Song of Solomon, Chapter 3. Song of Solomon, Chapter 3, and
the title of the message this morning is, I Will Seek Him. I Will Seek Him. Song of Solomon,
Chapter 3, in verse 1. The scripture says, By night
on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth I sought him but
I found him not I will rise now and go about the city in the
streets and in the broadways I will seek him whom my soul
loveth I sought him but I found him not the watchman that go
about the city found me To whom I said, saw ye him whom my soul
loveth? It was but a little that I passed
from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth. I hailed him
and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's
house into the chamber of her that conceived me. The first thing that I want us
to see prior to this chapter is the blessed assurance of the
church. The blessed assurance of the
church. In the previous chapter we find
the bride, which is the church. And she is in a most happy condition. She is in a most blessed condition.
She heard the voice of her beloved saying, come away with me. She
heard the voice of her savior saying, come my dove, come my
spouse, come away with me. She heard his voice and his words. They were sweet. They were sweet. She heard him speak of his desire
for her. She heard his voice and he encouraged
his bride to do away with all the foxes of her sins so that
our tender communion would not be broken. This voice that she
heard was the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the voice
of everyone who believes on Christ. It is His voice that we hear
calling us to Him. And sometimes, sometimes in our
experience, we hear it so clearly. We hear it very clearly. At times
we hear Him say to our hearts, You are my dove, my undefiled. You are my dove because I've
washed you in my blood. You are my dove because you are
hidden in me, the cleft of the rock. And we gladly call to Him
in prayer, desiring communion with Him. When he's near our
hearts, his love is manifest to us so that we can say with
such confidence, my beloved is mine. Have you experienced such
days where you can confidently say, Jesus is mine and I am his? There are times when we are made
to feel sure that we are His by election of the Father. There
are times that we feel more sure that we are His by the purchase
of His own precious blood. We are sure at times by the Spirit
of God that is in us. We are sure that we are quickened
by the Spirit. These are times of blessed assurance. There are times when Jesus is
near to our hearts and we know the power of the Spirit. We know
He's our husband. We know He's all our salvation.
We feel the strength of grace and sometimes we feel like Samson. You remember Samson when he gathered
all those foxes together, tied them up and set them on fire.
That's how we feel like our... We just want to do that with
all of our sin. We just want to take all of our
sin and bind them up and set them on fire. That's how we feel. We feel strong enough to do it
at times, when He is near, when He's comforting us. We cry in
our hearts, you can have all this world, but give me Jesus. Have you ever felt so near to
Him? Have you ever felt that closeness and that precious,
affectionate time where you can say these things with such zeal
and confidence? These are times of blessed assurance. My beloved is mine, and I know
where he dwells during these times of blessed assurance. The
bride says, My beloved is mine, and I am his, and he feedeth
among the lilies. She wasn't asking. She knew.
She knew where to find him. Oh, when Jesus is near, we know
where he's to be found. Right here. He's right here where
his people are gathered together. We know where he's found. He's
the lily among thorns. Where is that? He's in his church.
He's among his people. Jesus himself said where two
or three are gathered together in my name. That's wonderful,
isn't it? Because I know this, no matter
what, if there were 10,000 people here gathered, if only two or
three were in His name, He said, I'm there in the middle of them.
I'm in the midst of them. John, by revelation, he saw the
Lord Jesus. And what was he doing? He was
walking among the golden candlesticks. This is where the Lord is found.
And during times of blessed assurance, someone can ask me, Where would
I go for comfort? I say, go where God's Word is
preached. That's where Christ will be.
That's where I'm going. We say that with such confidence
and assurance and in these seasons of grace, we hear His Word so
plainly. And we say with all of our heart
in verse 17 of chapter 2, we say this, Until the day break
and the shadows flee away, I'm going to be with Him. That's
what we say with great confidence. When He is near, we have such
boldness, don't we? We have such peace and comfort
that we say, Until this life ends, I'll be with Him. That's
my determination. That's my desire when He is near. But between the end of chapter
2 and the beginning of our text, there is something that changes. There is something that has gone
awry. Look at this. By night on my
bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found
him not. The bride has gone from a season
of blessed assurance to a season of a sad condition. Is there
anything worse to a believer's heart than when the Lord Jesus
Christ's presence cannot be found? Is there any sadder condition?
Is there anything worse? Not for the believer, it's not. Just as it is given unto believers
seasons of His manifested presence, even so it is given unto us for
times of sadness that He would draw Himself. When the Lord hides
His presence, what is the purpose of this? Our Lord God has a purpose
for this. This is not by accident. It is
not by chance. It is not because God has changed
His mind about you. Because that's what we think
first. We think, surely God has changed His mind about me. Surely
God has left me. That's not so. Our God is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. So He has not changed. What was
the reason? What is His motive behind leaving
us for a time? I tell you that there is great
value for every believer in this sad condition. If you're in this
sad condition, I want you to understand this. According to
God, this is for your benefit. He would not leave you if it
was not for your benefit. What can you learn from this?
What can you learn from Him hiding His face? I tell you, you can
learn to value His presence. You can value His presence. You
can prize His presence more. How often are we given such great
benefits of Christ's presence and rejoice for a season, but
soon take Him for granted? Isn't that so? Is that not easy
for us to do? When the Lord is present and
we feel such zeal, we feel such love and affection for Him, we
feel such boldness, surely, eventually, we're going to go out on our
own and overstep our bounds and presume upon His presence. How do you know that? Well, go
over to Matthew chapter 26. I'll give you an example. The Lord gives us an example.
I'll just tell you about it. In Matthew chapter 26, verse
33, the Lord's telling his disciples that he's going to go away and
be crucified and killed. And in Matthew chapter 26 in
verse 33, Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men
be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Truly I
say unto you, that this night before the cock crow thou shalt
deny me three times. And Peter said unto God, manifest
in the flesh, he said, Though I die with you, yet I will not
deny you. Likewise said all of his disciples.
They have enjoyed his presence for three years. and now it's
time for him to depart, and they say of their own strength, I
will not deny you, I will be with you, and I will die with
you, and I guarantee you, Peter was more sincere than any of
us ever could be. He was sincere. He really believed
that. We presume upon the Lord in pride
and boasting like Peter, we say, no, Lord, I won't leave you.
I won't deny you. It is when our faith wanes from
Jesus, our Savior, we find some assurance in our own strength. Then Christ must withdraw himself. You and I must learn to value
his presence. value His presence. But even
in these night seasons, even when we feel the loss of His
presence and blessed assurance is turned to a sad condition,
the church still has this. Every true believer still has
this, even when his presence cannot be felt. We know this. We do love Him. We do love Him. Back in your
text, the bride said she turned in the bed and sought Him, whom
my soul loveth. The church, feeling the absence
of Christ, confesses His love. And what did Peter confess when
the Lord came back to him? What did he confess? Lord, Thou
knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee. Thou knowest I love Thee. This
love of the church continues, even in the dark times. Is that
not so, you believers? Is that not so with you? It is
with me. It is with God's people, when
these dark times come and we cannot feel His presence, I know
this, we still love Him. We love Him. He's the one whom
my soul loves. And how is it that you can continue
to love Him? Now I've seen some confess, I
love Him. And to tell you the truth, You
couldn't see it in anything they did. People confess all the time,
oh, I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. They don't
really love Him. They don't love His church. They
don't love His gospel. They don't care to be present
when He is here. They don't have any love for
Him. Now they can say it all they want to, but His people
have a genuine love for Him. How is it that their love continues
and others just leave off? It is because we were first loved
by Him. You love Him because He first
loved you. That's why your love continues.
even in the dark times. The saints love him because he
first loved us. He gave himself to die for our
sins. Jesus loved us so much that he
was willing to die for our sins. What can you get people to do
for you? People that say they love you,
what can you get them to do? I tell my children, who loved
me? Clean your room. Do you know how many times I
have to tell them that before they actually get up and do that?
And then when they do, they mope around the house, they got to
do something for me. My Lord Jesus came to this world
and willingly with a smile on His face endured the cross for
me. Delighted to do His work. Willingly
lay down His life for me. What love? Can you find anyone
that loved so much? I ain't found no one to love
me that much. No one. He loved me. He loved me so much
He willingly died for me. And this love He has given me, endures all hardships, all troubles. Now, I don't love Him like I
want to. I don't love Him like I should. But I tell you this,
I do love Him. I love Him. And you who believe,
you love Him too. Whether you feel His presence
or feel His absence, I know you love Him. He is the object of
your affection. We once were haters of God, lovers
of sin, the vilest of creatures, and yet Christ died for us. Scripture
says, for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. Isn't that something? He didn't
wait for us to get better. He died for the ungodly, for
sinners, for those that hated Him. He died for them. Behold the grace and love of
Christ. We would never have loved Him
had He not loved us. And because He loves us, our
love continues. What then is the evidence of
this love? Regeneration. The evidence of
His love is the regeneration of the Spirit of God. New life. A new heart. How do I know He
was willing to die for me? He came by His Spirit and gave
me a new heart. A new life. I tell you, when Christ came
to me, either the world changed or I changed, but something changed. I didn't know what, but I know
that something changed. And when God raises a sinner
from the dead, you won't have to ask. You won't have to ask. I love that story about Ralph
Barnard that the lady was saved and she asked, Brother Ralph,
what do I do? And he said, don't worry, it'll
get out on you. It'll get out on you. That's
just so. Our Lord Jesus who died for us,
we know this, that He is no longer bodily present in this world.
He is no longer here in body. His body is risen. His body is
seated at the right hand of God. Yet He has sent His Holy Spirit
to manifest His presence unto us. To give us a new heart and
not only give it to us, but to dwell in us and to testify that
we are the sons of God. Does your spirit testify with
His spirit that you are the sons of God? Oh, what joy. We love Him. And when the bride
comes into such a sad condition, what is our response? When the presence of the Lord
flees from us, when we no longer feel His presence, do we sit
content to not feel His presence? Absolutely not. The believer
is not content except he know that he know that he know the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not content until I awake
in His likeness. That's when I'll be the fullest
content right then, when I die and wake in His likeness. So
when the Lord seems to hide His presence from us, look what the
bride does in verse 2. I will rise tomorrow. Is that what she says? I'll just
put it off till tomorrow. No. I will rise now. What better time to seek Christ
than now? Is there any better time? No. Seek Him now. Seek now and go
about the city and the streets and in the broad ways. I will
seek Him whom my soul loveth. Jesus' presence is not, when
it's not felt by His church, we say within ourselves, I will
seek Him. I don't know about anybody else,
but I'm going. If you want to stay, stay, but
I'm going. I must have Him. I must. When He's not with us, tell me
if these words identify with you. How tedious and tasteless
the hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet
birds, and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me.
Midsummer sun shines but dim. The fields strive in vain to
look gay. But when I am happy in Him, December
is as pleasant as May. His name yields the richest perfume,
And sweeter than music His voice. His presence disperses my gloom,
And makes all within me rejoice. I should, were He always thus
nigh, Have nothing to wish or to fear, No mortal so happy as
I, My summer would last all the year. Is that not so with you? It is. When he's not there, the
hours are tedious and tasteless. Is he a sweet smell of perfume? Is he sweeter? Is his voice sweeter
than music to your ears? Then set your face to seek him.
Set your affections on Jesus Christ. Where do we seek him?
Well, the bride sought him in the streets and the broad ways.
In other words, she looked in the most obvious places first.
Believer, if the Lord is not present with you, then look in
the most obvious places. Prayer. Is that not an obvious
place? Is that not an obvious place
to look for Him? Look for Him in the street of prayer. Go into
your closet and cry out, reveal yourself to me. And if you can't say anything,
don't say anything at all. Just sit. with a broken and a contrite
heart concerning your guilt and sin? Is that not the first place
you should look? Your closet? It should be. If He's not present, go into
the closet. Second of all, go into the obvious way of worship. Worship. Believer, let us not
forsake the assembling of God's saints in public worship." This
is an obvious place for him, isn't it? It's an obvious place.
I just said where he spoke, where two or three are gathered together,
there I am in the midst of them. He's here. He promised to be
here. I'm one of them. Is there one
more? Is there one more? Because if
there's one more, he said, I'll be right there with you. No,
there's one more. He said He would be here, and
He's here. It's an obvious place. Remember that this assembly is
not a trifling matter. This is not some option for us,
is it? Is worship an option for a believer? I think that we have some really
lethargic believers in our day to where worship is something,
eh, maybe. Not for us. No worship. Worship is not an option, it
is an urgent and pressing responsibility. It is a great privilege that
we ought never to take for granted. Our great God has appointed worship,
He approves of worship, He is glorified in worship, and He
deserves to be worshipped. He deserves it. This means, this
is the means of God for our edification, for our comfort, for our instruction,
and for the refreshment of our souls. This is God's means. Worship. Isn't that obvious?
I'm just telling you things that are obvious. I'm not telling
you anything new. This is what God has already
laid on your heart. These are the most obvious places.
And notice this. Look in verse 3. The watchman that go about the
city found me. She sought Christ by the watchman. She knew the watchman would be
about the city. That's what watchman do. They
walk about the streets in the broad ways and they're watching. That's their business. And she
said, the watchman found me. These watchmen are preachers
of the gospel of God's free grace. The Scriptures tell believers
that we are not going to find Christ anywhere but His church. And yet John says to us who are
believers, try the spirits to see whether they be of God or
not. What is he saying? Try the man who is preaching to you.
Try the message that he is preaching to you. You know that I love
you. You know that I care for you,
but I dare, I ask you, I tell you, don't take my word for it. Don't take my word for it. Search
the scriptures. Try the spirits to see whether
they be of God or not. The Scriptures tell believers
that we are to try the spirits to see if they're of God. The
Apostle Paul warned the church of Galatia about false teachers
who came in unaware, preaching another gospel. And not everyone
who calls Jesus Lord is preaching the gospel. Anyone who does not preach the
message of salvation by free, sovereign grace Through faith
in Jesus Christ alone is no watchman of God. Get away. You won't find
Christ there. He's not a watchman. Those who
preach a God that wants to save but cannot save unless man allows
him, they are false prophets and their God is no God. Why do you suppose I do not let
my children go just anywhere to hear the gospel? I'm sure this is not fun for
them, but I really don't care about their fun, I care about
their soul. Anyone who preaches salvation
by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ plus something
else is a liar and the truth is not in him. Anyone who preaches salvation
by Christ plus baptism plus the Lord's Supper, God will not bless
them. Get away from them. How can I be so sure? I'm not
going to tell you something God hadn't told you. Go to Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah
chapter 23 and verse 30. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. In other words, these men are
using the words of God, and he said they are stealing them.
They're stealing the words of God. Behold, I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, God said, when
God really didn't say it. Behold, I am against them that
prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and
cause my people to err by their lies, by their likeness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them, therefore they shall not profit this people, at all. No matter the size of the congregation
or the building or the amount of people that follow them, God
says if they preach false freewill works religion, God will not
benefit His people at all by it. It's just simple. And so God's
people, they don't care for another watchman. They only want God's
watchman. They only want God's watchman.
And it's only by these watchmen is Christ found. Let the believer
go where God's grace is proclaimed. I hear some believers complaining.
There are some believers that complain, well, there's no church. where I live? I'm sure there's
not. If there's not, what are you
to do? Are you to settle for something
less? No. Sell all you have, find God's
church, and you'll find His presence. If His presence means that much
to you, you'll do it. You'll leave it. And listen what God says for
those that seek Him, where He is found. In Jeremiah 29, verse
11, He says, For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith
the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected
end. Then shall you call upon Me,
and you shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you,
and you shall seek Me and find Me. when you shall search for
me with all your heart. Is that not a great promise?
When you seek for me, you will find me. God promises to be found. Is that not encouragement to
seek Him? If you didn't have a promise of Him being found,
I can see you being discouraged. But He said, seek Me and you'll
find Me. You'll find Me. And notice this,
these comforting words in verse 4 of our text. It says, It was
but a little that I passed from them, but I found Him whom my
soul loveth. Those who seek the Lord, it won't
be long until you find Him. keep seeking. He will be found. Seek him in the obvious places,
prayer, worship. Seek him by his watchman And
I tell you, God will be found. Christ's presence will fill your
heart again, and you will be refreshed and strengthened. And
notice what she says, I will not let him go again. There she goes back up to Blessed
Assurance. She went from Blessed Assurance, D's gone, back to
Blessed Assurance. Isn't that your experience? Up
and down. Up and down. This is our experience
in this life. But I tell you, when I find Him
again, I value His presence more than the first time. And so it goes until we reach
glory. Can you not see yourself here?
I can see myself in this bride. I see myself clearly. And I tell
you, I see my beloved in this bridegroom. He is so faithful
and loving. And he only leaves you for a
minute, just so you'll get an appreciation again of his presence. May God bless this to your hearts.