The Believer's Recovery - Part 4

Q: What does the Bible say about spiritual lethargy in believers?

The Bible warns that believers can fall into a state of spiritual lethargy, becoming indifferent to the gospel and losing fellowship with God. In the Song of Solomon 5:2, we see a vivid depiction of a believer caught in spiritual lethargy. This believer experiences a spiritual sleep, characterized by a sense of carelessness and indifference towards God and His gospel. While this state is regrettable, it is essential to note that it is not the deathly sleep of those who are unregenerate; rather, it reflects a true child of God who has momentarily lost their fervor for the things of God. However, the good news is that the Lord does not abandon His people in such times, but reaches out with compassion to awaken and restore them.

Q: How does God draw believers back to Himself?

God draws believers back through His sovereign power and the means of grace like preaching and conviction. To restore those who have fallen into spiritual lethargy, God employs the same sovereign means by which He originally called them to Himself. The preaching of the gospel, the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, and the providential circumstances He ordains all play crucial roles in awakening the hearts of His people. Believers, even when they choose a path of indifference, can find comfort in knowing that the Lord will actively pursue them, calling them back to fellowship and renewal. The assurance lies in the promise that His love and faithfulness are unwavering, and He will awaken His people to their need for close communion with Him.

Q: Why is faith important for Christians?

Faith is essential for receiving and maintaining fellowship with Christ, allowing believers to respond to His love and grace. Faith serves as the door through which believers enter into and maintain their fellowship with Christ. In Song of Solomon 5:6, the believer reflects on her need to seek her beloved, which illustrates the importance of faith in actively reaching out to Christ. Faith is not merely an intellectual agreement but includes a deep relational trust in the person of Christ. It energizes the believer’s spiritual senses, enabling them to perceive God's grace and mercy. Through faith, believers not only receive Christ's love but also manifest a desire to be in His presence continually, reflecting a heartfelt response to the gospel.

Q: What does Scripture teach about God's unconditional love?

Scripture reveals that God's love for His people is unconditional and unchanging, independent of their spiritual states. God's love for His children is characterized by its unconditional nature, meaning it does not fluctuate based on believers' performance or spiritual states. In His Word, God assures believers that nothing can separate them from His love, as stated in Romans 8:38-39. This steadfast love is vital for maintaining the believer's hope and assurance, especially during times of spiritual struggle when they may feel distant from Him. The reality that God does not stop loving them—even when they experience spiritual lethargy—reinforces the truth of His grace and mercy that actively seeks to bring them back into close fellowship.

Q: How does the Church play a role in a believer's spiritual recovery?

The Church provides community and teaching that helps restore believers, guiding them back to fellowship with Christ. The Church serves as the body of Christ, where believers can find safety, support, and accountability during times of spiritual wandering. The community of faith is designed to help one another in spiritual recovery through instruction in the Word, fellowship, and the sacraments. When a believer, like the Shulamite woman, realizes their state of indifference, the Church acts as a guiding light, reminding them of their first love for Christ and encouraging them to return to the means of grace provided in Christian community. Through preaching, prayer, and the love of fellow believers, the Church reinforces the truths of the gospel that awaken believers to their need for revival and restoration.

OK, turning back with me to the
Song of Solomon, I come to the conclusion of this
study, the subject of a believer's recovery. And I do hope, well,
I hope that somebody will admit it. I certainly profited by studying
it. And I hope somebody can use it.
I hope the Lord will reuse it for somebody. We've been looking
at this passage as it relates to the condition that the child
of God, that the believer, falls into a sad, careless, indifferent
state of spiritual lethargy and indifference to the gospel, that
all of us have or will fall into at one time or another. And this
believer, he or she becomes unmoved and spiritually sleepy to the
things of God, and she loses fellowship. She breaks fellowship
with her Lord. It's her fault, but yet the Lord
comes back to her in compassion and kindness. Then we saw something
of the steps that the Lord took to bring her back, to awaken
her, to arouse her, to set her to looking for him and desire
his fellowship once again. It takes the same sovereign power
that at first regenerated a child of God, that drew a child of
God to himself. It takes the same sovereign power
to keep that person from falling. and to draw and woo that person
back from these sad conditions and states we get ourselves into. It takes the same power. We can't,
of ourselves, of our own diligence and discipline and striving, we cannot keep ourselves
so weak. And the Lord realizes that. And
it takes the same means for her recovery as it did for her regeneration. The same things that God uses
to call us by his grace, to hear his voice, the preaching of the
gospel the first time, the power of the Holy Spirit, he takes
the same means, the preaching of the gospel, the hearing of
God's word, calling upon God, the knocks of providence of conviction
upon us, takes the same work upon us to recover us, to bring
us back into fellowship with him. when we lose that fellowship.
Same power, same means for our recovery. Now, you may recall
how we talked about the condition of this woman. She said in verse
2, she said, I sleep, but my heart waketh. We saw how that
that represents the believer, the true child of God who is
in a careless and indifferent and lazy condition, indifferent
to the gospel and the things of God, careless about them,
seemingly unconcerned about them, seemingly, as anybody else, asleep
to things of God. But it's not the sleep of death,
as the world is in, that the unbeliever is in, that they're
completely dead to the things of God. It's not the case with
the child of God. God will never leave the child
of God completely to themselves. but they're in a spiritual dozing
condition, as she was. And a good shepherd comes calling
upon her by the gospel. She hears his voice. She hears
his voice and recognizes it, and this is good news, that no
matter how low or how sinful or how poor in spirit his sheep
become, that by his power at some point By His will, at some
point in time, they will hear His voice and they will come
back to Him. That's good news to me. That's
comforting for me to know. Because like the song says, I'm
prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave
the God I love. Here's my heart. Do something
with it. Seal it for thy courts above.
And Christ not only calls this woman, but he knocks upon the
door by way of providence. We saw how the mark of God, God's
providential dealings with us, hedging us about, making us go
here, go there, keeping us from this and that and the other,
showing us various things in his providence, and pricks of
conscience, his word written upon our heart, pricking our
conscience, and then he unlocks that door. that door that we've
barred with our unbelief, he unlocks it with that mirror.
Because there's no door, I don't care how hard the heart seems,
how long it's been barred, shut, he's able to unlock the most
seemingly inaccessible door. Until finally this woman is aroused
to see the shape she's in. And she gets up from her bed
of indifference to the gospel and reaches for the door. She
finally wakes up out of her sad condition, realizing what she
has done, and reaches for the door to be restored back to fellowship
with him, and then she gets this myrrh all over her. And this myrrh, we say, this
myrrh typified the person and the work of Christ, his grace.
that pours from his lips and emanates from his body, from
his countenance. We're going to see all that over
in chapter 5 here in a minute. His atonement, how this myrrh
speaks of that sweet-smelling savor of Christ's atonement,
how when she finally was awakened from her condition, the thing
that awakened her was the aroma of that work of Christ. And it
smote her. She said, My bowels! She smelled
this myrrh. And it smelled like him, and
she, this is the believer, hearing the gospel again of the sufferings
of Christ for her, for his sake. And he, my bowels, my heart,
his heart, their heart had moved again for the gospel. And it
was so hard and unmoved for so long. And in this myrrh is his Holy
Spirit, the anointing oil of his Holy Spirit that is able
to unlock, to loosen the rustiest bolt. unlock and lubricate the
rustiest, hardest lock in the door that's been shut for so
long. Now remember, remember this, we're not talking about
those dead in sin. We're not talking about unbelievers.
We're not talking about the unregenerate here. We're talking about the
believer who is in a spiritually sleepy condition. The believer
who seemingly prefers their bed of ease and comfort in the world
to the rather than the fellowship of Christ. If you're honest,
you have to say you get in that condition more than once. And in Christ, by His mighty
power, by that power we were talking about, He comes to her,
He speaks to her. What a mercy that He even speak
to you again. Such an ungrateful wretch. Such
an ungrateful woman. All right, you ought to leave
her alone. You should let her lay there.
Leave her alone like the Pharisees. Leave her to herself. He ought
to, he shouldn't. But no, he loves her. He's her
husband. He's not going to leave her alone.
And he speaks to her. That's a kindness. And then he
knocks, or he operates on her conscience. And then he loosens
the lock of unbelief. And then he leaves these sweet
tokens of his grace and love. And then, after she's finally
awakened and comes looking for him, he leaves. And she can't
find him. And the result of this sovereign
power of Christ is—look at verse 5—this is the result of the work
of God. She will be awakened. She rose
up to open. I rose up to open. She now seems
to want His presence, doesn't she? Whereas before she used
all kinds of lame excuses. I've put off my coat. How am
I going to put it on again? I put off my shoes. How shall
I defile her? I've washed my feet. How shall
I defile her? Come back at it more convenient.
I'm busy. I'm lazy. But God won't leave her alone.
Christ won't leave her alone. And he comes to her in mercy
and grace, and finally, she wakes up. She wakes up, and she now
seems to want his presence again. She now prefers Christ to her
ease and her comfort. And she opens the door, verse
6, I open to my beloved. Remember we talked, let me remind
you of what this door is here. We talked about this door being
the door of faith. Faith is the door which Christ
unlocks for his people, enabling them to merely open the door
and go in. and out and find pasture and
fellowship. Turn with me to Revelation 3
again, and look at this. This is where Christ comes to
the church of Laodicea and knocks
upon the door. Now, this world of this religionist,
this world of false prophets They claim that this is Christ
knocking at every sinner's heart's door. Not so. Not so. This is Christ speaking to the
church, speaking to his bride who, like the Shulamite maiden
in the Song of Solomon, has come into this sleepy condition, seemingly
preferring the world and all its enjoyments to fellowship
with her Lord. And she said, and this church,
Christ said of this church in verse 17, just like the sleepy
maiden, he said, you say I'm rich and increased with goods
and have need of nothing. And you don't know that you're
still wretched. You're still miserable and poor
and blind and naked. Now here's good counsel. Buy
gold, try it in the fire, that you may be rich and white raiment,
that they may seek The righteousness, seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. Be clothed with that righteousness
of Christ, that the shame of your nakedness do not appear.
You need the blood and the righteousness of Christ from day one to the
day you die. Don't put it aside. Don't count
it the blood of the covenant and count the gospel of Christ's
imputed righteousness an unnecessary and unneedful thing. You need
it as long as you live. As many as I love, he says, I
rebuke and chasten." You remember Christ, the Scripture says, if
you do not chasten, you be as bastards. But as many as he loves,
he chastens. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. He says, Behold, I stand at the
door, and knock, if any man hear my voice. He stands at the door
of faith and knocks, and if any man hear my voice and open the
door of faith, I'll come in to him and will sup with him." It
doesn't say save. I'm talking about salvation here.
He's talking about fellowship. He said, I'll come in and we'll
have a banquet together like we did before. Sup with him and
he with me. to him that overcometh will I
grant." Didn't John say, this is, who is he that overcometh
the world? Him that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. This is that which overcomes
the world, even our faith. Faith, see, is the door that
God gives us, the door God gives us and unlocks it, enabling us
to go in and out and have fellowship with him. According to your faith,
so be it unto you, he said. The way you exercise and open
this door of faith is your fellowship with Him. And here's faith. Here's the
definition of faith. Faith is being spiritually sensible
to God in Christ. Faith is being spiritually sensible. Having the senses awakened to
God. Faith is having eyes to see His
beauty. and see your condition. Faith
is having ears to hear his voice and hear his watchman preach
the gospel. Faith is having feet to move
in his direction, shod with a preparation, being prepared to hear the gospel.
Feet to move in his direction. Faith is having a mouth to call
upon him. That's one of the first things
she did when she went looking for him. Called, I called. But
there was no answer. Faith is having hands to reach.
The song says, reach out and touch the Lord as he passes by.
When the gospel is preached, Christ said, I'm in the midst,
I'm passing by, I'm in the midst. Reach out by faith and grab hold,
lay hold, and touch the Lord. Faith is the hand that lays hold
on Christ. Faith is the hand. Christ is
the water. Faith is the hand that drinks it. Faith is in a person, too.
Look at verse, back at the text, verse six. Faith is in a person. She says, I rose to open to my
Beloved. Verse 5, I rose to open to my
Beloved. Verse 6, I opened to my Beloved.
Faith looks to Christ and Christ alone. Faith is in the person
of Jesus Christ. The gospel. Christ is the gospel,
and the gospel is Christ. It's the doctrine of Christ.
is what the gospel is. Not doctrine only, but the doctrine
of Christ, the person and work of Christ. And faith looks to,
trusts in, falls in love with his person. That, and that only,
is what will keep you in fellowship with him. You can't have fellowship
with a doctrine. You can't, like Maurice says,
hug up to a doctrine. A doctrine won't keep you. A
doctrine won't keep you. A person will, though. You can't
trust in a doctrine. You can trust in the person.
You can't find a whole lot of joy in a doctrine, but you can
find a whole lot of joy in the one whose doctrine it is, the
teachings of Christ. And not belittle the doctrine.
No, no, no. It's the doctrine of Christ. The doctrine of Christ. And faith is not desirous of
benefits only. Faith doesn't just merely want
to partake of his bank accounts. Like David said in Psalm 73,
25, whom have I in heaven but thee? There's none on earth I
desire beside thee. Faith is not just merely wanting
the benefits of salvation. Faith is wanting the person,
the Savior. That's the difference. That's
the difference in what this world is after. That's the difference
in what Christ said, you follow me not because you believe me. who I am, and not because you
need me and my salvation, but because you got your belly full.
He said another place their God is their belly. Ask plenty of
today's Christians, you know. Tithe, God will bless you. Send in your money, God will
bless you. They want the blessing, want the blessing, want the blessing.
I want the blesser. I want the one who does the blessing. You get him, you get everything
that goes with it, see? You marry the man, you get his riches. Anyone who can be satisfied with
anything other than Christ is an unsaved person. A person in love is a person
who's in love with a person. Somebody who's in love is in
love with a person. That's just the way it is. You
married Stan, you sure didn't marry him for his money, or his
looks. He had to love that guy, as opposed
to only a mother. Me too, Stan. You love his person. You love his person, and vice
versa. One who sees Christ looks to
Christ and him alone for salvation. So she runs to the door, to open
the door to him, and she is terribly disappointed. She runs looking
for him. I opened it, my beloved, she
said. Oh, listen. And she opened the door, and
she's terribly disappointed. The Lord deals with her like
she'd been dealing with him. Rightfully so. Read what you saw. I want you
to notice with me now Christ's withdrawal from his people in
these times of careless indifference. Look at Psalm 139 with me. Back
a few pages to Psalm 139. Look at Christ's withdrawal from
his people in these states of indifference. Now, he's not talking
about here, he says, he opened to her beloved, but my beloved
had withdrawn himself. Now, God is omnipresent. God
is everywhere at one and the same time. There's no place God
is not, and Christ is God. Look at Psalm 139, verse 7, "...whither
shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend up into heaven, he
is there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
Surely darkness shall cover me, even the night that shall be
light about me, Yea, darkness hideth not from thee, but the
night shineth as the day." He's everywhere. He's possessed my
reins. He's covered me in my mother's
womb. He's everywhere. God is omnipresent. You can't
escape from the presence of God. He's everywhere. And as I said,
Christ is God. And he's not talking about his
actual presence here, and he's not talking about his withdrawing himself, his relationship with
her. That cannot be. He will not. He said, I'll never
leave them, thee or no forsaken thing. Never! Like a faithful
husband that he is, he said, a mother may forsake her second
child, but not me. Not me. Where's your bill of
divorce? You may divorce one another, but if you're mine,
if you're my bride, I'll not divorce you. And you may try,
but you won't divorce me. He's not talking about his relationship
with her, because what God hath joined together, no man can put
asunder. Whom shall separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ? Nobody. Not even me. No man is
able to pluck them out of my hand, Christ said. Once in grace, you say, and once
in grace, always in grace? Yes, ma'am. Better believe it. Once in love, once in the love,
and the affections, and the mind, and the will, and the heart of
God, always in the mind, the will, and the heart, and the
affections of God. Once in Christ, always in Christ. That's what
we're saying. He said, I've loved you with an everlasting love,
ever-pouring loving kindness. I'm going to draw you in all
the days of your life. Draw you, draw you, draw you.
And as we've cloned one, he has to keep drawing us back. You
turn it back, it turns us around. The love of God is everlasting,
and it's unconditional. It's not conditioned upon our
state. Thank God! It's not conditioned
upon our love for Him. How fickle, how finite, how failing,
how fallible, how changing our love is for God, but not His
love for us. No matter. No matter. It's unchanging. He sets His love upon us, and
it's unconditional now. It was unconditional at first.
When He set His love upon us, it was unconditional. It has
to be the same now, doesn't it? We're no better in and of ourselves. And it's not according to our
ups and our downs or our pitiful conditions we get into, our bad states and spirits that we
get into. Our love for one another is so
changing. According to the attitude, perhaps,
that our loved one has at that particular time will be our love
for them. According to the way they treat
us is the way we treat them. Not so with God. Not so. It's unconditional and it's unchanging. So it doesn't mean here his omnipresence
or his saving relationship that he withdraw. But it does mean
this. Now listen. Stay with me. It
does mean that God, that Christ, will withdraw his sensible presence
and love. Now, whenever I say the word
sensible, I mean that you're aware of it. Sensible. Senses,
when you're sensible, that means you're aware of things. All of
your senses have been aroused to be aware. We're sensuous creatures. Withdrawal of Christ is a withdrawal
of his sensible presence and his love. That is, we lose the
assurance of faith. We lose the assurance of his
love for us. We don't lose his love. No, it's
his love. We can't do anything. We can't do anything to remove
the love of God from us. Oh, I like that. Wouldn't you
like to believe that about your husband or your wife? I believe
we can, to a degree, if in Christ we can. But I sure like to hear
that about my Savior. There's nothing I can do, nothing
I can do that will make Him deny me and quit loving me. Oh, I like that. But we sure
lose the assurance of his love. We get to a point where we think,
oh, I'm so unlovely. He doesn't love me. We never lose our salvation,
but we get to a point where he withdraws himself, and we come
to the point where we think, oh, I am unsaved. Well, you're
not. You just feel like you are. See?
And there's no joy in the things of God. Look back again over
at Revelation chapter 2. You lose the joy in the things
of Christ that you had before. Revelation 2, verse 4. And you remember we talked about
her putting off her shoes to wash her feet, and that being
the gospel? She left her first love. The
gospel is that which first causes you to fall in love with God,
with Christ. The gospel of Christ. Christ
is your first love, and you put that aside and become lazy and
careless and indifferent to the gospel. That's leaving your first
love. You know, as a young believer,
you're so taken up with the things of God, with the gospel. Brother
John and I were talking about it in the study a while ago.
I remember as a new convert, of reading, just devouring everything
I could get my hands on, and weeping over reading these things.
Just watering pages, underlining every sermon I read, you know,
just devouring everything I could get my hands on. Going wherever
the gospel was preached, whatever it took to hear the gospel. being
about God's people, loving to stay up in the wee hours of the
night talking to God's people. And he says here to the church
at Ephesus in verse 4, I have something against you. You've
left your first love. And that's what happened to the
woman over there in Solomon. Remember, therefore—look at this—remember,
therefore, from which thou hast fallen, and repent. How is she
going to be returned to the joy that she knew before? to come
back to the things that first brought her into fellowship with
Him. Repentance toward God and faith in Christ. Repent and do
the first works. You see that? Repent and do the
first works. What's the first works? Win souls
to Jesus? No. Come and sit and listen to
the gospel and feast on the gospel again. He left you first love.
Repent and return to those first works of faith, or else I'll
come unto thee quickly and remove your candlestick." In other words,
you'll be an unfruitful person. You'll be salt that's lost its
savor. You'll be a light that's gone
out in a dark world. You'll look just like everybody
else. Repent, he said. You know, I thought about this. The thing a parent—you parents
tell me this is not so, and husbands and wives, the same thing holds
true—the thing a parent wants more out of a child, and this
applies better to our relationship with God, a parent and a child,
but it can apply in husbands and wives. The thing a parent
wants out of a child the most, What is it? What is the thing
you want more than anything out of your children? You don't want
them to go out and be successes in life so much. They could dig
ditches. You told me that about your children.
If they'll dig ditches, it'll be fine. You don't care that
they attain unto great things in this world. The thing a parent
wants more out of a child than anything else is their love and
affection. Right? They're love and affection. And vice versa. There's nothing
more grievous, nothing more grievous than unrequited love. That is, love that doesn't, is
unreturned. Love you don't get back from
somebody. Did you ever think you loved somebody back in school
and they didn't love you back? Guilted. Oh, nothing hurt like
that. There's nothing more painful
and grievous and hurtful than unrequited love. You love somebody
and they don't love you back. Nothing hurts like that. Does
it? This is the reason the teenage
years are so tough on parents. Tell me if it isn't so, Mom.
The teenage years when teenagers are so self-centered and the
child becomes apparently disinterested in and lacks and doesn't seem
to really love or care for the mom and dad. like they did when
they were babies, you know. It hurts. Oh, there's nothing
that hurts like that. We see our child kind of, you
know, getting going after the world a little bit and growing
up away from that tenderness and that dearness that we have
together. The day that I reach out in love and affection to
Hannah and she doesn't return it to me and turns a cold shoulder,
it's going to be like a knife in my heart, isn't it? Nothing
can hurt like that. Because your parents love you.
If only you knew. If only we knew. Greater love. Behold what manner of love. Herein
is love. The reason we act like we do
is because we don't understand the love of the Father. We don't
understand. The reason we unrequite the love
of Christ is because we don't understand the love that he had
for us. Else we wouldn't act like adolescents. And when Hannah does that at
times, sometimes she doesn't respond to my love. What do I
do? As much as lies within me and
my wisdom, I try to respond in kind to her. Okay. Be that way. And right now she's still sensible
enough, sensitive enough, and tender enough to where that moves
her. The thing that seems to hurt
her the most right now is when I'm displeased, when I say, I'm
ashamed of you. You turn your back on and
ignore God Almighty, and if he ever finally makes you realize
it, he will. When he does make you realize
it, he'll turn his back on you. That's what happens. He turns His back on you. Now,
sometimes we talked about God in trials and afflictions, hiding
His face from God's people. For purpose is known only to
Him according to His divine will, according to His wisdom, according
to His purpose for us. He'll turn His back in afflictions
and trials, and we can't find Him. For no apparent reason,
He's turned His back. a disobedient child, he'll chase
them every time. I had to be with the one you
love. This is probably of true love, you want to be
with the one you love. How long could you stand to be
away from the one you love? How long? As I said before, adolescence,
growing up, that's a time of selfishness, self-love, self-centeredness. And that's the way we get spiritually.
We become spiritual adolescents. self-centered, self-seeking.
Paul said it, I bet he said this with weeping when he wrote Timothy,
all seek their own. And no man of like mind, he said,
all seek their own and not the things of Christ. Everybody,
they've all left me, he said. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
True love wants to be with the one that they love. Do you love
God's people? Do you need to be with Christ?
Do you need to be with Christ's people? Do you enjoy the fellowship
of Christ? And this is truly our fellowship.
Our fellowship is not church socials, church picnics, having
one over and another over and so forth, and that cements the
relationship. But truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son. I recall what I said to my wife.
We had some folks over last week, and we had a good time and all,
but the next day we worshipped together. Mindy said, Do you
have a good time last night with all those people over? And I
said, Yeah, but I had a much better time this morning. Much
better. Do you need to be with him and
enjoy the things of him and his people? Listen to this. You know
what the thing, the thing that first, that God used to first
show me myself, one of the things that God used to first prick my conscience about where
I was, where I was headed was seeing the relationship that
my sister had with my parents. My sister was a role model, and
she'll tell you right now she was a self-righteous girl, and
the Lord had to reveal the gospel to her just like anybody else,
and he did. She grew up in church and never
left. She was always an obedient child, a role model, never got
into trouble, never caused my parents a minute's trouble, and
always there, seemingly a loving, obedient child. And she had this
close relationship with my parents. And here I was, the prodigal.
I was out there, the prodigal son, and every now and then I'd
come home, you know, when I needed a good meal. And I saw that relationship
that my sister had with my parents, and I coveted that. I envied
that. I longed for that. I was out
of fellowship, and I wanted to be back in fellowship. I wanted
what she had. I didn't have it. So I came back
to church to please mom and dad to get in the good graces and
fellowship of mom and dad. Came for all the wrong reasons, but God had a reason and a purpose. That was one of the things that
God used. And David said this, Oh God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul
thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee. My soul thirsteth for thee as
in a dry and a thirsty land." I long for that fellowship with
Christ. And this is the point a believer
must come to. They realize they're out of fellowship,
and they thirst and hunger and thirst for that fellowship once
again. And David, just like David, he
sought after the Lord. He sought after the Lord. The
woman, this woman back here, had to go looking for her beloved.
And it wasn't until he first loved and looked for her, though.
And remember now, she would have laid there and slept the sleep
of death had not the Beloved come to her. He came to her first. See, she didn't get up and go
looking for him of her own free will, but he and his mercy and
grace and his own free will came looking for her. Worthless, ungrateful
as she was, he came to her, knock, knock, calling, leaving tokens
of his love, and finally aroused her. And she went looking for
him then. Now look, in verse 6. And she
began seeking and calling, and look where she went looking for
him. She said, verse 6, I opened to my beloved, and he had withdrawn
himself, and he was gone. My soul failed. Oh, I failed
when he spake. How many times does your soul
fail when the gospel is preached? I thought about this. I thought,
what in the world is the difference between somebody over here weeping
And somebody over here, sleeping. I see it all the time. What's
the difference? Who makes the difference, huh?
Somebody over here weeping and somebody over here sleeping.
And she went looking for him. and called, and her soul failed
when he spake. And I sought him, but I could
not find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer." And so, verse 7, the watchman that went about
the city, she went out into the streets. Remember back in chapter
3, verse 2, she went out into the city streets and into Broadway. You remember what all that was?
You remember what the city was? The city is a walled city. said back in chapter 3, a walled
city, it's hedged about. It's not a rural place where
everybody just comes and goes, lives far apart. No, they're
hedged about, they're put in together. Walled city. And that's the church, a church
with its accommodations and its fellowship with God's people,
and they're close together, a close-knit family. And that's the church
with its government. Any time you have a city, you
have a government. and a protection. A government's
a good thing. It's a good thing if it's the
right kind. It's a good thing. Remember them which have the
rule over you, Paul said in Hebrews. It's a good thing to have a good,
benevolent, kind leader. It's a good thing, and good rules,
and good instruction. I love thy law. It's good, David
says, it's good. The government of the church
and the protection, there's protection. To be a part of a city, people
usually have I'm getting off here. People, the county folk,
you know, say when they go to annex a place, oh, I want to
be part of that. There's a whole lot of benefits to be had in
being part of the city. All of the things that go with
it. Maybe it'll cost you a little bit, but there's a whole lot
of benefits. I was going to say city water,
but no, nothing you want to have. When your well runs dry, you
will. That's the protection and the
government. That's the church. And there's
real safety. Now listen, there's safety in
the church. Yes, there is. Like being in
a bomb shelter. Safety. There's privileges. There's
provisions in the church. And you're not going to find
Christ sitting at home. You have to go to the city. You
have to go to the walled city. You're not going to find Christ
sitting in the woods. All the heavens declare His glory
is. The things of God may be clearly seen, but not the mind,
the will, the purpose, the salvation. You're not going to see Christ
in the woods. You're going to see Christ in the gospel. God
has appointed, as we read in Hebrews 10 this morning, the
assembling of ourselves together for the care and the feeding
of His sheep. A distinguishing mark—Henry and I were talking
about this. A distinguishing mark of a clean
animal as opposed to an unclean is that a clean animal congregates
in herds and flocks. Yes, it is. Sheep flock together. Cattle, cows are clean animals. They move in herds together. They flock together. They huddle
together. They need one another. Sheep are with the flock. If
you're not, you may be a lone wolf. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Wolves travel alone. Snakes, they don't travel in
herds. That's a distinguishing mark
of clean animals. Clean animals. And this too,
Matthew Henry said this. Clean animals part the hooves
and chew the cud. He said they chew on the gospel
in part with their sins, and they flock together with life.
Those of like faith. All right, she went out into
the streets, looking for her beloved. The streets, what were
the streets? Well, those were the ordinances.
He talked about the broad ways. Christ is going to be found in
the church where the gospel is preached, in the streets, the
broadways, the way, the gospel, the ordinances, the ways and
means of grace is where Christ is found, preaching of the gospel,
reading of God's word, fellowship with the saints, fellowship together,
singing the praises in the streets. And she had the call on it. Verse 6, verse 5, she called,
verse 6, she called But he gave no answer. She had to call. She called, but he wouldn't answer.
Why? Why wouldn't he answer when she
first called? Well, I believe here that he did this to make
her realize what she had done and to make her learn not to
ever take him for granted again. And look at verse 7. And then
it says, "...the watchmen that went about the city they found
me." The watchmen. These were the guards, the watchers,
the keepers of the city, the under-shepherds. God raises up watchmen. And these
watchmen, here's a couple of things that the watchmen must
be watchful about, concerned about. The watchmen, the Scripture
says, must take heed unto himself and to the flock. That's what
Paul said to young Timothy, take heed unto thyself and to the
flock. The first thing a watchman must
do, and Spurgeon has a book on lectures to his preaching students,
and the first chapter is administer self-watch. It's the most convicting
thing I've ever read in my life. To administer, the preacher must
watch himself, take heed unto himself. He must watch himself
first of all. And secondly, watch the doctrine.
The minister, the watchman, the faithful watchman is set for
the defense of the gospel. He must be on the watch for the
world, for the false doctrine and so forth. True watchmen preach
the word in season and out of season, whether people want to
hear it or not. True watchmen preach the whole
counsel of God, not just what people want to hear, but the
whole counsel. And a watchman, Paul said to
Timothy, he said, you reprove, you rebuke, you correct, you
exhort with all longsuffering. Make sure you do that, watchman.
Be patient. Now, I write up at the top of
my page, compassion, compassion, compassion. But all longsuffering. But he did say they'll reprove
and rebuke, didn't he? Didn't he say that? He said,
Timothy, young Timothy, don't let no man despise your youth.
Your peers are going to despise you. Perhaps some older ones
are going to despise you. They're going to despise you for what you are
and so forth. But don't let them do it. And
you preach the word in season and out of season. You reprove.
You rebuke. You do everything that God tells
you. You speak. If you fail to warn them, I'll
require it at your hands. If you fail to comfort them,
I'll require that at your hands, too. This is a responsible position. And it's much more pleasant—I'll
hurry, I don't know when I started—it's much more pleasant to preach
from the types and symbols and sweet and comforting messages
and so forth, if that's all that we needed. If problems arise, strife, divisions,
offenses, he said, offenses will come. Christ said, there must
be heresies among you that they which are approved might be made
manifest. It's going to come. He said, count on it, and you'll
have to deal with it. And it's much more pleasant and
more comfortable. Oh, I get, y'all get, I see you
fidgeting when a preacher rebuking or a soul-searching, sobering
message. I see you squirm. Oh, I'm squirming
too. Because I feel guilty too, it
applies to me as well. But people are people, and we
get into bad ways, we get into bad attitudes, trouble arises,
problems in the family. Turn with me over to Romans 16.
Here's a case in point. Romans 16. Oh, this is a horrible
scripture. I mean, well, I mean, a tough
scripture is what I mean. Horrible to think about is what
I mean. Romans 16. We get into these
bad ways, and if a man doesn't address these things and deal
with them accordingly, he's not a faithful watchman. He's not
watching. Christ didn't say, Beat my sheep. He didn't say
that. And I know men that do that. Beat the sheep. It's not
our job. He did say, Reprove and rebuke,
but with the Word. Not your own feelings and rules
and regulations and call them on the carpet before the elders
and all that. So that's not of God. Church discipline. No, that's not it. The Bible,
God's Word will discipline people. It'll hedge people. Preach the
Word. That'll take care of the problem. Like I told somebody,
wanted to talk to somebody on one-on-one. That just won't do
any good. I say everything I have to say from the pulpit. And if
somebody won't hear me from the pulpit, they're not going to
hear me one-on-one. Besides, when somebody comes
to me one-on-one, the thing I'm looking for, I'm searching, I'm
praying that God show me something from the scriptures. I believe
God sanctions the preaching from the pulpit to take care of this
problem. Sometimes the watchman, like
they did to the woman back there, is smite and wound. Scriptures
with Proverbs say about the wounds of a friend. They're faithful. Right? Clifford said all the
time, it's okay, you're alright, fine, you look pretty good to
me when you're in a bad shape. He was a doctor, that's how he
went to the doctor, you know. He had a big growth on the side,
everybody could see it, big old growth. That happened to Ronnie
Lewis, didn't it? Our song leader had a knot on
his neck and went to this old guy, he was the most contrary
man, doctor I've ever known. And he had a knot on his neck.
And finally he went to the doctor and said, doctor, he said, don't
you examine this knot, what do you think about it? And he looked
at it and so forth and he told him to go home. He said, well,
aren't we going to take it off or what are we going to do about
this? He said, I'll tell you what. He said, if it gets so big, if
it gets to the point where everybody says, what's that knot on your
neck? He said, come back and we'll take it off. That's not a faithful doctor.
I don't need that kind of doctor. Faithful are the wounds of a
friend, though. Let the righteous smite me."
Solomon said, it'd be a kindness. Here's what she said, that the
watchman found me and they smote me, the wound, didn't it? But
that they were true and faithful watchmen, it was the wounds of
friends. And it was the smiting of a faithful
one, a faithful watchman, a righteous man. In other words, a good and
submissive attitude would be to submissively take what's coming
and the word of rebuke and be thankful for it. Tell me, brother,
would you tell me the truth? Tell me what I need. I'll try
not to get mad. It's tough. This reason would
be meek and lowly and humble. This is a man, he said, I'll
look to. Well, look here in Romans 16. Oh, boy. Look at verse 16. He says, Salute one another with
a holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute
you. And he said that I beseech you, brethren. Mark them. which cause divisions
and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. And avoid them. Avoid them. You just can't have fellowship
with somebody who's removed himself from fellowship. You just can't
treat somebody like everything's all right. Somebody is marked
when their attitude and so forth is causing division, it will.
One sour, one rotten apple, you know, just messes up the whole
bunch. And I can't have fellowship,
nor does the Scripture say we're supposed to, with somebody who's
all out of sorts and causing problems. But if God will wound
If they come back wounded enough, if they're a saved person, if
they come back wounded enough to get back in fellowship and
so forth. Like she said back there, she
said, they smoked me and wounded me. And it hurt her, but she
needed it. She realized it. And Buddy is
the best thing that ever happened to her. Look back at the text,
verse 7. said they took away my veil from
me. They found me, they smoked me, they wounded me. The preaching
hurt me. It convicted me. But she needed
convicting. And we need a good whoppin' upside
the head. And they took away my veil from
me. They uncovered her lame excuses. They stripped her and exposed
her corruptions to her. They showed her from the Scriptures
what she was. That's faithful. Boy, that's
faithful. not to cover up a problem, but to expose it and to treat
it accordingly. And it was effectual. It worked. Here's where we're at with Tom
Cowart, verse 8. What's he say after all this
happened to him? He said, I'll charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, you tell him, I'm sick
of love. I'm love sick. Now before, not Too long before,
she could care less. She could care less about the
Beloved, couldn't she? She knocked, or he knocked, but
she wouldn't open. He called, but she wouldn't answer. Now, I'm sick. I need him bad. I need him bad. I want back with him. I want
back in fellowship. And then she begins talking about
his beauty. Let's look at this. Then she
begins talking about him. I tell you what, that's what
will put you back in fellowship more than anything. What is,
they said, well what is your beloved more than another beloved?
This is these false religionists. They didn't know what she needed.
She went around looking for help from this person and that person.
They didn't know. They didn't know Christ. Tell
us, you fairest among women, what is thy Beloved more than
another Beloved, that you do so charge us to look for him?"
Well, he's white, he's holy, he's righteous, he's the spotless
holy Son of God. That's who he is, spotlessly
pure. He's ruddy, he's bloody. Who is this that comes from Edom
with dyed garments upon, red, the blood of, you saw the blood
of Christ has streamed down from his womb, and he's, my beloved,
he's white and he's ruddy. He's the cheapest among ten thousand. He's God of very God. He's King
of kings and Lord of lords. That's who he is. Verse 11, his
halos is the most fine gold. He's God. He's got a crown of
glory on his head and a scepter of righteousness in the scepter
of his kingdom. And his locks are bushy. and
black as a raven, the ways of Christ. His ways are deep and
dark and mysterious, and His judgments are past finding out.
Oh, His ways are higher above the earth than the heaven. And His eyes, verse 12, are as
the eyes of doves. Doves' eyes. Lovely. Have you ever looked at a dove
up close? Lovely. Have you ever looked
at a doe? a deer's eyes, lovely, peace, gentle, tender, lovely
and loving. Barbara and I were talking about
this characteristic of a dove, a dove, a morning dove. You know
they call them a morning dove? You know why? Because once they
lose their mate, whether it's the husband or the wife, the
male or the female, once they lose their mate, that other dove,
they'll never find another. They'll never find another. They
go mourning all the days. Mourning for their
loved one they've lost. The dove. Eyes of dove. Faithful,
even in death. That was Christ. By the rivers
of water. His eyes of dove by the rivers
of water. Christ wept over his people.
He doesn't weep now, but he did weep over his people. Washed
with milk, that is pure, guileless, sinless, fitly set, beautiful
jewels in the crown of His glory. Verse 13, His cheeks, a bed of spices. Everybody here has picked up
a little newborn baby before, haven't you? Is it anything?
You could literally become a cannibal, couldn't you? Little Brittany,
little pudgy cheeks. You just want to take a bite
out of them, don't you? Huh? Oh, you don't have to put powder
on them or anything at first, do you? They smell lovely. It made me think when I thought
about this. It made me think of what we're going to look like
on that new heaven and new earth. Skin like babies. Sweet, natural
smell about us. sweet-smelling cheeks. I like
that. A bed of spices, a sweet flower,
his lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Grace pours from his lips. Oh,
no man spake like this man. Oh, I've heard some gracious
people speak, and their very words endear me to them. But Christ, oh my, I've heard
him speak a little bit, and I sure long to hear the day that I actually
hear that voice coming from those lips, how he must have spake. And his hands are as gold rings
set with marrows. That is, doing the marvelous
works of God. His belly, His innermost being,
his heart, is bright ivory, pure, perfect, overlaid with jewels,
fruit. His legs are as pillars of marvels,
towers of strength, able to bear the weight of the sin of the
world. Upon sockets of silver, his feet—he talked about how
beautiful the feet are, of them that bring that glad tidings.
Oh, how about those feet that got those scars in them? His feet. sockets, fire and gold,
is countenance like Lebanon. You ever been over a city at
nighttime that was lit up, a great big city? Beautifully, sparkling. Lebanon was a high city on a
hill, too. And it must have been beautiful
and glorious to behold. They talk about it throughout
the scriptures, the beauty of Lebanon. It is countenance. is excellent as the cedar. You like to smell the cedar?
Oh, my. His mouth is most sweet. His words, his
speech, his kisses, they don't kiss me. Kiss me. Altogether lovely. My boy. You think I'm a good kisser,
Mindy? Christ is going to kiss us. Give us all a kiss of greeting.
I bet we'll never have been kissed like that before. Greet one another
with a holy kiss. That'll be a holy kiss like we've
never had before. Our hearts will melt within us.
Yes, sir. This is, who is your beloved? This is my beloved. And he's my friend. Oh, daughters
of Jerusalem. That's my beloved. And that's
my friend. And then, and then over in chapter
six there, she finds him among the lilies. She goes looking
for him and finds him among the lilies. Why? He's the lily of
the valley. She finds him among the lilies,
and he wraps his arms around her and takes her into the bedchamber. And they have sweet fellowship
and intimate communion again. The love of Jesus. Spurgeon has
a sermon one time he preached called, entitled, it was from
Ephesians 4, 16, I believe it is, to know the
love of Christ which passes knowledge. He talked about the love of Christ,
what it is, only his loved ones know. And she found Christ among the
lilies and he wrapped his arms around her and took her in. Let
me tell you this illustration and we'll quit. I've told it
to you before. The cross is called the lily
of the valley. Over in the Middle East, what I read and hear, they
have huge, beautiful green valleys full of flowers, full of these
lilies. You have lilies in your yard. They grow wild. God grows them. And the lilies
over there are so fragrant. Our lilies are nothing like the
lilies of the valley over there. We have a little lily of the
valley, don't we? It's fragrant. But the lilies over there, I
hear, are so fragrant that when the rabbits, wild rabbits will
be being chased by dogs, being hunted down. And where they go
for refuge is run into those valley of lilies. They run in
and take refuge and hide in those lilies because the smell is so
strong and pungent that the dogs that are chasing them can't seek
them and find them out. You run to Christ, who is your
refuge, who is a sweet-smelling savor unto God, and God Almighty,
who has the omnipotent nose, will not smell one sin on you."
He's the lily of the valley. Let's sing that song, 447. 447. I like all the words except
the second verse. Again, I got carried away on
the second verse. the first and last verse. Stand
with me. 447. I have found a friend in Jesus. He's everything to me. He's a parastar 10,000 to my
soul. The lily of the valley, in him
alone I see. All I need to cleanse and make
me clean.

The Believer's Recovery - Part 4

What does the Bible say about spiritual lethargy in believers?

How does God draw believers back to Himself?

Why is faith important for Christians?

What does Scripture teach about God's unconditional love?

How does the Church play a role in a believer's spiritual recovery?

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The Believer's Recovery - Part 4

What does the Bible say about spiritual lethargy in believers?

How does God draw believers back to Himself?

Why is faith important for Christians?

What does Scripture teach about God's unconditional love?

How does the Church play a role in a believer's spiritual recovery?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

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