The Lord be pleased to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us
turn to the Song of Solomon and the first chapter, and we'll
read verse five. The Song of Solomon, chapter
one, and reading verse five. I am black, but comely. O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
as the tents of Kedar as the curtains of Solomon. The Bible does give us some very
helpful illustrations to give us an understanding of some of
the words. And in this verse we're told
about the tents of Kedar. and as the curtains of Solomon.
Now, Kedar was an Ishmaelite, the son of Ishmael and he dwelt
and the tribe dwelt in tents in Arabia. They were really Bedouins
and it was those tents that Solomon is referring to here to help
us to understand the previous verse or previous clause which
says I am black but comely. And with those tents in Kedar,
the position was that they were usually made of goat's hair,
and the goat's hair was pretty durable, it was naturally quite
dark, and of course with all the sun in the Arabian desert,
which of course is very hot and very powerful, it became pretty
black. So externally, the tents appear
to be black, but internally, It was a very different story
because the Bedouins they used to therefore make them look very
attractive internally. And so the inside and the outside
were very different. Well that gives us a little a
picture really then of what we have here as Solomon speaks to
us in these words. And as I've often said to you
when I've spoken from the Song of Solomon, The two characters
principally referred to are the bridegroom and the bride. Put another way, it is the church
of God and the living God. And so we should always have
that in our mind as we read the Song of Solomon. We should always
recognize that generally speaking there are those two people speaking,
God or the people of God. It does of course also speak
about the daughters of Jerusalem which are normally referred to
as the whole church of God. So when you read this, especially
young people may think that the Song of Solomon is a difficult
book and it is a difficult book. It's not easy but clearly it's
a very precious book because it sets before us the life really
of a believer and the life of a believer showing what they
are by nature and the conflict they have and also the glorious
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who is set forth really from
chapter one right through to the end of chapter eight. So
when you read the Song of Solomon and try not to just think well
I don't understand it I'm not going to read it and I'm going
to pass on to something more interesting. Well the reality
is this book is a very blessed book and if you don't understand
it will pray to God that he might give you understanding and don't
expect suddenly a wonderful revelation of every single verse and every
single picture, but perhaps I'll just give you a little, a little
bit at a time, perhaps just a very small glimpse into what Solomon
is describing in this short book. Well then here we have then,
in this fifth verse, the Church of God describing herself And
she's telling us she's black and then comely. And comely can
also be spoken of as beautiful. It's probably easier for us in
a day and age in which we live to think of the word beautiful
rather than the word comely. So here we have this statement. I am black but also beautiful. Well, what does that really mean? That really means that On the
one side, we are black. On the other side, we are beautiful. Well, how can those two fit together? Well, blackness really describes
sin. And it's something therefore
that every true believer will understand in measure, that we
are indeed black. And if you just think of that,
it's made up of a lot of little dots, perhaps, of blackness,
perhaps some big black splodges. But in any event, eventually,
all those black dots and black splodges, they actually cover
up everything, so that what appears is just one mass of blackness. And that is, the picture really
of a believer shown something of themselves by the Holy Spirit. When God perhaps first comes
and just makes us spiritually alive, we may see one or two
little black bits in our life and we think, well I haven't
done that quite rightly and I've offended God there and I've done
this. But then you see, as you and I grow spiritually what happens
is we are made aware of a lot more sins which we weren't aware
of when the Holy Spirit first of all convicted us and things
that perhaps we thought we could do quite freely as the Holy Spirit
shows us we recognize that in actual fact I'm really not at
liberty to do that or to do this because it's not pure. There's something mixed with
it which is not truly godly. There's something mixed with
it which is worldly. And you see, everything really
which is worldly has sin in it. You might say, well, that's not
very much sin, but if it is any sin, that sin will produce a
part of this blackness. And gradually those black bits
will become more and more. And they become more and more
in this way. When God's grace comes into our
heart and reveals more and more the wrong things that you and
I are doing in our lives. The wrong things you and I are
thinking in our heart. We should not think that sin
is just an outward action. It's far more than that. It is
an outward action when we do things which are against the
holy commands of God. And you only have to read the
Ten Commandments. You can read it in Exodus, you
young people, and it's the 20th chapter. You can read there the
Ten Commandments very clearly and just look at those Ten Commandments
and say, well, Have I disobeyed that? And not in just a physical
way. Perhaps in words. But also in
thinking. Go through those Ten Commandments.
Look at each one and find out whether you can say, no, I haven't
committed that. No, I've been a good boy or girl
in that. I haven't done that. I can assure you of this, you
may think that at first, but when the Holy Spirit comes and
speaks into our heart, we will find that we are guilty of every
single command. And that means that there's very
many black dots, very many black splurges, and we will then come
to recognise that such a statement like this is true. I am black. The Apostle Paul spelled it out
really when he wrote the epistle to the Romans. In the 7th chapter,
16th verse he said this, in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing." That's not very good news, is it? Perhaps we
always like to hear, good news. Well, in essence, that is good
news. I'll tell you why it's good news.
It's good news because if you recognize the truth of it, it's
because the Lord is blessing us with grace his unmerited favour
to discern what we are before God. That's the issue, isn't
it? It's what we are before God.
You see, you and I may appear very wonderful people before
man, but you see, God looks at the heart. God looks within us. God sees everything there. And
when the Holy Spirit does reveal to us something of ourself, we
will come and we'll cry out, just like those lepers did, you
know, in the Old Testament. When anybody had leprosy and
anybody came near them, they cried out, unclean, unclean. Well, you may not want to do
that. When you meet people who have called out unclean, unclean. But it's a good thing when the
Holy Spirit convinces us that before God we are unclean. We're sinners. We're wretched
sinners. Indeed, we're filthy sinners. We won't be able to think, well,
I'm not very bad. No, you're very bad and I'm very
bad. Just like the Apostle Paul, when he said he was the chief
of sinners. And it's good just to think upon
that because there's the Apostle Paul who was a wonderfully blessed
man with wonderful revelations, wonderful communion with God,
but yet he tells us that he was the chief of sinners and also
he tells us he was less than the least of all saints. He didn't
have a high opinion of himself. He had a very low opinion of
himself. Now bless God when the Holy Spirit
brings us to that understanding and that position so that we
do come and we do say, and it won't be in any boasting way,
I am black. I'm black. I'm a sinner. I'm a black sinner. Now if you're
a black sinner, what will you need? What will you need? You'll need to be made clean,
won't you? You'll need to have all the black marks removed. Can you do it? No, you can't. And I can't do it. So we need
them to be removed. And how can they be removed? There's only one way they can
be removed. Only one way. And that's by the
blessed sin-atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the work of the Holy
Spirit in our soul is something spiritual. It's not something
physical, it's something spiritual. And of course, spiritual dealings
with God are vital. They are very important. It's
not something to be passed over and think, well, I don't think
that's very relevant. It is very relevant. It's very
relevant to realise that we are dealing with Almighty God, who
holds, what God tells us, our breath in His hand. If God took away your breath,
what would happen to you? You'd be dead, wouldn't you?
Dead. And if you were dead, where would
your soul be? Would your soul be in heaven? Or would
your soul be in hell? Now, everyone is a black sinner. Everyone. And it's a great blessing
when the Holy Spirit shows us that we are a black sinner. If
you go outside and stop someone in the street and say to you,
are you a sinner? They'd probably say, well, I
don't know about that. Well, perhaps I've done one or two
things wrong in my life, but they wouldn't confess that they
were a black sinner. They wouldn't confess and argue
with the apostle Paul that they were the chief of sinners. It
is the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit that convinces us
of sin, so that we can't stand and say, well, I'm all right.
No, we're not. We are black and we're lost and
we're ruined because of sin. And of course, we inherited from
of forefather Adam, that original sin when he and Eve sinned in
the Garden of Eden. Because sin passed on to all
men. None are free from it. None are
free from it. And therefore everyone needs
to be cleansed from their sin. Everyone who is unclean needs
to be made clean. Now what a mercy when the Holy
Spirit comes and shows us our need of being made clean. The Word of God has a number
of expressions to facilitate that. And one is to be washed. We know why we wash things, don't
we? We wash things to make them clean,
don't we? And you can get soap and water
And it won't wash your soul. It won't cleanse your soul. Nothing
you and I can do physically to wash our soul. That blackness
which is there, we can't rid ourselves of it. You cannot. So who can? The only one is the blessed Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He can wash away our sin. And how is that washed away?
Through His cleansing blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now think of that. One moment,
black. and then clean, cleansed, no
sin, not one spot. What a wonderful thing, what
a change. And so this bride, this church
says here, I am black, but comely. Yes, to all appearance, there
is that outside blackness, Bless God if you and I have been blessed
with that cleansing power of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why there is so much in
the Word of God about blood. You young people, as you read
the Bible, have you picked that out? There's a lot in the Bible
about blood. In the Old Testament days, blood
was always to be seen morning and evening. There was the morning
and evening sacrifice. Every day, Israel would have
been very clearly reminded of the need for blood to be shed,
for death to occur, for sacrifice to be made. It was so clearly
before them. And you and I today, we don't
have the temple, we don't have the tabernacle, we don't have
natural sacrifices. You may say, what do we have?
We have the word of God. We have the Bible, which speaks
to us and directs us from Genesis to Revelation about the blood. And it is the only way of being
cleansed You see, it is that which cleanses us. The only way
without shedding of blood, we read in the Hebrews, without
shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness, there is no cleansing. And so may we have the evidence
of the work of the Holy Spirit within. First of all, recognizing
that we are like this person as she or the church describes
it, I am black. Now that is a good place to be. It's not a very comfortable place,
but it's a good place to be. Because if it's the work of the
Holy Spirit in our hearts, it will then not leave us there. We won't just settle down and
say, well I'm black, I can't do anything about it. You'll be
concerned to be made clean. And you'll need to come to realize
the only position that you and I can come to is to be found
washed in the blood of the Lamb. It's a lovely picture, you know,
the Lamb of God. Throughout the Scriptures, the
Lamb of God is set forth. Really, we might go back to Abraham
with that ram, Caught in the horns by the thicket, substitution. Right the way through there were
all those, that wonderful picture of the lamb, taken and slain,
and the blood shed. And there was only deliverance
under the blood. Nowhere else, my friends, you
and I must, must know that we are, each one of us, under the
blood. That which cleanses us. And you
see then, we are indeed, as the word says, we are then comely. We are then beautiful to look
at because there's no sin. Sin's been taken away. There is still sin which abides
with us. We'll never be free of sin, this
side of the grave. And it's that which will hinder
us, and that which will dog us, and that which will make us sad,
and that which will make us weep before God, and to cry out in
those wonderful words that the Lord spoke in that parable of
the publican and the pharisee when the publican said cried
out God be merciful to me a sinner what is that that's the work
of the holy spirit within there we are black before God and we
need God's mercy we need his grace to come and to show us
the cleansing power the blood of Christ. Oh friends, there
is power in the blood. Oh it is, it's great power. And
how important it is that you and I know the wonderful effect
of it, to cleanse our souls. Because you see, if it is so,
and may we be blessed with the evidence of it, then we should
also know what the apostles spoke, when he wrote to the Romans in
the eighth chapter, when he said, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Because that
means you and I are united to Christ. And if we're united to
Christ, we're one of his. And we're one of his because
he's died for us on that cross at Calvary. Yes, what a blessing
it is to know the great truths of the Gospel. You know, the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he was upon the earth, just a short
time before he was taken up to glory, he prayed to his Father
in heaven. And we have a record of that. It's a wonderful blessing, isn't
it, to know that we have a record of a prayer that Jesus made to
his father. It's a wonderful blessing and
we should never underestimate the wonderful favour that the
Lord Jesus Christ has given to us in this 17th chapter of John. And he tells us this, I pray
for them. Isn't that humbling? to think
the Lord Jesus Christ prays for us. And think of it, Almighty
God, the second person in the Trinity, so great, so powerful,
with billions of people on the earth at the present time, and
billions of people that have passed through the earth since
the creation. And yet, the Lord tells us, I
pray for them. Oh, what a mercy it is to know
that that is so. And the Lord tells us who they
are. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me,
and they have received them, and have known surely that I
came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me. It's a wonderful statement, isn't
it? To realise that the Lord has
given us his words, the words of truth, to direct us to the
wonderful evidence that we are amongst his children, his people,
and he's given us grace to believe those words. Believe those words,
and they have believed that thou didst send me. You see, no one
comes to glory who has not believed the truth of the Gospel. And so what a mercy it is if
the Lord has given us grace to believe, to believe the wonderful
truth the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners,
as the Apostle said, of whom I am chief. And how blessed it
is when you and I know by the Word of God to our hearts that
Jesus Christ came into this world to save me. Religion is personal,
friends. Don't pass it off to someone
else. You need to know it. I need to know it. The blessed
application. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to save my soul. It's the evidence that you and
I must have. And don't go on in life unconcerned about your
eternal state. Don't go on in life thinking,
well, I'm young yet, I'm going to live
a long time. You may not live a long time.
Many people have been struck down, many people have been killed.
None of us know. Jesus tells us very straightly,
very solemnly, be also ready. For in such a day, if you think
not the Son of Man cometh, that it may be in glory when the end
of the world comes, but also it might be when he comes and
calls you and me from this earth. Yes, there is
a date on each of our lives. A date known by God. A date that
you and I won't be able to extend. You won't be able to say, well,
I've wasted my life, but well, there'll be plenty of time ahead.
No, there may not be. The Word tells us, Jesus says,
today, If you will hear my word, harden not your hearts. Many people harden their hearts. Many people reject the word of
God. And it is our glorious favour
and glorious privilege to hear the truth of the gospel and to
realise that Lord Jesus Christ did come to save sinners. And no one is too bad. No one is too evil. No one is
too sinful. No, everyone who comes to the
Saviour, I love those words in the hymn, I came to Jesus as
I was, weary and worn and sad. What a blessing it is that we
have a wonderful Saviour. And my friends, what a blessing
it is if the Holy Spirit has shown us that we are black. It's not very comfortable, you
won't be very happy, but it'll be a good thing, it'll be a blessed
position if it's the work of the Holy Spirit. He will then
gloriously make you and me beautiful. And you know what would happen
is this. You and I might be resting in our own righteousness. It's very dangerous to think,
well I've done this for chapel and I've done that and well I
think I've occupied my time quite well. Well the Bible describes
what that is and it's described like this in Isaiah, all our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. What does that mean? It means they're of no value.
That means you can't look to yourself. You can't think, well,
I've done this and I've done that. And that's of value. Before
God, it's of no value because in everything in our life, there
is sin. So what do we need? We need the
Lord to take away our sinful so-called righteousness. and
to give us his righteousness, which is pure and spotless. No black marks on that. No black
splotches on that. It's pure. And he places it on
all his people to cover their nakedness. Oh, what a wonderful
blessing it is. And then what's the position?
We are then beautiful. Wonderful, isn't it? To think that we are so black,
so unworthy of any notice, the Lord comes, and it's only through
his sovereign grace, it's only through his wonderful love that
such black sinners, that he comes and calls us out of the darkness
of nature into the glorious light of the everlasting Gospel. And
it brings us into this wonderful position of fellowship with the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote
to the Colossians, he had some beautiful words to say in the
first chapter and verse 27, when he says this, to whom God
would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles. What is it? This is what it is,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Think of that. Christ dwelling by His Spirit
within us. The hope of glory. What a mercy
then to know that you and I possess this great and glorious gift,
and the Apostle goes on to say, whom we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labour striving
according to his working which worketh in me mightily." What
a blessing it is to know and have the evidence of the work
of God in our hearts, in our innermost being, and to realise
that that work of the Holy Spirit shows to us that by nature we
are black, the worst sinner, no hope naturally for us, lost
and ruined, and then to know the Lord Jesus Christ came to
seek and to save that which was lost and therefore has made us
beautiful, has made us comely. It is really an amazing truth
to think that Lord Jesus takes our sin upon himself. He takes it, he imputes it on
himself and in return he gives us his righteousness. What a blessing it is. Well,
this is the Gospel. This is why you and I are here
today. To hear by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are lost
and ruined and we are black sinners. We're not little sinners, we're
great sinners. We're evil sinners. We're wicked
sinners. And we need the blessed work
of the Holy Spirit to make us beautiful, to make us comely. I am black, but comely. The bride is speaking here to
the Church of God, O ye daughters of Jerusalem. My friends, it's
good, isn't it, when we hear this, when we know this, when
we know and observe the work of God in one another's soul. Come through this path, this
path of recognizing themselves as black sinners. And again,
let's be clear, not little sinners. If you only think you're a little
sinner, well, you won't know the wonder of this beauty. My friends, if the Holy Spirit
shows you to be a great sinner, great sinner, then you see such
a gospel is very wonderful and very beautiful. And I'll tell
you what the effect will be. The effect will be this. You'll want to hear the voice
of Jesus. You'll want to hear the voice
of your beloved. And in this verses that follow
here, we read this. The Bride says, 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? We will want
to hear the voice of Jesus. And we want to know The Lord
does hear, and the Lord does hear and answer our prayers. You know, in the second chapter,
which we read together this morning, we read about the voice of the
beloved, the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The voice of my
beloved, behold he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills. My beloved is like a rower, a
young heart. Behold he standeth behind our
wall, He looketh forth at the windows, showeth himself to the
lattice. Have you seen the Saviour looking
at you? Have you seen Jesus looking through
the windows, through the lattice, to you? And then we're told, my beloved spake
and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Rise up from all the vanities
of this world. Rise up from all those sinful
ways. Rise up from all the situations
of sin which do so easily beset us. Rise up, come away, leave
them behind. Come away, for lo, the winter
is past. See the winter of sin, blackness,
bleakness, coldness. The winter is past. The rain
is over and gone and there's a change. The flowers appear
on the earth. The time of the singing of birds
has come. The voice of the turtle is heard in our lands. The fig
tree put forth her green figs, and the vines with a tender grape
give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. Now you see, when the Lord speaks,
when the Lord draws us, it won't be difficult then to come away. because we shall see and realise
what an attraction there is in the Lord Jesus Christ, because
he is our only hope of salvation, and he is the object of our love,
the object of our affections, and he is the one that by his
grace one day we hope to see face to face in glory. Well what a blessing it is then
if we are found truly seeking after this blessed Saviour, recognising
our sinful condition and truly desiring to hear His voice, to
come to Him and no one that comes to Him will ever be cast out. It's a great and glorious truth
of the Gospel. May we therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace and to seek help in time of need.
You and I will have a time of need if we are black, if we have
the evidence and know that we are a black sinner and we will
need the blood of Jesus Christ to be applied to our conscience,
to our hearts, to know that we are clean, eternally clean. You see, the blood of Jesus Christ
doesn't lose any of its virtue. It is always the same, all-powerful,
all-blessed, soul-cleansing. Rejoice then in the finished
work of Christ. Rejoice in what He's done. And may we seek earnestly for
the evidence in our hearts that that great and glorious sacrifice
of His life upon Calvary's cross was done in order that you and
I might be saved eternally by His great love toward us, His
great mercy and His wonderful grace. Amen.