So faint, so cold to Thee, and
Thine to us so great. Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
with all Thy quickening power, Good morning, my brothers and
sisters in Christ. Good morning, saints of the Lord. I figure at least, I pray many
of you understand the grace, the eternal grace God brought in eternity. The
grace that it took in Christ's condescension the grace of the
Spirit of our God for me to be able to rightfully say that to
you this morning. Good morning, saints of the Lord.
My lips should not be allowed to utter such words from me and
to you, but we're given that privilege. This sinner is given
that privilege to talk to you as saints of the Lord. Be turning this morning to the
Song of Solomon, please. The Song of Solomon. And I'll give you just a moment
to get there. I do not have a specific text
with which to begin. But let me say this about this holy book of God. This is God's Word. This Word is inspired of God. This Word comes to us, our Lord
even said, from the very mouth of God. When it comes to the Song of
Solomon, Hear me this morning, this is not a song about love
between a fallen son and daughter of Adam. It's just not that. It's not about courtship. It's
not about dating. It's not even about loving and
marrying. That's not what this is about.
Was there a real Solomon? Oh yes, there was. Was there
a real Shulamite? I suppose there probably was.
But this book is not about Solomon and a Shulamite. This book uses
human language, of course. But that's how God speaks to
us from his book, with human language. Paul said there is
a tongue of angels. If anyone tells you they know
what that tongue is, you know what the technical word for that
is? They're called a liar. but we have communicated to us
through human language the very thoughts of the mind and purpose
of God. Amazing. This book uses human
language, of course, as I said, and its truth is expressed in
the beauties of the flora and the fauna of that day. It's expressed
in the places and the persons, many of them in that day. It's
even expressed, that is, the truth of God is expressed in
the spices and the very smells of the area. Many of those things
I can't relate to personally. If I wish I could to some degree,
maybe I could express them better to you. I don't know. But yet
this is the way the book of God expresses its truth in this book,
the Song of Solomon. It even uses human anatomy. And it uses male and female intimacy,
but only to express its glorious truth. However, this book is
about Christ and his people. That's what the Song of Solomon
is about. If you look to the Song of Solomon
to fix your marriage, your marriage will fail. Because you and I
cannot rise to at least one of the love in this book. No, Solomon's
not the best example to look to for love of a woman. Do you
know anything about that? We won't even go into that. No,
this book is about Christ and his people. But then, accentuate
it. It's more than that. It's about
Christ and his church. That is, the called out. Most
of the references here is to the church, that is, those who
have actually in time been called out. Not every reference, but
most of the references are to Christ and His church that is
called out from among the world. We are delivered from darkness
and have been translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. We no longer stand spiritually
where we used to stand. We stand even by experience,
the experience of grace in our hearts and minds. We stand as
called out from the world. But even more than that, the
word church means called together. There are those, maybe you've
heard it, well, I don't have to go to church to be saved.
That's exactly true. But most people use that to fulfill
their own lusts and ambitions and desires. Because when God
calls you out of the world, He gathers you together with His
people. And this is not just me, this is the son of Solomon.
So, this book is about Christ. And it's about those who have
been converted by the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. If you will approach this book
in that light, God will begin to give you some understanding.
But if you try to approach this book as trying to figure out
what this relationship between Solomon and the Shulamite really
was, you will be confounded. You'll be confounded. There's
so much here. So much here in this book. But
what I want us to try to do for the next several minutes this
morning is glean in a few corners of this field here, the Song
of Solomon. And this field is not just a
square field. It's one of these fields more
like we see out here in the country where a tree line runs this way
and that way and a fence comes over and connects with that.
And there may be hundreds of corners in this field. Yea, even
thousands of corners in this field. May it be that this morning
that you and I can glean from this field a few, in the corners,
just a few morsels of grains of truth from God. May it be
also that God leaves us a few handfuls of purpose. The law says you can glean in
the corners if you're poor. But Boaz said to his men, you
leave that woman some handfuls of purpose. That goes above and
beyond even legal standing. Oh, God help us. I cannot exhaust
this book. I can't even exhaust the specific
text, God willing, that I will refer to here this morning. Some
things I may miss or overlook, and if you see them, thank God
for them. That's not the point, what I
see this morning. There is so much here. But let
me just give you this, first of all, as an observation. This
book is flooded, and I mean to use that word, it's flooded with
love. Read it sometime. It's flooded
with love. Love this, beloved that, beloved
him, beloved her, all this, flooded with love. We are Christ's beloved. Christ
is our beloved. That is amazing to me because
to some degree I know what I am even today down in this old natural
heart. The Beloved says, I am my Beloved's
and He is mine. She has the right to say that.
And yet even the Beloved says of her, I am her Beloved. She is mine. Now let me give
you four things about this simply by way of introduction to introduce
something to you this morning. Four things about this love.
First of all, Christ's love for us. That is the love of Jesus
Christ for his church. Several years ago, I went through
this book and it took a little while, but that's neither here
nor there. But I realized that at least approximately 18 times,
this book has Christ speaking of his love for his church. Christ
personally speaking here. I love the church, not those
words, but that's 18 times. But secondly, as I began to start
to mark these things down, I began to see our love for Christ. Now
we don't talk about it much. And the reason is we're so skeptical
of ourselves. We know how prone we are not
to love as we ought to love. And yet as I read this book and
began to mark, this is Christ speaking. This is the church
speaking. Here is Christ speaking. Here's
a believer in Christ speaking. And I realized that the believer's
love for Christ is mentioned approximately 41 times. The third point is this, I'd
probably be batting my eyes like a frog in a hailstorm. What? Wait a minute. It just, Brother
Paul just didn't seem to fit with what I was thinking I should
be discovering when I looked at this. I remember shaking my
head. I'm sure if Penny was around,
she probably doesn't remember, she's probably there and said,
there he goes with one of these spells again. It's like, what?
But then I revisited all the texts. I wasn't wrong in these
numbers. No, it's not mentioned 41 times
that it's our love for Christ and then His love for us 18 times. It's not mentioned because our
love is primary. Our love is not primary. We love
Him because He first loved us. His love is primary. That lets me also know that my
love certainly, nor is your love, our love is not more love for
Him than He loves us. And certainly it's not because
our love is superior. to his love. Has nothing to do
with that at all. Yet our minds are fixed that
way in society. As something's mentioned more
times this way than another, that it must be more important.
You see what I'm saying? And I think we're probably taught
that from a very young age so that we can be brainwashed into
believing the lies that the world feeds us all the time. When I
begin to look at the text, the text then reveals why this emphasis
on our love for Him. Here's why He is so deserving
of our love. That's why it mentions it. Look
at the way it expresses it. Never does the Shulamite brag
about her love. She simply states she loves Him
because of Him. Go ahead and read it. It's marvelous. They reveal why this emphasis
of our love for Him. He deserves our love. He is so love worthy. He is love
worthy. He has the right to be loved. He has the right to demand it.
Isn't that one of the commandments even given through Moses? To
love the Lord thy God with everything you are. I don't find myself
doing that. Even today as a believer, I don't
find myself doing that. The more I would strive to do
it, the more my hate seems to stick up its ugly head. And yet
He is so love worthy. He has the right to be loved.
His glories are intrinsic and His love, it is demanding. not in places they demand it.
When you truly see Him, you won't be able to help but love Him.
If you don't love Him, it's because God has not yet opened your eyes
to see Him. What does she say? Verse 3 of
chapter 1, Because of the savor of thy good ointments, Thy name
is as ointment poured forth. Do you see it? Now just think
of this. Think of the flora and the fauna and what the writer,
what Solomon is using. But then it says, therefore do
the virgins love thee. Our love for Christ is not based
upon some greatness in us. It's all based upon His greatness. It's all based upon Him and His
glorious person and His glorious work. Look at what goes on to
say, verse 13, a bundle of myrrh is my beloved. This is the Shulamite
talking about Solomon or, more importantly, this is a believer
talking about Christ. A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved
unto me. He shall lie all night betwixt
my breast. That's what the book says. Now
think about this. Let's see if I can give a little
something to help us, maybe by God's grace, to get a hold of
this just a little bit. You spouses. And this is probably
especially true maybe for those of us that have been married
a while, it's probably especially more true a little further back there.
God help us that it still ought to be true today. But whether
husband or wife, you have your spouse and they're in their finest
clothes, that suit or that pair of jeans or that button-up polo
shirt or that dress that she looks so beautiful in, that one
that when you look at them you say, I like that on them. And
they've got their hair done just right, they've got their shaving
done just the way you like it. She's got her perfume on, or
he has his cologne on. And he walks over to you, or
she walks over to you, and he or she wraps their arms around
you. And you see them, and you can
hear them, and you can smell them. Do you just stand there
with your arms down while they give you a hug? What do you do? You reach out, too. You reach out, too, and you grab
them, John, and you pull them in tight. That's what he's talking
about. Why? Not because, well, boy,
she ought to love me. I talk to my wife like that,
it will be some rough nights around the house. Boy, don't
I look great, baby, you ought to love me. It don't work that
way, does it? True love is you love the other
person because the other person has nothing to do with you. And
that's what this book is talking about. The reason our love for
Christ is mentioned more than His love for us is because He's
worthy of that love. That's what this is expressing
to us. My beloved is unto me as a cluster
of camphor in the vineyards of En-Gidai. I don't really even
understand all that, but I know this means something. You know,
this means something. Now, let's briefly, now that
was just, that was introduction. That's not too bad. That's just
introduction. Approach the book of the psalm
of Solomon this way. I figure you've, I'm not a betting
man, but I figure you've probably been taught this before. You
approach this book this way and pour your heart out unto God
and say, oh God, show me Christ here. You'll see Christ here.
If you're looking for yourself here as Solomon, you ain't gonna
find it. Because you ain't Solomon and
I ain't Solomon. Jesus Christ is Solomon. We're
the Shulamites. That's what we are. But let's
look briefly now and let's just touch a few more of God's choice
fruits from Christ's vineyard. And the reason I say that is
look at chapter 2. Look at it, verse 3. Let's just begin there. Verse 3 of chapter 2, as the
apple tree among the trees of the wood. Some of us know a little
bit of something like that. Anybody have here maybe a little
farm or something? You got several apple trees up
there? It's just so nice to walk in, especially when they start
to bloom and you can smell it. When those blooms come to fruit
and you can reach out and you can reach up and pluck one of
those off and eat it and can't nobody even charge you six percent
sales tax. Well, I don't guess they can,
but that's another, that's a different kind of message. As the apple
trees among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among
the suns. Do you see it? The Shulamite
here ain't talking about apple trees. She's talking about her
beloved. I sat down under His shadow with
great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought
me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons." That is,
just drown me in everything you have to give me. Drown me in
it. Stay me with flagons. Comfort me with apples. For I
am sick of love. In our day, that would be a bad
thing. She said, I'm lovesick. You ever
been lovesick? That one that you love, maybe
he or she's gone away for a while. It's tough. Something's missing
down in here, isn't it? It's real. The feeling is real. And this is the way it is with
a true believer. He's like an apple tree. It's
his vineyard. It's his field. Everything is
about him, about him, about him. Now we will, by God's grace,
glean here till a reasonable time expires. Now somebody says,
when is that? I don't know when that is. No,
I won't keep you long. I have six things. I don't know
that I'll get to them all. There's far more here than just
these six things. And there'll be far more in those
six things, even if I get through all six of them, that I will
be able to express to you this morning. But I want to give you
all six. Perhaps I don't get through all
of them. Take some time and look at it. I'm going to give them
to you, then we'll go back and look at them individually. First
of all, I want us to see Christ's sovereign drawing of His own
people to Himself. It's right here in this book,
Song of Solomon. The second thing, I want to see our struggle under
our corruption in Adam and under false religion. See it right
here in this Song of Solomon. Thirdly, we'll see the sweetness
of and the vitality of the gospel ministry. We'll see it right
here in this book. Number four, we'll see our joy
in Christ's gospel in everything. And when I say everything, emphasize
everything. Number five, we'll see our absolute
dependence upon Christ. It's right here in this Song
of Solomon. Number six, we'll see our glorious
God wrought position in Christ's sight. All of it right here in
this book. No, there's no specific order,
and I didn't mean to give it an order. I don't want this just
to be some cold, dry, doctrinal thing, and you all can go away
and say, I believe in election, predestination. Thank God I'm
okay. That ain't what we're talking
about. God Almighty calls you out of darkness, you will believe
in election, predestination, because you believe Him. But
if you don't believe Him, then it doesn't matter how much of
the doctrine you believe, election, predestination, all of those
things, you'll still perish if you're without Jesus Christ.
And that's not being mean. Paul Mahan, I'm not saying that
to be mean. When God Almighty saves your soul, you're going
to fall in love with Jesus Christ. And if you're not in love with
Jesus Christ, you are yet, you're not saved. And it's that simple. And yet that profaned. So there's
no specific order here. First of all, let's see Christ's
sovereign drawing of His own to Himself. Chapter 1 again,
look at verse 4. Draw me. This is her talking
now. Draw me. Now how do I know it's
not just about Solomon and the Shulamite? Draw me. We will run. You see that? The Shulamite here
speaking, not just of herself, there's some other people she's
referring to as well. And notice it's we. It's not,
I'm going to run, and then this will run. No, we'll run. We all
are running together. We're a part of the church. God
doesn't call you out of darkness and then place you over here
by yourself and say, well, I can have a little fellowship every
once in a while. It don't work that way. You love Jesus Christ,
you're going to want to be around the people Jesus Christ loves.
You're going to love them back. They're going to love you back.
And you'll be like this, in spite of yourself. Oh, look
at it. Draw me. We will run after thee. You remember when the gospel
first began to touch deep down in here. I must get to Christ. You remember that? Something,
I've got to get to Christ. Oh God help me, I don't even
know if I believe or not, but I've got to get to Christ. I
don't know how to believe, but I've got to get to Christ. I
don't know if I believe, but it's only in Christ that I have
any hope. Draw me, we will run after me. And then people today talk, well
it's just so hard to get sinners to come to the Lord. Yes it is,
if you're trying to do it. And if God Almighty ever opens
their eyes to see the beauty of the Savior, they will run
to Him. Draw me, we will run after Thee. The King hath asked me to come
to His chamber. No, no, He brought me. 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." Beloved, that's a glory because
I don't deserve anything like that. You don't deserve anything like
that. But it ain't up to your merit. It's up to King Solomon, THE
King Solomon, Jesus Christ Himself. It's up to His will. If He's
in love with you, bless God, He will bring you to love Him.
I have loved thee with an everlasting love. He said that to Jeremiah.
Oh, but it's true of all of His people. I've loved thee with
an everlasting love, therefore, with loving kindness." He don't
beat us to Him and whip us to Him. You want to come in love,
faith, trust, and hope. Why? Because He deserves those
things. Therefore have I drawn thee.
Therefore in loving kindness have I drawn thee. Thank God
He does that for sinners. Aren't you glad? Look at chapter
2. Remember, see Christ's sovereign
drawing of His own to Himself. Verse 2, My beloved spake, this
is the Shulamite now, speaking of Solomon, or more particularly,
this is the believer, looking back upon the person of Jesus
Christ. My beloved spake and said unto
me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. This is the one who created heaven
and earth. This is the one who created all
the universe, whatever all of the billions of stars that there
are. This is the one who merely spoke
it into existence. If He loves you and He says this
to you, come, arise, you will. 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." What? These are signs of life. Life at His discretion. life
at His will, life at His power. The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of the seeing of birds is come, and the voice of the
turtle is heard in the 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. And arise and come away you will,
when He calls you. And you know what? You'll be
glad it's so. But here's the second thing.
See our struggle under our corruption in Adam. And even under false religion.
Chapter 1, just verse 6. Look not upon me. Have you ever
felt like that? You remember Peter? Lord, I'm
a wicked man. Aren't you glad God doesn't answer
some prayer? Aren't you glad He doesn't answer
some prayer? Look not upon me because I am
black. Look, because the sun hath looked
upon me." Now, how is that her fault? Doesn't matter. It just
has. How could I have fallen in Adam?
How's that fair? Doesn't matter. That's not the
point. It just is what it is, because
God said so. And as in Adam, all die. That's just the way it is, whether
I think it's fair or not. I don't have to prove whether
it's fair or not. God says that's the way it is. That's the way
it is. Because the Son has looked upon
me, my mother's children were angry with me. That's religion. It's really like that. My mother's
children were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. There you go. Here, go do this
law. Go do these religious ones. Go sing in the choir. Go teach
Sun School class. Start witnessing for Jesus. Start
keeping the Ten Commandments. You can't do any of that, truthfully.
Even when you try your best, almost always we have some kind
of false motive. You know what one of the first
false motive is? I want God to give me some credit for that.
And it don't work in God's sight. God said even our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. And that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in God's sight. That's a strong
word. They made me the keeper of the
vineyards. Look, but my own vineyards. Have I not kept? That's the way
we are by nature, is it not? That's the way we are under the
bondage and the burden of legalism and false religion. It's all
about us. All about us. And we never take
care of us. You can't. By the deeds of the
law, there shall be no flesh. No flesh. Not even mine. I'm
sitting here preaching you the gospel. It doesn't earn me not
one credit before God. Not one. Now, let's see the sweetness
of, the vitality of the gospel ministry. Chapter 1, look at
it, verse 7. Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest? Think of it. Here's the believer
saying to Christ, where do you feed at? Where do you feed your
people? Where do you feed at? Not where
are you feeding, where do you feed your people at? That's what
she's talking about. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where
thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon. Look
at it. For why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? There's nobody
else other than Christ. The law is His companion. He
gave it. but you don't look to the law. The prophets are his
companions, he said then, but you don't look to the prophets.
None of those, you look to him. Now look, if thou know not, O
thou fairest among women, now look, go thy way forth by the
footsteps of the flock. Follow along with others who've
been where you are. Do you see that? This is why
the book says, forsake not the assembling of ourselves together.
It's not just some command that God give us. Oh, well, I gotta
go to church today. It's not like that for a believer.
If it's a chore, if it's a burden for you to attend the assembly
of saints, you might as well stay home because there's nothing
spiritual about it. Look at it. Go thy way forth
by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside the
shepherds. Plural. See, God has ordained
men to lead the assemblies in their local aspect, and that's
where God's people will be. if at all possible. They'll strive
for that. They'll struggle for that. They'll
sell a house and get away from it just to go be with somebody
that preaches the gospel. That's just the way it is. Jesus
said, you love anything else more than me, even your mother,
your father, your brother, your sister, you ain't worthy of me.
That's strong language, but that's grace. That's not just a demand. That's what God works in the
hearts and minds of His people. And we're glad it's so. When
that man stands here and preaches this Word to you, this Word to
you, God is speaking. Do you hear what I'm saying?
God is... Paul, when you preach this word, you preach your own
opinion, it's you speaking. Maybe it's good sound advice.
You gave me some a few years ago. I thank you for it. But
it was advice that came from this book. But when a man's preaching
this book to you, it's not about advice. It's the very Word of
God Almighty. The gospel ministry is sweet
and it has vitality to it. There's a life-giving principle
in it, just like when you eat bread. You don't eat bread to
come alive, but let me tell you, when God makes you alive, you
can eat bread. And you eat bread, job to stay
alive. That's right. That's just the way it works.
Why? Because God said so. I don't know, is that good English?
It's truth, though. Number four, see our joy in Christ's
gospel everything and that's hard for
me to say but it's true look at chapter 7 see our joy in Christ's
gospel in everything look at chapter 7 and let's begin verse
10 I am my beloveds and we know this is the church speaking the
believer speaking because I am my beloveds and his desire is
toward me isn't that amazing When he hung on that tree, he
was thinking about me. And I said, how can he think
about this number which no man can number? He's God. He thought
about each and every one of us, the high priest, when he entered
in to the very presence of God, before he made that sacrifice.
What did he have? Each of the names of God's people
right here on his heart in those stones, engraved in those stones.
I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me." The book says
he's not ashamed to call us brethren. Now if that doesn't bother your
mind, you're missing something somewhere. I'm not saying you're
lost, but you're missing, you become cold and dry. At best,
look, come my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let
us lodge in the village. You see, it's anywhere, wherever
it is, it doesn't matter, out there in the field or right in
the village, either one. You see, we rejoice in God's
gospel. We have grand joy in His sovereign
purpose, whether it brings me poverty or whether it brings
me wealth. We, the believer, cries out,
though it still hurts and it's painful, when God takes everything
you have, you say, the Lord gave, the Lord taketh away, but it's
not just a stoic answer, it's an answer of faith. Blessed be
the name of the Lord. Only a work of grace can make
a man or a woman do something like that. When a spouse leaves
you, When a child abandons you, when a parent abandons you because
of the truth of the gospel, only grace and a God-given faith will
get you through something like that. Look, let us get up early to
the vineyards. Let us see if the vine flourisheth,
whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth.
There will I give thee my loves. The mandrakes give a smell. Does
anybody know what a mandrake is? You're right. If you want,
do you know? Anybody know what a mandrake is? It's a narcotic love plant. Let
me tell you something. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a narcotic. You get hooked on it and you
just can't give it up. And I know that may not be acceptable
language in some circles, but that's just the way it is. No,
I'm not promoting drug use. That's not what we're talking
about here. Being illustrated. In other words, Jesus Christ
is an aphrodisiac to me. That's what he's saying. And
what's an aphrodisiac? It's something, it's a drug that
will make you do something that you cannot do normally. and would
not do normally. Isn't it? One of the other Hebrew
meanings is a boiling pot. What's a boiling pot? You put
a pot down and you throw water in it, what's it do? It just
sits there. It doesn't do anything. But you
boil it. What happens? That water starts
doing things that it don't naturally do. That's the aphrodisiac of
the gospel. Be ye not drunk with wine. But
be filled with the Spirit. To be drunk with wine is excess.
You went too far. But here, be filled. The whole
thing is He's saying, get intoxicated on Christ. That's what He's talking
about. Be intoxicated on Christ. That's a good thing. That's a
good thing. You want to get drunk, get drunk
on Him. What a word. The man-grates give
a smell and at our gates, we're one with Him. Whatever is His
is mine. And whatever was mine, it was His. Even my corruption
and my ruin and my condemnation and my guilt, it was His. The
man-grapes give a smell. And at our gates are all manner
of pleasant fruits, new and old." Where are you going to see Christ
at? Well, the New Testament. Now, you're going to see Christ
everywhere. Old Testament, New Testament. You're going to see
Him demanded in the Old Covenant. You're going to see Him revealed
in the New Covenant. It's all there. But look, "...which I
have laid up for thee." What? Oh, my beloved, think about it. What is she laying up? Everything
of His. I offer to Him not what I do. I offer to Him what He has done. Here it is, Lord. It's Yours.
You did it. Even myself. You did this. I'm
Yours. That's grace. That's grace. Fifthly, we might get through
this. See our absolute dependence on Christ. Chapter eight, verse
five. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Why? Well, that's all
she can do is lean. But he invites us to lean. You know why? Because she's coming
up out of the wilderness. So what's that mean? He went
into the wilderness so she could lean on him. He didn't stand
out here in the fine choice places and say, now if you can make
your way out of the wilderness, you come on. He goes into the
wilderness. He goes up right beside her,
lays his hands around her, and all she does is just lay. Now, Sixley. Let's see our glorious God-wrought
position in Christ's sight. Turn back to chapter 1. Our glorious God-wrought position
in Christ's sight. Chapter 1, verse 5. I am black. Remember, we've already read
her say that. I am black. No, wait a minute. Now, if you've
ever read some of the commentaries, you know, oh, this is crazy here.
You know, this was Solomon in love with a black woman and it
had nothing to do with any of this. My blackness is in here. My corruption is in here. I am black. But how can those
two things be together at the same time? Because God said so. That's number one. Because God
positionally in Christ makes it so. No, made it so, that's
two. And because God by His Spirit
and by His Gospel makes it experientially so when we're converted by the
Gospel and converted by the Gospel every day. Remember, I'm back
there, I'm kicking up on Christ. I'm being intoxicated on Christ.
It's all right to talk that way, folks. This book does. This book does. That's what it's
all about. Look at it. Chapter 1 and verse
9. I have compared thee, O my love,
to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariot. This is Solomon talking
about the Shulamite. This is Christ talking about
us. How can this be? Because He said so. He's the
one who calleth those things which be not. And so they were. Now He does this in absolute
justice. Absolute justice is always satisfied. And mercy, and truth, and justice,
and all these things kiss together. Where? In Christ Jesus. I don't have time to go into
all this. Your pastor probably preaches that to you every Sunday,
and you probably maybe don't always recognize it, but that's
what he's trying to tell you every Sunday. God's holiness is completely
honored in Christ Jesus. Not one sin is ever let go. Not
one sin has ever passed by. God dealt with every one of them
that are going to be dealt with in Christ, and it's done. It's
done. I've compared thee, O my love,
to a company of horses and Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely
with rows of jewels, thy necks with chains of gold. We will
make thee borders. What? We will make? I thought it was just Solomon
here. No, it is God the Father, it
is God the Son, and it is God the Holy Ghost. Just like in
the beginning it said, let us make man. We will make the borders of gold
with studs of silver. God made us to be this way. Any beauty he sees in us, it's
cause he created it for us and put it in us. Paul says, in me,
that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. But guess what? In
my body dwells God himself. If I'm a true believer, right?
Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. He, God, dwells
in me. Paul, man, that's a good thing
in me. But in my flesh dwells what? No good thing. Both of
those things are true at the same time. But even more, maybe this. Oh,
thank you God. Either way is all right. But
you know what, I think you begin like this, don't you? On your
face. On your face. And just like that
one leper, he came to him and worshiped him, fell down before
him and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And
he said, I will. Be thou clean. If he says you're
clean, bless God, that's all that matters. He's the only one. He's the judge. If you've got
the judge on your side. You heard about things like that,
right? Well, let me tell you, here's a judge who's on the side
of some people. He loves them. He will not let Satan himself,
not a demon in hell, and not even one sin, rip them from his
holy hands. Look at verse 15. Behold, this
is Solomon talking about the Shulamite, or more importantly,
this is Christ talking about the believer. Behold, thou art
fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
doves. Wait, dove? What's a dove? What? Holy Ghost, maybe? And what eyes? You see by the
gift of God. Do you see it? This is, we're
like we are because what God has done for us over, and that's
why we love Him. We don't brag about loving, we
just love Him. We talk not about our love for Him, but how lovely
He is and loveworthy He is. Behold thou art fair, my beloved,
yea pleasant. Also our bed is green. This is not, now listen to me,
it's not sexual here, no. This is intimate spiritual union. The beams of our house are cedar,
and our rafters are fir. Two kinds of wood that are impervious,
one to insects, the other to aquatic rot. In other words,
the house he built for you, it's going to stand. The protection
over your head, it's going to stand. Nothing can get to it. Nothing can touch it. Not even
your own corruption. But there's one thing about that
corruption, you're going to hate every moment of it once He calls
you out. And you will endeavor to turn
away from it. And what? Run! Run! Even if it's clinging to your
nasty feet, you run to Him. You run to Him. And even when
you find Him and you fall flat on your face, He lifts you back
up again. Why? Because He holds you in
the palm of His hand. So it's not this. It's this. And even when you fall, He's
still got you. You don't fall out of His hand.
You fall in His hand. Oh, that's a big difference.
That's a big difference. Let me wind this up. Here's going to be something
profound. All Scriptures about Christ. I bet y'all didn't know
that here, did you? All Scriptures about Christ.
I was going to preach to you from Romans 16 verses 1 through
16 to start with. And I had some notes down on
this, because I thought if we do maybe a Bible lesson and the
other, I could have a couple things ready. And Paul said,
no, let's do one. And I thought, that's good. One's
good for me. But then I began yesterday evening
and put this down in Romans 16, 1 through 16. Sovereign Grace
Chapel, probably get that one maybe next Sunday. Just names,
greetings, salutations, Paul Mahan, yet even there Christ
is preached. But yet when I seen this, I thought, God, I can't
get away from that. I want to share this with these people
because you know what? I have reason to believe they know a
little bit about this and they can rejoice in it. All Scripture
is about Christ. Old Testament Scripture, New
Testament Scripture. Go back and read all those so-and-so
begat so-and-so's. Christ is right in the middle
of that. I may not see it, but that's
not the point. He says, in the volume of the
book, it is written of Me. Now, He said it's so. It's so
whether I see it or not. It's so whether I can take a
passage and preach Christ to you from it or not. It's still
so. And what did he remember those
two disciples on the road to Damascus? He took all the scripture. And what did he talk about? Himself. You see, if you miss Christ in
any scripture, you've missed the whole point. You may know
all about what you're supposed to eat, what you ain't supposed
to eat, what you're supposed to wear, what you ain't supposed to wear. Everything
that all the religion zeroes in on. But if you know, you can
know all of that. If you miss Christ, you've missed
everything. If you approach the Song of Solomon
this way, maybe someone here hasn't. I don't know. That's
God's, I don't know. But if you approach the Song
of Solomon this way, this book will open up to you. Yeah, granted
there'll be a lot of things that may be hard to relate to because
you don't understand the flora or the fauna, but even then you
can do a little research and it's like, wow, that's amazing. That's glorious. It's like, I can rest. I can rest. Father, make us to rest. Oh God, force
us to rest and be glad of it. Oh God, keep our hearts and minds
stayed upon Christ Jesus. stayed upon Him and to Him be
all the glory, both now and forever. Amen. That's it. It does not pain me to say this. It gives me great joy. We heard
the gospel this morning, and it was a high honor and an undeserved
and unworthy privilege. We say that all the time. It's
so. I don't think we, I know we don't
fully appreciate it. I know we don't. Well, the Lord said, who hath
despised a day of small things? Well, the world does. The world despises small groups
of people. There were eight people before the flood. Eight people. who trusted the Lord only. We heard Him today. How many people can say that? We pass by that Catholic place
every Sunday and Wednesday, and it's full, as are most places. Hosea said, what have I to do
anymore with idols? I've heard Him. I'm not going
anywhere if it's just me and seven people. Do you see your calling, brethren?
Not many wise men at the face, not many mighty, not many noble
are called, but God has chosen the foolish things. Is that you? This man works in a prison. He works in a prison. He's a
nobody. from West Virginia to boot. Seriously, it's the most, the
poorest country beside Arkansas I guess, Kentucky. In this nation,
it's despised, it's rejected, there's a bunch of mountain people
that don't know anything. God has blessed us, hasn't He? So blessed us. It's a great honor
and a privilege to hear this message. As I said, it doesn't
pain me to say this. I'm glad I'm able to say this.
I didn't know I could. I've heard Him preach before.
The point is, those whom God loves, they hear the Gospel. They hear it over and over again.
They hear Christ preach. That's how you know He loves
them. And how you know they love Him is they won't want to hear
anything else. They won't hear anything else.
Don't give me entertainment. Don't get rid of all this flesh.
Get rid of all this stuff. Just show me Christ and Him crucified.
Right? That's how you know. That's how
you know they're people. Like Noah and his family. All
they had wanted to talk about for 120 years was the ark. The world's perishing. Everybody
around us is perishing. And there's one way. And men
gotta hear this. They gotta hear this. This message
right here. This message right here. There is no other message.
Say, I'll preach it. I'll preach of what? There's one way. There's one
truth. And it's Jesus Christ that He
was crucified. And all this other stuff is just
that, it's stuff. Bernard used to say, I'm not
interested in entertaining sinners on the road to hell. I'm trying
to tell people, better get in that ark, better get in that
now. There's one way, see, we're not playing games here. You didn't
come down here to to play games. It's very serious. Very serious. What you heard
this morning was the truth, as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no other truth. And we're blessed to hear it.
Let the world despise it. Despise us. I believe God loves
us. I really do. Because we have
the gospel. All right, he quoted partially
that my beloved is fair. We're going to sing that number
50. Fairest Lord Jesus. Number 50, let's stand.