In this sermon, the preacher discusses the state of the world and compares it to the dark ages. He argues that despite advancements in technology and education, there is still a moral darkness that engulfs humanity. The church is called to be a terror to evil and should be as terrible as an army with banners. The preacher also explores the bride's experience of hearing the voice of her beloved and emphasizes the importance of spending intimate time with God.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that mold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life And make you whole Now, the bride speaks again about an experience. It's like a dream, and yet it seems to be more real than just a dream. She said, I sleep, but my heart's awake. And it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, For my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. So as she is there at night asleep in her bed, she hears this voice. She's sleeping, and yet her heart is awake. And she hears this voice calling for her to open. I think that there are times when the Lord calls us into fellowship. And I think that many times He's just longing for that close intimacy. Spend some time with me. How many times the Lord is just calling out for us to just spend some time with me. And I wonder how many times we just sort of pass it off. Oh, Lord, I'm so busy. I'm doing this. You know, I've got to get down here, and I've got to do that. And Lord, you've got me so busy. And the Lord's saying, hey, just spend some time with me. You remember the story of Mary and Martha. As Jesus came to visit these sisters. And Martha was out busy in the kitchen getting the food and everything all ready. Setting out the little dainties and all. And Mary was just sitting at the feet of Jesus, just looking up and adoring Him. Listening to His words, just communing with Him. And Martha finally called out from the kitchen and said, Lord, would you send Mary in here? I'm doing all the work, and she's just sitting out there with you. And Jesus responded to Martha. You're so busy with these non-essential things. Mary has chosen the better part, and it's not going to be taken away from her. And I wonder how many times in our busyness for the Lord, we've neglected the better part of just sitting at His feet. Adoringly. Worshiping. Just in that intimacy of love that He desires. And so the bride hears the voice, the knock at the door. Asking to open. Let's spend some time open to me. But she responds, I have put off my coat. How shall I put it on? I've already gone to bed. I've got my nightgown on. I've washed my feet. I washed my feet and climbed into bed. How can I get them dirty? Climbing out of bed and going to the door, having to put something on. And so she said, my beloved put his hand by the latch of the door. And my bowels were moved for him. Now, the deepest emotions are not felt in the brain. But down deep, you've heard of gut level feelings? And they say that when you experience emotions in the deepest part of your being, it's down here in your gut level area. That there is where the deepest emotions are felt. That when you're really touched to the deepest part of your emotional being, you'll feel it down here in your stomach region. You won't feel it in your heart or in your head. But there's this feeling down deep, deep, deep, in the deepest area of the emotions of man. And so she is, and all the way through the scriptures, you will read of this, the bowels of compassion. And where it speaks about emotions in the deepest level being what we would refer to today as the gut level feelings. And so she speaks of being moved in the deepest area of the emotions for him. And so she said, I rose up to open to my beloved. And my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with the sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. He had taken hold of the handles of the lock, and the scent of him, the perfume and all, was still there. She took hold of the handle. It was just like her hand was touching the myrrh that came from his hand as he had hold of the handle. And she said, I opened to my beloved. But my beloved had withdrawn himself. He was gone. And my soul failed when he spoke. And I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. Those times when the Lord has called us for this intimacy, this communion, just this close fellowship with him, and we sort of are slow to respond. Lord, I've gone to bed. I've washed my feet. Shall I get them dirty? I mean, I don't want to move. And then your heart is so moved. You say, well, oh, yes. And you come. But then it seems like you're too late. The Lord has withdrawn himself. And oh, what a feeling of forlorn emptiness when we lose the consciousness of his presence. When we feel the sort of absence of his nearness. And so I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city, they found me. And they smoked me. They wounded me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. And then turning to the young maidens, I charge you, oh, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love. Now, you would say today, I'm lovesick. I'm just lovesick. My heart is just wrenching because of the love. And they respond to her and they say, what is your beloved more than another beloved? Oh, thou fairest among women. What is thy beloved more than another beloved that you would so charge us? What makes him so wonderful? What makes him so great? And so she answers, my beloved is white and ruddy. He is the chiefest among 10,000. Now, again, here is the description of Jesus. As he is to his church, chiefest among 10,000. His head is as the most fine gold. His locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set in burl. His belly is like bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. And his legs are as pillars of marble that are set upon sockets of fine gold. And his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. What a beautiful description of Jesus. Fairer than 10,000. He is altogether lovely. This is my beloved. In sharing with others what Jesus Christ is to us, and that's what she's doing, they say, what makes your beloved so special? And she takes this opportunity to share what he is to her, even as God gives us many times those opportunities to share with others what Jesus is to us. Now I'm sure that the daughters of Jerusalem didn't understand fully her love, but she describes for them her feelings towards him. Many times we find it difficult to really relate to people what Jesus means to us. Fairer than 10,000. He's the lily of the valley. He's the bright and morning star. He's the altogether lovely one. And we seek to relate to others the beauty and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now they respond to her, where has your beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned aside that we might seek him with you? They've been impressed by her witness. They want to seek him with her. And she answers, my beloved has gone down into his garden to the beds of spices to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, and he feedeth among the lilies. Now we find that he begins to describe her again. And interestingly enough, much of this description we already have in the fourth chapter. He repeats many of the things. Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Terza. You're as comely as Jerusalem. Terza was a beautiful city as is Jerusalem. It was called the perfection of beauty. You're as beautiful as Jerusalem. You're as terrible as an army with banners. We'll get to that down in verse 10. Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. We got that, and we know what that means now. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep which go up from the washing. Every one bears twins. There's not a barren one among them. We know what that means. As a piece of pomegranate are thy temples within thy veil. And there are 60 queens and 80 concubines and virgins without number. But my dove, my undefiled, is but one. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her that bear her. The daughters saw her and blessed her. Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. So this sort of gives us, historically, the time that Solomon met this woman that became the favored among them all. At this time, Solomon's harem was limited. There were just 60 queens and 80 concubines. Virgins without number, but that did increase later, as we know, but yet among them all, there was one that stood out. Even as the church stands out to the Lord, his love for his church exceeds that of everything else. And then he said, Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? Who is she, the church, looking forth as the morning? The church has a message to the world, and that is that though the night has been long and dark, a new day is coming. There is a period of history that we call the Dark Ages, and they say that we began to emerge from the Dark Ages in the 16th century. I challenge that. I think we're still in the Dark Ages. I look around at the conditions of the world today, and they're rather dark. They're bleak. Oh, yes, our technology has advanced. We have developed our educational systems. We can now kill people with greater finesse and in greater numbers than we could before. But has that made us any wiser or any better? Has that added to our quality of life? There is a moral darkness that enshrouds the world. It engulfs humanity. And that darkness that shrouds the world seems to be getting darker all the time. As Jesus said, this is the condemnation. Men will not come to the light because they love darkness rather than light, for their deeds are evil, and because they hate the light. And so there is this hatred for good that keeps man from coming to Jesus Christ. He that doesn't come to the light hates the light because his deeds are evil. And there are people today who are evil, and they want nothing to do with the light. If you speak up against the evil, they try to put out the light. They try to silence you. They begin to make accusations of censorship and things of this nature. And they say, what right do you have to impose your values on us? Our values? They're the Lord's values. And those people that object to you imposing your values on them insist on imposing their values on you and upon society. But the church in the midst of the darkness is witnessing to the world of a coming day, a new day. A morning is going to dawn, the day of the Lord, a day of righteousness, a day of peace, a day of blessing. And so who is she that looks forward to the morn? Who, as fair as the moon, God ordained the moon to shine by night to light the earth during the darkness. The moon does not have any light of his own, but is reflecting the light of the sun. The fact that the moon is shining up there in the sky is a witness to the world that the sun still shines. Though it is not shining in this hemisphere, it still shines, and the moon reflects the glory of the shining sun. Now, when the moon is not in the shadow of the earth, there is a full moon. As the earth begins to cast its shadow across the moon, the earth gets between the moon and the sun. As the shadow of the earth is cast across the moon, you see less and less of the light until you have just a thin band of light because the earth is shadowing the sun. The earth has become between the sun and the moon, casting its shadow. As you reflect the glory of the sun, the more the world gets between you and the Lord, the less the sun reflects. There are some of you who are like the new moon. There's such a shadow of the earth over your life, so much of the earth between you and the Lord, there's very little that shows. Oh, God, help us to be like the full moon. No shadow of the earth that casts its shadow across our lives, but we might be fair as the moon, reflecting the glory of our Lord, bearing witness to the world that the sun still shines, a new day will dawn, and the Son of God will come and establish the day of the Lord. Who is she that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, and clear as the sun? A clarity that comes from the heat, which is a purifying effect. So clear as the sun is the church as the Lord sees it, pure, clear, without spot or blemish. As we were talking earlier, the way the Lord sees you is in that completed state. He sees you perfected. He sees you already in a glorified state. He doesn't see your imperfections. And so the church is viewed by her Lord clear as the sun, but the church in its attitude towards the evil is terrible as an army with banners. The church should be a terror to the evil within the world. We should be as terrible, as frightening to the evil, as an army with banners. The world is always saying, let us alone. When Jesus came to a man who was possessed by an evil spirit, the spirit cried out, let us alone. We know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. And evil is always crying out, let us alone. But we're not to be tolerant towards evil. We're at war with evil. And we should be as terrible as an army with banners against the evil. I went down into the Garden of Nuts to see the fruits of the valley and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded. And before I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Aminadab. Return, return, and this is the bridegroom speaking still. Return, return, O Shulamite, return, return, that we may look upon thee. And the question is, what will you see in the Shulamite? And the response is, as it were, the company of two armies. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next broadcast, as Pastor Chuck continues his study through the Song of Solomon. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you'd like to secure a copy of today's message, simply order Song of Solomon, Chapter 5, Verse 2, when visiting thewordfortoday.org. And while you're there, we encourage you to browse the many additional biblical resources by Pastor Chuck. You can also subscribe to the Word for Today podcast or sign up for our email subscription. Once again, all this can be found at thewordfortoday.org. If you wish to call, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-WORD. And our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Again, that's 1-800-272-9673. For those of you preferring to write, our mailing address is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck continues his verse-by-verse study through the Bible. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck with today's closing prayer. Father, we thank You for that beautiful intimacy, that loving relationship that You desire and long for with Your bride, the Church. Help us, Lord, that we might be quick to respond to Thee, that we might just spend time in blessed, sweet communion with You as we pour out our soul unto Thee, as we give and as we receive the fruit of Thy Spirit. Lord, draw us unto Thyself, that we might taste, Lord, and drink from that fountain of love poured forth for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Pastor Chuck teaches the scriptures that will help you learn how to increase your faith. To order a copy of Pastor Chuck's book, Faith, and to preview a chapter for free online, visit thewordfortoday.org or call 800-272-WORD. Again, that's thewordfortoday.org. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.