Well I want to turn your attention
to those first five verses of the Song of Solomon chapter three
this morning and I've called the message, the phrase that
keeps occurring, him whom my soul loveth, him whom my soul
loveth. We've seen over the last two
occasions looking at the pronouncements of Balaam, that false prophet,
who could do nothing other than proclaim the blessings of God
on Israel, the people of God, even though Balak, the king of
Moab, called for them to be cursed, that he might have a military
victory over them. Nevertheless, Balaam said, even
though he was a false prophet, he could not go against what
God had said. And God had pronounced an unchangeable
blessing on these people. Despite their sin, God had pronounced
an unchangeable blessing on them. And God had pronounced a unique
blessing on them, because a star was to come out of Jacob, a scepter
was to rise out of Israel. A unique blessing, and that blessing
was Christ. For all our blessings, all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places are in Him, in Christ. There is not a blessing for you
or me outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ there
is nothing other than fear and dread. We must be in Christ,
but in Him, unchangeable blessings, unique, profound, eternal blessings. But our experience in this life,
as believers, fluctuates. It does. There are times of great
awareness of Christ, followed sometimes, it seems, straight
away by seasons of night. when it's as if heaven is closed
to your prayers and you don't have a consciousness of the presence
of God and the Psalmist captures this, Psalm 30 verse 7, Lord
by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong,
triumphant thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled. Do you
see how quick? Yeah? Thou hast made my mountain
to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled. that's the experience of the
believer, you go through times of the greatest assurance and
of the greatest comfort in the gospel and they seem often then
you'll have a time when it's as if you doubt, am I really
the Lord's? Am I really his? In verse 16
of chapter 2 of the Song of Solomon we have the testimony of this
one who is speaking, the beloved is Christ and the Shulamite,
the one who is loved, is the people of God and she says, my
beloved is mine and I am his that's the experience of the
believer, my beloved is mine and I am his, there's a possession
there You know, like there is between a husband and wife. She's
mine, he is hers. There's that union. My beloved
is mine and I am his. To you who believe, he is precious. He is precious. Believers, whatever
state of fluctuation you're in, whether you're on the mountaintops
of the experience of God in Christ, or whether you're going through
a period of feeling distance from him, nevertheless you still
love him. You love Christ. And why do you
love him? There's only one reason. We love
him, says John the Apostle, 1 John chapter 4 verse 9, we love him
because he first loved us. That's it. That's the cause.
He loved us. It's his grace. He loved us before
the beginning of time. We love him because he first
loved us. And it's a settled love. And
it's like a married love. And it's intimate and it's devoted.
It's not just a head thing, it's a heart thing. Any of you that
have ever experienced truly falling in love with another human being
will know what I'm talking about. There's something that you can't
put into words. Poets wrestle to put it into words. And that's
what it's like, the believer with his Christ, her Christ.
It's like a married love, intimate. But it's not always vibrant.
And it's not always talking to one another. And sometimes there
are periods of waxing cool. and being distracted and being
distant distracted by the world and by other things we're distracted
by the world around us and other cares and our Lord Jesus Christ
absents himself from us he absents himself for his purposes Isaiah
chapter 8 and verse 17 the believer says I will wait upon the Lord
that hideth his face from the house of Jacob God sometimes
in his purposes of love to his people It says in scripture he
hides his face from the house of Jacob, from his believing
people. Have you ever experienced that?
Have you ever known that? Has your spiritual sleepiness
led to an uneasy consciousness that he's distanced himself from
you? that you've ever wondered are you truly his child don't
ever fear that don't ever fear that if you truly in your heart
love him you're his child but sometimes there's a distance
John Gill puts it like this there's distance as to communion yet
there's always nearness as to union You're never ever separated
from him as far as union is concerned, but sometimes there's a feeling
of distance as to communion with him. And here, in this passage,
these five verses of Song of Solomon chapter three, is the
experience of a believer, yours and my experience, feeling distance
regarding communion. distance regarding communion,
knowing that we're united with him as far as union is concerned,
eternally, but a distance regarding communion and having to do something
about it. Let's read these verses again.
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought
him, but I found him not. I will rise now and go about
the city in the streets and in the broad ways. I will seek him
whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchmen that go about the
city found me, to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom
my soul loveth. I held him, and would not let
him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into
the chamber of her that conceived me. I charge you. O daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field that
ye stir not up nor awake my love till he pleases. A searching
and a finding. She's having a troubled night.
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. A troubled
night. The night here It's spiritual
significance. It's a darkness of spiritual
experience that this believer is experiencing. It's night.
It isn't the day when everything is light. She's not looking upon
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. It's a night experience, by night.
a darkness of spiritual experience. It's a sleepless night. It's
not a restful night. It's a disturbed night, uneasy
about the situation, conscious of the absence of Him whom my
soul loveth. What's the reaction to that?
I sought Him. I must seek Him. If you ever
know that and you're truly His, and you become aware, I've been
distracted by the world. I've taken my eyes off him. I've
not been devoted to him. And he's hid his face. And he's
withdrawn himself. What must you do? I must find
him whom my soul loveth. I must go for him. I must seek
him. I must do all that I can to find
him. What hope do you have of success? You know, you're conscious that
you've drifted, that he's withdrawn himself from you. What hope do
you have of success Well, Jeremiah says this, or God, should I say,
says this through Jeremiah, chapter 29, verses 11 to 14. God says
this to his people. He says it to you and to me this
morning. He says this, for I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord. This is the
mind of God towards his people. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, says the Lord. thoughts of peace and not of
evil, to give you an expected end. Then you shall call upon
Me, and you shall go and pray to Me, and I will hear you, and
you shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me
with all your heart and I will be found of you, says the Lord
and I will turn away your captivity and I will gather you from all
the nations and from all the places whither I have driven
you, says the Lord and I will bring you again to the place
whence I caused you to be carried away captive aren't those gloriously
comforting words are the thoughts that God thinks to his people,
thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you an expected end.
You'll call upon me, you'll go and pray, and I will hear you
when you pray, he says, and you'll seek me like I sought him. but
I found him not he says you'll seek me but you will find me
when you shall search for me with all your heart and I will
be found of you that's the hope of success the scriptures hold
it out there this is the hope God has promised search I sought
him but she says I found him not I found him not how to search
how to search urgently first of all urgently when is the time
to search if you're conscious that the Lord Jesus Christ has
distanced himself from you, that he's hidden his face from the
house of Jacob. How do you search? Oh, I'll get
round to it one of these days, I've got other things to do,
I've got this job to get done and that. No, urgently. It says
in Isaiah chapter 55, seek the Lord when? While he may be found. Urgently. Don't miss an opportunity
to seek him. Do all that you can always to
be present when his word is preached. Do everything that you can. Try
not to let anything stand in your way. Don't let an opportunity
miss, because you remember Thomas, he let an opportunity miss. of
meeting with the disciples after Christ had risen from the dead,
and he didn't see the risen Christ come amongst them and commune
with them. And he said, I will not believe unless I see it for
myself. And it was a week later that Christ appeared in the midst.
And Thomas fell before his feet, be not doubting, but believing.
Secondly, wholeheartedly, this is how to search, wholeheartedly,
not hypocritically, wholeheartedly from a heart of love longing
to be close again to that one whom my soul loveth wholeheartedly
not for gain or for favor you know there were those in the
days of Christ's ministry on earth that followed him for what
they could get out of it In John chapter six, he said to the crowds
that followed him, you're not seeking me and following me for
good spiritual reasons, you're doing this because your bellies
were filled the day before, you had a good meal for free, and
you've come because, gosh, that's better than going to work and
earning some money to get some food, isn't it? You just turn
up and I'll feed you. No, not in that way, wholeheartedly,
not hypocritically. Thirdly, carefully and diligently
This isn't easily answered, as you'll see. Verse 2, she goes
about again, she finds the watchman. It's not straightforward. Carefully
and diligently, not easily giving up. You've known him. If you've
known him, if you've known the sweetness of close fellowship
with Christ, it's something that you must have. You will not be
satisfied until you've found him. Systematically. Fourthly, systematically. What
do you do if a child goes missing? you look where they normally
go. If somebody that's close to you goes missing, you go looking
for them where they normally go. Look where you know he frequents. Go where you know Christ is found. That's the thing to do. When
your heart is conscious of separation and distance, go where you know
he is. And fifthly, expectantly. Go looking for him expectantly
because he's promised it. You shall seek me and find me
when you shall search for me with all your heart. This is
spiritual seeking. It's seeking restoration of that
soul comfort of his felt presence that assures us of his gracious
salvation. that's what we need to know knowing
the power of his blood knowing the fellowship of the Lord Jesus
Christ knowing the power of his salvation that has saved my soul
from wrath to come this is what we're seeking and who is it see
this is a troubled night but who is it that she's seeking
him whom my soul loveth there may be a felt distance as to
communion but if you believe him If you do believe Him, He's
truly precious to you. Your soul loves Him. Jesus, lover
of my soul, you love Him, and He loves you. It's not just His
doctrine that you love. It's not just, oh, I see the
beauty and the order and the logic of His doctrine, and of
the power of the gospel and the logic of the doctrine. It's not
just that you love Him. You love him, this person. He's
a person. The gospel of his grace is a
person, the Lord Jesus Christ. You love him, not just his doctrine.
We read earlier in Romans 5, verse 5, the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts. That's not something that's just
academic, that's felt. You know that, you experience
it. when you know him you know the truth of this where it says
in the scripture that he is the pearl of greatest price the pearl
of greatest value to you of everything you lay out all those things
you might do an inventory for the insurance policy and you
lay out all those things that are of value if somebody breaks
in and steals or if your house burns down all those things that
you would want to insure but yet you put Christ amongst them
he's the pearl of greatest price there's nothing to compare There's
nothing to compare. We suffer loss in this life.
At times, all of us do. As believers, we suffer loss.
It's part of the experience God takes us through. It's part of
the tribulation that works patience, again, as we saw in Romans 5.
All loss, however painful, is bearable. It really is. You'll
get through it. You will. All loss. You know
it's all things work together for good. to them that love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose. All loss, however
painful, is bearable. But as a believer, you can't
survive without Christ. You can't lose him. You can't
ever be settled and lose him. You must have him. That's why
Jesus said that verse that is so often misinterpreted. he who
does not hate mother, father, husband, wife doesn't mean you
have to go maliciously hating your close relatives, it means
by comparison to him he's just on an altogether different plane
If you want those relationships to be good, you must have that
right relationship with him. It's above everything else. Put
him first in everything. That's not because he's selfish
and above everything. It's because unless he is first,
then every other relationship will be wrong, will be faulty
in some way. You could gain the whole world
you could gain the whole world, I look at these people that win
these Euro lottery wins and they win hundreds of millions of pounds
ridiculous amounts of money stupid amounts of money and they gain
the whole world as it were but know nothing know nothing but
soul poverty if they don't have him just think of it you've won
a hundred and fifty four million pounds in the Euro lottery you
can buy whatever you want you can go wherever you want you
can do whatever projects your heart might be interested in
doing but if you have not Christ you face a lost eternity you're
without Christ and therefore without hope in this world Philippians
3 verse 3 says this as you know we refer to it often it's him
that true believers rejoice in you rejoice in him not in riches,
not in material things not in the things you can do but in
him it's him whom my soul loveth but she says I found him not
she's searching but she found him not and at the end of verse
two she goes out into the city and into the streets seeking
him whom her soul loves and she seeks him but I found him not
she's in soul darkness She's in night. On her bed she can't
find him. She's going about the city. This,
I think, refers to the church. The city is the church. I'll
tell you why in a moment. And there's activity and there's
different people, but still she can't find him. Why not? Why can't she find him? Why can't
she find him? Maybe it's sin that's continuing
to separate her. Perhaps he is chastening his
child. and making the experience of
distance sharper so as to deter future drifting away. An experience,
you know, you experience it and you go, oh, I don't want to go
through that again. I didn't like that. I didn't like that
experience of not feeling the presence of Christ, the close
presence of Christ. Perhaps he's chastening his child,
making it sharper. And there's a warning here too,
you know. It's possible to be engaged in the city, in church
activity, in religious activity, to be even amongst Christians
and yet not find Christ. I believe that's true of very,
very many in our day. Many people who think they're
believers, they're in very large, they're in very active churches,
and what is it that they're getting? What are they being fed with?
It's just social feeding. It's just feeding their social
appetites for contact with other people who are nice people, who
don't do nasty things to one another. It's like a mutual club
of avoiding harming one another, and so they're a nice bunch of
people to be with rather than others, but there's no Christ
in it. and they don't know him and they're fussing around the
city but they don't find him as these verses are telling us
I fear that that's true of very very many in large active churches
socially fed but there's no Christ there I sought him but I found
him not going about the streets verse three the watchman that
go about the city found me to whom I said have you seen him? Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? Who are these watchmen? If the
city is the church, and I think there's good reason for saying
that it is, Zion, city of our God, we sing in that hymn, Jerusalem,
I saw the bride of Christ, new Jerusalem, the city coming down
from God prepared as a bride for her husband, it's the church.
The city is the church. The city is the church. Well,
who are these watchmen in the city? These watchmen are God's
gifts to his church. Turn over to Ephesians and chapter
four. Book of Ephesians and the fourth
chapter. And verse 11. This is talking
about the risen Christ, what he did for his church. And he
gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying, excuse me, of the
body, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ. that we henceforth
be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. These are God's gifts, God's
ascension gifts to his church. Prophets, pastors, teachers,
that's the watchman. These are the watchmen. God said
to Ezekiel, Ezekiel 33 and verse 7, he said this, So thou, O son
of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore,
this is what the watchman does, listen to this. Therefore thou
shalt hear the word at my mouth, God's mouth, and warn them from
me. God sets up men to be his watchman
in his church, in his city, the watchman. Thou son of man, I
have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore
thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me.
Paul says to the Hebrews, 13 verse 7, Remember them which
have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God,
whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
These watchmen are preachers, pastors in the church of God.
Are you really seeking Christ, the lover of your soul? If you're
conscious of distance and like this, you're seeking the one
whom your soul loves but not finding him. Are you really seeking
the lover of your soul? Well this is where you look,
to those who speak with the shepherd's voice. The sheep hear the shepherd's
voice. Jesus said it. My sheep hear
my voice and follow me. They won't follow a hireling.
They won't follow somebody who's just in it for what they can
get out of it. They'll hear and they'll go, sounds plausible,
but no, there's something fishy about this and they won't follow
him. They will not follow him. They listen to those who speak
with the true shepherd's voice. And this is why preaching is
so important. And this is why if you want that
felt presence of the closeness of Christ, you cannot afford
for your soul's sake to neglect the assembling of yourselves
together. This is what God says. He says it by Paul to the Hebrews.
Don't neglect the assembling of yourselves together. This
is where you look. Preaching is so important. We're
not talking about oratory as such. though it's undoubtedly
easier to listen to some men than it is to others. We're not
talking about personal charisma but that which points us to Christ
and stirs up our emotions to seek him. Watchmen can't find
him for you. The watchmen don't find him for
the Shulamite. No, they can't do that. She must
find him for herself by faith and you must. You must find him
for yourself by faith. But you hear a sermon that's
Christ-centered and if it isn't Christ-centered it's not a sermon,
it's just words and hot air. You hear a sermon, you read a
printed sermon. Don't neglect that. there's such
good, I think some of us are discovering the writings of men
of old, J.C. Philpott in the middle of the
last century, the one before that, the 1800s, the middle of
the 1800s writings, I know the language is not up-to-date modern
language but you can get through that but there's such blessing,
there's such insight that these people have You know, I think
they were so much less distracted by the distractions of news media
that's instantaneous, that they thought so much more deeply about
the things of God as they studied the scriptures and Christ spoke
to them. Read their words! They're watchmen for your souls.
They'll point you to Christ. and immediately look at verse
four she finds these watchmen saw ye him whom my soul loveth
it was but a little that I passed from them but I found him you
see? more or less straight away she
found him whom my soul loveth there's that phrase again she
sought him whom her soul loved and she held him look what it
says I found him whom my soul loveth I held him and would not
let him go until I brought him to my mother's house holding
him finding him and holding him In Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
18 Paul puts it like this, that we who are believers have fled
for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. What's the
hope set before you if you're a believer? Is it not Christ?
He is all our hope. We have no other hope than Him.
He is our righteousness from God. He is our redemption from
God, for He's paid redemption's price in His shed blood, for
our sins, for the sins of His people, for the sins only of
His people, and that's why it's an effectual redemption. It's
a redemption that you can trust to the uttermost, for that's
why He saves to the uttermost those who come to God by Him.
He's your sanctification. What do you have to do to be
sanctified? Gradually work it up yourself? No, He is your sanctification
from God. You're set apart for God's service
in Him, by His Holy Spirit coming and regenerating you. You want
to know about eternal things? He is your wisdom from God. For
it's in His face, in His face alone, that we see the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus
Christ. He is all our hope. We lay hold
on that hope. We don't hold it lightly. We
don't hold it flippantly. We lay hold on it as if it's
precious to us and we must have it and we must not let it go.
By faith we lay hold on him. By faith we cling tightly to
him. By faith we determine not to let him go. By faith we say
with Paul that I am fully persuaded. I am fully persuaded that he
is able to keep that which I've committed. unto him against that
day. And we know that he has promised
never to let go of us. Our reaction is like Ruth's with
Naomi. You might remember the story
of Ruth and Naomi. And Ruth was interesting, wasn't
it? You know we were looking at Balaam
and Balak and the Moabites wanting to curse Israel and Ruth who
is one of the ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ was a Moabites. She was from Moab. This is God's
grace, God's choice. Ruth said this to Naomi. She
said, because Naomi was going back to Bethlehem, she'd heard
that there was bread there in Bethlehem. She said, entreat
me not to leave thee. or to return from following after
thee. For whither thou goest, I will
go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God. And isn't this what you say in
your soul, God helping me? of the Lord Jesus Christ, entreat
me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee. I'll
go where you take me, where you lead me, where you command me
to go. Where you stay, I will stay amongst your people. Your
people shall be my people. Your God, the true God, shall
be my God. That's the testimony of a believer.
You fear losing him. You know he's going to keep you,
but you fear that experience again of losing him. You don't
fear the reproach of those around. If they want to make fun and
pour scorn and come up with their stupid godless schemes, that's
their business. They'll pay for it in the judgment.
You don't fear that. But like Jacob, you cling hold
of him. Having found him, you know Jacob
wrestled with a man. Genesis 32. He wrestled with
a man who was the Lord Jesus Christ, a pre-incarnate Lord
Jesus Christ. And he wrestled with him. And
the man said to him, let me go for the dawn's breaking. And
Jacob said to him, I will not let thee go except thou bless
me. And that's what you cry from
the heart. I will not let you go except you bless me. Holding
fast by faith. But look, I held him and would
not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house and
into the chamber of her that conceived me. My mother's house. a very bed-chamber where I was
conceived. This is speaking of the true
church, the true church of believing saints who know and love the
Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel of his grace. This is where his
people are born, under the sound of the preaching of his word,
whether that be a read sermon, or an audibly heard sermon, or
one heard over the internet, or however it's heard, it's the
preaching of his word, for it's by the foolishness of preaching,
it pleased God to save those who believe. It's the church,
the church. You know, we've got members who
are scattered on their own. They're members of the church.
That's the bedchamber of our mother, the church. We're not
talking about the Catholic church or any nonsense like that. That's
just voodoo and superstition. We're talking about what scripture
says. My mother's house, her very bedchamber, bringing him
there, finding him, holding him, bringing him into our mother's
house, into the bedchamber where we were conceived. Have you found
Christ? Are you holding fast to him?
Then hold fast and bring him here as we worship together,
wherever it is that we're worshiping. Bring him here as we worship
together. Prepare for worship. Worship
should be so important to you. It should be something that you
should really love to participate in and really hate to have to
miss for whatever reason. You can't help it sometimes,
you're not well or other circumstances arise, but you do what you can
to worship together, to meet together. Bring him here as we
worship together. Prepare your heart for worship.
Think on him, meditate on him. Sort things out that would get
in the way of you meeting him and coming together with his
people. and bring him in your heart as we worship together
and participate and do all you can to be here with Christ held
tight in your heart and so thereby you enrich the fellowship of
his people. I found him. I found him when
I heard the watchman preach a Christ-centered message. I found him. I grasped
him. I lamented the fact that I'd
lost that close, felt presence. I didn't want to go through that
again. I'm going to hold him tight and I'm going to bring
him into the church and I'm going to be there and feed my soul
and strengthen my soul and be a blessing to others as I bring
him there into my mother's house. Now, having got there, verse
five. It's a difficult verse, this. And it comes again and
again throughout this book. I charge you, O ye daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that
ye stir not up, nor awake my love till he pleas. Perhaps it's
saying this. Daughters of Jerusalem, church
members. Perhaps members young in the
faith. Perhaps it's saying this. don't do anything, because it's
fragile, don't do anything to disturb the settled love between
Christ and his people. Don't do anything to disturb
it. It's a blessed thing to know and love Christ, to know his
close presence, to know what to do in those times if, as you
take your eyes off him and look at the world and are distracted,
you feel that distance between you and your Savior, to find
him, to go and find him and to lay hold of him and to hold him
tight and bring him into the church. Don't disturb that. Don't
do anything that would upset that. If any of this is your
experience, as it has been mine at times, I trust that looking
at this will help you to seek Him, to find Him, to hold Him
tight by faith. Amen.