Stiles, Gerald: Studies In Song Of Solomon 04 ~ My Sheep Hear My Voice

I forgot this. But I was told it was all right. Some people were probably thankful I forgot this. Someone last night said the volume was so loud his ears ached. I won't calm down up here, so you'll have to regulate the volume somewheres else. You don't know how excited I am tonight. Excited, first of all, that I was not called upon to sing a duet. That ruined my golf game this afternoon, worrying about that. I only shot a seventy five, but of course we only played fifteen holes. I didn't want you to think I was that good. But we did have a wonderful time this afternoon. Tonight, I want you to turn with me once again to the Song of Solomon. This time, I would like you to turn with me to chapter six, and we'll begin our reading with verse ten. Song of Solomon, chapter six, We'll begin our reading with verse ten. The bridegroom is speaking. Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners? I went down to the garden of nuts to see the verdure of the valley, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranates had bloomed. Before I was even aware, my soul had made me as the chariots of my noble or my willing. Return, return, O Shulamite. Return, return, that we may look upon you. Shall we look to the Lord in prayer? Our blessed and glorious God, we have been singing tonight of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, singing of the rest that we have in him, the tranquility that he brings to our lives. We thank you tonight for him. We thank you for the glorious work that he accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary. And now, as we continue pondering these passages that you have given to us in the Song of Solomon, we ask that your Holy Spirit would take control, that the Spirit of God would bring before our hearts, and not our minds only, the loveliness and the worth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our responsibility to give him what he so richly deserves from us. We commit ourselves to you now, in his precious name, amen. As I sat on the platform tonight, several scenes were flashing through my mind. One scene was in a mobile home that had become a sort of office for me on the grounds of Alethea Springs Christian Education Center a number of years ago. I was getting ready to do a seminar on the Christian and secular music for a group of young people. And a knock came on the door, and it was a teenage boy in his late teens, perhaps eighteen or nineteen years of age. He said, I was in the neighborhood, and I thought I'd stop and see how things were going. Who's going to be here tomorrow? And I gave him an idea of some of the young people I knew who were coming. And he looked down, he said, what are you doing? I said, I'm getting ready to do a seminar on the Christian and secular music. And he looked down and he saw the picture of his favorite rock star, a woman. And he saw next to that picture a record that he informed me was his favorite song. And fear came upon his face, and he said, you're not going to knock her, are you? And I looked at him and I said, Eric, I'm not going to have to knock her. I'm going to read this interview with her, and she's going to knock herself. And then I'm going to play an excerpt from the song, and she's going to condemn herself. And he said, what's so bad about her? And I told him. And faced with the facts, he made this statement, and I've never forgotten it. He said, I'm saved, but I'm not going to give Christ everything. I won't have any fun. And I looked him in the face, and I said, Eric, I'm worried about you. So why are you worried about me? I said, because I read in the word of God these words from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. You claim to be one of his sheep. But you've heard his word, and you say, I'm not going to follow him in that direction. Another scene flashed through my mind this evening as I sat on the platform. The scene was in my home in Virginia, in the living room, and a young lady had come with her husband to be, and they asked me if I would perform a wedding for them. Now, I don't mind doing weddings, but I refuse to do this one. It was for both of them their second, to be their second wedding, second marriages, and neither one of them had been, in my judgment, biblically divorced. I know that's a very controversial subject, and we're not going to get into that. But I looked this young lady in the face, and I said, Barbara, do you believe it's God's will for you to marry this man? And she looked me straight in the eye and said, no. Now you see why I refused to be a party to this. And I looked the young man in the eyes and I said, John, why do you want to marry her? And I'll never forgot his answer. He said, I think she can teach me about God. I said, you marry her and you'll learn a lot about God, particularly his judgment, because she's out of fellowship with God, and she has just told you that she knows that God does not want her to marry you, but you want to marry her anyway? I wouldn't want to be in your shoes. You know, there's a sad postscript to that story. She married John. You know, John was kicked out of the army, dishonorably discharged for sexually abusing their child. She recently divorced John and is married another man. The reason these thoughts were going through my mind tonight was this. How many of us really care what Jesus Christ really thinks? To what extent do we care? Is Jesus Christ to us someone whom we call upon simply when we're in times of trouble or need? Or is he indeed the lover of our souls? We've been trying to bring before you this week. He wants to be more than he often is allowed to be in our lives. He loves us, as we've just been singing, with an everlasting love. We've been reminding ourselves that we change and he never changes. We saw last night how even in those times when our hearts grow cool and even cold, he still draws near to us, and he seeks to bring us back to himself, kindles the fire so it will flame up within our hearts. There's none like the Lord Jesus. Tonight we have a little portion before us, and I get excited as I, as I do about all of these little portions in the Song of Solomon, because I can just visualize this glorious bridegroom watching something unfold before him. It's the arrival of his bride. Listen to him speak. Who is this? Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners? Another translation has that dazzling as an army with banner. Do you notice anything about that description that would catch your attention? It's the presence of light. Do you see it? The presence of light. Who is this who looks forth as the morning? My, I love morning. I know some people who wake up in the morning and they say, good Lord, it's morning. And there are others who wake up and say, good morning, Lord. It is quite a difference, isn't it? Good morning, Lord. The darkness is gone, and now it's the dawn of a new day. Everything becomes bright and beautiful. I- I've told you already I love to hunt. When we go deer hunting up in the mountains of Virginia, we have a special place that we go to. We go up the Shenandoah Valley, just beyond Natural Bridge into Rockbridge County. We have a friend there who owns two two hundred acre pieces of property, and it's all posted, and only we are going to be there. And there are so many deer that you actually get a choice of which buck you're going to shoot at. I mean, I've been there when, when brothers have, have said, I'm not going to shoot that scrawny little six-point buck. Why, a twelve-pointer might come by next. I never have done that. I always take my chances on the first legal one I can shoot at. But we get up at three o'clock in the morning to go on that deer hunt for opening day. We drive an hour to Roanoke, and we go to Dunkin' Donuts, and I get two jelly-filled donuts and a cup of coffee, and Darryl eats a bowl of chili at four o'clock in the morning. Now, I can't understand how that could be enjoyable. And then we drive another hour and a half so that we can be on our stands in the dark for at least a half hour. And then as the daylight comes, the deer begin to move. And many, many a day, I've sat in a s- in on a deer stand in that particular part of the country and watch the sun come up over the mountains. And my, what a glorious thing it is to see the daybreak. I've experienced at times sitting in the darkness, a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of fear. Then the sun comes up. Morning has arisen, and I can see things around me that I could faintly see before. I can see what it was I stumbled over coming to the stand. I can, I can now look and, and see exactly where I am and if I'm in the right place. Morning is a beautiful thing. But I believe what is being pictured for us here in this tenth verse of the Song of Solomon, when the bridegroom looks at his bride and he says, my, who is this who cometh forth as the morning? He's thinking of the great, great contrast that she presents to him, to those who are still in darkness. She speaks of something distinct and refreshingly new. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. You and I, as Christians, have a glorious, glorious privilege to present not only to the Savior the beauty of the work that he has accomplished in us through the new birth, but we represent to the world the, that new creation that, that brings joy and delight to the Son of God. But notice this, she's not just coming forth as the morning, she's fair as the moon. I remember the great disappointment that I felt when the astronauts got to the moon, found out it wasn't made of green cheese. You know, as a child, I really believed that. Now, of course, by the time the astronauts got there, I realized that wasn't true. But I've often thought, what did they find when they got on the moon? What's the grand and glorious revelation that came to man? You know what I think it was? That the moon is there for the very reason the word of God tells us it's there. It's there to reflect the light of the sun. And that's all it's really good for. I know it has something to do with the, the ocean waves and so on, the tides. But it's really there, isn't it, to reflect the light of the sun. You and I have been brought into a vital living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the indwelling glorious Son of God can shine forth through us, and we can reflect his glory. I want you to turn with me to a New Testament passage that tells us that. It's a wonderful passage, Second Corinthians chapter three, beginning with verse eighteen. Let's read it with understanding. But we all, that's to prove that Paul was a southerner. Notice constantly the we alls and the you alls. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Now look at chapter four, verse one. Therefore, since we have this ministry, what ministry? To behold the glory of the Lord and by the Spirit of the Lord be transformed into the very image of the Lord. As we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the hidden things of shame. We don't walk in craftiness. We don't handle the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. And here's the verse. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shine- shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I love that passage. You see, that passage tells me what it's all about. Why Christ dwells within, so he can shine out through me and reveal more of himself. And here this bridegroom is looking upon his bride, and she's coming forth as the morning, refreshingly new and distinct, shining forth, reflecting the glory of the... of the sun as the moon would reflect the physical sun's glory. And then he goes on in his description, and he says, clear is the sun. Clear is the sun. And what he's referring to there in practical terms to us is the holiness of God manifest through his people. Peter writes, be ye holy as he is holy. And when we live holy lives, that brings delight to the Son of God. This afternoon, as I was pondering in my mind this portion, I was thinking how often my wife will go out with some extra money that she herself has earned, and she'll buy an article of clothing simply because she knows that will please me. The way she dresses and what she wears to please me. And that moves my heart, and I know it moves the heart of God when we, as it were, dress to please him. My wife often will, will ask me what I think of a particular perfume. You ever walk through one of these department stores and they have all the samples and you can, you know, spray? My daughter used to work in a department store like that, and she would tell me about all the people who, who never buy perfume. Every morning they come through the store and they put their perfume on. But, you know, my wife wears the perfume that she wears because she knows it pleases me. Someone asked me, how do you think a woman ought to fix her hair? And I always tell them, look at my wife. Because my wife fixes her hair to please me. There are times when I've told her it pleased me that she fixed her hair a certain way, and she's told me that she doesn't like it that way. But she wear- would wear it that way just because it pleased me. Don't you think that moves the heart of a husband? Our heavenly bridegroom is moved when we do things simply to please him. Notice verse, uh, oh, still verse ten. She's not only coming forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, but awesome. That's the New King James. Awesome. Kind of current, isn't it? Awesome as an army with banners. The army that he's talking about was an army that wore metal armor, that would carry shields, would have glistening swords, and before they would go out displaying the troops, they would polish all of the steel. Those, those swords would be just polished to a dazzling shine, and those shields would be polished to just reflect the light of the sun, and they would have a helmet on, it would be polished, and you can imagine the awesomeness of an army marching to battle with all of the glistening armor shining forth. This is a beautiful picture. You see, in the book of Romans, we're told to put on the armor of light. And when the Lord Jesus Christ, our heavenly bridegroom, looks down upon us, and he sees us taking care to put on the armor of light, ready to go to battle for him. Remember that, to battle for him. It brings great delight to his heart. Well, having seen his bride approach him, she's wearing all these fruits that he's won for her, these fruits in battle. He says, I went closer. I went down to her. I went to the garden. You know, we're God's garden. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, you're God's plowed field, he said. And here the bridegroom says, I went down to the garden to see the fruit in the garden, to check on the vines and the buds upon the vine. As I was pondering that, I was thinking how many times I've looked at somebody or something from a distance. And I thought it looked awfully good, until I got closer up and found out it didn't look quite as good when you really look a little bit closer. My youngest son brought a car home a few weeks ago. He said, Dad, I'm thinking of buying a car. Called me up. He said, I want, I'm going to bring it by so you can see it. Man, it's really pretty. It's a pretty red. And he drove up, and I could tell when he drove it up, it wasn't a very good car. And I looked under the hood, and there's oil leaking all over the place. And then I got in, and I pushed my foot on the brake, and it went all the way to the floor. And he says, yeah, I noticed, oh, driving it over here, you had to pump it up a few times before it would stop. And then I said, son, that's a... I don't know, I think it's a burnt valve that I hear, but boy, it sure got some kind of a knock or a rumble in the motor. And then I started up and I looked out the exhaust, and I could see this kind of bad smoke coming out the back. And my son said, it's pretty, isn't it, dad? I said, it's a piece of junk, son. You see, but, but on a car lot, it looked good. They'd even painted the black on the, on the black walls of the tire with some kind of a rubber, uh, coating, so they, it looked shiny, and the car was all polished. But it was a total piece of junk. And, and things in life are like that often, aren't they? Very often, I found when I was a young man, and I, I would have my eyes' attention drawn to a very pretty young lady, and I would say, wow, where did she come from? And I'd get a little closer to, to see if I could get to know her, and I'd find out there wasn't any substance to her. You see, outward appearances don't always tell the story. Very often we find ourselves in fellowship with people who appear to be, but they really aren't. So the Lord, the heavenly bridegroom, he says, my, I'm impressed. I'm impressed, but let me look a little closer, just a little closer. I wonder how you would feel if tonight the Lord were to speak to you in no uncertain terms and told you, I'm going to draw near to you, and I'm going to do some real close inspection. I'm going to, I'm going to look within the very fiber of your being. I wonder if you might ask him for a few moments to get some things right. This bride says this, when I learned that my bridegroom wanted to look closer at me, my soul became like a chariot of a minidab. That's what the old King James says. It's in the margin of my new King James. You know what a minidab means? My willing people. My willing people. My soul delighted in the fact that he was going to look closer because things were right in her life. And she welcomed the closest inspection he would make of her. I learned something from that. I learned how good it is to be clean and pure and right with God. There is a hymn that was across the page of one of the songs we sang tonight, Nothing Between My Soul and the Savior. Nothing between us. Oh, how wonderful it is to know that everything is right between Christ and my soul. There's nothing like it in all the world. He ca- he takes great delight in that. I love this little portion because the one who is the heavenly bridegroom knows better than I do that when sin is in a person's life, they want to hide. Just go back to Genesis chapter three, to the Garden of Eden, as the Lord walked in the cool of the day, and our first parents had sinned. Where are you, Adam? And Adam ran, and he hid himself, and he tried to cover himself. Sin causes people to run. Been studying the book of Genesis over the last six months. You remember that awful scene when Joseph's brothers sought to slay him and then relented and sold him off into slavery. And then they took his coat and they, they dipped it in goat's blood, and they brought it to their father and said, we found this coat, it looks like Joseph's. Maybe you can check it out. And Joseph saw that coat of many colors, and he wept, and he broke down and said, it is my son's coat. He's been, he's been destroyed by a wild animal. Have you ever thought about Jacob on that day, the awesome grief that he bore? Have you ever thought about what those brothers of Joseph felt as they watched their father suffer and grieve over a son he thought was dead? The very next chapter deals with Judah. You ever notice that? Judah is the best of the rest. Judah can't stand it! And he tries to run. And you know who he ran to? He ran to Hira, the Adullamite, slimy character. Somebody he had met out when he was keeping his father's sheep. And he goes to Hira, and Hira says, Judah, you can't live in the, in the pain and the suffering of, of, of what has been going on in your life. You need to just turn from it and have a ball. What you need is a good woman. I know just the woman for you. And he marries a heathen woman on the run. And marrying this woman, they have children, and he wants to raise them up as good Hebrews. And she says, I'm not going to let my children be wimps. And she says, they're going to become good heathens. And that's what they become. And my, it's one tragedy after another. Oh, it's an awful chapter. But you see, that's what happens. When sin is not dealt with in a person's life, and they run. What a contrast the bride is in this chapter. What a great contrast. Nothing, nothing unjudged. Nothing holding back. Nothing but a desire to please him. And welcoming the close inspection, knowing that what he's going to see is going to bring him great delight. I love this. There are some people standing by. And this is a precious little truth in verse thirteen. They've seen him fussing over her. They've seen this one who is esteemed among them taking great delight in her. And they say this, return. Return, come, come back here, Shulamite. We want to see what it is that brings him pleasure. Return, oh Shulamite. You know what I find most exciting about that little verse? They call her Shulamite. Do you know what Shulamite means? It's the feminine form of Solomon. She's been reflecting her bridegroom. When they look at her, they see a reflection of the glories of the greatest king. And then I think of this marvelous little verse in the Acts of the Apostles. And they were first called Christians at Antioch. Do you know why they were first called Christians at Antioch? Because they looked like Christ. They acted like Christ. His values were their values. His interests were their interests. His desires were their desires. What a wonderful portrait of what he desires to see in us. Let me ask you, dear saint, is the greatest desire of your heart to be what he wants you to be? I trust it is. I trust if you found yourself as you looked, as it were, in the mirror of God's word, and you've fallen short, I trust that from this moment on, you'll turn to him, look full in his lovely face, and say, Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to look at me and judge me for what I really am in your eyes. And if you find anything in me that needs to be changed, change it. Any thought, any pattern of behavior, any action. Know me. Try me, and bring me into conformity to yourself. I'm going to close with a little portion from Psalm one because I believe Psalm one gives us a picture of how to be what he wants us to be, in the sense of what we've been looking at in the sixth chapter of the Song of Solomon. Listen to these words. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. Oh, what a marvelous portion. Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. And if he must go through a scene where the counsel of the ungodly is being taught, he doesn't stop and stand there in the path of sinners. And if he's called upon to stop for a moment, he doesn't sit down in the seat of the scornful. But listen, the one who's blessed of the Lord is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord. I was told I could go over time tonight. Thank you. There was a man who had a burden for Roman Catholics, and he heard that there was going to be one of the greatest gathering of Roman Catholics in the world, in a particular South American city. And so he got on an airplane. He wanted to go down there because he had a burden to talk and minister God's word to Roman Catholics. And lo and behold, the man sitting next to him on the airplane was the man who was to give the keynote address at that particular gathering of Roman Catholics from all over the world. And this man of whom I'm speaking of had already had two personal audiences with the Pope, and he had witnessed to the Pope of how you can know that you're saved and going to heaven. And he found himself sitting next to this man, and he told this man, he said, I love Roman Catholics. I have a burden for you. And the man said, I believe you. I've been listening to you in this long flight. Tell me. And he called this man's name. He said, if you were in my shoes and you were going to speak to twelve million Roman Catholics tomorrow, what would you say? And this dear brother said, I would tell them to listen to the words of the Virgin Mary. And this Catholic leader looked at him and said, excuse? You see, Mary, the mother of Jesus, said, whatever this man saith unto you, do it. And to his utter amazement, on television the next day, as he watched this man go to the platform with twelve million Roman Catholics listening, he said, my message to you is the message of the Virgin Mary. And there was a twenty-minute standing ovation. And then he said, and she says, whatever this man, Jesus, says unto you, do it. Isn't that the message we need to hear? Whatever he wants, whatever his delight, do it. To do his will should be our chiefest delight. And where do we know his will? How do we find his will? In his precious and his holy word. And how do we understand his mind through his word? As we spend time in it, as we meditate in it, day and night. Our family went through an awful tragedy a few months ago. Won't share it with you tonight, but I couldn't sleep, and I got up, and I read through the entire Psalms. And my, what a blessing it was to my heart. Shadows dispelled in front of my eyes. Perspective was gained. The mercy and the grace of God was brought before me in a fresh and a vital way. But if I hadn't taken the time to spend that night in the word of God, I would have missed out on some of the greatest, greatest things that God wanted to share with me. My friends, there's no shortcuts to developing the relationship with Christ that we ought to have. To know him is to love him. To know him is to spend time with him. And the more time we spend with him, the more of his beauty and glory we see. May that encourage us in a very special way tonight. Shall we pray? Father, we thank you again and afresh for the glorious person of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who was in your bosom from all eternity, the one whom you cried out, this is my beloved Son. He's our beloved. We claim him. We thank you for him. And we ask that you would continue to work in us, to desire to know more of him, and knowing more of him, to be obedient to his every wish. Thank you, in his own precious and worthy name.