All right, the Song of Solomon,
chapter one, verse one. The Song of Songs, this is the
poetry literature of the Bible. It's one of the poetic books. It's sometimes called the wisdom
books because it's not just poetry for poetry's sake. It's poetry
that reflects and reveals the wisdom of God, the power of God
in Christ. This was inspired by the Holy
Spirit through King Solomon. I dealt with that last week.
And as stated in the introduction last week, this book is an allegorical
poem describing both Christ's love for his church and his church's
love for him. And that's what it's all about.
Christ is portrayed here as the bridegroom and the husband of
the church, which is portrayed as the bride and the wife of
Christ. And that's a common type in the
scripture. Christ the bridegroom, the church
his bride. And understand now when we're
talking about the church, we're not just talking about local
congregations or certainly not talking about denominations.
The church is made up of sinners saved by grace, who have been
called by the Spirit in that invincible, effectual, powerful
calling of the gospel out of the world into the body of Christ. We can identify the church in
the Bible as the chosen or the elect of God, chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. And what that means is
that before this world was ever created, God appointed God the
Father, the triune God had Father, Son, and Spirit, not three gods
now, but one God in three persons. We can't theologize or explain
that, we just know it's true. But the Father appointed the
Son, who is Jesus Christ, to be the surety of His people,
to be the bridegroom. and imputed all of the sins of
the bride, the church, to Christ. And that he chose his people
in Christ. And they're justified before
God based upon the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to them,
charged to them, accounted to them, reckoned to them. And Christ
as the bridegroom agreed to meet every condition, every requirement,
every stipulation that God the Father required for the salvation
of his bride, union with his bride. And so what we see here,
Christ the bridegroom, think about it this, he's the surety,
he's the substitute, he's the redeemer. He had to come to earth
and take upon himself his bride's name and her nature, human nature,
without sin, and die on the cross to redeem his church. And so he takes care of his bride.
And here's what we say, Christ is the worthy, listen to this,
Christ is the worthy, the powerful, the loving and willing savior
of his bride. But now what about her case?
His bride, she is the unworthy, sinful, and adulterous object
of his unconditional love. So Christ the bridegroom is worthy. His bride is unworthy. God chose
his people not looking down through a telescope of time to see who
would do good works or who would make right decisions, no. God
saves sinners. God justifies the ungodly. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am chief. And so when
we talk about the church, understand, when we talk about his bride,
we're talking about, we're talking about a body of people, individuals
collectively, see, And there are sinners saved by his grace,
washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness. And the
word church now means literally called out. Those who have been
called out. So how do I know that I'm a member
of his church? How do I know I'm a member of
this collective body called the Bride of Christ? Well, I've been
called out under the preaching of the true gospel The gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace, the gospel wherein the righteousness
of God is revealed, which is the merit of Christ, obedience
unto death as my surety, my substitute, my redeemer. I've been called
out by the powerful calling of the Holy Spirit out of the world,
fellowship with the world, union with the world, into the fellowship
of Christ and his people. I'm a believer. If you're a true
believer, In Christ, as he's identified and distinguished
in the Bible, in the word of God, you're a member of the bride
of Christ. You're a member of his church.
And so, what am I? I'm a sinner saved by grace. And so, Christ is the worthy
Savior, the worthy Lord of glory. His bride is the unworthy and
adulterous, sinful, recipient of all the blessings that are
wrapped up in the bridegroom, in Christ. And he earned our
salvation. He's the merit of his church. He's the worthiness of his church.
He's the righteousness of his church. Now, and he took Christ,
the bridegroom, took full responsibility for the complete salvation of
his bride. In other words, it's all conditioned
on him. None of it's conditioned on her. And all the blessings
that she received are blessings that Christ earned as the bridegroom,
as the savior of sinners. Now, as the surety of his bride,
all the sins of the bride, all the sins of every one of God's
people were imputed to him, charged to him. And he willingly took
her sin debt as his own, it became his by imputation. And as her
redeemer, he came to where she was in her sin and depravity,
and in her name, and in her nature as human, without sin now in
him, without sin, he took her place under the law and died
to redeem her. That's what he did. And he provides
her with the wedding garment of his righteousness imputed
to her and gives her everything necessary for her full salvation.
Over in the book of Isaiah 61, we see a beautiful verse concerning
Christ as the bridegroom and his church as the bride. And
in verse 10, this is Isaiah 61 and verse 10, the people of God
say, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. We're gonna see a symbolic
representation of that in the next verse of Song of Solomon.
He said, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God. What he's saying here, what the
bride is saying here, the people, I'm not looking to myself, I'm
looking to Christ. For he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation. Everything that's salvation and
all blessings. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments.
How did Christ as the bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments?
By his death on the cross. He died, he was buried, and he
arose again the third day for the justification of his people.
And as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. What are our
jewels? That's the blessings of God's
grace given us in Christ. And so, this next verse, back
over in Song of Solomon, chapter one, this next verse, verse two,
begins with his bride, after having been drawn to him with
the cords of love, and that's how it happens. You see, he has
to draw his bride to himself, because by nature, she doesn't
love him, doesn't know him, and even hates him. So he draws her
with cords of love. But here in verse two of Song
of Solomon one, we see the bride, after having been drawn to Christ,
desiring, longing to see and know more of him. I want to know
more of Christ. I want to know more of his love
for me. That's what she's saying. All
true believers, all members of his bride know that Christ's
love for them, Christ's love for us is the greatest love of
all. That's why I entitled it. Back
in the 80s, there was a song, I was telling Debbie that I couldn't
hardly get this thing out of my mind when I entitled this
message. But there was a song called The Greatest Love of All.
I think that was the full title. But in that, the singer was talking
about how the greatest love of all is when we learn to love
ourselves. Well, we could talk about that.
I mean, I think she was talking basically about self-esteem and
self-confidence, and we want to instill self-esteem and self-confidence,
like, for example, in our children, in our spouses, you know, that
we don't go around with a negative view of life. But the problem
with man in relationship with God is not lack of love for himself,
is he loves himself too much. And if you wanna see the proof
of that is when the gospel is preached of God's way of salvation,
conditioned on Christ, who fulfilled all those conditions to secure
the complete salvation of everyone whom God chose and gave to him,
everyone for whom he died. God chose the people. God chose
his people. They didn't choose him until
he drew them with cords of love. And people don't want to believe
that. They want to say, no, it's conditioned on me, on my works,
or on my will. Well, you love yourself too much.
That's the problem. Oh, my friend, the greatest love
of all is Christ's love for his church. So let's look into that.
Look at verse two. And one of the keys to understanding
the metaphorical, symbolic language of Song of Solomon is to remember
who's talking, who they're talking to, and what they're talking
about. And here is the bride speaking
to the bridegroom. This is his people speaking to
Christ. And it says in verse two, she
says, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy
love is better than wine. Think about this. Peter said
it this way. First Peter chapter two and verse
seven. Unto you therefore which believe, Christ is precious. He's the one who's valuable.
And this is the God-given sincere desire of one who has been saved
by grace in Christ. One who has seen his or her sins. I know what I am. God has revealed
to me in light of his holiness and his justice That I'm only
a sinner saved by grace. That if God were to give me at
any point in my life what I've earned or deserved, it would
be damnation and hell. I have no claims upon God. any blessing of God, and certainly
not the salvation that God has provided for His people. I have
no claims on it based upon any goodness in me, or anything that
I try to do, or any decision I make. It's all Christ. And that's the love of God to
His people. And here the church, the bride, longs to see more
of her Savior's love for her. She's appealing to one whom she
is sure loves her. And it's his love for her that
created and filled her with love for him. Now, we do love Christ. The bride loves the bridegroom.
But notice she's not bragging or boasting on her love for him.
She's longing to see more of his love for her. In her natural,
sinful, unbelieving state, she didn't know him. She did not
love him at all. In fact, in that state of unregeneracy
and unbelief, she was his enemy, the scripture tells us. Before
God brought me to a saving knowledge of Christ and his love for me
in what he accomplished for my salvation, I was an enemy, an
enemy. In fact, we could say we even
hated him. But, in that unbelieving state,
but the bride now has been reconciled unto him by the revelation of
his love for her in that he died for her sins. And when he revealed
himself to her through the preaching of the gospel and the power of
the spirit, the love of God was shed abroad in her heart. That's
what the scripture says in Romans 5. and it welled up within her
to draw her to him. That's faith in Christ. Leave
the world, repentance of dead works, and faith in Christ. And
how did he reveal his love to her? Well, let me read you these
passages here. This is 1 John chapter four,
beginning at verse nine. And it says in 1 John four and
verse nine, in this was manifested, made known, Revealed, uncovered,
the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten
son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love. Herein is love. Now, if you want
to talk about what is love, You don't begin with yourself. He
says here in His love, not that we love God. The love of God
is not defined and revealed in its fullness by our love to Him. Even though we can say we love
Him, the bride here's expressing her love for the bridegroom.
But here in His love, here's the nature of love, here's the
definition of love, here's the greatest love of all. Not that
we love God, but that He loved us. And how do we know he loved
us? He sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. What is a propitiation? That's
a sin-bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction to the justice
of God. I was reading an article in the
paper this morning written by a local pastor talking about
the cross. And he made this statement. He
said, the cross is the manifestation of the love of God to his people. He didn't say his people, he
said to everybody, but that's not right. Well, listen to me. The cross is the manifestation
of the love of God to his people, his church, his bride. But that fellow who wrote that
article, he left out what just about everybody who claims to
be preaching the cross leaves out today. Not only is the cross
the manifestation of God's love for his people, but the cross
is the manifestation of God's justice satisfied for his people. And that justice being satisfied
means that they must be saved. They cannot perish. So when we
talk about love, when we talk about the bridegroom's love for
his bride, we can relish, We can bask, we can glory in
that love, but we always have to keep in mind that God reveals
himself through judgment, even his love. And that's what this
verse 10 of 1 John 4 says, hearing his love, not that we loved him,
but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now the object of Christ's love,
the bridegroom's love, is a sinful bride, an adulterous bride who
prostituted herself out in her falling Adam, in her spiritual
death, coming forth from the womb, speaking lies. We've all
sinned. and come short of the glory of
God. So understand this, see, the reason that God's love must
be based upon his justice satisfied is because we're sinners. And
God cannot commune with, he cannot save sinners, he cannot love
sinners, he cannot have mercy or grace, he cannot bless sinners
apart from his justice satisfied. So when we talk about seeing
more of our Savior's love, understand that it's supported by justice
satisfied. That's the righteousness of God.
This love of Christ for his bride is the effectual, redeeming love
that ensured her salvation unto final glory. Listen, it's love
that brought him to die for her and satisfy the justice of God
by taking on himself the full wrath of God against her sins.
That's what he did. But God, who is rich in mercy,
John 13 one says, Christ loved his own, his own people, his
own bride unto the end. What does that mean? Well, Romans
10 four says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. Christ loved his own so much
that he went on to the cross. and finish that work of satisfying
God's justice in dying for her sins. So when the bride says
here in verse two, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,
she's expressing her passionate desire to see and know more of
Christ, her bridegroom and his love to her. And though she loves
him, again, I want to emphasize, though she loves Christ, she's
not boasting and bragging about her love. You know, people do
that today, call themselves Christians. I do love him. And if you're
a believer, you love him. But aren't you often ashamed
of how little you love him? And you know, the love of God
within us is measured by our love to one another. That's what
he says over in 1 John 4, 7. We ought to love one another,
even as Christ loved us. This bride realizes here that
Christ's love for her saves her, protects her, preserves her under
glory. And a kiss from the Savior's
mouth is an expression of his deep abiding love for his bride. It's an evidence of complete
pardon, forgiveness. We've been forgiven of all our
sins, accepted in the beloved. Ephesians 1 tells us, based on
the righteousness that he worked out for his bride. And this is
not like that empty love of false Christianity today that declares
a counterfeit Christ who tries to save his loved ones, but either
does not or cannot ensure their salvation and glory unless she
cooperates. No. If left to ourselves, we
would not cooperate. We would not believe. No one
perishes who is the object of the bridegroom's love described
here. And Christ will never let the
objects of his love perish. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
they follow me. No one shall ever pluck them
out of my father's hand. She realizes that his love is
better than wine in verse two. In the Bible, wine can symbolize
the blood of Christ, as in the New Testament ordinance of the
Lord's Supper. This is my blood, he said, to
purge away our sins. But wine sometimes, in different
context, is a symbol of joy, given by the Holy Spirit, who
brings sinners to rejoice in Christ. And wine rejoices the
heart, revives the spirit, and soothes the nerves of man. But the love of Christ is far
better than the best wine. When the love of Christ is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, it's like drinking some
heavenly spiritual wine. And we become consumed with him,
his truth and his love. And it brings us to joy and peace
in believing. Now look at verse three. She
says, because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name
is as ointment poured forth. Therefore do the virgins love
thee." Well, what are these ointments? Well, an ointment heals the wound,
soothes the wound, lessens the pain or removes the pain. And what this is referring to
is the healing, soothing, comforting balm of his glorious character. His nature, because look what
she says, the saver of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment. His name is who he is. His name
is that which identifies and distinguishes him from counterfeits
and idols. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. His name is
wonderful. His name is Emmanuel, God with
us. all of his names, the names of
God. It's talking about his attributes. And there's no attribute of God's
nature that's repugnant or rejected by the bride. By the grace and
power of God, she's brought to love everything about her bridegroom. Now you men and women who are
married, you husbands, you love your wives, you wives, do you
love your husband? But do you love everything about
him? I'd probably say not. I often, I remember one couple
came to me years ago talking about getting married and all
of that, and I told them, I said, now think about it, I know you
guys love each other, I know you like each other, I said,
but think about what you don't like about each other. I said,
really think about that. And I looked at them, I said,
now that's not gonna change. But that's not the case between,
of the bride with her bridegroom here. We love everything about
God, about Christ. The people of God love Christ
as he's revealed in the scripture. Whatever God's word says about
him. Think about this. You know, people today claim
to be Christian, but there are things about God they don't like.
They don't like his sovereignty. They don't like the fact that
he chose his people and left others to perish. They don't,
God says, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll
be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. God has that prerogative. He
told Moses that's his glory. Now, I don't wanna see anybody
perish, but I know God is God, and I'm a sinner who deserves
salvation. I love the fact that God sovereignly
elected a people before the foundation of the world, because that's
my hope. I'm gonna seek the Lord. There's no attribute that gives
us a negative view of God, because we see in Him every attribute. We see in Christ the propitiation,
the blood and righteousness of Christ. We see every attribute
of God's nature engaged and honored, working consistently together
on our behalf. If God is for me, You mean that
God who, of his own will, chose a people to save and left others? That God? Yes, if that God be
for me. You mean that God who is immutable,
does not change, who's sovereign, who works all things after the
counsel of his own will, including all the disasters of this world? That God? Yes, if he's for me,
who can be against me? You say. Every attribute of God,
His mercy, His grace, His love, His justice, even in sending
sinners to perish, that God, every attribute is engaged to
save and protect and preserve His bride. We love His holiness
and His goodness. We love His justice and mercy.
We love His righteousness and grace, His power and tenderness.
We love his immutability. I can't understand immutability,
but God does not. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. I love that.
It's beyond my comprehension. His compassion, his wisdom, his
sympathy, his wrath. And his wrath was poured down
upon my bridegroom, upon my substitute, my savior. And if it hadn't been
for that, his wrath would have been poured down on me. But I have Christ, his bride. They love his sovereignty in
all things. I love the fact that God is in control. Because I
know if man was in control, there'd be nothing. We'd already be gone
and perish. We don't deny God's sovereign
mercy and grace in electing a people and giving them to Christ. Every
aspect of his nature brings his bride joy, peace, and comfort. And that's what she's talking
about here in verse three. They're ointments. They soothe my soul. Just his name, his name is wonderful. His name is the Lord my righteousness. And it's his ointment poured
forth, see? Ointment, the bride, he's fairer
than 10,000. He's the beauty of holiness.
He's the rose of Sharon. He's the lily of the valley.
And he says, therefore, because of this, do the virgins love
thee. Now, who are these virgins? Well,
they are his people, sinners saved by the grace of God, made
spiritually and eternally pure by the washing of his blood and
the water of his word. Legally, they're washed clean
from all their sins and their redemption by the blood of Christ. Washed in his blood, clean. This
is our justification before God whereby our sins are forgiven
and whereby we're declared legally righteous in God's sight based
upon Christ's righteousness and putative. No sin can be charged
to his bride. They were all charged to him. His bride, no member of his bride
can be condemned. There's no condemnation in Christ.
Who shall separate us from this love? And then spiritually, they're
washed by the water of the word. The Bible speaks of that in Ephesians
five and verse 26 and Psalm 119 and verse nine. Having been married
to Christ by God-given faith through the word of the gospel
and the power of the spirit, sinners are brought to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. And although we're still
plagued with the remaining presence and influence and even contamination
of the sins of the flesh, we're espoused to one husband, Paul
wrote, that we may be presented as chaste virgins to Christ,
spiritually speaking, 2 Corinthians 11 too. And not only does she
love his name, think about this, not only does she love his name,
His glory as His willing bride, she's brought by God to take
His name unto herself. His name shall be called Jehovah
Sikhanou, the Lord our righteousness. Well, her name shall be the same.
And this is the case of all sinners. Let me give you one more verse,
verse four. Draw me, we will run after thee. The king hath
brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine, the upright love thee. Notice how the bride expresses
here her total dependence upon the power, the will, and the
love of Christ, the bridegroom. Salvation is not by the works
or the wills of men. It's all of grace. It's all through
the power and the works and the will of God based upon the righteousness
of Christ. And if we're to be saved, we
must be legally justified in God's sight, and we must be spiritually
drawn to him. Draw me, we will run after thee.
By nature, the members of the bride of Christ are so depraved
and sinful that none will come to him of their own wills. That's
right, the Bible teaches that. We have to be drawn with cords
of love and power as revealed in the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace in Christ. We have to be brought to his
bedchambers, that's what she's saying here, that union, that
love union with Christ. We must be changed by God to
be glad and to rejoice in him because by nature we won't be
glad and rejoice in him. We must be willing in the day
of his, made willing in the day of his power. and we must be
preserved to remember his love. We'll go through life, we get
so consumed with ourselves and our own things that we'll forget
it. So we have to be kept. The upright
here describes justified sinners who have been drawn to Christ
by God's power and grace. They're believers. They believe,
they rest in and love Christ as he is our whole salvation. And we've seen and know his love
as the greatest love of all. All right.