You've got to seek the Lord's
will in these matters. And sometimes you have to deviate. How many times was our Lord headed
somewhere, and on His way, He would heal someone or relieve
someone. And that's what I feel like in
these situations, when He gives me something else that He impresses
me with, Somebody must need it. Somebody must need it. The title
of this is... I thought of two titles. I titled
it, I am lovesick. But I also thought the title
is, Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me.
Now some of you older folks remember that. If you read through the
Song of Solomons, he speaks of that apple tree. John Gill said,
an apple was always before a symbol of love. If you gave somebody
an apple, it was a symbol of love. And it says over in chapter
8, over here in chapter 8, it says, verse 5, And who is this
that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raise
thee up under the apple tree, There thy mother brought thee
forth. I raised you up under the apple
tree." And you'll notice as we go through here what he says
about that. But I titled it, I'm lovesick. You ever been there? Be careful, husbands. You ever
been lovesick? David was. David said in Psalm
73, 25, whom have I? in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth
that I desire beside Thee. More than Thee, there's none
that I want more than Thee." In another place he said, as
the heart pants after the water brook, so my heart, my soul panteth
after Thee. Panteth after Thee, O God. Paul desired to be absent from
the body and to be with the Lord. He said, I have a desire to be
absent from this body and be with my Lord. Now the relationship
we have in Christ and with Christ is far, far more than a doctrinal
relationship. It's a love relationship. Peter
You know, he didn't ask, say, Peter, do you believe me? Peter,
do you believe the doctrines that I have taught, my teachings?
Do you believe them? He said, Peter, do you love me?
Do you love me? Paul said, without love I'm nothing
more than a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. That's all
I am without love. I can be as straight as an arrow
doctrinally, but without love, without love to Christ, I'm lost.
It's evident the Lord has not done a work in me. It's evident. Now he says here, I am, the great
I am, God. This is who he's speaking of,
God. I am the rose of Sharon in the lily of the valleys."
Sharon was a very fruitful place. David fed his cattle there. It's mentioned as a place of
excellence in Isaiah 35, and as a place of flocks, where they
fed the flocks. It was such a rich, fertile place.
He said, I'm the rose of Sharon. And our Lord compares Himself
to the rose of Sharon because of His sweet fragrance. because
of the sweet fragrance of his grace. The scripture says in
the Psalms that grace poured, it says into his lips, but it's
from his lips. Grace pours from his lips to his beloved. And
he's like a rose in that he's altogether lovely. Altogether lovely. He also calls
himself the lily of the valleys. You know, a lily is a beautiful
white flower that grows in the valleys. Our Lord is pure and
holy. He is pure and holy. He knew
no sin. He did no sin. He thought no
sin. He's holy, pure, white, like
the lily. And whatever valley we find ourselves
in, You can be sure He's there. Whatever valley you're in, you
can be sure this lily is there. He's there. And notice what Christ
compares His church to. Now, as the lily among thorns,
so is my love among the daughters. The Scripture tells us, as He
is, So are we in this world. As He is, so are we in this world. We are as the lily, pure and
holy in Jesus Christ. As He is, that's the way we are. Is He a lily? He says we are
too. Is He pure and holy? We are too.
We are too. The church's oneness in Christ
is her beauty. He is my beauty, He is my worth,
He is my everything, my all in all. That's the way it's taught
in the Scriptures. And when He compares her to the
daughters of this world, they appear as thorns. And she as
a lily. That's how God sees her. And
the way God sees her is the way it is. He said Job was a perfect
and upright man. Lot The only thing we know about
law is he went to Sodom and messed up, but it says he's a... it
calls him just lot and he vexed his righteous soul. In Christ
that's exactly the way every believer is. Righteous and holy
and pure. In Christ we are. The world is not worthy of the
presence of this lily. You know, the world is not worthy...
and I'm talking about you who believe the gospel. Everyone
who believes the gospel. the world is not worthy of your
presence." You can read that in Hebrews 11 38, "...of whom
the world," it said, "...was not worthy." Speaking of all
those who were somewhere, lived in caves and dens, and they were
sawn asunder, and it says, "...of whom the world was not worthy."
Not worthy of their presence. And then he says here in verse
3, "...and as the apple tree among the trees of the woods,
so is my Beloved among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." Now the
church compares Christ to an apple tree. And rightly so, for He's good
for food and He's sweet to the taste of a sinner. Jesus Christ
is sweet to the taste of a sinner. The apple tree stands out among
all the trees of the wood for its fruit. Other trees..." Someone
said this. I had to write this one down.
I can't remember where I got it. But, "...other trees may look statelier
for their height and size, but you can starve to death under
them." You can starve to death under a pine tree, but not under
an apple tree. No, there's food, and it's good
food. What's that old saying, an apple a day keeps a doctor
away? There are none that's compared
to the Lord Jesus Christ among the sons of men." That's what
she's saying. That's what the church is saying.
There's none compared to Him. In Psalm 45, 2, it says, "...thou
art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into
thy lips, or from thy lips. Therefore God hath blessed thee
forever. But thou art fairer than the children of men." There's
none compared to Jesus Christ. Moses can't be compared to Him.
Abraham can't be compared to Him. None are compared to Him. And she says here, I sat down
under His shadow with great delight, glad to do it. And His fruit
was sweet to my taste. The believer finds great delight
sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one else does. No one else. But the believer
does. protected by His power, enjoying
His love and His grace, communing with Him in the cool of His shade,
feeding in His green pastures. It's here, it is here that we
find real rest under the shadow of His grace. This is where we
find rest. You and I will not find rest
out there. There's no rest. There's no peace
out there in this world. But when we come to sit at the
feet of Christ, when we open His Word, when we sit under the
preaching of His Word, we find real rest. And it's a delight. And I'm telling you, it's a delight
to sit under the gospel of Christ. It's a delight. It's not drudgery. It's not here because I'm supposed
to be or have to be. It's a delight It's a delight
to be where someone you love is. If you really love them,
when they come in the door, your heart just leaps. It just leaps. And that's the way it is when
the Gospel is preached. Your heart just leaps with joy. "...And His fruit was sweet to
my taste. Those who have tasted that the
Lord Jesus is gracious, find him sweet to the taste." You
know, there are some people who hear the gospel and they get
mad. They hear this gospel of the grace, the free, sovereign
grace of God, and it upsets them, makes them mad. But then there
are some, when they hear it, it's sweet to the taste. because you have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, and He's been gracious to you. And when
God enables us to feed on the Lord Jesus Christ, let me give
you this piece of advice. Eat large. Eat large. If He enables you
to really feast on Christ, if He enables you to open His Word,
if you're at home and you're able to read and it starts to
just flow like water, eat large. Soak it in like a sponge. The
Lord is speaking to you. He's speaking to you. And she says here, He brought
me to the banqueting house. If the gospel is being preached
here tonight in the power of God's Spirit, this is the banqueting
house. And He brought you. He brought
you. I'm so thankful He gave me the
desire and the ability, and you too, to be here. To be here. I know most of you have worked
all day. You've worked hard. You're tired.
But this is the banqueting house. This is it. Notice our Lord's
generosity here. He takes her from the shadow
to the banqueting house or the house of wine. It's the house
of wine. He gives her the fruit of the
tree and then He gives her the fruit of the vine. What does
He say in John 15? I am the vine, you are the branches."
The branch draws its strength, its nourishment from the vine. That's where our strength, our
spiritual strength and nourishment come from. The Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord takes His church
from the tithes to the gospel that reveals Him. You have the
gospel so freely preached to you that speaks of the Lord Jesus
Christ? And notice he says here, or she
says, He brought me. He brought me. It does not say
He invited me. He brought me. By His Spirit,
by His Word, and by His power, He brought me here tonight. You
probably didn't even recognize that, did you? It's Thursday
night and we start at 7.30. not realizing that by His Spirit
and by His power, He brought you here. That's why you're here. There are many things out there,
many spirits out there that would do anything to keep you from
here, but He brought you here to the banqueting house. And
He did that by His power, by His grace, and by His Spirit.
He brought you where the Gospels preach, where His ordinances
are served, where we eat His flesh and drink His blood by
faith. I'm telling you, Jesus Christ
is real. He's real. He's our Lord. He's our Savior. He's our God.
He's our everything. And His banner over me was love. Our Lord does not slip His church
into the banqueting house. He didn't slip you into the banqueting
house. He makes an open display of His
people, doesn't He? We are trophies of His grace.
Trophies of His grace. And He put a banner over every
one of His people. He put a banner over His church.
He put a banner over His bride, and that banner is L-O-V-E. And there's nothing, there is
nothing stronger than love. Nothing. Everyone's going to know that
Jesus Christ loves His church, not only collectively, but individually. He loves His church. And everybody's going to know
it. And then she says, stay me with
flagons. Comfort me with apples. Apples. Evidences of your love. Comfort
me with evidences of your love. For I am sick of love. I'm lovesick. Give me more of the fruit of
your love. Is that not what you want? Seriously. What do you want the most? Do you want to make more money?
Do you want a better job? Make more money? Do you want
to do that? Or do you want Christ to let you know more of His love? Give us more of His love. Give us more of His love. Stay with me with flagons. Comfort
me with apples, examples of your love. Give me more of your grace,
more of your kindness, more of your mercy. Let me taste that.
Let me taste that. And stay, she says, stay me with
flagon. That is, strengthen me. Lord,
strengthen me with your love. Strengthen me. Christ is my strength. And the more I know and experience
His love, I mean experience, not just talk about it, because
salvation is an experience. It is an experience. I'm not
going to get caught up in the Pentecostalism and that kind
of hula-hula, but I'm talking about salvation is truly an experience. We experience God We experience grace and kindness
and mercy, and we need Christ to strengthen us in these things. Strengthen us in these things.
Don't let us grow dull and weak in them, but strengthen us in
them. I tell you, happy is the home where this is, where Christ
strengthens His love, happy is that home. I am lovesick. This ought to
be our state, shouldn't it? I'm lovesick. I'm overcome with
love. I'm overpowered by His love. Oh, stay me with flagons, comfort
me with apples, for I'm lovesick. It appears that they are a part,
or at least she feels that they are a part. But we know He never
leaves His loved ones, don't we? We know He never leaves us
nor forsakes us, even though when we feel He's not near, He's
near. He always is. For listen, His
left hand is under my head, and His right hand doth embrace me. She thought He'd withdrawn Himself
all the time He was embracing her. She thought He was clean
gone all the time He's there. Don't we have those times? We
think the Lord is clean gone, yet He's there. His left hand
is under her head, gently holding it, and His right hand embraces
her close to His heart. He never lets her go. He never
lets us go, not for a second. We may not always perceive His
touch, but it's always there. It's there. always supporting
her, even under the most severe trials. Job, no doubt, Job, when
he lost his children, all of his children, when he lost all
of his material goods and he lost his health, no doubt he
thought he was all alone. He thought he was all alone.
There had to be time sitting there at nighttime, scraping
those boils. And yet the Lord was upholding
him. Just standing there holding him like a baby. Oh, she said, I charge you, O
ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of
the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake love... I like that. Just take the my out of it. ...nor
awake love, till he please. She charges those about her not
to disturb her love. She stands in awe of Him, gazing
upon Him. It's as if she's saying, now
listen, it's as if she's saying, don't wake Him. Just let me look
at Him as He lies here in my arms asleep. Don't wake Him. Don't disturb Him. Don't disturb
Him. Wouldn't you say she's outmarried
herself? The church has outmarried herself, and she knows it. She
knows it. Now note what else she says here.
Till he please. Don't wake him up till he please.
Her desire is to please her beloved instead of herself or her own
children. She says, Don't disturb me." This is her
love at work for her husband. And now we're going to see how
much more she adores him. She says in verse 8, "...the
voice of my beloved, his sheep..." The Scripture says, "...his sheep
hear his voice, and a stranger they will not follow." But she
hears his voice. You know the gospel now. I'm
telling you, if you're his sheep, you know the gospel when it's
preached. It's like Doug sent me a message, or he called me
and told me about a message, and I listened to it today by
Henry. You could hear his voice. You could hear the shepherd.
You could hear the voice of the shepherd. She knows the voice
of her bridegroom before she sees him. You know, if you shut your eyes
any of you parents, or any of you husband or wife, I can shut
my eyes, and everybody can be here talking, and if Vicki can
holler my name, I guarantee I'll figure it out. It is the voice of my beloved, Although we can't see Him now, yet we know His voice. When we hear the gospel, we know
it. And she says, The voice of my
beloved, behold, He cometh. He's coming. You know, you can
tell if somebody's coming to you or going away from you, can't
you? If somebody's speaking to you, you can tell if they're
coming or going. She's saying, Behold, He cometh. The Old Testament
says someone's coming. The New Testament says He's come.
And the Epistle says that He's coming again. And we should be
looking for Him. We should be able to hear the
Gospel preached and say, The voice of my Beloved, O behold,
He cometh. He's here tonight. He's here.
I hear Him. He's here. Leaping upon the mountains,
no difficulty too strong for my Beloved to come to me." No
difficulty. He overcame the curse of the
law, the power of Satan, the death of the cross. Nothing was
able to stop Him, and nothing to this day is able to stop Him
from coming to me. Nothing. I tell you, we cannot imagine
how strong Christ's love is to His church. It's perfect love.
It's perfect love. So it can't get any stronger.
It can't be any stronger. Look over in chapter 8. In verse 6 and 7, set me as a
seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong
as death, jealousy cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are
coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot
quench love, neither can the floods drown it. If a man would
give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly
be contemned. Oh, love is stronger than death. Go over here in Romans chapter
8. Let's find this. I know you know
it, but we'll read it again. Romans chapter 8. Verse 35, "...who shall separate
us from the love of Christ?" Christ's love for us is what
it's saying. "...shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for
thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are countless sheep
for the slaughter." Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." I don't think
he left anything out there, do you? I don't think he left anything
out. Now note the speed and ease in
which He comes to His Beloved, skipping upon the hills. It's
not a drudgery for Him to come to us. We ask Him to make His
presence known here. It's not a drudgery for Him to
be here tonight. Nothing slows Him down in coming
to His love. He's not coming here on an invite.
He's coming here because He loves you. It's out of love. And she said, My beloved is like
a roe or a young heart. She compares Him to a young heart,
not some wild animal, but to one that is swift and gentle
and youthful and strong. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the window,
showing himself through the lattice." In the Old Testament, there was
a wall of partition. There was a veil. Christ stood behind a
wall of shadows and types. The believers in that day saw
Him as through a lattice. He said, Abraham saw my day and
was glad. And Christ showed Himself through
each window of time to His church. And even now, we know Him part
in preaching part. Even now. But soon we shall see
Him clearly. We shall see Him face to face
soon. But until then, until then, she hears His voice. Until then,
we hear His voice. He speaks to us. Our beloved
speaks to us. Verse 10, My beloved spake. 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. Oh, what
love and compassion he has to his church! What language! You
know, if we talk like that to each other at home, how much
sweeter the home would be? Can't do that, can we? Too much
sin in us. There's too much stinking sin
in us to speak to one another like this. That's sad, but it's
so. But He says to her, come away.
And I thought about this today. I've worked on this about all
day. Every day we should come away
from this world and come to Him and feed and drink of His love.
Every day. Every day. Not Sunday and Thursday. Every day. He says, come away. Come away from these things that
distract you and get alone with Me. Come away from that which
keeps us away." Come away. Set your heart, it says in Colossians
3, 2, set your affections on things above, not on things of
the earth. Come away. Come away. For lo,
the winter's passed and the rain is over and gone. The harsh,
cold deadness of self-serving is past. Get over yourself. Get over myself. Get over myself. Or it could be this, the time
of trials, or a particular trial is over, it's time to rejoice
again. It's time to rejoice again. God
said to Job, I believe it was Job 37, around that area, He
said, Job, gird up your loins, stand up like a man. He didn't
say, Job, I'm sorry, I had to do that. He said, Job, gird up
your loins, stand up like a man. It's time to quit crying. It's time to rejoice. God the
Father would not have His children crying all the time. There's
a time to weep and a time to rejoice. He said the rain is
over. It's over. The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of the singing of birds is coming, the voice of the turtle
is heard in our land. When it looked like nothing would
bloom again, it does. It does. The flowers appear again
right where God planted them. Nothing will make you appreciate
the beauty of spring like a hard winter, and nothing will make
you appreciate the love and grace of God like a hard trial after
He's brought you through it, and the rain is over, and the
time of the singing of birds has come. What's funny, Interesting. When I do my notes and I'm doing
this, I have background music playing. You know, instrumental
music. And there was piano music. I
had soft piano music playing with birds singing. I had a lot
of birds just singing in the background. And I came upon this
verse, the time of the singing of birds has come. And I had
to sit back and just listen to those birds sing. They weren't singing to me. Maybe
they were. Maybe they were. But I know they're
singing to the Lord. They sing to Him every day. Every
day they're singing to Him. As I said, there's a time to
weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
No matter how hard the winter, we will hear God's birds sing
again in the land. You'll hear them again. And the voice of the turtle is
heard in our land. The turtle dove was a seasonal bird. And
she knew her time. She knew her time, when to be
back, and she knew her time to sing. And we too should know
our time for mourning and for singing. But it keeps getting
better, listen. The fig tree putteth forth her
green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good
smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. Now he speaks of the nearness
of summer, and the smell of fruit is in the air. You know, it's good to look at
flowers. They're pretty in the spring. And it's nice to hear
the birds sing. But fruit is what we need. Fruit
is what we need. The fruit of His love and joy
and peace and long-suffering, kindness. I need that in me.
I need the Lord to work that in me. If that's in me, He's
in me. As evidence, He's there. This
is what we need, for they make us smell good. They make us smell
good. It's the smell of grace. It's
the smell of grace. Now he says, Arise, my love,
my fair one, and come away. Take advantage of the season.
Spend much time with Christ, especially when he makes his
presence known. He says, come away. Wherever
the Lord takes you, go with Him. Hold loosely to the things of
this life. He may move you to someplace
else, or He may move you out of here. Hold loosely to them. O my dove, that are in the clefts
of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy
countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice,
thy countenance is comely." I know I'm taking a little time with
this, but this is just too good to just stop. He now calls her his dove. What
an endearing name Christ gives His church. He calls her His
dove for her gracious spirit and loveliness which He bestowed
upon her. It's His dove, my dove. And she said to be in the cleft
of the rock in the secret place of the stairs. And to just sum
that up is this. Christ is her hiding place. Christ is my hiding place. what
times I am afraid I will trust in Thee." And He comes to her
and He calls her forth to Himself. He calls her out of the cleft
of the rock. He calls her out of the secret place of the stairs.
He says, let me see that count, let me look at you. He's saying, tell her to come
out of this place, let me look at you. Let me hear your voice. He tells His church to pray to
Him, talk to Him. Talk to him. Husband and wife,
talk to one another. Sit down and talk to one another.
Come boldly to the throne of grace. Cast all your cares on
him, for he cares for you. We have a great high priest who
can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He says,
let me hear your voice. Call upon me. Talk to me. David said in Psalm 38 and 9,
Lord, all my desire is before you, is before thee. My whole
heart is laid out open to thee. All my desires before thee, and
my groaning is not hid from thee. Come out, he says. Come to me.
Come to the throne of grace and let me hear your voice. Talk
to me. Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines.
Our vines have tender grapes. Here, listen. Mortify the deeds
of the flesh. These sins of the flesh destroy
the tender fruit on the vines. Even the so-called little sins,
if left unchecked, will do great damage to spiritual growth." Let me repeat that. Even the
so-called little sins, if left unchecked, will do great damage
to spiritual growth. And here He comforts her. Here
is her comfort at all times. I'm going to wind this down.
My Beloved is mine, I'm His. What assurance? He's mine, I'm
His. Jesus Christ is as much mine as I am His. As much. He feedeth among the lilies.
She knows where He is. He's among the lilies. He's here.
He's here. So don't go out there looking
for Him. He's here. He's here with these people. Husbands and
wives should always know where one another are. They should. You know, I'd say this to any young
people that's not yet married yet. They may hear this tape.
If that's a problem, don't get married. You can solve a lot
of problems if you're going to be independent and not mesh into
one another. Just don't get married. Just don't do it. Husbands and wives should always
know where one another are. They should always. She knew where he was. He's among
the lilies. She knew exactly where he was, and he knows where
she is at all times. Until the daybreak and the shadows
flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young
heart upon the mountains of Bethlehem.