I invite your attention back
to the Song of Solomon, chapter 1. The title of my message this morning
is, The Church's Desire and Fear. Verse 7 says, Tell me, O thou
whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest where thou makest thy
flock to rest at noon. For why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? Sometimes people
post a verse of scripture on the internet without any commentary
and that's usually the way I like it because most of the commentary
is of no value whatsoever. This last week Brother Richard
Wormack of Shreveport, Louisiana posted this verse on scripture
on Facebook, I think. And Debbie read it to me. I was
playing a game and not looking at Facebook or something, and
she read it to me. And it would not leave my head. From the moment I heard it, I
rehearsed it over my head all week long, thinking about this
passage of scripture. Tell me. the Bride of Christ
says. Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest, and that means feedest the flock,
where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, for why should
I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? And the Song of Solomon is a
powerful and a mature look at the relationship between Christ
and his bride. Because of the nature of the
language, it is very visual, it is sensual, it is loving,
it is romantic. Because of that language, young
Jewish men were not allowed to read the book until they turned
30 years old. They just weren't ready for the
subject matter. It speaks of love, Perhaps like
no other book in all of scripture speaks of love. It speaks of
yearning to be with the one who you love and that's true of everyone
who is in love or loves someone. You long to be with them. The
longer I've been married to this sweet gal over here that just
played that lovely offer to her, the longer I've been with her,
the more I want to spend time with her. Usually when Folks
say familiarity breeds contempt, but in this case it breeds content. I like to be with my wife. I
don't care if it's just she gets in the car with me and we go
to the grocery store. It's a time together that I enjoy. And this book is about love,
true love of Christ and his church of the believer and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul said for me to live is Christ
and to die is gain. He was centered on something
for sure and he said to die would be far better. The verse here
before us is the language of the heart It's the language of
the heart of the church revealed in her love for her husband,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And she only desires for the
kisses of His lips. She don't want another lover.
She don't want another friend. She only desires the kisses of
His lips. She accounts Him as the chiefest
among 10,000. She speaks as one who is totally
enamored with Him. For her heart there is no other
but Him. Sometimes she thinks of herself,
as all believers do, and when she realizes it, she mourns over
her sin and seeks Him out. That's clearly set forth in the
fifth chapter of this book, which is one of the most beautifully
written chapters in all of Scripture. Our Lord says, I am come 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 milk. Eat, O friends, drink,
yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. And the beloved says, I sleep. This is the bride of Christ.
But my heart waketh. 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. And she says, I have
put off my coat. How shall I put it on? I've washed
my feet. How shall I defile them? My beloved,
that is Christ, put his hand by the hole of the door, and
my bowels were moved within me. I rose up to open to my beloved. My hands dropped with the myrrh,
and the fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the
lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn
himself. She didn't want to get up and
let him in. She didn't want to dirty her feet. Wouldn't have
to put on her nightgown or her robe and go to the door. And
when she got there, he was gone. He 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 watchman
that went about the city, they found me. She done gone out into
the streets looking for him now. They smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. That's
a picture of the law exposing you, condemning you. And she
says, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my
beloved, Tell you him that I'm lovesick, I'm sick of love. Tell
him, tell him that. What is my beloved more than
any other beloved? O thou fairest among women. What
is thy beloved more than any other beloved that thou dost
charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy.
the cheapest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves
on the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitless sand. His
cheeks are a bed of spices, of sweet flowers. His lips are like
lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold
rings set with beryl. His belly is bright ivory overlaid
with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble,
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance as Lebanon, excellent
as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this is my
friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." That's a woman in love. That's
a woman in love. This is the mark of the Church
of God, to have a singular interest in the Lord Jesus Christ and
to love Him. with all their soul. With all
their soul. She could say with David, Whom
have I in heaven but thee, and whom on earth do I desire but
thee? She could say also with David, As the heart panteth after
the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul
thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? She cries with those who came
to see the disciples. Sirs, we would see Jesus. She's
been with Him in the delights of His chamber. Now she speaks
of desiring to be with Him wherever He is and whatever He's doing,
wherever He's working, wherever He's interceding, wherever He
advocates. David wrote, I was glad when
they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. In
Isaiah chapter 2, speaking of the calling in of the Gentiles,
it says, And many people shall go and say, Come ye, come ye,
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of
the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will
walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth
the law of the word, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Our Lord says, Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am
in the midst of them. And she sings the soul of a blood-bought
sinner, ever aware of his sin, ever desiring to be with the
Savior. One of the strangest lives in the world is the life
of the child of God. Donna Bell said it's the happiest,
miserablest life you could ever have. And that's the truth. The
only time you have troubles is when you're actually a child
of God. And they're real troubles. Because of what Christ has done
for her. He chose her. Paid her sin debt. Washed her clean in His blood.
Has been made to be her righteousness. He's justified her and sanctified
her and saved her from the wrath to come. And here's what He says
of her. She says, I'm black yet I'm coming
to the Son. Black, don't look at me. She's
talking about her sin. He says this of her. Thou art
fair, my beloved. There is no spot in thee. He's talking about you who are
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ looks at
you and finds no fault, no spot, no wrinkle or any such thing. Why? Because of what he's done
for you. because of what he's done for
you. He says in Ezekiel 16, And thy renown, speaking of the church,
went forth among the heathen for thy beauty. For it is perfect
through my comeliness which I have put upon thee, saith the Lord. The church's desire is singular
and absolute. It desires to be with Christ
and no one else. That's his avocation, that's
his vocation, that's his life. This is the church as she speaks
honoring her Lord, her Savior with a single mind and a single
heart. She's not interested in programs or activities or social
gatherings. She cares not for someone to
speak of the value of this life. or health or prosperity. She
has no interest in someone telling her how she can dress up to improve
her dying carcass or make a mark on the world. She wants to see
and be with Jesus Christ where He is. She loves Him with true
sweetheart love. In this text she declares her
love toward Him as the love of her soul. The love of her soul. She says in verse 7, Tell me,
O thou whom my soul loveth. Now only a believer can understand
that. Because only a believer knows what kind of person he
really is. Speaking of himself, she understands
that. Sometimes the cares of this world,
the troubles that attend us, the state of the nation, the
state of the globe gets in our way. Our sin often takes our
eyes off of Him. But in our soul, in our soul, we love Him. We don't love Him like we ought
to. Don't even love Him like we want to. Don't love Him like
we're going to. But every child of God can say,
tell me whom my soul loveth. whom my soul loveth." They cherish
Him. They cherish Him. They adore
Him. Her ears perk up when she hears
His name. Her heart leaps at the sound
of His voice and she longs to be with those who cherish Him. Cherish Him with like precious
faith. Paul Peter said, to you who believe therefore. He is
precious. singular, absolute, honorable,
and of great value. And of great value. Yet when
you talk to men of Christ today, they think like, well, I know
him, I know all about him, I know who that is. He's a little old
Jesus. He's trying his best, but can't. He's the one that
hung on a cross. We celebrate him in a manger
at Christmas and on a cross at Easter. I know who you're talking
about. A lot of people call themselves
Christians, call themselves believers, who have no interest in Jesus
Christ. This is not the church. The church of the living God
has a singular and absolute interest. Oh, tell me who my soul loves. My soul loves. The church loves
to be with Christ. That's what it's desire is. To be with Christ. That's what's
important to her. She wants to hear from Him. of
his mouth that drips with grace. We look at this text, we see
the desire and fear of love. Three things are evident here
in this passage. The character in which she addresses
him, how she addresses him. She addresses him as a shepherd,
out taking care of his sheep. And she wants to know about food. And she wants to know about rest.
What a thing. That's what the children of God
want to know about. They want to know about the shepherd.
They want to know about the food and about rest. The desire of
love is to be with him. She does not seek advice from
another, but beseeches him to tell her. She goes to the source.
Oh, whom my soul loveth, tell me. Tell me. She wants to hear from Him, from
His Word. He will... How will that be? How can I hear from the Lord
Jesus Christ? I know men talk about hearing
from Him in visions and dreams. No, it's not. Let him that hath
a dream tell his dream. The Lord said, but let him that
hath My Word preach My Word faithfully. How are you going to hear the
voice of Christ? How are you going to hear the
voice of Christ? I'm not a voice, I'm a man. I'm not worthy of
anything. Apart from the grace of God,
there's no difference for me than anybody in the world. There's no difference for me
than the guy that pulled out that rifle and shot all those policemen.
There's no difference between me and him. Except the grace
of God. We're the same person. We have
the same desires naturally that all men have, but the church
is different. The true church has a desire for the Lord Jesus
Christ and they want to hear his voice. How can that take
place? How can that take place? Only
where he feeds his flock and lays them down to rest. It's
the only place you can hear his voice because that's where he
is. That's where he is. Many who travel long distances
to hear the gospel have been asked why they go so far when
there's a church house on every corner. I know many of you have
been asked that. The answer is they want to be
where Christ is. The next time somebody asks you
that, how come you don't go to the church over here? It's close
to your house. Tell them, say, I want to be where Christ is.
They won't understand. But you're telling the truth.
I want to be where Christ feeds His flock. I want to be where
Christ causes His sheep and makes His sheep to lay down to rest.
I want to go where Christ alone is preached and declared as the
only hope of humanity. There are churches all over this
world. There's 15 Baptist churches on the Cherokee Indian Reservation.
Fifteen. Is Christ being preached there?
The pastors I've talked to, and I've talked to just about every
one of them, they say yes, but then when you get to talking
about who Christ is, they say no. The church wants Him. The bride of Christ says, I want
Him. I want His kisses. I want His presence. I want to
know where He feeds His flock, and I want to know where He causes
His flock to lay down. That's what I want to know. And
you're not going to find it but one place, and that's in the
true church. where God has called out his children, his elect,
through the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is that food. It's that food. This is always
the case in the word of God. One man said that the definition
of preaching the gospel is one beggar telling another beggar
where the bread is. And that's what it is. That's
what it is. When Peter was asked of the Lord
three times, do you love me? And Peter answered yes twice
and then finally says, you know everything, you know I love you.
Our Lord told him three times, feed my sheep, feed my sheep,
feed my lambs. That's the language of us receiving
the gospel. Eating and feeding and supping
and fellowshipping with Jesus Christ.
This is food. How long are you going to go
without food? We've got a ton of food over there. I'm going
to eat as much as I can. You know why? Because I like
food. I'm a food fan. My wife fixed
some lima beans yesterday, seasoned just right, and some mashed taters
and stewed beef, and I just about gorged myself on them because
I love food. You know what you do every day
when you get up? You eat. You eat three times a day, most
of you do, and of course you have to. See, the only way to
stay alive is to eat. If you stop eating, you die.
You die. That's what happens. The gospel
is the food of the elect. Don't tell me you love Jesus
Christ and you won't come here and preach. Don't tell me you
love Jesus Christ and you don't want to be where he is and with
his flock. Because the people who love him do. Tell me! Who my soul lover? Who do you
feed your flock? Who do you cause them to lay
down and rest? That's who I want to be. That's
what the child of God desires to be. The gospel is food. It's always been the cake. Though
manna is plain and unadorned, it is the bread from heaven and
only that alone will satisfy your soul. It is manna from heaven. The people didn't like the manna
in the desert. They liked it for a little bit
because there's hunger, but then they got tired of it after 40
years of the same stuff. Every morning for five days,
six days a week, they'd get up and there it was and they'd have
to make their bread and their biscuits and things like that
out of it. Pretty soon they got where they hated it. And they
even said it, Numbers 21, I so loathe this light breeze. We don't want no more of this.
We want some quails. We want some leeks and garlics
of Egypt. We want some beef stew. We want
something other than this manna. But the Lord said in Deuteronomy
6, I gave you manna to prove if you would walk in my statues.
In other words, I gave you manna to prove that what I give is
sufficient. What I give is satisfactory. What I give is what you want. And they were proven worthy by
serpents that God sent out to bite them because they said they
hated the Lord Jesus Christ. And anybody who wants to add
anything to the worship service other than the preaching of the
gospel or singing hymns that glorify the Lord Jesus Christ,
add something to it if you want to. You're saying, I don't like
Christ. It's that simple. It's that simple. Worship is singular. This woman
is worshiping Christ. Oh tell me, thou whom my soul
loveth, where do you feed your flock? Where do you cause your
flock to lay down and go to sleep? But the thing is about manna,
it's plain. Christ is not fancy. There's no comeliness in him
that men should desire him. He's just plain. He's one thing.
He's God Almighty, the Son of God. God in human flesh. Just one thing. Not fancy at
all. Not religious at all. Religion
was the one that gave him trouble while he lived here. Just one thing. Here's the issue.
Is that one thing enough? Does that one thing satisfy your
heart? I can tell you this of every
true believer. They can never get enough. of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. They never get over it. It's
the only thing that ever satisfies them. It's the only thing that
ever comforts them. It's the only thing that ever
convicts them. It's the only thing that ever seals them. The
blessed gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you eat that manna,
or with plain, some folks says, ain't much to that. Can't you
give us more? No. When you ingest it, you'll find
it tastes like honey in the honeycomb. Like a feast of fat things, wine
on the leaves, well refined. When Isaiah said, Behold your
God. Behold your God. Look. Stand on the mountains, he said.
Stand on Zion's hill. Stand in Jerusalem. Stand up
and raise up your voice and cry to the people. Behold God! Here's God! How did he describe
him first? Behold your God. He shall feed His flock like
a shepherd. And if you're going to see God,
that's the God you're going to see and that's the God you're
going to love. The great, good, glorious Shepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And what's He going to do? He's
going to feed the flock. That's all he does. With what?
This right here. He's going to feed the flock. Naomi had lost it all. All she
had left was her daughter Ruth. She had lost her husband. Both
of her daughters-in-law had lost their husbands. Which was Naomi
and her husband's Benelux sons. They were gone. She had nothing.
Famine was sent to the land where she was at Moab and she was starving
to death and dying. Then she heard some good news.
She heard some good news. It says in Ruth chapter 1 verse
6, Then she arose with her daughters, daughters-in-law, that she might
return from the country of Moab. Why? For she heard in the country
of Moab how that the Lord had visited his children in giving
them bread. And let me tell you, if you meet
Christ, that's how he's coming. He is the bread of life. If you
hear the gospel, that's what you're going to hear. You're
going to hear him giving you bread, if you actually hear the
gospel. You don't come for your decision
whether or not you are hungry or not. If the gospel comes to
you, God has already made you hungry by His grace and His mercy.
And when He comes, He don't come offering you something, He comes
giving. See, the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread. Giving them bread. The word of
God, the gospel is the sustenance, the bread of the flock of God.
The only way the Word of God is preached is by the preaching
of the Gospel. I know men can pick up this book
and pick out numerous texts and contexts and say they're doing
exegesis of the Scripture and being honestly hermeneutical
and all that kind of theological garbage that people talk about. They'll even tell you, I can
preach anywhere from this book and not ever preach Christ and
still be preaching the Word of God. But let me tell you this
right now. You can't preach Genesis 1 You can't preach Revelation
22. You can't preach Malachi. You
can't preach Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You can't preach any
book in this Bible, any word of this Bible until you have
preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul said that. Or rather Peter said that when
he said we are born not of corruptible seed but incorruptible seed.
Even the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And this
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Man can preach a whole
lot of Bible and never talk about Jesus Christ. He's not preaching
the gospel and you're not being faithful. That's not the bread
of life. The only way to preach this word
is to preach it in Jesus Christ. To see Christ in every semicolon
and every comma and every phrase. That's how you preach this word.
Often times I look at a passage and I can't see Christ in it.
I don't even mess with it. I figure one of these days the
Lord will open it up to me and I'll see Christ there and then
I'll give it to you. And I know you feel the same way. This book
is a wondrous thing. It's so full. So full. But it's full of one thing. It's
full of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God, the Gospel,
is what we have. That's how you're going to find
out where Christ is. That's where you're going to
find out where He feeds His flock. The believer wants to be where
the Word is preached. This is no small thing. This
is no small thing. The Bible is no more than a prop
in the world today and in religion. It's just a prop. Men and women
swear on it and they are sworn into office by putting their
hands on it. Preachers use it as a source
of mottos or treat it as some self-help book or a book of regulations
and rules whereby they control men and women to make a fair
show in the flesh. Preachers rest it to the destruction
of men's souls as well as their own. To most it's a relic, an
antiquity, a novelty or a superstitious talisman. But this is how God's
people are fed. And people are surprised sometimes
when preachers talk about the Bible. You listen to preachers
talk on TV when they invite a preacher in to give some view on some
social aspect or something like that. They don't talk about the
Bible. They use general terms like love and kindness and stuff
like that. But there ain't no love outside
of Jesus Christ. God's love is there and there
alone. No true love outside of Jesus Christ, except love for
yourself and that's what's going on in this world today. Love
for self. Me, my mind, my idea, my opinion,
that's what counts in this world and you better agree with me
or I'm going to have anything. You're a faggot if you don't agree with
me. This word's not like that. Word of God. It's what men ought to preach.
Many years ago, Marvin Stonica, when he was preaching at Harbeth
Avenue, after they'd finally found a little house to meet
in, we met in a karate studio for quite a while because one
of his daughters was a fifth degree black belt in Taekwondo.
But we met in his house and he's preaching. And after he preached,
this couple came up to him and said, we're just amazed. And
he said, how come? She says, you preach from the
Bible. And he said, well, do you go to church? He said, yeah.
They said, yeah, we go to church. He said, where does your preacher
preach from? He said, well, he takes newspaper articles and
magazine articles and puts them up on a screen, and we discuss
these things. They were amazed that he preached
out of the Bible. That's where every child of God
needs to go, where the Bible is preached. The word both living
and written is bread. is bread, and is found where
the great shepherd feeds his flock. And that's in his church. That's in his church. Isaiah
55, 10 and 11 says, For as the rain cometh down from heaven,
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh
bring forth and bud, that he may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater. That's what the word of God is.
Bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It's going to feed my sheep.
It's going to feed my sheep. It shall not return to me, but
it shall accomplish that which I please. It shall prosper in
a thing or two. I said it. She says, tell me. Tell me. I've been in your chambers. I've
tasted the kisses of your lips. Now tell me. Where are you working? Who are you working with? Now where are you causing them
to lay down? Tell me, whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest
thy flock. And what does the sated soul
do when it is fully fed? It lays down and rests. Well, we need this so we can
get some energy and go out and serve Jesus. Now what that says, it lays down
and rests. She wants to go where he works. Not where she works. He's the
one out there doing it. He's the one making intercession
ever for the children of God. He's the one that's the advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. She
wants to go where he works. And he works through this book.
He works through this book. He ain't going to work no other
way. The Holy Spirit's not going to show up. He's not going to
do anything except take the things of Christ and show them to His
people. He's the Spirit of truth. He's the Spirit of God and leads
men to the truth. And that's what they're going
to find. That's what they're going to
find when the Holy Spirit shows up. Lays down and rests. Tell me.
Thou whom my soul loveth. Where do you make your flock?
Lay down. and rest. Where do you make them lay down
and rest? She doesn't ask where his people
work or where he assigns tasks to his people or even where his
people serve. He's the shepherd and she knows
that he leads his people to green pastures and besides still waters
and hides them in the shadow of the rock. Especially at noontime. She said, I don't know where
you go at noon when it's mighty hot out there. In the heat of
the day, they're often put to trials, aren't they? Remember
the sower of the seed? One of the seeds that didn't
bring forth because of the trials, the sun came out upon it and
burned it up because it had no root. In the heat of the day,
when the sun's shining hard and it's too hot to even do anything,
where do you cause your sheep to lay down and rest and find
shade? Where do you do that at? a side that still was. Where
does the flock of God, the church, rest? Strange lot, the church. They rest in a work they didn't
do. Think about it. That's what they
do. They rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They rest because they've done
nothing. That don't make sense. It does
to a believer. It does if you're a sheep. It does if you're part
of that flock. The shepherds led you into the
shade at noontime. The shepherds fed you. It makes
sense to you. They rest not because they're
tired, but they rest because they've been fully sated. with
the bread from heaven. They're satisfied. Religion disdains
rest. Religion calls those who trust
only the merits of Christ for their salvation, gladly declaring
they had nothing to do with it and can do nothing for it, and
can do nothing to make it better or make it worse. It was already
finished on Calvary 2,000 years ago. Religion disdains that.
You see, a religion according to the Word of God, in Isaiah
chapter 28, they made a covenant with death. Yeah, all right. When the preacher stands up,
everybody says, sure, it's for heaven. It's already there. Raise
your hand. I'm going to him, why? Because I walked down an
aisle. What do you think about Christ? Well, I don't know much
about him. You don't? Basic, common, elementary, kindergarten,
gospel, is that God is sovereign, that he elected a people, that
man is to pray, that Christ died in the womb instead of His people,
that the Holy Spirit affectionately calls His people, and God will
make them to persevere and will preserve them to eternity. That's
basic gospel. That's not theological out here.
Oh, that's great theology. It ain't either. It's common
sense. I had nothing at all for God. I couldn't save myself.
I was dead and doomed and dying. Who's going to save me? God's
got to save me. I'm dead. How can I be alive?
God must raise me up. I can't do anything about my
sin. God must put my sin away. Every child of God knows that
and he wants to hear it over and over and over again. Redundant. Repetition. Over again. Tell
me more. Tell me that old story. Tell
it over and over again. I want to hear it. That's basic
stuff. That's basic stuff. But religions made a covenant
with death. They're not worried about death. They think they're
okay. I did for years. I didn't give a hoot about Jesus
Christ. I'd go to church when I was in trouble or when I was
a little guilty and I'd go down front and cry a little bit and
they made me feel better and I'd go out and get drunk the next
night. Or maybe the same night. I remember several times coming
into church with a hangover. My breath smelling like whiskey. Interested in Christ? I didn't
have any interest. I didn't know who he was. Never met him, never
really heard from him in the pulpit, never went to church
all my life and never heard the word substitution until a sovereign
grace preacher preached it to me. Never heard the word. Now these are men that stood
in the pulpit three times a week and preached and preached and
preached and preached and never said the word substitution. Never
said that Christ actually died and finished our salvation with
that death, satisfied God's law, propitiated God and those for
whom he died shall never perish. Never heard that. I heard, won't you come to Jesus?
Softly and tenderly Jesus is coming. I'm just as I am. I heard men stand up there and
tell sad stories and beg people to close their eyes and raise
their hands if they were out of fellowship, if they were out
of this and then come down front and confess it. They want to
see a fire show in the flesh. They want to see people down
there. Had a psychological thing to them and they could put it
on their records. They were keeping score. You see, they had a covenant
with death, I had one. I walked down that aisle when
I was 12 years old. I wept and cried, like you're supposed to. I shook the hands, had everybody
congratulate me, like I'd done something. Congratulations, you've
been saved. That don't even make sense, does
it? You shouldn't be congratulating
God if you're going to congratulate His way, if He's the one that
saved you. But you could not tell me that
I wasn't going to heaven. Because the preachers in the
church told me never to doubt that confession when I walked
down there. They told me never to doubt it. But I'm telling
you this, for all those years I had no interest whatsoever
in Jesus Christ. And He's all the interest of
the church. Tell me. Thou whom my soul loveth, where
do you feed your flock? Where do you cause them to lay
down? Our Lord also said, of those people, that they had a
covenant with death, that they made lies the refuge, and hid themselves in falsehood,
hid themselves in falsehood, and talked to them of rest. And you won't hear that. They'll
say, I'll tell you, let's sing this hymn. We'll work till Jesus
comes. Let's sing that. No, let's sing
this one. Peace, peace, wonderful peace
come down from the heaven above. Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They'll work till Jesus comes. They'll put feet to their prayers.
They'll be the hands and feet of their amputee deity. But they
cannot rest. They cannot rest. Why? Because
they're never satisfied. They're never satisfied. They're
going about to establish their own righteousness because they're
not satisfied with Christ who is the righteousness of God and
the only righteousness we have. So the church, the believer says,
you tell me whether you make your flock to lay down and rest.
That's where I want to go. That's where I want to go. I
know I can't do nothing. And I know everything I do is
sin. So I sure would like to rest from that labor. And that
heavy burden, wouldn't you? Nothing I can do. That's just
a heavy thing to me. Nothing I can do. So where can I go that
it's done? Where can I go to feed and lay
down? Tell me. Tell me. The prophet
Zechariah says the women of Israel shall not do iniquity. Why? Because
they've been saved by God's grace. They don't speak lies, neither
is a deceitful tongue found in their mouth. Why? Because Christ
has put away their sin by the sacrifice of himself. How are
they described? For they shall feed and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid. They shall feed and lie down. And none shall make them afraid.
Oh, sweet rest of Jesus Christ. Where are you going to find it?
Where He feeds His sheep. You are going to find it where
He makes them to lie down to rest. And they will not be afraid.
David said, Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causes
us to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts. And
we shall be satisfied. with thy goodness, the goodness
of thy house, even thou only can we shall be satisfied. You know what it is to be satisfied? This afternoon, after we eat
and have this afternoon message, you know what I'm going to do
over there in that lounge chair and that rock? Turn it on, see
if I can find a NASCAR race because I like the sound. Wake up when they have the wrecks
like everybody else does. I'm going to take me a nap. You
know what? That's not going to be any trouble
for me. It's not going to be any work for me. It's not going
to be any strain. You won't go there and see a
strained look on my face while I'm sleeping. Why? Because I'm resting. I'm resting. Do you understand? Can you get
that? You know I'm resting. You know I'm resting. Finally,
the church or the believers fear. She says this. Tell me, O thou,
my soul, whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon. For why should I be as one that
turneth aside the flocks of thy companions? The word companions is also translated
enemies. Why should I be as one that turn
aside by the flock of companions? Well, I'm a Christian. I ain't
never going to mess up. She said, tell me. Make me know
where you feed your sheep and where you make them to lie down.
If I don't know, if you won't tell me, I don't
know what's going to happen to me. I don't know where I might
end up. I've seen many pastors, talked
to many pastors who've failed to indoctrinate good people with
Jesus Christ alone. And that's what it is, brethren.
It is an indoctrination. The word is didactos. You shall
be taught of the Father. You shall be brainwashed of the
Father. The Father will teach you. He
will indoctrinate you. I've seen many who preach the
gospel for many years and all of a sudden their people get
married and they leave the gospel and go to a false church and
a false teaching. The preachers wonder what happened. Wonder how that could be. They
seem mystified when the members leave to go to a religion that
works the will. Why is it? Because you didn't feed them. You didn't tell them what Christ
causes his people to rest. You didn't do it over and over
again. She says, tell me. Because if you
don't, I'm liable to end up anywhere. You say that couldn't happen
to me. Don't tell me what couldn't happen to you. God lifts his grace from
you for one second. Anything can happen to you. God
turns you loose, you're done. You're done. Tell me, beloved
Shepherd. Tell me. There are many out there
who say, lo, here is Christ and there is Christ. Christ said,
believe them not. There are many who say, go and hear this man.
He preaches some truth. There's no such a thing as some
truth. There's either the truth or no truth. Tell me, beloved shepherd, where
you feed your flock, where you make them to lie down to rest
so I can go there and I can feed and I can lie down. Christ said,
He that is of God, heareth God's words. Heareth God's word. Where are you going to hear about
Christ? Where His flock is. Where are you going to feed? Where He feeds His flock. Where
are you going to rest? Where He causes His flock to
rest. That's where. Nowhere else. Nowhere
else. You're going to feed where He's
the shepherd of the flock. He's the shepherd. Father bless us
for understanding bread crossing. Amen.