graciousness and kindness has
been shown to me and to my wife, to my family. You've won so much for the Lord
to bless you. And Lord, please, don't leave
me to myself. I told Todd, I said, I don't
know how it came out of your mind, but it was a blessing to
me. And I know it was to you. But
thank you again. Thank you for all that you've
done. Thanks for having me. Oh, what
an honor. I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalm of Solomon. Psalm
of Solomon. If you find Isaiah, just back
up one. Psalm of Solomon. I'm gonna actually try to preach out of chapter
five, but I wanna back up just a little bit. the Lord speaking
to his bride and listen to the way he speaks to his church,
to the bride that he betrothed to himself. And I was reading
this again this morning and I thought, How kind, oh, I'm telling you,
I just love to hear a husband or his wife speak kindly to each
other. You know, be nice, be nice. But listen to this. The Lord
says in the Song of Solomon four, hey, come with me from Lebanon,
my spouse. With me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amanah,
from the top of Shinar, Hermon. The lions dance from the mountains
of the lepers. He's talking to her. Now, these
places right here, I found out, were dangerous places. They were places that were hazardous. And with lions dancing, he's
talking to her about Come with me. Then he tells her
in verse nine, thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast stolen, actually he's
marginal, he says he's taken away. You have ravished my heart
with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. For him
to say, You have stolen my heart. How can that be? How fair is thy love, my sister.
Here he's talking to her concerning his incarnations, made flesh,
made life into his brethren. How fair is thy love, my spouse. Oh, that covenant. It proved
that marriage, married to him. How much better is thy love than
wine and the smell of thine ointments, than all spices. Thy lips, O
my spouse, drop as the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the smell of thy garments, like the smell of leaven. Oh, there he is, garments. You know, somebody that, especially
somebody you love and appreciate, and they get all dressed up and
they put on that perfume or that cologne, it just smells, it just
smells. Sometimes you pick up a piece
of their clothing or something, it just smells. You know what
you think? I just, I love that smell. A garden enclosed. Hedged about is my sister, my
spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, protected, kept, like
Job was when the Lord asked Satan, have you consented to my servant
Job? Yeah, that's what he hedged up. Can't get to him. Like plants, or an orchard of
pomegranates, Pleasant fruits of camphor, of spikenard, oh,
the fruit of his spirit. Spikenard and saffron, calendar
cinnamon, with all trees and frankincense and myrrh, all the
chief spices, fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams
from Lebanon. Oh, how gracious, how merciful,
how kind, is the Lord that robed his bride in his righteousness. Tell her, oh, you smell beautiful. You look at me with a look of
faith. He said, you just steal my heart. Oh, what beauty is set forth
in the mercy and grace of our God call us, redeem us, save us,
and call us. Oh, how so precious. Save us and call us, carry us
by His power, able to keep us from falling. Aren't you glad
for that? What beauty. And the Lord, who knows how bring
out what He's done for us. He knows how to do it. He knows
how. He knows how to bring us to ourselves. Look at
what He says in verse 16. He's speaking. He's speaking
as to the Spirit of God. Awake, O north wind, and come
thy south. Same Spirit. Oh, and in convicting
grace, showing us what we are, whom the Lord loveth, that conviction. But he doesn't leave us. He says,
I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Come, awake, O north wind, but
come thou south. That spirit of comfort, A spirit
by which we know and remember. Blow upon my garden that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden, she says, and eat his precious fruits. And then he immediately answers
her. Tells her, verse one of chapter
five, I am coming. and my sister, my spouse. I have
gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey. I have drunk my wine with my
milk. Eat, oh friends, him speaking to her. Drink, yea, drink abundantly. Oh, beloved. And you know, you
read these beautiful words. sureness, these words of love. Words of love that can only be
spoken by the spirit of God, tell us anything. What does he
think of his bride? I don't know myself, but I can
tell you what God has said, how he thinks. And for that, I'm
very thankful. I'm thankful because I know a
little bit, I know a little bit about me. And I don't like what
I see about me, but what he says that he's done for me, and how
he says he loves and cares and refreshes, my heart is made to
thank. Lorne, thank you. Thank you. You know, with those kind of
words, we ought to never, never doubt,
should we? We should never waver. But you know what, that's not
the way we are. After he said what he said to
her and told her, you just, you've ravished me, you've stolen
my, I'm heartless. I look at you and I'm just, and
I think, But let me tell you, let's just
look at how we are. She says after he's spoken to
her and told her, he said, I've come into my garden, I've gathered
my myrrh, beaten my honeycomb, I've drunk my wine, I've built
old friends. Friends, friends, you're my friends. No greater love hath any man
than this, to lay down his life for his friends. Don't you just appreciate a good
friend? Somebody you just talk to and
you bury your heart. There's no filters. Try to not
have any filters. Just bury your heart to them. And here he tells you, oh drink,
ye drink abundantly. It is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew and my locks
with the drops of the night. Asleep, not asleep of death or
total insensitivity, but that Slothful, sluggish, that attitude
toward him. That old man that is there and
the bride, the horrible thing is that we know it. We know it. Paul the apostle says, I know. I know that in me, that is in
my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. I know that. I sleep,
but my heart waketh. There's a battle going on here.
There's a struggle going on here. And I know it. Have you ever,
let me ask you, just ask you something. found yourself when
you're wanting to pray. You want to pray, I believe,
a praise. And you begin to pray. And the
next thing I know, before I realized what happened, I was somewhere
else just in my mind. I was just struggling and I thought,
And then immediately what I want to do is I want to just, Lord,
please forgive me for that. Please don't. I'm so sorry. I sleep. My heart waketh. And she said, it is the voice
of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister.
Open. Open to me, my love, and he still, he ever loveth. He says, my dove, my undefiled,
my head filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night. He knocks. It's the voice of
my beloved. It's the one that I love. I do
love him. I love him. How can I be like this? John
Newton, you know. If I love, why am I thus? Why
this dull and lifeless frame? And he asked that question, and
you that know the Lord, is it like this with you? Am I the
only one that struggles like this? Am I the only one that
finds myself struggling? He said in Revelation 30, behold,
I stand at the door and knock. That was written at the last,
after the letters to the seven churches. And he's not, he's
not just knocking on somebody, George, just hoping there, he's
knocking on the door of the bride herself. Oh, and he calls to
her, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove. Oh, how tenderly
and how compassionately he speaks. And she answers with such disrespect. And she loves him. She loves
him. It's my beloved. Oh, hating to admit it, but this
is us. This is us. Let's just be honest. We struggle within this world. And then after she admits her
ingratitude, she starts to give excuses. You think immediately
we'll be brought to our senses. Verse three, I put off my coat. How shall I put it on? I've washed
my feet. How shall I defile them? You know, I love, I love the
truthfulness of God's word. I love, I love. This is, I would
not admit this to you. I wouldn't tell you that as I
find myself being so insensitive at times, of his kindness and
compassion and mercy, I was able to wake up this morning. He allowed me the privilege to
be able to go over some notes and ask him, ask him to bless
the Lord, please. Lord, please, please don't leave
me to me. Please help me. Please bring
to my memories the things that you've taught me and be able
to and he's allowed me to still, I was able to breathe coming
over here, and I was able to think, and I'm still standing
here, and my heart's still beating right now. He's giving me light,
and I have had such unthankful thoughts. I've just, and the
way I've acted, you know, in my mind, you don't see it because,
you know, well, he's a preacher. Oh, I'm telling you. And listen
to these excuses. I am just worn out. I've put off my coat. How can
I put my coat back on? For all that he's done. I've washed my feet. I don't
want to get them defiled again. How could I possibly? The scripture
says Hosea 117, and my people are bent to backsliding from
me. Though they called them to the
most high, none at all would exalt him. The marginal says,
together they exalted none. Amen. Oh, that we'd walk with respect.
I would want to, I would want to. I want to walk respectfully. And I get so tired of my attitude. Continually, Lord, please, please. Again, can I deem myself a child? How can I be so cold? No, I tell
you, how can you be so loving? I understand how it can be so
cold. How can it be so compassionate? Thanks be unto him that he doesn't
forsake us. Listen to this. Verse four, my
beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bow,
my heart, my emotion were moved for him. Oh, the mercy of God. He put his hand by the hole of
the door, the way that it was to open the door. Somebody said,
I wonder what that was. I tell you this, whatever it
takes to open the door, he knows how to open it. Yeah, he knows
how to do it. Whatever it is, you call it whatever,
sickness, whatever, whatever you do, whatever it, he knows,
he knows. He put his hand. By the hold
of the door, and my vows, my heart, all the mercy, all of
the entreaties and the summons, and I disrespectfully acted. Oh, I tell you this, in the day
of His power, I'll be with Him. He'll come. Thanks be unto God,
because of His power, by the power of God. Yeah, the one that first made
us willing in the day of his power keeps us, he keeps us willing.
He draws our hearts out to him. Until he does, we ain't let it
move. I'll excuse myself, and I will,
I'm like you, Todd, I don't have any problem excusing myself,
forgiving myself, I don't know. Just give me a day, you know,
just give me a day. I'll get over it, I'll get over
it before then. It won't take me that long. Oh, how sweet. Oh, to see the
source of our longings toward him. He put his hand in the door,
whole of the door, and my heart was moved. Oh, and I find myself
compassionately longing for him. I need to remember something. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. My heart burns when I hear the
word of God preached. What'd he do? He put his hand
at the door, pulled to the door. He blessed it to my heart. He's
like that prodigal. Spent all of his money on righteous
living, just ungodly living. Out there feeding. And fame would have filled his
body. He wanted it. He was loving it. He was loving it. Look it up
at Huss. It was a caribou. How sweet taste
is what it was. This is us before the Lord's
pleased to call us to himself. All we would find, we would enjoy
it, eating all the stuff of this world, all the false, just having
a grand time. He came to himself. When the
spirit of God comes in power and mercy and grace, and we come
to our senses, our spiritual senses, how do we do that? In
the day of God's power. He called us. We heard him. Spoke. Oh, when our heart burns,
when we hear, it's because he called us. Look at Jeremiah 31. Hold your place right there.
Turn over to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, verse 18 to 20. Jeremiah 31, verse 18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning
himself thus. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed of my youth. Is he free of my
dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since
I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore,
my bowels will trouble for him. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. Oh, in all of this, her heart
now is stirred, back in Song of Solomon 5. Now she's stirred,
her heart is stirred. made by the grace of God to see
her need of him. He put his hand in the hole of
the door. And now, okay, now, says I rose
up to open to my beloved. My hands dropped with myrrh,
and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the
lock. Now, here's the bride. Now, she's
been recovered by grace. She draws us from that horrible
attitude of our sleep that every honest, every believer, they're
honest, they're making, they're honest, and they enter into this. And they know, they know, they
know what they've done. They know that, they know something,
they don't know the completeness of it, but they know something
of it. Now her heart longs for him. She gets up, she rolls up to
her beloved. Her hands, she smells, she knows that he's
dealt with her. She put her hands there, and
her fingers smell like that sweet smelling myrrh on the handles
of a lock. He can savor his dealings with
her. And now in faith, she longs after him. She savors his mercy to move
her heart. And now she opens the door. I
opened verse six 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. She opens now with anxious anticipation. He's gone to her realization. He said, I'll never leave you.
I've said this so many times, it made such an impression on
me. Brother Maurice Montgomery told me years ago, we was talking,
he said, you know, Marvin, he said, the Lord may just put us
out on a limb and make us think that he's gonna leave us there.
You know what is a lonely feeling? When I can't perceive his presence. You think I, he's not here. Oh,
he's here. He's here, because he's done
promised. He's promised. I promised. I will never leave
you. I will never forsake you. Like
I said last night, you believe he's here? You believe two or
three are gathered together and you think he's in our midst?
He's here. But you know what's so sad? How
many times that I don't even think about that? She said, my soul opened to my
beloved. My beloved had withdrawn himself. My soul failed when he spanked. That's when I realized something
of what I had done. She couldn't perceive, but he's
not going to flake her. He's going to teach her. He's
going to teach her. And he knows again how to teach her, but he
does not According to his word, depart from her. He loves her. Gave himself for
her. Having loved his own, John 13,
1, which are in the world, he loved
them until the end. Aren't you thankful? Until the
end. I think about that until the
end. Think about this world. I'm getting
old. I'm getting old. I turned 74 here a few days ago. That's old. And I'm thinking,
Lord, love me to the end. Don't leave me. Don't leave me. In that day, in that day, in
that moment, Todd told me something one time. He said there was a
night he was in the hospital and he said, you thought you
was going to die that night. And I think to myself, when I'm
there, now right now in my foolishness, I think, well, I'm standing here,
I'm here, and I'll finish this message and we're going to go But in that time, if the Lord
has placed me in that time, when I'm in a place and I'm thinking,
I'm getting ready to die. And this is real. Now this is
real now. Now it's real. And I'm getting
ready to leave this world. And all these things that I've,
oh Lord, forgive me for these things that I've done. So foolishly
done. Acted so foolishly. Oh, if I
could just change him and get him back right now. Let's get
it right. Let's get it right right now. Let's get it right.
What am I doing? Oh, I opened up to him and he
was gone. Verse seven, the watchmen went
about the city, found me. They smoked me, they wounded
me. The keepers of the wall took away my veil from me. These faithful
ministers, these faithful preachers of the gospel that'll tell us
to be honest with us. Tell me what God has to say about
who I am and who he is. Tell me what the Lord says. They slew me. They were honest
with me. They that watch for the souls
of God's people, sheep, they're honest about Him. I need to be
reminded. Tell me again, tell me one more
time. Say the same things to you. Heard that last night. Me's not
grievous, but you is safe. Tell me one more time. Tell me
again, tell me one more time. In that day, in that day, tell
me one more time. Today, tell me again about that
everlasting love. Tell me that if there's a heart
in me that loves him, it's because he loved me first. Tell me one
more time. And tell me again how he's not
gonna leave me. Tell me again how in that day
that he'll be there. Tell me that. Because there's
times when I see myself what I am, and it just grieves me
because of what I see. And the bride says, old daughters of Jerusalem, if
you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick of love. My heart loves him. I have a
heart sickness. I know what I did. I know what
I did. I know how I acted. I know how disrespectful I was
to him. I know how I took his word and
I hear what he says. And I find myself being so insensitive
to it. But would you do me a favor?
Would you do me a favor? If you find him, I can't find
him, but if you find him, would you tell him that I love
him? She'll tell him that I love him. Tell him that I love him.
Her heart's broken because she's insensitive. How could I have
done this? How could I have acted the way
I did? David, when David, after Nathan,
the prophet came to him after he'd taken Bathsheba, he took
another man's wife. He murdered her husband. And God sent a prophet to him.
There's the watchman right there. the bride, wounded her. And Nathan
came and told him that story. A man came to town and the guy
he came to visit had all kinds of lambs, but didn't take any
of his. Took the one lamb that fell in
town, that's all he had, took his lamb. David said, tell me
who did that. I'll take care of it. You're the man. You're the man. And the Spirit of God moved David
to pen in Psalm 51. He said, against thee and thee
only have I sinned, done this evil in your sight. So this bride, she calls out
to these that are referred to as the daughters of Jerusalem.
Daughters of Jerusalem. She seeks, wherever she hopes,
help can be found. These daughters of Jerusalem.
Now, you know, I've looked at that and I've read so many things
concerning who these daughters were, the daughters of Jerusalem.
Now you have to understand, who's talking to these daughters? Who's talking to them? the spouse of the Lord, his beloved,
that's who's talking to him. And she's talking to somebody
else. She's talking to somebody. And
they're referred to as the daughters of Jerusalem. And as I considered,
I wanted to find out what does the scripture say about these
daughters? Some say that they're Young believers,
some say, well, let's see what God has to say about it. Turn
back to Psalm of Solomon, chapter two, verses one and two. Psalm
of Solomon two, one and two. I am the rose of Sharon and the
lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so
is my love among the daughters. Now the scripture refers to these daughters as the thorns. And the lily is obviously the
vine. So these daughters of Jerusalem,
nominal professors? Those tares among the wheat?
Who are they? There's one group of people, the bride's
speaking to another group of people, the daughters. I don't know who they are. I
don't know who they are. I know there's always tares among
the wheat. You remember when the Lord gave
that parable And the evil one came and sowed
tares that night, and the workers wanted to, you know, when the
tares started growing up, they went and they asked the master,
you want us to go rip them up? He said, no, no, no, no, you
leave them alone. Let them grow together, leave them alone. He
said, in the harvest, there'll be a separation. I don't know
who they are. You don't know who they are.
I don't know who they are. I know the scripture says there's
always cares among the weak, and that those that are approved
may be made manifest. I know that, but I don't know
who they are. She don't know who they are. But she's talking
to whoever she can get to talk to. If you find him, who they
are is, but one other thing that gives me some indication of who
they are. Here she says in verse eight,
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, to find my beloved,
Did you tell him that I am sick of love? And then I want you
to listen to the question that the daughters of Jerusalem asked
the bride. She asked the bride, verse 9,
what is thy beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest
among women. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? He says, you're asking us if
we find your beloved to tell him that you're sick of love.
Well, tell us this. Tell us who he is. Tell us the
difference of your beloved. Tell us the difference of him
that's different from all the other. Tell us the difference.
We don't know the difference. Her heart just explodes. Oh, you want me to tell you about
my beloved? Let me tell you. My beloved is
white. Holy. He's God. And ready. He's my redeemer. He was made
flesh for me. He's the chiefest among 10,000. His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black
as raven. He is the everlasting I Am. I Am. His eyes made with love and affection
by the rivers of water washed with milk thickly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices
and sweet flowers, his lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling
myrrh, that smell that anointed the tabernacle. When he speaks to me, it just
has the most wonderful fragrance. His hands, his hands of power,
compassion, or his gold ring set with a barrel in his belly
is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. He is altogether wonderful. His legs, his pillows, marvelous,
the omnipotent, sovereign. Where's your God, David? Our
God's in the heavens. He has done whatsoever he is
pleased to do. Old Nebuchadnezzar, you know,
whenever, after the Lord put him out there in the field, let
him graze for about seven years, his hair grows like eagle feathers,
you know. You know what he had to say then?
He doeth as he will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. No man stays his hand. His legs are as pillars of marble,
said his sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he is altogether loving. I pray that the Lord bring us afresh to Himself. I thank God for the privilege
to have been with you. Thank you. Pray the Lord bless
you.