Turn with me to Psalm of Solomon,
chapter 7. I'd like for us to look at a
few of these first three of these verses. There's nothing that's more pleasing
than to hear a man or a woman speak of their
spouse respectfully. It just makes my heart rejoice when
I hear the respect that is given to one's mate. And here in these verses, as
we have seen all through this book, we've seen just that. We've seen the respect that has
been given of the Lord Jesus Christ to His bride, and then
the bride back to her husband. And the amazing thing to me is
even in chapter 5 when the bride in the manifestation of the sinfulness
of her old nature that was there when she spoke to him disrespectfully
and knocked on the door of her heart, she began to give excuses. And we all relate to that. But
he put his hand in the hole of the door and her bowels, her
heart was moved for him. And he wisely, graciously, providentially
removed himself from her. And she realized then what she
thought, you know, even for a moment she could lose. And he revealed
himself to her. spoke to her again beginning
in that sixth chapter. And then this evening, he continues
to speak to her and this chapter opens with the adoration that
the Lord Jesus Christ has for His Bride, that He has everlastingly
loved Now this is the thing that's amazing to me. The Lord has never
changed His attitude toward His bride. Never. He said, I've always
loved you. Was there ever a time that the
Lord did not love His bride? No. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, I drew you. I drew you because
I loved you. the reason. And he here gives
the description of her. We don't know how to speak. We
don't know how to talk. We don't know what to say to
each other. We don't even know how to express ourselves. And
just to be able to read and to hear what the Spirit of God has
revealed concerning the Lord Jesus Christ what He says concerning
her. And the thing that we know is
that God who cannot lie, when He says this about her, this
is the way it is. The Scripture admonishes us in
Ephesians chapter 5. Husbands, Ephesians 5 verse 25,
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, having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself." God Almighty said in the beginning,
it's not good, it's not good for the man to be alone. You know He was speaking primarily
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I do know that we are here
tonight and there are men that are married to their wife. It's
good that the man should not be alone, but that verse of Scripture
was speaking of the Lord Jesus. God said, I will make Him and
help that is meet or fit for him." The woman, a picture of
the Bride of Christ was taken out of Adam as the Bride was
chosen, taken out of in the Lord Jesus Christ, chosen in Him to
be holy. And so God said it was not good
that the man should be alone. I read that verse, and I read
that verse, and I read that verse, and there's only one conclusion
that you can come to in that verse of Scripture. God Himself
said it's not good that the man should be alone. And He prepared him. He made him
a bride. Chose a bride in him. Was not good? concerning the
promotion of Jehovah's designs in the glory of Almighty God
in Christ, that he should be alone. He did not just create
a bride for no reason. He manifested and glorified the
Lord Jesus Christ in the bride. Mercy, grace, longsuffering,
meekness, kindness, Christ was glorified in her and she in Him. The Father was glorified in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the bride was His object, His purchase. He is the surety. He has always had a bride. He has always had a bride. Hosea 2.19. will betroth thee
unto me forever." Now, this is a mystery, a great mystery. But the Lord here speaks of her,
speaks to her. The evidence of His love is heard
in the tender and thoughtful and endearing terms from the
Master's lips. It ought to be heard from ours,
but it's not. And that which gives his description
such value is the realization that all that is said concerning
the bride finds its basis in His imputed righteousness to
her. She is what she is by the grace
of God. And when He tells her how lovely
she is, she's lovely totally on His merit. Because as He is,
so are we in this world. And when we hear him say to her
in verse 1, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes, here we
are reminded, I know without a doubt, that all of the feet
of believers are shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace. I know that. But there's more
that's being said in that description of her feet than that, though
that is so. Her feet. Now you have to understand,
you remember, and I'll speak of this in just a moment because
I don't want to tarry tonight. I want to just get right to the
point and say what these verses have got to say. And we're going
to look at just a moment at the parts of her body. But when it
says her feet, what we are mainly seeing here is the feet of God's
mercy to His bride to send her the gospel through a preacher. Isaiah 52, 7 and 8 says how beautiful. And He told her, He said, your
feet are beautiful. How beautiful are your feet! How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings
that published peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that published
salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth, Thy watchman
shall lift up the voice. With the voice together shall
they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall
bring again Zion. The Lord says, Your feet are
beautiful. They are beautiful with shoes. And surely the tidings of salvation
are gracious when the very feet of those that bring these tidings
are said to be, by the Lord, beautiful. How beautiful are
the feet! The Lord says, You feed a beautiful. Here we see
that it is through His Bride, this is God's chosen Method. This is symbolic. He speaks to
the bride. Feet relate in Isaiah 52 of the
preaching, the proclamation of the good tidings. And it's through
the symbolic symbol of her feet that speaks of the proclamation
of the gospel. He looks at the bride and he
says, your proclamation of himself is beautiful. Your feet are beautiful. the feet of the preachers, the
proclamation of His glorious gospel. I was looking at something
here, and I've just never thought of it in this light. John 13.
Isaiah said that the feet of those that preach the gospel
are beautiful. And I read in John chapter 13
in verse 1, of the Passover when Jesus knew
that His hour was come, that He should part out of this world
unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world.
He loved them unto the end. Supper being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray Him. And Jesus knowing that the Father
had given all things into His hands and that He was come from
God and went to God, and He riseth from supper. and laid aside his
garments, took a towel, and girded himself. After that, he poureth
water in a basin, began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe
them with a towel, wherewith he was girded." How much was
being said when the Lord Jesus Christ mysteriously showed His
care and His protection and His cleansing and His honor for those
that preach the gospel. How beautiful the Lord said of
His bride are your feet. Realizing that the true beauty
is found in His imputed righteousness to His people, we consider His
feet that walked in obedience to the law of Almighty God that
appeared at Calvary and was pierced for his people as he trod the
winepress of God's judgment alone. And the feet of those that publish
peace, which are spoken of here in Song of Solomon 7-1 as being
beautiful, what they do is proclaim that which he has accomplished. How beautiful are his feet. He says of her, Your feet are
beautiful. The proclamation of the gospel
is beautiful. And she says back to him in her
heart, Oh, how beautiful are you. And then he says to her,
Oh, prince's daughter, here is a title by which the Lord is
pleased to address the bride. A prince's daughter, that's what
he calls her. Psalm 45, verse 13 says, The
king's daughter. is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold."
He looks at her and he said, You're royalty. That's what he said to her. You're
royalty. A believer hears that. And what
a humbling statement to hear him say and refer to her, a prince's
daughter. The bride is called the prince's
daughter because, first of all, she is born of God. I have a son. His name is Gabe.
He is called my son because he is born of me. He is my son. Therefore, that which I say he
is, he is. The people of God are born of
him. from above." John 1, 12 and 13,
"...but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God." She's of royal birth. Born of
God. Born from above. Secondly, she's
betrothed in marriage to the prince of the kings of the earth."
Revelation 19, 7, "...let us be glad and rejoice and give
honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready." He chose her. He chose a bride. He chose her. She didn't choose
him. A woman comes up and asks a man
to marry him, and she does up, and you think, you know, that's
strange. That's not the way it's done. No, it's not. The husband's
responsibilities, he asks. He asks her. He asks of her. The Lord chose her. He revealed
Himself to her. He gave her heart to love Him
because He loved her. Thirdly, she bears the rank of
an heir with Christ. He said, You're a prince's daughter.
Romans 8, 16, and 17, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then
heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that
we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together."
She's endowed, princely endowment. She's got a princely spirit. Now, I want you to turn with
me here and read something. Isaiah 32. I think this right
here is one we need to look at. Isaiah 32. He called her a prince's daughter. That's what you are, he said.
You're a prince's daughter. She's got a prince's daughter's
disposition. Isaiah 32, 5. The vile person
shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl. said to be bountiful,
for the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will
work iniquity to practice hypocrisy and to utter error against the
Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause
the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl
are evil. He diviseth wicked devices to
destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh
right. divisive liberal things, and by liberal things shall he
stand." Now let me tell you, there's talking about two different
kinds of people here. Two different kinds. Those that are believers
and those that are not. I'll just get it down to where
you're understanding. Both these people have their
own disposition. One speaks disrespectfully, the
other one doesn't. This is what's being said. When
the Redeemer reigns in the heart, the effects of His rule is evident. The effects are there. The eyes are not dim. The ears
are not dull. There is no outward repentance
only in adversity. and then forgetfulness of him
in prosperity." In other words, a believer acts and thinks and
speaks like a believer. It says, "...the instruments
of the churl are evil. He diviseth wicked devices, destroyeth
the poor, lying words. But the liberal, he diviseth
liberal rights, sound things. And by liberal things shall he
stand." Be very cautious of those that when times are bad or tough,
that they then begin to start evidencing a spirit of repentance
during the time of adversity. Whenever you find a person who
acts disrespectfully all the time, all the time. And then
all of a sudden, something happens, and they find themselves between
a rock and a hard place. And that's when you start seeing
respect before them, or an outward respect. Be very cautious. Repentance
that's born in adversity is usually forgotten in prosperity. Just
be very cautious. She's the prince's daughter.
She acts princely. She has a princely spirit and
disposition consistently, consistently, consistently. She's not a weekend
warrior. You know what I'm talking about.
Believers that are raised from the dung heap of despair and
made to sit with the prince are faithful to the prince, to the
gospel, to Christ Himself. They're generous people, generous
in love, Generous in support and sensitive to the Lord's people.
They're serious people. This is the prince's daughter,
whose feet are beautiful with shoes. The best shoes. Like the
prodigal when he came back. He told his dad, he said, I'm
not worthy. He called his son. Dad said,
put the robe on him. Put those shoes on him. Kill
the fatty calf. It's my son. It's my son. Lost,
found. And then back in Song of Solomon
7, he says, The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work
of the hands of a cunning workman. The joints here, it speaks of
actually the turning, the turning of the thigh or the gait, g-a-i-t,
the way that she walks. That's what he's talking about.
The joints of thy thighs are like jewels. The way that she
walks. The way that she moves. Now,
what we see here is the orderly way in which the bride carries
herself by His power and grace and providence. As she goes through
this world, this is the way she walks. He says, your walk is
beautiful. The way that you walk. I don't
know what I do. I'm sure that it has something
to do with when I was born, my back was crooked. I've got congenital
scoliosis, a curvature of my spine. And I don't know what
it does, but somehow, especially if I'm on hard surface and especially
if I have on boots, which I've been known to wear. I've had
more than one person tell me, they said, I can hear you coming.
I know it's you. I hear the way you're walking. I know my left foot hits and
it's louder than my right. I notice it. So I know other
people notice it. So what they're saying is, I
recognized you by your walk. I knew it was you coming. I could
hear you coming. The Lord says of His Bride, he
says, the joints of your thighs, the way you walk, the gait, he
said, are like jewels. She walks through this world
in an orderly and consistent stride, and this is the reason. Because, as we see in Ephesians
4, verse 16, the whole body is fitted, fitted together. compacted
by every joint, supplying according to the effectual working in the
measure of each part." The Lord's people is a body. And the Lord's
people walk through this world, and He sees her walk in Christ,
in herself. She says, I don't see that. I don't see consistency in my
walk, but he sees her in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we go back,
I can go back and keep quoting that, you know, as He is, so
are we. She walks, she says, and her
walk is like jewels, and it's a work. It's the work of the
hands of a cunning workman. A cunning workman. That word
cunning right there. The word means expert. That's
what it means. It says, her walk is the work,
is the product, is the effect of the hands of a cunning workman. The turning of the bride's thighs
is beautiful to him because the body is not one member, but it's
many. A hand, an ear, an eye, a nose. But the Scripture says, but now
hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it
hath pleased Him. And if He makes a hand, and if
He makes a foot, and if He makes an ear, that body works together. I can see that. You can too.
I can look in this congregation right here, and there's things
People just do. They just do them. Why? Because the Lord has set
every person, every being in His body in a certain place,
and they do. My ear just hears. My hand just
gestures. My foot just, you know, it acts
just like a foot. And the Lord says it's beautiful.
He tells her in verse 2, Thy navel is like a round goblet
which wanteth not liquor. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat
set about with lilies. Her navel. Her navel speaks of
the source of nourishment to her. The navel. Her umbilical cord. Her vital
food supply is found in the preaching of the gospel through men The
Son of God pastors after His own heart. And this supply, He
said, your navel, the supply of your nourishment is like a
big round goblet, just a big, full, round, large goblet, basin,
a container. And it wanteth not, it has no
lack whatsoever of liquor or that word liquor there means
the mixture. There's no lack of the mixture
of the true food of God's people. Now, I want to show you something,
what the true food of God's people are. What do God's people eat? Turn with me to John 19, verse
34. Here's the food. Your naval set is like a round
goblet, and it lacks not, it wants not. John 19, 34. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood
and water. Blood and water. The interpretation, or not the
interpretation, the realization of the fullness of that statement
is found in 1 John 5, 6. 1 John 5, 6. You may have a reference
there in the margin of your Bible. 1 John 5, 6. Let's read verse 5. 1 John 5,
5 and 6. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. This is He that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ. Not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is true. Now, this is God's witness
to His people. Here is His witness. When that
soldier pierced the side of the Lord Jesus Christ, it said, blood
and water, came out. First John, the Spirit of God,
revealed to John and he wrote, this is God's witness. He said,
it is the Spirit that bears witness. The Spirit is truth. This is God's witness. This is the bride's food, the
blood. The remission and the atonement
for her justification before God. There was the blood, the
water. Water of regeneration and the
washing by the Word continually. That's what the believer feeds
on. His Word. His Gospel that sets
forth. She's been bought and paid for
by the precious blood of Christ. What else do we feast on here
tonight? Tell me one more time. Feed me
one more time. How? Tell me that my warfare
is over. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. What do I tell her? Tell her
her warfare is finished. It's over. She's bought and paid
for by the precious blood. Tell her that again one more
time by washing her continually by that Word. My navel is like a round goblet
which wanteth not liquor, and my belly is like a heap of wheat
set about with lilies." Here the bride is spoken of, and this word here speaking of her belly,
it speaks of a woman that is pregnant. Here the bride is spoken
of as being fruitful. is what it's saying. The fruitfulness
by the grace of God to bring, in mercy, to bring forth children. In Galatians chapter, I know
we're turning a lot, but if we don't find out what these Scriptures
are talking about and prove them by Scripture, then what you're
going to say is, well, Marvin, that's just your opinion. That's
just what you say it is. Well, I'll show you. Galatians
4, 23. Galatians 4, 23 and 26. But he
who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he
of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one of the Mount Sinai, from
the Mount Sinai, with gender at the bondage, which is Agar,
For this Agar is from Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem,
which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem,
which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all." God
Almighty, in His kingdom, which is from above, not Sinai, righteousness
is in Christ obedience, not ours. Redemption is in His sacrifice,
in His satisfaction, not in the ordinances of the law. And this tabernacle, this covenant,
this truth is free from the curse of the law and the bondage of
the law and is the mother of every believer. God Almighty
births His people. They come, they hear, and He
assembles them together. They're listening to the gospel
being preached. He's raised up a place, and symbolically,
this is where He bursts them through, through the preaching
of Christ. He's raised up the setting forth
of His gospel. Born in grace, this is where
you come and you hear. He said, is like a heap of wheat
set about with lilies, wheat, the good seed, sown in the field
of God's planting. And though there may be, and
Scripture reveals that there are, may tares among the wheat
in this life, the Master knows His wheat, His sheep, His own. In time of harvest, He'll say
to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares and bind them
in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat And to my barn,
He said, your belly is like a heap of wheat. This heap of wheat
that He's chosen, that He said is affectionate, that He chose
in Christ. And He said, you're set about,
hemmed in and bound with lilies. Here's the ornament of the wheat. Set about and bound in whiteness. That's what that means. Lily,
the righteousness of her husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. And these
wheat, His people, shall be willing in the day of His power when
it pleases Him to call her out to birth her, born from above. You must be born again. And here
is the picture of the church, the mother of us all. God's vessel
by which He calls His own out. takes care of them, provides
for them. That's what He says in that last
verse we'll look at tonight, verse 3. Thy two breasts are
like two young roses that are twins. Here He's chosen her. He's looked at her. Saw her feet
as being beautiful. She's a princely daughter. Her walk is consistent. Thighs
are like jewels. The reason they're like jewels
is because they're the work of a cunning, an expert workman
himself. He says, your navel, your nourishment,
like a round goblet, it's full. Doesn't want any liquor. Doesn't
like any liquor at all. Any mixture of food, of water,
blood. Your belly, you're fruitful like
a heap of wheat. bound around in whiteness, and
two breasts are like two young roses that are twins. And here
is repeated to the bride the Lord's description of her beauty. It's back in chapter 4 He told
her. And we see where free Jerusalem,
the mother of us all, now we behold the Lord's provision for
their nourishment for all those that He has birthed from above.
were reminded of the sincere milk of the Word, the refreshment
of the saints. He looks at her in all that He
has provided, all that He has made her to be. He made her what
she is. He chose her to be that. He bought
her, purchased her, redeemed her, birthed her. gave her all that she needs Himself,
gave of Himself to her. Then after having made her what
she is, He looked at her and He said, You are beautiful. Everything about you is beautiful.
Everything about you is lovely. Everything about you is perfect
because she is found in Him and in Him She is perfect.