Let us turn to God's Word, and
we turn to the portion of Scripture we were reading in the Song of
Solomon, directing you to those last two verses of our reading
in the Song of Solomon chapter 6, and I'll read verses 2 and
3 again. The Song of Solomon 6, and reading
verses 2 and 3, My Beloved, He's gone down into his garden, to
the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved's, and my beloved
is mine. He feedeth among the lilies. The Song of Solomon, of course,
is quite a remarkable part of the Holy Scriptures. It's very
much a love song. but it has a spiritual significance. You might speak historically
of the love of Solomon for the daughter of Pharaoh. Pharaoh
had given his daughter to Solomon as a wife and there is a celebration
of that love of a man for his wife But there is, of course,
a far deeper and more significant meaning to what we have here.
It's a spiritual book. It's part of that scripture that's
written for our learning, for our instruction, as the Apostle
says in the New Testament. All these scriptures inspired
of God, and all of them, as Christ himself says, bear testimony
to himself. And so really what we read of
here is that mutual love between Christ and his church. The Song
of Solomon speaks of union and communion between the believer
and Christ and surely in that hymn that we just sang of Isaac
Watts, number 22 in the book Watts is endeavouring to bring
out something of the spiritual significance of this particular
part of Scripture, union and communion between the Lord Jesus
and the believer. As I said, it's all set before
us under the figure of the love between a man and his wife. and Paul indicates something
of the significance of that figure in what he says at the end of
Ephesians chapter 5. You know the passage there, he
is speaking of relative duties and responsibilities in life
and he speaks of the husband and the wife and the duties of
each one to the other and then at the end he says that this
is a mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the church the most
intimate of all human relationships then is that that set before
us Christ and the church. Now, you're probably aware that
Solomon, we're told, wrote over a thousand songs. In fact, there
in 1 Kings 4.32, we're told he wrote 1,005 songs. Well, this one, as we read in
the opening verse of the book, is the Song of Songs. And of
all those many songs, this is the one that was inspired by
God, the Holy Spirit. It's part, then, of the canon
of Holy Scripture. He may have written many, many
other songs, but this is surely the most significant of them
all because of that relationship that it sets before us, as I've
just said. And so close is the union between
Christ and his church, that as we read through these verses,
it's not always easy to decide who is speaking. Is it Christ
who is speaking, or is it the church, the believer that is
speaking? In fact, here in verse 11, I went down into the Garden
of Nuts to see the fruit of the valley and to see whether the
vine flourished and the pomegranate budded. Who is the person that's
being spoken of here in his commentary on the Song of Solomon? And I
still think it's the best of all the commentaries. John Gill
writing here concerning this 11th verse indicates quite clearly
that it is difficult to know who it is. Is it the Lord? Or is it the believer? But that
indicates to us, you see, the closeness and the intimacy of
the union between these two. Well, this morning I want us
to turn for a little while to these words, here in chapter
6 and verses 2 and 3, where We read of the Beloved, that
is the Lord, my Beloved. He's gone down into his garden,
to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens and to gather
lilies. I am my Beloved, she says, and my Beloved is mine.
He feedeth among the lilies. Here then we have the Church
speaking of the Lord Christ as my Beloved. And she refers here
also to His garden. He has gone down into His garden. And really the theme that I want
to take up is that. His garden. Going back to the
opening verse of the previous chapter where we began our reading
there at verse 1 in chapter 5 he says I am coming to my garden
his garden my garden it is that that is the Lord Jesus Christ
and so first of all to say something with regards to Christ's claim
when he refers to it as my garden and the church acknowledges that
it is indeed his garden and how is it so? how is it the Lord's? well it's his of course initially
by sovereign election that great purpose of God what he himself
as a predestined and we know that that choice that God has
made of His church is a choice that centers in His love. When Peter writes there, at the
beginning of his first epistle, he says of the church that it
is in act according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. What is that
foreknowledge? Well, it's that sovereign love
that God has set upon his people. He knows them. He knows them. He has, from all eternity, set
his love upon them in a special manner. Whom he did foreknow, we're told. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. So, God's sovereign choice
is rooted and grounded in that knowledge, and that knowledge
really is speaking of the love of God that He has set upon His
people. He loves them simply because He loves them. God is
love, we're told, quite plainly. And that love is then expressed
in His sovereign choice of His people. And so here is the claim
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His garden, it's my garden,
because it's that that has been made choice of by the Lord God
Himself from all eternity. And how has He chosen them? He
has chosen them in the Lord Jesus Christ. you're familiar with
the language there in Ephesians 1 and verse 4 according as he
has chosen us in him that is in Christ before the foundation
of the world and how has he chosen them in Christ? well Christ is
the first elect of God where is the intimacy you see of the
relationship between Christ and his church, he is the first elect
and they are all elected in him. The language of Isaiah 42, Behold
my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my spirit upon him. Those familiar words of the Prophet
there. Christ is God's first elect and
all of those who are elect they are made choice of in Him and
so this is the first claim we go back to eternity we go back
to the great truth of God's predestination His election of the people but
that also the Lord Jesus Christ in another sense that He is by
purchase He has come and He has purchased them to Himself. He
has paid the great ransom price that the Holy Lord of God demanded,
because those whom God set His love on, they were the ones who
sinned in Adam, and they are conceived in sin, and they are
shapen in iniquity, and they are sinners from their birth,
and the soul that sinneth it must die and Christ has come
and he has paid that terrible price the ransom price that the
Holy Lord of God demands and so he has purchased them the
Church of God which he has purchased with his own blood those remarkable
words of the Apostle addressing the Ephesian elders there in
the 20th chapter of the Acts God's church Christ God purchased
with his own blood how remarkable the truth is that and then we
read don't we of the redemption of the purchase possession the
redemption of the purchase possession that's the church and what is
being declared there in Ephesians 1.4, what is the redemption of
the purchased possession? Well, what the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished when he paid the ransom price must be brought
home into the souls of his people. There must be power. There must
be power. There must be that efficacious
grace of God brought into their souls. and so it very much becomes
his possession. It is his garden and I think
we can say that in a sense with regard to this garden the Lord
has a six-fold claim and I want to mention those six things.
How does he claim this purchased possession? Well, he takes his
people out of the wilderness. He takes his people out of the
wilderness by his effectual calling. In the words of the hymn writer
we're going to sing the words of what's at the end of the service
the Lord willing we are a garden walled around chosen and made
peculiar ground a little spot enclosed by grace out of the
world's wide wilderness and remember the language of scripture don't
base our doctrine on the content of the hymns the hymns are useful
and we use them in the praises of God and as a poetry they lend
themselves to to memory we can memorize them more easily because
of the rhyme and so forth but when we come to the word of God
what do we read in scripture concerning Israel that wonderful
type of the church. The Lord's portion is His people.
Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found Him in a desert land,
in the waste, howling wilderness. He led Him about. He instructed
Him. He kept Him as the apple of His
eye. How the Lord has taken the people
out of the wilderness of the world and they're his people. It's his garden. It's where he
comes and he visits. Some of us might enjoy going
to fine gardens in the summer months. Is it not good on occasions
to go to some fine house where there are beautiful gardens?
There are some who themselves are very keen gardeners. Well,
the Lord's people, you see, is a garden, and He's taken it out
of the wilderness. And what has He done? He's not
only taken it out by sovereign election, He has enclosed it. This is the imagery that we have
here in the Song of Solomon, in various parts of the book.
In chapter 4 and verse 12, we find these words, a garden enclosed
is my sister. my spouse. Well, the Lord, you
see, is hedged his garden all around. He secured it for himself. We think of the imagery that's
constantly being used here concerning the church and the safety of
the church. As the garden is hedged about and made secure,
so when we think of Zion as the church, What does the psalmist
say? As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the Lord is about His people from henceforth even
for evermore. Oh, the Lord is that One who
secures the safety of His people, enclosing them. We have it again
there in the language of the 48th Psalm and the verses verses 12 and 13, walk about
Zion, go round about her, tell the Towers thereof, mark ye well
her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tally it to the generation
following." All God's people you see, made safe, made secure
because He encloses them. We have a strong city, says the
Prophet. Salvation will God appoint for
walls and bulwarks? He has not only taken his church
out of the wilderness, but he has enclosed his church about
like Zion's enclosed, like a garden is all hedged about. But as we
continue with the imagery here, what do we see with regards to
a garden? Well, it has to be digged, it
has to be planted out, And so too, when it comes to the people
of God, there's work to be done, there's the breaking up of the
fallow ground in the hearts of God's children. What are our
hearts by nature? They're hearts. We're dead in trespasses and
sins as we come into this world. We're in that state of alienation
from God. And there must be a work done,
the hard heart must be broken up, the fallow ground must be
prepared. Or there is such a thing, you
see, as a law work really. To show the sinner something
of his true condition. To break the hard heart. And
God comes, doesn't he, with the hammer of his law to break the rock to pieces,
in order that there might be a planting. The words of the
Lord Jesus, it's God's work, quite clearly, because Christ
Himself declares, every plant which my Heavenly Father hath
not planted is rooted up. It's God who does His work. He
prepares the hearts of His people, that they might receive the Word
of Truth. The Lord Jesus himself tells
that parable of the sower and his seed. Now the sower goes
forth to sow and he makes a broad cast and the seed falls on various
types of grounds. But it's only the good ground,
the prepared soil that will receive that work and be fruitful in
that work. and so as the Lord prepares the
ground and breaks up the fallow ground, so there must also be
that watering. He waters his God. Isaiah 27 through, I the Lord
do keep it. I will water it every moment,
lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day. And how is it that the Lord does
water, the garden. How does he come and water the
souls of his people that they might be fruitful? Well, he does
it, doesn't he, with the doctrines of his works, the language of
Moses, back in Deuteronomy 32, my doctrine shall drop as the
rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain
upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass, because
I will publish the name of the Lord, the scribe in greatness,
unto our God. Oh, it's that doctrine that drops
as the rain, that distills like the dew. That's the gospel. That's the gospel of the grace
of God that comes so silently, so softly at times, like the
Jew. When we rise in the morning and
there's been no rain and yet all the ground is soaking wet
with that that is distilled during the night season. Now the Lord
comes, you see, to refresh His garden. All of these images are here
in Scripture. to support this idea that the
church is very much the Lord's own garden, and He cares for
it, and He causes the sun to shine upon it also. Remember
the language of Malachi? Unto you that fear my name shall
the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings, or
healing in his beams. We thank God for the sunshine.
Now the garden needs the sunshine as well as the showers of rain. And there in Malachi, of course,
we see how that image of the sun shining is applied to the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of Righteousness. The Son
of Righteousness arising. with healing in His beams. How precious is that truth! How God hath shined in our hearts,
says Paul, to give the light of the knowledge of His glory
in the face of Jesus Christ. When the Lord smiles upon us,
When the Lord comes and we know what it is for him to lift up
the light of his countenance upon us. William Gadsby brings it out
in that lovely hymn 514. Would we view his brightest,
gloriousest. Here he shines in Jesus' face,
sing and tell the pleasing story, O ye sinners saved by grace,
and with pleasure bid the guilty him embrace. And then, truth
is sweet and solemn pleasure, God to view in Christ the Lord. Here he smiles, and smiles forever
may my soul his name record praise and blessing and his wonders
spread abroad he's speaking there you see of that son of righteousness
as he rises with healing in his wings healing in his beams but
thinking further of the God and sixthly there are those various
seasons of the year And are there not also seasons in the soul? We are familiar with the seasons.
We now begin to enter into the winter months. And then we long
after the coming of spring. And then we look forward of course
to the long days of summer. And then we anticipate the coming
of autumn, the time of harvest. These are all the seasons. Well,
are there not also seasons in the souls of God's people? And
I remarked before, there's verses, strange verses that we find in
Isaiah 18, And I'll just turn to the verses. There in Isaiah 18, and verses 5 and 6, we read these
words. For the harvest, when the bud
is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, ye
shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take
away and cut down the branches. they shall be left together unto
the fowls of the mountains and to the beasts of the earth and
the fowls shall summer upon them and all the beasts of the earth
shall winter upon them. It's an interesting passage I
refer to it and as I said I've referred to it previously because
it's quite a famous sermon of course by Mr. Philpott J.C. Philpott
on these verses, probably one of the most famous of all his
many sermons, entitled Winter for Harvest. And he brings out
the imagery here and he makes the observation that with regards
to the seasons of the soul, it's somewhat different to the natural
seasons. As I just said, we come to the
long days of summer, the shining of the sun, and then we anticipate
autumn and harvest time. But here we read that before
the harvest, before the harvest, there is a period that is more
like the winter months. And that's the point that Philpott
is making that in his dealings with the souls of his people,
in the way in which the Lord works in his harvest field, the
way in which he works in his church, in order to bring forth
any fruit, there must be a season of winter. That must come. Those nipping frosts of persecution,
those times of trials and troubles, how they're useful to the soul,
they make it more fruitful. This is the mystery of God's
dealings, isn't it? When the Lord speaks that parable
concerning the sower and his seed, doesn't he speak of a time
of tribulation or and persecution that arises because of the words
God's word you see does bring trouble into the souls of the
Lord's people and in the parable the Lord speaks about the stony
ground hearers begin to wither and to die but it's the seed
that has fallen on the good ground that is made more fruitful by
all of that experience the seasons of the soul then the strange
dealings of the Lord with his people as he comes and visits
his garden and makes it a place of great beauty and great blessing. The Lord has His claim there.
It's His God. It is that that God made choice
of before the foundation of the world. It's that that Christ
has purchased by His own precious blood. It's that that the Spirit
of God comes to and works in a mighty and an effectual way.
Oh, the Lord has His claim. But then, in the second place,
we read here also of the church's claim. It's his garden. Or as we have it in the opening
verse of chapter 5, I am coming to my garden, he says. It's certainly
his. But also here we see how the
church uses the language of appropriation. Who is this one? well he is my
beloved that's what she says my beloved he's gone down into
his garden to the beds of spices to feed in the gardens and to
gather lilies I am my beloved and my beloved is mine he feedeth
among the lilies she also then has a claim upon him she has a union with him and
it is very much a two-fold union. Again, we must first of all observe
that it is an eternal union. Just as the Garden is the Lord's
because of God's great purpose of election, she was predestinated
to be His, so there is for her also an eternal union with him
and that's the truth that we have in that opening chapter
of the Ephesian epistle we've already made reference to what
he said there at verse 4 look at what the Apostle goes on to
say in verse 5 also we read of the choice in verse four according
as he has chosen us in him that is in Christ before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love having predestinated us onto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved." What a statement is this in concerning
the union between Christ and His Church. It is that that God
purposed before the foundation of the world. It's an eternal
union and isn't the Lord Jesus very
much aware of that? He's Bride He's that that was
appointed for Him from eternity and He doesn't just speak of
the church as He's Bride, He speaks of the church also in
terms of His children, when we think of individual believers
in the Church, every one of them, His child, every one of them,
the Son of God, the Son of God by adoption, of course, He, the
only begotten of the Father, the Son of the Father in truth
and in love. But all of them in Him, they
are God's adopted sons. And remember how the Apostle
Paul takes up the language of Isaiah 8. In Isaiah 8 the prophet
speaks of his child in terms of the message that God has given
him to take to the nation of Israel. And he says, does Isaiah, Behold
I and the children which God hath given me. Now for signs
and wonders. Well that language is taken up
by Paul there in Hebrews 2 with regards to the Lord Jesus. He
too can say, Behold I and the children which God hath given
me. How were they given to him? They
were given to him of course before the foundation of the world they
were chosen in him as he entered into covenant with
the father so there was a particular people that the father appointed
to him in order that he might save them it's an eternal union
and that's very much a claim my beloved she can say I am my
beloved's, my beloved is mine, and that from all eternity. And
there is that blessed truth that the hymn writer John Kent brings
out, once in him, in him forever. Thus the eternal covenant stands. But it's not enough, is it, just
to be predestinarian. we must be experimental believers
also there must be an experience of that union there must be an
experience of that union because all those that were given to
Christ in that covenant are they not the ones who were brought
in the appointed time to saving faith or the appointed time moves
on a pace not to propose but called by grace to change the
heart, renew the will and turn the feet to Zion's hill. There
must be that experimental union. What is it? It's faith. And we
see it, don't we, time and again in the preaching of the apostles
there in the Acts. What is the message? Well, Acts
16, for example, Paul and Silas when they address the Philippian
jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. Again, when we read of Paul in
his preaching at Antioch in Pisidia, what does he say? By Him, by
Christ, all that believe are justified from all things that
they could not be justified from by the deeds of the law. there
must be faith, there must be that coming to Christ, and that
trusting in Christ, that real belief in Him as the Saviour. But you know, we have to recognise
that faith differs in the same person at different times. If the church is a garden, well
there are those different seasons aren't there in the garden and
so too in the life of the individual believer there might be times
when that child of God is strong in faith where there's an assurance but
then there might be other seasons when there's disquietness in
the soul of that believer when there are doubts and there are
fears and do we not see it in what we read concerning the experiences
of the people of God in scripture both in the Old Testament and
in the New Testament think of the language of the
Psalmist Psalm 22 Clearly a messianic psalm, it's
speaking principally of the Lord Jesus, but it's a psalm of David.
And here is David, David's in a very low place. He cries out,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so
far from helping me? And from the words of my roaring,
oh my God! I cry in the daytime, but thou
hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. Here is David in a low place.
It's still the language of appropriation. We said only on Thursday with
regards to this Psalm in its true application to Christ, when
he cries out upon the cross in all the dereliction of his soul,
feeling so far from God, he still uses that language. He doesn't
just say, God. He says, My God. My God. And it's the same with David,
of course. But David's writing out of all the troubles of his
own soul, My God. My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? He feels that his God is far
off. And yet, at other times, David
uses very different language. In Psalm 73, God is the strength
of my heart, he can say, and my portion forever. Oh, there's
the language you see of assurance. There are different seasons in
the soul's experience. and again on Thursday we read
those two Psalms 42 and 43 with that remarkable soliloquy and
it's repeated isn't it three times in those Psalms we have
it there in Psalm 42 at verse 5 and then again at verse 11
So again, at the end of Psalm 43, verse 5, Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him who is the house
of my countenance and my God. Or David, you see. David can
address his own soul. He has to encourage his own soul.
when it's in those deep places he will yet trust in his God
there in verse 5 of Psalm 42 he says at the end I will yet
praise him for the help the help of his countenance but I like
the way it changes at the end of that Psalm and again the end
of the 43rd Psalm I shall yet praise him who is the health
of my countenance, or his countenance, the sign of righteousness arising
with healing in his wings, his countenance, his smiles, or that's
the health of my countenance. But there are these different
seasons you see, the believer in a low place, and yet the believer
also at times able to say that God is his portion forever, Whom
have I in heaven but Thee? There is none upon earth that
I desire besides Thee, he says. But also when we come to the
New Testament, think of Peter and his great confession, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He says there in
Matthew 16, 16. What a confession it is, Thou
art the Christ. the Son of the Living God and
the Lord tells him blessed art thou Simon Barjona flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in
heaven oh what a revelation it was to him again there at the
end of John 6 he says to the Lord to whom shall we go oh we
believe and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the
Living God And yes, the same Peter. And there, in that 16th
chapter, immediately after that great confession, what does the
Lord say to him? Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou
savest not the things that be of God, but those that be of
men. What had he done? Why, the Lord had been speaking
of that death that he must die at Jerusalem. And Peter had said,
That be far from thee, Lord. oh what a temptation that was
that the Lord should not see that great work through how the
Lord rebukes him rebukes him because he speaks foolishly we
know how again at the end he denied the Lord and he denied
Christ with oaths he began to curse saying I know not the man
this is the same Peter so bold to confess the Lord and yet at
the end sadly denying the Lord and denying Him with curses or
there are seasons in the souls of God's children strange seasons
how true is that language of the man that comes to the Lord
in the gospel and what does he say Lord I believe Or can we say that this morning,
Lord I believe. But do we not often have to go
on with that man and say, help thou mine unbelief. We're believing
on believers so often. Seasons in the soul. We want
to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. But
how hard it is sometimes. But coming back to the words
of the text this morning and the language here in this second
verse, my beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of
spices to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my
beloved, so my beloved is mine, he feedeth among the lilies. Oh, what is Christ doing? He
comes into his garden He visits his garden and he does it with
a purpose. Oh, he's looking for something. And shouldn't we, if we're believers,
be looking for the same thing as the Lord is looking for? We
read here of the beds of spices. He's gone down into the garden
to the beds of spices. to feed in the gardens. What are the beds of spices? Well, think of the graces of
the Holy Spirit. We read there in Galatians 5,
don't we, of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, and
so on. The fruit of the Spirit. And how in the garden, of course,
there In a good garden there will be some order, some due
order. And here we read, don't we, of
the beds of the spices. Paul says to the Corinthians
that all things are to be done decently and in order. If we
as a church are the Lord's garden, things should be decent, orderly. When the Lord comes and visits,
and beholds the beds of spices how we need to cultivate as it were those blessed
fruits those fruits of the Spirit of God how can we do it? well we need the Lord to come
and to come again and again and to come by His Spirit again look
at the language that we have at the end of the fourth chapter
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. What are these winds
that are spoken of, the north wind, the south wind? Well, I
think you're aware, I mentioned it before, that the Hebrew word
that we have for spirit is exactly the same word that is sometimes
rendered wind. The context indicates whether
it's to be understood as a reference to the wind or the spirit. So the wind speaks of the spirits
blowing upon the garden, that the spices might flow out, that
the Lord might come and enjoy that sweet perfume, the fragrance. Oh, the Lord comes as he visits
his garden. These are remarkable words, aren't
they, that we find time and again here. Look at chapter 7 and verses
11 and 12. Come, my beloved, let us go forth
into the field. Let us lodge in the villages.
Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see if the vine flourish,
whether the tender grape appear and the pomegranate spread forth.
there will I give thee my love what a word is that when the
Lord says there will I give thee my love or when he comes into
his garden and makes known the wonder of his love it's a plural
of course because it indicates the fullness and the richness
and the varieties of his love the way in which he comes to
his people and visits them with His grace and with His mercy.
Beds of spices. But then also we read here in
our text of lilies, He comes to gather lilies. He comes to
gather lilies. I am my beloved, my beloved is
mine. He feedeth among the lilies. Oh the lily, the lily of the
valley. What does it speak of? It speaks of humility. It speaks of humility. It's a
little flower, a beautiful flower. What is the promise of God through
His servant, the Prophet, Hosea? Hosea 14.5, I will be as the
Jew unto Israel, he shall grow as the lily and cast forth his
roots as Lebanon. Oh, roots like the cedars of
Lebanon, strong, deep roots. And yet that precious small flower,
the lily of the valley, it speaks of that grace of humility. God resisteth the proud. God
giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves therefore unto
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
season. or when the Lord visits his people
and he comes and he comes to to feed in the garden he comes
to feed in the garden but he doesn't feed alone what do we
read at the end of that opening verse in chapter 5 he says I
am coming to my garden my sister my spouse I have gathered my
myrrh with my spices, I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey,
I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink,
yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved." I think of the language that
we have in the hymn that we started our service with this morning,
that lovely hymn of John Berridge, 897. I think I'd probably choose
this hymn too many times in some respects. But I do love so much
of what dear Berridge has to say here. Verse 3 it says, A
feast is now prepared for thee, in spite of all thy unbelief,
a feast of mercy, sweetly free for sinners and the sinner's
chief. And then that last verse, O Lord,
increase my feeble faith, and give my straight and bosom room
to credit what thy promise saith, and wait till thy salvation cometh. Or as we sing God's praises in
such words, might we not only sing with our mouths, but also
sing with our understanding, and seek to give expression to
the desires of our hearts, that we might be those who desire that the
Lord will come and visit His gardens and visit us in His mercy
and visit us in His grace. My Beloved has gone down into
His garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, to gather
lilies. I am my Beloved's. My Beloved
is mine. He feedeth among the lilies. Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O Beloved. May the Lord bless His Word to
us. Amen.