If you would open your Bibles with me, please
to the Song of Solomon 5.
I take the view of this book
held by great men of old.
That the Song of Solomon
is about Jesus Christ and His bride.
But there is an interpretation held
in some circles today
that says that this book
is about nothing more
than the love between a man and a woman.
And I want to very quickly address that
because there may be some of you
perhaps listening that have only ever heard
that interpretation.
And so, let me remind you
that when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees
in John 5,
because in their search,
in their study of Scriptures,
they missed the One Whom
all Scripture was about.
And Jesus did not say there
that these are they which testify,
which speak of Me,
except the Song of Solomon.
But rather, all Scripture,
it communicates to us truth
about Jesus Christ.
You see, marriage itself, we're told
in Ephesians 5:25 is giving us a picture
of Jesus Christ and His bride,
His church.
And we see this allegory
of God and His bride all over Scripture.
So then, the subject matter of this book:
The Song of Solomon,
just like the rest of the Scripture
is a greater than Solomon -
Jesus Christ.
He must have the first place in everything.
And so, this book contains
such beautiful, picturesque allegories
and parables;
it is meant to communicate to us
something of the deep and intimate
love relationship between Jesus Christ
and His bride - His church.
And just to clarify, by "church,"
I do not mean a building
or an organization or an institution.
But by "His bride," "His church,"
I mean the redeemed people of God;
the true believers of every age.
You see, true Christianity
is a love relationship
between Jesus Christ and His bride,
the believer.
It is about being loved by and loving Him.
It is about knowing and being with Him.
Listen to me now,
because someone can have all the doctrines
lined up like mason work -
stone upon stone -
and may be able to argue theology
as good as any scribe.
But as the Apostle Paul said
if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you don't have love for Him,
then you're still lost and under a curse.
Have you seen that Jesus Christ
is everything to you?
And so you love
and you desire
and you want Him
more than anything else in life.
Satisfied in Him alone.
You see, that is what a true Christian is.
Someone who loves Jesus.
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial,
for once he has been approved,
he will receive a crown of life
which the Lord has promised to who?
To those who love Him.
That is the only way you're going to persevere.
A true Christian, when you boil it down,
is someone who loves Jesus.
Not a Jesus of their own making, of course.
But you love and want Jesus Christ
as He is revealed in the Scriptures.
You want Him more than anything else in life.
Let me ask you,
do you have a form of religion;
a form of Christianity
that really consists of no more
than a well set form of doctrines in your head?
Or has this Word of Christ truly penetrated your heart?
You see, this is life and death.
Listen, despite your failing;
despite, like the bride here in our text,
which we're going to look at in a moment,
you may at times grow cold
in your love for Him.
Can you honestly say like Peter,
"Lord, Thou knowest I love Thee!"
You see, Christianity is not giving
mental assent to a few doctrinal statements.
Ticking off a daily list of rules.
You know, read Bible. Done that once today.
Tick that one off. Prayed. Done that one.
Kept this rule. Kept that rule.
But rather, Christianity is faith working -
real faith always results in good works.
It is faith working through love.
We do those good things
out of love for Him.
And brethren, I am convinced;
I am fully persuaded of this,
that the primary way in which you will grow
as a Christian,
and you will become more like
the Person of Jesus Christ,
is that you learn and you come to know
more of His great love to you,
which is what I want to happen
in this message today.
You see, the Bible says,
we love Him because He first loved us.
The more we truly of His love for us,
the more we will love Him.
So, we must ask,
what does love for Him look like?
What is it evidenced by?
Well, Jesus said, if anyone loves Me,
he will keep My Word.
Whoever does not love Me,
does not keep my words.
So, how do we as Christians increase in this?
How do we as Christians
grow in obedience and become more like Him?
And keep His Word and keep His commands more?
What will motivate us to do this?
Well, if obedience to Him is linked to love to Him,
then we grow in obedience to Him
when we grow in love for Him.
So then, how do we come to love Him more?
Well, we love Him because He first loved us.
Brethren, hear me.
The more you know -
the more you personally know,
not just in a general sense
of His love for everyone,
but Him even more you personally know
and you take ownership of these truths
of His love for you.
This will cause you to love Him more;
to lean upon and trust Him more,
and act in obedience in love to Him
out of love for Him.
And so, I want you to see now
in these verses which we're going to read,
how Christ woos and He draws His bride
by His sovereign love -
a love that passes all understanding.
And even when in times like the bride
here in this text, grows cold towards Christ,
His love for her -
His love for you, believer,
is passionate and unfailing.
And let this motivate you
to keep yourself in the love of God;
to cling to Him.
And so, let's look and learn of this now
as we read Song of Solomon,
and I'm going to read from chapter 5,
from verses 2-6.
We'll probably touch on a couple more verses as well.
But I'll just read v. 2-6 now
and then we'll pray.
"I sleep, 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.'
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 his hand
by the hole of the door
and my bowels were moved for him.
I rose up to open to my beloved;
and my hands dropped with myrrh,
and 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."
Let's pray.
Oh, Father, I pray now
as we look at these glorious truths
of Your unfailing love towards us,
may Your Spirit teach us now, Lord.
We don't want to just learn Bible trivia today.
But, Lord, help us to own this truth
that we can see saying, my beloved -
these words of Christ - is mine.
Help them belong to us now.
I pray, Lord,
You would shine Your love into our hearts.
Help us, Lord. Have mercy.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
Ok, so, in the preceding chapters of this book,
the bride of Christ - the believer -
she has experienced many
wonderful times of knowing
Christ's love and His presence.
And every time when she has grown cold
towards Him, Jesus has never once
cooled His love for her.
And immediately before our text in v. 1,
the bride is once again,
she is experiencing a refreshing time
of Christ's love and sweet fellowship with Him.
However, v. 2 begins with what should
really be a new chapter here.
It's kind of an awkward chapter break.
(He's referring to a break between Song of Solomon 5:1 and 5:2.)
And so sometime has elapsed
between v. 1 and v. 2 here.
Because if you notice that,
after a previous season of feeling close
to the heart of Christ
and clinging to Him in love,
in v. 2 here, a season of night
has once come again upon the believer.
The bride here in v. 2 is once again
in a season of darkness.
Does that sound familiar?
And so, in v. 2 here,
as Christ comes to the believer's door,
the bride says, "I sleep,
but my heart waketh.
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh,
saying, 'open to me.'"
So, notice here in this verse,
that Christ at this time,
He has somewhat withdrawn His presence,
because at this point,
He is outside of her house here
and knocking.
The bride here, she has locked Him out.
So, firstly, I want you to notice
the current state of the believer
here in this text.
I want you to notice her current attitude,
which has caused Christ
to withdraw Himself.
She says, "I sleep, but my heart waketh."
At this point in time,
she is half asleep, half awake.
She's half for Christ,
half for the cares of this world and for self.
She is compromised.
Brethren, maybe this sermon finds you
this morning in a place of compromise;
in a place of half-heartedness;
a place of struggle.
Maybe you've even been real busy
doing Christian things.
But in all your running around;
in all your busyness,
listen to me,
never forget.
Never lose sight of the One
Who you are to do all those things for and with.
In Revelation 2, we hear of Christ
speak to the church of Ephesus.
And He says to them,
I know your works and your labor
and your patience
and how you cannot bear them
which are evil.
And you've tested them which say
they are apostles
and you've found them to be liars.
And He goes on commending them there.
How they have endured and they've labored
with much patience for Christ's name's sake.
But then He says, "nevertheless..."
"I have this against you,
because you have left your first love."
You see, in doing all those things
and all the busyness,
the church there at Ephesus became mechanical.
Because love to Christ
was no longer at the center of it all.
Now, what I want you to see here
in this text is the love of Christ
and His attitude toward the believer
when or if we ever get like that.
Notice here: Christ is knocking at the door
of the believer's heart here.
And He is calling out to her
to open up fully to Him.
Maybe this sermon finds you in a place,
or if you're a Christian,
I certainly suspect there are times
when you feel like Christ
has withdrawn His presence from you,
where He's standing at the door of your heart,
because in your compromised
and half-hearted state in love to Him,
you've locked Him out.
You see believers, when Christ
withdraws His presence like this,
it is not because He is angry with you,
but because He wants what is best for you, believers.
He wants you to learn to cling to Him,
which is what happens to the bride in this book.
By the time you get to chapter 8,
she knows the love of Christ
to be unfailing
and she comes out of the wilderness
leaning upon her beloved.
You know, coming to maturity
as a Christian,
it is really clinging to Christ more.
It's the opposite of worldly maturity
in which people become more independent.
You see, in Christian maturity,
we grow in being dependant upon Him.
And so, what is happening here,
is that Christ, in great love for His spouse,
He is chastening the believer here
in a compromised, half-hearted state
as a father chastens those,
his son in whom He loves,
in whom He delights.
And brethren, we must learn to be careful
not to provoke Christ
to withdraw the sense of His presence.
We're told in the New Testament
to be careful not to quench the Spirit;
not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
As Paul said to Timothy,
take pains to walk in a clear conscience.
Take pains. This sometimes hurts.
You have to cut things off to do it.
Do not walk, believer, in unconfessed sin.
But quickly confess it and forsake it.
Do not live with a defiled conscience.
You see, in the Song of Songs
we're given this principle several times
where the bride of Christ, see,
she exalts these daughters of Jerusalem.
Now these are less mature or new converts.
And this is really the maturer believer
exhorting the younger.
And she exhorts them that ye stir not up,
nor awake my love until he please.
Now, the idea here is like,
supposing I'm sat at home on my sofa,
and I'm asleep and my wife is cuddled up to me,
my right hand is under her head
and my left hand doth embrace her.
And she's just enjoying that loving position,
and then the children come running in
and so my wife Zoe says,
shhh... don't wake your daddy up.
Because she likes this position.
She wants to stay there.
So, she doesn't want them
to stir up, giving me any reason
to remove myself from that position of love
before I would naturally wake up.
The teaching there for Christians
is be careful - be very careful
not to stir up Christ
to withdraw His presence from you.
Now, the next thing I want you to notice,
believer, in this text
is that in our coldness to Him,
I want you to notice how He acts
towards you.
Notice here, in v. 2, the bride,
she is being awakened from her sleep at this point.
She is being awakened from a state
of spiritual slumber.
And when you fall into that state,
the only reason you will awake
is because Christ knocks.
And she is being awakened here by Christ
banging out on the door
calling out to her.
You see, the knocking here,
it's in the sense of Revelation 3:20
where it's not like a gentle and polite knock,
but it's like a hammer.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
This knock is from One Who
out of great love to you, believer,
is desperate for you to open up to Him,
so that He can come and be with you
and you with Him.
But also notice, Jesus doesn't just knock.
But in your half-hearted state
of neglect to Him,
He calls out to you
and He says, "Open to Me,
My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled.
For My head is filled with dew;
My locks with the drops of the night."
And brethren, how often is this
that when we fall into a state
of spiritual slumber,
and it feels as though Christ
is distant from us -
it's not that we can't hear Christ
knocking at the door.
It's not that those promises
suddenly disappear from His Word.
It's not that you can't hear the voice
of your Beloved crying out to you to open up.
But in the Christian's determination
to hold on to some idol;
to hold on to some pathetic state of compromise,
which is between the believer and Christ,
the bride locks Him out.
And even when He knocks
and pleads for you,
you are still stubborn
and won't repent straightaway
and return to your first love.
And so you stay in bed
and you make excuses
which we'll see in a moment,
like the bride does here.
You know, so often,
I've heard believers who are in this state,
where they have some compromise
in love to Christ,
and they say things like,
I feel like Christ has withdrawn His presence from me.
I feel like He's distant from me,
and He's not revealing Himself to me.
But you know, He's hiding His face from me -
as if Christ is to blame.
Let me ask you, what would you think, believer?
If you went to the house
of one of your married ladies in your church.
And all over the house,
you could see notes
that the husband had given to his wife,
saying come away with me, my love.
I just love you so much.
I want to be alone with you.
And your friend, she got a text message
from her husband.
And you're sat next to her
and so you sort of lean over
and have a sneaky read
like ladies often do.
But it said the same thing.
Now what would you think if that wife
then turned around to you and said,
I think my husband is ignoring me?
I think he's gone cold on me.
Believers, listen to me,
Christ never grows cold in His love for you.
The next thing I want you to see here in this text
is look with me in v. 2.
That in the times the believer
has been cold towards Christ,
I want you to take notice here
of Christ's plea for you
to open your heart fully to Him.
Look at His plea here.
There's no fault on His part.
He begins by saying to you,
Open to Me.
Believer, that should be reason enough
for you to open the door,
because of Who He is
Who is knocking at your heart
and calling out to you.
This is the great I AM.
This is the God Who spoke
the universe into existence.
I mean, I'm sure there must be
some person whom you somewhat
admire and esteem.
And if he, or perhaps, she contacted you
and wanted to come over
and have some fellowship with you,
and you'd be really, really excited
about this person coming to visit.
And you're changing your schedule
to fit him in.
Maybe as we're in a church here,
maybe for you it would be a famous preacher
like a John Piper
or a Paul Washer.
Brethren, is it not more exciting
that God wants to have fellowship with you?
That He wants you to come away
and be alone with Him?
You know, it should make us wonder
that God would even knock at our door.
It should astound you, believer, in amazement,
that God would want anything to do with you.
You see, when you're just content
to go on casually in your slumber
and neglect communion with Him,
then at least two things have become manifest.
Number one, you've lost a sense
of Who God is.
To leave Him at the door
and carry on in our compromised state.
And number two, when this happens,
we have developed an over-inflated opinion
of who we are.
To leave Him outside
and be cold to His calling
to have fellowship with Him in everything.
And so let's look at the second part
of Christ's plea here
for you to open up to Him.
Look what He says to you here.
He says, "My sister."
You see, like Abraham and Sarah,
Christ is not only the believer's husband,
but He is also the believer's elder brother.
But whereas Abraham at times,
denied and forsook his bride,
because he wanted to protect his own life,
a greater than Abraham
willingly laid down His life for His bride.
And when the Bible speaks of Christ in this way,
as our Brother,
it is speaking of His humanity.
In all things, Christ was
made like unto His brethren.
You see, Jesus was and is fully God.
Without beginning and without end.
But at a point in time,
He became humanity.
You see, we do not have a God
Who is distant like Allah.
We do not have a God
that only knows in theory how we feel
because He knows all things
like a sort of academic paper.
Because, let me remind you brethren,
that when He took on humanity,
Jesus - He did not become this
super bullet-proof human being.
But He became fully man.
And so He felt firsthand what we feel.
He experienced what we go through.
He hungered; He thirsted like we do.
He sat thus exhausted by the well.
When Jesus went to the tomb
of His friend Lazarus and Lazarus died,
even though He knew He was
about to raise His friend Lazarus,
it says, "Jesus wept."
He wailed there.
Why?
I mean, if He was about to raise Him,
why did He weep?
The answer is because He loved Lazarus.
Jesus, being fully humanity,
He experienced what we feel
at the death of a loved one.
Last time, I preached that somewhere,
I got an email from somewhere claiming that
God does not have feelings.
My Bible says we do not have
a great high priest Who cannot be touched
with feelings.
As it says there in the book of Hebrews,
we do not have a high priest -
a representative -
who is unable to sympathize
with our infirmaties; with our weaknesses,
but One who was in all points tempted
like we are tempted, and yet without sin.
And so therefore, we have
a sympathetic God.
We are told there to go boldly
to His throne of grace to find help
in time of need.
You see, is it not true
that often when the believer is being tormented,
when the believer is struggling,
in that time of need,
they feel like they can't go
to His throne of grace in that state.
But you must own this truth
that this is the time He tells you
to go boldly to Him.
The One Who knocks at your door here, believer,
He's not angry with you because you've fallen,
but He has pity on you.
He wants to help you.
Let me say it again,
when Satan comes to you with temptation
and all manner of assault
and accusations against the Christian,
don't become deceived.
When you're struggling, believer,
don't think that you can't go to Him
in that state to His throne of grace.
Because the time of need
is the time He tells you to come boldly to Him
to find help.
And then look what He calls you next
in His plea for you to open up to Him.
He then calls you, "My love."
Listen to me, believer.
You must get out of this trap
of basing His love for you
on your performance.
It's so easy to fall into.
You know, when you think
you're doing really good.
You get up for prayer early.
You read your Bible.
You share your faith with someone.
You know, you're just giving, sacrificial.
Or, you know whenever you speak
the right words just pour out of your mouth.
And you have no problem
believing Christ's love for you on days like that.
That's just pride.
But then on another day,
you're kind of like the bride here in our text.
You're in a state of spiritual slumber.
And you think,
surely Christ must love me less now.
What is the greatest command in Scripture?
Jesus said: To love God
with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Did Jesus do that perfectly?
Of course, He did.
He always did what is pleasing to the Father.
Well, Jesus said as the Father has loved Me,
even so I have loved you.
With that exact same love
and that intensity of that love
God the Father has for God the Son,
and the Son has for the Father,
that is how much Jesus loves you.
I mean, did the love of Jesus
for the heavenly Father -
does it only go thus far and no further?
Is there any limit to the infinite love
between the Father and the Son?
This world was made for God to share
this love with you.
To show how much the Father loves the Son.
And He does that by loving us in the same way.
You see, believer, there may be times
when you're cooled in your love for Him.
But what was His love towards you like in those times?
Listen to me now, believer,
Jesus - He always passionately loves you
with all of His heart, soul, mind, and strength.
With all of His thoughts,
with all of His emotions.
So how can we not fully open up to Him?
And so then,
Christ's appeal for you to open up
fully to Him - it continues.
Look what He calls you next here, believer.
He calls you, "My dove."
A dove is a clean,
a gentle and beautiful bird.
A symbol of innocence and peace.
Notice the tender way, believer,
in which Christ sees you;
how He looks upon you
with the deepest of affections.
And a dove, of course, in Scripture
is a symbol of the Holy Spirit
who resides in the believer's heart.
You know, and He's beginning to awake
the bride here from her state of slumber.
Let not conscience make you linger
nor of fitness fondly dream,
all the fitness He requireth
is to feel your need for Him.
And this He gives you -
this is the Spirit working in you,
when we feel our need for Him.
And then, look, He calls you,
"My undefiled,"
Or as the New American Standard
translates it, "My perfect one."
Notice, He's not knocking at the door
in wrath for you.
He calls you now His undefiled.
Because from the moment someone
truly repents and puts their faith in Christ,
God is never angry at the believer again.
Because as we've just sung there
on that cross, the wrath of God
was completely satisfied.
He was punished in our place.
Jesus cried out upon that cross,
"It is finished!"
Do you see that?
It is finished.
Or are you still trying to finish it?
Because seeing that is eternal life.
Seeing what He has done there -
that He has completely and perfectly
satisfied the wrath of God
on behalf of all those who will trust Him.
He paid the penalty for the sins of His bride -
past, present, and future.
You know, when I first went to a church,
I was told there that when you believe,
Christ paid for the sins up to the point
that you become a Christian,
and then you were sort of left then.
That didn't bring me much joy.
Of course, it's false.
But He's taken away our sins
as far as the east is from the west,
the Bible says.
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
I mean, think about this.
How far is the east from the west?
You just keep going.
He says, "For I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness."
This is what He's doing here at the door.
"...and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more."
You see, He brings us under conviction
to chasten us as a father chastens the son
in whom he delights, in whom he loves.
But once you rest in His finished work,
He never comes to you in wrath again.
I mean, God did not go to such an expense
to pay for your sins,
so He could just frown at you all day long.
But everything Christ does is perfect.
You see, when He saves someone,
He perfectly saves them.
When God adopts someone as His child,
He perfectly adopts them.
When God forgives someone,
He perfectly forgives them.
It's not like man often does,
where they say I forgive someone
and they bury the axe,
but they leave the hatchet showing
so they can dig it up at a later date.
"I have blotted out as a thick cloud
your transgressions,
as a thick cloud your sins.
Return unto Me, for I have redeemed you."
Look, believer, despite your feelings
of neglect of Him,
He's not knocking to you in anger here.
He calls you, "My undefiled."
These hands that knock here
have holes in,
pierced for your sin, believer.
Is that not enough to you?
This should really motivate you
to just yield yourself to Him.
There's a dear brother in England we met,
Leslie Smith.
One thing he told me: yield.
Because Satan comes with all accusations
and thoughts, different things,
and people start toying with it,
but the moment you yield to Christ,
it's over.
And it's so true.
Take captive every thought.
And then in the third part
of His plea to the believer
to open up the door,
Christ says, "For My head is filled with dew,
and My locks with the drops of the night."
He's left in the cold outside here.
And a night and dew in Scripture
is sometimes symbolic of trial and affliction.
In Daniel 4, when Nebuchadnezzar
was at his lowest state -
he was said to be wet with the dew of heaven.
And brethren, Christ feels the hurt.
You know, since I've been in the U.S.,
I've been able to contact my wife on Skype
almost every day.
That was, except last Monday,
because we were so busy,
we were doing various outreaches,
and with all the time differences
I was unable to speak to her that day.
Each time I turned on my laptop
hoping to see her,
it was a time when either she wasn't there
or she was in bed.
On the morning before we left
the house to go to the outreach,
I put on my computer,
and I was so excited to speak with her,
but she happened to be out.
Then, when we came back
from the outreach,
I was getting all excited again,
longing to speak to my wife.
I'm getting flutters in my heart
as I switch the computer on.
But she'd gone to bed.
It was kind of late there.
But it just really brought home to me
just how much more
God longs to hear from us
and speak with His bride.
And how He feels it
when we don't come to be alone with Him.
While we're here, if you'll just look
at Song of Solomon 2:14.
At the end of v. 13,
Christ says, "Arise, My love,
My fair one and come away."
And then He says there in v. 14,
"Oh, My dove,
that art in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret places in the stairs."
These are the little cracks
in the rock, if you like,
where doves would hide for protection.
The analogy here is, as we sang there,
Jesus Christ being our hiding place.
Coming to hide in Him.
But notice here what He calls you.
"Let me see thy countenance."
Let me see your face.
He wants to see your face.
"Let me hear thy voice,
for sweet is thy voice
and thy countenance (your face)
is beautiful."
Because Christ doesn't just put away your sin,
but He gives you the perfect,
the beauty, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
If ever I feel cold and dry in prayer,
I come back to these verses.
That Christ, He says,
let Me hear your voice.
Let Me see your face.
You know, Keith Green sang:
"Oh, Lord, You're beautiful.
Your face is all I seek.
And when Your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds to me."
Well, brethren, this is a song.
The Song of Solomon.
And God is singing the same thing to us there.
Believe it.
He sees you as beautiful.
Your face is all He seeks.
We go back to chapter 5.
But believer, when we neglect
secret communion with God -
Jesus said not if, but when
you pray in secret.
Or when we leave our first love
to be busy in some cold,
compromised way,
Christ feels this.
The Bible speaks of His Spirit being grieved.
Grief is an emotional hurt.
You see, God is not some feelingless robot.
The Bible says He is longsuffering towards us.
Now, that implies that He feels
the suffering towards our cold behavior.
This is the same God, brethren,
Who wept over Jerusalem.
Now, look in v. 3 here at the bride's
half-hearted response.
After she hears her beloved outside
knocking and pleading with her
in great love for her
to open up the door,
she just makes excuses.
She says, v. 3, "I have put off my coat.
How shall I put it on?"
This refers to the full middle-Eastern
robe or garment.
Basically, she's gone to bed.
"I have washed my feet.
How shall I defile (or dirty) them again?"
You know, if I get up to answer the door,
I'm going to have to wash my feet again.
I'm cozy in bed now.
But brethren, how many times
have we been cold to Christ -
locked Him out, so to speak,
because you want to do your own thing
or hold on to some idol?
But even when you hear Him knock
and call out to you,
when you're reminded of Who He is,
and you're reminded of His great love to you,
and you're reminded of what He's done for you,
and how He is grieved;
how often do you, like the bride,
still make excuses
and start reasoning
to continue in a half-hearted state
of compromise?
You know, one thing I heard
that really helped me
is we know right and wrong in His Word,
but what tends to happen is
the believer at times will be deceived
and start reasoning,
when it's a simple yes or no.
Will you obey Christ or won't you obey?
And once you boil it down to that,
and you stop reasoning,
and just yield to Christ,
it's over there.
How often have you heard a sermon like this
speaking of God's love for you
in spite of your failings?
And you're convicted, and you're thinking,
yeah, I'm going to commune with Him now,
put Him first in all of my affections.
I'm going to rise up early
and meet Him for secret communion and prayer,
but then it gets to Monday or Tuesday,
and you're making excuses
in order to keep Christ out
and carry on in your compromised way.
"I have put off my coat.
How shall I put it on?
I have washed my feet.
How shall I defile (or dirty) them?"
Notice also here,
that in the bride's thinking here,
in making excuses to carry on in her state
of compromise - in her reasoning,
she has come to the conclusion
that to fully open up to Christ -
to submit to Him fully -
would somehow be a great trouble
or burden to her.
She's been deceived at this point
into thinking she's better off
with whatever carnal security
she's getting from whatever is between
her and Christ.
Listen to me.
Anytime we do not put Christ
at the chiefest of our affections,
it is because we have been deceived.
How often does one think of sin
or toying with sin as if it's a virtue?
No one would ever do it otherwise.
No one sins unless they feel
it's going to benefit them in some way.
And v. 4, and the bride continues to say,
"My beloved put His hand
by the hole of the door,
and my bowels were moved for Him."
Jesus Christ - He is the everlasting door.
And the Bible says,
while were yet sinners,
He made His way into our hearts.
You see, this hole in the door here in this text,
you would have basically a large door
with a wooden bar across it
and various pins and locks.
And there's a hole you can put your hand into
to remove some of those pins
and some of those locks.
Although, there's more to it than that.
You have to open it on the inside also.
As we can see there,
the bride still needs to open up.
But notice here, that when the bride
is locking Christ out here,
and even when He knocks
and calls her in love to her to open up to Him,
and she makes excuses,
He doesn't just leave her,
but He finds this little gap
and undoes some of those pins.
Basically, He makes it easier here
for the bride to open up fully to Him.
Christ begins here to effectually move
on the bride's heart.
And so she's going to rise now
to open up the door.
And Jesus often does this.
When Peter denied Christ,
the only thing that made Peter turn again to Him,
was Christ praying for Peter
that his faith fail not.
As I read Octavius Winslow said,
it takes as big a miracle
for a believer when we fall in any way
to come back to Christ - to turn -
than for the new birth in the first place.
When Peter was at his lowest ebb
in running from God,
Jesus went after Peter
and won him by His love.
And believer, when you fail,
the only reason you return to Him
is because He effectually draws you
by His love.
If He left you to yourself,
then you would be long gone.
His love is a love that will not let you go.
It says in chapter 8: "stronger than death."
Death is pretty strong.
It's quite final.
So rest your weary soul in Him.
In v. 5, after Christ effectually moves
the heart of the bride here,
she says, "I rose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dropped with myrrh,
and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh
upon the handles of the lock."
I want you to notice here first of all
that repentance always results in action.
Repentance involves all of your inner being,
being moved with compassion,
with longing for Christ,
and so it will be evidenced
by a turning from the present state one is
and to the living God.
There is no such thing as a true repentance
that does not involve action.
And notice in v. 5,
when the bride rises up to open
to her beloved, she says,
"My hands dropped with myrrh,
and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh,
upon the handles of the lock."
Although as we see in the next verse
that by this time when she finally responds,
Christ has further withdrawn His presence
from her, but notice here -
don't miss this.
Before He did, He put His hand
through the hole in the door to her heart
in the previous verse.
He left her here with the fragrance of Himself,
so that she would long for Him.
And how true this is, believer,
that even when it times Christ withdraws
His presence from you,
because of your disobedience
and stubborn will to carry on
in a compromised state,
He graciosly leaves you, believer,
with a longing - with a yearning for Himself.
And in v. 6, the bride finally rises and says,
"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."
For the bride's own good here,
Christ has withdrawn the sense of His presence.
Of course, He's still with her,
watching over her.
But He's done this to teach her a lesson
that she cannot be half-hearted
towards Him.
And after finding her in this prolonged state
of compromise,
when despite His pleas of love
for the bride,
she was continually cold to Him,
and so He left her with the fragrance
of Himself so that she would yearn for Him
and cause her to seek Him.
And so, when she finally rises
from her state of spiritual slumber
and opens the door,
she finds that her beloved has withdrawn Himself,
because listen to me.
Christ does not want us to continue
in this half-hearted state of devotion,
nor does He want our three-quarter devotion.
But He wants us to desperately seek Him
with all our heart.
And so that when you find Him,
He doesn't want us to have the attitude
of slip back into the previous attitude
that we can just take Him or leave Him;
pick Him up and drop Him
whenever we like.
But as you go through this book,
the Song of Solomon,
you see this Christian life
where the bride comes to maturity,
and He teaches the bride
by chastening her in this way,
to cling to Him;
to lean upon Him.
Again, growing in Christian maturity
is growing in dependence upon Him;
clinging more to Christ.
And notice here, she sought Him
by calling Him in prayer,
but He gave no answer.
Let me ask you a question, believer.
Have you ever woken up early in the morning,
and you feel like you must get up to pray?
And you know it's God tugging
on your heart to spend time with Him.
Or maybe it's late at night.
But you just roll over.
You stay in bed.
Because you're reasoning within yourself.
Well, I need to get more sleep
because if I get extra sleep,
then I'll have more strength
to live this coming day in my own strength.
That's what it is, isn't it?
The Lord woke me up at 4 a.m. this morning
and preaching this, I thought,
I better get up.
But what happens?
After putting Him off like the bride in our text?
You eventually wake up
and you still pick your Bible up
and pray as duty.
You try to make a deal with God
saying well, if I do my bit,
then You do Yours today.
But then you find that God has withdrawn Himself.
And so for the rest of the day,
you can't find Him.
As John Bunyan said,
"he who runs from God in the morning
will scarcely find Him the rest of the day."
Or, have you ever felt
like Christ is bringing conviction
over you for something,
but despite His many pleas to you,
you make excuse after excuse
to hold on to it?
And when you finally come to your senses,
and you let go of what is between
you and Christ,
you find He has withdrawn Himself.
And you can't find Him.
You see, the lost, carnal church member
experiences something like this
when after living like a spiritual,
lukewarm sluggard,
they reject Christ's mercy and conviction
time after time.
And when they finally open the door,
they find He's gone.
And so, the lost, carnal church member,
they think well, if that's the case,
I may as well go back to bed again.
I may as well carry on
in my lukewarm slumber.
But look here, what happens
to the true believer
when Christ does this.
The true believer, like the bride here,
Christ brings us to our senses,
so that he or she will desperately
seek Him and try to find Him,
and will not stop until we do.
Because the beloved
has the words of eternal life -
to whom else is she going to go?
And then in v. 7,
the bride in her search for Christ,
she runs about the streets.
She's wounded by these false teachers.
"The watchmen that went about the city,
the smote me.
They wounded me.
The keepers of the walls
took away my veil from me."
You have wolves in sheep's clothing here
who when they find the true bride of Christ
in desperation and despair,
they only smite her and wound her more.
They rudely rip off her veil
or a cloak or a shoal -
it's not quite clear what it is.
But basically, they're showing no respect for her.
And listen to me,
you need to make sure
you're in a Biblical fellowship
with true believers.
This is so important.
If you need to, move.
Sometimes, I speak to people
all the time who are looking
for a true church; a true fellowship
who can find nothing where they are.
But what I've noticed is
when someone's a true believer,
they'll crawl over broken glass to find it.
But in some cases,
people can't find a true fellowship
because they don't love the brethren.
No church is perfect enough for them.
We know that we have passed
from death to life
because we love the brethren.
This is one of the chiefest evidences
that you are a Christian.
I was told that, I think,
it was Frances Havergal who said
if you miss one meeting
which you otherwise have no real excuse
not to attend,
then there's a red flag there.
You must find, like the bride did,
earlier on in this book,
where Christ feeds His flock.
It's no good having an Internet pastor.
And then in v. 8,
she says, "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if ye find my beloved,
that you tell Him that I am sick of love."
The idea here is that she is lovesick.
Just like if a husband is called to go to war,
and his bride is left at home
yearning for him.
Notice here, the bride,
she desperately wants Him now by her side.
And brethren, let me finish with this this morning.
Maybe this finds you
in a state of compromise
like the bride in v. 2 and v. 3.
Locking Christ out.
Making excuses not to fully open up to Him.
And He even tugs on your heart.
But now, even though
He has withdrawn His presence,
but you're desperate for Him.
This is Christ working on you.
If that's you, be encouraged.
I don't want to end on this note.
The bride doesn't stop here.
I can show you many places
where she finds Christ
and she clings to Him.
In v. 9, the daughters of Jerusalem
say to the bride,
"What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O, thou fairest among women?
What is thy beloved more than another beloved
that thou dost charge us?"
Now, it could be that the bride
has left such a bad example,
that they're saying here,
why should we seek Him
if He's so special?
And we are all an example - good or bad.
But I don't think that is the case
here with this text,
because these are the daughters of Jerusalem.
They call her, "O, thou fairest among women."
They have great respect for the bride here.
I think this is a sense of when you hear
a testimony of someone like
Darlene Rose, Corrie Ten Boom,
and they've seen Christ in heights
of His love.
They've experienced more than you have.
So you want them to recount their stories.
And you say what is thy beloved
more than another beloved,
O fairest among women?
O, maturer Christian than me.
Stir me up to seek Him with you,
as she does in 8.1.
And then the bride continues,
"my beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among ten thousand."
White here white as a lily,
as pure as a lily, I think,
is what this is teaching.
And ruddy, a ruddy rose.
Basically, my beloved is pure love.
And then in such picturesque language here
she describes Christ.
She describes every part of her beloved -
how glorious He is
and she rounds it off in v. 16
by saying, "His mouth is most sweet.
Yea, He is altogether lovely."
He is wholly desirable.
Everything about Christ is desirable.
There is not one flaw in Him.
"This is my Beloved,
and this is my Friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem."
I want you to notice there
that by v. 16, she knows Christ
once again to be close to her.
She has the assurance
that He is her friend.
What caused this?
The answer is by focusing
on what Christ is like;
on His character.
She took her eyes off self
and once she saw the character of Christ,
she knew His love once again for her.
Again, 6.1, I'm only going to go two more.
They ask her once again,
"Whither has thy beloved gone,
O fairest among women?
Whither has thy beloved turned aside
that we may seek Him with thee?"
This is a prayer meeting -
seeking Christ together.
But notice her answer.
"My beloved has gone down
into His gardens,
to the beds of spices
to feed in the gardens
and to gather lilies."
The reason He went from your door
is to pick flowers for you.
The lily also in chapter 2,
you know Christ is compared to a lily.
And then the believer is compared to a lily.
A lily among thorns,
so is my love among the daughters.
The thorns are the false converts.
Picture this. This is how Christ sees this world.
This barren wildnerness of thorny ground.
Good for nothing but burning.
And then, there's this one precious lily
in the middle of it all.
That is how Christ looks upon you.
Because He's taken away your sin
and He's given you His perfect
beautiful righteousness.
At the death of a Christian,
what happens?
Christ is gathering lilies.
He's picking flowers for Himself.
So let me leave you with this.
Am I speaking to lilies?
Or am I speaking to thorns?
Have you come to this place
where you've seen Christ's love?
Or do you still see Him
as a hard taskmaster?
Again, it is finished upon that cross.
Just surrender to His love.
You pass from death to life.
If you will just surrender
to what He's done -
His finished work.
If you come to Him, He will not cast you out.
But come to Him on His terms.
Yield to Him.
Surrender to His love.
Stop trying to save yourself
and say, "Lord, save me."
So let's close in prayer.
Father, I just thank You
that You chose to love us
before You laid the foundations of the world;
that Your love to us is without beginning, without end;
that even before we were in the womb,
You knew us, Father.
I thank You that Yours is a love
that will not let us go -
a love that is stronger than death;
that many waters, many floods,
cannot quench the flame of Jehovah.
I pray You would use these words now, Lord,
to help us to put You first;
to seek You first.
May Your Spirit teach us these words,
so they become our intimate friends.
May we own these words, Father,
and know that Your desire is towards us
and that we are Yours
because You sought us and bought us
at a price.
I pray, Lord, for anyone
who does not know You;
for anyone who is struggling with assurance even,
that they would own these truths this day.
That they would come to the Father
through Jesus the Son
and give Him the glory.
Great things He has done.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.