Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Song of Solomon, Chapter 5. Now, in our eyes, our spouses
are lovely, our friends are lovely, our children are lovely to us,
but for the born-again, blood-washed believer, there is one who's
altogether lovely. There is one whose scripture
calls the fairest of ten thousand. And Christ, Jesus our Lord, is
altogether lovely to his people. He's altogether lovely. In Song
of Solomon, we have a wonderful picture of Christ and his bride. And here in chapter five, we
have the bridegroom, who is Christ, visiting the bride, who is the
church. In the chapter before us, the
woman awakes after he calls her. and opens the door and cannot
find her beloved. And she searches for him in the
night. She's asked how her beloved differs
from other men. How her beloved is better than
other men. And why she would seek him out
in the middle of the night. And we are going to see here
she describes him as altogether lovely. He's altogether lovely. Beloved, the bride of Christ
is ravished by Christ, ravished with Christ, and Christ is ravished
with his bride. My, oh, my. And when the Lord
saves us, we are so captivated by his beauty, so captivated
by who he is. God incarnate in the flesh so
captivated that he left heaven to save us from our sins. God
could have left us in our sins but he chose a people. He chose
a people in Christ and he sent his son to save those who are
his people and in the scriptures we know that they're called the
bride of Christ. And that's comprised, the Bride
of Christ is made up of every born-again, blood-washed believer
of all the ages. Old Testament and New. They're
all one in Christ. Remember, Abraham had the same
faith we have. God-given faith. Born again by
the Holy Spirit of God. So how is Christ different from
any other man? Well, he's altogether lovely. And by faith, only by faith,
do we see the beauty of Christ. Remember, before the Lord saved
us, we didn't see the beauty of Christ. Some of us, when we were in religion,
had an idea in our mind of who we thought Christ was, and He
wasn't that. Some of us, when we were dead
in trespasses and sins, in our natural life, without religion,
had no care for him at all. I remember that. He wasn't lovely
to me. I had heard about him. I had
heard he was the son of God. I went to a church, the Catholic
church, and I didn't know who the God of the Bible really was.
They never encouraged us to read the scriptures. And then now
after the Lord saved me, I found out that the God of the Bible
isn't the God of the Catholic church, that they preach a false Christ, a God of their imagination. And
do you know that what we believe, justification by faith, In the
actual documents of the Catholic Church, they say that if you
believe that, that you're anathema, damned. Well, I'll tell you what. I believe in justification by
faith alone, do you? I'm not damned by the grace of
God, I'm saved. Isn't that wonderful? And so,
now that I truly know Christ by Him revealing Himself to me,
Brother Brian, isn't he lovely to us? He's lovely. He's ravished our souls. Why? My oh my. And what riches we
have in Christ. So to his church, he's altogether
lovely. How can he not be? He's the savior
of our souls. He's the one who's redeemed us
with his precious, precious blood. And we've been made to see our
own insufficiency, and we've been made to see the completeness
that we have in Christ. And the world that once had great
allure to us, now has not the allure that it once had. But
now Christ, is the one we seek. Christ is the one who our hearts
are drawn to. Christ is the one we desire to
know more about. And the problems and cares of
this world fade away when we look at Him who is altogether
lovely. What comfort the believer finds
when we seek those things which are above, where Christ sits
on the right hand of God. What peace and rest we have when
we set our affections, not on the things of this earth, but
on the things in heaven, which is Christ, where
Christ is. When we set our minds upon He
who is altogether lovely, everything else just fades away. Just fades
away. So with that in mind, that is
our introduction. Let's look at Song of Solomon,
Chapter 5. And I pray the Holy Spirit of God will illuminate
the scriptures for us and teach us. Teach us while we look at
this scripture. And I pray we can leave here
just rejoicing. Look at this. Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse
1. I am coming to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have
gathered my mirth with my spice, I've eaten my honeycomb with
my honey, I've drunk my wine with With my milk, eat, O friends. Drink, yea, drink abundantly,
O beloved. I sleep, but my heart waketh.
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh. Open to me, my
sister, my love, my dove. Look what the Lord calls us.
My sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. Look at that. In God's eyes, we're undefiled,
beloved. "'cause we're washed in the precious
blood of Christ. "'For my head is filled with
dew, "'and my locks with the drops of the night. "'I have
put off my coat, how shall I put it on? "'I have washed my feet,
how shall I defile them? "'My beloved put in his hand
by the hole of the door, "'and my bowels were moved for him.'"
Oh, how our bowels are moved, and bowels there means our heart. How our heart is moved. for Christ. I rose up to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with mirth, and my fingers with sweet-smelling
mirth upon the handles of the lock. So the bride awakens to
his voice. She awakens to his voice and
finds him withdrawn, and she goes out into the night searching
for him. Look at verses six and seven.
I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had 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. The watchmen that went about
the city found me. They smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. Oh,
what a picture we have of the church in the following verses,
which proclaims the loveliness of our Savior. Here's the church
proclaiming the loveliness of our Savior. Look at verse eight.
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
that you tell him that I am sick of love. And sick of love there
means absolutely in love, ravished with Christ, ravished with him. How can we not be ravished with
the one who shed his precious blood for us to redeem our eternal
souls at Calvary's cross? Oh my, our Savior, our Redeemer,
our Lord, our King. And look at this, look at verse nine.
What is thy beloved more than another? Here's the daughters
of Jerusalem asking him back. Look at this, O thou fairest
among women. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved that thou dost so charge us? Oh, the daughters of Jerusalem
ask the bride who pictures the church why her beloved is so
much more desirable than anyone else. And note the daughters,
look what the daughters of Jerusalem call the bride, the fairest among
women. Turn, if you would, over to chapter
one. You know Christ calls his bride that. Look at chapter 1 verse 8. Oh
my. If thou know not, O thou fairest
among women. This is the bridegroom calling
the church that. The fairest, the most beautiful
among women. O thou fairest among women, go
thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids
beside the shepherds' tents. Our Lord, in His eyes, this church
is the most beautiful bride. Oh, my. I remember my wedding
day. You remember your wedding day,
Brother Brian? And your wife come through there. It happened
right here, didn't it? She come through that door. Oh,
my. I'll never forget, Vicki came
in, and my eyes, I didn't see anyone else in that room. My eyes was on my beloved. You
ever notice that you can be in a room even now today? And who
do your eyes seek out, Brother Brian? Your bride. Isn't that
amazing? And it's like no one else is
even there. That's how Christ, he loves his bride, he loves
his beloved with an everlasting love. Turn if you would to chapter
four. Look at this. Do you know the scripture says
we're both black, that means sinful, and calmly, and calmly
in the Hebrew is beautiful. So we're black with sin, but
clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we're beautiful. This
is why the Lord calls us the fairest of all women. We're clothed,
the bride is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And look at this in
verse seven, the Song of Solomon chapter four, look at this. Thou
art all fair, beautiful, my love. What a term of endearment, my
love. That's what the Lord calls his
church, my love. Look at this, there is no spot
in thee. What? We're just a bunch of sinners,
saved by grace, but clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
There is no spot in us. And He sees us beautiful. That's how our Lord sees us.
We don't see ourselves that way. But this, beloved, is how God
sees His church. There's no spot in her. She's
blameless. She's the most beautiful one.
Oh my goodness, how the Savior loves us. How Christ loves us. And He manifested that love.
He manifested the love that's spoken of here by going to Calvary's
cross and redeeming our eternal souls. And rising again on the
third day, and right now He's interceding for us in glory.
Isn't that wonderful? He's born, He died, and He rose
again. Send it up to glory. He's the
mediator right now between God and his people. You know, listen
to this. What a picture. In the New Testament,
do you know that's in the Old Testament we see there that the
church has no spot in her. Listen to this if you want to
write it down. 2 Peter 3, 14. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in
peace without spot, and blameless, without spot. Is our Savior the
same yesterday, today, and forever? He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, beloved. He had to become a man. He had
to become a man, come into this world to bleed and die for us.
live that perfect life for us and then clothe us in that perfect
righteousness that he wove by living a perfect life all according
to God's law. Totally satisfying it. So much
so that God says this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
And then we're clothed in that perfect righteousness, right?
The great transfer. Our sins are imputed to Christ
and his righteousness is imputed to us. The great transfer. Oh my. And he says, thou art all fair,
my love. There is no spot in thee. My. How can that not but bring a
response of us saying, he's altogether lovely. He cleansed me from all
my sin. All of it. And he says to me,
I don't see any spot on you. Oh my gosh, all I see is my sin.
Is it so for you? But praise God, beloved, it's
washed in the blood of Christ. And I mean, it's gone. Paid in
full. It is wonderful. Now we're going
to see the bride tell of the excellency of her beloved. Who do we proclaim
the excellencies in? Christ and Him alone, right?
He gets all the glory, beloved. He gets all the glory. As we're
growing in grace, we esteem Him more and more, and we think less
and less of ourselves. And that's exactly what John
the Baptist said, right? He said, He must increase, and
I must decrease. right so as we grow in grace
all he increases in loveliness and in wonder and awe in our
eyes and we just decrease praise God he had mercy upon me a lowly
sinner my look at verse 10 here Here's the church. Now the church,
which is the bride of Christ, she's gonna answer the daughters
of Jerusalem. My beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among 10,000. There is no one like him. He
is the chiefest among 10,000, beloved. Oh my. White is expressive of
his purity and holiness as God and man. Speaking of his human
nature, white meaning the purity and holiness of Christ being
without original sin or actual sin. He was absolutely sinless. Pure. And he is sinless. He was sinless in his death,
and he's sinless now, and he was sinless when in his life.
And he was sinless before he even came here, because he's
God incarnated in the flesh. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God, without sin, fully God and yet fully man. And then Ruddy
is again respect to his human nature, Red being a partaker
of the same flesh and blood with his people. He's the prophet
raised up among the people. Ruddy or Red also donates his
bloody sufferance too. He suffered and bled for us,
for the sins of his people on Calvary's cross. And then we
see Christ is to the believer, the cheapest among 10,000. Whether angels or men, he's the
chiefest. In the bride's heart, he gets
all the preeminence. He's number one. He's not only chiefest among
the church, but he's chiefest among everything, right? He created
everything. He's God. We're but created beings. And think of this, he's the object
of the angels' worship, and he's the object of the redeemed's
worship. So among angels or men, he's the chiefest of 10,000. He gets all the glory, honor,
and praise. And he has a more excellent name,
as we saw on Sunday, and a more excellent nature than we who
are subject to him. Chiefest among 10,000. Amongst
all men, he's superior. He's superior. Amongst good men
and bad men are all sinners. He's perfect. He's holy. He's
sinless. He's the spotless Lamb of God.
He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. He's the head of the
saints. He's the head of the body. He has preeminence over
all creatures. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
89-19. Psalm 89-19. Psalm 89-19. Oh my. Psalm 89, 19, the scriptures
declare, then thou speakest in vision to thy holy one and saidest,
I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one
chosen out of the people. That's Christ. That's Christ. Oh my. I've laid help upon one that
is mighty. Christ is the only one who's
mighty. I have exalted one chosen out of my people. Oh, he's being
exalted, isn't he, beloved? He's in glory right now. Oh my, it's amazing to see the
Lord Jesus Christ is the choice of Jehovah and thy people also.
Note that in that verse, he's the choice of Jehovah as well.
He's the beloved son of God, and he's also the choice of his
people, isn't he? So to the believer, he's the cheapest among 10,000. Oh, my. The bride of the church we see
continues to tell of his excellence. Oh, my. Do you know our Savior
is more than any estimation we have of him? He's so much more.
He's so much more, beloved. And whatever others think about
him, By the grace of God, we will continue to say, he's the
chiefest among 10,000, to my soul. My, oh my. Now look at verse
11. His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. Now here, the bride begins to
proclaim about his head, which is the part of the body which
is preeminent, right? When we get pictures taken, we
don't get pictures of our feet and hands taken, we get pictures
of our head taken, because the head is preeminent. We identify
people by their face. And look at this, his head is
most fine, it speaks of glistening gold, most fine gold, solid gold. And here we have his deity proclaimed,
beloved. Here we have his deity proclaimed.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily. And this
speaks of the excellency of Christ. The gold spoken of here may be
rendered in a text the gold of golds. The gold of golds. There was a gold like this found
in Arabia one time. Or found in Arabia, not one time,
but found in Arabia. It was called called Apron because of its purity. They say that it needed no fire
to purify it. It was pure. Christ is the gold
of gold to his people. Christ, like that gold, is far
superior to any other man. Oh, he's far superior to any
other man. He's the pure one, the perfect
one, the spotless one, the sinless one. And his bride just marvels
in these truths. Paul said this, but I would have
you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of
the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. It all goes back to him, doesn't
it? Oh my. As a man, he's the only
mediator between God and man. He was subject to the Father's
will. He was supported and upheld by the Father. All while he was
redeeming his people from all their sins. Christ's kingdom is great and
glorious, pure and spiritual, everlasting. That's why he receives
all the glory, honor, and praise, because it all goes to him. Look
what the bride continues to say. His locks are bushy, and black
as a raven. This speaks of his human nature,
his youth, his strength, are signified by the raven hair. While others wax old as a garment,
he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. He don't change.
He doesn't change. And do you know, he's forever
mighty to save, isn't he? He can save anyone, any sinner. Some say, oh, I'm too much of
a sinner. He now turned one sinner away that comes to him by faith. Not one. Mine. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall have no end. Psalm 102, 27, speaking of our
Savior. In revelation, his hair is spoken
of white as white. His hair is at the same time
white and black. Whiteness denotes his eternality
in wisdom. Scripture says his head and his
hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were
flame of fire, Revelation 1.14. My, the blackness here spoken
of as a raven speaks of Christ's perpetual strength and power. Beloved, our Lord has all power.
He has all power. All power and all might. My oh
my, look at this in verse 12. The bride continues to tell about
her beloved. His eyes are as the eyes of doves
by the waters, by rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set.
He's so full of gentleness, beloved. He's so full of gentleness, he's
so pure. And the love and the light of
the Holy Spirit beam in his eyes. And you know where his love is
set upon? His people. His people. Turn if you would
to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22 starting in verse
54 and we read all the way down to 62. Then he took him and laid
him and brought him into the high priest's house and Peter
followed far off. When they kindled a fire in the
midst of the hall and were sat down together, Peter sat down
among them. But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire,
and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with
him. And he denied him, saying, Woman,
I know him not. And after a little while another
saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man,
I am not. And about the space of one hour
after another conflict affirmed, saying, Of a truth, this fellow
was also with him, for he is a Galilean. And Peter said, Man,
I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet
spake, the cock crew. Now remember how I said that
the Lord looks at his people with love? And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. That's a look of love, beloved.
That's not a look of condemnation. That's a look of love. That's
a look of love that the Lord gave him. And Peter remembered
the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Behold, before
the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out
and wept bitterly. That was a look of love. And
the man that held Jesus, mocked him, and smote him. And when
they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face and asked
him, saying, Prophesy thee who it is that smote thee. In many
other things blasphemous spake they against him. But do you
see that look? That look is a look of love. The Lord knows our frame. He
knows what but dust, beloved, but we're his people, and he's
loved us with an everlasting love. That look by Christ was
a look of love and mercy and power. It was not only a signal
to Peter to put him in remembrance of what he had said unto him,
but it was a melting look. How do we know? Peter went out
and wept bitterly. It melted his heart, beloved.
It was a means of convincing him and humbling him. in bringing
him to repentance. And oh, may we marvel in the
love that the Savior has for us, beloved. That that love,
just like Him, never changes. It's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. It will never change towards
us. And then I think about His love
was set upon us even before we were saved. My. This is incredible. This love
is amazing. What? Oh, oh, what love this
is. Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul. So let us marvel in this precious
truth. Let us leave here tonight to
thinking that our Lord, when he looks at us, it's a look of
love. Look of love. His eyes, lovingly and lovely. His eyes look upon his people
under all the trials we go through, no matter what we go through.
I'm laying on the ground today thinking, Lord, thank you for not breaking my
arm. Could have been a lot worse, right? And I came home, I got,
Vicki pulled in and I got in the car with her and I said,
well, I'm not as bad off as some folks. I'm just a little sore
right now. My oh my. This is amazing. And let us remember
this, Jesus never loses sight of his people. Even if we're backslidden and
walking off on our own, his eyes are still upon us, beloved. He's
still watching us. You know, I got a lead for the
dog now, 30-foot lead. I just thought of this. I got
a lead. 30-foot lead. So he can go for 30 feet, and
when he hits that 30 feet, he stops. Sometimes the Lord just
lets us go off and do our own, right? But he's watching. We're
going to learn a lesson, aren't we? You ever notice that? When
we backslide, and when we get cold in the heart, and the Lord
draws us back, We're even more on fire for him than we were
before. It's amazing. He's so good. He's so good to
us. Now look, the bride's going to
continue. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, his sweet flowers,
his lips like lilies, dripping sweet-smelling mirth. I said
mirth, either. That's not right. This is mirth.
And here we have the church, the bride, the beloved of the
Lord describing her love. Two features are brought forth
here, his cheeks and his lips. His cheeks represent the beauty
of our Lord, and we see again how the church is enamored with
the Savior, absolutely enamored with him. And those who have
been given spiritual eyes to see Christ desire no one else. Because now we see our king in
all his majesty, his divine majesty. His cheeks are as a bed of spices
as sweet as flowers. The very sight of his face is
like a rich, fragrant garden to us. Reviving, refreshing,
and well-pleasing to the church of God the bride. We see him
in the gospel, don't we? But beloved, we see through a
glass darkly now, but then face to face. We're going to see him
face to face just like we see each other now. And it says his
lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling mirth. What a blessing
the words of Christ are to his people. All those who have seen the king
in his beauty now hear the gracious words of the king through the
preaching of the gospel. Oh, and words, words which proceed
from his mouth are sweet words, aren't they? Precious words to
the believer. Oh, his words are sweet, sweeter
than honey, sweeter than the honeycomb. The kisses of his
lips are better than wine, and grace proceeds from his lips. Grace was poured forth from the
lips of our surety, from our Lord, our King, when he pledged
himself to the salvation of his chosen people. I will go die
for them in the eternal covenant of grace and eternity. Oh, and then does not grace just
flow from his lips as he says, Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. Oh, and then such mercy, such
grace, such power, when he says, it is finished. The work's done. The salvation
of his people is finished. Oh my. Grace proceeds from the
lips of our Savior as he comes to his own in the time of love
when we hear his voice in the preaching of the gospel and when
he regenerates us and saves our souls. And we trust ourselves
to him. We trust our whole life to him.
We give him everything. We cast ourselves upon his mercy,
don't we? Only because why? We've been
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Oh, it's magnificent.
It's all the work of God from beginning to end. My, and he calls us to life.
Remember, he said, Lazarus, come forth. That's a picture of us
dead. We're dead. Spiritually dead,
and he says, come forth. And by the almighty power of
God, we're taken instantly from darkness to light. My. And notice the Lord didn't
say, come forth, because every grave would have busted open
there, wouldn't it? He calls them affectionately by name.
That's God's effectual calling. That's why two can be sitting,
and one can, the Spirit of God will regenerate, and they hear
the words of the Savior, and the other one goes right by him. Oh, that's effectual calling.
He says, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus couldn't help but
come forth, could he? Because God gave him life, right? He couldn't raise himself up. He didn't say, Lazarus, make
yourself alive, did he? No, he said, Lazarus, come forth,
and by the word of the king with power. Comes power with that word. And
he's risen from the dead state that he was in, and he's alive.
And they say, go unbound him. I remember, I think it was Donny
Bell said, that's the preaching of the gospel. And the grave
clothes start falling off as the gospel's preached. Oh, my. And let us remember that this
love is not a normal love. It's an everlasting love that
Christ has for his people. And you know, with loving kindness,
he draws us. With cords of love, the scriptures
say, he draws us. It's the goodness of God that
leads men to repentance, men and women. That's what leads
us to repentance, beloved. The one who we once cursed is
now the one who we love. The one who we once despised,
now he's the cheapest of 10,000 to our souls. The one who we
once hated by wicked works, we were enemies in our minds to
him, now he's altogether lovely. He's a wonderful and amazing
redeemer, the one true God, the only reconcile, The only one
who can reconcile us to God, and how did he do it? By the
shedding of his precious, precious blood. Now look at verse 14. His hands are as gold rings set
with beryl. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. Oh my. Here the church again
gives two representations. The hands, which set forth his
bounty, the riches of his providence, the riches of his grace, the
riches of salvation only in him. His hands were pierced for our
sins, weren't they? As he was hung on Calvary's cross.
Oh, he was sinless. He was spotless. He died not
for any sin that he had committed. He's absolutely sinless, but
he died for all the sins of all the elect of all the ages. And
he accomplished salvation. He accomplished that which he
set out to do, which was to redeem his people from their sins. Scripture
says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. And in his hands, like the king's
signet, the seal of the covenant of grace. Again, the piercing
of his hands and death was the ratification of God's covenant.
And then it says his belly is this bright ivory overlaid with
sapphires. This speaks of the body. The
Hebrew term applies to the whole body. The belly applies to the
whole body. From the shoulders to the thighs. And it says here it's a piece
of ivory workmanship overlaid with sapphires. Beautiful. The love that Christ has for
his people, for his church, For his beloved is a strong love.
Ivory here represents strength. Ivory is firm. And let us ponder
the many instances of the love of Christ, which are like ivory
overlaid with sapphires, beloved. This ties in with the riches
of Christ. Our Savior's love is an electing
love. We're chosen in him. It's a redeeming
love. We're purchased by His precious
blood. It's a life-giving love. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. It's a preserving love. We're kept by the power
of God. It's an interceding love because He's our mediator, the
only mediator between God and man. It's a forgiving love. He's
forgiven us for all our trespasses and sins, and He's washed us
clean in His own precious blood. And it's an unfailing love. It'll
never fail. It's an unfailing love. immutable,
everlasting, and God loves his people with an everlasting love. Can we see why he's altogether
lovely to the church? Oh my, there's no love like this. Greater love hath no man than
this, and the man laid down his life for his friend. And who's
his friend? The bride of Christ. He laid
down his life for his bride. The bride continues To tell of
his excellency, look at verse 15. His legs are as pillars of
marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. We see here, his legs are as
pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. Pillars of marble
denote strength. Strength, beloved, and stability.
Strength and stability. Christ's legs are strong and
they're stable. We can rest and repose in him.
We can trust and rest in him for the salvation of our souls.
The psalmist penned this, the Lord is my rock and my fortress,
my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler
and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. Mine, these
legs speak of strength, beloved, stability, You know, we're taken
from the miry clay that we were trying to climb up out of? And
where are we set upon? A solid rock, beloved. He brought
me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and
set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Psalm 40, verse 2. Oh, he's a mighty Savior. And
you know, he'll never be turned away from his purpose. And he's
able to do what he says he's going to do, because he's God.
Then look, it says, his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the
cedars. Oh, our Lord Jesus is so much
higher than all the angels, higher than the heavens themselves.
He's glorious. He's glorious, beloved. He's
excellent to behold. And he's enamored. He's enamored
with his bride, just as his bride is enamored with him. And we don't desire anyone else
but him, do we? He's the only one who can save
our souls. There's salvation in no other, is there? We don't
desire anyone else but Christ. He's the savior of our souls. You think of this, he's got no
rival in power. False gods have no power that
people worship and bow down to. They got no power at all. Matter
of fact, the dumb idols people make, they have to, when they
move, they have to carry them around in their carts, back in
the old days. They'd make a statue of gold,
they'd set it on their fireplace mantle or whatever, and they'd
bow down to that piece of whatever it was, stone, gold, whatever
it was, wood, And then when they moved to another place, they
had to pick it up and put it in a cart, and it became a burden
to the beast that carried all the things back to their new
place. Couldn't even, come on, fella, move! Can't go nowhere,
can it? Can't do nothing, it's a dead
idol, right? Beloved, our God's got all power. He's got all might. He's the majestic one. In Him,
there's no greater strength than Him, beloved. There's no greater
grace than Him. There's no greater beauty than
Him. He is, to the believer, altogether lovely. Altogether
lovely. Let's look at verse 16 now. It
says, His mouth is most sweet. Yea, He is altogether lovely. There it is. Wrap it all up in
a bow. He's altogether lovely. What more can you say? He's altogether
lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend. Oh, daughters of Jerusalem. So
we see how the bride's closing it up. She just sums it up and
says, he's altogether lovely. Oh, and the words, it says his
mouth is most sweet, signifying the words of Christ to his people
are sweet words, sweet words. His love, His goodness, His mercy,
His grace are all wonderful for the believer. That's what we
want to hear about. The promises of His word are
sweet to the believer, and the precepts and principles of His
word are sweet. The doctrines of Christ are sweet
to us, to whoever is the bride of Christ. And then again, the
bride sums it all off when she says, He's altogether lovely.
Unto the elect of God, Christ is altogether lovely. He's the
pearl of great price. And we say with the psalmist,
whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none upon the earth
that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is my strength, the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73 verses 25 and 26. And we say along with Peter,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Oh, he's altogether lovely, beloved.
Altogether lovely to his people. He's altogether lovely to his
people and his humanity. He's altogether lovely to his
people and his divine love. He's altogether lovely to his
people in the redemption of their souls. He's altogether lovely
in the salvation of their souls. He's altogether lovely in the
providential workings in our lives. Oh, to the believer, Christ
is altogether lovely. Oh my, behold the Lamb of God. He's altogether lovely. He's
altogether lovely. And if you do not know him, may
God grant you faith to believe in he who is altogether lovely,
the Lord Jesus Christ.