Song of Solomon, Chapter 3. I
was thinking this morning, I don't know when I have enjoyed a study
more than I am enjoying this study. Song of Solomon has just
been such a rich blessing to me. I hope it's been to you.
And maybe part of the reason for that is how honestly Solomon
deals with the life of a believer. Every believer longs for those
times where we enjoy the presence of the Lord. Solomon has described
those times as springtime, and he describes the times that we
do not enjoy the presence of the Lord. He deals honestly with
that. There are just times we do not enjoy the presence of
the Lord, and he describes those times as wintertime. In this
chapter, Solomon describes those times we do not enjoy the presence
of the Lord with us as night. Christ is the light of the world,
and the absence of light is the darkness of night. So believers
are afraid of the dark. That's why I've entitled our
lesson this morning, Afraid of the Dark. Believers are afraid
of those times of darkness, and we do not enjoy the presence
of our Savior, because those times of darkness are miserable. We're afraid of the darkness
of our own natural heart. We're afraid to be left our own
devices, left in darkness. We're afraid of the darkness
of our sin and the darkness of our unbelief. And that's where
the bride is at the start of chapter three. In verse one,
she says, by night on my bed, I sought him who my soul loveth.
I sought him, but I found him not. Now those who believe are
always seeking the Lord. We're seeking the comfort of
his presence. We're seeking the warmth of his
grace. Seeking to see more of Him, to learn more of Him. But
there are times we can't see the Lord. We seek Him, but we
can't find Him. In those times, the Savior's
not abandoned us. It's just we can't see Him. He
has withdrawn Himself for a time for our good. He's withdrawn
Himself so that our love for Him will be drawn out of us.
He's withdrawn Himself to remind us again how completely dependent
we are upon Him. And there are also times in every
believer's life, it's nighttime. For whatever reason, the Lord's
withdrawn himself for a time, it's night. And when it's nighttime,
what happens? We become drowsy. We become careless. We just get comfortable in our
spot, don't want to move out of that spot. It's nighttime. But if we belong to the Lord,
you know, he will not let us continue in that condition for
very long. He's going to rouse us back up. Eventually, the Lord
will cause us to see our need of him and cause us to seek him.
Now here's comfort when you're in those times of darkness. I
know it's dark, but the Lord's love for you has not changed. He's withdrawn himself for a
time so the bride can learn again how precious Christ is to her.
And he's still being gracious to her. It's dark, but he's still
being gracious to her. It's God's grace in us that lets
us see in the first place that it's dark. When we don't know
the Lord, we're in the darkness of our natural flesh. We don't
even know it's dark. The only reason you know it's
dark is God's grace in you. He's given you eyes to see. You
see it's dark. It's God's grace working in us
that causes us to seek Christ in the first place. And that's
what's happened to the bride. It's nighttime. And she started
to feel miserable without the presence of her beloved. her
beloved who her soul loves. So she begins to seek him, and
that's the evidence of God's grace center. She's seeking him.
But you'll notice she doesn't say, I sought him who my heart
loveth. She said, I sought him who my
soul loves. I looked up that word soul, and
it means that which breathes, that which has life. That's the
new man who's born in the new birth. That new man loves Christ
and eventually he's gonna seek Christ because he must have him. If there's been a new man born
in us by God's grace, that new man must have Christ. He will
seek Christ. When I don't have a view of Christ,
that's when I must seek him because the new man can't live without
him. Without him, I can do nothing. So I must seek him. So we begin
to seek him. But aren't we still dragging
this old flesh around? We're just dragging it around
like an anchor. The bride begins to seek the
Lord, where? In her bed, at night where it's
dark. And she didn't find him there.
Now that's a representation of private worship. Private worship
and private devotions are very important to a believer. But
private worship is not as beneficial to our soul as public worship.
The Lord promised where two or three are gathered together in
his name, there he'd be in the midst of them. Well, I'm only
one when I'm alone. Public worship is more beneficial
to our souls. The bride sought the Lord in
private, but she couldn't find him. And her soul could not rest
until she did find him. So she got up out of her bed
and she went looking for the one her soul loves. Now it's
nighttime. She doesn't think, you know,
I'll just wait till daylight when it's a more convenient time.
It's better for me to go out at, you know, in the daytime
rather than nighttime. So I'll just wait. No, she goes
now, right now. And that's a good lesson for
us. Always seek the Lord now. Right now, nothing is more important
than having Christ right now. So she went looking for her beloved,
where she thought he was most apt to be. And that's a picture
of public worship. Look at verse two. She said,
I will rise now and go about the city and the streets and
in the broad ways, and I'll seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought
him, but I found him not. Now, if you're seeking the Lord,
Don't you think it'd be a good idea to look where he said he'd
be? Our Lord said he'd meet with his people in public worship.
He'd meet with his people where his word is preached. He'd meet
with his people in the place where his name is exalted through
the preaching of the gospel. Then seek him in the place of
public worship, because that's where he said he'd be. I mean,
this game of hide and seek is not real difficult. He said he'd
be in a place of public worship. Seek him there. Our Lord said
He answers prayer. Then seek Him in prayer. Call
on His name and seek Him where He said He'd be found. Now here's
my advice to you who are seeking the Lord, who are seeking the
Savior. My advice is come right here. Right here, every time
these doors are open. Because somebody's gonna be here
preaching the gospel. I promise you, somebody's gonna
be here preaching the gospel. I'll be here when I'm not here,
I promise you. I look for a man who I know preaches
the gospel to come take my place. Next Sunday, I'm gonna be in
Mexico. Bob Coffey's gonna be here. A
week from Wednesday, I'll still be in Mexico. Eric Floyd's gonna
preach here. They're gonna preach the gospel
to you. Now, I'm not promoting myself, I'm not promoting these
other men, I'm promoting Christ. If you're seeking Christ, you
go where Christ alone is preached. And I'm confident that the Lord's
given us that in this place. This is a place where the gospel
is preached. The gospel that's preached from
this pulpit is the gospel that saves sinners. If it's not, Roy,
there's not one. This is the only gospel that
saves sinners. Then be here. Do you need a savior?
Then be here where he's preached. I mean, that just, it's not real
difficult, is it? And that's what the bride's doing.
She's seeking the Lord where he's most apt to be. And she's
seeking him diligently. She doesn't care what it costs
her. She's going to seek him. At the very minimum, it's costing
her some sleep. It must be bedtime, night, she's
in bed. So at the very minimum, it's
costing her some sleep, but she's gonna look for him whom her soul
loves. And you know, at this time when
Solomon was writing, and it's even true today, it's not smart
for a woman to go out on the streets alone at night. That's
just not smart. It may not be safe, but she must
seek Christ because she knows she's not safe without him. When
Solomon's writing here, certainly it wasn't good for a woman to
be alone on the streets at night. People then would consider that
scandalous. What a scandalous thing. She's
out on the street at night. She goes out seeking her savior
at night. Maybe she'll suffer ridicule.
Maybe she'll suffer persecution, but that's all right. No matter
what the world may say, no matter how much they make fun of her,
no matter how much a scandal it may cause, I must have Christ. So I seek him diligently, no
matter what it costs. But you know what? She sought
the Lord where he's most apt to be found. She sought him diligently,
no matter what it cost her. But for whatever reason, right
away, she didn't find the Lord. She didn't enjoy the presence
of her beloved immediately. And that can happen to us. When
we seek the Lord, we may not find Him immediately. Well, then
keep seeking. Now, if you don't find Him immediately,
don't stop. Don't get discouraged. You keep
seeking Him. Here's another real good piece
of advice for you. If you're seeking the Lord, ask
somebody who knows him about him. Wouldn't that be a good
idea? That's what she does in verse three. The watchman that
go about the city found me. To whom I said, saw ye him whom
my soul loveth? Now these watchmen are God's
preachers. They're men who watch for your
souls. They watch the streets, watching for people and give
them direction by pointing them to Christ. And you'll notice
now the bride is looking for the Savior, isn't she? She's
looking for her beloved. And scripture doesn't say she
found the watchman, does it? She's looking for her beloved.
She says, the watchman found me. How'd they do that? The Holy Spirit directed them
to her, that's how. The Spirit always directs God's
preachers to seeking sinners so they can point her to the
Savior. Now, if you're seeking the Lord, find somebody who knows
him and ask him where the Lord is. That's what the bride did.
She asked the men most likely to know. She asked the watchman.
You've been out here, you've been watching the streets. Do
you know where my Lord is? And notice this. She didn't find
the watchman. She's not gonna test them to
find out, well, should I listen to them first? She didn't ask
about their doctrinal stance on justification. She didn't
ask about their doctrinal stance on imputed righteousness. She
didn't ask them what they believe about the millennium or about
church discipline. She asked them about Him. That's
what Wayne prayed this morning. Lord, show us Christ. Show us
Him and what He's done for us. All she cared about was Christ.
Do you know where He is? Because if you don't, I'm moving
on. Can you tell me where Christ
is, where my beloved is, because he's the only thing that'll satisfy
the longing of my soul. Can I tell you one more time
that salvation is a person. The gospel is a person. It's
the gospel of Christ. It's not a set of doctrines.
It's a person where our beloved is a person. Our beloved is not
a set of doctrines. Our beloved is a person. What
we love about those doctrines is what they tell us about Him,
who our soul loves. Tell me about Him, who my soul
loves. Now, we don't have the message
of the watchman recorded here, but that's all right, because
I can tell you what their message was. The instruction of the watchman,
if they're God's watchman, is always look to Christ. Their message is always go to
Christ. Turn your heart to Christ. That
must have been their message because right after she heard
what they had to say, she found the Lord. Look at verse four.
It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom
my soul loveth and I held him and would not let him go until
I brought him into my mother's house and into the chamber of
her that conceived me. Now I told you sometimes the
Lord withdraws Himself for a time in order to draw out our love
for Him and in order to show us again how dependent we are
upon Him. The bride's learned that lesson,
hasn't she? Oh, and she found Him. She grabbed hold of her
beloved with both hands and she would not let go. Now we ought
to hang on to Christ for all we're worth, with all of our
strength, we should hang on to our Lord Jesus Christ. Even though
the security of our salvation is His mighty hand hanging on
to us, we ought to hang on to Him for all we're worth. Salvation,
our Lord described it as being held in His hand, and that salvation's
sure, because no man can pluck us out of His hand. But you know
what? I'm still clinging to Christ
for all I'm worth. Not because I don't trust Him,
but because I do. I'm clinging to Him for all I'm
worth because I love Him. I need to be near to Him. I lay
hold of Christ. This is what faith does. Lays
hold on Christ and claims Christ as my beloved. Faith lays hold
on Christ and claims Christ as my righteousness. Faith lays
hold of Christ and claims Christ as my source of grace, as my
source of strength, as the reason that I can be accepted before
the Father. It's in Him. I know my security is in Him
hanging on to me, but I hang on to Him for all I'm worth.
He's my beloved. Now here's condescending grace.
The Savior, He's holy, undefiled, separate from sinners. condescends
to allow us to hang on to him. You remember the story of Jacob
wrestling all night with the, with the Lord, that pre-incarnate
appearance of Christ, Jacob wrestled all night long with him. And
morning came, Lord says, time for me to go. Let me go. And
Jacob said, I will not let you go except you bless me. Was Jacob a mighty wrestler?
Was he so mighty that the Lord couldn't get free from him if
he wanted to? Of course not. The Lord was allowing Jacob to
hang on to him. The Lord gives us faith to lay
hold upon him, and then he blesses us for laying hold on him. That's
our Savior. So the bride said, I grabbed
hold of my beloved. I found him. The watchman must
have given her some direction. She found him, and she said,
my beloved, I'm not going to let him go. I'm going to bring
him to my mother's house. Now that's a whole lot more than
bringing your fiance home to meet your parents. She's bringing
the Lord into the church. She's bringing the Lord into
the place of public worship where her savior is worshiped. Look
over Galatians chapter four. I'll show you this. The church
is called the mother of us all who believe because it's in the
church that the preaching of the gospel is heard. It's in
the church where you heard the gospel that gave us life. The
gospel is mother's milk to the believer. Now, it's through the
preaching of the gospel. We're not born again through
the preaching of the law, we're born again through the preaching
of grace in Christ Jesus. Look at Galatians 4 verse 24.
Paul here has been talking about this allegory of Hagar and Sarah. He says, which things are an
allegory? For these are the two covenants. The one for Mount
Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, is Agar. That's the covenant
of the law. For this Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage
with her and her children. That covenant puts us under bondage
to the law. But Jerusalem, which is above
all, which is free, which is the mother of us all. For it's
written, rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth
and cry, thou that travailest not, for the desolate have many
more children than she which hath a husband. Now we brethren,
as Isaac was, we're children of the promise. We're children
of God by his grace. Through the gospel of grace,
it's heard in the church, the mother of us all. Now, individually
and as a church body, we must pray for the presence of Christ.
We must seek his presence and beg his presence to be with us
or we've met in vain. If Christ does not meet with
us in the person of his spirit, We can't praise him. We can't
praise his name. We can't thank him. We can't
believe on him without his spirit meet with us. We can open the
word, but we can't understand it if his spirit's not with us.
Sinners will never be saved. I don't care how doctrinally
straight our message is, sinners will never be saved if the spirit
does not meet with us. The saints will never be blessed,
they'll never be fed and their hearts will never be comforted
unless Christ is present with us. See why we're scared of the
dark? We have nothing without his presence.
Believers are scared of the dark. Then let's seek his presence. We must have his presence or
we've met in vain. And this is why the bride says
in verse five, I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
by the rows and by the hinds of the fields, that ye stir not
up, nor awake my love till he pleas. She says, don't disturb
my beloved, and do something to make him leave again. If he
leaves, what's gonna happen to us? We're gonna suffer the misery
of a cold, dark night again. And we don't want that, we're
scared of the dark. So when we lay hold on Christ, let's be
careful not to offend him. Well, what would offend him?
Anger, wrath, pride, slander, gossip, they all grieve the Holy
Spirit. And that's what deprives us of
the presence of Christ when we offend him in that way. So let's
carefully, carefully guard the attitude of worship that we have
here. We have a spirit of worship that
God has given us here. I'm so thankful. Well, let's
guard it. What's more important? What is
more important than being able to meet together and worship
Him? Let's be careful to guard that attitude and spirit of worship.
And I'll tell you something that's awesome about the presence of
Christ with His people as He meets with us in our worship.
Our Lord suffered and He died and He rose again. And then He
was with His disciples for about 40 days and he rose again. They watched him go up into the
clouds. Sometimes I think wouldn't it
have been wonderful to be one of those disciples and see the
bodily presence of the Lord. But you know, if he hadn't ascended
back on high, his bodily presence could still be here on earth
and he'd meet with his people, but only one group at a time.
Since Christ is risen, his spirit is omnipresent and he meets with
all of his people at the same time. While we're worshiping
here, the Spirit of Christ is right here with us, enabling
us to worship Him. And at the exact same moment,
He down the road in Wheelersburg, He down the road in Lexington,
and Danville, and Pikeville, and Rocky Mountain, even Princeton,
New Jersey, Houston, Texas, Fairmont, West Virginia, Mexico, Christ
is here with all of His people at all of the time. So let's
seek Him. That's the only way we'll ever
be able to worship and learn more of Him. Now, the time I
have left, I want to give us something that I believe will
help us, that'll help every person here. I want to give you something
about seeking the Lord. Every person in this room needs
to seek the Lord. If you don't know the Lord, let
me give you something about seeking the Lord. There's nothing more
important to you, nothing more helpful to you than seeking the
Lord. You must have him or your soul
will perish. And if you do know the Lord,
let me give you something about seeking the Lord. Good advice
to help you in what you want more than anything, to have His
presence. Number one is this. Seek the
Lord diligently with all your heart. Do not seek the Lord in
a half-hearted way. Don't just seek him on Sundays
and Wednesdays. Seek him all the time. Seek him
in prayer. Seek him in his word. You may
think when you read God's word and you're alone in private like
the bride here is in her bed, you read that and think, well,
I don't understand that. You'd be amazed how many times you
come here Wednesday night and the word is open to you. You
say, I was just looking at that. I didn't understand. Now I do.
You'd be amazed. Seek the Lord with all your heart.
diligently and seek the Lord where he may be found. Don't
seek the Lord where men say he is. Seek the Lord where he says
he is. Men today despise preaching. That's a real good reason why
most religious people don't know the Lord. They despise preaching.
And our Lord says, it has pleased him by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. Then avail yourself to preaching,
to the preaching of Christ. Be here when the gospel's preached. What does scripture say about
faith? Faith cometh by hearing. Then if you desire faith, if
you desire faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then be here to
hear. Gospel preaching. and public
worship are not optional. They're vital to spiritual life.
And look over in Jeremiah chapter 29. Here's another good reason
to seek the Lord diligently. Those who seek the Lord diligently
will find him. I know that so because this is
the promise of God himself. Jeremiah 29 verse 11. For I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon
me, and you should go out and pray unto me, and I will hearken
unto you. And ye shall seek me and find
me, when? When ye shall search for me with
all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord. Now did God say if we seek Him
with all of our heart, we'll find Him? Or maybe it might be
better to say He'll find us. Did He say that? Is that true? Look over in Matthew 15. Is that
really true? That if we seek the Lord with
all of our heart, we'll find Him? Well, we know it is because
God said it. And in Matthew 15, We have a
perfect illustration of this. This is one of the most diligent
seekers that I know. And she found the Lord. Look
at Matthew 15, verse 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
in the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter's grievously
vexed with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And her disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I'm
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then
came she and worshiped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered
and said, It's not right to take the children's bread and to cast
it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord, yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
Then, she sought with all her heart, didn't she? She could
not be discouraged. She sought diligently. Then Jesus
answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. Now back in our text, the bride,
she had some difficulty seeking the Lord. She sought him and
she didn't find him right away, but she searched diligently.
She found her beloved, didn't she? This woman, The Lord answered
her, not a word. And when he did answer, he said,
I'm only come to save my elect. And it seemed like she was rejected. That didn't stop her, did it?
She diligently sought the Lord and she found him. If you don't
know the Lord, you diligently seek the Lord. Don't quit. You
keep calling on his name. He said, you'll find me. Now
look back in Isaiah chapter 54. You who do know the Lord, seek
the Lord diligently. In those times when it's nighttime,
it's dark, and you're cold, and you're drowsy and sleepy, the
Lord may have withdrawn himself for a time, but that won't last
forever. You seek him diligently. Isaiah
54, verse seven. For a small moment, see this
is not forever, for a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with
great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Seek him diligently. It's just for a moment. He's
withdrawing himself, but it's just for a moment. His mercy's
not gone. His grace hasn't run out. Seek
him diligently. Secondly, seek the Lord out of
your need. You who don't know the Lord,
seek the Lord out of your need. Seek the Lord because you're
helpless. You can't do anything to save yourself. Seek the Lord
because you're nothing but sin, and you must have Christ to be
your righteousness. Seek the Lord because you're
so sinful, nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse you from
your sin. Seek the Lord because you're dead, and you must have
Christ to be your life. Seek the Lord because you're
ignorant and you must have Christ to be your wisdom. And it seems
like there's so many things you don't understand. I don't understand
all these things. All these things seem like such
a mystery to me. Just stop and seek Christ. When you find him,
it'll be okay. Now, I'm not telling you you're
going to understand all these things that seem like such a
mystery to you. You don't understand. You wish
you could understand them before you believe. Stop. You may never
understand, but once you surrender to Christ, it'll be all right.
It'll be all right that you don't understand. Just trust him, seek
him. And you who do know the Lord,
seek him out of your need. Now he saved you, hadn't he?
He'd been merciful to you, he's revealed himself to you, but
you still have to have him. Without him, you still can do
nothing. Then seek him out of your need. We don't have any
life or joy or peace or understanding. We can't enjoy the scriptures.
We can't pray unless we have the Lord. So seek the Lord out
of your need because you need him. Thirdly, seek the Lord in
love. Isn't that what the bride did?
She sought him who my soul loves. She didn't seek him out of idle
curiosity. Wonder what makes this, you know, is this really
real? Not out of curiosity, out of
love. I must have him, I love him.
Seek to be found in his love and seek him because he loved
you first. Seek him. Seek the Lord so you seek that,
to have that loving communion with you and your husband. And
fourth, Seek the Lord, and when you find him, hold him fast. Guard against grieving his spirit.
Be diligent about seeking Christ, and then when you find him, diligently
guard his presence so we can have a time of worship. I know this about myself. I'm a high-strung individual.
That's the way I am. But there's never a good time
for sloth. Maybe there's some times I wish
in my, not spiritual life, but in my regular life, I wish I
could dial it back a little bit. I can't. But spiritually speaking,
there's never a good time to dial it back. There's never a
good time for sloth. There's never a good time for
sleepy indifference, is there? God help us to seek him diligently. We'll find him. By His grace,
we'll find it. All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that to you.