...and to
mar that which thou would bring into our
inner being.
Oh, lift up everything that is in praise
and melody to the rejoicing in that which
is melody and harmony.
And the life that is out of touch
knows confusion and is overcome by perplexity.
But the heart that is in relation to
Thee, O Lord, that heart is kept in
peace.
See, thou art overshadowed by the Almighty.
Give up thy fears and thy perplexities and
come even now to rest in the Lord.
...the word of life through Christ to the
ends of the earth.
And we thank Thee that still Thy loving
eye runs to and fro throughout the whole
earth to show Thyself strong in behalf of
those whose hearts were upright before Thee.
And we thank, Lord, that our human limitations
of the many that are in the dark
places of the earth where the living conditions
are hard and where they're up against the
heart of the enemy.
But, Lord, this morning, upon every person who's
giving the gospel, we pray for them.
We pray for the dear nationals in every
country.
As the doors are closing to the white
missionaries, we pray that Thy spirit gives power
from on high and keep us here just
flowing into the stream.
We thank Thee that while there are troubles,
the waters of the earth shake with the
swelling thereof.
We thank Thee there is a river from
God that makes us glad.
We thank Thee for
the carrying on of the message.
Amen.
Oh, Emmanuel, abide with us.
Come into us in an ever-deepening presence
and in an ever-deepening world for every
little touch, every little breath of heaven so
sweet and so clean and so pure and
so out of this world.
We love Your presence.
We love Thy kingly steps and stately moving
in our midst.
Oh, just wash our hearts and thoughts and
every part of us now as we turn
to the sacred pages of Thy word where
we eat and drink together in Thy precious
name.
Meet us in Thy word and around this
sacred communion table for Jesus' sacred prayer everybody
said amen.
Shall we turn to the precious word of
the Lord?
I told you last Sunday morning or perhaps
two Sundays ago, every Wednesday night for some
time we have been studying the songs of
Solomon and the Lord has certainly been with
us.
This past Wednesday night was most precious in
His presence and the blessing of Wednesday night
carried over until Friday night so that Friday
night was even much, much more blessed than
Wednesday night.
I just didn't care if I ever left
this place on Friday night.
His presence was so with us and it
seems to me it's carried over until this
morning too.
I believe Brother Diffenworth caught it, gave us
a touch of it in his solo.
Our thought was that I sat down under
his shadow.
It's wonderful to be overshadowed by God.
You have to be very, very close to
a person to be in their shadow, don't
we?
And he'd like us to abide just so
close with him with great delight and his
fruit was sweet to my taste.
But a previous portion we saved to share
with you this morning.
I felt it was the will of the
Lord and then we'd like to share with
the Sunday morning folks what the Lord is
giving us on Wednesday night.
Maybe you would like to come and join
with us because the Wednesday night crowd has
been constantly growing and God is with us.
All right, now our portion for this morning
is the first song of Solomon.
I'd like to say to you the song
of Solomon has nothing whatsoever to do with
Solomon himself.
Some folks are afraid of the song of
Solomon because they don't think Solomon had very
much in his life to give anybody.
Well, as far as Solomon himself is concerned
there are many things in his life that
we disprove of.
But Solomon was anointed king and the anointing
of God rested upon his life and he
did walk with the Lord for a while.
And while he was walking with God one
day the Holy Ghost came upon Solomon.
Solomon was blessed with songs.
He wrote over a thousand songs or rather
the Spirit through him sang over a thousand
songs.
And this portion of his songs is all
that we have recorded.
But evidently this is the portion when it
was purely of God what came through the
man.
So Solomon has no more to do with
the songs of Solomon than David had to
do with singing his songs.
The Spirit of the Lord came on him
and it's the Spirit of the Lord through
David that sang those songs.
Solomon had many more to do with it
than Isaiah had when the Spirit of the
Lord prophesied through Isaiah the 53rd of Isaiah.
Isaiah hadn't anything to do with it at
all.
It was just that the Holy Spirit flowed
through Isaiah and gave to us that beautiful
beautiful prophecy so purely God that God himself
has told us that it would be fulfilled
to the very jot and tittle.
It's so purely Spirit and of God.
And so has the songs of Solomon been
given to us not from Solomon but while
Solomon was in the Spirit the precious Holy
Ghost flowed through that man.
He hadn't anything to do with it at
all purely, purely a song of the Spirit.
Something purely of God has to be given
to us as something inspired so purely inspired
by the Spirit that it could be given
to us as the Holy Word of God
and not a word that Solomon himself had
to give.
So that's the first time I've even mentioned
Solomon for a long time only to explain
that Solomon has nothing to do with the
song of Solomon.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with Solomon's
life.
It has nothing whatsoever there isn't one word
of it that has anything to do with
Solomon's wife.
The whole song is a solid spiritual thing
concerning the heavenly bride and the bridegroom.
It's all of him.
The whole thing is the most spiritual bit
of truth in the scriptures and can only
be interpreted by the same Spirit that gave
it.
All right, then let us come to the
king and sit down with him in the
first song of Solomon the twelfth and the
thirteenth verses.
While the king sitteth at his table my
sight nerd sendeth forth the smell thereof a
bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto
me a bundle of myrrh now it's the
spices it's the spices that I want to
speak to you about this morning and the
sweet ointments the sweet fragrances that are ours
at his table while the king while the
king sitteth at his table it calls forth
something from my heart my sight nerd sendeth
forth the smell thereof I save this portion
because we're coming to the king's table this
morning we're coming to his table and my
heart has just been all melted before him
in this little portion of his word while
the king sitteth at his table my sight
nerd sendeth forth the smell thereof and I
ask him oh lord while we sit at
the table with you this morning what has
my heart to offer what has my life
to bring what can you call forth from
me this morning listen beloved when we come
and sit at the table with our king
this morning I wish you'd take a good
look at him I wish you'd I wish
we would stop and take the shoes off
our feet and just take time to think
at whose table we're sitting it's his table
and then with whom we're feasting for the
most part he keeps himself hidden from us
it's very very rarely that he ever pulls
back his robe and lets us see his
this one with whom we're sitting has nail
wounds in his hands and you're across the
table from him what has my hands to
offer one who has nail wounds in his
hands as I come to the table this
morning I receive from his nail wounded hand
the emblem of the flesh that was rent
for me I receive from his hand his
life that flowed from his wounds for me
we're sitting at the table with one whose
brow is marred and he's our living
head our living head all the life any
of us had this morning came down from
him any life that any of us had
this morning is flowing into us now from
the living head life from the living head
all that we are he gave all that
we have he brought we can't see that
he has a broken heart but he has
and if we're caught up in the spirit
with him this one with whom we sit
down has a broken heart so my heart
is asking what have I this morning to
bring to one with a broken heart one
with nail wounds in his hands and he
invites me to come to his table there's
just one thing he asks of any of
us he chooses his hand to draw us
out after him and he waits for our
decisions that we'll go that we'll go that
last night in the upper room in Jerusalem
when the king sat at his table that
very last night how he opened his heart
to his own told them its deepest secrets
at that time the fact that he must
suffer and there's no other way through for
him he must suffer and he calls to
us his heart calls to us will we
come after him he gives us his gifts
he gives us his blessings at the table
he lets us recline upon his bosom with
John we can feel his breath upon our
face we can look into those wonderful eyes
we can feel the warmth of his nature
I believe John even felt the pulse of
his very heart it's our privilege to get
so close to him what can I bring
him what can I bring to such a
one I can give him that that he
longs for more than anything else he has
come up to the city for one thing
only and he knows it he's on his
way to a cross he must suffer his
life must be given it must be poured
out and as he sits there at the
table he waits for you and for me
to make our decision that we will go
to Calvary with him we'll go all the
way with him we love his gifts and
we accept his gifts we love his blessings
we appreciate all that he does for us
and oh it's wonderful to be blessed and
to be gifted and to be endued and
to be loved but when we make our
decision every communion service to me is a
time of decision it is and it's a
time to consecrate beyond any consecration we've ever
made we've come thus far we've come faithfully
through thus far and the King is asking
us will we another month another month it's
the first Sunday we're beginning again will we
another month lay down our lives and give
up ourselves to be poured out for him
that's what he wants to be poured out
for him to really when I say poured
out I really mean poured out because nothing
else can be accepted in his presence he
cannot accept our natural goodness he cannot accept
all of those things that we bring to
society and the unregenerate heart and life and
it's accepted as sweet and loving and kind
and beautiful because it's the goodness it's the
beauty of the natural good, refined man but
that isn't the thing that he wants here
that isn't what he could offer to the
Father a sweet, lovely, good place God cannot
accept he doesn't thank us for the gift
of our goodness and our sweetness and our
loveliness in the natural that which satisfies and
pleases his heart is the life laid down
and the life poured out when he came
before the Father it wasn't his good life
that was accepted he lived without sin he
was good, he was kind he was pure,
he helped everybody he ministered to everybody he
was the most wonderful citizen in Palestine he
never harmed anyone he never touched any life
but it wasn't his good life that was
poured out before God it wasn't his sweetness
and his goodness and his kindness that was
accepted all that good, sweet, kind, pure life
had to be taken to Calvary and crucified
nailed to a cross put there in death
his life had to be poured out and
offered back to God and as we sit
at his table no matter what is in
our life of goodness, how good we are
by nature how perfect we are by nature
God doesn't accept that the Lord says, I
just want you to do one thing bring
me your self, bring me your life bring
me your spirit, soul and body bring me
your natural self, your human spirit bring me
your flesh bring me all that you are
there's one thing I want to do with
it and that's to take it through the
process of pouring out and giving up and
yielding all in death and to death that
I can change you and transform you so
that all will be of grace all will
be of God all will be of the
fruit of the Spirit in our life and
we'll not be offering the Lord our natural
goodness but that which is of the fruit
of the Spirit because of the work of
grace in our hearts and lives he wants
that nothing can be accepted in the presence
of God but what is of God God
can only receive God God can only find
joy in God God only takes pleasure in
God God only delights in God God is
only pleased with God not one single thing
that any of us are or have or
can bring or can offer of ourselves no
matter what I am by disposition in the
natural I can't offer that to God no
matter what you are in your horrible, terrible
disposition God is no more pleased with one
sweet, good, kind, loving disposition in the natural
than he is pleased with that mean, spiteful,
hateful disposition both likewise have to be brought
to the cross both have to go down
in death both have to be quickened by
his Spirit and brought forth by his grace
and be a product of the Spirit of
life and the work of grace in our
hearts and lives all that is ever accepted
by God has its origin in that incorruptible
seed that he plants in our hearts and
lives that is very God himself so as
I sit down at the table with him
all that I ever can bring to God
is what divine grace has wrought out in
my life and in your hearts and in
your lives nothing in my hands I bring
how the Lord talked to me about that
I was the nothing it isn't I've come
an empty handed I'm the nothing I bring
just nothing nothing in my hands I bring
simply to thy cross I cling hallelujah and
while he sits there and the sweet beauties
and the sweet fragrances pours out from his
heart and his life to us and we
see who he is you cannot be in
the presence of God and our life not
affected by it you can't his presence subdues
us his presence conquers his presence quiets and
that's what he wants to do in us
that he can sit in us the reigning
one he can sit in our hearts conquering
he can sit in our life ruling he
can sit in us overshadowing but blessing all
with his wonderful presence praise the Lord and
then my spite nerd will flow out and
flow back to him what is my spite
nerd any perfumes that he can bring for
any alabaster box costly costly you remember when
he sat at that that meal in Bethany
and Mary brought her alabaster box costly ointment
precious spite nerd precious spite nerd precious and
costly the most precious thing the most costly
thing she had I suppose but she brought
it and broke it and gave it oh
it's so wonderful to think that the fragrance
of Mary's perfume is still refreshing the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ and he said
wherever this gospel is preached that story will
be told oh there's certainly nothing wasteful about
that is there even down to this day
Mary's alabaster box is yielding dividends and returns
for the Lord Jesus to this day wherever
this story is told there's something more brought
to the Lord Jesus Christ so that's why
my heart wants to keep on saying to
all of us this morning don't withhold yourself
from the Lord hold back nothing from him
don't keep yourself in any way from him
but flow out to him pour out to
him let your spite nerd come forth the
perfumes of your love and our praise and
our worship refreshing his presence and ravishing his
heart you remember what David said David says
thou preparest a table before me in the
presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head
with oil my cup runneth over well we
have nothing to give to anybody else until
our own cup runs over yes we have
we're asking until our cup is running over
then we have to give that's the difference
between a prayer meeting and worship when we
come into a prayer meeting we come empty
we come to ask we come to pray
we come to receive we come oh Lord
we're here to pray we're here to plead
we're here to intercede we're here to pray
but not so when we come to worship
the Lord my cup runneth over we're worshiping
and neither can we worship the Lord until
the cup does run over when the spirit
of God comes in over a congregation right
away folks whose cups are running over just
flow right out and respond other cups that
feel a little empty and dry just aren't
flowing forth as easily aren't pouring forth so
readily I think the Savior wants us to
keep our hearts full of praise don't you?
oh the power of praise the return to
praise the beauty of worship how when He
comes when He comes and gives us of
His fragrances when He comes and pours forth
to us how wonderful it is and from
the other side of the table He wants
our worship He wants our praise He wants
our devotion nothing could please the heart so
His heart so much and of course we
can't worship the Lord we can't really worship
Him really worship Him until we're caught up
with who He is and forget ourselves forget
ourselves and detach from ourselves that we flow
out in worship and praise and adoration to
Him just as soon as worship and praise
to the Lord flows forth listen never ever
do we bring Him an offering that He
doesn't bring us one never never you just
let your spikenard begin to flow and right
away another fragrance will fill the air what
is it?
that bundle of myrrh she says was with
me all through the night that bundle of
myrrh was with me all through the night
it's a long night that you and I
are in, isn't it?
all through the song of Solomon whenever night
is mentioned it speaks of His absence as
far as His bodily presence is concerned from
just the time the song of Solomon is
divided into three different songs three different verses,
I call it the one verse is when
He was here on earth and the whole
thing has to do when He was here
on earth and then the next part is
when He went away and the night came
and then all that part of the song
of Solomon is what happened in the night
and then as we near the rest of
it is when He's coming back to receive
His bride all through the night He was
with me, a bundle of myrrh giving sweet
fragrance and you know, there isn't anything that
will strengthen us for the journey like the
fragrance of His presence with us isn't it
true?
the fragrance of His presence I tell the
Lord sometimes when the way just gets a
little hard I say, Jesus, if you'll only
stay with me I can go through it
I feel I can go through anything if
you'll just stay with me but whatever you
do, Lord please don't withhold your presence from
me if you'll just give me the comfort
of your love and the strength of your
abiding presence I can go through anything and
I feel that way about it but Jesus,
please whatever you do, don't leave me He
promised never to leave us, didn't He?
and He really doesn't He really doesn't sometimes
He just withdraws His conscious presence just to
make us run after Him a little harder
that's all and when He draws His presence
He tells us where He is He's just
hidden behind the lattice for a little while
but He's peeking through at us and He's
mindful of us He's just as much with
us as He was before but do you
think when Jesus was hanging on the cross
when Jesus said to the Father My God,
why hast thou forsaken me?
do you think God had forsaken Jesus?
why never ever did Jesus mean more to
the Father than He did right then and
there in that hour never was the Father
closer to Him but the Father had to
withdraw His conscious presence while Jesus was becoming
sin for you and for me because God
is too holy to look upon sin and
He couldn't look on His only begotten Son
while He was becoming sin for us and
He had to withdraw His conscious presence but
God was right there and watched over Him
that He was able to go through that
thing in the will of God and how
perfectly He satisfied His heart all through this
night listen beloved no matter how dark the
night or how bitter the hours that you
were passing through it could never be harder
or darker or more bitter than that little
bundle of myrrh that's promised to be with
us all through the night that's why that's
why it meant so much in the Orient
it meant when a lover gave to his
beloved a little bundle of myrrh before he
went on a trip or before he went
on a journey all the time that he
was away all during his absence she carried
that little bundle of myrrh with her wherever
she went, day or night she was never
separated from her little bundle of myrrh it
was a token of His love to her
it was a token that He was suffering
too while He was absent from her while
He was apart from her but it was
a token to her that He would come
back He would be with her all through
the night and then would return again and
still to this day in the Orient when
one wants to make known His love to
another and if she's slow to receive His
advances He'll put myrrh on the door of
her home thus showing, to prove to her
that with all of His heart He means
His love toward her and His suffering to
be apart from her and that's why I'd
like to say a little thing here that
I know we have criticized I think unduly
some of our friends for little things that
they carry with them little tokens that they
might carry and so on but I have
spent quite a bit of time in studying
the origin of certain emblems that are used
in the Scripture and for some time I
had been studying the cross and the emblems
of the cross and the meanings of the
different crosses and why they were used at
particular times and I discovered that the first
crucifixes that were worn and that were carried
by the first mystics and devoted saints were
just that they might they carried it in
their bosom or they carried it in their
hand or put it someplace where every once
in a while they would be pricked by
the edges of the cross and thus reminded
of His love reminded of the suffering of
this wonderful Savior reminded of the myrrh and
the bitterness that He endures for us and
those old early mystics and saints and martyrs
who suffered so much when they felt the
prick of the crucifix they said, oh, He
suffered for me I can go through this
thing with Him and they'd carry a crucifix
into the arena and into the Coliseum when
they were going in to face the lions
and as they felt in their hands the
prick of the cross the prick of the
cross He suffered for me He endured the
cross for me I can go through for
Him I know things are dissipated terribly but
some things in their origins were beautiful and
sweet and pure and so if someone to
this day would want to carry a cross
for some reason to feel the prick of
its edges to remind them of Christ to
feel the prick of its edges then how
could I just say this do in remembrance
of me I could love that, could you?
I could appreciate that I could accept that
little do we know what's going on in
a heart between a heart and its savior
between that loved one and the beloved so
let everybody else alone and let them serve
God as they will Amen A bundle of
myrrh is my beloved unto me He's with
me all through the long night The bitterness,
the costliness of that myrrh and I have
been searching out and I did that a
long time ago and just looked it up
again to be real sure Myrrh is the
life or the gummy sap of the tree
and the way it's gotten in its very
best that they can get the best substance
and essence is just to pierce the tree
and when the tree is pierced then this
substance oozes out of the tree one drop
at a time just like a drop of
blood or a tear just one drop at
a time and it's gathered, that's why it's
so costly and it's very bitter but costly
Myrrh is so much in the life of
our Lord symbolic of bitterness symbolic of death
symbolic of suffering and if we're going all
the way through with him if we're going
to tell him at the table yes, Jesus,
yes and we've already told him that my
dear, there'll be myrrh and bitterness in every
one of our lives yes there will but
he wants us to accept it with sweetness
and offer it back to him with praise
and with worship and with adoration I wonder
how many of you have myrrh in your
life today maybe you've been eating myrrh you've
been drinking myrrh from the first gift that
was brought to Jesus in his birth the
wise men brought him gold and frankincense and
myrrh myrrh, myrrh was ministered to him all
through his life on the crops they gave
him wine mingled with myrrh when David the
psalmist was caught up in the spirit and
singing about him, he says all of his
garments smell of myrrh Hallows, Casey, out of
the ivory palaces they brought spices to anoint
him and one of the spices was myrrh
but Mary had already been there and had
anointed him before he died so that his
vassals was full of the fragrance oh, listen
my dear no matter what bitterness is in
your life today do you want to know
him in the fellowship of his suffering?
or do you want to go to heaven
without any bitterness, without sorrow without trouble, without
any hard things in your life to discover
when you get there I don't know the
Lord in this relationship when he talks about
his suffering and when he lifts the fold
back from his nail wound I have no
song to offer him the other day the
Lord made me to know the song that
satisfies the beloved is a song that issues
from suffering what is the song of the
redeemed?
unto him that loved us and has washed
us from our sins in his own precious
blood wounds, sacrifice, death, bitterness and if we're
going to have song to offer him that
song will issue from the fellowship of his
suffering and that, my dear, that we must
know here so if any of you are
in the valley of sorrow if any of
you are going through suffering or some hard
place today oh, I pray, I pray there
will be nothing in your spirit that will
want to turn back nothing in your spirit
that will not yield or commit off, or
surrender off or lift, lift the, lift the
myrrh let there come an offering of sweetness
before the Lord I, I, may I just
hurriedly tell you one time I went home
for Christmas and I was so tired I
didn't know if I'd get through that last
Sunday of meetings or not I just felt
I had enough strength to get through that
day and get on, get on home and
I was looking forward to the time of
rest at home and it was Christmas and
I could be with my loved ones and
I'm with them so seldom well, I, my
father met me at the train and on
the way home he said, well my dear
I don't know what awaits you and I
said, what dad?
well, he says, the town is just being
ravished with an epidemic of influenza and you
just cannot well, I, my father met me
at the train and on the way home
he said, well my dear I don't know
what awaits you and I said, what dad?
well, he says, the town is just being
ravished with an epidemic of influenza and you
just cannot get a nurse you cannot find
anybody to come into the home and he
said, I'm sorry to tell you dear but
your brother has had the flu and he's
gone into pneumonia his wife, my very dear
sister-in-law that went to be with
the Lord since I'm with you she had
heart trouble and was sick for ten years
and he says, dear Mae has the flu
added to her heart trouble and their only
child, Rosemary has a very bad case of
the flu all three of them are in
bed we can't find a nurse or anybody
to come in anywhere and I said, my
love I knew what dad didn't say I
knew that it was Christmas and immediately the
Lord said to me this is my birthday
and I said, yes Jesus, it is your
birthday and immediately I knew it wasn't mine
it's your birthday and then he said, will
you give me on my birthday the celebration
that I would like on my birthday I
said, yes Lord, what is it you want
well he said, the wise men brought me
gold and frankincense and myrrh I would like
you to bring me some myrrh and I
knew what was ahead of me and immediately
the Lord said to me but sweet myrrh
myrrh is a bitter thing but all through
the bitterness I knew there wasn't to be
one little teensy weensy bit of bitterness in
the myrrh that I was bringing to him
it would be bitter myrrh to me but
sweetness to him and I said, Lord, you
know I'm so physically depleted it seems to
me I was never further down physically and
right away I was reminded when God took
Jesus to the cross never was he more
physically unfit for such an hour he had
been through Gethsemane he had sweat drops of
blood think what his heart and spirit was
suffering at the betrayal of one of his
own the denial of one of his own
all night long in that awful agony thrown
into the prison and down in that old
dungeon where they kept him in horrid old
putrid place never was he so physically exhausted
and unfit for that terrific thing but God's
command this is my will and I want
to tell you something else he was the
most beloved of the fathers sometimes when people
are going through bitter things and hard things
and trials some old gossip, excuse me I
don't really mean it that way but they'll
say, wonder what's in their life wonder what's
covered up wonder why the Lord has to
deal with them like this what's in there,
wonder why it's all suddenly it's just God's
judgment something just, we don't know anything about
it but God knows what it is ah,
the most beloved of the fathers the only
begotten son the beloved of the fathers suffered
more, suffered most suffered more than you and
I'll ever be called on to suffer remember
what it says about Lazarus he whom thou
lovers is sick, not he whom you hate
not he whom you want to judge but
he whom thou lovers is sick hallelujah say
praise the Lord will you praise the Lord
bitterness, bitterness, yes it's a bitter thing but
through your tears we can offer him sweetness
we can offer him sweetness hallelujah the Lord
took me into that thing I was home
long enough to change my clothes and get
into a washable dress and was taken over
to the home of my brother and for
three days and three nights I did not
have that dress on but the strength that
he poured in the strength that he gave
the life that he gave oh how he
can minister how he can help how he
can take us through he's
worthy to be praised he's worthy to be
praised and then I, oh it just all
depends you know on how we interpret the
things the Lord permits in our lives how
we interpret it there was dear old Job
who says he's, oh he's slaving me then
I'll trust him and I love the way
Job says this when the devil has tried
me I'll come forth as gold kid, could
you imagine such a thing?
what does it say?
when, say it when he has tried me
he has tried me folks would try to
tell you that God doesn't permit trial God
doesn't allow trial God doesn't permit death God
doesn't allow death he certainly does