Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday evening, April 8, 2001, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia.

THE VOICE OF MY BELOVED

By Michael D. O’Neal Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church Albany, Georgia

Scripture Reading: Song of Solomon 2:8-14

Text: Song of Solomon 2:8

Song of Solomon 2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.

Introduction: The Song of Solomon is a love song between King Solomon and his bride. Because the church is the bride of Christ, much can be learned from this book about the love between the Lord and His people.

Our beloved is Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

He is the beloved.

In our text, the bride longs for the voice of the bridegroom. You and I have never heard his AUDIBLE voice, but there is a sense in which each of us have heard His voice, because His voice is the word of God, and we long to hear it again. I know many of you are using red-letter editions of the Bible, in which the words of our Lord are printed in red. However, there is a sense in which this entire blessed BOOK is the word of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in that sense we have heard HIS voice. When you hear the word of God you should take it as personally hearing the word of JESUS!

In THAT sense:

I. I HEARD THE VOICE OF MY BELOVED WHEN HE CONVERTED MY SOUL

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I was saved on Feb. 11, 1968. I was saved after a couple of weeks of conviction about sin, righteousness, and judgment. When I was saved, I was saved at my pew as the preacher preached about Christ’s dying for me and His invitation to come to Him in faith.

I did not hear the audible voice of Jesus, but in the sense that GOD’S word is HIS word:

He spoke to me about

A. The greatness of my sin

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
That is a personal revelation that God works in a sinner by His Holy Spirit.

B. The grief that I would suffer

Revelation 20:14-15 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

C. The gospel of His salvation

1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

II. I HEARD THE VOICE OF MY BELOVED WHEN HE CALLED ME TO SERVICE

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

It wasn’t the same as getting saved, but it was still a “crisis” of my heart. On Mar. 20, 1972, I was in a revival service in the First Baptist Church of Havre de Grace, Maryland, and:

He spoke to me about

A. My role in the church

I didn’t just think that I was called to preach; from that day to this I have believed that God called me to be a pastor.
Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

B. My right to my career

I HAVE no right to choose what to do with my life, apart from His blessed will!
1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

C. My response to His call

Acts 26:19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:

III. I HEARD THE VOICE OF MY BELOVED WHEN HE CLARIFIED THE SCRIPTURES

Luke 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

I didn’t spend a lot of time in the word of God as a teenager (I was saved when I was 14). When God called me to preach, I still had nearly four years left in active duty in the Navy. I was scared to death. I was called to preach God’s word, and I didn’t even know what the word of God SAID. I started right away reading, studying, and memorizing.

A. He identified the message

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Within just a few months of my call to preach, God brought me face to face with the issues of Bible translations.
It wasn’t long before I realized the issue (It WAS an issue in 1972, in spite of what any Johnny-come- lately Bible believers might tell you), and I became a Bible-believer, knowing WHERE the Bible is in English: the King James 1611 Authorized version!

B. He illuminated my mind

Psalms 119:130 The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
In a three-year period of studying God’s word, reading it from cover to cover, I arrived at what I now believe on every major doctrine of the Bible.
He still teaches me, but on the main truths of the Bible I believe now exactly what I believed by the time I entered into the pastorate in 1975.
JESUS will teach YOU if He is your Savior, and if you will LISTEN to Him!

C. He inflamed my members

I’m not talking about my church members; I’m talking about ME! Jesus set ME on fire with His word!
Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
If your Christian life depends upon your emotions, then you will be unstable.
If, however, your “fire” is dependent upon JESUS and what HE SAYS, then you can stay on fire for the Lord all your life!

IV. I WILL HEARD THE VOICE OF MY BELOVED WITH MY OWN EARS!!! WHEN HE COMES IN THE SKY

Song of Solomon 2:10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

I’ll hear some day

A. His loving voice

Song of Solomon 2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

B. His loud voice

John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
1 Thessalonians 4:16a For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout …

C. His lifting voice

Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.