for Christ's sake. Amen. Last time we looked in Song of
Solomon, I looked at the first portion. And I've spent a little
extra time in the fifth chapter of Song of Solomon, for this
particular chapter is the chapter that the bride is expressing
that which her Beloved is to her." These blessed words are
more than just the words of a man. These are the words of God Almighty,
because all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And as
the bride speaks, she speaks as the Holy Spirit. gives her
utterance to speak. And so as she speaks of Him,
these different descriptions that she gives of Him as His
head in verse 11 being the most fine gold and His locks bushy
and black, His eyes of eyes of doves by the rivers of water,
and his cheeks," verse 13, "...a bed of spices, his lips like
lilies, his hands," that's what we looked at last time, "...his
hands are as gold rings set with the barrel." His hands, in that
we saw his hands being his power, his ability in the accomplishment
of redemption for His people. His hands being His purpose to
keep them in the world, and His providence and provision through
great trials. His hands, the Scripture set
forth, are as fine, I mean as gold rings, and that being no
beginning. His power, His love, No beginning,
no end. And then there, set with the
barrel. Or that word set means fit or
fitted or filled with the barrel. And the barrel, you remember,
was one of the precious stones that was upon the breastplate
of the high priest. And that being a picture of the
Bride of Christ, the elect, the stone of the elect. She said
His hand is filled with the barrel. Those that God Almighty has everlastingly
loved. So this evening, I would like
for us to look at the last part of that 14th verse for just a
few moments. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. Now, the Word of God is written
really in the simplest but the deepest of terms. Now, to understand the Word of
the Lord requires a new mind, new ear, new heart that is made
to hear the still, small voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Simple
terms. I was thinking when we were singing
a moment ago when Gary was leading us in that song, To God Be the
Glory, and I was reading today in preparation for a message
coming up on this thing of the glory of God. And as I began to read, I began
to think, what is the glory of God? That is a simple term, the
glory of God. And if you had asked somebody,
what is the glory of God? You see what I am saying? The
glory of God, when it comes right down to it, the essence of the
glory of God is the opinion that Almighty God has set forth of
Himself. I'll show you that another time.
I'll give you something to think on. That has nothing to do with
this message tonight. The glory of God. The Lord has
promised that His sheep hear His voice. You know they do.
And He says they follow Him. They believe Him. They trust
Him. Parables were spoken by the Savior when the disciples
asked the reason. Why do you speak in parables? Why do you tell these stories,
these earthly stories with a heavenly meaning? Why? And He said in
Matthew 13 and 11, ìBecause it is given unto you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.î
There is some mysterious truth that is set forth in the Word
of God. Simple terms, but the deepest
of all terms. We take these terms, we have
looked at some of them. Sanctification, propitiation, words that we have
heard. What do they mean? What is it
talking about? Titus 1.15 says, Under the pure
all things are pure, but under them that are defiled and unbelieving,
is nothing pure. The secret of the Lord, Psalm
25, verse 14, is with them that fear Him, that respect Him, that
reverence Him. The secret. Those things that
God Almighty reveals. And He will show them His covenant. That is a blessing. I think the
greatest blessing that a man or a woman will ever have in
this life is the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ to them. I know that's true. The Lord
said in John 17, this is life eternal, that they may know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou sent. That's
the greatest blessing. You think, what would a man give
in exchange for knowing? I'm talking about Effectually
knowing Him. Trusting Him. Believing Him.
Knit to Him. What blessing? I know men speak
of healing and riches and houses when it comes right down to it.
What would a man give in exchange for his soul? What would he give?
That's the greatest blessing. Heavenly spiritual blessings,
Bob, in heavenly places. To know Him. It's truly a miracle
of God's grace for a sinner to possess a heart that hungers
and thirsts after righteousness. That's a rare thing. In the visible
body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the people, people, people that
assemble together, there's some. Now you know that's so. There's
some. that truly do quarrel hunger.
There are some that do. That is a rare thing to find
someone that Almighty God has given a heart that hungers after
Him. Well, tonight I want to look
at the last part of that fourteenth verse to ask for revelation from
the Spirit of God to discover to our heart, our new mind, the
truth concerning his belly. His belly. That's what the bride
said. She said, his belly is as bright
ivory overlaid with sapphires. This word, belly, is the same
word found in verse 4 of this chapter that is interpreted,
bows. My beloved put in his hand by
the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him." Now
that word, bowels, and this word, belly, come from the same root
word that means heart. It means the heart. It speaks
of the love that Christ has for His people. That's what He's
talking about. His belly. Herein we find an amazing truth
that Almighty God loves His people. I am talking about truthfully
loves. We know that by faith. He said
in Jeremiah 31.3, we have quoted that so many times, ìYea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee.î Now we know that He delights to bless His
bride, to bless her with a knowledge of Himself. He desires her company,
her companionship. He is determined to bring her
into the place of His glory and His presence. He has promised
to provide for her now and forever according to His Father's riches
in glory He has covenanted with Himself, the triune God, Father,
Son, and Spirit, to save her from her sins, and He shall not
fail. He shall robe her in the robe
of His righteousness, and He shall present her spotless and
blameless in Himself before the Father." He loves her. His belly. his heart. Oh, the miracle of
God's grace to possess such a standing that even though the bride fell
in Adam, she never fell from her standing in the Beloved.
She's never deviated from her standing in Him. She was shapen
in iniquity. That's absolutely so. She was
born in sin. She came forth from her mother's
womb speaking lies. But in the eternal purpose of
God Almighty as being considered and found in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal surety of the sheep, she stood
in Him without fault in Him. She stood in Him without fault. In Adam she fell. In Him she
stood. He had His heart of love upon
her. The Father looked to the surety
to answer for her and not her herself." Now that's an amazing
thought. Was there ever a time I can use
that word in eternity. That the sheep chosen in the
Lord Jesus Christ, chosen in Him, was there ever a time? That's the only word I know to
use. I can't figure another word. Was there ever a moment that
she was not considered in Him? Well, you know the answer to
that. She's always been considered in the Lord Jesus Christ. Her
surety. She fell in Adam, but she was
God's sheep. She fell in her representative,
the head. Adam, the head. But she was in
Christ. He redeemed her. He brought her
back. Why? Because He loved her. She
was His. I've always loved you. He said,
never did I not love you. I've always. His heart. In Christ, she was secure. Fell in Adam. Was there a possibility
that Christ would not redeem her? No. This is the Father's
will, that of all that the Father hath given me, that I should
lose none. Was there a chance that she would
not be with Him? No way. Oh, His heart! In Adam, she is nothing but putrefying
sores. From the sole of her foot to
the crown of her head, in her there was no good thing but being
considered in her surety. God Almighty looked to Him and
not to her. He bought her, paid her debt
in Him. She was justified freely by His
grace in time. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and actually paid her debt. But He was crucified
from the foundation of the world for her in the mind and will
and purpose of Almighty God. Mystery. Mystery. Time has made
no disturbance upon God's promise and will and love for His own.
Nothing can mar her completeness in Christ, for He is her beauty. Here is the reason for God's
love and heart toward the bride. She is found in Him, her husband,
her companion, her redeemer, and her friend. Born in Adam,
born in sin, born in rebellion, but ordained to be born again
in the Lord Jesus Christ in time, born from above. How marvelous
is His belly, His heart, that loves her even while she was
in her filth. He loved her. Turn with me to
Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. You've read
this before. Ezekiel 16, verse 5. The Scripture says, None, I pitied
thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon
thee, but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing
of thy person in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed
by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood. I said unto
thee, When thou wast in thy blood," you notice the emphasis on her
blood? When you were in your blood,
in thy blood. Yea, no, live. Yea, I said unto
thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply
as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen
great. Thou art come to exceeding ornaments,
thy breast are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas
thou wast naked and bare. And when I passed by thee, and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and
I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea,
I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine." I looked at that word,
that phrase, that last one, Mine, and lest some one should say..."
You see there? See there? That's when she became
His. Before she wasn't His. That's
when she became His, right there. That means, in became-est mine,
the interpretation of those two words is, to come to pass. Thou became-est mine, it came
to pass that you were mine. In the eternal will and purpose
of Almighty God, God has chosen a people. They come into this
world just like anybody else. And in their own blood, they
are filthy and vile and putrefying sores. Considered in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God chosen them, calls them out
of darkness, and it comes to pass who they are. God Almighty reveals them, and
they became as to mine. The bride shall surely be brought
to know Him experientially, and that in the time of love, when
it pleases God to cross the sinner's path with the truth of the Lord
Jesus Christ revealed in the gospel. Paul said in Galatians
1.15, when he pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me, that
I might preach Him among the heathen, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood His heart." She said, His belly is
as bright ivory. His belly. His heart. His heart
is a distinguishing heart. That's what it is. I know everyone,
not everyone, but most people, have this attitude about Almighty
God. He's a loving God and He is.
He's a precious God that longs after, they say, the desire to
save everybody because He has a heart for everybody. That's
not the way He reveals Himself to be. His love is a distinguishing
love. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion." His belly, His heart, He has mercy and compassion
on whom He will. It is not of Him that willeth
nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. His belly, His belly, His heart. What is it? It's distinguishing.
As a father pitieth or has compassion, on his children, so the Lord
pitieth them that fear him." That prodigal son that left,
told his dad what was coming to me and went off and riotous
living. That's what we did. That's where
we are. Riotous living. Fell into captivity
and stuff. But let me ask you this. Was
he ever not the son? Was He ever not that Father's
Son? The Scripture says, Because ye
are sons. That's what I'm talking about.
Because you are sons. God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son. And you cry, Abba, Father. Why?
Because you are sons. Chosen. Predestinated unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. Because you
are sons. Because you are sheep. fallen
sons, dead in trespasses and sins' sons, lost sons, lost sheep. But you're His if He chose you.
Oh, His heart! The heart! His heart is an unchangeable
heart. Thankfully, thankfully, He doesn't
change. Hebrews 7.24 says, This man,
because he continueth forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood."
When I think of the mercy of Almighty God, my thought is this,
you mean to tell me that Almighty God chose me from the foundation
of the world, considered me in the person of His Son, loved
me, chose me, a sheep, a son, ordained me to eternal life. And in my federal head, Adam,
I fell. And in my own blood, polluted
in myself, polluted, considered in Him, considered in the Lord
Jesus Christ, a Son, a Sheep, Beloved. You mean to tell me
that Almighty God, who changed not, would have a heart for me
that He chose me? That's right. You mean to tell
me that Almighty God would show compassion on me because it pleased
Him to do so? That's right. If He has loved His own with
an everlasting love and He changes not, then His love changes not
for those that He's purposed to love. Malachi 3.6, He said, I change
not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. You that believe, can you not
enter into the bride's description and say, Oh, His belly, His heart. His heart is a holy heart that
exhibits a holy love. God's heart, the belly of the
Lord Jesus Christ, is a distinguishing and unchangeable heart. But contrary
to what I was talking about a while ago, about men talking about
His love just being free to anybody that desires to accept it, know
this. He is holy and shall deal in
justice and judgment. with sin. He shall either deal
in sin in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as the elect substitute,
or he shall deal with that person in their own sin. What did it
cost to show mercy and compassion to a sinner? What did it cost
Almighty God to show mercy to one of His own? one of His elect.
I'll tell you what it cost. It cost the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. When our Lord from the cross
cried, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? I'll tell you why. I'll tell
you why. Why hast Thou forsaken me? It's
because He promised His own, I'll never forsake you. I'll
never leave you and I'll never forsake you." But he forsook
him. Oh, the heart. Sin and guilt
was found on him. And the Lord said, I'll not leave
you. Oh, his belly is as bright ivory. Ivory. Pure. That's what it speaks of. pureness. Because of His heavenly origin,
John 8.23 says, You are from beneath. I am from above. You
are of this world. I am not of this world. His love,
His heart is pure. Ivory, secondly, is costly. What price can be put upon the
mercy of Almighty God to have a heart toward one of His own? that belly, that heart is beyond
price, far above rubies and riches. But he said here, or she said
here, his belly is as bright ivory, bright ivory. Ivory by nature, in nature, is
not bright. It is very dull. has to be to be made beautiful,
has to be polished. Now listen and hear me well in
this. There is nothing that we do to
polish or to increase the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
you know that is not true. There is nothing that we do that
makes His glory truly shine. But it is the apprehension of
His purity and His glory and His honor to me by the Spirit
of God's revelation of His heart, His belly, that makes it as bright
ivory. It's not me making it bright.
It's the Spirit of God. You see, to our natural apprehension,
the Lord Jesus Christ The Scripture says there was no beauty that
we should desire Him. A man and a woman lost in their
rebellion and sin. Let me ask you this. How much
beauty was there of the Lord Jesus Christ to you before He
revealed Himself to you? There was no beauty. Did that
mean that He wasn't beautiful? Oh, no. He was altogether lovely. But to you, He was unlovely. You saw nothing in Him. You didn't
desire Him. You didn't long Him. You didn't
know Him. He's dead. Oh, you could be religious. But
the Scripture says of the bride speaking of Him, this is her
interpretation. This is her revelation of Him. His belly, His heart is His bride
ivory to me. polished. He shows forth the
luster of His essence now to me. He reveals Himself to me. His Word is beautiful to me.
His truth is beautiful. And as the Spirit of God reveals
to us His beauty, this is how the Spirit of God does it. He
reproves the world. The Lord said concerning the
Spirit of God, I go to the Father, but I'll send you another Comforter.
And when He comes, He will, first of all, He will reprove the world
of sin. That is, the world of believers. And that means, when it says
He will reprove the world of sin, that means He shows them
what they are, first of all. That's what He shows them. This
is how the Lord Jesus Christ is made to be beautiful, bright
ivory. The Spirit of God reveals to
God's people what they are. He reproves the world of sin.
Secondly, He reproves the world of righteousness, teaches them
the world of believers of righteousness, that is, showing them that they
don't have any except for the imputed righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That is what he shows them. He
is bright ivory. And thirdly, he reproves the
world of judgment, showing to them that there is none left
for them, that the Lord Jesus Christ has put away their guilt,
that the Lord Jesus Christ was forsaken of the Father for them,
that they might live. Christ is made to them to be
bright ivory. His beauty, that is, is revealed
to believers. And then lastly, she says that
his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. Sapphire
was another of those precious stones on the breastplate of
a high priest. And the elect, the bride, the
church, she is ever mindful and she speaks often knowing that
she is what she is by the grace of God. That Almighty God chose
her. He set His affection upon her
because it pleased Him to do so. In Exodus chapter 24, I'll
just tell you. You can go back and read that,
but I'll tell you this. This is concerning verse 10 in
there, but it said that... Well, let's turn there. This
will be one of our last passages. Exodus 24. Exodus 24. Let's look at verse 9. Then went up Moses and Aaron
and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and
they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet
as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, as it were the body of
heaven in His clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel He laid not His hand, also they saw God. They did eat
and drink." This sapphire stone was It was paved. It was a work of paved sapphire. And it was the way the Scripture
reveals that Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and these seventy elders
saw the God of Israel. They saw Him in peace because,
look back at verse 4, of the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ
pictured in this verse right here in the altar. And Moses
wrote all the words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning
and built an altar under the hill and twelve pillars according
to the twelve tribes of Israel. That one that was pictured as
the sacrifice of that altar in verse 4 was the way by which
they saw the God of heaven in verse 10. The God Almighty of
heaven under His feet that paved work of a sapphire stone. Gloriously
they saw Him, and it was as the Body of Heaven in His clearness. He revealed Himself to them on
the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Body of Heaven. Here we see
the clearness of spiritual glory set forth by the Lord Jesus Christ. His belly, His heart, His love,
His perfection toward His bride. What is it? The Scripture says,
it says, bright ivory. She sees Him now. It's overlaid
with the sapphire, the clearness of heaven. That's what she's
saying. I see Him. I understand. All that I know,
I know concerning Him because His heart has been revealed to
me. He's been made to me to be altogether
lovely. Well, let's have a word of closing
prayer. Our Lord and Savior, we thank You that You've given
us this time to meet together. And Lord, just to consider just
a portion of Your Scripture and to behold something of the wonder
of Your blessed Word. How we thank You. Lord, that
You have allowed us a time just to come together just for a few
moments to reflect upon the unsearchable riches of our blessed Savior.
We pray, Lord, that You would hide these words within our heart. Keep us, for Your name's sake. Amen.