Isaiah 55. You know, the body is fed through
the mouth, but the soul is fed through the ear. Faith comes
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy
and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Come as you are. Come without
anything. Come to Christ. Wherefore do
you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delighteth itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me, here, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have
given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One
of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the
rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
hither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in
bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall
not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which
I please. And it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent
it, for you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come
up the fir tree, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle
tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting
sign that shall not be cut off. In John, In the Gospel of John,
chapter 6, verse 37, he says, All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. Here is the security of God's
elect in Jesus Christ. Jesus says, I will never, no
never, under any circumstances, for any reason, at any time,
under any pretense, cast out of my arms, my love, my power,
my favor, or my grace, any sinner who comes to me. Without question,
God's grace is in Christ. It's both certain and free. Will
you come to Christ? As Brother Gary said this morning,
are you in his hands? Let's pray. Holy Father, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you this evening, seeking to
worship, seeking to learn more about our Savior. We pray, Lord,
that you'd send the Holy Spirit. Send him to this congregation
of believers. Lord, send him to Brother Gary.
Cause him to tell us about Christ. We pray for the travelers tonight,
Lord, that you'd be with them, Brother Donnie and Shirley. and the ones that are on vacation,
Lord, we pray that you'd bring them back to us safe. Pray tonight,
Lord, for the sick. You know who they are, Lord.
We pray that you'd be with them in their time of affliction.
Heal them if it be thy will. I pray again, Lord, for my children,
my grandchildren, my wife, my sisters, loved ones, neighbors,
working associates. Don't know you, Lord, don't care.
Pray that she'd intervene and cause them to come hear the gospel.
Forgive us, Lord, of our sins. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Turn with me in your Bibles,
please, to the Song of Solomon, Chapter 2. The Song of Solomon,
Chapter 2. If the Song of Solomon is read
any other way than knowing that the writer Solomon is writing
about Christ and his church, the bridegroom and the bride,
you'll read it the wrong way. Solomon did love a Shulamite
woman. but this is not particularly
their love story. It's the love story of Christ
and his church. Song of Solomon chapter two,
we'll read these 17 verses. It says, The bridegroom is speaking, our
Lord Jesus Christ. I am the rose of Sharon and the
lilies of the valleys, lily of the valleys. As the lily among
thorns, so was my love among the daughters. Now the bride
speaks. As the apple tree among the trees
of the woods, so was my beloved among the suns. I sat down under
his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste. He brought me to the baqueting
house, and his banner over me was love. Stave me with flagons,
comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. His left hand is
under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O you daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that
ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. The voice of my beloved, behold,
he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved
is like a roe or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind her
wall. He looketh forth at the windows,
showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake and said unto
me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the
winter is past. The rain is over and gone. The
flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing of birds
has come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree put forth her green
figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. Oh, my dove. Thou art in the
clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Let me
see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice,
and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little
foxes, that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am
his. He feedeth among the lilies,
until the daybreak and the shadows flee away, turn my beloved and
be thou like a roll or a young heart upon the mountains of Bethar. I want to draw your attention to
verse six. His left hand is under my head
and his right hand doth embrace me." What an intimate, tender,
gentle, passionate love our Savior has for His church. His left
hand is under the head. His right hand embraces. They are in a tender, passionate
embrace. No wonder she says, I charge
you, daughters of Jerusalem, don't wake him. Don't stir him
up till he please. This love that God has for his
church surpasses any kind of love. that there is. He begins by saying, I'm the
rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley. The rose,
usually the color of rose is red. And as a matter of fact,
the word rose here is in its derivation somewhere back has
a redness to it. The blood of Jesus Christ. I
am your redeemer. I'm the one who gave his blood
for you. I died for you. I'm the lily
of the valleys. We kind of sing it wrong in our
song, don't we? We say he's the lily of the valley,
singular. But what's he say here? I'm the
one lily of all the valleys. Pure and white. Righteous. The bridegroom speaks to his
beloved. Turn with me. Hold your place
there. We're going to come back. But turn with me to Isaiah chapter
62. Isaiah chapter 62. We're talking
about this love affair between Christ and his church.
Isaiah 62, beginning of verse 1, Isaiah said these words, for
Zion's sake, that's the church, for Zion's sake will I not hold
my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until the
righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness and the salvation
thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy
righteousness, and all kings thy glory. And thou shalt be
called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more
be termed forsaken, neither shall thy hand any more be termed desolate,
but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah, for the
Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. Hephzibah, my delight is in thee,
that's what the word means. My delight is in thee. How in
the world could God love someone such as I? According to Romans chapter 3,
there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seek after
God. There's none that doeth good. How could God love me like he
does. For he says here in Song of Solomon
2 verse 1. He's the lily of the valleys
and look what he says in verse 2. As the lily among thorns,
so is my love among the daughters. How did we become a lily? He's
the lily. How did we become a lily? Whatever
Christ is, that's what His people are. If He's the rose of Sharon,
so they're a rose. As a matter of fact, Isaiah,
I think it's chapter 35, in chapter 35 says, Your desert shall blossom
as a rose. He's the lily. He makes us the
lily. He makes us willing in the day
of His power. How does He do that? I like what
one of the preachers said here just recently, maybe it was Donnie,
I can't remember for sure, but he makes himself irresistible. You can't help but love him when
he reveals himself to you. You can't help but want to be
with him. You can't help but want to share
with him. Isn't that what brides and bridegrooms
do? They love and they share and
they help one another. And you know what? That should
never cease. It should always be there. Just
loving, sharing, and embracing the intimacy of passing knowledge
to each other, of sharing everything with each other, What a blessing
that he has made himself irresistible to us. He's the rose of Sharon. He's the lily of the valleys.
The Lord Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed as one of these lilies. In all of Solomon's glory, in
all of his wisdom, in all of his wonderful majestic clothing
as a king, he was not arrayed like any of the lilies. He was
certainly not arrayed like the Lord Jesus Christ. But in all
of his physical clothing, he was not arrayed like the Lord's
lilies, like one of his own. What a blessing. Isn't that the
gospel? The lily made us His lily? Made us just like Him? Made to
be like Him? What discriminating love. There
was only one lily among all the thorns. Look at verse 2. There was only one lily among
all the thorns. That's discriminating love. He only chose certain. He only chose and brought to
himself his church, his bride. How silly it would be if a man
said, well, I love my bride, but I love all other women too. She wouldn't think too much of
that love, would she? He loved her. The Lord Jesus
loves his people. The Lord Jesus gave himself for
his people. I am the lily that's among the
thorns. I was in the thorns that are
all around me. dead to the things of God, to
spiritual things, blind to the spiritual things of God's word. And the Lord Jesus dealt with
the sin problem decisively. When he died on the cross, he
put away our sins, he paid for our sins, he pardoned me, he
purchased me He purchased his church. He pardoned his church. He put away their sins. He paid
for all their sins. And that wasn't all that he did.
He gave to us his own righteousness. He imparted to us himself, his
righteousness, his divine nature, and made us new creatures in
Christ. So how could the lily Make a lily, that's the gospel. And notice what she says in verse three. As the
apple tree among the trees of the wood, so was my beloved among
the suns. How many times have you gone
to the deep woods and found an apple tree? James tells of an old home place
back in Big Southport where there was an apple tree there. We don't
know whether it's still standing or not or still producing apples,
but way back in there, but there was a homestead there. How many times have you seen
an apple tree in the deep woods? She said, my beloved is like
an apple tree in the deep woods. And what does she do with that
apple tree? I sat down under his shadow with
great delight. I sat down under its shade. The heat of the sun didn't bother
me there. I sat under its shade. The psalmist
said, the Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade. upon thy
right hand. He said, trust under the shadow
of his wings. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. There shall be a tabernacle for
a shadow in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge
and for a culvert from storm and from rain. She sat under
the shadow and his fruit was sweet to my taste. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that
the fruit that we bear was his fruit, didn't he? He's the one
who's fruitful and we bear that fruit. And that fruit that he is, is
sweet to my taste. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Oh, that men would do that. Oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. He was good to my taste. He is
good to my taste. My lover. My Lord. My God. My Savior. is sweet to the taste. Irresistible. Irresistible. He's my apple tree. And notice what Ellie's done
here in verse 4. She says, he brought me to the
banqueting house. Whatever I wanted for food was
there. Whatever I wanted for sustenance
was there. Whatever I wanted for spiritual
food is in Jesus Christ. I am the bread of life. I am
the water of life. I am the manna that came down
from heaven. Whatever food we need is in the
person of Jesus Christ. He brought me. By the way, He
brought me. I didn't go knocking on the door.
I didn't pay $20 at the door to get a plate. He brought me to the banqueting
house. He brought me to that banqueting
house, and there's going to be, according to Revelation chapter
19, the marriage supper of the Lamb. He brought me to the banqueting
house. And we are as good as there. Right now. According to Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 3, we're seated in the heavenlies. Chapter 2
verse 6, same thing. We're seated in the heavenlies
in Christ Jesus. I'm as good as already there
because he's there. My forerunner is there. My husband, my love is there. His banner over me is love. His banner over me was love. Oh, the love of our God for us. Brother Joe Terrell pictured
it something like this. There was a big banquet made
and all the bigwigs were sitting at the head table. And in olden times, they had
their standard, their flag, of who they were behind them. The
general, the prime minister, whatever it was. And there is
the Lord's bride. And the flag, the banner over
her says, my love. My love. That's who that is. She's my love. I have made her
that way. It was the time of love. Ezekiel
16 tells us it was a time of love when I passed by, spread
my skirt over her. It was a time of love over this
child, over his church. Stay me with flagons. Comfort
me with apples. For I am lovesick. I'm sick of
love. I'm lovesick. When he's not there, there's
that knowing, feeling within me. I'm so much in love with
him. I just can't be away from Him.
I'm sick of love. I want to be with Him all the
time, don't you? I want to be with the Lord all
the time. I want to walk with Him. I want
to talk with Him. I want to be sharing with Him
all the time. When He's away, I just feel so
sick. You know, there are times that the Lord stands off from
us. It may be because of things in
our lives. I don't know for that for sure
because all sin is taken care of by Him. But it certainly is
an exercise of our faith to make us what He wants us to be. And
sometimes He stands aloof. And we call and it seems like
we're Our prayers are just hitting the ceiling and bouncing back. But I love him so much. God's
people love him so much. They just keep calling. We're
just lovesick for him. He'll not forsake us. He'll never
leave us nor forsake us. He'll always be there. We'll
see that here in just a minute. I'm sick with love. His left hand is under my head,
his right hand doth embrace me. I don't have the words to describe
what I feel when I read those words. I just can't come to a comprehension. Maybe someday the Lord will give
it to me that he loves me so much that he puts his left hand
under my head and with his right hand embraces me. We talked about his hands this
morning. This is another thing about his hands. I'm embraced
by the Lord of Glory, by my husband, by Jesus Christ himself. He embraces
me. He loves me so passionately that he suffered the cross for
me and for you. Don't wake him. Don't stir him
up, she says, till he please, because I'm enjoying this. I'm reveling in this. I'm rejoicing
in this. So don't stir him up till he
please. And then there's the voice of
my beloved. He makes himself irresistible
by his voice. My sheep hear my voice. Another Shepherd, they'll not
follow. Another voice, they'll not follow.
My sheep hear my voice. One time we heard. If you're
one of his sheep, one time you heard. If you're his bride, one
time you heard. You heard his voice. And his
voice was distinctive. It wasn't, I hope so, maybe so,
think so. His voice was the promise. My
sheep hear my voice and they follow me. He's leaping upon the mountains.
You know that voice that the Lord has, as I said, is a distinctive
voice. Romans chapter 10. Tells us how
distinctive that is. I want you to turn there with
me. Romans chapter 10. We've read this many times, but
it would do us good just to see it again. Think of it again.
Romans chapter 10, beginning in verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. His voice is distinctive. It's
heard by God using his preachers like Donnie Bell, like Todd Nybert, like Greg Elmquist, like Don Fortner, like Clay Curtis. By using his preachers People
hear the voice of God. How can that be? Only the Spirit
of God can do such a thing. It's the washing of the Word,
the regeneration of the Spirit that comes through the preaching
of the Word of God. That's why it's imperative that
when we talk to folk, we say, come hear the Gospel. Come hear
the gospel. That's why they brought them
to Jesus. Come see the gospel. Come hear the gospel. And like a roe or a young heart,
back to chapter 2, he's leaping upon the mountain powerfully,
purposefully, prayerfully, willingly, lovingly, joyfully, He's leaping on them. You know,
he's excited too. He's rejoicing too over his people. The voice of my beloved. And
here's what he spoke to me. Look at it in verse 10. My beloved
spake and said unto me, rise up my love, my fair one and come
away. Rise up. John chapter six, as we mentioned
this morning, three times, our Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And then three times after that,
he will raise them up at the last day. Verse 39, verse 40,
verse 44. He will raise them up at the
last day. He says, rise up. He's the one that gives life.
Not only that brought us to himself, but he's the one who gives life.
He's the one who raises us up out of the pit. He's the one
who gives us this new life that's found only in Jesus Christ. Rise up, my love. That's what
he calls us. Don't you like that? Rise up,
my love. What a sweet, endearing term
he has for us. Rise up, my love. And then he
says, my fair one, I'd have never said that about me. Matter of fact, I couldn't, before
he brought me to himself, I could have never said any of these
things about me. But now I'm conformed to the
image of his son in Jesus Christ. Rise up, my love, my fair one. And then he says, come away.
For this call shall a man leave his father and mother and shall
be joined unto his wife and they shall be as one. Come away. Come to me. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Come to me. You know what? He said that twice. He said that twice. If you look
down in verse 13, the last of the verse, arise, my love, my
fair one, and come away. Keep coming away. Keep coming
to Him. Every moment. Every day. Keep
coming to Him. One of these days, He's going
to come again. A second time. And we're going
to come away with Him for all eternity. Come away, my love. He spoke to me. The fairest of 10,000 calls me
his fair one. Come away. He reveals himself
to me. Look at verse 9. My beloved is like a roe or a
young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the windows,
showing himself through the lattice. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. He reveals himself to me. He's standing behind the wall
of separation, watching me. Before I was ever saved, Knew
I was saved. Knew I was born again. Knew I
was one of his sheep. Before that ever happened, I
was saved. I was born again. I was one of
his sheep. I've been in him for all eternity. That salvation he provided in
himself began in eternity, continues, and will continue for all eternity. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. He commendeth his love toward
us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He's standing behind that wall
of separation. Your sins have separated between
you and your God that he will not hear. There's a wall of separation
and he destroys that wall. He's standing behind that wall.
He's peering through the lattice of time, through all the shadows
and types and everything. Guess what? There he stands watching. There he stands watching. Watching
you and me. Now we see through the glass
darkly. But then, face to face. Jeremiah said, He withdraweth
not His eyes from the righteous. The eyes of the Lord are upon
the righteous. He's watching over us. He's watching
us. He's standing at the window.
He's looking through the lattice. And He's standing there watching
us. He's watching His bride. He's lovely. His love, His fair
one. He's watching. Come away with
me, He says the second time. He says in verse 11, Lo, the
winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear
on the earth, the time of singing of birds has come, the voice
of the turtle, that's turtle dove, is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her
green figs. The vines with their tender grapes
give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. The winter is past. That cold,
dead winter is gone. We're just now getting ready
to go into it, are we? Weather-wise. He says the winter's
past. In your life, the winter's past. The rain is over, gone, and it's away. But look what happens. In the spring, when God gives
life, The flowers appear. The birds
are singing. The voice of the turtle dove
is heard. The fig tree puts forth her green leaves. The vines and
the grapes give their smell. All the blessings of the Lord
for his people. The desert shall blossom as a
rose. Come away, to whom coming as
unto a living stone, disallowed of men, but chosen of God, and
precious. He makes himself irresistible. My dove, he says in verse 14,
or she says, sometimes you can't tell. exactly who it's talking, who
is doing the speaking. And since whatever he is, we
are, we could just interpret it either way, couldn't we? My
dove, he says. Or I look at him and I say, my
dove. One final thing I want to mention
here, verse 16. My beloved is mine and I'm his. That's the response of this irresistible
grace, this irresistible love, this irresistible savior, this
irresistible bridegroom, the irresistible Christ. When we
see him as he really is, when he reveals himself to us, our
response is, My beloved is mine, and I'm his. We'll stop right there. Thank the Lord for his irresistible
grace, his irresistible love. Thank you, Lord, for being so
beautiful, so wonderful, so marvelous, so magnificent, so mighty, so lovely. Heavenly Father, we
thank you this day for your word that we've heard in this day. And Lord, we're thankful that
you have written your word upon our hearts. And we don't have
to go around telling other sheep, know the Lord, because they will
know you from the least to the greatest. and their sins and iniquities,
you'll remember no more. And thank you, Lord, for this
intimate love that you have for us. The rose who made us your rose,
the lily who made us your lily, the apple who made us the apple
of your eye. Thank you father for all these
wonderful things you've done for us in the person of jesus
christ In jesus name we pray amen