I remind you once more, as you read this blessed song of love, it must be understood allegorically. There is no other reasonable interpretation of the song. It is a song between Solomon and the Shulamite, certainly that is so. That is the historical context of it. But it is written by divine inspiration, and the language used here cannot be properly interpreted in any way. in all of its details as language spoken between the Shulamite and Solomon.

It must be understood as the scriptures universally represent marriage being representative of the union of Christ and his church. It must be understood as a picture of Christ and his church in our various experiences in this world and our various experiences of the knowledge of his love and his grace and his mercy toward us. With that in mind, let's read again verses 6 and 7. My subject tonight is a choice prayer, a choice prayer for everybody here, a choice prayer for both Saints and sinners. You who do not know our Redeemer, oh, may God set this prayer in your hearts. And for you who know him, may God be pleased to set this prayer upon your hearts as well. as a seal upon thine heart, a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it."

Now here's the picture. We've seen the bride, and Shulamit comes up with her husband out of the wilderness, and the daughter of Jerusalem asks, who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? And as she comes up out of this wilderness, leaning upon her beloved, she recognizes and understands now that she is enjoying his presence, his manifest, sweet communion. that as she comes up out of this wilderness, she's coming out, but he soon must be taken from her. And she's going to miss him. And so as he, as she anticipates that time, she says, she says, sent me as a seal upon your heart, sent me as a seal upon your right arm. And she asked thereby that he might give her some tokens of the marriage covenant between them. that he might give her some tokens before he leaves of his grace and his mercy and his love toward her.

And so the picture is that of you and I in this present gospel age. It is the picture of the Lord's church anticipating his going away and his coming again. I take the prayer to be just exactly that. Our Lord Jesus told his disciples before he left that he must go away. You remember John 16, as he was wrapping up his last sermon to his disciples, he said, It is expedient for you that I go away, otherwise the Comforter will not come. And it's necessary and best for you that I leave you. Not that he was leaving us literally, but he was leaving us physically.

He is with us now in such a way by his Spirit that he's with all of his people at one time, and yet his bodily presence is gone. And so he says, I will pray the Father. I'll give you a token of my love. I'll give you a token of my covenant. I'll give my Spirit to you. I'll pray the Father, and he will send the Comforter, send his Spirit to minister to you.

He promised then that he would come again, and when he returned, that he would gather us unto himself, that we might be with him and he with us forever. He said, if I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also. He said, in my father's house, in many mansions, many, many rich, rich, spacious, abiding places. If it were not so, I would have told you.

Now then, having said that, we now, living by faith in Christ, live with our hearts set upon that time when he shall come again. Every believer looks for the Lord's glorious second advent. We are to live upon the tiptoe of faith, expecting Christ at any time, so that in the language of the last verse of this holy song of love, we may say, Make haste, my beloved, be thou like to a roe or to a young heart upon the mountains of spices. are in the language of the revelation. We hear him say, Surely I come quickly, and our hearts respond, saying, Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus.

And yet, before our Lord went away, as you read the gospel narratives and you listen carefully to the language between those disciples of his who walked with him, And we understood he said something about leaving us. He said something about dying. And they didn't understand exactly what he was saying. But their questions seemed to be saying this. If you're going away, set us as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your right heart. Let me see if I can give you an example of what I'm saying.

You remember Judas, not Iscariot. The other disciple called Judas said, Lord, how are you going to show yourself to us, not to the world? Philip said, Lord, we don't know where you're going, how can we know the way? He said, Lord, show us the Father.

And so they were asking that the Lord might be pleased somehow to give them some blessed, real comfort and assurance of His love, the steadfastness of His love, of His mercy, and the strength of His grace. Sent me as a seal on your heart, as a seal upon your right arm. Now though our Lord's bodily presence is indeed absent from us, We want him near us. We want to be near him and near his heart. We want to have the blessed consciousness of the fact that we're his and he's ours. We want the blessed consciousness of the fact that he loves us and that he holds us in his right arm.

Now, let's look at two things in these two verses. First, the prayer, and then the pleas. Let's first look at this prayer which is uttered by the people of God. In our text, this is clearly a prayer which arises from the earnest hearts of God's believing children, but certainly this is a prayer that might well be spoken by any sinner desiring mercy, grace, and salvation.

Call upon the Lord God where you sit. Come now to the throne of grace and seek mercy and grace in the time of need. Ask him, set me, Lord, as a seal on your heart. Set me as a seal on your heart. Pastor, what do you mean? Go to God in prayer. and ask him, Lord, take me into your heart.

I know this is an age when everybody thinks that, and been taught by foolish false prophets, that God loves everybody and you're in his heart, and the silly, sentimental, sloppy religion makes the love of God nothing. If God loves everybody, God's love's nothing. It's meaningless. Everybody, if God loves everybody, folks in hell as well as folks in heaven, then God's love doesn't make any difference to anybody. But the scriptures don't teach anything of the kind.

The scriptures teach us that the Lord God loves a people who are distinguished by his love as his people, and that those people who are set in his heart will be with him forever in glory. And you, by nature, who are without Christ, we all, by nature, are children of wrath, even as others, so that our consciences condemn us and declare that we're worthy of death before God.

This is what you must seek from him. Lord, take me into your heart, though I deserve your wrath. and make me to know that you've taken me in your arms. Set me then as a seal upon your heart and as a seal upon your arm." The allusion here, as I've shown you, is to the high priest of Israel. Let's turn back to Exodus chapter 28, where this law was given. The prayer that is made here is really twofold.

First, she longs to know that she has an interest in the love of Christ's heart. Oh, let me know that I am loved of God. Let me know that I am loved of God. I mean, really, let me know that I am loved of God and that I'm on his heart and on his arm and everything's all right.

All right, look here in Exodus 28. Here's the allusion of our text back to this law given to Israel. Exodus 28, verse 29. Aaron shall bear the names of all the world on his breastplate." Has anybody got a Bible that reads like that? No. He bears the names of who? He bears the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment.

Now look at that. That's not put there to fill up space. It's put there for purpose. He bears the of the children of Israel, who were but representatives of the Israel of God, all the host of God's elect, which are spoken of in Revelation as the 144,000 chosen, redeemed from among the earth, so that these children of Israel are spoken of representatively here.

Aaron bears their names on his breastplate, and his breastplate, Bobby, is called the breastplate of judgment, the breastplate of righteousness, justice, and truth. Read on. He bears it upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment, justice, righteousness, and truth, the urim and the thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And Aaron shall bear the judgment, the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually.

In other words, even back in this Old Testament time, God is saying there is no mercy without judgment. There is no grace without righteousness. There is no salvation without a sacrifice. Look at verse 36. And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and engrave upon it like the engravings of a signet. Look at this.

Holiness to the Lord. holiness to the Lord. Aaron goes in with his breastplate into the holy place, and he has this mitre upon his head, and this thing inscribed, Holiness to the Lord, because none but he who is himself perfectly holy can come before God Almighty to make atonement for sin. And thou shalt put it upon a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, That Aaron, look at it, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things. The holy things?

Why, even their services to God, even their sacrifices, even their mourning and even their oblations, even their prayers, even their gifts, all are full of iniquity, because they come from our hands. They come from hands full of iniquity, and there must be atonement made for them. Our prayers on their own ground, the best prayer you ever imagined, much less spoke, is worthy of God's wrath. The greatest sacrifice we ever made is worthy of God's judgment. The most holy deed we ever performed is so full of sin, on its own merit, it'll take you to hell. So we must have someone, a go-between, an advocate, a high priest, a mediator, to go in the presence of God with holiness to bear the iniquity of our holy things, that we may be accepted of the Lord.

Look at it. The holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts, and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. Well, that takes care of the breastplate. Set me as a seal on your heart. What about a seal on your arm? Look at verse 12, Exodus 28. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial."

Now, you who are God's children know by your own experience something of the meaning of this prayer. I hope that some of you who have never yet experienced the love of Christ and the power of his gracious May this night come to experience these things.

The prayer, then, is these two things. Number one, O Lord, let me know that my name is engraved on your heart. In the language of the psalmist, this is what I'm saying. Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Over the years, I've had a lot of folks all around the world, wherever I go to preach, they come and say, I don't have any assurance.

What can you do for me? Nothing. Not a thing I can do for you. Not a thing I can do for you. Ralph Barnett used to say the only person on this earth who will give a lost man assurance that he saves another lost man. And I think he's exactly right. I can't tell you what God's done for you. I don't know. I don't know. But I'll tell you who can. I'll tell you where you can get it.

You go to God himself. And you say to the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord God, with the finger of your grace, inscribe this on my heart and make me to hear you speak and say, I am thy salvation. I want an interest in your love. I want more. I want to know that I have an interest in your love. Write my name upon, write your name upon my heart and my name upon your heart. Engrave it as a signal upon your heart so that I can look to you and see it. Pastor, how can you see it? I don't understand. You tell us we can't see things physically, we have to look for things physically. How do you see it?

I see my name engraved on his heart, and I see it clearly, because as a guilty, hell-deserting, wretched sinner without one shred of righteousness to claim before God, I trust Jesus Christ, who came into this world to save sinners just like me. Now I'm telling you, if you can take your place before God as a law center, take your place before God deserving his wrath, take your place before God Almighty acknowledging your guilt and his justice against you, and call on him for mercy, he declares that he came here to save you. All right, read on. Set me as a seal upon your heart. Without question, there are many whose names are written on the heart of our Redeemer who do not yet know it. Christ loved them from all eternity. His heart has been set upon them from everlasting, but they have not yet seen the signet with their names written upon it. How can I say this and be understood?

It is positively wrong. It is positively wrong for you and I to teach our children, as their little boys and little girls, that Jesus loves them. It's positively wrong. Absolutely wrong. The love of God is in Christ. And until a sinner believes on Christ, until a sinner trusts Christ, there is no token of love from God for that sinner. The only way you can know that God loves you is you trust his Son. That's the only way. Unless you trust his Son, the wrath of God's on you. Unless you believe on the Son of God, the wrath of God's on you. Well, God is love. I know that. I rejoice in that. But the love of God's in Christ. Only in Christ. Apart from Christ, God's a consuming fire. And if you meet him without Christ, his wrath will consume you. In all of his work, our great High Priest bears the names of his people upon his heart. Everything he does, everything he has done, is doing, or shall do, is for his people.

The high priest in Israel would go in on the holy day of Atonement, and he would bear that mitre with holiness to the Lord, and this breastplate upon his heart, and these stones upon his shoulders with the names of the children of Israel. How come? Because he was going there for the children of Israel, for specific people. And then he would go into the holy place and take off those gorgeous priestly garments and put on his white linen garments and make sacrifice. And then he'd come back out and sacrifice was made, atonement was ceremonially made, and he would put on those gorgeous priestly garments again. And he'd step out and bless the people in the name of God.

In all of that, he was a picture of Christ. Our Lord Jesus makes intercession for the Israel of God. That's exactly right. He didn't pray for everybody. He said so. He said in John 17.9, I pray not for the world, I pray for them. He said again, he said, I pray not only for these here now who believe on me, but for them also who shall hear their word and shall believe.

John 17.20.

Our Lord Jesus bears the judgment of his people as he offers sacrifice to God with his righteousness, crying, Holiness to the Lord! Here's a sacrifice that justice must accept, because this sacrifice is holy. And the Lord Jesus bears our iniquity and our judgment, and he makes the sacrifice in our stead.

And then he comes and blesses us. That blessing, that blessed benediction I so often use here when we finish our service on Sunday evening. Aaron goes in, makes the sacrifice, and he comes back out, and he lifts up his hands. Oh, I love this picture. With the smell of blood at the altar and the blood freshly sprinkled on the blessed seat, this priest comes out with the names of God's elect on his breastplate. holiness to the Lord on his forehead, and the stones of judgment on his shoulders.

And he says, the Lord bless thee and keep thee. Well, how can a holy God do that? Because justice has been satisfied through Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, this prayer is also, Lord, let me experience the power of your arm. It is enough for me if I can know and be assured in my soul that the Lord Jesus Christ is my high priest, my advocate, my sin-atoning mediator before God.

If I can know that I have a place in his heart of love and that his arm is set to do me good. Oh, if you'll give me that, I don't want anything else. That's enough for my soul. It ought to be. It ought to be. I would be upset with my wife if she had any question concerning my love for her. If I had any question of my willingness to care for her, provide for her, protect her, defend her, I'd be upset with her. And she's got a whole lot more reason to question those things than I do his. But sent me, Lord, as a seal on your heart. seal on your arm.

Make me know that I'm yours and I want no more. His arm preserves me. His arm protects me. His arm provides for me. His arm will carry me to glory like his sheep gathered in his arms and laid upon his shoulder. That's enough. He'll carry me home. This then is the prayer we make. Set me as a seal upon thine heart and as a seal upon thine arm.

But whenever you pray, whenever you go to God and seek something from the Lord, it is always wise to carry arguments with you, to give him reasons why he should give the thing you request. So that when you go to God in prayer, you offer him reasons. He said, Plead with me that I may remember. Plead my covenant with me. Put me in remembrance.

So that when we go to him in prayer, we give him a reason why he should hear us and answer our prayers. So that we're not just muttering words. We're not just acting religious. We're not just being sentimental. We go to God with an earnest burden on our hearts, and this is the reason why. hear my pleas, hear my arguments with you. Here's the reason why I ask you to set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm. First, show me your love, because your love is strong as death. The love of Christ is as irresistible as death itself.

People sometimes call a writer, meet them in person, they say, you preach hellfire and brimstone, hellfire and judgment. Yeah, but not too much. You ought to preach judgment. Yeah, yeah. You're under the wrath of God. I think I'm plain enough concerning that, but I want to tell you something. The wrath of God will never bring a sinner to repentance. It'll never happen. It won't happen.

Many times, right after I came here, preachers in town got together and they showed a movie at the high school in Boyle County. I mean, the liberals, conservatives, fundamentalists, everybody. They got together and they showed a movie called Burning Hell. And everybody got scared to death. Everybody got scared the hell out of everybody. And they did that, but it don't work. That won't bring a sinner to repentance.

What does? The goodness of God. See, the love of God in Christ, and I'm telling you, his love is as irresistible as death. If ever he makes you to know his love, if ever he speaks words of love to your heart, I'm telling you, he has conquered you by his grace. The love of Christ triumphed over death for us, and as death refuses to give up its victims, So the love of Christ refuses to give up its objects, the captives of God's grace. Nothing shall ever cause the Son of God to cease loving his people and let them go.

The prayer is this. Lord, set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. Show me your love because your love is firm as the grave. Jealousy. as cruel as the grave. There are many ways to translate that. I like the way Martin Luther translated it. He puts it this way, Jealousy is as hard as hell. Jealousy is as hard as hell. That just doesn't seem to fit. This does it. Let's see if we can make it fit with our understanding.

Our Lord is jealous over his people. He will not allow those whom he loves to be taken from him. And you will more likely see the gates of hell opened, the fires of hell quenched, and the spirits of the damned set free than see one sinner, loved of Christ, torn from his heart. Jealousy is as firm as hell.

Those whom God has chosen he will never refuse. Those whom Christ has redeemed, he will never sell again into captivity. Those whom he has justified, he will never condemn. Those whom he has found, he'll never lose. Those whom he has loved, he will never hate.

Here's another plea. Lord, show me your love, for your love is as intense as fire. See this in the text? the coals thereof are as coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame." Literally, this might be translated, the coals thereof are as the coals of God. Again, the allusion goes back to the Old Testament and the sacrifices of the Old Testament. You remember at the door of the tabernacle, the door of the temple, there was the altar of God, and at the altar of God there was a fire that the priests were required to keep burning continually, day in and day out, never let the fire go out, because that fire represented fire represented both the wrath of God, the justice of God, and the love of God for his people.

Certainly here there is a reference making it to speak of the love of God for his Saints. The Lord God, revealing his love to us in Christ, tells us that the love of Christ is like coals of the altar, which never go out but more. The love of Christ for his own elect is like a vehement, blazing flame of intense love that never diminishes.

Having loved his own, which rend the world, he loves them to be. The only cause of his love for us is in himself. He loves us because he will. That's all. And there is nothing no form of love in all the world to compare to his. Sometimes the scriptures compare his love to the love of a man for a woman. Sometimes the scriptures compare his love to the love of a mother for her child. But all of those comparisons fall indescribably short of showing us his love, because his love is eternal. Our puny brains, we can't even think about eternity. We just, we can't fathom it. Eternal. What on earth is eternal? No beginning. When did God begin to love us? He didn't. He didn't. He never started anything. He never learned anything. He never began anything.

He loved us with everlasting love. His love for us is free and sovereign. And nothing we do to get him to love us. He loves us freely. I believe this will cause God to look at me with favor. No, no, no, no, no. His love's free, sovereign. His love is sacrificial and saving. He loved us. His love for his people is immutable, never changes. Immutability. That's a word.

I've got it fixed pretty good up here. I know what it means, but I don't have any idea what something is that's unchanging, unchanged, and unchangeable. I've never seen it except by faith. I've never experienced it except by grace. I'm telling you, God's love never increases It never diminishes, no matter what.

The fires of his love are as a vehement flame, burning constantly before him. His love is inexhaustible. Here's one last thing. Show me your love, for your love is unquenchable as eternity. Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the floods drown it. The waters of God's wrath poured out upon his Son did not quench his love for us, and the floods of our sins, before he saved us and since, can never quench his love for us. Set me as a steel upon your heart.