Isn't it wonderful to proclaim
the gospel? Norm did a great job on Thursday
night. I've been away for several days,
and it's just lovely to hear the gospel. It's lovely to hear
the gospel again. It's lovely to be gathered by
God. What amazing words. What amazing
words we have in this song. to return, to come back, to stop
your wandering. It's amazing, Psalm 119, that
beautiful long psalm. And if you read that psalm, thinking
about it being the promises of the fulfilment of the law in
the Lord Jesus, you'll find it delightful. But he finishes In Psalm 119
verse 176, I have gone away, gone astray, like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not
forget thy commandments. I've gone astray. We do wander,
prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. if this is not
one of the most beautiful reminders of, in Song of Solomon, of coming
back to Him. She has wandered and she comes
back and then He says these amazing words. He says, you are beautiful
in verse 6-4. He says in verse 5, your eyes
have overcome me. And He talks about her beauty. He talks about her beauty, and
then he says in verse 9, My dove, my undefiled, is but one. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her
that bare her. The daughters saw her and blessed
her. Yea, the queens and concubines,
they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, as fair as the moon, as clear as the sun, as
terrible as an army with banners? What words we have from the Lord
Jesus to his bride, to his wandering wayward sheep. What an encouragement to return
to him, Nothing has changed. His love, His grace, His mercy,
His adoration, His viewing of her, and He sees everything. The knowledge of God is infinite,
brothers and sisters. He sees absolutely everything.
But what does He say of her? My dove, my undefiled. What an encouragement. What an
encouragement to you who have not come to Him, to look now,
to look and live, to believe, to trust, to rest your soul,
your eternal soul upon Him. The goodness of God brings repentance. It is remarkable. I read you
only half of that verse in Isaiah 30. It's a remarkable verse,
isn't it? For thus says the Lord God, the
Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest you shall be saved,
in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. And how did the people of Israel
respond? And you would not. May God in
sovereign grace and love and mercy subdue us and captivate
us and bring us back to himself. Let us not have our own will's
way in this world. So let's just look at some of
these beautiful words. In 6 verse 9, He continues his description
of his bride. He's talked about her being an
army. He's talked about her being the
object of his love. He's talked about her being perfect
in his eyes. He talks now about her being
one body in Christ. And then he goes to talk about
her being the light of this world. He's used this description of
her being his dove. A dove is in nature a beautiful
bird, a beautifully proportioned bird. Its beauty is not in the
colour of its feathers, its beauty is in its demeanour, all beautiful
within. As I've said to you, I sit at
my window and the doves feed on our lawn and they love feeding
underneath the tree that's outside my window. And the number of
times I look out and I see the doves just sitting there gently
in the grass. And sometimes there are two of
them, you know, husband and wife dove, and they're sitting next
to each other, snuggled up next to each other. They are emblems
of peace. And of course, They are emblematic
of the Lord Jesus in all four Gospels. We have, when the Lord
Jesus came out of those waters of baptism, which pictured His
death and His resurrection, pictured that oneness that He has with
His people to fulfil all righteousness, down from heaven came the Holy
Spirit in the form of a dove and it rested upon Him. It rested upon Him. Mustn't forget
the little words there, the most important words in a sense, in
that whole sentence, is mine. He says, she's my dove. Mine in that amazing covenant
before the world began that he made, given to him by the Father,
delightfully accepted by him, and he took responsibility. He said, she's mine. Would the
Father give His glorious Son anything but what is delightful
for His Son? That was that eternal covenant
that was given. Mine in that eternal covenant
in His love, that covenant in His blood, that covenant of love
for His people. the love that he puts in his
people, that covenant that governs everything that happens in all
of this creation, that he is in that covenant of love, that
covenant of grace, that he is in creation. They are His in
redemption. They are His and they sold themselves
for nothing and He bought them back. He redeemed them. They are His in regeneration
when that dove, that blessed Holy Spirit comes to us and reveals
Christ. He reveals Christ to us. But how did Paul describe his
conversion? That same conversion that every
one of God's children go through. In verse 15 of chapter 1 of Galatians,
you can read about the conversion of every one of his daughters. See, it happens in verse 15,
when it pleased God. That's when conversion happens,
when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb. He
was separated from His birth. He was separated in eternity,
separated and set apart through all of those years, those years
of shocking and wicked rebellion. where to all the religious world
around he seemed like the star of stars in all of Israel. No one more zealous, no one more
religious, no one more thinking that he was right with God, and
no one further from God. All of what he did, he confesses
in Philippians 3, he says all of that was done. People need
to be saved from religion, brothers and sisters. You need to be saved. As Norm spoke to us last night,
on Thursday night, you need to be saved from thinking that you
can contribute something to your salvation. You can add something
to the work of the Lord Jesus. You can put God under some obligation
to reward you, to do something for you. When it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace."
Grace is what we preach. Grace is what we declare. Sovereign grace of a sovereign
God. That's the way God's people are
called to Him. And then what happens? What's
the result? To reveal His Son in me, that
I might preach Him among the heathen. To reveal His Son in
me. How can God the infinite, holy,
almighty God, who is of two purer eyes than even to behold sin. How can he live in someone like
Paul, who persecuted his church, murdered his people, blasphemed
his name, like we all have done. How does he live in someone like
that? How can He take up residence
in someone like that? You see, she's not only His dove. Read that next word. My undefiled. My undefiled. What a remarkable
word. Undefiled before Him. So pure. So clean. called saints. The New Testament letters are
written to saints. What does saints mean? The root
of it is holy ones. The New Testament is written
to people that God sees as holy. Holy ones, undefiled, perfectly
holy, perfectly fit as a dwelling place for God. And she is one. She is one. She had described
him earlier, hasn't she, as being the chief among ten thousand,
the banner bearer, the great one, the one who is above all
others. And now he describes her, my
undefiled is one. All God's elect, all true believers,
throughout time and throughout place, are the Church of Christ. As we sing that song, don't we?
Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth, her charter
of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth. All who are in Christ. All who are indwelt by Christ
are in the Church, chosen, redeemed, justified, regenerated, preserved,
raised, glorified. Romans 8 puts it all in the past
tense as a completed, finished thing. They have the same Father. I have the same elder brother. I have the same husband. I have the same indwelling spirit. I have the same eternal inheritance. It is remarkable, isn't it? We
are but one. as he says in Colossians, let
the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are
called in one body, and be thankful. Called in one body, and his body,
it's his body, in verse 124 of Colossians, is the church. What a remarkable body it is.
What a remarkable thing it is. When you think of what the scriptures
say, we've read it again and again, that God has come and
indwelt sinners like us. because they are holy, because
they are undefiled, and then he brings that body together. Let's read in 1 Corinthians chapter
12. Let's read. I love the way 1
Corinthians begins. It's a letter that's written
obviously to a group of believers in Corinth. It says, unto the
church of God which is in Corinth, to them that are sanctified,
to them that are made holy in Christ Jesus, called sons. And then it describes us, doesn't
it? With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord, both theirs and ours. It's written to believers throughout
time, brothers and sisters. It's written to us here today
in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 12. For as one body has many members,
and all the members of that body, being many, are one body, so
also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all
baptised into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free. and have been all made to drink
into one spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, because
I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? And if the ear shall say, because
I am not the eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where would the hearing? if the whole were hearing, where
would be the smelling? But now hath God set the members,
every one of them in the body, as it has pleased Him." If you're
in the body of Christ, you have been set, brothers and sisters.
You've been set in a way which has pleased Him. What a remarkable thing. And
if they are all one member, where the body? And now they are many
members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say to the
hand, I have no need of thee, nor the head to the feet, I have
no need of you. Nay, much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble, unnecessary. And
those members of the body which we think to be less honourable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honour. And our uncomely parts
have more abundant comeliness, for our comely parts have no
need. But God has tempered the body together and has given more
abundant honour to that part which lacked. That there should
be no schism in the body, but that the members should have
the same care, one for another. And whether one member suffer,
All the members suffer with it. Brothers and sisters, you do
not suffer alone. Whatever your struggles are,
you do not suffer alone. If one member suffer, all members
suffer with it. And if one member be honoured,
all members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ
and members in particular. There is one body and one spirit,
even as you are called into one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above
all and through all and in you all. What a remarkable statement. That's in Ephesians 4, verse
4 and 6. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. You are, as he says in Colossians
2.10, you are complete, perfect. undefiled in Him. We are partakers
of Christ's sufferings. We are, according to 1 Peter
1.4, we are partakers of the divine nature. We are co-heirs,
we are co-sons, as it were, with the Lord Jesus. He prayed that
great high priestly prayer, isn't it, that they all may be one,
as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us. It's not talking about the ecumenical
movement, brothers and sisters. It never speaks in that way in
the scriptures. Come out from among them, be
separate, it says. The oneness that he's talking
about, the oneness that he prayed for was that amazing unity between
the Lord Jesus and his people, that oneness, partakers of the
divine nature. Hereby we know that we dwell
in him and he is in us because he has given us of his spirit. It's a bond of everlasting love
and it binds His people together. It binds Him to His people and
it's a bond that can never be separated. Never be separated. It didn't begin with us, brothers
and sisters. It began with Him in eternity. And what's been written and ordained
in eternity is not going to be affected by the things of time.
John Kemp wrote a beautiful hymn. He begins, "'Twixt Jesus and
the chosen race subsists a bond of sovereign grace, that hell
with its infernal train shall ne'er dissolve or rend in twain. This sacred bond shall never
break, though earth should to her centre shake. rest doubting
saint, assured of this, for God has pledged His holiness. He swore that once the deed was
done, it was settled by the Great Three One, Christ was appointed
to redeem all that the Father loved in Him. Hail sacred union,
firm and strong, how great thy grace, how sweet the song, that
rebel worms should ever be one with incarnate deity. One in the tomb, one when He
rose, one when He triumphed over His foes, one when in heaven
He took His seat, while seraphs sung at hell's defeat. Blessed by the wisdom and the
grace, the eternal love and faithfulness, That's in the Gospel scheme revealed,
and is by God the Spirit sealed. Hail that union. Twixt Jesus and the chosen race. You see, that's why in the scriptures,
again and again when he's writing to saints, we have all those
beautiful descriptions of the one another. The one another
clauses, aren't they? Love one another, care for one
another. I'll just read some of them.
You can come and ask me and I'll give you the references later
on. Be kindly affection with brotherly love, in honour, preferring
one another. You belong to the Lord Jesus,
you've been brought by Him, not judging one another. Put no stumbling
block or occasion to fall. Receive one another as Christ
also received us. Admonish one another. Greet one
another. By love, serve one another. With all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering and forbearing, love one another. Care for one
another in love. forbearing and forgiving one
another, teaching and admonishing one another, taught by God, taught
of God to love one another, comfort one another, we are told. The comfort there is a comfort
about the Lord's return in 1 Thessalonians 4.18. He's coming to gather us,
edify one another, consider one another, care for one another,
and the list goes on. You see, we are but one. She, this church, is the only
one of her mother. She's the choice one of her that
bear her. She's only one of her mother
in Galatians 4.26. Jerusalem, which is above, is
free, which is the mother of us all. Jerusalem, that great
city, is emblematic of the Church of God, emblematic of the place
where God says, it's the city where I have chosen to put my
name. He puts His name in this city. He puts his people in this city. They bear his name. They are his. He surrounds that
city. He cares for that city. He builds
walls around that city. He puts in the middle of that
city He puts there for all to see again and again the emblems
of his dear and precious son. The centrepiece of that city
was in the place called the Holy of Holies, that Ark of the Covenant. And all the way in was pictured
the Lord Jesus, the light of the world, the lamp, that washing
of rebirth in that great labour. That bread, all of those sacrifices
pointed, but the centerpiece was in the Holy of Holies. All
of it pictured the Lord Jesus. What a remarkable thing. He dwelt
there and man carried by a priest could go into the dwelling place
of God with blood. We now, brothers and sisters,
can go into the dwelling place of God with blood. His foundation is in the holy
mountain. The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things of Thee are spoken,
O city of God. I will make mention of Rahab
and Babylon to them that know me. Behold Philistia and Tyre
and Ethiopia. This man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said,
This and that man was born in her, and the highest himself
shall establish her. The Lord shall count when he
writeth up the people. This man was born there, as well
the singers as the players on instruments shall be there, all
my strings. Ah, indeed. You see, that's what
it is, isn't it? She's the choice one of her that
bear her. To be in this city, to be a child
of God, is to be born from above. To be born of God, she is the
choice one. It means that she is pure one. She is the clean one of her that
bore her. As the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus,
you must be born from above. You cannot see the Kingdom of
God, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God, you cannot know anything
of the Kingdom of God without being born from above. born from above, born from Him. As He says in Galatians 4.6,
because you are sons, because you are children, God sent the
Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. God sends the Spirit of His Son
into our hearts. And we cry out, Father, Father,
we're no longer slaves, but a son. And if a son, an heir through
God. So you're born again. That's
why if God enables us, we will, as long as we exist here, we
will proclaim the Gospel of Sovereign Grace. We will proclaim that
Word, that Word that the apostles proclaimed, because if you're
going to be born again, you can only be born again through hearing
the Word of His own will. begat he us, birthed us, with
the word of truth." We live in this age, and we are in no different
age to the age of Cain, where people want to say you can come
to God however you like, and God will accept the works of
your hands, as well as the works of the Lord Jesus. He'll accept
your free will, He'll accept your works, He'll accept your
worth, and He'll honour that. His children are born again by
the proclamation of the Gospel, and they will not be born again
otherwise, brothers and sisters. not according to this word. You
can read about it in Romans chapter 10. Of his own will begat he
us with the word of truth. It's his will, it's his way. He's begotten us again into a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We're born again into a living
hope by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. She comes back from her wanderings
and he speaks the most beautiful words to her. Not a mention of
her sin. Why? It's all been put away, brothers
and sisters. This notion that we have, that
we will stand, that we are presented with so often, that we will stand
on that Judgement Day and there will be the video of Beth Day's
life and all of creation will be watching and we'll be looking
at scenes and she'll be embarrassed and we'll be embarrassed. And
it's used to frighten people, isn't it? It's used to coerce
people into being good. And being good means being good
in that church, being part of that fellowship, being enslaved,
enslaved by works. It's for freedom that Christ
set us free. Why on earth would He want to
do it on the day of His marriage, on that great day of that celebration
of who He is and celebration of what He's done? Why would
He say, a thousand years before the Lord Jesus comes, why would
He call her My love, My undefiled, and then turn around on that
great day of judgment and bring up her sins and see her embarrassed
and ashamed? It won't happen, brothers and
sisters. He says He's forgotten them. He's hidden them like a
dark cloud. He's wrapped them up and He's
dumped them in the depths of the seas. He's hidden them as
far as east is from west. They are gone. Blessed is He
whose transgressions are forgiven. They're covered by the blood
of the Lord Jesus. He's put them away forever, brothers
and sisters. My love, my undefiled, is but
one." What a great encouragement. What a great encouragement, wandering
sinner, to come back, to come back and to rest your head in
His arms, to find your peace in Him. There is a great day
coming, isn't it, where He will present His bride, this
glorious bride, before all the world. The daughters saw her,
it says at the end of verse 9, and blessed her. Yea, the queens
and the concubines, they praised her. God's church will be praised
before the world. Happy are you, O Israel, whose
like unto you are people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy
help, who is the sword of thy excellency, and thy enemies shall
be found liars unto thee, and you shall tread upon their high
places. No matter what the daughters and the queens and the concubines
are, happy is that people. that is in such a place. Happy is that people whose God
is the Lord. We will be presented, my brothers
and sisters, the Heavenly Father will have us presented before
Him and we will be the emblems before all this world of the
work of the Lord Jesus. It will be seen to be glorious. It will be seen that He is vindicated
in all that He has done, in all that's happened to His people,
in all their trials, in all the struggles that they've had in
this world. They will be held up as being the trophies of His
grace. And they will say, Who is she? They asked her at the beginning
of the chapter, what is he? And now they say, who is she? Who is she that looks forth as
the morning? Look at her. Looks forth as the
morning. as fair as the moon, as clear
as the sun, as terrible as an army with banners. She looks forth as the morning,
as glorious as that which dispels the darkness. One of the beautiful
things about being out at Teraira is that we have a flat horizon,
apart from a few trees these days, but a flat horizon to the
east. And one of the wonderful things
about being a farmer is that you often saw the sunrise. In
fact, I used to think that if I've missed a sunrise, I've missed
the most precious part of the day. And I've taken lots of photos
of the most glorious sunrises. What a wonderful thing, isn't
it? That often at night, often we spend times in night, and
it seems like darkness is all around us, and it seems like
there's no end to it. And the night goes on and on. But it will not be always that
for us, brothers and sisters. The Son of Righteousness shall
arise with healing in His wings. We often read those last words
of David in 2 Samuel 25 about the Lord having made with him
an eternal covenant, ordered and secure in every detail, and
he looked upon it as all of his salvation. In the previous verse
he says, And he, the Lord, shall be as the light of the morning
when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds, as the tender
grass springing out of the earth, as the clear shining after the
rain. The path of the just, says Proverbs
4.18. Says Solomon in Proverbs 4.18. The path of the just is as a
shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. Who is she? How beautiful is
she, how blessed is she, as fair as the moon, as beautiful as
the moon. And what is the moon but a beautiful
picture of the reflected light of the sun. Isn't that the beauty? that God's people are embellished
with. The moon is beautiful. Each of
the festivals of the Jews was organised around the new moon,
wasn't it? The moon signified the sun shining
upon that secondary being. But she's glorious, isn't it?
Who has not gone out to see the moon and been captivated by its
beauty? I don't know how many moons I've
seen in my 60 years, but a lot. I'll go out and see another full
moon in a couple of weeks' time or less, and it will be just
as beautiful, just as glorious. You can't stop. is being overcome
by its beauty. But its beauty doesn't come from
within itself. Its beauty is the beauty that's
radiated to it and then reflected out. What a great description
of God's work in the lives of His people. As beautiful as the
moon, as clear as the sun, the righteous shall shine forth as
the sun in the kingdom of their Father." The Lord Jesus says,
doesn't He, that when He comes back, we will be like Him because
we will be able to see Him as He is. What a glorious sunrise
we have ahead of us. He was transfigured in His face,
did shine as the sun, and his raiment was as white as the light."
Purity and light, which is exactly how he describes his church. He might present this church,
this bride, this dove, this undefiled one, present it to himself a
glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy, holy and without blemish. Terrible was an army with banners.
She was drawn by the Lord, despite all of the troubles around her
and the troubles of her flesh, she's drawn by the Lord back
to herself. We are in a remarkable place,
brothers and sisters in the Lord, aren't we? We are, according
to the scriptures, we are more than conquerors. More than conquerors. Conquerors who triumph in this
world. Not triumph in our own activities,
but triumph in His. Psalm 129 says, Many a time they
have afflicted me from my youth. Many a time. have they afflicted
thee from thy youth. May Israel say, many a time have
they afflicted me from my youth, yet, yet they have not prevailed
against me." Afflicted, wandering, but conquerors, more than conquerors. God works all things together
for the good of Him, good of them that love Him, to them that
are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
What shall we say then, brothers and sisters? What shall we say
to these things if God before us If God declares us, my daft,
my undefiled, my beautiful one, my holy one, if God before us,
who can be against us? He that spares not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things. Who shall lay any charge? Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
For as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all day long.
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all things we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor power, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a great encouragement to
return, return our Shulamite. Let's pray.