Address—Dave Spence
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Could we turn to a few verses in Luke chapter 10? I'm sorry, Luke chapter 12.
Today, Lord willing, will.
Make a few remarks about.
The hope of the bride.
And that should certainly be the response of our hearts, for He is our hope, and that expression is used once in the New Testament.
First Timothy one, chapter one and verse one. But here we'll read Luke chapter 12.
And verse 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart.
Be also let your loins be girded about and your lights burning.
And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord.
When he will return from the wedding.
That when he cometh and knocketh.
There may they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down, to meet, and will come forth and serve them.
Also Revelation Chapter 2.
Revelation 2 and verse one.
Unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus right these things, saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand.
Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks? I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them, which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, and has born, and has patience. And for my namesake has labored, and has not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against the.
Because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the 1St works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Now also in Revelation chapter 22.
Revelation 22 and verse 16.
I, Jesus, have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am the root and offspring of David and the bright and morning star.
And the Spirit and the bride say Come.
And let him that heareth say, Come.
And let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let him take of the water of life.
Freely.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these words.
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.
If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy City.
And from the things which are written in this book.
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.
Even so come Lord Jesus.
Well, here we find the.
The bride says come in answer to what the Lord Jesus Christ is to.
Her.
And what is the Lord Jesus Christ to the bride? As we've read together here, beloved young friends, the bright and morning star. We were singing of him as that bright and morning star shine forth. Oh Lord, thou bright and morning star, come quickly. Come thy people waiting are.
Here we find the Spirit of God has worked in the hearts, so to speak, of the bride, or the Lorde people who make up the bride.
And causes that same response of the spirit which is come.
Now we wonder why the problems and trials in our life and the things that seem to add up to difficulties and problems, trials and tribulations, the things that try our faith and test us.
00:05:06
But it is really to deplete us of all of our natural strength that it might truly be abated, that we might might be emptied of ourselves, and that we might find ourselves beloved more at the feet of Jesus, as we've spoken of Mary in times past.
She had found everything in him and needed not.
Anything of this world that would attract her naturally to fill her heart.
And we find with the Saints at Ephesus who had such a wonderful beginning.
And we've talked about them a little bit and Justice reading the book, we know that they were in such a spiritual state of soul that they could receive.
Such ministry that touched on the heavenly calling.
And was indeed concerning the heavenly calling and the inheritance that would be theirs.
With their Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in the book of Ephesians we find the in the first chapter, as we've mentioned before, the sealing of the Spirit.
That was given a mark, so to speak, on each believer and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
To secure us.
And to make sure that we would be delivered safe to the bridegroom.
And the Holy Spirit has also spoken there of the earnest of.
The earnest of the Spirit which is the.
The down payment, so to speak, of the purchased possession.
But in the second chapter we also have a mention of the Spirit, the Spirit by which we have access to the Father and the Spirit of God that indwells the assembly.
Of course we know the Lord Jesus Christ is the one the Spirit of God gathers to, and that's even.
In a sense, a more wonderful truth.
Because he does not come to speak of himself, he came to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and attach us to him, and in a corporate sense too.
And in chapter 3 it speaks of keeping the unity of the Spirit.
In the uniting bond of peace.
And later on in chapter or chapter 4, that was the end of chapter 4 it speaks about.
Not grieving the spirit and chapter 5 speaks about be not drunk with wine, wherein success but be filled.
With the Spirit and the last chapter, chapter six, we spoke of yesterday concerning the armor.
Has to do with the Sword of the Spirit, and that is the only offensive weapon that the believer has included in that list of seven points of of the armor.
So that the believer is to be guided, led by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit. We have access to the Father by the Holy Spirit, and we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, which is really not the same as being filled with the Spirit. And I must say I do not know too much about being filled with the Spirit.
But since the Scripture speaks of it as truth and as a potential for the Christian life.
Certainly it is something that God has for us.
And wants to bring us into the good of and we'll find simply as we read the precious Word of God and as we are occupied with the One who is the theme of Scripture, our Lord Jesus Christ, we will be filled to overflowing.
Little by little, it doesn't happen all at once. There are some who would pray now, Phyllis, Lord with the Holy Spirit, as though it is a one time experience in their lives. Some call it the Second Blessing.
But we find that.
It may happen a little at a time and sometimes we are maybe partly filled.
But he would have us to be filled with the Spirit, and that displaces things in our hearts and lives that.
Preoccupy us with this world and lead our hearts away many times in the book of Proverbs, chapter 4, it talks about what we say with our lips.
And where we go with our feet and what we look at with our eyes.
00:10:03
But you'll find before those three things, beloved friends, it says to guard your heart above everything that is guarded.
The heart is that which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, which is in fact.
Communicating to us or bringing to us the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Would not that place where he dwells be sacred above all things? Should it not be sanctified? Because the Scripture says, sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you of the hope which lieth within you with meekness and fear?
We find with the Ephesians that were so happy for many years perhaps.
Approximately 20 to 25 years of some, as some have fought, they were living in the joy of first love. Perhaps we could say so. The Apostle Paul communicated to them these wonderful heavenly truths that they'd been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.
But we read in Revelation chapter 2.
That they were a fallen church or a fallen assembly.
The Holy Spirit no doubt making us aware of.
The fact that though once we've been once happy in the state of first love and the joy of that wonderful state.
We have the danger of slipping away.
And falling from that blessed elevated state of soul.
But here we find in Revelation chapter 2 where we read that they had done many things that were.
Very commendable, and the Lord does commend them for it. And the Lord would commend everything in your life that answers to holiness and righteousness.
Outwardly speaking.
He says that I have observed your works and your labor and your patience, and how you cannot bear them, which are evil.
And which have tried them that have said they were apostles but found them to be liars?
And you've borne, and have had patience, and you've labored, and so forth. The Lord commended them on every point that he could.
But he said nevertheless, I have against thee.
Nevertheless, I have against thee. He could not close the 2nd Epistle to them. We might call it The First Epistle is is Ephesians. The 2nd Epistle to the Ephesians is Revelation, chapter 2, starting with verse one.
And in a certain sense it's sad to read of them in that fallen state. But he said, Remember from whence thou hast fallen.
And repent.
I would like to ask you, beloved, as well as my own heart, as we come to a close here this week at Lassen. Are you content with your Christian life the way it is?
And with with the state of soul that you've experienced in the past days, weeks, months or years.
Are all of us satisfied with the state of soul that?
Maybe he has come out in different ways in our lives and our thoughts and our actions. Are we satisfied with that? Just to go on?
The Lord would never have us to be content with something that.
Leaves us in a lower state or condition.
Then we have the potential for by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In our Christian lives.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee.
For thou hast left thy first love.
Now we've seen leanings of that in two Timothy Chapter 2 and I think that was mentioned by our brother Bill last night where?
Paul was writing to Timothy and he said all they in Asia have turned against me and that included no doubt.
This assembly at Ephesus.
For he said they were ashamed of my chain.
But he said, may the Lord have mercy on the House of in this forest.
Because he OFT refreshed me and sought me out diligently when I was in Rome, for he was not ashamed of my chain.
00:15:03
There is a reproach connected with being gathered to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And we read of that in Hebrews 1313, going forth therefore unto him without the camp bearing his reproach, and whenever you don't take a name, and whenever you don't have a pastor or a preacher.
Or a building that looks glamorous or attractive. Or a membership. There is a reproach connected with that.
But I believe that there is a reproach we might speak of.
That goes deeper than that.
Perhaps it was the beginning of their falling from the state of first love.
They were ashamed of the apostles chain.
That secured him to that centurion guard there in Rome. They were ashamed of him.
Are we ashamed of the apostles doctrine? And if we are, perhaps it's because they are.
Is that loss or lack of first love in our lives? Or maybe we've never had it before?
It was many years in my Christian life before I ever knew or tasted anything close to that.
But we're convinced, as the Scripture says, he that hath begun a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
But are we going to be indolent?
Indifferent Christians pertaining to our heavenly calling and the claim that the bridegroom has upon our hearts and lives.
We never read that this assembly ever recovered.
That is, from that state from whence they had fallen.
Perhaps there were individuals there that did, I don't know.
And we know that we are living, according to Second Timothy, in the Day of the faithfulness of individuals, because the corporate.
State of things is not what it was in First Timothy when the church was in its first love, we might say.
But there is always the possibility and potential with each one of us.
To have that place of blessedness, of communion with Christ regained.
And what does that take, beloved?
Says in Revelation chapter 2.
To repent.
Repent.
Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember from whence thou art called and repent.
If you've ever tasted anything of the love of Christ in your hearts, and if you're a believer, you have tasted something of that love and you've lost the sense of it.
It can be regained if you repent.
Peter fell before the Lord and he said.
O Lord, I am a sinful man, depart from me.
David confessed his sin to the Lord and was very graciously restored.
Godly sorrow, the scripture says, which worketh repentance not to be repented of.
And may the Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, draw you this afternoon into His presence.
To give you that sense of.
Brokenness of heart and spirit.
The investment that he has made in each one of us as his part of His bride is very great, beloved, very great. No greater price was ever paid for anything or anyone, and the price that He has paid for you and me.
The Scripture in Matthew chapter 13 speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as the merchant man seeking goodly pearls, and when he had found one Pearl of great price, that is, the Church or the bride, he sold all that he had and bought it.
We spoke of the Spirit of God always leading us to that place of communion and relationship with Christ.
And we saw that pictured before us with Rebecca.
As she wrote on her camels with her damsels of the maidens, and they followed the man, followed the man, no doubt Speaking of the Holy Spirit, pouring in the fresh testimonies, the moral excellencies in type of Christ.
00:20:16
Into the heart of the bride.
He no doubt speaking to her all that long journey home of Isaac, to whom she would be married.
I remember.
Hearing about a bridegroom that was ready to be married and the day of his wedding.
The bride called it off.
I don't know that any of you would ever like to be in a position like that, the sisters here or the brothers.
There was a realization in her heart that she was not in love with the man that she was about to marry.
Now no matter what happens to us as believers, because we have the seal of the Holy Spirit.
Which is the earnest of our inheritance to the redemption of the purchased possession.
Remember, we are going to be delivered home safe to the bridegroom.
And no matter how our love wanes or because it.
We feel it isn't what it should be as being a part of his bride.
We're going to.
To be at that marriage supper of the Lamb.
In all of the brightness.
Of that fine linen garment.
Which are the righteousnesses of the Saints will be there. There will never be any.
Staying seen, never any waning of love in that day.
But in the day that we live, beloved, when we are going home.
The sad part is to lose that sense of bridle affections that state to to lower ourselves from that state of first love because we make the choices.
When Rebecca was near the place.
That was going to be her home. It says there that, umm.
Isaac went from the well of Lahiri.
Which means the living one seeth me.
And then it says that he went out in the field at Eventide to meditate.
Reminding us, evidently beloved, of the desire and the heart of Christ.
To have you.
For himself. He sees you, He knows you, he loves you, and he wants you. He died to redeem you.
I go to prepare a place for you. And when I go, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
The waiting for the coming of Christ was something that the early Church experienced.
It was part of their daily joy and expectation that Jesus was coming again.
With the very young converts at Thessalonica, it says of them that they turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from from heaven.
Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.
Wonderful.
There was the expectation, the longing, the hope within their hearts.
And when we speak of the hope.
That the bride of Christ has that the believer has within the heart.
It is connected with first love.
When we lose the sense or the character of first love, we lose the sense.
And the freshness of the hope of his return.
We find as Rebecca wrote upon the camels.
She saw Isaac, and she lit off the camels. She covered herself, and when it was no doubt from that point on taken up with her blessed bridegroom. But first of all it tells us about Isaac, who went out in the field to meditate, his desire no doubt greater than his than hers.
00:25:03
But there was a preoccupation with him throughout that long trip.
That she had taken journeying to that place of her home.
To meet her bridegroom.
Thus she was ready. She had the hope, the joy within her heart.
The expectancy of meeting him finally, after hearing so much about him on that long journey she had taken.
And perhaps as we read about the Spirit and the bride, that say come.
Speaking of the bright and morning star.
It should remind us, beloved, that that bright and morning star is that which arises just before the sun comes up.
Each day it is not the bright and morning star that wakes us up in the morning, it's usually the sun that arises does so.
But the bright and morning star precedes it.
And the Lord Jesus here speaks. After the angels have spoken about the heavenly city, the Millennium, and the judgments that were coming upon the earth, the Lord Jesus speaks and he says, I Jesus setting himself, so to speak, before the Bride in all of his loveliness.
As the bright and morning stars well as the root and offspring of David.
The Bright and Morning Star.
Has the bright and morning star arisen in your hearts like it speaks of Indiana Two, Peter Chapter One?
Is there that hope and the expectancy of the return of your bridegroom, that thrills your heart with joy?
And gladness.
Someone said looking to Jesus will change our lives.
Looking.
At him.
Will change our lives. Looking for him will thrill our hearts.
And we look to him, he'll supply our needs.
Remember, the Spirit of God lives within our hearts.
And if he is ungrieved, he will take the precious things of Christ.
Show them to us. Unite our hearts with our bridegroom soon to come.
So that that hope will burn brightly within our hearts.
In Luke chapter 12, we read just a few verses there. Where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also.
And if your treasure is in heaven, that is your heavenly calling. The joy of your heavenly calling, your heart will follow where your treasure is.
Then it says let your loins be gird about and your lights burning. We spoke about the loins yesterday and the need for guarding.
Our hearts.
Above everything that is guarded.
Guarding our hearts and our thoughts and our affections with the truth of God and keeping them in order.
But how many times we work on the outward?
And there is a place for the breastplate of righteousness, which is our conduct.
But oftentimes we emphasize that more than we do the state of our hearts, but if the state of our hearts.
Are right, is right, The outside will be right.
And the Lord Jesus says in the language of the Old Testament, my son, give me thine heart.
The little time that we have left, I wondered if we could just look at a few verses in the Song of Solomon.
And Chapter 5.
What is the state of the Church today in general, Beloved?
It's a sleeping church. A fallen church.
Is the Lord Jesus Christ worthy of his Church, his bride being awake?
Of having that hope burning brightly within the hearts of each one, yes, indeed he is. Is he going to come and find many of us sleeping?
Perhaps so. And he warned the Ephesians, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.
And Christ shall shine upon thee.
The languages of Luke. It says if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
00:30:05
May he give us that single eye.
And we spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to his own sleeping.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, they were sleeping in the presence of his glory in Luke Chapter 9, but they were sleeping in the presence of his suffering in Luke chapter 22.
And if we're sleeping in the present, so to speak, of his sufferings, that is, his sufferings do not touch or awaken our hearts anymore.
We will likewise be sleeping concerning the glory of that Blessed One and the glory that we will share with him as well.
Here we find in the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, The Bride.
Asleep.
Verse two of chapter 5I sleep but my heart waketh.
The believer in Christ will never be satisfied.
While asleep.
Because once the heart has been affected.
By the love of Christ, it will never be satisfied with anything in this world, and that's what causes us to go to sleep. Beloved, the cares of this life choke the word and we become unfruitful.
How many things that take up our time and our hearts occupations put us to sleep. We find the bride here going to sleep in chapter 2. She was resting there by night upon my bed. I sought him whom my soul loveth. She had called him her beloved in chapter one, but now she says him whom my soul loveth.
And she sought him.
But couldn't find him in that place of Recline and we like.
Comforts of this life. We don't like to get up early and read the scriptures.
Or maybe stay up at night and read the word of God and spend time with Jesus.
Those things can be the things that.
Normally. Umm.
We like the comforts of this life do put us to sleep.
Then she rises and goes about the streets of the city she'll never find, so to speak. Her bridegroom in the world will never find Christ linked with the world and the Watchmen that go about the city.
Bad companionship. You'll never find the Lord Jesus.
You'll never find communion with him as long as those links are maintained in your life. But here in chapter 5, she's sleeping. I sleep, but my heart waketh.
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying, open to me, my sister, my love.
My dove, my undefiled.
Now with language from the king speaking to the bridegroom like that beloved.
We know that it's not just a story in the Old Testament, and you know that as well as I do.
But he uses the tenderest language he possibly can to awaken the heart of the bride.
My sister, my love, my dove, My undefiled.
For my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night. Now he reminds her of his suffering.
And that is the thing that will restore your heart and mind if we've gotten into a state of lethargy and complacency or indifference. Or perhaps there is unjudged sin in our lives.
We must go to the cross, for he suffered and died for us.
Remember Gethsemane, where he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Remember that night in Gethsemane where he suffered the agony anticipating the cross?
He reminds us of these things when we go to sleep.
Then he says I have put off my She says I have put off my coat. How shall I put it on? Now? She tries to make outward adjustments and how oftentimes we try to do that, we try to change our conduct.
Nothing wrong with that, but that will never restore us.
To our bridegroom.
I have washed my feet. How shall I defile them? My beloved put his in his hand by the whole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.
00:35:03
When he puts his hand through the hole in the door.
She no doubt observes the wounds, the marks of the nails.
Now of course, this is a picture.
Of our Lord Jesus and his bride.
And how he seeks by his grace to awaken us through his suffering.
To bring to our minds and memory what he went through for us.
And then, she says, my bowels were moved for him.
That touched her heart. Remember the little girl That when her mother was putting her to bed one night, she said. Mommy.
Why are your hands so scarred?
And her mother answered. Because I saved you. One night, our home caught on fire.
And the only way I could save you is to gather you up in that fire and run out of the house. But I burned my hands in doing so. And she said, Mommy, I love those hands.
Our names are written on the poems of those hands that were pierced, beloved.
Let's not ever forget what he has suffered for us.
I wrote rose up to open to my beloved and my hands dropped with myrrh and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock.
Myrrh speaks of his sufferings on the cross.
His death for you and me. It was an ointment, a ball that was used in burial. And oh, he went in to death and suffered the agonies of the judgment of God to deliver you and Me, not only from the wrath to come to make, but to make us His bride. And now He simply wants to unite us, to make US1 in union with him by the Holy Spirit, in practice in our everyday life. And it can only be as we walk in communion.
With Him as Christ dwells in our hearts, and we're strengthened with might by His Spirit and the inner man.
I opened to my beloved.
But my beloved have withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed. When he spake, I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer.
First of all, he had been a seeker. He sought her. And now?
He makes her the Seeker.
As those two on the way to Emmaus.
The Lord Jesus had spoken to them concerning all the Himself in all the scriptures.
And as they approached Emmaus, where they lived, he made as though he would go further, but they constrained him to abide.
With them.
And then he revealed himself. And of course, then he vanished out of their presence.
And they went back to Jerusalem. He made them a seeker for himself, created that longing. And in fact Emmaus means earnest longing, created that longing in their hearts.
To be with him or to be with their own company?
And their hearts were burning within them.
The Watchmen that went about the city found me, They smoked me with they wounded me, and the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. Sometimes we have to pass through difficult circumstances, and as our hearts are being prepared for the return of the bridegroom, is there not that one blessed, wonderful fact that overrides every trial and suffering that we might have to go through. He is preparing our hearts.
For his return.
We've seen so many things among us, beloved, that have taken place.
Suffering of the deepest sort.
Sorrows that touch all of our hearts and sicknesses.
That have affected us and should affect each one of us. And we can't point the finger at anyone else but right here, there for us to revive us. And what is true revival? It's giving Christ his rightful place in the heart that he deserves. We speak about about revivals in this country, but what the Lord wants is a revival in our own hearts.
And that's giving him the true place He deserves in our hearts to enthrone him. May we leave this meeting having prayed that he might be enthroned upon the throne of our hearts.
00:40:12
Well, later on we well, a little further down she finds that she's rejoicing now in this one whom she seeks, and she says he is altogether lovely at the end of the chapter and the next chapter, and verse 4, verse three, she says, I am my beloveds, and my beloved is mine. He feedeth among the lilies. Then the groom answers, Thou art beautiful, no criticism when she finds him.
There is no I'll remarks.
When you seek after the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how far you've drifted away, no matter how far you have followed him, no matter what you've done.
There will be no criticisms, beloved young people.
He will say, Thou art beautiful.
You are part of his bride.
Part of that Pearl of great price.
In all that, we would walk in a beautiful way, and that our hearts would be maintained in a beauty that he can look down upon and feed.
Upon the fragrance.
As it says here, he feedeth among the lilies the fragrance of worship that he is so deserving of. Remember Mary when she poured the ointment upon Jesus. The whole odor filled the house.
And no doubt that fragrance that was poured out upon him was carried all the way to Calvary.
And it reminded her, or reminded him, of what she had done.
And the love that she had bestowed upon him. I know we're not to be occupied with our love, because the love of Christ constrains us.
But he wants us to love him.
He wants us to love him. We love because he first loved us and any measure that we're taken up and consumed with his wonderful love.
We will find that our hearts respond to him.
If the sin is judged in our lives.
Just back to Revelation 22 and we'll close.
Revelation 22.
Notice it says in verse 20 he which testifieth these things sayeth surely. I come quickly and he says this three times over in this chapter, and we've read this before. I know, beloved friends, but just to remind our hearts once again, the first time is in verse 7, but he speaks of it in conjunction with service.
In verse 12 he repeats it again. Behold, I come quickly.
And my reward is with me.
Connected with reward. But here, at the end of the chapter, he simply sets himself as the bridegroom before our hearts.
And, he says, surely I come quickly.
Without any other thought connected with it than the thought that he is the one that should be elevated in our hearts affections to long for him, not for rewards or anything connected with our lives here, so to speak, but to only be thinking of him.
And when that happens, the response of the bride is even, so come.
Lord Jesus.
We can all have that hope, the hope of the bride within our hearts.
In the measure that we have him before us, and we are occupied with him, and we find that there is no other source of true joy in this life like the the Bride and the Song of Solomon found out. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.
For his joy.
Or that wine is better than any earthly joy. His love is better than than any earthly joy.
And we'll find that out. Open up your hearts and throw him on your hearts.
You can have all that we've read about, all that we've talked about, all that you hope to be.
As a Christian and as part of the Bride of Christ, you can have it.
00:45:00
It can be yours.
And he stands before you right now, not just as the one that's coming, but as the one that can fill and satisfy your heart's desire. Could we sing just a couple verses of #78?
In the appendix of the Little Flock.
So.