Open my ears, illuminate me,
Spirit divine. Send me the warm truth everywhere
Open my heart and let me prepare Love with Thy children thus to
share Now I wait for Thee. Ready, my God, Thy will to see. Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit
divine. What a good hymn that is. Prepare
our hearts to hear this prayer, good hymns like the Psalms, prayers. Open my eyes that I may see glimpses
of truth. We're going to hopefully, if
the Lord opens our eyes this morning, we're going to get a
little glimpse of truth. What's truth? Christ is the truth. Place in my hands a wonderful
key. What's a key? Christ is King. Understand? That shall unclasp and set me
free. What sets free? Know the truth. The Son shall make you free.
I wait for you. Open my mouth, let me bear gladly
the warm truth of the gospel. Open my heart, let me prepare. There's a preparation involved
before you hear every article in the bulletin this morning.
was about hearing. Hearing. One by my preacher. One by John Hall. A good hearing. Faith comes by hearing. And we
need to hear from the Lord. We need to see. We need our eyes
open. See what? See Him. This is the will of Him that
sent me, Christ said, that everyone that seeth the Son seeth His
glory, seeth their need of Him, and believeth on Him, will have
everlasting life. It's a good hymn to sing. I hope
you sing it with the understanding and from the heart. 1 Kings. 1 Kings chapter 1. I've never
heard anybody preach from it. I've never preached on it. I've
wanted to. I've looked at it for years. knowing there is something much
more than meets the eye. There it is. Look at verses 1-4 with me. Four short verses. King David
was old, stricken in years. I covered him with clothes, but
he got no heat. Wherefore his servants said unto
him, Let there be salt for my Lord the King, a young virgin,
let her stand before the king, let her cherish him, let her
lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heed." So they
sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coast of history and
found Abishag, a Shulamite, Shulamite, same as Shulamite in the Song
Settler, and they brought her to the king. The damsel was very
fair and she cherished the king and ministered, served him. The king knew her not. It's a
strange story to most. It's strange to everyone until
it's revealed. After this, I hope it will no
longer be strange to you. The gospel, the truth is strange
if you're a stranger to it, if you're a stranger to the covenant.
The gospel, God, the true God is strange to most. The truth
is strange. Hidden. The truth is hidden until
revealed. Our Lord spoke in parables, didn't
He? The disciples one time said, why do you speak in parables?
He said, the Pharisees were offended. He said, why do you speak in
parables? He said, because to you it is
given. They were hidden to the wise
and prudent, but He revealed them unto His little children.
He took them aside and said, now this is what this parable
is talking about. It's talking about Christ. Our Lord spoke in parables. The
Lord has shown us, He shows His people many beautiful pictures,
doesn't He? Do you love the pictures, the
types, that is, those things that typify or show who Christ is? Do you love the pictures and
the types? The Lord has shown us so many, hasn't He? The half
has not been told. We haven't seen the half of them.
This book is, as it were, a book of Christ. The volume of the book is written
of Him. All testify of Him. Every person, every place, everything
points to the Christ. Beginning in the beginning. In
the beginning, God said what? Let there be what? Light. What's light? Christ is light. And you will
not see, you will not understand the message of this book except
in light of Christ. The whole book opens up in light
of Christ. Beginning with Genesis 1, in
the beginning, and the last book, until the last two words say,
the end. The beginning, the end. What's
this book about? Jesus Christ. Every store, every person, every
place, everything. Hasn't the Lord been good to
us? We must be His disciples if He's revealed these things
to us and our children. Right? Don't you love the pictures
in the Bible of Noah? You know how few seminary professors
know what Noah's Ark represents? Or rather, who? You know that? How few? Some of you sat in religion,
Methodist, and you sat under a man who might have had a Masters
of Divinity, a Doctor of Divinity, and he talked about Noah and
Aaron. He never mentioned Christ's name.
Right? Here is wisdom. What's wisdom? What's understanding? To know
Christ. Noah, the rock, the smitten rock, pictures of like Joseph
and his brethren. I was thinking about that the
other day, thinking, well, I'd like to preach on that sometime
soon. Boaz, Ruth. Don't you love that? My favorite,
one of them. Esther. Anybody here like the
book of Esther? What's Esther about? It's not
about Esther. It's about Jesus Christ. In fact,
this story is a lot like that. David and Abigail, David and
Mephibosheth. Anybody like that? Mephibosheth,
Solomon, the Song of Solomon. What's that about? Solomon and
the Shulamites. I'm giving you a key right now
to understand what we're about to look at. Solomon and the Shulamite,
the king and the fair maiden. It's all about Christ and His
beloved, His church. Pictures revealed. The Word of
God magnified, opened up to those that He loves. Opened up, revealed
to those that He loves. And those that love Him, they
love Him. You know, if you love someone, you love to look at
pictures of them, don't you? If you love someone, if you know
someone, you're never tired of looking at pictures of them,
do you? You can show pictures of someone that you love to someone
else that doesn't love them, and they're not interested. Anybody
see that picture down on the table this morning? Did you see
that? I put it there not because I'm in it, but as an illustration. A wonderful illustration happened
to me while I was preparing this message. Wonderful. I was sitting there preparing
this message right here, about this picture of pride, alright? The trumpet sounded, the horn
of the mailman. The trumpet sounded. And I jumped
up and ran outside and they handed me a package. Here, this is for
you. And I went in and opened it up and it was a picture from
a man I love to me. A picture of him and me. Do you know who that other fellow
was? Do you know who that was? Anybody? You don't know? I'm going to reveal it to you.
Darwin Pruitt. Darwin Pruitt and me. I love
that man. Him sending me that picture of
him and me tells me, Bonnie, that he loves me. He esteemed
that picture highly. It's a picture of him and me.
I love that man, he loves me. That's my beloved and I'm his.
He sent me this picture and showed it to me, not anybody else. Showed
it to me and I put it on display. And I'm revealing it to you.
This whole book is pictures of Christ, the Beloved, who saved
His people. And He reveals these to those
whom He loves. And those He loves, they reveal
it to others. And every time I look at that
picture now, I'm going to take it down because I don't want
to look at me. By the way, if you love Darwin, you love me. You love him that begat, you
love him that begotten. The whole point is, if you love
Christ, if you know Christ, if God loves you, He's going to
reveal the Son to you. And you're going to love this
story. You're going to love this one. Alright, here it is. What
is this story all about? I've already told you. Christ. There's three lessons to learn
here. There's three types. There's three pictures. And my
pastor used to say this. And I quote him a lot, don't
I? Because he's the best pastor that ever lived. Best preacher
that ever lived. That's right. Greater than John
of Baptist. Huh? Tammy, what do you think? Mandy? Mom? That's what happened. Who's going to dispute me? The
Lord said so. Didn't He? Greater than John
did. He is to me, that's the man the Lord sent to preach me
the gospel. And I still hear Him. I still listen to Him. He's
still the man I want to hear. He used to say this, no type,
no picture is perfect. It's just a picture. It cannot
represent the Lord Jesus Christ. Someday we're going to see Christ. They tried to describe Him, and now I see. A half wasn't
told. No picture does Him justice.
That's why there are so many. There are so many because the
multifaceted diamond that is Christ Pearl of great pride. The reason there's so many. King
David. Now this is the first book of Kings. Who do you reckon
he's talking about? What king do you think he's talking
about? The first book of first Kings. The first word you're talking
about, the King. Now who could he possibly be
talking about other than Jesus Christ, the King of Kings. He
is the subject, not David, the King of Kings. Christ is the
King of first Kings and second Kings. That's it. Like every book, like I brought
it up, Genesis 1, Christ is the first and the last, the beginning
and the end. You want to understand this book,
you've got to start with Christ. He's the beginning. You want
to start to understand the end, it's all Christ, the end. He's
the author and He's what? The finisher. How do you know
that? How do you know the same? How
did you all finish that? Flesh and blood can reveal it
to you. Hmm. Oh, I love this. Don't you love this? I'm just giving you the
appetizer. You ever go to eat an appetizer?
You think, this is wonderful. The way you get the main course. The King David was old and stricken
in years, okay? How old is the Lord Jesus Christ?
When He came, how old was He? A child is born. No, this is an ancient of day. I mean, yes, a child was born,
but the Son was given. Micah said this in Micah 5, verse
2, O Bethlehem, Ephratah, that means house of bread and fruit, though thou be little among the
nations, out of thee shall he come whose goings forth have
been of old, the ancient one, the eternal one, A child is born,
yes, with the eternal Son of God. Yes, God was manifest in
the flesh. That child is none other than
God, the Father, the eternal Son of God. Well, David was old
and stricken in years. David was stricken by God. He
was sick, afflicted. What does Isaiah 53 say? We give this theme here, stricken
and smitten of God. in the midst of his years. Christ
wounded, bruised, smitten, stricken by God in the midst of his years.
Scripture says he took our infirmities in his body, bore our sicknesses.
Yet it pleased God to bruise him. God made him put his soul
to grief. God made his soul an offering
for sin. And he shall see the travail
of his soul and be satisfied. It says in verse 1, they covered
him with clothes, but he got no heat. There's a word called
anti-type. Some of you know what that means.
Anti-type. It's opposite. It's similar,
yet it's opposite. Like Romans 5 says, not as the
offense, so is the gift. Anti-type. Meaning, by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. But by the obedience,
it's anti, it's opposite, but it's a type. It's the opposite. David, they covered him with
clothes and he had no heat. They covered him that he might
be warm. The anti-type of this. Our Lord was stripped of His
clothing that we might be covered. Our Lord was made a burnt offering. Our Lord endured the fires of
hell on the cross, the wrath of God against our sins. He who
knew no sin was made sin. He deserved no fiery wrath of
God that he received in place of that. Antitype. Antitype. Verse 2, Wherefore his servants,
David's servants, said unto him, Let there be sought for my Lord
the King a young virgin. Let there be sought. And let
her stand before the King. Let her stand before the King.
Let her cherish Him. Let her lie in thy bosom that
my Lord the King may get heat. And they sought for a fair damsel
throughout all the land. And they found Abishag of Shunammite. And they brought her to the King. They sought. They found, they
brought her to the king for his glory, for his warmth, for his
pleasure, because of his desire. Philippians 2 says, wherefore
his servant? Wherefore my servant? Because
he took upon himself the form of a servant. Since Christ humbled
himself, became obedient unto death, even to death of the cross,
stripped, afflicted, wounded, stricken, smitten of God, endured
the wrath of God, wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name, and every knee is going
to be bowed. Every tongue is going to confess and be brought
before Him, and a people are going to be sought, a people
are going to be found, a people are going to be brought to His
feet to cherish Him, to love Him, to stand before Him robed
in His righteousness, to love Him whom He loves, to cherish
Him, and to get Him glory. That's what they're for. That's
what she was for. She had no other purpose in life
but for the King's glory, the King's comfort. Do you understand this picture
now? A little bit? Servants are the gospel preachers.
These servants are gospel preachers who go out preaching Christ,
seeking, looking for His bride. Genesis 24. Anyone know what
that story is about? Genesis 24. About Abraham's servant
going out to find a bride for Isaac. Have you ever heard a
better message than that? Abraham's servant went out to
find a bride for Isaac. Where did she find her? At the
well. How did she get there? God brought
her. What did Abraham talk about? The son. What happened? She fell in love with him. Then
what happened? She went to meet him. And he
married her. And they lived happily ever after.
No greater love story has ever been told except one, the love
of Christ for his people. And he sends his preachers of
the gospel out. to seek and to save that which
was lost by the preaching of the gospel. What? Preaching Christ
and Him crucified. And the Spirit of God moves before
them and causes them to cherish Christ the King. And they will
someday stand before Him dressed in His righteousness. They will
cherish Him whom He cherished and whom He loved. And they will
give Him great glory. It will warm His heart and theirs. Servants of the gospel. So they
sought. They sought one. Did they find
her? Now this is David. This is the king of kings. They
sought one little maiden. Are they going to find her? One
time David sent his two greatest captains to get a fella who was
laying on both feet. Go fetch him. Did they find him? Did they bring him? What kind of king is he? They couldn't bring one to the
other. Yes, he did. Well, they sent these servants
out to seek, to find. And it says they brought her.
They brought her. A certain damsel to the king.
Her name in verse 3 is Abishak. Every name in Scripture is significant.
Every name is named by God. Shulamite. Shulamite. And they
brought her to the king. Turn to Isaiah 65 with me. Isaiah 65. The name Abishag means
this. Father of a stray. Father Abba. Abbey. Abba. Father of a transgressor. A stray. One who has erred. One who has
wandered. This was the wandering child,
the transgressor, a stray, a sinner of her father. Her father was
Shag. This is Abishag, the daughter
of her father. And these servants of the king
were sent out to seek and to find this one stray, this transgressor,
this wanderer. That's what the name means, a
wanderer. All of Christ's people are sons and daughters of Adam. Sinful like our Father, aren't
we? Oh, we like sheep have what? Gone astray. Transgressors. Christ was numbered with the
transgressors. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity
of His Son. And the Lord sends His gospel
preacher. And this woman was chosen, wasn't
she? She was sought and she was chosen. And she was brought.
She was sought, she was chosen, she was brought. Sought, found,
chosen, brought. Isn't that the gospel? They brought
her where? To the King for His glory. She wasn't seeking Him. Was she? She wasn't calling on Him. Was
she? Now, let me say this. If you don't call on the Lord,
you won't be found. If you don't call, whosoever
calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I tell every
person in here, old, young, especially young, call on the name of the
Lord. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call on Him
while He is near. Seek the Lord. Call on Him. Pray
to Him. Lord, reveal Yourself to me.
Lord, save me. Lord, help me. I want to know
You. I want to be in Your Kingdom. Have you ever done that? Have
you ever called on the name of the Lord? Go home, get in your
closet, and call on the Lord. Have you ever done that? If you
don't, the Lord is not going to save you. But if you do, it's because He
called you. If you don't, He won't. If you
do, He did. Do you understand that? I do. Isaiah 65, look at this, verse
1. I am sought of them that ask
not for me. There was a time I was not seeking
the Lord. Bless God, He sought me. And then I started seeking
Him. Why? He sought me. I am found
of them that sought me not. Philip was not looking for the
Lord, was he? Philip the apostle was not looking for the Lord.
But then one day he said, we found Him. Who found whom, Melanie? The
Lord came to Philip and found him. But Philip said, I found
Him. The woman at the well, I found him! Woman, you know who he was. Bless God he knew you. This Shulamite
maiden, oh my! She was not seeking him, but
he sought her. Sent someone to seek her, to
find her, to choose her. And she was called, and we're
called by the gospel. She came, she was brought. What
was she brought to do? She was brought to the king to
cherish him. She was brought to cherish him.
Verse 2 says, let her cherish him. Let her lie in thy bosom. Let her become one with him.
Now, David didn't know her. That means this was not unclean.
This was pure. This was not physical gratification. And what a renunciation this
is. What a clarion cry against all this
religion today that's flesh. It's all about feelings and emotion
and appealing to man's flesh and his feelings and all that.
This is spiritual. This is holy. This is harmless.
This is undefiled. This is what happened in the
inner person. There was nothing unclean that
happened here. This is wonderful, it's glorious.
The whole picture of Christ and how that he enters a child of
God with the seed of his word. And you know that the old writers
used to call it intercourse? The old Puritans used to call
it that. Christ would become one with His Bride and the seed
of His Word would enter in and conception is made. Life is begun
and it grows up. What does it grow up into? Life.
The life of Christ. The image of Christ. That's all
a picture of the salvation of God. The new birth. It's clean. It's pure. It's holy. It has
nothing to do with the flesh. It's not unclean. It's beautiful.
That's why marriage is a picture of Christ. That's why marriage
is to be between a man and a woman. That's holy in the sight of the
Lord. Anything else is a perversion. It's called fornication. It adulterates
the picture of Christ and His bride. It adulterates that. It's
prostitutes. It's prostitutes trying to lure
people by the flesh, not the spirit. Trying to lure people
with money, to entice people. No, this is about love. not lusts. You follow me? What a picture this is. This Shulamite, I was going to
have you turn to the Song of Solomon. The whole story of the Song of
Solomon is about the king and his love for his beloved. Who
is she? She's a Shulamite. You know what she says about
herself? I'm black. Oh, but no. You know what the
scripture says about her? She's conman. This is a faithful
saying. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. Even the chief. All have sinned. The bride of Christ are all like
Gomer. Forlorn women, like the child
in the field, like Gomer, the unfaithful wife, that's who he
finds, those who have prostituted themselves. Harlots, publicans,
thieves, sinners, that's who Christ came to save, not the
righteous. Why? Because he's going to get
great glory. But you know what? He's able, and this is what he's
going to do, present every one of those black sheep, every one
of those black sheep, and they're all black when he finds them.
White. They're all going to be dressed
in white. Robes that He provided. The robe
of His righteousness. They're all going to be presented,
though they were forlorn, though they were adulterated, He's going
to present them all as chaste virgins. And you know what He
says about them? Thou art fair, my dove. My dove. Comely. You're black, to me you're
comely. You know, there's no beauty about
Christ that anybody should desire. No fleshly beauty. No outward
beauty. No fleshly appeal about Christ. But once He revealed
His beauty to His people, He was altogether the Loving Son
of God. What a picture this is. Go find
her. Go find her. Like the story of
Esther. You remember that story? Jennifer
Allen, that's her favorite story, Esther. This is very similar.
Since they went looking for a fair virgin in all the land, and they
couldn't find one, they finally found Esther. Esther. This brings me to my next type.
I told you there was three here. David represents Christ. The
servant represents Christ. Abishag represents Christ. Everything
represents Christ. Do you hear me? Everything. Let
me say this first, before we get to that. When Abishag was
brought before this king, David, how do you think she felt? Brother Stephen, I believe she
probably thought, what a wonderful opportunity. Why would they choose me? Was
she afraid? Do you think? Do you think she's
fearful? Do you think she was trembling? This is how all of God's people
approach the King of Kings. You know that? When He first
reveals the truth to you, unworthy. Did she approach the King in
reverence? In humility? In a feeling of unworthiness? Yet great gratitude, did she?
Did she think, who am I? What is my house that you brought
me hitherto to cherish the King? To lie in His bosom, to become
one with the King and He with me. Oh my! Arist, Lord Jesus, she prayed,
she played on the piano. Thee will we cherish Thee will
we honor." That's how all of God's people,
when they're brought to see the King, they're brought to see
themselves, and they cherish Him. Now here's the next type.
David is a picture of every believer. David is a picture of every single
child of God who, if we live long enough, and it doesn't take
long really, but if we get old enough, we will become cold.
We will become dead because of our sinfulness, because
of our worldliness. You're struggling right now to
hear this Gospel. Those who have heard it the most
generally struggle the worst. It's just the way it is. The
familiarity. You've heard my voice over and
over again. Right? We get cold. We, like the Ephesians,
leave our first love. Leave our first love. Don't lose
it. Leave it. Go after other things. Are you guilty? Anybody? We become like the Shulamite
maiden in Song of Solomon that Christ came to the door like
He always did. Her beloved came to the door
like He always did and knocked on the door. Christ said, Behold,
I stand at the door of the church. I'm here. I'm here. I'll be there. Open. I'll sup with you. Open
your heart, your ear. I'll come in. I'll fellowship
with you. You'll go away filled. You'll
go away peaceful. You'll go away joyful and all
that. And she said, I'm sleepy. I'm tired. I can't. And so he left. And she thought she's never going
to see him again. She thought, he's left me. He's hidden his
face. He ought to leave me. How could
I forsake Him? How could I leave my first love
who came for me? How? How? How? She did, and we
do, and we get cold, don't we? How could we get cold to them?
How could a sinner deserving of hell get cold to the message
of mercy? How could we never cease to be
amazed by sovereign mercy, sovereign love? Behold what manner of love.
How could we stop beholding with amazement, with glory, with wonder,
with fear? How could we ever hear this gospel
of Christ hanging on a tree for others? How, tell me, how could
we hear this without our hearts broken, without our hearts full
of gratitude? Because that's our flesh. We
get cold, don't we? But bless God, bless His Holy
Name. He sends His servant to bring
before you this beautiful one. This glorious one who stands
before God, Abishan. He who has made sin, numbered
with the transgression. She represents Christ. The servant of God brings and
preaches Christ. If I be lifted up, I'll draw
these cold dead sinners to myself. He brings Christ before us. He
who stands before the King. He who cherishes us. He who cherished
the Father. He who cherished His law. This
is one with the Father in His bosom, by whom God gets all the
glory. Do you see who this is talking
about? And it warms our cold hearts,
doesn't it? Those disciples on the road to Emmaus, you know,
they were sad. Why? Look at what all is going on.
Look, look, look, look. And Christ sent a preacher. Who
was it? It was Him. But they didn't know
Him. It was His preacher. Same thing.
Same one. Same message. They didn't know
him. They were sad. He said, why is
it that you're sad? They said, are you a stranger?
He thought, no, you're the stranger. Haven't you heard anything? They
said, we thought that it had been he who redeemed Israel,
but he's dead. No, he's not. He did redeem Israel. And he began to preach unto them,
John, didn't he? In the books of Moses, and the
prophets, and the Psalms, all the things concerning themselves,
showing them Christ crucified. It lifted their hearts. And you
know what they said after he got through preaching? Ah, that's
fine. They'd get heat again. Our Lord said, I would that you
were cold. or hot, but not lukewarm. Do you understand what that means?
Hot and cold is a sign of life. If you feel heat, grow wonderful. If this Word burns within you,
if the zeal of God's house eats you, wonderful. But if you feel
cold and lifeless and dead, you can't feel anything if you're
dead. You know that? But if you feel cold, you're
not dead. And God sends a servant and says,
I've got something to warm you. I've got someone to tell you
about. And bless God, you get heat again. The lukewarm? I've heard that
before. That's just a preacher. It's
just a sermon. And you walk out. How's the weather? God said, I'll spew you out of
my mouth. My Son doesn't warm you? My Gospel
doesn't touch you anymore? You've heard this too many times? The last picture here is this. You know, when God saves someone. The church gets old. There's
a life span of a church like every believer. You have an early
harvest, you have a latter harvest. When the Lord reveals himself
to one sinner, One time in the Revelation, he
said to the church at Sardis, it was, strengthen the things
that remain. There are few there, he said.
He said, some have a name, but they're dead. He said, but those
that remain, the remnant, that really cherish me and know me,
he said, strengthen them. What is our strength? To come
and sit. and hear of Christ in Him. And when the Lord, in the latter
days, David was old, was about to die, and the Lord sent this young
virgin that just cheered him up. It just gave him new life,
you know. You understand where I'm going
with this? When the Lord saves one sinner, one newborn child, oh, doesn't it rejoice our heart? My hope, my prayer
unto my God is that the Lord will yet seek and call and find
one of His chosen. a young maiden, or a young lad,
or an old one. We'd settle for an old one in
his fifties or sixties, seventies. Bring that person, like the Shulamite
maiden was brought, to cherish the King, to see their need of
Christ, to fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, out of
love with the world, in love with Christ. and to become one
with Him, Christ in them, and He in them. Wouldn't that warm
us? Wouldn't that just warm our heart? Wouldn't it? Lord, hear. Lord, do. Make it so. For Your glory, for Thy honor,
for Thy Son's namesake, and for the salvation of one of these
strays, one of these lost, find them. Did you get anything out
of that? There's a whole lot more where
that came from. Okay. Let's stand and sing in
closing. Praise the Savior. Number 51.
In number 51. In number 51.