Psalm chapter 45 verses 9 through
15, and the title of the message this evening is The Beauty of
the Church. The Beauty of the Church. In Psalm 45 verse 9 it says,
King's daughters were among thy honorable women. Upon thy right
hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter,
and consider and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty. For he is thy Lord, and worship
thou him. And the daughter of Tyre shall
there be shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among the
people shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought into the
king in raiment of needlework. The virgins Her companions that
follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing
shall they be brought. They shall enter into the king's
palace. Here, without much introduction,
I want us to first of all see the honor of the church. The honor of the church in verse
9. King's daughters were among thy honorable women." The honor
of God's church. Here in this portion of Scripture,
now we've come to the point where God, who is the author of this
Scripture, turns His gaze from off of the Son, the King, the
mighty victorious King, and now His gaze is turned upon the daughters
of the King. His gaze is turned on the bride
of the king, the church. And the scripture says that she
is honorable. Now that word honorable, it means
valuable. It comes from the root word heavy.
Heavy. When you have a heavy bag of
gold, you know it is of great value. Great value. God's church to Him is of infinite
value. Honorable. Honorable. Jesus, the mighty, glorious victor
over the enemies of God's people, has the most honorable bride,
his church. If you remember when David slew
Goliath, what was his prize? His prize was the daughter of
the king. That was his prize for slaying
his enemy. Even so, as Christ accomplished
God's work, as Christ rose victoriously over all our enemies, He has
also been given a bride. And the bride is His church. Jesus Christ, in the glorious
purpose of God, was betrothed, this bride, from all eternity. And He was sent forth of the
Father to be her Savior. Her Savior. Her Redeemer. to redeem her by His blood and
provide for her a righteousness that she could not provide for
herself. Jesus has been anointed of God
with the oil of the High Priest. We saw that last week, that His
garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, which was the oil
anointing of the High Priest. His garments were dipped in blood,
His own blood, so that He might redeem us from the curse of the
law that was against His church. And to everyone of God's church,
to everyone who believes in Christ, this gospel is of the sweetest
aroma and the sweetest smell to our spiritual heart. Our spiritual senses are made
alive by this gospel of Christ. Go to Song of Solomon chapter
1. Song of Solomon chapter 1. This is the bride speaking. Let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. For thy love is better
than wine. Because of the savor of thy good
ointments, thy name is as an ointment poured forth. Therefore
do the virgins love thee. When the Holy Spirit comes to
a sinner's heart and revives that heart or regenerates that
heart to a new life, that heart is given a sense, is given a
spiritual sense of smell concerning this gospel. It is a fragrance. We desire nothing greater than
Him to lavish us with His love. We desire nothing greater than
to have Him come and to hold us through the storms of this
life. We desire nothing more than to
have Him embrace our hearts, manifest His presence to us.
The sweetness of His work is sweet to His church, to the virgins,
to the honorable women, to the elect. of God by faith. He is sweet. There's nothing sweeter. You
can try everything you want to in this life. There's nothing
sweeter than him. Everything else is disappointing,
isn't it? Just downright disappointing. You get what you think you want,
and man, you don't want it anymore, because it just smells horrible. It just eventually, everything
rots, doesn't it? Everything rots. Everything rusts.
This doesn't. He doesn't. He's always a sweet
smell. A sweet smell. Look at verse
4. Draw me. We will run after thee. The king hath brought me into
his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine. The upright love thee. The honor of the church is found
only in the honor of her husband. The honor of the church, the
preciousness and the value of every believer is only found
in our husband, Christ. He's only found in Him. He bought
us with His blood. He was raised again for our justification. He sits on the throne of heaven
to intercede for us and to forgive us all of our sins and make us
honorable. In the sight of God, His people
are as virgins. Honorable. Honorable. Believer in Christ, we truly
have been greatly honored of God. He has wretched down His hand
from heaven itself and touched your heart and soul that you might believe on Christ. whereas others he just passed
them by. Greatly honored. Do you suppose that anybody thought
that that lowly little virgin, Mary, it would have been said
of her, thou hast found favor. I suppose nobody really regarded
her. Nobody really thought that the
Lord would reach down and speak to her. But just as He has favored
her, He has favored us in Christ. She is just a sinner saved by
grace like we are. And we have found great favor
in the sight of God. He has brought us to spiritual
life and spiritual faith in Christ. Look at verse 5 in Song of Solomon. I am black. Now, this is the
testimony of the bride. I am black. I am full. of sin. That's the testimony of God's
people concerning themselves. I am full of sin. Look at verse 6, down at the
bottom, he said, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. She was in bondage to everyone
else, but her own vineyard she kept not. We kept not our own
vineyard. Our vineyard has been spoiled
by the foxes of our sins. That's our testimony. That's
our confession. But praise God for His confession.
Praise God for His testimony. I am black, but come. I am full of sin, but I am honorable
because God said I was. God said I was. Honorable. Beautiful. Beautiful. Believer, let us keep this in
remembrance and be glad because of His grace. Let us remember
the great love wherewith He has loved us. And always keep in sight by faith
how He views you. It's of great comfort. It's of
great comfort to see how God views you. The king's daughters
are honorable. They're very valuable to me.
They're of great precious value. Number two, see the position
of the church. Go back to your text. The king's
daughters were among the honorable women. Upon thy right hand did
stand the queen. The queen. We are not only said
to be honorable, pure, in his sight, but we are also said to
be the queen of heaven." The queen of heaven. That's his
church. That's his church. Go to Revelation
chapter 12. View his church. See how God
views us who are believers in Christ. His church. Revelation
chapter 12. And verse 1. And there appeared a great wonder
in heaven. Salvation is a great wonder.
You know that? Salvation is a great wonder.
Even in heaven. Even in heaven, it's a great
wonder. It's a great mystery. A woman
clothed with the sun. And the moon under her feet and
upon her head, a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child
cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. And there
appeared another wonder in heaven. Behold, the great red dragon
having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head.
And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and did
cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the
woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her
child as soon as it was born." We know that this is the enemy
of the church. This is Satan who fell from heaven,
taking a third of the angels with him. And she brought forth a man-child
who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child
was caught up unto God, who we know to be Christ the Lord. And the woman fled into the wilderness,
where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed
her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Behold, your Honor before God. You are as a woman clothed in
the sun. That is the brightness of His
holiness and glory. We are clothed in His holiness. It speaks of the dominion of
the church. The moon is under her feet. But she travails. You see, the Old Testament church
travailed for years until Messiah had come. Hadn't they? They travailed
and they were underneath that yoke of bondage. They were under
that law. And they only saw parts and pictures. It was mysterious to them. But
then, when Christ came forth, who also was waiting, who also
was looking and searching for the Messiah. It was the enemy,
Satan. And he waited till Messiah was
born. From who? From his church, from
his people he came. The seed of the woman shall bruise
the head of his The serpent. So the serpent all the time was
looking for the seed of the woman, wasn't he? He was always trying
to destroy God's people. And then, when he came forth,
he was ready. And here come Herod and his armies,
destroying all of those infant babies. Although, he failed to
get Christ, didn't he? He failed! And there he was in
the wilderness with Christ, tempting Him. And again, he failed. And there He was at the cross,
nailing the Son of God to that tree. And again, He failed. He failed. Why? God had taken
Him up. God had taken Him up in His arms.
And God was His strength. He said, I'll be your strength.
And He was. But when God had finally taken
Him and highly exalted Christ and given Him a name that is
above every name, Who was left? The woman. She was left, wasn't
she? To do what? To flee into the
wilderness! Where there was prepared a place
for her. Friends, God's church truly is
in a dark wilderness. We are in a place of great sorrow,
great tears, great afflictions, great troubles. The enemy is
constantly seeking us out, constantly seeking whom he may devour of
us. But I love this, in that same
text it says that the dragon let forth a flood out of His
mouth to take the woman, to take the church. And you know what
happened? God opened up the earth and the water drained right down
before it got to her. You know what that's saying to
us? The providence of God always keeps us safe. He cannot touch
us. unless the Father give him permission. God uses even the enemies of
this world to work for our good. Why? We are the Queen of Heaven. You, believer, are closed. in the brightness of His glory
and nothing will ever touch you. No evil shall harm me. There I find comfort and there
I find rest in His arms, in His arms. We are His royal bride. Now, we are not queen by nature,
are we? We're not born queens of the
heavens, are we? Not like earthly queens that
had to be born of blood. I think of reading history and
the queens of England and, oh, the queens of France and how
they had to be born of a certain bloodline. They had to be married
to the right person at the right time to be queen. Oh, we weren't
made queen that way. You see, the Scriptures tell
us of our nativity. God says, I found you polluted
in your own blood. Your mom was a heathen and your
father was a heathen. You were born of heathen parents. You are of impure blood. And
you were so bad, so detestable, even to your heathen parents,
they cast you out into an open field and left you for dead. That's how we are by nature.
Helpless, hopeless, polluted in our own blood. But God says
to all of his church, live. I say unto thee, live. And not only did He say live,
He picked us up and cleaned us from our own blood. And He wrapped
us in clothes. And as we grew in the grace and
knowledge of Christ, it says He adorned us and decked us out
with all royal apparel. And that's what this part here
is in the second part of our text. It says, At his right hand
did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Now, Ophir was a place
of renowned purity of gold. It was a place renowned for gold. In other words, in this day,
if you were to buy gold of Ophir, it would be the most pure gold
on the face of the earth. Now, how do you purify gold?
Gold is purified by fire. It's tried. The gold is burned,
the dross comes to the top, it's raked off, it's hardened and
it becomes more valuable. And the more times you do it,
the more valuable it becomes. And I notice this, that the better
the gold, the softer the metal. I was telling Gil and Joanne
that that's why they bite the, you know, you see those old timers
biting the nugget. Well, how soft it was determined
how valuable it was. And if it was real gold, you
could bite into it. It was soft. It's a softer metal. How soft then is this gold raiment
that he speaks about? She is adorned in gold of Ophir. It is the purest of gold. It is the thread of her garments. Believer in Christ, we are dressed
in the gold threads of Christ's righteousness. How pure was his righteousness? God says he's a tried stone. Did they not try his righteousness? Can you find one in here who
could denounce the righteousness of Christ? As a matter of fact,
all of his enemies said the opposite. Never a man spake like this man.
Pilate said, I find no fault in this man. I have judged him
and I find no fault in him. Crucify him. That's what he said.
But he found no fault in Christ. Pure, perfect, sinless humanity. That's what Christ was. He did this so that He might
weave for us a golden garment of righteousness. This is not
a physical garment that goes on the outside. Friends, you
look at me and you won't find the gold garment. I'm sure you
look at me and you'll find sin. But I know this. This garment
is something that is within a man. It's not something on the outside
of man. Religion dresses up the outside while the inside is nothing
but stone and cold hearts. But God's people, God's people
are clothed from within. Look at that in verse 13, the
king's daughter is all glorious. Where? Where is she glorious? Where are you glorious? Within. She's glorious within. She has
a new heart, a new life, a new soul, a new love. She is glorious
within because she is filled. Look at this. Her clothing is
of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the
king in arraignment of needlework. I know that some of you have
at least seen needlework. It's very meticulous, isn't it?
It's very tedious. It has to be done specifically
right. The right color has to be put
in and at the right time in order to make the pattern. You see,
our garment was meticulously made by the son of God himself. He made our righteousness. It's
perfect. It's sinless. It's holy and without
error. without sin. And that is wrought within us. It's in our hearts. It's in the
new nature that God gives us. You see, God was not well pleased
with my righteousness. God was well pleased with His
righteousness. The scripture says that we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. You see,
good works doesn't bring in righteousness. Righteousness brings out good
works. It's something that God creates
in us, and it's holy, it's righteous, it's wrought of God. Oh, my sin! Oh, the bliss of this glorious
thought. My sin, not in part, but how
much? The whole is nailed to the cross. And I bear it no more. I bear
not the guilt of it. I bear not the shame of it. He
did. And it's gone. It is well with
my body? No. With my mind? No. Is it well
with my circumstance? No. It is well with my soul. Well with my soul. Number three,
the word of God to his church. Look at verse 10. God says, hearken,
old daughter, and consider and incline thine ear. This is a reminder to you who
are part of his church, to you who are his bride. Don't forget to listen. To his word. Don't forget to hearken to his
voice. God's word to a believer is of
the utmost necessity. I didn't say this was an option.
Is it an option for us to hear God's voice? It is, if you don't
know Him, go right ahead. But for us who know Him, for
us who are His bride, it is not an option for us to hear His
voice. It is a blessing! It is a glorious privilege to
hear His Word and His Gospel. God commands us to believe on
Christ, to hear His Word. Mark it. to his gospel. Be faithful to
hear his word. David said that his worship,
his word was of more importance than his necessary food. How important is God's word to
you? How important is God's gospel
to you? God says to his church, listen,
don't neglect my gospel. Number two, about this gospel,
Christ must always be the object and worship of his church. Hearken! O daughter, and consider and
incline thine ear. Notice what he tells us to do.
Look at it. Look what he tells you to do,
believer. Forget thine own people and thy father's house. Isn't that the same thing that
Jesus said in Luke's gospel when he said, If a man hate not his
father and his mother and his sister and his brother, and yea,
his own life also, he cannot Be my disciple. You see, God's people hear him.
And not only do we hear him, we desire to hear him. And not
only do we desire to hear him, we specifically desire to hear
of Christ, our Savior. We specifically desire that. To his church. Unconditional
surrender to Christ is most acceptable. Is it not most acceptable? Surrender. Absolute, complete, and utter
surrender is acceptable term of peace for me. Is that acceptable
to you? That's the greatest thing I've
ever heard in my entire life. Surrender! Okay. Yes. Yes. Surrender what? Everything
and everyone. It's acceptable. That's acceptable
to me. To us, Christ is everything. He's not just part of our lives.
He is. Our life. You see, I never could have merited
God's favor by my own righteousness, yet he has won that righteousness. for me. Is it not just reasonable? To put aside anyone or anything
that would hinder me from his word. Is that not just reasonable? I think that's the most reasonable
request in all of the gospel. Is to give up everyone and everything
for Christ to give up my sin. anything or anyone in our Father's
house, and this is speaking of our Father Adam, whether it be our family, our
friends, whether it be our job or our
money, whatever. You remember when Christ told
that man to follow him, and he said, let me go bury my dad first.
And what did Christ tell him? Let the dead bury the dead. You
let them take care of themselves. You follow me. Is that not acceptable? That's acceptable. That's good.
OK, I'll follow you. I'll follow you. You have life.
You have eternal life. I'll follow you. I was thinking of this this week.
Listen to me. I'm glad that the girls are here. My children are
here. Listen to me very carefully because you're going to have
people come into your lives to try to take you away from hearing
this word. I pray to God you find a godly
mate. I've seen too many lives. Too many people afflicted because
they thought that they could make someone believe. You know,
if I just hang out with this person, then I can make them
come to church with me. No, they'll make you go away
from the church. It happens every time. We should leave off this world
and everything in it for Christ. And to us who are His church,
that's acceptable. He made that acceptable in our
hearts by giving us a new heart to love Him. Next, we see the
church shall be brought to heaven. This is my last point. Look at
this in verses 14 and 50. She shall be brought unto the
king in raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions that
follow her, shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and
rejoicing they shall be brought and enter into the king's palace. Is it not a great privilege that
our hope is not found in this life? Is it not a privilege that our
hope The hope of things to come and the joy is not found here. Because I haven't found it. I
haven't found anything here that's lasting joy. One minute it is
and the next minute it's gone. But my joy and your joy is in
this. We will be brought to our husband. He will bring us. He said, if
I go away and prepare a place for you, will I not come again
and receive you unto myself that where I am there, you may be
also. Our hope is not in this world
is found. in Christ. Here we find sorrows
and trials and pains and tears. We find sin and all the trouble
it brings. But one day we'll be delivered
from all this trouble, all this hurt, all this pain. Right now
we see through a glass darkly. Death scares us. We see through a glass darkly.
We don't see the full. We by faith see it, but we haven't
experienced it yet, have we? Peter said our salvation is ready
to be revealed. John says, Beloved, now we are
the sons of God, yet it doth not appear what we shall be.
I don't know what we shall be, do you? I only see it by faith. I really don't have a clue as
to how it's going to be. I just know it's going to be
glorious. And I know this, it's going to be joyful. Why? God says it. He says, with gladness
and rejoicing they shall be brought in. Fear not, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. You know that God the Father
rejoices to bring you to Himself, that that's His joy? Do you know it's the joy of the
Son to bring you to Himself? Do you not know that it's the
joy of the Spirit to give us who have overcome the pleasures
of heaven? And it will be our greatest joy
to worship Him forever, to be in His presence, to be rid of this vile body of
sin. Do you get tired? I get weary. This body wears
down quick. One day it won't. One day I'll
be like him and I'll really know what it's like to be glad. I'll
finally know what it is to be truly and absolutely perfectly
happy. Until then, we keep our eye on
him. Until then, we see and remember
what he has made us to be. And yes, we can at times find
great comfort and joy, even now, even now. I pray God will comfort
you with this, see what you are, see who you are in his sight. Don't worry about what you see.
Worry about what he sees. And he sees you all together
lovely. Let's stand, we'll be dismissed in prayer.