Song of Solomon, Chapter 2. Song
of Solomon, Chapter 2, the name of the message is Everlasting
Hands. Everlasting Hands. We'll read the context of our
verses tonight. Starting in verse 1, we'll read
to verse 7. Song of Solomon, Chapter 2, verses
1 to 7. The bridegroom proclaims, I am
the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so
is my love among the daughters. And the bride proclaims the beauty that she sees in Christ.
As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved
among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought
me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
She continues, stay with me, flagons. Cover me with apples,
for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head,
and His right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, O ye daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that
ye stir not up, nor awake my love till He please." Now last
time we met for our study on Song of Solomon, we looked at
verses 2 and 3 of chapter 2, and we considered that the Lord
is the tree of life for believers. And He's also A tree for believers
that not only gives shade and rest through the trials and tribulations
of this life, but he gives food. He's food for our soul as well. He's the bread of life for his
people. And we consider that the fruit
of this tree are the precious doctrines which are found in
Scripture. The truth of having all our sins
pardoned in Christ. is sweet for the believer. It's
sweet fruit for the believer. Sweet fruit for our souls being
justified in Christ and clothed in his perfect righteousness
is sweet fruit to the believer. Election, predestination, propitiation,
redemption through his blood, salvation in Christ alone and
eternal life and many, many more precious doctrines in Christ
are sweet fruit for the believer. Sweet fruit. We we feast on these
truths from the scripture. We feast on them. Then we considered
that he brought us into his banqueting house. And we looked at how that's the
church. We're spread out on the banqueting
table, again, are the precious doctrines of God, the precious
doctrines of Scripture, found only in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And we consider it also that His banner over us was love and
is love. Love. We march under the banner
of the captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. who leads
us and goes before us. Let us never forget that all
the trials and tribulations we go through in this life, our
great God goes before us. He goes before us and he never
leaves us and he'll never forsake us. Now, sometimes we don't feel
the presence of the Lord like we want to. But He's still with
us, beloved. He's ever with us. He's ever
with us. In His banner over us, His love. Now tonight I'd like us to consider
verses 5 to 7 of chapter 2. Stay with me, Phlegons. Comfort
me with apples, for I am sick of love. His left hand is under
my head. In His right hand doth embrace
me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose and
by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake my love
till he please. Now note the words of the bride
in verse five. She continues her discourse on
the beauties of the bridegroom. On the beauties of the bridegroom.
And note the words of love which proceed from her mouth. Stay
with me, Phlegons. Comfort me with apples, for I
am sick of love. The bride pictures the elect
of God, the church of God. And the bridegroom pictures Christ.
So she comes to his banqueting house, the church, and she sees
rich views of his love and the glories of his person. She sees
that spread out in the banqueting table. And we see that every
time we gather together, we see Rich views of Christ's love,
don't we? When the gospels preached and
we see. The glories of his person when
the gospels proclaimed. And the bride hears of his amazing
grace through the preaching of the gospel. Of God's free grace
in Christ, and she is overwhelmed. She's overwhelmed. You know why
she's overwhelmed? She's overwhelmed that this love
has been set upon her from eternity. She's absolutely overwhelmed. Sick of love. Oh, that doesn't
mean what we think it means. That means she's so enamored
with the bridegroom. So enamored with the bridegroom.
When the bride reflects upon the precious truths of the gospel.
Now, let's bring this right home to us. who are the elect of God,
when we, who are the redeemed of God, when we reflect on the
precious truths of the gospel, does not our heart fill with
love for our Savior? Are we not overwhelmed by what
he's done for us? This is what we see here. The
bride is overwhelmed. Overwhelmed at the manifestations
of his grace and his love towards her. Think of we who believe. Are you not overwhelmed when
you consider when you sit and ponder in the silence by yourself? That Christ has loved me from
eternity. When we sit in silence and we
ponder that Christ himself came to this earth to die for my sins, it'll overwhelm you. It fills our hearts with love.
It fills our hearts with love to think that he loved me so
much That he left heaven to save my soul. That God himself became a man.
And so every believer can reflect on this personally, right? Because
it's the gospel of your salvation. That God himself, and I know
he left the glories of heaven for all the elect, but I'm one
of the elect. He left heaven. to do for me
that which I could never do for myself. Oh, it fills our heart with love. And the bride here is overwhelmed.
She's overwhelmed at this love. When she reflects on these precious
truths that his blood was shed. Now think of that. We can't pay
for one sin, but Christ shed his blood to pay for all my sins. No wonder scripture says, greater
love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his
friends. There's nothing that compares
to this, is there? So the bride becomes overwhelmed, the blood-bought
saint becomes overwhelmed at this precious truth. That Christ
died for sinners, and I'm one of them sinners he died for. It's wonderful. It's precious. She comes to his banqueting house,
and she sees all these precious truths in the preaching of the
gospel, and sees the glories of his person. Now the flagons
and apples Hawker mentions in this verse are figurative of
spiritual comforts, which are only found in he who has all
spiritual blessings, that being Christ, her bridegroom, again. Stay with me, flagons, comfort
me with apples, for I am sick of love. When we consider the
spiritual comforts that we have in Christ, it's overwhelming. It's overwhelming. Think upon
the great and exceedingly great and precious promises that the
believer has in Christ. Just ponder them for a while.
Which when fitly spoken, Proverbs says it well in Proverbs 25 and
11, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pitchers of
silver. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. And then when she says she is
sick of love, she's not loathing this. This is not her loathing
this. She desires this love. She's
overwhelmed by this love. And she desires to learn more
and more about him, who is the lover of her soul. Some people
might look at that and say, well, she's sick of love. She doesn't
want. No, no, no, no. She's not loathing this love.
Oh, no. She desires. The bride is wanting
and eagerly desires more of His love. Do we not... Do we not get even more overwhelmed
each time we learn something new from the Scriptures when
the Lord reveals something that we've never seen before? Because
we're always learning. And the Lord's always showing
us. And sometimes what happens? The tears just flow sometimes.
when He reveals something precious to you. Oh my, or a precious
truth that you've heard many times comes to you again and
just fills your heart with joy and overwhelmed with the love
of God. The love of God shown to us in
Christ Jesus, our heavenly bridegroom. So the bride is wanting and she
eagerly desires more of His love. She's smitten, beloved. She's
smitten with His love. Her heart is inflamed with love
towards Him. Is it not so with us? Is it not
so with we? Before the Lord saved us, were
we inflamed with love for Christ? No. We were shaking our fists,
weren't we? I'll not have this man rule over
me. Oh, but did not God have mercy upon us? And if we weren't
saying, I'll not have this man rule over me in our words, we
certainly were in our actions, weren't we? But now we love him. We love him who is the lover
of our soul. And our hearts burn within us.
And we desire more of his love. We're smitten with him. And so
the bride is smitten. Her heart is inflamed with love
towards Christ. She desires his presence. I ask
you, do you not desire his presence? When we hear the gospel preached,
do we not desire our Lord to be with us, speaking to us through
the word? That's the preacher's prayer, is that God would speak
to your hearts through the word, that you be built up in Christ,
you who believe, and that lost sinners who do not know Christ
would be shown their need for Christ, their desperate need,
and that they would fall in love with the Savior just as we have,
by His mercy and grace. When the Lord regenerated us,
when the Holy Spirit regenerated us, oh my, We desire his presence. And think of this, this is normal
with the case of lovers, right? A husband and wife desire to
be together. They desire to, well, the bride
desires to be with the bridegroom, but think of the other side,
the bridegroom desires the bride to be with him too. Oh my, it's
wonderful. Greater love hath no man than
this. So she goes forth in love and praise for the rich displays
of love and mercy and grace which has been shown her, which has
been bestowed upon her in Christ. I am sick of love, she cries.
More than anything in this world, we want Christ. We who believe,
don't we? More than anything, we want Christ. He's our, he's,
there's nothing that takes his place. We long for His presence. We
desire to know Him more and more. And our hearts cry as that I
may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship
of His sufferance being made conformable unto His death. Turn,
if you would, to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3. We want
to know Christ in the fullness of His love. We want to know
Him in the fellowship of His sufferance. We want to know Him
in the power of His resurrection. And Paul desired this for our
Ephesian brethren. And we should desire this too.
Look at Ephesians 3, verses 18 and 19. May be able to comprehend with
all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,
and to know the love of Christ. Paul desired that they would
know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge. that
she might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, when
you learn a little of the love of Christ to his people, it makes
the believer sick of love, because we desire more, more. We want to know more about his
love for us. Just as the bride proclaims here,
the young believer desires to know more of him, and so does
the older believer. We both desire to know more of
Him and to be one day in His presence. I know every one of
us here who believe cannot wait for the day that we're in His
presence. Even so, come quickly, Lord. And it's been the heart
cry of every believer through all the ages. Oh, we desire to
be with the Lord. But as long as we remain in this
body of flesh, so long as we must live here among all the
thorns of this sin-cursed earth, Let us ever have the refreshing
comfort of His grace. And we desire His presence. Stay
with me, flagons. Comfort me with apples. Rejoice,
you who are redeemed, and ponder the promises of the gospel. Just
ponder them. And the love of Christ towards
you. And you will soon be swept away in love. You will soon be
swept away in love for He who is the Savior and the Keeper
of your soul. Let's consider verse 6 now. It
says, His left hand is under my head, in his right hand doth
embrace me. What rest the believer can find
in these words? His left hand is under my head,
in his right hand doth embrace me. The eternal one. This is
spoken of the eternal one. What rest the bridegroom can
find here, or the bride can find here, with the bridegroom. What
a picture of God protecting and preserving the church in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ, again, who is God incarnate in
the flesh. And note, beloved, both hands
sustain her. Both hands sustain her. She has
stayed, supported, strengthened, and comforted in the arms of
her beloved, the Eternal One, the Ancient of Days. And this shows His tender care
for her, His tender care for her, and the regard that Christ
has for His bride. What intimate communion they
have. And let us remember that for the church, all temporal
mercies and blessings we have in this world come from the loving
arms of our Savior. All of them. All of them. And
also think of the everlasting blessings, which the bride of
Christ, the church has in Christ. Through his death upon the cross
for his people, his bride has a full pardon for all their sins.
We have justification before God. We are adopted. And accepted by God, sinners
are adopted and accepted by God. in Christ, in our bridegroom,
in our bridegroom. We are sanctified in Christ.
Can any of us make ourselves holy? No. Sinners can't make themselves
holy, can they? No. But scripture declares we're
sanctified in Christ. We're made holy in Christ. That's
amazing. That's absolutely amazing. sanctified
in Christ, redeemed by the shedding of His precious blood. We have
eternal life in Him, and none can pluck us out of His hand.
None. His left hand's under my head,
and His right hand doth embrace me. The Eternal One holds me
and keeps me. This is what the bride cries
out. What safety and security the
Church, the bride, has in the arms of Christ. Again, note she
is embraced by the Savior, which presents before us the strength
of our great Savior, the strength of our great Savior. He's able
to keep us from falling, isn't he? Why? Because we're in his
arms. Now, if we weren't in his arms,
we'd be in a heap of trouble, wouldn't we? Oh, my. But we're in his arms, beloved.
And she's able to keep us from falling. She should not sink
or faint. as long as she's in His almighty
arms. So let us consider some points
about our safety and our security in Christ from the Scriptures.
Our salvation in Christ is safe and sure and certain, because
we're in His powerful hands, the powerful hands of God. Turn, if you would, to John 10,
and I'll read Daniel 4, verse 35. John 10, and I'll read Daniel 4, All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing, and He doeth according to His will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest Thou?
Daniel 4.35, it's one of the scriptures that shows the absolute
sovereignty of God. None can stay His hand or say
unto Him, What doest Thou? So what power, what power the
one whose arms we are in possess? What power? Look at John chapter
10, verses 27 to 29, and think of this. Our salvation in Christ
is sure, safe, and certain because we are in the powerful hands
of He who is God. Look at this, John chapter 10,
verse 27 to 29. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, that's ginoska, I know them intimately in the Greek,
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. There's a good word to underline.
Two good words to underline. Shall never, shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave me them
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hands. Is there anywhere safer than
to be in the Savior's hand? Is there anywhere safer than
to be in His hands? We all know the answer to that.
No. Yet men trust their eternal souls
to themselves. Left there, they'll perish in
their sins. But we who believe are kept. kept in the eternal hands of
our Savior. And the believer is in good hands
with Christ. Good hands with Christ. John
17.22 says, In the glory which thou gavest me, I have given
them, and they may be one, even as we are. He's the head, and
we're the body. Next point I'd like us to consider
is this, is let us never forget that the hands spoken of here
by the bride of our bridegroom are sovereign hands, able to
save. Sovereign hands, able to save. Now we're unable to save ourselves.
There's not one person in this room, and there's not one person
on this earth, who can save themselves. Not one. Now man again perish
in their sins thinking they can save themselves, but there's
not one soul here and not one soul on this earth that can save
themselves. Salvation is of the Lord and
it's only in him. Scripture declares there's non-righteous
and we must have a perfect righteousness to be in the presence of God. Scripture declares that every
son of Adam and daughter of Adam is born into this world dead
in sins, dead in trespasses and sins, every one without exception. Scripture declares that we have
no ability to seek God and no understanding of the things of
Christ. And the Master Himself declared,
you must be born again. You must go on again. Well, here's
good news, beloved. Here's good news from Hebrews
7.25. Wherefore He is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing
the ever-liveth to make intercession for them. Someone asked me recently
about How do I know if I'm saved? Look to Christ. Just look and
live. Don't move a muscle. Just look
to Christ. Look to Christ. Only those who are being born
again by the Holy Spirit look. And we rejoice. And then again,
like I've said many times, we just keep looking. We don't stop. And then we're going to see him
in glory. We're going to still be looking. We're going to still be looking
to him. It's wonderful. Wherefore, he is he is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. I
am the way, the truth and the lie. No man comes from the father,
but by me, seeing he ever live it to make intercession for them.
So God's people are perpetually and perfectly saved, so that
none shall need to come after him to finish what he has begun.
It is finished means it's finished. The work is complete. And for
the believer, for we who came out of religion, what a gospel,
what a salvation. It's all done. That's why we
say, look and live. Look and live to the same look
to him He's the only hope for sinners and this sinner can testify
that and there's other sinners here who can testify that too
He's the only Savior for sinners the only one he's the author
and the finisher of our faith He's the Alpha and the Omega
the beginning in the end He's the all-sufficient Savior and
the believer is absolutely complete in him in him by him through
him and he is able to save all who come to him and He's able
to save all who come to Him. How blasphemous it is when men
proclaim that they can save themselves. If God does not save them, then
they're perishing their sins, trusting in the refuge of lies
that's their own self-righteousness. And in Hebrews it says, He ever
liveth to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7.25. He's the
mediator of His people, beloved. He's the mediator between God
and man. His is an eternal priesthood. Oh, if we could just get a glimpse,
just a ray into the fact that God himself left heaven to die
for our sins. And now the man, Christ Jesus,
who was God in the flesh, intercedes for us right now. And as this
text says, holds us in his loving arms, we'll be overwhelmed just
like the bride would be overwhelmed. So let us never forget that.
That the hand spoken of here by the bride The next point is
their strong hands able to keep us from falling. Jude says this
now unto him being Christ that is able. He's able. We're not
able. But he's able, able to keep you
from falling. To present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, these hands, these
hands of our savior, our strong hands, all power. And He has
preserved His church all through the ages, all through the ages. He keeps her from falling. Hawker
brings this precious truth all along from one eternity to another.
It is Christ's charge and Christ's care, yea, and this scripture
saith His exceeding joy to watch over His church, which is part
of Himself to keep her from falling, as well as to present her to
himself at last, finally and fully prepared by himself in
body, soul and spirit for his everlasting spouse and companion
to run the whole round of eternity with him in his glory forever. Turn, if you would, to that verse,
Jude, Jude 24. Look at this. We got to look
at this. I know we've looked at it before, but this is marvelous.
Look at how wonderful this verse is. We who are regenerated by the
Holy Spirit of God, We rejoice when we read these scriptures. Now unto Him, being Christ again,
that is able to keep you from falling. Now again, left to ourselves,
we'd fall a thousand times a day. But whose arms are we in? Whose
hands embrace us? The everlasting arms of Christ
our Savior, and to present you faultless. But we're sinners,
yes, but we're clothed in the precious, perfect, spotless righteousness
of Christ to present you faultless before the presence of His glory.
And look at this, this is overwhelming, with exceeding joy. He presents
we who are sinners, we who He purchased with His own precious
blood, His bride, He presents us faultless. And He does it,
beloved, with exceeding joy. with exceeding joy. This overwhelms
the bride. Overwhelms her. What wondrous
love is this? Oh my soul. Oh my soul. These are tender hands which
hold us. Able to teach us the way of salvation. Wise hands that hold us. They're able to guide us all
through this life. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
95, verse 7. These hands spoken of in our
text are wise hands. And remember, we're sheep. And
what do sheep do? They just wander off. Off they go. That's what we are. Left to ourselves, we just wander
off we go. But our shepherd guides us and
directs us. Guides us and directs us. Look
at this in Psalm 95, verse seven. For he is our God. He's our God
by his choosing. Not by ours, right? Because left
to ourselves, we'd never choose him. We're made willing, but
he is our God. And we are what? The people of
his pasture or his sheep. And the sheep. of His hand. He
guides and directs His people, keeping them safe through their journeys through
this life. We are His people by creation. He made us. We are
His people by purchase. He redeemed us by His own precious
blood. We are His people by name. Look
at that. For He is our God and we are
the people of His pasture. We're His people by name. And
then it says, we're the sheep of His hand. My, these are wise hands which
guide us all through life. And let us never forget these
are loving hands which hold the bride. And these hands were wounded
to put away our sin. They were wounded to put away
our sin. Hebrews 9.26, the scripture declares this, for then must
he often have suffered since the foundation of the world,
but now once in the world, end of the world, hath he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. These are loving
hands, loving hands that were pierced for our sin. Now the priests
in the Old Testament, they had to continuously offer yearly
sacrifices, didn't they? But our priest offered himself
up once. Once. Now in these last days
he hath appeared, God incarnate in the flesh, bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh, to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. What a mighty and powerful Savior
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And let us never forget that
the hand spoken of by the bride, of her bridegroom, they are able
to supply all our need, which is found only in him. But my
God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. He supplies all we need. What
riches we have in Christ. What riches? Scripture calls
them the unsearchable riches of Christ. You can't even explain
it. It's incredible. And when the bride ponders these
precious truths again, it's overwhelming. It's absolutely
overwhelming. And we who preach We preach about
the unsearchable riches of Christ. We mine in the study of His Word. We mine in the study of His Word.
In this Word right here, these scriptures, they're a mine of endless riches. Endless riches. And in our lifetime, we're but
scratching the surface. We think we know a lot, but we're
just scratching the surface. We're just, we're just. I've heard preachers, grace preachers
preaching for 50, 60 years and say, in one of these days, I'm
going to learn how to preach. Just scratching the surface.
Just scratching the surface. It's a mine of endless riches
and it's full of Christ, full of Christ. We have all our needs
supplied by God to us, to we who are the sheep of his pasture,
through Christ and Christ alone. And it's all according to the
riches of his glory by Christ Jesus, our Lord. So just contemplate
that. You who are the beloved of God,
you who are the sheep of God, that he holds us in his eternal
arms and he gives us and bestows upon us riches from his hands
to us. From his hands to us. And let us never forget that
the hands spoken of here are victorious hands, able to receive
us to himself in glory. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
14. John chapter 14. The Lord has
gone to glory. And it's a certain fact that
his people will be with him. Because where the head is, the
body soon follows. Where the head is, the body soon
follows. And this is cause for rejoicing
for the believer. This will bring us peace in our
hearts when we contemplate this precious truth. The Lord tells
his bride his people, the blood-washed saints of God, in John chapter
14, look at verses one to three. Let not your heart be troubled.
Now, in this world, we get trouble. We get trouble. We do. We see things happening in the
world. We see things happening in our lives. And we get trouble. Vicki and I knew someone one
time, and they said, well, I never get depressed. I thought, you're
just lying. You're just lying. There are not a person in this
world that don't get down sometimes or doesn't get distressed by
something that's going on. And the Lord wouldn't have told
us this. Unless we get trouble, right? Look at this. Let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also
in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have not. I would have
told you I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
and where I am, there ye may be also for eternity. And the only reason
we are going to be with him is because of his shed blood on
Calvary's cross for our sins. Redemption is through
Christ. Salvation is in Christ in heaven. is to be with Christ. Think of
this. I was talking to someone this
afternoon and I said, you know what? Heaven would not be heaven
without Christ. It wouldn't be heaven without
Christ. Folks in religion says, well,
I'm going to go see my mom and my papa. Heaven wouldn't be heaven
without Christ. One glimpse at the Savior. will
leave us speechless, will leave us absolutely speechless. We desire to go to heaven. We
desire to be in glory, to be with the one who purchased our
souls. What a Savior, what a Savior,
what a mighty and powerful Savior we have. Now I ask you believers, Aren't
you thankful that you're in His hands? Aren't you delighted that His
left hand is under you? And His right hand does embrace
you and receive you? And aren't you thankful that
He who holds you in this embrace is He who rules the universe.
He who rules all things visible and invisible. You can see why
the bride is sick of love. Why she's overwhelmed and enamored
with the bridegroom. The church, having desired to
be stayed, supported, strengthened and comforted, presently found
her beloved with her. who with both hands sustain her. And when the bride considers
who it is that keeps her, she rejoices in love and affection
for He who is the lover of her soul. Let's close with verse 7. I charge
you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rose By the hinds of the
field that she stir not up nor awake my love till he please.
The bride has experienced the sweetness of Christ's communion. Of Christ's communion with her.
She's experienced the manifestation of his love towards her. And
she, we who are redeemed, greatly desire that this will continue
so long as we are upon this earth. Yes, our Lord will come to us
and withdraw Himself from us according to His own wisdom and
pleasure. Sometimes we feel closer to the Lord than other times.
And we recognize these words till He please. But let us desire
and long for His wonderful presence. Let us desire and long for His
presence. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. We bow to
His will. We bow to His will here. and
we're bowed to his will and glory, beloved. Yet we must be careful
that we do nothing to provoke him. One commentator said to
leave us. And that's not leaving us forever,
because he said, I'll never leave you. But his presence can be
withdrawn. Look at this in Ephesians chapter
4. But remember, even when that occurs, when we feel a coldness,
He's still watching over us. He cares for His sheep all the
time. All the time. And usually that
coldness comes from our own sin. From our own sin. Look at Ephesians
chapter 4, starting in verse 23, and we'll read to verse 32.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, And that she put
on the new man, which after God has created in righteousness
and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members
one of another. Be angry and sin not. That's
it. That's. Oh, my goodness. That's what it says. Let not
the sun go down upon your wrath. Vicki and I have something in
our marriage where we will stay up all night if we have to, to
resolve whatever difference comes between us. And it's been wonderful
because, and we, it is because of this scripture right here.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Don't go to bed angry
with one another. You'll wake up angry. No, neither
give place to the devil. Him that stole, steal no more,
but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which
is good, that he may have to give him that needed. Let no
corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying, don't tear down, build up. The
world likes to rip people apart. We who are believers should be
building each other up. whether we're in each other's
presence or not, right? Build each other up, edify. Let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which
is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto
the ears. And grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. And
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Why should we do
that? Well, look at this. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you, we should be quick to forgive when we consider
all that we're forgiven of by God through Christ. Unsaid people hold bitterness.
Oh, it becomes a root in their lives. For God's people, we forgive. It may take some time sometimes,
but we forgive. When we consider how much we've
been forgiven, how much we've been forgiven, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. And this is a
good verse to burn into our hearts. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. We must not neglect Him and His
love towards us. And we must take care not to
grieve our Savior. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, my Lord. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank Thee for Your goodness and mercy and grace. And we read
these scriptures and we're left in awe knowing that You have
forgiven us all our sin. All our sin. for Christ's sake,
that our Lord and Savior paid it all. It leaves our hearts filled with
joy, we who are redeemed by thy precious blood. It fills our hearts with love
for thee, to contemplate the mercy that we've received through
your precious sacrifice for us on Calvary's grounds. and that this salvation is totally
wrought out by Thee and given to undeserving sinners such as
we. We pray You be glorified and magnified in the preaching
of Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.