May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn to the
Song of Solomon chapter 5 and just a clause in the last verse,
verse 16. Song of Solomon chapter 5 and
just a clause in verse 16. Yea, he is altogether lovely. I remember when I was younger
that when the Song of Solomon was read I was rather unhappy
because I didn't understand it and it didn't attract me at all. So often when the Song of Solomon
was read I kind of turned off and didn't listen and didn't
take in what was being said. I realise now how foolish and
ignorant I was. Because the Song of Solomon is
in fact a very precious and a very glorious book. And it does speak
very clearly about the Christian pathway. And it speaks about
the Christian and it speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
pattern that is followed is that the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken
of as the Bridegroom and the Church of God, or the individual
perhaps, is spoken of as the Bride, the Bride of Christ. And of course we know that there
will be a marriage of the Church with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we know that there will be time when time is no more, there will
be that marriage supper of the Lamb, when the Church of God
will sit down in glory with the Lord Jesus Christ as the Heavenly
Bridegroom. And as we are aware of that glorious
situation which is to occur, We should therefore be concerned
today that we are fulfilling the role of the Bride and that
we view, we have a right view of the Heavenly Bridegroom. Now
this was written by King Solomon and the Spirit of God gave him
these words to write and therefore we should acknowledge it is the
Word of God. As he comes down to the end of
this fifth chapter, he speaks in these terms with regards to
what the bride is referring to as the bridegroom and that of
course is the Lord Jesus Christ. So we should think of it in these
terms. The bridegroom being the Lord Jesus Christ and the bride
being the sinner saved by grace. So here is the expression that
the sinner saved by grace, speaks of as she comes to a conclusion
with regards to what her beloved was like, she says, yea, he is
altogether lovely. This is my beloved. Well, it will be a good thing
if we have a view of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will have a
view We will all have a view. And that view may be a good view
and it may be a bad view. And the real question is as to
what Christ Jesus means to you and me. I suppose the name of
Jesus is perhaps the best known name in the world. But how many
people really know the Lord Jesus. By that I mean, how many know
Him as the Saviour, and if so, are able to declare and explain,
yea, He is altogether lovely. Now it is important that we do
have a right understanding, and that we are able to come to a
right conclusion. We do not want to journey through
life with just some vague idea of who Jesus is. We don't want
to come to the end of our life and find out we only have some
vague idea of who Jesus is. Indeed, may the Holy Spirit of
God give us a right understanding so that we may be able to say
from our heart not from our head, from our heart, because that's
where the work of God is. Be able to say, yea, he is, all
together lovely. Now, the bride here, or the sinner
here, it came to that statement, having been forced into making
a declaration of what her beloved was like. And I wonder if you
and I were forced into a declaration of what we thought of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What we would say and how we
would react. We read together in this little
account of the position that this sinner was in. And the description
shows to us that she'd got herself very comfortably tucked up in
bed and she didn't want to be disturbed and you know the picture
we have there is that many people today are very comfortable in
this life and they don't want to be disturbed they want to
carry on as long as their religion doesn't cost them anything as
long as it doesn't disturb them they are happy to carry on in
that condition. And here we have the picture
shown to us because what had occurred was the Lord had come
and had knocked on the door of her dwelling and had requested the door might
be opened. Opened to me, my sister, my love,
my dove, my undefiled. For my head is filled with dew,
my locks with the drops of the night." The bridegroom, the Lord
Jesus, was knocking at the door of the house. I wonder if in
our lives we find the Lord Jesus is knocking at our door, the
door of our heart. And what is our response? What was this person's response? Her response was, I put off my
coat. How shall I put it on? I washed
my feet. How shall I defile them? She
was too secure. She was too comfortable. She
didn't want to be disturbed, although there had been that
knocking and there had been that call. And we read on. my beloved put
in his hand by the hole of the door and my bowels were moved
for him." Now bowels are a description for our heart, our innermost
heart. And this person's heart was moved
when the Lord Jesus put his hand in the lock. Now, what occurred? She rose up. Now she rose up. I rose up to open to my beloved,
and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelly
myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone." Now that's
a very solemn statement, because it shows to us that when the
law calls us We should be willing to obey. We should be willing
to hear his voice and to not be so comfortable as it were
in the world. That we don't want to be disturbed.
We want to carry on in the environment that we're in. Oh well, we might
know about Jesus but we want not to be disturbed now. We want
to just carry on in the situation which we are in. And then Perhaps
when there's a greater attraction, then we might perhaps bestir
ourselves. Well, this bride here, she bestirred
herself. She then got out of bed and she
opened the door. But the problem was, she was working to her timetable
and it wasn't God's timetable. My friends, how necessary for
us that we are aware that we are nothing, and that we are
to listen, to hear the call of our God, and to respond to that,
and not put reasons in the way why we should not obey the call
of our God. And we see the solemn situation. This bride found that the Lord
had gone. He'd gone away. He wasn't there. What a disappointment. She only
had herself to blame, didn't she? But then we read, my soul
failed when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. Well, we may know what that is. When we turn our
back upon God, when we try to carry on and please ourselves,
like this bride here, And then you see when we have a change
of mind, like she did, and then when we pray and call like she
did, we don't receive the answers that we expected. He gave me no answer. It's a very tragic scene, isn't
it? It's a very important consideration. We are tempted by the devil to
treat God as one of us. How evil Satan is, who will try
to distract us from those right ways. So we have this testimony
here, and the watchmen, the watchmen represent the preachers, the
ministers of God, the watchmen, they went about the city, And
they found me. They smoked me. They wounded
me. The keepers of the walls took
away my veil from me. You see the watchman. They preached. Oh, the word was a cutting word.
It wasn't a soothing word. It had a terrible effect upon
her. She was wounded. She was guilty. She knew what she'd done. And
it's very painful when we realise When we have turned our back
upon God, and then when we want God, we find He's gone. And when we go and hear the preaching
of the Gospel, all we get is wounds. We look for soothing
words, and we find we receive wounds. Just what we didn't want. Well, the watchmen, they went
about the city. They found me, they smote me,
they wounded me. The keepers of the walls took
away my veil from me. Yes, there she was, you see.
She couldn't hide. Her veil was taken away. There she was, for all to see. And then she comes to the Church
of God. The daughters of Jerusalem represent
the Church of God. And she says, I charge you, O
daughters of Jerusalem, if he find my beloved, that she tell
him that I am sick of love." She wanted the church to tell
her where her beloved could be found. And they put this question
to her. They put this question. It's
a very important question. It's this. 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? Well that's a very important
question for us today. Put it very simply like this.
What does Christ mean to you and me more than anyone else? That's a very important question. It's a very real question. What
is thy beloved more than another beloved. What does Christ mean
more than anyone else? O thou fairest among women, what
is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge
us? She was asking them and therefore
they were responding in this way. Well, now you see we come
to the answer. The answer that she is able to
give. and it will be a wonderful thing.
If you and I are able to measure, trace out the answer that she
gives, and to realise that in this description, the Lord Jesus
Christ is indeed altogether lovely. He is what we need. He is what
we need. And the description commences
with my beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among 10,000."
The chiefest among 10,000. That's a very high statement,
isn't it? It's a very wonderful statement
to fit in her estimation that Lord Jesus Christ was the chiefest
among 10,000. And the description He was white. That means He was
pure. Yes, there was no spot, He was
pure. My beloved is white. The Lord Jesus Christ is pure. He is holy. He is righteous. I wonder if that is an attraction
to us, as we look at ourselves and realise we are the opposite. Indeed we are black. In an earlier
chapter we read this. Thou art black but comely. Because
the Lord looks through that blackness and he sees his robe of righteousness. But the Lord Jesus is white. He's pure. Yes, there's no sin. And then we have this other word
as ruddy. Ruddy of course is gives a colour,
really of red. It's a red colour and we can
see here in this picture, the Lord is not only pure, but he
also shows forth the evidence of the shedding of his most precious
blood. And it's evident. As we look
at the Lord Jesus Christ, what do we behold? What do we behold? My friends, I hope we behold
our Redeemer. And if we behold by faith our
Redeemer, we behold that One who has shed His blood to redeem
our soul. And therefore, if we by faith
view the Lord Jesus Christ, it will be as His holy, righteous
and pure One, but also with that shed blood. Because without shedding
of blood there is no remission. There is no hope for us unless
Christ died on our behalf and shed His most precious blood.
And therefore it is right and it is interesting that the first
statement she makes is white and ruddy. the chiefest among
10,000. Well, how many people viewed
the Saviour on that cross? How many viewed Him in this way,
as white and ruddy? Well, she commences, My beloved
is white and ruddy. So do we behold the Lord Jesus
Christ like that. And then she says, His head is
The most fine gold. Now, if we think of gold, what
do we think of? We think of a very pure metal,
don't we? This is the most fine gold. The most fine gold. And his head is described as
that. Well, if you think of that being
most fine gold, what does it mean? It means this. All God's
thoughts are good. Everything that emanates from
our God is like the most fine gold. His thoughts are always
good, they're always pure, they're like fine gold. There's nothing
wrong, there's no alloy with it. It's pure, all His thoughts
are pure. All His thoughts are pure for
the honour and glory of His great and holy name and for the salvation
of our souls. to think of the Lord Jesus Christ
like that. Head, most fine gold. He is thinking of us. Thoughts of goodness. Yes, no thought of evil. Most
fine gold. This is our Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So this was a picture that this
person had This was her description as she was asked by the Church
of God what was her beloved more than another beloved. And she
was able to declare really what the thoughts of Jesus were towards
her. My friends, the Lord's thoughts
towards his people are as the most fine gold. Because the Lord
is thinking of us And he knows what is before us. And he knows
what we need. And therefore his head is as
the most fine gold. Everything in our life the Lord
has thought about. Nothing missing. No detail overlooked. Every detail of our life in the
smallest way Almighty God thinks about and knows about. You see,
the most fine gold, not just gold, the most fine gold. Every thought of God is pure
and right and righteous. Now I'm sure if we are led by
the Spirit of God, we will be thankful for that. We look at
ourselves and realise how poor we are, how unrighteous we are,
and how wrong and evil so many of our thoughts are. And yet
to think of the Lord God, His thoughts to warn us. are not
evil, they are good. Yes, what a blessing it is. And
then we have a view of the eternity of the Lord Jesus Christ. His
locks are bushy and black as a raven. Black as a raven, well
we know, I'm sure most of us know that a raven is very black
and there's no grey, there's no white hair, A raven, all its
feathers are very black. And here we have this picture
then of the hair. His locks are bushy. They are
flourishing. They are full of life. And black
as a raven. It sets before us the eternity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not dealing with a passing
person. We are dealing with the eternal
God. Our Beloved is the Eternal God. Yes, there's no sign of
aging, no sign of any thinning of the hair. No, that's strong
and bushy. The Eternity of the Lord Jesus
Christ in His full strength. A strength never wavers. Our
God is the same yesterday and today and forever. See how we
have this picture forming itself on the greatness of the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The wonder of Him, the beauty
of Him. No wonder she is able to come
and say, He is altogether lovely. because all these aspects are
adding up together to declare to us the glory and the wonder
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then she comes and says,
his eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water washed
with milk and fitly set. Well, dove's eyes, you know,
are kind eyes and they are often found near water and watching
the water pass. Rivers of water and washed with
milk and fitly set. Yes, there is that flowing of
that water and it is living water. His eyes are the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters. living water washed with milk
and fitly set. You see milk in itself is very
pure and very wholesome and very good. And so we see the eyes
of the Lord like this and they are like rivers of water. They
flow, water flows freely. The eyes of the Lord are in every
place beholding the evil and the good. to think that the eyes
of the Lord are upon his people. Think that his eyes are upon
us even today, and have been throughout our life from the
moment we were born until the moment we pass out of life. His eyes are the eyes of doves
by the rivers of water washed with milk and fitly set. Yes, they are fitly set. The eyes of God are fitly set. They are looking in the right
direction. They don't miss anything. God's
eye is upon us. We miss things. The Lord knows
everything that happens in our life. They are fitly set. Remember that. The eyes of this
great and glorious Saviour. And this was an encouragement. to this bride here, to know this,
as she said, yea, he is altogether lovely. Yea, she wanted the eyes
of her beloved to be upon her. His eyes are fitly set, his cheeks
are as beds of spices, as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies
dropping sweet smelling myrrh. Well, the Song of Solomon gives
us quite a few pictures of the beds of spices. And what are
beds of spices? They are sweet smelling. Sweet smelling. What are the
beds of spices? Surely they are the doctrines
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the doctrines which are set
before us in the Word of God. The doctrines which the Saviour
spoke about when he was on the earth. His cheeks, that which
is so visible to see, are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers. God's doctrines are sweet, they
are confirming, they are strengthening, because they are beyond ourselves.
And his lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. The words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His lips speak words, don't they?
My friends, are the words of Jesus like lilies to our soul? As we think of the words that
we read of from the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament,
the words that he speaks Has the Lord spoken a word to
your heart and my heart? Has it entered in? Has it been
like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh? Something which we've
longed for perhaps, and now we've heard this word. His lips are
like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. You see, everything, every
word of the Lord is good. Every word the Saviour speaks
is good. This is the description of her
beloved. Yes, every word. His lips like
lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh. There's nothing bad in
this description of the Saviour. And it would be a great blessing
for us If as we view the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith we only
view perfection. We don't find anything, anything
to turn us away. All we see is that which draws
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing if we are drawn
by such a description to realise that here we have a picture of
none other than God himself. No one else can possibly measure
up to the description that we have here. And then his hands
are as gold rings set with the barrel. His hands as gold rings. What's a ring? We know what a
ring is, I'm sure. You know what a wedding ring
signifies? Well, you may not know, but a
wedding ring is circular because it sets forth really no beginning
and no end. And it's eternal really. Once
that marriage takes place, it continues until death. Nothing to break it. So we have
this, his hands. are as gold rings, the eternal
promises of God. That which God has spoken cannot
be broken. His hands are as gold rings set
with a barrel. Yes, wonderful thing it is surely
to realise this gracious God is the eternal God. We are not
dealing with a mere man. with dealing with the Lord Jesus
Christ, this One who is altogether lovely. He will not fade. He will not pass away. He is
the same yesterday and today and forever. He is the One unto
whom we can trust our soul. We can commit our soul into His
hands, this great and glorious Saviour. Yes, He is. His hands are as gold rings set
with a barrel. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. We have really, we might say
the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, we might say the human nature
of Christ, the centre of affections. Think of that, the wonder of
it, the feelings of his heart. and we see there how brightly
it shines. It's barely as bright ivory overlaid
with sapphires. Ivory of course is a very hard
material, and a wonderful material, and a pure material, and it's
barely set forth like that, bright, which shines forth. overlaid
with sapphires. Yes, the Lord's very being, His
heart, He knows about us. He knows what sore temptations
mean, for He has felt the same. The Lord's heart, He understands
us. The great blessing is, the Lord
Jesus Christ took on Him, Himself human flesh, He took on flesh as of a man,
so that he understands us very clearly. He knows what sore temptations
are, because he has felt the same. The Lord passed through
this world. He lived in it for 33 years.
He endured all that which you and I have to endure. yet without
sin. To think of the nature of the
Lord Jesus Christ, pure, undefiled, unspotted, and yet he took that
nature upon himself. And he had to face, day by day,
all the temptations of Satan. And, don't forget, he has to
carry the sins of his church. His hands are as gold rings set
with beryl. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble. A pillar of marble is exceedingly
strong. the Lord Jesus Christ was exceedingly
strong. We know of course that his nature,
that human nature which he took upon himself was like ours. And we know the effect of all
those temptations and the effect of our sin brought him to great
weakness. But we know there was that great
and blessed strength within. His legs are as pillars of marble. And as we consider that, we can
think of the strength of the Lord supporting us in our path. Yes, the great strength of the
Saviour. As the Apostle said, I can do
all things through Christ. That strengthens me. There is
a strength in the Saviour. A sufficient strength for all
of us. And that's why we have a picture
like this. His legs are as pale as a marble, set upon sockets
of fine gold. Yes, there's a socket and it's
fine. And again, there's no possibility
of failure. There's no rusting or anything
like that. It's pure and it's eternal. His counsellance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. The tree of Lebanon and the cedars
are very pleasant to look at. And therefore we have this view
here. His counsellance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. As we come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, in prayer, as we come as we are. I came to Jesus as
I was, weary and worn and sad. We may expect to see the Lord
in anger because of our sin, but instead of that, we see the
smiles of the Saviour looking upon us. He knows how weak we
are. He knows how sinful we are. We have the description here
of this bride, not willing to bestir herself, and yet given
this request to testify of what her beloved is like, she is able
to say, his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the city. What does it mean? It means that
surely we are ever to be found looking to Jesus. Looking to
him by faith. to see what He has done. That
great and glorious plan of salvation, that great and glorious work
of salvation which the Lord Jesus completed upon Calvary's cross,
well do we not view there in His countenance, excellent as
the cedars. Glory there is in that finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. To look to Him at every time
of need. That's where we are to look.
To look to Him. He doesn't turn away His face.
He looks, He laughs and He hears. His countenance is as leaven
and excellent as the cedars and then His mouth is most sweet. Most sweet. Everything really. The Lord Jesus speaks and sets
forth his grace. How sweet is his grace. We do not deserve grace. That
free unmerited favour. And yet he sets it forth and
he speaks and it's from his mouth. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, is it sweet to you and
me to see His grace, and not only to see and know His grace,
but also as He shows forth His love for such unworthy sinners. His mouth is most sweet. When you and I view ourselves
as lost and ruined sinners, to see the Lord Jesus looking upon
us, smiling upon us, speaking to us. Do we not come and say,
yes, I am undeserving of any favour. The Lord has turned and
looked upon me. His mouth is most sweet and therefore
the picture is, yea, he is altogether lovely. He is really described
a saviour, generally, and then from head to foot, she's given
a description of what he means to her. And so as we think of
that tonight, what does the Lord Jesus Christ mean to you and
me? If we were asked to describe
the Lord Jesus Christ, the question that's put to us tonight, well,
OK, you've turned your back upon the Lord Jesus, And now you want
the Lord to return to you. What does Jesus mean to you?
What does He mean to you? How would you respond? How would
you respond? Would you respond by saying,
well, I so need the Saviour. I need His mercy. I need His
grace. I need His love. I need to have
it revealed to me. that He has died to atone for
my sins. I need to know that He shed His
most precious blood for me. I need that personal application
of that blood to my soul. I need to know that Lord Jesus
Christ has gone to repair a place for me in glory. I need to know
that this blessed Lord is my God. So I am able to say, my God. Well, this bride was able to
declare that. She came and said, this is my
beloved. The one that she wanted. The
one that she longed after. I wonder tonight whether we are
found longing after Christ. We long after many things, don't
we? But just remember the words of that hymn, Jesus is the one
thing needful. I without him perish must. Is
that our cry tonight? Yes. This is my beloved. He is to me the one thing needful. Without him I must perish. And she goes on, this is my friend. It's a very humbling thing to
think that this great almighty God condescends to be a friend
of unworthy sinners. Naturally, we know what a friend
is, don't we? We can turn to a friend in our
times of need. We've got a friend here that
sticketh closer than a brother. We've got a friend here that
we can turn to at all times. What a wonderful friend we have. Yes, what a friend we have in
Jesus. So she says, this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem. It was a good testimony, wasn't
it? It was a good testimony. We need to meditate on these
things because they are real. We tend to treat things like
this very glibly and very lightly. My friends, let us not just go
home and forget all about it. Let us go home and ponder these
things and pray the Lord will bless them to us. May we be like
Ruth. She took her corn home and she
beat it out. She beat it out. May you and
I take the corn home and beat it out so that we might find
that which will be a true blessing, and that which will feed our
souls. Ruth needed to be fed naturally,
you and I need to be fed spiritually. May we beat these things out
because they are so important. You know we live in a poor old
world, a fading world, a passing world, and we pay so much attention
to the things which will soon disappear. the Lord Jesus Christ
is eternal and you and I have eternal souls and one day we
shall pass out of life into glory or into hell. Are we amongst those who are
able to give a good description of the heavenly bridegroom and
set forth why he is attractive to us and why he is so needful. Well, may we truly be blessed
with spiritual desires, longings after Christ and desire and pray
that he may come and bless us and do us real good so that we
may be able to come and to describe the Lord Jesus Christ and be
able to say, not only is he the chiefest among ten thousand,
but also to say he is the altogether lovely this is my beloved and
this is my friend O daughters of Jerusalem she was telling
the church of God Amen