Trogdon, Rex: Studies In Song Of Solomon 03 ~ Our Lord Face To Face

Turn in your Bibles this morning to the Song of Solomon, the Song of Songs, which is Solomon. I believe by the time we finish this week, we're going to have this portion memorized, if it's not already. Talking with Brother Bramhall of his knowledge of the word, someone once asked him, Brother Bramhall, you must have the whole Bible memorized. He said, no, I've never memorized a verse, but I have it in my heart. And I trust that's the way it is with you, as we have the word of God in our hearts and we meditate upon it, that our meditation becomes sweet as we meditate upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Song of Solomon, chapter five verse nine once again, right through chapter six verse one. Please follow along as I read. Song of Solomon five nine says, What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. Verse six— uh, verse twelve. Verse twelve says, his eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers. His lips are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the barrel. His belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphire. His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Whither is thy beloved gone? O thou fairest among women, whither is thy beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee? Shall we ask those questions to our hearts this morning? What is thy beloved more than another beloved? Let us pray. Our Father, we bow in thy presence. We thank thee for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the altogether lovely one. As we meditate once again upon him, we pray that we might come to know him better as we gaze into his wonderful face. For we pray in his name, amen. You notice verse twelve that we read, his eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. Uh, that's the portion that we're going to be considering this morning, because we've looked at his color and comparison. We've looked at his head and his hair. We come now to go face to face with God through the scriptures. Our son, who's a doctor, Sidney, was telling me that in anatomy class in medical school, that they began at the feet with the cadaver face down and worked their way, but when they actually got to the head and turned the body over, that that's when they tended to lose medical students. They realized they were speaking of a real person. Isn't it interesting that in the anatomy that we're looking at of our beloved and our friend, the anatomical theology as we started on Sunday morning, we start with the head, the overall appearance, but we realize that we're speaking of a real live person. We're speaking of the living God, the one who is altogether lovely, the one who has won our hearts from us. We're not looking at anatomy from a medical standpoint, you understand. We're looking in a spiritual, devoted way of considering some of the beauties of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to consider him as our beloved, the friend of sinners. Well, that makes it altogether different, doesn't it? As we consider this, we're looking, first of all, at his eyes. I'm also going to take the liberty to talk about his ears as well, how they're always open. But I think of the Psalm, Psalm thirty four fifteen. let me just quote it to you. We'll look at it again in a little while, but it says, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry. Uh, this beautiful verse that we read, verse twelve in Song of Solomon, chapter five, tells us that his eyes are as the eyes of doves down by the rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set. You know what we're looking at is we're looking at his eyes that are attractive. They're like the eyes of, of a dove. Now, our neighbor across the street are believers. They're of the charismatic kind of believer, and so they're always going in for something that happens in this world to give us a little sign. And his wife noticed that we had a lot of doves in our yard, sitting on our house. We have a nest in our gutter. Every year they come and lay egg, dove eggs right there in our gutter, uh, before the rain spout, so they're safe. And every time we walk by, we look up in the gutter, and the head of this dove just peeks up over the top, and you can just see her eye. So Deidre said, Jeff, I noticed that there are doves in Rex and Nancy's yard. Jeff said, well, are you surprised? They're believers. They know the Lord. Certainly there are going to be doves all around the place. Well, you and I both know that it has nothing to do with the birds that are in this world that makes you know that you're a believer or not. But I have looked at this little dove who sits on her nest in the gutter, just pop her head up over the top of that gutter and look down at it, and her eye is just as perfectly round as round can be, with all the beauty of design that only an artist, a divine artist, could paint. It is beautiful, isn't it, to notice the eye of a dove, and to think about that eye and all of its attractiveness as being like the eye of our Savior, who always is watching over us. It's not only that it's, uh, fitly set, meaning it's proportionate, but it's washed with milk. Now, milk has a very gentle effect. It smooths things out, doesn't it? And that's the picture that you have of the eyes. It's like the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set. It's proportionate. Now, our faces are not always proportionate, are they? I mean, my nose is getting so big now, I'm starting to look like my dad. And people are reminded, and I used to think about my dad and my grandfather, and I thought, they got the biggest nose in the world. And all of a sudden, I'm realizing my nose is getting bigger and my ears are getting longer. And I thought I'd stop growing because I'm not getting any taller. I went to the doctor the other day, they said you're five foot six. I said, that can't be right, I've always been five foot eight. I said, well, actually five foot seven and a half, never been five foot eight, but I always call a half inch to my favor. And they said, you're five foot six now. And while I'm not old, I was older than the nurse that was checking my height, and she said, well, you know, as you get older, you get shorter. I'll tell you what, she didn't win a friend that day. I didn't talk to her the rest of the appointment till she gave me the bill. We change, don't we? Our bodies change, but he is always the same. I heard of a man in the neighborhood who had a huge nose like I'm going to have one day if I live long enough. Mr. Johnson, and all the kids laughed at his nose. Well, they decided to have Mr. Johnson over for a meal, and the hostess, she warned her children who could be mischievous and say the wrong things at the wrong time. She said, don't say anything about his nose, don't bring up anybody's nose, don't even mention anything about anybody's nose. And the whole dinner went so well, first course, second course, came to dessert, coffee, and the hostess said, well, now, Mr. Johnson, would you like to have a little bit of cream in your nose? She was thinking it, and it just came right out. Well, you know, when somebody's, when somebody's body part is disproportionate, it's always what we notice about them. And our African friends over in Zaire, they would make up names, nicknames for missionaries, and we always got a kick out of the names that they would come up for missionaries. Margaret Dawes, that some of you knew and prayed for, she's with the Lord now from out in Western Canada, out on the mission field at Lowell for many years. She was so tall and thin, they would call her Mademoiselle Katika, and Katika means break. And so they thought that she was so tall and thin that she could break right in the middle. But when she came home from furlough, where you come home and eat a lot, we always gain about ten or fifteen pounds, and they said, Mademoiselle Katika doesn't Katika anymore, because she had gained weight. She looked a little bit healthier, looked like she wouldn't break in the middle. So we have different body parts, and when they get disproportionate, they become outstanding, literally, and we start noticing these things, but it's not so with Christ. Everything. His eyes are as the eyes of doves. They're attractive. They're attentive. They're like washed with milk. They're smooth and fattening. They're fitly set. They're proportionate, and everything about him and his all-seeing eye is always just right. Nancy and I read in horror the story, as we read in Charlotte, of the young lady who came from a foreign country. Being young, she needed employment. She started helping this older couple. She did everything for them. She worked in their home. She lived right there on the, uh, in the residence. And she had heard of these things, but while she didn't fit in with anyone else, being of a different nationality, uh, she was completely dependent upon this older couple. And then they asked her one day, and she was struck with horror because this couple had never had any children. They'd always wanted children, but the Lord had just never given them any. And in horror, this young lady listened as the, the wife came to her and asked her, would you consider having a baby for us? Now, we read about these things, but, and this lady had certainly heard of these kinds of stories, but never would she have dreamt it would happen to her. All of a sudden, the pressure of working for this couple came in on her. She thought, if I say no, I'm going to lose my job. I don't know where I would go here in this foreign place. If I say yes, well, they're a dear older couple. Maybe everything will be all right even if I do this. Well, she did it, became pregnant, and things, while she thought they might be all right, were not all right. In fact, the wife all of a sudden started to hate her because she was carrying her husband's baby. And she even told her to her face, I don't like you. I disdain you. I hate what you've done. And finally, this young lady couldn't take it anymore, and she went busting out the door and just running, didn't know where she was going to go, just kept on running. And finally, in her condition, became very faint. And as she went down on her face, on the ground, by a little pool of water, the angel of the Lord called out, Hagar. You know who this is, don't you? It's a real life story, you know. It's not read in the newspaper, it's read in the word of God. There in the book of Genesis, Hagar, working for Abraham and Sarah, the older couple, asked her to have a baby for them. They had tried to work out the ways of God in their own works. We often forget Hagar. She was a real person, you know, and she ran in desperate escape, and there falling by a little pool of water, she was so faint she couldn't even see the water. And the angel of the Lord said, Hagar. And she called the name of that place, Thou God seest me. I want you to know this morning that his eye is watching, and he sees everything that happens in our world. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cries. What is the eye of God actually seeing? As Hagar named that place Bir Lahai Roi. Thou God seest me. She realized in a real way that the eye of the Lord was upon her and saw her in all of her difficulty. And not only that, but he saw the provision that he made and opened her eyes so that she saw the well of water. And of course, then he gave her instruction as to what to do. But would you think for a moment with me this morning about the eyes of the Lord? One thing that we can say about the eyes of the Lord is that they're searching and seeking. This is what we read about in First Chronicles chapter sixteen. Would you notice that with me? First Chroni- oh, Second Chronicles chapter sixteen. I- it's the verse that we often think about and quote. Two Chronicles chapter sixteen, it says, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro. Uh, working in Zaire, we met some other missionaries like the Linhartsons, Arne and Solveig Linhartson. I was, uh, talking with Solveig one day. Uh, they were Norwegian, you understand. Arne's English was excellent. His Swahili was even better. His Lingala couldn't be beaten. They used to call him Bwana Luba, meaning tell it to them, because every time he would give a message, when it was translated into Swahili, they would say Lubana Bongo, tell it to them. And he would say another statement, Lubana Bongo, tell it to them. Finally, he got the nickname Bwana Luba, Lubana Bongo, tell it to them. And he really told it to us. He could preach in every language that was needed there, and his English was excellent. Solvig, not quite the same. Her English was a little different. She was speaking Nor- uh, Norwegian with an English accent. She told me one day, she said, and the man just went forth and back, forth and back. I said, Art- Solvig, I said, that's back and forth. She said, oh no, you can't go back before you go forth. I said, you know, you got a good point there. Wouldn't you hate to have to learn English? But the eyes of the Lord, they've got it just right. They go to and fro throughout all the whole earth. He is seeking to find those whose heart is right before him, perfect before him. And he's seeking for a reason. Take comfort in this, because he's looking for those who have a heart that's right before him to show himself strong on their behalf. When he sees you and you and me, when our heart is right before him, he all of a sudden seeks you out and comes to your defense, and he stands up for you. That's what he did for Hagar. That's what he does for you. That's what he does for me. And he does that for every true believer because his eye is attentive as well as attractive. He's on your behalf. Thou God seest me. His eye is seeking, and he sees you. Not only that, but his eye is testing. That's what he says in the Psalm, Psalm eleven. He says, his eyes behold and his eyelids test the sons of men. He sees not only the good, but also the evil. Now, the psalmist says, the wicked say, the Lord does not see. But he goes on in that very same psalm to say, the Lord does see. His eyes are upon the righteous and upon the wicked. He sees the evil in our world, as well as hears it when he came down to So- to Abraham with the angels going to Sodom to attest and confirm the cries that he had heard. They thought they were having a party, but the Lord said he heard their cries. The eyes, they see the evil of our world too. Isn't that a question sometimes we have? Why is there all this evil in this world? Does the Lord not know what's going on? Yes, he knows. He sees. His eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men. So while his eye seeks throughout the world to and fro throughout the whole earth to find the righteous and to show himself strong on their behalf, his eyes and his eyelids are actually testing like a flame of fire, looking to the lives of even the wicked. Kay Author, some of you know her ministry. She has a fine ministry in many ways. She was telling us a story years ago when we first met. This was back before we even came into the assembly. She was traveling through an airport, saw a young man about eleven or twelve years old. He was in the airport, evidently a little ways away from his parents, and she said she could see in his face he was guilty as guilty could be, and he had stopped by a little magazine stand. He looked this way, and he looked that way, and he reached out and he grabbed the magazine. One that ought not to be there, and certainly one he ought not to have in his hands. But as he took one last glance, Kay, she realized what was going on, and as he opened it, she came up behind him. He didn't even see her coming, and she just simply said, God is watching you. He closed that magazine and put it back up on the stand, and he was gone. He knew exactly what the, what her message was, because the eyes of the Lord, they behold, and his eyelids test the sons of men. It's important to remember, isn't it, even for believers, that nothing is hidden from his sight, that his eyes are open and our hearts are open before him. You know, there's a great verse for guidance. It's Psalm thirty two eight. Would you like to look there for a moment? While we're in our Bibles, it's a great place to walk through, isn't it? Psalm thirty two eight. This, no doubt, is a verse that you have either known for a long time, and every one of you who are parents and grandparents, you have practiced it, even if you didn't know the verse. It says, I will instruct you, Psalm thirty two eight, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go. I will guide thee with mine eye upon thee. A- as you've raised your children, you no doubt have had to apply the board of education to the seat of knowledge a number of times. Not allowed now in some public places. When I grew up, if I got a spanking in public, if my neighbor would walk by and tell my dad, hit him again. And things have really changed in one generation. But isn't it great when the kids progress and get past the point of physical discipline, and then you can just give them a good talking to. We call it a tongue lashing, and that's where you squirm and you dig your toes down into the shoes, and your shoes wear out right under your big toe, you know, because you've gotten a tongue lashing. But then you progress to the next stage of maturity, when all it takes is the snap of a finger, and you know that dad is nearby. We used to marvel at how loud my dad's belt would be. It would make us cower, but even the snap of his finger could be loud enough that we could hear it all over the store, and we would pull ourselves together, and we made our progression to the next stage of maturity. The great stage is when it just simply takes a look. Now, you've done that to your kids. Let me get you to remember back a little bit further. Your mom and dad did it to you when you were kids. Just a look, it's all it takes, and you pulled yourself in line. And then you became used to that look to where you could get guidance from that look, and that's what makes a mature person, to where then you could look at your children, and they could gaze into your eyes, and they could know what they should do, and they could come for counsel. That's the mature level that God wants us to have as believers, isn't it? To where we gaze into his eyes. Now, we don't do that physically, you understand, but through the wonderful word of God. It's like looking into the face of God when we open our Bible. And he says, I'm going to put my eye upon you, and I'm going to guide you along. You just keep your eyes fixed on me. I wonder what Peter thought when the Lord said, you're going to deny me three times. Peter said, I'll never deny you, I'll die first. And then he denied the Lord the third time in front of a little girl. The Lord brought down a big fisherman with just a little, little damsel. And he heard the cock crow, and he went out and wept bitterly. But in between, he looked, and we read in the gospel that the Lord looked upon Peter, and Peter went out and wept bitterly. All it took was a look. He guides us with his eye upon us. He seeks us out, he tests the sons of men, and he guides us with his eye. He has an eye that is ever watching us. Let's go to the New Testament for a moment, the Gospel of Mark. Do you remember the busy ministry that the Lord Jesus had? Oh, they were always on the go. For three years as they followed him, it was amazing the pace that he kept. They tried to keep up, but they were always falling asleep at the most important. But we come to the Gospel of Mark, chapter six and verse forty five, and the Lord had been working, feeding, ministering to the multitudes, and it was time to change their direction in ministry. And we read in Mark chapter six verse forty five, immediately, which is a key word for the Gospel of Mark, presenting the Lord as a servant. When you want service, you want it done immediately. Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he sent the multitude away. Verse forty six says, and when he had sent them away, he departed to the mountain to pray. So I want you to picture, here they are on the shore. He sends them across the sea, which is not a very big piece of water, you understand, and the mountain right around the sea, he just goes up onto the mountain to pray. He would pray all night sometimes. Verse forty seven, now when evening had come, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. So you have the disciples in the boat in the middle of the sea, and the Lord up on the mountain praying, and that's the picture. Verse forty eight. Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. In the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea and would have passed by. I just want you to notice the first sentence, the first part of the sentence in verse forty eight. Then he saw them straining. The disciples in the storm on the sea, and the Lord up on the mountain praying. And he saw them struggling, for the wind was contrary. Do you ever feel that way? Here we are in life. The winds are contrary. The Lord never said he would fill our sails with wind in our favor always. Sometimes we have to turn the sail to get the advantage, but sometimes there's a struggle going on, and the storms of life come and beat into our little boat of life, and we feel like we're right in the middle of the sea, that any way we go, it's going to be a long way, and will we make it? I'd like you to remember that while we're in the midst of the sea, the Lord is up on a mountain in heaven, praying for us. But not only that, but he sees us in our struggles, and he comes to us in the fourth watch of the night. You know, that is the greatest comfort for our hearts, that there's nothing that happens in our little lives, even when we're in the midst of the wind and the storm and the water and the sea, and all of our friends are helping us in their struggles, but no one seems to be getting through. Thou, God, seest me. Up on the mountain, up in heaven, praying for us, and he'll come. It's going to be the fourth watch of the night, but he who is coming will indeed come and will not tarry. Well, we don't want to say if the Lord tarried because he promised he would not, but he'll be here, and he's gonna come because he sees us. His eye is upon the righteous. His ears, they're open to the prayers of his people. Let me remind you, as we just turn again to another portion of the Word of God, if you'll allow me to look just for a few moments at his ear. His ears are open to our cries. What does he actually listen to? Well, he listens to the cries of his people. The psalmist said, the eyes of the Lord are upon us, are upon the righteous, his ears are open to their cry. And Hagar, who was an example of his eyes being open, she also learned through her young son, Ishmael, at the age of thirteen that his ears were open too. Do you remember what happened? They thought they were as good as dead. Abraham had been kind enough to give them a little bit of bread and water for their trip, and the bottle had already run out of water, and she let off the lad and went about a, a bow shot distance because she did not want to hear his cry until he died. But the Lord heard the lad's cry and answered once again with his gracious provision. You know, we learned a lot through Hagar, didn't we? For a bondwoman in the son of a bondwoman, they sure teach us a lot about the Lord, but there's more to learn. His ears are open, as the psalmist said, I was in my distress, and I called on the Lord and cried unto my God, and he heard the voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. He hears us when we cry. Keeps all of our tears in his bottle, but he hears our cries. Have you cried out to the Lord lately? Be assured he has not turned a deaf ear to you. His ears are open to your crying. You know, his ears are also open to murmuring. I know that never happens here. Never could it happen here. His ears heard the people's murmurings in their tents to the children of Israel. The murmurings, you know, a lot of God's people have a heart murmur. It's true, isn't it? He heard the murmurs of their hearts in the New Testament. Don't you ever wonder how the Lord could always answer these questions that were never asked? Because he heard their hearts. He said, why do you murmur in your hearts about these things? Even to his own disciples, they had a heart murmur at times. The Lord hears the cries of his people. He hears the murmurings of his people. The Lord hears the prayers of his people. We know that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. That's in First John chapter five. Isn't that a great comfort, that he hears every prayer? I was driving home from New York, coming through the city of Washington, D.C. I thought, you know, it'd be nice to stop in and see the president. So I stopped in, I said, uh, my name is Rex Trogdon. I live in the United States. I'm a taxpayer. I'd like to just visit the president for a moment. They said, do you have an appointment? I said, no. They said, well, you can't get in to see the president. He's a very busy man. I said, well, that's all right, I'll see the vice president then. And they said, forget it. You better get out of here. We're going to call Secret Service. So I got in my car and I took off, came down to North. I was coming through Raleigh. I thought, well, you know, it'd be nice to stop in and see the governor. I said, uh, I'd like to visit the governor. My name is Rex Trogdon. I live in North Carolina. I pay my state taxes, and I thought I'd just come by and see the governor. And they said, uh, what is your name again? You don't have an appointment, do you? I said, no, but I just thought I'd stop by. I was coming through. And they said, you can't just come in and see the governor. I said, well, is the Senate? He said, you can't see the senator either. You better get out of here before we call security. And so I jumped in my car and I came home to Charlotte. Coming downtown Charlotte, I saw the city council building. I thought, well, I'll just stop in and see the mayor. It, I said, is Mayor McCrory in? And they said, uh, I'm sorry, do you have an appointment? I said, no, but I live in Charlotte. I pay city, county taxes, and I thought I'd come by and see the mayor. Is Mayor McQuarrie in? They said, he's a very busy man. You can't see the mayor. I was so discouraged. You know what I did? I got in my car and I drove on home, pulled in the driveway, went into my study, and I got down on my knees, and I talked to the God of all the universe, and he says, I'm so glad you came and talked with me. I've been hoping you would come. Don't you wonder sometimes why we don't speak to him more? His ears are always open to our cries. His ears even hear the murmurings of our hearts. His ears are open to our prayers. They're also open to our praise. It's amazing what praising can do. In fact, in one of the three sixteen s of the Bible, Malachi three sixteen, the last book of the Old Testament, he says that those who feared the Lord spake often one with another, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who thought upon the Lord. Yesterday and today, have you said anything that you know God leaned over and just listened into the conversation? Were you thinking about him? You know, the father loves to hear conversation about the son. If you spoke about him, he took out a book and he wrote it down as a remembrance before him. And I believe one day when we get to heaven, he's going to open that big old family photo album and say, here you were at Keystone Heights. You know that seventh week of conference when everybody was worn out, and you were still speaking about me, and this is what you said, and it brought the light to my heart. I heard it. I wrote it down. I want to share it with you. That makes me want to have a good conversation about him, doesn't it, you? Gives me great comfort in heart to know his eye sees me. His ear is open to the praises of his people. Let's give him something to listen in on today, shall we pray? Our Father, we bow once again in your presence, and we thank you for the assurance that you see everything about our little lives, and you hear everything from us. We take great comfort in that, as well as conviction, that we would do the things that delight your eyes, and we would say the things that thrill your ears. Help us to speak often one with another about him, that it might be for your praise and glory and honor, we pray, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.