Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon. Tonight we'll be in chapter 4.
We'll try to cover the whole chapter. I'm going to read over
the whole chapter and then we're just going to key on some of
the verses in here. Now we've seen in our previous studies
in this wonderful book that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
who is our Heavenly Bridegroom, sees no spot or blemish in His
people. No spot or blemish in his blood
bought bride, a bride which he has purchased with his own precious
blood. God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has purchased his bride. In Acts, the scriptures declare,
Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church
of God. which He hath purchased with
His own blood." God has purchased His bride. God incarnated in
the flesh, the very one we saw this morning, who has all power,
who is 100% human and 100% God. And it is He and He alone who
has purchased His bride. Turn, if you would, over to chapter
1. We looked at, in chapter 1, how the bride sees herself black
with sin, and yet, Lord sees her beautiful, and she sees herself
beautiful in Christ's perfect spotless righteousness. Look
at verse five. I am black. She sees herself as black with
sin. Absolutely black with sin. Oh,
but calmly, calmly there in the Hebrew is beautiful. Beautiful. Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem,
as the tents of Kadar, as the curtains of Solomon. Also further
down in verse 15, we see our Lord call his bride fair. Look
at verse 15. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, he does it twice. Behold,
thou art fair, thou hast doves eyes. Now fair there in the Hebrew
is beautiful. Beautiful. And then turn, if you would,
the Song of Solomon, Chapter two, verse 10. And the bride
again is called beautiful, which is fair in our text. Verse 10,
verse 10, my beloved spake and said unto me, rise up, my love,
my fair one, my beautiful one, my and come away. What affection. What affectionate and endearing
titles we see right there, my beloved spake, and he said, rise
up, my love. In verse 10, my fair one, these
are very endearing titles. that the bridegroom himself calls
the bride. Now let's turn now to chapter
four, and our text opens up with the same as in Song of Solomon
115, and it's here repeated by Christ to introduce the words
which follow, which show the greatness of Christ's love to
the church, his bride. Look at Song of Solomon chapter
four, verse one. Behold, thou art fair. Beautiful. Beautiful, my love. Behold, thou
art fair. Is it twice again? Beautiful,
beautiful. And look at these terms of endearment,
my love. Behold, thou art fair, thou hast
dove's eyes within thy locks. Thy hair is the flock of goats
that appear from Mount Gilead. The bride is twice fair in the
eyes of her beloved. Twice fair in the eyes of her
beloved. Twice beautiful. Well, why and how? Well, first, She's washed in
his precious blood, beloved. She's washed in his precious
blood. And second, she's sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God. She's
clothed, thirdly, in his perfect spotless righteousness. She's absolutely beautiful to
him. He's enamored with her. And let us always remember that
the song of Solomon is a love song. It's a love song. About Christ and his bride. And
it brings forth the love which Christ has for his bride, and
also the love that his bride has for him. For him. Remember we looked at that one
time? It's reciprocal love. It goes back and forth, the love.
It goes back and forth. And tonight we will see how the
bridegroom, Christ, sees no fault, no fault in his bride. She's
absolutely beautiful in his sight. How can this be? How can we who
are sinners be looked at by Christ and he
sees us beautiful? We're still sinners, aren't we? But he sees us as beautiful.
We who are the redeemed. We who are saved sinners are
clothed in his absolute, perfect, spotless righteousness. And this
is what Christ sees us in. We've been washed in his precious
blood. We're clothed in his righteousness. And this salvation that we have
obtained as a gift from God is marvelous. It's marvelous. And this love that we see here
before us of Christ for his bride, words cannot describe it. Words
cannot describe it. And this should leave we who
are believers, we who are sinners saved by the grace of God alone,
it should leave us in wonder. It should leave us in wonder
that the Lord Jesus Christ would clothe us in his perfect righteousness
and that he sees us as beautiful. Look at how he speaks about his
bride. And note, one thing I want us to note here is we're reading this. He doesn't find any fault in
her. There's no fault. He doesn't mention one fault,
because he sees her as absolutely beautiful. Look at this. Thy
teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which come
up from the washing, whereof every one bears twins, and none
is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of
scarlet, and thy speech is calmly. Thy temples are like a piece
of pomegranate within thy locks. Thy neck is like the Tower of
David, builded for an armory, wherein there hang a thousand
bucklers, all shields of mighty men. Thy two breasts are like
young rose that are twins, which feed among the lilies. Until
the daybreak and the shadows flee, I will get me to the mountain
of Merith and to the hill of Frankincense. There's absolutely,
he never once mentions any fault. Isn't that amazing? And then look what he says in
verse seven. Thou art all fair, all beautiful. My love, there is what? No spot in thee. Oh, my goodness. My goodness. Now, let us remember
in our natural state of depravity and in our fallen nature, there's
absolutely no beauty in us. And we saw in chapter one again
that the bride sees herself black with sin. Unclean and corrupt
by nature. And we are all black in our own
esteem, aren't we? Sister Nancy and I were talking
about that yesterday, but how how how sometimes it's hard for
us to to read these portions and go, this is me? This is how
the Lord sees me? But it's true. Because we see
our own sin. We know our own sin. But the Lord looks at us clothed
in his perfect righteousness. And that's scripture right here.
Now let this burn into our souls, beloved. Thou art all beautiful,
fair, beautiful. My love. Now, what a what a term
of personal endearment. My love. We only call our wives
that we may only call our wives. My love. There is no spot. And we see spots in ourselves,
but the Lord sees no spot in us. None, in his people. And we wonder
in amazement, don't we? We who are redeemed, we who are
his blood-bought people, we wonder in amazement that he should look
upon us with such favor. We can't comprehend it. Our finite
little minds can't comprehend it. And remember, when I talk
for our finite little minds, compared to the mind of God,
which is infinite, right? He knows everything, all things.
There's nothing hid from him, and we only have a little bit
of understanding. And it's hard for us to comprehend this, isn't
it? But we, by faith, look at this and go, oh my goodness.
The scriptures declare this, therefore this is true. This is true. So let us then marvel at the
description of how the Lord sees beauty in us. And know that this
this beauty comes from outside ourselves. It comes from the Lord Jesus
Christ, he sees his own reflected beauty. Because we are clothed
in his righteousness. We are clothed in his righteousness.
And in the eyes of Christ, we are perfect in beauty. It's so because the scriptures
declare that. And it's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. In Christ, we are complete. We're complete. And he looks
upon us and sees us in himself. Christ has made us beautiful
in every detail. He's removed every spot of sin
from us. Turn, if you would, to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians
chapter 1. And He will soon present us to
Himself, faultless before His Father's throne, in His own perfection,
in His own righteousness. Look at Colossians chapter 1,
verses 21 and 22. And we who are redeemed marvel,
we're so undeserving, we don't deserve this. And we marvel that
the scriptures declare these wonderful truths. Colossians
chapter one, verses 21 and 22. And now keep in mind the verse
in verse seven, thou art all fair, my love, there's no spot
in thee. Look at this in Colossians chapter
one, verses 21 and 22. and you that were sometimes alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled."
Brother Jim read about that in 2 Corinthians 5, the ministry
of reconciliation. And God's people are now reconciled
to Christ. "...in the body of his flesh
through death to present you." Okay, okay. Now we're sinners.
We're sinners by birth, we're sinners by nature, we're sinners
by choice. And after the Lord saves us,
we're saved sinners. And we see sin in ourselves as
we grow in grace. We don't see ourselves getting
better, do we? No, we see ourselves getting worse. We see because
as we're being conformed to the image of Christ, we see more
and more our own sin. And we see more and more the
holiness of God and who he is. And look at this, look at this
marvelous text. Body of his flesh through death
to present you holy and what? unblameable and unapprovable
in his sights This is good news good news for sinners, isn't
it? Wonderful news for sinners and
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back to Song of Solomon
Chapter 4 the Lord Jesus Christ describes his churches is having
a sevenfold beauty in his eyes. Everything about her is perfect
Look at this. Behold, thou art fair, my love.
Behold, thou art fair, which is beautiful. In verse one, she
has dove's eyes within thy locks. In verse one again, her hair
is a flock of goats that appear upon from from Mount Gilead.
Verse two, her teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn,
which come up from the washing where every one of them bear
twins and none is bearing among them. Verse three, her lips are
like a thread of scarlet and I speech is calmly. Verse four,
thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks.
Again, verse four, thy neck is like a tower of David, builded
for an armory. whereon there hang a thousand
bucklers, all shields of mighty man. In verses 5, 6, and 7, thy
two breasts, which is the seat of affection, being where the
heart is, are like two young rose that are twins, which feed
among the lilies until the daybreak and the shadows flee away. I
will get, get me to the mountain of Mereth and to the hill of
Frankincense. Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in
thee. Oh my. The Lord Jesus Christ
is pleased with the beauty of his church because she's clothed
in his perfect, spotless righteousness. Now, let's look at verses eight
to 15, eight to 15 here. Come with me from Lebanon, my
spouse. Come with me from Lebanon, my
spouse, with me from Lebanon, look from the top of a man from
the top of Shinner and Herman from the lion's dens from the
mountains, mountains of the leopards. Now, here is our beloved calling
this bride and note a name, a new name in this song now for her,
my spouse, another term of affection, another term of affection. When
Christ calls, he says, come with me from Lebanon, my spouse. Now,
when Christ calls the bridal bed, we go, we go. And all who
have come to Christ by faith have heard his voice calling
us, calling us through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this is an irresistible call.
And we forsake the things of the world, the things that we
once loved, and we follow him. Matthew Henry wrote, this is
Christ's call to his spouse to come off from the world, all
its products, all its pleasures to sit, lose all the delights
of sense, all those must do so that would come to Christ, they
must take this, take this affections off from present things. Our
our affections, our love turns from the things that we things
of the world to Christ, to Christ. It's amazing. We we look to him
and him alone and we who are the redeemed of the Lord must
look to him. We must look beyond the things of the world to our
wonderful redeemer. And we're taught by circumstances
to keep looking to our gracious Redeemer. Turn, if you would,
to Colossians chapter 3. Remember, we learn this in our
study in the book of Colossians. We are to keep looking to Christ. And the gospel preacher will
keep pointing you to Christ. Every gospel preacher, we keep
pointing you to him, pointing you to him. He's the only one
who can give you comfort. He's the only one who can save
you. Look at this in Colossians chapter
3, verses 1 to 4. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand
of God. Look to Christ. Seek those things. Don't seek
the things of the world. Seek the things of Christ. Hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Set your affection, that means
your heart, set your affection on things above, not on things
on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ
in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Keep
short accounts in this world, beloved. Don't hold on to anything
too hard. Now, we're to look to Christ. Set
our affection upon Him. Set our affection upon Him. And let us see also in verse
8 of Song of Solomon, chapter 4, a wonderful promise, which
the blood-bathed saint of God can and should enjoy, that all
of God's sheep will be brought home to heaven with Him, where
the lions of hell and the leopards of darkness will torment us no
more. No more. Next, we see Christ ravished
by his bride. Look at verses 9 and 10. Now
remember, too, his bride is made up of blood-washed sinners, redeemed
sinners. Look at these marvelous words.
Thou has ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou has ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thine neck. Several of the
commentators said, when we look to Christ by faith, when we look
to him with love and affection, he's ravished with us. It's incredible. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse. How much better is thy love than
wine in the smell of thine ointments and all spices. And note the
expressions of love that flow from our heavenly bridegroom's
lips for his bride. He's ravished with. Oh, verse 10. Speaks of the love of Christ
to his church and the love of the church to Christ in return,
and this is the whole subject of the song, how fair is thy
love, my sister, my spouse, how much, how much better is thy
love than wine and the smell of thine ointments than all spices.
Turn if you would over to chapter one. The bride proclaims this
very thing that Christ himself here proclaims. The Lord Jesus
Christ in verse 10 there has declared how precious her love
is in his sight. And the church said the same
of the love of Jesus to her. Look at Song of Solomon verse
1 or verse 2. Chapter one, let him kiss me
with the kisses of his mouth. But I love is better than wine,
better than wine. Let's go back to Song of Solomon
for 10. And note here, note here, the
Lord consents to make the same comparison as the bride in verse
10. How fair is thy love, my sister,
my spouse? How much better is thy love than
wine in the smell of thine ointments and all spices? So let us pause
and consider and ask and wonder how is it possible that the love
of a poor worthless worm such as I can be at all graceful and
much less highly esteemed in Christ's sight. What great love Christ has for
his bride. What great love Christ has for
his bride. An everlasting love, beloved. And who would have ever thought
that our love would be, to him, would be delightful to him? Did
you ever think that? He's ravished with us. He's ravished
with us. Let us remember that the love
we have for him is a love which he has created within us. The
love which he has created within us and we love him. Why? Because
he first loved us. Because he first loved us in
our natural state. We didn't love him. We couldn't
love him because we were dead in trespasses and sins. But we
who are redeemed, born again by the Holy Spirit of God, we
now have a love for him, which he has given us, which he has
created within us. He has put this love in our hearts.
And he is ravished by it. He's ravished by it. Look at
verses 11 to 16. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
a honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the smell of thine garments is like the smell of
Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants
are like an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits. Campfire
and spikenard, spikenard and saffron, Calamus, and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense, mirth, and alloys, with all the
chief spices. A fountain of gardens, a well
of living waters, and streams for Lebanon. Awake, oh north
wind, and calm thou south wind. Blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his
garden and eat his pleasant fruits. Oh my. what love the Savior has for
his bride. He's redeemed her, he's purchased
her, he loves her with an everlasting love, and he is ravished by her. And I ask you who are redeemed,
have you ever experienced in this world a love like this? The answers are resounding no.
We've never experienced this love from anyone else except
Christ. This kind of love. Now let's go back to verse seven,
and I like to look at this in closing. Verse seven, look at
this again. This is worth looking at again.
Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Now we as believers look at this
verse and say, does this verse really speak of me? I kind of
hit on that earlier, right? We know what we are. I'm the
very opposite of all that is beautiful and spotless, because
I'm a sinner. And when we look inward, we see
our sin. And we loathe our sinfulness,
don't we? We hate it more in ourselves
than anyone else. I hate my sin. I know other people are sinners,
but I think I'm the chief. Is it so with you? Mine. So when we look inside ourselves,
we see that all we do is tainted with sin. And we find it hard
to take these precious words to be addressed to ourselves,
one who's so sinful and imperfect. Yet, let us remember what we
looked at in Colossians chapter three, verse one to three, which
instructed us not to look to ourselves, right? But instructed
us to look to Christ, to set our affections upon Christ. and to take courage. Oh, beloved,
take courage. We've seen this time and time
again in this song, Christ's magnificent love for his bride
said before us, haven't we? And let us remember that the same precious blood
was poured out to redeem all the flock of God, to redeem all
the sheep of God, to redeem all those who were given to Christ
by the Father. And rejoice then you who are
God's elect in the blessed fact that you are indeed precious
to the Lord. Rejoice in that fact. You who
are the redeemed of God, are precious in the eyes of the Lord. And he says, you are beautiful,
my love. Does this not make us want to
worship him? Does this not make us want to just adore him? He
who is the lover of my soul, And again, we sit in wonder considering
the miracle of his love. The miracle that he would love
us. And considering the miracle of
his love that's been wrought within us. We love him. And we only love him because
he first loved us. We look at his love in this and
we marvel, don't we? We look at His loveliness and
we marvel. And He looks at us and sees us
clothed in His righteousness, beautiful in His sight. Wonder of wonders. Only God can
do this and marvel you who are the redeemed of Christ, you who
are his blood-bought saints, he sees no spot or blemish in
you. He proclaims this, thou art all
fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Oh,
Lord, burn this truth into my heart. This is what we cry, hey,
burn it into my heart, Lord. Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Now,
spot there means blemish. Spot, defect, or stain. No blemish physically or morally. All he sees in his bride is beauty. Beauty. Now it's quite true, again, that
in ourselves, believers are sorrowful and imperfect and sinful while
we are here on this earth. And everything we do, again,
is tainted with sin. That's true. But the Lord Jesus
Christ, in his marvelous mercy, the Lord Jesus Christ, in his
marvelous mercy, robes us in his perfect righteousness to
cover our unrighteousness. that we may be made beautiful
in his sight. Isn't it wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. And
we can't comprehend this mystery. We can't plumb it, but this is
what the scriptures declare. We can't comprehend the mystery
of this divine love. But it's the sole and all-sufficient
reason for our Lord's estimate of ourselves and how He sees
us. We are beautiful in His sight. In this same divine love, let Him go to Calvary to die as our substitute and to satisfy divine justice
and law God's divine justice and law in our place. In our
own hearts, we who are redeemed, we who are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God, our own hearts melt and are ravished by his
wondrous condescension that he would leave heaven for me. He's
ravished with us and we're ravished with him. It's reciprocal, it
goes back and forth. It's wonderful that he would
do this for me. That he would condescend to purchase
my soul? That he would die my substitute? Oh, this ravishes the believer's
hearts. And we marvel at this wondrous
eternal love, which is manifest, isn't it? It's manifested. It's
manifested to us by the Holy Spirit of God. when we're born
again, but then we look to Calvary and we see that love for us,
that eternal love manifested in Him dying for us. It's right there. And we wonder and all. And it thrills our souls with
joy. And it uplifts us during our
sorrows. When we consider this wondrous
love Christ has for his people, for his bride. My beloved. Wonderful words to the redeemed
soul. Christ alone is the fount and
source of our love for God. And there is no greater joy than
to be able to cry out by faith, which we looked at earlier in
the studies in Song of Solomon. There's no greater joy than to
be able to cry out by faith, my beloved is mine. Oh, and I
am his. I am his. This is a sea of mercy
and grace, beloved. that we can even do this, that
we can cry out, that the blood-bought saints of God can cry out, my
beloved is mine and I am his. This is a sea of grace and mercy,
beloved. And you'll never plumb the depths
of it. No other joy compares to this,
to that which God's blood-bought saints feel when this is a reality
in our souls. And words cannot express how
wondrous this is. My beloved is mine, and I am
his. And again, look at Song of Solomon,
chapter 4, verse 7. We cry out, my beloved is mine,
and I am his. And then here in this verse,
thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in me. No spot
in me. These are the words of our Redeemer.
our Heavenly Bridegroom. All the sins of His bride, past,
present and future, and every one of us who are redeemed in
this room, all our sins were future at Calvary's cross. All
the blackness of our sins are cleansed away by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are now clothed in His
perfect, spotless righteousness. And this is so completely done,
one commentator said, that God Himself can find no remnant or
stain of that which would have meant eternal death to an unwashed
soul. And that was the state we were
in. Turn, if you would, to Psalm 103. Psalm 103, and then put
your finger in Isaiah 43, verse 25. Oh my. Look at Psalm 103. Verse 11 in 12. Now we remember
our sin, don't we? And sometimes it comes to remembrance
and we repent quickly of it, don't we? Oh, Lord, forgive me.
Oh, look at look at Psalm 103 verses 11 and 12, beloved. For
as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy
toward them that fear him. Now, God's people fear him. We
looked at that today. It's a reverent fear. It's not
a slavish fear. It's a reverent fear. We know
who He is. He's revealed to us His holiness.
He's revealed to us His righteousness. And He's revealed to us our sinfulness. And look at this though in verse
12. As far as the east is from the west, So far hath He removed
our transgression from us. And remember, if you go, you
started at one point of this earth, and you went around that
earth, you would always be going east. East would never, ever
meet west. And if you went the other way
and you went west, it would never meet east, beloved. Never! Oh my goodness! As far as the
east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgression
from us. They're gone, beloved. Now look
at Isaiah 43, verse 25. And the poor redeemed sinner
who trusts in Christ is lifted from the depths of sin to the
heights of heavenly bliss. Look at this in Isaiah 43, verse
25. Oh my, it speaks of our Lord,
our Savior, our great God and King. And look at this, Isaiah
43 verse 25. I, even I am he that blotted
out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember
thy sins. Aren't you thankful that God
doesn't remember your sins? You who are redeemed to the Lord.
I'm so thankful. I am so thankful. That all my
sins are forgiven. And that when the Lord looks
at us, we who are redeemed, He says, Thou art all fair, my love,
there is no spot in thee. See, if there was spot in us,
then He'd remember our sin, wouldn't He? But it says in the Scripture,
and the Scriptures declare, as far as the east is from the west,
so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Thou art all fair, my
love, there's no spot in thee. I, even I, am he that blotted
out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember
thy sins. Thou art all fair, my love, there's
no spot in thee. What a Savior. My, oh my. Beloved, walk in this precious
truth. There's no spot in you. Walk in this precious truth,
keep your eyes upon He who has made you so, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in His eye, the church is
not only fair, beautiful, but spotless, because we're washed
in His precious blood, and clothed in His righteousness, and we
are without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And what a blessed
thought this is for the believer. We are one in Christ. He is the
head and we're the body. And in him, we are seen as spotless. Justified by the righteousness
of Christ, washed in his precious blood and sanctified by the Holy
Spirit of God, born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and we
see the bride's completeness in Christ. Turn, if you would,
one last scripture, Colossians chapter two. We see the bride's
completeness in Christ, don't we? When he when when the when
the bridegroom declares, thou are all fair, my love, there
is no spot in thee. We see the completeness. Of the
bride's, the bride's completeness in Christ, her justification,
sanctification, redemption, righteousness all through Christ's covered
with that spotless robe of righteousness. There's no spot in her. Look
at this in Colossians chapter two, and I'll read again. Thou
art all fair, my love. There is no spot in the Colossians
chapter two, verse 10 and G are complete in him. There is no spot, no spot in
the. And you are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality. Oh, my beloved. Unblameable and unapprovable,
we will be presented before God by Christ. With no spot and no blemish. Gracious Heavenly Father, we,
we who are the redeemed, of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We stand in awe at this wondrous
verse, that there's no spot in us. Oh, that we are made clean, washed
from all our sins, a number of sins that we could never pay,
but oh Lord Jesus, you paid for all our sins. all the sins of
all your elect upon Calvary's cross, and we who are redeemed
marvel that we're included in that number. May you be glorified
and magnified. May we leave here rejoicing.
We who are the redeemed of the Lord, may we leave here rejoicing
in this wondrous salvation, and may you use these messages for
your glory and honor and praise. In Jesus' name, amen.