Good evening, let's all stand
together and we'll sing hymn number 475. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb Redeemed in His infinite
mercy, His child and forever I am Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus
No language my rapture can tell I know that the light of His
presence With me doth continually dwell Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. I think of my blessed Redeemer
I think of Him all the day long I sing for I cannot be silent
His love is the theme of my song Redeemed, redeemed Redeemed by
the blood of the Lamb Redeemed, redeemed His child and forever
I am I know I shall see in His beauty The King in whose law
I delight who lovingly guardeth my footsteps and giveth me songs
in the night. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. Let's be seated and turn to hymn
number 337. 337. teach me thy way oh lord teach
me thy way thy guiding grace afford teach me thy way help
me to Walk aright, more by faith, less by sight. Lead me with heavenly light,
teach me thy way. When I am sad at heart, Teach
me Thy way. When earthly joys depart, Teach
me Thy way. In hours of loneliness, In times
of dire distress, In failure or success, teach me thy way. When doubts and fears arise,
teach me thy way. When storms o'erspread the skies,
Teach me Thy way Shine through the cloud and rain Through sorrow,
toil, and pain Make Thou my pathway plain Teach me Thy way Long as
my life shall last, teach me thy way. Where'er my lot be cast, teach
me thy way. Until the race is won, Until
the journey's done, until the crown is won, teach me thy way. Song of Solomon. Turn with me
to Song of Solomon. When I get back up, I'll have
you look at a couple other places. Song of Solomon, Chapter 8. Ecclesiastes right before Proverbs
and Song of Solomon's right before Ecclesiastes. I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell ye him that you tell him
that I am sick of love. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? O thou fairest among women, what
is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou doest charge
us so? My beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among 10,000. His head is as the most fine
gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are
as the eyes of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk and
fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices. as sweet flowers, his lips like
lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold
rings set with beryl, his belly as bright ivory overlaid with
sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as lemon and
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea,
he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this is my
friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Our blessed Father, gracious
God, God of mercy, Father of mercies, the God of peace, mercy,
and grace, we thank you and bless you. that you've allowed us again
to open your word and read it, allowed us to come to worship
you, allowed us to meet together. And Lord, I thank you that we
can do that, that you gave us a place, comfortable place, an
enjoyable place together to worship you. And Lord, I pray for those
that never yet been come believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. that
you and your sovereign mercy would open the heart, open the
understanding that they'd see the Lord Jesus Christ as we see
him, rejoice in him as we rejoice in him, find rest in him as we
find rest in him, find comfort in him as we find comfort in
him, find forgiveness in him as we find forgiveness. Oh Lord,
grant it to be so according to your will. And Lord, please cause
the gospel to run well here tonight. Bless these dear saints. Be merciful
and gracious to those who are not with us. Bring glory to yourself
through this service. We ask in our Lord Jesus' name.
Amen and amen. Hymn number 351. Jesus, keep me near the cross
There, a precious fountain Free to all a healing stream Flows
from Calvary's mountain In the cross, in the cross be my glory
ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me. There the bright and morning
star Sheds its beams around me In the cross, in the cross be
my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall
find rest beyond the river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day
With its shadows o'er me In the cross, in the cross my glory ever. Till my raptured soul shall
find rest beyond the river. Near the cross I'll watch and
wait Hoping, trusting ever Till I reach the golden strand Just
beyond the river In the cross, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my raptured soul shall
find rest beyond the rivers. You know I was going to, as a
certain song, I was going to ask him to sing, and it was Teach
Me Thy Way, and that was the second song. I was going to ask
him to sing that, and the Lord, ain't the Lord wonderful, ain't
He? His providence just... Well, I tell you now, I want
you to keep Song of Solomon where you are, but I want you to look
at a... verses of scripture with you, Matthew 12 and verse 18.
I want you to look at a couple of things with me. Matthew 12, 18. We're going to talk about our beloved, but in Matthew 12, 18, it says
this, God speaking now, speaking about his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Behold my servant, whom I have
chosen, my beloved, and whom my soul is well pleased. My soul is well pleased. Now
look in Matthew 17, Matthew 17. I want you to look at this word,
beloved. Cody dealt with this, but he
was in Luke chapter nine. Y'all remember the story, how
that they went up onto a mountain and Moses and Elijah came to
him and Christ was turned a glistening white, just bright as the sun.
And you know, Peter said, oh, it's good for us to be here to
build three tabernacles. And but our Lord Jesus Christ
said this in verse five, while he yet spake, behold a bright
cloud overshadowed him and behold a voice out of the cloud which
said, this is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased, hear
ye him. And they said the same thing
at the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's what we wanna
look about. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? That's the thing. The word beloved is 27 times,
mentioned 27 times in the Song of Solomon. The word beloved,
27 times. And nobody, nobody is like the
Lord Jesus Christ, nobody. In heaven, earth, or any place
else. And that's why they asked the
question. They said, oh, you daughters of Jerusalem, I want
you to tell, if you see my beloved, if you see him, I want you to
tell him my heart's sick. I'm in love. I love him. I love
him. And they asked the question.
They asked this question. And this question is put to the
church. You know, the church is the fairest among women. This
is a relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and his church.
And they asked her, they said that, and when he said, tell
my beloved, and they said, what is your beloved? More than any
other. Oh, thou fairest among women.
That's what he calls us. He said that in chapter one in
verse eight. He called us the fairest among
women. Fairest among women. Oh, what is thy beloved more
than another beloved that thou doest charge us? And they're
asking this church, this dear parish among women, oh, what
is your beloved more than anybody else's? What makes him so special? What makes him so wonderful?
What makes him more beloved than anybody else's beloved? Now every
soul, every soul you meet, no matter who they are, they've
got an object of worship. Something in which they glory
in, every single one of them do. Something they rejoice in,
something they enjoy. And with some, it's the world.
I know some folks that it's the world. They're taken up with
the world and it's applause and it's wealth and it's materialism
and it's honors and it's successes. And with other people, what they
glory in and rejoice in and enjoy is pleasure. They love pleasure. They love pleasure. They want
to be pleased. Everything revolves around them
and what pleases them, their pleasure, their pleasure. And
they like the applause of men. They want men to brag on them
and talk about them. And our Lord talked about people
like that. And with others, it's people
who are their family, people that are near to them, dear to
them, their family. and they're friends, and they're
friends. You know, I've learned this over
the years, and I'll take a minute to say this, that if a family,
if a fella gets upset with the preacher, and he leaves, and
they go and leave because they don't like, the preacher said
something they didn't like, something they didn't rejoice in, nine
times out of 10, though they've been with the preacher for years
and years and years, they'll get up and leave too. Blood,
natural blood is thicker than the blood of Christ. I've learned
that countless times over the years. If you don't want my son,
my son don't wanna be here, I don't wanna be here either. And I'll
tell you what, when you're near and dear family, and I'll tell
you that's some people's, that's their object of worship, their
object of worship. And with other people, it's religion.
It's religion. And works of righteousness. Works
of righteousness. But you know the most obvious
object of worship is? Self. Oh, self is the greatest object
of worship we have. We love self more than anybody
else. And that's what he goes on to say. So then, but a believer,
God chosen, God's elect, precious believer. He worships the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's his one who he worshiped.
That's who he loves. That's who he rejoices in. And
that's who he glorifies, glories in, only in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's his everything. When we
say Christ is all, that's not a religious cliche. He is that
to us. He is that to us. And oh, that's why He's called
His Beloved. Christ, I tell you what, our Lord Jesus Christ is
preferred before all persons. I don't care who they are, wife,
children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, church members,
Christ is more precious than any family member. And I tell
you what, Christ is perfect. is above all anything that we
can possibly possess in this world. What? Cody done so well. What would
it profit a man if he had everything in this world that he wanted
and didn't have Christ? What would it amount to? So we
prefer Christ over anything we possess. What have we got? And I tell you, I've heard Henry
say so many times, hold on to everybody, everything, and all
things with a loose hand, because God's gonna come and get it sooner
or later. And oh my, and I tell you this
also, he's prepared above anything that we pursue. And you know,
to know Christ, Paul said, this one thing I do, I wanna be found
in Christ, I wanna win Christ, and I wanna know Christ. He's
a monomaniac, that's what he was. One, one, one. I want to know Christ. I want
to win Christ. I want to be found in Christ.
And that's why we're talking about it. Do you know what our
pursuit is? And I mean you as God's blessed
people. We make it our pursuit to seek
Christ continually and constantly. He's our beloved. He's our beloved.
And all by But the world and its professors of religion, because
they're ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ, ignorant of his
glories, ignorant of his preciousness, they ask the question, what is
your beloved more than our beloved? Well, we answer them. We answer
them here starting in verse nine. We answer them. And excuse me,
in verse 10, we're gonna start answering this question. Look
what he said. And she answers, what's your
beloved? I'm gonna tell you. I'm gonna tell you what he's
like. First of all, he's white. My beloved is white. And he's
ruddy. And listen to this, he's the
chiefest among 10,000. Song of Solomon, chapter five,
verse 10. You know, when he says, my beloved is white, That talks
about our Lord Jesus Christ and His holiness and His purity and
His righteousness. White, when He talked about Him
there on the Mount of Transfiguration, white as glistening. He just
turned white, pure, pure. And when you see Him in Revelation,
His head is white as snow. And oh my, He's white, that's
His purity, that's His holiness, that's His nature as God Almighty,
perfect brightness, He's the brightness of God's glory. And
He's full of grace and He's full of truth. And to bless His holy
name, He knew no sin. He was holy, harmless, separate
from sinners, higher than the heavens, higher than the heavens.
And oh my, then when he talks about being ruddy, he's white,
that's his purity. He's God, he's holy and he's
righteous in his brightness of his glory. And then when he talks
about ruddy or red, that tells us about his human nature. You
know what Adam means? Man of red earth. And our Lord
Jesus Christ so identified with us and his human nature that
they said he's ruddy. that He's red, and oh my, that's
talking about His human nature, Protector of our flesh, Protector
of our blood, identified with us, and oh my, and because of
His divine nature, and because He was without sin, Our Lord
Jesus Christ, in partaker of our flesh and blood, He had the
strength and suffering in His body to offer a bloody sacrifice
and put away our sin once and for all because He so identified
with us. Steve read it tonight in the
study about We were strangers from covenants of promise, strangers,
aliens. But you know what brought us
nigh? The blood of Christ brought us nigh. That's what brought
us near. And I tell you what, that ruddiness,
he so betook a flesh and blood, so identified with us that together,
together, together, it says time and time again. And then look
what he says here. He's the chiefest among 10,000.
Why does he use that Chiefess of 10,000? Now you think about
all creatures. Think about Michael the Archangel,
Gable the Archangel. Among all creatures, all angels,
all men, he's exalted above all of them. And when he says the
Chiefess among 10,000, he uses a certain number to tell us that
it's innumerable, that you can't number it. to give you a certain
number to show you how innumerable and how great he's the cheapest
among 10,000. And I tell you what, there are
kings, but he's the king of kings. There are priests, but he's a
high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. There are
names, a lot of people have a lot of names, but he has a name. God give him a name that's above
every name. that at the name of Jesus Christ,
every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, he's white
and he's ruddy. He's the chiefest among 10,000.
Oh my. And then look what else it says
here in verse 11. His head is the most fine gold. Now it's not talking about his
hair here, because it tells us later that it's black. It's like
a raven. Black as a raven. So it talks
about his head is fine gold. That's talking about the crowns
that he wears. On his head are many crowns.
And he's able to carry every one of those crowns. And I tell
you, you know, he reasoned the crown he wears. He's got a gold,
and his head is gold. Mind is pure. And oh my, but
his hair is black, but by reason of the crown he wears. And I
tell you what, you know who wears the crown? King does. Who wears the crown? Sovereign
does. Who rules over everybody? You
know, they just had a big deal about this king, you know, over
in England. And they got this one crown that they keep hid,
you know, keep it up. It hasn't been used in decades.
And this thing's huge, worth millions. I mean all kinds of
gold and silver and diamonds and rubies and all kinds of golden
jewels in it. And I mean it's a monstrosity. That's nothing compared to what
Christ wears. That old fella's gonna die and
they're gonna put the crown up again. But our Lord wears a crown nobody
else can wear. Our Lord wears a crown that only
He is able to wear. And I tell you how much we love
His crown and Him being crowned. Bring forth the royal died to
Him and crown Him Lord of all. We love Him being crowned that
we gonna take what crowns He get. Crown of righteousness and
crown of life. Two of them they talk about.
You know what we're gonna do with both of them? cast them
at His feet. That's what it tells us we're
gonna do. Huh? Oh my. And I tell you, He's got
power over all flesh that He should give eternal life. He's
got all power in heaven and earth. That's why He's got such a crown.
Our Lord's not gonna be king. People talk about that, a coming
king. He's king now. King now. He's king over all
creation. Who do you think reigns over
this world? Who do you think reigns over
this world? Who do you think God's providence? Who do you
think put it on mine and Brad's heart tonight to want to sing,
teach me thy way? Who do you think controls these
things? Huh? Me and Brad, we don't, we
ain't got a clue what the other's thinking about. But here's what
I do know, that He's King over the creation, He rules over creation. He orders providence, and I'll
tell you one thing, He rules over salvation, He's the King
over salvation, and as the King, He only gives eternal life to
those that the Father give Him. Now that's right. He's the one, He's got the crown
of salvation, and He gives it to whom He will. Ain't that right? Then look what else it says about
Him. His locks are bushy and black as a raven, and the margin
says curled. You know, you see this picture
of Jesus, He's always blonde-headed. Always blonde-headed. But it
tells us exactly what our Lord's hair looked like. He said, His
bushy, He's got curly hair, He had curly hair. And look what
it says, He's black as a raven. Oh my, two things I think this
is telling us here, two things that I d like to bring out here.
First of all, we d talk about His beauty and His eternal youth. Here s talking about the glorified
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. When you looked at Him, you saw
this man, with all his curly hair, black, dark like a raven. And when you looked at him, you
seen this beautiful, only if God gave you eyes to see, and
you see his eternal youth. Who can describe the perfections
of this glorified man? The Lord Jesus Christ. When John
saw him on Patmos, you know what John said? He turned around and
saw him, and he looked at him, And he'd seen how glorious he
was, and how powerful he was, and how excellent he was, and
how beautiful he was. And he fell down as a dead man. And you know what the Lord did?
Put his hand on him and said, don't be afraid, John. Don't
be afraid. Oh, my. Oh, bless his name. His beauty
and youth, they're unchanging. Our Lord's Whatever He was when
He was on this earth and went to glory in His body, that's
what He is right now. That's what He is right now.
And I'll tell you what, He's forever, He's youthful. His beauty and youth, they don't
never change. They're infinite. They're immaculate. And you know what? He's the very
image and brightness of God's glory. And you know what David
said? I'll be satisfied when I wake
in His likeness. That's when I'll be satisfied,
when I awaken his likeness. And then look what else it says
here now in verse 12, talking about our beloved. What makes
him more than anybody else's? Well, his eyes are as the eyes of the
dove by the rivers of water washed with milk and fitly set. And when you look where that
says fitly set, it says setting in fullness, that is fitly placed
and set as a precious stone in the center of the ring. The eyes of a dove, his eyes
are as the eyes of a dove. To the rebel, and a dove is so
peaceful, such a joyful bird. And everywhere in the Scriptures,
they're always mentioned in the most wonderful way. But to the
rebel and the unbeliever, when they look at the Lord Jesus Christ,
and when they see Him, when they see Him in judgment, you're gonna
see eyes of fire, eyes of fistness. They're gonna
see a face of anger, hideous from the face of Him, that setteth
on the throne. Let the rocks fall on us to hide
us. That's all they're going to do. And they're going to have
condemnation. But to us, his beloved, and those
who love him, his eyes are gentle. So gentle. You know, when he
turned and said, look, who touched me? He looked around. He looked
around. He looked around. And oh, my. And his eyes are gentle and they're
clear. And when it says, wash with milk,
now our eyes, most of the time we have red around them and you
know, and they're not so clear, but his eyes were real dark and
just perfectly white all the way around that dark, just like
a dove's eyes. Perfectly white, just like it's washed in milk.
When you looked at his eyes, since he had no sin, his eyes
were perfect, clearly perfect. We get to see him eye to eye,
face to face one of these days. Oh, can you imagine? Oh, gentle
and clear, washed with milk. And I tell you, show you how
white they are. He looks at us. When he looks at us, bless his
holy name, you know he never looks at us in anger. He only
looks at us in love. He never looks at us and holds
anything against us. He's forgive us of everything.
And oh, there'll never be a time that we won't be accepted. When
He looks at us, He sees we're accepted. Sees through it that
we're accepted. And you know, we've heard the
story and we've heard it so, so many times. The eyes are the
windows of the soul and they reveal what's in the soul. Well, if I look in the eyes of
Christ, Look in these blessed eyes. I tell you what I can do. Tell you what I can do. I can rest. I can rejoice for
His eyes are gentle. They're compassionate. And His
thoughts toward us are love. And when it's said His eyes are
fitly set, That means also this, fitly set towards us, never unchanging
towards us, never looks at us any other way that in love and
grace and mercy, never no anger, never no wrath, never no disappointment. Oh, to look at us. Oh, I sung
all day yesterday, it's about all day yet. How can it be, how
can it be that thou, my God, should die, Die for me. How could you love me? How can
it be that thou, my God, should die for me? How could you love
me? How can it be? How can it be? Oh, how can it
be? Well, if you ever see him and
you ever see him looking at you, you know, you see him now. He
looks at us with the most. How many times do we find in
the scripture said he looked on them with compassion? He looked
on them with compassion. Wonder what he's looking at tonight. He's looking at us. He's looking
with love. Oh my. And it's unchanging towards
us. Oh my, unchanging, unchanging. And then look what it says about
him in verse 13. Oh, our beloved, she's telling me, you know, we're
telling these people what our beloved is more than anybody
else. This is the church telling us, God's elect telling about
what Christ is like. His cheeks are as a bed of spices
and sweet flowers and lips like lilies dropping down sweet myrrh. Oh, when you talk about cheeks, and they smell so good, smell
like spices, and his breath and what they look, smell like sweet
flowers. This tells us the rest, the comfort
and the assurance that the believer feels in the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We call him a sweet-smelling
savor. That's what God says about him, a sweet-smelling savor.
Is he not a sweet-smelling savor to us? Does he not smell sweet
to us? Oh, my. And I tell you, leaning,
you know, John leaned upon his breast, leaning upon his cheek,
reclining, resting in his everlasting arms. You know what it's like? Oh, God blesses us to be this
way. It's like lying down on a bed of sweet, sweet spices. Soft, sweet smelling flowers. Oh, flowers, there's some flowers.
Let me tell you some flowers that just smell so good. What did I tell you the other
day? Huh? Honeysuckle, lilac, the stuff that you had in the
garden that smells so good. Well, anyway, we dug it up, it
died in the winter. Huh? Yeah. Let me think, there's
another one. Potty smell awful good. And there's
some roses smell awful good. But nobody, nobody smells like
the Lord Jesus Christ. I shouldn't have mentioned that.
Somebody talked about having COVID fog, said, man, I had fog
long before COVID ever come. I hope you all don't get it bad. But oh, listen, that's what he's
talking about here. Line up on a bed of sweet spices,
soft, sweet-smelling flowers. No rain, no storm, no wind can
disturb our rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. Cast your
cares upon Him, for He cares for you. And then look what else
it says about it. His lips are like lilies, dropping
sweet smelling myrrh. You know, it talks about our
Lord's lips, especially in Psalm 45. You know, I'm indicting a
good matter. concerning the words, concerning
the lips, concerning the words. And you know, when you start
talking about lips, lips speak, lips are used to drop things. You speak things and expose things
and come things. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
His lips are like lilies dropping down sweet smelling myrrh. And you know, His lips drop down
grace, mercy, They flow from His lips continuously, continuously. And listen, I'm telling you what,
just like when I sit and hear another preacher preach, it's
so sweet to me, it's so good to me, I enjoy it so much. It's
sweet to my ears, it's sweet to my heart. And oh my taste
and see that the Lord is gracious. And when you're talking about
lips, you're talking about the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. His words, His promises, that
every one of them are true and right and they come from His
lips. Oh my. And one of these days, His lips
go call my name. Go call my name. and He's gonna assure and I'm
gonna know something about that love that He showed me in this
world. But until then, He's gonna love us, He's gonna intercede
for us, and I'll tell you something that never does come from His
lips. He never says condemnation. You know what He always says?
No condemnation to them that are in Christ. He always speaks
words of grace and mercy. and love, gentleness, kindness,
oh my. And I tell you, let me show you
this one then, verse 14. His hands are as gold rings.
I have such a hard time with this. His hands are as gold rings
set with a burl. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. Oh my. You see people wearing
rings about on every finger. It says here, his hands are like
a big gold ring. His hands are gold, just like
a big gold ring around him. And you know what? And set with
barrel. You know what hands are for?
They're for doing things, reaching things, laboring. And I tell you, and they distribute
things. We're gonna go back there and use our hands tonight. And
people's already used their hands to do some things. Well, our
Lord's hands are gold hands, gold rings. And I tell you what,
he takes them hands and he throws out gifts, throws out grace,
throws out love, throws out gentleness, throws
out, just keeps throwing. Just keeps throwing them all
behind. And you know why? He gives them to His own. He s rich. If anybody s got gold hands,
He s rich. He s wealthy. He s Lord over all. He s rich
and He s generous. In fact, He s already blessed
us with all spiritual blessings we could ever possibly want.
And David said this, I can t reckon up in order. You have blessed
me so much, how in the world am I gonna start? Where am I
gonna start? Tell him about what you've done
for me. Where can I start? There are too many to number.
And oh my, he's rich and generous. And I tell you what, he supplies
all of our needs. Have you ever had a need since
you've been a believer? Ever had a need? I mean anything
that, I'm not talking about us being poverty stricken and things
like that, I'm talking about when you really have a need,
spiritual need, when you have a need in this world and say
you have something that you really need, God always, always provides
it, never has failed. If it's good for you, you're
getting it. And I tell you, He's blessed us already with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places. And look what it says about His,
Verse 14, And his belly, as bright as ivory, overlaid with sapphire. His belly is just like bright
ivory, just done, just made. And then this belly's got sapphires
laid all around it, laid on it. And I tell you, some think that
this is talking about the beauty, the overall beauty of his whole
body and how precious it was. Mary said, you know, said, where,
if you took his, where, show me where you've laid his body
and I'll go get it. She wanted Christ's body. People
loved his body. They'd rest in his lap. They'd
sit at his knee. They would cry on his shoulder. Oh my. And some believe that
maybe it's his priestly garments that he wore and he wears now,
and the robe of girdle of righteousness that he wears. And others think
it may mean the compassion of Christ to his church. And his
love is like ivory for how precious it is, like sapphires set firmly. And you know it's... And we all
know that the word belly in the scripture is talking about the
inward man, the inward man. When he talks about the bowels
and talks about the belly, out of the belly, our Lord said,
come unto me, all you that thirsty, and I'll give you a drink of
living water. And out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. I'll give you a drink. Now he's
not talking about living water coming out of us, living water
coming out of Christ. coming out of his belly. And
that's talking about the innermost person, innermost person. And
oh my, then look what he says here, verse 15. Oh, I love this. His legs are as pillars of marble,
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance as of Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His legs are as pillars of marble. Now you think about this. Marble
is very hard. Marble is very strong. And oh
my, the legs support the body. And here are his legs. Marble. Strong. Strong. And then he's
got them set in the sockets of gold. And look what he said here. Oh my. The legs support the body. this tell us about the STRENGTH
and POWER of our Lord Jesus Christ to bear up EVERYTHING that God
put upon Him. Oh, God put upon Him, He laid
the sin of all His elect upon Him, He laid the burden of the
covenant of grace upon Him, He laid the military office upon
Him, He laid the LIFE and DEATH of all His people upon Him, Everything
that God put on him, the scriptures tells us his legs were like marble. He had the strength to bear it.
He had the strength to bear it. And he had the strength to pay
the price for our sin. He had the strength to pay for
it. And oh my, and I'll tell you what, he's gonna be the reward
of his people. And I'll tell you one thing,
he's able. He's able to save. He's able to keep. Bless His
holy name, He's able to comfort. He's able to carry us, I'll tell
you that. And then His countenance as Lebanon.
Me and Bruce Crabtree's talked about it. You know, you read
about the Cedars of Lebanon often in the Old Testament. Cedars
of Lebanon. They must have really been something. They must have, you know, they
talk about, they must have been majestic. Majestic because they
talk about the Cedars of Lebanon. Strong as the cedar of Lebanon,
beautiful as the cedar of Lebanon. It was the cedars of Lebanon
that Solomon used to build his temple with. All in the ceiling
and all on the sides, and then they put gold all around. And
so these cedars of Lebanon, it was a place north of Judea, and
they had these huge cedars up there. Talk about these cedars
of Lebanon. Out of all the cedars of Lebanon,
he's the greatest. Ain't that what it says? His
countenance as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. You think them
cedars are something? Look at him. Look at him. Oh, Christ. Christ, Lebanon,
their cedar was the most preferable above any others anywhere. And
our Lord Jesus Christ in his appearance and in his person. Oh, how majestic, how stately,
how glorious he is. Oh, he's pleasant to the eyes
and there's nothing you can compare him to. And that's why Hebrews
chapter one verse said, he's the brightness of his glory,
express the image of his person. And then let me look at this
last verse now. This last verse. His mouth is
most sweet. Yea, I can't think anything else
to say. Yea, he's just altogether lovely. He's just altogether lovely.
And then said, this is my beloved. That's who I've been trying to
tell you about. I can't think of nothing else
to say. His mouth is most sweet and he's altogether lovely. This
is my beloved. And this is my friend. Oh ye
daughters of Jerusalem. Oh my. His words. His words. And oh, Cody dealt
with that so well this morning. His words. His words are the
principle, that's the thing, that's the principle part of
His beauty, what He has to tell us. The gospel He gave us, the
gospel He taught us, the gospel that come from His mouth. Oh
my, everything that come from His mouth, the gospel, how sweet
is the gospel. How precious is the gospel that
God could be just, God could stay holy, God can be righteous,
and at the same time, slay his son, and at the same stroke,
give life to everyone for whom he died. Oh, you're talking about,
oh, our Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder you said the words
of his mouth are most sweet. Huh? Words of his mouth is most
sweet. His gospel, his commandments,
his promises, his doctrine. Sweet, sweet, sweet. And then
she said, unless I thought of everything I could say about
him. And then she said, well, he's altogether lovely. Huh? If I fail to say anything else
about him, if I fail to define him the way he needs to be defined,
If I failed in some way to describe him, he's just altogether lovely. There's nothing about him, nothing
about his word, nothing about his person, nothing about his
gospel, nothing about his beauty, nothing about him that's not
perfect and altogether lovely. And this is what she said about
him. This is my beloved. This is mine. This is my beloved. This is my friend. And you daughters of Jerusalem,
I hope you got this. I hope you got this. I hope you understood what I
was saying. He is altogether lovely, ain't
he? He is so precious, so precious. My Lord and my God, In the blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you. Oh, thank you, thank
you, thank you. Blessed be your name. In some
ways you describe yourself, but when it comes to us describing
you, Lord, we're failures, utterly absolute failures. The Lord does
nothing, nothing more enjoyable in this world than thinking of
you, talking about you, and seeing your beauty, hearing your word,
sweet words from your mouth. Seeing your purity, seeing your
humanity, seeing your wealth and your riches. Oh, Lord, who
is like unto thee. You're just altogether lovely.
We bless you for it, in Christ's name, amen. Jesus Christ is made
to me. All I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power. Holiness forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. And he really is. Well, I hope
y'all like ice cream, because I'm fixed to go back and have
some. Y'all go on back there. I'm sure they got it set up.
See you Wednesday, God willing. Don't die. Oh my. Yeah, it's an unspeakable
gift.