let us turn again to God's Word
and directing you this evening to words that we find in the
Song of Solomon turning to the Song of Solomon and the fifth chapter and I'll
read the second verse Song of Solomon chapter 5 and
verse 2 I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my
Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my undefiled. For my head is filled with you,
and my locks with the drops of the night. Even in the Song of
Solomon, chapter 5 and verse 2. And of course we ask the question
as to just who it is that is speaking And in order to give
a proper answer we have to remember something of the nature of the
book. It's introduced in the opening
words of the book, there in chapter 1 and verse 1, the Song of Songs,
which is Solomon's. We know that Solomon compiled
over a thousand songs. But this one, as we've said before,
is that that was altogether inspired by God. It's not so much the
words of King Solomon, it's the word of God inspired by the third
person in the Godhead, God the Holy Ghost. And so, it's different
to all those other thousand songs. It's the song of songs. And it speaks very much, of course,
of Solomon's love. But more than that, it speaks
of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Solomon was a
remarkable type. Solomon, the son of David. And Christ comes of the line
of David. But he is David's greater son. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
certainly here. As we said before, it sets before
us the love of a man and his wife. And Paul speaks of that
when he deals with those relative duties. Writing in Ephesians
chapter 5, he speaks of the responsibilities of the man and of his wife. Remember
what he says as he comes to the end of that chapter, this is
a great mystery. Speaking of the love of the man
and the woman, the husband and the wife, this is a great mystery.
Says Paul, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. And you are aware, I'm sure,
most of you, of When we come to the end of the book of the
Revelation, we have that remarkable portion that speaks of the great
marriage supper of the Lamb. There in chapter 19, verse 7,
Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him, for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of
saints. And he said unto me, Right, blessed are they which
are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said
unto me, These are the true sayings of God. We're to understand this
book of Solomon sung then in a spiritual sense. It doesn't
just speak of human love, it speaks of divine love. It speaks
of the relationship that Christ has with his church, that Christ
has with the individual believer. And throughout the book different
figures are used and in those figures we learn something of
the various experiences of the people of God. And so here, It
is the church, the believer that is speaking. I sleep, but my
heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled, for my head is filled with you, and my locks
with the drops of the night. And the theme I really want to
address is that of the believer's conflict with himself, the believer's
conflict with his sinful self especially in those opening words,
I sleep but my heart waketh how important it is that we distinguish
those things that differ when we come to the Word of God I
suppose the fundamental thing we have to take account of in
that sense is the difference between law and gospel. We have to distinguish these
things that differ. We know that the law was given
by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and we see
how in the course of his own ministry the Lord Jesus is so
faithful a minister, the prince of all preachers, and how he
distinguishes in his dealings with individuals. With some he'll
deal in terms of the law, with others he deals in terms of the
gospel. And we have a remarkable example
of that, we've looked at it in previous times, there in the
10th chapter of Mark, where we read of the rich young ruler
who comes to Christ, and addresses him, good master. Why call us
only good, says Christ? There is none good but one, that
is God. He's respectful but he doesn't really recognize that
Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Christ of God. And the man comes
and he's very much looking to himself. What good thing must
I do that I might inherit eternal life is the question that he
puts there in that 10th chapter of Mark. What must I do and the
Lord says there knowest the commandments the Lord deals with him in terms
of law directs him to the second table of the law those commandments
that have principally to do with our relationship with our fellow
man not so much our relationship directly with God himself as
in the first table and the man says all these have I kept oh
the Lord you see is dealing with this man he's so full of himself
And Christ says one thing they lack is to sell all and is to
follow Jesus in the way. In other words is to completely
deny himself is simply to follow Christ, to look to Christ, to
trust in Christ and he cannot do that. The Lord deals with
that man in terms of the law But then at the end of that same
chapter, we read of the Lord's dealings with the blind man,
Bartimaeus. How different. How different
that man's approach to the Lord. He doesn't simply say, good master,
what must I do? No, he cries out, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. Oh, he pleads for mercy. He reminds
us very much of that publican who goes to the temple at the
hour of prayer and can only plead for mercy
as he smites upon his breast and cries out, God be merciful
to me, a sinner. So too blind Bartimaeus. The
Lord very much deals with that man in terms of the gospel. What wilt thou have me to do,
says the Lord. The rich young guru says, what
must I do? But here is a man who wants the
Lord to do something for him. He wants to receive his sight,
but he receives more than his sight. What does the Lord say?
Thy faith hath saved thee. All we have to distinguish, and
it's important that we do this, that we see that there's a ministry
of the Lord, that must be applied, first of all, to bring the sinner
to his senses, that he might see where he is, that there's
nothing that he can do for himself, to prepare him, as it were, to
hear the good news of the gospel of the grace of God and that
salvation is altogether of the Lord. We have to distinguish,
then, those things that do differ. And we have to distinguish, then,
with regards to the believer. the child of God that in the
believer there is an old nature and there is a new nature there's
an old man and there's a new man and I trust that that was
evident in the portion that we read the seventh chapter of Romans
but I want us to consider that distinction as we see it here
in this particular verse in the song the bride of Christ. The church cries out, I sleep,
but my heart wanketh. It is the voice of my Beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my God,
my undefiled. How affectionately the Lord addresses
His people. He says, My head is filled with
you and my locks with the drops of the night. The gracious approaches
of the Lord Jesus as He comes in the Gospel of His grace. But
as we come to consider this text and principally those opening
words of the verse, I want first of all to say something with
regards to what we might say are the principal parts of the
believer. And we see it here. Here is the
child of God sleeping and waking. There's a contradiction really,
an apparent contradiction. I sleep, but my heart waketh. How can this be? We're going to sing that hymn
of Joseph Hart. Lord, what I really is my soul,
alive when wounded, dead when whole. Alive and dead. asleep and awake. And it's important that we understand
these things and the distinction that's being made here and the
reason why such language is employed. A failure to recognize the old
nature and the new nature will only lead us to be more and more
confused and will oftentimes fill us with a great deal of
dismay. remember how there is in scripture
what's spoken of as a time of first love and how all is well
when the Lord is addressing those churches in the book of the Revelation
the seven churches he speaks doesn't he to the church at Ephesus
and we have that remarkable letter that was sent by the Apostle
Paul to the Ephesian church that tremendous opening chapter of
the Ephesian epistle but there's that letter that he sent there
in the book of Revelation at the beginning of the second chapter
and though the Lord rebukes that church because they had left
their first love they had left their first love all that blessed
time Where is the blessedness I knew when first I knew the
Lord? Where is that soul-refreshing
view of Jesus and His Word? Now the Lord speaks to Israel
in the book of Jeremiah, there in the second chapter, I remember
these things, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine
espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land
that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the
Lord. For when He delivered them, there was a generation of course
that fell away in the wilderness. The unbelieving, the faithless
generation weren't to go into the Promised Land because they
believed what the ten spies said when they brought the evil report.
They were afraid. But there was a generation that
followed that. and they entered into the possession
of the land of promise and that's what's being spoken of there
at the beginning of that second chapter in Jeremiah the first
love but it can't always be the first
love there is a time of great refreshing when first we come
to know the Lord as we've said but it's also a truth is it not
that when the believers pardon is signed When his peace is procured,
then his conflict begins. And he discovers he's involved
in a warfare. And it's a conflict not only
with the world, because he doesn't take his people out of the world.
The Lord, when he prays for his disciples, when he prays for
his church there in John chapter 7, doesn't ask that they be taken
out of the world, but that God keeps them. and protects them,
and preserves them. In the world, there's a conflict
with the world. There's a conflict with Satan, but there's also
that conflict with self. With his sinful self. The believer
has to wrestle with his old nature. The old I. The old I. The old ego. And we have it here,
of course, at the beginning of the verse, I sleep. I sleep. But this is not the sleep of
sin, the sleep of death. That is the condition of all,
of course, by nature. We're all born, aren't we, dead
in trespasses and in sins. It doesn't matter what our parentage
is. You might have been favoured
with the most gracious of parents, but they can't give you grace. Grace is the sovereign gift of
God. By nature we all come into this world in that fallen condition
with the offspring of Adam and Eve. And who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? Not one. for they sinned and they died
in the day that thou eatest thereof God said concerning that forbidden
fruit in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die
and they died spiritually and all who come from them have the
same nature a fallen nature a sinful nature but you have to quicken
says Paul who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Oh, the Lord Jesus
himself tells us, verily, verily, the hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall
live. Oh, the Lord Jesus, you see,
He gives eternal life. He gives eternal life. But there's
still the old eye. And that's what we have here,
the old eye. we referred to the letter that Paul wrote to that
church at Ephesus and of course it's quite a long epistle really,
it contains six chapters and it's full of good matter, it's
the word of God not just the epistle of Paul, it's Paul's
epistle yes, but it's God's word he writes under the inspiration
of the spirits and by the Apostle the Lord God is addressing the
church here at Ephesus it's an epistle written to a church but
it belongs to all the church of God all the people of God
in all ages and what does God say to his church there in Ephesians
5.14 awake thou that sleepest it's a word addressed to the
church awake thou that sleepest Christ shall give thee light
Oh, that's very much to the believer. I sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the
voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister,
my love, my dove, my undefiled. Oh, how the Lord speaks to us.
Sometimes, you see, it's not that we're in the dead sleep
of sin, but we're in a sad condition. And here is the believer, you
see, bewailing his old nature, his old ego. He still feels it. We read what Paul says, and it's
so personal, the way in which he writes there in that 7th chapter
of the Roman Epistle. He says at verse 18, I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing for to will is
present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not
for the good that I would I do not and the evil which I would
not that I do and if I do that I would not it is no more I that
do it but sin that dwelleth in me I find in a law that when
I would do good evil is present with me. Or how he feels He feels
his old nature. I sleep. I'm not what I should
be. I'm living my life at a poor rate, a dying rate. I'm falling
so far short of what the child of God should really be. The
Lord Jesus speaks, doesn't he, of the ten virgins. Five of them were wise and five
were foolish. but they all slumbered and slept
or they all slumbered and slept and that's not to be excused
they were all slumbering but there was a difference because
the wise virgins had taken oils in their lamps those were the
ones who knew the ministry of the Holy Spirit But those foolish
virgins, what was their sleep? That was surely the sleep of
death. Oh, there's the old eye and the
remarkable thing in the life of the believer is that he feels
that. He feels that. He feels his sleepiness. He feels his deadness. That's a contradiction. It's
a paradox, isn't it? I sleep. I sleep, he says, but
my heart waketh. There's the old I, the old ego,
the old self, the sinful self, the old man, but there's also
here something else. There's the new man. There's
the new heart. A new heart. I sleep, but my
heart waketh. Isn't this that that is given
to the sinner at conversion? It's a great promise, isn't it,
of the new covenant? Back in Ezekiel 36, 26. A new heart also I will give
you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a
heart of flesh. What a promise! What a promise
is that there in Ezekiel's book. It's gospel. It's what God has
said he will do. And it's not that he makes a
person have a split personality. No, this new heart is really
now the man's true self. He's a changed man. he's been turned around and of
course that's evident in that he's been brought to to true
repentance that's what repentance is really
in the New Testament it's a turning around as we've said many many
times it's one of those compound words that's rendered to repent
but literally it means a change of mind. Such a fundamental change
of mind that the man's life is turned about, and the man's life
is turned upside down, and the man's life is turned inside out.
He's a changed man. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. All things are passed away. All
things are become new. Well that's the change. And how
does it come about it's the gracious work of the Spirit of God? It
must be. Because by nature he's dead in
trespasses and sins, there's no spiritual life there. Where
does that spiritual life come from? It must come from God,
it must be the work of the Spirit of God. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, Paul says he's none of his. All the Spirit comes,
doesn't He? And He comes as the Spirit of
Christ. That's His ministry. He doesn't come to draw any attention
to Himself. That's the remarkable work of
God, the Holy Ghost. He's equal to the Son. He's equal
to the Father. But when He comes, He doesn't
speak of Himself. Christ says He'll take of mine.
He'll show it unto you. Such a self-effacing ministry. He is the Spirit of Christ, that
Christ who is exalted a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance
to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. It's the Spirit who
works that repentance in the soul of the sinner. He's a new creature now. And this is his true nature,
the new nature. And we see that in what Paul
says There at the end of that seventh chapter in Romans, with
the mind he says, I myself serve the Lord of God, but with the
flesh the Lord of sin. With the mind, I myself, not
just with the mind I serve the Lord of God, but I myself, there's
an emphasis here, this is the true self, this is the real me. the one that's serving the law
of God. But I still have this old nature
that wants to serve the law of sin. It's the complexity, really,
of the believer's character. And we see it here in this book,
which tells us much about God's people. and their relationship
with the Lord, and the Lord's relationship with them. It's
a remarkable book, The Song of Solomon. Full of strange imagery,
really. But well worth reading. And if
you want to study it in any detail, I can do no better than recommend
that you obtain a copy of Dr. Gill's commentary on the song,
and read that. And see how the good doctor opens
the book up. in a remarkable way, and the
figures that we have here. But it sets before us so much
of the believers' complex character. In chapter 1 and verse 5, I am
black but comely. In chapter 6, the question is put there at
verse 13, what will you see in the Shulamites? as it were the
company of two armies. Shulamite, that's the bride. Two armies. It's a conflict,
you see. There's a warfare going on in
the soul of the believer all the time. And here I sleep, but
my heart waketh Oh, there's his inward conflict with sin and
how the believer is brought at times to be groaning within himself,
he's burdened, he's burdened by this awful conflict, he's
wrestling with himself. He was one of the Erskine brothers
of Scots ministers back in the 18th century, one of them said,
Oh, that I had not a myself myself, this is my tree, my chief complaints,
my greatest burden. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit, says
the Lord Jesus. This is why, where there's that
new birth, you see, there's the communication of that new nature.
The man is dead in trespasses and in sins, He must be born
again, he's born of the Spirit of God, but he's still in this
world, and he still has a fleshly nature, that which is born of
the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
And then Paul brings it out further, doesn't he, there when he writes
in Galatians. In the fifth chapter he says,
the flesh losteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other and you cannot
do the thing that you would. You cannot do the thing that
you would. Isn't this what Paul is really speaking of there in that seventh chapter of Romans?
The good that I would, I do not. The evil which I would not, that
I do. And he cries out, O wretched
man that I am! shall deliver me from the body
of this death." He's burdened with it. I thank God through
Jesus Christ. Oh, there's the only hope of
the sinner, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit indeed is willing,
says Christ, but the flesh is weak. When He's addressing His
sleepy disciples there, in the Garden of Gethsemane, and they
couldn't watch. They couldn't watch. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. And so there is this conflict,
and there's this continual need for the mortification of sin. And we see how Paul exhorts the
various churches set before them the importance of the mortifying
the deeds of the body that they might live again look at what
he says to the Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 22 he says that
you put off concerning the former conversation of the old man,
which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which
after God is created in righteousness and through holiness." Oh, there's
the restoration, you see, of the image. God made man in his
image, created man after his likeness, and that was what was
so despoiled ruined, lost in the fall. But He is a new man
that He put on the new man, which after God, after God's image,
is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting
away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are
members one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let
not the sun go down upon your wrath. neither give place to
the devil. Let him that stole steal no more."
He gives all these practical exhortations. Live as Christians. All things passed away. All things
become new. Here then we see something of
the principal parts that make up the believer. There are these
Two natures, there's the old nature, there's the new nature.
There's the old man, there's the new man, there's his conflict.
I sleep, but my heart waketh. But I want us to look a little
more closely at the paradox here. The paradox is really experienced
in believing. How the believer feels that he's
made up of such contradictory elements sleeping and waking
what does Paul say in 2nd Corinthians 12 he speaks of being weak and
strong but one and the same time he's all weakness in himself
all his strength is in the Lord and the believer often times
is doubting and believing Or do we not feel that sometimes?
This wrestling with the old nature, we're so full of unbelief. Or could I but believe? says
dear John Newton. Or could I but believe? Then
all would easily be, I would but cannot, Lord relieve, my
help must come from Thine. Like the man in the Gospel, Lord
I believe, help Thou mine unbelief. are we not often times I don't
know about you I know about a little about myself I trust and I fear
I'm nothing more than an unbelieving believer an unbelieving believer
that's what we are we're full of doubts and fears we're fearful
and sometimes we're bold the Lord emboldens his people quite
remarkable isn't it what we What we learn in the Word of God,
sorrowful, says Paul, yet always rejoicing, having nothing and
yet possessing all things. That was his experience. And
he's a pattern, is he not? To them that should hereafter
believe. There is this remarkable paradox
in the life of faith. But what of this paradox? Well,
three things I want to mention with regards to it. The time
when we really probably are confronted by it. And we see it here in
the context. We have Christ manifesting himself.
As he says in the opening verse, I am coming to my God, my sister,
my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk, and then this gracious invitation eats, O friends, drink,
yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. O the Lord, you see, he comes
with this gracious invitation, a spiritual feast, as he manifests
himself. And there I sleep. I sleep. Oh, this wretched old nature,
this sleepy old nature, so unresponsive. But do we not see something of
the same really in the experience of the Lord's disciples? Remember,
as He comes to the end of His earthly ministry and He sets
His face to go to Jerusalem, that final journey as He makes
His way to the city, approaches the city, looks and weeps over
the city, enters the city he knows when the time has come
that he should be received up he steadfastly set his face to
go to the city and it's a Passover and he's
going to eat that last Passover with his disciples and we read
of it in the Gospels when we read of it in the Synoptic Gospels,
don't we? The actual institution. And there
in Matthew 26, verse 26 following. What a favoured company they
are, as they sit at that table, and it's a Passover feast, and
the Lord changes that Passover feast into a feast of remembrance
of Himself. He institutes what we call the
Lord's Supper and they're there. the first observance of that
supper. In Matthew 26, verse 26 following, and then just go
on a few verses. Verse 36 and the following verses,
they come out of that upper room, they enter into the garden, and there the Lord begins to
struggle in his soul, what agonies there in the soul of Christ and
he takes those favoured disciples Peter, James and John and he
separates them from the others and he goes a little further
and he asks them to watch and pray and he comes back and he
finds them sleeping oh could you not watch one hour
with me he says could you not watch one hour with me They'd
been so favoured just previously. They'd been there when he instituted
the Holy Supper. They'd partaken of the broken
bread and the cup. It reminded them of the significance
of these things and now look at them. Oh, they're so sleepy. This is the paradox, is it not?
Is it not like that with us? Sometimes the Lord favours us.
One minute and where are we the next minute? So much of it has
been forgotten, lost sight of. All the time of the paradox,
it's so trying for us. Because, secondly, there's a
trial here, there's a trial in the paradox. When we're in that
drowsy, sleepy, self-assured frame, and sometimes we do come
to that, We begin to think that we could
never really become sleepy again. Or we've grown in grace. And then we're so vulnerable,
aren't we? What does the Lord say to those disciples when He
finds them sleeping? Watch and pray, He says. Lest
ye fall into temptation. or when the Lord favours us,
when He comes so graciously to us. We're so established. Why, we
could never sin like we've done before, surely not. And we're
so vulnerable. Oh, we're so vulnerable. Satan's
such a wily fowl. Lest Satan should get an advantage
over us, we're not to be ignorant of his devices. Be sober, be
vigilant because your adversary like a roaring lion is walking
about seeking whom he may devour and we're to resist him steadfast
in the faith. We're not to be ignorant of his
devices. For when he's so clever he tempts us, we fall, he turns
accuser. He accuses us before God and
we're ashamed and we can't even confess our sin. How can we confess? We've sinned so many times and
we've sinned against the grace of God, against thy law, against
thy grace. All the trial in the paradox.
It is a trial. But there's something that we
learn in the third place. There's something to learn. in
all of these experiences. The carnal fleshly ease, the
sleepy spirit, is something that we should learn to shun. All
we need to be awake and alert spiritually, on our toes as it
were. Woe to them that are at ease
in Zion, it says. In Zion. And what does the Lord
do? Well, He has to deal with us. We read of the ungodly, don't
we, in the Psalms, Psalm 55. What do we learn concerning the
ungodly? They have no changes. They don't
have changes. They don't fear God. That's what
it says. Because they have no changes, they fear not God. And so, we find our lives to
be such changeable lives. brisk and dull in half an hour,
hot and cold, sweet and sour, that's how we are, we're always
changing. And yet, the Lord overrules all of this for us. This is the
grace of God in His dealings with us, in spite of our sleepiness.
I sleep but my heart waker, there is a body. We have to thank God
for those bots and those neverthelesses in His Word. We do go in and
we go out as well. It's an up and down life. It's
a life of many changes, paradoxes, apparent contradictions, and
yet are real contradictions. The Lord makes the crooked straight, and we have to look to Him, you
see. We have to embrace here, my heart waketh, it says, or
to have our hearts awake. How can that be? Well, the Lord's,
that one who is ever awake, he that keepeth Israel shall neither
slumber nor sleep. That's what we are told in the
Psalm, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. And that's the one we're to look
to. If we would be awake, it's the blessed objectivity of faith,
we have to look to the Lord. I sleep, but my heart waketh. It's the Lord who must do it,
you see. He comes, He knocks open to me. The church says,
I have put off my coat. How shall I put it on? I have
washed my feet. How shall I defile them? My beloved
put in his hand by the hole of the door and my bowels were moved
for him. I rose up to open to my beloved.
Oh, it's the Lord who initiates it all, isn't it? He must act.
Oh, He must act. He must do the deeds. He must
come. He must arouse us. otherwise
we would sleep the sleep of death but we don't because of his grace
and we're completely and we're utterly dependent upon that at
every step of the way now he comes here so graciously in the
text open to me my sister my love my dove my undefiled all
what words he speaks my head is filled with you and my locks
with the drops of the night. And so he puts in his hand by
the hole of the door. And the church says, my bowels
were moved for him. Or are we those friends who are
moved? We have affections? We yearn after Christ? We hunger,
we thirst for him? Is that true? O God, grant that
we might know something of that grace of God in our souls. Where
are we? What are we without Him? We're
nothing but sleepy souls. O the Lord have mercy then, and
come and bless His Word to us. Amen.