You know, it is a, to me, it
is, and I know, I believe you feel the same way, it's a marvelous,
miraculous thing to be able to go to an Old Testament book like
this and see the glory of the person and work of Christ. The
Lord, you know, we have his words, as a basis to do this. We're
not spiritualizing, we're not reading into the book something
that's not there, because Christ, he told the Pharisees who imagined
themselves to be masters of the scriptures, he said, they are
they which testify of me. And here in this passage, we
have the bridegroom, which is Christ, the bridegroom of his
bride, the church, We have the bridegroom speaking to his bride,
and he calls her a dove. Verse 14, oh my dove, that art
in the clefts of the rock. And I entitled this lesson, as
you can see, The Dove Hidden in the Rock. And what a beautiful
picture that is of our salvation in Christ. By Christ, by his
grace, we're hidden in the cleft of the rock. And that rock is
Christ. And we need to be hidden there.
Now hidden doesn't mean hidden from view. It means hidden in
the way of protection, in the way of preservation, in the way
of salvation. Nothing can touch us as far as
breaking our fellowship and right relationship with God. Because
we have Christ. And we can't even do it ourselves.
That, to me, that's a comforting thing. You know, if God didn't,
he saves us, we know that by his grace, but he keeps us by
his grace. He preserves us. You know, the
old, when we talk about the tulip, you know, total depravity, unconditioned
election, limited atonement. Irresistible grace and then it
says perseverance of the Saints. I like to make that be preservation
of the Saints and Preservation is by means God uses means the
means of his word and we do by his grace and power persevere
But we persevere in Christ. He is our hope. He is our state. He is our righteousness and You
know when when we look at the in Ephesians 6 for example put
on the whole armor of God and Well, every bit of that armor
is a facet of God's power, God's goodness, and God's grace given
us freely in Christ. It's not something we create
or that we muster up within ourselves or by our own power. It's all
Christ. It's all God's grace. And that's how we withstand the
wiles of the devil. That's how we come against the
world and our own flesh, by looking at this. So here's the bridegroom. speaking in a sweet voice to
his bride, oh my dove. And you know the dove is an appropriate
symbol here when we talk about what a Christian is and what
salvation is. Remember this bride, this dove
that he says, that's every sinner saved by the grace of God. If
you're a believer, You've been made so, not by your own will
or free will or whatever they call it, not by your own goodness,
you've been made so by the grace and power of God. We are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, but
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. And so his bride consists, it's the church. All who have been justified freely. Think about that. What is it
to be justified? It's to be righteous in God's
sight. It's to be not guilty. It's to be, listen, it means
sin cannot be charged to my account. Am I a sinner? Yes. Are you sinners? Yes. But because of the blood
of Christ, because of his substitutionary work on the cross, which we're
gonna talk about today, it is finished. Because of that, God
cannot and will not impute or charge or account sin to us.
We're hidden in the rock. The rock Christ Jesus. Our sins
have been washed away. What does that mean? Does that
mean he took a bar of soap and scrubbed us real good like mama
used to do when we were muddy, dirty kids? No. It means he went
to the cross and shed his blood to make the payment of our sin
debt, and he did it in full. And therefore, there's no payment
left to pay. We found, we're like Job, we found a ransom.
And it's a complete ransom. This dove includes all who are
sanctified by the grace of God. What is it to be sanctified?
It's to be set apart. That's what sanctified means. Listen, most people, when they
look at sanctification or holiness, they think of moral purity. If
that's what it is, can we say we're sanctified? No, no. We're sanctified. And think about
this. How long our bridegroom has loved
his bride? Everlasting love. We were set
apart by God the Father in sovereign electing grace before the foundation
of the world. Why did he set me apart from
the vessels of wrath? I don't know. The only answer
Christ gives, I think, is in Matthew chapter 11. Well, there's
two answers, Romans 9 and Matthew 11. Romans 9 is for the glory
of God. Matthew 11, it seemed good in
his sight. Now that doesn't mean I seemed
good in his sight, because I wasn't. And the whole point in Romans
9 there, it's not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth. It's sovereign mercy. We were
set apart by God. in redemptive grace when Christ
died for us at the cross. He died as a surety. Our sins
imputed to him, his righteousness to us. He died as a substitute. He took my place. He bore my
iniquities. He took my guilt. All of that. He was made a curse. The curse
that I earned and deserved, he was made a curse for me. And
see, all of this are elements of being hidden in the rock,
the rock Christ Jesus. And he set us apart in regenerating
grace when he called us out of the, he gave us life, raised
us from the dead. Lazarus come forth. We were talking
about that last night. Lazarus come forth. In the preaching
of the gospel, that's what he did to us. giving us life and
calling us out of the world and into his rock, him the rock,
hidden in the rock, into the sheepfold, into his church. And this dove includes all who
abide in him continually by his power and grace because he keeps
us under his gracious, loving, sovereign care. He won't let
us go. He won't let us go. We're held
captive by him, but it's a lovely being captive, isn't it? It's
where we wanna be. It's not like being in the jailhouse
of the law. That condemns us. We're not on
death row. We're in Christ awaiting his
return. Awaiting our going to him or
his return, either one. So here he compares his bride
to a dove, a dove for her beauty. You ever seen a white dove? Beautiful
bird. But it's a beauty that he created
for us. It's not a beauty that we had
naturally. If you wanna see what we have
naturally, read passages like Isaiah chapter one. Putrefying sores from the top
of our head to the bottom of our feet. That's us naturally.
But what did he do? He cleaned that up and gave us
a white robe of righteousness. and gave us his grace within.
That is a beautiful thing. And even though we're still sinners
and still have the warfare of the flesh and the spirit, we
have a heart that God has given us to look to Christ, by which
the spirit continually convicts us of sin. And so the dove's
beauty is set forth. The dove's innocence is set forth. The dove's not a bird of prey.
The dove's not one of those birds that swoops down and kills its
prey. The dove is not one who feeds
upon the dead, what they call a scavenger or like a buzzard. The dove is an innocent bird.
The dove is usually the prey. And this innocence, again, this
innocence is not of us naturally. We're not innocent in that sense. Again, we're sinners. What is
a sinner? One who commits sin. But we're
innocent in Christ. Again, no sin can be charged
to us. We've been washed through and through by the blood of the
Lamb. And He is our innocence. We're
not guilty because of Him and what He accomplished. And the
dove is a good symbol because it represents humility. By nature,
we're not humble, we're proud. Every time, and you know, here's
the thing about it. Men and women, some men and women
can appear humble before men, and they can even be humble before
men. But until you see yourself, by the Spirit of God's revelation,
as a sinner who can do nothing to recommend yourself unto God,
And then you see that the only thing that can save you is the
sovereign grace and mercy of God in Christ. Until you see
that, you're not humble before God. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Scripture says that means there's
no humility, no meekness, no understanding, no worship. And so the dove is that symbol
of humility. God makes us willing in the day
of his power to submit to his will and his way of salvation
by grace. And then the dove is a symbol
of peace. That's probably the major symbolism
in the dove. And Christ is at peace with his
people. Think about that. God is at peace
with sinners. Why? Because God is a judge. He's a righteous judge. He must
punish sin. Let me put it this way. You know,
it's common for people today in religion who call themselves
Christian, they say, well, God loves the sinner but hates the
sin. Or God punishes the sin but not
the, listen. God must punish sinners to whom
sin is charged. Isn't that right? That's why
David said, blessed is the man whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.
And if we can't be charged with sin, God cannot and will not
punish us. He'll bless us. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather, is risen again and
is seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to do
what? To make intercession. for us. Christ is our peace with God. That's why he's called the Prince
of Peace. Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem
is the city of peace. And later on in Song of Solomon,
we're gonna see Solomon himself as a type of Christ. And I thought
about this, you know David, King David, Solomon's father, wanted
to build a temple to the Lord, but the Lord wouldn't let him.
And you know why he wouldn't let him? Because David was a
man of war, a man of blood. David was a fighter. David was
a type of Christ fighting against the powers of darkness, and that's
what Christ did, and that's what he was doing on the cross. He's
in a warfare on the cross. And that's what David represents.
Christ warring. Christ working. Solomon was allowed
to build the temple, and you know why? Because he was a man
of rest. I'll show you the scriptures
on that later when we get to that passage. A man of peace. He represents Christ in his finished
warfare, his finished work. and Solomon was given the task
to build the temple. But here's the point, the safety
and the security of the dove, of the church, the bride, is
in the fact that she's hidden in the clefts of the rock. Look
at it, the clefts of the rock. What's a cleft? Well, it's like
a fissure, it's like a rift, a break, One commentator said that the
cleft, the breaks, speaks of the wounds of Christ, his body
which is broken for us, and his suffering unto death leading
up to and upon the cross when he died for our sins. He said this is my body which
is broken for you, this is my blood which is shed for you,
the payment of our sins. He was wounded, Isaiah said,
for our transgressions. Bruised, crushed is what that
literally is. When it says bruised, it means
crushed. He was crushed for our iniquities.
You remember when Moses was commanded of God to strike the rock so
that the children of Israel could have water? And Moses struck
the rock and water poured from it. That rock was Christ. Of
course, you remember when Moses later on got angry at the people
and struck the rock again. God didn't say strike the rock
again. He said, speak to the rock. The rock was only to be
struck one time. Christ only died one time. You
know what the Catholic mass is? It's almost like it's in symbol,
isn't it, I believe, re-crucifying Christ. No, that's blasphemy. Blasphemy. And his death by one
offering, he hath what? Perfected them forever that are
sanctified by his one offering. And so Moses struck the rock
twice and God punished him for it because he misrepresented
the glory of God in Christ. And then you remember even before
that when Moses was, when God, when the Lord was speaking to
Moses and Moses said, show me your glory. God said, I'll put
you in the cleft of the rock and I'll pass by. And that's
when he said, I'll be gracious to whom I will be. I'll be merciful
to whom I will be. And that's Christ. That's Christ. You know, we're hidden safely
and securely in the rock. Now that doesn't mean that we're
going to escape the storms of this life, the chastisements
of God. We're gonna have trouble in this
world, but we're still hidden in the cleft of the rock. Christ
said, I've overcome the world. Satan had to ask permission to
touch Job, and he could touch Job's body, but he couldn't touch
Job's soul, could he? because Job was hidden in the
cleft of the rock. And then he says here in verse
14, he says, Oh my dove, thou that are in the clefts of the
rock, in the secret places of the stairs. Don't think of this
as a as a staircase with a room underneath it and you're hidden
underneath it. No, what this is, is climbing up the stairs. Christ is the stairway, the steps
rather, by which believers go to God, ascend up to God. We have access and communion
with God through Christ. He is the way. Think about Jacob's
ladder, for example. That's what he was showing there,
that the way for a sinner like Jacob to get to God was this
ladder, and that ladder represents Christ, the way of God, the way
of grace, all of that. And he says, he says, left, he
says, the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance,
thy face, thy glory. Let me hear thy voice, thy word. This is the bridegroom wanting
to see the face of his bride. Why? Because her face reflects
his glory. We've seen the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ, and when he brings us to a saving
knowledge of that glory, what do we do? In our voice, he wants
to hear her voice. What does he want to hear? He
wants to hear praises. Worship to him. That's his work. We're his workmanship,
you see. And he says, for sweet is thy
voice, and thy countenance is comely, beautiful. Why? A sinner? In his sight. Isn't that it? Isn't this the
issue? How the bride appears in the sight of God? Not in the
sight of men now. You look at us on our outward
appearance, growing old, headed for death, this body is dead
because of sin, but you don't see the inner man, do you? That's
what Paul said in Romans 7, the inner man, our heart of hearts,
the new heart that causes us to cling to Christ. And that's
his power, that's his grace, that's his beauty. Look at verse
15. Take us the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our
vines have tender grapes. You know the fox is noted symbolically
as being a sly and cunning animal. Always seek to ruin their enemies
and feed upon their prey. They spoil the vines. But they
can't spoil the vine, our vine is Christ. I am the vine, you're
the branches. And neither can they spoil his
church. The gates of hell will not prevail. And these foxes,
I believe, represent false preachers, false believers, who stealthily
creep within the church and try to spoil the work of God, they
cannot accomplish it. The Bible has a lot to say about
these foxes, these false teachers who come in the name of Christ
but deny his doctrine. Now mark that down in your minds. I think about this all the time
because you can turn on the TV and you can see all kinds of
preachers preaching, claiming to preach Christ. Some of them
are closer than others. There's some who are just so
off the wall. I remember years ago, somebody
showed, this is even before I was converted, showed me this guy
over in Alabama named the Reverend Ike. I don't know if you remember
him. But he was all about making money. That's all he talked about. Well, he didn't even fool me
when I was a lost man. But now, Once we know the truth,
we find that there are some who are closer, more subtle, like
foxes, wolves in sheep's clothing, that kind of thing. Christ said
in the last days, some will be so close that if it were possible,
they could what? Deceive the very elect. Thank
God it's not possible that the elect stay deceived, remain deceived
unto death, because God's gonna turn on the light in their case.
But we have to be on our toes. We have to be what the writer
of Hebrews called skillful in the word of righteousness to
discern good and evil. And I've got a list of scriptures
here about false prophets, but I want you to turn to one, 2
Corinthians chapter 11. I wanna show you something here.
This is in 2 Corinthians 11. And in verse 2, and the apostle writes here in
2 Corinthians 11 verse 2, he said, I'm jealous over you with
godly jealousy. And I think about how we ought
to be jealous of each other with a godly jealousy. I don't want
to deceive you, and you don't want to be deceived. And he says,
for I have espoused you to one husband. Now, what are we talking
about? The dove and this whole song of Solomon. It's Christ,
the bridegroom, his church, the bride, Christ, the husband, his
church, their wife. And Paul says, I have espoused
you to one husband. How did Paul espouse them to
one husband? Preaching the gospel. You want
to hear the wedding vows between the bride and the bridegroom?
Preach the gospel. Point sinners to Christ, tell
them who Christ is and tell them what Christ has done in establishing the only work, the
only righteousness that God will accept. And he said, I've spoused
you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ, pure in Christ. But I fear, he says in verse
three, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve, and now
you remember what the serpent did, you know, he quoted Scripture. He brought in what hath God not
said, hath God said. Through his subtlety, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. What is that simplicity that's
in Christ? Well, they used to call some
gospel preachers Johnny One Notes. They had one message. We preach
Christ. Everything is in Christ. Everything
is by Christ. If you want to go on to other
things, you better go out the door here. Because I'm not, I'm
preaching the gospel. Now I do preach other things
in light of the gospel. But everything that we are and
everything that we have by way of salvation, by way of a right
relationship with God is in this single person based upon this
single work, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when false preachers try
to divert your minds away from that, that's what Paul's talking
about. That's these little foxes. Go
back to Solomon, verse 16. Now here's the, this is the language
of the wedding vow. My beloved is mine and I am his. That's what the bride said. He's
mine, I'm his. God said, When he gave the prophecy
of the new covenant, they shall be my people and I'll be their
God. That's the wedding vow. Union with God in Christ. And he feedeth among the lilies. That's among the people of God.
That's what we're doing now. We're feeding among the lilies.
We're hearing the word of God. We're like sheep in the fold,
grazing upon the lush green grass, drinking from the water. And
he says in verse 17, until the daybreak and the shadows flee
away. The daybreak is when the light
comes. I believe specifically he's talking here about the second
coming. But anytime we're in the shadows, we're in the shadows
of doubt, the shadows of pain, anytime like that, And Christ
reveals himself anew. We get a fresh revelation, a
fresh sight of his glory. That's the day breaking. And
he says, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a row or a young
heart upon the mountains of Bethar. The mountains, that word means
division. In other words, come and bring
us into your fold again, back into your fold. Not that we leave
the fold or lose salvation, He brings us into his love, a fresh
realization of these things. And what he's talking about is
how we're dependent upon the bridegroom at all times. And
we wait for his appearing. That's what we're doing now.
All right, let's end right there.