Song of Solomon chapter 2. The
text will be found in verse 14, but let's go back and read verses
10 through verse 15. My beloved spake and said unto
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away, for lo, the
winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear
on the earth, the time of singing of birds has come, and the voice
of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth
her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a
good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away. O my dove, thou art in the clefts
of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Let me see thy
countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice,
and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little
foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes. The title of the message this
morning is The Dove of Christ. The Dove of Christ. Oh my dove. Here again in the Song of Solomon,
which is a love poem between the Lord Jesus Christ and His
church. This book was written by the
Holy Spirit as He moved Solomon to write these things. for the
comfort of his church, for your comfort. Think of that, how many
centuries ago this book was written, and how this man was given wisdom
to write this book, and how the Holy Spirit moved him to write
such beautiful words. All for you. All for you. This is his love poem to his
church. It is a poem between Christ and
us, His bride. And it's here we see the love
of Christ for us and we see ourselves. We see ourselves not as we see
ourselves but as He sees us. As he views his church, this
is how the Lord Jesus Christ sees you. His beloved bride. He says of you, you are my dove. You're my dove. And it's here
also by the Holy Spirit to prove our faith. To prove our faith. The words of the bride are given
to prove our faith and interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. When
you read this book, can you identify with this bride? I identify with
this bride, I know. She says, I am black but comely. She is identifying with the church
that is both black and beautiful. We have two natures. We have
the nature of Adam that we are born with, the nature of sin,
and yet we are given the nature of God. Righteousness of Christ,
imputed to us and imparted to us. She views Christ as her greatest
joy. She says, my love is better,
my beloved is better than wine. In other words, better than all
the earthly joys of this world, my beloved is better. Can you
identify with that? Is Jesus better than all the
things of this world? I identify with that. She sees him as the rose of Sharon,
the apple tree among all the other trees. You go out into
the woods and you see an apple tree and the rest are just old
plain trees, that's what Jesus is to me. He is a fruitful tree. He's a tree of substance and
nourishment for my heart. And that He is to all the bride.
His presence is worth more than anything in this world. I also
identified that The bride is sometimes overwhelmed with her
sense of need for Him in this book. And I'm at times overwhelmed
with my sense of need for Him. Are you? At times the bride is asleep
and sin overwhelms her. Does that experience happen to
you? And yet her heart is always stirred again to repentance and
will not cease until she sees her beloved again. That is exactly
like every believer. That proves our faith. This shows
us what we experience in our life. This book was written so
many centuries ago. It speaks to us. It speaks to believers. Is this
your heart? Do you long for His presence
this morning? I hope that's why you came. I
hope that's why you come to here. Is it because you long for His
presence? Do you rejoice to hear His voice
when He speaks to your heart? I do. I rejoice to hear Him. And so in our text this morning,
in these verses that I just read, may Jesus speak to you. That's
what I desire this morning is that He speak to you. And speak
to my heart, because I need to hear Him. He says in verse 11, he says, For lo, the winter is
past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear upon the earth. Believer, hear his voice. Hear
the voice of your beloved that calls you away to himself. He says in verse 13, he says,
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Come away, right
now. He says to your heart, come away. Come away from the cares of this
life. Come away from the thoughts of
this world. Come away with me. The winter
is past and springtime is upon us. Believer, hear His voice,
the voice of your beloved calling you to come now. And first of
all, He says the winter is gone. This reminds me that once we
were dead in the winter of our sins. Once we were dead in our
sins, we did not know God, nor could we know His salvation.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is
none righteous, none good, none that understandeth, none that
seeketh after God. they are all together become
unprofitable there's none that doeth good no not one winter
reminds me of that reminds me of my condition if you've heard of Jesus Christ and you know not of his salvation
It's because He has no form or comeliness to you. I remember
that state. I remember when Christ had no
form or comeliness that I should desire Him. He was nothing to
me. I would hear the gospel and it
would bounce off of my heart as the seed was thrown. It would
bounce off of the wayside of my heart. He had no form or comeliness
to us and we did not desire Him. And truly, no man could come
to Christ except the Father draw him. We were as dead as winter,
and we could by no means bring forth the fruit of righteousness.
You may plow in the winter, you may water in the winter, but
as long as it's winter, the field will be barren. As
long as it's winter, the field will be barren, even so it is
with the dead soul. You may do all you please, you
may try to live a better life, you may join the church, get
baptized, become more moral, you may be faithful to your church
or even learn doctrine or theology, but unless the Holy Spirit of
God give you life, your winter will never cease. but for the believer in Christ.
For the believer in Jesus Christ, the winter is past. The seed of the gospel has been
planted, the rain of the gospel watered, and now life springs
forth from the barren ground. The fruit that springs up is
none other than the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. The winter is past because Jesus
has honored the law of God. This is a message of springtime
to our heart that Jesus Christ has honored the law of God that
we could not do. He is our representative. Obeyed
God's law. The justice of God has been satisfied
by His one offering for sin. And we've been justified by His
resurrection. And now He's ascended into glory
itself, representing us, interceding for us. This is the joy of our
hearts. This is springtime to us. We know this, that He was the
seed that was planted Jesus said, except a seed fall into the ground
and die. He is that seed. He is that seed
of God that was planted in the ground of our sins. And now,
by Him alone, He has taken our sins and bore them away. forever put them away, and the
justice of God looks upon His people and says, Justified. Innocent. Not like you are innocent. Not pretending you are innocent. You are innocent. Because Christ has taken your
sins in His own body on the tree, and God justly condemned Christ
in our stead. What a glorious message that
all our sins have been justly taken away. And having accomplished
our salvation, he cried, it is finished. What greater message
to our hearts is that? It is finished. The salvation
of God is complete. Nothing left for you to add. Nothing left for you to add.
He's done it all. And so far has Christ removed
our sins from us that even God himself cannot find them. In Jeremiah 15 verse 20 it says,
In those days and at that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none. There
shall be none. and the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found, for, because I will pardon them whom I reserve."
I will pardon them. This is God speaking. He says,
I will pardon them. Will they not be pardoned? Is
there anything that would cause God or hinder God from pardoning
His people when He said, when I search for your sins, they
won't be found? Is there anything to hinder God from that? Therefore,
believer, your winter is past. You have been quickened from
the dead of your trespasses and sins. By grace, you are saved. I know we feel cold at times
in our heart. I know we feel that winter is
still here. I know that we become indifferent to the things
of God, but Christ tells us these things
because He wants to show us things as they really are, not as how
we feel they are. And He said, your winter is past. Your springtime is now. Arise, believer, come away with
Christ. He is speaking to your heart.
Come away from your thoughts of sin and self. Come away and
see things as I see them. See things as Christ sees them.
Well, how does He see them? Look at this in your text. He
says, O my dove, believer in Christ, you are His
dove. What does that mean? What does
that mean? Well, in order to understand
this, we want to see that the dove is a picture, just like
we would say a sheep, a believer is as a sheep. The sheep has
certain characteristics that would picture us as his people. So does a dove. Well, first of
all, a dove is white. A dove is white. This speaks
to us that we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. We
have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and made white. Remember in the book of Revelation,
you see those people in the white robes, and He says, Who are they?
And He said, You know who they are. He said, These are they
that have made themselves white. made their robes white in the
blood of the Lamb. How is that by faith in Christ?
Christ has given us His robe and we gladly don that robe. We are made white. That is, we
have the righteousness of God imparted to us in a new nature It's not we are waiting for the
righteousness of God. We have the righteousness of
God. Now, it doesn't yet appear what
we shall be. I can't see this in the full
measure of it, but I believe it in the full measure of it.
This is what He calls us. You are His dove. You are white
and pure before His eyes. Rejoice, believer! that we are
free from the law, not unjustly, but justly made free from the
law. I'm so thankful that God did not take our sins and put
them under a rug or anything and try to hide them somewhere
because then they could come back on us again. You get a traffic
ticket and you put it in your pocket and you just say, well,
that's it. It's hidden. It's all done. I can't see it anymore. That's
not what God does with our sins. He doesn't hide them so that
they can come back to us. He actually punished them. And God who is just cannot demand
twice payment. Cannot demand twice payment.
He justly put away. You're justly white. You're justly
pure before God. He says in Lamentations 4 verse
7, Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk.
They are more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was of
sapphire. Believer, as Christ was the great
Nazarene, even so is his church, made whiter than snow. Whiter than snow. And one day
our bodies will be made polished as sapphires. In other words,
our bodies will be made like unto His glorious body. This
is what it is to be a dove. It's to be pure. Second of all,
a dove is a faithful creature. A dove is faithful to its mate.
It's faithful to its mate. The Lord Jesus Christ sees His
church and says of you, you are faithful to Me. All right. Raise your hand if
you feel faithful. Do you feel faithful enough? Again, we are
living not by sight, by faith. And Christ says, you are faithful. And you know what? That's true
because every believer in Christ will believe on Christ until
the end. Every believer will believe on
Christ and Christ alone until the end. His church is faithful because
we believe on His person. We rest in His person. He is
the God-man. We rest in His office. He is
the prophet, the priest, and the king. We rest our souls in
His work on the cross. And we say there is none other
name given among men whereby we must be saved. His people
are faithful to believe on Him alone. Is there anything else
you're hoping in and resting in? Not His people. His people
have nothing in themselves and they have nothing in this world
they would hold to. We hold to Christ and Christ
alone. We are faithful. And thirdly, a dove. We are His
dove because we are we. and found only in the clefts
of the rock. Look at what he says. You are
my dove that are in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places
of the stairs. Believer, are you weary and troubled? A dove is a wearisome creature. It's often scared. But where it finds the most comfort
is in the clefts of the rock. It's where it makes its nest
and settles. Are you fearful of the waves
like the dove of Noah? You remember that dove that Noah
sent out? What happened? He couldn't find
rest anywhere but the ark. He couldn't find rest anywhere.
And that's God's people. We can't find any rest here in
this world. And we will always come to the
ark. We always make our refuge in
Christ. God's saints will always return
to the ark so long as we live in this weary world. And so we
sing, On Him almighty vengeance fell that must have sunk the
world to hell. He bore it for a chosen race,
and thus became my hiding place. Should storms of seven vengeance
roll and shake the world from pole to pole, no flaming bolt
could daunt my face, for Jesus Christ is my hiding place. Are we not in the cleft? Can
you identify? I am in the cleft of the rock. And what does that
do? It gives us a refuge. He bore
the wrath of God and we are safe in Him. And He bears every storm
that comes on you. He bears it Himself. He bears
it Himself. And thirdly, we are His doves.
We are the doves of Christ because we are harmless. He says, you're
my dove because you're like me. Harmless. Is that not what the
Scripture says of Him? He was holy, harmless, and undefiled. and his people act just like
him his people are harmless people God's people are loving and gracious
because we know what it's like to have mercy given to us and therefore we should be the
most merciful people the most gracious people I beseech you therefore because
of the mercies of God. Because of the mercies of God.
Not only are we his doves, but notice what he says about our
voice and his presence. He says, Let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice, for sweet
is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Believer, your voice
is sweet to the ears of Christ. Your voice is sweet. How often we neglect prayer because
we think our voice would be contemptible. That's not what he says. He says
your voice is sweet to my ears. He loves to hear your cries. All your care on Him. Why? He careth for you. Is it not strange that He would
have to cause such trouble to come on us to call on Him? Yet
that's exactly what it takes. If we had no trouble, surely
we would not call on Him. But He brings this trouble because
He loves to hear your voice. loves it. Believer, let us see
that our prayers are interceded for us. by the Holy Spirit. And the veil that separated us
has been rent from the top to the bottom. That's significant
that the veil was rent from the top to the bottom because it
was rent from God to man. God tore the veil in two. God tore the flesh of the Lord
Jesus Christ in two so that the way into the Most Holy is now
available. and it's available all the time. I was reading in the paper this
week that, and it was a big surprise, the government was closed for
the new year. Oh boy, it took me by surprise
the government was closed. This throne room is open all
the time. And not only does He tell you
to come, He loves for you to come. Come boldly. Come and find a very present
help in trouble. Our prayers are as a sweet-smelling
savor to Him. And not only that, but your very
presence is beautiful to Him. How is that possible? Go to Ezekiel chapter 16. We all know this text of scripture. This is when the infant was cast
out and polluted in its own blood and the Lord said unto us, who
is His church, polluted in our own blood, He said unto us, live.
And then He clothed that child. And look at verse 14. This is
what he says of his church. He says, "...and thy renown went
forth among the heathen for thy beauty. For it was perfect..."
How? "...through my comeliness which
I had put upon thee, saith the Lord." Why are you so beautiful
in the presence of God? Because you are a mirror image
of His Holy Son. When you come, you come by the
name of Jesus Christ. You come in His very image. And there is nothing more beautiful
to God than His Son. And you are the sons of God. You who believe, you're the sons
of God, and you have His beauty. And lastly, I want us to see
a practical command for communion. A practical command of our Savior
for communion. Go back to your text, and look at verse 15. He says in verse 15, Take us
the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines
have tender grapes. If we are to enjoy communion
with Christ, we must take great care to guard and suppress those
little foxes that destroy the tender vine of communion. Is it not tender? Is it not our
communion with Christ, is that not fragile? I found it to be
very fragile. And what interrupts that communion
is not from His side, it's from our side. It's the little foxes
of our sins that disrupt our communion. Would you have great
communion? Then we should take great care
to guard against these foxes that spoil our communion. What
are they? Anger, gossip, slander, boasting, self-righteousness,
greed, the things of this world. Those things interrupt our communion
with Him. All the foxes of false religion
and errors of worse religion must be annihilated, must be
separated from us. Anything that opposes the gospel
of God's free grace, let it be gone. God gives us grace to guard against
schisms. I tell you, we have a small congregation
here, but don't think that that one would skip us. I've seen
it happen to smaller. Now you think it wouldn't. May
God help us to annihilate such foxes. Schisms and divisions. And this is done by love to Christ. This is done by love for each
other. It's done by humility. By esteeming
others better than ourselves. Don't you like to be around a
person that esteems others better than themselves? I tell you, that's the image
of Christ. That's what would keep us in communion with Him.
Is this not springtime to your heart? These things are springtime
to our hearts. To hear that we are His dove. To hear that He has made us spotless
and white. To hear that we are faithful
to Him. To hear that He is our refuge.
To hear that He delights to hear our voice and see our countenance,
which was made comely by His countenance. Is it not our reasonable service
to do away with these foxes of sin? Yes. Believer desire to hear his voice. He says, you are my dove. He
says, you are fair. He says, you are in a refuge. And he says, I love you. I love
to hear your voice. That's springtime. May God make
that to bloom in our hearts.