Well, I'm going to begin this
week exactly as I began last week, to remind you that when
we looked at Ecclesiastes, we saw that life without God is
futile, absolutely futile, and that we must know God and be
reconciled to him. And as I said last week, but
sin and holiness cannot be reconciled other than by the gospel. Now,
we know that in this world, there are various things that claim
to be the gospel. but we know that there is only
one true gospel. And so we've been asking the
question for a few weeks, is my gospel, the gospel I believe,
the gospel that you believe, is it the true gospel? because
it's so important, we've looked at various errors where things
use the language of the true gospel and they sound very much
like the true gospel but they're not when you look at it closely
and is that being hypercritical? No, it's only doing what John
the apostle encouraged all believers to do, try the spirits, test
them Test the spirits, the preachers, test the messages, whether they
be of God, because there are many out there, as Jesus said,
false Christs, false prophets, wolves dressed up as sheep, who
will try and delude you because they're doing the work of Satan. So it's vital that we have the
true gospel. You cannot have the blessing
of God without the truth of God. And the truth of God is very
simple. I often remind you of him, but do you remember? They
quizzed Happy Jack in the church as to whether he was fit to be
a member of the church. And what do you know? What doctrine
do you know? And he just kept saying this. I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. Now
I'm telling you, if you know that doctrine and that's your
heart's experience, you know the truth. I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. You
don't have to sit a theological exam, you don't have to go to
a theological seminary to understand what it is to be saved in the
gospel of God's grace. but you cannot compromise the
truth. Having said that, you cannot
compromise the truth, you must know this, correct doctrine alone
will not mark out a felt living relationship with God. You must
have the truth. You cannot expect to know God
outside of the truth. His word is truth. He will not
be known other than in truth. We have a more sure word of prophecy,
to which we do well to take heed, said Peter. But knowing in your
head the truth of God alone will not mark out a felt. by which I mean feelings, emotions,
will not mark out a felt and living relationship with God.
So I'm asking the question this morning, my gospel, is it alive
with love for Christ? Is it? You see, if you look at
Philippians 3, and you don't need to turn there now, but in
Philippians 3, there are marks of true believers. True believers
rejoice in Christ Jesus. They don't just go, ah, I can
pass the exam questions about this man Jesus of Nazareth. They
rejoice in Christ Jesus. Paul said he wanted to win Christ. You know, win. You watch somebody
who's just won a race. He's overflowing with emotion
at having done it. I want to win Christ. Where do
you want to be, Paul? I want to be found in Him. I
want to be found in Him. That's where I want to be. I
want to know him, that I may know him and the power of his
resurrection not just know about him I know a bit about Henry
VIII, I know a bit about other historical characters but I don't
know them I want to know him, I want to know him in Revelation
chapter two and the first seven verses the Lord Jesus Christ
is writing via the Apostle John letters to the seven churches,
symbolical churches And to the Ephesians, he writes this. You've
got many, many, many things that are very commendable. You're
very precise in your doctrine. You're very true in your doctrine,
he says to them. You go about things in the right
way. You do not tolerate error. You're very strict. And this
is all commendable. But he says, I've got one thing
against you. I've got one thing against you.
It says you've left your first love. That's what you've done.
That love for the Lord Jesus Christ that is the first love,
you've left it. You've neglected it. You know
when you get a pot plant and it's thriving and you just leave
it for a few weeks and don't water it and don't do anything
to it and don't put it in a nice place and what does it do? It
withers and it dies. It stops being a living, healthy
plant. And that's what's happened, says
the risen Lord Jesus to the Ephesians. You've left your first love.
And he counsels them to repent. Now this Song of Solomon that
we're turning to today, this Song of Solomon is a love story. It's a love story. It's a story
of Solomon, the king, the beloved, and the woman, the Shulamite.
And we only see her called the Shulamite at the end of chapter
six. The Shulamite, this woman. And that story of love between
them is an allegory. It's a picture, a picture of
the love between Christ and his church. You know in Ephesians
five where Paul is talking about marriage and husbands, love your
wives and wives, obey your husbands in all things. as unto the Lord. And he says, I'm not really talking
about husbands and wives, I speak of Christ and his church. That's
the marriage he's really talking about. In the same way, this
love story of Solomon and the Shulamite is an allegory of the
love between Christ and his church. What do I mean by the church?
In case anybody might for one second misunderstand me, the
church of Christ that he loves is his elect people. The people
that the Scriptures say were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, that were put in union with him before the beginning
of time, that were justified in him eternally in the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, the ones for whom
he came. For as the children had partaken
of flesh and blood, so must he come and partake of that same
flesh and blood, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might
redeem his people in time." and having redeemed them, having
made peace by the blood of his cross, having reconciled sinners,
these elect people, the church, to the living God, having done
that, having returned to glory, then in time, each one, as they're
born, as children of wrath, even as others, the Holy Spirit comes.
And where the natural man cannot perceive the things of the living
God for their foolishness to him, neither can he know them,
individuals, one by one, under the power of the Holy Spirit,
are quickened, are made alive, are given faith, faith, grace
are you saved by grace, by riches of, through faith, and that not
of yourselves, because even that is the gift of God, the gift
of God's Spirit coming and making alive so that you see the things
of the living God. You feel the things of the living
God. You sense the things of the living
God. Everything around is changed.
We used to sing a hymn, didn't we? Sky above is softer blue. Earth around is sweeter green.
Something shines in every hue that Christless eyes have never
seen. Well, I want us to start a series
on this book of the Song of Solomon. And I want you to read this love
story. and enter into it enter into this love story and ask
yourself if this love is to some degree your own experience you
see it's a comparison with human love and often in the scripture
married love is seen as the as the prime example of the picture
of the love between god and his people his church and what marks
out marriage if it's true marriage if it's Ideal marriage, can I put it
that way? I'm struggling for words. It's total devotion to
one another. Total devotion. Heart love, one
for the other. Do you see any signs of the marks
of saving grace that we see in these verses concerning the relationship
in this love story when we apply it when we apply this picture
to the situation of Christ and his church. So the first thing
I see here, right at the very start, is that in the Shulamite
is a sincere desire for Solomon, for the king. And that reflects
the sincere desire for Christ and his love that is in the heart
of all true believers. The Song of Songs which is Solomon's,
verse two, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for thy
love is better than wine." Do you know, this is right to the
point, isn't it? This is right to the, do you
know in old Jewish tradition you had to be a certain age before
you were allowed to read this book because it was regarded
as so sensual. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth. This isn't a peck on the cheek.
This isn't a moi, moi like we do in greeting, it's not one
of the, this is let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. This is intimate, this is sensual,
this is pleasurable because she says, thy love is better than
wine. In the scriptures again and again,
wine is the symbol of that which is pleasurable, that which gladdens
the heart. Wine is pleasurable, but this
love, is better than wine. Oh, this is on an altogether
different plane. This is special. This is the
love of and the love for one another. Mutual love. And this
love is better than wine. Who is this one? I've said it
already. It's the Christ of God that is
pictured here. the Christ of God, the one who
manifests, the unknowable, holy God who dwells in unapproachable
light, that sinful man cannot approach, for no man shall see
me and live, said God. So show me your glory, hide here
in the cleft of the rock, and I will pass by. This is it, my
grace, I will show you my grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one through whom, think of it, in the Old Testament, When people
knew that they had seen God, they thought they were going
to die. Gideon's thought he was going to die, Samson's parents
thought they were going to die, because they had seen God. They
said, we've seen God, what's going to happen to us now? No
man can see God and live, and yet, and yet, and yet. The Lord Jesus Christ manifests
the unknowable God to sinful man, that we might see him, and
that we might know him, and that we might lean on his bosom as
John the Apostle leaned on his bosom. This is it, this has always
been the way. When God appeared to Moses in
the wilderness, in the burning bush, who was it who appeared?
It was the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the second person of the
Trinity. It was the manifestation of God. It was, in the beginning,
was the Word. And the Word was with God. He
is the Word of God. This is his name, right at the
end of Revelation. And his name? The Word of God. This is it. This is the Christ
of God. The manifestation of the unknowable
God to sinful man. Not far off and aloof. This is the kisses of his mouth. This is intimate. This is sensual. This is sensual in a spiritual
way. You might have heard of the story
of the of the stern man of means he had significant means and
he had a house and he lived on his own and he needed a housekeeper
and so he advertised for a housekeeper and he employed this woman to
come and be his housekeeper. And there was a very, very strict
contract of employment between them. He required everything
to be done in a very precise, definite way, and there was to
be no deviation from it. There was to be no excuse for
things being different one. It was to be exactly as the contract
specified, and in return, he paid her exactly the wages that
was agreed in the contract. Strict adherence to every legal
requirement of the contract. And time went on. and time went
on and affection started to develop and that affection became warmth
and that warmth became love and that love became marriage and
the two of them were married and she carried on doing exactly
what he wanted but not out of a feeling of servile fear but
out of a feeling of love and devotion and complete commitment
to one another. He delighting in her and she
delighting in him. Do you see the difference? As
people, under the law of God, we're in a strict covenant, do
this and live. but the soul that sins, it shall
die. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
in union, marriage union with him, married to the living God,
the bride of Christ, the marriage supper of the Lamb, all of these
things, there is love. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth. How does she address him? Verse seven, tell me, O thou
whom my soul loveth. Believer, is that your experience?
When you think of the Lord Jesus Christ, O thou whom my soul loveth. What turned that fear into love? Because our natural relationship
with God is one of fear. Fear. Genuine, servile fear to
start with, for we are lawbreakers. And his law is perfect, and he
is holy. And even when we come to know
him, There is a fear which, I was reading Philpot this morning
and I thought he put it very well. You know, if you've got
a very delicate ornament in your hands, you've got a great fear
that you might slip and drop it, haven't you? You know, that's
more like the fear that the child of God has for the person of
God, who is our friend in the Lord Jesus Christ, our master
and friend. But that relationship with the living God is not so
much a servile fear, but it's a fear of breaking something,
a fear of offending something, that kind of fear. Well, what
turned fear into love? Was it not grace, the grace of
God? Was it not the experience of
the union with Christ? Was it not the knowledge in conversion
when the gospel came and you started to understand something
of the sweetness? You see, it wasn't just head
knowledge, it was the sweet feeling of redemption accomplished. My
sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part
but the whole, is nailed to his cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Is that not speaking
of a sweetness that is felt? You can taste it, taste and see
that the Lord is good. It's understanding something
of the cleansing power of redeeming blood. Nothing that defiles will
enter in, but I'm under the blood. And under the blood, I'm washed
whiter than snow. Though your sins be as scarlet,
yet shall they be white as snow, white as wool. It's apprehending
the blessings of forgiveness. Forgiveness. Do you know, to
know when there's when there's something outstanding in your
conscience with the living God, as there is with all of us, but
to know the blessings of forgiveness and the comfort of acceptance.
of knowing that there is an eternal purpose that began before the
beginning of time and is going on into eternity when this world
has ended and the kingdom of God has come and he's taken his
people, that I shall be there in that number when he takes
his people to be with him. That comfort and assurance. You
see, by contrast, imagine a marriage, and there are plenty, where both
parties know their roles, they understand the union that they've
entered into, They even raise children together, and they do
it all strictly correctly, but there's no thrill of devotion
and love. And that's like some professed
Christians in their relationship to Christ. You see, they claim
to be so sound and orthodox, but there's no feeling, there's
no warmth, there's no love. They know the strict terms of
the contract but there's no love there and so you don't think
that they really know anything at all. Everyone who truly is
saved understands something of what I'm trying to describe.
We love him because he first loved us. We rejoice in him. We depend on him. We depend on
him. Look at verse four. Draw me,
draw me, we will run after thee. Draw me, call me, entice, this
is what the soul, the longing soul pleads for with God. Draw
me to you. Jeremiah 31 verse three. The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. John 6, 44. Jesus said, no man
can come to me. except the Father which hath
sent me, draw him." Oh, we pray, God, Lord God, draw us to Christ,
and we will run after. There's a hint in that of this
drawing and never quite getting, always being drawn and always
wanting to run on after, which is so similar to the hungering
and thirsting for righteousness. Constantly, constantly being
filled, but constantly hungering and thirsting. We run after him. We commune with him. We feed
on his word. We delight in his presence and
his blessings. You see, you can be objective
and rational about the doctrines of grace, but that alone can
never understand this love. Those who have experienced it,
those who do experience it, you know that you must have it. You
must live in the good of it. You cannot do without it. You
feel dried and shriveled up without it. You must have that living
water. And then there's a felt knowledge
of salvation in this situation. Look at verse five. I am black
but kindly, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Ceda,
as the curtains of Solomon, look not upon me, because I am black,
because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children were
angry with me, and they made me the keeper of the vineyards,
but mine own vineyard have I not kept." She's talking about being
sunburnt. She's been out in the sun in
a harsh environment. You see, the beloved Solomon,
the beloved is the king. in all his glorious perfection,
in all of his power, in all of his wisdom. And I know Solomon
was a faint reflection of the glories of Christ, but nevertheless
there were the marks there. The beloved is the king in all
that glorious perfection, his power, his wisdom, his redeeming
grace. And the bride, the Shulamite,
is the product of her harsh environment. She's sunburnt. She doesn't have
the delicate fairness of the palace. This is picturing sin
and defilement. Naturally unfit to be the King's
bride. Is that how you feel? Only when
I know something of the depth of my sin can I appreciate the
grace of my Saviour. Can I cry out for salvation?
What must I do to be saved? But knowing what I am by nature
in my flesh, look what he tells me. I am comely. He says, you
are the fairest, verse eight, O thou fairest among women. He tells me that despite my knowing
what I am in the flesh, he tells me I am comely. I am the fairest
among women. This isn't like a sort of a Miss
World contest with everybody looking from the outside. This
beauty is as perceived by the King himself. That's what it
is. It's as he perceives it. We know
what we are by nature. The older we get, we don't think
that we're getting progressively more sanctified. We don't think
that we're getting progressively more fit for heaven. We know
we're all the fitness we're ever going to be in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the moment we believe. We know that. He is the one who
makes his people beautiful. He is the one who makes his people
comely. How does he do it? in the redemption
that he purchased. He who knew no sin, he who was
the perfection of holiness, he who was the Passover Lamb of
God, he was made the sin of his people. He had the sin of his
people in the divine justice of God in a way that I don't
know whether we'll ever fully understand, but we glory in.
It was loaded onto Christ and he bore it in his own body, in
his own physical body on the tree. And he paid the law's price
for that sin. And he poured out his lifeblood
unto death so that his people might be made, made. the righteousness of God in him
follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord righteousness
of God in him I am black but comely he has made me comely
he has clothed me with the garments of salvation you know again in
marriage you know the bride's wedding gown is this lovely white
thing and it's a picture And what it's picturing, as the marriage
relationship is picturing the love of Christ for his church,
the bride's gown is picturing that garment of salvation with
which God clothes his people because he who knew no sin was
made sin, that his people might be made the righteousness of
God in him. What else marks out this relationship
of love? There's an ongoing hunger and
weariness. Look at verse 7. Tell me, this is the Shulamite
asking Solomon, tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou
feedest, where do you eat? 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? This is a relationship
of love based on grace, settled on accomplished salvation, but
constantly inquisitive of more. Tell me where you feed. Tell me. Tell me. I, the bride,
am hungry for that on which the husband feeds. I want more of
it. I need a daily supply of it.
I want it to continue. Yesterday's will not do, like
the manna used to go off. They were not to keep the manna
two days except for the Sabbath day. If they did, if they tried
to gather double so they'd have extra for the next day, it got
worms in it and it smelled bad. I am hungry, daily hungry, for
that on which the husband feeds. Blessed, said Jesus, are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
be filled. They'll have their hunger satisfied.
As they follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord,
they will find that in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek first the
kingdom of God, said Jesus, and his righteousness, and all these
other things of this world will be added to you. Lay up, he said,
not treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupt, but lay up
treasure in heaven. What is it to lay up treasure
in heaven? It's this very thing. to cultivate that relationship
of love with the Lord Jesus Christ. Where are we to set our hearts?
Colossians says, set your heart on things above where Christ
is. You see when A married couple who are truly devoted have to
spend time apart. I can tell you from experience,
you long to be reunited with your husband or your wife. You
long for it. That's in your thoughts. You
have work to do and you have to do that work and go to these
places and these meetings and other things. But your longing
is to be at home, to be together. There's a desire to settle also
in the rest prepared for the flock. Look, tell me where, in
verse 7, you make the flock to rest at noon, the harshest period
of the day in those hot climates. Tell me where you make the flock
to rest at noon. This is what we want, a desire
to settle in that rest. As Psalm 23 says, he makes me
to lie down in green pastures. He leads me. Green pastures are
not arid desert pastures. They're green, they're watered,
they're cool, they're restorative, it's good food. He restores my
soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for his name's sake. There remains, says Hebrews 4
verse 9, a rest to the people of God. Why? Because the people
of God have ceased from their own works. How? In the righteousness
that Christ has made them in his becoming sin, being made
sin for them. This is what they long for. That
food and that rest which is in Christ. Is that where your soul
daily longs to be? Tell me. Tell me. I've thought
about this for myself. Tell me. You who claim to trust
Christ. Tell me honestly. Examine your
own heart. Are you undisturbed if you go
days with no thought for God and his kingdom? Does that not
disturb you? Really, I'm serious, ask yourself
the question. Are you disturbed if you have
no desire to pursue the righteousness in Christ that God alone can
accept? Are you disturbed if you have
no longing for the sweet assurance of acceptance in the beloved
Because if you are, you're in a perilous place. You're like
those Ephesians who had lost their first love. She's also,
as the true child of God is, constantly conscious of their
own fragility. Look at the second half of verse
seven, where she says, for why should I be as one that turneth
aside by the flocks of thy companions? Now that's difficult to understand.
Very difficult to understand. But it's saying she's conscious
of the frailty of the flesh and the need for keeping. I like
Philpott's paraphrase of that. It isn't well constructed the
way the translators have put it down. This is how Philpott
puts it. Why should I This is the believer
speaking. Why should I, with all my privileges,
as being among the flocks of your companions, the people of
God, favored with gospel blessings, hearing the servants, the shepherds
that you send, walking in sweet union with the brethren, why
should I be as one that turns aside? I've got everything going
for me and yet I still have a tendency to turn aside. There's a hymn
that we sometimes sing. where one of the verses says
this, O to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be.
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, like a thing that binds you,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love
in my flesh. Why should I be as one that turns
aside? I'm prone to do this. Here's my heart, Lord. Take and
seal it. Seal it from thy courts above.
We need the Lord's keeping. We constantly depend on the Lord's
keeping, and he has promised to keep us. For he says, I will
never leave you nor forsake you. No man shall pluck them out of
my father's hand. My father, said Jesus, is greater
than all. No man can take them out of my
father's hand. He will keep his people, but
oh how we need to constantly ask for his keeping power and
pray for him to keep us because we cannot keep ourselves. And
then finally, Heeding of the Lord's counsel. Where do you
feed? Where do you rest? Verse 8. If thou know not, O thou fairest
among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock
and feed thy kids besides the shepherd's tents. This is his
counsel to us. Where to find the answers? to questions regarding feeding
and resting. Where to find assurance of keeping
power? He says, if thou know not. In other words, you ought to
know. Child of God, you ought to know. But here it is. Go with
the flock to the shepherd's tents. What does that mean? It's obvious,
isn't it? It's poetry, but it's obvious.
Put yourself regularly under true gospel preaching. true gospel
preaching. It's there. Not just in correct
doctrine, which you must have, but in Christ lifted up. It's
there that his presence is felt. All of you who've experienced
it, you've heard doctrinally correct preaching, and it's left
your hearts stone cold, and you've heard Christ lifted up, and your
heart has been warmed with love, and drawn with affection. Put
yourself regularly under gospel preaching. There, your heart
will be warmed, your doubts will be removed, your faith will be
strengthened, your service will be enlivened, your soul will
be comforted, and you will appreciate the rest that has been purchased
for you. That's it. under that. Not just here, but by other means. We've got such a richness of
preaching on the internet now, on Free Grace Radio. We've got
such a richness there to make use of. Where do you feed? Where do you lie down to rest?
If thou know not, O fairest among women, go thy way forth by the
footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids besides the shepherd's
tent. My gospel Is it alive with true
love for Christ? Is it? We need to each one of
us ask ourselves the question. Revelation 2 verse 5 to the Ephesians. Jesus says this. Remember therefore
from whence thou art fallen. In what respect fallen? They've
left their first love for him. Remember therefore whence thou
art fallen and repent and do the first works. What's that?
Love Christ. Love him. love him seek his love
or else i will come unto thee quickly and remove thy candlestick
out of his place except thou repent oh let us seek him while
he may be found seek him while he may be found come unto me
he said all you that labor and are heavy laden and i will give
you rest He said, all that the Father gives me will come to
me and there's not one that comes to me that I'll turn away. That's
the assurance that we have.