with me to the book of Song of
Solomon, and we're going to be looking at chapter 2, verses
8 to 13. Let's have a word of prayer before
we look at the Scriptures. Our Father, how thankful we are
that You've allowed us the time to come together consider, to
look, to hear Your Word. We pray that You would bless
this Word to our heart. We pray that You would cause
us to be keenly sensitive. Thank You for Your mercy and
Pam's care. And we're thankful that You've
seen fit Bring her and deliver her from this reaction. Pray for those that are among
us that are sick. Pray for their recovery according
to Your will for Christ's sake. Amen. Song of Solomon. I'd like to preach this evening
for a few moments on the subject of the proof of His love. That's what I've entitled this,
the proof of His love. based upon the Word of God. And that's the only basis that
we have. That settles it. Word of God. Based upon His Word,
the Lord has a people who have been eternally loved. Now you
know that. Jeremiah 31, verse 3 says, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love. So you know that God has
a people. And you know that His people
have been everlastingly loved. You know that. I know that Christ
lived, came into this world, lived and died with the imputed
guilt, the imputed sin. Sin charged. He was made to be
sinned. That means that legally, considered
him legally guilty. The guilt of God's elect was
charged to him. And before the law of God, God
made him to be sinned. And I know that he died under
the judgment of God. I know that he said in John 10,
15, I lay down my life So I know that He lived and died for the
sheep. I know He did. He said, I lay
down my life for the sheep. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He lived for the sheep. I know that the Father has given
Him power over all flesh. John 17 says that He should give
eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. I know. I know that. He has all power. He has power over all flesh. And eternal life is the gift
of God. It's given. It's not earned.
It's not something that I accept as an offer and then it becomes
mine. It's a gift. God gives eternal
life. A gift that He has chosen to
give, purpose to give, and it wasn't because of anything that
He saw within the recipients. I know that. I know that. But what I want to know is this. Do I have an interest in that
love? Now, that's what I want to know.
I know it's so. I know it is. I know that God's
got a people He loves. I know Christ died for them.
I know that God Almighty has said He is going to give me eternal
life. I know that. What is the proof of His love
to me? Now that is something that I
am convinced every believer is vitally interested in. Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse
8 to 13 reveals the proof. of His love to His own. This is what happens. The Bride
speaks in the 8th verse of the 2nd chapter of Song of Solomon
and says, The voice of my Beloved. The voice. Here is the foundation
of a believer's comfort. The voice of Christ. There is a distinction in a voice
when a person speaks. I pick up the telephone. If I
answer that telephone and some man says to me, this is Glenda,
I'm going to say, no, I don't think so. I recognize her voice. I know her voice. Somebody says
something to me and that's not her, I know it. There's a distinction
in the voice. The bride says, the voice of
my Beloved. That voice is the expression
of who He is. His voice. Verily, verily, John 5.25 says
this, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live." Now, the Lord made a distinction.
He said, the dead, spiritually dead, shall hear the voice of
God, shall hear the voice of the Son. John 10, verse 3 says this, "...the
sheep hear His voice, they follow Him, for they know His voice. A stranger will they not follow,
but will flee from Him, for they know not the voice of strangers."
Now listen, the Spirit of God has moved upon the writers These
men moved upon by the Holy Ghost that wrote under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God Himself, and God Almighty made a distinction
concerning His voice. My sheep hear my voice. They
follow me. The voice of a stranger, they're
not going to follow. Now, the voice of Christ is the only effective means. The voice of Christ in the Word,
blessed by the Holy Ghost, is the only means of regeneration,
drawing a sinner unto himself. That's it. The voice of God. The hour is coming now is when
the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. The sheep
hear my voice. The voice of a stranger. They're
not going to follow the voice. The voice. Well, here's my question. How do I know that I am hearing
the voice of Christ and not the voice of a stranger? How do I
know? Now, I'd want to know that, Neil, wouldn't you? I'd want
to know. How do I know? How do I know? He said, the voice
of the Son of God is the dead going to hear. He said the sheep won't follow
the voice of a stranger. How do I know? The voice of Christ is distinguished
to the believer to be the voice of the Savior one way, by its
conformity to the Scriptures. Bottom line. How do I know that
it's the voice of the Son of God What sayeth the Scriptures? The voice of Christ is not going
to be inconsistent with the Scriptures. The voice of Christ is heard
to the believer in conversion, no doubt about it. The Scriptures
bear witness of Him. The Spirit of God bears witness
to the soul. Romans 8.16 says, "...the Spirit
itself beareth witness Our spirit that we're the sons of God, the
children of God. And the voice of Christ is heard. Now, it's heard spiritually.
Now, someone says, how do you know when you hear the voice
of Christ? You that believe, you know. You've
heard it. Concerning its consistency to
Scriptures, I'm a human being. I stand and
I set forth and proclaim what the Word of God says. I stand
here, and Paul said, we beseech you in Christ's stead. We stand
here speaking in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. A believer listens, and I begin
to speak to you concerning God's sovereign grace. Sovereign, saving,
electing grace that God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
And a believer hears that and they're thinking, that's right. That's a sound of Christ. That's
a sound of His Word. It's consistent to Scriptures.
Men came to Him and asked Him, what sayeth the Scriptures? What
does Scripture say? And I stand up here and all of
a sudden, I say something concerning God's sovereignty and electing
grace and choosing. And I say, and God looked down
through time and saw who would choose Him. And He chose them
based on what He saw. And you say, whoa, wait a minute.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not the voice of my Master.
No, that's not Him. No, I'm not going to hear that.
I'm not going to hear the voice of a stranger. I hear that which He says. He
speaks concerning His Word. The bride says, Oh, the voice
of my Beloved. I hear Him. He that believeth
on me, as the Scripture has said, out of His belly shall flow rivers
of living water, as the Scriptures." The voice of my beloved. Christ spoke to the Sadducees
and He said, You do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the
power of God. The Scriptures speak of Christ
and the Spirit of God bears witness and the voice of Christ is heard
to God's people as they conform to Scripture. That's it. How
do I know when I'm hearing the voice of the Master? He speaks
through His Word. He speaks through His Word. God
Almighty speaks to His people. He speaks now. He speaks tonight. He speaks immediately. But He
speaks through His Scripture. He uses a man through the foolishness
of preaching, not foolish preaching, but preaching. A man stands up
and proclaims. God teaches him the Scriptures.
The Word of God, He sets it forth. And the believers hear it. And
they know that which is consistent with the Scriptures. Oh, the
voice of the Beloved. The bride hears His voice. It's
the voice of love, the voice of Him that delights to manifest
Himself to His Beloved. He speaks. But not only does
He speak, but He comes to her. He comes to His own. Behold,
He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. Truly,
I know that all that call upon the Lord by faith shall be saved."
All that call on Him. But you know the reason they
call on Him? It's because He called on them. He called them
and they called to Him. We love Him because He first
loved us. Isn't that so? By faith. We call on Him. But faith is
from above. It's given. It's not of ourselves. But He comes. He cometh. It was required that He come.
The Father sent Him. It was required that He come
because the bride couldn't come to Him. She was dead in trespasses
and sins. Dead to the law. Dead spiritually. Psalm 40, verse 7 says, Then
said I, Lo, I come. But listen to this. In the volume
of the book, It's written of me. That's how I come. Christ comes. He came into this
world and lived and died. But I'm telling you this, He
comes to His people right now. I come. How? In the volume of
the book. It's written of me. And the believer
sits and they listen and they say, I hear Him. I hear His voice. Like those two on the road to
Emmaus, they said, didn't our heart burn as He opened unto
us the Scriptures? You that believe, doesn't your
heart burn as He opens unto you the Scriptures? And you sit there
and you think, you know, this tastes so good. I can feast on
this. I can rest. I love this. I don't want to hear anything.
I want to hear Him. Tell me about Him who comes. Behold, He cometh, came to seek
and to save that which was lost. He has come that His own might
have life and have it more abundantly. He has come to do the will of
Him that sent Him. Sovereign, electing grace chose
a people in Christ, He being their surety. met all the demands
for justice and righteousness, He cometh. And this is how He
comes. He comes in His Word, in the
Scriptures, speaking by His voice through the Word of God. By the
mouth of a man speaking the Word of God. But it's the Word of
God. It's God's Word. That is His means, His Word. Leaping, the bride says, upon
the mountains and skipping upon the hills. Leaping powerfully, skipping
joyfully and willfully upon the hills. His heart was in the work
that the Father gave Him to do. Leaping on the mountains. The mountains that were more
than we could overcome. Mountains. Our sin. Oh, the curse of God's law. The power of darkness. Mountains. But every mountain, He said,
and every hill is going to be brought low. He cometh. Behold the voice of my Beloved,
behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon
the hills." And He came with a heart. Turn with me to Isaiah
50. Isaiah chapter 50, verse 5. Isaiah
50, verse 5. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that fluffed off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me. Therefore
shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Behold, he cometh, leaping
upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills, no obstacle forbids
him from the accomplishment of the redemption of his people. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. He rules in the army of heaven
among the inhabitants of the earth, and the bride hears the
voice of the Lord Jesus Christ as He comes. And she hears that
voice as He comes, and she knows He comes powerfully, leaping
upon the mountains that would be more than I could handle.
He can. He handles it. He can accomplish
it. And then not only does she hear
His voice, and that's a great comfort. She hears Him speak.
hear my voice." And only the sheep hear His voice. Only the
sheep hear His voice. Because He must give them a heart
and an ear, the hearing ear, to hear His voice. The hearing
ears of the Lord. But the sheep hear His voice.
She knows. He comes to me and He accomplishes
that which He's purposed to come. to accomplish. And next, great
comfort to the sheep is that He is faithful. He is faithful. Verse 9 says, My beloved is like
a roe or a young heart. Behold, He standeth behind our
wall and looketh forth at the windows, showing Himself through
the lattice. Roe or young heart are powerful,
like a powerful deer. Agile, swift, sure-footed. And with long-suffering, He comes. And the Scripture says, My beloved
is like a roe or a young heart, and behold, He standeth. You think about that word, He
standeth. He's there. He is long-suffering. Long-suffering
to who? To us-ward, not willing that
any should perish. He standeth. He standeth behind
our wall. Stands fast in a continuing way. Our wall. Now that word is very
descriptive of us. First of all, it could be the
wall, say, the barrier, just consider it like this, a place
where you are and the wall is the outside, a house, a place,
a dwelling. In the Old Testament, He stood
as it will behind the wall of the law and showed Himself through
the windows in the lattice of the sacrifices. In pictures and
types, he stood behind them. They take that priest, you know,
we're going through the book of Leviticus on Sunday night. And that priest would take that
animal and cut its throat and catch the blood. And that animal,
though, didn't put away the sins of the people. But behind that,
in the place of that representation, who was it? That was Christ.
He stood behind the wall. He stood. He comes and He stands
behind the wall. That is a picture of Him. He
stands behind our wall, wall of rebellion. Our sins are separated
between us and our God, our iniquities before conversion. We were separated
from Him. He stood. behind our wall. We couldn't see Him. I can't
see through that wall right there. Somebody's on the other side.
I don't see it. My sins separated between me
and God Himself. I couldn't see Him. I was dead.
I was blind, spiritually blind. But He was there. He was always
there. He said, I've always loved you.
I've always had my eye on you. from eternity. He said, I've
everlastingly set my affection on you. I've always known you.
Never been a time that God didn't know. But He stood behind our
wall. He was there, separated by our
guilt, separated us from Him. It's the place where He has found
us as a wall. But even now, to the believer. There are times when a believer
has a wall, a seemingly barrier there that causes us to not see
Him. There are times when providentially,
mercifully, lovingly, He withdraws Himself. How many times do we
find in Scripture, over and over and over Even in the third chapter,
the one that Lord willing, next week or so, we'll be looking
at. Look at that first few verses of chapter 3 of Song of Solomon.
By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth. I sought
Him, what? But I found Him not. There's
times when the Spirit of God will just allow us to not see
Christ is there. He stands, the Scripture says,
my beloved's like a roar, a young heart. Behold, He's standing
behind our wall, only that we might remember our frailty and
we might be reminded of His strength. He stands behind our wall. Paul
said we see through a glass darkly. There's times that we just We
can't see. We look and providentially things
seem to be so cloudy, but the Scripture says He's there. He's
there. If at any time He hide Himself
for the trial of our faith, He does so to let us know how frail
we are without Him. He is like a roe or a young heart.
He stands behind our wall. But rest assured, he is no farther
than his watchful eye. The Scripture says, My beloved
is like a roe or a young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. But listen, he looketh. He looketh
forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice Behold,
Psalm 33, 18 says, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear
Him, upon them that hope in His mercy. I may not always be able
to see Him, but I can tell you this, based upon His Word, the
Scripture says, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him. Doesn't God Almighty see all
men though? The Scripture says, "...he standeth
and looketh forth." Doesn't God see all men? Well, yes, He does. He sees all men. He knows. He's
Almighty God. I mean, He sees the wicked and
He sees the righteous. You know that. But to the beloved,
He looks upon them in grace and mercy and considers them in Christ. Looks upon them in His Beloved. Views them in the person of His
Son. The Scripture says there was
a time in this earth when Almighty God saw the wickedness of all
men, that the heart was desperately wicked Every thought, every imagination
of man was evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
He made man. And He said, I'm going to destroy
man off the face of this earth. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Noah found grace in God's eyes. What was it about Noah that was
different than anybody else? The grace of God. Nothing in
Noah. Noah was just like everybody
else. God Almighty looked on him. The bride says, my beloved, He
stands behind our wall. I don't see Him, but He sees
me. And shows Himself through the lattice. Shows Himself to
them. Reveals Himself to them through
the lattice. through the opening, through
that window, what? Of the gospel. That's how He
reveals Himself. How do I know that He looks and
sees? The gospel tells me. The Word
of God is setting forth that He does. That's how I know. He
looks forth at the windows and shows Himself through the lattice. That's how I see. I know He's
there. He speaks. He comes. He stands. He looks. He shows
Himself. And verse 10 says something else
for our assurance. He beckons. He calls. My Beloved spake and said unto
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. This One
who reveals Himself by His voice through His Word. Sovereign,
saving, electing, God Almighty. God. The One that has revealed
to His people who they are in themselves. Nothing in themselves. And who He is. All-powerful. God Almighty. He's the one that
they hear. I'm telling you, the world by
and large, they won't hear Him. They will not. I told you, there
was a woman that said one time, someone in my family, when they
heard of the sovereign God that we love, she said, the God you
serve, the God you say you love, is my devil." I said, well, that's the God before whom you're
going to stand. I'll tell you this right now.
The world won't hear His voice. I'll not have that man rule over
me. I'm not going to have. But to
a believer, they hear His voice. They know that He comes powerfully.
They know that He has leaped upon the mountains. He's accomplished,
done what He was sent to do what He's everlastingly purposed to
do. They know that He stands behind
the wall and they don't see Him in everything that He's doing,
but they know He's there because He shows Himself through the
lattice. And she hears Him as He speaks
to her through His Word in her heart, new heart, that conscience
that He's given her. He beckons to her. He calls her. to himself, invites her to commune
with him. She knows something about that.
With this beckon comes the irresistible power and desire and will to
do it. He beckons to her. Arise, my love, my fair one,
come away. The Scripture says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Believers are not
insensitive robots. That's what people believe. They
say, well, you're just saying God makes people robots. They come whether they want to
or not. He's chosen to call them. They just come even if they don't
want to come. No, they want to come. They want to. God gives
them a heart to want to. Don't you do what you want to
do? Really, you do. You know, you may put up with
something for a little while, you know, just to kind of make
peace or something at the house or something, but eventually,
enough is enough. And you're going to end up doing
what you want to do. Believers do what they want to. God Almighty
gives them a heart that's willing. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, believers. They come because they want to.
They want to come. They're given a nature that longs
after Christ. He said, the Scripture said,
My beloved spake, and He said unto Me. That's what the believer
said. He said to Me. It wasn't one
of those big shotgun type things where I just... Anybody out there? No, He spoke to me. He called
me. He said to me, rise up. Rise up. Rise up and walk like
Peter that came walking into that temple. The man was begging,
begging alms. And Peter said, silver and gold
have I none. Such as I have, give I thee in
the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Rise up in the power of God.
Gave that man legs to walk. When the Spirit of God comes
to God's people, and Almighty God calls them irresistibly,
when He calls, He grants them the power, for He is their power. The strength, for He is their
strength. It is Christ in you. He's the
one that works. He's the one that does. Faithful
is He that called you. What? Who will also do it? It's
God Almighty, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Not you. It's
God Almighty accomplishing that which He purposed to do. My beloved
said to me, rise up. He walked past the Lord Jesus
Christ, walked past Matthew. What did He say? Follow Me. Follow
Me. What did Matthew do? He followed
Him. I'll tell you what you did when He called you irresistibly.
You came. My sheep hear My voice and they
follow Me. All that the Father giveth Me
shall come to Me. They shall come to Me. They will
come because I will draw them. My Father is going to draw them.
Rise up! Not in your own strength. Rise up! Blind Barnimaeus, be
of good comfort. Rise, he calleth thee. And who is commanded to rise? Well, Scripture says, Rise up,
my love, my fair one, you that I have set my affection upon,
my fair one that has been robed in my righteousness, Chosen in
Me, redeemed by Me, My fair One. Come away. Come away. As a sinner, we go to Him. As a disciple, we follow after
Him. As friends, we go with Him. As the bride, we go to Him as
a bridegroom. All that He affectionately calls,
He receives. My beloved spake. He said to
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. And then
next, He comforts and assures and provides for. These are the
last few verses, verses 11 to 13. That's what we'll end with
tonight. He comforts, assures, and He
provides for. He comforts by revealing that
the winter has passed. That's what he says. Verse 11,
For lo, the winter is past. That word winter there means
the dark season. That's what the dark season,
the time when God's sheep were still in the darkness of unbelief,
barrenness, unfruitfulness, And though we go through times of
seeming darkness and coldness in heart, now we are assured
that we have been by His grace and power and mercy called out
of darkness, out of the winter, passed from death unto life.
This is what He says as He was Standing behind the wall, He
revealed Himself through the lattice and He spoke to her and
He said, My love, rise up. My fair one, come away. Listen,
this is what I am saying to you. The winter is past. Dark season is over. I have redeemed
you. The dark season. I have given
you eyes to see. The dark season is over. And
then the winter has passed and the rain is over and gone. The
rain. When Noah, God told him, build
an ark because He said, I'm going to destroy this world. The way I'm going to destroy
it, He said, I'm going to cause water to flood this earth. And
the Scripture says that God, through Noah, preached for 120
years. And when the time was up, God
told Noah and his family, get in the ark. And he got in the
ark. And the Scripture says, and the
Lord closed the door. When God closes the door, the
door is closed. It's over. And the Scripture
says that the earth opened up and the water came out, billowed
out, and the water came down. It never had rained until that
time. The first time it rained. And
the ark where Noah had built it, that was a picture of Christ. And all that was in that ark,
all that was in Christ, were safe. Everybody that was outside
of that ark was under God's judgment. And that rain began to fall,
and that rain was symbolic of the judgment of Almighty God.
The rain fell on the ark, but those in the ark were preserved. Judgment fell on Christ, but
those in Christ were preserved. That rain was judgment. That's
God's judgment. I'm going to send judgment on
the earth, and I'm going to destroy it. And the Scripture says that
The bridegroom says, the winter has passed, the rain is over.
It's gone. The rain of judgment. Christ
has borne the wrath of Almighty God for us. Has suffered with
our guilt upon Him. Our sins are cast as far as east
is from the west. And then He quickens, provides
for us by quickening, giving us life. The flowers, verse 12,
appear on the earth. The flowers appear. Now, I looked
at that for a long time. Flowers, there's blossoms. That's what the word blossoms.
Life. That's what that word sets forth. Life. Life appears on the earth. Flowers here speak of God's elect
that He calls out of darkness, imparts life. Life appears. The flowers appear on the earth. Those of God's people called
out of the darkness of death into the newness of life. Flowers. Those that are arrayed in the
beauty of Christ's righteousness that far exceeds the splendor
of Solomon." That's what the Lord said in Matthew 6. He said,
consider the lilies of the field. He said, those little lilies,
those little flowers. He said, Solomon in all of his
glory was not arrayed like one of them. And you who are flowers,
blossoms, life, It appears in the earth. Solomon in all of
his glory was not arrayed like one of you. Not you that are
arrayed in his righteousness. These flowers are appearing. They appear. The flowers appear
on the earth. Turn with me to Philippians.
Philippians 2. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians
2. Paul's writing to the church
at Philippi says, For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings
and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom You shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day
of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain."
You shine. He said you shine. You are made
evident, lights in the world. Flowers. Flowers. They smell of Him. Flowers. 2 Corinthians 2.15 says,
For we are unto God. A sweet savor of Christ. This is what the bridegroom says.
The winter's past. Rain's over. Gone. The flowers appear on the earth. And the time of singing, the
time of the singing of birds has come. Now you say, well,
that could be the time of singing of praises. Oh, without a doubt. There's no doubt about that.
Singing of praise is unto Him. But more, it's the grace of Almighty
God that would send pastors to speak and to comfort. He sends pastors and He says,
comfort you. Comfort you, My people, saith
the Lord. I'll send you pastors out of
My after my heart. Let me show you that. Turn to
Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52. Scripture says the
time of the singing has come. Isaiah 52, verses 7 and 8. Isaiah 52. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings that publish peace,
that bringeth good tidings of good that Publish salvation that
saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. Look at verse 8. 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. He said, I'll send you
preachers. And he said, they'll sing. They'll
sing forth in the preaching of the Gospel. Sing the praises
of Almighty God The sheep will hear. They'll hear His voice
through the Word that these men proclaim. Not their Word, His
Word. The time of singing has come. And the voice, the Scripture
says back in Psalm of Solomon, the voice of the turtle is heard
in our land. That is the turtle dove. That's
what that word is. The turtle dove. The voice of
the Holy Spirit. You know when the Scripture says
when the Lord was baptized, John said, I saw as the spirit of
the dove descending. The dove, symbolic of the Spirit
of Almighty God. The Lord Jesus promised another
Comforter would be sent by the Father that He may abide with
the believer forever. And the Lord said, I will not
leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And God's
people are not comfortless. He comforts us daily, daily,
but especially when we're able to come together like this and
sit and hear the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. And what's the comfort that we
receive? Galatians 3, 13 and 14 says,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree, but the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that you might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The bridegroom
says to the bride, the voice of the turtledove, the Spirit
of God speaks, gives witness of Christ. And then lastly, the
fig tree put forth her green figs, and the vines with the
tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
Come away. In closing, we see the evidence
of true life in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, of the producing
of fruit. Christ said in John 15, verse
8, Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. What fruit is that? Well, it's
the fruit of the Spirit of God. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. God the
Father is glorified in that Christ has redeemed by His blood the
elect and justified all of His people that believe by His righteousness,
that is, all those chosen by the Father unto salvation from
the foundation of the world. God is glorified in that. Truly, we are. Green figs. That's what it says.
The fig tree put forth her green figs. Fruit being brought to
maturity. Green figs. That's what we are. Does anybody in here want to
stand up and say, well, I'm just as mature as I can possibly be?
Thanks be to God, I've arrived. No. What do you say? Well, I'm
just a green fig. That's kind of how I see myself.
Just a green fig. Growing in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But these green figs
and these tender grapes, that's what it says. The fig tree put
forth are green figs and the vines with the tender grape.
What does it say? It says they give a good smell. They smell good. To who? To Him. To Him. A smell of His righteousness. Just like when Jacob, remember
when Jacob was going to come before Isaac
and his mother, Jacob's mother, One loved of Almighty God. Jacob
have I loved. Esau was the elder. Esau was
going to receive the blessing by nature. That's just the way
it was done. The elder son got the blessing.
But God had promised that Jacob was going to get the blessing.
And Jacob was told by his mother, she said, I'm going to fix him. suit the way your dad likes it.
And I'm going to put some goat skins on you because your brother
Esau is a hairy man. And I'm going to take Esau's
coat and I'm going to put Esau's coat on you." And he said, I
want you to go in there and I want you to approach your dad. And
your dad will bless you. And it says that Jacob came in
and stood before Isaac. And Isaac said, Are you Esau? Jacob said, Yeah. He said, Well,
you have the voice of Jacob. But he says, Come here that I
might bless you. And it says that Jacob came and
stood before Isaac. And Isaac smelled him. And he
said, You sound like Jacob, but you smell of a field which the
Lord is blessed. You know, I may look like Marvin
Stonerker and sound like Marvin Stonerker, but if the Lord Jesus
Christ has robed me in His righteousness, I smell of Him to the Father. Oh, the green figs and the tender
They smell good. Arise, my love, and come to me. Amen.