OK, Song of Solomon. Chapter
one. I've entitled the lesson this
morning, Two Views of Christ's Bride. Now, fairly recently,
we went through this book verse by verse. You remember that the
Song of Solomon is a duet sung by Christ, the bridegroom and
his bride, his elect. They sing this song back and
forth to one another. And it's a song about the close,
intimate communion between Christ and his bride. And the bride
tells us during this song how much she enjoys those times of
fellowship with her bridegroom. She enjoys those times when she
sees him. A sight of him and a time of
communion with him thrills her heart. Just any view of her beloved
strengthens her heart, strengthens her confidence in him. gives
her growth in grace and growth in love for Him. And it's a good
song. Just like all the scriptures,
this song tells the truth. And what I want us to look at
in our lesson this morning is the truth about the believer. We'll see in the message, Lord
willing, the truth of the Savior and our relationship with Him.
But here we're going to look at the truth of a believer. The
bride sings and she tells us of her love for her beloved.
And one of the things that amazes her, she's all throughout this
song where she can't get over, is that Christ loves her back. In spite of her nature, in spite
of everything that she is, he loves her back. And she's going
to give us this morning an honest portrait of herself. This is
the honest portrait of every believer. And this view of herself,
you'll see if this doesn't fit the view of yourself, shows you
why the believer is so drawn to Christ. Shows us why we long
for fellowship with him. It's because of who he is. He's
everything that we're not. He's the opposite of us. He's
everything that we need. And a believer loves Christ because
of what he's done for us and what he's done in us. He's chosen
to betroth himself, marry himself to his bride, and she longs to
be with him. So here's first, the first view,
the bride's view of herself in Song of Solomon 1 verse 5. First,
she tells us who she is. She tells us what she looks like.
She says, I'm black, but comely. Oh, you daughters of Jerusalem,
as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. At first,
she says, this is what I look like. I'm black. I'm black with
sin. I'm ugly with sin. My soul is
completely black with sin. We talk about total depravity.
All that means is this, all that I am is sin. There's not a spot
in my nature that's good. Sin means perversity and it means
guilt. And she says, that's all I am
by nature. My nature is perverse. I'm guilty,
100% sin and nothing else. Well, how black are we? And she
uses a picture here. She says, I'm black as the tents
of Kedar. Now, Kedar is one of the sons
of Ishmael, may have been the first son, but he's one of the
sons of Ishmael. And this is what she's saying, and this is
what every believer says. This is an honest picture of
me. I'm as bad as Ishmael. That's
what I am. I really am the chief of sinners. All I am is what this flesh can
produce. That's what Ishmael is. Ishmael
is what the flesh can produce. You remember God promised Abraham
a son, didn't he? He promised Abraham Sarah would
have a son. After a number of years, Abraham
and Sarah had no son. And Abraham and Sarah decided
we're going to help God out. We're going to have a son with
Sarah's handmaid, Hagar. And Abraham went into her and
had a son. And that son, Ishmael, is a picture
of man's works. Ishmael is what man can produce. This is man's ideas, man's way,
man's way of solving the solution. And what did God say about Ishmael?
He told Abraham, you put him out. He's got to go. He said, Abraham, Sarah's right.
That Ishmael, son of the handmaid, can't be heir with the son of
the free woman. He's got to go. Our works, our way, everything
about us, all it is is sin. And brethren, it's got to go.
It's got to go. God will never accept any work
of our own because it's all black with sin, defiled with sin. In
the tents of Kedar, this also refers to the shepherds who dwelt
at Kedar. And because of the area of the
world where they were in there, their tents would become very
black because of the elements. So that's what she's saying.
That's what I look like. That's us by nature. We're black
with sin. We're something that God can
never accept. I look back at Psalm 51. This
is something that true faith always acknowledges, always sees
about ourself. If you don't see yourself as
black, as the tents of Kedar, as evil and wicked as Ishmael,
then God hadn't given you true faith, because true saving faith
always acknowledges what we are. Look here at Psalm 51 verse 4.
David says, Against thee, the only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. That's what
we are, we're sinners by birth, conceived in sin, because that's
all the flesh can produce, is sin. We're sinners by birth,
sinners by choice, and sinners by practice. She says, I'm black,
but this is what she also says, I'm also comely, I'm also beautiful. Now remember, this is an accurate
picture of every believer. How can she be beautiful and
ugly at the same time? How can she be those two opposites
at the same time? Well, because she's a picture
of a believer. A believer is both ugly and beautiful at the
same time because we've got two opposite natures in us. We've
got the nature of Adam, the nature that we're born with, and that
nature is ugly and defiled with sin. That's all it'll ever be.
But the believer also has been given the nature of Christ. We've
been given a beautiful nature. Black is what we are in Adam.
Comely is what we are in Christ. And the only way a sinner can
ever be made beautiful is by Christ's beauty that he puts
on his people, the nature that he gives his people, the new
birth. Well, how beautiful are we in Christ? I'll show you without
question, this beauty is the beauty of Christ that he's put
on us. A believer is as beautiful as Christ himself. All together
lovely. We're perfect in him. The bride
describes herself as black as the tents of Kedar, and she also
describes herself as beautiful as the curtains of Solomon. Now,
what curtains is she referring to here? Well, it's not the curtains
that's hanging in Solomon's house. This is the curtains of the temple
that Solomon built, and those Curtains. We looked at the study
of the tabernacle some time ago. These are the same curtains,
the veils that hung in the temple are all pictures of Christ. And
the bride here is saying that's the nature, the beautiful nature
God's given all of his children, the nature of Christ. It's his
beauty. Remember those curtains that separated the holy place
and the holy of holies. They are made of fine twine linen,
the finest, most beautiful white linen. which is a picture of
the holy nature of the man, Christ Jesus. A believer is as black
as sin in Adam, but we're also white and holy as Christ because
we've been given his nature. He's made us righteous in him.
And those curtains made of white, fine twine linen had red thread
in them, which is a picture of the blood of Christ. Why is a
believer beautiful? We're born by nature black as
sin. How can you ever be beautiful?
Because the blood of Christ has cleansed us from all sin. His
blood has washed us free from all that sin in his blood. And
then those curtains have blue thread in them. Blue is the color
of heaven. That's where Christ came from.
He came from heaven as a man to redeem his people, cleanse
them from all their sin and make us accepted in heaven. were accepted
in the beloved. And then those curtains had purple
thread in them. That purple is the color of royalty.
Shows us the kingship of Christ. And a believer is beautiful because
of Christ our King. And what's he made his people?
He's made his kings and priests unto God. He's made us royalty.
Now the only person who can see himself as ugly is the new man. That's the only, only the new
man can see the ugliness and defilement of sin who's in the
old man. And that's why Paul cried in
Romans seven, Oh, wretched man that I am. You know, some people
say, Oh, and when Paul wrote Romans seven, he was an unbeliever.
No, he was a believer. He'd been born again because
only the new man can see the ugliness and defilement of sin
in the old man. And I tell you when a believer's
most beautiful, a believer's most beautiful, when we see ourselves
as ugly in our sin, in our depravity, because that makes us look to
Christ all the more. So that's what she looks like.
She's black with sin and she's comely. She's black with sin
and Adam and holy and righteous in Christ. Second, the bride
describes her condition on earth. What's her condition as she lives
here on earth? Well, it's a life of trial and
affliction. Look at verse six. She says, look not upon me because
I'm black, because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children
were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the
vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Now she says,
I'm scorched. I'm sunburnt under the hot trial
of the sun of trial. So she says, don't look at me. Don't look at me. Look to Christ. Look to the beloved. She says,
don't look at me and judge me and count me as someone who's
been cast off from God just because I'm undergoing this trial, suffering
trials. You know, we suffer trials. That
doesn't mean God doesn't love us. It means God does love us. God
only chastens those that he loves. He only chastens his children.
And those trials always teach the child of God to look away
from ourselves and look to Christ. And she says, I live a life of
affliction on this earth, and I'm hated by this world. She
says, my mother's children hate me. They hate me because I'm
not of this world. You're men of the world, men
who are in our flesh. They're our brothers. Scott Richardson
used to say, he calls everybody brother and sister. He said,
they're my brother one way or another, either in Adam or in
Christ. These men of the flesh, They're our brethren. We have
the same flesh that they do, yet they hate us because we're
not of this world. We've been born, a child of God
has been born again. So we're from a different household,
from a different country. And they hate us because they
don't understand that new man. They just, they cannot understand
him. And the bride is portraying herself as poor and needy. She says, those, my brethren,
my mother's children, they hate me and they made me the keeper
of vineyards. And the keeper of the vineyard
was a hard job. It was a hot job. You had to
be out in the sun working all day. And that's the job they
gave to the lowest servants. If somebody hated you, that's
the job they were going to make you do. She said, I'm persecuted. Just poor and needy in this world. And she says, and you know what?
I haven't done anything right. I haven't kept my own vineyard.
I haven't done anything to deserve being put in God's kingdom. The
only reason I'm there is by God's grace. So don't look at me. Look at Him. I haven't kept myself
holy and pure and righteous. Christ did that for me by washing
me in His blood and clothing me in His righteousness and making
me righteous in Him. So even though I'm a child of
God, I'm his bride. I've been made holy and righteous.
I've been born again. My condition on earth is a life
of suffering, trial and affliction. And third, this is an honest
picture of every child of God. She tells us about her heart.
She tells us what she looks like. She tells us her condition on
this earth. And then she tells us about her
heart. She says, I've got a new heart.
A heart that desires Christ my beloved above all else. Verse
seven. She says, tell me, O thou whom
my soul lovest, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to
rest at noon, for why should I be as one that turneth aside
by the flocks of thy companions? She says, I don't want your companions.
I don't want to go somewhere else. I want Christ. I need him. You just tell me
where he is and I'll be there. And she says that because the
bride loves Christ. Now believer loves Christ. And it's not a passing fancy.
It's not, well, you know, I get in trouble and I'm going to act
like I love him. And then, you know, I'm not in
trouble anymore and that'll pass away. No, a believer loves Christ. God's given us a heart that loves
him. Now, I know I love him because
he first loved me. I know his love is what made
the difference. I understand that. But I'm telling
you, I love Christ. I love him with a genuine heart
love. But the bride, she'll tell us
this throughout this song. I love him. But you can't always tell it
by looking at me. When you see the blackness of
my sin, it's not readily apparent I love the Lord. When I'm under
the burning heat of trial and I say the wrong things, I question
the Lord, I question why is this happening, why is the Lord doing
this to me, I act wrong, I don't act thankful, I don't act It's
not readily apparent I love the Lord, because you can't see my
heart. All you can see is what I'm saying and what I'm doing.
Sometimes, only the Lord knows we love Him. We often have to
say with Peter, Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. Maybe you're the only one that
knows it, but you know it. And that love for Christ, I tell
you where it's seen. That love for Christ is seen
in a believer when that child of God, that one who's been given
a heart that loves Christ, they seek Christ in worship. I put an article in the bulletin
last week about worship and someone electronically contacted me and
said, well, You know, what do you do if you can't find a place
to worship? You know, the only places you
can find to worship, he said, are free will and infant baptism.
Well, I started to respond and didn't. I kind of figured out
who he was. I didn't respond. But I tell you this, a person
does what he wants to do. Now, that's just so. A person
does what he wants to do. And, you know, the short answer
would be that I'd move to a place where I could. You know, if you
truly desire to hear the gospel in this day and time, it's readily
available. I mean, I thought about telling
him all the places I know do live stream. You know what? If
you want to worship, you'll find a place to worship. A child of
God must have a place to worship because we can't live without
hearing of him. What's the point of living? if we can't go to worship, if
we can't hear of our Redeemer. And this is what she said, she
said, tell me where you feed your flock. I want to be there
to feed. Tell me where you make your flock
to rest at noon, because I want to be there and rest, rest in
Christ. I want to know the place where Christ is preached, because
that's the only place I can be fed. I want to know the place
where Christ is preached, because I can only rest in Him. I like
what she says, tell me where you'll be at noon. Now, noon
is the hottest part of the day. In the heat of trial, where you're
in the desert at noon and the heat is hot. Tell me where Christ
is, because the only place I can find rest is in him. Tell me
where Christ is preached, because I must have So that's how the
bride sees herself. And it's accurate. She's both
black with sin and she's white, righteous. A sinner. That's who I really am. That's
not pretend. That's who I really am. And I'm
white. I'm righteous in Christ. Christ
has made me that. He made me without sin. He made
me innocent. And that's who I really am too.
And I'll tell you this, this is who I really am. I live a
life of trial and trouble, being oppressed by this world, being
hated by it. Now, I tell you, if you're going
to follow Christ, you count the cost. That's an accurate picture
of the life of a believer. It's a life of trouble and trial.
And this is also true. This is my heart's desire. I
want to be with Christ as priest. I must worship Him. Hearing Him
preach is the only place I can be fed. It's the only place I
can find any rest. You see the bride. She sees both
sides of the coin, doesn't she? She sees who she really is. And
she's not sugarcoating anything. This is who I am in Adam. This
is who I am in Christ. This is my life on this earth.
Now, look over in chapter 7. Here's a second view of a believer. How does Christ the Bridegroom
see his bride? Chapter 7, verse 1. This is the
Bridegroom speaking. He says, how beautiful are thy
feet with shoes, O Prince's daughter. At first, Christ tells her, this
is how I see my bride. I see her in love. He calls her
the Prince's daughter. Now that is the daughter, just
like Boaz called Ruth my daughter. That's a term. of endearment. You fathers who have daughters,
you know that's a term of endearment. It's a term of tender, protective
love. And Christ is telling his bride,
no matter what, I always see you in love. I always have. And
then he describes his bride. This is the way she really is
now. God sees things as they are.
He doesn't call something what it's not. He sees things as they
really are. And he says, your feet are beautiful
as shoes. I've been married a little while.
I've got two daughters. This much I've learned. Women
like shoes. They just feel beautiful in shoes.
Janet got out her box of mementos and stuff. She still has the
shoes we got married in. She saved them. Women like beautiful
shoes. Well, Christ our bridegroom knows
that. Look over in Ephesians chapter six. So you know what
he does? He knows that a woman likes beautiful
shoes. So he gives her the best shoes
that you can find. Ephesians six, verse 13. He says, wherefore taken to you
the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand, therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate
of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. I tell you, if you're going to
stand before God, you'd better stand in Christ. You better stand
in the beauty of his holiness. And that's what the gospel tells
us of, isn't it? It's all of Christ. How do you
have peace with God? Only in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Put those shoes on. It'll make
you beautiful. You stand before God in those
shoes. Then back in Song of Solomon 7, he talks here about her joints. He says, the joints of thy thighs
are like jewels. The work of the hands of a cunning
workman. And what he's referring to here
is the believer's walk. The believer's walk is beautiful
to the Lord. They remember when Jacob, he
wrestled there with that pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And he
said, I won't let you go except you bless me. And the Lord, what
did he do during at the end of that night? He touched the hollow
of Jacob's thighs. Thigh was out of joint and scripture
tells us he halted on it the rest of his life. Being touched
by the Savior. affected Jacob's walk the rest
of his life. If Christ ever touches you, you'll
never be the same. Your walk through this world
is going to be affected by faith in Christ and love for the Savior. And this walk, the believer's
walk, it's a walk of faith, a walk of good works, a walk of following
Christ. You know that's his workmanship?
That's the workmanship of Christ and he calls it beautiful. Look
over in Ephesians chapter one, I'll show you that. The believers walk is the work
of a cunning craftsman, craftsman that only God could do. Ephesians
one verse 10. For we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. We walk in them because we're
His workmanship. That's the believer's walk, is
the walk of faith. And our Savior says, that's beautiful. Then verse two, back in our text
of Song of Solomon 7, he talks about her navel. He says, thy
navel is like a round goblet which wanteth not liquor. Now
what he's talking about here, this is a picture, how the believer
is nourished. through the preaching of the
gospel. You know, a baby in the womb is fed through the umbilical
cord and through the navel. And when a child of God feeds
on the gospel, comes and worships, the Savior says, that's beautiful.
Now he calls it liquor. He's not talking about liquor,
like exactly the way we think of liquor. In Solomon's day,
this was a mixture that they considered to be a nourishing
drink. I don't know that it was necessarily,
but that's the way they viewed it. It was a mixture of milk
and wine or a mixture of water and wine or maybe milk and honey.
And they considered that to be nourishing and healthy. Well,
that mixture is the gospel. What's more nourishing than the
gospel of Christ? Now, this is not a mixture in
the sense we mix something with Christ. The gospel is the pure
gospel of Christ without any mixture of man's works. And God's
going to have to give you an appetite for this. If God has
given you an appetite for the gospel, you'll be nourished by
it. But now God's got to give you a new nature, a nature that
is fed and nourished by the gospel. It's just like a cow. A cow desires
to eat grass. I mean, you just watch them out
there. They're just eating, eating, eating, eating, and they're only grass.
I don't have any desire to eat grass. None whatsoever. You know
what I desire? The cow. That's what I desire. Well, why does the cow desire
grass and I want to eat steak? Because me and that cow got two
different natures. Why do you desire the gospel
and somebody else doesn't? Two different natures. God's
given you a nature that is nourished, not only desires, but is nourished
by the gospel of Christ. Next, the Savior talks in verse
two about the belly of his people. He said, thy belly is like a
heap of wheat set about with lilies. Now, none of us want
to think about our belly, you know, big old belly, a heap of
wheat. But what our Lord is describing here is something that's very
beautiful. He's describing a fruitful marriage, a fruitful union between
him and his bride. What he's talking about is a
pregnant belly. And a pregnant belly, It's beautiful. Janet
likes to take pictures. Man, pictures of a pregnant belly
is big business because it's something that's beautiful. And
what Solomon is really talking about here, what's most beautiful,
he's talking about the new birth. When a child of God is born in
the new birth, this belly is described as a heap of pure wheat.
There are no tears in it. It's pure wheat, pure righteousness,
pure life in Christ. And as much as we rejoice to
see a new baby born to us, you know, you, you, uh, bring a new
baby this place, man, everybody's around. Everybody wants to see
just, Oh, it's so exciting. How much more beautiful and more
thrilling is it to see a child of God born? Oh, that's a beautiful
thing. And our Lord says it's beautiful.
All of heaven rejoices when that happens. Next in verse three,
the bridegroom talks about the breasts of his bride. He said,
thy two breasts are like two young rose that are twins. Now the breasts are both for
beauty and for usefulness. How is that newborn babe when
it's born? How's it fed? It's fed the sincere milk of
the word by nursing and getting that sincere milk of the word.
And that's the church's function is to preach Christ. So those
newborn babes can be fed. And Solomon talks about the bride
here, talks about twin breasts. More than likely he's referring
to both the Old Testament and the New Testament. They're twins. They don't have two different
messages. They both have one message. It's a message of Christ,
a message of salvation through faith in him. And the church
on earth is most beautiful and she's most useful when she's
feeding God's sheep. That was the Lord's commandment
to Peter. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed those babes the
sincere milk of the word. Next in verse four, the Savior
talks about the neck of his people. He said, thy neck is as a tower
of ivory. Now the believer is joined to
Christ our head and the body is joined to the head by the
neck. And our Lord says that neck is
beautiful. It's like ivory. It's both strong
and it's beautiful, just like ivory is. Now, the union between
Christ and His church, there's no life without it. That's why
the old writers call that a vital union, because there's no life.
If the head is separated from the body, there's no life. The
union between Christ and His people is so strong, like ivory
strong, that it is eternal. If you're joined to Christ, you
cannot be separated from Him. The bride says, but I'm black
with sin. Well, your sin can't separate
you from Christ. He already put your sin away
at Calvary. The bride says, but I live a life of trials and afflictions. Those trials are not going to
separate you from the Redeemer. They're going to draw you closer
to Him. But I live in this world that hates me. The world can't
separate you from Christ. He's already overcome the world.
Your union with him is eternal. Next, in verse four, the Savior
talks about the eyes of his bride. He said, thine eyes like the
fishpools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabim. Now, the fishpools that Solomon's
talking about here were man-made pools. They were clear pools,
not like a farm pond. You know, they're man-made. They're
not for fishing. Really, they're for decoration.
But the main point of all this is they're clear pools. Well,
the eyes of a believer are clear. The eyes of a believer are clear
eyes of repentance. They've been washed with tears.
The eyes of a believer are clear. They've been washed with milk
by the Savior. They've been made pure and clean.
And the eyes of a believer are clear. They're clear eyes of
faith. that look to Christ only. We
only have eyes for Him. And our Savior says, that's beautiful. I remember once we were little,
Janet and I were very young, and after Bible school, we used
to take the kids out to Camden Park, and we were going somewhere,
kind of a steep hill, and she was back behind us, and I reached
back to give her my hand to pull her up the hill. And she looked
at me with those eyes, oh my soul, I mean, I about melted
and fell down the hill. Savior says, when we look at
him with those eyes of faith and love, he said, those are
beautiful eyes. Next, the Savior talks about
the nose. Verse four, he says, thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon,
which looketh toward Damascus. And what he's referring to here
is the forehead or the face that's turned toward Christ in love,
independence, looks to him for grace. And our Savior says, that's
a beautiful look. Now we feel indifferent from
time to time, but as we look to him, the Savior said, that's
a beautiful look. In verse five, he talks about
the head of his bride. He says, thine head upon thee
is like caramel. And that word caramel is crimson,
like crimson. The hair of thine head like purple.
The king is held in the galleries. Now, this is the key to the beauty
of Christ's bride. It's our head. See, he worked
from the feet up to the head. This is our crowning beauty,
Christ our head. That word carmel is crimson.
It refers to the beauty of the sacrifice of Christ. Can you
think of anything more beautiful than the son of God dying and
shedding his blood for his people that he loved? There's nothing
more beautiful than that. The purple refers to the kingship
of Christ. Now this is describing his bride. She's been washed from her sins
in the blood of Christ. She's been made a royal priesthood
through union with Christ. He is our beauty, this is our
crowning beauty. Now, going through this whole
lesson to get to verse six. Now listen, don't quit on me,
listen to this. He says, how fair and how pleasant
art thou, O love, for delights. He says, you're fair, you're
pleasant. Everything about you is beautiful
to me. Now this is what I want you to
notice. The bride described herself, didn't she? She described, it's
an accurate picture. She described both sides of the
coin, the way we are in Adam, the way we are in Christ. When
Christ describes his bride, there's no mention of ugliness. No mention
of the blackness of sin. No mention of her failure. No
mention of her lukewarm love. No mention of the things that
she does wrong in times of trouble and trial. Why not? Why is there no mention of sin
when He sees her? Because it's not there. Christ
has removed the sin of his people by his sacrifice and made them
just like him. Christ has removed the sin of
his people. Even God doesn't see what's not
there. So when he looks at his, when God the father looks at
his people, you know what he sees? He sees the beauty of his
son because that's the way we really are. I hope the Lord bless
that to you.