Turn back to Song of Solomon,
chapter two. What a beautiful, what a beautiful
book. After I read chapter two, then
I worked on chapter five, I had to go back and just read the
whole book. And I thought, how beautiful, how beautifully written. This is, what a love letter,
what a love letter. or that God would make our relationship
with Him, according to this love letter, that we would know it
by experience, and that we would have this same relationship with
one another. I titled this, A Love Story,
or I Am Sick with Love, Lovesick. You ever been lovesick? Oh, you're
a mess. You're a mess. You're not worth
it. I've had some young men work for me in the past, and they
fall in love with a young girl, and they're worthless. I mean,
they're about worthless. I mean, it's just like you can't
get them to work all the time. When they used to want to work
all the time, it's like, I got some place to go, someone to
see. It just consumes you. It literally
consumes you. And that's exactly what love
ought to do. Love ought to consume us. Our love for Christ ought
to consume us. You know, David was consumed
like this one time. He said in Psalm 73, Whom have
I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee now he desired his wife he loved
his wife he loved his children but not like he loved christ
not above him paul desired to be with the lord yeah he said
i'm in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and
be with the lord i want to be with him in another place he
said oh that i might know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his suffering The relationship we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ and with Christ is one of love. It's built on
love. Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? By this shall
all men know you're my disciple, if you have love one to another. That's how they'll know. Now
he starts out here, the bride, our Lord, I don't want to say
the bridegroom, our Lord, he speaks and he says, I am, that's
how it starts out, I am. This is God speaking, this is
our Lord God speaking. We never really think of God
as a rose, do we? Or a lily? We think of God, when
we think of God, we think of holy and mighty and great, and
he is. But he also comes down to, and
he puts himself in terms that we can grasp. That's why he made
the rose. He made the rose that he can
say, I am the rose. We all know what a rose is. I
lived in Milton, growing up in Milton in my teenage years, and
in the back of our house, there was two rose bushes that grew
up on a trellis. Man, when they were in bloom,
They were so sweet to smell. The smell was just consuming. You could walk out and it was
just like, it just took up everything. Yeah, I'm the rose of Sharon
and the lily of the valley. You see, Sharon was a fruitful
place. David fed his cattle there. It's mentioned as a place of
excellence. It's a place of flocks. Sharon
was, and here our Lord compares himself to the rose of Sharon. He's like a rose for his sweet
fragrance of grace. He smells of grace. It pours from his lips to his
beloved. He's likened to a rose in that
he's altogether lovely. Lovely. I think the first flowers
I bought Vicky was a rose. It's an expression of love. He also calls himself the lily
of the valleys. A lily is a beautiful white flower
that grows in the valleys. Isn't that where the church is?
It's a worth. But he calls himself the lily
of the valleys. Beautiful, beautiful. For his
color, it's white. It represents he's holy. Holy, He knew no sin. And listen,
whatever valley we find ourselves in, you can be sure He's there.
He's there in the valley. Whether we can perceive it or
not, He's there. And notice what He compares the church to in
verse 2. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. He says, he's the rose of Sharon
and the lily of the valleys. And then he says, as a lily among
thorns, so is my love, my church among the daughters. You know,
the scripture says, as he is, so are we in this world. Is he a lily? So are we. Is he
holy? So are we. Righteous? So are
we. We are as the lily, pure and
holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. The church's oneness with Christ
is her beauty. It's her beauty. That baby that
was laying out in the field and he cast his skirt over and he
said, the time is love and her beauty and her comeliness was
what? From him. He said, it's from me. Our beauty
is from him. It's from him. And when he compares her to the
daughters of this world, they appear as thorns. She's a lily
among thorns. The thorns came from the curse,
didn't it? We live in a cursed world. This church lives in a
cursed world. She's a lily. She's white and holy as he is. In Christ, she is. But she lives
here among thorns. And the world, now listen, the
world is not worthy of her presence. That's what it says in Hebrews
1138, of whom the world's not worthy. The world is not worthy
of your presence. It's not. You're the sons of
God, sons and daughters of God, sons of royalty. The world, he
said, is not worthy. The thorns, the thorns are not
worthy of the presence of the lily. It's not. And as the apple tree among the
trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under
his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste. And now the church compares Christ
to an apple tree. She said, as all the trees in
the woods, he's like the apple tree, full of fruit, sweet to
the taste. good for food i tell you for
any sinner saved by the grace of god the lord jesus christ
is sweet sweet to the taste peter says if you have tasted if you
have tasted that the lord is gracious have you tasted that
the lord is gracious the apple tree stands out among
all these trees of the woods because of its fruit There is
no other fruit like an apple. I had to Google it today to see
what the benefits of an apple is. But there's a lot of benefits
to an apple. All the nutrients, all the antioxidants
that are in it, there's a whole list of them that's good to eat. They didn't give one, I didn't
read one bad thing about eating an apple. It was just all these
health benefits from eating an apple. What does the old saying,
an apple a day keeps a doctor away? Well, I tell you what,
fellowship with Christ every day keeps us from falling into
spiritual sickness. It will. It keeps us from falling
into spiritual sickness. Other trees may look, they may
look grander, the red oaks out there in California, my soul,
look how big they are. But they don't compare to that
apple tree. They don't compare to it. There are none to compare to
the Lord Jesus Christ among the sons of men. It's written in
Psalm 45, too, Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace
is poured into thy lips or from thy lips. Therefore God hath
blessed thee forever. thou art fairer than the children
of men none compared to Christ there's none compared to our
Lord and she said I sat down rest that represents rest I sat
down under his shadow his presence you know you can't catch the
shadow if you're not present I sat down under his presence
with great delight great delight And his fruit, it was sweet to
my taste, the gospel, the gospel sweet to my taste,
the gospel of redemption, the gospel of his love, the gospel
of mercy, the gospel of grace, sweet to my taste. You know,
there's some people have no taste for the gospel. There was a time
I had no taste for the gospel. I didn't want nothing to do with
it. You know, when I was a boy growing up, I did not like green
beans. I did not like beef. I didn't
like, you know, unless it was a hamburger, I didn't like it.
I didn't like broccoli. Those things I love now. I do,
I love them. And there was a time I had no
taste for Christ, but I do now, and you do. Most of you do. You have a taste for Christ.
You have a taste for the gospel. I know you do. I sat down. I sat down. I rested
in his presence with great delight, joy to be there. And it's fruit sweet to my taste.
The church finds great delight sitting at the feet of Christ.
protected by his power, enjoying his love and grace, communing
with him in the cool of his shade, feeding in his green pastures.
Here we find rest under the shadow of his grace and love. The shadow
of his mercy shall follow us all the days of our life. It's
always shadowing us. His mercy is always shadowing
us because it's always following us, always. And His fruit was
sweet to my taste." This is communion with Him. This is sweet communion
with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not just believing some
things, this is having real fellowship with Him. You know, they made this observation
concerning the Lord's disciples one time. They had noted that
they had been with Jesus. Now you can tell a difference
when somebody's been with the Lord in prayer, in service, in
listening, in reading. You can tell. There's a difference.
There's a difference in attitude. It'll straighten out an attitude.
His fruit sweet to my taste. This is communion with Him. Those
who have tasted the Lord find Him to be gracious. And when
we have the opportunity, now listen, when we have the opportunity
to feed on Him, To eat his flesh and drink his blood, eat large. Eat large. You're not going to
founder yourself on him. You can't be charged with gluttony
when you eat the bread of life. You can this life, but you cannot
when you eat the bread of life. You can never have enough of
Christ, so always eat large when you have the opportunity. And
he brought me to the banqueting house. That's what this is tonight. That's what this is on Sunday.
And on Thursday, this is the banqueting house. This is where
our Lord's special presence is. Isn't that what he said? Where
two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm in the midst.
Do you honestly believe that Jesus Christ is here tonight?
That'll wake you up. That ought to make you sit up
a little straighter. The Lord's here in spirit. He's
here. And that's just as real as being
here in the flesh. It's just as real. He bought, he, he brought me,
he didn't invite me. He takes her from, listen, he
takes her from the shadow to the banquet in house of wine,
the shadow. And he brings her to the banquet.
And here you are tonight. Here you are feast. And I asked
the Lord to feed you. Ask Him to get your attention,
to open your heart. Ask Him to do it. Christ takes His Church from
the types to the real Himself. Takes her from the Word to the
experience of the Word, the Living Word. He brought me, doesn't say He
invited her, He brought her by His Spirit, by His Word, by His
power. He brought her into His Church. I didn't join up to the church.
The Lord brought me into it. He made me a member of it. He
made me a member of his body. He made me a member of his bride.
And you too. He brought me. He brought me to the church where
his presence is, where his gospel is preached, where his ordinances
are served, where we eat his flesh and drink his blood every
week. every week it's a love feast
this is a love feast is what this is i'm not up here reading
commandments 10 commandments or any commandments i'm not up
here reading do's and don'ts this is a love feast we have
let's let's not forget that because it says here and his
banner over me was love claiming me as his love this
is the one i love I can tell you this, you are absolutely
not ashamed of someone you love. I'm telling you, you're not.
If you really love them, you're not ashamed of them. You're not
ashamed. Christ doesn't slip his church
into the banqueting house. He makes open display of her.
This is my love. Or if you say it this way, this
is the love of my life. Well, that's precious when you
find somebody that's the love of your life. Trophies of his grace. That's
what we are. You know, he's going to display
us throughout eternity as trophies of his grace. And he put a banner over her,
a banner of love, everlasting love, electing love, preserving
love. But love. Love. And everyone's going to know.
Everyone's going to know throughout eternity. This is the one I love. This is my bride. This is my
love. This is my beloved. Stay me with
flagons. Now she speaks. Stay me with
flagons. Comfort me with apples. For I
am sick of love. I'm lovesick. That's what she's
saying. I am lovesick. I can't keep from thinking about
it. He's on my mind when I go to
bed. When I wake up, I can't stop
thinking about him. Now, you know that's what lovesick
is. You know, we've experienced a little bit of it. You can't
stop thinking of that person. You're lovesick. It's consuming. It's consuming. You even work
your whole life around it. Those who do not work their life
around the gospel are not lovesick. You're not lovesick. If you try
to work the gospel around your life, you're not lovesick, not
with Christ. Oh, stay me with flagons. You know, that word flagons is
wine. That's the wine of his love and grace. Stay me with
them. Strengthen me is what that word
stay mean. Strengthen me, strengthen me because I'm, I'm sick of,
I'm lovesick. I need you to strengthen me.
give me more of the fruit of your love give me more of your
grace give me more of your kindness give me more of your mercy give
me more of yourself that's all i want more of you more of you
strengthen me oh we need christ to strengthen us in this don't
we we need the lord to strengthen us in love That's what I'm gonna
deal with Sunday morning, Lord willing, because she says, I've
washed my feet, I've put my coat off, and I don't have time for
you. This is the same person in chapter five that's speaking
here in chapter two. That's amazing. But that's not
the message tonight. But I'm lovesick. This is, this
oughta be our state. This oughta define us. It ought
to define us. Lovesick, overcome with love,
overpowered. You know, the scripture says
here in Solomon, here in the Song of Solomon, love stronger
than death. Love stronger than death. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. That means me. Has God saved me? Has God saved
you? He's talking about you. Having loved you, He loved you
to the end. He loved you all the way to the
cross. He loved you all the way to glory. He loves you now. His
love has never wavered. Never. And then she says here in verse
six, His left hand, and she recognizes this. And this is such a beautiful
scene. His left hand is under my head
and his right hand does embrace me. Oh, his left hand's under my
head, his right hand does embrace me. He constantly supports his
church and he supports us individually. He's constantly embracing us,
constantly supporting us. His left hand is under her head,
gently holding it up, while his right hand embraces her close
to his heart. He never lets her go. He never
lets the grip go. He never loosens the grip. He
holds us tight to his heart. Even though we don't even recognize
it at times, we're tight to his heart. He's got us embraced in
a tight squeeze. She may not always perceive his
touch, And that's her fault. That's her fault. That's my fault. Never his fault. It's my fault. But she may not always perceive
it, but he's always there. He's the husband that never goes
away. He's the husband that never leaves.
He's the husband that always supports. He's the husband that
always embraces, no matter what her condition and state is. She
goes up and down. You know that. You and I are
like the weather. We change like the weather. It's
sad, but it's so. And part of it is just because
we get so caught up in this world. In sin, we don't stay in the
book. We don't seek the Lord. Don't just read the book. Seek
the Lord of this book. Seek Him. He's always supporting her under
the most severe trials. His left hand's holding her up,
and his right hand's embracing her near his heart. No matter
how deep the trial is, he's got you. He's got you. When you go through the water,
I'll be with you. He's not waiting on the other side. He said, I'll
be with you. And she says, I charge you, O
ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roads and by the hinds of
the field, that ye stir not up and awake love till he please. She charges those about her not
to disturb her love. Don't you disturb him. She stands
in awe of him as she gazes upon him. It's as if she's saying,
don't wake him. Just let me look at him. Just let me look at him as he
lies there in my arms asleep. Don't wake my love till he pleas. Her desire is to please her beloved
instead of herself or her children. My dad used to work midnight
shift and he'd come home and sleep during the day. Mom made
us leave the house. Get out of the house. Don't you
wake your dad up. She knew he'd worked all night
and he was tired. She wouldn't let us wake him
up. And she's saying here, don't you wake my love till he please.
He's the sovereign, till he please. He's the sovereign. And when
it's time to wake, he'll wake. But what she's demonstrating
here is my love is the sovereign. And there's something else here.
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rows and
by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor wake my love
till he please." She knows this. She knows this. She outmarried
herself. She outmarried herself, and she
knows it. I put a little article in the bulletin. If you always
outmarry yourself, you'll always admire the one you married. It's
when you start to think you undermarried yourself. Then you start looking and you
start complaining and it just falls apart. But if you always
outmarry yourself, you'll always admire the one you married. And
she knows she outmarried herself. And she admires him. And note
what else she says here, till he please, her desires to please
him. And then he says here in verse
eight, the bride adorns, notice how she adorns her beloved. She
says, the voice of my beloved, she hears him speak. It's as
if he's woke up. Not that our Lord sleeps, but
he's given us a metaphor here. the voice of my beloved you know
the sheep hear his voice and a stranger they'll not follow
she knows the voice of her beloved she knows his voice even before
she sees him she knows him i've not seen jesus christ have you
you haven't seen i'm gonna ask him have you seen him i know
you haven't seen him but you know his voice in the gospel
when you hear it You know it. Your heart leaps within you.
You know it. There's times I have felt, and
I know you have felt that, I felt like I was floating. I mean,
I just felt like I was floating when I heard the gospel being
preached, and it just rejoiced my heart. That's not natural. That is not natural. Our natural
inclination is enmity to God, enmity to the gospel. But boy,
when you begin to rejoice in it, you begin to find real interest
in it, and it begins to bring you up on the edge of your seat,
God's done something for you. God's done something in you.
That's not natural. He's given you an ear to hear
and a heart to believe and love the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
voice of my beloved. Oh, behold, he said, he cometh.
It's his voice. And I hear him and he's coming.
He cometh. This is our message. The Lord's
coming. The Lord's coming. I had such a strong impression
the other night. A week or two ago, I may have
told you. I'm gonna tell you a lot of things over and over. But I had such a strong impression
that when I die and I stand before the Lord and I enter paradise,
that I'm gonna know I had nothing to do with it. Nothing, zero. I'm there by the grace of God
I could just as easily be in hell I could just as easily be
right there's nobody in hell worse than I am I believe that
I'm not that's not just a sounding good I believe that there's not
a person in hell any worse than I am I don't believe Satan is
any worse than I am by nature If God would draw his hand, if
he would withdraw his hand, you would see what humanity really
is. Humanity is what it is today
and what people call good people. It's that way today because God
Almighty exercises a restraint over the human heart. Every person. because he has a church here
because his beloved his beloved is living among the thorns behold he cometh he come our
beloved's coming he's on his way leaping upon the mountains
no difficulty too strong for my beloved to overcome he over
he overcomes all that stands in the way mountains Mountains,
curse of the law, power of Satan, death. He overcame it all. He just leaps on top of them.
Leaps. He's on top of the mountain,
just leaping over those things. Leaping over them. None of them
able to stop my beloved. How strong Christ's love is to
his church. How strong Christ's love is to
you, whom he has saved individually. Stronger than death, because
he died, that we might live. And notice this, leaping up on
the mountain, that shows his willingness to come to her. This
is his willingness. Skipping up on the hills, this
is his willingness to come. You know, if you really don't
want to do something, you ain't skipping. Or, you ain't skipping. You're like, dadgummit. My dad used to say, hurry up!
And the reason he said, hurry up, because I didn't want to
hurry up. I didn't want to go do what he
told me to do. But he said, hurry up, get to
it, get after it. But here, look, this shows his
willingness, his desire to save his beloved and bring her home.
Leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills. Nothing's
slowing him down. He set his face like a flint
to go to the cross, to go to Jerusalem, which was where he
had to go to go to the cross. Because he's got to save. He's got to save. It's in his
heart. I got to have her. He's going to save his beloved. and he's gonna do it willingly.
He's gonna do it willingly, desiring to, with desire. He said that
with his desire. With desire, I have desire to
drink this with you, to have this supper with you. I've desired
to do this. He's not doing this because he
has to. He's doing it because he wills to, desires to. No difficulty too strong. He's
never, and I tell you this, he's never behind time. Skipping and
leaping, just here. Behold, the hour has come. Father,
the hour has come. Right to the second. My beloved
is like a young roe, like a roe or a young heart. She compares
him to, to a swift and gentle animal, a young animal, not a
wild beast. He's not like a wild beast. He's
called a lamb. He's not called a goat. He's
called a lamb, gentle. Behold, he stands behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the window, showing himself through
the lattice. In the Old Testament, there was a wall of partition
called a veil. There was a veil. And Christ
stood behind the wall of shadows and tithes. looking through the
lattice. Abraham, he said, saw my day
and was glad. But you and I see it more clearly,
don't we? But we still, Paul said, look through a glass darkly.
We still don't see what we're going to see. We see in part
and we know it, even now. Paul went to the third heaven.
He said, I beheld things, saw things I can't put into words. And she says in verse 10, my
beloved spake, or the word also means sings. And he said to me,
rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. She hears him
say to her, rise up, my love, my fair one. What compassion
he has to his church. He says to her, come away. You
know, every day we should come away from the world and come
to him and feed and drink of his love. We ought to do this
daily, not Thursday and Sunday. This Thursday and Sunday will
be a far better service if you come to him daily. If you come
to him daily, this'll be much better service. You'll get more
out of it, promise you. Promise you you'll get more out
of it if you do that. And he says to her, come away,
come away. Come away from that which keeps
us away. Whatever keeps you away from the gospel, come away from
it. Get away from it. I don't care what it is, get
away from it. If it keeps you from the gospel. As it says in
Colossians 3, 2, set your affection on things above, not on things
on the earth. For lo, he says here, the winter's
past, the rain's over and gone, the harsh cold, deadness of serving
ourself has passed. The time of trials or a particular
trial's over, it's time to rejoice again. God the Father would not
have his children crying all the time. There's a time to weep. There's
a time to laugh. He says the rain is gone, the
flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds
has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land,
when it looked like nothing would bloom again. It does. You know, the four seasons that
God has given us ought to teach us something. We have our winter. We have our spring, our summer,
our fall. And the winter comes around.
This is life. This is a cycle of life. And
it's a cycle of our spiritual life. The flowers will bloom again.
They'll appear again right where God put them. I thought of Job. When I read that, I thought of
Job. Job thought he would never see a good day again. Sometimes
a trial's so deep and sometimes it's so long, you think you'll
never have another good day. My grandfather said in the last
year of his life, he said to me, he said, I can't remember
when I had a good day. He was sick, he died of cancer.
He said, I can't remember. And sometimes life can be that
way. Sometimes the trials can be that
severe. But the flowers will grow again, the birds will sing
again. Nothing will make you appreciate
the beauty of spring like a hard winter. Nothing. Nothing will make you appreciate
the love and grace of God like a hard trial. The time of the singing of birds
has come. As I said, there's a time to
weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
And no matter how hard the winter is, we will hear God's birds
sing again in the land. Joy will come in the morning.
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come in the morning.
God has promised it. Just as sure as there's winter,
there'll be spring. and there'll be a summer, and
there'll be a fall, and there'll be a winter again. The time of the singing of birds
will come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The turtle dove was a seasonal bird. It was a seasonal bird,
and she knew her time. She knew her season. And we too should know our time,
our time of weeping and time to laugh. There's a time to put
weeping aside. We mourn not as others who have
no hope. Is not God the God of our seasons? Spiritually, is he not the God
of our winter? Spiritually, is he not the God
of our summers? Is he not the God of our spring? Is he not
the God who plants the flowers and causes them to grow and then
calls for the north wind to blow upon them? Because he says over,
I believe it's in chapter four, come on north wind and blow upon
my garden. The north wind is blowing today,
it's cold. He makes the south wind blow, it is warm. He says one against the other. And it just keeps getting better,
and I'll wind this up. I sure can't preach this long
at Donny's, because I got another man preaching behind me. The
fig tree put forth her green figs, and the vines with the
tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. Come away. Now He speaks of the
nearness of summer and the smell of the fruit in the air. It's
good to look at the flowers in the spring and to hear the birds
sing, but fruit is what we need. Love, joy, peace. These are from Him. Fruit of
the Spirit, that's what we need. We need these things. We need
the fruit of love and joy and peace and long-suffering and
kindness and meekness. This is what we need. They make
us smell good. Yeah, you know, people put on
perfume and, you know, they try to smell. How about an attitude? Forget the perfume and put on
a good attitude. That's better than any perfume
you can put on. They don't make that perfume.
That's of God. That's of God. These are the fragrances of His
grace. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away, that is,
come along with me. It's like, let's take a walk.
The flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, come and walk
with me. You ever take a walk with God? We're usually too busy to walk
with God, aren't we? We're usually too busy. But take
advantage of the season. Spend much time with the Lord,
especially when He makes His presence known to you. when he
impresses himself upon you. Arise, my love, my fair one,
come away. One of these days, he's going
to do that, say that, and we ain't coming back. If I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
myself. And where I am, there you may
be also. One of these days, he's going to say to each one of us
individually, arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Come with me. Come with me to
the place I've prepared for you. Come with me. Time to go home. Oh, my dove. He calls her a dove,
and that's what Noah sent out of the ark, and it found no rest
for his feet, but in the ark. Oh, my dove that are in the clefts
of the rock, in the secret place of the stairs, let me see thy
countenance, let me hear thy voice, persuade thy voice, and
thy countenance is comely. Calls her a dove, what an endearing
name he gives his church. He calls her dove for her gracious
spirit and loveliness which he bestowed upon her. She said to
be in the clefts of the rock and in the secret place of the
stairs. We know she's in the cleft of the rock, but he says
clefts, it's plural. You and I too many times, we find our own hiding place
and he calls us out of it. Come out of the clefts of the
rock, let me see you. And now the secret place of the stairs.
Christ is a her hiding place. And he, he comes to her and calls
her to himself. Let me see your face, your countenance. And let me hear your voice. You know, the Lord loves to hear
you pray. He loves to hear you pray. It's the voice of his beloved. Come boldly to the throne of
grace. Cast all your care upon Him.
He cares for you. We have a great high priest who
can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. David said
in Psalm 38, Lord, all my desires before thee and my groaning is
not hid from thee. Let me hear your voice. Let me
hear your voice tonight. Call upon the Lord and speak.
Talk to Him tonight. Talk to Him. Take for us the foxes. You see,
here's the problem. Here's the problem, the reason
we don't call upon him, and the reason we hide in these little
hiding places. Take for us the foxes, little
foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes.
Mortify the deeds of the flesh, we are told. These sins of the
flesh destroy the tender fruit of the vines. These little foxes. You know, even the so-called
little sins, if left unchecked, will do great damage. How about
a peevish spirit? How about being touchy? The little
foxes, you don't pay no attention to those little foxes. He said,
they destroy the fruit. They destroy that fruit. Put them in check. And then last
of all here, he says, my beloved is mine and I'm his. This is
their oneness. And what assurance? He is mine
and I'm his. And here's a great comfort. Jesus
Christ is as much mine as I am his. This is a husband and wife. Now this is a proper husband
and wife. That's my wife and she don't
belong to anybody else. And I'm her husband and I don't
belong to anybody else. I'm his and he's mine. I have
eyes for no one else and she has eyes for no one else. He feeds among the lilies. She
knows where he is. He's among his lilies, his people.
Listen, husbands and wives should always know where one another
are. Now, if that's a problem, don't get married. If that's a problem, don't get
married. Oh, he feeds among the lilies
until the daybreak and the shadows flee away. Turn, my beloved,
and be thou like a roe or young heart upon the mountains of Bethlehem.
Shadows of doubt Shadows of coldness and the shadow of death when
they flee away until the daybreak he comes He comes and all these
things flee away their way all the types and Ceremonies they
all flee away Her desire is that he would come quickly. Is that
our desire? Do you really desire we know
the Lord knows our hearts and Do we really desire He come quickly? Like the roe of a young horse
skipping upon the mountains of Fetcher, come, Lord, and get
me. One day He will, and we will go with Him and come back here
no more. We won't come here no more. We'll
go with Him, and we'll be ravished with His
love forever and ever.