A long time ago, when I was a
younger man, and that's been a while back, I was preaching
once with Brother Mahan at a Bible conference, and he sensed my fear and concern in finding a
message suitable and proper to preach to folks at a Bible conference,
especially where there were a lot of preachers. And he made a statement
to me. He said, Don, I'll tell you something
that'll help you. He said, don't ever try to preach
to preachers. And when you try to find something to preach,
try to find something that speaks to your heart. And maybe, maybe,
If the message you've got speaks to your heart, it'll speak to
somebody else's. And maybe it will. Well, I have a message
tonight by which God has stuck his finger in my heart, and I
trust he will be pleased to put his finger right in your heart
as well. I want to talk to you about inward conflicts. For me, these things are very,
very real. Very real. My text is the Song
of Solomon, chapter 6, verses 11, 12, and 13. The text opens
with the Lord Jesus speaking. I know Solomon wrote the book,
but he wrote it as the mouthpiece of the Son of God. He says, I
went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the
valley and to see whether the vine flourished. and the pomegranates budded.
Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of
a minidim. Return, return, O Shulamite,
return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will you see
in the Shulamite is the Shulamite's response. The Lord Jesus speaks
to his bride as Solomon to the Shulamite. And he says, return,
return, O Shulamite, return, that we may look upon thee. And
the Shulamite responds. Our hearts respond. What will
you see in the Shulamite? As it were, the company of two
angels. Now in these verses, our Savior
speaks to his church not in her time of doubt and despair while
she was seeking him, but rather he speaks to his church in her
very best condition in this world. She had just begun again to enjoy
his blessed fellowship. Christ was now returned to his
spouse. The breach that she had made
by her neglect and her sin, he had healed by his grace. And
now there was a sweet renewing of love and fellowship. In verse
11, our Lord Jesus speaks to his beloved church and says,
though I had withdrawn myself from you, though I had hidden
my face from you for a time, and though I gave no comfort
to you for a while, Even then I had my eye on you. Even then
I was watching over my garden with tenderness, love, and care. Though you didn't see me, I saw
you. I never will forsake the apple
of my eye. I never will depart from the
love and the work that is before me and my people. He says, I
went down to the Garden of Nuts. I was there. I went down to see
the fruits of the valley, to see whether the vine flourished.
I was there watching over you all the time. Then in verse 12,
our Savior tells us how that he was overcome. This never ceases
to amaze me. And it's portrayed over and over
again in the Song of Solomon, particularly. She looks on him
and he says, you've overcome me with just the look of one
of your eyes. Here in verse 12, he says the
same thing in essence. He tells us how that he was overcome
by our broken, aching hearts and how anxiously he returned
to his people who cried after him. It is though he said, I
couldn't hide my face any longer. My love for you compelled me
with irresistible force to return to you. Do you see it here? He
says, or ever I was aware. He speaks as a lover whose heart
has just been overcome. Or ever I was aware my soul made
me like the chariots of a men I did. Now, notice your marginal
reference. He says, almost before I knew
it. My soul set me on the chariots of my willing people. Isn't that
amazing? My soul set me on the chariots
of my willing people. As soon as you were made willing
to turn to me, my heart was overcome by your willingness toward me,
by your love for me. Perhaps the best illustration
I can give, though it doesn't really serve as well as it might
desire, because this is a picture of Christ and his bride, Christ
and his church, his love for us. But you remember when Joseph
was in Egypt and his brethren came to him? And at last Joseph
was simply overcome. And he began to weep and he put
all the servants out of his house and he spoke to his brothers
in the Hebrew tongue. He said, I am Joseph. I'm Joseph. Don't be afraid. I'm Joseph.
I'm Joseph. I'm Joseph. Here I am right here
with you. I've been here all the time watching
over you. And our Lord Jesus here says, as soon as you called
to me, as soon as you turned to me, as soon as you sought
me, my heart was overcoming. Before I knew it, I was on the
chariots of my willing people coming to you again. We ought
always to be a willing people seeking Christ incessantly. There's a sense in which that's
true. We do seek Him. We who know Him
seek Him continually. And yet there's a very real sense
in which we often neglect Him. We ought always with earnest
faith, earnest love, earnest hope to seek Him. For faith,
hope, and love, these are like the chariots of a minotaur. These are chariots of his willing
people which bring him to us. And if we continue seeking the
Lord, he will return to us in due time. Matthew Henry, in commenting
on this passage, sometimes he says things like nobody else
quite does. He says, no chariots sent for
Christ shall ever return empty. Seek him in the chariots of faith. hope and love. Seek Him continually,
and I promise you, you sin for Him, He'll come to you. I promise. In fact, if you seek for Him,
it's because He has come to you. Our Lord will return to us because
of His own grace, His own love, and His own faithfulness. We
can do nothing to win His favor, neither before He saves us nor
after He is gracious because he will be gracious. He loves
us because he will love us. He returns to us because he will
return to us. He visits us with grace. He visits
us with times of refreshing because he will visit us with grace in
times of refreshing. Now then, look at verse 13. The
Lord Jesus, having returned to his beloved church, now courts
us. He wounds us like a young man
courting a young lady. He invites his beloved bride
to return to him. He says, return, return, O Shulamite. Return, return, that we may look
upon thee. I was looking over this just
before service this evening, and I thought, words could not
be more tender. Words could not be more compassionate.
Solomon chose his bride and espoused her to himself. And when he did,
he gives her the name Shulamite. The name Shulamite really should
be translated as Solomon. It's the Hebrew feminine form
of the word Solomon. So when Solomon chose this woman,
this Shulamite, this bride for himself, he gives her his own
name. And she gladly takes it. She gladly takes it. I can't
help but to mention in this day of stupidity, when a woman marries
a man, if she honors him, she takes his name. If she's not
going to take his name, don't marry him. Not going to take
his name, not going to be identified with him. I can't think of anything
more insulting and more despicable than for a woman to refuse to
take the name of a man she marries. A woman who is a proper wife
and proper bride finds her identification and fulfillment in her husband.
And my friends, if you don't find it there, don't do a man
the dishonor of living with him. Believers obey Christ and follow
his example. Here, this woman takes the name
of Solomon. He gives her and does so gladly.
Well, listen to this. Our Lord Jesus, who is portrayed
by Solomon, and his church portrayed by Solomon, He has so thoroughly
made us to be one with himself that he's given us his name as
well. He is our Solomon, and we are his Solomon, and I'd gladly
take it. This is his name. You can read
it for yourself. Jeremiah 23, verse 6. This is
the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. In Jeremiah 33, verse 60. This
is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. He has made us one with him and
he has made us to have all that he has by divine gift and divine
imputation. This name Shulamite or Salima
means perfection. Oh, what a word. We are perfect. Before God himself, perfect,
perfect, perfect, complete. Being washed in his blood, we're
washed of all our sins. Being robed in his righteousness,
we are glorious in holiness, purity, and righteousness in
the eyes of God. The name Shulamite or Solomon
also means peace. The Apostle Paul writes, therefore
being justified, being made perfect before God. Oh, if this doesn't
give you peace, nothing will. Therefore being justified by
God and before God. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, being justified in Christ,
washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, God has now
removed the enmity of our hearts toward him in regeneration. And he has taken away the guilt
of our consciences, speaking peace in our souls, so that now
peace has been made between us and God. The warfare's over.
None of that struggle that tormented us, that thing that kept us in
constant turmoil, now is done. God says, we're at peace. The
war's over. No more calls for strife between
me and my people. He is our peace, the scripture
says of Christ. And then our Lord graciously
calls for us to return to Him. Notice in one sentence, four
times, He says, return, return. Oh, Shulema or Solomon, return,
return. And so you see how willing Christ
is for us to have his fellowship and his communion. He speaks
to our hearts. He says, return to me. Return
to me in your first simple thing. All children of God don't ever
grow beyond the simplicity of childlike faith. Return to me. Not clean yourself up in return. Not straighten things out in
return. Not improve your position in
return. He just says return. Return to me. How? Just like
you did in the beginning. Sinners with nothing in your
hands, come again to me in the simplicity of faith. Trust in
me. Return to me in the sincerity of your first tender love, return
to me." Return to me, he says. where first we met, where first
your heart was overcome by me. Return to me where first you
saw my glory and melted before me. Return to me at the cross,
not the symbol, but the thing accomplished at the cross. Return
to me at the site of blood redemption, salvation accomplished by me,
by my sacrifice and by my death. Return to me. Now catch the last
loving word of our Savior in this text. He says, return, return,
that we may look upon thee. I don't know whether I can deal
with this or not. This is what he says. Have you
ever been away from somebody precious to you for a long time? And you meet them and you just
hug them. And you kiss them and you embrace
them. Now hold on. Just stand there a minute. Let
me look at you. Let me look at you. Our Lord seems to say that you've
not been with me much lately. You've neglected my word and
my throne. I've seldom heard your voice.
or seen your face, return to me that we may look
on you, that I and my Father and our Spirit may look on you,
look on you in love, forgiveness, with kindness, with
with satisfaction, that we may look on you. So he says to you,
he says, Bob, come on back to me now. I've missed you. I've missed the sound of your
voice. I've missed seeing you in my
presence. I've missed hearing you. Return
to me. Return to me, that we may look
on you. And I'll show you my face again.
But now in the second part of verse 13, the bride speaks. Let me make it a little bit more
personal. He'd been talking to me. He says, you return to me. And now I respond. The church, the bride, people
of God, being convinced of her own sin, Being full of shame,
she confesses her frustration with herself. She thinks, you
called me to return to you. That you may look on me with
nothing to see. Nothing to see. What will you
see in Salima? What will you see in the Shulamites?
I'll tell you what you'll see. As it were, the company of two
armies. She says, there's nothing in
me but conflict and confusion. In my heart, there are two armies
constantly at war. If you look at me, you'll see
a raging battle, a battle good fighting evil and evil good,
light fighting darkness and darkness light. I'm not worth looking
on because I'm a house divided against itself. And there's something in that
language that strikes true to my experience, and I am sure
to yours as well, if you know anything about walking with Christ
in this world. Let me make four statements and I'll wrap this
up. The passage here speaks of conflicts,
the struggles in a believer's soul between flesh and spirit.
Now, here's the first thing to recognize. These inward conflicts
are facts and realities in every believer's life. He says, well, I don't have any
kind of struggle in my soul like you're talking about. You've
never met Christ. You've never had your flesh exposed to yourself.
The believer's life, you see, is not all sweets. It's mixed
with a lot of sweet, but there's some bitter as well. It's not
all joy and peace. Faith in Christ brings bitter
conflicts. Conflicts which cause the child
of God more pain, more toil, more tears than any conflicts
outside. I have been sheltered in God's
providence from the sorrows and pains I've watched many of you
go through. I've been sheltered in God's providence from the
difficulties I've seen many of my friends around the world and
across the country go through. But I can say this from my experience,
the pains I've had, the sorrows I've had, the difficulties I've
had outside this body, they can't even be weighed into
balance with the pain of what goes on inside. all the time. The struggles between flesh and
spirit are evident to the child of God. To the young believer,
these things may seem a little strange to speak of them and
speak of them plainly. To you who've been in this warfare
for a while, you know what I'm talking about. You see the raging conflict throughout
the Song of Solomon. You see hints of it, traces of
it. She says, I am black, but come. She speaks of herself and says,
I sleep, but my heart wakes. She says, by night on my bed,
I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. You see these conflicts in the lives of God's servants,
particularly as you read the psalms. One of the reasons the
Psalms are so precious to the believer, you pick up the Bible
of any old saint, any of them, I'll guarantee if you've got
a Bible that's been around a while, the most soiled, thickest pages
are the Psalms. I'll guarantee it. How come?
Because here, Rex would go with a man after God's own heart into
his closet. And we hear him say what we feel
in our hearts, but we're scared to death to say. That's exactly
it. Here's David. God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Why are you so far from the words
of my Lord? Why won't you hear when I cry
unto you in the daytime and in the night season? And we hear
it. We know that's what I want to
say, but I don't dare say it. because the Psalms show us this
constant struggle and conflict. I read to you the 73rd Psalm
this morning. Go back and read it again. David
said, he said, this is what I experience. I'm sitting in my palace and
I'm sitting here looking out over my family. I've got a wife
that hates me, sons that despise me and despise my God. My family
is in constant turmoil within itself. And over yonder is that
man who hates God. He worships a stump. And his
eyes bug out with fatness. His boys are all sitting at his
table with him. He doesn't want for anything. Shoot. It's a useless thing to serve
God. That's what he said. He said, I've washed my hands
in innocency. And he said, I would have said this publicly, but
I feared to offend against the generation of God's children.
Then I went into the house of God. I heard God say, he set them
in slippery places. I heard God say, that man's over
there enjoying everything in this world because I've appointed
him to destruction and he's being fattened up like a calf for the
slaughter. You into him? And David said,
oh God, I was so I was as a beast before you. He said, oh, forgive
my thoughts. He said, whom have I in heaven?
But there's none on earth I desire beside me. But the conflict he
went through was real. And it was one of those things
he went through constantly. We see this inward conflict continually
in the lives of God's people. In the Old Testament, the apostle
Paul speaks for himself in Romans 7, and he says, I know that in
me, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. He said, the will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good, I can't find.
He said, the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh, and these two are contrary one to the other, so
that you cannot do the things you want. We see these conflicts
in our own daily experience. John Bunyan, who wrote that Blessed
Pilgrim's Progress, wrote another book about these conflicts, called
it The Holy War. Richard Siems, the Puritan, wrote
a book called The Soul's Conflict. These things have been going
on for a long time. You see, we all have a corrupt nature
within us that loves sin, because that's what it is. We have within us a righteous
nature as well if we're born of God. A righteous nature that
loves righteousness, it's born of God. And would draw us into
perfect conformity and union with Christ. This righteous nature
is the seed of God created in us. But between the two, as long as we live in this world,
there's never going to be a truce. Never. Sin is never going to
surrender. Under dominion, yes. Under dominion
to Christ. But surrender, never. And righteousness
will never cease to struggle against sin. So the first thing
to be learned is this conflict is a fact. It's just a fact of
life. The second thing is that these
conflicts in our souls are caused by and begin in the new birth. They only begin when you begin
to live. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you in a personal way. Bobby won't mind me telling you
this. Several years ago, you know, he was, like most folks,
raised in religion. He came to me after services
one day, and he said, no, we were out on his farm just chatting. He said, you know, I used to
never have any trouble getting up in front of the church and
praying. He said, but since God saved me, I have so much trouble
doing that. How come? Conflicts. Conflicts. You want to be honest
before God, honest with his people. He recognizes nothing in you
by nature except dishonesty and corruption. You want to honor
God? You want to lead Him, but you
recognize me? Me speak to God on behalf of
God's people? Me knowing what I know about
myself? Spurgeon said the reigning power
of sin, that is broken in the new birth. Its dominion is broken, but it
never dies. until the man himself dies. A new nature has been planted
in us, but the old nature is not eradicated. I don't need to prove that to
anybody, do I? 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, here's the fact. God could remove all the conflicts,
let's say, were that his purpose in flesh. Like that. That'd be no trouble for him.
that he could take it away, like that. He could make us perfect
experimentally here, just as perfect as we shall be in glory,
like that. Well, that is purpose. Therefore,
this third thing must be understood as well. These conflicts, they have some good effects. They teach us continually that
salvation is by grace alone. That Christ is our only righteousness.
They teach us continually to lean upon him. They teach us
to prize his faithfulness. And they make us to long for
the day when these conflicts shall be over. And that's the last thing. Oh, bless God. One day soon,
they're going to end. We shall, when we leave this
world, be free from sin. Entirely free from sin. the curse of it, the conflict
with it, the presence of it, and all the consequences of it.
And we'll look back at the conflicts, and we'll say, thank you, Lord.
This was the path best for me, for your glory, that I might
serve your interest here in this world.