The tune is Wiltshire 268. Now shall my inward joys arise
and burst into a song. Almighty love inspires my heart
and pleasure tunes my tongue. Hymn 269. Tune Wiltshire 268. You shall walk in the golden light and pass
into the sun. For I take love of him that I
love, and there shall change my tongue. God on His thirsting triumphs,
And mercy drops death's thread. and slaughtered the birds that
fluttered by. This shall the nation know. I'm here with an angel of need,
Suspicious and incomplete. Is he a god? And shall his grace, the weary
hour beset, O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting
in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still
there. And in the thought of some we
have no room Yet, says the Lord, should nature
change, And others' long-concerns prove, Silence still dwells, Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the Song of Solomon Chapters four and
five. Solomon's Song, chapters four
and five. Behold thou art fair, my love. Behold thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes within thine locks. is as a flock of goats that appear
from Mount Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of
sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing, whereof
every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. Thy lips
are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely. Thy
temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks, Thy neck is
like the tower of David, builded for an armory, whereon there
hang a thousand bucklers or shields of mighty men. Thy two breasts
are like two young roses that are twins, which feed among the
lilies. Until the daybreak and the shadows
flee away, I will get me to the mountain of Myrrh, to the hill
of frankincense, Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot
in thee. Come with me from Lebanon, my
spouse, come with me from Lebanon, look from the top of Amarna,
from the top of Shinur and Hermon, from the lion's dens, from the
mountains of leopards. Thou hast ravished my heart,
my sister, my spouse, Thou hast ravished my heart with one of
thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love,
my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than
wine, and the smell of thine ointments, and all spices. Thy
lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb. Honey and milk are
under thy tongue. and the smell of thy garments
is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants
are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, camphor
with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the
chief spices, a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams
from Lebanon. 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. I am coming to my garden, my
sister, my spouse. I have 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. Drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved. I sleep, but my heart waketh. 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 the night. I put off my coat,
how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall
I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by
the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I
rose up to open to my beloved and my hands dropped with myrrh
and my fingers were sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the
lock. I opened to my beloved, but my
beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed
when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. The watchmen that went about
the city found me, they smoked me, they wounded me. Keepers
of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him that I am sick
of love. 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? My beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among ten thousand, his head is as the most fine
gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven, his eyes are
as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with and fitly
set, his cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers,
his lips like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh, his hands
are as gold rings set with the set with the beryl, his belly
is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires, His legs are as pillars
of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is
as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet,
yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. May the Lord bless
the reading. of his own precious word and
grant unto us a spirit of real prayer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
which is and art and art to come, we bow before thy glorious majesty,
the creator of the heavens and the earth, Lord of all, King
of kings, We come, Lord, in all our needs as poor sinners, to
bow before Thee. We thank Thee that Thou hast
made a new and living way for poor sinners to approach Thy
heavenly majesty. We cannot come on any ground
of our righteousness, for all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. We are all as an unclean thing.
We go from forth from the womb speaking lies and hypocrisy.
We have to come with the dear apostle of old, for I know that
in thee, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing.
Gracious God, how true these statements are. The heart of
man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, and we
indeed feel and know it to be so. No help in self I find, yet
oft have sought it well. The native treasure of my mind
is sin and death and hell. O gracious God, do in thy infinite
mercy look upon us at this evening hour, a little company gathered
together around thy word. We do desire that thou wouldst
graciously descend. Pour forth thy blessed spirit
in the pulpit and in the pew, that the word of truth may be
a living word, that it may enter into our hearts. We read in thy
word of being sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. We pray that
at this evening hour we may know that sealing time. that we might know the power
of the Holy Ghost. We come like the apostle of old,
that I might know him in the power of his resurrection, in
the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death. We come, Lord, and seek and hope
to find a portion for our souls, We come and pray that we may
have a clear view by faith of the glory of Christ, of the fullness
of the atonement, of the everlasting robe of his righteousness. May
those precious words, it is finished. Oh, most gracious Lord, may they
resound in our hearts. Salvation's work is done. Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished. Oh, we thank
Thee that all things are now accomplished. We thank Thee for
the incarnation of the Son of God. We thank Thee that He was
made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem them
that are under the law. We thank Thee for His holy life. wherein the holy law of God has
been fulfilled and honoured and magnified, and everlasting righteousness
has been brought in. Oh, may we behold that wonderful
glory of our precious Redeemer, the man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. May we behold the wonders and
the glories of Calvary, where the Lamb was slain, where sin
was put away, where divine justice was satisfied, where God and
sinners are reconciled. When it is said of our Lord Jesus
Christ, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. Gracious, merciful
and eternal God, We do pray that we may find an interest in the
Saviour's blood, my pardon sealed and peace with God. We pray that
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may rest upon us. We thank thee
that he died for our sins and rose again for our justification. We thank thee that he has bodily
ascended into heaven and that we have indeed a great High Priest
sitting at the right hand of our Eternal Father, whereby we
can approach unto Thee. We think of those lovely words
of our Lord Jesus. Whatsoever ye ask in my name,
I will do it. O gracious God. The hymn writer
says, open thy mouth wide, and Lord, we would. Thy word declares,
open thy mouth wide, I will fill it. Oh, we do pray. Give us clear views by faith
of that fullness that is in Christ Jesus. And give us a sacred realization
as we approach and bow before thy divine majesty, tis he instead
of me is seen when I approach to God. O most gracious God,
do hear as we humbly beseech thee, and do graciously make
bare thine holy arm in the gospel. Do send out thy light and thy
truth and return in thy power and in thy glory as thou usest
to be in the sanctuary. Arise, arise, O God of grace,
into thy restless end, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let
thy priests be clothed with salvation and thy saints shall shout aloud
for joy. Oh abundantly bless the provision
of thy house and satisfy her poor with bread. Oh Lord, we
do beseech thee. May we be led into thy truth.
May the word of truth be open to our heart and to our understanding. May it be with us as the dear
apostle writes in the word. the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. Lord, grant that that may be
our blessed portion this night, that our eyes may be opened,
that we may be given that clear eye of faith, that we may see
wondrous things in thy law, that thy word may become a living
word and won't feel the power of it in our hearts. Lord, we do pray that thou would
remember our brethren, the deacons. Give them grace, give them wisdom,
give them help in their responsibilities. Our brother, sister and family
that are away at this time, we pray that thou would bring them
home at the appointed time and grant that they may be benefited
from the rest and change. And others, O Lord, that are
not able to gather with us tonight, We lovingly commend them all
to Thee and to the word of Thy grace, which is able to build
them up and to grant them an inheritance among them that are
sanctified. O Lord, we do pray that Thou
wouldst hear us in heaven, Thy holy dwelling place. And when
Thou hearest, O Lord, forgive. We pray that there may be an
outpouring of the Spirit. Holy Ghost, we look to Thee raise
the dead, the captive free, from the mighty take the prey, teach
the weak to watch and pray. Hear us, O Lord, we pray. We
pray for the little ones and the children, that they may be
blessed of thee, that the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning
of wisdom, may be given to them. We pray for our young friends,
that they may be brought to living faith in Jesus Christ, that they
may lay hold of that hope that is set before us in the gospel,
that they may be enabled to come in all their need unto Jesus
Christ. Hear us, O Lord, we do humbly
pray thee, and do bless them. Do reveal thyself to them. Do
grant the fulfilling of that wonderful, precious promise.
Instead of thy father shall be thy children, whom thou mayest
make princes in all the earth. O Lord of hosts, O God of Israel,
O Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. Let
Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, the Son of Man, whom
Thou madest strong for Thyself. Do hear us, Lord. Turn us again,
O God of hosts, and cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be
saved. We read in Thy word until the
Spirit be poured upon us from on high. And Lord, we know that
nothing can be done without thy Holy Spirit, without thy heavenly
power, O Lord, no sweets the gospel can afford, no drops of
heavenly love will fall. And Lord, it is our desire, our
longing that we might know that divine power, that heavenly unction,
the living word in our hearts, quickening, renewing, reviving,
strengthening, upholding. Oh, do hear us, Lord, and may
the sweet promises of thy word may be made living in our hearts
and in our experiences we do humbly beseech them. May we love
thee and serve thee and follow thee in our day and in our generation. Remember, parents give grace
and help to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. Remember the families as they
gather for divine worship in the home that do graciously grant
thy blessing, for all things are sanctified by the word of
God and prayer. We pray for those that have wandered
away. Lord, we pray that they may,
by thy living power and grace, be brought to the feet of Jesus. Be brought to be in want and
return. There's nothing too hard for
thee. None are beyond thy almighty arm. O Lord, we lovingly commend
them to thee. And pray that thou wouldst hear
prayer, hear our entreaties. May the glory and light of the
gospel shine into this village. and the surrounding villages
and hamlets, may grace triumphant reign, and Christ exalted be,
and sinners deserve an endless pain, thy great salvation see. Oh, do hear us, Lord, we humbly
pray thee. We pray for any, in any particular
trouble or trial or perplexity or sorrow or sadness or bereavement,
that thou would grant thy divine support and blessing and help.
Oh, we do pray, most gracious Lord, to remember all in the
midst of the journey of life, to remember those of us that
are now in the evening time of life, and prepare us for that
great change that must come. Prepare me, gracious God, to
stand before thy face. Thy spirit must the work perform,
for it is all of grace. Lord, we do pray that thou wouldst
remember all thy servants as they labour in word and doctrine
upon the walls of Zion, that thou wouldst strengthen them,
help them, grant that continual and fresh anointing of thy spirit
and the opening of thy word, and grant signs to follow the
preaching of the word. Oh, do hear us, Lord, we humbly
beseech thee and send a day of real prosperity. Lord, we do pray that thou and
thy great mercy would yet send true labourers into the harvest,
with feet to run where thou dost send, men that will blow the
trumpet in Zion, call a solemn assembly. Oh, do hear us, Lord,
we pray thee. Bring us to real repentance and
godly sorrow for our sins. sanctify us with thy blessed
spirit sanctify us by thy word in our hearts we do humbly beseech
of them make us more spiritually minded set our affections on
things above draw my soul to thee my lord let me love thy
precious word we do humbly beseech thee for thy great namesake remember
all the little hill hills of Zion up and down our nation,
wherever thy servants stand, wherever thy people gather, O
that thou wouldst pour forth thy blessed Spirit, and grant
a day of prosperity, a renewing, a reviving. O do hear us in heaven,
thy holy dwelling place, and when thou hearest, O Lord, forgive,
we do humbly beseech thee. We do pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou wouldst fill our hearts with gratitude and with thanksgiving
for all thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses that have
passed before us in the way. Thy mercies to us are new every
morning and great is thy faithfulness and we desire to render thanksgiving
unto thee for thy faithfulness, for thy loving kindness, for
the gift of thine only begotten Son, for the glories of Jesus
Christ, we give thanks unto thee, O Lord, that through him we know
the love of our heavenly Father, and by him we receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost. So we bow in humble thankfulness,
praise unto thy great name, Come, Lord, and touch one's lips with
a live coal from off the heavenly altar. We ask for Jesus Christ's
sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 690. The tune is Pembroke, 719. On wings of love the saviour
flies, And freely left his native skies To take a human birth. The wise and righteous men go
near, His wonders see, his sermons hear, And think him nothing worth,
him 690. tune Pembroke 719. Come, let us adore the Savior
Christ, From greedy men and fierce native
sides, Dictator, heaven and earth, I shall thank you, dear. It happens
to me, it happens to you. ? And he did not depart ? ? From
heaven's shore ? ? Above the stars ? It's very testy way of
seeking God's light will return you with hope I need them, it's such a pain. They have to love and follow
too, and take it through and through. ? The hope is there ? ? That I
would be ? ? The stone in the ground ? ? Ground to be ? ? And
the world ? ? And the choice is yours ? ? And
all of glory ? ? Now you'll see ? ? No longer fear you ? ? Shall
have your freedom ? ? Come take on me, my Lord ? ?
Thou knowest my, my secret stronghold ? The greatest of all God gave
to God, and gave his every son. ? And all His creatures give thanks
? ? For any that suffer in weakness ? ? The flesh, my Lord, is Thine. ? ? Hark! The herald angels sing, ? ? Thy
wounds, O Jesus, can repair ? ? As chain may no longer tear ? ?
Take my life, O Lord ? ? The man which hath made me ?
? Till now I weep ? ? And groan and tear ? ? And weep ? greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, we'll direct your attention to Solomon's Song,
chapter four, and we'll read verse 12 for our text. Song of Solomon, chapter four,
verse 12. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse. a spring shut up, a fountain
sealed. In this beautiful portion of
God's Word, Solomon's psalm, the Puritans, Dr Gill, they speak
of Solomon's psalm as being the holy of holy, of the Scriptures. And the reason that they do so,
and I had a very vivid experience of this when the Lord began to
work in my heart, it's the place of union and communion. And until you and I have known
in some little measure union and communion with Jesus Christ,
we will not really understand the language of the Song of Solomon. I believe it was written by Solomon when he knew experimentally the
love of Christ, which we know from Holy Scripture had several
very special visitations from the Lord in his early days and
that there's no doubt that this is the experience that he
knew, his own spiritual experience of the love of Christ. It says
in the beginning the song of songs which is Solomon's. Why
is it called the song of songs? Because there is no other song
like it. There's no other subject so glorious as that sacred, eternal,
spiritual union between Christ and the church. Because that
is what is spoken of here. That there is a sacred dialogue
goes on between Christ and the church. A spiritual dialogue. when Christ speaks to his spouse,
the church, the individual believer, and when the spouse returns,
when he speaks in love, and the spouse returns that love, just
as it is naturally, the bride and the bridegroom, and that
is really the basis of the dialogue that is set before it. She has
a bride and a bridegroom, his spouse, whom he has loved with
an everlasting love, loved of her God ere time began. And when this love is discovered,
when the Holy Spirit grants a little revelation of Christ, a little
union and communion with Christ, then you begin to understand,
let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is
better than mine. You desire the kisses of his
mouth. When I was under conviction of
sin, I was living in London at the
time. I'd taken a little Bible with me. I wasn't in the custom
of reading my Bible, but I picked up this little zip Bible, which
had been given to me as a Sunday school present, and I packed
it in my case. And the Lord began to work in
my heart. The Lord began to show me what
I was, a poor sinner. They all began to show me something
of the holiness and majesty of God. Something of the solemnity
of a broken law. Something of the curse of the
law. And in this turmoil that I was
in, within me, one day at my work, I had my own office, I
opened up on Solomon's Song. And I read right the way through
the book and I closed it. I remember it
so clearly. I closed the book and I said,
I do not understand a syllable of what I've read. I didn't understand
it at all. I couldn't understand the language.
It was a completely closed book. Then after two years when Christ
was revealed to me and made precious to me, what a different You know, in those days, friends,
when the Lord Jesus was first revealed, you couldn't keep me
away from the Word of God. I was constantly reading the
Word of God. I read the book of Psalms, I
read the book of Proverbs, I read them several times. I found them
so instructive spiritually. And I read Solomon's Song. And
what really struck me and was so precious to me, which I didn't
understand before, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. I'd experienced those kisses.
I'd experienced that love, which is better than wine. And now,
I began to understand the meaning of the book. Draw me, oh, it
was so sweet to me. Draw me, we will love thee. I understood the language. The
king hath brought me into his chambers. We were glad and rejoicing
thee. We'll remember thy love more
than wine. The upright love thee. These became living prayers and
living desires in my heart as I read the word of God. Tell
me, O thou whom my soul loveth. It was the very language of my
soul. Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where
thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. You see, we begin to
understand spiritual things. Like the apostle says when he
writes to the Ephesians, the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened. And that's what we need. The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are spiritually discerned. And the natural man is not spiritual.
The natural man is spiritually dead, in trespasses and in sins. But once the quickening power
and the divine unction of the Spirit has been put in the heart,
indeed the Spirit dwells in the heart. He takes his residence
up in the heart. What wonder, isn't it? What a
wonderful thing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. The Holy Ghost
enters the heart of a poor dead sinner and He gives them spiritual
life. And mark this, my friends, I
will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Once the Blessed Spirit
has taken up His residence in the heart of a poor sinner, He
will never leave, He will never forsake, So we begin to understand something
of the language of Solomon's song. We understand the prayers
of Solomon's song. And we understand because we've
heard it in chapter two, it says, the voice of my beloved. In John's
gospel, Jesus said, my sheep, they know my voice and they follow
me. I know my voice, the voice of
my beloved. Behold, he cometh, leaping upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills, those mountains of
sin, those mountains of unrighteousness, those mountains of trouble. My
beloved, behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, the mountains
of a broken law. My beloved cometh leaping upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills. You see, my beloved
is Christ in Solomon's song. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
beloved, the bridegroom. The spouse is the church, the
true Christian believer. We notice here in this chapter
four, some very lovely language that our Lord Jesus Christ, it's
the language of love, it's the language of everlasting love,
eternal love, unchanging love, infinite love. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness Have I drawn
thee? Everlasting love. Everlasting love and grace. Infinite love. Unchanging love. And this is the beautiful language
of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to his spouse, his church. Behold
thou art fair, my love. Behold thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes within thy locks. Thy hair is as a flock of goats
that appear from Mount Gilead. Beautiful language. Thy lips
are like a thread of scarlet and thy speech is comely. Thy
temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. See how beautifully
he speaks to his spouse. He does. In verse 6 he says,
until the day break and the shadows flee away. That's the believer
entering to eternal glory. The day breaks and the shadows
flee away. Until the day break and the shadows
flee away, I will get me to the mountains of myrrh. That's the
mountains of love. This is a love song, but this
is eternal love. This is holy love. This is almighty
love. Until the daybreak and the shadows
flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the
hill of frankincense. And then he says these lovely,
beautiful words to his spouse. Thou art all fair, my love. There
is no spot in thee. He's speaking of a poor sinner. Poor, wretched, how deserving
sinner. But he's loved her with an everlasting
love. He came to this sinful world
and was made of a woman made under the law to redeem her. He gave His life for her. He
lived a life. Upon a life I could not live,
upon a death I could not die, hangs my everlasting awe upon
the life of Jesus Christ. What does it mean, a life I could
not live? You and I can't live a holy life. You and I are lawbreakers. You and I are born in sin and
shaped in iniquity and unrighteous altogether. But this man, the holy God man,
the man Christ Jesus, he was sinless in his very birth. And he lived a sinless life. And in that sinless life, he
fulfilled the law Why did he do it for his church, for his
spouse? And then that holy precious sacrifice
on the cross of Calvary when Jesus Christ was wounded for
our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement
of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed,
he suffered and he bled and he died for his spouse. an everlasting love he loved
not his life unto death he gave his life a ransom for all to
be testified in due time and this is how he says thou all
fair my love there is no spot in them because he's washed her in his
precious blood there is no spot in them The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. There is no spot in
there. It wasn't only the atonement,
the precious blood, he also clothes her. He covers her nakedness. He clothes her in that glorious
everlasting robe of his righteousness. And then he looks upon her, washed
in his precious blood, clothed his glorious righteousness thou
are all fair my love there is no spot in thee. Wonderful words of grace isn't
it? Sometimes it is difficult to
see whether Jesus Christ is speaking or whether the spouse is speaking In verse 9 he says to the spouse,
thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart,
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thine neck, faith that worketh
by love. The eye of faith, one chain of thine neck, faith
that worketh by love. Faith in Jesus Christ. When this faith is given, Christ
is revealed as the way, the truth, and the life. But we find it, do we not, a
wonder of wonders. A poor, wretched, sinful worm
of the earth. And he says, thou hast ravished
my heart, my sister, my spouse. language of love, it is. And it goes on, how fair is thine
art, he's speaking now of the love of the sinner to Christ, because that sinner dwelling
in them is the Holy Ghost and the spirit of faith, faith that
worketh by love. She loves her master, She loves her master. We spoke,
did we not, on Tuesday evening of the woman that washed his
feet with her tears and anointed and dried them with the hairs
of her head. She loved much because much had
been forgiven. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse. How much better is thy love than
wine. and the smell of thine ointments
than all spices. Oh, his everlasting love for
his bride. He died for her sins. He rose
again for her justification. You see, a garden enclosed is
my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed in
Jerusalem. We read, do we not, in the scriptures
that Jerusalem is a city compacted together. It's very densely populated. There were very, very few gardens
in Jerusalem itself, within the city walls, because there wasn't
the room. It was a place to live and to
work. They used to go out into the
country around Jerusalem and they would make a garden. No
doubt they would purchase a piece of land. But one very important
thing with that garden, it had to have
a fountain or a spring of water. It was no good walling a garden
around without a spring of water. Because a garden by its very
nature is cultivated, it's not wild. It's a place that has been
cultivated, it's been dunged, it's been dug. And the Lord Jesus, he likens
this to the church. There's a word in Jeremiah, isn't
there? Plow up your fallow ground, you
men of Judah. And when the Holy Spirit enters
the heart of a poor sinner, he plows up the fallow ground of
their heart. In that eternal covenant ordered
in all things and sure, the Lord Jesus entered into a
covenant with his father to redeem the church. And he said to the disciples,
behold, I send the promise of my father upon you. What was that promise of my father?
The Holy Ghost. And throughout scripture, the
Holy Ghost is portrayed as living water. These springs of water
In the church, it's the Holy Ghost. There's no life, there's
no light, there's no power, there's no unction without the Holy Ghost. And it's the Lord that walls
around this garden. It's the Holy Ghost, the springing
well within that garden. If you look at verse 15 it says,
a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams
from Lebanon. A fountain of gardens. How beautifully
this speaks of the divine work of the Spirit of God. I often
draw your attention to that beautiful scripture found in a seventh
chapter in the Gospel according to John. And it says there in
verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto
me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this spake he of the Spirit. which they that believe on him
should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because
that Jesus was not yet glorified. And look at the wonderful effect
of the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That
simple, beautiful sermon that was preached by Peter, 3,000
souls were called by divine grace under one sermon. 3,000 Psalms. See the wonderful power
of the Holy Ghost. Now at this wall, in our last
hymn, it says we are a garden walled around, chosen and made
peculiar ground. The church is a garden walled
around by divine grace. The elect in love of the Father,
the redeeming love of the Son, the sanctifying love of the Holy
Ghost, that's the wall that surrounds. It's the everlasting covenant
ordered in all things and sure. David said, didn't he? Though
my house be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure. That covenant made
before time began, that covenant made between the Father and the
Son, that covenant of salvation walled around. It's a, the Lord
has walled the church around. He says, doesn't he, I will be
a wall of fire round about thee, a wall of fire. All my beloved
friends, these wonderful truths that are found here in the word
of God, a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring
shut up, in the holy life of Jesus Christ,
it was for his church. That's what he came to do. He
came to fulfil and honour and magnify the law. He said himself,
didn't he, I come not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. And
that's what he's done. And he's done it for his people,
for his church, because he loved them with an everlasting love.
This is the love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost. God so loved the world, God the
Father, so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should be saved. Then he paid the ultimate price. I lay down my life for my friends,
the Son of God. I lay down my life for my friends.
What life does he mean? He means the holy human life
that he assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. I lay down my
life. The Son of God in his divine
nature cannot die. No. But in that holy human nature,
the Lord of life experienced death. He did. He became our
sin bearer. So it said that beautiful promise
in Micah and elsewhere of their sins and their iniquities well
I remember no more. Why? Because Jesus suffered and
bled and died and resting on him was the sin of the church
and that is why he suffered and bled and died. You know these
wonderful promises to the church are divinely certain. the eternal Son of God, has redeemed
his people, has saved them with an everlasting salvation. It says here, in verse 13, thy
plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, camphor
with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
with all teas of frankincense and myrrh. Now, my beloved friends,
they had to be planted. And if we look at this in the
sense of the precious graces of the Spirit, those plants in
the garden, in the church, faith, faith. A garden has to be planted,
has to be cultivated, has to be watered, has to be attended
to. And these wonderful plants in
this garden are the wonderful graces of the Spirit, faith,
that worketh by love. These wonderful plants, planted
in the heart of the believer, in the church of God. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain, sealed. We read,
do we not, of the time of sealing, whereby you are sealed by the
Holy Ghost unto the day of redemption, a sealing time, when the Word
of God is sealed in your heart and the precious grace of faith
is given and brought into exercise in your soul, when there is a
looking unto Jesus and a love to him and a desire after him,
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest, where
thou causest thy flock to rest at noon. That's the desire of
the living soul, that I might know him in the power of his
resurrection. Why? Because they have faith.
They have a faith that works by love. Accompanying faith and
love is repentance, godly sorrow for sin, and these precious truths
in that eternal covenant. is laid out clearly in the New
Testament by Jesus Christ and also by the dear Apostle. He
speaks of the church and of this faith and love, humility. Humility all comes from the grace
of the Spirit. Patience, let patience have a
perfect work. You may have been in a long,
long trial to try your patience, but let patience have her perfect
work. These are the plants that are
in this garden. And the trial of your faith in
much more precious than of gold or silver that perishes. And the Holy Spirit producing
these fruits of the Spirit in the heart. I think the Apostle, he speaks
of them if I remember correctly in the Epistle to the Galatians. He speaks very beautifully there
concerning the fruits of the Spirit that's in the heart, in
the life. of the true believer. And the
Apostle, he gives a contrast there in Galatians chapter 5,
and he says in verse 17, For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary
one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you
would. But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the
law, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these,
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred. We find these things in our heart,
my beloved friends. Variants, emulations, wrath,
strife, sedition, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings
and such like, of which I tell you before, as I have also told
you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,
against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live
in the Spirit, Let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be
desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. All the wonderful fruits of the
Spirit, of love, of joy, of peace, where? In Christ. In Christ. The Spirit ever leads a poor
sinner to Christ. The Spirit convicts and convinces
of sin, and then guides a poor sinner unto Jesus Christ where
they find forgiveness of sin, where they find the precious
blood that washes away all sin, where they find that glorious
everlasting robe of his righteousness that covers our nakedness. It
does. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse. Spring shut up private place,
you know Within these walls of this place. I'm not saying this
place. I mean the church It's the people
that are invited in it's a private place not for everybody it's
those that are chosen and Those that are chosen by the father
redeemed by the son and are sanctified by the Spirit. And they're brought
to repentance and to acknowledge their sin and their iniquity.
And they're brought to see and to say and to realize and to
confess, if ever my poor soul be saved, it is Christ must be
the way. Christ must be the way. And they're
brought in into the church, into union with Christ, into union
with the Lord's people. in union with the Lamb, from
condemnation free, the saints for everlasting were, and shall
forever be, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, sealed, a
fountain sealed, that fountain open for sin and for uncleanness,
a fountain sealed, the fountain of the blood of Christ, that
cleanses from all sin. Oh, my beloved friends, that
these things may be made a reality in each one of our hearts. Says in the last verse of this
chapter, Waco Northwind, and come thou south, blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved,
this is the prayer of the spouse, Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. And then we have the wonderful
answer of the beloved. In the first, I've always felt
that the first verse of chapter five should have been on chapter
four. I am coming to my garden, my
sister, my spouse. I have 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,
drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. May the Lord add his blessing. Let us now sing hymn number 363
to the tune Ombudsley 385. I will read the first two verses
and we'll commence singing at verse three. We are a garden
walled around, chosen and made peculiar ground, a little spot
enclosed by grace out of the world's wide wilderness. Like
trees of myrrh and spice we stand, planted by God the Father's hand,
and all his springs in Zion flow to make the young plantation
grow. Hymn 363, commension at verse
3, to the tune Ombudsly 385. you ? When we wake at dawn ? ? I hope
you're smiling ? ? All around you ? ? Still you'll be mine
? ? Face to face with me ? O gracious Saviour God's giving. May purple spices, flower of
growth, to entertain a saviour's heart, and make another joy appear. And every creature back to him. Let my beloved come and taste His blessed fruit hath disappeared. I call my spouse, and come, he
cries, with love Flesh God in His eyes. And lo, then to His garden comes Throughout these two shepherds
of the fields, And holds us to the peace divine. Sweeter than honey, filled for
wine. Heap of the tree of life, my
friend, The blessings that my Father sent Your days, O Light,
may each be true and bring abundance of my love. Jesus, we will repent thy good,
And sing the bounties of thy love, Of the rich boon of which
we give Now may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, Rest and abide with us each both now and
forevermore. Amen.