All right, Son of Solomon, Chapter
2. I titled the lesson this morning Sick of Love. I didn't know whether
to entitle it Sick of Love or The Rose of Sharon, but I stuck
with Sick of Love because if we ever meet the Rose of Sharon,
we'll be sick of love. So let's look, we'll look at
the Lord willing, the first seven verses of Chapter 2 this morning.
It begins, verse 1, I am the Rose of Sharon and the lily of
the valleys. Now there's some debate among
all the writers about who's speaking here. Is it Christ speaking or
is it the bride speaking or singing? I personally don't think there
can be any question. This is Christ speaking. He describes
himself in verse 1 and he describes his bride in verse 2. If it's
the bride speaking, really she's speaking of the beloveds. The
only way these things can be applied to us is through union
with Christ. But I believe this is the Lord
speaking. And Christ our husband calls
himself the Rose of Sharon. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son, is from above. But he came to this earth as
a man in flesh and bones. Scripture describes the glory
of flesh, human flesh, as the flower of the field. It blooms
quickly and then fades away quickly. Our Lord Jesus Christ came in
human flesh. He looked like all the other
flowers. He looked like all the other flowers of flesh, but he
wasn't like them. He was perfect. He had no sin.
And of all men, of all the flowers, Christ is the best. That's why
he calls himself the Rose here. The Rose is the best flower.
That's the reason Christ took that as a description of himself.
He's the fairest of 10,000. But he doesn't just call himself
any Rose. He's the Rose of Sharon. The best roses grew in the fields
of Sharon. So he's the rose of Sharon. And
our Lord compares himself to the rose because of the beauty
of the rose. That's the beauty of Christ our
husband. If you've ever seen him, you
know how beautiful he is. And the color of the rose, red,
is compared to Christ and his precious blood. This is what
makes the sweetness and preciousness of Christ. He shed his blood. He gave himself. to put away
the sin of the people, his people. And then the fragrance of the
rose. There's nothing like the smell of a rose. We've got a
rose bush in our yard. I wanted to cut it down when
we bought the house. I didn't want to mess with it.
Chance said, no, don't cut that down. They're beautiful roses.
And every time I'm cutting the grass, man, those things, I get
stuck, all these stickers, and I just, oh, that thing aggravates
me to death. But every once in a while, I
smell one of those roses. Oh my goodness, just what a fragrance. Our Lord is the Rose of Sharon,
the sweet smelling sacrifice of Christ that cleanses us from
all sin. He is the best flower. And our
Lord calls himself the Rose of Sharon because the Rose of Sharon
blooms in late summer when few other flowers are able to bloom.
Our Lord Jesus Christ did the impossible. He bloomed in human
flesh. He's the only flower, the only
man in human flesh who ever kept God's law perfectly. And when
He bloomed in His obedience, He bloomed as the representative
of His people. He didn't just do it for Himself.
He did it as the representative of His people. And this phrase
arose of sharing. It's also translated the rose
of the field. And that's such a blessing. The
rose of the field is our Lord. The rose that grows in the field
grows without the aid of man. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He grew without the aid of man. He came into being without the
aid of man. He had no human father. Our Lord
was not born of human seed. So he did not partake in Adam's
sin. And the rose of the field can be enjoyed by anyone. Anyone
can come see and smell the rose of the field. The rose of the
field is not this genetically engineered rose that's locked
up in a greenhouse where only the scientists who grew it can
see it. Christ can be enjoyed by anyone. Whosoever will, let
him come. Let him come smell this rose.
Let him come enjoy the beauty of this rose. Let him come and
drink of the water of life freely. There are no restrictions. Any
sinner can come to Christ and be cleansed of their sins. Any
sinner can come to Christ and freely enjoy grace and peace
in him. He is the rose of the field.
Does that make you thankful? that we can come and enjoy His
presence? What a rose! What a Savior! And
then Christ our Husband describes Himself as the Lily of the Valleys.
He's the Rose of Sharon, and He's the Lily of the Valleys.
Again, this is the Son of God come in human flesh. And where
did He come? He came to the valleys. He humbled
Himself so deeply He came to the lowest of the low. He came
to the bottom of the valley to save those people from their
sin. And He comes, even today, to
the valley. To those who are in the valley
of trouble and trial, our Lord comes there to comfort them in
that time of trouble in the valley. And our Lord describes Himself
as the lily. Because the lily is white. That's
the purity, the pure, spotless, holy righteousness of Christ.
And that makes Christ, that holiness, that perfection is what makes
him so beautiful and handsome and a well-dressed husband. Look
over in Luke chapter 12. In Luke chapter 12, our Lord
mentions the lily. Luke 12, verse 25. And which of you, with taking
thought, can add to his stature one cupid? If ye then be not able to do
that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, they spin
not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon, in all his glory, was
not arrayed like one of these. The lilies are more beautiful,
our Lord says, than Solomon. One greater than Solomon has
come. The lily of the valleys has come, one greater than Solomon. Now that's how the Lord describes
himself. Now in verse 2 he describes his
bride. How does he take care of and
clothe and describe his bride? Well he says, as the lily among
the thorns, so is my love among the daughters. Now here's Christ
describing his bride, how he's clothed her, what he's made her.
He's clothed her so well he calls her the lily. Now, I thought
Christ was the lily. How does he call her the lily?
Well, Christ is the lily and his bride is a lily too because
she's been made just like Christ. The righteousness of Christ certainly
is legally imputed to his elect. Absolutely it is. But don't ever
think salvation only goes that far. Righteousness is legally
imputed, but salvation goes further than that. The righteousness
of Christ is also imparted to God's elect, making them a lily,
pure, white, spotless. That's why Jeremiah said in Jeremiah
33, this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord
our righteousness. Through union with Christ, his
name has become her name. Through union with Christ, what
he is, we become. That's why he calls her what
he is, the lily. And Christ describes his bride
as the lily who is among the thorns. She's living in a cursed
world. The thorns are the result of
sin, the curse of sin. She's living in this cursed world.
spotless white lily, but she's surrounded by thorns. She's living
and thriving in a cursed world. Now she's weakened herself, but
she's been made strong and thriving in Christ. She's been protected
among those thorns by her almighty husband. And the bride is white
and holy because Christ, the lily, bore the sin of his bride. He bore the curse of his bride
away from her. How did our Lord die? He died
on a cross. The cursed is everyone who hangs
on a cross. And as he died on that cursed
cross, what was he wearing? Nothing but a crown of thorns.
That's the only thing he was wearing. He was bearing the curse
of his people away so that his bride can be made a beautiful
white lily. And can't you just see? There's
his lily among the thorns. Can't you just see his loving
eye? Looking at her with love and compassion. Watching over
her carefully. He's picked her out of those
thorns. He's made her his. He's made her beautiful. Isn't
that comfort for your souls? This is our Lord speaking. I'm
the Rose of Sharon. I'm the lily of the valleys,
and I've made my bride the lily among the thorns. Well, the bride
just can't contain her joy anymore. Now she sings back to her husband
in verse 3. As the apple tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under
his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste. Now the bride's been hearing
Christ her husband. sing of her beauty, calling her
the lily among the thorns. And she's just got to burst out
singing back to him because she knows she's only beautiful because
of him. She's beautiful through union
with him. She's beautiful through the beauty
that he gave her and put on her. So she compares Christ. Christ
has compared her to the lily. She compares him to an apple
tree. And she compares him to an apple
tree because an apple tree is the tree of love. I told Jan,
I've been studying this lesson this week, and I've been humming
that Glenn Miller song, Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree, and
anybody else but me. Well, at this time, it's a tree of love.
And the time Solomon wrote this, if a young man gave an apple
to a girl, is a way of telling her he loved her. It's a token
of love. But you notice she doesn't just
call Christ an apple, does she? He's the whole tree. He's the
apple tree. He's the source and fruit of
love. It all comes from Him. And there
are many trees in the forest, but none of them is as excellent
as the apple tree. And that's what she's calling
Christ. There are many trees in the wood, but there's only
one Savior. There's only one Lord Jesus Christ. There have been countless millions
of men who've lived. But of all of them who've lived,
Christ is the best. The Lord Jesus is the best. He's the only holy man who ever
lived. He's the only man who ever lived
who perfectly loved God the Father and perfectly loves his people.
He's the only one worthy of our love. And the bride, not only
does she see he's worthy of my love, she doesn't want any other
tree. This is the only tree she wants.
Now, the world says there are many trees. The world tells you
there's many ways to come to God. How many people do you know
have told you, well, we're all worshiping the same God, but
it's going different ways? No, there's one way. Isn't that
what our Lord said? He's the way. There's one God. Only, there are many trees, but
only Christ is the tree of life. Every other tree is the way of
death. So she says, I came to the apple tree and I sat down
under him. She's staying right there. I
sat down to rest in his shade. I sat down to rest from the heat
of this world. This world's a dry, barren desert. Shade's precious. I sat down
under his shade. I sat down in his shade, in his
presence, to have shade from the heat of trial. And when we
sit down, When we finally be still and sit down in his presence,
under his shade, resting in him, we have great delight. Oh, she
saw I sat down in great delight. And sitting there in that shade,
I ate of his fruit, the fruit of his grace, and it was sweet
to my taste. There's nothing sweeter to a
believer than the fruit of Christ. Nothing. David said, oh, taste
and see that the Lord's good. Peter said, if so be you've tasted
the Lord's gracious, if you've tasted his grace, how you know
that his grace is so sweet. And this sweet fruit, first of
all, as Christ worked for us. The forgiveness of sin, mercy
for sinners, grace for the guilty, peace with God, acceptance with
the father. Righteousness. That's sweet to
the belief, sweet to our taste. That's what he's done for us.
And then his work in us is this fruit that's sweet. It's the
new birth. The birth of a new man born in the image of Christ
is sweet, born with his nature. And look at Revelation 22. I
know she compares Christ to an apple tree. The best thing I know, I'm no
farmer, but I think apple trees only produce fruit in one season.
Christ is much better than apple trees. Look in Revelation 22,
verse 2. In the midst of the street of
it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life. In picture, that's our Lord Jesus
Christ, which bear twelve manner of fruits, not just one, twelve
manner of fruits. and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. In Christ, there's fruit in every
season. So in every season, I sit in
his shade and Adam and Eve come forth. What great delight there
is in him. And the bride, she just sits
in the shade with plenty of fruit to eat. And she has no intention
of leaving. She's sitting. She's not just
standing. She's not pacing around the tree.
She's sitting because she's got no intention of leaving. What
delight just to enjoy the peace and communion that only a believer
can have with Christ. But now look at verse four. He
brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me
was love. Now, it seems like the bride's
gone from sitting under the apple tree of Christ to being away
from it. I don't know how she got separated
from him, but that happens to believers sometimes, doesn't
it? There are times, and it breaks our heart, but
now this is so. There are times that the Lord
withdraws himself from his people for a time. And despite the fact
we know him, despite the fact that we love him, despite the
fact we belong to him, we just can't get any sense that he's
with us. It seems like the heavens are
brass. It seems like our heart is cold
and dead and dry. Now, we know no believer will
ever be forsaken of God. No believer will ever be forsaken
by Christ. He said, I will never leave thee
nor forsake thee. But it is utterly miserable when
we do not have communion with Christ, with our husband. But
there are times the Lord withdraws Himself from His people and He
does it for our good. Everything He does, He does for
our good. Sometimes He withdraws Himself so that we learn again
how completely dependent we are upon Him. Sometimes He withdraws
Himself so we'll wake up and our love for Him will be drawn
out of us. But look over in John chapter 14. Whenever the Lord
withdraws Himself for a time, it's just for a time. He intends
to come to us again. In John 14, verse 3. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there you may be also. Now his commentary on Song
of Solomon, Don Fortner made this not exact quote, but this
is what he said. Don said, you can believe that only applies
to the resurrection if you want to. And it does apply to the
resurrection. But it's a whole lot more comforting
to understand this applies to every time the Lord withdraws
himself from us. For a time, I will come again
and take you to myself that where I am, there you may be also.
And that's what she's she's that's her hope at this time. He's withdrawing
himself and she's remembering. The Lord's withdrawn Himself
and she's remembering His past mercies to her. She's remembering
the first time the Lord brought her to the banqueting house.
Christ is the banqueting house. All the fullness of God dwells
in Him. Christ is the house. Christ is the table. Christ is
the food of the banquet and He's the master of the banquet. Now,
many people think the banqueting house is the church. But, you
know, we only have a banquet here Christ is preached. If Christ
is not preached, we don't have a banquet. So Christ is the banqueting
house. And a believer is in the banqueting
house at all times, not just on Sundays and Wednesdays. I'm
in the banqueting house whenever I'm with Christ. It could be
in the worship service. It could be when I'm alone in
prayer, when I'm reading his word and spending my days studying. I come out of the study, Jan
and I talk about the Lord. It's a banqueting house. Whenever
we're together speaking of our Lord, we're at the banqueting
house. And she's remembering the feast of celebration that
she had with the Lord in that banqueting house. She says, his
banner over me was love. She's talking about the banner
of a conquering king. When a king conquered a city,
he flew his banner over it. He flew his flag over it to say,
this is mine. That's what our soldiers were
doing at Iwo Jima. They were raising that flag,
saying, this is ours. We own it. It's under our rule,
under our dominion. Well, that's what Christ does
when he conquers the hearts of his people. He flies his banner
over us, saying, this is mine. This is under my dominion. This
belongs to me. I bought it. And we surrender
to him. He flies his banner over us,
showing the world we belong to him. Now we're in a warfare with
this world. Every believer is in a warfare
with this world. Our nature is contrary to the
nature of this world. Well, Christ our Husband, Christ
our conquering King has already emerged victorious over this
world and we are more than conquerors in Him. And we live, even though
we are in a warfare with this world currently, we live under
the victory banner of His love. The banner of Christ It's not
a harsh rule. I saw a special on some soldier,
I can't remember who it was, but anyway, he had gone to the
Olympics in Germany before World War II, and he stole one of those
German swastika flags, you know, he still has it. And you look
at that thing, and when you look at that flag, well you think
of a cruel, harsh, evil dictatorship. That's not Christ's banner. When
you look at His banner, it's a banner of love. This is not
a harsh rule. It's a rule of love. Christ conquers
His people because He loves them, not because He hates them. He
loves them. That's why He conquered them.
This is a banner of eternal, electing, distinguishing, saving,
keeping, irresistible love of our Redeemer. Long may that banner
wave. His banner over us is love. Now
the bride seems to be separated from her beloved and she longs
for him. She longs for his presence. He's
the rose of Sharon, but she hasn't seen him in a while. She hasn't
got to smell that fragrance in a while. So she says in verse
five, she says, stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples,
for I'm sick of love. Now these flagons she refers
to here are flagons of wine. If you go to a banquet, You don't
have a bottle of wine. You've got flagons of wine, much
wine. Well, these flagons of wine represent
Christ's love to us. It's not just a little bit of
love. It's infinite, immeasurable love. Wine can never make my
heart as happy as the love of Christ. And so she says, comfort
me with apples. Now, remember, apples are tokens
of love. She said, give me some tokens of your love. Give me
some assurance. that you love me. That's the
only way I can be comforted. I can't be comforted in my love
for you, but I can be comforted in His love for me. That's what
she's saying. If you'll look back a few pages
at Proverbs 25, I'll tell you where we're going to get these
apples that comfort the heart. It's in the gospel. The gospel
promises are apples, tokens of God's love to His people, and
they're precious to us. Proverbs 25, verse 11. A word
fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. That word fitly spoken is word
upon the wheels. Word that fits together in the
cogs of a wheel. That's the gospel. And those
words, fitly spoken, are more precious to a believer than silver
or gold. And she says she longs for some
of those apples. She longs for some tokens of
his love. Because she says, I'm sick of
love. Now, she's not sick of being
in love. What she means is that I'm sick with love. I'm sick
with longing for my love. Now, if you've ever been love
sick, you know this is so. It's miserable. It's delightful
and miserable at the same time. How miserable is it to be sick
of love? When Janet and I were dating,
for a time, I lived in Columbus and she lived in Charlotte. And
then it was too expensive to call. We talked to each other
on the phone once a week. We didn't have email, didn't have
texting. So we wrote letters to one another. Boy, I was sick
of love. I longed for those letters. Oh, my heart ached to receive
a letter from her. My stomach would just be in knots,
waiting, could I get a letter today? When I get those letters,
I mean, I was a fool. I'd get that letter, and she'd
spray some perfume on it. Before I'd even open it, I'd
smell that perfume, you know. And then, I'd open it up. Before I'd read it, I'd, oh,
smell that perfume again. And before I'd read it, I'd just
look at her handwriting. Before I'd even read it, just
her handwriting was beautiful and flowing. Mine was ugly and
embarrassing. Her handwriting, beautiful and
flowing. I just, it mesmerized me. And
I loved to read those letters. I didn't just read them once.
I read them over and over again. I loved to read about what she
was thinking about and read about her day and oh, I longed for
those letters. The highlight of every day was
coming home from class and looking in the mailbox. Maybe I got a
letter. Tell you how sick with love I
was. I quit wanting to wait until I looked inside the mailbox to
see if I had a letter. So I hung a string out of my
mailbox and so I could see from a distance whether or not I got
any mail that day. If the string wasn't hanging
there anymore, I knew at least I got a letter. The mailman must
have opened the mailbox. So it may not be from her, but
at least I'd know before I got there, I got a letter. Sick of
love and just sick with love. Just so lightheaded, you think
you can faint. You can call that puppy love
if you want to. But that love makes puppies awful sick, doesn't
it? Now that love is nothing, nothing compared to how a believer
feels when we long for the presence of Christ our husband. I longed
for a letter from Janet. I must have Christ. I must. Or I have no life. I have to
hear a word from him. I have to receive an apple, a
token of love from him. I must know the fellowship of
his sufferings. I have to be made conformable
to his death. I must know the power of his
resurrection and the new birth, or I have no life. If I don't
have a time in his presence, in joint communion with my Lord,
I'll just die. I am sick of love for him. Now, I know that's puppy love
compared to his perfect love for me and compared to the perfect
love I'll have for him one day. But that love makes puppies awful
sick, doesn't it? Here on earth. But you know,
as soon as we call on our husband out of that kind of love sickness,
look what our husband does in verse 6. His left hand is under
my head and his right hand doth embrace me. Christ our Husband
knows how to comfort His people with His embrace of love. Now
this is an intimate embrace. His left hand is under my head
to support me. His right hand is around my waist
to hold me close to Him. That's an intimate embrace. It's tender and nothing comforts
the bride like that intimate, close, loving embrace. is the desire of my heart to
have Him hold me in His arm, His almighty arm of love, and
to be in close communion with Him. Now, you know a person can be
doctrinally straight and not enjoy this kind of embrace, not
enjoy this communion. You know, we spend all of our
time talking about the mechanics of how God justifies When is
a person saved? You know, a person's got to know
this, got to know that in order to be saved. They've got to have
this experience or that experience in order to be saved. Some of
that may be doctrinally sound. Some of it's not. Some of it
may be doctrinally sound. But talking about those mechanics,
that's not enjoying Christ. That's not enjoying His embrace
and communion with Him. That's talking about how and
when instead of who, instead of who saves, instead of who
justifies, instead of who holds me in his arms. Talking about
who, that's communion. That is communion with our well-beloved. So, verse 7, she says, I charge
you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds
of the fields, that ye stir not up, nor wait my love till it
please. And here's what the bride sang.
She said, my well beloved, he's got his left hand under my head.
He's got his right hand around my waist, holding me close to
him. This time of communion, close communion, is so precious. Don't you dare do anything to
interrupt this communion. That's what she's saying. She's
telling the daughters of Jerusalem that, and she's telling herself
that, too. Don't do anything to interrupt
this communion. If he's going to stir, You make
it when he's pleased. Not because I provoked him. You
remember the Mount of Transfiguration? Peter saw all that. And he wanted
to stay there forever. He wanted to build those three
tabernacles. He wanted to stay there forever. And you know why
he did? He just saw the glory of the
Savior. Peter thought, it can never get
any better than this. I want to stay right here. Now
that couldn't happen. And after a time, the Lord withdrew
himself for a time, didn't he? He was crucified, lay in the
tomb three days. And for a time, Peter didn't
see that rose of Sharon. He didn't have the fragrance
of that rose of Sharon. And then the Lord came back and
Peter soon learned it can indeed get better than that amount of
transfiguration. don't do anything to disturb
this time of communion. Our Husband, our Savior, is the
Sovereign, and when He's pleased, His people shall be saved. When He's pleased, He will withdraw
Himself from us for a time, so He can teach us something. But
nothing but His all-wise, loving will will keep Him away from
us. Did you hear that? Nothing. When you're sick with love and
you hang on to this. Nothing. But His all-wise, all-loving
will will keep Him separated from His people. It'll only be
for a time. And when He's pleased, He'll
come again. And we'll be comforted in His
embrace. When He's pleased. And because He's the Sovereign,
we'll be comforted. Alright. Well, I hope the Lord
blessed that too.