Beware of the Angry Watchmen — Carter Conlon

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The Bridegroom’s Love in the Song of Solomon

Turn with me this morning, please, if you will, to the Song of Solomon. Go Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, then Song of Solomon and Isaiah in the Old Testament, if that helps you to find it. Song of Solomon.

Then just open your Bibles to the beginning of that book and just set them down for a moment. Father, God Almighty, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. I thank you, Lord, that this is something from your heart that you will enable me to convey this.

I give you the praise and all the glory. Oh, Jesus, Jesus, bring your bride home. Bring your bride home. God Almighty, God Almighty, God Almighty, let my voice be yours. Let the intonations of my life be yours.

God, I don't want to do anything that would hinder this. Help me, Holy Spirit, to be animated by the very heart of Jesus Christ. God, help me to speak this. I ask it in Jesus' precious name. Now, I want to ask something.

Those that are going to be listening on the Internet in the future, I'm going to ask you to duplicate as many copies of this message as you can and get it out to as many people as you know. Get it out to your friends.

Get it out to people who are struggling. Get it out to people who are caught in things that perhaps are not the ideal of what the church should be and should embrace. Just duplicate it and get it out as quickly as you can.

The Dream of the Careless Candle and the Spreading Fire

I was in another state this weekend. I was visiting. I was speaking somewhere. And I went to sleep one night, and this message came out of a dream. Now, you know I don't do this very often. I'm not really led by dreams and visions.

But I'm telling you, God spoke to me. And let me tell you about this dream. In this dream, I was working. I was in a house, and I was working on the message, the actual message I intended on speaking this morning.

I was sitting down at a desk, and I had my pen out, and I was beginning to write some notes. And as I was beginning to work on it, I looked over my shoulder, and somebody had put a candle on a shelf. It was a three-tiered shelf, and the candle was on the lower tier of this shelf.

And there was a piece of paper hanging off of the top of the middle shelf over the candle, and I thought, what a careless place to put a candle. And I was annoyed by this, and I thought, this is a nuisance.

Why would somebody do this? It's not doing any good for me here. And why would they even light this thing in the first place? So I ignored it. I kept on working. Worked for a few more minutes, looked over my shoulder again, and the piece of paper had caught fire that was over top of the candle.

So I left my seat, went over, and just stomped it underfoot on the floor, put it out, literally. And I remember thinking, what a foolish place to put a candle. And I went back to work, and worked a little bit more.

And I looked over my shoulder again, and now the shelving was on fire. The first two tiers of about a six-foot-tall shelf was on fire. So I grabbed a jug of water that was close by and threw it on it and put it out one more time.

And went back and kept on working. Worked for a few more minutes, looked over my shoulder, and the whole shelving unit was on fire now. And I knew that there wasn't enough water around to put it out, so I looked around the room and found a fire extinguisher.

And I began to use the fire extinguisher on it. And the more I tried to put it out, the hotter it began to burn as it is. And I saw that there was something about this fire that it couldn't be put out.

And I looked, and it was spreading across the ceiling and going into even the furnace ducts in this particular house. I ran up the stairs, and my wife, Teresa, was there with the lady who owned the house.

And I said, call 911 immediately. There's a fire. It's out of control. And the lady of the house said to me, why did you wait so long to call for help? And I said to her, well, because I thought this was just a nuisance.

I didn't realize how quickly this was going to grow. I went out the front door of the house and into the street. It was a long, long, narrow street. And there were houses on fire all over the street, not every house.

Maybe every second, every third house was on fire. And people were in the street trying to make their way to higher ground. There was a sense that there would be safety found in this higher ground, and they were trying as best as they could to get there.

But they were so discouraged, they could hardly move forward. And I was standing among them and telling them, listen, there's safety up here. You've got to move a little faster. You've got to head in this direction.

And they were so discouraged, though, I found it really strange. They could hardly form the ability to go forward to this place of safety. And one man in particular left this march of people going to safety and went back into his house that was already on fire, sat down in the living room, and the whole house just burned down on top of him.

And I woke up, and I was so troubled by this dream. I was in my room. It was just about daybreak, and I was just pacing back and forth. And I was so troubled in my spirit that all I could do was pray.

Have you ever had a dream, and you know it's a whole lot more than a dream? And I was pacing, and the Lord opened this message to me within about the first 20 minutes of going to prayer in its entirety.

I'm going to share it with you, and it's called Beware of the Angry Watchman from the Song of Solomon. Now, I'm going to take you through. It's going to be a parable. I want to speak to you about some of the church of Jesus Christ in our day.

Some. Not all, but some. Actually, probably many. Now, the Song of Solomon tells us the story of a bride, and it's the story of many who have loved Jesus Christ in this generation. Chapter 2, verses 3 and 4.

It says, As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

You see, this is a bride who knew that she was loved, and she loved to be with her bridegroom. Do you remember the day you first came to Christ? Many who are here today, and hopefully you're still actually in verses 3 and 4.

He brought me. I sat down under his shadow. In other words, I knew he covered me. The heat of the day couldn't get at me. I sat there with great delight, and everything he spoke to me gladdened my heart.

Whether it was hard to understand or not, it was sweet to my taste. And he brought me to his house, and there was a banner that he had spread over me, and that banner had a name on it. It just simply said, Love.

God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Verses 5 and 6. She said, Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love, or lovesick in other words.

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. Now she knew that his love to her was total. It overwhelmed her. When you first came to Christ, does anybody here remember this? I know I remember these days when I was just so aware of the love of God, I was overwhelmed with the fact that God loved me.

In spite of all of my failures, and all of the wrong things that I had done, and all of the struggles that were still very much a part of my life as a new Christian, I had one thing I didn't ever doubt, I knew he loved me.

And it was an overwhelming sense of God's love that was in my heart. Here's what she said, His left hand is under my head. David the psalmist said, He's the glory and the lifter of my head. His left hand is always there to lift my head, and to say don't be ashamed of your struggle.

Look into my eyes, look at me. Paul says when we behold Christ, that's where we are changed from image to image and glory to glory. As we simply behold him, as we look into his incredible and unspeakable grace and love that he has for his church.

And she says his right hand doth embrace me. Now the right hand is always symbolic of strength. And she remembered that he held me up in times when I needed strength. He lifted my head with his left hand and with his right hand he held me.

Because none of us can walk this in our own strength. None of us can change in our own strength. And seven times we fall down, but seven times the right hand of God reaches down and picks us up. We must never forget this, we must never let it elude us.

And she knew this, this pride. She knew he's the one that says look at me, don't turn away from me. Because in me you're going to find your strength. Paul says in him we live, we move, we have our being in him.

Everything he requires in me. And he reaches down and picks her up when she is weak. And verse 10 says, verse 8 and 9 rather says, The voice of my beloved, behold he comes leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills.

My beloved is like a row or a young heart, behold he stands behind our wall. He looks forth at the windows showing himself through the lattice. You see, this pride knew his voice and she loved his appearing.

She had an inner knowledge that Jesus Christ was delighted to be called the Lord of her life. She knew it and he would appear to her and he would speak to her. And she loved his appearing. You're not afraid of what he was going to say because she knew that everything he did, he did it for good.

All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Verse 10 says, my beloved spake and he said to me, rise up my love, my fair one and come away. And she heard him call and wanted to walk with him.

Not just come away in time but come away for eternity. Elsewhere you'll find where he says, come, let's go out into the villages. Let's walk together. Let's be partners as it is for the rest of time. And we'll one day walk right out.

You'll walk right out of the realm of time and with me into the realm of eternity. Let's walk together. And she wanted to walk with him. There was this yearning in her heart, this precious bride of Jesus Christ.

Losing Intimacy and Taking a Wrong Turn

Chapter 3 tells us that one day she became aware that she was losing this intimacy. Or perhaps she'd even lost this intimacy. This relationship that she'd once known of him. Listen to verses 1 and 2. She says, by night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth.

I sought him but I found him not. I will rise now and go about the city and the streets and in the broadways. And I will seek him whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found him not. What a strange thing to go so quickly from what I read to you in chapter 2 into chapter 3.

And have you ever had a chapter 3 experience in God? Where all of a sudden, now there's a lot of possibilities. I'm speaking in the context of the bride of Christ. Some of the bride. Perhaps much in our generation.

Possibly, as the prodigal son, she took this precious life of Christ and took a wrong turn in the road. And she failed to let this life lead her into that which God had for her. Many, many people in our generation who knew Christ, loved him, walked with him.

But they took a wrong turn somewhere down the line. And they said, give me this inheritance. And they went far away from the heart of God. And they wasted this inheritance with self. The word riotous in the King James means self-consumed living.

Took this inheritance and said, thank you, Jesus. Oh, this is incredible. Now I'm going to be richer and I'm going to be more influential, more powerful. She went far, far away from that which is truly the heart and the work of God.

James 1 .14 also tells us that she might have been led away by some unsurrendered inner lust. Something that she was not willing to yield to him. Something he spoke about. Maybe he promised, I'll give you strength, but she couldn't or wouldn't hear it.

And this inner lust perhaps to be somebody. An inner lust to achieve what she thought might make her happy. Failing to understand that walking with Christ is all that any of us will ever need. She may also have followed for a season one of the very numerous religious deceptions.

That are all readily available, especially in our generation. This is an age of religious deception. And she may have been snared, captivated along the road. Called into one of these houses. And where there's an imitation as it is of Christ.

And an imitation of the cross, an imitation of his holiness. And she may have been led in there and snared. Although she's the bride of Christ. Perhaps a sudden calamity makes her aware that she no longer has the strength in Christ that she used to have.

I believe with all my heart that sudden calamity is not coming, it's here. And that many are going to wake up now. Many, many, many who are the bride of Christ. Hear me on this clearly. Are going to finally realize, I'm in a place where I don't have the strength that I need.

I'm in a place, I knew him. I knew him. Maybe it was just an infancy. Maybe it was just for months before this path came or this snare came her way. But she says, I knew him. And I know that there's more strength in him than I have right now.

I know that what I'm hearing about him is not the Christ that I used to know. And she gets up and decides to find him again. We're coming to a time, folks, when many, many people are going to get up and make the decision to go back and find him.

Many are going to leave the prosperity movement just dead where it's going to be. They're going to leave these false prophetic movements that have brought them far, far away from the heart of God. And they're going to get up because of calamity.

I believe they're going to start to come back. Like the prodigal son. The prodigal son found himself in the calamity. A famine came. And he said, it's better. My older brother, his service is not very appealing, but at least it's better than out here.

And he got up and started to head back. And we're living in a generation when many, perhaps thousands and thousands are going to get up. They're going to get up. They're going to leave false prophets high and dry.

And they're going to start going down the road trying to make their way back to God. But these are times of great vulnerability for these precious saints. Chapter 5 and verse 7. Verse 6 rather. He says, I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself.

And he was gone and my soul failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. And so the watchman, verse 7, it says, it went about the city, found me.

They smote me. They wounded me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. You see, folks, there are times on the journey back home that you will encounter voices from within, as Paul says, fears, fighting within and fears without or vice versa.

You'll encounter voices from within and without. Angry voices that are sent to misrepresent how Jesus actually sees you. Now, I'm speaking this not just to Times Square Church, but I'm speaking it to the church at large today.

I'm speaking it to every true bride of Christ. Yes, you may have made a mess of what your walk with God was supposed to be. But in your heart, you're going to get up very shortly. And maybe you're already on the journey.

You're going to try to make your way home. But there are going to be voices that are going to be raised up against you. And they're going to distort how Jesus sees you and try to stop you on the journey.

David, Shimei, and the Angry Watchmen

David, when he was... Yes, David made great mistakes. We know the history of David. And he paid a price for it. There's always a price. There's always a loss for not walking the way that we should walk.

And when David was back in Jerusalem in the first season, had to endure a rebellion that came because of his failings. He was leaving, being pursued even by a member of his own family. And in 2 Samuel 16, there was this man called Shimei, as David is leaving and crossing over the river.

He's going to be back, folks, but he's leaving just for a moment. And Shimei stood on the mountaintop. And the scripture says he cursed David as he went. And he threw stones at him and cast dust. And it's a type of a ministry that's going to rise.

But it's another false prophetic ministry, folks. You've got to hear me on this. The Lord has warned me several times over the years. And it's never been wrong, the warning that's come into my heart. This ministry is going to rise.

It's a Shimei ministry. It's the rise of angry watchmen. And they're going to cast stones at those that have made mistakes. And through stones is a type of throwing theology. Throwing lines out of context of scripture.

Causing the people to feel worthless and throwing dust at David. In other words, it's hopeless. You've sinned against God. You've made a mess of your life. God will not accept you. And he cried out in verse 7, he said, Come out, you bloody man.

In other words, you've sinned against the blood. You've sinned against what God and His Son did for you. In other words, come out of the inheritance. Shimei was there to stop David. Perhaps to try to sow something into his heart that he'd never turn around and come back again.

He says, come out, you bloody man and you son of Belial. In other words, you worthless man. You knew God and yet you chose a path that brought dishonor to His name and brought harm to your family. Listen to what this bride says in Song of Solomon chapter 5 and verse 7.

The watchmen went about the city. They found me. You see, she's looking for her bridegroom again. She's lost him. And she's looking for him. They smote me. They wounded me. And the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

Took away my veil. You see, it was a bride to be as it is. This was a wedding she was going to. And they took away my veil. And the veil speaks of recovering. They took away the sense that I'm lovely in the sight of the one that I'm going to be betrothed to.

They took away my feeling of being wanted and loved and desired by God. They took away my anticipation of meeting Him and the longing that's always been in my heart for His coming. They took it away. Folks, there's a ministry.

That's the fire that God showed me. That's the fire that started as a nuisance. But in the dream I waited too long to sound the alarm. And it spread. Folks, I'm here in this pulpit in obedience to God and I'm sounding an alarm this morning.

Warning Against Legalistic False Revival

There's a false revival coming. Another one. Just when you think we've had enough of them, another one is coming. The same camp that led thousands of people astray is now going to set these angry watchmen on the road, cursing them as they come back home to God.

Under the guise of holiness, it's nothing more than legalism. I'll prove it to you in the New Testament. Go to the book of 1 Timothy, please. 1 Timothy chapter 4. If you find it hard to believe that this is coming, here's what the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul.

And he wrote it to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 4, beginning at verse 1. Paul said the Spirit speaks expressly, clearly. Paul said it's not vague. I've got a word here from God that in the latter times, the times, folks, that we're living in, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy and having their conscience seared with a hot, or that means a heated iron.

In other words, it will be a heated message that will come. Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

So Paul says there's going to be a departure from the faith in the latter times. There's going to be people who give heed. They listen to seducing spirits and theology of devils. They're going to have their conscience burnt with heat.

They're going to forbid to marry. Now I want you to think of this bride in the song of Solomon trying to make her way back to her bridegroom. They're going to forbid the bride as it is. They're going to take away the veil.

They're going to say you're unclean, you're not ready, you're undesired. You've sinned against light. You've wronged God. He's not happy with you. The best you can hope to do now is cry out for mercy.

That's the best you can hope for. You've disgraced the name of God. You've disgraced your Savior. There's going to be this bringing out of the stones as it is of the Old Testament and casting them at the bride of Jesus Christ.

Forbidding them to marry. In other words, forbidding them to the marriage. She said they took away, they found me, they smote me, they wounded me and they took away my veil. I see hundreds and thousands of people coming back out of wrong theology.

Trying to walk down this narrow corridor. Trying to get to a place where they know safety and security is. And yet there are going to be these Shimei prophets standing on the side of the road and casting these stones at them all the way.

And commanding to abstain from meat. And this is what I believe the last false revival is going to be. It's not a real revival, it's a false one. Forbidding and commanding. You're not ready to meet Him.

In other words, you're not ready to meet Him. He is not going to receive you. He's going to be angry. A list of your sins is piling up against you. And now the second half is once the bride has been seduced by this, is commanding her to abstain.

In other words, you've got to work your way now back into His favor. You must not taste this. You must not touch this. You must not handle this. You must work your way back into the favor of God. Oh, it will look so holy.

Oh, same gang of false prophets that led thousands astray will now curse them as the people they led astray try to head back and find Christ again. It will look so holy. But Paul calls it a departure from the faith.

It's a false revival. It's the enemy's attempt to discourage those who in the last days are going to try to find the safety of Christ. Now, I'm sent into this pulpit this morning to issue a warning to the angry watchmen.

It is you and not the returning bride who stand in danger of God's judgment. I speak particularly to the young, impressionable and impulsive young men who are going to take upon themselves the office of a prophet.

But you're going to have a heated mind and a heated spirit, and you will not be representing God in this last hour of time. You'll think it's so holy. You'll condemn the returning bride. But it is you who stands in danger of judgment.

If you're not calling God's people to a banquet table of His love, then you dare not open your mouth against her. Yes, there's a role of a prophet. There are true prophets of God who will stand and say, Listen, you shouldn't have done this.

You shouldn't have gone that way. Paul had the authority as it is of a prophet. But Paul stood in the storm when everything is going to be destroyed. And what was Paul's message? You should have listened to me, but you didn't listen.

So now this destruction is coming. Nevertheless, he said, be of good cheer. I've been with God. Nobody here is going to lose their life. Everybody who stays on board, you're going to make it to the other side.

Take some meat now. And he takes what food is left and breaks it up with his hands. He said, here, come on, be of good cheer. You're going to need strength to finish this journey. He breaks the bread, which is a type of Christ, the provision of Christ he brings to the people.

I warn these young prophets before you even begin. I'm standing in this pulpit under a mandate of God. I warn you, in Christ's name, you better seriously consider this before you begin, because Jesus is not going to let you touch His bride.

You must not remove the veil from the bride of Christ. You dare not touch the bride of Christ. I was thinking if my daughter is getting married shortly, I was thinking if she was sitting in a waiting room here, and she had her veil and her dress on, and somebody dared come in and point his finger at her and start speaking about her failings and frailties, only God could help you at that moment if I was there.

Only God could help you. How much more? How much more? How much more? Christ has had enough of His bride being abused. He's had enough of it. He sent me into this pulpit. Now the false prophets will laugh and scoff at this, but you've never tasted fear until you stand before God one day.

Encouragement for the Returning Bride

Now listen, you who are the bride of Christ, you who know your failings and want to come home, you who are not plagued with religious game with God, you want Him, you want the Savior, you want to come home to Him, but you know you're far away.

As David did, you're going to have to learn to pass by their voices. David let Shimei do his screaming, and he just kept on going knowing he was in the will of God. You're just going to have to pass by their voices.

You must not stop and give them an ear. Just pass them by and tell those that want to fight with them, just leave them alone. Let them scream their screams, throw their stones and throw their curses. Pass them by.

I'm speaking now to the bride of Christ who's going to be coming home. I'm speaking to people who are going to be leaving the prosperity camp, which of course is going to be in ruins very shortly, trying to make your way home.

Pass them by. Pass them by. Don't let these voices turn you away from your journey. Because as it was for David, it is for you. The heart and the arms of God in Christ are open to you. At the end of this journey back, you're going to find God is not angry with you.

His arms are open to you. Leave them in their delusion and let them throw their stones. Song of Solomon in the first chapter, the bride says, listen to what she says. She says, don't look at me. She says, I don't feel very lovely.

I'm going to paraphrase it. This is Song of Solomon chapter one, verse six. My mother's children were angry with me. And they made me keep her the vineyards. In other words, they were angry with me and they made me work in my own vineyard.

I've not kept. And this is how many, many are feeling even in this moment. So I've tried to make my way to the bridegroom. But I ran into these angry children of supposedly the same family. And they sent me to work somehow, perhaps to gain favor of the bridegroom.

And I worked real hard, but I don't feel very lovely. I don't feel like I'm desired by God. And when she finally meets him, she says, don't look at me. Don't look at me. I'm so ashamed. Listen to what he says to her.

I want you to hear this in chapter four, verse seven of Song of Solomon. Listen to what he says. And I want you to hear this clearly. Verse seven, he says, thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee.

They tried to tell you you were unclean, but I don't see you that way. There is no spot. There is no spot. He said, I've given you a righteousness. And that righteousness is mine. The covering that's on you is not yours.

It's mine. I give you my covering. Therefore, every tongue that rises against you in judgment, you have the right to condemn it. This is the heritage I gave you. I gave you a heritage. And I'm not speaking just to this congregation.

But I realize this is going to be a message that's going to be given wings by the Holy Spirit. And many out there are going to hear it. And you don't feel good about yourself. And you feel unclean and unworthy.

But God says to you, you're all fair. There's no spot in you. Now, how can you know this? He says, verse eight, come with me from Lebanon, my spouse. With me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Ammanah.

From the top of Shinar and Hermon. From the lion's dens and the mountains of the leopards. In the dwelling place, he said, of all these things that would devour you. Come with me. Let's stand right in the middle of it.

Let's go to where these threats against you as it is are. And verse nine, he says, thou hast ravished my heart, my sister and my spouse. You've ravished my heart with one of your eyes. And one chain of your neck.

Jesus says, the moment you look towards me longingly again. You ravished my heart. Hallelujah. The moment you turn and said, I want him. I want the Christ of the Bible. I want the Christ that saved me.

I want the Christ that's calling me. He said, the moment you turned. And with one of your eyes looked at me. You stole my heart. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And with one chain of your neck. In other words, the moment you wanted to return to the beauty of what we had.

Or what you at least know you should have. You stole my heart. How fair is thy love. Verse ten, my sister, my spouse. How much better is thy love than wine. And the smell of thine ointment than all spices.

He said, I could hear every sigh of your heart. As you were coming down the road. I could hear every prayer that you could barely utter out of your lips. And he said, it was sweeter than the sweetest perfume.

Of anything that this world can ever produce and offer. I saw you. I heard you. The prodigal son, do you remember? He was a long way off. And the father saw him. He'd made a mess of everything. But the father saw him.

Thank God. The father knew the older brother was partway down the road. And he said, now I have to outrun this older brother. I've got to get to him first. Because the older brother will cast stones at him.

The older brother will condemn him. The older brother will rub his nose in his sin. The father said, no, I'm going to outrun the older brother. I'm going to get to him first. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That's why you've got to duplicate this message and get it out.

We're going to get there first. Hallelujah. Praise God. I want you to remember, have mercy. When all these people start coming home. That's what God spoke to my heart. In Ohio, have mercy. Have mercy.