May it please God to bless us
together as we meditate in his word this morning. Let us turn
to the Song of Solomon, chapter five, and we'll read verse nine. The Song of Solomon, chapter
five, and reading verse nine. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved
more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us? I just want the, especially our
young people, our children here today to just realise that Although
the Song of Solomon is probably the most difficult book to understand
in the Bible, it is a very precious and a very real book. And what
it does, it gives an account between really two people, and
the two people are the wedding couple, a bride and the bridegroom. And the bride is represented
by the Church of God and the bridegroom is represented by
the Lord Jesus. And the daughters of Jerusalem
are represented by really the people of the Church. So we must
always try and have that as a background. Now it's not always easy to understand
who is speaking, whether it is Christ or whether it is the Bride. And it's so worded that sometimes
it can be appropriate for both conditions. We don't have to
therefore think, well I'm not sure which it is, the Bride or
the Bridegroom, because sometimes both can be appropriate. But it is an important book and
it's something which we shouldn't just ignore because the language
is a bit difficult. But we should understand that
God in his goodness has given us the Song of Solomon to direct
us to what we might consider a conversation between the true
Church of God, the Bride of Christ, and the Lord Jesus himself. And as we see this conversation,
we can see the reaction between the two people. Now, we read the fourth chapter
in this book because the last verse is a verse spoken by what
we would term the bride. This is what she says, Awake,
O north wind, and come thou south, blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. Well, we have there a little
bit of a picture really, because we know that when the wind blows,
it blows upon a tree which has scented blossom, it blows it
away and towards those who pass by and it gives a very pleasant
smell. Usually it's a pleasant smell,
of course not always, but that's in nature. And so she comes and
says, now let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant
fruits. And this is a gracious invitation
to the Lord to come and to be with her. And so We read on in
the first verse of chapter five, and of course I'm sure you young
people know that originally there were no chapters in the Bible,
so it just carried on and flowed on. And so the first verse tells
us, I am come into my garden. The Lord's told her, I'm coming
to my garden, my sister, my spouse. I've gathered my myrrh with my
spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I've drunk my
wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, yea, drink abundantly,
O beloved.' So there's a very gracious and wonderful invitation
to the church to partake of the blessings which the Lord Jesus
Christ sets before us. But we see then what had happened,
and this is very relevant really to us all to realise we can perhaps
pray and ask for something and then almost forget about it and
perhaps become very drowsy and worse than that very sleepy and
that's what we're told now because we're told about what the bride
did she said I sleep but my heart waketh in her conscience she
realized something was happening it is the voice of my beloved,
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled, for my head is filled with dew, and my locks
with the drops of night.' There's a very wonderful and glorious
invitation there to the Church of God which is speaking to her. But now she says, I've put off
my coat. She was on her bed. How should
I put it on? I've washed my feet. How should
I defile them? The reality is we can very easily
become into a lukewarm condition, a sinful condition, which is
what it is really, because instead of waiting, instead of watching
for answers to our prayers, We just become indolent and lukewarm. And the things of God don't weigh
on us as they should do. And therefore we find that we're
sleepy. And we can't really be bothered. We can't really be too concerned. She says, you see, I've put off
my coat. She was in bed, she wasn't going
to get up and put it on again. And she washed her feet. Which
of course, which they did very much so in those days in the
Middle East when it was very dusty. How shall I defile them? She didn't want to get up and
out of bed and spoil that position. Well you can see how that can
follow in our lives today. We find the things of time, the
things of the world can very easily come in. and separate
us. Even our desires and our prayers
that we may have had have seemed to have disappeared. We've come
into this sleepy condition. Well, we're told, my beloved,
put in his hand by the hole in the door and my bowels, that
means her heart, were moved for him. And so she now decided to
get up decided to get out of her bed. She says, I rose up
to open to my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh and
my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the
lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn
himself and was gone. You see, she'd put her own comfort
before the things of God. She put her own condition, her
own position. And now, you see, when she expected
the Lord to be there, he wasn't. He'd gone. You know, these words
are very important to us each, because we have a great God,
who we are to fall down and to worship. And not in our time,
not when we think, but you see the Lord comes and we should
be ready, ready indeed to run after him and not make any excuse
and not put the things of God off. Especially when we've prayed
and then things have come to pass, but well now we've let
the things of this poor old world come in. and take away the blessing. It's a very tragic condition
and we have such account before us here for our instruction and
we should be very thankful that God gives us accounts like this
to perhaps correct us, perhaps to awaken us, perhaps to enable
us to put first things first and not allow of the comforts
and things of this vain world, to take precedent over the great
and important things of God. And so, we're told now, her beloved
had gone. My soul fainted, failed rather,
when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him. but he gave me
no answer." You see, we're not to think that God comes at our
beck and call. We're very careful about that,
don't we? She rose up, and now we see, I sought him but I could
not find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. You and I may be familiar with
that condition. We may have prayed, we may have
truly desired the Lord to come and speak to us, but it's not
happening. It's not happening. And if we
really look back in our lives, maybe hours, maybe days, maybe
weeks, maybe years, We've allowed our own comfort,
our own situation to overcome us. And then when we feel we
want to turn back to God and we want God to really come, he's
not there. Well, he is there, but we don't
realise he's there. Because there's been a barrier
put up between us and our God. And we put the barrier there. And so we have this very solemn
situation. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchman,
and the watchman, of course, in the word of God, usually represent
those who preach the gospel. And it would seem, therefore,
she went to hear the gospel, but didn't hear any good news.
All she heard was bad news. The watchmen that went about
the city found me. They smoked me. The Word of God
smites our heart. It shows us. We've done those
things which were wrong and it's not any comfort. It's not any
comfort. We find it's difficult. We find
it's hard. But nonetheless, you see, the
Lord does allow these things to occur. He allows like this
the watchman that went about the city to find him find us
and we are smitten and we're wounded wounded yes sometimes
the truth of god comes and wounds our hearts it's a good thing
you know when it does so because the wounds correct us and we
realize then what i A sad state we're in. What a barren state
we're in. The world has come in. We've
allowed it to. This Bride had allowed it to
come in and brought about slothfulness in her spiritual life. Let us
not allow the things of time, whatever they may be, to come
in and produce slothfulness in our spiritual life. So then,
when we think, oh, I've had enough of this, I better turn back to
God, and it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. And then we
find that we're smitten. It's a very solemn position.
And then she comes, and she asks the Church of God. She says,
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved,
if you know how to find the Saviour, if you know, please tell me. Because I'm sick, I'm tired of
seeking after these blessings which don't seem to come. And
then we have this question that we've read together this morning
for a text. And it's the Church of God, the
people of God, are asking her a very searching question, because
she appears not to be, perhaps, a true believer. She seems to
have wandered off, and they ask her this question, What is thy
beloved more than another beloved? Now it's good if we are asked
that question. It puts things in a right perspective
to see whether the Lord Jesus Christ is more important to us
than other things. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? O thou fairest among women. Now it's an encouragement to
believe here that the picture is that we have this bride Notwithstanding
she's kind of turned her back upon the things of God, yet she
still gives the evidence of being someone who is fair and setting
forth a good example in perhaps her walk and her conversation. And it's encouraging to think
that here there's the evidence that she is, oh, the fairest
among women, someone who is not covered with all the filth and
evil of outside things of the world, but thankful to be a person
who is one who gives an evidence and a testimony of the life of
God in the soul. And how important that is in
our lives, that however we may be before God and we may be perhaps
left to ourselves and far off yet, by the grace of God we're
still able to give forth a good testimony of being faithful to
our God and of his faithfulness to us. And so the question is,
again, what is thy beloved more than another beloved? O thou
fairest among women, what is thy beloved more than another
beloved that thou dost so charge us? Why are you asking us this
question? Why is thy beloved so more important? Then we have the wonderful description
that this person is able to give, notwithstanding her condition. My friends, it's so, so important
for us today that you and I are able to give a right view of
the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are truly hungering and
thirsting after the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, And
if we have tasted and handled and known something of it, because
you see here is the desire of the bride, as we read in that
16th verse, she wanted the Lord to come with either the north
wind or the south, whatever it was, whatever was needful, she
wanted to come and to blow upon her soul the life of God within,
that it might be stirred up and the spices might flow out, the
graces of God might flow out, and that the Lord might come
to her and bless her. So she's now able to tell the
daughters of Jerusalem, the Church of God, what her beloved, the
Lord Jesus Christ, meant to her. And it's a wonderful blessing
if you and I can give a good testimony of what the Lord Jesus
Christ means to us. It's not something irrelevant,
because we all have a never-dying soul. And it's so, so vital that
we have a right understanding and a right knowledge of the
Blessed Saviour and what He means to us, what He means to our very
being, our very soul. And therefore she's able to tell
us, my beloved, it's white and ruddy, the chiefest among 10,000. Well, white really means purity,
no sin. no spot, absolutely righteous,
absolutely just. She'd had a view of him like
that, as one who was pure and holy. This is good, you see,
if we have such a view of the Saviour, so different from our
sinful self. This blessed, holy God, white,
yes and then also we don't only read that white and ruddy and
ruddy gives the view of blood really blood blood is of a ruddy
color and as you and i may view by faith the lord jesus christ
to see him as that great and glorious pure son of god and
yet also that one who has shed his most precious blood to take
away all of our sins. It's a very comprehensive view,
isn't it, really? It's a very important view that
you and I might have. And remember, here she is saying,
my beloved, my beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't someone
who she didn't know anything about. She was able to say, my
beloved. That's important for us today.
If you and I say that, my beloved, in reference to Christ, it will
mean because we do have some right spiritual understanding
of him. And then of course he goes on
to say he is the chiefest among 10,000, the most important person
in my life. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Chiefest,
the Chiefest. How does that grasp us today? How does that go along in our
spiritual experience? Are we longing to have a visit,
to know more about the Saviour and acknowledge that we haven't
been what we should have been? No, we've allowed our slothfulness
and our weakness and our sinfulness to creep in and not be alert
to hear the great truth of the gospel. And then she goes on
to say, his head is as the most fine gold. The most fine gold. What does that mean, do you think? Well, it means this really. It
means that the Lord's mind, his head, is so pure. Every thought is pure. There's nothing evil in the mind
of our God toward us. It's fine gold, absolute purity. We know that fine gold is pure.
There's nothing mixed with it. And that's the thoughts the Lord
has toward us. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give us an expected end. What a wonderful saviour we have
to think that he's thinking thoughts which are good toward us. Nothing
evil. He's dealing with us as his children. He's bringing us to realise what
we are. where we've got to, and yet you
see to realise, yes, his thoughts are good, they are right, they
are pure, he's dealing with me in love to my soul. Although
he's withdrawn himself, I still love him, I still desire him,
I still seek after him, I still have high thoughts of him, high
desires of him, They won't be minished, they won't be brought
low, they'll be high and lifted up. And we're also told these
locks are bushy and black as a raven. Well, again we have
really the picture of that, of no ageing, no greyness, no whiteness
there. which sets forth his eternal
nature. He is the same yesterday and
today and forever. I am the Lord, I change not. His head is as the most fine
gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. We have this
eternal God to come to. No aging, no thinning, But his
strength remains the same, firm and strong. What a God we have. The picture really builds up
from this account given here by this bride to the glory of
the Saviour, to the perfection which exists and the eternity. My friends, this is the God that
we adore. I hope it is. the God that we
truly go after. And then we're told, his eyes
are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters washed with
milk and fitly set. What a blessing that is to know
that, that it is really, it sets forth the kindness of the Lord
as he looks upon us with those eyes, his eyes, pure eyes. He looks upon us and the rivers
of water which flow down in love to us. It flows, the water of
life. Those eyes follow us. Those eyes
direct us. Those eyes guide us. As you and
I travel through this world washed with milk and fitly set, the
eyes of God are right and they are set in a right way. There's
no error in that positioning. What a blessing it is then to
have a God like this. And he goes on, she goes on to
say, his cheeks are as a bed of spices. Sweet flowers, cheeks sweet smelling,
sweet to look at as flowers. It is pleasing to us. What does
this show? It shows forth really the doctrine
of Christ in what he has done and what he is doing for his
church. the blessing it is to see and
view his great and glorious word which describes the truth of
God in those doctrines which are set before us. Never despise
the doctrines contained in the words of God. Never absorb that
thought that doctrine is dry. Doctrine is heaven as Luther
said many years ago. And bless God if as we view Christ
in all those things which are contained in him it sets our
hearts on fire as it were like lilies dropping sweet smelling
myrrh and then his hands are as gold rings set with a barrel
yes his hands are as the gold rings set with the barrel following
on from that which is His lips speak those beautiful words,
words to us, sweet smelling myrrh it is. The words of God to us
show forth His grace. What a blessing that is. And
then to realise that this next picture tells us His grace has
no beginning nor end. It is so great and glorious. It's like a ring. A ring is round,
it has no beginning and it has no end. He goes on to say, she
says, his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. And that again really sets before
us his human nature. His human nature. The nature
of Christ is the centre of his affection to us. It's also described
as the word which is again often used in this kind of context
as the bowels, our innermost feelings, innermost feelings
of our heart. His belly or his heart or his
feelings are as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. What a mercy that is, you know.
The brightness. As you and I by faith view the
Saviour, It sets forth his manhood, as he took on our form. It shines forth as he came to
save us. The Lord did not fail. Firm and
strong as he was. Ivory is very strong. Firm, it
doesn't change. Firm and strong. And the sapphires,
of course, show they're precious and they're sparkling. life of
Christ to his church are very sparkling and they're very precious. What a blessing it is then to
see Christ in this way and to never belittle what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done, never belittle his great work of salvation,
never belittle that glorious work upon the cross. It shines
forth. What a mercy when it shines into
our heart, to realise what it means to us. An unworthy sinner
with no hope in ourself. It's good you see, if notwithstanding
our condition we can look back in our life and be blessed with
the evidence of what Christ really means to us. It's not just some
vague figure, not just some vain idea, but here we have this very
rich and very full description of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then she goes on to say, his legs are as pillars of marble. The Lord is strong. He carries
us along with him. Remember that occasion in the
Word of God when he went to find that lost sheep. Yes, wandered
away. really just like this bride here,
had wandered away in her own way and had gone to sleep. And
yet you see the Lord found that lost sheep, very weak, and he
put the sheep on his shoulders and carried her back to the fold. My friends, we have a Saviour
who does carry us when we're weak. He picks us up That's very
wonderful, isn't it? Well, it picks us up and it carries
us back. Weak as we are, the sockets of
gold is a pure way. The Lord walked in and directs
us. There's no error. The Lord leads us by the right
way that we might go to a city of habitation. and his countenance
is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. Well, Lebanon, if it's
the Mount Lebanon where all those cedars grew, it's a very fruitful
and pleasant place, and how grand and glorious naturally is a cedar,
and how grand and glorious it is to see the countenance of
our Lord, looking upon us, mindful of us, not turning away. He remembers that we are dust. He remembers us in our lowest
state. He deals with us as his children. And then finally she says, his
mouth is most sweet. Everything the Lord speaks, we
should recognise as being sweet to us. Sometimes they're words
of correction. We may not really like them,
but they are words of sweetness really, because they are directing
us back to the Saviour, directing us to the right way, directing
us away from the broad way of, we might say, carnality. and
casualness in the things of God. But not only that of course,
they are most sweet because they also direct us to His life, His
death, what He did for us upon that cross at Calvary, those
wonderful words that He spoke, the wonderful words that He spoke
throughout the Word of God which are recorded in the New Testament
and of course those words Spoken by prophets in the Old Testament,
they're all there for our encouragement. And she's able to say, yea, he
is altogether lovely. There's nothing wrong, nothing
which has anything to bring anything to draw us away from the beauty
and the loveliness of Christ. Now, we live in a sad day, don't
we? We live in a day of materialism,
a day of many things to distract us from the things of God. The Lord's given us many things
to enjoy in this world, which we should be very thankful for.
But let us come back to this and be able to say, with the
bride of Christ, He is altogether lovely. However He speaks to
us, however we view Him, however we look upon Him, we can see
there is a glory and a wonder to be observed. And so she says
to this church who has asked her, what is thy beloved more
than another beloved? she says, this is my beloved
and this is my friend. It's very wonderful that isn't
it? To think that Jesus is the friend of sinners. What a friend
we have in Jesus. To be able to come and say yes,
this great and glorious saviour, this one who is so wonderful,
so perfect, so glorious, by the grace of God I can come and say,
this is my friend. Now this morning, may we all
be able to come and humbly say, this Jesus is my friend. Because if he is our friend,
we have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. He will
never leave us, nor forsake us. He'll be with us through our
life, and he will take us safe into glory. And remember, the
beginning of this chapter, how the Lord came and called, but
she was too sleepy. The things of this world had
crowded in. But by the grace of God, when
asked the important question, what is thy beloved more than
another beloved? She was able to give a good account. And so today, in our lives, in
our spiritual life, may we be able to give a good account if
we're asked, what does Christ mean to us? What does Christ
mean to you this morning? What does he mean? Does he mean
anything? Or is he just an historical name
in scripture? Well, this account gives us some
blessed direction as to what the Lord was to this person,
this woman, this bride. but to think that she's able
to culminate by saying, this is my beloved and this is my
friend. Oh, daughters of Jerusalem, you've
asked the question, I've given you my answer. What a blessing today. If we're
asked, what is Jesus to you? What is he to me? Can we give
a good answer? We need to be able to give a
good answer. We must be able to give a good
answer. Be able to say humbly before our God and before the
people, before the church, this is my beloved and this is my friend,
oh daughters of Jerusalem. Amen.