Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon records a beautiful and very infinite intimate relationship and conversation
between Christ, the bridegroom, and his church, the bride. God's elect, his children, true believers. And it records the bride's confessions. Her confession, first of all,
to those who are here called the daughters of Jerusalem. Can't say exactly who they are. Various commentators think different
things. Most likely, it means just to
the world. She makes this confession. It is found in verse 5. She simply says, I am black, but comely. O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. That confession is a bit of a
paradox. It seems like the two things
are opposite, and yet they are the same with her. I am black,
but comely. But also, to all the world around
us, even to ourselves, we are a bit
of a contradiction. We are a bit of contradiction. most miserable, happiest people
in all the world. Black, but comely. And that is the picture that
we find of the believer when we are pointing out the various
names of one man. He is Jacob, the conniver, and
yet he is the same Israel, the prince of God. It is what we are by nature and
what we are by grace. What we are in ourselves and
what we are in Christ, what we are by Adam, and what
we are by the Lord Jesus Christ. In Adam, all die. In Christ, all are made alive. And this is confusing sometimes. concerning sometimes, hard to
understand, and difficult for others to understand. But it
is absolutely true. It is absolutely a fact. And all our days, all our lives,
all the time, we must confess as the bride
here, I am black. And that illustration that he
gives here in our text as the tents of Kedar, as the shepherd's
tents, who were often made of black goat's skins, and who in
the weather over and over and over again look very bad on the
outside, look very dark and black. You see, we must always confess
that we are sinners, that we are still sinners. that we still
sin. John said it like this in his
epistle. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And our being black in this spiritual
sense is somewhat like Paul is speaking of in Romans chapter
7. Turn over to Romans chapter 7
and listen to his words. Not the words before his conversion. But this is the words of Paul
the Apostle. Paul the man as he is writing
these words. Verse 14, he says, for we know
that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not for what I would that I do not, but what I hate that I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And then notice
what he says. For I know that in me, that is
my flesh, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." He doesn't say like some say,
I am improved, or I am not as bad as others. He says, I know
that in me, that in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would do,
I do not, but the evil which I would not do, then I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that doeth do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me. I find then a law or a principle
that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God. after the inner man, inward man,
but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
my members. Do we know anything about that? And then he says this in verse
24, Oh wretched man that I am. I hear people talking about the
wretched man that they were, that they used to be. But the
apostle says, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I'm a wretched man. I'm black. I'm a sinner. And people say, well, if I believed
that you're all together saved by grace like you believe and
like you preach that I just go and sin all I want. But that's the problem. We sin
more than we want. We know ourselves to be wretched
sinners. We know ourselves to be like
the leper who has to in himself always cry, unclean, unclean. We know that whatever is born
of the flesh, God says, it's just flesh. And on our best day, On our best
day, everything that we do, everything done by us, is sin. Tainted with sin. Because we
do it. We think it. And we don't see
ourselves as making progress, we see ourselves in the light
of God's holiness. And in that light, we cry like
Isaiah cried, woe is me. He said, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up. Woe is me, I'm a man of unclean
lips and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. We say like Daniel said, therefore
I was left alone and I saw this great vision, vision of God. And there remained no strength
in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption. And I retained no strength. You see, we see what we are in
the light of God's holiness. We see what we are in this flesh,
what we see what we are by this old Adamic nature. And we acknowledge
just what the Bible says, that all our righteousness are as
filthy rags. We say like Job. I've heard of
thee with the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee."
We see God by faith, and he said when he saw God by faith, wherefore
I abhor myself. I repent in dust and ashes. I never think a thought that's
pure. I never do a deed that's pure. I never have a motive that's
pure. All this benevolence going on
in the world, people do things for people for the feeling they
get out of it. Not for good. The scripture says,
blessed are they that mourn. Mourn over what? Mourn over sin. The corruption of our nature. our continuing jealousies, and
our instant anger, and our constant lust, and our unchanging hatred,
and our covetousness, and our vile thoughts, and our wicked
words, and our terrible deeds. I'm black. Paul says in another place like
this, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ came, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
of whom I am chief. An apostle? A believer? He said, I'm the chief of sinners.
I'm black. I'm just plain black. Peter said
it like this when the Lord was risen and came back. He said,
I'm a sinful man. Don't come near me. I'm a sinful
man. And I'm afraid this is the world.
This is how the world sees us. This is how we see ourselves. And when we see what the Bible
says about growing in grace, we don't think about that in
terms of improving. We think about that in terms
of seeing our need more and more of grace, of recognizing how
much we need grace. And God brings us to know this. The Spirit of God is the Holy
Spirit and He brings us to know this in truth and to feel it
and to recognize it and to quit making up things about ourselves
and fooling ourselves or anybody else. He shows us what we are
to teach us the weakness of our flesh. That's what Paul said. He said the true Israel of God
worships God in spirit, looks to Christ, and has no confidence
in the flesh. He does it in us to show us the
preciousness of Christ. He leaves this in us that we
might feel and see our total dependence on God. So much so
that if left to ourselves, what horrific creatures would be. The dearest saint, the most faithful
believer is black. If God left us to ourselves,
if he left us to our nature, if he turned us loose for one
minute to do what we always want to do, But He restrains by His
grace so many of these things. If we were not restrained, we'd
be a Charles Manson. I'm black. There's just no getting
by. There's just no way of putting
it any prettier or saying it any clearer. There's no way of
fixing us up or making us to be something. Preachers spend
endless time trying to make people what they're not and what they
cannot be. It's the truth. I'm black. I'm black. But thank goodness, he says here,
but. There is a but of grace in order
that this should not consume us. Sometimes we are so full
of realization of our weakness and our poverty of soul and our
tendency to sin and all these things that we are almost brought
to complete despair. We're almost brought to complete
hopelessness. If we're honest with ourselves,
we know we're that way. We're not trying to fool anybody
anymore. We're not trying to make ourselves
better than we are. We're just acknowledging the
fact I'm black. But, he says, comely. Comely. What does that word mean? That's
an old, old word. It means pleasant to look at. It means attractive. It means
agreeable. It means possessing beauty. It means that this is what God
in grace has made us in Christ. Now notice what the opposite
of that is. He says, I'm black as the tents
of Kedar. I'm black as an old shepherd's
tent, weathered, filthy, dirty, out in the wind and the sun and
the rain and dirt and everything else. But he says, I'm comely
as the curtains of Solomon. As the curtains of Solomon. Now there's no doubt that for
the standard of luxury, and the standard of beauty, and the standard
of wealth, and the standard of exquisite things, God has given
Solomon to be our standard. In other words, here is this
man Solomon and his curtains are not like everybody else's
curtains. His curtains are like the curtains
in this temple. They're full of stones and they're
full of embroidery and they're full of beauty and color and
everything like that. Such is the contrast as the tents
of Kedar is the curtains of Solomon. In other words, as much as we
are this way by nature, we are this way by grace. As much as
we are this way in ourselves, we are this way in Christ. Such a radical difference. It tells us in Lamentations,
It says, all that pass by clap their hands at thee. They hiss
and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, is this
the city that men call the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole
earth? Interpreted in our day as, and
you call yourself a Christian? You claim to be a Christian,
you said this, you did this, all this other stuff, and we
simply have to say, yes, this is what God calls us. The city of perfection. The city
of beauty. Zion, which is the church, is
that city of beauty. Made comely. I want you to see
something in Ezekiel 16. In Ezekiel 16, this is one of
those texts where we have so plain a picture of what we are
by nature, our conditioning by nature, and our condition by
grace. And it's pictured of an aborted
infant laying out at a field, bloody, unkempt, cast away. That's the picture of us by nature. But when we see What happens
when God comes and when Jesus comes, as we heard sung, when
Jesus comes, it says something takes place and she's no longer
an aborted infant in a field, she's a beautiful woman. Verse 6. And when I passed by
thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto
thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee,
when thou wast in thy blood, live. That's regeneration. I cause thee to multiply as the
bud of the field, and thou hast increased, and waxen great, and
thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and
thine hair is grown, whereof thou wast naked and bare." Something's
happened. Now, when I passed by thee and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. One of the ways of engagement. was when one would spread his
skirt over another like Ruth and Boaz. And a covenant, that's
what a marriage is all about, about a covenant. It says then,
he says, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with
thee, saith the Lord, and thou becamest mine. Then I washed thee with water,
yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil, and I clothed thee also with broidered work,
and I shod thee with badger skin, and I girded thee about with
fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hand, and a chain upon
thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. And thou wast decked with gold
and silver, and with raiment of fine linen and silk and embroidered
work, thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil, and thou wast
exceeding beautiful. Can he be talking about the same
person? And thou didst prosper into a
kingdom, and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy
beauty." What's beauty? I often think about that. What's
beauty? I know a person might have a
feature that is nice. You may have pretty hair or you
may have a pretty nose or pretty lips, but beauty is the sum total
of those things in harmony. He says, and you're renowned.
Went forth among the heathen, among the Gentile world, among
the unbelieving world for beauty, for it was perfect. Now you ladies here this morning
are awful pretty, but I'm afraid you're not perfect. The bride that's being spoken
of here, God says she's perfect. But notice, your renown went
forth from among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect
through my comeliness. which I had put upon thee, saith
the Lord." How in the world can one who
has to confess to themselves, to everybody else, and to God,
I am black, how can they at the same time be comely? God says it. and you were perfect
through my comeliness, which I had put on thee." In other
words, made comely by the righteousness of Christ, made the righteousness
of God in him. which he says here, I put on
thee, that speaks of an imputed righteousness. He says in Romans chapter four, Using
David as the example, he said, even as David also describes
the blessedness of the man under whom God imputes righteousness
without works. You see, it has to be that way
because being black in this spiritual sense, we cannot in any way do
anything that will please God. So any righteousness we have
has to be righteousness imputed to us or put on us, laid to our
account and charged and made comely through His comeliness. Turn over to Revelation chapter
19. Revelation chapter 19. And listen to what it says, beginning
at verse 7. He says, Let us be glad and rejoice
and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. She's a beauty. She's the Lamb's
wife. And she is clothed and covered
with fine linen. And he says, and the fine linen
is the righteousness of the saints. Because the righteousness of
the saints is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness. You see, as we see us in ourselves
naturally, all we see is spots and blemishes, like a woman who
looks at herself in the mirror and she's always finding fault. But that is not what her love
sees. That's not what her love sees. And when you read this book,
Especially the Song of Solomon, when you read it in its entirety,
you read all it says about how the bridegroom looks to her. But you also need to read the
descriptions that he makes of her. He, she makes a boast of him,
but he also makes a boast of her. He calls the church, the
bride, the fairest among women. Thou art the fairest among women. If you turn over here to chapter
four, listen to what he says. In verse 7, he says, Thou art
all fair, my love, there is no spot in thee. That's how we look to God. That's
how we look in Christ Jesus. Thou art all fair, my love, there
is no spot in thee. Look at verse 9. Thou hast ravished
my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes and with one chain of thine neck. How fair
is thy love, my sister, my spouse. How much better is thy love than
wine and the smell of thine ornaments than all spices. And all through this book, you read wonderful descriptions
of how he appears to her, but you also read wonderful descriptions
of how she appears to him. The fairest among women. Turn over to Isaiah 61. Look at verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. Well, how can we be that way
if we're black? If we're sinners, if we admit
what we are and we find ourselves being totally unable to please
God in any way, yet he says, I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." I've always said that I've never
seen an ugly bride. It seems like it doesn't matter
how homely a gal is or whatever when she gets up dressed on her
wedding day. She's beautiful. And that's what
the Lord says. He has made all his people in
Christ. He has covered them with the
robe of righteousness. He has covered them with the
garments of salvation. We are accepted in the Beloved. And as the Old Hymn says, in
the Beloved, God's marvelous grace caused me to dwell in this
wonderful place. God sees my Savior and then He
sees me in the Beloved, accepted and free. You remember what it said there
in Ezekiel 16? It says, I passed by you and
I washed you. I washed you. Revelation 1 chapter
5, And from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of
all the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our
sins in his own blood. In Colossians, Paul says it like
this, And you are complete in Him. Well, complete in Him. Psalms 50 says this, Out of Zion,
the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. All these names,
Zion, the bride, the church, the people of God, the children
of God, the elect, all of them are the same people. Psalm 90
verse 17, And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work
of our hands establish it. Let the beauty of our God be
upon us. And Jeremiah, he says this, I
have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate
woman. You see, the psalmist says, mark
the perfect man and behold the upright. for the end of that man is peace. Perfect man. That's a high standard,
isn't it? But Paul said he preached, and
he preached the gospel of Christ that he might present every man
perfect. perfect in him before the throne
of God. We long for the day that this
blackness will be no more. We constantly say, oh wretched
man, Day after day, we do things, we say things, we feel things,
and every other part of our being, and we say, oh, why did I do
that? Oh, wretched man that I am. Oh,
I wish I hadn't done that. I wish I hadn't said that. I
just did it and said it before I even thought, why did we do
that? Because we're black. We long for the day when this
corruption has put on incorruption. But even now, to the amazement of this world,
and even to our amazement, we are in God's sight, perfect,
justified, accounted righteous, beautiful, comely, through the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am black, but comely. Both things are true. And when Paul says what he says
there in Romans 7, he says, he gets down to the end of just
this warfare that's going on inside of him and this tendency
and nature of sin. He says, Oh wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Then he answers the question. He answers the question. I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. But I'm delivered through the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, Paul, when
he wrote to the Corinthians, He writes to them and he says
in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, He says, know you not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived,
neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves when mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God. I just imagined we could find
ourselves in that group somewhere, black. But he says in the next verse,
and such were some of you, but you are washed but you are sanctified,
but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by
the Spirit of our God. I'm black, but I'm comely. I'm a contradiction, it seems
like. Because I still am what I am
in my flesh. But thank God, by His grace,
in His Son, I'm comely, beautiful, complete, perfect,
righteous, without sin in His sight. I always heard that beauty was
in the eyes of the beholder. And the beholder, in this case,
is God himself. His people are comely, though
they're black. Father, we thank you for your
word. We thank you that you are pleased
to accept us in your son, that he is of such perfection and
his work is so complete that we're complete in him, that we
are without sin because he has put them away, that he has died
and paid the penalty for our sins. That while we still have
sin in us, we have no sin on us. And we thank you. In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen.