Turn with me to Song of Solomon. I was thinking as we were singing
that song, could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know?
These for sin could not atone. You know the world says, come
to the Lord and just cry and weep and say the sinner's prayer. Only the blood of Christ atones,
covers. Song of Solomon. This book, we've said before,
this is a book that absolutely bears the heart, the mind of
Almighty God and His Bride. Here is a book that sets forth
that which is absolutely so. This is the language of the Bridegroom
and the Brides. blessed things that are set forth,
set forth the heart of both. I would like to just pick up
in verse 5, just reminding us where we were in verse 4, the
bride says to Him, ìDraw me, and we will run after Thee,î
knowing that unless the bride is She won't come. She can't come. Draw me. We'll run after you. The King
hath brought me into His chambers, into that place where He is,
into His presence. We'll be glad and rejoice in
Thee. We will remember Thy love more
than wine, the upright love Thee. And we ended there with this
statement last time. The believer will not make the
calls concerning truly his love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember,
we looked at that passage of Scripture when the Lord said
to Peter, asked him, said, Peter, lovest thou me more than these?
And the third time when he asked Peter, Peter said, Lord, you
know all things. You know I love you. Lord, that's
Your call. Lord, You know the heart that
You've given. You only know the heart that
You've given. You said, I will remove a heart
of stone. I will give them a heart of flesh. I'll be their God. They'll be
My people. I'll write My law on their heart.
Lord, You know. Judging myself, judging my actions,
but judging my thoughts, judging my failures. Lord, You know. You know. Verse 5. And I want to look tonight at
Lord willing, verses 5, 6, and 7. And I've entitled this message
tonight, Those Made Honest. Those Made Honest. One of the
characteristics of a believer is that they have been made honest. A man by nature is a liar. He
is of his father the devil. That is what the Lord told the
Pharisees. You are of your father the devil.
He was a liar and you are just like him. You lie against my
father. You lie against me. You lie against
my people. You lie against yourself. The
heart is desperately wicked and deceitful. The carnal heart's
a liar. Tell a man he's okay. But God's
people are made honest. In Luke 8, 15, our Lord gave
a parable, and it was talking about a sower that went forth
to sow, and he sowed some seed, and some of it fell by the wayside. Some of it fell among thorns.
Some of it fell on stony ground. But some of it fell on good ground. On good ground are they, the
Lord said, which in an honest and good heart, having heard
the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." Now,
you know, here's an amazing thing. We are, as the Lord says we are. I read that passage a few minutes
ago. It doth not yet appear. what
we shall be. But we know this, when we see
Him, we'll be like Him. We'll see Him as He is. That's
so. The Lord said that the seed,
the word that falls on good ground, good ground made to be fertile
by the Lord Himself, they are of a good and honest heart. made so by Him. Good ground hearers
made so by the grace of God. They're honest. They have an
honest opinion of Almighty God and His glory and they have an
honest opinion of themselves. They're honest people. I made
a statement one time and I said a believer is consistent. He's consistent. And a believer
is consistent in admitting in himself, he's inconsistent. He'll say this of himself, in
myself, I see no good thing. No good thing. Oh, wretched man
that I am. That's consistent. He's honest. Honest about it. And verse 5,
we see the bride and she's speaking. And this is what she says, I'm
black, but comely. O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon, look not
upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children were angry
with me, and they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but
mine own vineyard have I not kept. Tell me, O thou whom my
soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noon. For why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?" Here's the first
thing that the bride is honest about. She's honest about her
state in this world. I'm black. I'm black. That word black right there means
dusky. It means like dawning, like the
day that's dawning. The sun is just starting to come
up. It's still dark and mostly dark,
and there's a lot of silhouettes out there, but you see the daylight. That's what that word means.
I'm black. Light, dark, black by the presence
of original sin and actual sin. And she knows it. This is the
evidence of true life. I'm dusky. There's light and
dark. There's two natures. There's
an old nature in me that, as I said a moment ago, that there's
nothing good. But there's a new nature. There's
a new heart. There's a new man. In their own
eyes, the believer sees themselves with many infirmities. spots
and blemishes in this life. Ask them. They'll tell you. They're honest about it. How
are you? Well, to be honest with you,
I don't have a whole lot to say about myself. I'm black. I'm
black. Paul said that of an old wretched
man because of his failures without and within. Turn with me to Job.
Here's a man that we Read, man made honest. Job chapter 30.
This is what the bride is saying when she says, I'm black. Job
chapter 30 and verse 26. Job said, when I looked, Job
30, 26, when I looked for good, then evil came unto me. And when I waited for light,
there came darkness. My bowels Boiled and rested not,
the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the
sun. I stood up and I cried in the
congregation. I'm a brother to dragons and
a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me and
my bones are burned with heat. I'm black. This is the way I
am. This is the way I am in myself. I'm black. But it's at this point
that the church is shown to be most beautiful when she's brought
to see herself and to see her need of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In myself, I'm nothing. In myself, I'm a rebel. In myself,
I'm hard and rebellious. That's me. Her tears that are
shed over the presence and the manifestation of sin makes her
to appear to be one that is in need. The Lord told a group in
Matthew 9, 12, they that are whole need not a position, but
they that are sick. I'm black. I'm not good in myself. But she says, but I'm comely.
I'm black, but I'm comely. Lovely. That's what that word
means. Lovely. I'm beautiful. I'm black in myself, but I'm
comely. I'm lovely by Him. I'm lovely by His imputed righteousness. Here is the evidence of the two
natures that's found in a believer. Two, the spirit and flesh, they
strive one against another, warring against each other. A saint is
one that sees himself for what he really is. but I am comely. He is no less black in Himself
because He is comely in Christ, and He is certainly no less comely
in the Lord Jesus Christ because in Himself He is black. I am
black, but I am comely, comely in Him, comely by Him, and comely
to Him. I am beautiful to Him. He sees
me as He has made me to be. humbly in regeneration, in conversion. 1 Corinthians 6, 9-11 says this,
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived. You know, we
ought to take note of this. Be not deceived. Neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. And such were some of you." But listen, but you're washed,
but you're sanctified, but you're justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. I'm black, but I'm coming. And the bride is saying this
to a group back in verse 5 called the Daughters of Jerusalem. I'm
black but I'm comely, O ye Daughters of Jerusalem. Now this is a group
that I looked into how many times this group was spoken to in the
book of Song of Solomon, the Daughters of Jerusalem. And I'm
going to be honest with you. Who they are exactly, I'm not
going to go so far as to jump out there and just absolutely
say I am certain without a shadow of a doubt who they are, but
I'll tell you who I think they are. I think that these are professors
of the Lord Jesus Christ in name only. I think that these are
tarry. I think that they're unbelievers
that are found. I think they're like the unwise
virgins. The Lord says the kingdom of
heaven is like ten virgins, five wise and five foolish. And I'll
tell you why. The bride is speaking to them.
Now, if the bride is speaking to herself, if she'd be saying
to one of her own, She wouldn't be speaking to another group.
But look how she says, she says, I'm black but comely, O ye daughters
of Jerusalem. These daughters in chapter 2
and in verse 7, let's just look at this for just a minute. Song
of Solomon 2, 7. I charge you, the bride says,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose and by the hinds
of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake, my love, till he
please." Now, don't you think that that's kind of a strange
talk if she's speaking to one of her own? Somehow, in chapter 3 and verse
10, look at this. He made the pillars thereof of
silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of purple,
the mitts thereof being paved with love. You see where it says,
for the daughters of Jerusalem? That phrase right there is actually
by the daughters of Jerusalem. Somehow in that passage right
there, he's speaking to these daughters of Jerusalem. These
daughters are connected somehow with the marriage of the king
and the bride. They are within the visible body,
the church. There are some tares. that are
used by the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember when the king went
out and he planted some wheat and at night someone came in
and planted tares. They grew up the next day and
the workers said, Lord, didn't you plant good wheat here? Where
did these tares come from? What are we going to do with
these tares? He said, leave them alone. Just leave them alone.
He said, in the harvest they'll all be gathered up. We'll gather
the wheat. There'll be a separation. Wise virgins and some foolish
virgins. There's some tares and there's
some wheat. These daughters of Jerusalem, I believe that we're
going to find that there's a lot of scaffolding that Almighty
God wisely has, uses. Psalm 76, 10 says, Surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee, the
remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." All things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. You say, surely you don't think
that there would be within the body, within the visible church,
surely you don't think that there would be those amongst our group
who possibly could be unbelievers, huh? Well, time tells all things. In chapter 5 and verse 8 of this
same book, Psalm of Solomon 5.8, I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick
of love. I want you to notice how many
times the bride is speaking to these daughters of Jerusalem.
She told them at one time, don't wake him up. There's a longing
after peace within the body. Judas, one that walked with the
Lord Jesus Christ. I've said before, I heard someone
say one time, kissed the door of heaven and perished. It is
possible, believe me, to be near Christ in the sense only of being
within the bounds of the place where the gospel of free grace
is preached and yet not belong to Him. To have nothing more
than a head knowledge of the Savior and know Him not. To please Him with His lips,
with your lips, but your heart to be far from Him. I told you
this event that happened to me that bears bringing out again.
I told you about my daughter telling me one time after this
about three years ago in Ashland, Kentucky. One night we were sitting
down and she said, Dad, you know, I think I'd like to confess the
Lord in baptism. I said, well, that's good. She
said, I've heard you preach a long time. And she said, I understand
what you said. I understood. I've understood
what you said for a long time. And I could give a good argument
for what you were saying. And if you would have put me
in a situation where someone was preaching Arminian doctrine,
free will, man's free will doctrine, she said, I'd have picked it
up just like that. I'd have known. That's not true. I don't believe
that. I know that's not the truth.
I know that's not true. She said, I understood what you
were saying. But she said, you know what? I just didn't have
a heart for it. She said it was one of those
things where I could just Take it or leave it." I just didn't
have a heart for it. She said, I wouldn't have missed
church for anything. I knew that I shouldn't be missing
church. I knew what she was saying was
so. I knew it was consistent with Scripture. I just didn't
have a heart for it. And I told her, I said, Becca,
that makes a lot of sense to me. I said, I have a head knowledge
of communism. I understand communism. I just
don't have a heart for it. I could give you a good argument,
you know. I could debate it with you. Communism, you know. One
for all and all for one, you know. Let's put it all in one
pile and everybody will get an equal share. I understand the
basics of that. I just don't have a heart for
it. I'm black, the bride says, but I'm comely. Oh, you daughters
of Jerusalem. She says, as the tenth of Kedar. This is how black I am. Kedar
was the son of Ishmael. You remember Ishmael? That was
the boy that was produced by Abraham's efforts to help God
out. You know, the Lord told Abraham,
you're going to have a son. Well, after a while, Sarah said,
you know, surely the Lord meant for you to take my handmaid,
Hagar. have a son, they had a boy. His
name was Ishmael, that which was produced by the flesh, and
that's all that the flesh could do. And the bride says, I'm black
as the tents of Kedar. But she said, also, I'm as the
curtains of Solomon. I started to look in, and I read
a little bit about the curtains of Solomon. Now remember this,
every place that you find Solomon, right here, Remember, it speaks,
ultimately, figuratively, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says, I'm black as Kedar. I'm black and comely. I'm like
the tents of Kedar, but I'm like the curtains of Solomon. These
curtains that were hung in the tabernacle. There were curtains
that God told Moses. He said, this is the way that
you will construct this tabernacle. That tabernacle was so set up
to where these curtains, they were placed strategically. One
by the gate where you had to come through a curtain and then
you'd have another curtain and then finally it had the veil
that was the final curtain behind which was the mercy seat. These
curtains, and these curtains were made beautifully, made in
Broderick. They were different colors. Turn
with me to Exodus 26. I'm going to read one verse. Exodus 26. This is the way that
the bride says she is. She's honest. I'm black, but
I'm comely. I'm like Kedar, the tents of
Kedar, the tents of the flesh, but I'm also as the curtains
of Solomon. 26 and verse 1, moreover, here's
God's instruction to Moses, moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle
with ten curtains of fine twined linen. That linen is made out
of flax. It's produced from the earth.
Now here's a picture. This fine twined linen is a picture
of our Lord and Savior. You remember when the when the
priest would wear linen garments. That's a picture of Christ Himself. Make these curtains out of fine
twined linen of blue and purple and scarlet with cherubims of
cunning work, shalt thou make them. God Almighty told Moses,
He said, you make these curtains. And these curtains were pictures
of Him Make them different colors. Make them blue. The blue was
the color of heaven. The Lord, the Word, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and the Word was made flesh. Blue is a picture of heaven itself,
Immanuel, God with us. And then make another color,
the color purple, the color of royalty, a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the King, the King of kings. And scarlet was another
color that these curtains were supposed to be made, a picture
of His blood, Christ, our substitute. The bride says back in Song of
Solomon, I'm black, but I'm comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.
She said, I'm as the tents of Kedar, but I'm as the curtains
of Solomon. I'm as Christ is as He is. So are we in this world. In verse 6, she says, Look not
upon me, because I am black, men of this world, and unrenewed
members, unregenerated members, is what I'm saying, people within
the visible body. They are apt to look more upon
believers' blemishes than upon their beauty. The bride says,
I know what I am. I am admitting what I am. I am
black, but I am comely in His eyes. Don't look upon me. Don't
look upon me either to excuse yourself because of frailties
that you see within me or to accuse me of hypocrisy. I know
this. If you look upon me, you can
find frailty after frailty after frailty. Oh, I thought he was
a preacher. Well, I apologize. I apologize for my failings. I apologize for my shortcomings. I hate it. I hate it. I wish I could walk perfectly
before you. I'm sure if you'd Look back and
think back on your faithful pastor, almost 50 years. Did you ever
see one time that he ever failed? Did you ever see one failing?
One thing that he ever did that wasn't right top dead center?
Well, ask him. He'll admit it. I'm black. I'm
black. But in his sight, in his eyes,
who I am in his eyes, I'm comely. Our connection with the Lord
Jesus Christ is that which makes us to be beautiful. Look not
upon Me because I am black, because the Son hath looked upon Me. Now that could mean two different
things. Either the Son of righteousness, the Lord of glory Himself has
in His infinite wisdom and goodness and providence has shined upon
us Number one, discovering or making our blackness known to
us. Look not upon me because of black, because the Son hath
looked upon me. He Himself has made us honest
before Him and before others. He has revealed our corruption. But also it could mean, in this
Son, when it says the Son has looked upon me, it could be the
Son of persecution. which even some, after the sun
came up, the seed that was sown and fell among thorns and it
sprung up quickly, but when the sun came up, when persecution
came up, they withered because they had no root within them. But some do. The persecution
comes, but those that have been made to fall on good ground,
they don't wither. Don't look upon me. because I'm
black, because the Son hath looked upon me. My mother's children
were angry with me. My mother's children, those of
my own household, those that knew not the Lord. Or it could
mean those of my mother's children could mean the human race. I
know we've all been dug out of the same pit, the pit that we
all belong to. But you daughters of Jerusalem,
don't look on me. because I'm black, because the
son has looked on me and my mother's children were angry with me. They made me the keeper of vineyards. Now that right there was a phrase
that I looked at a long time on that. I read one writer that
says that the believers sometimes were forced to keep false professions
in false churches. Now, you know that's not so.
Now, the believer, though, is saying something right here that
is to her merit and to her good and to the Lord's glory. They
made me the keeper of the vineyards. Turn with me to 2 Kings. This
was something I had to... 2 Kings. chapter 25 and verse 8. 2 Kings 25 verse 8, it says,
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the
nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuchadnezzar,
captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto
Jerusalem. And he birthed the house of the
Lord. What he is saying right here is God Almighty allowed
this man to come in and overthrow. The Lord sent the scourge. He
burnt the house, verse 9, of the Lord and the king's house
and all the houses of Jerusalem and every great man's house. Now, that's a key word right
there. Every great man's house burnt he with fire. Everybody
that thought they were somebody. Everybody that saw themselves
as being worthy of recognition, all the great man's house and
all the army of the Chaldees that were with the captain of
the guard, break down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now
look at verse 11, Now the rest of the people that were left
in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of
Babylon with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuchadnezzar
and the captain of the guard carry away, but," verse 12, "'the
captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers
and husbandmen.'" Now, what happened here was Nebuchadnezzar, under
the direct order of providence of Almighty God, came in there
and a scourge came through and tore down. Everything that everybody
placed all their hope and religion and trust in. And everybody that
was great in that city, their houses were burned, they were
carried away, but the poor and the halt and the maim and the
nobodies, those that were just not worth anything, they left
them and made them to be vine dressers. Y'all are not good
for anything else. Y'all, we're going to leave you
alone. They made me, the bride said,
the keeper of the vineyards. A conquering army came through
and destroyed all but left the poor. You know what? Them being poor was their deliverance. They were made to be seen in
the eyes of others as not worthy to be fooled with, and God delivered
them. Blessed are the poor before Almighty
God. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in ability.
Blessed are the poor in worth. Blessed are the poor. They made
me to be the dressers of the vineyards. I was delivered by
God's grace. God didn't lead me to myself.
He made me to be poor. He made me to be poor before
Him. They meant it for evil. Now you
think about that. Even in that instance in 2 Kings,
they did mean it for evil. They meant it. We got them. But
God delivered His own. God meant it for their good.
Even the evil that's done to God's people, even the evil that
is done toward them is for their good. Almighty God takes all
that's done and so orders all things. Almighty God will allow
someone to come. Remember when old David was riding
into the town one day and a fellow come out there and he picked
up a bunch of rocks and started throwing them at David? And he
started cursing David and being honest about it, what David had
done. And one of the guards told David,
he said, I'll tell you what I'll do. Why don't you just let me
go over there? I'll take his head off. He won't bother you
again today. And David said, no, leave him
alone. The Lord said to him, you leave
him alone. They made me to be the keeper
of the vineyards. But mine own, here's her honesty
right here, God has so ordered all things to bring about all
things for my good. He's ordered all these things.
If He brings me down, it's for my good. But mine own, vineyard,
have I not kept? There she is just admitting again. She's honest. Readily admits
her shortcomings. The believer knows his tendency
to be in himself unseemly, black. He grieves over it. Rebellion
and disobedience before Almighty God is no small matter. It's not. God's people absolutely
do not think of their rebellion and their shortcomings as being
something that's likely to be looked at or likely esteemed. Jeremiah 31, 19 says, Surely
after I was turned, I was repented, and after that I was instructed,
I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. It's a blessing
from heaven for a believer to see the error of his life. That man has been given a heart
to be honest. before Almighty God, and he's
more concerned about disobeying Almighty God and dishonoring
Him than he is with his own cares in this life. They made me the
keeper of the vineyard, yet my own vineyard have I not kept. David said in Psalm 19, 12, who
can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins. And let them not have dominion
over me. Then shall I be upright, and
I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the
words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in
Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." And then this
last verse that we'll look at tonight, tell me, verse 7, soul lovest. Make this a personal
revelation to me. I want to come and I want to
hear. I want to hear the setting forth
of the Word. I want to hear the reading of
the Word. I want to hear the truth that is set forth. But
this is what I want. I want to hear from Him. I want
a personal. I want right now. Is this too
far-fetched for me to say that I want to hear personally from
Him. I want Him to speak to me. I'm
talking about right now. I'm talking about now. Even as
I stand here with a responsibility to look into this Word and to
search and find the message of Almighty God to His elect, is
that too much to ask? Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth. the fruit of the Spirit of God,
the evidence of the righteousness of Christ. Here's the evidence
of a new man. I know that I don't love as I
ought because I'm black, but I love. Tell me, O thou whom
my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noon? Let me ask you this. Is the believer's
heart not one that longs after this, Lord, where is the place
of your blessing? Lord, where is your Word set
forth? Lord, where is the place where
you are? Lord, I know this, it's not that
you've looked around and found a group of people that was meeting
your name and you decided to meet there. Lord, where is the
place where you feed your flock? Where is the place, Lord, where
You are set forth, the place where those purchased by Your
blood feed, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon by
the still waters, the green pastures? Isaiah 25 verse 4 says, For Thou
hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his
distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat when the
blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
Where are you? Tell me, O thou whom my soul
lovest, where thou feedest." Would it be an easy thing just
to go somewhere else? A lot of places, a lot of buildings
in this community. Is this the believer's heart?
Tell me, O thou whom my soul lovest, where you make your flock
to rest at noon in the time of heat. For why should I be as
one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?" That
word companions there, it means those that are false professors. Why should I be as one that turneth
aside? Why should I be? Why should I
be as one that covers herself as a harlot. If I should fall
away, if I should leave, if I should walk away, it is because that
Almighty God has allowed me to do in my old self, in my old
nature, that which I desired. But if I am kept, I am kept because
He kept me. I rest totally and completely
in you. May the Lord add His blessing
upon the reading of His Word and the setting forth and the
honesty of Himself to His Bride and the Bride to the Lord. Let's
pray together. Our Father, thank You that You've
allowed us a time to look into the Scriptures to see truly the
heart of Christ to His Bride and His Bride, Your Bride, to
Yourself. Lord, would You cause these words
to be kept? Would You maintain these words
to us? Lord, may we muse upon them,
think upon them for Christ's sake.