We were singing that song on
that last stanza or verse. The half hath not been told me. You know, that's what the Queen
of Sheba said to Solomon when she came. She said, I'd heard.
And I think to myself, think how little we know. How little
we know. The Lord told the two on the
road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses. and he expounded unto
them in all the scriptures those things concerning himself. And
this is what they said concerning that. Didn't our heart burn within
us as he opened unto us the scriptures? And I think, you know, we know
in part, you know, line upon line, precept upon precept, here
a little, there a little. But we know, we know. And I'm
just so thankful for what the Lord's allowed us to have, how
he's given us some light and allowed us to see the beauty. But oh, what we don't know. But in that day, according to
his word, we're going to see him as he is and be like him. What are we going to learn then?
I don't know. But whatever it is, it's going to be wonderful. Well, let's take our Bibles once
again and turn back to Song of Solomon. I'd like to just, been
a long time since I've preached out a Song of Solomon. Mentioned
it time here and there, but been over 20 years since we went through
this book. But these two verses were just
drawn to my heart today, verse four we just looked at, and then
I want to look at verse five. I want us to look this morning
at a passage of scripture which truly is the honest confession
of one who by the grace of God has been powerfully delivered
from the bondage of sin, sting of death, victory of the grave,
one that truly has been taught something. by God, one that knows
what they are, being born in Adam, but who they are in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This right here, this is, look
at verse five. The bride is speaking. She says,
I'm black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of
Kedar. as the curtains of Solomon. Now that's a confession of a
good ground hearer. You know, a sower went forth
to sow. Some of the seed fell by the wayside, the birds got
it. Some of it fell on stony ground, stony ground, and
sprang up quickly, and there appeared to be some life there,
but there was no root. And when the sun, sun of affliction,
sun of persecution, came out because of the gospel that they
said they believed, it withered, it withered. Some of it fell
in thorny ground, and the thorns sprung up and choked out the
word. But some of it fell on good ground. It brought forth fruit, some
thirtyfold, sixtyfold, hundredfold. Now this is a confession of a
good ground hearer, one who worships God, who worships the God of
this Bible and rejoices in Christ Jesus for that which he has done,
he's done, and has no confidence in the flesh. Now this, this
is a, this is a center speaking center regenerated by the grace
of God. One that's received the word
of God in power knows that salvation is by grace through faith known
by faith. Not, we're not saved by faith.
We're saved by grace. We know of the grace of God through
faith out of ourselves. It's a gift of God out of works. My, because they're gonna boast,
they're gonna boast. They're gonna boast. That's what they're
gonna do. That's what scripture says they're gonna do. They're
gonna boast in it. I did this, that, or the other. And here's
what she says. I am black. How black? Well, I'm black as the tenths
of Kedar. Kedar. Holds your place and turned
to Genesis 25, 13. Let me tell you who Kedar was.
Black as the, he was a, One that traveled around in the
desert is what he did, but look here, Genesis 25, verse 13. Genesis 25, 13. These are the
names of the sons of Ishmael. Now, you know who Ishmael was.
That was the son born by the handmaid of Sarah. God had told
Abraham, Sarah, you're gonna have a son. And so Sarah said,
well, surely it means that, because I'm barren. We can't have kids. I want you to take my handmaid,
Hagar, and he had a son. What was his son's name? Ishmael,
Ishmael. That one that was born of the
flesh, born of the flesh. These are the names of the sons
of Ishmael by their names, according to their generations. The firstborn
of Ishmael, Neb, Bejoth, and Kedar, Abbeel, Bibshah, Bibshah. How black are you? How black
are you? Right? How black? She said, I'm
black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of
Kedar. That one was born a son of the
sun. It was born of Abraham and Hagar. Pictures, the presence of the
flesh, a type And so the bride admits, I'm black. I looked that
word up. When you look the word up, it
means dusky, D-U-S-K-Y, dusky. Okay, but what does that mean?
What do you mean dusky? What do you mean when you say
I'm dusky? Well, I looked it up a little bit more and I found
it means as the duskiest, as, I'm sorry, duskiness, the duskiness
of, It says of early dawn, I always think of dusk, you know, the
dawn, the duskiness. You look out and look at early
morning right now, right now, depending on time of the year,
if you look out, if it's a good day, somewhere around about 730
right now, you look out there and you look I think, yeah, it's,
I think I see a little light if I look up, I think I see,
I see some light, but you know, it's awfully dark, too. It's
just, you know, let the sun go down, same thing. Just right
at, just before you just can't hardly see. Just a little, she
said, I'm black. That's what it means. I'm dusky.
That just, that, you know, to look, to see, just, Here's one
that realizes something. She knows something of the presence
of original sin. Now to prove what I'm just saying,
that word, what it means, turn over to Romans chapter 7. We've read this an awful lot.
Oh, the blessing of the Spirit of God to tell us something about
ourselves. Look, look what the Apostle Paul
says. Now this is him speaking, he's
speaking of himself. This is what the bride says.
I'm black, I'm dusky, I'm like the duskiness of the early dawn. Just, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think,
Jeff, I think I can see, I think I see a little bit. The Apostle
Paul says, Romans chapter seven, verse 18. For I know that in
me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. For to
will is present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not. I find not. Look at verse 22. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in My members, oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? The bride says
concerning herself, I'm black, I'm dusky, that's the way I am. That regenerate is going to admit
from the revelation of scripture and their own experience, knowledge,
that's what Paul said, I see in me, I behold. the workings
of indwelling sin. I see it. And I hate it. I hate it. And I confess it. That's what she said. I'm black.
I'm black. Let me tell you what a blessing
that is, that she says. That's something that man by
nature don't know. Turn over to 1 John 1. 1 John
chapter 1. 1 John 1. Look at verse 8 and
9. 1 John 1. Eight and nine. If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, not all of them, because we don't know,
as I said the other day, we don't know everything we've done. I
don't know what I've done. I don't realize the depth of what I've
done, but I can tell you this, what I've done, I see in my flesh
that, well, it's no good thing. That's what I see. I guarantee
it. I see that. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Let me tell you what the bride
has just done back in Song Solomon 1 5. She just confessed her sins. I am black. I'm black. Let me ask you this. Is this
our confession? Do we recognize that but for
the grace of God, The Lord, if he left us to ourselves, he would
have justly, justly thrown us out. But we've learned something
by God's grace of what we are in Adam. We're sensitive to the
corruption within, and it grieves us. It grieves us. Paul said,
that's what Paul said. The will is present with me.
how to perform that which I would. I find that. Oh, wretched man
that I am. A believer is honest. They're honest. They're honest
about themselves. David said to the Lord in Psalm
51, 4, against thee, thee only, have I sinned. That's the walk. That's the attitude of a believer. I'm black. I'm black. That's every believer in this
world. That's their admission of themselves. I'm dusky. I'm
dusky. That, that prodigal came back. Father, I've sinned against heaven
and I've done it before thee. So every believer, if you know
him this morning, you agree with me. You're not, you're not taking
offense to this. Every believer is gonna admit,
this is what I am. I'm dusky, I'm black. I'm reeking with the infirmity
of sin. I know it, I confess it. Here's
what Job said in Job 30, 29 and 30. He said, I am a brother to dragons. I'm a brother to
dragons. I'm an animal. He said, I'm a
companion to owls. My skin is black upon me. My
bones are burned with heat. And here's Job. Job's saying
the same thing. This is what every believer knows
to be so. They know something of the guilt
of sin. I don't know the depth of it.
You've heard this so many times. If we knew the depth of it, we
couldn't even stand ourselves. If we saw ourselves for what
we really are, he knows what he is, but thanks be unto God. He said, I'm black, back in Psalm
1-5. I'm black, but listen to this,
but comely, comely, how comely, as the curtains of Solomon. while a believer confesses what
he knows to be so in himself. He's honest about it. He's not
trying to hide it. There's another part of him that
he finds great comfort by the grace of God. While he sees himself
for what he is, he said, I know what I am in Adam, but I'm comely. What does that mean? Beautiful,
beautiful. How beautiful? Well, he says,
as the curtains of Solomon. I tell you what, for the sake
of time, we won't go back and read all the description of the
temple of Solomon, but you go back and read the temple of Solomon,
what it looked like, how much the gold and the beauty of that,
which was the picture, the glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But those curtains that hung in that Every ornament of that
temple set forth the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
believer, by faith, knows that the Lord has done something for
him that he could never do for himself. He would have never
done. He's made him beautiful. He's made him beautiful. He's
robed him. In his own righteousness, Isaiah,
there's a few pages over, Isaiah 61, Isaiah 61 10, tells us, Isaiah
61 10, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. And Jehovah, my
soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath robed me with the
garments of salvation. He covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. So here's the believer. This
is the believer. Black, but I'm comely. I'm black with the presence of
sin, but I'm comely, being robed in the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And she just, she sees it. She knows one of them very plainly. She sees her. And the other one,
she knows it, believes it by faith. I've said before, if you
ever met a believer that would say, I can see that part of me
that's just gorgeous. I'd never have seen that yet
for myself. I can see, definitely, I can
see this, but I can tell you this, by faith, I believe that
Almighty God has robed His people in His righteousness. And in
His righteousness, robed in His righteousness, their sins being
purged. Now, here again, by faith, I
just got to believe this. I see the presence of sin. I
see my doubts, I see my arrogance, I see pride, I see all of that.
But the only thing I've got that my guilt, the guilt of my
sin has been put away, the only thing I've got is God's Word. He said that He's put it away. And God said, When I see the
blood, I can't see it. But he didn't say, Marvin, when
you see it, I'll pass over you. He said, when I see it, this
is all I got. You're going to rest your soul
on that? That's all I got. That's all
I need. His word is never going to pass
away. He said, I've robed you. I've purged you. By faith. Faith. Without faith,
it's impossible. Please, God. I believe Him. I
believe Him. I'm black, but I'm comely. How
comely are you? Well, again, all I got is the
Word of God. This is all I got. You that know Him, that's all
you got. I'm telling you, you're certainly not going to see anything
in yourself that you are willing to stand before God holding presented
to him, like they did in Matthew 7, prophesying your name. I'm telling you, there's enough
fear and doubt and everything. Every time I stand up to preach,
the things, the inconsistencies that go through my mind and my
inability to... How comely are you? How comely
are you? Again, let's just look at God's
Word. Turn over to Song of Solomon
4. Song of Solomon, chapter 4. Now
this language right here is the language of God. And when the Lord says, He says
in Song of Solomon 4, 7, Thou art all fair, my love. No spot in thee. Now let me ask you again. Do
you see any spots in you? You that are black? Oh yeah,
you see them, you see. But what did he say he sees?
What did he say he sees? He said, thou art all fair. There's no spot in thee. And
he's going to start describing his bride. And the way that he
describes his bride is the way she is before him, before God,
as his blood has washed her white. This is the way she is. He said in Song of Solomon, chapter
four, Verse 1, Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes within thy locks. Dove's eyes. He said, you look
lovingly upon me. That's where you are. That's
where you do. You have dove's eyes. He said, thy hair is as a flock
of goats. Hair? Yeah, that hair that's
grafted into the head. That hair that's attached to
the head. That hair that has to have the head for its existence. That hair that has to be fed,
nourished from the head. He said, that's what you are.
Thy hairs as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead. Verse 2 said, Thy teeth are like
a flock of sheep that are even shorn. Your teeth that eat, that's
what you do with teeth, you eat. He's the bread of heaven. He
said, this is where you are. You feast on me. That's what
you do. Isn't that the truth of a believer?
They feast upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 3, Thy
lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech comely. Your lips and your speech, which
speak of Him. The husband. Whatever the people of God speak
of the Lord. The Lord hears it. He hears it. You get two believers together,
and they'll chit-chat about this, that, and the other, but I'm
telling you this, before it's all over, I'll tell you who they're
gonna be speaking about. They're gonna be speaking about
Him. God hearkens, He hearkens, He knows that. He beholds that. Then He says also, verse three,
thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. I looked that word temples up,
and it's what it says. Part of the head. Part of the
head. That was a good enough explanation
for me. Thy temples. Thy temples. Declaring our oneness
with Him, our thoughts upon Him, our love for Him. He said in
verse 4, Thy neck is like the Tower of David, built for an
armory. Whereon thou, there hang a thousand
buckles, all shields of mighty men. You know what the neck does? It connects the body to the head.
Joined in him. Union with him. One with him. Then he says in verse five, thy
two breasts are like two young rose that are twins which feed
among the lilies. I thought about the glorious
proclamation through the church, through the bride. This is how
the Lord has been pleased to set forth the glorious gospel,
the proclamation of the milk of the Word that we feast upon. The milk of Christ, the milk
of His Word. Oh listen, there's God's people. and they've been chosen in Christ,
and they know Him, and they confess Him, and they love Him, and they're
joined to Him. They know what they are in themselves.
I'm black, but according to His Word, according
to His grace, I'm comely. I'm comely. He says in verse
6, Chapter four, till the day break and the shadows flee away,
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.
And he tells her again, verse seven, thou art all fair, my
love thou. There's no spot in thee, there's
nothing about you that's not altogether lovely. Why? He put away the dead of our sin. He put it away, paid for, paid
for by his blood. He's robed us in himself. He's
robed us in his righteousness. And he said, you're fair. You're
all fair. There's no spot in you. No spot. Back in Song 1, verse 5, I'm black,
but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem. You know, much speculation
about who these daughters were. It says in Song of Solomon, Two,
verse one. I am the rose of Sharon and the
lily of the valleys as the lily among thorns. So is my love among
the daughters. Oh, the bride is the bride. The bride is the bride, the whole
bride in this book. Let's talk about the bride. But
she's speaking to somebody. She's speaking to those that
are referred to as the daughters of Jerusalem. And there's a lot
of things that's written in the scriptures in this book right
here concerning the daughters. And a lot of times I look at
the commentary and they say, well, it's just young believers.
That's just young believers, immature believers. Well, why
are they not in the bride then? Why are they not with the bride?
If they're young believers, immature believers, Newly converted believers,
they're part of the bride. But this bride is speaking to
somebody, and the scripture declares something about these daughters.
It says, verse 2, chapter 2, verse 2, as the lily among thorns,
so is my love among the daughters. So they're referred to as thorns. And then look at chapter 2 and
verse 7. The bride is speaking to the
daughters, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose and
by the hinds of the field, that you stir not up nor awake my
love till he please. They're charged, don't be a disturbance. Don't be a disturbance to my
love. And then one of the most revealing
things is Song of Solomon 5, verse 8 and 9. The bride had She was at a point
where she couldn't find her beloved. And she was looking for him.
And verse seven of chapter five says, the watchman that went
about the city found me and they smoked me, they wounded me. The
keepers of the walls took away my veil from him. She had rejected
him and she found these watchmen and they rebuked her. This is what when we preach the
gospel for all of us, we need correcting. And this is what
these watchmen were doing. And it says in verse 8 of chapter
5 of Song of Solomon, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
if you find my beloved, she couldn't find him, but she's talking to
these daughters of Jerusalem, that you tell him that I'm sick
of love. If you find my beloved, I can't
find him. He's withdrawn himself from me
and it's been for my good. His glory, and I know it, because
I was the one that gave Him that excuse. But I've already taken
off, and I've gone to bed, and I've taken my shoes off, and
I've got my feet washed, and He withdrew Himself. I couldn't
find Him. But if you find Him, would you tell Him that I love
Him? Would you tell Him that I love Him? I'm sick of love. Daughters of Jerusalem, would
you tell Him that? And I want you to listen to the Daughters
of Jerusalem's response. Verse 9. What is thy love more
than another, beloved? O thou fairest among women. What
is thy beloved more than another, beloved, that thou dost so charge
us? Here's what the Daughters of
Jerusalem said. Okay, you're asking us if we find him to tell
him that you love him? She said, yeah. She said, well,
what is your love as compared to the other loves of the others
who tell us about your love? These daughters don't know him.
Now I'm going to just tell you something. I don't know. I don't
know if they're unconverted Tares? I don't know. But I can tell
you this. These daughters of Jerusalem, at this point right
here, they don't know Him. They don't know Him. And the
bride's speaking to them. Because she don't know if there
are tares or wheat either. I know that there's always tares
among the wheat. Can you point them out to me?
Somebody asked Brother Henry one time. He said, do you believe
so and so is a believer? He said, well, give me about
20 years, and asked me. He said, I may have a little
bit better idea then. I don't know, I don't know. Those
tares that were sown among the wheat, when those workers wanted
to go out, you want us to jerk up the tares? The owner of the
field said, no, no, no, no, leave them alone. And he said, in the
end, we'll separate them. You may be tearing up wheat.
You don't know who they are either, but these daughters right here
are talking to somebody and they don't know. These that are being
spoken to by the bride, by admittance right here, they don't know him.
What is I beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among
women? What is I beloved more than another
beloved that thou dost so charge us? And listen to the word of
the bride. She said, verse 10, my beloved's
white. He's pure, he's holy, and ruddy,
earthy, made flesh, God. The chiefest among 10,000, his
head is the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, black as raven. He's the eternal God, the eternal
I am. He wasn't, he wasn't was, he
said, I am that I am. His eyes are the eyes of dove
by the rivers of water washed with milk and fitly set. His
cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers, his lips like
lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. She's heard something. She knows something about him.
He's shown her something of who he is. His hands are as gold
rings set with barrels. His strength, power, his belly
is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. Pillars of marble, he's the almighty
God. That's who he is. Set upon sockets
of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea,
he's altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend. Old Daughters of Jerusalem. I'm black, but I'm comely. Oh, daughters of Jerusalem, a believer knows self-loathing, self-despising,
self-abhorring in our own eyes, but in Christ. She said, this
is what the Lord has told me about myself. He told me that
I'm in his sight without spot. and without blemish. And I believe
Him. It doesn't make me any easier
to deal with myself. In fact, it makes me more abhorring with myself. How could
I act like this? How could I do this? But this
is the life of a believer. This is the life of one. This
is the walk of one. That God's taught something of
who they are in Adam who they are in Christ and what God's
done for them. And they love the message of the salvation
of the grace and the mercy of God because they know if He left
me to myself, I'd have no hope. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart and to His glory.