If you will, turn to the Song
of Solomon and just hold your place there for a few minutes
while I say some things that I want very much for you to hear.
Shelby and I are so very, very thankful for the privilege of
being with you, getting to know you just a little. Your pastor
has been known to us for quite a while, and of course, Evelyn
and her family have been friends for a long time. I can't begin
to express to you how much I covet your prayers on our behalf, and
not just myself and your pastor, but others who preach the gospel
of God's grace around the world. Unless I am mistaken, and I realize
I'm running a great risk of being laughed at, but I've been laughed
at for a while, it doesn't bother me much. Unless I am mistaken,
we are currently enjoying and have for some time enjoyed the
greatest time of revival ever known to this world. I have little
regard for what is historically called revival. Men rolling in
aisles, ripping their shirts, and jumping pews is insignificant. All of the silly nonsense that
generally is given as tokens of revival is just religious
nonsense, so much froth, nothing else. If Revelation 11 is correctly
understood in the midst of the greatest apostasy the world has
ever known, those two witnesses are raised up by God to sound
out His Word. And never before in history has
such opportunity been granted. and used for the preaching of
the gospel as God has given us in this day. I said to Evelyn
going home yesterday, Brother Henry Mahan, I'll just use one
example, I have no question, has preached the gospel of God's
grace to more people than any man in history. Hundreds of thousands
Hundreds of thousands just this year have listened to the message
of God's grace by means of internet, television, radio, the tapes,
things we know nothing at all about. You say, well, we're not
seeing things. What difference does that make?
Why should we see everything God's doing? If we could see
it, we would glory in it, as have men in the past. I bid you
then, faithfully, give yourselves to the preaching of the gospel
of God's grace, he will save his people. He will call out
his elect. His sheep shall be gathered into
his fold. Use every means at your disposal.
Some time ago, one of the men in our congregation, several
of you have seen the videotapes, and you see Brother Lindsey just
as he's ducking down and turning the tape off, who leads singing.
His sister was visiting with us. And I wasn't present, and
I hadn't been present the last time she visited with us. I was
away preaching somewhere like this. And she said, doesn't the
church get upset with Brother Don? The lady said, no, no. We send him wherever he goes
because we want other folks to hear this message. The church
in Danville is delighted for me to be here, just as delighted
as I am to be here in these places I've been and places I'm going,
except for Brother Stephen. I hadn't met any of the pastors,
hadn't met any of the churches, but God's just opened doors.
Twenty-two years ago, twenty-one years ago, Brother Bill Clark
was getting on an airplane and headed back here after visiting
in Ashland, Kentucky and some other places. And Brother Charlie
Payne, one of the elders in the church, had a stack of daily
radio messages. I'd been preaching on the radio
every day, five-minute radio broadcast, and I would write
out the messages, because I didn't want to miss a second in five
minutes I was paying for. And Charlie had collected them
over the years. He had about 400 of them. He said, to build heaven
and read going home? He said, no, he said, take these
and read them. I was preaching in Kingston, Jamaica, and got
a call. Shelby did, while I was away.
from Brother John Rubens. Bill had handed him to John and
asked me to do that grace for the day. See if I wouldn't consider
doing a book of daily readings. Little did I have any idea what
God might do with those things. Some of you have prompted by
it. I hear from you. Just do what you can do. That's all.
God Almighty doesn't expect that Campus Church in Webbing Do the
work that Metropolitan Tabernacle did in Spurgeon's day. He hasn't
given you the opportunity or the means with which to do it.
Tell you what he does expect, expects you to do what you can.
That's all that's required in stewards, that a man be found
faithful. God give us grace in the day
that we live to faithfully use every means, every opportunity,
every ounce of energy, we have for the cause of our Redeemer
in this world. Now, just in case you're getting
tired of hearing me preach, tonight I'm going to try, if God will
enable me, I've been working on a message, if I can get it
finished this afternoon, I'm going to try to answer this question,
why am I thus? I have no question that you who
are believers struggle just like I do with what you are. And I'm
going to try to answer that question. All right. Now, Song of Solomon,
Chapter 5. My subject this morning, failing
saints and our unfailing Savior. It is a sad, sad fact, but a
fact nonetheless, that you and I who believe God who are the
objects of His saving mercy and grace constantly, we are in a
state of constant fluctuation. We are no sooner awakened by
His grace than we are languishing again. No sooner does He revive
our hearts with His Spirit than we are again lethargic. No sooner
are our hearts and souls moved with rapturous delight in the
worship of our God, then our hearts are utterly dead again. The Song of Solomon shows us
this state of constant fluctuation. In this beautiful song of love,
the greatest of all love stories, we see the tender relation of
Christ and His Bride, the Church. the marriage union of our souls
to our Savior. What a blessed thought! Christ
is married to me, and I to Him. The Lord Jesus is married to
our poor souls, and we are married to Him as the scripture puts
it, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Our union with
Christ is illustrated in numerous ways in the Word of God. It is
illustrated, never really explained, just illustrated, because it
defies explanation. It is the union of the vine and
branches. It is the union of a man and
woman. It is the union of the body and
the head. It is a union of hearts. But
it is a real union, more real than any of us have ever yet
begun to imagine. The union of our souls with Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer, is as real as His union as our Redeemer
with God Himself. Just that real. It is a marriage
union, and it is an eternal union. It's a real union. When Paul
speaks in Ephesians 5 and says concerning husbands and wives,
you know, that chapter is so full of instruction about husbands
and wives. And I don't know about here,
but in the United States, we have whole religious organizations
devoted to focusing on the family. Oh, that sounds good. You can
get a crowd with that. Folks will get interested in that.
And people love to hear preachers talk about those things, you
know. a series of messages on the family. And so we preached
for a little while about husbands, loving your wives. And Christine's
tickled to death because Alan begins to straighten up and starts
doing right. And Alan said, boy, I really
needed that. And then after about two or three or four messages,
when you've got everything straightened out, Alan says, boy, I sure wish
Steve had been here to hear that. That's exactly what such preaching
always leads to. That's exactly what it always
leads to. Us popping our suspenders and
thinking well of ourselves. But Paul explains, by inspiration,
I'm not talking about your family. Is that what he said? He said,
this union of man and woman, this is a great mystery. But
that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Christ and
the Church. That's the union. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and they too
shall be one flesh. Now, you can look at Shelby and
Don and tell, we're not one flesh. We have lots of similarities,
and we are growing closer together all the time, and we think a
lot alike. That's fearful, but we do. We
think a lot alike. But we will never be one flesh. But Christ and His church are.
really and truly one. And it is a union of love. This song of love deals with
our union of love with Christ our Redeemer. His love for us
and our love for Him. On His part, this union is a
union of love without fluctuation. His eternal love for us does
not have any change or any possibility of change. He is never in a position
where he loves us more or loves us less. He loves his own perfectly,
completely, absolutely, from eternity, and nothing in time,
nothing in experience, nothing we do, be it good or bad, in
any way affects his love for us. It is an absolute love. His heart's devotion to us is
without variation, and His high esteem of His people never varies. It never varies. I was sitting
just a little bit ago, looking at the passage. I'm fixing to
read to you. And when I get home, I'm going to work on a message
just in the Song of Solomon. I'll give you some homework. Go home and find just in the
Song of Solomon, just in these eight chapters, just these chapters,
Everywhere where Christ describes His church. And just look at
the way He describes it. Let me give you a couple. Behold,
thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Look up at verse 7, chapter 4.
Thou art fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Verse 10. How fair is thy love. How can He talk? How can He talk
to me that way? How fair is thy love? He's talking about your love
for Him. How fair is thy love? Because He accepts the love we
give in response to Him that He has created in our hearts
according as His own love for us because we are one with Him.
How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse? How much better is
thy love than wine, 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 is no fluctuation with our Savior, but on our part,
O my God, forgive me, on our part, The most constant thing
is inconstancy. The most common thing is that
there is constant fluctuation. We love Him, truly we do. Lots
of times people talk about their love for Christ. I hear people
say, oh I really love the Savior. My love for Him, I dare never
speak of it. I write songs, oh how I love
Jesus, oh how I wish I did. We love Him, that's the true
confession of every child of God. Not like we should, not
like we would, not like we shall, but love Him we do. We love Him
because, only because, He first loved us. His love precedes our
love for Him by eternity, and His love exceeds our love for
Him infinitely, and His love is the cause of our love for
Him. We trust Him, yes, yes. I believe on the Son of God,
but my faith in Him? I wouldn't even call it faith
if He didn't. My faith in Him? Oh, He's such strong faith. Not
me, not me. Now look at the last verse of
chapter four. Here's an earnest cry for Christ
to come, to come into His garden with the stirring winds of His
grace, that He might draw out from us the sweet spices of faith
and love and praise and devotion. As you come to the house of God
again this evening, come like this, asking the Savior, Awake,
O North Wind! We need the chilly, cold winds
to stir us up and invigorate us. Come, Thou South Wind! Both speaking of the Spirit of
God, come, come, warm, consoling, comforting south wind of grace. Blow upon my garden for this
purpose, that the spices thereof may flow out. Oh, let my beloved
come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruit. And in the
next line, our Savior answers the prayer. You remember what
he said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them? 1 Corinthians 3 tells us, don't
you know that you're the temple of God and the Spirit of God
dwells in you? Paul wrote to the Ephesians and
said, you're a habitation of God through the Spirit. I don't
know how to explain most of what I know, There is some way, some
spiritual, wondrous way when God's saints gather in the name
of Christ as we assemble together. This can't be said of any place.
It can't be said of my home or yours. It can't be said of plugging
a tape in, driving down the road, listening to a good sermon or
sitting at your computer listening to a good sermon. It can't be
said of individuals. It can't be said of denominations.
But where two or three needy souls come together in my name,
believing me, trusting me, to worship me for my glory, where
just two or three come together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them. Always. Sometimes he shows himself
in our midst, sometimes he hides his face, but always he is with
his people in the assembly. It says in verse 1 of chapter
5, I am coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I've gathered
my myrrh with my spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I've drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved." Oh, how sweet, how blessed, how delightful. When he thus shows himself, I
wouldn't miss it for the world. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
Brother Thomas missed one of the assemblies, didn't he? He
missed one of them. He said, I won't believe until
I see his hands and put my hand in his side. I won't believe.
Next time they came, Lord Jesus stood in the midst. He said,
Thomas, come here. If I were a betting man, I'd
just bet you my last dollar. Thomas never missed another one.
Oh, for the Lord made himself known, manifestly so. But look at the next line. I
sleep, but my heart waketh. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my dove, my love,
my dove, my undefiled. For my head is filled with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat,
how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall
I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by
the hole of the door my bowels, my heart. My bowels were moved
for him. I rose up to open to my beloved. My hands dropped with myrrh.
my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh upon the handles of the
lock. I opened to my beloved, but my
beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed
when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me.
They smoked me. They wounded me. The keepers
of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you. Oh, daughters
of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that
I am sick of love." There we have a picture of God's church
and of our souls individually in our most lamentable condition. She's slothful, negligent, indifferent. I wish it were not so, but I
am compelled to confess this. Our most lamentable condition
is our most common condition. Tell me, you who know my Savior,
is that true or is it not? That's just the way we are. In
other places, the Bible speaks of Christ, or rather, the bride
speaks to Christ. Here, she speaks of Him. I must have read that a hundred
times between the time I wrote it down last night and the time
I got here to preach to you. How much more often I speak of
him than to him? How much more often do I find
myself in this sleepy condition than awake? We speak of him when
he's withdrawing himself to him, when he makes himself known.
I want to show you both the cause and the result of this indifference. I can talk to you experimentally
about the cause. And I can talk to you experimentally
about the result. I can't give you a remedy. I
can't give you a remedy. When our fellowship and communion
with Christ is broken because of our base ingratitude, because
of our carnal neglect, because of our ungodly indifference,
the only remedy there is, is that Christ himself turn us again. Turn us again. Turn us again. I asked your pastor to read Psalm
80 just for that reason. Three times in that psalm. The
psalmist cries, turn us again, O God of our salvation, and we
shall be saved. If he will return and revive
our hearts according to his own gracious, sovereign pleasure,
then our hearts will be revived. And blessed be his name, he will.
Exactly according to his will. for our soul's best good and
His glory, exactly when He will, exactly as He will. I sleep,
but my heart waketh. I'm afraid we're all too familiar
with that. John Newton put it this way, 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 strive in vain
to look gay, But when I am happy in Him, December's as pleasant
as May. His name, O His name yields the
richest perfume, And sweeter than music, His voice, His presence
disperses my gloom, And makes all within me rejoice. I should,
were He always thus nigh, Have nothing to wish or to fear, No
mortal so happy as I. My summer would last all the
year, content with beholding His face. My all to His pleasure
resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with the sense
of His love, a palace, a toy, would appear, and prisons would
palaces prove, if Jesus would dwell with me there. Dear Lord,
if indeed I am Thine, if Thou art my Son and my soul, say,
Why do I languish in pride? Why are my winters so long? Oh,
drive these dark clouds from my sky. Thy soul-shearing presence
restore, or take me unto thee on high, where winter and clouds
are no more. There is within each of us a
terrible, terrible, terrible, unceasing tendency to be negligent
and indifferent to our Redeemer. an unexplainable tendency. The adage is familiarity breeds
contempt. Nowhere is that more true than
right here. Our familiarity with Him and His goodness and His
grace breeds in these hearts of flesh contempt so that we
harden ourselves against that which ought to be the most constantly
melting thing we ever imagined. His grace, mercy, and love for
us. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above. Now let me show you six or seven
things very briefly in these verses. This is a very common,
very common, very common saying. I sleep. The wise virgins often
sleep with the foolish. Far too often, this is the bad
effect of great privileges. When we indulge ourselves in
carnal ease and security, our hearts become cold, neglectful,
drowsy, and indifferent. Religious exercise becomes nothing
but bodily exercise. It becomes mere routine, reading
the scriptures, praying. We're very careful. Please don't
misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting by any means
that we neglect any of the privileges and responsibilities that are
ours as believers. I'm just trying my best to be
honest with you. Most of the time, when I read this book,
it seems to be as silent and meaningless to me as if I were
reading the life of Some man I cared nothing at all about.
Most of the time, when I pray, I'm ashamed to call that prayer.
It is doing exactly what our Lord tells me not to do. Just
the repetition of words. Just vain repetition. pleading for my own carnal lust,
heaping things upon myself that I might consume them upon myself.
Our devotion, lifeless, our service, drudgery, worship nothing but
formality. There's no zeal consuming us. But look at this next line. My
heart waketh. We sleep, but it's not the sleep
of death. There is another heart within. Another will within. Another nature within. For we
are a people with two natures. Constantly at war, one with another. With two wills. Constantly opposing
one another. A people with one nature that
is nothing but corruption and sin and ungodliness. Ever at
enmity with God. Ever hating God. Ever opposed
to God. It's called bash. But another
nature? made partakers of the divine
nature, another nature, Christ in you, the hope of glory, another
nature, that holy seed formed in you, planted in you by the
Spirit of God that cannot sin. And these two are at war, one
with another, so that you cannot do the things you would. Paul
said, when I sin, there's no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me. And then he talks about living
under God, it is no more I that do it, but Christ that lives
in me. And that's exactly how we're to understand it. But the
two are in this one person standing in front of you, constantly at
war. My heart waketh. Now, look at
the next line. It is the voice of my beloved. All is not gone. Foolishly, shamefully,
sinfully, inexcusably, I sleep. Yet still, Christ is my beloved. That which is the terror, the
unceasing terror of religious legalists and self-righteous
folks is the great consolation of every believer. You remember
what our Lord asked Peter? He said, Simon, do you love me? He said, yes. And then he said
again, Simon, do you love me? And Peter said, yes. And then
he used another word. Now the modern Greek commentators
and scholars tell me that the next word he used was the weakest
word. But I have another fellow that I think was a little brighter
than the modern fellows. John Gill tells us that the word
he used the third time was the strongest word he could use.
He said, now Peter, let's get right down to where the rubber
meets the road. Do you love me? You remember
Peter's response? He said, Lord, thou knowest all
things. That terrifies religious folks.
That terrifies them. That terrifies self-righteous
folks. Terrifies them. But here's a
man who's been taught of God and born of God. Lord, you know
what I am. You know what I've just done.
You know how fickle and foolish I am. You know how corrupt I
am. You know how unstable I am. Lord,
you know all things. You know that I love you. It
is the voice of my beloved. What's he doing? Knocking. Knocks
at the door. He comes and though our love
is fickle, is shameful and unworthy of Him, He is still our beloved
and we hear His voice knocking. He tenderly knocks to awaken and have us open to
Him. Now, don't ever, ever, ever entertain
the thought of the foolish piece of idolatry, and the thought
is just as idolatrous as the picture. You have, some folks
keep pictures, supposed to be pictures of Jesus, you know,
they always look kind of illiteracy. That's a good thing for idolatry.
But you see these pictures, supposed to be pictures of Christ standing
outside the heart's door of a sinner, knocking? He says he's the light
of the world and he's got a candle. And He's the ruler of all things,
and He's knocking. And folks who are very observant
will tell you, you see, there's no handle on the outside. Because
Jesus knocks at your heart's door, and the only way He can
come in is if you let Him in. Let me tell you something. If
He ever knocks at your heart's door, He'll knock the door down,
bolt and bar, and He'll set Himself up on the throne and bring His
welcome with Him. And the first time you know He's
around, He's already there. That's exactly right. But here
he's talking to his own, and he knocks. Like, you've seen
these folks in movies. I've never had any of y'all.
Sure enough has happened to me, I'm telling you the truth. But
the wife locks him out of the bedroom, and they lean on the
door and knock. That's exactly the picture. Say, open to me. Open to me. 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. He knocks by his spirit, by his
word, by his providence. But it doesn't just knock for
entrance. He graciously calls us, wooing us to himself. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh. Who's he calling? my sister,
my love, my dove, my undefiled." This cold-hearted, sleeping,
indifferent, callous, hard heart of mine, and he still says, my
love, my dove, my undefiled. What happens when the believer
says, We talk such strange language in religious circles. I'm talking
about us, too. When the believer sins. How about
you tell me when you don't? Would you? What is it that you
have done that doesn't involve sin? When you don't, you sin.
As if somehow there are times when we live above sin. There
are times when we are really sure enough good. What happens
when a believer sins? In here, lots of things happen. Nothing happens. If any man sin,
we haven't lost our advocate with the Father. We have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, and
He's the propitiation for our sins. And because we are one
with Him, we are still His love, His God, His undefiled. What
does He call for? Open to me. Now listen to how
it reads. My head is filled with the dew,
and my locks with the drops of the night. I woke up early this
morning thinking about this. Went to bed thinking about it
last night. When was he in darkness? When was he? When he was made
sin for us. Suffering all the horror of God's
holy wrath and justice in our room instead. And he cried, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Piercing the darkness. Now He comes and this is how
He wounds you. Come on now, open to Me. Remember
what I suffered for you. Remember what I've done for you.
Remember my agony. Remember my bloody sweat. Remember
my torture of soul. Remember my horror, suffering
all the hell of God's wrath on your behalf because of my love
for you. Open to Me. Open to Me. Look
at verse 3. I've put off my coat, how shall
I put it off? I've washed my feet, how shall
I defile them? How often it is that you and
I find ourselves when we are somewhat moved by the Word, somewhat
moved by the Spirit of God, to prefer our ease to being disturbed
with worship. Everything's all right. Don't
bother me now. Don't bother me now. I'm resting
easy. Don't disturb things now. But
our Lord is gracious still. His love can't be quenched. His
long-suffering, patience, grace, and mercy to His people cannot
be quenched, even by our persistent rejection and persistent denials
of Him. Thank God His love is persevering
and His grace is effectual. He will not let us go. He will
not leave me to myself. He will not allow me to have
my way. My Beloved put in His hand by
the hole of the door and my bowels. We talk about getting butterflies
in your stomach. Butterflies in your stomach just
move you deeply. That's exactly it. My bowels,
my inmost being, my real, deep self were moved for Him. Moved for Him because they were
moved by Him. Moved for Him because they were
moved by Him. Some of you are here without
Christ. And you could be talked into
religion. You could be talked into making a profession of faith.
You could be talked into reforming your life. Somebody said, well,
he was a dope head, now he's clean. I know God saved him,
that don't mean a thing. Well, he was a drunk, now he's
sober. I know God saved him, that don't mean a thing. Anybody
can do that. You can go to AA and get it done, or you can pay
good money to a shrink and he can get you to do it. That doesn't
mean a thing. Well, he used to cuss, and now he quit cussing.
That don't mean a thing. That don't mean a thing. After
a while, you grow up and find out it's just advantageous not
to cuss anymore. That don't mean a thing. Well, how can you determine
whether or not somebody really said it? If he moves you to him,
you'll move to him. Just that simple. Just that simple.
If he doesn't, by his sovereign mercy, put His hand in your heart
and give you a new heart of grace and mercy, a new heart of love
and faith in Him, you will perish just like you are and split hell
wide open. Our prayer is, Lord God, come
and move upon the hearts of men. But here He's talking about His
own people. We too will only be moved for Him when we are
moved by Him. And I rejoice to know He will
never, never leave us, nor will let us quite leave Him. I'm told
that in Eastern countries, I don't know, but I'm told they didn't
put locks on the doors like we have, but rather had a hole in
the door and the man of the house would arrange the tumblers. And
when he'd come home, rather than putting a key in the latch, he'd
stick his hand in the hole and move the tumblers and open the
door. That's the picture. Now, look
at how he deals. with our negligence. I rose up
to open to my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh, the
myrrh, oh, the sweet smell of his love, and my fingers with
the sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. Every now and then I go downstairs.
I wear distinct cologne. Most folks don't wear, I guess,
or at least it's distinct in my wife's smell. I'll go downstairs
and walk by and she'll start down one of my shirts. Even after
she's washed it, I'll just smell it. Because it reminds her of
the fellow who wears it. That's the picture. Oh, the sweet
smelling myrrh of His grace. I opened to my beloved. But my
beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone, not because He
wouldn't forsake her, but because He wouldn't forsake her, because
He is determined not just to have her body and her mind. He's determined to have her heart. Give me your heart. That's what
I must have. Give me your heart. My heart,
my soul failed when He spake. Not fated, failed. Not sank, failed. He called, and my soul failed. If there's anything on this earth
you can write as an epitaph on my gravestone, here it is. Failed. I've been a failure all
my life, and never more so than in this thing called grace and
faith and walking with God. My soul failed. When I spake,
or when He spake, it failed. And I sought Him, but I couldn't
find Him. I called Him! Oh, forgive me! But he gave me no answer. Paul
said, I sought the Lord three times. He'd take this thought
in the flesh, this messenger, Satan himself, who's beating
me in the face, take it from me. And he said, live with it!
Live with it! Because you need to find out
my grace. is sufficient for thee. My grace,
not your strength. My grace, not your goodness.
My grace, not your faithfulness. My grace, not your love. My grace,
not your faith, is sufficient for thee. The watchman. That's
the fellows talking to you right now. God sets his pastors as
watchmen upon the walls of Zion. The watchmen that went about
the city, they're called watchmen because they watch for your souls.
Watchmen because they watch for danger. Watchmen because they
keep watch through the hours of the night, in the lonely hours
of the morning, concerned for you. Watchmen! They come, they
go back to the city and they found me. They smoked me. They
wounded me. I pray God's enabled me to serve
that purpose for you this morning. The keepers of the wall, the
watchmen, they stripped away the facade. that took away my
veil, the covering, by which I attempted to appear good, by
which I attempted to appear just fine, by which I showed myself
to the others. But now the watchman has ripped
off my veil, and here I stand, naked before God. I can't think
of a better position for you to be in. One last word. What do we do? I charge you,
O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you, if you find my beloved,
if you find him, if you find him, if he comes and visits you,
will you give him a message? Tell him, I'm sick of love. Amen.