Well, good morning.
I’d like to ask you, please, turn with me to the Song of Songs, that little book that follows Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament—the Song of Songs. We will read all of the first chapter and a portion of the second.
Try to take in some of these words as we read them. I think they will have more meaning as we go on. It begins:
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth;
For Thy love is better than wine.
Thine ointments savour sweetly;
Thy name is as ointment poured forth;
Therefore do the virgins love Thee.
Draw me; we will run after Thee.
The King hath brought me into His chambers.
We will be glad and rejoice in Thee;
We will make mention of Thy love more than of wine.
They love Thee uprightly.
I am black, but comely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
As the tents of Kedar,
As the curtains of Solomon.
Look not upon me because I am black,
Because the sun hath looked upon me.
My mother’s children were angry with me;
They made me keeper of the vineyards;
Mine own vineyard have I not kept.
Tell me, Thou whom my soul loveth,
Where Thou feedest Thy flock,
Where Thou makest it to rest at noon;
For why should I be as one veiled
Beside the flocks of Thy companions?
If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
And feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.
I compare thee, O my love,
To a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.
Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair,
Thy neck with strings of jewels.
We will make thee plaits of gold
With studs of silver.
While the King is at His table,
My spikenard sendeth forth its fragrance.
A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved unto me;
He shall lie all night between my breasts.
My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna flowers
In the vineyards of En-gedi.
Behold, thou art fair, my love;
Behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are doves.
Behold, thou art fair, my Beloved, yea, pleasant;
Also our couch is green.
The beams of our house are cedars,
And our rafters are firs.
We will read the first seven verses of Song of Songs 2:
I am a rose of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
As a lily among thorns,
So is my love among the daughters.
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my Beloved among the sons.
In His shadow have I rapture and sit down,
And His fruit is sweet to my taste.
He hath brought me to His house of wine,
And His banner over me is love.
Sustain me with raisin cakes,
Refresh me with apples;
For I am sick of love.
His left hand is under my head,
And His right hand doth embrace me.
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles, or by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awake my love,
Till He please.
Then we will look in the same chapter at one phrase from Song of Songs 2:16:
My Beloved is mine, and I am His.
My Beloved is mine, and I am His.
Now let us pray.
Lord, once again, as we read Your Word, these things, unless illuminated by the Holy Spirit, will be meaningless to us. But we believe Your written Word is life, because the New Testament says Your words are spirit and life.
And Lord, You are the only One to Whom we can turn. There is no one else. As Peter said that day, “Thou alone hast the words of eternal life.”
We look to You, Lord, to breathe upon these words that Solomon wrote so many years ago—thousands of years ago—and make them living and breathing and active, able to open our eyes to behold heavenly things.
For we trust You to do this in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Well, I think you know what we are speaking about: the Song of Solomon. Some of you may remember that I gave one message in late February on the Song of Songs, and I actually thought that was it for me on this Song of Songs.
As a matter of fact, a sister came to me and said, “Is that it? We thought you were going to do a series.” And I said, “Well, no, that’s it.” And I thought it was it.
Well, the brothers recently asked me to share, and as I was before the Lord, wondering what to share, I kept going back. The thing I could not get away from was this Song of Songs. That was the thing that kept impressing me.
So, like it or not, that’s not it. We will share just a few more times on this Song of Songs.
Before, for those of you who might remember, I shared some things that I think are very applicable to what we heard recently at the conference. I shared about passionate love, pursuing love, and perfecting love.
Recently, when we were at the conference, we heard this theme from Philippians 3:10-15: toward the mark. I will never forget the impression left with us that we need a passionate pursuit of God.
Now, it seems to me that, as the people of God, we get things somewhat clear from an understanding standpoint. But when it is all said and done, understanding will only take you so far. What we need is something to happen within our heart—something to lay hold of us, something to apprehend us.
Then, like Paul, we can press on toward the goal of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. He said, “I seek to apprehend that for which I have been apprehended in Christ Jesus.”
I believe this is the sense of this little book, the Song of Songs.
As I thought about it and prayed about it, I thought it would be right if we took a fuller look at this second part: pursuing love. So I will give you the outline now, and we will see if it goes. We will see if this is it, or whether we go further.
We want to look today at this matter of awakened love. As I prayed and was before the Lord, I believe, brothers and sisters, something has to happen in us to awaken a love for Christ.
Before you can pursue, it seems to me that something has to be awakened. You cannot pursue without that happening. Then I think this book, and the whole middle section, deals with refining love.
There are many dealings that the maiden goes through, and the Lord is always refining that love and bringing her to a place where that love is more pure. Often, when we begin, when the love of Christ fills our being, it is all so self-centered. It is everything for me.
As we read in that phrase in Song of Songs 2:16, “My Beloved is mine.” That is our whole emphasis. It is all for me. Everything is for me. “And I am His.”
But it seems the Lord wants to take us on and bring us to a refined love. Finally, I think the Lord wants to bring us into a mature love.
Those are the things we will take up in succeeding times, when the Lord gives us the time. But today we are going to take a further look at pursuing love.
Now, brothers and sisters, the reason I believe the Lord burdened me with this again comes from Hebrews 12:25. If you will look there for a moment.
It seems to me the Lord is speaking to us. He has spoken to us at the conference here at Longwood. We have also heard reports of how He has spoken to the brothers and sisters on the West Coast, at WCC and then at WCCC, if that does not confuse you.
As we have prayed about these words, the Lord is speaking. It is our desire to enter in more fully and lay hold of the things that He has spoken.
This is the verse that seemed to impress me as we prayed this past Wednesday night, Hebrews 12:25:
See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.
For if they escaped not when they refused Him that warned from earth,
Much more shall not we escape who turn away from Him that warneth from heaven.
Now think of that. This was one of those great warnings in Hebrews: “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.”
This past Wednesday night, we were praying together over the word the Lord had spoken at Longwood, over the word the Lord had spoken about reviving His work at WCC, and over the word the Lord had spoken at WCCC about entrusting the things He had entrusted to the church.
This impression came upon me: we are not too different from the Old Testament people of God. You remember the issue the Lord Jesus took with the people of God in the Old Testament. He sent prophets to His people, and He said, “You are the ones that kill the prophets.”
You remember when He went to Jerusalem and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered you under My wings, but you would not.” You kill the prophets.
I believe, dear brothers and sisters, the Lord has spoken to us a prophetic word. According to Hebrews 12:25, we need to be careful. We need to take this back to the Lord in prayer, and we need to see that we refuse not Him Who speaks.
Now, you know, you can do that courteously. As a matter of fact, Darby’s note on this verse says it means simply to decline.
Sometimes people offer us something. Someone might offer me a snail, and I would say, “No, thank you. No, thank you. That is all quite nice, but don’t give it to me.” You can be polite. You can refuse.
Sometimes I think we politely brush off what the Lord Jesus is speaking to us in the Spirit, and therefore it does not have its intended effect.
See that you refuse Him not. Oh, we can excuse ourselves. I do not know how many times I have heard people say, “Well, the Lord is not speaking that to me.” Have you ever heard that?
“It does not matter. The Lord is not speaking that to me.” We just excuse ourselves: “That is not the word of the Lord to me.”
But I believe, as we have been together, there was an impression—I heard it shared over and over again—that the Lord is calling us to this understanding and this entering into pursuing love. In the end, that is what will make the difference.
I remember Wednesday night when I was so impressed with this issue of refusing Him Who speaks, of not listening to the prophets. I was waiting for a chance to pray, and a sister prayed exactly what was on my heart.
There was a confirmation in my spirit that the Lord is saying to us, “Listen to what I am saying. Hear the word of the Lord. Make it an issue of determined prayer.”
May we not only hear it, and may it not be merely understanding that is gained, but truth that is apprehended and entered into. That seems to be the burden the Lord has impressed me with.
I believe in the Song of Songs there is the secret of pursuing. I believe there are a number of secrets in the Song of Songs, but this is the secret to pursuing. That is why I believe I was led back to this book.
At the beginning of the Song of Songs, in the first verse, there is the title from which the book takes its name:
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
Now, that is an interesting verse. If you look in 1 Kings 4:32, you will see that Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs. You may not have known that. And his songs were one thousand and five.
Here is the difference: this one alone has the title, “The Song of Songs.” Do you understand the Holy Spirit’s emphasis? This is the Song of Songs.
Of all one thousand and five songs, they do not have the meaning that this Song of Songs has. As the people of God, if we are going to enter into pursuing love, I believe we need to understand what is in this Song of Songs.
Now, I told you last time about Bernard of Clairvaux, that famous mystic. I bet many here have not read too much Bernard of Clairvaux. He spoke eighty-six messages on the first and second chapters—eighty-six.
Now, you can praise God that you will be delivered from that. You will not get that. But at least here was somebody who understood the beauty of this song, who laid hold of Him, and it made a difference. It caused him to be one who pursued with passion right through to the end.
That is my burden. May some of the effect of what our brother saw be impressed upon us, and may the Lord help us.
The first thing we want to look at is this matter of the effect of awakened love.
As I said, before you could ever pursue, something has to be awakened in you. It is not a natural inclination. Put it another way: you do not have the capacity. You will not pursue the Lord Jesus on your own with passion. You cannot.
God has to do something in your spirit. He has to awaken something in your heart, and what He awakens in your heart enables you by His Spirit to press on and pursue.
This is the first thing: we need, it seems to me, to be awakened by His love.
There is a verse, 1 John 4:10, that says, “Herein is love.” I think you know the rest of it. You have probably memorized it. What does it say? “Not that we loved God, but that He first loved us.”
That is the beginning. He is the inception. He is the beginning. He is the spark. If there is ever going to be in His people this passionate, pursuing love, then He has to light a spark in His people.
I believe this is the beginning of pursuing love. Something in me and something in you has to be awakened.
I was reading A. W. Tozer. I have told you this over and over: Brother Tozer has made such an impact on me. In my early years, I read The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer.
If you have not read that book, it is just a little book. Please read that book. I make no royalty from that book, so I do not mind pushing that book.
I remember the impact it made on my early years as a Christian. It seemed to me the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to begin to see: this is what you are after—to awaken in me a real pursuit of God. This is what you want.
That has been my prayer through these years. Recently, I was reading another book by A. W. Tozer, Following Hard After God, and he said this: “Before man can seek God, God must have first sought the man.”
Now, isn’t that encouraging? Before man can ever begin to seek God, God must have first sought the man. It does not begin with you. You did not light the fire. You did not even have the flame to light the fire. It was God Himself Who lit the fire.
He went on to say, “Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done in him.”
We need that, brothers and sisters. I know some people react to words, and they feel like they are old words and want new words. Sometimes, when we say “revelation,” half the group falls asleep.
But it seems to me there has to be an enlightenment from above, or you can never pursue.
That seems to be what Brother Tozer said. Listen to this: “Imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring, all seeking, and all praying.”
Imperfect it may be. Do you find your pursuing is imperfect? Well, brothers and sisters, I do. One day I am hot, the next day I am cold, and the third day I am lukewarm.
But although it is imperfect, when God lights this fire, it will do something. He went on to say, “The impulse to pursue originates with God.”
I think that is encouraging. I have made this my prayer every day: “Lord, would You give me that impulse? Would You awaken in me that inclination?”
It is not mine naturally. You know me. Today I will pursue You; tomorrow I will forget You. But it seems to me that when He puts that impulse within, there is something from above that is real.
The impulse originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him. This is where the title of the book came from.
All the time we are pursuing, we are already in His hand. Something has to be awakened in us. There has to be awakened love.
Brothers and sisters, if I could encourage you, we need to pray in this way: that we would not merely be a people who gain more knowledge; that we would not merely be a people who go to conferences and hear a word; that we would not merely be a people who hear message after message on Sunday.
May we, in fact, be a people in whom He can discover awakened love, and in whom He can put awakened love. This seems to me to be the message of this book.
Turn to the first chapter. This is precisely what the maiden meant when she said in Song of Songs 1:4:
Draw me; we will run after Thee.
Brothers and sisters, she did not say, “We will run after Thee” first. Her prayer, her request—she understood she could not run. She understood that this natural inclination was not hers.
So she said, “Draw me, and we will run after Thee.” I think that is a good prayer. I think it is a prayer we should pray over and over and over. This seems to me to be the beginning of pursuing love.
If He draws you, you will run. If He does not draw you, you not only will not run—you will go backward. So it is up to Him to draw us.
The impulse starts with Him. Our running, our pursuing, is simply a response to Who He is. It is always a response.
I remember several years ago when the Lord seemed to make this word response alive to me. The whole Bible can be understood in two things, in two ways. I like things simple, so this helped me.
First of all, it is God’s doing. Second, it is man’s response. You can read the whole Bible in that light.
First of all, God is sovereign. Unless He does and unless He moves, there is no doing. It is hopeless without Him. He is the originator. He is sovereign.
But unless there is a response, it is incomplete. Without His moving, it is impossible. Without our response, it is incomplete.
That is what the Song of Solomon is about. Here is One—the King—Who spoke to this maiden, and this maiden responds with the most passionate embrace.
Some of the men probably want to go watch football this afternoon instead of hearing words about passion and embrace, but bear with me. There is something spiritual, even for us guys here. I may throw in a few things about trucks; maybe that will make you stay and feel better.
But this is something God wants to do in His people. In this maiden, He found a response. I wonder if in us He will find that response.
I have told you this story before. There are some stories I repeat, you understand. I am not nearly as repetitive as Lance, so you will forgive me, but I do repeat some stories.
When I took that class on the history and aesthetics of jazz, I remember this professor, Toomey, at his keyboard. He said the early influence in jazz was African, and that the whole influence in jazz—the birth of jazz—was one single thing: call and response.
You know, like me, you grew up on Tarzan. Some of you do not even know what Tarzan is, but black-and-white Tarzan: “Me Tarzan, you Jane.”
In those early programs, in Africa, there was a sounding of drums on a distant hill, and then a distant response. There was the identical sound. There was response. There was call, and there was response.
You can understand the Bible in these two terms: God is always calling, and man is always to be responding. That is what the Song of Solomon is about.
What is the effect of awakened love? It is pretty simple. It is not that difficult. The effect of awakened love is a singular passion for God Himself.
Listen to these verses again, Song of Songs 1:2-3. This may be too much for some of you to bear, but listen again:
Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth;
For Thy love is better than wine.
Thine ointments savour sweetly;
Thy name is as ointment poured forth;
Therefore do the virgins love Thee.
Brothers and sisters, this is passionate love. The effect of awakened love is a singular passion for Christ.
You remember Paul. We shared from Philippians at the conference. Turn again to Philippians 3. I think by now you have memorized these verses, or at least I hope you have.
Philippians 3:8-10:
But surely I count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be filth, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed unto His death.
This is the effect of awakened love. There was a singular love for God Himself.
I do not think I will ever forget those messages our brother Stephen shared at the conference. At least I hope not. When he shared about Himself, it reminded me that this is the very thing God spoke to us in those early years that has kept us until this day.
Brother Jim Bogg came to me a couple of weeks ago. Jim said to me, “Brother, I was not here in the early days when the Lord birthed this assembly. What was it? What is the one thing that God has called you to be a remembrancer of?”
Of course, he was thinking about Dana’s messages at the conference. He said, “No, you do not have to answer me now. Think about it.”
As I prayed about it, and as these messages have been on my heart, this one effect, this one thing, is it: a singular passion for the Lord Jesus Himself.
That made the difference.
Notice: she said, “Let Him kiss me.” Oh, it was a singular focus.
Brothers and sisters, I have a fear that we will somehow leave that singular focus. Paul had that fear. We will go after other things.
I believe that is the heart of the Apostle Paul, and I believe that is the heart of our brother Stephen when that dear old man stood up there and poured his heart out. He said, “We may go after the things of Christ, but it is Christ Himself that is the difference.”
This was the testimony of the virgin.
You remember the Apostle Paul’s concern in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3:
For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God: for I espoused you to one Husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
That word simplicity does not mean doctrine about Christ Jesus. It means Christ Himself.
I believe this is what we are called to. I believe this is the effect of awakened love. There is awakened in your being a love for the Lord Jesus that you did not stir up, but He put there.
It is the most passionate embrace. You discover that you can no longer live without Him any more than you can live without breath, or even water.
The Shulamite says, “Therefore do the virgins love Thee.”
I hope the Lord refreshes us with the thought of this awakened love. I trust the Lord Jesus is speaking in a clearer way than He has, it seems to me, in recent years.
This word, this call that we heard at the conference, I believe it is on the Lord’s heart. I believe we ought to make it our singular prayer: that this effect of awakened love would be our testimony, that this love for Christ would be so real and so clear that when anybody touches us, what they touch is the living Lord Jesus.
Now, I know you have experienced that. I have been in the presence of some people—little people like myself, just little people—but when I touched them, I did not touch a little person. I touched the living Christ.
That living Christ—that aroma, that fragrance, that beauty, that Name—was as ointment poured forth.
I remember before I was saved, I had a terrible habit of cursing. You may not have known that, and I am glad you did not. But I had a foul mouth.
That name, Jesus, was a curse word to me. I used it frequently, and I said it often.
But one day, when He awakened in me a love for Himself, something happened. Something happened.
“Thy name is as ointment poured forth.” I cannot tell you what happened. I just know the love of God awakened in me a desire to know Him first and foremost.
I remember the strangest thing happened. I hung out with people who had the same kind of savory language. When they would use that Name, as I had used that Name, it was painful.
I believe this is the effect of awakened love.
There is another effect of awakened love. I think it is bridal love. It is not puppy love.
Do they still say “puppy love,” or am I so ancient that that is a foregone phrase? You have experienced puppy love. I think we all have at one time.
But this love that is spoken of in the Song of Songs is bridal love. There is a huge difference.
This is the bride being made ready for her Husband. This is the most intense, the most passionate, and the highest love. It is bridal love.
Everyone knows how the Lord Jesus has called us to this highest and greatest purpose: to be His bride. It is almost unbelievable.
I have to be careful as I use that word. I remember when I was in Brazil, and a brother was translating for me. Translators have to take words literally. I kept saying, “It is unbelievable.” He said, “Brother, you are speaking about faith. Do not talk about unbelief.”
It is almost too great to take in. But unless something in you is awakened that is bridal love, you will not pursue toward the mark. That is the difference.
There is another group in this book. There are not many characters in this little book. There is the King, the Shulamite maiden, the daughters of Jerusalem, and the little sister who is undeveloped. I will leave it at that.
Who are the daughters of Jerusalem? I believe these daughters of Jerusalem are the Lord’s, but I believe the great difference is that they do not have bridal love.
They have some inclination toward the things of God. C. A. Coates said they are saved—barely saved—but what they do not have, what is absent in their being, what is lacking, is this issue of bridal love.
That was the difference. She is always talking to the daughters of Jerusalem. When I discovered that, I began to make it my prayer: “Lord, do not let me be a daughter of Jerusalem.”
I do not just want to know about You. I do not want merely to be saved. I do not want merely to appreciate the things You give me, the things You have done for me, Your blessings, and all of Your many privileges, which are so grand.
But I want to be one who has bridal love.
That is the message. That is the effect of awakened love. May the Lord help us and bring us to that point of bridal love.
You read it throughout this book. When you get to the end of this little book, you see this bride. Look at the last verse, Song of Songs 8:14:
Haste thee, my Beloved,
And be Thou like to a gazelle or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.
Now, this is bridal love. The only time in the whole New Testament we hear the voice of the bride is at the end of Revelation.
If the bride is so important, and if bridal love is so important, why do we hear her voice only one time? Because that one time is sufficient. She has one word.
Does anybody know what that word is? “Come.” Come, Lord Jesus.
It says in Revelation 22:17:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come.
This is bridal love. If we are going to press on in this pursuing love, then we are going to need this bridal love.
We need to go on to point number two. Not only do we need to understand the effect of awakened love; we need to see what the evidence of awakened love is.
I believe this book shows us certain things that indicate there is awakened love in His people. That is what we need to pay attention to in this second part: the evidence of awakened love.
First of all, go to Song of Songs 1:5. This is the maiden speaking, and she says:
I am black, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Some of you may not think this is very good evidence, but I think this is supremely good evidence. Some people might say this is a negative confession. We do not do negative confessions around here.
But this is evidence that you have seen the King. When you see the King, you will begin to discover two things: His beauty and your blackness.
I know people have heartburn over this. They say, “Oh, brother, you are always so negative.” But when you see the living Christ, when this love is awakened in you, you will begin to see, “I am black,” but you will also begin to see, “I am comely.”
These two go hand in hand.
Think of Isaiah 6. In the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the Lord seated upon the throne. He speaks of the seraphim with six wings, flying around the throne and saying:
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts:
The whole earth is full of His glory.
What was the end of that? Isaiah said, “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips.” Then the Lord, in His mercy, touched him with a coal from the altar, and he was cleansed of his iniquity.
This is the first evidence. If you see the Lord Jesus, if you see the King, you will see something of your blackness. You will.
I think of Peter, on the Lake of Gennesaret. You remember the Lord Jesus was speaking to the crowd, and the crowd was so large that He went out in the boat and spoke from the boat.
After the Lord Jesus finished speaking, He said, “Peter, put down your trawl net.” Peter, being a wise man, said, “Lord, we have been fishing all night and have not caught a thing. You do not understand.”
I think very often that is our word to the Lord: “You do not understand. You do not understand my circumstances. You do not understand my weakness. You do not understand who I live with.” That is Linda’s—no, she never says that. Sweet woman of grace.
But when they put down the trawl net, they drew in a catch, and it says it broke the net. So great was the catch that they called for the second boat. You know you are in trouble when you say, “Send boat number two.”
They brought the second boat, and they filled both boats with the catch, even to the point that they were sinking.
I think most of us would have said, “Wow! What a great miracle!” We would have had a hallelujah chorus right there on the bow, on top of the fish.
But Peter—dear Peter, often the learner, seldom understanding, always transparent—said, “Lord, depart from me; for I am a sinful man.”
Here is one who saw the King.
Oh, I think of Paul. Saul may have been the greatest light of Judaism—this learned man at the feet of Gamaliel, this taught one. His very name means “asked of God”: Saul.
But when he saw the Lord Jesus that day on the Damascus road, something happened. As we read his letters, we see a progression of descent, and that is not wrong.
In his early letters, he wrote to the Corinthians that he was not behind the chiefest of the apostles. But then, in 1 Timothy 1:15, he said that he was chief of sinners.
Here is evidence that you have seen the King. You will see something in yourself. You will see that your natural condition disqualifies you.
But then, in the mercy of God, there is this second phrase: “But I am comely.” Isn’t that beautiful?
Brothers and sisters, I cannot understand why people have trouble with the Word of God. How balanced it is: “I am black, but I am comely.”
She talks of her mother’s children who were angry with her. She talks of not keeping her own vineyard. This is what she is in her natural self. She is black, burned with the sun.
But what we are in Christ is beyond description. One of my favorite phrases in the whole New Testament is from Galatians 2:20:
Not I, but Christ.
I am black, but I am comely. This is the evidence that you have seen the King. This is the evidence of awakened love.
I never thought of getting a tattoo, but if I ever got one, that might be one I would consider. So if one day you see me with a tattoo, it might just say, “Not I, but Christ.” Do not worry, Linda. It is a hollow threat.
There is more evidence. Listen to Song of Songs 1:7. This is the voice of the maiden:
Tell me, Thou Whom my soul loveth,
Where Thou feedest Thy flock,
Where Thou makest it to rest at noon;
For why should I be as one veiled
Beside the flocks of Thy companions?
Brothers and sisters, I think this is evidence. There is a yearning awakened in us that is corporate in nature.
I know there are people for whom the whole Christian life is the individual life. Some of my dearest friends are like that. But listen to me: what you see in this maiden is a beginning appreciation for the flock of God.
She says, “Tell me, Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest Thy flock.”
If we are going to have this awakened love, there has to be evidence. I believe part of that evidence is that we will love the brethren and we will love His flock.
It will not just be any flock. It will not just be the flocks of His companions. Some people settle for less, but this one who was awakened by the love of God said, “Show me where You feed Your flock.”
That is evidence of awakened love.
I will never forget the phrase our brother Stephen said at the conference. He said this pursuit is intensely personal. But then he said something else: it is exceedingly corporate.
So often we can live without the brethren. We can do without the flock. But it is evidence that this love has been awakened in you: “Tell me, Thou Whom my soul loveth, where You feed Your flock.”
If I could add my own words: that is where I want to be.
I think this is another evidence. Look at Song of Songs 1:12:
While the King is at His table,
My spikenard sendeth forth its fragrance.
When you read 1 Kings 4:22-23, 27, we read of Solomon’s table. That is what this is in reference to: Solomon’s table.
We read of the abundance, and it ends with this phrase: “They let nothing be wanting.” Solomon’s table was a place of absolute abundance.
When you read of all the things provided in one day, all Solomon’s table spoke of was complete provision and absolute abundance. That was the place she longed for.
Here is the evidence of awakened love: something in us is awakened so that we have a longing to be at His table.
We have a table that far exceeds Solomon’s table. Solomon’s table is the greatest table in the Bible as to its abundance—at least in the Old Testament. Nothing can surpass its abundance.
But when you read 1 Corinthians 10, it speaks of the Lord’s table. This meager meal, to some, is the place of abundance.
God, in His Son, has given us everything, exhausted everything, taken everything, and wrapped it up in one thing—His Son—and given forth His Son. In His Son is abundance.
So we come to this table of our delight and say, “Lord, this is our place.” This is evidence of awakened love.
Do you love the table? Or do you say, as some do, “Well, let’s just do it once a quarter. This is getting a little too cumbersome.”
But when you look at the early church, they were defined by this. They broke bread from house to house. When we read that Paul went to Troas, it says, “On the first day of the week, when we were assembled to break bread.”
That is why they gathered. It was a testimony. It may not be a testimony to those who do not understand, but it is at least a testimony to the heavens, and it is a testimony to those who understand that this table is our place—the place of His provision and the place of His abundance.
There is more we could look at, but we do not have the time. Just for a moment, I want to speak about the end of awakened love.
Turn to Song of Songs 2. At the beginning of chapter 2, we first hear the maiden speak. Some people think this is the King speaking, but it is not. It is the maiden speaking.
She says:
I am a rose of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
Then we hear the King speaking:
As a lily among thorns,
So is My love among the daughters.
Then the maiden speaks again:
As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my Beloved among the sons.
That is the difficulty with the Song of Songs. People get confused about it, and I think some people do not read it because they do not understand who in the world is speaking.
But as they trade back these loves, these communions, and this bridal affection, you begin to see the fullness of this relationship.
Then it says in verse 4:
He hath brought me to His house of wine,
And His banner over me is love.
Some of your versions say, “He hath brought me to His banqueting house, and His banner over me is love.” That is my favorite version there.
Look at the end of verse 3. Back up for a moment:
In His shadow have I rapture and sit down.
This is how intense this awakened love is. In the maiden’s words, “In His shadow have I rapture and sit down.”
Now, to most of us, rapture is an event. But to the maiden, rapture was a Person. Did you see the difference?
So many people get confused and hung up about rapture. They have all these questions: who, when, where, how? I am telling you, if you just have this rapture, it all takes care of itself.
You do not have to worry about who, how, or when. When He is your rapture, all of that takes care of itself.
I remember when we were first saved, in the Jesus movement. Some of you young ones may not even know what the Jesus movement was. You may think I am so old that it was when the Lord walked upon the earth, but I assure you, it was not.
Back in the sixties and seventies, God moved by His Spirit. You heard Dana talk about it at the conference.
I remember all the talk was rapture. We used to talk about it: “Rapture today? Is it today?” I had to go witnessing one time, and I went to meet some of the brethren I was with, but I could not find them. They were not where they said they would be.
I thought, “Oh my gosh, I missed the rapture. They left me here.” What panic!
I remember I had this little Renault Dauphine. Thankfully, those cars are forever gone. It was not much more than a bubble with a rubber band.
That little Renault had bumper stickers all over it. I had “Jesus for President.” I think we ought to revive that one for this period.
Then I had, “In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned.” Rapture was everything.
But if you can hear the burden the Lord has laid on my heart: “In His shadow have I rapture.” What a difference. That is the end of awakened love.
There is another thing. A little phrase occurs twice in the Song of Songs: at the end of verse 5, and again, I think, in Song of Songs 5:8:
For I am sick of love.
Some of your versions may express it a little differently. It does not mean, “I am sick and tired of love.” It does not mean, like meatloaf, “I am sick and tired of meatloaf.”
It means she is overwhelmed with love. This is the end of awakening. She is overwhelmed with love. She is sick with love.
Put it another way: she has lovesickness. That is a good sickness. If you want to be sick, pray for lovesickness.
“I am sick of love.” This was the maiden. This was the end of awakened love. This was her testimony.
To this she concluded, “My Beloved is mine, and I am His.”
Can you say that with all of your heart? “My Beloved is mine.” This One Who has apprehended you—can you say it back to Him? This is the end of awakened love.
This is the burden the Lord has laid upon my heart in this first message.
Brother Coates, in his book on the Song of Songs—and I recommend it—said that the Song being the Song of Songs is to have one’s eyes opened to see the surpassing excellence of Christ and to love Him.
This is the true beginning of what gives God pleasure.
A. W. Tozer, speaking about the condition of the church, said, “Christ may be received without creating any special love for Him.”
We often say, “Have you received the Lord?” as though He were a paycheck. “Have you received the Lord?”
It might offend you that Brother Tozer did not think much of that phrase. He said, “Christ may be received without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver.”
He said, “I want to deliberately encourage this mighty longing for God.”
If there is one thing we need, this is what we need. It will enable us to press on toward the goal.
Your first reaction may be, “Impossible.” I like what I read in Brother Nee’s book. He said, “In us, we have an inadequate measure of strength for this arduous pursuit.”
But just like the rich young ruler, remember the word we were reminded of at the conference:
Impossible with men; possible with God.
Take that away from this message.
This is what we are called to: bridal affection, awakened love. Impossible for you, but possible with Him.
May the Lord awaken in us that same love and that same response.
Lord, we commit these thoughts to You. We do not want to be merely those who have gained knowledge of You over the years, but we want to be those who are so captured by Your beauty, so captured by Your love, that we cannot live without You.
You are all to us. We pray You would birth in us this awakened love, and that You would find in us a people with this response.
Only this will please You. This is what You came for. This is what You gave Your all for. We pray You will do it in us, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.