Song of Solomon, chapter 1. We'll be looking at verses 5
through 7 this morning. The title of the message is,
Is Your Faith True Faith? Is Your Faith True Faith? Let's read this together. In
verse 5 of Song of Solomon, chapter 1, it says, the bride speaking
here She says, I am black, but comely. Oh, you daughters of
Jerusalem, as the tents of Kadar, as the curtains of Solomon, look
not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon
me. My mother's children were angry
with me. They made me the keeper of the
vineyards. But my own vineyard have I not
kept. Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest
at noon. For why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions." Is your faith real faith or is
it pretend? This is an altogether important
question, isn't it? If we are to have eternal life,
if we are to enter into God's glory, It must be by faith in
Jesus Christ. Is your faith real or is it pretend? There will be many, many who
profess to believe in Jesus Christ who are pretenders and have not
true faith. These are religious people. These
are moral people. These are people who do good
works, and yet they are lost. Their faith in Christ is not
true. Warning. Their faith in Christ
is not real faith, but rather it is a product of their own
making. Is your faith true faith? Or is it pretend? Now, true faith
in Christ is not a product of the desire of men. True faith
is not a product of the will of man. True faith is not transferred
by kinship or relationship. I want you to see this. Go over
to Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
5 says, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up
together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Here it is. For by grace you
are saved through faith. Is faith important? It is vital. It is vital. For by grace you
are saved through faith. And that, that faith, is not
of yourself. That faith is a gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast. In John chapter 1 and verse 12,
it says, But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe. on His
name. Is that not important? Is faith
not important? In order to be a son of God,
you must believe. But where does this faith come
from? God says, John says this, he says in verse 13, which were
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh. nor of the will of man, but of
God." Faith comes from God. Faith is not something you and
I can generate. Faith in Jesus Christ is never,
never, never the cause of the new birth. Faith is always the
result. Faith is always the result of
the new birth. Jesus tells us in Matthew's Gospel,
Matthew chapter 7, He says, Not everyone that saith to Me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth
the will of My Father which is in heaven. Jesus says, many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied,
preached in thy name? Have we not cast out devils in
thy name? Have we not done many wonderful
works? And then he will profess unto them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, you that work iniquity. This morning, I don't
doubt that you, that every one of you, have some faith in Jesus. You wouldn't be here if you didn't
have some faith in Jesus. I believe you have some faith. But these who cry, Lord, Lord,
they had some faith too, didn't they? But their faith was not
real faith. Their faith was pretend. Their
faith was not of God. It was something they did themselves. Their faith was only found to
be a profession of faith and not to the salvation of their
souls. And so I ask you this morning,
is your faith a gift of God? Is your faith, are you trusting
in your flesh, in any works that you have done? If you trust in anything other
than Jesus Christ and Him alone, your faith is empty. It's vain. It doesn't provide
any salvation for your soul. This is the question of most
importance because it has to do with your immortal soul. This is a matter of great importance
and some of you may leave here holding on to your vain and empty
faith. Some of you may die in your sins
holding on to what you think is faith. But I know this, that all of
God's elect, all of those that were redeemed by the blood of
Christ shall be called from death to life, from darkness to light. And they will believe. They will believe. They will have true faith and
eternal life because God will give it to them. God will give
it to them. So let us look again at the Song
of Solomon to answer this question. What is the character of true
faith? If I'm to know if my faith is
true, if my faith is genuine, if my faith is a gift of God,
then we must know the character of faith. And it is revealed
to us in our text this morning. I have four things about faith. Four things about faith. And
I want us to remember before we begin that this whole book
of the Song of Solomon is an allegory. It is a picture of
Jesus Christ and His church. It is the bride here in our text
who is talking. It is the church. It is the elect. It is those who are redeemed,
those who have true faith in Jesus Christ. These are the ones
speaking here in this text. The bride is speaking. And in
verses 5 and 6, we see some of the characteristics of faith
In verse 7, we see the bride calling out to her bridegroom. And here we have the cry and
desire of everyone who has true faith. First, look at this characteristic
of faith. What's the first thing that the
bridegroom says? She says, I am black. I am black. The first characteristic of true
faith is confession of sin. Confession of sin. I am black. Now this is not just a confession
that she had done some sinning. This was not a confession that
says, no, I'm not perfect, but... No, that's not the confession
here. The confession is that we are full of sin. The characteristic of true faith
confesses that we, by nature, are full of sin. This is a result of the new birth. The Spirit of God comes and quickens
our hearts to see who we are by nature. By nature. Now although the scripture proves
that we by nature are full of sin, this is the case with all men,
yet only those who have true faith confess this about themselves. A lot of people like to confess
the sins of others. They like to look at someone
else and say, well that person over there, now that's a sinner.
True faith does not confess the sins of others, it confesses
our own sin. It owns who we really are. In Galatians, Chapter 3, in verse
19, it says, Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because
of transgression till the seed, Jesus, should come, to whom the
promises were made. And it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid! For if there had
been a law given which could have given life Truly, righteousness
should have been by the law, but the Scripture hath concluded. What has the Scripture concluded?
All are under sin. all under sin. This is the conclusion
of the law. This is the purpose of the law.
The law is only meant to show you your guilt before God. The law was never meant to save
you. The law was never meant for you
to be obedient to the law so that you can merit God's favor. The law was only meant to show
you that you are full of sin. That's all the law is there for. Friends, God is the offended
party here. God is the offended party. We
have sinned against God. The Scriptures conclude that
no flesh by the obedience of the law shall be justified in
His sight. This is the evidence of Scripture.
This is the Word of God. The Scripture says, as it is
written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They
are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Not one. Have you been made to see this
truth about yourself? I'll tell you, if you've never
been able to see what you are, a sinner, then you'll never know
your need of a Savior. Have you been shut up to your guilt before God? Do you see that there is nothing,
nothing you can do to merit God's favor? Have you seen that? Do you know
that? Do you confess this to be true? Have you seen there is no way
to reconcile yourself to God? Have you seen that all your good
works are worthy of nothing but hell? If you're a sinner, if this is your confession, if you are hopeless to merit
God's favor and forgiveness and mercy, then I've got a good message
for you. I've got a good message for sinners.
The gospel is a message of good news to those who are black,
to those who are full of sin. If you are a sinner, the gospel
is for you. It was for sinners that Jesus
came to save. sinners. We who believe, we confess
this to be true of ourselves. I confess. I own this to be true
of myself. This is my nature. I am black,
full of sin. Sin is not just what I do. It is by nature who I am. I don't need a partial Savior. I don't need someone to come
and help me. I need someone to completely
save me. A complete Savior. Only complete
sinners need a complete Savior. Jesus said this, they that are
whole Need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save who? Sinners. Sinners. not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The mercy
of God is for those who need mercy. If you have anything to offer
God, you don't need mercy. I have nothing to offer God.
I need free mercy. So those who believe, those who
have true faith, you who have true faith, listen to me, this
is your confession. I am black. That's your confession. Second characteristic. The second
characteristic of true faith is this. I am black, but Beautiful. Come lay. I am black, but beautiful. True believers confess that we
are altogether unworthy of God's grace. We know that by no means
we could merit God's salvation nor contribute to the work of
Jesus Christ. We could add nothing to Him.
We are black as the tents of Kedar. Those tents of Kedar that
she mentions here, they were Ishmael's family. They were of
the sinful tribe of Ishmael and they were goat herders. They
weren't sheep herders. And they would take those black
goats and they would make those tents. She said, My, I am black
as the tents of Kedar, but I'm also as beautiful as the curtains
of Solomon. Two natures. This is what happens
when God saves someone is that, yes, they have that old nature
that they were born with, but then God comes and gives them
a new heart, a new life that was not there before. He gives
them faith in Christ alone. I tell you, I am black by nature,
worn and ugly. You who believe, have you not
seen that you've grown worse? As I grow in grace and knowledge
of Jesus Christ, that black nature just gets blacker and blacker. More wicked, I hate it more,
I see more of its filth and unrighteousness. Therefore, as we grow in the
grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, even so does the old
man become more detestable. Isn't that so? Do you hate that
black nature? I despise it. It is detestable
to me. Why? Because God has given me
something new. He's given me a nature that hates
the old. Here we must not rest, but we
must continue to see and know if our faith is real. Now I'll
tell you this, I've had many people come to me crying and
weeping and sobbing about their sin. They think, oh I'm so horrible,
oh I'm so detestable. I tell you, just confession of
your sin is not enough. If that's all you've got, that's
not enough. That's not the end of true faith.
True faith just doesn't recognize how black we are, but it also
recognizes how beautiful Christ has made us to be. How beautiful
Christ has made us to be. Let me illustrate it like this. If you were caught in a storm, and you saw this refuge, you
saw this place, and it was a massive cave, and you knew that if you
went inside that cave that you would be safe, and you stood
out in the rain, and you confessed, I'm wet, You confess, hey, the
flood is coming and if I don't get inside the refuge, I'm going
to be swept away. What good would that do you if
you didn't get in? The refuge would do you no good
if you're not in it. So if you confess your sins alone
and that's all you do, that's not true faith. You just confess
how horrible you are. That's true, you are. You're
horrible. But that's not salvation. Behold, sinners, that Jesus Christ
is the only refuge. Come to Christ, confessing your
sins, and believe on Him. Trust in Him. But if you remain
outside Christ, you have no hope. all but in Christ. In Christ,
we find plenty of refuge. We find a sure foundation for
our souls. The characteristic of true faith
flees to Christ. When people say, receive Christ,
they're not Jesus has never made it an invitation, it's always
a command. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
God's not asking you to believe, He's telling you. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. But I'll tell you what, if you
were starving to death and someone commanded you, said, eat this
bread, Now, would there be any doubt? Would there be any option
for you? You think, well, I don't know
if I want to eat that bread or not. No! If you're hungry, you
will eat that bread! And I tell you, if you are a
sinner in need of mercy, you will flee to Christ. You will. And all who believe on Christ
are made beautiful. by His righteousness and we are
made accepted by His blood. made beautiful by His righteousness.
Jesus has, by His faithful obedience, obtained the righteousness of
God for us. You and I could never obtain
the righteousness of God, but He, as a man, as a representative
man, obtained righteousness in the stead of His people. He obtained
it by His own work. And this righteousness He gives
unto all and upon all them that believe." That is, the righteousness of
God is both imputed and imparted to you who believe. You who believe,
do you see that the righteousness of God is given to you in this
mortal frame? John says this, as He is. How is He? How is the Lord Jesus
Christ this morning? He is holy. He is righteous. He is without sin. So are we
in this present world. We who believe. We have been
made acceptable by the gift of God, the Holy Spirit. Therefore, all his people, though
black by their own nature, are made beautiful by his nature. We've not kept our own vineyard,
but he has kept our vineyard. He has made us righteous. Jesus
has satisfied the law of God's justice, and he bore our sins in his own
body on the tree. One of my favorite passages of
scripture is Jeremiah 50 and verse 20. It says, In that day
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and not found. God, even God, cannot see my
sin anymore because Christ has bore it all away. My whole soul rests on Jesus
Christ and Him alone. And nothing in me, nothing I
do, only on Christ I stand. Jesus Christ has made us beautiful. Can you say this? With the church
of God, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God. For He hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. Has He covered you with the robe
of His righteousness? And friends, you are beautiful. In the eyes of Almighty God,
you are the fairest. among all men, the fairest. In Matthew chapter 22, the Lord
gives a parable about the king and the wedding. The king has
a wedding for his son and he invites the guests. The guests
turn their nose up at him and he says, go out to your servants.
Servants, go out and go into the highways and the hedges and
get everyone you can and bring them into the wedding feast.
And after they had gathered all the people into the wedding feast
and it was furnished with guests, the king came to see the guests
and he saw one man. He saw a man who had on another
garment. You see, back then they used
to provide garments for all the guests. The king himself would
provide the garments for the guests. And this man thought,
he said, well I'll come in my own garment. No doubt this man had some garment
on. No doubt he thought it was suitable
enough. But the king says, where's your
wedding garment? And the man was speechless and
the king said, bind him hand and foot and cast him out. Many
are called but few are chosen. No doubt this man had a garment,
but it was not the holy garment of the King. I tell you this morning, I am
calling you to a wedding feast, but if you come in your own garment,
you will not be accepted. You come in your own works, you
will not be accepted. You must have the robe of Christ's
righteousness. The garment of believers is only
made by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell
you, this is the only garment I want. I do not want to stand
before God in anything but the righteousness of Christ. Thirdly, all true faith loves
Jesus Christ. Look at this in verse 7. The
bride says, Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth. It is the undoubted character
of all true believers that their soul loves Jesus Christ, which
intimates both the sincerity and strength of our love We love
Him with all our hearts. True faith loves Christ. The true believer in Jesus Christ
has set Him as the object of His affection. The gospel says,
set not your affection on things above. Set not your affection on things
of the earth, but set your affection on things that are above. We who are by nature, like all
men, haters of God and His Son, but now, now we who believe are
made lovers of God. We love Him. above all else. Believer, is there anything in
your heart that is above Christ? If there's anything above Christ,
there's something wrong with your faith. Faith sets Him as
the object of our affection and the sole purpose of our living.
Is there anything else we're here for? Do we live for anything
else? Is there anyone that deserves
our love more? Oh, no. Jesus Christ must and
will be our first love. Our first love. Every believer
in Christ will confess that we love Him. But truly, our hope
is not in our love, is it? Our faith is not in our love.
How is your love? Is your love steady? Is your
love for Christ perfect? No. I love Him because He first
loved me. Therefore, His love strengthens
my love. His love constrains my love. His love is the object of my
faith. I love Him because He loved me
and gave Himself for me. This is the praise of those in
heaven that say unto Him that loved us. Our praise in heaven won't be
toward our love. Our praise in heaven will be
toward His love for us. unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood. Therefore, we who love Him, love
Him because of His great love for us. And mark this to be so. If you
love anything or anyone above Him, then your faith is not of
God. True faith. loves Christ. Jesus said, think
not I've come to send peace, but a sword. Where? Where is the sword most
evident? Is it not in your own homes?
Among your own kin? He said it would be. He promised
it would be. He said, I'll set the father
against the daughter and a mother against the daughter-in-law and
against the mother-in-law. And a man's foes will be those
of his own house. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. He that taketh not his cross
and followed after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth
his life shall lose it. he that loseth his life for my
sake shall find it. Believers, we are oftentimes
like Peter who had fallen in sin and denied his Lord. And oftentimes the Lord comes
to us and smites our heart asking us the same question, lovest
thou me more than these? Lovest Thou me more than these? Lovest Thou me more than these? And true faith responds always
the same. Lord, Thou knowest that I love
Thee. Thou knowest I love Thee. Believers, we have an advocate
with the Father. and we love Him. And lastly,
true faith will seek Christ. Song of Solomon 1 verse 7, Tell
me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon? For why should I be as one that
turneth aside to the flocks of thy companions? There are many
who say they believe in Jesus, say that He saved them, But they
have no desire to seek Him. Isn't that odd? Isn't that strange? Someone to confess, I love you! But they never come to hear His
Word. They never come to dwell among His people. They say, oh, well, there's no
church here. I can't leave because I have this and this and this
and this and this. Well, what do you love more?
You love this and this and this and this more than God's people.
You're not seeking Him. You don't care to be with Him
or His people. God says true faith will seek
Christ. It will seek to be with His people. I know I'm probably not the most
lovable person, but I know this. How can you love him whom you've
not seen if you can't love me whom you've seen? What John says, I tell you, I
love you because I see, I definitely see Christ in you. I love you. You who believe, we have the same father, the
same brother, the same spirit, and we enjoy fellowship together. We enjoy the things of Christ.
This message of Christ never gets old. Does it ever get old
to hear what He's done for us? Is that burdensome to hear? No. No, we seek Him just like the
bride is seeking Him. The bride is not content with
her confession of her faith or her love, but she is only content
to find Him. Tell me where He is! Tell me
I've got to go! Tell me I've got to have Him!
I'm not content. I've got to have Him. Tell me
where you feed! Tell me where you lie down at
noon! True believers seek to know where Christ is present,
and they will not rest until they find rest and food for their
souls in Him. Notice the answer of the bridegroom
in verse 8, if thou know not. What a tender answer that is.
How many times have we asked, Oh Lord, where are you? He's
been always where he's been, hasn't he? Has he not always
been among his people? Has he not always been where
the gospel is preached? Has he not always been in the
closet waiting for you? And we say, Lord, where are you? Well, if you don't know, I'm
going to remind you again because you're the fairest. That's what
he said. If you know not, O thou fairest
among women. Beautiful. You beautiful child. I'll tell you where I'm at. Go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock. You want to know where God is?
See where his people are. You want to know what a shepherd
is? Look where the sheep are. Sheep are with the shepherd.
You follow the flock, you'll find God. You'll find Christ. And feed thy kids beside the
shepherd's tent. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
great shepherd of the sheep. And he says, where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there I am. Where? In the midst
of them. Do you want to know where he
is? He's right here, right now. Where he said he would be. Where
he said he would be. And true faith desires nothing
but the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why, the bride asks, should I
turn to thy companions? Why would I follow after false
religion? God's people won't. God's people
won't. True believers always are found
where the gospel of God's sovereign grace is preached. They are always
feeding and resting on Jesus Christ as the bread of life and
sure foundation for their souls. Do you desire to hear the gospel? All true believers desire it.
and seek it, and cannot stand the free will, works, religion
stench of this world. I cannot stand it. I cannot stand
it. And neither can God's people. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd
of His sheep. And so then, is your faith real? Is your faith true? Do you confess that you are black,
full of sin? Do you confess that you are beautiful
by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone? Do you
confess that you love the Savior? Is it your confession by your
deeds, by your actions that you truly seek to follow Him? Then you have true faith. Your
faith is a gift of God. That is a miracle. If those things
are true of you, that is a miracle of God's grace. That's salvation. And so, you may go forth free,
rejoicing. Your faith is a gift of God,
not of works, not of your doing. There's no boasting in us. We
are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Not by good works, unto them. Praise God for His miracle of
faith.