Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to our first reading, the Song
of Solomon, chapter 1, and reading for our text, verse 8. Song of Solomon, chapter 1 and
verse 8. If thou know not, O thou fairest
among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. The Song of
Solomon chapter 1 verse 8. The Song of Solomon is part of
the wholly inspired Word of God. We would remember that the whole
of the Word is given by God and it has the purpose that it reveal
the Lord Jesus Christ in all the scriptures concerning Himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that includes this book, this song
of Solomon. This is an allegory. An allegory
is a story that is interpreted to show forth a hidden meaning,
so that when we have in this song the bridegroom that is mentioned,
then it is Christ that is being set forth. When we have The Beloved
mentioned, it is Christ, the Church is viewing Christ as her
Beloved. When the Spouse is mentioned,
the Bride is mentioned, that is the Church of God. And then
we have the Companions and the Virgins, we have those inhabitants
of the Churches, the kids, the young converts, the early ones
that have been brought to the truth. Sometimes the church,
the spouse, speaks as a whole, others it is as the individual
members. Sometimes it's hard to find where
it is the spouse speaking and where it is the bridegroom, where it is Christ
and where it is the church. They're interacting throughout
this book and throughout this chapter. The important thing
is to realize that this is not just a minister, the church is
finding part in a book and making it to be spiritual and putting
in an application or interpretation that is not really there. It
is that God has given this book, and it has always historically
been owned and viewed by the Jews as the inspired Word of
God. In fact, the illustrations that
are in it are very consistent with the rest of the Word of
God. We've only got to think of the
chapter that we read in Peter, 1 Peter chapter 5, and there
we have the exhortation to the elders that they are to feed
the flock of God which is among you. And so then we have in the
words of our text, go forth, go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock. We have our Lord, teaching in
John 10 of himself as the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep, and those in our text bid, and feed thy
kids beside the Shepherd's tents. So again, the illustrations that
are in this Old Solomon are consistent with the teaching of our Lord
Jesus Christ as well. And then we have regarding the
Church of God as the spouse of Christ, the beautiful chapter
in Ephesians, Paul's epistle to the Ephesians in chapter 5. And we have, and I'll read this
portion because it is a beautiful portion directly relating to
the Song of Solomon. We have in verse 22, wives, verse
21, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and
he is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, So let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. but that it should
be holy and without blemish. We think of that later when we
come back to Song of Solomon. So ought men to love their own
wives as their own bodies? He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. And then we have in verse 32,
this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and
the church. And so we have, the marriage
bond, the husband as being like unto Christ, and the wife, the
church. And the relationship is set forth
there in Ephesians, and it is also here as an allegory in the
Song of Solomon. So I hope that when we read this
book, when we look at it, We are not thinking, well, these
things are just fancifully imagined or appropriated to this word
with no authority or with no consistency with the rest of
the Word of God, because it is. And it shows forth from one author,
the Holy Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit being the author of the
Word of God. We think of how the Word of God
closes, how it comes to the very end. And there's a beautiful
word there in Revelation chapter 22, in verse 17. And the Spirit and the Bride
say, come. and let him that heareth say
come, and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. And where the Church of God has
the Holy Spirit with her, then the desire of that church is
that Christ, her heavenly Bridegroom, will come. And so it is the Spirit
and the Bride say come. The Bride of Christ, is the Church
of God. And so, with that in mind, we
are then to look at this book, look at this chapter, look at
this verse, seeing a clear message from the Lord, a message for
us here this morning. I want to first just look briefly
down at this chapter, those things that are being set forth in it. In the first four verses, there
is the church that is speaking and testifying of her love unto
Christ and her desire after him. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. It is the church testifying of
what Christ is and praying, draw me, we will run after thee. Remember the Lord said, no man
can come unto me except the Father which has sent me, draw him,
and I'll raise him up at the last day. And here is the church
of God desiring to be drawn. Then we have in verses five and
six, the church's confession of what she is. Firstly, By nature,
she feels and knows herself to be black. I am black. Sin has made the Church of God
black. Of all people, the Church feels
her sinnership. She feels what she is. Fallen
man doesn't. Those outside of Christ don't. But the only people on this earth
that really see the heinousness and evil of sin, and desperate
wickedness of their hearts, and describe them as being blank,
are God's people. It is by grace that they see,
in the light of the Word, what they truly are. The Lord said,
when He was on earth, that men would not come unto the light,
that their deeds should be made manifest, because they love darkness
rather than light. But for his church, they come
to the light, they're drawn to the light, the light shows their
true condition. But not only does he testify
of what she is by nature, but also what she is by God's grace
and in Christ. I am black, but come thee. And it's good for us, it's good
for the church of God, however much She might fear her blackness
because of sin, to remember what she is in Christ and what she
is by the grace of God. Paul says, I am what I am by
the grace of God. Then she confesses, and it is
a confession that many of the Lord's dear people have to own
up to many a time, that They have been made a keeper
of her vineyard, and this applies to ministers, but applies to
every one of the people of God. The word points us to examine
ourselves and to be careful over our own walk, our own talk, our
own lives, as it were a vineyard. And she confesses and said, they
made me, the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard have I not
kept. And we might be in a position,
a husband or a wife, and looking after the children, but neglecting
our own souls. We might be a minister that's
very active and diligent in the Church of God, but again, not
being careful over his own sin and neglecting his own soul.
He might be a deacon or an elder in that way. And we think how
close it can come. We think of dear Martha with
the Lord Jesus Christ in the house. But she was so busy. She was cumbered about with much
serving and she deprived herself of sitting at the feet of the
Lord and hearing his word. And we can easily be like that.
Sometimes we And it is so with man. We can see another's faults
easier than our own. Our Lord has a word for that.
He says that we are to cast out the beam out of our own eye and
then we shall see clearly to cast out the moat out of a brother's
eye. We are very prone to see another's
faults and so we can fix you, we can give you advice show you
what to do and how to act and how to walk but if the Lord were
to turn that mirror back we would see that we do the same things
or maybe even worse and we need to look well to ourselves. The church is mindful of that
and may we be all the time mindful that It is a proneness, even
with the people of God, that they are not watchful and diligent
regarding their own souls, especially those with the charge of others. Well, may this confession and
profession of the Church in verse 5 and 6 be true of us, know our
sin, know our comeliness by grace, but also confess where we have
an inconsistency, what we may be doing rightly, outwardly,
but how we are keeping our own souls. But then we have the inquiry
in verse 7, after the flock of God. Tell me, O thou whom my
soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noon. It is a good desire that we might
be where the people of God are, where God's true flock is, where
their resting places are, where they feed and where their blessing
is. Many of those that are first
seeking the Lord, their eyes are open to sin, they have grace,
feel a desire for things of God, maybe even a love like Ruth had
to the people of God and to the Lord. And yet they don't know
what to do, where to go, how to seek, how to find the Lord,
what to do. They may see the people of God,
they are a people of God that are blessed, but how can they
be blessed? Where can they go to obtain the
blessings they have? How can they enter into those
things that they enjoy? And so the inquiry is, tell me,
tell me. Maybe it's yours this morning.
Tell me, tell me where, where. Tell me, Lord, where you feed
your people. They flock, where do they rest? When the sun is high of tribulation
and troubles and afflictions, where is their resting place? Where do they find a hiding place? Where is that shadow of a great
rock in a weary land? And then there's the words of
our text, which is the answer of Christ, Christ's direction
to his church, and we'll come back in a moment to that. But then in verse 9 and 10 we
have Christ's love to his church, what he sees in her, how he compares
her to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks
are comely, though with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains
of gold. It's the Lord looking upon His
people and saying what He sees in her. Remember the Lord, those
that are seeking after the Lord, they are precious in His sight.
Again, we'll come back to that in a moment. And then we have
a gracious promise of the Lord to His people. And the Trinity
is implied here. We will make thee borders of
gold. with studs of silver. The blessing
of the Lord, he maketh rich, he addeth no sorrow within. And then we have the mutual love
of Christ and his church, what they are seeing in each other,
and that is spoken of from verses 12 through to 17, and it is the
church that speaks of the effect when the king, again another
description of the bridegroom of Christ, the king, while he
sits at his table, then there's the effect, then there's a sweet
smell and savour that flows forth, and what his well-beloved is
to him, and my beloved is unto me, is a cluster of campfire
in the vineyards of Engedi." And then it changes to verse
15. It is Christ speaking of his
church again. Behold thou art fair, my love,
behold thou art fair. And he sets forth the love that
he has for the church and how he views the Church of God and
we would expect this in a natural love situation of the bridegroom
and the bride is not one-sided it is both and we have in the
epistles of John we know that we pass from death unto life
and that we love the brethren and love one to another and then
we love him because he first loved us. There is a mutual love
between Christ and His Church. When Peter had denied his Lord
and Master, the Lord appeared to him on the shores of the lake
and asked him three times. He said to him first, love us
thou more than these. And Peter says, thou knowest
that I love thee. And then when he is pressed the
third time, he said, Lord, thou knowest all things thou knowest
that I love thee. Our Lord's charge to him in each
of those cases, it was feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Again, answering to the allegory
that is here of flocks of sheep, the Lord's commission to Peter,
when they are converted, strengthen the brethren and feed my sheep. That is the more established
of my people, and feed my lambs, those little ones that need simple
fruits and need the milk of the word. And that was our Lord's
charge to Peter. But it was a mutual love that
Peter professed of the Lord and the Lord owned. And so you have
that here in this chapter as well. So on to then come to the
words of our text which is a direction, an answer really to the question
put in verse 7. If thou know not, Song of Solomon
chapter 1 verse 8, if thou know not, O thou fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids
beside the shepherds' tents. So our Lord is saying here, if
you don't know the answer, you don't know where, I feed my flock,
where I make them to rest at noon. You don't know this, and
it's evident that she didn't, the inquirer didn't, and maybe
you don't know either. Your question is the same. May that be an encouragement
to think that there is one seeking, but don't know how to seek. where to see, what to do, how
to act. So here is the direction of the
Lord to his church, his people, that have this inquiry. Well,
I want to look at two points. Firstly, the description of the
Bride of Christ. because he doesn't just say,
if thou know not, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the
flock. He puts in a description, O thou
fairest among women. So I want to, as this is applying
to the Bride of Christ, look at that first, that description
of the Bride of Christ. And then secondly, Christ's erection
to one seeking the blessings that his people have. Go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. Two aspects to it. Go thy way
forth, and then secondly, and feed. Firstly, the description
of the bride of Christ. It is good that the people of
God be encouraged in their seeking of the Lord. There's much to
discourage. When their eyes are opened, they
see, as is testified in verse 5, that they are black, When
they view themselves under the holy law of God, they come in
as condemned under the law, all their righteousnesses are as
filthy ranks, they see much to discourage them. One whose eyes
are first opened sees much that is of filth, of not of God. They may say, how can God ever
dwell here? What things are open to their
view. So it does need to be balanced
while the church is seeing her sin and seeing what she is for
the Lord to say and to describe as thou fairest among women. Remember, this is said to one
that does not know, if they know not, they do not know, where
they are to go, where the Lord blesses his people, where his
people feed. And yet he still calls her thou
fairest among women. This is one that has said, I
am black, and he still says she is fair. Yet she is testified
to, but come they. But may we remember what the
Church of God is. The charge that was given to
the elders is to feed the flock of God, and how are they described
in that way? That it is among you, but it
is described in another place that is purchased with his own
blood. The people of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ has chosen them from eternity, chosen in him from before the
foundation of the world. He has loved them with an everlasting
love, I've loved thee, in Jeremiah 31 verse 3, I've loved thee with
an everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee, is a people that have been foreknown by God and chosen by
God. A people that he then came to
this world to save. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins, his people,
already his people, a people from eternity, a people then
that he sojourned here below, endured the contradiction of
sinners against himself for them, and was obedient unto the Father,
even unto the cross, the death of the cross, and he laid down
his life for that people, I lay down my life For the sheep, again,
is John 10. In the same analogy, the same
allegory is here in the parable of our Lord. I lay down my life
for the sheep. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. He says of the scribes and the
Pharisees, ye are not of my sheep. Therefore ye hear not my word. And so the church of God, when
he says, O thou fairest among women, He is viewing that church
as in Christ. What she is to him is a people,
this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth
my praise. And already, already she has
evidences of being the people of God in her sense of sin, in
her sense of ignorance, in her sense of wanting the things of
God, coveting earnestly the best gifts in her seeking, in her
desires, in her confessions. May we never pass over those
graces, those early graces and blessings. The Spirit's work
is he shall convince of sin. The work of the Father No man
can come unto me except that the Father draw me. And the evidence though she is
praying to be drawn in verse four is that already she is drawn. And those are evidences, clear
scriptural evidences of an interest in Christ and Christ's work before
that person has comfort, before they have joy, before they even
have the assurance of salvation, before they know they are the
Lords, yet they have that longing after Him. You know, Ruth the
Moabitess, she had married one of Naomi's sons. Naomi had lost her husband, and
then her two sons died, and there she was, a widow, and Ruth and
Orpah, both widows, And Ruth, she claimed to Naomi in love. And when Naomi was going back
from Moab and to Bethlehem and going back to her country and
her God, then Ruth wanted to be with her. And she wanted not
only to be with her, but where she was and that her God was
her God. And she saw a beauty in one of
the Lord's people, even in trouble, tribulation, and bereavement
and loss. And where did the work of God's
grace begin with Ruth? Did it not begin in a cleaving
to one of his people, and a love to her, and a love to him, and
a desiring to be with him? And if we trace the very beginnings
of what God is doing for his people, we then trace it to what
God says of them, that they are the fairest, the best, the blessed,
are the people of God. If this is an allegory of Christ
and his church, and it is of a man and of a woman, for a man that loves a woman is going
to be married to that woman, though that be one woman, and
the world be filled with millions or billions of women, to him,
that woman is the fairest among women. In his eyes, she is the
best, she is the most precious. And so with Christ, in his eyes,
it is his church and it is those that are the ones that are first
coming and desiring after Him and showing some affection and
teachability and are desiring the things of God. It's a great
sign, great encouragement when you find that. You know, we get
mixed reactions when we have our Bibles sent out. Some may phone us up and don't
really have any teachability at all. They just want to tell
and say things or even teach and just want Bibles to do a
work themselves. Others will ring up and they
really want to know the truth. They have many questions and
many feelings and many desires after the things of God. And
there's a teachability, there's a humility, there's a desire
for the word, and it's very encouraging to hear that, to see that. And
it is the grace of God that opens an ear. My ear hath thou opened. And it is the grace of God that
makes one teachable. Any teacher in a natural situation,
in our schools, If she's got a class that is unruly, they
don't want to learn, they don't want to be taught, it's very
hard to teach them anything. But you get a person that's teachable,
a class that's teachable, and it's a joy to teach them. All the questions that they're
asking are not signs against them, they're signs for them. The child, the young child, how
does it learn? Why, why, why? all the time asking
why. And if we have that in our hearts
as a young child of God, as one seeking after God, don't put
it as a mark against you that you're asking why, why, why,
that you're seeking the ways of the Lord. You want to know
there are many who come across the first obstacle, the first
thing they don't understand, and they're just Whitewash the
whole lot. We don't want the word of God.
Can't understand that. We'll just throw it away and
go some other way and find something that makes sense. And they won't
stop to think. You think of in John 6, our Lord
was teaching, except you eat the flesh and drink the blood
of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. And they interpreted
it in a natural way. They said, this isn't hard saying. Who can hear it? they went back,
they walked no more with the Lord at all. Not teachable, they
didn't say, Lord, open this to us, show us what this means,
explain how this could be so. They weren't interested. And
so when we see a description, O thou fairest among women, may
we view this as to the church in her seeking, the church in
first being awakened a people that are seeking after the Lord. A people that have been loved
with an everlasting love and chosen and bought with the precious
blood of Christ. There's so much that is bound
up with the people of God and the Lord sees that, though we
may not yet fully see it. Well secondly, there is Christ's
direction to one seeking the blessing that his people have. Again, this is another mark for
them if we can look upon the people of God and recognise that
they are the blessed of the earth, that they have blessings that
we do not have, that they are a favoured people, that we do
long for those things that we see them have. And we have then
the direction. Go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock. That is the first thing. Now in a way the answer is suited
to the inquiry because already it is that this seeker, they
already know that the people of God They do feed, and that flock
does rest. They already know something about
them. Now this is how the Lord began
with the woman at the well of Samaria. The one thing that she
knew about Messiah was that when he came he would tell us all
things. And the Lord began with her and
told her about her own life. She says to the other Samaritans,
Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did, is not
this the Christ? And he began where she already
knew. And this here, the inquiry the
Lord begins in directing. You want to know where the flock
is, where they rest, where they are blessed? Then go thy way,
go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. All the Lord's
dear people walk different ways in experience, in one sense can
instead be walking, instead of walking in exactly the same footsteps
and way, is by the footsteps of the flock. But what it will
be, not in the way of false religion and false teaching, but in the
ways of the truth. Go where God's people are. Where you see the people are
blessed and you want to be like them, go with them. Be like Ruth. Go with Naomi. Cleave to Naomi. And though Ruth said to Boaz
later on, though I be not like one of thine handmaidens, yet,
and she felt unlike them, we might feel the same. You go amongst
God's people. you don't feel like them, but
the direction is go amongst them, go with them, be with the people
of God, hear the doctrines that they hear, hear the teaching
that they hear, hear the word that they hear, go amongst them,
see their lines, see their witness, hear what they speak of the Lord. It is in the footsteps of the
flock of God. There is a way the Lord leads
his people and directs his people and directs his servants. There
is a way. Solemnly there is a way that
seemeth right unto a man. The end thereof are the ways
of death. But there is a way the Lord leads
his people and that is the way of Christ. Now it is a good advice
to any that are seeking a church Go where Christ is preached. Go where the Lord Jesus Christ
is lifted up as the one name given among men whereby we must
be saved. That he be all in all, that is
absolutely vital. Go where the word of God is opened
up, expounded and read more and more today. You find there are
churches that hardly read the Word of God, they hardly mention
it, and they do not preach it. They preach a social gospel,
as it were, a message that is not Christ and Christ alone. The Apostle Paul said to the
Corinthians, I determined to know nothing among men, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucifying. And so it is going In that way,
there's a way cast up, a way our forefathers went. There's
many, and there'd be many in this town who've had fathers
and grandparents that have attended these churches. There'd be many
that have been brought up under the sand of the truth and went
away from it. And where shall they, if they're
awakened, find the Lord, but going back, as we have in the
account of the prodigal, back to one father's house. The word
of the Lord says, train up a child in the way that he should go,
and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And those then
that are awakened when they're older and seeking the way, they'll
be brought back to the old paths, back to the old Bible, as it
were, back to the truths of God, not these new methods, new ideas,
but that truth that was from the beginning of the world, and
follows through, and preached by Christ, and will be to the
end of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ lifted
up the only name given among men, whereby we must be saved. It is Christ that died, yea,
rather than is risen again, who sitteth at the right hand of
the throne of God. on high, be a consistent attender
at the means of grace, hear the word of God regularly, have a
closet worship in your home, privately, praying to the Lord,
seeking the Lord, walking in the ordinances of the house of
God, in their preaching times, their praying times, the ordinances,
the baptism, the Lord's Supper, seeking to walk in those ways
and in those ways find the blessing of the Lord. Not in ways that
are not cast up and not described in the word of God, but ways
that are described there and set forth there. Go thy way forth. It may be that the one making
inquiries here has been dabbling in this and that, and trying
this and trying that, and going in different ways, and the Lord
says, no, you want the blessings of the flock, you go, you go
and be where the true flock of God is. Now we have a second
direction, and that is Not only go thy way forth, the footsteps
of the flock, but feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
In other words, in the kids we said, with the young ones, those
that are first coming to the truth, but you know, the old
sheep, they can still have the food for the lambs. The lambs
often can't have the Food for the sheep, simple, true, set
forth. Food for the older as well. And
the important thing, I felt it on this, is the feeding. This is what we mentioned before
about the offence that the Jews said in John 6. How can this man give us his
flesh to eat? They stumbled at it. How? Man shall not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. What
Christ did, has accomplished, and all his word is the meat
and drink of the people of God. They drink it in, they feed in.
It is their life. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, we shall be like him. When Paul preached to the
Bereans, they searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were
so. and therefore many of them believed. Paul was preaching the Word of
God, and they were able to go home afterwards with that Word
of God, with the Old Testament Scriptures, and compare what
he had said with those Scriptures, and therefore many of them believed. If a ministry of people doesn't
follow that test, then don't go in that way. But where that
is the way, then seek that you might feed upon that word. Now, many years ago, there was
one of the vicars of this town that was unwell, had serious
cancer, and was recovering from it. And speaking to him at the
school gate, and I asked him, did he go to the church while
he was unwell? He said, oh, no. He said they
would make me work, they would draw me in to work. So I said
to him, well, where do you go for your own soul's food? Where do you feed your own soul? And he looked at me absolutely
blank. What did I mean? And he said,
well, I go to a surrounding parish sometimes to get ideas for my
sermons when I go back to work. The only idea he had on feeding,
you know, those of us who preach, we must feed upon the word of
God. We must have time with the Lord,
time of meditation and reading and prayer, and where our soul
is strengthened and fed, where we find Christ, where he is our
meat and our drink. And that applies to all the people
of God. Some are so busy as it were,
evangelizing, however right and good it is, commendable it is,
or doing this and doing that, but they're not feeding. And
I say to myself, am I feeding on the Word of God? Or am I starving
myself? Am I like Martha, starving herself
from feeding upon the Word and hearing the Word of Christ? This
is the direction here. And our Lord was so clear, except
ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, ye have
no life in you, none at all. Whatever profession, whatever
you might have, if you and I want the blessings that the people
of God have, then the Word is to be fed upon, not just us to
attend a service a week, or even three a week, or the prayer meeting
a week, but to live upon the Word of God, to feed upon it,
to live in it, and the Word dwelling us richly. Let the Word of Christ
dwell in you richly. If Christ really is as lovely
to us as what is set forth here in the Song of Solomon, then
how is it we find it so hard to spend much time with Him? If our inquiry really is that
we want to be blessed and know whether people of God are blessed,
then may we be of those that feed upon the Word. There's two parts of the direction
here and it's absolutely vital for us, that we walk and go in
the way of truth and that we feed. and beside the shepherd's
tents, we're close to the ministers of the gospel, we hear them,
we feed under their word, under their ministry, we profit from
it, it's our meat, it's our drink. This then is the direction here. If thou know not, O thou fairest
among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,
and feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tents. Well it fits
in with the Lord's commission to Peter, feed my sheep, feed
my lambs. May the Lord bless us with being
those sheep and being those lambs and being blessed to truly know
what it is to rest with the flock of the Lord himself. The Lord add his blessing. Amen.