The bond and union between Christ and his church (Quality: Good)

[0:00] verses 7 and 8 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions, if thou know not, O thou fearest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tents, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by 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 shepherd's tents.

[1:16] We spoke this morning on these words, and there seems such a volume that is left to say, and it will be said if the Holy Spirit will be pleased now to come and shine a light from glory on these words.

[1:40] They are the words of the bride. They are the words of the bridegroom. They are the words of the church, the soul that seeketh, and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[2:00] We cannot but just refer to what we tried to speak this morning. Between the bride and the bridegroom, there is a spiritual love.

[2:15] O thou whom my soul loveth. Not a love that is full of emotions.

[2:30] Not a love that is only a surface condition or a moving of the mind, but a love from the soul. This is the bond between the bride and the bridegroom.

[2:43] This is the bond between the child of grace and Jesus Christ, whom my soul loveth.

[2:56] And again, we are reminded, my friends, to the somewhat different between the natural love, between the bride and the bridegroom, naturally and spiritually.

[3:11] It's an eternal love. Mine is an unchanging love, higher than the heights above, deeper than the depths beneath, free and faithful, strong as death.

[3:28] This love, there is no change in it. It is known in time, of course it is, by the church, by the poor sinner. It shall be known for all eternity.

[3:42] This is the love, this is in the soul of the bride, for it comes from the bridegroom. We love him because he first loved us.

[3:55] And it is graciously apparent, isn't it, that there's no one else for the bride but the bridegroom. He has all her heart, and he is to her, as we read, my beloved is mine, and I am his.

[4:17] There will never be a separation between this bride and this bridegroom. Her soul is in love with the bridegroom. Her soul is in love with the bridegroom. Now why should it be so?

[4:30] Her own reference, her own description is this, I am black. So what is there, my friends, that so puts this bond and this union so strong?

[4:47] Well, my friends, when you come to love Christ, it is because of what he done for you. That is why.

[4:59] There's no love to Christ if you don't know him. That is in the knowledge of him brings to your soul the evidence of his love to you.

[5:13] You wouldn't love him if he didn't love you. And if he loves you, and he loves all the church, every poor sinner that is, whose name is recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life, he has an eternal love towards.

[5:29] And he loves them. In this respect, if I may so reverently say so, he loves them, and he came to save them.

[5:40] And he's done great things for them. He's laid his life down for them. He's suffered for them. He's shed his holy blood for them. He's redeemed them from a broken law.

[5:52] He's taken their sins upon himself and bore them away at Calvary. And also, the Holy Spirit has revealed Christ to the bride.

[6:08] Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, he's only known by revelation. You may read about him in your unregenerate days, and you may gather a little information in your mind of this blessed person.

[6:25] But if you've got nothing in your soul, you don't know Christ by love. And you'll only know Christ by love, by the love that he has shed abroad in your heart.

[6:38] And it is by the Holy Spirit you'll ever know anything of this blessed person. He is only known by revelation, and it is the Spirit of truth that reveals him.

[6:49] He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth. It is a beautiful question.

[7:03] It is a sweet and precious word from the heart, from the very soul of the bride, unto the bridegroom, where he may be found, where thou feedest, where his presence is, where he feedest, where his people gather, where his church is.

[7:25] They are established in one place, his church. And they are established in his heart. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.

[7:43] What a blessed person is a soul called by grace. What a blessed person he or what they are. My friends, they are united to Christ.

[7:58] We sang a hymn. I felt it was necessary to put that hymn for this night's service because it speaks of a union. And that is what's between this bride and this bridegroom.

[8:12] And it's a union that can't fail. It's a bond that will never be severed. It's that there is in this union and no separation.

[8:24] And it is love that makes this union. Though with no sweet enjoyments blessed, this covenant, this union, stands the same.

[8:36] And if I might so, and the Lord keep our minds upon this word tonight, because it is a sweet word.

[8:48] But if I might say this, sometimes we lose sight of this bridegroom. Doesn't alter the union. Doesn't alter the union.

[9:01] You know, a husband and a wife, a child and its mother. You think of the most endearing unions there is in this world of sin and woe.

[9:15] You think of the places they may be separated, go at long distance, from each other. My friends, that doesn't alter their love. It doesn't alter their love for a moment.

[9:28] And if you lose sight of Christ, that doesn't alter the union. And blessed be God, by his grace and mercy, there will be a bringing back.

[9:39] There will be those restoring times. There will be those seasons when Christ is first and Christ is last and Christ is all and in all.

[9:51] And that love which you have, that love, rather, which is in this text, that love which the bride has to the bridegroom, that love he has to the flock.

[10:07] Tell me, O thou, whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. When a person is constrained to join the fellowship and union of a church and to walk in the ordinances of his house, he is constrained by love.

[10:31] I've said this before and I'll say it again. A friend of mine, a deacon in one of our churches, many, many years ago and before he joined the church, was asked why it was that he had not applied for membership.

[10:47] And he said, not enough love. And that's why some of you are out of this church. And I say that in love. Not enough love. And I mean it in this way.

[10:59] My friends, when the love of Christ constrains you, hell can't prevent. And Satan can't prevent. And no power on earth can prevent.

[11:11] When there's love flowing from heart to heart, that is, from the heart of Christ to the very heart of a believer, my friends, nothing will prevent the union.

[11:22] And nothing will prevent the fellowship. And I say that in complete love to your souls. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.

[11:40] And one thing more as we go on, my friends. when the people of God are gathered together in the sanctuaries, who's chief there?

[11:53] Who is first there, my friends? Jesus Christ. It must be so. There is no room for anyone else or anything else, you know.

[12:05] This dear bride of Christ speaks the language of all and each of the people of God. my friends, when she says, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.

[12:23] There's no other person and there's no other blessing that can be sought for and sought after. But the place where Christ is, this is where this soul would be.

[12:38] when there's a gathering together of the people of God, this is what they seek for, that Christ may be present and he shall be worshipped.

[12:49] The substance of the gospel, the southern substance and the center of the gospel, is this glorious person. And has there not been so? Has there not been so?

[13:01] in your experience, those of you who fear the Lord, that you've entered his house and it is out of need and out of sense of your own sinful state.

[13:15] You've had to beg your way into the Lord's house and beg in his house. And has there not been a time when he's presented himself in the sanctuary? And it matters not whether there was ten or a hundred and ten in the house of God.

[13:30] You would come under that description. You saw no man but Jesus only. My friends, when you gather together in the Lord's house amongst his people, Christ should be first and Christ should be last and Christ should be all and in all.

[13:49] Oh, let there be a running after him and not after man. In the epistle to the Hebrews, we are exalted by the apostle to remember those who have the rule over us.

[14:09] Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow. Considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.

[14:26] There is to be a right understanding of those words. Remember those who have the rule over you but it's their faith you follow and nothing else. This is the person to follow.

[14:39] This is the person that shall be all and in all. This is the one that the bride goes after with all her love and all her affection. this is the one that desires that she desires to know where thou feedest.

[14:54] Where is he to be found? You know, affliction keeps the Lord's people from the Lord's house but affliction doesn't separate the Lord's people from their God.

[15:08] My friends, not at all. It cannot be so. If it is on a bed of affliction or if it's in a hospital ward, if it's laid aside, whatever that person is, my friends, it will be a sanctuary when Christ is present.

[15:24] Tell me, O thou, whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. And then again, we must say this, in the soul upon the spirit of the bride, there was a desire to be where the flock was and to be with them when Christ and the flock meet the church.

[15:49] My friends, it is so, isn't it? The means of grace God has provided. And it is, we trust and hope, that it is he, the great head of the church that gathers with us.

[16:02] And oh, if you loved him as much as this bride loves him, you would be found here where his people meet and where Christ is. Tell me.

[16:13] It was as if she knew not where it was. It would seem as if she would seek the answer from him whom her soul loveth to the place, to the spot and to the season when he and the people of God come together.

[16:31] I say that in all reverence, but she wanted to be one with him and one with the church. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest.

[16:43] We said this morning, they will feed. They will feed upon the good things of the gospel. And what then is the good things of the gospel?

[16:54] My friends, it is Christ who is the gospel. and those things of Christ, those things which he has undertook to do for them, those things which shall be for their eternal profit.

[17:11] my friends, this is what they shall feed upon. Know how those disciples forsook the Lord Jesus Christ because they didn't understand the spiritual language of his discourse where he said to them, Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, my friends, this is the church of Christ.

[17:36] These are those who live on Christ, long to feel his presence, long to know, long to hear his voice, long to know these blessings in their own soul which the church is indeed blessed with, the blessings of his grace, the blessings of his love, the mercy that flows to them, to the church through Christ Jesus.

[18:02] Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth. And I said to, and I've proved it and I believe God's people do prove it, that he isn't bound to four walls.

[18:16] What a mercy that it is. That's true, you know. He's not bound to four walls. He will be where his people are. He said to Joshua, he'll be with him whithersoever he goeth.

[18:32] My friends, he will be with his people. Be content with such things as ye have, the apostle wrote, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

[18:44] Now in those places, Christ will be there. And I do believe this too, you know, my friends, in your pathway that you are called to walk under the divine appointments of God.

[18:59] You will only want to walk where he is. even, my friends, in the things of providence, you only want to walk where he is.

[19:10] You won't want to dwell, however presentable, however comfortable. My friends, in a home or a house or worship in a chapel or occupy this or that place in life where you cannot but know his presence is with you.

[19:28] Tell me, O thou whom my soul oweth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. I believe the dear bride would say this in words of one syllable, where he is, I would be.

[19:44] And I believe every child of grace would echo those feelings. Where thou feedest. It is spiritual food for the spiritual hungry.

[19:56] and they are the bride because of his love. They are the bride because of the choice. Not their choice, God's choice.

[20:09] They are the bride because they are redeemed. And they are the bride because their debts were laid on him. Tell me, O thou whom my soul oweth, where thou feedest, and where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.

[20:25] We said this morning the rest that remains for God's people on earth is indeed Christ himself. That is where the rest is.

[20:37] There's no warfare, my friends. There is no opposition where Christ is. If Christ is present with you, he will be your rest.

[20:48] He will be your comfort. Rest, my friends, in that place and that place alone where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

[21:05] Well, my friends, would you in your right mind turn aside? When you gather, when it is a time to gather in the house of the Lord, would you turn aside?

[21:16] Is there something better? Is there something more presentable, something more attractive than to gather with his people in his house? They may be poor and afflicted and they may be but a little company of people but it is to the little company of people and the poor and afflicted that the Lord will be and to be their strength and comfort there?

[21:40] For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? And there are many temptations to turn aside.

[21:52] You know, if you've got an old nature that's active and Satan works on your old nature, he'll turn you aside. He'll tempt you to turn aside from the sanctuary or you make all sorts of reasons and excuses why it is best to turn aside.

[22:12] And one of the most solemn temptations I feel in my own life anyway, I can say it, if you should be so blessed with grace that you're seeking a portion for your soul and it would seem to you that the Lord's withholding the portion that you seek for, my friends, how soon the temptation arises, it may be but a whisper, but it grows and it increases and it ferments in the mind, my friends, and it would be this, why then go?

[22:44] Why then go? Turn aside, turn aside, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? The affections of the people of God are bound to Christ, but I know this, if you've got a wicked heart, my friends, and you know yourself a little of that, how you would be turned aside from even the gathering together of the house of God, something would become more important, something would become instead of gathering with his people, you know, that's where he's promised to be, where two or three are gathered, and when if we by sinful inclinations turn aside from the gathering of the people, how can we ask his blessing, how can we seek his presence, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions, this, my friends, is,

[23:55] I was going to say simple truth, this dear bride and this dear soul, the church, whether it is in the completion of it, the number of it, whether it is to some poor seeking soul, wants no separation from Christ, there is that affection in their soul, there is that drawing of his love, there is that desire for his presence, and indeed a desire for his people, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon, but we must go on little, 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 shepherd's tent.

[24:48] Now I want to speak of a comparison. The bride says, I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and she says to the daughters of Jerusalem, the church of Christ, look not upon me because I am black.

[25:08] The bride groom says of her, If thou know not, O thou fairest among women. You see the contrast. My friends, this is the contrast.

[25:23] Grace in the soul will always mourn over sin. The workings of grace within will always show. It's the old nature, my friends, that's not comely.

[25:38] It's the new nature that is comely. The bride groom sees Christ. The bride groom sees the bride as the fairest among women.

[25:50] That is a description of the bride. You may apply it to every blessed character in the church of Christ. He is to Christ as if he has never sinned because his sins are put away by that offering made on a tree at Calvary.

[26:11] What the bride is to Christ is this, O thou fairest among women. There's no spot, no wrinkle, not anything that defiles.

[26:24] The church in heaven, the church militant on earth, knows its blackness, knows its sinfulness, knows its depraved condition in its old nature, and it's the new nature of grace that recognises the lost state of man.

[26:45] But the blessed people of God who come home to glory have washed their robes and have made them white in the blood of the lamb, and are separated from sin by the application of the shed blood of Christ.

[27:02] They are fairest among, they are O thou that fairest, O thou fairest among women. You can see the two views, one of Christ, of his church, and one of the people of God concerning their own nature.

[27:20] They mourn over their sin and after him, they are to him as one who is fairest. O if thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.

[27:39] Now then a word about going forth. Going forth is, as I understand it, is going forward. There is no going backward. Those who go back, go back to the world.

[27:54] They, that were offended at the words of Christ in the sixth chapter of John, went back and walked no more with him.

[28:06] Those who are on pilgrimage, those who are believers and followers in Christ, are those who go forth. they go forward. He is before his people and they follow after him.

[28:21] When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them. Go thy way forth. He is the object of their love.

[28:32] He is the one that draws them by his sweet resistless grace. He is the one for whom they belong to him as the bride belongs to the bridegroom.

[28:44] He has removed all their debts by his one offering for sin that are going forth. Let me read a word in the Hebrews unto you if I couldn't find it.

[29:04] Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Now that's obviously the reference of his ignominious death on a tree at Calvary.

[29:19] Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

[29:35] Unto him. Let us therefore, let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, without the camp of this world.

[29:47] Tell me, if thou know not, thou fairest among women. This is the communion between Christ and the bride.

[29:59] This is the word of Christ to his people. If thou know not, though thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.

[30:11] There's a going forth, there's a following in the ways of God. The footsteps of the flock. What does it mean? Where they walk, this bride shall walk.

[30:23] this dear sinner, this dear sinner who's nothing but black in their own eyes, is instructed of Christ to walk in the ways that the flock walk, and to walk in the paths that the flock walk.

[30:42] If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. My friends, if you know anything of grace, and if the Holy Spirit is pleased to instruct and teach you what is the way that they walk, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.

[31:06] Well, first and foremost, we must say this, it is the right way. And there again we have a going forth. In the 107th Psalm it is recorded, and he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation.

[31:27] So first of all, it's the right way. There's only one way people describe this and describe that. I told you a story, and it is totally true, totally true that there was a dear old servant of God in one of the towns in Kent who came across the vicar one day, and the vicar said, we're going, although we walk different pathways, we shall both meet up in heaven.

[31:54] And this dear old strict Baptist minister said, since when there was two ways to heaven? My friends, and that's true, there's only one way, and Christ is the way, and he goes before his people.

[32:05] Never mind what this religious denomination or that religious denomination say so, there's only one way to heaven, and that is in the pathway of the flock, and in the pathway of Christ, and it's an appointed way, and it's the right way.

[32:22] Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. Would you walk with the flock of Christ? Would you put your feet in their footsteps?

[32:34] Would you indeed, with Christ before you as the forerunner of one who has gone between, gone before rather, who has walked pathways of tribulation?

[32:48] This is the footsteps of the flock. The flock of slaughter, my friends, do you consider for a moment that having been redeemed by Jesus, blood redeemed, that they do not know the path of tribulation?

[33:05] My friends, there's no going to heaven but the path of tribulation. In me you shall have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

[33:17] So the footsteps of the flock are the footsteps of tribulation. Would you have it so? No, not in your old nature you wouldn't. But if the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to your soul in love to you and said, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, though it be a path of tribulation, my friends, what would it be?

[33:40] Well, there's a word that's dear to me in the 71st Psalm and it says this, I will go in the strength of the Lord God. That's how you'll walk in the footsteps of the flock.

[33:52] And you'll walk by faith in the footsteps of the flock. And you'll walk by grace in the footsteps of the flock. And you'll walk dependent entirely and completely upon the bridegroom as you walk in the footsteps of the flock.

[34:06] my mind's gone back now to May when the dear pastor of the Grand Rapids Church in America stood in this pulpit and preached from this book the Song of Solomon.

[34:23] Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? This is the people. This is the bride. This is the poor, needy, dependent, insufficient sinner.

[34:38] My friends, just brought back to me that word that he preached from. A blessed word, but it describes Christ and it describes the church. Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.

[34:53] Not in front of them, not another way. Christian on the way to the celestial city found an easier way. Seemed to go the right direction. It was a smoother path.

[35:05] Wasn't any briars and thistles. Wasn't any hard things to hurt his feet. So he got over the fence and walked in this easier path only to find that it led away from the celestial city.

[35:20] So he had to retrace his steps till he came back to the pathway which was appointed. Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. But then my friends it is a pathway, it is a footsteps of obedience.

[35:37] Oh it is. Oh it most certainly is my friends. If you have a love in your soul to Christ it's because Christ has a love to you and it's obedient to him.

[35:51] And my friends that the church of Christ walk in the footsteps of the flock. They have gone before there's a great cloud of witnesses from Adam's day to this.

[36:05] And all such that are of living faith all such that are of grace are walking in the footsteps of the flock. These all died by faith we read in the Hebrews.

[36:18] My friends they'll all die by faith and in faith and they'll all die in faith into that faith which rests upon the finished work of Christ. the footsteps of the flock but it's the footsteps of obedience.

[36:33] Oh it is. Oh you've got an old rebellious heart my friends but that's your old nature. What about your new nature? How does he so constrain his people to walk in obedience to his word and will?

[36:47] I've not got to the ordinances of his house. These are footsteps but this is following Christ. This is with Christ in view. this is the way of tribulation.

[36:58] This is the right way. My friends in Christ I was going to use the word demands obedience but he doesn't demand it like a person over a company of people demands it.

[37:11] He draws that person and soul or church after him and he draws them by his love. That is how they come to be obedient.

[37:23] Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Thou know not how thou fairest among women go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.

[37:38] And following on following on that great cloud of witnesses following on the crucified one. Walking in the steps that he walked. Walking in the steps of the church of Christ.

[37:51] There's no other way my friends there's not a new way for you or me. It's the same path and it leads to glory. It's got tribulation in it. It's got a cross in it.

[38:02] It's got losses in it. It's got distress in it. It's got trials in it. But it's the footsteps of the flock. But I tell you what it has got in it my friends it's got his presence.

[38:14] It's got his all sufficient grace in it. Paul the apostle was given some ballast in his pathway by a very deep trial and he would rid of it he said he prayed thrice that the Lord would remove it.

[38:33] But the Lord said unto him my grace is sufficient for thee. You will not walk in the footsteps of the flock without grace. It is not and it cannot and it ever will be so that a child of God will be will be left to walk in his own strength or his own wisdom.

[38:54] My friends grace is needed to walk in the footsteps of the flock. And I'll tell you something else that you will need to walk in the footsteps of the flock and that's submission to his mind and will.

[39:09] My friends that's a blessed grace that you will need and I shall need submission to his mind and will. So why do you say submission? My friends because to quote the hymn though I can't quote it very accurately I don't think.

[39:26] The hymn says that though it be a hard way, though it be a right way, faith approves it well. My friends this is the way that faith approves but nature won't approve of it.

[39:43] Nature never did and ever will. The footsteps of the flock. You need to walk my friends, this isn't legal. God forbid we have legality in this pulpit.

[39:54] This isn't a legal thing. My friends you need grace to pray for submission to the mind and will of God in the pathway to glory because it's a crucified pathway because there's losses and crosses in it but it's still the right way.

[40:09] obedience, submission to the will of God. O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.

[40:24] But then my friends we must talk, we must bring to your attention that subjects of the ordinances of his house.

[40:36] This is in the footsteps of the flock. This is the appointed ordinances that the Lord Jesus Christ not only walked in, blessed with his presence in, but so teaches his people by his spirit that it is in their pathway to walk the footsteps of the flock.

[40:59] No, when we sit at this table if our lives are spared in one week's time, we shall sit there because of two things and I hope it will be apparent what those two things are.

[41:12] We shall sit there first in love to the Lord Jesus Christ, but we shall sit there in remembrance of him. My friends, he who shed his blood, he who gave his life, he that suffered in the church's place and instead, he who is their sin-bearer, my friends, has said, do this in remembrance of me.

[41:43] Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. You know, my friends, these ordinances are God given and God blessed ordinances.

[41:55] ordinances. And when you come to walk in those ordinances you approve that. There are ordinances which God has blessed. And I know this to be true that there's not been a, there's nobody I know at least, and I don't believe anyone does, but there's no one I know who walked in those ordinances which they never had.

[42:16] Because it's the answer of a good conscience, it is obedience to their Lord and Saviour, it is in glory to his great and to his holy name, my friends, and it's in the midst of the footsteps of the flock.

[42:31] There's not two ways. You listen to people say that it isn't necessary. I'll give you this, I'll only agree to this, it's not necessary for salvation, my friends, but it's necessary in love.

[42:47] If you love your Lord and Saviour as much, my friends, as it may be known, it is a way that's willingly to be walked in. We said submission just now.

[43:00] The footsteps of the flock are to be walked in submission, and are to be walked in love. But do you not pray at times, do you not have to pray, Lord, make me willing, make me willing to walk in these footsteps.

[43:17] cast out all this opposition that dwells in my old nature to these footsteps. Take away all this hindrance of Satan that would prevent me.

[43:31] You know, my friends, what the Lord Jesus said in the closing verse of the ninth chapter of the gospel as recorded by Luke. no man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom.

[43:45] I said just now that these places, these footsteps can only be walked in love. My friends, when love is not there, there will be no walking.

[43:57] There will be no walking. But when love is there, put your walk dependent. there's never been a soul in the church of Christ from Adam's day to this that hasn't had to be totally, completely dependent on his God for everything in that pathway.

[44:17] 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 shepherd's tent.

[44:31] This is where you will find spiritual food. Do not find it, my friends, anywhere else. Job, in the 23rd of the book of Job, said this, O that I knew where I might find him.

[44:48] What a blessed religion, my friends, to have. What a blessed teaching it is when Christ is the centre and sum of his people, their love, their affection, they would be drawn to him and they would follow him in the ways that are set before them.

[45:11] He is the way, the truth and the life. And feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tent. This is where spiritual food that is. And it is where he is, my friends.

[45:23] And it is where they shall be sustained and helped and blessed. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.

[45:39] For why should I be as one that turneth aside by 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 shepherd's tent.

[45:59] Where the Lord leads, he will feed. I said this morning, you know, the gathering of the Lord's people and coming together in his house, my friends, the places where there is spiritual food.

[46:15] If he's led you there, he'll feed you there. If you're where you shouldn't be, well, it may be that he shall not feed you there. I believe these are very solemn, my friends.

[46:28] They can be misconstrued, they can be misunderstood, but I do know this, that a child of God would be where Christ is, and where Christ is, there will be spiritual food, there will be rest.

[46:42] 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 shepherd's tent.

[46:57] Amen.