Thank you, dear friend, dear
pastor. I want you to turn your Bibles
with me this morning, if you would, to Psalms of Solomon,
Chapter 8. If you find the book of Isaiah,
it's the first book to your left. If you find the book of Proverbs,
keep turning to your right, and your Ecclesiastes, then Songs of Solomon. I agree with Brother Donnie.
I've known some of these preachers now for a long time. They've
been an extreme help to me in so many ways. The manner of life
the faith lives and the gospel they preach, the clarity of it
has been a help to me. And I appreciate my brother.
I appreciate this church. This church here, this local
church, the Lantana Grace Church, has a place in my heart, and
you're very, very precious. I want to read just a portion
of a verse here in Songs of Solomon, chapter 8 and verse 5. Songs of Solomon, chapter 8 and
verse 5. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness? leaning upon her beloved. Who is this? A good question
is, who is this? I wish this morning, really,
that I was like your old John Warburton. He said often when
he went to the pulpit, he was assured of God that he was going
to bless what he had to say. I have gone to the pulpit probably
a time or two when I've been encouraged a scripture would
come to me, be of good courage, and I'll strengthen your heart.
I have never been to the pulpit where the Lord manifested to
me in some way or another, I'm going to bless what you had to
say today. Usually I come here by faith, not having any idea
what the Lord is going to do with His Word. I know it won't
return void. But I have no idea what He's
going to do with me this morning, if He's going to use what I have
to say to reach your heart. That's my prayer, and that's
my hope. I have this degree of trembling
in my heart. But having said all of that,
I'm somewhat anxious this morning to share this passage of Scripture
with you. It's been upon my heart now for
several days, so let's look at it together. And first, let's
begin here with this Beloved. Who is this Beloved? Who is this
leaning upon her Beloved? Who is this? Well, if we go,
and you know this verse very well, you can read your Bibles,
Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 6, here's how the Apostle Paul
describes the Beloved. He tells us who the Beloved is.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein God hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. Then he identifies him this way,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins." Who is the Beloved? He's the Redeemer. He's the Redeemer. In Matthew and Mark and Luke
and John's Gospels, this name is used eight times, the Beloved. And every time, it's the Father
speaking of Jesus Christ. And seven of those times, he
speaks like this, This is my beloved Son. Who is the beloved? He's the Redeemer. He is the
eternal Son of God. One in whom the Father's soul
is wrapped up. One in whom the Father delights
in and glories in. And in this little epistle here,
in this little book that I've just read my text from, thirty-three
times this word, beloved, is used. Thirty times refers to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Twenty-seven times, unless I
have miscounted, it's the church referring to Him or either speaking
of Him, and addresses Him as her Beloved. So the Beloved is
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the eternal Son of God. It's our Redeemer in whom we
have redemption through His blood. Who is this that's leaning upon
Him? It's easy to discern that, isn't
it? It's the Church. That's why she keeps talking
about Him thirty times in these eight chapters. She says, He's
mine. He's mine. And brothers and sisters,
nobody else leans upon the Beloved but the Church. Nobody leans
upon Him but the Church. And she refers to Him so often
that these bystanders, whoever they are, they finally begin
to refer to the Beloved themselves as her beloved. They said we've
heard her talk about him so much and address him as her beloved.
We've just started calling him her beloved. This is the church, and she's
leaning upon the Lord Jesus Christ. She's leaning upon him. This word lean, it means to bend. or to incline or to rest the
weight of one's self upon. Like one would lean upon a wall
or lean upon her husband's arm. To lean and rest your weight
upon. And the word is trust. Is that
not the word? The word is faith. We often hear
the warning, don't trust that relative. It won't hold you. Don't put your faith in that
rail. It's decayed. It won't hold you
up. It has to do with trust. I saw
a few days ago out in the big gorge. You can never think of
that place. What is it, the big gorge out
west? People travel out there close to the Grand Canyon. You
wonder why I have to have notes? The Grand Canyon, they had made
this glass walkway and platform, some of you might have saw that,
and they extended that thing out over a portion of the Grand
Canyon. There's no way they're going
to get Bruce Pabst, are they you? Why? I don't trust. standing on glass
over the Grand Canyon. The consequence is, I'm not going
to do it. I don't trust it. It has to do
with trust. What is it for the church to
lean upon the Lord Jesus Christ? It's to put her faith in Him.
It's to trust Him. It's being persuaded that He
is able to bear her That's what it is. She's persuaded that he's
able to bear her weight. And you know something? She knows
the consequences of him not being able to bear her weight. It ain't
that she's haphazardly cast herself upon him. She's thought about
the consequences. She knows what the risk is if
he's not able to bear her weight. But the more she's weighed the
consequences of it, the more she's convinced that he is able
to bear her weight. So the more she realizes the
consequences of him not being able, the more she trusts him
to do it. And the more she trusts him to
do it, the more of her weight she puts upon him. And the more
she knows about her beloved, the more weight she leans upon
him. Being fully persuaded. that he's able to keep that which
she's committed to him against that day. She's leaning, she's
trusting to her beloved. You notice how the text said
here, it didn't say that she had leaned. Of course there'll come a time
when she first begins to lean, but she never quit leaning. She
is leaning upon her beloved. Now let me give you about six
things, quickly, in the way, maybe, of examination. What it means for the Church,
what it means for you and me to lean upon our Beloved. She leans upon her Beloved's
obedience for her righteousness, and by this righteousness to
be justified. By the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous." She doesn't lean upon her works to
be justified before God. She doesn't lean upon the moral
law for her justification. She doesn't lean upon her personal
convictions. She leans upon the Son of God
to be made righteous. She leans upon Him to be justified. by Him alone. Paul said, we have believed in
Christ. We believed upon Christ, that
we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
deeds of the Lord. Are we guilty? Are we guilty before God's moral
law? Are we guilty in our own conscience?
Then how can we be made righteous? How can we be just with God as
guilty sinners? Leaning upon our Beloved. That's it. Secondly is this.
She's leaning upon the blood of her Beloved for pardon for
all her sins. Now, this is not what it means
to lean upon Christ. I've missed the interpretation
of this. She is leaning upon His blood for pardon from all
her sins. Through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sin, and whosoever leans upon him
shall be justified from all things. And the apostle Peter said, Whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of their sins." They'll
hear the same thing that dear Harlot heard the Lord Jesus say
this morning. Thy sins which are many are forgiven."
Oh, mountains of sin. Do you ever feel like your sins
are like mountains? And sometimes they climb so high,
you think these things are ready to fall and crush me. Are there
like thick clouds that's over your head that you can't see
through? Well, here, all of those sins are purged. They're all
forgiven. They're all pardoned. Grinshot
did not have this. Well, lean heavy upon Christ.
Just bring yourself and all your guilt and lean heavy upon Him
for forgiveness for all those sins. I'll tell you, thirdly,
it means this, leaning on the Beloved for all her acceptance,
immediate acceptance. full acceptance before the Father. Accepted this morning fully and
freely with the Father in Heaven. Accepted at death, accepted there
at the judgment, accepted for all eternity, never cast out,
never rejected, accepted in Heaven. How does that come? Accepted
in the Leaning upon her beloved, the only begotten Son of God. And listen to this, fourthly.
Leaning upon His promises for her consolation. I like that
old song, Standing on the Promises. I cannot fall. Listening every
moment for the Spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my all
in all. Standing on the promises of God. All the promises of God in him
are yea and amen. Therefore what have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning
on the everlasting arm. I have blessed peace with my
Lord so near. How near is he? I'll tell you
he's so near that she was leaning on him. That's pretty near, isn't
it? Leaning. Leaning upon this everlasting
heart. And fifthly, it means this. Leaning
upon His intercession for all her salvation from every sin,
from every snare, from every enemy, every valley, every hill. Leaning upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Deliverance from every temptation.
His intercession. Satan has desired to have you,
but I pray for you, leaning upon his intercession. If any man
sins, we have an advocate with the Father. Have you sinned?
Have you sinned? Has it got you down? Do you feel
so guilty? There's an advocate, dear soul,
between you and God. He can plead your cause and He
can maintain your cause. Lean heavy upon Him. He's able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God by Him. To the uttermost? Yes. Evermore
and from every situation. Why? Because He ever lives. You don't have to plead your
own cause. You're not capable of it. How would we plead our
cause before God in heaven? How would we go before the court?
We'd be out of order immediately. But we have an advocate with
the Father, one who ever lives, a faithful and merciful high
priest over the house of God. Then lean heavy upon Him. Lean
upon Him to plead and maintain your cause. And lastly, it means
this. To lean upon the Beloved means
we lean upon Him to carry all our burdens. all our cares, all
our anxious thoughts about the past. Oh, the past. Oh, I think I forgot it, then
suddenly it comes back into mind. Oh, the past. Then cast it upon
your beloved. Oh, the present. I'm in such
a mess. What am I going to do? I see
no way out of my situation. Oh, my present circumstances.
Then why not cast it upon the beloved? Oh, what's tomorrow
going to hold? I have no idea. About the time
I think I've got it figured out, he'll change it. I don't know. But we know Him who holds tomorrow. And we know Him who says, Pastor,
all your care upon me. All of it. All of it. Why would we do that? Because He cares for us. All
yours are beloved. And is He strong enough to bear
our weight? Yes, He is. And He wants to bear it. He wants
to bear it. He says, I care for him. I want
you to come so near to me that you can lean upon me. I love
you. I'll tell you one thing, if you're
leaning upon him this morning, it's because he does love you.
The only time we ever found anybody leaning upon his bosom was the
disciple that it was said of, him whom Jesus loved. And if he invites you to lean
upon him, then take all your care, all your anxiety, all your
burdens. Put yourself upon Him, and lean
all of that upon Him. A friend of mine told me about
a man getting on the city bus, and he was so crowded, he had
to stand up and hold to the bar. Some lady got on the bus with
a heavy suitcase, carried him, scanned him for a couple of blocks,
and he said he finally looked over at him, and he said, If
you'll set that suitcase down, this bus will carry it and you. Isn't that the way we are, brothers
and sisters? Set your weight down upon Him. He's able to carry you and it. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are those everlasting arms. You'll not sink any lower
than that. Oh, Lord, God of hosts, who is
a strong Lord? Lack unto Thee. Trust Him, brothers
and sisters, for everything. Believe in Him for everything.
Lean upon Him. Lean Him. You say, Bruce, why
are you making such a big deal out of this? What prompted this question to
be asked to begin with? Whoever asked this question,
why did they ask it? Because they observed what this
woman was doing. This was what got their attention. This was what attracted them.
They said, here's somebody and they're doing something that
I'm not doing. And nobody else is doing it. She's the only one
that I saw doing this. And that's what prompted the
question, who is this? What was she doing that got their
attention? She was leaning upon her beloved. Somebody said, I hate your old
doctrine of election, but I said, it got your attention, didn't
it? You know what we need? We need
to be doing things and saying things to get somebody's attention.
And I tell you what should get this world's attention. The church
leaning upon her Beloved for everything. Everything. He's my Beloved and I'm leaning
upon Him for everything. Ain't nobody but the church doing
that. One of the most devastating remarks that the Lord Jesus ever
made to the scribes and pharisees He made some devastating, humiliating
remarks to these people. But you know one of the most
devastating remarks the Lord Jesus ever made to them? You
find it in the eleventh chapter of Luke, "...Woe unto you, scribes,
Pharisees, and hypocrites, for you are as graves which appear
not." And the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Wouldn't that be the most heart-wrenching
statement that the Son of God could ever make of you and me?
Here we are in this world. We profess His name. We're His
people. We're His church. And I pastor
a church in this community. How devastating and how heart-wrenching
it would be for me, for nobody to ever even ask the question,
who are they? That's why it's important to
know what we mean. Because that's what got this
world's attention. Oh, we're rich and increased
with goods. So is Donald Trump. We have need of nothing. Neither
did Esau. Neither did that rich man that
farmed sumptuously every day. Oh, we have an immaculate building. We have our Family Life Center.
We have programs for all ages. So does the YMCA. What makes
us different, brothers and sisters? It's this one thing. And it must
not be did for a show. It must not be done just to see
people say it about us. But it must be genuine, it must
be natural. We must lean upon the Son of
God. Who is this leaning? Who is this
leaning? I tell you she leaned because
she felt like she was welcomed to. He tempted her to. He wounded
her to lean. And not only that she knew that
he was able to hold her and all her weight, but I tell you, she
thought he was the most attractive one that she'd ever seen in her
life. She made a statement in chapter
one, Behold thou art fair, my beloved. You're pleasant. You're
so handsome. She said, just the mere mention
of your name is like somebody pouring out precious ointment.
Would you kiss me with the kisses of your mouth? Kiss me in the
mouth. Oh, your voice is most sweet. It's like wine poured forth.
Let me sleep. Oh, sleep between my bosom. Lay
and make love to me. That would almost be vulgar,
wouldn't it? If you didn't know what he was
speaking about. Oh, she said, dear Farrah, dear
old Samuel Rutherford, you'll remember this. He was commenting
on how fair the Lord Jesus Christ was out of Psalms 45. And he
said, O fair sun, O fair moon, O fair stars, O fair flowers,
roses, and lilies, but O ten thousand times fairer the Lord
Jesus. And then he stops and he says,
Alas, I have wronged him in making this comparison. And then he
says, O black sun, O black moon and black stars, but fairer Lord
Jesus. O black flowers and black lilies
and black roses, but O fairer, fairer, ever fairer Lord Jesus. O black heaven, but O fairer
Christ. O black angels, but surpassingly
arid, the Lord Jesus, beautiful, leaning upon her beloved. That's the first thing these
bystanders know. But there's something else back
here in our text that says this. Look at this. Who is this cometh up from the
wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Who is this that cometh
up from The wilderness. Something else they noticed.
These two things. That she was leaning upon her beloved and
that she was coming from the wilderness. Isn't this a fit
description of this world? A wilderness? This is what the
Bible says about a wilderness. Deuteronomy 8. The Lord led them
through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery
serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, brought
thee forth water out of the rock of flint, and fed thee in the
wilderness with manna? Deuteronomy 32, He found thee
in the desert land, in the waste howling wilderness." And listen
to Jeremiah chapter 2, He led us through the wilderness to
a land of deserts, pits, to a land of drought and the shadow of
death. to a land that no man passed through and where no man
dwelt. And in Psalms 107, they wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way, and they found no city to
dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them, and then they cried unto the Lord." Have you
found this world to be like that? It's a wilderness. It's a place
where hellish serpents roam, deadly stings of sin, a place
full of pits. Haven't you and I seen with our
own eyes, people who fall into these pits never to rise again? It's a place of pits, stinking
pits, miry clay where there's no standing. And no man, he said,
passes through it. and comes out on the other side,
but those who are leaning on the middle of it. And no man
dwells here. You don't dwell in this world
forever. You just don't do it, do you? Some place they go into.
They build houses on the marshland, planted themselves crops, called
their property by their names, and settle down here thinking,
I'm going to dwell here forever. only and finally to be consumed
by this wilderness. Do you know what this world is,
brothers and sisters? It's nothing but a mirage. That's
all it is. It's not real. People look at
it and, oh, it seems so pleasant. All its temporal advantages,
the lust of the eyes, oh, how pillowy they are. The lust of
the flesh, the lust of the mind, but when all that's finished,
reality sets in. And then it all just consumes
you. It's swallowed you up. What is
this world? It's a wilderness. It's a wilderness. Has it ever given you a place
to rest? Has it ever given you a safe
place to hide? Has there ever been a shade from
its heat? Has it ever brought you nearer
to God? Is it helping you on your way to heaven? It's none
of these things, hasn't it? Well, no wonder then that the
church here said of her that she was coming up. She was coming
up. She had this mass under her feet. She said, it's beneath my privileges. I want out of it. So what does
she do? She's coming up. Huh? Oh, this world, brothers and
sisters, if our attitude towards it as it should be, we say, my
desire is to get out of it. Get out of it. Come up. Come
up. There's something else. Not only
does she come up, but look at this. What she turned her back
on. She's not only coming up, but
she's coming up from. Her back is against this world. She's looking in another direction. I saw a documentary on the Mennonites,
and when they shun somebody, they have them sit in the middle,
and when they convince them of their guilt and prove that they're
wrong, all the elders stand and they turn their backs on them.
They shun them. That's what the Holy Spirit is
saying here. She's coming up from. She's turned
her back on it. She's looking in a different
direction. Oh, don't the Scriptures say, come out from among them
and be yourself, yourself the Lord? What fellowship has righteousness
with unrighteousness? None. What communion has light
with darkness? None. What accord does Christ
send the devil out? None. What fellowship does a
believer and an unbeliever have? None. What agreement has God with the
temple of idols? None. Come out from among them. Be ye a separate self, O Lord,
and I will receive you unto myself, and be a father to you, and you
will be my sons and my daughters. Having these promises, let us
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit. I can't help but see the correlation
between this question that was asked and what this church was
doing. Coming up from this wilderness. Leaning upon her life. Oh, you say, Bruce, I feel so
shamed. I feel so shamed. I feel so worldly. I feel like I'm still in the
world. Well, the Bible didn't say she'd come
up from this world. It said she's coming up. She
hadn't got out of it either. I worry about these people that
tell you they've gotten out of the world. I'm not worldly. I've put it all behind me. I'm
out of it now. Some even claim that they've
got rid of the old nature. They've come up out of that too.
Aren't you scared of folks like that? You never find the apostles
and prophets talking like that. Daniel never talked like that.
He doesn't talk. Here's the question. And all
of us ought to examine ourselves and weigh this question. Not
have you come out of it, but are you coming out of it? When
you think about it, what's your attitude concerning this world?
And that's where it is. What's your attitude? When people
look at you, when people look at this church in Crossville,
Tennessee, what's their perception of this congregation? Do they
say about it why they're just as comfortable in this world
as I am? They love it just as much as
I do. They expect they're going to live here forever, just like
I did. Or are they thinking this? Boy,
I've observed those people. And I tell you what, there are
pilgrims and strangers here. They're seeking a country that's
yet to come. I see them people. I've observed
them. I've watched them. It's not that
we've come up, but are we coming? Are we coming? That's the question,
isn't it? That's what scared me when I
get too comfortable, brothers and sisters. And something else. If I come to you this morning
and I asked you, I said, Bill, I've watched you. I've been watching you. And I notice there's something
different about you. You said it about yourself. You wouldn't
dare say it about yourself, but I've noticed something about
you. You don't have the problems with this world that I do. Things
aren't bothering you. Things aren't getting you down.
You're not overwhelmed with who's going to be the next president.
You're not ready to leave the country if your president's not
elected. You're not solving crime over
the cares and advantages. What makes you different? How
are you coming out of this world? You know what you tell me? You
tell me I've learned by experience. There's but one way to come out
of it. Leaning on my life. I've tried to do it in my own
understanding, and I've got lost in the wilderness. I've tried
to do it in my own strength, and I fell into these slime pits. But I found out the only way
to come out of it is leaning on the Lord Jesus Christ. Leaning. Who is this? Oh, may
it be said. Whoever said this, may it be
said of us. May it be said of the Church
of Jesus Christ in this world today. Who is this? God bless you.