finding Christ and being found. Look at verse one of Song of
Solomon chapter three. This is a real interesting portion
because here's the bride and she says, by night on my bed
I sought him whom my soul loved. The bride seeking the bridegroom. And then she says, I sought him
but I found him not. Now by this time, up until this
time in the Song of Solomon, we know that the bride, the church,
has already sought and found her bridegroom, her husband. And we know that her seeking,
and this is in application of us as individuals now, because
remember now, the bridegroom is Christ, Bride is the church. He is the
worthy bridegroom, the worthy savior. We're the unworthy bride. We're sinners saved by grace,
and this church is made up of each individual one of God's
elect who have been brought into the kingdom by his grace, who've
been chosen by God before the foundation of the world, justified
in Christ, redeemed by Christ, regenerated and called out of
the world into the company of saints, sinners saved by grace. And the Bible says that Anybody
who seeks the Lord will find him, if you're really seeking
the Lord. The Bible says that there's none that seeketh after
God. And it doesn't mean that man doesn't seek after a God,
but the true and living God. So what we see here and what
we're gonna see in the next few verses is that if a sinner seeks
the Lord, we know that it is only by the power of God who
has sought that sinner first, Christ finding his sheep. Because if left to ourselves,
none of us will seek the Lord. Now again, we'll seek a God,
a God like ourselves, an idol, Man by nature has what one of
the old theologians called that God-shaped hole in his heart. Spoken of in Ecclesiastes chapter
three, God has set eternity in man's heart. Everybody wants
to live forever. That's the nature of man. But
the key is how is that hole within our heart filled? And man by
nature will fill that hole with different things that dishonor
God. Idols, religion, materialism,
self-pleasure, I mean all kinds of things to fill that hole.
That God-shaped void. But only God, by His grace, will
fill it with His glory in Christ. And so, the scripture says, seek
the Lord, and you'll find Him. But you gotta seek him where
he is, seek him in his word. Seek him in Christ. And that's
what it's talking about. So if anybody seeks the Lord,
we know by nature we won't. But if we do, that's an evidence
that God has sought us and found us, that we're one of his own. And here's the bride, she's already
sought him and found him. He's called her and brought her
to himself. And that's the promise of God
to every seeking sinner. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. I've heard people who object
to the doctrine of election say, well, they'll say something like
this. They'll say, well, then it doesn't
matter what I do. Whether I seek him or not seek him, if I'm one
of his elect, he's going to save me. Oh no, that's not what the
Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that everyone whom he chose before
the foundation of the world will at some point in time, appointed
by him, will seek the Lord. And they'll call upon his name,
but what is his name? You see, the bride knows the
bridegroom. She knows his name. You wives,
you know your husband. You know his name. You husbands,
you know your wives. And you do not commit out yourself
to another. That's the relationship that
God has brought his church into a union with Christ. And remember
Paul in 2 Corinthians 11, he said, I'm jealous of you with
a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband,
and that's Christ. And he said, I want you to be
aware of anybody who would come in and try to corrupt your mind
and taking your mind off the simplicity of Christ, the singularity,
that all my salvation, every part of it, every blessing of
it, every benefit of it, is in Him and by Him and based upon
His blood and righteousness, freely by His grace. But now, as we look at the Song
of Solomon, and we realize that as a whole it's God's word, it
makes it clear that all who have found the Lord have been found
by him. That's why I titled this lesson
Finding Christ and Being Found. But here, in this verse, the
bride seeks her bridegroom, whom she loves, she doesn't find him. Now why is that? What's going
on here? You know, Christ has already
promised his bride, his church, his people. He said, I'll never
leave you, I'll never forsake you. You know what he says? I'll never let you go. But here,
notice the words here, look it, by night on my bed, my bed. That's a little different from
what we read back in Song of Solomon 1 when she speaks of
our bed. That is, her intimacy with the
bridegroom in our bed or in his bed, which is verse 7 of this
chapter. Look at verse 7 of Song of Solomon. Behold his bed, which is Solomon's. And we'll talk about that next
week. And so both of these imply that
the bride was in or shared the bed of her beloved, but in our
text, she's alone by night in her bed. Now what does the night
represent? Well, it represents, it symbolizes
our pilgrimage here on earth. Right now we're in the night,
you might say. Romans 13 speaks about that.
And it tells us that Christ is our light. Christ is the bright
morning star who gives light to his people. And while on this
earth, even as his bride, even as sinners saved by grace, even
as saints, we're going to experience times of darkness, times of loneliness,
times of trouble. We all go through that. Job said
it, man is a few days and what, full of what? Trouble. We have enemies. The devil is our enemy. He's
the accuser of the brethren. But now he's being cast down,
how? By the death of Christ on the
cross to put away our sins. Therefore when he is the accuser
of the brethren, his accusations don't stick, why? Because God
will not charge us with sin. God will not impute our sins
to us. We have the breastplate of righteousness, spiritually
speaking. So that when the devil accuses
us, look at that sinner, what does that sinner deserve? What
do I deserve? Well, I deserve hell. But I cannot
be condemned. Why? Because of the bridegroom,
because of his blood. There's therefore now no condemnation
in Christ. We have other enemies. The world
itself is our enemy. The world is against us. In the
world you'll have trouble, he says, tribulation. But be of
good cheer, for I have overcome the world. And then who's the
worst enemy of all? Us. I've often said it, you've
said it too, I'm my own worst enemy, the flesh. And what is
the flesh? It's not some other man living
inside of me, it's me, it's sinful me. That's who it is. I still
have sin within me, I still have sinful thoughts, sinful ways,
sinful motives. But thank God I have the Holy
Spirit who's given me a new heart, a new mind. who wars against
the flesh, who keeps my flesh from going the full swing of
what I want to do sometimes. Sometimes I get so angry at people,
you know, and that's wrong. And so we have that warfare inside,
but who will deliver us from this body of death? I thank God
through Jesus Christ, my Lord. So we have enemies. The Lord, I put in your lesson
here, the Lord has ordained a time for everything we experience
in Ecclesiastes 3. To everything there is a time.
God's, listen, there's a time for us to laugh, there's a time
for us to cry. There's a time to build up, there's
a time to tear down. All these are ordained of the
Lord, and what is it all for? that we go through is ordained
by God. It's for his glory and our eternal good. And if God
determines, now think about it this way. If God determines to
withdraw his comforting presence from us for a time, it's not
that he's forsaken us. It's not that he's totally let
us go. He won't do that. But it's to teach us something
very important. to always teach us and remind
us that without Christ, we are nothing. Without Him, what are
we? Nothing but sin. Without Christ,
without His blood to wash away my sins, my only hope for the future is
death and hell. Without His righteousness imputed
to me, Oh my soul, think about standing before God at judgment
without Christ. And these times that we may feel
that he's withdrawn his comforting presence from us are ways and
means that God continually keeps us drawn to him. I'm seeking the Lord. In my dark
days, When I don't understand, Lord, why is this happening? You ever been there? I have,
you have too. If you've lived any life at all,
you have, haven't you? Lord, what good can come out
of this for me? Because I know it's for his glory
and our good, our eternal good. And so this is how he reminds
us. Look over at the book of James. in chapter one. And incidentally, the individual
that told Craig that the Song of Solomon didn't belong in the
Bible also said the book of James didn't belong in the Bible. I
said, well, he's not reading the book of James in a gospel
light. But I love the book of James.
I love the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. But look
at James one and verse two. James writes, my brethren count
it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Now that
word temptation there means testings, trials. Knowing this, that the
trying of your faith worketh patience. Now what is patience?
That's faithful endurance. That's one of the blessings of
God's grace given to his people. But let patience have her perfect
work, complete work, that you may be perfect, complete and
entire, wanting nothing. And if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him." Read the rest of that chapter
sometime when you get an opportunity. But here's the bride back here
in Song of Solomon. She's seeking him. She found
him. She's on her own bed in the night. Again, that's a metaphor
for our sojourn in this world, in this dark world. You know,
I think it was Paul that talked about how the Philippians said
that we're shining lights in a dark world. Let our lights
shine. That kind of thing. And then,
showing that we need the grace of God at all times. There's not one time in my life
that I can come before God on my own without Christ. In prayer,
in worship, in daily living, I must be washed in his blood,
clothed in his righteousness. I have no other right to come
to God. And there are times in God's wisdom that he may remove
his comforting presence from us, but he'll never leave us
and never forsake us. He'll never let us go completely.
So look at verse two. I will rise now and go about
the city and the streets and in the broad ways. I will seek
him whom my soul loveth. Now this is the evidence of her
salvation. It's not just seeking the Lord
one time, It's not just doing something when I was 12, walking
an aisle, accepting Him and getting baptized, and then, well, now
let's forget about it, guys. It's a continual seeking Him.
It's a continual coming to Him. To whom coming, Peter wrote. So I'm seeking whom my soul loveth,
and the fact that I love Him shows what? That He first loved
me. And nothing can separate us from
His love. That's what the scripture says.
So where did she go? In the streets and in the broad
ways, I will seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but
I found him not. She still didn't find him. Now,
some commentators, when they come to this verse two, they'll
talk about the city, in the streets. and the broad ways, and they'll
say that this represents the spiritual eternal city, which
is the habitation of God's people. I don't believe that's right.
Because one thing I know about the eternal city, the spiritual
city, heavenly Jerusalem, of which we're citizens, he's always
there. You'll find him there. So I disagree with that. What
I believe this is talking about, this symbol is, number one, the
reason I think it's because he's not there. She didn't find him.
And he says where two or three are gathered in my name, there
I'll be. And in that heavenly city, there's two or three gathered
in his name, isn't there? The heavenly Jerusalem, who is
the mother of us all. I believe this city and the broad
ways represent man's works and man's false religion wherein
the true Christ is not to be found. Now, I was telling you all about
this before because we're talking about the cities today. You look
at Atlanta and the trouble they have there, Seattle and other
places. In the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, you know
cities represented darkness, man's pride, man's love of self. Do you know the first city that
was ever built? Anybody know? Babel. Now, I know a lot of people disagree
with me over this, but if you'll study this out, I believe you'll
find I'm right. Babel was not a high tower being
built up to the clouds. Now, it was man's way of trying
to get to God by his works. That's definitely what it was.
But what it was is man's attempt to protect himself, to save himself,
to serve himself, and it was a monument to man's pride. And cities in the Old Testament
represented congregations of men and women who got together
to dishonor God. And so you have Babel, and later
on you have Sodom and Gomorrah. We could go on with that. And that's what it was. And even
Jerusalem, which later on, it became a city of idolatry, didn't
it? Now the heavenly Jerusalem, that's the habitation, that's
a metaphor for the habitation of the people of God, where he
is. But cities on earth represented
dark places, and then when you read the term broad ways, what
do you think of? Straight is the gate, narrow
is the way, broad is the way that leads to destruction. So
he's talking about man's works, man's false religion, and so
the broad ways, I believe, are obviously ways that lead to destruction,
Matthew 7, 13. Now the question may be asked
here, well, why would the bride, now listen to me, why would the
bride go into the city and the broad ways of false religion
to seek the bridegroom? Why would she do that? Well,
the answer, I believe, and I've got it here in your lesson, is
that it's not that she returns to false religion and the broad
ways that lead to destruction, or believes that she can even
find Christ there. but this is a reminder to her,
and we have to be reminded, that we're surrounded by false religion. It's everywhere. It's a dark
world, folks. This world is not our home, and
we have to be reminded of that, don't we? This is an ever-present reminder
to the bride, to the believer, that our bridegroom is nowhere
to be found where false religion and false gospels pervade. You're
not gonna find peace in this world. You're not gonna find
gospel hope in this world. This world, you know, when we
talk about, we were talking about this out in the next message,
I'm gonna talk about a glorious future. You're not gonna find
that glorious future by looking at the newscast today, are you?
How about God's word? And that's what I believe is
being taught here. It's not that she returns there thinking that Christ
is there, but it's an ever-present reminder that he's not there. And this world is not our home. And I believe the next verse
supports what I'm telling you. Look at verse three. The watchmen
that go about the city found me. I love how that's put. It's almost like saying, Christ
found me. And it says, to whom I said,
saw ye him whom my soul loveth? Now who are these watchmen? Well,
you know, the prophets of the Old Testament were called God's
watchmen. the watchman on the wall, foreseeing the danger,
blowing the trumpet or ringing the alarm. Well, that's God's
preachers. That's God's witnesses. And we
live in this dark world too. We're not in an ivory tower.
I think a lot of times when you read some of the old writers,
some of the old Puritans, you wonder, did they ever get out
and just live life in the world? I mean, just see things that
are going on. It's almost like they never did. monasticism. If I want to be
holy, all I have to do is go off and live in a monastery.
No, the problem is that you're there. You take it with you. But as we're walking through
this dark world, looking for a fresh view, let's say, or a
clearer view of our bridegroom, where are we going to find him?
We're gonna find him in the Word of God, where his people are
met together, hearing and believing the Word of God. And the watchman,
the preacher of the gospel, comes along and finds his bridegroom,
his bride. And how do they find him? By
the power of God, who found them first. And it says in verse four,
And understand now, you need to understand that we must seek
and find him in his word in the sweet fellowship of our brethren
in Christ and these watchmen. He sends his watchmen out, his
preachers, his witnesses out. And what are we seeking? Seeking
his sheep. Paul was in bonds and in prison. And he told Timothy, he said,
don't let this bother you. Don't let this dampen your spirit
or your fervor. He said, I'm here, I'm God's
prisoner. I'm here for a purpose. The gospel's
not hindered. And he said, I'm doing this.
I suffer these things for the elect's sake. So we're out here
seeking his sheep. And so we find him by the power
of God. He finds them first. And that's a testimony to his
sovereign grace. But look at verse four. It was
but a little that I passed from them or literally crossed over
them. But I found him whom my soul
loved. I held him and I would not let
him go until I had brought him into my mother's house and into
the chamber of her that conceived me. So it didn't take long, she
said, just a little while, that I passed through him. Found him. We passed from, we
crossed over the watchman. Now what does that tell us? It
tells us that we don't believe, our faith is not in the preacher. Our trust and hope is not in
the man. but it's in the one to whom the
preacher points us to. That's what preachers are, we're
signposts to Christ. I don't want you to base your
salvation on the fact that I'm the pastor or the preacher or
the elder or whatever. I don't want you to look to me,
now you say, well, who would ever think of doing that? I'm
gonna tell you something, that's one of the biggest problems that
people have, following men and not following Christ. Think about
Paul when he wrote to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians. Some say I'm of
Paul, some say I'm of Peter, some say I'm of Apollos. And
he told me, he said, it's an ungodly attitude. Somebody said, well, I was baptized,
my old brother so-and-so, and everybody knows him. Well, is
that a badge of honor? Somebody says, well, I was baptized
by some Jake Legg who rode into town on the back of a turnip
truck. Who cares? People follow me, listen, I was
listening to a message the other night and somebody brought up
the Nicolaitans in Revelation. Now most people say that the
Nicolaitans were people who claimed to believe grace but promoted
sinful behavior. I don't personally believe that's
true. Now there are probably preachers and believers who do
that, but we don't know who the Nicolaitans were because it doesn't
state it. There's no historical reference
that we can go to other than what does the word Nicolaitan
mean? The word Nicolaitan means to conquer the people. That's
what it means. Nico, to conquer, laity, the
people. to conquer the people. And I
think a lot of people get tripped up when they see that in Revelation
because the word's capitalized, so they think it's talking about
some man. Well, it wasn't capitalized in the original. And what I think
it is, I think it's preachers who are set about to gain a following
for themselves and to conquer people, to rule over people,
to lord over people. to make a name for themselves,
whether it be just for love of fame or love of money or whatever. But I'll tell you the opposite.
The opposite is that preacher who points you to Christ, like
John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God, which
beareth away the sins of the world. Well, what about you,
John? Well, I'm not even worthy to
untie his shoes. I'm not the Savior, I'm not the Messiah,
I'm not, He is. It says there in the book of
John, I think it's chapter three, they heard John preach and they
followed Jesus. That's what we want. You're hearing
me preach right now, but I hope you're following Christ. And
then John said what? He must increase, I must decrease. And so she says, it was but a
little while that I passed from them. I looked past the preacher
to the one whom he's preaching. Christ is my salvation. And thinking,
going back and thinking about the things that are going on
in America. We've been so blessed in this
country, haven't we? I mean, there's never been a
The American experiment was something that has never happened in the
annals of human beings. And so we thank God for the freedoms
and the liberties we have. But here's what we've got to
understand. America is not our salvation. Christ is. Christ is our salvation. And
then she says, But I found him, I passed from them, but I found
him whom my soul loves." She found Christ. And listen to what
she says, I held him, embraced him, and would not let him go. Hold on for dear life. That's
what God's people do. They not only come to Christ
one time, they come to Christ every day. They hold on to him.
They will persevere because he preserves us. And he says, I
brought him unto my mother's house, and into the chamber of
her that conceived me." Now, Dr. John Gill, in his commentary,
he wrote this, and I agree with him. He said, my mother's house
and the chamber of her that conceived me could very well be an allusion
to the tents that women had in former times, distinct from their
husbands. And he wrote this, that all this
may be understood either of the church, as identified as the
heavenly Jerusalem, And in Hebrews chapter 12, it tells us she's
the mother of us all. And in this following sense,
the Lord God uses the gospel witness of the church and individual
believers who are members of his church on earth to bring
his people unto himself. That's what we are. We're the
pillar and ground of truth. And we're here to point sinners
to Christ. And she is the mother of us all
in that sense. In other words, Christ is the
power of the new birth. But it's through the witness
of the church that he brings sinners to embrace him and to
see him. And where the gospel is preached,
that's the chamber of her that conceived me. Come forth from
her, from the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes. And so then she says
in verse five, and this is the same refrain that we found back
in chapter two in verse seven, I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, talking about the people of God, by the rose and
by the hinds, the gazelle and the young deer of the field,
that you stir not up, nor awake my love till he please. I believe
what that is is showing us that God does things in his good time. We cannot second guess Him, we
cannot get ahead of Him. He seeks us, He finds us, we
seek Him, we find Him, He embraces us, He's appointed a time for
everything that comes along. And let's just wait on the Lord.
You know what waiting on the Lord means? It means faith, have
faith in God throughout all this, okay.