Tell me... (Quality: very good)

[0:00] Depending upon the Lord for help, I direct your attention to the book of the Son of Solomon, chapter 1, and reading verse 7, the Song of Solomon, chapter 1, reading verse 7, And tell me, O thou whom my soul lovest, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon?

[0:56] For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of my companions?

[1:08] Tell me, O thou whom my soul lovest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon?

[1:30] For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

[1:41] The character as set forth in the Song of Solomon is represented as being the Church of God, or the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:04] It is spoken of in this way as a shepherdess who has felt herself to be negligent, and leaving aside those things concerning the love of God.

[2:27] Therefore, she speaks in this chapter. She says, Look not upon me, because I am black, because the Son hath looked upon me.

[2:47] My mother's children were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the vineyards. My own vineyard, because mine own vineyard I have not kept.

[3:00] Or in other words, the force of circumstances in life that have come upon me have dominated my thoughts, my heart, and my concern.

[3:17] And therefore, I have not attended until those things wherein I ought to have attended.

[3:31] She felt it within. I wonder how it is with you and I. Negligence is a real word to the children of God.

[3:46] A word that concerns them. A word which indeed causes them this concern that they might turn away from it.

[3:57] That they might be indeed interested and more concerned. They want to be near him. They want to know him.

[4:07] They want to understand him more. In the opening of this chapter, it says, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.

[4:22] For thy love is better than wine. A real desire to know that Jesus loves her.

[4:33] I say, can we say this? Is this our concern? Oh, make it known, Lord, that thou hast a love towards me.

[4:45] Thou of the vilest of sinners. She says in verse 5, I am black, I am black, but comely. Black, yet comely.

[4:58] I say, how do we view such words as this? As I have often explained this in your hearing.

[5:12] Though she felt herself to be black, there were inward desires, Oh, that Jesus might come. Yea, and to fill her desires, and give to her what she wanted.

[5:30] And how often I put it like this. Like the little child upon the floor. Maybe black and dirty.

[5:45] Black without and dirty within. And the mother comes in to the room. She puts out by you.

[5:57] But no, she is the very person that can do for that child all that it needs. Can wash it, cleanse it, reclose it, and make it acceptable.

[6:15] I say, what a mercy that is. If we have this desire, Jesus, thou canst do for me which nobody else can do for me.

[6:30] There are others observing and may well look on and say, I wouldn't touch that wretch. I wouldn't look upon them.

[6:41] They are revolting. They are completely unacceptable. But you know, a mother doesn't say that about her darling baby.

[6:52] Will she? Will she? She has an eternal love to it. It's no, you can say, it's no bother to her at all. But my friend, how much more is the love of Jesus Christ that abounds towards his dear people?

[7:16] He saw me ruined in the fall and loved me notwithstanding all. He saw me in my lost estate, his loving kindness.

[7:31] Oh, how great. And so we find in this particular verse that the spouse or the church of God is saying, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth.

[7:50] My friend, what a mercy if the Lord has given to us an inquiring and a teachable heart and spirit.

[8:05] For, oh, it is a sad thing when the Christian knows it all and needs to be told nothing and has everything at his fingertips and under his control.

[8:24] But it's not like that, is it? With this dear soul, she says, tell me, tell me. Oh, did not the hymn writer say, show me some token, Lord, for good, some token of thy special love.

[8:45] Show to me that I am born of God and that my treasure is above. Friend, he couldn't take it by proxy, could he?

[8:57] But tell me, I want it given to me. I want it indelibly endorsed by thy voice in my ear that it may be recorded in my heart.

[9:14] Think of what I've just said. Isn't that really so? Tell me. Friend, is that presumptuous for a poor sinner?

[9:26] Oh, to come to God and with those words, tell me. O, decide this doubtful case for me. Speak to me, dear Lord, that though my sins are so many, though indeed my base in gratitude of the past has been so, tell me that thou dost still have mercy, love, and affection towards me.

[10:01] Oh, I say, there's no substitute, is there, for the voice of Jesus. You may indeed hear many a good sermon, I don't know what they are to you, but my friend, there's no minister on this earth unless they can take it into his hands and speak on behalf of Christ with authority unless those words are given to him and so applied by the Holy Spirit.

[10:41] Oh, tell me. Eli, in all his thoughts and failings, he knew the basic truth to instruct Samuel, he said, if thou dost hear that voice again, then say, speak, Lord, for thy servant hearest.

[11:06] Tell me, Lord, what thou hast intended to speak unto me. Speak, Lord, tell me that I might hear it and not be misled or misunderstand or left to put my own construction upon things.

[11:31] Oh, but no, tell me, my friends, a real religion is a religion that is personal.

[11:45] Yes, indeed, we need to remember that. We need the Lord to speak to us personally. How can we say that we are right for heaven, that we are the laws, that our sins are pardoned and forgiven, except he tell me so.

[12:18] Many might say, well, it's up to you to believe it, but my friend, you can't believe that which you haven't heard.

[12:30] You say, why, if a person told you that, so I believe that's what they were thinking. You say, but you can't prove it, you don't know it, but tell me, then how different.

[12:43] Tell me, Lord, what thy thoughts are towards me. Are they thoughts as such that shall cast me out of thy sight through a never-ending eternity?

[13:01] How can I bear the thought I plead with thee, Lord? Tell me that though my sins are so many, they are all forgiven.

[13:15] But friends, how often the approach of man to God is in a different form to this. It's not a question of telling him, it's a matter of cover-up.

[13:29] If you don't mention it, don't think about it, speak about it, but oh believe that God is love, then all is safe and all is good.

[13:42] But my friend, tell me, oh friends, she desired to be told by him that although unacceptable in her own estimation, that by his love and mercy he has put her in among the children, tell me.

[14:08] What a sweet word that is. I am persuaded of this, that with any one of us here today, if the Lord does but tell us, we'll want him to tell us again, will he not?

[14:26] My friend, tell me, let thou just love me. There's something very wonderful about real love, even naturally, you know, that the person that is loved will never, never, they hear it too many times, that they are loved.

[14:50] No, there's a sweetness, a freshness about it. whenever the Lord has come and speak to us.

[15:01] And do we ever think that we are worthy of such blessings to share in such favours? No, my friends. Perhaps the more we are told, the more humbled we feel, the deeper it is recorded in our heart.

[15:25] And do we are told, we might often say, but why me? Why me above all, above all other people? But tell me, oh, can this be so?

[15:41] When I have behaved and lived in such a way as I have, tell me, Lord, I want to know the way back.

[15:54] I believe that is very, very important. For in this verse we read, she makes know what she wants to be told.

[16:10] Where thou feedest, where thou makest, thy flock to rest at noon. and why shall I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

[16:30] friends, she didn't want to be a sheep in any other flock than the flock of her beloved.

[16:45] Now this is the great important thing, isn't it? What flock do you want to be a founder amongst?

[16:55] many thoughts, many ideas may spring up in our hearts, but there was one single thought in her heart.

[17:09] She wanted to know, yes, where her beloved sheep to rest at noon. When the heat of the day is great and the burden is heavy, where shelter is needed, where refreshment is given, where water indeed is drunk, even the water of life freely.

[17:39] Oh, tell me, friends, there's one thing clear in this, that she believed that there was such a flock, she believed there was such a company, that what she believed there was such heavenly virtues to be hard and to be obtained.

[18:02] Oh, tell me. Friends, you've never seen, I wouldn't speak foolishly either, you've never seen a sheep or a lamb come with a purse in its hand to buy water and food off the shepherd, do you?

[18:21] Indeed, my friend, it's in his interest that they may be fed and watered. It is in his eternal interest that his people may be fed and watered, because he has said, except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, there's no life in you.

[18:49] O, tell me, O, where such a dwelling place is at noon, O, why should I be turned aside with those of thy companions?

[19:07] I believe in the original it could be spoken of as thy contemporaries or thy alternatives.

[19:24] But friend, there's only one way of salvation. Another feature of a true child of God is this, a fear lest they should be deceived, and deceive themselves, except to face a religion, a hope, of a second rate and a second nature.

[19:55] My friend, she believed that, oh, in her beloved, there is an all in all, there is a perfection that is to be found nowhere else.

[20:10] I say, how is it with you? we need to look at these things very carefully. We need to cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils.

[20:26] Yea, and us to see in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, there is such a fullness that resides.

[20:38] Yea, everything is adequately met for the children of God in him. Where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest.

[20:54] My friend, do we not hear this on, that there is a desire in her heart to be where the Lord would have her be?

[21:06] Now, this is a matter of great importance to every one of us. I believe, especially in my younger days, I made a solemn mistake in going here and going there to hear the gospel because of the reputation of the man.

[21:35] And did I obtain anything? My friend, indeed not. It could be said I was found amongst the flocks of other people or other things.

[21:52] I was isolated and separated. Friends, oh, to be where the Lord would have us be.

[22:02] You know, then I say, you will not be seeking the reputation of man. For I say, how valuable is the reputation of man or the reputation of a place, one of the sad and solemn forms of idolatry that has dogged at our denomination for many years.

[22:38] Do remember this. When God smites for idolatry, his people, he smites the idol, not the idolater.

[22:53] He'll cause them to cry out and say, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest thy flocks, where I might find it.

[23:07] Friend, what an indication that this is the state of the living soul of the child of God, and that very spirit and notion may change your complete appetite and approach even to hearing the gospel, where thou should cease from man and seek the Lord Jesus Christ.

[23:43] I say this not in defence of myself. I hope you will understand that. But I often fear that some may well blame the minister but have never considered their own duty and need to pray as this dear soul prays here, tell me, tell me.

[24:17] Friend, coming in a different way, coming in a right attitude, coming under the influence of his grace and love.

[24:32] And you know, when there's something that's very telling in that word, tell me, is there not a nearness and a closeness of one to the other?

[24:46] Lord, thou canst put me out of all my misery. Thou indeed can instill joy and happiness to my soul.

[25:00] Lord, thou are able to show me exactly where I am wrong and what I am doing. Lord, thou canst show me the way in which I should serve thee and to please thee.

[25:19] tell me, O thou whom my soul lovest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.

[25:39] My friend, where is it then that the Lord does feed his people? First of all, we need to ask the question, what does he feed his people with?

[25:59] You say, why he feeds them with the bread of heaven? Lord, show me, as used in the Exodus illustration, show me, Lord, where manna is to be found.

[26:19] My friend, it was found around the tents of Israel every morning. But if they did not get up off their beds and still slumber and sleep, when the sun rose up, the manna melted away.

[26:42] In other words, they wouldn't obtain envy. It caused them to get things in their right position, didn't it?

[26:58] Tell me, well, we need to be where the Lord will have us, and it is his appointed place away that we should pay our night and morning vows.

[27:14] I say, good it is if the Lord awakens us and delivers us from the things of this world, that Jesus Christ is first and he is last.

[27:29] I know one good man, I admire him for it, he listens to nothing, he sees to nothing, he reads nothing until he has read his Bible and poured his soul out before the Lord.

[27:53] Yes, indeed, he's very diligent in the oh, make the Lord, make us diligent also that Jesus Christ may be first and that he may be last.

[28:14] Yes, tell me. I say, what an opening word for the opening eyes. Tell me. First of all, before anything else, well, thou dost feed thy people.

[28:31] Friends, the Lord does feed us upon his word. And how do we understand this? Why we're told that the written word and the incarnate word are one and the same.

[28:49] The Bible and Jesus Christ, in other words, are alike. this is what he feeds us with, feeds our minds, feeds our desires with, that I may be like unto him, that I might know and do his will.

[29:12] I say, oh, tell me where this is to be found. surely then tell me where it is not found.

[29:26] And I need not go through that with you this morning, for I'm sure of this, there are many things that may come upon us before we have turned to those things, what I would speak of as vital importance.

[29:48] tell me. Friends, what a mercy that is. Where are you going? What have you to attend to?

[29:59] It may be the family food, it may be the watering in the garden, it may be arising to attend to some mechanical thing on your vehicle, it may be rising early to go on holiday, surely, oh, tell me where thou feedest, can you proceed, oh, through the day without it.

[30:34] It used to be said, didn't it, you must start the day with a good meal, in the days especially when men and women walk to work or cycle to work and so on, surely, there's no better meal than to start the day, oh, done, be found, always, that desiring for Jesus, hearkening to his voice, being instructed by him, tell me, is it not so that we can arise from our bed not very well in temper, some people more than others, they say, it's no good speaking to me until I've had my second cup of coffee,

[31:41] I can't say I've got a lot of patience with that, but you see, I shouldn't really say that, we all have our own personal dispositions, haven't we?

[31:57] But there is one answer, my friend, for all our varied dispositions, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, when he does lift up the light of his countenance upon us and causes his face to shine upon us, it's then that we see things from a different view and a different angle, yes, oh, tell me, blessed my thing it is, when the Lord does tell us, it may be, my friends, he has told you in your sleep, and that is a blessed awakening, isn't it, where thus you've had some fresh view of Jesus Christ, as you have never seen before, some people have no patience with that, but I believe the

[33:03] Lord's people from time to time, have been favoured with that which was good, in the night watches, oh, tell me, what desire, my friend, if the Lord does give to us that which was good, God, my father, he's in the, we're closing the day with prayer, in his old age, he often used to pray, Lord, keep me from terrifying dreams, peace, I've often thought about it, but I often felt perhaps he desired this, that in place of them, he might hear the Lord's voice, and he would tell him, never, never despise the place where the Lord does speak to us,

[34:05] God is a sovereign, my friend, and he can draw response, from our heart, from the living soul, in any place whatsoever, he will find you in, oh, tell me, Lord, should I be here or no, my friend, the Lord delivers his people from the path and way of wickedness, oh, tell me, tell me, can we be happy when this is kept an absolute closed secret from us, how will it help us by others telling us and saying, oh, well, it might be well with me in the swellings of Jordan, but you know, that is very light, shall we be aware and awake in the swellings of Jordan, you surely agree with me, how many pass from time into eternity in their sleep, sleep, and so

[35:28] I say, if they went to sleep in the spirit of sin and enmity against God, that's how they will arise, surely, in eternity, oh, that's solemn thought, that this was not so, with the spreadsheet, oh, tell me, oh, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest, we find that feeding and rest, they often go one with the other, and the psalmist beautifully puts it, does he not, like this, he makest me to lie down in green pastures, he feedeth me beside the still waters, a perfect condition, one indeed relevant to the other, oh, tell me, do I know such nearness to thee, such sweetness to thee,

[36:45] Lord, I need it again, I desire, that thou wilt come even unto me, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions, this may be an answer to you, I don't know, it may be an answer to the question of your concern at this time, what am I supposed to do, should I be doing this or that, I say will you be found feeding and turning aside by the flocks of his companions or his contemporaries or the alternative way, then when here you have before you a place of feeding and rest, oh, which is proved to be adequate and you can say like the old soul who put in our

[38:04] Bible, TMP, tried and proved, why should I turn aside, oh, I've tried and proved that his goodness, his mercy, his boundless, it's full and near, friend, tell me that irresistible grace of Jesus, you know, some people have, sometimes have taken up, taken issue with me for using that expression, the irresistible grace, but friends, that is so, isn't it, that's how I found it, it's not of him that willeth, or of him that runeth, but of God that showeth mercy, it's irresistible, God, he did, when he came to

[39:05] Matthew's, there he was, the chief tax collector, sitting up the seat of customs, he didn't go to him and say, well, don't you think you could spare a little time to me to talk this matter over, perhaps we come to some arrangement between us, not so, my friend, he spoke those two words, that were much with me in the past year, follow me, my friend, it was follow thou me, wasn't it, yes, bless his dear name, what did Matthew do, he could have got no alternative, he left all, left and forsook all, rose up and followed him, my friend, he didn't say to, but I've got to make the book straight here,

[40:13] I must go and see the other publicans first and get them, my account for them right first, not so, my friend, he rose up and followed him instantaneously, yes, instantaneously, that very moment, without a moment between, tell me, oh thou whom my soul lovest, surely Matthew was given that love to the Lord Jesus Christ, that very moment, so powerful, so great, that love was, that he had no other consideration, he was indeed clearly taught what he should do, why the

[41:16] Romans, their revenue, their advantages, they must go, but oh to follow Jesus, he must, and he did, follow, tell me, oh thou whom my soul lovest, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest, there is a word of instruction here, with regard to those places where we should not go, friend, if there's no feeding, no rest for the soul there, then surely there is a great query, whether we should be there, oh yes, oh to pitch our tent toward Sodom as lot did, should indeed be aware of this, does the

[42:21] Lord feed his people in Sodom and Gomorrah, my friend, you say, well the Lord can, you don't, you mustn't limit the Lord, but my friend, would it our choice and our decision, which completely militates against the holiness and the purposes of God, surely indeed we cannot expect the blessing, or the blessing, I wouldn't belittle that either, that lot received, was deliverance, he lost all his possessions, but my friend, God mercifully saved his life, you think of that, tell me, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest, we might say, well a decision's had to be made, it's got to be made, we've got to be logical about it, friend, when the word logical comes into religion, it's time we abandon that area of religion, because

[43:46] God has said, my thoughts are not your thoughts, or my ways, your ways, I cannot approve, I do not approve of sin, and never will, oh therefore, let us abandon that idea of being logical, but be more like unto the dear soul here, tell me, oh thou whom my soul loveth, Lord, that I may comply to thy mind and will, that I might do that is right in thy sight, my Lord, pardon and forgive anything I have spoken of this, but oh my the Lord, tell us, tell us, that will be all sufficient, amen.

[44:48] thank you men