The Song of Solomon is one of
the three Old Testament books penned down by King Solomon,
divinely inspired writings. First, you know, is the book
of Proverbs, and then the book of Ecclesiastes, and then thirdly,
where we are this morning, the Song of Solomon. The book of
1 Kings chapter 4 says that Solomon wrote a thousand and five songs. That's a lot of songs. But notice
how this book begins in verse 1. The song of songs, which is
Solomon's. In other words, this is the song
greatest of all his songs. We have that terminology used
other places in scripture, like the greatest of many. For instance, Christ our Lord
is the King of kings. There's been many kings in the
earth, but he's the King of kings. There's been many called Lord,
not in the sense that we call him Lord, but in ancient times, important leaders and even husbands. Sarah called Abraham Lord. Men
that were men were sometimes referred to as Lords. But Christ
is the Lord of Lords. See? The greatest among many. And that's what's being said
here concerning this little book of the Bible, the Song of Solomon. It is the Song of Songs. So it's special. It's number one on the chart,
the Song of Songs, greatest of all the songs. And as some of
you may know, it is a love song. And if you read it and study
it in depth, many have said there's even some X-rated statements
in it. I'm telling you, it is a very
intimate love story. a romantic story. It is said
that King Solomon, just to get away from the busyness and the
demands of being king, the pressures around the palace and dealing
with things and people and making decisions, it is said that he
would sometimes secretly put off his royal garments and put
on a shepherd's garb and would go walking out into the countryside. And one day he does this and
he sees a poor peasant girl, a Shulamite, working in her family's
vineyard. And by her own testimony, she's
not very beautiful to look at or attractive, She says that
about herself. But the king, when he saw her,
immediately fell in love with her. And he set out to win her heart,
as he would see her from time to time. I don't know how often
out there, but he set out to win her heart, and he did win
it. But he never won her heart as the king. She didn't know
he was the king. He won her heart disguised as
a shepherd. Not until later does she know
he's the king and becomes his bride. So it's a beautiful love
story. It's a picture of the love relationship
between Christ and his church. And just as the sister just sang,
in the Lord Jesus Christ we have one who really does care about
us, really does love us. You talk about a different type
of people and a different church and a different world. If we
could even come close to thinking as much of Him as He thinks of
us, how different, very different things would be. But in spite
of us, He loves us. and he cares for us and has won
our hearts. He's the bridegroom. We're the
bride, his people, his people. Now, it's sometimes difficult
in this little book of the Bible to know which one is speaking,
whether it's Solomon speaking of his love for her or her speaking
of her love for him. and the voice changes as you
go through these chapters. But the thought I want us to
follow for a few minutes this morning is that Solomon often spoke of her as a dove,
a dove. And Christ, our Lord, our Solomon,
our King, King of Kings, would speak of his Beloved, his bride,
the church as the dove, his people, my dove. So I'm just going to
read these specific verses and then move on with our thought.
In chapter one and verse 15, we read this. He says to her,
behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes. There he makes mention of the
dove. Doves have beautiful eyes. If you could ever get close enough
to see a dove's eyes and watch especially, if you can get close
to a pair of doves and watch the eyes of the female, her peripheral
vision is so keen that she keeps an eye on her mate, whether he
be out here or over here or over here. She keeps a glance of an
eye on him at all times, and at the same time is able to focus
and do whatever she's doing. Well, see, that's how we're supposed
to be in this world. It's while we deal with the business
and the cares of life, we are at the same time supposed to
have a keen eye upon our blessed Lord, our King, our Redeemer,
our bridegroom, our mate. And so that's a blessed picture. It is the business of the bride,
the church, to have this single eye for Christ, our Redeemer,
our bridegroom, regardless of whatever else is going on and
whatever else we're doing. All right, then in chapter 2, And verse 14, we're reminded
that doves make their nests in the cleft of the rock. Chapter
2 and verse 14. Oh, my dove, that are in the
clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me
see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice, for sweet
is thy voice and thy countenance is comely. Thou art in the cliffs
of the rock. Christ is our rock, our resting
place, our hiding place, our secret place, our nest as it
were. And that's where we are to hide
as his dove, as his bride, as his loved one. And it is in Christ,
our rock, He's the foundation stone. He's the elect, precious,
and tried stone. He is the chief cornerstone. Christ is our rock. Again, in chapter 4 and verse
1, Solomon expresses his love in declaring her to be fair and
beautiful, again, likening her eyes to dove eyes, chapter four
and verse one. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes within thy locks. Thy hair is as the flock of goats
that appear from Mount Gilead. Then in the next chapter, chapter
five and verse two, She says, I sleep, but my heart waketh. It's like a dream. I'm asleep,
but my heart's not asleep. This is very, very real in my
heart, her love for him and his love for her. And she says, it
is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, open to me,
my sister. My love, my dove, my undefiled. She delights in him calling her
my dove. She's here in her sleep, imagining,
dreaming, thinking in her heart that he's out there. And he says,
for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of
the night. He's out there in the dark of
the night, and the dew has fallen upon him, and he's wet, but he's
out there yearning for her and calling to her, open to me, my
sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. What beautiful titles
and descriptive words if we took time to talk about all of those,
my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. What about that? Undefiled. That's what Christ
thinks of his people. You say, oh, but I'm defiled.
You really are in this flesh. And there's not much hope for
it. But in Christ, who has washed
us from our sins in his own blood, we're undefiled. Undefiled. The revelation, which we've just
come through in our Bible study, he makes various statements like
that. My undefiled. He said, there
is no spot in thee. Thou art beautiful. No spot of
sin, no spot of leprosy. You're perfect in my eyes. This
is Christ speaking to his dove. my undefiled. Then in chapter
6 and verse 9, we have one more
here. Chapter 6 and verse 9, my dove, my undefiled is but
one. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her
that bear her. Now hold your place here in chapter
6. We're going to look at this again in a minute. as we'll consider
Christ's bride, Christ's dove, the church, the redeemed under
this emblem of the dove. And I have just five thoughts
this morning concerning this, and we'll hurry and give them
to you for a few minutes this morning. Number one, the dove
and her distinction. She's different. chosen. She's precious. She's
the choice. She's not like a raven or buzzard
or any of those filthy birds. She's a dove. The dove and her
distinction. Notice again this verse here
in chapter 6 and verse 9 begins with the word my. My dove. Christ is not ashamed to claim
us as His. You ladies, whether you're young
or old, that one that you are so desperately in love with and
wanted to spend the rest of your life with, oh, how it would make
your heart skip a beat when He would say, That's my girl. That's my girl. She's my girl. Christ says, my dove, my dove. Oh, yes. He is not ashamed to
claim us as he is. Somebody would say, well, she's
not perfect. He'd say to me, she is. She's undefiled. She's precious. In the book of
Revelation, many times she's called a virgin. Undefiled. Undefiled. Now, he's not ashamed
of her. Distinct. Distinct from all peoples
of the earth. No matter what anybody else says
or thinks. Christ says, My dove. She's mine. I love her. I care. Backing up to verse 8. In the
same chapter, Solomon considers all the women available to him.
And he's the king. Things were a little different
back in those days. Nowadays, crooked politicians
and presidents have their little secret affairs and so on. But
back then, it was just a lot different. And he names here
in this verse three classes of women in his harem that were
available to him. And he says, there are three
score queens. That's 60. And he says, four
score concubines. That's 80. And then he says,
and virgins without number. And then going into verse 9,
He is as good as saying, those are all nothing to me. My heart
is set on one. I don't call them my dove. Oh,
but this one, I call her my dove, my undefiled. And she is but
one. There's no other. There's no
other. Back in chapter 2, he said, she's
one lily in the midst of a briar patch, as a lily among thorns. All the rest is like a patch
of thorns. That's this sin-cursed world
with nothing in it worth anything, including Adam's fallen race.
in which God is absolutely just to damn and send every one of
us to hell. But in the midst of this patch
of thorns, he says there's a lily. He called her in chapter 2. And
here he says, she's my dove. She's my redeemed, the ones I
died for, shed my blood for, presented to my Father, and they're
accepted with Him in me. She's mine. She's mine. Now, though in latter years,
if you study the history of the scriptures, we know in latter
years Solomon went away from God. He went after many strange
women, just like the Lord said he would if he did that, and
turned to other gods. But here, as the statement is
in this time of love, he is head over heels in love. And he says,
in all these statements, really he's saying, she's the only one
for me. Christ our Lord is not like Solomon. He's never gone a-whoring after
other gods. He is a, our Lord, and I don't
say this to be wrong, but our Lord would
say as, I'm a one woman man. were given to him in eternity
past by the Father. And you know how that's how it
was in the Old Testament. Remember Abraham, the father? Well, Isaac,
he didn't have nothing to do with who he was going to marry.
Paul sent his servant to another country to bring back a bride
for his son Isaac. It was the old man's choice.
And God, eternal God, chose a people for his son and gave them to
him before the world was. That's what Paul said in Ephesians,
that we're chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And this is his dove, his church, his bride. He says, she's the
only one for me, the dove. and her distinction. Number two,
the dove and her discontentment. Now in introducing these thoughts,
we're going to see the mention of the dove in other parts of
the Bible, other places in the Bible. And now we're talking
about the dove and her discontentment. Turn with me back to the book
of Genesis chapter eight. Genesis chapter eight, just a
moment. after the floodwaters subsided
and they're decreasing and going down upon the earth. And the
Bible says here in Genesis chapter 8 and verse 5, the water had
gone down enough till the tops of the mountains are seen. And
then just after that, verse 6 says, and it came to pass, at the end
of 40 days, Noah waited another 40 days after he'd seen the mountains,
that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made and
he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro until the waters
were dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth a dove from
him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the
ground. But the dove found no rest for
the sole of her foot. And she returned unto him into
the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth.
Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto
him into the ark." What an ugly picture it must have been out
there. Dead, rotten flesh floating around everywhere. carcasses
of men and beast floating. And the old raven loved it. He's
a flesh-eating bird. He'll feed on dead, rotten flesh. I mean, it was heaven on earth
for him. And all the time, it was a result of God's judgment.
But for the old raven, there was food everywhere. He was perfectly
content. But the dove doesn't feed on
dead flesh. Doves feed on pure grain, seeds,
grain, and there was none of that at the time. She'd been set free, same as
the raven, but she is very discontented out there. don't like it out there, can't
make it out there. She is out of place with the
effects of God's judgment everywhere. She don't belong out there with
the raven. She's very discontented. And
the Bible said here in verse 9 of Genesis 8, that she found
no rest for the sole of her foot. And may I say, for Christ's dove, his church, his people, there
is no rest for us in this sin-cursed world. It's only discontentment,
fears, doubts, and this dove must flee back
to the ark. She knows there's safety there.
She knows there's contentment there. She knows there's food
there. Can I say this morning, if you
are God's child, if He has done a work in your heart, you may
go out there. You may fly around a little while
out there. But there'll be no contentment
for your heart out there. It may satisfy your foolish mind
for a while, but it'll never satisfy your heart. It's a waste
of energy. It's a waste of opportunity.
It's a waste of time. It exposes you to a whole lot
of danger. I think of our young folks here
that we so care about and so pray for, I think about you young
ladies, Natalie and Bethany, and I think about our young men,
Skyler, is he not here today? Skyler, a teenager already, hard
to believe, hard to believe. Oh Lord, help us not to try and
fly around out there and be like the raven and live on the filth
and the flesh and the rottenness. of this sin-cursed world under
the judgment of God, but to fly and to flee back to the ark,
back to Christ. That's where we belong. That's
where we belong. That's where our hope is. That's
where our help is. That's where our nourishment
is in Christ. In Christ. The dove and her discontentment
out there. the dove and her disobedience. This is pretty much the same
picture, but I wanted to give you this about a child of God
straying, trying to forget God, forget the church, forget their
upbringing, forget what's right, and trying to join in the rebellion
and the ungodliness of this sin-cursed world, it just don't work. It
just don't work. So here's a little story about
the dove and her disobedience. There's a man in the Old Testament,
a prophet, whose name means a dove. He's part of God's dove. He's
one of the saints, just like you and I. And the Lord told
him to go to Nineveh. And he said, I'm not going. Anybody have an idea who that
was? Hunter? Natty? That was Jonah, yeah. That's who it was. His name means a dove. He belongs to the Lord. And even
though he belongs to the Lord, he thinks he can get away with
disobeying the Lord. Surely nobody here would be that
foolish, would we? The Lord said, go to Nineveh.
What did he do? He went and bought him a ticket
on a ship, a cruise ship. to go not toward Nineveh, but
to go the other direction. He can and did disobey God. So can you. So can I. But not for long. Not for long. If you're part of his dove, if
you belong to the Lord, he'll be after you. He'll be after
you. Jonah hadn't counted on any life-threatening
storm. And neither do we. When we think
we can do our own thing, well, I'll just, I'll just, I know
this is not exactly right, but I'll just, what's the big deal? It's a big deal. It's a big deal. The Lord knows how to come after
us and does. He knows which direction we went and how far we've gone, and he'll
be there. Well, Jonah winds up in the fish's
belly at the bottom of the ocean. He's in a shape that he can't
possibly help himself now. It wasn't just a little while
ago till he was saying, I can run my life. I can handle things. But in a very short time, it
was out of his control and he was at the mercy of God alone.
And that's where we are all the time, all the time. He knew that nothing short of
a miracle would bring him out of that predicament. He cannot straighten his life
out, as so many people talk about doing. He's in a fish's belly that he
can't live in. He's in the middle of an ocean
that he can't live in. He's running from a God that
he can't live without. He belongs to Him. He belongs
to Him. And it's so with us. As a child
of God, you can't come and go as you please. God won't forsake you. God won't
forsake you. You'll go in pleasure. You'll
return in pain. He'll do it. He'll do it. Many of you this morning, especially
you young folks, have no idea, have no idea what it'll cost
you to disobey God who has called you and loved you and saved you
and blessed you to be a part of his family. The devil tells you what you
can get out there. God's Word tells us what it'll
cost you out there. It won't work. It'll lead to
a lot of sorrow, suffering, and shame. and her disobedience. Jonah didn't win the argument. He did all he could do to go
against God. God overtook him. Whose will was done in the end,
God's was. Number four, the dove and her
distress. Turn with me to Psalm 55. Psalm
55. I know our time's gone, but I'm
not through, and I promise you about 10 more minutes, OK? You
can handle it. You can handle it. 10 minutes.
Let your belly growl. Psalm 55. David is in great distress. Look here in Psalm 55, verse
4. is sore pain within me, and the
terrors of death are falling upon me, fearfulness and trembling
are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, oh, he's in distress. He's in a mess. Now look what
he says here. Oh, that I had wings like a dove. For then would I fly away and
be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off
and remain in the wilderness, Selah. May I ask who among us
has not said, oh, that I had wings like a dove? If I could just fly away, if
I could just get away from this, I could just get away from my
troubles, from my problems, away from the pain, away from those
who abuse me and accuse me and misuse me. Oh, that I had wings
like a dove. Those, if I could just get away
from those who try to run my life and all the time want to
boss me and all that kind of stuff. Oh, that I had wings like
a dove. David was in great distress talking
like this, but really he knows in his heart
running away is not the answer. He said, if I could do it, I'd
just fly away and be at rest. He knew he wouldn't be at rest.
No. You say, well, I don't want to
escape from God. I just want to escape from everybody else.
Yeah, that's kind of the way I see it too. But you see, you
must realize that it is God who has arranged the circumstances
of your life involving the everybody else
you'd like to run away from. David said in Psalm 139, He said, don't matter where I
go, I won't be able to get away. He said, whither shall I go from
thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy
presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou
art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. Wherever I'm at, whatever I'm
doing, if I'm at home, if I'm at work, if I'm at school, if
I'm doing what I should be doing, if I'm doing what I shouldn't
be doing, if I'm sneaking around trying to get by with something
I know it's wrong, David said, don't matter who it is, where
it is, or what it is, God, you'll be there. And he said, even if I had wings,
I couldn't get away from you. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. I'm one of his own. I'm part
of his dove, his beloved, his bride, the dove in her distress. And I rest this morning, folks,
is not in fixing everything around us. It's not in fixing everybody
around us. And our rest is not in life being
comfortable. Our rest is not in everybody
being pleased with us. Our rest is in Christ our Lord
and in Him alone. One more, number five, the dove
and her delight. The dove and her delight in Matthew
chapter three. Matthew chapter 3. You remember,
leaving the ark, she found no place. She found no rest for
the sole of her foot. Nowhere for her to lie and touch
down out there in all that water and filth after the flood. No rest for the sole of her foot.
Well, right here in Matthew 3, she finds it. Matthew 3, 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit of God,
capital S, descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo,
a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. Now here, the dove is the symbol
of the Holy Spirit. And the church, Christ dove,
is so, how? By the Spirit. Sanctified by
the Spirit. That is, set apart, marked off
from eternity. Sanctified. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Born of the Spirit, John chapter
3. justified by the Spirit, 1 Corinthians
6, 11. There's no rest for the dove
but in Christ. He is our delight. He is the
answer for all of our discontentment, all of our disobedience, all
of our distress. He and He alone is our delight,
our rest. The raven rested on dead flesh. The dove rests on the living
lamb, Christ. The ravens feed on the meat of
death. The doves feed on the bread of
life, pure grain. He's the grain of wheat that
fell into the ground and died and brought forth much fruit.
Christ. He's our delight. We love Him
because He first loved us. He claimed us, my dove. He's chosen us, my fair one. He's cleansed us, my undefiled
one. And the bride in the song here,
let me look at it in closing in chapter 2. There is a notable progression. And if you don't flip with me,
you can, if you jot this down, you can look this, but there
is a notable progression in this love relationship between Solomon
and the Shulamite maiden and between Christ and the church.
Note this progression. Chapter two in verse 16, she
says, my beloved is mine and I am his. He's mine first and
I'm his second. You see that order? Now look at chapter six in verse
three. It's the other way around. She
says, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. I'm his first and he's mine second. First, my claim on him took priority
over his claim on me. Then later she says, his claim
on me takes priority over my claim on him. And then it goes
even further. Chapter 7 and verse 10, she finally
confesses, my claim is totally out of the picture. I can't trust
myself to be the same from one day to the next. My claim on
him is not worth anything. And she says there, chapter 7,
verse 10, I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me so much
for what I think of him. I don't love him enough to boast
of. Oh, but his love for me. I am
my beloved's. And his desire is toward me. He wants me. Can you believe
that this morning? He desires me. This is that one
she sung about. Someone to care. Someone to share. Oh yes. Bless his holy name. Christ our Lord. My dove, my fair one, my undefiled. He calls his people. Let's stand
together.