I could not have asked Celeste
to sing a hymn to better introduce my message for tonight. Thank
you. Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. It is a sad fact, but a fact
nonetheless that we live in a state of constant fluctuation spiritually. Constant. No sooner are our hearts
awakened than we're languishing again. No sooner does the Lord
revive our souls than we're again lethargic. And the Song of Solomon
was written by divine inspiration to show us this constant state
of spiritual fluctuation and to give us instruction concerning
it. In this beautiful song of love,
this the greatest of all love stories, we see a clear picture
of the tender relationship that exists between Christ and His
church, His bride. The marriage union that is ours
with the Son of God, our Savior. What a blessed union it is. The
Lord Jesus is married to our souls and we are married to Him. Truly bone of His bone and flesh
of His flesh. One with Christ. as he is one
with God the Father. Ours is a marriage union. Wed
to Christ we are because he betrothed us to himself from everlasting
and he graciously calls us to come to him and he calls our
hearts to be wed to him in the blessed union of faith in him. This union is a real eternal
union and a union of love. This song of love deals with
that union of love that exists between Christ and His church.
On His part, the union is without fluctuation. His eternal love for us knows
no change, no matter what. His devotion to us, His utter
devotion to our souls never fluctuates. Imagine that. Imagine that. God the Son is always utterly
devoted to the objects of His love. And His high esteem of
His bride, His church, His high esteem of you and I who are His
never varies. Look back at chapter 4 verse
1. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair.
Look at verse 7. Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Verse
10. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse. We can hardly speak of our love
for Him without shame. But He sees it as He sees His
love for us. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse! How much better is thy love than
wine, and the smell of thine ointments than all spices. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon. Blessed be His name forever, There's no fluctuation
with our Savior. But on our part, the one thing constant about
us is the fact that we're never constant. The one thing that's
steady is that we're never steady. We constantly fluctuate. We constantly vary. Yes, we do
truly love the Redeemer. We love Him because He first
loved us. But our love for our Savior is
utterly shameful. We trust Him, Brother Larry prayed
just a little bit ago, as best we can. That's a pretty good
way of putting it, as best we can, and that just ain't much.
We trust Him, but oh, how little we trust Him. For the most part,
we live day after day trying to take everything in our own
hands and control everything by our own will and by our own
work, rather than bowing to our Redeemer. Our faith in Him is
horribly shameful, ever mixed with unbelief. Look at the last
verse of chapter 4. Now here is an earnest cry, an
earnest prayer, an earnest desire for the Lord Jesus Christ to
come to His church, to come to His garden with stirring winds
of grace that He might draw out us the sweet spices of faith
and love and praise and devotion. Awake, O north wind, and come
thou south. Blow upon my garden that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat of his pleasant fruits. In the next line, our
Savior answers the prayer and he comes to his garden. He promised
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am
I in the midst of them. Not just where two or three gather
in my name. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name. Brought by my spirit into my
house to worship me. They come in my name, I'm in
the midst of them. Look at chapter five, verse one.
I am come into my garden, my sister. My spouse, I have gathered
my myrrh with my spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. Oh, son of God, come visit your garden tonight. I've
drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, oh friends, drink. Yea,
drink abundantly, oh beloved. Oh, how blessed, how delightful,
how sweet when our Savior makes known. manifestly to us. His presence with us in the house
of worship. When we have such gracious visitation,
we're like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration. We want to
just pitch camp on the mountain and stay there. But how quickly
things change. Look at chapter 5, verse 2. I sleep, but my heart waketh. I sleep, but my heart waketh. That's my subject this evening.
I sleep, but my heart waketh. Our text sets before us a picture
of Christ's church, his beloved, his chosen, his redeemed, his
bride, but a picture of his church in her most lamentable condition. She is slothful, negligent, indifferent. How I wish that were not the
case, but I'm compelled to confess our most lamentable condition
is our most common condition. Let me not attempt to speak for
you. I'll speak for me. My most lamentable condition
is my most common condition. a horrible, horrible, horrible
sleep of lethargy and indifference and callousness to my Savior. In other places, the bride, here
in this song of love, speaks to Christ, but here she speaks
about Christ, because now He had withdrawn Himself. I want
to show you both the cause and the result of this indifference,
this sleep. I can tell you something about
the cause. I know something about that. And I can tell you something
about the result. I know something about that.
I can't tell you anything about the remedy. I can't give you
a certain remedy. I can't prescribe something for
you to do. I can't say, if you'll do this,
things will be better. I can simply tell you what the
cause of the lethargy is. I can tell you what the results
are, and I can tell you what the remedy is, but I can't prescribe
one for you. When our fellowship and communion
with Christ is broken, it is broken because of our base ingratitude,
our neglect, and our indifference. And the only remedy is that the
Lord himself visit us with His grace and turn
us again to Himself. That's the only remedy. Look
back in chapter 1, verse 4. Draw me and we will run after
Thee. Draw me and we will run after
Thee. It is as if the bride speaks
one person says, draw me. And you drawing me, I'm the problem. I'm the difficulty. Draw me. And we, your church, will run
after you. Let each assume just that place. The problem with the fellowship,
the problem with the church, the problem with the congregation,
we always tend to look and say, that's the problem, there's the
problem, there's the Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Here's the problem. Lord, draw
me, and we will run after thee. All right, let's look at this
fifth chapter, verses two through eight. I sleep, but my heart
waketh. It's a subject with which I'm
sure we're all far too familiar. We know well the meaning by bitter
experience, of the base notes of Newton's hymn, how tedious
and tasteless the hours when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim, the fields drive in vain to look gay. But
when I am happy in him, December's as pleasant as may. Dear Lord,
if indeed I am thine, if thou art my sun and my song, say why
do I languish in pine and why are my winters so long? Oh, drive
these dark clouds from my sky, thy soul-cheering presence restore,
or take me unto thee on high where winter and clouds are no
more. There is within each of us terrible
tendency to become negligent, indifferent, and lukewarm toward
our Savior. We are all terribly inclined
to be as the Laodiceans, neither cold nor hot but lukewarm, prone
to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love to my
heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Now
let me make seven observations in these verses. I've got nothing
new, deep or profound to say, but everything of tremendous
importance. Number one, here is a very common
sin, I sleep. I sleep. The wise virgins often
sleep with the foolish. Far too often this is the bad
effect great privileges have upon our sinful hearts. That which is true in carnal
things is even more painful in spiritual things. A man and a
woman live together in the blessedness of a great home and they tend
to take one another for granted. Children are raised in a home
of peace and pleasure where they're instructed in the things of God
and they don't have to come in every day wondering what's going
to happen with the family. Everything's solid around them and they just
take everything for granted. That's sad with carnal things. But oh how sad with regard to
spiritual things. The Lord God loved us, redeemed
us, and called us by His grace. Made us His and we have a terrible,
terrible, terrible tendency to become presumptuous with regard
to God's goodness and become indifferent with that presumption.
Religion in all its practices becomes routine. Devotion is
lifeless. A service to Christ is no longer
our joy but a drudgery. Our worship is formal. We go about the routine but just
go about the routine. Sort of like a wife who goes about things in the house
and she does the washing and ironing and cleaning and cooking
just like she did when first she and her husband were so badly
in love but now She just does it because it's her duty, not
because of any zeal. Oh, how sad that so it is with
us in the service of our Redeemer, in the worship of our God. How
excited we once were to be instruments in God's hands
for anything, and how anxious now we are to have someone else
do things we could and should be doing. How excited we once
were to come to the house of God and worship him. Wouldn't
miss a service for anything. Wouldn't miss a service for anything.
And now, we come to the house of God and
even though we wouldn't miss a service for anything, you folks
here on Tuesday night, middle of the week, on a cold night,
after working all day, wouldn't miss a service for anything,
but how often How often, how often we come in here as a matter
of drudgery, not a privilege. God forgive us. I had the privilege
of preaching the gospel of God's grace. Oh, God, keep me from ever looking
upon this as something I have to do. I catch myself saying
to Shelby's, I'm never, I have to preach tomorrow. I have to
preach tonight. I have to preach in the morning. I have to? Oh,
my. Oh, I get to. I get to worship
God tonight. I get to meet with God's people
tonight. That ought to be our attitude. But here is a hopeful
sign. In the midst of this very common
sin, my heart wakens. There's grace in the heart. And
one token of grace in the heart is the struggle we have with
our sinful sleep. Ours is not the sleep of death,
but the sleep of deadness. There's life within, struggling,
struggling hard against the sin that's in us. Look in chapter
6, verse 13. What will you see in the Shulamite? What do you see in me? What do
you see in me? as it were the company of two
armies. Flesh and spirit. The flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh so that you
cannot do the things you would. Constant warfare. Constant battling. These two natures. These two natures. These two people. That old man
Adam and that new man Christ. That old man of flesh, that new
man of spirit. But the believer constantly at
war with himself. And then we see a very tender,
loving, gracious call. It is the voice of my beloved. All is not gold. My heart sleeps
foolishly. Yet Christ is my beloved. Though
my love is so fickle, so shameful, so unworthy of Him, love Him
I do, and what's more, I still hear His voice and know His voice. And it tenderly knocks to awaken
us and open to Him. Hold your hands here and turn
to Revelation chapter 3 and verse 20. Revelation 3 and verse 20. I'll show you the clear connection
between what we have here and the Laodicean church. Our Lord's
letter to the church at Laodicea was to that church at Laodicea,
no question about that. But that Laodicean church, as
with the other six churches of Asia Minor, represent God's church
in this world in all ages of time. And these are things we
have to deal with and face. And he deals with this matter
of lukewarmness. And this is how he deals with
it. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will hear
my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with
him and he with me. I have a picture of a man, his
wife's mad at him, just mad at him. And she shuts the door and
locks it from the inside. And the Lord Jesus pictures himself
here as a, not an angry husband, not an angry husband, but a loving
husband. And he leans heavily against
the door and knocks and says, open to me, my sister, my dove,
my spouse, my undefiled. He says, if any man in there
will open to me, I'll come in and sup with him and he with
me. So that he calls upon his church to open to him. One reason we place great emphasis
upon the public reading of God's Word and public prayer. I have you men to come up here
and speak into this microphone when you lead the congregation
in prayer because not any point in you praying publicly if we
don't hear you publicly. No point in you praying or reading
Scripture if we can't hear what you say. And so come up here,
well what's the importance of that? We ask the Lord Jesus to
come meet with us. We seek his presence. We open
to him and he says, open to me and I'll come and sup with you
and you'll sup with me. He leans against our heart's
door and says, open to me. He does so by his spirit, by
the word of his grace, by his providence. He not only knocks
for entrance, Our beloved Redeemer graciously calls us, wooing us
to himself constantly. Whose voice is it? It's the voice
of my beloved that knocketh. Who is he calling? My sister,
my love, my dove, my undefiled. What does he call for? Open to
me. Open to me. Why is he calling? He says, my head is filled with
dew and my locks with the drops of the night. Surely there's
reference here to all the agony of his heart
and soul and body in Gethsemane's garden in the judgment hall. And when at last he made sin
for us and crowned with thorns and forsaken of his disciples
and forsaken of God and slain as our substitute. says, open
to me my sister, my spouse. I've been out making life for
you. I've been out making righteousness
for you. I've been out in the darkness
abandoned and forsaken for you that you might live and live
forever in righteousness and at peace with God. And here is
an inexplicable I've put off my cup, how shall
I put it off? I've washed my feet, how shall
I defile them? I don't really know how to say anything about that declaration
except this. We live in the blessed assurance
of righteousness and redemption, acceptance with God, God's favor,
God's grace, God's love. But in that blessed assurance,
in that blessed assurance, in that blessed assurance, We find carnal ease and carnal
peace and carnal security so that the very thing that ought
to constantly inspire and invigorate us gives us excuse for indifference. Because of carnal ease, she refused
the Lord's gracious call to communion. She didn't wish to trouble herself
and she didn't want to be troubled. She didn't wish to bother herself
and she didn't want to be bothered. What the excuse is, what the
reasons are, I don't know. Well, I do. Just carnality. I'm carnal, sold under sin. That's what this nature is. Worldly
ease and worldly care. Earthly concern, mundane things. how they occupy our minds, and
how Satan uses them to turn us away from our Redeemer. The Scripture commands, we are
urged, set your affection on things above, not on things on
the earth. Where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God, seek things that are above. And try as you will, you can't
do it. Only when God sets our affections
on things above are they set there. That's just fact. Only when God
turns our hearts built away from this world to heaven is our heart
turned away from this world to heaven. That's just fact. Try
as you may, you can't do it. I was talking to Brother Nybert
today, my flesh and spirit, he called Peter on that night when
the Lord Jesus said, before the rooster crows twice in the morning,
you're going to deny me three times. And Peter denied the master
and he denied him a second time and the rooster crowed. Can you
imagine the terror? The terror that must have seized
Peter. Oh my, what have I done? What have I done? I've got to
leave here. I've got to get out of here.
I can't go on. But that downward spiral is such
that we are ever inclined to it by nature. And there's no
extricating ourselves from it except God extricate us by His
grace. And there's no turning ourselves
to Him except to turn us to Him. Turn over to Hosea chapter 11.
Let me show you. Oh, bad as we are, how wondrously
gracious our God is. Look at Hosea chapter 11. When
Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of
Egypt, as they called them. So they went forth, they went
from them, and they sacrificed unto Balaam, and burned incense
to graven images. I called them out of Egypt, but
the world called them, and they burned incense to graven images. They made sacrifices to Balaam. Verse 3, I taught Ephraim also
to go, taking them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed. taught them to go. I took them
by the arm but they didn't pay any attention. I drew them with
cords of a man with bands of love and I was to them as they
that take off the yoke on their jaws and I laid meat unto them. Skip down to verse 8. Remember back in chapter 4 the
Lord said Ephraim is joined to his idols leave him alone. But
here God speaks in a different way. How shall I give thee up,
O Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Adamah? How shall I set thee as Zeboam? Mine heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled together.
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger. I will not return
to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not a man, the
Holy One in the midst of thee. I will not enter into the city.
They shall walk after the Lord. He shall roar like a lion. When
he shall roar, then shall the children tremble from the west.
Yes, our Lord Jesus is gracious still. Our Redeemer's love cannot
be quenched. He's long-suffering, patient,
and gracious to his people, even in our most sinful rejection
and denial of him. Look at verse 4. Here's a picture
of our Savior's omnipotent, effectual grace. My beloved put his hand
in by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I don't really know except from
reading others. I'm told that in those ancient
houses in the East, men didn't have locks, tumblers like we
do, but rather a man make his house, a hole in the door and
he knew exactly how to turn the lock to his house and he'd just
reach in and open the door because he knew the combination. He knew
exactly how things were laid out. Whether that's the case
or not, I don't know, but I know it's a perfect picture of what's
going on here. The Lord Jesus knocks. He says, Open to me, my sister.
My love, my dove, my spouse, my undefiled. Well, not right
now. Not right now. Don't bother me
right now. Everything's all right, but don't
disturb me now. And he puts his hand into our
hearts because he'll never take no for an answer from his beloved. He will never be spurned by his
chosen. He will never be cast off by
the object of his love, and he opens the door. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness
from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. He will never, never leave us,
nor will let us quite leave him. Go ask Peter. Go ask David. Go ask Brother
Lodge. Go ask Brother Job. If ever the
Lord will forsake his oath. Oh, never, never, never, never,
never. Here's the sixth thing. We see
our Lord's loving chastisement. Chastisement required by our
neglect and our indifference. required by our need. I rose,
verse 5, to open to my beloved, because he put his hands in by
the hole of the door. I rose to open to him, because
he had opened the door, I got it to open the door. And my hands
dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon
the handles of the lock. He said, He put his hand in there. I reached and got hold of that
lock. That's where he'd had his hand. Oh, I smelled his mercy. I smelled the fragrance of his
grace. Oh, I smelled the sweet, sweet scent of his love. I opened to my beloved. But my beloved had withdrawn
himself. and was gone. My soul failed when he spoke.
I don't know whether to read that, my soul failed, that is
he melted my heart, or my soul failed, that is I failed miserably
to respond as I should. I sought him, but I couldn't
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. The watchman that went about
the city found me. And this is what the watchman
did. This is what I've come here to do tonight. They found me. And they smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the wall took
away my veil from me. They said the whole problem's
your fault. The whole problem's your fault. Hear me, sons and daughters of
God. Whatever difficulty you have,
whatever difficulty I have, in our relationship with God, in
the liveliness of faith, in the zeal for God, in love for our
Redeemer, whatever problem you have, my dear wife, it's your
fault and nobody else's. Whatever problem you have, Mark
Daniel, it's your fault, nobody else's. Not his, your fault. They took away my veil from him.
Here I am. Oh my Lord, I'm without excuse. Turn over to Isaiah. Hold your
hands here in the Song of Solomon. Turn to Isaiah 54. Here's a picture of what she's
describing. Isaiah 54 verse 8. Lord God says, in a little wrath
I hid my face from thee for a moment. In a little wrath, isn't that
a great word? A little wrath is something that is not wrath
but sure looks like it and feels like it. In a little wrath I
hid my face from thee for a moment. I have a dear friend and his
wife going through some real difficulties right now, some
real difficulties. And a preacher Came to him and
said, God's punishing you for what you've done. A faithful couple. God's punishing
you for the way you behave. No, no, no, no, no. God doesn't
punish his people. He punished our sins in Christ.
He corrects us in what he calls here a little wrath. Hiding his
face, correcting us, chasing us with his word by his spirit.
But with everlasting kindness, will I have mercy on thee, saith
the Lord thy Redeemer. For this is as the waters of
Noah unto me. For as I have sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I
sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For
the mountains shall depart, the hills shall be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed. sayeth the Lord that hath mercy
on thee. Now, look at verse 8, Solomon chapter 5, verse 8. Here's one last hope. I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, I charge you, I charge you, I call on you, daughters of Jerusalem,
you You who are the body and bride of Christ, you who are
the sons and daughters of God Almighty, you who are born of
God, I charge you, if you find my beloved, when you've got his
ear, will you speak for me? When you've
got his ear, will you speak for me? Will you tell him something
for me? Tell him I'm sick for love. Tell him, I'm sick for love. I read it just the way I intended
to. Sick of love. Sick for the fresh revelation
of his love. Sick, seeking after, longing
for the sweet tokens of his love. Sick for love, wanting him. She couldn't find Christ for
herself, so she employs the help, the assistance of the Lord's
people. Tell him I'm sick of love. Tell him I want him. Tell him I need him. Tell him
though I behave otherwise, I trust Him. I love Him. I must have Him and
adore Him still. Read on, verse 8. I charge you,
O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, if you find
that one whom I love, if you find the darling of my soul,
tell him that I'm sick of love. And the daughters of Jerusalem
respond, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? thou
fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than
another beloved that thou dost so charge us? Mother of God,
why would you put this on us? Let me tell you why. My beloved
is white and ruddy. He's young and strong, the cheapest
among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. You never saw anything like him. You never beheld anybody like
him. His eyes, oh his eyes, those eyes that are flame of fire to
consume his enemies, his eyes are to me the eyes of doves by
the rivers of water washed with milk and fitly set his cheeks.
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips, his
lips, oh they're like lilies dropping with sweet smelling
myrrh. His lips are lips that have grace
pouring out of them. His hands, his hands are as gold
rings set with beryl. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs, his legs are like pillars
of marble. Oh, how strong one he is for
me to lean upon, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance,
his whole appearance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His
mouth Every word of His mouth is most sweet. Yea, He is altogether
lovely. Everything about Him, everything
He is, everything He does, He's altogether lovely. This is my
beloved and this is my friend. Oh, you daughters of Jerusalem,
return. Oh, Son of God, return. Come knock again upon my door,
dear Savior, my beloved return. Possess me and depart no more. Amen. Amen.