. Well, we
can only see that we're full of blemishes and full of things
that come short of the glory of God. But here it says, arise
my love, my fair one, and come away. Then we move on to another picture. It says, O my dove, that art
in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. O my dove. This is the bridegroom,
Christ, speaking of his church as a dove. A dove. You see, it
was the dove that Noah took out of the ark, wasn't it? He let
the dove out of the ark when the waters were receding And
all there was was the dead things, I guess, around still. And the dove had to come back.
It couldn't live on the dead things of this life. The dove. And God's people are pictured
as this dove. Oh, my dove. that art in the
clefts of the rock." Surely, don't we see, we sing that lovely
hymn, don't we? Rock of ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. God's people, you see, are in
the cleft of the rock, that rock that had been smitten, smitten
for his people, and they find a hiding place in that smitten
rock. Oh, my dove, that art in the
clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. The picture
here is a rocky crevice, and you get these doves that make
their nests there. They live in these clefts of
the rock. And so God's people live in Christ,
in that place of that smitten rock, in that place of refuge
from the storm, from the aggressor. Oh, my dove, that art in the
cleft of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Let me
see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice. So here, the bridegroom is requesting,
pleading, that he wants to see us. He wants to have communion
with him. You see, I guess we can think
of it all the wrong way around. We think that, well, we would
love to have communion with him, but he doesn't want to have it
with us. That's not how it's written here.
The Lord is delighted to have communion with his people and
this dove that's in the cleft of the rock, he wants that dove
to communicate with him, to pray to him, to seek his face. Let me see thy countenance. Let
me hear thy voice. Does the Lord Jesus hear your
voice in prayer? Do you pray to him, do you spend time with
him in his word, seeking him, seeking to know his will, his
mind, his way, that you may hear the voice of your beloved, how
you are to walk, how you are to live, how you are to continue,
to have that sweet fellowship with him? Let me see thy countenance,
let me hear thy voice. Thy voice. You see, this is the
bridegroom wanting to hear the bride's voice. He wants to hear
our prayers. He delights. His delights are
with the sons of men, we read. And so it is. Let me hear thy
voice, for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely. This is what he is saying to
her. And then in verse 15, we have
this word which is really the church speaking, I believe, take
us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our
vines have tender grapes. Here the picture is that I understand
foxes love grapes. And if you've got a vine that's
got lots of lovely tender grapes, then the foxes are going to be
very prevalent. They're going to descend on that
vine. Take us the foxes, the little
foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.
And you see, it's where there's a tender fear of the Lord, where
there's the bringing forth of the fruit, of the spirit, that
Satan, as it were, would come and seek to ruin all that fruit.
Take us the foxes. What are the foxes? The sin.
The little foxes, it says. Well, in one sense, there's no
sin that's little because he's an infinite God, but those You could think of those smaller
things that come into our pathway and say, oh, that's nothing.
But you see, the church is now concerned for anything that's
going to get in the way of fellowship with her beloved. Think about
it, if you had two that were caught in going out and the lady
was very anxious to gain the approval of her husband-to-be. She'd do everything she could
to try and make herself as attractive as possible to her husband, to
be. Well, and if there were these
foxes, these, you see, sin is a thing that can damage us. And
really, sin is the thing that we need to fear the most. You
see difficulties that come into our pathway, illnesses and difficulties,
well, they can give us a lot of trouble, but really, they
can be sanctified too, but sin is always damaging. It's always
damaging, and it always gets between us and our God. And so
the prayer of the church is take us the foxes, The little foxes. Oh, you say it's only a little
thing. You see, as we come more to love the Lord, we become sensitive
of smaller things. Sensitive of anything that would
cause him to be grieved. Grieve not the Spirit. You see,
if you really want communion, you don't want anything to get
in the way of that communion. You're very jealous, as it were,
to protect that. Take us the foxes. The little
foxes that spoil the vines. For our vines, our vines have
tender grapes. What a blessing to have tender
grapes. What a blessing that there is tender grapes on the
vine. But how quickly those foxes, those little foxes, in Reigate
at the moment, we seem to have a lot of foxes. We see them very,
very much around our place. But they can do a lot of damage,
you see, and these foxes can ruin things. And if you've got
these tender grapes, they can just eat them and they're gone.
And there's nothing to show for the fruit of that vine then.
And so sin, you see, it can ruin our fruitfulness. Take us the
foxes. This is the response. He has
said, I want to have that communion with you. And the church has
said, these things are going to stop
my communion with these little foxes. the sin which does so
easily beset us, that we may run with patience the race which
is set before us, looking unto Jesus. And then in verse 16 it
says, my beloved is mine and I am his. So here we have the
wonderful assurance. See, what is it that often grieves
God's people is a lack of assurance. cannot lay hold upon whether
he really is their God or not. Here we have this sweetness,
my beloved is mine and I am his. You see, in a sense, God has
his people from eternity past, they've always been his people.
But how do we know we're God's people? It's as we know that
he is our God, and then we look back and realize that we love
him because he first loved us. He is the prime mover, and yet
we don't experience that until we have A knowledge of his love
to us. A knowledge that my beloved is
mine and ownership. My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they follow me. They're my sheep and he's their
shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He says
they're my sheep. A two-way relationship. My beloved
is mine and I am his. He feedeth Among the lilies at
the beginning of the chapter we have the the lilies As the
lily among thorns so is my love amongst the daughters the lilies
god's people are Described as a as as the lily We have the
chief lily in verse one of this chapter as the lord jesus himself
I am the rose of sharon. This is god. This is jesus talking
and the lily of the valleys He is the lily, but his people are
as the lily They are resembling him. And you see, my beloved
is mine and I am his. He feedeth among the lilies,
among the lilies, not now. This is Plough. And if you think
about that, it's like in the church. You see, the church is
made up of not just one lily, but the lilies, each of God's
people. That beautiful plant that often
grows, I understand, in the valleys. And how God's people often are
found in difficult circumstances, and yet in that lowly place,
in that humble place where God has placed them, they beautify
it by the grace of God that is given to them. So, my beloved is mine. This is the greatest precious
thing to know that Christ is ours and we are his. This gives
us assurance for life and for death. This is what is precious. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up my love. my fair one, and come away. These
are things of value. These are things are really precious. This is what worship is about.
It's to worship Him. It's to glorify Him. It's to
know Him. It's to experience His love.
It's to have fellowship with Him. It's to walk with Him. It's
to delight in Him. It's to see the glory of His
salvation. It's to realize our own sinfulness.
These are the real things of the people of God. Do you know
them? You see, these are not dead things. These are fortes of an eternal
relationship that there is between Christ and his church. And these
fortes that we have here below, as he comes to us, encourages
us that it's not always going to be winter. There is going
to be the shining of God's grace into our hearts, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ, so that we can love him and know him. My beloved spake. He speaks to his people. He speaks
in love to his people. Are we listening to his voice?
Are we having those times of communion? Or are we, no, well,
you see, later on in this book of Song of Solomon, in chapter
five, we have a similar situation, but the bridegroom comes and
she's, She's quite comfortable. She doesn't want to get up and
open the door to her beloved. She's really quite comfortable
without him. And you see, then he withdraws
himself. And then she suddenly realizes
what she lost, and she goes about the city trying to find him. Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
Oh, she's on the stretch after Christ, and then we have a whole
rest of the chapter is given over to her description of the
glories of Christ and how precious he is to her. And yet, you see,
she got to a stage where she couldn't be bothered to get up
to open the door to him. And you see, we are to be amongst
those who are diligent in seeking the Lord. You see, if, as we
had in verse 14, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy
voice, are we found in God's house? Sounding his praise, you
think, oh, well, it doesn't matter to God whether I'm here or not.
Well, clearly it does. It says here, let me see thy
countenance, let me hear thy voice. You are precious. His church is precious to him.
It's not, well, you know, come if you want, don't if you don't.
There's preciousness here. He wants to see his church. There
is a diligence, there is a desire, he wants it. And you see, there's
the foxes, the sins, which cause us to be negligent and not diligent
in seeking the Lord. But you see, this is not out
of duty, but it's out of love. The whole motive for this Christian
walk is the love of Christ constraining us. So how is it with you, in your
pathway? Are you going to carry on in
Ecclesiastes, just trying to find pleasure here below, on
all the things that Solomon said are emptiness, vanity of vanities,
all is vanity? Or are you going to set your
affections on things above? You see, these things are real
things. These things are eternal things. These things go beyond
the time state. Everything here below has a timestamp
of here below. But these are eternal things.
These are relationships. To know the Lord Jesus Christ
is something that we can know here below. But it's a foretaste
of something far greater. To know him forever in glory. You see, this has promise of
eternal life. Not just the things of time. Well, my beloved spake and said,
rise up. Don't make this your rest. Don't listen to Satan and the
world around us that tries to tell us that happiness is to
be found in clubbing, happiness is to be found in immorality,
happiness is to be found in just doing what the world calls good
or great. Solomon tried that incense and
he found it was absolutely empty. You don't need to try it. Take
his word for it. Happiness is to be found in being
faithful. Happiness is to be found in listening
to God's voice, walking in his ways, knowing him and loving
him. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up, rise up. Don't stay here below. Don't
make this your rest. You young people don't just stay,
well, I've got to keep in with my friends. I've got to do what
they're doing because, well, I'll be laughed at. Well, what
will a few days or hours or years of being laughed at, how does
that compare to an eternity outside of Christ, an eternity of misery? eternity of realizing that you
have not entered because of unbelief. You see, that was the great,
the great point. We looked at this morning of
these, the mountains, and you think of it with Israel. What
were the mountains as they entered into the promised land? It was
the, it was the giants in the land. It was, it was the walled
cities. They were too great. So they
said. Caleb and Joshua said that we'd
be well able, but the others said, no, you've got these walled
cities, you've got these impossibilities, we can't go. But you see, and we read the solemn
word in Hebrews three, they entered not, not because of the walled
cities, not because of the giants, because of unbelief. That's the reason. The wall cities
were not too great for God to overcome. Jericho was an example
of that. The walls fell down. Not one
Israelite pushed over one brick of the wall of Jericho. It fell
down of its own. That's how unable the walls were
able to keep out God from the promised land. You see, and we
have the same God today. The same God is still alive today. His word has not changed. See,
a thousand years is with the Lord as one day. You see, it's
all, he sees it all as one eternal now. So, may we take these words
seriously. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up. My love. He calls us his love. He loved the church. Gave himself
for it. He seeks the good of that church. He seeks to know that church
and seeks to have communion with that church. My fair one. Oh,
the language is so amazing that Christ would speak so positively
about his church. His church that can only see
their faults and failings. And yet you see in Christ they're
beautiful. In Christ they are complete,
they have a righteousness, they have Christ's righteousness,
so they're accepted in the Beloved. Rise up my love, my fair one,
come away, don't stay. The winter is past, don't stay
hard and cold and all the graces being so so suppressed, that
there may be a springing forth. And may there be amongst us here
a springing forth. There has been those times of
blessing from the presence of the Lord, but there is much more
land yet to be possessed. And may there be then each having that vineyard, you
see, of the glory of God. Another beautiful word in the
Song of Solomon, it is in chapter four when it speaks of, it speaks of a garden, this is
chapter four, verse 12, a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse,
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. And then it goes through
nine different, nine different spices, the pomegranates, the
camphor and spikenard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, and all trees
of frankincense, myrrh and aloe, and all the chief spices. It's
a picture here of a garden giving out a fragrance of those graces,
and we already speak of those nine different things that are
spoken of in Galatians 5, of the fruit of the Spirit. This
is what is spoken of there. But then in the last verse of
that chapter 4, it says, Awake, O north wind, and come thou south,
blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
Oh, there's a desire that the north wind, the wind of the spirit,
the north wind of correction, the south wind of consolation,
may blow upon our garden, that we may grow, that we may produce
this fruit. Otherwise we won't produce it,
you see. There won't be a flowing out. You see, the church is to
be for Christ, and yet they're to be, primarily they're for
Christ, for Christ's glory. But then there also be, the fragrance
is to be to the world around us, that we have been with Jesus,
to give that fragrance of grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Awake, O north wind, come thou south, blow upon my garden. that the spices thereof may flow
out. This is the desire of God's people,
that they may show forth his praise, that this one may, they
have that communion with their Lord, that they may be able to
say, this is my beloved, and this is my friend, O ye daughters
of Jerusalem. We're not ashamed of him. You
see, there's one of that precious hymns, isn't it, that we often
sing at the baptism, is Ashamed of Jesus. Perhaps it takes a
little bit of thinking to understand what it's saying. Ashamed of
Jesus, that dear friend, on whom my hopes of heaven depend. You
see, we can be ashamed of him, and yet we've got nothing to
be ashamed of. Really. It really mocks how we
could ever be ashamed of somebody who is our absolute lifeline.
It's a bit like Joseph's brethren being ashamed of Joseph, who
was the only reason that they were in Egypt, the only reason
they were there, the only reason they could stay there, the only
reason they could continue to have food was all because of
their relationship with Joseph. And then for Joseph's brethren
to be ashamed of Joseph would be foolishness, wouldn't it?
And yet that's what we can be, ashamed of Jesus. And it's a
wonderful thing when we say, I am not ashamed. the Gospel of Christ, because
it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Well,
may this be a precious word then for us here. My beloved, spake
and said unto me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Come away from all the things
here below. Yes, we continue to live in this
world, but our heart it is taken up with the Savior. We have those
times of communion. And therefore, we can say this
is not our rest. It is polluted. We are looking
for a city. We're looking for that time when
faith will give way to sight, when we'll be able to be with
him without a cloud between. And you see, that is the great...
Ultimately, we read in Revelation 22, verse 17, it says, and the
spirit And the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say,
come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take of the water of life freely. May we seek to come. and come unto Him in all our
need, in all our poverty, realising the love of Christ to sinners,
realising what He's done for us, realising that the Son of
Righteousness can arise with healing in His wings and change
our darkness into light, that we may follow Him and serve Him
all the days of our lives. Amen.