I just want to look at a portion
of Scripture in Psalms of Solomon chapter 8 and verse 5. I just want to read half of that
verse. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved. Well, I think you would agree
with me without any study whatsoever that this would have to be the
Church. Because nobody else leans upon the Beloved. But the Church,
the called out ones, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who is this? It's the Church. It's the Church. I have no idea who asked this
question. I don't know if it was the daughters,
whoever they are. I doubt seriously if it was the
world, but I suppose it was God Himself. Not to get any information,
but to encourage others to consider the question, who is this? Who is this? If the world would
only consider this one thing, that there is a church in her
midst, At all ages, from the beginning of time, God has had
a people in this world. But I want you to notice something
about this particular church. If this was the Lord that asked
this question, there was something that He noticed about her. And
ain't that what matters? When you come right down to the
nitty-gritty, what does it matter what the world says about the
church? First and foremost, what God says about the church. What
her head says about it. But it was not just the church
that he was speaking of here. But notice this particular church,
she had her back towards the world. She had her back towards
the wilderness. She's coming up from it. Her
back's turned from it. She's coming out of this world
and her face is towards heaven and she's leaning upon her beloved. That's the kind of church that
he said, who is this? She was a city sitting on a hill
at this time. She was the light of the world.
She was the salt of this earth. She glorified God and he invites
the world to consider her. Who is this? That glorifies me. Who is this set upon this hill? And I would imagine he would
invite the world to consider this. What is this gospel that
she preaches? Consider who this gospel is. It's the gospel of the grace
of Jesus Christ. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. What God is this she preaches?
What great God does she proclaim? She proclaims a God who is in
the heavens and who does whatever He pleases. What Christ is this that she
preaches? Strong and effectual, accessible. What walk is this? Honest and
sincerity and in simplicity. Who is this? Consider her. Consider her message. Consider
her walk in this world. I think one of the most disheartening
things, at least for the church in this world, is for the world
never to consider her at all. Never to know the world. the
world never to know there's a church in her midst, to live without
any knowledge of the church. I think for you and me, one of
the most disheartening things in this whole community, in this
county, would be to live here and gather here week after week
and this county never know that we're here. I mean, in a church
state, worshippers of God. Our Lord Jesus made a statement
to the scribes and Pharisees that had to be one of the most
humiliating statements that anybody could ever make to a group of
people. He said, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees and hypocrites,
for you are as graves which appear not. And men walk over them and
are not aware of them. Ain't that an amazing statement?
You have your religion, In your own eyes, you're great. You have
your educations, you have your degrees, you have your ceremonies,
you have your farms, but the world don't even know you're
here. You're just like dead men's bones that's been buried and
covered up with dirt. They're out of sight. Men aren't
aware of them. For myself, and I know that you
would agree with me, I wish the world around us would either
hear our message and bow to the one that we preach, or if they're
not willing to do that, I wish they would get mad and say, we
will not have this man to reign over us. But to treat us with
utter indifference as though we don't even exist is the height
of disheartening to me. But note this about this church
and about the church of all ages. It's God working through the
church. And it's God working in His church
that gets the attention of this world. It's not her that says,
look at me. It's God that invites the world
to behold her. It's God who says, now consider
this church. Consider the God that she preaches.
Consider the shepherd that she follows. Consider the grace that
she depends upon. Look at this church. But until
God sends His Spirit within the church and begins to work in
her and through her, the world will walk on her and never realize
that she's there. Many are talking today about
politics. You and I are talking a lot in
the last few months about politics. Who's going to be elected our
next president? And some of us are awful concerned
about that. Maybe we should be. I think we
should be more prayerful against the sin of our country than concerned
about the next man who will pretend to lead it. But in the whole
scheme of things, brothers and sisters, what does it matter
who's elected president of this country? You know the thing that
we're desperately in need of is not the right man in the White
House. That's not what the church is most in need of. The church
is most in need in our day of being awakened. You and I are
in need today more than any other time in the history of this,
the church that I know of, to have a revival. For God to send
us a revival. A president will do the church
no good. I doubt if a president would
do this country any good, no matter who he is. But I tell
you, the church's only remedy, if she wants the world to set
up and take notice and say, who in the world is this? Who is
this? Then we need a visitation. We
need God to visit us and revive us and then to look at the world
and say, now look at my church. Look at the church of Jesus Christ.
I want to call your attention to these two things about this
church that God calls our attention to. First of all, I want you
to notice the church's attitude towards the world, towards the
wilderness. That's the world. I take this
to be the world. Because in the wilderness, there's
no food. There's no bread to supply you.
It's a desolate place. There's no water to quench your
thirst. The nature of a wilderness is barrenness. I want you to
notice first of all, her direction. Look what the Lord says of her.
She was coming up from it. She was coming up from this world. Up from the wilderness. See the
direction she was headed? She was headed up. In other words,
she considered this world to be beneath her privileges. She looked upon it as a pit of
sin. Nothing but snares, a dark hole
that she desired to get up out of. You know what the inhabitants
of this world is called? The children of darkness. The
children of darkness. And the church longs to get out
of this darkness. The world is content to dwell
there. They love this darkness. But the church desires to come
up. She wants out of this pit. She
wants out of this darkness. So there's the direction the
Lord says she's coming. She's coming up. Notice her,
He said. Who is this that's coming up? She's not content to lay there
in the darkness. She's coming up out of it. And
secondly, notice this. Not only did the Lord say she's
coming up, but He says she's coming from this wilderness. She's coming from it. She's longing
to get up from it. But now he says she's coming
from it. Isn't that what the Bible instructs
us to do as God's people? Come out from among them, come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord. Touch
not the unclean thing, and I'll receive you. I'll be a father
to you, and you'll be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord. Isn't this a question that each
one of us will have to ask ourselves? I'll have to ask myself this,
and you'll have to ask yourself this. What's your opinion of
this world? What's your attitude towards
this world? How do we really feel in our
hearts concerning the course of this world? I can't answer
that for you, and you can't answer it for me. But it's a question
the church should answer. How do we really feel about the
course of this world? How do we really feel about its
desires? You know what this world desires?
To fulfill the lust of the flesh and of the mind. John said all
that was in this world is lust. That's what people live for,
is to lust. That's their aim, that's their
end, is to gain things. fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind. How do you feel about that? How
do you feel about the course of this world? How do you feel
about the motives? What motivates this world? The
Apostle says it walks according to the Prince of the power of
the air. Who does this world follow? The
devil. It follows Satan. He leads it. How do you feel about that? Do
you want to be involved in the course of this world? How do
you feel about the disposition of this world? It's called the
children of disobedience. That's her whole attitude, one
of disobedience. Children of wrath. And how do
you feel about its end? The lust of this world passeth
away. The world passeth away. We've heard so many men crying
out against the sins of this world. But that's not what I'm
talking about. Maybe it's a good thing to cry
out against the sins of the world. Maybe that's what the church
should be doing. But that's not the question. The question is,
how do we feel about this world? Do we love it? Are we disgusted
with it? Do we love it or do we hate its
course and its motives and its disposition? How do I personally
feel about this world in my heart? Is it a burden to me? Only if
it's a burden to me, only if it's a grief to me, will I seek
to come from it. And here was this church, and
the Lord bore witness and said this of her. Notice, she's coming
up from this world. And notice this again, and I
mentioned it just a minute ago. This church didn't say this about
herself. This is not her testimony of
herself. She doesn't go around bragging,
look at me. I'm coming up out of the world.
Look at the height of spirituality that I've obtained. But this
is what's said of her by some wise observer. This is the witness
of the Lord Himself. See, it's not Him that commends
Himself, is it? but it's whom the Lord commends.
It's not what a man or a woman says about themselves. It's not
what a church says about herself, but it's what God bears witness
to or of. There have been those churches
and preachers who bragged about how separated they were from
this world, only to be caught up in some worldly scheme and
plot to their own shame and confusion. It's not those who boast of their
separation who are truly separated, but those who are grieved over
the sin of this world, and those who have eyes that run down like
rivers of water, because this world keeps not the law of God,
neither do they believe His gospel. How do we feel? Can we be identified
with this church that the Lord said they're coming out from
it? They're coming out from this world. They don't lack its core. But this word here, she's coming
out from, is more than just a place. This wilderness is more than
just a place, but it's a state. She's coming from a state. She's coming up out of a state. And what is that state? It's
a state of nature. She's coming up out from a state
of nature, and she's coming into a state of grace. Look at her. Look at her. Look
at her. She's born in a state of nature,
but she's been born again. And here's her aim, here's her
goal, is to come out of that state of nature all the way into
a state of grace. Notice how he keeps saying that.
Notice how he says that. She cometh. She's cometh. C-O-M-E-T-H. That is, she's not
arrived. That's her aim. That's her goal. But she's not arrived. And brothers
and sisters, we'll never arrive at a complete state of grace
in this life. But we keep coming, don't we?
That's our aim. That's our goal. And the Lord
does not blame us if we'll keep coming. It's when we stop or
go backwards that we're to be blamed. He says here, she's not
yet arrived, but I'll give her credit for this. She's still
in the process of coming. She's still coming. She's coming.
She's seeking to lay aside every sin. and the way that besets
her, and she's looking unto Jesus, the Arthur and the Finisher of
her faith. She's studying and praying to
this end that Christ be farmed in her heart. She often groans
because in her own estimation, she's moving awfully, awfully
slow. But the testimony of the Lord
is this, she's yet coming. She's yet coming. See, it's not
what we think about ourselves, is it? It's not what we see in
our own estimation. Glenn, in your own estimation,
you're not advancing very much. And none of us are. That's the
nature of a believer to think that about himself. He don't
see the growth. He don't see the advancement
that he wants. And he weeps and groans over
it. But here's what the Lord said. You're yet coming. You're
yet coming. You're yet coming. And notice
something else that's said about this church. And this answers
the question as to why and how she's coming up from the wilderness. She's doing this. She's not fully
accomplished it and never shall in this lifetime. But that's
her goal, is to get completely out of this world and have nothing
to do with its course. and to get out of a state of
nature and completely into a state of grace. She labors to that
end, but she never completely does it. Why does she keep trying?
Why does she just keep on coming? And how can she just keep on
coming? Why don't she get discouraged and just quit? Well, we're told
here in verse 5, look at this. Who is this? that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved." That's why she's
coming up out of the wilderness. She's leaning on Him. And that's
how she comes up. And this is why she don't get
discouraged from her own weakness and failures, because she's leaning
upon her Beloved. This word, leaning, means to
recline on, to rest oneself upon. to be supported by, and to cleave
close to. It's a heart leaning. A heart
leaning. Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. That's what it means to lean.
Distrust Him. Trust Him for everything. And
lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct your steps. We want our steps directed,
don't we? If you're going to come up out
of this wilderness, you have to have your steps directed.
We don't know the way to the city. We don't know the way out
of the city of destruction. He directs our steps. And we
lean on Him for it. Listen. We lean upon Christ for
our acceptance with God all the time. All the time. I leaned on Him. Back in 1973,
that's been a long time ago, and I've been leaning on him
ever since. I lean on him for my acceptance as much today as
I did in 1973. I look to be accepted in the
Beloved. As I stand before you this evening,
I'm not dependent upon because I'm a preacher. I'm not dependent
because I give or pray or read or do anything else. My acceptance
with God is in the Beloved, and I lean hard upon Him for that. The church's heart leans upon
the obedience of Jesus Christ For it's righteousness and it
does it always. She'll never reach the place
where she said, I can be accepted now by my own righteousness. My obedience has got so perfect,
now I've worked out a righteousness of my own. No! She leans upon
the obedience of Christ for her righteousness just as much today
as she did when the Lord called her out from this wilderness.
We lean on the beloved, His fullness, the fullness of His supply to
meet our every need. Listen to what John said. Of
His fullness have all we received. We lean on Him, His fullness,
for our daily supply. My God shall supply all your
need. according to His riches and glory. And you found that to be so?
And don't you lean upon Him? We lean upon His blood to cleanse
us from our sin daily. If we walk in the light as He
is in the light, you'd think we'd never commit a sin. But
we do. But when we walk in the light
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all
sin. A-double-L. All sin. We lean upon His grace to strengthen
us. We lean upon the strength of
His grace. I tell you, grace just doesn't
save us. It strengthens us to come out of this wilderness,
doesn't it? Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His mouth. My grace is sufficient for you,
for in your utter weakness, my strength, my grace is perfected,
and I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
That's how we come up out of this wilderness, brothers and
sisters. We lean upon our Beloved, His Word, for the source of our
light, and our help, and our comfort, and our assurance. Oh,
Shanasherib, I think it was, Shanasherib, king of Assyria,
came against Jerusalem. And the king, Hezekiah, he got
his armies together, what little he could muster, and he went
out and told the people. He said, the battle is not ours,
it's the Lord's. It's the Lord's. With Him is
the army of flesh. With Him is sword and shield.
But with us is the Lord our God, and He'll help us. And the Scripture
says they rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah. That's
what we do. We lean hard upon this Word of
our Beloved as we come up out of this wilderness. Why was this
church leaning on her Beloved? There's no other way to get out
of the wilderness. Brothers and sisters, if we're
interested in getting out of this world, there's but one way
to get out of it, and that's through the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's no other remedy. There's no other help. There's
no other hope. She was leaning on her Beloved
because He was her Beloved. You see a woman, you see a wife
leaning upon her husband, you know what that denotes. That
denotes affection. She's leaning upon Him because
she loves Him. That's her husband. The church
leans upon Jesus Christ because she loves Him. John leaned upon
the breast of the Lord Jesus because he loved Him. The church
leans upon her beloved because she feels welcome to lean upon
Him. Even all her weight, He even
invites her to lean upon Him. Casting all your care, He says,
upon Me. All of it. All of it, Lord. I'll
carry every bit of it. I'll carry the weight of your
burdens. Roll them all upon Me. You're invited to do that. And
I'll carry them all. That's what the Beloved says
to His church. And she leans upon her Beloved
because of past experiences. because she's proved Him over
and over again. And therefore, she's willing
now at present time to lean upon her beloved. Is that where you're
leaning? Have you leaned your soul hard
upon Him? That's the only way to get out
of this world and get out alive. Lean upon Him. God help us to
do it. Let us pray.