Turn with me to Song of Solomon
5. Song of Solomon chapter 5. The daughters of Jerusalem, whom as I have said before, I
believe to be what I would refer to as a nominal That means one in name only. Asked the bride in verse 9, What
is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among
women? What is thy beloved more than
another beloved that thou dost so charge us? these daughters of Jerusalem.
While she looked for the Lord, looked for her bridegroom, she
said, if you find him, tell him that I am lovesick. I see something
of my frailty. I see something of my failing. I am disappointed in myself.
if you find Him. And when she asked that question
in verse 8, that's what the daughters ask her. What is He to you? What makes Him more beloved than
another beloved? And she said in verse 10, and
I'll look at this verse only this evening, and Lord willing,
We'll look at the 11th through the 16th verses another time,
but what she does in verse 10, she makes a very distinct statement
concerning the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then afterwards
in the 11th to the 16th verse, she goes back and just describes
what she's going to say in verse 10. She says, When asked, What
is thy beloved? She said, My beloved is white
and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. She's not being presumptuous
in what she says, but she's making a very blessed statement of the
privilege that she possesses. She says of him, he's my beloved. He's mine. Now, you know, if
you stop right now and just think to yourself, can I say that of
Him? He is my Beloved. To speak of
Him as the Mighty God. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the Everlasting Father. That's wonderful. He is the Mighty
God. But to speak of Him as being
my Beloved. He is mine. The thought that the Lord Jesus
Christ went to the cross and the Scripture distinctly sets
forth that He was made to be sinned, that guilt of the elect
was charged to Him. Now that is a blessed thought.
That's a blessed thought. Let me tell you what's more blessed
to me, that it was my sin. It was mine. That when He went
to the cross, He was the Redeemer. He was the substitute. But if He's my Redeemer and my
substitute, If I, by faith, believe that when he died, he died with
my guilt on him, that my guilt, Pat, was charged to him. Now,
that's different. See, that makes, as Brother Scott
said, that makes me to be a sinner in need of a substitute, my Redeemer,
my Beloved. I am able by faith, as all believers
are, to call him mine because he called me to be his first,
my beloved. This is more than just a figment
of my frail imagination. This makes this statement, reality
of salvation to be real. This is real. This is not just
the opiate of the people. It's not just something to just
glaze over, something to just talk about every once in a while.
This is real. He's my Lord, my Beloved. He is the One who is able to
keep me truly from falling. I don't realize how prone I am
to fall. I don't realize the depth of
my rebellion. I need a Savior, my Beloved. Not a God that is trying to get
me to do something who is no God at all. Anyone who sets forth
a God that is trying to get me to do something for Him, if He
needs me to help Him, That makes me more important and powerful
because I'm the last word. No, I need a Redeemer. I need
a Savior. I need the Sovereign of this
universe to save me. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
on the cross, think of these words as He took the guilt of
His people under the judgment of Almighty God for them. He
who bore their wrath, He who was always answerable for the
sheep, the surety, the wrath of God was on Him for them. And He said, My God, My God,
Why hast Thou forsaken me, my God?" He was my God. That's what
He said. My God. Even in the midst of
agony, the words are words of communion and fellowship. You're
my God. You're my God. Turn with me to Psalm 63. Psalm
63 verse 1. Thou art my God. Early will I
seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee. My
flesh longeth for Thee in the dry and thirsty land where no
water is, to see Thy power and Thy glory. So as I have seen
Thee in the sanctuary, O God." That first word, O God, God,
it is a word that means Trinity. Oh God, Jehovah God, Father,
Son, and Spirit. Triune God. Thou art my God. That second word, the emphasis
on that word is strength. Oh Jehovah God, You're my strength. You're my God. You're my God. These words speak of covenant. This is a union. This is real. This is personal. The believer
says, I believe Him to have chosen me, set His affection on me,
redeemed me, called me personally. And the bride says, when asked,
Who is He? Who is your Beloved? Who is your
Beloved more than another Beloved? Who is He compared to another
Beloved? She said, I'll tell you who he
is. He's my beloved. Mine. My beloved. More beloved
than another beloved, though I admit I see a battle within
that strives to draw away my love away. I know it's there,
but he's my beloved. We come together tonight and
we assemble and the believer says, I want to hear of my beloved. One more time, just one more
time. Tell me how He put away my guilt for me, my guilt, my
love. This is He of whom the bride
spoke in the first chapter and second verse when she said, Let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better
than wine. He's my beloved. He's mine. What makes Him to be the beloved
of the bride? Well, I tell you, because of
a new heart that has been given her by the Father, He said, I'm
going to give them a new heart. And I'm going to write My law
upon their heart. I'm going to be their God and
they're going to be My people. They'll know Me. I'll give them
a new heart. That new heart that is born of
God. It speaks of God. It speaks of the love of God. And that which God Almighty loves,
the new man loves. I love him. That's what Paul
says. In my flesh there dwells no good
thing. Law of sin. And it's law of sin. I rebel against him. But in this
new mind, I serve. I bow. I love God Himself. That which is born of God sinneth
not. Born of God. Why is He my beloved? By nature, Neil, He's not my
beloved. By nature, He's not. Now, let's
just be honest about it. There's not a person born in
Adam who looks upon the Lord Jesus Christ as their beloved. They just don't. They can't do
that. They don't have a heart for Him.
They just don't love Him. The carnal mind is enmity against
Him. It doesn't love Him. Anybody that says, I've always
loved Him, you're a liar. You haven't always loved Him.
You're lying. You hate Him by nature. The carnal mind hates
Him and resents Him. How can I truly say He's my Beloved? of being born from above, born
of the Father. Turn to Matthew 3. Matthew 3. Why is He my Beloved? How is He my Beloved? How can
I say that? Where is the power to say that? Where is the ability to say that? Where does that come from? Matthew
3 verse 16. And Jesus, when He was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were
opened unto Him. And He saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon Him, lo, a voice from heaven
saying, This is My Beloved. That's My Beloved. That's My
Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Do you know how a believer
says, He's My Beloved? because God's given a heart to
do so. That's how He says it. Without that new heart, He is
not my Beloved. What is I beloved more than another
beloved? He's my Beloved. He's mine. This is the heart
that is graciously joined in the company of God the Father
and God the Son and God the Spirit We are in Him and we speak by
the Spirit of God giving us an utterance, teaching us, He is
my Beloved. That which makes Him beloved
to me is that in Him and only in Him I am well beloved of the
Father. Born of God. Speak of God. He is the Beloved of the Spirit
of God, who being Son of the Father is the Comforter of the
sheep, who teaches the sheep all things and speaks only of
Him, the Beloved. We love our Beloved because He
first loved us. He is my Beloved. He is mine. You can see I was His first. Beloved of the Father. Beloved of the Spirit and beloved
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I've everlastingly loved
you. I've always loved you. There's never been a moment,
a time, eternity, I've always loved you. God Almighty has always
loved His sheep. I've loved you everlastingly. Written upon His heart eternally. The betrothed bride that was
chosen by the Father and given Him to redeem. He loved her. And she gives Him a heart. He
gives her a heart to love Him. And she says, I love Him. But
she realizes the struggle that she has within. I love Him. I love Him, but I see that old
nature that is in me that doesn't love Him. Jeremiah said, I loathe
myself. Or Job. I loathe Him. I hate what I see. He loved us
and gave Himself for us. Thereby we love Him. And the
Lord asked Peter. He said, Peter, do you love Me?
Peter, after the third time the Lord asked him, Peter said, Lord,
Thou knowest all things. As I've said before, Peter says
this, Lord, only You know. Only You know that I love You. All things Thou knowest that
I love Thee. He is my Beloved. And what is
my Beloved more than another Beloved? Here in verse 10 is
the bride's description of His character. His incomparable perfection. He is infinitely precious above
all other so that He alone is precious. He is precious. To you that believe, He is precious. There is only one. There is one. This, the Lord said to the Father,
this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He is precious. His blood is precious. His body
is precious. His loveliness is immeasurably
higher than all others, so He alone is lovely. This is what
she says of him, ìMy beloved is white and ruddy and the chiefest
among ten thousands.î Here we discover the excellence of his
glory as God and the excellence of his mediatorial character
as man. Heís white and ruddy. white as
the lamb without spot, without blemish? I'm not. He is. I'm black, she says. The bride
said back and forth, I'm black. I'm comely, beautiful to Him.
In me, I'm wretched. He, though, is white. He knew
no sin. He's white. Pure, no guile was
found in His mouth, ever. The indescribable death of knowing
no sin is beyond comprehension. I won't even attempt, I'll just
declare it. No guile, without blemish. He who is of pure eyes and to
behold iniquity was made to be sin and counted by law. as chargeable
with that sin, actually made a curse for us. He is white,
pure, spotless. Never, ever can anything be said
concerning Him save He is holy. The result of Him being white,
that is, knowing no sin, And being made sin for me is that
I might be made, the Scripture says, the righteousness of God. In Him. I might, in Him, be made
the righteousness of God. That I would be considered by
the law of God to be made the righteousness of God. I don't know the depth of that.
But I can tell you this, I know that God knows. And based upon
His Word, He said, in Him I see you as righteous. The righteousness
of God. I'm not talking about my righteousness
and your righteousness, which is as filthy rags. The righteousness
of God. He's white. Who is He? Who is your beloved? He is white.
Everything else is black. He is pure and everything else
is tainted. He is perfect and everything
else is dung. Who is He? He is white. He is
white as the Son of God, Deity. Who is He? He is Deity. Deity. But He is ruddy. Ruddy. That word ruddy means red earth. Red earth. The root of that word
is where the atom comes from. Atom. Earth. The earth. Who is He? He's white. Deity. God Himself. And He's ruddy. Here is the mystery of godliness. God came in the flesh. A body
was prepared for Him. Who is He? I'll tell you who
He is. Who is your beloved? I'll tell
you who He is. He's the God-Man. He's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the Messiah. I'll tell you
who He is. He is God Himself in the form
of sinful flesh. Without sin, He's white. But
here He is. The man. Behold, John said, behold
the Lamb. There's the Lamb of God. He who
can die. Man who could suffer under the
judgment of Almighty God with my guilt on Him. I'll tell you
who He is. He's my Beloved. He's going to
take my guilt, put away my sin, cast my sin as far as east is
from the west. Here in the word ruddy, We see
the suffering of the Lamb of God. Must be a man to die. God can't die. This man is a
God-man. He's white and ruddy. Turn with me to 1 Samuel 16.
1 Samuel 16, verse 11. 1 Samuel 16, verse 11 and 12. And Samuel, the prophet, said
unto Jesse, God had sent Samuel to Jesse's house, and he said,
I want you to go there. I'll show you the king. Samuel
said unto Jesse, after he had gone through all of his kids
and showed them all of the children that Jesse wanted to show him,
And Samuel said, Are here all thy children? And he said, There
remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. Now I want you to just read these
words and look at the setting forth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There remaineth the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him. For we will not
sit down till he come hither. And he went and brought him in,
and he was ruddy." That word, ruddy, it says of the earth. If I could just say this respectfully,
this is what you'll understand what I'm talking about. He was
a man's man. He was a man. I looked at him.
He wasn't a weakling. He was earthy. He was a man. He wasn't a frail little, you
know, inability-laden human being. He was a man. He was ruddy. He
was just striping. He was ruddy and with all of
a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to. I thought on that. Beauty is easy to look upon. Beauty is easy to look upon. A beautiful woman, a handsome
man, they are easy, easy on the eyes. The Scripture says concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, turn to Isaiah, just hold your finger
right there in 1 Samuel, and turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah
53. Verse 1, Who hath believed thy
report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before Him
as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He hath no
form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no
beauty that we should desire Him. You say, well, that doesn't
make sense. This one says He is not beautiful.
There is no comeliness, no form or comeliness about Him. that
we should desire Him, that is, to the world. But I'll tell you
this, to the believer, He is altogether lovely. That's what
Scripture says. He's lovely. He's beautiful. Here, a picture back in 1 Samuel
16 concerning David being a picture of the Lord. brought Him in that
He was ruddy, earthy, red is what, red earth is what it means,
ruddy, and with all of a beautiful, fair countenance and goodly to
look to. The Lord said, Arise, anoint
Him. This is He. He's the One. But John said, This is the One
right here. He's beautiful to the world.
The world sees no beauty in Him. None, but to the believer, who
is He my Beloved, He white, He ruddy, He came into this world
as my representative and walked this earth as a man, earthy,
rugged, beautiful. To them He is not, but to you
that believe. He's precious and beautiful. That's who He is. Here is the
shepherd, the smitten shepherd. I dare say that the day that
the Lord Jesus Christ was upon that cross, the Scripture described
Him as He was being beaten. It says his visage was more marred
than any man. He was beaten probably beyond
recognition. His visage was marred. But you stop and think, those
that knew who he was, would Philip, before Philip doubted, but then
he later said, I touched the prince. I put my finger on the
side of him. The Lord appeared to him. He
said, My Lord, my God. Those that knew him, that knew
who he was, knew him to be the Lord Jesus Christ, the Master. Though his visage was marred
beyond any other man, How beautiful do you think he was? There is
their substitute. Beauty is in the eyes of the
beholder. He is white and ruddy. And he is the chiefest among
ten thousand. The chiefest. What is that? Well, if you look in your Margin
there you'll see that that word chiefest there means the standard
bearer. Standard bearer. The standard
bearer by whom all others are compared. He's the standard.
Here I raise mine Ebenezer hither. By thy help I come. This is where
I make my stand right here. This is the lion drawn in the
sand. He is the chiefest. He's the
standard bearer. Isaiah 11.10 says, And in that
day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? I'll tell you. I'll tell you
who he is. I'll tell you what he is. My
beloved is that. He's my beloved. He's mine. He's mine by gift to me. God Almighty gave me to Him and
He gave Himself to me. He's my substitute. He's God. He's God Almighty. He's wife.
He's deity. He's not trying to be God. He's
God. He does as He will in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. He's God. And He's
ruddy. He came into this world, red
earth, Adam, second Adam, the earth, earthy, ruddy, altogether
lovely to me. To those that know Him not, there's
no beauty in Him. Why do men by nature not come
to Christ? Why? Why? Because they don't
need Him. There is no comeliness that we
should desire in Him. I don't see anything in Him,
the carnal heart says. But I'll tell you who He is to
me. He's the God-man. He's the standard. He's the incident. The standard bearer. He's my
hope. He's my Lord. He's my God. He's
my King. That's who He is. What is my
Beloved more than another Beloved? He's mine.