The Believer's Recovery - Part 2

Q: What does the Bible say about the believer's communion with Christ?

The Bible emphasizes the necessity of maintaining communion with Christ for spiritual health and maturity, as seen in passages like Song of Solomon and Revelation. The Bible illustrates that the believer's fellowship with Christ is fundamental for spiritual growth and maturity. As depicted in the Song of Solomon, the bride's struggle to maintain communion symbolizes the common experience of believers feeling distant from Christ at times. This communion is vital, as it allows believers to draw strength and encouragement from Christ, especially during times of spiritual slumber or disconnection. The promises in Scripture affirm that Christ will never abandon His people, and it is through the means of grace—such as prayer, reading the Word, and fellowship—that believers can rejuvenate their relationship with Christ. Revelation 3:20 underscores the personal nature of this communion, where Christ invites the believer into deeper fellowship.

Q: How do we know Christ's love for us is unchanging?

Christ's love for His people is described in the Bible as immutable, reflecting God's faithful and unchanging nature. The nature of Christ's love is foundational to the believer's assurance in their relationship with Him. Throughout Scripture, the love of Christ is depicted as unchanging and immutable, contrary to human affection which can often be conditional. In the message from Song of Solomon, it is portrayed that despite the bride's state of slumber and neglect, Christ's affection for her remains steadfast. He calls her 'my love' and 'my undefiled,' emphasizing that His love for His people is not based on their performance or current condition but rooted in His eternal purpose and grace. This understanding can be found further in passages like Romans 8:38-39, which affirm that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Q: Why is understanding our need for Christ important for Christians?

Recognizing our need for Christ allows us to fully appreciate His grace and fosters genuine dependence on Him for salvation and sustenance. Understanding our need for Christ is crucial for every believer as it invites humility and acknowledgment of our utter dependency on His grace. The sermon points out that it is vital to recognize one's spiritual condition—believing that we are wretched, helpless sinners is the first step toward experiencing the mercies that Christ offers. This realization allows us to approach Christ not just as a helper, but as our sole source of life and righteousness. It reflects the essence of the gospel that we, as God's people, cannot come to Him without first understanding our need for salvation. This understanding deepens our relationship with Christ and enables us to grow in faith and spiritual maturity.

Q: How can believers regain communion with Christ after feeling distant?

Believers can regain communion with Christ through sincere repentance, prayer, and aligning themselves with the means of grace provided by God. When believers find themselves in a state of spiritual slumber or distance from Christ, the path to regaining communion involves several steps rooted in Scripture. First, there must be sincere acknowledgment of their condition, as illustrated by the bride's realization in Song of Solomon 5. Repentance is essential; it is necessary for believers to turn from their distractions and seek Christ earnestly. Additionally, engaging with the means of grace—such as prayer, reading the Word, and participating in fellowship with other believers—serves to rekindle that vital relationship. Christ promises that if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). In essence, recognizing our need for Christ and taking steps toward Him can restore fellowship and communion.

Q: What is the significance of Christ's voice when it comes to awakening believers?

Christ's voice is crucial as it draws believers out of spiritual slumber and into fellowship with Him, demonstrating His ongoing care. In the spiritual journey of a believer, the voice of Christ plays an integral role in awakening them from states of apathy or slumber. As depicted in Song of Solomon 5, the bride hears the voice of her Beloved calling to her, which signifies a divine initiative that Christ takes to reach His people even when they are unresponsive. The message emphasizes that Christ's voice cuts through spiritual indifference, reminding believers of their identity and drawing them back into a relationship with Him. This echoes the broader biblical truth that faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). The call of Christ is not just an invitation, but a powerful summons that inspires believers to rise up from their conditions and engage in a vibrant communion with Him.

Back to the Song of Solomon, chapter 5. We
will continue our study tonight on the subject of the believer's
recovery. In verses 2 through 7, through
tonight's message, and Wednesday nights and whatever thereafter. Verses 2-7 will be the principal
part of our study. Here the bride is speaking in
response to advances of the bridegroom. Look at verses 2-3. She says, I sleep, but my heart
waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled. For my head is filled with dew,
and my locks with the drops of the night." And here she answers,
I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my
feet, how shall I defile them? By way of review, for an understanding
of this allegory, this is a dialogue, a conversation, love letters,
if you will, between King Solomon and one of his wives, whom most
feel was the daughter of Pharaoh. This is an allegory, or a story,
that pictures a truth. an allegory of the relationship
between the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the bridegroom, and his
church, who are believers. And this tells of the love that
they have for one another. This is a love letter between
Christ and his church. And it tells and treats especially,
it speaks especially of the state in which a believer sometimes
gets himself or herself into. and loses fellowship and communion
with Christ. I think you ought to be interested.
We all get there. If not, if you haven't been,
you haven't been around long. If you haven't been, you will
be. You get into this state of losing fellowship and communion
with Christ. Now, let me say one more time,
let me reestablish or knock in the head this this pervading theory or feeling
that the Song of Solomon is a vulgar or a suggestively sensual book. It's not anything of the sort.
It's the holy word of God, and it's a type of that great mystery
that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 5. Paul spoke of a man and woman,
a husband and wife, and he said, but I speak of that great mystery
of Christ and the church. And this is what that is. And
a man who doesn't know that, doesn't realize what this is
talking about, he hasn't understood the mystery. And it's very descriptive,
very personal in its language. Very descriptive when Christ
talks about his bride, and then when the bride talks about her
husband. It's very descriptive. As language between two lovers.
As if you might have picked up a a secret love letter between
a husband and a wife. Is there anything impure about
that? Well, most certainly not. And the scriptures even talk
about the bed being undefiled. Whatever goes on in the bed between
a husband and a wife is totally undefiled. Undefiled. What is the opposite of undefiled?
Defiled, right? Undefiled is holy, in other words. And because this is a typical,
this is a type, this is a typical picture of the special love,
excuse me, the special love of a man and the love, the way that
he conducts himself with a maid, with his maid. And this is like
Christ with his people, and it's in a spiritual, in a very real
sense. Now, as I said before, I told
you that there are several principal characters in this story here
in Solomon 5. The king, first of all, King
Shepherd, is Solomon. He's called the king, or the
shepherd here. And it's Solomon. Solomon is
the king, but he disguises himself as a shepherd. Why does he do
that? He disguises himself to this
lowly maiden as a shepherd. because he had to condescend,
he had to humble himself to approach this lowly maiden. And then after
humbling himself and winning her affection by her seeing how
beautiful he was and being drawn to him, his person, then he becomes
exalted in her eyes. Then she sees him for what he
really is. And she's amazed that he ever
loved her, that he ever condescended to come down to her. And we see
Christ the man. And this is a beautiful picture
of the one who is greater than Solomon, none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King disguised as a shepherd,
as a man. And he condescends to take a
wife of whoredoms like us, a sinner, and wins us and redeems us and
woos us and saves us, and then he reveals himself in all his
splendor someday as a Shulamite maiden. are going to see the
king and be amazed. How could he have ever had anything
to do with me? Why on earth did he ever come
to me and win me and woo me and speak to me in such a way? Why
did he leave me on the bed, in bed and trespassing sin? Why
did he awaken me? And why did he put up with me
all those years after I shunned his love? But you know, the disciples
kicked themselves time and time again after the Lord left, and
they stayed on that earth for years. Oh, I wish he was back
here again, I'd listen so much more carefully. Well, that's the king, and then
there's the Shulamite maiden, the bride of the king, the one
he takes for his bride. And this is a picture of God's
people, his elect, his redeemed. and friend that communes with
Christ in the bedchamber. And then there are the daughters
of Jerusalem. We talked about them, them being the hypocrites
that are in the Church, hypocrites, like in verse 9. They revealed
themselves for what they are by not seeing any beauty in the
Beloved One, in Christ. They said, What is thy Beloved
more than another Beloved? You believe on Jesus, we believe
on Jesus. What's the big deal? What's your gospel any more than
our gospel? You've never seen our gospel. You've never seen
our Christ. You've never heard Him high and
lifted up. If you had, you wouldn't ask
such a silly question. You wouldn't believe in such
a silly thing as free will and all of this. Hypocrites, claiming
to be Christians. Religious professors who are
always found in the midst of the Church, but are not members
joined to Christ and his people and know nothing about the sweet
love and fellowship and communion with Christ. Now, let me say this, if anybody
in here, and I don't believe there's anybody in here, but
if anybody scoffs at or belittles this sweet and precious intimacy
between Christ and his people, I think they reveal that they're
strangers to this love of Christ. Because throughout the scriptures
it speaks in very intimate terms. OK, like I said, there's always
sheep mixed with goats and wheat with tares mixed with wheat in
the scriptures. And that's what these daughters
of Jerusalem are. And then you have the watchmen.
You have these fellows who are the watchmen. They're the preachers
of the gospel. And then what we observed last
Wednesday night, the first thing we observed last Wednesday night,
was the bride's account. Now, stay with me here. We're
doing a study, and you're going to have to bear with me as I
lead into this. What we have here is the bride's
account of her state and condition in being out of communion with
Christ. She had lost communion with her
husband, and she was in a sorry state. She said, I sleep, but
my heart's awake. And I noted this, though, that
her acknowledgment The fact that she knew she had a problem tells
me that there was a spark of life in her. You see, she slept,
but it wasn't a sleep of death like the world sleeps. This world
is sleeping in this enchanted world, and they're dead in trespasses
and sin. That's what the natural man is
in. But the Holy Spirit, when he comes in regenerating power
and all, he can awaken somebody from that, but they can fall
back into this sleepfulness, the sleep of a believer. Now,
let me say this, too. I was talking to one of our ladies
after Wednesday night's message, and we were saying this. If you
think all I'm talking about tonight or the other Wednesday night
is falling asleep in church, you've missed the whole point. You've missed the whole point.
If you think that's all your problem is, you've got deeper
problems than that. Falling asleep in church reveals
a much deeper problem. In other words, if somebody can
allow themselves to fall asleep under the gospel time and time
again, the problem runs much deeper than just your physical
shutting of your eyes. But this is not about falling
asleep in church. This is talking about the root
of the matter. We're talking about spiritual sleep, slothfulness
and laziness and all. She was in sleep, and this can
befall every believer, and it does at one time or another,
it will. And it manifests itself in several ways. I said this,
it manifested itself in the non-exercise of graces, the things that God,
the means of grace, we call these the means of grace, such as the
hearing of the gospel. I said this last week, you take
the surest fire way to fall asleep, worship, is to take yourself
out from under the gospel. Because this is the way God speaks
to his people. Take yourself out from under
it, you're going to fall asleep, if you're not dead. All right? That's the surest fire way to
break communion with Christ. And the reading of God's word,
prayer, speaking to God, telling him your problems, him speaking
to you. At the Society of Fellowship
of Believers, where they edify and commune with one another
and help one another, we help one another. We edify one another
in the faith, don't we? Yes, we do. We help one another. And then it manifests itself
in idleness. It manifests itself in weakness
in faith. We lose sight of Christ. We lose interest in the gospel. Like
God said to the church, you've left your first love. You lose
the message. The preaching of the gospel loses
its sweetness. The ability to pray, you lose
that. The fellowship with the saints, you lose these things.
And then a peevishness creeps in. We talked about peevishness.
Peevishness, when rebuked, when you hear a message and you get
all bent out of shape, Somebody tries to make an attempt to wake
you up and you get all bent out of shape, why didn't they leave
me alone here? This is proof of a problem. And it's the causes. That's how
it manifests itself, this sleepfulness. The causes are, and I said this,
like Paul mentioned in Romans 7, the body of sin. We've got
a real cause. We've got a problem we carry
around with us. until the day we die. It's called
the sin. It's a principle that's within
us, and it roars against us. The Scripture says that the flesh
lusts against the Spirit. I mean, lust. You know what? The term lust indicates strong,
base, animal desires that, God, I have that. Right? Lust, when you think of that,
you think of something really crude and And it'll stop at nothing,
right? It says the flesh must against
the spirit. I won't let you listen to the
gospel. I won't let you have fellowship
and communion. I'm telling you, that's a problem.
And that's the way Paul could say, oh, wretched man that I
am, who's going to deliver me from this? I don't see any way
out, he said. To begin with, he said the things
I want to do, that's not what I do. The things I don't want
to do, that's what I do. What in the world am I going
to do? And then he comes to the conclusion,
well, it's not me that's going to have to do it. I thank God
through Christ Jesus our Lord. I'm going to appeal to the one
I left in the first place. All right. And mortification.
Let me say a couple of things about this thing of mortification.
This body of sin, there is a sin, the scripture speaks of it, mortifying
our members. Paul talked about keeping his
body in subjection, lest in preaching to others, I myself become cast
away. The members, the flesh, to be
mortified, and the new man, in other words, the old man is to
be suppressed, and the new man is to be nurtured. That's clear,
if you have any understanding at all, that's true. The old
man is to be suppressed, mortified, killed, put down, kept down,
and the new man is to be nurtured, is to be nursed on the milk of
the Word, and meat, and so forth, and use these things to grow
up in Christ. That's plain. That's clear. All right? This
thing of mortification, though. It is our responsibility to put
off the old man in its manifestations, its habits, and its practices.
Yes, indeed it. It's surrebat. It is our responsibility. And the new man, it's our responsibility
to exercise by means of these graces. I'm preaching works here. I'm preaching what the scripture
says. By putting on, the scripture talks about putting on the new
man and putting off the old, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Putting on the new man and new
habits, characteristics, and practices. We were last week
where Paul said that you see that you walk circumspectly.
In other words, walk around the circle to avoid getting into
whatever you get into. Make not provisions for the flesh
to fulfill the lust thereof, and so forth. Walk circumspectly. Walk around in a circle. Avoid
those things that will give you problems. Good advice there. It's plain, old-fashioned good
advice. And like I said, don't both of these exert themselves
at the same time. The new man and the old man.
Boom! Hitting heads. They exert themselves at the
same time. The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh. But here's the blessed promise. Now, here's what gives
us courage. Here's what gives us strength
to go on in this thing. I know I can do it. I know I
can do it. No, that's not real. I know if I try hard enough,
I can do it. No, I've failed miserably so many times. I'm
going to grit my teeth, and I'm determined that I'm not going
to think, I thought, there it is again. I mean, just the minute
you make these silly vows and determinations, and cleverness
with your eyes like old Joe. It's there again. You can't deal
with the devil on his territory. He'll whoop you every time. You
can't get in an arm-wrestling match with the devil, can you?
Michael, the archangel, wouldn't touch him. I hear these fools
on TV. I was listening to some fella.
Cherry? She said, I don't even watch
those guys. I wish that I could get over watching them. I turn
them on, I can't believe my ears. I listen to these guys, I want
to know what's going on. But this fella was talking about,
you can do this, you can do that. A fella down in Houston. And
he sounded good to me. After a while I was, I caught
myself saying, hey, maybe I can. But then the scripture just bolt
like a lightning bolt in my head. It said, without me you can do
nothing. And I thought, hey, that guy's
a liar. Turn him off. Well, here it is. Here's the blessed promise for
our comfort, comfort for the believer. If we're crucified
with Christ, if we're represented by him, if the blood is applied
to our eternal soul, if the righteousness of Christ is imputed to our account,
if God the Holy Spirit has given us faith to trust Christ and
him alone. Then the scripture says, then
sin shall not have dominion over you. It won't do it. For sin shall not have dominion
over you. Well, that gives me, like I was
talking this morning, that gives me strength to go on. I said
this morning that if I didn't believe that the word would go
out effectual, not come back void, I wouldn't do this anymore.
Why in the world beat your brains out studying and all of this,
loose sleep and all? Let somebody else do it. But
he said he promised that his word wouldn't return void. And
he promised us, Nancy Park, saying, we'll not have dominion over
you now. Serve me. Mortify the members,
and so forth. Well, that gives you strength.
You mean, thanks be unto God, which always gives us the victory
in Christ. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens
me. Does that make sense? God's glory. He says, sin shall
not have dominion over you. Why? Because God's glory is at
stake. His truth is at stake. His honor
is at stake to prevent it. He's not going to leave it in
your hands. But it's still our responsibility
to fight the good fight. May he hold on to Christ. And
that warfare with the old man will, through God's power and
his grace given, end in final victory and termination of that
old man. He'll be dead, and we're going
to stand back and spit on his grave. That old man floated up like
a bird out of a cage. Whew! Man, I'm glad to get rid
of that old buzzard. And like the woman in our story,
though, sometimes we get in a horrible condition out of which we must
be awakened, and sometimes it's by drastic means, and certainly
it'll be by great conviction and trouble. All right, let's
get into the story here. But know this, this is a certain
sign of life when you're troubled over your condition. If you're
untroubled, if you're not troubled by your
condition, it's a sign of real problems. But if you're troubled
by it, like this woman here, it's a good sign that there's
life in there. It's a good sign. That's the
work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit troubles His people. days late. All right? Now, let me say this. In direct proportion to our communion
with Christ—now listen to this—in direct proportion to our communion
with Christ will be our spiritual maturity and strength to endure
and avoid these times of sleep. Direct proportion to our communion
with Christ will be our strength and our maturity to avoid getting
into these times. You remember me talking about
how God does hide his face from us sometimes in trials and afflictions
and so forth, just to wean out whatever his purpose may be in
that. But he soon and quickly, like in chapter 3, remember?
You recall in what we studied? In chapter 3, she couldn't find
him. But she was laying in bed, but
she wasn't asleep. She was communing. She was looking
for him, and she went out to find him, and she found him shortly
thereafter. But in chapter 5, she's in a
horrible state. She's asleep and doesn't want
to get out of bed. And I want you to note now, and
tonight we're going to look at Christ's behavior toward her
in this condition. First thing I want you to notice,
Christ takes the initiative toward her. Christ takes the initiative to
seek her, to get her out of this condition. If she'd have been
left to herself, she'd have been a goner, wouldn't she? But he
takes the initiative to come to her. He moves in compassion
toward her, and notice the first thing he does here. Look at Psalm
5, verse 2. The first thing he does is he
calls so loudly that she recognizes his voice. How many calls loudly? She said, I sleep, but my heart
is awake. It's the voice of my Beloved. She heard his voice. Go to sleep. When Christ called,
she heard his voice. Why? Because Christ said, My
sheep shall hear my voice, whether in the fold or out in my own
pen, whether the son at home or the prodigal out eating the
husband. My sheep are going to hear my voice wherever they are. They're going to hear my voice.
Take with me 1 Corinthians 1. The call of Christ is the preaching
of his word, the preaching of his word. God calls his elect
people to salvation by preaching, by the preaching of the gospel.
And the Holy Spirit takes the word of truth, the gospel of
who God is, takes the gospel of who God is, holy, sovereign. You can't come to God, you can't
call on the Lord whom you haven't heard, can you? You're not going
to call on the Lord whom you haven't heard. You're sure not
going to call on somebody to save you if you don't think he
can save you. Everybody's calling on the Lord, but they don't need
salvation. They need a little help. They're
not calling on the Lord like people in the scriptures who
were saved called on him. Lord, have mercy. You've got
to see who God is. The Holy Spirit takes the word
of truth, who God is, in his holy and sovereign character,
and then he shows us what we are. praised, hopeless, helpless,
guilty people, and then shows us Christ as substitution. Our
only righteousness, the Lord our righteousness, our standing
before God, shows us his death, his blood, atonement, and the
Holy Spirit causes a sinner to hear that good news and believe
it and come to Christ by faith. Okay? And that's what all of
God's people go through. And then God continues. Now hear
what I'm trying to say. God continues to preach the gospel
to the salvation of his people. You don't hear one message and
that's it. You don't hear one message and
it's all over again and you fend for yourself. No, he continues
to use the gospel. And this is what it says here
in 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse 21. After that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. That is the wisdom of
God, that's how God does. That's going to get all the glory,
and the smartest men on earth aren't going to get any in his
wisdom. And it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. You see there? To save
them that believe. Not them that will believe, but
save them that already do. To save us, to keep us from falling. God continues to preach the word
of God to keep us from falling. He upholds all things by the
word of his power, the scripture says, the preaching of the gospel.
And as in the case of the Shulamite maiden—turn back to the text
there—as in the case of the Shulamite maiden, no matter how sleepy
or cold or indifferent and sluggish a believer may come, they will
at some point in time hear his voice. In God's good time, I don't care
what condition they're in, how far and low they've sunk, Where
they are, what they're doing, what they're into, they're going
to hear it. I say, yes, good news. It is
to me. Because I know I'm going to get
out there at some point in time. I've been there many times already,
and I'm going to get right back out on that lamb that I was on
and begin to saw it off. And then the Good Shepherd's
going to come again. He's going to take us again like
those disciples this morning. And he's going to admonish us
and rebuke us and say, how long must I bear with you? And I'm
going to have to say, as long as I live, I reckon. And he says,
I reckon, too. And I'm going to hear his voice
again. Sure sign of death is you can't hear, right? I mean,
you can go up to a man in a tomb, in a casket, and he can look
good, and they make him look good, don't they? Religion can make you look real
good. You're dead as a doornail, but you look real good. And it
won't be long before you start stinking. But you look real good. But I tell you, there's a sure
and certain sign. He may look as alive as I am,
but the sure and certain sign is if I go up and holler at him,
somebody, wake up! He ain't gonna do it, is he? I mean, I'd get a megaphone.
I'd get a microphone and turn it all the way up. I'd get me
an electric guitar, all the music, a five-string gospel band, and
play all night. He ain't going to hear it, is
he? He's dead. He's dead. Have you ever tried to wake your
children up when they're real fit asleep? You go in one time. They'll pick on you then. Shannon,
wake up, it's time for school. You leave. And she says, she
might say, oh God, hang on. She was sleeping, but she heard
you, right? And you go back in there, she's
still asleep. Shannon, now you wake up now. It's time to get
up. How many times is that going
on, huh? It's still going on. And you
walk out there, and finally comes the effectual call. Get up! Take the covers off. Get
up from there, girl. It's time. She's going to get
up, isn't she, when Mama really calls. God's sheep, Christ's
sheep, are going to hear His voice, no matter what condition
they get into. I'm telling you, this is going
to be good news for you if you ever get in this condition. And
you're going to hear His voice and say, Thank God He put up
with me. He didn't leave me alone any
longer. The sheep and the sheep know
His voice. That maiden was asleep. She said,
I sleep, but my heart wakens. It's the voice of my beloveds. I know it when I hear it. I heard
it once. I heard it before. I've heard
it before. I've heard that voice before.
It's not the voice of a stranger. I know him. I know his voice. You know, the primitive Baptists,
I don't care if they hear this tape or not, they've got it all
wrong. Sorry about that. The hard-shelled, primitive Baptists,
they say you don't have to hear the gospel to be saved. That's
a lie out of hell. That's an excuse not to come
hear the preaching of the gospel when God plainly said he's chosen
by the fruitious to preach. Christ himself said here in John
6, verse 44, No man can come to me except the Father which
hath sent me draw him. and I will raise him up at the
last day." All right? They believe that. They believe
that. They believe in the utter depravity
and helplessness of man and the inability of man. They believe
that. They believe that it's the sovereign God who must draw
that man, and it's God who must raise him up at the last day.
But they don't believe that theory of the gospel. Do you know that
that's what those people believe? But here's verse 45, he doesn't
stop there. He said, it's written in the
prophets, and they, who's the they? All that come to Christ,
all those who are drawn by the Father, all that are raised up,
it is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught
of God. And every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father.
cometh unto me." You ain't coming unless you hear the call. And
it ain't being out in the cornfield and a bolt of lightning striking
beside you. It's through the preaching of the gospel. God
is chosen by the foolishness of preaching the wisdom of God.
He's chosen me. No man can come except the Father
draw him, and every man that God draws hears the gospel. This
is what Paul quoted in Hebrews 10.10. He said, and he's quoting Jeremiah
31, he said, I'll put my laws into their mind and write them
in their hearts. You catch what he's saying there?
That means that they can never get away from me. Never! No matter where they are or what
they get into, I'm going to call and they'll hear my voice. The
covenant of grace, like we said this morning, the covenant of
grace is this. God says, I will, and they shall. That's salvation. God says, I determine, I will
save them, and they shall be saved. I will call them, and
they shall hear me. I will awaken them, and they
shall come to Christ. And here, mark it down, that's
salvation. My sheep shall hear my voice,
and she heard his voice. She heard his voice. And look at this, not only did
he call, look at verse 2 again, but he knocked. I sleep, but my heart waketh. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying. Now see, not only did he call
the first time. But he started knocking. And
he said, Open! It's a voice. Open up. A sleuthing. Open! My beloved. Open to me, my sister. Open. Now, listen, there's a
sense, there's a sense in which God You've got to pay attention
to what I say here, or you're going to misquote me. There's
a sense in which God knocks at the heart's door of a sinner,
but he breaks it down. When he knocks, when God comes
knocking with the call of the gospel, he breaks it down. He
doesn't wait on us to open it up. Handle's not on the inside. We're going to see that later
on. Well, he reaches his hand in the door. But there's a sense, and you'd
better believe that it's not within the power of the person
to open the heart, their heart to him, but it's all based on
the one who's knocking. That's where the fire comes.
It's in the knock. Buddy, if somebody knocks hard
enough on my door, I want to open it. Aren't you? I don't care what
time of day it is, two or three in the morning, if they knock
urgently enough, hard enough, and this is what the gospel does.
It lays us low, and it leaves us with no choice. Now, let's go to Revelation 3.20.
Let's dismiss and dispel this foolishness of Christ knocking
on the heart of every sinner's door and hoping so much that
they'll open to him. Revelation 3.20 is where we get
that, and that doesn't have anything to do with none of a general
person. an unsaved person. This is Christ. He's dealing
with knocking on the believer's heart's door. Look at this, Revelation
3.20. He said, well, look down at verse
14. He's talking to the angel of
the church of the lay of the saints. He's talking to the church,
talking to the pastor and the people of the church. Isn't he? So he's talking to And he says,
verse 19, "'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous,
therefore, and repent. Behold,' he continues that thought,
"'behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man,' any man
without exception, any old dirty, rotten, no-good sinner, you know,
cries and is standing out there just hoping, that's not who that's
talking about, is it? He's talking to the church. If
anybody in the church will hear my voice and open the door, just
like that she was my maid. She was a bride, she was a wife,
but she was asleep. He says, if any man will hear
my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will... save
him? Did he say save him? What's the word there? If anybody
will open the door, anybody in the church, will open the door,
I'll come knocking in Providence, I'll come knocking in the gospel,
I'll come knocking in Church Tasman, saying, open up, and
I'll come in and we'll have a banquet together. We'll have a good old
time together. We'll have a supper, you and
me. Sweet fellowship and communion.
That's what that's talking about. Now back to the text. He says,
Open to me, my sister. Open to me, my sister. Well,
I thought she was his wife. Well, he calls her his sister
now. Open to me, my sister. She's
both. I've said this many times here.
Your wife, if she's a believer, she becomes your, she's more
your sister than she is your wife. Yes, she is. Why? in your veins, right? Y'all came
out of the same womb, you look alike, but you're duplications
of one another, a brother and a sister. You're close, same
blood's running through your veins. This indicates the closeness
of Christ with his people, and it also tells me this, shows
me this, how Christ took our nature, how he was made flesh
and dwelled among us as our brother. A man like me, brother, he's
not ashamed. Boy, I like this scripture. He's
not ashamed to call us brethren. Think of that. The king of glory
condescends to this lowly white Shulamite maiden and says, sister,
but you're the king. I'm your brother. You see the
point there? He's our friend, bone of our
bones and flesh of our flesh, to save us in humanity. And look at what he calls her
here. Oh, I like this. Open to me, my sister, my love. This is showing his affection
for his people, Christ's affection for his people. And I tell you
what, the love of God ain't this silly, sentimental, conditional
love that that we're only talking about ineffectual, insufficient
love that God throws out there for you to do whatever you will
with it. We're talking about the perfect love of God. We're
talking about the unchanging love—now listen to this—unchanging,
immutable love of Christ that does not change with the circumstances. It doesn't change with the ups
or downs of the loved one. No matter what he or she does,
it doesn't change. Well, we don't have that kind
of... Even when she sets the bedroom door and shows him, he
doesn't run off and say, OK, you low-down, no-good, worthless
woman, have it your way, I'll never come back again. No, he's
stuck there. Ah! And then he leaves sweet
tokens of his love for her. We're going to see that in a
little bit. He doesn't just run off and say, OK, have it your
way. No, he's not. calls her, calls
her his love, and beckons her, and then leaves tokens of his
love for her on the doorknob, myrrh. And then walks off, and
then finally she realizes, finally she, her heart melts within her,
in her, under a sense of his love, and she realizes, oh, I
called her, it was a beast. I was as a beast. Look what he calls her here,
my undefiled. I like this too. He says, my
love, my undefiled, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, my undefiled. He should have said, why that
ungrateful wretch, that no good, low-down, worthless, useless
female lying in bed there on her shunning her husband when
she was laying in bed, lazy, worthless, no good, shunning
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. You and I talked about
this this morning, Terry. However, if it wasn't for the
grace of God, if it wasn't for the blood of Christ, we'd sit
here and listen to the gospel of the brutal slaying of Christ
in our stead? Hasn't God brutally slain His
Son in our stead? Are you listening to me? God
killed His Son in my stead. That's what I should have got. He killed His lovely, holy Son
in my place. And for me to sit there and be
unmoved? As if I could care less. If it
wasn't for the blood and the righteousness of Christ and the
grace of God, He'd drop us in the hell in a minute, wouldn't
it? Why, you no-good, worthless, ungrateful, wet, lame man! Right? But His love never changes. Don't
you wish you had a husband like that? You do. Your maker's your husband. Aren't
you glad you got a husband like that? Aren't you glad you got
a Lord like this? He calls her that worthless,
no-good, wretched woman, lazy, shiftless, rudderless, snake-in-the-grass
woman, lying there, shoving the king in his cheek. He calls her
my undefiled. Undefiled! You see, he says something
that we don't always say. Well, he's talking about right
here, he's talking about the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's always got to see it. If
he doesn't always see it, we're goners, aren't we? Let a little
peek. If God's on this earth and I
sees one ounce of this wretched sinfulness of ours, we're goners,
aren't we? But he sees us as undefiled. Undefiled! The perfect standing
of the believer, in spite of our sin and corruption, the Lord
always sees me, the holy eye of God always sees me as undefiled
and holy. And then listen to the arguments
he uses to persuade her. Look at this. This is good. He
says, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. You know, he doesn't say things
like the way I was saying it. You know good wretched. He doesn't
say that. This is what he says right here.
Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. And here's
the reasons he gives. My head is filled with dew. My head is filled with dew, my
locks with the drops of the night. What's he talking about here?
Dew, the drops of the night. Well, I believe he's speaking
of his humiliation and his sufferings. Him coming down here to become
a man. He didn't have to. Kings don't
have to stay out all night. Kings don't have to get out in
the weather. Kings sit in their ivory palaces, don't they? They
don't have to go anywhere. They snap fingers and let somebody
else run and get things for them. But the king came down himself. He came down to become a man
and exposed himself to everything. Sin. Sorrow. He exposed himself even to the
elements. The pain. The physical suffering.
Christ was up all night. He slept in mothers over a sick
child, right? Time and time again. One time
he spent forty days and forty nights in prayer and fasting
for his people. He worked all day and was out
all night. He knows. He knows. Sweated,
he was tired, he was thirsty. The dew covered his head more
than once. You know where else I see this?
You remember the story of Nebuchadnezzar over in Daniel? Nebuchadnezzar
was a great king, right? And he got too lifted up with
pride And the scripture says God brought him down. He made
him—put him out there in the field like a beast, and it said
that the dew—it says his body was wet with the dew of heaven. You see, this great king was
taken off of his throne and left his glory, and the dew wetted
his heaven. And Christ left his Father's
throne and left his glory to come down here and have the dew
sit on his head all night. My, my, my. And also, this dew
is water. You know, the world was watered
by dew, wasn't it? Before the flood, the world was
watered by dew, wasn't it? And it was a rich and a fruitful
place. Christ is that dew that waters these dry and thirsty
souls of ours and brings forth fruit. Okay, Christ said to come
down here to earth and be wedded with that dew. And he had to
die like that grain of corn in the ground. and to bring forth
fruit. And look at her excuses here
real quickly. We'll pick up here again. He said, My head is filled
with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. And here's
her excuse in verse 3. Well, I've put off my coat. How
shall I put it on? I've put off my coat. How shall I put it on? Well,
she's not talking here about the imputed righteousness of
Christ. The believer He or she wears
the imputed righteousness of Christ as long as he or she lives. Paul talked about it in Galatians
3. As many as have been baptized
into Christ have been put on Christ. The imputed righteousness
of Christ, that's ours forever. That's on us. We don't put that
on anyway. God puts that on us. He has made unto us these things. Of God are you in Christ who
has made unto us this righteousness that we need. has the righteousness
of Christ put on him, and he wears it all the time. Now, what
he's talking about here—look over Colossians 3 with me, Colossians
chapter 3—he is talking about, though, putting on a practical
or experimental or character of Christ here. Look
at Colossians chapter 3, verse Colossians 3, verse 12. Look at this. He says, "...put
on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, barrels
of mercy." These characteristics. Put them on, that's what he said.
Put them on. bowels of mercy, kindness, humility of mind, meekness,
long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another.
If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you,
so also do you." And above all these things, in other words,
as the top coat, as the overcoat above these undergarments, he
says, put on this, look at it, verse fourteen, put on love,
which is the bond of perfectness. Perfectness. You know, you wear
an overcoat, it holds everything else in there. When it covers
everything else, it holds it all together. Above all, he says,
put on this love. Put on this love. Evidently,
this woman, like the church in Revelation had left her, cut
off her first love. Love. Christ and his, listen
to this, Christ and his imputed righteousness were not meaningful
to her right now. This is the only thing, the only
way that I can figure out why anybody would not want to hear
the gospel. You follow me? Why anybody would get into a
state like this. is because, really now, the gospel
of Christ is not that sweet to them. They don't need Christ.
Somehow or another, they're okay. They've left their first love.
Well, who is our first love? Christ! We come as sinners, needy
sinners to Him. We come begging Him for mercy,
loving Him, everything about Him, like a young convert can't
get enough of the gospel. You find that young convert at
every single Preaching of the gospel go far away places to
hear it. You love it, you need it, it's
your meat, your drink, it's your sleep, it's your eat it, you
live it. New love, Barnard called it sweetheart
love. Oh, let me capture that. Evidently she left that, she
didn't need Christ too much. Think of that. And also, she'd
put off these things the Lord commanded us to put on back there.
Like I said on Wednesday night, these exercises of grace that
she'd put on her pajamas, the pajamas of this world, taking
off her work clothes. See, what in the world are you
talking about? Listen to this. Turn over here and I'll quit.
Revelation 16. This is where I got this. Revelation 16. We've
got to keep our clothes on." And she put off her clothing,
her garment. She was naked now, and at Burl, where they bought
everything, came along. Revelation 16. I'll tell you
this, too. Back in the old days, a clergyman—I
don't like that term, but that's what they called him, a preacher—all
of them wore what was called a habit. A habit. You heard that term? The preacher's
habit. That is, in other words, he wore
the same garment over and over again. It was a habit. It was
a thing that he consistently, habitually wore. It was his habit
to wear this particular garment. And habits are things to be developed
and nurtured. We're to put on the habits of
Christ, to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the
flesh, these garments. Verse 15 of Revelation 16, look
at this. Christ said, Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his
shame." Now, that's not only the garments of Christ, but that's
the habit of Christ, walking in the Spirit of Christ, walking
in clothes with Christ. Keep your clothes on. Over in
Nehemiah, the guards who watched the wall while the people worked?
The guards who watched the wall, it says they watched us by day
and the city by night, and they never did take the clothes off.
It says the guards who watched the city and the men who were
working never did take the clothes off because they were always
on watch, always on guard. But this woman said, I put off
my coat. I put off my coat. How shall
I put it on again? I've lost sight of Christ and
his work. I've laid aside all watchfulness
and exercise and habits of a believer." She was in a sorry state all
right, but I tell you what, next time we're going to look at how
he deals with her. Her next excuse about washing
her feet, and then she goes out looking for him and how she finds
him. We're going to look at that. But Christ doesn't abandon her
as he should. They leave sweet tokens of love,
and he effectually draws her to himself, won't leave her in
that sorry condition, as he well should, but draws him to herself. And finally, thankfully, in the
mercy of God, she finds him again. And you better believe that she
was watchful, at least for a while after that. It's the voice of my beloved
at market, saying, open the mail. I hope that somebody's needing
this. I need it. I hope somebody does. All right. Stand with me, and I'm going
to dismiss this imprint.

The Believer's Recovery - Part 2

What does the Bible say about the believer's communion with Christ?

How do we know Christ's love for us is unchanging?

Why is understanding our need for Christ important for Christians?

How can believers regain communion with Christ after feeling distant?

What is the significance of Christ's voice when it comes to awakening believers?

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The Believer's Recovery - Part 2

What does the Bible say about the believer's communion with Christ?

How do we know Christ's love for us is unchanging?

Why is understanding our need for Christ important for Christians?

How can believers regain communion with Christ after feeling distant?

What is the significance of Christ's voice when it comes to awakening believers?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

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