In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of offering a sweet sacrifice of worship and praise to the Lord, especially in times of suffering and hardship. The preacher encourages the congregation to surrender all and commit fully to God, even in the valley of sorrow. The sermon highlights the idea that true worship can only happen when we are caught up with who God is and forget ourselves. The preacher also mentions that when we bring an offering of worship to God, He reciprocates by bringing us blessings and filling the air with His fragrance.

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