All right, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon,
we'll be looking at chapter 4 and verse 16, and we'll look at verse
1 of chapter 5. We know this, that these divisions
in these books are man-made, and I want you to see that these
two verses are eternally linked together. They are linked together. And my title this morning is
simply The Presence of Christ. And I want to start this by asking
you, what do you want out of this service this morning? What
do you desire this morning? Is it not the presence of Christ? Is it not His presence? The Scripture
tells us that He is among us, and yet we desire His presence. We desire to know and experience
the presence of Jesus Christ walking among His church. That's my desire. I want Him.
I've got to have Him. I long for Him to embrace me.
I long for Him to touch me. I long for Him to kiss me. I
do. I long for His hands to hold
mine. Don't you? And so I want to read
this. Let's read this in chapter 5
and verse 1. Let's read verse 16. It says, this is the bride
speaking, Awake, O north wind, and come thou south. Blow upon my garden that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden
and eat his pleasant fruit. And then we have the answer of
the bridegroom, the husband. He says, I am come into my garden,
my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with
my spices. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. And then he gives us command,
eat. Eat, O friends, and drink. Yea, drink abundantly. O Beloved."
Now, as we've studied this passage many times, we know this, that
this book of the Song of Solomon is a picture of Jesus Christ,
who is the bridegroom, and His church, who is pictured by the
Shulamite bride. That is the essence of the whole
book. And if you missed that, you missed
the whole book. That's what it's all about. It's about Jesus Christ
and His church. These two characters, these two
people, are pictures of Christ and His church. And so in chapter
4 here, we hear the bridegroom. We hear the bridegroom, first
of all, declaring the beauty of the bride. Go back to verse
7, and listen to what Jesus Christ says about His church. He says
this about you this morning, if you're a believer. Listen,
He says, Thou art all fair. My love, there is no spot. Now, this is what Christ says
about His church. And see the reality of this truth,
that all the church of God, all the elect of the Father, all
those who are redeemed of the Son of God, you who are called
by the Spirit of God this morning, listen to the words fall from
His lips. He says of you, of you, even
of me, He says, Thou art all fair. There is no spot in thee. I tell you this, we who have
been called by the Spirit of God, this is true of us. And yet we know our experience
of this. We were quickened by the Spirit of God to see what?
What did we see first? Did we see our spotlessness?
No, we saw our sin. We saw our sin. We saw our bondage
and the nature of our corruption, but yet in grace we saw clearly
the salvation of Christ. That was beyond our ability to
obtain or merit, but the glory to God that Christ obtained it. Christ merited this perfection,
this salvation, was prepared and purchased for sinners. And by grace, we heard of his
perfect salvation. We heard of his great love. We
heard of his purpose. What was his purpose? His purpose
was to save sinners. His purpose was to save sinners.
The apostle himself claims to be the greatest of sinners. Remember what he said in 1 Timothy
1. He said this. He said, I was a blasphemer.
I was one who injured the church, literally injured the church,
but I obtained mercy. Why? I did it ignorantly. I didn't
have understanding and unbelief. But the grace of our Lord was
exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Jesus Christ. And what did he say? This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all your acceptation. Listen,
you should accept it. You should receive this, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save who? Sinners. He didn't come to save good people. He came to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I am a chief.
And then he says in the next verse, he says, I'm just a pattern.
God chose me, who was the greatest of sinners, to show you that
He can save anyone, anyone He wills. He can save any sinner. There's no sinner too great.
I'm the chief. And He used me as a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on Him to everlasting life. Now listen. He saved Paul. He can save you. And what is this salvation? This
salvation is to make you spotless. To make you altogether fair. God shed on us who believe abundantly
listen both faith and love which are in Christ Jesus Paul said
he shed on me both faith and love abundantly in Christ Jesus
even so it is a pattern for everyone who believes he sheds on us what
faith and love And what's the object of your faith and love?
You who are made perfect by Christ, what is the object of your faith?
What is the object of your love? It is the Beloved. It is Christ. He is the object of our faith.
We have faith in Christ who has come in the flesh. We have faith
in Christ who pleased God on our behalf. We have faith in
His blood that cleanseth us from all sin. We have faith in His
righteousness that robes us. and makes us acceptable to God?
And because of that, what's the result of faith? The result of
faith is always love. Listen, if you say you believe
and you become hardened, that's not faith. Faith always yields
love. Faith working by what? Love. These two are together, and if
you believe who you are, you believe what Christ has done,
you will love Him for it. You will love Him. How abundantly. Why, He shed that on you. You
didn't make you this faith. You didn't make this love. He
shed it on you. Go over to Isaiah chapter 44. Look over there at
Isaiah chapter 44. Because he shed this on us, he
says this, in my eyes you're without spot, you're without
blemish. And because of this, I want you
to know this, he doesn't forget you. Because you are without
spot and blemish, look what he says. He said, Remember these,
O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant, I form thee. Thou art my servant, O Israel,
Thou shalt not be forgotten of me." Now, why will God remember His
people? Why will God not forget His people? Look at that. In the next verse,
He says, I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgression
and thy sin. Return unto Me. Why? For I have
redeemed thee. And what's the purpose, what's
the result of this? Seeing, love. Seeing, O you heavens,
for the Lord hath done it, the Lord hath accomplished it. And it is this love, now listen,
it's this love, seeing His love, excites what? Our love. And when we love Him, what do
we want? What do you want? You that love Him, what do you
want most? You want Him. You want His presence. Isn't that what you do when you
love somebody? Don't you want their presence? Don't you want
to be with them? If you love them, you want to
be with them. I tell you this, if we love Christ, we want Him
to be with us. And that's exactly what our text
is. Because of His love, listen, it excites her love. Look at
verse 16. Now her love is excited. He says,
You're fair. You're my garden. You're protected. You're water of life springing
forth. And what does she say? Oh, awake. Oh, awake. Oh, north wind, come
south wind. and blow upon my garden, that
the spices thereof flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden
and eat his pleasant fruit." This bride, the church, you know
what we are? We are a garden planted. That
garden, you listen, that garden is that new nature, that garden
that produces the fruits of the Spirit that is pleasant unto
Christ." You listen, it was planted of God. He said, look, she calls
it her garden because it is her garden. It's given to her. It's hers. You see that? He says, verse 12, he said, a
garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. It's her garden. That's
who she is. She's the garden. And listen,
she says, come and eat of his garden. She knows whose garden
it really is. And so, this morning, as we desire
this, we desire Him to come. It is those fruits of the Spirit
that draw His presence. Love. Doesn't that draw His presence? Love. For Him, love for our brethren,
joy, peace, meekness, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
temperance. These are the fruits of that
garden that He has planted. And they're in every believer.
They're in every believer. And we desire these fruits to
grow. We desire these fruits to be fragrant. Is that not right? Do you not want your faith to
be fragrant? Your love to be fragrant to Him? Pleasing to
Him? Now listen, you can have all
the faith in the world, all the love in the world, and we know
this, it's not going to merit His pleasure. But we know this,
that that faith and that love is really His fruit. So it is going to please Him.
It is going to please Him. And we want that to grow. We
want that to be known. And she wants Him to come. And she
says this, Awake, O north wind and O south wind. What does that
mean? She says, the north wind, it's cold this morning here.
Wow, that's a north wind blowing in. She's saying, look, let afflictions
come. Or the south wind, that brings
the warmth. She said, whether joy or trial. It doesn't matter what you need
to do in providence, just come. Just come. She's aware of her
need of him. She feels her need of him and
longs that her garden be stirred up, that she should grow in these
graces that are pleasing unto her husband. So then she cries,
it doesn't matter what providence comes, let it come as long as
you come. as long as you come. Her aim,
her longing is truly the greatest longing of the church as long
as we abide in this world. Now, what can you want more than
Him? To have His presence. That's
our greatest longing. Isn't that heaven? Would it not be heaven on earth
to have His presence? Believer, do you long for his
presence this morning, thy Redeemer? Do you long? Then call for him. Do what the bride did. She says,
Come what may, but you come. Come what may, but you come.
This morning, are you stagnant? Are you asleep? Then cry this, Awake, O north
wind, and come thou south. Whatever you need to do, do it. But come. Come and visit me. You call upon Him. You call upon
Him to come to stir up your garden. And know this, this will always
be His answer. Look at verse 1. I am come into my garden." Is
this not the promise of the church in Revelation? Remember when
he said, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock, if any man..."
Open. "...if any man hear my voice
and open the door, I will come to him, and I will sup with him."
Wouldn't that not be wonderful to sit down and fellowship with
Christ? That's what His presence is.
It's the fellowship with Him. Listen, He constantly is at our
heart, longing for fellowship with us. We should open Let every
heart be prepared to receive Christ. All who desire to see
Him and feel His presence, He will most surely come to every
child. He says, I am come. I am come. Do you long for Him this morning
to come? Do you long for Him to come? Is this your heart's desire?
I'll tell you what, if it's your harsh desire for him to come,
I want you to know this, he's already there. If you have any
longing for him right now, it is because he's already there.
Notice what he says, I am come. I'm already here. I'm already
here. I'm already come to my garden.
Now this morning, I've got three points out of this text, this
one text here our Lord Jesus says here. Three things. I want
us to see, first of all, the presence of Christ. There are
two kinds of presence of Christ, the abiding presence and the
manifest presence. Second of all, I want us to see
the pleasure of Christ, the presence of Christ and the pleasure of
Christ. What is the pleasure of Christ?
It is the perfections he has already accomplished. Those are
his pleasures. And thirdly, I wanted to see
the petition of Christ, His calling us to eat with Him, to fellowship
with Him. First of all, let's see this
presence of Christ. We see the bride's condition
and her need of Him. We hear and identify with this
prayer. But see, in Jesus, He says, I'm
already here. I'm already here. That's what
I want you to see first, is that Christ is constantly present
with you. He is constantly with you. Because He has promised His continual,
perpetual, abiding presence to all His saints, He is always,
always, always with you. Listen what the apostle said
in Hebrews 13. He said, let your conversation,
let your lifestyle, let your living upon this earth be without
what? Wantedness. But be content. With what? Such things as you have. Have
you lost anything? Be content with what you have. How in the world can we be content
with such losses, such suffering, such affliction? Be content with
such things that you have for! Here's the way you can be content. He has said, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. Now, if you have His constant
abiding presence, what are you missing? Nothing. You have Him. You have Him. Go over to Isaiah,
since it's close, Isaiah 41. Look at what He says He's given
us. This is why you should be... He's with you. This is why you
should be content. with his presence. He says to
Israel, My servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham,
My friend, thou whom I have taken from the
ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee, Thou art My servant, I have chosen thee,
and not cast thee away. Fear thou not. Now why should
he not fear? I am with thee. Be not dismayed,
I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, I will help thee, I will
uphold thee with my right hand of righteousness." Which is what?
Christ. How does He strengthen us? How does He uphold us? With
His right hand of righteousness, with Christ. You listen, you that are chosen
of God, you are the elect of God, you are the redeemed sons
of God, Heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. You have been called
by the Spirit of God and quickened to believe Christ. And because
of this, God swears to you, I will be with you always. I will never
leave you. When has He ever left you? You
who believe, when has He ever left you? Before you were even
quickened, who was it that was caring for you and leading you
all the way till you came to Christ? He was with you. He was with you. And I know this,
we don't always feel His presence. This morning, you may not feel
His presence. Does it matter what you feel? We may not feel His presence.
We may feel that He's left us. We may feel cast down. We may feel alone. But what did God say? I am with thee. And what will
He do? I will keep you, I will uphold
you with my right hand to righteousness. God does often hide his face
and our hearts are often cold. Our sin, now you listen, our
sin does separate us from God. In this sense that we lose, we
become cold, we become indifferent because of our sin. And we feel
as though we are distant from God. We have left Him. But you
pay attention, He will never leave you. Never leave you. You may feel He is gone, but
nothing can separate us from God. Isn't that what Paul said? Nothing can separate us from
the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Nothing. I like this. Go over to Genesis
chapter 28. Look what Jacob experienced here. Genesis chapter 28, look
what Jacob experienced in verse 15. He says, God said, Behold, I
am with thee, and I will, listen to the omnipotent, immutable
will of God, I will keep thee. Where will he keep thee? In all
places. Where are you at this morning?
Who's keeping you? God is. Why, He willed it. He
said, I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. And
what is His purpose to do? I will bring thee to the land. I will carry you home. You know,
the difference between a false god and the real God is this.
Who's carrying who? False gods need to be carried. Our God carries us. He brings
us into glory. For I will not leave thee until
I have accomplished, until I have done what I told you. Now, when
is He going to leave you? He's not going to leave you until
He's finished the work, until He's done. He that hath begun
a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
And Jacob awoke out of sleep. Oh boy, that sounds familiar. We hear the word of God and what
do we do? We wake up asleep. And what do we realize? Just
what Jacob realized. He said, surely the Lord was
in this place and what? I didn't even know it. I didn't even know he was here.
And now that he spoke, what? I know he was here. Isn't that
our experience? Surely, how sadly, this is most
of our life. Most of our life is this. Surely,
I had not known he was there. Surely, I had thought he had
left me. Surely, I thought he had abandoned me. Until we hear
his word and we say, no, he was here. He was here. Surely, he
was here all this time. And so then we rejoice. Let us
rejoice in this then. If God is always present, what
should this bring but joy? Let us rejoice. For our lack
of knowledge and feeling of his presence does not negate the
fact that he is present with us. It doesn't negate the truth. He is constantly abiding with
us. His presence, he says this in
our text again, look at that. I am come. When? Already. I'm here. I was here before you called
me. Who do you think sustained the garden that you once stirred
up? Who? I did it. I'm there already. And I'll tell you this, as we're
meeting this morning now, we know He's constantly abiding
with us individually, but I want you to know this. It's important
to know this. When we are congregating, He is abiding with us. He is
constantly where two or three are gathered together in my name.
I am there. I am there. This morning, many of you who
are dead in sin, you don't see it. And many of God's people
don't feel it. But I know this, He's here. He's here. How do you know He said He would? Don't you get this? We're the
liar, not Him. Our conscience is so corrupted,
our minds are so twisted, that we would rather believe ourselves
than what God says? You'd rather trust those feelings
that you can't control over what God says? God says I'm here. Do you want Him here? Well, good,
He's here. He's here. Secondly, I want to see the manifest
presence, because this is what mainly we talk about when we
say we want His presence. What are we asking for, really?
We're asking Him to reveal Himself. We want His manifested presence. We want in love and grace to
know and experience the reality that He's with us. I know He's
with me, and how can you see that? You can only know the abiding
presence by faith, not by feeling. But we can know the manifest
presence by feeling it. Are we not living creatures?
created in Christ Jesus on two good works, which God has before
our day, we are living stones. We have feelings. Now, false religion believes
that you can get the manifest presence of Christ by exciting
the flesh. That if you just excite the flesh,
if you just holler and yell and jump up and down, somehow Christ
will manifest Himself. That is not the manifest presence
I'm talking about. If you desire to feel His presence
and let us lay our hearts bare, you know Hezekiah, when he desired
the Lord to manifest His presence in delivering Israel, what did
he do? He laid himself out before God. Now, if you want His presence,
You must lay yourself bare. What the bride's doing, she's
saying, Lord, do what you must, but please come to me. I must
have your presence. We lay ourselves bare before
Him that He may spiritually open
our hearts to reveal His presence. And what does His presence do?
When He manifests His presence, doesn't this stir our faith and
love? Over in Isaiah 57, Isaiah said,
this is what God said. He said, I dwell in the holy
place with Him that is of a contrite and humble spirit. That's Christ.
He said, I dwell with Him who is humble and contrite. That's
Christ. In order to do this, to revive
the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite
one, if you long for his presence, what does his presence do? It
revives us. Revive us again. Fill each heart
with thy love. Brother Don wrote this a long
time ago. He said, when the Lord is manifestly
present in the assembly, But there's life in our midst. There's
fervency in our prayers. There's validity in our songs,
and there's a blessing to hear His Word read. You want to know
when He's manifestly present? When you love this God. When you hear of His blood and
you rejoice to know He's accomplished your redemption. What are you
feeling? You're feeling His presence.
And His presence is reviving your faith, your love. It's stirring
your garden. Oh, that He would manifest His
presence to us. Do you need His presence? Do
you long for it? Then pray for it and listen.
He'll give it. I like this. Our life is much
like in Psalm 2 and verse 9. It says this, that He shows Himself
through a lattice. You know what a lattice is? It's
one of those wood things that just cross like this, and you
have to kind of look around to see through it. It's like you
see Him, and then you don't. And then you see Him, and then
you don't. That's His manifest presence. The apostles said we see through
a glass door. But I'm so glad we see, aren't
you? I'm so glad we see His manifest
presence. What a dead world this would
be without Him. The second thing is this. I want us to see not
only His presence, but His pleasure. Go back to your text. Look at
His pleasure. He says this, I have come to my garden, my sister,
my spouse. Here's His pleasure. I have gathered my myrrh and
my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk." True believers
in Christ know that our salvation is not by works, creed, by feelings,
or by will. Our salvation is only by the
person of Jesus Christ. We know this. My salvation is
only in a person. I always like to think of this
because it's important. Salvation is something done outside
of me first. It's done in a person. It's just
not me. It's done in a representative.
It's finished. It's accomplished. It's perfect
in Christ. Then He takes that salvation
He has perfected and He applies it to me. He gives it to me. It is mine. It is mine. I am
saved by something my Savior has done for me. His church,
all His bride, know this, that there is no salvation except
in Christ. You look for it anywhere you
want to, you won't find it except in Him. Neither is there salvation
in any other, for there is none other name given among men whereby
we must be saved. So then all His church, all His
bride, those who are in union with Christ, which union was
ordained and purposed of God, isn't that true? Your union with
Christ was purposed? Scripture says, But of God are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Therefore, when He came to accomplish our
righteousness by His obedience and suffering, when Jesus accomplished
and satisfied the justice of God upon Calvary's tree and rose
again from the dead, where were you? You and I were in Him. We were
in Him when He did that. But in grace, He comes to each
of us and works salvation in us, which is the experience of
grace. Have you experienced this grace
this morning? Listen to me. Have you experienced the grace
of God? What is that? It is to believe on the Son of
God. That is the experience of grace. It is to abandon self,
self-righteousness, and self-hope, and cling only to Christ by faith
alone. That is a work of God in you. In you. Therefore, believer,
Jesus is satisfied with you. Let that sink in. He is well-pleased with you. That's important, isn't it? It's important for us to understand
that Christ is pleased with you because He's pleased with Himself.
He's pleased with His work, not yours. His work. He mentions
in this text, look at it, He mentions nine times the word
my. My. Listen. I have gathered my myrrh. with my spice. I have eaten my
honey with my honeycomb. I have drunk my wine with my
milk." It is His. All of the grace,
all of the life, all of the fruit, all of the salvation is His. And listen what He said, I've
already eaten of it and I'm happy. You know what the bride had to
prepare for Him? Nothing. You see, he was satisfied
when he came. He didn't need anything from
her. He was already satisfied. Somebody come over to our house,
you might want to eat before you come. If you don't tell us
you're coming, you might want to eat before you come. We might
not have much for you. Now, you listen to this. I ain't
got anything for Christ. I have nothing of myself to allure
him to come to me. The only reason he's going to
come to me is because he's already full. He's already happy. He's already content with his
work. Now, I know this, the bride desires.
They desire him to come. They desire to be fruitful. They
desire to grow in grace and yet the bride She sees His love and
His grace in this response to her. I have already satisfied. Nothing required from you. Isn't
this the gospel? Come with nothing and be filled. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the waters, come and drink. Come buy wine and milk
without what? Without money and without price. Why? Jesus said, I've already
provided everything I want. I'm satisfied. Our Lord Jesus
is well pleased with His blood and righteousness. He's pleased
with the nature that He's created in us. Therefore, all of our
sins have been washed away. He cleanseth us from all our
unrighteousness. all our corruption, he has suffered
the depths of God's hell as our substitute, and we are fully
clothed in his righteousness. So then all our prayers, all
our worship, all our joys and sorrows, all our life and death
is well-pleasing unto him. Have you not ever experienced
the joy of His voice telling you that? Go back and look what
He said at the beginning. I told you this. He said in verse
7, you're altogether fair. Why? I have eaten my honeycomb.
I've drank my milk with wine. I'm satisfied. Therefore, you're
fair. Look what He says about you.
In verse 12, He says, you are a garden enclosed Is my sister,
my spouse, a spring shut in? Verse 15, a fountain of gardens,
a well of living waters and streams of Lebanon. That's what you are.
That's not what you're going to be. That's what you are. It's
what He's made you to be. And He's well pleased. He's well
pleased with His work. And so then, let me ask you,
why would He not come to you? If he's already satisfied, what
do you need to do? What work do you need to perform?
Religion's got you trying to perform things to get him to
come. He says, no, I'm already here, and I'm well satisfied
with my work. Don't corrupt my work by trying
to put yours on top of it. Come. I'm well pleased with my
church. You are completely perfect. Therefore, the Word of God reveals
to us this, that God wants you. Because His work is perfect in
you, listen to me, more than you desire the presence of Christ,
God longs for your presence. Why do you think the death of
God's saints is so precious? Because He has you completely
to Himself. And thirdly, I want you to see
this, so behold the fullness of Christ's work. If you want
to know his presence, you're going to have to know something
about the fullness of his work. You're going to have to know he's satisfied
with himself. Are you satisfied, man? I'm satisfied. I'm glad he's here. And lastly,
I want us to see the petition then. Because he's already here,
Because he's satisfied, now he makes a petition longing for
your presence. He makes a petition to you. This is gracious. He condescends
to speak to us in such a way. Listen to what he says. He says
this, eat. Now that I'm satisfied, there's
plenty left. Brought some food with me. It's
not that I just am satisfied and left my food at home I'm
satisfied and I brought all this food with me and listen what
he says to his bride. He says now you eat you eat drink
Yay, drink abundantly old beloved old friends. Now there are two
words that he calls us Into this feast two words. He says you
are friends and beloved And by two words, he calls us, he describes this
feast. He says that we are to drink
and eat, drink and eat abundantly. Now, first of all, I want you
to know this. You are friends of Christ. You believe in Christ. You are His friends. We were
enemies by nature, weren't we? But now we are made Friends. Friends. Now, we who believe
on Christ, listen to what He says of us. He says, "...greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends." I'll tell you this, and being
honest, I have few friends in this world. Don't you? I just don't have many friends.
I have acquaintances, a lot of acquaintances. I've met a lot
of people. I just have very few friends. I don't care if I have zero friends
in this world, I have only one friend that matters. It is Christ. He is my friend. He is a friend
that sticketh closer than a brother. He is my friend. He says, I have
called you friend. And secondly, He calls us beloved.
What does this mean? It means that we are His bride. Now you pay attention, there
is nothing more precious to a man than a bride. When he is in love, his bride
is precious. And God intended it to be that
way. And I'll tell you this, how much more so Are we precious
in his sight? He calls us beloved. Beloved. Are you afraid to come to him? Why would you be afraid if he
called you friend and bride? Remember Esther? She was afraid,
wasn't she? She had a very important thing
to bring to the king, and she knew that if she got into that
court and he did not extend that scepter to her, he would have
to kill her. And yet she came trusting his
love. And sure enough, as soon as she
came in, he extended the scepter because that was his wife. That's what Christ says to you
this morning, come and eat. Why? You're my friend. You're
my wife. And secondly, He calls us to
this feast to eat and drink His blood and His flesh. You remember He said this, except
you eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood, you
have no life in you. What is it to eat His flesh?
It's not to drink His blood. It's not literal. We know it's
not the Lord's Supper. That's a heresy that the false
churches come up with. This means to believe on Him
and feed on His gospel. Feed on His gospel. I'll tell you this, you will
never enjoy the presence of Christ apart from His gospel. Am I right? Can you know anything at all
about His presence without His gospel? There's a lot of people
who have feelings and experiences, but if their feelings and experiences
don't line up with this gospel, they're useless. That's not Christ.
That's not the presence of Christ. The presence of Christ always
comes as we are dining with Him, as we are feasting on Him, as
we are recalling His sacrifice and His righteousness and His
deity and His person and His sovereignty. It's then we start
feeding and dining and something with Him. And then what? You
know those disciples when they feasted with Him? They said that.
They didn't know He was there. They didn't know Him until He
left, right? A lot of times we don't even
know He was there until He's gone. And then when He's gone,
what do they say? Did not our hearts burn within us while He
spake with us in the way? Presence of Christ is vital.
Do you long for the presence of Christ? Do you cry with the
bride, let Him come to this garden He planted, this garden that
He keeps, this garden that He protects, this garden that He
has made? Come to His garden. And he says
this, I'm already here. But if we want the manifest presence
of Christ, I'll tell you this, we must understand his satisfaction
with you. You won't feel his presence unless
you understand he's satisfied. I mean, is there any joy in mourning
over your sin? No. There's joy in knowing that
your sin is put away. That's the manifest presence
of Christ. How many times you read this book and it was like
cold and empty and there's nothing, and then you read the same thing
again and all of a sudden it lights off the page. Why is that?
That is the manifest presence of Christ. You are feeding on
His Word. You have answered His petition. You have come to dine with Him.
And listen, He says, dine abundantly. All right. Who needs mercy abundantly? Who needs forgiveness abundantly? Who needs grace abundantly? Who needs Christ abundantly? Awake, O north wind, come thou
south wind, blow upon my garden. Let my beloved come into his
garden, and he always says, I'm already here. I'm satisfied with
my work, and you come and eat what I've provided for you abundantly. Then you are able to experience
the manifest presence of Christ. May God give us grace.