Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the Song of Solomon, the chapter that we read, chapter 5, and reading for our text, verse 9. What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us?

Song of Solomon chapter five and verse nine. In the Song of Solomon, we have a love song between Christ and the church. Christ is often spoken of as the Beloved or the Bridegroom. The Church is the Spouse of God and we have here also those that are spoken of as Daughters of Jerusalem. which answer to young converts that as yet do not have much knowledge of Christ or of love to Him and what He is to them. The first verse of this chapter really belongs to the previous chapter, chapter four, when it's speaking of the Lord coming into his garden. But we have from verse 2 the bride or the church that is speaking saying that I sleep but my heart waketh. And then Christ is knocking, the voice of my beloved that knocketh and saying, open to me, my sister, my love. But then in verse three, we have many excuses. I put up my coat, how shall I put it on? I've washed my feet, how shall I defile them? A picture of Christ speaking to the church to tell it to open.

But no, those that know the Lord, love the Lord, they are not doing so. Many excuses. So then the Lord Christ, he starts to draw. The Lord says that none can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him. The Lord Draws in this way my beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door and my bowels were moved for him. Beautiful to see how it is that even though God's dear people themselves are backward are not forward and have those things about them that really are most sad, they're not going out after Christ, but he instigates drawing.

He does those things through the ministry, through his word, through his coming to his people, that causes them to rise up. And so you have that in verse five, I rose up to open to my beloved. And this time, the one whose hands are dropping with myrrh is not Christ, but it is the church. It is the church now that feels that going after him and with sweetness and longing and desire and with the real feeling sense they want after Christ.

But when they opened, he'd gone. He'd withdrawn himself and was gone. I sought him but could not find him. I called him but he gave me no answer. And the Lord there is drawing forth that one that was so lazy and careless, and could not lift up, and could not follow after him, now is seeing, will this one go out after me now? Will they seek me now?

And verse seven, we have the watchman. This is the ministers of the gospel. Going about the city, they smoke me. You know those times you come into the house of God, and the ministry smites you. It finds you out, describes your case, And it's a searching word. You fall under it. This is what the church is saying here. They wounded me. The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. Found out exactly where she was. Do we know that? Where the word finds out where we are. Finds out our state. Finds out our condition. Describes what we actually are.

So then in verse eight, this one that knows and loves the Lord and seeking after him, has a word to the daughters of Jerusalem or to those young converts, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him I am sick of love. And anyone that's been separated from one that they really love knows what it is to be sick of love. They feel a love and a drawing to that person and that person is not with them and they so want them and their heart is going after them.

And it is after this charge that the church has to these daughters of Jerusalem that they ask the church, they ask her, What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

They wanted to know what it was that the Church, the Bride of Christ, saw in Christ, that she so wanted Him and so desired him. Onto this evening, firstly, to ask a couple of questions in our first two points. Are we like the daughters of Jerusalem, wanting to know what the Lord's people see in Christ? And then secondly, are we like the Bride who knows enough of Christ to love Him and want Him and misses Him? And then lastly, what the Bride, the Church, can say of Christ? What is the answer that is given here? But firstly, are we like the daughters of Jerusalem?

Do we really want to know what the Lord's people say in Christ? You might see the Lord's people, you might hear them speaking, and you want to know there is a secret that I do not know. They see things that I do not see. They see a beauty where I do not see it. We ought to remember we sung in our middle hymn about the carnal mind. In Isaiah 53, we read, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness And when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire. That is our part by nature. And we need to remember this. If we are to have any comfort and encouragement from these points this evening, to realize what we are by nature, then it may be We can look back, or there might be those of you this evening who know what you are by nature and say, I don't have any desire at all. I come to and fro to the house of God. I hear the word preached, but it's never crossed my mind. What is it that the Lord's people see in Christ? And I never have that desire. I never ask the Lord that I might see a beauty in him. But if we are like these daughters of Jerusalem, wanting to know what the Lord's people see in Christ, that's a good mark, isn't it? That is a real encouragement.

A bit like those Greeks, they came to the apostles, they said, sirs, we would see Jesus. A bit like Nicodemus in John 3. We know that thou art a teacher come from God, and he's coming to him. And yet, he knows something, the things that thou sayest, the miracles that thou do. No man could do them except God was with him. But he was ignorant of the new birth. Art thou a ruler in Israel, and knowest not these things?

But why was he coming to Christ? Why was he there in the first place? We know later on when Christ was accused of the Jews, then Nicodemus stood up for him and suffered persecution because of it. And later on, when our Lord was crucified, he is one of those that brings the shroud that takes our Lord down and buries his body laid in the tomb. One that went from coming to the Lord, not knowing really anything but a desire to, to being unashamed of being a follower of the Lord.

What about Nathanael underneath the fig tree reading? Philip comes to him, we have found him, of whom Moses and the prophets did write. Jesus of Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Come and see. And he does. He comes to see. He comes to see the Lord.

What about the Ethiopian eunuch? Why was he reading his Bible? Why do you read yours? Why do you ponder over parts of the Word of God? Those parts you can't understand. It was that 53rd of Isaiah that he was reading. And yet Philip was sent to him, understand us what thou readest, how can I except some man guide me? And the whole center of that sermon was on Christ, who he was, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God. And he is brought to a profession, brought to know him. through that sermon, that ministry.

Some of you may have read the account of Suki Harley, spent most of her life in Poovabang, Shropshire. She was born about the year that this chapel was formed, this church was formed, 1780. And if you read her life, she was quite a character. and very illiterate, had her daughter teach her how to read and write. But she used to puzzle over two Methodist women that used to go to the meetings.

She used to try to creep behind them and listen to what they were saying, and wondered why they were going. What could they see in those meetings? And that they were speaking of Christ. What did they see of Christ? And she was drawn after them. She thought they were foolish. But she couldn't keep away from them. And she wanted to know what they knew.

And that's how the Lord began with her. And a real deep work, a real godly woman, she ended up. And yet it was seeing those who knew the Lord, hearing and wanting to know what they wanted. be of those that others desire to know what we have. But in this point, are we the ones that see the Lord's people and we desire the blessings that they have? And we want to know that secret, the secret of the Lord, that is with them that fear Him. The Lord puts these characters in the Word for our encouragement and for our helps and gives us those examples of those how they began to be in the way.

Even like Ruth with Naomi, desiring to be with her, that her God would be her God. She knew very little of the ways of the Lord, in going where the Lord's people were, in meeting with them, in hearing what they heard, then there was the blessings that she had too.

So may we be like, and may we already be, and recognise that you are like the daughters of Jerusalem, wanting to know what the Lord's people see, in Christ and what they know. But then secondly, are we like the bride? Do we know the Lord? Do we know him enough to love him and to want him? To be drawn to Christ as she was, and to have some knowledge of His blessedness. Enough to want Him, to go out after Him, to miss Him, to tell others of what He is to us. You might think, well, the Lord's people that know the Lord, how can they get into the place like the church was in here?

But when we read of Job, an upright man, a godly man, one that truly knew the Lord, he says, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. He knew of the resurrection, though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God for myself and not another. But he gets into such a low place, he says, oh, that I knew where I might find him.

He looks on right hand, looks on left, looks where the Lord works, but he cannot find the Lord. Those that truly know the Lord do have those times they cannot find their God. They do love him. They do know a lot that once they did not know at all about him, it doesn't mean they don't come into times when they're like the spouse here that got so low that couldn't even move after the Lord. I need the Lord to draw them. And so they go out after the Lord and seek after Him. What about the psalmist? Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.

What about the woman that we read of in Luke 7? That's why we read that portion. Our Lord was able to testify to Simon the Pharisee of that woman who loved him. He says in verse 47 of Luke chapter 7, he says, for she loved much But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

But there was she, she came into that house, and how that she washed his feet with tears, wiped them with the hairs of her hand, kissed his feet, anointed his feet with ointment. All the expressions of of love toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Ingemarie sitting at the feet of Jesus and that love that she had unto him.

You know, if we are to be a bride, we want to know the bridegroom. It's a beautiful theme running through the scriptures. is a beautiful type, is marriage, and that's why it's guarded so much through scriptures, because it sets forth, as Paul says in the epistle to the Ephesians, a great mystery. And in Ephesians 5, We read of how he says, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his church.

Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wise be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church. and gave himself for it, that he might cleanse, sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. The Lord nourishes his church and his church is brought to love him, and he loves the Church of God. And so with our text, we have the Church charging those that are young in the way, those that are seeking themselves, that if they find him, that they should tell him, I am sick of love. Which brings about this question. What is thy beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest among women, what is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us? Well, what is our answer? What would our answer be? In verse 10 through to the end, the church starts to describe her beloved. At the close of verse 16, this is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. She's given that description. There's many, many different interpretations of verse by verse of this description.

But one thing that has so struck me regarding this verse, our God is the eternal God. He is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. But our God is also Immanuel God with us, God manifest in the flesh. And if there is ever a description of God manifest in the flesh, it is in these verses from verse 10 through to 16. This is not describing a spirit or the eternal God who fills all things that has no form, but it is describing one who is a man. His head, his eyes, his cheeks, his lips, his hands, his legs, his belly, all of these things, really what's stamped upon this What the church sees even here in the Old Testament, my God is made man. He has become man, manifest in the flesh. He is white and ruddy. He is as divine and human. He is pure and white and holy, but also one who is shedding his blood and suffering for me. The great wonder for the Church of God is viewing the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was the Lord who said to Philip, who said, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. And he said to Philip, have I been so long with you? And have ye not known me, Philip? If ye have seen me, ye have seen the Father also. I and my Father are one. And here's the picture, the wonder of viewing. The Lord coming, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced at it. And here is the church. They're seeing her beloved. The Old Testament church looked forward to him. And the New Testament church, we look back to his coming. And when he came, when he was upon the earth. And let us remember this as well.

When she is saying that they want her to describe her beloved, there's not only description in the Word of God, no pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing that we'd say like we might say to a husband or a wife or a loved one, I love you, And some part of that love is what the beauty that you see in that person physically and outwardly, but that is not part of the love or what the bride of Christ sees in Christ. But what does she see then?

And of course, here it says that he is the chiefest among 10,000 because there is none other. The Lord Jesus Christ is unique. There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. If anything is to make one precious is that they are the only one. There is none else. And the daughters, they ask this, they compare with another Beloved. But the Church says there is no other Beloved. Mine is unique. He is the only one. The only name given among men whereby we must be saved. He is the Redeemer. He is my Saviour. He is my friend as we have in the In the last verses there, this is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. But what is it we see in him?

Because in the Lord we find one, we could put it this way, he reciprocates the love what we have to him, but we know it comes the other way around. We love him because he first loved us. So when we feel a love to the Lord, we know that He has loved us.

That's why the Lord asked Peter, denied him three times, three times, love us thou may. And Peter declared his love to the Lord those three times. What would have been in that love of Peter? Hadn't the Lord said, Satan hath desire to have you, to sift you as wheat, And I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Had not the Lord turned and looked upon Peter when he denied him those three times, that look of love, compassion, sympathy, long-suffering?

Had not Peter been restored, been strengthened, Peter had every reason, by the grace, long-suffering and kindness of the Lord, to love the Lord. Our Lord said concerning the woman who washed his feet, she had been forgiven much. And where poor sinners have been forgiven, they love the Lord who has suffered for them. bled for them, borne their sins on Calvary's tree.

There's none that can love so much as Him. And really, we could put it the other way. We can never love Him too much. We can. We can idolize a creature. We can make too much of men. We can never make too much of the Lord. We can never praise Him, never look upon Him. highly than issued.

We think also concerning death, that breaks the natural marriage bond, till death us do part. It doesn't separate where, as well as husband and wife, where sister and brother in faith, that is a great comfort, that doesn't separate. But death doesn't separate between us, and the Lord. And that makes the Lord very precious. He is an eternal friend, our eternal refuge. We can never have one like that here below. One that described in Hebrews, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. None can be like that.

And I trust we proved that in some 45 years, I think, since I was baptised. And how many times I proved the Lord's faithfulness, His love, my backslidings, my base requittals of His love. And He visits still. He still draws nigh, still softens my heart, still answers my prayers. bears long with all my sins and iniquities, chastened sometimes lovingly, the lass is steeped, he only lays softened in his blood. He does not change, I change. When the Lord says, my sheep, they hear my voice, they follow me.

Now if we'd known someone's voice from maybe years ago, we may not have heard them for a long while. But sometimes there's a distinctness in the voice you'd recognise immediately. And the Lord's manner of coming, how he comes, when he comes, the effect upon our hearts, the effect upon our spirits, how that we're softened, how that we're drawn to him, how that we feel like the church here had a love and their state changed so much from being all full of excuses to suddenly full all of drawing and love. Those two on the way to Emmaus when the Lord came to them, it changed them from being sorrowful and for seeing everything against them to understanding the scriptures and have their heart burned within them by the way. And when we know the Lord by His visits, God is known by the judgment that He executes, but our Lord also is known by how He comes and how He visits. Oftentimes we thought of Elijah on the mount, and there is the fire and the earthquake, and there's the wind, and the Lord was not in those. but then a still small voice. And that is that which softens. It is the voice of my beloved, she says here. And that is what we see as a beauty in him, how he speaks. Grace is poured into his lips.

Even those of the ungodly, they couldn't resist his grace. The type in the wilderness when the ark was carried about It wasn't to be seen, it was to be veiled. The veil was laid over the golden ark, and all you saw was the badger skins, but you didn't just see that representing his humanity. Over it was a veil of blue, and blue sets forth grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that was so evidently seen while he was here below.

And that is what marks out the dealings of the Lord with his people. Grace, grace. They'll bring forth the topstone, crying, grace, grace, unto it. Grace is poured unto his lips. Not a hard task, master. Not driving his people, but drawing them. Not dealing with them as their sins deserve, but showing them grace and mercy. And we see in him a beauty that the law never had. and that this world can never offer at all. We view him in his life as our righteousness.

This is the name we're with. He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Our righteousness is of him. This is the name we're with. She, the church of God, the bride of Christ, shall be called the Lord our righteousness. He is our hope of heaven through His shed blood, through Him putting away our sin, but He's also how we shall stand faultless before the throne, not in our own righteousness, but in His.

In John 6, the Lord says, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. If we know the Lord, by His Word, recognise His voice, and know the effect of that voice upon us. That is one thing that makes our Beloved more than any other, the effect that His Word has upon us. Thy words were found and I did eat them, they were to the joy and rejoicing of my heart. to view in the Lord Jesus Christ all that our soul needs for time and eternity, a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

In many times we lose the sweetness, we lose sight of the beauty and blessedness, we remember it We're able to describe it, but there's nothing like those visits when the Lord comes and visits his people and blesses his people and draws out their affections after him. And we know afresh we love him because he first loved us. And this is the effect, a beautiful picture here of the Lord's coming to his church, his people, in all their unmoving heart, unfeeling state with all their excuses and causing them to go out after Him and to be able to tell to others round why they love Him so, why they want Him and Him alone. May it be with us that we go from Seeing no beauty in Christ and not wanting Him. To want to know about Him and to why the Lord's people see a beauty in Him and why they want Him.

To knowing that we also have been let in on the secret. We also have seen that beauty and able to tell the sinners round what a dear Saviour I have found. point to thy redeeming blood and say, behold, the way to God. So the hymn writer, I could from all things parted be, but never, never, Lord, from thee. May we then be able to answer this in the Lord's time away. And these words, these two questions, be a comfort and encouragement to us if we're like the daughters of Jerusalem or if we're like the bride. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.