May God be pleased this evening
to bless us as we meditate in his word. May his name be honoured
and glorified. So this evening we'll speak to
you, God willing, from the Song of Solomon, chapter 2, and we'll
read verse 4. The Song of Solomon, chapter
2, and we'll read verse 4. He brought me to the banqueting
house and his banner over me was love. I'm sure most of you are aware,
because I've told you several times, the important truth is
that this book, which is called The Song of Solomon, was written
by King Solomon, and really it's an account and a conversation
between a bride and a bridegroom. And the bride is the Church of
God, and the bridegroom is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. it also has reference to the
daughters of Jerusalem which refer to really the Church of
God so we need to just always bear that in mind when we're
reading the Song of Solomon because otherwise it's difficult to understand
and naturally doesn't make really much sense and of course we must
always understand that the Bible is a spiritual book although
of course it is a natural account of many things it is also a spiritual
book and we should also be concerned to understand the spiritual context
of the word of God as we read it and perhaps there's nothing
more clear than in the Song of Solomon the spiritual content
as the Lord Jesus Christ addresses his people, the bride, and also
as the bride then responds to the bridegroom. And if we think
of that and follow that through, naturally it makes a lot of sense,
and spiritually it can prove to be, may prove to be, a wonderful
blessing. So here we have, if you like,
in this fourth verse, a natural picture, but of course it is
also a spiritual picture. So Solomon brings to us this
word, he. And who is the he? The he is,
of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. He brought me. Who is the me?
The me, of course, is the bride, the Church of God. He brought
me to the banqueting house. So put very simply we can think
that what it means is the Lord Jesus Christ brings us, you and
me, to the banqueting house and that is a place where spiritually
we can feed and spiritually we can feast indeed upon the things
of God. and then it tells us, and his
banner over me was love well of course I expect we know what
a banner is it's something which is held up so that people can
see and it's displayed, it's there to be seen, it's not something
to be hidden and the banner in this position, in this condition
speaks of his love so as we get the picture together here We
see the wonderful favour of God in the Lord Jesus Christ bringing
us into a time of spiritual feasting, and over us is the glorious banner
of the Saviour of His love. And so it's a wonderful picture
really, isn't it, if we think of that. And if we recognise
the wonder of His love toward us. It's something that should
always astound us, that God should ever love a people, and especially
that God should ever love sinners like you and I are, and especially
bringing it personally down, that God should ever love me. It's a wonder of wonders, isn't
it, really? If the Holy Spirit has shown to us something of
what we are, we won't think we're a very beautiful person. We won't
think then we're somebody that should be admired and looked
upon. Because if the Spirit of God indeed has done that great
work in our hearts, we shall know that that Spirit has shown
to us something of the wickedness and the evil and the sinfulness
in our heart. And it won't make us very proud.
Indeed, it will make us perhaps very sad. And yet to think that
here we have the amazing love of God, and it is amazing love. Amazing love. John Newton speaks
of amazing grace, and that's true. But love also is so amazing,
so divine. It's something that is really
beyond our comprehension to try and understand that almighty
God. And I never tire of trying to
explain in a very small way how great God is. And yet that great
God, the one who created all things, the one who rules over
the universe, The one who knows everything is happening. And
we're told in the Bible, all our hairs are numbered. What
a great God. Our minds just can't assimilate
it, can we? I think that every little hair
in my head and on my body and every one of us is numbered by
God. And he controls everything that
exists, everything that occurs. And He's created everything. And He spoke the world into being. Let's pray that gives us some
little, little understanding of the greatness of this God. And to think that He's eternal,
another thing that you and I can't understand, we cannot understand
a God who ever was, Because we are time people. We're born in
time. We understand time. We don't
understand eternity. And so with the combination of
those things, to have a little appreciation of the greatness
of God, and then to think that that great God has singled
out in this vast world a person like you, a person like me to
show his love it's amazing, isn't it? it's a tremendous blessing if
therefore God has shown to us in some small way that we are
those whom he has loved. You know, the wonderful words
in Jeremiah 31 are so very glorious, really, and we should never tire
of reading those. And to Jeremiah, who we know
was a man who endured so, so much difficulty and hardship,
a faithful servant of God, And yet he's able to declare such
wonderful and tremendous truths as we read in the 31st chapter
and the 3rd verse. This is what it says. The Lord,
none less, the Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love. That means it will never
diminish. It will never fail. It will never
disappear, because God is the same yesterday, and today, and
forever. Yea, I have loved thee. You see,
it's a very personal statement. It was to Jeremiah. It is to
the whole Church of God, and it is to you and to me today. What a blessing that is, if we
are truly His children, so here it is. The Lord hath appeared
of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. It's a tremendous description,
isn't it? And if you just try and analyse it, to think that
this great God, as I've tried to describe and measure, this
great God has looked down from glory to the place where you
and I exist. And he's watched over us ever
since we were born. The moment we breathe, He's watched
over us. And He will, if we are His children,
right through our life, until the day that we leave this world,
to go and to be with Him in glory. And so it's a wonderful thing
to think that this great Saviour then condescends. It's good to ponder that. He
condescends. to come and to draw us. That means to set our affection
towards God. There would have been a time
in our lives when there was no drawing. God meant nothing to
us. What a mercy then if God has
looked upon us drawn us to himself. And it's because of his loving
kindness toward us. He hasn't just left us to wander
on aimlessly in this poor old world. He's singled us out. in His time and in His way to draw us towards Himself. It's amazing, isn't it? And so
glorious to read, yea, the Lord speaks, I, no one else, I, God
speaking to every born-again sinner, I, have loved thee, The
everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. So really the evidence of God's
love toward us is shown to us in our hearts by the effect that
God has produced in drawing us towards himself. What have we
seen? We've seen an attraction in the
Lord Jesus Christ. we read in Lamentations is it
nothing to you or ye that pass by? that's who it was it meant nothing
to us until the Lord touched our hearts and then we saw something
in the Saviour what do we see? I believe we saw in the Saviour
the hope of our salvation. And that is cause for praising
God. And that is cause for true rejoicing,
to realize, yes, as the Holy Spirit revealed that to me, I
rejoiced indeed. Now then, what is this? Surely
it comes down to this, doesn't it? He brought me to the banqueting
house, because here we are, being blessed by God, having been blessed
by God, continue to be blessed by God, and there we receive
spiritual food, spiritual blessing. You see, the Lord Jesus, when
he was on the earth, as we read together in that sixth chapter
of John's Gospel, he spelled out very plainly and very carefully
the great difference, really, between natural food and spiritual
food. And as we read in that sixth
chapter of John, it's a long chapter. I'd like to have read
it all, but it's just too long, really. It's a very wonderful
chapter. And he tells us here, as we start
in verse 27, labor not for the meat which perisheth. Well, of
course, we do have to labor for natural meat. But what he means
here, the blessed word, is that we're not to concentrate on natural
food. We often do. To the detriment
of spiritual food. And so we're told here, labour
not for the meat which perisheth. And again, as I often say, the
Lord never leaves us in a vacuum. He never tells us something and
then says, well that's it, get on with it. We have a wonderful
blessing which is set before us here, but for the meat which
endureth in unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall
give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed. And he gives
to us therefore by drawing us to him spiritual longings after
fellowship with himself. That really is the wonderful
blessing and the wonderful favour to know these drawings of the
Saviour. This really is being brought
into the banqueting house and to experience the banner over
us is love the Apostle Paul he knew very well the wonder and
the glory of the love of God and he rejoiced in it so much
and he wanted to know more and more of it he didn't want to
not be blessed with it and he tells us when he wrote to the
Philippians and of course we meditated on the Philippians
over the past few months. But in that third chapter, and
it's glorious how he commences, he says, finally, my brethren,
what's he going to say? What's he going to say? Rejoice
in the Lord. When will you rejoice in the
Lord? You and I will rejoice in the Lord when he brings us
into his banqueting house, and the banner over us is love. We will rejoice in what he's
done, in all his goodness, and for all his love toward us. in revealing Himself unto us
as it is not unto the world and so as he goes on in this chapter
and tells us what things were gained to me those I counted
loss for Christ he does a balancing situation he weighs it up, doesn't
he? on the one side the things of
the world and on the other side the blessings of Christ well,
I'm sure we know which is the greatest blessing, the heaviest
things in the world are so light by comparison they vanish away
things of Christ are eternal and so he tells us he counted
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. This is the Banqueting House
experience. This is food for our souls, when
the Lord shows us the excellency of the blessed Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and gives us then a spiritual knowledge And it's
when, therefore, the Blessed Spirit opens our eyes. Once I was blind, but now I see. I may not see very clearly, but
to see a little is the gift of God. And so tonight, as we perhaps
are venturing in, to this banqueting house, there to behold, by faith,
the suffering Saviour, because there is the riches, food to
be partakers of, the suffering of the Saviour, because it's
through His sufferings that we receive the gift of eternal life yes, he says
they're good words, aren't they? yea, doubtless the things of
God are very positive and we should
be very thankful the Lord gives us such sure and certain truths
to be able, by his grace, to lay hold of and we do need good
things to lay hold of in this evil world in which we live. And so he says, the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Well, if we can acknowledge
and thank God that the Lord has shown to us a little of the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and I believe that must really
commence as you and I, by faith, come to the cross of Jesus. And
there we see the Lord of life and glory, the creator of all
things, amazing love, wonderful, giving his life, dying, so that
you and I might receive the gift of eternal life. This is spiritual
food. This will do us real good. And it will do us eternal good. It's not something which comes
and goes. It's there. It's eternal. The excellency, and it is, it's
wonderful, the excellency of the knowledge Christ Jesus my
Lord. I hope tonight that you and I
want to be found in this banqueting house. We want to be fed from
the Saviour, by the Saviour. Indeed, farther on in this 6th
chapter, the Lord tells us very, very clearly. Let me just read
it to you. And it commences really at verse
53 in this 6th chapter of John. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except Right? Except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. That obviously doesn't mean physically. But what it means is meditating
upon the glory of the Saviour's death. That's what it means. For My flesh is drink, meat indeed. My blood is drink indeed. He
that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, that means feeding
upon Christ, meditating upon Christ. This is what it says. Dwelleth in me and I in him. That means fellowship with the
Lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it? dwelling in Him and He in us. This means that we've been drawn
to the Saviour. We've been blessed by the wonderful
work of the Holy Spirit. As the Living Father hath sent
me, I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall
live by me. And then he says, this is that
bread which came down from heaven. And again he goes back to the
case of manna. Not as your fathers did eat manna
and are dead. Yes, the Lord provided manna
in the wilderness, they ate it, they were thankful. But it wasn't
eternal food. It finished. And are dead. He that eateth
this bread, that's Christ Jesus, shall live forever. What a difference, isn't it?
Natural and spiritual. What a blessing for us today
to be a partaker of this spiritual bread, partaker of Christ, union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the apostle goes on and
tells us he gives us a little bit of detail and it's good really
to have a little bit of detail on these things he says, for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things well the Apostle
Paul didn't have great possessions in this life but he did possess
the gift of God of eternal life he did enjoy union with the Lord
Jesus Christ and he tells us for me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. Surely that was indeed enjoying,
entering into this banqueting house, feasting upon the great
and glorious work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says
here, and be found in him, in Christ, in Christ, not having
mine own righteousness, We have to throw that away, don't we?
That which we thought, perhaps, we were doing quite well. We
were living quite a good life. And people, no doubt, were thinking,
that's a good person. We have to recognize that, as
he tells us when he wrote to the Romans, in me, that is in
my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. And so he tells us, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
this is in the banqueting house, isn't it? To realize that Christ
clothes us with his righteousness Take away the filthy garments.
Our own righteousness gives us His spotless robe. Pureness. Wonderful, isn't it? To think
of that. And it's through the faith of
God. If God therefore comes and gives
us faith to believe these things faith to come in to the banqueting
house and to know that it's because of his love toward us we don't
come in to the banqueting house if the Lord has not loved us
but we do if he has loved us and it's a wonderful evidence
of his love And so may we receive grace to lay hold of these precious
and glorious truths. And so be found in him not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the Lord, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. Then perhaps he sums it up like
this. that I may know him. Paul, surely you know the Saviour? Well, of course he did. What
was his desire? To be found in this banqueting
house. Yes, knowing more of the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing more
union with him, knowing in a greater depth the cost of his salvation,
Realising what the Saviour endured, that He might receive the wonderful
gift of eternal life, that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection. You see, the power of His resurrection,
my friends, raised Christ from the dead. that the same power
raises us from spiritual death, as we've already pointed out,
and given us spiritual life. It's the power of God. And to
think that God has shown us his power in bringing us from spiritual
death to spiritual life. well something to wonder at isn't
it? well that's the Apostle tells
us here that I may know him in the power of his resurrection
and then he goes on to say and the fellowship of his sufferings
be made conformable unto his image and you might think well
I don't think really I want that. I don't really think I can face
that. Well, what we have to understand
is here that this doesn't necessarily mean that you and I are going
to be called to endure physical sufferings like the Saviour did
as he was crucified physically upon that cross at Calvary. But
it may be, and it probably will be, that we have to enter in
to the sufferings whereas the saviour was so disliked and how
he was spat upon and turned against and people didn't believe him
and such things And as people may do that just to you, they
may say, oh, what are you? Who are you? You can't speak
like that. You can't say things like that. And you may, therefore,
have to endure. And what is it? It's fellowship with Christ.
And it's wonderful, it is, because you have someone who you can
come to who understands where you are. Other people can't,
because they haven't been there. but the saviour knows where you
are and he knows what you're passing through and therefore
you can enjoy you say that's a strange word to use like this
but it is true because if you have the evidence that you are
blessed to have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings it's
a very sure evidence that Christ has died for you and that your
salvation is eternally secure and you can look forward to that
time when indeed you will be with him and the whole Church
of God in glory and so understand then the wonder of such a statement
as this and be found in him not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead." It would seem in
that statement there that the Apostle realised the necessity
above everything else of having the evidence that he was a true
believer and the evidence was to be traced out by those blessings
of fellowship with the Saviour which was really coming to this
point that he was brought by God you and I can't bring ourselves
into that situation but here we have what Solomon tells us
he brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me
was love and if the Holy Spirit does this for you and me well
we'll have reason to go on our way rejoicing thankful to be
able to trace out, perhaps in some small measure. It's a bit like we have in that
account when the Lord gave sight to that man and he said, how
do you see? He said, well, I don't see clearly.
I see men as trees walking. they just looked at an outline,
it wasn't very clear at all and it may be like that but again
let me say don't despise the day of small things do always
remember a little bit a righteous man hath is better than the treasures
of many wicked if God has brought you inside this banqueting house
and if you just have a little glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that'll do you a power
of good. That'll strengthen you. That'll give you a good hope. The Lord is looking upon you. The Lord is dealing with you
in love. You'll see that banner over you.
It's because of his love toward you. That's why He's dealing with you as sons
and daughters of the Most High God. And you know, it's exceedingly
humbling to think that such a sinner as you and me should be graciously
dealt with by Almighty God. Again, let me try and emphasize
the greatness of God, that He should look down upon you and
me and have mercy upon us. and draw us to himself and bring
us into the banqueting house and show to us that banner over
us is love. Do we not have great cause to
praise and glorify our God? Well, my friends, I hope we do. I hope we do. And perhaps if we feel we're
only just on the edge, just perhaps, just inside the door of this
house, Well, it's better to be inside than to be outside without
any care, isn't it? Just inside, just really having
a peep, as it were, of the glories which are before us, and then
to pray and to seek the Lord to lead us into all truth as
it is in Jesus. See, these are the great blessings
and truth that really matter. The things of time will vanish
and perish. The things of Christ are eternal
blessings. They won't fade, they won't disappear,
but they will land you and me safe in glory. And so tonight,
my friends, may we be able, by God's grace, to very carefully
consider ourselves And if you're able to trace out, in a little
way, that God has had mercy upon us, and that God has loved us,
we're never lost in love. And because of that, his banner
over us is love, eternally.