for a few minutes. I just changed
it back. It's hard to get it situated
right now. You been babysitting? You been back there babysitting?
Somebody's got to do it. How much they pay you? They all
pay $10,000 to $15,000. That's what most of them do. Mmm. I'm going to ask you a question. Good Redeemer, Savior of my soul,
Wonderful Counselor, bright morning star. Lily of the valley, oh, my lover
and friend. He was yesterday, he'll be tomorrow,
and Friday can be it. Let the angel call him. Jehovah, Messiah, mighty God
and King. He's the bread of life, the lasting
hope of love that I sing. He's light of darkness, door
to heaven, my home in the sky. He's the fountain of living water
that never shall run dry. But the angel called him Jesus,
born of And Mary called Him Jesus. But I called Him the Lord. And the angel called Him Jesus. Born of the Virgin. You know, I've been trying to
keep the climate right in here. I've changed it twice. And I
hope you got changed enough to suit everybody. It's hard. You know, you get weather reports. I'm freezing. I'm burning up. So it's hard to get it right.
So you're going to have to just live with the way it is right
now. But, well, we've had the wonderfulest meeting. This has
just been, I've needed this so much. Oh, I've needed it so much. Our congregation has. And the
preaching, and my soul has been fed. Oh, it's been fed. My heart's
full. And I'm so thankful for these
brethren to take time out of their lives to come and be with
us. And visitors have come. I love
this man that's coming, me and him talk a lot, and we've had
a lot of the same experiences, and been through a lot of things
together, and I sure love him, and he's got two sons, and his
wife, and Vicki, and I just really love and appreciate you. John,
you come, bring the Lord's message. He gonna preach out of, we'll
tell you where he's gonna preach from. Song of Solomon, chapter
five. That's what he told us the other
night, last night. Well, Lord bless you, buddy. I'm glad God doesn't change things
to suit us. It would never settle down. Thank you for the hospitality.
And thank you for the invite, Donnie. And you and Shirley for
the hospitality and let me act the village idiot last night,
telling all those stories. But I've had a good time. Enjoyed
meeting Billy, getting to know him. It's evident the Lord taught
you the gospel. That was an outstanding message. I heard a story Henry told one
time. This little girl sitting with
her mother. And I sat there, and as the preacher
preached, he looked at his watch, like we do, and she said, Mama,
what does it mean when the preacher looks at his watch? She said,
absolutely nothing. I couldn't let that one go. So
as you see me, as you see me look at my watch,
it means absolutely nothing. Song of Solomon, chapter 5. I titled this, Have You Seen Him
Whom My Soul Loveth? That was the main title I put
on this message. But there's other titles suggested
in this portion of scripture. One of them, I thought, was No
Time for My Husband. I've put off my coat and washed
my feet. I've gone to bed. I don't have time. You'll see
this in a minute. Another title that struck me
is Spiritual Sickness and Its Remedy. Christ is the remedy. But the title I have on it is,
Have You Seen Him Whom My Soul Loveth? And I'm going to stick
with the relationship that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. When I thought about coming here
and preaching, this struck me and I thought I'm just going
to stay on this subject. It's mostly directed toward the
church, toward believers, and our relationship to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now we have before us a picture,
just as we did last night, of Christ and His church, His grace
and our sinfulness, spiritual sickness and its remedy. We have that before us. How many
times have we asked the Lord to be with us and then have our
interest somewhere else? Isn't that amazing? Lord be with
us. There's nothing, there's nothing
that we need right now more than Christ's presence. And then to
have our minds to wonder and how merciful. In verse 1, and
this is the first time I've ever done this at a Bible conference,
it has to go verse by verse, but as I've gotten older that's
just the way I like to preach. I am coming to my garden. Our
Lord is so kind and gracious that He comes into His garden
at the request of His church. Back in verse 16 of chapter 4,
in the latter part of that verse, the church says, Let my beloved
come into His garden and eat His pleasant fruits. He does. He answers that prayer. He comes.
Here in chapter 5, He comes. He comes into His garden at the
request of His church, and it's His garden He comes to. It's
His garden, not our garden. I've heard men talk about my
church, our church. No, it's His. It's His church. It's His garden. He planted it. God the Lord planted it. Every
plant in His garden, He planted it. No garden plants itself.
He planted it. You're saved. God saved you.
He saved you. It's His garden. It's His church
bought with the price. You and I who believe are bought
with the blood of the Lamb. We are bought with the price.
We are not our own. Thank God Almighty, we are not
our own. The last thing I want is to be
my own. I want to be His. And all the
fruit in His garden belongs to Him. It belongs to Him. Without me, He said, you can
do nothing. You can't breathe. You can't breathe without Him.
You can't produce anything without Him. And then Christ comes into his
garden to take care of it. He comes to water it and to prune
it. Oh, He takes care of His garden. And He does this so that
His garden will produce more fruit. More fruit. He's the one who comes into the
garden and He dresses it and He keeps it. You know what God
told Adam to do when He put him in the garden? Dress it and keep
it. Our Lord dresses and keeps His
church. He does it. You know one of the
greatest comforting thoughts to me is the surety ship of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know why that's so comforting?
Because it tells me He is responsible for me. He's responsible to bring
me home. He's responsible to bring me
home spotless and without blemish. And He'll do it. He will do it. And He comes into His garden,
He does not come empty-handed. He's gathered all grace and mercy
and brought them with Him. That's what we're tasting of
this morning, just what we tasted of a minute ago. And then He comes to, listen,
He comes to, He comes not to be fed by us, He comes to feed
us. He comes to feed us. He says
in that first verse, I have eaten. He's speaking of himself. I have
eaten of my honey. I've drunk my wine and my milk. He says I have come and I have
eaten. The Lord Jesus Christ has eaten of the glory and success
that followed the cross. He's eating of it right now.
HE'S EATING OF THE SUCCESS OF HIS CROSS. HE WILL NEVER EAT
THE WRATH OF GOD AGAIN. THAT'S OVER WITH. THAT'S OVER
WITH. HE'LL NEVER DEAL WITH HIS ISSUE
OF SIN AGAIN. IT'S THE HONEY AND WINE OF HIS
SUCCESS THAT HE'S EATING. YOU ARE THE HONEY AND WINE OF
HIS SUCCESS. HE SHALL SEE OF THE TRAVAIL OF
HIS SOUL AND SHALL BE SATISFIED. HE SHALL SEE OF THE BIRTH PAINS
OF HIS SOUL. You know, no mother who's given
birth to a stillborn child satisfied. Nobody's going to perish for
whom Jesus Christ died for. Nobody's going to perish. Our
Lord comes into His garden, He's full, and He's ready to give
to His beloved. He's ready to bestow His success
upon His beloved. He's ready to do that. And he
says, eat, oh friends, drink abundantly, oh beloved. When you and I have the opportunity
to sit down and hear the gospel, hear the gospel of Christ, hear
Christ preach, eat large. Eat large. You won't eat too
much of Christ. You can never eat too much of
the bread of life. You can never drink too much
of the water of life. You can't do it. Eat large. Eat Christ the bread and drink
Christ the water and do it in abundance. And you know who he's
speaking to here? He's speaking to his church but
he says, my friends. My friends. You know God called
Abraham his friend? How many friends does one need?
How many friends does one need? One. You have one good friend. You've got one of the most precious
things on earth. One good friend. And at the end of this, we will
see she calls him friend, and he's my friend. Oh, he speaks here to his friends.
You're my friends, he said, in one place, if you do what I say. But here's a sad note now. I
sleep, but my heart waketh. We are flesh and spirit. What a sad state to be in. Here's
where she's at. This is the one last night we
read in chapter 2, how she adored him, and now she's in a spiritual
stupor. He's never that way, but she
gets that way. We get that way, don't we? We
get cold. The church at Ephesus, he gives
all these things that she's done. And then he says, but here's
a problem. You left your first love. You left your first love. She's in a spiritual stupor.
She asked him to come into his garden, and when he did, she
was asleep. She was asleep. Oh, you ever see anyone sleep
with their eyes open? I do every Sunday. I do. There's someone I see every Sunday. They're there, but they're not
there. You'd be surprised what you can
see from here. It's like the crow's nest. You'd be surprised. You can see when people are with
you and when they're not with you. You can see it. Oh, she's in a spiritual stupor.
She asked him to come into her garden, into his garden. And
when he did, at her request, she didn't have time for him.
That's sad. Like the disciples in the Garden
of Gethsemane. Can you not watch with me one
hour? They fell asleep in his greatest agony. They were over
sleeping. The church at Laodicea, rich
and increased of good and in need of nothing. That's the worst
way to be. in need of nothing, especially
him. Luke warm, just indifferent,
nothing worse than indifferent. He said, I'd rather you be hot
or cold. Luke warm, I'll spew you out of my mouth. But her heart still has life
in it because it's a heart he gave her, and that heart's not
going to die. She said, but my heart waketh,
my heart waketh. And she said, it's the voice
of my beloved that knocketh, I hear him. It's like he's bringing
her out of that stupor. How many times does the Lord
have to revive us? Time and time. Revive us. You
go through the Psalms, revive us. Revive us, Lord. But it's the voice of my beloved
that knocketh. My sheep hear my voice, and a
stranger they'll not follow. But she hears his voice. I heard
his voice a while ago. The Lord spoke. I'm telling you,
the Lord spoke. I heard his voice. He's here. And although she'd fallen into
a spiritual stupor, she could still detect his voice. She could
still detect it. And it's her voice that wakes
her. It's his voice that wakes her.
It's the voice of my beloved. But here's a problem. Often we
get caught up living and having no time for Christ. That's true. Sometimes we get so busy in the
church we forget to get alone with the Lord. We forget to get alone with Him.
But he's not going to let her go, and he's not going to let
us go individually. He's not going to let us go.
He bought us, he sought us, and he's not going to let us go.
She is his first and only love, and he's not going to let her
go. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, and he speaks open to me. Now, Arminianism,
Catholicism, and every other ism, has messed this verse up. They mess with it. They rest
it to their own destruction. He's not talking here to a law
center. This has to do with fellowship. This has to do with communion.
It doesn't have to do with free will and salvation. It has to
do with fellowship. He's coming to fellowship. You
know, the Lord is here with us this morning to fellowship. I
heard Scott Richardson say one time, fellowship are fellows
in the same ship. That's what fellowship is. And
that's what he's come for. He opened to me my sister, my
love, my dove, my undefiled. He calls her undefiled with an
attitude like that. But he says she's undefiled because
that's the way he made her. In him, she's undefiled. But notice how affectionately
he speaks to her and how he sees her. He sees her spotless. In her coldness, he doesn't revert
to name-calling. He never reverts to name-calling.
He doesn't call his bride, his wife names. I used to work out in factories
and machine shop, and I'd hear those guys that talk about the
old woman. Well, the old woman. I've never
called Vicki an old woman. I never married an old woman.
She's never old to me. Don't call her old woman. Now,
you can call her if you want, my love, my dove, my undefiled.
That goes a long ways. That goes a long ways to a quiet
home. That's how you speak to one another. But He speaks to her so affectionately
and He calls her undefiled. And He reveals to her what He's
done for her. Verse 2, For my head is wet with
dew and my locks with the drops of the night. He's been out there
in the night of suffering. HIS HEAD IS WET WITH THE DEW
OF HIS OWN BLOOD FROM GETHSEMANE'S GARDEN AND THE CROWN OF THORNS
THAT WAS ON HIS HEAD. MY HEAD IS WET WITH DEW. HIS
BLOOD RAN DOWN HIS FACE. RAN DOWN HIS FACE. HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED
WHAT HE CAME TO DO AND NOW HE'S COME FOR THE ONE HE DID IT FOR.
CHRIST IS GOING TO HAVE HIS CHURCH. NOW HE'S GOING TO HAVE HIS CHURCH.
HE'S GOING TO HAVE HIS PEOPLE. He's going to have them. And
notice her response. I have put off my coat. I'm sure glad he doesn't talk
like this to us. I have put off my coat. I cannot
put it back on. I cannot put it back on. I'm
tired. I'm ready to go to sleep. I have
no time for you. That's what she, I have no time
for you. How many things come up in just little things and
keeps us from this place of worship? I have no time for Christ. I've
got something else to do right now. I've put off my coat. I can't put it back on. Our Lord
was out in the night toiling for His bride's redemption and
she doesn't have time for Him. He died. He suffered the hell
of God's wrath on my part and I never have time for Him. my
soul. I've washed my feet. I don't
want to get them dirty again. And that's just talking about
walking to the door. He ain't talking about walking
down a long road. He's talking about just fellowship. You don't have to move a hair
or a muscle to have fellowship with Jesus Christ. You don't
have to climb a mountain. Remember last night he skipped
over the mountains, he took care of them. You fellowship with
him right where you are. You set your mind on things above,
not on things of the earth, and you'll fellowship with him. I've
put off my coat, I've washed my feet. My, so he was stripped
naked, beaten, hung on a cross, forsaken by his father. suffered
her hell and she can't inconvenience herself to come and worship with
him and fellowship. That's so sad. It's shame on us. Shame on us. But notice how gracious he is
to her and to us. He makes her willing in the day
of his power. He makes her willing. My beloved
put his hand in by the hole in the door. Would you have done
that? Oh, we've been using some choice words and ready to kick
the door in. But he doesn't do that. Fellowship
is not forced. Or it's not fellowship. Here is a real demonstration
of love. He does not let her coldness
run him off. Or he'd never come back here.
That's the truth. He'd never come back. He doesn't
let her coldness run him off. He does not force his way in,
even though the house is his. It's his house. But he doesn't
force himself. Our Lord doesn't come where He's
not welcome. But He's going to do a work here. She's going to
change. Because He's not going to let her go. He paid a great
price for her. He's not going to let her go.
And notice what He does. He gently puts His hand in through
the hole of the door. That's her heart. That's her
heart. He reaches into her heart. And he lets her see his hand
of grace and mercy and love. And she realizes whose hand it
is. You see, he reaches into her
heart and he massages it with grace and love. You think Gomer ever realized,
and she did, she realized one day who left her her corn and
her wine. It wasn't her lovers. It was
her husband. It was her real husband. And
He gives her a glimpse of Himself, and when He does, He melts her
heart. Oh, when the Lord revives us
and brings us back, it's heart-melting. It's heart-melting. How can I
be so cold when He has done so much? He came from glory, walked
on this earth, had no place to lay His head, did everything
He did, He did for her. You who believe. He didn't do one thing on this
earth for himself. Oh my soul. He melts her heart. She's, verse 5, I rose up to
open to my beloved. She finally was aroused and opened
up to her. He brought her out of her spiritual
stupor. Converted her again. Turned her again. And she says,
My hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling
myrrh, and upon the handles of the lock. Wonder where all that sweet-smelling
myrrh came from? It came from Him. When He put
His hand in by the hole of the door into her heart, when He
puts His hand of grace and love and mercy in her heart, the smell
of it is all over her. You can smell when someone's
been with the Lord. It shows up in their attitude.
It shows up in their attitude. He
greased her heart with love and mercy and grace. He greased her
heart and she got it all over herself. And she said, I opened to my
beloved. She flung the door open wide, but he was gone. And the
meaning is gone, gone, gone. He withdrew Himself and gone. Let us not forget our place,
I said last night. Let us not forget who the beggar
is and who the Lord is. He's always Lord Jesus. I know today's religion just
likes to call Him Jesus. But you who know Him, He's Lord
Jesus. He's Lord of the house. He's
Lord on the throne. He's Lord of the universe. That's
who He is. He withdrew Himself and our Lord
is going to teach her a lesson. He's going to teach her who's
the head in this relationship and it ain't her. It's not her. And He's going to teach her don't
take His presence for granted. Don't take His presence for granted. The gospel's here for a little
while. If you just look at history, you'll see that. Let's never
take His presence for granted. And she said, My soul fell when
He spake. She recalls to mind His voice
and how He had been out all night toiling for the redemption of
her soul and how she was so cold. She became aware of that. And
she says, I sought Him. She did the right thing. You
know, seeking the Lord is not going on some long trek. It's
right where you are. I sought Him. She didn't go back
to sleep. She went after Him. She called
for Him, but He gave her no answer. You know, sometimes the answer
is long in coming, and here's the reasons. To teach us a spiritual
lesson, when He calls, you answer. And when we call, let's wait.
Let's wait on the answer. And she saw him, and the watchman
found her and treated her roughly. The lesson's still going on.
You know, your pastor here stands here each week as a watchman. He's a watchman, watches over
your soul. The watchman found her and treated
her roughly. The lesson going on here, a true
watchman will not comfort you in your sins. Oh, that's all
right. That's all right. One time, my
son, my youngest son, he was a wrestler. And he had lost when
he was a sophomore. I think he was a sophomore. He
lost an important match. And on our way home, he was He
was crying in the backseat, it hurt him. And Vicky was like,
oh, don't worry about that. Just trying to console him, I
said, leave him alone. Let him cry, let him feel the
pain. We need to feel the pain of our coldness and our deadness. We need to feel it. I told her,
I said, it'll make a better wrestler out of him. We need to feel the pain of our
coldness and deadness. And that's what he's making her
feel. Don't you take this for granted. You know, a lot of relationships
fall apart because they were taken for granted. Don't take
it for granted. I love him. Lord, forgive me. I love you. I love what Peter
said. Lord, you know all things. You
know I love you. I know I denied you. I know I
denied you, but I love you, and you know that." And he did. She
said, you tell him I love him, you tell him I need him, you
tell him I want him. He's making her express her love
now. He's going to make her express
her love for him before everybody. No doubt who she loves. Remember
that woman with the issue of blood? She touched him, he turned
around and said, who touched me? He knew. But he made her
confess before all why she touched him. And if God saves you, you're
going to confess him before all. You're going to say, I want to
be baptized. I want to follow my Lord, my husband, in baptism. I want to do that. What is thy
beloved? Now, listen here. She has gone
out and she has made it known that she loves him. And then
she's asked this question, what's your beloved more than the other
beloveds? You got a minute? Oh, see, here's now the confession's
going to come from her. She's going to confess. Oh, our
witness of Christ ought to be such that people ask, what's
so special about him? What's so special about him?
What makes your beloved so special? Well, first of all, there's none
like him. I'll try to just be brief here. Not really. He's white. He's holy. He's ruddy. It's a man. It's
red. He's ruddy. He's both God and
man. That man is God. When I read
of Him through the Gospels, I try to not just read, but watch Him. Because I'm watching God. That's
why Christ said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me. To
learn of Him is to learn of God. We see God sitting down with
sinners. We see God eating with publicans and sinners. We see
God receiving sinners. We hear God saying, Thy sins
be forgiven thee. We hear God. His head is most
fine gold. This is His deity. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. His locks are bushy and
black as a raven. Eternal youth. Not gray like,
falling out like ours. He doesn't grow old. He's eternally
beautiful. And so is she. You just wait
and see. When this is over, wouldn't you
like to have seen Eve walk into that garden? I bet Adam was like,
whoa. Whoa. No, no, no. God made him a perfect
bride, perfect wife. And God is making a perfect bride,
wife, for Jesus Christ. Perfect. Eternal youth. He never ages. Sin has no effect on Him. Time
has no effect on Him. He's the same yesterday, today,
forever and forever. And His eyes are as dove eyes,
fitly set by the rivers of waters, washed with milk. His eyes speak
kindness. When Peter denied Him and the
Lord looked at him, he wasn't glaring. He wasn't like, I told
you so. It was the kindest look you could
have ever had, and it broke Peter's heart. When the Lord brings us out of
our spiritual stupor, He looks at us with such kindness. Yet they're fitly set, full of
purpose. His eyes are full of purpose.
You can see a lot in eyes. Look in one direction, the glory
of God and the good of His people. His cheeks are as bad as spices,
He just smells good. When our Lord came in the flesh,
He says there was no beauty that we should desire Him, but there
is now. Radiant beauty. You know when the disciples saw
Him on the Mount of Transfiguration, He glistened. You just have to have different
eyes. You just have to have different eyes. And His lips like lilies drop
sweet, smelly myrrh. Grace pours from His lips. When
He speaks to her, He speaks to her so graciously, so kindly. He lets her know He's the Sovereign. But He doesn't, He doesn't. It's in a way of kindness. The
best leadership is kind leadership in the home. You don't take the
Bible and say, see, the Bible says you're supposed to submit
to me. That ain't going to get you anywhere. That won't get you anywhere. A soft answer turns away wrath. Turns away wrath. His hands are
as gold rings set with the barrel. Back in those days, rich men,
great men, they wore these gold and expensive stones. There's
none greater than Christ. This speaks of the unsearchable
riches of Christ. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphire. She's just looking him over from
head to toe. And she's trying to, you ask,
you ask, why is your beloved more than the other beloved?
So I'm telling you, I'm going to describe him. You see, you
can't describe someone you don't know. As Henry would used to say, you
can't, no more than you can come back from someplace you haven't
been. You can't describe someone you
don't know. She describes him from head to toe. She knows every
inch of him. And he knows the same of her.
There's no spot or blemish in Him. The more we examine Christ,
the purer He appears to us. And His legs are as pillars of
marble set upon sockets of fine gold, able to stand up even under
the wrath of God, able to govern the universe. You know, right
now, Jesus Christ is governing the universe. Everything that
moves, everything that has being, He controls the every minute
part of it. It's in His hands. And He controls
it for the good of His people and the glory of His Father. He's able to control, govern
the universe. He's the mighty God, the everlasting
Savior. That's who He is. His countenance
is as Lebanon, excellent as cedars. His countenance is something
to behold. When we see His face, that's when Eve will say, wow.
That's when Eve will say, you know, she'll say, oh my. When we have marriages, who's always the center of attraction?
There's the bride. There is the bridegroom. There is the bridegroom. He's
the center of attraction. He is. Oh, his countenance is
like lemon. His mouth is most sweet. She
just kind of runs out of words. But she sums it up beautifully.
He's altogether lovely. He's altogether lovely. I don't
know if I say this, but ain't a wife in here that's going to
describe her husband as altogether lovely, because we're sinful. We're sinful. I noticed when Shirley hollered
at her dog, Jax, Billy answered. I said, when they holler at the
dog, the husband will always answer. And she says here, He's altogether
lovely. No blemish in my husband, no
complaint, no complaint. I complain about myself but not
him. This is my beloved, not ashamed of Christ. She's not
ashamed of Him. She fell into a spiritual stupor,
but she's not ashamed of her husband. She's not ashamed of
Christ. You know, one time years ago,
and I'm going to close here. One time years ago, I was in
my mid-twenties. I lost my job. The place went out of business.
And I had to go to the unemployment office, and there was a line.
And I had to stand in that line, and I was embarrassed. For the
first time in my life, I was embarrassed standing in that
line. And this scripture came to me. As I stood in that line,
He's not ashamed to call them brethren. And I thought, what
am I doing embarrassed standing in this line? He came into this
world, took upon him flesh, and got in line. Stood in line, put
his arm around me. This is my brother. This is my
brother. We should never be ashamed of
anybody. We shouldn't be embarrassed of
anybody. Isn't that sad we'd be embarrassed of anyone? If God is not ashamed to call
me his brother, I shouldn't be ashamed to call anybody brother
or sister. This is my beloved. This is him.
And this is my friend. I thought of that song, What
a Friend We Have in Jesus. All our griefs and sorrows bear.
When your spouse is your best friend, it doesn't get any better
than that. It doesn't get any better than
that. I told Vicki once, I said, if you knew how much I enjoyed
your company, you'd never get out of the truck. Does this sound like the one
you know? Have you seen him whom my soul loveth? Well, next week we'll tell you
about him again. You know, in the next chapter,
chapter six, they say, well, where is he? Feeding among the
lilies. Wherever his church is gathered,
he's feeding there. Go. Go. All right. Thank you. I enjoyed
this. Thank you for the invite. Thank
you. There is coming a day When the harlequins will come,
no more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dip the eye. All is peace forevermore, on
that happy, golden shore. What a day, glorious day that
will be. What a day that will be when
my Jesus what a glorious day that will
be There'll be no sorrow there,
no more