Psalms of Solomon and the seventh
chapter. We're just going to look at a
few verses. And in these several verses,
as in really the whole book of Psalms of Solomon, it shows forth
the intimate relationship that Christ has with His church, that
He has with His bride, that He has with His elect people. It's
all the same unit here. And this is, therefore, as we
read this, this is children's portion. And it's none other,
nobody else has claim on it. This is bread for His children. And we can be satisfied, we can
see the love relationship that Christ has with us and that we
have with Him. And it is just incredible. It's absolutely amazing.
So we bless the Church of the Living God as we are highly prized
of our kinsman Redeemer. You can't read this like your
husband and your wife. You're obviously the apple of
one another's eye. There are certain things you
don't have to say because it's understood, but it's nice to
hear them. Nice to hear them, and we'll
hear quite a few things. In this section that we're going
to look at, in chapter 7, verses 1 through 9, it's Christ talking
about the church. And then what we're looking at
first is 10 through the end of the chapter, 10, 11, 12, and
13. And this section is the church. is speaking to her beloved, to
Christ, and is overwhelmed by the love found in Christ Jesus. So this is the church, this is
us. This is the believer speaking to our Redeemer, speaking to
our Kinsman Redeemer. And we're going to see a few
things in these verses, four main subjects, four topics. But
my desire and my hope and my trust is that we are found We
are found. These things are found in us.
And if you're a believer, they are. So, if you want to examine
ourselves, not by ourselves, but by the Holy Spirit, the proper
examination, to see if these things be in us. And I pray that
these four things all be found in us. And like I say, if we're
a believer, they are. And if they're not, cry for mercy. Cry for mercy. Well, let's look
at verse 10. I'm just going to read these
one verse at a time because that's actually four points. Verse 10,
11, 12, and 13. The first point is, the church,
or we, who are called by His name, acknowledge that we belong
to Christ. We, or the church, acknowledges
that we belong to Christ. He says, I am my Beloved's and
His desire is towards me. Now, when I talk to several other
pastors, there are certain passages of Scriptures I could feed on
that one verse for months. I could go no further. This would
be a message in itself. But this section right here,
the church, as it speaks back to its beloved, we are acknowledging
that we belong to Christ. We are God's purchased possession
and His created possession. He created us originally and
in the new birth. You must be born again. It was
all by God's grace. We had absolutely nothing to
do with our first birth. We have nothing to do with our
second birth. The scripture says we are bought
with the price. I am my beloved's. He owns me. He possesses me. And not only
that, but His desire is towards me. The Son of God's desire is
towards me. He owns us. He is to us as a
caring father, a tender mother as it were, a correcting sovereign,
a watchful parent. And in Psalms 119, you don't
have to turn there, in verse 94, the psalmist says two words
in the first part of that verse, I am thine. I'm thine. I'm thine. Oh, the thing that
I think about when I see this, that I am my beloved's and his
desire is towards me, is I can't help but think what I was. and
in the flesh what I still am. A sinner, the chief of sinners,
saved by grace. Oh, how we should blush with
embarrassment for how he found us. He found us, simply put,
playing the harlot. He found us as rebels. He found us very pitiful. He found us in our waywardness,
stiff-neckedness, We were without God, without Christ, and had
no hopes as Ephesians. We were full of self, selfishness,
full of our own self-worth, boastful of our vile works, and supposed
goodness. This is how he found us. He found
the wandering sheep. We were wanderers. But he did
find us. I am my beloveds. He did find
us. He set out in His sovereign prerogative,
in His sovereign purpose, in His sovereign providence, we
would cross the path with the truth of the Gospel. And the
Holy Spirit would use this in quickness. He found us, He drew
us, and showed us compassion by the way of the life and death
and resurrection of His only begotten Son. We, I, We all can
concur the latter part of verse 10, and His desire, His desire
is towards me. If we don't feel like it, if
we don't feel very spiritual this morning, or maybe we don't
feel very spiritual when we go to work, if you are one of His,
if He has fetched you like He did Mephibosheth, if He has fetched
you by His saving, free, sovereign grace, you can say with me his
desire is towards me can we say these words his desires towards
me hallelujah it is so and it is only so by the free sovereign
distinguishing grace of God found in Christ the second thing verse
11 come This is us and this is the church
saying to Christ, come my beloved, let us go forth into the field,
let us lodge in the villages. We sing that hymn. I should have
had this already prepared. I've got it written down here,
but I didn't. We sing this hymn. Jesus lover
of my soul, Thou, O Christ, are all I want. More than all in
Thee I find." Again, I ask, can we say that? Christ, You're all
I want. You're all I want. This is the
second thing, is the church, or we, acknowledge a desire to
commune with Christ. That's what believers, that's
what the new nature, we desire to commune with Christ. That's
why we're here together today. Yes, you can commune with Christ
in private, but there is something particularly special, I don't
know how to phrase it, it's in all over the scriptures, gathering
together. How wonderful it was when God
let us gather together. David said, I just assumed to
be, I don't need to be king, I just assumed to be a doorkeeper
in the house of God. There's something particularly
precious, nice. We feed off of one another, of
like mind. We may not have all things in
common. That's because we're human. We're
different stages of growth, different levels of faith, weak faith,
new faith, old faith. But when we gather together,
put all this, and we are in common. And that, I believe, is one definition
of the Church, like an axe. They had all things in common.
Now, do you need to sell everything and then put it in a cup, bring
it in here, and then we'll distribute it as we all think is best? No,
I'm not saying that, but I'm saying we gather together. We
have no secret agenda. All things are open and naked
before God. And that's the way believers,
just simple, we're just simple. So the second thing that I see
here is that we or the church acknowledges a desire to commune
with Christ. He says, come, verse 11, my beloved,
let us, let us go forth. I don't want to go by myself
like the, the, uh, the, the, uh, Israelites when they began
to walk in the wilderness and the cloud, a pillar during, uh,
the day and in a cloud at night, the fire at night and the cloudy
pillar by day. And Moses said, if your presence
doesn't go with this, I don't want to move. And of course,
we'll take that and we'll just take it. I've seen people say,
well, you know, if God doesn't speak to me and doesn't show
me, you have his word. He doesn't speak to you. He speaks
through his word. You don't need to go out in the
wilderness and get a teepee and to find God's will. His will
is right here in His Word. Come, let us. Let us walk together. The church is saying, let us
pray together. Let me pray unto you. Let us
fellowship together. I, we, praising you, you comforting
us. Let us be seen together. I'm
not ashamed. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. And in our flesh, we are. And
when we're in our flesh, I'm not excusing sin, I know how
I am. Fear of man is very difficult. But what do I need to be ashamed
of? I just need to speak. Because His Word is not going
to come back void. My Word maybe, but just tell the truth. Just
tell the truth about Him. So we desire to be seen together. Come, my Beloved, let us go forth
into the field, Let us lodge in the villages. So whether we're
in the city or whether we're out, it doesn't matter. I want
to be seen with you. I want to be seen with your people.
In the company of the church, its members singing sweet hymns
to your exalted name. We desire to be with Christ and
He with us. I can make all my wants, we can
make all of our wants and trials and hardships known And we can be instructed by you
when we're together with you. Now, one of the writers did say,
let us go forth into the field. And there is a time to go forth
when Christ went a little ways. And nobody needs to be around.
It says in the New Testament, go to your closets. But you don't
need a closet. You can be at work, bucking bales,
whatever you may be, and still ask God for mercy at that time.
But there is something very precious about time alone with our Redeemer. But let us lodge in the villages.
Let us publicly gather. That's why baptism is public
confession. We don't hide. We're not ashamed
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Turn with me in this same vein. Come, my beloved, let us go forth
in the field. Let us lodge in the villages.
Let us commune together. Let me seek your face. And you
say to my heart, seek my face and my heart, like we looked
at last week. My heart says, it echoes. Your face, Lord, I'll
seek. Turn to Luke chapter 24. This
is just so... I just love this whole narrative. Luke chapter 24, starting in
verse 13. You know the story. It's those
two on the road to Emmaus. Luke chapter 24 and verse 13,
and behold, two of them, this is the disciples, this is the
church, this is who Psalms of Solomon is writing about, the
love relationship between these two disciples and their Lord.
Luke 24 verse 13, and behold, two of them went the same day
to a village, that didn't notice that, village called Emmaus,
which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And as
they talked together, what did they talk about? The weather?
Sports, the market, the economy, the politics, all these things
that had happened. The Lord Jesus Christ crucified
evidently among them. That's what they were talking
about. Because when it comes down to it, you're going to quit
your job, hopefully. You're going to retire, hopefully. These things pass away. But what
we do here, it's not. It's not. The tears
that we cry for the Lord and for salvation of our children,
our family, or whoever it may be, they're all collected. That's
what the revelation is. They're collected. They're not
forgotten. So these two are walking, and
they're speaking about the things which had happened. And it came
to pass that while they were communed together and reasoned,
Jesus Himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were
holden that they should not know Him. And he said unto them, what
manner of communications are these that you have one to another
as you walk and are sad? And one of them whose name was
Cleophas said, answering him, art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?
And hast thou not known the things that are come to pass that there
in these days? And he said unto them, what things?
And they said unto him, and stop right there, what things? He
knew. Just like God in the garden, where art thou Adam? He knew
where he was. He wants to hear what he's got
to say. Do you truly love me? Feed my sheep. Do you truly love
me? Feed among my sheep. Do you truly
love me? He knew that Peter loved him. He just wanted to hear Peter
say it. And this is what we're talking about in Song of Solomon.
These things are in us if we know Him. What things? And then they spoke
concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed,
and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests
and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and
have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
Today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished what
they had earlier at the sepulchre when they found not His body
and came saying that He had also seen a vision of angels which
said that He was alive. And certain of them which went
with us to the sepulchre and found it even as the women had
said, but Him we saw not. Then He said unto them, O fools, call them believers, fools, and
slow of heart, to believe all the prophets have spoken. So if we didn't have the New
Testament, we would still be without excuse. Isn't that what
he's saying there? If we didn't have the New Testament,
the Old Testament, Christ says, I'm in them. I'm about them. Moses wrote of me. Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his
glory and beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
I would have liked to have been at that conference, at that meeting. And they drew nigh unto the village,
whither they went, as though he would have gone no further.
But they constrained him. Abide with us, for it is towards
evening, and the day is far spent." And he went into the tarry with
them, and it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, and
took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and gave thanks to
them, and gave to them, their eyes were opened, and they knew
him, and he vanished out of their sights. And then they said, one
to another, did not our heart burn within us? That new heart. Not the heart of stone, that
heart of flesh. Didn't that our hearts burn within us while He
talked with us by the way and while He opened to us the Scriptures. This is what, that's verse, back
to our text in verse 11. Come my beloved, let us go forth
into the field and let us lodge in the village. Not just a not
just a stony ground here, not just to come in, throw a little
money in the plate, to be seen of men, and it gets a little
hot, persecution arises because of the Word, and then we leave,
and we've seen that here. This is not who he's talking
about. This is the children's bread. Come, let us. Let us. This is what one man
said, this should be all the sanctified breathe after. A closer sojourn with our elder
brother. Do you? Do I? I ask myself, do
we? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
7 and verse 35. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 35. He says, in our text. Come, my beloved,
let us go forth into the field. Let us go forth into the field.
1 Corinthians 7. I may have the wrong text here.
Let me see. And this I speak for your own profit, not that
I may cast a snare upon you, For that which is comely, and
that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction." That is
in context. We need to be without distraction.
There's enough things in this world that distract us. And some need to be. Husbands,
wives, if you have children, you've got to raise your children.
You've got to do that. You've got to tend to their health,
their spiritual needs as much as possible, physical needs,
they're relying on you. These things happen. These things
come up. But there are way too many distractions.
So it's fine, it's good, the believer desires to let's go
forth, let's go forth in the field and let us lodge in the
villages. That's the second thing. The
third thing I think we see in here is the church or we desire
to know the true condition of our own soul. The believers are
not in make-believe. They understand that they are
the chief of sinners. They understand that our sins
put Christ on the cross. Look at verse 12. Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see if the vine flourish. Whether the tender grape appear
and the pomegranates bud forth, There will I give thee my loves."
This is still the church of the believer talking. Are we growing
in the knowledge and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? I'm
going to be redundant, but turn to 2 Peter chapter 1. This is
where we were at this morning. This is what Bruce was just talking
about. Let us get up early to the vineyards. And another place in Song of
Solomon, have the foxes spoiled the grapes? Have we allowed things
to distract us, to come into our mind? We gather together so little
time, weekly, a couple hours a week. We cannot give to the
Lord a couple hours a week. We can't do that. We can't sacrifice. We can't desire to gather together
under His banner. We can't study at home. We can't
tell our children Bible lessons. Or when we see something, you
know, in the nature, the Kingdom of Grace's book, the Kingdom
of Grace, the teachings of the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom
of God, nature, we look at nature, it shows forth His handiwork. Besides all this 2nd Peter chapter
1 verse 5 and besides all this give diligence to add to your
faith Now is that your faith? It's your faith because we have
it but it's not ours. It's a grace of God. So add to
these graces And now again, this is not a checklist. You can't
do this. These things are in you if you're
a believer add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
to knowledge temperance, to temperance patience, to patience godliness,
to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness charity.
Why is he writing these things? Because we're never out of the
flesh. Okay, we've got to remember that.
We're never 100% perfected. In Christ we are. We need to look at how God looks
at us. We're perfect. We're complete.
We're comely through His comeliness, what it says in Ezekiel, I think,
16. We have comeliness through His beauty. It's not our own. But the truth also of the matter
is we've got two natures. The other is the flesh. And it's
going to hate God. It's going to hate the gospel.
It's going to try to distract you. Truth be known, my self
distracts myself more than the world and friends and neighbors
or whatever that don't believe. That's the truth. I wrestle far
greater with what I have in me. That's why he's writing these
things. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he
that lacketh these things is blind, cannot see afar off, and
hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." And in the
flesh we do. Definitely. Wherefore, the rather
brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure,
for if you do these things, you shall never fall. For so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." If we know the
Gospel, if we understand the truth, why are these things written? They are written for our benefit
because of our constant struggle. Why do we come to church? Why
do I even need to do this? Well, God says to, one. Secondly,
they did in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, they gathered
together and had in common. So, just those two things. We
gather together, we have the Lord's Supper. As often as you
gather together. And I don't know of any family,
true family, now we have dysfunctional families, believe me, that doesn't
need one another. Oh, that old Bobby, he was the
black sheep of the family, but he shows up every year for the
family reunion. And what do you do? You talk
to him. Because he's family. Oh, may it never be said of us,
this is where I get concerned, may it never be said of us, found
in Luke 13, verse 7, when Christ came to that fig tree, it didn't
have any fruit, He said, cut it down, Why is it cumbering
up the ground? It's just taking up space. Back
to our text. I am my Beloved's and His desire
is towards me. Come my Beloved. Let us go forth
into the field. Let us lodge in the villages.
Let us get up early to the vineyards. And let us see if the vine flourishes. If it flourishes. Are we growing
in grace? Are we adding to faith virtue?
These are all fruits of the Spirit. They're already there. Are we
cultivating this? Let us lodge in the villages.
And fourthly and lastly, the church, we acknowledge our devotion
to Christ and for Christ. Verse 13, the mandrakes give
a smell, And at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits,
new and old, which I, the believer, I, the church, I, by your grace,
have laid up for you, my beloved, O my beloved." He promises His
love to us and we give Him ourselves in return. That's the natural
outcome of a new heart. And since the scripture says
in Hosea 14 that it is only in Christ, by Christ, and through
Christ that all believers bear fruit, because he says in Hosea,
from me is your fruit found. And in John chapter 15 verse
5, Christ says, without me you can do nothing. We're laying
at the feet of Christ that which he's produced. That which he's
produced. We must earnestly, eagerly and
wholeheartedly say, old and new fruit I have laid up for you
and thee only. Now this old and new fruit, old
fruit, what is that? It could be first faith, first
repentance. Does a believer stop having faith?
No. Does the believer stop repenting? No. These are old fruits. Father,
through the Son, enacted by the Holy Spirit, you gave me these
fruits. I acknowledge that salvation
is wholly due to your grace and not my works. I humbly lay these
at your feet. New fruit. Who among us does not want to
be made more like Christ tomorrow? Show me more daily tokens of
your love, your mercy, and your grace. I would desire new joys. new and more gratitude and be
more thankful for what you've given me. Make us better stewards
of your blessing. Make us give to others perhaps
more, telling them that most wonderful of good news. May we
not hide it under a bushel. Give me new efforts to sow the
seed among my friends, my neighbors, my family. Old fruit, new fruit. The believer never stops producing
fruit. These bodies, you've got to have glasses, you've
got to have hearing aids, you've got less hair. Actually, we start
to shrink. But the grace of God in the believer,
it's not stagnant. It doesn't mean we're getting
holier. I'm not saying that. You know me better. We are past
tense. Sanctified. We're set apart. We're made holy
in the Beloved. Unto Christ is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification. It's done. But these fruits, old fruits,
new fruit. What are we going to do? I'm
going to lay them at His feet. I'm going to lay them before
Him. O may we lay these also at His feet, for all is by His
sweet grace." So in closing, I pray, no, I
implore us to be those who acknowledge our Sovereign Lord in everything
we do and to respond to His calls by
His grace, and trust Him evermore. O everyone that thirsts, come
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and
eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without money, without price.
Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently
unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto
me, unto Christ, here and your soul shall live and I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David." So this is what the believer acknowledges. This is what the
church acknowledges. This is what his bride acknowledges.
These four things. because everything is from Him
and by Him and because of Him. Nathan, would you close us?